Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsday 20240703

No foot soldier, no commander, no civilian leader, no one can act with impunity. Prosecutors accuse israel of a state sanctioned attack against gazas civilian population, including extermination and using starvation as a weapon of war. And hamas of extermination, hostage taking, torture and sexual violence, including rape. Tonight, a very personal rebuttalfrom israels Prime Minister. Mr khan creates a twisted and false Moral Equivalence between the leaders of israel and the henchmen of hamas. This is like creating a Moral Equivalence after september 11 between President Bush and osama bin laden. Hamas also strongly denounced what it said was an attempt to equate the victim with the executioner, and that the palestinian people, like all those under occupation, had the right to resist. In israel, the response from across the political spectrum has been outrage. Israels president said it was scandalous to equate the two sides. One Opposition Leader called it moral blindness. Those in mr netanyahus own party said it would only galvanise support. The israelis, when they feel that we are under attack, they realise its not the Prime Minister being attacked, its the idf soldiers, its the citizens of israel, its people who care about democracy, people who have moral clarity are under attack. So if you are talking about politically, it will support the Prime Minister. Throughout this war, israel has insisted it is a democratic country with a moral army and a right to self defence. Seeing its leaders named alongside those of hamas has sparked widespread outrage here. But the prosecutor is clear there are reasonable grounds to accuse both sides of war crimes, including crimes against humanity. Outside the knesset today, mr netanyahus opponents had gathered to protest his handling of the war. For a Prime Ministerfacing such criticism at home, criticism from the International Court might actually help. Lucy williamson, bbc news, jerusalem. For more analysis, heres Luis Moreno Ocampo hes a former prosecutor of the International Criminal court. He says israels leader should go the court to plead his case. The prosecutor has a role. He investigated hamas crimes, and he considered, on the hamas crimes, hamas leaders are responsible. Hes not charging israel for the crimes committed on october 7 hes Charging Netanyahu for different crimes, including starvation and that is his activities, not hamas activity. So hes basically presenting at the same time different crimes committed by different people. And, if i may, ithink its an opportunity, mr netanyahu, to receive an Arrest Warrant hes still innocent as are hamas leaders, theyre not convicted. So they could call the judges and say, look, dont issue an Arrest Warrant against me. I will go voluntarily to the hague and give you all my explanations. He can do that in fact, the kenyan leaders did that years ago. So he can do that. If he wants to avoid the Arrest Warrant, he can offer himself to go voluntarily to the court. And that would be a great change to the icc, helping to transform the situation. The law applies, and thats what i am happy the law applies, and leaders should be responsible and go to thejudges and explain their reasons. And do you think thats actually going to happen, though, given the response that weve seen from benjamin netanyahu, for example . Well, thats why im using bbc to advise him, dont reject. If you are innocent, go to the judges, explain to them, ask them, look, i will go there, explain to you, and then go back to israel to do yourjob. So the kenyans did that, he could do that, he could do the same. That would be my advice. So what are the next steps . And what do you think the next steps are, then, for the Icc Prosecutor, now that these Arrest Warrants have been issued 7 there are three judges who will review the evidence. But the prosecutor did something remarkable he organised a team of Super International law experts reviewing the evidence, including judge fulford, including Theodor Meron, who was himself a victim of the nazis he wasjewish he was a victim of the nazi, he was in a labour camp. And then, he was the Legal Adviser of israel. And Theodor Meron agreed with the prosecutor on their basis to believe netanyahu should be investigated, and a warrant should be issued. So i think its a mistake to make this a political statement, this is about facts and law. And thats what the judges are doing, and the prosecutor is doing. And what did you make of the us president joe biden� s remarks, calling this call by the Icc Prosecutor outrageous . Well, its a political opinion. Its not about the facts, its not about the law. So i believe its very important to fact check ok, starvation is prohibited, you cannot starve the population, and thats what the prosecutor is saying. So, to answer that, President Biden is also against the starvation thats interesting thing. President biden is building a port to provide food and water to the gazan people. So its just the same fact for the prosecutor, its a crime. For President Biden, itsjust humanitarian assistance, its ok. Iran has declared five days of mourning, after its president , ebrahim raisi, was killed in a Helicopter Crash on sunday. Hed been travelling with the foreign minister through thick fog and rain, in a remote area near the border with azerbaijan. Irans Supreme Leader, ali khamenei, says the Vice President will take over, until elections. Heres our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet. In the fog at first light on this forbidding terrain, the crash site was finally reached and the bodies pulled from this wreckage, including president raisi and his foreign minister, abdollahian. A journalist from irans State Tv Reporting from this scene, the blue and white tailfin behind him. No one survived when this helicopter came down in the mountains of north west iran, killing eight people on board. They had flown in a convoy of three choppers, close to the border with azerbaijan. President Raisi Inaugurating A new dam. The azeri president , ilham aliyev, says he bid him a friendly farewell. In tehran today, a sad goodbye the grief of his faithful flock. And on social media, scenes of sorrow, but also, celebration. The bbc� s persian service, which cant report inside iran, has been monitoring the messages. They see him, they call him, he is the president of the poor people. But the reality is, if you look at the mass majority of iranians, we know what we are hearing from inside iran and those people who dare to come on social media and express their opinions, we see there are huge numbers of people are expressing their excitement. His death. Chanting on president raisis watch, iran cracked down on unprecedented protests a new generation lashing out against strict islamic rules, restricting their freedoms. His sudden demise wont change irans direction. Its a big mistake that western governments, they rely very much on people hostile towards iran for their analysis and for their information, and thats what makes them pursue mistaken policies that only backfire. In the islamic republic, the 85 year old Supreme Leader, ayatollah khamenei, is the ultimate authority. Raisi was seen as his possible successor. The hardliners control all the levers of power. As they start the process to select a new president , continuity is their top priority. Lyse doucet, bbc news. Lets get more on this with richard goldberg, he recently served as the director for countering iranian Weapons Of Mass Destruction for the White House National security council. He talked me through the significance of raisis death. And he has full control of all of the situations and organisations within the political system. However, what differentiates the upcoming election from the previous one as we see the Division Within the hardliners, the different factions within the hardliners are fighting for power in this election. We have seen this evidently recently in parliamentary elections when different hardliners are facing for the parliament. Therefore what is challenging for the regime as the hardliners are now divided amongst themselves. Of course, for those moderates, already isolated and marginalised and cannot yet through the guardian council, they would be disqualified if they would be disqualified if they wanted to run for the election. Therefore i think there will be a kind of Family Division amongst hardliners. It entirely depends on the Supreme Leader, whether he wants to visit some of his policy, focus on economy, the Vice President has a kind of more economic background. If you want to stay more in security, he has the option with the current speaker for parliament. Election be figurative. It entirely depends on the beeper states, who they want and what the policies might be. Want and what the policies might be want and what the policies miahtbe. ,. , , might be. How do you see these events being might be. How do you see these events being viewed might be. How do you see these events being viewed by might be. How do you see these events being viewed by the might be. How do you see these events being viewed by the us l events being viewed by the us and other powers in the region . Washington knows well, key major regional policies, the president has very involved in making decisions. The Supreme Leader, the revolutionary guard and Supreme National council are advising the Supreme Leader about the key Decision Making is especially when it comes to be surrounded relations, regional policies, the proxies in the region and so on. They know very well this absence and the foreign minister will not change much in the foreign policy. Around the world and across the uk. This is bbc news. The infected blood scandal, known as the biggest Treatment Disaster in the History Of The Uk National Health service, could and should have been largely avoided. Thats the finding of the public inquiry, into the tragedy, that destroyed so many lives. More than 30,000 people were infected with diseases like hiv and hepatitis c, in a scandal. Spanning more than two decades, from the early 1970s to the 1990s. Around 3,000 people have already died, while others are still living with the ongoing effects of infection. Hugh pym reports on the conclusions of a landmark hearing. On day one of the inquiry, perry, supported by family, gave evidence. There is a huge impact on family, because they carry you and. He didnt survive long enough to see todays report. He was infected with hiv and hepatitis c through his haemophilia treatment. His Memorial Service was this month. Today, his wife heather and son isaac were here in his memory. Its still very raw, him not being here. It was five weeks ago to the day today, so he so almost made it to see the result and have closure from what happened to him. The minute i read the first recommendation, which was compensation, and the second recommendation was to apologise, ithought, thank goodness, we have been heard. They had called for Truth And Justice for decades and today, campaigners hoped to find it as the Final Inquiry Report was published at westminster. The findings a devastating indictment of Health Leaders and successive governments. The report says the scandal could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided, and that hiding the truth included not only deliberate concealment, but also a lack of candour, the retelling of half truths. And of patients, harms already done to them were compounded by a refusal to accept responsibility and accountability. How shocked were you by what you found . How could anyone not be moved by a story, a story which begins with 30,000 people . One person is a tragedy. 30,000 is 30,000 tragedies. So, how did we get here . By the 1970s. A new effective treatment was created for haemophiliacs called factor eight product from blood plasma. And you treatment has created called factor eight from blood plasma. Us pharmaceutical Companies Used blood for it that was created from high risk paid donors including drug addicts and prisoners. In 1975, the uk announced a plan to be self sufficient, only using Blood Products from the uk. But by 1978, the nhs was still importing around half the Blood Products needed to treat haemophiliacs from overseas, primarily the us. By the end of 1982, there were warnings by Health Officials about hiv in us Blood Products, but they were not withdrawn from use in the nhs. It wasnt until 1985 that Blood Products were heat treated to remove hiv. By this time, those infected were calling for action. By 1989, hep c was formally identified in other countries started screening. But it wasnt until 1991 that screening of donations finally started in the uk. Stuart died at the age of 27. He was given American Made factor viii that infected him with hiv in 1983. The guilt of his illness lives with his mum still today. I have always blamed myself for taking him to have his treatment which infected him. It doesnt matter if people say to you, youre not guilty of that, that wasnt your fault. It wasnt. But todays report confirmed that stuarts infection could have been avoided. American factor viii should have been withdrawn earlier. As far as im concerned, this isjust the beginning, this is not the end. If we dont get some form ofjustice, somebody being taken to task, then this could happen again. They played with peoples lives. They were human beings, real people that have died. There were emotional hugs seeing a childhood friends of stuarts, clive, who is now head of the haemophilia society. Government, single servants and Healthcare Professionals for many years thought that they know best. Well, today the Community Knows best and i think one of the overwhelming emotions today will be one of vindication. Cathy married neil in 1999. Just two years later, he died. He had contracted hepatitis c after a single Blood Transfusion earlier. My husband died potentially unnecessarily in my future could have been very different in my life been very different. The Prime Minister said it was a day of shame when he spoke in the commons. It did not have to be this way. It should never have been this way. And on behalf of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, i am truly sorry. The apology was noted, but today was all about the victims and those present and remembering lives lost. Tomorrow, they will want to hear plans for compensation. Donald trumps former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, has completed his fourth and final day of testimony at the ex president � s Criminal Trial in new york. The prosecution has now rested its case. Our North America editor sarah smith is monitoring developments. The judge ordered everybody out of the courtroom so that he could reprimand a witness who had been visibly and audibly disagreeing with the judges rulings. And that witness was bob costello probably the only witness that the defence were going to call and they were using him to try and undermine the testimony of Michael Cohen, to portray him to be a liar and thats because mr cohen is the key witness for the prosecution. He is Donald Trumps former fixer, the man who handed over the 130,000 in hush money to stormy daniels, and hes also the witness who says that donald trump did personally know about the fraudulent scheme to disguise, as legal expenses, the reimbursement of that hush money. Now there was another dramatic moment today when Michael Cohen himself was on the stand, and he was forced to admit that around the time all this was happening, he stole money from the trump organization. He made a payment of 20,000 to a tech firm, and told donald trump that hed actually paid out 50 grand and kept the difference of 30,000 for himself. Now that is clearly theft. And a lot of the prosecutions case really does come down to whether or not the jury believe the story that Michael Cohen has been telling them about what happened around the hush money payments. And obviously, with his admission that he was at the same time stealing money from the trump organization, his credibility has taken a big blow today. One ofjapan� s most iconic photo spots is being blocked off by authorities frustrated by over tourism. Residents of fujikawaguchiko accuse mainly Foreign Tourists of dropping rubbish and parking illegally as they search for the perfect photo. Weve sent our tokyo correspondent Shaimaa Khalil to fujikawaguchiko to find out whats going on and she joins us now live. Get us up to speed with where you are and if that wall going to block the view of mount fuji will be destructive. Let to block the view of mount fui will be destructive. � will be destructive. Let me cive will be destructive. Let me give you will be destructive. Let me give you a will be destructive. Let me give you a look will be destructive. Let me give you a look around. Will be destructive. Let me. Give you a look around. This will be destructive. Let me give you a look around. This is the very spot where the coveted mount fuji picture is taken. If i could come closer, you can see lawson over here and on a sunny day when they are not many clouds, you will see mount fuji on top. So many places you can take a picture of mount fuji but this has become the money shot, the bible shot for so many visitors that come here and want to get that exact frame. This is where they get it from, across the street. It has caused a great deal of disruption for locals because yes, this is a Tourist Attraction Area but many locals are going about their business, going to school, walking dogs, Running Errands and this is a 2 way road where there is a lot of traffic. One big complaint as people jaywalking and they can cause accidents and also lettering all over and that is a big note injapan. Ifi lettering all over and that is a big note injapan. If i could take a closer, what is going on if you look at that builder there, they are constructing there, they are constructing the wall. Now they are putting polls in place and essentially the screen will be there to block the view and prevent people from taking the picture was what is interesting is when this announcement happened, to prevent more people from coming in, it brought a lot of Media Attention to this little town. If you look around, there is a crowd of cameras but it is so many media outlets, both local and international, that are now covering the story. A meta moment when you get tourist taking picture of the media filming them. This is the kind of attention this town has brought. They are hoping the screen will prevent people from crowding in be area. Some are not so sure this is the solution for that we spoke to a couple of locals that say it is a shame you block a view as beautiful as mount fuji. We want people to come but also do not want disruption to our lives. ,. ,. , lives. Victims of their own success lives. Victims of their own success and lives. Victims of their own success and by lives. Victims of their own success and by drawing i lives. Victims of their own i success and by drawing more attention to it, they might find themselves with more tourists. They you for talking with us. We believe that they are. Will leave that there. Stay with us here on bbc news, coming up ill have all the Business News stories with business today, including an Ai Conference currently taking place in seoul, to try and respond to calls for Better Regulation of Artificial Intelligence thats all for now stay with bbc news. Hello. We have had some late spring sunshine over recent days, also a few showers around and well see a few more of them over the next few days. In fact, between tuesday and friday, the weather turns more unsettled. This is the rainfall were expected to accumulate and you can see, particularly across the northeast of scotland, some places will see close to 100 millimetres of rain by the end of the week, so things certainly turning more unsettled gradually. As for tuesday, after a bit of a misty, murky start, some scattered showers building during the afternoon, but they will be fairly hit and miss. I think tuesday will dawn with some sea fog across the far northeast of scotland, aberdeenshire towards orkney, also some mist and fog around some other north sea coasts, northern ireland, too. Some patchy rain i think almost anywhere by the afternoon, but the areas most likely to see it, perhaps some heavy showers for the southwest of england, 1 2 in the southeast, could be some thunderstorms around. Showers fairly few and far between across parts of wales, Northern England, but some heavy, potentially thundery ones likely tuesday afternoon across northern ireland, and a scattering of showers for central parts of scotland, as well. Some areas staying a little bit murky close to the north sea coasts all day tuesday, and that sea fog will roll back in across parts of scotland as we head overnight into wednesday. Well also start to see more persistent rain working in across this zone of Eastern England and central scotland. And itll be quite a mild night, with those temperatures staying well in double figures. Now, into wednesday and low pressure looks like itll move in from the near continent, and just push its way gradually further north across parts of Northern England and scotland, as well. So you can see the blue and green colours indicating the more persistent spells of rain were likely to see on wednesday around the east coast in particular. For northern ireland, wales, perhaps central and southern england, itll be a day of sunny spells and some scattered showers, but temperatures down a notch compared to recent days so highs between about 17 19 for most, but a little bit cooler close to some of those coasts. Into thursday, weve still got low pressure this time, it stalls across scotland in particular, so its feeding in more moisture for parts of highland, aberdeenshire, for instance, as well. Could be some localised flooding as those Rainfall Totals mount up. Elsewhere, some sunshine, a few scattered showers, especially around some of those north sea coasts, and it is that bit cooler. So the middle of the week, fairly unsettled, some showers on the cards. It does look like the showers become fewer towards the weekend, and for some of us, those temperatures will be on the rise once again. Bye bye. Microsoft unveils computers with Artificial Intelligence features, marking a new era for pcs. This as britain and south korea kick off a Major International summit in seoul on al safety. Hello and welcome to business today. Im steve lai. Microsoft has unveiled a new range of personal computers that has generative ai capabilities built directly into its windows operating system. Our north America Business correspondent Michelle Fleury has all the details. The future of the pc may be here. Microsoft announced new conversational Artificial Intelligence features for windows pcs and a line of surface tablet computers. One of the features is dubbed to help you find anything you viewed on the pc in the past. Theres also a live translation of 44 languages, and something for creative times for example, in microsoft paint, it draws an image based on your sketch. These are all powered with new ai chips to deliver longer battery life, and all this matters because today, most ai Software Runs in the cloud, which uses a lot of energy. Being able to work on the device thanks to more processing power, that not only improves the data security, its also more climate friendly