Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsday 20180219 : comparemela.com

BBCNEWS Newsday February 19, 2018

In florida, where a group of teenagers who survived a School Shooting in the us state have announced a National March on washington to demand action on gun control. They say theyre determined that the mass shooting, in which 1a pupils and three members of staff were killed, will be a turning point in the National Debate on guns. The bbcs david willis has more from washington. After this Florida Shooting it seemed that the National Debate might follow the sort of conventional pattern it has followed in the past, outrage, followed by calls for action, followed by precisely nothing, but now we have these students calling for some sort of action. These are people who, of course, dont remember the columbine massacre in 1999, they were not born at that particular time, at unlike columbine, which had outrage but not activism following it, these people are calling for a change and they have come up with various ways of ringing that about, including this seemed to have a march on the capital, washington, dc next month. That is going to be called the march for allies. Separately, they are planning a School Walkout on the 20th of april, that marks the 19th anniversary of the columbine massacre and there is a big rally planned for wednesday in the florida capital tallahassee, all basically to advance the calls for tighter gun control laws here in america. David willis there are in washington. Bearer in washington. There in washington. Lets take a look at some of the days other news. Rescue teams in western iran searching for a passenger plane which disappeared with more than 60 people on board have called off for their search for the night because of heavy snow. Families have been gathering at a mosque close to the airport to get information about their loved ones. Its feared there are no survivors. The plane went down in the Zagros Mountains during a flight from the capital tehran to the southwestern city of yasuj. Amir paivar from the Bbcs Persian Service has the latest. The weather conditions are very severe, the teams that tried earlier on to go to the crash site were unable to do so and they were sent back halfway through because the blizzard is so severe that they couldnt reach anywhere near the crash site. There is no exact knowledge of the number of people who were on board, which is between 55 and 66. That has added to the misery of these relatives. Also making news today. Streets around one of the most sacred sites for tibetan buddhism have been reopened to pilgrims after a blaze broke out on saturday evening, according to Chinese State media. The official Xinhua News Agency said the fire in part of the 1,300 year old Jokhang Temple was soon put out. However tibetans living abroad said that photos and posts about the blaze were quickly being censored. Well have more on that story in a few moments. The Islamic State group says it was behind the killing of five people at a church in the russian republic of dagestan. An attacker opened fire with a hunting rifle on worshippers as they were leaving a christian orthodox ceremony in the town of kizlyar. He was shot dead shortly afterwards by the security forces. Hundreds of opposition supporters, leaders from across the political divide, as well as diplomats and representatives from some african countries have gathered here to read farewell. The speakers that were in this Church Service remembered his contribution to democracy in this country. Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made a rare public apology to the iranian people. He said there were shortcomings in what he called the field of justice. Analysts believe he was referring to economic and social injustices that triggered a recent wave of protests. Some poignant pictures from syria, where children are returning to schools that have been partly destroyed by the war thats raged for seven years. More than 50 of schools have been affected and students often have to make do without windows, doors or heating. Many of the teachers work without any salary. But as you can see, the children try to enjoy themselves when they can. Russian officials have confirmed that one of their athletes at the Winter Olympics in south korea is suspected of failing a doping test. They havent named the athlete, but some Russian Media outlets suggest it was Alexander Krushelnitsky, who won a bronze medal in curling. He is one of the individual athletes who was allowed to compete, despite a ban on the official russian team because of an alleged state sponsored doping programme. Our correspondent in seoul Stephen Mcdonell has been following the story. There will be a lot of attention on this case today, we have had these reports that Alexander Krushelnitsky has failed a doping test. Now he won a medal in the teams curling, if he fails a second test, i suppose they will be taking a medal off him. It does draw a lot of attention again to the russian athlete. People will remember they are not competing here at the Winter Olympics as russia per se, but as these individual athletes under the olympic flag following the doping scandal at the sochi olympics. Broad allegations of doping a monster the russian team at the sochi olympics and they were banned as a team. Many athletes were still prohibited from coming but some have been allowed to attend as individuals, including this athlete in the curling and now it seems he has at least failed a first test. The way it happens is that you fail the first test and there has to be a second test that comes along. Lets return to the news of the fire that broke out in the most important shrine in tibetan buddhism, thejokhang monastery in lhasa. Chinese state media said the blaze, which started on saturday evening, was soon put out. But the extent of damage to the sprawling compound is unclear. Tibetans abroad noted that photos and posts about the blaze were quickly being censored. With me is an expert in modern tibet robert barnett. Thank you for coming in. Tell us a little bit about the significance of this site, it is incredibly important to tibetan buddhists. This site, it is incredibly important to tibetan buddhistsm is the heart of tibetan culture and the tibetan land. It is the first buddhist temple. Perhaps one of the old est buddhist temple. Perhaps one of the oldest timber structures, temples in the world. It has been eight pilgrimage of devotion all around the world, mongolians and others, for many centuries. It was originally the site of a previous tibetan government before the chinese moved in in the 50s and became a site of major unrest in the 80s and again ten years ago. It is a very sensitive area and terribly important for the tibetan people. As you say, religious and politically sensitive. We know that chinas occupation has been controversial, human rights activists accusing china of human rights violations. What is interesting is that they seem to be censoring some of the reports coming out about this fire, why do you think they are doing this . It is extraordinary because the chinese dont face a military problem in tibet, trying to win people over through economic improvement. They face is perpetual problem with culture that they dont seem to be very good at handling religion and culture and they have a huge problem with legitimacy. You would think that this is an issue where they would rush to show people and reassure them that the temple has not been badly damaged but there is almost no news coming out at all in the last 2a hours. Pictures only of the Party Secretary visiting the temple and telling the tibetans how fortu nate temple and telling the tibetans how fortunate they are to have party rule and one or two tiny pictures of the main statue that everybody is worried about in the shrine without any comment and no reference to the fa ct any comment and no reference to the fact that there has been a fire. This has been provoking rumours and uncertainty i think among the people. And it couldnt have come at a worse time because tibetans are celebrating their traditional new year which began on friday. Sensitivity will presumably be very high. The period in tibet and especially in lhasa marks the start of the annual festivals that were huge assemblies of monks and people in the past and that led to protest in the past and that led to protest in the 80s and ten years ago. In a period where you would expect the chinese to show a good face, this is another example of the chinese not being good at handling culture and relations with local people, especially people from a different religion and culture. Talked about how important the site is, a unesco World Heritage site and there was a report in 2016 that said the temple had a high disaster risk for fire and had prevention measures in place. What you think went wrong there . This is another one of the major issues that will be a credibility problem for china because they have drawn two huge length has publicised in tibet their attem pts length has publicised in tibet their attempts at fire prison should fire mention in thejokhang monastery. So they had firemen on duty probably, they banned lamps from the temple, this shouldnt really have happened to. It is probably not the fault of the chinese, probably the flames spread from another building nearby but the fa ct from another building nearby but the fact that they werent able to put it out weekly is damaging for the chinese. It is unfortunate and will set back relations again, especially since nobody knows what has been damaged and what has survived. They keep coming in to talk to us about that. Thank you for coming in. Youre watching newsday on the bbc. Still to come on the programme living the pipe dream in hong kong. These Housing Units are made from yes water pipes. Well talk to the architect. Also on the programme the bafta film awards were on in london tonight. Who won the big prizes, and whos going home empty handed . Nine years and 15,000 deaths after going into afghanistan, the last soviet troops were finally coming home. The withdrawal completed in good order, but the army defeated in the task it had been sent to perform. Malcolm was murdered. That has a terrible effect on the morality of the people. Im terrified of the repercussions in the streets. One wonders who is next. As the airlift got under way, there was no letup in the eruption itself. Lava streams from a vent low in the crater flowed down to the sea on the east of the island away from the town for the time being, but it could start flowing again at any time. The russians heralded their new Generation Space station with a spectacular night launch. They called it mir, the russian for peace. This is newsday on the bbc. Im rico hizon in singapore. Im Sharanjit Leyl in london. Our top stories. Teenage survivors of the florida School Shooting say theyll march on washington to demand action on gun control. After fire ripped through lhasasJokhang Temple the extent of the damage to the most important shrine in tibetan buddhism is still unclear. Lets take a look at some front pages from around the world. On chinas foundering economic ties with the european union. The paper says the eus investment in china fell by 9. 1 last year, because of frictions over Market Access and other issues. The New York Times is leading with Donald Trumps sons visit to india this week. Donald trumpjuniors main task will be to promote luxury towers, not diplomacy but, the paper says, indians might be forgiven for not making much of the distinction. And finally the front page of the philippine daily inquirer, and this beautiful picture of the start of International Pyro musical competition in pasay city in the philippines. Ten countries are joining the contest to showcase their best fireworks displays. Now, what are people talking about online . Yes, lets look at what is trending right now. The malaysian government is facing ridicule after it took out a full page advert to celebrate the Lunar New Year featuring a barking rooster. The trade ministrys advert wished people a prosperous year of the dog but showed a rooster, barking in chinese. The ministry has apologised for what it called a technical error. The risk of a military clash in the disputed waters of the South China Sea is one that all nations in South East Asia are keen to avoid. China and asean have already decided the relation of conduct of sea and they are now planning 12 covered disputes. We asked the Singaporean Defence minister whether he was worried about the risk of confrontation in the South China Sea . The situation in the South China Sea is generally calm but you asked the question because we just concluded around table on the South China Sea. It was conducted under Chatham House rules but i think there was consensus. It was notjust a simple issue of who owns what. There are a number of claimant states within the area and if truth be told, all of them have built on disputed features. It is just that china built to go. That will continue to be an irritant. An issue. It will continue to be an issue. It will continue to be an issue but despite that i would say that compared to previous years, the fa ct that compared to previous years, the fact that we are talking about the area and focusing on confidence Building Measures between asean and china including an agreement that we wa nted china including an agreement that we wanted we met crowd standing two weeks ago and i think that has brought down the temperature. China has indicated it would like to take on the wide of role globally that also includes its neighbours. Do the neighbours since this in practical terms . In a big way. Not only do you sense it, it is a disruptive change. Compared to ten years ago, the leading trade partner for most of asean countries in austral asia was not china. And yet china is the trading partnerfor all not china. And yet china is the trading partner for all of us countries including australia and new zealand. And without the growth of china in the last decade, where you had a recession as will of the globalfinancial you had a recession as will of the Global Financial crisis affecting the us, the americas plus europe, asia would have grown much slowly. In fact we depended on the chinese engine. On the point of view of chinas economic heft you have, if you like, a tide that lifted boats. Beyond that, the wonder one Road Initiative is potentially a very powerful instrument to build up infrastructure in asia, or an asia pacific. And that is substantive. Hong kongs held the title of the worlds priciest city for home buyers for the last seven years, but one local architect thinks he might have come up with a solution. James laws micro Housing Units are made from a rather unusual material concrete water pipes. The stackable pipes are laid on their sides, and each have a kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area all squeezed into an 11 metre square cylinder. James told me what pushed him to come up with the idea. We are struggling with this everyday. The young people here are really struggling to find their first steps in life and to afford a place to live. As an architect i was responding to the pressure that i see every day to find a new kind of design that could inspire them. Do you think this will be popular with people looking for Affordable Housing . I think it is an alternative and i did this project really as a way to generate some positivity and some optimism. I think there is an opportunity to really drive a bit more space, affordable space out about down out ofa affordable space out about down out of a dense city like hong kong by using this sort of architecture. I have been given a lot of interesting comments and approaches from people who are interested in trying to live in one. So people are not living in them just yet and as you say it is just the design of this page. A bit ofa pipe just the design of this page. A bit of a pipe dream, one just the design of this page. A bit ofa pipe dream, one might say. Just the design of this page. A bit of a pipe dream, one might say. You think your design is helping address issues of hong kongs scarcity of land . People say hong kong is short on land that it actually isnt. It is just the way that the land is planned in hong kong means that at the heart of our city we are extremely dense and quite expensive. In our city there is still a lot of interesting land left. Land left under the flyover is, in between buildings and perhaps on top of buildings. I thought that we might have a new kind of architecture that could really take up on this leftover la nd could really take up on this leftover land to create something affordable. Hong kong, if it can be innovative and look into these alternative kinds of buildings, could actually drive more space and affordability for young people in oui affordability for young people in our city. The best of british film making talent has been honoured at the baftas in london, with many of the stars using the spotlight to highlight the Sexual Harassment scandal which has gripped the industry in recent months. The big winner of the night was three billboards outside ebbing, missouri which won in five categories. Heres our arts editor will gompertz. His report contains some flash photography. The baftas

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