tv BBC News BBC News December 23, 2018 10:00am-10:31am GMT
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this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 10. a tsunami hits indonesia, causing widespread disruption. at least 168 people are dead and more than 700 injured. the death toll is expected to rise. tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown, who's died at the age of 77. flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. the us government shut down set to run through christmas as the battle over the border wall with mexico continues. # i say a little prayer for you # oh, yes i did...#. and from aretha franklin to ken dodd and tessa jowell. in half an hour, we celebrate the lives of those we lost this year. that's in review 2018: we remember. rescue teams in indonesia
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are searching for survivors of a deadly tsunami that has killed at least 168 people. around 750 others were injured and many are missing after the waves struck beaches around the sunda strait, which connects the java sea to the indian ocean. caroline rigby reports. it began as any other evening, then this. the tsunami struck indonesia on saturday night, hitting beaches including popular tourist spots along the sunda strait, the channel between the islands of java and sumatra. the pop group seventeen were performing when the wave engulfed their stage. their singer confirmed on social media that the band's bass player and tour manager had died, and others, including
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his wife, were missing. officials say the death toll is likely to continue to rise. hundreds more were injured in the disaster, which authorities say may have been caused by underwater landslides following an eruption by the nearby krakatoa volcano. earlier in the evening, it was quite heavy eruption activity. butjust prior to the wave hitting the beach, there was no activity at all. it was just dark out there. suddenly, i saw this wave coming and i had to run. when the second wave hit, then it was much bigger. streets have now turned to mud and hundreds of buildings are seriously damaged. the country's disaster management agency says high seas from a full moon could have contributed to the strength of the waves. indonesia is prone to earthquakes and tsunamis because it straddles the so—called pacific ring of fire, where tectonic plates collide. this latest disaster
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will bring back memories of the boxing day tsunami, 1a years ago, which killed more than 225,000 people. caroline rigby, bbc news. 0ur indonesia editor rebecca henschke spoke to us a short time ago from the coastal town of anyer. where we are now is in anyer on the edge of the affected area. you can see behind me, the houses and shops along the beachfront have been flattened by the waves. the buildings are made of wood, bamboo and leaves. the woman here that runs this shop says that she was hoping that this holiday season would be a time of great income coming in. this area is a very popular tourist destination for indonesians at this time. yet now, she has lost everything. her house over there collapsed. they had to flee, running to higher ground to get away from the waves. you can hear the sound of ambulances
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going by on the main road here, coming into the area. we are hearing reports of local health centres struggling to deal with the injured so people are being taken out of this area to the main hospitals for treatment. more than 600 people injured, according to the officials, and saying that number is also likely to rise as they get a clearer picture of the devastation. aulia arriani from the indonesian red cross joins us from jakarta. what is your understanding of what has happened and how much devastation has been caused in this tsunami? this tsunami hit the province on saturday night, so it was a powerful wave with heights of
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30-90 was a powerful wave with heights of 30—90 metres, which caused injuries and extensive damage on both sides of the street. right —— of the straits. right now, lots of people are still in shelter and others are going to families up on the hill. they are still frightened and afraid to come back to their homes because they are afraid that there will be big waves and tsunami coming back again. what are your teams on the ground able to do to help those people? our volunteers are already on the ground, they have been in the field since last night. they are helping to do the evacuation, trying to find some survivors or may be some casualties or dead bodies. they are still working with the search and rescue teams. also, we have volu nteers and rescue teams. also, we have volunteers working to give health assistance in shelters. for example,
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they are working together with the health team, giving first aid to the community that is staying in the governors office. we also dispatched some relief like blankets and drinking water and also tarpaulins. was the area prepared for this? indonesia has had tsunamis before so do people almost expect this kind of thing to happen? i don't think people last night knew that this would happen. as you know, the tsunami strike is very sudden and a lot of people were there in the tourist areas because it is christmas time, you know, and also new year. a lot of people are already on holiday. they are probably staying up there for a few days and they did not know anything
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about it. we know that indonesia is very, you know, a lot of disasters happen in indonesia but i don't think people knew that last night knew the tsunami would hit them. do you think the death toll, are you worried that the death toll, which is about 168 at the moment, that it will rise? previous experience of these kind of disasters suggest that is often the case. yes, so our challenge with the tsunami disaster is we have reports on 30 people, probably more, still missing and we hope that there will be more survivors or we will find survivors. but i don't know, maybe we will have, you know, find casualties or dead bodies. yes, we are afraid that the casualty or dead bodies will be, you know, increased. thank you for joining us. friends and colleagues have been
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remembering the former leader of the liberal democrats, lord ashdown, who's died at he age of 77, just months after revealing he was being treated for bladder cancer. he led the lib dems for more than a decade, from 1988 until 1999, and is credited with making the party a significant third force in british politics. vicky young has taken a look back at his life. this is how most people will remember paddy ashdown — the action man, the party leader with the least affection for westminster. long before he fired his first political salvos, he was a military man. a marine, he saw active service in borneo and malaya. after a period as a diplomat, and some time on the dole, paddy ashdown got involved with the liberals, elected mp for yeovil in 1983. later, in 1988, after the painful merger with the sdp that formed the liberal democrats, he became leader. i say to the millions out there
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who are concerned about poverty and about unemployment, come and join us. the party was at rock bottom in the polls, and financially crippled. paddy ashdown built it up again, but at some cost to his home life. he admitted an affair with his former secretary, tricia howard. what paddy said stands. he's made a statement already, and i was perfectly well aware of what he was going to say. fears that his party's poll rating would suffer were unfounded, and in 1997 he guided it to its greatest election achievement since the ‘20s, doubling the number of lib dem mps. charles kennedy is duly elected the leader... paddy ashdown resigned the leadership in 1999, handing the baton onto charles kennedy, and retiring from the house of commons two years later. he spent time in bosnia, at some personal risk, at the height of the war there.
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and in 2002, he became the high representative in bosnia and herzegovina. but he wasn't done with westminster politics. in 2015, after the lib dems had spent five years in coalition with the conservatives, lord ashdown returned to chair the party's general election campaign... and we are saying the conservatives are the largest party. ..famously disputing the exit poll's prediction of a dire result. if this exit poll is right, andrew, i will publicly eat my hat on your programme. this is a hat. andrew, you are so predictable, aren't you ? ijust knew you'd... i wanted to get a bigger one. he inspired respect for his constant ideas and enthusiasm, and his efforts to build the liberal democrats into a force in national politics. lord ashdown, who has died at the
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age of 77. let's have a look now at some of the tributes that have been paid to lord ashdown. the prime minister theresa may sent her thoughts to his family and friends, adding that he had "dedicated his life to public service" and would be "sorely missed". the labour leaderjeremy corbyn praised lord ashdown‘s work as the mp for yeovil, and reminisced on their time in parliament. he said they "often found themselves voting together against damaging policies". former lib dem leader tim farron said lord ashdown had "saved and revived the liberal democrats at their lowest ebb", and current leader of the party vince cable declared it a "hugely sad day" for the liberal democrats, and said many members of the public had "immense affection and respect" for him. another person paying tribute to lord ashdown is the former leader of the liberal democrats and former deputy prime minister sir nick clegg, who spoke to the bbc this morning. to me personally, he was, i think, by a long way, probably the most important friend and mentor that i had
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in my time in politics. i don't think i would havejoined politics if i wasn't inspired as a young man by the stand that he took. i remember very well the very principled and courageous stand he took on an issue which may sound rather obscure now but at the time, certainly wasn't, which was about the rights of people in hong kong to have british passports. ithink, you know, i'm not alone. a lot of people were inspired by his clarity. he had this unusual ability, which was he was of course courageous himself as a soldier and a leader, in all the various things he did, but he had this unusual ability to instil courage in other people and to push people to go beyond what they might be comfortable in doing. i found in all the many thousands and thousands of conversations we had together, he had this great kind of way ofjust going that step further than you would be
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inclined to yourself. in the 20—odd years or so i was in parliamentary politics, in europe and here, i don't think a week went by when we did not speak, often several times a week. i will miss him terribly. sir nick clegg remembering lord ashdown. a man and woman are still being held in connection with multiple drone sightings that brought gatwick airport to a standstill. police searched a house in the nearby town of crawley yesterday. the disruption lasted for three days, as tens of thousands of passengers had their flights cancelled or delayed. 0ur correspondentjenny kumah is at crawley police station for us this morning. it has been more than 2a hours since those arrests. the police have released very little detail. because it is more than 2a hours, they can
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either ask for more time to continue questioning them. they can charge them. all they can release them. we know that the two people, a 47—year—old man and a 54—year—old woman, are from crawley, the town near gatwick. there are reports that the man is a drone enthusiast. yesterday, there was a significant police activity at a property in the town. i was there and saw police officers go into the house and search a nearby vehicle. the arrests we re search a nearby vehicle. the arrests were made in connection with the illegal drone activity that started mid week, which grounded flights at gatwick as a safety precaution, which caused widespread traffic disruption, flight disruption, with around 1000 flights affected, and around 1000 flights affected, and around 140,000 passengers experiencing delays or cancellations asa experiencing delays or cancellations as a result. i went by gatwick this morning and things are getting back to normal. the airport say they have
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a number of measures in place, that they are monitoring the airfield and that they are aiming to run a full schedule, around 780 flights expected to come in and out of the airport today. but their message is still to check the status of your flight still to check the status of your flight before you leave because there are still some knock—on effects and there could be some delays and cancellations. thank you for joining delays and cancellations. thank you forjoining us. the headlines on bbc news. a tsunami hits indonesia causing widespread devastation. at least 168 people are dead and more than 700 injured. the death toll is expected to rise. tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown who's died at the age of 77. flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre,
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here's richard askam. a fascinating day of action in the premier league yesterday. yes, plenty to talk about. come the end of the season, we might look back at yesterday as one of the days that changed the destination of the premier league title. manchester city surprisingly lost 3—2 at home to crystal palace, which means liverpool will sit four points clear at the top of the premier league table on christmas day. city's defeat wasn't the only shock of the day, as chelsea were beaten by leicester. and 0le gunnar solskjaer got off to the perfect start with manchester united. joe lynskey looks back. this is the week manchester united found a fresh start in an old face. 0le gunnar solskjaer once scored the goal that sealed the treble in ‘99. now he brings a new impact from the bench. rashford will strike and find the bottom corner. what a perfect start. it took marcus rashford three minutes to show their new—found ambition. he was part of a front line that
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did include paul pogba. here, the world cup winner set up ander herrera to make things even better. although cardiff did respond, that brought the best from united. this is the talent they have had all along. martial! beautiful move. beautiful goal. now that is what manchester united should be about. a goal and a scoreline that brought back days gone by. a new, liberated united eventually scored five for the first time in the league since the day sir alex left. we knew today we're not going to beat cardiff if this becomes a fight. so we need to get the ball down, pass it quickly, move quickly. and the third goal, i think that was just a different class. it all felt like the same routine at manchester city. when they went 1—0 up, crystal palace were 150—1 to win the game. but something extraordinary was about to fall from the sky. and that's a good hit.
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oh, what a goal! what a goal from andros townsend. a strike as brilliant as it was significant. palace held their nerve to win 3—2, a result that means city trail liverpool at the top by four points. but chelsea are perhaps now too far behind. they were swept away by leicester city in one flash from jamie vardy. that goal mayjust keep his under—pressure manager, claude puel, in charge. because, in this league, it can take just one match to transform the mood. joe lynskey, bbc news. boxing now and josh warrington retained his ibf featherweight world title belt with a thrilling points win over carl frampton at the manchester arena. warrington got the better of the former champion frampton from the very first round, but somehow the northern irishman managed to stay on his feet right up to the final bell. it was always obvious though that warrington had done enough. and as he told the bbc‘s boxing correspondent mike costello, it's all still sinking in.
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i don't know what words to say right now. my hands are a bit sore. i've got bruises on my forehead. but... i've done it! i've been doubted from the start of the air. if you've said to the boxing public thatjosh warrington would go on to beat lille —— michael lee selby and carl frampton back to back, they would have loved in your face. nobody would have believed that. what i've done it. i've shown what i'm about. the journey continues, done it. i've shown what i'm about. thejourney continues, mike! meanwhile in london, dillian whyte knocked out dereck chisroa in the battle of two british heavyweights. he had to wait until the 11th round to find the decisive blow. afterwards, whyte called for a rematch with world champion anthonyjoshua, who he hopes to face at wembley next year, butjoshua says whyte is third on the list. joshua's talking rubbish, man. talking rubbish.
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i am not going to sit around and wait for him. i'm not going to waste four months of my career waiting for him, seeing what he is doing. i haven't got time to do that. my career needs to progress. there's fighters that wait two yea rs, there's fighters that wait two years, wait to hear, wait for the call. i can't do that. time is ticking. michael van gerwen is safely through to the last 16 of the pdc world darts championship. the world number one beat germany's max hopp 4—1 at alexandra palace in london. van gerwen has won the tournament twice before, in 2014 and then again in 2017. he will probably be hard to beat this year. that's all the sport for now. i'll be back later. let's get more now on our top story, the tsunami in indonesia which has killed 168 people. that death toll is expected to rise. raymond cas professor of geosciences at monash university. he joins us from melbourne.
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thank you forjoining us. the ring of fire that indonesia sits on means it is always vulnerable to volcanoes and earthquakes and tsunami that can prove to be so devastating. yes, thatis prove to be so devastating. yes, that is absolutely correct. the major earthquake on the 26th of december 2004, where over 200,000 people died, is a reminder. and then last night, with that eruption followed by the tsunami, you know, with a probable link to the eruption, is another reminder of that vulnerability. do you think indonesia has learned the lessons from the various disasters it has suffered, in terms of putting in place a proper early warning system to help people get to higher ground when there is a tsunami that is imminent? as i understand it, they
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are well set up to monitor earthquakes that could potentially trigger tsunamis. the problem in this particular event is that it is still unclear as to whether or not there was a significant earthquake or whether it was the tsunami was generated by a submarine landslide on the slopes of krakatoa volcano, which is an island volcano between sumatra and java. that in fact may not trigger an earthquake and hence, the landslide goes relatively undetected until, of course, it suddenly displaces water, and generates the tsunami. 0k, explain for those people who don't know, how does a tsunami work? what are its essential characteristics and why is it so devastating? the main feature about a tsunami is that it is generated by a sudden displacement of the sea floor. as occurred in
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2004, that was due to a major submarine fault, which suddenly offset, two halves of the crust, offshore of sumatra, and the offset immediately mobilised a large volume of water. now, tsunamis can also be generated by sudden displacement on the sea floor, when a landslide begins to move. the landslide could come in from a sub—aerial slope or from a submarine slope. in this case, it appears that the indonesian authorities consider it occurred from a submarine slope. thank you for joining from a submarine slope. thank you forjoining us. expert analysis from a professor of geosciences joining us a professor of geosciences joining us from melbourne. universal credit is leaving too many claimants with children facing a stark choice between turning down jobs or getting into debt, mps have warned.
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the work and pensions select committee says the way parents have to pay for childcare up front, then claim it back afterwards, is a "barrier to work". the government says the system is designed to cut out fraud and error. for poorer people, whom the benefit is designed for, they do not have surpluses in the bank and, therefore, however anxious they are to work, but if they have children they will actually need to find money for a month or more to cover child ca re costs while they make that transition from benefit to work. ministers have been urged to take urgent action after it was revealed more than 170,000 people, a record high, will be homeless this christmas. the charity crisis also said more than 4,000 people over the age of 65 were facing what it called "the worst forms of homelessness". the government says it's investing £1.2 billion
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to tackle the problem. the us government will remain partially shut down over christmas after politicians in the senate failed to resolve their differences over the budget, during a special session. democrats oppose donald trump's plans to use federal funds to build a wall along the us—mexico border. there was further bad news for mr trump as his top official in the fight against so—called islamic state quit over the decision to pull us troops from syria. chris buckler reports. in the us, some government buildings have been closed and many federal employees have been told not to go to work, not because of christmas but because of a government shutdown. senators however, were working. they were called to a special session of congress to try to find a funding deal acceptable to all. but without any sign of compromise, democrats and republicans were left simply blaming each other. they brought this about because they are under a lot of pressure, we all know this,
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from theirfar left, and feel compelled to disagree with the president on almost anything and certainly this. the rows about donald trump's long promise for a physical barrier along the border between mexico and america. he's been unable to get mexico to pay for the controversial border wall. in the us, democrats have refused to give the president $5 billion he says he needs to build it. so mr president, president trump, if you want to open the government, you must abandon the wall, plain and simple. relationships between the white house and even some republicans in congress were damaged during the last week, after president trump made a surprise and sudden decision to pull us troops out of syria. it led to the resignation of his defence secretary, jim mattis, and now another member of his administration is leaving as a result
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of the president's plans. brett mcgurk is the us special envoy to the global coalition fighting the so—called islamic state group. in his resignation letter, he made clear his concerns that the president's claims that is had been defeated were premature. only a week ago, mr mcgurk raised fears of an early end to the campaign in a bbc interview. the point is, the military commitment does not end with the end of the caliphate. that is absolutely right. there is no timeline on it? no timelines. washington is preparing for a short christmas break but goodwill is in short supply, and with a government shutdown and questions about presidential policy, this seems like a less than happy holiday for donald trump. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. the forecast for christmas week is a pretty quiet one. the weather is settling down thanks
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to a building area of high pressure but the high will trap underneath it quite a lot of cloud so some quite grey prospects in the coming days. for the remainder of today, some slightly brighter fortunes through the afternoon for northern england and northern ireland, still saying very cloudy to the south and further rain to come across southern england. scotland gets the best of the sunshine but temperatures are struggling after the frosty start. more rain pushing into southern counties of england and southern wales through the evening. clearer skies sinking from the north will set us up for quite a widespread frost for christmas eve morning. milder to the south though, where we have the covering of cloud and some rain around. that should continue to push away through monday morning and for many areas, we are looking at a dry christmas eve with some brightness, although it will feel a shade cooler than it has through the weekend, especially in the south. hello.
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this is bbc news with ben brown. the headlines. a tsunami hits indonesia causing widespread disruption. at least 168 people are dead and more than 700 injured. the death toll is expected to rise. tributes are paid to former liberal democrat leader lord ashdown who's died at the age of 77. flights return to normal at gatwick as police investigating the drone disruption continue to question two people. the us government shutdown set to run through christmas as the battle over the border wall with mexico continues. now on bbc news: stephen hawking, aretha franklin, tessa jowell and ken dodd. just a few of those who left us this year, and whose lives are now celebrated in review 2018: we remember.
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oh, it's doddy. hiya, doddy. # happiness, happiness. # the greatest gift that i possess. what a beautiful day for doing this. what a beautiful day for bouncing up and down in a big barrel of blancmange. how tickled i am by all this goodwill. what about you, missus? have you been tickled by goodwill? there was a showbusiness ken dodd, a thinking ken dodd, and hopefully there's an amusing ken dodd. i hope so anyway. # happiness! happiness!
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