tv Afternoon Live BBC News August 2, 2018 2:00pm-5:01pm BST
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hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. many of our mortgages, loans — and savings — are going up as the bank of england raises interest rates to the highest level since 2009 — it warns they could go up again. employment is at a record high and real wages are picking up, employment is at a record high and realwages are picking up, and external price pressures are declining. want to know how the interest rise could affect you? send us your questions on twitter using the hash tag bbc ask this and we'll try and answer them at 2.30. baby elsie's death could have been prevented — but a review finds that her father — who murdered the 18—month old just weeks after adopting her — had been seen as a "positive parent" addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes — 0fcom finds the uk in a state of "digital dependency". coming up on afternoon live all the sport. three wickets in eight balls from
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bowler sam curran has revived english hopes on the second day of the first test match with india at edgbaston. 0h the first test match with india at edgbaston. oh good. talk to you later. the weather forecast? the main talking point is the heat across europe and it will skirt into the south east of england. we will have more on that later. also coming up — we'll meet the retired couple from scotland who've won a £58 million lotteryjackpot — despite the winning euromillions ticket being mistakenly ripped up. i have the ticket in my pocket for a week before i even checked it. —— i had. it was the 17th ofjuly when i checked my other ticket. i went to buy another ticket, and so, can you check that? that is when i realised. hello everyone —
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this is afternoon live. interest rates are going up — the bank of england has put them up to 0.75% — that's the highest they've been since 2009. the increase had been widely predicted, despite concerns about rising personal debt. it means more than 3.5 million residential mortgages on variable or tracker rates will become more expensive — but the move will be welcomed by some savers. here's our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz. the right interest rate for an economy on the mend, getting back into shape. only now does the bank of england think we can cope with rates returning gradually to normal levels. the bank's monetary policy committee which sets the direction for rates, had to weigh up the uncertainties of brexit against fears that price rises might take off in an economy
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awash with cheap loans. that strategy has worked. today employment is at a record high. real wages are picking up and external price pressures are declining. this lincolnshire road surfacing company agrees, business is beginning to roll along nicely. so much so that wages are higher, the sort of signal which makes the bank of england reach for its interest rate lever. there is a lot of work about at the minute so people are getting significant contracts. they need the men and the manpower to carry out this work, so they offer more money. guys we are employing now are earning twice as much as they were three oi’ four years ago. higher wages may be, but for some, higher costs, too. if they have variable rate mortgages, many of which will see an automatic increase now. a rise in interest rates are always worrying.
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it takes more money out of your pockets. a quarter of 1% means 20 or £30 a month to me. if another rise in six months, that is another £30, £60 a month. you start to feel the pinch. it's not just homeowners with their mortgages who care about interest rates — savers have been waiting for higher rates for years. the worry for them is whether all the banks and building societies pass on the rate increase in full and bump up savers‘ rates. it would increase my income because it would increase the amount on the savings, yes. the percentage at the moment is poor for saving, it's not worth putting your money in the bank. the bank of england's hope is a smalljump in rates for home owners combined with a boost for savers won't upset the economic
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applecart at a sensitive time. we think interest rates will not rise now for another year and that is because we see a number of uncertainties on the horizon, in particular over brexit. we think that policymakers will probably want to wait until after the uk has left the eu to see if there is an impact, on the economy before they decide to raise interest rates again. it is what the future holds that matters most. the bank says the ideal level for the long run is between 2% and 3%, three times where it is at the moment. joining me now is david braithwaite, financial planner and managing director at the financial advisors citrus financial. this was widely predicted and yet some people any rise is adding to a squeezed middle. you are talking
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about the mortgage poor people who have a rate rise, this means about £12 a month to someone with a 100 thousand pounds mortgage. but many people have bigger mortgages. but we have had a very good for a long time, simon and these rates are very low historically but people get used to this and they think this is normal. someone was playing 17.1% on their mortgage, so that was a difference —— pain. —— paying. percentage rise like this, 0.75%, it doesn't break anybody‘s bank and savers will say this does not make a huge difference to them. now, but this is a sign of things to come and we are far more sensitive when the cost of things goes up rather than down and that is the difficulty, but
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the same as it has been a bad time infour the same as it has been a bad time in four years the same as it has been a bad time infouryears and the same as it has been a bad time in four years and it will be interesting to see what the banks will do about passing it on to them -- it will do about passing it on to them —— it has been a bad time for them for years. what luckily has been happening is that the savings rates have got better since the beginning of this year but it is a wake—up call for people, if you have money in savings accounts, you can get a better deal. the average of the top banks is point to the percent but thatis banks is point to the percent but that is rubbish. you can shop around and move it, so there are answers out there but we have got to do the ha rd out there but we have got to do the hard work. i don't think the rate rise will be passed on as quickly as it will with a mortgage. that will be fairly swift. people who thought they were all right on a tracker, maybe they will switch to a fixed rate? absolutely. if this is worrying to you is that you need to look at fixed rates, which are very good at the moment, and if you are
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looking at a ten year, the rates of those are not that dissimilar to what is a five—year fixed now so it's a good time to be looking around but accurately because you don't want to get left behind and then suffer the increase —— but move quickly. a warning from the bank that this could be the first of several such rises and there is nothing we can do about this. there isn't. if it does worry you with your mortgage, maybe look at a fixed rate, and about half the people with mortgages have variable rainbow bridges so they can do some in —— variable—rate mortgages. what happened to them when the fixed rate ends, the other people, and then they are going into a higher rate environment? so you have got to look ahead and maybe see where you can make a difference, but many people can makea make a difference, but many people can make a difference themselves if they want. david, thanks forjoining us. an independent review of the murder of a toddler by her adoptive father,
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says healthcare professionals missed opportunities to raise concerns about her care. matthew scully—hicks shook 18 month old elsie to death, a fortnight after she formally became his daughter. the regional safeguarding children board found that previous injuries she had suffered were dismissed as childhood accidents. sian lloyd reports from cardiff. elsie was just 18 months old when she died — murdered by her adopted father. matthew scully hicks had been described by a judge as a jekyll and hyde type character. he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after inflicting a catalogue of injuries on the child. today, a report was published into whether lessons could be learned from her death. it found that professionals did not consider or raise the possibility that elsie was being harmed by a parent. her injuries were either missed or not documented, meaning safeguarding concerns were not raised, and information was not effectively shared between agencies. together with his husband,
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matthew scully hicks had already adopted one child and the family were known to social services. the report says the couple were seen through a positive lens by social workers, who had not always questioned elsie's injuries or recorded them. why was there this lack of professional curiosity, because there is a duty on social workers to be asking questions, particularly around injuries that they can see, during an adoption process? that positive lens meant that they weren't looking in the way they should have been, and so you are right. that is something they should have done, that is something that we have as an organisation recognised and have taken that fully on board. we have implemented a number of checks and balances into the system. elsie was treated in hospital for a fractured leg, but one of her injuries was missed. new practices are now being introduced. those children, whether they attend the a&e department or the fracture clinic are considered in the weekly safeguarding meeting so we can be
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sure that those children are not missed and those who are expert in this area undertake a little more scrutiny of whether we have asked the right questions at the right time. nine recommendations have been made to try to prevent opportunities to save other children being missed in the future. 0ur correspondent tomos morgan is in cardiff for us now. we hear this every time, lessons need to be learned, but there is a lesson from this, this could have been prevented. it appears so. this started in september 2015 when elsie first came into the care of matthew scully—hicks and his husband. from the period between september 2015 and may the following year elsie suffered a catalogue of injuries ranging from broken bones and head injuries and she also fell down the stairs. may 2016 matthew
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scully—hicks called 999 and she went to a&e in wales and she died from their injuries a couple of days later. the 20 page report says there we re later. the 20 page report says there were missed opportunities and one of them was that a second broken leg... sorry, a second rabona broken in the leg was not picked up in the original x—ray and a second large bruise on the forehead was not picked up and the information was not passed on from the different agencies so therefore it was not recorded properly and decisions were not taken in the correct manner. nobody has been disciplined for what has happened. cardiff health board have apologised to what happened and they have already begun implementing changes and social services at the vale of glamorgan said there are lessons to be learned from this review. the authors of the reviews
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say that when the adoption process was being undertaken there was no information at that time that could have predicted what had happened to elsie. but the something like this to happen for a child who has been adopted, to be injured by their pa rents, adopted, to be injured by their parents, it is a very rare scenario. looking at the list of injuries, the explanations which were accepted by the health professionals because they lacked professional curiosity, and yet there was a broken leg and a large bruise on herforehead and she was described as vomiting after falling through stair gates, it was quite a list. some of that is down to the fact that information was not passed on properly between the different agencies involved and the different agencies involved and the different social workers and the health board when they went in for routine checks and because things we re routine checks and because things were not passed on and collated together the overall decision was not made. with the second bone that
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was broken in the leg, that was missed in the original x—ray and they did not find that until the postmortem examination had taken place. going back to the assessment process and the adoption, when that was made, matthew scully—hicks was someone was made, matthew scully—hicks was someone with a good character and a good background and it was nothing to suggest that he would ever inflict injuries on a young child he was going to adopt, but he was found guilty last year and the independent review says different agencies have missed certain key parts to the injuries and if they had worked better together things might have been picked up earlier. thanks for joining us. zimba bwe's electoral commission says it will begin to release the results of monday‘s presidential election ‘very soon‘, and is calling for patience. the government there says it
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won‘t tolerate any further unrest, after soldiers and police clashed with protestors who believe the general election was rigged. president emmerson mnangagwa says he‘s been talking to the opposition, to try to defuse tension. three people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in the capital harare yesterday. 0ur correspondent nomsa maseko gave us this update. we are hearing from zimbabwe‘s electoral commission that they are still busy with the counting and verification process. only then will they be ready to make the announcement and also the electoral commission reminding zimbabweans they have not broken any law, that they are still within the confines of the law which dictates that the electoral commission needs to announce the results shortly after voting, which is within five days. they are saying they are still within the five—day period and they want to make sure
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all the legal representatives where presenting all those 23 presidential hopefuls, that they are happy and satisfied with what the electoral commission is going tell the country. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. interest rates will rise to their highest level since march 2009. the bank of england has announced they‘ll go up from a half of one of one per—cent to 0.75%. a review finds that the death of an 18 month old girl could have been prevented but her father had been seen as a "positive parent" addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes — 0fcom finds the uk in a state of digital dependency england are fighting back in the first test match against india, three wickets from sam curran and one from ben stokes. chris ashton has been named in the england squad
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for the first time in two years. he ended his contract with the french side toulon in a bid to return to international rugby. andy murray says victory over kyle edmund was his best performance since returning from 11 months out with injury. he beat the british number one to reach the third round. more on those stories at half—past. four men have been killed in a car crash in bradford. the vehicle they were in was being pursued by an unmarked police car early this morning. the independent 0ffice for police conduct is investigating. 0ur correspondent ian white gave us an update from the scene. this is one of the busy roads into the centre of bradford. this is where the crash actually happened. you can see the cordon has been put up by the police
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to stop people seeing what is going on behind there. but it is a hive of activity. a low loader has arrived and we think it‘s picking up the vehicle that the four men who died were in, a bmw. it was being followed by police at around 5:30am this morning when the accident happened. we don‘t know much about the crash itself but we are told it was an unmarked car that was following this bmw. sadly, all four men within the bmw tragically died in the accident. because a police vehicle has been involved, following this vehicle, the matter has been referred. they have released a statement, describing it as a tragic incident and sympathies are with the families and friends of those who died. the matter was referred to the iopc as a matter of procedure. and investigators have spent the morning here at the scene along with roads, policing and crash investigation officers trying to establish what happened. we have seen police carrying out skid tests on the road to recreate what might have happened.
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now, if you‘re watching this programme at the same time as scrolling through your phone, chances are you‘re not alone. new research by the communications regulator 0fcom suggests that we check our devices once every 12 minutes during waking hours — and two in five british adults reach for their phone within 5 minutes of waking up. and for the first time, the number of voice calls made on mobile phones in the uk has fallen. here‘s our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. we‘re going to make some history together today. 2007, and steve jobs unveils apple‘s iphone. 2008, and the first android phones arrive. what has followed, according to 0fcom, is a decade where we‘ve become increasingly dependent on our smartphones. we‘re using them in all sorts of ways throughout the day, and three quarters of people questioned said they couldn‘t live without one. ten years ago, we had many different devices. we had mp3 players to listen to music. we had satellite navigation
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systems to take us around. today, all of that is compacted into one device, and now eight in ten of us own a smartphone, and really spend our entire lives on that smartphone. 0fcom‘s research shows how addicted we are to smartphones. 40% of people check their phone within five minutes of waking up. the average person looks at their phone every 12 minutes, and spends an average of two hours and 28 minutes a day using it. while there‘s some concern about how much time we spend on them, most people think the overall impact of smartphones has been beneficial. but there‘s a big debate about manners. is it acceptable, for instance, to have your smartphone out at the table, checking it? the vast majority of older people say, no, but around half of those under 35 think it‘s ok. we‘re all working outjust how much smartphones should change the way we live. i think it‘s made my life better, but children‘s lives worse. yeah. definitely anyone my age would be pretty dependent on a device, whether they're just walking around the city, to find their way around or to communicate with people.
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a few years ago, i‘d have been sitting here admiring the view, and now i‘m on my phone. so, it‘s kind of swings and roundabouts, isuppose. one thing we‘re not doing so much on our phones is talking. the number of mobile voice calls has fallen for the first time. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. i‘m joined now by our technology reporter — jane wakefield. you have left your phone upstairs and you are looking very touchy. you have left your phone upstairs and you are looking very touchylj know, and you are looking very touchy.” know, who could be trying to get in contact with me? it is that. within minutes of waking up, who has been trying to get hold of me? people haveit trying to get hold of me? people have it just before trying to get hold of me? people have itjust before they go to bed, and then they look at it as soon as they wake up, and experts have said they wake up, and experts have said the light emitted from a phone is bad your sleep but people are still doing that. —— bad for your sleep. monitoring your phone every 12
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minutes does not suggest you are hugely popular. yes. it is notjust looking to see who has contacted you, sometimes it feels like wanting to hold it in your hand. you look around you on thejune and people just want to have their phone —— you look around you on the underground. if you are looking at your phone while you are walking, that is not a good idea, but people do it at the moment all the time. there is etiquette to this, you have people looking at their phones at a dinner party. if we are going to be on our phones between two and four hours a day we have got to work out how that works in our society and develop some rules to capture that people think when you at the dinner party thatis think when you at the dinner party that is very rude —— but most people think. we all know people who do
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this. the matter time we are spending on screens in general is affecting the time we spend with people and talking to them face—to—face. that is a serious discussion point and the tech industry is waking up to this. discussion point and the tech industry is waking up to thism discussion point and the tech industry is waking up to this. it is a remarkable turnaround, ten years ago smartphones were in their infancy, but are we now at the limit technologically in terms of what phones are capable of?” technologically in terms of what phones are capable of? i don't think so, there is more to come, and that more things which could be developed. —— there are more things. but we are at the point as to whether we want them to dominate our lives, and even the tech industry is taking seriously and starting to build into their operating systems dashboards which allow you to check what you are doing when you are doing it and start thinking, this might be too much. let me set limits on myself so i‘m not on my phone all the time. they are supposed to be working for us, these bits of technology, but they are taking over
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our lives. yes, when you are co nsta ntly our lives. yes, when you are constantly checking for messages and you feel you have to be in touch and when you ask rolling through a social media site for the 50th time that day and you are really only looking at the same thing an hour before. it is all linked to the psychology because these firms want us psychology because these firms want us to be on our phones as much as possible and we are responding to that but we are now saying, hold on a moment, especially parents with children, do we want them to become so children, do we want them to become so wrapped up in technology that they have no life outside of it? we are using mobile phones less for the first time? we are making fewer voice calls but that does not mean we are not chatting as much because we are not chatting as much because we still have things like what sat. —— things like whatsapp. we still have things like what sat.
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-- things like whatsapp. if you look up -- things like whatsapp. if you look up the word chat it involves using your voice! thanks forjoining us. temperatures may break records across europe in the coming week with weather warnings currently in place across much of spain and portugal. the met office has issued the warning for tourists, especially children and the elderly, heading to europe, prediecting temperatures between a0 and 48 degrees celsius on saturday. the current heat record for europe is 47.8 degrees recorded in athens injuly 1977. we have our weather forecast now. the record could be broken? there is a chance, a 30% chance. i don‘t have my microphone on. oh my word. you go away. you can do that behind the camera. she is back. laughter
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so sorry about that. let's start again. is there a chance to record my be broken this weekend? possibly tomorrow. more likely saturday. 48 is possible and they are looking at 47 but the warnings are out there. the red warnings, the highest warning you get across europe. we are looking at really intense heat. they are quite used to the heat into the 40s in spain and portugal. but when you take that leap by another 3-4 when you take that leap by another 3—4 degrees. when you take that leap by another 3-4 degrees. 47 is what in old money? something like 110. you do not want to be outside in that. yes, thatis not want to be outside in that. yes, that is right. it is well over 100 degrees. what does the map suggest in terms of what is coming? in terms
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of the heat we will brush close to the south—east of the uk and the north and west is a bit more bearable, so head towards scotland and northern ireland if you don‘t like the heat, but for europe it will stay hot in many areas. we have had record—breaking heat further north, as well, so it has been a bumper summer. now the forecast. i'm glad you can hear me. some people might not want to hear me because some people do not like the heat. i find it a bit stifling, my welsh blood cannot cope. there we go. it will be turning hots for some of us over the next few days, 33 in the south and the east. a bit more bearable across northern england and north wales. this is a bit more to my liking, 22, 23, in scotland and northern ireland. we will see some
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fairly good weather across—the—board. it doesn‘t mean that you when have some nice weather evenif that you when have some nice weather even if you don‘t have 33 degrees. temperatures, 20 degrees into saturday morning in london, it looks as though the humidity will tail off as though the humidity will tail off a bit less as we go into next week and that will be the problem for many. it is hot by the night, as well. lovely afternoon for many parts of the country but we have some card in the north and west, coming from the atlantic, and that is why we have slightly lower temperatures today. the weather front sitting across the country is the reason why we see slightly lower temperatures, and a bit of rain is coming into the west of northern ireland and that will be with us for the rest of the day. there is a bit of rain to come again for northern ireland, welcome rain. we have not seen ireland, welcome rain. we have not seen that much this summer and it
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will push north and east. it won‘t be as significant as yesterday‘s rain, we saw the best part of an inch yesterday and that was welcome indeed. it will be warm and muggy overnight. we will notice this more in southern and eastern areas, which did not have much military last night. —— much humidity. some rain potentially in northern england so thatis potentially in northern england so that is a change in the forecast. the weather front could pep up here tomorrow, even parts of wales might have a bit of rain. not a completely dry pitch but there will be a lot of dry pitch but there will be a lot of dry weather especially in the afternoon. tomorrow we might have potentially the highest temperatures in the uk for this spell, 32 possibly 33. 21, 22, in the central
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lowla nds possibly 33. 21, 22, in the central lowlands of scotland. much more later. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the bank of england has raised interest rates to three—quarters of 1% — a level not seen for almost a decade an independent review has found missed opportunities in the care of an eighteen—month—old girl from cardiff who was shaken to death by her father two weeks after he adopted her zimbabwe‘s electoral commision pledges to release the results of monday‘s election ‘very soon‘ amid protests over alleged vote rigging. a new report from 0fcom finds that the average briton checks their mobile phone every 12 minutes — and claims the uk is in a state of digital dependency. lets get the sport. we go over to john. and the first test? yes, it has been a good day for sam curran. it didn‘t start that way. england
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began the day with one wicket in hand against india. there were bowled out for a 280 47, adding just two runs to their overnight total. that fired up the surrey left—hander as youtube took two wickets in eight balls. an impressive performance for him. 76 for three at lunch. it was the sam curran show before. it has been the ben stokes show since. so the score card, a little rosierfor england. india currently on a hundred to 45. they are trailing england at the moment 485 runs. but they have their upton to prove himself in the tough english conditions. it could have been slightly better for england. a lot of people are watching why we are not showing moving pictures?
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because of the rights, we are limited to the amount of time we can show these pictures. we are, sadly, so show these pictures. we are, sadly, so unless you fancy acting it out we are restricted to pictures. a welcome return for an england phase. yes a familiar face to rugby fans. chris ashton has been named in the england squad for the first time in two years. he had not been available for selection having played rugby and france, but he is ending his contract early to return to the premiership and play international by premiership and play international rugby once again. i think he had the idea in his head. he wants to play for england and he sees it as his la st for england and he sees it as his last opportunity. so we are very pleased he has made that decision and we are looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table. the women‘s british open is under way.
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the fourth major of the year. play began this morning. the german tops the leaderboard. the best placed brit was bronte love. two under par after a round of 70. the world number one is bidding for a back—to—back majors after winning the us open. she is some way down the us open. she is some way down the leaderboard currently. you can see highlights of today‘s plea on bbc two later on tonight. andy murray says his win against the british number one is his best since his return from injury. he won in three sets against the man who placed him at the top to reach the third round of the washington open. sidelined for a month after hip surgery. down to 32 in world rankings. andy murray was
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hoping to make a comeback at the washington open ticking on british number one carol edmund, his countryman who beat him at his blog only a few months ago. but this is a ha rd only a few months ago. but this is a hard court season and andy murray was showing signs of recovery. both players serve in the first set. edmund broke murray but it was the three—time grand slam champion who took it 76. edmund won five straight games to take the second set and forced a decider. this is how all good comebacks go. andy murray would not be denied the third set. it looks like edmund was the new one to beat in men‘s british tennis but hard court, hard fought and just tennis but hard court, hard fought andjust in tennis but hard court, hard fought and just in his first match of the year, mhairi andy murray proves he is not beaten yet. he is showing signs of returning to his best. after inflicting the biggest defeat serena wilson —— williams, she bet
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another american at the silicon valley planet to reach the third round that she won two years ago. and that is all the sport for now, headed back to you, simon. the bank of england has raised interest rates from 0.5 to 0.75 percent — their highest level since 2009. so how will the interest rates rise affect consumers — we‘ve been getting your questions. to answer some of them i‘m joined by the personal finance journalist and founder of savvywoman.co.uk — sarah pennells and jasmine birtles, finance expert and founder of the money advice website, moneymagpie.com are people who pay interest to savers under any legal iam i am looking to get a repayment
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mortgage in the next few months. am i likely to be paying more because of the interest rate change? the short answer is probably at the rate that you pay on your mortgage depends on far more than what happens to your base rate, so the biggest factor is how much you have to pay to the value of your property. if you're paying 65% at the moment you can get a 10—year rate for... there is a big difference. it depends on things like how good your credit rating is. whether you can get the pick of the lenders and go for the one that has got the most competitive rates or whether you are rejected by a few lenders and you have to go with one that has a less competitive tear. but do shop around. absolutely. if you look at the bog—standard rate, that varies
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between lenders by about two and half percent so even if you don't get a really good deal, shop around. and for those of us of a certain age, a quarter percent rise is nothing even if there was a period nothing even if there was a period not that long ago up to 6% at one point? this is part of the problem for people who have been taking out mortgages for the last ten years. they are not used to what i would describe as normal interest rates. it used to be the average was about six or 7% over time. it has gone massively down. it seemed that you could pay off the mortgage because 100,000 or £200,000 that you borrowed, but it was a very low interest rate. the concern is that if you have a few more rate rises, once you have gone to 1% more, that means actually potentially a huge amount more that you have to pay
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next month. this question is from harry on twitter. 0ur receivers under any legal obligation to pass this on? will customers vote with your feet? savers get very angry about this issue. this happens every time. whichever way the interest rate goes, when ever the banks might do well out of it or if they are going to make the change, if they might not do so well, it might dribble through. this time, when it comes to rate rises, mortgages, loans, definitely those that are on variable, tracker rates are going to go up. when it comes to putting the saving rates up, some of them might, some of them might not. they don't necessarily have two so if they can get away with not, they will. they
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are businesses. it was interesting that last time some of the building societies came out quite quickly, a couple of banks put them up by less, 0.15%. the raised their rates on some of their savings products but not on all of them. we already know that last week the watchdog is considering the idea of forcing the banks to pay a minimum rate on the old accounts. it showed that only one in ten of us had changed a savings account in the last three years. the banks think they can get away with it. will people vote with their feet? probably not. there is a hard—core their feet? probably not. there is a ha rd—core of their feet? probably not. there is a hard—core of people who will, but they don't do anything about it. we say do it. vote with your feet. go ona say do it. vote with your feet. go on a comparison site and find something better. it does not have to take that much and it will reap rewards in the long—term. to take that much and it will reap rewards in the long-term. this person is renting and trying to save with her daughter to see it she can
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get on the property ladder next year, what will the interest—rate rise effect her credit card? immediately, i don't think a great deal will happen to credit card rates. they are already high. there isa rates. they are already high. there is a huge amount of wiggle room. what is pretty high? 18 or 1996 the average. the bank of england interest— rate, average. the bank of england interest—rate, even average. the bank of england interest— rate, even not average. the bank of england interest—rate, even not .75%, the difference between that and 18 or 19% is quite something. i would hope that they are not putting it up, frankly. if they do and if you are all quite a lot of money that you can't pay off in the next couple of months, there are some rules that you can tell your credit card provider to close your account, you can't continue using the card, but you can continue to pay off the debt at the current people will get you
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not percent balance transfer deal. but other people who are worried about their credit card debt and the interest— rate about their credit card debt and the interest—rate rising, they can see the outgoing to close the account and pay back the rate at the debt of the old interest—rate. and pay back the rate at the debt of the old interest-rate. there is usually a charge associated? the charge that you pay is typically between about 2.7% or 3.2%. not percent is the number that is the big one and the 3% charge is much smaller. but for some people who cannot clear a debt quickly it is a better idea as long as you don't then use that power to spend and think that you've got another source of spending money. if you are disciplined, it can really save you money compared to being on the ordinary rate which is between 18 and 19%. there are some things that
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you can do. keep an eye on grates, we saw credit card go up last year following the rate rise in november, i wouldn't be surprised if in a month or two, maybe in time for christmas rate rises go up again. you never used to be so cynical. yes, i was. if you never used to be so cynical. yes, iwas. if the you never used to be so cynical. yes, i was. if the economy is recovering, why is my i sat interest—rate going down year after year? because it can. i keep going back to banks are businesses. they wa nt back to banks are businesses. they want to make a profit. if they had to give us extra money for our savings and for access, they well, but they will only do that if they are desperate for money and competing with other banks and savings companies. it is the same banks that we all got out of the trouble not that long ago. funny that. there is a lot of cynicism out
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there. understandably. when it comes to the performance in the stock market and most of us had some sort of pension, if you have any sort of pension, we will do quite well that way. it's swings and roundabouts. up toa way. it's swings and roundabouts. up to a few years ago, there used to be the access season when banks and building societies would publish their rates and launch new products. the rules have been changed so we have a tax—free savings allowance. we can't earn interest from ordinary savings tax—free. in some ways, it was a good thing but it has confused the message and banks realise we don't need to compete so much because people can have ordinary savings accounts and keep their interest tax—free. they rates over the last couple of years and that 11 is and have really started drifting down and we do not have that competition. they think they can get away with it. i am constantly saying to people do not open a cash isa because people think that it is a
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really good way to say for the future, but cash, savings accounts are hopeless for any sort of saving for investing for your future. fine for investing for your future. fine for anything up to five years. fine for anything up to five years. fine for saving for christmas or a holiday or a car or even a deposit. it is so much better than putting it under the bed? for your future, you should be putting it into stocks and shares, property, things that are risky but over time will give you a much better return and cope with inflation which savings accounts don't. can you explain why win the rate was as low as 0.25% i was being charged higher by my bank? lenders never passed it on. he reflects a lot of anger about this whole issue and grates and banks seemed to arbitrarily put what they can get away with. there is the official
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reason and the cynical reason. there is not so much of the link between the bank of england base rate and mortgages which seems odd, but it is the bank that pays on the wholesale market, on the stock market so that is what links it and it also depends on how much he is boring compared to the value of his property. the smaller the gap, the smaller the equity, the larger the rate of. if you look at what had been charged by the bank of england and what they are charging there is a very big 95p~ are charging there is a very big gap. for a lot of people who want to borrow 85 to 95%, it is quite hard for them to get a mortgage because we have to get through a lot of hoops and the banks have to have a lot of money behind them and the charge a higher interest—rate. people looking at the value have of property because mortgages are seen asa property because mortgages are seen as a way, probably seen as a way of setting at the moment and they may not be. no, it is possible that if we do have a few more great crisis,
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this will actually affect house prices. but there are a lot of other things affecting has presence, brexit probably the biggest. it will be interesting to see if we have another rate rise or two which we may have. what it will do. it is quite possible also that we will have the rate dropping again. if things go really badly next year, if we get no deal... i thought we might have a ten minute conversation without the brexit word. we might be able to drop the rates again. it might be why they are putting them up might be why they are putting them up now to drop them later on. uncertainty is always a problem.” think lots of savers are worrying about rates going down. they are having a tough time at the moment. thank you very much. we will have
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more on the interest rate later on. a retired couple from aberdeenshire have won a lotteryjackpot of 58 million pounds. fred and lesley higgins matched all the numbers in the euromillions draw on the tenth ofjuly. but it nearly wasn‘t to be — after the winning ticket was mistakenly ripped in two, as fred higgins has been explaining. we checked it. we tore it we put it in the bin and then the winning slip that you normally get in the lottery, no figures on it, itjust said contact the lottery headquarters. so you knew you had the winning ticket? well, yes, i knew i had won something. and when did you realise you had one as much as you had?
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i checked it when i got back, again because i retrieved the ticket from the gentleman, went back home, looked on the lottery website, check the numbers and that was it. she actually came through and said and double checked it with me. but you thought it was just 5.7? idid. i sayjust 5.7. that would have been good enough. yes i would have been happy with that. and you discovered it was 57 million. what was going through your head? i really don‘t know. i thought 5.7 million was a good figure but it was even better. but where are you worried that what had happened to the ticket meant that there might be some doubt as to whether you are ever going to get it? not particularly. the ticket was torn but you could see all the numbers. everything was quite clear and legible. and all the did was see that we should sign on the back of it. and then i phoned the lottery headquarters. so you got the money now safely in the bank account. have you not checked? i‘ve never actually checked. what are you going to do? how are you going to spend it? holidays.
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probably travel. possibly buy property. here and there. nothing has been decided yet. anything because it is a shock and it is such a large amount, we don‘t realise how much we‘ve really got to spend some respect. how are the family feeling? because you kept this quiet. two weeks. two weeks we kept it quiet. i almost began to believe it was not going to happen. because they had to keep its quite. but the family had just fabulous. the taken it really well. i had the ticket in my pocket for a week before i even checked it so it was on the 10th of august, sorry, july. and it was the 17th ofjanuary when i checked my other ticket and when to buy another ticket and said can you check that? and that is when it all blew up. rachel is here — in a moment she will be telling us what‘s hot
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and what‘s not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. many of our mortgages, loans — and savings — are going up.. as the bank of england raises interest rates to the highest level since 2009 — it warns they could go up again ba by elsie‘s death could have been prevented — but a review finds that her father — who murdered the 18—month old just weeks after adopting her — had been seen as a "positive parent" addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes — 0fcom finds the uk in a state of digital dependency good news for savers but bad for borrowers — the bank of england base rate has risen to 0.75% barclays, one of britains biggest banks, has seen their profits hit by £2 billion worth of costs. legal fees and settlements made a serious dent in figures for the first 6 months of the year, leaving the bank with pretax profits of £1.6billion. boss jes staley called the figures "strong", saying the bank is starting to show "its true potential and value". the future of house of fraser has been thrown into doubt
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after its potential new owner walked away from a rescue deal. c. banner, which owns the toy store hamley‘s, had planned to take control of the struggling department store chain and inject £70 million of cash. but the chinese firm has pulled out. you‘re talking about reports that google is planning a censored search engine so it can get back into china? google shut down their search engine in china in 2010, complaining that free speech was being limited — but now online news site the intercept is saying google has being working on a project code—named dragonfly that will block terms like human rights and religion let‘s go straight to our reporter in the us, kim gittleson — kim what have google said in response to these claims? sound problem
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kim was also going to talk to us about ongoing trade war is in the us and china. the latest update on that was that donald trump was saying he was that donald trump was saying he was going to slap tariffs on $200 billion worth of goods which were transported from china into the us every year. those tariffs of 10% have not yet come in on those goods. they are due to come towards the end of the summer when consultation with the us public. however, he is now threatening to increase the tariff to 25%. he is having a trade war issue with china. we will wait and see what reaction beijing has two that. politically this announcement from google, because at the moment
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social media companies are under a lot of pressure. to get into different markets. and china is the worlds second largest economy so to get back into china google would wa nt to get back into china google would want to do this. but they are very much a company that pulled out of china in 2010 in a bid to stop limitation of free speech. so there will be some concerns from activists. why would they do this? i be going to prioritise money over human rights? over free be going to prioritise money over human rights? overfree speech? as i say, these are just reports from an online newspaper. google are saying they are not getting a direct comment on this specific situations. have you got another question for came? the issue the? no. we have been talking about the interest rate
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rise. when interest rate rise, you would expect sterling to increase because an interest—rate make sterling more attractive and people wa nt to sterling more attractive and people want to buy it and it increases. when sterling rises, you would expect the ftse to fall. this is because so many companies they are international companies and make their profits elsewhere and is strong sterling brings down the value of their profits. then we saw sterling fall back again. the reason it fell back is because this interest—rate hike was very much expected. it was already priced in. once it was confirmed, investors started listening to the detail. the governor of the bank of england was saying that any future rises would be limited and gradual. they were expecting the rate rise and they looking ahead. ba rclays expecting the rate rise and they looking ahead. barclays shares down almost 3%. 2 billion in litigation
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and costs. investors are looking for more consistency. have you ever thought of teaching?” more consistency. have you ever thought of teaching? i did teach english. thank you very much. well handled. you are watching afternoon live. let‘s see if we can get their weather. she has her microphone on. temperatures offended and you can see almost clear skies in dorset. we said goodbye to a pulse of rain across north—east scotland this morning and we have a weather front wriggling around central parts of the uk with more rain coming in later in the day. as you can see from the earlier satellite picture here the early sunshine is in the east and southern areas. there is fair weather cloud around but there is quite low cloud around the irish sea coast so it is a little bit
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misty in places. but the sunshine is in the east. in the evening, more rain coming into another ireland and south—west scotland. it will not be heavy. drizzle the rain around the irish sea coast. it is a fine dry and hot day as we go through into the early evening. the rain is coming along our weather front and a mild south—westerly it will be a warm night and we will not affect in southern and eastern areas compared with a comfortable night last night. friday, the weather front straddles the country, it is the dividing line between the heat and hot weather in the south and east compared with fresh atlantic air to the north. there will be showers in scotland and northern ireland, a lot of fear whether around during friday and it will feel quite comfortable. we might see some more rain in north wales and norman england. a waiter
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day but not very wet. it will be warm even at 25 underneath the cloud. 32 degrees across southern and eastern areas. that heat will continue over the weekend across england and wales, and in two parts of yorkshire. dry and brighter weather across northern ireland and scotla nd weather across northern ireland and scotland but still more bearable temperatures. on sunday it looks as though we pick me pick up a bit more green in the north west of scotland which will hold the temperatures down. in the high 20s further south. as we look ahead, the northern half of the country will keep the cooler unpleasant conditions. it is hot in the south—east. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. today at 3. many of our mortgages, loans — and savings — are going up
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as the bank of england raises interest rates to the highest level since 2009 — it warns they could go up again. employment is at a record high. real wages are picking up, and external price pressures are declining. baby elsie‘s death could have been prevented — but a review finds that her father — who murdered the 18—month old just weeks after adopting her — had been seen as a "positive parent". zimbabwe‘s electoral commission has appealed for patience from voters waiting for the results of monday‘s presidential election. a couple from aberdeenshire are celebrating winning £58 million on the national lottery. i had the ticket in my pocket for a week before i even checked it. it was the 17th ofjuly when i checked my other ticket. i went to buy another ticket, and said, can you check that? that is when it all blew up.
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ina nice in a nice way. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. sam curran and ben stokes help england wrestle back momentum on the second day of the first test with india at edgbaston. the heatwave is building again across england and wales but for much of scotland and northern ireland it will be more like normal for this time of year. temperatures in the low 20s as opposed to potentially be low 30s in southern and eastern areas will stop more details later. —— below 30s. also coming up — i‘ll bejoined by actors david yelland and matthew kelly who star in alan bennett‘s "the habit of art" which returns to the stage at the end of this month for a nationwide tour. hello everyone — this is afternoon live.
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interest rates are going up — the bank of england has put them up to 0.75% — that‘s the highest they‘ve been since 2009. the increase had been widely predicted, despite concerns about rising personal debt. it means more than 3.5 million residential mortgages on variable or tracker rates will become more expensive — but the move will be welcomed by some savers. here‘s our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz. the right interest rate for an economy on the mend, getting back into shape. only now does the bank of england think we can cope with rates returning gradually to normal levels. the bank‘s monetary policy committee which sets the direction for rates, had to weigh up the uncertainties of brexit against fears that price rises might take off in an economy awash with cheap loans. that strategy has worked.
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today employment is at a record high. there is very limited spare capacity in the economy. real wages are picking up and external price pressures are declining. this lincolnshire road surfacing company agrees, business is beginning to roll along nicely. so much so that wages are higher, the sort of signal which makes the bank of england reach for its interest rate lever. there is a lot of work about at the minute so people are getting significant contracts. they need the men and the manpower to carry out this work, so they offer more money. guys we are employing now are earning twice as much as they were three or four years ago. higher wages may be, but for some, higher costs, too. if they have variable rate mortgages, many of which will see an automatic increase now. a rise in interest rates are always worrying. it takes more money out of your pockets.
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a quarter of 1% means 20 or £30 a month to me. if another rise in six months, that is another £30, £60 a month. you start to feel the pinch. it‘s not just homeowners with their mortgages who care about interest rates — savers have been waiting for higher rates for years. the worry for them is whether all the banks and building societies pass on the rate increase in full and bump up savers‘ rates. it would increase my income because it would increase the amount on the savings, yes. the percentage at the moment is poor for saving, it's not worth putting your money in the bank. the bank of england‘s hope is a smalljump in rates for home owners combined with a boost for savers won‘t upset the economic applecart at a sensitive time. we think interest rates will not
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rise now for another year and that is because we see a number of uncertainties on the horizon, in particular over brexit. we think that policymakers will probably want to wait until after the uk has left the eu to see if there is an impact, on the economy before they decide to raise interest rates again. it is what the future holds that matters most. the bank says the ideal level for the long run is between 2% and 3%, three times where it is at the moment. joining me now is gemma godfrey, wealth manager and founder of the online investment service moola. many people will be looking at this interest rate rise, but it is only 0.75%. what does it mean? interest rate rise, but it is only
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0.7596. what does it mean? the people who have variable rate mortgages, they will feel the pain, and as the interest rates rise it will be reflected in how much they pay every monthjust for reflected in how much they pay every month just for example, 3.5 and people have a variable rate mortgage and for those who have a mortgage of £150,000 and for those who have a mortgage of £150 , 000 they will and for those who have a mortgage of £150,000 they will pay more than £200 more over the course of a year -- 3.5 £200 more over the course of a year —— 3.5 million people. £200 more over the course of a year -- 3.5 million people. save that any rides never reflected in their savings? —— savers always complain that any rise is never reflected. rightly so. half of the savers accou nts rightly so. half of the savers accounts last year did not reflect the rise, the benefit, so it‘s questionable whether they will feel any benefit this time around, but hopefully. anyone will tell me that the best thing to do is to shop around? loyalty doesn't pay. if you
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assume that you can trust your account, you might be sorely disappointed, so it pays to shop around. the interesting thing about this, in the report, they also talk about shopping around job wise, they we re about shopping around job wise, they were talking about earnings growth, but they say most of this is being seen but they say most of this is being seenin but they say most of this is being seen in people who movejobs. people who are loyal not getting the wage increases they should be. some people of a certain age and interest rate like this means very little because it wasn‘t that long ago that they were hitting 15%. because it wasn‘t that long ago that they were hitting 1596. those days are gone. are they? never say never, but in terms of what the bank of england are saying themselves can they say don‘t expect to see interest rates go up to the levels we are used to seeing. and the savers, you could put your money in a saving account and keep up with the rising cost of living but that doesn‘t happen any more and that is
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why people are encouraged to do different things with their money. there are people who will be looking and thinking that this doesn‘t mean any thing different to them because they cannot even get on the property ladder, let alone how to use it. the people who will really struggle are those who are trying to get onto the property ladder. this report, the bank of england said it is great that property prices are rising because everyone feels better off and they will be spending but that ignores the people trying to get onto the property ladder in the first place and rising house prices are pushing at making this dream of home ownership move further out of reach. we are living in a time of uncertainty in this country, is that a moment to take stock? should people take the plunge? the difference with a home rather than other assets, you do live there, so trying to time the market, it is a
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game that is three hard to win. in terms of whether people should buy a property or not, if you want to, you should, but it is a tough time out there and there‘s uncertainty with brexit on the rise. trying to predict the future as to whether there will be a better time to buy is equally hard to do. gemma, thanks for joining is equally hard to do. gemma, thanks forjoining us. an independent review of the murder of a toddler by her adoptive father, says healthcare professionals missed opportunities to raise concerns about her care. matthew scully—hicks shook 18 month old elsie to death, a fortnight after she formally became his daughter. the regional safeguarding children board found that previous injuries she had suffered were dismissed as childhood accidents. sian lloyd reports from cardiff. elsie was just 18 months old when she died — murdered by her adopted father. matthew scully hicks had been described by a judge as a jekyll and hyde type character.
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he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after inflicting a catalogue of injuries on the child. today, a report was published into whether lessons could be learned from her death. it found that professionals did not consider or raise the possibility that elsie was being harmed by a parent. her injuries were either missed or not documented, meaning safeguarding concerns were not raised, and information was not effectively shared between agencies. together with his husband, matthew scully hicks had already adopted one child and the family were known to social services. the report says the couple were seen through a positive lens by social workers, who had not always questioned elsie‘s injuries or recorded them. why was there this lack of professional curiosity, because there is a duty on social workers to be asking questions, particularly around injuries that they can see, during an adoption process? that positive lens meant that they weren't looking in the way they should have been, and so you are right. that is something they should have
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done, that is something that we have as an organisation recognised and have taken that fully on board. we have implemented a number of checks and balances into the system. elsie was treated in hospital for a fractured leg, but one of her injuries was missed. new practices are now being introduced. those children, whether they attend the a&e department or the fracture clinic are considered in the weekly safeguarding meeting so we can be sure that those children are not missed and those who are expert in this area undertake a little more scrutiny of whether we have asked the right questions at the right time. nine recommendations have been made to try to prevent opportunities to save other children being missed in the future. earlier i spoke to our correspondent, tomos morgan who says the lesson from this report is that this death could have been prevented. this started in september 2015
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when elsie first came into the care of matthew scully—hicks and his husband. from the period between september 2015 and may 2016 elsie suffered a catalogue of injuries ranging from broken bones and head injuries and she also fell down the stairs. in may 2016 matthew scully—hicks called 999 and she went to a&e in wales and she died from her injuries a couple of days later. the 20 page report says there were missed opportunities and one of them was that a second broken leg... sorry, a second bone broken in the leg was not picked up in the original x—ray. and a second large bruise on the forehead was not picked up and the information was not passed on from the different agencies so therefore it was not recorded properly
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and decisions were not taken in the correct manner. nobody has been disciplined for what has happened. cardiff health board have apologised for what happened and they have already begun implementing changes. social services at the vale of glamorgan said there are lessons to be learned from this review. the authors of the reviews say that when the adoption process was being undertaken there was no information at that time that could have predicted what had happened to elsie. but for something like this to happen for a child who has been adopted, to be injured by their parents, it is a very rare scenario. but looking at the list of injuries, the explanations which were accepted by the health professionals because according to the review they lacked professional curiosity,
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and yet there was a broken leg and a large bruise on herforehead and she was described as vomiting after falling through stair gates, it was quite a list. some of that is down to the fact that information wasn‘t passed on properly between the different agencies involved and the different in for routine checks. so because things were not passed on and collated together the overall decision was not made. with the second bone that was broken in the leg, that was missed in the original x—ray and they did not find that until the postmortem examination had taken place. going back to the assessment process for the adoption, when that was made, matthew scully—hicks was someone with a good character and a good background and there was nothing to suggest that he would ever inflict injuries on a young child he was going to adopt, but he was found guilty last year and the independent review says different agencies have missed
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certain key parts to the injuries. and if they had worked better together things might have been picked up earlier. some news on the white house, president trump says he has received a letter from the president trump says he has received a letterfrom the north korean leader kim jong—un. the letter was a follow u p leader kim jong—un. the letter was a follow up on the singapore summit and advancing commitments made in their joint and advancing commitments made in theirjoint statement, that is according to the white house, and this follows the thank you from president trump to kim jong—un for his nice letter. and also in a solemn his nice letter. and also in a solemn ceremony, his nice letter. and also in a solemn ceremony, the reception in the united states, 55 coffins of us service men who were returned after that summit between kim jong—un and
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president trump. we are expecting details of a potential bidder to the united states by the north korean leader. —— visit. no mention of the us satellites which has detected fresh activity by north korea. zimbabwe‘s electoral commission says it will begin to release the results of monday‘s presidential election ‘very soon‘, and is calling for patience. the government there says it won‘t tolerate any further unrest, after soldiers and police clashed with protestors who believe the general election was rigged. president emmerson mnangagwa says he‘s been talking to the opposition, to try to defuse tension. three people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in the capital harare yesterday. our correspondent nomsa maseko sent us this report there is a huge police presence and
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the streets have been cordoned off and there is no one walking around. just journalists. and and there is no one walking around. justjournalists. and also a huge police presence. we understand inside this building which is the headquarters of the mdc, there are people who are locked inside, lawyers which human rights are saying that at least 20 people are still locked inside. a short while ago there were others who have just been taken into custody and they are inside this police van but we don‘t know as yet what they have been charged with. lawyers are telling us that the police are saying they will be keeping them and holding them for questioning and we don‘t know what type of charges they are going to be charged with if at all. there is an expectation that they will be released because the lawyers are saying they believe that those people have not done anything wrong. apart from what we are seeing here
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outside the headquarters of the opposition movement for democratic change, the streets here in downtown harare on thursday are normally busy around this time but today it is quiet. even more quiet than an ordinary sunday afternoon. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. interest rates rise to 0.75% — the highest they‘ve been for almost a decade. the murder of an 18 month old girl by her adoptive father could have been prevented but a review finds he was seen as a "positive parent". addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes — 0fcom finds the uk in a state of digital dependency coming up at 330, i‘ll bejoined by actors david yelland and matthew kelly who star in alan bennett‘s "the habit of art" which returns to the stage at the end of this month for a nationwide tour.
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england are fighting back after being bowled out early this morning. india are carolyn 132—5. chris ashton has been named in the england squad for the first time in two yea rs. squad for the first time in two years. he ended his contract at the french side toulon in a bid to return to international rugby, and andy murray says his victory over kyle edmund is his best performance since being out for over a year with a hip injury. he has reached the third round. more on those stories at half—past. four men have been killed in a car crash in bradford. the vehicle they were in was being pursued by an unmarked police car early this morning. the independent office for police conduct is investigating. our correspondent ian white gave us an update from the scene. (sot next) this is one of the busy roads into the centre of bradford. bradford is two and a half miles that way behind me. this is where the crash actually happened. you can see the cordon has been put up by the police to stop people seeing
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what is going on behind there. but it is a hive of activity. it has been all morning. a low loader has arrived and we think it‘s picking up the vehicle that the four men who died were in, a bmw. it was being followed by police at around 5:30am this morning when the accident happened. we don‘t know much about the crash itself but we are told it was an unmarked police car that was following this bmw. sadly, all four men within the bmw tragically died in the accident. because a police vehicle has been involved in following this vehicle, the matter has been referred to the iopc. they have released a statement, describing it as a tragic incident and sympathies are with the families and friends of those who died. the matter was referred to the iopc as a matter of procedure really. and investigators have spent the morning here at the scene along with roads, policing and crash investigation officers trying
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to establish exactly what happened. we have seen police carrying out skid tests on the road to recreate what might have happened. now, if you‘re watching this programme at the same time as scrolling through your phone, chances are you‘re not alone. new research by the communications regulator 0fcom suggests that we check our devices once every 12 minutes during waking hours — and two in five british adults reach for their phone within 5 minutes of waking up. and for the first time, the number of voice calls made on mobile phones in the uk has fallen. here‘s our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. we‘re going to make some history together today. 2007, and steve jobs unveils apple‘s iphone. 2008, and the first android phones arrive. what has followed, according to 0fcom, is a decade where we‘ve become increasingly dependent on our smartphones. we‘re using them in all sorts of ways throughout the day, and three quarters of people questioned said they couldn‘t live without one.
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ten years ago, we had many different devices. we had mp3 players to listen to music. we had satellite navigation systems to take us around. today, all of that is compacted into one device, and now eight in ten of us own a smartphone, and really spend our entire lives on that smartphone. ofcom‘s research shows how addicted we are to smartphones. 40% of people check their phone within five minutes of waking up. the average person looks at their phone every 12 minutes, and spends an average of two hours and 28 minutes a day using it. while there‘s some concern about how much time we spend on them, most people think the overall impact of smartphones has been beneficial. but there‘s a big debate about manners. is it acceptable, for instance, to have your smartphone out at the table, checking it? the vast majority of older people say no, but around half of those under 35 think it‘s ok. we‘re all working outjust how much smartphones should change the way we live. i think it‘s made my life better, but children‘s lives worse.
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yeah. definitely anyone my age would be pretty dependent on a device, whether they're just walking around the city, to find their way around or to communicate with people. a few years ago, i‘d have been sitting here admiring the view, and now i‘m on my phone. so it‘s kind of swings and roundabouts, isuppose. one thing we‘re not doing so much on our phones is talking. the number of mobile voice calls has fallen for the first time. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. we can now speak to eleni marouli — head of market development at 0fcom. what caught your eye? it is fascinating that people now claim to spend an equivalent of a day online every week and central to this online revolution is the smartphone. people check their phones every 12 minutes and the number goes down to nine minutes for the under 24s and
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many of us do this right before we go to sleep and just when we wake up. it is becoming an addiction. the smartphone has done a lot for us and connectivity has unable us to do many things. three quarters of correspondence say it helps them keepin correspondence say it helps them keep in touch with their family, thatis keep in touch with their family, that is across all age groups. the number of mobile phone calls is going down. the number of traditional mobile phone calls has gone down but this does not include voice over the internet like skype orface time. we voice over the internet like skype or face time. we expect some of that is being compensated by over the top surfaces. have we reached peak mobile phone addiction in that the technology has got to a point where anything you want to do is now their for you? are they likely to change ain? for you? are they likely to change again? difficult to say. smartphones
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have only been around for a decade and that feels like a century in any other industry so it is difficult to say when they speak use will reached —— when they speak will be reached. —— when they speak will be reached. —— when this peak will be reached. do you ever leave your phone and go and do your anything? my phone is my co nsta nt and do your anything? my phone is my constant companion and it is right next to me. i‘m afraid that i fit the statistics and i‘m checking this at least every 12 minutes. my word. we maybe need to rethink our way of etiquette, if that is the case? if you are sitting at dinner and the phone vibrates, we need to have a new level of what is polite and what isn‘t. new level of what is polite and what isn't. this is the challenge with any new technology. the benefits
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increase amid the and there was discrepancy is in terms of what people said is acceptable, only a fifth of our younger adults thought check your phone while watching tv was acceptable but the majority of those over 55 did not appreciate the behaviour. there was one using one on the beach are going out onto sea on the beach are going out onto sea on their phone, it gets ridiculous. a lot of people highlight examples like the one you gave and we know three quarters of people do not like it when others are watching videos or playing games on public transport or playing games on public transport or checking their phones in the cinema. that is very unpopular, so there are some which are deemed unacceptable there are some which are deemed u na cce pta ble by there are some which are deemed unacceptable by the majority of the population, but there are discrepancies for some of the more
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contentious ones like checking phones at mealtimes, for example. some people will hanker for those days 15 years ago before these things were even invented. i'm sure there are. there are always traditionalists who cling on to the older technologies which are also very good as well. very diplomatic. you are talking to one! thanks for joining us. detectives investigating the nerve agent poisoning of a couple in salisbury have removed two bins from an area behind shops in the city centre. the move comes after police officers spoke to charlie rowley, who was exposed to novichok, about what happened prior to him falling ill. the bins, from a cordoned—off area behind catherine street, will be taken to the defence science and technology laboratory at porton down for analysis. public health england says that the risk to the public remains low. a hosepipe ban which was due to come into force in the north west of england on sunday
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has been withdrawn. united utilities says slightly cooler temperatures, recent rainfall and water—saving efforts by customers mean it doesn‘t need to introduce a ban at the moment — but the firm warned that restrictions could be possible in the future if the dry weather continues. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. it has been very warm in the sunshine, eastern scotland and eastern england to southern england and the east of wales but further west we have had more cloud again limiting the temperatures and this will bring some rain later on and that will push its way into scotland as we go through the evening and parts of northern england and even north wales. with all that cloud there will be some misty and murky conditions around the hills and coast and it will be another fairly muqqy coast and it will be another fairly muggy night and day to be more so in the south and east. friday will dawn ona the south and east. friday will dawn on a cloudy night for most but the sunshine works through the clouds very quickly and the difference will
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be more cloudy and persistent rain to northern england and north wales but after the showers developing the north because we are seeing temperatures in the late 20s it will be very pleasant. the low 30s is on the cards for the south of the country, but something more pleasant and bearable further north. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the bank of england has raised interest rates to three—quarters of 1% — a level not seen for almost a decade. an independent review has found missed opportunities in the care of an 18—month—old girl from cardiff who was shaken to death by her father two weeks after he adopted her. zimbabwe‘s electoral commision pledges to release the results of monday‘s election ‘very soon‘, amid protests over alleged vote rigging. a new report from 0fcom finds that the average briton checks their mobile phone every 12 minutes — and claims the uk is in a state of digital dependency. sport now on afternoon live withjohn.
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england has not bowl is having a good time. yes, although virat kohli, the india captain, digging in at the moment. curran was the last wicket to fall as england began the day with one wicket in hand but were bowled for 287 adding just two runs to their overnight total. but that fired the surrey left—hander up, as he took three wickets in eight balls, in just his second test. india restricted to 76—3 at lunch. and if it was the sam curran show before lunch, it was the ben stokes show after, as he pitched in with two further wickets, that of ajinkye rahane and dinesh karthik. so, the scorecard a little rosierfor england. india, 142—5. captain virat kohli was dropped on 21, and they could live to regret that. he is repelling the english attack, as he closes
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in on his half century. 0k, ok, let‘s go to rugby union. a welcome return for a certain name in the england team. it is indeed, yes. winger chris ashton has been named in the england squad for the first time in two years. he‘s not been available for selection, having played his rugby of late in france. but the winger ended his contract with toulon early, in a bid to return to the premiership, with a view to playing international rugby again. he scored 19 tries in 39 tests for england and forms part ofjones‘s 44—man pre season training squad which meets this weekend. i think he had the idea in his head. you know, he wants to play for england. he sees it as his last opportunity. so we are very pleased he has made that decision and we are looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table. the women‘s british open is underway, the fourth major of the year on the women‘s tour. play got underway at royal lytham
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and st anne‘s this morning. sandra gal, of germany, leads. georgia hall the best placed brit, one shot behind. highlights are on bbc two later tonight. andy murray says his win against british number one kyle edmund is his best since his return from injury. murray won in three sets against the man who replaced him at the top of the british rankings, to reach the third round of the washington open. rhia chohan reports. sidelined for months after hip surgery injanuary, down to 832 in world rankings. naturally, andy murray was hoping to make a comeback in the second round at the washington open, taking on british number one kyle edmund. his countryman who beat him at eastbourne only a few months ago. but this is hard court
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season and murray was showing signs of recovery. both players held serve in the first set. edmund broke murray to take a 6—5 lead, but it was the three—time grand slam champion who took it 7—6. edmund won five straight games to take the second set and force a decider. but this is how all good comebacks go, and murray would not be denied the third. it looked perhaps that edmund was the new one to beat in men‘s british tennis, but hard court, hard fought. in just his fifth match of the year, murray proves he‘s not done yet. johanna konta is putting a run together. after inflicting the biggest defeat of serena william‘s career, she beat another american at the silicon valley classic, sofia kenin, to reach the third round of this tournament she‘s won before. sam curran has taken another wicket now so sam curran has taken another wicket now so i140 sam curran has taken another wicket now so 1140 8—6. sam curran has taken another wicket now so 1140 8-6. that is all for
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now, i will have more later. john watson, thank you very much. alan bennett is one of the uk‘s best known playwrights, having written some of the most celebrated stage shows of recent decades. one of those — the habit of art — returns to the stage at the end of this month for a nationwide tour, starring david yelland and matthew kelly. before we meet david and matthew, let‘s hear from the play‘s director, philip franks. i hope that the audience will feel included and challenged and unused and moved, and you could say that of any play, but i don‘t want them to be excluded by thinking that it‘s a difficult play about highly intellectual subjects. it‘s not. it‘s a play about friendship and work and regret and getting older and love, and yourjob — and everybody can relate to that. three words to describe a two—and—a—half—hour evening. erm... moving, funny, provocative. with me now are the actors david yelland and matthew kelly. welcome to you both. matthew, the
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fa ct welcome to you both. matthew, the fact this was an alan bennett play, is that why you agree to it in the first place? i would agree to do any alan bennett play, anything of alan bennett. he‘s such a kind man and so intellectually hospitable. philip touched on it, he is very inclusive. that is philip franks, known as pip, the boss! he touched on it there. bennett draws people in, and he includes you. and at the same time, you will learn stuff about wh auden and about... benjamin britten. him, yes. it is two plays in one. this is about a meeting which never happened between these two men. fictitious
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meeting alan bennett imagines takes place later in the lives of these famous man and a group of actors who are rehearsing a play about that. and that is it. it is a play within a play and that's a lot of humour and fun to be had about seeing actors do the stuff actors doing rehearsal which you never get to see in performance. in addition to what the rest of the play is about. in performance. in addition to what the rest of the play is aboutm in performance. in addition to what the rest of the play is about. it is the rest of the play is about. it is the first time people have had the chance to see it since it was first out, is it very different from that first outing? well, i didn't see the original production, but i am told there have been adaptations and alterations because the original production was done in a very specific way in the national theatre and we are on tour so specific way in the national theatre and we are on tour so there were references to the national theatre which will not mean a great deal in ipswich all liverpool or salford. so they have been adjusted. you got nearly all the dates and then, well
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done! i tried! nearly all the dates and then, well done! itried! auden nearly all the dates and then, well done! i tried! auden and... nearly all the dates and then, well done! itried! auden and... britten. thank you! they had been friends, but this was an imagined meeting because britten, when he fell out with people, they were dead to him and they never met again and auden and they never met again and auden and britten fell out in 1942. it was said over the sale of paul bunyan, the opera which they collaborated over. it is a lovely idea to bring these two together at the end of their lives. it brings an added element to it. it was close to the end of their lives, i think, auden died the following year and britten a few years later. they both died by our modern standards very young. matthew, for you, there is a very personal side to this. because richard griffiths, who many people will know from harry potter, a very famous face. you are at college with him. iwas,
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famous face. you are at college with him. i was, yes. famous face. you are at college with him. iwas, yes. and for the famous face. you are at college with him. i was, yes. and for the second time, you are following in his footsteps. yes, i know, big shoes to fill, really big shoes, he was a big boy! he was a really big boy! i said, iam really boy! he was a really big boy! i said, i am really sorry, boy! he was a really big boy! i said, iam really sorry, i boy! he was a really big boy! i said, i am really sorry, i am following him again, do you mind? to his wife. she was delighted. it was terrible to lose richard, he was so young and so brilliant but i feel very honoured, especially in an alan bennett play. you replaced him in the history boys the wiki died. yes, it in the wiki died. at sheffield, in the crucible. he was so natural andi in the crucible. he was so natural and i am so sheffield.” in the crucible. he was so natural and i am so sheffield. i was very fond of richard as well. he is sorely missed. yes, he is a lovely man and very like bennett, very british and great at telling stories. that is another thing about
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this play, it is a great story. how‘d you get the humourfrom this play, it is a great story. how‘d you get the humour from a story about getting older and about life and about death? and about creativity and how difficult it is to create. and also about biography and what we are told about somebody who is a great genius or a great creator. and how frail they are as human beings. and the other thing bennett does, he gives voice to the people who don‘t get a chance to have a voice. the people who support creative people. the people lined the scenes, the people who look after them and feed them —— behind the scenes. and who do other things you hear about in the play. which is another aspect of what matthew was talking about, alan bennett's extraordinary capacity to be humane and compassionate about allsorts of different people. it is a packed schedule looking at this, travelling
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ina schedule looking at this, travelling in a short period around a large pa rt in a short period around a large part of the country, how different does that make working on a play like this? i always look forward to it because you are bound to go to places you have never been to before. i want stipulate which ones i have managed to avoid! —— iwill not stipulate. it is a way of keeping the play bridge because i re ce ntly keeping the play bridge because i recently did a six—month stint in a play which i enjoyed enormously, but the temptation is perhaps not to keep it as fresh as you might buy yourself. but on tour, you get a different venue and a different place you are living in and all that. you become very close on tour because... we do good friends before? never seen you before in my life! no contact at all. it is like you have known each other years. yes. that kind of happens, people become yourfamily. yes. that kind of happens, people become your family. and yes. that kind of happens, people become yourfamily. and on yes. that kind of happens, people become your family. and on tour, yes. that kind of happens, people become yourfamily. and on tour, you play to communities, it is not like playing in the west end where you have a passing trade. you go to a
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town and you play for a week. so you get to learn about the people. people love their theatre in towns. and you try and bring them a decent product and they tell their mates and by the end the week, you are usually fault, but also, the people, hopefully... don‘t hold your breath! but also, it is the family you are with on the tour. so we all have four months together. and then you go back to your real family. it is very exciting, it is the first revival of this, i think, extremely good play. to someone who is not familiar with alan bennett, how would you sell this? well, pretty much what philip was talking about earlier, the capacity to amuse, educate and just have a marvellous evening in the theatre. but alan bennett is sometimes half dismissed as this sort of likeable national
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figure who we all love, but there is much more to him thanjust that. he has very clear ideas and a lot of them emerge in the play. have you both spoken to him?” them emerge in the play. have you both spoken to him? i did a play of his, a couple of times, actually. a very funny play. and he always keeps up very funny play. and he always keeps up with... and i did history boys. and he knows whether productions are and he always sends good luck cards and he always sends good luck cards and a bottle of champagne. and i did meet him at heathrow once, in terminal three, we were going in different directions, and i did exactly the same issue. i kind of went... and he kind of went up to me and said, yes, i have heard you have done my play. thank you very much. i heard you were very good. but he would say that because of the kindness. and what i would say about his plays is that when you come out
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from them, you will feel better about yourself and the world. and you will feel uplifted, and that is the great thing he does. he takes you in his arms at the beginning of a play and he tells you the story and he lifts you up, but he will also make you think and the thinking goes the next day. the best bit is in the bar afterwards. did you finish the performance appearing com pletely finish the performance appearing completely drained after an alan bennett play all lifted? if the audience have had a good evening, you have as well, really. perhaps thatis you have as well, really. perhaps that is a bit of a cliche! i cannot wait to see you drained! no, not just yet. well, we are playing with the dressing up box! we had better leave it there! anyway, august 31? yes, in york. and it goes everywhere! best of luck with that and thank you both very much, matthew and david. it is a pleasure.
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you are watching afternoon live on bbc news. £100 billion must be spent on revolutionising transport in northern england by 2050, according to a cross—party group of mps. they‘ve written to the chancellor, calling for government investment in regional road and rail links. it comes after the wave of disruption on northern rail, after changes to the timetable. the transport secretary, chris grayling, visited leeds bradford airport this morning to talk about the government‘s infrastructure plans, and he‘s been speaking to our correspondent, harry gration. the times has said you should consider your position. the yorkshire post, our own version of the times, if you like, has said exactly the same. do you not feel beleaguered? do you not feel that something should give in this situation? all that i know is, we‘re doing the right thing, which is investing more in railways in the north of england that has happened at any time since the steam age. you know, we went through all the period when labour were in power, and literally nothing was done. back in 2004, they let a standstill franchise for the north. what we have now is a programme of improvement.
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this week, the restoration of the timetable has been about putting back an increased timetable, more services. now, there are still difficulties. there are still short—form trains, because the electric trains haven‘t started yet. that means there‘s a shortage of rolling stock. but this summer‘s difficulties have all been about a big investment programme that has not yet come to fruition, and needs to very soon. what about the crossbench mps and peers who have all got together and gone to the chancellor, appealing for some kind investment in northern transport, northern rail in particular? have you got anything to say about that? what can you do about that? well, what i can do is what we are doing right now to start off with, which is an investment programme in excess of £5 billion in railways in the north. a big programme of investment in roads in the north. we‘ve just opened the last stretch of motorway—grade road from london to newcastle. heaven knows why that hadn‘t happened before. we are doing the smart motorways programmes on the m6, the m62, the m60. these are happening now. new road projects that are lying ahead, the a595 in cumbria, dualling the a66. these are projects that are now in development.
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this is a major investment programme. these things don‘t happen overnight. you can‘t wave a wand and suddenly create a new railway line, a new train, a new road. but these things didn‘t happen in the past. they‘re happening under this government. have you looked at your own position about this? you must hear what people say, it can‘t be very comfortable reading or listening for you? myjob is to deliver the best possible transport system. and you‘re not doing it at the moment. well, we have got a challenge this summer with a timetable that‘s gone wrong because of an infrastructure project that‘s gone wrong. myjob is to sort that out. i don‘t run engineering projects. myjob is to sort out problems when they arise. it shouldn‘t have happened. that‘s why we‘ve commissioned a detailed investigation into what went wrong. but the reality is, at the core was an investment programme by the government that has been delayed. that was harry gration, talking to the transport secretary, chris grayling. the first of the new wave of local tv services launched five years ago has announced it is to close at the end of august. estuary tv, in grimsby, was the first to start broadcasting under a scheme promoted by the then culture secretaryjeremy hunt.
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in a statement, it said it was now seeking to work with a larger broadcaster to transfer the licence, which still had another seven years to run. rachel home is here. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live: interest rates rise to 0.75% — the highest they‘ve been for almost a decade. the murder of an 18—month—old girl by her adoptive father could have been prevented but a review finds he was seen as a "positive parent". addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes. 0fcom finds the uk in a state it could be good news for savers, but bad for borrowers — the bank of england base rate has risen to 0.75%. energy supplier npower has been fined
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£2.4 million by watchdog ofgem, after they failed to install around 4,000 advanced meters for business customers by an april 2014 deadline. they also wrongly installed about 200 traditional meters. the future of house of fraser has been thrown into doubt after its potential new owner walked away from a rescue deal. c. banner, which owns the toy store hamley‘s, had planned to take control of the struggling department store chain and inject £70 million of cash. but the chinese firm has pulled out. interest rates are up — we‘ve been talking about it all afternoon and generally speaking — it should be good news for savers, bad for borrowers — but what about businesses? you‘ve been talking a lot about what this rise could mean for consumers — but businesses have been speaking up. this rise was expected — but not everyone thinks it was the right thing to do.
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the iod say they have jumped the gun and it has also been described as illjudged. let‘s hearfrom martin mctague — policy director at the fsb — federation of small businesses. how are your members reacting to this increase? the increase was priced in. if i am an importer, i am probably looking to the fact value increase in the pound means my costs strop. but what we found was that four out of ten businesses were concerned about increases in interest rates and they thought it would damage their investment plans. why is that, they are concerned about an increase in the cost of borrowing for investment? a lot of small firms, you have to realise that the owner‘s relationship to the small firm is
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very close, so if he pays increased mortgage charges and call charges, there is less available for him to invest in his own business. at a time when the government is encouraging businesses to improve productivity by investing in their business, this looks like a backward step. as you mentioned, when we look at inflation, which is one of the reasons the bank of england would increase interest rates to bring down inflation which is above the 2% target, if this interest rate rise achieves that it brings down inflation, surely that is good news for small business? inflation is an important factor, but there are so many other pressures on businesses these days with a relatively high increasing cost. one of those components as the costs that could be affected by brexit. at a time when there is a lot of uncertainty about the outcome of the negotiations and many small businesses are completely unprepared
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for cliff edge change, this is going to add another layer of uncertainty and risk. what advice would you give to small businesses, worried about the impact of this interest rate rise? i would say that in common with a lot of other businesses, you will have to think more carefully about planning for the future. and maybe this means that investment plans, increasing productivity or improving your market position may have to be postponed. martin, thank you for your time. markets? i have put more international markets up. we have the international markets. the interest rates have gone up, that is good for sterling which tends to bring down the ftse, which is down, but that is to do with the us and the ongoing trade issue between china and the us. we had last night president
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trump threatening to more than double the already threatened ta riffs double the already threatened tariffs on chinese imports, and $300 billion web. president trump has threatened to slap 10% of tariffs by the summer which he threatened to increase by 25% last night, so global markets concerned about the impact of this around the world and a lot of the markets are down. in the next hour, i will talk to more about berkeley is and what has been happening with their figures. new line —— this power is done? yes, iam line —— this power is done? yes, i am going for a cup of tea! thanks, rachel. a retired couple from aberdeenshire have won a lottery jackpot of 58 £million. fred and lesley higgins matched all the numbers in the euromillions draw on the tenth ofjuly. but it nearly wasn‘t to be — after the winning ticket was mistakenly ripped in two, as fred higgins has been explaining. we checked it.
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we tore it. we put it in the bin and then the winning slip that you normally get in the lottery, no figures on it, itjust said contact the lottery headquarters. so you knew you had the winning ticket? well, yes, i knew i had won something. and when did you realise you had won as much as you had? i checked it when i got back, again because i retrieved the ticket from the gentleman, went back home, looked on the lottery website, checked the numbers and that was it. she actually came through and said and double checked it with me. but you thought it was just 5.7? idid. i sayjust 5.7! that would have been good enough. yes, i would have been happy with that. and you discovered it was 57 million. what was going through your head? i really don't know. i thought 5.7 million was a good figure, but it was even better. but were you worried that what had happened to the ticket meant that there might be some doubt as to whether you were ever going to get it? not particularly. the ticket was torn, but you could see all the numbers. everything was quite
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clear and legible. and all they did was see that we should sign on the back of it. and then i phoned the lottery headquarters. so you‘ve got the money now, safely in the bank account. have you not checked? i‘ve never actually checked. what are you going to do? how are you going to spend it? holidays. probably travel. possibly buy property. here and there. nothing‘s been decided yet. i think because it is a shock and it is such a large amount, we don‘t realise how much we‘ve really got to spend in some respect. how are the family feeling? because you kept this quiet. two weeks. two weeks, we kept it quiet for. i almost began to believe it was not going to happen. because i had to keep it so quiet. but the family were just fabulous.
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they've taken it really well. i had the ticket in my pocket for a week before i even checked it so it was on the 10th of august, sorry, july. and it was the 17th of january when i checked my other ticket and went to buy another ticket and said can you check that? and that is when it all blew up. time for a look at the weather. here‘s helen willetts. temperatures in the high 20s, a little warmer than yesterday, and clear skies in dorset. we said goodbye to rain across north east scotla nd goodbye to rain across north east scotland this morning and we still have the weather front wriggling around across central parts of the uk come up with more rain coming in later in the day. from the earlier satellite picture, you can see the best sunshine is in eastern scotland, southern and eastern areas, and elsewhere, more fair weather cloud. but it is quite low cloud around the irish sea coasts. it is misty and murky in places, but
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still the sunshine prevails across eastern scotland. through the evening, more rain, back into northern ireland and south—west scotland. not heavy rain. drizzly rain around the irish sea coast and south—west england and wales as well, but by and large, it is fine and dry and hot affair through the afternoon and early evening. with those pulses of rain coming along a weather front and the mild south—westerly continuing, it is another muggy night and we noticed a muqqy another muggy night and we noticed a muggy appeal across southern and eastern areas compared with a co mforta ble eastern areas compared with a comfortable night last night. and to friday, we have the weather front straddling the country. it is the dividing line between heat and increasingly hot weather in the south and east, compared with fresh atla ntic south and east, compared with fresh atlantic air to the north. there will be showers across parts of scotla nd will be showers across parts of scotland and northern ireland, but there will be a lot of fairweather around during friday and it will feel quite comfortable. we may see more rain across north wales and into northern england at at times. perhaps aware today at at times, but
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not a wash—out. still pretty warm. 25 even underneath the cloud, but 32 and possibly 33, but a hot day across southern and eastern areas. that heat continues over the weekend across england and wales, pushing further north into parts of yorkshire. a lot of dry and bright weather across northern ireland and scotland, but still more bearable temperatures. on sunday, it does look rather as if we will pick up more rain into the far north west of scotland. that will hold the temperatures down into the high 20s further south. further ahead, the northern half of the country will keep the cooler but pleasant conditions, it is hot in the south east. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live, i‘m simon mccoy.
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today at four... many of our mortgages, loans and savings are going up as the bank of england raises interest rates to the highest level since 2009. it warns they could go up again today employment is at a record high, there is very limited spare capacity in the economy, real wages are pickking real wages are picking up, and external price pressures are declining. baby elsie‘s death could have been prevented but a review finds that her father, who murdered the 18—month—old just weeks after adopting her, had been seen as a "positive parent". zimbabwe‘s electoral commission has appealed for patience from voters waiting for the results of monday‘s presidential election. addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes. 0fcom finds the uk in a state of "digital dependency". ten years ago we had many different devices, we had mp3 players to listen to music, we had satellite navigation systems to take us around. today all of that is compacted
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into one device and now eight in ten of us own a smartphone and we spent our entire lives on that smartphone. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. he is off his phone. i am indeed. we will be talking cricket. england bowler sam curran takes four wickets as england play india in the first test. virat kohli moves past his first century. and we have the weather with helen. the weather is fine for the cricket and it is fine for many, it is heating up in the south, but not for everybody. we have some dangerous heat across parts of europe and i will talk about that later. also coming up at four thirty on nationwide — why social housing in the south of england is being sold off four times as fast as it is being replaced. hello, everyone, this
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is afternoon live, i‘m simon mccoy. interest rates are going up. the bank of england has put them up to 0.75%, that‘s the highest they‘ve been since 2009. the increase had been widely predicted, despite concerns about rising personal debt. it means more than 3.5 million residential mortgages on variable or tracker rates will become more expensive, but the move will be welcomed by some savers. here‘s our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz. the right interest rate for an economy on the mend, getting back into shape. only now does the bank of england think we can cope with rates returning gradually to normal levels. the bank‘s monetary policy committee which sets the direction for rates, had to weigh up the uncertainties of brexit against fears that price rises might take off in an economy awash with cheap loans. that strategy has worked.
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today employment is at a record high. real wages are picking up and external price pressures are declining. this lincolnshire road surfacing company agrees, business is beginning to roll along nicely. so much so that wages are higher, the sort of signal which makes the bank of england reach for its interest rate lever. there is a lot of work about at the minute so people are getting significant contracts. they need the men and the manpower to carry out this work, so they offer more money. guys we are employing now are earning twice as much as they were three or four years ago. higher wages maybe, but for some, higher costs, too. if they have variable rate mortgages, many of which will see an automatic increase.
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a rise in interest rates are always worrying. it takes more money out of your pockets. a quarter of 1% means 20 or £30 a month to me. if another rise in six months, that is another £30, £60 a month. you start to feel the pinch. it‘s not just homeowners with their mortgages who care about interest rates — savers have been waiting for higher rates for years. the worry for them is whether all the banks and building societies pass on the rate increase in full and bump up savers‘ rates. it would increase my income because it would increase the amount on the savings, yes. the percentage at the moment is poor for saving, it's not worth putting your money in the bank. the bank of england‘s hope is a smalljump in rates for home owners combined with a boost for savers won‘t upset the economic applecart at a sensitive time.
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we think interest rates will not rise now for another year and that is because we see a number of uncertainties on the horizon, in particular over brexit. we think that policymakers will probably want to wait until after the uk has left the eu to see if there is an impact, on the economy before they decide to raise interest rates again. it is what the future holds that matters most. the bank says the ideal level for the long run is between 2% and 3%, three times where it is at the moment. joining me now is megan french, senior news reporter at the consumer advice website money saving expert.com. first of all, let‘s differentiate because it is traditionally seen as bad news for borrowers and good news
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for savers. let‘s talk about borrowers first of all. a rise of this level means what? for millions of mortgage holders they will potentially pay £180 a year per 100,000 they are borrowing, so they need to act now to move to a better deal. are there better deals out there? yes, it depends what you are currently on. if you are on a standard, variable rate, it is likely this will go up. if you are on that, the chances are you are already overpaying anyway. an average rate on that would be 3.6%, but the best rate is 1.42%, said there are big savings to be had there. what about those thinking longer term? you can get five—year fixed—rate, ten years? longer term? you can get five—year fixed-rate, ten years? it depends on your circumstances. each mortgage product needs to be the best deal for you, but use this as a wake—up call. if you are on a standard
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variable rate, or a tracker mortgage which follows the base rate, you need to act now. some lenders are putting their rates up tomorrow on trackers and others have said from the 1st of september. take note and start looking round for a good deal for you. it is inevitable rates will go for you. it is inevitable rates will 9° up for you. it is inevitable rates will go up quickly for borrowers. what about savers who always complained they never see the benefit of a rise like this? by and large the rate rise in november last year was not passed on. savers need to act now. if you are getting any less than 1%, have a look, there are better deals out there. they always seem to have a proviso. it looks good on paper, and then when you look into it there isa and then when you look into it there is a problem. yes, the top easy access savings account at the moment isi.4%, access savings account at the moment is1.4%, but if access savings account at the moment is 1.4%, but if you want to lock your cash away, you can get 2%. small amounts you can put into a
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regular savings that is linked to your current account and that is 5%. it is working out where the best place to put your money is. and there can be some hoops? yes, sometimes regular savers are linked to current account and you need to pay ina to current account and you need to pay in a certain amount of money. you need to open up a new account? potentially, yes. if you open a current account, you will have credit checks. it is about seeing what money you can put away and accessing the best rate for it. at the moment look at your finances and have a rethink about what your priorities are? yes, definitely. standard variable rate or a tracker mortgage, if it is about to come to an end, start looking at a better mortgage for you. thank you very much. an independent review of the murder of a toddler by her adoptive father, says healthcare professionals missed opportunities to raise concerns about her care. matthew scully—hicks shook 18—month—old elsie to death, a fortnight after she formally became his daughter. the regional safeguarding children
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board found that previous injuries she had suffered were dismissed as childhood accidents. sian lloyd reports from cardiff. elsie was just 18 months old when she died — murdered by her adopted father. matthew scully hicks had been described by a judge as a jekyll and hyde type character. he was sentenced to 18 years in prison after inflicting a catalogue of injuries on the child. today, a report was published into whether lessons could be learned from her death. it found that professionals did not consider or raise the possibility that elsie was being harmed by a parent. her injuries were either missed or not documented, meaning safeguarding concerns were not raised, and information was not effectively shared between agencies. together with his husband, matthew scully hicks had already adopted one child and the family were known to social services. the report says the couple were seen through a positive lens by social workers,
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who had not always questioned elsie‘s injuries or recorded them. why was there this lack of professional curiosity, because there is a duty on social workers to be asking questions, particularly around injuries that they can see, during an adoption process? that positive lens meant that they weren't looking in the way they should have been, and so you are right. that is something they should have done, that is something that we have as an organisation recognised and have taken that fully on board. we have implemented a number of checks and balances into the system. elsie was treated in hospital for a fractured leg, but one of her injuries was missed. new practices are now being introduced. those children, whether they attend the a&e department or the fracture clinic are considered in the weekly safeguarding meeting so we can be sure that those children are not missed and those who are expert in this area undertake a little more scrutiny of whether we have asked the right questions at the right time.
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nine recommendations have been made to try to prevent opportunities to save other children being missed in the future. four men have been killed in a car crash in bradford. the vehicle they were in was being pursued by an unmarked police car early this morning. the independent office for police conduct is investigating. our correspondent ian white gave us an update from the scene. this is one of the busy roads into the centre of bradford, bradford is about two and a half miles behind me. this is where the crash happened. the cordons have been put up happened. the cordons have been put up by happened. the cordons have been put up by the police to stop us from seeing what is going on. it is a hive of activity. a low loader has arrived at the scene and it is picking up the vehicle that the four men were in, a bmw. it was round about 5:30am when the accident happened and we do not know much
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more about the crash itself. an unmarked police car was following this bmw. sadly all four men in the bmw died in the accident. because a police vehicle has been involved, the matter has been referred to the independent office for police conduct. they have told us in a brief statement that they have described it as a most tragic incident, sympathies are with the families and friends of those who have died. the matter was referred to the idea pc as a matter of procedure by the west yorkshire police and investigators have spent the morning here at the scene along with roads policing and crash investigative officers from west yorkshire police tried to establish what happened. we have seen police carrying out skid tests on this road to try to recreate what might have happened. ian white and reporting. a rapper in london‘s drill music scene has been stabbed to death on the same street
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in south east london where his friend died in may. the 23—year—old rapper was known as incognito and sk. he was friends with fellow rapper rhyhiem ainsworth barton, who was shot dead in the street in may. two other men were injured in the stabbing on warham street in camberwell yesterday evening. our correspondent katharine carpenter sent this report from the scene. this is the street where siddique died at around seven o‘clock last night. behind these buildings there are two further please cordons and they mark the spots where a 16—year—old and a 31—year—old man we re 16—year—old and a 31—year—old man were also stabbed. they are currently in hospital. on social media the drill music group moscow 17 has said that siddique kumara was one of their members. he was a 23—year—old rapper known as incognito. it was only in may this year that the mother member of that group was also killed. it was just round the corner by these buyers that rahim was shot dead. local
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people around here have been telling us they cannot believe there has been another tragedy so soon. we are all a bit on edge, even more so now. we had calmed down a bit, but we are on edge again. these guys are all at the start of their lives and they are taking each other's lives and it is awful, terrible, the worst thing that could be happening. you know the boy who died? yes, he used to play with people, and they used to stand outside our door. i used to ask, are you all right? yes. it is a scary place, i don't know now. every little thing, killing, stabbing, it is not safe at all for the children. at the time of rahim ends with biden‘s killing his mother said she wa nted biden‘s killing his mother said she wanted to see an end to the bloodshed. that has not happened. but today friends of siddique kumara say they do not want the finger pointed at drill music borax gangs,
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instead they say it is social media thatis instead they say it is social media that is to blame for inflaming tensions. two men are in custody and are being questioned by police over last i‘s killing. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines the murder of an 18 month old girl by her adoptive father could have been prevented but a review finds he was seen as a "positive parent". addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes — 0fcom finds the uk in a state and sam curran takes four wickets on the first day of the test with india. england were all out for 287. virat kohli has moved past his half—century. chris ashton has been called into income‘s pre—season training squad. it is his first
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appearance in two years having returned from france, having played for sale to revive his international career. and it is the women‘s british open. i will have more of those stories at half—past. the leader of zimbabwe‘s opposition party, nelson chamisa, has once again claimed that he has won the country‘s presidential election. he said the current president, emmerson mnangagwa, knows he‘s lost, and that is why there‘s been no announcement as yet. zimbabwe‘s electoral commission earlier said it will begin to release the results of monday‘s presidential election "very soon" and is calling for patience. i can speak to our correspondent shingai nyoka who‘s in the capital, harare. is that explanation were a bit thin because there was violence on the streets yesterday while they were waiting for this result? the electoral commission has said that they will start announcing those
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results at ten o‘clock, which is about five hours from now. but the operative word is start. it is not clear whether they will declare a winner by the time that the night is out. they will announce the results constituency by constituency, and there are about 210 they need to go through. all the parties here are mindful of the fact that the longer the results are delayed, the more anxiety and the more the tensions increase. by law the electoral commission is about to announce a winner by saturday and they are urging patience as they try to collate those numbers. nelson chemise that a short while ago visited one of the public hospitals to see those who were injured in yesterday‘s dramatic events. some who lost their lives are at the morgue. he remains defiant, repeating his statement that he believes he has won. he says he will
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not back down. he has called for mass celebrations. even though it is quiet here on the street, some of those tensions are still bubbling under. but nothing like the violence we we re under. but nothing like the violence we were seeing yesterday, is that right? it is nothing like the violence we were seeing yesterday. it is eerily quiet. this should be rush—hour, but we understand that earlier soldiers were on the streets trying to clear everyone, telling them to go home. we have not seen those soldiers here now. but there is an unofficial curfew here, many people are afraid to come into town. some of the shops have closed as a result of the fear of what might happen. today very different scenes from what we saw yesterday. the british government has issued a statement condemning what they call excessive use of force by the military against the civilians and calling for restraint. they have
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also asked the government to remove the soldiers from the street and maybe that might explain why there are no more soldiers on the street now. thank you very much. the white house has announced that president donald trump has received a letterfrom north korean leader kim jong un following up on their recent discussions in singapore about denuclearization of the korean peninsula. let‘s get more detail from our washington correspondent, chris buckler. are there any more details? we have had a short statement from the white housein had a short statement from the white house in which they have said that the ongoing correspondence is trying to advance the commitments made in that singapore summit that took place between kim jong—un and that singapore summit that took place between kimjong—un and donald trump. but the tweet gives you more ofan trump. but the tweet gives you more of an idea of what mr trump thinks. it is clear he wants to try and build on that relationship with the north korean leader, some would say an unlikely relationship. he says, thank you for keeping that promise to return some of the remains of
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soldiers who were killed in the korean war decades ago. he says, he is not at all surprised that he took this kind action. he also says, thank you for the nice letter, i look forward to seeing you soon. that is an indication he wants to see kimjong—un again to that is an indication he wants to see kim jong—un again to talk about these matters going forward. but it must be said that us intelligence agencies are concerned, there is no sign at the moment that north korea is planning to give up nuclear weapons, that pyongyang is continuing to work on missiles and satellite images have suggested that they have continued activities at those sites. that is not mentioned in the letter? no, i don't think it is. we have no details, but it is clear the white house wants to make what it can of this. but it is president trump who is leading that. the intelligence agencies are more concerned and perhaps more cautious is probably the word that should be
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used. but president trump believes he can influence kimjong—un and despite these negative reports, pyongyang is continuing to believe that in some ways it can talk to the americans but continue what it is doing. some suggestions from certain reports that it could potentially be pulling the wool over america‘s eyes. it can have conversations yet continue to develop its nuclear programme. president trump believes in kimjong—un‘s programme. president trump believes in kim jong—un‘s commitment, certainly in the suggestions from this tweet. now if you‘re watching this programme at the same time as scrolling through your phone, chances are you‘re not alone. new research by the communications regulator 0fcom suggests that we check our devices once every 12 minutes during waking hours and two in five british adults reach for their phone within five minutes of waking up. and for the first time, the number of voice calls made on mobile phones in the uk has fallen. here‘s our technology correspondent rory cellan—jones. we‘re going to make some history together today.
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2007, and steve jobs unveils apple‘s iphone. 2008, and the first android phones arrive. what has followed, according to 0fcom, is a decade where we‘ve become increasingly dependent on our smartphones. we‘re using them in all sorts of ways throughout the day, and three quarters of people questioned said they couldn‘t live without one. ten years ago, we had many different devices. we had mp3 players to listen to music. we had satellite navigation systems to take us around. today, all of that is compacted into one device, and now eight in ten of us own a smartphone, and really spend our entire lives on that smartphone. ofcom‘s research shows how addicted we are to smartphones. 40% of people check their phone within five minutes of waking up. the average person looks at their phone every 12 minutes, and spends an average of two hours and 28 minutes a day using it. while there‘s some concern about how much time we spend on them, most people think the overall impact of smartphones has been beneficial. but there‘s a big debate about manners. is it acceptable, for instance,
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to have your smartphone out at the table, checking it? the vast majority of older people say no, but around half of those under 35 think it‘s ok. we‘re all working outjust how much smartphones should change the way we live. i think it‘s made my life better, but children‘s lives worse. yeah. definitely anyone my age would be pretty dependent on a device, whether they're just walking around the city, to find their way around or to communicate with people. a few years ago, i‘d have been sitting here admiring the view, and now i‘m on my phone. so it‘s kind of swings and roundabouts, isuppose. one thing we‘re not doing so much on our phones is talking. the number of mobile voice calls has fallen for the first time. rory cellan—jones, bbc news. we‘ve heard about dogs being given awards for bravery and public service but it‘s not so often that cats are recognised for their devotion to their human companions. well, this is 8—year—old theo from redditch in
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the west midlands who has been named national cat of the year. he was nursed back from the brink of death as a desperately—ill kitten and later helped his owner survive a fatal blood clot. we can speak now to theo‘s owner — charlotte dixon — who joins us from the awards ceremony in west london. we need to start this conversation by saying that sadly theo died just a couple of days ago. he did, yes, just before i came to the cats protection awards, he passed away about a week ago. so a day of com pletely about a week ago. so a day of completely mixed emotions i am sure. let‘s look at why he won the award. this was a kitten that you took on that was desperately ill that you had to nurse around the clock at the beginning. yes, he was. after he was born we nursed him back to health
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through feeding him liquidised cat food and keeping him warm. tell us what happened. a few years later you became ill. perhaps you were not aware of it, but he certainly was. three years ago i was working part—time as a personal trainer and i was fit and healthy as far as i was aware. one night he would not let me sleep coming he kept pointing at my face, nudging my face, meowing, and just not letting me rest at all, and the following day i collapsed. the paramedic diagnosed what he thought was a blood clot and said if! what he thought was a blood clot and said if i had fallen asleep that night, i would said if i had fallen asleep that night, iwould not said if i had fallen asleep that night, i would not have woken up because of the size of the blood clot. when i was taken into hospital they confirmed a blood clot that stretched from my knee up into my pelvis and if i had relaxed and fallen asleep that night, i wouldn‘t have woken up that morning. you do believe he saved your life?
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definitely, definitely. he is a very intuitive cat and he was very caring, compassionate. ithink intuitive cat and he was very caring, compassionate. i think he just knew that night that it was not my time yet. we hear about these stories with dogs, but do you think cats get a bit of a bad rap?” stories with dogs, but do you think cats get a bit of a bad rap? i think so. cats get a bit of a bad rap? i think so. when you are here at the national cat awards, you are overwhelmed by the amount of stories you get and you hear about cats looking after owners, saving owners, having that really special bond with people. yes, it does happen with dogs, but cats have that special place in many people‘s eyes, so they often place in many people‘s eyes, so they ofte n get place in many people‘s eyes, so they often get a bad rap and this award ceremony completely overturns that and proves that they are just as special. many congratulations and as i say, special. many congratulations and as isay, an special. many congratulations and as i say, an incredibly mixed dei emotionally for you, so commiserations as well. thank you. will you be getting another cat? we
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have got three at home already. you have got three at home already. you have got three at home already. you have got your hands full. yes, i think we are fine. thank you for your time. let‘s have a look at the weather and helen willetts is here and the map suggests parts of europe are very hot indeed. absolutely, i have been having a look around and we have already reached 42 in the south and west of spain and we have got to 30 degrees in the south—east. it looks like the hottest weather will be across the south—west of spain and the south—east of portugal. that looks like were the hot air will go over the coming days. we have this hot aircoming from the coming days. we have this hot air coming from north africa and the intense heat of the sun and the cube is warming up. the cool weather front will have to shift it at this time of the year. it even goes up to
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scandinavia. it has been incredible in scandinavia for much of the summer. in scandinavia for much of the summer. like ourselves, we were having 5 degrees above average and in scandinavia it was 10—15 above average. that was day after day, which is quite remarkable. it has affected many parts of europe this summer. affected many parts of europe this summer. at the moment the intensity isa summer. at the moment the intensity is a concern in iberia and in southern parts of europe where we have got red warnings out. temperatures could go up to the high 405? temperatures could go up to the high 40s? they could. we are anticipating 47, possibly 48, and that would make ita 47, possibly 48, and that would make it a record—breaking year. last year we had just over 47 in spain and in portugal and about ten years ago that was when we last saw temperatures that high. and what about us? thankfully, it will not be
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so about us? thankfully, it will not be so hot for us. 29 and 30 is enough for me. we have an influence coming off the atlantic for the northern half of the country and that is keeping us on the right side of 30. it is further south where that warm air is clipping into the south and the east. it is going to continue to heat up, but not for all of us, just for southern and eastern parts of the country. even further north where it does not come so hot, it will still be pretty pleasant. we think 33 somewhere in the south over the next couple of days. the heat is expected to move northwards as well into northern england and wales. it will be a pleasant 23 degrees in northern ireland and scotland. very pleasant, given that the weather will be fine. we have got that heat sitting in the south for the weekend. it looks much hotter in the low countries and in france. but for ourselves, because we have got an
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atla ntic ourselves, because we have got an atlantic influence, we have got cloud coming in off the atlantic. that will produce some rain for us, particularly in northern ireland. as we go through the night, that rain comes into northern ireland and scotla nd comes into northern ireland and scotland as well and possibly the far north of england. it will not be as heavy as last night, but any rain at the moment is welcome. we could have some are coming back into northern england and north wales by the morning. another warm and muggy night for most of us. another warm and muggy day for many of us tomorrow. tomorrow a few more showers for eastern scotland and the potential for some showers for eastern scotland and the potentialfor some rain in northern england and north wales. further south and east you are, the sunnier it will be. also in eastern scotland some lovely sunshine coming through and a very pleasant temperature. into the low 20s. compare that with 31 and 32 in the south and east. a
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similar story in the weekend in that we keep the split temperature wise. a lot of dry and settled weather out there, both saturday and sunday. we have still some heat to content with, but a little bit of rain is in the forecast as well, which is good news for some of us. i sunday we may see some more rain coming into the north and west of scotland. keep up—to—date on the website. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: the bank of england has raised interest rates to three—quarters of 1% — a level not seen for almost a decade. an independent review has found missed opportunities in the care of an 18—month—old girl from cardiff who was shaken to death by her father two weeks after he adopted her. zimbabwe‘s electoral commision says it will begin releasing the results of monday‘s presidential election later tonight, amid protests over alleged vote rigging. and president trump has thanked north korean leader kim jong—un for a ‘nice letter‘, following their discussions in singapore about the denuclearisation of the korean peninsula last month.
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sport now on afternoon live withjohn. definitely a good day for the england bowlers. yes, a great day so far for england who have wrestled back control. england bowler sam curran has taken four wickets, as england wrestled back momentum on day two, having been bowled out inside ten balls of the first session this morning for 287. the surrey left—hander has put in a blistering performance, taking three wickets in eight balls, in just his second test. he added another, as he saw hardik pandya pinned lbw. ben stokes has taken two wickets of his own, one man who is still there, though, that of the india captain
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and dangerman virat kohli. the match might have a very different complexion had dawid malan not dropped him twice at slip. so this is the scorecard. india 182 for eight. mohammed shami the last wicket to go in the last few moments off the bowling of james anderson. captain virat kohli past his half century, his first test half century in england. he‘s still hanging around, but running out of batting partners. india two wickets remaining but still some way short of england‘s first innings total. rugby now. a new face to the england team. winger chris ashton has been named in the england squad for the first time in two years. he‘s not been available for selection, having played his rugby of late in france. but the winger ended his contract with toulon early, in a bid to return to the premiership, with a view to playing international rugby again. he scored 19 tries in 39 tests for england and forms part of jones‘s 44—man pre—season training squad. i think he had the idea in his head. you know, he wants to play for england. he sees it as his last opportunity.
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so we‘re very pleased he‘s made that decision and we‘re looking forward to seeing what he can bring to the table. it‘s crunch time for both england and ireland‘s hockey teams at the world cup this evening. the tournament has reached the quarter—final stage, with ireland taking on india at 6 o‘clock, while england face the world‘s number—one side — the netherlands — at quarter past eight. we can go live to lee valley now and joing our sports reporter, jo currie. a huge match ahead for england, jo. england have slowly come to the boil at this tournament. yes, hello, welcome to a sweltering hot olympic park in london for what could be a red—hot night of hockey. england were one of the favourites coming into this tournament but they had a stuttering start. they finished second behind ireland in pool b which was a shock, but it meant they had to play an extra crossover game to get into the last eight, so not on form until that point. but against korea and
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tuesday, a much better performance. they were flowing better with the ball and they scored two goals which is better than their group games. so, into form at the right stage. and they will have to be because against the netherlands tonight, they are playing the defending champions, the world number one and a team who had already scored 26 goals in their opening three games, as england midfielder susanna tamzin told me, england will have to be at their very best this evening. obviously, they have had a good tournament so far and hopefully, we will be one of their first tests. we have had some good results against them as we are very aware and i am sure they will be as well and we will do we do our homework. we are confident we have got two wins in the last couple of games and we go into it doing the same as we did and try and get a good result. they will need to score goals and keep out the free scoring netherlands side. and what about ireland‘s chances against india ? well, what a tournament ireland are having in their first world cup
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since 2002, and they are really going for it, they are the surprise package. they are ranked 16th in the world and have never reached the quarterfinals before so this is new territory. already the biggest game in the country‘s history. tonight, because of the way the format works out, they are playing a team, india, who they have beaten once in the group stage so ireland very much dreaming ofa group stage so ireland very much dreaming of a place in the semifinals and they will be backed all the way by the irish supporters and you can hear them before you see them, ican and you can hear them before you see them, i can tell you! what a spectacle it will be there tonight for those two big matches. for the moment, many thanks indeed. that is all the sport for now, simon, it is back to you. 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. let‘s go to matt graveling, in southampton, where he‘s been
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investigating the loss of council housing stock across the region. and ken macdonald is in glasgow, where‘s he‘s been taking a look at attempts to map wildfires using satalitte images. interesting, we‘ll be back to you in a moment. afternoon, matt. we are talking about council selling stock quicker than they are buying it. the study looked at the number of social housing councils were selling through right to buy. it is a government scheme launched by margaret thatcher and it offers people a big discount to buy their council house to help them get on the property ladder. the first—ever council house sold through right to buy in 1918 council house sold through right to buy in1918 in council house sold through right to buy in 1918 in essex, it went for around £8,000 with a pipe and deposit. this sale was not the last and in the decades that followed, it has been widely reported that 1.5
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million council houses were sold. but the people eligible who bought their home, this was great news, for those who did not, the right to buy and having a council house, they have watched the available stock dwindle away. the investigation found in the south, major towns and cities are selling for more social housing than they are replacing. between 2015 and 2017, southampton city council sold 372 properties and only replaced a quarter of this. portsmouth city council sold 271, replacing just over half and reading borough council sold 127 and only replaced half. this is news that has angered those currently waiting to be housed. they are building houses, but they are not letting the home must have them. they are letting people that have more money than the homeless, than homeless people. like, if you have not got money and this and
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that, you are not going to get somewhere nice, you will have to wait years and years to be put somewhere or be put in a shared house where everything goes wrong. sol house where everything goes wrong. so i think there should be more houses were homeless people should be put. what the government saying about this? simon, having spoken to councils in southampton and reading, they have told me similar things, and they are being made to sell these houses because of the government scheme. but on top of that, they cannot build the new houses because the government has made it very hard to borrow money. one council in southampton described it to me as a perfect storm. i also spoke to the national homeless charity shelter to get their thoughts. weeping councils are caught in a catch—22 here. they are receiving very little of the money back when a home is sold so the only get a small portion from every sale. but even with the money that they do get, there really tight strings attached how they can spend that money. and often, they are asked borrow a lot
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often, they are asked borrow a lot of money to pay for the new homes but at the same time, they are being told they can't borrow any more money. simon, we have also heard from the government who said they were not available for an interview but in a statement, they said, since 2010, we have helped 90,730 households through right to buy and the latest figures showed the council have delivered 94% of the replacements required to meet their one—for—one target. they say they are ambitious to do more which is why they are investing over £9 billion in affordable homes and enabling councils to borrow an extra £1 billion to build more social housing. they said they will be consulting further to ensure they support local authorities so they can deliver more council homes. more on this on bbc south today at 6:30 p:m.. on bbc one, thank you very much. let‘s go to glasgow. the idea of mapping wildfires, how does that work? teaching -- taking pictures
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from space is not new but this is the copernicus programme, it is owned and run by the european commission and managed ideal european space agency. it is the world‘s biggest programme of earth observation. the two satellite i have been interested in are called central to an and to be, they orbit the earth 180 degrees apart and you can get great detail of what is happening on the land. that is particularly important when scottish national heritage is trying to walk out the extent of wildfires and how severe they have been. the big difference is, it is the detail and the speed. the key thing for us is being able to get good quality imagery, and in scotland, we have an image getting quite free imagery. the sentinel imagery is good because we have two satellites, over on a regular basis.
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and we get imagery every two to three days and that is really good, a big improvement on what we have had available before. simon, time is of the essence. even on the occasions when it is going to bea on the occasions when it is going to be a couple of days before they come over, and look at scotland again, there is an emergency system the european space agency runs and what you can do, what they do, is commission a commercial satellite to ta ke commission a commercial satellite to take a quick look. and that happened quite recently, scottish national heritage asked a luck be taken at a big wildfire and the aftermath of it in northern sutherland which is very wrote, and the sentinels could not get to it in time and the images with crucial —— remote. get to it in time and the images with crucial -- remote. having the images is one thing, what they do with it? yes, satellites don't put out fires! it is the next best thing. it can take a long time for
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them to regenerate after a wildfire and there is thousands of years worth of carbon for example stored in bogs. i was at a wildfire in sutherland and some parts of it or orange which means the soil has burned. this tells you how badly different types of vegetation have been affected. heather, for example, can take five, ten, 15 years to grow again. nature will take its course but it could take a different course and grasses will become established there which affects animal habitats and insect life and the nature of the land itself. what this means, they can adopt or suggest to local people ways in which they can get the right results for what they want the right results for what they want the land, how they want the lands to recover. it can be something as simple as whether or not you can graze sheep and it describes —— determines whether heather comes back or whether grass turns up immediately. thank you very much for
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that, thank you both very much, that was nationwide. if you would like to see more on those stories, you can access them on the bbc iplayer, and we go nationwide every day at 4:30pm on afternoon live. pope francis has changed the teachings of the catholic faith to officially oppose the death penalty. previously, the church had taught that the death penalty was acceptable in extreme cases. our rome vorrespondent, james reynolds, has more. the church may base its faith on an unchanging bible, but it has shown repeatedly throughout the centuries that it is willing to update and change its teachings. remember, in the middle ages, popes called on christians to fight holy war, popes commanded armies, they did not show any anxiety about the enemies they called on their soldiers to kill. but in modern times,
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popes reinvented themselves as symbols of global peace, and until now, the pope‘s teaching on the death penalty, the church‘s teaching on the death penalty, was that it was "an acceptable, albeit extreme means, of safeguarding the common good". but pope francis has made mercy a theme of his papacy and he has decided that the current teaching has to go. he has now ruled that the death penalty is "inadmissible" and that puts him and the church in potential conflict, in particular with conservative catholics in america, who have said that capital punishment may be justified. rachel is writing away and she will soon rachel is writing away and she will soon be finishing her prescription! the headlines first on afternoon live. interest rates rise to 0.75%, the highest they‘ve been for almost a decade. the murder of an 18—month—old girl by her adoptive father could have
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been prevented, but a review finds he was seen as a "positive parent". addicted to our mobiles: britons now check their phones every 12 minutes. notjust not just rachel! 0fcom finds the uk in a state of "digital dependency". they voted 9—0 in favour, the bank of england base rate has risen to 0.75%. energy supplier npower has been fined £2.4 million by watchdog ofgem after they failed to install around 4,000 advanced meters for business customers by an april 2014 deadline. they also wrongly installed about 200 traditional meters. northern ireland had the highest public spending per person of any region of the uk in 2017, that‘s according to figures from the office for national statistics. spending per person in northern ireland was £13,954, while the lowest expenditure
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was in the east of england, at £10,649 per person. don‘t touch that bone for another ten minutes! iam ten minutes! i am keeping an eye on the apple share price, i will tell you which at the end. our main story today has been the interest rate rise. what impact has it had on the markets? a bank of england base rate of 0.75% doesn‘t sound much, but it‘s the first time it‘s been above 0.5% since march 2009. for that reason, it‘s a very significant rise, but it was also a very expected one. we did see some movment on the markets. sterling rose, as you would expect. but stirling pulled back a little. mark carney the government of the
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bank of england was very clear any future rate rises, he said they would be limited and gradual. that threat by president donald trump to more than double the already threatened but not yet in place tariffs on $200bn worth going forward, in the first—quarter figures are barclays, there were fines they pay to the us government. they have put aside money for pp! insurance payment going for. this is a legal overhang on barclays about how they raise money during the financial crisis. that is a genuine unknown for markets. the core
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business of barclays is performing well. the boss, jess daily, was at pains to point out how well it was performing. the future uncertainty of this legal action with future trading. thank you for your time. we have breaking news. apple... our new york correspondence has been following this in detail. she says it has got to be 20704. you argued with me and i was right. if it has
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become the first $1 trillion company, that would make it the most valuable company in the world. obviously, with inflation, other companies may have been that size previously. they have. i will verify it and previously. they have. i will verify itandi previously. they have. i will verify it and i will let you know. exciting. let‘s look at the uk markets. the ftse100 was down 1%, as we discussed, because sterling was slightly stronger following that interest rate increase. other issues affecting the market. current trade wa rs affecting the market. current trade wars with china. rbs results tomorrow. international consolidated our lives, our parent of british airways, and the pound is worth $1.30. iwill airways, and the pound is worth $1.30. i will credit reuters with that. but that is breaking news, and
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very exciting. very exciting. thank you very much. last december, an indian medical student turned model was crowned miss world. winning the title put on the cover of magazines around the world and gave opportunities. the title also gives the winner the chance to bring prominence to issues close to the heart. in her case, that was menstrual hygiene. miss world 2017 is... india. the blue crown, as it is commonly referred to, is passed on each year. it was made by the queen'sjewellers, to
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recognise beauty with a purpose and for miss recognise beauty with a purpose and formiss —— recognise beauty with a purpose and for miss —— and what miss world stands for. it gives you an energy where you automatically realise your responsibilities and the kind of expectations that come with that crown. one of your focuses is on menstrual hygiene, still a taboo subject in india. what type of reaction did you get? it is notjust in india. the cause might be different, but it has been an issue across many countries of the world. there are a lot of cultural backdrops, and people just don't wa nt backdrops, and people just don't want to talk about it and they don't wa nt want to talk about it and they don't want to talk about it and they don't want to be seen associated with it. my mission is to empower girls and build their confidence. menstruation is our strength and shouldn't limit us in any way. they should know what is available out there, how to use those different products and why it is important to use them. apart from
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that, different hygiene practices you should follow. there are places in india where they said that you're not allowed to bay during menstruation, which is one of the worst hygienic practices you can have. critics would say that beauty pa g ea nts have. critics would say that beauty pageants objectify women. what is your take on that? it is an old debate, and being a person who has had a wonderfuljourney in beauty pageants, i would say that they empower women. they do not objectify them. the last indian to win miss world went on to be a big bollywood star and now a hollywood star. is that something you want to do as well? they often are bollywood actresses, and others have had different journeys. i know actresses, and others have had differentjourneys. i know my journey will be different. it has
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been very different already. i think, because i'm a different person, i will have a different story. i still have college to complete, i have my studies. there is one thing i will not lie about, i do enjoy being in front of the camera. do enjoy being in front of the camera. i don't have my duties right now, but when i'm done with this, maybe, maybe not. you have had bollywood offers? i am very fortunate. i have. a retired couple from aberdeenshire have one aim lottery jackpot. they from aberdeenshire have one aim lotteryjackpot. they match the numbers in the euro millions draw on the 10th ofjuly, but it was nearly not to be after the winning ticket was mistakenly ripped into mac. basically, he checked it, tour the
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ticket in half, put it in the bin, then the machine printed out the winning slip you normally get, but no figures on it. itjust said, contact lottery headquarters. but mind you thought it was just 5.7. i say just. .. mind you thought it was just 5.7. i sayjust... i mind you thought it was just 5.7. i say just. .. i would mind you thought it was just 5.7. i sayjust... iwould be mind you thought it was just 5.7. i sayjust... i would be happy with that! i really don't know. i thought 5.7 million was a good figure, but it was even better. just a bit! that‘s it from the afternoon live team. next, the news at five with jane hill. let‘s have a look at the weather. in the west, more cloud, and that has been thickening up and will bring rain, late afternoon, early evening. as you can imagine, with
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all that cloud around again, there will be misty and murky conditions over the hills and around the coast. it will be another fairly muggy night. more so in the south and east. it will dawn on a cloudy note. cloudy with persistent rain for parts of northern england and north wales. when the showers developing the north, it will still feel very pleasant, temperatures in the low 20s. the low 30s are on the cards in the south—east. something more pleasa nt the south—east. something more pleasant unbearable for the north. the bank of england raises interest rates to their highest level since 2009. it means the cost of borrowing the live —— rise, with loans and mortgages to increase. the element we wa nt mortgages to increase. the element we want to ensure that inflation comes down to that 2% target and stays there. that is why a modest
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adjustment in interest rates is necessary. we will have more details on how the rate rise will impact you. the other main stories at five: in zimbabwe, troops have closed shops and ordered people off the streets in some parts of harare as the nation waits for the results of the presidential election. chances were missed to
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