Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:10Live from Washington. This is
00:00:12BBC News. Nato welcomes a deal between
00:00:15between the US and Denmark, which which President Trump claims gives
00:00:18gives the US security control over
00:00:20over Greenland forever. The Houthis Houthis in Yemen claim responsibility
00:00:24responsibility for missile and drone
00:00:26drone attacks on the Saudi capital, capital, and these are live pictures
00:00:30pictures from Philadelphia, where where Ed Sheeran's first concert
00:00:33concert appearance since the controversy controversy over dropping his support
00:00:37support act is getting under way.
00:00:46way. I'm Helena Humphrey glad you you could join me. The Iran backed
00:00:50backed Houthis are claiming responsibility responsibility for drone and ballistic
00:00:52ballistic missile attacks on Saudi
00:00:54Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, marking marking a significant escalation.
00:00:58escalation. Well, smoke was seen
00:00:59seen rising from fuel tanks near near Riyadh's International airport,
00:01:03airport, where flights were temporarily temporarily disrupted on Saturday.
00:01:06Saturday. It's the first time the the Yemen based Houthis have reached
00:01:09reached that far north since the the Iran war began. They also attacked
00:01:12attacked Saudi state oil and gas gas facilities at Yanbu on the Red
00:01:16Red Sea coast. A Houthi military military spokesperson called it retaliation
00:01:20retaliation for Saudi attacks on on Houthi forces in the Yemeni capital
00:01:23capital Sanaa. Well, for more than than a decade, the Houthis have been
00:01:26been fighting the Saudi backed government government for control of Yemen.
00:01:29Yemen. That conflict largely subsided
00:01:31subsided after a ceasefire was declared declared in 2022. But this year,
00:01:35year, the Houthis became involved
00:01:37involved in the wider US-Iran war war threatening international shipping
00:01:40shipping through the Bab al-Mandab al-Mandab Strait. Well, joining me
00:01:43me live now is Fatima Abu Al Azhar,
00:01:46Azhar, a non-resident fellow at the
00:01:48the Arab Gulf States Institute, a a non-partisan think tank. Good to
00:01:51to have you on the programme, Fatima. Fatima. The fact that the Houthis
00:01:54Houthis have been able to strike strike the Saudi capital, how much
00:01:58much of an escalation do you see
00:02:00see this as being? Well, this is
00:02:03is a huge escalation. And I think
00:02:06think that the Saudis are not going
00:02:11going to take it. They're going to
00:02:14to respond harshly. Basically. Their
00:02:19Their security is being tested there.
00:02:21there. The Houthis are trying to
00:02:24to shatter that image of or the illusion
00:02:26illusion of deterrence that Saudi
00:02:28Saudi Arabia is trying to impose.
00:02:32impose. So this is going to be fairly
00:02:35fairly consequential. We've seen
00:02:37seen also Riyadh state previously
00:02:40previously that the Houthis attempted
00:02:43attempted to go into Mecca as well.
00:02:45well. So there's this continuous continuous escalation from the Houthis.
00:02:48Houthis. They are choosing violence
00:02:51violence in this scenario. And part part of this is to fulfil their strategy,
00:02:55strategy, which is a two part strategy.
00:02:58strategy. The first is to impose
00:03:01impose white big costs on the Saudi
00:03:05Saudi kingdom to get them to back
00:03:07back off their support of the internationally internationally recognised government
00:03:10government of Yemen. And the second
00:03:14second is to reach some kind of an
00:03:18an agreement that would favour the
00:03:19the Houthis even a short-term agreement.
00:03:23agreement. And help them get out out of the economic squeeze that
00:03:27that they are in at the moment. So
00:03:30So they're going to continue imposing
00:03:35imposing this kind of both economic, economic, political and even now,
00:03:38now, psychological costs on the kingdom.
00:03:41kingdom. So how do you think Saudi
00:03:43Saudi Arabia might respond? Yeah,
00:03:47Yeah, I'm concerned Saudi Arabia
00:03:50Arabia have attempted everything
00:03:53everything to restrict and contain
00:03:54contain the Houthi. And we haven't
00:03:57haven't seen this group contained contained the United States have
00:04:00have tried that last year as well well through the Operation Rough
00:04:04Rough Rider. Nothing has happened
00:04:07happened as a consequence, the Houthis
00:04:10Houthis continue to have the upper upper hand through asymmetric use
00:04:13use of force. They don't want to
00:04:16to win lands. It's not that they they have that their aim is not to
00:04:20to win in a conventional power, but
00:04:23but to impose costs and to outlast
00:04:27outlast their adversaries. Adversaries Adversaries in wars of attrition.
00:04:30attrition. That's basically what what they want. They want to impose
00:04:34impose these economic costs in order
00:04:36order for them to find leverage at
00:04:38at any type of negotiations or settlement.
00:04:41settlement. What do you think it it would take for the Houthis to
00:04:44to stop? So far, the US has declined
00:04:49declined to carry out strikes on on the Houthis at the request of
00:04:52of the Saudi crown Prince Mohammed Mohammed bin Salman. Do you think
00:04:55think that might have to be revisited
00:04:56revisited at a later date? I mean,
00:05:00mean, the Saudis are trying to find
00:05:03find their own security arrangements.
00:05:05arrangements. They have one with with Turkey and Pakistan through
00:05:09through the Mecca Agreement. And
00:05:11And that yet has to be tested. But
00:05:13But the Saudis have learned that
00:05:16that if they continue to placate
00:05:18placate the Houthis, it doesn't necessarily
00:05:21necessarily translate into long-term long-term security at all for them.
00:05:24them. As we've seen the past three
00:05:26three years, the Saudis and the Houthis
00:05:30Houthis had some informal agreements,
00:05:32agreements, and the Saudis have facilitated
00:05:35facilitated so much in terms of,
00:05:38of, you know, did not attack the
00:05:40the Houthis and help them at times
00:05:42times at the cost of Yemen's government,
00:05:45government, that the Saudis are backing. backing. So it has been a complicated
00:05:49complicated relationship. But even
00:05:51even regardless of that, the Saudis
00:05:54Saudis continue to bear the brunt
00:05:58brunt of this I would say it's the
00:06:00the fallout really from the Tehran
00:06:04Tehran US war because you can't decouple
00:06:06decouple the Houthis from Iran. Briefly, Briefly, what does all of this mean
00:06:10mean for the Yemeni people? I've I've also seen reports of people
00:06:14people fleeing across what is the the dangerous Bab al-Mandab Strait
00:06:17Strait to Djibouti. The humanitarian
00:06:20humanitarian crisis is going to mount
00:06:22mount to have over 100,000 people people displaced. That's just the
00:06:26the size of a small city in the United
00:06:28United States. Like, you know, maybe
00:06:31maybe Berkeley, California. So that
00:06:33that that the population is is going going to continue to suffer. They're
00:06:37They're displaced. They don't want
00:06:39want to be under the control of the the Iran backed Houthis. And they
00:06:43they understand that if they live
00:06:45live in these areas, they might be be conscripted into the wider war
00:06:48war by the Houthi militia. Fatima
00:06:51Fatima Abo Alasrar, a non-resident non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf
00:06:54Gulf States Institute, a non-partisan non-partisan think tank. Thanks for
00:06:56for being with us this evening. Thanks
00:06:59Thanks for having me. Well, supply supply chain disruptions caused by
00:07:03by the Iran war have pushed fuel fuel prices up worldwide, and people
00:07:06people across the world are protesting. protesting. Some examples from this
00:07:09this week. French fishermen blocked blocked access to an oil depot, calling
00:07:13calling on the government to address
00:07:14address rising fuel costs and protesters protesters in northeastern Syria
00:07:18Syria blocked oil tanker trucks after
00:07:20after the government announced a
00:07:22a 28% increase in the price of gasoline. gasoline. And teachers in Bolivia,
00:07:25Bolivia, where they took to the streets streets to protest rising fuel prices
00:07:29prices and the overall cost of living living despite a state of emergency
00:07:32emergency and a ban there on protests.
00:07:35protests. Now Nato is welcoming a
00:07:37a new deal between the US and Denmark
00:07:39Denmark over Greenland, which President President Trump claims gives the
00:07:43the US security control of the territory territory forever. And while the
00:07:46the exact terms haven't yet been been made public, Denmark's foreign
00:07:49foreign minister said the agreement agreement respects its red lines
00:07:53lines and strengthens security in in the Arctic and North Atlantic.
00:07:56Atlantic. Well, Greenland is a mineral mineral rich, semi-autonomous Danish
00:08:00Danish territory whose strategic strategic location has drawn growing
00:08:03growing US attention. President Trump Trump has repeatedly warned that
00:08:06that the island is vulnerable to to Russia and China. And on Saturday,
00:08:09Saturday, Nato said that the Arctic Arctic is vital to the alliance's
00:08:13alliance's collective security. Our Our correspondent Sean Dilley has
00:08:17has the latest. It's more than a a thousand miles from America's coastline.
00:08:20coastline. But the US believes Greenland Greenland is critical for its national
00:08:24national security. Last night, President President Trump said a deal had been
00:08:27been done that gives the United States States permanent control over security
00:08:31security of Greenland at no cost
00:08:33cost to the US.. Now. From the President's President's language is strikingly
00:08:37strikingly different to December, December, when he threatened to annexe annexe the mineral rich island. We
00:08:40We need Greenland for national security. security. And if you take a look
00:08:44look at Greenland, you look up and and down the coast you have Russian
00:08:47Russian and Chinese ships all over
00:08:48over the place. We need it for national
00:08:51national security. We have to have
00:08:54have it. That caused protests by
00:08:56by Greenland's residents and an angry angry reaction from politicians in
00:09:00in Denmark, which has sovereignty sovereignty over the semi-autonomous
00:09:02semi-autonomous island. Since 1951,
00:09:041951, US troops have been based in in Greenland as part of a defence
00:09:08defence pact. President Trump has has long argued that it would be
00:09:12be better for the land to be part part of the US., even unsuccessfully
00:09:16unsuccessfully offering to buy the the island during his first term
00:09:18term in office. Now, though, it seems seems previous tensions have been
00:09:22been parked. Jason, of course, I I am pleased that we now have a deal
00:09:26deal that is about to be within reach. reach. It's taking its time and all
00:09:30all the talk that's been around all all the way through in the media,
00:09:33media, but it's also work that's that's been going since the month month of January. I'm pleased that
00:09:37that we finally have an end product
00:09:39product within reach. It's a deal
00:09:41deal then that appears to be supported supported in Denmark. And Greenland,
00:09:45Greenland, but a deal that feels feels important for Washington to.
00:09:48to. President Trump has argued that
00:09:50that Greenland is strategically important important for its defence. Sitting
00:09:53Sitting between the US and both China China and Russia in Greenland's capital,
00:09:57capital, the deal has met with a
00:10:00a mixed reception. At the Trump.
00:10:03Trump. I can just say that Trump Trump needs to stay far, far away
00:10:07away from Greenland. He shouldn't shouldn't count on our children and
00:10:09and grandchildren to be Americans Americans in the future. They won't
00:10:12won't be. He needs to stay away.
00:10:14away. It's fine for me because Denmark
00:10:17Denmark is too small a country. It
00:10:19It can't defend itself when it's
00:10:21it's such a small country. I'm pretty.
00:10:24pretty. Confident that our politicians
00:10:27politicians again Mette Frederiksen Frederiksen has made a good deal
00:10:30deal for the country. The text of of the proposed deal has not been
00:10:33been published. It's expected to to be signed next week, but both
00:10:37both Greenland and Denmark say there's there's a real prospect of a deal
00:10:40deal that could strengthen security security for everyone. Sean Dilley
00:10:43Dilley BBC News. The White House House Correspondents Association
00:10:47Association is demanding President President Trump lift his ban on reporters
00:10:50reporters from three media organisations. organisations. Journalists from the
00:10:53the outlets were denied access to to White House grounds on Saturday.
00:10:57Saturday. MSNow reporter Akayla Grace Grace and her crew were forced to
00:11:01to report from Pennsylvania Avenue Avenue after being prevented from
00:11:03from entering the White House. CNN's CNN's Betsy Klein was also doing
00:11:07doing her live hits from outside outside of the White House grounds.
00:11:11grounds. President Trump accused accused CNN Politico and MSNow of
00:11:15of biassed reporting. We've had statements statements from some of those organisations,
00:11:19organisations, Politico's editor editor in chief Jonathan Greenberger, Greenberger, confirmed that their
00:11:23their reporter Cheyenne Haslett has has had her pass confiscated. In
00:11:26In an email to staff, he said we
00:11:29we stand by her and all reporters reporters here covering the White
00:11:32White House. We will vigorously defend defend our First Amendment rights.
00:11:36rights. And CNN also released a statement statement saying that we will not
00:11:39not be deflected from our duty to to hold the government and other
00:11:42other public bodies to account. While
00:11:44While the White House Correspondents Correspondents Association said the
00:11:47the implications of the ban extend extend beyond these organisations,
00:11:50organisations, a standard used to to exclude one news outlet because
00:11:53because of its coverage could be
00:11:55be applied to any outlet in the future. future. Well, here's MSNow reporter
00:11:59reporter Akayla Gardner on at the the moment that she really realised
00:12:02realised her pass had been deactivated.
00:12:04deactivated. I arrived here, as I I do many days of the week, many
00:12:08many weekends, and I walk through through the first entrance gate. gate. I said good morning to the
00:12:12the officers. I was able to walk walk through freely. Then I entered
00:12:15entered the second gate with no issues. issues. I showed my badge and then
00:12:18then once I was inside where we have
00:12:21have magnetometers, I attempted to to scan my badge which we have to
00:12:25to do and able to get into the White White House grounds. It did not work.
00:12:28work. There was a red beeping light light and so the officer asked me
00:12:31me to hand over my badge. He said said that it was disabled. I asked
00:12:35asked why it was not able to get get inside. He said it was above
00:12:38above him and then our producer after
00:12:41after me also scanned her badge and and it actually worked. She was able
00:12:44able to get through and into the the White House. But I want to say
00:12:47say not just me but also our photographer photographer had their badge taken
00:12:50taken this morning. Of course, after after President Trump made clear
00:12:53clear that he wants to ban MSNow, MSNow, CNN and Politico yesterday,
00:12:56yesterday, our journalists were able able to stay here working on the
00:12:59the White House grounds. This is is the first action we know of them
00:13:03them actually denying us entry into
00:13:05into the White House. A new study
00:13:07study is under way in the Democratic Democratic Republic of Congo to see
00:13:10see whether an existing Ebola vaccine vaccine can help fight the latest
00:13:14latest outbreak. The operation, backed backed by the World Health Organization
00:13:18Organization and the Doctors Without Without Borders charity, will give
00:13:21give the vaccine to 20,000 frontline frontline health workers. The outbreak
00:13:25outbreak was caused by a different different strain called Bundibugyo,
00:13:28Bundibugyo, for which there is currently currently no approved vaccine or
00:13:31or treatment, though there is a longer longer term vaccine in development
00:13:35development well on the ground medical medical charities are warning against against premature optimism after
00:13:39after the DR Congo government claimed claimed that the outbreak had passed
00:13:43passed its peak. More than 3000 people people have died from the virus,
00:13:46virus, with more than 7000 confirmed
00:13:49confirmed cases. That's nearly a a 50% fatality rate. Well, joining
00:13:53joining me live is Doctor Anne Rimoin,
00:13:56Rimoin, professor of the Department Department of Epidemiology at the the Gordon Levin Endowed Chair in
00:14:00in Infectious Diseases and Public Public Health at UCLA. Very good
00:14:03good to have you on the programme.
00:14:05programme. So we had Doctors Without Without Borders on the 18th of September
00:14:09September warning against premature premature optimism about the trajectory
00:14:12trajectory of Dr Congo's Ebola epidemic epidemic just days after the health
00:14:16health minister Samuel Roger Kamba, Kamba, expressed confidence that
00:14:19that the peak had passed. You know, know, is that concerning? What do
00:14:22do you make of that? Well, I think
00:14:26think that when we're talking about about an Ebola outbreak on the scale
00:14:29scale that we're seeing here in DRC, DRC, we've got multiple outbreaks
00:14:33outbreaks happening throughout the the country with multiple chains chains of transmission, and we are
00:14:36are seeing cases start to go down
00:14:38down in the Ituri region where this this outbreak really started. That
00:14:42That said, in North Kivu and another another part of the country we're
00:14:46we're still seeing cases continuing
00:14:47continuing to move very, very quickly. quickly. So it's great that we're
00:14:51we're seeing cases starting to decline decline in certain places. We know
00:14:55know how to contain this. We're starting starting to see the fruits of those
00:14:58those labours, but we are still behind behind this outbreak. There's still
00:15:01still a lot of people who are very very vulnerable to it. And so it's
00:15:04it's not time to sit back and relax. relax. It's time to double down and
00:15:08and to be able to save as many lives
00:15:09lives as possible. And so in terms terms of the vaccine being used,
00:15:13used, of course, it's not quite the
00:15:15the exact vaccine needed which is is still under development right
00:15:19right now. But what are the hopes hopes as to whether it might be able
00:15:22able to make a difference? This Ervebo
00:15:26Ervebo vaccine is a licenced vaccine. vaccine. It is licenced for use for
00:15:30for the Ebola Zaire species, and
00:15:32and it's been very effective in reducing
00:15:35reducing cases, reducing mortality, mortality, reducing hospitalisation.
00:15:38hospitalisation. So, you know, we we do know that this can be an effective
00:15:42effective vaccine that can be deployed deployed in this region. My team
00:15:45team has published a paper very recently recently in The Lancet describing
00:15:48describing our work where we followed followed health care workers during
00:15:52during the Ebola Zaire outbreaks
00:15:54outbreaks for five years after they they were vaccinated with Ervebo.
00:15:57Ervebo. And what we did find very very interestingly was there a large
00:16:01large proportion of those healthcare healthcare workers did show reactivity
00:16:04reactivity to this virus or to with
00:16:09with protection against this virus virus from the vaccine for several
00:16:12several years after the fact. So
00:16:16So just showing a reactivity does
00:16:19does not necessarily mean that it it is going to be protective, but
00:16:22but it is the question that we need need to answer. And that's why this
00:16:25this study that's being done is so
00:16:27so important. We're going to really really learn can this vaccine protect
00:16:31protect against it. And it's very very possible that it can provide
00:16:33provide some protection. That would would be really fantastic. You know,
00:16:36know, the public health and medical medical community does have more
00:16:40more knowledge now than it previously previously did about how to fight
00:16:44fight Ebola from previous outbreaks, outbreaks, including what we saw
00:16:47saw in West Africa. So, you know, know, we know how to shut it down.
00:16:50down. Why is this proving so difficult
00:16:53difficult to extinguish this current
00:16:54current outbreak? Well, this outbreak
00:16:59outbreak started when we didn't have have diagnostics for this particular
00:17:02particular strain of Ebola or this
00:17:04this species of Ebola. So we had
00:17:07had diagnostics that would that were were for specifically for Ebola,
00:17:10Ebola, Zaire, not for Ebola, Bundibugyo. Bundibugyo. And so we really just
00:17:14just didn't have any situational situational awareness. And with Ebola, Ebola, you have to get in front of
00:17:17of it. You need to admit that you you see cases, you need to start
00:17:20start isolating the cases, doing doing contact tracing. So, you know,
00:17:23know, it went on for several months. months. And so we've been chasing
00:17:26chasing behind it ever since. But But we do have tools to be able to
00:17:30to get in front of it. And we know
00:17:31know it starts with community participation
00:17:35participation and great communication. communication. Safe burials, isolating
00:17:38isolating cases, doing the contact contact tracing, quarantining people
00:17:41people who have been contacted, who've who've been in contact with cases. cases. So there's so much that we
00:17:45we do know how to do here. Even without
00:17:48without a vaccine to be able to get get in front of it. And that's what
00:17:51what we've actually seen work in
00:17:53in the region. Doctor, an Rimoin Rimoin professor at the Department
00:17:57Department of Epidemiology at UCLA. UCLA. Very good to have your thoughts
00:18:00thoughts as ever. Thank you. Thanks
00:18:02Thanks for having me. Princess Diana's Diana's brother has exclusively told
00:18:06told the BBC that he's telling the the truth about a phone call with
00:18:09with King Charles in the days following
00:18:11following his sister's death in 1997.
00:18:141997. In his book, due to be published published next week. Earl Spencer
00:18:17Spencer claims that the then Prince
00:18:18Prince of Wales said of his former
00:18:23former wife, "We'll forget her soon soon enough.". Ellie Price has more. more. A stunning new claim from Princess
00:18:26Princess Diana's brother. I would would imagine it is the talk of the
00:18:30the town. There has indeed been a a lot of talk this week about exactly
00:18:33exactly what happened nearly 30 years
00:18:35years ago. Princess Diana's brother
00:18:38brother Earl Spencer, speaking exclusively exclusively to Laura Kuenssberg in
00:18:40in an interview to be released in in full tomorrow, has doubled down
00:18:44down on claims he's made in a new new book about a conversation he
00:18:47he had with the then Prince Charles Charles just days after Diana's death,
00:18:51death, a phone call in which the the earl objected to the plan for
00:18:54for the two young princes to walk walk behind their mother's coffin.
00:18:58coffin. He went ballistic, would would be the right term and started
00:19:02started really going for my family family as a whole about their sense
00:19:05sense of duty not being adequate
00:19:08adequate enough and ranted for a a while. I have no idea how long,
00:19:11long, but it was a significant period period and I just listened. And then
00:19:15then he stopped and I thought, oh, oh, now now he's going to pull himself
00:19:18himself together and say something something more appropriate. And then
00:19:22then he said, we'll forget her soon
00:19:25soon enough. What went through your
00:19:29your mind? Well, I'm not sure I can can say exactly what went through
00:19:32through my mind, but I really was was so stunned. And I just after
00:19:36after a stunned silence, I said, said, I cannot believe you just said
00:19:40said that. And I hung up on him.
00:19:42him. Following her death, Princess Princess Diana became known as the
00:19:46the People's Princess and the Royal Royal Family were criticised for
00:19:49for their response. They appeared appeared out of touch with the public.
00:19:52public. The reputational damage lasting lasting years. But friends of the
00:19:56the now King have questioned the the earl's claims. I simply cannot
00:19:59cannot believe. That he could have have said something like that. It's It's just not his character. It's
00:20:03It's not his personality. He's a
00:20:05a he. I never, ever have I heard
00:20:08heard him say anything like that. that. On Wednesday, the Palace released
00:20:11released an unusually robust statement statement when excerpts of the book
00:20:15book were first released. It said said the King was mindful that the
00:20:18the pain of fraternal grief can cloud cloud reason, affect judgement and
00:20:22and colour memory in ways others
00:20:24others do not recognise. Even many many years after such a loss. It
00:20:27It was a far cry from the usual approach
00:20:29approach of the Royal Family of never never complain, never explain, but
00:20:33but I think shows the depth of anger anger felt by the King of contentious
00:20:36contentious times nearly three decades decades ago. There has been no further
00:20:40further comment by the palace nor nor from the princes William or Harry.
00:20:44Harry. The king's youngest son was was out yesterday in Birmingham.
00:20:47Birmingham. His first set of engagements engagements back on British soil.
00:20:50soil. It's understood he hasn't read
00:20:51read his uncle's book, but with more more extracts expected to be released
00:20:55released this weekend, there may may be little getting away from it
00:20:58it for any of the Royal Family. Ellie
00:21:01Ellie Price BBC News. Ed Sheeran
00:21:03Sheeran is taking to the stage tonight tonight in Philadelphia. It's his
00:21:06his first concert appearance since since a media storm erupted over
00:21:10over one of his support acts being being dropped. The rapper Macklemore
00:21:13Macklemore was removed from all remaining remaining dates of Sheeran's US stadium
00:21:17stadium tour after he made pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian comments on stage.
00:21:20stage. Now these are the latest pictures pictures from Philadelphia showing
00:21:24showing protesters gathering outside outside of the venue ahead of the
00:21:27the concert. And our correspondent correspondent Carl Nasman is in Philadelphia Philadelphia covering the latest
00:21:31latest on this. And I asked him what
00:21:34what we can expect from tonight's tonight's concert. I think that's
00:21:37that's the question on a lot of people's people's minds tonight actually. actually. And you can probably see
00:21:41see behind us now hundreds, thousands thousands of people really starting
00:21:44starting to file into that large large stadium behind us here in Philadelphia.
00:21:48Philadelphia. As you mentioned, the the first show really since this
00:21:51this whole controversy unfolded. unfolded. And you know, there'll there'll be questions about that.
00:21:54that. But also I think a lot of fans fans want to know, you know, who
00:21:58who will be playing on stage. Macklemore Macklemore was dropped. So there
00:22:01there likely is no opening act tonight. tonight. In fact, the concert was
00:22:04was pushed back by 2.5 hours, so
00:22:07so it could just be Ed Sheeran himself himself and there might not even even be a back-up band either, because
00:22:11because they dropped out in solidarity solidarity with Macklemore as well.
00:22:14well. And you know, in speaking with with a lot of the people that are are coming to this concert, they
00:22:17they say they're aware of these controversies, controversies, but they really just
00:22:21just hope that they can be here to
00:22:23to enjoy the music. But just about
00:22:26about 300m away earlier on today,
00:22:28today, there was a fairly sizeable sizeable pro-Palestinian demonstration
00:22:32demonstration here, very much in in support of Macklemore the rapper
00:22:35rapper and his comments he shouted shouted Free Palestine on stage earlier
00:22:38earlier this month on this tour, tour, he played a protest song. He
00:22:42He showed footage of some of the the destruction in Gaza. They say
00:22:45say they're going to support any any artist who is willing to speak speak up for their cause. They're
00:22:49They're frustrated in some of the
00:22:51the owners of venues along this tour tour who seemingly helped to pressure
00:22:55pressure Macklemore to drop out. out. And they say, you know, they they wish that Ed Sheeran himself
00:22:59himself had been a little bit more
00:23:01more forthright in his support for for Macklemore. So we don't yet know
00:23:05know what that concert will actually actually look like, but have there
00:23:07there been any changes to the security
00:23:09security arrangements for this show?
00:23:13show? Yeah, it's funny you ask that that now. We actually just had a
00:23:16a dog come over and sniff some of of our equipment. It was one of those
00:23:20those dogs that's meant to detect detect explosives. I've been speaking speaking with some of the security
00:23:24security folks here. They say that that mostly this is standard procedure,
00:23:27procedure, but I think that there there is a bit of a heightened sense sense of awareness, at least given
00:23:31given the demonstrations that we we saw earlier. Given of course, course, it's a large crowd, but you
00:23:34you know, there is a bit more tension, tension, I think, hanging over this
00:23:37this concert than you might normally
00:23:39normally see for an Ed Sheeran concert. concert. I think there's also some
00:23:43some questions about Ed Sheeran himself himself and his decisions here, whether
00:23:46whether he should have been more more forceful in supporting Macklemore,
00:23:50Macklemore, whether he should have have cancelled this tour altogether.
00:23:53altogether. Some of that support support you might see in the prices
00:23:57prices of tickets for tonight, we've we've been tracking how much it costs
00:24:00costs for just your entry level ticket ticket to come in, and over the past
00:24:03past three days the prices have actually actually dropped by about 50%. And
00:24:06And just before this concert starts, starts, you could get a ticket for
00:24:10for about 20 to $30. So that might might show you maybe some of the the level of demand here. We actually
00:24:14actually have heard from some fans fans of Ed Sheeran who are planning planning to attend tonight, that
00:24:18that they have requested and successfully successfully gotten refunds of their
00:24:21their tickets from the main ticket ticket seller. And we'll have to
00:24:24to wait and see the potential economic
00:24:27economic hit on Ed Sheeran from this. this. Of course, these tours are
00:24:30are often proved to be lucrative lucrative for artists. What have
00:24:33have all of this? What has all of
00:24:34of this meant for Ed Sheeran himself
00:24:39himself and his reputation? We've
00:24:42We've heard other artists speaking speaking out, other celebrities, celebrities, you know, saying that
00:24:46that they were a bit disappointed disappointed in what Ed Sheeran's Sheeran's reaction here. And we should
00:24:50should say, you know, he posted a a pretty lengthy statement on Instagram
00:24:53Instagram a couple of days ago about
00:24:55about this whole saga. He said that that he does support artists rights
00:24:59rights to express themselves, but but that he thinks fans like the
00:25:02the ones here come to hear him, to
00:25:04to hear the music and to enjoy kind
00:25:07kind of an apolitical experience. experience. But you know, I think
00:25:10think other fans, especially online, online, have been pointing out that that Ed Sheeran is not always as
00:25:14as apolitical as maybe he likes to to present himself. He has done concerts,
00:25:18concerts, for example, in support support of Ukraine and its war with
00:25:21with Russia. He's also spoken out
00:25:24out about Brexit or appealed to the the US Congress, for example. So
00:25:28So there are others maybe pointing pointing out that is this a double
00:25:30double standard not willing to touch
00:25:32touch the war in Gaza and issues
00:25:35issues around the Middle East. Now
00:25:36Now the world's biggest beer festival, festival, Germany's Oktoberfest,
00:25:40Oktoberfest, has been declared open.
00:25:47open. Munich's mayor Dominic Krause, Krause, performed the traditional
00:25:50traditional hammer strikes to open open the first keg after first asking
00:25:53asking the crowd whether they were were thirsty. Well, you can probably probably guess the response to that.
00:25:56that. The organisers estimate that
00:25:59that 6.5 million visitors attended
00:26:01attended the event last year. You're You're watching
00:29:56you are. Business on BBC News. Make
00:29:58Make the connection. MUSIC
00:30:09MUSIC Dolly Dolly Parton's death sparked a huge
00:30:12huge outpouring of love. Now on BBC BBC News, we look at why she meant
00:30:16meant so much to so many. Why the
00:30:19the world loved Dolly. And. We are
00:30:31are Lord Wei. Dolly Parton was one
00:30:33one of the most recognisable entertainers entertainers on the planet. I would
00:30:36would have cried, but I didn't want want to mess up my eyelashes. She
00:30:39She was a country singer, a songwriter,
00:30:42songwriter, actress, businesswoman businesswoman and philanthropist. philanthropist. I always say, and
00:30:46and it's the truth that I am a workhorse workhorse that looks like a show
00:30:50show horse. She could act, she could could sing, she could write songs.
00:30:52songs. And she was the complete package. package. To millions across the globe.
00:30:56globe. Dolly Parton was a true one one off. A