Transcripts For BBCNEWS World News Today 20240713

Hello and welcome to world news today. One of the victims of yesterdays terror attack in london has been named as jack merritt, a cambridge graduate who was helping coordinate a conference on prisoner rehabilitation. He was one of two People Killed by 28 year old usman khan, a former prisoner whod been convicted of terrorism, and was released from prison on licence last year. Daniel sandford reports 25 years old and a keen traveller, jack merritt had a masters from cambridge university. He was described by his father today as a beautiful spirit who always took the side of the underdog. Yesterday, he was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack by a former prisoner at a conference that he had helped organise. In the aftermath, his killer was wrestled to the ground by other former prisoners who had been attending the conference and then shot dead by police. The man who stabbed him, usman khan, was released from prison last year halfway through a sentence for plotting to bomb the london stock exchange. 11 years ago he told the bbc he was no terrorist. I have been born and bred in england, in stoke on trent and all the Community Knows me and if you ask them, they will know, these labels they are putting on like terrorist, they will know, i am no terrorist. Today, his lawyer said his client had wanted help with de radicalisation but had not got the right assistance. He requested assistance with addressing some of his flawed thinking. He recognised that. His extreme violent ideology was wrong and he wanted to correct himself and move on. A Police Forensic tent marks the place where usman khan was shot dead by police. But the building where he carried out his attack is just on the side of the bridge. That was where he was attending a conference on prisoner rehabilitation. A conference at which he turned on some of those who had invited him and killed him. This picture was taken just before the attack at the conference in fishmonger tall where usman khan also stabbed a woman to death. The attacker then left the building and ended up on London Bridge. He was pursued and detained by members of the public, as well as a British Transport Police officer who was in plain clothes, before armed officers from both the city and metropolitan police arrived, confronted the attacker and shot him. The actions of the police and the public are all the more remarkable as we now know the attacker was wearing what looked like a very convincing explosive device. Thankfully, we now know that was a hoax device. Today, this address where usman khan had recently been living was being intensely searched. But police say at this stage there is no evidence to suggest anybody else was involved in the attack. This way, please. Which leaves the burning question, how was a convicted terrorist released from jail while still dangerous . And how did he, still wearing a tag, kill two people at a meeting focused on the rehabilitation of prisoners . Daniel sanford, bbc news, London Bridge. In the last few hours, a maltese businessman has been charged with complicity in the murder of the journalist daphne ca ruana galizia. Yorgen fenech was arrested last week as he attempted to leave malta on his yacht. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was earlier denied immunity in exchange for information about the case. Daphne Caruana Galizia was known for her investigations into high level corruption she was killed in a car bomb in 2017. The charges have led to increased speculation that the maltese Prime Minister, joseph muscat, could be set to resign. Pressure has been mounting on him to step down after his chief of staff, keith shkem bree gfx was arrested in connection with the murder. He was later released. He, along with the countrys tourism minister, resigned last tuesday. They had previously been accused of corruption by ms galizia mix back which they have denied. Our correspondent Damian Grammaticas is in the maltese capital, valletta. The courthouse here in valetta was opened especially late on saturday evening for this hearing and Yorgen Fenech, one of the richest businessman, was brought here to be charged in complicity with the murder of daphne Caruana Galizia. Her supporters have brought candles, pictures, everyday they have brought these said she was assassinated in a car bombing two years ago now. Yorgen fenech in court was charged with complicity to murder, membership of a criminal organisation and also complicity to cause an explosion. He denied those charges and was then led away, under police custody. Her family, the family of daphne Caruana Galizia, were in court. Her sister, her three sons, her husband, her parents. They listened to all of that and when they came out, they made a statement saying that they believe it is time for maltas Prime Minister, joseph muscat, to step aside. Daphne ca ruana galizia was a journalist he was working to expose corruption on malta when she was assassinated in that car bombing two years ago. In the process of the Court Hearings in the last few days, Yorgen Fenech the businessmans lawyer have alleged that the chief of staff to the Prime Minister here in malta should also be under investigation, because they say he was leaking details of the Police Investigation as it was going on. Police questioned the chief of staff and released him but there are many in malta who now believe that the Prime Minister himself, mi, should step aside, in order that a full and free Police Investigation can go ahead. A new law comes into force in china this weekend that will force mobile phone users to submit to facial Recognition Software in order to access the internet. The government in beijing says it will help protect the legitimate rights of citizens in cyberspace , but Cyber Security experts have expressed concerns. Jeffrey ding is a researcher at oxford s centre for the governance of ai, hejoins me now. Let us start very briefly with how is this actually going to work . Right, so, say you want to get a new sim card for your phone, you will have to go to the Telecommunications Carrier branch and give them your real name and identification and that would subject due to a facial recognition scan to verify that your face matches the one that is stored. What are the concerns here . There area what are the concerns here . There are a lot of concerns. As you mentioned, this is a drive to essentially root out anonymity on the web. The concern is that having anonymous Free Expression on the web is vital and democracy is vital to free speech, vital to checks and bala nces free speech, vital to checks and balances and ruling that out could derail all of those things. But the arguments on the other side of that is that anonymity in the web leads toa is that anonymity in the web leads to a great deal of harm, organised gangs, terrorism. And that is the trade off that all governments are facing. It is notjust china, south korea was one of the first to push this real name identification on the web at the issue with that was they brought a similar system without the facial recognition component and their personal identification records of 35 Million People were stolen. There have been similar issues in china mike germany and france. China is the first to bring in this facial recognition component. What has been the reaction from people in china . |j have not seen much reaction to the specific regulation because it has not been vetted before shed, across a wide range of Application Areas there has been some pushback to facial recognition by chinese college, the chinese public, they viewed it as invasive and there have been cases where peoples mates have stolen their mobile pin information because use facial recognition to unlock it. They were able to open phones while the owner was sleeping. There seems to be a growing wave of discontent and opposition to the invasive use of facial recognition. Do you think this is something that isa do you think this is something that is a chinese effort or do you think we will see measures like this spread around the rest of the world. This is a unique step in using facial recognition but i do not think it is a unique chinese effort. I think you will see measures like this and it will be interesting to see how this is actually enforced and implemented. Thank you very much for talking us through that. We appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank you. Brazils president Jair Bolsonaro has accused actor Leonardo Dicaprio of giving money to set the amazon on fire, although he gave no evidence for the allegation. In an instagram post, mr dicaprio, who has pledged five Million Dollars for the amazon, denied mr bolsonaros claim saying, we did not fund the organizations targeted. The brazilian president has previously accused some ngos of starting the fires that broke out earlier this year, in order to receive more money. Several people have been arrested, including four volunteer firefighters, amid allegations they started fires to generate ngo donations. For more on this we can talk to dom phillips. Hes a freelance reporter for the Guardian Newspaper based in rio dejaneiro. This sounds extraordinary. We should just say that these allegations by mr bolsa narrow do not appear to have any evidence behind them. Know andi have any evidence behind them. Know and i think we fit into a wider context that he has been making unfounded accusations pretty much since figures show an increasing deforestation in the amazon began to emerge and back then he said that foreigners were manipulating numbers and that the space result centre sacked its and when the amazon fire crisis really began to explode in august he started saying that foreign ngos who are responsible for setting the fires but he has never provided any evidence and this case has come under a lot of criticism in brazil, the detective leading the investigation told me on tuesday that they had Video Evidence of the firefighters lighting fires but the video he set me youtube just showed far ina video he set me youtube just showed far in a forest and a car or a dirt road. It wasnt conclusive of anything at all. He has been replaced by now that they got hold of the investigation and tore it apart. It is an ngo with over 30 yea rs of apart. It is an ngo with over 30 years of activity in the amazon and what it principally does, the ngo raided it on tuesday. I really think this is about the fake news battle in brazil. Bolonsaro is looking to blame people for rising deforestation and fires in the attic is he thinking that people will believe there is no smoke without fire and that even though he is providing no evidence at all for these claims are not people will believe him. People who support it well and they are propagating and sharing his claims. Even after she mentioned Leonardo Dicaprio came out and said yesterday that he did not fund the organisation and he said the future of these irreplaceable ecosystems is a break and i am proud to stand at the bridge protecting them. Even last night, the sun of bolonsaro was treating a video in which he makes a speech claiming ngos for lighting fires and the fact that there is a document in fake news world, the fact that there is an investigation means they can use it and what they will say that there is some kind of collusion going on but even schedule prosecutors at their own investigation in this area and they said that their investigation that there are no ngos involved. Thank you for talking us through that. Stay with us on bbc world news, still to come the climate protesters occupying coal mines in germany. It is quite clear that the worst things of this disaster are the poor People Living in the slums which have sprung up around the factory. We were feeling so helpless, the children were dying in front of me and i couldnt do anything. Suspected of killing sharon tate and at least six of the people in los angeles. At 11 oclock this morning, just half a litre of rock separated britain from continental europe. It took the drill is just a few moments to cut through the final obstacle and then philippe, a miner from calais was shaking hands and exchanging flowers with robert may, this is bbc world news today. The latest headlines the first victim of fridays London Bridge attack has been named as 25 year old jack merritt. Lets stay with the London Bridge attack Prime Minister borisjohnson visited the scene this morning, and pledged to toughen up sentences. And the labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn has called for a full investigation into the attackers Early Release from prison. Our political correspondent, Jessica Parker reports. Hello, how are you doing . Visiting the scene at London Bridge, the Prime Minister, alongside the met police chief, cressida dick, as people try to take in what has happened and understand what lessons can be learned. Boris johnson today said that the case of usman khan raised the issue of sentencing. I have said for a long time now that i think that the practice of automatic Early Release, where you cut a sentence in half and let really serious violent offenders out early simply isnt working and i think you have had some very good evidence of how that isnt working, i am afraid, with this case. General election campaigning has overall been more muted today, but the labour leader said there needs to be a full investigation into what has happened. Clearly, there has been a complete disaster and lives have been lost because of his behaviour and i think there is also question about what the Probation Service were doing. Were they involved at all and whether the parole board should have been involved in deciding whether or not he should have been allowed to be released from prison in the first place. The details of this case will inevitably come under great scrutiny, but today politicians across the board have been offering their sympathies to the affected families and paying tribute to those who rushed to the same. Our Emergency Services as always rise to the challenge, so, you know, we need to make sure there is a robust response to incidents like this. Any lessons that need to be learned are learned but at the moment i think everybody s thoughts are with everybody who has been affected. There are clearly questions that need to be asked and answers found to how this happened and the process for that is very important, i think today that the focus is on those who are mourning. During the 2017 general election there were two terrorist attacks, at Manchester Arena and another at London Bridge. It can lead to greater political focus on security issues. Parties records and their future plans for keeping people safe. But for some those conversations may be for another day. Jessica parker, bbc news. Hundreds of climate campaigners in eastern germany occupied several opencast coal mines today to demand their closure. The protesters have rejected the governments plan to phase out coal mining by 2038 and instead want the industry be closed down immediately. The demonstrations are taking place in the states of saxony and brandenburg where thousands ofjobs depend on the mines. In berlin now is xena reisch who was at the protest at a mine near leipzig today with the ende gelande group thank you for being with us. So, the German Government has already committed to phasing out, i hope we can still hear me even though the screen has gone black. Back again. The lights went out, i hope that is because they have shut the mines. The German Government have clearly said already they are committed to phasing out in the school. We know the coming cannot be heated up more thani. 5 the coming cannot be heated up more than 1. 5 degrees as it will keep eating habits itself automatically so we eating habits itself automatically so we must face out and ready. The government plan is not good. We dont rely on the government any more, we are doing this with our own bodies, there was a valuable thing we have. We have seen some pictures of the protest. I want to show our viewers that you group film today. As if from a drone. We can see the number of protesters running through police lines there and eventually making it on to the cold side itself. That site are many others in germany, it is 20,000 jobs depending on that. If they are shot immediately what happens to those people . What you say to those people who theirjobs. We Must Find Solutions for these people as well andi solutions for these people as well and i want everyone in the world to have a good life and that includes at least 20,000 people. I am not putting his co workers, they are suffering from the Climate Crisis today and we must find Good Solutions for everyone. There are billions that have been given to the coal industry. That money can be put into structural changes as well. What difference do think you protest today will make of anything. I think we play a very Important Role for people to form an opinion on the topic. It is not fair the whole companies and states because they have the profit from the fossil fuels and they can decide what they wa nt to fuels and they can decide what they want to do. It is against the interest of humanity. This is a deep crisis of democracy and we are democratising them by saying we do not want our future to be killed by these companies. We are putting our bodies in the way to fight for injustice. Understood, thank you very much for your time. Now time for all the sport. Hello and thanks forjoining us. But a global take on germany and france. John watson is in progress for us with a draw was made. We have the past three winners of three major tenements all in the same group. We have the reigning european champions portugal are drawn alongside the reigning world champions france and germany in there as well. You have to feel for there as well. You have to feel for the other nation, which is going to be done in them he will be the winner of the play off pathway. They will not fancy their chances of progressing from that group. The so called group of death. We know that the runner of the group will go on and play the winner of group d in the last 16 and that could well be england. We know that england have been drawn against croatia, world cup semifinalist at the last world cup. England and croatia will tussle it out. A crucial day for liverpool in the premier league. After man city dropped more points, in a 2 all draw with newcastle. Jurgen klopps side stretched their lead at the top of the table to 11 points but victory over brighton at anfield was far from straightforward. It should have been when two virgil van dyke headers gave them a 2 nil lead at halftime but they had their keeper allison sent off for handling outside the box, and lewis dunk scored from the resulting freekick as substitute keeper adrian was trying to line up his wall, leaving an open goal but liverpool hung on for the 2 1win. Adrian was my man of the match. Coming on like a game like this are making really two saves and one was tricky and even the goalie kicks if he ever see where goalie kicks they could do you some damage yeah. It is just not possible. We should have done it differently but we were unprepared for the situation. Im com pletely unprepared for the situation. Im completely happy. He might have already wrapped up the formula one world title, but Lewis Hamiltons still giving everything. Hes taken pole position for the season ending abu dhabi grand prix. His first pole since july. But there was more frustration for ferrari. Jenni gow reports it is pole position for lewis hamilton. Yes, that is right, we have not a while and it was all the way back at the german grand prix since his last poll. That is the whole second part of the season that he has not a single one. After saying he missed them a lot, he has finally got there and abu dhabi the last race of the season, hamilton will be pulled alongside the red bull of Max Verstappen but the real talking point of today was ferrari messing up once again. The driver just did not get around in time to do theirfinal just did not get around in time to do their final run of qualifying. Sebastien vettel made it but missed bya Sebastien Vettel made it but missed by a second or two but then went and locked up in his first corner. So he did not set a time at the final part of qualifying. He took the chequered flag before posting the time. He couldnt go on and improve he was only eight hundredths behind. It was infuriating and once again showed ferrari s faders. They are frailties and if ferrari really want change for championship and go against mercedes, they are definitely going to have to improve on those weaknesses and look to do better in the future. David warner hit the first triple century of his career, as australia continued to dominate pakistan on day two of the second test in adelaide. He hit an unbeaten 335 from a18 balls including 39 fours and a six its the second highest test score ever by an australian and the 10th highest of all time. Thats all the sport for now. Hello there. The final day of november was particularly cold in scotland after that earlier sharp frost, but also in parts of the midlands where the mist and fog was reluctant to left. And for most, the uk was still sitting in the colder air at the moment. The far south west, near thou weather front, it is not quite so chilly here. There is more cloud, more breeze and still a few showery bursts of rain which will head southwards towards the channel islands. Northwards though and we have got some more mist and fog for the midlands and parts of wales. The situation is more complicated in east anglia with more cloud and one or two showers. One or two showers for Northern Ireland, most of them in the far north of scotland in that breeze, but for the northern half of the uk, another widespread frost, could be 9 in rural scotland. Further south, the frost is more marginal, because there is a bit more cloud around, mist and fog and the breeze, too. That breeze, though, should help lift the mist and fog more quickly on sunday. Push awat that cloud, sunshine far and wide, but a few showers continuing in the north east of scotland and grazing some of those north sea coast. A more noticeable breeze for the southern half of the uk and these are the temperatures we are looking at for the first day of december. Similar to what we had today. Not quite as mild perhaps in the south west, but at least it will be more sunshine. As we head into the beginning of next week, well, we have still got High Pressure around. Still cold air across many parts of the country, signs of change coming into the north west as these weather fronts toppling, introducing some milder air. It will not be as cold. In scotland perhaps, not for Northern Ireland on monday morning, where a frost is more likely further south. Particularly in rural areas. So a cold start here. But a crisp one. Plenty of sunshine to come for england and wales. Brightening more for Northern Ireland. We do have more of a breeze for scotland, dragging in more cloud. Most of the rain will be in the far north of the country. And the higher temperature this time will be in the highlands. 10 degrees here. Elsewhere 6 8d, so just lifting up a touch. Four southern areas and there is south east of the uk we will have High Pressure dominating into the middle part of next week. These weather fronts a milder air toppling into the north west. But for more southern parts of england were the winds are lighter and you have got these long nights, there could be more mist, fog and low cloud, tuesday into wednesday, making it feel particularly cold and with all of us turning milder, windier and perhaps wetter later in the week. This is bbc world news, the headlines. It is reveals that one of two people stabbed to death in the terror attack in london is helping lead a course for prisoners that his killer was attending. Jack merritt undertaken analogy. The attacker was a former prisoner convicted of terror offences. He was shot dead by police after being restrained by members of the public. Police say they believe he acted alone. A prominent maltese businessman has been charged with complicity in the murder of the investigative journalist. He pleaded not guilty. And a draw for