1UA TV

The BBC is facing a backlash after finding one of its presenters in breach of its editorial guidelines on impartiality for comments that were critical of U.S. President Donald Trump.Journalists and celebrities are demanding Friday that the BBC overturn its decision and expressed support for BBC Breakfast anchor Naga Munchetty, who was discussing Trump’s remark on July 17 that four female American lawmakers should return to the “broken and crime-infested places from which they came.”Co-anchor, Dan Walker, asked Munchetty for her opinion, and she responded: “Every time I have been told, as a woman of color, to go back to where I came from, that was embedded in racism.”Questioned further, she says she was “absolutely furious a man in that position thinks it’s OK to skirt the lines by using language like that.” 
…

Britain’s government watchdog says there’s still a “significant amount” of work to do to make sure the country has an adequate supply of licensed drugs in case of a no-deal Brexit.In a report issued Friday, Britain’s National Audit Office said additional shipping capacity chartered by the U.K. for sending goods across the English Channel might not be operational until the end of November — one month after the Oct. 31 deadline for Britain to leave the European Union. Of the more than 12,300 medicines licensed in the U.K., about 7,000 arrive from or via the EU, mostly across the Channel.Meg Hillier, who chairs a committee overseeing the audit office, called the findings “deeply concerning.” She said she had seen “countless examples” of the British government missing deadlines, but that this one was particularly striking.”If the government gets this wrong, it could have the gravest of consequences,” she said. 
 
Alan Boyd of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said people with epilepsy were a particular concern in the event of any drug shortages, noting that “one seizure can have a life-changing impact.” 
 
According to the British government’s “reasonable worst-case” scenario, the flow of goods could be cut by half on Day One of a no-deal Brexit and could take a year to recover. It said time was “extremely limited” if the shipping issues were to be resolved by the end of October.’Troubling, reckless’FILE – Dr. David Nicholl, center, demonstates with activists near the Houses of Parliament in London, Sept. 3, 2019.Dr. David Nicholl, a neurologist who helped draft the U.K.’s no-deal Brexit planning and went public with his concerns this month, said he felt vindicated by the audit office report. He said during his work consulting for the government, there were concerns about adequate supplies for treatments for conditions including epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes and certain cancers including leukemia. 
 
“It’s incredibly troubling and reckless,” he said. “I don’t think there’s any evidence that we’re in any better situation than we were before.” 
 
Nicholl said British politicians were still refusing to honestly acknowledge the harm that would be caused to patients in Britain by a no-deal exit. He predicted there would be a spike in illness and deaths if Britain does leave Europe without a divorce deal.In early September, Nicholl publicly raised the issue of drug shortages on a London radio show when he pointedly asked Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House of Commons, what level of excess deaths he would be willing to accept in a no-deal Brexit. Mogg dismissed Nicholl’s warnings and later compared him to the disgraced researcher Andrew Wakefield, who published a now-discredited paper linking a childhood vaccine to autism. Mogg later apologized for the comparison.”It’s completely surreal,” Nicholl said, describing how politicized the situation has become. “I still don’t think there’s been an honest conversation about the harms that will be caused by a no deal.” Precautions, stockpiles
 FILE – Protesters demonstrate against the stockpiling of medicines and food in the event of a no-deal Brexit in London, Britain. Aug 22, 2018.Britain’s department of health said it has taken measures to prepare, including ordering six weeks of extra medicine stocks across the country and securing specialist courier services to deliver products with a short shelf life. 
 
But not everyone was convinced by the moves.”One thing is clear about a no-deal Brexit and that is that no amount of preparation can fully eradicate the risks it presents to patient safety,” said Donal O’Donoghue of the Royal College of Physicians. “It is impossible for me and my colleagues to reassure patients that their health and care won’t be negatively impacted by the U.K. leaving the EU without a deal.”Steve Bates, CEO of U.K.’ s Bioindustry Association, said that unlike the last Brexit deadline — March 31 — the government has given companies much less information about alternative routes in case a no-deal Brexit results in jammed ports. 
 
“Last time, we knew which ferry services had been commissioned on alternative routes with pharmaceutical companies encouraged to book space to ship their products,” he told reporters last week. “But the same approach has not been adopted this time.” 
 
The audit report released Friday also said there was “incomplete information” about the levels of medicine stockpiling but that levels were increasing daily. As of Sept. 20, suppliers reported that 72% of medicines had a six-week stockpile.Boyd said drug shortages already happen every month even without Brexit and the department of health typically issues a list of affected medicines and, in some cases, suggests possible alternatives. He said the group was also concerned that a no-deal Brexit would mean that Britain would be kicked out of a Europe-wide program to identify counterfeit medicines.”The department of health will put its own system in place, but that will likely take a few years before it’s up and running,” he said. 
…

At 15 years old, Margarita Naumenko is one of the youngest participants in Russia’s Fridays for Future climate protest movement.Each week, she stands in downtown Moscow with other young activists chanting, brandishing posters and demanding the government take action on worsening climate change threats.Her parents support her decision to protest, Naumenko said, but they are less convinced about the urgency of slowing the climate change.”I tried talking to them and changing their opinion,” she said. “But that is not easy.”Led largely by young people, Russia’s nascent climate protest movement has taken on the challenge of changing minds in a country where, not long ago, both the public and politicians were skeptical about the need to act quickly on climate change.The protests may be having some effect. Earlier this month, Russia announced it would join the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight climate change – one of the last countries in the world to do so.The country is the world’s fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases and was the biggest emitter not to have agreed to the landmark global climate deal.Before the announcement, activists in Moscow held about 50 individual protests, after previously having been denied a permit to demonstrate as part of a large-scale global climate strike last week.On Friday, as young climate campaigners again marched around the globe, about 85 protesters in Moscow held up red and white fabric to spell out the words “Act Now” in front of Russia’s main government building.Naumenko joined the movement five months ago, inspired after attending a lecture on improving sustainability in the education system and after seeing Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old figurehead of the youth climate movement, speak on television.”I thought, ‘Why don’t I take any action?,'” Naumenko told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “We have just one planet. If we do not care about it, who else will?”   Growing protestsSince the first mass eco-protest in Moscow’s Sokolniki Park in March – a day students around the world walked out of their classes to call for action on climate change – other Russian cities such as St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Irkutsk, have joined the climate campaign.For Arshak Makichyan, it was the March protest in Moscow that sparked his involvement in climate activism.Since then, the 25-year-old violinist has become one of the faces of Russia’s youth protest movement, demonstrating every week, often on his own.He also acts as one of the coordinators of the movement, and part of his job is to apply for official permission to protest, which can be a time-consuming and frustrating process, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.New rules adopted after mass protests in Moscow that followed President Vladimir Putin’s 2012 election made it a criminal offence to stage some forms of non-violent protests without a permit.Single-person protests, on the other hand, do not require a permit, Makichyan explained. But they do have restrictions – for example, in Moscow, protesters must not stand closer than 50 meters (160 feet) from each other.Makichyan said that, so far, Russia’s climate activists have succeeded in getting permits for two large-scale environmental protests.And the crowds at protests have been getting bigger over the past few months, he added. These days, an organized climate demonstration in Moscow attracts between 20 and 40 participants.The number may be small compared to the thousands who come out for protests in other cities around the globe, but it is a big increase from when Russia’s activists first started, Makichyan said.”The numbers have been growing,” he said. “Ten weeks ago, I was very often protesting on my own. Now every week we get more participants and new cities join in.”Russia’s government has a history of cracking down on protests that it has declared illegal.In a case in July that triggered global condemnation, police in Moscow detained more than 1,000 people for taking part in a protest calling for opposition members to be allowed to run in a local election.Makichyan, who took part in that protest and was detained for three hours, said so far there have been no arrests during any of the climate protests.Local to global  Gathering to demand action on the environment is not something new to Russians, say climate groups, but previous grassroots campaigns tended to focus on local issues, such as air pollution, destruction of green zones and waste management.Recent climate disasters such as the wildfires that raged across Siberia earlier this year, destroying at least 3 million hectares (7.4 million acres) of forest, have turned the public’s attention toward the global crisis, said Konstantin Fomin, a spokesman for Greenpeace Russia.In a report published in 2014, Russia’s main meteorological service Roshydromet warned that the country is warming more than twice as fast as the rest of the world.At a climate forum in September, Russia’s presidential climate adviser Ruslan Edelgeriev noted that this year so far global warming has caused 9.5 billion rubles ($148 million) worth of damage to the country’s agricultural sector.Most of that is due to losses from wildfires and droughts, he said.”(Now) many Russians have personally experienced the effects of climate change. These factors have led civil society to take climate change more seriously,” said Fomin at Greenpeace.A poll conducted in December 2018 by the Moscow-based Public Opinion Foundation, a think tank, showed that 84% of Russians have heard about climate change, while almost two-thirds believe it is serious and happening.More than half of Russians think that people should work to stop climate change, the poll said.”Almost all people in Russia understand and acknowledge that the climate is changing, that this is serious, and they would like to know more about it,” said Alexey Kokorin, head of the WWF Russia energy and climate program.And while a few years ago Russian politicians and businesses were arguing that a warming climate would only benefit the country, the government is now putting the issue of climate adaptation higher on its agenda, Kokorin noted.In the past two months, Russia announced it was working out the country’s first climate adaptation plan as well as a long-term, low-carbon development strategy for the country’s economy, which is today heavily based on gas and oil.Fresh air, clean water  For Fomin at Greenpeace, all of these developments are a boost to Russia’s nascent climate protest movement.”With the support of society, Russian climate activists can become not just another environmental organization, but a real mass movement,” he said.Veronika Essen, 25, said she joined the protests out of concern for her 5-year-old sister’s future.”In 11 years, when she is 16, we probably won’t be able to prevent the negative consequences of the climate crisis,” said Essen, who works in marketing.”But I really want her to enjoy fresh air, clean water and travel around the world, instead of living amidst the climate catastrophe.”Essen said she began looking for like-minded young people, which led her to the climate march movement.”I thought that I would be embarrassed standing in a single-person protest, when people would approach me, ask questions, argue with me and take photos of me,” said Essen.”Now I want to come out every Friday, regardless of whether the protest action has been approved by the authorities.” 
…

France is mourning the death of its longtime political leader Jacques Chirac, the country’s president from 1995 to 2007 who has also served as prime minister, interior minister, agriculture minister and mayor of Paris. The conservative leader and great proponent of the European Union, Chirac may be best remembered for his firm opposition to the Iraq War. He died Thursday in Paris at the age of 86.  VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…

Russia said Friday it had detained more than 260 North Korean fishermen. The fishermen, who were on several vessels, were detained for poaching.Russia took the men and their vessels to Russia’s Far East port of Nakhodka. Russia says about 30,000 pounds of squid were also seized during the arrest. Last week Russia detained other North Korean fishermen on vessels in the Sea of Japan in territory that Russia claims.  The fishermen clashed with Russian forces, injuring a Korean who later died from his wounds. Russia summoned a North Korean diplomat after the Sea of Japan incident to state its “serious concern” about the event. 
…

Seven Catalan separatists arrested on suspicion of planning violent attacks have been charged with belonging to a “terrorist organisation” and remanded in custody, Spanish judicial authorities said on Thursday.The seven were among nine people detained on Monday on accusations they were planning attacks with possible explosives. The other two were released.A judge in Madrid ruled that there was evidence suggesting the seven were members of an organization intending to achieve Catalan independence “by any means including violence,” a court statement said.No details of the accused were given.The seven suspects have also been charged with making and possessing explosives.The arrests come just weeks before the second anniversary of the banned Catalan independence referendum which triggered one of Spain’s biggest political crises.Several hundred people demonstrated outside the Catalan parliament in Barcelona and then the city’s police headquarters shouting “freedom for political prisoners.”The parliament earlier Thursday approved a resolution calling for the “withdrawal from Catalan territory of the civil guard police,” described as a “type of political police.”A verdict is due next month in the trial of 12 separatist leaders for their roles in the attempted secession in 2017.Sentencing the separatist leaders could provoke strong protests in Spain’s northeastern region.Alleged violence in 2017 was a key focus of the trial, in which the separatist leaders defended the peaceful nature of their movement.  
…

This story originated in FILE – German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend the welcome ceremony in Berlin, Germany, June 18, 2019.He was referring to Zelenskiy’s response to a remark by Trump, who had criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders for failing to provide Ukraine with adequate financial support for its fight against Russian-backed separatists.“Yes, you are absolutely right, not just 100%, but 1,000%,” Zelenskiy agreed.“I talked to Angela Merkel and met her,” Zelenskiy added. “I also met and talked to [French President Emmanuel] Macron and told them that they were not doing enough about sanctions. They do not impose sanctions. They are not acting as they should for Ukraine. “Yelisieiev, who represented Ukraine in Brussels from 2010 to 2015, before serving as diplomatic adviser to former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, wrote that “Berlin — and, first and foremost, Merkel personally — along with Paris, have played a key role in the sustenance of a powerful EU economy and targeted sanctions against Russia.”Impending Normandy Format peace negotiations to end Ukraine’s war with Russia, which directly involve the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Russia, Yelisieiev wrote, will be “a moment of truth and a test for EU unity and solidarity with Ukraine.”British political scientist James Sherr, who now works at the Estonian Institute for International Policy, called Zelenskiy’s references to his German and French counterparts “harmful,” and “especially unfair, in this case, to Germany.”FILE – U.S.-made Javelin anti-tank missiles are displayed in Tripoli, Libya, after being captured from the self-styled Libyan National Army, June 29, 2019.A tough spotSome observers, however, say top officials in Berlin, Brussels and Paris may be understanding of the unusually difficult circumstances Zelenskiy faced during the July 25 phone call.According to a summary of the conversation, when Zelenskiy expressed interest in buying Javelin anti-tank missiles from the United States with funding from an annually allocated U.S. military aid package, Trump said, “I would like you to do us a favor though,” before asking Zelenskiy to investigate whether Biden, when he was vice president, had shut down a probe into the Ukrainian company his son worked for.Trump did not explicitly link a probe of Biden with the U.S. aid package. He had, however, ordered that the aid be placed on hold a week before the phone call, according to page 9 of the Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump face reporters during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 25, 2019.“It was interesting watching the press conference after the meeting in New York,” he told VOA’s Russian Service, referring to Trump’s meeting with Zelenskiy at this week’s United Nations General Assembly. “It seemed to me that President Zelenskiy was probably aware of this, because he walked a very fine line and he maintained a very neutral position about how far he was going to get into or get pulled into American politics. I think he needs to maintain that course. Otherwise, it could undo this broad political support there is in the United States for Ukraine.”European responseIn response to Trump’s allegations that EU members states have failed to provide Ukraine with adequate military aid and other forms of financial support, EU representatives pointed to official figures documenting their contributions.In statement to the Poynter Institute’s Politifact web site, EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic called the bloc’s financial support for Ukraine “the largest support package in the history of the European Union,” including more than $2.1 billion in grants, nearly $54 million to monitor the truce in Ukraine’s war-torn east, and roughly $3.8 billion in loans to develop and rebuild Ukraine’s banking, agriculture, and transit sectors.According to the figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), since 2014, Germany has been the third largest donor to Ukraine after the European Union as a whole and the United States.According to Germany’s foreign ministry, Berlin has footed roughly $1.3 billion in bilateral financial aid to Ukraine, including $595 million in development, $120 million in humanitarian aid, $546 million in loans, and an estimated $27 million in truce monitoring.Germany’s foreign ministry has also allocated an additional $218 million to Ukraine via EU aid packages.The United States says it has provided $1.5 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since 2014, when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. That assistance has expanded since Trump took office, including weaponry like Javelin missiles.According to the Associated Press, the State Department has prepared $141 million in funding, of which roughly $115 million will support systems and equipment contained in the Pentagon aid package, along with $10 million for equipment and training directed at maritime security, and $16.5 million for maritime security in the Black Sea.
…

Spain’s second election this year is unlikely to break the stalemate between the main right and left-wing parties, with acting prime minister Pedro Sanchez’s Socialist Party falling even shorter of a full majority than in the first, a poll showed on Thursday.Sanchez set the election for Nov. 10 — the country’s fourth in four years — after failing to reach a deal with the far-left Unidas Podemos.
The survey by GAD3 for ABC newspaper put the Socialists on 27.2%, down from 28.7% in the previous parliamentary election in April, which would give them 121 seats in the 350-seat house, two fewer than before. Podemos also fell in the poll.
Spain has not had a stable government for years, with mainstream parties and newcomers that have appeared over the past five years struggling to strike deals.
A separate poll by state-run CIS pollster showed that almost half of those surveyed consider politicians to be one of the biggest problems in the election-weary country, which has not been ruled by more than one party at a time since the return of democracy in the late 1970s.
According to the poll, a majority of Spaniards want politicians to create a “culture of agreements and deals” to avoid stalemates, while a third would like to change the constitution for that purpose.
In the GED3 survey, the main opposition People’s Party rose to 21.4% of voting intentions and was projected to win 97 seats, after getting just 16.7% of the vote in April, but that came mostly at the expense of center-right Ciudadanos, which fell to 11.3% from 15.9%.
The right, including the far-right Vox, which remained relatively stable on 9.6%, would get 150 seats altogether, three more than in April, but behind the combined three left-wing parties, which would have 164 seats including a new splinter party, Mas Pais (More Country).
Mas Pais would get 5.9%, or nine seats, according to GED3. Podemos would lose eight seats, having fallen to 12.4% of voting intentions from 14.3% in the April election.
GAD3 surveyed 1,207 people between Set. 23 and 25 and the poll’s margin of error is 2.8%.
…

Prince William and his wife Kate formally named a new British polar research ship Sir David Attenborough on Thursday, a more dignified title than the public’s choice of Boaty McBoatface.The humorous moniker was the most popular suggestion in an
online poll that went viral in 2016, but the government opted to
honor the naturalist and broadcaster Attenborough, who has
become a campaigner on climate issues in his 10th decade.
As a consolation prize, the name Boaty McBoatface was
instead given to a small, yellow autonomous underwater vehicle,
capable of traveling long distances under the sea ice to
collect data, which forms part of the ship’s research equipment.Britain’s Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, and Sir David Attenborough during the naming ceremony for the new polar research ship RRS Sir David Attenborough at Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead, Sept. 26, 2019.The ceremony to formally name the Sir David Attenborough took place at a shipyard in Birkenhead, northwest England, where
the giant ice-breaker was built.
Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, pressed a yellow button to
activate a lever that smashed a bottle of champagne on the
ship’s hull, in accordance with maritime tradition.
Her husband Prince William, grandson of Queen Elizabeth,
said in a speech that the state-of-the-art vessel would help
expand global knowledge of the polar oceans and the impact of
climate change on them.
“As last week’s climate protests the world over, and yesterday’s report on our oceans and frozen regions demonstrated, there has never been a more important moment for this ship to get to work,” he said.
Ushering Attenborough to speak just after him, William made
clear his preference for the official name.
“It is my immense privilege and relief to welcome Sir David
Attenborough, rather than Boaty McBoatface, to speak,” he said.
The 93-year-old naturalist said it was the greatest possible
honour to have the ship named after him.
“Great problems require great research and facts to solve
them, and that’s what this astonishing ship will be here to do,”
he said.
Operated by the publicly funded British Antarctic Survey,
the Sir David Attenborough is 129 meters long and can break ice
up to one meter thick at three knots (5.6 km per hour). It
requires a crew of about 30, and can carry up to 60 scientists
and support staff.
It will conduct ice trials in the northern hemisphere from
March 2020, and is scheduled to enter full service from October
next year.
…

An alliance of human right organizations says nine Sudanese people have filed a criminal complaint against French bank BNP Paribas for alleged complicity in crimes against humanity, torture, and genocide during the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.The International Federation for Human Rights said the complaint filed Thursday in Paris marks “the first attempt” to hold the bank responsible for its alleged role in giving Sudanese authorities access to international money markets from at least 2002 to 2008.
 
The Sudanese government, military and militias were accused of committing crimes against humanity in response to a rebellion that started in 2003.
 
Former President Omar al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes and genocide charges linked to the Darfur conflict.  
…

Prince Andrew and his former wife Sarah Ferguson have announced the engagement of their elder daughter, Princess Beatrice.They said Thursday that Beatrice is engaged to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, a real estate entrepreneur. The 31-year-old princess is a granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II.
 
Buckingham Palace says the couple became engaged in Italy earlier this month. The wedding will take place in 2020.”We are both so excited to be embarking on this life adventure together and can’t wait to actually be married,” the couple said.Andrew and Sarah, who remain on good terms despite their 1996 divorce, said in a statement they are “thrilled” with the engagement.”We send them every good wish for a wonderful family future,” they said.They said they are “the lucky parents of a wonderful daughter who has found her love and companion in a completely devoted friend and loyal young man.”Their younger daughter, Princess Eugenie, married Jack Brooksbank last year.
…