29/08/2014 World News Today


29/08/2014

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This is BBC World News Today with me Alice Baxter.

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Russia's actions in Ukraine are a blatant violation of Ukrainian

:00:12.:00:17.

sovereignty - that's the view from NATO after an emergency summit.

:00:18.:00:21.

NATO's Secretary General says Russia's action defied all

:00:22.:00:24.

After three-and-a-half years of conflict, the number of Syrian

:00:25.:00:30.

refugees registered in neighbouring countries has reached three million.

:00:31.:00:35.

The terror threat to the UK is raised from substantial to severe.

:00:36.:00:38.

The Prime Minister says Islamic State militants cannot be ignored.

:00:39.:00:49.

The ambition to create an extremist caliphate at the heart of Iraq and

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Syria is a threat to our own security.

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And as Charlie and the Chocolate factory turns 50, Roald Dahl's

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We begin with the ongoing conflict in Eastern Ukraine.

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The head of Nato has accused Russia of blatantly violating Ukraine's

:01:18.:01:21.

sovereignty and engaging in direct military operations to

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The remarks by Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh

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Rasmussen come as Ukraine's Prime Minister said he was

:01:31.:01:34.

putting the country on course for Nato membership.

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Russia continues to deny sending troops and arms across the border

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but, as the conflict continues, the scale of the suffering has been

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It says nearly 2,600 people have been killed since April

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when Russia's annexation of Crimea prompted

:01:58.:02:01.

the rebels to take control of large parts of Donetsk and Luhansk.

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Pro-Russian rebels continue a fightback against Ukrainian

:02:05.:02:10.

government troops after weeks in which they have been forced onto

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This is unverified footage, but significantly, Kiev and the West say

:02:14.:02:19.

this fightback has been fortified by escalating Russian military

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involvement prompting an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors.

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Today, we expressed strong solidarity with Ukraine.

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At the Wales summit next week, we will meet President Poroshenko

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to make clear NATO's unwavering support for Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian prime minister has just said that his government

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would ask Parliament to seek Nato membership.

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The NATO response, a cautious one, that it respects the Kiev decision.

:02:59.:03:04.

And the word from Washington is the response to Russia is not

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Russia is already more isolated than at any time since the Cold War.

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Capital is fleeing. Investors are staying out.

:03:16.:03:17.

This ongoing Russian incursion into Ukraine will only bring more

:03:18.:03:21.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels this weekend will now look at tougher

:03:22.:03:27.

sanctions against Russia following this new turn in the crisis.

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But how effective can they be given the stakes in this for the Kremlin?

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still denies any such involvement. says shows Russian combat forces in

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A defiant rally by Ukrainian loyalists in a south eastern town

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suddenly under threat from the latest rebel successes.

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Their opinion of the Russian president Vladimir Putin is clear

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But in his latest remarks, the Russian leader has responded

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with a Nazi analogy of his own, accusing Kiev of an assault on

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Eastern Ukraine reminiscent of the siege of Leningrad in World War II.

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The wreckage and the costs of this conflict in Ukraine

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A way out of it, however, seems as elusive as ever.

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Joining me now from Washington is Ian Brzezinski

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who served as the deputy assistant secretary of defence for European

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He's now a senior fellow at the influential think tank

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Thank you for joining us. What do you think is the likelihood of NATO

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accepting Ukraine as a member? Very unlikely because Ukraine is not

:04:56.:05:01.

prepared for NATO membership. It does not meet the requirements for

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NATO membership. But I think it is a positive sign and a good step to say

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that needle's door is open. -- NATO. Why does Ukraine not meet the

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requirements? It has a weak economy, it has systemic corruption problems,

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there are probably deep Russian penetrations of it's that its

:05:35.:05:46.

services. But Ukraine's European aspirations are legitimate and

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should be supported by the West. Do you believe that that position is

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understood in Ukraine? If you listen to President Poroshenko, it would

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seem that they believe that membership of NATO is imminent. I

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think it is more in the future. It took Poland, the Czech Republic and

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the Baltic states and Romania to take some time to gain membership.

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But their aspirations should be supported. This is not the first

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time needle has sought NATO membership. In the 1980s, there was

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an interest expressed. Yet comments being made by Anders Fogh

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Rasmussen, is that not intensifying the situation on the ground?

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Condemnation should be directed towards Russia for invading Ukraine.

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It has significantly increased Ukrainian in test in NATO membership

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at political and public level. For President Putin, he has repeatedly

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made it clear that membership of NATO would very much be a red line

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for him. It is pretty outrageous for a country like Russia to assert that

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he can determine their political orientation of other states. Ukraine

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is a European state, it has legitimate aspirations to become

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part of the European union, it is natural for it to seek NATO

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membership. Thank you for joining us.

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The Syrian refugee crisis is being called

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the biggest humanitarian emergency of our era by the United Nations.

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The conflict started three and a half years ago

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and the number of refugees now registered in neighbouring countries

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That's an increase of one million in just a year.

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Inside Syria, there are another six and a half million displaced people.

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Altogether, that means nearly half of Syria's 18 million population

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The UN says the world is failing to meet the needs of the refugees

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Among them, thousands who fled Mount Sinjar near the Iraqi city of Mosul.

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Our correspondent Gabriel Gatehouse met some

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of those who managed to escape, but paid an enormous sacrifice.

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You may find parts of his report disturbing.

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These are some of the children who have made it from Mount Sinjar.

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Many have lost friends or family, all are now homeless.

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But they are alive and they are happy about that.

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But for many, self-preservation came at a huge cost.

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As Yazidis fled in their thousands, this policeman was struggling.

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He and his wife had three kids, too young to walk.

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The fighters from the Islamic State at their backs, they were forced to

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make an almost impossible decision, to leave their four-year-old son

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There was a hut by the side of the road.

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It must have been a very difficult decision to make.

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To leave one of your children behind as you fled?

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But Kurdish fighters later found the boy and brought him to a hospital

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Here, the BBC found him, badly dehydrated

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No one knew his name or who his parents were.

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Jalal was eventually alerted by a relative who saw a picture

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He made the journey to Syria yesterday,

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We travelled to the frontline of the now meaningless border

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These fighters, mostly Syrian Kurds, have been battling IS

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They say they are not intimidated by the Islamist group's gruesome

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You can see buildings just a few hundred metres from here.

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That is where the Isis fighters are based.

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These two sides are literally eyeball to eyeball here.

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As we watched, the fighters spot some IS patrols on

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They fire off a few shots, just to remind them that we are

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The people in this camp don't even count

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towards the figure of 3 million refugees from the Syrian war.

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Thousands of Yazidis have found temporary refuge here inside Kurdish

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But they don't feel safe and many say they have already made

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up their minds to abandon their homeland for good.

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With me now is Andrej Mahecic, the spokesperson to the United Nations

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This 3 million, it is a grim milestone to have reached. This is

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only the registered number of refugees? Exactly, this is what we

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have on the books, what we can vouch for. There are many, many more who

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have fled to neighbouring countries and who have decided not to approach

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the authorities, not to register. But the idea, part of the community.

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At the moment, the present and enormous burden on neighbouring

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countries who are now hosting 96% of all Syrian refugees. There is an

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additional number of 6.5 million internally displaced inside Syria.

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When you put these figures together, that is half of Sadiyah's

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population. Half of Syria's population have been forced to

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abandon their homes. Regardless of what we do in Syria to help, it is

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still far from what their needs are. At the moment, we have been able to

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help some 2.5 million Syrians inside the country and we are working in

:13:23.:13:30.

the region to help the 3 million. But the needs are massive. This year

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alone, between now and the end of the year, we need about $2 billion

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to meet immediate needs. In the coming weeks, we will be looking at

:13:44.:13:50.

the Winter issues. At least 2.5 million people will be needing help.

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It is important to understand why people are fleeing the conflict.

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There is death, displacement and destruction inside Syria. Some of

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these settlements today look like lunar surfaces, not even one brick

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left on another break. People have been displaced inside Syria before

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and they have decided to leave because they cannot bear to stay any

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longer. You paint a very graphic picture and you see that the UN

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still needs a further $2 billion to help alleviate some of this pain.

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Tell me where most of these refugees have ended up. First of all, they

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are in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey. In Lebanon, we have more than 1.1

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million refugees. In Turkey, more than 800,000. In Jordan, more than

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600,000. In Iraq, 250,000. When you add that up, it is clear that the

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region is sinking under this pressure. Our country is able to

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cope? These countries have been taken for granted and need

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assistance. We are calling for the international community to address

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the root causes of conflict, but also to continue support for the

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Syrian refugees and the countries hosting them and look for a way to

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end the conflict and the suffering of the Syrian people. Thank you.

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A terrorist attack against Britain is now highly likely, as a result

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That's the verdict of the British government which has increased

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its threat level from Substantial, when an attack is deemed a strong

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possibility, to Severe, which means an attack is highly likely.

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It's the second highest terror level behind critical, which indicates

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There's currently no intelligence suggesting an attack is imminent

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but people are being urged to remain vigiliant.

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The Prime Minister says the Islamic State group is

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a greater threat to British security than any seen before.

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Today I want to tell you other competent approach rotating. We have

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been shocked and sickened by the barbaric murder of American

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journalist James Foley. We've all been shocked

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and sickened by the barbaric murder And by the voice

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of what increasingly seems to have been a British terrorist recorded

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on that video. It was clear evidence,

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not that any more was needed, that this is not some foreign

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conflict thousands of miles from The ambition to create

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an extremist caliphate in the heart of Iraq and Syria is a threat to

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our own security here in the UK. That is in addition to the many

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other Al Qaeda inspired terrorist So what exactly is the threat to

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the UK Our Correspondent Frank

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Gardner has this analysis. who have gone to Syria with many

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joining the violent extremist group At least half that number have

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already returned to Britain. It's the job of MI5,

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the security service, headquarters here in London,

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to detect any plans anyone may have They are helped by communications

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intercepts from GCHQ, Together their input is assessed

:17:29.:17:35.

by a group of 100 analysts who then advise the government what is the

:17:36.:17:40.

level of risk facing the public. The newly raised terror threat level

:17:41.:17:46.

is partly a response to what you could call easy Jihad because to

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join an extremist group like ISIS British passport holders have simply

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been hopping on a flight to Turkey, getting a bus to the border

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and then walking into Syria. Well over 200 have now returned

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to Britain, many of them having This is also the age

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of social media jihad, with tweets and postings on Facebook attracting

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a constant stream of recruits. And then there are the gaps

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in the government response. Despite some new measures,

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put bluntly, there just aren't enough policemen and spies to watch

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around the clock everybody who comes I think the terrorist threat level

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we are seeing at the moment linked to Syria and Iraq is one that is

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very real and very substantial. You're dealing with

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a situation where you've got groups fighting in Syria in Iraq who have

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expressed a rhetoric of wanting to You've got a substantial body

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of foreigners and Britons in particular who have been out to

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fight there, some of whom have come back, and we have

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seen across Europe at least four or five plots that have been disrupted

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with links to Syria and Iraq. One that wasn't stopped was

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a shooting in Brussels in May Here the government fears more

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opportunistic attacks like this and last year's murder

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of an off-duty soldier in Woolwich. The police and MI5 now work

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so closely right across the country that it's far

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harder than it used to be for terrorists to plan a large scale

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attack like the London bombings. But the longer the Syrian conflict

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continues, the greater the risk that some of those who have taken part

:19:17.:19:20.

in it may be tempted to use Now a look at some

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of the day's other news. The eurozone inflation rate has

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fallen to 0.3% in August, adding The drop was driven by lower food

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and energy prices, and is a sign that firms and households aren't

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spending or generating wealth. The figures will add to pressure on

:19:44.:19:47.

the European Central Bank to take The authorities

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in Iceland have scaled back their aviation warning from red to

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orange after the Bardarbunga volcano The red alert was precautionary and,

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although it's been reduced, planes are still banned from flying withing

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a three-mile radius of the volcano. So far, it hasn't produced any ash

:20:07.:20:11.

cloud which could endanger aircraft. Google has announced its developing

:20:12.:20:17.

a fleet of airborne drones designed to deliver packages to people more

:20:18.:20:20.

quickly by bypassing traffic. Project Wing has been running

:20:21.:20:24.

for two years, The prototypes have been

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successfully tested by delivering packages to remote

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farms in Queensland in Australia, Senegal has become the fifth

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country West African country to be The authorities announced that

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the virus had been carried by a man from neighbouring Guinea

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who is now under quarantine. The current outbreak in west Africa

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has been the worst on record. 600 people have died in Liberia

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alone. Our correspondent Tamasin Ford has

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been to the Liberia and Ivory Coast border where preparations are being

:20:58.:21:00.

made to prevent Ebola An unnerving silence replaces

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the normally vibrant border. All official crossing points

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into Liberia and Guinea were closed The latest government

:21:13.:21:14.

efforts to avoid Ebola. Trucks are already beginning to pile

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up on this side of the border. Authorities say health is more

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important than trade, but people here have no idea when

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the borders are going to reopen. People are suffering financially

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but many are relieved This woman's family is

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on the other side. She says it's difficult

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but the fear of Ebola is worse. I'm afraid of death because it is

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not a trip you can return from. We've been told not to eat bush

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meat, not to shake hands Beyond these mountains lies Liberia

:21:53.:21:55.

where Ebola is now out of control. Thick but porous rainforest is all

:21:56.:22:02.

that separates Ivory Coast from This is one of five Ebola

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treatment centres in the region. Doctors are practising what to do

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if a suspected case arrives. We have done

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the maximum possible to be ready and As soon

:22:21.:22:29.

as any suspected case arrives. You can never be ready enough but I

:22:30.:22:33.

think we are strong enough to fight The heat inside the suit is

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the biggest difficulty, he says. Two or three hours are

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the most anyone can last. Countries have been accused

:22:47.:22:49.

of abandoning the Ebola-hit nations, closing borders

:22:50.:22:51.

and suspending flights. But Ivory Coast says it will do

:22:52.:22:55.

anything it can to fight Ebola. Hopes of a breakthrough in the fight

:22:56.:23:10.

against Ebola have been raised after Canada's Public Health Agency

:23:11.:23:13.

announced that the experimental drug Z-Mapp proved to be 100% effective

:23:14.:23:16.

in tests carried out on monkeys. The experimental drug cured

:23:17.:23:20.

the macaque monkeys even when administered five days after

:23:21.:23:24.

infection and even while the animals However, the effectiveness

:23:25.:23:27.

in humans is still unclear. Two out of the seven people

:23:28.:23:33.

treated with Z-MAPP have died. It's 50 years since Roald Dahl wrote

:23:34.:23:38.

the children's classic The book's characters have

:23:39.:23:40.

become household names. But it turns out they were only

:23:41.:23:45.

part of the original story. The discovery of new unpublished

:23:46.:23:49.

chapters reveals Dahl had intended to include more children lucky

:23:50.:23:52.

enough to win the golden ticket and meet Willy Wonka, but dropped

:23:53.:23:56.

them from the final version. This report from our Arts Editor

:23:57.:24:00.

Will Gompertz begins with Lots of things that don't happen

:24:01.:24:02.

in life will probably happen He always managed to add

:24:03.:24:13.

a few surprises. When Roald Dahl originally wrote

:24:14.:24:16.

the story, they were ten, not five, I'm sitting in a re-creation

:24:17.:24:21.

of Roald Dahl's writing hut at his museum in Great Missenden

:24:22.:24:24.

and in front of me is an early draft of what would become

:24:25.:24:27.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. It's full of edits and corrections

:24:28.:24:31.

and it's even called Charlie's Chapter 5, the Vanilla Fudge Room,

:24:32.:24:33.

was cut by the author. It saw the demise

:24:34.:24:40.

of two unused characters, Both of whom were disobedient

:24:41.:24:42.

and spoilt. They were discovered

:24:43.:24:49.

along with their parents in the author's archive by a writer who

:24:50.:24:51.

was impressed by what she found. I admire him more, I think,

:24:52.:24:54.

because you literally see more You can see the invention, it's even

:24:55.:24:57.

more ceaseless and fertile, but also Charlie is only the second

:24:58.:25:03.

children's book he ever wrote. The illustrator Quentin Blake worked

:25:04.:25:10.

with Roald Dahl and has produced many drawings for

:25:11.:25:12.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. I knew that he rewrote

:25:13.:25:17.

and rewrote many times. For this last chapter

:25:18.:25:24.

about the Vanilla Fudge Mountain, he's leading a group of people who

:25:25.:25:27.

aren't in the final book. It's interesting to see something

:25:28.:25:30.

at an earlier stage, what happened So how does it feel

:25:31.:25:32.

when it comes to leaving a character It's really sad,

:25:33.:25:38.

but sometimes they don't do anything to further the plot or they don't do

:25:39.:25:43.

anything to bring as much as they should and you kind of feel you're

:25:44.:25:47.

placing that on them a little bit. The extra characters had to go

:25:48.:25:51.

because they overcomplicated the story but half a century later, they

:25:52.:25:54.

do give a fascinating insight into the creative process of one of the

:25:55.:25:57.

world's most imaginative authors. If you like your politicians to be

:25:58.:26:05.

clean cut and behave impeccably, you're probably not going to vote

:26:06.:26:08.

for Canada's Rob Ford. He's admitted being drunk in public,

:26:09.:26:13.

confessed to smoking crack cocaine, and been videoed swearing

:26:14.:26:17.

and using threatening language. But as far as we're aware he's

:26:18.:26:20.

never been seen like this. This is the Toronto mayor

:26:21.:26:28.

at a council meeting having a dance and a sing-a-long with the

:26:29.:26:31.

band Jay Douglas and the All Stars. They're performing Bob Marley's

:26:32.:26:34.

"One Love." Whether Mr Ford's moves will go

:26:35.:26:37.

down well with That's when he's running

:26:38.:26:39.

for re-election. Good evening. Some reasonable

:26:40.:27:00.

weather on the way this weekend. A lot of dry weather and bright and

:27:01.:27:05.

sunny spells and with light wind, it should feel quite pleasant. Through

:27:06.:27:08.

this evening and overnight, it will stay pretty windy across the British

:27:09.:27:12.

Isles. If you are going out in the next few hours, bring an umbrella.

:27:13.:27:15.

Most places will season

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