tv BBC News BBC News July 28, 2024 7:00pm-7:31pm BST
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hello, i'm anjana gadgil. funerals have been held for some of the 12 young people killed when a rocket hit a football pitch in the israeli—occupied golan heights yesterday. the rocket struck a town close to the border. the israeli defence minister blamed hezbollah in neighbouring lebanon, and the white house says the group was responsible for what the us has called an "horrific" attack. hezbollah has denied any involvement. there are fears that the rocket strike in the town of madjal shams will trigger all—out war in the region. paul adams reports from israeli—occupied golan heights. through the streets of majdal shams, the coffins came one by one. a town reeling in shock, consumed by collective grief,
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terrified about what happens next. for months, they feared a disaster. but they never imagined it would take away their children. at the football pitch where they all died, moments of silent reflection. efforts to comprehend the speed of this tragedy. a playground, transformed in an instant into a place ofjagged metal, discarded belongings and, in the corner, the blood of the victims. we're told that a siren sounded just seconds before the rocket landed here, and blew the fence right back. and look, just outside the pitch, metres away, there's a bomb shelter. but the children, the children on the pitch, those watching, those on their bikes and scooters, they had no time to react. the mood changes as government officials arrive to pay their respects. there's real anger now, even from one man in uniform.
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"they've been bombarding us for ten months," he shouts. "my children are crying every day!" after thousands of hezbollah rockets since last october, people here just want it all to end. when israel's hardline finance minister shows up, some urge the government to strike back hard. but others turn on him. "get out of here, you criminal," one says. the government has yet to decide how to respond. the army says it just needs the word. we are ready. we said we are ready for several weeks or even months, and we continue to be ready. and every day that is passing, we are preparing more, and more, and more. but in this druze minority town, captured from syria in 1967, such talk is causing anxiety. i'm afraid for the consequences. this happened yesterday. what about tomorrow, if it happens? like if it gets to an all—out war, it's going to be pretty tough.
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and people are going to die, on all sides. milar sha'ar was ten years old, the youngest victim. his uncle and cousin, struggling to comprehend their sudden loss. he is loved by everyone. his family says the war which killed him has to end. paul adams reporting there. let's speak to our middle east correspondent mark lowen who is in jerusalem. we know that israel's security cabinet are holding a meeting. do we know what decisions they are likely to make and what direction they may now take? i to make and what direction they may now take? ~' , . ., ., , now take? i think the expectation is absolutely there _ now take? i think the expectation is absolutely there will _ now take? i think the expectation is absolutely there will be _ now take? i think the expectation is absolutely there will be a _ now take? i think the expectation is absolutely there will be a green - absolutely there will be a green lighting of a military operation of some sort, i retaliatory strike by israel into lebanon, but quite what form that takes were indeed the israelis decide to strike an unknown and they will be critical as to determining just how dangerous this moment is. all the reports we are getting is the pressure is on israel
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not to strike in major urban areas like beirut, for example, and then they will be pressure on his brother in lebanon and how they would respond to an israeli retaliatory strike —— hezbollah in lebanon. there is pressure from all sides, the us, france, the un, on hezbollah and the israeli government not to allow this to escalate into a full—scale regional inferno, if you like. remember, hezbollah is the most important middle east proxy of iran. it is sponsored by iran, and so a full on confrontation with hezbollah risks bringing in tehran, potentially, risk spreading this into a much wider regional conflagration, so that is what all the international mediation attempts at the moment are trying to focus on. a ~' at the moment are trying to focus on, �* ., " ., " at the moment are trying to focus on. ~ ., ~ _, at the moment are trying to focus on. ~ ., ~ ~ ~ at the moment are trying to focus on. mark, thank you. a middle east correspondent _ on. mark, thank you. a middle east correspondent in _ on. mark, thank you. a middle east correspondent in jerusalem, - on. mark, thank you. a middle east correspondent in jerusalem, mark | correspondent in jerusalem, mark
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lowen. as we mentioned, the us says hezbollah was behind the strike, and authorities have been in discussions with israeli and lebanese counterparts since the attack to work on a diplomatic solution. lebanon's foreign minister, abdallah bou habib, told the bbc that he didn't think that hezbollah carried out the strike. he condemned the attack and said an international investigation was needed to find out what happened. the government of lebanon first condemns the killing of civilians wherever they are. hezbollah is denying it, and hezbollah usually even in israel has been hitting, you know, military targets, not civilian targets. so in the golan heights it knows that there are civilians there, i don't think hezbollah would do it. there could be another organisation or a mistake by the israelis, or a mistake by hezbollah. i don't know. we need really an international committee to investigate this event. in the last few hours,
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hezbollah has said it has carried out two attacks on israeli soldiers close to the lebanese border in response to israeli retaliatory strikes into lebanon. our middle east correspondent, hugo bachega, brought us up to date. hezbollah said it had carried out two attacks targeting israeli military positions today. one of those attacks happened in the town of shtula, where reports suggest a house was hit, but there were no reports of casualties. now, obviously, this happens as there is the expectation of an israeli response following the attack on saturday, a deadly attack that israel says was carried out by hezbollah. we heard there that hezbollah has denied being behind this attack. it is very important to mention that just before the scale of this attack became clear, hezbollah had claimed responsibility for an attack in the area of this explosion using an iranian—made missile. now, they say that they were not behind this attack, that this
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was possibly the result of fragments from an israeli missile from israel's air defence system — something that the israelis have rejected. they say that this was an attack that was carried out by hezbollah from lebanon, using an iranian—made missile. and the us secretary of state, antony blinken, earlier today also said that all evidence suggests that this was an attack that was orchestrated and carried out by hezbollah. now, we still haven't heard yet from israeli officials about that meeting that has been taking place between the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, and top security officials in israel. they are discussing now how to respond to that attack. they've promised a strong response.
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there have been reports during the day here in lebanon suggesting that the authorities consider that as a certainty that there will be a massive israeli attack, but that have been some efforts behind the scenes to try to limit the scope of this attack, to try to avoid large population centres, including the capital of beirut. we've heard also from the lebanese foreign minister earlier today, who said conversations were happening between the lebanese authorities and hezbollah to try to prevent an escalation and prevent a response from hezbollah to a possible israeli attack. so i think people in lebanon, many are waiting to see the result of this israeli meeting today and whether there will be a massive israeli response. you can get live reporting and analysis on the bbc news website and. here in the uk, the mayor of greater manchester andy burnham says we now have a fuller picture
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of the manchester airport incident, after new footage emerged late last night showing the moments before a police officer kicked and stamped on a man last week. the new video, obtained by the manchester evening news, shows two police officers being punched to the ground after trying to restrain one of the men. a warning — you may find this report by phil mccann distressing. you've got him on the floor, stop being agressive! the man in blue here is fahir amaaz — now known to millions as the man who has his head stamped on by a police officer. this new footage, obtained by the manchester evening news, shows what happened just beforehand. as police appear to try to apprehend the man in blue, a man in a grey top comes in and punches are thrown. the man in blue breaks free and more punches are thrown between him and two other officers, who fall to the floor. he then drags the other officer down, as he holds a taser towards the man in grey. one of the other officers tasers him, and this footage ends as the man in blue is kicked in the head.
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a man with his hands up, who is later hit in the back of the head with a taser, appears to be the same man seen in grey in the new video. it is an extremely difficult situation. but at least this morning it has moved forward a degree, because people now have a fuller picture. and it confirms what i said last week, which is that this is a situation that escalated very quickly, it's a very violent situation. issues on both sides. greater manchester police are appealing for information about the series of earlier events last tuesday that happened before their officers arrived. at 7.20pm there was an altercation between passengers on a qatar airways flight from doha. they say it may have taken place on board or in the baggage hall, although the airline denies it happened on the plane. then, at 8.22pm, the police say there was a violent altercation involving members of the public in a branch of starbucks at manchester's terminal two. that happened six minutes before the altercation involving the police.
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four people were arrested after that incident and released on police bail. a police officer is facing a criminal investigation over kicking, stamping and using incapacitant spray. we understand the police officers involved are still under the care of medical professionals. sources we have spoken to close to the family say that fahir is still traumatised and still needs medical scans. they say the family is not a criminal family, they say that if anyone is found to have broken the law, they should face due process. they also say that there is no context that could justify an assault on someone who is lying on the ground. shame on you! the original video sparked protests, including in the home town of the brothers involved in the incident, in rochdale. greater manchester's chief constable has said the shock and upset caused in some communities is a matter of profound regret. phil mccann, bbc news. voting is under way in venezuela in what's being seen as the most consequential presidential election in a generation. president nicolas maduro,
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who's been in office since 2013, is seeking a third consecutive term. he told voters they have a choice between war and peace — and warned of a bloodbath if he loses. opposition candidate, edmundo gonzalez, said it's time to re—establish democracy and prosperity in the country after a quarter of a century of socialist rule. tensions across the country are high. there have been clashes at polling stations as people wait in long queues to cast their votes. speaking after casting his vote in caracas, edmundo gonzalez said the will of the people must be respected, and urged venezuela ns to "verify" all information they receive today. translation: to all venezuelans l around the world, your strength l and your commitment, we feel it and it encourages us. we are one people united in our search for freedom. thank you to all those who are working today to ensure that the will of the venezuelan
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people is respected. i ask that you verify any information that reaches you today. it's a day when the misinformation professionals will be very active trying to confuse people. our south america correspondent, ione wells, has the latest from caracas. there have been huge queues up and down the country already at this election in venezuela, with some people even queuing all through the night to try and vote early. president maduro is seeking his third re—election into office. he has said this morning that he wants the international community to respect the result, and that he doesn't want them to, in his words, "meddle" in the results of this election. but there are concerns about whether he will respect the result himself. the last elections were widely dismissed as neitherfree norfair, and there have already been concerns about the way in which the government has attempted to suppress the opposition vote. this has ranged from opposition candidates being banned from running to opposition aides being detained
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in the build—up to the election, but also other methods as well, including the fact that millions of venezuelans who live abroad have struggled to register to vote. eu election observers have been disinvited as well from monitoring the election today, so there are concerns about whether this vote will be fair. and the reason for that is because the opposition campaign in this election has had huge momentum. even though the opposition leader was banned from running, there has been a lot of momentum behind the campaign, and the opposition candidate, edmundo gonzalez, who is backed by the opposition leader, maria corina machado, who herself was banned from running. certainly some people we've spoken to today have already said that they are feeling, for the first time in years, optimistic that change could be on the way. reports from northern ethiopia say at least 12 people have drowned after their boat sank on saturday. the vessel was taking passengers across the tekeze river, which runs up to and along ethiopia's northern border with eritrea. media access to northern ethiopia is heavily restricted by authorities.
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the region has seen recent clashes between the military and an ethnic amhara militia known as the fano. our reporter kalkidan yibeltal has been following the story and gave this update from ethiopia's capital, addis ababa. here is what we know so far. as you said, the area is remote and there is little access to media organisations, so the information is coming out slowly. but what we managed to find from local authorities so far is at least 26 people were travelling using a wooden boat and they were travelling to attend a funeral from one village to another, and they were crossing over the tekeze river. this is one of the major rivers in northern ethiopia. and it happened that there was a flash flood while they were crossing the river, and then the boat capsized and they drowned. so far, the authorities have confirmed four of these passengers are dead because they have managed to retrieve their bodies from the river, while seven
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others were rescued, and they were hoping for more people to swim to safety on the banks of the river, but there are still several people remaining missing and the there is a high possibility of them being presumed dead. so that's what we know so far. let's return to one of our main stories today — the olympics. we have seen swimming, mountain biking, skateboarding and tennis. the british player andy murray is currently on court the two—time olympic champion is playing what he said will be his last ever tournament. it was looking like it could be his last ever match as well, having lost the first set, but i can tell you they are now in a tie—break in the second set. he is playing in the japanese pair. let's get more from paris from my colleague maryam moshiri. the sun is shining.
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it's absolutely beautiful. we had two days of solid rain. it had a huge impact on so much. for example, the opening ceremony was a bit of a washout. i mean, it was a success, but it was very wet indeed. then, of course, we had some news in terms of the triathletes — their training session, which was due to take place today, has been cancelled. now, authorities say the river is too dirty for them to swim in, but they're hoping that at some point, potentially it'll get better, and that by tuesday it will be back to normal pollution levels and the triathletes can swim. now, it's been a really big day in terms of sport today. we've had action at the tennis. rafael nadal, for example, won his first round match and that sets him up for a really interesting second round match against novak djokovic. simone biles, the gymnastics superstar, has been on the floor and on the apparatus once again today. she's wowed the crowds after that very difficult outing she had in tokyo 2020. she will go through now, as it's hoped that other members of her team will to the final.
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the artistic gymnastics carries on for a good few days here in paris. also today we've had the mountain biking. now, it's a really interesting sport. it hasn't had a lot of media interest, but it's one of those sports that really gets the crowds going. we've had also some team gb interest as well. i'm very happy to say we're joined now by a former world champion mountain biker and coach, tracy moseley, whojoins me now, and i can talk to. tracy, thanks so much forjoining us here on bbc news. tell me a little bit more about mountain biking and what it is about this sport that got you, got you into it in the first place. hi, there, thanks. yeah, mountain biking has been been a competition now for many years at the olympics, but still is kind of yet to be on the mainstream. but it's basically a multi—lap — so cross—country that we saw today, which is the only olympic
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discipline of mountain biking, there's others like downhill and enduro, but cross—country, which is a multi—lap race. it's a mass start and they completed seven laps today around a course that takes you up and downhill across some pretty tricky terrain. and it's basically the fastest, the first person that crosses the finish line wins. so yeah, some great scenes today from watching myself. tell me a little bit about the team gb interest because we saw evie richards earlier on competing. she came fifth, didn't she, in the competition. she did really well considering what she's had to go through over the last few months. yeah. so this is evie's second olympics, and it's definitely been her childhood dream to be at the olympic games. and this year particularly, she didn't have the best run in. she had a concussion at one of the world cup races back in april, so lost pretty much all of may, for proper training and kind of took a slow, real slow recovery. so she's had really only kind of the last six weeks to really build that training back up. so she was always going to be a little bit off form in terms of peak fitness. but itjust showed today
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anything can happen in mountain biking. we saw crashes, we saw punctures and it really showed any strength to kind of to be resilient and be there. she was in the group that ended up being in competition for that second and third place today on the podium. so she really hung in there and only just missed out on kind of being in that group to have got that podium place. so yeah, really strength for her to kind of tough it out over a long day. and i hope there's going to be more olympics for evie because she really has got the potential to to be up there winning a medal for us in the next one. and tell me a little bit more about all the other mountain bike countries, the ones that tend to do very well, the ones that we should be keeping an eye on this year. yeah. well, certainly i think the french always rise to their game whenever there's a home race, whether it's a world championships or olympics. and certainly pauline ferrand—prevot, who won today, was out and out fever and she definitely delivered for the french crowd. so always an interesting to look after that. you know, the home nation interest, they're always one to watch. um, we've obviously got a lot of interest in the men's race tomorrow with tom pidcock. he is the reigning olympic champion for mountain biking,
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so really hoping he can get back to back wins for team gb. and also the french are going to be strong tomorrow in the men's race. we've got a really strong south african who's won the last couple of world cup races in alan hasley. bbut as we saw today, it really there's things can often change with the mountain bike and it's not an out and out kind of set of wwhoever�*s in form, there's got to be lots of other things, lots of factors that can come with crashes. the surface — today we saw was really dry and slippery after the rain we've had. it's dried up a lot today, so i think look out tomorrow in the men's race for some of those early crashes, when there's a mass start going into a small, narrow area and the surface is like riding on gravel, it's super slippery. so there's going to be some good action tomorrow, i think. and is that what the audience come to watch, people who go and attend these events? they want to see that kind of sense of danger, that slipperiness that you're talking about it earlier. people kind of, you know, having those kind of problems. it makes it all the more exciting, doesn't it? i think for sure, people love to see, you know, action, the bikes coming past them super close, looking at them, going over some really technical rocks. there's some drop offs.
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i think people can really relate to... we all ride bikes as kids and it's something to see the skill level of these guys. and yeah, the odd crash and the odd tumble definitely kind of adds to the excitement. so yeah, i'm sure the crowd are going to be treated to some more incredible action tomorrow. tracy moseley, it's been so good to talk to you. thank you. former world champion mountain biker. it's been great to have you on the show. thank you. so as i said, it is evening here in paris. all the sports that we've been talking about throughout the last few days, they're continuing today. later on this evening, very exciting because we're going to see the team gb swimmer adam peaty, competing in that breaststroke 100 metre final. will he get the gold medal, the third consecutive gold in this event? if he does, then he'll equal michael phelps as one of the only swimmers to ever have done that in a specific event. that race is happening later on. then tomorrow we're seeing tom daley, the team gb diver, taking to the diving board. that's also going to be really exciting. and the artistic gymnastics team gb men's team will be competing in that final as well. so, look, it's going to be a wonderful evening of sport here in paris and a day
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of sport again tomorrow, on day three. i'm going to leave you with this beautiful view of the eiffel tower, which is my backdrop, and hand back to the studio. it certainly is beautiful. maryam moshiri in paris. we talked about the venezuelan election a few moments ago and i am going to show you some live pictures now from caracas. speaking here is the opposition candidate marie machado, who won an opposition primary in october but was barred from running for office over alleged fraud, which she has denied. she threw her support behind the opposition candidate edmund doug gonzalez, and she is giving a press conference in caracas as voting takes place —— edmundo gonzalez. one of ireland's best—known writers, edna o'brien, has died at the age
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of 93. she made her name with a series of novels focusing on how young irish women were treated by their country. in a tribute, ireland's president, michael d higgins said she was a fearless teller of truths, who'd had the moral courage to confront irish society with realities long ignored and suppressed. now there's some big news for superhero movie fans. iron man star robert downeer is making a shock return to the marvel cinematic universe after five years away from the multi—billion dollar franchise. but this time, he'll be playing supervillain doctor doom. he was unmasked at the comic—con event in san diego on saturday. the actor previously played billionaire tony stark, whose iron man alterego was one of the series biggest stars, and told fans at the event "new mask, same task". now how much would you pay for a bikini?
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how about $175,000? that's how much a gold bikini worn by carrie fisher in star wars: return of the jedi has been sold for. the star wars costume is one of the most famous outfits in film history. fisher's character princess leia wore the outfit as she was chained to jabba the hutt�*s throne in the 1983 film. $175,000! do stay with us, you're watching bbc news. hello. well, it's been a beautiful sunday across most of the uk — very warm, scattered fairweather clouds. a little cooler and cloudier in scotland and northern ireland where just that bit closer to a weather front. but here's the main message — heat building over the next day or two. here's the satellite picture, and you can just about make out the jet stream. it's way to the north of us. that means the doors have been opened to the heat coming in from the south, and the dip in thejet stream to the east there with the clouds, that's the bad weather that swept across paris during the olympic opening ceremony. so skies have been generally quite sunny through the day
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across the bulk of the country. thicker cloud here in the north—west. and the temperatures at 9pm still around 19 celsius in the lowlands of scotland and as high as the low 20s from yorkshire towards the midlands and the south—east. so after a warm and sunny day, a generally clear night to come across the bulk of england and wales. a bit more cloud here in the north—west, with that weather front brushing the western isles and also northern ireland. morning temperatures, whether you're north or south, will be about the same. so a gloriously sunny start to the day across many parts of the country with this high pressure in charge of the weather, at least across england and wales. here in northern ireland and scotland, a weak weather front moving through, so that does mean thicker cloud at times, layers of cloud in the sky and some spots of rain around the western isles, maybe the coasts of northern ireland too. but the further east and south you are, the sunnier it'll be and in fact clear blue skies possible across east anglia and the south—east. temperatures possibly nudging up to 30 celsius in the south.
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and that heat will continue to build into tuesday from spain into france, where it will be very hot. in fact, in paris it'll probably hit the mid 30s. here in the uk, it's possible we'll get in excess of 30 celsius. hot spots could be 31 or 32, but for scotland and northern ireland, more comfortable here in the low, possibly even the mid—20s. now we're going to speed up the weather forecast through tuesday into wednesday and thursday. we could see some storms breaking out across the south of the uk as early as wednesday, and certainly by thursday they could become quite widespread. so the potential for some really nasty downpours to come from around about midweek onwards. so here's the outlook. quite hot first half of the week, then not as hot and a chance of some storms. that's it from me, bye—bye.
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this is bbc news, the headlines... thousands of people have been attending funerals for the 12 children who were killed by a rocket strike in the golan heights. the white house say this attack was carried out by hezbollah. new video emerges of the events leading up to a police officer kicking a man in the head as he lay on the floor at manchester airport last week. the footage shows a fight between two officers and two men. venezuelan president nicolas maduro has cast his ballot in caracas in a crucial presidential election. he is seeking a third consecutive term in office, amid allegations that the opposition
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has been harassed and the vote may not be free and fair. edna o'brien, one of ireland's best—known writers, has died aged 93. she made her name with a series of novels focusing on how young irish women were treated by their country. now on bbc news, it's sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm gavin ramjaun. all eyes on peaty as team gb�*s superstar in the pool goes for a third straight gold in the 100m breaststroke at the paris olympics tonight. biles is back — the us gymnast shows the world just how good she is, as her team usa sail through in the women's gymnastics in front of a—list attendees.
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