tv BBC News at Ten BBC News February 13, 2017 10:00pm-10:31pm GMT
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tonight at ten: new evidence of drug abuse and security failings at one of britain's biggestjails. a bbc undercover investigation at northumberland prison reveals chaos and unrest and the constant threat of violence. move away from me. you not going in your pad? move away from me, unless you want me to use it on you. i'd prefer you didn't. well, can you move away from me, then? amid calls for a reduction in the prison population, ministers say there's no "quick fix" and that numbers will fall if courts intervene earlier. the criminaljustice system has got better at catching and convicting criminals who've perpetrated some of the most appalling crimes imaginable. the justice secretary also called for a sharper focus on tackling high levels of re—offending. also tonight: the co—op bank is for sale. the chief executive says its ethical stance shows its potential for success. donald trump's national security adviser, michael flynn, apologises for his discussions with russians before the inauguration. the new head of uk cyber security
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warns of a real and growing threat to key national infrastructure. and it's finally confirmed — the yorkshire batsman, joe root, is named as the new england test captain. and coming up in sportsday on bbc news: could manchester city move up to second in the premier league with victory over bournemouth? good evening. there is no ‘quick fix' available to solve the problem of serious overcrowding in prisons. that's the view of liz truss, the justice secretary, who says that preventing more prisoners from re—offending is the key to success. the scale of the problem has been
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shown by bbc panorama, which secretly filmed evidence of widespread drug use and a number of security failings at one of britain's biggest prisons, as our special correspondent ed thomas reports. undercover in one of our biggest jails, bbc panorama filmed the drugs feeding addiction inside. and the staff pushed to their limits. hmp northumberland is a private jail run by the french company sodexo, home to more than 1300 inmates, and for two months, bbc panorama's joe fenton. on his first day, 2.5 kilos of spice, an illegal high with a prison value of over £250,000, was found in two cells. despite this, staff told the reporter there was no lockdown so the block could be completely searched. the bbc secretly
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filmed inmates high on drugs. this man had taken spice. the reporter also filmed this. a prison officer on the floor, suffering a seizure. colleagues said he'd accidentally inhaled spice. and then there's the violence. cctv cameras recorded an inmate being stamped on. at one point, panorama's reporter was threatened by an inmate. and the bbc discovered
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a serious security breach in house block six. alarms weren't working on two doors. here, they hold well—behaved inmates, but nearby, officers found wire—cutters and a hole in an inner security fence. that meant drugs could have been smuggled inside. the governer said the wrong type of inmate had ended up on the block. so, who will take responsibility for this jail‘s failures? today, thejustice secretary confirmed an investigation is under way. do you think sodexo should be running this jail, ms truss?
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we are conducting an investigation on this issue. i take this issue very seriously, and that's why we are investing in 2500 officers. what about hmp northumberland? thank you very much. as for sodexo, the company that runs the prison, they said the safety of staff and inmates is their top priority. ed thomas, bbc news. as we heard, thejustice secretary, liz truss, has outlined her thinking on tackling the problems in prisons in england and wales. and she focused on high rates of re—offending, which she said was the biggest single factor in creating overcrowded prisons. our home editor mark easton looks at the range of challenges faced by the prison authorities. the prisons of england and wales are struggling to keep control, as these exclusive bbc news pictures from last year revealed. mostjails are officially designated as overcrowded. the number now locked up, at around 85,000, is among the highest populations in history. if we take the long view and go right back to 1900,
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we can see how the prison population has been rising for more than a century. in fact, it has doubled in the last quarter of a century. obviously, the population has risen, but the proportionjailed back in 1901 was 86 people in 100,000. today, it's well over double that. british incarceration rates are the highest in western europe. there's england and wales. scotland, very similar. france lock up far fewer, italy and germany lower still. and in scandinavian countries like sweden, prison is used much more rarely. so, is britain more criminal than other parts of western europe? and why have our prison numbers doubled in recent decades when crime has more than halved? commenting on the jail population figures, labour's shadow attorney general, shami chakrabarti, said it was inconceivable that the sum of human wickedness could have doubled in her lifetime. but today, the justice secretary, liz truss, said the real reason for rising prison numbers is that
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we've exposed more of the wickedness that was always there. the criminaljustice system has got better at catching and convicting criminals who have perpetrated some of the most appalling crimes imaginable. and sentence lengths now better reflect the severity of crimes like domestic violence, rape and child abuse. it's not the sum of human wickedness that has doubled, it's that we're driving that wickedness out from the shadows and we're putting it where it belongs — behind bars. there are 3000 more sex offenders in jail than five years ago, but actually, 3000 fewer violent offenders. what really happened is that sentences have got longer, the population has barely shifted, but the budgets have got smaller. the number of front—line officers has fallen sharply, and with fewer staff, assaults, self harm and suicide have all reached record levels. what's to be done?
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you could spend more money, but the ministry ofjustice is demanding efficiency savings. you could insist that fewer people are jailed, but ministers today claimed that would endanger the public. this government, like many before it, is pinning its hopes on reducing reoffending and cutting the prison population that way. mark easton, bbc news. the co—operative bank is for sale, and its leadership says that its strong ethical stance means it has the potential to succeed. but the bank, which has 4 million customers, has struggled to meet new rules on the amount of capital reserves which lenders must hold. it is still losing money, despite efforts to rebuild the business after a financial crisis in 2013. our business editor simonjack has the story. advert voice-over: at the co—operative bank, we believe that actions speak louder than words. we're the only uk bank to have a customer—led ethical policy... well—known for its ethical stance, the actions of the co—op bank over the last four years have in fact given it a rather different reputation, one for financial weakness and management
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scandal. the ethical policy is embedded into how we do business. co—op bank's problems really started with an ill—fated merger with britannia building society in august 2009. byjune of 2013, that had helped punch a £1.5 billion hole in the bank's finances. that prompted the departure of the then chairman, paul flowers, who in november of that year was embroiled in a drugs scandal. in april 2014, it reported a £1.3 billion loss. that required an emergency rescue in may, which saw the co—op group's stake cut to just 20%, as lenders and us hedge funds took control. today, the for—sale sign was put up. the new boss explained why. three practical challenges: lower—for—longer interest rates, which have constrained our earning ability. the scale of the transformation challenge that we took on in 2013 being bigger than we expected. and fixing conduct issues from the past as we've undertaken those across the last
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three orfour years. since it's near—death experience in 2013, the co—op bank has never really regained full financial health. a combination of superlow interest rates and the problems of the past have meant it's been very difficult for banks — big, and especially small — to build up their cash reserves. the only options open to it are for the current owners to put in more money, or to put itself up for sale. the co—op itself is a classic bank caught in the middle ground, really. it's too big to be nimble, and it's not big enough tojoin the big boys. and there are other banks out there in a similar position — names like tsb and virgin money spring to mind. if you put together the co—op with a bank of that size, you could start to make the kind of cost savings, sharing it, which maybe could make a viable business. getting that fit right is important to co—op customers. whoever they sell to, they've got to have the same sort of
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principles. you do worry a bit, yeah. they seem to have gone downhill somehow. are they going to close more branches, and is everything going to go online? it's business as usual for the bank's customers, but for the bank's identity, it could be the end of a 150—year—old road. simon jack, bbc news. president trump and the canadian prime minister, justin trudeau, have emphasised their shared interests on trade and immigration after their first summit meeting at the white house. it's been another hectic day for the trump team as the national security adviser, michael flynn, has apologised for his discussions with russian diplomats before the inauguration. let's join our north america editor jon sopel at the white house. what happened was that michael flynn phoned repeatedly the russian ambassador here in washington, and what he told people was that the
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call was purely about arranging another call between vladimir putin and donald trump, but last week, intelligence intercepts emerged which showed that he had discussed lifting sanctions that iraq 0bama had imposed just before he left office, leaving mike pence, the vice president,, furious. office, leaving mike pence, the vice president, , furious. —— office, leaving mike pence, the vice president,, furious. —— that barack 0bama. today, it was the donald trump and justin trudeau show. this is the neighbourjust dropping by, but whether ever two elected leaders so but whether ever two elected leaders so different in style and substance than donald trump and justin trudeau? 0n than donald trump and justin trudeau? on one particular issue, they are thousands of miles apart: whether to let those fleeing persecution into the country. on the day after president trump signed his controversial executive order banning refugees and travellers from seven mainly muslim countries, justin trudeau tweeted this: so, how
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will they deal with this obvious policy difference at theirjoint news conference? yeller might we cannot let the wrong people in, and i will not allow that during this administration. and people, the citizens of our country, want that, and that is their attitude too, i will tell you. there have been times when we have differed in our approach, and that has always been done respectfully. the last thing canadians expect is for me to come down and lecturer another country on how they choose to govern themselves. astonishingly, no questions were either asked or allowed about this man, who was in the room for the news conference. he is michael flynn, the president's national security adviser and a key
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white house figure. this was him two weeks ago after rerun had tested a ballistic missile. instead of being grateful, iran feels emboldened. as of today, we are officially putting a run on notice. but it is he who is on notice after not being entirely candid about conversations he had with the russian ambassador prior to donald trump taking office, and he may well have lied to the vice president about it. so, does he still enjoy the president's full confidence? white house staff could not or would not say. i don't have any information to change anything that has previously been said on this matter. general flynn has served this country admirably. there was one piece of news on michael flynn's future. he does enjoy the president's confidence. you can see
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we're not talking about all the things that got done at the weekend. he flew back to washington last night with the president and was at the news conference today. he is still national security adviser, though with a high degree of insecurity. well, it seems that the piece has been bought by michael flynn dart—mac there is always palace entry, whether is it —— it is here at the white house, or elsewhere. but just how here at the white house, or elsewhere. butjust how much intrigue that has been so soon after taking office. the israeli prime minister, benjamin neta nyahu, will arrive shortly in washington, ready for his first summit meeting with president trump. the talks are expected to set the tone for israel's relationship with the usa in the coming years, and it's unclear whether the two leaders will agree on the contentious issue of israeli settlements and the road to establishing an independent palestine.
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0ur middle east editorjeremy bowen has sent this report, which starts in the village ofjalud on the west bank. land... sharing it, splitting it, taking it, keeping it, is at the heart of the conflict between israel and the palestinians. the hilltops around the village ofjalud, in the northern west bank have been taken forjewish settlements. some have been built on land owned by this man — an olive farmer. a new israeli law legalises settlements built on privately—owned palestinian land in return for compensation. for palestinians, it's a land grab. translation: we would never take compensation. 0ur land is not for sale. compensation means selling to settlers and we would never do that. the new law is controversial. the israeli president says it makes israel look wrongly as if it's an apartheid state. the chief palestinian negotiator
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says that is what it is already. all the israeli leaders, who don't believe in a two—state solution, and cannot even hear the term secular democratic state, wherejews, muslims and christians live together. so they believe they can impose on me, i one state, two systems — apartheid. you don't have the stomach for this. do you really think the israelis, who pride themselves, as they always say, on being the only democracy in the middle east, do you really think they would preside over the introduction of apartheid? they are living it. lost in bodyguards, israel's prime minister visited trump tower last year. candidate trump backed prime minister netanyahu's policies towards the palestinians. but, in the last week, president trump has said settlements get in the way of peace. perhaps america's self—styled deal—maker believes he can seal the hardest one of all — between israel and the palestinians. his change of mood wrong—footed
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israeli ministers, who had hoped they might have american backing for annexation, incorporating the occupied territory they want into israel. this is not unoccupied. this is our land. we're not going to wait for the palestinians for ever. they need to remember this. so, annexation is a possibility? it's a possibility but we need to do it together with the americans, after seeing the regional options, and after opening all the options on the table. israel has settled around 600,000 jews in the west bank, including eastjerusalem. the un security council resolution calls that a flagrant violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace. the settlements have been planned to allow for expansion. this is ma'ale adumim, one of the biggest on the edge ofjerusalem. so, ma'ale adumim is big and it's growing, but it could become even larger because its municipal boundaries
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have been zoned, to take in great tracts of the desert behind it. you can get some idea of the size of ma'ale adumim by driving along next to it. it takes quite a while to go along its boundary. palestinians worry that this settlement, on its own, could cut the west bank in two, making their hopes for a state even harder to realise. in this troubled land, more than 20 years of peace talks, sponsored by the last four american presidents, have failed. but the conflict cannot be ignored, whoever is in the white house. because jerusalem, and its hinterland, sit like a time bomb in the middle east. jeremy bowen, bbc news, jerusalem. a brief look at some of the day's other other news stories. at least four people have died in an avalanche at the ski resort of tignes in the french alps.
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the group of snowboarders, including an experienced guide, was buried after the wall of snow swept across an off—piste area. the identity of those in the group is still not clear, but it was said to include two teenage boys. police in pakistan say at least 11 people have been killed, and 70 injured, in a bomb attack in the eastern city of lahore. hundreds of people had gathered in the street to protest about new rules governing the sale of medicines in pharmacies. a faction of the taliban militant group has said it was responsible. around 200,000 people in northern california are waiting to hear if they can return to their homes after the area surrounding america's largest dam was evacuated yesterday. engineers had found a hole in one of the 0roville dam's emergency overflow channels, and feared it could collapse, sending a massive wall of water into the towns below the lake. the authorities say the threat is receding. the archbishop of canterbury, justin welby, has described
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the language of public life in the wake of last year's eu referendum as ‘deeply divided' and warned it could get worse. addressing the governing body of the church of england, the general synod, he called on anglicans to help ‘reimagine britain‘ in a changing world. the language of public life at present is deeply, savagely divided, and may become worse. 0ur example in response is crucial to the re—imagination of our values. 0ur religious affairs correspondent martin bashir is here. it is very big week for the church. a huge week. the archbishop preach from luke‘s spore, urging christians to turn away from self indulgence and towards self sacrifice in the light of the sense of uncertainty and fear he says has been caused by
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populist movements across europe and the election of donald trump. but, the election of donald trump. but, the fireworks for this week‘s synod will be lit on wednesday because thatis will be lit on wednesday because that is when the will debate the house of bishops report on same—sex marriage. that report says, it maintains that marriage in church is a lifelong union between a man and a woman. thank you very much. the government‘s new head of cyber security has warned of a real and growing threat to the uk‘s critical national infrastructure. gchq‘s national cyber security centre will be opened by the queen tomorrow. in a bbc interview, its director has spoken of a number of significant intrusions by hostile states in recent months, and highlighted a new willingness by russia to take part. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera has more details. a russian involvement in efforts to hack information. the worst case is that all of our customers‘ data has been accessed. china's activities in cyberspace is a significant source of concern.
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hacking that could hamper vote counting. cyber attacks are, it seems, everywhere. hackers targeting governments, businesses, ordinary people. now a new organisation is being formally launched. its mission to defend the uk. at its new headquarters for the head of the national cyber security centre told me the threat is real. we‘ve had significant losses of personal data, significant intrusions by hostile state activists. significant reconnaissance against critical national infrastructure and ourjob is to make sure we deal with that in the most effective way possible. the most high—profile recent event was the best, and leaking, of us democratic party e—mails, attributed by american spies to the kremlin. —— the theft.
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and russia is high up the list of worries in the uk. i think there has been an identifiable trend in russian attacks in the west in terms of focusing on critical national industries and on political and democratic processes. so it follows from that that we will look to make sure we are protecting those sectors. what we have done here is create a room of the nearfuture, and we‘ve got some devices that are all connected to the internet. the new centre is notjust there to protect government but also people‘s homes. its technical director showed me how internet—connected items like lamps and coffee makers could be vulnerable, even a child‘s toy doll. over here, we‘ve got a door that has got an internet connected lock, so i can open the doorfor my kids if they forget their keys, that sort of thing. and it‘s also voice control. the problem is, cayla isn‘t very security sensitive. so, cayla will accept commands from absolutely anybody that‘s within about 30 feet of her. so, i‘ve got a friend
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over there who is now going to hack cayla and try to open my front door. 0k. computer trigger, open sesame. there it goes. we‘re in. more and more of our life is moving online. the uk is one of the most digitally dependent economies in the world, a strength but also a vulnerability. protecting it online in the future will be vital for economic as well as national security. gordon corera, bbc news. the yorkshire batsman, joe root, has been named as the new england test captain by the england and wales cricket board. he said today he was "privileged, humbled and very excited." the appointment follows the resignation of alastair cook last week. 0ur sports correspondent, katie gornall, has more details. joe root has long been considered england‘s prize asset. he is the boy wonder who quickly matured into one of the world‘s best batsmen. now new responsibilities lie ahead. as his promotion was confirmed, root said in a statement... today they spoke of their pride
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at yorkshire county cricket club, the place where the baby—faced batsman came of age. i remember him making his one—day debut here. i think it was against essex. the little lad who looked like the milky bar kid could not hit the ball off the square. since then he‘s gone on to bigger and better things. i think the best thing aboutjoe, he never gets overawed by the occasion or the big stage and he is thrives on the pressure. that will stand him in good stead as the captain of england. it was here in county cricket that joe root warmed up for england. he has gone on to score 11 test centuries for his country and excel in all three forms of the game. here in yorkshire, they don‘t doubt joe root‘s ability. away from headingley, there will naturally be some concerns about his
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lack of experience. he‘s only captained his county a handful of times. such things have never held him back in the past. the best players they say are born with a bat in their hand. the same is true of root. it all began for him down the road at sheffield collegiate, a club he still visits, and where his brother, billy, and dad, matt, also played. in fact his family are everywhere here. even upstairs where grandma barbra plays bridge. those that know him best are not getting too worked up about it all. yes, i think it should be ok but you can only really tell when they get in the job. it‘s very much learning on the job, being a cricket captain. a lot of onerous responsibility of being england cricket captain. hopefully he will be successful. there is a feeling that the root era will be more dynamic, more entertaining than the past. his first test will be against south africa injuly as england look to a new generation to drive them forward. katie gornall, bbc news, in leeds. british musical talent dominated at the grammy awards in los angeles, thanks to adele and the late david bowie. adele made history becoming the first person to win the top three awards twice.
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but she didn‘t want to accept the grammy for best album, saying that should have gone to the american star, beyonce, as our correspondent james cook reports. and the grammy goes to... this was about much more than a battle of two divas. ..25. adele. adele looked far from comfortable with her sweep. this was the ninth year in a row when a white artist had won album of the year. i can‘t possibly accept this award. my artist of my life is beyonce. this album for me, the lemonade album, was just so monumental and so beautiful and soul—bearing. the way that you make me and my friends feel, the way you make my black friends feel, is empowering. the performance by the proudly pregnant megastar was stunning. there is a curse. but this most consequential
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of artists really was only winning consolation prizes. # 1,000 girls raise their arms...# the night wasn‘t all adele‘s. for the second year in a row, she had performance problems. i know it‘s live tv. i‘m sorry. i need to start again. i can‘t do it again like last year. i‘m sorry for swearing and i‘m sorry for starting again. can we please start it again? it was a good decision. the second take of her tribute to george michael was flawless. # i miss my baby.# applause elsewhere in the show, david bowie won more grammys in death than he ever did in life. then there was the politics. hostjames corden poked fun at himself and at president trump. what i‘ll say is any negative tweets that you see are fake tweets. "persist" was the word on katy perry‘s arm. a political statement from an artist who campaigned for and even
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dressed like hillary clinton. a tribe called quest and busta rhymes were even less subtle, urging resistance. i just want to beg president agent orange for perpetuating all of that evil, that you have perpetuated throughout the united states. this was billed as a battle between beyonce and adele. behind that simple summary was a deeper layer of questions. not least about race and a country where cultures continue to clash. james cook, bbc news, at the grammy awards in los angeles. newsnight is coming up on bbc two. here‘s evan. tonight — battle between the generations. we‘ll ask if the baby boomers have snaffled all the pies or, at least, the pensions and homes. should the young feel aggrieved, or grateful for smartphones
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