everybody here. daniel khalife who is 23 said _ everybody here. daniel khalife who is 23 said the _ everybody here. daniel khalife who is 23 said the names - everybody here. daniel khalife who is 23 said the names of. who is 23 said the names of serving _ who is 23 said the names of serving soldiers to iran, including the names of the members of the special forces. he promised to stay undercover in the _ he promised to stay undercover in the british army for more than — in the british army for more than 25_ in the british army for more than 25 years. new figures show uk net migration hit record numbers in the 12 months tojune 2023. civilians shelter in ukraine — hundreds of thousands are without electricity after a russian attack on energy infrastructure. ceasefire standing, but reports of minor violations in southern lebanon. and how a penguin baby walker helped flop back to his feet. hello, i'm annita mcveigh, welcome to bbc news now, three hours of fast—moving news, interviews and reaction.

we start with some breaking news. in the last hour, the former british army soldier, daniel khalife, has been found guilty of spying for iran. khalife, who was 21 when he escaped prison while awaiting trial, collected information useful to an enemy and had a list of special forces soldiers. he was cleared of perpetrating a bomb house at his army barracks. our news correspondent martine croxall is live outside the court. thank you very much. yes, the jury thank you very much. yes, the jury here at woolwich crown court came back here to turn their verdictjust court came back here to turn their verdict just before 11:00am and daniel khalife, a 23—year—old former royal signal soldier was just 23—year—old former royal signal soldier wasjust in a 23—year—old former royal signal soldier was just in a blue shirt and wearing khaki trousers and his reaction was to put on his glasses after the first verdict was returned. to

look again at the vertex, he has been found guilty of spying by breaching the terrorism act and the official secrets act by passing information to ukrainian agents —— at the verdict. —— two ukrainian agents. he admitted that he had escaped from prison. in the third count of perpetrating a bomb hoax, the trialfound him not guilty. his barrister tried to assert that his attempts to become a double agent for the british government by passing information, fake information he often claimed he was handing to the iranians, was bordering on the slapstick, more scooby doo than 007. the prosecutor said he was playing a dangerous game and said he did want to work as a double agent but quite the contradictory, he

said, he was gathering classified material. it was said that he'd gathered material including those of the special forces and took a photo of at least 15 service personnel including some from the special air service and special boat service and he denied ever having said that to the iranians but thejury here said that they did not believe that version of events and they found him guilty on this two counts on —— spying for iran. this was daniel khalife on the morning of his escape, working in the kitchen at wandsworth prison. 15 minutes later he was driven out of the jail, clinging to the bottom of this food delivery truck, suspended by a makeshift sling made of kitchen trousers. the driver, unaware of the stowaway underneath, made his way through london's

early morning traffic. the lorry, with daniel khalife clinging on underneath, stopped at these lights and a motorist following behind, saw him drop to the ground, roll out, stand up, flick his fringe and casually walk off. it was the beginning of a massive nationwide manhunt. by 5.00 that afternoon, daniel was six miles away in richmond, wearing shorts. checking the cctv cameras in mountain warehouse before stealing a baseball cap to hide his face. by the next morning, he'd got some cash from an unknown contact, which he used to buy more clothes in marks and spencer before reading about his escape in the newspapers. the huge publicity meant people started to notice him and call the police. among them frank, who saw him in a cemetery in chiswick. i actually felt a bit sorry for him. i thought, well, as somebody who's most wanted, you don't look that sort of disarming.

you don't look that kind of scary or anything. eventually, after three days on the run, daniel was spotted riding a stolen bike along this canal towpath and was arrested by a plain—clothed detective, who he promptly congratulated. the son of a british—iranian single mother, daniel khalife joined the army aged 16. one fellow recruit, who didn't want to be identified, remembered him as an annoying attention—seeker. how cocky he was, how arrogant he came across, and just how he seemed to want the spotlight. he always wanted to seem like he was the attention point and that no—one else could take it. everyone aware of him as a person would know his name. less than a year afterjoining the army, he was in a north london park, collecting £1,500 in a dog poo bag from iranian agents. two years afterjoining, he was in a smart hotel in istanbul.

he told his handler he wanted to be trained in iran. i wanted to have some| training from you guys. and i think the best training for me - is inside of iran. i'm one of the most intelligent people. i i won an award. i am better- than everybody here. iam more intelligentj than everybody here. in a message, he said he would work for them for 25 plus years. he sent the iranians pictures of communication equipment and official strategy documents that he upgraded to secret, but misspelled the word. he contacted mi5 anonymously, saying he wanted to be a double agent, but instead they had him arrested. iran is one of a number of countries that present a real and present risk to our national security. so daniel providing information to them absolutely compromises our national security. particularly as he's a serving soldier. particularly as he was a soldier that had access to sensitive material. a year after he was first arrested, he left a fake bomb on his desk at his barracks

and ran off to live in a van where police found £18,000. when recaptured, he was charged under the terrorism act and the official secrets act, which is why he was being held in wandsworth prison when he escaped. tell us about the reaction that is coming in from the authorities. unfortunately, we are having a problem with that line outside the court. we will try to come back to her and that story throughout the programme. uk net migration hit a record 906,000 in the 12 months tojune 2023, according to revised figures from the office for national statitics. this comes as figures for the 12 months tojune this year, show estimated net migration of 728,000, although this figure is also subject to change, so it's hard to draw a direct comparison. net migration is the number of people arriving, minus the number of people leaving, so represents

an increase to the population. today's figures come as political leaders across europe and the rest of the world are struggling with the issue of legal and illegal migration. the director of population statistics, from the office of national statistics, mary gregory, told us more earlier about the numbers. in the year to the end ofjune 2024, we had net migration of 728,000, but that's a 20% drop on our updated figure for the year to the end ofjune 2023, which was 906,000. historically, we've seen pre—2020, more people would be coming from the eu than outside the eu. in the latest year, we've got 86 out of every 100 people immigrating to the uk are coming from outside the eu. so that's quite a change in historic patterns. and the countries that are having the highest levels

of immigration into the uk are india, nigeria and pakistan. work and student or study—related immigration are both the highest, remain the highest. and we've seen a slight drop in the student dependants coming in, but students have stayed relatively stable compared with the previous year, and work related entry has also stayed relatively similar to a year earlier. i think it's important i think it's important to remember we've seen policy to remember we've seen policy changes in early 2024, changes in early 2024, but of course, our data only but of course, our data only goes up tojune 2024, goes up tojune 2024, so we don't expect to see so we don't expect to see the full impact of the full impact of those policies until those policies until the next set of data. the next set of data. these figures include that previous conservative these figures include asylum and around 8% asylum and around 8% of the immigration figure that i'vejust quoted of the immigration figure that i'vejust quoted of 728,000 is asylum. of 728,000 is asylum. so that includes people coming so that includes people coming in on small boats, for example. in on small boats, for example. but it also includes people but it also includes people who've come through other who've come through other routes and claimed asylum. routes and claimed asylum. in a speech on wednesday in a speech on wednesday the conservative leader, the conservative leader,

kemi badenoch, acknowledged kemi badenoch, acknowledged that previous conservative governments had made mistakes on immigration and said the uk should never become what she described as a hotel for migrants. the conservative shadow home secretary, chris philp, gave this reaction to the latest immigration figures.

migration to the uk for the year tojune this year, the 12 months tojune 2024, and that is 728,000. now when i saw that number first i thought, oh, that's a lot more than i'd expected. that appears to be a significant rise. but actually, when you dig into the data, you discover that the ons have revised their previous estimate for how many people were coming in the year tojune 2023. they've revised that upwards up to 906,000. now, that is a rise of 166,000. from where we thought it was, we thought it was 740,000. it's actually 906,000. so you've got a very significantly larger number of people or the impacts, the net migration, the impact on the british population, far larger than we'd previously thought. so today's figure is

technically a 20% fall compared with the revised figure that they've now produced. but to be honest, i think we're all scratching our heads a bit because that figure too, today's figure may be the subject of revision. wejust don't know quite what's going on. seema malhotra, the uk's under—secretary for migration says she's bringing in stricter measures against employers who flout visa rules. what we've seen is that in the space of four years. net migration quadrupled to almost a million. we absolutely believe that net migration has to come down. but in order to do that, we need to go further. that's why we believe that you need to tackle the causes of net migration, including linking skills and visa policies. so you're addressing those gaps in skills

and reducing the reliance on overseas recruitment. but it's also why today i set out new measures, tough measures to tackle employers who abuse our visa system and flout the rules. that was the uk's undersecretary for migration speaking there. we are going to be exploring the subject a bit more injust a moment be exploring the subject a bit more in just a moment so looking at those revised figures up to 2023 and the latest figures on what we can read into those revised figures and the implications for policy on immigration, as well. do stay with us here on bbc news for more of that and the other main stories of the day. let's continue our discussion now and those latest uk figures. let's speak to jonathan portes, professor of economics and public policy at king's college london. thank you forjoining us, jonathan. when we talk about

revised figures and figures that are revised significantly, it begs the question how reliable are these figures in any case?— any case? well, i think all published _ any case? well, i think all published government - any case? well, i think all- published government statistics tend to be revised as new data comes in. in particular, for net migration, remember the officerfor national net migration, remember the officer for national statistics hath to estimate how many of the people coming in will actually stay for more than a year. people come in work visas and may stay for more than a year or may not. we almost have to take a guess on how many of them well and of course, those figures get revised when we do find out how many people actually leave. we also, another large part of the revision reflects a large number of ukrainians who, for some reason, the home office hadn't told the office of national statistics about and it is not exactly why that

happened. after the pandemic and introduction of the new system, migration went up by a large amount by historical standards. lots of people came to work and to study and lots of refugees. that is clearly the case and that increase is now a breeding sow numbers are falling as we can see in the latest visit statistics. there have been sharp falls in the visas issued to work. for example, the number of people that visas are issued to any health care sector has fallen from 100,000 to 20,000. that is huge. that will feed through in to the official ons statistics. so a drop of about 80% in that particular sector which raises questions for the government and how they will reinvigorate the national health service in the national health service in the uk. if i canjust go back to the make up or break down, if you like, of these figures.

92% is legal migration to the uk. although, i guess, thejob of tackling illegal migration, people coming in in small boats or in lorries, for example, it grabs the lion's share the headlines but it would suggest that any government wanting to tackle net migration figures needs to look at legal migration, as well. yes. the vast majority _ migration, as well. yes. the vast majority of _ migration, as well. yes. the vast majority of people - migration, as well. yes. the| vast majority of people come here legally for studying or family reasons. so when we talk about immigration and its effects on the uk economy and society, we need to talk... this model issue is a small one from a human perspective which is a tragedy and leads to substantial cost but that is about legal migration for the bigger picture. that is absolutely right.- bigger picture. that is absolutely right. talk to us more broadly _

absolutely right. talk to us more broadly about - absolutely right. talk to us more broadly about how i absolutely right. talk to us i more broadly about how this absolutely right. talk to us - more broadly about how this is going to have an impact on people who may be looking at coming to the uk. what does that mean for future policy direction and more broadly, how other countries, whether in the eu or further other countries, whether in the eu orfurther afield, are looking at the challenges of dealing with net migration? lots of question in one there so i appreciate you doing your best with that. i so i appreciate you doing your best with that.— best with that. i think the important _ best with that. i think the important thing _ best with that. i think the important thing is - best with that. i think the important thing is that. important thing is that governments need to make difficult trade—offs when it comes to migration. we need migrants to work on the health and care sectors but other ones, as well. they contribute to the most dynamic and innovative sectors of our economy. of course, speaking at the higher education sector, we have foreign students who we are dependent on and some come here to research and teach. some of my best colleagues were originally migrants. but

migration obviously puts pressure on housing, public services and so on. migrants pay tax and also contribute to and use public services. overall, the net positives for uk migration are massive but nonetheless, there are some really difficult trade—offs for government. i think you can also say that about other countries in europe. there is a lot of talk about the hard—line perspective of the italian government, a populist right—wing government that has talked a lot about cracking down upon legal migration across the mediterranean. they have expanded legal migration by a very large amount precisely for the same economic reasons. i precisely for the same economic reasons. . , , . ., , ., reasons. i appreciate your time, thank _ reasons. i appreciate your time, thank you _ reasons. i appreciate your time, thank you very - reasons. i appreciate your| time, thank you very much reasons. i appreciate your - time, thank you very much for your thoughts on that story today. he is a professor at king's college london. around the world and across the uk, you are watching bbc news.

russian president vladimir putin has said that russia struck ukraine with 90 missiles and 100 drones overnight in response to ukraine's attacks with uk and us weapons last week. he added that russia was selecting targets in ukraine that could include decision—making centres in kyiv. more than one million ukrainians have been left without power, following the overnight assault on ukraine's energy sector which lasted for almost nine—and—a—half hours. the disruption to the electricity supply is a mix of damage to ukraine's energy infrastructure and emergency power cuts. in kyiv, many people sheltered in the city's underground stations. military sources say all the missiles and drones used by russia on the capital were intercepted, but that falling debris caused some minor damage. three people were wounded in odesa, in the south of the country, while neighbouring kherson has been left without electricity.

buildings were also damaged in lviv region. officials in nearby rivne in western ukraine say more than 280,000 people have no electricity. russia has targeted ukraine's energy system repeatedly since the start of the war as the country heads into its third winter since the invasion. here is the bbc�*s eastern europe correspondent, sarah rainsford, with the latest on the attack. this was a massive and a combined attack, as you've just heard, a mixture of missiles and drones. it's happened as it has happened before, which is that russia sends a huge wave of drones to ukraine, in this case, right across the country, and then follows up with missiles. the drones are supposed to keep the air defences busy, so that the missiles then have a better chance of getting through. now, in this case, ukraine's air forces have just said that altogether, around about 110 or so drones and missiles were shot down. but they say in total,

188 were actually launched. so it does look like some of those missiles and drones did get through. and it appears, according to the statements coming from ukrainian officials and from information on the ground, it does appear that the target, yet again, has been critical infrastructure in ukraine, right across the country. so we've heard from lviv in the far west that that some half a million people are now experiencing emergency power outages. so blackouts, no power at all and hundreds of thousands in other parts of the country. so it is, and it was, a sustained attack. as you mentioned, the air raid alert lasted for 9.5 hours in kyiv, in the capital. so lots of people spending a very worrying and very uncomfortable, of course, night in bunkers on the underground, sheltering from the threat in the skies. lets speak now to director at

the energy industry and research centre in ukraine. thank you forjoining us on the programme today. i want to get your assessment in the wake of these latest attacks about the state of ukraine's energy infrastructure. is it fragile or managing to bear up given the number of recent drone and missile attacks by russia? we have to use — missile attacks by russia? , have to use the word manageable and the situation... it is not possible to have a simple situation when you are hit by 120 blasts are 90 missiles in one night. —— 19 missiles. all of our measures and everything done work well. fortification of the power grid depends on capacity to make a positive result this defence. it is ready to go maintenance and

already works to restore the supply to everyone who is out of supply supply to ever