This hezbollah protest in beirut was held in solidarity for palestinians in gaza. There were strong words. And defiance. The speech here was full of anti american and anti israeli slogans. Its unlikely that its done anything to ease tensions that this country could be dragged into this conflict. For days, hezbollah and the israeli army have exchanged fire along the border. So far, the attacks have been contained. But what happens next is likely to be decided farfrom here in iran, hezbollah s main supporter. The tensions also threaten to deepen sectarian divisions. This is a sunni village by the border. This is my cousins house. Sabrina has left. It was too dangerous. She came back to inspect the damage caused by an israeli retaliatory strike. So youre angry that hezbollah has been using this place to attack israel . Yes, ok, im not against that. To start war, let them start from their own homeland, not from our houses. In a pro hezbollah town, different opinions. Im not going to leave
this is bbc news, the headlines. after scotland s government proposes decriminalising personal drug use, we look at how a similar approach is working in portugal. saudi s football revolution gets into full swing analysts say the pro league is shaking up the global football industry. new claims of corruption are levelled in ukraine against defence officials running army recruitment we have a special report. hello and welcome back with me frankie mccamley. some breaking news. thailand s parliament has voted for the candidate of the pheu thai party,
but for the past few years, scotland has had the highest rate of drugs related deaths in europe. to tackle the crisis, the scottish government is proposing decriminalising personal drug use. our scotland editor, james cook, has been to lisbon in portugal to find out whether a similar policy, introduced there in 2001, has been working. portugal has come a long way in a short time. half a century ago, this country was a closed dictatorship. nowadays, it s an open and vibrant democracy. this is the public face of portugal a thriving tourist destination in the sun. but i ve spent a few days here now, and if you look closely, there is another side to this country. as it opened up in the 70s, heroin flooded in, and users began to die. that prompted the left wing government to try something radical.
new figures released in the last hour or so reveal there s been a marked decrease in the number of people dying as a result of drug misuse in scotland. scottish ministers will view it as a vindication of their policies to reduce the harms caused by drugs. live now to james shaw in glasgow. james, a decrease in drugs deaths in scotland, just talk us through the figures. it scotland, “ust talk us through the fi . ures. . , , scotland, “ust talk us through the fiaures. . , , , , ~ figures. it really is very striking, what we can figures. it really is very striking, what we can see figures. it really is very striking, what we can see is figures. it really is very striking, what we can see is that - figures. it really is very striking, what we can see is that the - figures. it really is very striking, | what we can see is that the total number of people who died as a result of drug misuse last year was 1051 and that compares to 1330 the year before. a drop of 279. that is a big dr
disease like hepatitis b and c, hiv and then they can be linked to health care service. we have psychosocial support, too. and that s crucial, says the doctor who designed the policy two decades ago. the criminalisation by itself gives you nothing, but i think it s important to provide treatment to all those in need of it. harm reduction policies, as well. what lessons can scotland learn from your experience in portugal? well, i believe that it is very important to develop the health responses to drug users treatment, harm reduction responses and that decriminalisation is a very helpful tool to deal with it. would it save lives in scotland? i believe so. i believe it would. but portugal s liberal approach only goes so far. possession for personal