four of those involved gurkha relatives.mories of the windrush scandal, in which migrants settled in britain for half a century and more had their status wrongly challenged, their legal right to stay denied. after that scandal the home secretary promised fairer, more compassionate treatment of migrants, sweeping away a culture seen as the desire to cut migrant numbers by all means available. now he's the one with wrongs to right and apologies to make. the so—called hostile environment around migration took root during theresa may's time at the home office. now a new mess is having to be cleared up by the man widely supposed to want herjob. john pienaar, bbc news. police in the united states are stepping up their efforts to find whoever is behind at least ten suspicious packages that have been sent to leading democrats and critics of president trump. two more were intercepted today — addressed to former vice presidentjoe biden and to the hollywood star robert de niro. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant reports. these

four of those involved gurkha relatives.mories of the windrush scandal, in which migrants settled in britain for half a century and more had their status wrongly challenged, their legal right to stay denied. after that scandal, the home secretary promised fairer, more compassionate treatment of migrants, sweeping away a culture seen as the desire to cut migrant numbers by all means available. now he's the one with wrongs to right and apologies to make. the so—called hostile environment around migration took root during theresa may's time at the home office. now a new mess is having to be cleared up by the man widely supposed to want herjob. john pienaar, bbc news. the number of attacks on inmates and prison staff in england and wales has risen to another record high. assaults on staff were up by more than a quarter in the year tojune, with figures from the ministry ofjustice also showing a large rise in levels of self—harm among inmates. the government says it is recruiting more prison officers and strengthening jail securit

in particular, i would like to extend my apologies to those gurkhas and afghans that have been affectedfunction at the home office. four times lastjune, home office ministers told mps that there was no requirement for dna testing in immigration cases. this turns out simply wasn't true. a home office review found a wrong with me demands for at least 449 and dna tests, 51 of them for gurkha families. 11 refusals were made solely because no dna tests were done and four of them were gurkha relatives. being asked the dna evidence, it's intrusive. it is insulting potentially to have your paternity questioned. it has all been reminiscent of the windrush scandal which affected elderly migrants from the caribbean. it has been seen by the opposition as further evidence of how ordinary immigration has been affected by theresa may's so—called hostile environment on illegal immigrants. daniel sandford, bbc news. it is almost 6:15pm. our top story this evening: the retail tycoon sir philip green is named in parliament as the businessman who went to court to stop harrassment allegations being publishe

the families of gurkhas who fought for the british army are among those affected.a statement, sajid javid said if someone does not have enough evidence to show that they are related to someone in the uk, they sometimes choose to do a dna test to prove that relationship. but it must be entirely voluntary. at the end ofjune, it was brought to our attention that there was some immigration cases where the provision of dna evidence had been made a requirement for the issuance of a visa or to grant leave to remain and it was not simply a request. such demands are unacceptable. today, i want to take this opportunity to apologize to those who have been affected by this practice. the law in this context is that the provision of dna evidence should always be voluntary, and never mandatory. let me be clear, madam deputy speaker, across our immigration system, no one should have faced a demand to supply dna evidence and no one should have been penalized for not providing it. in particular, i would like to extend my apologies to those gurkhas and afghans that have been affected

a home office review found it wrongly made demands for at least 449 dna tests, 51 of them for gurkha being asked for dna evidence, it's intrusive. it is insulting potentially to have your paternity questioned. it has all been reminiscent of the windrush scandal which affected elderly migrants from the caribbean. how are you? it has been seen by the opposition as further evidence of how ordinary immigration has been affected by theresa may's so—called hostile environment on illegal immigrants. daniel sandford, bbc news. let's get more on our top story, that the billionaire and former owner of bhs, sir philip green, has said he categorically denies allegations of unlawful sexual or racist behaviour. he's been named in parliament by lord hain as the businessman who has taken out an injunction, to stop the daily telegraph, reporting the claims against him. lord hain has been telling bbc newsnight why he resorted to the use of parliamentary privilege to breach the injunction. for others tojudge for others to judge whether i have been right or wrong. but there is no point in being in westm

those cases will be done again. 31 gurkhas.and those decisions have now been reversed. we also have an unknown number of afg ha n also have an unknown number of afghan nationals, interpreters to walk —— worked alongside british forces in afghanistan. another allowed to settle was well over 1000. it is possible all of them we re 1000. it is possible all of them were ordered to take dna tests. that number has not been confirmed. this follows the apology for the windrush scandal. the home office has taken a battering in the last few months. some will see this as connected to the windrush example, the hostile environment created by the coalition and conservative governments to tackle illegal immigrants. the review that was set up by the home 0ffice review that was set up by the home office to look into this has really laid the blame at the confusion of policy and guidance in terms of immigration cases. 14,000 different guidance documents. it says that officials were confused and not sure what the policy was so in some cases it was

one was to do with gurkha families, in which four people had their applications refused because theyh afg ha ns tests, and one was to do with afghans who worked in britain during the conflict in afghanistan. in all three of these cases, letters were sent out saying people had got to ta ke sent out saying people had got to take dna tests, which is completely contrary to home office policy, and builds into the idea of the so—called hostile environment within the home office, where a perfectly legitimate immigration cases are somehow caught up in a desire to clamp down on illegal immigration. the home secretary has apologised and promised to refund people who felt they had to take a dna test and he set up a further review to find out why cases like this and the windrush case keep coming up in the home office. daniel sandford, thank you very much for reporting. it is 1:16pm. our top story this lunchtime: 4000 jobs under threat as the high street department store chain debenhams close up to 50 stores over the next five years. and coming up: nearly eight months after the poisoning of forme

one was in areas of gurkhas, in that case for people had had their applications refused because theypeople who had worked with the british military in afghanistan also sent letters saying that they had to have dna tests which was an incorrect thing to have happened. let's return to that story in new york. a suspicious package sent to a restau ra nt york. a suspicious package sent to a restaurant owned by robert de niro. donald trump has tweeted and said that the mainstream media have a role to play a nest. ears blaming the mainstream media. he has said it has gotten really bad. they have said that 90% of the coverage around the president is negative. she also said, ithink the president is negative. she also said, i think this is an important distinction that there is. she has said that there is a difference between comments and acts and the president has already said that what has happened is despicable. the president has been pushing back and saying that these things are wrong and that we will find these people but there is another part of this debate around what he calls fake news

this, is clearly an important story for the gurkhas and the afghan nationals involved when it has a fairly significant or potentially significant political consequence here at home as well. yes because the home secretary has apologised for the policy of his department, although possibly not while he has been home secretary. the policy became to require people who wanted to prove a family connection to undergo a dna test. that should not have been the policy, but clearly it was part of what is known as this hostile environment policy, which was to try and make life difficult for aluminium grids which had knock on consequences for perfectly legal immigrants. and this takes us to amber rudd and potentially to theresa may's time in the home 0ffice theresa may's time in the home office with mike yes, that is right. it was a 2012 as she was home secretary, theresa may was in front of the heart —— to the home office that this hostile environment agenda that this hostile environment agenda thatjohn mentions that this hostile environment agenda that john mentions was that this hostile environment a

there were two other areas, the areas of gurkhas, families trying to join relatives in the uk.efuse to take the dna tests have had to leave the uk as a result? we do not know whether they have had to leave the uk, or in the process of appeals, but we did have their initial applications refused. they may not have been allowed to come to the uk as a result of that. sajid javid is concerned about this because it plays into this idea of a hostile environment for immigration and the home office, as it does have times —— as it has sometimes been described. is that this is something that should have not happened. he says provision of dna testing should a lwa ys says provision of dna testing should always be voluntary and not be mandatory stop in some cases where dna evidence were made a requirement, and not simply a request and he apologised to all of those concerned. he has also ordered a further review now within the home 0ffice a further review now within the home office of how it is these kind of things seem to be recurrently happening. he has set up a task force and is a telephon