Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:10Live from London. This is BBC
00:00:13News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what
00:00:15what he calls mistakes as he returns returns to the stage for the first
00:00:18first time since the rapper Macklemore Macklemore was dropped from his US
00:00:22US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
00:00:24remarks. What is happening in Gaza
00:00:27Gaza is a catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate.
00:00:31disproportionate. My heart has been been broken by the scale of devastation
00:00:34devastation and loss of civilians
00:00:37civilians lives, of children's lives. lives. President Trump says he'll
00:00:40he'll form an AI force and appoint appoint a new adviser to oversee
00:00:44oversee the industry. The brother brother of Princess Diana, Earl Spencer,
00:00:48Spencer, tells the BBC there are are echoes of what happened to his
00:00:51his sister in the way the media is
00:00:53is treating Prince Harry and Meghan. Meghan. Voters head to the polls
00:00:57polls in two German states as Chancellor
00:00:59Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces growing
00:01:01growing political pressure and Europe's
00:01:03Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
00:01:07powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
00:01:08efforts to cut deaths linked to narcotics.
00:01:20narcotics. Hello there, I'm Rich Rich Preston, welcome to the programme. programme. Very good to have you
00:01:24you with us. Ed Sheeran's first concert concert since his support act Macklemore
00:01:28Macklemore was dropped over pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian comments. The star
00:01:31star is directly addressed the controversy. controversy. Speaking before his
00:01:34his concert in Philadelphia, the the British singer described the
00:01:37the situation in Gaza as catastrophic catastrophic and unjustifiable. He
00:01:41He said the Hamas attacks on Israel
00:01:44Israel in October 2023 were horrific horrific and added that Israel's
00:01:48Israel's response since then had had been disproportionate. Before
00:01:51Before he started singing, Sheeran Sheeran apologised to his fans for
00:01:55for what he called mistakes as he
00:01:57he handled the fallout from the controversy.
00:02:00controversy. I've had to take and and make difficult decisions and
00:02:03and I am making mistakes and I'm
00:02:05I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to
00:02:08to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
00:02:12musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
00:02:14and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech in the most complex
00:02:18complex political issue on the planet.
00:02:24planet. While Ed Sheeran then directly
00:02:27directly addressed the situation situation in the Middle East. I want
00:02:30want to address the question of where where I stand in the situation in
00:02:34in Israel and Palestine and whether whether my doing this concert here
00:02:36here tonight implies where I stand. stand. I have tried in my career
00:02:39career not to be a political commentator commentator of any kind, because
00:02:42because I want my music and shows
00:02:44shows to be about unity, not division
00:02:47division about humanity, not politics.
00:02:55politics. But this is a humanitarian humanitarian issue and I cannot hide hide how I feel about it any more.
00:02:58more. What happened in Israel and
00:03:00and at the No Music festival on October
00:03:03October 7th was horrific and compounded
00:03:05compounded centuries of Jewish pain.
00:03:07pain. What is happening in Gaza is
00:03:11is catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate. disproportionate. My heart has been
00:03:15been broken by the scale of devastation
00:03:17devastation and loss of civilians,
00:03:20civilians, lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
00:03:23injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
00:03:27overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum
00:03:30spectrum to work out how to make make a contribution that helps victims
00:03:34victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
00:03:37because I do not know enough. I honestly
00:03:41honestly am so grateful that you
00:03:42you are here tonight with me. Ed
00:03:48Ed Sheeran also said he took issue
00:03:50issue with the idea that venues would
00:03:53would pre-approve content or performers performers an hour or so before the
00:03:56the show began. Hundreds of concert concert goers streamed into the venue,
00:03:59venue, which was a stripped down down event, and Sheeran went on without
00:04:03without any opening acts. After several
00:04:05several musicians dropped out. Some
00:04:07Some pro-Palestinian protesters did did gather near the venue. Organisers
00:04:10Organisers say it was so they could could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
00:04:14ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
00:04:16from some of them. We need more people
00:04:19people like Macklemore and other other artists to have a voice who
00:04:22who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
00:04:26the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
00:04:29Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
00:04:32how it feels to be oppressed and
00:04:35and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
00:04:38from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. North
00:04:42North America correspondent Carl Carl Nasman was at the concert. He
00:04:44He sent us this update. We were there there and really in some of the first
00:04:48first rows actually inside the stadium stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
00:04:52I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
00:04:56how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
00:05:00his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
00:05:03moment, literally, Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
00:05:07launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be be a prepared speech, but he kind
00:05:11kind of addressed a lot of things things that people were wondering
00:05:14wondering about specifically his his stance on the situation in the
00:05:18the Middle East and also what his his thought about Macklemore being
00:05:22being dropped from his tour. We heard heard the reporting that this was
00:05:25was due to potentially a pressure pressure campaign from some of the
00:05:28the owners of the stadiums on this this tour. He said he was deeply
00:05:31deeply concerned by the fact that
00:05:34that artists like Macklemore and
00:05:36and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
00:05:40of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
00:05:44there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
00:05:47cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
00:05:51being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
00:05:55that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
00:05:58here, you know, wanted to come wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
00:06:01perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore Macklemore was there or not. There
00:06:05There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
00:06:08moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
00:06:11don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
00:06:15lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
00:06:19actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
00:06:22that I would get from people in Philadelphia
00:06:25Philadelphia at this concert, and
00:06:27and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
00:06:30Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
00:06:34he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
00:06:37moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
00:06:39Sheeran still has a lot of support, support, especially inside that stadium
00:06:43stadium behind us. Well, I spoke spoke to entertainment journalist
00:06:47journalist KJ Matthews. So does she she think this apology from Ed Sheeran
00:06:51Sheeran goes far enough? I think think this is this first step is
00:06:54is a first step in the right direction. direction. I was impressed with his
00:06:58his statement. You could tell that that it was obviously, you know,
00:07:01know, written out. It was he was was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
00:07:04felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
00:07:08times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
00:07:12he was getting so emotional. But
00:07:14But I do think this is a first, first
00:07:17first step, really good step in the the right direction for him. Many
00:07:20Many people wanted to hear from him him much earlier, but we've heard
00:07:23heard from him now and it's interesting.
00:07:26interesting. It'll remain to be seen seen whether or not the remaining
00:07:29remaining tickets for all of his his concert dates coming up go down.
00:07:33down. I mean, what we saw before,
00:07:35before, I think hours before earlier
00:07:38earlier today, every single ticket ticket sales for his remaining concerts
00:07:41concerts were in the negative. They They were in the red, you know, up up to 50% where people were either
00:07:45either trying to resell their tickets tickets or they weren't buying tickets.
00:07:48tickets. And now I want to see within
00:07:50within 24 hours if we see whether whether those numbers go back in
00:07:54in the right direction, we do know know that Macklemore is supposed
00:07:57supposed to play in October and his
00:07:59his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've
00:08:01we've seen just the opposite. After After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
00:08:05Sheeran's tour, we of course seen seen saw Macklemore social media
00:08:09media numbers increase. His ticket
00:08:10ticket sales increased in the opposite
00:08:13opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
00:08:16be seen whether or not this goes
00:08:18goes far enough, they can kind of of change or the damage, but I do
00:08:21do think he's put a lot out there there for people to kind of digest.
00:08:24digest. You know, he his point where
00:08:26where he mentioned that he's very
00:08:28very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
00:08:32before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
00:08:35should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
00:08:38particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
00:08:41are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is the first step
00:08:45step in the right direction for him. him. KJ Matthews there, President
00:08:49President Trump says he'll form an an Air Force and appoint a new artificial
00:08:53artificial intelligence adviser to to regulate the industry. Writing
00:08:55Writing on social media, the President President said he would not hinder
00:08:59hinder the growth of AI, warning warning the US must maintain its
00:09:01its lead over China. Our correspondent correspondent Leigh Milner has more
00:09:05more on what's behind Mr Trump's
00:09:08Trump's urgency around AI. I think think a big part of it is that Trump
00:09:12Trump sees AI as a really important
00:09:14important area for both the US economy
00:09:17economy and also wants to do it strategically. strategically. He wants America to
00:09:20to stay out in front, particularly particularly when it comes to competition
00:09:23competition with China, and he clearly
00:09:25clearly feels that putting too many
00:09:27many restrictions on the industry industry could slow things down.
00:09:30down. So the emphasis is on keeping keeping investment and development
00:09:33development moving quickly and making
00:09:36making sure American companies have have the freedom, obviously to compete.
00:09:39compete. But at the same time, there
00:09:41there are these concerns about whether
00:09:43whether the technology is developing developing faster than governments
00:09:46governments can keep up with. Well, Well, that's a really good point point because that's particularly
00:09:49particularly ramped up in the last last couple of weeks or so. What
00:09:52What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and and technology leaders are worried
00:09:56worried about the risks that could
00:09:59could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
00:10:02calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
00:10:05sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
00:10:09concerns that if AI becomes more
00:10:11more powerful than it could be out out of control. And people could
00:10:15could obviously misuse it as well.
00:10:17well. Trump, however, has taken a
00:10:19a different position. He's dismissed dismissed concerns about the potential
00:10:23potential dangers of AI. As we've we've heard, as a hoax, and believes
00:10:26believes that slowing down could could hurt America's ability to compete
00:10:30compete with China. So at the moment,
00:10:33moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
00:10:36to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
00:10:40enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
00:10:43technology develops. The US says says it's struck an alleged drug
00:10:46drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, Caribbean, killing four people. The
00:10:50The US military's Southern Command Command released this video showing
00:10:53showing a huge explosion after a a boat was hit, but didn't give any
00:10:56any evidence that those on board board were transporting drugs. More
00:11:00More than 200 people have been killed killed in such operations since they
00:11:03they began in the Caribbean and Eastern
00:11:05Eastern Pacific last year. Washington Washington says they are narco terrorists.
00:11:08terrorists. Rights groups say the
00:11:10the strikes amount to extrajudicial
00:11:13extrajudicial executions. The brother brother of Princess Diana has told
00:11:17told the BBC he sees, quote, echoes
00:11:19echoes of what happened to her in in the way Prince Harry and Meghan
00:11:23Meghan are being treated by the media. media. Earl Spencer made the comments
00:11:26comments in an exclusive interview interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg,
00:11:30Kuenssberg, during which he also also discussed claims in his new
00:11:32new book about an alleged argument
00:11:34argument with King Charles following following Diana's death, Buckingham
00:11:38Buckingham Palace says his recollection recollection was clouded by grief.
00:11:41grief. Speaking about the Duke and and Duchess of Sussex, he said although
00:11:44although he wasn't there to speak speak for the couple, people should
00:11:48should learn from Diana's example.
00:11:50example. Do you fear there is somehow, somehow, in an echo of what happened
00:11:54happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
00:11:57occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
00:12:00over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
00:12:02a perception in the media that I'm
00:12:04I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
00:12:07on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
00:12:11either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
00:12:14them. And I never get involved in
00:12:16in one camp or the other except as
00:12:19as a benign figure. I hope that's
00:12:21that's my role. Do you think Diana
00:12:24Diana would identify with the attention, attention, the focus that has been
00:12:27been put on them? And with Meghan, Meghan, who said she felt like she
00:12:31she was the most trolled person in in the world, you know, they were
00:12:34were here during the summer, not not so long ago. If you look at an
00:12:38an article in a tabloid about Diana
00:12:42Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
00:12:46you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
00:12:50I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from
00:12:52from Diana's example. I'm not here here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
00:12:56Meghan, but for anyone who's being being destroyed in this way daily,
00:13:00daily, it must be such a cancerous cancerous influence in their life.
00:13:04life. I saw it with Diana, I saw saw Diana, I mentioned it in the
00:13:07the eulogy, her tears of despair. despair. One of the problems with
00:13:10with Diana was she was very, very very sensitive to criticism. And
00:13:14And of course, I'm sure most of your your viewers now think, oh, she had
00:13:18had this splendid life and it was was all amazing. And she didn't she she was so privileged and so perfect
00:13:22perfect in so many ways. But she
00:13:24she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
00:13:27suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
00:13:31echoes of that now. Well, in response response to the claims made by Earl
00:13:34Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace has has said that the King was mindful
00:13:38mindful that the pain of fraternal
00:13:40fraternal grief can cloud reason, reason, affect judgement and colour
00:13:44colour memory in ways others don't
00:13:46don't recognise. Even many years years after such a loss. And the
00:13:49the full interview with Laura Kuenssberg
00:13:52Kuenssberg will be broadcast at 630 630 this evening on BBC One here
00:13:55here in the UK, and will be available
00:13:57available on BBC iPlayer and BBC
00:14:01BBC Sounds from 4 pm. Now polls open
00:14:04open in an hour's time in two German German states for elections, which
00:14:08which may further weaken Friedrich Friedrich Moritz's position as chancellor.
00:14:10chancellor. He's even cancelled plans plans to attend the UN General Assembly
00:14:14Assembly in New York later this week, week, as speculation grows about
00:14:17about his future. The votes are taking taking place in the capital, Berlin
00:14:20Berlin and also in the Mecklenburg-Western Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania region.
00:14:23region. Our Berlin correspondent
00:14:26correspondent Jessica Parker reports.
00:14:30reports. Two weeks ago, the anti-immigration anti-immigration populist Alternative
00:14:34Alternative fur Deutschland party party won a landslide victory in
00:14:36in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Now
00:14:39Now there's a particular focus on on how Chancellor Friedrich Mertz's
00:14:43Mertz's conservative CDU party performs performs in Berlin. It's at risk
00:14:47risk of losing power in the northeastern northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
00:14:51Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. A worst case case scenario for the party could
00:14:54could see it fail to get enough votes votes to even enter the regional
00:14:57regional parliament. The poorer the the result, the more speculation
00:15:00speculation will grow that the CDU CDU could try to oust its leader.
00:15:04leader. Chancellor Merz has vowed vowed to carry on and is reportedly
00:15:07reportedly due to hold a meeting meeting with senior party figures
00:15:10figures later as he seeks to shore
00:15:13shore up his support. Jessica Parker, Parker, BBC News in Berlin. Well,
00:15:16Well, Nina Haas is chief political political correspondent at Germany's
00:15:19Germany's Deutsche Welle. I asked asked her how worried Friedrich Merz Merz should be, given he's cancelled
00:15:23cancelled his trip to the UN. Yes,
00:15:26Yes, he must be. And you know, this
00:15:29this is something that goes far beyond beyond political gossip. Now, there
00:15:33there are people within the conservative conservative camp in Germany that
00:15:36that are openly discussing whether
00:15:38whether to replace the Chancellor Chancellor with somebody else or
00:15:42or whether to break away from the the Social Democrats and go it alone
00:15:45alone in a minority government, whether whether to open the conservative
00:15:49conservative camp to discussions discussions with the far right AfD,
00:15:51AfD, which so far is a very, very
00:15:53very strict taboo. And so Friedrich
00:15:56Friedrich Merz, cancelling his trip
00:15:58trip to New York next week really
00:16:01really is very symbolic of just how
00:16:03how drastic this situation is. You You mentioned there that the AfD
00:16:07AfD being seen by many in German
00:16:12German politics as a taboo. Is that that likely to change? I mean, they're they're getting the numbers. They
00:16:15They had their best ever results
00:16:18results earlier this month. If people people want to take power, then they're
00:16:21they're going to have to work with
00:16:23with the AfD. Surely. There are currently
00:16:26currently two strands. I would say. say. There are people like I've just
00:16:30just mentioned, even within the conservative conservative camp who are saying
00:16:33saying that the days of those so-called
00:16:36so-called firewall are over so that
00:16:40that disciplined, very rigid red
00:16:42red line, we are not going to collaborate collaborate with a party that is
00:16:45is in part considered right wing
00:16:49wing extremists by Germany's intelligence intelligence agencies, where the the authorities are saying that they're
00:16:53they're seeing clear evidence that that at least parts of that party
00:16:56party are working against the very
00:16:58very system that we have here in
00:17:00in this country against the democratic democratic system, against the institutions.
00:17:04institutions. There are also other
00:17:05other people who are now saying,
00:17:08saying, let us discuss trying to
00:17:10to ban the far right AfD party, because
00:17:13because that is technically possible possible if you find enough support
00:17:17support for such a push. But of course
00:17:20course that would enter then into
00:17:22into a legal disputes between the
00:17:24the party and the other institutions. institutions. It could also backfire.
00:17:27backfire. Of course, because it could
00:17:29could be seen as a push to simply
00:17:32simply push down an opposition party.
00:17:35party. But there are people who are are saying it's worth contemplating
00:17:39contemplating this simply because, because, you know, some people are
00:17:43are referring to our history where
00:17:44where Adolf Hitler, after all, was
00:17:47was elected in a democratic process. process. Now the Houthis in Yemen
00:17:51Yemen say they've attacked sites sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh
00:17:54Riyadh and the Red Sea city of Yanbu. Yanbu. In a statement, the group,
00:17:58group, which is backed by Iran, says says it launched missiles and drones
00:18:00drones in retaliation for Saudi warplanes warplanes striking Houthi positions
00:18:04positions this week. Earlier on Saturday, Saturday, a plume of black smoke
00:18:07smoke was seen near the international international airport in Riyadh after
00:18:10after reports of explosions at a a fuel depot. Saudi authorities have
00:18:14have said they intercepted and destroyed destroyed a ballistic missile fired
00:18:18fired at Riyadh. Turkey says it's it's ready to help under a defence
00:18:20defence pact signed with Saudi Arabia
00:18:23Arabia and Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian Mahmoudian is a research fellow at
00:18:26at the Global and National Security Security Institute and a non-resident
00:18:29non-resident scholar at the George George Washington University's Institute Institute of Middle East Studies.
00:18:33Studies. This is his assessment of
00:18:34of who has the upper hand. I think think at this point, at least in
00:18:38in the absence of any active signal
00:18:41signal from the United States, direct direct engagement in the conflict.
00:18:44conflict. The Houthis have the upper upper hand. Houthis have a higher
00:18:47higher threshold of tolerance for for pain. Basically, the pain that
00:18:50that the Saudis or the sanctions sanctions inflict on the population
00:18:53population of Yemen is not directly directly transferred to them. The
00:18:57The Saudis have a lesser threshold threshold for the pain. Saudis also
00:18:59also are dealing with economic issues. issues. There is already an instability
00:19:03instability in the energy market market and vis a vis the Saudis income income from it because of the war
00:19:07war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, which is attacked. Specifically
00:19:11Specifically speaking, the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
00:19:14which signals their willingness to
00:19:15to expand the scope of the bite,
00:19:19bite, is going to much inflict a a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
00:19:23economy. So while the militarily militarily speaking Saudi obviously
00:19:26obviously have superiority toward toward the Houthis, but in terms
00:19:28terms of the threshold of the tolerance, tolerance, in terms of the time,
00:19:31time, the situation is not in favour favour of the Saudi unless something
00:19:34something change either the Americans Americans get involved further in
00:19:38in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
00:19:42involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. You mentioned
00:19:45mentioned several other regional regional players there, and that's that's part of the bigger picture
00:19:49picture here. Let's focus on Iran. Iran. How much is Iran steering the
00:19:53the ship of what the Houthis are are doing there? Look, there has
00:19:56has always been a debate to what what extent Iran controls the Saudi, Saudi, whether it controls it or
00:20:00or not. It's hard to say that. Does Does Iran command it or not? But
00:20:04But definitely Iran has influence influence over the southeast. Iran
00:20:07Iran is at this moment the sole sponsor sponsor of the Houthis. Iranian have
00:20:11have been, you know, supplying Houthis Houthis with the advisers, with the
00:20:14the terror they teach the they taught taught the suitors the know how of
00:20:17of building missiles and projectiles.
00:20:19projectiles. There is an ideological ideological affiliation. There are
00:20:22are some rumours about financial financial assistance. So they greatly
00:20:25greatly have influence over this this matter and over the Houthis.
00:20:28Houthis. And I believe Iran actually actually is gaining a lot out of
00:20:32of this despite whatever role Iran Iran is playing in the, you know, know, the execution of the Houthis
00:20:35Houthis campaign. What is happening happening right now? We are witnessing
00:20:38witnessing and the rise of instability instability in the second strategic
00:20:41strategic choke point of the regime, regime, which is the state of the
00:20:45the Bab Al-mandab. We are now, in in the circumstances that not only
00:20:49only there is a semi blockade of of the Strait of Hormuz, which about
00:20:51about one fifth of the global energy, energy, specifically oil transfer
00:20:54transfer through it. We are also also witnessing rising instability
00:20:57instability and disruption in the the Red Sea, which about 20% of the
00:21:01the maritime trade travels through through it. Combining these together
00:21:04together would impose a great deal deal of pressure on the global economy
00:21:07economy and visa with the American American population who are waiting
00:21:10waiting at the mid-term elections. elections. This will give Iran an
00:21:13an enormous leverage over the United United States. Specifically speaking
00:21:16speaking ahead of the mid-term election. election. Right. Let's get some of of the day's other news now. The
00:21:21The new school year has begun in in Gaza with more than 500,000 children
00:21:24children going back to formal education education for the first time in nearly
00:21:27nearly three years. The UN says 97%
00:21:2997% of schools in Gaza were damaged damaged or destroyed in fighting
00:21:33fighting since the Israel-Gaza war war began. Working alongside UN agencies,
00:21:37agencies, the Education Ministry's Ministry's opened around 100, around
00:21:40around 700. I beg your pardon? New New facilities. Some of them, though,
00:21:43though, are as simple as a tent. tent. Thousands of Argentines have
00:21:47have marched through Buenos Aires. Aires. The protest was against President
00:21:50President Javier Malays. Labour policies policies and austerity cuts. Left
00:21:53Left wing political leaders and activists activists have called for a general
00:21:56general strike. Police in the Netherlands Netherlands have clashed with several
00:22:00several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
00:22:02The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration demonstration
00:22:06demonstration be broken up after after it spiralled into violence
00:22:08violence as protesters were gathering gathering at a local park, they threw
00:22:12threw fireworks and projectiles at at police and chanted antisemitic
00:22:15antisemitic slogans. At least 24
00:22:1724 people were arrested and a rare rare catch and kill order has been
00:22:21been issued for a great white shark shark off the coast of Western Australia.
00:22:25Australia. That's after a 63-year-old 63-year-old swimmer was killed at
00:22:27at a popular beach on Friday. His
00:22:29His body has still not been found. found. It's the second shark attack
00:22:33attack in Western Australia this this week and the third fatal attack
00:22:37attack in the state this year. The
00:22:40The European Union's drugs agency agency says efforts to bring down
00:22:44down Scotland's sky high rate of of deaths from illegal drug use are
00:22:47are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
00:22:51and dangerous new substances. This This explosion in the supply of synthetic
00:22:54synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
00:22:58deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week,
00:23:01week, as Scotland editor James Cook
00:23:03Cook reports. This spotless. Laboratory
00:23:07Laboratory in Dundee seems a world world away from the chaotic reality
00:23:10reality of illegal drug use. But
00:23:12But scientists here are racing against against the deadly and evolving threat.
00:23:16threat. They're examining samples samples of seized drugs to find out
00:23:19out exactly what's in them. And the
00:23:22the answers are worrying. With new
00:23:24new substances emerging all the time. time. In terms of Europe, we are
00:23:27are seeing roughly about a drug entering entering into Europe context within
00:23:31within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks weeks something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid
00:23:35rapid for us to be able to keep up up as scientists. And that must be
00:23:38be dangerous. Yeah. These drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit illicit drug supply in Scotland is
00:23:41is getting more and more dangerous dangerous as time goes on. They're
00:23:45They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
00:23:49nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
00:23:53Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
00:23:56from Valium style pills to powdered
00:23:59powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
00:24:03Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
00:24:07This year the figure has already already reached 78 million and we
00:24:11we can reveal detectives have raided
00:24:13raided suspected Nitazenes Labs in
00:24:16in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
00:24:17arresting five people. This is not
00:24:21not just an urban problem. The rapidly rapidly changing nature of the drug
00:24:25drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
00:24:27Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre Kintyre peninsula on the far west
00:24:31west of the mainland, to hear more more about what is a struggle to
00:24:34to save lives. There are all sorts
00:24:38sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
00:24:42helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature. But the staff
00:24:45staff say their job has been made made harder by the rapidly evolving
00:24:49evolving nature of drug supplies. supplies. Some of these substances
00:24:52substances are so potent that a grain grain would be enough to take somebody
00:24:55somebody over. And to kill them. them. And to possibly kill them.
00:24:59them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
00:25:01really is. I mean, I think I mean,
00:25:04mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
00:25:07ever been as risky or as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
00:25:11what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
00:25:14better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
00:25:18reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
00:25:21about all those that we've lost through
00:25:24through substance use. So many lives
00:25:26lives lost, so much still to do to
00:25:29to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
00:25:33News, Kintyre. Before I leave you you this half hour, let's bring you
00:25:37you these pictures. Ancient Rome Rome meeting cutting edge technology
00:25:40technology in Croatia. This is the the Adriatic coastal city of Pula
00:25:44Pula which turned its 2000-year-old 2000-year-old historic buildings
00:25:47buildings into a canvas for contemporary contemporary light art. Around 16
00:25:5016 locations across the city were were used to explore themes of space,
00:25:53space, peace, nature and human relations. relations. There were 23 works on
00:25:57on display featuring artists from
00:26:00from across Europe, Croatia, Germany, Germany, Ukraine as well as Norway
00:26:04Norway and Hong Kong. Do stick with with us
00:29:57latest news wherever you are. Business
00:29:57Business on BBC News. Make the connection.
00:30:06connection. MUSIC
00:30:09MUSIC
00:30:14These are the latest headlines from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises
00:30:18apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage
00:30:21stage for the first time since the the rapper Macklemore was dropped
00:30:24dropped from his US tour over a pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian remarks. He told
00:30:28told fans the situation in Gaza was
00:30:31was catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. President Trump Trump says he'll form an AI force
00:30:35force and appoint a new adviser to to oversee the industry, warning
00:30:39warning the US must maintain its
00:30:41its lead over China. The brother brother of Princess Diana Earl Spencer
00:30:44Spencer tells the BBC there are echoes echoes of what happened to his sister
00:30:48sister in the way the media is treating treating Prince Harry and Meghan.
00:30:51Meghan. Voters head to the polls polls in two German states as Chancellor
00:30:54Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces growing growing political pressure and Europe's
00:30:57Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
00:31:01powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
00:31:03efforts to cut deaths linked to dangerous
00:31:05dangerous narcotics. Global business
00:31:15business news from the boardroom boardroom or grassroots BBC News News cuts through the jargon to.
00:31:19to. Add colour, depth and context context with live reaction from Wall
00:31:22Wall Street and Asia. Studio interviews interviews with top CEOs and the
00:31:26the latest innovations in technology.
00:31:28technology. Talking Business. Hello
00:31:32Hello and welcome to Talking Business. Business. Here's what's on the programme
00:31:34programme this week. If we wheel
00:31:36wheel around you can see the rows
00:31:39rows of soundproof booths where the the scammers all worked and elsewhere
00:31:42elsewhere in this building there there are many other rooms with police
00:31:45police stations purporting to be be from other countries. This is
00:31:49is scamming on an industrial scale.
00:31:51scale. As the cost of cyber fraud fraud and financial scams hits hundreds
00:31:55hundreds of billions of dollars. dollars. There are growing calls
00:31:58calls for governments to treat the the threat as a national security
00:32:01security issue. Cyber related crimes
00:32:04crimes have become the priority for
00:32:08for member countries of Interpol. Interpol. Around the globe. This
00:32:12This threat is growing in numbers.
00:32:14numbers. It's growing also in complexity.
00:32:17complexity. As bad actors get hold hold of powerful new technology and
00:32:20and join forces with hostile states. states. On this programme, we'll
00:32:23we'll assess the scale of the threat threat and ask what needs to change
00:32:27change to keep our money, our businesses
00:32:30businesses and our financial systems systems safe. Georgia Jones is a
00:32:33a finance and security expert at
00:32:35at the UK's Royal United Services
00:32:37Services Institute. Greg Jones ran ran Interpol's cybercrime division
00:32:41division for five years and tells tells me what he found working with
00:32:43with law enforcers around the world.
00:32:45world. And what about the risks to
00:32:48to critical infrastructure and transport transport systems? I'll speak to
00:32:51to the boss and pioneer of self-driving self-driving truck company, plus
00:32:55plus AI, about the threat of cyber
00:32:57cyber attacks on vehicles. Wherever
00:33:03Wherever you're watching, welcome welcome to the programme. Now, earlier earlier this year, authorities in
00:33:07in Thailand took BBC journalists journalists and other news organisations
00:33:10organisations into land that they'd they'd captured during their conflict
00:33:14conflict with Cambodia. The destination destination was a compound revealing
00:33:17revealing an abandoned international international scam factory inside,
00:33:21inside, cameras went into rooms appearing appearing to be Vietnamese banks.
00:33:24banks. An Australian police station station as well as artefacts like
00:33:28like Chinese police officers shirts.
00:33:31shirts. While Cambodia is often referred
00:33:33referred to in the fraud community community as Cambodia, it's been
00:33:37been estimated that revenue from from fraud now accounts for about
00:33:40about a quarter of the country's
00:33:41country's GDP. And it is not alone.
00:33:44alone. Global losses from fraud hit
00:33:46hit more than $440 billion last year,
00:33:49year, and it's getting worse at Interpol, Interpol, the International Police
00:33:53Police network fraud notices have
00:33:54have risen by more than 50% since
00:33:57since 2024. Nearly half the world's world's population is targeted by
00:34:01by a scammer each week. Here in the the UK, attacks on businesses by
00:34:04by hackers demanding a ransom last last year devastated operations at
00:34:08at retailers like Marks and Spencer
00:34:10Spencer and the co-op, as well as as the car giant Jaguar Land Rover.
00:34:14Rover. That attack alone cost billions
00:34:16billions of dollars. And all of this this is highlighted in a special
00:34:20special report from the UK's Royal Royal United Services Institute.
00:34:23Institute. It reveals how technology technology has changed the face of
00:34:27of fraud, how areas like the Costa Costa del Sol in Spain have become
00:34:31become centres where hostile states states and organisations can order
00:34:34order fraud operations and launder launder money in the way that most
00:34:37most of us may order a taxi or an
00:34:39an Uber. The report also says that
00:34:41that as well as powerful technology technology collaboration between
00:34:45between gangs and hostile states states means that the issue is no
00:34:47no longer just a matter of criminality
00:34:50criminality but also one of national national security. My first guest
00:34:53guest is from the Finance and Security
00:34:56Security Centre of the Royal United United Services Institute and one
00:34:59one of the leading researchers in in this area. Georgia Jones, welcome
00:35:03welcome to Talking Business. Good Good to have you here. And give me
00:35:05me a sense of what changes if governments
00:35:08governments consider treat cybercrime
00:35:10cybercrime as a national security
00:35:12security risk rather than just a
00:35:15a criminality? Yes. So what changes
00:35:17changes is a greater mobilisation mobilisation of resources and more
00:35:21more concerted effort toward the the problem at hand? So we've seen
00:35:24seen with the way that fraud is categorised categorised as a national security
00:35:28security risk in the UK since 2023,
00:35:312023, there's been a much greater greater mobilisation of resources
00:35:33resources and a lot more cross-government cross-government effort. So ideally
00:35:36ideally we would see this conceptualisation
00:35:39conceptualisation of fraud as a national national security risk spreading spreading throughout the rest of
00:35:42of the world too. And where is that
00:35:45that threat coming from? Who are are the people perpetrating these
00:35:48these crimes? So the evidence that
00:35:50that we have suggests that this is
00:35:52is largely being directed by organised
00:35:55organised criminal factions. Now
00:35:57Now there is also a degree of complicity
00:36:01complicity from political elites, elites, particularly if you're looking looking at those larger scam compounds
00:36:05compounds that are operating. They
00:36:07They necessarily have to have some
00:36:10some form of complicity coming in, in, but that can exist on a continuum.
00:36:13continuum. So you can have low level level operatives being paid to give
00:36:17give tip offs about upcoming raids, raids, for example, but it can go
00:36:20go all the way up to state involvement
00:36:23involvement as it was in Myanmar. Myanmar. There was the Korean border border guard were found to actually
00:36:27actually be providing muscle for for some of these scam compounds.
00:36:30compounds. So it's incredibly concerning, concerning, but it's not necessarily
00:36:32necessarily being used as a state,
00:36:34state, like as a tool of statecraft, statecraft, just to qualify that.
00:36:38that. But it appears that it's organised organised criminal factions. And
00:36:42And for those larger operations, operations, there's some degree of
00:36:45of complicity from political elites. elites. And how much more sophisticated
00:36:48sophisticated do you think these these operations have become given?
00:36:50given? I guess technology is changing
00:36:52changing all the time, but the sophistication sophistication of these means that
00:36:56that it is potentially much easier easier for people to fall victim
00:36:58victim and maybe not just even individuals, individuals, but big organisations
00:37:01organisations too. Yeah. Most definitely. definitely. I mean, if you look at
00:37:04at the way that artificial intelligence intelligence has changed the game,
00:37:06game, you're not going to be getting getting a suspicious email with terrible
00:37:10terrible grammar from a prince any any more. They've entirely moved
00:37:13moved on and they've been able to
00:37:15to craft really compelling campaigns campaigns and targeting lots of different
00:37:18different audiences as well. So like like you rightly say, businesses
00:37:22businesses being targeted. And it's it's something that unfortunately
00:37:25unfortunately we expect to increase increase in the coming years. If
00:37:28If you look at the return on investment
00:37:30investment for a fraudster, you might might have to work with a single
00:37:33single human for months on a romance romance scam to actually get any
00:37:36any transfer of value. And then you're you're looking at sums that are maybe
00:37:40maybe tens of thousands, possibly possibly even hundreds of thousands thousands of pounds. But all you
00:37:43you need is one fake invoice to go go through and you could potentially potentially be looking at hundreds
00:37:47hundreds of thousands of pounds. pounds. So just for the basic incentives
00:37:50incentives that are at play, it's it's likely that we're going to see
00:37:53see that increasing to. And when
00:37:54when you look around the world, where where is getting the response right?
00:37:58right? Where is has got a handle handle on how to tackle this? So
00:38:02So over the course of our research, research, we saw a lot of really
00:38:05really interesting examples. There's There's the obvious ones like the
00:38:08the UK has a wonderful fraud strategy.
00:38:12strategy. The UK, Australia, Singapore. Singapore. Those are the examples
00:38:15examples that are often touted. But But even in places like the Philippines
00:38:18Philippines and South Africa, there's there's really interesting initiatives
00:38:21initiatives that are in place in
00:38:23in terms of having that broader cohesive cohesive strategy that's mobilising
00:38:27mobilising the entirety of government.
00:38:29government. There aren't a huge amount amount of those examples out there
00:38:33there as of yet, but they're definitely definitely in development. And so
00:38:35so if you're an organisation watching watching this right now saying, yes,
00:38:38yes, you know, I know I should be
00:38:40be taking cyber security more seriously.
00:38:43seriously. Where do they start? What What should they be concerned and
00:38:46and dealing with? What can they put
00:38:47put in place right now? I think the
00:38:50the first thing is to just have a
00:38:53a look at your own internal processes
00:38:55processes and think like a fraudster
00:38:58fraudster before they do so you want want to be trying to map out where
00:39:02where the vulnerabilities are in
00:39:04in your unique system. And secondly,
00:39:07secondly, I would say it's actually actually really important to reach reach out to your competitors to
00:39:10to look out across industry and to to be sharing information. Fraudsters
00:39:14Fraudsters take advantage of the the fact that we're not speaking speaking to each other. And if you
00:39:18you have a much clearer picture of of the threat as it's manifesting
00:39:21manifesting not just in your individual individual firm, but looking out
00:39:24out across the industry, it's going going to make it a lot easier for
00:39:26for you to hopefully plug in those those vulnerabilities. Georgia Jones,
00:39:30Jones, really good to talk to you you on the programme this week. Thanks Thanks for being with us. Thank you
00:39:33you for having me, Ben. My next guest guest has been at the forefront of
00:39:37of the fight against cybercrime and and fraud for most of his career,
00:39:41career, including five years as the the Director of cybercrime at Interpol.
00:39:44Interpol. Greg Jones, welcome back back to Talking Business. It's good
00:39:48good to see you. You've met and had had to deal with some pretty unpleasant
00:39:50unpleasant people in your time at
00:39:52at Interpol. Talk to me about how
00:39:55how that threat has changed and maybe maybe resources moving away from
00:39:58from what we might consider to be
00:40:00be traditional organised crime to
00:40:03to cybercrime and scams that is evolving
00:40:05evolving all the time. But it's changed changed significantly, hasn't it?
00:40:08it? Yeah, absolutely. When we look
00:40:11look at the sort of the early cyber cyber scams, they were pretty basic
00:40:14basic effectively. But sometimes
00:40:16sometimes we still fall for those those basic sort of crimes. But when
00:40:19when you look at these criminal ecosystems
00:40:22ecosystems now as the digital technology
00:40:25technology has evolved, you know, know, businesses and normal businesses
00:40:28businesses are able to operate globally globally from your own home now.
00:40:32now. So criminals are just leveraging leveraging that same technology and
00:40:36and they've got a really decentralised decentralised way of working. So
00:40:39So you look at these modern technology technology companies that they have,
00:40:42have, you know, they don't have people people all coming into one office. office. Well, criminals do it the
00:40:45the same. They look for the infrastructure. infrastructure. So they look to see
00:40:49see what platforms they can leverage. leverage. They look for people as
00:40:51as well. So how can they get people people to work directly for them?
00:40:55them? Because you know, there is is a skill shortage in this space.
00:40:58space. So they can either try and and trick people to work for them, them, say, look, you know, we're
00:41:02we're doing some penetration testing testing at the moment. Here's a contract,
00:41:05contract, here's a company you need need to go and look at. Can you get
00:41:08get into their networks? Can you you get us access? But the other
00:41:11other thing we're seeing now from from these criminal groups is, is
00:41:15is that human trafficking. So they're they're advertising jobs, you know, know, globally. You think you're
00:41:19you're going to go and get a well-paid well-paid job in Dubai, for example,
00:41:22example, as an it sort of consultant consultant or running, you know,
00:41:26know, helping to run a team. And And in fact, what happens is then
00:41:29then you then get trafficked out out into South East Asia or somewhere
00:41:32somewhere like that and end up being being dropped into a scam compound.
00:41:35compound. So they need the IT skills. skills. They need people to be running
00:41:39running the calls as well. So there's there's a whole different part to
00:41:42to this. And, and the criminals are
00:41:45are building out this ecosystem across across different areas as well. And
00:41:49And you talk about scam compounds. compounds. We've just been looking
00:41:52looking at incredible pictures of
00:41:53of that big scam compound in Cambodia.
00:41:57Cambodia. Where in the world is this this happening? And there are real
00:42:00real hotspots in certain places, places, aren't there? So if there there are, why is it so difficult
00:42:04difficult to tackle them? So I think think maybe we trace back to start
00:42:07start with. We looked at it being being in Russian speaking centres
00:42:11centres to start with. That's sort sort of where it started. You had had whole villages and effectively
00:42:15effectively what happened there is, is, you know, people didn't have
00:42:18have much money, but they had a connection connection to the internet. They They had a connection to the world
00:42:22world and they realised they could
00:42:24could make, you know, pretty significant
00:42:26significant amounts of money by committing committing crime online. So as that
00:42:30that technology has moved out into
00:42:32into the sort of South East Asia, Asia, Africa, the same model has
00:42:36has evolved as well. When you have have poor economic growth in a country,
00:42:40country, you know, one way that you you can bring money in is through
00:42:44through committing crime and online online crime. Being able to do it
00:42:46it in a country which might be hard
00:42:48hard to reach jurisdiction or, you
00:42:51you know, as law enforcement as I I was previously. You know, we work
00:42:54work very much in a local area, a
00:42:57a local crime area. You worked in in your community. Now you have law
00:43:01law enforcement working on global global investigations that used to
00:43:04to be mainly in sort of a drug importation
00:43:07importation that that higher based, based, commodity based crime. But
00:43:11But now it's online. So again, looking looking at how law enforcement now
00:43:15now has to work, it's a really different
00:43:18different area that judicial outcome outcome is not always achievable. achievable. By that I mean putting
00:43:22putting a hand on someone's shoulder, shoulder, arresting them and locking
00:43:26locking them up, taking them to court court and then getting a prison sentence
00:43:29sentence for them. Trying to do that that globally is a lot more challenging
00:43:32challenging to try to do that in, in, in Southampton or London, for
00:43:35for example, when you're working working locally. And there's a growing
00:43:38growing focus, of course, on the the crime itself on, on the methods
00:43:42methods of making this money. Is Is there enough focus on what they
00:43:46they do with this money, how they they dispose of it, money laundering
00:43:49laundering and dealing with the proceeds proceeds of this crime. Because it
00:43:52it strikes me there's two very distinct distinct elements to this. You're
00:43:55You're absolutely spot on. I mean, mean, first of all, we have to set set up the infrastructure. So they
00:43:59they need the means to bring that that money in. How do they bring bring that money in? And we're seeing
00:44:03seeing a lot of scams now being set
00:44:04set up where you're paying in virtual virtual currencies or if you're putting
00:44:08putting it through a bank account, account, they move that money really
00:44:10really quickly. So they have a network network that's set up so they can
00:44:14can shift that money around. But But when we look at virtual currencies
00:44:17currencies or bitcoins, for example,
00:44:20example, you can trace that because because you know, always leaves a
00:44:23a trace of where it's gone effectively.
00:44:25effectively. So there's a whole industry industry now looking at how we trace
00:44:29trace this money. And again, it's it's another thing that law enforcement
00:44:32enforcement has to do. So again, again, working with the private sector
00:44:35sector in this space is, is really,
00:44:37really, really important. Being able able to work directly with them.
00:44:40them. But then you have to have the the right information sharing agreements
00:44:44agreements in, you know, it's not not quite as simple as it used to
00:44:47to be. And that's where Interpol
00:44:49Interpol comes into this very much
00:44:52much so that connects globally law law enforcement together. And coming
00:44:56coming back to that money movements, movements, they're looking at different different ways about how they can
00:44:59can trace money quickly and then then get a stop, put on that money
00:45:03money through financial investigation investigation units in countries
00:45:06countries using Interpol channels. channels. We can speed this up a
00:45:09a lot quicker. And then the law enforcement enforcement and that sort of mutual
00:45:12mutual legal assistance that comes comes in afterwards can be followed
00:45:15followed up. And that's more about
00:45:18about time consuming, you know, writing writing out, you know, lawyer's notes
00:45:21notes from one country to another another country as well. So you then
00:45:24then go back to that almost like like that paper and pen effectively
00:45:28effectively in a law enforcement enforcement investigation. Now AI
00:45:31AI is a game changer when it comes
00:45:34comes to the sophistication of some
00:45:36some scams able to replicate, you
00:45:39you know, really realistic details, details, voices, you know, web pages,
00:45:42pages, all that sort of stuff. Is
00:45:44Is it also helping in the fight against against the crime? I mean, does it
00:45:48it work on both sides? Yeah, absolutely. absolutely. Sure. It works on both
00:45:51both sides. But I think what we see see on both sides is the checks and
00:45:55and balances that governments have have to put in place, and law enforcement enforcement has to put in place,
00:45:59place, you know, the cyber criminals criminals don't have those checks checks and balances. They can just
00:46:03just grab the latest technology, technology, they can play around around with it. They can look to
00:46:06to see how they can integrate it it into their criminal business model
00:46:09model and use it really quickly, quickly, really effectively. Law
00:46:13Law enforcement is doing exactly exactly the same thing. It's trying
00:46:15trying to join up maybe systems that
00:46:18that haven't been connected previously, previously, large data sets and really
00:46:22really get into that data and pull
00:46:24pull out that crucial piece of information,
00:46:26information, which can then identify
00:46:28identify those criminals or the infrastructure infrastructure they're using. But
00:46:31But I suppose when you look at how
00:46:33how the criminals set up their networks networks and their operations, they're
00:46:37they're a very agile, almost like like a Start-Up at times they can
00:46:40can move very, very quickly and they they can grow very quickly as well.
00:46:43well. They can move their operations, operations, you know, taking down
00:46:47down one server, bringing another another server up in a different different country very quickly. And
00:46:51And that then makes it more challenging challenging for law enforcement when
00:46:54when they're trying to track and and trace those criminal groups as
00:46:57as well. Are you confident that we
00:47:00we are winning here or are we just just playing whack a mole trying
00:47:03trying to keep this crime down wherever wherever it might pop up, but it
00:47:06it is always there? I mean, what
00:47:08what is your consensus about whether
00:47:10whether we can ever get ahead of
00:47:12of this? So I think we. Knew some
00:47:15some fairly emotive language when when we're describing these things.
00:47:18things. We talk about it being a a battle, a war. Can we win? Can't
00:47:21Can't we win? Who's winning? Who's Who's losing? I think for me, the
00:47:24the simple fact is we still have
00:47:27have victims of crime. So that to to me is a loss. They're losing money.
00:47:31money. People are losing their lives lives as well. When we have sex crimes
00:47:34crimes and things like that. So when when we look at it, I like to try
00:47:37try and draw it back to, you know, know, what are we trying to prevent prevent here and how do we prevent
00:47:41prevent those crimes happening in in the first instance? How can we
00:47:45we work more effectively with the
00:47:46the big technology companies? So
00:47:49So when we spot something, you know, know, we can go to them or what can
00:47:52can they do? As technology companies, companies, we've looked at some of
00:47:55of these technology companies shifting
00:47:57shifting away maybe from those checks
00:48:00checks and balances in that space
00:48:03space because it is not necessarily necessarily a priority for them at
00:48:06at that moment in time. But how can
00:48:09can they be more effective in that that space in protecting their users?
00:48:12users? They might be providing a a platform, but how do we protect
00:48:16protect the users at the end of this this as well? And I think for me,
00:48:19me, more focus on that prevention
00:48:21prevention piece and looking at those those vulnerabilities because even
00:48:24even if we look at how AI is exploiting
00:48:28exploiting those vulnerabilities, vulnerabilities, AI is just a tool.
00:48:31tool. Those vulnerabilities are in
00:48:32in those systems and networks. And And that's what the cybercriminals
00:48:36cybercriminals leverage off. They They go to those vulnerabilities vulnerabilities and systems and networks
00:48:39networks and use those. But also also as humans, we're vulnerable
00:48:43vulnerable as well and they prey prey on that. So it's not just a
00:48:46a technology problem here. That's That's it's a people problem as well.
00:48:50well. Craig Jones, good to talk to to you on the programme this week. week. Thank you. Thank you very much
00:48:54much indeed. Now when we come back, back, how self-driving vehicles could
00:48:58could become a target for hackers. hackers. I'll ask the boss of a self-driving
00:49:01self-driving truck software company
00:49:03company about facing up to the security
00:49:06security challenges.
00:50:12people. For the latest, follow us us on The President's Path here on
00:50:13on BBC. News. MUSIC
00:50:25MUSIC Welcome Welcome back to Talking Business. Business. Now self-driving vehicles
00:50:28vehicles provide a new challenge challenge for cyber security. And
00:50:31And while a lot of recent discussion discussion has been about cyber taxis
00:50:34taxis and autonomous cars, the real real revolution is in the haulage
00:50:38haulage industry. Autonomous trucking trucking is one of the most complex
00:50:41complex engineering challenges of of our time, but the biggest risk
00:50:45risk isn't just a software bug. It
00:50:46It could be a malicious actor. Imagine
00:50:50Imagine an autonomous 800 £0 truck
00:50:52truck that gets hacked. Well, the the damage could be colossal. So
00:50:55So to discuss that, I'm joined by by the chief executive of plus AI.
00:50:59AI. It's a company driving automation automation of the transport sector.
00:51:02sector. David Liu welcome to Talking Talking Business. It's good to have have you here. And in this programme
00:51:06programme we're looking at the risk risk from cyber threats to all sorts
00:51:10sorts of businesses big and small small and to the wider economy from
00:51:13from where you're sitting in autonomous autonomous trucks, what does that
00:51:16that mean for you, Ben? Thank you
00:51:18you for having me on for delivering
00:51:22delivering autonomous truck security
00:51:25security and functional safety are
00:51:27are the most important. Two factors
00:51:29factors that for us. So what we are
00:51:32are building is a autonomous driving
00:51:34driving system that can drive a truck,
00:51:37truck, a 800 £0 truck down the highway.
00:51:41highway. So from a reliability and
00:51:44and security and safety point of
00:51:46of view, it is the most fundamental fundamental requirement for us to
00:51:49to design the system. And so how
00:51:51how do you make sure that it is secure.
00:51:54secure. So we design the security security from the very foundation
00:51:57foundation of the system. Every layer
00:52:00layer of the system is designed with
00:52:03with security and anti-hacking in in place. We also have detection
00:52:07detection system in place where we we can detect any intrusion from
00:52:11from a cybersecurity point of view.
00:52:13view. And we will take a proactive
00:52:15proactive action once we detect the the threat. So I suppose the question
00:52:19question is how you prevent hackers hackers getting in there in the first first place. And we were talking
00:52:23talking in this programme about how how the nature of that sort of threat
00:52:26threat has changed. It's no longer longer just about extorting money.
00:52:28money. It's now about taking control control of critical infrastructure.
00:52:32infrastructure. And with a truck truck the size that you're talking talking about here, that could be
00:52:35be a lethal weapon if it was in the
00:52:37the wrong hands. So this is exactly
00:52:40exactly what we're designing to prevent, prevent, right? So first of all,
00:52:44all, we're preventing hackers from from entering the system. At the
00:52:47the same time we're detecting any
00:52:50any type of unintended access or or intrusion to the system. And then
00:52:54then from that point on, every layer
00:52:57layer of the system we are we have
00:53:01have security in place to prevent prevent overriding of what's intended
00:53:05intended for the system to do. And And then we also have system in place
00:53:08place to shut down the entire entire
00:53:11entire truck, the entire system in
00:53:14in case where there is a, you know,
00:53:16know, an undetected or unprevented unprevented intrusion to the system.
00:53:19system. So talk me through what that that process would look like if you
00:53:23you were aware that there was malicious malicious actors in the system, do
00:53:26do those trucks just stop that they they would stop en route or are they
00:53:30they brought slowly to a halt? How
00:53:32How does it work? Yeah. So if there
00:53:35there is a fundamentally if there
00:53:36there is a threat or intrusion that's,
00:53:39that's, you know, penetrated multiple multiple layers of the system already.
00:53:43already. Ultimately the system will will essentially detect that and
00:53:46and place the truck into a safe stop
00:53:49stop and stop there for for overall
00:53:53overall humans to come over and to
00:53:54to take over the system. Also, is
00:53:57is it because there is concern too too about where the software is coming
00:54:00coming from? And we've seen this this in other industries too, so
00:54:03so it's not unique to yours, but but potentially some software coming
00:54:06coming from China that has sparked sparked concerns in parts of Europe
00:54:09Europe and the United States. How How do you assuage some of those
00:54:13those concerns? That's a broader broader geopolitical question. You
00:54:16You know, plus AI, where a company company based in the US with branches
00:54:19branches in Europe and that's the the primary market we're addressing
00:54:23addressing us, Europe and Japan. Japan. Now, you are of course, hoping
00:54:27hoping to list publicly and take
00:54:29take that technology to a bigger bigger market. What would that look
00:54:33look like? And I guess what would would you do with the money if you
00:54:35you were able to float? So we're
00:54:38we're on the cusp of a wide adoption
00:54:40adoption on commercialisation of of autonomous driving technology.
00:54:43technology. So going public would would only accelerate our progress
00:54:47progress in the industry. So we're we're very, very excited about becoming
00:54:50becoming a public entity in the coming
00:54:52coming in, in the near future. I
00:54:55I mean, it would value the company
00:54:56company at what, about $800 million?
00:55:00million? What would be the first first thing that you can do with
00:55:02with that money that maybe you can't
00:55:04can't do at the moment? So we are
00:55:07are going to use the proceeds to
00:55:09to really accelerate the R&D development
00:55:11development to develop our AI system,
00:55:13system, to be smarter and safer. safer. So we'll continue down that
00:55:17that path. OK. David Lou, really really good to talk to you on the the programme this week. Thank you.
00:55:21you. Thank you Ben. That's all for for this week. For more on the global
00:55:25global economy and the business of of powering it, check out the BBC
00:55:28BBC News website and app. But until until next time, thanks for watching
00:55:31watching and we'll see you soon. soon. Bye-bye.
00:59:15I was here at the very first protest. The corporate party had
00:59:19had organised about a month ago and
00:59:21and this is so much bigger. I've
00:59:23I've been driving towards the site site of this wildfire, but we've
00:59:26we've just stopped at the side of of the road here because of what
00:59:29what we saw out the window. This This man has been pulled out successfully.
00:59:32successfully. It's taken a mammoth mammoth mammoth rescue effort. This
00:59:35This morning. You get very little little sense of the terrible scenes
00:59:38scenes that were witnessed here last
00:59:39last night. There when the story
00:59:44story breaks, BBC News.
01:00:10Live from London. This is BBC News.
01:00:17BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what he calls mistakes as he he returns to the stage for the first
01:00:21first time since the rapper Macklemore Macklemore was dropped from his US US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
01:00:24remarks. What is happening in Gaza
01:00:27Gaza is a catastrophic and unjustifiable unjustifiable and disproportionate.
01:00:31disproportionate. My heart has been been broken by the scale of devastation
01:00:34devastation and loss of civilians
01:00:37civilians lives, of children's lives. lives. These are live pictures from
01:00:41from Germany where polls have just
01:00:43just opened in two states. With growing
01:00:46growing political pressure on Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz. President
01:00:50President Trump says he'll form an an AI force and appoint a new adviser
01:00:53adviser to oversee the industry. industry. The brother of Princess
01:00:57Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, tells tells the BBC there are echoes of of what happened to his sister in
01:01:00in the way the media is treating treating Prince Harry and Meghan.
01:01:04Meghan. And Europe's drug agency agency says Scotland's being flooded
01:01:07flooded with powerful new drugs,
01:01:09drugs, hampering efforts to cut deaths
01:01:11deaths linked to narcotics. Hello
01:01:22Hello there, I'm Rich Preston. Welcome Welcome to the programme. In Ed Sheeran's
01:01:26Sheeran's first concert since his his support act Macklemore was dropped
01:01:30dropped over pro-Palestinian comments, comments, the star has directly addressed
01:01:33addressed the controversy. Speaking Speaking before his concert in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the British singer
01:01:37singer described the situation in
01:01:39in Gaza as catastrophic and unjustifiable. unjustifiable. He said the Hamas
01:01:42Hamas attacks on Israel in October
01:01:45October 2023 were horrific, and added
01:01:47added that Israel's response since since then had been disproportionate.
01:01:50disproportionate. Before he started started singing, Sheeran apologised
01:01:52apologised to his fans for what he he called mistakes as he handled
01:01:56handled the fallout from the controversy.
01:01:59controversy. I've had to take and and make difficult decisions and
01:02:02and I am making mistakes and I'm
01:02:04I'm so, so sorry. I don't want to
01:02:07to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
01:02:10musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
01:02:13and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech in the most complex
01:02:17complex political issue on the planet.
01:02:24planet. While Ed Sheeran then directly directly addressed the situation
01:02:28situation in the Middle East. I want want to address the question of where
01:02:31where I stand in the situation in in Israel and Palestine and whether
01:02:34whether my doing this concert here here tonight implies where I stand.
01:02:37stand. I have tried in my career career not to be a political commentator
01:02:41commentator of any kind because I
01:02:42I want my music and shows to be about
01:02:45about unity, not division, about
01:02:47about humanity, not politics. But
01:02:54But this is a humanitarian issue issue and I cannot hide how I feel
01:02:57feel about it any more. What happened happened in Israel and at the No
01:03:01No Music festival on October 7th
01:03:027th was horrific and compounded centuries
01:03:05centuries of Jewish pain. What is
01:03:08is happening in Gaza is a catastrophic
01:03:11catastrophic and unjustifiable and and disproportionate. My heart has
01:03:14has been broken by the scale of devastation
01:03:16devastation and loss of civilians
01:03:19civilians lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
01:03:23injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
01:03:27overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum
01:03:30spectrum to work out how to make make a contribution that helps victims
01:03:33victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
01:03:37because I do not know enough. I honestly honestly am so grateful that you
01:03:41you are here tonight with me. While
01:03:49While Ed Sheeran also said he took
01:03:50took issue with the idea that venues venues would pre-approve content
01:03:54content or performance an hour or or so before the show began, hundreds
01:03:58hundreds of concertgoers streamed streamed into the venue, which was
01:04:00was a stripped down event, and Sheeran Sheeran went on without any opening
01:04:03opening acts. After several musicians
01:04:05musicians dropped out. Some pro-Palestinian
01:04:08pro-Palestinian protesters did gather gather near the venue. Organisers Organisers say it was so they could
01:04:12could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
01:04:14ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
01:04:17from some of them. We need more people
01:04:19people like Macklemore and like other other artists who have a voice, who
01:04:23who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
01:04:26the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
01:04:29Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
01:04:33how it feels to be oppressed and
01:04:36and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
01:04:38from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. Well,
01:04:41Well, our North America correspondent correspondent Carl Nasman was at
01:04:44at the concert and sent us this update. update. We were there and really
01:04:47really in some of the first rows rows actually inside the stadium
01:04:51stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
01:04:53I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
01:04:57how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
01:05:00his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
01:05:03moment, literally Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
01:05:07launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be
01:05:09be a prepared speech, but he kind kind of addressed a lot of things
01:05:12things that people were wondering
01:05:14wondering about specifically his his stance on the situation in the
01:05:18the Middle East and also what his
01:05:21his thought about Macklemore being being dropped from his tour. We heard
01:05:23heard the reporting that this was was due to potentially a pressure
01:05:26pressure campaign from some of the the owners of the stadiums on this
01:05:30this tour. He said he was deeply
01:05:32deeply concerned by the fact that
01:05:35that artists like Macklemore and
01:05:36and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
01:05:40of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
01:05:44there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
01:05:48cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
01:05:51being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
01:05:55that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
01:05:58here, you know, wanted to come, wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
01:06:01perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore
01:06:04Macklemore was there or not. There There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
01:06:08moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
01:06:12don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
01:06:15lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
01:06:19actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
01:06:23that I would get from people in Philadelphia
01:06:25Philadelphia at this concert, and
01:06:27and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
01:06:31Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
01:06:34he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
01:06:38moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
01:06:39Sheeran still has a lot of support,
01:06:42support, especially inside that stadium stadium behind us. Carl Nasman there
01:06:46there and Carl caught up with some some of Ed Sheeran's fans as they
01:06:49they left the gig. This is he was.
01:06:52was. He came up alone, you know,
01:06:54know, by himself. So I thought it it was beautiful that we got to witness
01:06:57witness him in his element like what what he's used to being in from the
01:07:01the start, you know? So he started started by himself and he's just
01:07:03just as good by himself then with with all these extra people. So I'm
01:07:06I'm glad we got more of Ed Sheeran Sheeran than we would have otherwise.
01:07:10otherwise. So he's going to play. play. Absolutely amazing. You want want to give us your thoughts for
01:07:13for BBC? He pulled it off. He pulled pulled it off because the question
01:07:16question was going to be, you know, know, how would he do it without without his back-up band, without,
01:07:20without, you know, the pre performers. performers. What did you think of
01:07:23of his actual performance? Well,
01:07:24Well, for being a one man band now
01:07:27now he actually did it very well. well. One of his best songs is he
01:07:31he Thinks about himself. So a lot
01:07:33lot of his best songs were sung solo
01:07:36solo when he outshined, he and he he had the audience supporting him
01:07:39him in a way that maybe he wouldn't wouldn't have been supported the
01:07:43the same way before with the whole whole band. I feel like everybody
01:07:46everybody showed him what the brotherly
01:07:48brotherly love that he does for them,
01:07:50them, and we really we really pulled pulled together. I miss how he opened
01:07:54opened the show. I didn't see how how he opened it. I mean, he I mean,
01:07:57mean, he changed his opening song, song, which was my favourite song,
01:08:00song, which was irrelevant, completely completely irrelevant. I only came
01:08:02came because I had free tickets that that were donated, and if I didn't
01:08:06didn't show up, I'd be wouldn't get
01:08:08get free tickets ever again. That's
01:08:10That's why I came. I wish I hadn't.
01:08:13hadn't. I asked entertainment journalist journalist KJ Matthews whether she
01:08:17she thinks this apology from Ed Sheeran
01:08:19Sheeran has gone far enough. I think
01:08:22think this is this first step is is a first step in the right direction.
01:08:25direction. I was impressed with his his statement. You could tell that
01:08:29that it was obviously, you know, know, written out. It was he was
01:08:31was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
01:08:34felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
01:08:37times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
01:08:41he was getting so emotional. But
01:08:43But I do think this is a first, first
01:08:46first step, really good step in the the right direction for him. Many
01:08:49Many people wanted to hear from him him much earlier, but we've heard
01:08:52heard from him now and it's interesting.
01:08:55interesting. It'll remain to be seen seen whether or not the remaining
01:08:59remaining tickets for all of his his concert dates coming up go down.
01:09:03down. I mean, what we saw before,
01:09:04before, I think hours before earlier
01:09:07earlier today, every single ticket ticket sales for his remaining concerts
01:09:10concerts were in the negative. They They were in the red, you know, up up to 50% where people were either
01:09:14either trying to resell their tickets tickets or they weren't buying tickets.
01:09:17tickets. And now I want to see within
01:09:20within 24 hours if we see whether whether those numbers go back in
01:09:23in the right direction, we do know know that Macklemore is supposed
01:09:26supposed to play in October and his
01:09:28his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've we've seen just the opposite. After
01:09:32After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
01:09:34Sheeran's tour. We of course seen
01:09:36seen saw Macklemore's social media media numbers increase, his ticket
01:09:39ticket sales increased in the opposite
01:09:42opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
01:09:45be seen whether or not this goes goes far enough, they can kind of
01:09:49of change or the damage, but I do do think he's put a lot out there there for people to kind of digest.
01:09:53digest. You know, he his point where where he mentioned that he's very
01:09:57very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
01:10:01before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
01:10:04should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
01:10:07particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
01:10:10are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is the first step
01:10:14step in the right direction for him.
01:10:16him. Right. Let's go to Germany now.
01:10:20now. It's 8:10 there and ten minutes
01:10:22minutes ago polls opened for two
01:10:26two German state elections. These These are live pictures coming into
01:10:29into us from Schwerin, which is the
01:10:32the state capital of Mecklenburg,
01:10:35Mecklenburg, Western Pomerania. Now
01:10:36Now these votes are crucial for Chancellor
01:10:40Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who's who's under increasing political
01:10:43political pressure. We can go live live to Germany now. And our correspondent
01:10:47correspondent Jess Parker, who's who's there for us? Jess, these votes
01:10:49votes taking place where you are are and also in the capital Berlin.
01:10:53Berlin. Now it comes after these these pretty impressive results for
01:10:57for the AfD. Just a couple of weeks
01:10:59weeks ago. Are we expecting a similar
01:11:03similar picture here? Yes. I mean, mean, I think it's worth talking talking a bit about the backdrop,
01:11:07backdrop, as you say. So a couple couple of weeks ago in the state
01:11:10state of Saxony-Anhalt, Alternative Alternative fur Deutschland won a
01:11:14a landslide victory. Now this is is a party that is anti-immigration,
01:11:18anti-immigration, Russia friendly friendly and one that Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads
01:11:21leads the conservative CDU party, party, had really promised to counter
01:11:24counter as part of his plans to be be in office. But that hasn't worked.
01:11:27worked. The AfD has been actually
01:11:30actually growing in popularity and and it's hoping the AfD to top the
01:11:34the polls here in Mecklenburg, Vorpommern, Vorpommern, although it looks like
01:11:37like it's now in a little bit of of a tussle after a late comeback
01:11:40comeback from the centre left SPD. SPD. But before we get too bogged
01:11:43bogged down in all of that, the big big picture is you're sort of talking
01:11:47talking about there is that if the the results are really bad for Chancellor
01:11:51Chancellor Friedrich Merz CDU party,
01:11:53party, for example, in here in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where there's
01:11:57there's a risk that his party could could even fall below the 5% threshold
01:12:00threshold needed to enter parliament, parliament, which would be a first
01:12:03first and a catastrophic first for for the party. And they're at risk
01:12:06risk of losing power in Berlin, where where they're in a neck and neck
01:12:09neck race with the left party for for first place. So if the results
01:12:13results are a kind of worst case case scenario, I think for Friedrich
01:12:16Friedrich Merz and his party, those those questions over his leadership,
01:12:19leadership, over his personal popularity popularity or lack of it are going
01:12:22going to grow louder. Jess, what what are the issues that people are
01:12:25are really concerned about? Because Because of course, the AfD bangs
01:12:28bangs the drum on immigration, but but the economy is also high up on
01:12:32on the agenda. Yeah, I mean, the
01:12:35the AfD actually is, I think talks talks now a lot about the economy
01:12:38economy as well. And Germany's economy
01:12:41economy has been stuttering for years.
01:12:43years. And I think for people in in a country that's traditionally
01:12:47traditionally been seen as the engine engine of Europe and it is still
01:12:49still Europe's largest economy, people
01:12:52people are feeling insecure about about their economic future as Germany's,
01:12:55Germany's, for example, being squeezed squeezed by China. Huge problems
01:12:59problems in the country's iconic iconic car industry. People also
01:13:02also talk a lot about the price of
01:13:04of fuel, the price of energy, the
01:13:07the general cost of living, and then
01:13:09then as well, there is a personal personal frustration that you pick
01:13:13pick up talking to people about Chancellor
01:13:16Chancellor Friedrich Merz, particularly particularly an issue people feel
01:13:19feel he has with his communication communication style. Now, some people
01:13:21people I've spoken to say they feel
01:13:24feel that he is arrogant, that he
01:13:26he is out of touch. And I think Friedrich Friedrich Merz, his backers, would
01:13:30would say that this is a man who who has had a pretty tough time internationally. internationally. There have been
01:13:33been global events going on that that have been beyond his control,
01:13:37control, and that he inherited a a lot of the problems that Germany Germany is facing, and he is trying
01:13:40trying to fix them with a package package of reforms, and he needs
01:13:43needs more time. But the question question now is whether he is actually
01:13:46actually going to get that time.
01:13:48time. Pretty unusual, very unusual
01:13:51unusual to see chancellors sort of of removed from office. A mid-term
01:13:54mid-term in Germany. It isn't like like the United Kingdom where that's
01:13:57that's become a little bit more normalised normalised in recent years. So we
01:14:00we have to be a little bit careful careful in over speculating. But
01:14:03But it's absolutely true to say that that this idea of a chancellor torture
01:14:07torture chancellor swap has been been talked about now for months
01:14:10months here in Germany. OK. Jessica
01:14:12Jessica Parker following these German German state elections for us. Jess,
01:14:15Jess, thank you as always. Now President
01:14:18President Trump says he'll form an an AI force and appoint a new artificial
01:14:22artificial intelligence adviser to to regulate the industry. Writing
01:14:25Writing on social media, he said said he would not hinder the growth
01:14:28growth of AI, but warned that the the US must maintain its lead over
01:14:31over China. Our correspondent Leigh Leigh Milner has more on what's behind
01:14:35behind Mr Trump's urgency. I think think a big part of it is that Trump
01:14:39Trump sees AI as a really important
01:14:41important area for both the US economy
01:14:44economy and also wants to do it strategically. strategically. He wants America to
01:14:47to stay out in front, particularly particularly when it comes to competition
01:14:50competition with China, and he clearly
01:14:52clearly feels that putting too many
01:14:55many restrictions on the industry industry could slow things down.
01:14:57down. So the emphasis is on keeping keeping investment and development
01:15:01development moving quickly and making making sure American companies have
01:15:05have the freedom, obviously, to compete. compete. But at the same time, there
01:15:08there are these concerns about whether
01:15:10whether the technology is developing developing faster than governments
01:15:13governments can keep up with. Well, Well, that's a really good point point because that's particularly
01:15:17particularly ramped up in the last last couple of weeks or so. What
01:15:20What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and and technology leaders are worried
01:15:24worried about the risks that could
01:15:26could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
01:15:29calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
01:15:33sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
01:15:36concerns that if AI becomes more more powerful than it could be out
01:15:40out of control, and people could
01:15:42could obviously misuse it as well.
01:15:45well. Trump, however, has taken a a different position. He's dismissed
01:15:49dismissed concerns about the potential potential dangers of AI, as we've
01:15:52we've heard, as a hoax, and believes believes that slowing down could
01:15:55could hurt America's ability to compete
01:15:57compete with China. So at the moment,
01:16:00moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
01:16:04to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
01:16:07enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
01:16:10technology develops. The US says says it's struck an alleged drug
01:16:13drug trafficking vessel in the Caribbean, Caribbean, killing four people. The
01:16:17The US military's Southern Command Command released this video showing
01:16:20showing a huge explosion after a a boat was hit, but didn't give any
01:16:23any evidence that those on board board were transporting drugs. More
01:16:27More than 200 people have been killed killed in such operations since they
01:16:30they began in the Caribbean and Eastern
01:16:32Eastern Pacific last year. Washington Washington says they are narco terrorists. terrorists. Rights groups say the
01:16:36the strikes amount to extrajudicial
01:16:39extrajudicial executions. Russian Russian state media say Ukrainian
01:16:42Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow Moscow have killed at least two people.
01:16:45people. The mayor of the Russian Russian capital said a facility the
01:16:47the Moscow oil refinery was damaged damaged and over 30 flights were
01:16:52were suspended. The attacks had persisted persisted despite a statement by
01:16:55by Donald Trump last week that the the two sides had agreed not to target
01:16:59target each other's oil facilities
01:17:01facilities because of global fuel
01:17:03fuel shortages. The brother of Princess
01:17:06Princess Diana has told the BBC that
01:17:08that he sees, quote, echoes of what
01:17:10what happened to her in the way Prince Prince Harry and Meghan are treated
01:17:14treated by the media. Earl Spencer Spencer made the comments in an exclusive
01:17:17exclusive interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Kuenssberg, during which he also also discussed claims in his new
01:17:21new book about an alleged argument argument with King Charles following
01:17:25following Diana's death. Buckingham Buckingham Palace says his recollection
01:17:28recollection has been clouded by by grief. Speaking about the Duke
01:17:31Duke and Duchess of Sussex, he said said although he wasn't there to
01:17:35to speak for the couple, people should
01:17:37should learn from Diana's example.
01:17:39example. Do you fear there is somehow somehow an an echo of what happened
01:17:43happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
01:17:46occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
01:17:49over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
01:17:51a perception in the media that I'm
01:17:53I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
01:17:56on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
01:18:00either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
01:18:03them. And I never get involved in
01:18:05in one camp or the other except as
01:18:08as a benign figure. I hope. That's
01:18:11That's my role. Do you think Diana
01:18:13Diana would identify with the attention,
01:18:15attention, the focus that has been been put on them? And with Meghan,
01:18:18Meghan, who said she felt like she she was the most trolled person in
01:18:21in the world. You know, they were were here during the summer not so
01:18:24so long ago. If you look at an article
01:18:28article in a tabloid about Diana
01:18:31Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
01:18:35you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
01:18:39I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from from Diana's example. I'm not here
01:18:43here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
01:18:45Meghan, but for anyone who's being
01:18:47being destroyed in this way daily,
01:18:49daily, it must be such a cancerous cancerous influence in their life.
01:18:53life. I saw it with Diana, I saw saw Diana, I mentioned it in the
01:18:56the eulogy, her tears of despair. despair. One of the problems with
01:18:59with Diana was she's very, very sensitive
01:19:02sensitive to criticism. And of course, course, I'm sure most of your viewers
01:19:06viewers now think, oh, she had this this splendid life and it was all all amazing. And she didn't. She
01:19:09She was so privileged and so perfect perfect in so many ways. But she
01:19:13she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
01:19:17suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
01:19:19echoes of that now. Well, in response
01:19:22response to the claims made by Earl Earl Spencer, Buckingham Palace has
01:19:25has said that the King was mindful
01:19:27mindful that the pain of fraternal fraternal grief can cloud reason,
01:19:31reason, affect judgement and colour colour memory in ways others do not
01:19:34not recognise. Even many years after
01:19:37after such a loss. The full interview interview with Laura Kuenssberg will
01:19:40will be broadcast at 630 this evening
01:19:42evening on BBC One here in the UK, UK, and will be available on BBC
01:19:46BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds from 4
01:19:494 pm. The Houthis in Yemen say they've
01:19:53they've attacked sites in the Saudi Saudi capital Riyadh and the Red
01:19:57Red Sea city of Yanbu. In a TV statement, statement, the group, which is backed
01:20:00backed by Iran, says it launched launched missiles and drones in retaliation
01:20:04retaliation for Saudi warplanes striking striking Houthi positions this week.
01:20:06week. Earlier on Saturday, a plume plume of black smoke was seen near
01:20:10near the international airport in in Riyadh after reports of explosions
01:20:13explosions at a fuel depot. Saudi Saudi authorities say they intercepted
01:20:16intercepted and destroyed a ballistic ballistic missile fired at the city.
01:20:20city. Turkey says it's ready to help
01:20:22help under a defence pact signed
01:20:24signed with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian is a research
01:20:28research fellow at the Global and and National Security Institute and
01:20:31and a non-resident scholar at the the George Washington University's University's Institute of Middle
01:20:35Middle East Studies. This is his his assessment of who has the upper
01:20:38upper hand. I think at this point,
01:20:41point, at least in the absence of of any active
01:20:47Any active signal from the United States, direct engagement engagement in the conflict. The Houthis Houthis have the upper hand. Houthis
01:20:51Houthis have a higher threshold of of tolerance for pain. Basically, Basically, the pain that the Saudis
01:20:54Saudis or the sanctions inflict on on the population of the Yemen is
01:20:57is not directly transferred to them.
01:21:00them. Saudis have a lesser threshold threshold for the pain. Saudis also
01:21:02also are dealing with economic issues. issues. There is already an instability
01:21:06instability in the energy market market and vis a vis the Saudis income
01:21:09income from it because of the war war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz,
01:21:13Hormuz, Houthis attack. Specifically Specifically speaking, the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
01:21:17which signals their willingness to
01:21:19to expand the scope of the bite,
01:21:22bite, is going to much inflict a a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
01:21:26economy. So while the militarily militarily speaking Saudi obviously
01:21:29obviously have superiority toward toward the Houthis, but in terms
01:21:31terms of the threshold of the tolerance, tolerance, in terms of the time,
01:21:34time, the situation is not in favour favour of the Saudis unless something
01:21:37something change either the Americans
01:21:39Americans get involved further in
01:21:42in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
01:21:45involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. Let's get some
01:21:48some of the day's other stories. stories. Now the new school year
01:21:51year has begun in Gaza with more more than 500,000 children going
01:21:54going back to formal education for for the first time in almost three
01:21:57three years. The UN says 97% of schools
01:22:00schools in Gaza were damaged or destroyed destroyed in fighting since the Israel-Gaza
01:22:04Israel-Gaza war began. Thousands Thousands of Argentines have marched marched through Buenos Aires. The
01:22:09The protest was against President President Javier Milei's labour policies
01:22:12policies and austerity cuts. Left Left wing political leaders and activists
01:22:15activists are calling for a general general strike. Police in the Netherlands
01:22:18Netherlands have clashed with several several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
01:22:22The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration protest
01:22:25protest be broken up after it spiralled
01:22:27spiralled into violence as protesters protesters gathered at a local park.
01:22:30park. At least 24 people were arrested
01:22:35arrested at the European Union's Union's drugs agency says efforts efforts to bring down Scotland's
01:22:38Scotland's sky high rate of deaths deaths from illegal drug use are
01:22:41are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
01:22:45and dangerous new substances. This This explosion in the supply of synthetic
01:22:48synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
01:22:52deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week.
01:22:56week. James Cook reports. This spotless
01:22:59spotless laboratory in Dundee seems seems a world away from the chaotic
01:23:03chaotic reality of illegal drug use.
01:23:05use. But scientists here are racing racing against a deadly and evolving
01:23:09evolving threat. They're examining examining samples of seized drugs
01:23:12drugs to find out exactly what's what's in them. And the answers are
01:23:15are worrying. With new substances substances emerging all the time.
01:23:19time. In terms of Europe, we are are seeing roughly about a drug entering
01:23:22entering into Europe context within within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks
01:23:26weeks something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid rapid for us to be able to keep up
01:23:29up as scientists. And that must be be dangerous. Yeah, these drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit
01:23:33illicit drug supply in Scotland is is getting more and more dangerous
01:23:36dangerous as time goes on. They're
01:23:38They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
01:23:42nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
01:23:46Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
01:23:49from Valium style pills to powdered
01:23:53powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
01:23:57Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
01:24:00This year, the figure has already
01:24:03already reached 78 million and we we can reveal detectives have raided
01:24:07raided suspected nitazenes labs in in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
01:24:10arresting five people. This is not
01:24:14not just an urban problem. The rapidly
01:24:16rapidly changing nature of the drug drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
01:24:20Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre
01:24:22Kintyre peninsula on the far west west of the mainland, to hear more
01:24:26more about what is a struggle to
01:24:28to save lives. There are all sorts
01:24:31sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
01:24:35helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature, but the staff
01:24:38staff say their job has been made made harder by the rapidly evolving
01:24:42evolving nature of drug supplies. supplies. Some of these substances
01:24:45substances are so potent that a grain grain would be enough to take somebody
01:24:49somebody over. And to kill them. them. And to possibly kill them.
01:24:52them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
01:24:54really is. I mean, I think I mean,
01:24:57mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
01:25:00ever been as riskier, as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
01:25:04what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
01:25:07better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
01:25:11reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
01:25:14about all those that we've lost through
01:25:17through substance use. So many lives
01:25:20lives lost, so much still to do to
01:25:22to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
01:25:26News, Kintyre. Now finally this half half hour. Ancient Rome has met cutting
01:25:30cutting edge technology in Croatia. Croatia. The Adriatic coastal city
01:25:34city of Pula turned its 2000-year-old 2000-year-old historic buildings
01:25:37buildings into a canvas for contemporary
01:25:39contemporary light art. Some 16 locations locations across the city were used
01:25:43used to explore themes of space,
01:25:45space, peace, nature and human relations.
01:25:47relations. In all, there were 23
01:25:4923 works featuring artists from countries
01:25:52countries including Croatia, Germany,
01:25:54Germany, Ukraine, Norway and Hong
01:25:57Hong Kong. I'll be back in a few few moments time with the headlines.
01:26:00headlines. Do stick with us here here on BBC News. Bye for now.
01:29:54you are. Business on BBC News. Make
01:29:57Make the connection. MUSIC
01:30:08MUSIC
01:30:15These are the latest headlines
01:30:16from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises
01:30:19apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage stage for the first
01:30:27The first time since the rapper Macklemore was dropped from his US US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks.
01:30:30remarks. He told fans the situation situation in Gaza was catastrophic catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. President Trump
01:30:34Trump says he'll form an AI force force and appoint a new adviser to
01:30:38to oversee the industry, warning warning the US must maintain its
01:30:41its lead over China. Polls open for
01:30:43for elections in two German states states as Chancellor Friedrich Merz
01:30:46Merz faces growing political pressure.
01:30:49pressure. Europe's drugs agency says
01:30:51says Scotland is being flooded with with powerful new drugs, hampering
01:30:54hampering efforts to cut deaths linked
01:30:56linked to narcotics. The brother brother of Princess Diana Earl Spencer
01:30:59Spencer tells the BBC there are echoes echoes of what happened to his sister
01:31:02sister in the way the media treats
01:31:04treats Prince Harry and Meghan. Now
01:31:16Now on BBC News, we're off on a journey journey of discovery to explore new
01:31:20new destinations around the globe globe and uncover hidden sides to
01:31:23to some of the world's favourite favourite holiday hotspots. With
01:31:26With The Travel Show team. Out here,
01:31:34here, it's easy to see why people people have always been drawn to
01:31:37to places like this. It's that scale.
01:31:40scale. It's the quiet. It's that
01:31:41that sense of space. The British
01:31:45British countryside. It's where so so many of us retreat to for beauty
01:31:48beauty and peace. But for more than
01:31:51than 500,000 young people every year, year, it's also the venue for what's
01:31:55what's become a proper rite of passage. passage. We're here. We're walking
01:31:58walking that way. Brilliant. For For 70 years, the Duke of Edinburgh
01:32:01Edinburgh Award scheme has helped helped generations of teenagers explore
01:32:05explore the country's wild spaces.
01:32:07spaces. And now it faces its biggest biggest challenge yet. Screen time.
01:32:10time. Will get these phones back
01:32:12back later. By phone. This phone.
01:32:17phone. Figures show children are are spending more hours online than
01:32:20than ever before. And time spent
01:32:22spent out in places like these has
01:32:24has halved. So I can't help wondering
01:32:27wondering what they're missing. I'm
01:32:30I'm Duane Fields the outdoors changed changed my life and it's given me
01:32:33me a lasting thirst for adventure.
01:32:36adventure. I'm headed to some of of the country's wildest spaces to
01:32:40to find the people dedicate themselves themselves to getting the next generation
01:32:43generation of tech addicts off their
01:32:45their screens and back outside. I'm
01:32:47I'm meeting the young explorers battling battling horizontal drizzle in the
01:32:51the Yorkshire Dales. I feel like like I've always said it's type two
01:32:53two fun when you're having it. It's It's not fun at all. But when you
01:32:57you look back, it's actually the the best thing ever. On the edge edge of the Cairngorms we meet a
01:33:01a young man who's chosen to spend spend as much time as possible offline
01:33:05offline and off grid. So inside these
01:33:09these jars here is my urine. And And we meet up with two brothers
01:33:12brothers on a mission to complete complete 500 challenges before they
01:33:16they turn 18. Every kid should experience experience something like this at
01:33:18at least once in their life. You're You're not truly living if you're
01:33:22you're not 50 notifications. So they're they're all rolling in. As governments
01:33:25governments across the globe rethink rethink children's relationship with
01:33:29with the online world. Could switching switching off be the start of the
01:33:32the greatest adventure of all?
01:33:47The weather for Cambridge is sunny and hot. There's a low chance
01:33:50chance that the heat could trigger trigger the odd thundery shower this
01:33:53this afternoon. Temperatures will
01:33:54will reach as high as 32 degrees.
01:33:59degrees. And here we come from that
01:34:02that way. Just checking that your
01:34:04your navigation is up to scratch.
01:34:06scratch. It's a big day for my son, son, Nathaniel. He's taken. On his
01:34:10his first bronze Duke of Edinburgh Edinburgh expedition in the Fens.
01:34:13Fens. Among the waterways and farmland farmland of eastern England. And
01:34:17And taking it all in his stride.
01:34:21stride. Are you excited? Not too
01:34:23too excited. No, not too excited.
01:34:25excited. You're going away from home. home. You can do what you want. You
01:34:28You can roam free. You're not excited.
01:34:31excited. Not too excited. Nathaniel
01:34:39Nathaniel is one of more than 230,000
01:34:42230,000 young people taking on a a DofE expedition this year. But
01:34:45But his generation is a world away
01:34:47away from those who first signed
01:34:50signed up in the 1950s. And now the
01:34:54the film turns to the section adventure.
01:34:58adventure. Created 70 years ago by by the late Prince Philip. The awards
01:35:01awards mission remains the same helping
01:35:03helping young people volunteer in in their communities, learn new skills
01:35:07skills and discover what they're they're capable of. But as more of
01:35:10of life moves online, what can this
01:35:12this scheme offer today? The fact
01:35:15fact is, there's a very deep need need in human nature to reach out
01:35:19out and explore beyond the security security of home. Now this need hasn't
01:35:22hasn't yet been suppressed by the
01:35:24the lure of modern mechanical conveniences conveniences and comforts, and it's
01:35:27it's pretty important that it shouldn't shouldn't be. For if we ever let
01:35:30let ourselves become slaves to our our inventions, it would be a poor
01:35:34poor prospect for us all. And part
01:35:38part of DofE is about stepping out
01:35:41out of that comfort zone. And you're you're not sitting on your devices
01:35:45devices or your games consoles or or computers. Your phones will get
01:35:48get put in bags. They will be sealed sealed away for the expedition. So
01:35:52So you've got to work as a team.
01:35:54team. Take yourself away from your
01:35:56your digital world and put yourself yourself out in the countryside.
01:35:59countryside. Good luck. Have you you all got your mobile phones with with you? Do you want to seal that
01:36:03that up and put that in your bag? bag? You will get these phones back
01:36:07back later. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Phone,
01:36:10Phone, phone. Nathaniel's now going going off with his group. And I'm
01:36:13I'm a little bit anxious. I know know he's going to be fine. I know
01:36:17know he's prepared. But just like like any parent would be, my little
01:36:20little one's going off to go, you you know, rambling around the fields
01:36:23fields and forests in this area.
01:36:32area. Yeah. So then. That's that
01:36:38that way. Well, north and then north-east.
01:36:40north-east. While Nathaniel begins begins his adventure, I'm headed
01:36:44headed north to the Yorkshire Dales.
01:36:48Dales. With its rugged landscapes landscapes attracted more than 6 6 million visitors a year. It's the
01:36:52the perfect setting for the ultimate
01:36:54ultimate DofE challenge. It's just
01:36:57just after dawn and I'm meeting Sarah, Sarah, a teacher who's taking me
01:37:01me to join her students as they embark
01:37:03embark on the final day of their
01:37:05their gold level expedition. It's
01:37:08It's really early and you're smiling, smiling, so I know you enjoy your
01:37:10your role. Yeah. You know, it's been
01:37:12been 4 or 5 days now, so we are feeling feeling pretty tired. But it's fantastic
01:37:16fantastic to be out here. You say say we where are the young people? people? So they are just up this
01:37:20this hill and they're wild. Camp Camp location. Final night. So you
01:37:23you know they're very excited. It's It's super windy up there but they're they're doing really well. Look we
01:37:27we can get some see some light just
01:37:29just underneath the cloud over there.
01:37:32there. It's not pleasant is it. I I mean you can see the winds tearing
01:37:35tearing up their tents. Yeah. No No it's definitely breezy up here.
01:37:38here. About 400m or so up so you you can feel the difference, can't
01:37:41can't you? I'll say. How was your your night? Oh. All right. A bit
01:37:44bit wet and windy. Oh, my goodness goodness it wasn't it didn't keep
01:37:47keep you up for too too long. I think think we've sort of got used to it
01:37:50it in the end. So we managed to go
01:37:52go to sleep get some sleep at least.
01:37:56least. The conditions up here aren't aren't great and I think these guys
01:38:00guys are eager to get down, especially especially after last night's wind
01:38:03wind and rain. Me? I'm doing it. it. There you go. OK. That way. See?
01:38:06See? Look. We're here. We're walking
01:38:08walking that way. Brilliant. Yeah.
01:38:11Yeah. OK. The group have been following
01:38:15following the Herriot Way. A 52 mile
01:38:17mile loop through some of the Yorkshire Yorkshire Dales most spectacular
01:38:20spectacular scenery. It's a demanding demanding route with plenty to test.
01:38:23test. Even experienced walkers. But
01:38:26But this is the gold standard at
01:38:29at work. Go on, big boys. Savannah,
01:38:34Savannah, you. Are slightly different different to some of these guys because
01:38:37because you've done the silver, haven't haven't you? Yeah, I have, I've done done silver and bronze. Really good
01:38:41good experiences I think. Yeah, yeah. yeah. And what did you what did you
01:38:43you get out of it? I feel like I've I've always said it's type two fun
01:38:46fun where it's like you when you're you're having it. It's not fun at
01:38:50at all. Yeah. But when you look back, back, it's actually the best thing
01:38:52thing ever. Lots of older people, people, you know, when they talk
01:38:56talk about young people, they say, say, oh, young people are trapped trapped in their phones and they
01:39:00they live online and they spend their their whole time looking at a screen.
01:39:03screen. Yeah. It's so false. My mum mum and I always talk about this,
01:39:06this, but she's gonna kill me for for saying this, but she's on her
01:39:08her phone more than I am really scrolling scrolling on Facebook. Oh, my goodness.
01:39:12goodness. How did you I don't know, know, grow up in this day and age
01:39:15age and not be attached to your phone? phone? I don't know, I just think
01:39:19think I've grown up valuing like like when I was growing up as a child,
01:39:22child, I preferred to be outside. outside. I think my parents taught
01:39:25taught me that like being inside
01:39:28inside on your phone all the time time isn't the best way to live life.
01:39:31life. I think I've just grown up up that way. I think they've done
01:39:33done a good job. Yeah, they really
01:39:36really appreciate that. You know.
01:39:48Yeah. Take in the view guys.
01:39:53Are you gonna miss it? Yeah, I think
01:39:57think I am. I'm so impressed by these
01:40:00these young people. We're out in in the Yorkshire Dales. We're in
01:40:03in the middle of some really rough rough weather. They've spent five five days out here. I've only been
01:40:07been out here for one. And their their spirits are up. Morale's up
01:40:11up and they're charging towards their their goal, which is that gold Duke
01:40:14Duke of Edinburgh award. How are
01:40:19are you feeling? Actually, I feel feel really proud of sort of thing
01:40:21thing and like, I feel a big sense
01:40:23sense of achievement. I mean it's
01:40:26it's so close now and I just feel
01:40:27feel very happy for all of us. Oh,
01:40:34Oh, my God. Wait, wait look, this
01:40:36this Carse. Oh, my God, guys, you've you've actually done it. Is that
01:40:40that the castle? Let's get food.
01:40:48food. All the hard work paid off. off. Does it feel good? Yeah. I think
01:40:51think we're gonna miss it, though. though. Yeah. We will, we will. Can
01:40:54Can I ask you one thing that's going going to make me look like a super
01:40:57super dad? My son has just started
01:41:00started on this journey. What tips tips can I give him to help him succeed
01:41:04succeed more? During his Duke of of Edinburgh Awards. The going will
01:41:08will get tough and when it does get get tough, keep pushing. And don't
01:41:11don't forget to pack your waterproofs. waterproofs. On a day like today.
01:41:14today. He's definitely going to need
01:41:16need it, isn't he? Yeah, definitely.
01:42:22May Williams as I eat my way around
01:42:24around Italy on The Travel Show on
01:42:27on BBC News. MUSIC
01:42:35MUSIC From From one national park to another, another, I travel north of the border
01:42:39border into Scotland's Cairngorms, Cairngorms, one of Britain's last
01:42:43last great wildernesses. This is is a landscape of mountains, ancient
01:42:47ancient forests and sweeping moorland moorland where the modern world can
01:42:49can feel a long way away. For Zeki
01:42:54Zeki Basan, the Cairngorms have always always been his back garden. As a
01:42:58a teenager he spent years living living off grid in a tepee, honing
01:43:02honing the wilderness skills that that would shape his life. Today
01:43:06Today he runs Highland Survival School.
01:43:08School. Passing that knowledge onto
01:43:11onto others. Welcome to Camp Duane.
01:43:14Duane. Can I say this is a great
01:43:15great spot? I it's not bad, is it?
01:43:20it? As we set up camp, I wanted to
01:43:23to understand what keeps drawing
01:43:24drawing him back to the wild. Zeki
01:43:28Zeki do you worry that some of these
01:43:31these ancient skills are dying out?
01:43:34out? I wouldn't use the word worry, worry, but I certainly I certainly certainly want to make it my mission
01:43:38mission to keep these skills alive
01:43:40alive and pass them on to people.
01:43:44people. And that's what I do. You You know, that's what my business
01:43:47business is, is revolved around and and it's based around teaching people
01:43:50people traditional crafts and knowledge
01:43:52knowledge and wilderness living skills skills that enable people to see
01:43:56see nature differently or certainly certainly get a feeling of comfort
01:43:59comfort within the environment because because they're realising how much
01:44:02much there is to learn. How about about you? Do you think that there's
01:44:06there's a sort of worry that these
01:44:09these skills become lost one day?
01:44:11day? I worry a little bit that maybe
01:44:14maybe social media and devices and and all these other things, distractions
01:44:18distractions are taking up a lot lot more time than I'd like them
01:44:20them to. I yeah, definitely. Yeah, Yeah, I think that's a major concern.
01:44:24concern. I mean, even when I was
01:44:27was a young boy and I'm not old, old, you know, playing outside was
01:44:30was a normal thing. Whereas I do do feel now that is definitely less
01:44:33less and less. And that is a real
01:44:35real concern for sure. To some, this
01:44:40this place can feel vast and empty,
01:44:43empty, but to Zeki it's a supermarket supermarket without walls. Every
01:44:46Every nook and cranny contains something something to eat, something to use
01:44:50use and a story to tell. So this
01:44:53this is wild mountain thyme. You You pick out a wee piece here like
01:44:56like that, crush it up in your fingers. fingers. And when you're crushing crushing a plant, you really have
01:45:00have to rub it. You have to release release those oils. You can't just just gently massage it, rub it up
01:45:04up in your fingers and then hold hold it to your nose. And you're you're going to get a really aromatic,
01:45:07aromatic, beautiful smell that comes comes from it. Does this plant look
01:45:11look familiar to you in any way? way? It does. Maybe like the top
01:45:15top of a carrot or something like like that. The carrot family, though,
01:45:18though, is a dangerous family. Many Many members are toxic and many members
01:45:21members are edible. This is sweet, sweet, Cicely, and it was actually actually introduced by the Romans.
01:45:25Romans. It's got a very sweet taste taste to it, hence the name Sweet
01:45:28Sweet Sicily. And if you pick a wee
01:45:30wee piece and put it into your mouth,
01:45:32mouth, what you'll experience is is something that's going to remind
01:45:36remind you hopefully of a sweet shop
01:45:38shop or. It tastes a little bit like like liquorice. Yeah, exactly. Close
01:45:42Close relative of this is something something called hemlock, which is
01:45:45is very poisonous. So it's you know, know, people do sometimes make that
01:45:49that mistake, smell it first. That's That's why we always use our other other senses. We don't just pick
01:45:53pick something and put it in our our mouth. We crush it, we smell
01:45:55smell it. We go through and identifying identifying scene to make sure we've
01:45:58we've got the right thing. So we're
01:46:04we're going to continue along the
01:46:06the trail here. So we've got a good good patch of nettles here. Duane.
01:46:10Duane. And what are we going to use use the nettles for. So we're going
01:46:12going to eat them. So through heat heat you can dissolve the stingers
01:46:16stingers as soon as it touches steaming steaming water or a hot pan or an
01:46:19an oven. And the stingers will just just be dissolved. And then you can
01:46:23can consume them. So you are probably probably going to get stung doing.
01:46:26doing. But I don't think you'll care. care. I think your hands are tough
01:46:30tough enough. I'm noticing you're you're slowing down and you're picking
01:46:33picking doing, having been. I mean,
01:46:34mean, can you can you can I can you
01:46:37you keep on picking? You've got a
01:46:38a lot more to pick. The nettles were
01:46:42were only the beginning a little little further on, Zeki revealed
01:46:45revealed one of the more unusual unusual ways people have worked with
01:46:48with the natural world for generations. generations. When you see this, this
01:46:51this crustose lichen which forms forms on the outside of the tree
01:46:54tree here, and this also holds a
01:46:56a long history of being used in the
01:46:59the industry of dyes. That's something
01:47:01something that I do to this day.
01:47:05day. I use lichen to basically create
01:47:07create dyes. So you can see in this
01:47:10this jar here and you give it a shake. shake. You can see there's a sort sort of like pinky, maybe reddish
01:47:14reddish colour. Really strong red. red. Yeah. And then this one here here you're getting a sort of purple
01:47:18purple colour. I'm amazed at how
01:47:20how striking these colours are. I
01:47:22I so in order to extract the dye
01:47:25dye from these lichens you have to
01:47:27to use urine. So inside these jars
01:47:30jars here is my urine and. Yeah Zeki.
01:47:34Zeki. Maybe next time lead with that.
01:47:36that. So the acid the ammonia within within urine is what essentially
01:47:40essentially pulls the dye out from from the lichen itself. Now who discovered discovered that? I mean, it's you
01:47:44you know, it's quite an amazing journey. journey. That must have been I'll
01:47:47I'll show you something that's associated associated with those dyes. And that
01:47:51that is the tartan here. And it also
01:47:53also shows the connection between between the past clans and the land.
01:47:57land. You know, if you were a mountain mountain clan, you might use blueberries
01:48:01blueberries from the hills to dye dye your wool. If you were a coastal
01:48:04coastal clan, you might use certain certain seaweeds you know, to dye. dye. If you're an inland clan, a
01:48:07a you know, in the forest, you might might use certain lichens that grow
01:48:10grow on the trees, you know, so it's
01:48:12it's it really is to do with the
01:48:14the place that you're from. For the
01:48:21the final leg of my journey, I'm I'm staying in the Scottish Highlands
01:48:24Highlands and heading to Pitlochry.
01:48:31Pitlochry. Surrounded by forests, forests, lochs and deep river gorges,
01:48:34gorges, it's a place made for adventure. adventure. It's also the perfect
01:48:38perfect place to meet brothers 14-year-old
01:48:4114-year-old Harry and 16-year-old
01:48:4416-year-old Ollie. They believe the
01:48:46the digital and outdoor worlds can can live in harmony. So our electric
01:48:50electric drill has run out of batteries
01:48:52batteries so we're having to go old
01:48:54old school. Through their social
01:48:59social media channel, the days are
01:49:00are just packed. They share adventures
01:49:03adventures on land, sea and even
01:49:05even in space. It's all part of a
01:49:08a mission to complete 500 adventures
01:49:11adventures before they turn 18. Fellas,
01:49:19Fellas, how's it going? Good, good. good. How about you? Not too bad.
01:49:21bad. This looks great. It's me. Can Can I just say I could smell this?
01:49:24this? This is how I found you guys. guys. Is that mine? Mushrooms? Yes.
01:49:28Yes. Please keep it coming. Pete.
01:49:31Pete. How did it start? When were were you younger? Our parents came
01:49:33came to us with the idea to create create a list of 50 things we want
01:49:37want to do to try and give us some some fun experiences whilst we're we're growing up. That quickly grew
01:49:41grew into a massive list of 500 things. things. Is there one? If I asked
01:49:45asked you now that stands out above above all others. Our most well known
01:49:48known and incredible one was sending sending a toy boat across the ocean, ocean, which ended up bringing us
01:49:52us two world records and by sailing
01:49:57sailing it 5000km. And then we broke broke a record again with a second
01:50:00second boat by having it sail 15,000km. 15,000km. Ollie, where does an idea
01:50:04idea like that come from? Originally Originally we wanted to do a message message in a bottle because it seemed
01:50:08seemed like a fun concept, you know, know, message in a bottle is a pretty pretty common thing to do, but we
01:50:11we want to take it to the next level. level. So we decided to take our our playmobile boat that was sitting
01:50:15sitting in our study at the time
01:50:17time and outfit it to be seaworthy,
01:50:20seaworthy, to give it a tracker and and put a little message in it saying,
01:50:23saying, if you find this and please please record where you found it,
01:50:25it, tell people about it and then
01:50:27then send it back out. Did anyone
01:50:30anyone contact you? Lots of people people find it hard. People in Scandinavia
01:50:33Scandinavia had people in Honduras
01:50:35Honduras all over the world. Well.
01:50:38Well. Off she goes. Hey, two is in
01:50:40in the water. What's coming next? next? I mean, we've actually got
01:50:43got something planned for late today. today. I'm always up for an adventure. adventure. How are you with heights?
01:50:47heights? How am I with heights? That
01:50:50That makes me worried. The Falls
01:50:54Falls of Bruar plunged through a a rugged Highland gorge, creating
01:50:57creating a natural playground of of pools, chutes and waterfalls.
01:51:01waterfalls. Which is just as well well because we're about to canyon
01:51:04canyon our way through them. Jumping
01:51:09Jumping team is by far the scariest. scariest. Thing that we let you do, do, because it's the thing that I
01:51:13I have the least control over. All All I can do is like point at the
01:51:16the wet stuff and point at the dry dry stuff and hope that you're aiming aiming for the wet stuff. Hearing
01:51:20Hearing that, is there anything in in there that makes you nervous? nervous? The jumps a little nervous,
01:51:23nervous, yeah, but I think if we we just go for it, we should be fine. fine. Yeah. What about you? I'm feeling
01:51:28feeling great about it. I can't wait wait to get in. At the moment though, though, we're gonna do a very quick
01:51:31quick practice up. So the first thing. thing. We want to do is we want to to make sure you're holding your
01:51:35your own body weight. You're holding holding a long time since I've done done some canyoning. I'm not as young
01:51:39young as I used to be. And now I've
01:51:41I've got these two whipper snappers, snappers, energetic young people
01:51:44people who are ready to show me up.
01:51:47up. I'm going to show them. MUSIC
01:52:00MUSIC Harry, Harry, this is the first jump. How
01:52:02How are you feeling? Great. Yeah.
01:52:07Yeah. MUSIC MUSIC OK, OK, show me how it's done. Oh, don't
01:52:10don't even try it. MUSIC
01:52:23In the list of adventures
01:52:24you've had, what number is this one?
01:52:28one? This is 496 now. So you're so so close to finishing. Four left.
01:52:31left. And what do you think you've you've learned from all these adventures? adventures? It's taught us a lot.
01:52:35lot. We've learned new skills, picked picked up new hobbies, found new
01:52:38new interests, learned how to face face our fears. And are you looking
01:52:41looking forward to the next four four adventures? We've got to do
01:52:44do some more after another 500. Thanks
01:52:47Thanks guys. So down here this little
01:52:49little hole is actually super deep.
01:52:58deep. MUSIC MUSIC
01:53:03So both carabiners on we're gonna walk all the way up to the
01:53:06the edge. We've got it. You've got
01:53:07got it, you've got it. Down you'll
01:53:16you'll see the other leg. You can
01:53:18can step down to that. MUSIC
01:53:29MUSIC
01:53:39Nice big confident jump out and then make sure you bring everything
01:53:42everything in. You love this don't
01:53:44don't you? I thought that was really
01:53:52really high. Was there any hairy hairy moments for you? I got a little little bit worried with one or two
01:53:55two jumps, but I was able to push push through and just do it. Yeah,
01:53:58Yeah, yeah. And what about you? I I mean, I just love this kind of
01:54:01of stuff so. I can tell your face face is beaming. Harry. Every kid
01:54:05kid should experience something like like this at least once in their their life. You're not truly living
01:54:09living if you're not. We are quite
01:54:10quite high up here, aren't we? As
01:54:15As my adventure comes to an end, end, so does Nathaniel's. OK, open
01:54:18open your phones. Well done. You've
01:54:19You've had a great day. Oh 59 so
01:54:23so they're all rolling. In. Oh, how's
01:54:28how's it going so far? Good. I just
01:54:30just got my phone back. Did you all
01:54:32all take care of each other? Yeah,
01:54:35Yeah, yeah, and you'd be up for another another expedition? Yeah. Maybe I
01:54:39I could come with you to Antarctica. Antarctica. Yes. You can now come
01:54:42come to Antarctica with me next time time around. Yeah. All right. See
01:54:46See you soon. Bye. We are never going
01:54:51going to completely eradicate screens
01:54:53screens from our lives. Maybe every
01:54:56every generation has worries about about the next thing competing for for our attention. I actually hate
01:54:59hate my. Phone on this trip. I've I've come to realise it's not about
01:55:03about getting rid of screens completely. completely. It's about finding a
01:55:07a better balance out here in the
01:55:10the British countryside, it's easy easy to remember that the most important
01:55:14important things, the things that that matter, aren't really found
01:55:17found online. Perhaps the answer
01:55:19answer isn't less screen time but
01:55:22but more real time.
01:59:28I was here at the very first
01:59:30protest. The Janta Party had organised
01:59:33organised about a month ago, and
01:59:34and this is so much bigger. We've We've been driving towards the site
01:59:38site of this wildfire, but we've we've just stopped at the side of of the road here because of what
01:59:42what we saw out the window. This This man has been pulled out successfully.
01:59:46successfully. It's taken a mammoth mammoth mammoth rescue effort. This
01:59:48This morning. You get very little little sense of the terrible scenes
01:59:51scenes that were witnessed here last
01:59:54last night there when the story breaks,
01:59:58breaks, BBC News.
02:00:09Live from London. This is BBC
02:00:12News. Ed Sheeran apologises for what what he calls
02:00:19Calls mistakes as he returns to the stage for the first time since since the rapper Macklemore was dropped
02:00:23dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian pro-Palestinian remarks. President President Trump says he'll form an an AI Force and appoint a new adviser
02:00:27adviser to oversee the industry. industry. These are live pictures
02:00:29pictures from Germany as polls open
02:00:32open in two state elections, the the political pressure is mounting
02:00:35mounting on Chancellor Friedrich Friedrich Merz, the brother of Princess
02:00:38Princess Diana. Earl Spencer tells tells the BBC. There are echoes of
02:00:41of what happened to his sister in in the way the media treats Prince
02:00:45Prince Harry and Meghan. It would would be really beholden on people
02:00:48people to learn from Diana's example. example. I'm not here to speak for
02:00:51for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone
02:00:53anyone who's being destroyed in this
02:00:55this way daily, it must be such a
02:00:58a cancerous influence in their life.
02:01:00life. And Europe's drugs agency says
02:01:02says Scotland's being flooded with with powerful new drugs, hampering
02:01:06hampering efforts to cut deaths linked
02:01:08linked to narcotics. Hello there,
02:01:19there, I'm Rich Preston, welcome welcome to the programme. In Ed Sheeran's
02:01:22Sheeran's first concert since his his support act, Macklemore was dropped
02:01:26dropped over pro-Palestinian comments, comments, the star has directly addressed
02:01:30addressed the controversy. Speaking Speaking before his gig in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, the singer described
02:01:34described the situation in Gaza as as catastrophic and unjustifiable.
02:01:38unjustifiable. He said the Hamas
02:01:39Hamas attacks on Israel in October
02:01:42October 2023 were horrific, but added added Israel's response since then
02:01:46then had been disproportionate. Before Before he started singing, Sheeran
02:01:49Sheeran apologised to his fans for for what he called mistakes as he
02:01:53he handled the fallout from the controversy.
02:01:56controversy. I had to take and make make difficult decisions and I am
02:02:00am making mistakes and I'm so, so
02:02:02so sorry for that. I don't want to
02:02:04to disappoint fans and I've never never wanted to be an activist musician,
02:02:08musician, but this has put me in in the middle of an important and
02:02:11and passionate argument about freedom freedom of speech and the most complex
02:02:14complex political issue on the planet.
02:02:18planet. Yes. And he then directly
02:02:22directly addressed the situation situation in the Middle East. I want
02:02:25want to address the question of where where I stand in the situation in
02:02:29in Israel and Palestine and whether whether my doing this concert here
02:02:31here tonight implies where I stand. stand. I have tried in my career
02:02:34career not to be a political commentator commentator of any kind because I
02:02:37I want my music and shows to be about
02:02:40about unity, not division, about
02:02:43about humanity, not politics. But
02:02:50But this is a humanitarian issue issue and I cannot hide how I feel
02:02:52feel about it any more. What happened happened in Israel and at the Nova
02:02:56Nova Music Festival on October 7th
02:02:587th was horrific and compounded centuries
02:03:00centuries of Jewish pain. What is
02:03:03is happening in Gaza is catastrophic
02:03:07catastrophic and unjustifiable and and disproportionate. My heart has
02:03:10has been broken by the scale of devastation
02:03:12devastation and loss of civilians
02:03:15civilians lives, of children's lives lives and the systemic injustice
02:03:19injustice we're seeing unfold in in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.
02:03:22overlooked. I am already speaking speaking to people across the spectrum spectrum to work out how to make
02:03:26make a contribution that helps victims
02:03:29victims of these terrible times and and listening and learning, because
02:03:32because I do not know enough. I honestly
02:03:35honestly am so grateful that you
02:03:36you are here tonight with me. Well,
02:03:44Well, he also said he took issue issue with the idea that venues would
02:03:47would be able to pre-approve content
02:03:50content or performers an hour or or so before the show began. Hundreds
02:03:53Hundreds of concert goers streamed streamed into the venue, which was
02:03:55was a stripped down event. Sheeran Sheeran went on without any opening
02:03:59opening acts after several musicians musicians dropped out. Some pro-Palestinian
02:04:03pro-Palestinian protesters did gather gather near the venue. Organisers Organisers say it was so they could
02:04:07could talk directly to people about about the conditions on the ground
02:04:09ground in Gaza. The BBC heard from
02:04:12from some of them. We need more people
02:04:14people like Macklemore and like other other artists to have a voice who
02:04:17who have a public platform to be be able to speak on behalf of the
02:04:21the Palestinian people and their their struggle for liberation. I'm I'm in solidarity with the Palestinian
02:04:24Palestinian people. I certainly know know as a black man in America, how
02:04:27how it feels to be oppressed and
02:04:30and genocide is wrong, and people people have to have the courage from
02:04:33from all walks of life to stand up up and speak out against it. Well,
02:04:36Well, amongst those at the concert concert was our North America correspondent
02:04:39correspondent Carl Nasman. He sent sent us this update. We were there
02:04:42there and really in some of the first first rows actually inside the stadium
02:04:46stadium there behind us. This was was really a remarkable moment. I
02:04:48I mean, everybody was wondering exactly exactly what might happen and how
02:04:52how Ed Sheeran could address some some of the controversy that we've we've seen really enveloping his
02:04:56his tour over the past few days. days. And this was the first moment,
02:04:59moment, literally Ed Sheeran walks walks out on stage and he launches
02:05:02launches into that speech that you you just heard. It appeared to be be a prepared speech, but he kind
02:05:06kind of addressed a lot of things things that people were wondering
02:05:09wondering about, specifically his his stance on the situation in the
02:05:13the Middle East and also what his
02:05:16his thought about Macklemore being being dropped from his tour. We heard
02:05:19heard the reporting that this was was due to potentially a pressure
02:05:21pressure campaign from some of the the owners of the stadiums on this
02:05:25this tour. He said he was deeply
02:05:27deeply concerned by the fact that
02:05:30that artists like Macklemore and
02:05:32and content of concerts could be be pre-screened by the owners of
02:05:35of these types of concert venues. venues. So I think that was also also a really important moment there.
02:05:39there. The reaction from the crowd, crowd, I think was generally very very positive. The biggest cheer
02:05:43cheer of the night was when he said said that he was committed to being
02:05:47being here tonight, to playing for for the people gathered inside that
02:05:50that stadium and to continuing his his tour. Obviously everybody here,
02:05:53here, you know, wanted to come wanted wanted to see Ed Sheeran perform
02:05:56perform whether or not he had those those opening acts, whether Macklemore Macklemore was there or not. There
02:06:00There was also this interesting moment, moment, kind of an emotional moment
02:06:04moment in the middle of his concert concert where he addressed the crowd crowd and he said, look, I don't
02:06:07don't know if you've been looking looking at social media recently, recently, but there's been a lot
02:06:11lot of stuff out there specifically specifically about me. I was actually
02:06:14actually worried coming out here here today about the reception that
02:06:18that I would get from people in Philadelphia
02:06:20Philadelphia at this concert, and
02:06:23and that was a huge cheer from the the crowd there in support of Ed
02:06:26Ed Sheeran. So I think there was was some speculation. How would he
02:06:30he stand with his fans? Would there there be protests? What would the the reaction be? But that moment,
02:06:33moment, I think proving that Ed Sheeran
02:06:35Sheeran still has a lot of support, support, especially inside that stadium
02:06:39stadium behind us. Well, also watching watching this event was entertainment
02:06:43entertainment journalist KJ Matthews Matthews all the way from LA. I asked
02:06:45asked her whether she thinks this this apology from Ed Sheeran goes
02:06:49goes far enough. I think this is is this first step is a first step
02:06:53step in, in the right direction. direction. I was impressed with his
02:06:56his statement. You could tell that that it was obviously, you know,
02:06:59know, written out. It was he was was reading it from a teleprompter, teleprompter, but some of it felt
02:07:03felt heartfelt. I could see that, that, you know, one or two times
02:07:06times he got choked up and it looked looked like his eyes were, were getting getting kind of watery because he
02:07:09he was getting so, so emotional.
02:07:11emotional. But I do think this is
02:07:14is a first, first step, really good good step in the right direction
02:07:17direction for him. Many people wanted wanted to hear from him much earlier,
02:07:21earlier, but we've heard from him him now and it's interesting. It'll
02:07:24It'll remain to be seen whether or or not the remaining tickets for
02:07:28for all of his concert dates coming coming up go down. I mean, what we
02:07:32we saw before, I think hours before
02:07:35before earlier today, every single single ticket sales for his remaining
02:07:38remaining concerts were in the negative. negative. They were in the red, you
02:07:41you know, up to 50% were people were were either trying to resell their their tickets or they weren't buying
02:07:45buying tickets. And now I want to
02:07:48to see within 24 hours if we see see whether those numbers go back
02:07:52back in the right direction, we do do know that Macklemore is supposed
02:07:55supposed to play in October and his
02:07:57his ticket sales are up 23%. So we've we've seen just the opposite. After
02:08:01After he was dropped from Ed Sheeran's
02:08:03Sheeran's tour, we of course seen
02:08:05seen saw Macklemore's social media media numbers increase, his ticket
02:08:08ticket sales increased and the opposite
02:08:11opposite was happening for Ed Sheeran, Sheeran, so it will remain to be
02:08:14be seen whether or not this goes goes far enough, they can kind of
02:08:18of change or the damage, but I do do think he's put a lot out there
02:08:21there for people to kind of digest. digest. You know, he his point where
02:08:24where he mentioned that he's very
02:08:27very concerned about stadium owners owners determining your content before
02:08:30before you can go on as an artist artist is something that we all should
02:08:33should be alarmed about in a free free world that we live in, particularly
02:08:36particularly in the United States. States. So I think that's something something that a lot of people are
02:08:39are going to be thinking about in in the future. And I think, like like I said, this is a first step
02:08:43step in the right direction for him. him. President Trump says he's going
02:08:47going to form an AI force and appoint appoint a new artificial intelligence
02:08:51intelligence adviser to regulate regulate the industry. Writing on
02:08:53on social media, the President said said he wouldn't hinder the growth
02:08:56growth of AI and warned the US must must maintain its lead over China.
02:09:00China. Our correspondent Leigh Milner Milner has more on what's behind
02:09:04behind Mr Trump's sense of urgency. urgency. I think a big part of it
02:09:08it is that Trump sees AI as a really
02:09:10really important area for both the
02:09:13the US economy and also wants to to do it strategically. He wants
02:09:17wants America to stay out in front, front, particularly when it comes comes to competition with China,
02:09:20China, and he clearly feels that that putting too many restrictions
02:09:24restrictions on the industry could could slow things down. So the emphasis
02:09:27emphasis is on keeping investment investment and development moving
02:09:31moving quickly and making sure American American companies have the freedom,
02:09:35freedom, obviously, to compete. But But at the same time, there are these
02:09:39these concerns about whether the the technology is developing faster
02:09:42faster than governments can keep keep up with. Well, that's a really really good point because that's
02:09:46that's particularly ramped up in in the last couple of weeks or so.
02:09:49so. What are some of those concerns? concerns? So some researchers and
02:09:52and technology leaders are worried worried about the risks that could
02:09:55could come with increasingly powerful powerful AI systems. They're calling
02:09:58calling for stronger safeguards and and independent checks to make sure
02:10:02sure the technology is being developed developed safely. There are concerns
02:10:06concerns that if AI becomes more more powerful than it could be out
02:10:10out of control and people could obviously
02:10:12obviously misuse it as well. Trump,
02:10:15Trump, however, has taken a different different position. He's dismissed
02:10:19dismissed concerns about the potential potential dangers of AI. As we've
02:10:21we've heard, as a hoax, and believes believes that slowing down could
02:10:25could hurt America's ability to compete
02:10:26compete with China. So at the moment,
02:10:29moment, there's a clear debate between between pushing ahead quickly to
02:10:33to maintain America's position in in AI and also making sure enough
02:10:37enough safety measures are in place place to make sure this technology
02:10:39technology develops. The US says
02:10:41says it struck an alleged drug trafficking trafficking vessel in the Caribbean,
02:10:45Caribbean, killing four people. The The US military's Southern Command
02:10:49Command released this video showing showing a huge explosion after a
02:10:51a boat was hit, but didn't give any any evidence that those on board
02:10:55board were indeed transporting drugs. drugs. More than 200 people have
02:10:58have been killed in operations like like this since they began in the
02:11:02the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Pacific last year. Now, Washington
02:11:05Washington says they are narco terrorists. terrorists. Rights groups, however,
02:11:08however, say the strikes amount to
02:11:11to extrajudicial executions. Polls Polls are now open in two German
02:11:14German states for elections, which which may further weaken Friedrich
02:11:17Friedrich Mertz's position as chancellor. chancellor. He's even cancelled plans
02:11:20plans to attend the UN General Assembly
02:11:22Assembly in New York later this week week over speculation around his
02:11:26his future. The votes are taking taking place in the capital, Berlin
02:11:29Berlin and also in Mecklenburg western
02:11:32western Pomerania. Our Berlin correspondent correspondent Jessica Parker is following
02:11:36following developments. So a couple couple of weeks ago in the state
02:11:39state of Saxony-Anhalt, a Alternative
02:11:41Alternative fur Deutschland won a a landslide victory. Now this is
02:11:45is a party that is anti-immigration, anti-immigration, Russia friendly
02:11:48friendly and one that Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who leads leads the conservative CDU party,
02:11:51party, had really promised to counter counter as part of his plans to be
02:11:55be in office. But that hasn't worked.
02:11:56worked. The AfD has been actually
02:11:59actually growing in popularity, and and it's hoping the AfD to top the
02:12:03the polls here in Mecklenburg, Vorpommern, Vorpommern, although it looks like
02:12:06like it's now in a little bit of of a tussle after a late comeback
02:12:09comeback from the centre left SPD. SPD. But before we get too bogged
02:12:12bogged down in all of that, the big big picture is you're sort of talking
02:12:16talking about there is that if the
02:12:18the results are really bad for Chancellor
02:12:20Chancellor Friedrich Mertz's CDU
02:12:22CDU party, for example, in here in in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, where
02:12:26where there's a risk that his party party could even fall below the 5%
02:12:295% threshold needed to enter parliament, parliament, which would be a first
02:12:32first and a catastrophic first for for the party. And they're at risk
02:12:35risk of losing power in Berlin, where where they're in a neck and neck
02:12:38neck race with the left party for for first place. So if the results
02:12:42results are a kind of worst case case scenario, I think for Friedrich
02:12:45Friedrich Merz and his party, those those questions over his leadership,
02:12:49leadership, over his personal popularity popularity or lack of it are going
02:12:51going to grow louder. Jess, what what are the issues that people are
02:12:55are really concerned about? Because Because of course, the AfD bangs
02:12:57bangs the drum on immigration, but but the economy is also high up on
02:13:01on the agenda. Yeah, I mean, the
02:13:04the AfD actually is, I think talks talks now a lot about the economy
02:13:08economy as well. And Germany's economy
02:13:10economy has been stuttering for years.
02:13:13years. And I think for people in in a country that's traditionally
02:13:16traditionally been seen as the engine engine of Europe, and it's still
02:13:19still Europe's largest economy, people
02:13:21people are feeling insecure about about their economic future as Germany
02:13:25Germany is, for example, being squeezed
02:13:26squeezed by China. Huge problems problems in the country's iconic
02:13:30iconic car industry. People also also talk a lot about the price of
02:13:33of fuel, the price of energy, the
02:13:36the general cost of living. And then
02:13:39then as well, there is a personal personal frustration that you pick
02:13:43pick up talking to people about Chancellor Chancellor Friedrich Merz, particularly
02:13:46particularly an issue people feel feel he has with his communication
02:13:50communication style. Now, some people people I've spoken to say they feel
02:13:53feel that he is arrogant, that he
02:13:56he is out of touch. And I think Friedrich Friedrich Merz is backers would say
02:13:59say that this is a man who has had had a pretty tough time internationally. internationally. There have been
02:14:03been global events going on that that have been beyond his control
02:14:06control and that he inherited a lot lot of the problems that Germany Germany is facing, and he is trying
02:14:09trying to fix them with a package package of reforms, and he needs
02:14:12needs more time. But the question question now is to whether he is
02:14:15is actually going to get that time.
02:14:17time. Pretty unusual, very unusual
02:14:21unusual to see chancellors sort of of remove from office a mid-term
02:14:23mid-term in Germany. It isn't like like the United Kingdom where that's
02:14:27that's become a little bit more normalised normalised in recent years. So we
02:14:29we have to be a little bit careful careful in over speculating. But
02:14:32But it's absolutely true to say that that this idea of a chancellor torture
02:14:36torture chancellor swap has been been talked about now for months
02:14:39months here in Germany. Jess Parker Parker there, there the brother of
02:14:42of Princess Diana has told the BBC BBC that he sees echoes of what happened
02:14:45happened to her in the way Prince Prince Harry and Meghan are treated
02:14:48treated by the media. Earl Spencer Spencer made the comments in an exclusive
02:14:52exclusive interview with Laura Kuenssberg, Kuenssberg, during which he also
02:14:54also discussed claims in his new new book about an alleged argument
02:14:58argument with King Charles following following Diana's death. Buckingham
02:15:01Buckingham Palace says his recollection recollection is clouded by grief.
02:15:05grief. Speaking about the Duke and and Duchess of Sussex, he said although
02:15:07although he wasn't there to speak speak for the couple, people should
02:15:11should learn from Diana's example.
02:15:14example. Do you fear there is somehow somehow an an echo of what happened
02:15:17happened to Diana? You know, Harry Harry has said on many occasions
02:15:20occasions that he hasn't felt supported supported by the institution over
02:15:23over the choices that he's made with with his life. I think there's a
02:15:26a perception in the media that I'm
02:15:27I'm on Harry's side. Well, I'm on
02:15:31on my deceased sister's son's side, side, both of them. And if either
02:15:34either of them wanted anything, then then I'd be equally there for them.
02:15:37them. And I never get involved in
02:15:40in one camp or the other except as
02:15:43as a benign figure. I hope that's
02:15:45that's my role. Do you think Diana
02:15:47Diana would identify with the attention, attention, the focus that has been
02:15:51been put on them? And with Meghan, Meghan, who said she felt like she
02:15:54she was the most trolled person in in the world. You know, they were
02:15:57were here during the summer not so so long ago. If you look at an article
02:16:02article in a tabloid about Diana
02:16:06Diana or the couple that you're mentioning, mentioning, Harry and Meghan, you
02:16:10you know, it's they can be really, really, really unpleasant. And I
02:16:13I think it would be really beholden beholden on people to learn from
02:16:16from Diana's example. I'm not here here to speak for Harry and Meghan,
02:16:19Meghan, but for anyone who's being being destroyed in this way daily,
02:16:23daily, it must be such a cancerous
02:16:26cancerous influence in their life. life. I saw it with Diana, I saw
02:16:29saw Diana, I mentioned it in the the eulogy. Her tears of despair.
02:16:33despair. One of the problems with with Diana was she was very, very
02:16:36very sensitive to criticism. And And of course, I'm sure most of your
02:16:40your viewers now think, oh, she had had this splendid life and it was was all amazing. And she didn't she
02:16:44she was so privileged and so perfect perfect in so many ways. But she
02:16:48she was really brought low by all all that criticism. And yeah, I suppose
02:16:51suppose it's a pity when I see echoes
02:16:54echoes of that now. Well, in response
02:16:56response to claims made by Earl Spencer, Spencer, Buckingham Palace said that
02:17:00that the King was mindful that the
02:17:02the pain of fraternal grief can cloud
02:17:04cloud reason affect judgement and and colour memory in ways others
02:17:08others do not recognise. Even many many years after such a loss. The
02:17:12The full interview with Laura Kuenssberg Kuenssberg will be broadcast at 630
02:17:16630 this evening on BBC One. Here Here in the UK and will be available
02:17:19available on BBC iPlayer and BBC
02:17:22BBC Sounds from 4 pm. All right, right, let's go to the Middle East
02:17:25East now. And the Houthis in Yemen Yemen say they've attacked sites sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh
02:17:29Riyadh and the Red Sea city of Yanbu. Yanbu. In a TV statement, the group,
02:17:33group, which is backed by Iran, says says it launched missiles and drones
02:17:36drones in retaliation for Saudi strikes strikes on Houthi positions this
02:17:40this week. Earlier on Saturday, a a plume of black smoke was seen near
02:17:43near the international airport in in Riyadh after reports of explosions
02:17:46explosions at a fuel depot. Saudi Saudi authorities say they've intercepted intercepted and destroyed a ballistic
02:17:50ballistic missile fired at the city. city. Turkey says it is ready to
02:17:54to help under a defence pact signed
02:17:56signed between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
02:17:59Pakistan. Arman Mahmoudian is a research research fellow at the Global and
02:18:02and National Security Institute and and a non-resident scholar at the
02:18:06the George Washington University's University's Institute of Middle Middle East Studies. He gave me his
02:18:09his assessment on who has the upper
02:18:12upper hand. I think at this point, point, at least in the absence of
02:18:15of any active signal from the United United States, direct engagement
02:18:19engagement in the conflict. The Houthis Houthis have the upper hand. Hutus
02:18:22Hutus have a higher threshold of of tolerance for pain. Basically
02:18:25Basically the pain that the Saudis Saudis or the sanctions inflict on
02:18:29on the population of Yemen is not
02:18:30not directly transferred to them. them. Saudis have a lesser threshold
02:18:34threshold for the pain. Saudis also also are dealing with economic issues.
02:18:37issues. There is already an instability instability in the energy market
02:18:40market and vis a vis the Saudis income income from it because of the war
02:18:43war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, Houthis attack. Specifically
02:18:47Specifically speaking the attack attack they made on Riyadh, which
02:18:50which signals their willingness to
02:18:52to expand the scope of the bite,
02:18:55bite, is going to much inflict a
02:18:56a much more pressure on Saudis economy.
02:19:00economy. So why the militarily speaking speaking Saudi obviously have superiority superiority toward the Houthis. But
02:19:04But in terms of the threshold of of the tolerance, in terms of the
02:19:07the time, the situation is not in in favour of the Saudi unless something
02:19:10something change either the Americans
02:19:12Americans get involved further in
02:19:15in or the Saudis allies, Turkey and and Pakistan decide to get involved,
02:19:18involved, which I doubt that at this this point at least. You mentioned
02:19:21mentioned several other regional regional players there, and that's that's part of the bigger picture
02:19:25picture here. Let's focus on Iran. Iran. How much is Iran steering the
02:19:29the ship of what the Houthis are are doing? There? Look, there has
02:19:33has always been a debate to what what extent Iran controls the Saudi,
02:19:36Saudi, whether it controls it or or not. It's hard to say that. Does
02:19:38Does Iran commanded or not? But definitely definitely Iran has influence over
02:19:42over the Saudis. Iran is at this this moment the sole sponsor of the
02:19:46the Houthis. Iranians have been, been, you know, supplying Houthis
02:19:49Houthis with the advisers, with the the they teach the they taught the
02:19:52the know how of building missiles missiles and projectiles. There is
02:19:56is an ideological affiliation. There There are some rumours about financial
02:19:59financial assistance. So they greatly greatly have influence over this
02:20:03this matter and over the Houthis. Houthis. And I believe Iran actually
02:20:05actually is gaining a lot out of of this despite whatever role Iran
02:20:09Iran is playing in the, you know, know, the execution of the Houthis Houthis campaign. What is happening
02:20:13happening right now? We are witnessing witnessing the rise of instability
02:20:17instability in the second strategic strategic choke point of the regime,
02:20:19regime, which is the Strait of the the Bab al-Mandab Strait. We are
02:20:22are now, in the circumstances that that not only there is a semi blockade
02:20:26blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Hormuz, which about one fifth of of the global energy, specifically
02:20:30specifically oil transfer through through it. We are also witnessing
02:20:33witnessing rising instability and and disruption in the Red Sea, which
02:20:36which about 20% of the maritime trade trade travels through it. Combining
02:20:40Combining these two together would would impose a great deal of pressure
02:20:43pressure on the global economy and and visa with the American population
02:20:46population who are waiting. Had the the mid-term election. This will
02:20:48will give Iran an enormous leverage leverage over the United States.
02:20:52States. Specifically speaking ahead ahead of the mid-term elections.
02:20:55elections. Let's take a look at some some of the day's other stories. stories. Now the new school year
02:20:59year has started in Gaza with more more than 500,000 children going
02:21:02going back to formal education for for the first time in nearly three
02:21:05three years, the UN says 97% of schools
02:21:07schools in Gaza were damaged or destroyed destroyed in fighting since the Israel-Gaza
02:21:11Israel-Gaza war began. Working alongside alongside UN agencies, the Education
02:21:15Education ministry's opened about about 700 new facilities. Some of
02:21:19of them are as simple as a tent.
02:21:22tent. Thousands of Argentines have have marched through the capital, capital, Buenos Aires, to protest
02:21:26protest against President Javier Javier Milei's labour policies and
02:21:28and austerity cuts. Left wing political political leaders and activists are
02:21:31are calling for a general strike. strike. Police in the Netherlands
02:21:34Netherlands have clashed with several several hundred far right demonstrators demonstrators in the centre of The
02:21:38The Hague. Authorities ordered a a planned anti-immigration protest
02:21:41protest be broken up after it spiralled
02:21:43spiralled into violence as protesters protesters gathered at a local park,
02:21:46park, demonstrators threw fireworks fireworks and projectiles at police
02:21:50police and chanted antisemitic slogans.
02:21:52slogans. Around 24 people were arrested,
02:21:54arrested, a rare catch and kill order order has been issued for a great
02:21:58great white shark off the coast of of Western Australia. It's after
02:22:01after a 63-year-old swimmer was killed killed at a popular beach on Friday.
02:22:05Friday. His body has still not been been found. It's the second shark
02:22:08shark attack in Western Australia Australia this week and the third
02:22:11third fatal attack in the state this this year. And the American footwear
02:22:15footwear company converse has withdrawn withdrawn an advert after criticism.
02:22:19criticism. It evoked imagery of the the white supremacist group the Ku
02:22:22Ku Klux Klan. Social media users
02:22:25users said. Shadows in the photograph photograph resembled a white pointed
02:22:28pointed hood, while a pair of dangling
02:22:31dangling shoes was likened to an
02:22:33an image of a lynching. Now the European
02:22:36European Union's drugs agency says says efforts to bring down Scotland's
02:22:40Scotland's sky high rate of deaths deaths from illegal drug use are
02:22:43are being frustrated by the arrival arrival of hundreds of powerful and
02:22:47and dangerous new substances. This This increase in the supply of synthetic
02:22:50synthetic opioids is one reason why why the annual number of drug deaths
02:22:54deaths is expected to rise when official official figures come out this week,
02:22:57week, James Cook reports. This spotless.
02:23:01spotless. Laboratory in Dundee seems. seems. A world away from the chaotic
02:23:05chaotic reality of illegal drug use.
02:23:06use. But scientists here are racing racing against a deadly and evolving
02:23:10evolving threat. They're examining examining samples of seized drugs
02:23:14drugs to find out exactly what's what's in them, and the answers are
02:23:17are worrying with new substances substances emerging all the time.
02:23:21time. In terms of Europe, we are are seeing roughly about a drug entering
02:23:24entering into Europe context within within kind of every 1 to 2 weeks.
02:23:28weeks. Something new will arrive. arrive. I mean, it's pretty rapid rapid for us to be able to keep up
02:23:31up as scientists. And that must be be dangerous. Yeah, these drugs are are extremely dangerous. The illicit
02:23:35illicit drug supply in Scotland is is getting more and more dangerous
02:23:38dangerous as time goes on. They're
02:23:40They're particularly worried about about synthetic opioids called nitazenes,
02:23:44nitazenes, often hundreds of times times more potent than heroin. Criminals
02:23:48Criminals are mixing them with all all sorts of other substances, from
02:23:51from Valium style pills to powdered
02:23:54powdered cocaine. Last year, Police
02:23:58Police Scotland seized £80 million million worth of street drugs. This
02:24:02This year, the figure has already
02:24:05already reached 78 million and we we can reveal detectives have raided
02:24:09raided suspected nitazenes labs in in Ayrshire and Midlothian, arresting
02:24:13arresting five people. This is not
02:24:15not just an urban problem. The rapidly
02:24:18rapidly changing nature of the drug drug supply is hitting rural Scotland
02:24:22Scotland too. We've come to the Kintyre Kintyre peninsula on the far west
02:24:25west of the mainland, to hear more
02:24:28more about what is a struggle to
02:24:30to save lives. There are all sorts
02:24:33sorts of ways to do that. This group group tries to treat trauma by helping
02:24:36helping former drug users reconnect reconnect with nature, but the staff
02:24:40staff say their job has been made
02:24:42made harder by the rapidly evolving evolving nature of drug supplies.
02:24:46supplies. Some of these substances substances are so potent that a grain
02:24:49grain would be enough to take somebody somebody over. And to kill them.
02:24:52them. And to possibly kill them. them. So this is a frightening new new landscape, really. It really
02:24:56really is. I mean, I think I mean,
02:24:59mean, it's not something I normally normally find myself saying, but but I don't think drugs have ever
02:25:02ever been as risky or as dangerous dangerous as they are now. People People just never know quite what
02:25:06what they're getting any more. And And it's a terrible thing to say, say, but with heroin it was better
02:25:09better the devil you knew. Quite Quite a statement and a reminder
02:25:12reminder of the scale of this crisis. crisis. We just want to think about
02:25:16about all those that we've lost through
02:25:19through substance use. So many lives
02:25:21lives lost, so much still to do to
02:25:24to save others. James Cook, BBC News,
02:25:27News, Kintyre. And before I leave leave you this half hour, ancient
02:25:30ancient Rome has met cutting edge
02:25:32edge technology in Croatia, the Adriatic
02:25:35Adriatic coastal city of Pula turned turned its 2000-year-old historic
02:25:39historic buildings into a canvas canvas for contemporary light art.
02:25:42art. Some 16 locations across the the city were used to explore themes
02:25:46themes of space, peace, nature and
02:25:48and human relations. In all, there there were 23 works featuring artists
02:25:52artists from countries including
02:25:54including Croatia, Germany, Ukraine, Ukraine, Norway and Hong Kong. I'll
02:25:58I'll be back with the headlines in in a few moments time. Do stick with
02:26:01with us here on BBC News.
02:29:54get the latest news wherever you you are. Business on BBC News. Make
02:29:57Make the connection. MUSIC
02:30:09MUSIC
02:30:14These are the latest headlines
02:30:17from BBC News. Ed Sheeran apologises apologises for what he calls mistakes
02:30:20mistakes as he returns to the stage stage for the first time since the
02:30:24the rapper Macklemore was dropped dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian
02:30:28pro-Palestinian remarks. He told
02:30:29told fans the situation in Gaza was
02:30:33was catastrophic and disproportionate. disproportionate. Polls open for for elections in two German states
02:30:36states as Chancellor Friedrich Merz Merz faces growing political pressure.
02:30:39pressure. The brother of Princess Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, tells
02:30:42tells the BBC there are echoes of of what happened to his sister in
02:30:46in the way the media treats Prince
02:30:48Prince Harry and Meghan. President President Trump says he'll form an
02:30:51an Air Force and appoint a new adviser adviser to oversee the industry,
02:30:55industry, warning the US must maintain maintain its lead over China and
02:30:58and Europe's drugs agency says Scotland's Scotland's being flooded with powerful
02:31:01powerful new drugs, hampering efforts
02:31:03efforts to cut deaths linked to narcotics.
02:31:11. Dolly Parton's death sparked
02:31:17a huge outpouring of love. Now on
02:31:21on BBC News, we look at why she meant
02:31:22meant so much to so many. Why the
02:31:25the world loved Dolly. And I. We
02:31:37We are Lord Wei. Dolly Parton was
02:31:40was one of the most recognisable recognisable entertainers on the the planet. I would have cried, but
02:31:43but I didn't want to mess up my eyelashes. eyelashes. She was a country singer,
02:31:47singer, a songwriter, actress, businesswoman businesswoman and philanthropist.
02:31:51philanthropist. I always say, and and it's the truth that I am a workhorse
02:31:55workhorse that looks like a show show horse. She could act, she could could sing, she could write songs.
02:31:58songs. And she was the complete package. package. To millions across the globe.
02:32:02globe. Dolly Parton was a true one
02:32:05one off. A lady who I truly believe
02:32:08believe was the most beloved human
02:32:10human being in the world. Fans from
02:32:13from Nashville. Dolly, we love you. you. To the north of England have
02:32:17have been celebrating the star's star's life. God bless her. It feels
02:32:20feels a little bit like when the
02:32:22the Queen died. It honestly does.
02:32:26does. This is how the world paid
02:32:29paid its respects to the undisputed
02:32:31undisputed queen of country. The The idea of a world without Dolly
02:32:34Dolly in it just doesn't seem real.
02:32:44real. The country music superstar superstar Dolly Parton has died in
02:32:48in Nashville at the age of 80. The
02:32:52The 25th of August 2026. The Stars Stars and Stripes are lowered over
02:32:56over the White House as news breaks breaks of Dolly Parton's death at
02:32:59at the age of 80. In New York, the
02:33:03the Empire State Building glows pink
02:33:04pink in honour of an American icon.
02:33:09icon. And in the town near her birthplace,
02:33:11birthplace, fans gather to mourn.
02:33:14mourn. Dolly is special. She is just just that diamond in a rhinestone
02:33:17rhinestone world. She was a very very peaceful person. I feel like
02:33:21like she just loved everyone no matter matter who they were, you know. She
02:33:24She was such an example of pure love.
02:33:27love. It doesn't matter what political
02:33:30political belief you have, it doesn't doesn't matter where you're from.
02:33:34from. It doesn't matter any of that. that. The confirmation of Dolly Parton's
02:33:38Parton's death was made in a post post on social media by her family.
02:33:42family. I'm representing the Parton Parton and Owens family today, announcing
02:33:45announcing the passing of my aunt
02:33:47aunt Dolly Rebecca Parton Dean sister
02:33:49sister sis aunt granny to one generation
02:33:51generation and Gigi to the next.
02:33:55next. Major stars immediately started started writing about her online.
02:33:58online. Elton John called her unique
02:34:01unique and irreplaceable. Celine Celine Dion said she had one of the
02:34:04the most joyful voices the world
02:34:06world had ever known, and Beatles Beatles legend Paul McCartney described
02:34:10described how they first met in Nashville Nashville performing at the Grand
02:34:13Grand Ole Opry. No matter who you
02:34:18you were, everyone knew who she was was and everyone had a good word
02:34:21word to say about her. And you cannot
02:34:22cannot say that about very many people.
02:34:27people. The Opry, which is known known as the home of country music,
02:34:30music, quickly changed its schedule.
02:34:34schedule. With heavy hearts, we learned learned today of the passing of a
02:34:37a true country music icon, Opry member
02:34:39member Dolly Parton. No doubt Dolly's Dolly's mark on the world and on
02:34:43on us here at the Grand Ole Opry
02:34:45Opry will be deeply felt for generations
02:34:49generations to come. And on the south
02:34:51south coast of England in Worthing, Worthing, there were audible gasps
02:34:54gasps when her death was announced announced ahead of a performance
02:34:57performance of 9 to 5 the Musical. Musical. Before we begin tonight's
02:35:00tonight's performance of 9 to 5, 5, we would like to take a moment moment to remember the remarkable
02:35:04remarkable Dolly Parton, who has
02:35:06has sadly passed away today. It was
02:35:10was absolutely extraordinary. I was was in fact, I was sitting in the
02:35:14the stalls waiting for the show to to go up. It was quite something
02:35:18something and I think that it was was great to kind of be together
02:35:22together in that moment. There was was something about her that stood
02:35:25stood out and people were attracted attracted to her. The way she spoke
02:35:29spoke to them because she was so
02:35:32so normal and nice and kind and generous.
02:35:36generous. Dolly died just a year year after her husband, Carl Dean.
02:35:39Dean. They'd been married for six
02:35:41six decades. On his death, Dolly Dolly wrote He's in God's arms now
02:35:45now and I'm OK with that. I am a
02:35:49a person of faith and I truly believe believe that I'm going to see him
02:35:52him again someday. And I see him him every day in my memories and
02:35:55and in my heart and in all the things things that we used to do and all
02:35:58all the things that we built together.
02:36:03together. Just months after her husband's husband's death, fears for Dolly's
02:36:07Dolly's own health started to appear
02:36:09appear in the press, prompting messages
02:36:11messages of reassurance. The good
02:36:14good news is I'm responding really
02:36:16really well to meds and treatments
02:36:19treatments and I'm improving every
02:36:20every day. In early August 2026,
02:36:242026, she posted about her upcoming upcoming projects, including a Dolly
02:36:28Dolly Parton musical, which is due due to open on Broadway in December
02:36:31December 2026. I will be there as
02:36:33as much as I can be and of course,
02:36:36course, good Lord willing and the the Creek don't rise. I will definitely
02:36:39definitely be there on the opening opening night. And she was looking
02:36:42looking forward to the opening of
02:36:44of her hotel in Nashville. From rags
02:36:47rags to rhinestones. I've been blessed blessed with a life full of stories.
02:36:51stories. And now I finally get to
02:36:53to share them all with you in one
02:36:57one place. I think the first time time we realised that it was actually
02:37:01actually something more serious was was when in May, when her Vegas residency
02:37:04residency was cancelled, because because that is a very big thing. thing. At that point we knew she
02:37:08she wasn't well enough to perform perform probably ever again. And
02:37:12And in recent times, you know, there there have been a few things she's she's missed. She missed her 80th
02:37:1680th anniversary celebration at the the Grand Ole Opry, even, I think
02:37:19think just over ten days before she she died, she was meant to be at
02:37:22at her theme park in Pigeon Forge, Forge, Dollywood, and opening one
02:37:26one of their new rides. And she pulled
02:37:28pulled out at the last minute. Her
02:37:33Her death, after what was described described as a brief battle with
02:37:36with cancer, was a shock to millions. millions. We texted each other straight
02:37:39straight away being like, oh, my my God. Immediately you start to
02:37:42to reminisce about all the small small and big things that have happened
02:37:46happened throughout her career and and throughout our career that she
02:37:49she has been unknowingly very influencing. influencing. She's got such an amazing
02:37:52amazing story of how she started
02:37:55started out, how she has impacted
02:37:57impacted the industry as a whole
02:37:59whole so positively. So just how
02:38:04how could a woman from rural Tennessee Tennessee spark such an outpouring
02:38:07outpouring of grief from around the
02:38:11the world? Dolly Rebecca Parton was
02:38:14was born in Tennessee into a large large family. She described in her
02:38:17her own words as dirt poor. I grew grew up in the Great Smoky Mountains
02:38:21Mountains of East Tennessee in a a family of 12 children. We had six
02:38:24six girls and six boys and of course course we were just farm folks and
02:38:28and we didn't have things that money money could buy. And of course we
02:38:31we didn't make money. We grew our our own food and we just made our
02:38:34our living from the land. She said
02:38:37said she was inspired to sing by by one of her uncles, who suggested
02:38:40suggested she did one day, and then
02:38:42then obviously she had a real talent.
02:38:45talent. In this footage shot by an
02:38:46an amateur filmmaker in 1961, Dolly
02:38:49Dolly plays for a local radio station station in Knoxville, Tennessee.
02:38:53Tennessee. The world famous Grand Grand Ole Opry, America's oldest
02:38:56oldest and most famous country music
02:38:58music show. On Lord Bach King Khalid
02:39:01Khalid Tolu. At the age of 13, she she made her first appearance at
02:39:04at the home of country music, the
02:39:06the Grand Ole Opry. So I just walked walked up to Jimmy C Newman and I
02:39:10I said, Jimmy, I want to sing. So So he told Johnny Cash that I was
02:39:13was going to sing and Johnny introduced introduced me and I sang my little little heart out and I just tore
02:39:17tore the house down. I know now it it was because I was little, but but I just sang it over and over
02:39:21over and over and boy, I thought thought then I was going to be a
02:39:24a big star. The Grand Ole Opry was, was, was very much about family and
02:39:28and things, and if an uncle knew knew someone then they would have
02:39:31have said, this is going to be worth worth doing. When you go to the Opry,
02:39:34Opry, it's quite often there'll be be somebody there who's a relative
02:39:36relative of someone famous. It was
02:39:39was the start of a long association association with the Opry, and Nashville
02:39:43Nashville was where she met her husband,
02:39:44husband, Carl. She wanted to be a
02:39:47a star and she found someone who who was something of a recluse and
02:39:50and was quite happy if she wasn't
02:39:52wasn't taking him to things. Dolly
02:39:57Dolly is not only a great singer, singer, but she's a fine songwriter
02:40:00songwriter too. And this is a number number you wrote isn't. Nashville
02:40:03Nashville is a hard town to break break into in the music industry.
02:40:06industry. It takes a lot. So she she had that talent. She put the
02:40:10the hard work in and she was successful
02:40:12successful and kind of took those those opportunities. I would be doing
02:40:15doing my music, writing my songs songs if I had to sell them out of of the trunk of my car. And I've
02:40:19I've done that in the early days
02:40:21days when I was young and trying
02:40:24trying to get things going. So I I would do it no matter what, even
02:40:27even if I had to take another job.
02:40:29job. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene. Jolene.
02:40:34Jolene. Her music was rooted in personal personal experiences of love and
02:40:38and loss. Like Jolene, for example.
02:40:41example. There was a lot of songs songs at that time about like being
02:40:44being sassy to the Woman or You Ain't Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man.
02:40:48Man. And she brought a song out that that was empathetic to the woman.
02:40:51woman. She was like understanding understanding why the woman would
02:40:54would take her man, but she was pleading pleading from a vulnerable perspective
02:40:58perspective rather rather than from from an angry perspective or like like a woman hating spectrum. Yeah.
02:41:02Yeah. So she was still a woman's
02:41:03woman's woman. My coat of many colours
02:41:07colours that my mama made for me.
02:41:10me. Dolly was a storyteller who would
02:41:12would turn to her own family for
02:41:15for material. Her upbringing in the
02:41:17the Smoky Mountains, lots of siblings. siblings. Growing up very, very poor.
02:41:21poor. She wrote songs like The Coat Coat of Many Colours, which is about
02:41:23about her mama who made her this this coat. She writes about being
02:41:27being poor, about not knowing how how to read. It was very much rooted
02:41:31rooted in family values, and she
02:41:33she continued that in all of her
02:41:35her writing throughout her career. career. The most important thing
02:41:38thing in her life from the beginning beginning to the end was her family.
02:41:42family. She didn't go off and find
02:41:44find a different husband. She. She
02:41:47She didn't change the way she was. was. I think she wanted to be Dolly
02:41:51Dolly Parton professionally, but but privately she was Dolly Dean,
02:41:54Dean, which was the name on all the the paperwork we had because again,
02:41:58again, if she went through passport passport control looking as she normally
02:42:01normally did not as Dolly Parton, Parton, no one would have realised
02:42:04realised who she was. In her lifetime.
02:42:06lifetime. Dolly Parton wrote more
02:42:08more than 3000 songs and sold over over 100 million records, becoming
02:42:12becoming one of the most successful successful country artists of all
02:42:14all time. I'm proud to be a woman
02:42:17woman in this business. Dolly started started out and continued, no matter
02:42:20matter how big she got, writing her
02:42:22her own material and being the voice
02:42:25voice of her own songs. And obviously obviously we've heard some massive
02:42:28massive covers like I Will Always
02:42:31Always Love You and people will cover cover Dolly forever. We've covered
02:42:34covered Jolene and 9 to 5 and hopefully
02:42:36hopefully many more. If I should
02:42:43should stay. Dolly wrote songs that that other artists were desperate
02:42:46desperate to get their hands on, on, including stars like The King,
02:42:50King, Elvis Presley. So I'll go.
02:42:54go. Elvis heard this song and wanted
02:42:55wanted to record it and he was very very keen, but the manager rang up
02:42:59up and said, If Elvis records a song, song, we have half the publishing.
02:43:02publishing. And Dolly said, no. And
02:43:07And I. Will half way love you. And
02:43:14And this is the business side of
02:43:16of her coming through for sure. And
02:43:19And then several years after that,
02:43:22that, Whitney Houston sang it and and The Bodyguard and it was it felt
02:43:26felt like 20 million copies. That
02:43:28That single. When she brought country country to Glastonbury, her popularity
02:43:32popularity pulled in an enormous enormous crowd. Among them were the
02:43:35the British Country act Ward Thomas.
02:43:40Thomas. In 2014 was the year that that we first released our first
02:43:43first ever album, and it was the
02:43:44the same year that she played Glastonbury
02:43:47Glastonbury and pulled the biggest biggest audience of the weekend.
02:43:50weekend. And I think with two young young British girls saying we want
02:43:53want to do country music and going going out into the world and saying,
02:43:57saying, hey, will you take us seriously? seriously? I think if it wasn't for
02:44:00for people like Dolly or specifically specifically Dolly and what she had
02:44:03had done before, people probably probably wouldn't have.
02:45:07right of reply has had its day. It's
02:45:08It's all on The Media Show and BBC
02:45:11BBC News. MUSIC
02:45:21MUSIC In In a world away from music, Dolly
02:45:23Dolly fought to be taken seriously.
02:45:25seriously. By this kind of work without without fear because it's fun for
02:45:29for me. It's like if I fail, it's it's no big deal. If something don't
02:45:31don't work out, I'm not afraid of of failure because to me I never
02:45:35never feel like a loser. But Dolly Dolly was not a loser. In addition
02:45:39addition to her musical success, success, she became an acclaimed
02:45:42acclaimed actress and she was also also behind many business ventures.
02:45:46ventures. Her last public appearance appearance was at the opening of
02:45:48of Dolly's Tennessee and Travel Stop. Stop. We're not trying to compete
02:45:52compete with anybody. We don't think think we'll have to. We think we're we're going to have everything that
02:45:56that you want or need. But her most
02:46:00most famous business venture is Dollywood, Dollywood, a theme park near where
02:46:04where she was raised in the Smoky
02:46:06Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Come
02:46:08Come on down to Dollywood, come on on down to Dollywood, you'll have
02:46:12have fun and we'll treat you good. good. So come on down to Dollywood.
02:46:15Dollywood. It's better on fast songs. songs. Paradise roads. Not that fast. fast. Might as well play the bongos
02:46:19bongos while I'm here. I took the
02:46:22the family to Dollywood in 2003,
02:46:252003, and I did ask how many of Dolly's Dolly's relatives work here, and
02:46:28and it was over 40 people she was was employing. She had this enormous
02:46:32enormous number of relatives and and people that she knew, and she
02:46:34she was very concerned to help them them not doing things for them, but
02:46:38but giving them jobs and things like
02:46:39like that. Dolly's appeal reached
02:46:42reached far beyond music. Her support
02:46:43support for minority groups, particularly
02:46:46particularly in the LGBTQ community, community, was legendary. Working
02:46:50Working 9 to 5. What a way to make
02:46:53make a living barely getting by.
02:46:55by. Her 9 to 5 co-star Jane Fonda's
02:46:58Fonda's tribute included a poignant
02:47:00poignant reminder of Dolly's solidarity
02:47:03solidarity with her fans. She wrote wrote to her gay and trans fans I
02:47:06I want you to know that she loved loved you, adding that she loved
02:47:09loved all her fans and they are legion.
02:47:13legion. I think the world we live live in at the moment, it's tough.
02:47:16tough. It's difficult for a lot of of people and actually you want to
02:47:19to have someone or something that that you can kind of look to make
02:47:22make you feel good about yourself. yourself. And Dolly, she made people
02:47:25people feel good about herself, whether whether it was her performances,
02:47:28performances, whether it was her her mantras. I mean, she's got so so many quotes that I live by every
02:47:32every single day. It takes a lot lot of money to look this cheap.
02:47:34cheap. Did you say that? Well. Yeah, Yeah, I said that and I meant that.
02:47:38that. A lot of people think that's that's a joke. That's the biggest
02:47:40biggest truth I ever told. You have have no idea how much it cost to
02:47:44to make a person look this cheap.
02:47:48cheap. She was often pressed by journalists journalists to comment on political
02:47:51political issues, but used her trademark
02:47:53trademark warmth and humour to deflect
02:47:56deflect difficult questions. It was
02:47:58was very significant that President
02:48:00President Trump put up a positive
02:48:04positive tribute to her, and she she was someone who clearly didn't
02:48:06didn't believe in a lot of things things that he did. But she managed
02:48:10managed to always not get political,
02:48:12political, never to cross a line. line. And that was something in a
02:48:16a way that was a legacy that she's she's passed on. Because if you want
02:48:19want to be like Dolly Parton, you you could be so successful. I don't
02:48:23don't think of myself at all as being
02:48:26being political. And that's the worst worst thing that I could think about.
02:48:29about. So there will never be a time time when Dolly Parton says, I'm
02:48:33I'm gonna run for office. That's
02:48:35That's never gonna happen. From office.
02:48:39office. Actually, they're back home. home. They have a lot of signs everywhere.
02:48:43everywhere. Dolly for president and
02:48:45and my joke is no, we've had enough
02:48:47enough boobs in the White House. House. Republicans love her. Democrats
02:48:51Democrats love her. She never, ever ever brought politics into her music.
02:48:54music. I think she spoke to people people through the work she did and
02:48:57and through the song lyrics she wrote. wrote. Dolly's support for what she
02:49:01she deemed worthwhile causes is renowned.
02:49:03renowned. Got it, I got it. OK. I
02:49:06I didn't hurt. Dolly donated significant significant amounts of her fortune fortune to the causes she believed
02:49:10believed in. She pledged $1 million
02:49:13million to support vaccine research research during the Covid pandemic.
02:49:16pandemic. OK. I'm joking. You do
02:49:18do what you gotta do. Even getting
02:49:20getting behind campaigns to encourage encourage people to get vaccinated.
02:49:24vaccinated. She was a force for good good in the world, and she was someone someone that we could all kind of
02:49:28of turn to whenever things got tough. tough. So and the idea of a world
02:49:32world without Dolly in it just doesn't
02:49:34doesn't seem real. Vaccine, vaccine,
02:49:38vaccine, vaccine vaccine. I'm begging
02:49:39begging of you. Please don't hesitate.
02:49:43hesitate. Hello, I'm Dolly, do you
02:49:45you love books? Me too. Dolly knew
02:49:47knew how to connect with people in
02:49:50in 2015, she adopted a well-known well-known East Midlands phrase to
02:49:53to promote the expansion of her Imagination Imagination Library Project, a global
02:49:57global scheme that sends free books
02:49:59books to children. Hey everybody, everybody, this is Dolly. Or should
02:50:03should I say hey up me duck. I hope
02:50:05hope I said that right because if
02:50:08if I didn't, everybody in Nottingham Nottingham is going to be offended. offended. There's so many children
02:50:12children that may have grown up illiterate illiterate if it hadn't been for
02:50:15for her Imagination Library. And
02:50:16And that's her money going into completely
02:50:19completely non-profit. But to help help young children learn to read, read, which is obviously something
02:50:23something that was very important important to her, especially as someone
02:50:25someone that's such a way of words.
02:50:28words. Thank you for my books, Ali.
02:50:30Ali. You are. Welcome. You're the
02:50:33the one who makes it worthwhile. worthwhile. In Dundee, this Dolly
02:50:37Dolly superfan and local councillor councillor helped set up the city's city's branch of the Imagination
02:50:41Imagination Library. He says she'll she'll be remembered forever. So
02:50:45So we had a launch event and I do do remember the door had opened unless
02:50:48unless we thought she was only about about 2 or 3. As soon as the door
02:50:51door opened she saw the dolly stand stand up and she went. Dolly and and went running to Dolly. So I suppose
02:50:55suppose the legacy I hope to leave leave for children in Dundee, Scotland.
02:50:59Scotland. The world is that every every time they open a book, the
02:51:01the legacy of Dolly Parton will live
02:51:03live on forever. And even the Prime
02:51:06Prime Minister recognised her philanthropy. philanthropy. I was a huge fan of
02:51:09of what Dolly did around literacy,
02:51:11literacy, around the world. I was was culture secretary when her libraries
02:51:15libraries were first coming through, through, and the books that went
02:51:18went into communities across Britain,
02:51:20Britain, you know what a legacy to
02:51:24to leave. The Royal Family said she
02:51:26she brought joy, comfort and inspiration
02:51:29inspiration as the King's Guard played played 9 to 5 outside Buckingham
02:51:32Buckingham Palace in honour of the
02:51:34the Queen of country. And the band
02:51:43band will play on for Dolly even
02:51:45even after her death. I think the
02:51:50the plan she's had are going to come come together. Her team are going going to put them out and they're
02:51:54they're still unreleased music as as well. Apparently that is still still to come, so I think she still
02:51:58still has it all worked out and I'm I'm actually really excited to see
02:52:01see the plans because I know this this isn't the end of what we're
02:52:04we're going to see of Dolly. The
02:52:06The weekend after her death at festivals festivals in the UK, Dolly Parton
02:52:09Parton was honoured with renditions
02:52:11renditions of her most famous tracks.
02:52:15tracks. I've grown up on artists artists like Dolly Parton. Of course
02:52:18course we lost an icon. We played played Jolene on the first set as
02:52:21as a little tribute to Dolly. Oh,
02:52:24Oh, she's just beautiful. It's heart heart and soul of country. And how
02:52:27how did you feel when you found out out the sad news really let down?
02:52:31down? Your girlfriend cried for two
02:52:33two days. She was very upset. Just
02:52:36Just been there from day one for
02:52:38for all the country fans. Yeah, God
02:52:42God bless her. And in Nashville in
02:52:45in Tennessee country's megastars megastars remember Dolly with a special
02:52:48special show at the Opry. We promise
02:52:52promise to never forget you and we'll
02:52:55we'll think of you each step of the
02:52:59the way. Dolly once said, never ignore
02:53:08ignore your roots, your home or your your hair. It's guidance that she
02:53:11she stayed true to throughout a seven
02:53:14seven decade career that saw countless
02:53:17countless accolades for her singing,
02:53:18singing, songwriting and philanthropy.
02:53:22philanthropy. Everybody should be be who they are, and I even wrote wrote a song called Whatever You
02:53:26You Are. Be that. Whatever you do, do, do that anything else is just
02:53:29just an act. So whoever you are,
02:53:31are, be that. And so I feel about.
02:53:33about. You're the best person in
02:53:35in the world, Dolly. Dolly Parton.
02:53:40Parton. A courageous and talented talented trailblazer for country
02:53:43country music at a time when women women were not taken seriously in
02:53:47in the industry, especially as solo solo artists. I feel I should share
02:53:50share this with all the girls that
02:53:51that I just sang a song with. I have
02:53:55have all these women say that I've I've inspired them. It makes me feel
02:53:58feel proud that I've done something something right. I think we'll remember
02:54:02remember Dolly Parton as a one-off.
02:54:04one-off. She was a once in a lifetime lifetime person. I'm so grateful
02:54:07grateful that we got to be on earth earth at the same time. Oh, I know,
02:54:11know, I think we always remember remember Dolly as a bright, colourful
02:54:14colourful soul that was on this earth. earth. I've had a wonderful life.
02:54:18life. I have so many people to thank,
02:54:21thank, but none more than you, my
02:54:24my fans. I will always love you.
02:54:26you. So thank you. Her music has has just been there for me through
02:54:30through everything. So as a fan it it is really sad that she's not here
02:54:34here any more. But I'm gonna continue.
02:54:37continue. I'm going to continue living living like Dolly would and you know,
02:54:40know, use the lessons she taught
02:54:43taught me. Dolly Parton, the country
02:54:46country singer and songwriter from from the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee,
02:54:50Tennessee, will be remembered for
02:54:52for her warmth, wit and immense talent
02:54:55talent and of course, her hit songs.
02:55:30MUSIC
02:59:20Being able to inspire someone
02:59:22is always the greatest joy. I saw saw Souza one time at the Grammys
02:59:26Grammys and she said that she studied studied some of my songs for their their songwriting, and I thought
02:59:29thought that that was the biggest biggest compliment ever. My support
02:59:33support for Ukraine is unwavering.
02:59:36unwavering. It is 100%. When the
02:59:38the big names talk, they talk to
02:59:41to us.
03:00:10Hello, live from London. This
03:00:13is BBC News. These are live pictures pictures from Germany where polls
03:00:15polls are open in two states. Political Political pressures are mounting
03:00:19mounting on Chancellor Friedrich Friedrich Merz. Ed Sheeran apologises
03:00:23apologises for what he calls mistakes mistakes as he returns to the stage
03:00:26stage for the first time since rapper rapper Macklemore was dropped from from his US
03:00:34Dropped from his US tour over pro-Palestinian remarks. The brother brother of Princess Diana, Earl Spencer, Spencer, tells the BBC that there
03:00:38there are echoes of what happened happened to his sister in the way way the media is treating Prince
03:00:41Prince Harry and Meghan. It would would be really beholden on people
03:00:44people to learn from Diana's example. example. I'm not here to speak for
03:00:47for Harry and Meghan, but for anyone
03:00:50anyone who's being destroyed in this
03:00:52this way daily, it must be such a
03:00:55a cancerous influence in their life. life. Houthis say they've launched
03:00:58launched missiles and drones at