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tv   BBC News  BBC News  January 26, 2024 10:30am-11:01am GMT

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the government in the uk was involved in plans by the post office to sack accountants who found bugs in its it system, according to documents obtained by the bbc. buckingham palace says king charles has been admitted to hospital for prostate surgery — we'll bring you more on that later. let's continue with that story in regards to the post office here in the uk — bbc news has obtained documents showing the government was complicit in a decision by the post office to sack the forensic accountants who had found bugs in its it system. a sub—committee of the post office board took the decision in april 2014. yet the post office kept the government's involvement in it secret — and continued to claim the accountants had vindicated its horizon computer system. andy verity has this
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exclusive report. the post office hired independent forensic accountants second sight to investigate complaints that its horizon computer system generated false evidence of cash shortfalls used to prosecute subpostmasters. oh, my god. it...it�*s just doubled right in front of my eyes. they found evidence of computer bugs doing just that in 76 branches and told the post office in july 2013. but instead of coming clean, the post office kept insisting in public their system was robust, while in private, it agreed a plan to take second sight off the case. this envelope contains documents that post office bosses didn't want you, the public, to see — minutes of a subcommittee of a post office board that were kept from subpostmasters as they fought their way through the courts. they were eventually released a few years later with heavy redactions. look at those blacked—out passages. i've got hold of the unredacted
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version and they show exactly what was going on and who knew about it. spoiler alert — the government knew all about it. the minutes show post office chair alice perkins, chief executive paula vennells and a government representative, richard callard, discuss second sight�*s independent role investigating subpostmasters�* complaints for a mediation scheme. behind the redactions, it shows that in april 2014, they agreed a plan to continue to investigate cases but to bring it within the control of the post office, cutting out second sight�*s independent role. and they reveal that post office bosses didn't plan to pay anything like the compensation subpostmasters were claiming — in fact, only around £1 million for all cases. yet in public, the post office continued to claim second sight�*s review as vindication, saying it found no systemic issues with horizon. in the meantime, you'll need to make good the loss. i haven't got that money! when in fact, as told in a tv drama this month, false evidence had been used to prosecute people
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like jo hamilton. i mean, what's it all about? do we live in a democracy or don't we? you know, and they've done some terrible things to people. why they didn't just tell the truth and sort it out then, i do not know. to mps who've campaigned for subpostmasters it again proves what they've long suspected. this was a government organisation being overseen by government representatives, and it's the government that has to take responsibility for everything that went wrong. it's a distinctly corrupt, murky story that goes right the way into government and it's deeply worrying. we contacted alice perkins and paula vennells, but didn't receive a response. richard callard and the government declined to comment while the inquiry was ongoing. the post office also declined to comment. andy verity, bbc news.
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the attorney general is considering whetherjudges should review the sentence of a man who killed three people in nottingham last year. valdo calocane fatally stabbed grace o'malley—kumar, barnaby webber and ian coates — and tried to kill three others by running them over. he was given an indefinite hospital order after pleading guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility — but the victims�* families felt justice was not done, as nickjohnson reports. three families united in grief and despair. we will never come to terms with the loss of our beloved daughter grace and how she lost her life. premeditated planning, the collection of lethal weapons, hiding in the shadows and the brutality of the attacks are of an individual who knew exactly what he was doing. he knew entirely that it was wrong, but he did it anyway. valdo calocane pleaded guilty
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to manslaughter on the basis of diminished responsibility due to his paranoid schizophrenia. yesterday, thejudge sentenced him to an indefinite hospital order. but that didn't feel like justice to the devastated families. this man is a killer. murder was the only thing he cared about and he fulfilled this in horrific fashion on tuesday, the 13th ofjune last year. all we can do is hope that, in due course, some sort ofjustice will be served. this man has made a mockery of the system and he has got away with murder. now, after receiving a referral claiming the sentence may be unduly lenient, the attorney general�*s office confirmed it will now consider whether it should be reviewed byjudges. 19—year—old students barnaby webber and grace o'malley—kumar were killed as they walked through nottingham city centre after a night out. moments after this footage, both had been fatally stabbed. 65—year—old ian coates, a caretaker and grandfather of eight, was then attacked while in his van
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on his way to work. taser! stay where you are! an hour and a half after the first attack, valdo calocane was caught by police. passing sentence, the judge said calocane would very probably spend the rest of his life in a secure hospital. the attorney general�*s office now has 28 days to weigh up whether to refer the case to the court of appeal. even if that happens, there's no guarantee the case will be heard or reviewed, let alone the sentence changed. but it's the first step in a process that could go some way towards giving three families the justice they feel wasn't served. nickjohnson, bbc news. it's been 20 years since the x factor hit our screens. the talent show helped create some of the biggest names in the uk's music industry — such as one direction, leona lewis and little mix. a new six—part bbc radio 4 podcast
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lauches today, which looks back at the good and bad of one of britain's biggest tv shows. chi chi izundu — who is host of offstage: inside the x factor�* — joins me now. good to see you. just talk us through your podcast. it is good to see you. just talk us through your podcast. it is 20 years since the x-factor _ through your podcast. it is 20 years since the x-factor was _ through your podcast. it is 20 years since the x-factor was lost - through your podcast. it is 20 years since the x-factor was lost on - through your podcast. it is 20 years since the x-factor was lost on our i since the x—factor was lost on our screens and we decided to take a look at what was going on behind the scenes as much as possible. so, we talked to a lot of people. we talked to a lot of contestants for hours and hours, and actually got to talk to some members of staff who had worked on the show. they talked us through the different cycles of the x—factor, the auditions, the boot camp stage, thejudges' houses, the live shows that people might remember. it was hours of talking to find out how they fell from their point of view of what was going on.
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how are they feeling? we saw so many different acts, jed —— jedward, but a lot of people came on to sing and didn't realise they weren't very good, and a lot of people were laughing at them. did you speak to anyone who might have had a bad experience from the show? in episode one, ou experience from the show? in episode one. you will — experience from the show? in episode one, you will hear _ experience from the show? in episode one, you will hear a _ experience from the show? in episode one, you will hear a lovely _ experience from the show? in episode one, you will hear a lovely lady - one, you will hear a lovely lady called sarah and she was on quite an early audition of the x—factor in 2005, and she went on, sang a verse or chorus of a song, was stopped by thejudges, and simon cowell basically told her that he had mentally said no to her as soon as she walked in the room. you will hear how that left an impression on her in the podcast. effectively, she said she never really got over that humiliation. and it was a five—minute segment on the x—factor, and she felt that she was, to use
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her words, and she felt that she was, to use herwords, it and she felt that she was, to use her words, it was purposeful humiliation. she said she was used for humiliation. we spoke to a few people like that, quite a lot of them didn't even want to speak to us because they didn't want to regurgitate or resurface those incidents, orthat regurgitate or resurface those incidents, or that time in their life. we spoke to some people here, yes, they had a tough time and could see what was happening behind the scenes, and that the show was an entertainment tv talent show, but they were ultimately really happy with their performance, what they went through, and really happy with where they are in life now. $150. where they are in life now. also, when we look — where they are in life now. also, when we look at _ where they are in life now. also, when we look at the _ where they are in life now. also, when we look at the appeal - where they are in life now. also, when we look at the appeal of i when we look at the appeal of x—factor, there are two sides to it. there is the singing, the funny side, and the celebrities that are sitting there. do you think that it
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has changed television, notjust in the uk but around the world? it started in 2004, so it was one of the first reality tv explorations that we ever got to see. it had such a huge impact, at its height, there were 70 million of us sitting down to watch one episode. you can't command those type of figures in tv. the tv landscape has completely changed with streaming and so forth. but x—factor had such a huge impact on tv. now it is still having an impact, because it has moved to social media. it has huge global presence on the youtube page. on my instagram feed, i'm constantly getting clips of x—factor auditions and moments. and it's not because i'm searching for them, it's just being shared by a new generation of people who never will sit down and watch a full episode, but they enjoy
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these snippets and segments, and they are re—sharing them. they are re—watching them. like you say, they are laughing at a lot of the things that were used to laugh at and enjoy 20 years ago. so, the presence of x—factor hasn't disappeared. simon cowell himself is still a huge presence in the entertainment space, and music space. one direction are huge, jls havejust come back and music space. one direction are huge, jls have just come back from a tour, little mix are about to reunite. it has had such a cultural impact in the united kingdom, it is undeniable. it impact in the united kingdom, it is undeniable. . , impact in the united kingdom, it is undeniable-— undeniable. it has, and there are many other— undeniable. it has, and there are many other shows, _ undeniable. it has, and there are many other shows, britain's - undeniable. it has, and there are many other shows, britain's got | many other shows, britain's got talent, america's got talent that have come from this. bbc radio 4's podcast offstage: inside the x factor is available on bbc sounds now.
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consultants in england who are members of the british medical association have rejected the latest pay offer from the government — by the narrowest of margins. the bma is urging ministers to improve the deal, after 51% voted against it. ministers said they were considering their next steps. consultants in wales are still voting on an offer from the welsh government. our health editor hugh pym reports. senior doctors out on picket lines. they staged nine days of walkouts in england before pay talks got under way. and then came an offer which the doctors' union, the british medical association, felt it could put to consultant members. on top of the 6% pay rise already awarded, the government said it would put 4.95% extra on the table and streamline the system of pay bands. some consultants would get nothing more, but others up to 13% in total. bma members in england rejected it — 51% voting against. the union has a strike mandate for senior doctors tilljune, but,
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right now, it's calling for a better offer and more talks rather than industrial action. it is easy to be fixateda round numbers and money and percentages, but it is about that. it has largely been about making sure pay is fixed for the future and we can be certain we retain the brightest in the uk to provide services for patients. the health secretary, victoria atkins, said she was disappointed the union had rejected a fair and reasonable offer, and the government would consider its next steps. health leaders, meanwhile, are very concerned about the possibility of more strikes, as amanda pritchard, head of nhs england, made clear before the result was announced. the period of industrial action where both consultants and junior doctors were involved was particularly challenging to the nhs. so we would be very concerned about prolonged industrial action of any kind.
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and that still leaves thejunior doctors in england. since staging six days of strike action earlier this month, there has been no sign of any talks getting going with the government. bma junior doctors will now vote on extending their strike mandate beyond the end of february. hugh pym, bbc news. thousands of people in georgia have found out that they were stolen from their parents at birth — and sold for adoption. it's believed the black market in baby trafficking operated for decades from the late 1970s up to the mid—2000s. some of the victims are now taking their cases to the georgian courts, hoping to get access to their birth documents so they can trace their biological families.fay nurse has been investigating. sobbing this is the first time twins amy and ano are meeting their birth mother.
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the sisters only learned of each other�*s existence two years ago, separated and illegally adopted at birth. their mother was told they had died shortly after they were born. translation: from today, my life has great meaning. | it is a great happiness that i have found my children. how the twins found each other is nothing short of miraculous. it was after amy posted a tiktok and ano saw it. translation: when | saw her, | i thought i was looking at myself. exact same person, same face, exact same voice. they are not the only example of children separated from parents in georgia. the twins found their mum through a facebook group with more than 230,000 members, all hunting for the truth. it was set up by tamuna museridze, a georgian journalist who is also looking for her family. i am helping parents to find their children who were stolen and sold by the georgian doctors.
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tamuna has exposed a dark chapter in georgia's history, a black market adoption scandal, tens of thousands of babies trafficked and spanning decades. i get messages every day with new leads. they are from all over georgia, and even people based abroad. after the country slipped into economic despair following independence from the soviet union, corruption thrived. tamuna started working with human rights lawyer lia mukhashavria to try to bring justice to the families. translation: adoption was not properly regulated by the state, | so people tried to solve this issue on their own. lia believes that a sophisticated network of criminals, working alongside corrupt doctors, profited from a culture of secrecy and shame surrounding adoption. translation: one thing i can say with certainty is that this illegal i adoption was systemic and it operated and existed
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all over the country. and that is why this is so tragic. lia and tamuna's work means that some cases could end up in court, but tamuna still hasn't found her own family. i have reunited hundreds of families and i cannot find my biological parents. but i will. i'm sure i will. i will find them. georgia's government says it's investigating, but so far no arrests have been made. some breaking news that we are just getting in from liverpool football club, jurgen klopp, the manager, had announced his decision to step down at the end of the season. of course,
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liverpool are currently at the top of the premier league. jurgen klopp is, of course, one of the most successful managers at liverpool, and they are currently... he was at the club since 2015. just bringing you that breaking news from liverpool football club, thatjurgen liverpool football club, that jurgen klopp has liverpool football club, thatjurgen klopp has announced his decision to step down as manager at the end of the season. do go to the bbc news website, where you can get the latest on that. we will be bringing you reaction as soon as we get it to that announcement. we will be getting reaction from the sports centre. stay with us on abc news that the manager of liverpool, jurgen klopp, has announced he will be standing down at the end of the season. he was the world's most
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famous reggae musician. now, a new biopic will trace the life of bob marley, from his rise to fame to his death at the age ofjust 36. our music correspondent mark savage got exclusive access to the film's london set and spoke with the actor kingsley ben—adir, who plays marley, about portraying a jamaican cultural icon. # get up. # stand up. # stand up for your rights.# you can't mimic him. you know, you can't copy him. it'sjust not possible. it's too... despite his reservations, he has transformed himself into bob marley. that process began on the barbie movie. some producer told me that we were starting injune and barbie, we started in march. so i was like, i have ten weeks. so i set up a little station in barbie land and i was just... i was listening to bob
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and, like, scrambling trying to learn basic chords. a station in barbie land. it was — it was just behind the mojo dojo casa. injanuary, in january, it paid injanuary, it paid off, as he recreated one of bob marley's most famous performances.— famous performances. when he is sin . in: famous performances. when he is singing and _ famous performances. when he is singing and performing, _ famous performances. when he is singing and performing, he - famous performances. when he is singing and performing, he is - famous performances. when he is. singing and performing, he is really tapping into something else. his eyes are often closed. for me, as an actor, it is always like he is singing for his life. he actor, it is always like he is singing for his life.- actor, it is always like he is singing for his life. he also spent months perfecting _ singing for his life. he also spent months perfecting his _ singing for his life. he also spent months perfecting his dialect. it| singing for his life. he also spent. months perfecting his dialect. it is a --eole months perfecting his dialect. it is a people music — months perfecting his dialect. it is a people music. uniquely- months perfecting his dialect. it is a people music. uniquely for- months perfecting his dialect. it is a people music. uniquely for a i a people music. uniquely for a hollywood _ a people music. uniquely for a hollywood film, _ a people music. uniquely for a hollywood film, the _ a people music. uniquely for a hollywood film, the dialogue i a people music. uniquely for a | hollywood film, the dialogue is almost entirely in patois. if go on to youtube and you put, what do you call it? subtitles on bob interviews, they're all wrong. and i don't want the audience
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to feel like they understand everything i'm saying, because that's not truthful. but we need you to understand the emotion in the story and what's happening in the story. it follows bob match of the day years, from an assassination attempt to exile in london and his triumphant return to jamaica. the idea of iz’ob- _ triumphant return to jamaica. tie: idea of bob. what became triumphant return to jamaica. ti2 idea of bob. what became clear was his genius of his music. i really feel that music saved him, in a way. # all i ever had. # redemption songs.# when you write that... lets continue with the breaking news that we were just bringing you, jurgen klopp is to stand down as
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liverpool manager at the end of the season. we are just getting that news through from liverpool football club. jurgen klopp has been at the club. jurgen klopp has been at the club since 2015. he is managing liverpool, who are currently top of the premier league. they won the league in 2020, he is one of the most successful managers at liverpool. so there will be a lot of reaction to this. we will be going to our sport centre as soon as we can. just to reiterate that news that the manager of liverpool, jurgen klopp, is due to stand down as liverpool manager at the end of the season. a lot of reaction will be coming through on that. go to the website for the very latest. or you
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can head to the bbc news app, where our sports correspondence across the country will be getting reaction and bringing you the very latest. he has been at the club since 2015. this will be a very big story in football, because liverpool are top of the premier league. they did win the premier league back in 2020, whenjurgen klopp was manager. he is one of the most successful managers at liverpool, and we are just seeing pictures of him in training in recent weeks. we will be bringing you the very latest from our sport centre, crossing to our correspondence there, in the next hour. stay with us. families of british rugby players murdered in a terror attack are in guantanamo bay for the sentencing of two of their killers. its a milestone in a long struggle for some form ofjustice
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for their loved—ones who died in one of al-qaeda s most deadly atrocities in october 2002. the rugby clubs were on tour when bombs ripped through nightclubs in bali, indonesia killing 202 people, including 28 britons. the family of dan miller has been talking exclusively to our security correspondent gordon corera. i couldn't bear the thought that somebody standing trial for his murder and for his relatives not to be there to say it mattered. it mattered terribly. susanna miller at the memorial to victims of bali. among them, her younger brother dan. he was on a rugby tour on the island. two of his killers will soon be sentenced after a plea deal with us military prosecutors. they were senior operatives in an al-qaeda offshoot which carried out one of the group's deadliest attacks, killing over 200 people on a night out. that was, you know, dan and i living the dream.
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polly had married dan just five weeks earlier. she was in the bar with him. the building just caught on fire and collapsed in. and ijust remember everything falling down on top of me. people screaming and then fire. so it was like fire everywhere. it was so terrifying. i remember, like, looking ahead of me and it was just a wall of flames. burnt over nearly half her body, it took days for polly to learn her husband had died. it was chaos. i did obviously keep hope for a while, but i think it took three weeks — three weeks for everyone that i was there with to finally be officially id�*d. dan was one of a group of friends and rugby players who died. some of theirfamilies have been brought together by the fight for a form ofjustice. and this is where it's taken them. guantanamo bay is a site shrouded in controversy. some suspects held there have been tortured. many have been held for years without charge, or waiting military trial.
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but for dan miller's family, it's important not to lose sight of the victims. it's a very important moment. it's not a perfect moment in any way and there's no sense of it that is ideal, but it's all we've got. it has to be about the bali victims, the victims that suffered terribly, and many injured people and the people left behind. it was a really incredibly vicious bombing. they were robbed of their future and, no matter what we do, can't get that back. you can tick the box that justice has been served, but it doesn't bring them back. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. hello there. it's been a stormy week for many, but the weekend is looking drier and less windy. there will still be gales around, as we'll see today across the north
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and west of scotland, particularly the highlands and the islands. but for most of us, yes, it's breezy still, but the wind is gradually easing down, as are the number of showers. and that's because the ridge of high pressure is building in from the south, and it will hang around into the weekend. the tightly packed isobars, the windier weather further north, and that's where the majority of the showers will continue on and off today. and it's colder air, it's a fresher breeze today. so that means more winteriness over the tops of the scottish mountains. and we'll see some quite lively showers here, too. but fewer for northern ireland and england and wales. and after a mild start in the south and the east with the rain this morning, temperatures will actually fall back. so it's a fresher day, a cooler day and it's still blustery. these are the wind gusts as we go through the rest of the afternoon, you can still see 30, 40 miles an hour in the north. they will start to ease off, those wind gusts, though, further south. then, as we go through the evening and overnight, we've got further shower bands coming into the north and the west, particularly scotland, parts of northern ireland,
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but further south and east the lighter winds allowing temperatures to fall close to freezing. so a much colder night for the south and east. not quite as chilly, actually, further north and west. but as we go into the weekend, we're gradually going to start to pull in more of a southerly wind. so it will become milder, particularly as that weather front approaches from the atlantic, pulling in that stronger southerly wind. but for saturday, yes, an early frost, potentially patchy mist or fog in the south. our weather fronts, though, close to the north—west highlands of scotland and the islands and also brushing close by to the northwest of northern ireland will bring in more cloud. now, elsewhere, temperatures will be a little bit up on those of today. in fact, the majority nines and tens because we're starting to pull in that southerly breeze, which will probably bring a bit more cloud in for the majority on sunday. and this rain may arrive a little earlier across northwestern parts of both scotland and northern ireland. but temperatures are up again, 11 to 13 degrees celsius, as you can see. then, as we go into next week, the chances are that we could see some of these low pressures just slipping a little bit further southwards. so more uncertainty that far ahead.
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but staying on the mild side and still quite a good deal of dry weather in the forecast, as you can see. as ever, there's more on the website. live from london, this is bbc news. one of liverpool fc�*s most successful managers jurgen klopp has announced he will leave hisjob at the end of the season. the international court ofjustice is to announce its decision injust over an hour in a case brought by south africa claiming israel is committing genocide in gaza.
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here's the scene live from the court in the hague, where the judges are preparing to give an interim ruling on the case. convicted murderer kenneth smith has been executed with nitrogen gas in alabama — the first time the method of capital punishment has been used in the us. in the uk, king charles has been admitted to hospital for prostate surgery, according to buckingham palace. hello, i'm frankie mccamley. we start this hour with breaking news: one of liverpool fc�*s most succesful managersjurgen klopp has announced his decision to stand down at end of season. klopp took charge of liverpool in 2015 and has won six trophies, including the premier league title and the champions league. let's get more on this with our sport reporter gavin ramjaun.

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