Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC 20240703 : vimarsana.com

Minister to go. He should resign after what happened six months ago the war start, and hamas and everything. He claimed that he wants to go to war and make hamas go away and bring all the hostages home, back home. For one israeli family, the hope is over elad katzir, kidnapped from kibbutz nir oz, his body returned from gaza today. The Israeli Military says he was murdered in captivity by the islamichhad group in january and that Special Forces recovered his body in khan younis overnight. During the attack in october, his father was killed. His mother was abducted but later released. In a facebook post, his sister blamed the Israeli Government for his death, saying, he could have been brought back alive if there had been a deal with hamas, and said the israeli leadership was cowardly. In gaza, a desperate wait for food, amid warnings of famine. Aid deliveries have been, at best, sporadic. When help does arrive, people rush to get it. Translation when we were displaced at the beginning, i we used to eat rotten bread because of the high prices of food here. This is the only place where i can get food for my children. The attack on a convoy that killed seven aid workers this week has put even more pressure on israel. From the us came a warning it should do more to boost humanitarian assistance and protect civilians and aid workers or risk losing american support. Israel is not only facing pressure from its allies, but also threats from its enemies. The army here is on high alert. There is anxiety about a possible iranian strike. Iran has vowed to respond to the death of a Senior Commander in damascus earlier this week in an attack iran has blamed on israel. Both sides may still want to avoid a full out war, but miscalculation is always a risk, and the consequences of an escalation unpredictable. Meanwhile, a hamas delegation is expected to attend ceasefire talks in cairo on sunday following an invitation extended by egyptian mediators. Others expected there include Us Central Intelligence Agency director bill burns and qatars foreign minister. Israels war cabinet is reportedly set to discuss whether to send a delegation. The Uk Foreign Office and Ministry Of Defence said on saturday that a British Royal navy ship will supply aid to gaza as part of an International Effort to help set up a new humanitarian maritime corridor in early may. The news comes as British Foreign minister David Cameron warns of famine in the region. In a statement, lord cameron says a short while ago i spoke to hani almadhoun, the director of philanthropy with unrwa usa. He has been helping his brother mahmoud, who is in gaza, to establish a soup kitchen operation. Youve set up a soup kitchen there. Tell me a bit more about your operation, and how many people are currently being fed by it . Great, thank you for having me again. So my brother is in north gaza with my family and my parents, and then we got tired of watching them eat pigeon food and rabbit food for the longest time. Not enough aid is allowed in, and really this is an intentionalfamine thats happening. So we decided, hey, can we get some produce, wherever we could locally get that . So we started cooking up some meals. The first day, 120 families were aided. Now were up to 620 families a day, and basically were making soups. Were not bringing in any aid because its not coming. We source local ingredients wherever we can find them. But again, there is a large response that is needed. This is an initiative for us, by us, to provide food for families and friends. Were looking, i think, right now at some videos. Is that your brother there . Yes, my brother mahmoud, who actually made the news in december. He was detained among these unclothed men and released a short while after, so it has really transformed him into something bigger about himself. He has found his purpose by making soups and providing meals to kids. We can see a line of people there behind your brother. What does it mean to them to have a hot meal served, in an area that has seen such a lack of food . Yeah, it actually means survival. The first day he served food, it made the local news. Everybody was talking about it. It was on social media, on telegram, and that tells you something is wrong. It shouldnt be such a big deal that people are making soup. He would love to get some flour, bake some bread for people, but those are not allowed in. This is not an accident. You know, i have read the area report. People are aware that there is a situation. The population of gaza in the north, theyre surviving on 12 of their caloric intake. Thats the equivalent of a soda bottle. Thats what they are getting now, and my brother is helping on the front line with the hunger, and we need a bigger, much larger response. Where are you sourcing this food from . We know, of course, its difficult to get supplies, even the basics. Right, so beit lahia used to be the breadbasket of the gaza strip, so theres foraging. He goes around and gets some greens, Collard Greens or similar, swiss chard, common mallow, and just chops them up and cooks them. My mum helps out, but there are also some things that they have left over. Hes been getting more white beans, things like that, more recently, because sometimes theyre either air dropped or gets into gaza somewhere. He always pays for it, and thats the tragedy that the aid is not getting distributed through the existing mechanisms. I want to ask you, hani, because we heard this announcement from israel saying that they would open up new routes into gaza to allow aid in. We dont know exactly when they will open, but what kind of impact do you think that announcement will have on the humanitarian situation there . It will mean life or death. You know the boy that passed away in the al awda hospital, yazan kafarneh, just a few days ago, would be able to survive i have seen some footage if israelis allowed relief into north gaza. I want to believe it. Our history always makes us question those announcements, but the action is where we are going to know, and were waiting to see that my family will survive, will have a proper meal in ramadan. And people have been hungry and starving, both at the same time. Were trying, but there is a lot more response. Theres at least 300,000 palestinians in the north that are starved or are close to starvation. Briefly, if you dont mind, israel warned gazans, of course, to leave the north of the territory before it began its invasion. We saw this mass exodus to the south. Could you just help us understand why people like yourfamily, the many thousands, decided to stay despite the risks . The first one is the history of the nakba. My family were refugees from 1948. They left once, they were never allowed again. Theres also the families who moved from the north to the south and were targeted. So my mum decided, like, hey, death is here in the south. In the north were going to stay, and preserve our dignity and our home. They paid dearly for this decision, as you know. Weve lost my brother and his family, so that is why they are still there. I hope that they remain safe for the time being. Hani almadhoun, director of philanthropy with unwra usa and other co founder of the gaza soup kitchen, which is cooking hot meals and feeding people in the community, thank you so much for coming in to speak with us. Thank you for having me. The us treasury secretary, janet yellen, has warned that there will be consequences for chinese businesses if they support russias war in ukraine. On a visit to china, the us official said russia was already benefiting from supplies of chinese goods. Trade between beijing and moscow more than doubled last year compared to 2020. Ms yellens main aim on her four day trip to china is to persuade beijing to rein in excessive production on goods such as electric cars. China says talk of overcapacity is a pretext for american protectionism. The talks are part of efforts to stabilise the relationship between the worlds two largest economies. For more on the trip i spoke to michael sobolik, senior fellow in indo Pacific Studies at the American Foreign policy council and author of the book countering chinas great game. What do you make, first of all, of this warning from janet yellen to china over its Businesses Supporting russias war effort . Beijing is going to laugh it off. Like theyve laughed off so many other warnings from the Biden Administration in the past. The reality is that the United States is in a cold war with china, and america is losing. And one of the biggest reasons the United States is losing is because so Many American politicians seem to think that they can reason with the Chinese Communist party and negotiate with them in good faith diplomacy and try to come to a win win outcome. That sounds great in theory, but there have been so many instances. Why do you think the us is losing that battle . On the other hand, of course, china is being hit pretty hard economically by some sanctions and some preventions of exports of things like semiconductors. So it only takes one person for a cold war to happen, and the Chinese Communist party knows and believes that they are in a cold war with the United States, and america doesnt. Thats simply why the United States is losing. Our leaders are not even aware of this fundamental reality. You mentioned semiconductors. To be sure, the Biden Administration has tried to take some efforts to curtail chinas dominance in certain economic sectors that are going to be important. But if you listen to Janet Yellens rhetoric and president bidens rhetoric and others, they continually say we need to co operate with china where we can and then compete with china where we have to. What that has meant, practically, is that this administration has pulled its punches and has not gone after chinas problematic actors with Human Rights Abuses and with a whole host of other issues with the intensity and focus they should have. And theyre trying so hard to keep diplomacy as an option because they think they can shape china into a responsible actor. History suggests otherwise. We have been hearing a lot from janet yellen on this trip about topics like electric vehicles and solar panels. Why do you think she has made those topics such a priority . Well, i think its, first off, important to note that even though china is investing a lot of money in green energy, theyre also the worlds greatest Greenhouse Gas emitter, so lets keep that in perspective. But i think Secretary Yellen is focusing on those issues with a lot of intensity because china has invested a lot of resources for its own companies to be the dominant players in the 21st century for solar power and for electric vehicles. And once those technologies get to a critical mass, theyre going to change a lot of our daily lives, and china wants its companies to be the ones controlling not only the vehicles and the solar panels that people and companies are buying, but they want to control the whole supply chain. And if america has learned anything from covid and the pandemic, we had a lot of critical Supply Chains right through china when the virus spread, and it impacted us in a whole host of really bad and dangerous ways. So to Secretary Yellens credit, shes trying to get ahead of the curve, but shes going about it all wrong. You dont reason with the Chinese Communist party and play diplomacy with them, you outcompete them and out leverage them. Here in washington and, i should say, all across the us and among young people, there is a lot of focus on tiktok, the social media app. There is a bill right now that would force its parent company, bytedance, to sell the company or tiktok would be banned nationwide. What do you think the chances are of that bill passing here in the us . So im talking with Congressional Staff and members of Congress Daily on the subject of this bill, and the sense that i have from capitol hill is that the momentum has slowed since the bill left the house and went to the senate, but there is still quiet progress being made. Majority leader Chuck Schumer mentioned the tiktok bill in a letter he sent to all the senators about the upcoming agenda for the senate in the next session, so i think theres a lot of road ahead. We dont know for sure yet, but ill put it this way if the United States is not able to address the threat that tiktok poses to americans, we might as welljust pack up and go home. This is the greatest source of leverage that the ccp has over america. Whenever i talk to former officials in the trump administration, they underscore that tiktok is the greatest threat that america has faced from china since covid i9. Thats a huge statement, and there are 170 million americans on tiktok, and it affords china an opportunity to shape the discourse in america and our perception of beijing. Its something that we have got to find a fix to. Very interesting stuff. Michael sobolik, senior fellow in indo Pacific Studies at the American Foreign policy council and also the author of countering chinas great game, thank you very much. Thank you. Now to a dispute in latin america. After police in ecuador raided the Mexican Embassy, the us says it encourages the two countries to resolve their differences in accord with international norms. Mexico and nicaragua have suspended diplomatic relations with ecuador in protest after officers entered the Mexican Embassy in the capital, quito and arrested the former ecuadorean Vice President , jorge glas. He later appeared in court on saturday. He was wanted on Corruption Charges and had sheltered in the diplomatic compound since december. Mexico says it had granted mr glas Political Asylum a move ecuador described as illegal. Glass lawyer says he is innocent. In slovakias president ial race, government candidate Peter Pellegrini has won the election. Slovak opposition candidate ivan korcok conceded defeat earlier and congratulated his rival once it appeared his lead was unassailable. Mr pellegrini is seen as having more pro kremlin views compared to mr korcok, who is a pro western former diplomat. The role of president is seen as largely ceremonial but highly influential, especially at a time when there are divisions over support to ukraine. Here is mr korchock speaking after the results. Translation honestly, im disappointed, but im an athlete, so i kind of expect this result. It turns out that in slovakia you can become president by running a nontransparent campaign. The campaign can also be won by making me a war candidate. Mr pellegrini, i want to tell you very clearly, i wont forget it. For more on the election i spoke to our correspondent rob cameron in prague, in the neighbouring czech republic. It looks like ivan korcok has lost to Peter Pellegrini, as you say, the candidate of the populist nationalist governing coalition. It seems that mr pellegrini has won 53 of the vote to mr korcok� s 47 , which is far better, a far wider margin, than had been suggested in the Opinion Polls running up to this second round of the election. So that has been something of a surprise. And i think, really, it is the worst fears of the liberal pro western opposition in slovakia coming to pass, because now the populist nationalist government, of which mr pellegrini is a part, led by robert fico he now controls the parliament, the government, and will soon have his man in the president s office. They believe and they fear that that will give him free rein to create what they claim will be a sort of illiberal democracy, perhaps modelled along the lines of Viktor Orbans hungary. So they are certainly not celebrating this evening in bratislava. And what about when it comes to ukraine . We mentioned this is mostly a ceremonial role, but what could a pellegrini presidency mean for support to ukraine . Well, its certainly a ceremonial role, but an influential one, especially at a time when robert fico is making so many inroads on changing slovakia. And, of course, slovakia only has one chamber of parliament, one house of parliament, so the role of president is very important. But on ukraine, i think whats happened here with the election of Peter Pellegrini as president , there will be in two or 2. 5 months time there will be no senior slovak official who is unequivocally in favour of ukraines right to defend its territory with weapons. Since mr fico came to power in october and reversed the previous slovak Government Policy of giving ukraine everything it needs to defeat russia on the battlefield, there has been a substantial departure in policy on ukraine. The current president , zuzana caputova, a liberal president she had been maintaining a very strong pro ukrainian stance. But she will leave office in two months to be replaced by mr pellegrini, who is seen very much as an ally of robert fico, the Prime Minister, and so kyiv will have lost at least the official support of the slovak government. So after hungary, it seems that ukraine has now lost, officially at least, slovakia as an unequivocal ally in their Israeli Military<\/a> says he was murdered in captivity by the islamichhad group in january and that Special Forces<\/a> recovered his body in khan younis overnight. During the attack in october, his father was killed. His mother was abducted but later released. In a facebook post, his sister blamed the Israeli Government<\/a> for his death, saying, he could have been brought back alive if there had been a deal with hamas, and said the israeli leadership was cowardly. In gaza, a desperate wait for food, amid warnings of famine. Aid deliveries have been, at best, sporadic. When help does arrive, people rush to get it. Translation when we were displaced at the beginning, i we used to eat rotten bread because of the high prices of food here. This is the only place where i can get food for my children. The attack on a convoy that killed seven aid workers this week has put even more pressure on israel. From the us came a warning it should do more to boost humanitarian assistance and protect civilians and aid workers or risk losing american support. Israel is not only facing pressure from its allies, but also threats from its enemies. The army here is on high alert. There is anxiety about a possible iranian strike. Iran has vowed to respond to the death of a Senior Commander<\/a> in damascus earlier this week in an attack iran has blamed on israel. Both sides may still want to avoid a full out war, but miscalculation is always a risk, and the consequences of an escalation unpredictable. Meanwhile, a hamas delegation is expected to attend ceasefire talks in cairo on sunday following an invitation extended by egyptian mediators. Others expected there include Us Central Intelligence Agency<\/a> director bill burns and qatars foreign minister. Israels war cabinet is reportedly set to discuss whether to send a delegation. The Uk Foreign Office<\/a> and Ministry Of Defence<\/a> said on saturday that a British Royal<\/a> navy ship will supply aid to gaza as part of an International Effort<\/a> to help set up a new humanitarian maritime corridor in early may. The news comes as British Foreign<\/a> minister David Cameron<\/a> warns of famine in the region. In a statement, lord cameron says a short while ago i spoke to hani almadhoun, the director of philanthropy with unrwa usa. He has been helping his brother mahmoud, who is in gaza, to establish a soup kitchen operation. Youve set up a soup kitchen there. Tell me a bit more about your operation, and how many people are currently being fed by it . Great, thank you for having me again. So my brother is in north gaza with my family and my parents, and then we got tired of watching them eat pigeon food and rabbit food for the longest time. Not enough aid is allowed in, and really this is an intentionalfamine thats happening. So we decided, hey, can we get some produce, wherever we could locally get that . So we started cooking up some meals. The first day, 120 families were aided. Now were up to 620 families a day, and basically were making soups. Were not bringing in any aid because its not coming. We source local ingredients wherever we can find them. But again, there is a large response that is needed. This is an initiative for us, by us, to provide food for families and friends. Were looking, i think, right now at some videos. Is that your brother there . Yes, my brother mahmoud, who actually made the news in december. He was detained among these unclothed men and released a short while after, so it has really transformed him into something bigger about himself. He has found his purpose by making soups and providing meals to kids. We can see a line of people there behind your brother. What does it mean to them to have a hot meal served, in an area that has seen such a lack of food . Yeah, it actually means survival. The first day he served food, it made the local news. Everybody was talking about it. It was on social media, on telegram, and that tells you something is wrong. It shouldnt be such a big deal that people are making soup. He would love to get some flour, bake some bread for people, but those are not allowed in. This is not an accident. You know, i have read the area report. People are aware that there is a situation. The population of gaza in the north, theyre surviving on 12 of their caloric intake. Thats the equivalent of a soda bottle. Thats what they are getting now, and my brother is helping on the front line with the hunger, and we need a bigger, much larger response. Where are you sourcing this food from . We know, of course, its difficult to get supplies, even the basics. Right, so beit lahia used to be the breadbasket of the gaza strip, so theres foraging. He goes around and gets some greens, Collard Greens<\/a> or similar, swiss chard, common mallow, and just chops them up and cooks them. My mum helps out, but there are also some things that they have left over. Hes been getting more white beans, things like that, more recently, because sometimes theyre either air dropped or gets into gaza somewhere. He always pays for it, and thats the tragedy that the aid is not getting distributed through the existing mechanisms. I want to ask you, hani, because we heard this announcement from israel saying that they would open up new routes into gaza to allow aid in. We dont know exactly when they will open, but what kind of impact do you think that announcement will have on the humanitarian situation there . It will mean life or death. You know the boy that passed away in the al awda hospital, yazan kafarneh, just a few days ago, would be able to survive i have seen some footage if israelis allowed relief into north gaza. I want to believe it. Our history always makes us question those announcements, but the action is where we are going to know, and were waiting to see that my family will survive, will have a proper meal in ramadan. And people have been hungry and starving, both at the same time. Were trying, but there is a lot more response. Theres at least 300,000 palestinians in the north that are starved or are close to starvation. Briefly, if you dont mind, israel warned gazans, of course, to leave the north of the territory before it began its invasion. We saw this mass exodus to the south. Could you just help us understand why people like yourfamily, the many thousands, decided to stay despite the risks . The first one is the history of the nakba. My family were refugees from 1948. They left once, they were never allowed again. Theres also the families who moved from the north to the south and were targeted. So my mum decided, like, hey, death is here in the south. In the north were going to stay, and preserve our dignity and our home. They paid dearly for this decision, as you know. Weve lost my brother and his family, so that is why they are still there. I hope that they remain safe for the time being. Hani almadhoun, director of philanthropy with unwra usa and other co founder of the gaza soup kitchen, which is cooking hot meals and feeding people in the community, thank you so much for coming in to speak with us. Thank you for having me. The us treasury secretary, janet yellen, has warned that there will be consequences for chinese businesses if they support russias war in ukraine. On a visit to china, the us official said russia was already benefiting from supplies of chinese goods. Trade between beijing and moscow more than doubled last year compared to 2020. Ms yellens main aim on her four day trip to china is to persuade beijing to rein in excessive production on goods such as electric cars. China says talk of overcapacity is a pretext for american protectionism. The talks are part of efforts to stabilise the relationship between the worlds two largest economies. For more on the trip i spoke to michael sobolik, senior fellow in indo Pacific Studies<\/a> at the American Foreign<\/a> policy council and author of the book countering chinas great game. What do you make, first of all, of this warning from janet yellen to china over its Businesses Supporting<\/a> russias war effort . Beijing is going to laugh it off. Like theyve laughed off so many other warnings from the Biden Administration<\/a> in the past. The reality is that the United States<\/a> is in a cold war with china, and america is losing. And one of the biggest reasons the United States<\/a> is losing is because so Many American<\/a> politicians seem to think that they can reason with the Chinese Communist<\/a> party and negotiate with them in good faith diplomacy and try to come to a win win outcome. That sounds great in theory, but there have been so many instances. Why do you think the us is losing that battle . On the other hand, of course, china is being hit pretty hard economically by some sanctions and some preventions of exports of things like semiconductors. So it only takes one person for a cold war to happen, and the Chinese Communist<\/a> party knows and believes that they are in a cold war with the United States<\/a>, and america doesnt. Thats simply why the United States<\/a> is losing. Our leaders are not even aware of this fundamental reality. You mentioned semiconductors. To be sure, the Biden Administration<\/a> has tried to take some efforts to curtail chinas dominance in certain economic sectors that are going to be important. But if you listen to Janet Yellens<\/a> rhetoric and president bidens rhetoric and others, they continually say we need to co operate with china where we can and then compete with china where we have to. What that has meant, practically, is that this administration has pulled its punches and has not gone after chinas problematic actors with Human Rights Abuses<\/a> and with a whole host of other issues with the intensity and focus they should have. And theyre trying so hard to keep diplomacy as an option because they think they can shape china into a responsible actor. History suggests otherwise. We have been hearing a lot from janet yellen on this trip about topics like electric vehicles and solar panels. Why do you think she has made those topics such a priority . Well, i think its, first off, important to note that even though china is investing a lot of money in green energy, theyre also the worlds greatest Greenhouse Gas<\/a> emitter, so lets keep that in perspective. But i think Secretary Yellen<\/a> is focusing on those issues with a lot of intensity because china has invested a lot of resources for its own companies to be the dominant players in the 21st century for solar power and for electric vehicles. And once those technologies get to a critical mass, theyre going to change a lot of our daily lives, and china wants its companies to be the ones controlling not only the vehicles and the solar panels that people and companies are buying, but they want to control the whole supply chain. And if america has learned anything from covid and the pandemic, we had a lot of critical Supply Chains<\/a> right through china when the virus spread, and it impacted us in a whole host of really bad and dangerous ways. So to Secretary Yellen<\/a>s credit, shes trying to get ahead of the curve, but shes going about it all wrong. You dont reason with the Chinese Communist<\/a> party and play diplomacy with them, you outcompete them and out leverage them. Here in washington and, i should say, all across the us and among young people, there is a lot of focus on tiktok, the social media app. There is a bill right now that would force its parent company, bytedance, to sell the company or tiktok would be banned nationwide. What do you think the chances are of that bill passing here in the us . So im talking with Congressional Staff<\/a> and members of Congress Daily<\/a> on the subject of this bill, and the sense that i have from capitol hill is that the momentum has slowed since the bill left the house and went to the senate, but there is still quiet progress being made. Majority leader Chuck Schumer<\/a> mentioned the tiktok bill in a letter he sent to all the senators about the upcoming agenda for the senate in the next session, so i think theres a lot of road ahead. We dont know for sure yet, but ill put it this way if the United States<\/a> is not able to address the threat that tiktok poses to americans, we might as welljust pack up and go home. This is the greatest source of leverage that the ccp has over america. Whenever i talk to former officials in the trump administration, they underscore that tiktok is the greatest threat that america has faced from china since covid i9. Thats a huge statement, and there are 170 million americans on tiktok, and it affords china an opportunity to shape the discourse in america and our perception of beijing. Its something that we have got to find a fix to. Very interesting stuff. Michael sobolik, senior fellow in indo Pacific Studies<\/a> at the American Foreign<\/a> policy council and also the author of countering chinas great game, thank you very much. Thank you. Now to a dispute in latin america. After police in ecuador raided the Mexican Embassy<\/a>, the us says it encourages the two countries to resolve their differences in accord with international norms. Mexico and nicaragua have suspended diplomatic relations with ecuador in protest after officers entered the Mexican Embassy<\/a> in the capital, quito and arrested the former ecuadorean Vice President<\/a> , jorge glas. He later appeared in court on saturday. He was wanted on Corruption Charges<\/a> and had sheltered in the diplomatic compound since december. Mexico says it had granted mr glas Political Asylum<\/a> a move ecuador described as illegal. Glass lawyer says he is innocent. In slovakias president ial race, government candidate Peter Pellegrini<\/a> has won the election. Slovak opposition candidate ivan korcok conceded defeat earlier and congratulated his rival once it appeared his lead was unassailable. Mr pellegrini is seen as having more pro kremlin views compared to mr korcok, who is a pro western former diplomat. The role of president is seen as largely ceremonial but highly influential, especially at a time when there are divisions over support to ukraine. Here is mr korchock speaking after the results. Translation honestly, im disappointed, but im an athlete, so i kind of expect this result. It turns out that in slovakia you can become president by running a nontransparent campaign. The campaign can also be won by making me a war candidate. Mr pellegrini, i want to tell you very clearly, i wont forget it. For more on the election i spoke to our correspondent rob cameron in prague, in the neighbouring czech republic. It looks like ivan korcok has lost to Peter Pellegrini<\/a>, as you say, the candidate of the populist nationalist governing coalition. It seems that mr pellegrini has won 53 of the vote to mr korcok\ufffd s 47 , which is far better, a far wider margin, than had been suggested in the Opinion Polls<\/a> running up to this second round of the election. So that has been something of a surprise. And i think, really, it is the worst fears of the liberal pro western opposition in slovakia coming to pass, because now the populist nationalist government, of which mr pellegrini is a part, led by robert fico he now controls the parliament, the government, and will soon have his man in the president s office. They believe and they fear that that will give him free rein to create what they claim will be a sort of illiberal democracy, perhaps modelled along the lines of Viktor Orbans<\/a> hungary. So they are certainly not celebrating this evening in bratislava. And what about when it comes to ukraine . We mentioned this is mostly a ceremonial role, but what could a pellegrini presidency mean for support to ukraine . Well, its certainly a ceremonial role, but an influential one, especially at a time when robert fico is making so many inroads on changing slovakia. And, of course, slovakia only has one chamber of parliament, one house of parliament, so the role of president is very important. But on ukraine, i think whats happened here with the election of Peter Pellegrini<\/a> as president , there will be in two or 2. 5 months time there will be no senior slovak official who is unequivocally in favour of ukraines right to defend its territory with weapons. Since mr fico came to power in october and reversed the previous slovak Government Policy<\/a> of giving ukraine everything it needs to defeat russia on the battlefield, there has been a substantial departure in policy on ukraine. The current president , zuzana caputova, a liberal president she had been maintaining a very strong pro ukrainian stance. But she will leave office in two months to be replaced by mr pellegrini, who is seen very much as an ally of robert fico, the Prime Minister<\/a>, and so kyiv will have lost at least the official support of the slovak government. So after hungary, it seems that ukraine has now lost, officially at least, slovakia as an unequivocal ally in their Military Campaign<\/a> against russia. Indias government is denying accusations by canadas spy agency that It Interferred<\/a> in two canadian federal elections. The report by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service<\/a> also alleges interference by pakistan. It was released as part of an ongoing inquiry into foreign interference in candian elections, initially triggered by alleged actions by china. On friday canadas Prime Minister<\/a>, justin trudeau, said the alleged interference was widespread and long running. Obviously the question of foreign interference is one that is extremely important, and thats why as a government we put in place significant measures to ensure that, for example, our elections continue to be free and fair, despite what we have known for years are ongoing attempts at interference by various foreign actors. This has been going on for years and decades, notjust in our democracies but in our businesses, in our academic institutions and particularly in diaspora communities, who are vulnerable to interference and negative engagement from their home countries. Earlier i spoke to raffy boudjikanian, a Senior Reporter<\/a> covering politics at canadas cbc news. Its a pleasure to have you here. Just first off, can you tell us more about whats in these documents that were recently released, and why canada now seems so confident that a couple of different foreign nations, including india, attempted to interfere in its federal elections . Happy to be here, carl. So the documents were released by canadas spy agency, csis, in the course of this Public Inquiry<\/a> into foreign interference. Theyre what csis calls unclassified intelligence summaries. They do have a caveat about as long as my arm essentially saying they could be uncorroborated or single sourced or incomplete. However, they do allege that india and pakistan tried to interfere in the last two canadian federal elections, in 2019 and 2021. So a little bit of a surprise here, because the reason were having this Public Inquiry<\/a> has largely been due to concerns over china interfering in those two elections, but now were seeing that there may be more to this. The documents say india, for example, in 2021 was using a proxy agent to try to funnel illicit funds into the campaigns of pro india candidates, candidates who may not have even known that this was happening to them, in order to get them elected versus others who may have had more pro pakistan views or may have been sympathetic to the separatist Sikh Movement<\/a> in india. Do we know, by any chance, how successful these alleged attempts at Election Interference<\/a> were . So csis does say in one of these documents that india was one of the biggest foreign threat actors in canada in 2021. It does not say, though, that india was successful at doing this. I should note that National Security<\/a> officials in this country have repeatedly said that though there was foreign interference in both of the last two elections, it never rose to threaten the overall result of those elections themselves. As for pakistan, csis actually says it was a more limited actor but that it did try, in 2019 especially, to get more pro pakistan candidates elected sort of the reverse of what india was doing but that csis undertook some sort of Threat Reduction<\/a> measure. Unclear exactly what that was, but it says that that measure was successful in mitigating what pakistan was trying to do. When it comes to india, of course, this is a country that doesnt exactly have the best relations with canada right now. How is india responding to these reports . Yeah, relations have been strained with india for the last few months. There have been a lot of headlines about how a sikh activist was killed in canada, with Prime Minister<\/a> trudeau accusing agents of the Indian Government<\/a> of having a hand in that, india not taking too well to that at all. It also has not taken well to these allegations, these ones in the csis documents, stating that it does not try to intervene in the democratic process of other countries, of canada, and that, on the contrary, its canada thats been trying to intervene in indias affairs. And it has said this repeatedly and has asked canada to stop. Weve also reached out to pakistans embassy here in ottawa, but have not heard back from them yet. Raffy boudjikanian, a Senior Reporter<\/a> with canadas cbc, thank you very much. Youre very welcome. Residents in sydney and the surrounding australian state of New South Wales<\/a> are facing renewed flood warnings after three days of record breaking rainfall caused flash floods across the countrys largest city. More than 150 people have been rescued from the floodwaters, and the body of one man was retrieved on satuday. While the rains have eased, river levels are still rising and are at risk of bursting their banks, people are being told to evacuate nearby and low lying areas. The citys main Drinking Water<\/a> reservoir is already overflowing. And finally, italys mount etna has been sending rare smoke rings into the sicilian sky. A new crater opened on the summit of europes largest active volcano, leading to an unusual display of vortex rings. Theyre made of gases and propelled upwards by a circular vent in the volcano. Stay with us here on bbc news. Hello there. On saturday we saw two sides to Storm Kathleen<\/a>. On the one hand, across Eastern England<\/a> with some weak sunshine, temperatures reached 21 celsius in suffolk the warmest day of the year so far. Further west, though, those winds were a lot stronger gusts of 60 70 mph and some large waves as well. And Storm Kathleen<\/a> is still on the scene, Tracking Northwards<\/a> to the west of the uk. Still going to bring with it some windy weather on sunday, and therell be some further sunshine, but also some showers. Its not going to be quite as warm as it was on saturday. Were going to start with a bit of early rain to clear away from North East England<\/a> and south east scotland, and then more showers will come in from the north west to scotland and northern ireland. Well see some wet weather arriving in wales, pushing through parts of the midlands and Northern England<\/a>, later into the South West Of England<\/a>. The best of the dry weather and sunshine probably through east anglia and the south east of england, but its going to be a windy day. The strongest of the winds likely to be in the far north West Of Scotland<\/a> over 60 mph. Temperatures are going to be lower than they were on saturday, but a pleasant 16 or 17 in the south east and across east anglia in the sunshine. Now, as Storm Kathleen<\/a> weakens by monday to the north of scotland, were going to find our next area of low pressure moving in from the south. And this one is going to bring with it some cloud and some outbreaks of rain. Thats mainly going to run northwards up the western side of the uk, but we will see some rain for Northern England<\/a> and southern scotland. Northern scotland likely to be dry. The winds becoming lighter, and well get some sunshine and dry weather for awhile through the midlands and across some Eastern Parts<\/a> of england. Again, temperatures 16 or 17 degrees. By the end of the day its not going to be as windy, but our area of low pressure is likely to deepen overnight and the winds strengthen again towards the South West Of England<\/a> and through the English Channel<\/a> into the channel islands. And weve still got some cloud, weve got some outbreaks of rain left over on tuesday, to push steadily eastwards across england and wales, and some further showers to the north West Of Scotland<\/a>. The Wind Direction<\/a> is changing to a north westerly and thats going to bring with it some colder air, so maximum temperatures on tuesday are only 10 12 celsius. Now, that colder air shouldnt last too long. During wednesday and into thursday, the Wind Direction<\/a> changes and we get milder south westerly winds, but that brings with it the chance of some more rain. Voice over this is bbc news. We will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. Hello and welcome. This week, were going behind the scenes on an extraordinary collaboration between cbs news, der spiegel and the insider. A car chase in florida may have provided the vital clue. Pull over . To a national. Security mystery. This all connects to something thats become known as havana syndrome. And this investigation alleges that the russians may have been involved. Well speak to one of the journalists behind the investigation. And gmail celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. Well get into if and how email fits in the future of how we communicate. But were going to start with a story you may well have seen in the news, the investigation into the attack on the iranian journalist, Pouria Zeraati<\/a>, in london. Before we meet our guests, lets just go through what we know about this story. Pouria zeraati was stabbed and hospitalised on friday. Hes since been released. The police are now saying that two people attacked him and they were driven away by a third person. They all headed in the direction of heathrow. All three suspects, the police say, left the uk hours after the attack. Now, the police havent said anything about the possible motive, though Counterterrorism Officers<\/a> are involved in the investigation. As for Pouria Zeraati<\/a> himself, well, hes a really high profile tv presenter for iran international","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia600206.us.archive.org\/31\/items\/BBCNEWS_20240407_020000_BBC_News\/BBCNEWS_20240407_020000_BBC_News.thumbs\/BBCNEWS_20240407_020000_BBC_News_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240703T12:35:10+00:00"}