Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240704

Saying, quote the fires began on tuesday and are now about 80 contained. The blazes spread quickly, fuelled by strong winds generated by a hurricane over the pacific ocean. Thousands are still in emergency shelters. Visitors are being evacuated from the island. These are the latest pictures we Have Smouldering Ruins and total devastation. The worst destruction has been on the island of maui, where some beachfront areas have been completely levelled. Us President Joe Biden has now declared the wildfires a major disaster. This triggers the release of federal funds to help Recovery Efforts. He spoke earlier. We have just approved a major disaster declaration for hawaii, which will get aid into the hands of people who desperately need the help now. Theyve lost, anyone who has lost a loved one, whose home has been damaged or destroyed, is going to get help immediately. And ive directed that we send support to these brave firefighters and First Responders and Emergency Personnel working around the clock there, risking their lives. Lets take a look at what else is being done to help the situation in hawaii. The federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell will travel to the state to meet with officials. Earlier, fema announced that federal Disaster Assistance has been made available to supplement local Recovery Efforts. California is sending Search And Rescue teams to help Recovery Efforts thats according to the states governor, gavin newsom. California officials have a lot of experience in dealing with such blazes, including the 2018 camp fire that killed 85 people in 2018. And the main airport in maui has turned into an unofficial emergency shelter. An estimated 11,000 people are being flown out to other Hawaiian Islands or the us mainland. As you can see, that has led to scenes like this. The crowds have been calm but anxious as people try to fly to safer places. This is all happening as the extent of the devastation becomes clearer, as our North America correspondent nomia iqbal reports. Much of the Hawaiian Island of maui is now scorched earth. A pilot can hardly believe what hes seeing. Oh, my gosh look at the harbour this looks like baghdad or something. The Historic Town of lahaina barely exists anymore. Since the fire began on tuesday, it has ripped through, fuelled by Hurricane Force winds, leaving burnt out cars on once busy streets and instead of historic buildings, there are Smoking Piles of rubble. Everybody still out here, its time to go for anyone still in the town, the message is clear get out. If anybody� s still here, the fire is On Front Street and it is time to go this Satellite Image from last month and yesterday lays bare the destruction. Its something youd see in a war zone. I was the last one off the dock when the firestorm came through the banyan trees and took everything with it. And ijust ran out to the beach and i ran south and ijust helped everybody i could along the way. Still got dead bodies in the water, floating, and on the sea wall. Theyve been sitting there since last night. Weve been pulling people out since last night, trying to save peoples lives, and i feel like were not getting the help we need. At 3am, we got a call, get. Out that was our neighbour the us military has now mobilised as it tries desperately to suppress the fires over the island. A state nicknamed � the paradise of the pacific� is now paradise lost. Nomia iqbal, bbc news. The Us Coast Guard has been working to rescue people off the coast of the town of lahaina after manyjumped into the water to escape the burning flames. They say a total of 17 people have been saved from the water. Another a0 survivors have been found on shore and brought to safety by boat crews. The coast guard says Search Efforts have covered 689 square nautical miles, which isjust over 2000 square kilometres. Now, the weather has been very dry in hawaii recently with isolated fires breaking out. However, as we mentioned earlier, a seemingly benign hurricane in the Eastern Pacific has escalated the situation. Ben rich from bbc weather explains. The weather on its own rarely causes wildfires but it can bring conditions that make them more likely and help to fan the flames which is exactly what happened in hawaii. Its been very, very dry here of late and then passing to the south, weve had this major hurricane, hurricane dora. The centre of the storm has stayed well away from hawaii but it has been squashing up against this big area of High Pressure and that squeezed between the two has generated some very strong winds, gusting up to 67 mph. But without storm now drifting away westwards, the winds are easing. It is going to stay quite breezy over the next few days but not windy as it has been. However, apart from just the odd passing shower, it is going to remain largely dry. Earlier, i spoke to malika dudley, a meteorologist on maui island, who herself had to evacuate. Malika, good to see you and thanks forjoining us during what must be a really difficult time. To begin with, just describe what youve been experiencing these past few days. Experiencing these past few da 5. ,. , days. Unfortunately, we experienced days. Unfortunately, we experienced the days. Unfortunately, we experienced the very. Days. Unfortunately, we experienced the very beginning of this crazy catastrophe that happened. The first fire that started on maui was up on the slopes of the upcountry area, alinda and cooler, the fire was spreading quickly because of our really high winds and started to drop down towards my neighbourhood. Unbeknownst to me, i woke up at 1pm and i smeltfire me, i woke up at 1pm and i smelt fire but it smelled on it is not unusual for us to smell fire, especially because we were expecting that if there was some kind of a spark to start a fire it would start very quickly and that was already something that we had alerted the public about, that Red Flag Warning was posted for more rapid fire spread because of low humidity and dry brush and really high winds that we were expecting, so ijust went back to sleep and at 3pm i got a call, our neighbour said it out of your house we looked out of your house we looked out the window and the sky was red so it was quite alarming, kind of panic, grabbed the kids and our papers and ran out of their, past the firefighters on their, past the firefighters on the way out. They were just kind of in a wait and see, it was too dangerous for them to get into those remote areas to start fighting the fire with the wind so high and they could not do air drops, water because first of all, it was pitch black dark and even in daylight it was not something that they could do because it was too dangerous to even fly, so we got out of there and we got to somewhere safe and evacuated here to a friends house in a safe place. It here to a friends house in a safe place safe place. It sounds absolutely safe place. It sounds absolutely terrifying | safe place. It sounds. Absolutely terrifying and safe place. It sounds absolutely terrifying and just tell us more about where other people are going to the situation in terms of resources, capacity shelters, other enough resources getting in . ,. ,. ,. , in . The shelters are open and available to in . The shelters are open and available to the in . The shelters are open and available to the public in . The shelters are open and available to the public and available to the public and they have been in use. There are several shelters around the island and they even bused out people from the lahaina area, both to the airport to get the visitors off the island but also to the shelter, if you are also to the shelter, if you are a local or staying, so that you could get what you need, the resources that you need. At the shelter, there are tons of donations being dropped off. At this point, we are actually asking people to stop dropping off donations because we are a bit overwhelmed with the amount of physical donations which are being dropped off. To the War Memorial Centre in particular, its in the main town. If you its in the main town. If you want to help, to help with the resources that we do need, monetary donations is what we need. There are reputable places that you can donate to. I know people are reaching to people around the globe, the one Community Foundation is one, maui united way and the Maui Food Bank of three great places to be able to donate to online fiscally, just monetary donations, thats what we need. Maui rapid response. Org is a place you can go if you want to donate services, time, if you own a Construction Company or things like that. Things like that. And from eo le things like that. And from peeple youve things like that. And from people youve been things like that. And from i people youve been speaking things like that. And from people youve been speaking to, people youve been speaking to, people in your community of people in your community of people who had to then go shelters, for example, have they been speaking to you about what theyve lost . Weve heard stories of people at times even having to run into the ocean, people have lost their homes and so much more. People have lost their homes and so much more. Oh, for sure, and so much more. Oh, for sure, and the more and so much more. Oh, for sure, and the more people and so much more. Oh, for sure, and the more people come and so much more. Oh, for sure, and the more people come out i and the more people come out of the area, the more stories are being told. Ive heard stories of husband to get his family out of the house and is not being able to and running out of there and making it out but with severe burns and ive heard stories of people having second, running for their lives, jumping over the seawall into water and being in the water, stranded for seven hours, feeling like about getting and approaching fire in order to warm up and stay alive. Meanwhile, watching people that they know literally dying next to them. Devastating testimony. Dying next to them. Devastating testimony, and dying next to them. Devastating testimony, and i dying next to them. Devastating testimony, and i just dying next to them. Devastating testimony, and i just wonder testimony, and ijust wonder yourself being a by trade, is this something that you have been speaking about with other meteorologists, specialised in the field, about the prospect of Something Like this happening in hawaii and are you also wrapping your head around the idea of this being a risk Going Forward . We the idea of this being a risk Going Forward . Going forward . We never exnected Going Forward . We never expected this Going Forward . We never expected this to Going Forward . We never expected this to happen. J Going Forward . We never expected this to happen. You know, we did warn people with the Red Flag Warning, which i explained earlier. We were expecting gusts up to 60 mph. What we saw was 80 mph. Thats Hurricane Force winds, and that knocks people down. That knocked down power poles. And from witnesses, weve heard that when power poles went down, thats where sparks started and with really high Hurricane Force just moving through, thats where the fire spread so quickly gusts moving through. It was the perfect storm. Lahaina has been devastated before in a similar fashion but never to this extent of course, but with a hurricane that is not even making landfall, just moving by the island and a really tight Pressure Gradient and the combination of how dry it is in many parts of maui but particularly through the areas where the fires were sparked so its definitely a concern but we couldnt have predicted just how bad this was. We couldnt have predicted ust how bad this wasi how bad this was. Malika dudley. How bad this was. Malika dudley, thank how bad this was. Malika dudley, thank you how bad this was. Malika dudley, thank you so how bad this was. Malika l dudley, thank you so much how bad this was. Malika dudley, thank you so much for being with us and to take care. Thank you. And were expecting a Press Conference from local officials in hawaii soon. The bbc will be monitoring that event. If youd like updates, you can go to our live page at bbcnews. Com. Five americans jailed for years in iran have been moved from prison to house arrest, as part of a deal struck between tehran and washington. The five, who also have iranian passports, have been held in tehran� s evin prison on charges of spying for the us, but washington regards them as wrongfully detained. In a Press Conference a few hours ago, us Secretary Of State Antony Blinken struck a cautiously optimistic note, but he refused to get into the specifics of the deal. This is a positive step but i dont want to get ahead of this conclusion because theres more work to be done to actually them home. My belief is that this is the beginning of the end of their nightmare. And the nightmare that their families have experienced. In any event, in any respect, iran will not be receiving any sanctions relief and in any instance where we would engage in self efforts to bring americans home from iran, their own funds would be used and transferred to restricted accounts such that the monies can only be used for humanitarian purposes which as you know is permitted under sanctions. Earlier, the bbc� s chief International Correspondent lyse doucet spoke to my colleague caitriona perry. It has not been confirmed and official statements by the United States but sources told us that after two years of negotiations, to third parties, The Americans and iranian � s have reached a deal. Five Iranian Americans exchanged for five iranians imprisoned on charges of evading sanctions in the United States and, in addition, access to 6 billion in iranian assets in south korea which we believe transferred to count in qatar to be used for humanitarian purposes so five 45 as well as frozen iranian assets. It will take a long time to implement it but the first step was taken with the transfer of five Iranian Americans from evin prison to house arrest, we believe in the iranian] run, under guard, untilthat believe in the iranian] run, under guard, until that money goes to south korea and is posited in an account in the central bank of qatar. Some of the dta needs central bank of qatar. Some of the dta needs we central bank of qatar. Some of the Dta Needs We Are central bank of qatar. Some of the Dta Needs We Are aware i central bank of qatar. Some of| the Dta Needs We Are aware of, they have been a for years. Do we know why this deal is now taking place . We know why this deal is now taking place . Some would say, wh has taking place . Some would say, why has it taking place . Some would say, why has it taken taking place . Some would say, why has it taken so taking place . Some would say, why has it taken so long . Taking place . Some would say, why has it taken so long . Take | why has it taken so long . Take the case of siamak namazi, detained for nearly seven years. He went on a Business Trip to iran, was accused of having a relationship with a hostile country, the United States. When his father went to the next year to try to get out of prison, he too was detained. A very elderly man. He was only released last year. That is one of the family waiting, hoping against hope that their loved ones will soon come home. They been expecting this to happen for some time, the deal was clinched almost this year and fell apart. 0ne clinched almost this year and fell apart. One of the prisoners, siamak namazi, did an extraordinary interview from prison with cnn so it has taken a long time and because the iranian � s and The Americans dont have automatic relations. They needed third parties. Imilli they needed third parties. Will this be seen they needed third parties. Will this be seen as they needed third parties. Will this be seen as a diplomatic success for the biden administration. , � administration. Resident biden has made the administration. Resident biden has made the bringing administration. Resident biden has made the bringing home. Administration. Resident biden| has made the bringing home of americans overseas incarcerated a key policy. They will say that oil revenues from south korea have been frozen in south korea have been frozen in south korea but already the blistering attacks are coming in. Iranian activists in exile. It is going to be a rough ride in many ways before The Americans can come home. Around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. Dont lets look at some other news now. Northern irelands police chief has said he is deeply sorry about two data breaches, revealing the identities of thousands of his officers and staff. Police unions say their members are scared of the potential risk to their safety. Members of militant groups in Northern Ireland say theyve acquired private details of some officers. But those claims have not been verified. The Us Supreme Court has blocked a settlement that would protect the owners of drug maker purdue pharma, from being sued for deaths caused by opioids. Under the deal, the Sackler Family would have been shielded from legal liability. 0verdoses of such painkillers are blamed for Tens Of Thousands of deaths across the us each year. Donald trump and his personal aide have pleaded not guilty to more charges related to Government Documents at the former president s florida home , mar a lago. The two men and a third aide are accused of conspiring to conceal Surveillance Footage at mr trumps Mar A Lago Resort from the fbi. The former president and mr nauta had already pleaded not guilty to previous charges. Youre live with bbc news. The president of ecuador has requested help from us federal agents to investigate the killing of a president ial candidate on wednesday evening. Fernando viavicencio, who spoke out against organised crime and corruption, was shot dead at the end of a rally in the capital, quito. President Guillermo Lasso says fbi agents are due to arrive in ecuador shortly. He says gang members are responsible for the attack as katy watson reports. Fernando villavicencio wasnt afraid to speak out against crime and corruption, but he knew it was risky in a country where organised crime is becoming ever more powerful. The president ial candidate was leaving a Campaign Rally in the Capital Quito on wednesday evening, flanked by his bodyguards. Gunshots. Then the shooting started this chaos clear evidence ofjust how much power ecuador� s criminal gangs yield. Inside the building hejust left, the crowds panicked, people desperately trying to shelter from the shoot out. Nine other people were injured. Mr villavicencio was taken to hospital, where he was declared dead. Chanting. And where protesters gathered outside overnight. The Criminal Group los lobos or the wolves released a video claiming responsibility. Its the Second Biggest Criminal Group in ecuador, with as many as 8,000 members. Its also been involved in numerous prison riots that have left many inmates dead. Mr villavicencios killing comes less than two weeks before the president ial elections. The current leader, Guillermo Lasso, has declared a State Of Emergency but said the elections wouldnt be called off. Violent crime in this small south American Country is spiralling, fuelled by colombian and mexican cartels whove infiltrated local gangs. Fernando villavicencios killing wasnt the first on the Election Campaign two mayors have been shot dead in recent months but the fear is the violence is set to get even worse. Katy watson, bbc news. The ivory coast says itll send about 1,000 troops to join an International Force thats been put on standby to intervene in niger. The announcement came after an Emergency Meeting of the west African Regional bloc ecowas decided to put its troops on alert. Nigers elected president Mohamed Bazoum was ousted in a coup last month. Ecowas leaders says the use of force will be a last resort. 0ur correspondent chris ewoker filed this report. The Heads Of State have taken the Heads Of State have taken the decision to direct the mobilisation of the standby pause and also direct the military authorities in the subregion to deploy the Standby Force of the community. As to the financing, that has been discussed and appropriate measures are being taken. Thank you. Measures are being taken. Thank ou. ,. , you. The decision was unexpected. You. The decision was unexpected. The you. The decision was l unexpected. The earlier decision by the ecowas leaders including Military Intervention including Military Intervention in niger heightened tensions. People were afraid and they suspected this time around ecowas was going to offer what many people see as the carrot and stick approach of diplomacy, dialogue. What it seems that is this time around, the ecowas leaders are planning to send a message that coup in any member come trees will no longer be acceptable expected countries. Even though they have the activation of Ecowas Standby pause, its not yet clear how that force is going to work. When is the activation taking place . What is going to be the mode of operation . What many people are now expecting is how this activation would affect the stability of the subregion. Researchers have discovered a previously unknown sudden cold snap that wiped out humans living in europe 1. 1 million years ago. Heres pallab ghosh. British researchers scoured the shores of North Norfolk for the fossilised remains of the very first humans to have lived in britain. Its long been held that they came to europe from africa and never left. But a secret found at the bottom of the sea suggests that they were all wiped out. This strip of mud from the ocean floor has changed the human story in europe. Analysis in a lab in barcelona of the chemicals inside it shows that temperatures plummeted more than a million years ago. That would have meant, for the humans, not only that they would have trouble to find resources for example, food but also that the extreme conditions have led to the depopulation of this early humans from europe. They you researchers found that there was no evidence for humans in europe for 200,000 years after that. But then, early humans came back. These footprints, found under the sands of the North Norfolk coast, are some of the first humans to have returned after this newly discovered ice age. Lets imagine what it was like and how they survived. Hesburgh was one of the first places those early humans came back to around 900,000 years ago, long before it was a beach. The big freeze was over, but it was still cold, much colder than it is today. So they had to learn how to cope by building better shelters and developing better Hunting Techniques for food and furs to stay warm. They may even have become hairier. This is important because it shows that our early ancestors were inventive and adaptable, which is why we are here today. I mean, this is amazing. Researchers are still searching for what remains of these humans. These are the stone tools they learnt how to make. Theyre adapting the whole time to new environments, new climates, right the way through the ice ages and developing new technologies. The face is really quite delicately built. This is a reconstruction of a skull of one of those early humans smaller brained, but gradually evolving into more advanced species, the researchers say in the journal science. And that species was certainly more evolved. Things like a larger brain, a more modern looking face, teeth that are more like ours. The new results are another piece of the jigsaw that helps to explain how humans evolved and learned how to tame nature to become the dominant species on the planet. Pallab ghosh, bbc news, hesburgh. To our viewers on pbs, thanks for watching. This is bbc news. Lets return to our ongoing coverage of the devastating wildfires in hawaii where a major disaster has been declared after wildfires killed at least 53 people. Were expecting a Press Conference for authorities on the island soon. Were expecting to hear from Governorjosh Green and maui mayor richard bissen. Theyll update us on the latest from the disaster zone. Earlier the governor of hawaii says its the deadliest Natural Disaster the state had suffered for generations. Josh green told cnn as many as 1,700 buildings have been destroyed, and 11,000 people are without power in west maui. He issued a warning about the Death Toll Saying hawaiis governor toured the damage to the Historic Town of laihaina, and posted this video on social media. Aloha why. Im you can see the devastation in lahaina, On Front Street. With the senator in the mouth. It is tragically gone. Many people are suffering. The Fidelity Numbers will climb today. Everyone, love your neighbours and support them because this is devastating for maui. We probably have well over 1000 buildings destroyed. Many, many hundreds of families have been displaced. We will rebuild them. The president has already in six hours authorised and approved request for emergency support. Its going to be a long haul. The devastation is behind me and well put hobart in front of us. Aloha. Live now to rich elliott, hes deputy chief of the kititas Valley Fire Authority in washington state, and hes chair of the International Association of fire chiefs Wildland Fire Policy Committee great to have us arts and thank you forjoining us on the bbc. You have been looking on those scenes from hawaii like so many of us right around the world but with your expertise in wildfires, ijust want but with your expertise in wildfires, i just want to get your assessment about what went through your head, seeing those kinds of scenes and also the scale of the response needed as well. , ~ , well. The thing that strikes me most is the well. The thing that strikes me most is the challenges well. The thing that strikes me most is the challenges that. Well. The thing that strikes me | most is the challenges that are facing maui and the state of hawaii, just Given The Logistics of getting assistance to them. In the continental us, we can move resources a bit easier, but the life and the devastation culturally and to property is pretty daunting. It is absolutely devastating. We did hearfrom the is absolutely devastating. We did hear from the governor earlier saying the death toll likely would be raised upwards in with your experience, do you also share that assessment from what weve seen . What weve seen . Absolutely i would trust what weve seen . Absolutely i would trust that what weve seen . Absolutely i would trust that interpretation j would trust that interpretation of what is going on but in a Community Like maui with a lot of Transient Population and vacationers, just the concept of accountability is probably very difficult. Im not sure they know it was missing at this point. Just very significant life loss. We also heard from significant life loss. We also heard from president significant life loss. We also heard from President Biden| heard from President Biden earlier. He called this a major disaster and in doing so, Naming Ita Major Disaster and in doing so, naming it a major disaster, it releases federal funds to go towards the response. How critical is that particular step . I critical is that particular ste . ~ critical is that particular ste . ~. ,. , step . I think in particular for hawaii, given step . I think in particular for hawaii, given the step . I think in particular for hawaii, Given The Logistics, i hawaii, Given The Logistics, and the assistance from the federal government and the ability to spend some money is absolutely critical, especially given the fact that as they move into the Recovery Stage of this response. This response. Using your experience this response. Using your experience of this response. Using your experience of having this response. Using your| experience of having seen wildfires like this, i wonder how difficult you think this kind of recovery operation, the Response Operations are going to be . In Response Operations are going to be . ,. , Response Operations are going tobe . , to be . In terms of response, auain, to be . In terms of response, again. Youve to be . In terms of response, again, youve had to be . In terms of response, again, youve had an to be . In terms of response, j again, youve had an incident which very clearly would overwhelm a Community Like the county of maui and now that the fire is mostly out, you moved to the Recovery Stage and its just overwhelming for a community, especially a community, especially a community that is not prone to this particular kind of events. We are talking about years to recover in terms of Property Loss and the economy but you wont recover the cultural and certainly you cant recover the people that were lost. At} people that were lost. Of course not, people that were lost. Of course not, no. And you make a very important point there about the fact that this is a Smaller Community that might perhaps not be is used to dealing with these kinds of events. We