tv BBC News BBC News March 12, 2017 3:00pm-3:31pm GMT
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this is bbc news. the headlines at three. the brexit secretary urges mps to back the bill for exiting the eu, to pave the way for the triggering of article 50. what we can't have is the... either house of parliament reversing the decision of the british people. senior mps warn the government it must have a plan for the brexit negotiations ending without a deal. it's notjust for the government to prepare itself for no deal. individuals and businesses need to understand what the consequences are. dutch riot police clash with protesters outside the turkish consulate in rotterdam, amid a deepening diplomatic row. at least 35 people have been killed in a landslide at a vast rubbish dump in ethiopia. also in the next hour, the click team look at the technology to tackle air pollution. they hit the streets of london to test a new thermal imaging camera that can identify gases invisible
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to the human eye. and in the fa cup, tottenham have one eye on the semifinals, leading 2-0 at one eye on the semifinals, leading 2—0 at home to millwall. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the brexit secretary david davis has called on mps to reject lords amendments to the brexit bill and to give theresa may a "free hand" in negotiations with the european union. speaking this morning, he said that it would not be acceptable for parliament to try to reverse the will of the british people. labour says it will fight for the amendments in the commons tomorrow. our political correspondent susana mendonca reports. the latest instalment in the battle to trigger brexit takes centre stage here tomorrow and the government's
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warning mps, including potential rebels on its own side, not to stand on its way. what we can't have is the... either house of parliament reversing the decision of the british people. they haven't got a veto on it. i don't think anyone is talking about that. well, well, what does it mean otherwise? you know, people talk about a meaningful vote. what does it mean otherwise? this is how the timetable has unfolded. last week, the house of lords passed the second of two amendments to the government's article 50 bill. tomorrow, the bill goes back to the commons where mps could reject the amendments and pass the bill back to the lords. if the upper house backs down, the bill will proceed to royal assent, allowing theresa may to trigger article 50. if the lords doesn't back down, it could go back to the commons in a process known as ping—pong. and labour insists it will fight for the amendments to stand. what we say to the prime minister, and i wrote to her on friday and said, "reflect on what the house
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of lords has said. by majorities of nearly 100, they have sent back two really important issues, this issue of the eu nationals and the issue of the vote. reflect on that. don'tjust have this obsession with getting article 50 triggered this week". the prime minister has been doing the legwork with her eu partners ahead of triggering brexit, but some are worried that there isn't enough planning going on for the prospect of no deal at the end of it all. if there is going to be no deal, that is going to have serious implications for businesses and individuals and the government needs to make sure we have planned for it. but the brexit secretary says he has got a plan. the simple truth is, we have been planning for the contingency, all the various outcomes, all the possible outcomes, of the negotiation. including a proper plan for no deal? oh, yes, oh, yes. whatever that plan may be, the government has to get permission from this place first before it can get those negotiations going. susanna mendonca, bbc news.
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earlier, i spoke to our political correspondent susana mendonca. she said that conservative peer michael hestletine has spoken out this weekend criticising theresa's may's handling of brexit, saying many tory mps feel appalled and betrayed. people might remember last week he got sacked from his government advisory role because he rebelled and supported one of the amendments in the house of lords. he has said there are a huge number of tory mps who feel appalled and betrayed by theresa may's handling of the whole brexit issue thus far. he points to the by—election last year involving zac goldsmith, who was a conservative mp, losing his seat to the lib dems. he says there are a lot of tory mps who are more concerned about that issue and the fact it was about europe, the reason they lost the seat was because of europe. that is a bigger issue for them than for example the by—election
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in copeland which the tories won against labour. what michael heseltine has also said is that the conservatives are not just performing fleas with theresa may as the ringmaster, that they have strong concerns about what is happening with brexit and strong concerns about whether or not we would be in a better place if we are not closely connected to the european union and that he wants the prime minister to listen to those concerns. looking ahead to this week, a lot of speculation in the papers that this could be the week when brexit is finally triggered, article 50 and so on. is that the way you see it? in terms of, if you watched that package, laying out the importance of what happens tomorrow in both houses, if the commons and the lords pass the bill as the government want it to be passed without the amendments, potentially that leaves the way open for theresa may being able to trigger brexit on either tuesday or wednesday, but it is not clear whether she will do that. something that we heard david davis say earlier
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when he was speaking to andrew marr, he was talking about the political considerations and a couple of things are coming up, certainly in the european diary, there is the treaty of rome celebrations. would theresa may want to be responsible for putting a dampener on those celebrations? that is about the inception of the european union, the treaty that later led to the european union coming into place. could they maybe think about putting it off until after that? that is a possibility but we know it will happen before the end of march and only a couple of weeks to go. exactly, it is getting closer and closer and focusing minds because it has to be, by theresa may's own timetable, by the end of march. yes, that is the timetable she set for herself. labour have talked about how she should not be so wedded to the timetable and certainly in terms of the amendments they are supporting tomorrow, they want her to look at that and not be so focused. keir starmer was talking about the government being obsessed with having a clean bill, and sticking to the timetable.
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they don't want the government to be obsessed with that. they want the government to consider the amendments which would give rights to eu citizens living here to be able to remain in the uk and also the right of parliament to be able to vote on the bill when it does come back. the government's point of view is that, as you heard from david davis, he does not want the prime minister's hands to be tied. he wants her to be able to go into the eu negotiations with a free hand, really, to set out what she wants from the negotiations. the director general of the cbi, carolyn fairbairn, told us that the possibility of negotiations ending without a deal could cause chaos for businesses. it all relies on a good deal at the end of the day, which means a comprehensive free trade deal which allows barrier—free trade with the european union. what they are very clear about is that no deal is a recipe for chaos and the strong message
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we get from businesses is that it can't even be plan b, it must be plan z. the other thing they really want is for the negotiations to get off in a very collaborative way, in a way which starts showing progress so they can continue with their business, planning for a positive outcome. it is very important to have good relationships with our european partners, and i've been very encouraged, i spent a lot of time in paris and berlin recently with businesses, politicians and officials and the sense of shared interest in a new free trade outcome is very strong. we need to go into these negotiations with a sense of mutual respect and understanding of the strong mutual interest and we think there are some early wins along the way that are very important. one of those, if i can just mention it, we think it is very important that there is a very early guarantee of the rights of residencey for
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european citizens in this country. we think that if the uk government gave that very early on, that would be a strong signal that that is the kind of way we want the negotiations to continue. there is a very strong moral and business case and a strong negotiating case for making that one of the early wins of the negotiations. dutch riot police have broken up a rally in rotterdam in support of the turkish president, as the diplomatic row between the two countries has escalated. the turkish family affairs minister, who'd tried to join the protesters, has been escorted by police to the german border and expelled. turkey's president has warned the dutch government it will "pay the price". from rotterdam, anna holligan sent this report. the netherlands, a traditionally tolerant nation, erupted overnight. riot police struggled to disperse hundreds of angry turkish expats, outraged by the netherlands‘ refusal to allow their politicians to attend a rally in support
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of president erdogan. this was a demonstration of the support he commands abroad. he is depending on the backing of one million—plus turkish citizens who live in europe to expand his powers back home in next month's referendum. but his family minister didn't get the chance to address them. amateur footage shows her arguing with police, before being escorted back to the border. she returned to istanbul, defiant. translation: in holland, holland as a country that speaks of freedom and democracy, we were faced with very hard and rough treatment. it's very ugly of europeans who talk about women's rights to tell us how we should treat women in turkey. all this after president erdogan branded the dutch nazi remnants and fascists, after they refused to allow his foreign minister
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to campaign on dutch territory. the timing is especially sensitive for both countries. translation: we are in the wrong situation with turkey at the moment. we have asked the minister not to come because of the tensions we expected in rotterdam. in a few days, the dutch will vote for a new government. the campaign has been dominated by the anti—immigration freedom party of geert wilders. he blames the prime ministerfor allowing immigrants in and is set to make significant gains. the protests outside this consulate building have fired up the debate about the presence of dutch residents still connected to their foreign roots. approximately one in seven people here in rotterdam are of an immigrant background. those images are likely to be at the front of people's minds as they enter the voting booths on wednesday. anna holligan, bbc news, in rotterdam. we have just had
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we havejust had more reaction from the turkish government to that continuing row because the president, president erdogan, is speaking at a rally and has just been saying that the netherlands have been acting like a banana republic. so that is mr erdogan‘s latest verdict on the netherlands saying that the government there has been acting like a banana republic. we already heard earlier from the turkish foreign minister saying the netherlands is the capital of fascism, for what it had done. actually, now, we arejust fascism, for what it had done. actually, now, we are just hearing president erdogan has called on the international community to impose sanctions on the netherlands. so the war of words is certainly escalating this afternoon with this rally with the turkish president calling the
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netherlands a banana republic. i have been getting the latest reaction from turkey from our istanbul correspondent mark lowen. the turkish president has come out in typically bullish form and said the netherlands will pay the price of what he called the shameless treatment of the family affairs minister. she was expelled. the turkish foreign minister followed suit, saying holland is the capital of fascism, not democracy now. bearing in mind the turkish government uses this kind of situation for domestic purposes, it is a way of whipping up the nationalist support base both here in turkey and among the turkish diaspora, for electoral reasons. the turkish president facing, as you have heard, a referendum... in five weeks' time. he needs the support of his core nationalist voters but also the far right and this kind of thing plays well with them. of course, in the process, turkey is now plunged into an unprecedented diplomatic crisis with the netherlands, and with other european
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countries as well. let me ask you about other european countries because the danish prime minister, we are hearing, has proposed postponing a planned visit by the turkish prime minister this month because of the row between turkey and the netherlands. yes, this would follow the pattern of other european countries as well. it started with germany blocking various turkish ministers from coming and rallying the turkish diaspora. we have had the netherlands and austria as well, switzerland and now it appears denmark also weighing in and saying they don't want the turkish prime minister coming at the moment. it is of course, on one hand, internationally embarrassing for turkey to have the door slammed in their face but on the other, it provides president erdogan with fodder, as i say, for his support base. this is how he works, he is a canny political operator and he knows what the domestic
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support base wants and the other side of this country is horrified at what is happening and sees it clearly as reiterating the fact that turkey is drifting ever further from europe. but if president erdogan can get the 51% needed for this referendum, then that is all he cares about at the moment. at least 35 people have been killed in a landslide at a vast rubbish dump on the outskirts of ethiopia's capital addis ababa. dozens of makeshift homes have been buried under the debris and a number of people are still missing. mechanical diggers are sifting through thick layers of mud and rubbish trying to locate any survivors. many of the casualties are among the hundreds of people who attempt to make a living by scavenging at the landfill site. political parties in britain have been warned to protect themselves against potential cyber attacks, following allegations that russian hackers tried to influence last year's us presidential election. the national cyber security centre, which is part of the gchq spying agency, says it has written
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to the leaders of political parties offering to help strengthen their network security. last year, us intelligence agencies concluded that russia hacked and leaked democratic party emails as part of an effort to tilt the presidential election in donald trump's favour. russia denies the claim. the headlines on bbc news. the brexit secretary urges mps to back the bill for exiting the eu and pave the way for the triggering of article 50. dutch riot police clash with protesters outside the turkish consulate in rotterdam amid a deepening diplomatic row. at least 35 people have died in a landslide at a vast rubbish dump in ethiopia. in sport, tottenham have a 3—goal
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lead in their fa cup quarterfinal against leaguei lead in their fa cup quarterfinal against league i millwall, two second—half goals from son and one from christian eriksen has given them the lead but hurricane has gone off with an ankle injury. celtic are 25 points clear at the top of the scottish premiership after their game with rangers. celtic need six more points win the title. world number one andy murray has been knocked out of the prestigious indian wells tournament in the second round, beaten in straight sets by canadian world 129, vasek pospisil. more details and a lot more coming up in about an hour. the former president of south korea, park geun—hye, has said the truth will emerge about the allegations that forced herfrom office. the comments were made as miss park arrived at her private home in seoul after leaving the presidential palace following her impeachment. the ousted president has lost her immunity and could face criminal proceedings as part of a corruption scandal.
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here's our seoul correspondent, stephen evans. she returned like a hero, her supporters greeting her with ecstatic cheers. this was not the demeanour of a disgraced politician. the only elected president of south korea to be kicked from office. a statement said she looked forward to the truth coming out. it may come out in a trial. the head of samsung is already behind bars while he's tried for allegedly giving money to former president park's best friend in return for government favours for the company. on saturday, her supporters were out in force. they say her impeachment was politically motivated and driven through by the left. and those who protested against her also held a rally on saturday, a victory rally. for them, park geun—hye has been a symbol of a wider alleged corruption, a hand in glove relationship between business and government.
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there are elections in under two months and one of the left of centre frontrunners said park's ousting was a victory for the people. translation: a complete victory of the honourable people's revolution can be achieved by making the country ofjustice and common sense through a regime change. he says it is a people's revolution which can be completed by making the country more just and founded on common sense. at her home, park geun—hye may reflect on all of this. but she is unlikely to have much spare time. 30 people have been accused in the scandal. if they now turn on her, her problems are going to get worse. stephen evans, bbc news, south korea. the iraqi military has made further advances against so—called islamic state in the city of mosul. refugees fleeing the fighting are streaming into new camps which have been opened around the city.
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200,000 people are now housed in a total of 21 facilities. our correspondent rami ruhayem has been talking to families in chamakor near erbil, the un's latest camp which opened last week, but which is already filling up fast. yet another stream of refugees from mosul and surrounding villages arriving at the chamakor camp on the outskirts of the city of irbil. this is a new camp for the internally displaced, opened just a few days ago, as authorities simply ran out of space to take in more people. and it looks like it's filling up quite quickly. the latest arrivals have come from a village north—west of mosul, where iraqi forces have been advancing over the last few days. they describe a harrowing journey from their homes to the camp. translation: we called officers in the iraqi army, and they told us to leave at night and that they would secure the road for us. we walked towards the mountain,
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and is fighters followed us on motorbikes. finally, the army spotted them and fired at them, and they fled. translation: we ran away and walked the entire night with our men and children. and when we arrived, we were received by the army, and they helped us out. to my brother and mother in syria and all the rest of my family, don't worry about us, thank god, we have all arrived safe and sound. the new camp can take in about 12,000 people. authorities here say it is receiving more than 200 every day and estimate it will reach full capacity within a few more days. rami ruhayem, bbc news, northern iraq. the creator of the world wide web, tim berners—lee, has expressed concern about fake news, data privacy and the misuse of political advertising online.
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in a message marking the anniversary of the internet‘s creation, sir tim warned against the loss of control of personal data and governments' scrutiny of their citizens online. dr bernie hogan is from the oxford internet institute. we asked him if he agreed with sir tim. this is really strong words and it's a really important series of issues that are happening. i mean, with respect to the first one, this is partially in reaction to a lot of concerns about data sharing within government organisations undermining personal data protection acts, and that there's a lot that is being done that we don't really know what is happening and so there's little transparency and little accountability as a consequence. beyond freedom of information access requests are more sensible policies about unnecessary sharing of data. right now, through the european union, there are new guidelines on this coming
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through, about encouraging only taking as much data as is needed, and you know, only using it in the ways it is being specified. the government is being urged to create a central database for taxi drivers in england and wales. an investigation by bbc radio 5live has found that some drivers who've had their licence revoked are continuing to work after getting a licence from another council, as danni hewson reports. for 25 years, steve mcnamara was the one behind the wheel of the taxi. for him, the safety of passengers has always been paramount, which is why he is supporting renewed calls for a national database of drivers. the most urgent thing that needs to be resolved is cross—border hiring, because at the moment, a licensing authority can set whatever standard they want, and somebodyjust goes elsewhere. if we prohibit cross—border hiring, limit cross—border hiring, that goes some way to resolving the problem. the second thing that needs to be done is we need a good standard of licensing that must apply
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to all authorities, a standard that everyone has to comply with. and obviously, if certain authorities want a higher standard, that's great. currently, individual councils are responsible, but across local authorities, the requirements that need to be met before a licence is handed out can be vastly different, and some drivers refused a licence in one area may be approved in another. though all drivers undergo a criminal—records check, it doesn't reveal if the driver has ever had a licence refused or revoked for behaviour that hasn't ended up in court. in the wake of the rotherham child sex abuse scandal, when it emerged hundreds of children had been sexually exploited by men including taxi drivers, there were calls for tighter controls. in scotland, they already have a national database. the association for police and crime commissioners has written again to the transport secretary, asking him to intervene. danni hewson, bbc news. more than 30 years ago, the brazilian city of cubatao became
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known as the valley of death because of its severe air pollution. photos emerged of the effect of that pollution on newborn babies. three decades on, the authorities are trying to clean up the air. as part of the bbc‘s so i can breathe season, camilla costa went to cubatao to find out whether their plans have worked. 36 years ago, this place was known as the valley of death, a city where the levels of air pollution were so high that children were being born with malformations. these pictures from 1981 show just how bad it was. clayton remembers what it was like to live so close to a complex of over 20 industries. translation: once i saw a child here running and screaming. "it's the rain that bites," he said. i didn't know what that meant,
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but later i realised it was the acid rain which burned the skin. when brazil chose cubatao to set up its first industrial park in the 1950s, this seemed like the perfect place for it, because it is very close to santos, the largest port in latin america. but this mountain range traps the air, the clouds and the pollutants inside, effectively turning this city into a greenhouse. change finally came with real—time monitoring of the air and filters in the chimneys of factories. translation: brazil was one of the last to adopt simple solutions that other countries already used, like filters. once we had an agency to oversee the industries, the quality of the air improved. industrial activity is still responsible for high levels of air contamination in cubatao. now an environmental engineer and a teacher, clayton says the city has to do more. his students barely know what happened in the ‘80s, he says, but he believes
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that keeping the past alive is the best way to prevent future mistakes. china says more than 18 million babies were born last year — and its decision to allow couples to have two children instead ofjust one has achieved "notable results". but it may not be enough to prevent problems caused by its ageing population. andy beatt has more. in the world's post—populous country, with nearly 1.4 billion people, the birth of a baby comes every 1.75 seconds. 18 million babies were born last year, up more than 10%, with the trend set to continue at least until the end of the decade. translation: we predict that the annual number of births up to the year 2020 will fluctuate between 17 million and 19 million, due to the influence of the universal second child policy. the policy has started to show its effect, and fertility rate changes are within our expectations.
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china's controversial one child policy ended in 2016. for a0 years, brothers and sisters were forbidden. those who broke the rules could face forced abortion or sterilisation, as well as financial sanctions. it's estimated that 400 million births were prevented. now the communist party is investing heavily in the next generation, improving health care and education. they sing. and building facilities for mothers and infants across the country. but while births are now rising, there are fewer than officials had hoped. many women are choosing not to have that second child. decades of restraint on family size mean small families are the cultural norm. it's a problem for beijing — a growing workforce is essential to support its ageing population, and time is running out. by the year 2050, it's estimated that one in every four chinese
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people will be older than 65. andy beatt, bbc news. tributes have been paid to the singerjoni sledge, of the group sister sledge, who's died in at her home in phoenix, arizona. she was 60. the band of four sisters achieved fame in 1979 with their signature tune we are family. other hits included disco classic the greatest dancer. a statement from the family said joni sledge had loved, and embraced, life. you're watching bbc news. let's look at the weather from tomasz schafernaker. for many of us, so far, today, it has been pretty cloudy with spots of
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rain. this evening, skies were clear and it will turn quite cold with a cut—off. the way. a lot colder than the last few nights when we were into double figures. tonight, barely above freezing in the countryside. this gap in the cloud will be in place across the bulk of the country later tonight so temperatures will dip away. this evening, already down to single figures across western and northern areas and the remnants of cloud and spots of rain we have had across the east and south—east fizzles away into the north sea. by the end of the night, apart from a few spots of rain in northern scotland, the vast majority of the country is in clear skies and chilly weather, down to freezing outside town. tomorrow, a nippy start but sunny, should be a nice day with light wind and the sun out in most areas, just a few clouds in the sky in one or two places, top temperatures 16 in london, 11; in belfast and a bit fresher in scotland.
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