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[00:00:10] Live from London. This is BBC
[00:00:13] News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what
[00:00:15] what he calls mistakes as he returns returns to the stage for the first
[00:00:18] first time since the rapper Macklemore Macklemore was dropped from his US
[00:00:22] US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
[00:00:24] remarks. What is happening in Gaza
[00:00:27] Gaza is a catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate.
[00:00:31] disproportionate. My heart has been been broken by the scale of devastation
[00:00:34] devastation and loss of civilians
[00:00:37] civilians lives, of children's lives. lives. President Trump says he'll
[00:00:40] he'll form an AI force and appoint appoint a new adviser to oversee
[00:00:44] oversee the industry. The brother brother of Princess Diana, Earl Spencer,
[00:00:48] Spencer, tells the BBC there are are echoes of what happened to his
[00:00:51] his sister in the way the media is
[00:00:53] is treating Prince Harry and Meghan. Meghan. Voters head to the polls
[00:00:57] polls in two German states as Chancellor
[00:00:59] Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces growing
[00:01:01] growing political pressure and Europe's
[00:01:03] Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
[00:01:07] powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
[00:01:08] efforts to cut deaths linked to narcotics.
[00:01:20] narcotics. Hello there, I'm Rich Rich Preston, welcome to the programme. programme. Very good to have you
[00:01:24] you with us. Ed Sheeran's first concert concert since his support act Macklemore
[00:01:28] Macklemore was dropped over pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian comments. The star
[00:01:31] star is directly addressed the controversy. controversy. Speaking before his
[00:01:34] his concert in Philadelphia, the the British singer described the
[00:01:37] the situation in Gaza as catastrophic catastrophic and unjustifiable. He
[00:01:41] He said the Hamas attacks on Israel
[00:01:44] Israel in October 2023 were horrific horrific and added that Israel's
[00:01:48] Israel's response since then had had been disproportionate. Before
[00:01:51] Before he started singing, Sheeran Sheeran apologised to his fans for
[00:01:55] for what he called mistakes as he
[00:01:57] he handled the fallout from the controversy.
[00:02:00] controversy. I've had to take and and make difficult decisions and
[00:02:03] and I am making mistakes and I'm
[00:02:05] I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to
[00:02:08] to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
[00:02:12] musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
[00:02:14] and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech in the most complex
[00:02:18] complex political issue on the planet.
[00:02:24] planet. While Ed Sheeran then directly
[00:02:27] directly addressed the situation situation in the Middle East. I want
[00:02:30] want to address the question of where where I stand in the situation in
[00:02:34] in Israel and Palestine and whether whether my doing this concert here
[00:02:36] here tonight implies where I stand. stand. I have tried in my career
[00:02:39] career not to be a political commentator commentator of any kind, because
[00:02:42] because I want my music and shows
[00:02:44] shows to be about unity, not division
[00:02:47] division about humanity, not politics.
[00:02:55] politics. But this is a humanitarian humanitarian issue and I cannot hide hide how I feel about it any more.
[00:02:58] more. What happened in Israel and
[00:03:00] and at the No Music festival on October
[00:03:03] October 7th was horrific and compounded
[00:03:05] compounded centuries of Jewish pain.
[00:03:07] pain. What is happening in Gaza is
[00:03:11] is catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate. disproportionate. My heart has been
[00:03:15] been broken by the scale of devastation
[00:03:17] devastation and loss of civilians,
[00:03:20] civilians, lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
[00:03:23] injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
[00:03:27] overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum
[00:03:30] spectrum to work out how to make make a contribution that helps victims
[00:03:34] victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
[00:03:37] because I do not know enough. I honestly
[00:03:41] honestly am so grateful that you
[00:03:42] you are here tonight with me. Ed
[00:03:48] Ed Sheeran also said he took issue
[00:03:50] issue with the idea that venues would
[00:03:53] would pre-approve content or performers performers an hour or so before the
[00:03:56] the show began. Hundreds of concert concert goers streamed into the venue,
[00:03:59] venue, which was a stripped down down event, and Sheeran went on without
[00:04:03] without any opening acts. After several
[00:04:05] several musicians dropped out. Some
[00:04:07] Some pro-Palestinian protesters did did gather near the venue. Organisers
[00:04:10] Organisers say it was so they could could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
[00:04:14] ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
[00:04:16] from some of them. We need more people
[00:04:19] people like Macklemore and other other artists to have a voice who
[00:04:22] who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
[00:04:26] the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
[00:04:29] Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
[00:04:32] how it feels to be oppressed and
[00:04:35] and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
[00:04:38] from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. North
[00:04:42] North America correspondent Carl Carl Nasman was at the concert. He
[00:04:44] He sent us this update. We were there there and really in some of the first
[00:04:48] first rows actually inside the stadium stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
[00:04:52] I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
[00:04:56] how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
[00:05:00] his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
[00:05:03] moment, literally, Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
[00:05:07] launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be be a prepared speech, but he kind
[00:05:11] kind of addressed a lot of things things that people were wondering
[00:05:14] wondering about specifically his his stance on the situation in the
[00:05:18] the Middle East and also what his his thought about Macklemore being
[00:05:22] being dropped from his tour. We heard heard the reporting that this was
[00:05:25] was due to potentially a pressure pressure campaign from some of the
[00:05:28] the owners of the stadiums on this this tour. He said he was deeply
[00:05:31] deeply concerned by the fact that
[00:05:34] that artists like Macklemore and
[00:05:36] and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
[00:05:40] of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
[00:05:44] there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
[00:05:47] cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
[00:05:51] being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
[00:05:55] that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
[00:05:58] here, you know, wanted to come wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
[00:06:01] perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore Macklemore was there or not. There
[00:06:05] There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
[00:06:08] moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
[00:06:11] don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
[00:06:15] lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
[00:06:19] actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
[00:06:22] that I would get from people in Philadelphia
[00:06:25] Philadelphia at this concert, and
[00:06:27] and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
[00:06:30] Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
[00:06:34] he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
[00:06:37] moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
[00:06:39] Sheeran still has a lot of support, support, especially inside that stadium
[00:06:43] stadium behind us. Well, I spoke spoke to entertainment journalist
[00:06:47] journalist KJ Matthews. So does she she think this apology from Ed Sheeran
[00:06:51] Sheeran goes far enough? I think think this is this first step is
[00:06:54] is a first step in the right direction. direction. I was impressed with his
[00:06:58] his statement. You could tell that that it was obviously, you know,
[00:07:01] know, written out. It was he was was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
[00:07:04] felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
[00:07:08] times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
[00:07:12] he was getting so emotional. But
[00:07:14] But I do think this is a first, first
[00:07:17] first step, really good step in the the right direction for him. Many
[00:07:20] Many people wanted to hear from him him much earlier, but we've heard
[00:07:23] heard from him now and it's interesting.
[00:07:26] interesting. It'll remain to be seen seen whether or not the remaining
[00:07:29] remaining tickets for all of his his concert dates coming up go down.
[00:07:33] down. I mean, what we saw before,
[00:07:35] before, I think hours before earlier
[00:07:38] earlier today, every single ticket ticket sales for his remaining concerts
[00:07:41] concerts were in the negative. They They were in the red, you know, up up to 50% where people were either
[00:07:45] either trying to resell their tickets tickets or they weren't buying tickets.
[00:07:48] tickets. And now I want to see within
[00:07:50] within 24 hours if we see whether whether those numbers go back in
[00:07:54] in the right direction, we do know know that Macklemore is supposed
[00:07:57] supposed to play in October and his
[00:07:59] his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've
[00:08:01] we've seen just the opposite. After After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
[00:08:05] Sheeran's tour, we of course seen seen saw Macklemore social media
[00:08:09] media numbers increase. His ticket
[00:08:10] ticket sales increased in the opposite
[00:08:13] opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
[00:08:16] be seen whether or not this goes
[00:08:18] goes far enough, they can kind of of change or the damage, but I do
[00:08:21] do think he's put a lot out there there for people to kind of digest.
[00:08:24] digest. You know, he his point where
[00:08:26] where he mentioned that he's very
[00:08:28] very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
[00:08:32] before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
[00:08:35] should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
[00:08:38] particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
[00:08:41] are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is the first step
[00:08:45] step in the right direction for him. him. KJ Matthews there, President
[00:08:49] President Trump says he'll form an an Air Force and appoint a new artificial
[00:08:53] artificial intelligence adviser to to regulate the industry. Writing
[00:08:55] Writing on social media, the President President said he would not hinder
[00:08:59] hinder the growth of AI, warning warning the US must maintain its
[00:09:01] its lead over China. Our correspondent correspondent Leigh Milner has more
[00:09:05] more on what's behind Mr Trump's
[00:09:08] Trump's urgency around AI. I think think a big part of it is that Trump
[00:09:12] Trump sees AI as a really important
[00:09:14] important area for both the US economy
[00:09:17] economy and also wants to do it strategically. strategically. He wants America to
[00:09:20] to stay out in front, particularly particularly when it comes to competition
[00:09:23] competition with China, and he clearly
[00:09:25] clearly feels that putting too many
[00:09:27] many restrictions on the industry industry could slow things down.
[00:09:30] down. So the emphasis is on keeping keeping investment and development
[00:09:33] development moving quickly and making
[00:09:36] making sure American companies have have the freedom, obviously to compete.
[00:09:39] compete. But at the same time, there
[00:09:41] there are these concerns about whether
[00:09:43] whether the technology is developing developing faster than governments
[00:09:46] governments can keep up with. Well, Well, that's a really good point point because that's particularly
[00:09:49] particularly ramped up in the last last couple of weeks or so. What
[00:09:52] What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and and technology leaders are worried
[00:09:56] worried about the risks that could
[00:09:59] could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
[00:10:02] calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
[00:10:05] sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
[00:10:09] concerns that if AI becomes more
[00:10:11] more powerful than it could be out out of control. And people could
[00:10:15] could obviously misuse it as well.
[00:10:17] well. Trump, however, has taken a
[00:10:19] a different position. He's dismissed dismissed concerns about the potential
[00:10:23] potential dangers of AI. As we've we've heard, as a hoax, and believes
[00:10:26] believes that slowing down could could hurt America's ability to compete
[00:10:30] compete with China. So at the moment,
[00:10:33] moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
[00:10:36] to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
[00:10:40] enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
[00:10:43] technology develops. The US says says it's struck an alleged drug
[00:10:46] drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, Caribbean, killing four people. The
[00:10:50] The US military's Southern Command Command released this video showing
[00:10:53] showing a huge explosion after a a boat was hit, but didn't give any
[00:10:56] any evidence that those on board board were transporting drugs. More
[00:11:00] More than 200 people have been killed killed in such operations since they
[00:11:03] they began in the Caribbean and Eastern
[00:11:05] Eastern Pacific last year. Washington Washington says they are narco terrorists.
[00:11:08] terrorists. Rights groups say the
[00:11:10] the strikes amount to extrajudicial
[00:11:13] extrajudicial executions. The brother brother of Princess Diana has told
[00:11:17] told the BBC he sees, quote, echoes
[00:11:19] echoes of what happened to her in in the way Prince Harry and Meghan
[00:11:23] Meghan are being treated by the media. media. Earl Spencer made the comments
[00:11:26] comments in an exclusive interview interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg,
[00:11:30] Kuenssberg, during which he also also discussed claims in his new
[00:11:32] new book about an alleged argument
[00:11:34] argument with King Charles following following Diana's death, Buckingham
[00:11:38] Buckingham Palace says his recollection recollection was clouded by grief.
[00:11:41] grief. Speaking about the Duke and and Duchess of Sussex, he said although
[00:11:44] although he wasn't there to speak speak for the couple, people should
[00:11:48] should learn from Diana's example.
[00:11:50] example. Do you fear there is somehow, somehow, in an echo of what happened
[00:11:54] happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
[00:11:57] occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
[00:12:00] over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
[00:12:02] a perception in the media that I'm
[00:12:04] I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
[00:12:07] on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
[00:12:11] either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
[00:12:14] them. And I never get involved in
[00:12:16] in one camp or the other except as
[00:12:19] as a benign figure. I hope that's
[00:12:21] that's my role. Do you think Diana
[00:12:24] Diana would identify with the attention, attention, the focus that has been
[00:12:27] been put on them? And with Meghan, Meghan, who said she felt like she
[00:12:31] she was the most trolled person in in the world, you know, they were
[00:12:34] were here during the summer, not not so long ago. If you look at an
[00:12:38] an article in a tabloid about Diana
[00:12:42] Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
[00:12:46] you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
[00:12:50] I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from
[00:12:52] from Diana's example. I'm not here here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
[00:12:56] Meghan, but for anyone who's being being destroyed in this way daily,
[00:13:00] daily, it must be such a cancerous cancerous influence in their life.
[00:13:04] life. I saw it with Diana, I saw saw Diana, I mentioned it in the
[00:13:07] the eulogy, her tears of despair. despair. One of the problems with
[00:13:10] with Diana was she was very, very very sensitive to criticism. And
[00:13:14] And of course, I'm sure most of your your viewers now think, oh, she had
[00:13:18] had this splendid life and it was was all amazing. And she didn't she she was so privileged and so perfect
[00:13:22] perfect in so many ways. But she
[00:13:24] she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
[00:13:27] suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
[00:13:31] echoes of that now. Well, in response response to the claims made by Earl
[00:13:34] Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace has has said that the King was mindful
[00:13:38] mindful that the pain of fraternal
[00:13:40] fraternal grief can cloud reason, reason, affect judgement and colour
[00:13:44] colour memory in ways others don't
[00:13:46] don't recognise. Even many years years after such a loss. And the
[00:13:49] the full interview with Laura Kuenssberg
[00:13:52] Kuenssberg will be broadcast at 630 630 this evening on BBC One here
[00:13:55] here in the UK, and will be available
[00:13:57] available on BBC iPlayer and BBC
[00:14:01] BBC Sounds from 4 pm. Now polls open
[00:14:04] open in an hour's time in two German German states for elections, which
[00:14:08] which may further weaken Friedrich Friedrich Moritz's position as chancellor.
[00:14:10] chancellor. He's even cancelled plans plans to attend the UN General Assembly
[00:14:14] Assembly in New York later this week, week, as speculation grows about
[00:14:17] about his future. The votes are taking taking place in the capital, Berlin
[00:14:20] Berlin and also in the Mecklenburg-Western Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region.
[00:14:23] region. Our Berlin correspondent
[00:14:26] correspondent Jessica Parker reports.
[00:14:30] reports. Two weeks ago, the anti-immigration anti-immigration populist Alternative
[00:14:34] Alternative fur Deutschland party party won a landslide victory in
[00:14:36] in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Now
[00:14:39] Now there's a particular focus on on how Chancellor Friedrich Mertz's
[00:14:43] Mertz's conservative CDU party performs performs in Berlin. It's at risk
[00:14:47] risk of losing power in the northeastern northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
[00:14:51] Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A worst case case scenario for the party could
[00:14:54] could see it fail to get enough votes votes to even enter the regional
[00:14:57] regional parliament. The poorer the the result, the more speculation
[00:15:00] speculation will grow that the CDU CDU could try to oust its leader.
[00:15:04] leader. Chancellor Merz has vowed vowed to carry on and is reportedly
[00:15:07] reportedly due to hold a meeting meeting with senior party figures
[00:15:10] figures later as he seeks to shore
[00:15:13] shore up his support. Jessica Parker, Parker, BBC News in Berlin. Well,
[00:15:16] Well, Nina Haas is chief political political correspondent at Germany's
[00:15:19] Germany's Deutsche Welle. I asked asked her how worried Friedrich Merz Merz should be, given he's cancelled
[00:15:23] cancelled his trip to the UN. Yes,
[00:15:26] Yes, he must be. And you know, this
[00:15:29] this is something that goes far beyond beyond political gossip. Now, there
[00:15:33] there are people within the conservative conservative camp in Germany that
[00:15:36] that are openly discussing whether
[00:15:38] whether to replace the Chancellor Chancellor with somebody else or
[00:15:42] or whether to break away from the the Social Democrats and go it alone
[00:15:45] alone in a minority government, whether whether to open the conservative
[00:15:49] conservative camp to discussions discussions with the far right AfD,
[00:15:51] AfD, which so far is a very, very
[00:15:53] very strict taboo. And so Friedrich
[00:15:56] Friedrich Merz, cancelling his trip
[00:15:58] trip to New York next week really
[00:16:01] really is very symbolic of just how
[00:16:03] how drastic this situation is. You You mentioned there that the AfD
[00:16:07] AfD being seen by many in German
[00:16:12] German politics as a taboo. Is that that likely to change? I mean, they're they're getting the numbers. They
[00:16:15] They had their best ever results
[00:16:18] results earlier this month. If people people want to take power, then they're
[00:16:21] they're going to have to work with
[00:16:23] with the AfD. Surely. There are currently
[00:16:26] currently two strands. I would say. say. There are people like I've just
[00:16:30] just mentioned, even within the conservative conservative camp who are saying
[00:16:33] saying that the days of those so-called
[00:16:36] so-called firewall are over so that
[00:16:40] that disciplined, very rigid red
[00:16:42] red line, we are not going to collaborate collaborate with a party that is
[00:16:45] is in part considered right wing
[00:16:49] wing extremists by Germany's intelligence intelligence agencies, where the the authorities are saying that they're
[00:16:53] they're seeing clear evidence that that at least parts of that party
[00:16:56] party are working against the very
[00:16:58] very system that we have here in
[00:17:00] in this country against the democratic democratic system, against the institutions.
[00:17:04] institutions. There are also other
[00:17:05] other people who are now saying,
[00:17:08] saying, let us discuss trying to
[00:17:10] to ban the far right AfD party, because
[00:17:13] because that is technically possible possible if you find enough support
[00:17:17] support for such a push. But of course
[00:17:20] course that would enter then into
[00:17:22] into a legal disputes between the
[00:17:24] the party and the other institutions. institutions. It could also backfire.
[00:17:27] backfire. Of course, because it could
[00:17:29] could be seen as a push to simply
[00:17:32] simply push down an opposition party.
[00:17:35] party. But there are people who are are saying it's worth contemplating
[00:17:39] contemplating this simply because, because, you know, some people are
[00:17:43] are referring to our history where
[00:17:44] where Adolf Hitler, after all, was
[00:17:47] was elected in a democratic process. process. Now the Houthis in Yemen
[00:17:51] Yemen say they've attacked sites sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh
[00:17:54] Riyadh and the Red Sea city of Yanbu. Yanbu. In a statement, the group,
[00:17:58] group, which is backed by Iran, says says it launched missiles and drones
[00:18:00] drones in retaliation for Saudi warplanes warplanes striking Houthi positions
[00:18:04] positions this week. Earlier on Saturday, Saturday, a plume of black smoke
[00:18:07] smoke was seen near the international international airport in Riyadh after
[00:18:10] after reports of explosions at a a fuel depot. Saudi authorities have
[00:18:14] have said they intercepted and destroyed destroyed a ballistic missile fired
[00:18:18] fired at Riyadh. Turkey says it's it's ready to help under a defence
[00:18:20] defence pact signed with Saudi Arabia
[00:18:23] Arabia and Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian Mahmoudian is a research fellow at
[00:18:26] at the Global and National Security Security Institute and a non-resident
[00:18:29] non-resident scholar at the George George Washington University's Institute Institute of Middle East Studies.
[00:18:33] Studies. This is his assessment of
[00:18:34] of who has the upper hand. I think think at this point, at least in
[00:18:38] in the absence of any active signal
[00:18:41] signal from the United States, direct direct engagement in the conflict.
[00:18:44] conflict. The Houthis have the upper upper hand. Houthis have a higher
[00:18:47] higher threshold of tolerance for for pain. Basically, the pain that
[00:18:50] that the Saudis or the sanctions sanctions inflict on the population
[00:18:53] population of Yemen is not directly directly transferred to them. The
[00:18:57] The Saudis have a lesser threshold threshold for the pain. Saudis also
[00:18:59] also are dealing with economic issues. issues. There is already an instability
[00:19:03] instability in the energy market market and vis a vis the Saudis income income from it because of the war
[00:19:07] war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, which is attacked. Specifically
[00:19:11] Specifically speaking, the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
[00:19:14] which signals their willingness to
[00:19:15] to expand the scope of the bite,
[00:19:19] bite, is going to much inflict a a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
[00:19:23] economy. So while the militarily militarily speaking Saudi obviously
[00:19:26] obviously have superiority toward toward the Houthis, but in terms
[00:19:28] terms of the threshold of the tolerance, tolerance, in terms of the time,
[00:19:31] time, the situation is not in favour favour of the Saudi unless something
[00:19:34] something change either the Americans Americans get involved further in
[00:19:38] in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
[00:19:42] involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. You mentioned
[00:19:45] mentioned several other regional regional players there, and that's that's part of the bigger picture
[00:19:49] picture here. Let's focus on Iran. Iran. How much is Iran steering the
[00:19:53] the ship of what the Houthis are are doing there? Look, there has
[00:19:56] has always been a debate to what what extent Iran controls the Saudi, Saudi, whether it controls it or
[00:20:00] or not. It's hard to say that. Does Does Iran command it or not? But
[00:20:04] But definitely Iran has influence influence over the southeast. Iran
[00:20:07] Iran is at this moment the sole sponsor sponsor of the Houthis. Iranian have
[00:20:11] have been, you know, supplying Houthis Houthis with the advisers, with the
[00:20:14] the terror they teach the they taught taught the suitors the know how of
[00:20:17] of building missiles and projectiles.
[00:20:19] projectiles. There is an ideological ideological affiliation. There are
[00:20:22] are some rumours about financial financial assistance. So they greatly
[00:20:25] greatly have influence over this this matter and over the Houthis.
[00:20:28] Houthis. And I believe Iran actually actually is gaining a lot out of
[00:20:32] of this despite whatever role Iran Iran is playing in the, you know, know, the execution of the Houthis
[00:20:35] Houthis campaign. What is happening happening right now? We are witnessing
[00:20:38] witnessing and the rise of instability instability in the second strategic
[00:20:41] strategic choke point of the regime, regime, which is the state of the
[00:20:45] the Bab Al-mandab. We are now, in in the circumstances that not only
[00:20:49] only there is a semi blockade of of the Strait of Hormuz, which about
[00:20:51] about one fifth of the global energy, energy, specifically oil transfer
[00:20:54] transfer through it. We are also also witnessing rising instability
[00:20:57] instability and disruption in the the Red Sea, which about 20% of the
[00:21:01] the maritime trade travels through through it. Combining these together
[00:21:04] together would impose a great deal deal of pressure on the global economy
[00:21:07] economy and visa with the American American population who are waiting
[00:21:10] waiting at the mid-term elections. elections. This will give Iran an
[00:21:13] an enormous leverage over the United United States. Specifically speaking
[00:21:16] speaking ahead of the mid-term election. election. Right. Let's get some of of the day's other news now. The
[00:21:21] The new school year has begun in in Gaza with more than 500,000 children
[00:21:24] children going back to formal education education for the first time in nearly
[00:21:27] nearly three years. The UN says 97%
[00:21:29] 97% of schools in Gaza were damaged damaged or destroyed in fighting
[00:21:33] fighting since the Israel-Gaza war war began. Working alongside UN agencies,
[00:21:37] agencies, the Education Ministry's Ministry's opened around 100, around
[00:21:40] around 700. I beg your pardon? New New facilities. Some of them, though,
[00:21:43] though, are as simple as a tent. tent. Thousands of Argentines have
[00:21:47] have marched through Buenos Aires. Aires. The protest was against President
[00:21:50] President Javier Malays. Labour policies policies and austerity cuts. Left
[00:21:53] Left wing political leaders and activists activists have called for a general
[00:21:56] general strike. Police in the Netherlands Netherlands have clashed with several
[00:22:00] several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
[00:22:02] The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration demonstration
[00:22:06] demonstration be broken up after after it spiralled into violence
[00:22:08] violence as protesters were gathering gathering at a local park, they threw
[00:22:12] threw fireworks and projectiles at at police and chanted antisemitic
[00:22:15] antisemitic slogans. At least 24
[00:22:17] 24 people were arrested and a rare rare catch and kill order has been
[00:22:21] been issued for a great white shark shark off the coast of Western Australia.
[00:22:25] Australia. That's after a 63-year-old 63-year-old swimmer was killed at
[00:22:27] at a popular beach on Friday. His
[00:22:29] His body has still not been found. found. It's the second shark attack
[00:22:33] attack in Western Australia this this week and the third fatal attack
[00:22:37] attack in the state this year. The
[00:22:40] The European Union's drugs agency agency says efforts to bring down
[00:22:44] down Scotland's sky high rate of of deaths from illegal drug use are
[00:22:47] are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
[00:22:51] and dangerous new substances. This This explosion in the supply of synthetic
[00:22:54] synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
[00:22:58] deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week,
[00:23:01] week, as Scotland editor James Cook
[00:23:03] Cook reports. This spotless. Laboratory
[00:23:07] Laboratory in Dundee seems a world world away from the chaotic reality
[00:23:10] reality of illegal drug use. But
[00:23:12] But scientists here are racing against against the deadly and evolving threat.
[00:23:16] threat. They're examining samples samples of seized drugs to find out
[00:23:19] out exactly what's in them. And the
[00:23:22] the answers are worrying. With new
[00:23:24] new substances emerging all the time. time. In terms of Europe, we are
[00:23:27] are seeing roughly about a drug entering entering into Europe context within
[00:23:31] within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks weeks something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid
[00:23:35] rapid for us to be able to keep up up as scientists. And that must be
[00:23:38] be dangerous. Yeah. These drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit illicit drug supply in Scotland is
[00:23:41] is getting more and more dangerous dangerous as time goes on. They're
[00:23:45] They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
[00:23:49] nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
[00:23:53] Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
[00:23:56] from Valium style pills to powdered
[00:23:59] powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
[00:24:03] Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
[00:24:07] This year the figure has already already reached 78 million and we
[00:24:11] we can reveal detectives have raided
[00:24:13] raided suspected Nitazenes Labs in
[00:24:16] in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
[00:24:17] arresting five people. This is not
[00:24:21] not just an urban problem. The rapidly rapidly changing nature of the drug
[00:24:25] drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
[00:24:27] Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre Kintyre peninsula on the far west
[00:24:31] west of the mainland, to hear more more about what is a struggle to
[00:24:34] to save lives. There are all sorts
[00:24:38] sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
[00:24:42] helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature. But the staff
[00:24:45] staff say their job has been made made harder by the rapidly evolving
[00:24:49] evolving nature of drug supplies. supplies. Some of these substances
[00:24:52] substances are so potent that a grain grain would be enough to take somebody
[00:24:55] somebody over. And to kill them. them. And to possibly kill them.
[00:24:59] them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
[00:25:01] really is. I mean, I think I mean,
[00:25:04] mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
[00:25:07] ever been as risky or as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
[00:25:11] what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
[00:25:14] better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
[00:25:18] reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
[00:25:21] about all those that we've lost through
[00:25:24] through substance use. So many lives
[00:25:26] lives lost, so much still to do to
[00:25:29] to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
[00:25:33] News, Kintyre. Before I leave you you this half hour, let's bring you
[00:25:37] you these pictures. Ancient Rome Rome meeting cutting edge technology
[00:25:40] technology in Croatia. This is the the Adriatic coastal city of Pula
[00:25:44] Pula which turned its 2000-year-old 2000-year-old historic buildings
[00:25:47] buildings into a canvas for contemporary contemporary light art. Around 16
[00:25:50] 16 locations across the city were were used to explore themes of space,
[00:25:53] space, peace, nature and human relations. relations. There were 23 works on
[00:25:57] on display featuring artists from
[00:26:00] from across Europe, Croatia, Germany, Germany, Ukraine as well as Norway
[00:26:04] Norway and Hong Kong. Do stick with with us
[00:29:57] latest news wherever you are. Business
[00:29:57] Business on BBC News. Make the connection.
[00:30:06] connection. MUSIC
[00:30:09] MUSIC
[00:30:14] These are the latest headlines from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises
[00:30:18] apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage
[00:30:21] stage for the first time since the the rapper Macklemore was dropped
[00:30:24] dropped from his US tour over a pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian remarks. He told
[00:30:28] told fans the situation in Gaza was
[00:30:31] was catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. President Trump Trump says he'll form an AI force
[00:30:35] force and appoint a new adviser to to oversee the industry, warning
[00:30:39] warning the US must maintain its
[00:30:41] its lead over China. The brother brother of Princess Diana Earl Spencer
[00:30:44] Spencer tells the BBC there are echoes echoes of what happened to his sister
[00:30:48] sister in the way the media is treating treating Prince Harry and Meghan.
[00:30:51] Meghan. Voters head to the polls polls in two German states as Chancellor
[00:30:54] Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces growing growing political pressure and Europe's
[00:30:57] Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
[00:31:01] powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
[00:31:03] efforts to cut deaths linked to dangerous
[00:31:05] dangerous narcotics. Global business
[00:31:15] business news from the boardroom boardroom or grassroots BBC News News cuts through the jargon to.
[00:31:19] to. Add colour, depth and context context with live reaction from Wall
[00:31:22] Wall Street and Asia. Studio interviews interviews with top CEOs and the
[00:31:26] the latest innovations in technology.
[00:31:28] technology. Talking Business. Hello
[00:31:32] Hello and welcome to Talking Business. Business. Here's what's on the programme
[00:31:34] programme this week. If we wheel
[00:31:36] wheel around you can see the rows
[00:31:39] rows of soundproof booths where the the scammers all worked and elsewhere
[00:31:42] elsewhere in this building there there are many other rooms with police
[00:31:45] police stations purporting to be be from other countries. This is
[00:31:49] is scamming on an industrial scale.
[00:31:51] scale. As the cost of cyber fraud fraud and financial scams hits hundreds
[00:31:55] hundreds of billions of dollars. dollars. There are growing calls
[00:31:58] calls for governments to treat the the threat as a national security
[00:32:01] security issue. Cyber related crimes
[00:32:04] crimes have become the priority for
[00:32:08] for member countries of Interpol. Interpol. Around the globe. This
[00:32:12] This threat is growing in numbers.
[00:32:14] numbers. It's growing also in complexity.
[00:32:17] complexity. As bad actors get hold hold of powerful new technology and
[00:32:20] and join forces with hostile states. states. On this programme, we'll
[00:32:23] we'll assess the scale of the threat threat and ask what needs to change
[00:32:27] change to keep our money, our businesses
[00:32:30] businesses and our financial systems systems safe. Georgia Jones is a
[00:32:33] a finance and security expert at
[00:32:35] at the UK's Royal United Services
[00:32:37] Services Institute. Greg Jones ran ran Interpol's cybercrime division
[00:32:41] division for five years and tells tells me what he found working with
[00:32:43] with law enforcers around the world.
[00:32:45] world. And what about the risks to
[00:32:48] to critical infrastructure and transport transport systems? I'll speak to
[00:32:51] to the boss and pioneer of self-driving self-driving truck company, plus
[00:32:55] plus AI, about the threat of cyber
[00:32:57] cyber attacks on vehicles. Wherever
[00:33:03] Wherever you're watching, welcome welcome to the programme. Now, earlier earlier this year, authorities in
[00:33:07] in Thailand took BBC journalists journalists and other news organisations
[00:33:10] organisations into land that they'd they'd captured during their conflict
[00:33:14] conflict with Cambodia. The destination destination was a compound revealing
[00:33:17] revealing an abandoned international international scam factory inside,
[00:33:21] inside, cameras went into rooms appearing appearing to be Vietnamese banks.
[00:33:24] banks. An Australian police station station as well as artefacts like
[00:33:28] like Chinese police officers shirts.
[00:33:31] shirts. While Cambodia is often referred
[00:33:33] referred to in the fraud community community as Cambodia, it's been
[00:33:37] been estimated that revenue from from fraud now accounts for about
[00:33:40] about a quarter of the country's
[00:33:41] country's GDP. And it is not alone.
[00:33:44] alone. Global losses from fraud hit
[00:33:46] hit more than $440 billion last year,
[00:33:49] year, and it's getting worse at Interpol, Interpol, the International Police
[00:33:53] Police network fraud notices have
[00:33:54] have risen by more than 50% since
[00:33:57] since 2024. Nearly half the world's world's population is targeted by
[00:34:01] by a scammer each week. Here in the the UK, attacks on businesses by
[00:34:04] by hackers demanding a ransom last last year devastated operations at
[00:34:08] at retailers like Marks and Spencer
[00:34:10] Spencer and the co-op, as well as as the car giant Jaguar Land Rover.
[00:34:14] Rover. That attack alone cost billions
[00:34:16] billions of dollars. And all of this this is highlighted in a special
[00:34:20] special report from the UK's Royal Royal United Services Institute.
[00:34:23] Institute. It reveals how technology technology has changed the face of
[00:34:27] of fraud, how areas like the Costa Costa del Sol in Spain have become
[00:34:31] become centres where hostile states states and organisations can order
[00:34:34] order fraud operations and launder launder money in the way that most
[00:34:37] most of us may order a taxi or an
[00:34:39] an Uber. The report also says that
[00:34:41] that as well as powerful technology technology collaboration between
[00:34:45] between gangs and hostile states states means that the issue is no
[00:34:47] no longer just a matter of criminality
[00:34:50] criminality but also one of national national security. My first guest
[00:34:53] guest is from the Finance and Security
[00:34:56] Security Centre of the Royal United United Services Institute and one
[00:34:59] one of the leading researchers in in this area. Georgia Jones, welcome
[00:35:03] welcome to Talking Business. Good Good to have you here. And give me
[00:35:05] me a sense of what changes if governments
[00:35:08] governments consider treat cybercrime
[00:35:10] cybercrime as a national security
[00:35:12] security risk rather than just a
[00:35:15] a criminality? Yes. So what changes
[00:35:17] changes is a greater mobilisation mobilisation of resources and more
[00:35:21] more concerted effort toward the the problem at hand? So we've seen
[00:35:24] seen with the way that fraud is categorised categorised as a national security
[00:35:28] security risk in the UK since 2023,
[00:35:31] 2023, there's been a much greater greater mobilisation of resources
[00:35:33] resources and a lot more cross-government cross-government effort. So ideally
[00:35:36] ideally we would see this conceptualisation
[00:35:39] conceptualisation of fraud as a national national security risk spreading spreading throughout the rest of
[00:35:42] of the world too. And where is that
[00:35:45] that threat coming from? Who are are the people perpetrating these
[00:35:48] these crimes? So the evidence that
[00:35:50] that we have suggests that this is
[00:35:52] is largely being directed by organised
[00:35:55] organised criminal factions. Now
[00:35:57] Now there is also a degree of complicity
[00:36:01] complicity from political elites, elites, particularly if you're looking looking at those larger scam compounds
[00:36:05] compounds that are operating. They
[00:36:07] They necessarily have to have some
[00:36:10] some form of complicity coming in, in, but that can exist on a continuum.
[00:36:13] continuum. So you can have low level level operatives being paid to give
[00:36:17] give tip offs about upcoming raids, raids, for example, but it can go
[00:36:20] go all the way up to state involvement
[00:36:23] involvement as it was in Myanmar. Myanmar. There was the Korean border border guard were found to actually
[00:36:27] actually be providing muscle for for some of these scam compounds.
[00:36:30] compounds. So it's incredibly concerning, concerning, but it's not necessarily
[00:36:32] necessarily being used as a state,
[00:36:34] state, like as a tool of statecraft, statecraft, just to qualify that.
[00:36:38] that. But it appears that it's organised organised criminal factions. And
[00:36:42] And for those larger operations, operations, there's some degree of
[00:36:45] of complicity from political elites. elites. And how much more sophisticated
[00:36:48] sophisticated do you think these these operations have become given?
[00:36:50] given? I guess technology is changing
[00:36:52] changing all the time, but the sophistication sophistication of these means that
[00:36:56] that it is potentially much easier easier for people to fall victim
[00:36:58] victim and maybe not just even individuals, individuals, but big organisations
[00:37:01] organisations too. Yeah. Most definitely. definitely. I mean, if you look at
[00:37:04] at the way that artificial intelligence intelligence has changed the game,
[00:37:06] game, you're not going to be getting getting a suspicious email with terrible
[00:37:10] terrible grammar from a prince any any more. They've entirely moved
[00:37:13] moved on and they've been able to
[00:37:15] to craft really compelling campaigns campaigns and targeting lots of different
[00:37:18] different audiences as well. So like like you rightly say, businesses
[00:37:22] businesses being targeted. And it's it's something that unfortunately
[00:37:25] unfortunately we expect to increase increase in the coming years. If
[00:37:28] If you look at the return on investment
[00:37:30] investment for a fraudster, you might might have to work with a single
[00:37:33] single human for months on a romance romance scam to actually get any
[00:37:36] any transfer of value. And then you're you're looking at sums that are maybe
[00:37:40] maybe tens of thousands, possibly possibly even hundreds of thousands thousands of pounds. But all you
[00:37:43] you need is one fake invoice to go go through and you could potentially potentially be looking at hundreds
[00:37:47] hundreds of thousands of pounds. pounds. So just for the basic incentives
[00:37:50] incentives that are at play, it's it's likely that we're going to see
[00:37:53] see that increasing to. And when
[00:37:54] when you look around the world, where where is getting the response right?
[00:37:58] right? Where is has got a handle handle on how to tackle this? So
[00:38:02] So over the course of our research, research, we saw a lot of really
[00:38:05] really interesting examples. There's There's the obvious ones like the
[00:38:08] the UK has a wonderful fraud strategy.
[00:38:12] strategy. The UK, Australia, Singapore. Singapore. Those are the examples
[00:38:15] examples that are often touted. But But even in places like the Philippines
[00:38:18] Philippines and South Africa, there's there's really interesting initiatives
[00:38:21] initiatives that are in place in
[00:38:23] in terms of having that broader cohesive cohesive strategy that's mobilising
[00:38:27] mobilising the entirety of government.
[00:38:29] government. There aren't a huge amount amount of those examples out there
[00:38:33] there as of yet, but they're definitely definitely in development. And so
[00:38:35] so if you're an organisation watching watching this right now saying, yes,
[00:38:38] yes, you know, I know I should be
[00:38:40] be taking cyber security more seriously.
[00:38:43] seriously. Where do they start? What What should they be concerned and
[00:38:46] and dealing with? What can they put
[00:38:47] put in place right now? I think the
[00:38:50] the first thing is to just have a
[00:38:53] a look at your own internal processes
[00:38:55] processes and think like a fraudster
[00:38:58] fraudster before they do so you want want to be trying to map out where
[00:39:02] where the vulnerabilities are in
[00:39:04] in your unique system. And secondly,
[00:39:07] secondly, I would say it's actually actually really important to reach reach out to your competitors to
[00:39:10] to look out across industry and to to be sharing information. Fraudsters
[00:39:14] Fraudsters take advantage of the the fact that we're not speaking speaking to each other. And if you
[00:39:18] you have a much clearer picture of of the threat as it's manifesting
[00:39:21] manifesting not just in your individual individual firm, but looking out
[00:39:24] out across the industry, it's going going to make it a lot easier for
[00:39:26] for you to hopefully plug in those those vulnerabilities. Georgia Jones,
[00:39:30] Jones, really good to talk to you you on the programme this week. Thanks Thanks for being with us. Thank you
[00:39:33] you for having me, Ben. My next guest guest has been at the forefront of
[00:39:37] of the fight against cybercrime and and fraud for most of his career,
[00:39:41] career, including five years as the the Director of cybercrime at Interpol.
[00:39:44] Interpol. Greg Jones, welcome back back to Talking Business. It's good
[00:39:48] good to see you. You've met and had had to deal with some pretty unpleasant
[00:39:50] unpleasant people in your time at
[00:39:52] at Interpol. Talk to me about how
[00:39:55] how that threat has changed and maybe maybe resources moving away from
[00:39:58] from what we might consider to be
[00:40:00] be traditional organised crime to
[00:40:03] to cybercrime and scams that is evolving
[00:40:05] evolving all the time. But it's changed changed significantly, hasn't it?
[00:40:08] it? Yeah, absolutely. When we look
[00:40:11] look at the sort of the early cyber cyber scams, they were pretty basic
[00:40:14] basic effectively. But sometimes
[00:40:16] sometimes we still fall for those those basic sort of crimes. But when
[00:40:19] when you look at these criminal ecosystems
[00:40:22] ecosystems now as the digital technology
[00:40:25] technology has evolved, you know, know, businesses and normal businesses
[00:40:28] businesses are able to operate globally globally from your own home now.
[00:40:32] now. So criminals are just leveraging leveraging that same technology and
[00:40:36] and they've got a really decentralised decentralised way of working. So
[00:40:39] So you look at these modern technology technology companies that they have,
[00:40:42] have, you know, they don't have people people all coming into one office. office. Well, criminals do it the
[00:40:45] the same. They look for the infrastructure. infrastructure. So they look to see
[00:40:49] see what platforms they can leverage. leverage. They look for people as
[00:40:51] as well. So how can they get people people to work directly for them?
[00:40:55] them? Because you know, there is is a skill shortage in this space.
[00:40:58] space. So they can either try and and trick people to work for them, them, say, look, you know, we're
[00:41:02] we're doing some penetration testing testing at the moment. Here's a contract,
[00:41:05] contract, here's a company you need need to go and look at. Can you get
[00:41:08] get into their networks? Can you you get us access? But the other
[00:41:11] other thing we're seeing now from from these criminal groups is, is
[00:41:15] is that human trafficking. So they're they're advertising jobs, you know, know, globally. You think you're
[00:41:19] you're going to go and get a well-paid well-paid job in Dubai, for example,
[00:41:22] example, as an it sort of consultant consultant or running, you know,
[00:41:26] know, helping to run a team. And And in fact, what happens is then
[00:41:29] then you then get trafficked out out into South East Asia or somewhere
[00:41:32] somewhere like that and end up being being dropped into a scam compound.
[00:41:35] compound. So they need the IT skills. skills. They need people to be running
[00:41:39] running the calls as well. So there's there's a whole different part to
[00:41:42] to this. And, and the criminals are
[00:41:45] are building out this ecosystem across across different areas as well. And
[00:41:49] And you talk about scam compounds. compounds. We've just been looking
[00:41:52] looking at incredible pictures of
[00:41:53] of that big scam compound in Cambodia.
[00:41:57] Cambodia. Where in the world is this this happening? And there are real
[00:42:00] real hotspots in certain places, places, aren't there? So if there there are, why is it so difficult
[00:42:04] difficult to tackle them? So I think think maybe we trace back to start
[00:42:07] start with. We looked at it being being in Russian speaking centres
[00:42:11] centres to start with. That's sort sort of where it started. You had had whole villages and effectively
[00:42:15] effectively what happened there is, is, you know, people didn't have
[00:42:18] have much money, but they had a connection connection to the internet. They They had a connection to the world
[00:42:22] world and they realised they could
[00:42:24] could make, you know, pretty significant
[00:42:26] significant amounts of money by committing committing crime online. So as that
[00:42:30] that technology has moved out into
[00:42:32] into the sort of South East Asia, Asia, Africa, the same model has
[00:42:36] has evolved as well. When you have have poor economic growth in a country,
[00:42:40] country, you know, one way that you you can bring money in is through
[00:42:44] through committing crime and online online crime. Being able to do it
[00:42:46] it in a country which might be hard
[00:42:48] hard to reach jurisdiction or, you
[00:42:51] you know, as law enforcement as I I was previously. You know, we work
[00:42:54] work very much in a local area, a
[00:42:57] a local crime area. You worked in in your community. Now you have law
[00:43:01] law enforcement working on global global investigations that used to
[00:43:04] to be mainly in sort of a drug importation
[00:43:07] importation that that higher based, based, commodity based crime. But
[00:43:11] But now it's online. So again, looking looking at how law enforcement now
[00:43:15] now has to work, it's a really different
[00:43:18] different area that judicial outcome outcome is not always achievable. achievable. By that I mean putting
[00:43:22] putting a hand on someone's shoulder, shoulder, arresting them and locking
[00:43:26] locking them up, taking them to court court and then getting a prison sentence
[00:43:29] sentence for them. Trying to do that that globally is a lot more challenging
[00:43:32] challenging to try to do that in, in, in Southampton or London, for
[00:43:35] for example, when you're working working locally. And there's a growing
[00:43:38] growing focus, of course, on the the crime itself on, on the methods
[00:43:42] methods of making this money. Is Is there enough focus on what they
[00:43:46] they do with this money, how they they dispose of it, money laundering
[00:43:49] laundering and dealing with the proceeds proceeds of this crime. Because it
[00:43:52] it strikes me there's two very distinct distinct elements to this. You're
[00:43:55] You're absolutely spot on. I mean, mean, first of all, we have to set set up the infrastructure. So they
[00:43:59] they need the means to bring that that money in. How do they bring bring that money in? And we're seeing
[00:44:03] seeing a lot of scams now being set
[00:44:04] set up where you're paying in virtual virtual currencies or if you're putting
[00:44:08] putting it through a bank account, account, they move that money really
[00:44:10] really quickly. So they have a network network that's set up so they can
[00:44:14] can shift that money around. But But when we look at virtual currencies
[00:44:17] currencies or bitcoins, for example,
[00:44:20] example, you can trace that because because you know, always leaves a
[00:44:23] a trace of where it's gone effectively.
[00:44:25] effectively. So there's a whole industry industry now looking at how we trace
[00:44:29] trace this money. And again, it's it's another thing that law enforcement
[00:44:32] enforcement has to do. So again, again, working with the private sector
[00:44:35] sector in this space is, is really,
[00:44:37] really, really important. Being able able to work directly with them.
[00:44:40] them. But then you have to have the the right information sharing agreements
[00:44:44] agreements in, you know, it's not not quite as simple as it used to
[00:44:47] to be. And that's where Interpol
[00:44:49] Interpol comes into this very much
[00:44:52] much so that connects globally law law enforcement together. And coming
[00:44:56] coming back to that money movements, movements, they're looking at different different ways about how they can
[00:44:59] can trace money quickly and then then get a stop, put on that money
[00:45:03] money through financial investigation investigation units in countries
[00:45:06] countries using Interpol channels. channels. We can speed this up a
[00:45:09] a lot quicker. And then the law enforcement enforcement and that sort of mutual
[00:45:12] mutual legal assistance that comes comes in afterwards can be followed
[00:45:15] followed up. And that's more about
[00:45:18] about time consuming, you know, writing writing out, you know, lawyer's notes
[00:45:21] notes from one country to another another country as well. So you then
[00:45:24] then go back to that almost like like that paper and pen effectively
[00:45:28] effectively in a law enforcement enforcement investigation. Now AI
[00:45:31] AI is a game changer when it comes
[00:45:34] comes to the sophistication of some
[00:45:36] some scams able to replicate, you
[00:45:39] you know, really realistic details, details, voices, you know, web pages,
[00:45:42] pages, all that sort of stuff. Is
[00:45:44] Is it also helping in the fight against against the crime? I mean, does it
[00:45:48] it work on both sides? Yeah, absolutely. absolutely. Sure. It works on both
[00:45:51] both sides. But I think what we see see on both sides is the checks and
[00:45:55] and balances that governments have have to put in place, and law enforcement enforcement has to put in place,
[00:45:59] place, you know, the cyber criminals criminals don't have those checks checks and balances. They can just
[00:46:03] just grab the latest technology, technology, they can play around around with it. They can look to
[00:46:06] to see how they can integrate it it into their criminal business model
[00:46:09] model and use it really quickly, quickly, really effectively. Law
[00:46:13] Law enforcement is doing exactly exactly the same thing. It's trying
[00:46:15] trying to join up maybe systems that
[00:46:18] that haven't been connected previously, previously, large data sets and really
[00:46:22] really get into that data and pull
[00:46:24] pull out that crucial piece of information,
[00:46:26] information, which can then identify
[00:46:28] identify those criminals or the infrastructure infrastructure they're using. But
[00:46:31] But I suppose when you look at how
[00:46:33] how the criminals set up their networks networks and their operations, they're
[00:46:37] they're a very agile, almost like like a Start-Up at times they can
[00:46:40] can move very, very quickly and they they can grow very quickly as well.
[00:46:43] well. They can move their operations, operations, you know, taking down
[00:46:47] down one server, bringing another another server up in a different different country very quickly. And
[00:46:51] And that then makes it more challenging challenging for law enforcement when
[00:46:54] when they're trying to track and and trace those criminal groups as
[00:46:57] as well. Are you confident that we
[00:47:00] we are winning here or are we just just playing whack a mole trying
[00:47:03] trying to keep this crime down wherever wherever it might pop up, but it
[00:47:06] it is always there? I mean, what
[00:47:08] what is your consensus about whether
[00:47:10] whether we can ever get ahead of
[00:47:12] of this? So I think we. Knew some
[00:47:15] some fairly emotive language when when we're describing these things.
[00:47:18] things. We talk about it being a a battle, a war. Can we win? Can't
[00:47:21] Can't we win? Who's winning? Who's Who's losing? I think for me, the
[00:47:24] the simple fact is we still have
[00:47:27] have victims of crime. So that to to me is a loss. They're losing money.
[00:47:31] money. People are losing their lives lives as well. When we have sex crimes
[00:47:34] crimes and things like that. So when when we look at it, I like to try
[00:47:37] try and draw it back to, you know, know, what are we trying to prevent prevent here and how do we prevent
[00:47:41] prevent those crimes happening in in the first instance? How can we
[00:47:45] we work more effectively with the
[00:47:46] the big technology companies? So
[00:47:49] So when we spot something, you know, know, we can go to them or what can
[00:47:52] can they do? As technology companies, companies, we've looked at some of
[00:47:55] of these technology companies shifting
[00:47:57] shifting away maybe from those checks
[00:48:00] checks and balances in that space
[00:48:03] space because it is not necessarily necessarily a priority for them at
[00:48:06] at that moment in time. But how can
[00:48:09] can they be more effective in that that space in protecting their users?
[00:48:12] users? They might be providing a a platform, but how do we protect
[00:48:16] protect the users at the end of this this as well? And I think for me,
[00:48:19] me, more focus on that prevention
[00:48:21] prevention piece and looking at those those vulnerabilities because even
[00:48:24] even if we look at how AI is exploiting
[00:48:28] exploiting those vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities, AI is just a tool.
[00:48:31] tool. Those vulnerabilities are in
[00:48:32] in those systems and networks. And And that's what the cybercriminals
[00:48:36] cybercriminals leverage off. They They go to those vulnerabilities vulnerabilities and systems and networks
[00:48:39] networks and use those. But also also as humans, we're vulnerable
[00:48:43] vulnerable as well and they prey prey on that. So it's not just a
[00:48:46] a technology problem here. That's That's it's a people problem as well.
[00:48:50] well. Craig Jones, good to talk to to you on the programme this week. week. Thank you. Thank you very much
[00:48:54] much indeed. Now when we come back, back, how self-driving vehicles could
[00:48:58] could become a target for hackers. hackers. I'll ask the boss of a self-driving
[00:49:01] self-driving truck software company
[00:49:03] company about facing up to the security
[00:49:06] security challenges.
[00:50:12] people. For the latest, follow us us on The President's Path here on
[00:50:13] on BBC. News. MUSIC
[00:50:25] MUSIC Welcome Welcome back to Talking Business. Business. Now self-driving vehicles
[00:50:28] vehicles provide a new challenge challenge for cyber security. And
[00:50:31] And while a lot of recent discussion discussion has been about cyber taxis
[00:50:34] taxis and autonomous cars, the real real revolution is in the haulage
[00:50:38] haulage industry. Autonomous trucking trucking is one of the most complex
[00:50:41] complex engineering challenges of of our time, but the biggest risk
[00:50:45] risk isn't just a software bug. It
[00:50:46] It could be a malicious actor. Imagine
[00:50:50] Imagine an autonomous 800 £0 truck
[00:50:52] truck that gets hacked. Well, the the damage could be colossal. So
[00:50:55] So to discuss that, I'm joined by by the chief executive of plus AI.
[00:50:59] AI. It's a company driving automation automation of the transport sector.
[00:51:02] sector. David Liu welcome to Talking Talking Business. It's good to have have you here. And in this programme
[00:51:06] programme we're looking at the risk risk from cyber threats to all sorts
[00:51:10] sorts of businesses big and small small and to the wider economy from
[00:51:13] from where you're sitting in autonomous autonomous trucks, what does that
[00:51:16] that mean for you, Ben? Thank you
[00:51:18] you for having me on for delivering
[00:51:22] delivering autonomous truck security
[00:51:25] security and functional safety are
[00:51:27] are the most important. Two factors
[00:51:29] factors that for us. So what we are
[00:51:32] are building is a autonomous driving
[00:51:34] driving system that can drive a truck,
[00:51:37] truck, a 800 £0 truck down the highway.
[00:51:41] highway. So from a reliability and
[00:51:44] and security and safety point of
[00:51:46] of view, it is the most fundamental fundamental requirement for us to
[00:51:49] to design the system. And so how
[00:51:51] how do you make sure that it is secure.
[00:51:54] secure. So we design the security security from the very foundation
[00:51:57] foundation of the system. Every layer
[00:52:00] layer of the system is designed with
[00:52:03] with security and anti-hacking in in place. We also have detection
[00:52:07] detection system in place where we we can detect any intrusion from
[00:52:11] from a cybersecurity point of view.
[00:52:13] view. And we will take a proactive
[00:52:15] proactive action once we detect the the threat. So I suppose the question
[00:52:19] question is how you prevent hackers hackers getting in there in the first first place. And we were talking
[00:52:23] talking in this programme about how how the nature of that sort of threat
[00:52:26] threat has changed. It's no longer longer just about extorting money.
[00:52:28] money. It's now about taking control control of critical infrastructure.
[00:52:32] infrastructure. And with a truck truck the size that you're talking talking about here, that could be
[00:52:35] be a lethal weapon if it was in the
[00:52:37] the wrong hands. So this is exactly
[00:52:40] exactly what we're designing to prevent, prevent, right? So first of all,
[00:52:44] all, we're preventing hackers from from entering the system. At the
[00:52:47] the same time we're detecting any
[00:52:50] any type of unintended access or or intrusion to the system. And then
[00:52:54] then from that point on, every layer
[00:52:57] layer of the system we are we have
[00:53:01] have security in place to prevent prevent overriding of what's intended
[00:53:05] intended for the system to do. And And then we also have system in place
[00:53:08] place to shut down the entire entire
[00:53:11] entire truck, the entire system in
[00:53:14] in case where there is a, you know,
[00:53:16] know, an undetected or unprevented unprevented intrusion to the system.
[00:53:19] system. So talk me through what that that process would look like if you
[00:53:23] you were aware that there was malicious malicious actors in the system, do
[00:53:26] do those trucks just stop that they they would stop en route or are they
[00:53:30] they brought slowly to a halt? How
[00:53:32] How does it work? Yeah. So if there
[00:53:35] there is a fundamentally if there
[00:53:36] there is a threat or intrusion that's,
[00:53:39] that's, you know, penetrated multiple multiple layers of the system already.
[00:53:43] already. Ultimately the system will will essentially detect that and
[00:53:46] and place the truck into a safe stop
[00:53:49] stop and stop there for for overall
[00:53:53] overall humans to come over and to
[00:53:54] to take over the system. Also, is
[00:53:57] is it because there is concern too too about where the software is coming
[00:54:00] coming from? And we've seen this this in other industries too, so
[00:54:03] so it's not unique to yours, but but potentially some software coming
[00:54:06] coming from China that has sparked sparked concerns in parts of Europe
[00:54:09] Europe and the United States. How How do you assuage some of those
[00:54:13] those concerns? That's a broader broader geopolitical question. You
[00:54:16] You know, plus AI, where a company company based in the US with branches
[00:54:19] branches in Europe and that's the the primary market we're addressing
[00:54:23] addressing us, Europe and Japan. Japan. Now, you are of course, hoping
[00:54:27] hoping to list publicly and take
[00:54:29] take that technology to a bigger bigger market. What would that look
[00:54:33] look like? And I guess what would would you do with the money if you
[00:54:35] you were able to float? So we're
[00:54:38] we're on the cusp of a wide adoption
[00:54:40] adoption on commercialisation of of autonomous driving technology.
[00:54:43] technology. So going public would would only accelerate our progress
[00:54:47] progress in the industry. So we're we're very, very excited about becoming
[00:54:50] becoming a public entity in the coming
[00:54:52] coming in, in the near future. I
[00:54:55] I mean, it would value the company
[00:54:56] company at what, about $800 million?
[00:55:00] million? What would be the first first thing that you can do with
[00:55:02] with that money that maybe you can't
[00:55:04] can't do at the moment? So we are
[00:55:07] are going to use the proceeds to
[00:55:09] to really accelerate the R&D development
[00:55:11] development to develop our AI system,
[00:55:13] system, to be smarter and safer. safer. So we'll continue down that
[00:55:17] that path. OK. David Lou, really really good to talk to you on the the programme this week. Thank you.
[00:55:21] you. Thank you Ben. That's all for for this week. For more on the global
[00:55:25] global economy and the business of of powering it, check out the BBC
[00:55:28] BBC News website and app. But until until next time, thanks for watching
[00:55:31] watching and we'll see you soon. soon. Bye-bye.
[00:59:15] I was here at the very first protest. The corporate party had
[00:59:19] had organised about a month ago and
[00:59:21] and this is so much bigger. I've
[00:59:23] I've been driving towards the site site of this wildfire, but we've
[00:59:26] we've just stopped at the side of of the road here because of what
[00:59:29] what we saw out the window. This This man has been pulled out successfully.
[00:59:32] successfully. It's taken a mammoth mammoth mammoth rescue effort. This
[00:59:35] This morning. You get very little little sense of the terrible scenes
[00:59:38] scenes that were witnessed here last
[00:59:39] last night. There when the story
[00:59:44] story breaks, BBC News.
[01:00:10] Live from London. This is BBC News.
[01:00:17] BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what he calls mistakes as he he returns to the stage for the first
[01:00:21] first time since the rapper Macklemore Macklemore was dropped from his US US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
[01:00:24] remarks. What is happening in Gaza
[01:00:27] Gaza is a catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate.
[01:00:31] disproportionate. My heart has been been broken by the scale of devastation
[01:00:34] devastation and loss of civilians
[01:00:37] civilians lives, of children's lives. lives. These are live pictures from
[01:00:41] from Germany where polls have just
[01:00:43] just opened in two states. With growing
[01:00:46] growing political pressure on Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz. President
[01:00:50] President Trump says he'll form an an AI force and appoint a new adviser
[01:00:53] adviser to oversee the industry. industry. The brother of Princess
[01:00:57] Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, tells tells the BBC there are echoes of of what happened to his sister in
[01:01:00] in the way the media is treating treating Prince Harry and Meghan.
[01:01:04] Meghan. And Europe's drug agency agency says Scotland's being flooded
[01:01:07] flooded with powerful new drugs,
[01:01:09] drugs, hampering efforts to cut deaths
[01:01:11] deaths linked to narcotics. Hello
[01:01:22] Hello there, I'm Rich Preston. Welcome Welcome to the programme. In Ed Sheeran's
[01:01:26] Sheeran's first concert since his his support act Macklemore was dropped
[01:01:30] dropped over pro-Palestinian comments, comments, the star has directly addressed
[01:01:33] addressed the controversy. Speaking Speaking before his concert in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the British singer
[01:01:37] singer described the situation in
[01:01:39] in Gaza as catastrophic and unjustifiable. unjustifiable. He said the Hamas
[01:01:42] Hamas attacks on Israel in October
[01:01:45] October 2023 were horrific, and added
[01:01:47] added that Israel's response since since then had been disproportionate.
[01:01:50] disproportionate. Before he started started singing, Sheeran apologised
[01:01:52] apologised to his fans for what he he called mistakes as he handled
[01:01:56] handled the fallout from the controversy.
[01:01:59] controversy. I've had to take and and make difficult decisions and
[01:02:02] and I am making mistakes and I'm
[01:02:04] I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to
[01:02:07] to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
[01:02:10] musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
[01:02:13] and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech in the most complex
[01:02:17] complex political issue on the planet.
[01:02:24] planet. While Ed Sheeran then directly directly addressed the situation
[01:02:28] situation in the Middle East. I want want to address the question of where
[01:02:31] where I stand in the situation in in Israel and Palestine and whether
[01:02:34] whether my doing this concert here here tonight implies where I stand.
[01:02:37] stand. I have tried in my career career not to be a political commentator
[01:02:41] commentator of any kind because I
[01:02:42] I want my music and shows to be about
[01:02:45] about unity, not division, about
[01:02:47] about humanity, not politics. But
[01:02:54] But this is a humanitarian issue issue and I cannot hide how I feel
[01:02:57] feel about it any more. What happened happened in Israel and at the No
[01:03:01] No Music festival on October 7th
[01:03:02] 7th was horrific and compounded centuries
[01:03:05] centuries of Jewish pain. What is
[01:03:08] is happening in Gaza is a catastrophic
[01:03:11] catastrophic and unjustifiable and and disproportionate. My heart has
[01:03:14] has been broken by the scale of devastation
[01:03:16] devastation and loss of civilians
[01:03:19] civilians lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
[01:03:23] injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
[01:03:27] overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum
[01:03:30] spectrum to work out how to make make a contribution that helps victims
[01:03:33] victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
[01:03:37] because I do not know enough. I honestly honestly am so grateful that you
[01:03:41] you are here tonight with me. While
[01:03:49] While Ed Sheeran also said he took
[01:03:50] took issue with the idea that venues venues would pre-approve content
[01:03:54] content or performance an hour or or so before the show began, hundreds
[01:03:58] hundreds of concertgoers streamed streamed into the venue, which was
[01:04:00] was a stripped down event, and Sheeran Sheeran went on without any opening
[01:04:03] opening acts. After several musicians
[01:04:05] musicians dropped out. Some pro-Palestinian
[01:04:08] pro-Palestinian protesters did gather gather near the venue. Organisers Organisers say it was so they could
[01:04:12] could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
[01:04:14] ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
[01:04:17] from some of them. We need more people
[01:04:19] people like Macklemore and like other other artists who have a voice, who
[01:04:23] who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
[01:04:26] the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
[01:04:29] Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
[01:04:33] how it feels to be oppressed and
[01:04:36] and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
[01:04:38] from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. Well,
[01:04:41] Well, our North America correspondent correspondent Carl Nasman was at
[01:04:44] at the concert and sent us this update. update. We were there and really
[01:04:47] really in some of the first rows rows actually inside the stadium
[01:04:51] stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
[01:04:53] I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
[01:04:57] how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
[01:05:00] his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
[01:05:03] moment, literally Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
[01:05:07] launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be
[01:05:09] be a prepared speech, but he kind kind of addressed a lot of things
[01:05:12] things that people were wondering
[01:05:14] wondering about specifically his his stance on the situation in the
[01:05:18] the Middle East and also what his
[01:05:21] his thought about Macklemore being being dropped from his tour. We heard
[01:05:23] heard the reporting that this was was due to potentially a pressure
[01:05:26] pressure campaign from some of the the owners of the stadiums on this
[01:05:30] this tour. He said he was deeply
[01:05:32] deeply concerned by the fact that
[01:05:35] that artists like Macklemore and
[01:05:36] and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
[01:05:40] of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
[01:05:44] there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
[01:05:48] cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
[01:05:51] being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
[01:05:55] that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
[01:05:58] here, you know, wanted to come, wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
[01:06:01] perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore
[01:06:04] Macklemore was there or not. There There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
[01:06:08] moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
[01:06:12] don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
[01:06:15] lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
[01:06:19] actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
[01:06:23] that I would get from people in Philadelphia
[01:06:25] Philadelphia at this concert, and
[01:06:27] and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
[01:06:31] Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
[01:06:34] he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
[01:06:38] moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
[01:06:39] Sheeran still has a lot of support,
[01:06:42] support, especially inside that stadium stadium behind us. Carl Nasman there
[01:06:46] there and Carl caught up with some some of Ed Sheeran's fans as they
[01:06:49] they left the gig. This is he was.
[01:06:52] was. He came up alone, you know,
[01:06:54] know, by himself. So I thought it it was beautiful that we got to witness
[01:06:57] witness him in his element like what what he's used to being in from the
[01:07:01] the start, you know? So he started started by himself and he's just
[01:07:03] just as good by himself then with with all these extra people. So I'm
[01:07:06] I'm glad we got more of Ed Sheeran Sheeran than we would have otherwise.
[01:07:10] otherwise. So he's going to play. play. Absolutely amazing. You want want to give us your thoughts for
[01:07:13] for BBC? He pulled it off. He pulled pulled it off because the question
[01:07:16] question was going to be, you know, know, how would he do it without without his back-up band, without,
[01:07:20] without, you know, the pre performers. performers. What did you think of
[01:07:23] of his actual performance? Well,
[01:07:24] Well, for being a one man band now
[01:07:27] now he actually did it very well. well. One of his best songs is he
[01:07:31] he Thinks about himself. So a lot
[01:07:33] lot of his best songs were sung solo
[01:07:36] solo when he outshined, he and he he had the audience supporting him
[01:07:39] him in a way that maybe he wouldn't wouldn't have been supported the
[01:07:43] the same way before with the whole whole band. I feel like everybody
[01:07:46] everybody showed him what the brotherly
[01:07:48] brotherly love that he does for them,
[01:07:50] them, and we really we really pulled pulled together. I miss how he opened
[01:07:54] opened the show. I didn't see how how he opened it. I mean, he I mean,
[01:07:57] mean, he changed his opening song, song, which was my favourite song,
[01:08:00] song, which was irrelevant, completely completely irrelevant. I only came
[01:08:02] came because I had free tickets that that were donated, and if I didn't
[01:08:06] didn't show up, I'd be wouldn't get
[01:08:08] get free tickets ever again. That's
[01:08:10] That's why I came. I wish I hadn't.
[01:08:13] hadn't. I asked entertainment journalist journalist KJ Matthews whether she
[01:08:17] she thinks this apology from Ed Sheeran
[01:08:19] Sheeran has gone far enough. I think
[01:08:22] think this is this first step is is a first step in the right direction.
[01:08:25] direction. I was impressed with his his statement. You could tell that
[01:08:29] that it was obviously, you know, know, written out. It was he was
[01:08:31] was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
[01:08:34] felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
[01:08:37] times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
[01:08:41] he was getting so emotional. But
[01:08:43] But I do think this is a first, first
[01:08:46] first step, really good step in the the right direction for him. Many
[01:08:49] Many people wanted to hear from him him much earlier, but we've heard
[01:08:52] heard from him now and it's interesting.
[01:08:55] interesting. It'll remain to be seen seen whether or not the remaining
[01:08:59] remaining tickets for all of his his concert dates coming up go down.
[01:09:03] down. I mean, what we saw before,
[01:09:04] before, I think hours before earlier
[01:09:07] earlier today, every single ticket ticket sales for his remaining concerts
[01:09:10] concerts were in the negative. They They were in the red, you know, up up to 50% where people were either
[01:09:14] either trying to resell their tickets tickets or they weren't buying tickets.
[01:09:17] tickets. And now I want to see within
[01:09:20] within 24 hours if we see whether whether those numbers go back in
[01:09:23] in the right direction, we do know know that Macklemore is supposed
[01:09:26] supposed to play in October and his
[01:09:28] his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've we've seen just the opposite. After
[01:09:32] After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
[01:09:34] Sheeran's tour. We of course seen
[01:09:36] seen saw Macklemore's social media media numbers increase, his ticket
[01:09:39] ticket sales increased in the opposite
[01:09:42] opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
[01:09:45] be seen whether or not this goes goes far enough, they can kind of
[01:09:49] of change or the damage, but I do do think he's put a lot out there there for people to kind of digest.
[01:09:53] digest. You know, he his point where where he mentioned that he's very
[01:09:57] very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
[01:10:01] before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
[01:10:04] should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
[01:10:07] particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
[01:10:10] are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is the first step
[01:10:14] step in the right direction for him.
[01:10:16] him. Right. Let's go to Germany now.
[01:10:20] now. It's 8:10 there and ten minutes
[01:10:22] minutes ago polls opened for two
[01:10:26] two German state elections. These These are live pictures coming into
[01:10:29] into us from Schwerin, which is the
[01:10:32] the state capital of Mecklenburg,
[01:10:35] Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania. Now
[01:10:36] Now these votes are crucial for Chancellor
[01:10:40] Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who's who's under increasing political
[01:10:43] political pressure. We can go live live to Germany now. And our correspondent
[01:10:47] correspondent Jess Parker, who's who's there for us? Jess, these votes
[01:10:49] votes taking place where you are are and also in the capital Berlin.
[01:10:53] Berlin. Now it comes after these these pretty impressive results for
[01:10:57] for the AfD. Just a couple of weeks
[01:10:59] weeks ago. Are we expecting a similar
[01:11:03] similar picture here? Yes. I mean, mean, I think it's worth talking talking a bit about the backdrop,
[01:11:07] backdrop, as you say. So a couple couple of weeks ago in the state
[01:11:10] state of Saxony-Anhalt, Alternative Alternative fur Deutschland won a
[01:11:14] a landslide victory. Now this is is a party that is anti-immigration,
[01:11:18] anti-immigration, Russia friendly friendly and one that Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads
[01:11:21] leads the conservative CDU party, party, had really promised to counter
[01:11:24] counter as part of his plans to be be in office. But that hasn't worked.
[01:11:27] worked. The AfD has been actually
[01:11:30] actually growing in popularity and and it's hoping the AfD to top the
[01:11:34] the polls here in Mecklenburg, Vorpommern, Vorpommern, although it looks like
[01:11:37] like it's now in a little bit of of a tussle after a late comeback
[01:11:40] comeback from the centre left SPD. SPD. But before we get too bogged
[01:11:43] bogged down in all of that, the big big picture is you're sort of talking
[01:11:47] talking about there is that if the the results are really bad for Chancellor
[01:11:51] Chancellor Friedrich Merz CDU party,
[01:11:53] party, for example, in here in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where there's
[01:11:57] there's a risk that his party could could even fall below the 5% threshold
[01:12:00] threshold needed to enter parliament, parliament, which would be a first
[01:12:03] first and a catastrophic first for for the party. And they're at risk
[01:12:06] risk of losing power in Berlin, where where they're in a neck and neck
[01:12:09] neck race with the left party for for first place. So if the results
[01:12:13] results are a kind of worst case case scenario, I think for Friedrich
[01:12:16] Friedrich Merz and his party, those those questions over his leadership,
[01:12:19] leadership, over his personal popularity popularity or lack of it are going
[01:12:22] going to grow louder. Jess, what what are the issues that people are
[01:12:25] are really concerned about? Because Because of course, the AfD bangs
[01:12:28] bangs the drum on immigration, but but the economy is also high up on
[01:12:32] on the agenda. Yeah, I mean, the
[01:12:35] the AfD actually is, I think talks talks now a lot about the economy
[01:12:38] economy as well. And Germany's economy
[01:12:41] economy has been stuttering for years.
[01:12:43] years. And I think for people in in a country that's traditionally
[01:12:47] traditionally been seen as the engine engine of Europe and it is still
[01:12:49] still Europe's largest economy, people
[01:12:52] people are feeling insecure about about their economic future as Germany's,
[01:12:55] Germany's, for example, being squeezed squeezed by China. Huge problems
[01:12:59] problems in the country's iconic iconic car industry. People also
[01:13:02] also talk a lot about the price of
[01:13:04] of fuel, the price of energy, the
[01:13:07] the general cost of living, and then
[01:13:09] then as well, there is a personal personal frustration that you pick
[01:13:13] pick up talking to people about Chancellor
[01:13:16] Chancellor Friedrich Merz, particularly particularly an issue people feel
[01:13:19] feel he has with his communication communication style. Now, some people
[01:13:21] people I've spoken to say they feel
[01:13:24] feel that he is arrogant, that he
[01:13:26] he is out of touch. And I think Friedrich Friedrich Merz, his backers, would
[01:13:30] would say that this is a man who who has had a pretty tough time internationally. internationally. There have been
[01:13:33] been global events going on that that have been beyond his control,
[01:13:37] control, and that he inherited a a lot of the problems that Germany Germany is facing, and he is trying
[01:13:40] trying to fix them with a package package of reforms, and he needs
[01:13:43] needs more time. But the question question now is whether he is actually
[01:13:46] actually going to get that time.
[01:13:48] time. Pretty unusual, very unusual
[01:13:51] unusual to see chancellors sort of of removed from office. A mid-term
[01:13:54] mid-term in Germany. It isn't like like the United Kingdom where that's
[01:13:57] that's become a little bit more normalised normalised in recent years. So we
[01:14:00] we have to be a little bit careful careful in over speculating. But
[01:14:03] But it's absolutely true to say that that this idea of a chancellor torture
[01:14:07] torture chancellor swap has been been talked about now for months
[01:14:10] months here in Germany. OK. Jessica
[01:14:12] Jessica Parker following these German German state elections for us. Jess,
[01:14:15] Jess, thank you as always. Now President
[01:14:18] President Trump says he'll form an an AI force and appoint a new artificial
[01:14:22] artificial intelligence adviser to to regulate the industry. Writing
[01:14:25] Writing on social media, he said said he would not hinder the growth
[01:14:28] growth of AI, but warned that the the US must maintain its lead over
[01:14:31] over China. Our correspondent Leigh Leigh Milner has more on what's behind
[01:14:35] behind Mr Trump's urgency. I think think a big part of it is that Trump
[01:14:39] Trump sees AI as a really important
[01:14:41] important area for both the US economy
[01:14:44] economy and also wants to do it strategically. strategically. He wants America to
[01:14:47] to stay out in front, particularly particularly when it comes to competition
[01:14:50] competition with China, and he clearly
[01:14:52] clearly feels that putting too many
[01:14:55] many restrictions on the industry industry could slow things down.
[01:14:57] down. So the emphasis is on keeping keeping investment and development
[01:15:01] development moving quickly and making making sure American companies have
[01:15:05] have the freedom, obviously, to compete. compete. But at the same time, there
[01:15:08] there are these concerns about whether
[01:15:10] whether the technology is developing developing faster than governments
[01:15:13] governments can keep up with. Well, Well, that's a really good point point because that's particularly
[01:15:17] particularly ramped up in the last last couple of weeks or so. What
[01:15:20] What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and and technology leaders are worried
[01:15:24] worried about the risks that could
[01:15:26] could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
[01:15:29] calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
[01:15:33] sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
[01:15:36] concerns that if AI becomes more more powerful than it could be out
[01:15:40] out of control, and people could
[01:15:42] could obviously misuse it as well.
[01:15:45] well. Trump, however, has taken a a different position. He's dismissed
[01:15:49] dismissed concerns about the potential potential dangers of AI, as we've
[01:15:52] we've heard, as a hoax, and believes believes that slowing down could
[01:15:55] could hurt America's ability to compete
[01:15:57] compete with China. So at the moment,
[01:16:00] moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
[01:16:04] to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
[01:16:07] enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
[01:16:10] technology develops. The US says says it's struck an alleged drug
[01:16:13] drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, Caribbean, killing four people. The
[01:16:17] The US military's Southern Command Command released this video showing
[01:16:20] showing a huge explosion after a a boat was hit, but didn't give any
[01:16:23] any evidence that those on board board were transporting drugs. More
[01:16:27] More than 200 people have been killed killed in such operations since they
[01:16:30] they began in the Caribbean and Eastern
[01:16:32] Eastern Pacific last year. Washington Washington says they are narco terrorists. terrorists. Rights groups say the
[01:16:36] the strikes amount to extrajudicial
[01:16:39] extrajudicial executions. Russian Russian state media say Ukrainian
[01:16:42] Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow Moscow have killed at least two people.
[01:16:45] people. The mayor of the Russian Russian capital said a facility the
[01:16:47] the Moscow oil refinery was damaged damaged and over 30 flights were
[01:16:52] were suspended. The attacks had persisted persisted despite a statement by
[01:16:55] by Donald Trump last week that the the two sides had agreed not to target
[01:16:59] target each other's oil facilities
[01:17:01] facilities because of global fuel
[01:17:03] fuel shortages. The brother of Princess
[01:17:06] Princess Diana has told the BBC that
[01:17:08] that he sees, quote, echoes of what
[01:17:10] what happened to her in the way Prince Prince Harry and Meghan are treated
[01:17:14] treated by the media. Earl Spencer Spencer made the comments in an exclusive
[01:17:17] exclusive interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Kuenssberg, during which he also also discussed claims in his new
[01:17:21] new book about an alleged argument argument with King Charles following
[01:17:25] following Diana's death. Buckingham Buckingham Palace says his recollection
[01:17:28] recollection has been clouded by by grief. Speaking about the Duke
[01:17:31] Duke and Duchess of Sussex, he said said although he wasn't there to
[01:17:35] to speak for the couple, people should
[01:17:37] should learn from Diana's example.
[01:17:39] example. Do you fear there is somehow somehow an an echo of what happened
[01:17:43] happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
[01:17:46] occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
[01:17:49] over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
[01:17:51] a perception in the media that I'm
[01:17:53] I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
[01:17:56] on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
[01:18:00] either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
[01:18:03] them. And I never get involved in
[01:18:05] in one camp or the other except as
[01:18:08] as a benign figure. I hope. That's
[01:18:11] That's my role. Do you think Diana
[01:18:13] Diana would identify with the attention,
[01:18:15] attention, the focus that has been been put on them? And with Meghan,
[01:18:18] Meghan, who said she felt like she she was the most trolled person in
[01:18:21] in the world. You know, they were were here during the summer not so
[01:18:24] so long ago. If you look at an article
[01:18:28] article in a tabloid about Diana
[01:18:31] Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
[01:18:35] you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
[01:18:39] I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from from Diana's example. I'm not here
[01:18:43] here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
[01:18:45] Meghan, but for anyone who's being
[01:18:47] being destroyed in this way daily,
[01:18:49] daily, it must be such a cancerous cancerous influence in their life.
[01:18:53] life. I saw it with Diana, I saw saw Diana, I mentioned it in the
[01:18:56] the eulogy, her tears of despair. despair. One of the problems with
[01:18:59] with Diana was she's very, very sensitive
[01:19:02] sensitive to criticism. And of course, course, I'm sure most of your viewers
[01:19:06] viewers now think, oh, she had this this splendid life and it was all all amazing. And she didn't. She
[01:19:09] She was so privileged and so perfect perfect in so many ways. But she
[01:19:13] she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
[01:19:17] suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
[01:19:19] echoes of that now. Well, in response
[01:19:22] response to the claims made by Earl Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace has
[01:19:25] has said that the King was mindful
[01:19:27] mindful that the pain of fraternal fraternal grief can cloud reason,
[01:19:31] reason, affect judgement and colour colour memory in ways others do not
[01:19:34] not recognise. Even many years after
[01:19:37] after such a loss. The full interview interview with Laura Kuenssberg will
[01:19:40] will be broadcast at 630 this evening
[01:19:42] evening on BBC One here in the UK, UK, and will be available on BBC
[01:19:46] BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds from 4
[01:19:49] 4 pm. The Houthis in Yemen say they've
[01:19:53] they've attacked sites in the Saudi Saudi capital Riyadh and the Red
[01:19:57] Red Sea city of Yanbu. In a TV statement, statement, the group, which is backed
[01:20:00] backed by Iran, says it launched launched missiles and drones in retaliation
[01:20:04] retaliation for Saudi warplanes striking striking Houthi positions this week.
[01:20:06] week. Earlier on Saturday, a plume plume of black smoke was seen near
[01:20:10] near the international airport in in Riyadh after reports of explosions
[01:20:13] explosions at a fuel depot. Saudi Saudi authorities say they intercepted
[01:20:16] intercepted and destroyed a ballistic ballistic missile fired at the city.
[01:20:20] city. Turkey says it's ready to help
[01:20:22] help under a defence pact signed
[01:20:24] signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian is a research
[01:20:28] research fellow at the Global and and National Security Institute and
[01:20:31] and a non-resident scholar at the the George Washington University's University's Institute of Middle
[01:20:35] Middle East Studies. This is his his assessment of who has the upper
[01:20:38] upper hand. I think at this point,
[01:20:41] point, at least in the absence of of any active
[01:20:47] Any active signal from the United States, direct engagement engagement in the conflict. The Houthis Houthis have the upper hand. Houthis
[01:20:51] Houthis have a higher threshold of of tolerance for pain. Basically, Basically, the pain that the Saudis
[01:20:54] Saudis or the sanctions inflict on on the population of the Yemen is
[01:20:57] is not directly transferred to them.
[01:21:00] them. Saudis have a lesser threshold threshold for the pain. Saudis also
[01:21:02] also are dealing with economic issues. issues. There is already an instability
[01:21:06] instability in the energy market market and vis a vis the Saudis income
[01:21:09] income from it because of the war war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,
[01:21:13] Hormuz, Houthis attack. Specifically Specifically speaking, the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
[01:21:17] which signals their willingness to
[01:21:19] to expand the scope of the bite,
[01:21:22] bite, is going to much inflict a a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
[01:21:26] economy. So while the militarily militarily speaking Saudi obviously
[01:21:29] obviously have superiority toward toward the Houthis, but in terms
[01:21:31] terms of the threshold of the tolerance, tolerance, in terms of the time,
[01:21:34] time, the situation is not in favour favour of the Saudis unless something
[01:21:37] something change either the Americans
[01:21:39] Americans get involved further in
[01:21:42] in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
[01:21:45] involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. Let's get some
[01:21:48] some of the day's other stories. stories. Now the new school year
[01:21:51] year has begun in Gaza with more more than 500,000 children going
[01:21:54] going back to formal education for for the first time in almost three
[01:21:57] three years. The UN says 97% of schools
[01:22:00] schools in Gaza were damaged or destroyed destroyed in fighting since the Israel-Gaza
[01:22:04] Israel-Gaza war began. Thousands Thousands of Argentines have marched marched through Buenos Aires. The
[01:22:09] The protest was against President President Javier Milei's labour policies
[01:22:12] policies and austerity cuts. Left Left wing political leaders and activists
[01:22:15] activists are calling for a general general strike. Police in the Netherlands
[01:22:18] Netherlands have clashed with several several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
[01:22:22] The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration protest
[01:22:25] protest be broken up after it spiralled
[01:22:27] spiralled into violence as protesters protesters gathered at a local park.
[01:22:30] park. At least 24 people were arrested
[01:22:35] arrested at the European Union's Union's drugs agency says efforts efforts to bring down Scotland's
[01:22:38] Scotland's sky high rate of deaths deaths from illegal drug use are
[01:22:41] are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
[01:22:45] and dangerous new substances. This This explosion in the supply of synthetic
[01:22:48] synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
[01:22:52] deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week.
[01:22:56] week. James Cook reports. This spotless
[01:22:59] spotless laboratory in Dundee seems seems a world away from the chaotic
[01:23:03] chaotic reality of illegal drug use.
[01:23:05] use. But scientists here are racing racing against a deadly and evolving
[01:23:09] evolving threat. They're examining examining samples of seized drugs
[01:23:12] drugs to find out exactly what's what's in them. And the answers are
[01:23:15] are worrying. With new substances substances emerging all the time.
[01:23:19] time. In terms of Europe, we are are seeing roughly about a drug entering
[01:23:22] entering into Europe context within within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks
[01:23:26] weeks something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid rapid for us to be able to keep up
[01:23:29] up as scientists. And that must be be dangerous. Yeah, these drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit
[01:23:33] illicit drug supply in Scotland is is getting more and more dangerous
[01:23:36] dangerous as time goes on. They're
[01:23:38] They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
[01:23:42] nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
[01:23:46] Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
[01:23:49] from Valium style pills to powdered
[01:23:53] powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
[01:23:57] Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
[01:24:00] This year, the figure has already
[01:24:03] already reached 78 million and we we can reveal detectives have raided
[01:24:07] raided suspected nitazenes labs in in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
[01:24:10] arresting five people. This is not
[01:24:14] not just an urban problem. The rapidly
[01:24:16] rapidly changing nature of the drug drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
[01:24:20] Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre
[01:24:22] Kintyre peninsula on the far west west of the mainland, to hear more
[01:24:26] more about what is a struggle to
[01:24:28] to save lives. There are all sorts
[01:24:31] sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
[01:24:35] helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature, but the staff
[01:24:38] staff say their job has been made made harder by the rapidly evolving
[01:24:42] evolving nature of drug supplies. supplies. Some of these substances
[01:24:45] substances are so potent that a grain grain would be enough to take somebody
[01:24:49] somebody over. And to kill them. them. And to possibly kill them.
[01:24:52] them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
[01:24:54] really is. I mean, I think I mean,
[01:24:57] mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
[01:25:00] ever been as riskier, as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
[01:25:04] what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
[01:25:07] better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
[01:25:11] reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
[01:25:14] about all those that we've lost through
[01:25:17] through substance use. So many lives
[01:25:20] lives lost, so much still to do to
[01:25:22] to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
[01:25:26] News, Kintyre. Now finally this half half hour. Ancient Rome has met cutting
[01:25:30] cutting edge technology in Croatia. Croatia. The Adriatic coastal city
[01:25:34] city of Pula turned its 2000-year-old 2000-year-old historic buildings
[01:25:37] buildings into a canvas for contemporary
[01:25:39] contemporary light art. Some 16 locations locations across the city were used
[01:25:43] used to explore themes of space,
[01:25:45] space, peace, nature and human relations.
[01:25:47] relations. In all, there were 23
[01:25:49] 23 works featuring artists from countries
[01:25:52] countries including Croatia, Germany,
[01:25:54] Germany, Ukraine, Norway and Hong
[01:25:57] Hong Kong. I'll be back in a few few moments time with the headlines.
[01:26:00] headlines. Do stick with us here here on BBC News. Bye for now.
[01:29:54] you are. Business on BBC News. Make
[01:29:57] Make the connection. MUSIC
[01:30:08] MUSIC
[01:30:15] These are the latest headlines
[01:30:16] from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises
[01:30:19] apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage stage for the first
[01:30:27] The first time since the rapper Macklemore was dropped from his US US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
[01:30:30] remarks. He told fans the situation situation in Gaza was catastrophic catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. President Trump
[01:30:34] Trump says he'll form an AI force force and appoint a new adviser to
[01:30:38] to oversee the industry, warning warning the US must maintain its
[01:30:41] its lead over China. Polls open for
[01:30:43] for elections in two German states states as Chancellor Friedrich Merz
[01:30:46] Merz faces growing political pressure.
[01:30:49] pressure. Europe's drugs agency says
[01:30:51] says Scotland is being flooded with with powerful new drugs, hampering
[01:30:54] hampering efforts to cut deaths linked
[01:30:56] linked to narcotics. The brother brother of Princess Diana Earl Spencer
[01:30:59] Spencer tells the BBC there are echoes echoes of what happened to his sister
[01:31:02] sister in the way the media treats
[01:31:04] treats Prince Harry and Meghan. Now
[01:31:16] Now on BBC News, we're off on a journey journey of discovery to explore new
[01:31:20] new destinations around the globe globe and uncover hidden sides to
[01:31:23] to some of the world's favourite favourite holiday hotspots. With
[01:31:26] With The Travel Show team. Out here,
[01:31:34] here, it's easy to see why people people have always been drawn to
[01:31:37] to places like this. It's that scale.
[01:31:40] scale. It's the quiet. It's that
[01:31:41] that sense of space. The British
[01:31:45] British countryside. It's where so so many of us retreat to for beauty
[01:31:48] beauty and peace. But for more than
[01:31:51] than 500,000 young people every year, year, it's also the venue for what's
[01:31:55] what's become a proper rite of passage. passage. We're here. We're walking
[01:31:58] walking that way. Brilliant. For For 70 years, the Duke of Edinburgh
[01:32:01] Edinburgh Award scheme has helped helped generations of teenagers explore
[01:32:05] explore the country's wild spaces.
[01:32:07] spaces. And now it faces its biggest biggest challenge yet. Screen time.
[01:32:10] time. Will get these phones back
[01:32:12] back later. By phone. This phone.
[01:32:17] phone. Figures show children are are spending more hours online than
[01:32:20] than ever before. And time spent
[01:32:22] spent out in places like these has
[01:32:24] has halved. So I can't help wondering
[01:32:27] wondering what they're missing. I'm
[01:32:30] I'm Duane Fields the outdoors changed changed my life and it's given me
[01:32:33] me a lasting thirst for adventure.
[01:32:36] adventure. I'm headed to some of of the country's wildest spaces to
[01:32:40] to find the people dedicate themselves themselves to getting the next generation
[01:32:43] generation of tech addicts off their
[01:32:45] their screens and back outside. I'm
[01:32:47] I'm meeting the young explorers battling battling horizontal drizzle in the
[01:32:51] the Yorkshire Dales. I feel like like I've always said it's type two
[01:32:53] two fun when you're having it. It's It's not fun at all. But when you
[01:32:57] you look back, it's actually the the best thing ever. On the edge edge of the Cairngorms we meet a
[01:33:01] a young man who's chosen to spend spend as much time as possible offline
[01:33:05] offline and off grid. So inside these
[01:33:09] these jars here is my urine. And And we meet up with two brothers
[01:33:12] brothers on a mission to complete complete 500 challenges before they
[01:33:16] they turn 18. Every kid should experience experience something like this at
[01:33:18] at least once in their life. You're You're not truly living if you're
[01:33:22] you're not 50 notifications. So they're they're all rolling in. As governments
[01:33:25] governments across the globe rethink rethink children's relationship with
[01:33:29] with the online world. Could switching switching off be the start of the
[01:33:32] the greatest adventure of all?
[01:33:47] The weather for Cambridge is sunny and hot. There's a low chance
[01:33:50] chance that the heat could trigger trigger the odd thundery shower this
[01:33:53] this afternoon. Temperatures will
[01:33:54] will reach as high as 32 degrees.
[01:33:59] degrees. And here we come from that
[01:34:02] that way. Just checking that your
[01:34:04] your navigation is up to scratch.
[01:34:06] scratch. It's a big day for my son, son, Nathaniel. He's taken. On his
[01:34:10] his first bronze Duke of Edinburgh Edinburgh expedition in the Fens.
[01:34:13] Fens. Among the waterways and farmland farmland of eastern England. And
[01:34:17] And taking it all in his stride.
[01:34:21] stride. Are you excited? Not too
[01:34:23] too excited. No, not too excited.
[01:34:25] excited. You're going away from home. home. You can do what you want. You
[01:34:28] You can roam free. You're not excited.
[01:34:31] excited. Not too excited. Nathaniel
[01:34:39] Nathaniel is one of more than 230,000
[01:34:42] 230,000 young people taking on a a DofE expedition this year. But
[01:34:45] But his generation is a world away
[01:34:47] away from those who first signed
[01:34:50] signed up in the 1950s. And now the
[01:34:54] the film turns to the section adventure.
[01:34:58] adventure. Created 70 years ago by by the late Prince Philip. The awards
[01:35:01] awards mission remains the same helping
[01:35:03] helping young people volunteer in in their communities, learn new skills
[01:35:07] skills and discover what they're they're capable of. But as more of
[01:35:10] of life moves online, what can this
[01:35:12] this scheme offer today? The fact
[01:35:15] fact is, there's a very deep need need in human nature to reach out
[01:35:19] out and explore beyond the security security of home. Now this need hasn't
[01:35:22] hasn't yet been suppressed by the
[01:35:24] the lure of modern mechanical conveniences conveniences and comforts, and it's
[01:35:27] it's pretty important that it shouldn't shouldn't be. For if we ever let
[01:35:30] let ourselves become slaves to our our inventions, it would be a poor
[01:35:34] poor prospect for us all. And part
[01:35:38] part of DofE is about stepping out
[01:35:41] out of that comfort zone. And you're you're not sitting on your devices
[01:35:45] devices or your games consoles or or computers. Your phones will get
[01:35:48] get put in bags. They will be sealed sealed away for the expedition. So
[01:35:52] So you've got to work as a team.
[01:35:54] team. Take yourself away from your
[01:35:56] your digital world and put yourself yourself out in the countryside.
[01:35:59] countryside. Good luck. Have you you all got your mobile phones with with you? Do you want to seal that
[01:36:03] that up and put that in your bag? bag? You will get these phones back
[01:36:07] back later. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Phone,
[01:36:10] Phone, phone. Nathaniel's now going going off with his group. And I'm
[01:36:13] I'm a little bit anxious. I know know he's going to be fine. I know
[01:36:17] know he's prepared. But just like like any parent would be, my little
[01:36:20] little one's going off to go, you you know, rambling around the fields
[01:36:23] fields and forests in this area.
[01:36:32] area. Yeah. So then. That's that
[01:36:38] that way. Well, north and then north-east.
[01:36:40] north-east. While Nathaniel begins begins his adventure, I'm headed
[01:36:44] headed north to the Yorkshire Dales.
[01:36:48] Dales. With its rugged landscapes landscapes attracted more than 6 6 million visitors a year. It's the
[01:36:52] the perfect setting for the ultimate
[01:36:54] ultimate DofE challenge. It's just
[01:36:57] just after dawn and I'm meeting Sarah, Sarah, a teacher who's taking me
[01:37:01] me to join her students as they embark
[01:37:03] embark on the final day of their
[01:37:05] their gold level expedition. It's
[01:37:08] It's really early and you're smiling, smiling, so I know you enjoy your
[01:37:10] your role. Yeah. You know, it's been
[01:37:12] been 4 or 5 days now, so we are feeling feeling pretty tired. But it's fantastic
[01:37:16] fantastic to be out here. You say say we where are the young people? people? So they are just up this
[01:37:20] this hill and they're wild. Camp Camp location. Final night. So you
[01:37:23] you know they're very excited. It's It's super windy up there but they're they're doing really well. Look we
[01:37:27] we can get some see some light just
[01:37:29] just underneath the cloud over there.
[01:37:32] there. It's not pleasant is it. I I mean you can see the winds tearing
[01:37:35] tearing up their tents. Yeah. No No it's definitely breezy up here.
[01:37:38] here. About 400m or so up so you you can feel the difference, can't
[01:37:41] can't you? I'll say. How was your your night? Oh. All right. A bit
[01:37:44] bit wet and windy. Oh, my goodness goodness it wasn't it didn't keep
[01:37:47] keep you up for too too long. I think think we've sort of got used to it
[01:37:50] it in the end. So we managed to go
[01:37:52] go to sleep get some sleep at least.
[01:37:56] least. The conditions up here aren't aren't great and I think these guys
[01:38:00] guys are eager to get down, especially especially after last night's wind
[01:38:03] wind and rain. Me? I'm doing it. it. There you go. OK. That way. See?
[01:38:06] See? Look. We're here. We're walking
[01:38:08] walking that way. Brilliant. Yeah.
[01:38:11] Yeah. OK. The group have been following
[01:38:15] following the Herriot Way. A 52 mile
[01:38:17] mile loop through some of the Yorkshire Yorkshire Dales most spectacular
[01:38:20] spectacular scenery. It's a demanding demanding route with plenty to test.
[01:38:23] test. Even experienced walkers. But
[01:38:26] But this is the gold standard at
[01:38:29] at work. Go on, big boys. Savannah,
[01:38:34] Savannah, you. Are slightly different different to some of these guys because
[01:38:37] because you've done the silver, haven't haven't you? Yeah, I have, I've done done silver and bronze. Really good
[01:38:41] good experiences I think. Yeah, yeah. yeah. And what did you what did you
[01:38:43] you get out of it? I feel like I've I've always said it's type two fun
[01:38:46] fun where it's like you when you're you're having it. It's not fun at
[01:38:50] at all. Yeah. But when you look back, back, it's actually the best thing
[01:38:52] thing ever. Lots of older people, people, you know, when they talk
[01:38:56] talk about young people, they say, say, oh, young people are trapped trapped in their phones and they
[01:39:00] they live online and they spend their their whole time looking at a screen.
[01:39:03] screen. Yeah. It's so false. My mum mum and I always talk about this,
[01:39:06] this, but she's gonna kill me for for saying this, but she's on her
[01:39:08] her phone more than I am really scrolling scrolling on Facebook. Oh, my goodness.
[01:39:12] goodness. How did you I don't know, know, grow up in this day and age
[01:39:15] age and not be attached to your phone? phone? I don't know, I just think
[01:39:19] think I've grown up valuing like like when I was growing up as a child,
[01:39:22] child, I preferred to be outside. outside. I think my parents taught
[01:39:25] taught me that like being inside
[01:39:28] inside on your phone all the time time isn't the best way to live life.
[01:39:31] life. I think I've just grown up up that way. I think they've done
[01:39:33] done a good job. Yeah, they really
[01:39:36] really appreciate that. You know.
[01:39:48] Yeah. Take in the view guys.
[01:39:53] Are you gonna miss it? Yeah, I think
[01:39:57] think I am. I'm so impressed by these
[01:40:00] these young people. We're out in in the Yorkshire Dales. We're in
[01:40:03] in the middle of some really rough rough weather. They've spent five five days out here. I've only been
[01:40:07] been out here for one. And their their spirits are up. Morale's up
[01:40:11] up and they're charging towards their their goal, which is that gold Duke
[01:40:14] Duke of Edinburgh award. How are
[01:40:19] are you feeling? Actually, I feel feel really proud of sort of thing
[01:40:21] thing and like, I feel a big sense
[01:40:23] sense of achievement. I mean it's
[01:40:26] it's so close now and I just feel
[01:40:27] feel very happy for all of us. Oh,
[01:40:34] Oh, my God. Wait, wait look, this
[01:40:36] this Carse. Oh, my God, guys, you've you've actually done it. Is that
[01:40:40] that the castle? Let's get food.
[01:40:48] food. All the hard work paid off. off. Does it feel good? Yeah. I think
[01:40:51] think we're gonna miss it, though. though. Yeah. We will, we will. Can
[01:40:54] Can I ask you one thing that's going going to make me look like a super
[01:40:57] super dad? My son has just started
[01:41:00] started on this journey. What tips tips can I give him to help him succeed
[01:41:04] succeed more? During his Duke of of Edinburgh Awards. The going will
[01:41:08] will get tough and when it does get get tough, keep pushing. And don't
[01:41:11] don't forget to pack your waterproofs. waterproofs. On a day like today.
[01:41:14] today. He's definitely going to need
[01:41:16] need it, isn't he? Yeah, definitely.
[01:42:22] May Williams as I eat my way around
[01:42:24] around Italy on The Travel Show on
[01:42:27] on BBC News. MUSIC
[01:42:35] MUSIC From From one national park to another, another, I travel north of the border
[01:42:39] border into Scotland's Cairngorms, Cairngorms, one of Britain's last
[01:42:43] last great wildernesses. This is is a landscape of mountains, ancient
[01:42:47] ancient forests and sweeping moorland moorland where the modern world can
[01:42:49] can feel a long way away. For Zeki
[01:42:54] Zeki Basan, the Cairngorms have always always been his back garden. As a
[01:42:58] a teenager he spent years living living off grid in a tepee, honing
[01:43:02] honing the wilderness skills that that would shape his life. Today
[01:43:06] Today he runs Highland Survival School.
[01:43:08] School. Passing that knowledge onto
[01:43:11] onto others. Welcome to Camp Duane.
[01:43:14] Duane. Can I say this is a great
[01:43:15] great spot? I it's not bad, is it?
[01:43:20] it? As we set up camp, I wanted to
[01:43:23] to understand what keeps drawing
[01:43:24] drawing him back to the wild. Zeki
[01:43:28] Zeki do you worry that some of these
[01:43:31] these ancient skills are dying out?
[01:43:34] out? I wouldn't use the word worry, worry, but I certainly I certainly certainly want to make it my mission
[01:43:38] mission to keep these skills alive
[01:43:40] alive and pass them on to people.
[01:43:44] people. And that's what I do. You You know, that's what my business
[01:43:47] business is, is revolved around and and it's based around teaching people
[01:43:50] people traditional crafts and knowledge
[01:43:52] knowledge and wilderness living skills skills that enable people to see
[01:43:56] see nature differently or certainly certainly get a feeling of comfort
[01:43:59] comfort within the environment because because they're realising how much
[01:44:02] much there is to learn. How about about you? Do you think that there's
[01:44:06] there's a sort of worry that these
[01:44:09] these skills become lost one day?
[01:44:11] day? I worry a little bit that maybe
[01:44:14] maybe social media and devices and and all these other things, distractions
[01:44:18] distractions are taking up a lot lot more time than I'd like them
[01:44:20] them to. I yeah, definitely. Yeah, Yeah, I think that's a major concern.
[01:44:24] concern. I mean, even when I was
[01:44:27] was a young boy and I'm not old, old, you know, playing outside was
[01:44:30] was a normal thing. Whereas I do do feel now that is definitely less
[01:44:33] less and less. And that is a real
[01:44:35] real concern for sure. To some, this
[01:44:40] this place can feel vast and empty,
[01:44:43] empty, but to Zeki it's a supermarket supermarket without walls. Every
[01:44:46] Every nook and cranny contains something something to eat, something to use
[01:44:50] use and a story to tell. So this
[01:44:53] this is wild mountain thyme. You You pick out a wee piece here like
[01:44:56] like that, crush it up in your fingers. fingers. And when you're crushing crushing a plant, you really have
[01:45:00] have to rub it. You have to release release those oils. You can't just just gently massage it, rub it up
[01:45:04] up in your fingers and then hold hold it to your nose. And you're you're going to get a really aromatic,
[01:45:07] aromatic, beautiful smell that comes comes from it. Does this plant look
[01:45:11] look familiar to you in any way? way? It does. Maybe like the top
[01:45:15] top of a carrot or something like like that. The carrot family, though,
[01:45:18] though, is a dangerous family. Many Many members are toxic and many members
[01:45:21] members are edible. This is sweet, sweet, Cicely, and it was actually actually introduced by the Romans.
[01:45:25] Romans. It's got a very sweet taste taste to it, hence the name Sweet
[01:45:28] Sweet Sicily. And if you pick a wee
[01:45:30] wee piece and put it into your mouth,
[01:45:32] mouth, what you'll experience is is something that's going to remind
[01:45:36] remind you hopefully of a sweet shop
[01:45:38] shop or. It tastes a little bit like like liquorice. Yeah, exactly. Close
[01:45:42] Close relative of this is something something called hemlock, which is
[01:45:45] is very poisonous. So it's you know, know, people do sometimes make that
[01:45:49] that mistake, smell it first. That's That's why we always use our other other senses. We don't just pick
[01:45:53] pick something and put it in our our mouth. We crush it, we smell
[01:45:55] smell it. We go through and identifying identifying scene to make sure we've
[01:45:58] we've got the right thing. So we're
[01:46:04] we're going to continue along the
[01:46:06] the trail here. So we've got a good good patch of nettles here. Duane.
[01:46:10] Duane. And what are we going to use use the nettles for. So we're going
[01:46:12] going to eat them. So through heat heat you can dissolve the stingers
[01:46:16] stingers as soon as it touches steaming steaming water or a hot pan or an
[01:46:19] an oven. And the stingers will just just be dissolved. And then you can
[01:46:23] can consume them. So you are probably probably going to get stung doing.
[01:46:26] doing. But I don't think you'll care. care. I think your hands are tough
[01:46:30] tough enough. I'm noticing you're you're slowing down and you're picking
[01:46:33] picking doing, having been. I mean,
[01:46:34] mean, can you can you can I can you
[01:46:37] you keep on picking? You've got a
[01:46:38] a lot more to pick. The nettles were
[01:46:42] were only the beginning a little little further on, Zeki revealed
[01:46:45] revealed one of the more unusual unusual ways people have worked with
[01:46:48] with the natural world for generations. generations. When you see this, this
[01:46:51] this crustose lichen which forms forms on the outside of the tree
[01:46:54] tree here, and this also holds a
[01:46:56] a long history of being used in the
[01:46:59] the industry of dyes. That's something
[01:47:01] something that I do to this day.
[01:47:05] day. I use lichen to basically create
[01:47:07] create dyes. So you can see in this
[01:47:10] this jar here and you give it a shake. shake. You can see there's a sort sort of like pinky, maybe reddish
[01:47:14] reddish colour. Really strong red. red. Yeah. And then this one here here you're getting a sort of purple
[01:47:18] purple colour. I'm amazed at how
[01:47:20] how striking these colours are. I
[01:47:22] I so in order to extract the dye
[01:47:25] dye from these lichens you have to
[01:47:27] to use urine. So inside these jars
[01:47:30] jars here is my urine and. Yeah Zeki.
[01:47:34] Zeki. Maybe next time lead with that.
[01:47:36] that. So the acid the ammonia within within urine is what essentially
[01:47:40] essentially pulls the dye out from from the lichen itself. Now who discovered discovered that? I mean, it's you
[01:47:44] you know, it's quite an amazing journey. journey. That must have been I'll
[01:47:47] I'll show you something that's associated associated with those dyes. And that
[01:47:51] that is the tartan here. And it also
[01:47:53] also shows the connection between between the past clans and the land.
[01:47:57] land. You know, if you were a mountain mountain clan, you might use blueberries
[01:48:01] blueberries from the hills to dye dye your wool. If you were a coastal
[01:48:04] coastal clan, you might use certain certain seaweeds you know, to dye. dye. If you're an inland clan, a
[01:48:07] a you know, in the forest, you might might use certain lichens that grow
[01:48:10] grow on the trees, you know, so it's
[01:48:12] it's it really is to do with the
[01:48:14] the place that you're from. For the
[01:48:21] the final leg of my journey, I'm I'm staying in the Scottish Highlands
[01:48:24] Highlands and heading to Pitlochry.
[01:48:31] Pitlochry. Surrounded by forests, forests, lochs and deep river gorges,
[01:48:34] gorges, it's a place made for adventure. adventure. It's also the perfect
[01:48:38] perfect place to meet brothers 14-year-old
[01:48:41] 14-year-old Harry and 16-year-old
[01:48:44] 16-year-old Ollie. They believe the
[01:48:46] the digital and outdoor worlds can can live in harmony. So our electric
[01:48:50] electric drill has run out of batteries
[01:48:52] batteries so we're having to go old
[01:48:54] old school. Through their social
[01:48:59] social media channel, the days are
[01:49:00] are just packed. They share adventures
[01:49:03] adventures on land, sea and even
[01:49:05] even in space. It's all part of a
[01:49:08] a mission to complete 500 adventures
[01:49:11] adventures before they turn 18. Fellas,
[01:49:19] Fellas, how's it going? Good, good. good. How about you? Not too bad.
[01:49:21] bad. This looks great. It's me. Can Can I just say I could smell this?
[01:49:24] this? This is how I found you guys. guys. Is that mine? Mushrooms? Yes.
[01:49:28] Yes. Please keep it coming. Pete.
[01:49:31] Pete. How did it start? When were were you younger? Our parents came
[01:49:33] came to us with the idea to create create a list of 50 things we want
[01:49:37] want to do to try and give us some some fun experiences whilst we're we're growing up. That quickly grew
[01:49:41] grew into a massive list of 500 things. things. Is there one? If I asked
[01:49:45] asked you now that stands out above above all others. Our most well known
[01:49:48] known and incredible one was sending sending a toy boat across the ocean, ocean, which ended up bringing us
[01:49:52] us two world records and by sailing
[01:49:57] sailing it 5000km. And then we broke broke a record again with a second
[01:50:00] second boat by having it sail 15,000km. 15,000km. Ollie, where does an idea
[01:50:04] idea like that come from? Originally Originally we wanted to do a message message in a bottle because it seemed
[01:50:08] seemed like a fun concept, you know, know, message in a bottle is a pretty pretty common thing to do, but we
[01:50:11] we want to take it to the next level. level. So we decided to take our our playmobile boat that was sitting
[01:50:15] sitting in our study at the time
[01:50:17] time and outfit it to be seaworthy,
[01:50:20] seaworthy, to give it a tracker and and put a little message in it saying,
[01:50:23] saying, if you find this and please please record where you found it,
[01:50:25] it, tell people about it and then
[01:50:27] then send it back out. Did anyone
[01:50:30] anyone contact you? Lots of people people find it hard. People in Scandinavia
[01:50:33] Scandinavia had people in Honduras
[01:50:35] Honduras all over the world. Well.
[01:50:38] Well. Off she goes. Hey, two is in
[01:50:40] in the water. What's coming next? next? I mean, we've actually got
[01:50:43] got something planned for late today. today. I'm always up for an adventure. adventure. How are you with heights?
[01:50:47] heights? How am I with heights? That
[01:50:50] That makes me worried. The Falls
[01:50:54] Falls of Bruar plunged through a a rugged Highland gorge, creating
[01:50:57] creating a natural playground of of pools, chutes and waterfalls.
[01:51:01] waterfalls. Which is just as well well because we're about to canyon
[01:51:04] canyon our way through them. Jumping
[01:51:09] Jumping team is by far the scariest. scariest. Thing that we let you do, do, because it's the thing that I
[01:51:13] I have the least control over. All All I can do is like point at the
[01:51:16] the wet stuff and point at the dry dry stuff and hope that you're aiming aiming for the wet stuff. Hearing
[01:51:20] Hearing that, is there anything in in there that makes you nervous? nervous? The jumps a little nervous,
[01:51:23] nervous, yeah, but I think if we we just go for it, we should be fine. fine. Yeah. What about you? I'm feeling
[01:51:28] feeling great about it. I can't wait wait to get in. At the moment though, though, we're gonna do a very quick
[01:51:31] quick practice up. So the first thing. thing. We want to do is we want to to make sure you're holding your
[01:51:35] your own body weight. You're holding holding a long time since I've done done some canyoning. I'm not as young
[01:51:39] young as I used to be. And now I've
[01:51:41] I've got these two whipper snappers, snappers, energetic young people
[01:51:44] people who are ready to show me up.
[01:51:47] up. I'm going to show them. MUSIC
[01:52:00] MUSIC Harry, Harry, this is the first jump. How
[01:52:02] How are you feeling? Great. Yeah.
[01:52:07] Yeah. MUSIC MUSIC OK, OK, show me how it's done. Oh, don't
[01:52:10] don't even try it. MUSIC
[01:52:23] In the list of adventures
[01:52:24] you've had, what number is this one?
[01:52:28] one? This is 496 now. So you're so so close to finishing. Four left.
[01:52:31] left. And what do you think you've you've learned from all these adventures? adventures? It's taught us a lot.
[01:52:35] lot. We've learned new skills, picked picked up new hobbies, found new
[01:52:38] new interests, learned how to face face our fears. And are you looking
[01:52:41] looking forward to the next four four adventures? We've got to do
[01:52:44] do some more after another 500. Thanks
[01:52:47] Thanks guys. So down here this little
[01:52:49] little hole is actually super deep.
[01:52:58] deep. MUSIC MUSIC
[01:53:03] So both carabiners on we're gonna walk all the way up to the
[01:53:06] the edge. We've got it. You've got
[01:53:07] got it, you've got it. Down you'll
[01:53:16] you'll see the other leg. You can
[01:53:18] can step down to that. MUSIC
[01:53:29] MUSIC
[01:53:39] Nice big confident jump out and then make sure you bring everything
[01:53:42] everything in. You love this don't
[01:53:44] don't you? I thought that was really
[01:53:52] really high. Was there any hairy hairy moments for you? I got a little little bit worried with one or two
[01:53:55] two jumps, but I was able to push push through and just do it. Yeah,
[01:53:58] Yeah, yeah. And what about you? I I mean, I just love this kind of
[01:54:01] of stuff so. I can tell your face face is beaming. Harry. Every kid
[01:54:05] kid should experience something like like this at least once in their their life. You're not truly living
[01:54:09] living if you're not. We are quite
[01:54:10] quite high up here, aren't we? As
[01:54:15] As my adventure comes to an end, end, so does Nathaniel's. OK, open
[01:54:18] open your phones. Well done. You've
[01:54:19] You've had a great day. Oh 59 so
[01:54:23] so they're all rolling. In. Oh, how's
[01:54:28] how's it going so far? Good. I just
[01:54:30] just got my phone back. Did you all
[01:54:32] all take care of each other? Yeah,
[01:54:35] Yeah, yeah, and you'd be up for another another expedition? Yeah. Maybe I
[01:54:39] I could come with you to Antarctica. Antarctica. Yes. You can now come
[01:54:42] come to Antarctica with me next time time around. Yeah. All right. See
[01:54:46] See you soon. Bye. We are never going
[01:54:51] going to completely eradicate screens
[01:54:53] screens from our lives. Maybe every
[01:54:56] every generation has worries about about the next thing competing for for our attention. I actually hate
[01:54:59] hate my. Phone on this trip. I've I've come to realise it's not about
[01:55:03] about getting rid of screens completely. completely. It's about finding a
[01:55:07] a better balance out here in the
[01:55:10] the British countryside, it's easy easy to remember that the most important
[01:55:14] important things, the things that that matter, aren't really found
[01:55:17] found online. Perhaps the answer
[01:55:19] answer isn't less screen time but
[01:55:22] but more real time.
[01:59:28] I was here at the very first
[01:59:30] protest. The Janta Party had organised
[01:59:33] organised about a month ago, and
[01:59:34] and this is so much bigger. We've We've been driving towards the site
[01:59:38] site of this wildfire, but we've we've just stopped at the side of of the road here because of what
[01:59:42] what we saw out the window. This This man has been pulled out successfully.
[01:59:46] successfully. It's taken a mammoth mammoth mammoth rescue effort. This
[01:59:48] This morning. You get very little little sense of the terrible scenes
[01:59:51] scenes that were witnessed here last
[01:59:54] last night there when the story breaks,
[01:59:58] breaks, BBC News.
[02:00:09] Live from London. This is BBC
[02:00:12] News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what what he calls
[02:00:19] Calls mistakes as he returns to the stage for the first time since since the rapper Macklemore was dropped
[02:00:23] dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian remarks. President President Trump says he'll form an an AI Force and appoint a new adviser
[02:00:27] adviser to oversee the industry. industry. These are live pictures
[02:00:29] pictures from Germany as polls open
[02:00:32] open in two state elections, the the political pressure is mounting
[02:00:35] mounting on Chancellor Friedrich Friedrich Merz, the brother of Princess
[02:00:38] Princess Diana. Earl Spencer tells tells the BBC. There are echoes of
[02:00:41] of what happened to his sister in in the way the media treats Prince
[02:00:45] Prince Harry and Meghan. It would would be really beholden on people
[02:00:48] people to learn from Diana's example. example. I'm not here to speak for
[02:00:51] for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone
[02:00:53] anyone who's being destroyed in this
[02:00:55] this way daily, it must be such a
[02:00:58] a cancerous influence in their life.
[02:01:00] life. And Europe's drugs agency says
[02:01:02] says Scotland's being flooded with with powerful new drugs, hampering
[02:01:06] hampering efforts to cut deaths linked
[02:01:08] linked to narcotics. Hello there,
[02:01:19] there, I'm Rich Preston, welcome welcome to the programme. In Ed Sheeran's
[02:01:22] Sheeran's first concert since his his support act, Macklemore was dropped
[02:01:26] dropped over pro-Palestinian comments, comments, the star has directly addressed
[02:01:30] addressed the controversy. Speaking Speaking before his gig in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the singer described
[02:01:34] described the situation in Gaza as as catastrophic and unjustifiable.
[02:01:38] unjustifiable. He said the Hamas
[02:01:39] Hamas attacks on Israel in October
[02:01:42] October 2023 were horrific, but added added Israel's response since then
[02:01:46] then had been disproportionate. Before Before he started singing, Sheeran
[02:01:49] Sheeran apologised to his fans for for what he called mistakes as he
[02:01:53] he handled the fallout from the controversy.
[02:01:56] controversy. I had to take and make make difficult decisions and I am
[02:02:00] am making mistakes and I'm so, so
[02:02:02] so sorry for that. I don't want to
[02:02:04] to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
[02:02:08] musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
[02:02:11] and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech and the most complex
[02:02:14] complex political issue on the planet.
[02:02:18] planet. Yes. And he then directly
[02:02:22] directly addressed the situation situation in the Middle East. I want
[02:02:25] want to address the question of where where I stand in the situation in
[02:02:29] in Israel and Palestine and whether whether my doing this concert here
[02:02:31] here tonight implies where I stand. stand. I have tried in my career
[02:02:34] career not to be a political commentator commentator of any kind because I
[02:02:37] I want my music and shows to be about
[02:02:40] about unity, not division, about
[02:02:43] about humanity, not politics. But
[02:02:50] But this is a humanitarian issue issue and I cannot hide how I feel
[02:02:52] feel about it any more. What happened happened in Israel and at the Nova
[02:02:56] Nova Music Festival on October 7th
[02:02:58] 7th was horrific and compounded centuries
[02:03:00] centuries of Jewish pain. What is
[02:03:03] is happening in Gaza is catastrophic
[02:03:07] catastrophic and unjustifiable and and disproportionate. My heart has
[02:03:10] has been broken by the scale of devastation
[02:03:12] devastation and loss of civilians
[02:03:15] civilians lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
[02:03:19] injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
[02:03:22] overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum spectrum to work out how to make
[02:03:26] make a contribution that helps victims
[02:03:29] victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
[02:03:32] because I do not know enough. I honestly
[02:03:35] honestly am so grateful that you
[02:03:36] you are here tonight with me. Well,
[02:03:44] Well, he also said he took issue issue with the idea that venues would
[02:03:47] would be able to pre-approve content
[02:03:50] content or performers an hour or or so before the show began. Hundreds
[02:03:53] Hundreds of concert goers streamed streamed into the venue, which was
[02:03:55] was a stripped down event. Sheeran Sheeran went on without any opening
[02:03:59] opening acts after several musicians musicians dropped out. Some pro-Palestinian
[02:04:03] pro-Palestinian protesters did gather gather near the venue. Organisers Organisers say it was so they could
[02:04:07] could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
[02:04:09] ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
[02:04:12] from some of them. We need more people
[02:04:14] people like Macklemore and like other other artists to have a voice who
[02:04:17] who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
[02:04:21] the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
[02:04:24] Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
[02:04:27] how it feels to be oppressed and
[02:04:30] and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
[02:04:33] from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. Well,
[02:04:36] Well, amongst those at the concert concert was our North America correspondent
[02:04:39] correspondent Carl Nasman. He sent sent us this update. We were there
[02:04:42] there and really in some of the first first rows actually inside the stadium
[02:04:46] stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
[02:04:48] I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
[02:04:52] how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
[02:04:56] his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
[02:04:59] moment, literally Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
[02:05:02] launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be be a prepared speech, but he kind
[02:05:06] kind of addressed a lot of things things that people were wondering
[02:05:09] wondering about, specifically his his stance on the situation in the
[02:05:13] the Middle East and also what his
[02:05:16] his thought about Macklemore being being dropped from his tour. We heard
[02:05:19] heard the reporting that this was was due to potentially a pressure
[02:05:21] pressure campaign from some of the the owners of the stadiums on this
[02:05:25] this tour. He said he was deeply
[02:05:27] deeply concerned by the fact that
[02:05:30] that artists like Macklemore and
[02:05:32] and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
[02:05:35] of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
[02:05:39] there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
[02:05:43] cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
[02:05:47] being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
[02:05:50] that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
[02:05:53] here, you know, wanted to come wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
[02:05:56] perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore Macklemore was there or not. There
[02:06:00] There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
[02:06:04] moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
[02:06:07] don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
[02:06:11] lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
[02:06:14] actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
[02:06:18] that I would get from people in Philadelphia
[02:06:20] Philadelphia at this concert, and
[02:06:23] and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
[02:06:26] Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
[02:06:30] he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
[02:06:33] moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
[02:06:35] Sheeran still has a lot of support, support, especially inside that stadium
[02:06:39] stadium behind us. Well, also watching watching this event was entertainment
[02:06:43] entertainment journalist KJ Matthews Matthews all the way from LA. I asked
[02:06:45] asked her whether she thinks this this apology from Ed Sheeran goes
[02:06:49] goes far enough. I think this is is this first step is a first step
[02:06:53] step in, in the right direction. direction. I was impressed with his
[02:06:56] his statement. You could tell that that it was obviously, you know,
[02:06:59] know, written out. It was he was was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
[02:07:03] felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
[02:07:06] times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
[02:07:09] he was getting so, so emotional.
[02:07:11] emotional. But I do think this is
[02:07:14] is a first, first step, really good good step in the right direction
[02:07:17] direction for him. Many people wanted wanted to hear from him much earlier,
[02:07:21] earlier, but we've heard from him him now and it's interesting. It'll
[02:07:24] It'll remain to be seen whether or or not the remaining tickets for
[02:07:28] for all of his concert dates coming coming up go down. I mean, what we
[02:07:32] we saw before, I think hours before
[02:07:35] before earlier today, every single single ticket sales for his remaining
[02:07:38] remaining concerts were in the negative. negative. They were in the red, you
[02:07:41] you know, up to 50% were people were were either trying to resell their their tickets or they weren't buying
[02:07:45] buying tickets. And now I want to
[02:07:48] to see within 24 hours if we see see whether those numbers go back
[02:07:52] back in the right direction, we do do know that Macklemore is supposed
[02:07:55] supposed to play in October and his
[02:07:57] his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've we've seen just the opposite. After
[02:08:01] After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
[02:08:03] Sheeran's tour, we of course seen
[02:08:05] seen saw Macklemore's social media media numbers increase, his ticket
[02:08:08] ticket sales increased and the opposite
[02:08:11] opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
[02:08:14] be seen whether or not this goes goes far enough, they can kind of
[02:08:18] of change or the damage, but I do do think he's put a lot out there
[02:08:21] there for people to kind of digest. digest. You know, he his point where
[02:08:24] where he mentioned that he's very
[02:08:27] very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
[02:08:30] before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
[02:08:33] should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
[02:08:36] particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
[02:08:39] are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is a first step
[02:08:43] step in the right direction for him. him. President Trump says he's going
[02:08:47] going to form an AI force and appoint appoint a new artificial intelligence
[02:08:51] intelligence adviser to regulate regulate the industry. Writing on
[02:08:53] on social media, the President said said he wouldn't hinder the growth
[02:08:56] growth of AI and warned the US must must maintain its lead over China.
[02:09:00] China. Our correspondent Leigh Milner Milner has more on what's behind
[02:09:04] behind Mr Trump's sense of urgency. urgency. I think a big part of it
[02:09:08] it is that Trump sees AI as a really
[02:09:10] really important area for both the
[02:09:13] the US economy and also wants to to do it strategically. He wants
[02:09:17] wants America to stay out in front, front, particularly when it comes comes to competition with China,
[02:09:20] China, and he clearly feels that that putting too many restrictions
[02:09:24] restrictions on the industry could could slow things down. So the emphasis
[02:09:27] emphasis is on keeping investment investment and development moving
[02:09:31] moving quickly and making sure American American companies have the freedom,
[02:09:35] freedom, obviously, to compete. But But at the same time, there are these
[02:09:39] these concerns about whether the the technology is developing faster
[02:09:42] faster than governments can keep keep up with. Well, that's a really really good point because that's
[02:09:46] that's particularly ramped up in in the last couple of weeks or so.
[02:09:49] so. What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and
[02:09:52] and technology leaders are worried worried about the risks that could
[02:09:55] could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
[02:09:58] calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
[02:10:02] sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
[02:10:06] concerns that if AI becomes more more powerful than it could be out
[02:10:10] out of control and people could obviously
[02:10:12] obviously misuse it as well. Trump,
[02:10:15] Trump, however, has taken a different different position. He's dismissed
[02:10:19] dismissed concerns about the potential potential dangers of AI. As we've
[02:10:21] we've heard, as a hoax, and believes believes that slowing down could
[02:10:25] could hurt America's ability to compete
[02:10:26] compete with China. So at the moment,
[02:10:29] moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
[02:10:33] to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
[02:10:37] enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
[02:10:39] technology develops. The US says
[02:10:41] says it struck an alleged drug trafficking trafficking vessel in the Caribbean,
[02:10:45] Caribbean, killing four people. The The US military's Southern Command
[02:10:49] Command released this video showing showing a huge explosion after a
[02:10:51] a boat was hit, but didn't give any any evidence that those on board
[02:10:55] board were indeed transporting drugs. drugs. More than 200 people have
[02:10:58] have been killed in operations like like this since they began in the
[02:11:02] the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Pacific last year. Now, Washington
[02:11:05] Washington says they are narco terrorists. terrorists. Rights groups, however,
[02:11:08] however, say the strikes amount to
[02:11:11] to extrajudicial executions. Polls Polls are now open in two German
[02:11:14] German states for elections, which which may further weaken Friedrich
[02:11:17] Friedrich Mertz's position as chancellor. chancellor. He's even cancelled plans
[02:11:20] plans to attend the UN General Assembly
[02:11:22] Assembly in New York later this week week over speculation around his
[02:11:26] his future. The votes are taking taking place in the capital, Berlin
[02:11:29] Berlin and also in Mecklenburg western
[02:11:32] western Pomerania. Our Berlin correspondent correspondent Jessica Parker is following
[02:11:36] following developments. So a couple couple of weeks ago in the state
[02:11:39] state of Saxony-Anhalt, a Alternative
[02:11:41] Alternative fur Deutschland won a a landslide victory. Now this is
[02:11:45] is a party that is anti-immigration, anti-immigration, Russia friendly
[02:11:48] friendly and one that Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads leads the conservative CDU party,
[02:11:51] party, had really promised to counter counter as part of his plans to be
[02:11:55] be in office. But that hasn't worked.
[02:11:56] worked. The AfD has been actually
[02:11:59] actually growing in popularity, and and it's hoping the AfD to top the
[02:12:03] the polls here in Mecklenburg, Vorpommern, Vorpommern, although it looks like
[02:12:06] like it's now in a little bit of of a tussle after a late comeback
[02:12:09] comeback from the centre left SPD. SPD. But before we get too bogged
[02:12:12] bogged down in all of that, the big big picture is you're sort of talking
[02:12:16] talking about there is that if the
[02:12:18] the results are really bad for Chancellor
[02:12:20] Chancellor Friedrich Mertz's CDU
[02:12:22] CDU party, for example, in here in in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where
[02:12:26] where there's a risk that his party party could even fall below the 5%
[02:12:29] 5% threshold needed to enter parliament, parliament, which would be a first
[02:12:32] first and a catastrophic first for for the party. And they're at risk
[02:12:35] risk of losing power in Berlin, where where they're in a neck and neck
[02:12:38] neck race with the left party for for first place. So if the results
[02:12:42] results are a kind of worst case case scenario, I think for Friedrich
[02:12:45] Friedrich Merz and his party, those those questions over his leadership,
[02:12:49] leadership, over his personal popularity popularity or lack of it are going
[02:12:51] going to grow louder. Jess, what what are the issues that people are
[02:12:55] are really concerned about? Because Because of course, the AfD bangs
[02:12:57] bangs the drum on immigration, but but the economy is also high up on
[02:13:01] on the agenda. Yeah, I mean, the
[02:13:04] the AfD actually is, I think talks talks now a lot about the economy
[02:13:08] economy as well. And Germany's economy
[02:13:10] economy has been stuttering for years.
[02:13:13] years. And I think for people in in a country that's traditionally
[02:13:16] traditionally been seen as the engine engine of Europe, and it's still
[02:13:19] still Europe's largest economy, people
[02:13:21] people are feeling insecure about about their economic future as Germany
[02:13:25] Germany is, for example, being squeezed
[02:13:26] squeezed by China. Huge problems problems in the country's iconic
[02:13:30] iconic car industry. People also also talk a lot about the price of
[02:13:33] of fuel, the price of energy, the
[02:13:36] the general cost of living. And then
[02:13:39] then as well, there is a personal personal frustration that you pick
[02:13:43] pick up talking to people about Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, particularly
[02:13:46] particularly an issue people feel feel he has with his communication
[02:13:50] communication style. Now, some people people I've spoken to say they feel
[02:13:53] feel that he is arrogant, that he
[02:13:56] he is out of touch. And I think Friedrich Friedrich Merz is backers would say
[02:13:59] say that this is a man who has had had a pretty tough time internationally. internationally. There have been
[02:14:03] been global events going on that that have been beyond his control
[02:14:06] control and that he inherited a lot lot of the problems that Germany Germany is facing, and he is trying
[02:14:09] trying to fix them with a package package of reforms, and he needs
[02:14:12] needs more time. But the question question now is to whether he is
[02:14:15] is actually going to get that time.
[02:14:17] time. Pretty unusual, very unusual
[02:14:21] unusual to see chancellors sort of of remove from office a mid-term
[02:14:23] mid-term in Germany. It isn't like like the United Kingdom where that's
[02:14:27] that's become a little bit more normalised normalised in recent years. So we
[02:14:29] we have to be a little bit careful careful in over speculating. But
[02:14:32] But it's absolutely true to say that that this idea of a chancellor torture
[02:14:36] torture chancellor swap has been been talked about now for months
[02:14:39] months here in Germany. Jess Parker Parker there, there the brother of
[02:14:42] of Princess Diana has told the BBC BBC that he sees echoes of what happened
[02:14:45] happened to her in the way Prince Prince Harry and Meghan are treated
[02:14:48] treated by the media. Earl Spencer Spencer made the comments in an exclusive
[02:14:52] exclusive interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Kuenssberg, during which he also
[02:14:54] also discussed claims in his new new book about an alleged argument
[02:14:58] argument with King Charles following following Diana's death. Buckingham
[02:15:01] Buckingham Palace says his recollection recollection is clouded by grief.
[02:15:05] grief. Speaking about the Duke and and Duchess of Sussex, he said although
[02:15:07] although he wasn't there to speak speak for the couple, people should
[02:15:11] should learn from Diana's example.
[02:15:14] example. Do you fear there is somehow somehow an an echo of what happened
[02:15:17] happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
[02:15:20] occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
[02:15:23] over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
[02:15:26] a perception in the media that I'm
[02:15:27] I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
[02:15:31] on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
[02:15:34] either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
[02:15:37] them. And I never get involved in
[02:15:40] in one camp or the other except as
[02:15:43] as a benign figure. I hope that's
[02:15:45] that's my role. Do you think Diana
[02:15:47] Diana would identify with the attention, attention, the focus that has been
[02:15:51] been put on them? And with Meghan, Meghan, who said she felt like she
[02:15:54] she was the most trolled person in in the world. You know, they were
[02:15:57] were here during the summer not so so long ago. If you look at an article
[02:16:02] article in a tabloid about Diana
[02:16:06] Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
[02:16:10] you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
[02:16:13] I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from
[02:16:16] from Diana's example. I'm not here here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
[02:16:19] Meghan, but for anyone who's being being destroyed in this way daily,
[02:16:23] daily, it must be such a cancerous
[02:16:26] cancerous influence in their life. life. I saw it with Diana, I saw
[02:16:29] saw Diana, I mentioned it in the the eulogy. Her tears of despair.
[02:16:33] despair. One of the problems with with Diana was she was very, very
[02:16:36] very sensitive to criticism. And And of course, I'm sure most of your
[02:16:40] your viewers now think, oh, she had had this splendid life and it was was all amazing. And she didn't she
[02:16:44] she was so privileged and so perfect perfect in so many ways. But she
[02:16:48] she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
[02:16:51] suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
[02:16:54] echoes of that now. Well, in response
[02:16:56] response to claims made by Earl Spencer, Spencer, Buckingham Palace said that
[02:17:00] that the King was mindful that the
[02:17:02] the pain of fraternal grief can cloud
[02:17:04] cloud reason affect judgement and and colour memory in ways others
[02:17:08] others do not recognise. Even many many years after such a loss. The
[02:17:12] The full interview with Laura Kuenssberg Kuenssberg will be broadcast at 630
[02:17:16] 630 this evening on BBC One. Here Here in the UK and will be available
[02:17:19] available on BBC iPlayer and BBC
[02:17:22] BBC Sounds from 4 pm. All right, right, let's go to the Middle East
[02:17:25] East now. And the Houthis in Yemen Yemen say they've attacked sites sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh
[02:17:29] Riyadh and the Red Sea city of Yanbu. Yanbu. In a TV statement, the group,
[02:17:33] group, which is backed by Iran, says says it launched missiles and drones
[02:17:36] drones in retaliation for Saudi strikes strikes on Houthi positions this
[02:17:40] this week. Earlier on Saturday, a a plume of black smoke was seen near
[02:17:43] near the international airport in in Riyadh after reports of explosions
[02:17:46] explosions at a fuel depot. Saudi Saudi authorities say they've intercepted intercepted and destroyed a ballistic
[02:17:50] ballistic missile fired at the city. city. Turkey says it is ready to
[02:17:54] to help under a defence pact signed
[02:17:56] signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
[02:17:59] Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian is a research research fellow at the Global and
[02:18:02] and National Security Institute and and a non-resident scholar at the
[02:18:06] the George Washington University's University's Institute of Middle Middle East Studies. He gave me his
[02:18:09] his assessment on who has the upper
[02:18:12] upper hand. I think at this point, point, at least in the absence of
[02:18:15] of any active signal from the United United States, direct engagement
[02:18:19] engagement in the conflict. The Houthis Houthis have the upper hand. Hutus
[02:18:22] Hutus have a higher threshold of of tolerance for pain. Basically
[02:18:25] Basically the pain that the Saudis Saudis or the sanctions inflict on
[02:18:29] on the population of Yemen is not
[02:18:30] not directly transferred to them. them. Saudis have a lesser threshold
[02:18:34] threshold for the pain. Saudis also also are dealing with economic issues.
[02:18:37] issues. There is already an instability instability in the energy market
[02:18:40] market and vis a vis the Saudis income income from it because of the war
[02:18:43] war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, Houthis attack. Specifically
[02:18:47] Specifically speaking the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
[02:18:50] which signals their willingness to
[02:18:52] to expand the scope of the bite,
[02:18:55] bite, is going to much inflict a
[02:18:56] a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
[02:19:00] economy. So why the militarily speaking speaking Saudi obviously have superiority superiority toward the Houthis. But
[02:19:04] But in terms of the threshold of of the tolerance, in terms of the
[02:19:07] the time, the situation is not in in favour of the Saudi unless something
[02:19:10] something change either the Americans
[02:19:12] Americans get involved further in
[02:19:15] in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
[02:19:18] involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. You mentioned
[02:19:21] mentioned several other regional regional players there, and that's that's part of the bigger picture
[02:19:25] picture here. Let's focus on Iran. Iran. How much is Iran steering the
[02:19:29] the ship of what the Houthis are are doing? There? Look, there has
[02:19:33] has always been a debate to what what extent Iran controls the Saudi,
[02:19:36] Saudi, whether it controls it or or not. It's hard to say that. Does
[02:19:38] Does Iran commanded or not? But definitely definitely Iran has influence over
[02:19:42] over the Saudis. Iran is at this this moment the sole sponsor of the
[02:19:46] the Houthis. Iranians have been, been, you know, supplying Houthis
[02:19:49] Houthis with the advisers, with the the they teach the they taught the
[02:19:52] the know how of building missiles missiles and projectiles. There is
[02:19:56] is an ideological affiliation. There There are some rumours about financial
[02:19:59] financial assistance. So they greatly greatly have influence over this
[02:20:03] this matter and over the Houthis. Houthis. And I believe Iran actually
[02:20:05] actually is gaining a lot out of of this despite whatever role Iran
[02:20:09] Iran is playing in the, you know, know, the execution of the Houthis Houthis campaign. What is happening
[02:20:13] happening right now? We are witnessing witnessing the rise of instability
[02:20:17] instability in the second strategic strategic choke point of the regime,
[02:20:19] regime, which is the Strait of the the Bab al-Mandab Strait. We are
[02:20:22] are now, in the circumstances that that not only there is a semi blockade
[02:20:26] blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, which about one fifth of of the global energy, specifically
[02:20:30] specifically oil transfer through through it. We are also witnessing
[02:20:33] witnessing rising instability and and disruption in the Red Sea, which
[02:20:36] which about 20% of the maritime trade trade travels through it. Combining
[02:20:40] Combining these two together would would impose a great deal of pressure
[02:20:43] pressure on the global economy and and visa with the American population
[02:20:46] population who are waiting. Had the the mid-term election. This will
[02:20:48] will give Iran an enormous leverage leverage over the United States.
[02:20:52] States. Specifically speaking ahead ahead of the mid-term elections.
[02:20:55] elections. Let's take a look at some some of the day's other stories. stories. Now the new school year
[02:20:59] year has started in Gaza with more more than 500,000 children going
[02:21:02] going back to formal education for for the first time in nearly three
[02:21:05] three years, the UN says 97% of schools
[02:21:07] schools in Gaza were damaged or destroyed destroyed in fighting since the Israel-Gaza
[02:21:11] Israel-Gaza war began. Working alongside alongside UN agencies, the Education
[02:21:15] Education ministry's opened about about 700 new facilities. Some of
[02:21:19] of them are as simple as a tent.
[02:21:22] tent. Thousands of Argentines have have marched through the capital, capital, Buenos Aires, to protest
[02:21:26] protest against President Javier Javier Milei's labour policies and
[02:21:28] and austerity cuts. Left wing political political leaders and activists are
[02:21:31] are calling for a general strike. strike. Police in the Netherlands
[02:21:34] Netherlands have clashed with several several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
[02:21:38] The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration protest
[02:21:41] protest be broken up after it spiralled
[02:21:43] spiralled into violence as protesters protesters gathered at a local park,
[02:21:46] park, demonstrators threw fireworks fireworks and projectiles at police
[02:21:50] police and chanted antisemitic slogans.
[02:21:52] slogans. Around 24 people were arrested,
[02:21:54] arrested, a rare catch and kill order order has been issued for a great
[02:21:58] great white shark off the coast of of Western Australia. It's after
[02:22:01] after a 63-year-old swimmer was killed killed at a popular beach on Friday.
[02:22:05] Friday. His body has still not been been found. It's the second shark
[02:22:08] shark attack in Western Australia Australia this week and the third
[02:22:11] third fatal attack in the state this this year. And the American footwear
[02:22:15] footwear company converse has withdrawn withdrawn an advert after criticism.
[02:22:19] criticism. It evoked imagery of the the white supremacist group the Ku
[02:22:22] Ku Klux Klan. Social media users
[02:22:25] users said. Shadows in the photograph photograph resembled a white pointed
[02:22:28] pointed hood, while a pair of dangling
[02:22:31] dangling shoes was likened to an
[02:22:33] an image of a lynching. Now the European
[02:22:36] European Union's drugs agency says says efforts to bring down Scotland's
[02:22:40] Scotland's sky high rate of deaths deaths from illegal drug use are
[02:22:43] are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
[02:22:47] and dangerous new substances. This This increase in the supply of synthetic
[02:22:50] synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
[02:22:54] deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week,
[02:22:57] week, James Cook reports. This spotless.
[02:23:01] spotless. Laboratory in Dundee seems. seems. A world away from the chaotic
[02:23:05] chaotic reality of illegal drug use.
[02:23:06] use. But scientists here are racing racing against a deadly and evolving
[02:23:10] evolving threat. They're examining examining samples of seized drugs
[02:23:14] drugs to find out exactly what's what's in them, and the answers are
[02:23:17] are worrying with new substances substances emerging all the time.
[02:23:21] time. In terms of Europe, we are are seeing roughly about a drug entering
[02:23:24] entering into Europe context within within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks.
[02:23:28] weeks. Something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid rapid for us to be able to keep up
[02:23:31] up as scientists. And that must be be dangerous. Yeah, these drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit
[02:23:35] illicit drug supply in Scotland is is getting more and more dangerous
[02:23:38] dangerous as time goes on. They're
[02:23:40] They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
[02:23:44] nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
[02:23:48] Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
[02:23:51] from Valium style pills to powdered
[02:23:54] powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
[02:23:58] Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
[02:24:02] This year, the figure has already
[02:24:05] already reached 78 million and we we can reveal detectives have raided
[02:24:09] raided suspected nitazenes labs in in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
[02:24:13] arresting five people. This is not
[02:24:15] not just an urban problem. The rapidly
[02:24:18] rapidly changing nature of the drug drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
[02:24:22] Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre Kintyre peninsula on the far west
[02:24:25] west of the mainland, to hear more
[02:24:28] more about what is a struggle to
[02:24:30] to save lives. There are all sorts
[02:24:33] sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
[02:24:36] helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature, but the staff
[02:24:40] staff say their job has been made
[02:24:42] made harder by the rapidly evolving evolving nature of drug supplies.
[02:24:46] supplies. Some of these substances substances are so potent that a grain
[02:24:49] grain would be enough to take somebody somebody over. And to kill them.
[02:24:52] them. And to possibly kill them. them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
[02:24:56] really is. I mean, I think I mean,
[02:24:59] mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
[02:25:02] ever been as risky or as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
[02:25:06] what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
[02:25:09] better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
[02:25:12] reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
[02:25:16] about all those that we've lost through
[02:25:19] through substance use. So many lives
[02:25:21] lives lost, so much still to do to
[02:25:24] to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
[02:25:27] News, Kintyre. And before I leave leave you this half hour, ancient
[02:25:30] ancient Rome has met cutting edge
[02:25:32] edge technology in Croatia, the Adriatic
[02:25:35] Adriatic coastal city of Pula turned turned its 2000-year-old historic
[02:25:39] historic buildings into a canvas canvas for contemporary light art.
[02:25:42] art. Some 16 locations across the the city were used to explore themes
[02:25:46] themes of space, peace, nature and
[02:25:48] and human relations. In all, there there were 23 works featuring artists
[02:25:52] artists from countries including
[02:25:54] including Croatia, Germany, Ukraine, Ukraine, Norway and Hong Kong. I'll
[02:25:58] I'll be back with the headlines in in a few moments time. Do stick with
[02:26:01] with us here on BBC News.
[02:29:54] get the latest news wherever you you are. Business on BBC News. Make
[02:29:57] Make the connection. MUSIC
[02:30:09] MUSIC
[02:30:14] These are the latest headlines
[02:30:17] from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises apologises for what he calls mistakes
[02:30:20] mistakes as he returns to the stage stage for the first time since the
[02:30:24] the rapper Macklemore was dropped dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian
[02:30:28] pro-Palestinian remarks. He told
[02:30:29] told fans the situation in Gaza was
[02:30:33] was catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. Polls open for for elections in two German states
[02:30:36] states as Chancellor Friedrich Merz Merz faces growing political pressure.
[02:30:39] pressure. The brother of Princess Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, tells
[02:30:42] tells the BBC there are echoes of of what happened to his sister in
[02:30:46] in the way the media treats Prince
[02:30:48] Prince Harry and Meghan. President President Trump says he'll form an
[02:30:51] an Air Force and appoint a new adviser adviser to oversee the industry,
[02:30:55] industry, warning the US must maintain maintain its lead over China and
[02:30:58] and Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
[02:31:01] powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
[02:31:03] efforts to cut deaths linked to narcotics.
[02:31:11] . Dolly Parton's death sparked
[02:31:17] a huge outpouring of love. Now on
[02:31:21] on BBC News, we look at why she meant
[02:31:22] meant so much to so many. Why the
[02:31:25] the world loved Dolly. And I. We
[02:31:37] We are Lord Wei. Dolly Parton was
[02:31:40] was one of the most recognisable recognisable entertainers on the the planet. I would have cried, but
[02:31:43] but I didn't want to mess up my eyelashes. eyelashes. She was a country singer,
[02:31:47] singer, a songwriter, actress, businesswoman businesswoman and philanthropist.
[02:31:51] philanthropist. I always say, and and it's the truth that I am a workhorse
[02:31:55] workhorse that looks like a show show horse. She could act, she could could sing, she could write songs.
[02:31:58] songs. And she was the complete package. package. To millions across the globe.
[02:32:02] globe. Dolly Parton was a true one
[02:32:05] one off. A lady who I truly believe
[02:32:08] believe was the most beloved human
[02:32:10] human being in the world. Fans from
[02:32:13] from Nashville. Dolly, we love you. you. To the north of England have
[02:32:17] have been celebrating the star's star's life. God bless her. It feels
[02:32:20] feels a little bit like when the
[02:32:22] the Queen died. It honestly does.
[02:32:26] does. This is how the world paid
[02:32:29] paid its respects to the undisputed
[02:32:31] undisputed queen of country. The The idea of a world without Dolly
[02:32:34] Dolly in it just doesn't seem real.
[02:32:44] real. The country music superstar superstar Dolly Parton has died in
[02:32:48] in Nashville at the age of 80. The
[02:32:52] The 25th of August 2026. The Stars Stars and Stripes are lowered over
[02:32:56] over the White House as news breaks breaks of Dolly Parton's death at
[02:32:59] at the age of 80. In New York, the
[02:33:03] the Empire State Building glows pink
[02:33:04] pink in honour of an American icon.
[02:33:09] icon. And in the town near her birthplace,
[02:33:11] birthplace, fans gather to mourn.
[02:33:14] mourn. Dolly is special. She is just just that diamond in a rhinestone
[02:33:17] rhinestone world. She was a very very peaceful person. I feel like
[02:33:21] like she just loved everyone no matter matter who they were, you know. She
[02:33:24] She was such an example of pure love.
[02:33:27] love. It doesn't matter what political
[02:33:30] political belief you have, it doesn't doesn't matter where you're from.
[02:33:34] from. It doesn't matter any of that. that. The confirmation of Dolly Parton's
[02:33:38] Parton's death was made in a post post on social media by her family.
[02:33:42] family. I'm representing the Parton Parton and Owens family today, announcing
[02:33:45] announcing the passing of my aunt
[02:33:47] aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean sister
[02:33:49] sister sis aunt granny to one generation
[02:33:51] generation and Gigi to the next.
[02:33:55] next. Major stars immediately started started writing about her online.
[02:33:58] online. Elton John called her unique
[02:34:01] unique and irreplaceable. Celine Celine Dion said she had one of the
[02:34:04] the most joyful voices the world
[02:34:06] world had ever known, and Beatles Beatles legend Paul McCartney described
[02:34:10] described how they first met in Nashville Nashville performing at the Grand
[02:34:13] Grand Ole Opry. No matter who you
[02:34:18] you were, everyone knew who she was was and everyone had a good word
[02:34:21] word to say about her. And you cannot
[02:34:22] cannot say that about very many people.
[02:34:27] people. The Opry, which is known known as the home of country music,
[02:34:30] music, quickly changed its schedule.
[02:34:34] schedule. With heavy hearts, we learned learned today of the passing of a
[02:34:37] a true country music icon, Opry member
[02:34:39] member Dolly Parton. No doubt Dolly's Dolly's mark on the world and on
[02:34:43] on us here at the Grand Ole Opry
[02:34:45] Opry will be deeply felt for generations
[02:34:49] generations to come. And on the south
[02:34:51] south coast of England in Worthing, Worthing, there were audible gasps
[02:34:54] gasps when her death was announced announced ahead of a performance
[02:34:57] performance of 9 to 5 the Musical. Musical. Before we begin tonight's
[02:35:00] tonight's performance of 9 to 5, 5, we would like to take a moment moment to remember the remarkable
[02:35:04] remarkable Dolly Parton, who has
[02:35:06] has sadly passed away today. It was
[02:35:10] was absolutely extraordinary. I was was in fact, I was sitting in the
[02:35:14] the stalls waiting for the show to to go up. It was quite something
[02:35:18] something and I think that it was was great to kind of be together
[02:35:22] together in that moment. There was was something about her that stood
[02:35:25] stood out and people were attracted attracted to her. The way she spoke
[02:35:29] spoke to them because she was so
[02:35:32] so normal and nice and kind and generous.
[02:35:36] generous. Dolly died just a year year after her husband, Carl Dean.
[02:35:39] Dean. They'd been married for six
[02:35:41] six decades. On his death, Dolly Dolly wrote He's in God's arms now
[02:35:45] now and I'm OK with that. I am a
[02:35:49] a person of faith and I truly believe believe that I'm going to see him
[02:35:52] him again someday. And I see him him every day in my memories and
[02:35:55] and in my heart and in all the things things that we used to do and all
[02:35:58] all the things that we built together.
[02:36:03] together. Just months after her husband's husband's death, fears for Dolly's
[02:36:07] Dolly's own health started to appear
[02:36:09] appear in the press, prompting messages
[02:36:11] messages of reassurance. The good
[02:36:14] good news is I'm responding really
[02:36:16] really well to meds and treatments
[02:36:19] treatments and I'm improving every
[02:36:20] every day. In early August 2026,
[02:36:24] 2026, she posted about her upcoming upcoming projects, including a Dolly
[02:36:28] Dolly Parton musical, which is due due to open on Broadway in December
[02:36:31] December 2026. I will be there as
[02:36:33] as much as I can be and of course,
[02:36:36] course, good Lord willing and the the Creek don't rise. I will definitely
[02:36:39] definitely be there on the opening opening night. And she was looking
[02:36:42] looking forward to the opening of
[02:36:44] of her hotel in Nashville. From rags
[02:36:47] rags to rhinestones. I've been blessed blessed with a life full of stories.
[02:36:51] stories. And now I finally get to
[02:36:53] to share them all with you in one
[02:36:57] one place. I think the first time time we realised that it was actually
[02:37:01] actually something more serious was was when in May, when her Vegas residency
[02:37:04] residency was cancelled, because because that is a very big thing. thing. At that point we knew she
[02:37:08] she wasn't well enough to perform perform probably ever again. And
[02:37:12] And in recent times, you know, there there have been a few things she's she's missed. She missed her 80th
[02:37:16] 80th anniversary celebration at the the Grand Ole Opry, even, I think
[02:37:19] think just over ten days before she she died, she was meant to be at
[02:37:22] at her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Forge, Dollywood, and opening one
[02:37:26] one of their new rides. And she pulled
[02:37:28] pulled out at the last minute. Her
[02:37:33] Her death, after what was described described as a brief battle with
[02:37:36] with cancer, was a shock to millions. millions. We texted each other straight
[02:37:39] straight away being like, oh, my my God. Immediately you start to
[02:37:42] to reminisce about all the small small and big things that have happened
[02:37:46] happened throughout her career and and throughout our career that she
[02:37:49] she has been unknowingly very influencing. influencing. She's got such an amazing
[02:37:52] amazing story of how she started
[02:37:55] started out, how she has impacted
[02:37:57] impacted the industry as a whole
[02:37:59] whole so positively. So just how
[02:38:04] how could a woman from rural Tennessee Tennessee spark such an outpouring
[02:38:07] outpouring of grief from around the
[02:38:11] the world? Dolly Rebecca Parton was
[02:38:14] was born in Tennessee into a large large family. She described in her
[02:38:17] her own words as dirt poor. I grew grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains
[02:38:21] Mountains of East Tennessee in a a family of 12 children. We had six
[02:38:24] six girls and six boys and of course course we were just farm folks and
[02:38:28] and we didn't have things that money money could buy. And of course we
[02:38:31] we didn't make money. We grew our our own food and we just made our
[02:38:34] our living from the land. She said
[02:38:37] said she was inspired to sing by by one of her uncles, who suggested
[02:38:40] suggested she did one day, and then
[02:38:42] then obviously she had a real talent.
[02:38:45] talent. In this footage shot by an
[02:38:46] an amateur filmmaker in 1961, Dolly
[02:38:49] Dolly plays for a local radio station station in Knoxville, Tennessee.
[02:38:53] Tennessee. The world famous Grand Grand Ole Opry, America's oldest
[02:38:56] oldest and most famous country music
[02:38:58] music show. On Lord Bach King Khalid
[02:39:01] Khalid Tolu. At the age of 13, she she made her first appearance at
[02:39:04] at the home of country music, the
[02:39:06] the Grand Ole Opry. So I just walked walked up to Jimmy C Newman and I
[02:39:10] I said, Jimmy, I want to sing. So So he told Johnny Cash that I was
[02:39:13] was going to sing and Johnny introduced introduced me and I sang my little little heart out and I just tore
[02:39:17] tore the house down. I know now it it was because I was little, but but I just sang it over and over
[02:39:21] over and over and boy, I thought thought then I was going to be a
[02:39:24] a big star. The Grand Ole Opry was, was, was very much about family and
[02:39:28] and things, and if an uncle knew knew someone then they would have
[02:39:31] have said, this is going to be worth worth doing. When you go to the Opry,
[02:39:34] Opry, it's quite often there'll be be somebody there who's a relative
[02:39:36] relative of someone famous. It was
[02:39:39] was the start of a long association association with the Opry, and Nashville
[02:39:43] Nashville was where she met her husband,
[02:39:44] husband, Carl. She wanted to be a
[02:39:47] a star and she found someone who who was something of a recluse and
[02:39:50] and was quite happy if she wasn't
[02:39:52] wasn't taking him to things. Dolly
[02:39:57] Dolly is not only a great singer, singer, but she's a fine songwriter
[02:40:00] songwriter too. And this is a number number you wrote isn't. Nashville
[02:40:03] Nashville is a hard town to break break into in the music industry.
[02:40:06] industry. It takes a lot. So she she had that talent. She put the
[02:40:10] the hard work in and she was successful
[02:40:12] successful and kind of took those those opportunities. I would be doing
[02:40:15] doing my music, writing my songs songs if I had to sell them out of of the trunk of my car. And I've
[02:40:19] I've done that in the early days
[02:40:21] days when I was young and trying
[02:40:24] trying to get things going. So I I would do it no matter what, even
[02:40:27] even if I had to take another job.
[02:40:29] job. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.
[02:40:34] Jolene. Her music was rooted in personal personal experiences of love and
[02:40:38] and loss. Like Jolene, for example.
[02:40:41] example. There was a lot of songs songs at that time about like being
[02:40:44] being sassy to the Woman or You Ain't Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man.
[02:40:48] Man. And she brought a song out that that was empathetic to the woman.
[02:40:51] woman. She was like understanding understanding why the woman would
[02:40:54] would take her man, but she was pleading pleading from a vulnerable perspective
[02:40:58] perspective rather rather than from from an angry perspective or like like a woman hating spectrum. Yeah.
[02:41:02] Yeah. So she was still a woman's
[02:41:03] woman's woman. My coat of many colours
[02:41:07] colours that my mama made for me.
[02:41:10] me. Dolly was a storyteller who would
[02:41:12] would turn to her own family for
[02:41:15] for material. Her upbringing in the
[02:41:17] the Smoky Mountains, lots of siblings. siblings. Growing up very, very poor.
[02:41:21] poor. She wrote songs like The Coat Coat of Many Colours, which is about
[02:41:23] about her mama who made her this this coat. She writes about being
[02:41:27] being poor, about not knowing how how to read. It was very much rooted
[02:41:31] rooted in family values, and she
[02:41:33] she continued that in all of her
[02:41:35] her writing throughout her career. career. The most important thing
[02:41:38] thing in her life from the beginning beginning to the end was her family.
[02:41:42] family. She didn't go off and find
[02:41:44] find a different husband. She. She
[02:41:47] She didn't change the way she was. was. I think she wanted to be Dolly
[02:41:51] Dolly Parton professionally, but but privately she was Dolly Dean,
[02:41:54] Dean, which was the name on all the the paperwork we had because again,
[02:41:58] again, if she went through passport passport control looking as she normally
[02:42:01] normally did not as Dolly Parton, Parton, no one would have realised
[02:42:04] realised who she was. In her lifetime.
[02:42:06] lifetime. Dolly Parton wrote more
[02:42:08] more than 3000 songs and sold over over 100 million records, becoming
[02:42:12] becoming one of the most successful successful country artists of all
[02:42:14] all time. I'm proud to be a woman
[02:42:17] woman in this business. Dolly started started out and continued, no matter
[02:42:20] matter how big she got, writing her
[02:42:22] her own material and being the voice
[02:42:25] voice of her own songs. And obviously obviously we've heard some massive
[02:42:28] massive covers like I Will Always
[02:42:31] Always Love You and people will cover cover Dolly forever. We've covered
[02:42:34] covered Jolene and 9 to 5 and hopefully
[02:42:36] hopefully many more. If I should
[02:42:43] should stay. Dolly wrote songs that that other artists were desperate
[02:42:46] desperate to get their hands on, on, including stars like The King,
[02:42:50] King, Elvis Presley. So I'll go.
[02:42:54] go. Elvis heard this song and wanted
[02:42:55] wanted to record it and he was very very keen, but the manager rang up
[02:42:59] up and said, If Elvis records a song, song, we have half the publishing.
[02:43:02] publishing. And Dolly said, no. And
[02:43:07] And I. Will half way love you. And
[02:43:14] And this is the business side of
[02:43:16] of her coming through for sure. And
[02:43:19] And then several years after that,
[02:43:22] that, Whitney Houston sang it and and The Bodyguard and it was it felt
[02:43:26] felt like 20 million copies. That
[02:43:28] That single. When she brought country country to Glastonbury, her popularity
[02:43:32] popularity pulled in an enormous enormous crowd. Among them were the
[02:43:35] the British Country act Ward Thomas.
[02:43:40] Thomas. In 2014 was the year that that we first released our first
[02:43:43] first ever album, and it was the
[02:43:44] the same year that she played Glastonbury
[02:43:47] Glastonbury and pulled the biggest biggest audience of the weekend.
[02:43:50] weekend. And I think with two young young British girls saying we want
[02:43:53] want to do country music and going going out into the world and saying,
[02:43:57] saying, hey, will you take us seriously? seriously? I think if it wasn't for
[02:44:00] for people like Dolly or specifically specifically Dolly and what she had
[02:44:03] had done before, people probably probably wouldn't have.
[02:45:07] right of reply has had its day. It's
[02:45:08] It's all on The Media Show and BBC
[02:45:11] BBC News. MUSIC
[02:45:21] MUSIC In In a world away from music, Dolly
[02:45:23] Dolly fought to be taken seriously.
[02:45:25] seriously. By this kind of work without without fear because it's fun for
[02:45:29] for me. It's like if I fail, it's it's no big deal. If something don't
[02:45:31] don't work out, I'm not afraid of of failure because to me I never
[02:45:35] never feel like a loser. But Dolly Dolly was not a loser. In addition
[02:45:39] addition to her musical success, success, she became an acclaimed
[02:45:42] acclaimed actress and she was also also behind many business ventures.
[02:45:46] ventures. Her last public appearance appearance was at the opening of
[02:45:48] of Dolly's Tennessee and Travel Stop. Stop. We're not trying to compete
[02:45:52] compete with anybody. We don't think think we'll have to. We think we're we're going to have everything that
[02:45:56] that you want or need. But her most
[02:46:00] most famous business venture is Dollywood, Dollywood, a theme park near where
[02:46:04] where she was raised in the Smoky
[02:46:06] Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Come
[02:46:08] Come on down to Dollywood, come on on down to Dollywood, you'll have
[02:46:12] have fun and we'll treat you good. good. So come on down to Dollywood.
[02:46:15] Dollywood. It's better on fast songs. songs. Paradise roads. Not that fast. fast. Might as well play the bongos
[02:46:19] bongos while I'm here. I took the
[02:46:22] the family to Dollywood in 2003,
[02:46:25] 2003, and I did ask how many of Dolly's Dolly's relatives work here, and
[02:46:28] and it was over 40 people she was was employing. She had this enormous
[02:46:32] enormous number of relatives and and people that she knew, and she
[02:46:34] she was very concerned to help them them not doing things for them, but
[02:46:38] but giving them jobs and things like
[02:46:39] like that. Dolly's appeal reached
[02:46:42] reached far beyond music. Her support
[02:46:43] support for minority groups, particularly
[02:46:46] particularly in the LGBTQ community, community, was legendary. Working
[02:46:50] Working 9 to 5. What a way to make
[02:46:53] make a living barely getting by.
[02:46:55] by. Her 9 to 5 co-star Jane Fonda's
[02:46:58] Fonda's tribute included a poignant
[02:47:00] poignant reminder of Dolly's solidarity
[02:47:03] solidarity with her fans. She wrote wrote to her gay and trans fans I
[02:47:06] I want you to know that she loved loved you, adding that she loved
[02:47:09] loved all her fans and they are legion.
[02:47:13] legion. I think the world we live live in at the moment, it's tough.
[02:47:16] tough. It's difficult for a lot of of people and actually you want to
[02:47:19] to have someone or something that that you can kind of look to make
[02:47:22] make you feel good about yourself. yourself. And Dolly, she made people
[02:47:25] people feel good about herself, whether whether it was her performances,
[02:47:28] performances, whether it was her her mantras. I mean, she's got so so many quotes that I live by every
[02:47:32] every single day. It takes a lot lot of money to look this cheap.
[02:47:34] cheap. Did you say that? Well. Yeah, Yeah, I said that and I meant that.
[02:47:38] that. A lot of people think that's that's a joke. That's the biggest
[02:47:40] biggest truth I ever told. You have have no idea how much it cost to
[02:47:44] to make a person look this cheap.
[02:47:48] cheap. She was often pressed by journalists journalists to comment on political
[02:47:51] political issues, but used her trademark
[02:47:53] trademark warmth and humour to deflect
[02:47:56] deflect difficult questions. It was
[02:47:58] was very significant that President
[02:48:00] President Trump put up a positive
[02:48:04] positive tribute to her, and she she was someone who clearly didn't
[02:48:06] didn't believe in a lot of things things that he did. But she managed
[02:48:10] managed to always not get political,
[02:48:12] political, never to cross a line. line. And that was something in a
[02:48:16] a way that was a legacy that she's she's passed on. Because if you want
[02:48:19] want to be like Dolly Parton, you you could be so successful. I don't
[02:48:23] don't think of myself at all as being
[02:48:26] being political. And that's the worst worst thing that I could think about.
[02:48:29] about. So there will never be a time time when Dolly Parton says, I'm
[02:48:33] I'm gonna run for office. That's
[02:48:35] That's never gonna happen. From office.
[02:48:39] office. Actually, they're back home. home. They have a lot of signs everywhere.
[02:48:43] everywhere. Dolly for president and
[02:48:45] and my joke is no, we've had enough
[02:48:47] enough boobs in the White House. House. Republicans love her. Democrats
[02:48:51] Democrats love her. She never, ever ever brought politics into her music.
[02:48:54] music. I think she spoke to people people through the work she did and
[02:48:57] and through the song lyrics she wrote. wrote. Dolly's support for what she
[02:49:01] she deemed worthwhile causes is renowned.
[02:49:03] renowned. Got it, I got it. OK. I
[02:49:06] I didn't hurt. Dolly donated significant significant amounts of her fortune fortune to the causes she believed
[02:49:10] believed in. She pledged $1 million
[02:49:13] million to support vaccine research research during the Covid pandemic.
[02:49:16] pandemic. OK. I'm joking. You do
[02:49:18] do what you gotta do. Even getting
[02:49:20] getting behind campaigns to encourage encourage people to get vaccinated.
[02:49:24] vaccinated. She was a force for good good in the world, and she was someone someone that we could all kind of
[02:49:28] of turn to whenever things got tough. tough. So and the idea of a world
[02:49:32] world without Dolly in it just doesn't
[02:49:34] doesn't seem real. Vaccine, vaccine,
[02:49:38] vaccine, vaccine vaccine. I'm begging
[02:49:39] begging of you. Please don't hesitate.
[02:49:43] hesitate. Hello, I'm Dolly, do you
[02:49:45] you love books? Me too. Dolly knew
[02:49:47] knew how to connect with people in
[02:49:50] in 2015, she adopted a well-known well-known East Midlands phrase to
[02:49:53] to promote the expansion of her Imagination Imagination Library Project, a global
[02:49:57] global scheme that sends free books
[02:49:59] books to children. Hey everybody, everybody, this is Dolly. Or should
[02:50:03] should I say hey up me duck. I hope
[02:50:05] hope I said that right because if
[02:50:08] if I didn't, everybody in Nottingham Nottingham is going to be offended. offended. There's so many children
[02:50:12] children that may have grown up illiterate illiterate if it hadn't been for
[02:50:15] for her Imagination Library. And
[02:50:16] And that's her money going into completely
[02:50:19] completely non-profit. But to help help young children learn to read, read, which is obviously something
[02:50:23] something that was very important important to her, especially as someone
[02:50:25] someone that's such a way of words.
[02:50:28] words. Thank you for my books, Ali.
[02:50:30] Ali. You are. Welcome. You're the
[02:50:33] the one who makes it worthwhile. worthwhile. In Dundee, this Dolly
[02:50:37] Dolly superfan and local councillor councillor helped set up the city's city's branch of the Imagination
[02:50:41] Imagination Library. He says she'll she'll be remembered forever. So
[02:50:45] So we had a launch event and I do do remember the door had opened unless
[02:50:48] unless we thought she was only about about 2 or 3. As soon as the door
[02:50:51] door opened she saw the dolly stand stand up and she went. Dolly and and went running to Dolly. So I suppose
[02:50:55] suppose the legacy I hope to leave leave for children in Dundee, Scotland.
[02:50:59] Scotland. The world is that every every time they open a book, the
[02:51:01] the legacy of Dolly Parton will live
[02:51:03] live on forever. And even the Prime
[02:51:06] Prime Minister recognised her philanthropy. philanthropy. I was a huge fan of
[02:51:09] of what Dolly did around literacy,
[02:51:11] literacy, around the world. I was was culture secretary when her libraries
[02:51:15] libraries were first coming through, through, and the books that went
[02:51:18] went into communities across Britain,
[02:51:20] Britain, you know what a legacy to
[02:51:24] to leave. The Royal Family said she
[02:51:26] she brought joy, comfort and inspiration
[02:51:29] inspiration as the King's Guard played played 9 to 5 outside Buckingham
[02:51:32] Buckingham Palace in honour of the
[02:51:34] the Queen of country. And the band
[02:51:43] band will play on for Dolly even
[02:51:45] even after her death. I think the
[02:51:50] the plan she's had are going to come come together. Her team are going going to put them out and they're
[02:51:54] they're still unreleased music as as well. Apparently that is still still to come, so I think she still
[02:51:58] still has it all worked out and I'm I'm actually really excited to see
[02:52:01] see the plans because I know this this isn't the end of what we're
[02:52:04] we're going to see of Dolly. The
[02:52:06] The weekend after her death at festivals festivals in the UK, Dolly Parton
[02:52:09] Parton was honoured with renditions
[02:52:11] renditions of her most famous tracks.
[02:52:15] tracks. I've grown up on artists artists like Dolly Parton. Of course
[02:52:18] course we lost an icon. We played played Jolene on the first set as
[02:52:21] as a little tribute to Dolly. Oh,
[02:52:24] Oh, she's just beautiful. It's heart heart and soul of country. And how
[02:52:27] how did you feel when you found out out the sad news really let down?
[02:52:31] down? Your girlfriend cried for two
[02:52:33] two days. She was very upset. Just
[02:52:36] Just been there from day one for
[02:52:38] for all the country fans. Yeah, God
[02:52:42] God bless her. And in Nashville in
[02:52:45] in Tennessee country's megastars megastars remember Dolly with a special
[02:52:48] special show at the Opry. We promise
[02:52:52] promise to never forget you and we'll
[02:52:55] we'll think of you each step of the
[02:52:59] the way. Dolly once said, never ignore
[02:53:08] ignore your roots, your home or your your hair. It's guidance that she
[02:53:11] she stayed true to throughout a seven
[02:53:14] seven decade career that saw countless
[02:53:17] countless accolades for her singing,
[02:53:18] singing, songwriting and philanthropy.
[02:53:22] philanthropy. Everybody should be be who they are, and I even wrote wrote a song called Whatever You
[02:53:26] You Are. Be that. Whatever you do, do, do that anything else is just
[02:53:29] just an act. So whoever you are,
[02:53:31] are, be that. And so I feel about.
[02:53:33] about. You're the best person in
[02:53:35] in the world, Dolly. Dolly Parton.
[02:53:40] Parton. A courageous and talented talented trailblazer for country
[02:53:43] country music at a time when women women were not taken seriously in
[02:53:47] in the industry, especially as solo solo artists. I feel I should share
[02:53:50] share this with all the girls that
[02:53:51] that I just sang a song with. I have
[02:53:55] have all these women say that I've I've inspired them. It makes me feel
[02:53:58] feel proud that I've done something something right. I think we'll remember
[02:54:02] remember Dolly Parton as a one-off.
[02:54:04] one-off. She was a once in a lifetime lifetime person. I'm so grateful
[02:54:07] grateful that we got to be on earth earth at the same time. Oh, I know,
[02:54:11] know, I think we always remember remember Dolly as a bright, colourful
[02:54:14] colourful soul that was on this earth. earth. I've had a wonderful life.
[02:54:18] life. I have so many people to thank,
[02:54:21] thank, but none more than you, my
[02:54:24] my fans. I will always love you.
[02:54:26] you. So thank you. Her music has has just been there for me through
[02:54:30] through everything. So as a fan it it is really sad that she's not here
[02:54:34] here any more. But I'm gonna continue.
[02:54:37] continue. I'm going to continue living living like Dolly would and you know,
[02:54:40] know, use the lessons she taught
[02:54:43] taught me. Dolly Parton, the country
[02:54:46] country singer and songwriter from from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee,
[02:54:50] Tennessee, will be remembered for
[02:54:52] for her warmth, wit and immense talent
[02:54:55] talent and of course, her hit songs.
[02:55:30] MUSIC
[02:59:20] Being able to inspire someone
[02:59:22] is always the greatest joy. I saw saw Souza one time at the Grammys
[02:59:26] Grammys and she said that she studied studied some of my songs for their their songwriting, and I thought
[02:59:29] thought that that was the biggest biggest compliment ever. My support
[02:59:33] support for Ukraine is unwavering.
[02:59:36] unwavering. It is 100%. When the
[02:59:38] the big names talk, they talk to
[02:59:41] to us.
[03:00:10] Hello, live from London. This
[03:00:13] is BBC News. These are live pictures pictures from Germany where polls
[03:00:15] polls are open in two states. Political Political pressures are mounting
[03:00:19] mounting on Chancellor Friedrich Friedrich Merz. Ed Sheeran apologises
[03:00:23] apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage
[03:00:26] stage for the first time since rapper rapper Macklemore was dropped from from his US
[03:00:34] Dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks. The brother brother of Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, Spencer, tells the BBC that there
[03:00:38] there are echoes of what happened happened to his sister in the way way the media is treating Prince
[03:00:41] Prince Harry and Meghan. It would would be really beholden on people
[03:00:44] people to learn from Diana's example. example. I'm not here to speak for
[03:00:47] for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone
[03:00:50] anyone who's being destroyed in this
[03:00:52] this way daily, it must be such a
[03:00:55] a cancerous influence in their life. life. Houthis say they've launched
[03:00:58] launched missiles and drones at