tv BBC News BBC News June 16, 2020 8:30pm-9:01pm BST
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that reduces the risks, of severely ill patients dying from coronavirus. trials show that dexamethasone, a cheap and widely available steroid, reduced deaths by a third among patients on a ventilator. after weeks of protests president trump has signed an executive order on how to reform us police. it includes banning chokeholds unless an officer's life is at risk and creating a database to trace officers with complaints against them. 20 indian soldiers have died in a confrontation with chinese forces in ladakh in disputed kashmir. that's according to delhi officials. it's the first deadly clash in the border area in at least 45 years. china is taking more action to try to shut down a new outbreak of coronavirus in beijing. all schools will be closed and people are being urged not to leave the capital. more now on the uk government's u—turn on the issue of whether children in low—income
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families should get vouchers for free school meals over the summer — after a campaign headed by the manchester united and england footballer marcus rashford. let's speak to our political correspondent, helen catt, who's in westminster. there is a certain inevitability about this. there is, it seemed as soon as marcus rashford the england footballer got involved in this it took the air of a u—turn in rating. he isa took the air of a u—turn in rating. he is a popular well—liked figure with a very emotional story detail and a personal reason for backing this. up until than the government had been holding firm on a sign that it wasn't going to be giving free school meal vouchers over the summer holiday which it doesn't normally do. it said it was going to be giving money in other ways like £63 million for councils to help those in need. and it was sticking to that line. that involvement from marcus rashford did it seem to change that and then the question became among a lot of conservative mps in
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particular was what took the government so long to just do that and backtrack? it got to the point this morning where some conservative mps were telling the webs who manage them if you like that they would be voting with labour or were prepared to them that seemed to have shifted the government as well. of course, gavin williams in the education secretary and the comment said that it is ok to listen and they have listen but the risk of a government ina u—turn listen but the risk of a government in a u—turn like this even though it has an awful lot on its plate with the pandemic, and makes them look either out of tune with public opinion or slow to act potentially. but not sort of going ahead with this backtrack on what some conservative mps suggested was quite a small amount of money, £120 million in the scheme of the many millions of billions being spent on the coronavirus pandemic. and can we a nswer the coronavirus pandemic. and can we answer that question from the story mps asking why we not doing this given that we know children from
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lower income families are struggling because many schools are shut and we know that many families are struggling because people have lost theirjobs? why struggling because people have lost their jobs? why was struggling because people have lost theirjobs? why was the government holding out on this? it seems to be, they talked about other measures they talked about other measures they were putting in place, a £63 million fund where they were going to channel cash through councils to families in need and listening to gavin williamson the education secretary in the commons area, he was talking about this idea of free school meals is not actually to help with hardship as such but to make sure that children learn better because they learn better when they are fed at school. but it doesn't start to look like perhaps this can be perceived as splitting hairs and there is a recognition that what is happening now in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic means we are in a very different place to where we would usually be and i think that is what has swan and. hound, think of a much indeed. whatever the arguments had been it is going ahead as of
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today for site —— how thank you. more now on the increase in the number of people who are unemployed. new official data reveals the unemployment rate in scotland is now the highest among all the uk nations. 4.6% of people over the age of 16 in scotland were out of work between february and april, higher than the uk rate at 3.9%. 0ur scotland business correspondent laura goodwin reports. 0wen had a plan. he's just graduated and was going to work through the summer to fund his return to education in september. now unable to get a job, he's fearful for his future both in the short and long—term. it is very, you know anxious to one find a job to make sure i canjust do the basics like paying rent or buy my shopping, but also just worried about what i'll be doing kind of in the next year or two years because itjust doesn't with the same any more. —— look the same any more. latest 0ns figures show unemployment and scotland rose by 30,000 to 127,000 between february and april. they also show that scotland's
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unemployment rate is now slightly higher than other parts of the uk. as we get data on what's happening through universal credit, i think we will be in a better position to understand whether the scottish labour market is experiencing a larger more substantial hit than the uk as a whole. i think it's too early to conclude much about where we're going to be longer—term on the back of these numbers. across the uk, the number of people on company payrolls is down by over 600,000 and the number of claims under universal credit has soared in part because more people currently qualify for help. the number of weekly hours worked is at a record low, and so ourjob vacancies. what we are particularly concerned about is 50,000 young people and scotland who will be leaving education the summer. we're calling on the scottish government both to expand education places and we are also calling
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for a jobs guarantee fund. and that's to create new, subsidised good—quality employment opportunities for young people across scotland's economy. meanwhile, the scottish government are calling on the uk government to extend employment support schemes. more than 600,000 jobs have been furloughed in scotland and almost 150,000 people have made use of the self—employment scheme. and it's important that we ensure this support continues to be offered for as long as it is required, and we are asking them to work with us to ensure that support reflects the needs of scotland's economy. but even ifjob support schemes are extended, there comes a point when they will have to end. we know our economy has been hit but it's only then that will know how hard. let's switch from scotland to cornwall because it's being hit hard by this pandemic because of its reliance
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on tourism and hospitality. the county council fears that more than a quarter ofjobs in cornwall are now at risk. newquay is particularly vulnerable. two hotels have already permanently closed their doors. 0ur social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan reports. it's belonged to shearings holidays, but actually it didn't. it belonged to us. we cared for it. it was all of our lives. welcome to the beresford hotel. but in lockdown britain, these aren't staff and guests, but former employees, laid off when the company went under last month. life was lived here, busy and bustling. no more. receptionist caroline townsley would often lead the entertainment. everywhere would be packed. and it'sjust that, really. —— dead, really. and to see the hotels just standing empty is just heartbreaking. in the abandoned kitchen, chefs philip and andrew are among the 50 staff made redundant
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when the company behind shearings holidays called in administrators. they loved it all. their guests, their colleagues, theirjobs. to actually have no security now and no jobs actually in the area as well is very hard to swallow. you feel like your pride's been taken away a bit. i'm a reasonably confident person but this definitely has sort of knocked a little bit of the stuffing out of me. cornwall fears an economic crisis because of coronavirus. a council report says over 70,000 jobs could be at risk. that's more than a quarter of alljobs in the county. everything's affected. fishermen can't sell to restaurants that don't have visitors, who aren't filling hotels. i'm not sure that i would employ me at my age. the beresford's general manager, 63—year—old jackie cunliffe, says job—hunting at this time is daunting.
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0ur assistant manager applied to aldi and they said after 500 applications they weren't looking at any more. everybody's going to have the pick of the perfect candidates. but there is some hope that they knew owner might emerge. —— that a new owner. but for nearly unemployed sisters diana and catherine, life has more immediate concerns. we've got a few savings but i've just found out my husband's just been made redundant, so that's going to hit us, big time. staff here thought themselves a close, supportive family but the pandemic is shredding those bonds. they're individuals now, facing a harsh economic climate. michael buchanan, bbc news, newquay. you may remember the pictures of edward colston‘s statue being pushed into the harbour in bristol. today more symbols of bristol's links to slave trading have today disappeared — with the removal of edward colston‘s name from two of the city's places of worship.
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the diocese of bristol says it now wants to heal divisions. scott ellis has more. the north transept window at bristol cathedral which bears the initials of edward colston and at the bottom reads "to the glory of god and in memory of edward colston" now covered up ahead of removal. the city's church leader saying the fall of colston‘s statue has been a symbolic moment and a signal for change. if we left it there that would have seemed as if we don't care about the major issues of racism and injustice and inequality. and we do greatly. and this is the beginning of a process whereby we look at our heritage, and we look at the way we do things. the window was created in the 1880s around the same time as colston‘s ill—fated statue was erected. bristol cathedral opened for private prayers for the first time today. one of those here to pray
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give us their reaction. i think what i am more in favour of is plaques being pledged by statues and memorial windows to kind of contextualise the references to him. historically. so you don't just wipe out of history as a city. those who have campaigned against colston are pleased that changes are being made to stained—glass windows and that the words "go and do thou likewise" will remain in place. for ages now, colston has had the stranglehold on the parable of the good samaritan in bristol because his family model was go and do thou likewise. but that's a really important story. i think it's great the cathedral is going to reclaim that story for the purposes it should be meant for. just across the city the builders have already been busy, they have taken out four pieces
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of glass with references to edward colston and replaced them at the bottom of the transept window there with plate glass. it comes the day after the colston name was removed from what was the colston hall. scott ellis, bbc news. from bristol to birmingham because in order to keep people safe during the coronavirus pandemic, birmingham city council put 70 homeless people up in hotels. it's meant many have now found homes of their own, as kathryn stanczyszyn reports. i have been on the streets pretty much since i have been in birmingham, about six years. it's been nice to have a nice warm room. suleman and danny were taken off the streets and put into a hotel at the start of the coronavirus crisis. now their lives are about to change. to be honest with you, now i feel like there are more people helping me right this second. i've got a little one—bedroom flat just up the road, and to be fair, it's like the best thing that could have happened. it took something really bad like that to happen for everyone to wake up and go... like everybody got off the streets
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in the space of what? a month. i'm in a good place thanks to coronavirus. i know it sounds really weird, but i'm in a really good place. all rough sleepers in birmingham are being offered more permanent accommodation from today, and for suleman, is a new haircut and a new start. just wow, this is mine. i've got this for myself. you know, it would have took years for something like this, i wouldn't have had this. fortunate, very fortunate. charities say this pandemic could break a cycle, because the streets were empty so the most persistent rough sleepers had to engage with help in a way they hadn't before. but it is what happens next that is crucial. it has been a game changer for dozens of individuals who would never have had a chance like this before. will all of those people still be off the streets in six months' time, in 12 months' time? it does depend on the money being there. but at the same time, it is about the responsiveness that we as services in the city have
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to that individual. it is just keeping tabs on someone. i don't think it is just the money issue. the council says the number of street sleepers has been reduced drastically, but it has cost millions. there has been extra cash from government, but it wants more. lots of people ask me why couldn't we have done this before. a lot of this is around government policy. it is also around funding, and the money that we have available at the council. for coronavirus, we spent £272 million responding to it across the whole of the council. the government have only given £70 million back. for some, the pandemic has led here, a first night in their own home. the challenge now, to help keep them there. he's being called the ‘miracle baby'. emmanuel boateng was born prematurely, then spent 47 days in intensive care with sepsis, and coronavirus.
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but thanks to medical staff, he's now been able to go home. caroline davies reports. baby emmanuel was born at 27 weeks. he was able to go home but when he stopped feeding his parents were told to take him to a&e. there were many consultants needing to come. one of them was just by me telling me to be calm, he's going to be ok. one of them said she wanted to have a word with me and that emmanuel has sepsis, an infection and that he's very, he's very, very poorly. she is afraid in the next 2a hours we might lose him. the following day the doctors told evelyn emmanuel had tested positive for coronavirus. initially with the sepsis i believe, oh, sepsis is something they can
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