tv BBC News BBCNEWS March 28, 2024 9:00am-9:31am GMT
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are recovered underneath the collapsed bridge in baltimore. student behaviour in schools is getting worse, with one in five teachers reporting to have been hit by a pupil this year in england. thames water crisis deepens as shareholders refuse to inject extra money into the uk's largest water company. medics warn of hospitals near collapse in gaza as air strikes and fighting intensifies between israel and hamas. the france school headscarf row — now the france's prime minister pledges legal action against a pupil. hello. we start in the us city of baltimore where rescue divers have recovered two bodies from the water beneath a bridge which collapsed when it was struck by a cargo ship. the bodies of two men were found in a pick—up truck submerged
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in the icy waters of the patapsco river. four workers remain missing. these are live pictures from the scene where the search for the men has been suspended due to bad weather conditions. salvage crews are working to address dangerous materials and accident investigators are on the scene. our north america correspondent david willis reports 25 feet beneath the surface, near what had been the centre of the bridge, divers recovered a red pickup truck with two bodies inside it. maintenance workers, who'd been repairing potholes at the time the structure collapsed. four of their colleagues are still missing and their bodies may never be found. we transitioned from search and rescue to recovery. we need to bring a sense of closure and comfort to the families, and we take that very seriously. the missing include miguel luna, a father of three from el salvador, and maynor suazo sandoval
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from honduras. like the rest, migrant workers from central america. the containership, dali, piled high with cargo, lost power shortly before smashing into a support column, causing the entire bridge to collapse. the whole bridge just fell down. raining steel on to the bow of the ship and blocking one of the country's busiest trading ports. our entire focus on scene is to collect the perishable evidence. that's documenting the scene, it's taking photographs. it's taking any sort of electronics or components, whatever goes away once the scene is cleaned up. officials say the cargo included hundreds of tons of so—called hazardous materials, some of which spilled into the water. investigators have now recovered the vessel's data recorder — the nautical equivalent of a black box — and have started interviewing
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members of the ship's crew. in particular, they will want to know why the dali suddenly lost power so soon after leaving port. david willis, bbc news, los angeles. michael bell, professor of ports and maritime logistics at the university of sydney, told us more about the impact this closure will have on shipping and logistics for the us. i can see it's a complete disaster for baltimore with tragic loss of life. but from a container shipping point of view, or indeed a car carrier point of view, it's a port of call, and itjust means baltimore can't be called at. so i think container shipping will continue. it's a bigger impact on car shipping, car carrier... it's a more significant port from the point of view of cars. there will be short term logistical problems for some time, as you say,
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but i think it's really more of a local issue. i don't think the uk or indeed australia are really going to notice very much. i see that president biden�*s sort of already offered to reconstruct the bridge. but in terms of insurance claim, it's going to be enormous and there are concerns about the effect that that might have. my understanding is that the ship was insured with the britannia p&i club and the britannia club, as far as i can see, despite the name it's got, it's based in a number of countries. but nonetheless, it's going to put, i think, a big strain on the p&i club system because they basically... there are 13 p&i clubs that are together in an international group, and they will be sharing the costs between them. but even despite the sharing
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and the reinsurance, it's going to be a significant hit. it's notjust the bridge, which is clearly a risk to shipping and has to be removed, but there will be containers floating around in the water, i suspect. i don't know how many of those actually fell in the into the sea, but containers floating or semi—floating or semi—submerged are a well known hazard to particularly smaller ships. but, yeah, so it's going to take a long time to reclear that passageway. has announced that its investors will not give the struggling one of the biggest water companies in the uk, thames water, has announced that its investors will not give the struggling utility giant extra cash unless customer bills rise. shareholders were due to inject half a billion pounds of funding — that's around $630,000 — needed by thames water, which has
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debts of around £18 billion. the bbc understands that the shareholders are insisting that the regulator, ofwat, agrees to a substantial increase in bills before they make the investment. we are, as i said in conversations with ofwat regarding our business plan and that is important and that is a process that will go on until the end of this year. and that creates a business plan that shareholders and anyone who might provide equity can look at and determine whether they are going to inject equity into thames. so i think it is premature to go there at the moment. if, at the end of the day, probably well into the end of next year, we were in a situation that we had no equity, then there is the prospect as i think simonjack was saying of special administration, but we are a long way from that point at the moment. the uk recession in the latter half of 2023 was slightly less severe than first thought, the office for national statistics has revealed. the economy still shrunk for two quarters in a row, the definition of a recession, but the total contraction over that six—month
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period was 0.4% rather than 0.5% labour have said rishi sunak has broken his promise to grow the economy. this is what the chancellorjeremy hunt had to say a short time ago. to confirm, i think, what we already knew, which is, despite the bank of england predicting the longest recession in 100 years, in fact, gdp grew, albeit marginally, last year. that's obviously very welcome. but one of the ways that we're going to help that growth is by supporting families get back into work with a big childcare offer. and what will be a hammer blow to those families is that just this week labour has said that they may refuse to guarantee that free childcare for every child over nine months. that will be a huge disappointment to many families. it's worth saying one of your targets this year, or your pledges, was to try to grow the economy over the last year. yes, there was a little bit of growth over the year. but the final two quarters, the economy contracted. so, haven't you, by most measures,
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failed in that pledge? well, the prime minister's pledge last year was to halve inflation, and he delivered on that. in fact, inflation has fallen from over 11% to 3.4%. having done that, he then said we would grow the economy. i don't think any of us were expecting the economy to actually grow last year. the bank of england wasn't. the office for budget responsibility wasn't. in fact, it did, albeit at a very slow rate. and that is a testament to the resilience of the economy, but also the fact that the government took some very difficult decisions early on to make sure we got the economy back on track. and on the bbc news website you can find out what a recession means for you and how the uk economy is fairing globally. plus there's cost of living information and tips — right now online on the bbc news website. a bill that could make scotland the first uk nation to provide terminally—ill people with assistance to end their lives
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will be introduced to the scottish parliament today. supporters of the assisted dying bill say it would ease suffering, but opponents are concerned that some terminally ill people may feel under pressure to end their lives. it could be voted on next year. the bill is being introduced at holyrood a week after proposals for how an assisted dying law in jersey were published. it's legal and regulated in several us states including california and vermont, and in victoria in australia. the un high commissioner for human rights has told the bbc that israel is significantly to blame for the appalling humanitarian situation in gaza, where famine is looming. volker turk said israel had obligations as the occupying power, and was placing unreasonable demands on the delivery of aid. israeli air strikes and fierce fighting between israel and hamas has broken out overnight around at least three hospitals in gaza. medics have warned the territory's health care system is close to collapse. a us official says israel has asked to reschedule
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a meeting in washington to discuss its plans for rafah. it was cancelled after the us changed it's stance on a ceasefire vote at the united nations. let's look at those comments by the un high commissioner for human rights — about israel being significantly to blame for the appalling humanitarian situation in gaza. here's what volker turk said to the bbc�*s international editorjeremy bowen. when it comes to humanitarian assistance, let's be clear. israel is an occupying power, and has an obligation to provide humanitarian assistance. and if that humanitarian assistance does not come in, in the care, speed and predictability that is required, yes, very serious questions are raised. so let's get it very clear — israel is to blame? israel is to blame in a significant way, yes. let's speak to our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, who's injerusalem. just want to start with the
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overnight fighting and air strikes. that's right, fighting is particular intense in these areas around some of the remaining hospitals which have been functioning in gaza. the hospital in gaza city, the israeli military operation there is in its 11th day and at the latest briefing the israeli army said that it had killed 200 hamas operatives since the raid there started. it said it is continuing to have palestinian gunmen fired at troops from within the emergency room. we understand that palestinian doctors and some of the patients at the hospital were moved into a administrative building. the israeli military says it is acting precisely and taking steps to avoid harm to civilians and that includes getting basic supplies and allowing this area to function as a medical treatment area. but the hamas run health officials are
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saying that doctors and patients really need international help to be moved away from that site, to be moved away from that site, to be moved away from danger. that the facilities there are unsafe and unfit for medical care. if you look to the south of the gaza strip, israeli troops have returned some areas there that they had previously left, particularly around to hospitals. one is being evacuated, thatis hospitals. one is being evacuated, that is where the palestinian red crescent had its headquarters if you look at the other hospital, israeli troops and ground forces there, the palestinian red crescent says several thousand people could be in danger remain inside. this means that you have overall fewer and fewer places functioning for health care in the gaza strip and that is causing a lot of international concern. ~ . ., causing a lot of international concern. . ., , ., concern. we had quite a strong
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messaue concern. we had quite a strong message there _ concern. we had quite a strong message there from _ concern. we had quite a strong message there from volker - concern. we had quite a strong. message there from volker turk concern. we had quite a strong - message there from volker turk about the aid situation in gaza, telles about how much aid is getting on at the moment. about how much aid is getting on at the moment-— the moment. there are still great difficulties according _ the moment. there are still great difficulties according to _ the moment. there are still great difficulties according to aid - difficulties according to aid agencies, particularly reaching the north of the gaza strip and we have had the world health organization say it is getting closer and closer to reality, this idea of a man—made famine and pointing out that one of the hospitals in the north of the gaza strip it is now seeing 15 children bought in each day suffering from malnutrition. israel says it does not limit the amount of aid going into the gaza strip and it says that it is un agencies and other agencies to blame for not being able to distribute the aid fast enough. if you look at the comments that were made about starvation being used as a weapon of war, and that potentially being a
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war, and that potentially being a war crime, israel has previously come back with such comments and said that it really, you cannot let hamas off the hook here that this also has to be taken into consideration that hamas also shares the blame. . ~ consideration that hamas also shares the blame. ., ~ i. , . the blame. thank you very much. around the _ the blame. thank you very much. around the world _ the blame. thank you very much. around the world and _ the blame. thank you very much. around the world and across - the blame. thank you very much. around the world and across the l the blame. thank you very much. l around the world and across the uk this is the bbc news.
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you're live with bbc news. a teaching union in england says its members are reporting that levels of violence and abuse from pupils have risen sharply since the pandemic. nearly one in five teachers who responded to a survey commissioned by the bbc said they had been hit by a student this year. the same number say they have also experienced verbal or online abuse from a parent or guardian since september. here's more from education correspondent, elaine dunkley. across the country, clips posted on social media give an insight into the chaos in classrooms. the room got absolutely ransacked.
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the boards were ripped off the wall, displays were snapped and broken. you're going to get people shouting at you. when it comes to teenagers and what they're saying, quite sexualised. teachers pushed to the brink because of bad behaviour. the behaviour stresses me out. all my fillings fall out because i clench my teeth at night when i'm sleeping. in dewsbury, this is stjohn fisher academy. it's a school with a bad reputation. rated inadequate and described by ofsted as unsafe for teachers and pupils. children were being suspended as early as 9:15 in the morning. there was a culture of bullying. there was frequent fighting — like, multiple fights on a daily basis. head teacher mr mackeyjoined the school a year ago. and, with the support of staff, small changes have made a significant difference to behaviour. this year, you'll see them in lessons every single day.
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it's hanging out. oh, sorry. it's ok. how are you doing? are you having a nice day? yeah. good. sorry, sir. that's quite all right. corridors are locked down in lesson time to stop students wandering off. mobile phones are banned and the toilets can only be used at certain times. we had a lot of internal truancy. children were going into cubicles. i'm pretty sure they were vaping in there. we were spending, at times, thousands of pounds per week on damage. you'd be scared to walk into, like, certain corners or places in the back of a classroom or places in the playground. there's loads of staff in the playground now, making sure everyone's 0k. teaching unions say disruption and disobedience has got worse since the pandemic, and it's causing many teachers to leave the profession. teachers here tell me an increasing number of children struggling to get support for special educational needs, difficult home lives and a lack of services for mental health are all part of the problem. i think it's really important that we identify what their needs
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are and look at how we can adapt what we do as a school to meet those needs to ultimately make them as successful as they possibly can be. attendance and behaviour are two of the biggest challenges for schools. in response, the government says it's invested £10 million into behaviour hubs, where schools offer mentoring support to those which are struggling. your shirt's hanging out. elaine dunkley, bbc news. i'm joined now by zac copley who is a computer science teacher in leicester. what is your experience has behaviour got worse? definitely. from the start _ behaviour got worse? definitely. from the start of _ behaviour got worse? definitely. from the start of my _ behaviour got worse? definitely. from the start of my career- behaviour got worse? definitely. from the start of my career until now, when you are in it you don't notice until you get a chance to look back. but there are more and more staff leaving, for the stress from behaviour more than workload.
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workload is really good but if you were i am but the behaviour is what drives people away. my colleagues who i have worked with, that is the same story across the board. haste same story across the board. have ou ut it same story across the board. have you put it on _ same story across the board. have you put it on the — same story across the board. have you put it on the receiving - same story across the board. have you put it on the receiving end of bad behaviour and physical abuse like some of these teachers? titer? like some of these teachers? very earl on like some of these teachers? very early on in — like some of these teachers? very early on in my _ like some of these teachers? very early on in my career— like some of these teachers? very early on in my career i _ like some of these teachers? very early on in my career i was - early on in my career i was subjected to being sworn at, hit, kicked, spat on. i had one incidents with a sharp, i have had to do physical interventions with students both in special education and mainstream and even supply teaching. some of that sounds rather terrifying, how did you handle it? you tell yourself you're making a difference because at the end of the day most of the behaviour is that the students, the high—level stuff
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comes for a reason. the students might not be able to communicate how the feeling and that is where behaviour comes from the lack of being able to explain their emotions and what is going on. we are the ones that take a beating from it, it is about trying to then work out why that behaviour is there and trying to make a difference so it doesn't happen again. to make a difference so it doesn't happen again-— happen again. what have you found that works in _ happen again. what have you found that works in terms _ happen again. what have you found that works in terms of _ happen again. what have you found that works in terms of trying - happen again. what have you found that works in terms of trying to - that works in terms of trying to improve things in the school context? �* , , ., context? being resilient, it is one ofthe context? being resilient, it is one of the main _ context? being resilient, it is one of the main words _ context? being resilient, it is one of the main words you _ context? being resilient, it is one of the main words you hear- context? being resilient, it is one of the main words you hear from | of the main words you hear from teachers and any profession really is being resilient. kids will challenge us, we all challenged our teachers, itjust seems that now schools are so oversubscribed and massive that is there is more of it for people to deal with it. the teachers or the smaller number of support staff to give mentoring to
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students that they need. 50 support staff to give mentoring to students that they need.- support staff to give mentoring to students that they need. so this is artl lack students that they need. so this is partly lack of _ students that they need. so this is partly lack of staffing _ students that they need. so this is partly lack of staffing to _ students that they need. so this is partly lack of staffing to deal- students that they need. so this is partly lack of staffing to deal with | partly lack of staffing to deal with children who have problems that they would need to sort out, and that would need to sort out, and that would help the behaviour? definitely. whenever i have a member of sport class in a lesson i do a little happy dance. they make such a difference because especially when you have 30 kids in the room who all have their own stories, their own backgrounds and there is only one of you and you have to take all those factors and make a successful lesson, one versus 30 is not the best odds so just having that extra aduu best odds so just having that extra adult in the room to help out, makes adult in the room to help out, makes a massive difference on behaviour, on learning on everything. you mentioned _ on learning on everything. you mentioned supply _ on learning on everything. you mentioned supply teachers can come in for a lot of difficulty, what is it that makes their life more difficult? , ., , it that makes their life more difficult? , . , , , , ., difficult? generally students see a su -l difficult? generally students see a supply teacher _ difficult? generally students see a supply teacher and _ difficult? generally students see a supply teacher and think _ difficult? generally students see a supply teacher and think easy - supply teacher and think easy lesson. whenever you come into a
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classroom there might be a group of boys whose shout yes, we have a supply! normally they are the students that i have to keep an eye on, they push the boundary a bit extra and the reason for that is because generally some supply teachers come in with a stern routine, some are not laid—back but go for the gentle approach. because supply teaching is very different because you don't know about the ethos of the school, it makes it a lot harder to deal with behaviour management. lot harder to deal with behaviour management-— lot harder to deal with behaviour manauement. ., ~ ., ., ,, ., management. thank you for talking to us. and nicky campbell is taking your calls on violence in schools on bbc radio five live right now. join the conversation and listen live on the bbc sounds website or bbc sounds app. in france, the prime minister says a teenage girl will be sued by the state for falsely accusing her headteacher of striking her in a heated exchange
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over her wearing an islamic head—covering. the headteacher insisted that the pupil remove her head—covering inside the school, in accordance with french law. he resigned after death threats circulated on social media. joining me now — our correspondent in paris hugh schofield. quite a serious decision, talks with the background.— quite a serious decision, talks with the background. well, the background which has been _ the background. well, the background which has been in _ the background. well, the background which has been in the _ the background. well, the background which has been in the news _ the background. well, the background which has been in the news in - the background. well, the background which has been in the news in the - which has been in the news in the last few days is that this incident at a school in eastern paris a month ago in which the head of the school stopped three girls in the school and said to them you have to take off your islamic head coverings in accordance with french law. since 2000 three though signs of religious affiliation are not allowed in state schools, he told the girl to take off their head covering but won gold
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did not comply and in her version of events there was an altercation in which she says that he pushed her and hit her on the arm. she spread that allegation online and as a result death threats appeared online against the head teacher and it all came to head this week because the head teacher decided to resign and the reason he gave was fear for his own life. this is taken extremely seriously here in france because two teachers have been murdered in recent times by islamist radicals, in the first of those cases it followed a campaign online based on something as people had set. so you can understand why the head teacher felt exposed and threatened, but there is a outpouring of indignation across the country and in political circles that this is a kind of surrender stop instead of standing up surrender stop instead of standing up to islamist threats, this man has
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given up, perfectly understandable reasons, but it is being interpreted as a terrible signal. 50 reasons, but it is being interpreted as a terrible signal.— reasons, but it is being interpreted as a terrible signal. so the teenage airl is now as a terrible signal. so the teenage girl is now being — as a terrible signal. so the teenage girl is now being sued _ as a terrible signal. so the teenage girl is now being sued by _ as a terrible signal. so the teenage girl is now being sued by the - as a terrible signal. so the teenage| girl is now being sued by the state? this is the latest step, the prime minister has said that the girl will be taken to court for making false allegations. there are investigations under way, she alleged the assault by the head teacher, that has been thrown out because there is no evidence for it. there are investigations into the posting of the death threats, arrests have been made there and now the state is taking her to court for full salad is. it is intended to take a strong signal that this won't be tolerated. 5m? take a strong signal that this won't be tolerated.— be tolerated. stay with us here on bbc news- _
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hello again. parts of south—west england and wales saw some snow first thing this morning. but for most of us today, we're looking at a mixture of sunny spells and also some heavy, blustery showers. some of those will have thunder and lightning, some of them some hail. and it's going to be windy, especially england and wales and especially through the english channel. now, low pressure is firmly in charge of our weather and will be as we go through the next couple of days. and we're looking at gales, even severe gales developing through the english channel, 50 mile an hour gusts of wind across southern counties, but generally windy across england and wales, today. you certainly will notice it. this is the weather front that produced the rain and the snow in the early part of today moving into scotland. behind it, some sunshine, but you'll see showers develop across northern ireland, wales and england and some of those will be heavy and thundery with some hail. temperatures eight in the north
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to about 12 as we push down towards the south. now through this evening and overnight, this rain continues across scotland. still heavy, heavy showers across northern ireland and northern england. there could be thundery, further showers coming in across wales, southern england and the southeast and it's going to be a chilly night. so we start tomorrow once again with the rain across the far north west of scotland pulling away during the course of good friday. and then we see a mixture of sunshine and showers, showers becoming a bit more widespread through the course of the day. but they are showers. not all of us will catch one, and it will feel a little bit milder because the winds not going to be as strong as today. so as we head on through the easter weekend, the isobars is open out. it's not going to be as windy. low pressure is still driving the weather this way. the front quite close to us in the southeast and it looks like easter monday will be drier in the north and wetter in the south. but for saturday, first of all, we've got this cloud to break up
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in the southeast and then it's a mixture of sunshine and showers. again, some of those could be heavy lighter winds and highs up to 1a or 15. it will feel quite pleasant in the sunshine as we head into easter sunday. most of the showers are going to be in the west. there might be some mist and fog first thing in the morning to lift and then a lot of dry weather around as well with some sunshine and these are the temperatures. so we're looking at 11 in stornoway and aberdeen to highs of 1a,
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this is bbc news. the headlines... the un investigates a plausible case of israel using starvation as a weapon of war against the population in gaza. two bodies inside a submerged pick—up truck are recovered underneath the collapsed bridge in baltimore. a warning from the un about the growing — a warning from the un about the growing amount of electronic waste. the united nation's most senior human rights official says there is a plausible case that israel is using starvation as a weapon of war. volker turk says if proven that would amount to a war crime. israel insists it's letting in all the humanitarian aid that's needed. from jerusalem, here's our international editorjeremy bowen. we should warn you, his report contains images some viewers may find distressing. gaza is no place to be ill. noora mohammed had lung and liver problems before the war.
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