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tv   BBC News  BBC News  August 20, 2017 3:00am-3:31am BST

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hello and welcome to bbc news. my name is gavin grey. spain's interior minister says the terror cell behind the attacks there this week has been broken up. officials believe the cell consisted of 12 young men, most of them moroccan nationals. one man, younes abouyaaqoub, is still at large. police searching for him say they believe he may have been the driver of the van which mowed down so many people on thursday in barcelona, killing 13 and injuring 130. from there, james reynolds reports. the king of spain, determined to show that barcelona has nothing to fear. symbols of rule from the capital, madrid, are not always welcome in this, the catalan region, but in the aftermath of thursday's attack, felipe vi is met with cheers. this footage from a museum security camera appears to show part of the assault on las ramblas. the attackers‘ van
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tears down the avenue. passers—by run for their lives. the authorities say that they have now broken up the network responsible for the attacks in both barcelona and the coastal town of cambrils. at first investigators believed that one of the cambrils suspects, 17—year—old, moussa oukabir, was also the barcelona attacker, but now they are investigating the possibility that 22—year—old younes abouyaaqoub may have carried out the attack himself. he is currently at large. the authorities have announced greater security at spain's borders and also in places where tourists gather. the new measures come too late for andrew cadman, from britain and australia, he has flown in to find his 7—year—old son, julian. there is still no confirmed words on the boy's whereabouts
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or condition. these survivors told their stories to the queen and king, here on a tour of barcelona's hospitals. translation: this violent, cowardly attack, this assassination that has killed and injured many people and has moved us all, will not defeat asked or our values. barcelona, for so long free from attacks, now has to rewrite its own history. the mayor has opened a book of condolence. "i came to express my sympathies with the victims," sergio martinez told me, "i also wanted to show that we are not afraid and that we will carry on." tonight, on las ramblas, the simple act of going out for a walk becomes a powerful symbol and this city finds itself following the rhythm of mourning and defiance so familiar to the rest of this continent.
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james reynolds, bbc news, barcelona. our security correspondent gordon corera is also in barcelona. he has this assessment of the latest developments. spain's interior minister has not raised the threat level to the highest level. well, they have said that the cell was absolutely dismantled. i should say that regional officials, here in catalonia, have contradicted that and said that they can't be categorical that the cell had been broken up. that is in partly because there is still a manhunt going on, there is still one person on the lose, who they are looking for, who they believe may have been the driver of the van which went down las ramblas, here, on thursday night. how did it go undetected for so
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long? is this because it was a group of young men who formed a close group that authorities did not know about, or were there some links and expertise rabada from a bore of? bats morocco, where there were family links, or perhaps the so—called islamic state and iraq and syria. that is still an unanswered question. —— perhaps morocco. tens of thousands of people in the us city of boston have demonstrated against a rally by the far—right. the small turnout of supporters for the right—wing "free—speech rally" had to be escorted away. police made a number of arrests after scuffles with what they called anti—police agitators. stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: a beautiful diversion from some grim reality. wejoin the man united fan club in baghdad. a british paramedic severely injured
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while trying to save the life of a woman stabbed in finland on friday has told the bbc he is not a hero. hassan zubier said he did his best and no more. i saw the city injuries she had. i got hold of her artery, stopped the bleeding. but the man came back. he tried to stab me, i kicked him. he ran away. he came back. and then i felt someone hitting me in the back. people screamed. i was trying to save her life. two women died in what is being described as finland's first terrorist attack. police said the attacker, who was shot and then arrested, is moroccan. for more rock and —— for more moroccan men have been arrested and an international
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search warrant is out for a fifth. tom donkin has more. in the wake of the dual attacks in spain, another european community is coming to terms with the horror of terrorism. the city of turku, a business and cultural hub on the south—west coast of finland is now calm with quiet remembrance. on friday afternoon, it was the scene of chaos. an 18—year—old man carrying a knife went on a frenzied attack in the city's main market square. the moroccan killed two people and injured eight others before police shot him in the leg and made the arrest. authorities have not released the identity of the attacker, who remains in hospital. police believe this was not a random act of violence on the innocent, but a targeted attack on women. the two finnish victims were female as were six of the eight others injured. this is the first ever terror attack in finland's history. juha sipila is the first finnish leader who has had to respond to terrorism but his message was familiar. this is the first time we have a terrorist attack in finland.
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of course, the whole country is sorrowing the situation right now and we are looking for the future anyway, together. and we don't give up. while terrorism is new for finland, the authorities are asking the usual questions after an incident like this. did the attacker act alone, or was he part of a wider network? so far, four other moroccan men have been arrested in connection with the attack. an international search warrant is out for a fifth. so, while the interior ministry says nationwide security is being stepped up, the country's flags are lowered to half—mast out of respect for the victims. but also, it will remind those here that despite a history of relative peace, terrorism is part of a new reality. as we've been hearing, attempts by a far—right group
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to hold a rally in the us city of boston have been thwarted by a massive counter—demonstration. a small group of white nationalists were trying to hold what they called a "free speech rally". the protests followed last week and's violence in virginia, when a young woman was killed by a car driven at a crowd of antiracist demonstrators. aleem maqbool reports from boston. crowd chanting: we can't hear you! it was a day of taunting american‘s far—right. this was their so—called ‘free speech‘ rally that after recent violence, many had been worried about. but this was the city‘s response — a massive counter protest of bostonians condemning hate—speech and racism. crawd chanting: the people united will never be defeated! i am outraged. outraged. we have to make a difference. i can't believe in 2017 that we are
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still marching for rights. when faced with the option to stand and say what is right and wrong, i cannot sit home and keep my views to myself, when there is hate out there. they certainly have the right to speak but we also have the right to congregate and to show that we do not support what they have to say and i think the numbers bear that out today. the two demonstrations — one outnumbering the other by many thousands — were kept apart to prevent trouble, but the far—right demonstrators, often wearing from trump hats, were unapologetic. i‘m a racist. that defiance often angered those around. just one of those so—called free—speech protesters has just come out into the crowd and has had to be escorted by police through this very angry crowd, who have been chanting anti—racism and anti—trump slogans all day. the president has been underfire
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for failing to unequivocally condemn the far—right activists that protested in charleville, last week. even after a counter—demonstrator, heather heyer, was killed. today, donald trump twitted... —— tweeted. .. there were moments of tensions but, on the whole, the day was peaceful. more about being a huge statement from people here that, whatever their president does, they will come out in their drove to condemn bigotry when they see it. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in boston. at least 23 people have been killed and more than 60 injured in india, when a train derailed in the
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northern state of uttar pradesh. the accident happened in —— the accident happened in muzaffarnagar, north of delhi. —— north of the capital new delhi. nitin srivastava gave us this update. the pictures coming to us are horrifying. it looks like a nasty accident. there has been devastation. but, yes, this is something that has been a major source of concern for the indian government with one of the biggest train networks in the world. more than 20 million people travelled by this mode of transport every day. we have seen horrible accidents in the last two months. at least 200 people, more than that, have lost their lives in train accidents. incidentally, most of these accidents happened in the northern bed of india where this accident happened. let‘s take a look at some of the other stories
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making the news. the iraqi prime minister has announced the start of the ground operation to drive the islamic state group out of its last major urban stronghold in the country, tal afar. waves of air strikes have been conducted against that city in recent weeks, and it has been surrounded by the iraqi army and militias. the government of sierra leone says the number of victims from the mudslide in the capital freetown has risen to 441. about 600 more people are missing. attempts continue to dig out more bodies from the debris in the regent district of the city. the authorities are warning of the dangers of water—borne diseases. and the white house says president trump and his wife, melania, will not take part in one of america‘s top arts awards. a statement said this would allow the recipients to celebrate —— without any
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political distractions. several winners had said they would not attend a reception at the white house. professor stephen hawking, one of the world‘s most famous and foremost scientists, has launched a stinging attack on the government over the nhs. he‘s accused the health secretary jeremy hunt of "cherry—picking" evidence to justify the creation of a seven—day nhs. mr hunt has rejected that, and accused the nobel prize—winning scientist of spreading falsehoods. sarah campbell reports. professor hawking acknowledged that he would not be here today were it not for the expert care he‘d been given by the nhs, but he is concerned for its future and did not pull any punches, accusing the health secretary of abusing science, in order to win the argument on whether levels of care at weekends are dangerously low. applause. the issue of a seven—day nhs week
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has proved toxic in relations between the health secretary and much of the medical profession in england. it was at the heart of many of the recent strikes which led to cancelled operations. jeremy hunt tweeted that stephen hawking is a brilliant physicist but wrong, citing a report published in the british medicaljournal which suggested there were 11,000 excess deaths between those admitted to hospital friday—monday, compared to midweek. for saturday admissions, there was a 10% higher risk of death than on a wednesday. and for sunday, a 15% higher risk. jeremy hunt has never shied away from confrontation with the medical profession and today, it seems, he‘s happy to take on arguably britain‘s greatest living scientist. professor hawking, a labour supporter, expressed concern oer creeping privatization of the nhs, and what he feared was a move towards a us—style system, where everyone has to be able
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to afford health insurance. —— over creeping. the health secretary tweeted... at the event itself, the tone was much less confrontational. our system of a taxpayerfunded nhs free at the point of use and based on need and not on ability to pay is a principle that we absolutely have to fight for and continue to uphold. that was made very clearly. and in fact, that is something all political parties have committed to. the organisers wanted to spark debate over the future of the nhs. that has certainly happened. sarah campbell, bbc news. you‘re watching bbc news. these are the latest headlines. spain‘s government says the terror cell behind last week‘s attacks has been dismantled, but the hunt continues for a key suspect.
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several of the men behind the attacks grew up in the small town of ripoll, north of barcelona. most were the children of moroccan immigrants. among them younes abu—yaaqoub, now on the run, who, as we‘ve heard, may have driven the van in the barcelona attack. our correspondent, wyre davies, has been to ripoll to speak to people there about the extremists who lived among them. the small chocolate box mountain town of ripoll in the foothills of the spanish pyrenees, the last place you would expect as the breeding ground for a gang of radical islamist militants preparing to commit mayhem and murder. at least seven young men from this small town either died during the attacks or have been arrested since thursday. they include moussa oukabir, said aallaa and mohamed hychami. all three were killed by police in cambrils,
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on friday morning. also from ripoll is younes abouyaaqoub, who is still on the run. at this small mosque in ripoll, where the boys and young men sometimes prayed, but were by no means the devout, community leaders were almost speechless, distraught by what has happened. we did not really know the boys or what they were up to, says this man who has been in charge of the mosque since the imam left two months ago. they sometimes came to pray, he says, but if we‘d known their plans we would have gone straight to the police. on the main road into town today, armed officers checking cars and lorries as spain hunts down all of those responsible for the attacks in barcelona and cambrils. although the spanish government says the cell that carried out these attack has now been dismantled,
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little is actually known about this small group of young men, mainly of moroccan descent, who apparently became radicalised and planned their attacks in the most unlikely of places. in the last two days, several suspects and known associates of the attackers have been arrested. the former imam‘s home has been searched and no one left in ripoll, a town where everyone knows everyone, can quite believe it. at the beginning the people in ripoll were shocked, because in a big town, in a big city, it is easy to find isolated communities, but not in a place like ripoll, because most young people participate in many activities. a 22—year—old son of this town is currently the most wanted man in spain. after what he and the others are accused of doing, it will take ripoll yea rs to recover. wyre davies, bbc news. the ecuadorian government has sent
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a strong warning to china about illegal fishing in waters around the galapagos archipelago, a marine reserve. officials say over 100 chinese flagged boats have been identified in or near to the protected zone. one of the vessels was captured last week, carrying 300 tons of endangered sharks. the crew was arrested. sarah corker‘s report contains some graphic images. this is the chinese flagged vessel suspected of fishing inside the galapagos islands marine reserve. on board there were 300 tons of fish. most of the catch was endangered sharks, including baby sharks and protected species such as hammerheads. on saturday, ecuadorian officials sent this warning. china has been asked to respond to this protest regarding the respect of our sovereignty and our exclusive economic zone, and of the conservation principles established in the un convention on the rights of the ocean.
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the crew members are being held in custody, pending court proceedings. if found guilty, they could face up to three years in prison for environmental crimes. the islands are located in the eastern pacific ocean, more than 900 kilometres off the coast of south america. the unesco world heritage site has been listed because of the diversity of plants and animals found there. shark fin is considered a delicacy in chinese cuisine. they said that that fishing is wiping out endangered species and fuelling illegal trafficking. with the average person taking on 11 jobs during their career, it seems the idea of a "job for life" is increasingly becoming a thing of the past. but with different employers come different pension pots, and that can make keeping track of your finances rather confusing. so, as moneybox presenter, louise cooper, has been finding out, the government is looking
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to simplify things. we have in front of us all your pensions paperwork... 55—year—old john from newbury has had eightjobs since he started work at the age of 20. he knows he‘s paid into a variety of pensions but keeping hold of all the paperwork has been a problem. as i was reaching 55, i decided to review my pension situation. it was then that i realised i know very, very little about mys pensions except for the fact i had one big pension when i worked in a company for quite a long period of time. the department for work and pensions estimate there is currently £400 million in unclaimed pension savings and john worries he might be adding to the pot. definitely when i worked as a nurse, i don‘t know what happened to that paperwork. no idea at all. later, when i worked in another company, i contributed,
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i have no idea — i have no paperwork with that. that was over 20, 25 years ago. no, i haven‘t got any paperwork for that at all. john‘s not alone. the government have recognised that this is a big problem, so they asked the association of british insurers to work with the industry to create an online dashboard, a place where people can log on and see all their pensions in one place. so this is the dashboard? right. for this hypothetical test person, we found eight pensions. eight? you can see? they are listed here. you can see that he‘s got his state pension from the department for work and pensions. he can get additional information there. we found that he also has two final salary schemes. and you have also five, anotherfivejob that‘s he had, defined contribution pension schemes.
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all of that together is added up and it says you‘ve gotjust over £4,000 a month to look forward. to lucky noah. he‘s very lucky! he‘s doing just fine. currently, 16 pension providers have signed up, accounting for £34 million pensions overall, but this is less than half of all pensions. you have a coalition that are willing, that‘s great. ultimately there‘s inertia and people have other priorities. trustees have other priorities. there has to be a clear signal from government — this has to be done. if you don‘t do it you‘re breaking the law. then we will actually have that sort of service for people available. the dashboard should be available in 2019 and it‘s the type of service that people likejohn will find invaluable when it comes to working out their income in retirement.
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manchester united boasts followers across the world. iraq, despite its years of war, is no exception, and at the official fan club in baghdad, members say football is used as an escape from the uncertainty and violence of their everyday life. chanting: united! cheering. as supporters, it doesn‘t matter how old are you, from what religion, from what colour, from what country, from what city. we are gathering around one flag and this is it. cheering. football bringing happiness. as supporters, it doesn‘t matter how old are you, from what religion, from what colour, from what country, from what city. we are gathering around one
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flag and this is it. cheering. now, one for fans of the king of rock and roll. # let‘s #let‘s rock#! this is the elvis of asia competition in the philippines. 23 enthusiasts from across the continent put on their blue suede shoes, combed their sideburns and shook their hips. it‘s the 40th anniversary of the death of elvis presley. now the weather with chris fawkes. hello again. saturday was another day of sunshine and showers, showers particularly frequent across more northern parts of the uk. in scotland, many of them were heavy and thundery. this is one of the clouds working across the skyline of argyll and bute, a big cumulonimbus cloud working into the scottish highlands.
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some beautiful pictures there. a few showers left over across north—western scotland, for most, a dry start to day. these kind of temperatures first thing in the morning. our weather today is going to be influenced by this. hurricane gert a few days ago was to the east of the united states, but since then it has moved north, and it has been ripped apart by the strong winds of the jet stream. the moist remains of gert are now racing across the atlantic tied in with this normal area of low pressure. sunday starts off for most of us as a much better day. dry weather, a few showers around. more in the way of morning sunshine. in the afternoon, things clouding over a little bit. some bright weather for most of the uk. towards the south—west, a different story. through the afternoon, gradually seeing the cloud thickening up to bring outbreaks of rain. initially quite light and drizzly, similar in wales.
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later in the evening, the rain getting a bit heavier. for the midlands, eastern and northern areas of england, dry with some sunshine. probably clouding over in northern ireland. in scotland, far fewer showers. dry weather and light winds, should feel pleasant when that sunshine comes out. sunday night seas the rain turn increasingly heavy. notjust across england and wales but also in northern ireland, later in the night we will see heavier rain arrive. along with that band of rain, turning quite murky with mist and hill fog. rain tied in with this weather front. early in the week it will push north, taking some heavy bursts of rain with it. allowing some warmer air into the south of the uk. the warmer air is behind this front. a cloudy start with some damp conditions and hill fog, it may stay wet in northern ireland for a chunk of the day. rain crossing into northern england, central and southern scotland but probably not reaching the far north of scotland. increasingly humid in the south. not much in the way of sunshine but temperatures still
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in the low 20s. although tuesday starts cloudy, if we do see some sunshine breaking through the cloud in the south of england, temperatures could reach around 27 celsius. after weeks of looking for it, i finally found some warm august weather. this is bbc news, and these are the headlines: the spanish government says the terror cell behind the recent
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