Transcripts For BBCNEWS World News Today 20240714

Hello and welcome to world news today. Several people have been injured in pitched battles in hong kong after a third day of violent clashes between pro democracy campaigners and riot police. Some protestors had defied orders to disperse after an Anti Government rally, setting up barricades and blocking streets, before rounds of tear gas were fired. This is the eighth week of demonstrations, sparked by a proposed new bill which would have allowed extradition to mainland china. Although the plans were eventually shelved, mass protests continue, amid fears of a gradual erosion of freedoms at the hands of the authorities in beijing. Our correspondent, nick beake, has sent us this report from hong kong. Gunshots they say its one of the safest cities you can find, a peaceful place. Not today. Not this summer. A heavy cloud has descended on hong kong, and there is no sign of it lifting. Police and protesters now in a battle for the future of the place they both call home. And tonight, yet another demonstration turned to chaos. You could see it coming. A hard core of activists who dont just throw insults refused to leave. But this fire is being fuelled by a wider movement. Tens of thousands had defied a ban to march. They say theyre fearful of what life will become under tighter chinese control. Because its our future. We love hong kong and we want hong kong to stay hong kong. We dont want hong kong to become china. We want our freedom. Even if you know you cant achieve something, you will still do it for justice, right . Activists claim the policing of these protests have been a big injustice, heavy handed, over the top. Tonight, more clashes, after officers had decided time was up. Well, this has been simmering all day, and now it has erupted. Police are arresting demonstrators. Some seem to be injured, others choking back tear gas. This is chaos. Sunday night in hong kong. The question is, when will all of this end . Hong kongs under fire government has failed to restore calm, and so a violent weekend is drawing to a painful close. And both sides, battle hardened, are looking to the next. Nick beake, bbc news, hong kong. We can now talk to christopher r hughes, hes a professor of International Relations at the London School of economics and political science. Professor, we are in this seemingly never ending cycle of protests in hong kong. What needs to happen to bring that to an end . Ultimately there has to be some creative thinking from the people in beijing because they are really the only ones who have the key to this. If you think back to one country, two systems, back in the 1980s, he came up systems, back in the 1980s, he came up with an imaginative idea, their leader, which enabled a compromise to be reached, but at the moment with the president and the government in hong kong, there is absolutely no attempt to talk to the protesters, to talk to the people in hong kong. They need something thats going to get around this deadlock over democracy, representation, and giving the people of hong kong some meaningful say in their own governance. And that really has to come from beijing in the end, and they need an initiative from the top to break this deadlock, because the people in hong kong themselves are just desperate. They see no way out of this. Its not that they dont want to compromise, they cannot compromise, because they have the end of one country, two systems looming over them. Bearing in mind that these protesters, if they are 18 or20, that these protesters, if they are 18 or 20, they will be middle aged when that comes to an end in 2047, and they see in china and increasingly repressive, hardline ideological regime. Many of their families fled from chinas refugees and they are terrified. Terrified of whats going to happen to them. Sorry, we are seeing pictures every week and out of the violence and theres been allegations of brutality from the police against protesters. Is there a chance you think beijing could send in the army to stop this . There is a chance. That is always a chance. They have a garrison in hong kong and recently theyve been saying the garrison is there for the government on hong kong the government of hong kong to call on if they need it, and thats an indication that they are prepared to use force. Theres also been sightings of troops trained in from other parts of china across the border in hong kong. A lot of that is psychological pressure on the people of hong kong, to try to intimidate them. But there must be a point at which the government in hong kong will say, we need help. And then it will be easy for beijing to move in and say, we are going in to move in and say, we are going in to restore order. Just like we saw in hungary in 56, and in czechoslovakia in 1968, and you wonder whether the world will be able to do very much to help the people of hong kong. A situation that looks like it will continue for weeks to come. Thank you very much indeed. Lets take a look at some of the other stories making the news. Officials say boko haram militants are now known to have killed at least 65 people in an attack in North Eastern nigeria on saturday, triple the initial estimate of the death toll. The attack targeted people as they left a funeral in the city of maiduguri. The strike is believed to be a retaliation for the killing of 11 boko haram fighters two weeks ago. Two people have died and 25 injured in an explosion in kabul on the day the countrys official president ial Election Campaign has been launched. Afghan Security Services believe the blast was a targeted attack against Vice President ial candidate amrullah saleh, who was amongst the wounded. Iran says it will reduce commitments to the 2015 nuclear deal until its interests are protected. The comments came after senior diplomats from britain, france, germany, russia and china met iranian representatives in vienna to discuss saving the deal. Iranian negotiators also said there was some common ground. Police have reportedly been sent into a remote indigenous reserve in northern brazil after a violent clash between residents and armed miners. A leader of the local Community Says at least one person has been killed. Tensions have been on the rise in the remote area of the amazon forest, which borders french guiana, after president bolsonaro vowed to open up some protected areas to mining. The bbcsjulia caneirojoins us from brazilfor more. Julia, this one killing is really the tip of the iceberg, isnt it, in terms of the tensions in the amazon ra i nfo rest terms of the tensions in the amazon rainforest between these local indigenous tribes and Mining Companies . Yes, this case, it really seems, simon, to be a complete example of something that has been feared here or long over the past month, with the increasing tension and fears that the policies implemented by the current government could lead to conflict and to deaths on the field in indigenous reserves, and now weve had this case of this indigenous leader inside the reserve, inside the indigenous territory, where around 1300 people live. This is an area of 600,000 actors and it was invaded by gold miners. 600,000 hectares. They were mining in the region. His body was found on wednesday and now on the weekend, police and members of the Indigenous Foundation of brazil have managed to reach the area, which is remote and ha rd to reach the area, which is remote and hard to get to, and they have now opened an investigation and are trying to get to the facts of how this happened. He was violently stabbed. And of course this raises lots of questions about what is happening in brazil at the moment, because it coincides with a very strong speech from the government slackening controls on mining in indigenous reserves and on loosening controls of environmental policy, so there are accusations towards the government and towards the president of brazil, president bolsonaro, that this kind of action is allowing groups to act like this and take such measures and invade these indigenous reserves, and now the indigenous reserves, and now the Indigenous People are saying they are crying for help and fearing that more blood could be shared. The Main Opposition Party in brazil is certainly on the side of the indigenous communities and they are saying the president and the main party have been very unfair to those communities. Is this a big story in brazil . And if so, what side are the brazilians on . Well, curiously, this perhaps should be a bigger story in brazil. There are lots of concerns in brazil now with other political news and the indigenous problems historically, theres not enough attention on them here. There is possibly more International Attention from viewers than from brazilians. But i think the case of this murder will raise attention to what is happening and the fact that the new government that was started injanuary the new government that was started in january is leading the new government that was started injanuary is leading to such policies in the environmental field and that is a matter of concern to the population, so we will watch very closely at what president bolsonaro does in this case. Thank you very much indeed for the latest on that. Stay with us on bbc world news. Still to come, the teenage millionaires winning big at the fortnite computer game World Championships in new york. This is bbc world news today. The latest headlines. Theres been a second day of violent clashes between police and pro democracy demonstrators in hong kong. Dozens of people are injured. Russias most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny, has been taken from jail to a hospital in moscow after suffering what was initially believed to be an allergic reaction. Butjust in the last few minutes, his personal doctor says that she has seen him and believes he has been affected by an unknown chemical. Earlier this morning, a spokeswoman said he suffered severe facial swelling, which is something he has never suffered before. Mr navalny was jailed for 30 days last week after calling for unauthorised Anti Government protests which occurred again yesterday in moscow. These pictures show the extent of the violence on the streets, which resulted in more than a thousand arrests. Co author of the novel putin v the people, and the director of the Russia Institute at Kings College in london, sam greene, joins us for more. Sam, what are you hearing about this incident involving Alexei Navalny . It has been updated in the last few minutes that his personal doctor doesnt believe it was an allergic reaction but that it might have been some unknown chemical substance. We dont have a lot of information and what weve heard from the doctor is that she doesnt have a lot of information. She was not given direct access to him for more than a couple of minutes before the police intervened and she had to sort of talk him through a door, as best i understand it. But he has been attacked with chemical agents before and this brings back some memories of the chemical attack on victor yu sheng coe, the president of ukraine, backin sheng coe, the president of ukraine, back in 2004, so there will be some who think the kremlin has form on these sorts of things and there will certainly be people fearing the worst. At the moment we dont really know. It will be interesting to see what more information we get on that. I think what shocked most people about the protests in moscow was the scale of the arrests. A huge crackdown by police. We have not seen anything quite on this scale before but what we have been seeing over the last year or so has been an increasing turn towards violent oppression of protest in russia, so we have seen fewer and fewer protests get permission, as a result of which more and more are happening without official sanction from the state, which then gives the riot police an excuse to come in, and months ago we used to see a few dozen people, may be a couple of hundred people, dragged off in police vans. Reasonably peacefully, that was. Now we have seen more injuries and arrests and more outright violence. I cant think of another word for it. It is worth noting this violence isnt provoked other than by people attending an unsanctioned rally. So we are not seeing looting or rock flying or other violence from the protesters. Is this a sign, do you think of how worried the kremlin is about political rivals . It is a little ha rd to political rivals . It is a little hard to interpret because the kremlin is smart enough to know that those who were out today are likely enough to come out next weekend and it will increase their sense of solidarity and justice as part of the opposition. They will hope that others riding the fence politically and who are not satisfied with how things are going in the country but are not yet angry enough to join the opposition, they might think twice because it is a decision that has health and other consequences. But i think it is also a signal to the elite, you know, the people at the top echelons of the russian economy and state that the state is willing to use force in this relationship with the people, and so maybe if they are worried about the durability of their regime, they need not worry so much. It will be interesting to see the updates on that story. Thank you for your time, sam. Fifa has updated its code of discipline to prevent football discriminations, putting pressure on iran, the only country in the world that bans women from football stadiums. 0n few occasions in recent years, a limited number of female fans were allowed into stadiums in tehran, but now it seems to have gone back on its commitments. I spoke to hadi nili from the bbcs persian service, and asked him how likely iran is to bow to pressure from fifa. It will be a big change if they would allow women into the stadiums but the sports minister is now making a promise, a pledge, that they will be allowed into the stadiums, women would be allowed in, by the first home game on the National Level, the qualifier for the next round of the world cup. How big a moment would that be if they allowed women to attend these games . Because for 40 years women have been banned. It has been so many years that women have been not allowed and they have been pushing for this. The police were not allowing them in. In some cases, the iranian authorities have been promising women would be allowed but eventually they were not allowed, so it would be a big change for them. It would be one of the changes that these women have been pushing for. At the moment iran is the only country that openly discriminates against a group of people. Should fifa be banning them completely . That is one of the concerns. Fifa could probably go ahead and ban them if they dont let women into the stadiums, especially given the new code from fifa. It clearly says that there should be no discrimination on a National Level 01 discrimination on a National Level or interNational Level, so now people are saying that even in the premier league football, the authorities need to allow the women into the stadiums. 0therwise authorities need to allow the women into the stadiums. Otherwise there could be some punishments by fifa. Thats why many people in iran are speculating that it has been a couple of weeks that nobody was allowed into the stadiums, even men we re allowed into the stadiums, even men were not allowed, to avoid the situation of discriminating against women. Now all the sport. Egan bernal has become the youngest rider in 110 years to win the tour de france. With the race leader traditionally not challenged on the final stage, 22 year old bernal crossed the line to become the first colombian winner. He was hand in hand with his ineos team mate and last years winner geraint thomas, who finished second overall. The traditional sprint finish on the Champs Elysees was won by australian caleb ewan for his second stage victory of the tour. But the colombian fans were out in full force to see their tour champion. It isa it is a very emotional moment because its the first time a colombian is winning the tour de france. So then it is important also for us to be with him and support him in this important day. For us to be with him and support him in this important daylj for us to be with him and support him in this important day. I am here supporting him so we are very proud. The first time a colombian winning the tour de france. We are very happy, excited. We are very excited and we are in paris. Max verstappen won an incident packed german grand prix with wet conditions, causing several of the favourites to crash out. Verstappen held his nerve in the red bull, finishing seven seconds in front of ferraris sebastian vettel, who fought his way from the back of the grid to come second. Dani kvyat got toro rossos second ever podium with third place. Despite starting on pole, Lewis Hamilton crashed, then had a pit stop mix up and a five second penalty for entering the pits on the wrong side of the bollards. Vettels team mate, charles leclerc, who had been fastest in practice, skidded off the track. As soon as i was ahead of the mercedes cars, then you could really see the place i had because i was pulling away quite comfortably on the second tires, so, yeah, today was very good and we stayed mostly out of trouble, so of course very happy to win it. This is how the standings look after that race. Lewis hamilton finished 11th but was later promoted to 9th, picking up two points after alfa romeo drivers after alfa romeo drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi were hit with 30 second penalties for torque irregularities. It means his lead in the World Championships is now 41 points. Gareth bales move to china is off after real madrid cancelled the deal, with the wales winger now set to stay at the spanish club. He had been expected to finalise a three year deal with Super League Club Jiangsu Suning worth £1 million a week. But real called the deal off thats despite manager Zinedine Zidane saying last week that bale leaving was best for everyone. Liverpool have won the race to sign fulham youngster harvey elliott. The teenage winger became the youngest player to feature in the premier league last season, atjust 16 years and 30 days old. Elliot had attracted interest from real madrid but has chosen to join Jurgen Klopps Champions League winners. And before we go, just time to tell you that kojin young has won the evian championship, the fourth womens major of the year the fourth womens major of the year, by two shots in france. Thats all the sport for now. Thank you. After ten weeks of qualifying tournaments and 40 million competitors, the solo final of the first ever fortnite world cup has kicked off tonight in new york. The pairs competition was held on saturday, with the winners taking home three Million Dollars in prize money. Joining me now isjoe tidy, who is at the Arthur Ashe Stadium for tonights final. How big is this . Very big. Weve got the top 100 players inside the stadium. Millions tried to qualify. We have one game left and i can hear the cheering and shouting going up, but the front runners at the moment are an american player called bug her, and then another player called king. All the eyeballs on this kid and hes playing very aggressively and hes playing very aggressively and going up the leaderboard all the time. The british players have fallen back, unfortunately, at the top ten are mainly americans. As you say, this is the first time this has been held. It is the inaugural world cup and this is a real moment for esports and for the sponsors. Cup and this is a real moment for esports and for the sponsorsm cup and this is a real moment for esports and for the sponsors. It is a lot of money, so how are they handling the pressure that comes with that . Huge money, as you say. 30 million prize fund, for this, the biggest Esports Event ever. It isa the biggest Esports Event ever. It is a lot of weight on the shoulders of these kids. Some will say they are used to it and they are used to strea m are used to it and they are used to stream into tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands of people online. So the people in the stadium isnt that much of a big deal but this is a big moment for many of them, undoubtedly, because they have gone from playing in their bedrooms and now they are qualifying and on the biggest stage in esports. Are we likely to see more things like this . There must be a lot of sponsorship money to be made for companies. Are we going to see big competitions like this on a regular basis now . I think so, yeah. This isnt the first major Esports Event. Arenas have been selling out for five years or so with other games but this is undoubtedly a big moment in the industry. They reckon it is going to be 1 billion industry this year. Hundreds of millions of watch and some of these players i watched week in, week out, and the sporting world is now starting to take this seriously. How diverse is this event now . Because we see a lot of boys playing these games. How multicultural is it . Are girls playing . It is definitely multicultural. There are 70 americans, 40 french, 11 british and then all the rest of them are from various different countries. In fa ct, various different countries. In fact, if you are looking at the duos final yesterday, the top two teams we re final yesterday, the top two teams were european. So the winners were from norway. Two boys. Then austria. And then the second place was a british guy. His team mate was from the netherlands. So you can see a real mix of countries, mix of nations. It is a world cup. Its not like the American World series in baseball, where it is all American Teams this is a genuinely multicultural thing. But you made an interesting point. There arent any female players who made it to these finals yesterday or today. Some of the top players are women and there we re the top players are women and there were appearances from them on the more creative celebrity events on friday but certainly they will be looking at how to make this more open. Thank you, joe. Thank you very much. Good evening. The best of the warmth was along the south coast, with temperatures peaking in the 20s. For parts of the midlands and north west england it has been a disappointing weekend. Cloudy with some persistent and heavy rain at times. A couple of inches of rain falling. This weather front really quite slow moving, as you can see, and this is where the recent rain is sitting through the midlands, england into northern ireland, with a scattering of showers ahead of it into western scotland. That continues through the night but it will gradually drift its way northwards. At the same time, we could see a few sharp and thundery downpours across the far north east of scotland. Just south of that, it stays relatively quiet and more comfortable for getting a good nights sleep, with overnight lows of 12 16. So we start the new working week with that weather front there but it is drifting its way into scotland and it will weaken all the time as we go through the day. A ridge of High Pressure across england and wales so that is where the best weather is likely to be for the best weather is likely to be for the start of the week but this moves into cornwall and the isles of scilly for the end of the day. Some pleasa nt scilly for the end of the day. Some pleasant warmth in the sunshine. 2426. But pleasant warmth in the sunshine. 24 26. But increasingly windy down towards the south west. Something worth bearing in mind. Quite a deep area of low pressure for this time of year drifting its way slowly eastward for the next couple of days with gusts of wind 45 50 miles an hour, so certainly worth bearing in mind if you are under canvas. Some rain will be heavy and even thundery across south west england, moving up through wales, the midlands, with showers into scotland. Sheltered eastern areas will see the best of the weather with highs of 24. Those of the highest. As we move out of tuesday into wednesday, the low continues to move eastwards, so that is where the real emphasis of the showers is likely to be and stretching up into south west scotland. It means a better day for north east scotland and for wales and the south west of england. Highest values by wednesday of 22. So the week ahead looks a bit different to the weekjust gone. Much fresher and some pretty sharp showers at times. This is bbc world news, the headlines. Police in Central Hong Kong have used tear gas against thousands of pro democracy protesters. For a second day, an unauthorised march that began peacefully turned violent, leaving dozens of people injured. Russias Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny is in hospital with a severe facial swelling his doctor says he has been affected by an unknown chemical. He was jailed for 30 days last week after calling for unauthorised protests. Brazilian police are investigating reports that an indigenous leader in a remote region of the amazon has been murdered by gold miners. President bolsonaro has reduced protections for rainforest, saying it must be opened up for development. Egan bernal has become the first colombian to win the tour de france