tv Newsday BBC News February 7, 2023 1:00am-1:30am GMT
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welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: extensive search and rescue operations are underway after two powerful earthquakes hit southern turkey and northern syria. more than 2300 people have been killed in turkey and thousands of buildings collapsed. around 1200 more people have died in northern syria. the first quake was felt as far away as lebanon and cyprus. we'll bring you the very latest as the search for survivors continues. also on the programme: us house republicans want to formally condemn the biden administration for taking so long to shoot down china's surveillance balloon. and trouble for manchester city as the premier league charges the club with more
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than one hundred breaches of its financial rules. live from our studio in singapore, this is bbc news. it's newsday. hello and welcome to the programme. rescue operations are under way across much of southern turkey and northern syria, following two huge earthquakes that have killed at least 3500 people. —— 3,800 people. rescuers are racing to save those trapped beneath the rubble and people have spent the day digging with their bare hands. the first earthquake struck in the early hours of monday morning while people were asleep. the epicentre was near the turkish city of gaziantep,
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which is near the border with syria, and measured a magnitude of 7.8. the second earthquake measured 7.5 magnitude and hit 130 kilometres to the north of the first. millions of people across turkey, syria, lebanon, cyprus and israel felt the earthquake. the united nations has called for an international response to the earthquakes. world leaders have pledged to send aid. but freezing temperatures are already hampering the aid effort. 0ur middle east correspondent anna foster has arrived in turkey and has spent the day travelling towards the quake zone. she has sent this report from the town of 0smaniye, about 130 kilometres from one of the epicentres. running for their lives. shaken to their foundations, whole buildings fell. and across southern turkey, peace became panic. people helped where they could. this was a series of powerful earthquakes, notjust one. they were only around 20 kilometres under the surface, and shallow quakes
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cause the most damage. in towns and cities across a huge area, the rescue efforts began. with diggers and sniffer dogs, teams of people began to dig frantically in search of survivors. for decades, turkey has been bracing itself for a huge quake. tonight everyone is a rescuer, and they all want to find a survivor. it's a painful wait for news. translation: there are people still trapped under rubble. - i have a friend living in this apartment. his children were rescued from the top floor, but only his daughter broke an arm. we'll see what happened to those living on the ground floors. may god give us a speedy recovery. translation: i was sleeping when my wife suddenly - woke me up. the quake was very severe, very scary. it took almost two minutes until the shaking stopped. 0utside turkey, the world stands ready to help. offers to send
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specialist equipment and teams of experts have been coming in all day. translation: we have received several offers of international - aid for our country. offers of assistance from 45 countries, including nato and the european union, have reached us. in the city of adana, help arrived quickly. alongside the emergency services, young men fit enough to move the rubble stepped in. you can really see the size of the effort that's going on here on top of this pile of rubble. rescuers are using their bare hands and you can see them throwing down blocks and trying to search desperately for survivors. this used to be a12—storey apartment building just like the one behind it, and so far they've only found three survivors. for families with missing relatives, the wait for news is agony. translation: we all heard | the sound of the earthquake. she has her sister down there under the rubble.
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translation: it's eight people under there. - three of them are children — my uncle and his wife, their son and their daughter, and three children. translation: there are my sister and her three children underthe building. i also her husband, her- mother and father—in—law are there too. turkey has dealt with natural disasters before. few are on this scale. as night falls, cities like 0smaniye are without power, in darkness. the few lights there are have been sent to searches that offer the best chance of hope. it's still too early to know the real extent of the destruction here. finding those who are trapped beneath collapsed buildings will take days, if not weeks. the death toll is already many hundreds. the numbers of injured stands in the thousands. it's bitterly cold and the rain keeps falling. the aftermath of this quake is testing rescuers to their limits. anna foster,
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bbc news, 0smaniye. across the border in northern syria, hundreds more have been killed and thousands are trapped and injured in what is one of the poorest regions of the world. it's been cut off from the international community after years of conflict between the syrian president bassar al ashad's forces and rebel fighters, making rescue efforts even harder. 0ur chief international correspondent lyse doucet, who has reported extensively from syria, has this report. a syrian village which vanished in minutes... ..besnia. its people are all that's left standing — those who survived. so many didn't, all along this area, next to turkey. still now many families are under the rubble. 0ur teams are trying to save them. it is very difficult task for us.
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we need help, we need the international community to do something. families shaken from their sleep just after 4am by a powerful earthquake whose epicentre is just across the border. in the dead of night, rescue workers known as white helmets race to help, pulling this young girl from the rubble. this is work they know well. idlib, the last rebel—held enclave, has lived for years with ferocious bombardment by war planes of the syrian military or its russian ally. the few hospitals which still operate here have hardly any resources or staff. now they're overwhelmed. we received hundreds of casualties. really, we need urgent help for the area, especially we are talking about medical help. these patients
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were already living on the edge, in a war zone, displaced time and again for more than a decade. now, they have been knocked down again. translation: we were sleeping peacefully. - at liam, we felt a huge earthquake. i woke up my wife and my children and we ran towards the exit door. we opened it, and suddenly all the building collapsed. nature doesn't take sides. areas like hama, under syrian government control, were also hit. they're also worn down by war. here, it's the syrian arab red crescent working with bare hands and also with diggers. translation: everyone will carry on their duties| as needed. we ask for mercy for the victims and speedy recovery for the injured. it is our fate. syria's plight has been
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thrust into the eyes of the world again. today, it's fighting a different kind of battle. the international community has failed syria for many years. this is an opportunity to try and put that right. this is a moment, i think, to put principles over politics, to really look at ways they can show solidarity with those on the ground and make sure that syrians, who have been going through over a decade of crisis now, do get the support they so desperately need. long—suffering syrians have felt forgotten by the world. reaching people across this broken country will be hard, but this disaster may make the world care again. lyse doucet, bbc news. and lyse doucet told me about the types of towns that have been affected in syria. this is a people, millions of people, who were basically living in freezing cold temperatures, in flimsy,
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makeshift shelters, made of plywood or plastic, whatever they could find, or they were living in tents, nothing that could protect them against the powerful force of this earthquake. and so a people who were living with almost nothing now have nothing at all, if indeed they survived. and getting aid into northern syria is such a huge obstacle course. there is only one crossing, one lifeline, which runs from turkey. tonight, that is absolutely choked with traffic. and there's only one crossing because powerful countries at the un security council, russia and china, have been vetoing any attempts by western powers, by the united nations, to allow more aid into northern syria before this disaster happened.
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as you point out, the situation on the ground has been difficult, to say the least, even before this. now, people there are faced with this disaster. doctors are saying that urgent aid is required immediately. what hope do people there have? they have been living without hope for a very long time. there's been a war going on in syria, which still drags on, for more than a decade now. it used to never leave our headlines, and now syrians do truly feel forgotten by the world. i was discussing this just last week with syrians. they said, it is really hard to get aid in, it is really hard to get any attention at all. there is not a corner of syria which has not been touched by war. government—held areas of syria, as we have been reporting, have also been hit. this is a country on its knees, where people live in freezing temperatures with about one or two hours of electricity a day.
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all the areas of syria have been impoverished by this war, but if you look at the offers of aid, turkey, whatever differences world leaders have with president erdogan, 45 countries immediately offered aid. syria received reassurances from its powerfulfriends — russia, china, iran, some of the arab states which have been trying to open up the cooperation or a new relationship with president assad of syria, like the united arab emirates. but these kind of natural disasters, we've seen in south—east asia, they create opportunities to remove political enmities and obstacles, but all the signs we have now are that it will only deepen them, and that will be at the expense of the people. turkey is situated on or near several fault lines and it is one of the world's most active earthquake zones. many are deadly — one of the worst on record that took place in 1999, killed more than 17,000 people. here's our science
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editor rebecca morelle. this is the most powerful earthquake to have hit the region in almost a century. the epicentre was here in the south of turkey close to the city near the syrian border. it is one of the worlds most seismically active region and the reason for that is because turkey sits with three tectonic plates come together. the arabian plate pushes upwards into the eurasian plate that forces the anatolian plate west, moving about two centimetres every year. as the plates grind past each other other fault lines are created. the north anatolian fault has been where major earthquakes have happened over the last century the east anatolian fault where this struck has been much less at dave's attention has been building up along it until today when it was released in a huge
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earthquake. what made this particularly deadly is that it struck at a shallow depth. just 11 miles beneath the surface. this is magnitude 7, nearly magnitude 8. this was a big one. this is an earthquake such as we don't get more than about 20—odd every year somewhere in the world, so this was big, and it was also quite shallow. if the rupture is closer to the surface, you get greater shaking of the ground surface than an earthquake of the same energy that happens at a greater depth. so it is a particularly nasty one. this region's all too familiar with these natural disasters. one of the most destructive happened in 1999, in the west of turkey. the magnitude 7.6 earthquake caused monumental damage, and around 18,000 deaths. but this earthquake is even more powerful. the full scale of the devastation is yet to be determined, but many buildings have been reduced to piles of rubble. turkey does have seismic codes for their buildings, strict codes
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because of being such an earthquake prone country. the problem is, i mean, old buildings weren't designed with those. newer buildings, sometimes there might be corners cut in some occasions. sometimes it's just that the ground responds in a different way. more earth quakes triggered by the first are now the main concern. this shows dozens that have happened along the fault lines. here is the first earthquake measuring 7.8. an after—shock ten minutes later recorded at 6.7 magnitude. several hours after, this one to the north measured a huge 7.5. almost as powerful as the first. and this is making a desperate situation even more challenging. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: trouble for manchester city as the premier league charges the club with
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more than 100 breaches of its financial rules. there's mr mandela, mr nelson mandela, a free man taking his first steps into a new south africa. iran's spiritual leader, ayatollah khomeini, has said he has passed a death sentence on salman rushdie, the british author of a book which many muslims say is blasphemous. the people of haiti have flocked - to church to give thanks - for the ousting of their former president baby doc duvalier. because of his considerable value as a stallion, shergar was kept in a special secure box in the stud farm's central block. shergar was driven away in a horse box the thieves had brought with them. there stepped down from the plane
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a figure in mourning, elizabeth ii, queen of this realm and of all her other realms and territories, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith. this is newsday on the bbc. i'm karishma vaswani in singapore. 0ur headlines: extensive search and rescue operations are underway after two powerful earthquakes hit southern turkey and northern syria, killing at least 3800 people. the first quake measured 7.8 in magnitude and was felt as far away as lebanon and cyprus. the un secretary—general has called for an international response. to the uk, now, where the head of epsom college, a private school in surrey, has been found dead,
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along with her husband and seven—year—old daughter, in their home in the school grounds. 45—year—old emma pattison, who became the first woman to lead the prestigious school last september, was found with her husband george, and their daughter lettie. police say they are confident there was no third party involvement. here's our special correspondent lucy manning. the school that she led, where she inspired, has police cars, detectives, and a major crime investigation. emma pattison was the first female head of award—winning epsom college in surrey. she was an example of female leadership, a woman at the top of her career. but yesterday morning, her body — and that of her seven—year—old daughter lettie and her husband — were found. i am absolutely loving my time here so far. in an interview with pupils just two months ago, emma pattison spoke about how much she was enjoying her new role as head. it's been wonderful. in terms of transition, it has been a really big
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change for my family. so, we've obviously moved house, we've bought a dog. i have got a newjob, my husband's got a newjob, which wasn't meant to happen but did, and my daughter has started a new school, so there has been a lot of change for us as a family. the school said it was in a state of utter shock and disbelief, and that mrs pattison, as she was known to her pupils here, had enriched the lives of so many throughout her career. her former school, croydon high, where she was also head, described her as a passionate, energetic and inspiring leader, and a dedicated teacher. hello, my name is emma pattison... in the videos from croydon high school, her passion is obvious. 0ur mantra is every girl, every day. her body and that of her child and husband found at a house in epsom college's grounds — blue tarpaulin now in front of it. the head teacher's house in the centre,
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the school's indoor rifle range behind it. police have described what's happened as an isolated incident. that means they aren't looking for anyone else. they will give more details soon. the flag flies at half mast. how to help the hundreds of pupils here understand what happened and how they lost their head teacher in the most terrible way? lucy manning, bbc news. in other stories for you today. the biggest trial since beijing introduced sweeping restrictions on free speech in the territory has begun in hong kong. 16 defendants are accused of breaking hong kong's national security law after organising a vote to pick candidates for an election. the trial is taking place without a jury, which is unusual in hong kong, and most of those charged have already spent two years behind bars.
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an update for you now on the us—china row over that balloon — beijing has urged washington to show restraint after the us air force shot down a chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of south carolina. us navy divers are working to recover the wreckage of the balloon, which was brought down over the atlantic. a government spokesperson for china said that it was for civilian use and had drifted off course. it described the us' response as an overreaction and a serious violation of international law. well, a little earlier, i asked our north america correspondent, david willis, if this was just a storm over a balloon, or if there would be serious political and diplomatic consequences. it is a good question, karishma, and even as we speak, the us secretary of state antony blinken was due to be sitting down with the chinese premier
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xijinping in beijing, as part of his official visit. that visit, of course, was abruptly cancelled in the light of this balloon imbroglio, and that is being seen as a setback, given that relations between the two largest economies in the world have sunk to what some have described as a new kind of cold war — and there was hope that some of that relationship could be salvaged by antony blinken�*s visit to beijing. well, today, the two nations took rather contrasting views of the cancellation of that visit and the implications of this balloon shoot—down. china called it an unacceptable violation of international law, whilst president biden, asked by reporters at the white house whether it had weakened relations between the two countries, said he did not think it had. and the white house is at pains to point out that it believes
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the blinken visit to beijing has simply been delayed and not called off altogether, but rearranging it will be difficult, and some believe that a line will have to be drawn under this whole balloon incident before a rearranged visit can take place. there is, of course, a lot to talk about, not least taiwan, covid policy and so on, but if nothing else, this whole balloon incident underlines how extremely delicate relations between these two superpowers can be. david willis there talking about tensions between the us and china. we can stay with that topic, because the governor of texas has announced a statewide plan that bans the use of the the chinese—owned social media platform, tiktok, due to security risks. in december of last year,
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governor greg abbott banned tiktok from state—owned and issued devices over links that the chinese communist party were harvesting users' data. that will now be applied to personal devices using network—based restrictions. the plan will also prohibit huawei devices and wechat instant messaging. well, to peru, now, and more than 30 people have died in landslides that hit a small town. a state of emergency has been declared in the arequipa region due to the damage caused. a thick layer of mud and rocks descended from surrounding slopes onto the town of secocha. several areas in southern peru have suffered with heavy rain and floods in the past few days. to the football, and manchester city have been charged with breaching the premier league's financial rules in an investigation that has lasted four years. they are accused of more than 100 breaches. if found guilty, the club faces sanctions — everything from being fined to being demoted. manchester city deny the charges, and plan to fight them. well, martyn ziegler, who's the chief sports reporter for the times, has been giving us more details about the story.
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115 breaches, to be accurate. 0ver nine years, they're alleged to have breached the reporting of financial information, and then five years — up until this very season — to have not cooperated with the premier league's investigation. so, possibly the — certainly in the premier league, in the 30 years of the premier league, the biggest scandal we've seen. so the independent commission has wide—ranging powers of sanction, from a fine to deduction of points and even expulsion from the premier league, ie relegating manchester city to the championship. it's all within their powers. and i think, certainly, other clubs think these breaches, alleged breaches, are so serious that if they are proved, and all of them are proved, then the premier league commission will have little option but to do something as serious as that and relegate them
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or deduct points. that is it for this hour of newsday. do stay with us. hello there. there's a lot of dry weather in store this week across the country, particularly so for england and wales, because high pressure will be dominating the scene, particularly towards the south. lower pressure always trying to flirt with the north of the uk, and at times it will bring some stronger winds and rain, mainly to scotland. but even here, it will turn drier by the end of the week. now, through tuesday, it's a north—south divide — more cloud in the north, one or two spots of rain, some sunshine for the north and west of scotland. england and wales starting off cold and frosty, some mist and fog patches. 0therwise plenty of sunshine. temperatures generally ranging from around 6—9 celsius. now, as we move through tuesday
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night, similar story, with southern areas turning cold and frosty under clear skies with mist and fog patches. a bit more of a breeze, a bit more cloud across scotland and northern ireland, so not quite as cold here as what it'll be further south. so for wednesday morning, it's going to be another cold one to start with across the south. mist and fog could be stubborn to clear in places, but i think eventually it will. plenty of sunshine in the south. a bit more cloud, one or two showers across scotland, northern ireland, the winds starting to pick up here. and by the evening, into the first part of the night, it'll turn very windy, in fact, with winds expected to reach in excess of 70 miles an hour in the northwest of scotland. so, the met office have a yellow warning in force for this wind. a band of rain will spread across the country, too, with the strong winds. barely anything on it when it reaches the south, but we're all into a chillier air mass for thursday. that band of cloud will eventually clear from the south. there could be quite a lot of sunshine, in fact, across england and wales, but further north, certainly for scotland, it's going to be a breezy day with sunshine and wintry showers. temperatures here 3—7 degrees, as opposed to 8 and maybe 9 further south, but a chilly feel when you factor in the wind.
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but the cold air doesn't last. as we move through friday and certainly into the weekend, we start to see the milder air returning from the west. and high pressure always nearby, so it's going to be largely dry on friday. plenty of sunshine after a cold start for england and wales, further cloud for scotland and northern ireland, one or two showers. but by this point, we will start to see the milder air moving in, so double figures for most. and it stays mild into the weekend as well. with high pressure still nearby, it's going to stay largely dry with sunny spells around. a bit of patchy cloud, but it'll feel milder.
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this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines and all the main news stories for you at the top of the hour, straight after this programme. hello, everybody. a very warm welcome to talking business weekly with me, aaron heslehurst. let's go and take a look at what's on the show. the great global divide — is the world economy drifting away from us dominance, as some of our biggest emerging economies are showing us what economic growth is all about? india, it's sitting pretty at the top of the pack, growing faster than any other major world economy.
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