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tv   Our World  BBC News  January 14, 2018 3:30am-4:01am GMT

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mistakenly issued an alert warning residents of hawaii of an incoming ballistic missile. it took over half an hour to be declared a false alarm — the situation on the islands was described as ‘full blown panic‘. after a wave of anti—austerity protests, tunisia's government has announced a $70 million package to help poorer families. as the country marks seven years since it sparked the arab spring uprisings — many tunisians feel they haven't gained enough social and economic benefits. the actor mark wahlberg's donated his $1.5 million fee for reshooting scenes in all the money in the world to the time's up initiative helping sexual harrassment victims. it follows an outcry after it emerged his co—star michelle williams earned nothing for the extra scenes. let's have a look at the front pages of the morning's newspapers: the sunday times reports that the new justice secretary is preparing to intervene to halt
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the release of the so—called ‘black cab rapist‘, john worboys. the sunday telegraph has an interview with the new conservative party chairman. he tells the paper he wants to galvanise the party's digital campaigning. the observer reports claims by nigel farage that pro—europeans could overturn the result of the brexit referendum and that the leave side has ‘stopped fighting.‘ and the sunday express claims economists are warning the eu that failing to reach a brexit deal with britain could cost it £500 billion. now on bbc news, it‘s our world. the war in eastern ukraine, more than 10,000 people have died. now entering its fourth year, this has become one of the longest conflicts in modern european history. there is no end in sight
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to the hostilities, after separatist rebels, backed by russia, took over ukraine‘s donbass region. hundreds of thousands of families were split up, stranded on opposite sides of the new border. with destruction all around, one familiar smell of peace time. but life for many here is anything but normal. i‘m lucy ash and i‘m in the town of marinka, where a bakery is providing comfort and hope amidst the trauma of war. marinka lies on the ukrainian
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side of the frontline. before the conflict, nearly 10,000 people lived here. there is only half that number now. factories and coal mines have come to a standstill. ina warzone, jobs are hard to find. but for those trapped here, daily life must somehow go on. i have come to meet 0leg tkachenko, a local pastor who, against the odds, has started a small business here.
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he converted this old supermarket, damaged in the fighting, into a working bakery. the bakery is marinka‘s first new business since the war began. he produces fresh bread at affordable prices. 0lya has lived in the town for 30 years, ever since she and husband were evacuated from the chernobyl nuclear zone. this war has separated 0lya from her children and grandchildren. 0lya‘s home in marinka was badly
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damaged by shelling. she and her husband camp out in a house belonging to a family which has fled. she pines for her old life. 0lya was very, very proud of her house and her garden. she wants to show me pictures. her children and grandchildren live in an area controlled by the breakaway donetsk people‘s republic, or dnr. you need special permission to go there. the conflict in eastern ukraine was sparked by demonstrations in kiev in the winter of 2013—2014, which ousted the pro—moscow president, viktor yanukovych.
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soon after the russian takeover of crimea, russian—backed rebels then seized territory around the eastern city of donetsk and declared the breakaway republics of donetsk and luhansk. and marinka, just 30 kilometres from donetsk, found itself in a war zone. gunfire. explosion. at the beginning of the conflict, it was captured by the dnr forces and retaken by the ukrainian army four months later. the frontline runs north—east of marinka‘s centre. queues to cross to the other side can last hours, even days. this defacto border has divided families and created deep rifts between former neighbours.
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the divisions here in marinka are really quite complicated. these labels — pro—russian, pro— ukrainian — they don‘t really mean very much. people are anyway very scared to say which side they actually support and, above all else, they want what is best for them and their families. they want the fighting to stop, they want peace to return to this town. bread is subsidised but, to cover costs, the bakery has to make a small profit. 0leg and a fellow christian pastor started the bakery in 2016. they realised people needed physical as well as spiritual sustenance. now he spends his days in marinka but at night he goes home to a town safely away from the frontline. he does not hide where his political sympathies lie.
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he takes me to meet his family. 0leg was once a successful businessman in donetsk, which is now in rebel—held territory. he sought solace in the church after his eldest daughter died in a car crash — that was before the war. today he dedicates his life to helping others. 0leg brought in bread from other towns but it arrived stale and cold so he got the idea for the bakery. it opened with the help of foreign aid — $10,000 from canada where there is a big ukrainian diaspora, and flour from the czech republic. the bakery employs seven people.
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on tonight‘s shift, three work flat out to produce enough bread, bun and biscuits for the next day. it is just past 11 o‘clock and they are waiting for the bread to rise, but the time that i have been here we have already heard gunfire and mortar shells going off. she is telling me that it is very normal, it happens most nights
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that they are working here. natasha had a job at marinka‘s bread factory before it was hit by an artillery shell. the bakery is a haven from the fighting, which usually kicks off every evening at dusk. the women stay here until morning because it is too dangerous to travel home at night. both these women live in the so—called red zone, in a neighbourhood right by the frontline. tanya lives with her husband and teenage son. 0lya has mixed feeling about the ukrainian army‘s presence in the town. many here don‘t know who to believe and a lack of information deepens the distrust. locals mostly watch russian tv,
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which has a much stronger signal than the ukrainian channels. we are going to the place where the ukrainian army is positioned, just on the outskirts of marinka. apparently, there was some trouble there last night, there was quite a lot of shelling, but i‘m told it is quiet today. morale is low, even though these troops only arrived in a new rotation a few weeks ago. many suspect the war is being driven by profit and corruption, but they don‘t want to say that on camera. a senior officer talks of men in the shadows
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and smuggling networks for weapons, coal and oil. 0leg uses this opportunity to introduce himself to the soldiers. the ukrainian government calls this area the anti—terrorist operation zone and sees the land on the other side of the frontline as occupied territory. i‘m not going to come out any further onto this roof because there are snipers in that direction but you can see how close the town is. ijust heard the church bells. the bakery and the market are just about 400 or 500 metres from here, so this really is a town on the frontline. life is hard, especially
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to the elderly in marinka. the international red cross distributes aid such as coal, but poverty and the stress of war create tensions between neighbours. seems to be, i don‘t know, about a0 people queueing up for the registration to get winter coal. i‘m just going to ask about the lift. upstairs, ifind a lieutenant colonel, a military man now in charge of marinka. he is uncomfortable when i ask why aid is coming from volunteers and charities rather than the ukrainian government. i‘ve come to meet 0lya the baker. her house was hit and patched up by volunteers. it is right next to the checkpoint which separates ukraine from no man‘s land. beyond this slag heap is rebel—held territory, the dnr. there has been no gas or drinking water in marinka
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since the war began. people have always produced their own food here. but now, it is even more important. during the worst bombing, 0lya went down to the cellar. her elderly father didn‘t make it and died after being injured by shattered glass. tanya, who works with 0lya at the bakery, lives only a few houses away. almost every house in tanya‘s street has been bombed or shelled at some point.
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a local teacher is at the bakery to pick up buns this monday morning for the kindergarten. this building, like most in the town, was badly damaged and the children were evacuated. now it is open again, although there are only two classes so far. there is no canteen here yet,
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so the jam—filled buns are a special treat. the war in ukraine has slipped off the political agenda and it‘s rarely in the news anymore, but it is far from over. it is hard to imagine a time when these children will be able to live in peace. and although the fighting now is not as bad as it has been, its sporadic nature means nobody knows when or where the next shell will land. hello.
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the recent run of cloudy days continue for many during saturday, although there were some notable exceptions to the rule. the north—east of scotland has fared quite nicely lately and that was been the way of again, although go too far north and you end up with shower activities. out west, it really was one of those days — a frontal system stalled there with a lot of cloud and rain and the remnants of that are still there as we start the new day on sunday. far less in the way of rainfall across many areas, southern highlands of scotland, the cumbrian fells could see more than theirfair share for a time during the morning, and as the front weakens and the cloud against to break, there will be some sunny spells around, but you get the sense there is an awful lot of cloud still to be had across england and wales, the eastern side of scotland. temperatures perhaps a degree or two back on where we have been of late for many, save for the north—western quarter. the football shouldn‘t be interrupted by the weather at all, although it will get quite breezy as the afternoon goes on into the early evening in the vicinity of anfield. quite a match there, i‘m sure.
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talking of winds, a lot of it as this frontal system comes in across scotland, northern ireland and even a little bit further south. we are expecting significant gusts of wind. they could cause some disruption to your travel plans. certainly come monday morning, we may well find some very wet weather and some windy weather across the south. the last of the mild air is swept away by that frontal system as the week ahead is very much about cold air, plenty of it, and some pretty strong winds as well. it is mild air and wet and windy fare to start off the day across the south—eastern quarter, so watch out for the commute there. then the combination works its way slowly but surely towards the near continent. following immediately on behind it could be some thunderstorms for a time. then you will notice a great raft of showers rattling in on a noticeable west to north—westerly wind, the temperatures beginning to fall away, initially across the northern and western parts of
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the british isles, but come tuesday, more widely across the british isles. it really will feel much colder. and the snow showers becoming ever more prevalent across many of these northern and western areas as those temperatures fall away. into wednesday, not a great deal of change, but what is this? late on wednesday into thursday that low pressure, some very windy weather in the south with some rain on its northern flank, though, it there could well be a significant spell of snow. next week, certainly colder, really quite windy at times as well, and there will be snow in the forecast. welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. i‘m andrew plant. our top stories: the us investigates how people in hawaii were mistakenly warned of an imminent ballistic missile attack. after a wave of anti—austerity protests, tunisia‘s government announces a $70 million package to help the poor. a vow to weed out corruption and rescue the economy —
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hope in south africa as the head of the ruling party gives his first speech since being elected. after a fair pay outcry, mark wahlberg donates his $1.5 million film fee to the times up initiative.
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