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tv   BBC News  BBC News  September 10, 2020 2:00am-2:31am BST

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he welcome to bbc news — my name is mike embley. our top stories: a second fire breaks out a camp in lesbos — as greek officials blame migrants for the blaze that's left thousands homeless. donald trump is accused of deliberately downplaying the dangers of coronavirus. he says he didn't want to panic the american people. and i don't want people to be frightened, i don't want to create panic as you say. the us speaker of the house warns britain — there'll be no trade deal if the uk undermines the good friday agreement. and san francisco glows orange as devastating wildfires rage across the western united states.
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firefighters are battling a new fire on the greek island of lesbos, a day after a huge blaze devastated the moria migrant camp. firefighters are trying to control the new blaze which is destroying the remains of camp that at the start of the week was the only shelter for more than 12,000 refugees — europe's largest refugee camp. the camp had been placed in quarantine last week, as several cases of coronavirus were confirmed among residents. mark lowen has more. a camp often called a ticking time bomb has exploded. moria, four times over its capacity, has been almost completely destroyed, an inferno in a place where life was already hell. the 13,000 migrants here, mostly afghans, fleeing again, this time in europe. my house is finished. many...
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all finished. at first light, it seemed the sun itself was on fire as a desperate attempt to douse the flames continued. inside, homes now a wasteland. pictures from the charity medecins sans frontieres show the gutted remains of europe's largest migrant camp. the government said the fire was started deliberately, a protest after 35 migrants who had tested positive for coronavirus were isolated. strong winds fanned it. the prime minister hit out at arsonists. translation: i express my sorrow over yesterday's events in moria. i recognise the difficult conditions. however, nothing can become an excuse for violent reactions to health checks, and even more so for such extensive unrest. hundreds of thousands have passed through here, waiting for asylum claims that went nowhere. there were repeated warnings
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that the bottleneck couldn't last, its charred remains a symbol of how the eu turned a blind eye. lesbos is now in a state of emergency in a scramble to house the migrants and quarantine those infected. they had barely anything, but at least they had shelter. no more. mark lowen, bbc news. aid organisations have argued that a situation like this was only a matter of time, slamming the eu and greece for their handling of the refugee situation — allowing numbers in the camp to swell and conditions to worsen. but according to greece's minister of migration and asylum, the country needs more support to deal with the crisis. we cannot have amended capacity to cope with migration flow. greece has been asked to carry a burden which was too high. we have been the largest entry point to the eu for the last five years. that is something very difficult for greece
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to cope with, especially for the fire violence. lesbos took the majority of the 2019 arrivals. we have tried to provide the best possible accommodation. the government had decided in february 2020 to replace this camp with a brand—new camp that would've been safer and provided more humane living conditions. the truth of the matter is people in the greek islands welcomed the refugees years ago but after so many years of continuous flow, there has been a lot of fatigue in local communities. the blaze has reignited calls for the eu to rethink its asylum policy — and take in far greater numbers of refugees to take the pressure off camps like moria. thousands of people rallied in berlin on wednesday, calling on the german government to increase its own refugee intake and use its power at the negotiating table in brussels to bring about reform — something the german foreign office has said is a priority in the wake of the crisis.
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avril benoit is executive director of medecins sans frontieres. she gave us her reaction to the events at the moria camp. it is absolutely shocking, isn't it? 12,000 people in what we have been describing for the last five years as akin to an open—air prison, a place of despair, of children not having much of a life and then with the lockdown for the last several months making the conditions and detention all the worst. in some ways we're not going to say anything but it is an absolutely shocking situation and as the people were fleeing they had nowhere to go on monday night. the fire was raging all night long so for a group of people who were already quite traumatised by everything they have gone through, the sense of hopelessness of being in this place with no sense of ever being able to move
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on with their lives, of reaching a place of safety in europe which was the destination, they, you know, now have a devastating circumstance where it is not entirely clear what will happen to all of them now. do you think it is most likely the people living within the camp did set the fires that destroyed it, whether out of frustration, or perhaps to force the issue to get moved? i cannot answer that question and not from my vantage point. we know there were protests and the protest have been a long time coming. it has been an extremely difficult situation for these people to be trapped in. let's not forget that although they have fled afghanistan, or many other countries at war, we have unaccompanied minors in this group, we have people with covid—19 in this group
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and so the conditions that they were living in, and the sense that there was just no out and they would be trapped in this place had led to protests. i don't know what the link to the fires is, but for sure we could sense that it was at an end point in terms of patience with the situation. for us, the human tragedy of the camp, the very existence of the camp is what we need to pay attention to and how we can move these people to a place of safety following due process and also respecting that they have rights to the dignity, to the services, to the healthcare that has been so limited over the last many years that so many of them have been dropped there. the camp was way over capacity, four times the number of people expected to be there and it seems the greek government recently added to the numbers.
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it also seems odd that if people can be moved now, why could they not have been moved earlier? that is certainly something that we have been calling on and other organisations as well. many grassroots organisations have been saying this, that these people need to be moved on. many of the tent shelters and the structures were housing families of seven and then with the lockdown you can imagine how difficult this has been for them and with children so afraid of this virus that they do even want to go out themselves, it has been a circumstance where for five years we have been saying that this is untenable, why do we do this to human beings? why do we not find a solution for them whether it be on the mainland or other parts of europe? there are so many other options than the inhumanity that has befallen these people. it's emerged that donald trump deliberately played down
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the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic because, he said, he didn't want to cause panic. the news comes from taped conversations with the journalist bob woodward, for a new book. 0n the tapes, the president describes the virus as "deadly stuff," certainly more serious than seasonal flu. at the time he was saying something very different, repeatedly, in public. more than 189,000 americans have since died from covid—19. from new york, the bbc‘s nick bryant. even as the coronavirus began claiming scores of american lives, the us president publicly talked down the threat. it will go away. you know it is going away and it will go away and we will have a great victory. but at the same time, donald trump was telling the legendary watergate journalist bob woodward that he had deliberately played down the pandemic, even though he understood the deadliness of the virus. well, ithink, bob, to be honest with you... sure, i want you to be.
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i wanted to always play it down. i still like playing it down, because i don't want to create a panic. this was impossible to dismiss as fake news and instead, the president tried to explain his comments. i am a cheerleader for this country. i love our country and i don't want people to be frightened. i don't want to create panic, as you say. and certainly, i'm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. his democratic rivaljoe biden is already leading in the polls and he immediately weaponised what the president's critics will seize upon as a covid smoking gun. he lied to the american people. he knowingly and willingly lied about the threat it posed to the country for months. he had the information. he knew how dangerous it was. and while this deadly disease ripped through our nation, he failed to do his job on purpose. donald trump keeps on trying to change the conversation
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to law and order, but we keep on returning to the health crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 190,000 americans. this feels like a covid campaign. nick bryant, bbc news, new york. the speaker of the us house of representatives nancy pelosi has bluntly told london there will be "absolutely no chance" of a us/uk trade deal if boris johnson overrides the brexit deal with brussels. mrjohnson has tried to urge his mps to support a new deal which changes parts of the brexit deal that he negotiated with the eu and signed in january. 0ur chief political correspondent vicki young reports. do you still trust the british government, mr barnier? here to talk about a future trade deal, but the eu's chief negotiator arrived in london today with a huge row raging over an agreement that he thought was done and dusted. are you happy to break the law, prime minister?
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yesterday, the government shocked mps, admitting it was ready to break international law and override parts of the brexit treaty it signed with the eu injanuary. the prime minister denied that he was tearing it up. this uk internal market bill is about protecting jobs, protecting growth, ensuring the fluidity and safety of our uk internal market and prosperity throughout the united kingdom. and the former conservative prime minister sirjohn major had a stark warning — if we lose our reputation for honouring the promises we make, we would have lost something beyond price that may never be regained. the withdrawal agreement included unique arrangements for northern ireland trade to avoid a hard border with ireland, which is in the eu. but goods going back and forth between northern ireland and the rest of the uk will need extra checks and tariffs so that this trade doesn't interfere with the eu's single market. but now the uk government has published the internal market
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bill, which gives british ministers the power to decide for themselves how it will work. and the irish prime minister suggested this could all derail trade talks. unilateral actions which seek to change the operation of measures already agreed, included in an international treaty and incorporated into domestic law, do not build trust. when he met mrjohnson last month, talks were cordial. according to dublin, when the two men spoke tonight, the taoiseach set out his concerns in forthright terms. so why has the government taken this incredibly provocative action? well, it thinks that the eu will have too much say over trade not just in northern ireland, but the rest of the uk too. it wants to put pressure on the eu to compromise and even if the trade talks all collapse in acrimony, there are plenty in the conservative party perfectly happy with no deal. even conservative mps are unsure whether this is all a negotiating strategy.
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not for the first time, downing street is keeping everyone guessing. vicki young, bbc news, westminster. wildfires in california have turned the sky blood—red over san francisco. the governor of oregon says it could bring about the greatest loss of property and life in the history of the state. our reporter has the story. this is san francisco in the middle of the day. smoke and ash looking out the sun, making it feel like the end of the world. 11:15am. crazy. 1115 in
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the morning and it is like the middle of the night, almost. they say it is coming all the way from oregon which is hundreds of miles away. and it looks like the apocalypse right 110w. looks like the apocalypse right now. nighttime in the daytime. in los angeles the guy is a more normal colour but the smoke is still there, i hasten is enveloping much of the city and this is the reason — just one of the fires burning out of control here in california and also further north. this was a trailer park in medford, 0regon. trailer park in medford, oregon. the fire has ripped through it, destroying property and destroying lives. it was coming through, level three, get out, get out, and grab some papers... and staff. this is it. this is what i have. what you are wearing right now? this
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is what i have god. i am so sorry. this is a once in a generation event and it is a similar story for neighbouring states. this fire season is unprecedented, the flames continue to burn. stay with us on bbc news — still to come: fire and disease — the twin tragedies affecting george w bush: freedom itself was attacked this morning, and freedom will be defended. the united states will hunt down and punish those responsible. bishop tutu now becomes spiritual leader of 100,000 anglicans here, of the blacks in soweto townships, as well as the whites in their rich suburbs. we say to you today in a loud and a clear voice, "enough of blood and tears.
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enough!" translation: the difficult decision we reached together was one that required great and exceptional courage. it's an exodus of up to 60,000 people caused by the uneven pace of political change in eastern europe. iam free! this is bbc news, the latest headlines: a second fire breaks out a camp in lesbos, as greek officials blame migrants for the blaze that's left thousands homeless. the us democratic presidential contender, joe biden, has accused donald trump of lying about coronavirus, after a new book said the president had deliberately underplayed the threat
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that it posed. when it comes to the global covid pandemic, latin america has some of the worst affected countries in the world. take brazil, which has more than four million recorded infections and 127,000 deaths. most recently the virus has been spreading inland, even as those areas especially near the amazon have endured a crippling fire season. katy watson has been looking at the impact of those dual tragedies. brazil's amazon is once again going up in smoke. a year after international outrage over the extent of the fires, they are back and as devastating as ever. but they are not just killing the rainforest, they are also choking its people. dr victorino has been working relentlessly for six months, dealing with covid—19. he is the best chance for the town's residents,
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who otherwise have to travel eight hours to the nearest intensive care bed. the situation is not easing here, he says, he's still seeing new cases every day, but now it is fire season and the team is not just battling covid—19. translation: every day i have patients returning with breathing problems that are getting worse because of pollution and the fires in the area. they do not know it is because of the smoke, they think they've gotcovid—19 again. they think they've got covid—19 again. 27—year—old eugenia was a first person in the town to be 27—year—old eugenia was the first person in the town to be diagnosed with covid—19. with no previous health issues, there were moments herfamily feared for her life. translation: sometimes i am at lost for words, to explain just how difficult it was.
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i would not wish it upon anyone. even today, i have a shortness of breath when the weather is very smoky or polluted like this. i can't stay out in th ecold. i can't stay out in the cold. i start to feel pain in my lungs, pain in my chest. across town, dr lucas has taken an emergency call. to get there, we have to take a boat. it is not straightforward. we are trying to get across this river to follow an urgent case of suspected covid—19, but the ferry has gone — it won't come back and is not expected to return for another hour. this is the reality of emergency services in the amazon. finally, we are on our way. dr lucas has been thrown in the deep end — the day after he graduated in march, the world health organization declared a pandemic. 62—year—old 0delli has all the symptoms of covid—19 and her son is in hospital with the virus.
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the team test her but the result is negative. it could be two things, the dr lucas tells 0delli, perhaps it is too early to do the test. in these parts of the amazon they only have access to rapid tests rather than the more reliable swab test, or dr lucas suggests it could be smoke inhalation. translation: i am not ruling covid—19 out because her smell and taste are affected and the patient has a cough, she is weak, she's got pain. we will continue to test for covid. coronavirus is still coursing its way through the community, but their problems are bigger than just covid—19, people here are on the frontline, living on the crosshairs of both the virus and the fires. katy watson, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news:
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the us has revoked more than 1,000 visas of chinese graduate students and researchers deemed to be a security risk. the acting head of the department of homeland security said that washington was blocking visas forthose with ties to china's military in order to prevent them from stealing sensitive research. top south african human rights lawyer, george bizos, who famously defended nelson mandela, has died aged 92. mr bizos represented some of the country's best known political activists during the apartheid years and became one of the architects of the country's new constitution. president cyril ramaphosa announced his death, saying mr bizos had "contributed immensely to our democracy". india has one of the highest suicide rates in the world and campaigners say it can be difficult to know where to turn in times of crisis. to coincide with world suicide prevention day, the country has launched its first ever national helpline, operating in 13 languages. ishleen kaur reports on the personal tragedy that helped to bring it into being.
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this was just six days before 18—year—old raga took his life. january six, 2019 changed everything for his family, including his sister. it was very sudden. it was shocking. none of us saw it coming. so my family, we were shattered. we were broken. and it took us a long time to even sort of come to terms with what had happened to us. according to the latest report by the national crime records bureau, the number of indian men who took their own life was more than doubled than that of indian women. the public health foundation of india say that while it is true that more indian men die from suicide every year, more women are
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attempting suicide. raashi started researching on suicides in india. and a helpline number she found in an internet search didn't work. what if my brother googled a helpline number, what if he tried calling the helpline number and he did not get a response? from that deep wound spawned a fierce determination. she started a petition to create a national helpline for suicide. the helpline, named kiren, is india's first ever national mental health helpline. when it got launched for the first time, i was able to take that sort of breath and just sit with that victory, sit with that win, and i guess i felt, my mum was next to me, and we both just broke down and we started crying because in that moment, we truly, truly missed him. she feels there is a
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deep—rooted stigma around mental health in the society. today, she is a mental health advocate and works for campaigns around suicide prevention. while her pain of losing a younger sibling to suicide may never go away, she has found meaning and purpose in her efforts to ensure that more innocent lives are not lost in such unfortunate circumstances. if you've been affected by a mental health issue, help and support is available. visit befrienders worldwide for more information about support services. or in the uk you can call the samaritans free on 116 123. it is not going to cheer you up at the moment but if you want
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more news, you can find more on oui’ more news, you can find more on our website and on our twitter feed. thank you for watching. hello. for many, wednesday was a reasonable day but for some, and this was the scene and st ives round about the sort of the lunch time period, it was notjust a sparkly as it might‘ve been. that is because there was quite a mild flow coming in from the atlantic, and you have the weather front just to thickened up the clouds there to be enough of a spot of rain. now, thankfully, that front moves away, and thursday, after a fairly cool start — and we haven't seen that for a wee while — that is looking like a half reasonable day. it does turns a wee bit cloudier later, as you will see, but for many, certainly across the greater part of england and wales, eastern side of scotland, it is a get—out and get—on with it sort of day. best of the sunshine perhaps early in the morning, through eastern scotland, certainly through eastern and southern parts of england too. northern ireland, always really rather cloudy throughout the day. it may, come the afternoon, just see a passing shower,
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but the obvious place where the weather really changes, is across the north and west of scotland. and it's notjust as warm as we've had it of late for sure. tops round about 19 or 20. and through the evening and overnight, the rainjust keeps on coming, into this north—western quarter of scotland. not a cold night here but, further south, if your skies stay clear for any length of time, you could be down into single figures. so what happens to the front on friday? well, it s a real player all over the northern half of the british isles. the isobars quite tightly packed. it's an unfortunate mix, to say the least, of pretty wet and windy weather. the front eventually staggers its way through scotland, through northern ireland, and the remnants of that rain move down to the north of england and the north of wales. further south, it's never a bother — 20 degrees is the high. and eventually, after that wet and windy start, things brighten up across scotland and northern ireland, to finish off the day. but that is not the end of the wet story for northern areas because the weekend sees,
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not one, but in fact a couple of pulses of really quite wet weather piling into the north and west of scotland and, at times, though northern ireland as well. the remnants on friday's weather, well, that'sjust a band of cloud pulling down towards the south and, again, much of england and wales in for a pretty dry day on saturday. again, if you've got plans for the outdoors, the weather won't get in the way. that won't be the case though for northern ireland and scotland, where saturday night is a really wet one, and quite widely and, come sunday, we are still talking about more rain coming into the western side of scotland, northern ireland but, further south, at this stage, things really are beginning to warm up quite nicely. take care. bye— bye.
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this is bbc news,
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the headlines: firefighters are battling a new fire on the greek island of lesbos a day after a huge blaze destroyed the moria migrant camp — europe's largest. there's an international effort to help the greek government cope, and a state of emergency has been declared. it's emerged that donald trump deliberately played down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic because, he says, he didn't want to cause panic. in taped conversations with the journalist bob woodward, for a new book, the president describes the virus as ‘deadly stuff, certainly more serious than seasonal flu.‘ at the time he was saying something very different, repeatedly, in public. the speaker of the us house of representatives has warned the government in london there is absolutely no chance of a trade deal with the uk if boris johnson overrides the good friday agreement that helped bring peace to northern ireland. mrjohnson wants to overturn parts of the brexit deal he negotiated with the eu.

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