Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Ten 20171221

As they get older. Homelessness in the uk. We report on the high number of young people sofa surfing with no place to call home. Im passionately smashing every expectation. And the runaway broadway hit about triumph through adversity thats now opened in london. Coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, a let off for Manchester United and manchester city. Therell be no fa punishment after that dressing room altercation. Good evening. A day after the forced resignation of damian green from the cabinet the woman who alleged he made inappropriate advances has spoken tonight to the bbc. Kate maltby a former conservative activist says she passed her concerns on to downing street back in 2016. Ms maltby who was found to be a plausible witness by an official inquiry said the culture in downing street needed to change. And tonight number 10 said that everyone should be able to work in politics without fear or harassment. Our Political Editor Laura Kuenssberg has this exclusive report. Damian greens fall from grace began not with claims about the police or pawn but with a woman decades his junior. If you let the Prime Minister down . Is complaints about one of the most powerful men in the country prompted the investigation which removed him from office. Kate maltby, journalist and activist, whose account of inappropriate advances towards her by damian green was found to be plausible, if not conclusively proven by cabinet official sue gray, her aim to expose the broader concerns, not mr green. I wrote about the problem of Sexual Harassment in westminster because i knew it was a persistent problem, but i also knew of similar experiences with many other people in westminster across all parties. But what i was not seeking was a resignation, ive never called for damian greens resignation either as an mp or damian greens resignation either as anmpora damian greens resignation either as an mp or a minister. Frankly what i was expecting was an apology. The Daily Telegraph blogger kate maltby. Mrgreen did Daily Telegraph blogger kate maltby. Mr green did apologise yesterday but said he doesnt recognise her account of events. Miss maltby is well known in tory circles and has never hidden being a friendly contact never hidden being a friendly co nta ct of never hidden being a friendly contact of mr green. But until now she has never publicly said her concerns about his behaviour led her to tell one of theresa mays team. Last year, before he was promoted become first secretary of state. Last year, before he was promoted become first secretary of statelj was able to give the inquiry a lot of evidence, written evidence, that id complained frequently and consistently and contemporaneously. Soi consistently and contemporaneously. So i knew that really i was believed. The reason that i didnt tell many people about the first encounter, the encounter at which i felt the political mentorship, even a job felt the political mentorship, even ajob in the felt the political mentorship, even a job in the conservative party, was being offered at the same time as the sexual suggestion, the reason i didnt tell many people then accept my parents is i wondered if it was a one off and eventually i spoke to a very senior and long serving aide of theresa may. You gave evidence to the official inquiry. Thats as far as youre concerned, number ten was aware that there was an issue with damian greens behaviour towards women . I gave evidence to the inquiry as soon as i sat down with sue gray that, to the best of my knowledge, downing street was aware. This whole story has been about power. This whole story is about power. This whole story is about power. Damian green became a very, very powerful person. I was aware that there seems to be improper, there seemed to be an improper mixing of mentorship and. Sexual advance within the conservative party. In his case i was aware he was the deputy Prime Minister, and i was the deputy Prime Minister, and i was aware that number ten knew about it. What would you say to some of oui it. What would you say to some of our viewers who might be thinking, hang ona our viewers who might be thinking, hang on a minute, this young woman was sending texts to this man, she met him for a drink in a bar, this is just the rough and tumble of what goes on. We are not wilting flowers. Ive always been able to stand up for myself. So i havent done this so for myself. So i havent done this so much to complain about my own terrible treatment by damian green so terrible treatment by damian green so much as to try and change the culture. It is, i mean this is something, the rough and tumble of westminster is a highly sexualised environment, a highly deceitful environment, a highly deceitful environment, its problematic in many ways. There is a lot that goes on there that we alljust put up with. But we shouldnt have too. I have the resources to stand up and say we should not. Her riposte to those who claim she went public for her own advantage . Im sure my career has been damaged by this. It was a calculated loss because i think theres something more important at stake here. If you saw damian green now what would you say to him . I never want to see him again. Downing street flatly denies the Prime Minister knew. A number ten source said yet this winters revelations have already changed both of their lives for good. Laura joins me now from westminster. After a ll after all the events of the past 2a hours, this interview conducted today takes us back to the start of this train of events. It does, it ta kes this train of events. It does, it takes us right back to the beginning a couple of months ago when all of westminster was reeling about some of the stories are emerging about some of the kinds of harassment young people particularly involved in politics had been sharing and coming forward to tell. And to be clear, kate maltby says she is speaking out now because she wants to change that culture, because she believes that her motives that the time were questioned for coming forward. We should be also be clear that damian green has apologised to her but has always said he doesnt recognise her version of events. Of course he was forced out last night because he, in the end, had to admit he gave misleading statements about whether or not he knew about pornography found on his work computer. He was not forced to depart from hisjob computer. He was not forced to depart from his job because computer. He was not forced to depart from hisjob because of computer. He was not forced to depart from his job because of the claims miss maltby said. But i think what this does remind us of is everything that happened in the last few weeks, there still is a real demand here in westminster, and a real concern, about the culture spread across all political parties, and still real calls for all of the Party Political leaders to actually ta ke Party Political leaders to actually take real action. Therefore made promises the culture has to change. Theyve all said they will do things. There are various ideas and various things that have been put forward so far. But there is still a real ca ll forward so far. But there is still a real call for people at the very top of the political tree to take this issue more seriously as we get into next year. Once again, thanks very much for the latest at westminster. Laura kuenssberg, our Political Editor. The International Red cross says the number of suspected cholera cases in yemen has now reached one million. It said the figures highlight the humanitarian crisis which has left more than 80 per cent of the population facing food and water shortages. The country the poorest in the arab world has been caught up in a two year civil war between supporters of the president whos backed by saudi arabia and a rebel group the houthis who are linked to iran. 0ur correspondent Nawal Al Maghafi is in the capital sanaa and has just sent this report parts of which you may find distressing. Crying this is ii month old abdillahi, exhausted and beyond despair, hes just one of yemens starving children. With his belly swollen from malnutrition, there are 400,000 other infants suffering just like him. 0nce confined to rural areas, the threat of famine has now reached the capital. Abdillahis motherjamilla sits helpless at his side, shes already lost two other children to hunger. She tells me, hes all she has to live for. Translation my husbands salary used to provide for us, it would run out at the end of the month, but he would get paid. Everything was ok. Now, all we eat is bread and tea. All the infants here were born into this war, now in its third year. From birth, its a struggle to survive. Eight year old allah has just arrived and hes just been given his first proper meal in days. Hes from a family with a well paid government job, but for over a year anyone working for the state hasnt received a salary. So the family quickly fell into poverty. Too ashamed to ask their own family for help, they struggled in silence. Translation i break one piece of bread between two children and another is shared out between the rest. Thats all we have. At night they ask for dinner, they cry, but i cant give them anything, so they sleep hungry. Its really heartbreaking. In yemeni culture its shameful to go out and ask for help and im shocked that jamilla waited until her son was in this state before she asked her sister for money to bring him here. It makes me wonder how many more people are starving in their homes. And heres the incredible thing, whilst millions of people are starving across the country, supermarket shelves in the capital are stocked high with food, but ordinary yemenis can no longer afford to shop here. A once busy store, now empty. Two thirds of the population dont know where their next meal is coming from, and theyre totally dependent on aid to survive. Translation this milk used to cost 15. Now it is 25. The people only come here to look at the food, they can no longer eat it. 0n the streets of sanaa you can see the toll the fighting has had on the city. Burnt buildings, homes in ruins. The war in yemen has had an impact on all aspects of life. The Coalition Air strikes, the fighting on the ground, has left people here living in fear. The country is more divided than ever and people are too afraid to speak their minds. But its not the bombs and the bullets claiming the most lives. Its the catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Much of the problem lies here. The Saudi Led Coalition has blocked all commercial imports from entering yemens main ports. Which has driven up prices. Yesterday, the blockade was lifted for the next 30 days. But the Houthi Rebels are impeding what little aid is being delivered. Everyone here is now struggling. All government workers are now trying to feed theirfamilies without any income. Mohammed has been teaching for over a year without pay. He says his family goes hungry, but he couldnt live with himself if he didnt turn up to lessons. Translation if they dont pay us our salaries and the situation doesnt change, itll be a catastrophe for teachers, for the people. Already, the middle class has completely disappeared. The un says yemen is the worlds biggest humanitarian crisis, but according to its resident co ordinator, the International Community isnt doing enough to stop the war. There is a glaring lack of pressure beyond the words. Theres been words coming out of the us, there is words coming out of europe and words coming out of the uk and everywhere else, but its not translating into a pushback on this action and the only solution is political. So the political people have to get around this table and take a real full hearted approach at fixing this. With a lack of International Diplomacy and the war at a stalemate those at the brunt of the suffering are the vulnerable. Nawalal maghafi, bbc news, sanaa. The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed a resolution calling on the United States to reverse its decision to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. 128 countries including the uk voted to reject Donald Trumps recent announcement while nine voted against the resolution, which is non binding. The United States had warned there will be consequences for those nations that challenged its new policy. We will remember it when we are called upon to once again makes the Worlds Largest contribution to the United Nations. And we will remember it when so many countries come calling on us, as they so often do, to pay even more and to use our influence for their benefit. America will put our embassy in jerusalem. That is what the American People want us to do. And it is the right thing to do. 0ur correspondent nada tawfik is at the United Nations in new york. Very strong words from the ambassador but they didnt really bring the result they wanted. Yet, huw, this was always going to be a highly charged debate, but President Trump and nikki haley raised the sta kes eve n trump and nikki haley raised the stakes even further when they threatened to cut Financial Aid to countries that support the measure. Many countries here really resented that intimidation. The General Assembly hall they called it blackmail, arrogance, unethical. At the time of the vote, key allies of the time of the vote, key allies of the United States, including the united kingdom, brushed off washingtons threats and decided to support the measure. Canada, which was going to vote no in the end up staying because one senior diplomat told me they didnt like the tone the United States used. Now the threat did have a small impact, more states tha n threat did have a small impact, more states than anticipated abstained, 21 didnt even show up. But with absolutely clear from this was that this was a strong rebuke President Trumps decision, his unilateral decision to recognisejerusalem as israels capital. But it was more than that. It was also a strong repudiation of his America First foreign policy. Thank you for the latest from the un in new york. Theres been a high turnout in elections in the spanish region of catalonia where voters are choosing between those parties which back independence and those who want to remain part of spain. With most of the votes counted the Pro Independence party appears to be on course for a majority in the regions parliament. Parliament was dissolved earlier this year for unlawfully declaring independence, one of the worst political crises in spain in decades. 0ur correspondent James Reynolds reports from barcelona and there is some flash photography in his report. Heres how much this election matters to the people of catalonia. Voting carried on right up to the final seconds. An expected record turnout. The Pro Independence camp is watching every moment of the vote count, the future of their movement may come down to one or two seats. The deposed exiled Catalan Leader Carlos Puigdemontjoined colleagues in brussels to learn his fate. A victory for his Pro Independence camp may lead to his return. For some this is a chance to get even. Spanish Police Violence in october has turned this woman into a Pro Independence voter. Translation i want them to listen to us out there in the world, for them to listen to us in spain, in europe, for them to know that the catalan people and catalan sentiment exists and that weve been forgotten, weve been treated like nobodys. In 0ctobers disputed independence referendum, this polling station was a scene of chaos. The Spanish Police used force to confiscate ballot boxes. By contrast, this election is organised and orderly. Everyone is getting the chance to vote. In barcelonas old city, the three moreira sistors split two to one in favour of Pro Independence parties. We havent tried to convince one another, amina admitted. Retired maintenance manjordi wants catalonia to become a republic. Raquel said that she was voting forfreedom from spain. Marta says she wants deposed Pro Independence leader Carlos Puigdemont to return. But in hospitalet and other working class districts, many voters take the opposite view. Translation if they want independence they should look for an island and go there. This is spain, catalonia is spain. Translation i went to see a government that is anti independence because i believe that if the others win, our economy will get worse. This election may reveal catalonias divisions. But it wont bring them to an end. And tonight the Pro Independence movement behind me is claiming and celebrating victory. If the projections are confirmed they will retain a slim majority in the parliament. If that turns out to be so, then all the recent months of crisis will have succeeded in changing no ones mind. Many thanks, James Reynolds, in barcelona, europe correspondent on the catalonia elections. A brief look at some of the days other other news stories. An investigation has cleared the International Trade minister mark garnier of breaching the ministerial code, after it was alleged he asked a member of his staff to go into a sex shop for him. Downing street has said theresa may believes a line should be drawn under the matter. Two men have been arrested in australia after a car was driven into a crowd of pedestrians in a busy street in melbourne. 19 people are injured and several critically. The police save the driver was a 32 year old Australian Citizen of afg ha n 32 year old Australian Citizen of afghan origin with a history of Mental Health issues and drug use. An mps aide has been cleared of raping a woman after they had sex in the mps westminster office. 24 year old sam armstrong, who worked for the conservative mp craig mackinlay, was found not guilty at Southwark Crown court after a two week trial. A Ukrainian Government interpreter, who visited downing street and met theresa may, has been arrested in kiev and accused of being a russian spy. Reports say Stanislav Yezhov had been under surveillance for several months, and was present at numerous high level meetings. Apple has confirmed the suspicions of many iphone owners, by revealing that it deliberately slows down some models of the iphone as they age. The company says this is to prolong their life, because the performance of the batteries diminishes over time. Our Technology Correspondent Rory Cellan Jones reports. Theyre expensive devices which have made apple the worlds most valuable company. But after a couple of years many iphone users say theres one thing they begin to notice. What have you noticed as your iphone gets older . It slows down and the battery goes. The battery life goes and its slightly slower. The phone doesnt last that long and you have to update it. Now apple has admitted that it does act to slow down some older models like the iphone 6s released two years ago, but it says thats not, as some suspect, to persuade people to rush out and buy new phones. Apple says this move is all about making older versions of the iphone work more reliably. As the battery ages theres a risk, particularly in colder weather, that the phone suddenly shuts down without warning. The Software Update is designed to stop that happening by making everything runjust a little more slowly. But the Software Update in question happened last year. Apple put out its statement only after this Technology Analyst identified what was going on with older phones. So i think apple could have been a lot more transparent. It would have great had apple been straightforward and upfront about this and said your battery is old, we are going to have to do things to ensure that you get good battery life out of your phone. I think if apple had been upfront and transparent from the get go this wouldnt be quite the uproar that it is today. The solution is to replace the battery rather than the whole phone, but now that they are built in thats nothing like as simple or as cheap as it used to be. Rory cellan jones, bbc news. Homelessness blights the lives of tens of thousands of people in britain, and only yesterday mps called it a national crisis. Some of those affected, so called sofa surfers who move from friend to friend to keep off the streets, dont even register in the official statistics. So bbc news has commissioned a survey to give some indication of the scale of the problem, particularly among young people. It found that almost one in ten of 16 to 25 year olds questioned, found themselves sofa surfing for over a month, and that more than a quarter had done it for over a week. 0ur social Affairs Correspondent Michael Buchanan has this special report on britains young hidden homeless. Time passes slowly if youre homeless. For some, most days are spent waiting and hoping, waiting for the phone to ring, hoping they will have a bed tonight. So there wont be any further assistance . Is there anything else we could look at possibly . All right, thank you for that. Sams local council paid for a room for a few nights as temperatures fell below zero, but with the nights becoming warmer sams prospects have called. Hi, my names sam north, im ringing up forjanet regarding the room. With the council withdrawing support, the 23 year old who has spent time in prison and suffers from Mental Health problems desperately searches for somewhere to sleep. Dont know whether im coming or going, i dont know where i will sleep from night to night. I might find somewhere i can stay for a few days, then after that its doing it all over again. Ill have a pack of spuds. Unlike some, ian knows he has a roof over his head tonight and, thanks to this charity, food in his cupboards. Three weeks in a friends flat means the daily struggles of sofa surfing are over for now. Ians next aim is to get a job though it wont be easy. Looking for a job with no permanent address is really difficult. Not only that, with sofa surfing it is difficult to keep your hygiene up so youre not smelling while youre in work, looking smart, it is difficult. Sofa surfing mainly affects young men and as our poll suggests falling out with parents is the main reason. Our main drive is to get young people back in touch with theirfamilies, that would be our first port of call to go back to parents and say its not going to be that easy, they wont get a flat straightaway, your child could be left on the streets and negotiate with them and see if there is any way we can get them back home. Moving back in with his mother, though, was never an option for 20 year old dale. Living in close quarters with her, our relationship gradually got worse, so constant arguing, and had a snowball effect, gradually getting worse and worse until Christmas Day of 2014 when we had a massive argument and she kicked me out and i became homeless. He normally would have gone to his grans, but she was in a home, having developed dementia. Just months earlier dale had been living with her and was her primary carer. So he relied on friends for two months while still at school. Its extremely hard because doing your a levels is stressful as it is, no one really enjoy a levels, well, i didnt anyway. But it was very hard trying to balance work life and personal life. Its hard to focus on doing your school work and your revision during the day when youre worrying about where you will be sleeping at night. Would you sometimes go into school in the morning knowing that at that moment you had nowhere to sleep that night . Yes, that was often the case, yeah. Dale prevailed hes now renting a flat in his second year at university. As we left, sam was facing a night on the streets but hours later a friend called to offer his sofa. Relief for tonight but tomorrow the search for shelter begins again. Michael buchanan, bbc news. Birmingham will host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, the bid was the only one submitted by the september deadline. With an estimated budget of £750 million, it will be the most expensive sports event in britain since the london 2012 olympics. 0ur Sports Editor dan roan reports from birmingham on the reaction to todays announcement. The host of the 2022 Commonwealth Games will be. Birmingham. It may not have been sports best kept secret but this was the moment they had been waiting for, an assembly to remember for these local schoolchildren this morning with official confirmation their city would be staging its first Global Sports event. The man in charge of the Commonwealth Games movement told me they had found an ideal host. I think birmingham will bring diversity, it will bring a journey over the next four years of working with the host city to run a games right, run a games for the people, by the people. Birmingham beat liverpool to be britains candidate after the original choice durban was stripped of the games for Financial Difficulties but no other rivals emerged. Come 2022, the alexandra stadium will host some of the worlds finest athletes. For those who train here, like hurdler heather paton, todays news is added motivation. I narrowly missed out for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in gold coast. I only got one of the qualifying times rather than the two that we needed. So, now, to compete here in 2022 is a massive goal of mine. 0rganisers insist the games will transform venues like this and help regenerate this part of birmingham with the athletes village creating 1000 homes. The 11 days of sporting action will cost £750 million to stage, its the most expensive sports event to be held in britain since london 2012, and a quarter of that total has to be raised by local authorities. The huge cost overruns at londons Olympic Stadium have cast a shadow over the games legacy record and a hotel tax, with visitors paying a small fee, a first for britain, is now being considered to help raise money for birmingham 2022. 0pinion is very mixed about it, some people are excited about the event coming, its good news for birmingham. Others are very concerned about the effect on Council Services which are not at a great standard at the moment, and also concerned about the disruption in the local community. How will you go about making sure it represents good value . The treasury have crawled all over this. Its correct that they should have done. We are very confident today that with their support, they are saying this is good value for money for the british taxpayer because we are expecting to get back the investment we put in and more. So its a good starting point. The commercial success of glasgows Commonwealth Games in 2014 helped secure britains reputation as a sporting host. Now its birminghams turn to deliver the event and to prove its worth it. Dan roan, bbc news. It was an unlikely hit on broadway, a hip hop musical about one of the 18th century politicians who helped to establish the United States. Hamilton is the story of a poor immigrant from the caribbean, who arrived in new york on the eve of the american revolution, and went on to become the countrys first treasury secretary. Its been enthusiastically reviewed in the us, and it opened in london tonight. 0ur arts editor Will Gompertz has been to meet the shows creator. Put a pencil to his temple, connected it to his brain and he wrote his first refrain. Here is hamiltons creator, lin manuel miranda, at the white house poetry slam in 2009, performing what would become the opening number of his musical about americas founding fathers