union leaders in the uk urge the prime minister to intervene in the dispute about healthcare pay. the biggest week of strikes in the history of the national health service is due to start on monday. the us continues to search for the wreckage of a chinese balloon suspected of being used for spying which was brought down by an american fighterjet yesterday. hello and welcome to bbc world news. iran s supreme leader is pardoning a large number of prisoners, including some of those arrested during the past months of protests. the pardon by ayatollah khamenei comes on the eve of the anniversary of the islamic revolution in 1979, a date on which he regularly offers an amnesty to some prisoners. but the iranian state media says it excludes those facing charges of spying for foreign agencies, murder and bodily harm, as well as the destruction or arson of state property. taraneh stone, from the bbc s persian service, says those freed have several conditions attached to their release.
market in birmingham to explain what it all means for you. ella kissi debrah was the first person in the uk to have air pollution listed as a cause of death. ten years on, her mother continues her fight for cleaner air. i do say, ah, bubba, i know you suffered so much, and it will never make up for it, but so much is being done in your name and so many lives are being saved. i think that s important. a council is accused of ruining a new artwork by banksy, as it removes a key part of the mural because of safety concerns. it all went wrong for tottenham last night antonio conte s team losing to italian side ac milan in the first leg of their champions league tie. good morning. some early mist and fog that will clear quite quickly. they moving across northern ireland and scotland. as it sinks across england and wales it will weaken. many will have some sunshine and a few showers in the north west. all the details later in the programme. it s wednesday 15th of february. our
national congress, china announces a big boost to its military spending as it warns attempts to contain it are escalating. supporters of pakistan s former prime minister imran khan gather at his house, as police arrive to arrest him. hello and welcome. we re going to start in bangladesh, where aid agencies say a huge fire has broken out in a refugee camp in the south east of the country. these are some of the latest pictures. it s being reported the fire is in the cox s bazaar district and has been brought under control. the charity action aid said their initial assessment suggested around 12,000 people had been affected. no casualties have been reported so far. we been reported so far. will hear from the internatioi federation we will hear from the international federation of the red cross and red crescent later in the programme, stay with us for that. a historic agreement to protect the world s oceans has been approved after ten years of talks. marine life is at risk from c
for months, rail workers have been striking over pay and plans my guest is mick lynch, leader of the biggest rail union, the rmt. the stakes in this fight are high. can the workers win? mick lynch, welcome to hardtalk. you are the leader of a union that s been in a long running dispute now. it goes back to last summer. there have been rolling, sporadic strikes. as it goes on, does it feel harder to find your way to a compromise? well, there s no easy way out for either side. the government has boxed themselves into a corner, to a large extent. and i think that s predicated on the idea of setting precedents for public sector. we ve seen the nurses, ambulance drivers, many civil servants in dispute along similar lines. people aren t being paid enough in this society at the moment and many public sector workers have had long term pay cuts measured against any measure of inflation, so there s some catch up to be done, and that makes it harder because the government wants to be