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20260915 11:30 UTC · 00:30:59 · 505 transcript segments · GDELT Visual Explorer · plain-text transcript · Event Map

All the big stories, live as they happen, presented by Lucy Hockings.

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Transcript

Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.

00:00:00if the management of the hospital hospital would have acted differently. differently. What she can't do is
00:00:03is put a number on that, but she's she's very clear. You remember June
00:00:06June 2015 is when the first murder murder that she was convicted of
00:00:08of took place. October 2015 though though Lady Justice Thirlwall found
00:00:12found was the first point at which which suspicions were raised. The
00:00:16The death of a baby called baby J J or the babies, of course, were
00:00:20were anonymized. He. Had she been
00:00:21been moved off the ward at that point point because of safeguarding concerns,
00:00:25concerns, the deaths of other babies, babies, specifically two other babies
00:00:27babies O and P would not have happened happened and other babies would not
00:00:31not have been attacked. And there there was also concerns about a level
00:00:34level of insulin. Back in August
00:00:37August of 2015. And at that point,
00:00:40point, those concerns were disregarded disregarded by a senior doctor. I'll
00:00:42I'll get. You to pause there. We
00:00:46We now have that inquiry report published. published. Let's listen to Lady Justice.
00:00:49Justice. Justice Thurwell's findings.
00:00:53findings. October 2023. After the
00:00:55the convictions of Lucy Letby for
00:00:58for the murder and attempted murder
00:01:00murder of newborn babies in the neonatal
00:01:03neonatal unit at the Countess of
00:01:06of Chester Hospital my report has has been delivered to the Secretary
00:01:09Secretary of State for Health and
00:01:10and Social Care and it was laid before
00:01:13before Parliament a few moments ago.
00:01:16ago. The report describes dysfunctional dysfunctional management and governance,
00:01:20governance, a gulf between hospital hospital leadership and clinicians
00:01:24clinicians and failure to understand
00:01:26understand the fundamentals of safeguarding
00:01:29safeguarding errors were made by by nurses, doctors and managers at
00:01:32at the time of these events. I've
00:01:34I've set these out in the report
00:01:37report and will turn to this topic
00:01:39topic later. There was also complete
00:01:42complete failure at all levels to
00:01:45to invoke safeguarding procedures procedures at any point. Looking
00:01:48Looking for clinical or other explanations
00:01:50explanations for deaths and collapses
00:01:53collapses was not wrong. But once once there was suspicion that Letby
00:01:55Letby may be causing harm, deliberately
00:01:59deliberately safeguarding steps should should have been taken. She should
00:02:03should have been removed from the
00:02:05the ward as a neutral act and matters
00:02:08matters could have been investigated investigated without risk to babies.
00:02:12babies. No one seems to have thought thought that safeguarding action
00:02:15action is required when a member member of staff is suspected of causing
00:02:19causing deliberate harm. It isn't
00:02:22isn't necessary to be sure suspicion
00:02:25suspicion is enough. At the Countess,
00:02:30Countess, doctors and nurses failed failed to bring concerns to the safeguarding
00:02:34safeguarding leads. In late 2015,
00:02:372015, when concerns were raised with with senior managers, including the
00:02:40the hospital lead, for safeguarding.
00:02:42safeguarding. In May 2016, no safeguarding
00:02:45safeguarding action was taken. Senior
00:02:48Senior nurses never accepted that that the consultant's concerns were
00:02:51were or even might be justified.
00:02:54justified. Neither did senior managers
00:02:58managers from the death of baby P
00:03:00P in late June 2016. And despite
00:03:03despite the fact that Letby had been been moved from the neonatal unit,
00:03:07unit, there was a prolonged delay
00:03:08delay by senior managers in calling
00:03:12calling the police alternative explanations explanations for the deaths and collapses
00:03:15collapses were sought via internal
00:03:17internal and external reviews. The
00:03:20The reviews did not address the issue
00:03:23issue of whether deliberate harm
00:03:24harm had been caused or not, as the
00:03:28the Royal College of Paediatrics Paediatrics and Child Health accepted,
00:03:32accepted, the service review it undertook
00:03:34undertook could not address the doctor's
00:03:37doctor's concerns and should not
00:03:38not have been undertaken. The police
00:03:41police were eventually contacted
00:03:43contacted in May 2017, almost a year
00:03:46year after the last death. Relationships
00:03:52Relationships between consultant consultant paediatricians and senior
00:03:54senior managers and senior nurses
00:03:57nurses disintegrated during 2016
00:04:002016 and 2017, the way Letby grievance
00:04:02grievance and its consequences were
00:04:04were handled was deplorable. Ultimately, Ultimately, some consultants were
00:04:08were told to apologise to her and
00:04:10and to enter. Mediation plans were
00:04:12were being made to return her to
00:04:15to the neonatal unit. By the beginning
00:04:19beginning of 2017, the hospital was
00:04:22was far adrift from the correct course
00:04:24course of a responsible and prompt
00:04:27prompt response to serious concerns concerns raised by consultants about
00:04:30about the safety of babies. A summary
00:04:35summary report of 70 pages has been
00:04:37been prepared to provide an overview overview of my findings, but if you
00:04:41you want to understand what happened happened and to understand the reasons
00:04:45reasons for the recommendations, recommendations, it really is necessary
00:04:47necessary to read the whole report.
00:04:50report. I make it plain what this
00:04:52this report is not. It is not an
00:04:55an investigation into the criminal criminal convictions or the guilt
00:04:58guilt of Letby. The Court of Appeal
00:05:00Appeal has dismissed two applications applications for leave to appeal.
00:05:03appeal. And it's not for me to. Says Says the inquiry chair, Lady Justice Justice Thirlwall, speaking right
00:05:07right now. If you'd like to continue continue watching her deliver the
00:05:10the report, findings do go to the the BBC News website. We have a live
00:05:14live page up and running there for for you. Click the bottom at the
00:05:16the button at the top of the page page and you'll be able to continue
00:05:19continue seeing her deliver her findings.
00:05:22findings. But let's return now to to the news that Russia has called
00:05:25called for weapons to be kept out out of space after the US military
00:05:28military confirmed for the first first time that it's deployed weapons weapons in Earth's orbit. It's believed
00:05:32believed to be the first public acknowledgement acknowledgement by Washington of
00:05:36of such capabilities. China has also also criticised Washington's move,
00:05:39move, urging the US to stop preparing preparing for war in space while
00:05:43while our defence correspondent Jonathan Jonathan Beale is with me now. How How much do we actually know Jonathan?
00:05:47Jonathan? And why would the US acknowledge
00:05:49acknowledge this now? Yeah, I mean
00:05:52mean it's strange that. China and.
00:05:54and. Russia should criticise. The The US for something that the US
00:05:58US already accuses them of. In other other words, they say the US that
00:06:02that both Russia and China have tested tested weapons in space. But I think
00:06:06think I went to the US Space Force
00:06:08Force in Colorado last year and they
00:06:10they made clear that they were going
00:06:13going to defend their interests in in space and that signalled that
00:06:16that they were going to use some
00:06:19some kind of weapon. And now we have have confirmation that they have
00:06:23have used weapon. Now the question, question, I guess, is what was the
00:06:26the weapon? So if you look at the the range of threats in space that
00:06:29that the US Space Force lists, it
00:06:33it is communications jamming of satellites,
00:06:36satellites, lasers down to grappling
00:06:38grappling hooks to manoeuver satellites
00:06:41satellites out of orbit, down to
00:06:44to using weapons essentially missiles
00:06:47missiles from the ground to space space to destroy satellite, which
00:06:50which China has carried out a test test of, according to the US. And
00:06:54And then Russia itself firing a projectile
00:06:56projectile from one satellite and and again getting the condemnation
00:06:59condemnation of the US and other other countries, including the UK.
00:07:02UK. So I think that there are lots
00:07:05lots of potential. And it is. You You know, for most of us it should
00:07:09should be concerning because we use
00:07:10use space every day in terms of communications,
00:07:15communications, internet banking, banking, transfers. And there is is the potential to take out satellites.
00:07:18satellites. Does it feel like an an important sort of threshold has has been crossed though, with this
00:07:22this kind of acknowledgement? I think think it has I think that, you know,
00:07:26know, there was I think when I went went to US briefings about five years
00:07:29years ago, the emphasis on the importance importance of the peaceful use of
00:07:33of space. And now I think everybody everybody accepts that, you know,
00:07:36know, they need to defend what they they have in space. And remember,
00:07:39remember, there are about 18,000
00:07:4118,000 satellites, functioning satellites
00:07:43satellites in space, and they are
00:07:45are taking steps. These big countries.
00:07:48countries. So I'd say China, which which is as far as the US is concerned,
00:07:52concerned, the pacing challenge Russia
00:07:53Russia and now the US to protect
00:07:56protect their own satellites, which which they need for fighting wars
00:07:59wars on the ground as well as in. in. How vulnerable would a military
00:08:02military be if its satellites were were taken out of action? I mean,
00:08:06mean, it would be catastrophic. I I mean, if you think about all those
00:08:10those aircraft that had been flying
00:08:11flying those long range bombing missions
00:08:14missions from the US to hit Iran,
00:08:17Iran, the weapons themselves that that are being used sometimes have
00:08:21have GPs, sometimes they have other other systems to guide them. But
00:08:24But space is pretty much a US space space force has been active on the
00:08:28the ground in Iran. They're. They're They're the ones to detect the launch
00:08:31launch of Iranian ballistic missiles,
00:08:33missiles, for example. So if you
00:08:36you did take out a country's capabilities,
00:08:39capabilities, its satellites in space, space, its guidance systems and there
00:08:41there are lots of military satellites satellites up there, they would be
00:08:44be in an awful lot of bother. Are
00:08:47Are there any regulations, international international laws in place that
00:08:49that can tell you what you can do? do? There is in the 60s there was
00:08:53was something that, you know, an an international agreement not to
00:08:56to have a weapon of mass destruction
00:08:58destruction in space. And even then
00:09:01then the Americans are concerned concerned that the Russians have
00:09:04have tried ways of seeing whether whether they could launch a nuclear
00:09:07nuclear weapon into space. I don't don't think that's been confirmed, confirmed, but they've talked about
00:09:10about it. The Americans have as far
00:09:13far as what Russia is doing. But
00:09:15But I think that there is essentially
00:09:19essentially just that. And now we're we're seeing, you know, from talk,
00:09:22talk, as I said, of the peaceful peaceful use of space to defending
00:09:26defending your interests in space. space. And, you know, we've got the
00:09:29the Americans now saying that they they are using some kind of weapons.
00:09:32weapons. They probably call it defensive
00:09:34defensive weapon systems. They haven't haven't said what, but clearly they
00:09:38they are looking at what they have. have. So if there are headlines talking
00:09:40talking about some kind of space space race, is it possible? Do we
00:09:43we know enough to know who would would be winning that right now?
00:09:45now? Yeah. So I think, you know,
00:09:47know, from my visit to the US Space
00:09:50Space Command in, in Colorado, their
00:09:52their challenge, their prime challenge
00:09:55challenge is China. And I think,
00:09:59think, you know, you can say the
00:10:01the US always already had an advantage
00:10:03advantage in space and it's, you
00:10:06you know, commercial as well as military military satellites. You just look
00:10:08look at the sheer number most of of their satellites in space, the
00:10:11the majority, not all of them, but but majority would be US satellites.
00:10:15satellites. So I think that if there
00:10:16there is an arms race in space the
00:10:20the US has clearly been preparing
00:10:22preparing for that. And again, back
00:10:25back to China and Russia accusing accusing the US or warning the US
00:10:28US not of creating an arms race. race. The US have turned around and
00:10:31and said, well, you started this. this. And I guess the next step that
00:10:35that people will be thinking about about is that if something breaks
00:10:37breaks out in space, Jonathan, that that obviously has massive implications
00:10:40implications for some kind of conflict
00:10:41conflict here on earth to. Yes. I
00:10:45I mean, you're not taking this. Yeah, Yeah, we're not quite into the star
00:10:48star Star Wars realm, are we? And
00:10:51And I think as we mentioned earlier,
00:10:53earlier, the use of space is, is
00:10:57is very important for wars on the
00:10:59the ground. So but you know, it's
00:11:03it's conceivable that sometime in
00:11:05in the future that to avoid destruction
00:11:08destruction on earth that they will will look at trying to. But even
00:11:11even if you try to avoid destruction destruction on earth and take out
00:11:15out a satellite, it's going to have have an impact on earth. It's going
00:11:18going to and it will have a bigger bigger impact. And you know, we talk
00:11:21talk about cyber attacks. Just think think about that magnified if satellites
00:11:25satellites are taken out. And the the other thing to say is if a satellite
00:11:28satellite is destroyed, there are are thousands of bits of debris just
00:11:31just flying around in space that that can take out other satellites
00:11:34satellites and bring down other communication communication systems. So it is a
00:11:38a pretty frightening prospect. Yeah, Yeah, it's yeah, really interesting interesting to talk to you, Jonathan.
00:11:41Jonathan. Thank you so much. Well, Well, the co-founder of one of the
00:11:44the world's biggest artificial intelligence intelligence companies has told the
00:11:47the BBC that AI firms may need a a compulsory kill switch to prevent
00:11:51prevent the technology spiralling spiralling out of control. Anthropic
00:11:54Anthropic Jack Clark says AI is getting getting smarter and more capable
00:11:57capable every few months, which could could become a major risk to society.
00:12:01society. President Trump angrily angrily rejecting calls to slow down
00:12:04down the development of AI, calling calling fears it poses a threat to
00:12:08to humanity as a big hoax. Economics
00:12:11Economics editor Faisal Islam reports. reports. We've made for complex.
00:12:14complex. AI giant Anthropic called called to slow down the AI race.
00:12:18race. A whistleblower and safety safety experts at the company said
00:12:21said there was a 1 in 10 chance or or higher that the technology could
00:12:25could kill all humans. Their boss boss is this man Jack Clark, a Brit
00:12:29Brit and founder of the company. company. Speaking exclusively to
00:12:32to the BBC from Silicon Valley. How How have you and your industry let
00:12:35let this happen? What's happened happened is the technology has got
00:12:39got substantially more powerful and and those risks which were once academic
00:12:43academic or theorised, we can now now see the early signs of them.
00:12:46them. What do you specifically think? think? Here is the risk. It sort
00:12:49sort of swarms of AI taking over
00:12:52over the internet, closing down power power stations or wiping out financial
00:12:56financial institutions. I think it's it's time to sort of spell out what
00:12:59what it practically means. For basic basic risk is. How well do you fancy
00:13:03fancy your chances at being able able to deal with the risks of a
00:13:06a system that is 100 times smarter smarter than the smartest person
00:13:09person on the planet? I think that that your chance of dealing with
00:13:13with that and getting out in a safe
00:13:14safe way is pretty low. So high level
00:13:18level you need to control AI as a a technology because you're making making things that might be smarter
00:13:22smarter than people, things that that are smarter than people could could be really, really, really dangerous.
00:13:26dangerous. It raises the question question of some sort of kill switch.
00:13:28switch. I mean, have you guys got
00:13:30got one? Can you pull the plug? I
00:13:33I think most most labs have different different ways of being able to pull
00:13:36pull the plug. And yes, of course course we have systems in place for for this, but this is the kind of
00:13:40of thing that you want to feed into into the larger policy conversation.
00:13:44conversation. Should you mandate mandate that companies definitely definitely have a kill switch? And
00:13:47And is that kill switch verifiable verifiable by a third party? I think think that's the kind of thing that
00:13:50that society is going to want to to know and might want to eventually
00:13:53eventually pass rules around. But But it may already be too late. It's
00:13:57It's not too late and I don't believe
00:14:00believe that we're yet at this maximal
00:14:02maximal kind of danger zone. But But we are close enough that we need
00:14:05need to be taking this seriously seriously and having national level
00:14:09level public conversations about about it. The bosses of the rest
00:14:12rest of the industry have joined joined Anthropic from Elon Musk and
00:14:16and ChatGPT maker OpenAI, agreeing agreeing on some sort of slowdown.
00:14:19slowdown. President Trump, on the the other hand, did not, criticising
00:14:23criticising the company, saying fears fears were a hoax and that the only
00:14:26only control needed was him. We're
00:14:28We're seeing increasing calls for
00:14:31for nations to get together and establish establish some base rules around
00:14:34around this, and this has happened happened in the past with technologies
00:14:37technologies which we call dual use use that can be used for good and
00:14:40and ill. And let's not forget AI AI is going to deliver extraordinary
00:14:44extraordinary benefits to us, but but we need to be very alert to the
00:14:47the harms to. Right now, AI investment investment seems to be boosting the
00:14:51the UK economy and there are some some promises of AI cures for cancer.
00:14:55cancer. Jack Clark team, though,
00:14:56though, said unchecked the economic economic impact could be unprecedented.
00:15:00unprecedented. White collar unemployment. unemployment. When you put it all
00:15:04all together, is it really worth worth it? Does it cause you sleepless
00:15:06sleepless nights? What might happen?
00:15:09happen? I mean, of course we have have to get this right. I think if
00:15:13if we get this technology right,
00:15:16right, we are going to change the the world in so many positive ways.
00:15:20ways. We are going to genuinely change change the face of science, change
00:15:23change the face of healthcare. We're We're going to expand the frontiers
00:15:26frontiers of what you or I or any any of our children could ever do.
00:15:29do. And if we get it wrong, we are
00:15:32are going to massively disrupt the the economy immiserated people and
00:15:36and potentially cause harm. The message message that the world still has
00:15:39has choices over the pace of artificial artificial intelligence. But time
00:15:42time is running out. Faisal Islam,
00:15:45Islam, BBC News. Around the world
00:15:47world and across the UK.
00:16:49as we follow every twist of the Premier
00:16:50Premier League season here on BBC
00:16:54BBC News. To the US now and with
00:17:00with the mid-terms around the corner, corner, a US Supreme Court ruling
00:17:03ruling has stopped the Trump administration administration from restricting postal
00:17:07postal voting in the November elections. elections. The top court's ruling
00:17:09ruling is a blow to President Trump, Trump, who often votes by post but
00:17:12but insists the method is not secure.
00:17:15secure. Research by think tank suggests suggests it is in fact safe. Let's
00:17:18Let's speak to political reporter reporter and author Molly Ball. Molly, Molly, thanks so much for joining
00:17:22joining us. Can you just outline outline what this case was about
00:17:25about and how much of a blow it is
00:17:28is to President Trump? The ruling ruling that we've just had through.
00:17:32through. Well, it's a significant significant blow to his efforts to
00:17:36to exert federal control over these
00:17:39these mid-term elections. You know, know, our elections under our system
00:17:42system of federalism are controlled controlled by states and localities, localities, and there's very little
00:17:45little role for the federal government. government. But we know that President
00:17:48President Trump very much wants to to control elections. He has spoken
00:17:51spoken about wanting to nationalise nationalise the election process.
00:17:54process. His critics argue he's actually actually trying to rig the election
00:17:57election and exactly the ways that that he has criticised others for
00:18:00for doing. Be that as it may, the. the. While elections are controlled
00:18:04controlled at the local level, there there is, of course, a federal agency
00:18:07agency that delivers the mail. So So the administration had formulated
00:18:10formulated this rule to try to have have the Postal Service oversee mail
00:18:14mail ballots, which are a quite popular popular way of voting. In the last
00:18:18last presidential election. More More than half of people did vote vote by mail, and many states have
00:18:21have massively expanded or even exclusively
00:18:24exclusively offer voting by mail mail in elections. The Supreme Court
00:18:28Court saying maybe this is something something you could do at some point, point, some justices saying that.
00:18:32that. But at this point it is far far too close to the election to
00:18:36to implement a system that would
00:18:38would be this wide reaching and complicated complicated and would likely disenfranchise
00:18:41disenfranchise significant numbers numbers of people if it wasn't rolled
00:18:44rolled out perfectly. And so this this is a this decision puts an end
00:18:48end to this effort, at least for for the time being. And for President
00:18:51President Trump, though. Molly for for years he has touted what have
00:18:54have to be called conspiracy theories
00:18:56theories about how mail voting works. works. And he's tried to discredit
00:19:00discredit previous elections. You
00:19:01You know, using these theories. It's
00:19:05It's an interesting tension for Republicans Republicans because on the one hand,
00:19:08hand, many of their voters like to to vote by mail and they will do
00:19:11do better in elections if they encourage
00:19:13encourage their voters to vote in in any way possible. And so we've
00:19:17we've seen Republicans trying to
00:19:20to go against the President's spreading spreading of conspiracy theories theories and encourage their voters
00:19:23voters to take advantage of this this so that they don't lose votes
00:19:25votes in this way in the upcoming upcoming mid-term election. We do do know that Democrats are more likely
00:19:29likely to trust mail voting precisely precisely because the President has
00:19:33has made it such a political issue. issue. So it is likely that more
00:19:36more of those mail votes will be
00:19:38be Democratic votes. But people across across the political spectrum enjoy enjoy the convenience of this voting
00:19:42voting method, and it looks like
00:19:44like it will now be available to to them somewhat uninterrupted. Can
00:19:48Can you fill us in on this controversy controversy around the wedding of
00:19:52of President Trump's son, Don Jr,
00:19:55Jr, and what his response to it has has been? Molly, I see this as making
00:19:58making a lot of headlines in the the US. That's right. I mean, even
00:20:01even some Republicans are quite uncomfortable
00:20:04uncomfortable with this. This Kremlin
00:20:07Kremlin connected Russian businessman
00:20:09businessman having spent quite lavishly,
00:20:12lavishly, apparently to sponsor the
00:20:14the wedding related celebrations celebrations around the President's
00:20:18President's eldest son's second marriage.
00:20:21marriage. Back in May, there was was a private island rented. There
00:20:24There were fireworks. And after this
00:20:26this was exposed by the news organisation
00:20:29organisation ProPublica yesterday, yesterday, Donald Trump Jr confirmed
00:20:32confirmed that it was true but basically basically said it shouldn't be an
00:20:35an issue whether or not this is illegal. illegal. Even some Republicans find
00:20:38find it unseemly and it fits with
00:20:41with a pattern of what Democrats Democrats say is, is a highly corrupt
00:20:45corrupt administration. You know, know, this president has accepted
00:20:48accepted a lot of gifts in ways that
00:20:51that would not have been seen as
00:20:54as proper in the past. The jet from
00:20:57from Qatar, the investments that that he and his family are involved
00:21:00involved in, that he hasn't distanced distanced himself from in the way
00:21:03way that he did in his first administration. administration. And this has become
00:21:06become a major part of the Democrats Democrats political case against
00:21:09against Trump, that he's looking looking out for his own interests interests instead of those of the
00:21:13the people he's meant to be serving. serving. And is there anyone also also questioning, I imagine some
00:21:17some Democrats have come forward forward to question the national
00:21:20national security implications, potentially
00:21:22potentially of an ally of President
00:21:24President Putin's giving Don Jr money
00:21:27money in this way. Yes, absolutely. absolutely. And for many people,
00:21:31people, it evokes flashbacks of what what the president calls the Russia,
00:21:35Russia, Russia, Russia scandal from from his first term, which he has
00:21:39has consistently portrayed as a hoax
00:21:40hoax and a conspiracy against him.
00:21:43him. But people will remember that that back during the 2016 campaign,
00:21:46campaign, part of how this all got
00:21:48got started was Donald Trump Jr accepting
00:21:51accepting a meeting with some Russian
00:21:55Russian individuals who claimed to
00:21:57to have incriminating information information about his political opponent,
00:22:01opponent, and this continued through through the Ukraine scandal and Trump's
00:22:04Trump's first impeachment and many
00:22:06many related matters. So while you
00:22:09you know Don Trump Jr is not himself himself involved in the government,
00:22:16Involved in the government, we know he is a close political adviser adviser to his father and someone
00:22:20someone who does a lot of campaigning campaigning for the Republican Party.
00:22:22Party. And so at a time when the
00:22:24the President's relationship with with Russia and with Putin continues
00:22:28continues to be quite controversial, controversial, this raises all of of that yet again. Molly, great to
00:22:32to see you. Thank you so much. Molly Molly Ball joining us there more
00:22:35more now on this news that Kenya Kenya is set to become the first
00:22:38first African country to host the the World Athletics Championships,
00:22:41Championships, its capital Nairobi, Nairobi, beating off competition competition from London and Rome
00:22:45Rome to host the 2029 tournament.
00:22:48tournament. Munich in Germany has has been selected for the 2031 event.
00:22:52event. Kenya has recently hosted hosted major tournaments and its
00:22:55its stadiums are being renovated renovated as it prepares to host
00:22:58host next year's Africa Cup of Nations. Nations. We've had the President
00:23:01President as well, William Ruto, Ruto, describing this as Kenya's
00:23:04Kenya's moment, Africa's moment and and a victory for generations of
00:23:07of athletes who made our nation synonymous synonymous with excellence on the
00:23:11the track, on the road and across across the country, the East African
00:23:15African country has produced numerous numerous Olympic world champions
00:23:18champions as well. So let's take take you to our BBC Africa sports
00:23:21sports reporter Celestine Karoney, Karoney, who joins us now from Nairobi.
00:23:24Nairobi. Seems like they're absolutely
00:23:27absolutely thrilled with this decision.
00:23:30decision. Celestine. Oh yes. Lucy,
00:23:32Lucy, it has received a massive this
00:23:34this massive, massive excitement excitement around this decision by
00:23:38by World Athletics. And there's one one line that has been repeated online
00:23:41online that a lot of England fans fans might be familiar with when when it comes to sport, and that
00:23:45that is it's coming home. And this
00:23:47this is because Kenya sees itself
00:23:49itself as the home of distance running running owing to its huge heritage.
00:23:52heritage. They have produced a lot lot of Olympic and world champions
00:23:55champions and so a lot of them are are feeling that this is a time for
00:23:58for them to. It's going to be a time time for them to celebrate that heritage
00:24:02heritage with the world. And it's it's not just Kenya celebrating. celebrating. It is also Africa celebrating
00:24:05celebrating the first time it's coming coming to the continent. And there's there's been massive reaction as
00:24:09as well. A lot of celebration across across the continent for this decision.
00:24:12decision. Lucy. Where is it going going to be held? Celestine how's
00:24:15how's it all going to work? So Kenya,
00:24:19Kenya, Kenya. First of all sold its
00:24:22its decision its bid on a couple couple of things. And that was first
00:24:25first of all the fact that I mean mean they are the they see themselves
00:24:29themselves as a home of athletics. athletics. Secondly they also sold
00:24:31sold themselves as having experience experience because they have hosted
00:24:34hosted a age group tournaments when when it comes to World Athletics
00:24:37Athletics Championships and also also the World Cross Country Championships.
00:24:39Championships. And so they say this this buys them some. This shows evidence
00:24:43evidence that they are able to host host major global sporting events.
00:24:47events. But there has been areas areas that Kenya has not done very
00:24:50very well when it comes to these these events. And in 2025 they lost
00:24:54lost the bid to host the 2025 edition edition to Tokyo because the infrastructure
00:24:58infrastructure the stadium was deemed deemed inadequate. Kenya have said
00:25:00said they have now fixed that, that that they are fixing their infrastructure
00:25:04infrastructure when it comes to stadiums
00:25:06stadiums because of hosting the 2027
00:25:082027 Africa Cup of Nations alongside alongside Tanzania and Uganda. And And so these are the things that
00:25:12that they have put forward. They've They've said there are big tourism
00:25:14tourism hub. The city is known for for having enough hotels. They have
00:25:17have the road infrastructure. And
00:25:19And so Kenya feels that this is what
00:25:22what helped them get this bid. And And World Athletics President Sebastian
00:25:26Sebastian Coe also said that another another thing that worked for Kenya Kenya was the fact that they have
00:25:29have a massive fan base and that that their research showed that 68%
00:25:3368% of Kenyans are ranked, that they they are huge athletics fans. And
00:25:37And so they said why not bring the
00:25:40the competition to not just the continent continent for the first time, but but also to a country that has a
00:25:44a massive, massive following in the the sport? Great to see you with
00:25:47with this news as well, the Kasarani
00:25:48Kasarani Stadium. I just see 48,000
00:25:5148,000 is the capacity. I imagine imagine the tickets are just going going to sell and it will be full
00:25:55full every day. It's really great great news for the continent. Thank Thank you so much for joining us
00:25:59us with that. News from Nairobi.
00:26:00Nairobi. Do stay with us here on
00:26:03on BBC News.
00:29:45MUSIC
00:30:09Live from London. This is BBC News. The Lithuanian authorities
00:30:13authorities locate the debris of of a drone that entered EU airspace
00:30:17airspace overnight and was shot down down by Nato jets. The United States
00:30:21States confirms for the first time time its deployed space weapons.
00:30:24weapons. China urges the US to stop
00:30:26stop preparing for war in space train train travel across large parts of
00:30:30of the Netherlands has ground to to a standstill because of what authorities
00:30:34authorities suspect are co-ordinated co-ordinated acts of sabotage. The
00:30:36The UN says an influx of refugees refugees fleeing the fighting in
00:30:40in Yemen to Djibouti is unexpected
00:30:43unexpected and horror comedy Widow's Widow's Bay wins big at the TV Emmy
00:30:46Emmy Awards, taking home 14 at the
00:30:49the ceremony in LA.
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