good afternoon. questions have been raised about links between russia and leaked documents detailing talks between the united states and the uk. the papers were used by labour to claim the nhs would be on the table during post—brexit trade talks. they were published on the online discussion forum reddit. last night, the site said it believed the documents are linked to a russian campaign to interfere in the general election. our political correspondent ben wright has this report. a warning — it does

contain flash photography. elections are about to defence as well as attack. this morning, boris johnson was in stockport, saying the tories would provide more grassroots football funding in england. today there are also questions about what role russia might be playing in this election. these are censored, blacked out reports. this leaked government document detailing initial trade documents between the uk and the us was highlighted by the labour party. the message board reddit said it was posted online by an account linked to the campaign linked in russia. i think we need to get to the bottom of that. as far as i'm aware we have not established the truth of that. but i certainly think that that document, whatever it was intended to prove did not prove what the jeremy corbyn and the labour party hoped that it would.

jeremy corbyn is campaigning in wales this morning. the labour party has said publishing the trade document was in the interest of the public and argued that the government should release a parliamentary report into russian involvement in the brexit referendum at the last election. the prime minister has answers to give what she refuses to do about russian donations, given to the tory party, oi’ donations, given to the tory party, or the report that he is sitting on about russian interference in british politics. of course there should be no interference in our british political system by donald trump or the russians. russia didn't crop up in the questions last night. the debate in which borisjohnson and jeremy corbyn repeated their ma nifesto and jeremy corbyn repeated their manifesto election mantras. mr johnson focusing on brexit under labour leader focusing on public inequality and services. there were no shocks or surprises. with the final tv debate on this campaign is in its final phases. a final chance for the parties to pick holes in their opponents arguments and drive home their own messages. whilst tim

johnson feels it has the advantage, this unpredictable election is far from over. ben wright, bbc news, in stockport. ajury in the united states has cleared the billionaire elon musk of defaming a british man involved in the rescue of a group of thai boys from a flooded cave last year. vernon unsworth took legal action after mr musk called him a "pedo guy" on twitter. from los angeles, dave lee reports. elon musk entered court on friday for the fourth and now final day of this trial. what has surely been the most intense, not to mention expensive, examination ever of a single tweet. how many of you? that tweet, sent in july 2018, came in the midst of the miraculous rescue of 12 thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave. vernon unsworth, a british man who lived nearby, was instrumental in advising that effort. elon musk also travelled to the region with a specially designed mini—submarine. in a tv interview, mr unsworth called it a pr stunt,

prompting mr musk to snap back, using the phrase "pedo guy". he later deleted the tweet, but mr unsworth sued him for defamation, arguing he had been wrongly accused of paedophilia. elon musk was described in court as a billionaire bully, a man who dropped a nuclear bomb into the life of vernon unsworth. but the jury saw it differently. they said the tweet was an insult, but not an accusation — a view which could set a precedent when it comes to libel cases involving social media. this verdict sends a signal, and one signal only, that you can make any accusation you want to, as vile as it may be, as damaging at it may be, as untrue as it may be, and somebody can get away with it. the only thing i'm going to say is the jury got this right, and we don't have any further comment at this time. ultimately, mr unsworth's lawyers were unable to prove that his life had been sufficiently negatively impacted.

i accept the jury verdict, take it on the chin, and move on. dave lee, bbc news, in los angeles. iran and the united states have carried out a rare exchange of prisoners. tehran has freed an american phd student, xiyue wang, who was convicted of spying. he was swapped for iranian scientist, massoud soleimani — pictured here with the iranian foreign minister. there are calls for an independent review after a man who was wrongfully freed from jail went on to commit a series of rapes, assaults and abductions. joseph mccann was released earlier this year after an error by the probation service. he was convicted yesterday of attacking 11 people over a two—week period. firefighters in australia have warned that a huge fire about an hour's drive from sydney could take weeks to put out. the blaze stretches for 60 kilometres — larger than the city itself. it's one of almost 100

fires currently burning in new south wales. back to the election, and there are around a million people with learning disabilities eligible to vote, but around a quarter are not registered. campaigners say part of the problem is a system that's hard to access. the bbc‘s disability affairs correspondent, nikki fox, has more. good evening, are we all right, sheffield? all: yes! it's the highlight of the week. a chance to have a drink, a laugh, and put a cross in a box to maybe win some money. but when it comes to marking the ballot paper on polling day, what are the issues that matter for people with learning disabilities? bingo! toni has volunteered here for around four years. she's a winner tonight, but she's not been so lucky getting a job and is worried about money. what kind of issues affect you that make you vote a certain way? benefit—wise, like, it's really messed my life around.

if you were in a room with a load of politicians... yeah. ..what would you say? change the benefits back to the way that they were. the nhs, social care and hate crime are other issues that came up here. but many find it difficult to make their voices heard in an election. how did you find it when you last voted? a bit nerve—racking. hayley has registered to vote, but she gets help from her support worker, beth. it's a bit hard for me to process all the questions. do you actively explain policies to hayley? yeah, we would do that. i'm not going to put my point of view across to her, because, then, obviously that would make her vote for who i wanted her to vote for. she is perfectly capable of it. yeah. do you think politics, in general, is accessible enough for people with learning disabilities? no. like, when you watch it on the news, half of the stuff they say, i'm like, well, i don't understand any of them numbers or percentages and all of what they are saying. everyone should be entitled to have their say. i want someone who will stand up for me and actually mean it, with,

like, in their heart, notjust saying it because it will get them votes. unlucky for some, the number 13. most of the major parties have released easy—read versions of their manifestos, but not at the same time. charities say this delay means people with learning disabilities are not given enough time to consider who to vote for. she's a winner! nikki fox, bbc news, sheffield. with all the sport now, here's 0lly foster at the bbc sport centre... good afternoon. anthonyjoshua faces andy ruinunior this evening in a rematch of their heavyweight world title fight thatjoshua lost at madison square garden in new york six months ago. ade adedoyin is in saudi arabia, where this bout is taking place. ade, joshua really can't afford to lose again, there's a lot at stake. yes, he faces a stiff test tonight and it is one he cannot afford to fail. defeat would damage has branded it would be a strongly ——

rehabilitation process to get back on top. if he does when he joins an elite group of fighters like vander hudderfield, lennox lewis who have w011 hudderfield, lennox lewis who have won the title more than one occasion. but the question is how they fully recovered mentally from what happened in new york? let us hear from both what happened in new york? let us hearfrom both men, joshua first. what happened in new york? let us hear from both men, joshua firstlj am hear from both men, joshua first.” am over it but there is definitely some scar tissue, i know where i we nt some scar tissue, i know where i went wrong and a blessing as i have a second chance. some people don't get a second chance in life and i have a second chance to put things right. i have a second chance to put things right. lam have a second chance to put things right. i am looking forward to the opportunity rather than the challenge and a fear of it, i am embracing it and turning it into a positive. of course, we don't want to lose, i am sure he doesn't want to lose, i am sure he doesn't want to be beaten again. he doesn't want to be beaten again. he doesn't want to be beaten again. he doesn't want to be embarrassed. i have accomplished my dreams and i want to accomplished my dreams and i want to accomplish more dreams, that is what we will do on the 7th of december. in an ideal world, anthonyjoshua

would have an intron bout to get his confidence back and get back to winning ways and i are in out his technical flaws that led to that defeat in new york. but because of the state of the heavyweight division he has exercised his rematch clause and gone straight back into phase ruiz rematch clause and gone straight back into phase ruinr. as promoter eddie hearn stands behind that decision and believes that the defeat has reinvigorated anthony joshua. i see a challenger. just a challenger, no belts, no heavyweight championship. the days of standing there with the four belts has gone, he has got nothing. he has a dream to become a two—time heavyweight champion, that makes you dangerous, you know, when you are out there to try to win back what you once had. i think it has made him realise just how much he wants it, and he trained ha rd how much he wants it, and he trained hard for the first andy ruiz fight but he wasn't ready for what unfolded. he is ready now on saturday night to do whatever it takes to recapture the world heavyweight title. so, confidence from the joshua camp, heavyweight title. so, confidence from thejoshua camp, this is the biggest sporting event in saudi

arabia and it will be very interesting to see the make—up of the crowd and how they actually take to it. this is a fact that both men cannot afford to lose for their legacy. ade adedoyin, live in saudi arabia, thank you. there are five games in the premier league today. it's the manchester derby as city host united. they are approaching half—time at goodison park. everton, under their temporary manager duncan ferguson, are beating chelsea 1—0. the leaders liverpool are at bournemouth. that is a three o'clock kick—off. cricket, and england have named their squad for the four test series against south africa that starts on boxing day. there are a couple of changes following their series defeat in new zealand. james anderson returns after missing most of the ashes with a calf problem. jonny bairstow has also been recalled. he'd been dropped after a poor series against australia. the uk snooker championship continues straight after this bulletin, it's semifinals day. there's also coverage on the bbc sport website. that's all for the moment.

thank you very much. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:10pm. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. it is coming up to 1:12 p m. let's get more now on those links between russia and leaked documents detailing talks between the united states and the uk. earlier i spoke to ben nimmo — director of investigations at graphika, a social media investigations company which broke the story. this is the very big question of how the leaks actually ended up online in the first place. what we know is that they appeared, a link to them appeared on reddit on the 21st of october. and the early amplification of that very, very closely resembled a known

russian information operation. so the really big question is how did the leaks get there in the first place? how did they end up online being amplified by what reddit certainly says is part of a known foreign influence operation. is it clear whether this was done by people? could it have just been done, you know, by machines? and does it necessarily mean that it was linked to government? no, it doesn't look like it would have been done by machines. if you look at the posting then some human being actually had to type the posts, some human being had to create the accounts, so there were human operators behind this. we don't know who these human operators were and one of the big questions is who exactly was behind this? the operation that was exposed in june this year which, again, my team worked on, it was a large operation which had been running for about five years, it was working in six different languages at least and across 30 different online platforms. it was a substantial operation that would have required quite a lot of expertise and manpower.

but we don't have final attribution of who was actually behind it. what should happen next? is there more investigation that could uncover more detail and should that be put into the public domain? also of course there is this parliamentary report on potential russian influence into politics at the moment, that the government is refusing to publish. the first thing to do is to look more for more how the leaks came out and how they ended up online. we have had the comments from reddit already, there was quite a lot of activity from one particular twitter account. but the main question is not so much to the social media platforms, it is actually going to be for government departments. and the big question will be to find out exactly how the leak got there. it is important to note that nobody is suggesting that the documents that leaked were in any way tampered with. and that is a difference from the earlier russian operation, which used a lot of fakes.

but that does then mean that a genuine document ended up online and what looks like been boosted by russian operation. should be an internal investigation and work out in the first instance healthily cap an event how it ended up online. is there any information about whether any of the political let's get more on the calls for an independent review afterjoseph mccann was wrongfully freed from jail. he went on to commit a series of rapes, assaults and abductions. earlier i spoke to philip wheatle, a former director—general of the national 0ffender management service. this is now her majesty's prison and probation service. he told me that he couldn't understand what went wrong in this case. it's quite clear that he should have been recalled as soon as he was arrested and charged with burglary. that would be the normal thing with a prisoner who was on an indeterminate sentence, on licence, subject to fairly stringent conditions,

which were built into his release. it is incomprehensible for me that he wasn't recalled by the probation service at that stage, let alone at the stage when he was convicted of the offence later on when the trial took place and the judge who commented on the trial seem to comment on the basis that he expected recall to happen but it still didn't happen. that is, frankly, beyond belief. and what i can't understand, it isn't clear to me, how a probation service failed to do that and what were the precise things that went wrong? obviously, there were individuals who were responsible but the degree of churn and alteration to the way that probation works that was taking place during 2015, 2016, and still playing out in 2017, may have played a part in it. as also may shortages of staff, which have recently been reported on by the probation chief inspector and are still occurring in the south—east of england. so are you saying that this type of

case could happen again? well, the chief inspector of probation recently looked at the south—east of england and how it is operating and that covers the area that mccann was and says that the town he was —— the time he was looking at they were over 100 staff short, that is 16% of the total. 0fficers over 100 staff short, that is 16% of the total. officers had far too high caseloads to manage safely and there was a risk of further service failures. so independently, the chief inspector of probation has said there remains a problem in that area, caused by lack of staff. and to high caseloads of dangerous offenders, because that is who the national probation service look after. they take dangerous offenders. do you know how many pairs of eyes would look over one case like this in terms of this recall not happening? and when you say casework, does that mean that they didn't look at the notes

properly? how can the sort of errors happen on an individual basis? as i say it is incomprehensible. i am used to working with high risk offenders, i have spent all my career in the prison service doing that and we work closely with the probation service. somebody on a indefinite sentence would be treated with great care and seriously. i cannot understand how it has come to this pass. there must have been people who should have known what theirjob was who simply didn't know what they were supposed to do for some reason failed to do it. and i can't think of any good reason why that would happen. philip wheatley there. a woman who'd alleged she'd been raped in northern india has died in hospital after being set on fire. she was attacked earlier this week as she was on her way to court. five men, including her alleged rapist, have been arrested. pratiksha ghildial reports. the 23—year—old woman who died after being set on fire in the northern state of uttar pradesh, was on her way

to court to testify against her alleged rapists. she was reportedly dragged from near a train station by a group of men to a nearby field and set alight. five men are under arrest over the attack. the woman had filed a rape complaint against two of them in march this year. the main accused was arrested, but later released on bail. the family is now demanding the death penalty for the accused. translation: my sister is no more. the names of these five culprits must also be erased. this comes close on the heels of another gang rape and murder of a young woman in the southern city of hyderabad. the 27—year—old was making her way home after work when she was attacked, raped and set on fire. but a few days later, the accused were shot dead by the police while under detention,

and after being taken back to the crime scene. it was overwhelmingly welcomed by many indians, however, human rights organisations have asked for investigation into these killings. these cases have once again renewed debate over sexual violence in india, seven years after the gang rape and murder of a student in delhi that had led to massive outrage, and resulted in the country tightening its rape laws. but for many, little seems to have changed. pratiksha ghildial, bbc news, delhi. at least 280 people have been killed and two million people are having to cope with unusually heavy rainfall and flooding in eastern africa, according to the un. in somalia warnings have been issued as cyclonic storm pawan nears the coast and in kenya its reported that at least 100 people are dead and more than 30,000

have been displaced. they're calling it europe's first eco—mosque — a purpose built centre in the uk — that will cater for thousands of muslim worshipers. shabnam mahmood from the bbc asian network reports from cambridge. ten years of planning at a cost of over £20 million. the new cambridge central mosque has officially opened its doors for the city's 6,000 muslim worshippers. it provides a modern place to worship, designed by the team who created the london eye. this mosque is said to be the first eco—friendly mosque in the whole of europe. it boasts a zero—carbon footprint, by generating its own electricity and harvesting the rainwater. the project to build the mosque was funded by more than 10,000 donations, both local and international. among them, cash from charities in turkey. hundreds of people were at the inauguration, including the founder and patron of the mosque, yusuf islam, formerly known as singer cat stevens.

he welcomed president recep tayyip erdogan of turkey, who was in the uk for nato's 70th anniversary. the president didn't say much as he arrived. mr president, how does it feel to be here? with the crime that he is committing... but the leader's presence wasn't warmly received by everyone. dozens gathered in the city centre to show their anger at president erdogan‘s military action against kurds in syria. the decision was defended by trustees from the mosque. we wanted this space to remain for the community, at most. the thing that was very different when we presented to the turkish authorities and president erdogan, he said, "this is what the british people want, cambridge muslims want. "we will support it." the gardens and cafe are spaces for the whole community, and notjust muslims. it is hoped the mosque

will bring people together. shabnam mahmood, bbc news, cambridge. back to the general election — and the south west of england is a key battle ground between the conservatives and the liberal democrats. the lib dems lost all their seats across the region to the conservatives in 2015. but the party came within just a few hundred votes of retaking st ives in 2017. 0ur south west political editor martyn 0ates has been to the constituency, to find out what issues voters are concerned about. the south—west‘s most marginal seat is a place of geographical superlatives. its southernmost tip is also the most southerly point on the british mainland. a magnet for tourists in the warmer months, a bright winter morning sees it full of locals, many with trenchant views on politics, brexit and shifting party allegiances. if you look around you, anything that is less than a0 years old in the way of infrastructure has been built with eu money. and the government is not

going to replace that. they will abandon cornwall quite happily because there is no effect on them at all, particularly if everybody vote lib dem. i feel that brexit should happen. i have always voted labour but i cannot vote forjeremy corbyn in any shape or form, the way that he feels about brexit. i'm going to vote liberal down here because it is the one way of making sure that our dear sort of whatever beloved tory mp doesn't get back. it's just taking too long now, isn't it? i think everybody is bored of it. i'm definitely bored of it. i don't know anybody that's not bored of it, to be honest with you. this constituency includes both of west cornwall‘s peninsulas within a peninsular. across the great sweep of mount‘s bay is the lizard's more rugged and weather—beaten twin.

home to mainland britain's most westerly town, saintjust. low granite houses defy the atlantic gales, the legacy of west, once great but now long since disappeared tin mining industry. the local butcher, a lifelong resident, gives me a warts and all thumbnail sketch of the town today. it is a very, very expensive part of the country to live in. our house prices are through the roof. it might look like a dream but it actually isn't, it could be the nightmare. the chasm between average house prices and average earnings is a problem across cornwall, but it is particularly acute here. 0f cornwall‘s six constituencies, st ives has the second—highest average house price and the lowest average earnings. brexit no brexit, the search for a political solution to this huge disparity remains a burning issue here. there's a lot of very rich and a lot of very poor, so there is a massive gap in the middle of that. so i think what we need down

here is that gap narrowing. and it is one of those situations where the money tends to stay within the rich and the poorjust seem to be getting poorer. but to change the political weather here, the anti—brexit liberal democrats need to woo an electorate which voted by 55% to leave the eu. and this isn't one of the handful of southwest seats where the greens have agreed to fall by the wayside to help the lib dems navigate their way back to the sunshine. st ives is arguably the one constituency where it might have spared their journey. martyn 0ates, bbc news. lovely, lovely pictures therefrom cornwall. british heavywight boxer anthonyjoshua fights this evening as he attempts to win back his world titles from andy ruiz. joshua suffered a shock defeat to ruiz and lost his undefeated status when the two fought injune. the rematch will take place

in saudi arabia with four world title belts on the line. the same fourjoshua lost to ruiz. the fight is a shot at redemption forjoshua, with former world heavyweight mike tyson saying tongiht‘s fight will "either make him a better individual, a betterfighter, or it might just destroy him." earlier, i spoke to the former wbc flyweight world champion charlie edwards, who's a friend of anthonyjoshua. i was with him before he got out, in camp, when he was out in marbella. we were there and chatting, and he seemed hungrier than ever, and he was really determined to get his belt back. and how do you think he might be preparing for this now today? i think he's just going to stay cool, calm and collected. he can't overthink too much. he has been boxing a very long time. he can't let ruiz get into his head too much from the last performance. me, personally, knew aj wasn't the same as he normally is in fights, especially by looking at him on the outside, in the ring walk and everything like that. so, i think he isjust going to stay relaxed, keep the team around him, and he is just going to be focused,

and go in and enjoy it. the main thing is to enjoy it when you are in there. so, what do you think did go wrong last time around, and how will he change what he does today? i think it could have just been a whole load of things, like with all the opponent changing very last minute, and being very focused on someone else, and then ruiz coming late. and he has probablyjust took him a bit for granted at the time, and he didn't realise what ruiz was actually capable of. and now, he knows what he's capable of, so this time, he's going to be fully focused, and he is going to be really, really super focused, in fact, and he is going to be in there to prove a point. and some are saying that this is the career—defining moment, because if anthonyjoshua doesn't win tonight, then, you know, it's game over, potentially, for his whole career. i don't think it is game over if he doesn't win. ruiz is a great fighter, and it's for aj to win the unified belts back again. so, it's top of the top of the game. it is for the british fans. the british fans have been giving him a lot of stick

since the last time, and he wants to go out there and prove a point, so i believe he is going to do it, and i really do hope so, too. and this fight is taking place in saudi arabia. any concerns within the boxing world about taking part ina the boxing world about taking part in a country that has such severe criticism about its human rights and so criticism about its human rights and so on? i'm not too sure, i have a look too deeply into that. when i went out to dubai, i know it is not saudi arabia, it was very safe. but it will be safe as houses. eddie hearn would not take his fighters and other fighters if hearn would not take his fighters and otherfighters if there hearn would not take his fighters and other fighters if there was going to be danger orjeopardy. yes, it was a question more about the effects of supporting a country in what is going on there. butjust taking it back to what is going on today, what you think the final outcome will be? and how much time is there once that match starts for

anthonyjoshua to is there once that match starts for anthony joshua to prove is there once that match starts for anthonyjoshua to prove himself and get on top? i really, really do believe that anthonyjoshua can win his belt back. it is going to be a very sticky fight, nip and tuck. i think it is going to catch fire very early on and it will test him again, especially his mental willpower. he is going to have to be switched on all the way through. he is going to have to box a clever fight and not get involved. i believe he can do it, he is a very experienced man and is determined as ever. i'm going to go with an anthonyjoshua win. charlie edwards there, a friend of anthonyjoshua. let's charlie edwards there, a friend of anthony joshua. let's have charlie edwards there, a friend of anthonyjoshua. let's have a look at the weather now. is it a stormy interesting week ahead ? 0ur is named storm of the season is on our way to the british isles which will be arriving to my. —— our first named storm. a lot of cloud across the uk now, and the chow the north—west wales and north—west

england, northern ireland a lot