tv BBC News BBC News May 26, 2018 2:00pm-2:31pm BST
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this is bbc news, i'm annita mcveigh. the headlines at two. a "quiet revolution" — the words of the irish prime minister. the first official results are coming in and point to a resounding vote for overturning the abortion ban in ireland. people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decisions and the right choices about their own health care. south korea reveals that its president moonjae—in met the north korean leader kimjong—un for two hours on saturday. iranian media are reporting that nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, a british—iranian woman imprisoned in tehran, will face security—related charges in a second case against her. we'll be talking to her husband live in the next half an hour. the owners of high street chain boots are accused of over charging the nhs and exploiting patients by selling medicines at inflated prices. countdown to kick off as liverpool fans pour into kiev for tonight's champions league final.
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jurgen klopp says winning is in liverpool's dna as the reds aim to stop real madrid from winning a third successive title. i don't know how they are going to do it, but i think liverpool will win the competition. and coming up in half an hour on the bbc news channel, a special newsbeat documentary. me sufferer emma donohoe investigates how young people cope with the debilitating illness. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. you are welcome to dublin castle where votes are being collated across the country on this historic day as a result of a referendum on
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abortion "in. we are not expecting the official result for a number of hours, but there have been two significant exit polls that have been predicting a landslide victory for the yes campaign, that is the campaign that was working to repeal the language that was written into the language that was written into the constitution that gave the same rights to the unborn as to the mother. leo varadkar has said it is a resounding victory for the country, but no campaign has conceded defeat. whether this campaign would be able to change that language was up for question. let's hear more from my colleague emma vardy. more emphatically than anyone predicted, ireland has voted for change. exit polls indicated a landslide in favour of repealing the controversial law which has restricted access to abortion for so long. i am in shock. we were looking at 58%.
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68%, absolutely crazy. people are more accepting, i think, than we thought they were. i think we underestimated the irish people in a way. we are writing around the last 35 years. before midday, the no campaign conceded defeat. obviously we are very sad if the exit polls are the results, which certainly looks to be the case. i think what we will have to do now is see where we go from here as a movement and where we will be going from here is to hold the government to account for what they said. the irish government now plans to bring forward legislation to allow abortions up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. something opponents say they will continue to campaign against. even in an issue that is as deeply emotive and personal to people as this one, that is the right way to do it. what's more, by the way, you can still passionately believe that the decision of the people is wrong, as i happen to do. the official declaration is expected this afternoon, but already the tally tells us
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a great deal. large piles of yes votes and the realisation that ireland may have changed as a country, more than anyone believed. with more than 3 million people registered to vote, it's thought this referendum saw a higher turnout than the country's same—sex marriage vote in 2015. an intense campaign at an end and ireland on the brink of a new era. thank you very much to emma for that. let me turn to another two women who have been following this. both are irish journalists. women who have been following this. both are irishjournalists. you have just made your way over to ask, naomi, what have you seen around dublin castle and on the streets of dublin castle and on the streets of dublin today? ajubilant atmosphere is building with a lot of young
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women in particular were in the merchandise of the yes campaign. there is a sense of an historic victory for them. it is not one that anyone would have predicted, so a lot of people are adjusting to this new reality. they presumed ireland to be more conservative than the result shows. we heard from one of emma's guests of a more accepting ireland than was expected. to be clear and transparent, our people wearing the gnome merchandise? have wearing the gnome merchandise? have we seen it over the past few weeks? yes, certainly, over the last few weeks. up until last night there was quite a strong presence showing the posters and they fought until the last. but this result if it is borne out to show them to be in the minority. let me bring in audrey. they are still collating the boats, but let's talk about this in the
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context of perhaps a new ireland. this is the place where in 2015 they legislated for same—sex marriage and todayit legislated for same—sex marriage and today it may be by popular vote that this country changes the way it treats women. i think this is arguably the most profound moment in the history of the irish state. certainly marriage equality three years ago was significant and today's represents even something bigger. if the result is borne out, and it is almost 70% years, then that defines a new, modern ireland into the 21st century in line with other european democracies. it is notjust other european democracies. it is not just about appealing the eighth amendment, taking out those two lines of the constitution which acknowledges the right of the on—board equal to that of the woman, it is about
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recognising and acknowledging women's equality in this country, perhaps for the very first time. you area perhaps for the very first time. you are a young woman who has grown up here. do you feel that this is ireland on the cusp of some change from the ireland you have lived in for the past decade? absolutely, and the fact the change spans my lifeline shows how rapid it has been. i can remember being drawn as a child to the no campaign and that would be quite a minority opinion now. for a country which only legalised homosexuality in 1993 to vote by a majority plebiscite in 2015 is striking and not something that could be expected of many countries around the world. ireland cannot be described as a conservative country after this. you are from a little bit more north than i am here in dublin, incredibly significant for those women north of the border? it is, northern ireland is part of the united kingdom and there is still a ban on abortion in
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northern ireland as well. at the moment women there have to travel to britain or to further in europe. once legislation is brought in into the republic of ireland and women in the republic of ireland and women in the north want to travel, they can get in theircars the north want to travel, they can get in their cars and drive a couple of hours across—the— board get in their cars and drive a couple of hours across—the—board for available abortion services in this jurisdiction. the legislation is still to come. we have reached out to no campaigners and we would love to no campaigners and we would love to speak to them on the bbc, but so far they have declined or indeed cancelled. we will follow this story as those votes are counted here in ireland. we have just as those votes are counted here in ireland. we havejust got in as those votes are counted here in ireland. we have just got in a little bit more reaction from the irish prime minister leo varadkar will stop what we have seen today is an accommodation of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in ireland for the past ten or 20 years. this has been a great exercise of democracy and people
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have spoken. people have said we wa nt have spoken. people have said we want a modern constitution for a modern country, we trust women and respect them to make the right decisions and right choices about their own health care. we are still seeing results coming in, but it seems to be greater than two to one majority in amending the constitution, a majority of men and women, all age groups and social classes and perhaps all constituencies in the country. perhaps we are a nation that is not divided, we are united, and we want to make this change. it is a mandate we wa nt to make this change. it is a mandate we want to bring forward the legislation and have an act before the end of the year. for all the latest just go to our website. there you'll find analysis and all the latest on the results. that's all at bbc.co.uk/news. the formal announcement of the result is expected in the next few hours. south korea has said that its president moonjae—in has
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met the north korean leader kim jong—un for two hours again today. the south korean government's official twitter account posted these images of the pair embracing at the panmunjom border crossing. it's the second meeting between the two leaders in the space of four weeks, and signals improving relations between two countries. keith doyle is here and has been following the visit. keith, we know south korea has got so keith, we know south korea has got so much invested in the idea of denuclearisation of the korean peninsula, but this meeting, the fa ct peninsula, but this meeting, the fact that kim jong—un has attended also serves to emphasise that north korea really want this proposed summit between it and the us to go ahead. absolutely, all sides have a lot invested in this. this was a big surprise, this meeting this morning. it took place around six o'clock our time ina it took place around six o'clock our time in a building called the
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unification house, which is on the northside of the demilitarised zone. that meeting went on for over two hours. we are told they talked about possibility of getting this summit back on track. the statement said, both leaders exchanged opinions for the successful holding of the north korea— us summit. it added mr moon will announce the outcome of the talks later on. we know on thursday president trump cancelled the summit after he described what was called open hostility by the north koreans. a delegation from north korea failed to meet the preparation team from the us in singapore. since then north korea expressed great regret that the cancellation and said it remained open for talks at the time. president trump has suggested that might be enough to get it back on track again. and we have the two
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korean leaders getting it back on track. what are the chances this summit could go ahead? this on - of diplomacy is unusual, but there is a chanceit diplomacy is unusual, but there is a chance it may be working. there is a sign that we have seen from those two pictures, the leaders in bracing each other, that they are keen to find a way of working together. we saw that journalists were shown find a way of working together. we saw thatjournalists were shown in north korea nuclear testing site being blown up. we saw prisoners being blown up. we saw prisoners being released. president trump said this morning when he was asked if the summit going to go on, either a playing games? he said everybody is playing games? he said everybody is playing games, but it is a nice statement coming from north korea. if these talks go ahead it is all about denuclearisation the whole korean peninsula. having top is one thing, but reaching that goal is something very different. mps say a programme to protect afghan civilians who worked as interpreters for the british army has been a "dismalfailure". the defence select committee says the so—called "intimidation scheme"
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has failed to relocate any interpreters to the uk, even when their lives have been threatened by the taliban. the government says britain is the only nation that has a team in kabul to try to protect them. the headlines on bbc news: the first results in ireland's abortion referendum have been declared and point to a "resounding" vote for overturning the country's abortion ban. south korea says its president met the north korean leader kimjong—un for two hours on saturday at the border crossing between the two countries. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, a british—iranian woman imprisoned in tehran, will face security—related charges in a second case against her according to iranian media. iranian state media's reporting that the british woman
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nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, who's imprisoned in tehran, will face security—related charges in a second case being prepared against her. no date has yet been set for a hearing. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe was detained during a visit to iran in 2016 and is now serving a five—year sentence after being found guilty of spying. let's speak to nazanin‘s husband richard ratcliffe who's in our edinburgh studio. thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us today. what more do you know about these second charges that are apparently being prepared against your wife? we discovered the same as everyone else from the iranian media, the president of the court gave a speech where he announced the second case will be going forward and it will be security related charges. to go back a week, she had met with thejudge who said there would be charges against the regime. this week she
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met with the prosecutor, the deputy prosecutor, and wrote a letter to his office outlining her choice of lawyer. we have not yet had approval. her family are following the news that they saw in the media and are chasing with the lawyer to see if he has heard anything. to clarify, you do not know whether this security charge relates to this charge of spreading propaganda or whether it is something else? we do not at the moment. it is possible it is just that which would be a relief because that is a security breach on a smaller scale, but it could be a bigger one. we have to wait to see. when was the last time that you spoke to her? i spoke to her on tuesday after she had met with the deputy prosecutor and she was more upbeat. he had a conversation with her about this new court case, but
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also there is an application where you get to go home for a few days which she had been pressing for so she could go home for our daughter's birthday and he was quite favourable to that. our viewers may remember borisjohnson going to that. our viewers may remember boris johnson going to to that. our viewers may remember borisjohnson going to tehran last year to try to lobby for her release. clearly there was some hope at that stage. things seem to have deteriorated since then. lots of hope at that stage. definitely we we re hope at that stage. definitely we were hopeful at christmas and just after there was a slow deterioration and it has got much worse in the past month or so. 0ne and it has got much worse in the past month or so. one of the reasons iam in past month or so. one of the reasons i am in edinburgh is to try and do more campaigning with our supporters running in the marathon tomorrow, just as a way of keeping up support. what more can the government do at this point to escalate its response
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to her case? the thing she asked for in the letter when she spoke last week was that they write a formal letter of protest, a diplomatic letter, complaining of her treatment. the idea of a second court case once you are in prison is nonsense. we asked if they could ta ke nonsense. we asked if they could take that forward. and the response? we had discussions, but there was not a final decision. we are talking about a letter of protest from the government. we be speaking to boris johnson again specifically on that point? the conversation i had with the ambassador is what do they gm the ambassador is what do they tang going the ambassador is what do they ud% going on? we the ambassador is what do they uzng going on? we will wait understand is going on? we will wait to see what happens in iran first and then press the foreign secretary as appropriate. we appreciate you talking to us today and keep in touch with us and let us know how
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everything is going with the case. the husband of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe. the government has referred the owner of boots to the competition authorities, over the prices it's charging the nhs for some drugs. an investigation by the times newspaper found that walgreens boots alliance is charging more than £1,000 for some medicines, which can be bought for a few pounds. our business correspondent joe lynam is here. first of all, can you give us more detail about these allegations and some examples of the costings involved? what we are talking about here is something that is called specials. these are made to order at fairly short notice drugs, using specialist pharmacologists and trained technicians. they represent a slither of the overall nhs budget for drugs. but nonetheless some of the prices that are being published in the times today are quite eye watering. for example, £3200 charged
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to the nhs by walgreens boots alliance for arthritis tablets which could be bought for as little as £1. £2600 for specialist sleeping pills also purchasable elsewhere, notably in pharmacists in the us, for about £1. the company which owns boots, walgreens boots alliance, they are not denying the figures, but they are flatly denying the accusation that they are overcharging the nhs. they stress these are very specialist drugs and they are happy to engage with the competition and markets authority to whom they have now been referred, and they are already in talks with the government about this issue. in general terms the price of drugs matters because as we all know the nhs budget is extraordinarily stretched. nhs england budget is £112 billion, a
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lot of money. so these specific groups of drugs, specials, account for £30 million which is a slither of the overall budget. however, the idea that such overcharging, though it has yet to be found, the appearance of overcharging looks very bad and that is why the department of health referred walgreens to the cma and they said the tax payers would take a very dim view of any company overcharging the nhs. nhs itself said that any company that rips of tax payers face the full force of civil, and where appropriate, criminal enforcement. thank you very much. some tsb customers are still having problems making online payments five weeks after the bank first reported problems. the problems started when the bank switched its it systems. a number of current account customers and some business clients are unable to fully
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access their accounts online or via the mobile app. the bank has also admitted to the bbc that there has been a rise in fraud incidents. thousands of liverpool fans have been arriving in ukraine's capital kiev ahead of tonight's champions league final against real madrid. the spanish side may be the bookies' favourite, but liverpool are convinced they can win. our sports correspondent, david 0rnstein, is in kiev. i beg your pardon, i thought i was talking to david live. we are talking to david live. we are talking to david live. we are talking to him in a minute, but first he is his report. the capital of ukraine. tonight, the centre of the sporting world, moments to be treasured for supporters who have waited 11 years to be back on this stage and made it to kiev. that is despite travel and accommodation have it leaving many stuck at home. we have just made it.
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the atmosphere is incredible, a beautiful city. the fans are massive pa rt of beautiful city. the fans are massive part of this club and liverpool and they have played a massive part in us they have played a massive part in us getting this far in this competition. hopefully with our fans we can create an atmosphere similar to anfield because it has made a big difference to us. liverpool's journey started in the qualifying rounds on the 15th of august. they are the competition's top scorers and plan to embellish their famous history. i'm really happy being here with this group of players. they've fought so unbelievably hard for this and i really think they deserve it, to be here, and it feels good. i'm really proud of them already and now, let's play football. inside the hotel behind me, liverpool are preparing for the biggest game of their lives. in just a few hours, they will make the shortjourney from here to the olympic stadium and attempt to win club football's most sought—after prize. the pressure is all on madrid.
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i think it is great being the underdog and i think probably that is whatjurgen klopp has been saying to them all week, no one expects us to win and my gut feeling is, i don't know how they are going to do it but ijust think that liverpool will win the competition. nobody has done that more than real madrid. they are synonymous with the trophy and hope to lift it for a third consecutive year. in liverpool, though, they face a club, team and fan base with an unshakeable belief that this is their time. and will week or a word we get to talk to david live? not this hour i am afraid, but we hope you enjoyed his report from kiev. the " love actually" and "four weddings and a funeral actor hugh grant who has called marriage
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"unromantic" in the past has married for the first time. the 57 year old has married his swedish girlfriend anna eberstein. they said "i do" at a simple ceremony at chelsea old town hall in london yesterday afternoon. the couple have three young children together. he also has two other children with a former partner. sir richard branson has told the bbc he's training to be an astronaut. the virgin boss, who for years has been working on his own commercial space programme, is hoping to take his first trip in a matter of months. ben ando reports. first it was planes, then boats, then balloons and then trains. but a decade and a half ago sir richard branson set his sights even higher, creating virgin galactic, with the aim of offering affordable space tourism, affordable, that is, if you can tourism, affordable, that is, if you ca n afford tourism, affordable, that is, if you can afford the $250,000 ticket price. now at the age of 67 sir richard has revealed he is training hard, ready to be fired into space. iam going
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hard, ready to be fired into space. i am going former astronaut training, my fitness training, i am going through centrifuge and other training so my body can hopefully cope well with it. how are you getting on? so far, so good. i like to keep fit anyway. i want to go to space and you can enjoy the experience if you are fit, the fitter, the better. when he launched virgin galactic, he expected to be spaceborne by 2010, but problems and a crash in 2014 in which a pilot died have caused delay upon delay. and the competition is catching up with elon musk and jeff bizos, the founder of amazon, leading the charge to get paying tourists into orbit. so richard knows that in this privatised space race the countdown is on. it's being billed as bbc music's biggest weekend with huge name stars to back that up. ed sheeran, taylor swift and sam smith arejust a few of those performing in swansea this weekend. it's not just wales
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getting involved though — all four nations are getting their own huge event. let's have a look at what fans can expect. # i'm in love with the shape of you... # we all have a hunger... # i say, don't you know # you say you don't know... # i'm way too good at goodbyes... # she fell under my spell # and for the way you make me feel # you always keep it real # the players gonna play, play, play, play, play # the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate # i'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake # shake it off, shake it off...# and in the next hour we'll be hearing from some of the stars
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who will be performing. now for the weather with tomasz schafernaker. and very quiet day for most of us, but the atmosphere is becoming a bit more electrified and we are in for some thunderstorms, notjust today, but through the rest of the bank holiday weekend. the storms as i speak are holiday weekend. the storms as i speak are across holiday weekend. the storms as i speak are across france at the moment and they will be moving northwards through the course of the day. by the time you get to around early evening, central southern england and the south—west and maybe england and the south—west and maybe england and the south—west and maybe england and wales could get some downpours, lightning, hail and england and wales could get some downpours, lightning, hailand gusty wind as well. the vast majority of the country from the north midlands and northwards escape the storms. carlisle tomorrow morning before the
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storms come back. quite a few of showers around tomorrow, but again many of us missing the storms altogether. and another very warm and humid day. good afternoon. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the irish prime minister has hailed his country's "quiet revolution" as early results point to a "resounding" vote for overturning ireland's abortion ban. south korea says its president met the north korean leader kimjong—un for two hours ealier today in the demilitarised zone between the two countries. iranian media are reporting that nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe — a british—iranian woman imprisoned in tehran — will face security—related charges in a second case being brought against her. the government has referred the owner of high street chain boots to the competition authorities, over the prices it's charging the nhs for some drugs. now on bbc news — in a special newsbeat documentary, me sufferer emma donohoe
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investigates how young people cope with the debilitating illness. it doesn't bother me to pass out, i do it so, so much. right, i'm not going to do anything to make you pass out. it's fine, if it will help with the data... some people, when they stand up, their blood pressure drops and their pulse races to try and make up for it. and we are trying to see whether that happens with everyone. she was embarrassed at her illness, which is like, if you imagine someone with cancer being embarrassed they have cancer, it is ridiculous. me effects around 250,000 people in the uk. the second he starts getting loud again, obviously he is out the door,
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