First time for hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. Im stephen sackur. Israels intensifying Military Assault on lebanon has involved everything from Booby Trapped electronic devices to bunker busting bombs. As the Death Toll mounts, prime Minister Netanyahu says the target isnt the people of lebanon, its the armed militant group hezbollah, which continues to fire rockets into israel. So what, if anything, can the lebanese Government do to stave off a Gaza Style Catastrophe . My guest is lebanons economy minister, Amin Salam. Is his Government the very definition of powerless . Minister Amin Salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now . You feel right now . You said it, stephen. You said it, stephen
Minister amin salam in beirut, minister amin salam in beirut, welcome to hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk. In gaza, through diplomatic thank you, stephen. Thank you, stephen. Pleasure being with you. Pleasure being with you. Thank you forjoining me. Thank you forjoining me. War is happening to lebanon, war is happening to lebanon, minister, and yet war minister, and yet war is the last thing that is the last thing that lebanon wants. Lebanon wants. How does that make how does that make you feel right now? you feel right now? you said it, stephen. You said it, stephen. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we need. It s the last thing we would it s the last thing we would have wanted to happen have wanted to happen and we were hoping and praying and we were hoping and praying and doing our best for the past and doing our best for the past year, since the war started year, since the war started in gaza, through diplomatic channels, through every channel possible, to avoid going i
Violence and Racial Injustice shock and speculation in burundi after the sudden death of longtime president. At the age of 55. If everyone is going down and being hit hot a dire economic record says caused the worst global slump in nearly a century and theyll be more pain even without a 2nd wave plus a secret barrios in grieving families warned to stay quiet stemmons who things are accused of covering up the real scale of the outbreak. And. News as Roger Federer says hell miss the rest of the year because of surgery and professional boxing returns to the ring in the United States for the 1st time since the coronavirus stoppage. Thank you for joining us more than 2 weeks after his death while being arrested george floyd has been barrys in a Funeral Service in his hometown of Houston Texas forward was remembered by family and friends as an ordinary man transformed fades into the cornerstone of a movement of lawyers killing triggered protests across the u. S. And iran the world against ra
And coming up the new cardinals appointed by pope francis and the military action in syria are two of the topics of dicussion on dateline london. Thats in half an hour here on bbc news. Hello. Good morning. The kenyan Long Distance runner, Eliud Kipchoge has made history in vienna this morning, becoming the first athlete to run a marathon in under two hours. Becoming the first athlete to run the 34 year old covered the 26. 2 miles course in one hour 59 minutes and a0 seconds. But that time will not be recognised as the official marathon world record because it was not in open competition. Another reason for it not being recgonised, is the team of rotating pacemakers that he used, who were guided by a laser in the road, which kept them within the two hour time limit. Heres the closing moments of the run. 300 metres to go, he can see the finish line here Neil Armstrong we had on the moon in 1969. Roger bannister, the four minute mile 65 years ago. Edward hillary, the first man to climb e
And coming up, was this song from the biggest album of the 21st century . Hello, and welcome. Turkish forces have continued to strike targets in North Eastern syria on the fourth day of their offensive against kurdish militias. Pressure is building in the United States to stop turkey continuing its military operation. Kurdish Authorities Say more than 190,000 people have been displaced as result of the turkish incursion, triggered by president trumps decision to withdraw us troops. Turkey says it wants to create a 20 mile deep buffer zone across the syrian border, what it calls a safe zone, free of kurdish militias. From akcakale on the turkish side of the border, our middle east correspondent martin patience sent this report. Despite the growing international pressure, turkeys not backing down. At the border, the build up continues. As turkey claims its taking control of a key syrian town. This pro turkish fighter says theyve just entered ras al ayn. Almost immediately, theres incomin