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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 5, 2019 12:00am-12:31am GMT

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this is bbc news, i'm ben bland. our top stories: political lines are drawn over the us government shutdown. democrats and president trump square off, as he says he's prepared for it to last months. he said he would keep the government closed for a very long period of time, months or even years. we won't be opening until it is sold, we think this is a much bigger problem, the border is a much more dangerous problem, it is a much bigger problem, it is a much bigger problem, it is a much bigger problem, it is a problem of natural dashmac national security. pressure rises on russia after a joint uk—us citizen is charged with spying — britain says individuals cannot be used as diplomatic pawns. a washout on thailand's tourist islands as the worst storm in 30 years hits the region, forcing thousands to flee the area. drums. and an attempt to smear a new congresswoman for her college—day dancing backfires. hello and welcome to bbc world news.
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president trump says he is prepared for the partial shutdown of the us government, which is now entering its third week, to last years. he was speaking after meeting congressional leaders in the white house. mr trump has said he'll reject any new budget that doesn't provide funding for his proposed us—mexico border wall. but the democrats seem in no mood to provide the money. our north america correspondent aleem maqbool is at the white house. looking in, it might appear to be business as usual at the white house, but it is far from it. for two weeks, government has been shut down. the democrats won't agree to sign off on $5.6 billion for a wall along the border with mexico, and donald trump is refusing to back down on his demand that they do just that. the southern border is a dangerous,
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horrible disaster. we've done a greatjob, but you can't really do the kind ofjob we have to do unless you have a major, powerful barrier, and that's what we're going to have to have. while there is no agreement, 800,000 government workers are not getting paid, and many government departments and services have been suspended. 0pposition leaders met donald trump today to try to resolve the crisis, but said they found a man who was uncompromising. so we told the president we needed the government open. he resisted. in fact, he said he'd keep the government closed for a very long period of time — months, or even years. but democrats themselves are not yielding. they have been emboldened after the swearing—in this week of new congressmen and women, that now give them the majority in the house of representatives.
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among the freshman politicians who will be a thorn in the president's side was one of the first muslim congresswomen, rashida tlaib, always seen as someone representing a more combative, brash opposition. but few expected she would steal the headlines as she did, talking about the president at a washington reception. because we're going to go in there, we're going to impeach the bleep. cheering and applause. those comments provoked donald trump. using language like that, i thought that was a great dishonour to her and to her family. but what of that question of impeachment? well, you can't impeach somebody that's doing a greatjob. that's the way i view it. thank you very much. there is no question this week, though, that a resurgent democratic party has ushered in a new, more turbulent and divisive time here. it's been another wild ride on us markets. after two days of declines, they had their best daily performance in more
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than eight years. investors seemed reassured by comments from the head of america's central bank, jay powell. he's been heavily criticised by president trump for the bank's decision to raise interest rates. mr powell was asked if he'd met the president yet — amid reports that mr trump had considered firing him. meetings between president and the fed chairs to happen, and they have happened, i cannot think of any fed chairs who did not meet with the president but nothing has been scheduled and i have nothing to report. if the president asked you to resign, would you do it? no. joining me now is our business reporter kim gittleson. so kim, was mr powell's firm rejection of resigning the thing that's cheered investors or did he have more to say? short and sweet, that was one thing, suggesting that jay powell felt he was perfectly empowered to feel
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independent in his role as the head of the us central bank, but what they really liked is what he said earlier, when he talked about whether or not financial market conditions were deteriorating, whether he was worried about the state of the economy, he remained bullish on what was happening, he said that the fed could be patient in deciding whether or not to raise interest rates in 2019. many thought that seem to be a step that from the fed's decision to possibly raise interest rates twice in 2019, the fa ct interest rates twice in 2019, the fact that he was saying that they we re fact that he was saying that they were paying attention to what is going on, there was no preset policy but there were a lot of things that we re but there were a lot of things that were weighing on investors, from global trade tensions to the possible slowdown in china, we are paying attention to these and we will not raise interest rates unless we feel we have the power to do so because the economic fundamentals are strong. will these comments anger or please president trump? he did push back a little on some of the things president trump had
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criticised him about, there is an ongoing feud that does not have to do with interest rates but has to do with the fed's decision to sell off its bond portfolio, president trump does not like that, but he will certainly be cheered by these comments from jay powell that suggest that the fed is not going to hike rates as frequently as it may have been planning to do so in 2019. also some interesting data onjobs in the us, it smashed expectations, almost 312,000 jobs in december, but unemployment also up. that is good news, the fact that 3.7% to 3.9%, is good news because that means more workers are rejoining the labour force, thought it might be time to try again, that uptick is not bad thing, but what most people will be happy about is that wages will be increasing. wages increased 3.2% in
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the year, that is their best performance in a decade, and that shows the us economy is doing quite well, there may be concerns about what the future holds but at this point in time it is a good time to be looking for work in the us. let's get some of the day's other news. britain's foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, says iran has acted "shamefully" by not giving medical care to the jailed british—iranian woman, nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. he said iranian officials had given him a clear assurance that mrs zaghari—ratcliffe would be treated for her complex health problems, but this hasn't happened. she was jailed in 2016 for five years for spying — an allegation she denies. police in germany have arrested three german men in connection with a bomb attack on an office of the right—wing populist alternative for germany party in its heartland in the east of the country. prosecutors said they suspected a political motive. huawei has punished two of its staff for using mobile phones made by its american rival apple. the employees tweeted new year greetings from huawei's official account, which came
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with the message "via twitter for iphone". the chinese company has reportedly demoted the two workers and reduced their salaries. there are renewed tensions between britain and russia after a joint us—uk citizen was arrested in moscow, accused of spying. paul whelan‘s family say he was simply attending a wedding. the britsh foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has said moscow mustn't use the british foreign secretaryjeremy hunt has said moscow mustn't use british citizens as "pawns in diplomatic chess." sarah rainsford reports from moscow. paul whelan was with a wedding party, staying at this top—end moscow hotel, but he never made it to the ceremony. he was arrested, charged as a spy. russia's security service implied he had been caught red—handed. as his family and friends insist he is innocent, the british government says it is extremely worried. individuals should not be used as pawns of diplomatic leverage. and, you know, we need to see what these charges are against him,
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understand whether there is a case or not. we are giving every support that we can. so what do we know about paul whelan? he was a reserve in the us marines for 1h years, and served two tours in iraq. in 2008 he was discharged for bad conduct — theft, according to military records. but it was from iraq that he made his first trip to russia in 2006. paul whelan has had a page on this russian social media site now for over a decade, and he has got dozens of friends on here. and, because this is a spy case, the ones i've contacted have been too nervous to go on camera to speak openly about him. but they have been messaging, and they have described a man who they say is very interested in russia and its culture, not in its secrets. in fact, one man told me, if paul whelan is a spy, then i'm michaeljackson. there are men on here who do have military connections, but even those men have told me that mr whelan never asked
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them anything suspicious. his twin brother says paul whelan had been showing wedding guests around the kremlin on the day of his arrest. it's very hard for me to understand how anyone would consider paul to be someone who would be a lawbreaker, and take those sorts of risks, particularly in countries where they're less, maybe, flexible about lawbreaking. he is now in solitary confinement in this former kgb prison. there is still no official word what exactly he is accused of. instead, there is speculation this could be part of a bigger political game, one that now involves britain as well as russia and america. so might vladimir putin himself be involved 7 last month, he condemned the detention of a russian woman, maria butina, in the united states. she is accused of trying to build back channels to republicans for her government ahead of the us elections. so might russia be banking on a prisoner swap? either way, this latest crisis threatens to cool russia's relations with the west even further.
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at its heart is a man facing a potential 20—year prison sentence for espionage. thousands of people in southern thailand are fleeing the path of the worst tropical storm to hit the area in 30 years. storm pabuk made landfall in the early hours of friday local time, sending trees crashing into houses. thousands of people have left the islands of koh samui and koh phangan. our world affairs editor, john simpson, reports from koh samui. this was just the start of it. it hit the two northerly islands hard early on in the day, by noon it was starting to close down the island of koh samui as well. the roads were empty of traffic and winds of 50 miles an hour
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or more were blowing down trees close to the sea. the emergency services were out in force, though in the hours of daylight, the number of injuries was still quite small and only two deaths have been reported. yesterday thousands of visitors, thai as well as foreign, tried to get off the islands while we still could. but some stayed, because they could not leave or perhaps because they wanted to see what was going to happen. sam and miranda from chester came to celebrate his 30th birthday. we were able to get out and stock up pretty quickly, so we filled the room with food and got mattresses and its windows and do everything we can to keep the room safe and reallyjust waiting it out. to be honest, no—one really knows what's going to be happening here in the next few hours. the weather seems to be changing all the time.
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the rain, which was drenching just a few minutes ago, has suddenly stopped. but the wind has come up pretty fiercely. tonight though, the storm proper is just about to hit. what is certain is that this super storm is highly unusualfor this time of year. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: many of us spend far too much time on these things, but is there such a thing as too much screen time for children? new advice by british doctors causes a stir. the japanese people are in mourning following the death of emperor hirohito. thousands converged on the imperial palace to pay their respects when it was announced he was dead. good grief.
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after half a century of delighting fans around the world, charlie brown and the rest of the gang are calling it quits. the singer, paul simon, starts his tour of south africa tomorrow, in spite of protests and violence from some black activist groups. they say international artists should continue to boycott south africa until majority rule is established. teams were trying to scoop up lumps of oil as france recognises it faces an ecological crisis. three weeks ago, the authorities confidently assured these areas that oilfrom the broken tanker, erika, would head out to sea. it didn't. the world's tallest skyscraper opens today. the burj dubai has easily overtaken its nearest rivals. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: donald trump says he's willing to let a partial government shutdown
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last for months or even years unless he's given $5 billion to build a border wall. let's stay with that story. david graham is staff writer at the american magazine the atlantic. i askedif american magazine the atlantic. i asked if he can bypass congress by declaring a national emergency to build a border wall. if that is true, why hasn't he done it yet? build a border wall. if that is true, why hasn't he done it yewm is unclear whether he can, but i think that's the right question. if this walk is so important it is not clear why he has chosen this moment to go all out and threatened to shut down the government for years potentially. why now? why not two yea rs potentially. why now? why not two years ago? and that statement today will be really are unsettling for hundreds of thousands, in fact, at least 800,000 federal employees who have been unpaid since december 22. this talk of it lasting years could
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do huge damage to them personally in a financial sense, but also to the american economy. that's right. you are hearing stories of people who are hearing stories of people who are behind on rent, mortgages, loa ns, are behind on rent, mortgages, loans, and the federal government is encouraging them to bargain with their lenders. that is not a sustainable long—term solution. there is a tendency to seek federal employees as a class apart, not citizens, to look down on them. at some point that will become unstable. in that case, how does this get resolved ? unstable. in that case, how does this get resolved? that is a great question also. you know, we see today both sides digging in. nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, said the wall is any morality, she played the clips of trump digging in. it is hard to know where the movement comes. trump said the meetings today were productive with the democrats. it seem clear what he produced. it seems combated. it seems likely that trott will be forced to compromised either for a little bit of money or no money but i don't how we get to this point
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from here given where both sides are —— trump. detectives in the uk are urgently searching for a man who stabbed and killed a passenger on a train in southern england. the attack was on friday afternoon, in front of the victim's teenage son. the stabbing happened near clandon station in surrey, during a vicious fight, as police described it, on a train from guildford to london waterloo. it's not thought the men knew each other. richard galpin reports. forensics teams searching the carriage this afternoon in the wake of the attack on board the train heading from guildford to london. the victim, a 51—year—old man, who died of multiple stab wounds in what an eyewitness described as a vicious fight. his body was finally removed from the scene at horsley station this evening. the victim boarded the train at around 1:00pm at london road station in guildford, along with his 14—year—old son. traumatically, the victim's son would have been nearby when his father was fatally wounded. this would have been an horrific and hugely traumatic event to have witnessed, and we're providing him with as much support as possible.
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the suspect is a black man in his 20s to 30s. he's approximately six feet tall, and of slim build, with a beard, believed to be dressed all in black, with white trainers. the train had left guildford at lunchtime, bound for waterloo station. the men boarded the train at the first stop, london road station, just after 1:00pm. a few minutes later, at clandon, the next stop on the line to waterloo, the murderer got off the train and fled. the train went on to horsley station, where ambulance crews found the victim dead. ever since then, the police have been searching for the man who carried out what seems to have been a frenzied attack, but so far to no avail, although they say there have been multiple sightings of a potential suspect. it's really shocking, because around here, you don't hear things about that
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sort of situation happening. because it is a very quiet area. we are a close community around here, like, pretty much everyone knows everyone. no big news happens, so i think something that tragic is going to shock a lot of people. tonight, the people of this area know there is a murderer on the loose, following a highly unusual killing on a train in broad daylight. theresa may has had a phone call described as friendly with the president of the european commission about her brexit plans. the british prime minister is preparing to try and persuade members of parliament to back her withdrawal deal later this month. 0ur political correspondent chris mason gave us this update. we are going to get a resumption of a rather noisy conversation, and as things stand, that conversation is rather familiar. why — to answer your question,
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because very little seems to have changed. so northern ireland's democratic unionist party prop up the prime minister and government. before christmas, they didn't like the eu withdrawal agreement. guess what — they still don't like it now, and neither do a shed—load of conservative mps. they still have real concerns about the so—called backstop, this insurance policy to ensure that the border between northern ireland and the republic stays open under any circumstances. so here is a sense of the timeline. mps will return here on monday. they will be discussing and debating the withdrawal agreement by the middle of the week, and we expect the vote to take place a week on tuesday. but, as things stand, it looks like the prime minister will lose. one final thought — 12 weeks tonight, we will be just 45 minutes away, as things stand, from the uk leaving doctors in the uk say there's no firm evidence that spending time on smart phones, computer screens and tablets is harmful to children's health in itself. but while the guidance avoids setting any screen time limits, it recommends not using them in the hour before bedtime.
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it also says it's important that the use of devices doesn't replace exercise or time with family. here's our medical correspondent fergus walsh. how much screen time via smartphones, computers or tv is ok for kids? these children from beckenham in south london have strict limits set by their mum, including no screens before bedtime. i think that's really fine, because i play on it. i always play on it, really. i have a computer upstairs and that's where i do a lot of my homework on. but, like, in my free time when i'm not doing, like, homework and training, it's calm to just chill out on my phone. if i think back to when i was younger, i think the thing for us was tv. you know, we were on tv too much, we watched tv. what was it going to do to us? i think it'sjust a new medium. i think tablets is a new medium, it's a new generation and this is how they spend their time. i don't think it's bad.
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nothing is bad in moderation. today's guidance says as long as children are active and healthy then parents are best placed to decide what screen use is appropriate, and there's no need for set time limits. there's not good enough evidence for a particular threshold and it's really difficult to pick a number here. the second is actually applying a threshold is very difficult. what about homework? what about educational things? what about piano practice with your music on an ipad? it's very difficult to actually put these things in practice. and often what happens is itjust makes people feel bad about what are quite normal activities. many studies have shown an association between high screen use and obesity and depression. but the royal college says there's simply not enough evidence to show a direct causal link. it might be that children with those issues are more likely to use screens excessively. in its guidance, the royal college recommends families ask themselves four questions. is screen time in your household controlled?
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does it interfere with what your family wants to do? does it interfere with sleep? and are you able to control snacking during screen time? the child health experts say there is a need for better research, especially on the effects of social media. so this guidance could change in years to come. one thing they are sure of is that children should not use screens in the hour before bedtime, because the light can slow the release of the sleep—inducing hormone melatonin. a bid to smear the youngest woman elected to the us congress has backfired. a video of alexandria 0casio—cortez dancing while she was a student at boston university was shared just a day before the 29 year old was officially sworn in to congress. but, instead of discrediting her, many people instead came to her defence, as laura westbrook reports. lisztomania by phoenix plays. this
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isa lisztomania by phoenix plays. this is a video of a girl dancing, but it's just who is dancing that got people talking. alexandria 0casio—cortez is the youngest woman ever elected to the us congress. this footage from 2010 is from when she and other students at boston university tried to recreate a scene from the movie, the breakfast club. it was posted on twitter to try to discredit the congresswoman the day before she was sworn into office, but the tactic backfired. many took to twitter to praise her. molly renshaw, the actor from the brea kfast clu b, renshaw, the actor from the breakfast club, tweeted, you're in the club, while others responded asking for dancing lessons, even russell crowe showed backing. alexandria 0casio—cortez. russell crowe showed backing. alexandria 0casio-cortez. mrs alexandria 0casio-cortez. mrs alexandria 0casio—cortez is part of a new wave of faces in the most
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diverse congress in history, but the 29—year—old in particular has been the subject of intense scrutiny online, with critics calling her a watch she wears, to trying to discredit her financial struggles. what this highlights isjust discredit her financial struggles. what this highlights is just how divided the political landscape in america is. the congresswoman responded to the controversy with another video. as congress enters a new era, this new law maker isn't afraid for the critics to know that she dances to a differentjune. —— tune. i wonder if a call from the production team of dancing with the sta rs production team of dancing with the stars is in order. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @benmbland. thanks for watching. hello, once again. just because a
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big area of high pressure is dominating the weather across many parts of the british isles and it is dry for many it doesn't mean to say we are all in the same boat. as we see here, quite a translation in the day once the cloud peeled away to reveal the gloriously blue skies. but if you get the clabo throughout the day, well, then it was pretty leaden fair despite the fact as i say it was dry for the most part. and here we are many of us through the course of the weekend again largely dry, often cloudy, and that's because there's quite a lot of moisture trapped in the lower levels of the atmosphere under the influence of the high pressure there. the frontal system will eventually show its hand across the north—western quarter of the british isles. we will talk more about that injusta isles. we will talk more about that injust a second. isles. we will talk more about that in just a second. so that cloud shield isn't complete by any means at all and if it breaks for any length of time in the first part saturday you will have a chilly
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start to your day although there will be some sunshine to compensate. that could well be the case for parts of wales down into the south—west. but as i think the morning proceeds, so perhaps some of those gaps will fill in a gamut of england and wales will be cloudy by dry, the best of the sunshine perhaps to the eastern side of the pennines, up into the eastern side of scotland. temperature is nothing to write home about for the time of year, to write home about for the time of yea r, pretty to write home about for the time of year, pretty average, four to around seven, the exception of the western isles or scotland, but here late in the day that cloud thickens all the while, so too in northern ireland, you eventually end up with a wee bit of rain, i don't think it will amount to very much at all, it is tied into that when the front, which, as we move saturday into sunday, will tumble its way through the area of high pressure, tending to lose what little potency at how. and you will notice that one portion was away towards the continent, another eventually flicks back towards northern ireland, so maybe some brightness here for a time, then cloud comes back later in the day. enough about the cloud to be the odd spot of rain perhaps across the odd spot of rain perhaps across the heart of england and wales. the best of the sunshine in the date further north across the bay to ——
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greater part of mainland scotland. cabbages may be other touch or two across particular the south—western quarter, just picking up on more of a south—westerly froch, so as i take you from monday to sunday, —— sunday to monday, the eyecatcher is the vigorous area of low pressure passing northern britain before it dies through the north sea and off towards denmark. while that is around, with so many isobars on the charts, it is no great surprise that when i show you the gust values on monday and tuesday for a number of locations across northern and north—eastern britain, well, 50, 60, possibly even 70 mph — not everyone will see that by any means at all, further south and west, a quieter couple of days in prospect. this is bbc news, the headlines: donald trump says he's willing to let a partial government shutdown last for months or even years unless he's given five billion dollars to build a border wall. the shutdown has left hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay. talks between the two sides aimed at resolving the standoff were described as ‘contentious' by democrats — mr trump said
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they were ‘productive'. the uk has warned russia not to use people as diplomatic pawns, after moscow charged paul whelan, a former us marine with joint british and us citizenship with spying. britain's foreign secretary said the uk had offered consular assistance. an unusually powerful tropical storm has hit south—eastern thailand in the peak tourism season. tropical storm pabuk, with 75 kilometre an hour winds and lashing rain, is the worst storm to hit the region in 30 years. thousands of people had to flee the area. now, what a great way to start the new year,
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