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Hello and welcome to News Hour from the BBC World Service coming to you live from London. I'm Paul Henley.
大家好,欢迎收听由BBC World Service直播来自伦敦的新闻小时。我是保罗·亨利。
The head of TikTok has been battling for the survival of the massively popular video-sharing app in the US today. Members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee in Washington spend hours grilling show chew. They attack TikTok over its alleged ties to the Chinese government and the dangers they said it posed to teenagers. Many Democrats and Republicans fear that Beijing could subvert the app to spy harvest data and push a covert Communist Party agenda. Concerns were also raised about the app's addictive qualities and its possible impact on mental health.
Before we attended the meeting, TikTok CEO Shochu posted this on TikTok from Washington DC. Hi everyone, it's Shou here. I'm the CEO of TikTok. I'm here in Washington DC today and I have some news and updates to share with everyone here. Today, I'm super excited to announce that more than 150 million Americans on TikTok. They're the most half of the US coming to TikTok to connect, to create, to share, to learn, or just to have some fun.
But compare that with the director of the FBI Christopher Ray answering questions before Congress earlier this month. Could they use TikTok to control data on millions of users? Yes, could they use it to control the software on millions of devices given the opportunity to do so? Yes.
In her opening statement, the chair of the House Committee, Kathy McMorris Rogers, made this attack on TikTok. TikTok collects nearly every data point imaginable from people's location to what they type and copy, who they talk to, biometric data and more. Even if they've never been on TikTok, your trackers are embedded in sites across the web. TikTok surveils this all. And the Chinese Communist Party is able to use this as a tool to manipulate America as a whole. We do not trust TikTok will ever embrace American values. Values for freedom, human rights, and innovation. TikTok has repeatedly chosen the path for more control, more surveillance, and more manipulation. Your platform should be banned.
But Shodew said TikTok's parent company called Bite Dance was not connected to the Chinese government. Bite Dance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. It's a private company. 60% of the company is owned by global institutional investors. 20% is owned by the founder and 20% owned by employees around the world. Bite Dance is five board members, three of them are American. TikTok itself is not available in mainland China. We're headquartered in Los Angeles and in Singapore. We have 7,000 employees in the US today.
During an exchange with the Republican Congressman Bob Latter, Mr. Chu did accept that some TikTok data was currently accessible to staff in China. All US user data is stored by default in the Oracle Cloud infrastructure and access to that is controlled. I imagine that. My dance employees in China, including engineers, currently have access to US data. Congressman, I would appreciate this is a complex topic. Today, all data is stored by people. Yes, no, it's not that complex. Yes or no, do they have access to user data? After Project Texas is done, the answer is no. Today, there is still something that we need to see.
Well, the BBC's Michelle Flurry has been on Capitol Hill today. She's been watching the committee in session and she spoke to me just before the session finished.
嗯,BBC的米歇尔·弗卢里今天在国会山。她一直在观看委员会的会议,并在会议结束前与我交谈。
How would she describe the tone of the hearing? It has been combative. There has been no let up for TikTok CEO, Shaji Chu. He has endured many questions, very hostile in tone. Often, he hasn't been able to get an answer in the air address, at least to fully respond to what he's being asked.
That being said, though, some of his answers, he has repeated what he has said in his opening remarks. That has left lawmakers a bit frustrated, a sense that he's been evasive, that he's not providing the kind of detail that they are looking for.
I think it's worth pointing out that it is different from past hearings, where we've seen, for example, the CEOs of other big American tech firms, like Mark Zuckerberg or Facebook. Typically, then legislators will maybe see one or two friendly faces in the room, maybe from their own district in California. He'll make the point that this is a great American company. That's not the case for TikTok. And so that's what's made it so striking. It's just the fact that you're seeing this united front from politicians across the aisle, essentially attacking you.
Just so that we know what data does TikTok gather. I mean, like most of the social media apps that we use these days, it collects a lot of our personal information, not just our A, our names, potentially our data burst, but also our habits. What are we looking at? What are we repeatedly browsing again again? Where have we been? And that's the sort of information that has lawmakers alarmed.
They fear that in particular with TikTok, because of this sort of ownership link, the fact that EDI is partly owned by White Dance, a Chinese company, that makes it more untrustworthy than say some of the other big tech firms out there that also have big security concerns over user data privacy.
And so that's why they are so focused, they are worried that it could be used for spying. And it's what kind of differentiates TikTok, as I've said before, to the other American social media companies like Facebook, which has Instagram, like Google, which has YouTube shorts, like Twitter, they're all American owned, but they don't have that Chinese element at a time when tensions are ratcheting out between the US and China.
And TikTok is trying to reassure with something called Project Texas. What's that? So it's this idea. They've teamed up with an American company, Oracle, and the idea is that they are storing American data on American soil, and it will be overseen by American employees. But lawmakers are pushing back on that.
And in fact, I've heard some people say that, you know, it's not where the servers are held, that they can still be sort of reached into somehow by the Chinese should they so choose to.
And if you listen to what Shouji Cho has been saying, he's been pushing back too. So you look, with all due respect, American companies don't have a great track record with data, and he points out Facebook and Cambridge Analytica. That was a sort of incident in which data was mismanaged, misused, and it led to a sort of huge scandal.
So this is an ongoing debate, and some lawmakers are using this hearing to push for greater privacy legislation of the sort that Europe has already enacted.
The BBC's Michelle Flurry, speaking from Capital Hill in Washington, D.C., event Clark is a member of the committee, and she questions Shouji Cho during the hearing. She's a Democrat from New York.
BBC 的米歇尔·弗拉里在华盛顿特区的国会山发言,克拉克是该委员会的成员,她在听证会期间质疑了来自纽约州的民主党议员 Shouji Cho。
I wasn't one over today. I think there's an ongoing conversation, a deeper dive into sort of the, you know, the relationship between TikTok, bite dance, and the Chinese government, if there is a substantiated relationship. And then, you know, the US has to do, we have to do our job. We have to get data privacy laws in place, which helps the American consumer to protect themselves. We've got to do a lot more education of the people of the US, with respect to their engagement online and how data is collected. But today's hearing just didn't cut it for me.
You know, I've had a number of hearings with other social media platforms where a number of the same concerns have come up, not, of course, of foreign adversary being affiliated, but, of course, the harmful outcomes of some of the usage on these platforms. And it felt like, you know, one of those average social media CEO types of hearings, unfortunately.
But the truth is that almost all the objections that were raised to the boss of TikTok could apply to American social media apps, concerns about addiction, mental health problems, harvesting of data. These are all things that Congress people are perfectly familiar with.
Absolutely. You're correct. And that's why, you know, I kind of led with the idea that we've been sort of recalcitrant here in not, you know, erecting social media legislation that protects the American people online. Privacy laws have not been passed yet. And so it's somewhat the wild, wild west here.
And, you know, it's very clear to me. And I've been on this committee for close to a decade now that, you know, our social media platforms need some rules to the road. You know, the profit motive is far too strong for these companies to want to curb their current activities. I only see this as a race to the bottom.
And the argument that there is no direct link between TikTok, its parent company and the Chinese government that didn't impress you. You know, because I need facts, let's put it that way.
And what I heard today were a number of assertions and you'd like to take people at their word. But, you know, at the end of the day, we've got a lot of adversaries out there. So we have to protect ourselves in many ways, having such an open society here in the United States.
Would you be comfortable talking of open society? Would you be comfortable with an outright ban on a social media app that's used by more than 50 million Americans? It's not a very American thing to do to ban. It's rather Chinese, isn't it?
It, I, let me say this, I don't think anyone wants a ban. However, if I'm the day. Well, actually, most people seem to want a ban in the political scene.
I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say most. I'd say so. But what I can say to you is that if American data can be used and weaponized against the American people, that's a unique threat that we haven't faced with US companies, with US-based companies.
And, you know, TikTok has asserted that they're US-based company. Again, you know, I want to have the facts. I want to be sure that that's the case, because at the end of the day, the only accountability we have is that we, you know, can regulate and control.
And if, in fact, we're in a space where this is sort of a Trojan horse, it puts the American people at a severe vulnerability.
如果事实上我们正处在一个类似特洛伊木马的空间中,那么这将使美国人处于极大的脆弱之中。
So, where are you finally after today's hearing? What do you take away from the question and answer session? I think there has to be an ongoing conversation. I'd like to really get some more briefings from our national security, homeland security perspective.
What they have to substantiate their concerns and the assertions of a ban. You know, that was going to be revealed in the setting that we had our hearing today.
他们需要证明他们所关注的问题和禁令的主张。你知道的,在我们今天听证会的场合下会揭示这些证据。
You don't think you're moving towards a ban just yet? I can say that I'm not convinced. Then if I had to vote on it, I would not vote to do that, given the information that I have at the moment.
Congresswoman Yvette Carc, member of the committee that grilled show chew during today's hearing. She's a Democrat from New York, here with the BBC World Service, and this is NewsHour.
Coming up, a young Afghan woman remembers the terrifying day that her classroom was attacked.
接下来,一位年轻的阿富汗女子回忆起她的教室被袭击的可怕一天。
I saw a young man shooting. I couldn't hear his gunfire because the class was shouting loud. I could only see their smoke coming out of his gun. Then I got scared and tried to hide under the table.
The NewsHeadlines, the CEO of TikTok has told a Congressional committee in Washington that the Chinese-owned social media app is not a threat to US national security. Strikes and demonstrations against President Macron's plan to raise the retirement age in France, causing serious disruption, and Israel's Prime Minister vows to restore unity after another day of protests across the country against a planned judicial overhaul.
This is Paul Henley with NewsHour, live from the BBC. In Ukraine's eastern Donbass region, the Ukrainian army continues to lose ground to Russian forces in and around Bachmout. But further south, it's a different story.
Continuing attacks by Russian tanks and armored vehicles have resulted in heavy losses for Moscow's forces, with almost nothing to show for it in terms of ground gained. Months of battles have turned the countryside and the town of Velika Novosilka into a wasteland where civilians and the military come under daily Russian bombardment.
From there, our correspondent Quentin Somerville and Cameradjernlis Darren Conway sent this report.
从那里,我们的记者昆汀·萨默维尔和摄像记者达伦·康威发送了这篇报道。
Last 10 minutes, about three Russian mortars came into the town of Velika Novosilka, quite close to the car that we were in. It seems like they're using drones to target the fresh traitors all over the place here.
But we're going to the infantry positions to speak to some of the soldiers who were with the first separate tank brigade. And Dima is one of them. Hi Dima. Hi. Hi. Hi. Let's go.
Dima is 22 years old and unnervingly tall for someone who spends so much time hunkered down in trenches. He six with four. He was a factory worker before the war. At first, Trance Life with the daily shelling was unsettling. But now he says he's rock solid.
Wow. The head was closed. The Russians basically have an unlimited amount of shells. They have entire warehouses full of them. They can shoot them all day and they won't run out. But us, we would run out of shells within the year. So we are forming various assault brigades and we've been given tanks. I think with those we will win. We are causers. So brave guys, we can handle it.
He was just pointed out one mine sticking out of the soil and sped it in his path. In the actual fact, Ukrainians have made really good use of anti-tank mines which they launched from artillery. In Volodar about 30 kilometers away, Russia lost hundreds of men and dozens of tanks trying to break through. They have tanks close to this position, observation posts and drone teams too. Russian eyes are always watching. You can hear that exchange of fire between the Russians and the Ukrainians and that contested village which is just beyond this wood.
Closest we get to Russian positions here about 700-800 meters eventually. It's far back along the territory. The Russian shell landed very close to it within the year. Let's get to that change quick. That last round landed pretty close to the Ukrainian trenches and me but everybody has made it inside safely and sheltering with that. Once you're creating infantrymen in the dugout. We were walking in a group and the Russian sauce walking with the drone and that is why we are being shot. I guess the fire will continue for the next 20-30 minutes. It has been really intense hour and a half but this is where these men go through every day. Continual Russian fire from months on end and the injured.
The first separate tank brigade is one of the most decorated in the Ukrainian army. Heavy outnumbered they help save Kiev in the war's early days but more than a year on fatigue is sitting in among Ukrainian soldiers along the front lines. I ask our no-land at Hoda the brigade commander how he keeps his men motivated. How do you motivate a soldier who is protecting his wife, his children, his land, what other motivation is needed. Putin motivated us better than anyone else. If we don't fight now then our grandchildren will have to take up arms and defend their freedom and rights. That's why no matter how hard it is for us we do it now so our children will not have to do tomorrow.
Of course this is just a war between two militaries, Russia's targeting civilians, towns and villages to Vlyka Nova Silka was nothing special but the people who lived here are proud of it. They took pride in their new school. They sent the kids to the little Kindle Garden. Now all of that's gone destroyed by Russian shells and it's kind of what's 10,000 people fueling 200 left.
Off a cold damp corridor and one of the town's remaining bonkers is 74-year-old Maria. She came here so I can come. Wearing a knitted beret she's sitting alone on a bed in a room warmed by a woodburning stove. How was life before here I ask? It was good very good. In our region everything was good. Now everything has been burned and my husband was killed. And can you tell us about your husband? What is that we tell? We were married for 54 years. He was 74 years old. He was already retired but he still worked and everything was fine. As shell flew towards the neighbor's house he came out to see and the shrapnel killed him. It wounded him and then he died. He bled overnight and that was it.
The local piano teacher is Irina with blazing red hair and a long coat she refuses to leave to give up on Velika Nova Silka. She lives now in a bunker looking after the older inhabitants. Her own daughter was moved to safety recently. The police came last month and took away all the last of the children. Irina's own home can't be reached. Before she left she covered her piano with a blanket and she hopes it survived. In a nearby school there's another piano but it's broken down. There is no music here now. There is only the sound of shells. The school is smashed. The instruments are ruined but it is okay. We will rebuild it and the music will sound again along with the children's laughter.
当地的钢琴老师是Irina,她有着火红的头发和一件长外套,她拒绝放弃Velika Nova Silka。她现在住在一个掩体里,照顾着老年人。她自己的女儿最近被转移到了安全地带。上个月,警察来了,把所有孩子都带走了。Irina自己的家已经无法抵达了。在离这里不远的一所学校里有另一架钢琴,但已经坏了。现在这里没有音乐,只有炮弹的声音。学校被摧毁了,乐器都被毁了,但没关系。我们将重建它,音乐将再次响起,孩子们的笑声也将回荡。
Quentin Somerville was reporting from near the front line in the war in southern Ukraine. You can see a video of Quentin's dramatic time in the trenches. On our website bbc.com forward slash news. There's just time for a reminder you can listen to news out whenever you like. We've got two editions a day. Find the latest online at bbcworldservice.com or sign up for our download by searching for bbc news hour podcast. I'm Paul Henley. This is news hour from the bbcworldservice.
Welcome back to news hour now in the year to August last year more than 107,000 Americans died from a drug overdose. Two thirds of them having taken a synthetic opioid like fentanyl.
First manufactured in the 1960s for pain relief fentanyl is now made illegally by Mexican drug cartels and smuggled across the US border in tablet or powder form. Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin and it's wreaking havoc in the US. Linda Presley reports now from southern California.
Once you cross the Mexico US border at San Isidro in Tijuana it's a half hour tram ride to downtown San Diego. This is just one of the many routes along which fentanyl finds its way into the United States.
I started taking fentanyl when I was about 23, 24 and how did you take it? I started smoking it. We'll call this young woman Susanna. She graduated from heroin to fentanyl.
I'm during that time that you were you were taking fentanyl. How are you living? I was living horrible. When I was Susan fentanyl I became a mess. I was barely getting by, barely buying food. I'd have to force myself to eat. I became very obsessed with the drug that I almost didn't believe that I could ever stop and it scared me because I thought that there was no hope.
Can you explain the power of fentanyl? Why is fentanyl different to other kinds of drugs? I think fentanyl is a different monster. I unfortunately had to be in the presence of somebody who was dying from an overdose and it's very traumatic. It's very scary. So you're really gambling your life if you get involved with fentanyl.
There are addicts who use fentanyl as their narcotic of choice but there are also thousands of Americans who have overdosed on fentanyl because they weren't aware it was in the drug they were taking. Fentanyl's being pressed into counterfeit painkiller tablets and it's added to heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine and because it's so potent a tiny amount can kill.
American ports of entry are the first line of defense against fentanyl. Around 120,000 people cross the border from Mexico at San Isidro in southern California every day. The director of the port Marisa Marín has her work cut out trying to intercept fentanyl that's mostly smuggled into the US by American citizens.
Since 2008 we've seen over an 800% increase and the amount of fentanyl coming into the United States but it's an impossible job for you isn't it because you only need to get a tiny bit across. Yes so it's very lucrative business for the drug smuggling organizations and so a very small amount will provide very large profits for the organizations working to smuggle this across our borders.
They're clever. They're clever and they have more resources than we do. They have an unlimited budget and we have you know resource constraints that we have to be more agile. For the cartels synthetic drugs like fentanyl have become a massive source of revenue with deadly consequences for Mexico's northern neighbor.
That was Linda Presley reporting you can hear more of her report on the BBC's assignment here on the world service. You're listening to NewsHound now from the BBC.
I'm Paul Henley and we return to the defense of the shared video app Tiktok launched by its boss today in front of hostile US politicians in Washington. Tiktok is facing strong calls for a US ban by many Democrats and Republicans who believe it could spread Chinese propaganda spy and steal users data on behalf of the Chinese government.
Members of Congress also accused Tiktok of delivering harmful content to young people. The firm's chief executive shows the chew stressed that most users were over 18 and he said the company was taking measures to protect children.
Now as Tiktok has grown we've tried to learn the lessons of companies that have come before us especially when it comes to the safety of teenagers while their vast majority of people on Tiktok are over 18. One of and one of our fastest growing demographics are people over 35. We spent a lot of time adopting measures to protect teenagers.
Congressman Randy Weber is a Republican from Texas. He sits on the committee posing questions to Mr. Shod today and he told us why he thought Tiktok was a threat to US national security.
They cannot prove Paul that they can keep their information from getting hacked. So when they're going around gathering all this information they can invoke the mighty name of the state of the great state of Texas. Now they can invoke or call they can book any other name they want. They can complain about Facebook or other social media platforms. It doesn't matter. This is Tiktok. We are dealing with and they cannot, cannot absolutely prove that the number one they can protect that information from hacking because I mean let's face it no platform is 100% safe. Number two there was pointed out in committee today a gun video a gun video threatening the life of the chairwoman.
Accounting Rogers had been up 41 or two days. I forget the exact number. Paul they cannot guarantee safe data in the Chinese Communist Party's not involved. But what did Tiktok's users think about what's happening to their data? Here are some views from New York.
I think Genzi would sort of in their way riot around this. I don't find people going back to other platforms like Instagram or Twitter I think but like Tiktok would find a way to stay or some corporation or another would try and buy them.
I've heard a lot of stuff about how they're just going to ban it for government officials because they're wary about you know security issues and that makes sense but I'm not sure what it wouldn't mean for people like us just general people. I mean I don't have very much impressive stuff on my phone or what that would not. So I don't know what anybody would want with that.
Melissa Hathaway is president of a US consultancy firm called Hathaway Global Strategies. She's an expert in cyber security having worked for president George W. Bush and president Obama. What did she make of this hearing today?
Melissa Hathaway是一家名为Hathaway Global Strategies的美国咨询公司的总裁。她是网络安全方面的专家,曾为乔治W.布什总统和奥巴马总统工作。她对今天的听证会有何看法?
I've been watching the hearing is definitely a lot of very direct questions to this you have Tiktok. I think- Over five hours of them it's just come to a close I'm told. Yeah yeah I've been watching parts of it this afternoon it's been quite interesting.
I think it's more important to really talk about what Tiktok has done over the last 18 months to two years in the United States of investing more than a billion dollars to establish the protection of the US consumer data and how the platform is being used in the United States not only by young Americans but also by five million businesses to drive their revenue and and open up new lines of the economy. And so one has to question of why are we talking about an app location an app versus an infrastructure provider in this context and why are we looking at the industry writ large like Facebook and Google and how the industry is protecting US consumer data or global consumer data.
Well perhaps because a Chinese firm is an easier target did you feel therefore that the criticism that that were being leveled at the boss of Tiktok were criticisms that could have been leveled at any mass use app. For sure I think that that I think unfortunately Mr. Chu is being singled out as the Chinese owned application but honestly that it's about the competition of Americans personal data is being monetized for political and geopolitical gain by all of the platforms and so why don't we have a comprehensive privacy legislation that protects it from being misused.
Surely it's an extra concern if this data is harvestable in China and specifically by the Chinese government which could under Chinese law declare a matter of national emergency and order Tiktok to hand over all data. Great but the national security law one could have yes you could invoke that but there's nothing to prevent the Chinese government from buying from either a direct party of a Facebook or Google or an indirect party of all of the other collected collectible or collected data and Cambridge Analytica would be a really good example of that so what what part of the data are we trying to protect is my question.
如果这些数据可以在中国被收集,特别是由中国政府进行收集,那么这就是一个额外的关注点。根据中国法律,中国政府可以宣布某些事情为国家紧急情况并要求 Tiktok 移交所有数据,这将是个问题。国家安全法案确实可以成为一个问题,但中国政府也可以通过直接从 Facebook 或 Google 或其他收集数据的机构购买数据,或间接购买已收集的数据,这种情况下 Cambridge Analytica 就是一个好例子。所以,我们要保护的数据的哪个部分是我的问题。
Is there an app that doesn't have an agenda in terms of data harvesting? I don't think so because right now most of the apps they basically rely on generally a consumer consent or they've opted you in automatically and then they use and trend that data and sell that data for either advertisements which is how they make their money or they sell it in other ways for other platforms or businesses to take advantage of that information to know where the next petrol or gas station ought to be or the next Walmart or or what is the next product line that would be successful for a particular age group.
What would be the consequences of a US ban on TikTok? I think I would be very concerned about that this is not this is a US China confrontation versus an overall understanding of a competition and I think that it would it would it would bring about an unprecedented application of the law and one would have to argue that other countries could say look with the United States did as a first mover of banning an app and look at all the other countries that would ban a Facebook or a Google or a Twitter or pick a next generation application like a chat GBT or Bard and that they're concerned about how the data is being used for misused. I very much worry about that.
You seem to intimate earlier as well that it would leave a considerable hole in the US economy. I think yes I think that one has to look at who are the leaders in the technology development and these in these different whatever applications. Social media platforms the US is actually a leader in this area in many ways and this might be a form of technology jealousy because the algorithm of TikTok is quite is quite good.
US cyber security expert Melissa Halfaway. This week marks the second year that the Taliban have banned girls from going to school in Afghanistan, a measure that was followed by a series of restrictions barring women from universities and most workplaces.
Fatima Amiri had managed to get a top school in her university entrance exam despite being wounded in a suicide attack, then she found out she couldn't take up her place. Since that discovery, she's been fighting to get an education as well as trying to recover her eyesight and her hearing. The BBC's Majubur now rusey reports from Turkey.
Inside a modern hospital treatment room, a doctor closely examines an eye through a magnifying glass on high-tech equipment. The patient sitting opposite her is 18-year-old Fatima Amiri from Afghanistan. She has lost her eyesight and nearly all her hearing in a suicide attack on an education center last year. However, she still managed to take part in university entrance exams two weeks later. "I still managed to get a top score and get selected to my favorite program."
An online crowdfunding campaign raised thousands of US dollars, enough to fly her to this modern hospital in the Turkish capital Ankara to pay for her specialist treatment. In the suicide attack last September in the Afghan capital Kabul, more than 50 students mainly women were killed. The target was an education center where women like Fatima were sitting in the classroom and preparing for the tough university exams known as Korak. Fatima vividly remembers that day. "I saw a young man shooting. I couldn't hear his gun fired because the class was shouting loud. I could only see the smoke coming out of his gun. Then I got scared and tried to hide under the table. I could see with my own eyes. My close friends who were like sisters to me being killed."
Fatima was a top student with some of the nation's best high school grades. She had high aspirations and had plans to study computer sciences. Inside the hospital in Ankara, she is seeing different doctors to treat her eyes and ears. She is accompanied by her father and they have seen several doctors in Afghanistan and Iran in recent months where she also had wind surgery. She has high hopes that the treatment here in Turkey will have a positive outcome. Unfortunately, she is not receiving the result she was hoping for. The doctor tells her the previous operation in Kabul wasn't good. "If we do it again, it damages the ears."
Fatima is trying to come to terms with the news that her eyesight and hearing will perhaps never come back again. "I really wanted to get my eyesight back but it became impossible. I expected I would at least get my full hearing back. But because I had an operation in Afghanistan, I wouldn't have my normal hearing anymore. The sharpness stuck to my face and owned very move because they are too close to my nerves. It is too risky. I am happy that I will get treatment here, but I had higher expectations."
She isn't planning to return to Afghanistan immediately since the Taliban banned women from attending university. Her future is now in limbo. That was Majubur now, Roozi reporting from Turkey, listening to the BBC World Service, live from London, this is NewsHour.
Israeli police have arrested dozens of demonstrators during the latest mass protests against government moves to overhaul the judicial system. Water cannon and mounted police were deployed against protesters blocking the motorway in Tel Aviv while water cannon was also used to clear roads in Haifa where crowds chanted shame.
There were suggestions today that the Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Galant had significant reservations about the judicial reforms and there was speculation about his future in the cabinet. After a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. Galant's team released a statement saying the Defence Minister presented Mr Netanyahu with the impact of the legislative processes on the IDF and the defence establishment. Mr Netanyahu has stated his intention was to proceed with the reform.
"Tonight I am announcing to you, my friends, citizens of Israel, that's enough. I am getting involved. I am putting aside all other considerations and for the good of our people, for the good of our country, I will do everything in my power to reach a solution. The judicial reform for the democracy has to provide a solution to both of our basic needs, to prevent a fracture between our people. Both sides need to take into consideration the claims and concerns of the other sides."
As part of his coverage from the region this week, News hour's Tim Franks has been speaking to the former Israeli Prime Minister Aehoj Barak. He asked him to explain his concern about the government's plans for the judicial system.
"It's the most severe crisis since the establishment of this state. We had been through seven walls and to the further than infinite numbers of operations. We managed extremely successfully against external threats. This one comes from within."
"It didn't start yesterday. I warned against what I called badding fascism on the right wing seven years ago in 2016. This is an attempt to crash the independent judicial system and to push Israel out of the family of democracies. It becomes so intensive that everyone, all the leading groups, basically all the elites in Israel, any field of life, stand firm and say no. We won't let it know pass the wrong as they say in Spanish."
"But the truth is you can have hundreds of thousands of people on the street. They have a majority in parliament. They have the desire to get this through in double quick time. Maybe by the end of this month there is nothing you can do to stop them. I don't think so. I think that we already understood. We cannot win. It's not legitimate. So there will be a clash, the constitutional clash without constitution. The laws will go to the Supreme Court because independent citizen will question the legality of these laws and to the best of my judgment with the presence of these protest, the Supreme Court will cancel these laws."
"So they might ignore the government. But then the operational units, let's say the head of secret service or head of police or head of the armed forces might fight these contradicting orders. Namely the Supreme Court order to dismantle certain illegal new settlement. And the minister or the government will order not to do it. And they know from all their academies of schools, they know that that's the law. They will do it to have a backing and they will refuse the orders from the minister and we follow the what the Supreme Court will tell them. That will make it even deeper because the government can fire them and replace them by someone else. But even the firing will be brought to the Supreme Court because it will be blatantly unexplainable. Why the hell you had to fire him because he followed the law? So it will come and the Supreme Court will cancel the firing of head of police or secret service or whatever. And it will deepen the issue. But by then you will see not not 300,400 or you will see a million people. And people will go to sleep in sleeping bags and small tents around the nested until the government is to capitulate or fall."
"So I am very confident that whatever happens we won't become neither Russia nor Turkey but also an angry opponent. Dictator ship will not survive in this vibrant Israeli society."
"I hear your principal argument against these judicial changes. It suggests though this is just a cabal of 20 men. They have their supporters. They have their supporters in their millions who voted for them. Could you not see that this could end up? Yes, you may get a million people on the street protesting but you may get a million people on the street who are saying you are illegitimately trying to overturn the will of the people. And then we go from it being metaphorically a civil war into perhaps something more visceral, more physical."
"I don't believe it will happen. I cannot promise it but it won't come from our side. Secondly, I don't think that he has these millions behind him. They are isolated. They are minority. I clear my minority. So we are the people. They are the minority. I clear my minority and they feel it."
"What do you say to those people? Both inside Israel certainly inside the territories and indeed around the world who say that actually this great Israeli democracy that you say that you're protecting. It's been corroded for decades and what has corroded it is the occupation. And what you are reaping now is the price of that because the double standards in democracy, in the West Bank and Gaza and East Jerusalem, well, we're now seeing it inside what's seen as Israel proper."
I would say I do not try to grade the elephants in the room by their importance or objective weight because this is a critical moment for certain aspect of the rules of the game that if we want overcome, we won't be able to deal with the big elephants in the room. So not because they are less important but because they are less urgent.
We first of all have to ignore our difference about the big elephant named occupation. So to speak, the big elephant named religion to state relationship, the big elephant named gaps in opportunities and achievements in the society. The elephants will not disappear but the most urgent objective is to stop this slippery slope toward dictatorship because once it becomes dictatorship, we won't be able even to discuss really those issues not to mention to achieve any change about it.
Former Israeli Prime Minister A. Hood barracks speaking to NewsHours Tim Franks, that's it from this edition of the program. Thank you very much for listening. Goodbye for now.
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