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tv   Verified Live  BBC News  October 28, 2024 4:00pm-4:31pm GMT

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these the pictures from outside to pc. �* ., to pc. and i am live here in wc, to pc. and i am live here in wc. where _ to pc. and i am live here in wc, where thousands - to pc. and i am live here in wc, where thousands of. to pc. and i am live here in - wc, where thousands of people are getting ready to defend their voices. are getting ready to defend theirvoices. —— i am are getting ready to defend their voices. —— i am live here in tblisisi. uk's prime minister sir keir starmer says "britain must "embrace the harsh light of fiscal reality" ahead of wednesday's budget, which he says will include tax rises to prevent austerity. nato's secretary—general says the arrival of north korean troops in russia is a dangerous escalation, but also a sign of vladimir putin's desperation in the war against ukraine. we will have more reaction as manchester united sack their manager, erik ten hag. hello and welcome to verified
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live. we're just eight days out from the presidential election and both candidates are making theirfinal big push for votes. lots of coverage in the last 2a hours after a comedian and podcast host who was acting as a warm—up speaker for donald trump at his rally in new york described puerto rico, a us island territory, as a "floating island of garbage" and was disparaging about puerto ricans. donald trump's campaign team said the remarks didn't reflect his views about the island. kamala harris described the comments as racist. more on that in a moment. first, though, let's hear a little more form donald trump and kamala harris as they campaigned. on day one i will launch the largest deportation programme in american history to get the criminals out. i will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered, and we will put these vicious and bloodthirsty criminals injail, kick them the hell out of our country as fast as possible.
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cheering. we can and we must seize this opportunity to end this war and bring the hostages home. and i will do everything in my power to meet that end. cheering. just a flavour of some of the campaigning. more on those comedian's comments at the donald trump rally and whether it overshadowed the former president's message. our correspondent in washington, will grant, has more. let's bear in mind, this was meant to be an opportunity for donald trump to address a crowd in new york, which is of course important, it is where he is from and shows a national audience that he could reach urbane new yorkers as much as he can reach people in florida and in the midwest and other places as well. so it was an important opportunity for him to put out
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what he called the closing arguments, if you like, which of course focused on immigration, which of course focused on border security and he used again this language of invasions and so on, which has been so controversial. but you are right. this particular comedian, who was a warm up act for him, really did overshadow the entire thing. the entire act was a slew of sort of racist and derogatory language, xenophobic references, including one to puerto rico, which he said the island was essentially a floating island of garbage. of course, that has been picked up across social media, both sides have distanced, you know, obviously have criticised it, but we can actually hear this comedian, tony hinchcliffe, making that very controversial joke. that was will grant in washington. now on the programme, i have also been for talking to former democratic
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congresswoman canter and republican strategist charlie gerow. they gave their quite different reactions to the comments made at trump's rally, and how the election was going so far. frankly, it breaks my heart that the campaign is so negative and that the words that are coming out of donald trump's mouth like, "she is ugly, she is stupid..." it doesn't make any sense. let me tell you what i think is going on. i am in pennsylvania, i was a member of congress from pennsylvania, and now i am regularly going into headquarters and campaign offices and the turnout in these offices is overwhelming. i have never seen anything like it. i came into congress in the year of the woman many years ago in 1992 with bill clinton and the activity is incredible. frankly, i think she is going to win. and the polls are too close to call. but i have been working with suburban women for a very long time and i have
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never seen the enthusiasm, the door—to—door action, i havejust never seen anything like it. and it is more thanjust abortion or health care or guns. it is a desire to get away from the hyperbole, it is a desire to get away from the negative—ness. i mean, i am shocked at how mean this campaign has gotten. imean... on both sides... let me come back to some of those wider thoughts in a moment, but i want to bring charlie in and specifically about that rally last night, derogatory comments, race baiting remarks, latinos, african—americans, palestinianjews. is that sensible, as a strategist, in terms of trying to actually get those groups out to vote for you? do you know what is so comical? we are talking about how nasty the campaign has gotten and all these mean things said. they are calling donald trump
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a fascist, a nazi, meanwhile jews showing up by the thousands last night at madison square garden, where hillary clinton accused the president of basically putting together a pro—nazi rally, hearkening back to something that happened in the 19305, not even the same madison square garden, they tore that one down half a century ago, and again so ironically the place where her husband, hillary clinton's husband, got nominated for president, so somehow holding a gigantic rally there is somehow attached to something that happened a century ago. ijust, it has gotten, to me, to be not really ironic, but comical. marjorie talks about how well she thinks kamala harris is doing. i am here in pennsylvania as well and i'm going to tell you we see the world through a very different lens. you just very clearly have shown the absolute divide between the two of you. apologies because this line isn't the best, but let me ask
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you, charlie, in these last few days, what do you think republicans need to actually do on the ground? well, it is simple. it is get out the vote, it is the same for both parties. you have to turnout your vote. what is happening already in pennsylvania, you will see this is statistically certain, you will see republicans are voting early by mail in record numbers. that should scare the living bejeebies out of the democrats. the polarised views of how this us election is going. i want to show you pictures ofjoe biden who hasjust show you pictures ofjoe biden who has just completed the early voting that millions of americans have done across the country. there he is. we are eight days out and very interesting with those two guests talking about their views of what early voting
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means, but of course state—by—state we have been getting the figures, both from democrats and republicans, showing who is actually getting their votes out. and that, of course, is going to be so crucial over the next eight days or so. but there is the live pictures coming into us. let me also referred to the polls because just about every day we have new polls coming in, each with a slightly different take. if you take the average, though, vice president kamala harris continues to lead, but the gap has shrunk in the last few days to about a single point. but turning from the national polls to the battleground states, well, the seven that were very close last time around will be decisive, but the seven states and you can see at the bottom of the screen between one and two points the lead in georgia. other states like pennsylvania, wisconsin, even tighter, but none of the leads we are seeing are bigger than the margins of error that come with the polls, so everything still to play
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for. let's turn from the us to... let's go to georgia, where crowds are forming outside the parliament building after the president called on people to protest against the election result. let's speak to our correspondent in tbilisi, rayhan demytrie. set the scene for us. it is uuite set the scene for us. it is quite electrifying, - set the scene for us. it is quite electrifying, i - set the scene for us. it is| quite electrifying, i would say, atmosphere here outside georgia's fatherland. the country's president addressed the people and protesters a short while ago. she told them that their votes were stolen. she said this election was illegitimate. and she also said that she is getting an indication from her conversations with european politicians that they won't recognise the legitimacy of the
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october 26 parliamentary elections. and now we are hearing speeches from the opposition leaders also saying that people should be ready to defend their votes here. it is defend their votes here. it is very difficult _ defend their votes here. it is very difficult with _ defend their votes here. it is very difficult with all - defend their votes here. it is very difficult with all the noise behind you, so for viewers watching, apologies for that, but let me ask you one final question because moscow denies any sort of interference, but of course, where does this leave georgia's prospect of actually joining the eu now? prospect of actually 'oining the eu nomfi prospect of actually 'oining the eu now? well, i think all of these people _ the eu now? well, i think all of these people who - the eu now? well, i think all of these people who are - of these people who are standing here tonight, they feel very strongly about their country's european future and it is not the first time that we are seeing mass protests in georgia for the same reason. they trusted that they could change their government, which
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these people believe is actually in russia's interests. they believe they can change it through democratic means, but it looks like that system failed them, so now they are getting ready, perhaps, for quite a protracted struggle to return their country onto european... return their country onto euroean... ., . european... correspondence ra han european... correspondence rayhan demytrie _ european... correspondence rayhan demytrie there - european... correspondence i rayhan demytrie there outside the georgian parliament in tbilisi. thank you very much for that and we will continue talk to you as those crowds get much bigger, thank you for now. here, the prime minister has been preparing the ground for his government's first budget. in a speech today, sir keir starmer said the country had to "embrace the harsh light "of fiscal reality." here's a little of what he said: this is not 1997, when the economy was decent, but public services were on their knees. and it's not 2010, where public services were
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strong, but the public finances were weak. we have to deal with both sides of that coin. these are unprecedented circumstances. but the budget the chancellor will deliver on wednesday will prevent devastating austerity in our public services and prevent a disastrous path for our public finances. that's the reality of what would happen if we'd stuck to tory spending plans. and it's why we never — unlike the opposition in '97 and 2010 — committed to the same spending plans. that was keir starmer talking a little earlier in the day. our political correspondent helen catt, has more on the prime minister's speech. the first part of keir starmer�*s speech this morning was setting out that working people were at the forefront of his government's
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mind in making policy, that they were the golden thread that runs through the government's agenda, so it is a phrase they continue to keep using, despite the criticism they have had about not being able to well define who this group is they mean. a lot of that talk has been in the run—up to this, in relation to taxes because we know that keir starmer and rachel reeves have both signalled very strongly that this is going to be a tax—raising budget. but that manifesto promise that they would not increase national insurance, income tax or vat for working people. this is why we have had that discussion in the run—up to this. what we got from keir starmer this morning was really laying the groundwork for that budget on wednesday that is going to be difficult, there was that acknowledgement that there are going to be tax rises, setting up the messaging that the government wants to get across, or is expected to want to get across on wednesday, this idea that they have been left in this position because of the inheritance they have had from the conservative government, that they are going to make
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different choices, that their choices are going to be responsible and long—term and about fixing of the foundations, the message you saw behind him on the wall. so that is the messaging he is trying to get across. when you are thinking about those differences in political choices, part of that clip you just played also seems to signal that labour is potentially looking to more spending. he was very clear, he said that there has been a pretense that has been going on for too long that you could have lower taxes and higher spending. keir starmer said you can't have that and from the clip you just heard, you can see the indication appears to be that labour would favour or prioritise higher spending on some public services, that they are not tied to the conservative plans and obviously the reason he kept conservative plans. helen catt there at westminster. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.
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you are watching bbc news. nato secretary—general mark rutte has confirmed that
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north korean troops have been sent to russia's frontline with ukraine, in the kursk region, which ukrainian forces grabbed in a surprise summer offensive. mr rutte has described the development as a threat to both indo—pacific and euro—atlantic security, but also a sign of russian president vladimir putin's "desperation." nato calls on russia and the dprk to cease these actions immediately. the deployment of north korean troops to kursk is also a sign of putin's growing desperation. over 600,000 russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in putin's war, and he is unable to sustain his assault on ukraine without foreign support. just in the last half hour, the us pentagon says ukraine would not see any new restrictions on the use of us weapons against north korean forces, should
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they enter the fight against ukrainian forces. washington estimates 10,000 north korean estimates 10 , 000 north korean troops estimates 10,000 north korean troops have been deployed to eastern russia. let's speak to george barros, the russia and geospatial intelligence teams lead at the institute for the study of war, based in washington dc. welcome to the programme, let's take it in stages. first, how significant is this move in this war by north korea? thank ou for this war by north korea? thank you for having _ this war by north korea? thank you for having me. _ this war by north korea? thank you for having me. in _ this war by north korea? thank you for having me. in terms - this war by north korea? thank you for having me. in terms of| you for having me. in terms of the battle tactics, the actual combat power these 10,000 or so north koreans are going to provide the russians, not actually that significant. 10,000 forces is a very small number. the russians suffer about 30,000 troops killed or wounded every month, so this is one third of a month's worth of losses, if it is just this. the other thing is i am very sceptical about the north korean combat effectiveness. the north korean military hasn't actually had any real combat experience or real fought wars for over 50 years
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at this point, so what we are going to be seeing is north korean units deploying to the front lines to operate with russian units and in fact that might create some scenes were more experienced and on the whole but a cohesive russian units will be armed with the north koreans and that could create some opportunities with the ukrainians to exploit vulnerabilities where those commands seems exist. in terms of force generation, it is much more significant. it tells us a lot about the kremlin's limitations on its willingness to mobilise its people. russia has a lot of people, but putin remains politically unwilling to mobilise the people who live in moscow and st petersburg and would rather set up an alternative pipeline to potentially get north korea to fight in their stead. you potentially get north korea to fight in their stead.— fight in their stead. you said ou fight in their stead. you said you didn't — fight in their stead. you said you didn't think _ fight in their stead. you said you didn't think it _ fight in their stead. you said you didn't think it would - fight in their stead. you said i you didn't think it would make that much difference on the battlefield itself. tell me a bit more about the trading, the equipment that these troops are likely to have.— likely to have. sure. so, the forces that _ likely to have. sure. so, the forces that have _ likely to have. sure. so, the forces that have been - likely to have. sure. so, the forces that have been sent l likely to have. sure. so, the - forces that have been sent have come from north korea's seventh
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army corps, which is north korean special forces. within the table of organisation and equipment, within there, you have a variety of airborne brigades and light infantry brigades. these are going to be primarily light foot infantry, they might be given some mechanised support, but these are not heavy tank units were heavily mechanised units or anything like that. we have not observed any indication that the north koreans have brought a whole lot of equipment with them. the combat or training footage we saw of the north koreans in eastern russia that have published a week ago showed light infantry, so if anything it looks like they are getting prepared to have light infantry assaults, not with a whole lot of vehicle support. we heard the nato secretary general saying in one sense it is worrying, in another sense it is a sign of putting's desperation. what are your thoughts on that? and the state of the russian economy, their capacity to produce the ornaments they need, the soldiers and the numbers they need? , , ., ., ., ,
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need? the russian federation is not the soviet _ need? the russian federation is not the soviet union. _ need? the russian federation is not the soviet union. russia - not the soviet union. russia has a finite number of people it can either choose to put into industry in the civil sector or into the front line in ukraine. as of last year, the russians had a deficit of about 5 million workers, which is huge, and right now the russian government has been putting up tremendous financial incentives to russians to go and sign up and work in the russian military. for example, the russian government now offers up to 2 million roubles for a one—time signing bonus, and the average russian annual salary is around 1.2 million roubles. right now, firms are struggling to be able to meet this overinflated russian state incentives to go and fight in the military. so look, putin actually has a problem. he is properly going to have to within the next 16 months also make a hard decision about whether or not to call another round of mobilisation and to what extent does he further degrade the efficiency of his domestic economy d
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