Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240714

Civilian honour, from president macron. Welcome to bbc news. President trump has confirmed that he called off a military strike against iran with minutes to spare after deciding to many human lives would be lost. Mr trump tweeted that the us had been cocked and loaded, but he is now facing criticism from democrats or revealing details of the plan. The attack had been planned in response to the shooting down of an unmanned drone by iran earlier this week. That happened in the volatile region which is a major supply route for one third of the worlds oil. Tay iu ns one third of the worlds oil. Tay runs as the drain entered uranian airspace, the us maintains it was shot down in International Airspace over the straight of hormuz. There isa over the straight of hormuz. There is a north america editorjohn sobel in iran they are celebrating taking out of the sky a 130 million us drone the latest escalation in tensions between washington and tehran. Today, on iranian tv, the results of their handiwork were being shown off. America has no shortage of military assets in the region but the anticipated retaliation never came. It turns out military strikes had been ordered. But at the last moment donald trump had a change of mind. He confirmed this on twitter this morning but now a rather different account from the president. The planes werent even in the air, so weapons couldnt have been locked and loaded. Were planes in the air . We were about ready to go. No, but they would have been pretty soon, and things would have happened to a point where you wouldnt turn back or couldnt turn back. That wasnt quite the impression he gave yesterday at the white house, when watched by his hawkish National Security adviser and secretary of state he seemed to suggest that action was imminent. One of irans Deputy Foreign ministers told the bbc they were only acting in self defence. When you violate iranian territorial space, then we defend. This is defence. And to back up their argument, irans foreign minister produced a sketch to claim the drone was flying over iranian territorial waters. The us put out a more formal looking map to claim it was in International Airspace. Regardless, the federal Aviation Authority has issued orders preventing American Airlines from flying over the persian gulf and the gulf of oman as a result of this incident. British airways is doing the same. At friday prayers today in tehran there were renewed chance of death to america. Last night donald trump pulled back, but this is still a tense and dangerous situation in a highly volatile region. The parents of a british muslim convert named jihadi jack have been found guilty of funding terrorism. John letts and sally lane said their money while he was in syria despite being warned that he was had joined the so called Islamic State and was becoming a dangerous extremist. Jack letts with his parents, sally lane and john letts, a picture perfect childhood. But this afternoon the pair were found guilty for sending money to their son in the middle east, knowing or having reasonable suspicion that it could be used for terrorism. The heavy price we have paid today is an indicator of the love we have for our children. We are committed to help jack return home. We will continue our campaign to help those that the government has turned its back on. Thank you. Jack letts got interested in islam as a schoolboy and attended this mosque in oxford at 16. Two years later his mum, a fundraiser for oxfam, and his dad, an organic farmer, said he told them he was travelling to the middle east to study arabic. Within months he was inside Islamic State group held territory in syria. The jury at the old bailey was told this one fingered salute was associated with is. Sally lane had told the court that she was horrified when in september 2014 her son jack had telephoned her to tell her where he was. She said shed screamed at him, how could he be so stupid . Nearly a year after being in syria, jack letts had begun asking for money first to help out a poor friend with a large family, then he said it was to get out of syria. Like ive run out of money completely. Didnt you say if it was to get out, youd send . The pair had argued in court that they just wanted to get their son out of syria safely. In a Police Interview john letts tried to explain. Ive got to get him out somehow, and how am i going to do that . Hes in danger and ifeel i have to do something, but on the other hand i dont want to get put away, i dont want sally to get put away. Ive got another son to worry about, so what am i supposed to do . Despite warnings from police, ms lane was captured on cctv at her local Western Union in oxford sending £223. Speaking to the bbc back in 2017, they said they believed him when he said he wasnt involved with any banned group. Weve always been in contact with him from the beginning. I think thats unusual for anybody who was some sort of a fighter they tend to drop all connection with their parents. Hes always been in touch with us and hes always from the beginning denied that he is ever a member of isis or involved with isis, or a fighter or anything like that, and i believe that. There is a law, and its not for individuals to decide when it applies to them or when it doesnt. The really strong message is despite whatever you might think you are doing, ultimately youre breaking the law and thats not ok. In court, judge Nicholas Hilliard said he understood they were parents who loved their son very much, but the warning signs were there. He sentenced them each to 15 months in jail suspended for a year, and ordered them to pay £140 in fines. Jack letts was 18 when he left for syria in 2014. His parents refused to believe he had become a dangerous extremist. He married and had a child with an iraqi woman before being captured and imprisoned in syria by Kurdish Forces in 2017. Our middle east correspondent question went on meant him last year, we had to wait until his parents trial was over before we could broadcast this interview. One of the Islamic State groups most notorious recruits was former oxford schoolboy jack letts. He agreed to speak to us in october last year. Only now that his parents trial is over can the interview be broadcast. He said he wasnt speaking under duress and he wanted to come clean about his membership of is. I asked him if he had betrayed his country. What were you . Were you a traitor or were you are a collaborator . Thats the question im asking you. A traitor to britain . You mean a traitor to britain . Its the first time ive heard that term in a long time. I was definitely an enemy of britain. I have no doubt about this. I havent tried to make myself innocent. I did what i did, i made a big mistake and thats what happened. I regretted what i did and thought, supposedly the british idea is that even if you do make big mistakes, you can sort of go back. Not go back to britain, i mean go back from your mistakes. You can set things right. Did they ever ask you to put on a suicide vest . They dont ask you, but they encourage you. In a sort of indirect way. I used to want to at one point, believe it or not. I now think its actually haram. Thats the first time i say this. I might as well tell the truth. I did at one point want to. Not a vest, i wanted to do it in a car. So i said, if theres a chance, ill do it. I didnt request to do it, but at the same time it was obvious that, i made it obvious to him that if there was a battle im ready. Lets bring you some of the date of the news. Thousands of protesters in hong kong have blockaded the citys police headquarters. They want a controversial extradition bill to be thrown out. This will be the third weekend of protests against the bill. Hong kongs leader carrie lam postponed the bill but practices wa nt postponed the bill but practices want it scrapped altogether. The american rapper cardi b has been charged with assault in connection with the fight at a strip club in new york last year. The singer was arrested for allegedly ordering attack on two bartenders. A british minister has been suspended from government after forcibly removing a protester from a formal event in london. Conservative mp mark veal who was also a minister in the Foreign Office was filmed pushing a female greenpeace activist. Mr veal has apologised saying he feared the protester might be armed. Police were reportedly called to by a neighbour to the london home of the conservative leadership candidate Boris Johnson and the conservative leadership candidate borisjohnson and his partner early on friday morning. After a neighbour reportedly heard screaming and shouting. Our Political Correspondent chris mason explains what happened after the police were called. The neighbour heard a loud argument. The neighbour heard a loud argument. The newspaper says it has spoken to a neighbour and this neighbour tape recorded some of the row and the guardian says it has heard this recording, the bbc has not heard the recording, the bbc has not heard the recording they say the neighbour said that mrjohnsons girlfriend could be heard telling him to get off me, and get out of my flat, she was allegedly heard saying that mrjohnson had ruined us over with red wine and told him you just dont care for anything because you are spoiled, you have money or anything. In a statement the metropolitan police has ideas it did ta ke metropolitan police has ideas it did take a call after midnight from a local resident concern for the welfare a female neighbour, police say they intended attended and spoke to all the occupants at the address who were all safe and well, there were no offences or concerns apparent to the officers and there was no cause for police action. As for his reaction a spokesperson for mrjohnson tonight has had no comment but he did not deny the story. In a contest where a character as well as policy is going to be under scrutiny, these are headlines borisjohnson could do without. Chris mason there. Meanwhile the hustings for the two conservative candidates will be held in the city of birmingham on saturday afternoon. Boris johnson and jeremy hunt will appear before and jeremy hunt will appear before an audience of party members. The event is open to the minister media but analysts will not be allowed to ask questions. Ahead of the first hustings the British Foreign secretary jeremy hunt challenged his opponent Boris Johnson to take part in a tv debate as close as possible to the day that oui as close as possible to the day that our papers are posted out. The point im making is it makes an absolute mockery of this leadership contest for the conservative party if people will actually have started voting before they have a chance to see the two protagonists on tv. And boris challenged me to do the itv debate, i was very happy to accept until i realised that that debate is so far ahead that people will have already started voting before it happens. I think we should be doing debate early, we should be doing them often, if the party wants him to go out to battle against nigel farage, jeremy corbyn, 27 eu countries, then surely it is not such a big deal to go out against a friendly foreign secretary. Hustings are an important pa rt secretary. Hustings are an important part of the process but the kind of rigourous scrutiny that you get from the today programme, from andrew marr, sophie reg, these are something quite different, and this is the biggestjob in the country, the most important position in the land. If you want the top job you have got to turn up for the interviews. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come i am 93. 93 we hear from news, still to come i am 93. 93 we hearfrom one of news, still to come i am 93. 93 we hear from one of the last surviving passengers to sail to britain on the empire windrush more than 70 years ago. There was a bomb in the city centre, a codeword known to be one used by the ira was given, Army Bomb Experts are examining a suspect van when there was a huge explosion. The South African Parliament has destroyed the foundation of apartheid by abolishing the population registration act which for 40 yea rs population registration act which for 40 years 40 years forcibly classified each citizen according to race. 75 parliament has voted by a narrow majority to move the seat of government from bonn to berlin, bellin has celebrated into the night but the position was greeted with shockin but the position was greeted with shock in bonn. The royal baby is not sleeping in his cot at home. Only the seemingly new print was taken by his mother and father to their apartment in kensington palace. The real focus of attention today was valentina, the wells first woman cosmonaut. What do you think of a russian woman in space . It is a wonderful achievement and we might be able to persuade the wife if i could to get her to go up there for a little while. This is bbc news, the headlines resident trumps as he called of an overnight attack on iran with just minutes to spare because too many people would have been killed. The pa rents of people would have been killed. The parents of jack letts, a teenager who travelled to syria to join the Islamic State group are found guilty of funding terrorism. Spains Supreme Court has ruled that an attack on a woman which shocked spain was gang rape rather than in earlier verdict of sexual abuse. The five men, known as the wolfpack, we re five men, known as the wolfpack, were originally given nine years in jail when they were cleared of rape. But prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court to upgrade the conviction and judges increased their sentences to 15 years. In the summer of 2016, during the running of the bulls festival in pamplona, five young men lead an 18 year old woman to the lobby of an Apartment Building in the early hours of the morning, where they had sex with her. She accused them of raping her, but when the case went to trial last year, the court ruled that the five defendants were instead guilty of the lesser crime of sexual abuse. The judges said that because they had been a violence or intimidation, the rape charge did not apply. The accused, who were known as the wolf pack because of the name of a whats up with they shed, were given nine year jail sentences. Whatsapp. That a verdict of outrage. Many spaniards believed it had been a clear cut case of rape, and took to the streets to protest. The backlash against this particular Court Decision fed into a Broader Campaign for womens rights in spain. Both the defendants under the appeal against the verdict. And the. On friday the Supreme Court heard from lawyers on both sides. Translation all the acts took place in an atmosphere of terror, of absolute subjugation in which the only thing the victim declared to the court was, i closed my eyes and waited for all but two and as soon as possible. This time the court decided there had been intimidation, and that therefore this was a case of rape. The defendants had their original sentences increased from nine years to 15. One of them, antonio whereat wrote received an extra two years because he stole the phone of the victim during the attack. Guererro. The five men who had been freed on bail were arrested in seville shortly after the Supreme Court announced its ruling. Just over 70 years ago, hundreds of caribbean migrants sailed to britain on empire windrush to help rebuild the postwar country. Many decided to stay and create new lives in the uk. Tomorrow is the First National windrush day celebrating the contribution made by the generation and their families. One contribution made by the generation and theirfamilies. One of the contribution made by the generation and their families. One of the last living passengers is 93 year old alfred gardner. Adelia campbell went to meet the former raf servicemen as afamily to meet the former raf servicemen as a family get together in west yorkshire. I was one of lucky ones. Thats why im still here. There are four generations of alford gardners family eight children, 16 grandchildren, and more than 20 great grandchildren. I lived injamaica a long time ago. I dont know about you lot, but as a little boy, i was bright. I was very bright. And i knew it. Laughter. At the time, there was no work, especially in my field. Where did you hear about the ship and when did you go . My sister heard about it and sent me the news. So within days after hearing about it, my brother was off to book his ticket. I didnt have any money, so i had to ask my dad and he gave me the money. What happened on the ship . We had no problem. We had a bright happy ship. Not much to do. Just enjoy it. About three days out of england, we were told sleep as best as you can because its cold. We had a very good time. Very good time. But this wasnt his first time in the uk. He joined the raf at the age of 18 and served in the second world war. What was your first meal . Lamb chops and they were right little. My very, very first night, i had a problem. We had dinner, and there were some little bits of bone there, so i took a bit of the bone and by the time i sat down, they were onto me. I had stolen two young mens ration are you used to the cold yet, granddad . You never get used to it how old are you . My brother said im three. Youre three . Iam 93. Wow. 90 years more than you that was offered gardner, one of the first windrush arrivals, and in that report. A Healthcare Centre in california is trying a new approach to dealing with the after effects of alzheimers disease and dementia. They built a replica of a 19505 american town to spark memories and provide a comforting atmosphere for patients. It might look like a movie 5et, patients. It might look like a movie set, but it is actually part of what doctors call reminiscence therapy. The minute my mum walk5 the minute my mum walks in the door, it is delightful, because you have walked back in time. My mom has been diagnosed with dementia, all signers, along with aphasia, so trouble with word finding, putting sentences together. There is, there has been, a very nice. What do i wa nt has been, a very nice. What do i want to say . So here is this woman who is, you know, well educated and who is, you know, well educated and who had a history on stage. She also had a history and broadcast. But was having a very difficult time and she was probably hiding it. Ive got a crush on you, sweetie pie. When the music comes on, my mum goes right back into being happy jackie. It is the memories, it is that reminiscence. The concept behind town square was to create an immersive experience that was consistent with where peoples strongest memories are. People make their strongest memories between the ages of ten and 30. The average age of our participants, typically in their early 80s, they would be between the ages of ten and 30 in the 1950s and 1960s. They make this as authentic as possible. This attention to detail is really intentional. Down there. Over yonder . There is a place, and there isa big. Yonder . There is a place, and there is a big. In this picture, a big picture. The first time i really looked at it, and i thought, oh, my gosh. This is from way back when. And you had one that looked very similar and you had one that looked very 5imilarto and you had one that looked very similar to the blue and white one. Thats what i thought, yeah, thats what im telling you. She recognised herself, and she remembered, that is that reminiscence piece. Sir eltonjohn Sir Elton John has sir eltonjohn has been awarded frances highest civilian honour, the legionne dhonor. It was presented by president macron at the elysee palace. The 72 year old used the occasion to present his charity work with the elton john foundation. Hand in hand from french president Emmanuel Macron and the legendary sir eltonjohn. Emmanuel macron and the legendary Sir Elton John. Sir Emmanuel Macron and the legendary sir eltonjohn. Sir elton has been in paris for his farewell yellow brick road world tour, but before he departs the country, he picked up frances highest civilian award, the legion of honour. I have a huge love affair with france. I have a house here, i have always loved coming here. I love the french culture of life and the french people. And as a musician, to receive this award on the day of the festival musqie dmusic makes it even more special. Fit for a queen, the ceremony was held at the elysee palace, the president describing him as a melodic genius, but also paying homage to his lifelong work championing gay rights and raising billions of dollars to ending the plight of hiv aids. Translation we have to continue to finance the research to finance treatments and to continue to allow access to treatments for everyone, and so this commitment to music and the fight against aids has been your entire life, dear elton. The top accolade comes life, dear elton. The top accolade co m e5 less life, dear elton. The top accolade comes less than a month after the release of rocket man, a deeply personal bio pic revealing his life behind the scenes. People dont pay to see reg dwight, they pay to see eltonjohn. To see reg dwight, they pay to see elton john. The 72 yearolds has this final world tour will be his last, but those who have studied his life are not entirely convinced. He could never not perform, because i think it is too much in his blood and he loves it too much. He wouldnt want to be away too much from the fans, i dont think. Sir eltonjohn is from the fans, i dont think. Sir elton john is now from the fans, i dont think. Sir eltonjohn is now on his way to the south of france, continuing his epic career, one which gets a big thumbs up. You will be relieved to know, i was going to play you out with one of his greatest hits, but sadly we are out of time, and it wouldnt be the same without the jets. See you out of time, and it wouldnt be the same without thejets. See you soon. Goodbye. Things are warming up this weekend right across the board. It will certainly be noticeable across southern areas, weather humidity will also gradually increase, and into next week, certainly late on sunday, the threat of thundery showers increases as well. For the weekend, fine for most of us. Lots of dry weather around. We start this morning on a cool mode outside town. The Single Digits in one or two places. The pressure chart reveals high pressure. This will be the driving force for the fine weather, certainly for the first half of the weekend, but this low pressure system will come into play later across the south west. Lots of sunshine up and down the country this morning, into the afternoon, cloud will tend to build up in places. Could see an isolated shower pretty much anywhere, but norman scotla nd pretty much anywhere, but norman scotland will see a scattering of showers, i think, scotland will see a scattering of showers, ithink, through scotland will see a scattering of showers, i think, through the morning and into the afternoon. Temperatures higher than we have seen temperatures higher than we have seen over temperatures higher than we have seen over the last few days. The 205 for england and wales. 19 or 24 the central belt of scotland. Into saturday evening and saturday night. Most saturday evening and saturday night. M ost pla ces saturday evening and saturday night. Most places will stay dry. Maybe still a few showers across the finals of scotland. We could see clouds just building up across the very far west of the country. Notice the temperatures, they are starting to import warmer and more humid hour. Double figure values for all. A woman started the day on sunday. Plenty of sunshine around and still a few showers across the northern isles. Then this weather from start to pushing across wales and the south west of england later in the day to bring outbreaks of rain. To the north and east it should stay dry, feeling even warmer, 24 25 across the southeast, high teens further north. This is the pressure chart as we head through sunday night. High pressure Still Holding on across the north of the country, with this low pressure and its waterfront continuing to move north and east. The rain will pop up across southern and Western Areas late on sunday. During sunday night and into the early hours of monday, there is the potential of some really heavy and thundery rain moving north. Hit and miss, torrential downpours, some areas could see the risk of some surface water flooding. It will turn warm and muggy by the end of the night across southern and muggy by the end of the night across southern areas. And muggy by the end of the night across southern areas. Monday, happy and thundery rain spilling its way slowly northwards, attracting much of scotland. The very far north of england as well. Further south of sunshine could come out, but that could spark off further thundery showers, we are really importing woman humid hour during monday afternoon and we could see the high 20 celsius in the south. Still fairly warm in the north, despite all the rain. As we head through much of next week it stays warm, even hot, in southern areas. With the high humidity, thundery showers are likely to continue to be a risk. There are warnings in force for this, so had to the website to check those out. Go do this is bbc news. The headlines. President trump says he called off an attack on iran with minutes to spare because too many people would have been killed. He said they had three targets on their sites. Tehran has warned the us against aggression. The parents of a british man who went to syria to join so called Islamic State have been found guilty of funding terrorism by giving him money. John blatz and sally lane sent payments to the son, nick named jihadi jack. The couple were given suspended resin sentences. Five menjailed in spain for attacking a woman before sharing a video of it called the wolfpack have had their convictions changed from Sexual Assault to rape. The countrys Supreme Court also raised their sentences on nine to 15