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tv   BBC News  BBC News  February 17, 2024 5:00pm-6:01pm GMT

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and keeping up the fight for compensation — hundreds of sub—postmasters forced into bankruptcy are still demanding redress. hello and welcome, i'm samantha simmonds. we begin in ukraine, where president zelensky has blamed the fall of a key eastern town on a lack of long—range weapons. ukrainian troops have withdrawn from avdiivka, which is almost completely destroyed, after being besieged by russian forces for months. it's moscow's most significant military success since may. mr zelensky has told the munich security conference that ukrainian forces were outgunned by ten to one and the decision was taken to save the soldiers�* lives. more from munich shortly. but first, our correspondent in kyiv — james waterhouse — told us more about the significance
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of avdiivka. avdiivka had become a ukrainian stronghold, really. this was a place which sits on the front line for the past decade. it separates ukrainian controlled territory and the eastern city of donetsk, which russian forces have controlled since 2014. in that time, the ukrainians built real substantial fortifications, and yet in recent months the russians have launched wave after wave of attack, suffering significant losses. at one point, hundreds of soldiers were being killed weekly, if not daily. but crucially the ukrainians suffered losses as well. and because we are in a war of attrition, where both sides are trying to exhaust each other, size is starting to count for more, and i think this is what we have seen with avdiivka. a city, once an industrial hub, now drained of life and almost completely destroyed.
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some ukrainian forces were captured as they tried to escape, most made it out, we are told. president zelensky, speaking to world leaders in munich made the argument that his troops were not really defending anything so they had to move out to preserve life and move to new defensive positions, and he had his own reasons as to why russia was allowed to make this type of advance. dear friends. unfortunately, keeping ukraine in an artificial deficit of weapons, particularly in deficit of artillery and long—range capabilities allows putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war. you notice he said the word "artificial". he believes the stuttering supplies of weapons from ukraine's allies is down to choice. it is mostly down to political disagreements in the us, and it is america which leads the way when it comes to aid to ukraine, because of the speed and scale with which it can manufacture weapons.
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a sizeable package, worth more than $90 billion, is still yet to be approved, and most of that includes weapons and ammunition for ukraine. any talk that you hear about liberation, of ukraine perhaps repelling russia completely, i think that has been very much shelved for now. ukraine, by the admission of its own generals, is on a defensive footing and the hope is very much that avdiivka will not be the first of many. let's speak to defence analystjonathan marcus, for more about the latest developments in ukraine. welcome to you. russia seems to have been making gains in ukraine, this the latest one.— the latest one. how significant is it? it is very _ the latest one. how significant is it? it is very significant. - the latest one. how significant is it? it is very significant. it - the latest one. how significant is it? it is very significant. it is - it? it is very significant. it is the first significant russian advance since a much earlier last year. russia clearly now has the initiative, it is on the point of trying to take back territory that the ukrainians captured last year in
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a number of other areas. of course, much of it is due to the fact the russians are willing to expend huge numbers of lives and losses of equipment to make this headway, but also the fact as president zelensky was saying in munich earlier today, the ukrainians are suffering from a dramatic shortage in ammunition. this is a many ways an intensely artillery war. shells are being fired at volumes perhaps nobody has seen or even imagined would be the case in modern warfare, from very long time now. because of essentially the us delay, the halt in this huge aid package to ukraine, largely because of the republicans in the house of representatives, the ukrainians are starved of ammunition. you hear stories of factories down to very small numbers
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of shells, or no shells, they have propellant with the fire but no i'm initial as such. they have the admonition but don't have the propellants. it is a serious case, the ukrainians have pulled back into avdiivka. they had little choice, they wanted to extricate their men and equipment. as i say, it means the russians have the initiative, and the hope clearly for president zelensky and supporters of ukraine is that these events galvanise opinion in the west, and perhaps bring about some sort of serious urgency in actually giving ukraine the wearable to defend itself. [30 the wearable to defend itself. do ou the wearable to defend itself. do you think they will? we have seen president zelensky today, will conversations make a difference? it is interesting, i've been to dozens of these new near one security converters over the years. they are
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the paramount talking shop about security issues in europe. of course, everything depends on context. what is going on when these events happen? does that give a greater sense of urgency? i think with this particular conference this year, we've seen these setbacks will ukrainians, we have seen the death of this prominent reformist in russia, which has revealed once again the nature of the putin regime. you have the spectre of donald trump looming in the united states, and of course this immediate halt or delay to the significant us aid package. whether that means the combination of those factors changes opinion on capitol hill in united states, but i think would be clearly a good thing for ukraine. whether it pushes the europeans to come up with a kind of plan b to support ukraine
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with greater intensity in the short—term, i don't know. we really shouldn't be here. too much time has elapsed for the europeans not to have upped ammunition supplies. all sorts of irons are in the fire, plans to build a new ammunition factory by a german company in ukraine itself. a new contract for our munition has been placed by european governments, but it is all far too slow. the problem president zelensky was making sure is that the problem is now. zelensky was making sure is that the problem is nova— in a joint news conference with president zelensky, us vice president, kamala harris reiterated her country's support for ukraine. political gamesmanship has no role to play in what is fundamentally about the significance of standing with an ally, as it endures and unprovoked aggression. politics should play no role in standing for the fact that vladimir putin,
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through his leadership of russia, has shown himself to be fundamentally hostile to democratic principles, not to mention what we have learned about in the last 2a hours, in terms of the killing of navalny. also dominating the munich conference are the sudden death of leading russian opposition figure alexei navalny and the israel—gaza war, including the looming ground incursion of rafah. our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is there for us and following the discussions. a concern about russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine that has only been deepened by the death of alexei navalny. of course, volodymyr zelensky addressed this conference and called on his partners in europe and canada and america to ensure they keep that vital
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support coming, lest, he said, ukraine is standing on its own against russia. this certainly is an issue for all members of nato, including a country which is, we believe, about tojoin nato, and that is sweden. we're joined now by sweden's defence minister, pauljohnson. has the death of alexei navalny deepened your already existing concern about your existing neighbour russia? of course, we think about his family and friends and relatives and the responsibilities for this is on russia and putin himself. sweden's own support for ukraine in its war against russia... is yourjoining of nato imminent? you are sure that hungary, the last country whose support you need, is forthcoming? yes, we are very hopeful. already, of course, the other allies have ratified and what we're
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hearing now from budapest is that they are willing also to ratify us in the hungarian parliament, and that is very good for sweden, but we also think it is good for nato because sweden inside nato is going to strengthen the whole northern flank of the alliance. and it is good for nato's ability to deter and defend risk or aggression so we are determined to be a fully—fledged group member of the alliance soon. how real is that the risk of aggression? there was a huge amount of attention to a warning from defence chiefs to the population of sweden to prepare for war, is it that real? it's not an imminent risk for an armed attack against us or any of the allies but the security environment has definitely deteriorated due to russia's full—scale invasion of ukraine, taking place on the doorstep of the alliance and it is only 800 kilometres between the ukrainian—swedish borders. in addition, we take note of russia that is willing to take great political and military risks. russia has not been impressive
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on the battlefield but it has shown a high degree of resilience, it is able to generate new armed forces, new soldiers, new tanks, and this is something we have to take into account, too. and i always say supporting ukraine is the right and the smart thing to do because right now it is ukraine who is the shield against russian military expansion. how worried are you about comments by former president trump about the nato alliance and how already he is having an impact on holding up vital support to ukraine in the us congress? i think it is very important we, both in europe and the united states, continue supporting ukraine, it is really an investment into our own security. i think now is the time for unity in the euro—atlantic community. one thing is also crystal clear, europeans have to step up when it comes to our own defence investment and our ability to strengthen our armed forces. you will be able to meet the requirement of spending 2% of your gdp on defence? we are already 2.2% this year
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and we doubled our defence expenditure in four years and this year we increased the defence budget with 27% because we get it, defence investments are part of cohesion and solidarity within the alliance and we will do our share and continue to spend more than 2.2%. as a defence minister, you know how critical us support is, any diminishing in the us�*s involvement will have consequences for nato and for countries like you which are front—line states in the war in any tensions with russia. sure. there are good things coming out of nato, let me be clear, i came back from nato two days ago. nato is adapting new regional defence plans. we can see now that when sweden joins, they will be 20 allies out of 32 who have reached 2.2%. that's a drastic increase in defence investment. the most important thing for nato now is to make sure those regional plans, that we have military assets and capabilities to make those
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regional plans are credible. are those plans there? is there enough support from other countries that are further away from the border area where you are? we are moving in the right direction and we are getting stronger every day and i think sweden inside nato will make the alliance even stronger. there was a warning from germany that it could take a decade before you have enough of the arms and ammunition you need, both to help ukraine and defend yourselves. certain things will definitely be lacking in europe, one is available ground forces, we know we are short on that, what we need to focus on is to put ourselves in the war footing when it comes to logistics, maintenance and supplies for our ground forces, we are lacking long—range strike capabilities. we are learning from the war in ukraine that air defence is very important. satellite—based intelligence and communications. so, a lot of investors we have to do in europe in the coming years. more now on the death
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of alexei navalny, one of president putin's most prominent critics. his family says mr navalny�*s mother has tried — but failed — to collect her son's body from a morgue in the arctic circle. a spokesperson claimed it is purposely being withheld by russian authorities so they can "cover traces". the authorities say the investigation must be collected first. demonstrations and vigils have taken place near russian embassies in many countries to express outrage at his death in prison. more than 100 protesters are reported to have been detained for attending memorials in russia. our first report this hour is from our eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford. this was a walk towards the news navalny�*s mother didn't want to hear. way up in the russian arctic at the prison where her son was held, she has now been informed officially of his death. but his spokeswoman told the bbc the family still don't have his body. we don't have any clue where
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he is now and what is happening to him and when it will be given to the family. alexei navalny died on friday at 14:17, an opposition politician who dared to speak out in a country where dissent is dangerous. but in moscow today, supporters came onto the streets to remember him. some were arrested, dragged to police vans. since the first reports of navalny�*s death, people have been leaving tributes at monuments to the victims of political repression — in stalin's time. the symbolism is deliberate. however navalny died, he had been arrested and locked up because of his politics. he denounced vladimir putin and his team as "crooks and thieves". arresting him became almost routine. then three years ago, navalny fell desperately ill on a plane.
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tests in germany showed he'd been poisoned with novichok, a nerve agent. when he recovered, he returned to russia and was sent straight to prison. the criminal charges began piling up then to keep him there. navalny had been in courtjust a day before his death was announced, appearing via video link from prison. his persistent cheer was, in itself, an act of resistance. journalists used to ask navalny constantly whether he was afraid for his life and he would brush the question off. then two years ago, he was asked for his message to supporters if he were killed. for the situation when i'm killed, it's very simple — not give up. without navalny, though, the future for all russians who hoped for change has never looked bleaker. sarah rainsford, bbc news. let's speak now to peter pomerantsev,
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a soviet—born british journalist and author of two books on russian propaganda. he is also a senior fellow at the institute of global affairs at the london school of economics. welcome to you. thank you for being with us. let's start with the point sarah was making, what impact will his death have on any opposition within russia now?— within russia now? well, unless something _ within russia now? well, unless something very _ within russia now? well, unless something very dramatic - within russia now? well, unless i something very dramatic happens, there is no opposition within russia now in the sense of an organised protest movement. there was one, navalny added. protest movement. there was one, navalny added-— navalny added. what do you think made him such _ navalny added. what do you think made him such a _ navalny added. what do you think made him such a charismatic- navalny added. what do you think. made him such a charismatic leader and a figure people followed for so many years and put so much of their faith and hopes into?— faith and hopes into? well, i would say people's _ faith and hopes into? well, i would say people's attitude _ faith and hopes into? well, i would say people's attitude toward - faith and hopes into? well, i would say people's attitude toward him i say people's attitude toward him were sober and balance, never a mass of people with the same political
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views, a broad spectrum of different people. what he did have was courage and bravery. in russia we don't have party politics. you don't have politics in the classic sense, you have the moral drama, which is the essence of the system. it is a system based around breaking people, getting them to kneel and kiss putin's feed. you wouldn't do that, he refused to bend, break. he was a model of courage, nuts why he inspired people, but also when you are the courageous man of conformance, a lot of people bigotry. if you are a conformist —— people begrudge you. some felt ashamed of it, and it meant maybe some were not that upset when putin crushed him. we some were not that upset when putin crushed him-— crushed him. we have seen world leaders today. —
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crushed him. we have seen world leaders today, certainly _ crushed him. we have seen world leaders today, certainly the - crushed him. we have seen world leaders today, certainly the us i crushed him. we have seen world | leaders today, certainly the us and uk, come out and criticise putin directly and say russia will pay. do you believe he well, he will ever be held responsible, if he is responsible rock putin is honesty responsible, that's not a hard thing to argue. the responsible, that's not a hard thing to an ue. . ., responsible, that's not a hard thing to araue. . ., ,_ responsible, that's not a hard thing to araue. . ., _, , to argue. the criminal system is ca tured to argue. the criminal system is captured by _ to argue. the criminal system is captured by the _ to argue. the criminal system is captured by the state, _ to argue. the criminal system is captured by the state, a - to argue. the criminal system is captured by the state, a proven| captured by the state, a proven fact. there is no doubt who is responsible. the great fight against russia's regime, which endangers and kills its own opposition, and tens of hundreds of thousands of people in syria and ukraine and in other places. the ukrainians are the one fighting for their own freedom, and bizarrely also for russian freedom. it is their own freedom which is paramount, and they are defending ourfreedom by being on the paramount, and they are defending our freedom by being on the front line against putin. the resistance
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against putin comes from ukraine. unless we betray them. you mean unless we give them more arms, ammunition or money to support the war effort? for ammunition or money to support the war effort? ., ., , ., , ., war effort? for example, as a starter, war effort? for example, as a starter. yes- _ war effort? for example, as a starter, yes. what _ war effort? for example, as a starter, yes. what else? - war effort? for example, as a starter, yes. what else? i- war effort? for example, as a i starter, yes. what else? i think war effort? for example, as a - starter, yes. what else? i think we have two really have a strong look at how we perceive defence. it's not about giving stuff to ukraine, it's about giving stuff to ukraine, it's about creating a security system, which auguste was talking about where everyone shares the burden, the europe and the us, and coming together. it's not about charity for ukraine, where we give them a couple of missiles from the edge of our not very full table. it's about thinking seriously about security and seeing ukraine as part of our struggle. this is our struggle, ukraine is currently on the front edges and trenches of. currently on the front edges and trenches of-_ currently on the front edges and trenches of. peter, thank you for bein:
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trenches of. peter, thank you for being with _ trenches of. peter, thank you for being with us _ trenches of. peter, thank you for being with us and _ trenches of. peter, thank you for being with us and your— trenches of. peter, thank you for being with us and your thoughts. many sub—postmasters who were wrongly accused of theft and fraud are still fighting for compensation, despite the scandal now being recognised as one of the biggest miscarriages ofjustice in uk history. the cases taking the longest to solve involve the victims who were forced to declare bankruptcy in order to pay back the losses they were accused of making. our business correspondent emma simpson has more. tony downey is finally heading back to his old home in the lake district. it has taken him 15 years to have the courage to return. tony bought the hawkshead post office in 2001. he said it was buzzing and a dream come true. it's a childcare centre now. what's it like to be back? 0verwhelming, to be honest. a lot of emotions after 15 years of not coming back here. now i live in spain in a rented apartment with no career, no money, no pension, no nothing. tony had £35,000 of shortfalls at his branch. he and his wife used their savings and credit cards
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to balance the books. when another £7,000 of losses appeared, they could not pay any more. tony resigned and sold up, advised to go bankrupt two months later. he is still nervous about who he might meet here, but not diane. she bought the post office from him and guess what — she had shortfalls too. it was tony who encouraged her to claim for compensation. i've been on antidepressants ever since all this started. we had several audits, each time they were demanding money. the last one we had said you either pay £1,200 now or you are going to be prosecuted. you think, crikey, we will be led out of here in handcuffs! this is awful! we had £3,000 and they literally made my wife go to the bank, and she went to our friends to borrow money and we had to pay it by half past four. i thought it was me, you thought it was you, and it wasn't — it wsa the computer system.
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same post office. same problems. here's the thing — the post office has accepted that horizon was to blame for tony's losses at his branch but they won't admit causing his bankruptcy. so far, he has ended up withjust £10,000 worth of damages, far less than he is owed. the rest of the £1a0,000 worth of compensation has gone straight to the official receiver to pay off his bankruptcy debts. in a statement, the post office said...
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tony is doing that. his legal team are dealing with most of the bankruptcy cases. the enemy is time. the fear and worry we have is that people are left in a situation where they have to throw the towel in because time is running out and they want some sort of resolution or some sort of access to money. he believes tony has got a very strong case. just how long will it take to unravel? emma simpson, bbc news, hawkshead. the japanese space agency has launched its new flagship h3 rocket on a two—hour test flight, after years of delays and two aborted attempts. the h3 had a successful liftoff from kagoshima on saturday and the space agency says the rocket has already released one micro—satellite. compared to its predecessor, the h3 is cheaper and has a greater payload capacity. the agency hopes that will help it win launch orders
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from global clients. we will keep a night on its progress. stay with those, i am back shortly with the headlines. hello, there. good afternoon. some very mild air across the uk at the moment. some pretty spring—like scenes too, such as here in perth and kinross, lots of snowdrops. but for many it's been a grey, damp and drizzly day today. the ground already saturated too, in places, especially out towards the west. and there's a band of heavy rain sweeping eastwards overnight tonight — could potentially lead to some more surface water flooding. of course, very large puddles out there, as this heavy rain just pushes southwards and eastwards through the night, moving into shetland and lingering across east anglia and the far south east of england. but some clear spells developing behind, although temperatures won't drop very far, staying in double figures for most. a few isolated showers out
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towards the north and the west as we head into tomorrow morning. but a rather soggy start to the day across the south east of england, down towards the south coast as well, east anglia and across shetland. the rain will eventually clear, but it could linger on for some as we head even into the first part of the afternoon, but it will turn gradually more showery. that rain, cloud behind it, the cloud breaking up to leave us with some bright and some sunny spells. but for many, i think it will stay largely dry through the day on sunday. some isolated showers again out towards the west of scotland, werha ps western wales and northern ireland, but mostly dry. temperatures again well above the seasonal average, peaking between ten and 1a, maybe even 15 degrees celsius. next week, though, temperatures will be dipping back down to the seasonal average. so it will be feeling colder, particularly by night. and it's still going to be rather unsettled. various areas of low pressure moving in from the atlantic, including another one on sunday night and into monday. and that's going to bring us some showery outbreaks of rain. it's all pushing its way further
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southwards and eastwards, gradually fizzling out. lots of brighter skies behind it, along with a northwesterly wind. and again, a few isolated showers in the north and the west, but a definite dip in temperature there, feeling a little fresher by a couple of degrees. and it will be feeling cooler, too, on monday night, with many of our temperatures widely dropping back into mid—single figures. there's another weather front coming through on tuesday. strong, gusty winds as we head through wednesday, with more heavy, persistent rain for the south of england. so here's the temperature outlook for our capital cities as we head through next week. it will be feeling cooler and it will stay unsettled. wet, very windy at times. bye bye.
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live from london — this is bbc news. ukraine's president zelensky blames the fall of the front line town of avdiivka to russian forces on a lack of long—range weapons. he says his troops were outgunned. the mother of kremlin critic alexei navalny has been unable to recover his body from a morgue in the arctic. a family spokesperson has told the bbc the authorities are hiding it. we know that the law has never been applied to alexei. and so we have no doubt that they will try to hide his body as long as possible. more than 100 protesters
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are reported to have been detained for attending memorials in russia. in the us the words "putin murderer" were projected on to the embassy building. and nasa is on a hunt for martians. the space agency wants four volunteers prepared to spend a year living and working inside a base that simulates the surface of the red planet. hello and welcome. more now on the death of alexei navalny, who was regarded as one of the most prominent critics of russian president vladimir putin. around the world, demonstrations and vigils have taken place near russian embassies to express outrage at his death in prison. christo grozev is an investigative journalist who exposed the operatives behind mr navalny�*s poisoning in 2020. i asked him how he felt when he heard that mr navalny had died. well, it was almost a deja vu in many respects.
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first of all, a couple of months ago, there was a moment when everybody from his team, and also investigative journalists, who were following him, thought that he might have been killed. that was the period when he was moved to one relatively centraljail in a prison in russia, to the remote permafrost of siberia, where he was held for the last couple of months. he disappeared for almost a month. and we were all worrying, thinking that maybe if putin wanted to kill him, that would be the perfect time, with no witnesses. then he reappeared and we were so happy. and then yesterday, the news literally brought the same fears, but this time with a terrible conclusion. my first thought was, of course, what his family must be feeling right now, who have been going through three years of not knowing what's happening with their husband and dad. they kept him in solitary confinement against the constitution, the russian constitution, against russian laws, a total of 300 days and nights he spent in solitary confinement only the last year.
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and now, after all this trepidation and expectation of some news about their their family member, they found he was dead. were you shocked at the news? did it surprise you, given that you had investigated this poisoning four years ago? again, what we're seeing now is a repetition of what we saw there in terms of a cover—up. whether it surprised us... i was speaking to a member of his team the day before, and she was very concerned that, just before the elections, putin might pull this one off and just decide that it's the time to get rid of any opposition voices that have a potential to unite the anti—putin and anti—war coalition. we've seen a lot of protests of women, mothers and wives of soldiers against the war in ukraine. and we know that, even from jail, from prison, navalny was probably the strongest and best heard voice
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against the war. so timing seemed opportune for putin to get rid of this voice. thousands of people have come out in russia and around the world to show their support for him and their sympathy for his death, or his loss. what do you think is going to happen now to the opposition movement in russia? does it even exist really any more? well, i mean, it exists in prisons and outside of the country. i'm really concerned about the people who remain to be in prison in russia. what we are seeing now is an example of what we suspected. putin has zero reputation cost. he really wants to be known as the killer. i mean, he's not even hiding it. there's no deniability to what happened. now they're hiding the body, as we just heard. if you wanted this to be a cover—up, to be not seen as his hand eliminating the opposition voices, he would have done better than hide the body. so i think it's a message
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to all the opposition leaders, all opposition figures in russia, that you may be next. and i think there may be more of that. 0n the other hand, there's this probably, as yulia navalny yesterday said at the munich security conference, this is the one time that the world might finally get the message and decide to be much more kinetic in their attempts to get rid of this regime. maybe. anotherfriend of alexei navalny is anti—corruption campaigner bill browder. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet caught up with him at the munich security conference. well, the sudden news of alexei navalny�*s death in that arctic circle penal column has stunned this conference, the munich security conference. and today it's also casting a very dark cloud with delegates here, including defense chiefs, prime ministers, presidents, people from around the world holding president putin responsible for his death, but also focusing on what can be done, in their words, to hold him responsible.
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but one man who has focused on this question for a very long time is bill browder, who heads the global magnitskyjustice campaign, which is all about putting pressure on vladimir putin. first, i must ask you, bill browder, you knew alexei navalny. your reaction to his death? it's heartbreaking. absolutely heartbreaking. he was the hope for russia. he was what russia should be. he was against corruption. he was for democracy. he was for free speech. and he was going against these criminals, these murderers, and he was calling them out. and the most important thing is that in spite of how hard they were grinding him and sending him to siberia and sending him to solitary confinement, he always joked, he always smiled, and he always showed that that nothing they could do to could break him. and that that symbolism
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for the russian people was so important, because everybody is, in one way or another, in prison in russia, even if they're not in prison and losing him, having them kill him. and make no mistake, this was a murder. this was a politically motivated murder. it's heartbreaking for me, for his family. most importantly, for his family, but also for the people of russia. why do you think it happened now? there's an election coming up. putin is really, in a certain way, weak. he doesn't you know, he's thumping his chest like he owns the world, but he doesn't. he's lost, according to ukrainian estimates, 400,000 soldiers. the economy is in a state of total disarray. assets frozen across the world, no access to banks. he's in a very weak position and worried that given a choice, people will say, you know what, we're not we don't want to have you around any more. and if for some reason that were to happen, he would lose hisjob.
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of course, he would lose his money. he could lose his liberty and he'd lose his life. and putin is desperately scared of losing power. so he loses his life. and so you've got a guy who's challenging him even from prison. alexei navalny was saying, "vote for any candidate just to show them" to the to the polling station. we're not allowed to demonstrate. but how could that be a demonstration if we all show up at exactly noon? he was saying these things from prison. and putin, who is terrified right now of his own people, i guess, finally crossed the line. and he said the benefits from killing him are greater and he took the step. and i should point out that he tried doing this once before. he tried killing alexei navalny in 2020 with novichok in siberia. didn't succeed. and then now has succeeded. of course, the kremlin is denying that they are responsible for his death. but around the world
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and here in munich, where leaders are saying president putin must be held responsible, there must be consequences. he's already under a raft of sanctions. what more could be done? well, i mean, so this is the thing. if this had happened before the war in ukraine, there's like every possibility of sanctions, we could have frozen central bank reserves, frozen oligarch money frozen to cut them off from swift. but we've already done that. and so, you know, yes, we should do some more of thatjust because we have to. you can't. is there anything more to do? yeah, there's plenty of more things to do. but none of them are going to be particularly materially painful compared to what we've already done. and that's the problem. he's. you know, 95% sanctions. we can go to 96%, 97%. but does that does that change anything of his behaviour? the answer is no. i think right now the other thing
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we should be focusing on is how do we save the other political prisoners? vladimir kara—murza is sentenced to 25 years in prison for treason. you also, like navalny, went home knowing that this would happen. he went back to russia. he went back to russia at the beginning of the war, called putin a war criminal and a murderer, and then was arrested and sentenced to 25 years. he's also sitting in a jail cell in siberia in solitary confinement, like alexei navalny. and he won't survive. you have ilya yashin, who's another opposition leader who's serving eight years for calling the war a war. there's a there's a man named alexei goranov, who's missing a lung, who's in prison, who's dying in prison for nine years for calling the war a war. there's a bunch of vulnerable russian political prisoners that we could get out like we did in the soviet times.
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do you think putin would be ready to let them go in exchange for some russian spies that have been arrested in the baltic countries or whatever. i think that that that's possible and and that should be a priority right now, because who's going to run russia when the putin regime falls? do we want some weird fascist sentiment imminent? who knows? but but we have to have real people who are real opposition, who are real democrats, who are real free speech people. but we need others now, and we can't have them dying in a russian prison. bill browder, thank you very much forjoining us. bill browder here among many of the delegates speaking to countries around the world about what must be done now, even without the death of alexei navalny, the focus here in munich would have been on russia's full scale invasion of ukraine almost two years to the day. and now the death of alexei navalny has deepened the concerns about russia and what must be done to deal with president vladimir putin's russia. lyse doucet there. israel says it has taken dozens of people into custody at one of gaza's main hospitals after troops raided the facility. according to the hamas—run health ministry, at least 120 patients
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and five medical teams are stuck without water, food and electricity in the nasser hospital in gaza's main southern city of khan yunis. the israeli military says it has "credible intelligence" that hostages seized by hamas — which is considered by the uk and us to be a terror organisation — were held at the hospital. the united nations and world health organization have both criticised the operation. last week, people in the north of gaza told the bbc that children were going without food for days, and some people were eating animal feed ground with flour. the un has warned acute malnutrition among young children there has risen sharply, and is above the critical threshold of 15%. the un's humanitarian coordination agency, 0cha, says more than half the aid missions to the north of gaza were denied access last month, and there is increasing interference from israeli forces. it says 300,000 people estimated to be living in northern areas face a growing risk of famine. a spokesman for the israeli military said last month that there was "no starvation in gaza" and agency, cogat, repeatedly said it does
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not limit the amount of humanitarian aid sent to gaza. nedda mays is a palestinian nutritionist and registered dietician based in the us. she told me what she's heard about the lack of access to food in gaza. what is happening in gaza in regards to the weaponised starvation against the entire population is absolutely horrific. we have so many people in desperate need of increased nutrition, actually, so we have different categories of high risk populations, starting with pregnant women, lactating and nursing women, children. in nutrition we like to talk about the first 1000 days. that is the time period of a child being conceived up to their second birthday. this time is absolutely crucial for nutrition and any change or any deficit in nutrition
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for the child and for the mum is going to permanently impact that child for life. we also have the elderly which are at risk for malnutrition. we have so many injured, civilians, injured people who are once again at need for increased nutrition. if they were in a hospital in any otherarea, they would be getting extra protein, extra calories, extra nutrients to support the healing of those injuries. and here we are at an extreme deficit. and the men are spending their entire days digging out loved ones from the rubble. this is extreme energy burning activity. and they are once again facing malnutrition, starvation. how are they supposed to have the energy to save their loved ones when they don't have the energy to do anything or even survive? most people are eating less than one meal a day at this point. so we are in the phase of severe
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malnutrition, which is defined as reaching 25% or less than your recommended nutrition intake. what are the long term impacts of this? when we talk about the young children, as i said, in that first thousand days, this is a period of time where every single organ in the body is developed. so without proper nutrition, to develop those organs and develop those biological systems, their development is impacted. so we can, you know, we can see a range of different effects because of that. cognitive abilities are permanently impacted... benjamin neta nyahu is benjamin netanyahu is giving a briefing to the press. i
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benjamin netanyahu is giving a briefing to the press.— benjamin netanyahu is giving a briefing to the press. i would like to extend my _ briefing to the press. i would like to extend my condolences - briefing to the press. i would like to extend my condolences to - briefing to the press. i would like to extend my condolences to the | to extend my condolences to the families of those who were murdered in the terrible attack. this terror attack reminds us that this entire country is at the forefront and the terrorist some, not only from gaza, and they want to kill all of us. we are committed to fight against them, to reinstate peace and quiet in the north and south, and throughout the country. this victory is within reach and we will achieve it, thanks to the amazing resilience of you, the citizens of israel, and thanks to the heroism of our fighters. the citizens of israel, and thanks to the heroism of ourfighters. i would like to tell you about this heroism this evening. i recently visited the rehabilitation wards at the shiva hospital and i met some fierce fighters there. they moved me to tears. 0ne fierce fighters there. they moved me to tears. one of them lost both his legs above the thigh and he looked
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me in the eyes and said, saw, mr prime minister, we must continue. carry on until the end. this exact same words i heard from all the other competence you are in rehabilitation, some without two legs, some of that one arm, some without one leg. without exception they all said to me, we must continue until victory, until we eradicate hamas. some of them even added, when we recover we will resume the fighting because only victory can save our country. citizens of israel, i am saying this, and you all know this, we have an amazing generation and we owe them such a great debt. it is thanks to them that we can continue to fight and until we achieve all of the goals of the fighting, this week, an amazing operation of the
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imam in the idf, we brought back to hostages to their families. i was watching them as they were about to break into the terrorists�* then. it was 1:40am and it was the decisive moment, the moment in which the distance between failure and success is this thin, and within seconds, i heard over the radio comms, the sentence, thejewel, the diamonds are in our hand. and we all side of relief and there was tremendous joy,. despite the great risk i approve this complex operation because i believe in our troops, in their determination in their heroism, in their courage. when i met with them the following day i embraced them, and i said, you are the best. you are the best combat soldiers in the world. the people of israel are proud of you. the essence
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of the policy regarding hostage relief as harsh negotiations and fierce activities. this is how we have released so far 112 hostages and we will continue within that line until we release them all. i have to tell you, citizens of israel, that until this very moment, the demands of hamas are outrageous, like hallucinations, and they only mean one thing. defeat for israel. but once they relinquish these demands, we can resume negotiations and i would like to say to the families of the hostages, we are not forgetting our commitment to bringing them, all the hostages, not for one minute. i would like to say one more thing to the evacuees in the north and the south. the government of israel is committed to bring you back to your homes safely come up with security. we are reaching this target soon in the
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south and in the north we will list achieve that, either diplomatically or militarily. such a decisive victory in the south means one message to all our enemies. this will reinstate security to the entire country on our way to achieve it we are paying a dear price. heroic, courageous soldiers was killed this week as well, for example the tenant corporal, father of five, an italian commander. his father eulogised him in the funeral and said, thejewish people lives, notjust and said, thejewish people lives, not just a slogan. and said, thejewish people lives, notjust a slogan. they and said, thejewish people lives, not just a slogan. they went to fight fierce enemy and, with their death, they gave us a country free of enemies and i am saying this to albert and all the citizens of israel, we will not stop until we obliterate the brutal enemy that people gave their lives to
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eradicate. we are now fighting in khan younis, the capital of terrorism, and in recent days we have reached places the enemy never could have imagined us reaching. we have demolished most hamas battalions and we will not stop until we destroy all of them. this is a necessary condition in order to achieve absolute victory. we will hunt down the terrorist, the leaders of hamas, who are escaping from one tunnel to the next underground. we will reach them ultimately and settle the score. it is only a matter of time. two days ago i spoke again with the president of the us, joe biden. i speak with leaders from different countries every day and i say to them unequivocally, israel will fight until it achieves absolute victory. and yes, this includes also operating in rafah. 0nce includes also operating in rafah. once we enable the civilians in the combat zone is to move on to safer places those who seek to stop us
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from operating in rafah are actually saying to us that we should lose this war but i will not agree to that. the diplomatic front i read it with my colleagues enables us to operate with unprecedented freedom of action for five months now and i would like to tell you that this cannot be taken for granted. we are achieving this thanks to your support, you, the citizens of israel, and we will not surrender to any pressure. we will not surrender because we are a people, a nation of heroes, because we wish to live. we will not surrender because we must eradicate evil. we will not surrender to various international instructions regarding future agreements with the palestinians. i have made it clear to the cabinet and i am also emphasising this to the whole world now. an arrangement will only be achieved through direct negotiations between the parties, without preconditions and
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prerequisites. the state official will continue to adamantly object to one—sided recognition of a palestinian state. to do so after the terrible massacre of october the 7th, there couldn�*t be a better price for terrorism. this will prevent any future agreement or treaty for peace. citizens of israel we are on our way to peace. 0ur troops demand that the wounded demand that, the brief families demand that, the brief families demand that, the brief families demand that, and the vast majority of israelis demand that. in order to achieve victory we need one thing. unity. not unity forjust one moment, but real unity. when i met our courageous fighters in the rehabilitation wards in hospitals i saw this unity in all its glory. i was in orfrom it. ifelt a kind of elation. difficult to explain in words. i embraced these heroes. i
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was touched and moved by them. after a short while this election was replaced with a disappointment because, when i left the hospital, another visitor came here. he spoke to a fighter who lost his leg in battle. instead of strengthening him he asked him, how did you dare meet with the prime minister. he stood up on his one leg and pulled out after him. he was wrought with emotion, and said who are you to talk about division? you are divisive. i salute him and his comrades who are heroes. i would like to say to all of you, do not listen to those who are trying to divide us. they are a small minority. they do not represent the majority. the majority of israelis want one thing. unity for the purpose of victory. and we
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have this unity within tanks, with the armoured vehicles, in the battlefields between gaza and rafah. and it exists in all sectors of this nation and throughout this country. together we will fight and, god willing, we will win. channel 11 news please. i would write prime minister benjamin netanyahu giving a press conference there, saying that a deal with palestinians will only be reached through direct negotiations between the sides without preconditions. he negotiations between the sides without preconditions.- negotiations between the sides without preconditions. he said the israeli military _ without preconditions. he said the israeli military pressure _ without preconditions. he said the israeli military pressure is - israeli military pressure is working. he says they have reached areas in gaza that the enemy never imagined. he said whoever is telling us not to operate in rafah is telling us to lose the war. this is in southern gaza where more than 1 million palestinians are currently sheltering. he insisted that that operation to root out the rest of the hamas battalions that he believes are hiding there, will go
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ahead, once civilians have left that area. he said we will continue fighting in gaza until all our goals are achieved. stay with us here on bbc news. we will have all of the latest from the news conference coming up for you injust latest from the news conference coming up for you in just a few minutes�* time. thank you for watching. hello there. good evening. some very mild air across the uk at the moment. some pretty spring—like scenes too, such as here in perth and kinross, lots of snowdrops. but for many it�*s been a grey, damp and drizzly day today. the ground already saturated too, in places, especially out towards the west. and there�*s a band of heavy rain sweeping eastwards overnight tonight — could potentially lead to some more surface water flooding. of course, very large puddles out there, as this heavy rain just pushes southwards and eastwards through the night, moving into shetland and lingering across east anglia and the far south east of england. but some clear spells developing behind, although temperatures won�*t drop very far,
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staying in double figures for most. a few isolated showers out towards the north and the west as we head into tomorrow morning. but a rather soggy start to the day across the south east of england, down towards the south coast as well, east anglia and across shetland. the rain will eventually clear, but it could linger on for some as we head even into the first part of the afternoon, but it will turn gradually more showery. cloud behind it, the cloud breaking up to leave us with some bright and some sunny spells. but for many, i think it will stay largely dry through the day on sunday. some isolated showers again out towards the west of scotland, werha ps western wales and northern ireland, but mostly dry. temperatures again well above the seasonal average, peaking between ten and 14, maybe even 15 degrees celsius. next week, though, temperatures will be dipping back down to the seasonal average. so it will be feeling colder, particularly by night. and it�*s still going to be rather unsettled. various areas of low pressure moving in from the atlantic, including another one on sunday night and into monday.
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and that�*s going to bring us some showery outbreaks of rain. it�*s all pushing its way further southwards and eastwards, gradually fizzling out. lots of brighter skies behind it, along with a northwesterly wind. and again, a few isolated showers in the north and the west, but a definite dip in temperature there, feeling a little fresher by a couple of degrees. and it will be feeling cooler, too, on monday night, with many of our temperatures widely dropping back into mid—single figures. there�*s another weather front coming through on tuesday. strong, gusty winds as we head through wednesday, with more heavy, persistent rain for the south of england. so here�*s the temperature outlook for our capital cities as we head through next week. it will be feeling cooler and it will stay unsettled. wet, very windy at times. bye bye.
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live from london, this is bbc news. ukraine�*s president zelensky blames the fall of the frontline town of avdiivka to russian forces on a lack of long—range weapons. he says his troops were outgunned. we know the law has not been applied here, so we have no doubts they will try to hide his body as long as possible. human rights activists say police have arrested more than 100 people at navalny memorials across russia. and — keeping up the fight
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for compensation. hello, i�*m tanya beckett. the death of alexei navalny, one of president putin�*s most prominent critics, has been confirmed by his family. they say they�*ve had no access to his body — and they believe it�*s being deliberately withheld so that the authorities can cover their tracks. more than 350 people have been detained for attending memorials in russia. here�*s our russia editor steve rosenberg. in moscow, they continue to bring flowers and pay respects to alexei navalny, the kremlin�*s most vocal critic who has died in prison. navalny, the kremlin�*s most vocal
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critic who has died in prison. move along, you can�*t stay here, the

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