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 familys morale. Does he think there will be a solution . And does he know when hell be freed . No, no, he dont 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 dont 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 dont 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 president ial 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 thats 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 its 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 theyre really after. If its 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. Its a tight window and the window is closing, i think. I mean, how do you view this threat thats been made by echoes thats 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 its very difficult to do that. When you have, as i say, a United Military thats there, the distances are enormous for for Military Intervention. Very expensive. Its a poor part of the world. Tough to pull off, but theyre 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 . Its 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 thats 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 whats in the realm. To sort of see what these military leaders want. Because right now, there isnt much clarity on that. They are accusing president bazoum of certain things, that their frustration with the security situation, that theyre 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 dont really know right now. As i say, if its just power for power sake, then it will be very difficult, very difficult to reverse. But if they have some grievances that theyre 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 countrys 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. Theres 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 its difficult. It is difficult. I mean, id like to get your views, Prime Minister. Do you think that these kinds of protests should be banned . Thats 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. Theres 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 cant 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, theres 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 theres 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 thats 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 dont 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 its not something that did overnight. I mean, its certainly put the spotlight on your country. But i am sure its 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 dont ban books in sweden and we dont 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 . Thats a fairly intense way. So its fairly intense debate going on. I have my doubts whether this falls under the definition of freedom of speech. Its not speech, really. That was swedens former Prime Minister. Staying with sweden, a woman has been shot outside swedens 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. Its the long run inside her. She was travelling rules. Its the long run inside her. She was travelling from rules. Its 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 shes 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 uptodate 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 dont 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 itll 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 labours mayor of london. For more stories from across the uk, head to the bbc news website. Youre 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 havent 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 havent 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 havent returned. 0ur