tv BBC News BBC News March 26, 2018 8:00pm-9:00pm BST
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this is bbc news. i'm rebecca jones. the headlines at eight: more than a hundred russian diplomats are expelled from the us and europe over moscow's alleged involvement in the poisoning of a former spy. today, 18 countries have announced their intention to expel more than 100 russian intelligence officers from their countries. rival demonstrations outside parliament as jeremy corbyn apologises for a second time for the pain caused by anti—semitism in the labour party. at least 64 people are killed — many of them children — in a fire at a siberian shopping centre. officials say the alarm system was off and fire exits blocked. southern nhs trust is fined £2 million over the deaths of patients teresa colvi n and connor sparrowhawk. the judge called each case an "unnecessary human tragedy". also in the next hour:
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an american porn star — stormy daniels — claims she was threatened to keep quiet about an affair she alleges she had with president trump. a guy walked up on me, and said to me, "leave trump alone. "forget the story." and then, he leaned around and looked at my daughter, and said, "a beautiful little girl. "it'd be a shame if something happened to her mom." and then he was gone. and how much does facebook know about you 7 we look at the data the social media giant holds on its users. good evening and welcome to bbc news. it's the greatest collective expulsion of russian diplomats and intelligence officials in history. twenty one countries , including america and 16 eu nations,
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have united in response to the nerve agent attack in salisbury. the united states is to expel 60 russian diplomats. most are based in washington, but a dozen will leave from the un in new york. 16 eu member states, including france and germany, are taking similar action. today's unprecedented move follows the poisoning of former russian agent sergei skripal and his daughter, and the subsequent expulsion of 23 russian diplomats from the uk last week. moscow says the expulsions are a mistake and it will respond "symmetrically" to them in the coming days. our diplomatic correspondent james robbins has the latest. sometimes size really does matter.
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the dramatic action against russia by western democracies. 60 russians being ordered out by the white house, a new record in the post—cold war world. france and germany topped the list, alongside poland, which borders russia and is highly vulnerable. about half the eu states are expelling, backing britain with action, notjust words. nato allied canada is also clearing out some russians, as is one of president putin's largest victims, ukraine. the prime minister could hardly have hoped for more. she told the commons it was the largest collective expulsion of russian intelligence officers in history. i have found great solidarity from our friends and partners in the eu, north america, nato and beyond over the past three weeks as we have confronted the aftermath of the salisbury incident. and together, we have sent a message that we will not
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tolerate russia's continued attempts tolerate russia's continued attempts to flout international law and undermine our values. three weeks after the salisbury attack, as the investigation goes on, and warnings to those in the area at the time remain in place. the diplomatic heat on president putin is being turned up again. in brussels, the president of the european council donald tusk said today's eu action could even be extended quite quickly. additional measures, including further expulsions within the common eu framework, are not to be excluded in the coming days. and weeks. today's action has its root in the yea rs of today's action has its root in the years of russian misbehaving, from president putin's annexation of crimea, judged illegal by the outside world, through armed intervention in eastern ukraine to destabilise the country, to accusations of kremlin fingerprints ona accusations of kremlin fingerprints on a catalogue of cyber attacks
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against the west, combined with abuse of social media and plots to undermine elections and democracy in europe and the united states. russia's immediate reaction... translation: millie for my part, i expressed strong protest in relation to the united states's illegitimate action. there is not a single bit of evidence, of russia's involvement. moscow is sticking with denial, russian retaliation is inevitable. the crisis triggered by a tempted murder insoles bree continues to grow at a startling pace. and we'll find out how this story — and many others — are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:40 this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are dia chakravarty, brexit editor at the daily telegraph, and joe watts, political editor at the independent. jewish groups and some labour mps are demonstrating in westminster this evening against what they say
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is anti—semitism within the labour party and jeremy corbyn's failure to stop it. this is despite the labour leader apologising yesterday and again this afternoon for what he called ‘pockets‘ of anti—semitism within the party. our political editor laura kuenssberg is in westminster this evening. one of the frustrations among the jewish community and among jewish mps is that this has been building for a long time, and they believe that for several years, jeremy corbyn has snp been shown to be too relu cta nt to corbyn has snp been shown to be too reluctant to deal with this quickly. there have been promises to stamp it out, but they frankly believe that he has not done enough. and that somehow, whether unwittingly or not, he just seems to be too tolerant of some of the kinds of views that are advanced. something strange is happening tonight, normally people
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come to westminster to protest against the government. this time, they've come to protest against the opposition. there is a lot of suspicion in the labour party, and some ofjeremy corbyn's ardent supporters have turned up, too. shame on you! trouble and strife. the leaders of written's biggestjewish groups have planned a protest, furious at what they see as jeremy corbyn planned a protest, furious at what they see asjeremy corbyn picking they see asjeremy corbyn picking the wrong side. you are here to attack the labour party! before it could even start, some of his most ardent supporters arrived. instead of protest, argument. i'm ashamed of you and all... a clash as a religious group protests against a major political party in the 21st—century. protests against a major political party in the 21st-century. most people that call themselves socialist, those people that say they are anti—racist and fascists should be ashamed of themselves, u nless should be ashamed of themselves, unless they stand in solidarity with the jewish committee unless they stand in solidarity with thejewish committee and thejewish labour movement. why the anger? there have been
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worries that several years. in 20s extent, a labour mp was suspended over anti—semitic posts online, later apologising. you said that hitler supported zionism. that is ridiculous. there was fury when she was divided byjeremy corbyn's old friend ken livingstone. if you read mein kampf... he livingstone. if you read mein kampf. .. he would livingstone. if you read mein kampf... he would people are simply said that hitler supported zionism in the early 30s. then, the official party report into prejudice against dues was marked by a clash. we see who is working hand are you serious?! how dare you! one activist criticised a jewish mp. recently, mr corbyn was found to be a member of some online groups that contained offensive comments. and in the last few days, he apologised for arguing to preserve this image you might find offensive, a mural that depicts known stereotypes of dues.
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mr corbyn has continually condemned all forms of racism, but it's not until the last 2a hours that he has shown such a level of specific regret, speeding up this morning, he has turned down interviews, but in a letter to jewish leaders, has turned down interviews, but in a letter tojewish leaders, wrote: —— jews. all of us from the top to the bottom of the party need to reflect on the approach that we've taken, and ask ourselves what else we can do. shame! you should be ashamed of yourselves! there is no sign of a united front. there is no sign of a united front. the criticism of jeremy
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there is no sign of a united front. the criticism ofjeremy corbyn has not stopped over the last two years since becoming leader. he has had to deal with a lot of accusations of anti—semitism. the labour leader now acknowledges this problem, but a solution, not much sign. and it's important to say jeremy corbyn has always said he opposes all forms of racism, he has a lwa ys opposes all forms of racism, he has always said that he will not tolerate any abuse in the labour party. it only really in the last 2—3 days that he has started to apologise for this problem, specifically. and that has been the source of great frustration. we saw in the protest in the last half hour or so, the labour party is struggling to sheffield united front. well, labour mps have been meeting in westminster this evening. our political correspondent chris mason has been trying to find out what they've been discussing. what have you discovered? an extraordinary evening here,
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because whilst those protests, which you can see there, were going on outside parliament, the labour leaderjeremy corbyn was in the chamberfacing leaderjeremy corbyn was in the chamber facing criticism from some of his own mps, and in particular john woodcock, about the role of russia and his response to the attack in salisbury. meanwhile, a couple of floors up, on the committee corridor of the palace of westminster, labour mps gathering for their weekly meeting, the meeting of the parliamentary labour party, and reflecting particularly on this whole issue of anti—semitism. normally, reporters like me will loiter outside the meeting, we have our ears leaning towards the door, and we will barely be able to hear anything. tonight, such was the passion, you could hear the contributions of some mps absolutely clearly through the door, through the wall. john mann, for instance, the chair of the all—party group on anti—semitism, clearly, could be heard, "what type of labour party is this? if we don't get our
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act together, we won't get elected and deservedly so." i have spoken to another mp at the meeting. "i have no idea what the party has become, i feel sick and ashamed most days." "the saddest thing is the number of collea g u es "the saddest thing is the number of colleagues willing to walk by on the other side, " this mp said," out of a dumb sense of loyalty." we spoke toa a dumb sense of loyalty." we spoke to ajewish a dumb sense of loyalty." we spoke to a jewish labour mp after that meeting. she said that she was heartened that lots of her collea g u es heartened that lots of her colleagues at that meeting of all faiths and of none were arguing that the party had to do much, much, much more to root out anti—semitism. she was frustrated that mr corbyn wasn't at that meeting of labour mps, although he did have a commitment in the commons, which might be difficult for him to not participate in. he wasn't willing to detach
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himself and to associate himself from that counterprotest that you saw in laura's report taking place. those defending jeremy corbyn at those rallies and demonstrations outside parliament, what they wanted him to do was to read or say something, saying, "look, i know! have supporters, but please don't turn out to campaign against these people that have a grievance that should be heard. " a very difficult david jeremy corbyn, but for the first time taking on directly the accusations that have come his way, and in the direction of the party around the whole issue of anti—semitism. chris, thanks for that. i'm nowjoined byjonathan arkush, who is the president of the board of deputies of britishjews, which was one of the organisations behind this letter, and tonight's rally. thanks so much for coming in to talk to us here on bbc news. first of all, about the rally, what were you
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hoping to achieve by organising it? we were looking to have a gesture of support from across the jewish we were looking to have a gesture of support from across thejewish and indeed wider communities for the letter, the firm message which the british jewish communities tonight, the parliamentary labour party, to say it's time for actions, not mere words. and, boy, did we get it! at a few hours notice, at least 2000 people came from across britain's communities, jewish, muslim, christian, hindu, c, to demonstrate. there were countered protests, but jeremy corbyn has said, "i will a lwa ys jeremy corbyn has said, "i will always be your ally in the fight against anti—semitism. " very strong words. he has made two apologies in the last 2a was, is that enough for you? actions speak louder than words. i welcome what we got today from jeremy corbyn, which was two letters, after silence from macro dos years, two letters in one day.
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he is clearly trying to make up ground. it is about action and not words. we have had lots of words from jeremy corbyn before. he always declares himself to be an enemy of racism, the trouble is, he still hasn't confronted or taken effective action to expel anti—semites in his party. when you talk about actions, its expulsion is that you want, is it? for the most serious cases, people like ken livingstone and jackie walker should be expelled. that is the crime, widespread cry taken up by many labour mps. why hasn't he done it up until now, then? i wish i knew. did hasn't he done it up until now, then? iwish i knew. did you hasn't he done it up until now, then? i wish i knew. did you ask him that? many times. what did he say? he evaded the question. if they are not expelled, what is your point then? what is a promise to combat anti—semitism worth if you don't take action to back up the
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promise? it's not only the people i mentioned, len mccluskey, his close unite ally, says, "these arejewish mood music complaints." chris williamson says its allegations of anti—semitism weaponised. why doesn'tjeremy corbyn deal with these people? jackie walker has been twice suspended from labour for anti—semitism, but is still in the party with no sanctions taken. when he writes in a letter to you this evening that he pledges that labour will have zero tolerance for anti—semites, are you saying you don't believe in? on the evidence so far, he will have to work hard to demonstrate it. i tell you what we are going to do, we are going to reply to this letter, we are going to say to him, "jeremy, if you mean what you say, these are the issues that you and i have to discuss. these are the actions, which we will expect you to take, and we will test
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you by your words and your actions to back up those words. some ofjeremy corbyn's supporters will say that the kind of accusations being made by people are by people that oppose him politically, and that actually this isa politically, and that actually this is a physical smear campaign. politically, and that actually this is a physicalsmear campaign. how politically, and that actually this is a physical smear campaign. how do you respond to that? traditionally, over the years, thejewish community has been very big labour supporters. even now, manyjews are members of labour. the instincts are still there. jews are supporters of social equality, of looking after vulnerable members of society, and leading jews have played a great role in the labour party. of course, there are jewish members role in the labour party. of course, there arejewish members of other parties as well. i'm not a member, i've never been a supporter of any particular party. all i want is fairness shown to thejewish minority, because if these things
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have been said about, say, people of colour, murals, secret facebook groups, anti—black prejudice, there would be an almighty outcry. why doesn't the same happened when it is jewish people? jeremy corbyn has repeated his offer to meet the board of deputies and indeed the jewish leadership to meet the board of deputies and indeed thejewish leadership council as soon as, are you going to take him up on his offer? yes, we will. we are going to do this completely openly. this is not going to be a shady politicalfudge, a openly. this is not going to be a shady political fudge, a shady hole in the corner deal, everything will be out in the open. we will be replying to him with the issues we'd like to discuss, so that he knows what we expect at a meeting, and in the meeting, we will have a serious agenda and an end point. and we hope it will be fruitful. jonathan arkush, we must leave it there, thank you. i must say, you have named several people that you've called for being expelled from the
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labour party, and they are not here to defend themselves, but thank you for coming to talk to us. let's return to our lead story now. alexander vershbow is the former nato deputy secretary general and hejoins me via skype from washington. we're very grateful for your time, thank you forjoining us here on the bbc. this is an unprecedented coordinated action, is it unprecedented in your view? i think it is unprecedented, and i think it's expressly significant what my own country has done by expelling 60 russian spies and diplomats, both in the consulate in seattle, it is quite a dramatic step, given that president trump wasn't on record caring much. the
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territory of a nato country is quite a significant escalation in russian aggression, and it is an appropriate response that the nations who face the same threat as the uk have shown solidarity and imposed very tough penalties on the russians. there could be tougher penalties. putin's cronies have not yet been hit with sanctions. the senate and the house last year authorised the sanctions on oligarchs close to putin. the message sent to moscow would be further reinforced that aggression really will be costly to russia if putin's power base is affected by targeted sanctions. you raise a lot of very interesting points there, if i might pick you up ona points there, if i might pick you up on a couple of them. you were referring to the change in tone on the part of president trump, after congratulating resident you did on
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his re—election if you days ago. how much do you think the expulsion of the 60 diplomats from the united states is to do with what happened in salisbury, and how much is it to do with internal happenings on american soil? it's mainly connected with the events in salisbury. it was quite a watershed in terms of russian aggressiveness, and it shows that they may be tried too hard to obscure these sorts of activities under the veil of ambiguity or plausible deniability. there's no denying that this agent was invented and produced in russia, and i think the us intelligence, rotherham is what the uk concluded itself, so i think it is mainly about salisbury. but there are many other things russia have been doing, interfering in our elections, disinformation to divide societies, all these things
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deserve a response. up until now, we haven't been doing that. so this is a very important step in the right direction. president trump does deserve credit for shifting his stance. i take the point about sanctions, but just rewind stance. i take the point about sanctions, butjust rewind a little bit, by expelling diplomats, what is america and these other countries hoping to achieve? well, i think it will deal at least in the short and medium term a blow to wash and intelligence activities. closing the consulate in seattle, which is a city surrounded by high—tech industries, microsoft is based up there, boeing, that will make a dent in russian capacity to steal our industrial secrets. but it is also a demonstration that we're not going to turn the other cheek when these sorts of provocations take place.
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we, and! sorts of provocations take place. we, and i include the uk, may have made a mistake in not reacting more strongly to the lip and janko killing more than a decade ago, or to the russian invasion of georgia ten yea rs to the russian invasion of georgia ten years ago. we did better when they invaded ukraine, but they still haven't paid a heavy price for that direct, naked aggression. putin ran for real action, and bigger steps need to be taken, but this will lead mr putin to conclusion of what has been going on in the last two years. time is running out. alexander vershbow, we're so grateful for your time, thanks. you're welcome. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre. we start with the scandal that has
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rocked australian cricket after captain steve smith's admission on saturday that the team had a premeditated plan to tamper with the ball during the third test in south africa. smith today stood down as captain of his team in india. the inquest had begun, australian cricket investigators arriving at the team hotel this morning sent to get to the bottom of a scandal that stunned the sport. a warm welcome from spinner nathan lyon, potentially implicated in the scandal which could be painful for both players and management. australia's plan to get cameron bancroft to deliberately tamper with the ball using sticky tape quickly unravelled in the full glare of the tv cameras. the man known as the voice of australian cricket telling me how much damage had been done by his compatriots. as it settled into my brain over
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night, i felt a sense of outrage that they should dare to perpetrate such a crime on the field. this was so blatant. ok, premeditated as well. i think that's what sticks in the craw of most australian fans. suspended for one match but his long—term position now looks untenable. the cheating that occurred here at newlands on saturday afternoon will go down as one of the most infamous episodes in cricket's history. a scandal that has shocked the sport, and the full repercussions will soon become clear. pictures have now emerged which allegedly showed ba ncroft emerged which allegedly showed bancroft putting sugar in his pocket in the recent ashes series. it has led to questions over whether this is the first time australia have used illegal methods. all is try to
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get the rough side really roughed up, so that it is scratched and abraded on a fairly rough, dry pitch. that creates reverse swing. you get turbulence on the right side of the ball, and it forces the ball in the other direction at high speed, very hard to play. australia are now trailing 2—1 in this acrimonious series and travel to johannesburg. their actions here threaten to overshadow the rest of the tour. wales manager ryan giggs‘s second in charge ended in a 1—0 defeat to uruguay in the china cup final. the tony mcrae. places are breaking the sides of the world rankings, it was a tight affair. wales had more shots on target than the south americans, but edinson cavani was the difference, marking his 100th appearance for his country early in the second half with the only goal of the game. stoke city's jack
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butland will start in goal for england in their friendly against italy tomorrow night. gareth southgate confirmed butland's selection this afternoon, and this will be england's last match before the squad is announced for the world cup. those not featured this week, including injured midfielderjack wilshere dos. have a chance of making the squad. to golf, the 2028 ryder cup will be hosted at hazelteen national in minnesota. the course was the sight of usa's victory in 2016, and will be the first american venue to hold the event for the second time. that's all the sport for now, i will have more for you at 10:30. back to the news of the expulsion of the russian diplomats from america and other european countries, and canada as well, iceland have now
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announced that it will stage a diplomatic boycott of the world cup, which is taking place in russia this summer, that is over the poisoning of the former double agent in salisbury. icelandic officials will not go to the fifa world cup in russia this summer, said a statement from the foreign ministry will stop that doesn't mean the icelandic football tea m that doesn't mean the icelandic football team won't go, but there will be no dramatic delegation going to the football world cup inrush. the health trust southern health has been fined £2 million after admitting failures that led to the ‘avoidable' deaths of two patients. connor sparrowhawk, who was 18 and had epilepsy, drowned in a bath five years ago, in a unit run by southern health in oxford. teresa colvin, who was a5, died at a mental health hospital in hampshire, in 2012. michael buchanan has the story. he mattered.
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connor should still be here. it is as simple as that. once your child dies, you develop a fearlessness that the worst thing that could ever happen has happened, and it is sort of like, bring it on, really. we'll get to the bottom of this and we will get answers. connor sparrowhawk had an epileptic seizure under the care of the nhs. he had learning difficulties and autism. but the reason he is dead was because he was neglected by southern health. today, family and supporters came to court to hear the trust be fined more than £1 million for allowing the 18—year—old to die. if connor was here now in the shadow of oxford crown court and the police station, he would say," "why, mum?" and i would say, "i don't know what we have done you proud." the campaign shaun lunt mother light on other preventable
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deaths at southern health, including that of teresa colvin. she killed herself in 2012 at a hospital run by the trust. today, they were fined over £1 million over her death. their deaths were preventable and entirely avoidable. that is a matter of profound regret to me and the organisation, and i am truly sorry. today's apology came after years of lies and obfuscations from southern health, forcing connor's family to confront the trust's former board. this is the first time i feel i have been apologised to and i about to ask for it. his brother tom looks back on what they have been through with disbelief. they all got carried away and ijust couldn't quite understand, especially when i was 13. even now i can't understand. i , was affectionately known as laughing boy. as he aged, he developed a strong sense ofjustice, which his family felt compelled to
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