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tv   BBC News at Ten  BBCNEWS  February 20, 2024 10:00pm-10:31pm GMT

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at ten: the world health organization says it fears for around 130 patients and doctors they had to leave behind in a hospital in southern gaza. the first images from inside nasser hospital — raided by israeli troops last week — un workers say the scenes are indescribable. as the humanitarian crisis deepens, signs that the white house is finally preparing to call for a ceasefire in gaza. i'll have the latest. prince william is one of the latest to add his voice to the calls for a humanitarian ceasefire and a release of the hostages. the victims of the nottingham stabbings — the court of appeal is asked to review the sentence of the man who stabbed them to death. this is plymouth tonight — where hundreds of people have been moved from their homes after a suspected unexploded world war two bomb was found in a garden.
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the top footballers being abused by online trolls — we go inside the premier league's new unit set up to track them down. and we'll tell you more about this — the brightest and hungriest object in the universe. on newsnight at 10.30 — as the threat of an israeli ground offensive in rafah looms ever closer, are the intensifying political arguments at westminster wholly in pursuit of peace, or are mps playing politics with people's lives? good evening. the first pictures have emerged today from inside nasser hospital in southern gaza that was raided by israeli forces last week. a un convoy that was finally allowed in says the scenes around the hospital in khan younis are indescribable and conditions inside are ripe for the spread of disease. dozens of patients have now been evacuated but the world health
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0rganization says it fears for around 130 patients and doctors who remain inside. 0ur diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. one patient in a wheelchair. one patient on a stretcher can be set in the ambulance. in the darkness of nasser hospital, a rescue under way. for 1a patients, some of them elderly, a chance to escape a hospital on its knees. the war is nearby. this was not a simple operation. we don't see them here, but israeli soldiers control the hospital. the mission had to be carefully coordinated. the hospital is filthy, large parts of it deserted. you can think of the worst situation ever, you multiply by ten and this is the worst situation i have seen. the debris, working in the darkness, patients every where.—
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patients every where. israel said it had no choice _ patients every where. israel said it had no choice but _ patients every where. israel said it had no choice but to _ patients every where. israel said it had no choice but to raid _ patients every where. israel said it had no choice but to raid the - had no choice but to raid the hospital. in the pharmacy, a chilling discovery — medication supposed to be given to vulnerable israeli hostages. the medications remain, the hostages are gone. israel insists the hospital still works, but one charity says it can't offer care. further north, desperate scenes as trucks carrying flour are mobbed. gaza city hasn't seen aid in weeks, but after two chaotic convoys, the un has again suspended deliveries. it is too much for mariam, her home destroyed, her father dead. what do you lack, she is asked? everything, she says. i
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miss bread. and the war still rages, despite distant talk of a ceasefire. in the middle of the gaza strip, air strikes are claiming dozens of lives. another hospital inundated — the injured and confused converging on a place that should offer refuge, but only has horror. israel said it is yet to send troops here. people here know it could still get worse. the united states has again vetoed a un security council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza, but it has proposed an alternative resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire and opposing a major ground offensive by israel in rafah. 0ur north america editor sarah smithjoins us. how big a shift is this?
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well, it is significant that you have got the white house using that word "ceasefire". that is a sign of how concerned they are about what could happen with with a ground offensive and how frustrated they are with the israeli government. president biden has already said in public that he thinks israel's conduct of the war has been overthe top and it is reported that behind closed doors, he uses stronger language. until now it has been private conversations, many between president biden and prime minister binyamin netanyahu, where they have been discussing this. recently, mr biden told him that he would oppose a ground operation un—december israel unless israel came up with a plan to evacuate civilians and white house officials have said they have seen no evidence of such a plan. so thatis seen no evidence of such a plan. so that is why american diplomacy is playing out more in public and this motion where they are talking not
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about an immediate ceasefire, not to happen immediately, but as soon as practicable. it is moving a lot closer to the international community. because the white house says israel has a right to go after hamas fighter in rafah, but they want to avoid what they say could be a disaster. prince william has said he wants to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible in the israel—gaza war — in what's being seen as a significant intervention. daniella relph reports. visiting the british red cross headquarters in london. every engagement the prince of wales does, every word he says publicly, is carefully considered. intensely traumatic. today he was briefed about their work in the middle east. he also heard about mental health support provided for victims of trauma. and he spoke directly to those working on the ground in gaza. ijust wanted to hear a little bit
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about what's going on out there, pascale, and how you're all coping. was forced to move several times with a health system that is totally collapsed. earlier today, the prince of wales issued a statement where he spoke about the human cost of the conflict. "too many have been killed," he said. "i, like so many others, want to see an end to the fighting as soon as possible. "there is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to gaza. "it's critical that aid gets in and the hostages are released." prince william and his team will have pored over every carefully—chosen word of that statement. they stress that they don't see this as a political intervention. instead, it is focusing minds on what the prince calls the sheer scale of human suffering. the prince visited israel and the palestinian territories in 2018, the first member of the
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royal family to do so. it was a trip he said made a lasting impression on him and has led to a continued interest in the region. as he left the red cross today, prince william told staff he'd been deeply moved by what he'd learned. next week, he'll visit a synagogue to meet with young people and those fighting anti—semitism. daniela relph, bbc news. the home secretary has tonight sacked the man who oversees and scrutinises the uk's immigration system. david neal, the chief inspector of borders and immigration, was fired after details of critical reports about the immigration system appeared in newspapers. 0ur political correspondent iain watson is in westminster, iain, how unusual is this? very unusual, one month left in his contract to be runned but he has been dismissed. david neal has been producing reports on things like
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criticising the home office's handling of the small boat crisis. but that isn't why he went. in the past couple of days, details of two of his unpublished reports, one on social care visas and on allegations that not enough checks were being done on people arriving by private jets made their way into the newspaper. the latter story the government said has no basis in fact. but he doesn't have two unpublished reports. there are 1a. labour are saying the government is trying to hide the truth about immigration and should publish the reports. so it looks as if david neal will not go quietly. the home secretary says that he has lost confidence in him, the question is whether david neal will do anything else to undermine confidence in the government. else to undermine confidence in the government-— the man who killed three people in nottingham will have his sentence reviewed by judges after the attorney
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general said it was unduly lenient. valdo calocane admitted manslaughter and was given a hospital order. the review follows a campaign, led by the families of the three people he killed — 19—year—old students barnaby webber and grace 0'malley—kumar, and 65—year—old ian coates. tom symonds has the story. do not move! stay where you are! he was caught within minutes of the killings, but the legal arguments about valdo calocane's sentence could go on for months. grace 0'malley—kumar, barnaby webber, and ian coates were attacked by a violently ill man who hadn't taken his medication. five psychiatrists agreed his defence of diminished responsibility was justifiable. valdo calocane was sent to ashworth high security hospital. the judge said he would probably never be safe enough to release. but this is not a prison, and the government's chief legal adviser, the attorney general, today said the sentence was unduly lenient.
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the bereaved families agree because they believe valdo calocane's violence was not entirely due to his mental state. we have never doubted that calocane has a serious mental illness and is a seriously unwell man that has been for a number of years. what we do not agree with was that he was in psychosis for the whole of the attacks. so we believe he did know what he was doing. the trialjudge said that valdo calocane should be in hospital because in prison he might be a risk to inmates and he might not take medication. but what if he was to get better and be released? at that point, the court of appeal could say that he should go to prison, which would be a less lenient sentence and more of a punishment. and the judge did also rule that valdo calocane cannot be released from hospital without government permission. it is not a get out ofjail card, it is incarceration within the hospital environment,
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where this man is going to be treated and supervised 24/7. he is going to be given his medication, and he is going to be looked at by the psychiatrists. but the family od barnaby webber, attacked with grace 0'malley—kumar as they walked on, say only a tougher sentence will give them justice. tom symonds, bbc news. the metropolitan police says it believes a body found in the river thames by the tower of london is that of abdul shokoor ezedi, who's wanted in connection with a corrosive substance attack in clapham last month. a woman and two young children were injured. formal identification of the body is yet to take place. a major incident has been declared in plymouth after a suspected world war ii unexploded bomb was found by a man digging in his garden. homes in the keyham area of the city have been evacuated. police say a 200—metre cordon has been put in place. jenny kumah is our south west of england.
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the device was found in a house, in a street behind me. and as you say, the police say it was discovered around a week ago by a man digging in his garden. it was only reported this morning and a major incident was soon declared. hundreds of people have been asked to leave their homes, the area has been cordoned off and evacuation centres have been set up in a library and community centre. the royal navy and bomb disposal have been here and they have to decide whether to take it away and destroy it. the device is about half a metre wide and the police say the incident could go on for up to 36 hours.— italy has become the latest european nation to summon the russian ambassador over
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the death of the russian opposition leader alexei navalny — poland, france, germany and the eu have taken similar action. 47—year—old navalny died suddenly in an arctic penal colony last week. his mother, speaking outside the prison in siberia, has made a direct appeal to president putin to release her son's body to her. translation: it's the fifth day that i cannot see him. - they won't hand over his body to me, and they won't even tell me where he is. i speak to you, vladimir putin — the decision on the question depends only on you. let me finally see my son. i demand you immediately hand over the body of alexei so that i can bury him. a man who was shot dead in spain last week is believed to be a russian helicopter pilot who defected to ukraine last year. in august, maksim kuzminov flew a helicopter into ukrainian territory, where he handed himself in. spanish police have not publicly
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confirmed the identity of the man, who was killed near alicante. bbc verify�*s nick eardley has the story. maksim kuzminov, a russian helicopter pilot who defected to ukraine and now appears to have been murdered just outside benidorm. this was september, when mr kuzminov was presented to the media in his new ukrainian home. he'd flown his russian helicopter over the border and surrendered to ukraine's forces. he was paid half a million dollars. moscow was furious. kuzminov was called a traitor on tv. this report says an order on his fate had been received. its implementation was just a matter of time. mr kuzminov didn't settle in ukraine for long. he ended up in spain, near benidorm, and it's here that it appears to have been murdered last tuesday. spain's interior ministry confirmed to us a man had been shot several times. they wouldn't confirm it was mr kuzminov,
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but his identity has been widely reported in spanish media, who say he was shot, then run over in this garage. spanish officials say the body was found with false documents. we've searched the internet for traces of a new identity. we can't find any social media use since kuzminov left russia. last night, russian television talked again of betrayal. this commander says god will now be kuzminov�*sjudge, and that retribution will find him. but a number of questions remain unanswered tonight about who exactly killed maksim kuzminov and whether this could be another extrajudicial murder of a russian on foreign soil. nick eardley, bbc news. bbc news has uncovered important new details about the post office scandal in which hundreds of sub—postmasters were wrongly prosecuted. we've analysed documents from seven years ago,
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which show the government knew the post office had suddenly abandoned a secret investigation into the faulty horizon it system — even though it was an investigation that could have helped the postmasters prove their innocence. andy verity has this exclusive report. i've discovered in documents released through freedom of information requests, the post office commissioned no less than three secret reviews into its horizon it system, hoping to be assured that it was all fine and remote tinkering by fujitsu couldn't cause subpostmasters' losses. but the first review in 2014 found fujitsu could remotely create transactions and fake digital signatures to edit data on customers' purchases. then, in 2016, a review by top lawyers urged post office chair tim parker to investigate further. so he commissioned the auditors deloitte to go back through all the transactions since 1999 to find out how often it had happened and why. government ministers sajid javid
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and baroness lucy neville rolfe were informed the post office had appointed an independent person to address suggestions that branch accounts might have been remotely altered without subpostmasters' knowledge. but when the post office learned subpostmasters were going to court, it suddenly stopped deloitte's investigation. and all of those reviews were covered up and kept secret from the courts at that time. naran was given a three—yearjail sentence based on evidence from the horizon system, and his conviction still hasn't been quashed. if deloitte's investigation into horizon had been completed, a it might have helped falsely accused subpostmasters like him to prove something crucial — that the evidence used to jail them, horizon�*s data in their cash in their branch accounts — couldn't be relied on. naran, hi. hi, andy, very nice to meet you. nice to see you. thank you. i showed him the lawyer's recommendation that the post office must investigate how often remote fiddling happened going back to 1999.
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do you think they followed the qc�*s recommendations? what would be your guess? oh, if they would have followed it, then i wouldn't have been inside the prison. well, here's the thing, they did follow the recommendations. they did? they did. deloitte spent three months, we've discovered, going back through transactions. so, in march, they say, "we're doing the work, deloitte has been appointed." in april, you launch your litigation and injune they stop deloitte completing the work. and, by knowing all this, why do we waste our time in the prison and separate from the family? i don't know. anyway. sorry, beg your pardon. it's very hard. never mind. labour said our revelations from the confidential documents were greatly concerning. well, they're definitely very significant, because this was one of the fundamental issues
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that was used to convict subpostmasters this access, remote access to accounts. so finding out a piece of information like this now has to be incredibly serious. a spokesperson for the post office said it was the public inquiry�*s role to reach conclusions on what happened. sajid javid was told the investigation was to look into suggestions branch accounts might have been remotely altered, not that lawyers have found they could be. as was baroness neville rolfe, who was also told about the investigation being stopped. she said she looked forward to explaining her involvement at the inquiry. and tim parker said through his lawyers he sought and acted upon legal advice he was given. there's hope for naran now that he may eventually get proper compensation, but alone and still officially branded a criminal, no amount of money could make up for the undeserved shame he and his family have wrongly been made to feel. the wikileaks founderjulian assange has begun his latest attempt to fight his extradition to the united states. he's wanted in the us for disclosing
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secret military files more than a decade ago. if he fails, assange will have exhausted all appeal routes in the uk and will enter the process of extradition. tributes have been pouring in for one of strictly�*s former professional dangers, robin windsor, who has died at the age of 1m. he appeared on the bbc�*s hit show from 2010 until 2013. one of his celebrity dance partners, deborah meaden, tonight said he lit up a room with his fun, energy and sparkle. but he was also open about the struggles of life after the limelight. lizo mzimba looks back at his life. the former dance champion joined the strictly family in 2010. robin windsor. applause. and together with his first dance partner, patsy kensit, he salsa'd and samba'd his way into the hearts of millions of viewers. # her name was lola # she was a showgirl...#
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taking part in strictly, to me, is the bestjob in the world. there are two things that i love to do, and they are perform and to teach. and i think this is the onlyjob in the world where i actually get to do both of the things i love at the same time. over the next three years, he was partnered with former eastenders star anita dobson. # bring me sunshine... emmerdale actress lisa riley, who he reached the semifinal with. # all the while # in this world...# # money, money, money...# and dragons' den star deborah meaden. members of the strictlyjudging panel, past and present, have been paying tribute. craig revel horwood said, "he was one of the kindest, gentle, honest, funny and caring people i've had the pleasure of knowing and working with. " good morning britain presenter
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susanna reid, who danced with him on the children in need strictly special, paid tribute on this morning's show. he was an extraordinary person, and i'm sorry if you're waking up to that this morning and are as devastated about that as we are. and we send all of our love to...robin�*s family. his cause of death hasn't been confirmed, but millions have been remembering a man whose talent was admired by so many. robin windsor, who has died at the age of 1m. the premier league says it's fighting a rise in social media threats against both its players and their families. it has now set up a unit dedicated to hunting down online trolls targeting top flight footballers. the bbc�*s disinformation and social
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media correspondent marianna spring has been given exclusive access to the people tasked with tracking down the online haters. and she's been talking to a top player who's been targeted. and we're just about ready to go. june 2020, and brighton are taking on arsenal. striker neal maupay collides with arsenal's goalkeeper. later he scores the winner. brighton have won it with seconds to play! but after the game, maupay, who now plays for brentford, became the target of hate and these particularly threatening messages. it was very disturbing, you know, because i received one saying basically, "i know where you live. "i will come to your house tonight and i'm going to kill you and your family." i call the club, and i say, "listen, we need to do something because... what...what if that guy is really coming to my house?" i reported it to the club with the screenshots and everything. i reported it on instagram as well, and then the club sent it over to the premier league. so this is the trophy... i headed to meet the premier league team tasked
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with investigating his case. we're dealing with really nasty abuse where ultimately it could be considered criminal. so we are not removing people's general thoughts or comments on a particular player on a match or on the league itself. we're dealing with the stuff that's really horrible and shouldn't have any place online. the team used to just deal with piracy. now it uses the same techniques to investigate abusive posts and messages on social media. we see family members getting as much abuse, sadly, as the players do, and they can report to us to then investigate the direct messages that have been sent to them. sometimes more abuse is sent to them than the players themselves. it might be that the profiles are open or they're easy to find, they're tagged in a particular photo, whatever the reason may be. the team figured out that neal's threats came from a 19—year—old in singapore called derek ng de ren, and shared details with authorities there. he was convicted of harassment. i tracked down his lawyer for answers. i was young, and that was -
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an important explanation for why i behaved how i did. it was an outlet, social media. it didn't feel like it. mattered at the time. i've moved on and i'm doing 0k. i accept what i did - was wrong, and i now want to forget this and move on. neal maupay now says he's also ready to move on. football is a game and we are playing a game. it's not... it's not that deep. i think it's hard to punish everyone. but the more we can do it, i think the better it is because it will show people that this is not ok and you... you'll get in trouble for it. so is accountability for the people who troll the way to stop this behaviour online? well, for footballers and others targeted with hate, the abuse still rages on. marianna spring, bbc news. and you can see and hear more from marianna spring in her latest series called why do you hate me? — it's on bbc sounds and bbc iplayer.
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now, this hasjust been revealed as the brightest and hungriest object in the universe. it's powered by a huge black hole some 17 billion times the mass of our sun. scientists knew it was out but they've onlyjust been able to see its fully glory and vast appetite thanks to the world's most powerful telescope. 0ur science correspondent jonathan amos has more. at the core of every galaxy there is a giant black hole. even in our own milky way, we've got one — here in this picture. it's the dark region at the center of this ring of light. it's actually quite modest, weighing just four million times the mass of our sun. but far off in space, almost as far as we can see, there are true monsters with so much gravity that they pull prodigious amounts of matter onto themselves. and this is the latest to be discovered. it goes by the ungainly name ofj05294351, but those numbers belie its size.
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it weighs some 17 billion times the mass of our sun, and it has a voracious appetite. what is unusual is the rate at which it's digesting other material, you know, swallowing mass. and that's at the rate of about one sun — one solar mass — per day... wow. ..which is an enormous rate. and that makes it very, very luminous. scientists used the most advanced telescopes on earth to study the black hole's behaviour. they say the object is eating through so much matter it's emitting light equivalent to 500 trillion suns. all galaxies seem to have a supermassive object at their core, which probably means such an object is intrinsic to the evolution of a galaxy. without these black holes, our galaxy as we know it wouldn't be what it is today. and, in fact, all galaxies would be very different without their
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supermassive black holes. in fact, it may even be possible that all galaxies form around these supermassive black holes. the puzzle is how some of these black holes got so big so early in time, which could mean they were forming even before the first stars. jonathan amos, bbc news. a little close to earth now. matt ta lor. thank you, sophie. this stretch of cloud extends from cuba, stretching up cloud extends from cuba, stretching up towards us, and bringing atlantic winds towards our shores, and that will produce quite a bit of rain with it. over the next few days we are all going to see some rain, the heaviest where the darker blues are in the west, over 50 millimetres, and with the ground so saturated, we
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will see flooding level rise. here comes the first eight of the rain. before it rises in northern areas, a touch of frost in the rain gets all the way into central scotland by first light tomorrow morning and then temperatures left. nine or 10 degrees for many but it will be tempered by strong winds for the morning rush hour. the morning rush hour pretty horrendous for many, outbreaks of rain coming and going, heaviest in the west on the hills, brightening up my lunchtime in northern ireland, and that brighter weather will push to many areas in the afternoon, although shetland after a bright start turns wetter, and the cloud and outbreaks of rain continue. add onto that, strong winds, gale force, across the country, even though we have the mild air, boosting temperatures again into the teens, it will feel cooler given the strength of that wind. into tomorrow evening, a betterjourney home then journey in. it will turn dry for a time, but the next weather system will be working its way in. this is one which will
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bring a change to something cooler

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