tom symonds reports. wedish pbesecutors have pursuing julian assange for years about rape, co, and molestation allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy. eventually the prosecutors stopped trying to question him. but when the metropolitan police dragged him into custody, they got a second chance. they he until next august to restart the rape investigation. assange fought not to go to sweden because he was worried sweden would expedite him to the u.s. now britain is considering that. >> he is obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard. this case raises significant issues about free speech have been warning about the prospect of an extradition request by thenited states nce 2010. tom: seven years inside the embassy, resolving the case will meet answering some fundamental questions. glis julian assange al campaigner who worked up a conspiracy to hack computer systems? or is he a journalist,ea publishingd information in the public interest, something the court may be more lenient about?

here's tom symonds.rosecutors have been pursuing julian assange for years about rape, coercion and molestation allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy. eventually, the prosecutors stopped trying to question him. but when the metropolitan police dragged him into custody, they got a second chance. they have until next august to restart the rape investigation. assange fought not to go to sweden because he was worried sweden would extradite him to the us. now britain's considering that. he's obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard. this case raises significant issues about free speech. we've been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010. after seven yea rs inside the embassy, resolving the case will mean answering some fundamental questions. isjulian assange a global campaigner who worked up a conspiracy to hack secret computer systems? or is he a journalist publishing leaked information in the public interest? something the courts mi

here's tom symonds.s have been pursuing julian assange for years about rape, coercion and molestation allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy. eventually, the prosecutors stopped trying to question him. but when the metropolitan police dragged him into custody, they got a second chance. they have until next august to restart the rape investigation. assange fought not to go to sweden because he was worried sweden would extradite him to the us. now britain's considering that. he's obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard. this case raises significant issues about free speech. we've been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010. after seven years inside the embassy, resolving the case will mean answering some fundamental questions. isjulian assange a global campaigner who worked up a conspiracy to hack secret computer systems? or is he a journalist publishing leaked information in the public interest — something the courts might be mo

tom symonds, bbc news, waterloo bridge.fter they were removed from the body. the research at yale university could raise ethical questions about what it means to be alive and conscious. 0ur medical correspondent fergus walsh explains. the brain is the most complex organ in the body. it was always assumed it gets irreversibly damaged within minutes of blood flow stopping. now, a remarkable study in the journal nature challenges that view. the scientists at yale school of medicine used brains from farm animals bred for pork. in all, 32 brains were collected from an abbatoir. four hours after death, the organs were placed in specially designed tanks and synthetic blood was pumped round at body temperature for six hours. remarkably, despite being dead for hours, cells within the brain started to function. there was activity in synapses, some brain circuits started to work. the brains began to use energy and oxygen, and blood flow was restored. this video shows some of the blood vessels of the partially revived organs. but there

tom symonds, thank you.luding the british national party and the english defence league, from having any presence on its social media networks, saying they violated rules about promoting hate and violence. the banned groups have been removed from both facebook and instagram. it also means people who use the sites will no longer be allowed to show support or praise for them. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. masters of modern communication they may be, but, according to facebook at least, these members of britain's hard right groups and organisations often spread hate or promote violence. the full list includes the british national party and its former leader, nick griffin. britain first, its leader paul golding and former deputy leaderjayda fransen. the english defence league and its founding member paul ray. knights templar international, a militant christian group, and its promoter, jim dowson. national front and its leader, tony martin, and jack renshaw, a convicted neo—nazi who plotted to murder a lab

last wednesday, tom symonds caught up with some of them on waterloo bridge.bridges across the thames. extinction rebellion, a new direct—action protest group, hoped to take control of this — and other key london locations — for up to two weeks. but today, police moved in and made more arrests. by the time the protest had finished this thursday, more than 1,000 people had been arrested. 0pinions about the bbc‘s coverage of the demonstrations was divided, with ken sturt asking... but other viewers last week had the opposite perspective. here is stephen sterling and, first, mel st pier. it's a pity that during a recent break in reporting the brexit chaos, the bbc did not divert more of its tv resources to covering the significant protests going on around the world, in particular near london, concerning the far more important problem facing us — climate change. was it because the bbc, like donald trump, does not think climate change is significant enough to bother about? i was surprised to see the minimal coverage of the first day of the extinction rebellion's cl

tom symonds, bbc news. let's get some of the day's other news.al criminal court have rejected a request by a prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes in afghanistan. the judges said investigate alleged war crimes in afghanistan. thejudges said crimes may well have been committed by us military personnel, the afghan army and the taliban, but they felt there was little chance of prosecutions. the human rights group amnesty international has criticised the ruling. north korea's leader, kimjong—un, has said he is only interested in meeting president trump again if he comes with the right attitude. mr kim said the collapse of his second summit with mr trump in february raised the risk of a return to past tensions and that the us needed to come up with a new approach before the end of the year. washington insists that it will not lift sanctions until pyongyang has got rid its nuclear capability. mr trump said though he was considering a potential third summit. thousands of pakistanis have gathered in the central city othang to create a human image

our correspondent, tom symonds is at waterloo bridge, one of the main protest sites. clear these protest camps today. this afternoon, about 20 people were arrested and then about 30 protesters took their place and as you can see, the bridge is still closed and this man has been playing a cello where the traffic would normally be. it's a problem for the police. they say they can only use reasonable force to clear these protests but this is a peaceful protest so all they can do is remove the protesters one by one. there have been some messages going around today, a fairly well worked—out plan to raise the bar and close down heathrow tomorrow. we can't be sure that that will happen but the mayor of london, sadiq khan, has said if it does, that will be dangerous, illegal and put more pressure on the police. it would certainly be disruptive and the police are under pressure to clear these protests and to reduce the amount of disruption they are causing in the centre of london. many of these protesters say they will stay here for days to come. at the same time, one of the y

tom symonds is at oxford circus. this is normally one of the busiest bridges across the thames. a new, direct action protest group, hoped to take control of this and other key london locations for up to two weeks. well, today, the police moved in. we have an emergency here and i don't think we are causing any harm. using powers designed to balance the right to protest with the need to reduce disruption. the police are taking this extremely slowly, not least to keep the temperature under control. but also because they are starting to run out of police cells. we are here because humanity is facing extinction. i'm here as a peaceful protester. the government must take action. their demands? the declaration of a climate emergency, radical cuts to carbon emissions. "we are sorry for the disruption", they say. the fact of the matter is, we have tried things that are less disruptive for over 30 years. we have been petitioning, marching, writing letters, nothing has been done. but they also brought a busy rail line to a halt, the docklands light railway, using unusual tactics. cue angry

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports.lion, a new direct—action protest group, hoped to take control of this and other key london locations for up to two weeks. but today the police moved in and made more arrests. we have an emergency here, and i don't think we're causing any harm. using powers designed to balance the right to protest with the need to reduce disruption. the police are taking this extremely slowly, not least to keep the temperature under control, but also because they're starting to run out of police cells. we're here because humanity is facing extinction and ecocide. i'm here as a peaceful protester, the government must take action. their demands? the declaration of a climate emergency, radical cuts to carbon emissions. "we're sorry for the disruption," they say. the fact of the matter is that we have tried things that are less disruptive for over 30 years. people have been petitioning, marching, writing letters, and nothing's been done. but they also brought a busy rail line to a halt, the docklands light

the bbc‘s tom symonds is at waterloo bridge.st camps today. this afternoon about 20 people were arrested within about 30 protesters took their place and as you can see, the bridge is still closed and this man has been playing a cello whether traffic would normally be. it's a problem for the police. they say they can only use reasonable force to clear these protests but this is a peaceful protest so all they can do is remove the protesters one by one. there have been some messages going around today, a fairly well worked out plan to raise the bar and close down heathrow tomorrow. we can't be sure that that will happen but the mayor of london has said if it does, that will be dangerous, illegal and put more pressure on the police. it would certainly be disruptive in the police are under pressure to clear these protests and to reduce the amount of disruption they are causing in the centre of london. many of these protesters say they will stay here for days to come. a short while ago, our correspondent, steve rosenberg, gave us corr

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. group trying to take control of this and other key locations for up of this and other key locations for up to two weeks. but today please moved in and made more arrest. does make arrests. we have an emergency here, and i don't think we're causing any harm. using powers designed to balance the right to protest with the need to reduce disruption. the police are taking this extremely slowly, not least to keep the temperature under control, but also because they're starting to run out of police cells. i'm here because humanity is facing extinction and ecocide. i'm here as a peaceful protester, the government must take action. their demands? the declaration of a climate emergency, radical cuts to carbon emissions. "we're sorry for the disruption," they say. the fact of the matter is that we've tried things that are less disruptive for over 30 years. people have been petitioning, marching, writing letters, and nothing's been done. but they also brought a busy rail line to a halt, the dockla

our home affairs correspondent, tom symonds, reports.sh prosecutors have been pursuing julian assange for years about rape, coercion and molestation allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy. eventually, the prosecutors stopped trying to question him. but when the metropolitan police dragged him into custody, they got a second chance. they have until next august to restart the rape investigation. assange fought not to go to sweden because he was worried sweden would extradite him to the us. now britain's considering that. he's obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard. this case raises significant issues about free speech. we've been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010. after seven years inside the embassy, resolving the case will mean answering some fundamental questions. isjulian assange a global campaigner who worked up a conspiracy to hack a secret computer system, or is he a journalist publishing leaked information in the public interest, something the court

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports.prosecutors have been pursuing julian assange for years about rape, coercion and molestation allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy,. allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy, . eventually, allegations. he took refuge in the ecuadorian embassy,. eventually, the prosecutors stopped trying to question him. but when the metropolitan police dragged him into custody, they got a second chance. they have until next august to restart the rape investigation. assange fought not to go to sweden because he was worried sweden would extradite him to the us. now britain is considering that. he is obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard. this case raises significant issues about free speech. we have been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the usa since 2010. after seven yea rs request from the usa since 2010. after seven years inside the embassy, resolving the case will mean answering some fundamental questions. is julian assange mean a

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds is at oxford circus, —— waterloo bridge. george. this afternoon police arrived in and increased the pace at which they are arresting people from this protest. they took about 20 into police vans and another 30 protesters arrived. and as you can see not much has changed here, the bridge is still blocked. the police have three problems in dealing with this protest. the first is that they can't go in and use a lot of force because this is a non—violent protest. they have to use reasonable force in everything they do. the second is, the sheer number of people that are protesting and the number of people they are having to deal with when they arrest them. and the third is that it's causing a lot of disruption and they are under great political pressure to reduce that disruption. they say they may need to look again at how they police this sort of protest which blocks key locations like this bridge, causing an enormous amount of disruption. tom, thank you very much. brexit and the prospect of no deal forced businesses across the u

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports.assange has gone from self—imposed captivity at the ecuadorian embassy, which ended a bru ptly yesterday ecuadorian embassy, which ended abruptly yesterday as his hosts withdrew their support, to an actual prison. not only is he likely to be jailed for breaching his bail, he is also awaiting what promises to be a better extradition battle. labour's position clear — jeremy corbyn‘s tweet, extradition should be opposed. and this morning assange‘s lawyer set out the case for the defence. he is obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard, this case raises significant issues about free speech, we have been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010, since i first walked into a police station in 2010, and he sought asylum in the ecuadorian embassy precisely because of that, and that is precisely what has happened to the moment he was pushed out of the embassy. at the heart of this is a question — is julian assange is a politically motiva

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports.ian assange has gone from self—imposed captivity at the ecuadorian embassy, which ended abruptly yesterday as his hosts withdrew their support, to an actual prison. not only is he likely to be jailed for breaching his bail, he is also awaiting what promises to be a bitter extradition battle. labour's position clear — jeremy corbyn‘s tweet, extradition should be opposed. and this morning assange‘s lawyer set out the case for the defence. he is obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard, this case raises significant issues about free speech, we have been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010, since i first walked into a police station 2010, and he sought asylum in the ecuadorian embassy precisely because of that, and that is precisely what happened the moment he was pushed out of the embassy. at the heart of this is a question — is julian assange is a politically motivated computer hacker, revealing sensitive government informa

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds has been following the protests across central london andolice arrived in force and increase the pastes in force and increase the pace in which they are arresting people from this protest. they took about 20 people into police vans and another 30 protesters arrived. and as you can see, not much gas changed here, much has changed here, the bridge is still blocked. the police have three problems in dealing with this protest, the first is that they can't go into use a lot of force because this is a nonviolent protest, they have to use reasonable force in everything they do. the sheer number of people that are protesting at the number of people that are dealing with when they arrest them and the third is they are causing a lot of disruption and they are under political pressure to reduce that disruption. they say they may need to look again at how they released the set they say they may need to look again at how they police this type of protest which blocks key locations like this bridge causing a huge amount of disruption. new figures out today

last wednesday, tom symonds caught up with some of them on waterloo bridge.day, police moved in and made more arrests. by the time the protest had finished this thursday, more than 1,000 people had been arrested. opinions about the bbc‘s coverage of the demonstrations was divided, with ken sturt asking... but other viewers last week had the opposite perspective. here is stephen sterling and, first, mel st pier. it's a pity that during a recent break in reporting the brexit chaos, the bbc did not divert more of its tv resources to covering the significant protests going on around the world, in particular near london, concerning the far more important problem facing us — climate change. was it because the bbc, like donald trump, does not think climate change is significant enough to bother about? i was surprised to see the minimal coverage of the first day of the extinction rebellion's climate change protest on monday's bbc news at ten. thousands of people blocked london's streets, but this was ignored in the headlines. and later in the programme, i think it go

tom symonds, bbc news.w laws that make adultery and homosexuality punishable by death. the law has been condemned by human rights groups. other crimes, such as theft, are punishable by amputation. celebrities have called for a boycott of the country ‘s ‘s overseas investments, which include luxury hotels like the dorchester in london. we can speak to rebecca who works for bbc asia. tell us more about what is being brought in, and why, it's a swathe of changes. it isa why, it's a swathe of changes. it is a further phase in islamic shari a law that's been brought in since 2014, this is the most significant and harshest law, as you said, stoning to death, by people who are found to have had gay sex, they need to be witnesses, or you can admit to it. it also affects adultery, the death penalty for that, sex outside of marriage, as well as the cutting off of limbs of robbers who are found guilty. the premise needs to be witness, these are very private acts so there is concern about that could mean in terms of vi

here's our home affairs correspondent tom symonds. we are in hmp birmingham...nderfunded and increasingly unsafe. mps on the justice select committee say something must be done about our prisons. there has been a string of riots behind bars. the pressure is so riots behind bars. the pressure is so great, building more prisons is no longer a sustainable solution according to today's report. the number of inmates has fallen slightly in recent years but only after growing steadily for 25 years, 44,019 93 to 82,000 in 2018. because more criminals are being jailed for longer. in the last five years, budgets have been cut by 15% in the ministry ofjustice estimates that closing the funding gap would mean cutting the prison population by 20,000. it is a fifth. mps say the system is failing staff, prisoners and the public, would stubbornly high reoffending rates. they are failing on all of those measures and that's basically because we don't have a strategy for managing the size of our prison population and we've got more people in the institutions than we can realistica

here's our home affairs correspondent tom symonds.rowded, underfunded and increasingly unsafe. mps on the justice select committee say something must be done about our prisons. there has been a string of riots behind bars. the pressure is so great, building more prisons is no longer a sustainable solution, according to today's report. the number of inmates has fallen slightly in recent years but only after growing steadily for 25 years, from 114,000 in 1993 to 82,000 in 2018. because more criminals are being jailed for longer. in the last five years, budgets have been cut by 15% and the ministry ofjustice estimates that closing the funding gap would mean cutting the prison population by 20,000. that's a fifth. mps say the system is failing staff, prisoners and the public, with stubbornly high reoffending rates. we are failing on all of those measures and that's basically because we don't have a strategy for managing the size of our prison population and we've got more people in the institutions than we can realistically and constructi

our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports.ian assange has gone from self—imposed captivity at the ecuadorian embassy, which ended abruptly yesterday as his hosts withdrew their support, to an actual prison. not only is he likely to be jailed for breaching his bail, he is also awaiting what promises to be a better extradition battle. labour's position clear — jeremy corbyn‘s tweet, extradition should be opposed. and this morning assange‘s lawyer set out the case for the defence. he is obviously going to fight extradition and fight it hard, this case raises significant issues about free speech, we have been warning about the prospect of an extradition request from the united states since 2010, since i first walked into a police station in 2010, and he sought asylum in the ecuadorian embassy precisely because of that, and that is precisely what has happened to the moment he was pushed out of the embassy. at the heart of this is a question — isjulian assange is a politically motivated computer hacker, revealing sensitive governmen