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tv   BBC News at One  BBC News  September 16, 2019 1:00pm-1:30pm BST

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the prime minister holds his first face to face meeting with the european commission president, jean claude juncker, saying he's cautiously optimistic about progress in the brexit talks. borisjohnson says he still believes a deal can be done before the brexit deadline but insists he is not willing to delay brexit beyond the end of october. we'll have the latest from luxembourg and westminster. also this lunchtime. drone attacks on major saudi oilfacilities, the united states releases these satellite images to back its claim that iran was behind them. a climate scientist says he's scared by the extreme weather events such as the melting of ice, hurricanes and wildfires that are happening sooner than expected. universities have been criticised by a former health minister for being in the dark over student mental health needs. stop feeding the trolls.
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the celebrities lining up to ignore and block online abuse. and coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news. victory for europe in the solheim cup but what impact can it have on the women's game? good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the prime minister is in luxembourg where he has been holding his first face to face meeting with the president of the european commission, jean—claude juncker. borisjohnson says he still believes he can strike a deal with the eu before the end of october when the uk is due to leave. but the sticking point is still the irish backstop, the insurance policy to ensure there is no hard border after brexit. and eu leaders say that
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downing street has so far failed to provide any alternative plans. our europe correspondent, adam fleming reports. are you paying? i don't have a choice! lunch is on luxembourg. this is the first time the prime minister and the president had met face—to—face. do you like snails? over snails and salmon, the pair discussed the prospects of a revised brexit deal with an alternative to the so—called irish backstop. the deal which borisjohnson thinks is getting closer. well, we are cautious, cautious. writing in the daily telegraph, the prime minister said, if we can make enough progress in the next few days, i intend to go to that crucial eu summit on october i7 and finalise an agreement that will protect the interests of business and citizens on both sides of the channel, and on both sides of the border in ireland. we have been very clear on the approach and the
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prime minister will reaffirm those withjean—claude prime minister will reaffirm those with jean—claude juncker and michel barnier today, which is we want to remove the anti—democratic backstop. we set forward a range of technical proposals as to how we would do that. but that optimism is not shared by people sitting on the other side of the table in this fa ncy restau ra nt. other side of the table in this fancy restaurant. junko juncker other side of the table in this fancy restaurant. junkojuncker has given an interview to german radio where he says he doesn't think there is an alternative deal out there, and he warned that time is running out. that frustration was shared at a separate meeting of european ministers in brussels today. we are just waiting for some proposals, it's very difficult to react without a concrete proposal so we will see if it's possible for michel barnier to receive something in the next days or hours. european union is a lwa ys days or hours. european union is always ready to negotiate, when they have a proposal from the united kingdom side, so far i haven't seen any proposal which would compensate the current backstop. the two men spent more than an hour together,
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but government sources say this process still has a long way to run. it looks like a wonderful restau ra nt. it looks like a wonderful restaurant. this lunch date was about maintaining momentum, not making a big breakthrough. and we can speak to adam now. we can see a big melee behind you, thatis we can see a big melee behind you, that is thatjean—claude juncker and borisjohnson that is thatjean—claude juncker and boris johnson have just that is thatjean—claude juncker and borisjohnson have just left? that is thatjean—claude juncker and boris johnson havejust left? yes, boris johnson havejust left? yes, borisjohnson is boris johnson havejust left? yes, boris johnson is driving boris johnson havejust left? yes, borisjohnson is driving away in that direction, that big scrum of media there are casing over mr juncker. looks like he has been talking to them so we should get a clue of how the lunch went. they we re clue of how the lunch went. they were in there longer than scheduled which suggests they got on well, but it's not about the friendship between these two men, it's about the position on either side. the eu thinks the only way you can guarantee to preserve the peace process and the economy, north and southin process and the economy, north and south in ireland, and protect the single market is with that package of measures called the backstop. the uk thinks that could be slimmed down a long way from the agreement made
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with theresa may. the eu thinks progress is being made in the talks, the eu says, no, they are getting more detailed but they are not reaching a final destination where eve ryo ne reaching a final destination where everyone can agree. | reaching a final destination where everyone can agree. i suspect that a thing that happens this week will not be whether these guys have a nice lunch here in luxembourg, it's officials can sit around the table and start looking at detailed and workable proposals and that is how this will be solved, not over a nice tete—a —tete this will be solved, not over a nice tete—a—tete over cheese, salmon and snails. well, let's speak to norman smith who's at westminster. it's a matter of weeks, do they really have enough time now to do a deal? you think, so he, it took theresa may two painful year to put together her deal and then it was shot down in the commons three times even though she had a commons majority. boris johnson even though she had a commons majority. borisjohnson has one month left, and no commons majority. and if anything, the two sides still seem
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and if anything, the two sides still seem far apart. we've actually seen borisjohnson seem far apart. we've actually seen boris johnson today seem far apart. we've actually seen borisjohnson today raising again, really, the spectre of no deal, saying, if the eu don't budge on the backstop, we will be leaving on october 3! without an agreement and don't think that law passed by mps the other day is going to stop me, because we think it's got legal flaws in it which means i could still leave without an agreement. does that mean borisjohnson is giving up on a deal? no, i think there is the view that talking up no deal might actually boost the chances of getting a deal. in part because of the view that it turns the heat up on the eu to shift on the heat up on the eu to shift on the backstop, and in part because it turns the heat up on mps here at westminster to support any deal that mrjohnson gets, if he does, and not hold out for their preferred option, whether it's another referendum or some other sort of deal. but i do sense there's probably an awful lot of fingers being crossed and toes
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being crossed in downing street because as one aide to mrjohnson put it to me, a deal looks like a tough ask. oil prices have risen sharply after drone attacks on two key facilities in saudi arabia. the united states has issued satellite images and cited intelligence to back its claim that iran was behind the attacks. but iran says the accusations are baseless and unacceptable. theo leggett reports. fires light up the night sky around the world's largest oil processing plant in saudi arabia. drone attacks on saturday left a large part of the facility ablaze. another major site was also targeted, leaving thick plumes of smoke spreading across the desert, as these aerial pictures show. the attacks carried out by houthi rebels from yemen have knocked out half the country's production and had a major impact on global supplies. this outage knocks out nearly 5%
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of world oil production. and so it has a very, very important effect, and the biggest, the most important thing that investors are really looking out for is how quickly are we likely to see the outage come back online. the response from the oil markets this morning was dramatic. the cost of brent crude surged by nearly 20% to more than $70 a barrel before easing back. president trump has warned of possible retaliation, saying the us is locked and loaded. officials in washington have already suggested iran is ultimately responsible for the attacks. there is a lot of talk about how the us could potentially escalate the whole situation. and again, i would discount that. and the reason i would discount that is because much of the us policy now revolves entirely around the re—election campaign of donald trump, and the last thing he wants is a mega hard conflict in the middle east. that doesn't get him re—elected.
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so could a soaring oil price mean you and i have to pay more to fillup ourcars? that depends on how long the disruption lasts. but for now, there seems little cause for concern. there's definitely no need to rush off and fill up. at the moment, the price is coming down. so really, this is really only a concern if there is a sustained oil price rise over the coming weeks. at the moment, there's really no cause for concern at all. nevertheless, if there is long—term disruption and oil prices do rise further, motorists could yet see an impact on their wallets. theo leggett, bbc news. the london fire brigade has revealed that it's been interviewed under caution by police investigating the grenfell tower fire, which killed 72 people two years ago. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is here. what does it mean and how significant is it? well, the london
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fire brigade said it was a voluntary interview, it offered the opportunity for the police to talk to the fire brigade, and it was talking to the fire brigade as a corporate body. so we are not seeing individuals investigated here. the police are talking to the fire brigade under caution, so the evidence can be used in court. what they are investigating is breaches of the health and safety at work act. to explain that, companies and corporate bodies have a duty to not just protect their employees, but also protect members of the public and that's what this is about. previously these are said to me that stay put, the policy of requiring or asking residents to stay in their flat, that's a line of inquiry they're looking at are specifically under the health and safety at work legislation. there will be more interviews to come. the met said this morning, the metropolitan police, that it had interviewed 17 individuals in connection with allegations of corporate
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manslaughter, potentially, a single person individual manslaughter and also health and safety at work act charges. at the inquiry is also going to take until at least the end of 2021 before charges can be considered because there is a public inquiry also going on. tom, thank you. the uk's former chief scientist, professor sir david king, has said he is scared by the pace of climate change. in an interview with the bbc, he's warned that extreme weather events such as the melting of ice, hurricanes and wildfires are happening sooner than expected. he's called for the uk to advance its climate targets by ten years. but some scientists say emotive language over global warming is making young people depressed. roger harrabin reports. wildfires are burning across indonesia. their smoke is checking people in cities. forests are a flame in brazil as well, and also in australia, way ahead of the usual wildfire season. professor king says
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we cannot prove a link yet with human driven climate change, but it would be foolish to assume these events were not linked. he points to the massive ice melt in the arctic is further evidence of an overheating planet. the ice loss is right at the top of the forecast range. we see extreme weather events just rolling out year after year, with a massive loss of life. rising sea levels, rising temperatures, changes in weather patterns impacting on farmers and everybody else. is this a scary scenario? of course it is. and how should we react as human beings to this scenario? we have to all pull together and understand the challenges, and act to stop it. this summer's heatwaves in france are another instance of freak weather. they broke previous records by an amount that astonished scientists.
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then there was hurricane dorian, ambling along at just then there was hurricane dorian, ambling along atjust two miles an hour, instead of the usual ten to 15 miles an hour, and dumping water along the way. was this devastation definitely caused by climate change? that's not proven, but other scientists are also worried. david king is right to be scared, i'm scared as well. whether or not it's faster than predicted it difficult to say. the activist greta thornburg sails to new york for a un summit saying people aren't scared do not act. at some psychologists say scary languages giving young people eager anxiety. children are picking up information from social media and the press and the news reports this summer, children are fighting because they see the amazon burning and hailstorms in spain and the arctic burning and they are picking up arctic burning and they are picking up on that. how to tell stories about the climate which are strong enough to make people act and calm
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enough to make people act and calm enough so they don't panic, that's a task. the time is 1.15pm. our top story this lunchtime. the prime minister holds his first face—to—face meeting with jean—claude juncker in luxembourg saying he is cautiously optimistic about progress in brexit talks. coming up. as if once isn't enough, the woman trying to swim the channel a record—breaking four times. coming up in the sport in 15 minutes on bbc news. england's summer of cricket ends on a high, now the captain prioritises the tour to australia in 2021 to win back the ashes. the world is suffering an unprecedented crisis in terms of displaced people. the united nations says that 71 million people have been forced from their homes through war violence and persecution. the economic meltdown in venzuela has led to four million people
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fleeing the country, 40,000 of them made the crossing to the small islands of trinidad and tobago. but some locals there have made it clear they're not welcome. as part of a new series exploring the global migrant crisis, our correspondent, ashley john—ba ptiste, sent this report from the islands. chanting. these venezuelans are being sold false dreams and promises. anger on the streets of trinidad. some locals argue that the vast number of venezuelans who have fled to the small island are just here for jobs, not asylum. we don't have housing in trinidad. we don't have proper health care. you just bring them from one disaster into another disaster. with an election coming up next year, the message from the authorities is clear. the venezuelan problem is for venezuelans. this little island cannot be the solution to millions or hundreds of thousands of migrants leaving
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venezuela. manuel romero was a judge in venezuela. after seeing colleagues jailed for not following government rulings, he fled with his wife and kids last summer. since arriving, he's worked as a fisherman, a carpenter, and now a security guard in a shopping centre. trinidad and tobago has no laws for protecting asylum seekers, so until recently, venezuelans had no rights to live or work. there have been accusations from human rights groups that the government has been deporting people with approved asylum claims from the united nations refugee agency. the government refused multiple requests for an interview with the bbc to address these concerns.
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in some attempt to manage the crisis, the government created a registration period injune. for two weeks, any venezuelan could register for the right to live and work. but the centres allocated for processing were chaotic and confusing. how many people are waiting now here, where we are? hundreds if not thousands, so many people. yes. all i see is a mass of desperate humility needing help. ——all i see is a mass of desperate humanity needing help. as we approached the deadline, police blocked off the line. the government declared that all unregistered venezuela ns were returned to a legal status. there is this last—minute rush, and the desperation from these venezuelans is so palpable. you can see it here, just people rushing to get through and be registered. panic, anxiety. look. the government announced in the following weeks that 16,500 venezuelans had been registered. that's a number significantly lower
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than the estimated number thought to be in the country. as it stands, the government refuses to reopen registration. those who weren't registered are in limbo. but so are those families who made it through, the permits are limited to a year's work allowance and venezuelan children cannot attend school. manuel registered in time, but he's concerned for the future of his 17 year and five—year—old kids. if you are deported back after a year, do you know what would happen to you? jail. jail, prison? yeah. you live in venezuela, you're a traitor. ——you leave venezuela, you're a traitor. for now, a permit provides families like manuel's some sense of safety, but as the crisis continues in venezuela, many continue to flee their country. inevitably, this is only a temporary solution to a problem that isn't going away. ashley john—ba ptiste, bbc news, trinidad.
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the former labour mp chuka umunna, who's now a liberal democrat, has strongly criticised the labour leader, jeremy corbyn and accused him of being "illiberal". mr umunna was making his first speech as the liberal—democrats foreign affairs spokesman at the party conference in bournemouth. he also described borisjohnson as a "peddler of hate and division." jonathan blake is in bournemouth. what's the latest? chuka umunna is one of the new liberal democrat mps, having come on board from the labour party and joined others who have joined the lib dems from labour and the conservatives and elsewhere. he was on a charm offensive, his speech went down well and he managed to convince party membership that he was a card—carrying lib dems and supported their values. the big move by the lib dems has been to change their brexit policy, a vote overwhelmingly in favour of that yesterday, to say that any general election campaign they would
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campaign to revoke article 50 and cancel brexit outright a further referendum if they were able to form the government. the lib dems have 18 mps at the moment and the party leaderjo swinson has rejected suggestions it's unlikely they will be able to do that and form a government after a general election. she's also been talking about if no party wins a majority, what she would do. confirmed in an interview that she would not be able to support either the current prime minister or the labour leader in going into government. i'm not going to support boris johnson jeremy corbyn to be prime minister because they aren't up to the job. our country deserves better. in an election campaign, the country will have the chance to choose a better future. if we got to the stage of a hung parliament, you wouldn't support either of them? absolutely. they aren't up to it. it's not good enoughin they aren't up to it. it's not good enough in the country deserves
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better. jo swinson also rejected criticism that has come from some within the party of their new brexit stance. one of their mps at sir norman lamb said the polarisation of the debate is dangerous and the lib dems should be careful what they wish for. jo swinson said it was important to give people a choice and stand up for what is right. with that shift in policy and new mps joining from elsewhere, these are interesting times and times of change for the liberal democrats. but if they don't get that election victory they might have to reassess their recent decisions of thank you. —— thank you. the former health minister, sir norman lamb, is calling for universities to be given a legal duty to provide support to students with mental health problems. it comes as the inquest opened into the death of ceara thacker, who took her own life while studying at liverpool university. our education editor bra nwen jeffreys reports. ceara thacker was just 19
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when she took her life. she had struggled with her mental health as a teenager, self harming when she was depressed or anxious. going to liverpool university was a fresh start. she had friends at her hall of residence and told her parents she was coping, but in february of herfirst year, ceara took an overdose. ceara's father iain said they had no idea she had attempted suicide. if they had, the family would have intervened. instead, they only found out after ceara was found dead in her room, some months later in may. in notes ceara left to her friends, her boyfriend and to her family, she said she had been in a dark and isolating hole. she could barely express how desperate and how sad she felt. ceara's dad iain hopes the inquest will give the family answers, but he also wants universities to think again — are they doing enough? should families be alerted if students are vulnerable? more students are asking for help
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with their mental health. new data suggests that could depend where you study. 110 universities responded with information to a campaigning mp. only 26 knew the average or longest waiting times for counselling. if we have no idea how long students are waiting, then we are putting students at risk. we know from the data that the longest waiting times could be over half a term for some students, and we also know that there have been some tragedies amongst the student population. universities say they already plan a voluntary mental health charter and need the nhs to provide more effective care for students. liverpool university said it was deeply saddened by ceara's death and is working with the health service on changes.
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the supermarket chain aldi says it plans to open a new store in the uk every week on average for the next two years. the chief executive giles hurley said they would invest £1 billion to achieve their aim. aldi's pledge came as it reported a sales rise for last year, but saw profits fall sharply. our business correspondent emma simpson is here. a new store every week for the next two years, a new store every week for the next two yea rs, really a new store every week for the next two years, really extraordinary. it's quite striking. aldi has had another record year for sales, up 1196. another record year for sales, up 11%. most of that growth comes from opening all these new stores. the big established graces are opening new stores right now. as you say, aldi has been a opening one on average a week. that investment has put a big dent in its profits as well as having to cut prices to maintain its competitive edge. i've been speaking to the ceo who said he
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was confident about their long—term strategy. over the next two years, we are going to invest a further £1 billion in the uk, it shows very much our intent and the fact our business is extremely sustainable. we are planning to open, on average, a store every week for the next two years, bringing our offer to more customers across the uk. and brexit isn't going to alter your expansion plans? we are absolutely committed to being in the uk for the long term. we are watching brexit developments with a good deal of interest, very much like the rest of the industry. we would welcome more certainty and clarity over what our future trading relationship with the eu will be. i also asked him about the consequences of a disorderly no—deal brexit and he said like all the other supermarkets he couldn't guarantee there wouldn't be any gaps on the shelves, nor that prices wouldn't go up. he said he was working to mitigate the ripple effects for customers. thank you.
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a teenager has pleaded guilty to murdering a lawyer in newcastle city centre with a screwdriver. peter duncan — who was 52 — was stabbed near a branch of greggs bakery last month while walking home from work. a 17—year—old — who can't be named for legal reasons — is due to be sentenced in december following psychiatric assessments. sir rod stewart has revealed he is free from prostate cancer after two years of treatment. the 74—year—old singer was given the all—clear injuly after his cancer was diagnosed in 2017. sir rod stewart went public with his illness over the weekend and urged men to get checked for prostate cancer. two former paratroopers have won their racial harassment claim against the british army. nkulueko zulu and hani gue, seen here earlier this year, had personal photographs defaced with a swastika, a hitler moustache and offensive language. an employmentjudge said what had happened was "unquestionably related to race". the ministry of defence is yet to comment. a group of politicians
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and celebrities are calling on other public figures to stop engaging with online trolls, in an attempt to stamp out cyber hate. gary linekar, sadiq khan and richard osman are among those who have endorsed a new guide on how to combat online abuse. earlier i spoke to rachel riley, presenter of channel 4's countdown, who has been very vocal on social media — particularly over anti—semitism — and has often retweeted abusive comments. she has now blocked more than 1500 people on twitter. i asked why she has also backed the campaign. in january, i spent four months educating myself. i did an anti—semitism course online, and i decided to use my position as a person in the media and do a podcast with krishnan guru—murthy and speak about it. and at that point, it was like a switch was flicked on the abuse went from a manageable stream of unpleasant messages to a barrage. i now know from this research, from the studies, that this is intentional. it's a small number, a very small number of targeting individuals who are actually strategic.
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they are doing this for a purpose, and they pick their target and they pick their messaging and they're trying to cause me to react. if someone has, say, 500,000 followers on twitter and you retweet a racist message and 95% of your readers realise and say, that's disgusting, that's horrible, i don't like that, that's 5% or 25,000 people who are then able to go and click onto the link of the profile of the person who sent the abuse, and they might see some of the other messages and think, oh, they've got a point, that's quite interesting. you're expanding their network. in terms of you personally, what impact does it have when you read that kind of stuff, because you are getting huge amounts of comments? well, part of this paper says i'm not a victim, i don't want to be a victim and being a victim only encourages it. since i got pregnant, it makes you realise, you know, i have a bit of sugar and my baby goes nuts and it's happy, i'm happy, my baby's happy. i had a weekend where i got a horrible amount of trolling and no matter how
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much mental strength i have, i still have the adrenaline, i still have that fight or flight, i still have the hormones, and my baby went quiet for a couple of days. so, it does take its toll and i did realise at that point, i don't need to read this stuff. if someone said these things to me on the street, i would walk away from them or report them, so there's no reason why i need to get it when i wake up in the morning, when i go to bed at night. itjust isn't healthy and i don't want to accidentally help them by sharing their message. swimming the english channel once is hard enough — but an american woman is attempting to do it a record four times non—stop — that's 84 miles in total — and she's already almost three quarters of the way through her extraordinary challenge. sarah thomas, who's 37 and has recently had treament for breast cancer, is currently swimming towards the french coast on her 3rd lap. this is the tracker which shows where she is now. four swimmers have previously completed a triple crossing of the world's busiest shipping lane — but no one has
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so far managed four. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. don't get any ideas! i'm not a good swimmer! laughter what a contrast we had from the weekend. across southern england it was beautiful, highs of 27 degrees. what a difference a day makes. look how much cloud we have seen this morning. a bit of light and patchy drizzle courtesy of this weather front. it is moving south and high pressure is building behind it. a good deal of quiet weather for some of us and contrasting weather conditions further north where the best of the sunshine has been. yes, some shower ploughed up in the north, driving showers into the northern isles. southern scotland, northern isles. southern scotland, northern ireland and northern england keep some

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