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tv   BBC News  BBC News  July 21, 2020 2:00am-2:31am BST

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this is bbc news, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. i'm mike embley hopes grow for a covid—19 vaccine after every volunteer involved in a trial at oxford university shows an immune response to the jab. they are extremely promising, because these are the type of responses that we believe will be associated with production. president trump says he will send more federal law enforcement officers to deal with protests. local officials say it is an abuse of power. in thejohnny depp libel case, his ex—wife, amber heard, says she was afraid the hollywood star was going to kill her. and polar bears under threat from climate change. why they could be extinct
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by the end of this century. we start with the global race to find a vaccine to halt the pandemic. here in the uk, scientists at oxford university say the vaccine they're developing appears to be safe and does trigger an immune response. the uk government has already ordered 100 million doses of it. here is the bbc‘s fergus walsh. three, one, three, one, one, nine, seven. so much is riding on this. could the oxford vaccine help end the coronavirus pandemic? more than 9,000 volunteers have received the jab in the uk —
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among them these frontline nhs staff in newcastle. i've seen what covid can do. the sort of severity of some of the cases has been quite upsetting at times, so i really wanted to try and help get rid of this disease. unfortunately, me dad fell ill with covid, and was admitted here for eight days. and i think, once it's been that close to home, it makes more of a difference. you feel like you want to do your bit. vaccines work by training the immune system to recognise and remember the enemy — in this case coronavirus. the oxford vaccine stimulates the creation of specialist y—shaped proteins known as neutralising antibodies. in the event of future exposure, these should latch onto the coronavirus and prevent infection. it also stimulates the creation of t—cells, another key part of the immune system. these should sweep up after the antibodies and destroy any cells that have become infected.
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in the first 1,000 volunteers, the vaccine was safe, and two doses gave a better immune response than one. the oxford team says it is a really important milestone. we're really pleased with the results that are published today in the lancet, because we're seeing both neutralising antibody responses and t—cell responses that we are optimistic may be associated with protection. but we still need to conduct those trials to prove that that's the case in humans. but we don't know if the vaccine will work in the real world, and protect people from infection. trials have begun in south africa and brazil, both virus hotspots. so the answer there may come sooner than in the uk. so this is very good and is very promising to start with. however, we have seen vaccines reaching this point and also failing, so we need to be a little bit careful, and not quite popping the prosecco just yet.
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i can fit you both in at 12:45pm. perfect. these over—70s in southampton are all signing up to receive the vaccine. older people are more vulnerable to covid—i9. and our immune system weakens as we age, so whether the vaccine protects them is another key question that needs answering. how do you feel? i feel fine. good. fergus walsh, bbc news. the race is on to find a vaccine and test it within a large enough group. american pharmaceuticalfirm moderna is hoping to enter the final stages of its trials next week. they are ready to administer the vaccine to 30,000 volunteers, the biggest and the most crucial phase of human clinical trials for the vaccine so far. chinese biotech cansino biologics are the first to publish a full scientific study on its early human trials. their vaccine trial produced good antibody responses, but it didn't work as well in people aged 55 and older. on tuesday, executives from five drug companies leading the vaccine race are due at a congressional hearing to talk about their progress in developing a product the entire world desperately needs.
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who will get a successful vaccine first, and how much might it cost? dr angela rasmussen is a virologist and associate research scientist at the center of infection and immunity at columbia university school of public health. thank you very much indeed for your time. how optimistic are you? what conclusions do you reach about efficacy and time, from what you are hearing? 50 u nfortu nately, from what you are hearing? so unfortunately, while this data is very promising, it is still too preliminary to make any conclusions about efficacy or about how long that protective efficacy may last, if it exists. that's why these phase three trials coming up are so crucial to determining whether these immune responses for the oxford vaccine as well as a moderna vaccine, some of the
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vaccines in the pipeline, are able to generate. that really is the critical question for the entire world, really, in terms of having a safe and effective vaccine that will protect us from the coronavirus in the long run. and i realise from what you are saying that it is early stages, but at best at the moment it seems that we are talking about not complete immunity anyway, but some kind of protection from the most severe stages of the disease. even that would be a substantial public health benefit, wouldn't it? absolutely, so early monkey haven't nonhuman primate trials of the oxford vaccine show that it protected nonhuman primates from very severe pneumonia. but it did not completely protect them from becoming infected. nonetheless, it doesn't really matter that much if you are getting infected. it still does, but it doesn't matter as much, if you are not becoming seriously ill. right now, one of the biggest problems we having here in the united states is the strand that severely ill patients put in the hospital system. if you are able to prevent people from
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becoming seriously ill and make this into a manageable disease that you will survive, that has a huge public health benefit. what sort of timescale do you think we're talking about at the moment, at best? certainly the moment, at best? certainly the phase three trials that have already started, such as with the oxford vaccine, are taking place in coronavirus hotspots. that makes it much more quickly that you will see a result, in terms of efficacy. i think that we are already planning to speed up these trials to the point where, if we get any indication that this vaccine is effective at reducing disease severity, that vaccine will probably move on to being used in the human population much more quickly than a vaccine normally would. that said, we need to be cautious and manage our expect patients, because we really don't know how long that is going to take. i would say that at the earliest, we will probably have a vaccine in late 2020 if everything goes perfectly. briefly, if you don't mind, what are the
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chances of getting people to ta ke chances of getting people to take it, given the resistance there's been, even to masks. take it, given the resistance there's been, even to masksli think that's been a real challenge. we have a lot of problems with convincing people to adhere to basic public health measures intended to protect people. i think personally, what i plan to do is be first in line to get the vaccine as soon is be first in line to get the vaccine as soon as is be first in line to get the vaccine as soon as i is be first in line to get the vaccine as soon as i can, to try to set a good example for public health. i think that we really have a lot of work cut out for us, though, in order to win hearts and minds, to convince people that this is safe, that the coronavirus is something real that we need to protect ourselves against, and to get everybody on bored with achieving herd immunity, which is what we're looking for, with a minimum amount of deaths from disease —— on board with achieving herd immunity. president trump has threatened to send federal law enforcement personnel to more american cities. federal officers have already been deployed in portland as anti—racism protests continue. there have been 52 nights of demonstrations there against police violence in the wake of george floyd's
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killing. portland's mayor has accused federal forces of abusive tactics. this from our correspondent sophie long. another night of conflict on the streets of portland. tear gas is fired at demonstrators to drive them away from the courthouse. there have been protests against police brutality and racism here every day for nearly two months. and they are becoming increasingly volatile. some say that is due to the presence and tactics of the federal officers. it's picking back up, ‘cause we've got the feds out here. they're tear gassing people, they're snatching people up, they're beating people in the streets. local leaders say this is an abuse of federal power. but president trump says they are helping portland, not hurting it. portland was totally out of control. the democrats, the liberal democrats running the place, had no idea what they were doing. they were ripping down,
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for 51 days, ripping down that city, destroying the city, looting it. the level of corruption and what was going on there is incredible. and then the governor comes out, "0h, we don't need any help. " how about chicago? i read the numbers were...many people killed over the weekend. we're looking at chicago, too. we're looking at new york. look at what's going on. all run by democrats, all run by very liberal democrats, all run really by radical left. oregon's attorney general has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, accusing it of illegally detaining protesters. every american needs to be concerned about what's happening here in portland. you know, these federal agencies are operating with no transparency and against the will ofjust about every leader in our state, and i assume it will be the same in other states where they show up. but portland is currently the poster child for this administration. they are using us, sort of throwing mud on the wall
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to see if this is an issue that might stick for the president. there is little indication the federal tactics are working. more people are now demonstrating, including a group of mothers who say they will come out until no protesters needs protecting. and i thought they were just — they were going to leave us alone, because we weren't throwing anything at them. but that's not what happened. so we were gassed. they shot... it's like a very loud sound, and they also shoot these things that burst on the ground. i'm not exactly — i'm not familiar with military garb or language, but it was terrifying. we're not there to hurt them. we're there to protest human rights violations. like, as americans, aren't we allowed? isn't that a protected right? the acting secretary of homeland security says the crackdown will continue. and if they see the same threat in other cities, they will order the same response. sophie long, bbc news.
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and we'll have more on that story a little later. donald trump has now declared that many people say it is a patriotic duty to wear a mask if they can't socially distance. in recent months, the president has made wildly divergent statements on the importance of masks in containing covid— 19. there has been much criticism from the democrats and some scientific advisors. he now says he believes in masks, but added that he thinks they also cause problems. let's get some of the day's other news: the british foreign secretary, dominic raab, has suspended the uk's extradition treaty with its former colony hong kong, immediately and indefinitely. the announcement, which also includes an arms embargo, is a response to china's imposition of a new security law on hong kong which mr raab called a clear and serious violation of the uk—china joint declaration. syrian state media says the country's air defences have
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intercepted a number of israeli missiles over damascus. a syrian military spokesman said most of the missiles targeted southern damascus suburbs which israel had hit in the past. it said seven syrian soldiers had been wounded. there was no immediate israeli comment. a man found dead in a car in new york state is being investigated as the possible suspect in the deadly attack on the family of a us federaljudge. esther salas was unharmed after sunday's shootings, but her 20—year—old son was killed and her husband was critically injured. the wearing of masks in indoor public spaces is now compulsory in france. there is a penalty of more than $150 for failing to wear a face covering in places such as shops, restaurants and banks. france has seen a slight resurgence of coronavirus infections. budget negotiations between leaders of the 27 eu member states have gone into a fourth night in brussels. their summit was initially scheduled to last two days. they are attempting to settle a trillion—euro budget covering the next seven years, alongside a 750 billion euro covid recovery fund.
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still to come here on bbc news: the dash to spend their stash. cu ba's state—run stores start accepting us dollars as the government runs out of currency. nasa: see them coming down the ladder now. one small step for man... one giant leap for mankind. a catastrophic engine fire is being blamed tonight for the first crash in the 30—year history of concorde, the world's only supersonic airliner. it was one of the most vivid symbols of the violence and hatred that tore apart the state of yugoslavia but now, a decade later, it's been painstakingly rebuilt and opens again today. there's been a 50% decrease in
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sperm quantity and an increase in malfunctioning sperm unable to swim properly. seven, six, five, four.... thousands of households across the country are suspiciously quiet this lunchtime as children bury their noses in the final instalment of harry potter. this is bbc news, the latest headlines: scientists at oxford university say the coronavirus vaccine they‘ re developing appears to be safe and triggers an immune response. president trump warns he might send federal law enforcement officers to more us cities but local leaders criticise his crackdown on protests. let's get more on president trump's proposal. geoffrey corn is a professor of law at south texas college of law, houston.
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thank you very much for talking to us. this is within the president's powers? what is the complaint? i think the complaint? i think the complaint is first that there doesn't appear to be any effective co—ordination between the federal, state and local authorities and secondly, there isa authorities and secondly, there is a perception that the president is contributing to that the omission of these federal law enforcement agents extends well beyond simply protecting federal facilities in these cities. the president suggests they are going to essentially take over the responsibility for maintaining law and order in the cities which they do not have the authority to do. and i'm certainly not the first person appointed up but it does seem an odd kind of doublethink to present the wearing of a mask as some kind of tyranny but it's ok to see protesters pulled off the streets into unmarked vans. i think we have to bea unmarked vans. i think we have to be a little bit cautious, there is the possibility that there is the possibility that the individuals were
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apprehended because there was evidence they had committed an offence against federal property which is a federal felony and would justify federal agents apprehending them. one of the big problems asi them. one of the big problems as i see it is that apparently most of these people are being released shortly after they arrested, so they are never presented to a magistrate and the government has never required to explain exactly what the legal justification was for their arrest, and that, i think, contributes to the perception that this is really harassment and not necessarily the protection of federal facilities. and the president says he is having to act because he says very liberal democrats, the radical left as he puts it, i'm not acting, he is clearly trying to make a election issue. there are also suspicions he is trying to distract from his handling of the pandemic. i don't think we can avoid that narrative stopping the reality is that traditionally we rely on local and state authorities to
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maintain order and to protect federal facilities maintain order and to protect federalfacilities in maintain order and to protect federal facilities in their jurisdiction. a federal court ina jurisdiction. a federal court in a sense is like an embassy in another country. we rely on the local authorities to protect it and only when those local authorities would go to the federal government and say we are overwhelmed and we need a system, with the federal government normally do something like this. so the fact that the president is proposing to pre—empt local authority without a request and in fact authority without a request and infactan authority without a request and in fact an oregon the local and state authorities a actually suing the federal government, they want them out of that mission, is very unprecedented and very troubling but it plays right to the law and order narrative that has become a key feature of the trumpet re—election campaign. feature of the trumpet re-election campaign. you think he will send federal officials into chicago, new york as he is threatening to do, and are there precedents for this kind of tactic? there is not a
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precedent for a president doing this unilaterally without co—ordinating with state and local officials. the only exception would be as if for example there was a federal court order that the state governor said he's not going to implement, like during the rights era when president kennedy and eisenhower used federal military troops to enforce constitutional rights. so we have this odd situation where the does have legal authority to send people and but the custom and the tradition is to do it only as an exceptional measure when the state and local officials say that they are in need of that supplemental law enforcement port and even then, they are limited to protecting federal facilities. they don't have the authority to simply take over law enforcement in cities because the president decides that the democratic or liberal now is not effective in performing the duty. really interesting to talk to you, thank you very much. thank you
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for having me. amber heard has told the high court in london her former husband johnny depp threatened to kill her many times. she's begun giving three days of evidence as part of the actor's libel action against the owners of the sun newspaper. johnny depp is suing over the allegation that he was a wife—beater — which he strongly denies. david sillito reports. amber heard, here in the white blouse, arriving in court for the beginning of her account of her relationship withjohnny depp, who was himself arriving in court through a different entrance. the case brought byjohnny depp is a libel action against the publishers of the sun newspaper over an article that described him as a wife—beater. did he give it to you? the couple first met on the set of the film the rum diary. during their relationship, she says, he repeatedly assaulted her — punching, slapping, kicking, head—butting, choking. she says she feared for her life. but in court, she was also asked about a recording of an argument. was this evidence that she had hitjohnny depp? i did not punch you.
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i did not bleep deck you. i bleep was hitting you. i don't know what the full motion of my actual hand was but you're fine. i did not hurt you, i did not punch you, i was hitting you. how are your toes? what am i supposed to do, do this? how are your toes? i'm not sitting here bleep about it, am i? you are. that's the difference between me and you. you're a bleep baby. because you start physical fights? you are such a baby! grow the bleep up! because you start physical fights? i did start a physicalfight. yeah, you did, so i had to get the bleep out of there. yes. she said she was being sarcastic. if she had hit him, it was only to stop him choking after he had passed out. she was also questioned about this red mark. it was visible at a court appearance in 2016 but officers who saw her at the time of the alleged incident said they saw no mark. it was put to her in court. "i suggest you were not injured at all." "that's not true," she said. "johnny threw a phone right at my face. it was just one of many incidents." the questioning continued.
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"a number of officers saw you. a number of people saw you with no injury. are you saying they are all lying?" she answered, "i don't want to call anyone a liar." in court she was questioned about an arrest for alleged domestic violence in a previous relationship. she said there was no assault, no charges were brought. she was also questioned about a medical report that talked of substance abuse and mental health problems. all untrue, she said. johnny depp strenuously denies all the allegations but amber heard says she thinks he doesn't remember what he did and has been convinced by others that she is making things up, to which she says, "i am not." david sillito, bbc news. the egyptian parliament has voted to authorise deployment of its military abroad to defend what it says is its national security. it's an apparent reference to neighbouring libya, where egypt has been supporting the militia leader khalifa haftar against the libyan government, which is recognised by the un and backed by turkey.
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this does not necessarily mean that egypt will be sending troops to libya. the outcome of the vote today was highly expected that it will give the mandate to the president to send troops overseas to libya but according to a lot of experts we have been talking to, egypt is trying to use this as some sort of leverage, this potential scenario of getting involved in libya as some sort of pressure on warring parties and on allies to come back to the negotiating table and try to find out a solution via diplomacy. according to experts as well, egypt does not want to get caught up in some sort of a guerrilla war in libya. cairo has always accused the national government and turkey of bringing ina government and turkey of bringing in a lot of mercenaries and militants and the egyptian army does not want to get involved in such a kind of war, according to people we have been talking to, so yes,
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the parliament has agreed to sendin the parliament has agreed to send in troops to libya, but this does not mean that we will see boots on the ground any time soon. this might be only some sort of pressure or kind of political tactics. a new report warns polar bears could be almost extinct, by the end of the century, if we don't act fast. victoria gill has the story. they are the poster species for climate change. predators that depend on a fragile, transient hunting ground, the arctic sea ice. and this study has shown that polar bears' survival is tied to that ice. the scientists used models based on satellite data to forecast sea ice decline in the arctic over the coming decades. that enabled them to predict a future tipping point, to create a timeline for when the frozen hunting season will be too short for the bears to fatten up before the summer. at the current rate of warming,
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the researchers say all but a few polar bear populations will collapse before 2100. with less fat, they're entering a fasting season that's longer than it used to be. so, is that now unavoidable? are we already on that trajectory, to just lose polar bears? the trajectory that we're on now is not a good one. but if society gets its act together, globally, we can halt global warming in time to save polar bears. and if we do, it will benefit the rest of life on earth, including ourselves. the consequences of climate change are already playing out in the arctic landscape. and this new timeline, the researchers say, is a stark reminder that the survival of an entire species is at stake. victoria gill, bbc news.
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that's it for now, thank you for watching. hello. this week started off on a fairly dry settled note for most places, but we will see weather fronts approaching from the atlantic, bringing some outbreaks of rain in through this week. now, tuesday will start on quite a chilly note. will bring some rain later on to parts of northern ireland and scotland courtesy of this weather front approaching here. further south, high pressure holding onto things so it's a dry picture of it to sit across the book of england and wales. under clear skies, quite a chilly start. temperatures in the mid—single figures for many of us first thing tuesday morning, a few early mist patches. in fact temperatures could be as low as around 3—4 degrees in the coldest rural spots. after that fresh start, there will be some long spells of sunshine through the morning. later in the afternoon, cloud will tend to build so that sunshine at times a bit hazy, cloudier skies later
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on in the afternoon. some rain working into the northern parts of northern ireland, the western isles as well. 1—2 showers around for the north—east of scotland too. now, temperatures across scotland and northern ireland between about 14—18 degrees. england and wales typically around 18—21 celsius, a little below par for the time of year. heading into tuesday evening and overnight into wednesday, we will continue to see this weather front in the north bringing rain, quite heavy at times, to northern ireland and parts of scotland as well. for england and wales, it's going to be dry, but with the cloudier skies, it won't be quite as chilly as it has been over the past couple nights. into wednesday, outbreaks of rain continue at times for northern ireland and for scotland. later in the day, a few of those showers could just push into parts of northern england and north wales as well, but further south across england and wales, we should have a dry day and with some sunshine, it will be a little bit warmer. so temperatures up to about 23 degrees down towards the south—east. we're typically looking at the mid to high teens further north across the uk.
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looking towards the latter part of the week, and this waving weather front will push its way gradually southwards and eastwards, bumping into higher pressure across the near continent. it will be fizzling out, but we could still see some outbreaks of rain thursday particularly across western parts of england and wales too. they'll be followed by some fresher, brighter conditions of sunshine and scattered showers across parts of scotland, and temperatures will range between about 16—22 degrees on thursday. then things continue onafairly unsettled and a showery theme as we look through friday and into the weekend for many of us, as well. that's it for now. bye— bye.
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this is bbc news. the headlines: early results from two more coronavirus vaccine trials have produced an immune response without any serious side effects. one was carried out at oxford university, the other at china's academy of military medical sciences. further work is needed to assess how long lasting any immunity would be. they've been described as hopeful and potential game changers. president trump has threatened to send federal law enforcement personnel to more american cities to tackle anti—racism demonstrations, which he claims are the work of anarchists. democrats, civic leaders and civil liberties groups have called the officers' actions in portland deeply disturbing and unacceptable. the actress amber heard has told the high court in london that her former husband, johnny depp, threatened to kill her many times. she is giving evidence as part of the actor's libel action against the sun newspaper for calling him a wife—beater. he denies the allegation.

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