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[00:00:13] Live from Washington. This is
[00:00:15] BBC News. The US Senate passes a
[00:00:18] a sanctions package aimed at helping helping Ukraine by cutting off funds
[00:00:22] funds to Russia. It now faces a vote
[00:00:24] vote in the House of Representatives. Representatives. Thailand's Prime
[00:00:28] Prime Minister pledges new gun laws laws after a 14-year-old student
[00:00:31] student shoots dead. Six
[00:00:36] Shoots dead six people at a school after killing two of his grandparents grandparents at a US appeals court
[00:00:40] court orders the Trump administration administration to stop building a a $400 million ballroom at the White
[00:00:43] White House. The President says he'll
[00:00:45] he'll appeal at the Supreme Court.
[00:00:56] Court. I'm Helena Humphrey good to to have you with us. The US Senate
[00:00:59] Senate has overwhelmingly passed passed a sanctions bill against Russia.
[00:01:03] Russia. It aims to choke off Russia's Russia's economy and bring an end
[00:01:06] end to the war in Ukraine. Now the the legislation targets major buyers
[00:01:10] buyers of Russian oil and gas and and imposes additional sanctions
[00:01:13] sanctions on Russian leaders and and oligarchs. The measure was championed
[00:01:17] championed by the late Senator Lindsey Lindsey Graham. It still needs to
[00:01:20] to pass the House of Representatives Representatives where it may face
[00:01:24] face some resistance. That's largely largely because of a provision in in the bill that would give President
[00:01:28] President Trump the ability to impose
[00:01:29] impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries
[00:01:33] countries that are major consumers consumers of Russian energy. Lindsey
[00:01:36] Lindsey Graham's sister, South Carolina Carolina Republican Senator Darlene
[00:01:39] Darlene Graham and Richard Blumenthal, Blumenthal, the Democratic senator senator from Connecticut, are among
[00:01:43] among the lawmakers voicing support support for the bill. An emotional
[00:01:47] emotional day in a very exciting
[00:01:48] exciting day for me. Russia has waged
[00:01:51] waged war against Ukraine for far far too long, and this bill assists
[00:01:55] assists President Trump and his noble noble efforts to bring it to a close.
[00:01:59] close. This legislation was deeply
[00:02:01] deeply important to my brother Lindsey, Lindsey, and I am grateful that this
[00:02:04] this bill has achieved such a wide
[00:02:07] wide coalition of support. He believed believed that this was the most consequential
[00:02:11] consequential piece of legislation legislation that he had ever led.
[00:02:14] led. Vladimir Putin is watching in in Moscow. I'd like to thank Lindsey
[00:02:18] Lindsey Graham is watching as well well and proud of what we've done,
[00:02:22] done, because today we send a message
[00:02:23] message to Vladimir Putin, you will
[00:02:27] will not win this war. Time to come
[00:02:30] come to the table for peace. Your
[00:02:32] Your economy already on its heels
[00:02:36] heels is going to be throttled, even even decimated. Ukrainian President
[00:02:40] President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked thanked US senators for passing the
[00:02:43] the sanctions bill. Meanwhile, Russia Russia has seized tens of thousands
[00:02:47] thousands of homes across regions
[00:02:49] regions of Ukraine that it had illegally illegally annexed since its invasion
[00:02:52] invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Russian government told the BBC that
[00:02:55] that the scheme is part of the, quote,
[00:02:57] quote, legal framework for integrating
[00:03:00] integrating the reunited regions regions into the Russian system.
[00:03:03] system. The BBC has analysed hundreds
[00:03:04] hundreds of publicly available documents documents detailing how occupation
[00:03:08] occupation authorities are taking taking away Ukrainian homes. BBC
[00:03:12] BBC Verify's Olga Robinson has more.
[00:03:17] more. Ihor Ivashchuk hasn't seen seen his home in the Ukrainian city
[00:03:20] city of Mariupol for years. The evangelical
[00:03:22] evangelical pastor fled the city
[00:03:24] city in September 2022, shortly before before Russia illegally annexed the
[00:03:28] the region. He hasn't been able to
[00:03:30] to return since. In his absence, absence, Egor says a man in military
[00:03:34] military uniform turned up on his
[00:03:37] his doorstep. He asked what kind
[00:03:39] kind of housing it was, where the the owner was, what documents there
[00:03:43] there were and things like that.
[00:03:46] that. His house is among more than
[00:03:49] than 34,000 homes that are being being seized by Moscow installed installed authorities across four
[00:03:53] four occupied regions of Ukraine.
[00:03:55] Ukraine. The BBC has analysed hundreds
[00:03:57] hundreds of official documents published
[00:04:00] published since 2024. This is how
[00:04:02] how the process works. Moscow installed installed officials first declare
[00:04:05] declare properties as having signs signs of being ownerless. They then
[00:04:08] then require the Ukrainian owners owners to obtain a Russian passport
[00:04:11] passport and prove ownership in person, person, all within just 30 days.
[00:04:15] days. If Ukrainians fail to do so,
[00:04:17] so, their homes are declared ownerless ownerless transferred to the local
[00:04:21] local authority and can be reassigned reassigned to someone else. Mariupol
[00:04:24] Mariupol has seen most of the seizures. seizures. The city was bitterly fought
[00:04:28] fought over in the early days of of the invasion, and thousands of
[00:04:31] of people fled more than 14,000 homes
[00:04:35] homes and properties here have been been labelled Ownerless and are being
[00:04:39] being seized. And it's not just a
[00:04:41] a local initiative. It has the personal
[00:04:44] personal endorsement from President President Putin, a law he signed
[00:04:46] signed in December last year formalised formalised the process allowing the
[00:04:50] the properties to be given or temporarily temporarily leased to Russian citizens
[00:04:54] citizens only. Experts say this appears appears to be part of the wider efforts
[00:04:58] efforts to russify the occupied regions. regions. The Russian government told
[00:05:02] told us this scheme established procedures procedures for managing residential
[00:05:05] residential property whose owners
[00:05:07] owners cannot be identified or contacted.
[00:05:11] contacted. Igor says he doesn't know know if someone lives in his home
[00:05:14] home now, but still hopes to see
[00:05:16] see it one day. For me or my family,
[00:05:19] family, the question is where we we will live to see that time. I
[00:05:23] I would like to. Ukrainians we spoke
[00:05:25] spoke to say it's not just homes
[00:05:27] homes they're losing but their memories
[00:05:30] memories and heritage. Olga Robinson,
[00:05:32] Robinson, BBC News. Saudi Arabia, Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have
[00:05:36] have signed an historic joint defence defence agreement saying that an
[00:05:39] an attack on one country would be be considered an attack on all three.
[00:05:42] three. Well, the countries have been
[00:05:44] been looking to strengthen security security co-operation amid the US-Iran
[00:05:48] US-Iran war. The deal was announced announced at a meeting between the
[00:05:50] the Saudi crown Prince Mohammed bin bin Salman. The Turkish president,
[00:05:53] president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, and the Pakistani Prime Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, in
[00:05:57] in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi
[00:05:59] Saudi Arabia has faced direct attacks
[00:06:02] attacks by Iranian forces as well
[00:06:04] well as by Iran aligned Houthi fighters
[00:06:06] fighters in Yemen. Alex Vatanka is is a senior fellow and founding director
[00:06:10] director of the Iran programme at at the Middle East Institute. And
[00:06:13] And I asked him if he thought the the defence pact could be tested
[00:06:17] tested in this current war. This This is pretty significant development.
[00:06:20] development. I don't think you can can under estimate what this agreement
[00:06:24] agreement could potentially mean, mean, but I would just caution and
[00:06:27] and this is really early days to to say that the agreement as of right
[00:06:30] right now is anything much more than than a political statement. It's
[00:06:34] It's significant as a political statement, statement, but whether it sort of
[00:06:38] of turns into a genuine military
[00:06:40] military force of sorts and a commitment
[00:06:42] commitment to, you know, folks out out there are comparing this to article
[00:06:46] article five of Nato really early early days to say that, you know,
[00:06:49] know, we're talking about three significant significant regional players Turkey,
[00:06:52] Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan. But there are significant
[00:06:56] significant in their own ways and and they have their own priorities priorities of Turkey and Nato. State
[00:07:00] State has a huge defence sector.
[00:07:01] sector. The Saudis are oil super
[00:07:04] super power, plenty of financial financial capacity, many different
[00:07:07] different security threats that they're they're under. And the Pakistanis
[00:07:11] Pakistanis also a serious military military power, if you will, but
[00:07:14] but would focus on India and a history history of being very reluctant to
[00:07:17] to be dragged into actual combat. combat. What the Pakistanis have
[00:07:20] have been very good at is to help help the likes of Saudi Arabia. But
[00:07:24] But when it came to, for example, example, showing up and fight along
[00:07:26] along the side alongside the Saudis, Saudis, saying the case of the Yemen
[00:07:30] Yemen war, the Pakistanis said, thank thank you, but no thanks, but we're
[00:07:33] we're in a different place, Helena, Helena, because this war that just just happened in the last few months,
[00:07:36] months, six months we're into it it has put the region in a different
[00:07:39] different place. And that might just just mean that this agreement is
[00:07:42] is actually going to be qualitatively qualitatively different than the the failed ones we've seen in the
[00:07:46] the last decade plus. Police in Thailand
[00:07:48] Thailand say that a 14-year-old student student has killed at least eight
[00:07:51] eight people in gun attacks at his
[00:07:54] his home and school on the outskirts outskirts of Bangkok, the Thai Prime
[00:07:57] Prime Minister said the teenager teenager killed his grandparents
[00:08:00] grandparents and five teachers before before taking his own life. Thai
[00:08:03] Thai media later reported that a
[00:08:05] a school student had died from their their injuries. At least 30 other
[00:08:08] other people were injured in the the attacks and despite strict gun
[00:08:12] gun laws that punish illegal firearm firearm possession with up to ten
[00:08:15] ten years in prison, Thailand has has one of the highest rates of civilian
[00:08:19] civilian gun ownership in South East
[00:08:21] East Asia. It's estimated that 40%
[00:08:23] 40% of guns there are possessed illegally.
[00:08:26] illegally. Our South East Asia correspondent correspondent Jonathan Head has this
[00:08:29] this report a warning that it does does contain distressing details
[00:08:32] details from the very start. Fear
[00:08:38] Fear and panic in a Thai secondary
[00:08:40] secondary school classroom as shots
[00:08:42] shots ring out in the corridor. Staff
[00:08:47] Staff frantically evacuated the children.
[00:08:50] children. This is a big school with
[00:08:52] with around 3000 pupils police officers
[00:08:56] officers and ambulances were on the the scene within minutes, but it
[00:08:59] it took time to find the gunman.
[00:09:01] gunman. By the time they did, he'd
[00:09:03] he'd taken his own life. He was identified
[00:09:06] identified as a 14-year-old boy,
[00:09:08] boy, a student at the school. At
[00:09:14] At first I thought they were sounds sounds of firecrackers or someone
[00:09:17] someone banging on to something loudly,
[00:09:18] loudly, but then we started realising
[00:09:22] realising they were not. And then then it started getting more frequent.
[00:09:26] frequent. Like. Throughout the morning,
[00:09:29] morning, ambulances carried the injured
[00:09:31] injured to hospital. Once the shooting shooting had stopped, distressed
[00:09:35] distressed families rushed to the
[00:09:36] the school seeking information about
[00:09:39] about missing relatives. So what what we know so far is that the young
[00:09:42] young gunman reached the fourth floor floor of this building and was able
[00:09:46] able to move along, firing multiple
[00:09:48] multiple shots into each of the classrooms,
[00:09:51] classrooms, hitting teachers and and his fellow pupils. What we don't
[00:09:54] don't know is how someone so young young managed to get hold of a gun
[00:09:58] gun and that much ammunition. Later
[00:10:02] Later in the day, the Thai Prime Prime Minister visited the scene.
[00:10:06] scene. He says gun laws have already
[00:10:08] already been tightened but Thailand
[00:10:10] Thailand still has some of the highest highest levels of gun crime in the
[00:10:14] the region. The horrific incident
[00:10:16] incident here today, just one more
[00:10:18] more grim statistic Jonathan Head,
[00:10:21] Head, BBC News Nonthaburi Thailand.
[00:10:24] Thailand. A US appeals court has
[00:10:26] has ordered President Trump to halt halt construction of his $400 million
[00:10:30] million White House ballroom. The The judges ruled that the ballroom, ballroom, which is being built on
[00:10:33] on the site of the demolished East East Wing, needs congressional approval.
[00:10:37] approval. President Trump vowed an an immediate appeal to the US Supreme
[00:10:40] Supreme Court and our North America
[00:10:42] America editor Sarah Smith has more
[00:10:45] more now. Donald Trump still essentially essentially thinks and behaves like
[00:10:48] like the property developer he used used to be. One does one thing. Three
[00:10:51] Three months ago, he was proud to to show off the construction site
[00:10:54] site where the East Wing previously
[00:10:57] previously stood. Its sudden demolition
[00:11:00] demolition last year shocked many many and sparked a lawsuit aimed
[00:11:02] aimed at stopping him building his his massive new ballroom. Today he's
[00:11:06] he's been told he does not have the the authority to dramatically alter
[00:11:10] alter this historic landmark. The The ballroom has become something
[00:11:13] something of an obsession for President President Trump. He carries pictures
[00:11:16] pictures of how he wants it to look look on Air Force One. A lot of people
[00:11:19] people are giving it really good good reviews. Some are giving it it reviews without even seeing the
[00:11:23] the building because this just came came out. After a gunman caused them
[00:11:26] them to be evacuated from the White White House Correspondents Dinner
[00:11:29] Dinner in April. He argued that showed
[00:11:30] showed the need for a secure ballroom. It's drone proof. It's
[00:11:34] It's bullet-proof glass. We need need the ballroom. That's why Secret Secret Service. That's why the military
[00:11:38] military are demanding. It today, today, he complained on social media,
[00:11:41] media, the military and Secret Service Service are viewing this horrendous,
[00:11:44] horrendous, politically motivated motivated and unlawful ruling as
[00:11:47] as a national security threat. There There is a state of the art military
[00:11:51] military bunker being built underneath underneath the ballroom. Work on
[00:11:53] on that is allowed to continue. You You can see building work is still
[00:11:57] still going on in the ballroom today today with these cranes that are
[00:12:00] are operating above the White House. House. And President Trump's got got two weeks in which he can carry
[00:12:04] carry on while he appeals to the the Supreme Court, hoping they will
[00:12:07] will rule that he can finish the the construction. If that fails,
[00:12:11] fails, though, he can go to Congress Congress and ask them to vote to
[00:12:13] to give him the authority to finish finish the ballroom. But it's far
[00:12:17] far from certain that he would actually actually win that vote. There is
[00:12:20] is some mystery about what's going going on behind the scenes with the
[00:12:24] the funding for this project. President President Trump has raised hundreds
[00:12:27] hundreds of millions of dollars from from private donors, but won't tell
[00:12:30] tell us how much they've given or or what he may have promised them
[00:12:33] them in return. Oh, that's so great.
[00:12:37] great. The disastrous refurbishment refurbishment of Washington's reflecting
[00:12:39] reflecting pool has become a deeply deeply embarrassing flop for Donald
[00:12:43] Donald Trump. Now he has to ask the the courts or Congress to let him
[00:12:47] him complete his renovation of the the most famous house in America.
[00:12:50] America. Sarah Smith, BBC News, Washington. Washington. Well, just to let you
[00:12:54] you know, in the last hour, President President Trump has posted on his
[00:12:57] his social platform truth, social, social, social, saying that it's
[00:13:01] it's within the rights of a United United States president to, quote,
[00:13:04] quote, fix, renovate, secure, protect
[00:13:07] protect and beatify the and beautify beautify the White House grounds
[00:13:11] grounds which has been built and
[00:13:13] and rebuilt, renovated and renovated,
[00:13:15] renovated, repaired and simply made
[00:13:17] made better many times since 1792
[00:13:20] 1792 and never needing the permission
[00:13:22] permission of Congress or anyone
[00:13:25] anyone else to do so. Well, Columbia
[00:13:27] Columbia has inaugurated a new president, president, the conservative Abelardo
[00:13:31] Abelardo de la Espriella has vowed
[00:13:33] vowed to launch a war on drug running running guerillas and improve relations
[00:13:36] relations with the United States. States. An ally of President Trump.
[00:13:39] Trump. Mr de la Espriella has offered
[00:13:41] offered to engage in joint military military operations with the United
[00:13:45] United States and to host American American troops in Colombia. Well,
[00:13:48] Well, the Argentinian president, president, Javier Millet, US acting
[00:13:51] acting Attorney General Todd Blanch Blanch and president of Fifa, Gianni
[00:13:55] Gianni Infantino, attended the inauguration
[00:13:57] inauguration in the city of Cali
[00:14:00] Cali on Friday and BBC Mundo's, Colombia
[00:14:03] Colombia correspondent Jose Carlos Carlos Cueto Lopez told me what voters
[00:14:06] voters can expect from the new president.
[00:14:10] president. Well, Colombia can expect expect an iron fist on security.
[00:14:13] security. De la Espriella has already
[00:14:15] already promised to increase military
[00:14:17] military spending and has given an an ultimatum to drug traffickers
[00:14:21] traffickers and armed groups, which which is surrender to the justice
[00:14:25] justice system or face a strong military
[00:14:28] military action. He also has pledged
[00:14:31] pledged to bomb narco camps and narco narco vessels, which is a strategy
[00:14:35] strategy that echoes a bit. The one one of the Trump administration,
[00:14:39] administration, the Trump administration, administration, military campaign
[00:14:41] campaign in South American waters,
[00:14:43] waters, which has killed around 200
[00:14:47] 200 people since last August. De
[00:14:49] De la Espriella also said that Colombia Colombia will be joining the Shield
[00:14:52] Shield of Americas, which is this
[00:14:55] this initiative. Coalition of Security
[00:14:58] Security and political allies that that other countries in Latin America
[00:15:02] America are member of, like Ecuador, Ecuador, Peru, El Salvador. It is
[00:15:05] is expected that as early as today
[00:15:08] today or early tomorrow, Abelardo Abelardo de la Espriella could be
[00:15:12] be signing his first executive orders
[00:15:14] orders or those are likely to be
[00:15:16] be concerning security issues. And
[00:15:20] And there you can see a military military parade which is currently
[00:15:24] currently under way there in Colombia
[00:15:27] Colombia for his inauguration, which which is taking place not in Bogota,
[00:15:31] Bogota, the capital, but in Cali
[00:15:35] Cali instead. Now, President Trump's Trump's pick to lead the US Justice
[00:15:38] Justice Department is on the verge verge of being confirmed after somewhat
[00:15:42] somewhat of a rocky nomination process. process. Todd Blanch is Donald Trump's
[00:15:45] Trump's former personal defence lawyer. lawyer. He has been serving as acting
[00:15:49] acting US Attorney General since since the President fired Pam Bondi
[00:15:52] Bondi back in April of this year. year. His confirmation it was in
[00:15:56] in doubt after Republican Senator Senator Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski
[00:16:00] Murkowski said that they would vote
[00:16:01] vote against him. That left his confirmation
[00:16:04] confirmation dependent on a yes vote vote from another Republican senator,
[00:16:07] senator, Bill Cassidy, on Thursday, Thursday, Senator Cassidy, a Trump
[00:16:11] Trump critic, said that he would
[00:16:12] would vote to confirm Mr Blanch as
[00:16:15] as Attorney General. Well, we can can go live now to Josh Gerstein,
[00:16:19] Gerstein, a senior legal affairs affairs reporter at Politico. Good
[00:16:21] Good to have you on the programme. programme. So confirmation looks
[00:16:25] looks likely, but it certainly wasn't
[00:16:27] wasn't an easy path to get to this
[00:16:29] this point. No, it certainly wasn't.
[00:16:32] wasn't. And the biggest obstacle
[00:16:34] obstacle was this sort of enormous
[00:16:36] enormous fund that the Trump administration administration decided it was going
[00:16:39] going to attempt to set up almost
[00:16:43] almost $1.8 billion, that they were were going to give away to victims
[00:16:46] victims of what they called lawfare lawfare and weaponization. It's something
[00:16:49] something that actually caused a a screaming match between Blanch
[00:16:53] Blanch and senators behind closed closed doors before he was nominated
[00:16:57] nominated to this position. And it it became a huge albatross around
[00:17:01] around his neck during the confirmation
[00:17:03] confirmation process, although not not sufficient to actually prevent prevent him from getting the nod.
[00:17:07] nod. It looks like as of this moment moment now. And just remind us of
[00:17:11] of other concerns that had been expressed
[00:17:14] expressed about his appointment. appointment. Well, there are concerns
[00:17:17] concerns about also about retaliatory
[00:17:20] retaliatory prosecutions. We've seen seen the former FBI director Jim
[00:17:23] Jim Comey being charged with in two
[00:17:26] two different criminal cases. You've You've had Trump openly calling for
[00:17:30] for other people he considers to to be enemies to be charged. And
[00:17:33] And you've seen the Justice Department
[00:17:36] Department follow through with that. that. In some cases that troubled
[00:17:39] troubled a bunch of senators. You You had comments just the other day
[00:17:42] day that Mr Blanch made to religious religious activists about abortion,
[00:17:46] abortion, that he was going to crack
[00:17:48] crack down on the availability of of abortion across the country. That
[00:17:51] That was also something. But I think think it was just generally a concern
[00:17:55] concern that as a former defence defence attorney for the President,
[00:17:58] President, as you mentioned, that that he was just a little too close
[00:18:02] close to President Trump to really really be the nation's chief law
[00:18:05] law enforcement officer. But of course,
[00:18:08] course, Josh, this was President President Trump's pick. If he is
[00:18:12] is confirmed, which looks likely, likely, what will this mean for President President Trump? Surely something
[00:18:15] something of a victory for him. Yeah, Yeah, it's definitely something he's
[00:18:19] he's going to tally as a win. I don't don't know that it affects that much.
[00:18:22] much. What Blanch was going to be be able to do, which is why this
[00:18:25] this has always been something of of a symbolic fight. He is the confirmed
[00:18:29] confirmed deputy Attorney General, General, and the law is pretty clear
[00:18:31] clear that if we don't have a confirmed
[00:18:34] confirmed Attorney General, the deputy deputy Attorney General fills that
[00:18:36] that position. So it's more of a a symbolic battle over whether he
[00:18:40] he got to have the title and whether
[00:18:42] whether President Trump still has
[00:18:44] has the political might on Capitol Capitol Hill to push his nominees
[00:18:48] nominees forward. It looks like he he does, although only by the very
[00:18:52] very narrowest of margins. That's That's a good point, Josh. I mean,
[00:18:55] mean, do you think that this vote vote or at least the run up to it
[00:18:59] it and some of the rows that we saw
[00:19:01] saw kind of exposed lingering divisions divisions within the Republican Party
[00:19:05] Party over Trump's influence? Oh,
[00:19:07] Oh, that's definitely the case, especially especially when we look at the fact
[00:19:11] fact that a couple of the senators senators who were very wobbly here,
[00:19:14] here, maybe three of them I can think think of had trouble because they
[00:19:18] they had been opposed by President President Trump in their own primaries
[00:19:22] primaries for re-election and basically basically are going to be leaving
[00:19:25] leaving the Senate at the end of of this year, in large part due to
[00:19:28] to President Trump's personal political political opposition to them. So
[00:19:32] So that became a huge hurdle for
[00:19:34] for him to try to overcome in this this process, trying to get his nomination
[00:19:37] nomination through with people that that he had basically crossed swords
[00:19:41] swords with politically just in the the last few months. Josh Gerstein,
[00:19:44] Gerstein, their senior legal affairs affairs reporter at Politico. Good
[00:19:47] Good to talk to you. Thank you. Josh.
[00:19:49] Josh. Thank you. Well, Hunter Biden,
[00:19:52] Biden, the son of former US President
[00:19:54] President Joe Biden, has defended defended the controversial presidential
[00:19:58] presidential pardon, which was granted granted by his father in an interview
[00:20:01] interview with the BBC's Newsnight. Newsnight. Now, he said that he feels
[00:20:03] feels like the most privileged person person that there is, while acknowledging
[00:20:08] acknowledging that people would find find it unfair. The former president's
[00:20:11] president's son also spoke candidly candidly about his father's cancer
[00:20:15] cancer battle and his own battle battle with addiction. Hunter Biden
[00:20:17] Biden also said that he did not advise advise his father to run for a second
[00:20:21] second term against Donald Trump, Trump, and he spoke to BBC Newsnight
[00:20:24] Newsnight presenter Paddy O'Connell. O'Connell. Did you advise him to
[00:20:28] to run again? No, I did not because
[00:20:34] because what was it like for you
[00:20:35] you explaining this love and respect,
[00:20:39] respect, watching the 2024 presidential presidential debate? Where were you?
[00:20:43] you? Hunter, when your father failed
[00:20:45] failed to complete a sentence on
[00:20:48] on prime time television during a
[00:20:51] a presidential election campaign?
[00:20:52] campaign? Where were you watching
[00:20:56] watching that? I was alone in. I
[00:20:59] I wasn't alone, I was at my house
[00:21:01] house in here in California and I I was watching and I always like
[00:21:04] like to if I'm not with him, be to
[00:21:06] to able to watch alone. And so I
[00:21:09] I was alone in a room with the TV TV and I was watching it. And like
[00:21:12] like everybody else, I was shocked.
[00:21:15] shocked. I could tell as soon as as my father came out that something
[00:21:18] something was wrong. I've never seen
[00:21:21] seen him with a kind of the 100 yard
[00:21:24] yard stare that he had and you know,
[00:21:28] know, everybody has their questions, questions, you know, of. But the
[00:21:31] the reason that we know about that
[00:21:33] that is not because Joe Biden wasn't
[00:21:35] wasn't on TV or in public a million
[00:21:38] million and a half times before and and after. The reason that was so
[00:21:42] so shocking is because it had never never happened before, and it hasn't
[00:21:46] hasn't happened since. And so I can't
[00:21:49] can't necessarily explain it. I have have theories about it. I have theories
[00:21:52] theories about the fact that he had had travelled as much as he did,
[00:21:55] did, and he was taking Ambien, I I believe, which they I'm positive
[00:21:59] positive they gave him when he was was going back and forth from Asia.
[00:22:03] Asia. I think he had flown, I think,
[00:22:05] think, eight different legs in a a three week period of time. But
[00:22:09] But regardless, these are just theories theories of mine. I also know that
[00:22:12] that he obviously had cancer. Whether Whether it impacted him or not, he
[00:22:16] he had by the. Nine months later later he was diagnosed with stage
[00:22:19] stage four prostate cancer and stage stage four metastatic bone cancer,
[00:22:23] cancer, none of which we knew. But
[00:22:25] But my reaction to it was that I I was as shocked, I think, as anyone
[00:22:29] anyone who knew Joe Biden was. More
[00:22:33] More than 180,000 households and and businesses in Puerto Rico are are rationing water with the island
[00:22:37] island in the grip of a severe drought. drought. Now, July was San Juan's
[00:22:41] Juan's driest month since record
[00:22:42] record keeping began back in 1899.
[00:22:46] 1899. About 61% of the island is is currently experiencing drought,
[00:22:49] drought, according to the US Drought Drought Monitor and the governor governor of Puerto Rico said that
[00:22:53] that the situation is out of our our hands and blamed the water shortages
[00:22:57] shortages on climate conditions. conditions. CBS correspondent Lilia
[00:23:00] Lilia Luciano reports from Puerto
[00:23:03] Puerto Rico. Residents in Puerto Puerto Rico's capital, San Juan,
[00:23:06] Juan, have been filling up jugs and and buckets of water in preparation
[00:23:10] preparation for a massive rationing rationing measure that went into
[00:23:12] into effect this morning, impacting
[00:23:14] impacting hundreds of thousands of
[00:23:17] of people. It's brutal. This resident
[00:23:20] resident says it's unbelievable to to live through this today. The island
[00:23:23] island is facing a major drought drought in San Juan. July was the
[00:23:27] the driest month in more than 120
[00:23:29] 120 years. In an effort to conserve conserve water, more than 180,000
[00:23:33] 180,000 customers in Puerto Rico Rico will be without water for 48
[00:23:37] 48 hours at a time. Starting today. today. And there's no clear end in
[00:23:41] in sight. Adam Johnson is the chief chief meteorologist at local station
[00:23:44] station Wapa TV. So it's not going
[00:23:47] going to take one tropical system.
[00:23:50] system. It's going to take many tropical
[00:23:54] tropical systems and the winter precipitation
[00:23:57] precipitation for us to get out of of this drought crisis. Low income
[00:24:00] income Puerto Ricans are spending spending money on bottled water,
[00:24:04] water, and the elderly are relying relying on neighbours and family
[00:24:06] family to carry water to them. The
[00:24:12] The governor, she says, did nothing. nothing. She didn't do anything.
[00:24:15] anything. In a statement about the the rationing, the governor said
[00:24:18] said that the government is taking taking the measure responsibly and
[00:24:22] and that it is out of their hands hands at this point. But after a
[00:24:25] a lawsuit having to do with the water
[00:24:28] water shortages before the drought, drought, she acknowledged that the
[00:24:31] the infrastructure needs more funding funding and maintenance. Lilia Luciano,
[00:24:35] Luciano, CBS News, San Juan, Puerto Puerto Rico. Well, dozens of hot
[00:24:38] hot air balloons have been up in in the skies above Bristol at the
[00:24:41] the start of this year's Balloon Balloon Fiesta. Graham Satchell has
[00:24:45] has that story. Sunrise over Bristol
[00:24:49] Bristol and a clear blue sky begins begins to fill with extraordinary
[00:24:53] extraordinary balloons. A bear, an
[00:24:56] an alien, a suitcase, a scarecrow. scarecrow. It's wonderful to do this.
[00:24:59] this. I've been flying for over 30
[00:25:01] 30 years and every flight is special. special. And in this company, what
[00:25:05] what better company? And what a way way to spend the, you know, the morning
[00:25:08] morning flying. From the ground. ground. It is a spectacular sight
[00:25:11] sight from the air. If anything even
[00:25:13] even more so. Artist Emily Powell
[00:25:15] Powell captured this year's event
[00:25:18] event on canvas. I could see for
[00:25:20] for miles it was so clear and the the colours were phenomenal. And
[00:25:24] And then now I've got my oil pastels
[00:25:26] pastels and I'm just adding the final
[00:25:28] final touches to the piece. The day
[00:25:30] day began with an explosion of green
[00:25:34] green smoke and the balloonists setting setting off their burners at the
[00:25:37] the launch site. A world record attempt.
[00:25:40] attempt. How many times up and down down in a tethered balloon in an
[00:25:44] an hour. Jo Bailey was seriously seriously ill last year and needed
[00:25:47] needed life saving surgery. She smashed
[00:25:50] smashed the record. You can get your your life back. I never thought this
[00:25:53] this time last year I'd ever get get in a balloon again. And I can't can't believe I've actually done
[00:25:57] done it. Coming back down can be
[00:26:01] be precarious. The scarecrow ended ended up in a school car park. Some
[00:26:04] Some of the biggest crowds of the the day at Clifton Suspension Bridge.
[00:26:08] Bridge. A wondrous sight made even
[00:26:10] even better by more than 200 hot
[00:26:13] hot air balloons. Graham Satchell, Satchell, BBC News. And before we
[00:26:17] we go, I just want to take you to to Colombia, where an inauguration
[00:26:21] inauguration is going on for the the country's new president. This
[00:26:24] This is in Cali, the city of Cali
[00:26:28] Cali as opposed to the capital Bogota, Bogota, where a military parade has
[00:26:31] has been under way. The new president president has been praised by
[00:28:05] some parts of Iraq.
[00:30:25] online at bbc.com/business to get get the latest news wherever you
[00:30:28] you are. Business on BBC News. Make
[00:30:31] Make the connection. Now on BBC News
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