Transcripts For BBCNEWS Outside Source 20240714

By the British Charity regulator for mishandling allegations of Sexual Misconduct by its staff in haiti. And botswanas high court has decriminalised homosexuality its the latest country to overturn laws on sexuality from the colonial era. Yesterday, we talked about the public outcry in russia over the arrest of an Investigative Reporter called ivan golu nov. Well this is russias interior minister today. Translation the decision was made to drop the charges against mr. Golunov, because his relation to the crime was not proven. Today he will be released from under house arrest. And here he is a short while ago being released from house arrest. All charges dropped. And the two Police Officers who carried out the arrest have been suspended. That arrest was in moscow last week. Ivan golu nov accused of trying to sell a drug that he was carrying. His lawyer says the drugs were planted and that this was in an attempt to silence him. Plenty of people might want to. Mr golu nov investigates high level corruption this is one latvia based website which publishes his work. And we saw an unprecendented campaign after his arrest. Three of russias leading newspapers shared the same front page calling for his release. And the pressure appears to have told. Bbc Russian Services olga ivshina has been following the story closely, so was she surprised by his release. Yeah, absolutely. It is absolutely a surprising move but i think many people today are celebrating because it is a very special case in many People Special case and many people in russia, journalists and non journalists, thought a personal connection to the story. But nonetheless, at some point somebody decided that it was a good idea to have this journalist arrested. So there is a bigger story here that still has to come out. Yeah, as ive said, many of his colleagues knew that he received threats because one of his investigations relating to funeral business in moscow, he managed to prove that some high profile moscow officials and some guys from the Security Services had their business interests in the funeral business and they were preparing to release the second part of this investigation and when he handed in the first draft of the investigation, that is the moment he was caught. And his campaign that we have seen by newspapers, by musicians and this campaign that we have seen by newspapers, by musicians and other people as well. How unusual is it . It is very unusual but it is more important that this wasnt only journalist and musician, people from moscow supporting it, the support was really national, many people in small cities all over russia were supporting it. Not because hes a journalist, he wasnt really famous, never really a celebrity, he was known only among his colleagues. But because they thought a personal connection because many people in russia are afraid that at any time, and any place, they might be caught by the police with drugs being planted into their backpacks. Its 4am in hong kong and activists have already started gathering for another major protest. Their target is a new law that will allow extraditions to mainland china. Well, this was earlier. Hundreds of pro democracy activists assembled close to hong kongs parliament. Plenty of security of security there. In expectation of wednesdays protest, police have closed some public spaces and have stopped and searched some demonstrators. The bill is the latest lightning rod for many worried about beijings influence over hong kong. Critics call it evil, while the government insists its neccessary to prevent hong kong from being a haven for fugitives. The protests have been unprecedented in hong kongs history. About a million packed the streets on sunday. But tensions have spilled into parliament. This was the scene in hong kongs Legislature Today as the president held a news conference. This is andrew leung, the president of the legislature being escorted off stage by security shortly after he finished speaking. Hes being chased by pro democracy lawmakers. Theyre holding up a banner reading anti extradition. Scenes like this have been common in recent weeks. At the centre of this is hong kongs chief executive carrie lam. She was elected in 2017. This times article compares her to Margaret Thatcher calling her the iron lady. Certainly, she has a track record of standing firm. She approved the demolition of the queens pier, which was where british governors and royals would arrive. And didnt change her mind when there were big protests. During the pro democracy protests in 2014, she was in charge of mediating with students and was seen as taking a tough line. This though is arguably the biggest test since she became leader. So far, shes not shifted an inch. Well one of beijings fiercist critics is the exiled artist ai wei wei. Today he got involved. I think it is very misleading, this bill, if it passed, could put every hong konger in danger. Because simply, china is not a state or rule of law. And they can do anything. My disappearance, when im on my way to hong kong airport, secretively detained without trial and later they didnt even put a decision on me and still, there is no clear, nobody knows who made the decision of whether to make the decision and only because i show different opinions, i criticised the policies. After the british handed hong kong to china in 1997, hong kong adopted a one country, two systems arrangement this was designed to protect legal and democratic freedoms that do not exist in mainland china. The fear is that this new extradition bill threatens this set up. We should though be clear even now hong kong is not a democracy as you might think of it. Its government known as the Legislative Council or legco has 70 members. This times graph shows you the make up. 35 are directly elected. The other 30 are determined by special Interest Groups called functional constituencies. Critics say this allows beijing to exert heavy influence. On top of that issue voters dont nominate or elect the chief executive. Rather a 1200 strong Election Committee makes the decision. And its nomination is then approved by china. The Hong Kong Free press a non profit run byjournalists says the committee is heavily influenced by china and not fair, free or representative. Ive been speaking to the bbcs laura westbrook. So what you have just referred to their is why people turned out in such numbers back in 2014. They wanted the right to directly elect their own leader rather than being chosen by beijing. Obviously that failed and since then, there have been a number of crackdowns. A Political Party was banned, candidates have been banned from running for office and activist have been jailed. Which is why now people are turning out in such numbers because they state that this law, the extradition law would be the biggest erosion of the freedoms that hong kong enjoys under one country to systems. Country two systems. And is there any sign that carrie lam might find some way of softening this bill to take the heat out of the protests . She has said that she is going to put in some broad safeguards. More recently, she said she will put in a human rights safeguards that would be legally binding. But many people say this actually just misses the point because it is not about hong kongs legal system, which is one of the most respected in asia and hong kong is a very respected and hong kong has a very respected rule of law. It is actually on the receiving country and there is an expectation on the receiving country that people should have a fair trial and humane punishment in that china just does not meet that threshold. This is what an expectation of a people should have and the worry is, those in hong kong for those passing through hong kong, if they have a dissenting view about china, this law will be used to extradite them to mainland china, to face trial over there. Quite understandably, carrie lam, she is the chief executive, but what about all the members of legislative counsel. Where do they stand on this . The Legislative Council is split between two groups, the pro beijing side and the pan democratic side, the opposition side in those pictures that you saw there was the leader of commissions coming out and saying that he wanted this vote to happen next thursday and that has got the pan democratic side quite up in arms because they cant really understand why this is being rushed through so much. And also, the probation site, they have the votes that if this report to the votes, if they would have the votes to push this through, they really have the cards in the Hong Kong Government in their hands. All the reasons why protesters are coming out on wednesday so how are preparations for what could be a large part to shaping up . So, people are gathering already, two of the protest sites are being closed down, one of them saying that he needs maintenance but people are gathering and thousands of police are being deployed in many of the protesters are wearing white, which is a symbol ofjustice but also a symbol of mourning in chinese culture. Stay with us on outside source still to come. Scientists say almost 600 plant species have become extinct in the last 250 years its twice the number bird, mammal and amphibian extinctions combined. A man has told the inquiry into contaminated blood that he came from a family of haemophiliacs, and six siblings were infected in the scandal. Thousands of people were given blood infected with hepatitis c or hiv in the 19705 and 805. Sophie hutchinson reports. There would be a life is wasnt for what happened. Because she was a strong woman and the tragedyjust got back ripped her heart out. Watching gary die, watching the funeral and what state is his mind and, it was bad. Ijust felt so. I dont know if the word sorry is sufficient enough. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story is . The russian investigative journalist ivan gulonov has walked free after the authorities dropped charges of drug dealing following a public outcry. Oxfam has been severely criticised by the Uk Charity Commission for its handling of allegations that its staff sexually exploited victims of haitis earthquake in 2010. The commission has given oxfam an official warning and says it failed to investigate allegations that children were being abused, and that it failed to report the allegations. Heres the chair of the Charity Commission. The incidents in haiti were very dismaying. I think more broadly because what we have done is looked into oxfam more broadly in what i feel and what everybody feels is very let down by oxfam. This is one of our best known charities in the united kingdom. It is there to put people first and it failed to live up people first and it failed to live up peoples expectations. The trigger of the report dates back to this article in the times from february last year. It said that senior staff in oxfams Haiti Earthquake Relief Programme were paying locals for sex. That relates to this man, roland van hauwermeiren, who used to be oxfams director of operations in haiti. He is alleged to have used prostitutes at a villa rented for him by the charity. He was allowed to resign, along with two other people. He continued working in the Charity Sector. Four other people lost thierjobs. Four other people lost theirjobs. Around 250,000 people died in the 2010 earthquake. More than 1. 5 Million People were displaced. Heres how oxfams former head of safeguarding, helen evans, describes prostitution in a crisis zone. This was an abuse of beneficiaries. Earthquake survivors in the case of haiti and coercing them into sex for money. I mean, those men, women and children had no choice in that. They we re children had no choice in that. They were having sex in order to survive, survival sex and prostitution and thatis survival sex and prostitution and that is not consent. Helen evans resigned from oxfam in 2015 over the charitys failure to act on allegations of sexual assault. The report from the Charities Commission outlines a number of incidents that werent properly investigated. Heres a journalist specialising in the Charity Sector outlining one of them. Ina similartime, in a similar time, there was an investigation where there was an e mail reported from a 13 Year Old Girl saying that i have been abused by workers of oxfam and so has my 12 year old friend and there was some doubt within the charity about whether or not there was real and they decided, they did not investigated thoroughly. The haiti scandal hit oxfam hard. It lost 7,000 donors and was barred from bidding for uk government funding. Two weeks after the times article, it issued this full page apology in the guardian newspaper. It also says it will look after people who come forward and will always be transparent. After the Charity Commission report, oxfams chair of trustees, caroline thomson, said the question is whether the new safeguards in place are enough to prevent such abuses happening again. As for haiti, oxfam has been banned from operating inside its borders. The bbcs will grant is in the haitian capital port au prince. It was Even Stronger coming from the host nation, i spoke to the foreign minister and he said, this confirms how the aid sector had been tarnished by a shameful group of sexual creditors and even paedophiles. We think about the allegations involved here and privileged foreign men living very well with cars and homes and so on, taking advantage of the most vulnerable in the society. The very people they were supposed to help, including potentially underaged victims. So it does not come as a great surprise that the foreign minister came out very strongly today. Oxfam cannot help in haiti any more, but the broader relationship between haiti and the Charity Sector. The Charity Sector in terms of distributing donations since the devastating 2010 earthquake gave out and managed somewhere in the region of seven and a half billion dollars worth of aid. Soa a half billion dollars worth of aid. So a massive amount to the haitian economy to rebuilding it from what happened. The haitian government does need the ngos, but what it needsis does need the ngos, but what it needs is good actors in that. It cannot work with companies or organisations where people cannot be trusted and i think that cut to the heart of what happened is that for so heart of what happened is that for so many haitians, this revealed something that they had suspected to be going on for a long time and was taking place with impunity. Are the consequences of the earthquake still visible . Still impacting on Haitian Society . In the sense that poverty remains everywhere in haiti and yes, asa remains everywhere in haiti and yes, as a result of the earthquake, tens of thousands remain homeless, the rebuild in certain parts of the city is still going on but elsewhere, particularly in the rural regions, it is desperate poverty. There is still a lot to do and again, the criticism of many haitians is that it isa criticism of many haitians is that it is a huge outpouring of grief and aid at the time and now, where is it. What has it built, what has it achieved and what many people wanted for the scandals and inquiry is to look at that question, beyond just the question of how they acted in this country. Next we want to tell you about a report on plant extinction. Researchers at kew gardens here in britain, and Stockholm University say that 571 plant species have been lost in the last 250 years. Their number is based on actual extinctions rather than estimates, and its twice that of all bird, mammaland amphibian extinctions combined. Despite this, one of the report authors says it could still be an underestimate. Have a listen. Knowledge of botanical diversity is quite poor in many areas of the world and specifically true for tropical regions that have a lot of species. We dont have a full record of which species are there, we have not described them, have not found them, so we also dont have the ability to say whether they are going extinct. The report also suggests that plant extinction is happening as much as 500 times faster than what would be expected if humans werent around. But of course its bad news for humans too. Heres another of the reports auhtors plants underpin all life on earth. They provide the oxygen we breathe and the food we eat as well as making up the backbone of the worlds ecosystems. Plant extinction is bad news for all species. This graphic from the report shows the distribution of extinctions. Youll see lots of islands marked. Heres dr humphreys again to explain why. A lot of the species are carried on islands, islands are home to very unique flora and fauna and that means that they have species that occur on a single island and nowhere else that also means that there are very vulnerable to changes in their environment. So if something changes in their habitat, in their native environment, what that means they disappear from that island in the also disappear globally because it doesnt occur anywhere else. The electric car maker tesla is holding its annual Shareholders Meeting tonight and its having a bit of a tough time. Its share price has tumbled since the begining of the year losing more than a third of its value. Its been having production problems. In the first three months of the year it delivered 63 thousand cars it needs to be delivering over 90 thousand to even get close to meeting its own targets. And its still burning through cash and making big losses its swimming in debt 13 billion to be precise. Michelle fleury in new york. Lots of Companies Run debt, is this a big problem for them . lots of Companies Run debt, is this a big problem for them . I think people look at tesla and elon musk whenever he speaks and they Pay Attention this is a company that has entered an industry that is very cash intensive. The big legacy names in the car industry struggling at the moment, trying to come up with the moment, trying to come up with the cash needed to come up with a good to develop the transportation we need for the future and so, tesla is under pressure, as you say, Companies Operate with debt. But there is room that after manoeuvre and it is getting tighter and tighter because it faces more competition and because there are others around were getting into the same space that it is occupied but had deeper pockets, so that is a people are paying much more attention and seeing if they can deliver what they say they will a nswer deliver what they say they will answer that is going to be a key pa rt answer that is going to be a key part of what looking for. And as i say, eli musk tends to make news when he speaks, talking about taxis and that is one thing they want to hear more about. And deliver on the things that they have already promised and new initiatives and so there is some sort of question from investors, can the company do it all was white here is another, because hundreds hundreds of companies have signed a letter saying that moves to restrict abortion in the us is bad for business. Jack dorsey is the boss of twitter hes one of those who signed up we caught up with him in london and asked him why. We believe and i believe that restricting access to health care is really bad for society and also our business. It limits our ability to increase diversity and the limits diversity and limits our ability to increase participation within our company, which limits our ability to serve the customers that we want to serve. Michelle fleury is in new york iam i am trying to think of when businesses have intervened in issues like this before, has it happened . It is astonishing in the sense that some subjects are considered to sensitive for Corporate America and the new abortion laws passed in some conservative united states, and the topic that the Biggest Companies will be keen to stay silent on. And yet, because in some ways, some of these are so draconian, you start to see firms speak out. Top executives, for more than 180 companies who are basically signed up to a letter that appeared in the New York Times on monday with a message for lawmakers. Basically saying that restricting abortion is bad for business and bad for employees and customers we have also heard from some of the big names in hollywood. But to go back to your question, it is fairly unusual that companies typically do not want to risk alienating customers and employees when it comes to issues such as this. In some ways, it plays into Donald Trumps narratives that california based companies are out of sync with him and his supporters. If you look at the names on the list, the 180 names, in some ways you could argue that it is consistent with the brand that they have put forward and so i guess you have put forward and so i guess you have to start looking for other firms where it may not necessarily be so consistent with their brand and that would perhaps be more substantive if they started speaking out. Life of us in new york as usual. So, a little bit later in the programme, interesting conversation with bbc monitoring about how the hong kong process has been covered, not in hong kong but around the world, but in china and what we are going to here is a very different story is being told. We will cure that perspective about 15 minutes an outside source, will continue to bring you all the big stories of the day. Hello. The next uk forecast is coming up in half an hour but at this time of the evening, we take a look at the main weather stories happening around the world and we will start off in india with a satellite picture from the arabian sea, the swell of cloud that is a cyclone moving northwards towards the state. And if you know any friends or relatives of this part of the world, it is heading in this direction with some heavy wet and windy weather. Landfall, this is where the wind on thursday, and a chance of flooding and damaging winds as well, may gusting of around 80 mph. Also quite wet elsewhere in the western side of india and there is been some flooding as well and finally set in, laid across difficult situations, the rain is welcomed and comes with enough intensity because some flooding and major problems in places. And the head of the monsoon, that he does very much in new delhis weather station, temperature reached 48 celsius, just a hint of something a little cooler in the days ahead. Taking you to another heatwave, this is across taking you to another heatwave, this is across western taking you to another heatwave, this is across western parts of the usa we re is across western parts of the usa were on monday, the temperature in San Francisco International Airport which 100 fahrenheit for the first time in the month ofjune. High pressure for the west, our weather front across eastern parts of the usa and canada and further heavy downpours across the mid atlantic into the southeast of the usa. Weather already, flooding and places in the risk of further flash flooding as a result. In terms of that heat to the west, temperatures are going to ease a little bit in the coming days, notice how it gets cooler in San Francisco, but temperatures look like theyll be heading up in the weekend and into next week, so keep an eye on that. Some very wet and windy weather moving to the south eastern parts of australia with this weather front, the risk of flash flooding and potentially damaging winds, particularly in victoria, whence that moves away, the disturbance moving in, and the southeast of australia recently, it is now u nsettled australia recently, it is now unsettled wet and windy at times and for the showers not as windy as it has been. And as we look at the city forecast, getting to see some sunshine, sunnier days in a forecast in wellington. Lets take a look closer to home in europe and we know across the uk it has been very wet, low pressure across across the uk it has been very wet, low pressure across europe and to the east of that, the main story is about heat. Temperatures well into the 30s with heat warnings in poland for example, and in the boundary between the two weather systems, some Severe Weather systems between germany and into the apps. How long will our wet weather asked, find out in halfan will our wet weather asked, find out in half an hour. Hello, im ros atkins, this is outside source. Russia has released an investigative journalist whod been placed under house arrest. This is the moment ivan golunov walked free and was greeted by supporters. Hed been accused of drug dealing but after a huge outcry, those charges have been dropped. And the police who arrested him had been suspended. In the last couple of hours, oppposition leaders in sudan have called off their campaign of civil disobedience. Its also reported that talks with the military council will resume. These are the latest pictures from hong kong where people are getting ready for another protest against a new extradition law. Well be hearing from our china media expert on how the demonstrations are being covered there. And a former mayor in italy once celebrated for helping migrants to integrate in his town, has gone on trial. Some see it as a victory for italys far right. Well have the details on that. We have some breaking news from sudan, where pro democracy protesters have been on strike since sunday. A short time ago the bbcs africa editor fergal keane tweeted this breaking opposition calls off strike and civil disobedience. Government agrees to release Political Prisoners. Talks to resume soon between both sides now, thats a positive development, but the general feeling in sudan is still one of instability. There were two new disturbing stories today. One from the capital khartoum. Another in the region of darfur. Both involve violence, and both involve these men. They form the notorious Rapid Support forces, also known as the janjaweed militia. This is them on the streets of khartoum. We know they support the countrys military government and and the crack down on pro democracy protests. Well when fergal keane was taken on a tour of khartoum, the militia went everywhere with him. As youll see in this clip. It mustve seemed like a good idea to somebody, showing journalist the government side of the story, but as we approach the destination, the ominous reality loomed into view. The Rapid Support force, the militia thats terrorising civilians. They are known here because at their past atrocities in da rfur. They are camped outside the clinic we were taking to. We were shown ransacked offices. The work of the protesters, they claimed. The militia had followed us and were camera shy. Tony, roll on me. Roll on me. Officials pleaded with them so we could fail. Film. This is supposed to be a propaganda trap, government showing us the iniquities of the other side, but what its turning into is a farce because as we go on the tour, the Rapid Support forces are interfering. It gives you an indication of the real story here. The back story to all this instability in sudan is months of protests. Here are images from december box 3 when people were protesting against here are images from december when people were protesting against a tripling in the price of bread. Those protests morphed into demonstrations against the long serving president omar al bashir. He was ousted and replaced by a military council in april. Since then the people have been demanding a handover to civilian rule. But the crackdown by Paramilitary Forces has been brutal. The opposition says over 100 people were killed last week. And theres another reason people are fearful of the janjawid. This is the same pro government militia responsible for committing atrocities in da rfur over ten years ago. This is archive from 200a. It shows the remnants of one village as the militia looked to quell an Anti Government uprising. This was one of many attacks. Well, 15 years later Amnesty International says the janjawid is still committing war crimes in darfur. In this statement it accuses the militia of damaging or destroying 45 villages between july last year and february this year. Amnesty says its concerned the militia is filling the vacuum created by the reduction of African Union and un peacekeepers. Human rights watch agrees. Un and au should freeze drawdown. Sudan Paramilitary Rsf needs to be investigated not empowered. The situation in sudan is prompting ever greater international concern. A us envoy for africa will arrive in khartoum wednesday for talks with the military and the opposition. Bbc state Department Correspondent Barbara Plett usher in washington. However, tell us about whos going to khartoum and what theyre looking for. So its the top diplomat and the state department for africa, and he has a pretty clear message, hes going to say stop attacking civilians and especially after last week. But since the getting, the americans very much had sided with the protesters and they have clearly and repeatedly called for a transition to a civilian led government. So hes going to be talking about that in the best way to achieve that if it is in fact still achievable. The americans and also supported the ethiopian mediation experts, so that hes going to be moving on after his visit to khartoum and he will no doubt be exploring their wet options at the ethiopians are presented and itll be easier given that strike has ended and Political Prisoners are released apparently and there seems to be more at a climate for talks then when he first announced the trip. Is another dimension i wa nt the trip. Is another dimension i want you to ask about the stay with us. If the us is to have any influence it will have to put pressure on the backers of the sudanese military. Saudi arabia and the United Arab Emirates recently pledged a combined 3 billion in aid. Sudan has helped the saudi uae war in yemen. Egypt meanwhile is also providing support it wants sudans help fighting islamists in the region. And i wonder is there an american appetite to lean on these countries and say perhaps, their support of Egyptian Military is not proving helpful . Sorry i meant sudanese. Yes, there is an and happiness, with the state department and that sort of support and you had last week the Senior State Department official spoke to the counterparts in the uae, and in saudi arabia as well and they publish the readouts, pointedly noting that he said the that it was very important to have support transition for a civilian led government but im not aware of any action by the administration to put muscle into that or to put pressure on these allies to try to get them to change their assertive approach to change their assertive approach to sudan or a lien on the generals to sudan or a lien on the generals to be more open to a civilian led arrangement. The question americans do have leverage, the Administration Just evoked an Emergency National security emergency to get around the Congress Block of arms sales to saudi arabia, so they do have scope to ta ke saudi arabia, so they do have scope to take action if they want to. |j saudi arabia, so they do have scope to take action if they want to. I am curious, its a situation in sudan cutting to the American Media outlets are being corroborated are discussed in washington or elsewhere . Not widely i would say. The chop administration guys had anionic, it sort of an inheritance at the Obama Administration policy in sudan, which was to try to move toward some sort of. The americans took the lead in isolating sudan because of the war crimes in darfur and that designated as a terrorist state. Since then, there has been intelligence cooperation all along, since than the government has moved to its trying to make a deal with khartoum if they were having better humanitarian aid and they could be sort of pulled back in a pariah designation and the sanctions, but that has been positive, the stocks have been going on for a number of yea rs have been going on for a number of years and suspended because largely because the state department get it now how things would shake out once the former president was ousted. Barbara, i think he will talk to the week, thats barbara in washington, dc. Message back to the hong kong protest. More on the hong kong protests. Lets look at the view from china. The narrative there is different. This editorial on pro government english newspaper china daily defends the extradition bill, calling it a reason for celebration. It reports some activists have been misled, while others are trying to promote a political agenda. On social media youll struggle to find any mentions of the protests. Weibo is regularly censored. And even though more than 350 Million People use the site, there are only a handful of references to hong kong. The only mentions can be found by users who have a blue tick which are verified government accounts. This is what happened when we searched oppose sending this is what happened when we searched oppose sending to china on baidu its google equivalent. Only one result. Kerry allen bbc monitoring has been looking into this. Good to have you, im guessing youre not surprised by any of that. Not at all, these have been a huge scale protest like 1. 0 Million People reported as taking to the streets, but actually if there were only ten people, government wouldve censored it because china is extremely nervous about any scale of protest that basically says dissent or kind of dissatisfaction with the communist party. And even though this bill has chinese support, its not been drawn up by mainland china, its been drawn up by hong kong pie spice government, so yeah, theres a lot i have, yeah, im not surprised to see the outright censorship. But, also i think thats a quite noticeable is the fact that last week it was the anniversary of the ten and square, and since then theyve been caught with a trousers down because its late and actually censoring content and its only really started to pick up now. Censoring content and its only really started to pick up nowm was interesting because they could ignore it but they clearly decided that theyre going to engage with whats happening in try and pipe an alternative narrative that is a significant that it appeared in english language media . Absolutely it is, you wont see any mention in chinese language media about protests. I mean, hong kong papers that probation government, these been reported on their site set up of them but they dont mention any sort of protest, like they mention are that theyll add support for the bill, so they basically told him i would government and save this bill has a lot of support and say that people shouldnt feel unsettled about it, its a bell thats beneficial for the people. Thank you very much, we will leave it today but perhaps we talk again tomorrow once we had seen the scale of those protests a nd once we had seen the scale of those protests and how the authorities react in hong kong. In a few minutes we will to botswana. Gay rights activists in botswana are celebrating after the high court decriminalised gay sex. M15 has been put into special measures because of whats been described as a historical lack of compliance with the law on managing data. Heres our legal correspondent, clive coleman. A month ago, the home secretary sajid javid revealed that there had been breaches of the safeguards within the investigatory powers act. You remember that was famously dubbed the snoopers charter, and thats the act that was supposed to put in place serious safeguards to safeguard the privacy of citizens and individuals, whilst also giving to Security Services. Pretty comprehensive power is in terms of obtaining and retaining that data. Now what we have heard today in the high court is truly extraordinary, and fact and 15 had been running an operation for the last three years, that has been unlawful and is so unlawful that the information it has obtained, we are talking information obtained by way of warrants, that the investigatory powers commissioner, who is a very senior judge has effectively played and my five if you like, like a Failing School into special measures relation to the processing of it does warrants. Now, this all arises as a result of a legal challenge brought by the Civil Liberties group liberty, and imjoined by megan, whose the legal officer for liberty. Megan, it really is Strong Language that the lord justice has used in this report, which has come, its the first time today we see the contents of the report. You are right, its really shocking what we have heard in court this morning. And what we have heard is, and my five had been holding onto people pass by data, ordinary peoples by data, ordinary peoples data, your data, my data. Illegally, for many years. And not only that, but they have been trying to keep really serious errors in secret, secret from the surveillance watchdogs was supposed to know about them, secret from the home office, secret from the Prime Minister and secret from the public, and we only know now because of the case. This is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. Our lead story is. The russian investigative journalist ivan gulonov has walked free after the authorities dropped charges of drug dealing following a public outcry. In mali, at least 95 people died in an attack on a village. This happened in the mopti region of mali which is home to the dogon ethnic group. These people are hunters and frequently clashes with herders. In recent years the violence has intensified. These are the latest pictures from the village. Many of the buildings have been burnt which is making the search for bodies harder. 19 people are missing. Better news is that 108 people who managed to escape the attack have been found safe. They were reportedly hiding in a school. This is the village chief. They immediately encircled the village and shot at everything that moved. So everywhere people were screaming, children were screaming. They all fled into their homes. Then they went into the homes, set them alight and all those who tried to run were shot down. What he just described is a repeat of an attack on this nearby village in march. Over 150 people were killed. Most of the victims were fulanis those are the herders i was describing earlier its suspected the attackers were dogon militia. The president of mali cut short a trip to switzerland here he is. We feel it very strongly, but let us not worsen sorrow with more and even heavier sorrow and a cycle of vengeance, of vendetta is not what this country needs today. Rather a unification of hearts, a malien re think, a reunion which are the only things that will allow us to bounce back and to allow our nation to survive. Because it is an issue of survival today. Mali is at a cross roads. If what hasjust happened the other night should be followed by another massacre in another place involving another community or another faith, it would be an endless tragedy which i do not wish on our country, god willing. The un says at least 551 people have been killed in clashes between rival tribes in mali since last year. The un secretary general says hes outraged by this latest attack. Remember, mali has a big Un Peacekeeping mission and French Forces have been deployed there since 2013. Despite this, insecurity has worsened in some parts of the country. The bbc asked the head of the un mission in mali if it was doing enough. This is part of his response. Theyre not replacing their institution in their to provide protection, we as a nation, we are providing and helping them and their role to provide protection to civilians and to all of the population within the country. Within our own capabilities. Louise dewast is following this story from neighbouring senegal. The government is under changing pressure to change at the response to security separation five from improving, this afternoon, the Prime Minister travelled to the village to meet some of the grat creating families and the justice meet some of the grat creating families and thejustice minister has announced they are opening an investigation into the tack. Grieving. The Un Peacekeeping mission in the country who sent ariel support yesterday also said they are sending human rights investigators into the village to help assist authorities and their investigation. A former mayor in italy has appeared in court over charges of organising fake marriages for migrants. Here he is in court this morning. His name is domenico lucano. For the past decade hes been making headlines around the world for actively welcoming migrants, giving them abandoned homes and on the job training. His hope was that this would rejuvinate his small town of riace. Fewer than 2000 people live there. And his programme was seen as a model of integration. In fact, in 2016 mr lucano was named one of the worlds 50 greatest leaders by fortune magazine. Here he is at number 40. But last september he was detained. Shortly afterwards he was forbidden from returning to his hometown a ban that was upheld in the court today. Heres Silvia Borrelli of politico with details of the charges. Hes under investigation since 2016 for the mismanagement of public funding, which at the Central Government and the eu had handed him to manage the migrants he was welcoming into his hometown. Furthermore, he is accused of not having run a public tender to sign it Waste Management contract, which he ended up finding to a group of migrants that were running a cooperative, and lastly, he allegedly staged a fake marriage is between italian citizens and Asylum Seekers that had been denied the claims in orderfor the Asylum Seekers defined a legal way to stay in the country. The trial is highly politicised in italy. Mr lucano has turned into a powerful symbol for both sides of the immigration debate there. Italys populist government came to power injune last year with the head of the right wing league party, Matteo Salvini taking the role of interior minister. Hes since pursued high profile anti migration policies. When mr lucano was arrested, he said he wondered what all the good guys who want to fill italy with immigrants would say about the story. He also has ordered all migrants in riace to be redistributed across italy. Afp puts it this way this small town in calabria has become a symbol of the victory of the extreme right of Matteo Salvini. Heres sylvia again on how the town of riace has reacted to it all. The town had local elections last month, and a centre right candidate backed by the fire rightly, which is also a willing party in italy, which has led by the interior minister matteo, but if the elections now, andi matteo, but if the elections now, and i think the popularity of the league and the anti immigration sentiment throughout the country and throughout europe had much to do with the local elections, but from what ive heard, from the locals in the town, and what even the new mayor has said, the fact is that locals are very tired of the public city and the Media Attention that the town has attracted and they want to go back to normality and the problem is that lucano lost his populated back in 2016 when he was placed under investigation for misusing public funds, and out of city council is close to bankruptcy so people want change, the new mayor said hes going to curb migrants that can come into the town and the way forward is fixing public finances and getting back normality to the people in the small town that only has 1500 inhabitants and a very poor region. Lets go to Southern Africa and botswana where the high court decriminalised gay sex earlier. Heres the reaction in the courtroom. Matzoh smiles. The case was brought a student who argued society has changed and homosexuality is now more widely accepted. Thejudges agreed heres part of the ruling Human Dignity is harmed when minority groups are marginalised. They added, Sexual Orientation is not a fashion statement. It is an important attribute of ones personality. The law criminalising homosexuality came into place in 1965 under British Colonial rule. Stefan simanowitz from Amnesty International points out that many of the countries that outlaw same sex relations do so because they once were british colonies. The british thought native cultures did not punish perverse sex enough and introduced suddenly laws which were integrated into National Penal codes around the world. In africa, thats changing. Recently, angola, mozambique and the seychelles have scrapped anti homosexuality laws. In kenya though judges recently upheld a ban. Kosekho lokowe is one of the lawyers who took the case to court in botswana. People generally celebrate progress and advancement. Sexual section 164 of the penal code was oppressive, it oppressed the Sexual Identity and homosexual individuals and botswana. They never allowed people to express themselves in any manner, it is something to be celebrated. I think the point is generally happy, because africa is more towards the liberalization of sexual attitudes. We will see tomorrow, goodbye. Hello there. There is no doubt about it, some parts of the uk needed some rain, particularly Eastern England where its been particularly dry lately, but you might not have been banking on this much rain, quite a few locations has seen more than a months worth of rain in the space ofjust a couple of days. Its been relentless. There is more rain to come and thats because the weather pattern is not shifting at the moment. The jet stream and is very undulating pattern bending north and south again where we get dips in the jet stream, thats where you get trapped with low pressure to get High Pressure and settled weather, we need to get into one of these ridges in the jet stream and thats not going to happen, certainly not for the next few days. So more rain to come on wednesday, outbreaks of rain and moving through Northern England into southern scotland, clipping into Northern Ireland and then a fresh pulse of wet weather pushing into Eastern England. Still some uncertainty about where that wettest weather will be, but turning soggy across the east anglia and parts of the midlands and lincolnshire down to the south, and mix of sunshine and showers. Showers heavy and thunder and the thunderstorms could dump enough rain in a short space of time. To give you further lighting and disruption. Outbreaks of rain through Northern England and settled scotland into Northern Ireland at times. The north of scotland stays predominantly dry and still fairly breezy, but does wind will fall lighter on thursday. Outbreaks of rain continuing to the agent northwest across scotland, they may not get quite as far as at the western aisles, some rain into Northern Ireland and wales and the southwest and elsewhere, the mixture of sunshine and showers, but with those winds a bit lighter, the shower where they pop up will be slow moving drenching downpour is, which could again bring some disruption. Still in the grip of low pressure, on friday, thejet stream guiding south trapping that low close to that british isles, we see outbreaks of the rain and where we dont have persistent rain, mixture of sunshine and showers, but the wind direction shifting steadily by this stage, temperatures will begin to climb. If we get sunshine, it will start to feeljust a little more pleasant. Similar story on friday. Showers or longer spells of rain, hard to be too precise about the details at this stage, but there will be sent spells of sunshine as well and as temperature is between 15 and 19 degrees. Moving towards the second half of the weekend, i just a hint, the High Pressure might start to move its way and, the area low pressure thats been with us the last few days, finally working its way north west, so we will still see some showers, low still close it up to drive wet weather at times but more in the way of dry weather and sunshine particularly for eastern and southern parts and as temperatures up to 19 possibly a few places up to 20 degrees. What will the jet stream be up to it next week . Well, actually, looks like we might start to see a bit of a rage heading north and if we get into one of these ridges, well get High Pressure and more settled weather. Looks like High Pressure takes charge for most of us for a wild, there is uncertainty about this area of low pressure thats living close to northwest at british isles, how close he gets, i will determine just how many showers will see in the north parts of the uk, but for that time at least, should be dry and warm and certainly not nearly as wet as it is at the moment. One of britains biggest and best known charities, oxfam, is heavily criticised by the Charity Commission after claims of Sexual Misconduct by some staff in disaster zones. Oxfam is given an official warning over the way it handled allegations of serious Sexual Misconduct after an earthquake in haiti in 2010. This is an organisation which is all about alleviating poverty and helping Vulnerable People around the world, and they lost sight of that. They lost sight of the people that they exist to serve. Oxfam has repeatedly apologised, calling the episode shameful. Well be getting reaction from haiti. Also tonight. Vying for the top job three more conservatives set out their stalls in the leadership contest the man who lost four of his six brothers after they were given