hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2.00: former welsh government minister carl sargeant — sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct — has died — it's understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary says he will go to iran — as he faces pressure to retract comments he's made about a british woman being held in prison there. he's been defended by a cabinet colleague. the point doris was making i think is that this arrest and detention of auk is that this arrest and detention of a uk citizen was not acceptable. —— boris. calls for a full inquiry — after cabinet minister priti patel apologises for failing to tell theresa may or borisjohnson about a meeting with israel's prime minister while on holiday. under the spotlight: british overseas territories and crown dependencies featured in the paradise papers: as the eu meet to discuss enforcing a blacklist of tax havens. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. david moyes says he has a point to

prove as he takes over as west ham manager. the fans, however, are not convinced. and louise lear has all the weather. this is what most of us would like. this, unfortunately, is what most of us this, unfortunately, is what most of us have got! i've got all the good and bad news, and i'll be here at half past two to tell you more. thanks louise. also coming up, roaring back: a surprise performance from elton john — as the lion king celebrates 20 years in new york. an ex—welsh labour minister who faced a party investigation into allegations about his personal

conduct has taken his own life, bbc wales understands. carl sargeant had lost his ministerialjob as cabinet secretary for communities and children last week. labour leaderjeremy corbyn said the death was "deeply shocking news". we're going to be speaking to our wales political correspondent later, for reaction. the foreign secretary says he will go to iran, as he tries to diffuse the row caused by his comments about a british woman jailed in tehran. borisjohnson‘s been accused of giving the iranian authorities an excuse to double nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe‘s five—year sentence — by giving the impression she was teaching journalists, when she was arrested in the country last year. here's our political correspondent chris mason. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe with her young daughter, gabriella. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was arrested in tehran in april last year,

and has been injail ever since for allegedly plotting to topple the iranian regime. her family insist she was there on a family visit. but look what the foreign secretary had to say about the case to mps last week. when you look at what nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was doing, it's just, you know... she was simply teaching people journalism, as i understand it. mrjohnson did condemn iran and did offer to visit mrs zaghari—ratcliffe in prison, but his remarks about what she was in iran to do led to her being hauled before the courts there at the weekend and being accused of spreading propaganda. her family say the foreign secretary simply got his facts wrong. he needs to make a clear statement that she wasn't working training journalists. she was there on holiday. she is innocent of the association. we have made it very clear for a long, long time, she is not being held because of anything she has done, she's just not.

the family's mp is furious. i want her home. i do not want her to spend one extra day injail. if she spends even an extra day in jail because of what our foreign secretary has said, he needs to resign with immediate effect. enter this former foreign secretary. i guess the first line of the job description of a foreign secretary is to look out for british interests and british people abroad. it would appear that borisjohnson spectacularly failed to do that last week? that is unfair. he did something, which was a human error. he spends lot of time representing this country's interests perfectly well and perfectly competently. so, yes, he made a mistake — his problem, if i'm absolutely honest about it, is that he's done it before. the foreign office say borisjohnson called tehran today to speak to his opposite number in the iranian government. mrjohnson acknowledged his remarks could have been clearer and said

mrs zaghari—ratcliffe had been in the country on holiday. a cabinet colleague defended him on the radio. we all make slips of the tongue. we have to be very careful we are not overreacting to this in a way that... i bet you wouldn't say that if you were standing in the dock of that iranian court. well, that shouldn't have happened in the first place. of course not. it is a very aggressive, unacceptable way to treat a uk citizen. the foreign secretary is expected to talk about the case in the commons this afternoon. chris mason, bbc news, at westminster. downing street says it will tighten the ministers‘ code of conduct, after the international development secretary held a meeting with the israeli prime minister without informing the foreign office. —— held meetings. priti patel was on holiday at the time — and the bbc has learned that after the trip, she suggested some of britain's aid budget should be given to the israeli army to support its

humanitarian operations. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. holiday snaps of a different kind. when priti patel travelled to israel for a break in august she did not just see the sights, she also visited politicians and charities, 12 in all, without telling the foreign office. the most important meeting was with the israeli prime minister, something theresa may knew nothing about when she met benjamin netanyahu in downing street last week. critics accuse her of breaching ministerial rules. former diplomats are astonished. i think it's simply common sense that if a senior minister visiting a country with a sensitive relationship with britain, they should take advice from the foreign office, the ambassador and let the foreign secretary know what's going on. i'm not sure that needs to be spelt out in the ministerial code, that's common sense. one idea that emerged from the trip was whether british aid could help israeli soldiers in the occupied golan heights. the bbc has been told she asked officials to examine the idea —

but the foreign office advised against, because britain does not recognise israel's annexation of this area. the international development secretary has now listed all undisclosed meetings in israel, and apologised. in a statement, she said... today, friends rallied to her support. israel is a great partner of the united kingdom. we value the partnership. yes, she was on holiday — but she was a workaholic and wanted to keep going and having meetings. yes, she should have notified the foreign office, but they knew about it while it was taking place. there's nothing to see here. she's entitled to meet whoever she wants. she has apologised to the prime minister for the way in which some of those were handled, and i regard the matter as closed. political pressure on mrs patel remains. labour have called on her to resign from the cabinet, and there will be

a debate on her behaviour in the house of commons later today. caroline lucas is in westminsterfor us. caroline lucas is in westminsterfor us. pretty patel is —— what questions do you think she needs to answer? the questions have just been put, and alistair burt was there asking —— and sewing on how the half. i think there was a strong sense that she should have postponed her trip to africa, she should have been there to answer for herself. it was not a very edifying sight seeing another minister having to defend the indefensible. she has broken the ministerial code, embarrassed the prime minister extraordinarily by not telling her about a meeting with the prime minister of israel before the prime minister of israel before the prime minister herself was meeting with him. she has had any

number of meetings that were only —— we are onlyjust now catching up with, without having any officials there, and she is proposing to use british aid money to give to the israeli army in the golan heights when it is quite clear that british policy is not to recognise israeli occupancy of the golan heights. —— the golden —— —— the golan heights. the prime minister's response is that we need to tighten the ministerial code! yes, why not close the door afterwards ? yes, why not close the door afterwards? but the ministerial code is there to protect the interests of the british government and make sure that all ministers are following the same rules, so that all ministers are following the same rules, so you that all ministers are following the same rules, so you don't have freelancing effectively when you are off on holiday. that is not a serious way to carry on. well, we heard there she is a workaholic and she was being diligent. well, i think there is another

concern, that not only did she have these meetings at the highest levels without any officials present, but it also seems she was not meeting people were —— from the palestinian side. anybody with a high —— slightest knowledge of the tensions in the middle east would know that simply to have one meeting with the israelis are not have parallel meetings with palestinians was grossly, grossly misjudged. so yet again, ithink grossly, grossly misjudged. so yet again, i think herfuture ought to be in doubt. and boris? the government is clinging on by the skin of its teeth there, because in any other government, to have had the actions of priti patel and boris johnson, any other government would have to stand down. borisjohnson has simply —— borisjohnson‘s words have now been used in an any iranian

court to argue for having a longer sentence. and instead of making an immediate statement in the house, he has refused to do that, he has put his pride before the welfare of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, and we are hearing that he might say a few words before he is making a statement on another issue on diets. this is an absolutely appalling way for a foreign minister, the foreign secretary beach —— to be acting. —— another statement on daesh. the things he has been doing as foreign minister and before, i things he has been doing as foreign ministerand before, ithink absolutely means he should go. read me the list! he calls president obama part kenyan with an ancestral dislike of the uk. he uses his daily telegraph column to cast doubt on the reality of climate change. he

rana the reality of climate change. he ran a magazine which accused liverpool fans of "wallowing in it" after hillsborough. and hejokes about clearing away dead bodies in libya. but all of those things are put in the shade by what he has done this time, which is literally to put the well—being of a very, very fragile person man who has been in prison for 18 months, trumped up charges, desperate family here in the uk, we should go. let's go to norman smith in westminster. not the first time we've had a call for the resignation of both priti patel and boris johnson. it is interesting that with

eve ryo ne johnson. it is interesting that with everyone saying priti patel has broken the ministerial code, the response of downing street is that we need to change the ministerial code. i was just watching the reaction in the house of commons, and what struck me, priti patel was not in the commons to answer the statement about her israel visit, she is actually in a trip to —— on a trip to africa, but what struck me was a number of conservative mps getting up number of conservative mps getting up and not so discreetly kicking the boot into her. in particular over her time as they see it to the israeli lobby if you like to put it, that way. and we learned that she first informed the foreign office about her visit on august 24. the first the prime minister knew about it was last week. so, you know, there is a question mark about why

wasn't the foreign office —— why didn't the foreign office in former prime minister? as it was in the commons, it was left to alistair burt, the foreign office minister to speak up for burt, the foreign office minister to speak upforand burt, the foreign office minister to speak up for and defend priti patel. the secretary of state realises in hindsight that these meetings were not arranged following the usual procedures, and she has apologised for that. the foreign office has said the uk interests were not damaged or affected by the meetings oi'i damaged or affected by the meetings on this visit. i hope, therefore, that honourable members will agree she has made that apology, published details of the meetings, and we should refocus on our valuable work tackling extreme poverty and humanitarian crisis around the world. there was then scepticism surrounding the disclosure that priti patel has perhaps suggested

that british aid money could be a surprise to the military for their work in the golan heights. also suggesting —— it was suggested that she should surely meet with the palestinian side as well, and a number of calls including from the labourmp ben number of calls including from the labour mp ben bradshaw, for priti patel and boris johnson labour mp ben bradshaw, for priti patel and borisjohnson to be sacked. after an incredibly long list of meetings that the secretary of state met in israel, did she have any meetings with the palestinian side? you will approach —— you will appreciate the importance of a balanced approach. she could have delayed her apology and shown some courtesy to this house. it is difficult for us to know, mr speaker, whether the secretary of state for international development, or the foreign minister, state for international development, orthe foreign minister, one state for international development, or the foreign minister, one with the worst relationship with

accuracy, if we didn't have a per minister who was so weak, but would have been sacked. borisjohnson will be in the commons later this afternoon, i suspect he is going to get a pretty tough time as well, because there is a good deal of anger amongst supporters of the iranian family, at the fact that mrjohnson has not made a clear direction or apology, in fact he is not even making a statement about the case. his statement this afternoon is going to be about countering islamic state, and within that statement he is expected to be including some words about the comments he made to the foreign affairs select committee last week. that will not satisfy many of his critics, i'm sure. thank you very much, norman. we're just hearing from the rmt union, who say that after 1400 job losses are planned at transport for

london, including engineering and on the london underground. the union are saying this is because of spending cuts. let's get more on the story about the ex—welsh labour minister who faced party investigation into allegations about his personal conduct, this is carl sargeant, he has taken his own life after losing his mysterious job has taken his own life after losing his mysteriousjob on friday. what the winner has happened? —— ministerial job. the winner has happened? —— ministerialjob. north wales police say they found a body at a property this morning at 11:30am, and it has been identified as carl sargeant, the former welsh government minister. we understand that carl sa rg ea nt minister. we understand that carl sargeant did take his own life. he asi sargeant did take his own life. he as i said had been the assembly minister —— member since 2003, and

had been a government minister since 2007, until friday when he lost his job in the first minister carwyn jones's government reshuffle after a number of accusations about his conduct by women had been made to the first minister's office, and they had investigated. he had been sacked from hisjob they had investigated. he had been sacked from his job as communities secretary, and an investigation was being undertaken by welsh labour. there are questions as to what will happen to that from now on. but the first minister has said this afternoon that carl sargeant was a friend as well as a colleague, and "i am shocked and deeply saddened by his death. he will be a great loss to our party."jeremy his death. he will be a great loss to our party." jeremy corbyn said the death was "deeply shocking news", and a family statement says "we are devastated beyond words at the loss of the glue that binds us

together." he tweeted last week, very bitter it appeared at these allegations, he didn't appear to know what they were. he said he was hoping to clear his name, that it was right to step aside from the welsh government, that an investigation would be undertaken, and he wanted due process to take place about these allegations. that was on friday after he had been in the first minister's words sacked from the welsh government. the first minister carwynjones said yesterday in an interview with bbc wales that a number of accusations had been made by women about his conduct to the first minister, so he had to act, and as i said, with a desperately sad news of that today, carl sa rg ea nt desperately sad news of that today, carl sargeant has desperately sad news of that today, carl sargea nt has ta ken desperately sad news of that today, carl sargeant has taken his life at his home. the tax affairs of british crown dependencies and overseas

territories are coming under intense scrutiny because of the leak of millions of confidential documents known as the paradise papers. the documents, examined by an international consortium ofjournalists including bbc panorama, show how the technology giant apple has been managing most of its untaxed cash reserve offshore, on the channel island of jersey. it moved the money tojersey after a tax loophole in ireland was closed. although the company has done nothing illegal, its tax arrangements have been criticised by eu and us officials. andy verity reports. we pay all the taxes we owe. apple's chief executive is correct, but what they legally bowl may not be much. depending on where it is located. its effective tax rate has been estimated at 5% internationally. in 2014 ireland announced it would ban companies with no tax residency, that would mean apple needed a tax residency

for its lucrative irish subsidiaries, but the paradise papers reveal it sent out a questionnaire courting tax havens. then the jersey questionnaire courting tax havens. then thejersey company reportedly sold back its highly expensive intellectual property rights to its irish division, creating a big cost that can be offset against future profits. apple says it has followed the law, and that the new ownership structure has not lowered its taxes. here's why so many multinational companies want to relocate offshore. in the united states you will pay 35% in corporation tax, in the uk the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if you the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if y°u pay the rate is 19%, and in ireland, if you pay it at all and don't avoid it, 12.5%. in jersey, you pay it at all and don't avoid it, 12.5%. injersey, a big fat zero. the revelations from the paradise

papers raise questions about the willingness of critic round dependencies and overseas territories to facilitate tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and multinational, legal though it may be. but the isle of man parliament —— at the isle of man parliament, the chief minister hit back. the isle of man does not welcome those seeking to evade or aggressively avoid taxes. we are proud of the role we have taken in moving the international tax agenda forward. the isle of man has consistently been prepared to step out in front to support developing international tax transparency initiatives. others have attacked the dozens of media organisations involved in the paradise papers organisation —— investigation, for using private information. this is in my view a politically inspired campaign which has been long—running, which is using stolen data in order to pursue an agenda which has nothing really to do with

tax or the morality of tax. this is about privacy, this is about seeking to ensure that there is public access to private financial information. while crown dependencies and overseas territories have some independence, westminster is ultimately responsible. if her majesty's government chooses to impose new rules or laws, —— laws, it can. our correspondentjudith moritz is on the isle of man. what's the reaction, as they read in detail what the claims are in the paradise papers? there's been a range of responses, but i think if you talk to people on this island, they say they do not recognise the picture that has been painted by the paradise papers and by panorama. they resist being called a tax haven, they say that is not how they see themselves here, and they said that they want to see more evidence, in fact i spoke to

the chief minister here this morning, and asked him, now he had seen morning, and asked him, now he had seen the programme, whether he was going to apologise or take any action to deal with some of the allegations made, and his point was that although he has seen that programme go out, and read some of the innovative —— information, he has not seen the source documentation, and he wants to before he has —— takes action. but he did speak this morning in the parliament here, and he gave a statement in which he said he would continue to honour his commitment if any wrongdoing is proven. he says there is an ongoing investigation, and "our overall message remains clear that the isle of man is not an island which tolerates people who seek to address —— aggressively evade or avoid paying tax. " he says the prior —— the isle of man is

proud of the way it has taken action to move the discussion forward. earlier, 1000 —— 1000 privatejets are registered here on this island, more i understand than in france, but what they say when you ask them about that is that the people who operate and owned those jets come here because the jet registry is a world leader. but when you push them on the tax efficiency and the reasons why perhaps the internationally rich and famous may wa nt to internationally rich and famous may want to come here, they do not recognise the fact that they are being called a tax haven, they don't agree with the point that is being alleged, that people come here to be able to dodge tax. judith, thank you very much. boris johnson is on his feet in the house of commons. daesh had gathered strength in

syria, using the opportunity to seize oilfields and carve out a base with which to launch the assault on iraq. today i can tell the house that daesh have been rolled back on every battlefront, thanks to the courage and resolve of iraq's security forces, our partners in syria, and the steadfast action of the global coalition, as a result, daesh have lost 90% of the territory they once owned in —— had in iraq, and 6 million people have been freed from their rule. when my right honourable friend the former defence secretary last updated the house in july, the biggest city in northern iraq, mosul, had been liberated. since then, iraqi forces have broken daesh‘s grip, and cleared the

terrorists from all but a relatively small area near the syrian border. demonstrating how the false and failed caliphate is crumbling before our eyes. the house willjoin me in paying tribute to the men and women of the british armed forces who have been vital to every step of the advance. over 600 british soldiers are in iraq, where they have helped to train 50,000 members of the iraqi security forces, and the raf has delivered 1352 air strikes against daesh in iraq, more than any other air force daesh in iraq, more than any other airforce apart daesh in iraq, more than any other air force apart from the united states. i turn now to syria. on 20th october the global coalition confirmed the fall of raqqa after three years of brutal occupation. the struggle was long and hard, and i acknowledge surprise that has been paid by the coalition that —— coalition partner forces on the

ground, and the civilian population of tampon —— of raqqa. borisjohnson has said he had voiced concern to run over the british worker nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, he also said that he accepted remarks had been made —— remarks made last week on how could have been clearer, and has said he will visit iran in the next few weeks and discussed —— discuss all consulate cases. he has as we can see discuss all consulate cases. he has as we can see moved onto discuss all consulate cases. he has as we can see moved onto other questions about foreign affairs, and there, talking about islamic state. but he will be visiting iran in the next few weeks, and the assumption is that the case of the aid worker will be raised with authorities there. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe.

let's have a look at the weather. louise, changeable is a word that you would use when you don't know what is going on! is that a bit harsh? was it cold and frosty this morning, and mild and wet? look at this, if i was to say, 47 days and nine hours, ring any bells? 0h, days and nine hours, ring any bells? oh, it's christmas, isn't it! oh, no. it's way too early! oxford street lights being turned on! what you do not want for that is rain but that might be what you get u nfortu nately. we rain but that might be what you get unfortunately. we have seen pretty heavy rain moving in from the west. it will weaken as it moves to london and probably not arriving until 5pm,

6pm. fingers crossed the lights are turned on beforehand. behind it, clearer skies, fresh appeal to things. for the evening rush hour, cool in the south—west and wales. the rain sits through the midlands. london, some outbreaks of light rain around at 5pm this evening. in the north—west, we keep clear skies, scattering of showers in north—west scotla nd scattering of showers in north—west scotland and northern ireland for the rest of the evening. some could be heavy with the odd rumble of thunder as well. through the evening and overnight, their rain will continue south, weakening substantially, but behind it, lighter winds, clearer substantially, but behind it, lighterwinds, clearerskies, temperatures falling away. changeable because tonight is going to be cold and frosty again. in scotla nd to be cold and frosty again. in scotland and northern ireland, lo is down 10—3, minus four. frost with mr and fog. milder in the south—east

because of the remnants of the rain lingering. decent spells of sunshine for much of us tomorrow. with the exception, just like so far this week, up in the north—west, south—westerly wind direction, change of wind, cloud and rain arriving. likely to see 11 degrees in the north—west. lots of dry and sunny weather further south and east. this is bbc news. returning to the house of commons and the foreign statement from —— the statement from boris johnson. and the foreign statement from —— the statement from borisjohnsonm is one square mile less for them to exploit and plunder. the impending destruction of the so—called caliphate will reduce their ability to fund terrorism abroad and attract new recruits. yet daesh will still try to inspire attacks by spreading

hateful ideology and cyberspace, even after they have lost their physical domain. that is why britain leads the coalition's efforts to counter daesh propaganda, for wiki medication cell based in london and daesh‘s total propaganda outfit has fallen in half by 2015 —— output. but social media companies can and must do more particularly to speed up must do more particularly to speed up the detection and removal of dangerous material and prevent it from being uploaded in the first place. hence my right honourable friend, the prime minister, co—hosted an event at the un in september on how to stop terrorists from using the internet. the government has always made clear that any british nationals who join hyun—sook —— who join that any british nationals who join hyun—sook —— whojoin daesh have made themselves a legitimate target. some may surrender or try to come home including to the uk. as the

government has previously said, anyone who returns to this country after taking part in the conflict in syria or iraq must expect to be investigated for reasons of national security. while foreign fighters face the consequences of their actions, the valour and sacrifice of the armed forces of many nations including our own has prevented a terrorist entity from taking root in the heart of the middle east. i commend this statement to the house. emily thornberry. i would like to thank the foreign secretary for advance sight of his statement and i will come to his remarks regarding nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe in a moment. let me first address the formal purpose of this statement, the government's quarterly update on the government's quarterly update on the fight against daesh. we are all agreed in this house daesh is nothing but an evil death cult which must be wiped from the face of the earth. we warmly welcome the recent

hard—fought earth. we warmly welcome the recent ha rd —foug ht successes earth. we warmly welcome the recent hard —fought successes against earth. we warmly welcome the recent hard—fought successes against them in syria and iraq with their vision ofa in syria and iraq with their vision of a caliphate stretching across both countries now lying in absolute ruins. but while that specific danger evaporates before our eyes, we know too well that the wider threat they pose as they ceased to operate asa as a conventional military force seeking to occupy territory in townsend retreated the role of a well armed, well trained and fanatical network of carousels seeking to indoctrinate others and inflict indiscriminate mass casualties in iraq, syria and also farfar beyond. we must casualties in iraq, syria and also far far beyond. we must therefore not let our guard down. the fight has not been won, it is switching to a new phase. a number of questions andi a new phase. a number of questions and i hope the foreign secretary will address them. will he correct hisjunior colleague, will address them. will he correct his junior colleague, the minister of state for africa who said recently that the only way to deal with british citizens who have gone to fight the islamic macro is, i quote, in most every case, to kill

them? this sends an unfortunate signal to groups in syria and beyond who are holding in detention british citizens captured on the battlefield. can the foreign secretary make clear today it remains the government's policy that those individuals should be returned to this country to face trial for their crimes, not simply be executed by their captors? he might also advise the minister for africa that in positions of responsibility in the foreign office, you have to engage your brain. and think about the consequences of your words before opening your mouth. second, the foreign secretary will have noted last week the first us drone strikes targeting daesh rather than al—shabab in somalia. will he guaranteed the house that if the uk is asked to participate in the opening of a new front against daesh, that will be the subject of proper parliamentary debate and a vote to authorise such actions? third, as daesh increasingly is a

military player in the civil war, can he tell us what is the government's current strategy in syria? what are we now seeking to achieve in both military and diplomatic sensors from our engagement? can he tell us, is at the government's intention to continue challenging runs to opposition groups and of the £20 million that has already been channelled to those groups over the past three years, can he give us a cast—iron guarantee today none of that money has ended up in the hands of the al—nusra front or other jihadi groups? fourth and finally, as attention turns to their last remaining stronghold, the foreign secretary will be aware of the risks as the russian iranians backed forces approached the town from one side and assyrian democratic forces approach from the other side, can he tell the house what steps britain is taking to ensure the battle to

liberate the town from daesh from the airand ground liberate the town from daesh from the air and ground does not inadvertently lead to clashes between the two liberating armies? turning now to nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. we appreciate the foreign secretary's clarification, we welcome the phone call he made this morning to his iranian counterpart, and we all hope that no lasting damage is done to nazanin as a result of his blunder. however, i hope he will now take the opportunity to apologise to this woman pozzo family, to herfriends and her employees, to my honourable friend, the member, and to all of those others in this house and beyond, who have been working so ha rd to beyond, who have been working so hard to obtain this young mother's release from the distress and anguish that his foolish words have caused to them and to this woman in recent days —— to this woman's

family. how many more times does this need to happen? how many more times does the foreign secretary have to insult our international partners, damage our diplomatic relations and now in the interests of british nationals abroad? what will it take before the prime minister says, enough is enough? if the truth is she can't because she does not have the strength or authority to sack him, how about the foreign secretary himself shows a bit of personal responsibility and admitsa bit of personal responsibility and admits a job like this where your words hold gravity and your actions have consequences, it is simply not thejob for have consequences, it is simply not the job for him? foreign secretary. thank you, mr deputy speaker. to ta ke thank you, mr deputy speaker. to take the points raised by the right honourable lady in... madam deputy speaker, forgive me. the points made

by the right honourable lady in turn. our view about uk nationals fighting in iraq or syria for daesh, of course, they must think of themselves as legitimate targets, whilst they are doing that, though if they seek to come back here, they of course will be subject to investigation and the full force of the law. on her second question, we have had no request for the air strikes of the type she mentions. the military operation of the kind she describes in somalia. in respect of the policy on syria, her third point, we are working to bring together the processes and we believe the great political leverage

we in the uk and in the west more broadly have over the russians and indeed over all those who are involved in the future of syria is that it involved in the future of syria is thatitis involved in the future of syria is that it is the west, the uk, the eu, the us, we have the budgets for rebuilding syria and it is only if the assad regime, the russians, the iranians, if they accept the need for a political process, then we can begin with that process of rebuilding. communications are going on to the conflict and make sure the factions concerned do not come into conflict. a final point, she comes back to the case of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. let me repeat. i think what everybody in this house wa nts to think what everybody in this house wants to see is nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe released and that is what the foreign office is working for, that is what we have

been working for solidly over the last 18 months, and i may say, it is simply untrue for her to say, as she has said today, that there is any connection whatever between my remarks last week and the legal proceedings under way against nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe in tehran today. i may say to the right honourable lady that she has a choice, she always has a choice in these matters, she can choose to blame, to heap blame onto the british foreign office that is trying to secure the release of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and in so doing, she deflects blame and accountability from those truly responsible holding that mother in jail. that is the uranium regime. order, order. —— the iranian regime. the foreign secretary is dealing with a very important matter of some

delicacy. nobody anywhere in this house ought to be shouting while he is doing so. they certainly should not be shouting while i am speaking from the chair. foreign secretary, you might wish to finish your point. i completed my point but i will say it again. there is a great shame that in seeking to score political points, she is a defect in blame, accountability and responsibility from where it truly lies which is with the iranian regime. —— she is deflecting blame. not blaming the foreign office that we should direct our efforts. thank you. may i appeal to the foreign secretary, even at this late stage, to adopt a more realistic policy to the outcome in

syria? it was always the case that if daesh would lose, the iraqi government were going to win its territory, and the syrian government we re territory, and the syrian government were going to win its territory. we have not seen any sign of 70,000 moderate fighters as a third force. will he now accept the fact that unpleasant as it is, it is better to recognise the regime will persevere in syria, even though that is a price we have to pay for the elimination of daesh? my right honourable friend speaks with great wisdom in this matter and we must accept that the assad regime does now possess itself off most of what you would call operational syria and thatis you would call operational syria and that is a reality but they have not won, they do not possess all of syria, and if they want the country rebuilt, it can only be done with the support of us in the uk and in

the support of us in the uk and in the european union and in the united states. that is the leverage we hold and that is how we hope to get the assad regime and the russians engaged in a proper political process. can i thank the foreign secretary for advance sight of his statement? we welcome many reversals of daesh and we welcome short—term humanitarian help provided to the people of syria. the foreign secretary will be a word there must be long—term consolidation, so what long—term funds have been set aside for restructuring in syria after the conflict? he mentioned accountability as well, is it the case he will be supporting the cases of daesh fighters being referred to the international criminal court? on the international criminal court? on the case of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, can i ask the foreign secretary if he will tell us, he told the foreign affairs committee that she was simply teaching peoplejournalism... studio: we will pull away from the

house of commons after the rather feisty debate between the foreign secretary and his shadow, emily thornberry. more reaction to that later. while boris johnson thornberry. more reaction to that later. while borisjohnson was answering those questions, news from cardiff crown court. matthew scully hicks has been jailed cardiff crown court. matthew scully hicks has beenjailed for a minimum of 18 years, for the murder of his adopted daughter, elsie. he was convicted yesterday. he had inflicted a catalogue of injuries on her at the cardiff home in the eight months he had to care for her. she died four days after being violently shaken in may, 2016. the trial heard her catastrophic injuries included a fractured skull, bruises, broken ankle and they fall down a flight of stairs. jailed for a minimum of 18 yea rs. stairs. jailed for a minimum of 18 years. you are watching afternoon live from bbc news. in the next hour, a statue of novelist george orwell is to be unveiled outside of new broadcasting house here in london, just a few minutes from where he worked as a radio

producer in world war ii. joining me now from outside our studio in london is our correspondent, nick higham. outside new broadcasting house were after many years the first public statue of george orwell, it will be unveiled. it is behind me, hidden by the black cloth. it will be swept aside in 15, 20 minutes. iam joined by george orwell‘s son, richard blair, george orwell‘s real name was eric blair. are you pleased there is finally a public memorial to your father? delighted. the day has finally arrived. i know it was proposed way back in 2009, 2010, and i thought naively this would happen within two, three years. i did not realise it would take this long. we are now into 2017, towards the end of it, the day has finally arrived andl of it, the day has finally arrived and i am absolutely delighted it has. the statue has been paid for by

a trust, the money was raised independently, but it is outside the bbc because the two years, your father worked for the bbc during world war ii, broadcasting to india, pa rt world war ii, broadcasting to india, part of the empire at the time. ambivalent relationship with the bbc? i suppose he did. he was here for two years, he described his time at the bbc as a cross between a girl's school and a lunatic asylum. in fact, his tongue was possibly in his cheek when he said that. i do not think... i'm sure the bbc did not think... i'm sure the bbc did not take umbrage at that. there were two reasons, several reasons, why he left. he was not certain whether or not his broadcasts were getting through to india. you mean they were having the effect... they were effectively propaganda, won't they? yes, they were. they did not have the technology we have today, as to whether they were getting through to the target. the other reason? two other reasons. he had another book

in mind. that turned out to be animal farm. another reason, he had persuaded and was persuading his wife, eileen, that they should have a baby. he felt he was not able to have children himself committee decided he would like to adopt. eileen was not too sure about that. he spent some time persuading her. one of the reasons why he left the bbc was in fact he wanted to prepare himself for fatherhood. he was unsure at the beginning whether the bbc would have him because he had a reputation as a very left wing writer, you wrote about fighting in the spanish civil war, social deprivation in prewar britain and so on. but they seemed happy to have him. yes. the point about my father is he was happy to criticise both left and right. he was very evenhanded about such matters. richard bland, thank you. it will be

unveiled in a few minutes, one interesting thing about the statue, it shows him smoking a cigarette. if anyone can think of another public statue in britain with the subject smoking a cigarette, let us know. they can tweet us. did and he regard his two years at the bbc as his notion of absolute hell? no! he was much more ambivalent about it. i think he rather enjoyed it, probably. thank you. the business news in a moment. first, the headlines. borisjohnson boris johnson says borisjohnson says he will visit iran in the next few weeks. calls for a full inquiry after a cabinet cabinet minister apologises for

failing to tell theresa may and borisjohnson failing to tell theresa may and boris johnson about failing to tell theresa may and borisjohnson about meetings with israel's prime minister while on holiday. they are going to create a new company in the uk. they are both members of what is known as the big six, the uk's largest energy companies. from sugar to fashion, associated british foods covers... a broad section of retail and posted profits up 22% over the year to september — but shares in the owner of primark have dropped by as much as 4% today after warnings that profits in their sugar sector will fall in this financial year. while primark‘s revenues were up, retails sales generally are not looking so positive. the british retail consortium, the brc, has said sales of non—food items grew at the slowest pace since records began. clothing sales were particularly hard hit as families appear to be

spending more on outdoor experiences and excursions. and house prices are rising strongly across the uk, according to the halifax. in the year to october, prices rose by 4.5%, up from 4% in september, and the fastest rise since february. it brings the average price of a uk house to a new record high of £225,826. that was worth waiting for! looking at oil prices, is this generally or at oil prices, is this generally or at the pumps? first of all, on the markets. hitting record highs. brent crude, peaked at 64.4 five. it has come down a bit today. those are the highest levels for more than two yea rs, highest levels for more than two years, sincejuly, highest levels for more than two years, since july, 2015. highest levels for more than two years, sincejuly, 2015. it is not just on the markets, the price of oil in the market affects the price at the pumps. the prices have come

down in october, but they expect them to start rising pretty rapidly and certainly in time for the christmas... quite a drop, 0.6796? but it had risen 9% in the last couple of months. it has gone down but it is fluctuating. a lot going on. the waiter or oil price moves on the markets, translating through to consumers, the prices rise like a rocket, for like a feather. you know that one! quite a lot of volatility. let us speak to somebody who knows what is going on. on wall street. thank you forjoining us. what is happening with the oil price? why is it moving so much at the moment? the issue has to be within saudi arabia. saudi arabia is one of the biggest oil producers and its biggest export

is oil. there are two issues, domestic and international. domestically, of the weekend, we saw the king of saudi arabia is trying to crack down on any corruption happening within the kingdom and he has made some arrests of some key people. that is happening internally causing investors a little bit of concern. causing investors a little bit of concern. externally, we saw that yemen had fired a missile towards saudi arabia. saudi arabia believes this was actually done at the behest of iran, iran was funding this, so now there is a skirmish that is emerging between saudi arabia and iran. both of those issues are causing concern for investors which is why we are seeing the price of oil go up. one thing we have often seen oil go up. one thing we have often seenin oil go up. one thing we have often seen in the last couple of years with the oil price moving, fracking in the us, and once the oil price gets up to above $60 a barrel, a lot of the fracking industries come back online and start producing because

it becomes financially viable. is that happening in the states and will that keep a cap on the price? absolutely. it has been happening already over the last few months. we are seeing some of the oil production is starting to slowly come back online because it is becoming more profitable to do so. this kind of volatility that is happening in saudi arabia will not end overnight. as you rightly pointed out earlier, when you are speaking with simon, we are seeing the price of oil going up, the predictions say the price of oil will go up, and as a result, we probably will see more production. changing topic slightly, the issue of the paradise papers is dominating headlines in the uk, what is there a reaction like in the us, specifically on the floor of the stock exchange? certainly, it is gaining headlines here in the us but particularly on the floor of the new york stock exchange, a lot of

investors are looking at it more as, it is interesting to see just how big businesses and how the rich people are hiding their money. but in terms of concrete impact, what everyone is really looking towards is tax reform and what will happen there and that is much more of an important concern for investors here. on the floor of the new york stock exchange, we will talk to you tomorrow. a quick look at the markets... the ftse is down, bp is up, up overall, although down today. associated british foods, they did not like what was said about the future of the sugar industry. brent crude, would you pay that for a barrel of oil? not today. see what it does tomorrow! now i look at the weather. still excited about the christmas lights going on later!

i was not excited about the 47 days left. i haven't even started yet. never mind. cloudy and wet for birmingham at the moment. quite heavy this afternoon, particularly across west facing coasts. further inland, weakening a touch. behind it, a beautiful afternoon. look at this picture. that is where i would like to be right now! south lanarkshire this afternoon. the risk ofa lanarkshire this afternoon. the risk of a few scattered showers. if you catch those, heavy. the cold weather of yesterday has been replaced by milder weather. cold and frosty tonight. then the mild air will return. then on the weekend, the blue tones return, a cold north—westerly wind takes over and it could feel pretty chilly. pretty changeable, the weather story. back to the here and now, the weather front has to clear through the south—east and it will continue to do so. if you are heading to oxford

street, 5pm, the lights will be turned on, it could be soggy. the main band of rain probably not having arrived by then, but there will be outbreaks of light and patchy rain ahead of it. rain in the midlands, behind it, clearskies for the evening. the evening rush hour across western scotland and northern ireland, always the risk of a few isolated and possibly thundery downpours. that is worth bearing in mind. overnight tonight, here comes the topsy—turvy weather story. cloud and rain in the south—east, wins become light, temperatures falling, we could see a hard frost falling in rural areas of scotland and northern ireland. some patchy mist and fog as well forming first thing. a little milder in the south—east. it could be cloudy, dank and drizzly first thing. the fog will lift, so too will the frost. keeping sunshine for match of the day. all change again,

the pendulum swings, south—westerly winds arrive, wetter weather end from the west. double digits in the western islands. elsewhere, seven up to9 western islands. elsewhere, seven up to 9 degrees. as we see the weather front starting to ease across the country overnight, it weakens, but i just want to point your attention to this area of low pressure that could potentially bring significant rain across the southern half of the country on friday. more details from me coming up. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 3:00: former welsh government minister carl sargeant — sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct — has died. it's understood he has taken his own life. shocked, horrified, and deeply sympathetic to his family. the statement is that he was the glue that held them altogether. the foreign secretary admits he "could have been clearer", when speaking about the case of a british woman who's

being held injail in iran. of a british woman who's my of a british woman who's point was that i disagree( the my point was that i disagreed with the iranians view that training journalists what —— was a crime. not that i wanted to lend any credence toa that i wanted to lend any credence to a reunion allegations that nazanin zaghari— ratcliffe had to a reunion allegations that nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe had been engaged in such activity. i accept that my remarks could have been clearer, and i am glad to provide this clarification. calls for a full inquiry — after cabinet minister priti patel apologises for failing to tell theresa may or borisjohnson about a meeting with israel's prime minister while on holiday. and coming up, although sport. david moyes has got all his work cut out, hasn't he? yes, he has started his work at west ham, but some of the —— the fans are not convinced. louise, that does not look good.

yesterday morning was cold and frosty. today it is cloudy and wet, but all this is going to clear, and we will wake up tomorrow morning to those of —3 or minus four. more coming up in half an hour. coming up, a statue of the novelist george orwell is unveiled outside the bbc here in london. hello, everyone. this is afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. an ex—welsh labour minister who faced a party investigation into allegations about his personal conduct has taken his own life, bbc wales understands. carl sargeant, who was am for alyn and deeside, lost his ministerialjob as cabinet secretary for communities and children last friday. the welsh assembly's business for today has been cancelled as a mark of respect.

labour leaderjeremy corbyn has described the 49—year—old's death as "terrible and deeply shocking news". shocked, horrified, and deeply sympathetic to his family. their statement is that he was the glue that held them altogether. he was somebody that represented our family, worked hard to represent his community, and my deepest sympathies are to them. the welsh first minister has said he was a friend and a colleague, who made a big contribution to welsh public life and fought tirelessly for those he represented, both as a minister and as a local assembly member. our wales political correspondent james williams is in cardiff. a great shock for his family?

yes, somebody here said it was com pletely yes, somebody here said it was completely unbelievable, there are members of staff here, party officials and assembly members in tea rs officials and assembly members in tears at the news that broke a couple of hours ago the north wales police found a body at 11:30am and they have identified the body as that of carl sargeant, who as we understand it took his own life. he was an assembly member since 2003 four alyn and deeside, his home patch, and had been a government minister here in wales for ten yea rs, minister here in wales for ten years, until he was sacked as communities secretary by the first minister during his welsh government reshuffle minister during his welsh government res huffle o n minister during his welsh government reshuffle on friday. he said that was because a number of accusations had come to light by different women about carl sargea nt‘s actions, had come to light by different women about carl sargeant‘s actions, and therefore that he had to act to get rid of him. a statement was released

on twitter by carl sargeant on friday saying that he was unaware of the nature of the allegations, that he thought it was right that he stepped aside while an investigation was being undertaken. when not sure what the nature of that investigation is, and we have had a number of statements. the first minister carwynjones has said that he was a friend and a colleague. jeremy corbyn has also responded, saying he was deeply shocked by the news, and a family statement says "we are devastated beyond words of the loss of the glue that bind us all together." —— that bound. the foreign secretary borisjohnson is facing renewed criticism, amid fears that comments he made have resulted in a british—iranian woman having her prison sentence in tehran doubled.

nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was in iran visiting family when she was detained in 2016. but last week, the foreign secretary told mps she was there training journalists — something herfamily say is not true. now his words have been cited in an iranian court as evidence against her. borisjohnson made a statement saying he did not intend to give any way to allegations made against him. i expect my anxiety about nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe's suffering and the ordeal of her family, zaghari—ratcliffe's suffering and the ordeal of herfamily, and i repeated my hope for is the solution. i also voiced my concern at suggestions emanating from one brand of the iraniansjudiciary, that my remarks to the foreign affairs select committee ‘s last week had some bearing on mrs zaghari—ratcliffe's case. the uk government has no doubt that she was on holiday in iran when she was arrested last year, and that was the sole purpose of her visit. my point was that i disagreed with —— ——

disagreed with the iranians view that training journalists was a crime, not that i wanted to lend any weight to credence that —— any credence to allegations that she had been involved in any such activity. i accept that my remarks could have been clearer, and i am happy to make this clarification. i'm sure the house willjoin me in paying tribute to the tireless campaigning made by mr ratcliffe on behalf of his wife. he told me that any recent developments in the case had no ink to my testimony last week, and he would seek to find a solution on humanitarian grounds. i will visit iran in the coming weeks, and

discuss all of our consulate cases. the shadow foreign secretary asked how many more times he had to make a mistake before his job how many more times he had to make a mistake before hisjob was how many more times he had to make a mistake before his job was at risk. we appreciate the foreign secretary's clarification, and the phone call he made this morning to his iranian counterpart, and we hope that no damage is made to the case of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe as a result of his blunder. but we hope he will now take the opportunity to apologise to her, herfriends he will now take the opportunity to apologise to her, her friends and employers, and to all those others in this house and beyond who have been working so hard to obtain this young mother's release from the distress and anguish that his foolish words have caused to them and to this woman in recent days. we are all bound to ask, madam deputy speaker, how many more times does this need to happen? how many more times of the foreign secretary have

to insult our international partners, damage our diplomatic relations, and now imperilled the interests of british nationals abroad? what will it take before the prime minister says, enough is enough? but if the truth is that she cannot, because she does not have the strength or authority to sack him, how about the foreign secretary himself shows a bit of personal responsibility and admits that a job like this, where your words hold gravity and your actions have consequences, is gravity and your actions have consequences, is simply not the job for him? the international debt —— development secretary is also under pressure. well, the international development secretary priti patel is also under pressure — downing street says it will tighten the ministers‘ code of conduct, after she held meetings with the israeli prime minister without informing the foreign office. priti patel was on holiday at the time — and after the trip, she suggested some of britain's aid budget should be given to the israeli army to support its humanitarian operations.

our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. holiday snaps of a different kind. when priti patel travelled to israel for a break in august she did not just see the sights, she also visited politicians and charities, 12 in all, without telling the foreign office. the most important meeting was with the israeli prime minister, something theresa may knew nothing about when she met benjamin netanyahu in downing street last week. critics accuse her of breaching ministerial rules. former diplomats are astonished. i think it's simply common sense that if a senior minister visiting a country with a sensitive relationship with britain, they should take advice from the foreign office, the ambassador and let the foreign secretary know what's going on. i'm not sure that needs to be spelt out in the ministerial code, that's just good sense. one idea that emerged from the trip was whether british aid could help israeli soldiers in the occupied golan heights. the bbc has been told ms patel asked officials to examine the idea —

but the foreign office advised against, because britain does not recognise israel's annexation of this area. the international development secretary has now listed all undisclosed meetings in israel, and apologised. in a statement, she said... today, friends rallied to her support. israel is a great partner to the united kingdom. we value the partnership. yes, she was on holiday — but she was a workaholic and wanted to keep going and have meetings. yes, she should have notified the foreign office, but they knew about it while it was taking place. there's nothing to see here. she's entitled to meet whoever she wants. she has apologised to the prime minister for the way in which some of those were handled, and i regard the matter as closed. political pressure on mrs patel remains. labour have called on her to resign from the cabinet, and there will be a debate on her behaviour in the house of commons later today. caroline lucas is in westminster for us.

let's go to our political correspondent. theresa may must have something of a headache with what is going on with certain measures of her cabinet. what we saw earlier with that statement around priti patel‘s visit to israel was that in the first insta nce to israel was that in the first instance mps were pretty cross she was not there to answer questions. she is on a trip to africa, and i think there was anger she had not made herself available to answer questions. there are continuing calls for her to resign, some astonishment that this could have happened, and astonishment to that although priti patel told the foreign office of her visit back on august the 24th, the israeli prime

minister was in downing street last week meeting the prime minister, and she herself was not told until after that meeting, so the prime minister —— the foreign office did not pass that meeting on to the prime minister. then we waited for boris johnson's appearance, and we expected him to face some pretty angry questions, and that certainly was the case, because he is facing continuing questions about his position as foreign secretary. we heard the shadow foreign secretary saying, isn't he questioning his own ability to do the job, and also saying that theresa may was week not to be sacking him as well. he defended himself, saying that his comments could have been clearer, but interestingly he did not apologise, and there were comments from yvette cooper, a labour mp but also mrs zaghari—ratcliffe's own mp, about why he has not apologised, indeed why it has taken him a week

to clarify his remarks, and why he could still —— he can still be in the position as foreign secretary. this is the latest in a series of incidents where his comments have led him into difficulty. last month that the conference he said that if bodies were cleared out of sight, it could become a tourist destination. so theresa may, with notjust one cabinet minister but two, facing difficulties, added to that, had tiny majority, added to that, brexit negotiations, added to that, all the issues around sexual harassment allegations, and you would not want to be in number ten right now. the tax affairs of british crown dependencies and overseas territories are coming under intense scrutiny because of the leak of millions of confidential documents known as the paradise papers. the documents, examined by an international consortium ofjournalists including bbc panorama, show how the technology giant apple has been managing most of its untaxed cash reserve offshore, on the channel

island of jersey. it moved the money tojersey after a tax loophole in ireland was closed. although the company has done nothing illegal, its tax arrangements have been criticised by eu and us officials. andy verity reports. we pay all the taxes we owe, every single dollar. technically apple's chief executive tim cook is correct, but what apple legally owes may not be much, depending where its located. apple sells billions of pounds‘ worth of phones and tablet computers in britain, but its effective tax rate has been estimated at 5% internationally. in 2014, ireland announced it would ban companies with no tax residency. that meant apple needed a tax residency for its lucrative irish subsidiaries — fast. the paradise papers reveal it sent out a questionnaire, courting tax havens, and it shows jersey, where its $261 billion pile of cash from selling phones and ipads became tax resident.

then thejersey company reportedly sold back its highly expensive intellectual property rights to its irish division — creating a big cost, which can be offset against future profits, holding its irish tax bill down. apple says it has followed the law, and the new ownership structure hasn‘t lowered its taxes — and it remains the world‘s largest taxpayer. here‘s why so many multinational companies want to locate offshore, it‘s notjust apple. in the united states you‘ll pay 35% in corporation tax. in the uk the rate is 19%, and in ireland — if you pay anything at all and don‘t avoid it — 12.5%. jersey, the standard rate of corporation tax? a big fat zero. the revelations from the paradise papers raise questions about the willingness of british crown dependencies and overseas territories, from jersey to guernsey to the cayman islands, to facilitate tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and multinationals — legal though it may be.

at the isle of man parliament, the tynwald, the chief minister hit back today. the isle of man is not a place that welcomes those seeking to evade or aggressively avoid taxes. we are proud of the role we have taken in moving the international tax agenda forward. the isle of man has consistently been prepared to step out in front, to support developing international tax transparency initiatives. others have attacked the dozens of media organisations involved in the paradise papers investigation, for using private information. this is, in my view, a politically inspired campaign which has been long—running, which is using stolen data in order to pursue an agenda which is nothing really to do with tax and nothing really to do with the morality of tax. this is about privacy, this is about seeking to ensure that there is public access to private financial information. while crown dependencies and overseas territories have some

independence, westminster is ultimately responsible. if her majesty‘s government chooses to impose new rules or laws — it can. my colleague robert hall is in jersey. we are hearing they are saying it is more about privacy, not about reality. really? that is the debate, and you‘ve got that very clear divide between opinions, those who say it is necessary to the island, we have to operate transparently within international regulations, and on the other side you‘ve got the argument that says, well, nothing illegal is alleged within these papers, but there is an ethical issue once again. i'm going to seek some advice on that in a minute, but first of all, jersey‘s chief minister has yet to comment, in

front of any cameras, but he has released a statement saying he will look at legislation if it is found that somebody has strayed outside the regulations. let‘s talk to a director with a local company of accountants. it is a line, simon was saying, between ethics and reality. i think what you‘ve got, yes, is that that line is not very precise. there is nothing to suggest anybody here has done anything illegal or wrong, or thejersey has done anything wrong. i think what you haveis anything wrong. i think what you have is the perception, and it is difficult to change people‘s perception, but something is not right here. something is genuinely illegal, and what we need to do is prosecute these people, take them to court, look at the law, and we need to ta ke court, look at the law, and we need to take the right action. but all we have at the moment is perception and allegations, and i don‘t think any

of it is particularly well founded. and reputation, at places like this, matters. yes, and it is very, very difficult, but if somebody sullies your reputation, it is difficult to get it back. jersey is an easy jurisdiction to have a knock out, you know, we are a very regulated jurisdiction, we are liked by the oecd, but i can tell you that until the cows come home, but people will a lwa ys the cows come home, but people will always have the perception that something is fishy going on, something is fishy going on, something is fishy going on, something is dodgy going on, all you need to do is look at the paradise papers, and actually what was within these papers said that we had done nothing wrong. eu finance ministers today have in talking about whetherjersey and other jurisdictions should talking about whetherjersey and otherjurisdictions should be added toa otherjurisdictions should be added to a blacklist. i think there will always be

pressure on us, we i think there will always be pressure on us, we don‘t have a lot of political cloud, they look at us, and again, if they take the blacklisting and look at what we have done and what most of the crown dependencies have done, they will find that we meet all the criteria to be on the "white list." however careful jersey to be on the "white list." however carefuljersey and other places have been, you‘ve got to be pretty nimble on your feet. as fast as you are complying, other people are trying not to. we have to be vigilant all the time. what we —— we have to move with the times. we have gone from 40 speed limit here, to 30. tags changes are made all the time. —— tax. if we stray outside the lines, we should pay the consequences. so that debate you referred to, simon goes on. you had a bit of it there.

this lump —— an islamic scholar at oxford has taken a leave of absence following multiple sexual misconduct allegations, by mutual agreement, the university says. the university has consistently acknowledged the gravity of the allegations against him, the price of first —— prophesy smack the professor says an agreed leave of absence does not imply any guilt or presumption of guilt. he categorically denies all the allegations, this is coming from oxford university, and he is putting first all the welfare of students and staff. a 31—year—old man convicted of murdering his baby daughter has been

jailed for life. matthew scully—hicks, inflicted numerous injuries on 18—month—old elsie over an eight—month period. she died after being violently shaken and struck on the head. thousands of people are losing large sums of money every year to fraudsters, who trick them into transferring funds online. in the first six months of the year, more than £100 million was innocently sent to people who turned out to be criminals, posing as someone else. campaigners say banks could do more to prevent the scams — and now a financial watchdog has set out plans to help people recover their money. simon gompertz reports. imagine, you‘re buying a house, the price is nearly £300,000, but you end up paying the money for completion in to a fraudster‘s bank account. that is how kate blakeley was duped, tricked into using the wrong account details after e—mails were intercepted. the moment of realising the money hadn‘t arrived as intended

with the bank account we‘d sent it off to, or thought we‘d sent it to was just sheer horror. i think at first we didn‘t quite believe the money had gone missing, we thought it was an administrative error, something simple was behind it, but as the hours rolled on it became evident the money had gone and we just felt awful at that point, completely shocked. kate got most of her money back eventually, but there were 19,000 victims of similar scams in the first half of this year, and of the £100 million lost, three quarters hasn‘t been retrieved. there‘s been mounting pressure for banks to pay the money back — the average loss is £3,000 and £21,000 is £3,000 and £21,000 for businesses — and now there is a promise of a reimbursement scheme. people need to be vigilant, but at the same time we should be able to expect that our banks are doing everything they can

to protect us and if they don‘t live up to those expectations we think they should be reimbursing consumers. so banks will reimburse, but they won‘t have full liability, it‘ll only be when they have slipped up. which means the question is how many more people will actually be compensated? i think it‘s far too early to say at this stage. what‘s clear though is that we need to work with the regulator and government to ensure we get the right legislative framework to allow us to chase the money and get it back for the customer. it‘s so easy now to pay someone using a mobile phone or a computer. you can do itjust with the touch of a button. and that means it‘s easy for the fraudsters to get you, even with this new reimbursement scheme you‘ll still have to show that you checked that you were paying the right person. it is a real positive step forward — at least consumers will have the opportunity to get their money back, only 25% of funds lost in this way have been recovered in the past six months, and so hopefully that percentage will increase in the future and consumers will be much better protected. one idea coming in next year is a message popping up on your screen before a payment goes through, showing the name attached

to the account you are paying and giving you the chance to stop it. small changes, which could make a big difference. simon gompertz, bbc news. joining me now is card fraud expert and security consultant richard emery. do you agree with that last point that a small change could make a big difference? i think the most important thing is that banks need to identify the high risk period is the 24 hours after a new payment is set up. because in almost all the cases i look at, then new payee, the fraudulent payee, is set up, and the payment is released immediately to that person. so it is that first 24 hours the bank have to focus on, to make sure that new fraudulent payments do not go straight to new fraudulent payees. but you are not suggesting we go

back to the old days of clearing? know, the faster payments system works absolutely fine for all normal transactions. but when you create a new payee, banks need to be especially aware that that is the window the fraudsters are exploiting, it is that first period— new payee, instant payment. it is a great scheme, but that is the area ‘s banks need to be focusing on. if somebody just before ‘s banks need to be focusing on. if somebodyjust before you need to make —— make a payment says i have changed my bank account, should i just —— we ask a few questions. changed my bank account, should i just -- we ask a few questions. the first question is, you make to me —— you want to make a small payment. if you want to make a small payment. if you are in any doubt at all, send the person £1. secondly, be sure the phone number you are phoning them on is your phone number. speak to somebody you know, they say whether

they have was —— received a pound. and thirdly, get them to confirm that they are the real person, by giving some information only they know. there is a lot of distress however about whether you get this wrong. yes, but from my dealings the banks do not really sympathise or understand, and the other area is a great concern about the banks hosting fraudulent accounts. the banks do not do enough to control the opening of accounts by fraudsters. richard, if they become aware that one of these accounts is up and running, how easy is it to track? as soon as a running, how easy is it to track? as soon as a bank becomes aware... well, there we go. our line to

bracknell not as good as... can you still hear me, richard? i‘ve got you back. you were just making a point about banks. what the banks should be doing is that as soon as they received information that fraud and money has been paid into a bank account, they should be locking down that bank account. richard emery, thank you for your time. the audience at a broadway performance of the lion king in new york were treated to a special surprise when eltonjohn took the stage to sing the iconic hit circle of life. the singer was joined by the entire cast for a performance of the grammy—winning song, to mark 20 years of the musical on broadway. don‘t forget — you can let us know what you think.

tweet us using the hashtag afternoonlive. and if you have a complaint about the weather, here is the person! i‘m used to it. 30 years. and only one giggle fit. it‘s raining in london —— in london. why is that? because it is mild and cloudy. well done. i know you like dog photographs, and we were talking earlier about the christmas lights being switched on. but this adjustment —— isn‘t just being switched on. but this adjustment —— isn‘tjust any dog photograph, it is my dog. she put her antlers on... link, photograph, it is my dog. she put herantlers on... link, and photograph, it is my dog. she put her antlers on... link, and you will miss it! christmas lights are coming

on today, and that is important because unfortunately it is going to rain. shut up, you! there‘s going to bea rain. shut up, you! there‘s going to be a lot of cloud, and wet weather moving from west to east throughout the rest of the day. but frontal system will push down into the south—east corner, and then behind it we are seeing quite a clearance. it is fresher, and it will be significant as we go through the night tonight. there will be a scattering of showers, the main bulk of rain sitting in the midlands and pushing into the south—east corner during the evening. that will become fairly persistent overnight but not particularly heavy. some of the showers in the north and west may be quite fond but they will ease back to the coast, and as we go through the overnight period, we will have these clear skies developing, and those temperatures are set to fall away so it is going to be a cold and frosty night away from that rain in

the south—east corner. overnight lows are likely to fall to —4 in places, and if we took at that in a little more detail you can see that it looks as though we will see those temperatures falling away quite sharply. so if ross is likely across scotland, northern ireland and much of rain —— wales. —— a frost. there will also be a little bit of mist and developing, but in the south—east corner, it is going to be cloudy and mild. i would like a medalfor cloudy and mild. i would like a medal for getting through these weather forecasts! cloudy and wet with a little bit of rain, clearer skies, it is going to be quite a chilly day generally tomorrow, with more wet and windy weather pushing into the far north west. i will have more details in half an hour‘s time. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the former welsh government minister carl sargeant has died, just days after being sacked from his role last week, following allegations about his personal conduct.

it‘s understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary borisjohnson admits he ‘could have been clearer‘ when he spoke about the case of a british woman who‘s being held injail in iran. he says he‘ll visit in the next few weeks. pressure on the international development secretary priti patel after she apologised for holding meetings with the israeli prime minister and officials without informing the foreign office. the tax affairs of british crown dependencies and overseas territories are coming under scrutiny, after the leak of confidential documents known as the paradise papers. donald trump, on his first visit to south korea, urges the north to "come to the table" and discuss giving up its nuclear weapons. in a moment, we‘ll be taking a look at a new bronze statue of george orwell which is set to be unveiled outside of new broadcasting house here in london — close to where he worked as a radio producer in world war two. sport now on afternoon live. 02 kat.

o2 kat. we were talking about the ashes earlier, and you came up with a new word — pomdemonium. apparently thatis a new word — pomdemonium. apparently that is what they refer to it as the match down under. some say england are staring down the barrel of yet another one. it has not been the greatest preparation for the series. first, they lose some say their bass player, ben stokes, arrested after that incident outside a brecel my club. they have replaced him with steven finn, and he has now been injured, so he has now been replaced bya injured, so he has now been replaced by a guy who has not played test cricket yet. so lots of people saying it will be a disaster for england on the back of that. and one cricketing legend as well has said england are looking much more like pussycat than roaring lions. we will hear from pussycat than roaring lions. we will hearfrom him in 80 minutes. is that geoff boycott? it must be. no, it is viv richards. i have spoil

the surprise now! that david moyes. he has two persuade people at west ham he is the best man for the job. yes, not necessarily the most popular appointment, yes, not necessarily the most popularappointment, but yes, not necessarily the most popular appointment, but he says he has a point to prove. he has not yet confirmed his backroom staff, amid rumours he will bring in former player stuart pearce as his number two. he took training but the first time this morning, and has been out of work since sunderland were relegated at the end of last isn‘t. it has only been the lastjob where i feel as if it wasn‘t a good move andi i feel as if it wasn‘t a good move and i didn‘t enjoy it and it didn‘t work out well. so i am hungry to make sure i get things right. any football manager wants to win, and that‘s what i want to do. i want to win and! that‘s what i want to do. i want to win and i want to make sure that for me, the supporters, for everybody, we enjoy our saturday night because we enjoy our saturday night because we are winning games. moyes has ensured a tough time since a spell with everton, failing at united, real sociedad and sunderland

last season. we spoke to some west ham fans, and it is fair to say they are not exactly excited by his appointment. david moyes, he was good at everton, but the other clubs he has been to, not so good. but at the same time, he is here. the fans have got to get behind him, because if they don‘t, as far as behind him, because if they don‘t, as faras i‘m behind him, because if they don‘t, as far as i‘m concerned, they are not getting behind their team. he hasn't got a great track record, but he could turn it around. but we have got to give him time. we have got to give him time. plans, try to get behind him. if we have pearcey coming that will be a good thing. but i am still gutted for slavin. i was gutted for us, west ham. manchester city‘s raheem sterling and fabian delph have returned to their club after being ruled out of england‘s upcoming friendlies. liverpool‘s jordan henderson england‘s upcoming friendlies. liverpool‘sjordan henderson will also miss out on the back—to—back games against germany and brazil at wembley. both are injured. harry kane and harry winks have been ruled out as well, while chelsea defender gary cahill has joined the squad

we re gary cahill has joined the squad were training today. steven finn will miss the ashes series after picking up a knee injury while training in a stray leah. the seamer has damaged cartilage in his left knee, ending his chances of making the series. he has been replaced by the uncapped surrey fast bowler tom curran. finn was initially brought back into the england side to replace ben stokes, who is under investigation by police after a brawl outside a brecel my club. with stokes missing, the west indies great sir vivian richards believes england are more like pussycat and lions. in my opinion, having someone like stokes, who is pretty strong in himself about how he feels, the confidence that he brings, the aggression that he brings, it will be quite crucial down under. i was hearing some stuff that was touch and go, whether he is going to be down under are not. but let me say this. without ben stokes down under,

the english team is going to look like it and is. kit symons indeed. well, england‘s women are preparing for their crucial ashes test, which begins on thursday. they have been training in the sydney oval. knowing only a win will do. they currently trail australia 4—2, and in australia win the test, they can‘t be beaten in the test, they can‘t be beaten in the series. it is imperative we learnt a lot from the last game, the last three days, and i think not only have we learned more, but some of the youngsters have really picked up a lot of information that wasn‘t there before. so it is important that we spend the next few days really going on from that. and hopefully, there will be a nice little win over here inafew will be a nice little win over here in a few days. and finally, kenya‘s olympic champion jemima sungong has and finally, kenya‘s olympic championjemima sungong has been banned for doping for three years. she won the london marathon last year the file becoming the first kenyan woman to win an olympic gold over the distance. initially suspended in april, she will now be

unable to defend her title injapan. she tested positive for the banned blood booster epo. more bad news that the world of athletics. that is all the sport now. back to you. gittins indeed! nothing wrong with that. thank you very much. you‘re watching afternoon live. we had just hearing and murder enquiry has been launched after a burning man injured in a fire caused by a firework at his home has died in hospital. he was 56 years old and has been named as anthony nichols. he had been in an induced coma since the blaze at his home on last thursday. it happened just after 11 o‘clock in the evening. he didn‘t regain consciousness and died in the early hours of this morning. mrs palmer, 50—year—old woman, escaped with fractures to her lower limbs afterjumping with fractures to her lower limbs after jumping from a with fractures to her lower limbs afterjumping from a first—floor window. she remained in hospital. police say his death means they are treating it as a murder enquiry. "we

emphasise that anyone with information should call us." a firework is thought to have been placed in the property, containing around 200 tubes of explosives, and would have taken around two minutes to fully discharge. blue property caught fire quickly. those photos issued of the police of the devastation. —— by the police. you are watching afternoon live. donald trump is on his first visit as us president to south korea — with north korea‘s nuclear ambitions top of the agenda. this morning he urged north korea to "do the right thing" to end the stand—off over its nuclear weapons programme, and come to the table to make a deal. speaking during a visit to seoul, president trump said he‘s ready to do whatever is necessary to prevent an attack. robin brant sent this report. the welcome had an ancient feel to it, but president trump has come here under the shadow of a very modern threat. despite the smiles and back slapping, these two leaders differ on the key question — how to deal with the nuclear weapons being developed in the north?

there‘s a split on the streets of seoul as well. anti—trump protesters echo the words of south korea‘s dovish president moon, who says there cannot be another war here. the us has the biggest, many nuclear weapons... they are the most dangerous guy. but there are plenty who welcome the trump talk of fire and fury to deal with the one he‘s labelled "rocket man". i think president trump will be our best hope for solving this issue, because i like... i remember reading on his twitter, him saying that in the us, various presidents talked to north korea and what did they come to? nothing. south korea can‘t quite make its mind up on donald trump. to some, he is a saviour. his country has helped defend this country for decades.

but for others, his language is incendiary and more likely to cause a confrontation with the north. in the past, president trump has accused his south korean counterpart of appeasement. standing alongside him today, there was no repeat of that. there was, though, a repeat of this... the united states stands prepared to defend itself and its allies, using the full range of our unmatched military capabilities, if need be. so, all options remain on the table. on the idea of direct talks, well, he had this... i really believe that it makes sense for north korea to come to the table and to make a deal that‘s good for the people of north korea, and the people of the world. i do see certain movement, yes. but let‘s see what happens. a show of unity is the message they want to send. here‘s the un navy ships moored here to prove it. here‘s the us navy ships

moored here to prove it. together, they have the military might to defend and attack. because once this brief visit is over, schoolchildren here still have to practise this, just in case. hospital bosses have warned that nhs staff in england are working more now on the paradise papers. our correspondent kevin connelly is in brussels. they have a fairly clear list of countries in mind, don‘t they? they do have a clear list of countries in mind, but not everyone will agree with it. one man‘s tax haven has another man‘s well—organised, creative, small digital economy working on the margins of the world banking system. but there are obvious targets, usual suspects, they are sometimes referred to, in this kind of debate.

buchanan imagine they will be the small caribbean islands, panama, other countries like that. —— you can imagine. where large amounts of financial business transacted, not related to the local economy. the issue for the eu, of course, is, it issue for the eu, of course, is, it is one thing to produce a blacklist. pretty much anyone can do that. there is then a huge question about what you do to those blacklisted companies, and for the european union in particular, there are also issues over the tax arrangements that some member states have made. they are very anxious not to talk about that, to talk about, as i say, tax arrangements on south sea islands or in the caribbean or british overseas territories or crown dependencies, but there is also an issue for the eu internal over this and how effectively different member states used very different member states used very different company tax rates to attract the business of multinational giants. so a difficult issue for the eu. the easy bit is

what they did today, which is bringing forward plans were a blacklist. and it is thought that would carry more weight, is it? ithink it is thought it would carry more weight than having individual member states having their own private lists of where they consider that tax business is not being conducted in the most honest and transparent of ways. a collective action by the eu would be seen to have a certain value, but of course, the problem they will run into is that many european businesses, european banks, will be using their own offshore banking arrangements, and as i say, you have that issue that countries like luxembourg, malta, ireland and the netherlands in the past have all been accused by other member states of manipulating their own tax regime is to attract outside business within the eu itself. so if you have that kind of difficulty inside the eu, you can see how difficult it is going to be, for example, to stop

french banks or german investment companies from using those offshore vehicles elsewhere in the world stopped so it is an immensely complicated business. ithink stopped so it is an immensely complicated business. i think of nothing else. the events of the last 48 hours have established that. identifying the problem is pretty difficult, technical and fabricated. actually agreeing on something that will stop banks and businesses and multinationals from seeking these kind of offshore vehicles is even more difficult, but the eu would certainly feel that at least creating this blacklist is a step in the right direction. kevin, thank you very much. kevin conneuy kevin, thank you very much. kevin connelly in brussels. rachel is here, busy scribbling, ready for the business news. but first, the headlines. former welsh government minister carl sargeant, sacked former welsh government minister carl sargea nt, sacked last former welsh government minister carl sargeant, sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct, has died. it is understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary says he is sorry for his comments about the case of a british woman held in iran, if he has caught them any

anxiety. calls were a full enquiry after cabinet minister priti patel apologises for failing to tell theresa may or cabinet minister borisjohnson theresa may or cabinet minister boris johnson about a theresa may or cabinet minister borisjohnson about a meeting with israel wealthy was on holiday. —— while she was on holiday. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. good afternoon. we‘re starting with the big six. become the big five? energy giants sse and the owner of npower have announced talks to merge their gas and electricity supply businesses to create a new company in the uk. a merger would bring together to matter of the uk‘s big six electricity and gas suppliers. any deal would need approval from competition authorities and shareholders. the owner of primark, associated british foods has seen profits rise 22%. however its shares are down some 3% after it warned that the profits from its sugar business were going to fall in the yearahead. but retail sales generally are not looking so healthy. the british retail consortium has said sales of non—food items grew at the slowest pace since records began. non—food sales rose byjust 0.2% in the year to october. clothing sales were "particularly

hard hit", and the brc said that families appeared to be spending more and more on outdoor experiences and excursions. different picture altogether on house prices according to the halifax. right across the uk they are rising strongly and it says they are going to keep on going in the months ahead. in the year to october, prices rose by 4.5%, up from 4% in september and the fastest rise since february. it brings the average price of a uk house to a new record high of £225,826. ask me what a push scam has? what is a push scam? it is when you put your money into someone else‘s account, but they are criminals. exactly. when you think of someone stealing money from you, you think of someone taking it from your wallet or hacking into your account.

this is a scam where somehow people are tricked into transferring money into a fraudster‘s account. clever stuff, using computer programes to intercept emails and change account numbers. you voluntarily put your number into the wrong accounts. it is even changing phone numbers, account numbers, and you are none the wiser? yes, it sounds like a scary thing. 19,000 victims were targeted by authorised push payment scams in the first six months of this year, which amounted to £100 million. the regulator says something must be done. and that is who we are going to talk to now. hannah, what do you want the banks to do about these scams? we're talking about a crime here, and a people who are affected, it can have a devastating effect. there is no silver bullet, but there are things we can do to make it as difficult as possible to perpetrate this kind of scam. people need to be

vigilant and protect ourselves, but we need to expect our banks to do everything they can to protect us from this kind of scam, and where they don't, we think they should be reimbursing customers. currently, if someone has fallen victim to one of these scams, had a entitled to get their money back? because they have voluntarily transferred their funds into these accounts. it is always awful when we hear about people who have been scammed in this way. if someone think they have fallen victim to this kind of crime, they need to talk to their bank as quickly as possible and also to the police. that advice does not change, but why change is going forward is, if it turns out the bank has not done everything they can do to protect the customer in the first place, we think they should be reimbursing that person. there is an issue here, isn‘t there, where when we transfer money into account, we put into a bit of information, name, account numberand bit of information, name, account number and sort code. currently, the banks only cross—referenced the account number and sort code. the name is relevant. do you wanted to be that the name also apply? the

example i gave of someone putting money into the wrong account for their solicitor, if the name was incorrect, that money would not have gone through? that is an important protection that we won't see and should use. the payment system at the moment can't do that, but as soon as the moment can't do that, but as soon as possible, we want banks to use that new technology to give people the ability to just check who they are paying before they put that button. hannah nixon, member of the pen systems regulator. thank you very much for your time. so, the markets. i have put us energy stocks, because i is mentioned in the headlines, we have the prepares merger between npower and ssp. npower are not listed on the stock market because they are listed by a —— because they are owned by a german company. shareholders like the earlier this merger. their shares up 2.98%. centrica‘s shareholders concerned. this is not a done deal by any means but they say talks are in an advanced stage.

and we put up the oil price, that was about $55 a barrel last month, so was about $55 a barrel last month, so it has gone up and there is a lot of volatility there. and the senses that that moves to the prompt for christmas? yes, they have said they expect the prices to move around on the markets, but an increase in the pumps, because remember, what is our slogan about the oil price? it goes like... rocket. and falls like a feather. you need the alliteration. thank you very much. that was rachel. a statue of novelist george orwell is to be unveiled outside new broadcasting house here in london in the next hour, close to where he worked as a radio producer in world war two. our correspondent nick higham is outside for us with all the details. 0h, oh, there it is! indeed. orwell as he probably appeared in the 1940s, wearing a wonderfully baggy suit, smoking a cigarette. that is unusual. not too many statues of people smoking

cigarettes, stabbing it that you in order to emphasise some point. appropriately enough, actually, it is outside the corner of broadcasting house here are the bbc west midlands congregate. and an inscription, if liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to tell people what they do not want to hear, which is something he wrote ina to hear, which is something he wrote in a preface to or animal farm, to hear, which is something he wrote in a preface to or animalfarm, the novel he left the bbc to start writing in 1943. he had spent to get her years here as a reducer and broadcaster broadcasting to the indian subcontinent. —— two years. iamjoined by indian subcontinent. —— two years. i am joined by professorjean seaton, the bbc‘s official historian, and as it happens, the director of the orwell foundation. what do you think of it?|j director of the orwell foundation. what do you think of it? i think it does actually capture something of the austerity and awkwardness which he personally did have. there is something about his person which is quite important. and it doesn't

loom. it does physically slightly loom, but he looks like somebody who is engaged in something serious, and he was no easy charm. he was a man of oddly scrupulous, peculiarly scrupulous views about himself that he was always prepared to acknowledge his own worst feelings, which is actually why the books can be really startling, or the essays. like shooting an elephant, it is genuinely quite disturbing. sol think it is a fantastic statue. it captures something, and i think the quotation, which is beautifully put, isjust something that quotation, which is beautifully put, is just something that at this moment in the 21st—century, just feels very, very useful for everybody. the sculpture, of course, by martin jennings, a sculptor who has also done well known sculptures ofjohn betjeman as saint pancreas station here in london and philip larkin, the poet, at the station in hull.

tell me, he had sort of a almost love hate relationship with the bbc. he famously called it a crassness in a lunatic asylum and the girls‘ school. but he seems from his personnel file to have got on her quite well, because he accepted that in wartime, they were doing propaganda. one really interesting thing was that he was in the bowels of producing the most sophisticated propaganda, and the most sophisticated propaganda was stuff that people would listen to, to button most crudely. but he actually did a very important job in the indian subcontinent. he elevated a whole series of indian writers and journalists to a nationalfame writers and journalists to a national fame and a kind writers and journalists to a nationalfame and a kind of international role there. he said he wasted his time, he had never done anything of any use. he said as he left a rather prissy way, the bbc never censored me. you can say

retrospectively there are things he got from the bbc. like, he had never worked in a big bureaucracy. that goes straight into 1984. like the ferocious discipline of broadcasting to people who are taking risks to listen to you, and the very odd place which is about talking, which is radio, and i think that probably affected the elegance later. but he had got to get on with writing, he had got to get on with writing, he had to get on with things. jean seaton, thank you very much indeed. a statue of george orwell, man who, asjean was saying, is suppose, though this may be apocryphal, is supposed to have modelled the ministry of information in 1984 on the bbc. we don‘t believe that, simon. some of us actually do! you very much. —— thank you very much. the actressjulie walters has been made a dame in a ceremony at buckingham palace.

she received the honour from the queen, for services to drama nearly 35 years after her break—out role in the film of ‘educating rita‘, which brought her one of her two oscar nominations. she also had huge success on television, with her collaboration with the late victoria wood, in ‘wood & walters‘, and ‘dinnerladies‘. time for a look at the weather. no letters, numbers, oranything in front of or behind my name. good afternoon, everybody. it is raining at the moment, and miserable in some areas. really topsy—turvy weather conditions through this week. that is because yesterday as cold and frosty, today is cloudy and wet for most of us. some of the rain has really been quite heavy as it has pushed under the west, not behind it, you busy quite a clearance, some sunshine coming through and a scattering of showers. for the rest of the day, the sun is just about to set. a beautiful afternoon in

cornwall, as you can see, with that front already clearing through. this is how we started our week, cold and frosty, with mild air waiting in the wings. that has arrived through the day today, but once it pushes through, the blue returns, so overnight tonight, we see a return to frosty conditions before milder air springs back to the end of the working week. by the weekend, it is worth bearing in mind if you are out and about, a cold north—westerly ta kes and about, a cold north—westerly takes over and that will make a distinct difference to the feel of the weather yet again. back to the here and now, the rain still as to clear away from central and south—eastern areas. it will do so. if you are heading down to oxford street for those earning on the christmas lights, looks like we could see some wet weather through the evening. rain will be lighter thanit the evening. rain will be lighter than it has been, but a wet end to the evening across south—east corner. clearer skies through wales,

northern england and much of scotla nd northern england and much of scotland and even the showers we sit through the afternoon will start to become few and far between, dying back to the coast. winds will continue to fall light. that will allow temperatures to fall away. through the night, the rain continues to push steadily south and east. it stays quite cloudy overnight in the south—east corner, but with clearer skies to the north and west, the temperatures will tumble. in show sheltered glens of northern ireland, scotland and higher hills, we could see —3 temperatures. that is because it will be cloudy, dull and damp again first thing tomorrow morning. rain has yet to clear away, but it will continue to do so. we will see any mist and fog lifting along with the frost and then clearer skies, sunny spells, before more wet and windy weather pushes into the far south—west by the end of the afternoon, bringing mild at the weather conditions yet again. so the pendulum swings yet again. one day

cold and frosty, the next mild and wetter. more details later. hello. you are watching afternoon live. today at four: former welsh labour government minister carl sergeant, sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct has died, it‘s understood he has taken his own life. shocked, horrified. and deeply sympathetic to his and the statement they‘ve put out is that he was the glue that held them all together. the foreign secretary admits he could have been clearer when speaking about the case

ofa clearer when speaking about the case of a british woman who‘s been held in jail in iran. i don't of a british woman who‘s been held injail in iran. i don't believe and i have this from the iranians themselves, that those words had any impact on the judicial process. and we are going to work flat out to secure the release of nazanin ratcliffe. calls for a full inquiry after cabinet minister priti patel apologises for failing to tell theresa may or borisjohnson about a meeting with israel‘s prime minister while on holiday. under the spotlight, british overseas territories and crown dependencies feature in the paradise papers as the eu meet to discuss enforcing a blackhe list of tax havens. coming up blackhe list of tax havens. coming up all the sport with hugh. david moyes at least is looking forward to his time at west ham. he is, good afternoon. he says he is hungry to be back in football but it hasn‘t gone down well with the fans. the joint chairman says the club believes that moyes is the right man

to turn things around. more on that at half past. thank you. in the weather, looks like we are all going to get soaked. some rain heading east as we speak. it‘s been cloudy and wet for most of us today but all change through the night as the rain clears south—east, we will have a frost in sheltered areas in the far north—west. more details live in half an hour. also coming up. big aunty is watching you. a statue of the novelist george orwell is unveiled outside new broadcasting house here in london. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. an ex—welsh labour minister who faced a party investigation into allegations about his personal conduct has taken his own life, bbc wales understands.

carl sargeant, who was am for alyn and deeside, lost his ministerialjob as cabinet secretary for communities and children last friday. the welsh assembly‘s business for today has been cancelled as a mark of respect. the labour leaderjeremy corbyn has described the 49—year—old‘s death as deeply shocking news. shocked horrified and deeply sympathetic to his family and the statement they put out is that he was the glue that held them together, i can only think of the moment of the stress and horror they‘re going through. he represented our party, worked hard to represent his community and my deepest sympathies to them. others have been responding. welsh first minister carwynjones has said: carl was a friend as well as a colleague and i am shocked and deeply saddened by his death. he made a big contribution to welsh public life and fought tirelessly for those he represented both as a minister and as a local assembly member. our wales political correspondent

james williams is in cardiff. a real sense of shock at this news. yes, absolutely. ithink a real sense of shock at this news. yes, absolutely. i think it‘s fair to say this is the biggest story to have rocked this place since its establishment back in 1999. i have been speaking to the plaid cymru leader who was elected at the same time as carl sergeant who said she cannot believe what has happened. another assembly member, labour‘s david rees, told me that the welsh labour group here had been meeting this morning to discuss structures to deal with sexual harassment allegations when the news started to trickle in that north wales police had found a body at 11. 30 am this morning in north—east wales and that body had been identified as carl sergeant. he had been assembly memberfor his sergeant. he had been assembly member for his local patch since 2003 and had been a welsh government

minister for the last decade, that was until friday when he was sacked by the first minister carwyn jones who was undertaking a government reshuffle. ca rwyn who was undertaking a government reshuffle. carwyn jones who was undertaking a government reshuffle. carwynjones has said that he was sacked because a number of allegations had come to light about carl sergea nt‘s conduct of allegations had come to light about carl sergeant‘s conduct made by different women and therefore he had no choice but to sack him. in a tweet on friday carl sergeant did respond saying he did not recognise these allegations, didn‘t know the nature of them, that it was right he should step aside whilst an investigation was under way but that he would try to clear his name and get back to government. of course we have had that sad news today. there have had that sad news today. there have been a number of statements released, a number of reactions to the story. let me read a few for you. the first minister carwynjones said carl was a friend as well as a colleague and i am shocked and deeply saddened by his death. he will be a great loss to our party. we also heard from jeremy corbyn, the uk labour leader, who said that the uk labour leader, who said that the death was deeply shocking news

and of course we have had a statement from the family as well and they said they were devastated beyond words at the loss of the glue that‘s bound us together. beyond words at the loss of the glue that's bound us together. thank you. the foreign secretary borisjohnson has said he‘s sorry if his comments about a british woman in jail in iran caused her family any anxiety. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was visiting family in iran when she was detained in 2016. last week the foreign secretary told mps she was there training journalists. now his words have been cited in an iranian court as evidence against her, raising fears her prison sentence could be doubled. borisjohnson made a statement to mps saying he didn‘t mean to give any weight to allegations against her. iam i am sorry if any words of mine have been so taken out of context and so misconstrued as to cause any kind of anxiety for the family of nazanin ratcliffe, of course i am. of course iam. but

ratcliffe, of course i am. of course i am. but the most important thing is that i don‘t believe, and i have this from the iranians themselves, that those words had any impact on thejudicial process. we that those words had any impact on the judicial process. we are going to work flat out to secure the release of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe andi release of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and i am very happy to have been able to make that clarification to the house today and i am delighted that as i say richard ratcliffe welcomes the clarification that i have made. pass on my thoughts to her constituents, the family of nazanin ratcliffe i would be very grateful. the shadow foreign secretary, emily thornberry, asked how many more times mrj ohnson had to make a mistake before his job was at risk. we appreciate the clarification. we welcome the phone call he made this morning to his iranian counterpart and we all hope no lasting damage is done to nazanin as a result of his

blunder. however, i hope that he will now take the opportunity to apologise to this woman's family, to her friends and her employers, apologise to this woman's family, to herfriends and her employers, to apologise to this woman's family, to her friends and her employers, to my honourable friend the member for hampstead and kill burn, and to all those others in this house and beyond who have been working so hard to obtain this young mother's release from the distress and anguish that his foolish words have caused to them and to this woman in re ce nt caused to them and to this woman in recent days. we are all bound to ask how many more times does this need to happen? how many more times does the foreign secretary have to insult our international partners, damage our international partners, damage our diplomatic relations and now imperil the interests of british nationals abroad? what will it take before the prime minister says, enoughis before the prime minister says, enough is enough. but if the truth is that she can't, because she doesn't have the strength or

authority to sack him, how about the foreign secretary himself shows a bit of personal responsibility and admits that a job like this, where words hold gravity and your actions have consequences, it is simply not the job for him. a short time ago i spoke to our political correspondent for this update. we waited for boris johnson‘s appearance in the house of commons and we expected him to face some pretty angry questions too and that certainly was the case. he is facing continuing questions about his position as foreign secretary. we heard the shadow foreign secretary emily thornberry saying isn‘t he questioning his own ability to do thejob isn‘t he questioning his own ability to do the job and also saying that theresa may was weak not to be sacking him too. now he defended himself saying that his comments could have been clearer but interestingly he didn‘t apologise

and there were comments from yvette cooper, a labour mp, but also mrsratcliffe‘s own mp about why it‘s taken a week to clarify his remarks and how he can still be in the position of foreign secretary. for borisjohnson position of foreign secretary. for boris johnson it‘s position of foreign secretary. for borisjohnson it‘s the latest in a series of incidents where comments have led him into difficulty. remember last month at the conservative party conference at a fringe event he angered the libyan government by saying that if bodies, dead bodies were cleared out of search it could become a tourist destination. so, yes, theresa may not just with one destination. so, yes, theresa may notjust with one cabinet minister, but two in the last couple of days facing difficulties, add to that her small majority and add to that brexit negotiations, add to that all theissues brexit negotiations, add to that all the issues around the sexual harassment allegations and you wouldn‘t want to be at number 10 right now. the international development secretary priti patel is also under pressure.

downing street says it will tighten the ministers‘ code of conduct after she held meetings with the israeli prime minister and other officials without informing the foreign office. priti patel was on holiday at the time and after the trip she suggested some of britain‘s aid budget should be given to the israeli army to support its humanitarian operations. our diplomatic correspondent james landale reports. holiday snaps of a different kind. when priti patel travelled to israel for a break in august she did not just see the sights, she also visited politicians and charities, 12 in all, without telling the foreign office. the most important meeting was with the israeli prime minister, something theresa may knew nothing about when she met benjamin netanyahu in downing street last week. critics accuse her of breaching ministerial rules. former diplomats are astonished. i think it‘s simply common sense that if a senior minister is visiting a country with a sensitive relationship with britain that they should take advice from the foreign office, the ambassador and let the

foreign secretary know what‘s going on. i‘m not sure that needs to be spelt out in the ministerial code, that‘s common sense. one idea that emerged was whether british aid could help israeli soldiers in the occupied golan heights. the bbc has been told she asked officials to examine the idea but that the foreign office advised against because britain does not recognise israel‘s annexation of this area. the international development secretary has now listed all undisclosed meetings in israel had apologised. in a statement, she said. today, friends rallied to her support. israel is a great partner of the united kingdom. we value the partnership. yes, she was on holiday but she was a workaholic and wanted to keep going and having meetings. yes, she should have notified the foreign office, but they knew about it while it was taking place.

there‘s nothing to see here. she's entitled to meet whoever she wants. she has apologised to the prime minister for the way in which some of those were handled and i regard the matter as closed. political pressure on mrs patel remains. labour have called on her to resign from the cabinet and there will be a debate on her behaviour in the house of commons later today. the tax affairs of british crown dependencies and overseas territories are coming under intense scrutiny because of the leak of millions of confidential documents known as the paradise papers. the documents, examined by an international consortium ofjournalists, including bbc panorama, show how the technology giant apple has been managing most of its untaxed cash reserve offshore on the channel island ofjersey. it moved the money tojersey after a tax loophole in ireland was closed. although the company has done nothing illegal, its tax arrangements have been criticised by eu and us officials. andy verity reports. we pay all the taxes we owe —

every single dollar. technically apple‘s chief executive tim cook is correct, but what apple legally owes may not be much, depending where it‘s located. apple sells billions of pounds‘ worth of phones and tablet computers in britain, but its effective tax rate has been estimated at 5% internationally. in 2014, ireland announced it would ban companies with no tax residency. that meant apple needed a tax residency for its lucrative irish subsidiaries — fast. the paradise papers reveal it sent out a questionnaire, courting tax havens, and it shows jersey, where its $261 billion pile of cash from selling phones and ipads became tax resident. then thejersey company reportedly sold back its highly expensive intellectual property rights to its irish division — creating a big cost, which could be offset against future profits, holding its irish tax bill down. apple says it has followed the law, and the new ownership structure hasn‘t lowered its taxes — and it remains the world‘s largest taxpayer.

here‘s why so many multinational companies want to locate offshore, it‘s notjust apple. in the united states, you‘ll pay 35% in corporation tax. in the uk, the rate is 19%, and in ireland — if you pay it at all and don‘t avoid it - 12.5%. jersey, standard rate of corporation tax? a big fat zero. the revelations from the paradise papers raise questions about the willingness of british crown dependencies and overseas territories, from jersey to guernsey to the cayman islands, to facilitate tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and multinationals — legal though it may be. at the isle of man parliament, the tynwald, the chief minister hit back today. the isle of man is not a place that welcomes those seeking to evade or aggressively avoid taxes. we are proud of the role we have taken in moving the international tax agenda forward. the isle of man has consistently been prepared to step out in front, to support developing international

tax transparency initiatives. others have attacked the dozens of media organisations involved in the paradise papers investigation, for using private information. this is, in my view, a politically inspired campaign which has been long—running, which is using stolen data in order to pursue an agenda which is nothing really to do with tax and nothing really to do with the morality of tax. this is about privacy, this is about seeking to ensure that there is public access to private financial information. while crown dependencies and overseas territories have some independence, westminster is ultimately responsible. if her majesty‘s government chooses to impose new rules or laws — it can. andy verity, bbc news. you‘re watching afternoon live. these are our headlines. former welsh government minister carl sargeant, sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct, has died.

it‘s understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary says he‘s sorry if his comments about the case of a british woman being held injail in iran have caused her family any anxiety. calls for a full inquiry after cabinet minister priti patel apologises for failing to tell theresa may or borisjohnson about a meeting with israel‘s prime minister while on holiday. ina in a moment, object the trail of the fraudsters trying to stem the numbers of those falling victim to online banking scams. in sport, david moyes says he is hungry to get things right after he replaces slaven bilic who was sacked yesterday and could bring in stuart pierce as his assistant. she tested positive for the banned blood stimulant epo. and there hasn‘t even been a ball bowled in the ashes but already

steven finn is heading home, he has been ruled out of the series with a knee injury. more after half past. coming up, we are going to be talking to our correspondent in birmingham, this follows a launch, as you can see in in this tweet, of as you can see in in this tweet, of a murder inquiry. this is after a 56—year—old man has been in an induced coma since he was rescued from his home after a firework was set alight inside the house. police have launched a murder probe. he died earlier today. his 50—year—old partner is still in hospital. more on that later. the us air force says it‘s launched an investigation after it was accused of failing to record the texas gunman‘s criminal history on a national database. former airman devin kelley was court—martialed for

domestic violence in 2012 and was barred from owning or buying guns. but last year he was able to purchase a rifle that he was able to use in sunday‘s attack in which 26 people were killed. he fled the scene but was later found dead people were killed. he fled the scene but was laterfound dead in his car. our north america correspondent rajini vaidyanathan is in sutherland springs. some uncomfortable questions to answer. that's right, an investigation is being launched into why he was able to buy two weapons, one i believe in 2016 and waun earlier this year, despite the fact that he did have a domestic violence conviction while he was serving for the us air force. the us does have background checks before you can buy a gun and if you have a domestic violence conviction you aren‘t able to purchase a firearm. of course there was something wrong in the system, this didn‘t get into the system, this didn‘t get into the system and he was able to buy those weapons. there are concerns about that. also it gets into a wider

issue here in the united states about how background checks work in terms of when people are able to buy a firearm. of course what‘s happened here has once again reopened the wider debate into gun control here in the united states. it's clear that he died of a self—inflicted wound. there was some question about that. yes, we heard from officials late last night who said there were three bullet wounds found on the suspect. one was self—inflicted. the other two had been fired by a man call, you may remember the story, two men hailed heros because they went in pursuit of the suspect or the gunman. one saw the gunman leave the gunman. one saw the gunman leave the church as he tried to get to his carand he the church as he tried to get to his car and he chased him with his firearm. he got another passer—by in a truck, he got into his truck and the two of them began firing shots in his direction and two of the shots fired did reach the gunman but

as you say, it was a self—inflicted wound they believe killed him. those two men were at a vigil last night here. they were reunited, very emotionally, at that vigil, they attended with families. those two people are being hailed as gun rights‘ campaigners as a reason why there need to be more firearms here in the united states. everyone, including president trump in asia, mentioned that, as well, saying that the way to deal with these kind of situations isn‘t by limiting the number of firearms that americans can get hold of but by making sure that people have more weapons in their hands and certainly talking to people here in sutherland springs i have met many here who say don‘t ta ke have met many here who say don‘t take away our firearms, they believe, certainly in a state like texas, that that‘s the answer. of course this is a very polarising debate. there will be many people who believe this should be another wake—up call for america to tighten up wake—up call for america to tighten up background checks to make sure

there are tighter restrictions on people who have mental health illnesses getting hold of guns and make it harder for people to have access to a firearm here. thank you very much. a 31—year—old man who was convicted of murdering his adopted baby daughter has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. matthew scully—hicks inflicted numerous serious injuries on 18—month—old elsie over eight months and she died after being violently shaken and struck on the head. the judge at cardiff crown court said scully—hicks‘ anger towards elsie hadn‘t been an isolated event. an islamic scholar from the university of oxford has taken a leave of absence following allegations of misconduct. tariq ramadan, professor of contemporary islamic studies has decided to temporarily leave by mutual agreement following multiple rape and sexual misconduct allegations. the institution stressed in a statement that an agreed leave of absence implies no presumption of acceptance of guilt. and that professor ramadan categorically denies

the allegations against him. thousands of people are losing large sums of money every year to fraudsters who trick them into transferring funds online. in the first six months of the year, more than £100 million was innocently sent to people who turned out to be criminals, posing as someone else. campaigners say banks could do more to prevent the scams and how a financial watchdog has set out plans to help people recover their money. simon gompertz reports. imagine, you‘re buying a house, the price is nearly £300,000, but you end up paying the money for completion into a fraudster‘s bank account. that is how kate blakeley was duped, tricked into using the wrong account details after e—mails were intercepted. the moment of realising the money hadn‘t arrived as intended with the bank account we‘d sent it off to, or thought we‘d sent it to, was just sheer horror. i think at first we didn‘t quite believe the money had gone missing, we thought maybe it was an administrative error, something simple was behind it but then as the hours rolled on, it became evident the money had gone

and we just felt awful at that point, completely shocked. kate got most of her money back eventually, but there were 19,000 victims of similar scams in the first half of this year, and of the £100 million lost, three—quarters hasn‘t been retrieved. there‘s been mounting pressure for banks to pay the money back — the average loss is £3,000 and £21,000 for businesses — and now there is a promise of a reimbursement scheme. people do need to be vigilant, but at the same time we should be able to expect that our banks are doing everything they can to protect us, and if they don‘t live up to those expectations, then we think they should be reimbursing consumers. so banks will reimburse — but they won‘t have full liability, it‘ll only be when they have slipped up. which means the question is, how many more people will actually be compensated? i think it‘s far too early to say at this stage. what‘s clear though is that we need to work with the regulator and government to ensure we get the right legislative framework to allow us to both chase the money

and get it back for the customer. it‘s so easy now to pay someone using a mobile phone or a computer. you can do itjust by the touch of a button. and that means it‘s easy for the fraudsters to get you — even with this new reimbursement scheme, you‘ll still have to show that you checked that you were paying the right person. it is a real positive step forward, at least consumers will have the opportunity to get their money back, only 25% of funds lost in this way have been recovered in the past six months, and so hopefully that percentage will increase in the future, and consumers will be much better protected. one idea coming in next year is a message popping up on your screen before a payment goes through, showing the name attached to the account you are paying and giving you the chance to stop it. small changes, which could make a big difference. simon gompertz, bbc news. coming up in the pine newsrooms, we

are going to be talking —— in the bbc newsrooms, we are going to be talking about the york minster, it includes a special stained glass window, all the details in about ten minutes‘ time here. the audience at a broadway performance of the lion king in new york were treated to a special surprise when eltonjohn took to the stage to sing the iconic hit circle of life. the singer was joined by the entire cast for a performance of the grammy—winning song to mark 20 years of the musical on broadway. don‘t forget you can let us know what you think. tweet us using the hashtag afternoonlive. all the ways to contact us are on the screen right now. now louise, who has been waiting

here for ages, will bring us the weather! never seen you run so fast! it's weather! never seen you run so fast! it‘s not beach weather, who are you trying to kid ? it‘s not beach weather, who are you trying to kid? this is the last hour, this is cornwall. there you go! i tried to help. cornwall. just seeing how astute you were. how much you were listening. what do you think? i thought - i hear it was miserable down there earlier, blustery, windy, wet. miserable down there earlier, blustery, windy, wetlj miserable down there earlier, blustery, windy, wet. i am glad you pay attention. it was. it has been cloudy and wet. it‘s going to be. lots of rain coming in this afternoon. the rain has been heavy and it was miserable earlier this morning across cornwall. it continues to move steadily eastwards and it‘s moving towards london. why is that important? it is if you are heading to watch the christmas lights, believe it or not, yes

christmas lights being turned on at 5pm, ina christmas lights being turned on at 5pm, in a few moments‘ and down the road into oxford street we have some rain around. light and patchy to start with. we will see more organised rain moving into the south—east for your journey home this evening. then behind it we see clearer skies and temperatures are going to fall away again. so, we started monday on a frosty note, for some we will start wednesday on a frosty note. favoured spots perhaps sheltered glens of scotland, northern ireland, north wales, we could see lows down to minus three orfour. not so in could see lows down to minus three or four. not so in the south—east corner. that is because we are still going to see remanents of that cloud and rain. it moves away from the south—east corner, slowly but surely first thing. in the morning we are looking at cloudy, dull, damp conditions. already a clearance, some lovely sunshine coming through. yes, it‘s going to be chilly, but temperatures starting to recover. some early mist and fog patches around, they will gradually lift. light breeze, perhaps a breeze

starting to strengthen to the western isles, because signs of more rain coming in and again a change of wind direction. so, although we will see decent sunshine for much of us, the cloud and wind and south—westerly will gather into western scotland and northern ireland by the end of the day. plenty of sunshine generally across england and wales. slowly brightening up in the south—east. highs likely of eight to 11. as we move out of wednesday our weather fronts will drift away across the country. a breezy scenario wednesday into thursday, but not producing much rain. i want to point out this area of low pressure for you. this could be a potential problem on friday. it may well be a storm that will move into the south and bring u nsettled will move into the south and bring unsettled weather. before then things remain relatively quiet. i think if i press the next button, hopefully, we will go into thursday. 0h, hopefully, we will go into thursday. oh, no! by special request, everybody wanted my dog, ready for the christmas lights, bless her, i

better shut up now. that's the most ridiculous thing i have ever seen! any excuse. sorry! this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the former welsh government minister carl sargeant has died, just days after being sacked from from his role last week following allegations about his personal conduct. it‘s understood he has taken his own life. it‘s understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary borisjohnson admits he "could have been clearer" when he spoke about the case of a british woman who‘s being held injail in iran. he says he‘ll visit in the next few weeks. pressure on the international development secretary priti patel after she apologised for holding meetings with the israeli prime minister and officials without informing the foreign office. the tax affairs of british crown dependencies and overseas territories are coming under scrutiny, after the leak of confidential documents known as the paradise papers. donald trump, on his first visit to south korea, urges the north to "come to the table" and discuss giving up its nuclear weapons.

sport now. let‘s go to view. we will talk about david moyes in the moment, but first, problems already in the ashes? good afternoon. preparation could hardly have been with the trevor bayliss and as players, particularly in the bowling department. they have lost ben stokes early on, now his replacement steven finn is out of the ashes series. toby roland—jones is injured, so an uncapped tom curran has been brought in. the stray liens predict a 5—0 win in their favour pretty soon. not everybody is pleased with what is going on at west ham, but one man who is as david moyes? yes, he should be pretty happy. he has come back into football. it may not be the name west ham fans aspire to, because he had a torrid time at

manchester united, went to real sociedad and that was not great, then was relegated from the premier league with sunderland last year. p things west ham is the place boys could show those quality again. he has yet to confirm that the word his backroom staff. there are rumours he could bring in the former west and amanda stuart pearce as his number two, which would bring in —— which would impress the fans. it has only been the lastjob it has only been the last job where i feel as if it wasn't a good move andl i feel as if it wasn't a good move and i didn't enjoy it and it didn't work out well, so i am hungry to make sure i get things right. any foot ball make sure i get things right. any football manager wants to win, and that's what i want to do. i want to win and make sure that for me, the supporters, everybody enjoys their saturday nights because we're winning games. manchester city‘s raheem sterling and fabi and al have returned to

their club after being ruled out of their club after being ruled out of the england upcoming friendlies through injury. chelsea defender gary cahill has joined the squad for training today ahead of back—to—back games against germany and brazil at wembley stadium. the lovable‘s jordan henderson will also miss out through a thigh problem. more bad news for england‘s ashes preparations. as i said, steven finn wilmer is the series after picking up wilmer is the series after picking upa wilmer is the series after picking up a knee injury while training in australia. he has damaged cartilage in his left knee, and in his chances of making the squad for the series. he has been replaced by the uncapped surrey fast bowler tom curran. he was initially brought back into the england fold to replace ben stokes, who is under investigation by police after an investigation outside —— after an incident outside a bristol might club. sir viv richards says the england team are more like pussycats than lions. having someone like stokes, who are pretty confident in himself about

how he feels, the aggression he brings, it will be quite crucial down under. i was hearing some stuff, they were saying was touch and go whether he is going to be down under or not. but let these labours. without ben stokes down under, the english team is going to look like kittens! england‘s women are preparing for their crucial ashes test beginning on thursday. they have become training at sydney oval, and know only a win will do. they currently trail australia 4—2, meaning if australia win the test, they can be beaten in the series stop it was imperative we learnt a lot from the last few games in the last series. not only have we learned more, some of the extras are really picked up a lot of information that wasn‘t there before. it is important that we spend the next few days really going on from that and hopefully, there will be a nice little win over here inafew will be a nice little win over here in a few days. we hope so.

in rugby union, refereejoy neville will make history question becomes the first woman to take charge of european professional club match. the former ireland captain has already been an assistant referee m, already been an assistant referee in, and will officiate the championship match. kenya‘s olympic champion jemima sungong has been banned doping for four years. she won london marathon last year before becoming the first kenyan woman to win olympic gold over the distance. she was initially suspended in april but now will be unable to defend her in tokyo. she tested positive for the banned blood booster epo. and that is all the sports an hour. more in the next hour. thank you very much. thank you again. now on afternoon live, let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. jackie bird is in glasgow, and will

be telling me shortly about an apology issued by nicola sturgeon. more on that in a moment. and we will speak to charlotte leeming in leeds about york minster and what has been happening with the largest restoration there forever, i suspect. we will find out shortly. first, to jackie bird in scotland. nicola sturgeon has been apologising. what is this all about? this apology came today to coincide with new legislation which will automatically pardon those convicted under the laws in the past. you may not know that private homosexual relations between men aged over 21 in scotland were not to criminalise until 1980, despite the law being changed in england and wales 13 yea rs changed in england and wales 13 years earlier. so today, the parliament, under the watch of spectators in the public gallery, somerville, as you will understand, where emotional, the party leader and seniorfigures

where emotional, the party leader and senior figures spoke movingly about the pardon and the past. ruth davidson, leader of the scottish conservatives here, described what had happened as the criminalisation of love. former labour leader kezia dugdale said the pardon allowed scotla nd dugdale said the pardon allowed scotland to be at ease with its past, and all of those who spoke praised the government for taking the steps today. but of course, making the apology officially fell to the first minister. the legislation has therefore both the symbolic and practical value. the pardon sends this unequivocal message, that anybody convicted of an offence for an activity which is now legal. the law should not have treated us criminals and you should not now be considered as such. instead, this parliament recognises that wrong was done to you. jackie, that wrong was done to you. jackie, thatis that wrong was done to you. jackie, that is all very well, but how does this actually attack people's lives? it will give an automatic formal pardon to people living in dead who

we re pardon to people living in dead who were convicted of historic sexual offences where the conviction was the conduct which is now legal. however, the pardon is largely described as symbolic. it is an acknowledgement that the laws then we re acknowledgement that the laws then were discriminatory, but it does not reverse the conviction, so anyone with a historical conviction for same—sex sexual activity that is now illegal well —— that is now legal will have to apply for something called a disregard, to prevent the information being loaded in disclosure checks, for example. there will be up to scottish ministers to decide based on evidence given at that time whether to disregard. if successful, a disregard application means the conviction won‘t appear on any of those background checks, and the person will be treated as not having committed any offence at all. thank you very much, jackie bird. let‘s go to look north, and charlotte leeming. york minster has had a multi—million pound

restoration. i sometimes feel like i did it with one myself! what have they been doing? if you have been, you will probably know it is a world famous medieval masterpiece that a tt ra cts famous medieval masterpiece that attracts a whopping hundred and 90 million visitors a year. it is one of those buildings that takes your breath away when you see it in the flesh. the stunning break east window is something that has been described as one of the wonders of the world, winners intricate biblical predictions from the book of genesis. but like a lot of things that are getting on a bit, it has beenin that are getting on a bit, it has been in need of some serious tlc over the years. condensation has led to damage, there has been peeling paintand all to damage, there has been peeling paint and all sorts. so ten years ago, the cathedral authorities, who are desperate to protect one of the great artistic achievements of the middle ages, came to a plan to ensure it would be around for future generations to enjoy. this led to this massive restoration project, thought to be the largest and most ambitious of its kind in europe. and looking at the pictures, a painstaking task as well? so hard,

simon. let‘sjust say painstaking task as well? so hard, simon. let‘s just say it is harder than having a double glazing fitted at home! this has been slow, steady and detailed conservation work. the great east window is massive, the size of a tennis court, so over a 10—year period at a cost of £11 million, stained glass experts have been working on more than 300 individual panels. they have taken each one out, and each panel has thousands of smaller individual glass fragments. when it were taken out, those panels were dirty, some badly broken, so they had to be cleaned, repaired, and given this state—of—the—art uv protection which i state—of—the—art uv protection which , which will hopefully mean they will be safe from the elements to come. they have been doing a lot of they have been doing it? yes, they have been old school, because the making of these panels have been a mystery for years to folk. getting up mystery for years to folk. getting up close and personal with them each day has allowed the team to build a

clearer idea of the method behind that masterpiece, and stonemasons in particular said this has been really fascinating for them. they have gone back to basics, if you like, to learn a medieval craft, done everything by hand, with not a power tool inside. so this might be a long old ways, what a lot of people will think it has definitely been worth it. charlotte leeming, thank you very much. and jackie bird in glasgow, thank you very much indeed. you are watching afternoon live, and if you would like to catch up with more of those stories, go to the bbc iplayer on your local news as 630 tonight. more on those individual stories as well. the metropolitan police commissioner cressida dick has been appearing before mps, saying herforce cressida dick has been appearing before mps, saying her force would before mps, saying her force would be delighted to investigate whether

the conservative mp damian green‘s computer had pornography on it. the conservative mp damian green‘s computer had pornography on itm the conservative mp damian green‘s computer had pornography on it. if i or the metropolitan police can assist a camelids enquiry, we would wa nt to assist a camelids enquiry, we would want to do so, and we would seek to do so. and secondly, if i could turn to matters of principle, quite clearly, it is absolutely fundamental that information in confidential enquiries has kept confidential. the public rightly expect very high standards of protection of information from police officers and police organisations. and we would do everything we can to try to keep the information that has been given to us information that has been given to us for a particular purpose confidential. cressida dick. the birmingham man has died in hospital after a firework was set off in his home in tal cross. police have launched a murder enquiry after the incident on thursday. he has

been named as 56—year—old anthony nichols. his partner was also injured after jumping from nichols. his partner was also injured afterjumping from a first—floor window. police have asked anyone he witnessed someone carrying a large box in the area to get in contact. you are watching afternoon live. a new bronze statue of george orwell has been unveiled here outside new broadcasting house — close to where he worked as a radio producer in world war two. our correspondent nick higham is outside for us with all the details. orwell as he probably appeared in the 1940s, wearing a wonderfully baggy suit, smoking a cigarette. that is unusual. not too many statues of people smoking cigarettes, stabbing it that you in order to emphasise some point. appropriately enough, actually, it is outside the corner of broadcasting house here where the smokers congregate. and an inscription, if liberty

means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear, which is something he wrote in a preface to animal farm, the novel he left the bbc to start writing in 1943. he had spent two years here as a producer and broadcaster broadcasting to the indian subcontinent. i am joined by professorjean seaton, the bbc‘s official historian, and as it happens, the director of the orwell foundation. what do you think of it? i think it does actually capture something of the austerity and awkwardness which he personally did have. there is something about his person which is quite important. and it doesn't loom. it does physically slightly loom, but he looks like somebody who is engaged in something serious, and he was no easy charm. he was a man of oddly scrupulous, peculiarly scrupulous views about himself that he was always prepared to acknowledge his own worst feelings, which is actually why the books can be really startling, or the essays.

like shooting an elephant, it is genuinely quite disturbing. so i think it is a fantastic statue. it captures something, and i think the quotation, which is beautifully put, is just something that at this moment in the 21st century, just feels very, very useful for everybody. the sculpture, of course, by martinjennings, a sculptor who has also done well known sculptures ofjohn betjeman at saint pancras station here in london and philip larkin, the poet, at the station in hull. tell me, he had sort of an almost love/hate relationship with the bbc. he famously called it a cross between a lunatic asylum and a girls‘ school. but he seems from his personnel file to have got on here quite well, because he accepted that in wartime, they were doing propaganda.

one really interesting thing was that he was in the bowels of producing the most sophisticated propaganda, and the most sophisticated propaganda was stuff that people would listen to, to put it most crudely. but he actually did a very important job in the indian subcontinent. he elevated a whole series of indian writers and journalists to a national fame and a kind of international role there. he said he wasted his time, he had never done anything of any use. he said as he left in a rather prissy way, the bbc never censored me. you can say retrospectively there are things he got from the bbc. like, he had never worked in a big bureaucracy. that goes straight into 1984. like the ferocious discipline of broadcasting to people who are taking risks to listen to you, and the very odd place which is about talking, which is radio, and i think that probably affected the elegance later. but he had got to get

on with writing, he had to get on with things. jean seaton, thank you very much indeed. a statue of george orwell, a man who, asjean was saying, is supposed, though this may be apocryphal, is supposed to have modelled the ministry of information in 1984 on the bbc. we don‘t believe that, simon! you are watching afternoon live. some breaking news, concerning the conviction and sentencing of the man who murdered his 18—month—old daughterjust weeks who murdered his 18—month—old daughter just weeks after formally adopting her, matthew scully x, who has been told he must serve 18 years in jail. has been told he must serve 18 years injail. the birth family has been told he must serve 18 years in jail. the birth family of has been told he must serve 18 years injail. the birth family of his victim, lc scully hicks, have said she would still be alive today she had been removed from their care by

social services. in a statement which can now be reported, their family said they were numb with pain. speaking on behalf of the family, elsie‘s birth grandmother said, i except at the time of elsie‘s birth, my daughter was living a chaotic lifestyle and not ina living a chaotic lifestyle and not in a position to care for her. she was removed by social services. as a family, we continue to have contact with shayla when she was with the foster family. she said all of the family were attached to her and loved her very much. she said i wa nted loved her very much. she said i wanted to bring her up in a happy, healthy one family environment, that was all taken away from me when social services and the family court decided i would not be able to cope. so, the continuing fallout that the vicious, will bring you more later. we are watching afternoon live. as you can see, business news in a moment. but

first, look at the headlines here. the former welsh government carl sargeant, sacked the former welsh government carl sargea nt, sacked last the former welsh government carl sargeant, sacked last week after allegations about his personal conduct, has died. it is understood he has taken his own life. the foreign secretary borisjohnson admits he "could have been clearer" when he spoke about the case of a british woman who‘s calls for a full enquiry after cabinet minister priti patel fails to tell theresa may borisjohnson about a meeting with israel‘s prime minister while she was on holiday. hello. could the big six become the big 5? energy supplier sse says it has been in talks with the owner of rival npower with a view to forming a new uk energy business. a merger would bring together two of the uk‘s "big six" gas and electricity suppliers. any deal would need approval from competition authorities and shareholders. from sugar to fashion associated british foods covers a broad section of retail and posted profits up 22% over the year to september —

but shares in the owner of primark have been down by as much as 4% today after warnings that profits in their sugar sector will fall in this financial year. retail sales are struggling — that‘s according to figures out from the british retail consortium has said sales of non—food items grew at the slowest pace since records began. non—food sales rose byjust 0.2% in the year to october. clothing sales were "particularly hard hit", and the brc said that families appeared to be spending more and more on outdoor experiences and excursions. different picture altogether on house prices according to the halifax. right across the uk they are rising strongly and it says they are going to keep on going in the months ahead. in the year to october, prices rose by 4.5%, up from 4% in september and the fastest rise since february. it brings the average price of a uk house to a new record high of £225,826. energy companies, six becomes five,

what is the mean for the consumer? that is almost a spice girls site! tha nkfully that is almost a spice girls site! thankfully it wasn‘t! that is almost a spice girls site! thankfully it wasn't! the parent companies, sse and npower. sse provides alec visited almost 6 million homes in the uk. npower, it is five. they are in talks to merge, though they say it is not a done deal yet. if they merge, you are absolutely right, the big six will become the big five, and consumers are worried about that will mean the competition. we look at the oil price today, where is it now?m competition. we look at the oil price today, where is it now? it has been up and down today, quite volatile. gas to oil! seamless. it was around 56 or $57 a barrel and month ago, so it has risen quite sharply over the last full weight. there are a lot of factors in play at the moment. there is an opec meeting at the end of the month, and

they currently have a production cap in place, agreed to march 2018, and it is thought they will extend that. currently, tension between some opec members, arrests in saudi arabia, but whatever is going on, i‘m sure what you guys want to know is what it will mean for prices at the petrol pumps. i know what that means. they will probably go out. and we have been the prices, retail figures. a real mixed bag today. the association of british foods slavery sales are going well in their prime stores, but the british retail consortium says sales are struggling in the high street. we will start there with david buick, a marketing commentator. he is going to tell us all about retail. david, what is going on in the uk‘s high street? isn‘t really was struggle the brc are painting, orwhy isn‘t really was struggle the brc are painting, or why prime at doing so are painting, or why prime at doing so well with revenues up over almost 20% so well with revenues up over almost 2096 in so well with revenues up over almost 20% in the year? so well with revenues up over almost 2096 in the year? if i could look at both of you, i would say you were

the essence of sartorial elegance, but unfortunately, people are turning away from that. you must not ta ke turning away from that. you must not take these figures in isolation to seriously. they are very often the opposite of what national statistics have to say. they do their readings at different times, so you need to average out. but when you see that at this time last year, retail sales we re at this time last year, retail sales were plus 2.4%, and they are only a 0.4%, there is the concern. as you rightly pointed out, it is basically down to close. the culture of people's lifestyle now they have less disposable income is changed after glee on several accounts. first and foremost, they say, sartorial elegance, for the birds. people, men in particular, just don't really care any more, because they want to spend their money on fun, going out of the pub, decent meal to a three times a week, and a decent holiday. you can't make the money go round everywhere, so while people bought things like suits and smart chinos and blazers and things don't do that any more. this is very

prevalent now. the other thing is that people forget that the internet is growing every single month of the year, and is now responsible for 24% of all retail sales in this country. it is not as high as the united states, but we're certainly getting there, and as we know, the internet is bargain basement, and so the fact is bargain basement, and so the fact is that large companies are narrowing all the time, particularly since the pound has dropped to give the dollar and the euro since last june. and we had the news about the possible merger today between npower and s possible merger today between npower andsse. possible merger today between npower and s s e. why were those two companies want to get together, and more importantly, what is either consumers and competition the macro energy capcom are ridiculous legislation. i'm sorry mrs meir mr miliband, you are both wrong. the fa ct miliband, you are both wrong. the fact remains, the general conversation and dialogue between the department of energy and these companies has been very poorfor a

decade, and they explain themselves extremely badly, as a result of which the consumer like me as very angry and very cross when he gets those bills go battling up and when the price of gas and virtual comes down, they don‘t come down quickly enough. this requires explanation. the fact the government aren‘t using a gap means there will be less competition. you will be a little shop around, and people will find various ways of being able to maintain the margin between the cost of producing energy and delivering it to the consumer. i suspect that the german utility company that owned npower will probably find two vehicles to merge their businesses and put them on the stock exchange. that is the general idea, but what i don‘t like about it is, as you pointed out, six down to five, could become four? david neverendum referendum, thank you for david buik. thank you very much.

see you tomorrow. new fossils of human beings oldest known ancestors have been discovered — and they might surprise you. teeth belonging to extinct shrew—like creatures, which scampered at the feet of dinosaurs, have been discovered in cliffs on the dorset coast. the fossils date back 145 million years, and the scientists who identified the specimens say they are the earliest undisputed fossils of mammals belonging to the line that led to humans. and i‘m joined now by one of those scientists, dr steve sweetman of the university of portsmouth. just described that moment where you realise what it was you were looking at. well, it was a jaw—dropping moment, to be honest with you. i had a call from an undergraduate students who is actually doing the work to cover these fossils, and he said he thought it was an enamel to the had found, but when i looked at it, it looked to me like something that had been living 65 million years later in geological history, which was quite surprising. the following day,

he phoned me and told me he had found another one. what we‘re looking at, these teeth, what does it tell you about the evolution of man? not a question are expected to be asking this afternoon! it doesn't tell as much about the evolution of man, but it tells is about the evolution of the line of mammals that finally led to the environments in which this was a part, including things like the giant shrew and the blue whale. it tells you how these were able to evolve. that is the key to. these are the earliest fossils we know that the moment that are on the direct line. you are describing a jaw—dropping moment. we are running out of time, but give us an idea of how excited asa but give us an idea of how excited as a scientist you wear when you realised this was, what, once—in—a—lifetime discovery?” think so, and i think that the student who founded, may see more.

they have built the very thing since the 19 century. it was a very pleasa nt the 19 century. it was a very pleasant surprise indeed. very scientifically understated! i bet you said similar things. well, congratulations. thank you forjoining us. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today. next, the bbc news at five. time for a look at the weather. good afternoon, everybody. there are still some rain to clear away across the country. once it has gone, temperatures will fall sharply across the night. we are still concerned about this rain through the spine of the country towards the south—east. as she crosses in england as it clears overnight, but to ta ke england as it clears overnight, but to take most of the night to do so. elsewhere, this ridge of high pressure building allows wins to fall, the skies to remain light and temperatures to four. down to —3 or

minus four. frosty start, maybe patchy fog through northern ireland. that will lift away and we will see dry, sunny weather for most. cloud, the odd spot of whether for east anglia and they kent coast. we will seize on wet and windy weather pushing into the west by the end of the afternoon. highs of 7—11. not too bad on thursday, mostly dry and sunny. today at five, the foreign secretary admits he could have been clearer when speaking about the case of a british woman being held in an iranianjail. boris johnson said nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe was training journalists when she was detained last year — something her family denies. he dismissed claims that he may have jeopardised her fight for freedom. i don‘t believe, and i have this from the iranians themselves,

that those words had any impact on thejudicial process. i‘ll be speaking live to nazanin‘s husband, richard ratcliffe. the other main stories on bbc news at five. welsh assembly member carl sargeant is found dead, days after being sacked as a minister because of allegations about his personal conduct. calls for a full inquiry after cabinet minister priti patel