tv BBC News BBC News December 31, 2024 1:00am-1:31am GMT
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a state funeral is to be held forjimmy carter onjanuary 9 as tributes continue to pour in for the longest—lived us president. china issues a response after the us treasury says it was hacked by a chinese state—sponsored actor in what's being described as a "major incident." relatives of those lost in sunday's deadly plane crash in south korea demand answers from the government as the anxious wait continues for the recovery of their loved ones. i'm helena humphrey. a state funeral will be held forformer us president jimmy carter onjanuary 9 at the washington national cathedral as part of a national day of mourning for america's longest living president. mr carter, the georgia peanut farmer turned naval officer, served as a one—term
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president from 1977 to 1981. he would later go on to expand his legacy after his presidency as a leading voice for peace around the world, being awarded the nobel peace prize in 2002. he died on sunday at 100 years old. and world leaders have been paying their tributes, including presidentjoe biden and president—elect donald trump, with biden saying that mr carter "embodied the very "best of america." flags are flying at half mast at the white house in honour of the former president's life and legacy. the bbc�*s tom bateman reports. tributes forjimmy carter from the heart of american democracy to the traders on wall street who paused in his honour this morning. and at the white house, joe biden ordered the flag at half—staff for 30 days to remember america's longest—living president. whatjimmy carter's an example of is just simple decency. simple decency.
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and i think that's what the rest of the world looks to america for. i, jimmy carter, do solemnly swear... jimmy carter's one—term presidency was marked by inflation at home and crises abroad, but his landmark achievement was brokering a peace deal between israel and egypt. president—elect donald trump said while he disagreed with mr carter politically... former president barack 0bama said: he was so prompt, that the airport onlyjust had time to give him the red carpet treatment. president carter visited the uk in 1997, touring tyneside and bringing a message of economic revival. howay, the lads! cheering today, king charles recalled
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the visit and expressed great sadness, saying mr carter: jimmy carter will be given a state funeral next week. it will be a final goodbye to the southerner from humble origins who won the most powerful office on earth, but whose legacy was forged from his work well beyond the white house. tom bateman, bbc news, washington. let's bring in the biographer of former us president jimmy carter, jonathan alter, author of his very best: jimmy carter, a life. welcome to you. thank you for being with us here on the programme. iam curious being with us here on the programme. i am curious as to what it was like to write the story of president carter's life because i think it is fair to say it could be described as one of the great american stories. from rural georgia to the highest office in the land? this was an astonishing
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journey, an epic american journey, an epic american journey thatjimmy carter took. a barefoot boy on a farm where they had no electricity or running water to becoming a global icon. and this journey i think was possible because of carter's enormous energy and drive and intensity, and also because he became a moral exemplar to the world when we needed it. and for many years he was quite unpopular after he left office, but over time people have recognised the united states from broad that we need these kinds of moral examples of honesty and decency and a sense of commitment to people who need a leg up. you talk about _ people who need a leg up. you talk about him _ people who need a leg up. you talk about him there being the barefoot boy in the south. he is often lauded for his role in promoting civil rights, but his foray into politics
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at that time, with those issues in mind, wasn't easy, was it? he could not always be open about that.— he could not always be open about that. ., w ., , about that. no. he faced many challenges. — about that. no. he faced many challenges, and _ about that. no. he faced many challenges, and his— about that. no. he faced many challenges, and his human - challenges, and his human rights policy, which was enormously influential in the end of communism and also moving dictatorships to democracy was sometimes not always apply. note that marge jimmy carter's record and created the interest rates that helped drive him from office. this was often a bumpy road when he was in government, but i think it is a mistake to say he was a failed president and a great former president. the latter is true and while he was a politicalfailure latter is true and while he was a political failure and latter is true and while he was a politicalfailure and he got walloped by ronald reagan in
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1980, he was a substantive and often visionary success, particularly on environment. the understood climate change was a problem before any other leader in the world. he wanted to move to electric vehicles as early as the 1980s, put the solar panels upon the roof of the white house in the 19705. ronald reagan took them down. and he moved the government from tokenism to true diver5ity. so, he was in many ways a visionary leader even as he experienced a lot of setbacks, 5ome he experienced a lot of setbacks, some of which were of his own making. he had plenty of shortcomings, but the overall picture is of somebody who can and did lead by example and we need this, particularly at this time in the world —
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figures that democracies can produce who have a measure of greatness to them because they actually care about something other than their own ambitions. what comes through in your book is the sense of sincerity, particularly these tractable endeavours, the picture of him building houses. for many politicians you could ask if that was sincere but it seemed that was sincere but it seemed that he was pretty fast about the publicity, the cameras. he wasjust the publicity, the cameras. he was just determined to do the hard work it seemed? for wasjust determined to do the hard work it seemed? for many ears hard work it seemed? for many years peeple — hard work it seemed? for many years people thought _ hard work it seemed? for many years people thought "oh, - hard work it seemed? for many years people thought "oh, this | years people thought "oh, this has to be phony." but what happened was, over time, has to be phony." but what happened was, overtime, people realised he was genuine. he was not humble. no politician is humble. but he was modest and even though he had been very successful in business, he was not materialistic and he realised, partly because of his
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devout faith, that they are more important things in life than money. and this hurt him in some ways when he was president because he talks about a crisis in confidence which was referred to as the malaise speech but he did not use that word. he was saying to americans "don't be so materialistic. sacrifice so we can get out of this energy crisis," and it was not very well received but it reads really well now because it was speaking to truths that people were not quite ready for but it really was on the international stage where he excelled in — notjust stage where he excelled in — not just at stage where he excelled in — notjust at camp david — but the normalisation of relations with china. this really change the world and nixon opened the door but without carter normalising, we would not have the global economy rehab. the
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panama canal treaties were central to making sure that commerce estate open in the western hemisphere and the human rights policy was enormously influential. there were many little things. and one that relates to great britain — when he went on his trip to london, he noticed that his favourite poet, dylan thomas, a welsh politt was not represented at westminster abbey and he took it upon himself, followed up and eventually they�* re himself, followed up and eventually they're the authorities tookjimmy carter's authorities tookjimmy ca rter�*s advice authorities tookjimmy carter's advice and they now honour dylan thomas at westminster alley. dylan thomas at westminster alle . ., ~ dylan thomas at westminster alle . . ~' , dylan thomas at westminster alle. ., , . dylan thomas at westminster alle. ., ~ , . ., alley. thank you very much for bein: alley. thank you very much for being with _ alley. thank you very much for being with us. _ alley. thank you very much for being with us. thanks - alley. thank you very much for being with us. thanks so - alley. thank you very much for being with us. thanks so much j being with us. thanks so much for having _ being with us. thanks so much for having me. _ in what it describes as a major incident, the us treasury says it's been hacked by chinese state—sponsored actors gaining access to staff workstations. a spokesperson said unclassified documents were also compromised in the attack earlier this month. the treasury said the
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compromised service had been taken offline and there's no indication the hackers have continued to access its information. 0ur correspondent rowan bridge has more. what appears to have happened is these hackers got hold of a security key which gave them access to a cloud computing service used by the treasury and they were able to bypass security measures and access workstations of a number of employees in the us department of treasury. they have been accessing unclassified documents but what is not clear is what the scale of the access is, what kind of documents have been affected, what sort of documents they may be and how long the access was available to these hackers for. the authorities say they are working with law enforcement to establish the scale of this hack and they say the system that was affected has been taken off—line. there is no indication at the moment that hackers still have access to
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the us treasury building. this comes off the back of a pack which was discovered by microsoft in be some of which was an attempt by hackers that have been linked to china to penetrate — and they did penetrate — and they did penetrate — and they did penetrate — us telecommunications companies and were able to access conversations of donald trump, the incoming president, and d—day vance, the incoming vice presidents. __jd ——jd vance. and in the last hour, china has responded. chinese embassy spokesperson liu pengyu says china firmly opposes the us�*s smear attacks against china without any factual basis. during his meeting with president biden in lima this year, president xijinping said that there is no evidence that supports the irrational claim of the so—called
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"cyberattacks from china." the statement went on to say the us needs to stop using cyber security to smear and slander china and stop spreading all kinds of disinformation about the so—called chinese hacking threats. south korea has ordered a complete review of airline safety procedures in response to the country's worst ever plane crash. 179 people were killed when the plane landed at high speed, skidded off the runway, smashed into a concrete a wall, and burst into flames. the boeing 737—800 was arriving at muan international airport in the south of the country. the exact cause is unclear, though investigators are looking at a possible bird strike and landing gear failure. many of those on board were koreans travelling home after spending christmas in thailand. relatives are still at the airport waiting for news. some of them are furious about a lack of support and information. jean mackenzie reports. shouting the bereaved are at breaking point. these outbursts come every few minutes. a day on from the crash,
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they're still at the airport, waiting to be reunited with their loved ones' bodies. "why have only five bodies been released," this woman yells. "you're useless!" a police official spares her no details. "they're too badly damaged," he says. "forensic teams are still piecing them together." it's disturbing to hear. and for shin gyu—ho, it's even worse. his two teenage grandsons haven't even been identified. translation: i've been sitting here all day, - hoping for news. i'm so frustrated. i feel like i'm waiting without an end. the plane was carrying koreans back from christmas holidays in thailand when it landed at speed without its wheels down. as it crashed, every passenger was killed. investigators are now trying to work out why the landing gear seemed to fail,
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but the flight recorder is damaged. it'll take time to decipher the data. so, today, the attention has turned to what happened on the runway. when the plane made its emergency landing, it was still intact, but because it couldn't stop, it then overshot the runway here. and we now know that it hit this concrete and orange structure that has been raised up on this grassy mound. this is a guidance system that is supposed to help planes land, but this is the point at which the plane exploded into this fireball and fractured into many pieces. and aviation experts are now questioning why this was positioned in this way, so raised up and so close to the end of the runway. the acting president has ordered an investigation of the country's entire aviation industry. without answers, the families don't know who to blame. for now, the only place they can direct their anger is at the forensic teams, who are still searching, yet to complete their
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gruelling, unenviable task. jean mackenzie, bbc news, muan airport. staying in south korea, in just the last hour, a court there approved an arrest warrant for suspended president yoon suk yeol after he failed to report for questioning. mr yoon is facing charges of insurrection for his decision to impose martial law earlier this month. he's been summoned three times by investigators for questioning, but failed to appear each time. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at some other stories making news. edinburgh's famous new year's eve celebrations, hogmanay, have been cancelled due to bad weather as strong winds, rain and snow are forecast in the scottish capital. the festivities were due to feature a huge street party, a concert and fireworks at midnight over edinburgh castle. authorities say they understand the disappointment from those who travelled from around the world. an 18—year—old british man has
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begun a year—long jail sentence in dubai after he was convicted of having sex with a 17—year—old british girl who he met on holiday. both from london, marcus fakana and the girl, who is now 18, began their romance while on holiday with their families. the girl's mother reported the relationship to dubai police who arrested the teenager at his hotel. three afghan members of a human smuggling gang will be extradited to belgium following their arrests in the uk. the gang was responsible for trafficking thousands of migrants from afghanistan into europe. gang members also sexually abused young boys making the journey, filming the abuse to blackmail their victims. members of the gang are facing up to 23 years in prison. you're live with bbc news. president zelensky has announced one of the largest prisoner exchanges since full—scale war began with russia nearly three years ago. 189 ukrainian troops are being returned home from captivity and 150 russian
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soldiers are being returned in the deal which was brokered by the united arab emirates. will vernon is in northern ukraine where the prisoner swap happened and has been speaking to some of those who were released. the wait is finally over. sobbing ukrainian families overcome with emotion as they greet their loved ones. the first time they've seen or spoken to them for years. i'm very happy to return to my own country, to my own land. i have no words to...to say what i feel. for those unable to make it, the phone call they've been waiting for.
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"i'm coming home," says this man. "yes, i'll be home soon." how does it feel to be home? translation: i'm - overwhelmed by feelings. thank god this day has come. we're home. now we're going to support ukraine with everything we've got. well, some of these men have been in captivity for more than two and a half years. you can just see the emotion on theirfaces, to finally return to their homeland, ukraine, to their families, just in time for the new year holidays. the russian authorities said 150 of their citizens had returned from ukrainian captivity and were given medical treatment. back in ukraine, for some families the wait continues. these women show photos of their loved ones to those released, hoping someone will recognise them. "we want to know he's alive," says marianna, who's looking for her nephew. "we're asking everyone we see."
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with thousands of ukrainians still in captivity or missing, the desperate search for many families will go on. will vernon, bbc news, northern ukraine. the world health organisation says hospitals in gaza have become battlegrounds and that the health system is under severe threat. the un health body has condemned a raid on the kamal adwan hospital as appalling. gazan authorities say it came after an air strike there which killed 50 people, including medical staff. israel has arrested the director of the hospital and released this footage of what it says are civilians leaving the building complex. the who said the attack and enforced evacuation had closed the area's last major health facility. israel says the hospital has been used by hamas. earlier, i spoke to dr zaher sahloul, who is the president of a medical charity
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which works in gaza. dr sahloul, thank you for joining us on bbc news. i would like to begin by speaking of the director of the callide were hospital who was arrested along with dozens of staff take into a investigation centre. have you heard anything about him or the others? —— kamal adwan hospital. him or the others? -- kamal adwan hospital.— him or the others? -- kamal adwan hospital. thank you for havin: adwan hospital. thank you for having me- — adwan hospital. thank you for having me- i — adwan hospital. thank you for having me. i spoke _ adwan hospital. thank you for having me. i spoke to - adwan hospital. thank you for having me. i spoke to his- adwan hospital. thank you for having me. i spoke to his wife| having me. i spoke to his wife and his son and they told me that they got verification from eyewitnesses that he was detained in one of the prisons in the desert. some said he bears the signs of torture on his face. i hope it is not true. this is a humanitarian — one of the best physicians in gaza. i got to know him since 2019. he cares about his
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patience, his hospital, his community. he had the option to leave gaza as he has dual citizenship with his wife and family but he chose to stay in service and it is unfortunate that he is detained after an ordeal. his hospital was under siege for 84 days, it was bombed multiple times. himself, he was injured and his son unfortunately was killed a couple of months ago, and now he is detained.— he is detained. and the idf is accusina he is detained. and the idf is accusing him _ he is detained. and the idf is accusing him of— he is detained. and the idf is accusing him of being - he is detained. and the idf is accusing him of being a - he is detained. and the idf isl accusing him of being a hamas terrorist operatives. how do you respond when you hear this allegation?— allegation? nobody believes these allegations _ allegation? nobody believes these allegations anymore. l allegation? nobody believes i these allegations anymore. we are talking about more than 1000 healthcare workers in other who have been detained — killed, i am sorry — and more than 300 who have been detained. i visited the hospital before this war, my
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colleagues visited the hospital, the world health organization visited the 0rganization visited the hospital. they found nothing. the idf went in four times in the last year, interrogated people and now we are hearing these. practising medicine is not a crime and that is what dr hossam has been doing. but attacking physicians is a war crime against internatio
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