BBC News Briefing

6 September, 2024

Jules Darmanin

Hello. Over the past weeks the UK has been reckoning with the riots that erupted over the summer. Part of that reckoning is taking place in courtrooms, where judges have handed hundreds of sentences to convicted rioters. Today my colleague Oli Constable is taking you inside one of these courtrooms, in Sheffield. We're also reporting on the Georgia school shooting, French politics, and Australia's surf economy. I have a perfect score on this week's news quiz - but that's probably because I took it twice.

GET UP TO SPEED

An American woman was shot dead in the occupied West Bank during a protest on Friday, where Israeli forces opened fire. Meanwhile, Israeli forces have withdrawn from Jenin after a nine-day operation.

A 14-year-old boy and his father have been charged in the murder of four people in a gun attack at a high school in the US state of Georgia, appearing in court for the first time.

Italy's culture minister has resigned after a row over the appointment of his former mistress as a top adviser.

AT THE SCENE

Sheffield, UK

Riot arsonist gets nine years behind bars

A man wearing a black puffer jacket and a red scarf is holding a police baton amid a crowd of similarly dressed people blurred out for anonimity.

Thomas Birley was pictured holding a police baton in front of a line of officers. Credit: Getty Images

Over the past weeks, more than 200 people have been sentenced for participating in the riots that erupted across the UK this summer. On Friday Thomas Birley was handed a nine-year jail sentence, the longest prison term given to a rioter so far, for stoking a fire outside a hotel housing more than 200 asylum seekers

Oli Constable, BBC News

CCTV footage played to the court showed Birley, dressed in a black puffer jacket and a red face covering, abusing officers as large crowds gathered outside the building. Prosecutor Alisha Kaye said the painter and decorator was then part of the group that smashed the ground floor window of the hotel. He was also seen putting chipboard onto a fire that had been started in an industrial-sized waste bin which had been pushed up against a fire door.

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During the violence 22 staff in the hotel barricaded themselves into the hotel's panic room while more than 200 asylum seekers were trapped inside the building, despite automated fire alarms telling them to leave. Passing sentence, Judge Richardson said: "[This was] nothing to do with legitimate public protest. It was mob rule. The venom of racism affected the entirety of what occurred. People inside thought they were going to die. The lives of at least 50 people were endangered. They were all mentally scarred and in peril of being killed or injured."

Keep reading

Watch: Police footage shows Birley standing on a burning bin outside the hotel housing asylum seekers.

Back to school: Classrooms across the UK have welcomed children back with an assembly promoting "respect and tolerance" following the riots over the holidays, Hazel Shearing reports.

Why were there riots? If you haven't followed that story closely last month, our piece will help you understand what happened.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

Chinese dancers in flowy white and blue dresses are waving colourful tambourines alongside the street.

Pomp and circumstance

How China tries to woo African leaders - while casting itself as a victim of Western imperialism.

Read the story >

Cause for boycott

Rapper Macklemore cancelled a Dubai gig over alleged ties between the the United Arab Emirates and the war in Sudan. Will others follow suit?

Read more >

Green wave

Researchers say protecting Australia's surf beaches would also benefit the country's economy.

Here's why >

Viktor Orban in front of a Hungarian flag.

Your weekend listening: All behind Orban

Donald Trump once called Viktor Orban a "great leader". But why is the Hungarian prime minister so appealing to right-wing politicians around the world?

Listen here >

THE BIG PICTURE

Why France remains in political deadlock

Emmanuel Macron and Michel Barnier shaking hands.

Michel Barnier was named prime minister by Emmanuel Macron 51 days after the president's party lost general elections. Credit: AFP

Outside of France, Michel Barnier is known as the EU's lead negotiator of the Brexit deal. Now prime minister, the conservative politician picked by President Emmanuel Macron will soon face a parliament split in three camps. He will need all his deal-making skills to keep the post, writes Hugh Schofield in Paris.

Read the story

A view of Sozopol shows a city wall overlooking a rocky coast line with a pontoon extending into clear turquoise waters.

FOR YOUR DOWNTIME

A 'mini-Greece' by the sea

Bulgaria's Sozopol is a bustling port city where incredible relics from Antiquity.

Take a look

And finally... in a beehive

A worker bee's birth was caught on camera as it emerged from a honeycomb cell in a hive in Edinburgh, Scotland. The hatching is the final phase of the bee's birth following egg, larva and pupa. Watch as the "wee bee" chews its way through the wax capping of its cell, with a little help from beekeeper Ross Main.

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– Jules

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