Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240713 : vimarsana.com

BBCNEWS BBC News July 13, 2024

And at 2. 30pm its macedonia more than a name, which examines the agreement that ended the 27 year name dispute between greece and macedonia. Good afternoon. Welcome to bbc news. Questions have been raised about links between russia and leaked documents detailing talks between the United States and the uk. The papers were used by labour to claim the nhs would be on the table during post brexit trade talks. They were published on the Online Discussion Forum reddit. Last night, the site said it believed the documents are linked to a Russian Campaign to interfere in the general election. Our political correspondent, ben wright, has this report. A warning it does contain flash photography. Elections are about defence as well as attack. This morning, Boris Johnson was in stockport, saying the tories would provide more Grassroots Football funding in england. But today there are also questions about what role russia might be playing in this election. These censored, blacked out reports. This leaked government document detailing initial trade discussions between the uk and the us was highlighted by the labour party. The american message board company, reddit, said it was posted online by an account linked to a campaign originating in russia. I do think we need to get to the bottom of that. As far as im aware, we have not yet established the truth about that. But i certainly think that that document, whatever it was intended to prove, did not prove what Jeremy Corbyn and the labour party hoped that it would prove. Jeremy corbyn was out campaigning in wales this morning. Labour has said publishing the trade document was in the interest of the public and argues that the government should release a parliamentary report into russian involvement in the brexit referendum and the last election. The Prime Minister has answers to give, which he refuses to do, about russian donations given to the tory party, or the report that he is sitting on about russian interference in british politics. And of course there should be no interference in our british political system by donald trump or the russians. Russia didnt crop up in the questions last night, a debate in which borisjohnson and Jeremy Corbyn repeated their manifesto mantras. Mrjohnson focusing on brexit, the labour leader on inequality and public services. There were no shocks or surprises. With the final tv debate done, this campaign is now in its closing stages. A final chance for the parties to pick holes in their opponents arguments and drive home their core messages. While team johnson feels it has the advantage, this unpredictable election is far from over. Ben wright, bbc news, in stockport. Lets get more now on those links between russia and leaked documents detailing talks between the United States and the uk. Earlier i spoke to ben nimmo director of investigations at graphika, a social media Investigations Company which broke the story. It raises the very big question of how the leaks actually ended up online in the first place. What we know is that they appeared, a link to them appeared on reddit on the 21st of october. And the early amplification of that very, very closely resembled a known russian information operation. So the really big question is how did the leaks get there in the first place . How did they end up online, being amplified by what reddit certainly says is part of a known foreign influence operation. Is it clear whether this was done by people . Could it have just been done, you know, by machines . And does it necessarily mean that it was linked to government . No, it doesnt look like it would have been done by machines. If you look at the posting then some human being actually had to type the posts, some human being had to create the accounts, so there were human operators behind this. We dont know who these human operators were and one of the Big Questions is who exactly was behind this . The operation that was exposed in june this year which, again, my team worked on, it was a large operation which had been running for about five years, it was working in six different languages at least and across 30 different online platforms. It was a substantial operation that would have required quite a lot of expertise and manpower. But we dont have final attribution of who was actually behind it. What should happen next . Is there more investigation that could uncover more detail and should that be put into the Public Domain . Also of course there is this parliamentary report on potential russian influence into politics at the moment, that the government is refusing to publish. The first thing to do is to look more for more how the leaks came out and how they ended up online. We have had the comments from reddit already, there was quite a lot of activity from one particular twitter account. But the main question is not so much to the social media platforms, it is actually going to be for government departments. And the big question will be to find out exactly how the leak got there. It is important to note that nobody is suggesting that the documents that leaked were in any way tampered with. And that is a difference from the earlier russian operation, which used a lot of fakes. But that does then mean that a genuine document ended up online and what looks like been boosted by russian operation. Should be an internal investigation and work out in the first instance how the leak ended up online. Its the last weekend of campaigning ahead of thursdays election. Labour has announced plans to electrify the entire uk bus fleet. The project would be funded by four billion pounds from its green transformation fund. Liberal democrat leaderjo swinson has visited a tennis club to highlight her party s policies on tackling child obesity and promoting healthy lifestyles. The lib dems have also proposed new initiatives to boost small businesses. And in scotland, the snp leader, nicola sturgeon, donned her skates while out campaigning at a Christmas Market in aberdeen. Shes said there are five days left to stop five more years of tory rule. Iran and the United States have carried out a Rare Exchange of prisoners. Tehran has freed an american phd student xiyue wang, who was convicted of spying. He was swapped for iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani pictured here with the Iranian Foreign minister. Lets speak to our washington correspondent, chris buckler. It is hard to overemphasise how to loot off unusual it is for the american so anything with your radiance and particularly this president , with his view ofjust how u ntrustworthy president , with his view ofjust how untrustworthy the Iranian Regime is . It shows that both countries can talk and negotiate and i suppose that will be seen by some as being somewhat significant. Although it is important to point out that this is about two individuals, a prisoner swa p about two individuals, a prisoner swap involving an american who was essentially accused of spying in iran whenever he was there, carrying out some Doctoral Research for princeton university. And on the other case, i really and who flew into chicago airport and is a stem cell researcher who is essentially accused of trying to bring growth hormones into the country. In both cases, if you talk to other country they will tell you that their citizen had done absolutely nothing wrong. That this was in many ways political. But therefore, you can make the argument, the fact they can deal with something that both sides see as political does show that there is the hope of talks in the future and certainly donald trump, despite the fact that he has had very angry words for iran, has said time and again that he is open to negotiation and wants to have discussions with the country. Ijust think there is a danger of seeing this as being more of a moment than it is. It is a case of a prisoner swa p it is. It is a case of a prisoner swap and not necessarily a moment whenever there is a thawing of relationships between the countries. In terms of the relationship is at moment, there have been a stiffening of sanctions between both sides. No suggestion that there are going to be talks, although the president said he would be open to some potentially. How would you assess the state of play and how much domestic political pressure, if any, isa domestic political pressure, if any, is a president under over iran . think when it comes to iran, there is no doubt that congress is com pletely is no doubt that congress is completely sceptical of irans willingness to come to the table and start to have negotiations. It is not quite the same as other countries were President Trump has faced pushback on some of his foreign policies, not least with turkey and saudi arabia. It is different with iran, there is a feeling that iran are not fair players as congress would see it. It is worth pointing outjust that difficult relationship that has existed over the last couple of yea rs, existed over the last couple of years, not existed over the last couple of yea rs, not least existed over the last couple of years, not least when the us and President Trump took the decision to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal and iran actually responded by deliberately breaching some of the terms of that accord. That was a very significant moment and again it was something not welcomed by a lot of americas allies. It has been difficult even in the last number of months, particularly with the shooting down of an american drone in the strait of hormuz, there had been signs of clashes and tensions by iran to show that the countries are not coming together. There is no sense at their meeting in the middle. At the same time, we have a statement from the secretary of state, mike pompeo, saying that he can see iran being constructive in this. That is probably a step forward but only a step. There are still forward but only a step. There are still there are still very far apart. Wow buckler, thank you. Its feared a giant bushfire thats burning out of control near sydney may take weeks to put out. In recent days several fires have combined to form what Emergency Services are calling a mega blaze on a belt of land about an hours drive north of the city. Since october, australian bushfires have killed six people and destroyed more than 700 homes. Theres fresh warning that Climate Change and nutrient pollution are diminishing oxygen levels in our oceans. Thats the conclusion of the biggest study of its kind, undertaken by the group the International Union for the conservation of nature. While nutrient run off has been known for decades, researchers say that Climate Change is making the lack of oxygen worse and is having an impact on certain species of fish. We can speak now to minna epps. Shes the director of the iucns Global Marine and polar programe and joins us from the Climate Conference in madrid. Thank you for being with us on bbc news. How big a change has there been over what sort of time period in terms of oxygen levels in the oceans . Thank you, it is a pleasure to be here with you. What we are seeing is a 2 decline in the global average. Within that average you have lots of different regional differences and 2 might not seem like a lot but if you think about the terms of the Climate Change debate, we know that even i degrees will have a huge impact. In the coastal areas, but we are now seeing it in the open sea. We are looking at the reporting of your work at around 700 sites have been identified as having low oxygen levels, up from only 45 in the 19605. Levels, up from only 45 in the 1960s. 0ver several decades but that isa 1960s. 0ver several decades but that is a significant rise . Yes and the low oxyg e n is a significant rise . Yes and the low oxygen zones is a significant rise . Yes and the low oxygen zones have increased by 4. 5 Square Kilometres and that is the size of the eu so this is a huge supply of low oxygen zone. One are the impacts of different species, presumably some species need less oxygen . They are smaller and so on. Presumably some of them are very dependent on the amount of oxygen in the water . That is very true. For example, the species which have a high metabolic rate, let us say the swordfish and tuna, some of the species, they are actually dependent on oxygen rich water. They will be most vulnerable to the change. The oxygenation also results in other changes that will affect them. It might alter the energy and biochemical cycles affecting these systems that bring nutrients and oxygen rich waters to the surface. We are seeing that if you take the blue marlin, which dives about half a mile down to collect its feed, thatis a mile down to collect its feed, that is what theyre doing outside the coast of california and we are seeing outside the coast of costa rica and guatemala, they stay the surface because they want to stay where there is more oxygen rich water which means they become more vulnerable. Not only is there habitat shrinking but ultimately we will lose biomass. In terms of the impact, is there any measures that could reduce this . We are talking about mitigating effects from Global Warming but when we talk about the ocea ns warming but when we talk about the oceans and the loss of oxygen, how do you read oxygen eight the ocean . Very good question it impacts biodiversity, biomass and habitats and energy and biochemical cycles and energy and biochemical cycles and it is notjust fisheries but also other Marine Mammals that will be affected indirectly through the food web. What can be done . There is a solution and that is that we must urgently drastically cut c02 emissions. We need to invest more in nature by protecting and restoring nature. But again, what else we can do is also to reduce those climate stresses or the non climate stressors, like overfishing, that puts additional pressure. Reducing overfishing and puts additional pressure. Reducing over fishing and over pollution to the oceans would drastically improve the oceans would drastically improve the situation. Given where you are, the situation. Given where you are, the message you are sending and delivering not just to the message you are sending and delivering notjust to the public but to delegates, the people who have to negotiate how we get from the targets to implementing . have to negotiate how we get from the targets to implementing . I truly believe that the decisions being made here will actually determine the future of the oceans. Will they be thriving and nutrient rich with biodiversity 0rwell they be depleted and irreversibly damaged . I think the decisions being made here will have a different so we need to have more ambitious targets collectively. So all the naturally determined contributions which the state is responsible for, that collectively must be much more ambitious stop thank you. Lets ta ke lets take a look at the headlines on bbc news. The online forum reddit says it believes leaked government documents detailing uk us trade talks and posted on its site are linked to russia. Global temperature rises are being blamed for oceans running out of oxygen, putting many species of fish under threat. And in a rare move, a chinese american researcher convicted of spying in iran has been freed in an apparent prisoner swap. There are calls for an independent review into the shocking failures that allowed a serial rapist to be released from jail by accident, allowing him to carry out a series of attacks on women and children. Joseph mccann was released earlier this year after an error by the Probation Service. His 11 victims over a two week period included a pensioner and an 11 year old boy. John mcmanus has more. Joseph mccann captured on cctv in a petrol station. The assistant behind the counter has no idea that the customer opposite him is a sadistic criminal. Outside, in mccanns car, sits a woman too terrified to attempt to escape. He has already assaulted her after kidnapping her after she left this club. A few days later, he abducts another woman near this tube station in london, then not long after, a third woman. Terrible in itself, but instead of being free to terrorise them, mccann should have been behind bars. In 2008, he was jailed for an aggravated burglary at the home of an 85 year old man. In 2017, he was freed on licence. The same year, he was arrested for new offences and should have been recalled to prison, but wasnt. A year later, he was sentenced for his new crimes and should have gone before the parole board before he was considered safe to be freed. Instead, at the start of this year, he was mistakenly let out and free to go on to attack i women and children. Yesterday, he was convicted of 37 offences, including kidnap and rape. Now, richard burgon, labours shadowjustice secretary, has called for an investigation, saying the public must have full confidence in the justice system. He wants an independent review into what labour calls shocking failures and deep government cuts. The Probation Service has apologised, with one officer being demoted and another sacked. But that is little comfort to mccanns victims. John mcmanus, bbc news. Im joined now by katie lomas, National Chair of napo, the trade union and professional association representing thousands of members working in probation and family courts. Thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us this afternoon. The obvious thing is to say that this was a failure, but the question is, how did this failure arise . Are you any clearer after hearing the conclusion of the case, the circumstances which meant his situation was overlooked . think it is so important in these cases to understand the context that has been happening for the last five yea rs on has been happening for the last five years on probation. In 2014, the Probation Service was split into two parts, one part being priv

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