Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:13Live from London. This is BBC
00:00:15News. Fifa says its boss Gianni Infantino
00:00:18Infantino strongly denies claims claims that Uefa paid off. A woman
00:00:22woman described as his lover when when he was head of European football's
00:00:26football's governing body. Oman and and Iran have said their negotiations
00:00:29negotiations over new arrangements arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz
00:00:32Hormuz have been positive and constructive. constructive. As another ship is
00:00:35is reportedly struck in the waterway,
00:00:37waterway, at least three people, people, including a child, have been
00:00:40been killed in overnight Russian Russian attacks near the Ukrainian
00:00:44Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Police are are urging anyone who believes they
00:00:47they may have been a victim of the the convicted sex offender and murderer
00:00:50murderer Simon Levy, to come forward.
00:00:53forward. Spain imposes border controls
00:00:55controls against Italy as a row over
00:00:58over immigration grows. MUSIC
00:01:08MUSIC Hello Hello and welcome. I'm Samantha Simmonds. Simmonds. European football's governing
00:01:12governing body Uefa has confirmed confirmed that a payment was made
00:01:15made to a departing member of staff
00:01:17staff in 2016, after the Daily Telegraph Telegraph reported that the woman
00:01:21woman was Gianni Infantino's lover lover at the time. The current Fifa
00:01:25Fifa boss was UEFA's general secretary. secretary. Uefa says the payment,
00:01:28payment, which also included covering covering the fees for a course at
00:01:31at a business school, met its rules rules at the time, but they have
00:01:35have since been tightened. Leigh
00:01:36Leigh Milner reports. Gianni Infantino
00:01:39Infantino was already under pressure pressure over his future as Fifa
00:01:43Fifa president. Now he's facing fresh
00:01:45fresh questions over claims a woman woman he allegedly had an affair
00:01:48affair with was given a six figure figure severance payment by Uefa.
00:01:52Uefa. The Daily Telegraph says the the alleged relationship happened
00:01:55happened while Infantino, who is is married, was UEFA's general secretary.
00:02:00secretary. He strongly denies it. it. His spokesman told the paper
00:02:03paper the claims are categorically
00:02:05categorically untrue and says there there was never a complaint about
00:02:09about his behaviour. In a statement, statement, Uefa said it was aware
00:02:12aware of the allegations and can can confirm a departure payment was
00:02:15was made to the individual in question, question, coupled with the payment
00:02:19payment of fees for an MBA course course at a local business school.
00:02:22school. The payment was in line with with the regulations that existed
00:02:26existed for departing staff at the
00:02:28the time. This comes after calls
00:02:30calls for Infantino to resign over over a completely separate controversy.
00:02:34controversy. He wanted to sell stakes stakes in the World Cup to private
00:02:38private investors. That caused a
00:02:39a huge backlash and the plan was
00:02:42was eventually dropped. Gianni Infantino Infantino has since apologised for
00:02:45for what he called errors, but he
00:02:48he hasn't stepped down. He's been
00:02:50been busy trying to strengthen his his relationships with officials
00:02:53officials and politicians who back back him, like here in Colombia.
00:02:57Colombia. He's had the support from from senior figures at Fifa and from
00:03:00from football authorities in Africa Africa and South America. But with
00:03:04with his future still in question,
00:03:05question, the BBC's South America America correspondent Ione Wells
00:03:08Wells later asked him if he would would step down. Infantino. Will
00:03:12Will you resign after your plan to to sell off part of Fifa failed?
00:03:16failed? A word for BBC News. What's What's your response to Europe? Who
00:03:19Who say they'll boycott the World
00:03:21World Cup? Infantino. For now, he
00:03:25he remains in the job. But these
00:03:27these latest claims mean the questions
00:03:29questions around his future aren't
00:03:31aren't going away. Leigh Milner BBC
00:03:34BBC News. Well, football journalist journalist Henry Winter explains
00:03:37explains how the allegations will will impact Mr Infantino's bid to
00:03:40to hang on to his job after weeks
00:03:42weeks of controversy. Well, he strongly
00:03:45strongly denies them, as he pointed pointed out in the Fifa statement
00:03:48statement last night. And we have
00:03:50have to start with that. But what
00:03:53what it is is the pressure is ramping
00:03:56ramping up and whether the people people within Fifa, I mean not everyone
00:04:00everyone in Fifa, which is an organisation organisation of 960 people and obviously
00:04:04obviously there are people at the the top, whether it's the Fifa Council Council or members of the management
00:04:07management board who will have their their own views on him as an individual
00:04:10individual and also the plan as you you highlight the World Cup sell
00:04:14sell off plan and they will have have issues with that. So the pressure
00:04:18pressure will ratchet up and it will will come externally from the media.
00:04:22media. It will come from Uefa and and it will come from within. And
00:04:25And it's just a question of how much
00:04:27much pressure and scrutiny he is is himself is prepared to take or
00:04:31or whether he just says no, enough enough is enough and walk away. I
00:04:35I mean, so far he's shown little
00:04:37little inclination of that. But these these headlines, which obviously
00:04:40obviously he strongly denies, can't can't be easy to live with. To what
00:04:43what extent do you think he has managed managed to shore up support? Because
00:04:46Because we have had various countries countries like Mexico, like Argentina
00:04:50Argentina saying they support him. him. How important is that? Well,
00:04:52Well, it was no surprise when he
00:04:54he went for his crisis meeting. It
00:04:56It was in Rabat, Morocco, in Africa,
00:04:59Africa, which is the heartland of
00:05:01of his support. 54 member associations
00:05:03associations of CAF. That's a quarter quarter of the 211 member associations
00:05:07associations of Fifa. So very important. important. You know, he does have
00:05:10have support around the world and and there was support in certain
00:05:13certain parts for this plan of his
00:05:16his because $40 million is a lot
00:05:18lot of money to quite a few national national associations throughout
00:05:22throughout the world, less so in in Europe, which obviously got the
00:05:25the Wealthy League's wealthier countries. countries. But yeah, I mean, there
00:05:28there absolutely is support for him.
00:05:30him. But the clock is ticking because
00:05:32because we're now within four weeks
00:05:34weeks of the first Fifa tournament, tournament, which is the women's
00:05:38women's under 20s in Poland. And
00:05:41And obviously there is this Uefa,
00:05:42Uefa, this European threat of withdrawing
00:05:45withdrawing if effectively he doesn't doesn't go. So what is going to happen,
00:05:48happen, do you think in all likelihood
00:05:51likelihood with that threat, will will Uefa follow through? How do
00:05:55do you predict a saga? I mean it's it's you know it's a giant slalom.
00:05:58slalom. It zigzags each way every
00:05:59every day. Statements, counter statements,
00:06:02statements, headlines stories more more scrutiny, more pressure. I mean,
00:06:05mean, you wait for very much standing standing firm on this. I think it's
00:06:09it's going to be the crunch over over the under 20s. And then of course
00:06:13course we move into the Women's World World Cup qualifiers in October.
00:06:16October. The senior Lionesses will
00:06:18will be playing in that. So I think think when it actually starts hitting
00:06:22hitting the sport, I think people people within Fifa may just have
00:06:25have a quiet word and say Johnny,
00:06:27Johnny, time to go. Henry Winter Winter there to the Middle East now.
00:06:30now. And Oman has joined Iran in in saying that their negotiations
00:06:34negotiations over new arrangements arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz
00:06:36Hormuz have been positive and constructive. constructive. This is a live look
00:06:40look at ship tracking in the Strait Strait movement. There has effectively
00:06:43effectively ground to a halt over over the past few months due to the
00:06:47the danger posed by the ongoing conflict. conflict. The Omani Foreign ministry
00:06:51ministry said today. It warned against against attacks on ships passing
00:06:54passing through the waterway, saying saying that they not only broke international
00:06:58international law but threatened threatened the security of the region.
00:07:01region. Iran has continued to fire fire at vessels using a different
00:07:04different route from the one it's it's authorised, even as it's been
00:07:07been negotiating with Oman. Mehran
00:07:10Mehran Kamrava is head of the Iranian Iranian studies unit at the Arab
00:07:13Arab Centre for Research and Policy Policy Studies. He gave me his assessment
00:07:16assessment of where the negotiations negotiations stand. Well, I think
00:07:19think a deal is close at hand. What
00:07:22What is not close at hand is consent
00:07:25consent from the United States. What What the Iranians want to do at this
00:07:29this point, now that they seem to
00:07:30to have an agreement with Oman, is
00:07:33is to get some sort of agreement agreement from the United States,
00:07:36States, at least the consent from
00:07:39from the United States or not from from the US that this agreement will
00:07:43will also meet with American approval.
00:07:47approval. So what do you think it's
00:07:50it's going to take to get this across
00:07:52across the line for US approval and
00:07:55and for the Strait that all important important straight through which
00:07:57which a fifth of the world's oil oil transits or did do before the
00:08:00the end of February when this war war started, what's it going to take
00:08:03take to get agreement here. If the
00:08:06the countries of the Gulf co-operation
00:08:09co-operation Council agree to the
00:08:12the agreement between Oman and Iran
00:08:14Iran in principle, at least then
00:08:16then I think the US would would also
00:08:20also agree what the what is at stake
00:08:22stake is the fact that Iran wants
00:08:24wants to have some sort of administrative
00:08:28administrative influence over the the strait, which then it can use
00:08:30use as a source of leverage, but
00:08:32but it also needs the consent of
00:08:36of the GCC states and those GCC states
00:08:39states can then pressure the United
00:08:41United States to either agree or
00:08:44or disagree with the broad outlines outlines of the agreement between
00:08:47between Iran and Oman. Yeah. And And those GCC countries have been
00:08:50been badly affected directly by strikes
00:08:53strikes from Iran over the past few
00:08:55few months. Where do they sit when when it comes to where they're going
00:08:59going to exert pressure? Do you think?
00:09:02think? Well, you're absolutely right. right. Not only have they been subject
00:09:05subject to direct hits from Iran,
00:09:07Iran, but simply the cost of business
00:09:10business has gone up a great deal
00:09:12deal here. And the supply chain has
00:09:15has been disrupted in terms of heavy heavy equipment, construction equipment
00:09:20equipment and anything that needs
00:09:22needs to be transported by sea routes
00:09:25routes rather than by air craft.
00:09:28craft. And so those states, the states
00:09:30states of the GCC are under tremendous
00:09:33tremendous pressure to see this conflict conflict end and to see the Strait
00:09:37Strait of Hormuz open, and therefore therefore they will put pressure
00:09:40pressure on the US to come to some
00:09:43some sort of agreement with Iran. Iran. It's more than five months
00:09:46months since this war started. The The aim initially, certainly in the
00:09:50the first few hours, was the toppling toppling of the regime that was reassessed
00:09:53reassessed very quickly by the US
00:09:56US but the supreme leader, the Ayatollah, Ayatollah, was killed in strikes
00:09:59strikes in the first few hours. Where
00:10:01Where do you assess the regime and
00:10:03and its strengths to be right
00:10:09now? Well, there's no doubt that that Iran has suffered economically
00:10:12economically and that it is in a
00:10:14a worst set of circumstances now
00:10:17now than it was prior to the war war and those conditions back then
00:10:21then were dire. But at the same time,
00:10:25time, militarily and strategically, strategically, Iran appears to have
00:10:27have the upper hand, at least insofar
00:10:29insofar as the Persian Gulf region
00:10:31region and specifically the Strait
00:10:34Strait of Hormuz are concerned. So So it's a mixed bag economically.
00:10:37economically. It's suffering, but but certainly strategically and militarily,
00:10:41militarily, it appears to have not not only survived but has a stronger
00:10:45stronger hand. Now. Does it have have a stronger hand? How would you
00:10:49you assess the success of Israeli
00:10:51Israeli and US strikes on the country
00:10:54country in as far as depleting their
00:10:57their hardware and their capabilities, capabilities, both nuclear ambitions
00:11:00ambitions and when it comes to ballistic ballistic missile programme? Well,
00:11:03Well, certainly Iran has suffered
00:11:06suffered militarily a great deal. deal. But what it has managed to
00:11:09to do is to turn a military conflict
00:11:12conflict into an economic one. It
00:11:15It has successfully put pressure
00:11:18pressure on the GCC states. It has
00:11:20has put the squeeze on the world world energy markets. It has brought
00:11:24brought shipping to a halt in the
00:11:26the Strait of Hormuz. So despite
00:11:29despite significant military losses,
00:11:34losses, it has a stronger strategic strategic position. Prior to the
00:11:37the start of the war because of the
00:11:39the economic leverage and the economic economic pressure, it has been able
00:11:44able to put on the GCC and elsewhere.
00:11:47elsewhere. Mehran Kamrava their president, president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has
00:11:50has issued a fresh call for more more US made Patriot interceptor
00:11:54interceptor missiles after Ukraine's Ukraine's air defences failed again
00:11:57again to intercept incoming Russian Russian ballistic missiles. Three
00:12:00Three people, including a child, child, were killed in an overnight
00:12:03overnight attack near the Ukrainian Ukrainian capital Kyiv. It happened happened in the east of the city,
00:12:07city, and witnesses say residential residential buildings and a fuel
00:12:10fuel tank were hit. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Ukraine's military said its drones
00:12:13drones struck two Russian oil refineries refineries as part of a long running
00:12:16running strategy to disrupt Russia's Russia's oil production, which it
00:12:19it says are being used to finance finance its war in Ukraine. From
00:12:22From Kyiv. Dan Johnson sent this
00:12:25this report. This is the level of
00:12:28of destruction Russian drones are are inflicting on Ukrainian family
00:12:31family homes. They struck after midnight midnight here, taking the lives of
00:12:35of a three-year-old boy and his grandparents,
00:12:39grandparents, his brother and their their parents were injured, along
00:12:41along with a neighbour who tried
00:12:43tried to save them. Ukrainian prosecutors prosecutors say this could amount
00:12:47amount to a war crime. Svetlana lives
00:12:50lives next door. My husband rushed
00:12:53rushed to get water to put out the the fire, but that didn't help. The
00:12:56The neighbours rushed out trying trying to rescue a small child but
00:13:00but they couldn't find the child.
00:13:05child. This is where the sacrifices sacrifices of Ukrainian soldiers
00:13:09soldiers are commemorated. But recent recent strikes have highlighted the
00:13:12the ongoing risk to ordinary people people because Ukraine says it just
00:13:16just doesn't have what it needs to
00:13:18to defend its skies. The other key key priority here is pushing for
00:13:21for tougher sanctions against Russia.
00:13:26Russia. And so President Zelensky Zelensky is for the first time visiting
00:13:30visiting Serbia, a traditional Russian Russian ally, one of the few countries
00:13:34countries not to impose sanctions.
00:13:37sanctions. In a time of war, we value value and are deeply grateful for
00:13:41for the help Ukraine receives from
00:13:42from other countries and other nations.
00:13:46nations. Ukraine has again been targeting targeting Russian oil facilities
00:13:49facilities in the latest round of of attacks. Both sides have exchanged
00:13:53exchanged in this increasingly dangerous dangerous phase of the war. Dan Johnson,
00:13:57Johnson, BBC News Kyiv. In the UK,
00:14:00UK, police are urging anyone who who believes they may have been a
00:14:02a victim of the convicted sex offender offender and murderer Simon Levy
00:14:06Levy to come forward. He was found found guilty yesterday of murdering
00:14:09murdering two women and raping another. another. There have been calls for
00:14:12for a major review into how he was was able to continue offending. Tom
00:14:15Tom Symonds report contained some
00:14:17some distressing details. Simon,
00:14:21Simon, Simon, stay where you are.
00:14:23are. Simon Levy. The sexual predator
00:14:26predator and killer arrested. Time Time you're under arrest on suspicion
00:14:29suspicion of murder. OK. After time
00:14:32time and freed, allowing him to carry carry out a string of sexual assaults
00:14:36assaults and eventually two murders. murders. The Metropolitan Police
00:14:39Police admits he could have been been stopped before killing his second
00:14:43second victim. Now there are inquiries inquiries into what went wrong inside
00:14:47inside two police forces and the the criminal justice system. Levy
00:14:50Levy was free to carry out a series series of sexual assaults on the
00:14:54the London Underground, including including one filmed by a woman he
00:14:58he had already assaulted. The police police watchdog is investigating
00:15:01investigating an officer for potential potential gross misconduct and a
00:15:04a detective sergeant for misconduct. misconduct. Were policies designed
00:15:08designed to protect women followed. followed. Are there any lessons to
00:15:11to be learnt? And now there are demands
00:15:14demands for a wider look at how the the system failed. We need all the
00:15:17the agencies involved to answer for for why there wasn't better information
00:15:21information sharing, and why the the assessment of risk he posed wasn't wasn't good enough. And then the
00:15:25the response that he received by by the police, by the CPS and the
00:15:28the courts, the fact he wasn't placed placed on remand earlier, the police
00:15:30police didn't treat his first murder murder as a murder. There was a lack
00:15:34lack of restrictions that could have have been placed on him. After all,
00:15:37all, Levy was released on bail despite despite the British Transport Police
00:15:41Police warning the courts at one one point he was a danger to the
00:15:44the public at high risk of predatory predatory sexual offending against
00:15:48against women. The families of Carmenza
00:15:52Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Sheryl Wilkins have now seen him
00:15:54him jailed. The Metropolitan Police Police has actively investigated
00:15:58investigated whether he committed committed other murders, but today
00:16:01today police said they wanted to to hear from anyone he might have
00:16:04have assaulted. Tom Symonds. BBC
00:16:07BBC News. Spain has brought in border
00:16:09border checks on people travelling travelling from Italy, escalating
00:16:12escalating a migration row between between the two EU countries. Madrid's
00:16:16Madrid's month long suspension applies applies not just to citizens of third
00:16:19third countries arriving from Italy,
00:16:21Italy, but also to Italians themselves. themselves. Spain was angered by
00:16:25by Italy's response to last week's week's sudden influx of tens of thousands
00:16:29thousands of would be migrants into into the Spanish territory of Ceuta
00:16:32Ceuta on Morocco's coast. Italy promptly promptly imposed border restrictions
00:16:36restrictions on third country travellers travellers from Spain, which will
00:16:38will last until at least mid-August. mid-August. Our southern Europe correspondent
00:16:42correspondent Sarah Rainsford is is in Rome. She explained how this
00:16:45this row over migration has created created a rift within the heart of
00:16:48of Europe. It's definitely escalated
00:16:51escalated overnight with Spain retaliating
00:16:54retaliating for the Italian restrictions.
00:16:56restrictions. The measures themselves
00:16:59themselves involve essentially passengers passengers who are arriving into
00:17:03into Spain from Italy being met from
00:17:06from planes and from boats. If there there are any cruise liners by extra
00:17:09extra police officers now they're they're being met at the terminal
00:17:12terminal before they reach the terminal terminal itself rather than being
00:17:14being taken to passport control. control. But there are now spot checks
00:17:18checks being carried out. I understand understand from the Spanish police
00:17:21police that they're inspecting around around about 10% of the passengers passengers on every flight coming
00:17:25coming in, but we're talking about about dozens of flights, I think think around about 200 flights from
00:17:29from Italy to Spain today alone. alone. We are at the height of tourist
00:17:31tourist season, of course. So this this is happening, this diplomatic
00:17:35diplomatic escalation, if you like, like, right? When there is the largest
00:17:39largest passenger flow between the the two countries and of course, course, passengers from Spain coming
00:17:42coming to Italy are facing similar similar checks here. And so where
00:17:46where is this likely to go at the the moment it's for a month. And
00:17:50And is the suggestion is the thinking
00:17:51thinking that will be it. Well yeah.
00:17:56yeah. I mean there's a debate going going on a political fight in public.
00:17:59public. I'm not quite sure what negotiations negotiations going on behind the
00:18:02the scenes. But certainly this step step taken by Spain came because
00:18:05because it gave Italy an ultimatum. ultimatum. It said, look, lift the
00:18:08the measures that you've implemented. implemented. They are politically politically motivated. It is scare
00:18:11scare mongering. There is no security security threat to Italy from the
00:18:15the fact that tens of thousands of
00:18:18of Moroccan, primarily migrants, migrants, entered Ceuta because they've
00:18:21they've almost all of them gone back. back. And anyway, none of them reached
00:18:24reached the European mainland. So So Spain was furious at the Italian
00:18:27Italian reaction and it has now retaliated retaliated because Italy said it
00:18:30it wouldn't accept ultimatums, it it wouldn't change its position and and that the measures in Italy will
00:18:34will stay in place for at least a a couple of weeks. So there's a big
00:18:38big debate over how long the two
00:18:40two sides will keep this up. Certainly Certainly Italy is pointing to social
00:18:44social media rumours suggesting there
00:18:46there may be another surge of migrants
00:18:48migrants trying to swim into Ceuta Ceuta on the 15th of August, and
00:18:51and Italy's pointing to that saying saying look, the security threat, threat, the terror threat they're
00:18:55they're saying is severe at the moment. moment. So we're going to keep the the measures in place. Spain is simply
00:18:59simply saying this is all politics politics and we will retaliate so
00:19:02so long as Italy continues to implement implement these restrictions. So
00:19:06So who knows where this will go. go. But certainly I think it does
00:19:09does point to a real serious rift rift at the heart of Europe, frankly,
00:19:13frankly, about how illegal migration migration is dealt with very different
00:19:16different positions from the left left and the right of politics here
00:19:20here on the continent. Sarah Rainsford Rainsford there to Kosovo now, where
00:19:23where an opposition MP threw eggs eggs at the acting Prime Minister,
00:19:26Minister, Albin Kurti, on Saturday, Saturday, lawmakers and police rushed
00:19:30rushed to intervene as Alliance Party
00:19:32Party MP Time Kadrijaj pulled eggs eggs from her purse and threw them
00:19:36them toward the Prime Minister while while shouting shame, shame! The
00:19:40The incident occurred after Mr Kurti Kurti told parliament he needed more
00:19:43more time to hold talks with other other parties before proposing a
00:19:47a candidate for speaker following following the June snap election.
00:19:50election. The incident underscored underscored the political deadlock deadlock that has gripped the small
00:19:54small Balkan country for nearly two
00:19:58two years. The United States has
00:20:00has pledged $1 billion in security security assistance to Colombia after
00:20:03after the inauguration of its new new right wing president, Abelardo
00:20:07Abelardo de la Espriella. In his his fiery maiden speech, Mr de la
00:20:11la Espriella pledged to crush armed armed insurgents, rebuild the country
00:20:15country and defend democracy by reason
00:20:18reason or by force. Colombia has has significant natural resources,
00:20:21resources, including substantial substantial oil reserves, but is
00:20:23is also home to violent drug trafficking trafficking organisations and is
00:20:27is the world's leading producer of of cocaine. Colombia's new president
00:20:31president is seen as an ally of President President Trump and has pledged to
00:20:34to be forceful and decisive against against crime. Our global affairs
00:20:38affairs reporter Mimi Swaby explains explains how the new president has
00:20:41has made it his mission to tackle
00:20:43tackle the so-called narco terrorism terrorism in the country. Now, a
00:20:47a lot of De la Estrella was a very
00:20:50very successful ex-lawyer who actually actually defended drug trafficking
00:20:54trafficking paramilitaries before before he entered politics. Now he's
00:20:57he's vowed a very sharp break with with his leftist predecessor, Gustavo
00:21:01Gustavo Petro, replacing peace talks
00:21:04talks with relentlessly crushing crushing armed insurgents, rebuilding rebuilding the country and really
00:21:08really overhauling the state with with lots of changes in place. It'll
00:21:12It'll be interesting to see how many
00:21:14many of these very kind of Iron Fist
00:21:16Fist policies he's able to push through through some he can push through
00:21:20through a decree by decree. But many
00:21:23many of his proposals will require require backing from a divided Congress
00:21:26Congress in Colombia. So they will will perhaps have to be watered down
00:21:29down to be pushed through. He is
00:21:31is really come onto the stage, though,
00:21:34though, with very strong warnings
00:21:36warnings to armed groups in the area.
00:21:39area. Interestingly, he had his oath oath of office in Cali, not Bogota.
00:21:43Bogota. Now Cali is an area where
00:21:44where illegal armed groups have a
00:21:47a lot of influence. It's a very volatile volatile area, he said in his speech
00:21:51speech as well and reiterated today today on social media that Colombia
00:21:54Colombia is entering a new era the
00:21:56the era of a tiger. Now he's given given himself a very much a self-appointed self-appointed nickname, referring
00:22:00referring to himself as a tiger. tiger. And he said that the state
00:22:03state is going to use forceful, forceful forceful and decisive action against
00:22:06against crime. He's seen images shared shared throughout this campaign of
00:22:10of a fanged tiger himself as that that tiger. And he warned that the
00:22:14the tiger knows how to bite. So some
00:22:17some very clear warnings to armed armed groups and a very strong approach,
00:22:21approach, which we really heard in
00:22:23in that speech. An overnight sitting sitting of the Republican controlled
00:22:27controlled US Senate has narrowly narrowly approved President Trump's
00:22:29Trump's former lawyer, Todd Blanche,
00:22:31Blanche, as Attorney General. Mr Mr Blanche, who has been acting Attorney
00:22:35Attorney General since April, was
00:22:37was approved by 50 votes to 49 after
00:22:39after several Republican senators senators relented following weeks
00:22:42weeks of uncertainty, Democrats unanimously
00:22:46unanimously opposed his appointment. appointment. White House reporter reporter Bernd Debusmann explained
00:22:49explained why the Senate vote was
00:22:50was so narrow. I think more than
00:22:53than anything, his proximity with with President Trump over the years years as his personal attorney had
00:22:57had led to some concern even among among Senate Republicans. But much
00:23:01much more recently, there was a lot
00:23:03lot of questions about how Mr Blanche
00:23:07Blanche handled the $1.8 billion billion anti-weaponisation fund that that the administration said would
00:23:10would be used to compensate alleged
00:23:13alleged victims of judicial persecution persecution in previous administrations,
00:23:17administrations, as well as his handling handling of the Epstein files. And
00:23:20And I think collectively, even among among some of President Trump's political
00:23:24political allies, those two things things really did raise a lot of
00:23:26of alarm. And that's what led to
00:23:28to this very, very razor thin vote.
00:23:31vote. The man who actually cast the the deciding vote. Bill Cassidy is
00:23:35is a frequent critic of President
00:23:37President Trump's. But he said that that he just wasn't sure that if
00:23:41if President Trump would end up nominating nominating someone who he sees as
00:23:44as a worst option. So I think even
00:23:46even there, you saw quite a lot of of even though the vote was successful,
00:23:50successful, you saw quite a lot of of dissent from within the Republican Republican Party before the vote
00:23:54vote took place. And tell us a little little bit more about the role of
00:23:57of Attorney General, what it means
00:24:00means and what his appointment could
00:24:02could mean legally in the
00:24:08country. Well, he's very much the the become now the top law enforcement enforcement officer in the United
00:24:11United States. It's an enormously
00:24:13enormously influential position overseeing overseeing the really vast Department
00:24:17Department of Justice and all the the investigations that it carries
00:24:19carries out. And that's part of the
00:24:22the concern many Democrats had pointed pointed to him and said that they
00:24:25they were concerned that he would
00:24:28would essentially serve as the tool
00:24:31tool of the Trump administration administration to go after perceived
00:24:33perceived political opponents in
00:24:35in the future. But it is a very important
00:24:38important role in which he does oversee
00:24:41oversee essentially the entire federal federal law enforcement bureaucracy.
00:24:45bureaucracy. And how long will he
00:24:46he be in that role for? Well, at
00:24:50at the very least until there's if if there's another administration,
00:24:53administration, then it would be be up to them to nominate a new one.
00:24:57one. So for at least the next two two and a half years or so and then
00:25:01then depending on who comes to the the White House following the 2020
00:25:052020 election, it may well be that that there is a different Attorney
00:25:07Attorney General. It's a position position that comes and goes most
00:25:11most often with changes in administration. administration. Bernd Debusmann there
00:25:14there now, the hot air Balloon Fiesta Fiesta in Bristol is a sight for
00:25:18for sore eyes. Yesterday saw two two mass ascents as they're known
00:25:22known and also a night glow in which which the balloons were lit up against
00:25:26against the dark sky. Today's mass mass ascent took place under beautiful
00:25:30beautiful blue skies and perfect perfect ballooning weather. This
00:25:33This is the 48th annual festival festival held in Bristol. Because
00:25:35Because the city is historically historically the capital of modern
00:25:38modern hot air ballooning in the
00:25:41the UK. Now I just want to bring bring you a weather system that we
00:25:45we are keeping across and this is is an animation of Typhoon Dolphin,
00:25:48Dolphin, a storm that's expected expected to make landfall on China's
00:25:51China's eastern coast late on Sunday
00:25:53Sunday or early Monday. The storm
00:25:56storm swept across Japan's Okinawa Okinawa island, injuring at least
00:25:59least five people and cutting power
00:26:01power to more than 40,000 buildings. buildings. Plenty more details on
00:26:04on that on all the day's top stories stories on the BBC News website.
00:26:07website. Stay with us here on
00:28:25online at bbc.com/business to get get the latest news wherever you
00:28:27you are. Business on BBC News. Make
00:28:31Make the connection. There is nothing
00:28:39nothing like driving into a moving moving story and not knowing what
00:28:42what is going to happen when we enter enter Damascus. It was full of rebels
00:28:45rebels shooting in the air in celebration. celebration. You can hear the sound
00:28:49sound of celebratory gunfire. Nobody Nobody knew what was going to happen.
00:28:51happen. And I live for those moments. moments. These troops are heading
00:28:54heading into the battle zone in Khartoum, Khartoum, says the army to carry
00:28:57carry out a special operation entering entering Khartoum after the Sudanese
00:29:00Sudanese army recaptured it was a
00:29:02a seminal moment. The level of destruction destruction was stunning. It was
00:29:06was the largest market in Sudan. Sudan. But you can see the level
00:29:09level of destruction now when things
00:29:10things become volatile and unpredictable, unpredictable, it's crucial to stay
00:29:14stay focused. There's a standoff
00:29:17standoff between police and protesters protesters here after another police
00:29:20police shooting of a black man in in Minnesota,
00:29:27Minnesota, sometimes meeting someone on the ground can change change how you understand a story. story. I'm thinking of a number of
00:29:31of women that I met in Sudan talking talking about the hardships they
00:29:33they experienced. Covering these
00:29:36these stories over the years has has impressed upon me how resilient
00:29:39resilient people are. And yes, many many of them are desperate and exhausted,
00:29:42exhausted, but many of them are also also steadfast. They're gracious
00:29:46gracious and they're generous. Journalism Journalism is about being there as
00:29:49as events unfold and telling people people not only what happened, but
00:29:53but why it matters and what it means.
00:29:56means. History happens in real time time and someone needs to be there
00:29:59there to witness it.
00:30:12Now on BBC News, we're off on a
00:30:14journey of discovery to explore new new destinations around the globe
00:30:17globe and uncover hidden sides to to some of the world's favourite
00:30:20favourite holiday hotspots. With
00:30:21With The Travel Show team. France
00:30:31France is the food capital of the
00:30:34the world from high end cuisine to
00:30:38to the small neighbourhood bistros bistros that are at the heart of
00:30:41of everyday dining. But across France
00:30:44France things are changing. The bistro
00:30:47bistro is under threat. These family family run restaurants where you
00:30:50you could get a three course meal meal for under 20, are closing at
00:30:54at an alarming rate. It's thought
00:30:56thought around 25 a day. Even the