tv BBC News BBC News May 27, 2017 3:00am-3:31am BST
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welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i'm gavin grey. our top stories: tracking down the terror network surrounding the manchester bomber. uk police say they have made immense progress. funerals in egypt for the coptic christians killed in an attack on friday. the country retaliates with airstrikes on libya. britain's top counter—terrorism officer says they have captured a large part of the network involved in the manchester arena attack, where 22 people died. mark rowley said immense progress had been made in the investigation, but there were still important lines to pursue and arrests to be made. a 44—year—old man was taken into custody friday evening on suspicion of terrorism offences.
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it brings the total number of men under arrest over the attack to nine. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. the bomber, salman abedi, came back to manchester from libya last week. renting a flat in this block, he had already bought many of the ingredients for his lethal device. it was here that salman abedi spent his last weekend, putting his bomb together, making the final preparations to attack a concert full of teenage girls. about three months earlier, before he went to libya for the last time, abedi rented a flat in this block, being pored over by forensics officers this week as a possible bomb factory. the flat is owned by aiman elwafi. his friend told the bbc what aiman found after abedi had left. a piece of metal in the bathroom, and the electricity is switched off, the fire alarm is switched off. and he can smell a strong, strong,
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strong smell coming up from the carpet. and aiman told me, i think it's like diesel, like petrol, something chemical. detectives say they have made very significant finds and, crucially, believe they have captured a large part of his terrorist network. we have seized thousands of exhibits, which are now being assessed. i think it's fair to say that there's been enormous progress with the investigation, but still an awful lot of work to do. police have found bomb—making material, but because of concerns about what might still be out there, the threat level will remain at critical. the public can expect much higher security at the 1,300 events in the uk this bank holiday weekend. we mustn't let this terrible terrorist incident impact on our lives. let's carry on this weekend, this bank holiday weekend, with our families and friends. a weekend in which armed officers
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will be patrolling on trains. detectives investigating monday's shocking attack are growing in confidence. but for now, going into one of the most important weekends of the summer, everyone remains nervous. daniel sandford, bbc news, manchester. egypt's air force has carried out airstrikes in libya, targeting jihadists in the east of the country. egypt's president, abdel fattah el—sisi, said the strikes were in retaliation for a militant attack on a bus carrying coptic christians. at least 28 people were killed in the attack, south of cairo, while travelling to a monastery in beni suef province. president sisi said those behind the shootings had been trained at camps near the eastern libyan port of derna. from cairo, orla guerin reports. the bus in which so many were robbed of life, on their way to an ancient monastery, the broken windows and scattered belongings testament to an attack that was merciless and highly coordinated. there were multiple gunmen, who escaped across the sands
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in three off—road vehicles. relatives of the dead told the bbc the authorities should be doing more to protect christians, who are obviously at risk. this was the scene just last month, after church bombings in northern egypt. a nationwide state of emergency was announced, and security was stepped up. but many coptic christians say the authorities provide more lip service than proper protection. dozens of church—goers have been killed in recent months by the so—called islamic state. it says that christians are its favourite prey, and has vowed to keep up the attacks. and, as well as the new threat from is, many believers here complain of an older problem — discrimination. among members of egypt's christian community, the largest in the middle east, there is anger and fear,
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and once again, there is grief. orla guerin, bbc news, cairo. let's take a look at some of the other stories making the news: data has been recovered from at least two phones found on board the sewol ferry, which sank three years ago off south korea, giving insights into the victims‘ last moments. "don't die, stay alive," was among the frantic messages received before the vessel went down. 304 people died in the disaster. most of them were teenagers on a school trip. chile's president, michelle bachelet, has marked the start of construction for a billion—dollar astronomical observatory high in the atacama desert. when complete, in 2024,. the aptly named extremely large telescope will be five times bigger than the largest current observatory. astronomers say it has the potential to transform our understanding of the universe. stay with us here on bbc news.
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still to come: jeremy corbyn says the uk's war on terror isn't working, but he is criticised for saying it so soon after the manchester attack. well, we have heard differing claims about police numbers and their ability to keep us safe, and this week's bombing has again raised questions about government strategy, and whether it has the right powers to deal with those who pose a potential risk. our home editor mark easton reports. the murder of lee rigby in woolwich, 2013, prompted david cameron to reshape his counterterrorism strategy. ..will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism... the focus was on home—grown extremism, with public sector
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workers becoming legally obliged to inform police if they thought someone was displaying extremist behaviour. the government set up an extremism taskforce, and proposed a counter—extremism bill, with tough powers against anyone deemed to be an extremist. but the legislation now looks unlikely ever to happen, because ministers struggled to define extremism, and concerns the approach fosters suspicion and distrust in largely law—abiding muslim communities. the terror attacks in paris in 2015 sent a shockwave across europe. in the uk, ministers responded by announcing an extra 1,900 spies and 1,000 more police firearms officers. we have been building the capability of police here in the uk to respond. but the number of firearms officers is actually 1,300 lower than 2010. the attack in westminster last march once again focused concerns on keeping track of individuals known to have radical views. there were questions as to why
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people like the murderer khalid masood couldn't be monitored and, if necessary, detained. security services have 3,000 people under investigation in active operations, but only seven people have their movements restricted under special powers. the courts take a dim view of limiting people's freedom if they haven't been convicted of a crime. the dreadful bombing in manchester was followed by claims that cuts to policing may have contributed to the attack — an accusation emphatically denied by the government. ring—fenced money for the police‘s counterterrorism effort has increased over the last few years, from £591; million in 2015/16, to £675 million now. but that doesn't tell the whole story, because that money comes out of the total police budget. central government money for police has actually fallen 25% since 2010. in greater manchester, police counterterrorism funding
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is up £6 million, but the force says its overall budget must go down £14 million. spotting, monitoring and neutralising the threat from home—grown terrorists is partly about resources, of course. but it is also about creating a society where such an ideology cannot breed and thrive. mark easton, bbc news. more details have been emerging about the bomber, salman abedi. the bbc has spoken to a former friend who said abedi's behaviour had changed in the last six months. our special correspondent ed thomas reports. the manchester home, the family, and the need to know why. ramadan abedi, a father who allowed his children to fight on the front line in libya. his son hashim, suspected of supporting so—called islamic state. and then, salman abedi, the suicide bomber who murdered in his own city. i met him at a mosque,
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and we just prayed, and that was it. he stayed after for a bit, extra 5—10 minutes. this is his friend. they played football together, supported manchester united. now, he is too scared to show his face and says, over the past six months, salman abedi changed. there was something up. you could tell that there was something up with him, like, something was bugging him. then it came to a point where he didn't want to listen to music anymore, didn't think about girls. if there was a nice track on, i'd be like, oh, this is a good song. he'd be like, nah, man, turn it off. shouldn't listen to music, it's the devil. he goes, even if you're to do bad stuff, and like sell weed or do whatever, like, even drink alcohol, as long as you're praying, just pray and just keep it up, ‘cause you still can get forgiven. but like, just ‘cause he knows himself, doing what he did, he‘ll go to hell. so i don‘t know why he did it. the bbc has been told salman abedi fought in libya against the gaddafi regime when he was just 16.
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he wasn‘t alone. alongside him, his brother hashim. young men, guided by their father, ramadan. ramadan was a ferocious fighter. he was a good fighter. he was fighting to die, let‘s say. this man met all the three abedis in libya in 2011, and fought on the front line with ramadan abedi. so—called foreign fighters in the manchester brigade. 70% of them were from north of england. the people who went to fight in libya? mm—hm, yes. and did the security services ever try to stop you from going? from leaving this country? no. even though they can see what we‘re taking. ambulances, satellite phones, some people even brought in laser—guided, you know, laser sights. the bbc has also learned of allegations the manchester bomber‘s father met the radical cleric abu qatada in london. and on facebook, he is alleged to have praised fighters affiliated with al qaeda in syria.
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he denies supporting islamic extremism. he believes, and a lot of libyan, and even arab and muslim here, they don‘t believe you can be muslim, a good muslim, and british citizen. nasser knew ramadan abedi. he said fighting in libya changed him. he believes in thejihadi values, and if you see what he‘s thinking about libya, what he‘s wrote about libya, it‘s really clear. he believes injihad. since the manchester attack, the bbc has asked for an interview with trustees of the mosque where the abedi family prayed. today, we were invited in. did anybody report this young man to counterterrorism police? yes, yes indeed. one of our imams had reported this person. we were not aware. it was a private matter. the imam did not tell anybody inside this mosque? he did not tell anybody inside the mosque. that has got to be a worry. it has got to be a worry because, obviously, we as trustees should, i suppose, know what is going on. you suppose?
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well, the reason i say "i suppose," if he has reported him, because he had information we do not, and it‘s between him and the counterterrorist police. so i‘ve not really spoken to him since. but he has said it to us. you‘ve not rang the imam who noticed salman abedi first, to find out more information? i don‘t have any information, i don‘t need any information, because i am not responsible. when he passes the responsibility on to the counterterrorist police, who of course, as we all know, have been carrying out surveillance on the suspect. so it‘s not my responsibility anymore. it has been shifted to the police and to the security services. counterterrorism investigators will not comment if any warnings were sent, if salman abedi could have been stopped from taking 22 lives. ed thomas, bbc news, manchester. jeremy corbyn has placed tackling terror at the centre of an election campaign speech, his first since monday‘s bomb attack. he declared that the war
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on terror is not working, and pledged to change british foreign policy if labour were to win the election, to reduce the threat to the country. political opponents have criticised the timing of his speech, as well as his message. 0ur political correspondent vicki young‘s report contains flash photography from the start. jeremy corbyn knows this is a sensitive time. after a terrorist atrocity, the labour leader restarted his election campaign today, joining a silent tribute to manchester‘s victims. but the labour leader didn‘t backtrack from long—held views on foreign policy, making his case that it is time to do things differently. many experts, including professionals in our intelligence and security services, have pointed out the connections between wars that we‘ve been involved in, or supported and fought in, in other countries, such as libya, and terrorism here at home.
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that assessment in no way reduces the guilt of those who attack our children. stressing his patriotism, mr corbyn repeatedly emphasised that nothing excused monday‘s massacre. and he had a direct message for britain‘s soldiers. i want to assure you that, under my leadership, you will only be deployed abroad when there is a clear need, and only when there is a plan, that you have the resources to do yourjob and secure an outcome that delivers lasting peace. mr corbyn promised that a labour government would give the security services the money they required, and cuts to police budgets would be reversed. the issue of security could dominate the rest of this election campaign, and todayjeremy corbyn has repeated views he has held for decades, that military action abroad has made the uk less safe.
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but, to others, that sounds like an excuse for terrorism. senior conservatives have been quick to hit out at the labour leader, calling his speech monstrous. this has been caused not by us, asjeremy corbyn would have us believe. it‘s been caused by a sick ideology, a perverted version of islam, that hates us and hates our way of life. and to say anything now to legitimate orjustify those who have carried out the atrocity in manchester is, in my view, absolutely obscene. the arguments have returned, and so have election photo opportunities. the snp leader condemned the manchester attack, but said politicians shouldn‘t shy away from debate. bombing campaigns, whether in syria or libya, without a coherent strategy to tackle the underlying problems there, often hinder rather than help those situations. so i think these are the things we need to debate, and debate vigorously. this evening, mr corbyn faced more questions, this time about allegations
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that he had links with the ira. why would the british people want as their leader a man who for years supported the ira? i didn‘t support the ira, i don‘t support the ira. what i want everywhere is a peace process. what i want everywhere is decency and human rights. did you urge the ira to stop the bombs and the bullets? i never met the ira. cross talk. ...0r its front people, that you met all the time? i obviously did meet people from sinn fein. how a country protects its citizens is likely to be high on the agenda for the rest of this election campaign. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. britain‘s top counter—terrorism officer says they‘ve captured ‘a large part‘ of the network involved in the manchester arena attack. the egyptian president says the military have attacked a jihadist training camp in libya — following the deadly ambush of a bus carrying coptic christians. leaders of the world's leading industrial nations — the g7 — have agreed on new action
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to counter terrorism. at a summit in italy they called on internet companies to do more to stop the spread of hateful extremist content online. but the leaders were unable to reach an agreement on climate change — with differences remaining between president trump and the rest of the group. the bbc‘s james landale is at the summit. at this summit, in an ancient town on the coast of sicily, there has been some harmony between the g7 leaders, above all on the need to do more to tackle global terrorism. but there have also been some dramatic and discordant notes on trade and climate change. donald trump has voiced his anger at the impact that he believes free trade is having on us car markets, and he has also expressed doubts about global warming,
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and threatened to pull the us out of a deal agreed in paris in 2015 to limit carbon emissions. so g7 leaders are using this summit to try to stay the president‘s hand. and they are not alone. in an interview with the bbc, the secretary general of united nations said the us had to stay engaged if the us withdraws, it is one more reason for all the countries to come together, to stay the course, and to make sure that the paris agreement moves forward. we think it is very important that the american government stays engaged, but this is not the end of the world. i mean, independently of the position that one government might have, independently of what the country involves, and the us is very important because of its dimensions, all the others should stay the course. mr trump‘s advisers say his views on the paris deal are evolving, but so far no agreement has been reached. the italian prime minister, paolo gentiloni, said the issue
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was still hanging. this summit has been literally overshadowed by the ancient volcano mount etna. but, for many world leaders here, this is the first time on the world stage. and inevitably the focus was on one in particular, donald trump, and the overriding aim of the summit is to keep the president on side, convincing him that it is worth his while to be a member of this small club of large nations. so they may push him on climate change, but not that hard. officials in the philippines say foreign fighters linked to so—called islamic state are among militants killed in the south of the country. the military has been conducting air strikes in marawi, on mindanao island, after it was overrun byjihadists. greg dawson reports. the military say they are fighting to stop creation of a caliphate within their country,
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and this is the front line. the city of marawi, on mindanao island. until recently, it was home to more than 200,000 people. but now, the streets are empty, except for the sound of gunfire. on friday, hundreds more grabbed what they could and left, fearing militants from the local maute group, which has pledged allegiance to the so—called islamic state. it is hard to stay there, as it is so chaotic, says this man. the chaos erupted after a botched raid by security forces on a maute hideout. armed insurgents responded by seizing roads and buildings, and taking christians hostage. it has transmogrified into invasion by foreign terrorists, who heeded the clarion call of the isis, to go to the philippines if they find difficulty in going to syria. mindanao is home to several muslim
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groups fighting for greater autonomy, but the government thinks foreign fighters linked to is are among those taking on the military. the president has imposed martial law on the island, allowing the military to enforce order, and the detention of people without charge. translation: my message to the terrorists — we can solve this through dialogue. and if you cannot be convinced to stop fighting, so be it. let‘s just fight. he has already been criticised by human rights groups for his relentless crackdown on drug dealers, but that hasn‘t deterred rodrigo duterte, who is threatening to impose martial law across the whole country, to step up the fight against is militants. bbc news has been given exclusive access to historic footage filmed by young adventurers exploring parts of the world that were completely
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new to western eyes. some of these remarkable films, from the frozen mountains in the himalayas to the searing libyan desert, haven‘t been seen for a century. 0ur science correspondent, pallab ghosh. this is the first ever view of mount everest from the air. it was shot in 1933 by a group of pilots who risked their lives to help create an aerial map of the mountain. the film is part of the royal geographical society‘s archive. it includes the very first attempt to climb to the top of mount everest, in 1922. the climbers are treated to a ritual dance at a tibetan monastery. around the dancers‘ waists are aprons made from a lattice of human bones. the cameraman was captainjohn noel. it was a newman—sinclair camera... his daughter recalls how her father filmed the expedition. he had a purpose—built tent he‘d taken with him to base camp,
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and at night, using water from the glaciers and yak dung as a source of heat, he processed 10,000 feet of film on the mountain. conservation specialists are painstakingly restoring 138 films of some of britain‘s greatest explorations, frame by frame. one of them is of a young army officer crossing the vast expanse of the libyan desert by motorcar. in 1932, ralph bagnold and his friends drove thousands of miles for weeks on end into the blistering heat. his son has read stories about these incredible expeditions, but it is the first time he has seen them. that‘s my father driving there. he even wrote scientific papers about how sand moves. his research is helping space agencies to this day, to develop rovers that can drive across the surface of mars. to see this film makes me
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feel very proud of him, of course, and i‘m in awe of what he managed to do. we can all now relive these extraordinary adventures, stories from a bygone age, when the world held so many mysteries. coming up next we have click but first we have the weather. hello. with a bank holiday weekend now upon us, we are set to see a bit of a change in this hot, dry weather, that has been with us for the past few days. here was the scene on friday, in moray, captured by one of our weather watchers. we will have similar conditions to start the bank holiday weekend. a humid start. more sunshine, but we are expecting to see some thunderstorms disrupting the sunshine. now, during saturday morning, we‘ve got this frontal system, this area of low pressure, moving from the south and west, bring showers and thunderstorms across many parts of the country.
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for northern ireland, northern england, right down towards the south—east, through saturday morning, we will see the showers. during the afternoon, they will spread a little bit further north across the country. they are bumping into the warm air in place. 30 degrees or so across northern and north—eastern scotland. so lots of fuel for these big showers and the thunderstorms. could be some hail mixed in. this is a:00pm on saturday afternoon. so thundery showers likely across central scotland, northern ireland, into northern england. to the south of that, a little fresher than it has been. we may still see temperatures in one or two spots up to around 20 degrees. so lots of sunny weather on the cards still, through the course of saturday. but we‘ve got those showers across northern parts of the country as we move through saturday evening and overnight, so the odd rumble of thunder here. but on into sunday morning, clearer skies across southern parts of the country. and it will feel a little more comfortable for sleeping through the early hours of sunday morning, so temperatures typically down to 13 or 1a degrees.
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with a risk of some heavy downpours at times on saturday and late on sunday, there could be flooding on the road. perhaps some spray around, some poor visibility, if you have got plans to be heading off for half—term holidays. now, during sunday, we‘ve got the next batch of showers working in from the english channel. on sunday, you could see a chance of catching an odd thunderstorm. pretty hit—and—miss, and actually many parts of the country having a drier day, with temperatures between about 16 and 26 degrees or so. but a chance on sunday night and then on to bank holiday monday, that we will see some of the showers becoming a bit more extensive. some uncertainty about their exact positioning. looks like, again, they will work their way gradually north and eastwards across the country as we had through bank holiday monday. they will be hit and miss. not everywhere will get a heavy or thundery shower. and it is a return to some sunny skies and the south. definitely not as hot as we get to bank holiday monday. a cooler and a fresher outlook as we head through into the course
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of tuesday and wednesday. have a good weekend. this is bbc news. the headlines: british police have arrested another person in connection with monday‘s suicide bomb attack at a concert in the city of manchester. nine people are currently being detained, and the chief counter—terrorism officer said most of the network believed to be linked to the bombing had now been detained. egypt‘s air force has been in action in libya, targeting jihadists in the east of the country. egypt‘s president, abdel fattah el—sisi, said the strikes were in retaliation for a militant attack on a bus carrying coptic christians. at least 28 people were killed in the ambush, south of cairo. the united nations secretary general says the paris climate change agreement will not collapse if president trump does as he has threatened and withdraws the united states. antonio guterres called on donald trump to stay engaged with the agreement. newswatch is coming up later.
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