tv BBC News Now BBC News August 7, 2024 2:00pm-2:31pm BST
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the tip of the iceberg. and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest. many of those involved will be sent to prison for a long time. nearly 6,000 police officers are mobilised across the uk — with fears more riots are planned for today. us vice president kamala harris makes her first public appearance with new running mate tim walz — with a second rally planned for tonight. the israeli army issues a new evacuation order for palestinians in gaza — it says it's in response to a series of rockets fired from the area on tuesday. nobel peace prize winner muhammad yunus will return on thursday to become the leader of the bangladesh's interim government. hello, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news,
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interviews and reaction. we start here in the uk, where the firstjail sentences have been handed down after more than a week of riots across the country. derek drummond received three years for his part in the disorder which flared up in southport after three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a dance class. he was one of three men to be jailed at liverpool crown court. declan geiran, seen here, and liam james riley were sentenced to 30 months and 20 months in prison, respectively. so far, more than 400 arrests have been made and about 100 people have been charged in connection with the national unrest. police sources say nearly 6,000 officers have been mobilised in preparation for more violence — there are reports up to 30 further demonstrations planned for wednesday. in sentencing the three men, the judge said that genuine grief had been "hijacked" by their "callous behaviour". jonathan egan, from the crown prosecution service, spoke outside court. the three men sentenced today are the tip of the iceberg and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest.
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many of those involved will be sent to prison for a long time. the disturbing images we have seen across the country, manipulated by agitators both in person and online, while localfamilies still grieve their loved ones, is an unforgivable and selfish act that each and every person sentenced today will have to live with. violence, rioting and aggression will never be tolerated in this country, and we stand ready to use the full force of the law against any others who have been, or are considering joining these intolerable scenes. the crown prosecution�*s message is clear. whatever your motivation for targeting police, inciting hatred, or wreaking havoc on your community, you will be swiftly punished. our home and legal correspondent, dominic casciani, gave me his reaction from outside liverpool crown court. quite simply, today what we have seen is one of the most important elements ofjustice, justice being
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seen to be done because the man in court today effectively took part in disorder a week ago. they all pleaded guilty on monday and today they have been all been jailed. that is pretty swift in the scheme of things. liverpooljudge andrew mallory casey didn't hold back on his comments about what he thought of these men, he effectively said they had brought disgrace on their communities, on the town of southport with the violent disorder there and also on the fine city of liverpool, known for its creativity and all of its wonderful people, in the words of the judge. and he started really by reflecting on the events that led up to this, that there had been a community in absolute shock, following the attacks and the deaths of the three children in southport, that the community had been trying to come togetherfor community had been trying to come together for a community had been trying to come togetherfor a vigil on on community had been trying to come together for a vigil on on that same night that they came together for a vigil, which included police officers who had actually taken part
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in the operation following those attacks, those same officers found themselves being bombarded a couple of hours later with bricks and anything else which a violent crowd of up to 1000 people could find, taking out theirfury of up to 1000 people could find, taking out their fury on the police. 0ne taking out their fury on the police. one of the men in the dock today, derek drummond, who is 58, he was described as a man who had multiple convictions down the years for violence, not necessarily recent convictions, but certainly he had, in thejudge�*s words, convictions, but certainly he had, in the judge's words, a dark side to his character. he had attended the events in southport, telling police he had gone to the vigil, but later he had gone to the vigil, but later he was part of the violence and we saw three video clips played in court of derek drummond wearing a polo shirt and shorts effectively attacking police officers. in one situation there were police officers who were trying, effectively, the enormous amounts of pressure to hold a police line, just a few of them, in front of this crowd and drummond could be seen to smash up against them and he punched one officer. he
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later said in a police interview following his arrest, i will give you the quote, i have let southport down, i let the kids down, i let my family down. he has got a long time to think about that now, three years in jail. earlier i spoke to former head of the crown prosecution service, lord ken macdonald, and he gave me his reaction to the sentencing. the maximum sentence for violent disorder is three years, you get a 30% off usually so essentially this is the tougher sentence the court could have given, so it is exactly in line with what i would have expected the courts to be doing in line with this wave of criminal violent disorder. as we've been mentioning, police sources say nearly 6,000 officers have been mobilised in preparation for more violence — there are reports up to 30 further demonstrations are planned for wednesday. speaking a little earlier, metropolitan police commissioner mark rowley gave an update on how police are preparing for what is feared to be
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another day of unrest. protecting communities is at the core of policing, that is why as police chiefs we have been meeting regularly over the last few days and we have decided to marshal thousands of police officers across the country. we have changed our tactics in the last few days, so besides marshaling more officers, we're brigading some of them at key strategic locations across the country to give us more agility to respond to wherever the protests are most intense. so we can respond with agility and show overwhelming force, so the criminals on the street don't succeed. we are hearing about specifically immigration centres or immigration lawyers targeted — how concerned are you for people in that space tonight? so, we have seen that list circulated, that is at the centre of our planning for tonight. i'm also keeping an open mind on other possibilities and other intelligence coming into our system — that is why we have thousands of officers on tonight. we will protect those people. it is completely unacceptable, regardless of your political views, to intimidate any sector of lawful activity and we will not let
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the immigration asylum system be intimidated. they are operating lawfully. the thugs and criminals targeting them are not. and we will stop that. a lot has been said about the role social media has played in whipping up the riots we've seen in the last week, especially platforms such as x and telegram. let's speak more about this with shayan sardarizadeh, a seniorjournalist at bbc verify. good to see you, shayan sardarizadeh. how are these protests being organised online? pretty sardarizadeh. how are these protests being organised online?— being organised online? pretty much all of them are _ being organised online? pretty much all of them are actually _ being organised online? pretty much all of them are actually being - all of them are actually being spread online and people see them online and then go out into different towns and cities, for instance, the protests planned for tonight that you were just talking about, we know that they were first publicised of the messaging app, telegram, just two days ago and this is a group that were set up just hours after the horrific attack in southport happened and it started
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circulating false messages about the identity of the suspect being muslim oran identity of the suspect being muslim or an asylum seeker who had come to this country by a boat and then immediately called for a protest in front of a mosque in southport a day after the attacks, which we obviously witnessed last week. so it was very much central to organising tonight's planned protest as well. interestingly, bat three group which rose from zero to about 15,000 members injust a week rose from zero to about 15,000 members in just a week on telegram, that was actually taken down from the platform by telegram on monday night. a replacement was set up yesterday in the morning and again it was taken down, another one this morning, i saw, it was taken down, another one this morning, isaw, a replacement for that group was set up and it was taken down again, but by now the message about those protests being planned for tonight in different locations has already travelled, among many, many different platforms and probably hundreds of thousands, millions of people have already seen it, so even though the group is now
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down and that might in the long term play a part in actually making things a bit, in terms of the organisations of protests, already at night message as is out. how can --eole aet at night message as is out. how can people get accurate _ at night message as is out. how can people get accurate information - people get accurate information about what is going on online? it is actually very _ about what is going on online? it 3 actually very difficult for about what is going on online? it 1 actually very difficult for people at the moment because people are going online and protests are happening. they sort of get minute by minute updates on the internet, some of the videos they get are absolutely genuine and some of the livestreams they get are definitely genuine, but you also see old videos. 0ver genuine, but you also see old videos. over the weekend we saw several false claims about what it was going on on the ground that could actually make things a bit worse, including a potential acid attack, some claims of stabbings that actually police then later came out and said they were untrue. what i would say is, if you are on the internets, if you are on the platform, x, for instance, which millions of people use, all the sort of local and regional police forces in towns and cities are actually
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providing updates on the platform, x, you just have to look for accounts that have the great tick next to them, those are the official accounts of see him merseyside police, greater manchester police, metropolitan police, you can easily find them on the platform x. if you are on facebook, some of these organisations are providing updates on facebook as well and you can find them by the blue tick against their names. if you are in a town where the local police are not providing updates online, you can still go to the major news organisations that people know and trust and they are running live updates and are in touch with police forces and there you can get accurate information about what is going on on the ground. about what is going on on the round. ,, . , . about what is going on on the round. ,, ., ., ., ground. shayan sardarizadeh, good to have ou ground. shayan sardarizadeh, good to have you with — ground. shayan sardarizadeh, good to have you with us. _ ground. shayan sardarizadeh, good to have you with us, thank— ground. shayan sardarizadeh, good to have you with us, thank you. - to the us now, where vice president kamala harris has made herfirstjoint appearance with her running mate for november's presidential election. at a rally in philadelphia. ms harris said she and minnesota governor, tim walz, were underdogs going into the election —
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but they are fighting for the country's future. alice herman is the politics and democracy reporter for the guardian newspaper. she gave me her key takeaways from the rally. i think that walz and harris projected a kind of optimism and forward—looking message that maybe wouldn't have been as possible under a biden ticket. and i think that rally was really intended to sort of set the ground for an exciting... you know, to excite the democratic party base. i wasn't at the rally, but all the reports that i heard about it, it sounded like the crowd was really fired up. and that was sort of the intention behind that first rally. i mean, watching it, alice, even from afar, here in the uk, you could really sense the energy in the room and that level of excitement. but what strategic value does walz bring to the ticket? walz brings a rural and midwestern and blue collar aspect
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to the democratic party ticket. he was raised and born in a small, small town in nebraska. he went on to serve in the military, and then worked for years as a teacher in nebraska and minnesota before being elected to the us house of representatives and then later to be the governor of minnesota. do stay with us here on bbc news now, we're going to take you live to paris shortly to bring you all the very latest, day 12 of the olympics there and we'll find out what has been going on on the track and the first day of the golf as well.
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man, had been chosen as the new overall head of hamas. he was most recently the leader of hamas in gaza. israel holds him, along with others, responsible for the october 7th attacks which killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 200 kidnapped. yolande knell is in jerusalem with more. yes, but evacuation order came through in the usual way from the israeli military spokesman for arabic, telling people to head down towards gaza city, to leave this location in the very north of the gaza strip, indicating that it is because the israeli military seized palestinian armed groups, now active there, and they have been firing these rockets in recent days into these rockets in recent days into the towns and villages that surround the towns and villages that surround the gaza strip. this isjust the latest in a series of evacuation orders we have had over the past ten months which have seen hundreds of
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thousands of people on the move. some people displaced multiple times. the israeli military also says it has targeted rocket launch sites in the very south of the gaza strip as well, close to a un warehouse there. and it is notable, analysts say, that the barrage is of rockets that have come out of gaza in recent days were not of the scale that some had expected in response to the assassination of a hamas leader, ismail haniyeh, a man who came from gaza. this really shows that the ongoing war is having a real effect on the military capabilities of the group. figs real effect on the military capabilities of the group. as a result of that, _ capabilities of the group. as a result of that, we _ capabilities of the group. as a result of that, we now- capabilities of the group. as a result of that, we now have yahya sinwar named as the overall head of hamas. what does that appointment mean for the future or the potential of any ceasefire talks?— of any ceasefire talks? well, when it comes to — of any ceasefire talks? well, when it comes to ceasefire _ of any ceasefire talks? well, when it comes to ceasefire talks, - of any ceasefire talks? well, when it comes to ceasefire talks, yahya | it comes to ceasefire talks, yahya sinwar is really seen as the man who
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has been calling the shots on the ground or even under the ground because it is widely believed that he is holed up in an underground bunker. i mean, the reaction has been based on the fact that he is really a hardliner, even within hamas. ismail haniyeh, his predecessor, was somebody who was seen as more moderate and more pragmatic. now we have the mastermind of the 7th of october attacks, those devastating attacks on israel which triggered the deadliest ever war in gaza, now in charge of the organisation. we have had iran and its proxies in the region, otherarmed had iran and its proxies in the region, other armed groups saying like hamas this sends a really strong and defiant message to israel, that the group intends to fight on in this war. but, you know, israeli leaders have been reiterating their demand that yahya sinwar be targeted, that he should be killed and his group eliminated.
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more than 1,000 british military personnel have been put on standby to help with the evacuation of british nationals from lebanon. the foreign office has warned that the situation in the middle east could deteriorate rapidly and has called on uk citizens to leave. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale says the us and uk forces are concerned tensions in the region could get worse. it is the expectation that iran will launch retaliatory strikes against israel after it believes israel targeted a senior hamas leader in their country. they have said they will respond. so that expectation has prompted the us to build up its military presence in the region. remember, they did the same in april when israel is believed to have been behind a strike on the iranian embassy in damascus. and then israel, on the 13th of april, fired hundreds of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at israel and the us, the uk and jordan as
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well was instrumental in shooting the majority of those down, along with israel's own defence shields. so the fear that they could do that again, iran, has prompted the us to build up, it has about a dozen more ships in the region, it has an aircraft carrier in the gulf, a smaller aircraft carrier, what is called a wasp carrier in the mediterranean and the brits have got ships there as well and then of course the brits have got a base in cyprus and cyprus is likely to be where raf typhoons, if needed, would be called to help out. but the second thing they have to worry about is if it all kicks off and get even worse, and there is a big fear that might happen, what do you do about those citizens, those westerners who are living in lebanon at the moment? haunt westerners who are living in lebanon at the moment?— at the moment? how does an evacuation — at the moment? how does an evacuation like _ at the moment? how does an evacuation like that _ at the moment? how does an evacuation like that tend - at the moment? how does an evacuation like that tend to i at the moment? how does an - evacuation like that tend to work? there is coordination going on and remember, the military, they spend most of their time planning. what has happened here as they have had plans in place. we know british
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forces have been on reconnaissance missions to lebanon to look at how an evacuation might take place. they have built up, so they have enacted on the plans, the british, and they have put hundreds of troops into cyprus, which could become a hub for aircraft first, raf transport planes, but also other countries' transport planes to fly, if necessary, into the lebanon, if they need to evacuate people, if the situation does deteriorate substantially. and then the ships, they have a support ship which has a landing craft on it to pull people out. remember, they did this in 2006, they did pull out citizens, brits, using ships, so i think they are preparing for the worst. that doesn't mean the worst will happen, but they are making sure that, you know, the kind of scramble there was in kabul is not a mistake this new government wants to repeat.
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let's turn to bangladesh now. the nobel peace prize winner, muhammad yunus, is on his way back to the country, where he will lead the new interim government. that is expected to be sworn in on thursday. mr yunus was a long—time political foe of the ousted prime minister. he was stopped by reporters at paris's charles de gaulle airport, and called for calm in his home nation. he had been in paris for a medical procedure. he was announced as leader following talks between the president and student leaders, who played a key role in the weeks of protests that toppled sheikh hasina. mr yunus, who is 84, faced several legal cases this year, which he said were politically motivated. the bangladeshi capital, dhaka, is now said to be largely calm, but there have been reports of looting and killing across the country. police in bangladesh have also gone on strike, complaining of a wave of reprisal attacks against them. akbar hussein, from the bbc bengali service, is in dhaka. he explained that mr yunus and the interim government had a difficultjob ahead. he is coming back to dhaka either
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tonight or tomorrow and when he will be back, then mr muhammad yunus will choose his colleagues, around ten or 15 members of the cabinet. and mr muhammad yunus came because the student leaders demanded and proposed the name of professor muhammad yunus is the head of the next interim government because they think mr muhammad yunus is the person who could turn around the country because bangladesh is now, you know, stability is very much needed here, there is no government for the last two days, so in many parts of the country, some sort of disorder and violence is still going on. we have seen that many police stations were set on fire, around 500 police officers, they went into hiding and all local police stations are empty. so some sort of disorder is still going on and houses and businesses belong to the people who were sheikh hasina's party, their
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houses and businesses are burned. so it will be a difficult task for the next interim government to look after these things. thailand's constitutional court has dissolved the reformist political party that won last year's general election. the court ruled the move forward party's proposal to reform the ban on criticism of the monarchy was tantamount to overthrowing the state. the party's executives, including its leader, have also been banned from engaging in politics for ten years. i asked our south east asia correspondent —jonathan head — whether this was expected. this is a court with a long track record of banning political parties that are perceived to threaten the status quo. when it invoked the issue of the monarchy, of course, thatis issue of the monarchy, of course, that is the most sensitive issue of all in thailand. it was a very extreme interpretation of akbar move forward's strategy. we saw a lot of people calling for that a few years
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ago, the former party restrained itself and its campaign because it is not allowed to in elections, arguing for less severe punishments, but the court ruled that amounts to notjust but the court ruled that amounts to not just an attempt to overthrow the entire political system, but it claimed move forward was pitting the monarchy against the people, exploiting it for votes. it really underlined an extreme division in thailand between those who would like to see a more progressive approach and openness to change and those who insist that nothing related to the monarchy can be touched. for now, their courts have ruled again, it shows again that democracy has very severe limits in thailand, that ultimately when political parties stray over lines that are set down, the courts have the power to put them out of business altogether. so the power to put them out of business altogether. so where does that leave particularly _ business altogether. so where does that leave particularly those - business altogether. so where does that leave particularly those young | that leave particularly those young people who are so passionately engaged in the discussion and in voting and in supporting move forward? ~ , forward? well, the party will in effect to go _
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forward? well, the party will in effect to go on _ forward? well, the party will in effect to go on because - forward? well, the party will in effect to go on because those l forward? well, the party will in i effect to go on because those mps who have not been banned under this ruling will be allowed to move to another party. some might go to other parties, if they are tempted to, but most will probably move to this new vehicle. as we saw before, move forward had a future party vehicle, and another party also did this is an election and was banned, move forward did this next, and attached it a whole lot better than was expected, so i think there is a hope that whoever these young mps who are elected with such a claim last year, whatever political moves they go to now, that they will prepare themselves to do very well again in the election that is expected in three years' time. but for a lot of younger thai people, there is a sense of despair that no matter how much they can get people behind them, the status quo that is anchored on this untouchable monarchy can never really be changed. protests we saw four years ago eventually petered out, hundreds of protest leaders have been jailed
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under that law. there are not many places for many young people to go and i think many will of them will despair of a revolverfor and i think many will of them will despair of a revolver for politics. jonathan head fair in bangkok. if you want more news on this, we have a live picture up news on this, we have a live picture up and running for you on the bbc news website. we have more news on the men who were jailed in merseyside, but also some pictures of shops being boarded up, you can see people pulling down shutters here, add lots of officers out on the streets as well, a huge increase of officers out on the streets in towns and cities across england and wales. more news coming up, but next the business news and sports, news and the olympics, stay with us. hello there. not a bad day all in all across the board. we will have low pressure sitting to the north of scotland, that will bring a windy day across the northern half of the country and most of
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the showers will be here. the fewer showers the further south that you are. the winds are not quite as strong, you can see wider isobars here compared to what you can expect across the uk. the showers will tend to fade out through the evening and overnight. we'll start to see thicker cloud piling into wales, south—west england, the next weather front starts moving in, some splashes of rain by the time it reaches dawn. but it will be importing some slightly milder air to southern areas, mid—teens in the south, 10—12 forthe north. that is all tied in with another area of low pressure, that front starting to push in during the course of thursday. we start bright, northern and eastern areas have some sunshine and the clouds begin to build through the morning. spreading to all areas with outbreaks of rain. pretty widespread rain, nothing too heavy but we could pepper across
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parts of north—west england. heavy but we could pepper across temperature heavy but we could pepper across wise we are look high temperature wise we are looking at high teens in the north, not quite the hives will have this afternoon. the rain clears out this thursday night, it leaves a legacy of cloud, just one or two showers, particularly across north—west scotland. we will start to pick up warmer air again, scotland. we will start to pick up warmerairagain, so scotland. we will start to pick up warmer air again, so another muggy night to come across england and wales compared to what we will have across scotland and northern ireland. friday will have south or south—westerly winds, so a bright and breezy day, sunshine around, just a few showers, the odd one for northern ireland, perhaps for cumbria, but largely dry and drive for eastern scotland. temperature is the low to mid 20s, maybe 25 or 26 degrees across the south—east and thatis degrees across the south—east and that is a sign of things to come, for england and wales, certainly, things hotting up into the weekend. a brief, but intense plume of hot air is expected to move north out of france. that could push temperatures
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mixed emotions at the mouse house — a poor performance at disney's theme parks overshadows the record breaking success of its animated hit inside out 2. searching for calm — central banks try to reassure investors after a volatile week on global stock markets. welcome to business today, live from new york. after a rather hectic start of the week the market seem to be having a calmer day. central bank officials try to reassure investors and japan has followed suit. the bank of japan increased interest rates, that was one of the reasons for the volatility we have seen. now it has rolled back some of those comments
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