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tv   BBC News  BBCNEWS  February 11, 2024 12:30pm-1:01pm GMT

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final results from pakistan's election show independent candidates won the most seats in parliament — a total of 101. 93 of them are allied to jailed leader imran khan, whose party was barred from running. and the uk housing secretary michael gove has said that the practice of landlords evicting tenants for no real reason will be banned before the uk's next general election later this year. the final results of the parliamentary election in pakistan showed that independent candidates
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link to imran khan won the most seats with over 90. independence won 101 of the 266 seats, 93 of them are thought to be backed by the pti. the party of another prime minister nawaz sharif won 75. courts have reportedly been flooded with legal challenges to the election results after they both claimed victory. let's speak to farhat jarved from bbc urdu, who's in islamabad. has there been much reaction to the final announcement from the election officials? ,, , , a officials? there has been much confusion _ officials? there has been much confusion about _ officials? there has been much confusion about who _ officials? there has been much confusion about who is - officials? there has been much confusion about who is going . officials? there has been much| confusion about who is going to officials? there has been much - confusion about who is going to form the government and how it will be formed. today, three days after the vote ended the electoral commission has finally announced all
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constituencies contested after an unprecedented delay and this delay was one of the main reason is that imran khan and a few other parties are alleging that the results were manipulated, the counting was manipulated, the counting was manipulated at the last moment before it was announced. that is the reason imran khan's party have been protesting today in several cities of the country. we saw some protests in lahore, peshawar, rawalpindi which were small crowds but later on dispersed. on the other hand all political parties are trying to reach out to some small parties and other independent candidates who are not backed by imran khan's party. they are trying to reach out to them so they can form a coalition government in the coming days. the constitution of pakistan says that any political party whose winning seats in the national assembly must
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form a government within 21 days of the results announced. so, the parliamentarians and political parties have 21 days to form a government. they are legally bound to do that but it seems that right now the mandate to split between three big parties. just now the mandate to split between three big parties.— three big parties. just as we are s-ueakin three big parties. just as we are speaking to _ three big parties. just as we are speaking to you _ three big parties. just as we are speaking to you our _ three big parties. just as we are speaking to you our viewers - three big parties. just as we are speaking to you our viewers can i three big parties. just as we are - speaking to you our viewers can see these live pictures from karachi, where the pti party are protesting outside the sindh election commission office. they are protesting about alleged rigging. there have been other protests by other parties in pakistan following the elections. tell me what is the mood in the country? obviously, this election isn't settled at all. the result that _ election isn't settled at all. the result that we _ election isn't settled at all. the result that we saw _ election isn't settled at all. tie: result that we saw after election isn't settled at all. tue: result that we saw after it election isn't settled at all. tt2 result that we saw after it ended, it was quite surprising for many
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stakeholders, the people of pakistan it was really surprising because they voted for a party not given a fair chance to do the campaign before the election. imran khan himself was barred from contesting the election. similarly many of his party leaders were either under arrest or in hiding or had left the party. so there was quite a lot of confusion in the run—up but the result was quite surprising that his backed candidates won the majority of the seats. at the same time, there's quite a lot of uncertainty as to how the government would be formed with imran khan would sit on the government benches or he would go to the opposition side. but also there are a lot of questions being asked how could the results be manipulated. there are a lot of fingers being placed at pakistan's military establishment. what people want to some political stability so
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they can deal with the economic crisis and also the security challenges in pakistan. turning to uk politics now and housing is on the agenda today, with the housing secretary, michael gove announcing a new law allowing empty high street shops to be quickly converted into homes. he's been speaking to the bbc�*s laura kuenssberg. let's start by giving the audience a real picture of what's going on with some statistics. you can see how much the prospect of owning your own home has changed. earnings have doubled since 1997 and house prices have increased four and a half times. then ten years ago if you look at our next graphic we can show people the kind of impact that has
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had on social housing. social housing, 180,000 of them have been lost since between 2012 and 2022 while the conservatives have been in charge, resulting in such huge pressure being put on. if we look at the next set of statistics that has meant we have more and more evictions. just last year 6,000, in 2022, rather last year, a significant increase to more than 9,000 people losing their rented homes when they had done nothing wrong, the so—called no—fault evictions. the knock—on from that to temporary accommodation where people end up is a huge increase, 2013, not long after the conservatives took charge, 55,000, now 2023, more than 100,000 people in temporary accommodation. michael gove, looking at that picture, it is bleak. you yourself said the system is broken, so who broke it? all of the areas you have drawn attention to are areas where we are taking action now. we are taking action to increase the supply of homes overall
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and it is important to stress that there have been 2.5 million homes built since 2010 and that if you look over the last 13 years the four years with the highest number of new homes was 2019. who broke the system? there are a variety of different factors that have driven the challenges that we face. one has been the pressure particularly in our cities. sometimes as a result of overseas investment but certainly as a result of population growth. the other thing has been the need to ensure that we have a pipeline of new homes and that's why we are taking action this week, and we already have been in preceding months, to increase the supply, particularly in our cities where the demand is greatest. and our third factor which i think is important to bear in mind as well, is access to mortgage finance. in the wake of the 2008 financial crash, for entirely understandable reasons, the rules were tightened up on lending overall and that has had
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an impact on people's capacity to buy. briefly, there were two other things you mentioned, social homes, critically important. and the private rented sector, where we are taking action on both. you have identified a growing population, not enough being built and a squeeze on mortgage finance as the reasons. we will talk later perhaps whether the people who have been in charge for so long presiding over this might have some responsibility, too. oh, of course. let's look at one of the specifics, in 2019 in your manifesto you promised you would get rid of what is called section 21 where landlords can evict tenants for no reason. it hasn't happened yet. can you guarantee the 11 million renters in this country that you will end this before the general election? yes, we have a bill, it has gone through its stages in the house of commons and that bill does a number of things to help people in the private rented sector, including ending no—fault evictions.
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why does that matter, some might ask. it is the case that there are a small minority of unscrupulous landlords who use the threat of eviction either to jack up rents or to silence people who are complaining about the quality of their homes. it is important that we deal with that abuse because the vast majority of landlords do a greatjob and if you need a healthy private rented centre as part of a balanced housing economy. you are explicitly saying this morning that practice will be banned, it will not be allowed to happen before the next general election? that is what it says in the bill, the bill ends section 21. there is a different factor here because previously you have said the courts might not be able to cope so we might bring in the new law but it might still happen because the courts are not ready. i ask you again, to be really explicit, will this practice have ended by the time of the next general election? we will have outlawed it and we will have put the money into the courts in order to ensure that they can enforce that. that's very explicit and we have that on the record. let's talk about the huge rise
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in the number of people in temporary housing. we have shown that to our viewers this morning. it is really, really stark. is it acceptable to have that many people in temporary accommodation in one of the richest countries in the world? no, it is not and that is why we are taking action. we have introduced the local authority housing fund which is money that central government gives to councils specifically to acquire new properties to help to deal with this challenge. and also, this week, we are extending loans to housing associations, the people who provide homes for social rent, in order to ensure that there can be at least another 20,000 new social homes. that's on top of the £11.5 billion in the affordable homes programme which is grant money which goes direct to local authorities and housing associations to provide more homes. can you commit today that you will have got the numbers of people in temporary accommodation down before the election? no, i can't. i'm determined that we should do
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so but the pressures, some of which we mentioned earlier, are significant. we are absolutely determined to do everything we can but it is a big issue and it is an issue which is also driven by, as we mentioned earlier, two things. one is the flow of population changes in our country, and there are a variety of different population changes. and the second thing is the tough circumstances that people who are facing economic difficulties face in this country. that's why it is vitally important that we stick to our economic plan which will ensure notjust that the tax burden is lowered but also that we continue to provide support for those most in need. some people might also say it is vitally important that you stick to your plan by having the same people in charge of it. there have been 16 housing ministers in a short succession of years. it is impossible to imagine that
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that has not been part of the problem here, simply the government hasn't focused enough on this issue and hasn't gripped it. i think that that is a category error because actually if you look at the way in which policy has been delivered, then, as i mentioned, we are on the verge of announcing 1 million homes, additional homes having been built since 2019. it is the case if you look as i mentioned over the last three decades the four years with the biggest number of new homes have been since 2019. forgive me, secretary of state, 1 million homes in five years is running less than your target which is 300,000 a year. but your argument is has the change of individual in one role affected the trajectory? and you are saying not. no. i hope the position is clear which is that we have managed to deliver more homes than our predecessors but we're not patting ourselves on the back,
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its just to put that out there, what we are saying we need to go further so it is an honest admission of the scale of the problem but also an honest acknowledgement that we have managed to increase the number of homes and we need to do more. the population has been increasing and the numbers of people waiting for social housing which we would have called council housing in years gone by has gone up and up and these are notjust numbers, these are people whose lives feel like they are on hold, they are stuck. one of our viewers wants you to explain to her why she has been stuck on a waiting list along with more thani million other people for social housing and stuck in temporary accommodation for six years. you can boast about the number of homes you have built but can you explain to her why the conservatives have allowed that to happen? i would never boast but i think it is important to stress what it is we have been doing. i'd like you to explain to our viewer sian why she has been waiting six years.
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i don't know where sian lives, do share the details with me so i can make sure we can do everything we can to help her. more broadly, we need to deliver more homes. i have run through some of the things we have been doing in order to do that. let me make one important point. last year we introduced legislation that would unlock 100,000 new homes, social homes, homes to rent and homes to buy. when we brought forward that legislation the opposition voted against it. so if we are looking for culpability and blame, one of the questions we have to ask is why, when we could have had 100,000 additional homes, did labour vote to stop that? that's because we have a plan to deal with this very important question and labour have no plan at all. michael gove, i think for people listening to you this morning, it is very clear that you acknowledge that there is a significant problem with housing in this country. that's very clear, that comes
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across absolutely clearly. but it is also interesting that you sound almost like a housing campaigner saying this isn't good enough, that doesn't work over there, yes, the system is broken, when in actualfact you have been somebody who has been a minister in successive conservative governments over a period 01:14 years when the situation has got and worse and worse. you even told the sunday times in an interview that has been published today you were worried that if young people don't get the homes they need they might abandon democracy. aren't you worried that if young people don't get the homes they need they are abandoning the conservative party? it's not about party politics, it is about making sure that everyone in this country has a stake in society and that people have a warm, safe and decent home. let me mention three things briefly. speaking to the sunday times, you turn this into an issue of saying our democracy is in jeopardy if we don't do this and you pointed the finger
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of blame at the opposition. you have been in charge for ia years. some people listening this morning might think it is almost to be pointing the finger at others for this. i've mentioned one specific example where we were taking forward proposals in orderfor a change to be made. we needed the support of labour, that support wasn't forthcoming. they need to be held accountable for that as you're holding me accountable for the last ia years. as i mentioned, let's look at the record in context. my approach is always to say we need to do more, we need to do better in every area of government. and i think it's also important that we look at what we have done and ask ourselves what more can be done in order to do what is required ? and it's notjust, as kwajo was mentioning, the number of new homes we need but the quality. some of the resources we give to people who provide housing have had to be spent on improving
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the quality of homes that were built years ago and are now reaching the end of their lives and there are people living with damp, mould and horrific conditions. so, we have arrived at a moment in history where we need to spend notjust on quantity but on quality as well. that is an important lesson because when we were building significant numbers of homes in the �*50s and �*60s they were not of the quality required, so that's why i've placed an emphasis on making sure we improve conditions as well as delivering more homes. are you confident that the chancellor will be persuaded to give you more money to spend on housing in the budget? well, i'm doing everything i can, i mean, short of laying siege to his own home. every day i send him a note or a message emphasising the importance of doing more to unlock housing money. he gets it. jeremy hunt absolutely appreciates the importance of supporting
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the next generation and the critical thing here is all of the progress that we need to make would be put at risk if we had a labour party that has no plan for economic growth... we'll be talking to labour later. and only this week has made another underfunded pledge which would require tax to increase or borrowing to go up. we'll discuss that with labour later in the programme. the foreign secretary has made plain the government's concern about the israelis' expected invasion into rafah. what you say to the israelis? i couldn't put things better than the foreign secretary has and i think simon schama explained the nature of the situation. we need to make sure that the people taken hostage by hamas are returned to their families. the events on october the 7th
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were the worse loss ofjewish life since the holocaust — it was a horrific pogrom and my heart grieves for israel and what it's had to endure. at the same time, while it is right to deal with that terrorist threat, we know that the gazan palestinian population has been suffering and what we want to see is a sustainable ceasefire and that means an opportunity both to make sure that there is an end to hamas terrorism but also that the aid and support the palestinian people need and deserve can be delivered. you can watch more of the laura kuenssberg show on bbc iplayer. authorities in the democratic republic of the congo have told the bbc that the uk needs to leverage its relationship with rwanda to encourage it to stop sponsoring a rebel group known as the m23. the group has been accused of carrying out grave human rights abuses against civilians in eastern drc. it's recently launched a number
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of bomb attacks around the major city of goma, displacing thousands of people. rwanda denies it supports the m23, but the un and us say there's credible evidence that it does back the group. our africa correspondent mayenijones has this report. this was already one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. in the past two years over a million people have been displaced by fighting between pro—government forces and m23 rebels. but in recent weeks the violence has intensified, forcing thousands to flee once again. we have fled thousands to flee once again. 2 have fled empty—handed, just as you see us. no food, no clothes. we need help with shelter and food. for see us. no food, no clothes. we need help with shelter and food.— help with shelter and food. for how lona shall help with shelter and food. for how long shall we _ help with shelter and food. for how long shall we live _ help with shelter and food. for how long shall we live like _ help with shelter and food. for how long shall we live like this? - help with shelter and food. for how long shall we live like this? every i long shall we live like this? every now and — long shall we live like this? every now and then we keep fleeing. m23
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has destabilised us. how can they destabilise the whole region of our country? _ destabilise the whole region of our country? congo does not belong to them, _ country? congo does not belong to them, it_ country? congo does not belong to them, it belongs to all congolese. in the _ them, it belongs to all congolese. in the past— them, it belongs to all congolese. in the past week, this hospital in goma has seen a dramatic increase in the number of patients. they fled from a nearby town after it was attacked by m23 rebels. t from a nearby town after it was attacked by m23 rebels.- from a nearby town after it was attacked by m23 rebels. i have been here following _ attacked by m23 rebels. i have been here following a _ attacked by m23 rebels. i have been here following a bomb _ attacked by m23 rebels. i have been here following a bomb explosion - attacked by m23 rebels. i have been| here following a bomb explosion that hit us. i sustained a pelvic injury caused by shrapnel. this isn't the first war i'd seen but this is very tough and it's the first time i've been injured in a war. for tough and it's the first time i've been injured in a war.— tough and it's the first time i've been injured in a war. for over a decade, pro-government - been injured in a war. for over a decade, pro-government troops j been injured in a war. for over a - decade, pro-government troops have decade, pro—government troops have been fighting rebel groups for control of mineral rich eastern drc. the government has appealed accused the rebels are being sponsored by foreign countries. authorities need international community to do more to stop the violence. we international community to do more to stop the violence.— to stop the violence. we all know the reason _ to stop the violence. we all know
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the reason for _ to stop the violence. we all know the reason for the _ to stop the violence. we all know the reason for the violence, - to stop the violence. we all know the reason for the violence, we i to stop the violence. we all know - the reason for the violence, we know rwanda is the one in the eastern part of dlc for years now. we know that the rwandan government has a relationship with the british government. we want the british government. we want the british government to speak with rwanda to ask them to stop their activities in the eastern drc. m23 ask them to stop their activities in the eastern drc.— ask them to stop their activities in the eastern drc. ~ 5: ., ., ., the eastern drc. m23 and the rwandan rovernment the eastern drc. m23 and the rwandan government deny _ the eastern drc. m23 and the rwandan government deny working _ the eastern drc. m23 and the rwandan government deny working together - the eastern drc. m23 and the rwandan government deny working together but| government deny working together but the un and us say there is credible evidence they are backed by rwanda. m23 say it's protecting minority ethnic groups. the lives of millions of people in eastern drc are devastated. we have approached the uk government to respond to criticism from drc authorities, but they have yet to respond. now to close this hour we have the story of two young penguins in the uk — one partially sighted and the other
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so ill it nearly died at birth. well, their unique bond has meant they haven't just survived. they've thrived. the bbc�*s sean sellick has been to hampshire to meet them. it's good to have a friend, even if you are a penguin. especially a penguin with a problem as they discovered with a colony of african penguins here at birdworld in farnham. these two juveniles had difficulties from birth, they have looked out for each other for the past three years. this one named squid had developed cataracts at a few years old and can't see so well. this male penguin was so ill at birth he was not expected to survive so wasn't even given a name and simply became known as penguin. he eventually became well enough to belatedlyjoin the colony but found it difficult to fit in. however, squid and penguin became friends and have helped each other ever since. they have developed this relationship from quite a young age
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when they both were learning about life in the colony. penguin had to be hand reared after being very sick. and learning how to be a penguin that he hadn't grown up with. and squid because she hatched in the nest and was reared by the parents but with her sickness and her partially sightedness, she's had to learn in a very different way. and they just teamed up and they have been teamed up ever since. at feeding time squid gets assistance from friend penguin. she has very much learnt that she needs to stand next to him at the feed bucket in order to have her focus and from there she will very quickly take the fish. she is definitely much more secure by having him next to her. will this sort friendship endure, do you think? they are not yet mature. penguins do tend to pair for life. whether they will become a pair themselves will be interesting to see. they are compatible as friends but penguins will have friendships as well. so we will have to see. if they form bonds with other
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penguins as pairs, that could impact this particularfriendships but we don't know. we have not had the like before. they can live for around a0 years so squid and penguin may have many decades together here at birdworld's penguin beach. sean killick, bbc news. what a lovely photo to end the story. now it's time for a look at the weather with simon king. hello there, it's been a rather misty and murky start to the day and we had quite a bit of fog first thing this morning across parts of north wales, the midlands, northern england and central scotland. much of that mist and fog has tended to clear away but this was the scene in edinburgh first thing this morning, tricky driving conditions if you're on the roads. it has also been pretty wet, that rain across eastern england is clearing away. it will stay wet in the far northeast of scotland throughout this afternoon, elsewhere showers will push in. they could be on the heavy side,
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especially in the south—east of england but also some sunny spells this afternoon with maximum temperatures of six degrees in aberdeen, about 11 celsius in london. through tonight, we continue with some showers especially around western areas, those could turn wintry over higher ground. clear skies elsewhere and that means it could be quite chilly to start off on monday morning, certainly in the countryside in more rural areas we will see some frost. in the towns and cities temperatures just staying above freezing. it is because we have this area of low pressure and around this area we will see the winds coming in from scandinavia, through iceland and the north atlantic so all of us are in the colder air to start off the new working week. so yes, pretty cold and chilly first thing. further showers will spread in from the west, especially over northern ireland, western scotland and again falling as snow over the higher ground of scotland, elsewhere should be largely dry with sunny spells and maximum temperatures on monday afternoon, 7—10 celsius.
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for the rest of the week we will have areas of low pressure and weather fronts moving on from the south—west so bouts of rain, it will not be a complete wash—out, just spells of rain moving in. tuesday morning dry, fairly bright to start off with. cloud increasing from the south—west and you can see rain moving in to south—west england, wales, northern england and northern ireland. again there could be one or two wintry showers over the higher ground in scotland. temperatures 9—11 celsius, but they will rise further as we go through the rest of the week. you can see that milder south—westerly wind, except the far north and west of scotland, herejust staying in the colder air. temperatures will come up above the average for the time of year, i3—ia celsius for southern areas. as i said, quite mixed throughout the week with spells of rain. bye— bye.
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live from london, this is bbc news. israel faces growing international warnings over its plans for a major ground offensive in rafah, as the un struggles to help the 1.5 million displaced palestinians sheltering in the city.
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the white house condemns remarks by donald trump, who said he would encourage russia to do whatever it wants to any nato ally that fails to meet its financial obligations. king charles attends his first church service since his cancer diagnosis was announced. their leader was jailed and their party and symbol banned, but final results from pakistan's election show independent candidates allied to imran khan won the most seats in parliament. hello, i'm catherine byaruhanga. we start in the middle east, and international warnings are growing over israel's planned offensive in rafah — the city in southern gaza, where more than half the territory's population is sheltering after fleeing their homes elsewhere in the strip.
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the uk foreign secretary lord cameron says he's "deeply

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