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tv   Outside Source  BBC News  September 15, 2020 7:00pm-8:00pm BST

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hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. an historic agreement for the middle east signed at the white house. the united arab emirates and bahrain agree to normalise relations with israel. president trump says it's a new dawn for the middle east. these agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. today's signing sets history on a new course in gaza, palestinians say the deal‘s a "betrayal" — a breach in the arab front against israeli occupation. we'll have analysis, from every perspective. the family of breonna taylor, shot by police who entered her apartment in march, has accepted a multi—million dollar settlement, from the us
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city of louisville. in the uk, the government says it will take weeks to resolve a backlog in coronavirus testing. some nhs staff are having to stay off work because they need a test and can't get one. we've got this story, about wildlife in australia. i saw isawa i saw a big blow in the horizon, i thought that's a big dolphin! well, it wasn't a dolphin. it was a humpback whale, part of a group found miles inland up a river which is infested with crocodiles. in the past few minutes, the united arab emirates and bahrain have signed a deal to normalise relations with israel at a ceremony at the white house. all three along with the us are calling this historic, though other countries have different words for it. president trump invited a thousand
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people to the event. he spoke earlier. for generations, the people of the middle east have been held back by old conflicts, hostilities, lies, treacheries, so many things held them back. actually, lies that the jews and arabs were enemies and that al—aqsa mosque was under attack constantly. they would say it was under attack. these lies passed down from generation to generation fuelled a vicious cycle of terror and violence that spread across the region and all over the world. these agreements proof that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. today's signing sets history on a new course. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu also spoke. all of israel's friends in the middle east, those who are with us today and those who willjoin us tomorrow,
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i say peace unto thee. shalom. the deal ends a decades—long economic boycott of israel, and the ft reports new trade and investment deals in technology, agriculture and transportation will be worth "billions of dollars for each side". it highlights a quote from an israeli minister saying this is a chance to "build a new middle east". as well as those trade deals, direct flights between israel and uae will commence for the first time, and diplomatic offices are expected to open by the end of the year. the uae is also looking to build itself further as a military power. we think it'll now have access to advanced us fighterjets and other weaponry as part of this deal. the uae has justified the deal by arguing that israel has agreed to stop annexing large parts of the west bank. palestinian leaders have called it a betrayal. this was gaza earlier.
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fatah and hamas have both condemned the deal, and argue it breaks years of arab solidarity against israeli occupation and undermines their efforts to achieve a palestinian state. the bbc‘s security correspondent frank gardner put those concerns to the uae s minister of state, dr anwar gargash. this was his response. we are you stored this rhetoric. this rhetoric was applied to the president many years ago, and we know that today... he is very much celebrated in the arab world as a successful politician. having said that, we don't speak on behalf of the palestinians. they will have to make their deal with the israelis. our role as many arab countries is
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to support them. that narrative is also to be found in state media in the uae. gulf news is calling it a ‘new era' for the middle east which could end the ‘current impasse that prevails in the region'. let's get more analysis from the region, this time from the bbc‘s sameer hashmi in dubai. i think one thing is very clear. unlike israel, where we see that the press and the politicians are more upbeat about this deal, you don't see that here in the u. they have been trying to sell this is a deal to make sure israel doesn't go ahead with its plans to annex parts of the we st with its plans to annex parts of the west plan. they also see this as a practical move which is needed, given that how the geopolitics of the region have changed. we also don't expect things to change overnight, because they see this will take some time. israel's isolation in the middle east is why this
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deal is being hailed. four arab countries recognise israel as a state. first was egypt in 1974, then jordan in 1994. then the uae last month, with bahrain following suit. the economist in this article argues that the uae has beaten a path that others can now follow. oman might be next. we're told it had a delegation at the signing ceremony. further afield, sudan and morrocco are possibilities. to deliver that message.
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but this broadcast two weeks ago was interesting. this is a leading cleric calling for muslims to avoid "passionate emotions and fiery enthusiasm" towardsjews — that was seen as a shift in tone. a positive shift. all of this highlights the fractured nature of politics in the arab world. here's more on that from the editor—in—chief of the national in abu dhabi. it is crank awe frankly inaccurate to say this is the move that changes. i do think it's quite clear in saying that this is a nation that we are taking a further decision on and we are not breaking from the re st of and we are not breaking from the rest of the arabs. you had other arab countries... having an israeli
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trade office there from the 90s, so there have been different moves by different arab countries. the timing of this is being criticised in israel. on friday, it heads into a second nationwide lockdown, and prime minister benjamin netanyahu continues to face pressure over corruption charges. this article in haaretz earlier this month called the deal a publicity stunt, and a distraction from domestic issues. here's more on this from the bbc‘s yolande knell in jerusalem. he is there very much wanting to look like a great hero at the moment. people are very much focused on the fact that a national lockdown is coming, the second one for israel injusta is coming, the second one for israel in just a couple days' time. people are preparing for that. it will actually coincide with thejewish holiday, so that's proving to be something that's very sensitive. the other thing that commented on is that really very little has been revealed about the content of these agreements. even mr netanyahu
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himself signalled that they were in some ways, works still in progress. the agreement was only reached at the end of last week. there's another point too. and donald trump believes it's a diplomatic win. here's an example. this official ad campaign on facebook claimed he'd achieve peace in the middle east, and that he'd been nomianted for a nobel peace prize. there's isn't peace in the middle east, and it's quite easy for people to be nominated for a nobel peace prize. what is certainly true is donald trump is popular in the region. here's the new york times also points out that gulf countries: want trump to stay in power. that's relevant to how the president can present himself at home. let's look at this through
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the prism of us politics. here's gary o'donoghue in washington. in terms of the american voters, i think there'll be a lot of positive feeling amongst the mega gela goals who are big supporters of the president here —— a among the evangelicals. they will like that israel is being supported strongly. they will also like the fact that the president seems to be getting some results. for him, this is a very good day. frank gardner, security correspondent is in london. one country i have not mentioned is iran. presumably it's usually releva nt to. iran. presumably it's usually relevant to. yes, it doesn't like the deal and notice —— nor does turkey. it's been referred to as aggressive and and it is trail of the pallet to aliens —— betrayal to the pallet to aliens —— betrayal to the palestinians. one of the reasons behind this deal is a mutual
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mistrust of ireland by both israel and the uae —— of iran. it's got a huge factory of missiles, swarm technology, drones, boats and so on, and of course it has the nuclear programme which it insists is civil. so that's one of the reasons, and of course, if this deal works, the uae and israel will become very successful many superpowers in the region, especially when it comes to technology and health. we heard in the interview you did with the senior ministerfrom the uae it feels israel is given a lot of return for this deal. what's your reading of that claim? the israeli prime minister has only agreed to delay or suspend the annexation of
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the west bank. you don't know whether he really didn't to it was a political ploy to gain political support at home. the threat though of annexing the west bank, which is very unpopular in the white house, as well as in the arab world, that was taken quite seriously. this deal at least has pushed back further down the road, but he has not said, mr netanyahu just said he delayed it. on the surface, you can see why a lot of palestinians are angry about this because they view this as betrayal. many say this is taken away a huge bit of leverage on this government. it's rewarding israel with recognition by important arab states without in return giving independent states liberating their land and giving... the uae say differently. they say we will have
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more leverage on them, and they may wa nt to more leverage on them, and they may want to give up this deal. ergo, they say they can put pressure on them to deal with the palestinians, which they want to believe. the us is calling for "urgent action" to reverse an "accelerating" decline in nature. —— the united nations. it has something called the convention on biological diversity — and it's looking at measures that countries can sign up to stop species becoming extinct. victoria gill has this report on the warnings. time is running out to repair the damage we're doing to the natural world — that's the message from the un's convention on biological diversity. its latest report calls for urgent action to slow and eventually stop what it describes as nature's accelerating decline. covid—i9 has taught us clearly the relationship
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between human action and nature, so we need to change our production patterns, our consumption patterns. human encroachment into the wild life, into the forest. the picture this report paints is of an unsustainable relationship between humans and nature. one study calculated that nearly £400 billion spent globally every year to subsidize that damage nature, like foster feel use year to subsidize that damage nature, like fosterfeel use —— fossil fuel use. nature, like fosterfeel use —— fossilfuel use. some of nature, like fosterfeel use —— fossil fuel use. some of those billions need to be redirected now into turning the tide in biodiversity loss. we have to invest in conserving the nature that we still have, and also, restoring those that we've lost. this will be
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essential to contributing to climate agenda, as well as preventing extinction. this means every country will need to make commitments to protect habitat and eat more sustainable diets. but we'll have to reduce pollution so that we and wildlife can have clean air and clean water. and we'll have to make more space for greenery and nature, even in our most urban environments. there is a nature crisis, so we really need to think about how we can improve these areas and bring back nature to the city. we really need to connect people back to their nature as well, people really value it's function. in the years ahead, countries set out to repair the damage posed by the coronavirus pandemic. but without making space for nature as we rebuild, the un says we risk leaving it damaged planet for future generations. victoria gill, bbc news.
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latest on the west coast wildfires in the us. on monday, donald trump visited california to offer support, and he offered some climate change denial as well. it'll start getting cooler. you just watch. i wish science agreed with you. well, i don't think science knows, actually. of course, what science knows that is the world's climate, and california's climate is getting hotter. and the president's promise of things cooling brings back memories of his repeated promise that the coronavirus would disappear. well, one of those at that meeting was california's governor gavin newsom. he accepted, as the president suggests, there's more to do on forest mangement. but he also raised the issue of climate change. here's what the governor said afterwards. i'm not trying to score political points, but to make the argument, we believe in climate change out here. we don't believe itjust because science says says it, we observe it. we experience it. and that was an opportunity to remind him of appointees very familiar with, but to do
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so in an honest and forthright way that we did. it's not about to believing in facts were not believing in facts, facts are facts, science and science. it's about acknowledging the science and acknowledging the facts that the hots are getting a lot hotter, the drys are getting a lot drier. now we know hotter, drier conditions lead to more fires and bigger fires. let me show you this report from the us environmental protection agency in 2016. it says... and we know california is becoming warmer. it continues... the president though has consistently questioned the scientific proof of man—made climate change. we weren't short of options but here's on one example from 2012.
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and since becoming president, mr trump's frequently passed up the chance to say he believes climate change is being caused by humans. that's been noted. all of which has led the scientific american magazine to endorse donald trump's rivaljoe biden. it says... "we ve never backed a presidential candidate in our 175—year history—until now. it says it feels compelled to do so because "donald trump has badly damaged the us and its people—because he rejects evidence and science." and the article references the president's handling of covid—19 and his actions on climate change. or you could listen to the director at the sabin center for climate change law at columbia university. here's what he says about the president's comments in california. it's appalling but not surprising. president trump has repeatedly denied the science of climate change, viruses and many other things. but the us federal government can't move forward with a leader with that kind of attitude.
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so needless to say the federal response to the wildfires is complicated by the fact the president doesn't accept one of the major factors that's making them so severe. well, let me update you on the fires. since august, dozens of them have burned through 1.8 million hectares of land in california, oregon and washington state. thousands of homes have been destroyed and at least 35 people have died. these are the latest pictures of the bobcat fire. it's burning out of control in the angeles national forest outside la. and of course with fires this size, there's a huge amount of ash and smoke, and that's prompting concerns about air quality across north america. this image from nasa shows the amount of smoke generated by the fires and how far that smoke has spread. the fires are marked in red. and this image shows the spread of aerosols that travel with the smoke. aerosols are small particles and chemicals that are easily inhaled and absorbed into the lungs.
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and the effects of wildfire smoke has been linked to serious health problems. this map shows the unhealthy, very unhealthy and hazardous hot spots across the west coast. and this is from the air quality website ‘iq air'. the areas marked in purple are very unhealthy air quality. it says portland in oregon has the worst air quality in the world. vancouver in canada comes in at number two. it's also being affected by the fires south of the border. and seattle in washington state ranks third. here's michael gerrard again from the sabin centre for climate change law on the issue of air quality. it's like chain—smoking cigarettes stop it's extremely unhealthy and the health effects, of course, much worse for people who have covid, which is a lung problem and in addition to the virus, the disease. they also have to breathe in the smoke that has terrible consequences. but even without that, it's very unhealthy. the science of wildfire smoke is still at an early stage, but the most recent scientific
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studies show that it tends to have lots of different chemicals in them, wood is burning, not only trees, but you have buildings and other things that have chemicals in them that get into the lungs. so if it lasts long enough or is powerful enough, it can have long—term negative respiratory impacts. important development in the police killing there is much more on the bbc news website. important development in the police killing of an african american woman breonna taylor. it's believed herfamily has reached a settlement with the city of louisville in kentucky. this is breonna taylor. she was a 26—year—old emergency medical technician, and in march she was shot eight times after police entered her home in the middle of the night under what's called a ‘no knock‘ warrant. her boyfriend is a licenced gun owner, and he exchanged fire with the officers thinking they were burglars. in fact, they were on a drug raid
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and were looking for suspect who didn't live at the house. no drugs were found at the property. subsequently, one of the officers was fired and two others were placed on leave. none were charged with any crimes. let's go to louisville, where the mayor is giving a press conference. the fbi is also... breanna taylor's killing gained global attention following the death of george floyd in police custody in may. her picture was used on the front of magazines, and murals of her sprung up all over the country. we understand that a series of police reforms will also be part of the settlement. larry madowo interviewed breanna taylor's family last week. he's with me from washington. larry, thanks for joining larry, thanks forjoining us. what's your understanding of the agreement was we are hearing this is a historic ‘s
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settlement. this settlement is said to be in the region of $12 million, which would be one of the largest ever settlements in a wrongful death case. it's worth noting that this is a settlement in the case brought on by the family. however, there is still an investigation getting carried out. charges against the officers, are criminally being investigated and we understand the grandjury investigated and we understand the grand jury has been set up to look into those charges. an announcement might be imminent. at the same time, the fbi civil rights division is investigating this. if briand and taylor's civil rights were violated, this is part of a larger case —— briand a taylor. having met the family, do you think this will satisfy their expectations? it's a complicated case because they lost a
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family member. she was 26 years old. she was much beloved by herfamily and friends who knew her, and beyond austin told me they felt like they we re austin told me they felt like they were being lied to —— beyond the austin. there's a lot to cover up happening here. it began when this first happened, the police narrative first happened, the police narrative first focus on an officer was injured. they sent this narrative around this injured police officer. when an incident report was released, it didn't list any injuries of breonna taylor. the family has been upset about her lungs is taking on the main office has been trying to make sure they are insuring the family feels like something is being done, but also trying to deal with the fallout from this. just so i'm as clear as i can be on this, this settlement that's being reached or has been reached does not affect or influence the
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outcome of any possible criminal investigation? that's correct. this settle m e nt investigation? that's correct. this settlement is with the family, with the mayor's office in louisville. the attorney general is still looking into it, and also, as part of the settlement, the louisville mayor's office has agreed to reform this in the way the police, people in louisville. the police must wear body cameras, which they were not in this case. breonna taylor was said to have bled to death on her own floor without medical attention. there will also be no simultaneous raids happening. her ex—boyfriend, who is part of this investigation, was arrested at separate locations but still when ahead with this. larry, thank you very much indeed for taking us through that. an important settlement for breonna
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taylor's family. i will be back in a couple minutes as we continued up to you will not update —— continue to update you. good afternoon. it's been another day of beautiful september sunshine right across the country. we have seen some glorious weather watcher pictures. i'm showing you one of sissinghurst, kent, because kent had the highest values today with temperatures peaking at 31 celsius. but the warmth was fairly widespread across the country. you can see we have 30 degrees in london, but that warmth extended its way further north and west — mid to high 20s quite widely. now, it does look as though the high pressure that's been responsible for this is continuing to slip its way eastwards. that southerly flow will gradually be cut off that we have seen just recently. high—pressure is starting to move in from the atlantic, but the wind direction will change, and that's going to bring a marked change to the story over the next few days. we have got some weak weather fronts around at the moment, that's going to enhance some cloud and a few scattered showers across northern scotland and perhaps
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drifting their way through england through the evening and overnight — a few isolated showers here. it stays relatively mild in the southeast with overnight lows of around 17 degrees. but starting to get a little bit cooler into the north. and the reason being is that area of high pressure as it starts to anchor itself into the far north of scotland will bring a change of wind direction, more of a northeasterly flow and a cooler source down through that north sea. so, yes, we will have some sunshine around on wednesday. the best of the sunshine perhaps across central wales, the midlands and south of that. further north, we keep some cloud and that northeasterly breeze — making it feel notably cooler along that east coast. so, top temperatures in the north likely to peak between 12—18 degrees. further south, we could see the mid 20s on wednesday, but that is probably the last day of the significant warmth. now, as we move into thursday and towards the weekend, we keep the dry story,
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but it will turn notably cooler right across the country, with temperatures falling back to where they should be, really, for this time of year. there's still going to be a lot of sunshine around on thursday, a very nice day, dry, settled with highs of 12—21 degrees. so down in some places, a good eight, nine, possibly even ten degrees. heading towards the weekend, the dry theme continues, the fresher feel continues. but as i say, these are the kind of temperatures we should have for this time of year.
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hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. our lead story comes from washington. a historic agreement for the middle east has been signed at the middle east has been signed at the white house. the united arab emirates have agreed to normalise relations with israel. let us feel on this day the pulse of history. the day is truly a historic occasion. a moment of hope and opportunity for all the peoples of the middle east. president trump supporters are claiming a big foreign policy success , claiming a big foreign policy success, but this is what's happening in gaza, palestinian say the deal‘s the trail and a breach in the deal‘s the trail and a breach in the arab front against israeli occupation. we will have a full analysis. let me talk you through some of the other main stories of the day, a really
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important story, breanna taylor was shot by police in march when they entered her apartment. well, today herfamily has entered her apartment. well, today her family has accepted a multi—million dollar settlement from the city of louisville. —— breonna taylor. uk government says it will take weeks to resolve a backlog of coronavirus testing, some nhs staff are having to stay off work because they need to test and can't get one. and we have got this story from australia... i noticed a big spout, big blow on the horizon, and i thought that's a big dolphin. it wasn't a dolphin, it was a humpback whale, part of a group found miles inland upper river which has also attached —— which is also contrasted with crocodiles. now the covid testing system in england is under severe pressure. hospital bosses are warning that a lack of tests for nhs staff is leading to staff absences which in turn is putting services at risk.
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staff are having to self—isolate because they cannot get tests for themselves or family members and then, if they're negative, get back to work. this clip illustrates the concern. we're absolutely at full pelt in the nhs at the moment, trying to recover the services where treatment was understandably but unfortunately delayed because of covid a few months ago, we are trying to get through those cases as quickly as possible and we simply can't spare members of staff waiting for tests. of course while nhs staff are a priority — many, many others are being affected by a lack of testing capacity. yesterday, there were no tests available in some of the worst affected areas. also, at the weekend, the sunday times published leaked documents that showed a backlog of 185,000 swabs causing a delays to results being generated. in many different ways. this is one man in in oldham, in the north west of england
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who can't get a test and so can't get his child back to school. he's had a high temperature, he is supposed to be in school. what do you want me to do? just leave them out of school for and definitely? i've been trying for the last two days. i've got a message that says the system is currently unavailable, that's the last two days. the opposition labour party is accusing the government of having lost control of testing. this is the health secretary's response... we are doing more testing per head of population than almost any other major nation. and i can update the house that we have now carried out over 20 million tests for coronavirus in this country. as we expand capacity further, we are working round—the—clock to make sure everyone who needs a test can get a test. the vast majority of people who use our testing service gets a test that is close to home, and the average distance travelled to a test site is nowjust 5.8 miles down from 6.4 miles last week. but the whole house knows that there are operational
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challenges and we are working hard to fix them. and as if to prove the point further... it's just been confired that the labour leader, sir keir starmer, will miss prime minister's questions tomorrow, he's been isolating since monday morning after one of his family members showed symptoms of coronavirus, but, as our political editor laura kuensberg pointed out on twitter, his relative is still waiting for the results of a test — a test that's meant to take no more than 24 hours. he'll be replaced by deputy leader angela rayner... so, exactly what is going on? why is england struggling to deliver the tests that are needed? here's the bbc‘s health editor, hugh pym on one of the reasons. the demand for tests has grown a lot faster than the government expected and a lot faster than the capacity, that's the labs, the ability to analyse the swabs a lot faster than that's been able to grow. these are the stats on what's happening. the most number of daily tests that can be done each day is over 243,000.
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that wasn't what is expecting to show you. the latest daily total we have been given is over 227,000. so, very close to capacity. here's hugh pym on those figures. injuly, the message from the government was that basically anyone who felt unwell might as well go and get a test because they had quite a gap between the amount of tests being processed and capacity. well, that gap is quite close to being closed. there's a bit of headroom, but not a great deal. the issues with the uk's testing stretch back to the start of this pandemic. there were perhaps three key moments. first, as the virus was spreading at speed in march, on march 12th the government and its advisers decided to end mass testing and contact tracing. this is a clip from the time. we will pivot all of the testing capacity to identify people in hospitals who have got symptoms so we can pick them up early. it was subsequently acknowledged
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that a lack of capacity made continuing comprensive testing in the march and april was impossible. once the spread of the virus was reduced by lockdown, the government returned to the issue of testing. the second moment we'd highlight was borisjohnson on 20th may. we will have a test, track and trace operation that will be world beating and, yes, it will be in place, it will be in place byjune the 1st. so "world—beating test track and trace system" was promised. those plans included this nhs test and trace app which the public was going to download on to their smartphones — which leads us to aour third important moment. which leads us to our third important moment. on fourthjune, after missing various deadlines, the government said the app should finally be ready by the end ofjune. it's now set to be released on september 24th. but of course a test and trace system only works if enough tests are being done — and there remains a gap between demand and capacity. here's hugh pym again. more people coming back
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from holiday, going back to work, more children back at school, parents wanting to do the right thing and also schools wanting children to be tested. now, you could argue, why was this not foreseen by ministers? well, whatever the reason, it's happened. now, matt hancock in the commons spelled out that the government policy now was prioritise asian. ——policy now was prioritisation. and he said that would cover social care, residents and staff, clinical care, patients and nhs staff. the economic consquences of covid were always going to be severe. and uk unemployment rate has now risen to its highest level for almost two years. young people were particularly badly—hit, with 16 to 24—year—olds suffering the biggest drop in employment. the number of people in that group without a job rose by 156,000 in the three months tojuly. and let's take a closer look at the figures — the red line on this graph shows how the rate of unemployment for 16—24 years old has increased.
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13.4% of them are out of work — the blue line shows the overall unemployment rate for the uk — which has risen to 4.1%. and since lockdown began in march, 695,000 uk workers have disappeared from the payrolls of british companies. relevant to this is that the uk's job retention scheme — it's furlough scheme — is set to end in october. the opposition labour leader keir starmer. wants something in its place — and has talked about avoiding the ‘scarring effect of mass unemployment‘. here‘s more from him. for millions of workers and for towns and cities under restrictions, itjust isn‘t possible to get back to work or reopen businesses. that isn‘t a choice, it‘s the cold reality of this crisis. so it makes no sense at all for the government to pull support away now in one fell swoop. and here‘s the response
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from the chancellor. i don't think that the right thing to do is to endlessly extend furlough. but protecting people'sjobs, creating newjobs remains top of my mind and i'm always looking for interesting, creative, innovative and effective new ways to support jobs. in the uk, influential figures including former prime minister gordon brown are urging the government to bring in a german or french—style system once the current furlough scheme ends in october. so what are those systems? well, unlike the uk, both countries already had a job support programme when the pandemic struck. in germany, their kurzarbeit scheme dates back to the early 20th century, but really came to prominence when it saved an estimated half a millionjobs during the 2008 recession. the scheme allows employers to reduce employees‘ hours while keeping them in a job. the government pays workers a percentage of the money they would have got for working
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those lost hours. it can be used by companies undergoing restructuring or suffering from seasonal fluctuations in their business. but normally it lasts for only six months. during the pandemic, that has been increased to a maximum of 21 months, and the criteria have been changed to include more firms and workers. the percentage of lost wages paid by the government will also go up in stages, from the usual 60% to 80% after the first six months. and the german government expanded their scheme again in august to run for all of next year— at an estimated total cost of 30 billion pounds, or 38 billion dollars, the french scheme, known as "chomage pa rtiel" or partial unemployment also pre—dates the pandemic. it‘s also designed to subsidise the jobs of people on reduced working hours — and, like the german system, is also intended for long—term reduction of hours. more than 8.7 million employees in france were registered on the scheme at the height of the crisis in april, according to the french labour ministry,
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it‘s calculated that the scheme will cost france about 31 billion pounds, or 40 billion dollars. in 2020, under the scheme, firms are allowed to cut employees‘ hours by up to 40% for up to three years. employees still receive nearly all their normal salary, with the government paying a percentage of the cost. the employer then receives an allowance from the french state covering up to 1,000 hours per year per employee. on top of that, the french government started a new scheme injuly that was aimed at lasting for six months at the time, but can be renewed for up to two years. businesses that register for this scheme will see the state reimburse 80% of a furloughed employee‘s net salary. so it‘s complicated, but at the moment france and germany has schemes reaching far into next year in the uk does not. let‘s speak to our economics correspondent, andrew walker. andrew, what are the different calculations that these respective governments are having to make about
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extending these kind of schemes are not? well, extending the means it's pretty clear that the economic consequences in the labour markets, consequences in the labour markets, consequences in the labour markets, consequences in particular of the pandemic are going to last a lot longer than governments initially hoped. on the other side of it, the kind of perhaps considerations that are perhaps slightly more in the mind of the chancellor of the exchequer here, the cost of its, most obviously. but there‘s also the thought that if there is a danger of supporting what you might call zombiejobs, jobs supporting what you might call zombie jobs, jobs that don‘t really have a long—term future. one of the things that many economists regard as being a lessons learned and ready is that working patterns are going to be significantly different and that‘s going to have an effect on the kind ofjobs that employers are going to want to give people, and the kind of businesses to some extent that are going to have a long—term future. so, there is a
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case made it for suggesting that rather than preserving old jobs, there is an argument for trying to focus your efforts on identifying what‘s kind of differentjobs are going to be in demand in the future and making the effort to support them. but it‘s an extremely difficult calculation to make. it‘s, frankly, not going to become apparent very early, just what the new emphasis should be. but i think that‘s one of the key things that i think is pushing the chancellor of the exchequer here away from being inclined to extend the furlough scheme, but it certainly is thinking about alternatives. i was going to ask you about the alternatives commander, because presumably even if you are considering how the workplace and economy will change community something that bridges you from the end of the original scheme into this new world. yes, that is certainly true, and i suppose there are some elements which this world
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will go to more focus, more people working from home as i am now, and that will have consequent as for things like the demand for services in city centres come about, yes, in the meantime, there is no question, we don‘t know exactly where we are going to end up and there will be measures to ease the transition for businesses and for workers, measures, for example, that ease the dangers of businesses going insolvent very quickly. there have been things going on in that area, but quite how we are going to navigate the transition and indeed a transition to precisely what is still very much up for grabs. very interesting. enter, thank you for guiding us through. andrew walker from the bbc world service. to the rest of the world now, where the cases of covid—19 are rapidly approaching 30 million, and the number of dead stands at nearly 900 and 30,000. cases are still rising
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the fastest in india — where the total number of confirmed cases has just hit five million. and more than 1000 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to more than 80,000. the conditions caused by the pandemic have had severe knock on effects on those affected by other diseases, and some of the country‘s poorest citizens. yogita limaye reports. they weren‘t infected by covid but they suffered because of it. last month, this woman‘s two—year—old son died of nerve damage in his brain. the family was turned away three times by a public hospital. doctors told them they were overburdened because of the covid crisis. translation: if it wasn't for coronavirus, my son could‘ve been saved. government doctors told me to take them to a private hospital, but i didn‘t have money for that. deaths like these are going
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unnoticed as covid—19 numbers continue to stack up and bring india‘s already inadequate medical infrastructure its knees. doctors at public hospital mumbai now being allowed to isolate forjust one day between their duties in covid and other wards — which puts patients at risk. when a doctor is the source of infection it is not good in terms of health and safety. we are overworked, we are stressed, we are working tirelessly, we don't have leave. many are questioning why restrictions continue to be eased, including reopening metrorail systems across the country, even as the health crisis is getting worse. imposing another lockdown to curb this spike of covid—19 is a very difficult action because the closures we‘ve seen over the last several months have already had a devastating impact
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on the lives of some of india‘s poorest citizens. this man‘s family has been stitching shoes for generations in the northern city. during the stringent lockdown earlier this year, they once went hungry for four straight days. his mother says they have struggled for every morsel of food. and that she has never seen such days in her life. even with restrictions easing, there has only been a trickle of work. "i don‘t know how we will get by in the coming days. "if the situation remains like this, we will have no option but to kill "ourselves," he says. over the past decade, india has managed to pull millions out of poverty, hard —fought achievements that are now at risk of coming undone.
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in portugal, restrictions are being tightened as the daily number of cases has soared to levels not seen since april. gatherings of people from different households is being limited to ten and the consumption of alcohol in public spaces is now banned — and that‘s being strictly enforced — here you can see crowds of people being dispersed by police. in china, where the pandemic began late last year, the economy is beginning to show signs of recovery. retail figures are rising for the first time this year, with sales of cars and phones increasing. but exports remain sluggish. here‘s dr yooo jay, from chatham house. we are talking about overall increase in retail volumes, yes, but we need to look into which sector, because bear in mind, this is a country that was 1.4 billion population.
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so if it‘s actually essential shopping where retail is expanding, and that is not really a sign of recovery, but as you said earlier, is a cause, and it will be even more interesting looking to the entertainment industry to the tourism industry if this actually recovered and therefore we can conclude that chinese economy is back on track. there is some good news among the doom and gloom, from hong kong — the american businessman and philanthropist bill gates says he‘s optimistic a coronavirus vaccine will be available by the first half of next year. but the pandemic has already exposed tens of millions of people to the threat of more poverty, inequality, and disease. here he is speaking to the bbc‘s larry madowo. so the pandemic has reduced food distribution, raised prices of food, you can‘t move around and seek out economic opportunities in the same way. so it‘s a gigantic setback. that represents over five years of progress, first time that that number has gone up since it‘s been seriously measured.
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let‘s talk about vaccines. already, some of the richest countries like the us, the uk, a lot of other western european nations are already putting in money so they are first in line when a vaccine becomes available. is this the best way to handle this? well, the vaccine work, the r&d piece, including the expense of trials, the rich countries particularly the us have funded that work for a lot of these companies. so, if the companies who are doing itjust on a breaking basis, they can afford to do it because of that us and other money. so, for the research side, that‘s good news. for getting the money to buy the vaccine for the poor countries, that has not yet come together. bill gates speaking earlier. stay with us on outside source — still to come... humpback whales have ended up in a crocodile—infested river miles
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inland in australia. we‘ll look at how they‘re being rescued. 80 years ago today the luftwaffe launched its largest attack against london in what was the climax of the battle of britain. but the raf pilots secured victory that day — in what was a turning point in the war. sarah campbell reports. it was really something to see all of those aircraft up there, realising that people were going to get killed. a 17—year—old george dunn watched the battle of britain raged above him. inspired by the heroics, the heroics, he went on to join bomber command. today in these pared down commemorations, the now 97—year—old pilot was invited to watch a fly
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past which included a spitfire and hurricane, both of which played such a crucial role. to think that they were all young men, and some of them only had about five or six weeks training, it was really something. watching it, knowing how important it was for the country. in september, 1940, britain was under sustained attack from the luftwaffe. the stakes could not have been higher. if the nazis won the battle in the skies, next would come the planned land invasion. the british people were fighting for their lives. on the 15th of september, 1940, the first two squadrons of spitfires to be tasked with taking on the luftwaffe took off from here, at biggin hill, and flew to canterbury and engaged in incredibly dangerous dog fights high in the sky and then came back to refuel the planes, the pilot had a cup of tea and a sandwich, and then they were right back out again. their bravery and ultimately their success is remembered today. what people tend to forget is how pivotal that day
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was, the one we are now celebrating. it literally could have gone either way, so to come here today and fly alongside the legendary aeroplanes that took part in the battle 80 years ago was a huge honour. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story... representatives of the united arab emirates, bahrain and israel have signed an historic diplomatic agreement at the white house. now to australia, and a story of whales ending up further inland than they‘ve ever been. the story‘s from the kakadu national park in the northern territory. more specifically, the east alligator river. confusingly, as you can see from these pictures, it‘s full of crocodiles. well, now for the first time ever, humpback whales have been spotted there. it‘s the first known instance of a whale being found so far inland in australia.
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they were spotted by a local marine ecologist who was out fishing with friends, and he‘s spoken to abc news. i noticed a big spout, a big blow on the horizon. i thought that‘s a big dolphin! i was completely blown away to see this. i never, ever expected to find anything like this up a river in kakadu. itjust floored me. unfortunately, these animals are in danger. if they become stranded in shallow water, the crocodiles may attack. well, a team of whale experts are now trying to work out how to shepherd the whales back to the ocean. henry zwartz from the abc is covering the story. we got in touch with him. they're currently about 20 km and, so they're quite a ways in and they're just sort of circling around, feeding. they seem to be having an ok time, but unlike dolphins, humpbacks do not have echolocation, so they're relying on vision most likely. and the problem with that is this river is incredibly murky. visibility is very, very poor. so, really, the challenges
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facing scientists right now, what are they going to do to try and coax these humpbacks out of this river system? and they're currently looking at two different options. the first option is that they use essentially just metal rods and bang them against the side of the boat, or use other loud noises to try and sort of shepherd those whales back out. or alternatively, they're also looking at using killer whale calls to scare those whales back out as well, and that has shown to be effective in keeping humpbacks out of certain estuaries and so on in the past as a deterrent, but it hasn't been used in this circumstance to actually shepherd whales. sounds difficult, doesn‘t it? let‘s hope all involved successfully guide those whales back out to sea. thank you very much indeed for watching this edition of outside source. give mea this edition of outside source. give me a couple minutes and i‘ll be back
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with you. good afternoon. it‘s been another day of beautiful september sunshine right across the country. we have seen some glorious weather watcher pictures. i‘m showing you one of sissinghurst, kent, because kent had the highest values today with temperatures peaking at 31 celsius. but the warmth was fairly widespread across the country. you can see we have 30 degrees in london, but that warmth extended its way further north and west — mid to high 20s quite widely. now, it does look as though the high pressure that‘s been responsible for this is continuing to slip its way eastwards. that southerly flow will gradually be cut off that we have seen just recently. high—pressure is starting to move in from the atlantic, but the wind direction will change, and that‘s going to bring a marked change to the story over the next few days. we have got some weak weather fronts around at the moment,
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that‘s going to enhance some cloud and a few scattered showers across northern scotland and perhaps drifting their way through england through the evening and overnight — a few isolated showers here. it stays relatively mild in the southeast with overnight lows of around 17 degrees. but starting to get a little bit cooler into the north. and the reason being is that area of high pressure as it starts to anchor itself into the far north of scotland will bring a change of wind direction, more of a northeasterly flow and a cooler source down through that north sea. so, yes, we will have some sunshine around on wednesday. the best of the sunshine perhaps across central wales, the midlands and south of that. further north, we keep some cloud and that northeasterly breeze — making it feel notably cooler along that east coast. so, top temperatures in the north likely to peak between 12—18 degrees. further south, we could see the mid 20s on wednesday, but that is probably the last day of the significant warmth. now, as we move into thursday and towards the weekend, we keep the dry story, but it will turn notably cooler right across the country —
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with temperatures falling back to where they should be, really, for this time of year. there‘s still going to be a lot of sunshine around on thursday, a very nice day, dry, settled with highs of 12—21 degrees. so down in some places, a good eight, nine, possibly even ten degrees. heading towards the weekend, the dry theme continues, the fresher feel continues. but as i say, these are the kind of temperatures we should have for this time of year.
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hello, i‘m ros atkins, this is outside source. an historic agreement for the middle east, signed at the white house. the united arab emirates and bahrain agree to normalise relations with israel. donald trump says it‘s a new dawn for the region. these agreements prove that the nations of the region are breaking free from the failed approaches of the past. today's signing sets history on a new course. in gaza, palestinians say the deal‘s a "betrayal" — a breach in the arab front against israeli occupation. we‘ll have analysis, from every perspective. also coming up in the programme... breonna taylor was shot by police in march, when they entered her apartment. her family has just accepted a multi—million dollar settlement,
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