simon gompertz, bbc news, hemel hempstead.s presidential election are expected any minute. today, there were calls from the international community for restraint, as the nation waited for an announcement, following yesterday's violence. the two main candidates are emmerson mnangagwa of the ruling zanu—pf party, and nelson chamisa, leader of the main opposition group, the movement for democratic change, which claims zanu—pf has rigged the election. 0ur africa editor fergal keane is in the zimbabwean capital, harare. the results declarations are still going on. we've had nine out of ten so going on. we've had nine out of ten so far, five have gone to emmerson mnangagwa of zanu—pf and four to nelson chamisa, the leader of the 0pposition. we expect a final result within the next half an hour. they have come at the end of a day of growing polarisation here. the city awoke to no result, and the traumatised aftermath of violence. but there was a dramatic public appearance by the leader of the opposition. nelson chamisa had come to vi

simon gompertz, bbc news, hemel hempstead.we‘s presidential election are expected imminently. today there were calls from the international community for restraint as the nation waited for an announcement following yesterday's violence. the two main candidates are emmerson mnangagwa of the ruling zanu—pf party, and nelson chamisa, leader of the main opposition group, the movement for democratic change, which claims zanu—pf has rigged the election. in the last hour the country's electoral commission said nine out of ten provinces had reported their results, with emmerson mnangagwa firmly in the lead. 0ur africa editor, fergal keane, is in the zimbabwean capital, harare, and sent this report. the city awoke to no result, and the traumatised aftermath of violence. but there was a dramatic public appearance by the leader of the opposition. nelson chamisa had come to visit wounded people in hospital. but international pressure on him to help de—escalate the crisis seems to have had little effect. offered the chance to call for a re

simon gompertz, bbc news. our business editor simon jack is here.troversial company. will anyone mourn its demise? i suspect they won't, you saw stacey say good riddance to them in nappies. also, the claims management companies that bombard us with texts saying do you want to claim, afew with texts saying do you want to claim, a few will miss that. but it is bad for consumers and a couple ways. first of all, if you owe money to wonga, you will still have to pay it. if you are owed money by wonga, in the form of compensation for some of their previous more reckless lending, irresponsible lending, you are very unlikely to get all or even any of that compensation. so in a way, it's the worst possible outcome for some consumers. at its peak it had more than a million customers. what happens to them, where do they go now? that is right. there was a huge demand for this short—term credit and a lot of people have used responsibly, just using it until payday, borrowing 50 quid, paying £6 interest over the next four days, and that stops you faulting on thing

let's assess where we are now with simon gompertz and the question is what it means for all others iney in our pockets, simon? means for all others in terms of the money in our pockets, simon7m depends if you are in the red or in the black. if you are a homeowner or a saver. if you are renting, there is no immediate impact. if you are borrowing for your home and amongst the 3.5 million homeowners on a variable rate mortgage, that is the situation where you need to think, my monthly payments might go up. but a bit of reassurance, the average increase people are talking about is about £14 a month. so one small increase in interest rates doesn't have a big impact but the other cost of living rises, like higher energy bills which makes it tricky to deal with. last time we had a interest—rate increase, half of the banks and building societies didn't pass on the increase. and if they did the average was less than the bank of england's interest—rate increase. we need to keep an eye on bad. the amounts are not huge. on the average cash isa, it didn't impact much. keep an eye on that and maybe

simon gompertz, bbc news hemel hempstead.nd that there were missed opportunities to protect an 18—month—old baby girl who was murdered by her adoptive father. cardiff and vale's regional safeguarding—children board has now apologised following the death of elsie scully—hicks, who died in may 2016. she was subjected to a catalogue of injuries over several months. matthew scully—hicks was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for murder last year. sian lloyd reports. elsie was 18 months old when she was murdered by her adoptive father. matthew scully—hicks was sentenced to 18 years in prison after inflicting a catalogue of injuries on the child. today a report was published into whether lessons could be learnt from her death. there were missed opportunities to raise safeguarding concerns. for this all agencies involved in elsie's care would like to sincerely apologise. the report also found that the adoption was viewed as very successful. opportunities to explore elsie's injuries were missed and information was not shared

simon gompertz reports.m, charges can escalate, and there is the fear that belongings will be taken, with arrears on household bills rising stubbornly, even more people are in danger. in the last five years, household debts including council tax, energy bills and even parking fines have risen by 40% to an annual £18.9 billion, while problems with bailiffs have tripled to 90,000 a year, and that is just complaints to citizens advice. people have told the charity they are scared to open their doors because of aggressive tactics from bailiffs, even having things removed from their homes while they are ill, which is why citizens advice is calling for an independent regulator for bailiffs. household debt is increasing, and referral to bailiffs is as well. in 2017, two .3 million referrals were made to bailiffs, and at the receiving end of that our families and households who are intimidated and worried and concerned that they are building up even more debt, rather than finding a way out. council say they are prot

simon gompertz, bbc news, hemel hempstead. out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrow's front pages at 10:a0pm this evening in the papers. our guests joining me tonight are political commentator, lance price, and deputy political editor of the sunday times, caroline wheeler. a report has found that there were missed opportunities to protect an 18—month—old baby girl, who was murdered by her adoptive father. cardiff and vale‘s regional safeguarding—children board, has now apologised, following the death of elsie scully—hicks, who died in may 2016. she was subjected to a catalogue of injuries, over several months. matthew scully—hicks was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years for murder last year. sian lloyd reports. elsie was 18 months old when she was murdered by her adoptive father. matthew skully—hicks was sentenced to 18 years in prison after inflicting a catalogue of injuries on the child. today a report was published into whether lessons could be learnt from her death. there were missed opportunities

our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz reports. with a loan from wonga.com...ay lenders on a wave of humourous adverts which glossed over the harm being done to some borrowers, borrowers whose compensation claims have now crippled the lender. stacey in south london saw a £600 loan turn into £5,000 when she missed some payments. well, they are still chasing me for the money, which i'm trying to get cancelled now. they completely screwed me over. i was very vulnerable at the time. i don't know if you've heard, but they are in big financial trouble. yes, i have heard. i read about it. so what do you think about that? i think good on them. it's what they deserve. because of the way they treated you? yeah, ido. i think they deserve it. i think they deserve to go bust because they preyed on people who were vulnerable. wonga's fall began in 2014 when it had a big financial penalty for sending threatening letters to borrowers from fake lawyers' addresses. then it was forced to compensate 330,000 customers it hadn't checked could pay the money back. in the backlash, cha

our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz is here. what was the impact on people affected ?n a fixed rate tariff for gas and electricity, typically one or two years, and you come to the end of that period and start to look around and find another good dealfor start to look around and find another good deal for your energy supply so you do not lose out. rules are there is a 49 date —based period at the end of your deal in which you can switch but you are not penalised by exit fees or higher tariffs for what you're paying for and that is what you're paying for and that is what british gas got wrong. they broke the rules so those 94,000 people were those who had their ta riffs people were those who had their tariffs raised during that grace period and there was another brutal people charged an exit charge for leaving when they should not have been charged that for the what is happening is british gas is paying those people that back, it has already paid most of them back and given them a goodwill gesture payment on top of that product by my calculations the sums involved are no

our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz reports. with a loan from wongacom...r one among payday lenders on a wave of humorous adverts which glossed over the harm being done to some borrowers, borrowers whose compensation claims have now crippled the lender. stacey in south london saw a £600 loan turn into £5,000 when she missed some payments. well, they are still chasing me for the money, which i'm trying to get cancelled now. they completely screwed me over. i was very vulnerable at the time. i don't know if you've heard, but they are in big financial trouble. yes, i have heard. i read about it. so what do you think about that? i think good on them. it's what they deserve. because of the way they treated you? yeah, ido. i think they deserve it. i think they deserve to go bust because they played on people who were vulnerable. wonga's fall began in 2014 when it had a big financial penalty for sending threatening letters to borrowers from fake lawyers' addresses. then it was forced to compensate 330,000 customers it hadn't checked could pay the money back. in th

our correspondent simon gompertz reports.e is the fear that belongings will be taken. with arrears on household bills rising stubbornly, even more people are in danger. in the last five years, household debts including council tax, energy bills and even parking fines have risen by a0%, to an annual £18.9 billion, while problems with bailiffs have tripled to 90,000 a year, and that is just complaints to citizens advice. people have told the charity they are scared to open their doors because of aggressive tactics from bailiffs, even having things removed from their homes while they are ill, which is why citizens advice is calling for an independent regulator for bailiffs. household debt is increasing, and referral to bailiffs is as well. in 2017, 2.3 million referrals were made to bailiffs, and at the receiving end of that are families and households who are intimidated and worried and concerned that they're building up even more debt, rather than finding a way out. councils say they are protecting vital services like elderly

our correspondent simon gompertz reports.scalate and there is the fear that belongings will be taken. with arrears on household bills rising suddenly, even more people are in danger. in the last five years household debts including council tax, energy bills and even parking fines have risen by 40% to an annual £18.9 billion. while problems with bailiffs have tripled to 90,000 a year and that is just complaints to citizens advice. people have told the charity they are scared to open their doors because of aggressive tactics from bailiffs. even having things removed from their homes while they are ill, which is why citizens advice is calling for an independent regulator for bailiffs. household debt is increasing and referral to bailiffs as well. in 2017 2.3 million referrals were made to bailiffs and that... at the receiving end of that are families and households who are intimidated and worried and concerned that they are building up even more debt rather than finding a way out. councils say they are protecting vital services

here's our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz.nomy on the mend, getting back into shape. only now does the bank of england think we can cope with rates returning gradually to normal levels. the bank's monetary policy committee which sets the direction for rates, had to weigh up the uncertainties of brexit against fears that price rises might take off in an economy awash with cheap loans. that strategy has worked. today employment is at a record high. real wages are picking up and external price pressures are declining. this lincolnshire road surfacing company agrees, business is beginning to roll along nicely. so much so that wages are higher, the sort of signal which makes the bank of england reach for its interest rate lever. there is a lot of work about at the minute so people are getting significant contracts. they need the men and the manpower to carry out this work, so they offer more money. guys we are employing now are earning twice as much as they were three oi’ four years ago. higher wages may be, but for some, higher co

against them after a government clamp—down on payday lenders. 0ur personal finance correspondent simon gompertzers. borrowers whose compensation claims have now crippled the lender. stacey in south london saw a £600 loan turn into £5,000 when she missed some payments. they're still chasing me for the money, which i'm trying to get cancelled out now. they completely screwed me over. i was very vulnerable at the time. i don't know if you've heard, but they are in financial trouble. yes, i have heard, i read about it. what do you think about that? i think good on them, it's what they deserve. because of the way they treated you? yep, yeah, i do. i think they deserve it. i think they deserve to go bust, because they preyed on people who were vulnerable. wonga's fall began in 2014, when it had a big financial penalty for sending threatening letters to borrowers from fake lawyers' addresses. then it was forced to compensate 330,000 customers it hadn't checked could pay the money back. in a backlash, charges for payday loans were capped. and as more compensation claims came in, £10 million from wonga'

our personal finance correspondent, simon gompertz reports.umourous adverts which lost over the harm being done to some borrowers. wonga's fall began in 2014 when it had a big financial penalty for sending threatening actors to borrowers from fake glorious addresses. then it was forced to compensate 330,000 customers it hadn't checked could pay the money back. in the backlash, charges for payday loans were capped and, as more compensation claims came in, money from wonga's backers turned out not to be enough to cover them. well, if you've got a loan, you'll still have pay that back. if you are pursuing compensation, the danger is that you willjust have to join a long queue of creditors trying to get their money back from wonga. wonga's rates were 1,500%, but its business model backfired, and this lender's time has run out. this is outside source live from the bbc newsroom. our lead story is... four days after a man was stabbed to death in chemnitz in east germany, far—right groups are continuing to call people out on to the streets of the city

here's our personal finance correspondent simon gompertz.ht interest rate for an economy on the mend, getting back into shape. only now does the bank of england think we can cope with rates returning gradually to normal levels. the bank's monetary policy committee which sets the direction for rates, had to weigh up the uncertainties of brexit against fears that price rises might take off in an economy awash with cheap loans. that strategy has worked. today employment is at a record high. real wages are picking up and external price pressures are declining. this lincolnshire road surfacing company agrees, business is beginning to roll along nicely. so much so that wages are higher, the sort of signal which makes the bank of england reach for its interest rate lever. there is a lot of work about at the minute so people are getting significant contracts. they need the men and the manpower to carry out this work, so they offer more money. guys we are employing now are earning twice as much as they were three oi’ four years ago. higher wages may

our correspondent simon gompertz reports.are called in, charges can escalate, and there is the fear that belongings will be taken. with arrears on household bills rising stubbornly, even more people are in danger. in the last five years, household debts including council tax, energy bills and even parking fines have risen by a0%, to an annual £18.9 billion, while problems with bailiffs have tripled to 90,000 a year, and that is just complaints to citizens advice. people have told the charity they are scared to open their doors because of aggressive tactics from bailiffs, even having things removed from their homes while they are ill, which is why citizens advice is calling for an independent regulator for bailiffs. household debt is increasing, and referral to bailiffs is as well. in 2017, 2.3 million referrals were made to bailiffs, and at the receiving end of that are families and households who are intimidated and worried and concerned that they're building up even more debt, rather than finding a way out. councils say the

household bills like gas, electricity and council tax has reached £19 billion. 0ur correspondent simon gompertzbailiffs are called in, charges can escalate and there is the fear that belongings can be taken. with household bills rising, even more people are in danger. in the last five years household debts including council tax, energy bills and parking fines have written —— risen by 40%. parking fines have written —— risen by a0%. while problems with bailiffs have tripled to 90,000 a year, and thatis have tripled to 90,000 a year, and that is just complaints to citizens advice of. people are told the charity they are scared to open their doors because of aggressive tactics from bailiffs, even having things removed from their homes while they are ill, which is why citizens advice is calling for an independent regulator for bailiffs. household debt is increasing and referrals to bailiffs is as well. 2017, two .3 million referrals made to bailiffs, the receiving end of that ourfamilies to bailiffs, the receiving end of that our families and households who are intimidated and worried and concerned

our personal finance reporter simon gompertz says it all stems from those on fixed term deals lookings another group of people who were charged an exit charge for leaving when they shouldn‘t have been charged that. what‘s happening is, british gas is paying those people back. it has paid most of them back already and given them a goodwill gesture payment on top of that. by my calculation, the sums involved are not enormous. so for a typical customer, it would be between £10 and £50 each. but there‘s a big principle here and that‘s why the authorities have been so tough about it. that if companies are seen to interfere with our right to switch providers, take advantage of lower tariffs, and households can save upwards of £300 a year by switching to a cheaper deal, if companies are seen to discourage that, then they will be hauled over the coals. that‘s what happened to british gas and that‘s why they‘ve had to apologise profusely. a year after violence in myanmar prompted hundreds of thousands of rohingya muslims to flee the country, the un secretary general has said those responsible

gompertz speaking to marin alsop. that's it. now on bbc one, it's time for the news where you are. have a very good night. hello. this is bbc news. the us playwright neil simonys, including comedy classics come blow your horn and the odd couple. he was the first playwright to have a broadway theatre named after him, and won the pulitzer prize for drama in 1991 for lost in yonkers. joining me now on the phone from new york is harvard law professor emeritus alan dershowitz. key has seen all of those plays on broadway. thank you very much for joining us. what first attracted you to neil simon's work? he was writing about me and about everybody i grew up about me and about everybody i grew up with. it was as if we had our own playwright who was telling our story. we all grew up right near brighton beach. every scene was familiar. when he wrote the odd couple it was our friends, so he was writing about us, it was as if we lived in london and shakespeare some either gotten into our neighbourhood and figured out what was happening. it was so personal and the ability to write that everybody and his plays are seen around the world where there are no dues, no people f