tv Our World BBC News June 16, 2018 9:30pm-10:01pm BST
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this is bbc world news, the headlines. at the world cup in russia, tiny iceland has held off football giants argentina to secure a draw. the argentine star player lionel messi failed to score from the penalty spot. a taxi driver in moscow tried to flee after crashing into crowds at the world cup. he says it was accident — eight people were injured, none of them critically. there have been extraordinary scenes in the afghan capital kabul where taliban militants havejoined the eid celebrations — embracing security forces. but an attack in eastern afghanistan has killed at least 20. spain has accepted an offer from france to take in some of the migrants from the aquarius rescue ship, which had been denied entry to italy. the vessel is currently en route to valencia, with more than 600 people on board. at ten o'clock lukwesa burak will be here with a full round up of the day's news. first, our world. last year, a devastating fire
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at a guatemalan children's home left 41 teenage girls dead and 15 with life changing injuries. the tragedy revealed a terrifying tale of mistreatment at the home. guatemala is one of the most murderous nations on earth. as you can see, there is a pretty large police presence here and that is because we are here. for parents, state care for their children is often a desperate last resort. this area is very familiar for you.
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the fire shocked guatemalans. after a failed mass escape, 56 teenage girls had been locked into a classroom overnight by police. in an attempt to force the officers to let them out, one of them started a fire. the door was not unlocked until it was too late for too many. no one took charge. so stephanie founded a charity that helps families waiting outside the morgue for news of their daughters. so, you were here for 15 days? we are heading south out of the city to visit the children's home, that is now closed. guatemala has 5000 children in care, and this was the largest government facility. this is our guide.
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it was built to house 400 children, but on the day of the fire, 600 were living here. now it is empty. we are not allowed inside. all you can see inside is some corrugated iron fencing that has obviously been put around the room where the girls died. that's about, i don't know, maybe 30 or a0 metres from this main gate. you can't see anything else. she came here because she was an orphan, but there are also boys and girls with disabilities, gang members, victims of sexual
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abuse, and children whose parents werejust too poor to keep them at home. many of the children were desperate to get out. escapes happened often. in one 18—month period, more than 200 attempts were reported. some of the runaways were never found. why did the kids try and escape so often? because we understand that it happened a lot. at midnight!
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a therapeutic environment. a stark contrast to the stories we've heard about the virgen de la asuncion. the girls are going to show us around the home now. just 28 girls live here — all survivors of sexual abuse. lionel is a well—known campaigner for child protection reform in guatemala. he had inside information about conditions in the virgen de la asuncion home. 50!
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you were telling them what was happening in the home. and what were the authorities telling you? eight officials are in prison facing charges, including culpable homicide. but 15 months on, no one has been convicted. the streets of guatemala city are often terrorised by violent gangs. the most troubled areas are known
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as zona rojas, red zones. we are meeting this couple in one of them, zone 18. here she is. 0k. they placed their daughter ashley in the home, and she perished in the fire. ashley was 14 when she died. i imagine that it costs you to look at that. tell me a little bit about why ashley was in the home.
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for her, there were no options. she believed the only way she could protect her child was to put her in care. she takes us on a tour of the deceptively peaceful looking neighbourhood where ashley grew up. they do come now, but they sell their wares from the safety of their vans. this is a potato chips lorry and he's got an armed guard with him. in areas like this, where the state's so often absent,
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the pressures on young people to get involved with gangs are immense. her own personal history made her acutely aware of the choices facing ashley. after the fire, more than 200 children living at the virgen de la asuncion children's home were sent back to their parents, many in marginalised neighbourhoods. in this brigt sunlight, the red zones, the zona rojas, the quite dangerous parts of guatemala city feel quite benign. we know that at least three adolescents who were returned to their families after the fire were assassinated in their own communities. it's grim. insecure at home with their families, often unsafe in children's homes, the social security net for people in guatemala is practically non—existent. we tracked down a teenager
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who escaped from the children's home six months before the fire. elizabeth, as we will call her, doesn't want to be identified. she now lives on the streets of guatemala city and comes here every day to a charity helping homeless youngsters. she spent four years in the virgen de la asuncion. in 2016, she succeeded in getting away. but how do you keep safe on the streets, because the streets of guatemala, they are not a safe place
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for a young woman, are they? and if there are risks on guatemala's mean streets, elizabeth dulls her fears by sniffing glue. as night falls, we visit the city's central park. elizabeth sleeps here and we wonder how many more former residents of the virgen de la asuncion children's home we might find. 0k, adios. what we have been told is there are quite a lot of kids
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who are living here on the streets, who also escaped from virgen de la asuncion and, like elizabeth, it is too dangerous for them to go home and this is the only option. there is a very strong smell of glue. it is a cheap, nasty drug and does lasting damage. somebody has got a baby there. she looks very young, the mum. he is too high to make much sense but, like elizabeth, this 17—year—old chose the streets of guatemala city over the virgen de la asuncion. and on the seventh of march last year, the day before the tragic fire, more than 100 boys and girls, also desperate to leave this notorious children's home, planned a mass escape. it was this that provoked the ultimately lethal response of the state. claudia was the guatemalan
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back inside the home. bare mattresses were thrown into a classroom and 56 girls were locked inside by police officers. we still don't know who gave that order. nine minutes is what we have been told, nine minutes. nine long minutes. at the department of social welfare, we visit the official responsible for guatemala's looked after children. when we meet him, he has been in his job three weeks. what responsibility does the department have for what happened at the children's home last year? as we understand it, there have been dozens of complaints
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against people working in the home, against the conditions there. why was it still open? the challenge to child protection reform is huge, not least because of the national malaise — corruption. two of guatemala's former presidents arein prison on fraud charges, and nepotism, budget skimming and cash contracts are all part of the virgen de la asuncion story. this girl, who lived here as a teenager, now has
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a job she likes and lives with extended family. but her experiences in this children's home have left their mark. how much time did you spend here? hello once again. time we updated you on the weather prospects for the whole of the british isles for the next few days. in the short—term, saturday was not anything to write home about for the greatest part of scotland. northern ireland, having had some rain, swapped it for some hefty showers with the odd rumble of thunder. things were quieter on sunday. there will be some cloud across western areas and some rain from that. dry in the east but cloudy for the greater part of england. north—eastern parts of scotla nd england. north—eastern parts of scotland —— for england and north—eastern parts of scotland. pretty soon into sunday morning the rain will come from the cloud across
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parts of western wales, down into the south—west and northern ireland, and it may eventually get into liverpool bay up towards the stranraer area. further east, a drier prospect. the best of sunshine in the north—east of scotland. we have set the scene with frontal system is not 1 have set the scene with frontal system is not1 million miles away from the british isles as we start the new week. high—pressure way towards the south, low pressure towards the south, low pressure towards iceland. that will become a familiar pattern. the frontal system trying to spread prospects of more rain across the pennines into eastern england eventually, but for some failing so to do. scotland picking up on some cloudy wet weather, especially across the south—western quarter may be getting late into the british isles. the best of sunshine and temperatures into the south—east. that is a trend we will see on monday and tuesday. this frontal system trying to make progress a cross this frontal system trying to make progress across the british isles. we develop another area of
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low— pressure we develop another area of low—pressure dragging the western portion back up and across the country. quite a bit cloud in the south. the best of the brightness to the eastern side of the pennines, the eastern side of the pennines, the north—east of scotland. here comes the rain later in the day and by this stage you notice the temperatures in the south starting to pick up. a real close sort of humid feel to proceedings. tuesday into wednesday, that little kink in the frontal system working its way up the frontal system working its way up towards the northern portions of scotland. the rain associated with that beginning to fall away during the day down through the borders into the north of england and northern ireland. to the south of this, plenty of sunshine around. we will see the temperatures really picking up, 27 or possibly 28 in the mix but underneath the cloud bama 16 or 17
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mix but underneath the cloud bama 16 or17 —— the mix but underneath the cloud bama 16 or 17 —— the cloud banner. there is some uncertainty across the british isles later in the week. it will depend on how much dry air you will see and how much warmth as well. if you are on the southern side of the jet stream then you will have a lot more in the way of dry weather to experience. if they hold jet were to go little bit further north, then many more of us would get the warmer, drierfeel to proceedings. if it was to come further south, then we would fall into the cooler regime with the chance of more cloud and rain. bye—bye. this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 10... the home secretary uses ‘exceptional powers' to allow doctors to treat severely epileptic, billy caldwell with illegal cannabis oil. the home office can no longer play a role,
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in fact play any role, in the administration of medication for sick children in our country. no other family should have to go through this sort of ordeal. a second devastating fire in four years at the glasgow school of art has caused extensive damage. the most important thing today as we are not mourning loss of life and we should not forget that. that is down to
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