Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240714

Hello and welcome to bbc news. Russias arctic north and far east are being ravaged by huge wildfires, with up to four million hectares ablaze, and vast areas engulfed by smoke. The Prime Minister, dmitri medvedev, has ordered police to investigate whether the fires were started deliberately to hide evidence of illegal logging. Russian militaryjets are providing back up to firefighters battling the blazes, which have been burning in some cases for weeks. Fires are common at this time of year, but record breaking summer temperatures and strong winds have made this year particularly bad. Our moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg has travelled to the remote irkurtsk region of siberia, and he sent this report. For weeks now, siberia has been smouldering. Vast swathes of forest shrouded in smoke and many ravaged by fire. Wildfires are common here, but not on this scale. In siberia, an area the size of belgium is burning. The kremlin has sent in the army, military planes doing what they can to extinguish the blaze. The fires are sparked by hot weather and dry thunderstorms. Theyre mainly in remote areas, but could the effects be more widespread . Theres concern that Carbon Emissions from here may be melting ice in the arctic and speeding up global warming. So black carbon is black, small particles, which falls down on ice and turns them from the white to black, so the ice cannot reflect sun radiation and sun starts to heat the ice in the arctic and it melts faster. And as if fire wasnt bad enough, there have been floods too. In this town, injune, a dam burst, following torrential rain, 23 people died. Now, the town has flooded again. From forest fires, to flooding, so far this has been a summer of hell for people in siberia. And its because of wild fires and the floods that a state of emergency has been declared in large parts of this region. Victors house is uninhabitable, but they make people tough in siberia. Russians are ready for any challenge, victor tells me, well get by. Picking up the pieces after a natural disaster. For russia, its becoming second nature. And you can keep up to date with the challenge of tackling the fires on the bbc website youll also find a feature on the local artists who are raising awareness of whats causing the wildfires. Thats all at bbc. Com news. Lets get some of the days other news. President trump says he wants a new nuclear pact to be signed by both russia and china. Mr trump said he had spoken to the two countries about the idea, and that they were both very, very excited. His comments came after the us withdrew from a Key Nuclear Treaty with russia, raising fears of a new arms race. The man co ordinating official efforts to tackle the spread of ebola in the democratic republic of congo says only about half of cases are currently being identified. Jean Jacques Muyembe warned that the current outbreak could continue for two or three years. Sudans military council and its main Opposition Coalition have announced a draft constitutional declaration to usher in a new period of transitional government. The delegations are due to continue talks over the Technical Details of the signature procedures. Thousands of algerians have taken to the streets of the capital to continue Anti Government protests for the 24th consecutive friday. They are demanding the release of those arrested in previous demonstrations and the lifting of measures to try to block the protests, before accepting any dialogue with the authorities. President trump says hes Still Deciding who to appoint as the new us director of national intelligence, after his first choice withdrew his nomination. Mr trump said the republican congressmanJohn Ratcliffe had pulled out, rather than face months of slander and libel from the media. Thered been criticism that mr ratcliffe lacked the expertise and experience to take on the role. Our washington correspondent Chris Buckler explains why congressmanJohn Ratcliffe withdrew so soon from the running. John ratcliffe is basically a congressman who is regarded in recent congressional hearings, for example, he was one of those who very aggressively questioned the former special Council Robert mueller and impressed the president by doing that. But the media have been picking over his cv and theyve raised questions about whether he really has the experience to oversee i7 civilian and military intelligence agencies in the United States. And also theyve been questioning whether or not he necessarily has the achievements that he has put down in his resume. For example, theyve maybe suggested that in his role as a prosecutor he has exaggerated just exactly what work he did in terms of counterterrorism, tried to shine a better light. And all of that pressure has come down to the point where President Trump seems to have advised him that rather than facing all of this scrutiny it might be better for him to walk away. As a result, the president is now looking for someone else to take on that very crucial role. Donald trump talked about mr ratcliffe being treated unfairly by the media, but then he also praised the media as being part of the vetting process. Yeah. I think praise is probably too strong a word for donald trump to say about the media and im not sure we have the power he is suggesting there. But certainly he said that as far as he was concerned he would select a name and the media would give their take on it and that he regarded them as being part of the vetting process. Now, i suspect people inside congress will object to that idea, because it is theirjob to take a look and really vet the credentials of people and they certainly dont want the white house suddenly throwing names out and just expecting the press to be in a position where they decide whether or not theyre good enough to do the job. And certainly there were members of the republican party, inside both the senate and the house of representatives, questioning whether or not John Ratcliffe was the man for thisjob. Of course its going to be a very big job in the year ahead. Because there were those concerns about russia interfering in the 2016 election. With 2020 coming forward, dan coats, who was the director of national intelligence, had warned he believed there would be electoral interference yet again. It was something he was concerned about. And of course this is a job where you have to stand up against the president quite a lot. If you take a look at dan coats, at times he wasnt on the same page as donald trump about issues like russian interference and north korea and at times that did frustrate President Trump himself. Jubilant crowds in puerto rico have been celebrating the formal resignation of the islands governor, ricardo rossello. He agreed to stand down in the face of mass protests over vulgar Text Messages he shared with his advisers. Mr rossello said he would be replaced by pedro pierluisi. Laura rexach is podcast host for wkaq based in sanjuan. She also took part in the protests. I asked her if people are satisfied with the change in governor. No, sadly, not at all. As we speak there are riots forming and ijust saw police putting on their riot gear as i was searching for a quiet street. Do you think that protestors perhaps ought to give the new governor, pedro pierluisi, a chance perhaps to deal with some of their broader concerns . No, honestly, not at all. He appointed himself governor in a completely unconstitutional way. He was sworn in today in secrecy in a private residence. Completely ignoring the proper steps that the constitution calls for, where the senate is supposed to confirm his naming first is secretary of state and now as governor. He says that he will not go to hearings that were called for on monday, that he will go directly to the senate on wednesday where he will give them the opportunity to either ratify or deny his claim as governor. So it sounds like these protests are not over then, that people will continue to be on the streets. Thats correct. People are upset. We have not been able to choose a governor and the options that have been given to the people are all persons that have dubious ties to the government. What needs to change in puerto rico to move the situation on, especially as the territory struggles to rebuild after the hurricane . I think a really big issue, and it is similar in the us, people need to take a step back from bipartisanship. Here Political Parties are based on what their desire for the islands political status to be, there is the pro statehood party, the pro commonwealth party, and the Pro Independence party. For many years the pro statehood and the pro commonwealth parties have led in number of votes and the Independence Party only gets 1 3 of the vote. Right now the governor that left was pro statehood. So was the senate. They refused to even consider anyone that was outside of their party. So they reallyjust created a political gridlock where none of the opponents they were looking at were really viable. Whatever happened today the protests were going to continue. Laura rexach in sanjuan. The british Prime Minister says Everything Possible is being done to ensure the safety of homes and businesses in Whaley Bridge, which are threatened by a damaged dam. Borisjohnson said it looked scary, and said there was still a substantial risk the dam could fail. Some residents whove had to leave their homes have been given just 15 minutes to collect their belongings. Judith moritz reports from Whaley Bridge. In an emergency, a comforting hand reassurance for those in disbelief at being displaced. A whole community affected, with little time to think, just an urgency to get to safety as quickly as possible. This is the danger they are running from. The dam which has protected their town for nearly 200 years tonight dangerously close to collapsing. Whaley bridge now looks like a ghost town. People asked to leave their homes and businesses and get out of the area. I finished my shift at two oclock, drove back down to Whaley Bridge to go home, and the Police Stopped me and said, you cant go into the village. Isaid, well, im a resident, i need to get in to get home. And he said, no. I said, well, my partner is at home with the dog, and he said, ring him and tell him to get out. Precautions, really, you cant risk it, can you . If something happens to the dam then were all getting wet. Here is the reason. Intense rain yesterday caused a torrent of water to overflow the dam. Damage was caused to its concrete panels, and today fears grew that the whole structure may not hold. Sandbags have been put along the top of the reservoir to try to stop it overflowing again. The pumps are just in the village now and are going up the hill to be installed to start reducing the flow, but there are also diversions at the top to avoid further water going into the reservoir, and as you know, there is a Severe Weather warning this evening, so were all working flat out to ensure that we can try to avert any crisis. The Emergency Services have set up a command centre in nearby chapel en le frith, and accommodation has been offered to thousands of people who are preparing to spend the night away from home. Police have taken over evacuating Whaley Bridge, they have done an absolutely superbjob. We have got about 85 of the people out already. 0bviously one or two people who do not want to leave or who are refusing to leave. But we know where they are if theres a problem. There is relief that everyone has been contacted and given the chance to get away, but anxiety too, as the rain continues to fall, and the realisation that a local beauty spot suddenly poses a real mortal danger. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come capturing the perfect wildlife photo. The competition focusing on birds in their natural habitats. Cheering the us space agency, nasa, has ordered an investigation after confirmation today that astronauts were cleared to fly while drunk. The last foot patrol in south armagh. Once an everyday part of the soldiers lot, drudgery and danger, now no more after almost four decades. If one is on ones own, in a private house, not doing any harm to anyone, i dont really see why people should wander in and say, youre doing something wrong. Six rare white lion cubs are on the prowl at worcestershire park and, already, they have been met with a roar of approval from visitors. Theyre lovely, yeah. Really sweet. Yeah, they were cute. This is bbc news. The latest headlines Russias Arctic north and far east are being ravaged by huge wildfires up to four million hectares are ablaze. President trumps nominee to be head of us intelligence, John Ratcliffe, has withdrawn from consideration after facing questions about his lack of experience. Lets get more on the story we brought you earlier the demise of a Cold War Nuclear weapons pact between russia and the us. Nato says its aim now will be to avoid an arms race with russia, while us President Donald Trump says he wants a whole new pact restricting nuclear weapons. Hans kristensen is director of the Nuclear Information project at the federation of american scientists. He started with his view on President Trumps idea for a new treaty. Well, it is a good objective, a good goal, but totally unrealistic at this stage. They cant even hold onto the treaties they have, much less build a new, bigger one, including a country that has never before been involved in nuclear arms control. So i dont think that is realistic. It would take a good part of five years, perhaps a decade, to work that issue with the chinese before they get into a treaty. So was it a mistake to let this cold war treaty go . Yes. It was. It was a mistake on both sides, a mistake on the russian side, they cheated, apparently, thought they could get away with it, thought the United States wouldnt pull out. It was a mistake in the United States side. Trump threw in the towel, basically telling putin, youre free from any legal obligations now to go back into compliance with this treaty. And on top of that, were also going to build some inf range weapons and potentially deploy them in europe. So a big mistake on both sides. Nato and the us said russia was not in compliance, they were violating. So was this treaty doing anything useful anyway . It was. Even though they were violating, it did provide a political framework, a legal framework, to continue to put pressure on russia. That, in my estimate, is what the european part of nato would have preferred, but the United States stay in the treaty, continuing to pressure russia and push russia to come back into compliance. That opportunity is now lost. And so, in a way, the us has become complicit in the russian violation by also pulling out. This treaty with intermediate range Nuclear Missiles is gone. Is there any other treaty left restricting any kind of nuclear arms build up between the us and russia . 0n the nuclear level, there is one left, the strategic arms treaty, the new start treaty. That is a treaty that regulates how many long range intercontinental weapons the two sides can deploy. That has been in effect since 2010, but it is expiring in 2021. It can be extended for another five years, very simply, by the stroke of a pen from the two president s. Right now, however, both sides are creating problems, raising issues, difficulties about extending this treaty. If inf goes and doubt is created about the extension of the new start treaty, we could end up in an ominous situation where for the First Time Since the early 1970s theres no International Arms control agreements whatsoever guiding nuclear weapons. Hans kristensen there. The head of brazils National Space Research Institute says he will be sacked, after a public row with president Jair Bolsonaro over the scale of deforestation in the amazon. Ricardo galvow likened the president to a teenage boy, after the government rejected evidence over the increasing tree loss in the amazon. John mcmanus reports. At 5. 5 million square kilometres, keeping track of the health of the amazon rainforest is huge undertaking and best done from space. Excessive mining,logging, and cattle grazing, threaten its viability. And, say scientists, the planets climate system. Brazils National Space Research Institute keeps an annual record of deforestation and its this data thats led to a president ial row. The institute recorded an 88 increase deforestation injune, compared with the same month last year. President bolsonaro, whos keen to exploit the amazons resources, responded by saying the space agency was smearing brazils reputation. A war of words with ricardo galvao, the head of the space institute, then ensued. Mr bolsonaro alleged the data was not truthful. Translation if these figures were true, the amazon would have been devastated three times over during the past 20 years. We have to combat this. Mr galvao, for his part, compared the president s suspicions to a joke by a 14 year old boy, but hes now lost his job. President bolsonaro wants to open up more of the amazon for development, something which has brought him into conflict with indigenous tribes. Its also attracted criticism from european governments, including france. But earlier this week mr bolsonaro cancelled a meeting with the French Foreign minister in order to have a haircut, which he then streamed live on facebook. That stance may backfire, though. Environmentalists say ratifying the recent Free Trade Agreement between the eu and brazil and its neighbours should be dependent on the latter taking serious action to protect the amazon. Ajudge has ruled that a new York Police Officer should be fired over the death of an unarmed black man. Daniel pantaleo was accused of using a banned Police Chokehold on eric garner injuly 2014 after he resisted arrest for selling cigarettes. Mr pantaleo does not face any criminal charges related to the death. Its now up to the Police Commissioner to decide whether to fire him. Argentina captain lionel messi has been banned from International Football for three months, after describing the copa america as c the barcelona forward was sent off in argentinas win, over chile. He later said that the cup was fixed for brazil and has been fined 50,000. The ban means messi will miss argentinas upcoming friendlies against chile, mexico, and germany. He has seven days to appeal. How do you capture the perfect wildlife photo . For the past ten years, the audubon photo competition has celebrated the best of bird photography images that capture the beauty and quiet moments of our feathered friends. Sabine meyer, a judge for the competition, explains to the bbc what it takes to snap the magic shot. I think we had a large number of finalist images that really showed a very creative approach to bird photography, there were a lot of different angles, different points of view, it felt very, we felt very strongly amongst the judges that the photographers really tried to push, had tried to push the envelope in terms of how can we take a picture of a bird differently . Instead of having, you know, a pretty bird sitting on a branch with perfect lighting, perfect technique, which is a great picture, all these extra added elements created an invigorating collection of images for us judges to look at. We had a lot of funjudging. And we felt refreshed, some of us have beenjudging this contest for a few years now, so this year we were really excited about the freshness of some of the approaches. The eagle with the rabbit, these pictures were really sort of perfect, decisive moment type of images, where everything coalesces into really this perfect picture. Kathrin swieboda spent many, many days tracking this picture, the moment had to be perfect, the temperature had to be perfect, it had to have the sunrise quality, this picture she shot is kind of the holy grail. The National Audubon society has taken a stance on ethical bird photography, we are promoting best practices in terms of how to take a great photo, and the basic ms there is, a picture is never worth harassing the bird. Stunning pictures in the audubon photo competition. Before we go, police in the us state of washington are used to stopping motorists, but they got the shock of their lives when they saw this a pilot coming towards them to make an emergency landing. It was all captured on the officers dashcam. The policeman quickly put on his emergency lights and diverted traffic away from the plane, which made a smooth landing. Luckily no one was hurt. Stay with us on bbc news. Friday saw a respite from the rain for many parts, although the severe Flood Warning remains in force at Whaley Bridge dam. And we do have more rain in the forecast later in the weekend, and into the new week. However the day should start for many dry, bright, a little bit of mist and fog inland now the nights are getting longer, and it could be murky for a time near the east coast before the sunshine gets to work and melts that cloud away. But notice as we go through the day there is a chance of some showers for Northern Ireland, primarily, but there could be the odd heavy, thundery one across the hills of scotland, and perhaps the odd shower across northern england, north wales, but largely dry and fine in the south and east, it is worth stressing that many places will stay dry with spells of strong sunshine through the day today. So there is reallyjust an outside risk of an interruption from a shower to edgbaston nevertheless, that risk is real. For most of the time it should be dry and fine. But as time goes by through the coming evening, this low pressure advances on further east, there is an increasing risk we will start to pick up thicker cloud, drizzly rain and then, by the time we are heading towards morning, some heavy rain coming into Northern Ireland. Ahead of that we are pulling in a southerly wind, so that will increase the temperature and humidity, so it will be warmer, if anything, through the coming night, temperatures 15 degrees in the central belt of scotland. With that extra humidity comes the risk of some more significant rain on sunday. Bands of slow moving, heavy and thundery showers are forecast for scotland, for Northern Ireland for a time, northern england, north wales, really anywhere from the midlands and lincolnshire northwards, but again, southern and eastern areas, largely fine and warm, warmer still, 26 27 on sunday. But given the risk of further heavy downpours in those areas already affected by flooding, the met office have issued that warning ahead of time. And actually it looks more unsettled then again in the next week, almost as if the weather is repeating its pattern, low pressure comes in and become slow moving, and throws further spells of rain at us. We start that way on monday, that clears up the way, some respite, heavy showers follow back into Northern Ireland, it will feel fresher on monday with that humid air clearing for a while, picking up more of a south westerly wind for the start of the new week. But again come tuesday, it looks as if they will be some rather large and heavy showers around with some hail and thunder in there as well. So it is one of those we need to keep our eye on, as ever there is more on the website. This is bbc news, the headlines Russias Arctic north and far east are being ravaged by huge wildfires with up to four million hectares ablaze, and vast areas engulfed by smoke. Fires are common at this time of year, but record breaking summer temperatures and strong winds have made this year particularly bad. Us President Donald Trump has said his choice for the new director of national security, John Ratcliffe, has withdrawn from considerationjust five days after he was nominated for the role. Critics said that mr ratcliffe lacked the expertise and experience to take on the role. Crowds in puerto rico are celebrating the formal resignation of the islands governor, ricardo rossello. He agreed to stand down as governor in the face of mass protests over vulgar Text Messages he shared with his advisers. He will be replaced by pedro pierluisi. The governor of the bank of england, mark carney, has warned