tv BBC News BBC News May 26, 2019 4:00pm-4:31pm BST
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this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 4pm... borisjohnson and michael gove — who campaigned for brexit together, but fell out three years ago when both wanted to become prime minister — will again contest the conservative party leadership. i will be putting my name forward to be prime minister of this country. i believe i am ready to unite the conservative and unionist party, ready to deliver brexit and ready to lead this great country. the latest to enter the race to succeed theresa may and become prime minister by the end ofjuly include dominic raab and andrea leadsom. i will be standing for leadership of my party and the next prime minister and i do believe that i am the decisive and compassionate leader who can reunite our great country. final voting in the eu elections in underway in 21 member states — results will be released after polls close at 10 pm tonight.
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a man and a woman are charged with murder after two children died following an incident at a house in sheffield on friday. found alive after being missing for two weeks in a hawaiian forest — the hiker who says she faced difficult choices. it did come down to life and death and i had to choose. i chose life. i wasn't going to take the easy way out. and after the horrific devastion of architecturally important sites through war, refugee stonemasons hope to rescue their country's heritage. that's in half an hour here on bbc news. good afternoon.
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the environment secretary michael gove has entered the race to become the next conservative leader and prime minister. it means he'll once again be challenging boris johnson — the two men were the most prominent conservatives leading the leave campaign in 2016. the former brexit secretary, dominic raab has become the latest candidate to insist the uk must leave the eu in october, with or without a deal. andrea leadsom, who resigned from cabinet last week, has also confirmed she's standing. our political correspondent tom barton has this report. stepping out of his house and into the leadership race. hi, good morning. good morning. i can confirm that i will be putting my name forward to be prime minister of this country. i believe i am ready to unite the conservative and unionist party. i'm ready to deliver brexit and ready to lead this great country. so, both of the big names of the leave campaign now in the tory leadership campaign. a tantalising prospect, not least because they have history.
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remember this? for all of boris‘ formidable talents, he was not the right person for that task. borisjohnson‘s leadership campaign torpedoed in 2016. now, three years later, both men are in the race again, joined in a crowded field by six other candidates. among them, former brexit secretary dominic raab, saying today he would try to renegotiate a northern irish backstop, making it clear he would leave without a deal if he couldn't. we weren't resolute enough when we took no deal off the table. i don't want the wto brexit but i think unless you're willing to keep our promises as politicians, and i think we are going to see what happens if you don't in the european election results later, if we don't and are not willing to say that, i think we put ourselves in a weaker position in terms of getting a deal. if you're not willing to walk away from the negotiation,
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it doesn't focus the mind of the other side. also committed to keeping no deal on the table, andrea leadsom. of course in order to succeed in negotiation you have to be prepared to leave without a deal. i have a three—point plan for brexit, for how we get out of the european union. i'm very optimistic about it. my role as leader of the commons means that i have had a very good insight into what needs to be done. another would be a leader going further, saying she wouldn't even ask the eu to reopen negotiations. we won't be asking for any more extensions, that's part of the corrosive uncertainty that individuals, businesses and the country don't want. that date is fixed. of course we have to say we need to make sure we're ready to leave on that date. now, if the eu wants to come back to us, the door is open if they want to a better deal. that's fine, we've always wanted a free trade arrangement. the difficulties for those advocating a no deal brexit is that parliament has consistently voted against it. the chancellor, who is staying out of the leadership contest, saying today that forcing a new deal
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could lead to a very short lived premiership. parliament has voted very clearly to oppose a no deal exit. parliament has no locus any more in this. this is a parliamentary democracy. a prime minister who ignores parliament cannot expect to survive very long. while those seeking to replace herfight it out, theresa may was at church near chequers this morning. the weight of office lifted from her shoulders, and the responsibility for resolving brexit soon to lie with her successor. voters in 21 eurropean union countries are voting today to select new meps. seven countries — including the uk — have already voted, but the results will only be revealed once polls have closed across the eu. here's our europe correspondent, damian grammaticas. the uk was in the first wave of countries to vote in these eu
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elections, and the uk results, out this evening, will be watched for how far the handling of brexit may have impacted the share of votes won by the conservatives and labour, and how people are divided between pro and anti—brexit parties. across europe, half a dozen more nations — this is latvia — have already voted. today, ballots are being cast in 21 more eu member states. in some countries it is migration that is the top concern. elsewhere, the numbers of young people unemployed. here in northern france it is a contest between president macron‘s pro—eu movement, and the anti—eu nationalists of the former national front, that's being watched. translation: i am going to vote, it is my duty as a citizen, but i don't know yet who for. translation: this vote will be an important pointer of the future elections. it will give an idea who might come out on top. the official eu results will be released when polls close this evening.
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damian spoke to us a little earlier from brussels — and explained the key things to look out for as the results come in tonight. most countries are voting today. this is belgium. voting in belgium is compulsory. what is being watched out for? the overall composition of the european parliament. the expectation is the big centre parties, the conservative centre right, the socialist centre left, will be losing the share of the vote. what will happen then to the liberals, the greens? they may do quite well. the far left, the far right. that will all determine the balance of the parliament, but crucially also the horse trading in the next few days for the top eu jobs
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and the other thing will be the overall balance between pro—and anti—eu forces. that could have a profound affect on the future of the eu. you can follow all of the results of the 2019 european elections with huw edwards and the team from ten o'clock this evening on bbc one and the bbc news channel. and you can find the latest results on the bbc news website. a man and a woman have been charged with murder after two children died in an incident at a house in sheffield on friday. earlier, our correspondent phil bodmer updated us on the story. police and paramedics were called to a semi—detached property six miles north of the city centre on friday morning at around 7.30. neighbours reported seeing numerous police and ambulance activity on the street. six children were taken to hospital. police later said two teenage boys, aged 13 and 1a, had died. now, a 37—year—old man and a 34—year—old woman were arrested on suspicion of murder on friday. yesterday afternoon, police announced that the four children,
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including a seven—month—old baby, had been discharged from hospital. but today, south yorkshire police have announced that the two people arrested on friday have now been charged with two counts of murder each. and the woman faces three counts of attempted murder. they will appear before sheffield magistrates‘ court tomorrow morning. postmortem examinations were due to be carried out on friday, but so far no results have been made public. a 17—year—old boy has become the fourth person to be charged with the murder ofjodie chesney. jodie, who was seventeen, was stabbed to death in a park in east london in march. investigators say the fourth person to be arrested has been charged with murder and with possession of a stun gun. government sources say there've been expressions of interest in buying british steel, which was placed in compulsory liquidation earlier this week — but they have dismissed reports that it has set a two week deadline for a buyer to be found. earlier i spoke to our business correspondent, katy austin — who said the only other option apart
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from somebody buying the company — is for the government to nationalise it. the insolvency of the company means 5,000 jobs are directly put at risk. and 3,000 of those are at scunthorpe, where there's that huge steelworks. otherjobs are also at risk in locations such as teesside and 20,000 others, potentially, in the supply chains. so there is a lot at stake here. british steel is still trading though while urgent effort on behind the scenes to try and find a buyer. we do understand there has been a serious interest both domestically and from foreign quarters. so perhaps uk firms and some international firms might be interested in buying it. the sunday telegraph today did report that ministers are only prepared for the government to continue supporting british steel for two more weeks, and after that the plug would be pulled. government sources have confirmed to us that they do not recognise that timetable.
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they're saying that two weeks' time doesn't have to be the end at all. meanwhile, there are a lot of people nervously watching and waiting to see if somebody does comes forward. the difficulty is, as we talked about in the course of the week when this story was developing, that steel is in long—term decline, in terms of the uk's share of the market. huge competition from china. i heard simon saying a few days ago that more steel had been produced in china in a year than the whole of britain had produced in its whole lifetime. and the problem of competitiveness is the real difficulty presumably for the industry here. that's right. the uk steel industry faces huge challenges and it has done for years. it was only back in 2016 when british steel, which wasn't what it was called then, nearly went under then. it took a private equity firm coming in and buying it for £1 to keep it going. you could argue that the industry is very much struggling anyway. and it will definitely require a buyer to have very deep pockets to keep this business going. british steel is not the only steel producer in the uk,
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but it is significant. it has been a pillar of the country's industry for decades. but as you say, it is much, much reduced in its size and in the number of people it employs. that doesn't mean it's not important, though. if nothing else, it's symbolically important. nobody wants to see it go under. the only other option, apart from somebody buying the business, would be the government nationalising it. it certainly hasn't said that's on the cards at the moment. a powerful magnitude 8.0 earthquake has hit a remote part of the amazonjungle in peru — the most powerful to hit the country in 12 years. the quake struck in the early hours of sunday morning — collapsing buildings and knocking out power in some areas. tremors were felt hundreds of miles away in the capital lima — where people ran out of their homes in fear. some injuries but no deaths have been reported. donald trump, who's visiting japan, has dismissed concerns about recent missile tests by north korea. in a tweet he refered to the missiles as "small weapons".
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a lavish welcome was laid on for the president by japan's prime minister, shinzo abe — including attendance for the final of a sumo wrestling tournament. our tokyo correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes sent this report. it is a little different from the sort of wrestling mr trump is used to seeing back in the states. japan's national sport is steeped in tradition. one is that spectators are not supposed to sit on chairs. but tradition was set aside today, as first prime minister shinzo abe came up to award a cup to the grand champion. and then for the first time ever, a foreign leader was allowed onto the hallowed earth to present an even bigger cup. inside, there was huge excitement about the famous guest. outside, a little less so. translation: i wish he would respect our culture. he is our guest but he is acting more like a king.
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they are giving him special treatment, letting him sit on a chair — i think it's too much. president trump is getting a lot of firsts during this trip. first to meet the new japanese emperor, first to sit on a chair during a sumo tournament and to present a special prize to the grand champion. it is of course not without reason. japan is nervous that mr trump is not quite as committed to his asian ally as some of his predecessors, and he could launch a trade war againstjapan, like he has in china. a tweet from mr trump today demonstrated exactly why japan is nervous. in it he describes recent north korean missile tests as small weapons which disturbed some people, but not me. this is what those small weapons look like. they may not bother mr trump, but they certainly do bother japan, which is well within range. japan is deeply sceptical of mr trump's friendship with
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north korean dictator kimjong un. but the us president still appears to believe it can lead to a historic peace deal. the headlines on bbc news... borisjohnson and michael gove — the two figureheads of the official leave campaign — take on each other for the conservative party leadership. andrea leadsom and dominic raab have also joined in the race hoping to be prime minister by the end ofjuly. a man and a woman are charged with murder after two children died following an incident at a house in sheffield on friday. sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here's lizzie greenwood—hughes. good afternoon.
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there was an emotional victory for lewis hamilton at the monaco grand prix... in the week when his mercedes mentor niki lauder passed away, hamilton led from start to finish in monte carlo, while behind him there were chaotic scenes as local hero charls leclerc was forced to retire early. hamilton managed to shrug off a late charge from red bull's max verstappen to take his 3rd title in monaco and increase his lead at the top of the drivers‘ championhsip. st mirren and dundee united are currently in action to see who will be playing football in the scottish premiership next season. it's been so tight in both legs as dundee united hope to end a three—year exile from the top flight while st mirren try to stay there. united took the lead through nicky clark's early penalty. but st mirren‘s danny mullen equalised 3 minutes later. it's also level at wembley in the league one play—off final. sunderland were ahead after an early goal keeping howler from dillon phillips, allowing naby sarr‘s backpass to roll under his foot and into the net. but ben purrington equalized for charlton before the break. 1—1 the score 15 minutes into the second half.
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roger federer made a winning return to the french open with a dominant first—round victory over lorenzo sonego. federer beat the italian in three straight sets in his first match at roland garros in four years. the 20—time grand slam winner will face germany's oscar otte in the second round, who's ranked 1a5th in the world. in the women's tournament there was a shock first round exit for wimbledon champion angelique kerber. the fifth seed was beaten in straight sets by world number 81 anastasia potapova. kerber had been struggling with injury in the lead up to roland garros but said afterwards the pain from an ankle injury was "not my excuse". rugby league — super league's magic weekend continues at anfield and there was an important win for hull kingston rovers today. they narrowly beat salford to move away from the bottom of the table. level at 20 points—all, ryan shaw scored a late penalty to seal the win. in the day's second game, leeds lead london broncos 10 points to 6. britain's laura muir had to settle
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for bronze in today's women's elite westminster mile. it was muir's first run since defending her two european indoor titles in glasgow in march. melissa courtney won the race — which starts on the mall and finishes outside buckingham palace — with a time of 4 minutes and 29 seconds to retain her title. in the men's race, chris o'hare was pushed all the way by elliot giles as he secured his third westminster mile crown. o'hare just failed to break the four minute barrier afterfinishing the race in four minutes flat. coventry city say they have a "groundshare venue and agreement in place" for next season in case they are forced out of the ricoh arena. coventry owners sisu and rugby union club wasps — who own the stadium — are in talks over city staying at the ground, which is coventry‘s preferred option. but an ongoing legal case is causing problems with those negotiations, meaning the club's use of the stadium next season remains unclear.
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england's bronte law remains in the running for her first career lpga title at the pure silk championship in virginia. she shares the lead with japan's nasa hataoka heading into today's final round. at one point it looked like she'd be returning to the clubhouse a shot behind but managed to birdie the 18th — her sixth in a round that also included two bogeys. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. thank you very much. a british man has died after a collision between two yachts near cannes on the last night of the film festival. the 29—year—old, who was a crew member on board the minx vessel, is reported to have suffered a heart attack. he was injured when another yacht, named vision, tried to manoeuvre past the minx. the region's maritime prefecture said that "despite all attempts at resuscitation" the man was declared dead after a cardiac arrest. at least two people have been killed after a powerful tornado
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swept through a small town, near oklahoma city. authorities have spent the evening sifting through the damage — fearing the death toll will rise. the bbc‘s freya cole reports. oklahoma are no stranger to tornadoes, but when one with such ferocity hits, it is near impossible, even for seasoned residents, to prepare for the worst. it was pretty intense. we had a lot of patients on the patio. we started seeing tents overturned, chairs overturned, and heavy, heavy rain all of a sudden. the storm front swept through this caravan park, displacing dozens of people and flattened this budget motel in el reno. rescue workers spent the night searching the rubble for survivors. they've been told more than 38 people were inside.
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i've been inside. it is very traumatic. we are waiting for the daylight. that is what we are waiting on right now. check all of our information out and you'll see how dramatic it is when the day light shines on it. it is feared the death toll will rise. authorities are now tasked with notifying victims families and helping oklahoma rebuild. fire safety experts have told bbc radio 5live that the new round of testing of building materials following the fire at grenfell tower, is almost certain to see some majorfailures. and that could have a massive impact on hundreds of buildings including tower blocks, schools, hospitals and care homes. adrian goldberg, from 5 live investigates, has been giving more details to my colleague martine croxall. grenfell, the tragedy which took 72 lives was clad with something called acm. this was cladding which, at the time, was legal, but which expert evidence at the grenfell enquiry suggested contributed to the spread of the fire around grenfell tower. the government has identified that there are still hundreds of buildings that are clad with acm
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around the country but they have made £600 million available in total for local councils and private landlords to remove that acm cladding in the fullness of time. what other forms are causing concerns, because it could be that other things will crop up as part of these inspections? that's right. because the acm cladding for grenfell was considered to be acceptable at the time, the government decided to commission an investigation into otherforms of cladding and building materials to see if they now posed a safety threat and a private company commissioned by the government has identified as many as 1700 buildings around the country which need further testing because they may represent a fire risk. one of the kinds of cladding, called apl, is common, not to all of those buildings, but too many of them. i've spoken to one expert today who says that in the worst kind of circumstances, this kind of cladding could potentially be more dangerous than the cladding on grenfell tower.
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what is the government saying? the government has provided £600 million to remove the kind of cladding that was used at grenfell. they are waiting for the tests on the 1700 buildings to come through later this summer. and they say they are working with private landlords and with local councils to remove all kinds of dangerous cladding. the sunday times says it has found evidence that the snapchat app has become what it calls a "haven" for sexual predators who target young people. the newspaper has uncovered thousands of reported cases involving the photo—messaging app since 2014. john mcmanus reports. snapchat has helped to revolutionise mobile communication. it is a simple idea — photos and videos sent between users are deleted once they have been viewed, very quickly. that tends to induce a carefree attitude, which means if you feel
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like sending your mate an embarrassing picture of them or you, well, the image will quickly disappear once it has been seen. that makes the app popular with teenagers. but the sunday times says there is a dark side to the craze for sending what are known as "snaps". it says data it obtained under freedom of information requests shows that police officers are handling about three child sexual exploitation cases every day, in which snapchat has played some kind of role, although it doesn't specify exactly what. users of the app can message each other, which means potential abusers can chat to and groom victims. and the automatic deletion of images makes it difficult to trace evidence of wrongdoing. the nspcc says is also easy for abusers to screenshot an image and save it to other platforms. there are 14.5 million snapchat users in the uk, and those who want to join must be aged at least 13.
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the company says... a woman has been found alive more than two weeks after she went missing in a forest on the hawaiian island of mow—ee amanda eller was rescued by helicopter from a deep ravine — she'd been hiking in the area when she became lost and then injured. ramzan karmali reports. the last 17 days of my life have been the toughest of my life. hiker amanda eller knows how lucky she is to be alive. she spent over two weeks lost in a forest on the hawaiian island of maui. the yoga instructor thought she was walking back to her car but instead was walking further and further into the wilderness. it did come down to life and death, and i had to choose, and i chose life. i wasn't going to take the easy way out, even though that meant more
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suffering for myself. amanda was rescued from a deep ravine. she waved down a rescue helicopter funded by donations. one of her friends was on that rescue helicopter. out of the woodwork she comes out, arms swinging. i was like, there she is! i know her very well so i said, that is amanda eller! i thought, how is she dressed, she is not wearing shoes, we have to land this thing! chris was like, "don'tjump out of the helicopter!" in order to survive she foraged on berries, but she was injured with a fractured leg and severe burns from the sun. doctors say she should make a full recovery. she is most grateful for those who didn't give up on her. i have the most gratitude and respect and appreciation, i can't even put it into words, for the people who helped me, who have prayed for me. her mother, julia, has called the rescue a miracle. now, there's a call from scientists — have you seen any spittlebugs? would you even know
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what they look like? the insects get their name from the frothy spittle they leave on plants in springtime. volunteers are being asked to report sightings of them, because it's thought they could spread a deadly tree disease called xylella. it's feared the disease could soon arrive in the uk and scientists want to be prepared, as helen briggs has been finding out. spittlebugs are easy to spot if you know what you're looking for. oh, here we go, here's one. hidden in bubbles of froth on the stems of plants. where my pencil is pointing — there we are. we might be able to persuade the little juvenile spittlebug to come out. and there it is. if xylella arrived in the uk, spittlebugs could spread the disease by feeding on the sap of infected plants. now, scientists want help recording sightings of spittle and fully grown spittlebugs, which are champion jumpers, able to leap more than 100 times their own body length. so we need to learn as much as we possibly can about what kinds of plants they feed on,
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what habitats occupy, and where they are in the country, so that ultimately if the worst possible happens and the disease does arrive in britain, we'll be able to make some really good predictions about how it's likely to spread, and how quickly. xylella arrived in europe six years ago, devastating olive groves in italy and spreading to other countries in the eu. it's important to remember that xylella isn't yet in the uk, but if it did arrive, there's a huge amount of plants that could affect. and it's notjust in our gardens, with the rosemary, lavender, but the wider environment, as well, things we particular care about, so tree species like oak trees, sycamore trees, things that are really key in our landscape. we want to protect those, as well as within our gardens. scientists are calling for thousands of volunteers up and down the country to help map spittle and spittlebugs in gardens, meadows and woodlands.
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by by all accounts, boris johnson by all accounts, borisjohnson has taken up yoga. if you're looking for a new way to relieve stress and tension in your life, you might think about taking up yoga — but forget the downward dog — in france, classes with cats are proving popular. yoga sessions with cats have become fully booked up in alsace in north eastern france. cats roam around the room during the session, and one teacher says the feline friends bring "happiness" to the classes. they certainly look like natural yoga masters. i don't know if boris has a cat. if he was the prime minister, he could a lwa ys he was the prime minister, he could always ta ke he was the prime minister, he could always take the downing street cat. it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. if you more showers to come for the bank holiday. earlier, plenty of
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cloud on the satellite pictures. this zone here has the showers and moving its way southwards. earlier, plenty of cloud on the satellite pictures. this zone here that has got the showers, it has been moving its way southwards, brighter skies have followed on behind, so for many of us, actually, a fine end to the day. the last of the showers though, clearing away from the south—east and clearly still very wet for some of us in northern scotland. this area of rain overnight will sink a little bit further south across the rest of scotland, some further outbreaks of rain developing again in northern ireland. compared with last night. a fine start for many in england and wales for the bank holiday. for southern scotland into northern ireland, some cloud, outbreaks of rain, it will turn a bit more showery during the day, not moving too far further south, but certainly keeping a zone of thicker cloud. elsewhere it is sunny spells, some showers developing. catch one and it could be on the heavy side. some filtering a bit further south, and east during the day, especially on the north, north—westerly breeze. not too many showers at all, though, in southern england.
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