the us and south korea have carried outjoint military exercises over the waters around the korean peninsula. now on bbc news, it s hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk. i m stephen sackur. taliban rule was re established in afghanistan almost a year ago. for afghans, it s meant the return of repressive religious authoritarianism and new levels of economic impoverishment. the mullahs seem ready to absorb indefinite isolation to reimpose their orthodoxy. but is that a sustainable strategy? my guest is fawzia koofi, former deputy speaker of the afghan parliament, now a democracy activist in exile. is there any glimmer of light in afghanistan s darkness? fawzia koofi, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. it s good to be with you. well, it s great to have you in this studio. i m sure you wish you were speaking to me from kabul, from afghanistan, but you have been in exile since the taliban returned to power. how difficult for you is that separation from your country? extremely difficult. i ne
still some patchy, light rain and drizzle at this stage in scotland, though many places on thursday starting dry, not as mild. an area of low pressure, ex tropical storm alex, moves to the northwest thursday, friday and into saturday. doesn t hit the uk, but we re close enough across north western areas for it to become very windy for a time, especially friday saturday. though on thursday, winds will start to pick up in the west and from that weather system, we ll see cloud and outbreaks of rain through southern and western parts of england, wales and into northern ireland. northern and eastern scotland, down the eastern side of england, a few showers, but also warm, sunny spells around. turning very windy, particularly across the western isles on friday, some gusts 40 50 mph, blustery across scotland and northern ireland, where we ll see most of the showers. breezy for england and wales, chance of a shower, many places staying dry but rather grey and drizzly perhaps first thing on fri
asked hundreds of people about how they knew about the storm and the warnings and then what they did. and, for example, in south east england, we found that 99% of people were aware of the red warning. and also crucially 91% said they took action, which is really high, with a majority of those saying they did things like securing items around their properties in the path of the storm. based on that, we think the warnings were successful. big storms will always cause disruption and tragically loss of life, but we are sure that the warnings ensured played a big part in ensuring things were not worse. also it played a part in how we prepare for weather events at the uk, especially after the big storm of 1987. it events at the uk, especially after the big storm of 1987. the big storm of 1987. if the uk caettin the big storm of 1987. if the uk getting stormier? the big storm of 1987. if the uk getting stormier? is the big storm of 1987. if the uk getting stormier? is climate . the b
storm, storm franklin, hit the uk yesterday. people were rescued after the river severn burst its banks and homes had to be evacuated. a severe flood warning is in place in shropshire and a major incident has been declared in worcestershire. the queen has cancelled her planned virtual engagements for today due to mild coronavirus symptoms. buckingham palace said she would continue with light duties after testing positive for covid on sunday. she s currently isolating at windsor castle after testing positive on sunday. the charges against four men accused over the shooting of a black equal rights campaigner, sasha johnson, have been dropped. the mother of two remains in hospital after she was shot in the head in south london last may. a judge at the old bailey recorded formal not guilty verdicts after the prosecution reviewed the case and said it would not be offering any evidence.
in but unfortunately, all five people on board were killed in that crash. an investigation is now under way into exactly what happened. there has been some reports that the plane may have hit powerlines, electricity lines, in that area as i said, it was not far from it was due to land so that investigation is ongoing but marilia mendonca was one of brazil s most popular contemporary singers and so at the moment, the country is in mourning. she won a latin grammy, as you said, in 2019 and last year, she was the most listened to artist on spotify in brazil, the streaming service. so one commentator described her as a kind of country of country singing adele. she had shows on a beyonce scale in terms of the crowds that were there. that commentator also said that her death will hit brazil in the same way that amy winehouse hit the uk, so it gives you an idea ofjust how big a personality she was in the region and in brazil. she started her careerjust as a teenager there, had a big hit i