tv BBC News BBC News October 5, 2020 3:00am-3:31am BST
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welcome to bbc news, i'm james reynolds. our top stories: remarkable scenes outside the walter reed medical center, as president trump takes a short ride to greet his supporters. the convoy comes back in this direction, and about six feet away from me, the president is waving. mr trump is being treated for coronavirus, earlier doctors said they were pleased with his progress. if he continues to look and feel as well as he does today, oui’ feel as well as he does today, our hope is that we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the white house where he can continue his treatment. rescue operations are stepped up in france and italy after storm alex brings torrential rain and flash floods to many areas. armenian and azerbaijani forces exchange heavy rocket and artillery fire as fighting intensifies over nagorno—kara bakh, russia calls
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for an immediate ceasefire. hello and welcome. there have been been extraordinary scenes outside the military hospital in maryland in the united states where president trump is being treated for coronavirus. mr trump temporarily left the hospital in a presidential convoy and waved at supporters who had gathered outside. the bbc‘s north america editor, jon sopel, was right there and witnessed the moment. he was leaving the hospital but i don't think he's going back to the white house. it was the most extraordinary scene and you can hear the noise now. they have closed the road. police suddenly found out and cleared this huge highway behind us. i'm thinking, who would you clear the highway for, the first lady? then we see the convoy that is familiar if you live in
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washington. there is the president's convoy driving incredibly slowly. firstly down the other side of the road, and you can see all these people going mad, it's obvious it's the president, and then he goes down about half a mile, does a u—turn, and the convoy, six feet away from me, the president is waving. and waving again. and then goes down the line very slowly. it was the most unbelievable thing i've seen. everyone in all the cars were wearing masks but the president, who was diagnosed positive with coronavirus, 36 hours ago, has done a drive—past. who would have thought that? quite extraordinary, quite the most unbelievable thing. president trump is now back in hospital. before he went on his drive to salute his supporters, he posted a new video message posted on twitter recoreded at the walter reed national military medical center. it's been a very interesting journey.
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i learned a lot about covid, i learned it by really going to school, this is the real school, this isn't the ‘let‘s read the book school', and i get it, i understand it, and it's a very interesting thing, and i'm going to be letting you know about it. in the meantime, we love the usa and we love what's happening, thank you. doctors treating president trump say he's continuing to recover well from covid—i9 and could be transferred from hospital as early as monday, to be monitored by white house medical staff. speaking outside the walter reed medical centre, dr sean conley attempted to clear up any confusion why medical staff previously painted such a positive picture of his health. i was trying to reflect the attitude that the team, the president in his course of illness, has had. i didn't want to give any information that might steer the course of illness in another direction and in doing so, it came off that we were trying to hide something which wasn't necessarily true.
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today he feels well, he's been up and around, the plan is to have an eat and drink, to be up and out of bed as much as possible and be mobile and if you continues to look and feel as well as he does today, the hope is we can plan for a discharge as early as tomorrow to the white house where he can continue his treatment course. earlier, i spoke with our north america correspondent david willis about the president's surprise drive by. the president actually signalling that he was intending to do it in a video that he posted on twitter, basically saying they'd been out there a long time, referring to his very noisy band of supporters that gathered at the walter reed medical center over the last few days. "they've got trump flags, they love our country, "i'm about to pay them a surprise visit," whereupon the presidential motorcade left the walter reed medical center and mrtrump in the presidential limo known as ‘the beast‘, he had a cloth mask over his face, the secret service agents
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were wearing n95 respirators and mrtrump then waved to the crowd, many of whom were not wearing facemasks, and the motorcade travelled about half a mile down the road before circling back and going back to the walter reed medical center. a point has been made by an attending physician at walter reed, drjames phillips, that the presidential suv is hermetically sealed against the possibility of a chemical attack, and thus the risk of covid—i9 infection within it is as high as it gets, according to dr phillips, and he said the irresponsibility of this, as far as the secret service agents in attendance was concerned, is astonishing. since mr trump's first tweet announcing he had covid early on friday, we have had, and i've counted this, four written statements, one written clarification, two on—camera briefings, three presidential videos, one presidential drive—by,
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endless anonymous quotes but no definitive, uncontested answer to a simple question — when was the first diagnosed? why not? you have been busy, james, haven't you ? it's a very good question. all we know that the president is doing well, that's according to the happy dance that his personal physician has been putting out over the last couple of days. althought he did make a few corrections and qualifications today, did he, dr conley, that despite everything going so well, there have been a couple of alarming drops in the blood oxygen levels of the president over the last couple of days. and he refused to be drawn on whether there was any sign of damage in the lung scans that had been undertaken. they can portend covid—i9 symptoms before a patient actually begins to suffer them.
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and dr conley also talked about the administration of dexamethasone, which is a treatment usually used the people seriously affected with covid—i9. why then is the president getting such a treatment if he is on the road to recovery? a lot of unanswered questions, james. we may not know for 7—14 days until symptoms start to appear. us secretary of state mike pompeo has shortened his scheduled trip to asia after president trump tested positive for covid—i9. mr pompeo's visit to east asia, his first to the region in over a year, comes at a time when us ties with beijing are at their worst in decades. speaking just before he departed he said the us was ready if any adversary planned to take advantage of the president being in hospital. it's the team that's ready. the messages i've gotten around the world, i've talked to, goodness, more than half
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a dozen world leaders over the last few days, who have told the president and first lady to get well and get healthy. we know there are rogue actors, we know there are malign actors around the world. the united states is fully prepared, both the state department and our the diplomats. i was with general miller this afternoon, everyone is ready. and it's notjust the president's illness that's making the headlines. two republican members of the senatejudiciary committee have also tested positive for the coronavirus, raising questions about the timing of supreme court confirmation hearings forjudge amy coney barrett and whether additional senators may have been exposed. the republicans say the senate judiciary committee will convene in a week's time to begin the hearings. the democrats have complained, saying that the decision to go ahead with the confirmation hearings threatened everybody‘s health in congress. french and italian rescuers have stepped up their search efforts after floods cut off several villages on the mountainous border, causing widespread damage and killing at least four people.
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others are still missing on the french side of the border after storm alex brought, torrential rain, winds of 180 kilometres an hour and flash floods to the area. paul hawkins reports. this was the picturesque town of breil—sur—roya in the french alps. but four months of rain in just one day meant devastating landslides have cut off the town. translation: all i worry about is my kids down the valley. i cannot reach them. i have medicine, i have everything i need, but i am not well. it is stress, it is anguish. rescue efforts are concentrated here with roughly 1,000 firefighters backed by helicopters and the army, the french government declaring the wider region a national disaster zone. two hours‘ drive from here is the village of saint—martin—vesubie, population 1,400 — or at least, it was. it is also now cut off by the aftermath of storm alex, so many are leaving. translation: i left with this -
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a nightgown, and there you go. this is what i have left. what i have on me is not mine. i don't have a car anymore. we don't have anything anymore, like half the village. translation: i was on the top floor of the hotel, right next to the river. i realised it had doubled in volume, and then it spread out across the entire width of the hotel. it was scary. we could hear the creaking noises, the shaking because the rocks hitting the walls which were falling down, and being in the dark was even worse because we did not know what was going on. many are being evacuated by helicopter here to the city of nice, 55 kilometres south, where aid is being packed and sent out of villages across the region. meanwhile, a ito—minute drive from here along the coast of italy the city of ventimiglia is also cleaning up. with shops and restaurants destroyed by the water, many are asking the government
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to declare a state of emergency. translation: look. it's quite a disaster. i have a lot of goods to throw away. and for the whole market, it is the same. it is a disaster. translation: this is the first time — i've never seen this before. i'm 45 years old and i've never seen that. 25 years that i'm at the market and i've never seen that! with both france and italy's economies hit badly by the pandemic already, this is the last thing they needed. paul hawkins, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news. the japanese designer, kenzo takada, has died in paris, reportedly from complications after contracting coronavirus. he was the first designer from japan to make it
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in the competitive world of french fashion. he founded his fashion label in the 1970s, and became known for his colourful graphic and floral prints. a top flight italian football game between juventus and napoli descended into chaos on sunday when napoli failed to turn up. after two team members tested positive this week for coronavirus, napoli say they were ordered not to travel by their local health authority. however, the football league refused to call the game off. bars in the french capital paris will be closed from tuesday as part of new restrictions to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. restaurants will be able to stay open but will have to introduce further safety measures. universities must halve their number of students. public health england have admitted that nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus, between the 25th of september and the 2nd of october, were not included in daily figures for that period, and not transferred to the contact tracing system. some of them were included in the figures published on saturday and then sunday. the latest daily figure shows
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22,961 new confirmed uk cases. 33 deaths were also recorded, that's of people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. which takes the total number, across the uk, to 42,350 our health editor hugh pym has this update. extraordinary announcement late this evening that nearly 16,000 of these positive tests weren't put into the system and, by a quick calculation, it looks as if what we thought were around 7,000 daily reported cases at the end of last week were actually more than 11,000, compared with about 7,000 a week earlier. now, public health england have said it didn't affect anybody getting their test result — they were all told in the normal way — but something seems to have broken down between the labs carrying out the tests and then the data being put into the test and trace system, so it means that the contacts of these people who tested positive weren't actually approached, because the test and trace system didn't have their details. so up to one week was lost
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in not following up those contacts, so that is quite a serious situation. now, we are assured that this it problem has now been contained, that all the extra cases have been added in for yesterday and today, and they should revert back to something akin to what we have been seeing before. and we should also say that there are other bits of data that show that there could be a levelling off in cases, but it comes at a very awkward moment for the government. they are trying to get confidence in test and trace and work out how the virus is spreading, and then this error comes along. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: how the world's second biggest cinema chain could be closing its doors across the world. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's
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going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more, as it used to be, before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet, has won this year's nobel peace prize. as the parade was reaching its climax, two grenades exploded and a group of soldiersjumped from a military truck taking part in the parade, and ran towards the president, firing from kalashnikov automatic rifles. after 437 years, the skeletal ribs of henry viii's tragic warship emerged. but even as divers worked to buoy her up, the mary rose went through another heart—stopping drama. i want to be the people's governor. i want to represent everybody. i believe in the people of california. this is bbc news.
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the latest headlines: —— ourtop —— our top story. president trump has taken a short car trip to wave at supporters gathered outside the hospital let's stay with that story now. joining me now to discuss this is daniel lippman, politico's white house reporter. he joins me from washington. daniel, why has it been so hard to get straight answers from the president's doctors on his health and when he was first diagnosed? it is really creating a credibility crisis for the white house because americansjust for the white house because americans just cannot trust the information that mark meadows, the chief of staff has given and also the president's doctors particular doctor sean connko doctors particular doctor sean connolly who has seemed to have wa nt to connolly who has seemed to have want to dance around tough questions from media which is asking basic questions about the president's treatment —— conley. the representatives of american people in terms of questioning government officials and people in
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authority like the president's doctor, we're not trying to get him, we're trying to get information they do not want to show any weakness in terms of how the president is doing, or very little weakness. trumpian seems to be ordering them to paint the rosy picture. —— trump seems to be ordering them. one of my colleagues said doctor connolly was speaking more like a spin doctor than a doctor, commenting that there seems to be political answers rather than medical answers at this is a very unusual position for a dock to bn. this is a very unusual position for a dock to en. -- doctor the white house staff, including the commune of direct —— director of communications is one reason they given this type of community information is they do not want to give, but they do not want to give, but the president in a bad move and keep the patient optimistic about his health chances but thatis about his health chances but that is just a very odd situation since the american
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people want accurate information on how their elected president is doing. we don't want to kind of where those rose coloured glasses and not get the real information which is that trump had those steroid injections earlier this weekend, which indicates that the virus was more severe than he —— then he had to have supplemental oxygen on friday and it took a long time for the white house to cough up this information and so, when you create all of this confusion, it makes the president's condition look worse so it totally backfires on them. tell us totally backfires on them. tell us about the role played by mark meadows, the chief of staff. he became famous yesterday, probably the biggest day of his career in some respects, when the white house doctor sean conley gave a pretty optimistic briefing and then right after, mark meadows was at, outside walter reed with the reporters, he pulled
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them aside and off the record 01’ them aside and off the record or background session and said and dictated a statement, saying you know, yesterday was very concerning and that the next 48 hours i going to be very important and that trump is, you know, it is not a clear decision of how trump is going to do and so basically saying, you know, trump could really have huge, serious consequences and so, trump was not happy with mark meadows for doing that anti— did it in a very ham handed fashion, the anonymous source, but he could be heard on camera at the end of the feed with the one, saying hey, let's talk off the record without the cameras, so he just did not do a good job of hiding his identity! how are you at politico covering the political drive—by, at supporters?” politico covering the political drive-by, at supporters? iwas actually calling former top officials at the secret
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service, saying are you concerned about the risk that the secret service agents who we re the secret service agents who were driving the president, because if you are a coronavirus patient you're not supposed to go outside and drive with people who don't have the coronavirus and so those people may have to quarantine for two weeks and they may expose their family and get sick or die. so it is seen as a very and get sick or die. so it is seen as a very irresponsible thing to do and the white house defended it, saying that they had checked with the medical unitand had checked with the medical unit and they had cleared it but still, those secret service agents have to wear full body equipment, face masks, gloves, everything, you know, for the dangerous minute— long journey also. daniel lippman, thanks so much. thank you. there's been a new surge in fighting between azerbaijan and armenia over the disputed territory of nagorno—karabakh, a week after the long running conflict re—ignited. russia has called for a ceasefire. azerbaijan has threatened to destroy military targets inside armenia in retaliation for a missile attack on its second city ganja,
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which it says killed a civilian. until now, most of the conflict has been between azerbaijan and nagorno—karabakh itself — an area internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan, but where the majority of the population is ethnic armenian. 0ur south caucasus correspondent rayhan demytrie has been following the latest developments from the region. explosion. azerbaijan's second largest city ganja was struck by a rocket, killing at least one civilian, the authorities said. this marks an escalation in the week—long war, because fighting is spreading beyond the conflict zone. but the mood in ganja appears defiant. translation: we have no fear. everyone is at home. victory is with us. we will go forward. we have never been afraid of the armenians. we, the people of azerbaijan, have always been tolerant and strong. in stepanakert, the capital of the disputed nagorno—kara bakh region, many civilian buildings have been damaged
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by the bombardment. local residents have been forced to seek shelter underground. just today, azerbaijan started heavily attacking the capital city stepa na kert, targeting vital civilian infrastructures and civilian buildings with heavy missiles and aviation bombs, including with cluster bombs and cluster missiles — a result of which we have civilian many casualties. turkey continues to back azerbaijan in its campaign to recapture nagorno—kara bakh. crowds in istanbul gather to show their support for the war. translation: my condolences to our martyrs and their families, but their blood will not remain on the ground.
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we are conducting military exercises on our own lands. we want armenians to leave. karabakh is ours and it will stay hours. i am really sad. —— karabakh is ours and it will stay ours. god willing, everything will go much better. in yerevan, armenians that consider karabakh — which they call artsakh — a part of their homeland have called for international community to recognise the territory's independence. we decided to do the flash mob in solidarity with our government, with our soldiers, and with the call that the foreign ministry would recognise artsakh as a kind of solution for this war. despite international calls for ceasefire, the latest attacks on civilian areas from both sides signal a dangerous new phase in this conflict. rayhan demytrie, bbc news, tbilisi. cineworld, the world's second biggest cinema chain, has confirmed it's considering temporarily closing all its sites in the us, the uk and ireland, a casualty of the pandemic.
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the company said a final decision had not been taken. the statement came after the release date for the newjames bond film was again pushed back from november until next april. here's our business correspondent katy austin. most cinemas have now reopened, but social distancing is limiting capacity and many big budget films have been postponed. james bond. musical sting. struggling cinemas, or those who still hadn't yet opened, were hanging their hopes on the newjames bond film. on friday, its release was delayed for a second time, from november until next april. cineworld, which lost £1.3 billion in the first six months of this year amid the pandemic, is writing to the government, saying the industry has become unviable. it is expected to announce that it will close its uk sites, potentially putting more than 5,000 jobs at risk. this afternoon, cineworld confirmed it was considering
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the temporary closure of its uk cinemas and those in the us, but said a final decision had not yet been reached. 0ne cinema industry analyst told me he expects other chains to hibernate their sites. if they remain open, they have to demonstrate that they have got content to play. so perhaps some art house or independents have got a different stream of content but for the mainstream multiplexes globally, they have to make a sensible decision. without many big movies remaining in this year's schedule, experts are concerned that when delayed movies finally open, there'll be fewer places to show them. katy austin, bbc news. just to recap the main story, president trump is beginning a third evening in hospital at the walter reed medical centre in maryland near washington, dc. little earlier on after posting a video on twitter, got into his convoy and did a quick
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drive by to his supporters who we re drive by to his supporters who were waiting outside. stay with bbc news. hello there. well, the weekend was pretty much a wash—out for many of us. we saw a vigorous area of low pressure parked across the uk, bringing huge amounts of rainfall — over months worth of rain falling in many areas — that did led to some localised flooding and some transport disruption. and plenty of flood warnings remain in force. if you are concerned about where you live, then head onto the bbc weather website to check all the details. but as we head into this new week, it does look like things will be a little bit quieter. still quite unsettled because low pressure will always be nearby, so we'll see further showers at times, but there will be some sunny spells, too. for monday morning, we have our area of low pressure still with us, but it is a slightly weaker feature.
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you can see fewer isobars on the chart as well, so it will not be quite as windy through today. temperatures starting the day off at around 8—9 degrees for many of us, but where we have more cloud out west, then around ten or 11 degrees. now, this weather front and our weather front will reinvigorate and push back into northern ireland, wales, the south west of england through today, so it's likely to produce a wet day here. but elsewhere across the country, it is sunny spells and scattered showers, and some of the showers could turn out to be heavy, maybe even thundery. a slightly warmer day for many of us, particularly across the south—east, given some sunshine — we could see 16 or 17 degrees. through monday night, it looks like it stays pretty showery. longer spells of rain pushing from west to east, mainly across northern and western areas. again, there will be some clear spells and where you see the clear skies, then temperatures will dip into single figures, otherwise holding in double figures where we have the rain and the cloud. 0ur area of low pressure is still with us on into tuesday, drifting a bit further northwards, parking itself across scotland. it means we'll see more of a gradient, more isobars
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developing across england, wales and northern ireland through the day. so a breezier day across the south — that will drive further showers into many south—western areas. again, some of them could turn out to be heavy and thundery pretty much anywhere, but there'll also be some good spells of sunshine in between. and those temperatures reaching highs from 14 to around maybe 15 or maybe 16 degrees across the south—east. so a similar story as we head on into wednesday as well, further showers at times. and then as we head on into thursday, there's signs of another area of low pressure moving through to bring some wet and windy weather.
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the headlines: president trump has taken a short trip from hospital where he's due to spend a third night being treated for coronavirus. he appeared in the back of his armoured car wearing a face mask to wave at supporters. doctors treating the president say he's continuing to recover well. there's been a new surge in fighting between azerbaijan and armenia over the disputed territory of nagorno karabakh, a week after the long running conflict re—ignited. russia has called for a ceasefire. azerbaijan has threatened to destroy military targets inside armenia. public health england says nearly sixteen thousand cases public health england says nearly 16,000 cases of coronavirus have not been added to the uk daily total over the last week due to a computer glitch. some of the unreported cases have been added to sunday's
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