tv BBC Newsroom Live BBC News September 27, 2018 11:00am-1:00pm BST
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this is bbc news. these are the top stories developing at 11.003m: ‘like a disaster movie'. the head of the london fire brigade tells the grenfell inquiry her reaction on arriving at the scene of the fire. donald trump suggests he could withdraw his support for supreme court candidate brett kava naugh as his accuser prepares to testify at the senate panel hearing. we are giving the women a major chance to speak. it's possible i will hear that and say i am changing my mind. russia denies one of the men accused of the salisbury poisonings is a decorated russian military officer. ambulances in england face missing response targets if the service fails to make changes to the way patients are treated. also today, calls for a crackdown on cheating at university. hsbc bank apologises after a customer is told his letter to them written in welsh is in a ‘foreign language‘.
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good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the commissioner of the london fire brigade has been giving evidence at the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire. dany cotton said she hadn‘t been given any specific training on the spread of fire in cladding on a high rise building. she also told the hearing that many aspects of the fire were unprecedented. we can speak to our news correspondent lisa hampele. as news of what she says filters
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through you get a real sense of her horror as she arrived at the scene. absolutely. she had been a firefighter since the age of 18 and she had been in thisjob as firefighter since the age of 18 and she had been in this job as the firefighter since the age of 18 and she had been in thisjob as the head of london fire brigade forjust six months. she got a call atjust after 2am in the morning from somebody was normally very calm but this person was not come this time. she raced there and got to the fire at 2:30am before the decision was made that people should be staying there. as she arrived she saw the flames in the distance and she said it was like a horror movie. she said that
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when she got there she touched some of the firefighters because she was not sure they would be able to get out of the building. we have heard her being questioned today by counsel for the enquiry and they have been asking about her training and she has been asked many times about her training and said she had not been trained for a fire that spread it so quickly. she cantref member having had training for a very long time. she had helped with the setting up of the training and she had been a firefighter for a long time. she will be questioned more about the fire brigade decided was correct and she said they had never seen such was correct and she said they had never seen such a
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was correct and she said they had never seen such a significant failure of the building and nobody could have thought that a building would behave like this. she thought the decision to stay put was the right one. let'sjust go inside the enquiry. is that a convenient moment. we will take a short break for everyone's benefit. moment. we will take a short break for eve ryone's benefit. i moment. we will take a short break for everyone's benefit. i have to ask you not to talk to anyone about your evidence and we will resume at 11:15am. timing is everything as they say. the enquiryjust announcing a short break in danny cotton‘s evidence on the ground felt oui’ cotton‘s evidence on the ground felt our fire. a third woman has accused donald trump‘s supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of serious sexual assault.
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the allegations are said to be more serious than those which have already been made by two other women. later today, he and the first woman to accuse him, christine blasey ford, will be questioned by a senate committee. here‘s chris buckler with more. a nominee to sit on america‘s highest court will walk into a senate room later as the accused, and brett kavanaugh‘s testimony will be weighed against one of his accusers. in her opening statement to the judiciary committee, christine blasey ford says she remembers a teenage brett kavanaugh drunkenly groping her, trying to remove her clothes and believing he was going to rape her. all of which he denies. despite this and other accusations, donald trump is standing by the man he wants as his next to supreme courtjustice. they know it‘s a big fat con job. but the president says he will listen to what doctor blasey ford has to say. now, it‘s possible i‘ll hear that and i‘ll say, "hey, i‘m changing my mind."
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that is possible. we want to give them a chance to speak. another woman, deborah ramirez, claims brett kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party. and a third accuser, julie swetnick, says as a high school student she saw him press up against girls and expose their body parts. judge kavanaugh, what is your response to allegations? she also claimsjudge kavanaugh was present at a party when she was gang raped, although there is no suggestion that he was involved. he‘s called the accusations ridiculous and from the twilight zone. we have had accusation after accusation. very few of the mark operated. this hearing is not a trial,
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but with america watching, president trump‘s choice to become a supreme courtjustice knows he will have to subject himself to the court of public opinion. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. donald trump says he doesn t have a timeframe for north korea to denuclearize. he was speaking shortly after his secretary of state mike pompeo said he planned to visit pyongyang next month to set up a second summit with the north korean leader kim jong un. mr pompeo will be chairing a special session of the security council later. our state department correspondent barbara plett usher sent us this update. the us is moving forward on negotiations with north korea. it will be part of the security council session talking about how they are planning to go forward with this and
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also perhaps the americans will want other members to push north korea to do this. the americans are clear they want to keep up the maximum pressure to give them leverage in the negotiations that the chinese and russians say shang sends should be eased. —— sanctions. the americans have: russia as a major —— major cheater. he will definitely stressed the importance of keeping up stressed the importance of keeping up sanctions. mr trump has been talking up north korea as part of a big diplomatic achievement that the un, especially his great relationship with kim jong—un. he told mr pompeii are not to set a timeline for dean up the resolution. it could take three years, five months, as long as there are no
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nuclear tests in the sanctions remain doesn‘t matter. which is something kim jong—un would like to hear. china has rejected a charge made by president trump, that beijing is interfering in november‘s mid—term elections in the united states. mr trump said china didn‘t want his republican party to win because his administration was challenging china on trade. he did not present any evidence against china. we do not and will not interfere with any countries. we are refused to accept accusations against china. speaking to reporters later, president trump insisted that china respected him and his ability to defend american interests. if you look at the leading authority on china, he was good show recently, and he said china has total respect the donald trump of the donald trump cosmic very large brain.
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a review of the ambulance service in england has concluded that the nhs could save hundreds of millions of pounds each year if more patients were treated at the scene. the report says the service is being undermined by outdated vehicles, a failure to make use of new technology as well as high levels of staff bullying. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. ambulance services across england are getting busier. ten different nhs trusts handle 10 million emergency calls a year, most of them lead to an ambulance crew being dispatched. now, a review says some big savings could be made if paramedics are able to treat people closer to the scene. in some areas of the country we are taking more people to hospital then we need to. the effect of that is, people fill the beds up, particularly in the winter, that we need for other people. so critically, keeping that down is the way to do it. that early diagnosis when the paramedic arrives on scene is the critical factor in this. the report into the state
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of the ambulance service in england found that paramedics are having to work with an ageing fleet of vehicles that will soon need replacing. levels of sick leave and complaints over bullying and harassment are the highest in the nhs. and there‘s a wide variation in how trusts use new technology to take calls, dispatch crews and even treat patients. one idea is to allow ambulance crews to directly access online medical information. being able to access patient records at the patient's side clearly makes patient care better in the fact that we can make better clinical decisions and appropriately transport our patients to places of definitive care, keeping them out of emergency departments where they are not necessarily going to get the best treatment. today‘s report says that with better report for staff and by treating patients closer to the scene, savings of up to half £1 billion of could be achieved. that could improve response times and ease pressure on hard—pressed
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accident and emergency departments. dominic hughes, bbc news. let‘s look at some of today‘s other developing stories. two men have been arrested following a shooting in essex last night. the victim, a 19—year—old man, is in a serious condition in basildon hospital with a gunshot wound to his stomach. a 36—year—old man from tilbury and a ao—year—old man in stanford—le—hope were held on suspicion of attempted murder. a square in brussels will be named after the murdered labour mpjo cox today. ms cox, who was killed by a right—wing extremist in 2016, lived in the city for two years as an assistant to an mep. members of her family will attend the naming ceremony. meal replacement diets should be part of nhs treatments to tackle obesity, according to a leading medical journal. a study by the bmj showed that diets consisting of shakes and soups
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are effective at achieving rapid weight loss in the most severely obese, and can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. the programmes are not available on the nhs. some experts say they only work if eating habits change permanently. for a full summary of the news, you can go to our website and find more details. one of the men accused of the salisbury nerve agent poisoning has been named as a high ranking russian military officer. the uk—based online investigation website, bellingcat, claims the man, who was known as ruslan boshirov, is actually a decorated colonel who fought in chechnya. jon donnison reports. he called himself ruslan boshirov when he arrived in the uk in march. he said he was a tourist. but this is who it‘s thought he really is, colonel anatoliy chepiga, a russian military intelligence officer. the online investigative journalist the site bellingcat said
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he was born in 1978. he is thought to have fought with the russian military in chechnya and was awarded russia‘s highest decoration, hero of the russian federation. using the alias ruslan boshirov, the british government believes he travelled to salisbury with another agent, calling himself alexander petrov. their mission, to try to kill sergei skripal using a nerve agent hidden in this perfume bottle. british officials have not commented on bellingcat‘s revelations, but the bbc understands there is no dispute in its identifying of anatoliy chepiga. speaking at the un in new york, theresa may again strongly attacked russia‘s actions. in response, russia said britain‘s allegations were "kindergarten stuff". jon donnison, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news:
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donald trump says he could with straw his support for brett kavanagh as his accuser prepares to testify against him. and analyses in england face missing response targets if the service fails to make changes to the way patients are treated. in sport, the united states are not suffering with scar tissue despite not winning the ryder cup on foreign soil the 25 yea rs. the ryder cup on foreign soil the 25 years. tiger woods and phil mickelson have always been on the losing side away from home but jordan spieth says that would affect the end of players. eden hazard came off the bench to score a sublime women to send chelsea into the next round of the league cup as they beat liverpool at anfield. the sides will meet again in the premier league on
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saturday. and mr gramm video of paul pogba laughing during manchester united‘s defeat against derby led to a frosty exchange of words between he and his managerjosey marini at training yesterday. —— jose mourinho. ten of the uk s biggest companies have agreed to make their parental leave policies public for the first time. it comes as part of a push to force all large firms to publish details of their pay, so that candidates won‘t have to ask when being interviewed. our correspondent colletta smith reports. where do you see yourself over the next 3—5 years? it‘s the end of a job interview and you are asked, "is there anything you would like to know from us?" well, some questions mightjust be too tricky, like asking how much you get paid on parental leave, and how long for? while some have decided to go public off their own bats, the liberal democrats want to make
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it compulsory for all big companies, in the same way that they have to publish their gender pay gap. this would also require companies of the same size to publish their parental pay policies and i think that that would similarly lead to much more questions being asked. in the boardroom and also, frankly, down in the local cafe when people are talking about their employers, about who has the better policy. this could be harder to implement for smaller companies, but if they see a benefit, then job—hunting for parents and potential parents, might get easier. colletta smith, bbc news. the heads of 45 universities and colleges are calling on the government to ban companies that offer essay—writing services, allowing students to cheat. they say the firms, known as "essay mills", undermine the integrity of higher education and are unfair to other students. critics say it‘s a form of "academic fraud". lets get more on this from thomas lancaster. he‘s an expert in academic integrity and a senior fellow at imperial college. how big a problem is this? give us a
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sense of the scale of it. we think it‘s a massive problem. it‘s hard to know how many students are cheating because they don‘t get caught. some of the latest research says one in seven students we would expect to see getting someone else to write their essays for them before the end of the course. hywel gwynfryn lecturers know their students? that is at the core of this. it's not com pletely is at the core of this. it's not completely naive but it‘s not the case all the time. a typical lecture might have 200 assignments to mark from across a large groups of they would know all those students. it
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may be that in my case i will get to know certain students, perhaps the ones who do high—quality work or the ones who do high—quality work or the ones who do high—quality work or the ones who ask for a lot of help, but other students may not be quite so memorable. so beyond lecturers picking up on something which isn‘t quite right, what else can universities do? they're kinds of things going on. the latest callers to make advertising the service is illegal which would be a pick—up. there will be companies outside university gates giving up business cards to students and they will be companies giving messages on social media. reducing vat amount of visibility is a big thing. alongside that i think we need to think very much about how we assess students and get them to do more things than
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write essays. how else do you make it harderfor this write essays. how else do you make it harder for this contract cheating to existence of i‘ve because the universities want government to do more and the government says universities should be doing more. should these essay mills be made illegal? certainly because they are not doing any services to students apart from helping them get a degree they don‘t deserve. so we need to get behind this call to make the service is illegal. if you make it illegal in the uk, what they moved to another country? we reduce their visibility of advertising and the fa ct visibility of advertising and the fact the student then those they are committing an act which is next to an illegal activity will cause many
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stu d e nts to an illegal activity will cause many students to have second thoughts and they will put the timing to do their own work. we were returned to the crane fell enquiry. she is being asked now about her previous fire in shepherd‘s bush in london. you consider this issue as the risk assessment process and suggest you make sure relevant information about any facade schemes was fully available to fire risk assessors. when no reliable
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information is available at our expectation the strategy to assess the risk. this assessment...” expectation the strategy to assess the risk. this assessment... i am not sure we have actually had the releva nt not sure we have actually had the relevant passage. i am so sorry, it's the last allograft. i thought strongly urge you to consider this issue as part of the risk assessment. if we can look at the last paragraph of the second page. if you just cast your eye over that. i suggest you make sure all the information about replacement windows is available to
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fire risk assessors. four. this assessment will need to take account of the fire safety measures in the building as well as measures to ensure fire spread is not pose a risk to health and safety. my question is for the purposes of training to you now what plans he had in place to ensure that firefighters at all levels are understood the risk identified in this letter? now i don't. i understood the risk identified in this letter? nowl don't. i don't think we would have trained our firefighters specifically in relation to this risk because this was talking about people in local
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authorities setting buildings so firefighters will receive a training package around the risk of external fire spread. does that not indicate to you and important risk around high—rise residential blocks was not being briefed to operational firefighters on the front line? i don't think that‘s the case because external fires are unpredictable. although shepherd caught was a different fire they still faced the same hazards effectively of failing panels, the risk of those falling in the risk of fire spreading. what we would not seek to do, it would be difficult to
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develop a new training package every time there was a different fire. doesn't this letter demonstrate that at least by april 2017 the risk of external fire spread was a result of exterior is being made of constituent material. we were asking local authorities to support us by checking the buildings and checking the fire safety prevention measures because it‘s the responsibility of the responsible people in the local authorities to make sure those buildings are fit for purpose residents and also for us to be able to respond in the event of a fire. it is on our radar but the risk from that external fire spread was never something cuddly today on the scale
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of grenfell. in terms of the nature of grenfell. in terms of the nature of this risk, can you tell me why front line firefighters were not aware of this risk in this way?|j aware of this risk in this way?” would say they would have understanding from other fires. would say they would have understanding from otherfires. they had not had specific training around at. why? why did front line firefighters not have operational training on how to assess and deal with the risk that this letter talks about. the first part about assessing the risk, senior officers
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could not look at the building now and assess whether of not it was combustible because they don‘t have the ability to do that. as to training, london fire brigade, there are many complex risks in london with different factors in different situations. we try and give our firefighters the most up—to—date training and what we have to do to save lives. we would prioritise the training firefighters would need to be able to deal with the highest risk as we see them. this would be another of different risks so i would suspect in any of the departments of the different risks we become aware of wee factor whether we can provide training on.
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if you look at the risks involving vehicles, we provide training with new technology and cars means that firefighters have to approach getting a car in a different way. so it‘s about balancing what that risk is, balancing the need for training and balancing who is best placed to receive that training. in this case we re receive that training. in this case were asking local authorities to assist us to do those inspections to make sure the premises are safe and make sure the premises are safe and make sure the premises are safe and make sure they are fit for purpose. it would be very difficult for us to be able to go out and make an assessment of all those buildings andi assessment of all those buildings and i would find it difficult to train firefighters to be able to make any kind of assessment on that because it would take qualified building engineers. she was talking there about the level of training given to firefighters and speaking also about how they approach
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buildings that are on fire with an expectation of our fire is going to spread based on checks the lapping carried out on buildings by local authorities. we will continue to keep an eye on danny cotton‘s evidence to the enquiry and bring you any other major news from it. the former leader of the fire —— far right in this defence league has had his hearing at the old bailey adjourned. a lot of tony robinson supporters are at the old bailey. tell us what‘s been going on. are at the old bailey. tell us what's been going on. if you look behind me, you can see several hundred of his supporters all gathered around the entrance to the 0ld gathered around the entrance to the old bailey waiting for tommy
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robinson to leave court after what has turned out to be a surprise adjournment. we did fully expect the case against him to be heard in full. earlier this year he turned about leeds crown court and did a live broadcast on facebook at an ongoing trial. we can‘t talk in detail about the specifics of that trial but what we can say is it was a trial of asian men accused of sexual grooming. what he is accused of doing is filming defendants and making allegations in this facebook broadcast which was watched by around 250,000 people and it was an alleged contempt of court. he ended up alleged contempt of court. he ended up in prison because he had already
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been found in contempt of court there before the doing something similarand was there before the doing something similar and was told on that occasion he would go to prison if he repeated the same stunt on social media. too being injail is for 13 months. in this summer, he partially won on appeal, was released from from prison on bailfor his case won on appeal, was released from from prison on bail for his case to be reheard today at the old bailey, because it had been accepted that mr glennon had not had a property opportunity to examine what the allegations are, exactly what it was in his video that was so offensive to the justice at in his video that was so offensive to thejustice at leeds crown court, and was not given time to effectively mountie defence. he has had eight months to do this, but now
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the whole matter has gone off, probably until october. before i came out, i had a quick chat with tommy robinson, and has position is that the whole business has been delayed because, in his view, everybody wants him in prison for christmas. he believes that his prosecution is politically, effectively prosecuting them politically, because all he was too much reporting facts. the key issue for the old bailey to decide is whether that defence holds work, i bother the live broadcast on facebook effectively, potentially influenced a trial and led to that file collapsing. thank you for that update. temperatures today
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getting up into the mid—20s a game, but this is the seeing in cornwall. they‘re very similar picture across parts of england and wales. we have clouded and rain across scotland and northern ireland which is moving south, and it will break up, so there will be sunny spells and to there will be sunny spells and to the side with summer showers. they temperatures will drop from yesterday, about 1k temperatures will drop from yesterday, about 1a to 16 degrees. most pa rt yesterday, about 1a to 16 degrees. most part of england and wales will have the warm afternoon. tonight, across southern areas, it will be a mild night compared to last. north of that. it‘s surely a night, temperatures down to about three of frostbite degrees. friday is another dry and sunny day. temperatures down to 16 or 17 degrees. this is bbc news.
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our latest headlines: the head of the london fire brigade tells the grenfell inquiry she had not received any specific training on how to deal with the spread with the spread of cladding fire in high rise blocks. donald trump suggests he could withdraw his support for supreme court candidate brett kavanaugh — as his accuser prepares to testify at the senate panel hearing. a russian man accused of the salisbury poisoning is a military officer who received an honourfrom vladimir putin, an investigative website says. "not a taxi service" — health experts call for an overhaul of ambulance services as a report shows responders are missing key targets for emergency care. time for a look at the sport, now. good morning. this time tomorrow the ryder cup
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will be well underway in paris, with team usa eyeing their first win on european tour soilfor 25 years. they are the favourites, though, as both teams go through final preparations. john watson is one of the lucky onlookers at le golf national. john, can you feel things starting to get a bit more serious now? absolutely. no doubt about it. huge anticipation for the and you can see the europeans behind me on their final practice day before it all gets under way tomorrow. really interesting to see the final groups, with tiger woods being paired in the same grip with phil mickelson elliott on this big. he has been added alongsidejustin thomas and patrick reed today. science, perhaps, that the usa captain will bea perhaps, that the usa captain will be a loving them to resume after that case the successful spell they had two years ago, which would leave
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words to play alongside justin thomas. science at the europeans can light up in the opening matches. we will know those paintings when the announcement comes at the opening ceremony at four o‘clock this afternoon. the americans have had a tough time away from home. they have blood won —— not won away from home and 25 years. it has not gone the way. jordan spieth does not think that will count against the american team. there is only a couple of guys who have any sort of scar tissue on playing away. the archive for 20 majors. i mean, we're not worried about the two older guys on the team that have scar tissue. the rest of as black as simply here looking at
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this week as an opportunity for us to show that golfers from the united states can beat golfers from europe, and we can do it over here. that is the goal. really interesting to hear what alex had to say today. he said the european team were already aware of those paintings. rory mcilroy we re of those paintings. rory mcilroy were saying how exciting it says that the ryder cup is here. here, they are playing on the same team. that is the excitement the ryder cup brings. you can see the crowds here are ready for the final practice rounds. they‘re just goes to illustrate how hugely anticipated that competition is. it is all set up that competition is. it is all set up you to flick, and it all gets up tomorrow —— under way tomorrow. that‘s all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories
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on the bbc sport website. let‘s return to one of our top stories — a third woman has accused donald trump‘s supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of serious sexual assault. later today, he and the first woman to accuse him, christine blasey ford, will be questioned by a senate committee. mr kavanaugh has described the claims as ridiculous. so, what can we expect from today‘s hearing? it‘s expected to start at three o clock uk time and could last up to five hours. christine blasey ford will deliver her opening statement, and the 21 senators on the committee will then have five minutes each to ask questions. she will leave the room, and brett kavanaugh will then deliver his statement and face the same round of questions. in statement already released, professor blasey ford described the impact the alleged assault has had on her: she said... in his deposition, judge kavanaugh repeated his denial
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of all allegations: he said... last night president trump said he was open to changing his mind once he had heard professor ford testify. they are getting the women in major chance to speak. now, it is possible i would hear that and say, i am changing my mind. it is possible. we wa nt to changing my mind. it is possible. we want to give them a times to speak. we have delivered this a long time, but they can have a big shot this weekend making their case, and do you know what? i could be persuaded also. the republican senator jeff flake has criticised the president for challenging professor christine blasey ford because she did not report the alleged assault immediately. what i do know is that i don‘t
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believe that doctor ford is part of some vast conspiracy from start to finish to spearjudge kavanagh, as has been alleged by some of me right. and i do know that i‘d do not believe thatjudge kavaunagh is a serial criminal, as some have claimed on the left. i do not believe the claim of sexual assault is invalid because a 15—year—old did not properly report this to the authorities, as the president of the united states said two days ago. had an informed and uncaring but we have to be to say things like that, much less believe them? do they have any
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idea what kind of message that sends, especially to young woman. the democrat and senate minority leader, chuck schumer, said brett kavanaugh should stand aside. i strongly believe thatjudge kavaunagh should withdraw from consideration, and the president should withdraw the nomination if judge kavaunagh doesn‘t voluntarily. if he does not, at the very least, the ceiling should be postponed about the fbi investigate these serious, very troubling allegations. ifa serious, very troubling allegations. if a republican colleagues rushed to proceed without an investigation, it would be a travesty. giuliana —— to the honour of the supreme court and the honour of the supreme court and the honour of our country. 0nline scams involving modelling, cryptocurrencies and fake tickets are among the rising threats posed by fraudsters, according to national trading standards.
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the uk consumer protection organisation has published its consumer harm report which details more than 100 criminal convictions and fraudsters jailed for a record total of 230 years. for more on this, let‘s talk to lord toby harris, who‘s chair of national trading standards. 0ne one of the big issues that you are identifying tenure and the report, hot on the heels of the world cup, is your 2020. tell us about that. what is already clear is that we are going to see the same sort of ticketing scams for other tenements and other big events, with people offering cut—price tickets. if you see an offer for tickets now, that is clearly a scam, because they are not available. they are not even out. we would also anticipate there
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will be fake kit, fake merchandise and so on. all of this being sold cut—price, seeming like a bargain, but in reality, you will lose your money. if you buy a ticket, you may well find it doesn‘t get you into the ground. if you buy the kit, they may just fall apart. the ground. if you buy the kit, they mayjust fall apart. but some of the scams you have identified an even more serious than that, because it could potentially cause physical harm our loss of life. yes, for example, there seems to be increasing growth of the sale, usually through social media sites, of skin lightening creams. some of those contain really less take chronicles which can cause scarring and permanent damage. that is clearly a worry. they really dreadful thing about all of this, as these people are cynically targeting very vulnerable people. they often
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target the elderly. there is even a trade in suckers list between different criminals saying, we have discovered so and so is an easy touch. here is the contact details. and presumably they charge a fee for passing on that information. tellers about what you had national trading standards have been doing. about what you had national trading standards have been doingm about what you had national trading standards have been doing. it has been a whole range of things, because that is a number of specialist teams. some of them deal with injuries it‘s coming and reports. fire blankets was one i‘d read about. yes, fire blankets which don‘t work, let‘s get out noxious fumes. we work on things like that. dramatically, we got a big conviction in the last few months for copycat websites. so, people who think they are clicking onto the official sites to get a passport or
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european health insurance card or something, they go to the fraudster, the foster takes perhaps two three times the money to get the card. we reckon that perhaps 1 million people broke and by the individuals who went to jail, and that they have taken over went to jail, and that they have ta ken over £37 went to jail, and that they have taken over £37 million from the various scams that they were operating. he should successfully give. what proportion of your work is online based, tracking down these online scammers, the people who are operating fake websites? we are finding an increasing proportion of the work is online. nearly every scam has an online component. it may be the dodgy guy who turned up on the doorstep also, here as our website, or it may be people selling things through social media. for some strange things through social media. for
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some strange reason, we are more inclined to trust somebody selling as something so social media than the dodgy guy on the doorstep. that is why we are focusing on what is happening online, to develop skills to track back what is behind various schemes, and where we can we will ta ke schemes, and where we can we will take them to court. obviously, you wa nt take them to court. obviously, you want people to be sceptical, to check, but if there was one key piece of advice you could offer to consumers when they are checking out, one a website on an individual they want to buy something from, what would that be? the simplest thing is, if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. if you are on a website, is there a proper, real address associated with it. is that a landline phone number. is it filled both spellings? all of those tank should put you on your guard, but if it is too good to be true, it is too good to be true,
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thomas agnew is too good to be true. thank you very much. a coalition of leading conservation groups has called on the government to guarantee that nuclear waste won‘t be buried in britain s national parks. 19 organisations, including the national trust and the campaign to protect rural england, want the parks to be given the highest level of protection, as our environment correspondent claire marshall explains. this is a controversial new power station being built in somerset. it will start producing electricity in 2025 it will also produce highly radioactive waste. these all rust and storage tanks at sellafield hold highly radioactive sludge. 30 years since the power station close, no one has managed to get rid of all of it. currently, the uk gets around a quarter of its energy from 50 nuclear reactors, but the question
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of what to do with the waste is unresolved. the permanent solution is seen as deeply geological burial. the government said the safest site should be chosen a matter of where it is. this could include national parks. then today‘s open letter, a coalition said this is unacceptable. pasztor parts are protected from beauty, nature and recreation, and major development puts all those things at risk. we can have the government trying to justify major development in these places, which at the most important and beautiful landscapes in the uk. the government says that‘s sufficient vigour safeguards are in place to protect national parks. in a moment we‘ll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news: the head of the london fire brigade tells the grenfell inquiry she had not received any specific training on how to deal with the spread with the spread of cladding fire in high rise blocks. donald trump suggests he could withdraw his support for supreme court candidate brett kavanaugh —
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as his accuser prepares to testify at the senate panel hearing. a russian man accused of the salisbury poisoning is a military officer who received an honourfrom vladimir putin, an investigative website says. in the business news: not good enough. the regulator 0fgem has ordered 11 energy suppliers to improve how they deal with complaints. only a third of customers are happy with how their complaints are handled. more on this story in just a moment. publishing pay and parental leave policies online. ten big name businesses sign up to the idea. we look at whether it goes far enough. and wall street offers high street accounts. goldman sachs will now offer a savings account to members of the public. the rate offered is currently one of the best on the market. 0fgem, the uk energy regulator, is investigating four energy providers over their handling
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of customer complaints. this is as a result of a survey that is carried out every two years. just a third of complainants are happy with their energy provider‘s response to their complaints. the companies under the spotlight are first utility, 0vo energy, utilita and scottish power. joining us now is rik smith, an energy expert at uswitch. customers encounter problems with stuff like eating and billing, and generally interacting with their energy suppliers. it is quite concerning that so few customers are satisfied. and in a complaint and then they feel that they are not being heard? it is really about clarity of resolving their complaints. customers want more clarity over how long it is going to take, and effectively when these
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issues will be resolved. it is really about seven customers with information they deserve. every need to speak you energy provider, what is the best way of going about this and making sure that your complaint is held at that people respond in a timely fashion? it is all about making clear that you are dissatisfied. you should use those words when you call them, and make it credible to make a complaint, and repeating it over and over again when necessary. if you are not satisfied with the escalation, the energy arms and zero to work it out if you cannot reach an agreement. -- the energy of this man. i wanted to get your take on this. in a deal brexit could result in energy blackouts if not in ireland. they have suggested there is a risk of price increases and supply shortages. should we take this seriously? i think it is worth
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waiting for the detailed to get more clarity on what sort of deal will be struck. a very diplomatic answer. there is really not much more to say until that is more clarity. ok. there is really not much more to say untilthat is more clarity. ok. i think we have a little bit more time. when it comes to complaints, do you think that the regulator has any teeth? better said that 11 companies are not doing enough. shouldn‘t they be being fined? companies are not doing enough. shouldn't they be being fined? the best outcome from an investigation, looking closer at the suppliers, is that they improve their customer outcomes. finding suppliers i am not sure is the way forward this time. what we all want is better outcomes for customers when they have a complaint or issue with their supplier. ok, we will leave it there. thank you very much. ten big—name businesses have agreed to publish parental leave and pay policies online. this has been driven by the mp, jo swinson, who wants all big firms to be transparent on leave policies.
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the mp was the first to take her baby into a commons debate. the agreement means people will not have to ask for the information when they apply or go for a job interview. juliet carp, the chair of the employment lawyers association, backs the move, but believes the publication of such policies doesn‘t go far enough. jo swinson is absolutely right, that if you don‘t rob up policy say, it is very difficult to make informed decisions, but the people who barely make those decisions are people who are already at work and thinking about starting a family. how is any of this going to be enforced? surely thatis of this going to be enforced? surely that is the big issue, making sure that is the big issue, making sure that companies really are doing the right thing. exactly right. if the aim is to give this information to
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people, if it is published on the internet, it makes it much easier for enforcers to see a deserve. the big issue is, if you want to enforce, they are relying on ordinary employees to raise the alarm. it is a blunt instrument. relief that tui weathered this summer‘s heatwave sent shares in the travel company to the top of the ftse100 this morning. ig group‘s shares tumbled — the biggest faller on the ftse 250 — after it announced that its chief executive was stepping down with immediate effect. the euro is trading lower against the dollar and the yen as italy‘s coalition government prepares to outline its first budget targets. oil prices are continuing on their upward trajectory. the us is poised to re—implement sanctions against iran in november. at its peak this year, iran exported around 3 million barrels per day of crude oil, equal to 3% of global consumption. a fall in supply, assuming demand stays the same, boosts prices. that‘s all the business news. a man who wrote to his bank in welsh has complained after he was asked to resend the letter in english. geraint lovgreen had written to hsbc to inform them of a change of address.
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he has complained to the welsh language commissioner after the bank told him they could not respond because he had written it "in a foreign language". hsbc has apologised and said it would offer better training to staff. well, mr lovgreen has been telling the bbc how frustrated he is with the bank. translation: we feel as though we had one these battles years ago, but all of a sudden we are back to square all of a sudden we are back to square one. all of a sudden we are back to square one. there is a responsibility to banks, especially one calling that self a local bank to make sure that employees are aware of the situation. the hollywood star will smith found a way to celebrate his 50th birthday in style —— by bungee jumping out of a helicopter. the stunt was in aid of highlighting global poverty, as tim allman reports. it‘s an age—old dilemma: what do
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you get the man who has everything? a nice bottle of scotch, perhaps? or maybe a comfortable sweater? well, if you are a hollywood superstar turning 50, you treat yourself to an unforgettable experience. will smith strapped to the side of a helicopter, rising up above the grand canyon. it seems his ideal birthday present is a little death—defying. the bungeejump to end all bungee jumps. he may have fought aliens, robots and gangsters, but he is not going to beat gravity. his wife and his family looking on, the actor seemed a little uneasy. but eventually, it was time to make the leap. down he went, the crowds cheering as he goes. cheering. then, back he came, bouncing up and down. cheering. this was a man who had flown on the silver screen and was now getting the chance to do
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it for real. cheering. soon enough, he was back on the ground and all was well. he said it was both terrifying and exhilarating. from bad boy, to birthday boy. tim allman, bbc news. asun bearcub, whose parents were rescued from illegal wildlife traders, has been officially named by her keepers at chester zoo. the animal was born injune and was the first birth of a sun bear in the uk. she‘s been named kyra, which means sun goddess. staff at the zoo have also nursed her parents back to health. then, we have more on the grenfell heating and a supreme court nominee
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hearing of brett kavanaugh. now the weather. it is running up quite nicely across england and wales at the moment, but as we go through tomorrow and into the weekend, things will turn much cooler, as we will see. for the time being, enjoy that sunshine. lots of it across england and wales, but more cloud in scotland and northern ireland. rain moving a close —— across scotland at the moment. cooler air moving in, saw temperatures lower than yesterday, at about 13 to 15 degrees. in england and wales, temperatures are already in their 20s and eastern areas. tonight, the cloud, size, and for southern areas, it will be warmer than last night, and to the
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north of that, colder than last night. those temperatures down into single figures. for friday, it should be fine and dry for all of us back, with sunny spells. chilly in northern areas, 13 or 1a degrees. a big difference in southern areas, robert temperatures will be 16 or 17 degrees. goodbye. this is bbc news. i‘m annita mcveigh. these are the top stories developing at midday: the head of the london fire brigade
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tells the grenfell tower inquiry the fire could not have been extinguished even if firefighters had been given training in dealing with blazes involving cladding. we had never experienced anything like it. we had never seen such a significant failure of a building. donald trump suggests he could withdraw his support for supreme court candidate brett kava naugh as his accuser prepares to testify at the senate panel hearing. they are giving the women a major chance to speak. now it‘s possible i will hear that and say i‘m changing my mind. ambulances in england face missing response targets if the service fails to make changes to the way patients are treated. russia denies one of the men accused of the salisbury poisonings is a decorated russian military officer. also today, calls for a crackdown on cheating at university. calls for a ban on so called ‘essay mills‘ which produce work for students for a fee.
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hsbc bank apologises after a customer is told his letter to them written in welsh is in a ‘foreign language‘. good afternoon. it‘s thursday, september 27th. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the commissioner of the london fire brigade has been giving evidence at the public inquiry into the grenfell tower fire. dany cotton said she hadn‘t been given any specific training on the spread of fire in cladding on a high rise building. she said that as she arrived at the scene, it looked like something from a disaster movie and that many aspects of the fire were unprecedented.
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commissioner dany coton told the inquiry that she had never personally recieved training on how to spot and handle fire spread over the facade of a highrise residential block. no, not on a high—rise residential block. i have only received training for fire spreads in things like sandwich panels but not in a residential block. does it follow from that you have never received training on cladding and fire spread around or down cladding estimate now. also follow that you never received training on the particular dangers that cladding poses? no. or how to respond? no. our news correspondent lisa hampele has been at the inquiry this morning. she told us what dany cotton
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said to the enquiry. we have to remember that she had been a firefighter since the age of 18 and she had been in thisjob as the head of london fire brigade the just six months. she got a call at 2am from somebody who is normally very calm that this person was not come this time and she raced there and got to the fire at 2:29am. ten minutes before the decision was made that people should stay in the building. as she arrived she saw in the distance the flames and said it was like a horror movie. that mixture of towering inferno meets a video that she had seen she had been training. she said that when she got there she actually went untouched some of the firefighters because she wasn‘t sure they would be able to
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get out of the building she was so concerned. we have heard her the question today by counsel for the enquiry and they have been asking about her training and she has been asked many times about her training and she said she had not untrained for a fire which spread so quickly, the training on the facade of a high—rise building like this. she had helped with setting up some of the training and had been a firefighter for the training and had been a firefighterfor a very the training and had been a firefighter for a very long time but she will be questioned more about the state put decision that the fire brigade decided was correct and she said they had never seen such a significant failure of a building and nobody could have thought that a building would behave like this. she thought the decision to stay put was
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the right one. a third woman has accused donald trump‘s supreme court nominee, brett kavanaugh, of serious sexual assault. the allegations are said to be more serious than those which have already been made by two other women. later today, he and the first woman to accuse him, christine blasey ford, will be questioned by a senate committee. mr kavanaugh has described the claims as ridiculous. so, what can we expect from today‘s hearing. it‘s expected to start at three o clock uk time and could last up to five hours. christine blasey ford will deliver her opening statement, and the twenty one senators on the committee will then have five minutes each to ask questions. she will leave the room and brett kavanaugh will then deliver his statement and face the same round of questions. in statement already released professor blasey ford described the impact the alleged assault has had on her: she said "brett‘s assault on me drastically altered my life. for a very long time, i was too afraid (ami) and ashamed to tell anyone the details".
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in his depositionjudge kavanaugh repeated his denial of all allegations: he said "there has been a frenzy to come up with something — anything, no matter how far—fetched or odious that will block a vote on my nomination" here‘s chris buckler with more. a nominee to sit on america‘s highest court will walk into a senate room later as the accused, and brett kavanaugh‘s testimony will be weighed against one of his accusers. in her opening statement to the judiciary committee, christine blasey ford says she remembers a teenage brett kavanaugh drunkenly groping her, trying to remove her clothes and believing he was going to rape her. all of which he denies. despite this and other accusations, donald trump is standing by the man he wants as his next to supreme courtjustice. they know it‘s a big fat con job. but the president says he will listen to what doctor blasey ford has to say.
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now, it‘s possible i‘ll hear that and i‘ll say, "hey, i‘m changing my mind." that is possible. we want to give them a chance to speak. another woman, deborah ramirez, claims brett kavanaugh exposed himself to her at a college party. and a third accuser, julie swetnick, says as a high school student she saw him press up against girls and expose their body parts. judge kavanaugh, what is your response to allegations? she also claimsjudge kavanaugh was present at a party when she was gang raped, although there is no suggestion that he was involved. he‘s called the accusations ridiculous and from the twilight zone. we have had accusation after accusation and very few of them are
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cooperated. if we can make the contact our lawyers will get on it right away. this hearing is not a trial, but with america watching, president trump‘s choice to become a supreme courtjustice knows he will have to subject himself to the court of public opinion. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. let‘s discuss some more from scott lucas, who‘s a professor of american studies and international politics at the university of birmingham. there is so much riding on these hearings later on today. how much will depend on brett kavanaugh and christine blasey ford and the testimony they give today?m christine blasey ford and the testimony they give today? it will be quite important in the first stage because we‘re talking about the credibility of professor ford and then the credibility of brett
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kavanaugh as he responds. this is the first stage. this is only —— if this was only one woman that brought it forward they would try and rush through the vote tomorrow. but now we face a second stage because of the second and third women who have come forward. overnight, the judiciary committee has been investigating a forthcoming from an as yet unnamed woman and despite the republican wishes to push this through this will probably continue at least until next week because u nless at least until next week because unless there is a appearance this has been investigated thoroughly the republicans could suffer a good deal of political damage. one would imagine this committee would have to hear some testimony from these other
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women as well to say they are fully examined both sides of the story.” would think so. it‘s all mail on the republican side but democrats have a few women which increases the optics. we are no longer talking about one alleged indiscretion, we‘re talking about allegations which said he was running with a group of people in high school and couege group of people in high school and college that were systematically targeting women for sexual assault. iam not targeting women for sexual assault. i am not saying the claims are true but they are so serious that the republican goal which is to wrap this up is injeopardy and even donald trump is saying if he is not credible today and if they are morality shanty maybe having to withdraw his support. donald trump as described this as an attempt by the democrats to pull a conjob on
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his nominee and yet here has also said now he would reconsider that nomination. is donald trump trying to protect himself somewhat? he is talking out of two sides. he is protecting himself politically if it goes bad for brett kavanaugh. but he‘s also all about him where he said yesterday the women bringing forward these allegations are probably lying because he has suffered from accusations like brett kavanaugh. donald trump has been accused by a least 15 women of sexually inappropriate behaviour. there are all sorts of politics at play here. absolutely. we should have had a legal process because they are talking about the justice
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and one of the most important positions in the american system. the democrats are hoping they can ta ke the democrats are hoping they can take this beyond november and this isa take this beyond november and this is a personal mission for donald trump. there are several women who would come forward having felt the decades they had been assaulted and not being able to tell anyone. the priority now is their heard whatever the politics is around the situation. you mentioned november and everything is being seen through the prism of those midterms. how important could all of this be in relation to those elections? they are increasingly important but i can tell you which way it‘s going to go. on the one hand i could tell you a lot of people have been mobilised to question whether they should back the republicans because of this feeling that women are not being
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respected. on the other hand, they are doubling down on the support for their touch brett kava naugh are doubling down on the support for their touch brett kavanaugh despite their touch brett kavanaugh despite the accusations. we are looking at an increasingly divided america. thank you very much for your thoughts. we will be keeping a very close watch on those hearings today beginning around 3pm uk time. christine blasey ford appearing first before the senate committee and thenjudge first before the senate committee and then judge brett first before the senate committee and thenjudge brett kavanaugh following on. more on today s main stories coming up on newsroom live here on the bbc news channel, but now we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. we can talk now to our washington
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correspondent. what is your expectation on how this is going to unfold? expectation on how this is going to unfold ? is expectation on how this is going to unfold? is it unlikely this committee can come to any decision without first hearing from the other women who are accusing brett kavanaugh? things will be constraint today by the technicality and this will be a series of questions from 20 odd senators, perhaps some of
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them... this thing will take some time with opening state once. this will take a number of hours. so there will be a slow process of assessing who is more believable and thatis assessing who is more believable and that is a danger that will tear down bipartisan lines as it has done in the past. if the president feels he needs to changes mind he says he will. what to do about the other women, that‘s intriguing. the committee will claim i think that they have done their best to reach out to those other people. they have not got to an agreement to talk to deborah ramirez and take testimony. but the pressure will still be there to hear their stories. today may not
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put an end to it but i think the likelihood of a confirmation vote in this committee meeting tomorrow morning is receding into the far distance. the headlines on bbc news: (00v) the head of the london fire brigade tells the grenfell tower inquiry, the fire could not have been extinguished — even if firefighters had been trained to deal with blazes involving cladding. (00v) donald trump suggests he could withdraw his support for supreme court candidate brett kavanaugh — as his accuser prepares to testify at the senate panel hearing. we will find out later this afternoon,
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the pairings for the first round of matches in the ryder cup. the us team hold the trophy but haven‘t won on european soilfor 25 years. (00v) the first of the opening fourballs tee off at le golf national just after 7 tomorrow morning. paul casey is one of thomas bjorn‘s wildcards but he hasn‘t played in the ryder cup for 10 years, he was controversially overlooked in 2010 before falling out of form and then ruled himself out 2 years ago as he gave up his european tour membership. it was obviously the goal to make that team but it's now the goal to win points. which i believe i can do. i win points. which i believe i can do. lam win points. which i believe i can do. i am super excited for this week. to finally be here and see the images of the first tee and get a
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taste of it the last few days i can't wait for tomorrow. eden hazard was the difference as chelsea came from behind in the league cup to beat liverpool 2—1 at anfield . a first defeat of the season forjurgen klopp‘s side (00v) liverpool had taken the lead through daniel sturridge but 2 goals in 6 minutes, from the vistiors including hazard‘s surging run intio the box and blistering finish saw chelsea go through to the fourth round .. the sides meet again in the premier league on saturday at stamford bridge .. tottenham will also be in the next round as they beat watford on penalties. the match finished 2—all but two saves from paolo gazzaniga set up the chance for dele alli to win it. spurs were playing the game in dele‘s hometown of milton keynes because their new ground isn‘t ready and wembley was unavailable. west ham thumped league two side macclesfield 8—nil at the london stadium to reach the last 16... the visitors are bottom of the football league arsenal and nottingham forest
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also went through... video assistant referee technology will be used in the champions league from next season (00v) uefa says var will be used in the 2019—2020 competition from the play—off stage. the plan is also to use the system — which was used at this summers world cup, at the 2020 european championship, — the final of which will be at wembley. ellie downie will compete for the first time in 18 months at the world gymnastics championships next month. the former european all around champion has been named in the great britain team after being out of competition since having ankle surgery in the summer of 2017. next months world championships is the first chance for countries to secure team places at the tokyo 2020 olympics. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. he called himself ruslan boshirov
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when he arrived in the uk in march. he said he was a tourist. but this is who it‘s thought he really is, colonel anatoliy chepiga, a russian military intelligence officer. the online investigative journalist the site bellingcat said he was born in 1978. he is thought to have fought with the russian military in chechnya and was awarded russia‘s highest decoration, hero of the russian federation. using the alias ruslan boshirov, the british government believes he travelled to salisbury with another agent, calling himself alexander petrov. their mission, to try to kill sergei skripal using a nerve agent hidden in this perfume bottle. british officials have not commented on bellingcat‘s revelations,
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but the bbc understands there is no dispute in its identifying of anatoliy chepiga. speaking at the un in new york, theresa may again strongly attacked russia‘s actions. in response, russia said britain‘s allegations were "kindergarten stuff". jon donnison, bbc news. meal replacement diets should be part of nhs treatments to tackle obesity, according to a leading medical journal. a study by the bmj showed that diets consisting of shakes and soups are effective at achieving rapid weight loss in the most severely obese, and can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes. the programmes are not available on the nhs. some experts say they only work if eating habits change permanently. for a full summary of the news you can go to our website. a review of the ambulance service in england has concluded that the nhs could save hundreds of millions of pounds each year if more patients were treated at the scene.
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the report says the service is being undermined by outdated vehicles, a failure to make use of new technology as well as high levels of staff bullying. our health correspondent dominic hughes reports. ambulance services across england are getting busier. ten different nhs trusts handle 10 million emergency calls a year, most of them lead to an ambulance crew being dispatched. now, a review says some big savings could be made if paramedics are able to treat people closer to the scene. in some areas of the country we are taking more people to hospital then we need to. the effect of that is, people fill the beds up, particularly in the winter, that we need for other people. so critically, keeping that down is the way to do it. that early diagnosis when the paramedic arrives on scene is the critical factor in this. the report into the state of the ambulance service in england found that paramedics are having to work with an ageing fleet of vehicles that will soon need replacing. levels of sick leave and complaints over bullying and harassment
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are the highest in the nhs. and there‘s a wide variation in how trusts use new technology to take calls, dispatch crews and even treat patients. one idea is to allow ambulance crews to directly access online medical information. being able to access patient records at the patient's side clearly makes patient care better in the fact that we can make better clinical decisions and appropriately transport our patients to places of definitive care, keeping them out of emergency departments where they are not necessarily going to get the best treatment. today‘s report says that with better report for staff and by treating patients closer to the scene, savings of up to half £1 billion of could be achieved. that could improve response times and ease pressure on hard—pressed accident and emergency departments. dominic hughes, bbc news. the heads of 45 universities and colleges are calling
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on the government to ban companies that offer essay—writing services, allowing students to cheat. they say the firms, known as "essay mills", undermine the integrity of higher education and are unfair to other students. critics say it‘s a form of "academic fraud". let‘s cross over to newcastle and get more on this from professor phil newton, from swansea university. he carried out a major study to contract cheating which revealed a sharp rise in essay cheating across the world. just tell us about the details of your investigation. it was looking into trying to get a handle on how many students are involved in this behaviour. it‘s a difficult behaviour. it‘s a difficult behaviour to detect with any certainty. the products are designed to be deliberate so what we did was look at service from students on
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whether they had done this sort of thing. a minority of students were using these essay services but it does appear to be going up. it‘s ha rd to does appear to be going up. it‘s hard to say how many students are doing it but it looks like it‘s on the increase so it‘s very good they have written to the minister asking for a change in the law. there are computer programmes which will pick up computer programmes which will pick up if somebody is copying big chunks of text from someone else‘s work but these essay mills are a bit more sophisticated than that. they are deliberately designed to write this book assignments so that it‘s difficult to detect. there are promising developments with software to identify the originality of assignments in the more broader sense but at the moment it‘s very difficult to say with any certainty
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how many cases there are. where did the answer lie because universities are saying the government needs to do more and the government is saying universities need to do more. it's both. we need a multitude of different solutions. nobody is pretending a change to the law is a simple cure but it would send out an important message to students and universities and people who might set up one of these companies, that it‘s not acceptable in the uk. we need to do more to the way we assess stu d e nts need to do more to the way we assess students and i do think there is a need to ensure that students are aware of the consequences of behaviour like this particularly if they‘re going to go on a professional career. that integrity is so important. are certain subjects more susceptible to this
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type of cheating than others? it's difficult to say. some studies will say that this blends with the result of written work like the humanities of written work like the humanities of business studies may be more susceptible to it but nothing was screaming out of the data. most subjects at universities include some sort of academic writing as an assessment. thank you very much. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. what a stunning shot it was in newcastle. it was 17 degrees last night. but in the sunshine in the south it was pretty chilly. this rain is creeping its way further towards newcastle so for the rest of the day the band of rain will sync
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across northern ireland and northern england. behind will be called a coming in and ahead of its real warmth. overnight we were reversed the tables. more cloud syncing southwards so it won‘t be as cold and there would be much result. but look at the difference in newcastle tonight. a touch of frost in scotland. a bidder. tomorrow. another fine and try gave. it will be cooler across—the—board another fine and try gave. it will be cooler across—the—boa rd tomorrow. a breezy day as well to seven areas. we keep those temperatures down this weekend. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: london fire brigade chief da ny cotton tells the grenfell inquiry she tried to comfort her firefighters before they entered the blaze, fearing they might not return. alleged assault ‘drastically altered my life‘ — that‘s the written testimony from brett kavanaugh‘s accuser
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prof christine blasey ford — with both due to appear before the senate this afternoon. a russian man accused of the salisbury poisoning is a military officer who received an honourfrom vladimir putin, an investigative website says. "not a taxi service" — health experts call for an overhaul of ambulance services as a report shows responders are missing key targets for emergency care. over a0 university heads call on the government to crackdown on so called essay mills, with a survey showing that 15% of students globally had cheated at some point in the last 4 years. let‘s return now to our top story — and the chief of the london firebridge has been giving evidence to the grenfell inqury. commissioner dany coton told the inquiry that she had never received training on how to spot and handle fire spreading over the facade of a highrise residential block. no, not only high—rise residential
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block. i have only ever received training from looking at things like fire spread in assignment panels. doesn‘t follow from that that you have never received any training from cladding and fire spread up, burned and down cladding? no, not cladding. so you have never received training on the particular dangers that cladding posies or how to respond? no, i haven't. the commissioner said that even our firefighters had known from the offset, that it had been a cladding fire, it was unlikely to change the way they dealt with it. she said those responsible should mitigate the risk of cladding fires by being careful with what materials they use. it would not have changed the
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operational tactics that she would use to respond to the fire on the outside of the building, because you would make best endeavours to put that fire out. unfortunately, right from the moment it left that flat, there was no way they could have extinguished at fire. try as they may, to actually respond and deal with that, it was an impossible situation. so, although i can say we should train for that, what we would seek to do is to prevent the risk happening by asking responsible people to remove the cladding for as the involved. she told the enquiry but no firefighter would expect the fire to the active week it did. she said she was horrified by what he saw. i don't think we have identified any firemen who could identify what this was— a cladding
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fire. i don't think any of this are expected the building to react in that manner. i was horrified by what isil, so i would not have expected any my officers to give it different a nswer any my officers to give it different answer than i have. ten of the uk s biggest companies have agreed to make their parental leave policies public for the first time. it comes as part of a push to force all large firms to publish details of their pay, so that candidates won‘t have to ask when being interviewed. our correspondent colletta smith reports. where do you see yourself over five yea rs ? where do you see yourself over five years? it is the end of a job interview, and you are asked if there‘s anything you would like to know. some questions mightjust be tricky, like asking how much you get paid on parental leave, and how long fire. while some have decided to go public off their own backs, the liberal democrats want to make it compulsory for all big companies, in the immediate have to publish their gender pay back. edward and power
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companies to publish their policies. edward edward leigh do much more questions being asked. about who has the better policy. this could be harder to permit for smaller companies, but fcc a benefit, then job—hunting for parents and potential parents make it easier. a coalition of leading conservation groups has called on the government to guarantee that nuclear waste won‘t be buried in britain s national parks. 19 organisations, including the national trust and the campaign to protect rural england, want the parks to be given the highest level of protection, as our environment correspondent claire marshall explains. it will also produce waste that will
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stay highly radioactive for many yea rs. stay highly radioactive for many years. this lasting storage tanks at sellafield hold highly radioactive sludge. 30 years since the power station close, no one has managed to get rid of all of that. currently, the uk gets around a quarter of its energy from around 15 nuclear reactors, but the question of what to do with the waste is unresolved. the only permanent solution is seen as deep geological burial. the government has said that the safest site should be chosen the matter relatives. this could include national parks. and today‘s open letter, a coalition of charities said it is unacceptable. national parks are protected for their beauty, nato and recreation. major development puts all those things that does. we can have the government trying to justify major development in places which are the most important and beautiful
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landscapes in the uk. the government says that sufficiently good safeguards already in place to protect national parts. there are fresh warnings about the dire humanitarian situation in gaza where there are severe water and power shortages. a new world bank report, to be discussed by international donors today, says the economy is in free fall. protests have resumed along the gaza—israel border. our reporter yolande knell has been to the khan younis refugee camp in gaza. online scams involving modelling, cryptocurrencies and fake tickets are among the rising threats posed by fraudsters, according to national trading standards. the uk consumer protection organisation has published its consumer harm report, which details more than 100 criminal convictions leading to fraudsters being jailed for a record total of 230 years. earlier, i spoke to lord toby harris, chair of national trading standards.
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he told me criminals were already planning to cash in on the euro 2020 football tournament. what is already clear is that we are going to see the same sort of ticketing scams as we have seen for other two elements and other big events, where people offering cut—price tickets. if you see an offer for tickets bitten cut—price tickets. if you see an offerfor tickets bitten back, it is clearly is, because they are not available yet. they are not even out. we would also anticipate there will be fake kit, fake merchandise and so on. all of this being sold cut—price, seeming like a bargain, but in reality, you will lose your money. if you buy a ticket, you may well find it does not get you into a crime. if you buy the kit, it may not arrive on it mayjust fall apart. but some of the scams you have identified in your annual report on even more serious, because
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it potentially could cause physical harm on into a glass of life. yes, for example, there seems to be an increasing growth of the sale, usually through social media sites are the skin lightening creams. some of those content really nasty chemicals which can cause scarring and permanent damage. that is clearly worried. they really dreadful thing about all of this is that these people are cynically targeting very vulnerable people. they often target the elderly. there is even a trade in suckers lists between different terminals saying, we have discovered so and so is an easy touch, here is the contact details. presumably, they charge a fee for passing on that information. tel us what you add national trading standards happy do to secure convictions. there has been a whole range of things, because that is in
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number of specialist teams. some of them deal with counterfeiting and dangerous goods coming through the port. i read about fire blankets. fire blanket which do not work or give out noxious fumes, all those sorts of things. we work on things like that. very dramatically, we got a big conviction in the last few months for copycat websites. so, people who think they are clicking onto the official site, for passports are european health insurance cards or something, they got to defraud star, before celtic ‘s perhaps two three times —— in the case of the health insurance card, it is free, but they are charging money to get the card. we reckon that perhaps 1 million money to get the card. we reckon that perhaps1 million people money to get the card. we reckon that perhaps 1 million people work on by the individuals who went to jail, and that they had taken over £37 million from the various scams that are operating. it's huge success for you. what proportion of
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your workers online base? tracking down these online scammers, the people who are operated fake websites? we are finding it is an increasing proportion of the work. nearly every scam often has an online component. it may be the dodgy guides up on the door side says, here is our website, and the website is concocted for that basis. while it may be social media. for some strange while it may be social media. for some strange reason, we are more inclined to trust someone selling us something on social media than the dodgy guy who turned up on the doorstep. that is why we are focusing and more and more energy on looking at what is happening online and developing the skills to track back what is actually behind various games and, we can, we take them to court. obviously, dubai people to be sceptical, but if there is one key
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piece of advice to offer to consumers, when they are checking out an individual are website, what would that be? if it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is. if you are on a website, is that a proper, real address associated with it? is that a landline phone number? is it full of misspellings? all of the simple things should put you on your guard, but if it is too good to be true, it almost certainly is. a man who wrote to his bank in welsh has complained after he was asked to resend the letter in english. geraint lovgreen had written to hsbc to inform them of a change of address. he has complained to the welsh language commissioner after the bank told him they could not respond because he had written it "in a foreign language". translation: we feel as though we had won these battles years ago, but all of a sudden we are back to square one. there is a responsibility to banks, especially one like hsbc,
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which calls itself a local bank, to make sure that employees are aware of the situation. hsbc has apologised and said it would offer better training to staff. the headlines on bbc news... london fire brigade chief da ny cotton tells the grenfell inquiry she tried to comfort her firefighters before they entered the blaze, fearing they might not return. alleged assault ‘drastically altered‘ my life — that‘s the written testimony from brett kavanaugh‘s accuser prof christine blasey ford — with both due to appear before the senate this afternoon. a russian man accused of the salisbury poisoning is a military officer who received an honourfrom vladimir putin, an investigative website says. there are new fears about possible russian interference, this time in a critical referendum in the republic of macedonia.
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the poll this weekend may determine whether the country integrates into the eu and nato. the referendum is asking macedonia s two million people to approve a plan to change their country s official name to the republic of north macedonia. doing so would distinguish it from the neighbouring region in greece and end a name dispute that‘s been blocking macedonia s route to eu and nato membership. our europe correspondent damian grammaticas reports. he is the prime minister shaking up this corner of europe in a region russia has long influences, asking macedonians to vote this weekend to change their country‘s name, because doing so will open the path to the eu and nato membership. "our dream is a modern european macedonia," says zoran zaev, "which will be integrated into the eu — part of a bigger union." the prime minister is asking
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to macedonians to compromise the country‘s name and sense of history for the promise of a european history. it will be good for macedonia. better than now. i‘m sure. it doesn't matter whatever they call us. the significance of the other things is very important. so you would not feel that you are losing some history? not at all. but you‘ll be gaining something the future? much more. to get this far, he‘s done a deal with greece to end the quarter century dispute over the name macedonia that has blocked the way forward. our citizens, more than 80%, want to be part of the european union and nato. having a strategic goal more than 27 years, we have now the biggest democratic right to decide for our future. we are in front of democratic decisions and we are very happy because of that.
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rising over skopje is a giant statue of alexander the great. greece says he and the name are their own heritage from ancient times, and will have to change if they want to join the eu. the new name proposed in this referendum is the republic of north macedonia. from the day the deal with greece was signed, russia, its claimed, has tried to create trouble. that night, there were riots in skopje. urging rioters on, the pro—russian politician janko bacev. there were evidence of some who took part recieved russian money, said investigators. now the same investigators are focusing on possible russian interference online. more than half the population — a million macedonians — use facebook and twitter.
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thousands of new accounts are being greeted each day. the fear is that these are russian controlled networks being readied, put in place to stir up trouble soon. what the russians are trying to achieve in the region, that‘s not to help macedonia. theyjust keep maintaining the stability. that‘s the point. so, of course, there is no sense to be aggressive online, with all the big online armies of trolls. they can do it after the referendum. it‘s better. it‘s the perfect time. the pro—russian politician janko bacev is part of the campaign to undermine the referendum‘s legitimacy. he is openly hostile to the west. they want to delete us. is the future not...? our future is russia and the euro—asian union. the country from greece to china.
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the tactic is to call for a boycott of the referendum. if turnout falls below 50%, the vote will not be valid. the pro—western government will be undermined, and that is when the online armies can be unleashed. damian grammaticas, bbc news, skopje. a russian activist who invaded the pitch during this summer‘s world cup final and subsequently fell ill has accused vladimir putin‘s government of poisoning him. pyotr verzilov, who‘s a member of the anti—kremlin group pussy riot, is recovering in germany. he‘s been speaking exclusively to the bbc‘sjenny hill, in berlin. pussy riot knows how to steal the limelight. protests, stunts, aimed at exposing what they say is the reality of russia under putin. now they are back in the headlines. one of the activists who invaded
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the pitch at this year‘s world cup says he has been poisoned. i remember being sick and losing my eyesight in a weird way and, after that, it is like a black hole and i don‘t remember what is happening. the day before, we were drinking coffee in cafes, so there were many options for somebody at some point to insert something if they wanted to. and who do you believe was responsible? most likely russian law enforcement. it is a question of on which side? we have the russian version of the fbi, the fsb, and we have the russian version of the cia, the gru. no proof yet to determine who did this. doctors in berlin found no trace of poison but they confirm the symptoms were most likely caused by a drug which affects the nervous system. no single entity exists in russia, or
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probably that part of eastern europe, which actually can develop and carry out poisonous attacks like that. do you think vladimir putin had knowledge of what happened? in russia, vladimir putin, he does not give the final approval to, in his eyes, small actions like this. but he definitely creates an atmosphere, he creates an atmosphere where such paramilitary groups and agencies do what they can do. so it generally fall into the line which has been determined by vladimir putin. and why you? i am intrigued as to why they would pick on an activist like yourself, a young man, who, can he really be described as a thorn in the side of vladimir putin? we are only making a distinction like that because the actions we do are as loud as anything happening in russia. for them, it is quite a big deal and they think of ways to counterbalance that.
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that is the price you have to pay in russia. if you want russia to change and be a different country, then you have to be ready for things. are you frightened now? i would not say i really... maybe it is my psychological problem, i do not really feel what can be described as fear in this case. essentially, no. pyotr verzilov speaking to our correspondent in berlin, jenny hill. a 95—year—old dutch resistance fighter has paid tribute to his wartime comrades by recreating one of the radio signals he sent back to britain during the second world war. bram griz—nigt pa rachuted into the netherlands 75 years ago. john maguire reports. archive: it brings all the horrors of total warfare to three of the fairest and cleanest neutrals in western europe. despite that neutrality, the netherlands was dragged into the war by the german invasion of may, 1940. a year later, at 18,
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bram grisnigt fled his country, eventually ending up in london, where he was recruited by british intelligence. now, exactly three quarters of a century later, he‘s come to the dutch resistance museum in amsterdam, and, at 95, is dusting off his morse code to communicate with britain once more. through the crackle and the white noise, the distinctive dots and dashes are picked up at duxford, now part of the imperial war museum, but then an raf base where the messages were received. he says, "it‘s all still in my head, all still in my fingers." it was exactly 75 years ago when bram took off from raf tempsford, just half an hour down the road from duxford, to be flown back over holland and parachute down, home once again on dutch soil, but this time deep behind enemy lines. for bram, this was an emotional
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but highly significant occasion. he wanted to thank the raf, and paid tribute to those in the resistance who were killed. we will always remember them. with warm regards and best wishes, bram grisnigt. the agents used these paraset radios, no bigger than a lunchbox, and this wartime footage shows how a dutch resistance agent would have sent information back to britain. undercover and most often operating at night, it was extremely dangerous. they moved from house to house, location to location, always on the move. pretty frightening really. your life expectancy was pretty short and i have to say, they were pretty brave, men and women. after five months, bram was captured and spent the rest of the war in prison camps. this is a photograph of his english sweetheart, ann, and on the back, his handwritten notes about how
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to operate the radio. they remain together to this day. "i‘ve been married for 73 years," he says. "my wife always supported me after the concentration camp. she has always been the soul of my life." he saw many friends and comrades die, but his bravery and his actions during the war would have helped countless others to live. john maguire, bbc news. the author of postman pat, john cunliffe, has died. mr cunliffe, who was eighty—five, lived in west yorkshire. postman pat first appeared on television alongside his black and white catjess in 1981, with almost 200 episodes broadcast to date. he was also the author of rosie andjim. in a moment, it‘s time for the one o‘clock news with jane hill but first it‘s time for a look at the weather.
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i never actually start to the data across southern england. mr fogg brand as well, but has that creates a break, temperatures getting up 2a celsius again. by tomorrow, those temperatures dropping down to 16 celsius. at the moment, we have mild south—westerly air right across the uk. it is going to bring cloud and outbreaks of friend, eventually bringing cooler air behind it as well. david peters out across scotla nd well. david peters out across scotland and northern ireland. cloud moving on to the far north of england, but for most of england and wales, it is going to be sunny and pretty one. the oranges and this site is, those temperatures into the 20s. further north, a fresher feel.
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that line of cloud moves the south, and it will be milder across southern areas. and a colder night than the one just gone across northern areas, with temperatures about three or four degrees. on friday, that weather front from his size, and behind it, a north—westerly wind which will bring an chilly air right across the uk on friday. a different feel to the day. it staff are many. lots of sunshine. co—developing in scotland and northern ireland. with that sunshine, still feeling quite pleasant, but those are temperatures taking a significant drop. 1a to 16 degrees, and a much fresher and colour field. over the weekend, high—pressure dominating things. debris is picking up the title by the far north of scotland, with
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cloud and rain affecting the northern isles. for most of us, a dry and sunny day. temperatures around 70 agrees —— 17 degrees, ayn rand about the average for the time of year. there could be some action was justin shelford of year. there could be some action wasjustin shelford of essential areas, but sell some bright areas. style dry for most of us on sunday, in temperatures ranging from starting to 17 celsius. that is from me. by former. dramatic evidence to the grenfell inquiry — the commissioner of the london fire brigade says she was worried some of her firefighters wouldn‘t come out alive. dany cotton says no training could have prepared her teams for what they faced,
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and the fire could not have been extinguished. we have never an experienced an event like that. we have never seen such a significant failure of a building. we‘ll have the latest live from the grenfell inquiry. also this lunchtime: president trump‘s nominee for the supreme court will be questioned by senators soon — they‘ll also hearfrom one of the women accusing him of sexual misconduct. moscow rejects claims that one of the prime suspects in the salisbury nerve agent attack is a highly decorated russian special forces colonel.
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