Hello, im rajini vaidyanathan. Its been described as the new High Speed Railway that will form the backbone of britains transport network. But there are now questions over the future of the h52 project which had planned to connect london, the midlands and the north of england. The uk government says it would be crazy not to review the project given soaring costs due to the war in ukraine and a rise in inflation. Defence secretary, and former transport minister grant shapps told the bbc the government would need to make serious decisions on how affordable it is. The hs2 project was originally due to link london with manchester and leeds, via birmingham. There is speculation that the link between birmingham and manchester may be under threat as costs have increased significantly. The line to leeds has already been scrapped. With more, heres our political correspondent, jessica parker. Hsz hs2 is this enormous rail project, and they actually already scrapped a bit of the leg of the line t
Hello. A warm welcome. The fate of Ethnic Armenians in disputed Nagorno Karabakh is hanging in the balance, as their leaders say most will likely leave their historic homeland now controlled by azerbaijan. The region is internationally recognised as part of azerbaijan, but large parts of it have been controlled by Ethnic Armenians for three decades. Tens of thousands of armenians have sought refuge in the main city, stepanakert, many of them gathering at the airport. Some aid has reached the enclave, but food, medicine and fuel are all in short supply. In new york, azerbaijans Foreign Minister told the Un General Assembly that baku was determined to reintegrate Karabakh Armenians as equal citizens. But his armenian counterpart demanded the un establish a mission in the region to prevent further killings of Ethnic Armenians. The bbc s olga ivshina is one of the first journalists to have reached the region since this weeks hostilities began. She sent us this report. This is the first tim
Seeking to score points. Take a listen to qatars Prime Minister. Translation unfortunately, i mean, we have seen that there has been an abuse of this mediation in favour of narrow political interests. This means that the state of qatar has called for a comprehensive evaluation of its role. We are now at the stage to evaluate mediation and also evaluate how the parties engage in this mediation. European Union Leaders have agreed to tighten sanctions on iranian producers of drones and missiles in the wake of tehrans unprecedented attack on israel on saturday night. The president of the European Council says its important to do everything to isolate iran. Tensions in the region remain high with israels Prime Minister insisting his country will make its own decisions about how to respond to irans drone and missile attack. Israels western allies fear striking back against iran could trigger a broader war. For more on the role of qatar, i spoke to our middle east correspondent. Spoke to our
Joe biden arrives in hanoi to sign a new strategic partnership, nearly half a century after the us military withdrew from the vietnam war. We start in morocco, where three days of National Mourning have been declared following the powerful earthquake in which 2,000 people are now known to have died. These pictures show the moment the quake struck the city of marrakesh late on friday, prompting people to sprint for the streets. The city is reporting a lower death toll than other areas, but considerable damage to buildings. Thousands of moroccans have spent a second Night Sleeping outside on the streets, fearing aftershocks. Some have been describing their fears and sense of loss. I returned to my house and noticed many cracks in the walls. I cannot sleep there. Im asking the authorities to help me and bring in an expert to assess whether its possible for me to return to the house or not. Look where all these people are sleeping. Theres no help for us. 0ur houses have been cracked, other
Its army today said the killing of seven aid workers in air strikes this week was a grave mistake due to mistaken identification, errors in Decision Making and a serious violation of army procedures. The convoy, belonging to the charity, World Central Kitchen, was struck in central gaza late on monday night, survivors running between the remaining vehicles before being hit again and then again. The army said its forces had mistaken the bag one passenger was carrying for a gun, after Spotting Gunmen at the warehouse earlier. It was a visual confirmation of a gunman, first of all, on one of the trucks that then conducted shooting from one of the trucks. And when they, indeed, reached the hangars, there were more gunmen identified on the location and it led, basically, to the entire miscalculation, misidentification and the failure of what shouldve happened. Israels army said the aid was picked up by lorry at 10pm. The armed figure was then Spotted Firing from one of the trucks, before th