tv BBC News BBC News May 24, 2021 11:00pm-11:30pm BST
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this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. the eu approves sanctions on belarus, over the forcing down of a ryanair flight to arrest a dissidentjournalist. the head of the world health organization condemns what he says is the scandalous inequity of access to covid vaccinations around the world. in gaza, we meet one community grieving the loss of seven children and one young man in the recent clashes with israel. and he's sold more than 125 million records and his songs have been recorded more than 6,000 times.
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american icon bob dylan turns 80. hello, and welcome to bbc news. the european union has agreed to hit belarus with sanctions after the forced re—routing of a ryanair flight, in order to capture one of the passengers on board. the eu is also urging airlines to avoid the country's airspace. the passenger detained was roman protasevich, a 26—year—old journalist who's a well—known critic of president alexander lukashenko. eu leaders described the incident as "state terrorism" and "aviation piracy". 0ur europe correspondent jean mackenzie has the latest. armed police greet the arrivals
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on board the plane belarus is accused of hijacking, all to capture this young man — roman protasevich. a journalist and political refugee, he fled belarus two years ago, only to be forced back home yesterday under the most extraordinary circumstances — by a regime, he told his fellow passengers, would execute him. his father has described his son's capture as a terrorist act. translation: we hope that he will cope. - we hope that he will stay himself, not give in to any of their tricks. we are afraid to even think about it, but it's possible he could be beaten and tortured. this evening, authorities have released a video of roman, where he makes various confessions. we're not showing it, as it looks like he's been filmed under duress. he's bruised and says police are treating him correctly.
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roman is wanted by authorities for running an opposition news channel on the social media platform telegram. it's used to organised protests in belarus and to broadcast them. the protests exploded during last summer's election, when belarus's long—time leader president lukashenko claimed yet another disputed victory. back then, we witnessed peaceful protesters being dragged off the streets of the capital. since, hundreds ofjournalists and opposition politicians have been imprisoned. roman is the latest target. they endangered the lives of 171 passengers just because of roman protasevich. and we were sure that to fly between two un member states is safe, but it turns out that it's not. the chief executive of ryanair this morning spoke of his anger. this was a case of state—sponsored... it was a state—sponsored hijack, it was state—sponsored piracy. i think it was very frightening for the crew, for the passengers,
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who were held under armed guard, had their bags searched. speaking in the house of commons earlier, the foreign secretary said mr lukashenko�*s government must be held accountable for its reckless behaviour. the scenario as reported is a shocking assault on civil aviation and an assault on international law. it represents a danger to civilian flights everywhere. the uk government has told airlines to avoid belarussian air space, while uk airports have suspended flights from belarus. tonight, eu leaders have decided similar, to ban belarussian planes from using both their airports and their airspace, determined to show that hijacking a plane does not go unpunished. well, i've been speaking to nigel gould—davies, a former british ambassador to belarus, to get his take on the incident. what's happened of course is shocking and unprecedented, and it's right there's been
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immediate international condemnation of it. i think it tells us a number of things. the first is that lukashenko, who has long been a threat to his own people, has now become an international threat, someone who's prepared in order to stay in power to carry out actions which jeopardise large numbers of non—belarussian citizens. so he has escalated the extent of the threat he presents, and that requires a corresponding escalation of the response. the second is that, in an interesting way, it shows how insecure he himself still feels. even though the mobilisation that we saw in the belarussian streets a few months ago has now been quelled and suppressed by force and oppression, lukashenko�*s not really fully back in control. it doesn't feel that he is. if he has to go to such extraordinary lengths to try to detain a single young internetjournalist and blogger, that suggests what a threat free
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information is still to his rule. do you think, then, he's underestimated the international outrage? because it's quite a risk, isn't it, that he's instigated this international incident, as you've described it, for one man? just how much of a threat was roman to lukashenko? he was a young, talented, very capable internetjournalist who had played a crucial role in bringing to light the extent of the oppression in belarus after the fixed election last august and in helping to organise some of the demonstrations, although he himself was based outside the country. 0n the matter of lukashenko�*s calculation, he has a long history, unfortunately, of making eccentric and dangerous and irrational decisions.
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that was ambassador nigel gould—davies speaking to me earlier. the head of the world health organization has condemned what he says is the scandalous inequity of access to covid vaccinations around the world. speaking at the opening of the annual world health assembly, tedros ghebreyesus said that the gap was making the pandemic worse. more than 75% of all vaccines have been administered in just ten countries. there is no diplomatic way to say it. a small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world's vaccines control the fate of the rest of the world. meanwhile, india has become only the third country in the world to record more than 300,000 deaths from covid—i9 — behind the us and brazil. experts warn that the real
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number of people killed might be far higher. the problem is compounded by a sluggish vaccination drive. devina gupta reports from delhi. it's a grim milestone for the country battling the second wave of covid. in the past 26 days in all, over 100,000 lives have been lost. experts believe that in major cities — that's the financial hub of mumbai and india's capital city delhi — the wave could be peaking. that is that the infected number of cases could be going down. but the fatality rate here also remains high. in delhi, where i am, we've seen over 150 people dying almost daily for the past six weeks. and that's why the city is in the sixth week of its lockdown. major containment zones have been built in major parts of the country. there are almost half the states which are now in a lockdown or have extended their restrictions of people's movement to help break the cycle. but there's also another danger that these numbers could just be
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the tip of the iceberg. there's also major underreporting, especially as the wave goes through rural india. i've been speaking to health workers there who talk about abysmal health care infrastructure, villages where primary health care centres do not even have doctors and medicines or even oxygen concentrators to help deal with this crisis, and that's where india's challenge is at the moment. devina gupta speaking to us earlier. let's discuss this further because there are problems facing the little relative vaccines. joining me now is raina macintyre, an infectious diseases expert and the head of the kirby institute biosecurity programme at the university of new south wales. thank you forjoining us here on bbc news. first off, who are the countries most at risk, the most vulnerable?— countries most at risk, the most vulnerable? the most vulnerable
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countries are _ vulnerable? the most vulnerable countries are those _ vulnerable? the most vulnerable countries are those that - vulnerable? the most vulnerable countries are those that have - vulnerable? the most vulnerable i countries are those that have weak health systems, particularly privatised health systems where people have to pay for even a test and where shortages of supplies and equipment can become really critical, as we are seeing in india, but also highly populous countries, because the spread will be more rapid in densely populated megacities.— rapid in densely populated me . acities. , ., megacities. ok, i believe we are talkin: megacities. ok, i believe we are talking augment _ megacities. ok, i believe we are talking augment the _ megacities. ok, i believe we are talking augment the continents l megacities. ok, i believe we are. talking augment the continents of south america and also the african continent as well. how much of a window do we have when it comes to getting those vaccinations in the right people who need them? are we talking months, years? to be honest, i think it will — talking months, years? to be honest, i think it will be, — talking months, years? to be honest, | think it will be, it — talking months, years? to be honest, i think it will be, it will— talking months, years? to be honest, i think it will be, it will take _ i think it will be, it will take longer than this year, maybe will take several years, and that's because we still have a shortage of supply. when the us becomes fully
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vaccinated or highly vaccinated, the us manufacturers will be able to focus more on supplying other countries, but in india, for example, which is meant to be supplying the rest of south asia and parts of africa, because they do have the biggest manufacturing capacity, they have been unable to supply those countries, so countries around them are also suffering shortages. around them are also suffering shortages-_ around them are also suffering shortaaes. ., , , , shortages. you 'ust picked up there on the us shortages. you just picked up there on the us strategy _ shortages. you just picked up there on the us strategy and _ shortages. you just picked up there on the us strategy and vaccinating, j on the us strategy and vaccinating, and when we're listening to dr tedros and, really, we have to start sharing our vaccinations, the us has millions of vaccination sitting in it for traders or on shelves. what you make of that strategy? i think countries that _ you make of that strategy? i think countries that have _ you make of that strategy? i think countries that have a _ you make of that strategy? i think countries that have a surplus - you make of that strategy? i think countries that have a surplus of. countries that have a surplus of vaccines should share them, but we
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have heard from president biden that thatis have heard from president biden that that is what they intend to do, that they're going to send doses of vaccine and quite like quantities to other countries. hopefully to the covax facility as well. and that will help. any country with surplus doses and that will include other countries that have manufacturing capacity and have more than what they need further whole population. 0k, raina macintyre, have run out of time, but thank you very much indeed. thank you. you're watching bbc news. other news now. the former leader of myanmar, aung san suu kyi, has appeared in court for the first time since her government was overthrown by the military in february. she's been under house arrest. these are the first images that were released of the court hearing. here, you can see aung san suu kyi sitting alongside the former president who was also ousted. before the court hearing, aung san suu kyi was able
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to meet her lawyers in person for the first time, who then had to explain to her where she was. the un is warning that the violence in myanmar is pushing the country closer to civil war, as anti—government demonstrators start to arm themselves against the security forces. protesters have started to shift from defensive to the offensive, with sometimes homemade weapons or receiving military training from certain ethnic armed organisations.
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we have now more than 800 killed people, more than 5,300 people are arrested, more than 1,800 warrants went out. people fled in other regions or the border. the situation is currently very bad in the chin state. 0k, some other news now. and japan has opened mass covid vaccination centres in an effort to speed up the roll—out ofjabs two months before the start of the tokyo 0lympics. the military—run centres in the capital tokyo and osaka will administer thousands of jabs each day. japan is trying to curb a surge in infections. the winner of last month's election in samoa has been sworn into office in an extraordinary ceremony in a tent. she was locked out of parliament by her opponent, who's refusing to step down.
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fiame naomi mata'afa ended up taking the oath of office in a marquee in the gardens surrounding parliament. she's become samoa's first female prime minister. do stay with us here on bbc news. still to come: tuesday marks the first anniversary of the murder of the african—american george floyd, which prompted demonstrations around the world and against police brutality. in the biggest international sporting spectacle ever seen, up to 30 million people have taken part in sponsored athletics events to aid famine relief in africa. the first of what the makers of star wars hope will be thousands of queues started filming at 7am. taunting which led to scuffles, scuffles to fighting, fighting to full—scale riot, as the liverpool fans
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broke out of their area and into the juventus enclosure. the belgium police had lost control. the whole world will mourn - the tragic death of mr nehru today. he was the father of the indian - people from the day of independence. the oprah winfrey show comes to an end after 25 years and more than 4,500 episodes. the chat show has made her one of the richest people on the planet. geri halliwell, also known as ginger spice, has announced she's left the spice girls. argh, i don't believe it! she's the one with the bounce, the girl power. not geri, why? this is bbc news. a reminder of our top stories. the eu agrees to sanctions for belarus, over the forcing down
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of a ryanair flight to arrest a dissidentjournalist. washington calls for an investigation. the head of the world health organization condemns what he says is the scandalous inequity of access to covid vaccinations around the world. president biden has announced that the us secretary of state, antony blinken, is heading to the middle east, to try to build on the ceasefire between the israelis and hamas. his visit comes as both sides count the cost of the recent conflict, which claimed the lives of more than 250 people, most of them in gaza. 0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen has been to a palestinian community near beit hanoun in gaza, where a young man and seven children were killed. and a warning, his report contains some extremely distressing images. it's not big enough to have a proper name. locally, this place is called the end of masaridene street. it could be idyllic.
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but this is gaza, around 800 metres from the boundary wire with israel. 0n the 10th of may, the first day of the war, at around 6:30 in the evening, it turned into a small corner of hell. screaming you can hear the shock as he says, "god is greatest". allahu akbar... and then, "children, children". then "martyr" and "massacre, a new massacre". yusuf al—masri lays his dead seven—year—old son marwan next to the body of his other boy, ibrahim, who was 11. in all, seven children and a young man of 21 were killed. this is yusuf al—masri.
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their homes were shelled during 11 days of war. by then, the community had fled. israel says it has no record of a strike at the time of that first attack. it says its assessment is that a palestinian rocket aimed at israel dropped short of its target. the family showed us shrapnel they said was from the bomb. independent experts who have seen these photos say their fragments of airdropped precision munitions — not palestinian rockets. the two sides will not agree. how are you doing? as—salamu alaykum. another family in the village is mourning a son — ibrahim, who was 16. his father says israel broke their hearts and made them hate their lives
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to offer condolences. palestinians don't believe israel's insistence that it works hard not to kill civilians, warning them to get out before some raids, like the one that destroyed this part of beit hanoun. as in the previous rounds of fighting between israel and hamas, the ceasefire is a pause. the conflict is notjust unresolved — it is not even frozen. jeremy bowen, bbc news, gaza. tuesday marks the first anniversary of the murder of george floyd, the african—american who was killed while being detained by police in the state of minnesota. the images of the incident shocked people around the world, prompting millions to take part in global demonstrations against police brutality. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant is in minneapolis
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and he gave us a sense of the atmosphere there. there's a sense of frustration and anger that not more has changed over the last 12 months, because, historically speaking, grievous acts of police brutality have been the catalyst for major reform. the sight of police dogs lunging at civil rights protesters in birmingham, alabama in 1963 led to landmark legislation the following year. selma, alabama, the site of police officers mercilessly beating protesters again, produced a landmark voting rights act. and activists here saw an equivalent historical moment. they have been pushing for the george floyd policing act. joe biden has also set tomorrow's anniversary as a deadline for that, but it'll pass without the legislation being enacted, because there isn't the bipartisan support on capitol hill to get it passed. there is, though, a sense of determination that george floyd should notjust be memorialised with flowers, notjust be memorialised with this shrine, but be memorialised with legislation, police reform
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legislation that bears his name. nick bryant there. the lead singer of italy's eurovision—winning band has tested negative for drugs. damiano david had come under suspicion afterfootage was broadcast of him celebrating the victory. the singer had vigorously denied claims of drug—taking. anna holligan has more. 0n the night, television pictures shows damiano david dip his head to the table for a few moments, and there was speculation online, in the press room, that he had been taking drugs. afterwards, he was asked about it in the press conference, we were there, he said, "i didn't take drugs, my band—mate, the guitarist, thomas, broke a glass and i was leaning down to clear it up". we just has the statement from ebu, the organisers. they said following these allegations of drug use in the green
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room, the broadcasters requested through the italian delegation a thorough review of the facts. so they studied all of the available footage, and a drug test was also voluntarily undertaken earlier today by the lead singer, damiano david. that has returned a negative result. now, they go a little bit further than this and they say no drug use took place in the green room and we consider the matter closed. we are all alarmed at the inaccurate speculation leading to fake news that's overshadowed the spirit, the outcome and unfairly affected the bands. anna holligan there. and before we go, it's a very special birthday for an american cultural icon. yes. bob dylan, one of the most acclaimed and influential artists in american music, has celebrated his 80th birthday. the singer got his start in greenwich village in the 1960s
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and is still making music today. he had a new album out last summer. he was the first songwriter to win a nobel prize in literature and he's sold more than 125 million records. hello. we know may has been wet, and now with less than a week to go, the met office says provisional figures indicate that wales, despite all of the sunshine to end monday, has had its widest may on record — those records going back to 1862. wales will have a drier tuesday, but depending on where you are, there will be further heavy showers to dodge because low pressure, although it's moving into the north sea, is still close enough to produce some of those showers. now, there are weather changes on the horizon and we'll look at those in just a moment. this is how we're starting off tuesday morning. a lot of cloud across scotland, northern england, through north wales, the midlands and on towards east anglia, where you could be encountering some patchy rain to begin with. elsewhere, a few sunny spells. the cloudy zone will brighten up, but this is where we're going to see
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some of those heavy and possibly thundery showers, with the risk of hail during the day. quieter weather through much of wales, the midlands, into southeast england, bar the odd shower, and largely dry in northern ireland. but cornwall and devon clouding over with outbreaks of rain moving in. it'll be fairly breezy out there and temperatures for the most part in the range of 12 to 16 celsius. tuesday evening brings some of the heavier showers in towards the midlands and east anglia before the day is done. the rain clears away the far southwest of england, further outbreaks of rain pushing in towards southeast scotland and northeast england. and wednesday starts where you're clear on a chillier note, some spots down into low single figures. and on wednesday, there will be a few sunny spells around, but much of the east of the uk will be cloudy, and you could well see some outbreaks of rain turning increasingly light and patchy as the day goes on. but through parts of scotland and again northern england, through the afternoon, there could be heavy and thundery showers getting going. where you get the sunshine, though, it is going to be a little warmer. still quite chilly as thursday begins under largely clear skies. now, there will be a weather system
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trying to approach from the west. some uncertainty about how far it's going to get in during daylight hours, but it could well bring some cloud and rain into at least parts of northern ireland. but where you stay dry, with sunny spells, it'll be a touch warmer still. that weather front to the west willjust die a death and we're left with building high pressure going into the weekend, and that is going to bring rather more settled weather than we've had of late. not completely dry. there may be a weather system approaching from the west later on bank holiday monday. but for most of us, it is looking this weekend drier and warmer.
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this is bbc news, the headlines. the belarusian foreign ministry says the journalist — roman protasevich — seized from a passenge jet, is now injail in minsk. pro—goverment tv channels have published this video of him — allegedly confessing — to "planning riots". the u.s has sent its top diplomat, antony blinken, to the middle east — for talks with israeli and palestinian leaders. it follows a ceasefire agreement between israel and palestinian militants. the head of the world health organisation has condemned what he said was the scandalous inequity to covid vaccinations around the world. dr tedros said all health workers and elderly worldwide would have been vaccinated by now if rich countries had shared theirjabs.
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