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is provided by... woman: a successful business owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know u, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ♪ ben: hello and you are watching the context. >> strike targets inside russia with the blessing of the west. >> even one of russia's most

pro-ukrainian newspapers said that it was a strong result and it was having painful consequences. >> how could thousands of troops get through question --? . this question will be asked and putin is very good at deflecting attention. ♪ ben: moscow fights back as the ukrainian incursion into russia enters its fourth day. it is the deepest cross-border advance since russia launched its invasion in february 2022. also, a plane with 62 people on board crashes in brazil. video appears to show the plane dropping from from the sky followed by a large crowd -- cloud of smoke. the first prison sentences handed down to people using social media during the recent violence across the u.k..

lengthy jail terms were opposed for infant -- offenses such as inciting racial hatred and sending threatening messages. online misinformation laws will be reviewed after those far-right riots were spawned by fake news and hate speech on social media platforms. we will begin tonight with the war in ukraine. this is as kiev made advances inside russia make -- hitting a military airfield on the fourth day of its cross-border incursion. according for the institute for the study of war ukrainian forces could reached as far as 20 miles or 32 kilometers inside the kursk region. state media in russia says that moscow is sending enforcement -- reinforcements. they have declared a state of emergency in the region. fighting is thought to be concentrated close to the town

of sudzha. there are concerns about the region's nuclear plant. while these images are being shared on social media. they have been verified. they show a convoy of russian troop carriers damaged, burned, and abandoned. the person who uploaded them has since been arrested. from moscow here is steve rosenber steve calling it is an astonished -- steve: it is an astonishing site, russian jets scrambling to bomb russian territory targeting ukrainian troops who have attacked across the border. it came out of nowhere, the ukrainian assault on russia's krusk region and suddenly russia's war had come closer to home. this drone footage from a ukrainian military unit is

purported to show russian soldiers surrendering. several villages have been seized. in the border town, residents recorded this video appeal to vladimir putin calling on the kremlin leader for help. the chief of the general staff told you that everything is under control, but there areig battles going on around here. president putin met his security chiefs to discuss the battle against terrorism. he has called the ukrainian attack a provocation but not an invasion, perhaps to downplay it. the kremlin trying to keep calm and carry on. the last 2.5 years the message has been that the special military operation, russia's war in ukraine has been going according to plan. this week's extraordinary events suggest otherwise. even one of russia's pro-kremlin you -- newspapers admitted that

the ukrainian assault represented a strong move and that it was having painful consequences for russia. it is unclear how many ukrainian soldiers attacked and how they got through. >> so what happened? there was no border patrol? how could these thousands of troops get through? these questions will be asked. we also know that putin is good at deflating attention from his or russia's mistakes into something else, and that is what i think we are going to see in the near future. steve: now russia is bringing in reinforcements. russian military chiefs have promised their president that they will restore control. steve rosenberg, bbc news, moscow. ben: inside ukraine the emergency services say a rustin israel strike -- a russian

missile strike on a supermarket caused 14 people to be wounded. president zelenskyy share the images of the scene of the attack. he said that people had been trapped and vowed that russia would be held accountable for the terror. let us turn to the profession of international affairs in the school in new york who joins us from moscow. always good to have you with us. let us talk about the incursion to russia from the ukrainian forces being described as the deepest cross-border advance since the invasion began. i wonder if that is confirmed how embarrassing this is for president putin? nina: it is embarrassing because it is a question of how did they get tough because why are there not more protective troops at the border? at the same time, putin will get away with that at least for now,

certainly because they already call it a terrorist operation. it is probably not going to have further consequences into russia and it is only going to advance the image that ukraine as you always often hear in russia is a terrorist state and they fight in this particular manner. in some ways it seems like it is part of the guerrilla war because the actual war, the war on the ukrainian territory is not going that well for ukraine. although, this action and incursion does seem to have much better success. the russians would claim it is a they will prepare divided accordingly. ben: perhaps a sense of how this is being treated in moscow, they declared a state of emergency in that region. we know that the kremlin is sending reinforcements to the area.

that has questions about how ukraine can sustain that invasion across a border? nina: it is. and the question has been answered many times already today. it has been three days but in another two or three days you will see great results and whatnot. there is reinforcement. i would imagine, do not know how many ukrainian troops are there. but i would imagine that the russians wld force many more and ultimately, those ukrainian troops will be pushed out. but the story will remain. it is not the first time when putin has been embarrassed but survives the embarrassnt. i am talking about a year ago when one chief decided that he was going to call the war and called a special military

operation the war and marched on the kremlin to push for even greater militarization. we know what happened afterwards. he died and the coup ended and who survived. i imagine it will be the same thing. it suggests that ukraine is prepared to fight a guerrilla war, even if it is not winning the actual war. it will make russian life miserable. and president zelenskyy said that they want russians to feel i imagine it is going to be even more from the ukrainian side. and putin will have to deal with it. ben: for ukraine it is an importance of colic move. i -- an important symbolic move. i wonder if this will change the outcome ofhe war. nina: the war has been going on for 2.5 years and is nowhere near ending. it is relevant where now there

is more and more conversation about having more negotiation and conversation volodymyr zelenskyy was saying would like to end it before the end of the year. at the same time this incursion suggests that they will not sit down and will take whatever deal that putin is willing to give them. they will fight for whatever deal they want to get. have heard it from kiev, this is the negotiation tactic. see what we can do, even if we are notinning. we will make your life difficult. that can become one of those potentially deals on the table that putin will have to take into consideration. it is symbolic and a great propagan move. it also might mean something greater than that and something more important in terms of endinghe war one day by showing what they can do when russians are not expecting or sleeping so to speak. ben: always good to talk to you.

professor of international affairs at the new school in new york. thank u. in the u.k. the first prison sentences have been handed down to people who used social media during the recent violence across the country. lengthy jail terms were imposed for offenses including inciting racial hatred and sending menacing messages. one man called for hotels holding us out -- asylum-seekers should be satellite. the prime minister says that social media is not a law free zone. police have made 600 arrests for offenses relating for the disorder. they are prepared with 6000 officers on duty. we report from leeds crown court. >> a knock at the door from the police and an arrest for his words rather than actions during last week's disorder. at the weekend he sat at home

watching what was going on. leeds crown court heard that he was angry at migration and a local hotel hosing asylum-seekers. it had been pelted b stones. he posted to his 1500 facebook followers encouraging them to do it again. "every man and their dog should be smashing britannia hotel." this asylum-seekers were living the life. staff initiated a lockdown and police had to patrol it. the judge at leeds crown court said that he had been motivated by his anger over immigration. >> although you said that you had no intention of carrying out any act of violence, there can be no doubt that you were inciting others to do so. otherwise, why post the comments? >> the post terrified people at this hotel. a man sitting at home triggered an emergency with real-world consequences.

so the government's hopes that the sentence sends a message to keyboard agitators. ministers are also under pressure to deal with social media companies if they will not take this down. the disorder began with lies online, the new law -- online safety act imposes fines if social media companies remove content and they are not yet in force. the prime minister signaled that the government take further action. >> this is not a law free zone. i do agree that we have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder. but the focus at the moment has to be with dealing with the disorder and making sure that people are safe and secure. >> tyler kay was a second man jailed, receiving 38 months for calling for attacks on asylum-seekers hotels. other jailing's include these men. they were part of a counter protest and leads against far

right activists and pushed a group of white men saying that they had been provoked by anti-muslim insults. they said that was no excuse and gave them 18 months. arrests and charges are ntinuing including this former labor counselor accused of encouraging others to act violently towards far-right protesters. the criminal justice response has only just begun. ben: dominic reporting there. lot coming into us expecting that king charles has expect -- exprsed his heartfelt thanks to emergency services. he had a call with the prime minister and police chiefs, praising their efforts to restore peace and he shared that he had been greatly encouraged by the examples of community spirit that have countered the aggression and criminality. that coming to us from buckingham palace with king charles sending his thanks to emergency services and how he

was encouraged by the examples of community spirit. you will have seen those images of those people out marching for peace, they say, rather than for the aggression protests and rioting that we saw in some parts of the country. let us talk to the founder of the center for countering digital hate who works to start -- to stop the spred of -- spread of online hate. ere is a lot to unpick. let us talk about the sentences. the first handed down for some of the actions. some of those online comments, threats and hate speech. what do you make at the speed of which this has been done? >> i think the government under crown prosecution services and police services should be commended for having taken action. even in the united states, incitement is not covered under the first amendment and freedom

of speech. and people who are inciting violence against notable minorities and asylum-seekers deserve to be locked up. ben: the mayor of london says the online safety act is not fit for purpose given what we have seen and its role in whipping up some of this hatred. do you agree that that act is not fit for purpose? imran: with the greatest respect to the mayor, the online safety act was passed by an act of law in october 2023 after a twyear passage. i was the first witness to give evidence to the committee that considered the bill and ts -- in september 2021. it went through a draft bill status, very unusual in the british parliament. in which all parties had the billeting to amend the bill and to pass it as an actual act of parliament the bill is very strong and it has very strong measures. but it is that the new regular

of social media status has to go through a place on how to understand and use their powers. those consultations will take two years to go through. and so i think it is somewhat hasty to say that the online safety act seem does not work -- regime does not work. but there are core components that are weak. one of them in particular is transparency of the platforms. one of the hard things and we have been talking to the police and others in the last few days is being able to give them actionable information. the problem with that is that the platforms have made it difficult to do so. they know that they cannot be held accountable if people cannot get data off of the platform. the accountability ist is so important. sorry to cut in.

some of the misinformation that was spread and whipped up the frenzy of hatred and encourage people to get on the streets and take part of the riots. that was able to spread so easily. the question is how can we stop that spreading when it is fake news and incorrect? imran: two components have gone into this. you have people who have been disinformed over a long. of time -- over a long period of time over pellet forms including facebook. but in the particular mobilization moment, the lie that kicked off th riot and the lie that this was a muslim asylum-seekers freshly in the united kingdom that was x. x has become a real problem because it actually has algorithms that amplify lies and downgrade the truth. not just that, the main chap in charge spreads disinformion.

and many of the bad actors that were crucial in spreading that first lie were people who were previously banned by the old regime and mr. musk let them back onto x. so we have a particular problem with that platform and i am very keen to see what proposals the government has for taking on mr. musk, because no billionaire should never -- should not have his economic interests put ahead of those of the british people. ben: good to talk to you. that is the founder of the center for countering digital hate. good to get you on the program. while the u.k. considers changes to those laws, in venezuela there has been an outright ban on twitter for 10 days after the contested presidential elections there. there is a spat between the president and elon musk, who owns twitter or x, or whatever you want to call it. we will talk about that in a few

minutes. around the wor and across the u.k., you are watching bbc news. ♪

♪ ben: you are with the context on bbc news. we spoke about the far-right riots in the u.k. and how the prime minister is confirming that there will be a review of false news. in venezuela nicholas maduro has gone a step further and signed it a click -- a decree that blocks access to x for 10 days. he has accused elon musk of inciting hate, civil war and death. the men have traded insults since he was declared the winner of last month's disputed presidential election. let us talk to andrea, the president of an organization that measures online censorship.

thank you for being with us. what do you make of this 10 day ban? what does it tell us about the spat between these two men but the state of media repression in venezuela? andres i think: this goes far beyond. it is our opinion that this is an attempt to censor or limit venezuelan's right to freedom of speech and information since venezuela's news landscape is overwhelmingly censored online but over 60 news websites are blocked in the country. this is all of the independent media landscaping censored in a country where you cannot find any credible dissenting voices over the air and radio is heavily censored with hundreds of radio session -- stations being taking off of the air. ben: is this being presented as

a spat between nicholas maduro d elon musk to cover up the fact that people had expected platforms like whatsapp to be banned? is it more about censoring information than a row between these two men? andres: it is our opinion as it is consistent with previous at -- previous expert -- efforts. it is the first time that it has lasted for multiple days. so in that sense it is one of the darkest days. i mean yesterday when they blocked not only x but also signal, the secure messaging app and also read it. but -- reddit, so it is consistent with an effort to limit freedom of speech. just like there blocking the freedom of the press through our own websites. and many news media websites.

so this fight between these two people are part of the show. but, the key behind the block for me is not this personal fight between these two individuals. ben: good to talk to you and thank you for talking with us. thank you. hugh edwards has been asked by the corporation to return or than 200,000 pounds that he was paid in salary after his arrest in november. he pled guilty to making indecent images of children. having resigned from his job in april. in email he told the -- he told bbc's staff that he had behaved in bad faith, taking license fee money when he had done. with us is david. there is quite a lot in this letter and i want to go over some of the details. david: the essence is that when huw edwards pled guilty to

charges of child sexual abuse it raised a question for the bbc. he had not been seen in public for more than a year. the reason he had been suspended by the bbc because of a previous set of allegations and some newspaper. he had been paid his full salary the whole time, up until he left the bbc in april of this year. in november of last year the bbc was made aware of the allegations against him and the fact that he had been arrested. why did they go on paying him his valerie after that? that is the question being addressed by the bbc board and chairman. the chairman said that he felt that the actuadecision to keep paying him was considered and reasonable considering the information that the director general had at the time which is the presumption that he might have been innocent. the fact that he pled guilty changed everything. the key phrases that mr. edwards

behaved in bad faith. throughout this time mr. edwards knew what he had done but he still took license fee money to the tune of thousands of pounds. and they have written a letter saying give the money back. the amount? he has been paid more than 400 semi 5000 pounds. that is about 200,000 pounds. this is a moral plea, not a legal process. so if it does not happen who knows what we do next. ben: good to talk to you and thank you very much. announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. 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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