tv BBC News BBC News December 2, 2019 4:00am-4:32am GMT
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this is bbc news, the headlines: britain's prime minister, borisjohnson, has been accused of trying to exploit friday's london bridge terror attack for political gain. he blamed the previous government for a law that allowed the perpetrator to leave prison early. the labour party said the conservatives had been responsible for his release. malta's prime minister, joseph muscat, has bowed to intense public pressure and agreed to step down over the huge scandal surrounding the assassination of the investigative journalist, daphne ca ruana galizia. he said he would hand over power next month after his governing labour party chooses a new leader.
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this is bbc news. the un secretary general has told the bbc that governments need to stop subsidising fossil fuel welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. industries if the world is to avoid the worst consequences i'm james reynolds. our top of global warming. antonio guterres said taxpayers' money is paying for the melting of glaciers. stories: he was speaking ahead a political row in britain after it emerges of the un climate summit. that the london bridge attacker was released early from prison. malta's prime minister says he'll resign, following revelations over the murder of an anti—corru ption journalist. now on i am fed up of the injustice bbc news, that has been going on. they murdered daphne! hardtalk. they murdered my friend! we want justice! with the global climate change summit about to begin, the un chief says governments must end subsidies for fossil fuels. and does the falling cost of wind power hold the answer? we meet the danish pioneer who believes it will transform the world.
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british police have named the second victim of the knife attack on london bridge on friday. saskia jones was a 23—year—old university of cambridge graduate. she and the other person who died, jack merritt, were both involved in a programme aimed at prisoner rehabilitation. the attacker usman khan was shot dead by the police. he was a convicted terrorist who'd been released early from prison. daniel sandford reports. saskia jones, 23 years old, a cambridge graduate who wanted tojoin the police. herfamily said she had a passion for helping victims of injustice and would leave a void in their lives. today, she was named as the second person murdered in friday's attack. friends remembering a determined young woman. she would've stood her ground, which breaks my heart even more because she would have stood up for herself, which, i dread to think what would have happened, to be honest. so, it's not — it's not fair.
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this world has changed. and a 23—year—old girl dying like that, it should never have happen. it should never come to that. man: where's he going, then? running awayjust after killing saskia, usman khan on london bridge, pursued in an astonishing act of bravery by a man armed with a fire extinguisher and another wielding the tusk of a narwahl, an arctic whale. he's brought to the ground and held before armed officers arrive and realise he's wearing what looks like a suicide vest. bomb! what? what is going on? get back! he's got a bomb? oh— oi! they shoot him dead. today, toby williamson, who runs the venue where the attack took place, was at the scene and told the bbc about the bravery of his staff, who had been assisting at this conference when the bloodshed began. this is an extraordinary things happening, done by ordinary people.
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let me just bounce you round. in rece tion ou've got dawn and gareth — one trying to keep that door closed against a vicious knifeman, the other calmly placing the emergency calls. and then famously, you get andy and lukasz starting a fightback. they used fire extinguishers, they used chairs, they used these narwhal tusks ripped off the wall in the heat of the moment and they took the game back to the knifeman. usman khan also stabbed jack merritt, another cambridge university graduate specialising in helping prisoners to reform. khan was one of the people he'd assisted after his release from an 8—year prison sentence for plotting terrorism, but he turned onjack merritt and killed him. this afternoon, some of jack's friends came to london bridge to mourn him, and the head of cambridge university paid him
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this tribute. well, we're devastated. i metjack only once but i must say that he impressed me as a person of tremendous charm but also extraordinary commitment. he really believed that the work that learning together is doing is fundamental for the future of our society. fishmongers‘ hall remains closed, a crime scene being pored over by counterterrorism detectives. because, although there won't be a trial, there will be a detailed inquest into the deaths of those who were killed here on friday afternoon. the investigation continued into the night. police gathering every piece of evidence to help the families of two young people understand exactly how they came to be killed. daniel sandford, bbc news, london bridge. we heard from jake partridge, a friend of victim saskia jones, in that report. well he's described how she always tried to help people. everybody knows her. if you look at her facebook page now, everybody knows
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her, leaving comments. she's here, there and everywhere, she's in london, stratford, doing something. she wanted to make sure everybody was doing the right thing, everything was done the right way. yeah, she did, bless her. the prime minister has faced questions over why usman khan was been released early from prison. borisjohnson blamed laws introduced 11 years ago by the labour government, and vowed that serious offenders would in future, serve their full sentences. however labour claimed conservative prison and probation cuts were responsible, for what it described as "missed chances to intervene". our deputy political editor john pienaar reports. another terror attack — more familiar now, but still a shock to the country, and this time the focus of political controversy. and rapid election pledges and pointscoring. from borisjohnson today,
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a promise of ill—year minimum jail terms for those convicted of serious terrorist crime. i think it's ridiculous, i think it's repulsive, that individuals as dangerous as this man should be allowed out after serving only eight years. and that's why we are going to change the law. on the early release of prisoners, he was keen to blame labour, but the story's not that simple. in 2008, labour changed the law. it meant offenders could be released early, halfway through their sentence. some dangerous prisoners, including usman khan in 2012, were still handed indeterminate terms. but in 2013, the appeal court gave khan a fixed term of 16 years. he was automatically released halfway through. and the tories have been in government, alone or in coalition, since 2010. for ten years, you've done nothing to change the system or toughen it. now you're saying, "ah, now i will!" i'm talking about what we're going to do. i have been in office for 120 days. we're going to bring in tougher sentences for serious viole nt and sexual offenders
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and for terrorists. in york today, the labour leader focused on the impact of cuts to public services like probation and policing. when those public services are cut back, as they have been during the past decade of austerity, they leave behind huge gaps. and that can lead to missed chances to intervene in the lives of people who go on to commit absolutely inexcusable acts. at south london's southwark cathedral today, mourning for the dead and sympathy for theirfamilies. a moment of quiet reflection in the midst of what's become a fierce political dispute. let's get some of the day's other news. protesters in iraq have set fire to the iranian consulate in the southern city of najaf for the second time in a week. anger at iran's dominant influence in iraq has helped fuel the protests in iraq, now entering their third month. the violence has intensified in the past week in several southern cities as security forces
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continue to use live ammunition and tear gas. thousands of people, including judges and lawyers, have been protesting across poland against widespread changes to the country's legal system, which are being implemented by the governing law and justice party. they've called for the reinstatement of one judge who was dismissed earlier this week. the government has clashed with the european commission over its changes to the judiciary. residents of venice have voted on whether to split administratively from its neighbouring city on the italian mainland. supporters say venice needs its own administration to tackle rising sea levels, mass tourism and failures to build flood defences. however the poll requires a 50 per cent turnout for the result to be valid, which may not have been reached. malta's prime minister, joseph muscat, says he will stand down in the new year, once his governing labour party has chosen a successoi’.
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he made the announcement in a national television address. mr muscat had been under intense pressure to quit, over an investigation into the 2017 murder of the anti—corruption journalist, daphne caruana galizia. 0ur europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, reports from malta. ‘chanting for days now, malta's prime minister has been under intense pressure to go. the announcement he's to step aside came shorty after thousands protested in the centre of valetta. we are meant to be a democracy! enough. 0ut. the prime minister? 0ut. joseph muscat, out, now! i am fed up with the injustice that has been going on. they murdered daphne! they murdered my friend! we wantjustice! daphne ca ruana galizia, an anti—corruption campaigner, was blown up by a car bomb two years ago. she discovered in the panama papers leak, secret offshore companies
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linking senior political figures close to the prime minister to malta's richest man, yorgen fenech. what precipitated this crisis was when, late on saturday, mr fenech was brought to court and charged with being part of the plot to murder the journalist. this was mr fenech just a day earlier outside court as the net closed on him. among his close associates, the prime minister's chief of staff, who stood down last week. that left mr muscat fatally exposed. in a televised address to the nation, joseph muscat said he would resign after a new party leader has been chosen injanuary. shortly before he spoke, this was the scene outside his office. disgust at their prime minister. they believe malta has been sullied and corrupted on his watch, and there needs to be wholesale change to see justice for daphne caruana galizia.
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the prime minister's resignation may not be enough, though. many here want all those behind the killing of daphne caruana galizia brought to justice, and all the corruption cases she was working on, pursued to the end. damian grammaticas, bbc news, malta. and you can find out more about the background to the murder of daphne caruana galizia, and the political crisis in malta by visiting the bbc news website. that's all at bbc.com.uk/news — or download the bbc news app. mexico's president, andres manuel lopez 0brador, says reducing crime remains his top priority as he marks his first year in office. he was addressing thousands of his supporters in mexico city. murder rates have increased this year by 2% and the president has been criticized for his approach. thousands joined a protest calling for violence to stop. gareth barlow has more details. dressed in white chanting "mexico yes, lopez no," — thousands of protesters call
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for an end to the violence. at the heart of the crowd, the mormon community, who lost nine members when they were killed by gunmen in an ambush last month. translation: we understand there are lots of divisions in the country. we are not against the president. we are against the security policies, because they haven't worked we have to unite and stop the massacre we have in our country. mr lopez 0brador came to power with a pledge to improve security, but he's been criticised for ordering forces to avoid confrontation. the detention of gang leaders and drug seizures have dropped compared to previous years, but speaking at a huge event to mark his first year in office, the president said the government would tackle violence. translation: mexico's government will meet its responsibility to deliver justice. we won't accept any kind of intervention. we're a
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sovereign, free country. the rallies come as police killed suspected cartel gunmen who'd attacked a mayor's office near the us border. tens of thousands of people die each year in mexico's deadly drug war. the call from the government and from protesters — that mexicans must unite to tackle the scourge of violence blighting the country. gareth barlow, bbc news. stay with us on bbc world news, still to come: ‘ignorance has won‘ — that's the anguished cry from the british campaign to protect the apostrophe which is giving up the struggle after many years. it's quite clear that the worst victims of this disaster are the poor people living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory.
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i am feeling so helpless, that the childrens are dying in front of me and i can't do anything. charles manson is the mystical leader of the hippie cult suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six other people in los angeles. at 11am this morning, just half a metre of rock separated britain from continental europe. it took the drills just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle. then philippe cozette, a minerfrom calais, was shaking hands with and exchanging flags with robert fagg, his opposite number from dover. this is bbc world news, the latest headlines: a political row has broken out in britain after it emerged that the perpetrator of the london bridge attack had been released early
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from a prison sentence. malta's prime minister, joseph muscat, has agreed to step down following intense criticism over his handling of the investigation into the murder of a prominentjournalist. the un secretary—general, antonio guterresh, says the world must end its "war against nature." speaking on the eve of a two week climate summit in madrid he said the "digging and drilling" had to stop, and mankind should take advantage of the vast possibilities offered by renewable energy. our science editor, david shukman, reports. years of drought across huge areas of africa have resulted in these scenes in zimbabwe. and scientists say it's a glimpse of far worse to come as the world gets hotter, putting millions of people under pressure. it's the gases blasted into the air by power stations and industries that are raising temperatures. and despite all the warnings over decades, the world keeps adding more. mr guterres, david
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shukman, bbc news. we have the bilingual... and when i met the head of the united nations, antonio guterres, he was unusually outspoken about how the trends are going in the wrong direction. this is why we need to put a lot of pressure in order to increase ambition, and in order to reverse the present trend, in which, unfortunately, climate change is running faster than what we are and with the risk at a relatively short amount of time to become irreversible, that we will not be able to contain the temperature rise. his big worry is that huge investments are still being made in fossilfuel. china is one of many countries expanding its use of coal. mr guterres has appealed for this to stop. is there any sign of that happening? not yet. as i said, emissions are still growing, that's why i'm worried. over the weekend in germany, protesters invaded a coal mine. in many countries, governments
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support their most polluting industries. the un secretary—general says that make the impacts of climate change even more damaging. it's time to stop subsidies to fossil fuels. because what is dramatic is that we are using taxpayers' money — our money — to boost hurricanes, to melt glaciers, to destroy corals, to create all the negative impacts of climate change. he was speaking amid final preparations for un climate summit here in madrid. there will be some tough negotiations. it's really striking that the head of the un is being so blunt with the governments meeting here. saying that whatever they say about their efforts to tackle climate change, many of them, by supporting fuels like coal and oil, are actually making things worse. one key source of renewable energy is offshore wind turbines. they produce electricity which is now often cheaper than that from fossil fuels. but much of the potential remains untapped. as part of our series
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"climate defenders" alongside the climate conference, freya cole has been to denmark to meet an inventor at the heart of the wind industry. wind — the invisible source of energy which now has the potential to change the world. the question used to be — we like it but can we afford it? and now the question is — how can we afford not to? from a young age, danish inventor henrik stiesdal knew more could be done to use a natural and free source of electricity. we have very few natural resources in denmark but one we do have is wind, and a lot of it. henrik created his first wind turbine at the age of 16. in 1991, he opened the first offshore wind farm and his design for the modern wind turbine earned the title of the ‘danish concept‘ and that concept has shaped the wind industry for
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what it is today. it had three blades. it had the blades mounted on the front of the tower. in those years, many turbines had the blades on the backside of the tower. it had operation at different speeds to be as efficient as possible and that all turned out to be very useful in the early years of the industry. can you see how big it is? it's like, impressive. his brain works in a completely different way. he understands a lot of the technology topics around it and the economics and the efficiency. and it's efficiency which is henrik‘s biggest motivation. one of the biggest blades henrik has helped design is 94 metres long. the blade is one seamless piece of fibreglass with no joins. while the blades have grown in size, the costs are shrinking. according to a new study by the paris—based international energy agency, the costs are set
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to fall a further 60% by 2040. every time these blades makes a full rotation, this turbine generates enough power of the average household for a day, so there is no denying the strength in wind energy, but for this industry to make a meaningful impact worldwide, there are still challenges to overcome. around the world, the untapped potential of offshore wind is vast, especially when you move further from shore into deeper waters. the answer is floating wind turbines. according to the international energy agency, floating turbines could unlock enough potential to meet the world's total electricity demand 11 times over a 2040. henrik is inventing a floating wind turbine which he says could be mass produced at a factory. he says it's a key to driving down costs to make it cheaper than fossil
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fuel competitors. so the real trigger for all of this is actually getting our products industrialised. the next hurdle for the industry is to capture all of the electricity so it doesn't go to waste when winds drop and work out the best way to feed it back to the grid. i'm putting in a lot of effort on developing storage systems, both for day—to—day storage and also seasonal storage so you can store energy made when we have a lot of wind in the wintertime to be used in the summertime. henrik is optimistic. he has watched the industry developed from the impossible to the possible, to a future reaching even greater heights. freya cole, bbc news. and next week on climate defenders we'll see how restoring trees to barren, degraded land can fight both
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the causes and effects of climate change, so watch out for that. a retired journalist who founded a campaign to preserve the correct use of the apostrophe is bowing out because he says "ignorance has won." the apostrophe protection society was started byjohn richards in 2001 to tackle misuse of the punctuation mark. as you can see from this rogues' gallery over the years, the struggle has been real. retired journalistjohn richards, who's now 96 years old, says he is shutting down the group, as the english language is changing and fewer people seem to care. i spoke to dennis baron. he's emeritus professor of linguistics at the university of illinois, and is known as dr grammar. i asked him if for teachers, sub—editors, and all round pedants, this was a sad day. he said no. i would suggest most of these people have never heard of the apostrophe protection society to begin with, and it obviously had very little impact over whether or not we use apostrophes according to whatever rules that they might want us to use them for. punctuation has always been variable. back in the 18th—century, it's was used as a possessive,
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it's in the us constitution that way. today it is a contraction and the possessive form of its has no apostrophe. but things change and punctuation changes with them. punctuation's just a convenience. if the message can get across, then it's not really a big issue. when i was ten, 11, 12, i remember my teacher getting extremely focused on trying to get me to understand ‘its' and ‘it‘s', but do we need to learn that, do we need the apostrophe? it depends on the situation. we need to not get too exercised on what we think are mistakes. correcting mistakes, going around with a marker
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and fixing public signs doesn't seem to do much good, and it is probably illegal and you could get nicked for vandalism if you do it too blatantly. it is not going to change whoever made the signs. they are going to go on doing whatever it is they do. observing standard punctuation is useful in careful, edited prose when it's being published, but even there you have variation. do you use an oxford comma, do you not? opinions vary. one suggestion might be that the comma might be in danger or is changing profoundly. what do you think
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about that? if the communication works then the punctuation is secondary. when people first started to write 5,000 or more years ago, there was no punctuation. they didn't even put spaces between their words. punctuation is a relative newcomer in the writing process. it's a piece of writing technology. if it is useful, use it. if it's not, it is going to change or disappear. dennis, briefly, how is social media changing our use of punctuation? social media tends to be less formal than published printed writing, and so people are a little more relaxed not just in their punctuation, notjust in their spelling but in their style. their you say more relaxed form of language. it might be more slangier, a bit juicier. you can always go back and correct it if you make a typo. still, it is a sad day for pedants. you can reach me on twitter. i'm
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@jamesbbcnews. hello there. we have more frosty weather around at the moment. not exactly in the same place as it was last night, mind you, because although we have this cold area of high pressure just drifting a little bit further south, allowing milder atlantic air to topple around the north of that, feeding its way into scotland and northern ireland. so for scotland, nowhere near as cold as it was last night. with the clearer guys for england and wales, this is where we will have a widespread frost to start the day today. plenty of sunshine at least to begin with. more cloud coming in on the south—westerly breezes for northern ireland and scotland. patchy rain for scotland, mainly highlands and ireland. this cloud may well work its way down through the irish sea and into northern parts of england and wales, leaving the sunnier skies towards the south and south—east. temperatures again, 6, 7 degrees, a bit milder in the far north of scotland where we have the rain. that's on the weather front there which will tend to push away through the evening. we still have high pressure dominating but it is
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centred more towards southern parts of england and wales. here there mayjust be enough moisture and light winds to give us mist and fog returning overnight and into tuesday. particularly across parts of east wales and the south—east of england where it could lingerfor a while. should be a dry day by tuesday across scotland, some sunshine here, and across northern ireland. sunny spells for england and wales outside of the mist and fog. temperatures again, temperatures 6—8 degrees. as we head to the middle part of the week, a weakening weather front heads into the north—east from the atlantic. the centre of the high drifts further in to continental europe but still light winds and clearer skies overnight to bring a pinch of frost for england and wales and probably mist and fog and low cloud, quite a dull day for some. not a great deal of rain on the weather front as it pushes across scotland towards cumbria. quite milder here but cold where it stays grey across central parts of england. by the time we get into thursday, the winds should be pushing away that mistiness and greyness and fog and instead, an active weather front will bring heavy rain into the hills of western scotland. some patchy rain elsewhere and dribs and drabs into northern ireland, the far north of england still dry and bright further south
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with sunshine but windy weather together with that rain in the north—west. keeping the temperatures up and blowing milder air across the whole of the country could make double figures even across south wales and south—west england. turning milderfrom the north over the weekend. ahead of that, more patchy frost and fog before it turns wetter 00:29:42,821 --> 1073741526:10:39,473 and 1073741526:10:39,473 --> 2147483051:51:36,125 windier 2147483051:51:36,125 --> 3221224577:32:32,777 later 3221224577:32:32,777 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 on.
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