tv BBC News BBC News August 30, 2020 12:00pm-12:31pm BST
12:00 pm
this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. university lecturers warn a million students due to return for the autumn term should study from home because of coronavirus. we are really worried that we could see universities becoming the care home of any second wave of coronavirus in the uk. european countries are urged to offer "a place of safety" to hundreds of migrants rescued by ships in the mediterranean, including one paid for by the street artist banksy. tight security in belarus ahead of more expected protests. the government there is accused of cracking down on foreignjournalists. the 14—year—old who started piano lessons at the end of last year, spent lockdown learning, and has just achieved the highest
12:01 pm
piano grade possible. hello and welcome if you re watching in the uk or around the world 7 and stay with us for the latest news and analysis from here and across the globe. britain's largest higher education union has called for students to stay home for the autumn term and study online to help prevent a second wave of coronavirus. face—to—face learning is an issue universities are grappling with around the world because of covid—19. the universities and college union say the prospect of more than a million students moving from their home towns to campuses across the country is a "recipe for disaster".
12:02 pm
universities insist they've spent months planning for a safe start to the new term. here s our education editor bra nwen jeffreys. it's been quiet on campuses since march, but within weeks, students are due to return — more than a million across the uk. the university lecturers' union says that should be put on hold. they want students to stay home, study online, unless they're doing a practical course, and warn full reopening could prompt a crisis. we are really worried that we could see universities becoming the care home of any second wave of covid—19 in the uk. the sheer amount of people that we're asking to move across the country and then congregate together in large numbers, when we don't think there is sufficient safety measures in place.
12:03 pm
so, we're looking at big residential bubbles, we're looking at students potentially mixing outside of those, and, as we say, no real way to trace or to test. the national union of students agrees, but universities say they're making campuses safe. more cleaning, partitions, face coverings, most offering a mix of online and face—to—face learning, clear rules in student accommodation. universities say they expect students to be responsible. every student signs a contract with that university and, this year, those contracts have been amended to include particular rules around social distancing and following the guidance that's in place at that time. the vast majority of our students are very responsible young adults. any small minority that don't obey the requirements of that contract, we have adjusted our disciplinary procedures and we will deal with them under those procedures. the government says it's right
12:04 pm
for universities to reopen. it's going to update its advice in england. many students can't wait to start, but student life this year won't be quite the same. branwen jeffreys, bbc news. let's talk to sophie watson, who is due to start a history and english literature degree at glasgow university next month. thank at glasgow university next month. you for being w hearing thank you for being with us. we are hearing from the university lecturers union that students shouldn't be going back to university this term, they should stay at home, study online to stop more covid spreading — what is your reaction to that? i personally don't think it will give me the same experience as i would usually expect going to university. i understand why they are doing it, but to be honest, it's going to ruin a bit of my first—year experience. and that
12:05 pm
experience, i suppose, from a student's point of view, is notjust about learning but about the whole social experience of going to university. definitely. iwon‘t social experience of going to university. definitely. i won't be able to meet people in my course as i usually would, it willjust be online, skype and chat rooms, so it's not the same experience of meeting people, and it will prevent meeting people, and it will prevent me making contact as well. we know that younger people are less prone to the symptoms of covid—i9, so how worried are you about going to university? i'm not worried because i spent most of the lockdown working ina i spent most of the lockdown working in a supermarket. if i was going to catch it, i would have coated at the peak, working face—to—face with the public, but i have obviously got slight worries, but i don't think about it that much. given the fiasco
12:06 pm
over exa m about it that much. given the fiasco over exam grades and so on, even though you are going to university, it isa though you are going to university, it is a very tough time to be going, and at the end of it, it will be a tough time for young people to try and geta tough time for young people to try and get a job. definitely. tough time for young people to try and get ajob. definitely. i personally wasn't too worried about exa m personally wasn't too worried about exam results, because i did receive an unconditional offer for university, but a lot of my friends and classmates were really worried about not getting into their choice university due to predicted grades, because a lot of people do a lot better in the exams than in prelims. also, a lot of people were worried depending on their relationship with the teacher as well. yeah, sure. do you think, having said all of that, you think, having said all of that, you will be able to enjoy university? yeah, i thinkl you will be able to enjoy university? yeah, i think i will, but ina university? yeah, i think i will, but in a completely different way than previous year groups probably enjoyed university. i think it will give mea enjoyed university. i think it will give me a better chance to maybe
12:07 pm
make friends with people i am living with rather than people on my course. i suppose that is a positive, but it will be different. i still think it will be really fun. let's really hope you enjoy it and get a lot out of it. good luck with your degree at glasgow university. let's talk to professor nishan canagarajah — he's president and vice—chancellor of leicester university. leicester are testing 20,000 staff and students. this is an interesting development, because here we have the lecturers union saying it isn't safe for stu d e nts to union saying it isn't safe for students to go to university, but you are trying to show what a way in which it can be saved. indeed, good afternoon. this is what we have been planning for the last few months to make sure our planning for the last few months to make sure oui’ campus planning for the last few months to make sure our campus is safe and to make sure our campus is safe and to make sure our campus is safe and to make sure that staff and students can come back on campus, and we will do everything we can to minimise the risk of the spread of infection.
12:08 pm
this greenish —— the screening programme is an important part of it. lots of young people will not show symptoms, so the screening will allow us to monitor whether there is infection within the student or staff body and then take appropriate steps to support them. will you test all students when they arrive? the plan is that some of it will be done by the city through public health, and we will be offering this to stu d e nts and we will be offering this to students when they arrive. it is volu nta ry, students when they arrive. it is voluntary, so we are planning to do up voluntary, so we are planning to do up to about10,000 voluntary, so we are planning to do up to about 10,000 people, and we are currently thinking about how frequently we need to test them, because to be effective it needs to because to be effective it needs to be done a few times. the plan, in terms of planning, we have staggered the arrival of first years, so we're taking a lot of steps at the moment to make sure we can manage the people coming campus, but also to do
12:09 pm
the screening in a meaningful way. the lecturers union are essentially stating today is that to have hundreds of thousands of students crisscrossing the country to go to university, it could spread to covid—19 dangerously and create a second wave, and they said actually it could be like the care home sector in terms of the public health disaster. what do you make of all of that? i understand what they are saying. that is what the universities have been preparing for for all these months. we were aware that all the students were going to come on campus in september, so we needed to make sure the campus would be fully safe. we have taken a lot of measures such as hand sanitiser is answer one, deep cleaning of our residences when we need to, so that is what we have been planning for all these months, so i think we understand the risk involved, which is why we have taken the steps
12:10 pm
necessary to minimise that and that stu d e nts necessary to minimise that and that students can come on campus. the feedback we're getting from staff and students is they want to come back, and they understand we have a responsibility to support the government advice, so what we want to do is to have a measured approach, wherever possible and necessary , approach, wherever possible and necessary, face—to—face teaching. certainly from lab —based subjects. for other subjects, we may offer courses on line. we were talking to sophie, who is starting at glasgow university, saying it is not the same university experience if you just study online at home. indeed. i think there is a lot you gain from going to university and mixing with different people, and that interaction is a key part of the university experience, but we are also in the middle of a national pandemic, so we need to get the balance right. i think the key thing
12:11 pm
is that where it is necessary we need to have face—to—face teaching. for example, laboratory experience, we need to do that. we want to make sure the students get the best experience, given the constraints we are operating under, and that is what we're doing. a lot of the universities are taking a similar approach. good luck to you, and i hope the new goes well. that is the president and vice chancellor of the university of leicester. the un refugee agency says hundreds of migrants who've been rescued in the mediterranean must be granted a place of safety. they're still at sea having been rescued by three boats — including one which has been paid for by the street artist banksy. simonjones reports. brought to shore and to safety. 49 migrants who had initially been rescued by a ship belonging to banksy, the louise michel. they were taken to lampedusa
12:12 pm
by the italian coast guard. these are the lucky ones. the fate of hundreds more people still on the water remains unclear. the louise michel had picked up more than 200 people at sea. it became dangerously overcrowded and stranded off the coast of malta. some of the migrants had to stay on life rafts, floating alongside the boat. the crew said nobody in the international community was willing to help. everyone that has been rescued is deeply traumatised. we'll keep trying to contact the european authorities to be assigned a port of safety. 0ne ship did come to help — another rescue vessel, the sea—watch 4. it was already carrying around 200 migrants. it has now taken on board those from the louise michel. they are being given medical assessments, with treatment for dehydration, hypothermia and fuel burns. the sea—watch crew tweeted, we now have around 350 people on board who need to disembark in a safe port as soon as possible. the louise michel added,
12:13 pm
it is not over, we demand a place of safety for all survivors now. the louise michel had only recently gone into service as a rescue ship complete with its own banksy artwork. the artist has accused the eu authorities of ignoring distress calls from non—europeans. the un refugee agency says a solution must be found and saving lives is a humanitarian imperative. simon jones, bbc news. the uk education secretary has warned parents that they will put a "huge dent" in their children's future life chances if they don't send them back to school. gavin williamson has written an open letter to parents, as children in england, wales and northern ireland prepare to return to the classroom this week. in it, he says the health risk to children from covid—19 is "extremely low". new research shows that care homes in england had the largest increase in excess deaths at the height of the pandemic,
12:14 pm
compared to the rest of the uk. the study, which was led by the university of stirling, also shows that care home residents have accounted for a0 per cent of all coronavirus deaths in the uk. professor david bell led the research, he says more information needs to be collected to avoid the impact of a potential second wave on the care sector. there are, for example, many more care homes than there are hospitals and there is a lot that goes on around care at home that we don't really know about. but i think the past few months have been a wake—up call, that some more effort has to be put into this area, because without the data and evidence, we cannot know whether the policies we are putting in place are working. the headlines on bbc news: university lecturers warn a million students due to return for the autumn term should study from home because of coronavirus. european countries are urged to offer "a place of safety"
12:15 pm
to hundreds of migrants rescued by ships in the mediterranean — including one paid for by the street artist banksy. tight security in belarus ahead of more expected protests. the government there is accused of cracking down on foreignjournalists. there's tight security in the capital of belarus ahead of another planned mass protest on president lukashenko's demonstrators are calling for him to step down three weeks after the disputed presidential election. 400 leading belarusian athletes have signed an open letter demanding new elections and punishment for those involved in the brutal police response. the kremlin says, in a telephone conversation, president putin and alexander lukashenko have agreed they will meet in moscow in the coming weeks. 0ur correspondent steve rosenberg
12:16 pm
was detained by security forces in minsk on thursday, but for now, retains his accreditation. in belarus, sunday has become the key day for protests against alexander lukashenko. one week ago, more than 100,000 people gathered here in the centre of minsk to demand his resignation and we are expecting another big in belarus, sunday has become the key day for protests of minsk to demand his resignation and we are expecting another big anti—government rally here today. it will be interesting to see whether it is allowed to go ahead or if the police will try to stop it. yesterday the authorities here launched a crackdown on independent voices. 17 journalists had press accreditations revoked. most of them were belarussian, belarussian citizens working for foreign media. clearly an attempt to interfere in coverage of events to make it harder for international news organisations to report on what is happening in belarus. it is three weeks since the presidential election which alexander lukashenko claims to have won by a landslide
12:17 pm
but which is widely believed to have been rigged in his favour. that vote was followed by a brutal police crackdown on the streets against his opponents, which sparked shock across the country and anger with the man who has been running this country for 26 years. steve rosenberg reporting from minsk. we have just heard from reuters that police in belarus have already detained around a dozen protesters who had gathered in the centre of minsk for who had gathered in the centre of minskfora who had gathered in the centre of minsk for a demonstration. hundreds of people were gathering near a central square, near the palace which police had cordoned off earlier in the day to prevent protesters from massing near government buildings. that is the latest from minsk, already a number of arrests by the security forces. the united states has accused russian fighterjets of making what they describe as an ‘unsafe and unprofessional‘
12:18 pm
intercept as the us airforce was flying over the black sea on friday. the us military has released footage which it says shows russian jets crossing ‘multiple times‘, within 100 feet — that‘s about 30 metres — of the nose of a us b—52 bomber‘. the us says it was conducting routine operations over international waters when the incident ooccured. in the western us city of portland, a white man is reported to have died after a shooting on saturday night — it followed skirmishes between pro—trump and black lives matter protesters. it isn t clear if the shooting arose from the clashes in the city centre. local media said the dead man was wearing a hat bearing the insignia of a right—wing group. there have been nightly protests in portland since may, sometimes violent, following the death of george floyd, in minneapolis when a police officer knelt on his neck. president trump will visit kenosha in wisconsin on tuesday, the city which has been
12:19 pm
at the centre of protests since a black man was shot in the back by a police officer last weekend. the white house said mr trump would meet police and see for himself ‘damage from recent riots". the shooting left jacob blake paralysed from the waist down. new zealand‘s prime minister jacinda ardern has announced the partial easing of coronavirus restrictions in auckland. the country‘s largest city was put back into lockdown two weeks ago after a cluster of cases. under the new guidelines, social gatherings will be allowed but limited to ten people, and across the whole country, facemasks will be compulsory on public transport. new zealand has registered just two new coronavirus cases in the last 2a hours. here‘s some of what the prime minister had to say. no gathering can be larger than ten. i cannot stress how important this is. much of this cluster has stemmed
12:20 pm
from social gatherings. if we want to stop the spread, we have to stop socialising for a time. i understand that it is easy to become complacent, that if you hear a message, as we did today, that there are just two cases, you may question what the likelihood is of you coming into contact with those two cases. everyone i‘m sure who has experienced covid—19 probably thought that same thing at some point until it was them. what‘s the best thing you achieved during lockdown? learning how to bake? dusting off your running shoes perhaps? there can‘t be many who‘ve mastered a musical instrument. 14—year—old hamish from jersey turned to music when his mother died in 2018. he started piano lessons at the end of last year, but then coronavirus came along. he spent lockdown learning online, and has just achieved the highest piano grade possible.
12:21 pm
he did it, in part, with a piece of music he composed in memory of his mum. piano music plays it was 2018 when i lost my mum. that was at sort of the same time i was discovering music and just really flourishing in that, so i think i put a lot of emotion and my feelings into that. it was not as sad, almost, because i had something to focus on, a drive which i could almost think, every day, after i came home from school, right, this is what i am going to do and i‘m going to do it really good. she was really, really great,
12:22 pm
really great cook and really great music taste as well, like eva cassidy and all that. i‘ve got a lot of different styles of music and inspirations from my dad and my mum, and i‘m reallyjust trying to soak in as much different genres as possible. i think, once you get something so ingrained in your muscle memory, no matter what it is, if it is music production or piano, once everything is there and you can just go for it. playing by ear, as well, i find that a bit easier than playing by music. playing just with feeling, almost.
12:23 pm
music is just an instinct to me, rather than the reading or the theory. it is more just a feeling that it evokes in people, like, when someone plays tennis or when someone rides a bike, i think we all have that thing and we‘ve just got to find it almost. the notting hill carnival has for the first time in its sit—year history moved from the streets of london to being hosted entirely online. a decision to cancel the annual street party was announced in may, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. this year‘s music and performances for the carnival have been filmed over a month—long period and are streamed over three days across four channels. terri walker is an r&b singer and one of those who will be performing. she joins us from west london. great to have you with us. how disappointed are you that the notting hill carnival, this great institution, can‘t take place as it a lwa ys institution, can‘t take place as it always has done on the streets? it's
12:24 pm
funny, because we have got so used to lock down in this way of living anyway, so you find ways. because of the whole black lives matter thing in different things happening, it‘s disappointing but it‘s also made a lot of people focus more and understand what is really important. for me, it‘s very healing, because you see a lot of people unifying and making things happen and work so we can have a good time. sorry, someone has texted me a message. and it's definitely better than nothing. what have you managed to perform, and tell us how you‘ve done it? have you managed to perform, and tell us how you've done it? we recorded at abbey road studios, a lot of old school reggae artist and soul singers, and i lot of old school reggae artist and soulsingers, and i did lot of old school reggae artist and soul singers, and i did two songs that will be streamed later tonight from apm till 11pm on the main stage. what was that like? when you
12:25 pm
are performing like that but not with an audience, how difficult is that, to get the same sort of, i don‘t know, the same spontaneity in your performance? you know, it's funny, because if you‘re a recording artist, that is what you do anyway, because when you get the performance, ends up being for a lifetime on your record, and you have to have that same energy where you are there. you have to switch yourself into that mode. that‘s what ido, yourself into that mode. that‘s what i do, anyway. to be honest, i‘m a lwa ys i do, anyway. to be honest, i‘m always performing to myself anyway! of course you are! do you think the notting carnival —— the notting hill carnival will be back next year for real? i hope so. there will be people having their own little parties anyway. it won‘t be as packed, obviously, but you will probably see them if you look online. great to talk to you. thierry walker, r and b singer, one of those who will be performing
quote
12:26 pm
virtually for this year‘s notting hill carnival, the first time in sa yea rs hill carnival, the first time in sa years it is not on the streets. thanks for having me. you are watching bbc news. we are going to get a look at the latest weather forecast for you. after a chilly start on sunday, it looks as though the rest of the day will offer up the prospect of some sunny spells. after that chilly start, it will feel pretty cool throughout the course of the day wherever you happen to be spending it. the settled conditions are thanks to the area of high pressure, which as you see, is close by out in the atlantic. further east, still a bit ofan the atlantic. further east, still a bit of an influence from that low pressure over the near continent. and the squeeze in the isobars has given some gusts today up around a0 mph orso, so given some gusts today up around a0 mph or so, so the winds gradually moderate through the afternoon, one
12:27 pm
of two showers coming into easterly counties on a noticeable lord dudley —— a noticeable northerly wind. the wind is from the north, not a one direction. after the cool stock, we max out at best 18 celsius. if you are on the east coast, 12—1a c could be the order of the day. 0vernight, cloud that has developed will dissipate, allowing temperatures to fall down into single figures. perhaps not just as fall down into single figures. perhaps notjust as low fall down into single figures. perhaps not just as low as fall down into single figures. perhaps notjust as low as the night just passed, but it offers the prospect of a pretty decent start to monday. bank holiday monday, of course, for bar scotland. the high pressure will keep the atlantic front out in the atlantic. but if you cast your mind back to where we we re you cast your mind back to where we were 12 months ago, i‘m afraid we won‘t be offering you anything like the 33 celsius also, notjust for monday but indeed for the
12:28 pm
foreseeable future. as you will see injust the foreseeable future. as you will see in just the second. a decent enough start to the day. there will be some gorgeous blue skies for some, but as the day goes on, cloud beginning to develop, and a shield of cloud begins to get into the western side of northern ireland. there are your bank holiday temperatures. scotland, mid—teens, at best in the south, perhaps 18 celsius. that weather front eventually staggers across during tuesday, a weakening affair. nothing weak about that spell of weather fronts, that give wet and windy weather into the middle part of the week. as they clear away, we are of the week. as they clear away, we a re left of the week. as they clear away, we are left with a legacy of wind. take care. me, goodbye.
12:30 pm
this is bbc news, the headlines. calls for students in the uk not to go back to university in case it sparks a second wave of coronavirus. we are really worried that we could see universities becoming the care home of any second wave of coronavirus in the uk. european countries are urged to offer "a place of safety" to hundreds of migrants — rescued by ships in the mediterranean — including one paid for by the street artist banksy. tight security in belarus ahead of more expected protests. the government there is accused of cracking down on foreignjournalists. in the western us city of portland, a white man is reported to have died after a shooting on saturday night. it followed skirmishes between pro—trump and black lives matter protesters.
45 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
BBC NewsUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=1005611850)