Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240714

And in half an hour, talking movies explores the role of the producer in both big hollywood productions and smaller independent films. A new plan to tackle huge wildfires in the amazon rainforest is expected to be agreed at the g7 summit of World Leaders today. The summits host, the french president , Emmanuel Macron says they are close to agreeing technical and financial help. Brazilian warplanes have already been dumping water on the burning woodland. And this morning, borisjohnson has pledged £10 Million Pounds in funding to help replace lost trees. Ros atkins is in biarritz now. Here on the final day of the g7 summit in south west france, two issues are taking centre stage. The fires in the amazon, something Emmanuel Macron, the host, could never have planned, and iran, something he did have a lot of influence over about bringing in the Iranian Foreign minister yesterday, surprising almost everyone here in biarritz. He put that issue ce ntresta g e biarritz. He put that issue centrestage as well. And so far as the third and final day of the centre summit has gone along, those of the issue the leaders, turning on the most, that we have no Firm Statement from them collectively yet. Lets start by focusing on the amazon fires, here is the bbc s james landale. The fires raging across the amazon in recent weeks have been devastating notjust for those who live there, but also potentially for the global environment. For president macron of france, they are a crisis the g7 was designed to fix a Common Threat that requires collective action by the worlds major economies. So today, he and other leaders will discuss and potentially agree a new plan to help countries first with the fires, and then subsequent reforestation. Translation there are contacts that are being made with all the countries of the amazon by our teams so that we can finalise very concrete commitments of technical and financial means. The german chancellor Angela Merkel said the earths lung was being affected, so there had to be a common solution. Borisjohnson promised an immediate £10 million to help brazil with reforestation. But its still not clear what else may be agreed. President bolsonaro of brazil has accused foreign governments of interfering in the sovereignty of his country, and the g7 is divided over whether to block an eu trade deal with some south american countries if they do not take more action to tackle fires lit deliberately by loggers and farmers. James landale, bbc news, in biarritz. Despite its name, the g7 summit is a bigger affair this time around. Emanuel micron invited eight other leaders as well as the normal g7. One of them was sebastian pinero, the chilean leader. I spoke to him about what he hoped to come out of this summit. The amazon is a huge area. 7 million square kilometres. Every year they have fires. This year is worse than last year, but it is with in the average of the last 20 or 30 years. I dont think that president bolsonaro is responsible for this. I think he is trying to do his best to sort out these fires. But he is encouraging further mining and further farming in the amazon, and he sacked the head of the Space Research agency for releasing photographs saying how bad the fires were. Dont rely on impressions. He has already sent more than 16,000 soldiers to fight the fires, soi think that he is concerned about the health of the amazon. But at the same time, he is protecting brazilian sovereignty. It would be easier to deal with this problem if you didnt have an american president under brazilian president who had both expressed scepticism about the nature of climate change. I think we are experiencing huge climate change, i would call it Climate Emergency now, because what we are seeing in terms of the rise of sea levels, temperatures and the contamination of the air, the water, the land, is a very dramatic situation. But President Trump it was here with you in biarritz and president bolsonaro in their different ways dont accept the description you have just given me. That creates a problem, doesnt it . That is a different approach. What im convinced is that we are the first generation that is suffering from the effects of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something to avoid a tragedy. That may be true, but with respect, the point i was making was that the president s of america and brazil have a quite different view of this Climate Emergency than the one you are describing in that most of the world has. Wouldnt you say that his insignificant to resolving this . Of course they have a different view, and i would like to convince them that we have to join forces, all of us, because what we are experiencing is something which can bea experiencing is something which can be a tragedy for humanity. Michaela wise from Global Forest watch live with us from washington, dc. Do you agree with the chilean president at the fires are bad but not necessarily unusually bad . M depends what time period we are looking at. If you got all the way back to the early 2000s, it is true that we have seen fire season is this bad or worse in the past, but what that leaves out was that at that time brazil also had a massively large deforestation cut, they cut it back in the early 2000s by 70 , so the fact that this is the worst fire season since 2010 definitely still means that this is concerning. And in terms of what needs to be done to reduce those fires, you are an expert in this. We know the Brazilian Army has been deployed. We are getting unconfirmed reports the g7 is on the verge of announcing a funding package to support brazil. What would you like to see the world do to help address these fires right now . A good model to look at is indonesia, that also suffered from a massive fire crisis in late 2015, and they have instituted a number of measures that have helped both in the short and longer term, including putting more emphasis on funding into enforcements, doing more to prevent those fires from starting and putting new regulations on when and where fires can be set. And for that to happen you need the support of president s and Prime Ministers, and brazils president is decidedly ambivalent about deforestation and has encouraged increased farming and mining within the amazon. So how do you think the International Community should exert pressure, if indeed you think it is appropriate at all . Something that is important to keep in mind is that in general, forests are not a big item on the climate agenda. Forests and agriculture and all land use make up only 3 of all climate financing worldwide, and so putting more resources not just worldwide, and so putting more resources notjust in the short term in this crisis but in the longer term from the International Community i think would make a big difference in brazil and elsewhere. Thank you very much to speaking to us, michaela wise in washington, dc. That is one issue, and getting some unconfirmed reports from inside the summit ofan unconfirmed reports from inside the summit of an imminent announcement is coming on a package to support not just brazil. Is coming on a package to support notjust brazil. In fact im told that we have confirmation that a package is being announced. 20 billion has been agreed in support, but we just need to get a bit. 20 million, not 20 billion. So a significant amount of money. Im getting told details here all the time, sorry. 20 Million Euros, which isa time, sorry. 20 Million Euros, which is a lot of money but not a vast amount of money on a national scale, but that will be offered to brazil to ta ke but that will be offered to brazil to take on those amazon fires, but there is a longer term issue, that of deforestation, which applies in all of the countries where the amazon is found in south america, and how the g7, emanuel micron has been very vocal on this, exerts pressure and encouragement on those countries to reduce deforestation as a longer term issue. We will have to wait and see if the g7 is willing to ta ke wait and see if the g7 is willing to take that on as well. So the issue of the amazon fires is one thing dominating the issue on the last day of the g7. The next is iran. Here is donald trump a little earlier. I am looking at a really good iran, we are not looking for regime change, we have seen how that worked, that hasnt been too good. We are looking to make iran a rich again, lets let them be rich. Lets let them do well, or they can be poor as can be like they are now. And i tell you what, i dont think it is acceptable the way they are being forced to live in iran. And what we want is very simple, its got to be non nuclear. Its worth saying the president there saying he wants iran to be richer, but us sanctions are doing the reverse of that at the moment, but the americans argue the sanctions are necessary because the iranians are not carrying on as they ought to with reference to their nuclear programme. The europeans for their part say that they do still agree with the nuclear deal, and the iranians are still sticking to their agreements. Recently the iranians stop sticking to that, which caused consternation in washington. Lauren cathy, republican strategist, former Senior Communications official at the department of homeland security, joins us. Thank you forjoining us on the bbc. I wonder how you assess your president s statements on iran across the summit . I think you are right that he was referencing especially in regards to the sanctions and wanting iran to be a rich country again, what he is referencing is in telegraphing that he really wants iran to come out and cooperate, and there is a potential that he will lift the sanctions. It is pretty consistent with the way he approaches a lot of Foreign Policy deals, which is to come down really ha rd deals, which is to come down really hard and then offer a path forward. So we will see how that is received, but it is yet to be seen. In reality, and that is not a criticism, President Trump is always very focused on the domestic politics, which will decide whether he gets another term or not. Do you think iran one way or another really makes too much difference to the co re makes too much difference to the core republican support . No, i dont. I think primarily you see the domestic politics in the us playing out ina domestic politics in the us playing out in a very inward looking way. Most americans in particularly americans who support President Trump are more focused on Kitchen Table issues, things that are affecting them on a daily basis, things like health care, the economy, jobs in their area, manufacturing in particular, especially some of the regions that trump has been able to pull support, people who supported barack obama and then supported President Trump in 2016. Youll see a lot of what happens at the g7 with the way President Trump comes home and talks about his relationships and his dealings with the g7 leaders, all focused around this idea of trade deals, of support for america through bilateral agreements. It is not going to be as globally stickers may be some of the other countries are viewing it. Lets quickly talk about what the americans at the japanese announced yesterday, and agreement in principle towards a new major trade deal. No new tariffs on japanese cars, but at the same time, the americans didnt take away the existing ones. How did you assess that particular announcement . This is what i was just speaking about, this is an example of what President Trump is going to come i will talk about. A lot of his support came from the rust belt which was estimated by some of the global free trade agreement, detroit and other areas of the midwest you had lost a lot of employment because of a lack of car production, so the idea that you can come home and say that we have a deal with japan and they will be an increase in sales, whether that ends up being true or not, give him a talking point to appeal to these voters coming into the 2020 election. Lauren claffey, thank you very much indeed forjoining us. Im talking to you just buy the building where this g7 summit is taking place. A little bit earlier, Boris Johnson, scott morrison, the australian Prime Minister, donald tusk, emanuel micron, they all walked behind as he up into the summit. The un secondary general, mr gutierrez, has just walked summit. The un secondary general, mr gutierrez, hasjust walked by, and we will see if we could maybe get a couple of minutes with him as well. A lot of the most powerful people in the world are here in south west france. Their challenge today is to offer back to a watching world series of actions on the pressing issues in the world. We have heard 20 Million Euros will be going brazils way to help with fighting those amazon forest fires, but Emmanuel Macron will need other announcements too to deem this g7 summita announcements too to deem this g7 summit a success. Ros atkins. Lets move on a look at some other stories. The bbc should cough up and pay for free tv licences for all over 75s. Thats the message from the Prime Minister whos suggested the corporation has gone back on a deal to fund the licences, but the bbc said there was no such guarantee. Injune it was announced that only low income households, where one person received pension credit, would be eligible for a free tv licence. Lets speak to our Political Correspondent tom barton whos been following this for us. What is new, because this argument has been rumbling along for a while . The new thing is that the Prime Minister has decided to intervene in this debate. This really dates back to 2000, when these free tv licences we re to 2000, when these free tv licences were first introduced. Then in 2015 when a new licence fee settlement between the bbc and the government led to the bbc agreeing to take over responsibility for free tv licences from the government. Injune, the government announced, sorry, the bbc announced that when funding for free tv licences from the government ends next year, it will only pay for free licenses for those who receive pension credit, that means millions of pensioners will lose the benefit and start having to pay £154. 50 per yearfor and start having to pay £154. 50 per year for a and start having to pay £154. 50 per yearfor a licence. The bb says depending on the take up the new scheme, funding for those licences would have cost it an extra £495 per year if it was to be universal rather than just for those pensioners on pension credit. That has led to protests, and now a political row, with this pretty blunt intervention from Boris Johnson saying the bbc should cough up. He says that the deal that was reached between the government and the bbc back in 2015 was conditional on the corporation continuing to fund those free tv licences. Downing street says that bbc should honour that agreement, and the bbc disagrees. It says the government decided to stop funding licences. There was no guarantee at the time of the settlement that the bbc would continue to fund them, and the cost of doing so, says the bbc, would be one fifth of its annual budget and would mean including a number of Services Including bbc two, bbc four, and radio 5live. Lets get a different look at this from ben bradshaw, former labour media and culture secretary. Where do you stand . This is the latest untruth from Boris Johnson. Do you stand . This is the latest untruth from borisjohnson. We said at the time on the select committee that to accept this albatross around its neck would be difficult for the bbc. But the bbc is not a branch of the work and pensions department, it is an independent broadcaster, and if the government wants to continue with free license fees for the over 75s, with free license fees for the over 755, it with free license fees for the over 75s, it needs to fund them, as the conservative party promised in its manifesto in 2017. So you dont think that the licence fee should be means think that the licence fee should be m ea ns tested think that the licence fee should be means tested at this time of eve ryo ne means tested at this time of everyone tightening belts . M means tested at this time of everyone tightening belts . If the government wants the over 75s to continue to receive free licences, thenit continue to receive free licences, then it should pay for it. That was then it should pay for it. That was the conservative partys manifesto. It is not the responsibility of the bbc. The bbc is absolutely right on this. And this again is straight out of the donald trump playbook from borisjohnson. Yesterday he got channel 4 to go all the way to biarritz to do an interview with him and then cancelled it because he didnt like something that their chief executive had said about politicians who live, and he is now picking a fight with the bbc. I dont think he has got a majority in parliament for it, so he wont win, and there are many conservative mps, including former culture minister ed vaizey and others who have said quite clearly this is the responsibility of the government, not the responsibility of the bbc. And just on the actual facts of what was negotiated in that settlement, are you saying it is just black and white wrong when the Prime Minister said that those free licence fees paid by the bbc was a condition of the settlement . Absolutely, and it is time we, politicians and the media, call out politicians and the media, call out politicians when they lie. It is simply untrue as Boris Johnson politicians when they lie. It is simply untrue as borisjohnson has said that it was a condition of that agreement. The bbc was very foolish to agree to carry on temporarily with the system and take responsibility for it, because it was always going to lead to mischievous politicians trying to blend the bbc when inevitably, the bbc would have to decide at some stage in the future that it couldnt continue to subsidise this because it is not itsjob. The bbc is an independent broadcaster, not a branch of the department for work and pensions. This was always going to happen. The bbc were stupid to acce pt to happen. The bbc were stupid to accept this as part of the licence fee, but it certainly wasnt a condition of it, and if the government once over 75s to continue to receive free licences, it needs to receive free licences, it needs to fund it. You mention the channel 4 issue a few minutes ago, and now we have got a bbc who was telling the truth, who is not telling the truth kind of issue with the Prime Minister. That issue with the Prime Minister. That is honestly a difficult place for the National Broadcaster to be in, because impartiality is of course one of our most founding core principles. Yes, but there is no conflict between impartiality and telling the truth. The chief executive of channel 4 was saying, i think she was absolutely right, is that when broadcasters including the bbc know that a politician is lying, they need to call it out. They need to call it a live, not just you some sort of euphemism, like thats funny or thats strange. The job of independent broadcasters in our syste m independent broadcasters in our system to be impartial but also to call out untruths, and the bbc would not allow itself to be cowed by this new Prime Minister, using tactics as i say that come straight out of the donald trump playbook. Ben bradshaw, thank you forjoining us. A tremor measuring 2. 9 on the Richter Scale has been felt near the uks only active fracking site in lancashire, less than two days after a previously record breaking tremor at the facility. The earthquake struck at 8. 30 this morning, the British Geological survey have plotted the epicentre just metres from the site at little plumpton. Our correspondent katy austinjoins me now. What are those responsible for the fracking saying about this . Cuadrilla has confirmed that this seismic event happened within the vicinity of its site near blackpool. What is significant now as the oil and Gas Authority has told us that fracking there has now been suspended while it investigates what is happening here. Cuadrilla said no hydraulic fracturing was taking place when this tremor happened, but it is the latest of a series of tremors that have happened recently, and it is by far the biggest, so the oil and Gas Authority are looking into this, is that they say there is no time limit on the suspension, they have data to gather and they will be checking the risk plan that cuadrilla has to try and minimise the risk of such earthquakes are still appropriate and it is working. If im a member rightly, cuadrilla the last time a few weeks ago talked about, they kind of shrugged off the risk factor, saying it was like dropping a melon, so obviously now we have 2. 9, it is significantly bigger. Are they sounding more serious about it . They havent come out and said a lot today, if im honest. They havent given it an equivalent, as you say, as to what that kind of tremor would cause, what the impact would feel like. Residents living in that area reported being noticeable, that tremor, that it woke some people up. The oil and Gas Authority has said that as we already knew, it is not the first tremor to happen recently, it actually says that since cuadrilla restarted its fracking operations, which it only did recently after they were expended before, there have been seven incidents which have gone above the 0. 5 magnitude threshold over which fracking can be suspended under the current uk law. So this is definitely a significant incident, and cuadrilla will have to explain what has happened. Katy, thank you. And sport, we are still absorbing the ben stokes heroics. Here is jane. Good afternoon. An heroic performance from ben stokes helped england to win the third test of the ashes at headingley. It had looked unlikely with england facing their highest ever run chase. But an unbeaten 135 from stokes means the series is now drawn 1 1 with two more tests to play and hopes of winning the ashes are still alive. Walking off at the end, time to take everything in and realise what wed just done as a team, notjust as an individual. I think bouncing back from being bowled out for 67 to having to chase down 300 and something, it was brilliant. We have a few days off here before the next test starts, so when we return to manchester we have to put everything behind us what we have managed to achieve and start again in manchester. Because this will all be forgotten if we lose the next test match, because then the ashes have gone. The run chase was 359, we remember it you can listen again to the final hour of ben stokes historic innings on 5 live sports extra or via bbc sounds, where youll also find reaction from the test match special team. A deal to sell Bolton Wanderers has collapsed and, unless a new one can be struck, the clubs administrators say the process of closing down the company will commence on wednesday. Wanderers had been given until 5pm tomorrow by the English Football League for a takeover to be completed or face the process of expulsion from the league. A tentative deal had been in place but, according to the administrator paul appleton, it collapsed over the weekend and has not been salvaged. Appleton claims the club will be liquidated with the loss of more than 150 jobs. Rory mcilroy has won the pga tour championship for a second time, earning him more than £12 million in prize money. He beat off competition from world number one Brooks Koepka in atlanta to claim the prize. To win the fedex cup on multiple occasions now is a pretty big deal. I think anytime you can do something that the only other person to do it is tiger woods, you know you are doing something right. So it has been a wonderful season for me. I have played very consistently, wins, a lot of top tens and a lot of good performances and good golf, so yes, it isa performances and good golf, so yes, it is a pretty special feeling to get that second fedex cup title. Congratulations to rory. Thats all the sport for now. Ill have more for you in the next hour. Police investigating a large fire at a school in fife say theyve charged a teenager. More than 80 firefighters have been tackling the fire which broke out yesterday afternoon in woodmill high in dunfermline. There are no reports of any injuries. The boy, whos14, will appear in court tomorrow. Essex police say they are trying to establish what caused a number of people to develop breathing difficulties on the seafront at frinton and clacton yesterday. One woman said her daughter was left gasping for breath. Their symptoms are said to have improved when they moved away from the beach. Beach goers were advised not to go in the sea. The coastguard said there had been no reports of spillages from passing ships. A vast raft of volcanic rocks stretching over one hundred and fifty square kilometers is drifting through the pacific ocean, scientists say. The sea of pumice the size of 20,000 football fields was first reported by australian sailors earlier this month. Experts say the mass likely came from an underwater volcano near tonga which erupted around the seventh of august. Tom whitehead and shannon lenz sailed their boat into the pumice field. About an hour out of tonga, we started running into a few of them, just patches of them. They were kind of like a row. And so there would be one row, and we were kind of go through it, and it would sound like tree branches or something, thats the first thing i thought of, and so anyway, i came up on deck, and shannon said, at first we thought it was whale hoop, but it became obvious that there was way more of it than any normal size pod of whales could come up with, so we realised that it was pumice. Whales could come up with, so we realised that it was pumicem whales could come up with, so we realised that it was pumice. It was very odd, it was like we had wandered into pirates of the caribbean, and it wasjust bizarre. But we knew that we had read briefly about pumice, and it was obviously pumice, it was obviously volcanic. What i was worried about was that we might be running into volcanic activity. And since we were going about not under half, there was no way could have avoided it if we were going toward a volcano. Something to think about now its time for a look at the weather with stav. Thank you very much, carrie gracie. Record temperatures yesterday, and today could be even hotter, to set a new Bank Holiday Monday record. You will notice behind me things are set to turn cooler and back to normal as the week moves on, and this weather front brings cool and fresh air into all areas. Perhaps a few showers across the far south west, but we could see up to 34 degrees in the south east, feeling cooler than that, more cloud in the north west. Tomorrow we will see those showers, may be becoming more widespread across western england, wales, scotland, northern ireland, few glimmers of sunshine around but it is the south east corner again. Then things continue to cool down wednesday into thursday, temperatures returning closer to the seasonal norm by the time we reach thursday and friday