tv Newsday BBC News July 26, 2018 1:00am-1:31am BST
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i am sure i am not going to make it. this is the end. but the prayers were answered. and it's the question everyone is now asking: is there life on mars? scientists say they've found evidence of liquid water there. live from our studios in singapore and london, this is bbc world news — it's newsday. good morning. it's 8am in singapore, one o'clock in london and 5am in islamabad, where votes are being counted after pakistan's general election. one side has already rejected the result. the party of disgraced former prime minister nawaz sharif says the count is rigged against them. it's fighting the party led by former international cricketer imran khan whose supporters have already been celebrating across the country though only about a fifth of votes have been counted. here's our correspondent secunder kermani. celebrations by imran khan's
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supporters as results roll in. it looks increasingly likely that the former cricketing star will be pakistan's next prime minister and his party, the largest in the next parliament. i think the hard work of pti, the members of pti, which is definitely, in my opinion, the biggest political force in the history of this country has paid off, and people are not only who support pti but also the people of pakistan can look forward to a golden era. votes are still being counted, with final results likely tomorrow. earlier today, imran khan cast his vote. he's promised to crackdown on corruption. his main rival, former prime minister nawaz sharif, was sentenced to ten years in jail following an investigation khan pushed for. his brother shehbaz has been leading
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the party in his absence. tonight, he rejected the results, claiming fraud. this election campaign has revolved round two competing narratives, about the case against nawaz sharif. his supporters say the pakistani military has been working behind the scenes to ensure his conviction and remove him from power. imran khan says those claims are simply an attempt to distract from the corruption allegations. residents in rawalpindi watching the results come in were divided about who they believed. translation: nawaz sharif has been in power and he has been stealing from us and taking the money abroad. translation: i support the pml-n because they fulfilled their promises, they developed infrastructure and reduced power cuts. imran khan's supporters are in buoyant mood tonight, but it seems likely he would have to form a coalition in order to take power.
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and his opponents seemed adamant in rejecting his victory. secunder kermani, bbc news, rawalpindi. we'll have more on the pakistan general election in a few minutes' time. let's take a look at some of the day's other news. the so—called islamic state group says it carried out a wave of suicide bombings and other attacks in syria's southern suwayda province. the syrian observatory for human rights reports more than 200 people are reported to have been killed. it's the deadliest such operation against government—held areas for months. america's president trump and european commission president jean—claude juncker say they have done a trade deal to avert a trade war, that mr trump called ‘a new phase' in relations. as well as buying more us soybeans and energy, the head of the eu's executive said they agreed to work towards zero tariffs on industrial goods. we have identified a number of areas on which to work together, work towards the tariffs on industrial goods,
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that was my main intervention. we propose to come down to zero tariffs on industrial goods. new zealand's parliament has passed legislation granting paid leave to domestic violence victims. supporters hailed the law as a groundbreaking measure to help those trying to escape abusive relationships. it grants victims ten days of extra leave a year to allow them to stop the violence and get help. a court in germany has sentenced a vietnamese man to prison for helping vietnamese intelligence to kidnap a former oil executive. the man took part in last year's abduction of trinh xuan thanh from berlin. mr thanh is now serving a life sentence for embezzlement in vietnam. hanoi maintains he returned voluntarily. in business: the european court ofjustice has thrown out an appeal by the confectionery group, nestle, to trademark its kit—kat chocolate bar.
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the firm had been trying to trademark the four—fingered shape for more than a decade, which rival chocolate—maker cadbury had been fighting against. the prime minister of laos says more than 130 people are missing after a pa rtially—built dam collapsed on monday, flooding nearby villages. thongloun sisoulith has now gone to the affected area to monitor relief efforts. the two south korean contractors constructing the dam say they reported damage at least a day before parts of the structure gave way. environmental groups say large dam projects in developing countries, such as this, pose significant safety risks to the local population. a short time ago i spoke to marwan jilani, head of the country cluster support team of the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies in bangkok who told me more about the rescue mission. yes, it is a very serious concern
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that we still have scores of people not accounted for, they are missing. we also have more than 1000 people who are still stranded without emergency shelter and we are trying to reach them. and you understand that the area has been significantly damaged, the infrastructure is destroyed, and it is very hard to reach them. so we are trying, the laos red cross, the government, the military, is trying to reach people through boats and helicopters. that is the only way to reach them and get them to a safe shelter. 1000 people, trying to get them to save shelters, but there are also 6600 other people who have been displaced from their homes. where are they now? have they been taken care of? where have they been sheltered? i think there are much more. more than 3000 people
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have been affected. half of them have been given or taken to safe shelters, schools in unaffected areas, government buildings, and so on. a significant number of people on the rooftops. laos red cross has said that some people have slept on the rooftops of their houses. we are trying to reach those people and get them to safety. we are also trying to get the relief items to them, food, water, you know, blankets, clothes, and also to provide them with some medicine. so, mrjilani, do you have a timetable on when you should be reaching these people who have been abandoned and are still on rooftops? we have already teams deployed by laos red cross in the area. we are deploying from nearby provinces water purification equipment, so these will be there today and will provide fresh water. we are also utilising the warehouses
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of the thai red cross in nearby border areas where today we are sending 500 families food kits. these packages will be on trucks today and they will head to the laos border from thailand today. we are also shipping from our regional office shelter equipment and tents and blankets and other necessities to reach hopefully by today or tomorrow. survivors have been describing their desperate battles to escape the wildfires that swept through parts of coastal greece earlier this week. many were trapped in homes and vehicles with others forced to seek refuge in the sea. at least 80 people are now known to have died. from the coastal town of mati our correspondent mark lowen reports. they had hope, until now.
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but the family of 88—year—old angeliki giannopoulos have just heard the worst. that she was the 80th person killed by the wildfires. her charred remains were discovered in her home. so unrecognisable was she, only her dna identified her. for her son, nicos, a mix of shock and rage. fortunately, i didn't find her by myself because i couldn't face the view. the body is totally burned. when the pain will calm down, i will prosecute to all levels everybody that is responsible for this catastrophe. i will not stop until i will die. it's still not known how the spark was lit, but the gale force winds meant the flames galloped down the mountains. dozens are missing and
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almost 200 were injured. like susan stephos from britain, burnt by the fire as she ran from her home. it is hard to find words for such a tragedy. when i was in the house and the fire was going over, ithought, "i'm not going to make it. "this is the end". but... prayers were answered. and i managed. the streets of mati are like a burnt—out ghost town. the scorched shells are all that remain of family homes, and some still bear the trace of the inferno. for the engineers, the task of assessing what can still stand and what must be torn down. dora matsia says it's as if an earthquake struck. something very, very bad has happened here. and it's just the feeling of walking along in a place that i knew was full of green and trees and all these things.
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it's very difficult, and i have to cope with people that have psychological problems right now. it's quite difficult for everyone. these are the people going in the water. volunteer lifeguards scour the coast for any sign of life or death. hundreds of people were rescued as they ran into the sea to escape the flames. the hope of finding any more survivors has virtually gone, so the aim now is to look for belongings and bodies. for some, the sea marked their salvation from the flames. for others, it was the end. the memories of that night lie buried here and in the remains of a part of greece scarred forever. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: with several cities affected by the extreme weather around the world — we'll bring you the latest with our correspondents from tokyo,
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dallas and stockholm. and could we finally get an answer to that question of whether there's life on mars? as scientists discover evidence of liquid water for the first time, the truth could be out there. ok, coming down the ladder now. that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia. but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt, and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in sperm quantity, and an increase
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in malfunctioning sperm, unable to swim properly. thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime, as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm rico hizon in singapore. i'm babita sharma in london. our top stories: votes are being counted in pakistan's election — early signs suggest that imran khan could be the next prime minister. searching for the missing — after the dam collapse, laos‘ prime minister confirms at least 130 people are unaccounted for.
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let's take a look at some front pages from around the world. the straits times is reporting on the bomb that killed at least 30 people in pakistan on the day the country went to vote in general elections. it says a man blew himself up outside a polling station in kw—etta, in an attack claimed by the islamic state group. the financial times says that iran's president hassan rouhani has sacked the governor of the country's central bank. the report says the islamic republic is grappling with a currency crisis as well as the imminent tough new sanctions coming from the us. and finally the japan times has a story about the need for foreign workers injapan‘s nursing sector. it says that the japanese government is looking for over half a million
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vietnamese caregivers to address a chronic labour shortage in the country. let's return to our top story — the general election in pakistan. a short time ago i spoke to christine fair, an associate professor at georgetown university and a scholar of south asian security. i began by asking her if this was a democratic election. being a process. the army has been very involved, not behind the scenes, they have been very over, pakistani's media has covered it. the intelligence agency has been involved, , the intelligence agency has been involved,, trying to get candidate along with their vote banks to defect to the pti, imran khan's party. this has garnered the party, you can be rest assured that the army is going to be very interested in accounting the votes. there will
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most certainly be reading happening while the count is taking place, if by some miracle the army does not manage to get an outright imran khan victory, there will be post poll shenanigans, whereby the army with sacks of money and threats of corruption charges will be able to coerce other party members to defect to imran khan. one way or the other, the army will get a imran khan the three, that is certainly the most likely outcome. it has been incredibly difficult to follow pakistani politics from afar, now we are looking at it closely. we are hearing this power, very early suggestions that imran khan has got it, againi suggestions that imran khan has got it, again i say that with only 20% of the votes counted so far. local media reporting that 100 seats may go to pti out of 272, pointing to
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that, some would say, a word that is not very welcomed, a coalition. where that leaves imran khan's party? —— where does that leave. where that leaves imran khan's party? -- where does that leave. for many years, imran khan said he would not come to power on the back of a coalition. the fact that he is now open to a coalition shows that he has either learned has been tutored. in fact, what the army really wants isa in fact, what the army really wants is a coalition. coalitions are vulnerable, they can be manipulated should people become cooperative, and in recent years the supreme court has become the army's handmaiden in undermining pakistan civilian governance. so there is no way he can do it in any other way except a coalition and i think one of the more disturbing things about this election is that at least three political parties that are directly
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tied to terrorist organisations, have participated. so i would expect these parties would eventually throw these parties would eventually throw these candidates behind imran khan. there is so much i want to ask you, we are running out of time. in terms of how the world is watching this, where is pakistani now? india is pivoting towards china, america has said very little, what is your assessment of what they have said on your place on the world stage? people care about pakistani largely because of the threat it poses, not as of the opportunities. the international community continues to be concerned that pakistan the epicentre of terrorism in south asia, it continues to support the caliban, who are primary opponents in afghanistan and in addition to that, pakistan has the largest growing nuclear arsenal in the world. in several years it will surpass that of france and also is
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rapidly addressing towards a field nuclear weapons capability. india is a very different critter. countries wa nt to a very different critter. countries want to flock to india because of its growing economy, countries want to sell india weapons, information technologies are investing. you cannot even compare them. hacker stand will remain a country of interest largely because of the grave threat it poses to security, not only to south asia but also to european and american security interests. as we've been reporting over the last few days, the heatwave is contiuning to dominate the news and our daily lives. temperatures have caused major issues around the world. let's now hear from some of our correspondents in tokyo and dallas. it has been a truly unprecedented
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month for weather here injapan. it began with a week of record rainfall that caused devastating floods in the west of the country that has been followed by two weeks of extreme heat that again has broken all records. a new absolute high of 41 to one degree was set on monday and the one—week record has also been broken and this has caused a really shocking cost of life, all up, the floods and the heat had taken at least 300 lives and more than 30,000 people have been sent to hospital. here in north texas we have in dealing with a heatwave for almost two weeks now. we have had ten days of 100 degrees, all the way up ten days of 100 degrees, all the way up to 109, numerous records have been broken and in addition to that, conditions are extremely dry. moderate to severe drought continues across the dallas fort worth region, but good news, some needed rain is
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in the forecast next week, as well as cooler temperatures, we might even be below average. stockholm's usually one of the most visibly green cities in europe, around 40% of it is made up of parks, but a lot of it is made up of parks, but a lot of it is yellow and christie, the hottest july since of it is yellow and christie, the hottestjuly since records began. sweden is not built for this, the buildings are designed to insulate and very few officers have air conditioning. it is the countryside which is worse effected, the worst wildfires in decades are still being tackled by firefighters from around the eu after sweating called for international assistance and more hot weather is on the way in the coming weeks. scientists have found evidence of an existing body of liquid water on mars. they believe that a lake sits beneath the planet's south polar ice cap, and estimate it is about 20 kilometres wide. the discovery was made by italian researchers from the european space agency. here's our science correspondent victoria gill, who explains why this is such a significant find.
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is or was there life on mars? it's a question that has excited scientists as the dawn of the space age and there are orbiters, landers, roving vehicles on the red planet analysing it, but it's an open question. how habitable is our celestial neighbour and what could have inhabited it? here are four key moments in the search to answer the question. in 1976, nasa's viking lander was the first mission to the microbial life on the surface. it didn't find evidence of even the simplest organic molecule. since then some members of the viking team have questioned whether they missed something but to this day there is no accepted evidence of microbial life on mars. injuly of 1996, nasa scientists announced fossils with bacterial
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life from meteorites in antarctica from mars which crashed 12,000 years ago. after huge initial excitement, after nasa spent up to two years continuing to study the meteorite, those initial lines of evidence simply went away but to this day, there are still scientists who maintain the initial analysis was valid. both nasa's curiosity rover and the orbiter had detected whiffs of methane on mars. that is tantalising because on earth, the vast majority of methane comes from microbial life, so future martian missions have set their sights on detecting exactly where that gas is coming from. most recently, and possibly most excitingly, researchers have found the first evidence of an existing body of liquid water on mars. it was found using radar and this is a sub glacial lake. in the future search for life
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on mars, there will be a lot of focus on this 20km—wide body of water. scientists haven't found life on mars but now, they know where to look. and with that, we and this. you have been watching newsday. stay with us. shares in facebook tumble after the social media giant's revenue and user growth disappoint investors. and before we go... around 4,000 people attended the mud olympics on saturday in brunsbuettel on the elbe river, where a0 teams from germany and neighbouring countries played sports in the mud. they did it for a good reason,
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raising money for charity. that's all for now. stay with bbc world news. good morning. if you think it's been hot enough already this summer, well, just wait for the next couple of days because it looks like it's going to turn even hotter. some spots could get to 36 degrees and that brings with it the chance of some thunderstorms and welcome rain and you can see from the satellite picture, a couple of different areas of low pressure spilling out into the atlantic as they approach our shores. we will eventually see some wet weather but ahead of that, drawing this very hot air up from the south. we start thursday morning in double digits just about wherever you are, parts of the south—east starting the day up around 20 degrees and as we go through the day, a lot of dry weather and some spells of sunshine. more on the way of cloud
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spreading up from south. small chance we might break out the odd shower into the afternoon. a bit more cloud into the west as well, into the western side of northern ireland, a bit cooler here. down towards the south—east, look at these temperatures. 3a degrees in the heart of london but for some in the south—east, maybe 35 degrees. but the building heat and humidity, it looks like we will see some showers and thunderstorms starting to break out across the eastern half of the country, particularly as we head into the early hours of friday. thickening cloud and outbreaks of rain starting to trickle across northern ireland. a warm and muggy start to friday. during friday, this rain band tracking in from the west. then we see these thunderstorms blossoming to life across parts of south—east england, the east midlands, maybe eastern scotland. these are the areas most prone to vicious downpours.
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perhaps even some disruption. to the far east of the country, that is where we might get all the way up to 36 degrees. however, we push these various bands of rain and thunderstorms to the east as we get into the start of the weekend. then we start to tap into some much fresher air, these green and even blue colours blowing in our direction. during saturday, we say goodbye to ourfirst rain band quite quickly but there will be further bands of showers or further spells of rain from west to east on a fairly brisk breeze. the wind of the bit stronger than it has been of late. some sunny spells as well but a big drop in temperatures. 10—degree drop in places. 25 for norwich in london. maybe 18 for edinburgh, glasgow and belfast. we stick to that fresher feel for the second half of the wekend and we'll see some rain spreading in from the west. i'm babita sharma with bbc news.
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our top story. votes are being counted in pakistan's general election after millions of people made their way to polling stations. early results suggest that imran khan could be the next prime minister which has been rejected by the oppositon who say the election is rigged. the greek authorities say 80 people are now known to have died in wildfires around athens, making them the deadliest ever recorded in the country. and the debate about life on mars is back in the headlines today. now scientists from the european space agency say they have detected a lake of liquid water under the martian ice. stay with bbc world news. and the top story in the uk. more than 60 vulnerable children who were at a hospital
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