ed thomas now reports. at made him leave blkburn, the place he called home, to travel to texas, are himself with a gun and hold people hostage inside a synagogue? there was a tense standoff as an fbi swat team moved into. the 44-year-old spoke to his family back home. his words were recorded as he became increasingly desperate. >> [indiscernible] ed: these pictures show several hostages running for their lives. within minutes, he was shot dead. the rabbi here described the ordeal. >> it did not look good. it did not sound good. we were terrified. when i saw an opportunity where he was not in a good position, i made sure the two gentlemen still with me, that they were ready to go. the exit was not far away. i told them to go. i threw a chair at the gunman and headed for the door, and all three of us were able to get out without a shot being fired. rupert: throughout the standoff, he was demanding the release of "lady al qaeda," a pakistani neuroscientist jailed in the u.s. for trying to kill american soldiers

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.morris of aberavon who was the former attorney general under tony blair. we are not dealing with a jury trial. we are dealing with a comparatively minor offence, something perhaps a little more important than a parking offence, something dealt with by a moderate, modest penalty. and i don't think there is a danger of prejudice. if there is, you've got to have a sense of proportion. i think the public interest, and i used to be the final advisor on the public interest, in my view, i would have thought, and i retain that view, that the public interest is the publication, so they should know all that has happened, if anything has happened at all. and i do not see how there could be any serious prejudice in the sense that possibly somebody who is involved might say one thing different to another. but that always happens in any criminal investigation. the headlines on bbc news... the us warns that the russian troop build—up near ukraine is the largest since the cold war — as attempts to fin

studio: ed thomas in blackburn, thank you.viser, dominic cummings — now one of his leading critics — has accused the prime minister of knowing in advance about a downing street drinks party in may 2020, during the first lockdown. last week mrjohnson said he believed he had been attending a work event. tonight downing street has said it is untrue that the prime minister was given a warning in advance. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has more details. the prime minister needs friends. an earlyjog with the dog at the start of a week that could decide his future. waiting for an official verdict over what gatherings were going on under his own roof during lockdown. last week there was an apology and an admission about one event. i believed implicitly that this was a work event. but, mr speaker, with hindsight i should have sent everyone back inside. the evening in the number 10 garden had been organised by one of his right—hand men, his private secretary martin reynolds here, who had invited around 100 people. but a man who u

our special correspondent ed thomas reports.kburn, the place he called home, to travel to texas, arm himself with a gun and hold people hostage inside a synagogue? there was a tense ten—hour stand—off. as an fbi swat team moved in, the 44—year—old spoke to his family back home. his words were recorded as he became increasingly desperate. these pictures show several hostages running for their lives. within minutes, malik faisal akram was shot dead. the rabbi here described their ordeal. it didn't look good, it didn't sound good. we were very... we were terrified. and when i saw an opportunity, where he wasn't in a good position, i made sure that the two gentlemen who were still with me, that they were ready to go, the exit wasn't too far away. i told them to go, i threw a chair at the gunman and i headed for the door. and all three of us were able to get out without even a shot being fired. throughout the stand—off, malik faisal akram was heard demanding the release of aafia siddiqui. she's known as 'lady al-qaeda', a pakistani n

ed thomas, bbc news, leigh. and laura is back with me here in downing street.rom lots of people. if that translates into the anger people have been saying they have been feeling in their constituencies, what will that mean for mrjohnson?— mean for mrjohnson? tonight there has been so — mean for mrjohnson? tonight there has been so much _ mean for mrjohnson? tonight there has been so much happening, - mean for mrjohnson? tonight there has been so much happening, it- mean for mrjohnson? tonight there has been so much happening, it is. has been so much happening, it is hard to be definitive about what the next moves look like, but there are plenty of things that are true that we know for sure. many mps are spitting chips, they are incandescent, they have heard that kind of anger. but we also know that their allies are determined to help him hang on. they believe he had a decent performance when he was tucked away with hundreds of tory mps tonight accounted for what had happened, and he promised a series of changes to them. and what those changes are and whether he

ed thomas, bbc news, bury south.rly feelings running high on both sides. you said earlier the fundamentals here for borisjohnson in your view haven't really changed, even after an eventful day like today. what did you mean by that? there has been a lot of drama today, big interventions of the house of commons, a deflection which is a very unusual event, but those fundamentals are, you know, there has been lots of distress among the public about revelations about what's been happening in there during the pandemic, we know there is a deep well of concern and anger in the conservative parliamentary party too, and remember why that matters so much, is because it is tory mps who have the power to decide what might be next, and we know that some of them, we don't know that some of them, we don't know how many, but some of them have submitted those secret letters to call for a vote of no confidence that could see borisjohnson out of office. but we also know today, and i think we saw real signs of that in the house of common

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield. 0ur political correspondent ione wells is with me now.r all the waiting for the who gray report, it is still not published, where are we out with this situation? == published, where are we out with this situation?— published, where are we out with this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard _ this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard in _ this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard in the _ this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard in the report, - this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard in the report, there i this situation? -- sue gray report. as we heard in the report, there isi as we heard in the report, there is universal recognition really that the trust in politics needs to be restored and the hope among many was that this report by the civil servant sue gray would do that and draw a line under all of this. now she is not waiting for the police inquiry to conclude and the police have made it clear they want her to make a minimal reference to some of the events they are investigating, there is pretty wide

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.her 60s have died after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. for others it was a very close shave — the occupant of this van was in the back when the tree came crashing down. to be honest, i thought my friend was dead. i think he has been really lucky. thousands of homes in scotland and the north of england have been left without power, and a second storm — corrie — is expected tomorrow. also on the programme: russia moves military vehicles to near ukraine's borders — borisjohnson is to visit the region and speak to president putin in the coming days. the medical trial in oxford which is throwing new light on why some people experience breathlessness after covid. cheering. and ash barty becomes the first australian in 44 years to win the australian open. good evening. a nine—year—old boy and a 60—year—old woman have died after being hit by falling trees during storm malik. the boy was killed after a tree fell in winnothdale in staffordshire this afternoon, while the woman was

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.at 1.3 million people in the uk are living with long covid — and hundreds of thousands of them experience breathlessness. traditional lung scans often appear to be normal though. but researchers in oxford are using a different technique in a clinical trial. they hope that understanding the problem will lead to better treatment options. 0ur health correspondent, catharine burns reports flo van diemen van thor was never one forjust sitting down inside, but she says long covid has been a horror show. it was not just a breathlessness, that was really hard. it was muscle weakness, so legs like jelly and just thinking if i try to go down the stairs they might not carry me. and i found that really hard to live with on a mental level. i found that really distressing. but this is the ct scan of flo's lungs and like so many long covid patients, everything looks normal and healthy. i thought, well, the technology is letting us down! laughs. these are my lungs, i've had them all my life. i know th

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.ere are also doubts over how complete the it will be, after the met asked her to make "minimal reference" to events they are looking at. earlier i spoke to lord john morris of aberavon who was the former attorney general under tony blair. i'm astonished from the metropolitan police changing their minds as to their interest in this matter. i think the paramount public interest is publication so that the government can get on with their business and interest in the prime minister and hold parliament. i'm astonished that we don't know whether the director of public prosecutions has been consulted and whether the attorney general has been consulted. the chain of advice is usually the cps and in a matter involving public figures, the attorney in my time certainly was fully informed. although the decision would've been for the director. if decision would've been for the director. , ., . decision would've been for the director. ,., . , director. if the police believe there has _ director. if

ed thomas, bbc news, macclesfield.s that the report by civil servant sue gray into lockdown parties at number 10 is due to be delivered to downing street and published in the coming days. joining me now is lord john morris of aberavon who was the former attorney general under tony blair. it's very good to have you with us. thank you forjoining us on bbc news. i wondered what your reaction was to the news that the metropolitan police have asked sue gray not to publish key aspects of her report?— gray not to publish key aspects of herreort? ~ ., , her report? well, i was astonished at the vacillation _ her report? well, i was astonished at the vacillation of _ her report? well, i was astonished at the vacillation of the _ at the vacillation of the metropolitan police, changing their minds as to their interest in this matter. i think the paramount public interest is publication, so that the government can get on with their business, the prime minister and whole parliament. i am astonished that we don't know whether the di

ed thomas, bbc news, leigh. let's get a final word from our political editor, laura kuenssberg.ned today that fundamentally means he is in immediate danger. that's it, he has given a promise that he is going to change, make some changes here in downing street, and some mps have already said publicly they want to see evidence of that. in a sense, they have put that on notice. other conservative mps, and remember why they have the power here, they have the power to trigger a vote of no confidence that could theoretically see him have to leave his post. but there are conservative mps tonight now saying to me things like, he is back in trouble. there is no escape from this, that is the pending police investigation, there are still questions about his own role, particular questions about that party alleged to have taken place in the flat above downing street. i think that boris johnson's the flat above downing street. i think that borisjohnson's idea he will be able to skip through this todayis will be able to skip through this today is something that is just simply not going to happ

ed thomas, bbc news, leigh. founded just over 60% want borisjohnson to resign, while 28% of conservative voters think he should resign. as well as that, it's 54% think tory mps should remove borisjohnson through a vote of no confidence. —— 64%. no sign yet that will happen. chrisjoins us confidence. —— 64%. no sign yet that will happen. chris joins us live. quite a big difference between the overall population and conservative voters themselves.— overall population and conservative voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen — voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen now _ voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen now is _ voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen now is a _ voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen now is a majority - voters themselves. yes, indeed. what we have seen now is a majority of - we have seen now is a majority of the population, and actually a sizeable minority of conservative voters, certainly enough conservative voters for the prime minister to

ed thomas reports. you see all these people? they have children. hungry children. come on, come with me. and providing hope for the lost in burnley. we spent 12 months filming with pastor mick... come and sit here, come on. as the pandemic exposed deep inequalities. it's all right, johnny. i know, but i'm a dirty mess. and today the duke and duchess of cambridge climbing the steps where so many have sought refuge. pastor mick. really good to see you. thank you so much. very nice to see you. royal recognition for church on the streets. people like you, it is the care, and that is what really makes you from being good to a real success. did you see the bbc�*s things? weirdly, i saw the bbc thing long before we were even coming up. for us, it is more ideas, it is more... it is going to places and seeing how people do it differently. that's right. and what you can replicate and what is working. - yeah, what you can scale. the duke and duchess of cambridge wanted to be here to meet volunteers and help those who had suffered during the pandemic. families like deacon's. h

ed thomas, bbc news, blackburn. with me is our security correspondent frank gardner.ext of this and what you have been able to find out about the factors involved?— been able to find out about the factors involved? there are a lot of different strands _ factors involved? there are a lot of different strands to _ factors involved? there are a lot of different strands to the _ different strands to the investigation which is being led by the fbi and that puts some constraint on uk authorities and what they can save because they don't want to go ahead of anything the fbi wants to announce for fear of prejudicing the investigation. one of the strands in the most important is focusing on where this man came from, who he associated with what was his digital trail, who he was in touch with them was anybody helping him? one of the mysteries of this is how, with a criminal record, he was able to fly into the us with little money, get all the way from jfk in new york to texas, choosing a synagogue, targeting a synagogue where eligibility ranted at some length against israel and

ed thomas, bbc news, blackburn.sation which suggests ways of improving living standards for those on lower incomes. gas and electricity bills are on course to rise sharply, and the foundation predicts more than 6 million households will be spending at least 10% of the family budget on energy bills. the hardest—hit families will be in the north east of england and the west midlands, from where our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan reports. oh, beautifulfire. it is so cold out there. without this heat, thelma spalding's life would be unbearable. fire's a life—saver. she suffers from sciatica and is in chronic pain after she says she was attacked by a patient on the nhs ward where she worked until last year. being cold exacerbates the pain, and this is the only room she can afford to heat. even right now, i've got on two leggings, a pair of trousers, a vest, a t—shirt and a dress. and i'm in the house. just to not to feel the pain because when i come out of this room, it's cold in the kitchen, it's cold in

at worst, your dose what my son thomas calls woke-ed 19 will be a mild one should you suffer a mild infection. i would invite you to support the common sense society -- we are in florida after all. or if you prefer, you can think of common sense as just a highly therapeutic against the mind virus. it is in the spirit that we are about to honor one of the very few thinkers in the world today who can match roger when it comes to sheer courage. it would be wrong to call jordan peterson rogers air, not until he takes up foxhunting will that be a legitimate does a nation. but at lunch today, jordan said something with which i think roger would have agreed. we progress in life, he said. from innocence to cynicism. but we must advance beyond cynicism if we are to flourish as human beings. i hope i'm not misquoting you, jordan. it struck me very forcefully. in much the same way, rogers pessimistic shield was merely protective of his innate hopefulness about the cumin -- human condition. ladies and gentlemen, it is in that spirit of well armed hopefulness that we have assembled here tonight to award t

our special correspondent, ed thomas, has been to macclesfield to speak to those whose lives were transformedn _ now gone. a moment to focus, waiting for answers, reflecting on past - for answers, reflecting on past sacrifices. for answers, reflecting on past sacrifices-— sacrifices. we will try to be careful. — sacrifices. we will try to be careful, all— sacrifices. we will try to be careful, all the _ sacrifices. we will try to be careful, all the screens - sacrifices. we will try to be careful, all the screens put sacrifices. we will try to be i careful, all the screens put in. debbie cannot believe while some partied her life was on hold. still havin: partied her life was on hold. 5t ll having sleepless nights now worried sick about it whether we will go into another lockdown, scared to death. 9 , :, :, into another lockdown, scared to death. 9 , :, ., ., , death. when you are hearing these stories coming _ death. when you are hearing these stories coming out _ death. when you are hearing these stories coming out about _ death. when you are hearing these stories coming out about 10 - deat

who better to ask than thomas dixon himself the author of that sobering, chilling op-ed. he is executive director of the cascade institute at royal road university. his latest book is "commanding hope, the power we have to renew a world in peril." thomas homer-dixon so nice to have you with us this evening. you are a serious scholar of this stuff. you're not some op-ed columnist pushing out hot takes or trying to get social media clicks. so how serious are you about the idea of america being run by a right wing dictator by the end of this decade? a lot of our viewers at home will be taken aback by that. >> i think we are talking about several different phenomena here, different things that could happen. the one you have been really talking about, discussing over the last few minutes is the collapse of american democracy, a fatal weakening of democratic institutions that would probably be occasions by the re-election of donald trump as president. now, somewhat further down the road, if trump and his successors are able to consolidate power, then you could have something tha

nearest competitor by 38 the editor and chief of swimming world magazine writing an op-ed last month saying thomasn in championships could create, quote, an unfair swimming university of pennsylvania leadership said it's heard criticism from students and parents. several of whom reportedly sent a letter to the ncaa demanding changes to the rules the ncaa did not respond to nbc news request for comment thomas, seen with her teammates in these dailymail.com images said her journey started in 2018, that's when thomas realized she was transgender a year later coming out to the entire team and beginning to transition taking testosterone suppressions and estrogen >> i've experienced a lot of muscle loss and strength loss. >> reporter: from school teams to the olympics. transgender athletes are facing increased scrutiny in sports. >> there's just not that much data available on how gender hormones change athletic performance. >> reporter: thomas painted a different picture for the podcast. >> i feel supported, treated like any other member of the women's team >> ann, amid the controversy there at u penn,

plus, stephen welcomes: joy reid and thomas middleditch featuring jon batiste and stay human. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: i throw sidearm. >> audience: stephen! stephen! stephen! >> stephen: please have a seat, everybody. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to "the late show." i am your host, stephen colbert. ( cheers and applause ) thank you, citizen, thank you. folks you know, we work hard. this is our job. this is what i believe our job is-- we come out here night after night and do our best to cut through all the noise, all the lies and call a thing what it is-- no focus group, no messaging. we think it comes out the talk hole. and that's one of the things i admire most about joe biden. he's a straight shooter. after a year of holding his tongue in the face of constant criticism, last night, he expressed his true feelings about fox news white house correspondent and winner of the "blandest blonde" man and "blondest bland man" awards ( cheers and applause ) sir peter doocy. biden was meeting with members of his administration t

ed is just not fair. we have to protect women sports from something like this. leah thomasst of all, i respect her right to live her life authentically. suffering from gender dysphoria is a horrible lifelong struggle. and every story is different. let me tell you, sean, i know that one. and i respect her right to do that. but with that comes some responsibility and integrity and what you are doing. i don't know why she's doing it. we live in this woke world right now that is driving me crazy. i feel sorry for the girls on the penn team because they have to be so welcome and say oh, this is great, we are down deep inside. they are saying this is wrong. and a couple of them anonymously, because they can't come out, and parents have now come out, but they have to do it anonymously. and say that this is wrong. and it is wrong. i'm very disappointed in the ncaa. they kicked the can down the road. but we have to deal with this issue. we have to protect women's sports fear they've worked so hard for equality. look at title ix. for years, they finally got it through. i love women's

thomas. >> right. it doesn't necessarily mean liberal. stephanie, i want to get to an op-edrk times" urging your fellow democrats to take a page out of mitch mcconnell's playbook. you wrote "thanks to president donald trump and former senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, there's a new set of rules in place for supreme court nominations that all but guarantees democrats will succeed unless, of course, we mess it up." what do you mean by that? >> well, there are a new set of rules put in place thanks to donald trump and mitch mcconnell. amy coney barrett, 38 days from when ruth bader ginsburg died she was sworn in as a supreme court justice. that's a record. they were criticized at the time for not having a deliberative process, not accurately vetting her. i don't expect president biden and senate democrats to move that quickly, but we need to take some lessons from that. we should move quickly so this nominee doesn't get tarnished by somebody like senator wicker or we know a lot of this conversation in the republican party is going to be about affirmative action and undert

assistant secretary said thomas and said no evidence to confirm government voices actually systematically, most good civilians me later. i like want to say that he later wrote an op ed and apologize for that in the new york times, i believe, which goes along with what i'm saying about the denials. but he later apologized. he said there was a massacre. he was sorry, he denied it. he had been given this information and he was sorry, he had testified in the us congress in the way he had. so just to let you know that some of these people have changed their minds. what about what a bronze? because i did notice, i mean, you're on a command, you're the committee of the national endowment for democracy, which we talk about this program a lot as a kind of vanguard to re, of, and god, perhaps, of regime change in different countries. so the elliot abrams tell me about how you do what you do, knowing that there are forces that still one to oppose your view. that what was done was wrong given the abraham pseudo in the night, he said, what went on, do you think our level of military aid was worth it? he said yes. knowing the thousands of people the dud course, he says yes. and h

thomas. awkward concerns have been ignored by coach. college track athlete says the ncaa is deliberately turning blind eye continue to justices to women's sports. writing in an op-edter girl in connecticut as fast as i am. i can't outrun the advantages posed by competing with biological men. caitlyn jenner spoke out on hannity. listen. >> i love the trans community. but we have to do what's fair. we have to do what's right. >> this as a growing number of female athletes say the future of women's sports is uncertain. those your headlines. steve, over to you. >> steve: carley, thank you very much. a couple minutes before the top of the hour. janice dean joins us. janice, i know it hasn't happened yes. but everybody is getting ready for tonight. >> janice: yeah the computer models coming into agreement coastal storm and impact millions of people along the i-95 corridor. there is the future track comes tonight. the worst of it all day tomorrow. all day on saturday. we now have blizzard warnings in effect for parts of new jersey, delmarva, up towards maine and massachusetts. where not only heavy snow but blowing snow for duration of hours is going to make travel imposs