tv BBC News BBC News August 17, 2024 10:00pm-10:31pm BST
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live from london, this is bbc news. hezbollah retaliates after reports that at least ten people were killed in an israeli strike on a residential building in lebanon. venezuela's opposition leader, maria corina machado, leads anti—government demonstrations in caracas, promising continued defiance after nicolas maduro�*s claim to have won the presidential election. ukrainian authorities release video of what they say is the moment a key strategic bridge in russia's kursk region is destroyed. and matthew perry's death brought medical use of the drug ketamine into the spotlight. we ask an expert what people who use it are hoping to achieve. hello, i'm lauren taylor. there's cautious optimism amongst israeli negotiators about the possibility of reaching a deal on gaza — that's
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according to the office of the israeli prime minister. the us secretary of state is heading to the region this weekend after president biden also said that a ceasefire deal was closer than ever. but senior hamas figures have dismissed such optimism as an illusion. there were more israeli air strikes in gaza overnight and israel also said it had struck targets inside neighbouring lebanon which belong to the group which supports hamas in gaza. with the latest from jerusalem — here's our middle east correspondent wyre davies. munitions explode. images and reports from across the region show there are still huge obstacles to peace, despite the positive messages coming from talks in qatar. in gaza, an overnight israeli airstrike reportedly killed 15 people in the central area of the palestinian territory. although israel said it had eliminated a number of armed
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fighters, several women and children were also reportedly killed. translation: what happened is that i around one o'clock in the morning l three rockets hit directly the house of this man and his family. there were many children and women inside, mainly women — around 20 in total. to the north, deep inside lebanon, the israeli air force said it had also struck hezbollah targets, including a weapons storage facility. but reports from the scene said that at least ten people were killed, many of them syrian refugees, including a woman and her two children. translation: this is an industrial area, a brick factory, _ slaughterhouse, metal factory, aluminium factory and cow farm. it is an industrial and civilian area. there is an urgency for the next round of talks to succeed amid fears that the conflicts in gaza and either side of israel's northern border could escalate into a much wider regional war. but hamas officials have already dismissed american optimism as an illusion.
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president biden has welcomed the reported progress in the qatar talks. i'm optimistic — far from over, just a couple more issues, - i think we've got a shot. are you more optimistic now than you have been in months passed? yes. why? if i told you that, i'd give away what was going on. his secretary of state antony blinken is heading to the region to promote what is being called a final bridging proposal, hopefully leading to a ceasefire in gaza and the release of hostages in exchange for palestinian prisoners being held in israeli jails. wyre davies, bbc news, jerusalem. we'll have more on that story a little later. but first let's turn to venezuela, where opposition leader maria corina machado has called for both nationwide and international demonstrations, urging people to protest against president nicolas maduro's disputed election victory last month. she addressed supporters from the back of a truck in caracas — saying that she would not abandon her protest.
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a group of united nations experts said that venezuela's presidential election lacked "basic transparency and integrity". experts have criticised venezuela's national electoral council for declaring the incumbent, president maduro, the winner without publishing detailed voting tallies. on friday, the organization of american states, meeting in washington, adopted a resolution calling on venezuela to publish comprehensive details of the results. ms machado had this message for her supporters. translation: when this | regime saw it was defeated and their scheme discovered, they chose the most cruel of all politics. we won't leave the streets. we will use intelligence, prudence, resilience, boldness — and peacefully —
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because violence benefits them. alfredo romero is a venezuelan human rights lawyer. he spoke to us from caracas about the risks protesters were taking. we have verified and identified more than 1,400 detainees, which are being detained precisely in protest and mass protest that has happened in those 15 days. um, and before now and, um, we're verifying that and identifying different kind of situations happening injails and everything. so of course it's an important risk because repression is being used effectively to, as you said, to crack down, um, protests. and what recourse do people have if they are arrested? well, there are many things happening. at this point, the problem that happened is that we don't have access to detainees as far as private lawyers.
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right now, when the families, because they have been incommunicado for about 15 days, right now is when families have been having access to detainees and they're reporting some kind of situations. for example, there is a guy, just to tell you one thing that happened yesterday, um, there is a guy with autism in one specific prison centre, and he's beenjailed there. there are minors, for example, people from 14 years old to 17 years old. right now, we have verified and identified 126 minors from 14 to 17 years old. there is, for example, one girl named victoria. she is part of the orchestra system here in venezuela. you know, she's a musician and, you know, there are many situations happening because this massive protest, this massive repression, i mean, the results are that everyone that is walking on the street is being detained,
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even if they don't participate in this protest. two cases of the disease known as mpox have been identified in sweden and pakistan. it comes as an outbreak of the new strain of the virus spreads across 16 countries in africa, where more than 500 people have died. aid agencies are warning of a shortage of vaccines and are asking wealthy countries to share supplies. the nhs says it has contingency plans in place and anyone travelling to the affected areas is advised to get vaccinated. here's our heath correspondent, sharon barbour. the nhs says it's getting ready should a worrying new strain of m—pox be confirmed here. hospitals are preparing to manage patients safely and plans are being put in place to test and isolate patients and trace any contacts. health workers in the democratic republic of congo are treating an increasing number of patients,
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many of them children. m—pox has now spread to 16 countries in africa, with 18,000 cases confirmed. travellers are being advised to get vaccinated before going to affected areas. but health experts say, with the global shortage of vaccines, priority should be given to the countries with serious outbreaks. if we're actually able to help the countries where most cases are, which is west africa and central africa, to get that under control through vaccinating people routinely there, that would actually stop the spread of the virus in those countries and then protect them. the world health organization is calling on western nations not to stockpile vaccines. 0ne pharmaceutical company, bavarian nordic, says it's ready to ramp up production. outside of africa, m—pox has now been found in a patient
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in pakistan, but it's not clear what strain it is. it follows a case at the more contagious and dangerous variant called cladei being announced by authorities in sweden. scientists around the world are concerned. it is very controllable, but it does need resources being delivered to those african countries where this infection is endemic and currently causing a major outbreak. the department of health says there is a supply of vaccines in the uk with planning under way as to how that would be rolled out. sharon barbour, bbc news. the ukrainian military has released video which it says shows the destruction of a key bridge inside the kursk region of russia. this video shows large explosions on the structure, about 11 kilometres from the border, in an area of kursk that remains under russian control. moscow says a bridge was destroyed on friday. russia says it is pushing back the ukrainian forces, which have captured territory
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in its kursk region, but ukraine's president zelensky says his forces are strengthening their positions. the russian authorities are continuing to evacuate civilians in areas near to where the fighting is taking place. according to local officials, more than 3,000 more people have been moved to safer areas in the past twenty four hours. the fighting also continues inside ukraine — these pictures show the aftermath of what ukraine says was russian shelling of the city of sumy about 35 kilometres from the border with russia. two people are said to have been injured. and we have one other set of images to share with you. ukraine released these pictures of what it says was the moment its forces crossed into russia, into the kursk region, on the 6th of august — the beginning of their incursion. they appear to show a heavily damaged border post — and no further resistance from russia forces. james waterhouse is in the sumy eegion with more on the significance of ukraine destroying this key bridge. well, it seems that what ukraine
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is looking to do, alongside drawing in russian troops, is also control its logistics or frustrate supply lines. so we saw, as you saw there, in quite spectacular fashion, a major bridge crossing in the north of the kursk region. it goes over a river that flows into belarus, and that had been used by russia's military to previously feed its invasion of ukraine. but ukrainian forces also control a number of major highways from north to south, connecting to the belgorod region of russia further south, which had been used by russian forces as well. and notjust that — the town of sudzha, which ukraine has captured, is on a hill, so it is allowing ukrainian forces to control the battlefield in that respect and force russian forces to react, and that is costing them men and machinery. ukraine will be suffering losses as well, but at the moment it's ukraine doing the dictating.
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and while its advances are slowing, what kyiv will point out is, look, we might be making a kilometre a day, that is still more than what the russian forces are making in a day in eastern ukraine. but, crucially, those russian forces are still moving forward. it's not going to be easy, and i think we just need to look at recent history as to why. the same general who came up with this counteroffensive is a guy called 0leksandr syrskyi, he is now the head of ukraine's armed forces. he was responsible for these counteroffensives in 2022, which blindsided russia. he used misdirection by talking up offences elsewhere, and he used the element of surprise. the moment when things turned south, went badly for ukraine, is when the fighting then slowed — it became static and that favoured russia and its greater size. so we've seen that again, haven't we, in the kursk region? they've moved in, they are expanding at quite a rate. they've taken quite a lot of territory very quickly. but russia will gradually divert more and more resources to slowing that advance.
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and once you have defensive positions firmly in place, which russia has been building, then that really will be a test for ukraine. and also it will present it with a difficult decision as to when, when or if it should pull out because losing men is something ukraine can especially not afford to do, unlike russia. the un's atomic energy agency says that the nuclear safety situation at ukraine's zaporizhzhia power plant is continuing to deteroriate. the nuclear station has been occupied by russian forces since shortly after the invasion. it has occasionally been damaged by fighting and a un team says there has been intense military activity in the area over the last week. that includes a drone explosion just outside of the plant, near to the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds. the director general of the international atomic energy agency, rafael grossi, said he was extremely concerned that there had been another escalation of security dangers at zaporizhzhia.
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let's return to our top story and speak now to our senior international correspondent 0rla guerin who is in beirut. what are the chances of a ceasefire deal? there are competing narratives are emerging about that, we have had the israeli negotiating team talking about cautious optimism, the possibility of making progress, we have had president biden also using optimism, saying a deal is closer than ever before, but critically we have had the palestinian militant group hamas in charge in gaza, pouring cold water on all of that, saying the americans are being overly optimistic, they are selling an illusion, buying time. hamas officials told the bbc today that in fact during the past two days of talks in doha are, no progress had been made. we know the americans have passed the two sides what they
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are describing as a bridging proposal to try and bring them together, and we know that the mediators will get together again this coming week in cairo, but for the moment it seems as if there is still a big gap, the mediators are trying to square the circle, trying to keep the pressure on to at least keep these two sides engaged in this process. but i think we are coming towards a make or break point where it will be clear that either there is actual progress, something substantive, or no chance, it doesn't feel like this intense international diplomacy can be sustained at this level for a long time without something to show for it. what is at stake for the wider region? for gaza, it is a matter of life and death for civilians in gaza, and we know according to the latest figures from the gaza health ministry that
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more than 40,000 people have been killed in this conflict since last september, and these are figures that the un's world health organization has said in the past, 0rganization has said in the past, the figures from the ministry, it has described them as credible so everything is at stake for gaza but it's also crucial for the rest of the region because getting a truce in gaza is critical to unlocking a de—escalation. iran for example has threatened to hit back hard against israel for the assassination on its soil of the hamas leader. that retaliation has not come yet, and it seems pretty clear the iranians have been allowing time and space for the ceasefire negotiations to take place, in fact they have said getting a truce in gaza is crucial. here in lebanon we have hamas... his brother, excuse me, who have also threatened to hit back hard against
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israel for its assassination last month. now, hezbollah has also been holding fire on that retaliation so it seems as though the possibility of a breakthrough has been putting the brakes on both iran and hezbollah. if talks collapse and there is no deal and prospect of progress, it may very well be that both tehran and hezbollah feel, 0k, we can go ahead when we see fit with whatever retaliation we like against israel. we know of course that will attract an israeli response and we could be in a very dangerous escalation towards all—out regional war. for a third day, firefighters in turkey are battling a strong forest fire in the resort city of izmir. ii helicopters and two water bomber planes are dousing hot spots — trying to contain the fire, which has burnt across 1600 hectares of land. hundreds of people were evacuated during the night as the blaze spread
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to residential areas. there are six other fires in cities across turkey. when friends actor matthew perry was found dead in a hot tub at his los angeles home last year, it seemed to have been an accident. he had been treating depression with ketamine and no foul play was expected. but the arrest of five people including medical doctors, perry's assistant, and an alleged dealer, shed light on a suspected, underground distribution network and cast doubt on the use of ketamine to treat depression. rachel feltman — who is a sciencejournalist, specialising in psychedelic drugs and ketamine therapy, and i asked about the prevelance of ketamine use in therapy. it's definitely exploded in recent years. back in 2021, i wrote a feature for popular science magazine about the use of ketamine and actually about my own experience using it as a treatment for ptsd. and at that time, it was estimated that there were around 75 clinics offering it in the us. recently, one outlet estimated that
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that's now closer to 750 clinics. so clearly there's been a big surge in demand for it. and explain to us what it does to humans because it's more generally known as a horse tranquilliser. and presumably the dosage is important. sure, absolutely. it has been used as a sedative for humans as well since, i believe, the 19705. and that is what it has fda approval for. it doesn't have fda approval for anything else, but it's very easy to get it off label, as is the case with many drugs, which is sometimes a good thing. you know, it does have these therapeutic uses. it's one of many psychedelic drugs that are being researched for their potential to treat depression in humans. but in terms of what it does, it's known as a dissociative anaesthetic at very high doses. um, it anaesthetises the patient. at lower doses, it can induce anything from relaxation to sort
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of deep meditation or trance—like state and, you know, into an actual hallucinatory psychedelic state as well. i mean, clearly, the investigations have found that the police said on thursday that their investigation launched in may, uncovered what they called a broad underground criminal network of drug suppliers who distributed large quantities of ketamine. so has it become... you said it's used off label. how easy is it to obtain it now, do you think? so that's an interesting question because people have used ketamine recreationally and illegally for as long as it's been used as an anaesthetic. so the use of ketamine as a recreational drug and in high quantities and illegally is not new. what is new is that it's now quite easy to access it through these clinical settings. and as you said, these are much lower doses than matthew perry had in his system. the doses that matthew perry
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was getting from these people who were very clearly exploiting him were truly like an order of magnitude higher than what you see in psychedelic assisted therapy. over 100 london firefighters tackled a blaze at the iconic somerset house in london this afternoon. large plumes of smoke were seen billowing from the roof of the former stately home, which is now an arts venue and art gallery which is home to numerous masterpieces. our culture reporter, noor nanji, reports. clouds of grey smoke filling the central london skyline on a busy saturday afternoon. they came from a fire that broke out in somerset house just before midday. staff and visitors were evacuated and 20 fire engines were sent to the scene. this is where efforts to tackle the fire are being focused, on the side of the river that faces the river thames. you can see some of the scale of the operation behind me. they're spraying water on to the building's roof, which is where the flames are believed to be located.
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the cause of the blaze is under investigation. the response was complex and technical due to the age and design of the building. firefighters will remain at the scene into tomorrow. crews are now working to extinguish the final pockets of fire. a number of staff and visitors left somerset house before the brigade arrived and there are no reports of any injuries. somerset house is an historic site dating back centuries. it's now used as an arts venue and is home to the courtauld gallery, which houses priceless artworks including by van gogh, claude monet and paul cezanne. those art works are believed to be safe. it's too early to comment on the building's condition, but i think, thanks to the efforts of the emergency services, i'm confident that the damage is to one small part of the building. the venue will remain closed until further notice, but the courtauld gallery
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we will reopen to the public tomorrow. noor nanji, bbc news. performers working in the games industry have spoken of their distress at being asked to work on explicit content without notice, including scenes featuring sexual assault. sex scenes are common in modern games — and are often made by filming human actors who are then digitised into game characters. robbie taylor hunt, an intimacy director and coordinator for both stage and screen, weighed in on this topic for us. yes, it is really sad and shocking to see that these kind of things are happening. 0bviously, actors want to be able to turn up and do theirjob and do it well, and not having the information available, and being put on the spot means that they are not able to do thatjob meaningfully and also leaving work feeling potentially exploited or harassed in that situation. so, you know, i am shocked to hear it but also, unfortunately,
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this was a common thing in the tv and film industry not too long ago, and now we're bringing in intimacy coordinators and we have a better process, but it looks like we are not quite there yet in the video game industry. why do you think that is, that the video game industry is lagging behind the film and tv industry on the intimacy issue? yeah, i imagine it is partly the mo—cap element of it, maybe it feels a bit more abstracted and so it's, like, we are not really asking you to do it, you are in these suits, there is that element to it. but, of course, they are being asked to do these things, they are simulating sex, there is intimacy being performed with another person and it is still happening, and so we need all the same processes in place as for tv and film. and then, for the voice side of things, actors being asked to come in and perform vocal performances to voice these characters in video games, i think people think of intimacy and intimacy coordinators being brought onjust for the physical side of things, if there is nudity or simulated sex being acted out physically with another person, and if they are by themselves in a booth, then it is fine, but, no, we're still asking someone
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to perform something very intimate, asking them to voice a sex scene or erotic talk or performing am orgasm or something at a microphone in front of people they don't know at work. so intimacy coordinators give that process for people to be able to do that work in a way that they can feel proud of the work and that brings better performances and better use of the script and characters and stories for the video game. a cargo spacecraft has arrived at the international space station to deliverfood, fuel and other supplies for those onboard — including two nasa astronauts stuck there for several months. the unpiloted spacecraft, named �*progress 89', successfully transferred about three tons of supplies. two nasa astronauts, butch wilmore and suni william, are stuck on the international space station because of safety concerns over the boeing starliner capsule that was meant to take them home. they were originally expected to return home after eight days.
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stay with us here on bbc news. good evening. although the sun wasn't out for all of us today, we did have a good deal of dry weather and that's the way it will continue this evening. if anything, the cloud may break up to reveal a little bit more sunshine and hopefully there'll be a bit more around tomorrow, but there'll still be a few showers. we've had those pushing through on the brisk wind in the north and west. that continues this evening. the odd one elsewhere, even possibly in east anglia and the southeast, where we've had the lion's share of the day's sunshine. the cloud melts, though, through the night, the winds ease further, and it'll be another coolish start on sunday morning. perhaps a little bit of fog if you're up early enough because actually the winds are falling lighter through sunday as the azores high ridges closer to our shores, but still that westerly breeze in the north. although a notch down on those of today, the winds, there's still enough to carry a few showers in,
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possibly the odd one, northern ireland, northern western parts of england and wales. but after the morning mist, it should be a largely dry, bright day with good spells of sunshine. it will feel pleasantly warm, as it did during the day today. temperatures mightjust be a degree down in the north but, with lighter winds, that will compensate. however, it is all change as we go through the new week, so high pollen levels again through monday, as you can see. but into the new week, we've got wind and rain coming in. monday, i think, mostly fine and dry. so sunday into monday out of the ridge of high pressure producing some mist and fog across central and eastern areas, possibly further west with some sea fog. but that rain coming in looks quite intense, particularly the second part of the day across northern ireland, western scotland, northern scotland as well. there'll be cloud piling in around the irish sea coast, some sea fog here, but further east we've switched our wind direction, picking up more of a southwesterly, so we could again see temperatures nudging above 25 in some spots. it will be warm for all and a warm night monday into tuesday. warm and wet, as you can see, as that weather system carries its way eastwards. behind it, on tuesday,
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lots of showers, heavy thundery showers during monday night and into tuesday as well because its warm air so we'll still see temperatures in towards the mid 20s in the south and the east, but closer to average further north and west following our rain. but if ijust show you that rainfall as it piles up through the week, mostly in the north and west, but, anywhere, really, seeing some rainfall tuesday. but the heaviest falls likely in the north and west, perhaps cumbria and north wales, with some more wet and windy weather midweek on.
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this is bbc news, the headlines. hezbollah has fired a barrage of rockets into northern israel, after an israeli strike on a residential building in southern lebanon killed ten people. the israeli army says about 55 rockets were fired across the border — with no casualties reported. an israeli team has said it is cautiously optimistic about the gaza ceasefire talks. but hamas has described suggestions of progress as an illusion. the venezuelan opposition leader maria corina machado has spoken to a protest in the capital caracas. she promised to continue to try to overturn what she said was nicolas maduro's falsely claimed victory in the presidential election. the ukrainian military has released video of what it says is the moment a key strategic bridge in russia's kursk region was destroyed. meanwhile, russia has launched a new bombardment in the border
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