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20260915 154500 UTC
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[00:00:02] on BBC News. MUSIC
[00:00:11] I was here at the very first
[00:00:14] protest, the party had organised organised about a month ago. And
[00:00:17] And this is so much bigger. Been
[00:00:20] Been driving towards the site of of this wildfire, but we've just just stopped at the side of the road
[00:00:24] road here because of what we saw saw out the window. This man has
[00:00:27] has been pulled out successfully. successfully. It's taken a mammoth
[00:00:30] mammoth mammoth rescue effort. This This morning. You get very little little sense of the terrible scenes
[00:00:34] scenes that were witnessed here last last night there. When the story
[00:00:38] story breaks. BBC News. Welcome back.
[00:00:43] back. Now China has warned against
[00:00:45] against turning outer space into into a battlefield and Russia has
[00:00:49] has called for weapons to be kept kept out of space after the US military
[00:00:52] military confirmed for the first first time it has deployed weapons
[00:00:56] weapons in Earth's orbit. Well, Kari Kari Bingen is the director of Aerospace
[00:00:59] Aerospace Security Project at the the centre for Strategic and International
[00:01:02] International Studies. She served served as US deputy undersecretary
[00:01:05] undersecretary of defence for intelligence intelligence and security in the
[00:01:08] the Trump administration between
[00:01:10] between 2017 and 2020. The announcement announcement doesn't surprise me.
[00:01:14] me. The United States has long had had what we call a space control
[00:01:18] control mission, but in recent years, years, senior defence leaders are
[00:01:21] are more openly discussing the growing growing threat that you highlighted
[00:01:25] highlighted space weapons and warfighting warfighting in space and greater greater investments in this area.
[00:01:29] area. But it does appear to be the the first such public acknowledgement
[00:01:33] acknowledgement by a senior government government official. So I can see see where it would be a surprise
[00:01:36] surprise to folks if they're not not tracking this. Give me. A sort
[00:01:40] sort of idea because they haven't haven't been specific about this.
[00:01:42] this. Give me the sort of idea of
[00:01:45] of the types of weapons we are actually
[00:01:48] actually potentially talking about. about. And I would say having served
[00:01:52] served in those types of senior seats, seats, those statements, those words
[00:01:55] words are chosen very carefully and
[00:01:59] and very deliberately. So the term term on orbit was used. So this is
[00:02:02] is a some sort of space weapon or
[00:02:04] or weapons that are orbiting the
[00:02:06] the earth versus land based weapons weapons like a GPs or Starlink jammer
[00:02:10] jammer that we're seeing in Ukraine, Ukraine, or a missile that would
[00:02:13] would be launched from the ground ground against the satellite. We
[00:02:16] We won't know the specifics on how,
[00:02:19] how, but let's look at basic physics. physics. There could be a range of
[00:02:22] of options that are employed. Anything
[00:02:25] Anything from a kinetic kill mechanism,
[00:02:28] mechanism, say, ramming a space weapon weapon or spacecraft into another
[00:02:31] another spacecraft. Perhaps you release release pellets or something non
[00:02:34] non kinetic and even what we call call reversible. So a jammer where
[00:02:38] where you're jamming a signal from from one satellite to another satellite,
[00:02:42] satellite, you're using a laser weapon
[00:02:44] weapon to affect another satellite. satellite. So there are several different
[00:02:48] different modes. The thing I'd also also though be sensitive to here
[00:02:50] here is just a reminder of the physics
[00:02:52] physics of space. And so any weapon
[00:02:55] weapon that is used these planners,
[00:02:57] planners, I believe will be careful
[00:02:59] careful about the creation of debris. debris. You do not want to create
[00:03:03] create a lot of debris in these orbits orbits where other satellites will
[00:03:06] will be passing through. The Chinese,
[00:03:09] Chinese, the Russians to have talked talked about and warned the US against
[00:03:12] against starting a sort of space
[00:03:15] space arms race in effect, is that
[00:03:17] that warning already out of date?
[00:03:22] date? I did not hear Secretary Ming's Ming's speech. I read it afterwards,
[00:03:25] afterwards, but he talked quite a a bit about the threat. And so China
[00:03:29] China and Russia have been building,
[00:03:32] building, testing and deploying space space weapons or ways to attack our
[00:03:35] our satellites for a long time. Go
[00:03:39] Go back to 2007 when China tested tested a direct ascent anti-satellite anti-satellite missile, so shot a
[00:03:43] a missile at one of their satellites satellites and created debris that
[00:03:46] that will be on orbit for decades. decades. But what we've seen in the
[00:03:49] the last couple of years, China,
[00:03:51] China, for example, one of our senior senior Space Force generals had had
[00:03:55] had described China's activities activities in space as dog fighting.
[00:03:59] fighting. So several satellites working
[00:04:01] working together on synchronised synchronised manoeuvres, close approaches
[00:04:04] approaches to other satellites in in lower orbit all the way up to
[00:04:07] to higher orbits, releasing objects objects from their space plane. The
[00:04:11] The Russians as well last year, in
[00:04:14] in 2025, they tested something called called a nesting doll. Or think of
[00:04:17] of like a doll where one satellite
[00:04:20] satellite released another object. object. More recently the spring,
[00:04:23] spring, the commander of US Space Space Command. So the operational
[00:04:26] operational command for planning planning and conducting operations operations in space publicly said
[00:04:29] said that Russia is deploying space
[00:04:32] space weapons and testing them near near our satellites. And you may
[00:04:35] may remember from a few years ago,
[00:04:37] ago, Russia is what was. Believed
[00:04:42] Believed to be developing a nuclear nuclear anti-satellite weapon that
[00:04:45] that would sit in orbit like a mine
[00:04:48] mine and detonate at a time and place place of their choosing, creating
[00:04:52] creating a nuclear highly radioactive
[00:04:54] radioactive environment for entire entire swaths of Earth's orbit. So
[00:04:58] So you're saying the Russians, the the Chinese, they're already doing
[00:05:01] doing exactly what the Americans Americans are now venturing into. into. A final question, because Donald
[00:05:05] Donald Trump, of course, created created the US Space Force in 2019.
[00:05:09] 2019. And that was the first new new branch of the US military in,
[00:05:13] in, what 70 years do we know at all,
[00:05:17] all, any sort of headline cost of of what we're talking about, this
[00:05:19] this new venture into space, these these sorts of weapons? What is the
[00:05:22] the price tag for all of that? Do
[00:05:25] Do we know? It's a great question.
[00:05:27] question. We don't. And this area
[00:05:30] area of the defence budget is usually usually kept at a very highly classified
[00:05:34] classified level so that our adversaries adversaries don't get that information
[00:05:36] information or those descriptions descriptions to reverse engineer
[00:05:40] engineer what we're building, how how good it is, etc if I can also
[00:05:43] also just make one other point though, though, is we are seeing our adversaries
[00:05:47] adversaries increasingly use their their own satellites to target our
[00:05:51] our forces and our bases on the ground. ground. We're seeing it in the Middle
[00:05:54] Middle East where there have been been reports of China supplying satellite
[00:05:58] satellite imagery to Iran to target target US bases. So you think about
[00:06:01] about other domains. Would we allow allow drones to fly overhead unimpeded
[00:06:05] unimpeded to target our forces, or or would we allow our adversaries
[00:06:08] adversaries to hold the highest ridgeline? ridgeline? We wouldn't. And so we're
[00:06:11] we're thinking about these types types of concepts in the space domain
[00:06:15] domain as well, and not allowing allowing our adversaries unfettered
[00:06:19] unfettered access to satellites that
[00:06:21] that would take
[00:06:32] target. Discover the world on BBC
[00:06:34] BBC News in association with Turkish
[00:06:38] Turkish Airlines. I'm travelling travelling through Japan, going off
[00:06:41] off the beaten track to find out
[00:06:43] out what makes this country unique.
[00:06:46] unique. This is ultimate Japan. This
[00:06:50] This time I visit Toba in the South
[00:06:52] South to witness the ultimate Japanese
[00:06:55] Japanese fishing tradition. I'm on
[00:06:57] on a small island in an area called called Toba, which is home to one
[00:07:01] one of Japan's most unusual communities
[00:07:04] communities a group, mostly women women who over generations have forged
[00:07:08] forged a really tight bond with both
[00:07:10] both the sea and nature generally.
[00:07:19] generally. AMA are iconic Japanese
[00:07:21] Japanese freedivers who collect seafood, seafood, seaweed and even pearls
[00:07:25] pearls from the sea floor. Almost
[00:07:28] Almost all AMA are women, and many
[00:07:30] many keep diving until their 70s.
[00:07:32] 70s. 80s and even 90s diving without
[00:07:37] without oxygen in their traditional traditional white outfits. It's a a centuries old way of life that's
[00:07:41] that's been passed down through generations,
[00:07:44] generations, but today's divers under under threat from all the pressures
[00:07:48] pressures of modernity, are having having to adapt. Like here, displaying
[00:07:51] displaying their skills for tourists.
[00:07:56] tourists. Talbi what is this show
[00:07:58] show about? An Amazon
[00:08:11] Which do you prefer getting real fish or would you like doing
[00:08:14] doing this and performing to tourists?
[00:08:21] tourists? Hi. It's kind of ironic
[00:08:25] ironic because for a long time Japan
[00:08:28] Japan was a homogenous and quite
[00:08:29] quite inward looking society. But
[00:08:32] But it's outsiders, tourists who who are now providing a major industry
[00:08:36] industry here. But rest assured elsewhere elsewhere there is still some genuine
[00:08:40] genuine AMA diving going on a few
[00:08:43] few miles along the shore in Asatsu Asatsu I meet some divers who are
[00:08:46] are still making a living from this
[00:08:48] this traditional form of fishing.
[00:08:54] fishing. He Abha so much. Obasanjo
[00:09:00] Obasanjo Hayato. AMA Oshima's watashi
[00:09:06] watashi wa Umi Asa yukimasu. So I
[00:09:12] I don't know. I Oyo State mo. Genbo
[00:09:27] Genbo no doesn't. Yet these AMA still
[00:09:32] still need to supplement their income
[00:09:33] income by preparing meals for. Well,
[00:09:36] Well, people like me. How is it different
[00:09:40] different now diving to when you
[00:09:42] you first started doing it? Solheim
[00:09:51] Solheim Cup. And why do you think
[00:09:55] think that is? Do you think AMA diving
[00:10:00] diving will carry on? I know I know.
[00:10:18] Even having spent just a few hours with these charming ladies
[00:10:21] ladies has made me realise that the
[00:10:23] the traditional old ways aren't just just romantic. They actually offer
[00:10:27] offer a viable way of life for the the next generation. It was really
[00:10:30] really interesting to learn that that people are coming back here
[00:10:33] here to actually live and work as
[00:10:35] as AMA divers. Maybe it's just very
[00:10:37] very Japanese. The past is also
[00:10:51] the future. Discover the world on
[00:10:53] on BBC News
[00:14:29] MUSIC
[00:15:13] Live from London. This is BBC News.
[00:15:17] News. Baby wards in England are to to get cot Camhs after an inquiry
[00:15:20] inquiry into Nurse Lucy Letby, who who murdered seven children, found
[00:15:24] found that lives could have been
[00:15:27] been saved. The public inquiry found found there was a complete failure
[00:15:31] failure at the hospital to protect
[00:15:34] protect babies. Errors were made made by nurses, doctors and managers
[00:15:37] managers at the time of these events.
[00:15:40] events. There was also complete failure
[00:15:42] failure at all levels to invoke safeguarding
[00:15:45] safeguarding procedures at any point.
[00:15:47] point. The EU chief hits out at Russia's
[00:15:50] Russia's reckless and dangerous behaviour behaviour after a drone is shot down
[00:15:53] down over European Union airspace
[00:15:55] airspace by Nato fighter jets. The
[00:15:58] The United States confirms for the the first