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tv   BBC News at 9  BBC News  January 9, 2020 9:00am-10:01am GMT

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you're watching bbc news at 9, with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines: senior royals are said to be "hurt" by prince harry and meghan‘s announcement they're stepping back from the family. the couple say they want to be financially independent and will split their time between the us and uk. meghan and harry have torpedoed the palace and the ripple effects have even hit here in hollywood, where they're rolling out the red carpet for pretty much the two biggest a—listers in the world. america says it is ready to engage in serious negotiations with iran — the day after its bases in iraq were hit by iranian missiles. a disappointing christmas on the high street as retail sales are the worst for 25 years.
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gp shortages are causing "unacceptable" delays for patients in england. the royal college of gps say urgent action is needed. whirpool begins recalling dangerous washing machines. hundreds of thousands could be affected. england bowlerjames anderson has been ruled out of the rest of the tour of south africa with a rib injury. jofra archer might replace anderson in the team. good morning 7 and welcome to the bbc news at 9. senior members of the royal family are said to be "hurt", after the duke and duchess of sussex announced that they're stepping back from their royal roles.
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harry and meghan‘s decision is believed to have "shocked" the royal family, with reports the couple didn't consult the queen or prince william. in a statement, the sussexes said: buckingham palace responded with a statement saying: our royal correspondent, nicholas witchell reports. they'd had a six—week break and they'd clearly been
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considering their future. back in london on tuesday, during a visit to canada house, harry and meghan seemed settled, yet they were about to spring a major surprise on the wider world and even on their own family. they did not consult the queen, the prince of wales or prince william before issuing their personal statement: welcome to the canada gallery. the statement leaves many questions unanswered. what is a progressive new role? how do they intend to become financially independent? only one real detail was given. they will henceforth, they said, balance their time between the united kingdom and north america. buckingham palace issued
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a terse statement, saying: the clearest indication there can be that they think sussexes have not thought this through. at the same time it was being made clear that senior members of the royal family, including the queen and harry's father and brother, felt disappointed and hurt with the way in which the sussexes had behaved. the signs that the couple were unhappy with their royal life have been apparent for some months, notably during and since their tour of southern africa. my british friend said to me, "i'm sure he's great "but you shouldn't do it because the british tabloids "will destroy your life." and i very naively, i'm american, we don't have that there, "what are you talking about?" it's all a far cry from their wedding 20 months ago when a british prince married his amercian bride. they brought a freshness to the royal family and seemed to engage with a new audience. now, some at least of those
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hopes have been dashed. for a royal family which is looking more and more to the core group of younger members, the partial withdrawal of the sussexes is a setback and coming so soon after the controversies around another second son, prince andrew, it is, as officials have indicated, a disappointment. nicholas witchell, bbc news. sarah campbell is at buckingham palace for us now. good morning to you. this is extraordinary by royal standards, isn't it, almost an airing of laundry in public? i think that is right. i think if you have watched prince harry and meghan over the last few months, listen to those interviews you heard there in that package, it was clear there were issues. so the fact that they might have been looking for a different way of working, the fact that they we re way of working, the fact that they were unhappy shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. but i think initially, when we are talking about it today certainly, it's the manner in which they have gone about this
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announcement which really seem so shocking, really. that is what many of the headlines in newspapers are talking about today, the fact it has because the queen, prince charles, senior members of the royal family, hurt. because although our understanding is they were aware a week ago prince harry and meghan we re week ago prince harry and meghan were planning a move of this, it is oui’ were planning a move of this, it is our understanding that it was in early stages and that was the understanding at buckingham palace. then this statement dropped at 6:33pm yesterday evening, which showed harry and meghan were in a very different headspace and that has what caused the problems. and there are so many questions about how the couple would make this progressive new role at work. there are so many questions and questions to which we really haven't got a nswe rs questions to which we really haven't got answers for at the moment. they talked about the fact that they want to be financially independent. they say was continuing to honour and
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support the queen. now, interestingly they also launched yesterday a new website, sussex royal dot—com. if you look at that website, there are some detailed a nswe i’s website, there are some detailed a nswers to website, there are some detailed answers to some of those questions. they talk about things like they value the ability to work leek and a professional income. does that mean they want to go and getjobs? perhaps, yes. we knew they would launch a charitable foundation this year, that's not part of their plans. they plan to balance their time between the uk and north america, possibly canada. this is where they have spent the last six weeks mulling these thoughts over in their heads. will they continue to live at frogmore cottage? the cottage in the grounds of windsor great park which was given to them by the queen for their use. they said they would like to continue having frogmore cottage as the uk base. then there is a question, if you are not a working royal, will you are not a working royal, will you be expected to pay rent? so money is a huge issue which people will be asking questions. they get money from the sovereign grant at the moment and are also fronted by,
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the moment and are also fronted by, the majority of their expenses are funded by the prince of wales's private income, the duchy of state. that has to be ironed out as well because not many commentators speaking this morning and saying they don't see how this half in, half in being a royal, honouring the queen and helping her doing her work whilst also being this global ambassadorfor their own whilst also being this global ambassador for their own personal charities, how is that going to work? it hasn't been tried before. people commentating saying today they can just see it as a very, very difficult thing. in the statement released by buckingham palace last night, and a statement that was very terse, buckingham palace said, we understand their desire to take a different approach but these are complicated issues that will take time to work through. i should say, they are getting a lot of support, particularly on social media. they have a lot of support around the world. they have a huge global fan base. a lot of people saying they
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are base. a lot of people saying they a re really base. a lot of people saying they are really pleased that prince harry has taken this step and meghan, and they were clearly unhappy with their roles. but among the country to that, from the royal family, all that, from the royal family, all that global interests, the fact they brought a different face to the royal family at the royal family we re royal family at the royal family were hoping to harness that star power, that clearly looks like it will be less likely to happen now. so so many more questions to answer. 0k, sarah, thank you. sarah campbell at buckingham palace. the couple have said they intend to become financially indpendent and have outlined where their funding has come from until now. the sovereign grant covers just five percent of costs for the duke and duchess, 95% of the funding comes from income allocated by hrh the prince of wales, generated through the duchy of cornwall. dan wootton broke the news of harry and meghan spending more time in canada yestersay on the front page of the sun. he joins us live on the line now.
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a big scoop for you. congratulations, and with this statement absolutely bearing out what you are writing about yesterday, what is your take on how the couple are going to make this plan of theirs work? well, it's going to be a lot more difficult for them now, because of the fact that they did rush the statement out when we broke the story yesterday in the sun. the plan was for there to be many weeks of discussion with the queen, prince charles, senior members of the royal family. but harry and meghan like to own their own narrative and so for them it was important to rush the announcement. however, that has gone down like a bombshell among the royal family, the queen deeply disappointed. i'm told prince charles and prince william are incandescent with rage. that is not the usual type of thing you hear from that is not the usual type of thing you hearfrom senior members that is not the usual type of thing you hear from senior members of the royal family. in my story yesterday,
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idid point royal family. in my story yesterday, i did point out that one of the long options would be for prince harry and meghan relinquishing or being stripped of their hrh title. you have to think that that is a stronger possibility today after the way they have chosen to handle this announcement. always interesting to get your take on that. that was one of the questions i was going to ask you, about their titles. talks come as you say, were going on about the future of the suffixes and their role but clearly they have decided ata role but clearly they have decided at a much earlier stage than the rest of the royal family were hoping, make this announcement. what does it say about the relationship currently between meghan and harry and senior members of the royal family? it's incredibly bad. there isa family? it's incredibly bad. there is a civil war going on amongst the royal family. for a long time, people have tried to tell reporters like me who have been on the story
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for a long time, you are exaggerating, things are not that bad, surely prince william and harry are getting on. the reality is, there is a civil war right now, this has now exploded into the open, so how do they deal with it, what is the next step? there are so many basic questions that are not a nswered basic questions that are not answered right now. will they stay in frogmore cottage? harry and meghan say they will be but that is up meghan say they will be but that is up to the queen, she owns it. the public just renovated it up to the queen, she owns it. the publicjust renovated it to the tune of £3 million. what about their security? who will pay for that? will it bejustin trudeau and canada who have to foot that bill orwell harry and meghan —— harry and meghan expect the queen to van that? so many questions, and again i reported in the sun this morning, they want to start taking on commercial deals. again, there is a reason why members of the royal family don't take on commercial deals, because as you've seen with prince andrew how
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difficult that can get. so lots of questions. right now, there are no a nswe i’s questions. right now, there are no a nswers for questions. right now, there are no answers for any of them. so much of this is absolutely uncharted when it comes to the royal family. harry maybe six in line to the throne but he and his wife had star power, which is sarah campbell mentioned, the royal family certainly had hoped to continue to harness. i'm sure they won't want to lose that, but if harry and meghan are not in the uk has a permanent presence of permanent presence, what does that do to that plan? well, exactly, it throws that plan into turmoil. what is particularly interesting, in their statement, harry and meghan only point to north america but i revealed yesterday that the plan is very much for them to make their permanent base, at least for a decent proportion of the year, canada. the thinking there is it is a commonwealth country, so harry and meghan can keep on doing the work on behalf of the queen or the
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commonwealth. that is a bit more palatable than having them swanning around full time in hollywood, but it is still going to cause quite a lot of eruptions. i think the british public... meghan and harry might have a lot of support on social media but i don't necessarily think the british public are so on—board with the idea of funding this couple and keeping the part of the royal family when they are not going to be living full—time in the uk. just a final thought, dan, clearly meghan, the duchess is a very accomplished woman. harry has set up the invictus games, hugely successful as well. clearly this is a couple who feel they can strike out, present a new face of the royal family, a very modern face of the royal family, perhaps not one that anyone has been used to because of the protocol that surrounds the royal family but if you look on the flip side of this, you have the
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detractors that some might say this could be exactly what the royal family needs? absolutely. and i believe that the model that harry and meghan are going for is one that is much more based on barack and michelle obama or oprah or bill, hillary and chelsea clinton. they are the models they are looking towards. one thing that hasn't been mentioned is prince harry already has a big tv deal in place with apple, which oprah winfrey helped him secure, looking at the issue of mental health. does this new deal means that prince harry can be paid millions and millions of pounds by apple to make that show? previously, under a previous arrangement, he wouldn't have been able to. potentially this new arrangement means that he might. tim cook of apple might now be playing for harry and meghan for tv shows in the same
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way he pays reese witherspoon and jennifer aniston. interesting to see how this all evolves. damn, thank you very much. the foreign secretary, dominic raab, says talks in washington with his us counterpart about how to deal with iran have been "positive and constructive". the meeting with secretary of state mike pompeo came after tehran fired missiles at air bases housing american troops in iraq. the attack was in retaliation for the killing of the top iranian military commander, general soleimani. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. another tense night. foreign government buildings, including the us embassy, are based in baghdad's green zone, where several rockets fell. the iraqi military said there are no casualties. on tuesday night, the pentagon says iran launched 16 short—range ballistic missiles against two us bases. again, there were no casualties.
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but it was a gesture of retaliation that met with strong support on the streets of tehran. donald trump's response was measured. he suggested iran was standing down and that americans should be grateful. but iran and the us are still locked in intense stand—off. the question is — what happens next? in washington, the british foreign secretary met with his us counterpart to discuss the ongoing crisis. we are absolutely committed, as our american and european partners are, to avoiding iran acquiring a nuclear weapon. we've obviously been committed to thejcpoa but we've reached a point where noncompliance has been so acute in the most recent steps taken by iran that obviously we are going to be looking very hard at what should happen next. ever since the killing of the iranian general, qasem soleimani, there have been questions about the trump administration's claim that there was an imminent threat to the united states. us senators have now been briefed about the intelligence
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that led to the attack. i am convinced that had decisive action not been taken, we could very well be standing here today talking about the death of dozens, if not hundreds, of americans at the hands of shia militias working as proxies for the iranian regime. democrats in the house of representatives plan to vote on a resolution designed to curb the president's military actions against iran. the international rhetoric may have softened, but mr trump still faces strong opposition at home. peter bowes, bbc news. drjulie norman is lecturer and researcher on middle east politics at university college london and joins me now. thank you forjoining us. america says it is ready to negotiate, engage in serious negotiations with iran. those are positive words but they are just words at this stage and translating that into action will be a difficultjob, isn't it? that is exactly it. it welcomed
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words, especially after the rhetoric we heard from trump in recent days, which looked towards a military escalation. there is some relief for this of course but as you said, this is just words and it's coming just after trump spoke yesterday after pushing how such sanctions are not iran. doubling down on backing out of the nuclear deal and pushing other states to do the same. this is not the time to be expecting much to come from negotiations with that other kind of messaging coming from the white house. as security editor made the point earlier today that in terms of the retaliatory action we've seen from iran, that is just the end of the overt action. he wouldn't be surprised if we have now proxy action carried out on behalf of iran by other actors in the region? that is certainly one of the concerns. right now, this does seem to be the official response from iran but we know there are a number of allied militia groups around the
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region who even unsanctioned may carry out certain kinds of attacks, certain kinds of missed locations and that could spiral things. this conflict is still very tense and even though things had seemed to pause for the moment, the way that iran is operating in the region, the way the us's impact has been in iran, will be impactfulfor a while. europe is sandwiched in the middle and as we saw, dominic raab in washington. other countries have been calling for calm, urging a de—escalation. do you think that sort of diplomacy can actually work in this situation, when it really is unclear whether there will be further actions from iran by proxy and whether america will retaliate? of course, we need to just push these diplomatic efforts as much as we can. right now, the uk is somewhat in the middle. dominic rav meeting with mike pompeo yesterday and discussing options but also eu allies trying to continue the negotiations are different kinds of
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ways. right now, we are not sure where these will lead but there seems to keep things that at least a breathable point at the moment, so we do expect diplomacy working this week. what in the short term do you think will be the strategic impact for the region? for the group calling itself islamic state, for example? and other militias in the area? anytime there is this of instability and predictability and in the region, it gives an edge to some those militia groups. we expect is alex tait to try and take advantage of this moment but that said, islamic state is one group, one of the few things the us and iran can agree on is they don't want to see a reassertion of islamic state. so right now, we will expect to see cut some kind of movements but i'm more concerned about how things will play out in iraq between us and iran proxy groups there and
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we are worried about how that will affect iraqi civilians on the ground. 0k, thank you very much. the recall of more than half—a—million potentially dangerous whirlpool washing machines begins today. if you're affected, you'll be offered either a repair or a replacement. but the consumer rights group, which?, says that's not enough and is urging the manufacturer to offer refunds instead. our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz has the details. dealing with the backlog built up because your mum can't use her washing machine. it was ok at first. it wasjust, like, a couple of loads. but now, it's just constant. alex from west sussex has had to take in all her 75—year—old mother's dirty clothes. to blame, a whirlpool washer, one of the ones at risk of catching fire because of a faulty electronic door lock. all of her washing is here, everything in my house. it's not even about the washing. this has cost us in so much money in electric, it's cost her so much money in petrol.
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the first customers heard was on the 17th of december. they were told then to unplug affected machines or use them only on the cold cycle. only today, more than three weeks later, is whirlpool offering a solution. owners will get an email to choose a repair or replacement. there are no refunds on offer. they can then click on a link to book a date for the work. 60,000 affected machines have been located so far. the plan is these will be dealt with in a matter of weeks. whirlpool told us last month what effort they were putting into the recall. this is a complex situation and i wish it could be done overnight, i truly do, but we're working flat out to make sure that we have all of our people trained, we doubled the staff, we're adding service engineers. whirlpool‘s already having to replace dryers with a fire danger. now, it's got more than 500,000 risky washing machines to find. to date, only a fraction of the washers have been located, so this whole recall process could take months.
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simon gompertz, bbc news. 2019 was the worst year on record for british retailers, according to new figures. the industry's trade body says the all important christmas period also saw a decline in sales. the british retail consortium says total sales fell by 0.1% over the year, marking the first annual decline since 1995. here to tell us more is our business presenter, dominic o'connell. good morning to you, dominic. the bric suggesting consumers have become more cautious and more conscientious about their spending and this is filtering through to sales of goods, we are talking about here, but the fact there was a drop at christmas as well is really worrying for retailers? it is and there are other numbers out from retailers this morning which suggested retail is going into austerity mode, discretionary mode. those figures were in grocery sales,
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where it looks to have been flat across christmas for the first time ever. normally grocery scales grow 196 ever. normally grocery scales grow i% yeah, that's the long term growth rate in the uk. for the last 3—6 months, it's been completely flat, which is very unusual for the uk and suggests a big change in consumer behaviour. just a word of caution on brc numbers, they take on a big chunk of the high street but don't include amazon. amazon is a member of the brc but don't provide their sales numbers and to the survey. amazon is about £30 billion worth a yearin amazon is about £30 billion worth a year in the uk. if you included amazon, perhaps it wouldn't be com pletely amazon, perhaps it wouldn't be completely flat but they do give a pretty good snapshot of high street being a tough place to do business at the moment. tell us about some of their figures at the moment. tell us about some of theirfigures out this at the moment. tell us about some of their figures out this morning? john lewis partners, tesco and m and s. the most eye—catching werejohn lewis and m&s. john lewis, sales down at waitrose and thejohn lewis
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partnership and paula nickolds, managing director, is going to leave. she has been with the firm 25 yea rs. leave. she has been with the firm 25 years. whether they will pay her a bonus or not, they have the lowest bonus or not, they have the lowest bonus of last year, lowest since 1953. they will decide to pay a bonus at all in february. that would be extraordinary. yes, extraordinary, the first ever full john lewis and partners. there will bea john lewis and partners. there will be a board meeting in february to decide. the chairman, who runs the whole partnership, is leaving to be replaced by sharon white, the former head of ofcom. marks & spencer, which didn't have a bad christmas, but particularly general merchandise, which includes clothing, was down again. the market reaction has been quite sharp. marks & spencer shares have lost 10% this morning. what was not a terrible christmas trading statementjust shows business never sat retail in general and perhaps nervous about that marks & spencer turnaround plan and clothing revival plan altogether. dominic, thank you.
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in a moment the weather but first let's here's victoria derbyshire with what she's got coming up in her programme at ten: good morning. a sham, that's what a rape victim told us about the investigation into alun cairns. the inquiry cleared him of misconduct over what he knew about the sabotage of the rape trial by his former aide. lucy told us exclusively she hadn't even been contacted to contribute to the inquiry. the whole thing feels like a sham. what kind of investigation doesn't contact the person most affected? it makes me question how seriously it was actually carried out. the full story at ten, plus what do you think of harry and meghan's decision to break free from the royal family? effectively quit public life and live both in canada and here? join us live both in canada and here? join us at ten on bbc news, bbc news channel and online. and let's take a look at the weather forecast with carol. thank you, good
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morning. today we started with some rain, some blustery winds and some hill snow, courtesy of this system here. it will continue to push northwards and eastwards, eventually clearing, only to be replaced by another area of low pressure in the southern counties later in the day. as well as rain, we will also have some strengthening winds across the south—west and in through the english channel and the channel islands. we say goodbye to the hell known and the rain. the gusty winds ease and then there will be a lot of dry weather around. hanging on to the milder conditions in southern areas, much colder as we push further south, despite the fact it is the north of scotland that will see the sunshine for the longest period of time. through the rest of the afternoon, evening and overnight, you can see how we still have this low pressure pushing steadily eastwards. still gusty winds. under a transient ridge of high pressure, things dry up and settle down. a cold night, cold in the south and we have been used to, -5 the south and we have been used to, —5 or —6 in the north of the
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country. the risk of ice on untreated surfaces first thing on friday. talking friday, a lot of dry weather around but later in the day the wind will strengthen, touch gale force in the north—west, as we see the arrival of a of some heavy rain.
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hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... buckingham palace are said to be hurt as prince harry and meghan step back from royal duties. the us says it's ready for serious negototiations with iran after recent hostilities. there was little festive spirit on the high street as figures show sales were the worst for 25 years. gp shortages are causing unacceptable delays for patients in england. the royal college of gps say urgent action is needed.
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time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. unsurprisingly, the news that the duke and duchess of sussex have decided to step back from senior royal duties is incredibly popular online this morning. in fact, the story is top of the uk real—time google trends list, which shows the most popular topics you're searching for this morning. but stepping away from the uk, let's have a look at how some of the american press is reacting to the news, after the announcement that the pair would split their time equally between here and north america. the new york post's front page has a cartoon of harry and meghan with the headline "megxit". they say the couple are going to leave the royals to become commoners. the new york times has a more serious take on the story, but even they call it
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an extraordinary retreat from royal duties. they say that canada is seen as the place the couple will most likely settle. aljazeera plus was popular on twitter for referring to the couple as "meghan and her husband", playing on the idea that famous women are often referred to merely as someone's wife. meanwhile, in canada, the toronto star are welcoming the couple with open arms — the city where meghan lived for years while filming the drama suits. one of their top opinion pieces today has the headline "harry and meghan, you're finally free — now come to canada, where you belong". their entertainment columnist wrote, "beyond their grasp, you can nurture your bond, your child and your charitable ambitions. " another story that's trending this morning is pop singerjustin bieber revealing that he has lyme disease. he said on instagram that while there was social media speculation that he had a drug problem, he was actually suffering from lyme disease. it's a bacterial infection caused by ticks.
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symptoms, including a bulls—eye rash, fatigue and fever, usually develop around three weeks after being bitten. the majority of those who take the full three—week course of antibiotics make a full recovery, but a few people have symptoms that last for years. it's not clear why this happens. justin bieber has received a lot of support online after revealing his diagnosis, but there's also confusion as to what the disease is. bieber‘s wife, hayley, wrote on twitter, "for those who are trying to downplay the severity of lyme disease, please do your research and listen to the stories of people who have suffered with it for years. making fun of and belittling a disease you don't understand is never the way. all it takes is educating yourself." and singer avril lavigne, who herself has had the disease, wrote, "so sorry to hear aboutjustin bieber having to go through this awful disease. the fact that it's hard to diagnose and is so debilitating was something i suffered through also."
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staying across the pond, this year's ces tech expo in las vegas is proving popular. in one of the most—watched videos on the bbc website today, our correspondent cody goodwin checks out one of the more bizarre products on show — a circular phone. this is called the circle phone. it's a different kind of smartphone. this isjust a prototype but you will be able to make phone to make phone calls and, obviously, very, importantly, take selfies. i've got the owner here, christina. now, tell me about the circle phone. so, the circle phone is for people looking for something different. rectangles have served us for years and years but we are looking for something that fits better in the hand and also something that fits better in the pocket. how many tests have you done on this to make sure it fits in pockets? would you like to test it right now? sure. right, here's the moment of truth. it fits. doesn't stick out of your pocket. it doesn't. will traditional ios or android work
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on the circle phone? that's a great question. so, what we need to do as a team is actually modify the system ui just slightly so that apps actually open up within the circular interface. right now, they are opening up as a square including the circular interface, not within the circular interface. the circle phone doesn't have one but it has two headphone jacks. why two? so, we noticed that gen z and millennials were actually buying up headphone jack splitters and it was really convenient for me to actually put on notjust one headphone jack but two headphone jacks on the design. how much of what we are seeing now will be what is part of the final product? you will see an edge on one side. a lot of our users were asking where the top was and where the bottom was. the edge really helps with that. and on the top, we will have to build around the camera, because we love this 13 megapixel camera. might takea might take a bit of getting used to. let us take a look at what you are reading and watching on the bbc news app, reflecting what we have been
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talking about. number one, most red, harry and meghan, the palace letting it known other senior royals are hurt over the announcement. number two, justin bieber revealing he has lyme disease. most watched, number one, very clear the palace is very upset. number two, would canadians welcome harry and meghan? that's it for today's morning briefing. sport now and, for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton, good morning. we'll start by talking about james anderson. he's heading home from south africa after breaking a rib during england's win in the second test. anderson is england's leading wicket taker, but the injuries keep mounting up. adam mountford reports. this is a huge blow for england but a major setback forjames anderson. after the frustrating five month long lay—off in the summer with a ca lf long lay—off in the summer with a calf injury, he looked back to his evergreen best taking seven wickets
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in the match including a record—breaking 20 85 wicket haul in the first innings. england say the rib injury will have him out of action for 6—8 weeks —— 28 five wicket haul. he will be absent from the test matches in sri lanka in march, but he might have been rested anyway. at the age of 37, will it ta ke anyway. at the age of 37, will it take him longer and longer to get over the centuries? he has spoken about having unfinished business in australia. he wants to play in the ashes in 2022. he will be 39 then and do england believe he can do that? if they don't, with his injury is coming more and more often, do they start looking elsewhere? you would be awful to write off james anderson. but he faces one of his greatest challenges now. so what next for anderson? he's said that he's heading home to rest and hopes to be healed in a few weeks. he's 37 now, and phil tufnell reckons it's inevitable
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that anderson will be considering retirement, but another former england bowler says jimmy‘s still got plenty to offer. the older you get, the little niggles take a fraction longer to heal, injuries and start creeping in. but he will be determined, he is very driven, a fantastic bowler, he offers so much. let us not write him off. as you get older, you need to keep the body bowling, and it is difficult for him, knowing myself, when you stop, you have a break, difficult to get back into a rhythm. he will come back stronger, absolutely no doubt. still got so much to offer england. great britain have lost their atp cup quarterfinal against autralia. it went right down to a tie break at the end of the final doubles match. jamie murray and joe salisbury were just edged out by nick kyrgios and alex de minaur in sydney. this is a new tournament that's been brought by the men's tour to kick off the new season. britain were captained by tim henman and they'll be looking forward to coming back after a pretty
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successful few days. let's have a look at some of this morning's back pages. the guardian covers the fa's controversial deal with betting companies. they say there are seven that have the rights to show matches as long as fans place bets. the mirror says that the manchester united defender harry maguire's out for a month with injury. and there's leicester's kelechi iheanacho on the back of the times after his equaliser for leicester against aston villa in the league cup. it finished 1—1 at the king power stadium in the first leg of that league cup semifinal. villa led for most of the game at the king power stadium, having taken the lead through defender frederic guilbert. leicester eventually levelled in the 75th minute when they took advantage of some dawdling in the villa midfield to set up kelechi iheanacho. the return leg is at villa park in just under three weeks' time. meanwhile, the manchester united captain ashley young's on his way out of the club.
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he's agreed to join the italian side inter milan when his current contract expires in the summer, but he could still move injanuary, if united allow him to go. the manchester united women's manager, casey stoney, says the wsl has better things to spend its money on that var. the video assistant referee isn't used at any major domestic women's competition at the moment, but it was used in the world cup. stoney says she wouldn't welcome it in the women's super league because she likes the drama of football. stand by for a comedy own goal. it's a bit of good old—fashioned pin ball in a game between paris saint germain and st etienne in the french cup. it didn't have much influence on the result — psg won the game 6—1.
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and of course — catch up with all the day's sports news on sportsday with ben croucher at 6.30 this evening on the bbc news channel. and more from the bbc sports centre throughout the day, but for now, anita. the australian prime minister, scott morrison, says his country is a long way from the end of the bushfire crisis. fresh warnings have been issued in victoria, new south wales and south australia where the fires continue to endanger lives and homes as hotter weather returns. he confirmed 27 lives had been lost and over 2000 properties destroyed by the wildfires. and he's promised more money would be allocated to help towns rebuild. we have been blessed with the amount of support and assistance provided to us from countries all around the world. and we have the existing standing arrangements with new zealand, canada and the united states,
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and, i've got to say, it's been of great comfort, as i've walked into incident response centres, whether it's in aubrey or whether i've been around the country, and you can hear that canadian accent, the us accent, the kiwi accent that is there alongside the aussie accents, just focusing on the task. but i tell you the one that's also been overwhelming has been the loving response from our pacific family. i mean, the vanuatu government provided 250,000 australian dollars and it might not sound like a lot in terms of the tremendous assistance provided by many other countries, but from them, that was a gift from the heart. our correspondent katy watson is in melbourne and sent this report. iamata i am at a food bank in melbourne. people here have opened their doors just over a week ago to public donations. they are packing up food and drink and taking it to affected communities. any communities cut off from the fire and isolated, the military will go and give people much—needed supplies. until they can
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open the roads again. we are talking a much longer recovery as well that so many people need. with b is the ceo, give me an idea of how the community have come together donating for the affected —— with me. this applies, the scale, the scale of generosity has been unprecedented from the public. we mentioned at about six days ago —— be opened up six days ago. we have had vehicles dropping food donations, cars, vans, trucks, ambulances, fire engines, even someone with a wheelbarrow. it has been astonishing. out of to the communities, and that is what they need at this time. this is not going to stop. it is notjust right now, these communities are going to take years to re—establish themselves, we establish community businesses. i spoke to someone earlier, five and a half years to regrow trees before they bear fruit again. thank you.
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the issue now is the coming days, the temperatures expected to rise, the temperatures expected to rise, the state of disaster here in parts of victoria has been extended. it is a question over the next few days exactly what will happen in terms of the extent of the bushfires and the wind plays a big part in the size of the bushfires in a season that has been unprecedented here in australia. france is preparing for another day of protests by transport workers, with teachers, lawyers and air—traffic controllers set tojoin them. rolling strikes against president macron s proposed pension reforms have severely affected transport in the country since early december, with paris being particularly hit. our paris correspondent lucy williamson reports. president macron's economic reforms
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are meant to unblock france. gridlock is, some say, all part of the process. two—thirds of intercity trains are still not running and the paris metro is down to a skeleton service each day. more than a month after these strikes began, public support for them is starting to fall. the prime minister has been trying to resolve union opposition to the government's pension reforms, including how to finance the scheme. translation: i've proposed to all the trade unions and employers' organisations that we meet again on friday morning to decide together how to fund this. the idea is a good one, but we need to agree on the aims of this plan and the timeframe for it to succeed. but many union leaders say they'll never accept government plans to raise the retirement age to 64 and end special privileges for certain professions. france currently has dozens of separate pension schemes, which means some workers can retire a decade earlier than normal. many french presidents have wanted
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to reform the system. why has it been so difficult? for the government, the idea is to try to increase the retirement age of people who are at the lowest one to try to push everyone up, but this is a very long process, which is very difficult to do because these people, who are able to leave very early, they want to keep their advantages and they resist much. with their christmas shows cancelled, ballet dancers striking for their right to retire at 42 gave a free performance on the steps of the opera garnier. far better appreciated than the other public dance between government and unions that's still going on. lucy williamson, bbc news, paris. the headlines on bbc news...
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breaking with tradition — prince harry and meghan say they will be stepping back as senior members of the royal family. both sides appeared to have toned down their language — so is the us ready to negotiate with iran? 2019 was the worst year on record for british retail sales. over the festive period, sales were particularly weak, falling by nearly 1%. a new report suggests that many alternatives to plastic packaging may be more damaging to the environment. the green alliance — an independent environmental think tank — found that common substitutes such as paper or glass could actually lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions and that the consequences of using new materials has not been properly assessed. have a look at these pictures —
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around a0 tourists have been rescued from a glacier iceland late tuesday. they were on an organized tour when they got caught in a severe blizzard. the tourists were unharmed but some of them got very cold during up to nine hours on the glacier before rescue teams arrived. the search and rescue squad in the nearby village of hella said visibility in the blizzard was very limited and it was hard to even see the skis on the team's snowmobile. some figuresjust coming some figures just coming in. some figuresjust coming in. more bad news for the nhs. a&e figures falling to a record low. our health editor can bring us the detail. clearly not a surprising figure, perhaps, but very worrying news for the nhs. it is the lowest ever figure since records began in terms
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of the number of patients being treated or assessed within four hours in the a&e units in england, the key benchmark, for the first time, below 80%, 79.8% in december, down from 81.5% the month before. yes, it has been very busy in hospitals. yes, the arguments being made by nhs england, they are seeing more patients, more patients come through the doors, they do get treated, but the percentage within the four hour benchmark has fallen again. england is now once again below scotland, the performance four november, we have not had december yet, it was 85%. wales and northern ireland are below where england was. we are hearing reports across the nhs about how busy hospitals are this week. they always are in the first week of the new year. people come back to work, and more gp surgeries are open referring
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patients, but even so, we have heard of real stresses, patients in corridors waiting a long time in some hospitals. we have not even had a particularly cold winter as yet which may be another factor is the figures continue to be monitored. that is hospitals. before people get to the stage of going to hospital, they may visit their gp. another story today, the royal college of gps same family doctors are under intense pressure and urgent action needs to be taken. yes, you could argue that the surge of patients into a&e is because people feel it is harder to get appointments with gps and they lose patience and want to get seen quickly, and you can understand that. they could be shortcomings in social care, all of which directs people to hospitals. some of whom could be dealt with a lot better in local community closer to home. but gps say they are under great pressure, very limited time with individual patients, the workload has gone up hugely. so, it
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isa workload has gone up hugely. so, it is a challenge right across the system. these figures today show what very important bit of it, a&e units, in december, struggling to get anywhere near the target, and a performance level which will leave a lot to be desired, although it should be stressed that staff are working flat out to do their best in hospitals, and patients we have spoken to are not critical of the staff, but there are workforce problems, rotor gaps. often difficult to get the numbers into the front line positions to enable timely care. a real challenge in the nhs. we had the election debate about more hospitals, more nurses, more money, all the parties over the next few years. this is the nhs and social care in england right now. based on these figures, it looks really challenged. flu is picking up now which is yet another issue facing the nhs. thank you for
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bringing us the latest figures. hugh pym, health editor. two people who rescued a dog say it was emotional. i spotted the belgian shepherd dog in the river in nottinghamshire, bella. she has been taken to the vet recovering. a man and woman were arrested on animal cruelty and have been released under investigation. let us speak to jane harper and joanne. you are very welcome, delighted you can come and talk to us about this. thankfully, a happy ending for bella, but could have been very different. take us through what happened as you first spotted her. it wasjust a normal walk in the morning and we decided to go along the river because the weather has been so bad, lots of
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places flooded. by chance, 20 minutes into the walk, out of the corner of my eye, i saw something, i was not sure if it was a hat, something swept up with the river. when we looked closely, we saw the eyes, the face was so still, her eyes, the face was so still, her eyes we re eyes, the face was so still, her eyes were looking at us. it was awful to see. just terrible. we thought that we were going to be reporting a dead animal in the river. when we saw the eyes move, we had to do something. we were out with three dogs in total, very boisterous, loud dogs. we thought the last thing this dog wants is three dogs jumping all over her. the last thing this dog wants is three dogsjumping all over her. i stood back and started phoning for help. the community came together. lovely. i had a friend who dog grooms and i thought she would know who to phone, what to do. she was there within five, ten minutes with her husband. he took hisjumper off
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and wrapped it around the dog. just amazing how everyone we phoned dropped everything to come and help this dog. the worst and the best of humanity in this story. jane, you waded in to try to pull bella out of the river. i don't know if we have a picture of the rock tied to her. here it comes. it is huge. police officer holding the rock attached to bella. huge lump of stone. it must have been really difficult to pull her out with the rock and she is a big dog as well. it was. to be honest, i didn't know, i thought it was a dog who had got lost and got caught in the river. it was an awful feeling when i realised that, hang on...i feeling when i realised that, hang on... i couldn't see the bag and the rock because the water was very murky, so when i went in, i looked down, the dog had not got a collar on, iwas down, the dog had not got a collar on, i was trying to pull her up and
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i thought, i am pretty strong, why can't i move her at all? i saw she had a harness, i pulled her up by the harness. but i was going nowhere. i saw the lead attached to something else that was becoming visible, a bag. it was horrific because i realised somebody... it was not a lost dog, somebody had tried to kill the stock. when i saw the images online —— kill this dog. i could have burst into tears. she looked absolutely traumatised. have you been to see her sense? yes, we have. we went to try to see her on the monday but we couldn't, so we went to see her on tuesday. she is recovering well, but she is still very poorly, not out of the woods yet. the water was so cold. i think probably another even few minutes, i don't think she would have survived
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because we got towels and covering her with towels, trying to keep her warm. wejust her with towels, trying to keep her warm. we just hoped she would survive. the vets have done an amazing job. hopefully, joanne, hopefully, she will recover and find a loving home. so many friends and family, they would all take her. we need to see what she is like and what would suit her better as a dog. she seems a lovely... lovely dog. we are she seems a lovely... lovely dog. we a re u nfortu nately she seems a lovely... lovely dog. we are unfortunately out of time, thank you for talking to us. thank you for rescuing that dog. thank you. time now for a look at the weather. good morning, everyone. the mixture in the forecast today. we have had a mixture of rain and sleet and snow this morning, snow may the higher ground of northern england and scotland. rain at low levels. the
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rain is gradually clearing, link to the area of low pressure. that will clear but we have another area of low pressure moving into south—western areas later on this afternoon. that could bring some thundery rain across the south. in between the weather systems, looking largely dry. we will continue to see rain at times in eastern scotland, far north—east of england this afternoon. in most areas, dry, sunny spells, before rain loosened, thunderstorms in the south. difference in temperatures, 10—13 for england and wales, quite chilly for england and wales, quite chilly for scotland and northern ireland, 4-6d. for scotland and northern ireland, 4—6d. tonight we will continue with showers and thunderstorms, drifting east, turning quieterfor many parts a ridge of high pressure develops into friday morning. within that, we could see patches of fog in northern parts of the uk, scotland, northern england. here also, temperatures
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down to if not below freezing. further south, temperatures 5—6d. friday looking fairly straightforward. dry, sunshine, but the cloud increases in the north—west. area of rain pushing in later in the afternoon and evening, turning particularly heavy with gales developing. maximum temperatures on friday 6—8d. less cold in scotland and northern ireland, chilly for england and wales. the weekend, area of rain moving south and east, it will clear, left with quite a breezy day as we go into sunday. this saturday, looking at the details, heavy rain, particularly western scotland, could produce flooding, moving very gradually south and east, driest in the south—east, strong winds for all, very strong in the north and west, but very mild, temperatures double figures. by sunday, the rain we re double figures. by sunday, the rain were showers, some wintry over
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higher ground, not as strong winds on sunday, but chilly day with temperatures coming down to 6—11. staying pretty active weather—wise over the next few days. goodbye for now.
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hello it's thursday, it's ten o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire, and we're live from new broadcasting house. harry and meghan are to step back from royal life, and they didn't tell the queen. it comes after meghan spoke out last year about the toll public life was having on the couple. not many people have asked if i'm ok but it's... ..it‘s a very real thing to be going through behind the scenes. and the answer is, would it be fair to say, not really, ok, as in it's really been a struggle? yes. so, what next? is it even possible for them to exist half in, and half out of the monarchy, or will they be pressurised to step down from royal life altogether? and do you think they've made a brave choice, or an outrageous one?

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