♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: architect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".

>> hello. i'm christian fraser and this is the context. >> one thing i would say is these are clearly damaging to the bbc. it is not a good situation. >> they say they were put under pressure to meet up but that did not happen. when the person hinted online they might name the presenter, they say they were then sent abusive messages. >> it has got much more serious in the last couple of hours because as you were reporting, as having woken -- hen wilkinson was telling you, we have a second young person in his or her 20's who made a complaint. >> good evening. welcome to the program. tonight, second person made

allegations about the bbc presenter who was accused in some newspaper of paying for sexually elicit voters. separate to that, the bbc general has answered questions over the corporation handling of the original complaint and the impact the allegations have had on the corporation. we will delve deep in that at the top of the program. ukraine is put on the fast track to nato membership so long as the conditions are met. what does that mean and when that happened? who is driving the future of men's golf? they are being grilled over the deal they struck with saudi arabia. what impositions will that place on the game's biggest stars? all that to come. we start with the major development in the story about the bbc presenter accused of sending money for sexually explicit photographs. the bbc has made contact with a second person in their early 20's who says they felt

threatened by the same presenter. the second person was first contacted by the presenter through a dating app and claims that subsequently, the presenter began sending menacing messages. they are not believed to have made an official complaint to the corporation. let's speak to charlotte gallagher who is in the newsroom for us this evening. charlotte gallagher, tell me about this latest allegation and where this takes the story and what sort of position this puts the bbc in now? charlotte: this is a second young person who has no connection to the first young persian that the allegations involved -- young person that the allegations involved. they met them on a dating app and they felt pressured by this presenter to meet up in person but they did not want to. they then say they hinted online that they would name this presenter. the presenter responded, sending

text messages that were abusive and they scared this person. they said they felt threatened and fearful about what was going to happen because this person was in power. that is the situation at the moment with that allegation. the bbc is in a bit of an odd position because the police asked the bbc to cause their internal investigation into what happened because the police need to conduct their own inquiries into whether evidence of a criminal offense is there and what that criminal offense could centers around the age of the first person in the allegations because the mother of that person says they were 17 when they began exchanging sexually explicit images with this presenter. under u.k. law, someone is considered a child until they are 18 when it comes to these kind of things so to take,

share, possess indecent images of someone under 18 is a crime. the police said there is no formal investigation at the moment. christian: earlier today, the bbc set out a more detailed meline into the investigation that was begun into the first case reported in the sun. those allegations that this presenter paid a young person for explicit photographs. the director general confirmed that the mother and stepfather of the person involved first came to a bbc building in may to make a formal complaint which the next day they made in writing. the bb say -- the bbc says it's corporate investigations team made two attempts to contact the family. one was by email and was by phone -- and one most by phone. case was left open but the bbc did not speak to the presenter until seven weeks after the initial complaint when more serious information emerged in

the sun newspaper. the bbc director general conceded the allegations had clearly been damaging but the bbc has been asked to pause its internal investigations by the police who are now conducting a scoping inquiry. >> in terms of the situation we have got on our hands, i want to say one thing up front which is you are balancing serious allegations, duty of care, privacy issues, and legitimate public interest. how do you navigate that fairly, calmly, and d diligenece? i have given a bit of context to a few people in terms of the numbers of issues we get coming into our corporate investigations unit. over six months. that will be about 250. you take those and they are the serious complaints coming through of all different types. and what happens is we have an outstanding corporate investigations team. they are very experienced.

they assessed the complaint. i'm not going to go into the absolute specifics because of privacy concerns in terms of what the complaints -- >> i understand that. christian: with me to discuss is adam bolton, the editor in large for sky news. adam, welcome. good to have you with us. there's a couple of issues that tim devi raised which i want to get your take on. first of all, this period of time between the initial complaint that was made sometime in the middle of may and the seven weeks that lapsed until the sun broke this story on thursday. one phone call and onemail. was that sufficient? >> it clearly was not sufficient for the family who went to the sun newspaper. the families complaints about the lack of response from the bbc about the presenter in question. you can understand that they felt that it had been swept under the carpet.

as tim devi was saying, lots of complaints come in. some people will question that. i thought the conclusion has to be that had the sun not done its story, not very much what happened. christian: the sun has put out a lot of reported speech from the family so far. have they published prematurely and is the onus now upon them to put more evidence in the public domain? adam: tim devi put it very well when he said that the bbc is having to balance the duty of care towards the individuals inlved. the right to privacy against the public interest. so indeed is the sun. the sun is quite clear that it is not for it given the various press codes and laws following the cliff richard case of a reasonable right to privacy. it is not for them to name this particular individual and that

puts him in a difficult position because of course they cannot produce evidenc because the evidence is likely to identify both the presenter and the young person in question. christian: you are right. there is clearly a duty of care to the presenter but there's also a duty of care to other presenters in the building and jeremy vine has tweeted tonight this. he says i am starting to think the bbc presenter involved in the scandal should come forward publicly. these new allegations will result in yet more vitriol being thrown at perfectly innocent colleagues of his and the bbc, which i'm sure he loves, is on its knees with this but it's his decision and his alone. adam: those are all very good points. we are told this center is a household name, a senior figure in the bbc, and it's quite clear that the uncertainty and the difficulties whichim devi was saying are doing damage to the institution of the bbc also are

putting pressure on colleagues who have been named. i would agree with tim devi, frankly, that this individual, if it is the individual everyone has been talking about, i know them. in their own interests and the interest of the corporation, they should name themselves because after all, if all this is completely untrue, then they stand to make a great deal of money from the sun newspaper. as long as they hide behind their lawyers, that puts everyone else in an uncomfortable position. the bbc, the sun, and colleagues of the individual. christian: there is a broader issue which people around the world watching might not understand and that is that after the cliff richard case in 2018 wheree was under investigation, the judge in that case decided the people who were under investigation were kind of

right -- they had a reasonable right to their privacy until the allegations were proven but you are a long time political editor and the rules are not always consistent because we have mp's who were accused in the house of commons. julia knight is one we are constantly talking about at the moment who is facing allegations and yet his name is in the public domain. so where is the difference here? adam: i think the difference is that this is about the media. it's about the bbc. it's about someone who is not a politician. there is a sort of certain feeling in people involved in politics as elected officials are more accountable. someone who is a national figure in news and current affairs, television, should also be accountable on the basis that, you know, we spend a lot of time owning people to account. let's be straight forward about it. newsnight, for example, made a feature of looking at bullying in the house of commons.

what is good for the goose is good for the gander and that was recognized by tim devi when he talks about legitimate public interest. christian: there is a great pride in this building about ust, the trust people put in the bbc, but that trust is hard earned and easily lost. another route of the is transparency and that is why it is so important to a lot of us in the building that this is handled properly and the processes are right. adam: that is a problem because at the moment, the expose or non-expose is hanging on the alleged illegality. if nothing illegal happened, then as it were, everyone agrees -- breathes again. the bbc has identified it as being about the same individual. that could be a disciplinary matter anyway.

it is a stackable -- sackable offense to bring them into disrepute with the public. christian: just one final point. there is an issue here for the bbc and that it wants to put this to bed quickly. the prime minister said he needs to do that today. he commented on it in a nato summit in the through any of but he cannot because the police have their own inquiry and said the bbc should pause. is that a dilemma for the corporation? adam: yes, it is. the bbc normally obeys what police tell it to do and it seems to me by the police, a bit like what we saw during the party gate affair. that said, if the police has reason to believe now that they think a crime has been

committed, obviously, they will take priority. christian: adam, thank you for coming in. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news. let's take a quick look at the other stories making headlines here in the u.k. today. a trafficker has been jailed over the destin 39 vietnamese migrants -- the death of 39 vietnamese migrants. this was in essex. mario, believed to have been the ringleader in the people smuggling case, was extradited to face charges. the teacher who was stabbed in a corridor has been named as jamie samson. in a statement, he said he was recovering well and added that he was not intervening enough right when the incident happened on monday bucould not comment further. mr. sampson has taught at the school since 2017. the former british prime minister, boris johnson, and his

wife, carrie, have welcomed their third child. frank alfred odysseus johnson was born since boris johnson left downing street last year. carrie johnson posted this picture on instagram with the caption "a week of frankie. you are live with bbc news. it began with a big announcement. turkey's decision to lift their veto on turkey's accession was an important step forward but that immediate cause for celebration was what overshadowed by a statement from ukraine's president, that are made zelenskyy, who said it was observed that nato leaders had not provided any timetable on ukraine's prospects for future membersh. there are plenty of countries in europe that believe it is a moral imperative for nato to set out a clear path. president biden signaled he was reluctant to make any commitments until it's fully understood how the war ends. part of ukraine remains

occupied. nato issued a statement. they will be invited to join when the conditions are met. >> we reaffirm that that will become a member of nato and agreed to remove the requirement for a membership action plan. this will change ukraine's membership pass from a two-step process to a one-step assets. welso made clear that we will issue an invitation for ukraine to join nato when allies agree and conditions are met. >> let's cross our colleague. pick the bones out of that. what does all that mean? >> there's no doubt that it is a significant statement.

it has been a significant day at this summit. nato has made significant commitments to ukraine. extra military packages, for example. what he was talking about their basically meant they are going to speed up the application process for ukraine to join nato they will do away wit some of the normal procedure. they have also committed to giving ukraine effectively a louder voice, a clearer form of direct communication with nato itself. significant developments from the nato side. president zelenskyy, he flew in here this afternoon. this evening, he has been at a dinner with other heads of state . more social affair this evening but just a few hours earlier, he was at a rally actually. not just a few miles from here. ukrainians and lots of his supporters were there and he spoke at that rally.

just take a listen to the language he was using. >> today here, we have a ukrainian flag from the battlefield in document -- battlefield. it will be remembered by our grandparents and our grandsons. >> i came here today believing in the partners, believing in the strong nato -- in a nato that does not doubt, does not waste time, and does not turn heads toward any aggressor. ukraine will make nato stronger and nato will make ukraine safer. >> zelenskyy wanted a direct timeline, a clear timeline for ukrae. he did not get back from nato today. what will he make -- how will it be received? to talk through

that, i am pleased that we can speak to general philip, retired four star general of the u.s. air force and former head of nato. thank you for coming on the program. this has been a significant day here in lithuania. what do you make of the offer from ian stoltenberg, from nato, to ukraine? is it enough? >> that remains to be seen. he has agreed to stay on another here. secretary general. servedis h since that time and i believe that his intervention to help turkiye over that hurdle to get sweden into nato is important. i do believe that the statements made by nato are good. they are short of what some want

and may be point to a little bit of an opportunity lost but the good news is these guarantees that ukraine will enter -- ukraine will not require a map. and the idea that nato agrees this will happen when the conditions are met. these are good. the two audiences that i am most concerned about -- remember, i'm not a politician. i am a military person. the two audiences i am concerned about are the ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield. are they going to look at this and say nato is with us? and nato is going to stand by us? that is the first and most important audience. and then the second most portant audience in my mind is mr. putin. he needs to know that this is a done deal. this is going to happen. he is not going to be able to stop it.

we need to send mr. putin a clear message that his follies and ukraine, starting in 2014, are not going to succeed -- in ukraine, starting in 2014, are not going to succeed. >> i want to jump in there. i wondered whether nato missed an opportunity to go forward. i spoke to the retired british army officer who said one option would have been to get a cease fire however fragile between russia and ukraine and you get nato membership then at that point and that could have been a significant offer from nato but they have not done that. adam: that is a tough -- that's a tough position to take because a cease fire leaves ukraine in a tough position. the ideal position of course is the position that president zelenskyy and the people of ukraine are increasingly every

day more strident in and that is all of russia out of all of ukraine. that is the best point from which to bring ukraine into the alliance. but a cease fire, which in the long run advantage russia, is something that would have to be managed in a very delicate way. >> thank you so much for your time and lending us a bit of your insights and expertise for nato military operations. i will hand back to you with a reflection that although it is very quiet here, i think they turned the lights off behind me. they have given me a hint and it is significant because this is only day one and we have day two so will not more comments and we will hear from a lot more of the interested parties her tomorrow. >> no sympathy here. we need our pound of flesh. thank you very much indeed.

thanks for staying on access. anyone who has studied geology will probably have come ross a diagram similar to this. it is a visual reference that frames how scientists view earth's evolution, the emergence of plants, the extinction of dinosaurs, the breakup of continents, the natural changes in global temperatures. today, scientists announced key idence that we are entering a new epoque, the anthropocene. it is a term that was used before by atomic experts but not everyone agreed on when it began or whether it's real but today, scientists said the earth has entered a new geological period, one that is being heavily influenced human action. -- is the professor of earth system science. thank you for being without spirit look at the diagram that most of us will have seen in a text. there are golden spikes that we are all familiar with. the ice age, the meteorite that

killed and wiped out the dinosaurs. are we now saying then tt the 21st century is such a moment? >> i think the most important thing is scientists and social scientists have realized that the impact that humans are having on the planet is so huge that you dislike we are a geological superpower. we have done the same damage to the planet as the movement of plates around or meteorite impacts. and we can look at some of those impacts -- we have cut down 3 trillion trees. that is half the trees on the planet. we have made enough concrete to cover the whole world's surface in a layer two millimeters thick. we create and produce 3 million tons of plastic every year that ends up in our oans. we have even found micro plastics in our blood. the one that really chills me is if you take the weight of land mammals, 30% is humans.

there's 8 billion of us. the 67% is our livestock and our pets. just 3% of that weight of mammals is the wild animals that david attenborough goes out and films for our enjoyment. that is how much we have changed the planet. we are in the anthropocene. christian: the thing that occurs to me is this. why do we need a reference point if we are killing the planet and we are no longer here? >> i think it's really important because it's philosophical. if we realize that we are in our own illogical period, we are that -- geological period, we are that powerful that global environment and the evolutionary dheesti tny of alle organisms on the planet are controlled by us, then we can ask a step back and , ok, we increase our impact, do we reduce our impact, or do we even repair the impact? do we plant a trillion trees to

undo the damage? it's really important that we acknowledge we are in the anthropocene and therefore we can make decisions about the home that we live in, our home planet. christian: only got a minute left. is there a best way, a best method to capture a permanent record of the alterations we have made? is there something they are looking at specifically? adam: the anthropocene working group want a line in the sand so they can say it started in this year. most of us actually think that we have been in the anthropocene for hundreds of years but because it is dispersed around the world -- the industrial revolution started in the u.k. and then spread out and is still spreading. we think it's a little bit more disperd than just one line in the sand, but it represents something. it represents our impacts on the planet. christian: thank you very much for that. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program

is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪

♪ ♪ narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... woman: arctect. bee keeper. mentor. a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life well planned. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news".