france says it has no plans to withdraw around 1,000 of its soldiers based in niger — where they are part of an international effort to fight islamist militants. aichatou kane is the nigerian ambassador to paris and the uk — she has been in contact with president bazoum in niger — and just before we came on air she told me how he is doing. the president of niger. effectively, we have a daily call and is still a serious threat. but he is well and his morale is high as well as his family's morale. does he think there will be a solution? and does he know when he'll be freed? no, no, he don't talk with us on his terms. but as you know, the prime minister of niger is here in paris with him. we exchanged on the prevailing situation in niger, which is most worrying. and what is the prime minister saying? 0ur exchange is about the niger situation. we think together that this unfortunate event for our country cannot be caused by any internal crisis on all fronts. we are on a good trajectory, particularly on the security one front where major efforts are being made to contain terrorism. who do you currently represent? do you still believe that your government will return to power? yes, i believe that the president bazoum will be established on his seat. and i believe that our democratic institutions will be settled again. how will that happen? because, of course, the coup leaders say that france is going to attempt some kind of or plotting some kind of military intervention. do you know if that is likely to happen? i know one thing. one thing is the ecowas community. the ecowas coomunity says that we have a simple assumption, which will be that they will be settled. and if this don't success, we can have an intervention. the only thing i know is that. but this ultimatum that ecowas has given that there needs to be some kind of resolution to this within seven days. do you believe that they will take some kind of action if if the coup leaders don't reinstate president bazoum? we hope that the ongoing negotiations can lead to a peaceful solution. because it is the best issue for our country. earlier i spoke to the former us ambassador to chad, mark boulware, who gave me his assessment of this fast moving situation. well, it is a tense and dangerous situation. and as time goes on, of course, the coup leaders, the junta consolidates its power. in the beginning, it was just the presidential guard who took this action and the military was apparently not completely on board with it. but over time, they decided to join in and and reinforce the junta. so now the military seems to be united around the around the coup, making it very difficult to reverse. hopefully, the intervention of president deby and his mediation on behalf of ecowas will bear fruit. i think that's the only way to get a positive. do you think that the president of chad intervening, as you say, president deby, who was there in the last 2a hours, will make some kind of difference? i think it's very possible. chad is certainly a regional power, a very strong country with a great deal of influence in the region as one military man, after all speaking to other military men, hopefully he will be able to dig in, see what what they're really after. if it's something other than just power for power sake. there may be a way to look at whatever grievances they may have and deal with those in such a way as to put president barzani back in power. it would be very difficult, though. it's a tight window and the window is closing, i think. i mean, how do you view this threat that's been made by echoes that's been made by ecowas that this ultimatum, you know, reverse this, do something differently within the next seven days or else force? i mean, they sort of watched mali, burkina faso, guinea sort of succumb to these types of coups and nothing was done. no, certainly, ithink i think ecowas is a bit fed up with this succession of coups and is attempting to assert its authority on behalf of of democracy and the principle of democracy. but it's very difficult to do that. when you have, as i say, a united military that's there, the distances are enormous for for military intervention. very expensive. it's a poor part of the world. tough to pull off, but they're certainly communicating their seriousness and hopefully that seriousness and their position will help president deby as he tries to negotiate some sort of peaceful outcome for this. yeah. and what would that peaceful outcome look like to please these coup leaders and i suppose, fulfil the requirements of the west? ecowas and as well as president bazoum? it's hard to say. every situation is unique, but restoring the president is pretty much the the non—negotiable part of it. he needs to be put back in power as president. but within that, certainly you can look at changes to the military structure, if that's the question. changes in benefits for the military, giving them a greater policy role. all sorts of things might be possible. but again, you have to get into the negotiation and get into the details and see what's in the realm... to sort of see what these military leaders want. because right now, there isn't much clarity on that. they are accusing president bazoum of certain things, that their frustration with the security situation, that they're accusing him of things like corruption, for example, and the close ties to to the west. but exactly what is it that these military leaders want? well, we don't really know right now. as i say, if it's just power for power sake, then it will be very difficult, very difficult to reverse. but if they have some grievances that they're willing to articulate that are of more of a policy nature, then that could be dealt with. sweden has said it may give police the power to prevent people from burning the quran. the country's prime minister, insisted that the principles of free speech would remain, but said it might be necessary to take measures against quran burning if there was a clear threat to national security. several people have set fire to copies of the quran in public, both in sweden and also denmark, prompting an angry response from muslim majority countries in the middle east. earlier, i spoke to former swedish prime minister carl bildt about the controversy. there's been a series of various sort of deplorable act by particularly one individual. previously there was another individual, and i think both in sweden and in denmark, and both the swedish and the danish government have made very clear their views about this. but laws are laws and there are difficulties to handle the situation within the framework of the existing laws. and that is, of course, led to a very tense situation between sweden and denmark and the in this particular case and in this particular case yesterday, the organisation of islamic countries. the government in sweden is trying to look at the legal situation, see what changes might be possible. but of course, changes takes time. so they have to deal with the existing situation, with the existing instruments they have and seek dialogue and they explain the very firm swedish position against this deplorable act to the islamic countries. but it's difficult. it is difficult. i mean, i'd like to get your views, prime minister. do you think that these kinds of protests should be banned? that's difficult to know. they are... if you look at the swedish laws, we have laws against hate speech. and the police have now reported these particular or this particular individual for hate speech that will now be tested in the swedish courts. i personally think it is probably a hate speech, but whether the courts will go for that, that remains to be seen. there's also a question of the law of public order, i think would be the appropriate translation, where the police can ban a thing like this if they see it as a threat to the security on that particular spot. but if this course is sort of terrorist threats against sweden, they can't take that into consideration. and that is the legal dilemma that the swedish government is now dealing with and trying to get out of, and trying to explain this to the islamic world, that these are deplorable acts by strange individuals in iraqi citizens and yet, as you say, has come to sweden. and there are people in sweden who believe that this is simply freedom of speech and freedom of expression. to all those people? absolutely. i mean, there's a fairly fierce debate going on both in sweden and in denmark, where the situation is fairly similar. but, i mean, we do have limits on on free speech. i mean, incitement of hatred is, for example, forbidden. and is this incitement of hatred or not? well, that legal debate is going on and that will, at the end of the day, be up to the courts. so far, the police have been trying to stop these things in two cases, but were overruled by the court in this particular case. so you can see the legal complexities are are fairly massive, but there's no question about the attitude of the authorities that is in no way represent what sweden, a highly tolerant society, very respectful of against foreign religions and lots of muslims living perfectly peacefully in sweden. no question where sweden as such stance on these issues, and that's important to communicate. what would you do if you were still prime minister? roughly what they are doing. look at the laws and see... i mean, these are laws from a long time back and i don't think anyone really foresaw these kinds of situation. and i think we need to look at reviewing these laws. absolutely. but that requires a parliamentary majority and bringing in parliament in and all the preparations they had to do for changing laws. so it's not something that did overnight. i mean, it's certainly put the spotlight on your country. but i am sure it's also created debate within your country because, of course, there are many in sweden who feel that, well, people coming to our country should be able to express themselves in whichever way they want. yeah, we have very strong tradition for freedom of speech. and and if you are very critical of islam and this particular individual, we either want to ban the koran, which is never going to happen. we don't ban books in sweden and we don't burn books either, by the way. but he can certainly say whatever he wants and he can write whatever he wants. but is burning holy scriptures...? is that respectful? is that what we do? is that really freedom of speech? that's a fairly intense way. so it's fairly intense debate going on. i have my doubts whether this falls under the definition of freedom of speech. it's not speech, really. that was sweden's former prime minister. staying with sweden, a woman has been shot outside sweden's consulate city in a turkish city of izmir. she was working as a secretary and is in a critical condition. turkish authorities say the attacker was suffering from mental illness. here in the uk — a scottish mp has been stripped of her seat in parliament after breaking covid rules, triggering a by—election. margaret ferrier — a former snp member — represented rutherglen and hamilton west. now a so—called "recall petition" has passed the required number of signatures. she was earlier suspended from the commons for 30 days after being convicted of breaking covid travel rules during lockdown. they speak to our correspondent peter saull. remind us of what margaret ferrier did in the height of coronavirus and that lockdown rules. �* , ., , rules. it's the long run inside her. she was travelling _ rules. it's the long run inside her. she was travelling from _ rules. it's the long run inside her. she was travelling from her - she was travelling from her constituency on it scottish borders to london despite feeling in her. she spoke in for results of a coronavirus test. it came back positive and instead of itself isolated and as the rules dictated she got herself back on a train and shoveit she got herself back on a train and shove it back up to scotland. she was actually eventually convicted of breaking lockdown rules, sentenced to community service. she was suspended from the s&p and has been sitting as an independent snp for the past three years. there is also a punishment handed down by the commons standards committee which looks into this, as you say, a 30 day suspension, was over the ten day suspension threshold needed to trigger that recall petition in her constituency. she appealed against the suspension and that appeal feel. we had the result if you hours ago on the local authorities there that enough voters in that constituency had voted to recall her. 0ver10%, in fact 40.6% wanted to remove her as a empty, so she's no longer the empty, and that means we are going to have a by election, probably in earlier 0ctober to have a by election, probably in earlier october or some point in the autumn for that seat. figs earlier october or some point in the autumn for that seat.— autumn for that seat. as you say, she has lost _ autumn for that seat. as you say, she has lost her— autumn for that seat. as you say, she has lost her seat _ autumn for that seat. as you say, she has lost her seat and - autumn for that seat. as you say, l she has lost her seat and triggered a by election, how significant is this by election likely to be? i think it will be watched closely indeed the first tests were humza yousaf, the new snp leader since nicola sturgeon resigned. the snp facing problems with finances and an investigation ongoing, but also for the labour party writing high in polls across the uk and want to get back into things with the general election due probably at some point next year. this by election will be seen as a litmus test for labour to see if they will gain back some ground. they lost an awful lot in the general election in 2019 to the s&p, that constituency is round about 5000, so it often to be in the labour site. they put out a statement that they want to snp to call it by election as soon as possible. the earliest would be when parliament returns from its summer break in the start of september, and then we would be looking at a by election in the first or second week of october. it would also be smack bang in the middle of a party conference season, so a very busy time or politics at that particular point. time or politics at that particular oint. . ~' ,, time or politics at that particular oint. ., ~' y., ., time or politics at that particular oint. . ~ i. ., , , point. thank you for bringing us up-to-date- — around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news. bbc news bringing you different stories from across the uk. driving instructor des mcgonagall needs no lessons in how bad the traffic can be around canterbury. the city was never made for this volume of traffic and unfortunately with more cars in the road, i don't know what the answer is. that zoning plan was put forward by the previous conservative administration. the city would be divided into five zones, with improvements made to existing routes and a new bypass created to form a ring road. motorists would have to drive around rather than across the city to go between zones or potentially face a fine for crossing boundaries. the idea was to get people out of their cars and to travel by foot, bike or public transport instead. but the new leadership of the council is officially reviewing the scheme, which is a way of saying it'll be scrapped. balancing the needs of motorists and the need to protect the planet is now becoming a big political issue. the conservatives have condemned the expansion of the ultra low emission zone by labour's mayor of london. for more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news some breaking news coming to the bbc that there were plans to start moving asylum—seekers onto the bibby stockholm barge and it is now a barge that was mortared at portland port in dorsett and they were plans to move asylum—seekers onto that barge and it is now being delayed and we are told as a result of fire safety concerns. and the potential dates at that it is going to move next week. the home office sources say the delay is because working practice for port staff haven't been signed off yet. they say there is no outstanding fire safety issues. that is the latest news coming to us. we heard earlier in the day that the movement of asylum—seekers onto the barge had been delayed due to fire safety concerns but home office say the delay is because working practice for port staff haven't been signed off yet, and they say there is no outstanding fire safety issues remaining around this. the bibby stockholm will eventually i was 500 male asylum seekers and is expected to remain in portland for 18 months. it would be the first time migrants have been housed in a vessel in the uk, and the home office was planning to send the first 50 migrants to the barge today, but as we have been reporting, and it was delayed i made fire safety concerns initially i know we are told is because working practices for port staff has not been signed off yet. the other news. the bbc has learned that thousands of pakistanis are taking a dangerous route to reach europe illegally. many are travelling from pakistan to libya, sometimes via egypt. almost 300 pakistanis are thought to have drowned taking this route injune when their boat sank off the coast of greece. according to the pakistani police, nearly 13,000 pakistanis headed for libya and egypt this year, most haven't returned. 0ur pakistan correspondent, caroline davies. the sharp end of the crackdown on illegal migration. all of these are men that you've arrested in association with human smuggling? all of them. the majority here are alleged to have been involved in filling the migrant boat that left libya and sank off the coast of greece, including husnan shah. he denies that he was involved, but willingly admits that he's been a smuggler for more than ten years. translation: we started this - because there was no other business and because of greed and the difficult situation, everyone is ready to take this journey. the government is not doing anything for the young generation here. i do not have a main role. it's the people who are sitting in libya who are very big and rich. do you feel guilty for the sort of things that have happened to people on these routes? i felt very sorry and we are really ashamed over this. but what can we do? if i don't do this, someone else will do it. hundreds of pakistanis are thought to have drowned when the packed boat sank injune, including teenage brothers fahad and tahid — theirfamily may never have a body to bury. praying. instead, they only have photos and voice messages. translation: they messaged their father early morning - from somebody�*s mobile saying we are leaving. "tell mother this is our last message." her sons took a newly popular route, flying from pakistan to egypt, then to libya. officials told us that nearly 13,000 pakistanis travelled to the two countries in the first six months of this year, almost double the number of all of last year. around 10,000 are unaccounted for. do you have any idea where these thousands of people are? yeah, but we don't have it because they have gone to libya and we don't know whether they are still in libya or they have gone to any of the european countries. their flights out of the country are legal. these people have legal documents. they have legal visa, they have legal passports. so, we wouldn't stop them. some who hope to cross are still stuck in libya. this group didn't want us to show theirfaces, afraid that their young men held there might face retaliation for their family speaking. translation: my son is living in a lot of difficulty. _ sometimes the only give food after two to three days. my son cries a lot and says, "what kind of trouble have we landed in?" "we gave them money and we are dying here." pakistan's economy is in turmoil. youth unemployment is high. and despite the dangers and the crackdown, some still want to play the odds. many are afraid to appear on camera in case they are arrested. but we've spoken to multiple pakistanis who've told us that they would still take an illegaljourney. we also spoken to a smuggler who says they are still taking people out of the country and we have spoken to police authorities who have confirmed they know that people are still leaving illegally. that was caroline davis will be back in the next few minutes stay with us. hello there. it looks like it's going to remain unsettled for the rest of this week. thanks to low pressure, we'll see showers or longer spells of rain. some windy weather in the short term and it will generally feel on the cool side for early august. now, there's a new area of low pressure for the time of year, will continue to push across the country tonight and into tomorrow, so conditions go downhill across pretty much all areas. heavy rain starts to spread in. the winds begin to pick up across southern and western areas as the centre of the low edges closer towards our shores. 0n the plus side, though, it will be quite mild and muggy across the country with temperatures in the low—to—mid—teens celsius range. so, tomorrow, then, we'll see the winds picking up with gales across southern england, certainly through the channel, 50—60 mph gusts in their own right could cause some disruption, some heavy rainfall. and into the afternoon, across england and wales in the centre of the low weather, the winds will be light, we'll see some slow moving, heavy and thundery downpours as well. could see temperatures reach 20—22 degrees in the warmest spots, but i think for most mid to high teens sums it up. now, that area of low pressure starts to pull out eastwards into the north sea and the continent, takes the heavy rain with it and we start to see a northerly wind develop across the uk. so it's a little bit drier i suppose to start thursday, but there'll be plenty of showers across southern areas. this is the pressure chart, then, for thursday. we're in a run of northerly winds and it will be one of sunshine and showers and we'll have those pretty heavy showers from the word go across some southern parts of britain. some sunshine around as well — more cloud, though, for the northern half of scotland. showers or longer spells of rain here. some of the heaviest of the showers through the afternoon could be across central and western parts of the uk. and those winds fairly brisk and cool temperatures at best, ranging from around 14—20 degrees from north to south across the country. for friday, it's a similar story. we've got northerly winds, sunshine and showers — most of the showers affecting south east scotland down in towards east anglia and the southeast. again, there could be the odd thundery one mixed in there, but some better sunny spells, i think, towards the west. but again, feeling cool for the time of year. it remains unsettled into the weekend. low pressure, always nearby showers or longer spells of rain, and again, it's going to feel pretty cool for early august. see you later. this is bbc news. the headlines. france says its operation to evacuate citizens out of nigeria is now under way. several planes are in the air on route to west africa. —— niger. we'll bring you the latest from the bbc verified team from moscow. in six months alone since the turkey syria earthquake, we look at what life has been life since the deadly disaster in february. welcome back. we return to our top story and the crisis in niger. the country is a key part of africa's sahel region. 0vernight, neighbouring burkina faso and mali issued a joint statement saying any military intervention in niger would be regarded as a declaration of war on them. the regional bloc ecowas has threatened to use force to reinstate niger's president, mohamed bazoum,