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announcer: funding was also provided by, the eeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ♪ >> live from london, the world today. redefining extremism. the government names groups that could face restrictions. a senior u.s. democrat says benjamin netanyahu has lost his way and should call reelections. >> benjamin netanyahu has all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists. host: 60 migrants are feared

dead trying to reach europe. also coming up, elon musk's mission hailed a success even though the rocket is lost on reentry. ♪ welcome. we will start in the u.k. a backlash from campaigners to the government definition of extremism. in the document it is defined as "promotion of ideology based on violence, hatred or intolerance. it aims to negate freedoms of others or overturn the u.k. system of liberal parliament democracy." five groups will have their

activities measured against this new definition. the community secretary outlined some reasons behind this change. >> our democracy and values are under challenge from extremist groups radicalizing young people, driving pillar rization. it's important to reinforce what we have in common, and to be concise in identifying dangers. as the definition makes clear, extremism can lead to radicalization, suppress freedom of expression, insight hatred, weaken social cohesion and can lead to acts of terrorism. >> we also heard from the leader of the opposition labour party.

>> are the new threats? yes. what's important is this is cross party. this will be the test. are they reaching out to other parties so this can go forward as consensus or are they going to try and use this point scoring into the election? host: we speak live to the independent advisor on antisemitism but first, a former advisor to the government. >> i have been at the forefront of attacking extremism for a decade. the secretary of state proposed definition is problematic. firstly, it has not obtained consensus. as a result, this is not going to have statutory backing and will create this proportionate

impact. people or groups who may not usually fall into extremism will be labeled extremism. that's problematic. at a time when society is already divided and there is extreme level of hatred in communities, it's important those in power bring people together, obtained consensus on what extremism is so we can collectively tackle it. sadly, the definition and the work to date does not have a strategy behind it so we can all realize what we will implement consistently. currently, there is danger some people/groups may be disproportionately impacted by this definition whereas others might get scot-free. host: we speak to john man, the

government independent advisor on antisemitism. what is your response to this? >> it's a tweak of the definition. seems reasonable enough. the challenge to government is we are seeing polarization between communities. the role of the community's department has to be to bring communities together and the nation together. what is essential is a clear plan of engaging across communities, bringing them together. in my role, without question, if there is polarization, one of the big losers is the jewish community. tiny community, 300,000, out of

60 million. jewish community needs people working across community. that has to be the critical objective of government. host: does this new definition help or hinder that objective? >> it's neutral. it's a definition of extremism. extremists are a problem, wherever they are. we need to challenge extremists and deal with them. as well as that, the vast majority of people in this country are not extremists. we need to be doing more to bring those people together. the king defeated extremists -- the key is to stand up and say we are not tolerating extremism. if they see extremists in their midst, to call it out

that's the real way. that needs to be the key purpose of government and the parties. host: we've been reporting on the growing number of incidents over the last six months. what's your experience of the change in the u.k.? >> there have been far more racist incidents, against the jewish and muslim communities. my experience with the jewish community, there have been more and more serious offenses against people. not always criminal. some of the worst stuff is not criminal. it's isolating people. it's targeting people, intimidating them, sometimes in the workplace, at school. that's difficult to get on top of. if someone is shunned at work

and no one speaks to them, that's not a matter for the police but it should be a concern for the government and the country. if that becomes the norm, we are going to have increased polarization, separation. that's bad for the communities themselves, the jewish community, and the country itself. host: thank you. >> thank you. ♪ host: breaking news from the u.k. the date of the upcoming general election. the prime minister ruled out holding general election on may 2. the reason that was significant, that was one voters were set to go to the polls for local elections. previously, prime minister have not definitively said there would be no election in may.

now, appears to have ruled it out. he was talking about elections from police and crime commissioners, mayors, saying are important. when he was asked about a general election he said "there won't be an election on that day." rishi sunak previously indicated his working assumption would be for the second half of the year. we had a previous hint it would more likely be later this year. this is the first time that date of local elections now won't be holding a general election. the latest on the israel-gaza

war. the leader in the u.s. senate made the strongest criticism yet by a senior american official of benjamin netanyahu's handling of the war. he suggested he risked making his country a pariah. chuck schumer is one of america's highest ranking jewish politicians and a close ally of president biden. >> the fourth major obstacle to peace is benjamin netanyahu, who has all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists and the settlers in the west bank. host: the state department responded, stressing they are not a reflection of president biden's position. >> congress is independent. the government of israel understands how well the

government works. they interact frequently with the executive and congress, including senator schumer, and they fully understand he speaks for himself. host: plenty of response from mr. netanyahu's party saying " israel is a proud democracy that elected its prime minister. the senator should respect israel's elected government and not undermine it, more so in wartime." israel has plans to sh ahead in rafa despite widespread concern about the safety of civilians. israeli military wants to move people out of rafah to humanitarian islands in the middle of the strip. not clear what these will look like or how they will operate.

1.5 million people are in rafah. netanyahu says he won't bow to international pressure. >> as prime minister, i push away these pressures. we've been doing this successfully for five months. this is record time in the history of israel's wars. i will continue to push away pressures. host: here's our correspondent in jerusalem. reporter: this showing the fractious relationship between the israeli government and u.s. administration. that could worsen if the israeli military move into rafah, with these comments suggesting there would be humanitarian islands, which shows the israeli government is planning an operation.

in, president biden said that would be a redline one week ago. it's a tense relationship at the moment and could be set to get worse if the incursion begins. benjamin netanyahu is taking political survival on managing war. he's not mr. security anymore. he left the country vulnerable to the worst attack in its history. he has staked his political survival to opposition of a palestinian state and to defeat hamas. in the sixth month of the war, no senior leader of hamas has been killed or captured. he's under intense political pressure in israel, among a war weary public. he's under opposition from

within the cabinet itself. he's pushing a consistent line now, not one which chimes with the u.s.. the domestic pressure in the u.s. grows toward the election later in the year, particularly from arab americans, who are frustrated with the administration's support for netanyahu. if the israeli government pushes into rafah, in a disorderly way, calls will probably grow louder in america to start restricting military aid to israel. it's complex. it's not just on the ground in gaza. host: thanks. next, a government spokesperson confirmed a royal air force plane carrying the defense secretary had its signals jammed near the russian border.

eltronic interference is said to have happened wednesday evening. the aircraft was forced to use alternative methods to work out its location. the government says it is not unusual. still to come, live on the ground in haiti as the u.n. tries to get staff out of the country. a huge leap for elon musk's space x after a third test flight of its starship rocket. this is the world today on bbc news. let's get other news now. a 17-year-old boy admitted to killing a schoolgirl who was stabbed at a bus stop in south london. she was attacked in september on the teenager, who cannot be

named because of his age, pled guilty to manslaughter but denied the murder. the number of people dying from cancer is at a 25 year low. ages 35-69, deaths have fallen thanks to screening, better treatment and policies that reduce smoking. labour set plans to cap ticket prices set for resale. the government has introduced tough enough measures. you are live with bbc. a charity says 60 people are feared to have died trying to cross the mediterranean in a dinghy. 25 are rescued.

they set off from the libyan coast last fray and were trying to reach italy. this is the latest incident in the mediterranean. the iom says 2023 was the deadliest year for migrants since records began a decade ago. the u.n. agency says 8000 people died worldwide on migration routes last year. that's an increase of 20% compared to '22. let's cross to sos. thank you. >> thanks for having me. host: what do we know about what happened? >> our crew was heading to the first distress case, they spotted a rubber boat from the bridge. they immediately put a rescue boat at sea.

they got to the rubber boat and realized there were 25 people, extremely weak, two unconscious. they brought them back to the mothership. that's where they were able to care for them. two unconscious people were never able to awake. they called the italian coast guard for a medical le evacuation done by helicopter. the others suffered hypothermia, dehydration, fuel burns, due to the mix of gasoline and seawater. they are being taken care of by the medical team on board right now,, there were two more rescues that have been done by ourhip, the ocean viking. we have a total of 226 people,

224 people, with the two people medically evacuated. host: about the scale of this? not just the incident, but other incidents? >> the scale is extremely horrific in this case because of the amount of missing people. for the first rescue, 25 people rescued where the only survivors out of 85 people who have left libya. all of these other people, around 60, have gone missing. they probably died of thirst and they have left seven days ago so they spent seven days at sea with very little water and food and they most probably died of the condition of the journey, mainly not having drinkable water. this is new in the

mediterranean, to have somebody people die, when so little people make it. -- this is nothing new. we have knowledge of boats disappearing at sea. it is not new. in the situation, they spent seven days at sea. host: we ha to leave it. thank you. now to haiti, where the u.n. says it is working to set up a humanitarian air bridge to fly in aid from the dominican republic. plans to install new leadership in haiti appeared to be falling apart. gangs now control much of the country. antony blinken says he hopes a peacekeeping operation led by kenya could be in place soon.

>> we should be in a place where that mission can go forward. it can, we believe, help reestablish security, take back control of the country from the gangs. the political transition is moving forward, with an interim prime minister, presidential counsel, tracking tort elections, and that in turn creates a better environment where we can get assistance in and get development moving. host: he hopes control of haiti could be taken back from gangs. one of the most powerful gang leaders in haiti is known as jimmy barbecue. he says he will continue to fight for what he called haiti's liberation. didn't indicate any willingness for any other party. dominican republic, which shares the island with haiti, has increased security.

we are speaking to an independent journalist fly from port-au-prince but first, here is this report from will grant. we cannot get that report now. let's cross to port-au-prince and speak to our independent journalist. thank you. >> my pleasure. host: what's the situation on the ground? doesn't look like there's a political solution coming anytime soon. >> there might be one. it's already contested. in the streets, port-au-prince, a few blocks from the big place, there was an attack by big, heavy automatic firearms last week. some businesses are open. most of the offices and schools are closed. we are all waiting at home to see you the criminal groups will

react -- to see how the criminal groups will react to the situation this week. host: what about life for ordinary people trying to get on with things, with the gangs potentially in control? what's life like? >> that the heartbreaking aspect of this. most of the people live a day-to-day life, they go out and get money they can to bring food on the table during the evening. every day of confinement like this is a hard day for most of the population in port-au-prince. it's better than taking to the streets for most. we are waiting to see if those groups will be violent in the next few days. we heard shots yesterday

evening, next to the airport. we haven't looked at that. we still can't have any flights out of port-au-prince. host: let's focus on the gangs and the leaders seemingly in control. if they reject, at the moment, any kind of transitional, working with politicians, do you see a way they can be excluded from any process and a political entity take over or do they have to be in control in some way? reporter: it's a good question. it's a big debate here in haiti. for now, they are excluded from negotiations. some gang leaders say they would reject everything discussed. others, in political parties, x

political statutes in haiti, are asking to be part of the council put in place to decide who will be the next prime minister. the latest news this afternoon is the house of the police head is burning now. we don't know what's happening. the police union just announced that while we speak. host: interesting, thank you very much. reporter: thanks. host: breaking news, in the last half-hour, confirmation from the prime minister and the u.k. there will not be a general election on may 2. he had previously indicated he was working on the assumption a general election would be taking place second half of the year but have an approved any dates

-- but haven't approved any dates. there are local elections on may 2. plen more reaction coming up. this is bbc news. ♪ announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. bdo. accountants and advisors. cunard is a proud supporter of public television. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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