tv BBC News BBC News March 20, 2022 4:00am-4:31am GMT
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this is bbc news — welcome if you're watching here in the uk or around the globe. i'm rich preston. our top stories. a ukrainian soldier is pulled alive from the rubble of a theatre in mariupol which was bombed by russia on wednesday, but intense fighting hampers efforts to rescue hundreds of others. very tense here. it looks like somebody heard planes overhead. i heard some explosions, and the soldiers told us to leave very quickly, which is what we're doing now. 80% of buildings in the port city mariupol have been damaged by the russian assault. those who've managed to get out, have been describing what they've fled. translation: there is no mariupol. - we sat in a cellar for ten days and did not leave once. we neither had water or electricity. president zelensky
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criticises swiss firms who continue to do business in russia — singling out consumer giant nestle. and we meet the ballet dancers of ukraine sheltering in the safety of poland's national opera house. hello. the united nations human rights office says at least 847 civilians have been killed in ukraine since russian troops invaded more than three weeks ago. the true figure is likely to be much higher. ukraine's president has called for comprehensive peace talks with russia "without delay". in the south—west, in the city of mykolaiv, a search and rescue operation is under way after a nearby
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ukrainian military base was hit by russian missiles. mykolaiv is a key russian target — it's been blocking russia's advance west along the black sea coast for weeks. our correspondent andrew harding sent this report from mykolaiv. hunting for survivors in the ruins of a ukrainian army base. it's believed 200 soldiers were in these buildings when russian missiles struck. ukrainian officials aren't saying how many died here, but it could well be over 100. suddenly a survivor is found. alive after 30 hours under the rubble in freezing temperatures. his name unknown for now, but most likely a local recruit fighting for a city that's taking a hammering. abruptly we're told to move fast.
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ukraine is full of these sudden scares. very tense here. it looks like somebody heard planes overhead. i heard some explosions. and the soldiers told us to leave very quickly, which is what we're doing now. a few minutes later, the all—clear. but nerves are wearing thin here in mykolaiv, the front line for russia's black sea offensive. two shopkeepers emerge from a basement near the army barracks. translation: i can't tell you how scared we are. l we all live in the cellar now. when the bombs hit the army base, everything shook. and everyone's phones are filling up with pictures of their city's agonies. along the coast, a glimpse of how much worse things could still get. this is mariupol, or what's left of it.
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besieged by russia, hundreds of thousands of people are still trapped in the city. heavy fighting means no way out for them and no way to bring in food or water. in mykolaiv, another air raid siren and the hard—earned knowledge that no—one is safe from russia's bombs. as we've seen today, the russians are sometimes targeting purely military sites, but more often than not, it's civilian neighbourhoods like this one that are getting hit. nine people who were queueing on the street outside these shops were killed a few days ago by a russian bombardment. just two blocks away, this lorry driver is trying to clear up after this. by chance, he and his family were away when the bomb hit. "this isn't a war between armies," he says.
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"the russians are trying to destroy us all." back at the army base, heavy going as a front—line city waits for news of any more survivors. andrew harding, bbc news, in mykolaiv, southern ukraine. as we saw in andrew's report, civilians trapped in the southern city of mariupol have endured heavy bombardment by russian forces for more than two weeks. and now, the besieged city's mayor claims russia has captured thousands of residents and forcibly deported them to remote russian towns. the bbc can't verify the claims independently. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet has more from kyiv. he posted on his telegram channel saying that several thousand people, many of them shelter in a sports centre in the heart of the city, a city centre which has been all but flattened,
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and they have been forcibly taken across the border. he said many had been taken to remote towns in russia, their documents checked, their phones checked. the others, he said, he didn't know of their whereabouts. the deputy mayor has also been providing a similar account, but he has said that passports were taken away. now, as you mentioned, we're not able to independently verify, but the new york times has spoken to residents in mariupol who've managed to flee, and they report similar accounts of russian forces going into basements, going to find particularly young men and forcibly taking them across the border. there was a statement from a russian national defence institution which spoke of how several thousand people had asked to be taken to russia and that that was being achieved. again, as always, two different narratives.
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president volodomyr zelensky has used a speech to a rally in switzerland to criticise swiss firms which have chosen to carry on doing business with russia. in a video message screened outside the swiss parliament, president zelensky singled out the consumer giant nestle as well as swiss banks, which he said served the kremlin elite. mark lobel gave me this update. on day 25, ukraine renewed its attack on multinational companies it says are working with or in russia. to give you an example of how they're doing this, the foreign minister tweeted a picture of the theatre you mentioned in mariupol, which they say was struck by a russian attack, which the russians deny. but underneath it, hundreds of women and children still unable to get out, and they say, how can companies do business with russia after they have done such things? those were comments from the foreign minister echoing what president zelensky said in a rally in switzerland broadcast just outside the swiss parliament. he took aim at the food giant
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nestle, and don't forget nestle is such a big company, it covers most parts of our lives. baby food is produced by nestle, cereals like shreddies, shredded wheat, bottled water like san pellegrino, chocolates kitkat, aero, quality street, coffees like nescafe, even frozen food and drinks like nesquick and milo, not to mention haagen—dazs ice cream. let's have a listen to how president zelensky directed his attack. translation: good food, | good life - this is the slogan of nestle, your company which refuses to leave russia even now when there are threats from russia to other european countries. strong words, has nestle responded? they have, they said first of all that they have taken unprecedented steps to significantly scale back
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operations in russia, like stopping imports and exports from the country except for essential food items, but they said they had taken the difficult decision to continue to provide essential food and beverages to the russian people. they say they will continue to support their employees but will not invest in the country or promote sales, and they say operations are not generating a profit, although it leaves them in contrast to some western companies like mcdonald's, apple, starbucks and sony, who decided under pressure because of what people are seeing on their screens out of ukraine, to pull out of russia. people in the ukrainian capital kyiv have been spending their nights underground to avoid the threat that hangs over their city. our international correspondent, orla guerin, joined them in a shelter built in soviet times.
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the nightly routine as the curfew descends. they seek refuge below ground in kyiv. we can't say exactly where. some are glued to the radio, like a scene from wars gone by. and they bed down in darkness. forced into the shadows. our guide is zoe, a teacher and translator driven from her own bed by russian attacks. they bombed the city close to my apartment. at five o'clock in the morning, i got up like crazy, i didn't know what to do because it was frightening. you know, the building was shaking like this, so... and after that, i decided to come here. i'm sorry. before, i watched it only in the movies.
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of the second world war started. only movies about it, but now we are in this reality, you know? in a makeshift bedroom nearby, another echo of the past — a discarded lenin. many here believe vladimir putin is trying to drag ukraine and europe back to the dark days of the soviet era. at the dinner table, the discussion among friends and neighbours is about the defences around the city. and there are other worries here, like what to tell the children. julia says her six—year—old keeps asking questions. "we tell her she has to cope for a little while, and we hug her and kiss her," she says.
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then it's bedtime. mother and daughter counting sheep. a familiar ritual in a time of danger and uncertainty. orla guerin, bbc news, kyiv. the ukraine military has announced a 38—hour curfew in the southern city of zaporizhzhia, following a russian rocket attack. our correspondent wyre davies is there. this is the town of zaporizhzhia. it's about 130 miles just to the north—west of the besieged city of mariupol, which, of course, has been virtually flattened by russian artillery fire. now, in recent days and weeks, those people who've been able to flee from mariupol have been
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coming through here. many of them, including children, being treated at local hospitals. but the big fear here now is that this city will become the next target for the russian offensive. indeed, in recent weeks, there have been sporadic missile attacks in the area. and in the last 2a hours, seven people were reported to have been killed in attacks against a local training base and factories. and that's meant a curfew has now been declared, a 38—hour curfew, in this city declared by the army and by local authorities, and that's already led to pretty big queues at checkpoints in the city. people fleeing the city much north to the town of dnipro. of course, the fear is that even though many of these big old civic buildings are standing, that this city will soon resemble what has happened in mariupol. aside from forcing millions from their homes, the war has brought untold hardship
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for those who've stayed put. finding food and medicine has become a dangerous and difficult pursuit. our correspondentjames reynolds went to a distribution centre just outside lviv, where volunteers are gathering aid for people in need. in normal times, this- was a furniture warehouse, but since the start of the war, this has become an aid - distribution centre. it receives and then sorts. through tonnes and tonnes of supplies which have been sent from across the world. | so, let's split up, you go that way and i'll go this wayjust . to get a sense of the scale of what's been donated. . and you're now walking. through this column where people are sorting out clothes and shoes. . and on my side, people are sorting through- tins and tins of food. there are lots - of volunteers here. some of them have been older, retired people. . and they've decided to sign up for six to| eight—hour shifts here.
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they get bus rides in, and they sort throughj everything to make sure i everything's in good order. and then the businesspeople who run this centre organise it. - and they'll start to re—pack it, and they then are - in contact with places - across the country which really need food and shoes - and tins and tins of food. and one of the most important needs of all is medicine. - and if you just look over - there, you'll see the pallets that need to be sorted out. those have to be sorted out by specialists, - by doctors and pharmacists, i and they will then be sent out and driven out to the hospitals that need them most. - this is bbc news. the headlines. reports from the besieged ukrainian port of mariupol say intense street fighting has hampered efforts to rescue hundreds of people still trapped in the basement of a bombed theatre.
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president zelensky has used a speech to a rally in switzerland to criticise swiss firms which have chosen to carry on doing business with russia. he singled out the food giant nestle. the united nations children's charity unicef estimates the war in ukraine is creating a child refugee almost every second. at present, that's more than 1.5 million children who've fled their homes, schools and friends. as refugees cross to neighbouring countries like poland and romania, they need food and shelter, but also access to education. dr ritesh shah is from the centre for asia pacific refugee studies at the university of auckland. he explained the specific issues that relate to childen and trauma during a war. many of the children have been living through conflict for the last eight years, particularly those in the east. they have had to cope with the issue for quite some time. they will eventually
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have their coping skills overrun, and possibly have quite acute psychosocial trauma. there are those who this is a new phenomenon for, for them, likewise, they need to make sense of the issue that is happening. but also just wanting to be back and be kids, playing with peers and connect with their teachers. food, shelter, medical needs are usual prioritised. what about education and play? unfortunately it's not prioritised enough. education is currently receiving about 3% of the overall amount of humanitarian funding globally. the target is actually only 4%. but we have not managed to do that for at least a decade. so, unfortunately, education
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isn't seen as life—saving despite the fact that we know often that's what children and their families yearn for, in a time of crisis. how easy is it to continue education when that child is living as a refugee? it's really on the will of the host governments. we are pleased by the response we have seen from the host governments. they have shown a willingness to receive children into their schooling systems. there are challenges, though. there is a need for additional education personnel, to have space, and to ensure the personnel there can support teaching in a second language and support children with their social and emotional needs. what does that entail? what special things do teachers need to look out for, when they are trying to educate
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children who have been through war and fled conflict? the most important thing is to speak to children, as children, and to understand what's been happening to them. not all the children will be traumatised. but they need to talk about what they have experienced and talk about their fears. really, just being open to having that conversation, notjust being so focused on the cognitive learning. in other news, and here in the uk, p&0 ferries says some of its services from liverpool have resumed, after all ships were called back to port on thursday. hours later, the firm announced 800 staff had been sacked and would be replaced with agency workers. our business correspondent ramzan karmali reports. chanting: go, go, p&0! go, go, p&0! protesters let their feelings
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be known about the sudden dismissal of 800 p&0 staff outside the tory party conference in blackpool. the government really needs to get its act together. rather than be leading the destruction of the british maritime industry, they should be doing all they can to reverse the loss of 800 jobs. in dover, the company's ferries lie idle. the dubai—based owners dp world have come under intense criticism on the way they have treated their workers. their families are going to be in need. it also means that local shopkeepers are not going to have the benefit of people spending. this is going to impact greatly on the wider community. the government now is also coming under scrutiny about the legal advice it took when told about the plans, and the scottish government's told the bbc it's reviewing all publicly—funded contracts with p&0. p&0 says it is now taking bookings for its crossing between liverpool and dublin. but for these ferries
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here in dover, and in fact eight across the whole country, the transport secretary grant shapps is insisting on full safety checks. this delay will undoubtedly cost the company money, but it could also have an impact on businesses and passengers alike. one of europe's biggest transportation companies is worried. we are trying to move i all our trucks and trailers with cargoes to other lines, - but we understand every carrier now will do the same. so, we see the lines, - the queues slowly growing. absolute disgrace what's going on. the government has asked the insolvency service to check if dp world acted appropriately, but it's clear p&0's brand has been damaged by this week's firings. ramzan karmali, bbc news, dover. china has reported its first covid deaths since january last year, as it faces its worst outbreak since the early days of the pandemic. two people have died in the province ofjilin, in the northeast. officials said, they were
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elderly with underlying health conditions. china has continued with its zero covid policy, locking down entire cities and enforcing mass testing. wildfires in texas in the us have destroyed thousands of acres of dry grasslands and forced the evacuation of residents from their homes. people living in areas of eastland county, about 90 miles west of fort worth, and brown and comanche counties have been ordered to leave. strong winds and very dry grasses are helping the fires spread quickly and are proving difficult forfire crews to control. a private funeral is being held for shane warne in his home city of melbourne. he died earlier this month in thailand. a state public memorial to honour his life and career will take place at melbourne cricket ground on march 30th. opera houses and theatres
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you can reach me on twitter — i'm @richpreston. hello again. on saturday, we recorded the highest temperature of the year so far in scotland in the highlands in kinlochewe. we got to 20.2 degrees celsius. a few spots in europe beat 20.2 degrees celsius. in portugal, for example, it was a couple of degrees warmer, but otherwise, it was one of the warmer places in europe, comfortably beating all of these cities. athens, just nine degrees through saturday afternoon. but it could've been worse. for anyone wanting a bit of warmth in turkey, saturday brought some snowfall, even into istanbul. now, our weather's been settled at the moment because we've got a big area of high pressure that'sjust to our east, and it's going to be dominating the weather through sunday and for most of next week as well. clear skies at the moment. the wind slowly easing compared
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with what we've seen over the last 2a hours or so. it'll still be there with some patches of frost and a few mist and fog patches through the vale of york and eastern areas of scotland. but otherwise, a lovely start to the day, lots of spring sunshine on the cards, probably a nice sunrise in northern ireland. here, though, we'll start to see a little bit of thicker cloud working in from the west later on, and we'll see some cloud moving in across the east anglia threatening a few showers late in the afternoon. it is going to be a fine day for most of us, though, with some sunshine, but noticeably cooler. temperatures about 9—13, maybe 15 in parts of scotland. and there'll be further showers running into eastern england, maybe even with a bit of soft hail into sunday evening. from there, though, the weather is going to get a lot, lot warmer. as we go through monday, this little curl of cloud, a very weak area of low pressure, could bring an odd shower into eastern scotland if it gets close enough. but otherwise, it's another mostly dry day with spells of sunshine. notice those temperatures rising
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across england and wales — 13 in cardiff, 15 in london. still cool for scotland and northern ireland, but as these southerly winds continue to push northwards through tuesday and wednesday, those temperatures are going to surge significantly. so, tuesday, a fine day with some sunshine. isolated showers developing through the afternoon. most of you will have a dry day, though. and look at these temperatures, reaching a high of 19 degrees in london, of 15 in glasgow, 1a for belfast. and the fine weather with prolonged spells of spring sunshine for many of us will last for much of the week ahead, with temperatures warm for the time of year.
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this is bbc news, the headlines... fierce street fighting has been hampering efforts to reach hundreds of people still trapped beneath a bombed theatre in the ukrainian port of mariupol. the mayor of the city has accused the russian army of forcibly transferring thousands of residents into russia. the un human rights office says more than 800 civilians have been killed in ukraine since the russian invasion began. most of the casualties were caused by heavy artillery, missile and air strikes. but un officials say they believe the real figures are considerably higher. president zelensky has criticised swiss firms
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