tv BBC News BBC News July 28, 2024 8:00pm-8:31pm 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 a "horrific" attack. hezbollah has denied any involvement. there are fears that the rocket strike, in the town of majal 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, terrified about what happens next. for months, they feared a disaster.
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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. "they've been bombarding us for ten months," he shouts. "my children are crying every day!"
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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. if this happened yesterday, what about tomorrow, if it happens? like if it gets to an all—out war.
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it's going to be pretty tough. 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. i spoke to mark lowen, our middle east correspondent, and asked him how israel might respond. i think the expectation is absolutely that there will be a green—lighting of a military operation of some sort, a retaliatory strike by israel into lebanon. but quite what form that takes and where, indeed, the israelis decide to strike are unknown, and they will be critical as to determining just how dangerous this moment is. all the reports we're getting is that the pressure is on israel not to strike in major urban centres like beirut, for example. and then there will be pressure on hezbollah, in lebanon, as to how they would respond
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to an israeli retaliatory strike, because there is a huge amount of international pressure on both sides at the moment, coming from the us, from france, from the united nations, from the european union, on both, on both hezbollah and on 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, risks spreading this into a much wider regional conflagration, conflagration. so that is what all the international mediation attempts at the moment are focussed on. 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
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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, 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. so, hezbollah said it had carried out two attacks targeting israeli military positions today.
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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, that 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 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,
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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. 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 there have been some efforts behind the scenes to try to limit the scope of this attack, to try to avoid large population centres, including
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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. here in the uk, the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, says we now have a fuller picture 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
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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. 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
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week, which is that this is a situation that escalated very quickly. it was 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. 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
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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's 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, 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,
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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 venezuelans 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 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
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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 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
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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. 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
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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 kasai 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 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 body from the river. but while seven others were rescued, and they're hoping 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, uh, there is a high possibility of them being, uh, presumed dead. so that's what we know so far.
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the region is one of great political instability, isn't it?— instability, isn't it? yes, definitely. _ instability, isn't it? yes, definitely. since - instability, isn't it? yes, definitely. since august | instability, isn't it? yes, - definitely. since august last year, there have been conflicts between local militias in the government and in fact, because of that ongoing conflict, the government was forced to declare a state of emergency for ten months. they only lifted that state of emergency a few months ago. but the fighting has continued. and that has impacted humanitarian excess for other emergencies because this is not the only emergency in the region. there had been areas impacted by drought, leaving millions of people dependent on aid. there is also the impact of the conflict itself. and now, extreme weather events like this are happening. but because of the conflict, providing aid quickly has been impacted, that has been
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hampered. now it's time for a look at today's sport. another packed day in paris. yes, fantastic stories coming out of paris today. we'll start with tennis — after the most extaraordinary comeback in the men's doubles by great britain's andy murray and his partner, dan evans. remember, this is the last competitive outing by murray, the three—time grand slam winner, he will retire after the olympics and it's the only event he is taking part in, they lost the first set against the japanese pair of taro daniel and kei nishikori, and came from a break down in the second to level, which meant the match would be decided on a io—point tie—break. murray and evans saved five match points against the japanese, and won seven points in a row to take the match at the first opportunity. murray's retirement is on hold. an extraordinary match. rafa nadal will play novak djokovic in the second round of the singles, after beating
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hungary's martin fucsovics. nadal won his doubles match with carlos alcaraz on saturday, but hinted he may pull out of the singles with a thigh problem. he won the first set comfortably, 6—1, but lost the second, before taking the decider 6—4. that sets up a 60th meeting against his great rival, djokovic. one of the poster—boys of the olympics, leon marchand, won france's second gold medal of the day as he completely dominated the field in the a00m individual medley. the 22—year—old ended france's 12—year wait for an olympic swimming gold, as he surged to victory in an olympic record, just shy of his own world record, finishing almost six seconds clear of japan's matsushita tomoyuki. usa's carson foster took bronze. the first french gold of the day came from pauline ferrand—prevot in the cross—country mountain bike. the circuit at ellancourt hilljust outside
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the city has been criticised for not being hard enough, but the five—time world champion, who had never won a medal at the olympic games in three previous attempts, streaked clear of the field to win by almost almost three minutes fro the american. america and sweden took silver and bronze. lebronjames inspired the usa as they began the defence of their olympic basketball crown with victory over nikola jokic�*s serbia. appearing in his fourth olympics, lebron finished with an impressive 21 points, seven rebounds and nine assists. he was ably supported by kevin durant, who scored 23 points off the bench. two—time nba most valuable player jokic scored 20 points for serbia, but he was unable to prevent them slumping to big defeat, 110 to sa. japan have their third gold medal of the games after 14—year—old yoshizawa coco won the women's street skateboard. a skater�*s highest—scoring run
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and two highest—scoring tricks combine to provide an overall score, and yoshizawa's penultimate trick was enough to move her from 4th to top spot on the podium, ahead of compatriot akama liz and brazil's rayssa leal. the belgian grand prix, but was then disqualified two and a half hours later after his car was found to be underweight. his mercedes team—mate lewis hamilton was given the victory. russell finished first, after a brilliant one—stop strategy saw him hold off hamilton to secure his second win of the season, and mercedes' third in four races. russell's car was initially weighed at 798kg, which is exactly on the minimum weight limit for car and driver combined, but stewards found the car had not been fully drained of fuel and was actually one and a half kilograms under the legal limit. mercedes team boss toto wolff said they take it on the chin and learn from their mistake.
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england have completed a 3—nil series win against west indies. they won by ten wickets at edgbaston inside three days. chasing 82 to win, captain ben stokes, who opened for the injured zak crawley, hit the fastest test half—century by an englishman, off just 2a balls. hitting the winning runs with a six. earlier, mark wood took five wickets after lunch in the space of six overs, as windies were bowled out for 175. england now have a three—week break before taking on sri lanka in another three—match series. and that's all the sport for now. it has been quite hard to concentrate was so much more going on. let's stay with the olympics, and as we've just heard, day two of the paris games is well under way. this is the scene live in paris this evening, where events are still taking place, including the day two swimming finals session. my colleague maryam moshiri has been
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following events in paris today and sent this update on what we've seen so far, and what's to come tomorrow. the sun is shining. 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
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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. the gymnastics, the artistic gymnastics, carries on for a good few days here in paris. elsewhere at the games today, controversy at the men's beach volleyball, as the dutch player steven van de velde, a convicted child rapist, was met with boos at his olympic debut. he was sentenced to four years in prison back in 2016, but was selected for the dutch team. fans outside the venue gave their reaction to his inclusion at the games. we want to ask you about steven van de velde. i'm not going to comment. yeah, well, i don't want to answer that question. i'm sorry. will you support him today? i will support matthew immers. i'm very astonished that a raper, as a supporter, is now playing i the beach volleyball tournament. yeah, they should be not allowed to play. i are you aware of his story? yes, iam.
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i think it's... i think it's no longer an issue. you think it was right he was selected for the olympics? of course, because he's been punished, or... yeah? and now, it's over and he can continue with his life. well, controversy aside, the beach volleyball is taking place today, as is the skateboarding as well. we've seen the rowers in action. we've also seen the artistic gymnasts, both the women's team, the gb team, the american team as well. it's been a really busy day of sport and it's going to get even busier tomorrow. tomorrow, we're going to have 19 gold medals up for grabs. so as the weather hots up here in paris, the sporting action is starting as well. and the temperature here is supposed to be hitting about 35 degrees or 3a degrees by about tuesday. that's going to be really, really hot, especially for a lot of the outdoor events here in france. so it'll be interesting to see how that all pans out
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over the next few days. one of ireland's best—known writers, edna o'brien, has died at the age 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. 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, we're 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 canjust about make out the jetstream. it's away 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
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sunny through the day 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. infact, 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 says the 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 has been harassed and the vote may
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not be free and fair. edna o'brien, one of ireland's best—known writers, has died aged ninety—three. she made her name with a series of novels focusing on how young irish women were treated by their country. now on bbc news — americast: can money buy the us election? americast. americast from bbc news. hello, it'sjustin in the worldwide headquarters of americast in london, england. and it's anthony in the washington bureau of bbc news. and it is marianna, aka miss information. still not back in the worldwide headquarters, but still in greece. well, you're missing out on some excitement here, mariana. it has been an incredibly busy time in the us for political news.
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