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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 19, 2020 7:00pm-7:30pm GMT

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this is bbc news. i'm at lukwesa burak. the headlines at 7pm... the queen attends church after attending an agreement with prince harry and meghan over the future. the duke and duchess of sussex would only use their hrh titles and will give up their hrh titles and will give up their royal duties i the springs.” think ijoined the rest the country and wishing the very best for them in the future. efforts to resolve the nine—year conflict in libya. a document seen by the dbc which accuses africa's richest woman of making her fortune through corruption and exploiting her own country. and the huge hailstones
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hitting parts of australia as storms lead to fears of flooding following the bushfires. and in sport, battling back. a day after being thrown out of the english premiership, saracens keep the european hopes alive with victory over racing 92. good evening and welcome to bbc news. the duke and duchess of sussex are able to begin establishing the details of how their new life — free from royal duties — will work, after the agreement announced yesterday by the queen. she was at church near sandringham this morning — as the prime minister borisjohnson said he wished harry
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and meghan the best and was sure the royal family would find a way forward. but thomas markle — the duchess's father — has accused them of "cheapening" a great institution. here's our royal correspondent nicholas witchell. the words the queen used yesterday about harry and meghan where warm and supportive, but the deal done with them by her officials was an uncompromising one. the reputation of the royal family must be protected. it's already been battered by prince andrew's misjudgment and the family doesn't want any embarrassment from the sussexes once they're cut loose in canada. i think families are always a problem and i think she's dealt with it incredibly well. ijust think it's a shame. and it's a shame with the little one as well. yeah. yeah, for the whole family. william, charles, everybody. it is. as long as we're not paying for the lifestyle they're hoping to live, then i don't have a problem with that.
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there was support, too, from the prime minister. i think the whole country will want to join in wishing them the very best for the future. i said before that i was sure that the royal family, which has been around a very long time, will find a way forward and i'm sure it will. but there was a very much less supportive judgment from meghan‘s estranged father, thomas. this is like one of the greatest long—living institutions ever. they're destroying it. they're cheapening it. they're making it shabby. they're turning it into a walmart with a crown on it. it's slightly more than two years ago that harry and meghan did their first official engagement together in nottingham. come this spring, there will be no more of this. they won't be allowed to use their royal rank or to represent the queen. there will be questions about his immigration status in canada, and her declared aim of securing british citizenship.
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they can earn money, but they'll be expected to avoid anything unseemly. the palace is wary of the american advisors meghan has around her. they've already trademarked sussex royal as a charitable and social media vehicle for the couple. but is the use of the word royal still appropriate? that's just one of the matters still under discussion. all these new arrangements will take effect in the spring. they will be reviewed in 12 months‘ time. but for now, the die is cast. one of the most popular figures within the royalfamily is preparing with his wife to say farewell. nicholas witchell, bbc news, at buckingham palace. the duke and duchess of sussex‘s official royal duties will cease in the spring, which means they'll no longer be able to throw as much of a spotlight on charitable organisations and causes. our royal correspondent daniela relph has been exploring the impact their support has had.
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birkenhead a year ago. harry and meghan at work. here viewing a sculpture created to mark the hundredth anniversary of the death of the war poet wilfred owen. this is the bread—and—butter of royal duty that they will no longer do. the couple met the artist who created the sculpture. for him, the visit of a royal prince, who is also an army veteran, really mattered. it brought a huge amount to the town. to the credibility of the project as well. it was big enough on its own, but that little extra bit that the royal brought was incredible. it was phenomenal. it was a very worthy thing, and it will be sadly missed. royal duty had, on the surface, appeared to suit harry and meghan. they had a natural ease with the public. and, crucially, a more relaxed, informal approach helped them engage with younger, more diverse communities. and i'm in the same room as the royal couple right now. much of this kind of work now stops.
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but they will hang on to some of their projects, those where they are not formally representing the queen. that is where their passion lies, both of them. they are people who want to do good things in the world. and that's their vehicle for doing them. and so i think it's great that they're hanging onto those. the royal family brand is big business, especially here in windsor. it is home for harry and meghan in the uk. although they'll be spending much less time here, there is support for the decision they've made. i think probably getting away from it all is... it's their choice and, you know, i think they could have gone about it a little bit differently, but, you know, you don't know what goes on behind closed doors and that's just the way it goes. palace officials say the talks over harry and meghan‘s future have been friendly and constructive. but there will be disappointment within the family that the potential of harry and meghan as working royals won't be realised.
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daniela relph, bbc news. people accused of stalking are to be prevented from contacting or approaching their alleged victims while they're being investigated. from tomorrow, police will be able to apply to magistrates for a stalking protection order before someone is charged — if they break it, they could be jailed for five years. charlotte gallagher reports. the global superstar rihanna and hollywood actors john cusack and sandra bullock, just some of the high—profile victims of stalking. this kind of harassment usually only makes the headlines when celebrities are involved, but it's frighteningly common. in england and wales, one in five women and one in ten men will experience stalking at some point in their lives. campaigners say victims are usually targeted by an ex partner or someone they've had contact with. zoe dronfield was subjected to an eight—hour ordeal by a former boyfriend and nearly died.
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in 2014, i was almost murdered by an ex—partner. i'd entered the relationship and he was starting to stalk me, so i was being harassed, stalked, he was contacting me on all sorts of platforms, and this was hundreds of times a day. tomorrow police gain new powers to tackle stalking. they'll be able to apply for court orders which will ban suspects from contacting or approaching their alleged victims while officers are investigating. if suspects breach the order, they could be jailed for up to five years. the organisation which represents senior police officers, the national police chiefs council, is welcoming these new measures, calling them another tool to help improve the safety of stalking victims. it's also encouraging anyone who is a victim of stalking to come forward as soon as possible and get help. the minister for women visiting a helpline for stalking victims.
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staff here are on the front line of the problem. these are really groundbreaking orders that the police will be able to apply for to protect victims of stalking, but also to make sure that the perpetrators are getting the treatment programmes and so on that they need to break their cycle of abuse. it's hoped these new powers will prevent cases like alice ruggle's. she was murdered by an ex—boyfriend who'd been stalking her. alice's family say these court orders could have made a critical difference. charlotte gallagher, bbc news. china is banning plastic bags in its main cities by the end of their as well as single use straws in restau ra nts. well as single use straws in restaurants. smaller cities and towns will have until 2022 to implement the new rules. china will also phase out plastic utensil from the take food industry and plastic
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waste imports will be outlawed as pa rt waste imports will be outlawed as part of a plan to tackle the country's huge pollution problems. the prime minster has that he will raise the driving habits of us military personnel with the secretary of state mike pompeo after video footage emerged of another incident of a car being driven on the wrong side of the road. near the army base where harry dunn died was to police also revealed details of a third incident in which a police vehicle was struck by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road in last year october. we are certainly raising all those issues about the driving habits of us personnel at the base and we are continuing to work for the justice for harry dunn and his family. world leaders have gathered in berlin for the bmp summit and have agreed to uphold the arms embargo as part of the peace efforts. the agreement
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aims to stop the flow of foreign weapons and trips into the country. libya has been plagued for the last nine years by fighting between forces loyal to the un backed government and the self—styled libyan national army. the german chancellor angela merkel said a special committee would be subject oversee the peace process and ensure the truce becomes a full cease—fire. translation: we received commitments by all of the participants that, until this meeting, the participants of the conference of today commit themselves to not give any further support to these parties to the conflict and in the sense that they don't give any sort of military support to them, they also will not give them weapons so that the arms embargo is respected and teachers hold. i think we created a spirit
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today that will enable us to pursue the track this path forward outlined. let's go to our correspondentjenny hill, who was in berlin. these agreements have been made. without those two key characters actually sitting down face—to—face? characters actually sitting down face-to-face? that's correct. they refused to sit in the same room together that is something which the summit organisers knew from the very beginning. they said the fact that all the key players were released in the same city together was an achievement in itself. let's be clear about what we have seen happening today. libya's conflict, civil war, has been grossly exacerbated in recent months by the intervention of a foreign powers who have been aiding both sides, sending them trips, weapons, money and so on. today, many of those foreign powers in berlin, people like russia, turkey, the united arab
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emirates, have agreed that they. sending troops, weapons and money into the country. crucially, this weapons embargo which has not been observed, the agreement they have come to tonight does not cover the troops and weaponry that are already in the country. even while the delegates were holding their talks this afternoon, it emerged that troops loyal to general haftar challenging the un backed libyan prime minister, had cut off a really important oil pipeline in the country. it's clear that this is not going to make everything better overnight but the summit organisers believe this is a very important first step towards a road to peace. there has been no truce agreed and, as you say, those two warring factions certainly have not agreed to put down their disagreement and work towards peace just yet, but what is now in the pipeline, we are
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told, are a series of meetings potentially between those two sites and so the whole aim of the summit was to try and, if you like, take some of the sting out of the conflict, so that those two warring factions have at least a chance towards a lasting peace. jenny, the whole of north and africa affected by the difficult situation in libya. how is what is taking place in libya affecting the wider region? there are three main concerns amongst all of the legates here here in berlin. libya being a very oil—rich country, discomfort discerning to affect oil supply. that is a problem. for europe particularly, there are two concerns, though. first of all, the instability in the region is said to be exacerbating islamist terrorism in northern africa. that is something which europe is particularly concerned about. this is just across the mediterranean.
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and secondly, they are very concerned about the flow of people fleeing the conflict. libya exactly already hosting tens of thousands of refugees. it's also known as a gateway to europe for many migrants and refugees wanting to make that journey. there are concerns, certainly here in berlin and beyond, that if that conflict is not the escalated, actually, europe could start to see far more people coming in and seeking asylum here. and finally, jenny, i understand turkish troops are already around tripoli porting the un backed government. does this tell me that they will be removed from the country? in theory, no, and that is what easily crucial to point out about this agreement. mrs merkel was asked very specifically by this point and she said no. what happens to the trips into the weapons already in the country will be discussed as part of
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any future truce negotiation —— what happens to the troops and to the weapons. all that's been agreed to tonight in berlin is that those foreign powers want to be sending any more support to the warring factions. you can seejust any more support to the warring factions. you can see just how many threads there are to be pulled apart here. but i think pretty much all those delegates will say, this has been an important first step. no one expected the libyan conflicts to be solved overnight here in berlin but the so—called berlin process wasn't simply about just starting to de—escalate the situation. it's fair to say that for most of the delegates in that room, it's only really in the last few months that they've started to be very concerned about this conflict and about the knock on effect upon their own countries and in particular, as we have said before, on european countries. this is simply a first step. it will go before the un security council, which means this un weapons embargo, already in place
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but which has been flouted in recent months should have a bit of a sting should any of those parties decide to flout it again. ok, khalifa -- 0k, —— ok,jenny hill —— ok, jenny hill in berlin for us. borisjohnson has —— ok, jenny hill in berlin for us. boris johnson has been —— ok, jenny hill in berlin for us. borisjohnson has been on the silence of those talks in berlin, including his first meeting with russian president latimer putin. the pendants are warned there would be no normalisation of relations with russia until it ended what he called the deepest stabilising —— used to —— the destabilising of the uk and its allies. a bbc investigation has seen documents that show how africa s richest woman made herfortune through exploiting her own country and corruption. isabel dos santos is the daughter of the former angolan president,
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eduardo dos santos. the documents show she got access to lucrative deals involving land, diamonds, oil and telecoms while herfather was in power. ms dos santos has denied any wrongdoing. richard bilton reports. isabel dos santos is africa's richest women. she lives in london with a glamorous life and famous friends. a leak of more than 700,000 documents from her business empire was obtained by the platform to protect whistle—blowers in africa, and shared with the international consortium of investigativejournalists. much of isabel dos santos's wealth comes from some very dubious deals. her father is eduardo dos santos, who ruled angola for 38 years. and he followed a pattern — he would issue a decree or order, his daughter and her family would get deals — on land, telecoms, even for buying and selling angola's diamonds. the documents show, as the years go by, the deals keep coming, and her fortune grows.
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i think that she got the opportunity to become rich and take the opportunity that her father, by decree, would transfer state assets, state monies, to her. take oil. angola has vast reserves. the state oil company, sonangol, gave isabel dos santos a very good deal on a very valuable asset. she was able to buy a lucrative stake in a portuguese energy company by paying only 15% up front. the rest turned into a loan from sonangol. that deal made her three quarters of a billion euros. that's absolutely the definition of corruption. she was put in a favoured position because she was the daughter of the president.
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it got worse. the president later made his daughter head of sonangol. she says it was a sensible move. i worked for them as a consultant. then, after i finished my consultancy work, invited me and asked if i would consider a position to become sonangol‘s chairperson. isabel dos santos's lawyers deny all the bbc‘s allegations and say she's been involved in no wrongdoing. they say it's a politically motivated witch hunt by the angolan government — and the deal with the energy company earned sonangol money. but her father is no longer president, and angola wants answers. these documents tell the story of where isabel dos santos's fortune really comes from. richard bilton, bbc news, angola. and you can watch more on that story in panorama: the corrupt billionaire — which is on bbc one tomorrow night at 8.30pm. the areas of australia worst
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hit by bushfires are now at risk of flash flooding and power cuts as a result of rainstorms. in the state of victoria, many fires have been put out by the storms but giant hailstones have also damaged property. john donnison reports. in a year of extreme weather, for australians, it doesn't just rain, it pours. hailstones the size of golf balls in the state of victoria. so intense, it shattered roofs. and all this in the middle of summer, as large parts of the country continue to burn. in melbourne, battered by high winds, few can remember such a dramatic shift in weather. such a freak storm. i was watching television, i went into the bedroom and i just looked out the window and the gumtree, which is two stories high, just disappeared. it was a white out at this birthday party, abandoned as people huddled for shelter. and this is a cricket pitch. no chance of a resumption
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in play any time soon, with more rain and hailforecast in the next 2a hours. but after months of hot temperatures fuelling the devastating fires, this, for many, will be welcome relief. john donnison, bbc news. police have fired water cannon at protesters after rocks were thrown near the parliament building in the lebanese capital, beirut. violence escalated yesterday, with over 400 people injured in clashes between demonstrators and the country's security forces. anti—government protests began in october over the struggling economy and allegations of corruption, which led to the resignation of lebanon's prime minister. the space company spacex has successfully carried out a test to determine if its astronaut capsule can be returned safely to earth in an emergency. the rehearsal at kennedy space center saw an ascent by a falcon 9 rocket
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deliberately terminated just 80 seconds after lift—off. the unmanned dragon capsule on top — which can carry seven astronauts — fired its escape engines to detach itself. parachutes then brought the capsule to a safe splashdown in the sea. the 6 euros boy who sparked a nine hours or 20 finish from a service station was asleep when he was found beside the motorway, his father has set —— to the six—year—old boy. he was on a school trip when he went missing on the mi on friday. his father said he is doing perfectly fine. most immigrants to the uk don't feel they're discriminated against according to new research based on survey data. but those from non—eu countries were twice as likely as eu migrants to say they felt they were treated differently because of their ethnicity, nationality or religion.
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it comes ahead of a report from government advisers that's likely to form the basis of a new post—brexit immigration system. our home editor mark easton reports. injune, i received an e—mail from bbc. let me just read it to you... i contacted alex last summer because i was interested in his strong views on immigration. mark easton, bbc home editor. after my approach, alex posted a video on youtube to talk about his experiences living in south wales. today, i will be talking about brexit, britain, europe and so on. alex is from latvia and works as a window cleaner. what interested me about his thoughts on being a migrant in britain was how positive he was. we meet at last! yes, that's right! very nice to see you, alex. from the beginning, i was afraid, because you have
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to interact with people. i have an accent. i have a different opinion of the world. but everything was great. altogether, it's been a fascinating experience. alex is not unusual. nine out of ten eu migrants here say they don't feel they belong to a group that suffers discrimination. the figure is eight out of ten for migrants from further afield. and seven out of ten foreigners in britain say they think the country is welcoming. ijust made the video to point out that i do like britain. it became my home, and i don't have a problem with it. alex isjust a lovely young man, and i'm so proud of him. he took a chance, gave up his family, and he just came on the off chance. what's not to be admired? saiful‘s experience of living in britain has not been so positive.
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a chef from bangladesh also now living in south wales, he says he's a victim of the government's hostile environment — wrongly accused by the home office of being a sex offender, his documents lost, mixed up or destroyed. do you feel you have been discriminated against? yes, sir. i feel they treated me as worse than a dog animal because of my race, religion and nationality. i feel that, therefore, they treated me discrimination. despite what a judge described as historic injustice, and an apology from the home secretary, saiful is still facing deportation. i cannot work because of their unfair treatment. saiful has spent 16 years fighting to stay in britain, but the home office insist his work permit has long expired, he has no right to remain and must return to bangladesh. it's interesting. public hostility to immigration, research suggests, has more to do with ethnicity than simply being foreign. for example, uk—born children
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of immigrants are more likely to say they feel discriminated against than new migrants from the eu. the uk appears a welcoming and friendly place. nice to meet you, mark, as well. mark easton, bbc news, south wales. and just to let you know that tomorrow, the bbc will be publishing its online briefing document in which immigration will be under the spotlight. to answer some of your questions in the future of the government's immigration policy, we are going to bejoint in the studio by the director of the migration observatory and reality check correspondent chris morris. to join us correspondent chris morris. to join us at 12:30pm tomorrow afternoon. you can of course get in touch using the hashtag. you can also e—mail us... the hashtag. you can also e—mail us... ortext... and the hashtag. you can also e—mail us... or text... and just
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the hashtag. you can also e—mail us... ortext... andjust to the hashtag. you can also e—mail us... or text... and just to let you know that text will be charged at your standard message rate. a rare turtle has been rescued off the east sussex coast by two women who were out swimming. the injured turtle usually found in the warm waters of mexico or the canary islands was spotted 20 metres off the beach. she is being treated at the brighton sea life centre. let's catch up with the weather. it's been a day of two halves across the uk. sunnier and colderfor halves across the uk. sunnier and colder for them halves across the uk. sunnier and colderfor them than halves across the uk. sunnier and colder for them than and wills. it is fog we are concerned about overnight. —— for england and wales. we have met office warnings for the fog overnight. we will keep the cloud any breeze going as much of england and scotland. maybe into east anglia as well, the lowest
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temperatures are indicated by those blue colours. —6 or —7 for rural parts of england and wales compared to eight or nine across the far north of scotland. this area of high pressure is a dominant feature not just her tomorrow but for much of the week. a lot of dry weather in this forecast will a friend to the far north of scotland will introduce some rain here later in the day. cloud still across scotland and northern ireland. some brightness across eastern counties. a cold day and probably a bit more cloud across east anglia and southeast england bud —— bud light winds for many. the gusts could reach 50 or 60 mph. close to the freezing worthy fog is slow to clear. another cold and frosty start to tuesday morning across central and southern england but, gradually, those frosts will clear as the week goes on. this is tuesday. pressure still with us. really no rain on it but a lot more
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cloud around on tuesday. some problems with overnight mist and fog, a cloudier day for many of its also bright or sunny spells, the best of which will be eastern coasts and where that fog is slow clear, again, it's going to be quite a cool day on tuesday. getting close to double figures of cross parts of scotla nd double figures of cross parts of scotland and northern ireland. the lesson was on such a lengthy dry speu lesson was on such a lengthy dry spell was back in september. —— the last time we saw such a lengthy dry spell. for the middle part of the week, once again, quite a bit of cloud around. as part of sunshine will be for eastern counties of scotla nd will be for eastern counties of scotland and eglin. temperatures coming down by day. to some of the week, a dried spell for many, some frosty nights at first, gradually turning of the bit milder but also some mist and fog.

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