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tv   BBC News  BBC News  November 25, 2021 4:00am-4:31am GMT

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this is bbc news. i'm lewis vaughan jones. our top stories: tragedy in the english channel as 27 people drown trying to reach the uk. it's the worst incident of its kind since the migrant crisis began. the british prime minister calls for joint patrols with france to stop the crossings as four suspected traffickers are arrested. the poor migrants who have been coming from their country, spending months and months to come to here and they are so close to their dream. with such bad weather, with such rough sea, they are martyrs. we, the jury, find the defendant, travis mcmichael, guilty. president biden welcomes the guilty verdicts against three white men accused
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of murdering ahmaud arbery. apple warns activists its iphones are being targeted —— three parties agree to form a coalition government in germany, led by social democrat olaf scholz, and pledge to make climate change its top priority. apple warns activists its iphones are being targeted by state—sponsored hackers days after filing a lawsuit against an israeli spyware firm. and remembering amy winehouse: ten years after her death, the singer's notebooks and stage outfits go on display. welcome to our viewers on pbs in america and around the globe. first, 27 people, including a child, have drowned while trying to reach the uk. the dinghy carrying the migrants sank. it's the deadliest incident since the channel between england and france became a major route for migrants.
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the french coastguard said a fisherman had alerted the authorities after seeing the capsized vessel and bodies in the water near the port of calais. two people have been rescued. lucy williamson reports from calais. this is a tragedy that began with hope. where are you going now? the uk. the water nothing to be afraid of yet. several boats set off from this coast at first light this morning. this one reached british shores without disaster. but a flimsy boat, dozens of desperate people, the warning signs have always been there. and today, one of these boats never arrived. translation: calais _ and the hauts-de-france region, northern france has been suffering for more than 20 years, as you have said. our two great countries should work together as friends to fight against
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these smugglers. a local fisherman spotted the passengers floating motionless in the water. helicopters and boats were scrambled to the scene for a rescue operation, but many had already drowned. this disaster underscores how dangerous it is to cross the channel in this way, and it also shows how vital it is that we now step up our efforts to break the business model of the gangsters who are sending people to sea in this way. the rescue and recovery operation has been going on here into the night, but there are very few details so far about who the victims are or why their boat sank. there are questions already being raised in the local media here about whether it was simply bad weather, high waves or whether it might have been hit by something like a container ship. no confirmed details as yet. but people here in this calais migrant camp are so determined to reach the uk that no—one we met tonight said they'd change their plans.
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this man tried crossing yesterday, but gave up because the waves were too high. france's coastline has never been as simple to secure as the eurotunnel or the calais port. smugglers have made the most of that. the poor migrants who have been coming from their country and they have spent months and months to come to here, and they are so close to their dream. with such bad weather, with such rough sea, they are martyrs. many more migrants arrived in the uk today, good publicity for the people smuggling rings. but it often takes many attempts, and those who have capsized before have told me what it's like waiting in the water for help to arrive. one thought in their minds as the minutes tick by — what if it doesn't get here in time? lucy williamson, bbc news, calais. next, to the us.
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president biden has hailed the verdict of a court in the us state of georgia, which found three white men guilty of murdering a young black man, ahmaud arbery, while he was outjogging. the three men claimed they were defending themselves while trying to perform a citizens�* arrest on mr arbery who they said "looked like a burglar." our correspondent aleem maqbool has been following the trial in georgia. 0-4-3-3. there have been times when this moment seemed a very distant prospect. we the jury find the defendant, travis mcmichael, guilty. 0h, woo! the shout of relief came from the father of ahmaud arbery, who was shot dead in february of last year. two others were also found guilty of murder. they'd all seen 25—year—old ahmaud running through their neighbourhood and claimed he'd fitted the description of a crime suspect. they chased him and killed him. during the trial, the man who fired the fatal shots, travis mcmichael, was the only one of the three
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to take to the witness stand. i shot him. why? he...he had my gun. he struck me. it was obvious that he was... it was obvious that he was attacking me. that if he would've got the shotgun from me, then it was a life—or—death situation. his justification was that he killed in self—defence, but of course that was only after he, his father and a neighbour had chased ahmaud arbery in their pick—up trucks forfive minutes. ahmaud's family waited more than ten weeks and had to rely on public pressure for the police to even make any arrests. i never thought this day would come. but god is good. yes, he is. and i just want to tell everybody, thank you — thank you, for those who marched, those who prayed — most of all the ones who prayed. yes, lord. thank you, god. thank you.
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there may still be questions about the way the police behaved after this killing. questions about the underlying issues surrounding race in this society that contributed to the killing. but for now at least, all of those who for months have been calling forjustice for ahmaud arbery, there is just a huge sense of relief. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in brunswick, georgia. well, earlier i spoke to dr rashawn ray, who is a senior fellow at the brookings institution who specialises in criminaljustice and race in american public policy. i asked his reaction to the verdict. i think, for a lot of people, they think that the jury got it right, and i think that is something that's key here. the jury was highly slanted. in the county in georgia where this case took place, about 30% of the residents are black, but only one of the 12 jurors was black, so people were worried about that. but the bottom line is this — video evidence matters. oversight from the state
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and at the federal level matters, and those are the key factors in the outcome of this particular case. so, are you suggesting, therefore, that, for example, if there wasn't video evidence, there might have been a different outcome? i definitely think so. i mean, we know that it took roughly two months before charges were brought forth. the original district attorney, one of them, because two of them ended up being removed, one of them is currently being charged with corruption and that has to do with the fact that the district attorney ordered the police department not to bring charges forth. it was only after the video evidence surfaced that charges were brought forth, and we know that the jury watched the video at least three times at the end of the trial, suggesting that that was a key piece of evidence that they relied upon to make their decision. part of the defence, or part of the explanation of the chronicles of the events of that day was this idea of a citizens�* arrest. what do you make of that?
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so, citizens�* arrest laws, we know, they date back centuries, even in some regards back to the 1200s. in the united states, a lot of citizens�* arrest laws were used as people started moving west to establish different cities, of course, which had a racial component because black people were often times not allowed get that land. but in the state of georgia, it was repealed earlier this year by a republican, conservative—led legislature, it was founded originally in 1863 as a way for slaveowners to be able to track and retrieve enslaved people who were fleeing the plantation. so it is an outdated law. stand your ground laws also need to be re—evaluated and this case was a litmus test on these type of laws that allow people to engage in vigilante justice often times in ways that are baked and laced
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with racism and prejudice. and there�*s another set of — another court case coming up at a federal level — people, lots of people who are not familiar with the us system will think they have seen justice, now they have been tried, they have been found guilty, why is there another set of charges? the us criminaljustice system is highly complicated of what is happening now is that the federal level, hate crime charters have been brought forth, so it is being alleged that what the men did was actually a hate crime, that it was because of race as to why they pursued ahmaud arbery, he was out for a run, he was looking at a construction site, which other people had been looking at, and if he had not been black, they would not have pursued him and not have killed him. at a federal level, additional charges are coming forth, and i think this will be a big litmus test in the way that the united states is handling cases relating
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to race moving forward. let�*s get some of the day�*s other news. sweden�*s first female prime minister, magdalena andersson, has resigned hours after being voted into office. it follows the collapse of her tentative coalition government after one of its members, the green party, said it was withdrawing its support. ms andersson said she was ready to be appointed as prime minister again, but as the head of a single—party government. the british government has urged all its nationals to leave ethiopia immediately, saying the conflict is deteriorating quickly. the uk has warned that the fighting may move closer to the capital, addis ababa, in the coming days. the united states, france, germany and turkey have also urged their nationals to leave. the un is evacuating families of international staff. the former leader of the farc rebel group, rodrigo londono, has apologised to their victims during more than five decades of conflict with the colombian armed forces. mr londono, who was better known as �*timochenko�*, was speaking at a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the signing of a historic peace agreement between the marxist group and
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the colombian government. the french international footballer, karim benzema, has been found guilty of involvement in attempted blackmail over a sex tape. six years ago, benzema was part of a conspiracy which attempted to extort money from a former france team—mate, mathieu vilbuena. mr benzema has been given a one—year suspended prison sentence and a fine of more than $80,000. more than 100,000 people have now died of covid in germany since the start of the pandemic. germany is battling a fresh surge in cases with more than 350 deaths in the past 2a hours. some hospitals are already facing an "acute overload" that has made it necessary to transfer covid patients abroad. germany last week announced tougher covid curbs, including requiring people to prove they are vaccinated, cured or have recently tested negative for the virus before they can travel on public transport or go into the workplace.
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staying in germany. three political parties have struck a deal to form the next government, putting the environment centre stage. the social democrats, greens and free democrats have unveiled their coalition agreement, which marks the end of the chancellor angela merkel era. damien mcguinness has the latest from berlin. the end of an era in germany. after 16 years of conservative—led government under angela merkel, germany�*s new leaders are younger and more radical, and they want to modernise the country. it�*s an unusual alliance — a left—wing social democrat chancellor, olaf scholz, in government with the greens and the business—friendly liberals. in germany, it�*s called a "traffic light coalition" after the colours of each party. mr scholz drew parallels between the incoming coalition and germany�*s first—ever real traffic lights on potsdamer platz
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in berlin in 192a. translation: my aspiration as chancellor _ is to make sure that this traffic light coalition can play a similarly groundbreaking role in germany. the climate change measures are ambitious — by 2030, coal will be phased out and 80% of germany�*s electricity will come from renewable sources. tackling social inequality is also a top priority. healthcare workers will get a bonus and the minimum wage will be increased. but with germany seeing record covid infection and death rates, for many voters, the biggest challenge right now is how the incoming government will fight the pandemic. translation: the first thing should be - to sort out the pandemic. it cannot stay like this. that�*s the top priority for me. translation: i think the most important thing at the moment| is the covid crisis. there's nothing else
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as far as i'm concerned. and how will we proceed with vaccinations? what are the new regulations? the leaders of the new coalition appear to have energy, ambition and confidence — qualities they will need given they are taking over in a time of crisis. damien mcguinness, bbc news, berlin. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: ten years after her death, lyrics, notebooks and stage outfits from the much—missed british singer amy winehouse go on display in london. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world, the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number ten
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to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany�*s first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it�*s not hot air we need, it�*s hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: at least 27 migrants have drowned in the english channel after their dinghy capsized near the french port of calais.
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ajury in the us finds all three defendants guilty of murdering ahmaud arbery, a black man outjogging in the state of georgia. president biden has welcomed the verdict. apple has sent alert messages to activists in several countries, warning their iphones may have been targeted by state—sponsored attackers. at least six thai activists and a dozen employees at an el salvadoran newspaper said they received the warning. on tuesday, apple filed a lawsuit against israeli spyware maker nso group, accusing it of using its pegasus spyware to attack apple users. pegasus can activate a phone�*s cameras and microphones, and grant access to messages, photos, and emails. adam shapiro is the head of communications at front line defenders, an organisation which has uncovered previous pegasus attacks. he says while the rise in the use of spyware is concerning, companies
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are starting to fight back. it is extremely worrying that more and more cases of pegasus spyware being used against human rights defenders, journalists, and other civil society people. it�*s of course very worrying. what�*s heartening is that we are starting to see the tech companies take action, as apple has now done with this law suit, and as whatsapp has previously done as well. apple is famed, is known, its reputation is partly built on security, so how damaging will this be? the flaw in imessage, which is an apple software, was discovered a while back. they did move quickly to fix it but what now we know, increasingly we know, isjust how much it was exploited to target activists and human rights defenders and journalists. apple has to deal with this, all the security companies have to deal with this, but importantly it is not nso doing the spying, it�*s governments doing the spying. how does that spying actually
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work, in simple terms? a pegasus attack can be delivered by a state, a government entity because nso sells the software to a government entity to use. it can be infiltrated into a phone device sometimes by sending a phone message, somebody will click on something but increasingly it is zero click attacks whereby messages can be delivered to a device through the cellphone network or wi—fi and the user does not have to click on anything in order for that software be deployed on the telephone. this is extremely worrying. that feels even more worrying. it could be on your phone without you necessarily knowing it. without you doing anything. what about this fight back? is this a war we will always be fighting?
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a decade ago when the arab spring was under way, hacking teams out of italy, the uk and germany were selling similar kind of software to nefarious governments. governments are always going to try and do this and it is on us, civil societies, journalists and tech companies increasingly to do the fight back, shining the light, exposing what is going on and holding these private companies and governments to account. our thanks to adam shapiro there. the duke and duchess of cambridge have offered a carol concert, due to be broadcast on the bbc this christmas, to itv instead. kensington palace criticised the corporation for showing a new documentary on the royal family�*s relationship with the media. our royal correspondent
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nicholas witchell reports. it was billed as an examination of the relationship between the princes and the press. it�*s resulted in a sharp falling out between one prince in particular and the bbc. to understand why, we need to go back to another bbc programme, the panorama interview with diana, princess of wales. in a report earlier this year, the bbc�*s handling of the whole matter was strongly criticised. the anger of diana�*s eldest son, william, was palpable. it brings indescribable sadness to know that the bbc�*s failures contributed significantly to herfear, paranoia and isolation that i remember from those final years with her. and so when the bbc�*s media editor, amol rajan, began to look at a more recent family episode, the painful falling out between william and harry, the results induced royal indignation. in particular the hints, so far unsubstantiated,
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that royal officials may have leaked unflattering stories about harry and his wife meghan to the press. in a joint statement at the end of monday�*s first episode of the programme, buckingham palace, clarence house and kensington palace said... today, as the duchess of cambridge visited a school in north london, the royals removed from the bbc the right to transmit a christmas concert which the duchess will introduce from westminster abbey. the bbc will make the programme, but now itv will broadcast it. the bbc�*s chairman, richard sharp, was asked about the row over a conference video link. we have tremendous respect for all aspects of the royal family in all they undertake and do. one thing we can say,
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the circumstances which lie behind the breach between the brothers remain painful to all concerned. nicholas witchell, bbc news. from her unmistakable voice to her signature beehive, british singer amy winehouse is being remembered in a new exhibition — a decade after her death. handwritten lyrics and notebooks as well as outfits she wore onstage are going on display at london�*s design museum. tarah welsh has been to see it. this is the most magical part of the exhibition. singing amy winehouse — her voice, her style, her presence, recreated through animation. just part of this exhibition about her life and career at the design museum. there�*s things you�*d expect from an exhibition, like magazine covers and her grammy awards. and there are really personal touches here, as well, like amy�*s notes and notepads, talking about her dreams and her ambitions for the future. having access
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to so much of amy�*s handwritten material was extremely moving. like, i�*ve read maybe hundreds of pages of amy�*s notebooks and diary entries and lyric pages. and it�*sjust a real insight into who she was as a person and how she worked, and how incredibly clean her copy was when she was writing these poems that turned into songs. so that was probably, yeah, the most amazing part of the process for me. amy beyond the stage celebrates her creativity, her music, her style and her inspirations. there�*s so much that would be of interest to her. you know, the stuff about billie holliday and sarah vaughan and ella fitzgerald. this exhibition would bejust up her alley. this is the sort of exhibition that she would go and pay to see, so, yeah, ithink she would be happy. what i hope they take away is to see a very positive side of amy. you know, everyone knows what happened. everyone has seen the horrible tabloid stuff. this is, from start to finish, positivity and it�*s superb, you know,
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and i�*m loving it. i�*m really loving it. amy winehouse died ten years ago, but her influence on the world of music goes on — an insight into where it all started opens to the public here in kensington on friday. tarah welsh, bbc london. and before we go tonight, it�*s the eve of thanksgiving and thousands have been taking part in a much loved tradition in new york city. yes, it�*s the annual blowing up of the macy�*s day parade balloons. every year people flock to the grounds of the museum of natural history, to watch these familiar floating faces come to life. some of the fan favourites include smokey the bear, astronaut snoopy, and the pillsbury doughboy, plus newcomers like baby yoda and ronald mcdonald. the balloons will fly high over the streets of thursday�*s parade which will be in person after last year�*s scaled back affair. that is it from me. get me
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online. i�*m @lvaughanjones. i�*m lewis vaughan jones i�*m lewis vaughanjones and this is bbc. bye—bye. hello. some pretty lively weather conditions on the way to us later in the week and into the start of the weekend. we could see some severe gales develop quite widely, particularly through friday into saturday. and to go with it, a realfeel of winter in the air — much, much colder with more of you seeing a little bit of sleet or even snow. that colder air pushing southwards overnight into the start of thursday, and that really makes for the chill for the first of the commutes of the day, temperatures widely at or just above freezing. so, frost in places, maybe just frost—free in the south—east corner where the overnight cloud and patchy drizzle just about to clear, and in the far north of scotland overnight, heavy showers continuing with sleet and snow, even down to sea level. they�*ll continue throughout the day, a few showers down across eastern coastal counties of england, one or two to the west of wales, cornwall and across northern ireland. but for most of you, thursday is one of those crisp, clear days, good visibility, but a chilly feel in
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the breeze, temperatures around 5 to 8 degrees. now, as we go into thursday night, temperatures actually lift a little bit. outbreaks of rain spreading their way in, from the north and the west, but strengthening winds across the board. that will stop temperatures from falling to freezing here, but there could be a frost to start friday, east anglia and the south—east in particular. but even here, we�*ll see rain push through on friday. this is the area of low pressure that�*s going to cause us all sorts of problems. the exact track will dictate who sees the strongest of the winds and who will see a bit of snow. to begin friday, it�*s outbreaks of rain spreading southwards and eastwards. the strongest of the winds to the north and the west of the country could touch damaging 70, maybe 80mph for one or two later in the day, and blizzard conditions developing across parts of higher ground of scotland. and this is where we�*ll see the strongest of the winds really late friday and into friday night, pushing down the western side of this area of low pressure. cold air with it, so a mixture of rain, sleet and snow notjust to the hills, one or two to lower levels, but it�*s going to be a difficult mix to get exactly right. keep checking the forecast.
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but it could be a night of disruption into the start of saturday with strong winds. more wintry showers around on saturday, an icy wind and an added wind chill too. so, whilst temperatures on the thermometers saturday afternoon say 4 to 7 degrees, already lower than normally expected at this stage of november, it will feel closer to freezing, if not below for many of you. things will turn quieter, though, through saturday night into sunday. widespread frost to begin the day, but for most, it�*ll be a dry day with some spells of hazy sunshine. keep up to date with the latest forecast details here on bbc news.
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this is bbc news. the headlines: the leaders of france and britain say they will increase efforts to prevent migrant crossings the english channel after at least 27 people drowned when their boat capsized off the coast of northern france. four suspected traffickers have been arrested on suspicion of being linked to the sinking. president biden has welcomed the verdict of a court in the us state of georgia, which found three white men guilty of murdering a young black man, ahmaud arbery, while he was outjogging. the defendants chased mr arbery before one of them shot him three times. in germany, three parties have agreed to form a coalition government, led by a social democrat, for the first time in 16 years. olaf scholz, who will replace angela merkel as chancellor, has pledged to make climate change his top priority.
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now on bbc news, hardtalk.

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