First time for hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. Israels intensifying Military Assault on lebanon has involved everything from Booby Trapped electronic devices to bunker busting bombs. As the Death Toll mounts, prime Minister Netanyahu says the target isnt the people of lebanon, its the armed militant group hezbollah, which continues to fire rockets into israel. So what, if anything, can the lebanese Government do to stave off a Gaza Style Catastrophe . My guest is lebanons economy minister, Amin Salam. Is his Government the very definition of powerless . Minister Amin Salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now . You feel right now . You said it, stephen. You said it, stephen
A21 a 21 day ceasefire along the israeli lebanese border will generate significant support from europe as well as the arab nations. I will have more to say tomorrow. There s been no indication yet from israel or hezbollah if they will agree to the terms of the proposed ceasefire. It all comes as israel continued deadly air raids in southern lebanon on wednesday, killing at least 72 people, according to lebanon s health ministry. It brings the death toll from israeli strikes in lebanon to nearly 600 just this week. Lebanon says a quarter of those killed have been women and chlidren. Israel s military chief has told troops that israel s air strikes could pave the way for a possible ground invasion into lebanon. Israel said wednesday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by hezbollah towards tel aviv the first such rocket to target the city. The un secretarygeneral warned wednesday that hell is breaking loose in lebanon. Antonio guterres made the remarks at an emergency security counc
Minister amin salam in beirut, minister amin salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. In gaza, through diplomatic thank you, stephen. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now? you feel right now? you said it, stephen. You said it, stephen. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we would it s the last thing we would have wanted to happen have wanted to happen and we were hoping and praying and we were hoping and praying and doing our best for the past and doing our best for the past year, since the war started year, since the war started in gaza, through diplomatic channels, through every channel possible, to avoid going i
declan lopez, i see you. if you know someone i should see, tell me. i m victor blackwell. i ll see you back here next saturday. smerconishsh is up rigight now. what s a father to do? i m michael smerconish in philadelphia. joe biden might soon face a decision about whether to prevent his own son from going to prison. it s a determination that will be made against the backdrop of the 2024 presidential campaign, one more intangible in an already unpredictable election cycle. hunter biden could face up to 17 years if convicted for the nine tax charges for which he was indicted on thursday. he pleaded not guilty. according to data from the internal revenue service, nearly 90% of all tax cases they refer to the department of justice for prosecution, they end with a conviction or a guilty plea. and around two-thirds of those cases resulted in prison time, with an average sentence of 14 months. this in addition to the 25 years he could face for the three federal gun charges for wh
And coming up in sportsday on bbc news, the British And Irish Lions have been told they need to man up if they are to beat the all blacks in the second test and keep the series alive in new zealand. Good evening. The leader of Kensington And Chelsea council, Nicholas Paget brown, has announced that hes standing down after days of mounting criticism of the authoritys response to the Grenfell Tower fire. It was rebuked by Downing Street after a decision last night to abort a Public Meeting and theres been further evidence that cost cutting resulted in a downgrading of building refurbishments. In his statement, mr paget brown said he had to accept responsibility for what he called perceived failings after the tragedy which has claimed, according to police, at least 80 lives. Heres our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds. Were you pressured by no 10 to resign . The pressure simply got too great. He was the leader criticised with failing to cope with the crisis in his backyard. His coun