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tv   Newsday  BBC News  April 16, 2024 12:00am-12:31am BST

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it's a scam. it's a political witchhunt! it's continues, it continues forever. and we are not going to be given a fair trial. it's a very, very sad thing. new pictures — of the barrage of missiles and drones launched by iran — at israel — as tehran rejects western criticism of its attack. and organisers of the beijing half marathon are investigating allegations three african athletes deliberately allowed china's star runner hejie to win sunday's race. live from our studio in singapore — this is bbc news. it's newsday. we start with breaking news from sydney in the last hour — where police have declared a stabbing at a church as a terrorist incident. a teenage boy was arrested
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after a bishop and several churchgoers were stabbed while giving a sermon that was being live streamed, the incident happened on monday evening at the christ the good shepherd church in the suburb of wakeley. at least four people were stabbed, but police said none of their injuries were life—threatening. the commissioner of new south wales police gave this update a short while ago. the things that influenced my decision to declare this a terrorist incident was the actions of the individual who attended. we allege that he attended that church with a knife, armed with a knife and stabbed the bishop, the priest and others were also injured. we believe there are elements that are satisfied in terms of religious motivated extremism, and, of course, the intimidation of the public through that person's acts. by attending that church whilst it was being live streamed,
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intimidating not only the parishioners in attendance but those parishioners who were watching online and subsequently, those people that turned up to the church on the outside and the subsequent riot that happened. this is the second attack in sydney over the weekend — in a seperate incident, not linked to the church attack — six people were stabbed to death in a shopping centre. the attacker was later shot dead by a police officer. chris minns is the premier of new south wales: and, of course, i understand just coming days after the criminal activities in eye junction, sydney and new south wales is on edge and it's understandable community anxiety at the moment. however, it is crucially important that the police are able to conduct their inquiries and finish their inquiries and finish their investigation. let's get more on this with phil mercer in sydney. phil,the father of ofjoel cauchi spoke about his mental health. what more can you tell
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us about him? yes, we heard from the father of the man who perpetrated this murderous rampage at the westfield bond ijunction westfield bond i junction shopping westfield bond ijunction shopping centre on saturday, saying that his son was a troubled man that had been diagnosed with a mental illness as a teenager and that the father fully accepted and appreciated the efforts of the police officer who was forced to shoot his son dead. this adds another layer onto a terrible story. six people murdered at the shopping centre, one of the busiest in sydney, and five of those victims were women. and it did lead the police here in the state of new south wales to conclude that the attacker was deliberately hunting down women, given that the majority of his victims were female, including a nine—month—old baby
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girl who remains in hospital after surgery. iii girl who remains in hospital after surgery-— girl who remains in hospital after surgery. if we could move to with regards _ after surgery. if we could move to with regards to _ after surgery. if we could move to with regards to the - after surgery. if we could move to with regards to the church i to with regards to the church stabbing, what does it mean that they've called it a terrorist act?- that they've called it a terrorist act? ~ , ., , terrorist act? well this means that the authorities _ terrorist act? well this means that the authorities will - terrorist act? well this means that the authorities will now l that the authorities will now be able to give the police all the resources they need to investigate this teenage suspect. now, the attack on the church in western sydney, we understand it was a syrian orthodox church. the service was being live streamed at the time, and the video shows an individual calmly walking towards the altar before unleashing what appears to be a frenzied knife attack on the bishop. this is a man called bishop mari emanuel, a very well—known christian leader in that western part of sydney. several churchgoers rushed into help and you can hear on the video, the howls of horror from
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other members of the congregation, what happened is that this teenage boy, a teenage boy was arrested and taken to a secure location outside the church. hundreds of people gathered very angry at what had happened inside, demanding that the suspect be brought out. there were clashes with the police. so a very significant incident in western sydney that is, as you say, being treated as a terrorist incident. . ~ being treated as a terrorist incident. ., ~ , ., ., incident. thank you for getting across both — incident. thank you for getting across both of _ incident. thank you for getting across both of those _ incident. thank you for getting across both of those stories. l across both of those stories. speaking to us from sydney. a knife attack at a live—streamed church service donald trump has marked the end of the first day of a landmark trial against him in new york by telling reporters "it's a scam." mr trump was speaking after becoming the first ever us president — former or current — to face criminal charges in court. he denies trying to disguise a hush money payment to an adult film star in 2016.
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thejudges aren't going to allow me to escape this scam, it's a scam trial. if you read all of the legal comments, from all of the legal scholars today, there's not one that i see that said that this is a that should be brought to trial. it's a scam. it's a political witchhunt. our north america editor sarah smith reports on the dramatic events of the day. it's become a well rehearsed ritual — donald trump's performance on his way to court. but this time it's very different. the first criminal trial of a former president, and it comes with a possible prison sentence. just look at his face. he seems drained of all his usual bombast, while insisting he is the victim of a conspiracy to derail his presidential campaign. this is political persecution. this is a persecution like never before. nobody�*s ever seen anything like it. and, again, it's a case that should never have been brought. it's an assault on america, and that's why i'm very proud to be here. loyal trump supporters, and many ordinary voters, do believe he is being unfairly targeted.
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they are weaponising the criminaljustice system against their political enemies and it's not right. i will fight for this - man till the day i die, and if they put him injail, - there are going to be millions of americans like me that| are going to grab our guns and have a civil war. trump opponents were also demonstrating outside the court. he has been a lifelong grifter and should never have gotten to the point where he could even be president of the united states because he should've been arrested and injail long ago for all the people he has ripped off over the years. when the porn star stormy daniels claimed they had had an affair, he paid her $130,000 hush money just before the 2016 election. he is now accused of illegally falsifying business records to hide that payment. tv cameras are not allowed inside. sketches show some of the action as lawyers clashed over what evidence could be used in the trial. tv cameras are not allowed inside. sketches show some of the action as lawyers clashed over what evidence could be used in the trial. photos from the start of the proceedings show
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mr trump looking sombre and very tired. fidgeting a lot in his seat at times, he also appeared to nod off at one point, mouth slack, head drooping. he scrutinised the list of questions, asked of hundreds of potentialjurors to ascertain their neutrality, including where they get their news and if they've ever been to a trump rally. over 60 have already admitted they cannot be fair and impartial about donald trump. finding 12 people both sides will be evenhanded could take weeks. obviously he prefers the campaign trail, but now he has to fit that around his court dates. bringing the trial centre stage as he attacked the judge at a rally in pennsylvania just two days ago. this has never happened before, by the way. you do know that, right? fully gagged before a highly conflicted and corruptjudge who suffers from tds. does anyone know what tds is? correct — trump derangement syndrome. this case could last for months, with donald trump having to be here almost every
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day. earlier i spoke to renato stabile in new york. he's a criminal attorney who does jury consulting and advising legal teams on their trial strategy. he explained the main issues to look out for during this stage of the trial. well, you know, i think we saw today that this is going to be a very slow process. the court had to take up some preliminary matters this morning. jurors didn't get into the courtroom until after lunch. and then when the judge asked who cannot be fair and impartial, approximately 50% of them raised their hands. that's an extraordinary number of jurors who were just allowed to raise their hands and walk out the door. so i think it's going to be many, many days before we see the jury in this case. yeah, we understand there are 500 prospective jurors to get through. what are they being asked and how will that inform who the defence and prosecution look to strike off? yeah so they're going to each be going through and probably groups of 20.
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a 42 question questionnaire. now it is not a written questionnaire. each juror will individually have to answer these questions orally. now, granted, a lot of them are yes no questions, that it can move through them very quickly. but some of them will ask them, you know, have they ever supported donald trump? are they members of the oath keepers or the proud boys? do they subscribe to truth social? what news outlets do they look at? because all of those things will give the lawyers insight into their political ideology. but keep in mind, some people might not be comfortable answering questions like that in open court and may be asking for the privacy of what we call a side bar where they can answer those questions in private. and will the trump team be looking for spoilers, perhaps hoping for a mistrial or a hung jury versus trying for a full acquittal? well, you know, as you know,
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manhattan, new york county, where this trial is being held, is probably 85% democrat, maybe only 9% republican, and the rest are independents. so, yeah, i think a win for the trump team would be able to get one of those republicans or maybe independents that don't have a particularfeeling one way or the other onto the jury and hang the jury. i think a full acquittal here is going to be very, very difficult in manhattan. now this trial will be a political spectacle. willjury safety be a concern? i mean, i don't think jury safety is a concern forfor the parties. but i mean, of course, today i was outside of the courthouse and you saw it was mostly donald trump supporters. there is a group of people in the park that's across the street from the courthouse with all kinds of flags, probably 100, maybe 120. but there was also a pick—up truck that kept circling the block over and over again with blacked out windows and trump logos all over this
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black pick—up truck. and it had spiked hubcaps, something out of gladiator days, and it was blasting music. you know, jurors may see that. i don't think that person was a trump supporter, but i don't think that person is doing trump any favours because jurors might see that and become concerned for their safety and not want any part of this. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.
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the white house has described iran s attack on israel over the weekend as a spectacular and embarrassing failure. nearly all of the more than three hundred missiles and drones were shot down. israels military chief has again said the attack will be met with a response — despite the fact that many of israel's allies including, as you heard, the uk — have warned against escalation. here's our middle east corrrespondent lucy williamson. israel is deciding how to respond to this —
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hundreds of drones and missiles fired over the weekend from iran. damage on the ground was limited. damage to regional stability, much more severe. at an airbase hit by missiles in the negev desert today, israel's chief of staff promised a response. iran will face the consequences for its actions. we will choose our response accordingly. the idf remains ready to counter any threat from iran and its terror proxies. israel says only a handful of missiles made it through air defences, but this direct confrontation with iran, the first on israeli soil, has thrown the middle east off balance. what's shaken israel in these attacks isn't the damage
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caused, but how they happened — with drones and missiles sent straight from iran. and what these strikes left broken isn't so much infrastructure, it's iran's fear of launching a direct attack. iran's attack came with careful signalling. its government warned israel's allies of the strikes and said they were punishment for an assassination in syria, and that iran now considered the matter closed. translation: our advice to all the supporters - of the zionist regime is to appreciate iran's responsible and measured action, and dissuade the zionist regime from committing more wicked acts, which would bring incalculable consequences. but israel has said it will exact a price in return. its prime minister — under pressure from allies to de—escalate the situation — has been discussing with his war cabinet, and today with opposition leaders, exactly what that price should be. one former diplomat with the experience of iran says military action
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is only one option. our military options are far more varied than the iranians, and frankly, the iranian barrage was a demonstration of weakness, not of strength. there is clearly a strong need for israel to, however it decides to respond, and the response can come in many different ways, notjust military. israel is already fighting iranian—backed groups, in gaza to the south and lebanon to the north. a far less powerful opponent delivered a major blow on the 7th of october. israel's challenge now is how to restore a fear of conflict in its biggest enemy without triggering a war. lucy williamson, bbc news. suzanne maloney, is an iran expert who is the vice president and director of the foreign policy program
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at the brookings institution. she weighed in on whether israel might risk a direct war with iran. well, i think the israelis recognise that they are overmatched when it comes to their military capabilities versus iran. they would be both on their own and with the support of allies like the united states in a position to absolutely obliterate the iranian military and likely produce an end to the islamic republic, the current ruling regime. i think that is, you know, obviously something that they could do, but it would come with very dire consequences for the rest of the region and for all of their own and, of course, us interests in the region. and i imagine that the biden administration is advising the israeli government to think very carefully about instigating another level of escalation
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that could lead to even more catastrophic fallout for their own population. and for iran, now that they've engaged directly with israel, what's next? and help us understand what's their endgame when it comes to israel? well, i think that your correspondent who is reporting just now put it very accurately that, you know, the iranians felt the need to respond because of the israeli strike, which eliminated seven senior commanders from the iranian revolutionary guard corps, including the individual who was absolutely critical to their orchestration of proxies and terror attacks around the region that took place in damascus just two weeks ago. and it took place on the grounds of the iranian consulate. and the iranian supreme leader said that israel would be punished for that measure and they obviously wanted to respond in a very spectacular way. they sought, i think, to cause real harm to israel, to overwhelm israel's defences and to demonstrate the capabilities that iran could bring to bear if, in fact, a war were to erupt. i'm not sure that the outcome
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really reinforced that that message from iran, the fact that the united states was able, along with other allies, was able to shoot down almost all of the iranian rockets and drones, as well as the fact that there are some reports that suggest somewhere near 50% of iran's missiles, infact, either failed to launch or did not complete their their trajectories, which suggests that its programme is not quite as technologically sophisticated as some may have thought. mps in the uk have voted to reject six amendments to the rwanda bill made by the house of lords. the much debated bill will now return to the upper chamber for further scrutiny on tuesday. it comes as reports suggest the uk held talks with other countries, including armenia, about replicating the scheme. the plan to send some asylum seekers to rwanda has faced setbacks since it was first
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announced in april 2022 by boris johnson's government. liz truss has told the bbc she hopes donald trump is re—elected as america's president claiming the "world was safer" when he was in the white house. the uk's shortest—serving prime minister also told our political editor, chris mason she can't see any purpose for the united nations in its current form. he began by asking her how she would repsond to those who say that her time in office made the uk the world's laughing stock. well, i don't... i don't think that's true. but you lasted... all the stuff about lasting less time than a lettuce... this is just pathetic point—scoring. address directly our viewer or listener who looks back 18 months and remembers that mini budget and blames you for mortgages going sky high, for the country feeling poorer, for the economy getting into a spin, and says that you were the author of that and it was a disaster. well, the mortgages getting higher was a phenomenon that was happening around the world.
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interest rates were going up. they'd been too low for too long. in fact, it was a failure of the bank of england not to put them up earlier, which would have helped stem inflation. but it was your actions that led to that spiralling economic mess. well, i don't agree with that. i don't agree with that. but the markets went into turmoil. you had to sack your chancellor. you were gone within a few weeks. what happened was we put forward the mini budget, which was about addressing the economic problems britain had, because the fact is, growth was not high enough, there wasn't enough money coming in to the exchequer. that meant squeezes on public services. you had the bank of england, which was running monetary policy, actively not supporting what the government was doing. do you think andrew bailey, the governor, should be out? well, i don't support his continuation in thejob. we didn't know we were sitting on a tinderbox.
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which you set fire to. well... i just wonder if it all sounds like you are looking for somebody else to blame. well, what i am saying is, yes... it was somebody else's fault? well, i'm not saying i'm perfect, nobody�*s perfect. it's all very well saying, liz, do you accept any of the blame? i'm frankly not going to let them get off the hook. you talk in the book about the deep state. isn't that to indulge in conspiracy theory kind of quackery? well, it's a description of a group of people, an orthodoxy, a groupthink that is not accountable to electors. so you'd get rid of the office for budget responsibility? yes, tomorrow. you offer plenty of praise of donald trump in the book. do you hope he wins again in the autumn? yes, i do. why?
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because i believe that we need a strong america. under donald trump, when he was president of the united states, the world was safer. how, then, do we, in yourview, shape international relations? you talk in the book about the united nations. you talk about it having sick building syndrome. would you get rid of the un? i can't see a purpose for the un as it stands at present. it has been very ineffective at dealing with international situations — in fact, positively damaging. let's talk about the future of the conservative party. would nigel farage be a welcome addition to the parliamentary conservative party? i think he would be, i think it would be good if he joined the conservative party. and became an mp? well, if hejoined the conservative party, i would support him becoming an mp, yes. why? because i think he believes in conservative values. i think it's a shame he's not in the conservative party. we are grateful for your time, liz truss. thank you.
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organisers of the beijing half marathon are investigating allegations that three african athletes deliberately allowed china's star runner hejie to win sunday's race. let me show you the moment they crossed the line. here you can see him. he's finishing one second ahead of the trio. on the footage, which is circulating in social media, all four runners close in on the final stretch of the race. and some suspect, the race leaders slowed down before the finish line, to let the chinese runner win. some chinese social media users called the race "embarrassing" or a "performance". a spokesperson at the beijing sports bureau said they were investigating the incident, adding: "we will announce the results to the public once they are available." and there's a reaction from the kenyan runner willy mnang—at. he told the south china morning post he indeed let hejie win
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"because he is my friend" but didn't receive any financial reward for doing so. he later changed his story, telling bbc sport africa that he'd been contracted to run as a pacemaker to try and help he break the chinese half—marathon record. that's all for now — stay with bbc news. more on that story and all the ones we covered today on our website. you can find them there. hello there. it was a very unsettled day on monday, very windy for many of us with widespread gales and a whole mixture of weather conditions. tuesday looks a little bit quieter. it'll still be quite blustery. there'll be sunshine, a few showers around, but it'll stay on the cool side
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for the time of year. in this cooler air mass, which was introduced across the uk by monday's area of low pressure, will be sitting to the east of the country for tuesday. so it's here where we'll see most of the showers, the strongest of the winds, the further west you are, closer to this area of high pressure, then it'll be a little bit quieter. so we start off on a chilly note for tuesday morning. quite a bit of sunshine around. a few showers from the word go across northern and eastern areas, and these showers will affect northern scotland, wintriness on the hills. into the afternoon, some heavier showers, perhaps some hail and thunder affecting the midlands into southeast england. and a fairly breezy day to come, not as windy as monday — those are mean wind speeds. temperature wise, probably a little bit better than monday, up to 13 celsius in the south.
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so with some light winds, some sunshine, it won't feel too bad, but cooler along north sea coasts, single digits there. tuesday night, we continue to see clear spells, further bands of showers, especially across northern scotland, where it'll turn quite windy again and stay cool as well with some snow on the hills there. touch of frost in some sheltered glens, otherwise, it's quite a chilly night, i think, to start wednesday morning. so wednesday itself, we'll have some showers draped across eastern areas. these weather fronts may bring some cloud and rain to the far west of the country. and once again, we're in a slightly cooler air mass. wednesday, could be a little bit cooler than tuesday. so we start off on a chilly note, plenty of sunshine around. there will be showers again across northern and eastern scotland, eastern england, more cloud here. and these weather fronts could bring cloud outbreaks of rain to northern ireland. a bit of a question mark to how far eastwards it moves, but it could affect parts of wales and south west england through the afternoon, the best and the brightest through the spine of the country. temperatures range of nine to 11 or 12 celsius, so a bit below average. thursday into friday, we see a spell of wet, windy weather across the north of the uk, something drier in the south.
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and then this area of high pressure wants to build in in time for the weekend. so that will bring a very much needed quieter, drier spell of weather as we push towards the end of the week. and with a bit more sunshine around, light winds, it'll feel a bit warmer as well.
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trouble at tesla reformer ev executives says.
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oil prices are flat after iran's weekend attack on israel — but uncertainty is still plaguing the markets. hello, and welcome to asia business report. i'm steve lai. a tesla whistle—blower who has battled elon musk and tesla through the courts for a decade has told the bbc she is still seeking a public apology for how she was treated after raising a safety concern about its vehicles. until 2014, cristina balan was a rising star within the electric car firm in the us. she spoke to our technology editor zoe kleinman. i was the only woman in the team, like engineering and in the beginning, it was great. in the early days, cristina balan was doing so well at tesla. her initials were engraved on the car's batteries, but she says it wasn't long before things took a turn for the worse. everything went south. when i realised that they were hiding some

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