tv BBC World News BBC News June 9, 2021 12:00am-12:31am BST
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this is bbc news: i'm ben brown with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. hundreds of organised criminals across the world are arrested after the fbi manages to monitor their communications. the former bosnian serb military leader — ratko mladic — loses his final appeal against a genocide conviction. in the uk: all of greater manchester and parts of lancashire will get extra support, to tackle the delta variant, also known as the indian variant of coronavirus. as us forces in iraq wrap up their mission of fighting the so—called islamic state, a new threat emerges. we have a special report.
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a worldwide sting organised by the fbi has led to the arrests of hundreds of suspected members of organised crime. gangs around the world were tricked into using a secure messaging app — what they didn't know is that the app was developed by agents who were able to monitor millions of messages about drug dealing, money laundering and planned murders. our security correspondent gordon corera has the story. a shipment of tuna cans coming from ecuador into europe with more than 600 kilos of cocaine hidden inside, all discovered by law enforcement. more cocaine wrapped up with a batman label, a picture of it sent on a phone that criminals thought was secure, but which was really a trap. that trap was sprung today...
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..as law enforcement around the world made their move, with a wave of arrests against multiple organised crime groups. criminals believe that using a system called anom secured their communications. the problem was that the person behind it was an undercover informant for the fbi. they started by giving 50 devices to criminals in australia, people like this man, hakan ayik, now on the run, who in turn recommended it to others, unwittingly helping the authorities. so, how did it all work? the system was run by the fbi and australian federal police, who were able to access communications between 10,000 devices. 20 million messages were intercepted from more than 90 countries. details about drug deals, money—laundering and planned murders were accessed. it was effectively a wiretap on the criminal underworld around the globe.
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the biggest users of the device were in germany, spain, the netherlands, serbia and australia. there are some investigations in the uk, although the device was not widely used here. the amount of intelligence that we received was staggering. from seizing drugs, guns and millions of dollars in multiple currencies, to addressing more than 150 threats to life. in australia, there've been more than 200 arrests. police say the information even helped thwart a machine—gun attack in a cafe. and in europe today, there was more evidence of the operation�*s success. for nine months, we have been receiving intelligence to build criminal cases, and we have also had information that has helped us to prevent more than ten planned murders within sweden. this operation has dealt
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a serious blow to organised crime, not only because of those arrested, but because those still at large will not be sure who or what they can trust. gordon corera, bbc news. brianjackson is a senior physical scientist at the us global policy think—tank the? rand corporation. he's been giving me his assessment of the operation. the control of communication and secure communications is that a major challenge for criminal organisations of all kind. particularly transnational criminal organisations like this, and the fact that the fbi was in a position where they could essentially create and market an app to those organisations and as a result have complete access to those communications is a major, major law—enforcement success. how do they do it, without being suspected without being suspected by any of these hundreds of criminals?
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well, the easy answer is that a lot of patience. it was developed over multiple years. it started with an opportunity where they got access to somebody who was developing this app and as part of a deal they took control over it. they didn't move fast, so the initial adoption of that app and technology by these groups was relatively slow. but then when other options were taken down, some of them by law enforcement action, it became more popular and as a result got more market share if you will. so it was meeting a need and therefore it was attractive and their customers came. so the customers came and there was a lot of arrests as a result, but what happened to the criminals now? do you think, will they be a bit more reticent about using this kind of technology in the future?
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will they go back to burner phones as the old ways they used to communicate and maybe this will be the last possible sting operation of this kind in this way? well, they certainly will be making some changes. the competition between criminal organisations and law enforcement is an ever going competition. but one of the issues and one of the quotes that was in one of the documents released about the operation was really that undermining of trust in secure communications. this has been an area where devices that were on the market, platforms that were on the market were viewed as providing very good security, there's been a lot of discussion about the challenges in law enforcement decrypting individual devices and getting access to communications on commercial platforms. so now there has to be that question in every organisation's user base about whether they can trust the devices that they are relying on now and that can make things a lot harder, particularly when you're trying to co—ordinate activities across international borders and worldwide.
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ryan jack and talking to ryanjack and talking to me earlier on. —— brianjackson earlier on. —— brian jackson talking earlier on. —— brianjackson talking to me earlier on. the former bosnian serb miiltary leader ratko mladic is to spend the rest of his life behind bars after losing his appeal against a genocide conviction. the judges upheld the life sentence handed down four years ago for atrocities during the break up of yugoslavia, including the srebrenica massacre in 1995. the bbc�*s anna holligan was outside the court in the hague and sent this report. munira has been waiting more than two decades for this moment.
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ratko mladic presided over a state—sponsored killing machine. through the crimes of persecution, extermination... his crimes, persecution, extermination, deportation, and genocide among them, were committed as part of a politically engineered plot to systematically remove muslims from the land, to seize and ethically cleanse territory, to become part of a greater serbian republic following the bloody break—up of the former yugoslavia. in srebrenica, it tookjust four days for ratko mladic�*s forces to execute approximately 8000 muslim men and boys. un forces were present but failed to prevent the massacre. some of the survivors had hoped ratko mladic would use his last public appearance to offer an apology that could
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help reconciliation in the still divided region. i'm sorry to say but i can really see evil in his eyes. the man has no sorrow for anything that happened. nothing. he doesn't care. he couldn't take the floor and say "i'm sorry it went so far." and it is a shame because this way, his ideology of division, nationalism, hatred is still living in many people after him. and one dissenting opinion from the presiding judge could inflame tensions and be used used as ammunition by those who seek to deny the genocide. these women have spent their lives in pursuit ofjustice on behalf of their husbands, fathers, and sons killed in srebrenica, and many of them fear this day would never come, but thejudgment delivered
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inside this tribunal means the man they consider to be most responsible for their suffering will spend the rest of his life behind bars. anna holligan, bbc news, in the hague. let s get some of the day's other news. the israeli government has given permission for a march byjewish nationalists throutherusalem's muslim quarter, but has postponed it until next week. on monday, organisers cancelled the event after police rejected their route amid concerns that it could trigger further violence with palestinians. south africa's health minister, zweli mkhize, has been placed on special leave pending a corruption probe. he faces allegations that two of his close aides embezzled more than six million dollars from public coronavirus funds. the minister, whose handling of the pandemic has been praised, denies any wrongdoing. gusty winds and high temperatures have fuelled two wildfires in arizona stretching over 138,000 acers. fire fighters battled flames thoughout the night to protect communities, power lines and highways.
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no deaths or injuries have been reported and the cause of both fires is under investigation. here, the whole of greater manchester and parts of lancashire in northern england are going to be given extra support, to tackle the rapid spread of the delta variant of coronavirus first indentified in india. new guidance also recommends people �*minimise travel in and out of the affected areas�*. 0ur health correspondent dominic hughes reports from manchester. is it back to the bad old days for the north—west of england? a spike in covid cases linked to the delta variant, first detected in india, across greater manchester and much of lancashire has prompted what ministers are calling a strengthened package of support — advice to travel less, test more and keep get togethers outdoors. i want to encourage everyone in manchester and lancashire to get the tests on offer.
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we know that this approach can work, we've seen it work in south london and in bolton, in stopping a rise in the number of cases. this is a part of the country that since the pandemic began, pretty much, has barely been out of restrictions, so many people here in manchester and across north—west england may well view these new measures with an air of weary resignation. but ministers will point to what's happened in bolton, where a surge in cases linked to the indian variant has been successfully tackled, with a mixture of a big push on vaccinations and testing. the infection rate in bolton, which is part of greater manchester, has fallen by around a quarter over the past ten days, but it took a concerted effort to reach communities that find it hard to access medical services. so, across the north—west, there will be more door—to—door testing, with the military drafted in to help and vaccination buses in those hard
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to reach communities. this isn't about asking for more than greater manchester's fair share, it is about saying we've got an opportunity now, with the resources on the ground and the extra support that we've got from the military, to go much faster in the next three weeks. on a sun—soaked afternoon in manchester, students at aidan and liv believe people are reaching the end of their tethers. i know think a lot of people are getting fed up, especially now it's, like, nice weather. we just don't really want to be indoors all the time. _ like we want to get out and do stuff. i and this student, meeting a friend for the first time in nine months, hopes this isn't the prelude to more restrictions. it's been lockdown after lockdown, so this bit of freedom that we're tasting, if that was also taken away, i don't know how people would cope. mentally, physically — it's just exhausting. surge testing will help identify cases but it's vaccinations that are the key to stopping the virus and will keep the gradual easing of restrictions we've all enjoyed on track. dominic hughes, bbc
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news, manchester. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: getting africa innoculated — we report on kenya's mobile vaccination drive to reach people in remote areas. the day the british liberated the falklands and by tonight british troops had begun the task of disarming the enemy. in the heart of the west german capital, this was gorbimania at its height. the crowd seeing the man who has raised great hopes for an anti—division of europe. it happened as the queen moved
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towards horse guard's parade for the start of trooping the colour. the queen looks worried, but recovers quickly. as long as the pay to go . see me, i will get out there and kick them down the hills. what does it feel like to be the first man to cross the channel by your own power? it feels pretty neat. it feels marvellous, really. this is bbc news, our top story: one of the largest international police operations has resulted in hundreds of arrests and the seizure of tens of millions of dollars. armed forces from the us and other western nations are facing a new threat in iraq. on two occasions american airbases have come under attack from iranian—made drones fitted with explosives. it follows earlier rocket attacks on western forces but commanders say the drones are a �*game changer�* in terms of threat.
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iran denies involvement but its proxies in iraq, the shia militia, have been growing in strength. 0ur middle east correspondent quentin sommerville has been to northeastern syria, and iraq, and he sent this report. american troops have grown used to being in iraq. still watchful, they move between here and syria almost as if the border didn�*t exist. they came to help fight the islamic state group. thatjob is almost done, but another war is taking place here, mostly in the shadows. we are the only people operating in this part of the world. the louisiana national guard have been operating here in north—eastern syria for about as long asjoe biden has been president. the number of americans here and in iraq keeps shrinking. there about 2,500 of them now.
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the mission here, their enemy, is the islamic state group, but that is far from the greatest danger americans face here. us air bases have been targeted twice in recent months by iranian—made military grade drones. this is the aftermath of a drone strike which destroyed a cia warehouse. and in baghdad, iran�*s proxies are running rampant. here they are cutting off the city�*s diplomatic green zone after one of their leaders was arrested. inside, the united states remains mostly silent. it�*s focused instead on its nuclear negotiations and is fearful of giving fuel to hardliners in iran�*s elections.
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from the us, there has been no military response yet to recent attacks. beyond this fortress, a terror campaign is under way. if you�*re western forces, you are fighting the islamic state group, you can be here in the centre of baghdad and you can be relatively safe, but the situation outside these walls is far more grim. and the people out there and all across iraq don�*t have the luxury of that protection. chanting. young iraqis took to the streets to protest, among other things, foreign interference in their country. and they have been slaughtered. almost 700 have been cut down. they blame pro—iranian militia. and they chant, "who killed me?" please, have a seat. ali mohammed wants to know who it was that shot dead his brother.
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across the middle east, iran and the united states continue to face off, but the victims in this shadow war are rarely americans, nor iranians. they are, once again, the people of iraq. quentin sommerville, bbc news, baghdad. getting africa innoculated against covid—19 will require lots of vaccines — but there�*s also the problem of getting them to everyone. to tackle this, kenya is rolling out a mobile vaccination drive to reach people in remote areas. but having only vaccinated a tiny proportion of its population so far, there�*s a lot more work to do. the bbc�*s rhodri davies reports. taking the solution to the people. in a big country where
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the rural dwellers are almost double the number of urbanites, health workers are bringing covid—19 vaccinations to this remote part of western kenya. translation: it's the best thing that has happened to us in the village. it is hard for us to leave the village to reach the hospital because we don�*t have money to travel and sometimes we don�*t have time. so they have really done us a great favour and help to make things easier for us. and for some, that is even more important. the elderly are the vulnerable. so this mobile clinic is vaccinating over 58—year—olds, going from village to village. two people are far from hospitals. translation: i wasjust hearing over the radio and didn't know i whether it will reach the rural areas. so i feel really very happy to have received the vaccine. i would like the second dose
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to be brought here so i can get it today. but getting any dose is wishful thinking for many in kenya. although the health ministry says efforts are under way to acquire millions ofjabs, so far its vaccinated a tiny percentage of the 15 million strong population. this project is a start to distribute to those vaccines kenya does have. we started yesterday and today we are at 300 and something members, 350 total. and we are still going on from here. we�*re going to another village. and throughout the week, we will still be having more villages to go to. so i think this number, if we had not had the village to village outreach, it would not have reached the number and we would have missed the vaccine. the vaccine kenya has is made by astrazeneca,
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meaning it can be stored at warmer temperatures than other jabs. that helps reduce cost and logistical issues. but like many other developing nations, kenya needs more of them or other inoculations. and soon, to truly go after this virus. the head of the irish airline ryanair, michael 0�*leary, has made his most critical remarks so far about britain�*s foreign travel policy. there�*s been widespread frustration across the travel industry following the decision to switch portugal from the green list to amber. mr 0�*leary claimed the decision on portugal was not based on �*any science�*, but the government says its position is clear. 0ur transport correspondent caroline davies reports. the deep blues of greece�*s islands, the mediterranean coves in spain and the sun—drenched beaches of portugal — all now on the amber list, legal to go to, but against government advice. several government ministers today said they�*re planning to stay in the uk.
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many people, myself included, are coming to the conclusion that we should all be staying home and enjoying the beautiful weather here in the uk. you should not be travelling to countries that amber list or the red list. the industry says it�*s causing more confusion. well, i can think of no better reason for uk citizens - to travel abroad to europe - this summer other than to avoid the incompetent ministers there |who will be holidaying at home. | why are these governmentj ministers telling vaccinated british citizens and their families that they- should stay at home? it's mindless, and it makes no sense. i at gatwick, there were few passengers heading out today. i just think they should�*ve made it red or green, you know, you can either go or you can�*t. well, to be fair, i haven't seen my family for a while, so i would be going anyway, regardless. psychologically, i really feel like i need to go. l gatwick is very quiet today. there were only around 60 or so flights in and out. the industry had never thought it was going to reach 2019 passenger levels. many people will choose to stay
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in the uk this year, but it also hadn�*t predicted there would be so few countries on the green list and it�*s still trying to work out how that affects its operations. while some operators continue to travel to amber list countries, jet2 has currently decided it won�*t. a family of four coming back having all those tests, it�*s a lot of money. people can�*t afford it. and also, it�*s all right for white collar workers saying, "oh, well, iwork from home for ten days and quarantine," if you�*re a hospitality worker, a supermarket worker, you can�*t do that. so, therefore, it�*s just a non—starter for a lot of our customers. the next review of countries to go on the list will happen in less than three weeks�* time, but at the moment, the industry feels the tide is pulling against them. caroline davies, bbc news. that is it for me. you can reach me on twitter — i�*m @ benbrownbbc. send me your views on the new stores was that david will be
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with you in the next hour. thank you for watching. —— news stories. hello there. for many of us, the temperatures will continue to build as we move through this week. both by day and it will feel warm and muggy at night as we start to import some very warm and humid tropical air right across the uk. further north and west, we will be played by low pressure and a weather front. thicker cloud with patchy rain at times. for today, high pressure to the south, low pressure to the atlantic pushing the weather fronts into the north and west which will bring thicker cloud for times for scotland, northern ireland and western parts of england and we can see the odd spot of rain and some of it could be quite heavy for a time across northern ireland and scotland. a little bit lighter into the afternoon. brightness for the northeast of scotland where it will be warm but by far central, southern and southern and eastern england will see the sunniest of skys
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the sunniest of skies and the highest temperatures. 25 or 26. further west with the cloud it will feel warm and muggy. heading to wednesday night, tropical moisture and humid air spreading across the uk. a pretty muggy night for all areas. lows not falling below 1a to 16 degrees. heading to thursday, low pressure to the northwest, more isobars on the chart. it will be a windy day for northern scotland and ireland and some rain. the western and northern isles could be quite wet. furthersouth, more cloud around generally even into england and wales but the best of the sunshine will be towards the eastern side of england. and those are the mean wind speeds. guts will be higher. gusts will be higher. another warm and humid day but because of the cloud around, highs of 22 or 2a degrees. highs of 23 or 2a degrees. into friday, similar picture again, could see quite a bit a cloud around here and a little bit of drizzle across the western hills, best of the sunshine to the east of high ground
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and another warm and humid day to come for england and wales, 25 or 26 degrees, something a little bit fresher for a time across scotland you will notice. 15 to 18 or 19 degrees. this area of high pressure builds back in for the weekend, it pushes the area of low pressure and the weather front back out into the atlantic. looks like things will turn more settled again for the weekend with increasing amounts of sunshine so temperatures will respond and will turn very warm or even hot in places as temperatures across central and southern england could be close to 30 celsius.
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with me, ben brown. 0ur headlines: hundreds of suspected criminal gangs have been arrested following a worldwide sting operation organised by the fbi. gangs were tricked into using what they thought was a secure messaging app, which was developed by the authorities, who were able to monitor messages about drug dealing and planned murders. the former bosnian serb commander ratko mladic is to spend the rest of his life behind bars after losing his appeal against a genocide conviction. the judges upheld the life sentence handed down four years ago for atrocities during the break up of yugoslavia, including the srebrenica massacre in 1995. the us military and troops from other western nations are facing a new threat in iraq. american airbases have come under attack from iranian—made drones fitted with explosives.
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