tv BBC News BBC News September 9, 2018 5:00am-5:31am BST
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welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is lebo diseko. our top stories — a court in egypt sentences 75 people to death over a huge anti—government protest in 2013. human rights groups call the trial a mockery of justice. syrian and russian airstrikes on rebel positions in idlib intensify, after calls for a truce are rejected. sweden's prime minister issues a warning about extremism as the country prepares to vote in a general election. and japan's naomi osaka wins herfirst grand slam at the us open — but her opponent serena williams clashes with the umpire. human rights groups describe it as egypt's tianamen square.
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at least 800 protesters were killed when armed police officers ended a huge anti—government sit—in in 2013. five years on, a court has sentenced 75 people to death, blaming them for the violence that happened. the demonstration was in support of the muslim brotherhood. it came just weeks after the former president — mohammed morsi— was ousted from office. our middle east regional editor, alan johnston reports. in the courtroom, a cage crowded with defendants. this was a mass trial. it involved more than 700 people. among those behind bars were senior figures in the muslim brotherhood organisation, and some of the accused were condemned to be hanged. thejudges confirmed 75 death sentences, originally handed down injuly. they gave other defendants jail terms. the brotherhood's spiritual leader mohammed badie got life in prison. this mountain of cases was tied to an event in cairo in 2013. gunfire. the security forces
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were sent to clear a square, called ra baa al—adawiya. it had been occupied by anti—government protesters. there was extraordinary violence. human rights groups say more than 800 demonstrators were killed in one of the worst such massacres of modern times. no police officer has been called to account for what happened. the authorities say eight security force members were killed and the defendants in the mass trial were accused of possessing weapons and murder.
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but for the well—known photojournalist, shawkan, there was some relief. he was given a five—yearjail term, but he's already served that time in detention and may soon be freed. translation: the sentence is unfair because shawkan didn't commit any crime to be imprisone for five years. he was a journalist, only doing hisjob. many others in this huge trial must now come to terms with long jail sentences, and some know they may face death. alan johnston, bbc news. in syria government and russian warplanes have carried out the most intensive bombing on rebel positions in idlib in almost a month. at least 9 people are said to have been killed, including two children. the un an all—out military offensive could lead to a new humanitarian crisis. here's our middle east correspondent, yollande knell. today in the idlib countryside. explosion.
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the full—scale offensive here hasn't yet started, but these were powerful blasts. amazingly, those nearby survived. activists say the bombing intensified. here, syrian government helicopters dropping barrels packed with explosives. siren wails. and after each strike, the white helmets civil defence rushing in, searching for survivors. all chant. with the fate of idlib hanging in the balance, its residents are taking to the streets, desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel—held area. many syrians opposed to the regime fled to this province from other parts of the country, swelling its population to 3 million and the un warns any battle here will be horrific and bloody. although these rebel fighters are defiant, they look set to be massively outgunned. some are aligned with turkey
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but in a confusing mix of shifting alliances, much of the province is under the control of jihadists formerly linked to al-qaeda. some residents fled idlib early on in the war. as refugees here in lebanon, they can see the hills that lead to home and they worry about family left behind. translation: they are telling us it's terrible. tragic. they don't know what to do or where to go. it's hard. maybe they'll get hit as they're running away. the situation has been terrible there for a long time. but president assad, surveying territory already recaptured by his forces, now looks on course to win back all of syria. the support of russia and iran has been crucial to his triumphs. as his troops mass on the borders of idlib, they insist they'll drive out the militants they see as terrorists. so far, international calls
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for a ceasefire are being ignored and there is a growing sense that this 7—year—old war that has killed hundreds of thousands is reaching its final stages. yollande knell, bbc news, beirut. let's get some of the day's other news. a curfew has been lifted in the iraqi city of basra. there've been anti—government demonstrations there all week, and i2 protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces. thousands of people were hospitalised after drinking polluted water, and residents are angry about water and electricity shortages, corruption and unemployment. colombia's president ivan duque says the leader of the disbanded rebel group, united guerillas of the pacific, has been killed. state television paraded two bodies which they said were those of hector david segura palacios and his sister. they died in a shoot—out with security forces near the city of tumaco. the group had refused to demobilise under a peace deal. north korea's leader
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kimjong un has been marking the seventieth anniversary of the nation's founding with a visit to the mausoleum housing his predecessors. state television showed mr kim surrounded by officials as he paid his respects to his grandfather and father. several photographs have also been released of his meeting with the chairwoman of the russian federation council in pyongyang. as the country prepares to vote in a general election, sweden's prime minister has warned about the dangers of extremism and fascism. opinions polls suggest that the country's anti—immigrant party, sweden democrats, could become the second biggest in parliament. our correspondent, jenny hill, is in the swedish capital, stockholm. well, this is certainly the most significant election for sweden in decades. the sweden democrats, the anti— migrant nationalists,
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anti—eu party looks set to take at least a fifth of the vote and that represents a serious challenge to this country's political establishment. prime minister is clearly concerned, even he is warning about what he describes as dark forces mobilising within the country. sweden, in the last few years, took in more people seeking asylum per head of population than any other european country and the sweden democrats have made political gain out of the crisis, focusing on what they say is migrant related crime. this collection will no doubt be closely scrutinised in other eu capitals. not least because, like so many other european countries, sweden, for all its long and roll tradition, finally seems to be shifting to the political right. we will have full coverage on that
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election on sunday. the japanese tennis player, naomi osaka, has won the us open in new york, beating 23 times grand slam champion serena williams. there was high drama in the second set when the umpire gave serena williams a game penalty, for calling him a thief. osaka is the first japanese player to win a grand slam tournament. our tennis correspondent russell fuller has more from new york. naomi osaka had won the first set by six games to two, playing some brilliant tennis, but we had no idea what was to come in the second set, and it all started when the umpire, carlos ramos, warned serena williams for receiving some coaching from her coach, patrick mouratoglou, in the stands. now, williams was very unhappy with this and she made her point initially politely but forcefully to ramos.
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she felt that he was questioning her spirit and the way she approaches the sport and her attitude. she then smashed her racquet in anger when she was broken back, when her serve was broken, and under the rules the umpire, having warned a player, then has to dock them a point. at the next change of ends, the argument continued and that's where it became more heated with williams angrily wagging herfinger in the direction of the umpire. she said "you owe me an apology. you're attacking my character. you're a liar, a thief. you won't ever be on the same court as me again." she suggested that she would make sure he would not officiate her matches in future. she also said "it would not have happened if i was a man." the umpire then had to dock her again for verbal abuse — that's the next penalty — which left osaka in a fabulous position and she held her nerve and won her first grand slam title. now, osaka has admired serena since she was a little girl and wanted to play her since she was a little girl. do you think this overshadowed her win or are people talking about her tennis as well? it totally overshadows the moment, unfortunately, but i think in time this will be a very
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significant moment for her. it is a shame that she didn't get to celebrate the way she would have wanted to on the court. the booing continued for a quite a long time. when the presentation ceremony started on the court afterwards, the crowd was still booing, and in fact it was only when serena williams put her arm around naomi osaka and said to the crowd "let's not boo her any more and let's say congratulations to naomi" that the crowd did start to salute the new champion. but i think everybody who was here and who has watched her around the world is aware that at the age of 20, she is a fantastic player, she is a very powerful player, and she has shown here today that she seems to have the ability to deal with these high—pressure situations, and that's quite rare in a 20—year—old. stay with us on bbc news, still to come — mexican drama ‘roma' takes the top award at the venice film festival, but it's also a big night for the streaming service, netflix. we'll tell you why. freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended.
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the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes the spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto township as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today, in a loud and a clear voice, enough of blood and tears. enough! translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people, caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc world news.
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the latest headlines: a court in egypt has sentenced 75 supporters of the muslim brotherhood to death over a protest in which at least 800 people died. let's stay with our top story now. earlier, i spoke to nancy okail. she is executive director of the tahrir institute for middle east policy. in 2013, she was sentenced in absentia to five years in prison for using foreign funds to encourage unrest. it's a charge she denies. i asked her what her reaction was to the sentences. of course, i mean, it isjust like one of the most devastating moments to see a lot of people who are subject to mass trials, whether the ones who are sentenced to death, or those who are sentenced to life or the others who got 15 years in prison or five years in prison, because there is no indication that there is actual implementation ofjustice in what's going on and it is very clear
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that this regime is using the law to settle scores and to repress their political opponents and even a wider score of people who would have any form of independence in the country. now, i just want to talk a little bit about your own situation. you were in egypt working for ngo, but you ended up in prison for more than a year — around 18 months or so. there's this very famous picture of you behind — in that cage as it were, reading a george orwell book. tell us about your experience of the justice system in egypt. well, i mean, this was in 2011. the peace started at that point. i was summoned for interrogation at the end of the year and then after that, by february of 2012, i was indicted and turned to court for charges of receiving funding from a foreign government
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without a licence and operating an office without a licence. at the time, i was the country director of freedom house in egypt. when i was first summoned, it was a time of the transition and it was an alarm that things had not changed. and a lot of people had interpreted this is the time that not everything is settled and this will only be resolved in a few months. but, 1.5 years later, i was on trial for six months in egypt. i left in the middle of the trial to the united states, and injune 2012, i got sentenced to five years in prison. at the beginning of my trial, a lot of people had advised me to leave the country and i completely refused to do that because i knew i didn't break the law and this is my country
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and i'm going to stay and attend the trial and defend myself. but after a few trial, it was very clear that it's a sham trial, it was a show for the public, it was sort of a message, like, if you are going to pursue that route of following the human rights defenders career, or have those particular stance that criticises the military or whoever was in charge at the time, this is going to be your destination. and it was very particular, like, our pictures there in the cage as sort of a message. and it was very clear it was a political case. there was no evidence whatsoever on all the claims that they had so it was a clear beginning for that. nancy, very briefly, you say that this is the government trying to settle scores.
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the government says these people killed a number of policemen and that this is justice taking its cause. well, actually, there is no indication of how the prosecution, taking its course. well, actually, there is no indication of how the prosecution, the process of interrogation had taken place. there is complete lack of transparency. it is only indicative when you see that in one session, 529 individuals get sentenced to death, that was in 2014. and at that time, we thought that the government is just using this as a way of intimidating everyone who is opposing the government, but actually, they started executing, the process of hanging. in 2015, they had 22 people hanged. in 2016, it was doubled to 1m. last year, it was 49. a police officer in texas could face
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criminal charges are fatally shooting a man after walking into the wrong apartment in dallas after her shift. authorities are seeking to charge the officer who has not yet been named with manslaughter. the officer's blood has been tested for drugs and alcohol. the shooting took place on thursday night. tall ships carrying banners to highlight climate change sailed into sydney harbour on saturday. the event was just one of hundreds of protests being planned across the world by the us—campaign group, 350.org. here's david campanale. the message from sydney harbour has echoed in towns and cities around the world, as campaigners call for an end to the use of fossil fuels. australia remains heavily reliant on coal to generate its electricity, despite what activists say is access to abundant sources of cheap renewables. climate change is of great concern in the pacific region. this week, australia and new zealand joined pacific nations to declare that climate change is the single greatest threat to island states
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in the region, but campaigners want australia to go faster in cutting emissions. today, the australian government has said they are thinking about pulling out of paris, which means no action on climate change. today, 350 and groups around the country, 50 events, are demanding that climate action as part of something called rise for climate. in the thai capital bangkok, dozens of labourers and fishermen from the gulf of thailand assembled in front of the un regional headquarters. their livelihoods are threatened by rising sea levels and coastal erosion caused by climate change. inside, delegates have been discussing how to implement measures agreed by world powers under the 2015 paris climate agreement. these latest talks aim to create a draft framework for limiting global temperature rises below two degrees. elsewhere, protesters came out
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onto the streets in brussels to press the european union to do what it can. while in paris and across france, rise for action climate activists joined in the march. despite these global protests, fossil fuel companies say they intend to spend trillions of dollars over the next few decades to extract more carbon, not keep it under the ground, as campaigners want. with business continuing as usual, this means the paris deal will be put on hold. david campanale, bbc news. britain's former foreign secretary, borisjohnson, has launched a fresh attack on the prime minister, theresa may's brexit plans. writing in the british newspaper, the mail on sunday, mrjohnson accuses mrs may of wrapping a suicide vest around britain and handing the detonator to brussels. a mother and child who accidentally fell on to a tube track moments before a train arrived
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have escaped unhurt. police said the woman was pushing a buggy along a platform at baker street station in london when she veered too close to the edge and fell. charlotte gallagher reports. emergency services swarm around baker street station last night. people who saw what happened were screaming and running away in tears. suddenly, alarms started going off, and all the members of staff were running around the place, yelling. and i was on the escalators going down to the platform when a number of staff were running down the escalators with a hi—viz jacket, yelling for everyone to get out of the way. it was on this platform where the family had their miraculous escape. distracted by the arrivals board, the mother fell off the platform, along with her child in a buggy. her partnerjumped down to help and the three managed to crawl into into the shallow pit under the rails. the whole point about the pits in which the people cowered underneath the train is that they were built precisely
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for this eventuality. so the people who designed the tube more than 100 years ago realised that people might fall onto the tracks, and that they would be able to hide underneath the train in the pit. and that's what it did — it did itsjob. the track's electric current was shut down and the family managed to escape. they were taken to hospital but amazingly, did not suffer any serious injuries. —— they were taken to hospital but amazingly did not suffer any serious injuries. transport for london says it is relieved the family managed to escape unharmed after the accident here last night but says it emphasises the need for people to stay behind the yellow line on its platforms. on social media, witnesses expressed their shock and relief about what happened. a near miss which could've been a horrifying tragedy. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. oscar—winning director alfonso cuaron‘s roma has won
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the golden lion at the venice film festival, bringing netflix its first major festival victory. it seals the online streaming company's reputation as a big name in arthouse movies, as laura westbrook reports —— in arthouse movies, as laura westbrook reports. alfonso cuaron‘s roma is a deeply personal black—and—white memoir. it was inspired by his childhood in the roma district of mexico city, and the film seems to have inspired thejudges, too... alfonso cuaron for roma! ..taking the top prize at the venice film festival. it was a decision that was reached entirely unanimous by the entire jury, so 9—0. applause. i am the queen. but you are mad. the favourite which, like roma, focuses predominantly on female characters, took the grand jury prize. its star, olivia colman, received the best actress award for her portrayal of queen anne.
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best actor went to willem dafoe, who played vincent van gogh in the biopic at eternity‘s gate. despite stories about women dominating the festival, only one of the films was directed by a woman. jennifer kent took the specialjury prize for the nightingale, a revenge thriller set in 19th century tasmania, and she made a plea in her acceptance speech. i'd just also like to say to all those women out there wanting to make films, please, go and do it. we need you. applause. however, the talk of the night was most certainly netflix. roma was one of six netflix films that premiered here and it's the first big win for the streaming service at a major festival. cannes banned netflix from its competition. the online giant has been attacked for its strategy of making films available for streaming on the same day they are released in cinemas.
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while some worry about what that will do to the movie industry, alfonso cuaron sees it as an opportunity. this is a film that is in black and white, in spanish and mexican, with not—recognisable actors as stars, and they are giving it a huge, huge, huge international push for this film. and not any company does that. as the conversation about the future of film continues, what does seem certain is that we'll hear more about roma as the awards season approaches. laura westbrook, bbc news. that is about all we have time for. i'm sure you know that you can reach me on twitter. i'm @lebo? diseko. it's always lovely to hear from you.
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hello. the first half of the weekend has brought some fairly mixed weather and i can't see the second half being particularly different. sunday will bring rain at times. breezy weather, even windy weather across the north. but amidst all of that, there will still be some spells of sunshine. the pressure pattern is a fairly complicated one. low pressure up to the north—west. a few different frontal systems here crossing the country, bringing outbreaks of rain. this front in the west will bring some outbreaks of patchy rain across the south—west of england, wales, north—west england, northern ireland for a time through the first part of the morning. tending to fizzle as they drift eastwards. some heavier rain, though, moving northwards across scotland. by the afternoon, many places should be fine and dry, if rather breezy. there will be some spells of sunshine, a bit of patchy cloud as well, but a warmer day across the south—eastern corner. 23 degrees in london. there could be some showers from our old weather frontjust moving across wales, into the midlands, maybe north—west england. much of northern england fine with some spells of sunshine. northern ireland having
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a decent afternoon. eastern scotland cheering up quite nicely. but for western scotland, you can see these showers and perhaps thunderstorms pushing back in from the west. they will continue during sunday evening into the night, blown in on an increasingly strong wind. we could see wind gusts of up to 50, maybe 55mph. so that wet and windy weather will continue to sweep eastwards across scotland as we go through into the early hours of monday. further south, largely dry. some clear spells, but despite those clear, starry skies overhead, there will still be a bit of a breeze so it's probably not going to get too cold. many places holding up in double digits. so, we get into monday and we still have showers across northern and western parts of scotland. further south, a decent day. spells of sunshine and then later on, rain will return to northern ireland and once again, the western side of scotland, the odd heavy burst and it will turn windy again as well. 15 or 16 degrees across parts of scotland, but 22, still quite warm towards the south—east. that sort of split is going to continue as we get deeper into the week. by tuesday, we're going to be left
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with this trailing cold front. uncertainty about exactly where it will turn up but it will bring some cloud, it'll bring some outbreaks of patchy rain. to the north of it will be bringing in some cool air. but down to the south, we will be drawing in some fairly warm air. so, a split in our temperatures as we get deeper into the week. northern areas rather cool, quite breezy and there will be some rain at times. further south, those temperatures could get up into the middle 20s for a time, particularly on tuesday. but even here, we're expecting something a little bit cooler and fresher for the middle of the week. this is bbc news. the headlines — a court in egypt has sentenced 75 supporters of the muslim botherhood to death, over a protest in which 800 people died in 2013 the demonstration in cairo began after the military removed the then president mohamed morsi from office. amnesty international says the sentences are a mockery of justice. the united nations is warning of a humanitarian crisis
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in syria's idlib province as russian warplanes intensify airstrikes on rebel positions there. idlib is the last major rebel stronghold in northern syria. sweden's prime minister has issued a warning about the dangers of extremism, as the country prepares to go to the polls in its general election on sunday. opinion polls suggest that the anti—immigrant sweden democrats are likely to become the second biggest party in parliament. now on bbc news, the week in parliament.
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