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tv   BBC News at Ten  BBC News  January 19, 2024 10:00pm-10:31pm GMT

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tonight at ten, tata steel announces the loss of nearly 3,000 jobs in the uk in a move to low—carbon steel—making. it'll close two coal—fired blast furnaces at port talbot. we'll look at the impact on the community, the environment and the economy. also tonight, a fresh charge of involuntary manslaughter against the actor alec baldwin over a fatal film set shooting in 2021. in south africa, cash—carrying security vans are being targeted in brazen heists, in the country's spiralling cases of violent crime. could this high—powered laser weapon provide aerial defence much more cheaply in the future? japan becomes the fifth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon. and the cold snap comes to an end this week as storm isha sweeps in.
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it's going to bring strong winds for all of us and some disruption. i will have details on which areas are likely to be worst affected. 0n newsnight at 10.30 — in grangemouth, an oil refinery, in port talbot, a steel plant — hundreds ofjobs in the old industries lost. but is there a just transition for workers as we move to a green future? good evening. tata steel's decision to close two blast furnaces at its steelworks in port talbot in south wales, with the loss of nearly 3,000 jobs, is under scrutiny tonight, both for its impact on the local community and its claim the move will slash overall carbon emissions. port talbot is the uk's biggest single emitter of planet—warming carbon dioxide, and the blast furnaces are to be replaced by a cleaner, electric—run furnace. but critics say the workforce
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is being made to pay an unfair price, and with a gap of a few years between closing the old furnaces and opening the new one, we will need to import more steel from countries which aren't as green as the uk. 0ur wales correspondent hywel griffith reports. newsreel: the chancellor— of the exchequer, mr hugh gaitskell, comes to open the largest steel plant in europa _ heavy industry on a staggering scale. for decades, these works have dominated the local landscape, defined the local economy. it's a place where several generations of the same family have found work. but all that may now change. mark followed his uncles here 42 years ago. he's now one of five in his family who work here, most around the blast furnaces, where the jobs will go. this town, it was built on the steelworks, built around it, so the steelworks is the community. i know it's shrunk over the years from the heyday when there were 21,000 working here,
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but it is, it is the heartbeat of the local community. the coal—fired furnaces have been in use 2a hours a day, 365 days a year. but at the end of 2024, that will cease. tata hopes to have a new, greener, electric furnace in place some time in 2027. that means, for at least two years after these furnaces are shut down, the company will import steel here from abroad to finish off, which raises the question whether this decision is really driven by environmental concerns or economic ones. steel made overseas still causes carbon emissions — they just don't count towards the uk stats. tata admits it is several years of financial pressure which has brought this change. we've tried very hard over the years to preserve the site, keep it going despite all the challenges. over the last 15 years, i think we've invested something
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like £5 billion to keep the business going so it's not that we've given up in a hurry, it's not that we've not tried. the company secured half a billion pounds from the uk government to build the new furnace — trade unions feel that money should have gone to supporting a much slower transition. they're giving tata money to make 3,000 people redundant. that is not a good way to spend taxpayers' money. we have a plan which would have cost a few more hundred million, but it would have secured the majority ofjobs here. it's not just at the works where the impact is being felt. for 13 years, the docks cafe has been feeding workers. tiffany fears they may be closed within months. pretty bad, to be honest with you. you get people, just the worry of losing theirjobs, or not being able to fund fortheirfamily, losing their houses, losing everything, really, isn't it? a place reinforced by one industry now feels fragile — its fate decided by forces far beyond its control.
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hywel griffith, bbc news, port talbot. 0ur chief economics correspondent, dharshini david, is here. lots of factors at play here, environmental and economic. what's your assessment of what's going on? indeed, 200 years ago we led the world in making steel and it has been all change as the likes of china could produce it more cheaply. 0ur industry employs attempts of the work as it did 50 years ago, accounts forjust no .1% of economic activity yet provides 2.5% of greenhouse gas emissions punter on paper, a plant which makes that more competitive and reduces emissions in wales but a perhaps uplift sounds great, doesn't it? but spreadsheets are not the real world and there are caveats, notjust the loss as we heard of those highly skilled jobs which underpin local communities and indeed the idea that we will have to import more steel in the interim
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which could be more environmentally dirty punter on top of that, steel is what is known as a strategic good which means that it underpins our economic of the bedrock of things like construction, aerospace, things that make our economy run. and if what the only major economy not to have the ability to make our own steel from scratch, we have to rely on others increasingly, including those with whom our relationship could possibly sour. at a time when we are looking to grow and let's not forget, a period of global and geopolitical strife, that could be a very risky strategy indeed so we will watch this very carefully. thank you very much. the boss of fujitsu's european operations has admitted that the company knew for "many, many years" of bugs and errors in the horizon computer system. paul patterson told the public inquiry into the post office scandal that he'd seen evidence that statements made by fujitsu employees, used to prosecute subpostmasters, were edited. our business correspondent
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emma simpson reports. the evidence that i shall give... the fujitsu boss answering more questions, but this time under oath. the whole truth... and nothing but the truth. paul patterson admitted there were problems with the horizon computer system spanning two decades. right from the very start of deployment of this system, there were bugs and errors and defects which were well—known, to all parties. but these issues remained hidden from the courts in the post office action against sub—postmasters. i'm surprised that that detail was not included in the witness statements given by fujitsu staff to the post office, and i have seen some evidence of editing of witness statements by others. no doubt you would regard that as shameful? iwould... yes, that would be one word i would use. what's the other one?
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shameful, appalling. my understanding of how our laws work in this country, that all of the evidence should have been put in front of the sub—postmaster. the inquiry heard last month post office lawyers and investigators had rewritten witness statements. today, they also looked at some of the bugs. one big one, calendar square, created duplicate transactions and it took fujitsu more than five years to fix it. fujitsu was also under contract to provide transaction data to the post office in its legal pursuit of sub—postmasters. the material was supposed to allow branch managers to see if horizon was working properly. but even when this crucial data was provided, the inquiry heard it wasn't always accurate or complete. we have clearly let society down and the sub—postmasters down. i think we had our obligations to the post office to be at the front of everything
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we were doing, and that was wrong. lee castleton was bankrupted by the post office. a fujitsu expert witness told thejudge in his case there was nothing wrong with horizon at his branch. so what did he think today? i'm sure, you know, he means it, i'm not saying that he doesn't, but it's about doing things, it's about actions. some of the victims want to meet the fujitsu boss to discuss assistance and support. he said he would be happy to, apologising again for his company's part in their suffering. emma simpson, bbc news. more details are emerging about who knew there were issues with the post office computer system, and when. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here with more. thanks, reeta. way back in 1999, the post office begins the roll—out of horizon. within weeks, some sub—postmasters report that it's generating errors.
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that goes to the top. we've seen the minutes of a post office board meeting in september �*99 where directors heard of "serious doubts over the reliability of the software." by april 2000, even the prime minister knows there's something seriously wrong. when we came to office, there was probably no greater shambles than that horizon project. but the post office chose to blame the sub—postmasters, not the software, for cash shortfalls we now know were false. over 15 years, 983 sub—postmasters and postmistresses are convicted of offences from theft to fraud to false accounting, using evidence from horizon. fujitsu witnesses claim horizon�*s information was "reliable" and "robust." some victims go to prison. others were ruined. some take their own lives. we got hold of an audit report
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in 2011 from consultants ey, warning some it staff have "unrestricted access" to postmasters�* horizon accounts which "may lead to the processing of unauthorised or erroneous transactions" ? something the post office continues to deny for years. in 2013, the board discusses a review by the consultants second sight which finds two bugs in horizon. injuly 2013, a concerned barrister for the post office, simon clarke, writes formal advice saying... "there are a number of now convicted defendants to whom the existence of bugs should have been disclosed but was not." we've got hold of minutes showing "the board were concerned that the review opened the business up to claims of wrongful prosecution". but the post office didn't halt prosecutions until two years later. and it wasn't until seven years later, after the post office had spent millions of pounds public money trying to crush the postmasters�* claims, that the advice given to the board came out.
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a spokesman for the post office told us it shared the aims of the public inquiry to get to the truth, and to reach its independent conclusions. reeta. thank you very much. the hollywood actor alec baldwin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of halyna hutchins, the director of photography on the set of the western film rust. prosecutors had dismissed previous charges against the actor, and mr baldwin has maintained he did not pull the trigger. but an independent forensic test has concluded that it could only have happened if the trigger had been pulled. emma vardy reports from los angeles. you were in the room when the lady was shot? i was holding the gun, yeah. 0k. a rehearsal that went terribly wrong. alec baldwin had been getting ready for a scene during filming for the western movie rust in new mexico when a pistol he was holding went off, killing 42—year—old cinematographer halyna hutchins and wounding the director, joel souza.
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mr baldwin has always claimed he was not responsible for her death, saying he was told the gun did not contain any live rounds. i would never point a gun at anyone and pull the trigger at them, never. that was the training that i had, you don't point a gun at someone and pull the trigger. he was first charged over a year ago, but the charges were dismissed when new evidence emerged that the gun may have been able to be fired without the trigger being pulled. but following a new forensic report, a grand jury has now concluded he should face trial, accused of involuntary manslaughter. the movie's armourer, hannah gutierrez—reed, is also facing the same charge. the film rust was completed in halyna hutchins�* memory following her death. her family have welcomed the prospect of criminal trials, saying they've always wanted the truth about what happened that day. if convicted, alec baldwin could face up to 18 months in prison.
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the death of halyna hutchins led to calls for greater safety on film sets and a key question in this case will be how low i've ammunition ended up on set at all —— live ammunition. actors unions have argued that actors are supposed to be able to trust the professionals hired to take care of weapons on film sets and this fresh judge for alec baldwin will come as something of a surprise after the previous prosecution was dropped. emma, thank you. prince harry has withdrawn his libel claim against the publisher of the mail on sunday. the duke of sussex had sued associated newspapers over an article about his security arrangements after stepping back as a senior royal. 0ur media correspondent david sillito reports. in prince harry's ongoing legal war against britain's newspapers, this is perhaps a minor battle. but after a series of victories against the mail and the mirror, it is a climb—down. the dispute has its roots
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in his tussle with the home office over paying for his security arrangements. the piece in question in the mail on sunday was headlined, "how prince harry tried to keep his legal fight with the government 0ver police bodyguards a secret." a judge said the article does suggest that the duke of sussex was responsible for attempting to mislead and confuse the public as to the true position about when he made the offer to pay. the prince says there was no deception and that he'd made the offer to pay in 2020. the mail on sunday argued their article was an honest opinion and didn't cause much harm. a full trial was looming, but today the case was dropped. the legal bill will be sizeable, but this is just one of many cases. a much bigger claim, accusing the mail of phone hacking and other illegal practices, is still going ahead. so, too, another against the publisher of the sun. this is far from the end of prince harry versus the press. david sillito, bbc news.
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a newborn baby, believed to be less than an hour old, has been found in a carrier bag in east london. she is now in hospital and said to be unharmed and well. sean dilley is in newham, where she was found, for us now. sean. good evening. it was around this time last night that that newborn baby was found. if we look behind me, there is kind of railings here. it is 0 degrees here now, we are wrapped up very warm but yesterday it was considerably below zero. little bit about the area, just behind where the cameras, there is a park and the pathway. it is an incredibly busy road so not the sort of place cards can easily stop but a bag on the side of the road probably isn't going to register. it was critical the newborn baby was found at the dog walker fortuitously did come here and they found her wrapped in a towel. police believe she was less than an hour old when she was
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found. thinking fast, that person kept the baby girl warm until london ambulance service paramedics arrived and checked her over before taking her to hospital. i'm delighted to report that she wasn't injured in any way and is safe and well in the care of hospital staff. they have given her a temporary name, elsa. we believe she is a black or mixed race child. i am extremely grateful to the members of the public who stayed at the scene to speak with officers and medics. your actions contributed to saving elsa's life. there is good news in that the baby is alive and well. but police are now saying to the mother, if you are watching this or hear about this, call 999 wherever you are, walk into your nearest police station and specialist help from police officers would be there. police are keen to
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hear from anybody in this area yesterday and if you have— cam footage, the police would very much like to hear from you.— like to hear from you. sean, thank ou. in south africa, violent crime is soaring, with the murder rate now at a 20—year high. since 2012, murders havejumped up by 77%. the last annual figures show that, shockingly, over 12 months more than 27,000 people were killed. for comparison, in the uk that total was just 696. but the number of murders solved has fallen to just 12%. many of those living in fear work in the security sector, with audacious heists of security vans commonplace. daniel de simone reports from johannesburg. a normal day in a security van carrying cash in south africa. what happens next looks extraordinary. but it's a constant criminal threat. this is a cash—in—transit robbery. vans rammed off busy roads. guards terrorised.
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bombs used to access cash. explosion. cit hijackings are one of the violent crimes at crisis levels here. this guard survived a robbery. some don't. as a human being, i'm scared. but, hey, i'm going out. i might not come back. but it's life for everyone in cit. from here, they dispatch the helicopters, the back—up teams, everything. his boss says more help is needed from government. well, it's like a terrorist group. it's been very military organised, well executed. and if you see the way that they plan these robberies, it's very difficult for our teams to stop that. although most south africans can't afford to pay for them, private security officers now outnumber their police counterparts. in the air, each day, crisscrossing cities, guarding security vans down below,
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waiting to respond to hijackings. 0n the ground, patrolling the streets. we're with an armed intervention team injohannesburg and they've just heard a vehicle has been hijacked. they're following a digital tracker in the vehicle, spotting men running from the car's possible location. stop them, stop them. hey, hey, stop, stop. where's the car? which car? but they weren't the robbers. the chase was back on. moments later, the vehicle's found. it's a game of cat and mouse. they normally dump the vehicle. what they call it is a cool—off period to see if anyone does respond. but i think now it was literally seconds that we, that we missed these guys. they call the police to fetch the car. thousands of new officers
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are being recruited. it's election year, the most competitive since the african national congress came to power in 1994, at the end of apartheid. i've always wanted tojoin the police. it's more about serving the country than anything else and just being able to help people in need. i can't wait to go out - there to serve the community, to uphold the law and fight crime. murders are at a two—decade high, with over 27,000 people killed in a year, and only 12% solved. 0ur murder rate is not pleasing at all. 0ur attack, sexual attack, is not pleasing at all. car hijack and all that. as the police, we think we are getting on top of things. there are things that have happened maybe that have put us on the little bit of a backfoot. but in south africa's state of insecurity, the wave of violence will not be
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quickly turned back. daniel de simone, bbc news, johannesburg. the ministry of defence says it's successfully test—fired a high—powered laser weapon at aerial targets for the first time. using an intense beam of light, it can target an object the size of a pound coin from a kilometre away. 0ur defence correspondent jonathan beale is here — this sounds potentially very significant? this sounds potentially very significant, jonathan? the this sounds potentially very significant, jonathan? the mod say it is a landmark— significant, jonathan? the mod say it is a landmark moment, - significant, jonathan? the mod say it is a landmark moment, but - it is a landmark moment, but in�*s first directed energy weapon, better known as a laser, which is on fire a projectile but intense beam of energy. forthe projectile but intense beam of energy. for the first time it has managed to take down a number of drones at a test range in the hebrides. the biggest advantage of these are the cost, they are cheaper to use than conventional weapons. do you think about what has been happening in the red sea, british and american warships have been firing of missiles which each cost
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more than £1 million. to bring down the houthi drones which are being produced for a fraction of the cost to protect merchant shipping. so costis to protect merchant shipping. so cost is the advantage. disadvantage is that they have have their target lasers in the line of sight. unlike a missile which can fire well beyond the target out of visual range. also, slow—moving drones, rather than... it has to prove it can fire at high—speed jets, missiles, that is the next step. the americans have invested heavily at these directed energy weapons and put them on ships. but they have not been used in combat and even the mod says that will take some time. it might change warfare in the future but it's certainly not star wars yet. jonathan, thank you. social services should not be blamed for the death of bronson battersby, that's according to the half sister of the two—year—old
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who was found dead next to his father earlier this week. the toddler, who was found in a flat in skegness, is believed to have died due to lack of food and water. his father kenneth had suffered a fatal heart attack. navtej johal has been speaking exclusively to the child's sister melanie. bronson! come on, then! every time i saw him, you know, he were happy, he were smiley, he learnt to walk, he were learning to speak. he were just a really beautiful, sweet—natured little boy. my dad was a character. he were born to be wild, funny. he absolutely doted on him, you know, he never complained. i think he loved doing what he were doing for him. melanie's dad kenneth and her two—year—old half—brother bronson died in the most tragic of circumstances. it's believed the toddler starved to death after his dad had a heart attack. they were found alone in their home in skegness last week. they believe that it was about a week before that my dad had died, and that bronson was two to three days later.
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melanie wanted to speak to us but says she wishes to keep the focus on bronson and kenneth. we've agreed not to show her face. i were told that they were both found looking very peaceful, and that is the only consolation i can take from that, is that my little brother snuggled up to my dad and that he looked peaceful. i don't want to think too much about the suffering that he went through. he didn't look in pain, neither of them did. and they're together. a social worker visited the father and son's home twice in the days beforehand, but the door was not answered either time. their bodies were found on a third visit when access to the property was finally gained. a rapid review is being carried out by lincolnshire county council social services and the police watchdog will also investigate. i'm glad that an inquiry is going to take place. i don't place any blame at all on them, i think it must be devastating for them to work in that
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profession, to have to deal with tragedies like this. these deaths have affected every parent, every person, who has heard about them. the family are now hoping that they can be left alone to grieve in peace. navteonhal, bbc news. japan's space agency says it's made contact with its spacecraft which landed on the moon earlier today. it makes japan just the fifth country to touch down on the lunar surface. but it hasn't all gone to plan. the uncrewed lander — named �*moon sniper�* — appears to have lost the ability to generate solar energy and is running out of battery power. 0ur science correspondent pallab ghosh has the story. japan's lunar lander has touched down with a soft landing — but there has been a glitch. its solar panels aren't working, so unless it is fixed, the spacecraft will run out of power. but experts say that the mission has
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achieved 99% of its aims. this was all about precision landing. they haven't confirmed the exact precision of the landing, but, you know, they're the fifth nation to land successfully on the moon and that is a huge success. flight engineers are pouring through the spacecraft�*s data and will report next week on what went wrong. but an awful lot went right. they successfully tested advanced face recognition system to home in on the landing site. and it also deployed one of its mini lunar rovers, able to hop where no rover has hopped before. but not another one, which can literally roll back the frontiers of knowledge. it's a new way of doing space exploration and a big part of it is to bring down the costs, so that we can de—risk these missions, do more of them at a faster turnaround and hopefully get both more science
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and exploration out of each one. the team at the open university are building an instrument for a future mission involving both japan and india, as well as the uk. japan's achievement is the start of a new rush to the moon. india got there last year and later in 2024 there will be several us attempts. and by the end of the decade there will be chinese and european missions, so it's all getting very interesting. in the 1960s and �*70s it was all nasa. # ..on the moon one day... but now it's an international race. # december... may! a small fleet of spacecraft are on their way to lay the ground for humans to return. they are going because there are minerals and resources on the moon which will be used to build launch sites to go to mars and beyond.
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and this time the plan is to stay for the long term. pallab ghosh, bbc news. before we get the weather, i can bring you news that luke littler has won his first professional darts title. the 16—year—old went one better than he did at the world championship just over two weeks ago, winning the final at the bahrain masters against michael van gerwen. prize money of £20,000 is an early birthday present for the boy who turns 17 on sunday. time for a look at the weather, here's sarah keith—lucas. another storm in the offing? yes, we have seen the final day of the cold snap but things are stormy over the next few days. the met office have named the ninth storm of the season, storm isha. we have had cold temperatures and lying snow, and this is the picture at ballycastle beach in county antrim. we will see milder, windier weather developing
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and especially late on sunday into monday that is when storm isha will bring the biggest impact. severe gales are many sing disruption as we head into monday morning. before we get there, we have rain that is pushing on across parts of northern ireland into scotland overnight. snow over the highest ground and it stays dry and chilly towards the south—east but by dawn those temperatures will rise above freezing. it could be a slight frost, particularly in the south—east but it should clear away quickly. we have this milder air sweeping and as those weather fronts push their way from west to east. it will be a breezy day, milder than it has been, some rain to central portions of the uk, more showers in the north—west. the driest weather will be down towards the south of england but also north east scotland there could be a bit of sunshine. six or seven in the east but back into double figures towards the west. heavy rain pushes in from the west with squally winds through saturday night. and into sunday, this weather system is storm isha.
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it is pushing in and in between

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