Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20180106

Since a powerful blizzard hit much of the region on thursday. Another morale sapper at the ashes for englands bowlers, only picking up two wickets all day as australias batsmen pile on the runs. And jane hill analyses the situation that damaged President Trump by the publication of the new book in half an houron bbc publication of the new book in half an hour on bbc news. A lawyer who represented victims of the serial sex offender, john worboys, says some of her clients, whose cases werent taken to trial, want prosecutors to re examine the evidence. Warboys, a former black cab driver, is being freed after serving ten years in jail. He was convicted of 19 offences, although at the time police said they believe he attacked more than 100 women. Tom burridge reports. The decision to release rapist john worboys has raised profound questions about the way sexual crimes against women are investigated, and whether the procedures for releasing criminals need changing. Worboys picked up young women in his black cab, duped and drugged them, and then carried out his attacks. He was convicted of 19 offences in 2009, and given an indefinite sentence. But in total, more than 100 women said worboys tried to drug and assault them. Allegations made by some women were not investigated at the time. think women want not investigated at the timelj think women want justice not investigated at the timelj think women wantjustice and want their voices to be heard. They gave their voices to be heard. They gave their statements to the police, the cps said, dont worry, we wont prosecute in relation to your case because he will be in prison for a long time on an indeterminate sentence and will be locked away. They now want their case to be given the proper scrutiny deserves, and they want a decision to be made as to whether prosecution will be brought in their cases. Under law, we cannot know why the parole board has decided worboys no longer poses a risk to the public. But many argue the system should change so his victims know why he is being released. Tom burridge, bbc news. Someone who knows how parole board decisions are made is dr ruth tully, a consultant forensic psychologist. She works in prisons and secure hospitals, including appearing at parole board hearings. I spoke to her earlier and she explained the process that worboys would have gone through. The parole board are furnished with a range of reports from a range of professionals involved in the supervision and management of any sex offender, so this would include reports from Probation Services in the community, including a supervisor in prison responsible for his plan. Usually a psychologist in this type of case and in cases where Mental Health is an issue possibly a psychiatrist and other reports from security departments and so on. All that information is brought together before the parole board and all report writers have seen information from security and the wing about the behaviour of the prisoner in their day to day life in prison, and professionals give their opinion based on evidence about manageability in the community, and the panel have a difficult decision to make because while professionals give a recommendation, the panel make the ultimate decision, so the panel could get a range of conflicting views at times or differences of opinion and they have to decide what is best for public protection. Let me pick you up on the phrase evidence of manageability in the community, is presumably the difficulty is, talking about managing someone in the community, when you have only experienced managing them in a controlled environment, said even if they are ona environment, said even if they are on a Sex Offender Programme which is supposed to help assess their suitability for release, and they have gone through behaviours and said they understand what they did was wrong and try to manage their feelings on the rest of it, none of those people have been exposed to a situation where they could actually offend, therefore you are never actually really measuring how they will behave in the community, it is almost impossible to do that. That isa almost impossible to do that. That is a good question. The prison environment is an artificial environment, and that is why in many cases prisoners within indeterminate sentence can go to open prison before they are ready to be released. In this case there must have been a robust Management Plan in place for the punishment to decide direct release from growth conditions was appropriate. You are right in saying sex offender treatment programmes help staff considered suitability for release but it is not that straightforward. There is growing evidence around some sex offenders treatment working for some people some of the time, but it doesnt work for everybody, so prison staff are not fooled by people going through treatment and saying the right things. There has to be good evidence of change and insight into understanding their offences before progression would be recommended. Doctor ruth tully talking to me earlier. The us secretary of state, Rex Tillerson has insisted hes never doubted President Trumps Mental Health. It follows claims in Michael Wolffs new book about the white house. President trump has hit back on twitter overnight, calling the author a total loser, and accusing him of making up stories. He also calls his former chief strategist steve bannon, sloppy steve, claiming he cried when he was fired. The secretary of state has been telling cnn more about their relationship. I have never questioned his Mental Fitness or had reason to question it. My relationship with him, and it is developing, and i remind people he andi is developing, and i remind people he and i did not know each other before he asked me to serve as secretary of state so we dont have history. Part of this is us coming to understand one another. You are also different kinds of people. We have different management styles. I make decisions about processing information, i have to learn how he ta kes information, i have to learn how he takes in information and processes it and makes the decision and that is my responsibility. I am here to herds that serve his present density so i have to understand how best to communicate with him so i can serve his knees with information. The author, michael wolff, has defended his Controversial Book about Donald Trumps presidency, saying it was a classic piece of reporting. Hes also told the bbc that the president was in the dark when it came to brexit. I interviewed him two weeks before the brexit vote and he didnt know what brexit was. And then he came out and said, of course i know what it was believe me, he didnt know what it was. Are you saying that donald trump didnt know what the word brexit meant, or that he simply didnt know what it was . I will tell you exactly the exchange that happened. I interviewed him in the beginning ofjune, so i said, how do you compare yourself politically to the populist movements in europe, and specially, i said, with the brexit vote coming up . And he said, what . and i said, brexit. And he repeated, what . and i said, the move in the uk to leave the european union. And then he kind of said, oh, i am for that. That is the entire exchange. Make of it what you will. Michael wolff also said claims in his book could eventually destabilise the white house. I think one of the interesting effects of the book so far is a very clear emperor has no clothes effect. That the story that ive told seems to present this presidency in such a way that it says, he cant do this job. The emperor has no clothes. And suddenly, everywhere, people are going, oh, my god, its true, he has no clothes. That is the background to the perception and the understanding that will finally end this, that will end this presidency. Michael wolff talking to the bbc earlier. Two passenger jets have collided on the ground at a toronto airport. One of the planes caught fire but there are no reports of serious injuries. Its the second such collision at Toronto Pearson International in five months. Bill hayton reports. Concern, but then panic. After the collision, fire breaks out. Passengers begin to scream, while the crew call on them to remain seated. All of a sudden there was fuel all over the wing and then about a second or two later, not even a second, its kind of all ignited and there was a big fireball, and then everyone started yelling and panicking. The fire was on the other, empty airliner, and all 168 passengers and six crew were able to leave this plane safely by the emergency slides. They had just arrived after a four hour flight from mexico. Their plane was stationary when it was hit by the other airliner, which was being towed by ground crew. This is the second time in five months that planes have had minor collisions at canadas busiest airport. Inquiries are under way into how it could have happened. In the meantime, all are thankful that everyone here escaped without serious injury. Bill hayton, bbc news. The United States has been criticised for calling an emergency meeting of the Un Security Council to discuss Anti Government protests in iran. China and france said the unrest wasnt a threat to international security, while russia accused the us of abusing its position. Our state Department Correspondent Barbara Plett usher reports. Nikki haley warned if iran that the world was watching its response to the Anti Government protests. She used the platform of the un to amplify the message of President Trump, whos been tweeting support for the iranian demonstrators. The United States stands unapologetically with those in iran who seek freedom for themselves, prosperity for their families, and dignity for their nation. This unusually robust stance on human rights from the Trump Administration coincides with a policy to curb what it sees as irans malign influence in the middle east. Influence in the middle east. The Iranian Ambassador called the meeting a farce. 0ther Council Members urged iran to allow free and peaceful demonstrations, and the Russian Ambassador accused the us of playing politics. Translation mr president. The real reason for convening todays meeting is not an attempt to protect human rights or promote the interests of the iranian people, but rather as a veiled attempt to use the current moment to continue to undermine the joint comprehensive plan of action. Thats the agreement which restricts Irans Nuclear programme, which mr trump says is deeply flawed. He has to decide next week whether to continue waiving sanctions suspended under the deal. Lets speak now to anoush ehteshami, professor of International Relations at Durham University who joins us on skype at Durham University who joins us on skype. Professor, let me ask you first of all, what do you make of the state of the protests now, and what we know about who is behind them . think the protests are still continuing but at a much lower scale than we witnessed last week. The regime obviously has started to mobilise its machinery, but also there have been these pro regime demonstrators going on having an impact on the organisation of the opposition, as it were. But they are continuing at a much smaller scale than hitherto. It is very good difficult to ascertain at this stage what the balance of forces are, but the government is obviously trying to respond to this and blaming outside intervention is backfiring on the government. What about the us decision to call this Security Council meeting . Clearly the American Administration takes the view that it wants to be seen to be supporting and encouraging those who are involved in protests against the iranian government. It has an agenda because it is concerned run may have pulled the wool over the eyes of the west over the nuclear deal, as it were. Is this an effective tool to use, the Un Security Council . would have thought so. I have to say the Russian Ambassador spoke very clearly, responding to the views of the rest of the council on that view, and this is not a threat to international security, as it were, for it to be requiring a Un Security Council meeting. Secondly i have to say the administration comes across as disingenuous when having denies iranian access to the United States to be warning about affairs in iran domestically. Also whether it is linked to the nuclear deal is a moot point because we know that european powers, china and russia, remain loyal to the deal, and iran seems to be living up to the expectations of the deal, and remember, we have International Atomic and the inspectors in teheran inspecting the Nuclear Facilities remotely and inspectors in teheran inspecting the nuclearfacilities remotely and in person more or less round the clock so there is no risk of iran breaking out any time soon so i would say as the Russian Ambassador put it, this is more of a political intervention, but in the past, americas support for Iranian Opposition to the regime has been akin to the kiss of death, or whether regime have easily accused its detractors of being some satanic zionist conspiracy. Let me ask you one final question briefly, china and russia objected to this, no surprise, they always do to anyone interfering in internal affairs, but the french coming out against the United States is unusual, isnt it . It is. It is partly because european powers on the whole are trying to push the Iranian Administration towards instigation of further reforms in the country, and they feel through Economic Cooperation they can get around to move in that direction, so for them, it is a difficult position to be sitting alongside the United States condemning the regime, particularly the government at this point. Professor anoush ehteshami, thank you very much for being with us thank you very much for being with us this morning. My pleasure. The headlines a lawyerfor serial sex offenderjohn warboys says some of her clients is cases not taken to trial now want prosecutors to re examine the evidence. The us secretary of state says he has never questioned the president s Mental Health. More than 500 major employers reveal their gender pay gap is. Easyjet, ladbrokes and virgin money have disclosed that they pay women on average at least 1596 they pay women on average at least 15 less than men. Lets talk directly about that last story, the gender pay gap. It is pa rt story, the gender pay gap. It is part of the pay audit required of companies that employ 250 people or more. They have to submitted by april of this year. A number have done so already. Lets talk to some spenders from the Fawcett Society which campaigns on the gender pay issue. She in london. Thanks for joining us. Do these figures come as any sort of surprise to you . Not really. We have been due them for quite some time so it isnt surprising, but i think when you see the size of some of these gaps, that can be surprising for the public when they engage with this issue and thing, hamon a minute, whatare when they engage with this issue and thing, hamon a minute, what are we doing, how do we pay men and women so differently . It is a complex issue so doesnt necessarily mean there is discrimination. It does mean that we are not using womens skills, talents and abilities to the full, not getting them senior positions or higher paying jobs. We should make it clear, what we are not talking about is equal pay, in other words, men and women being paid different before work of equal value, but we are dealing with situations for example, where companies have a lot more men in more senior roles than they do women, and presumably that is an issue. Absolutely. There could still be discrimination taking place. Just because they say there isnt unequal pay, the only way we can really be sure of that is to have full Pay Transparency and we dont have that with gender pay gap reporting, we have useful exploration of data, average figures and companies being held accountable for practices, but it doesnt tell us the full picture. We have to be clear about that because women looking at this may think they will be able to get the information they need to challenge unfair practice, and that is not the case. What it does mean is we are not getting women into senior roles, they could be a cultural problem, and Employment Practices problem, maybe not sufficient Flexible Working orjobs available at senior roles part time for working orjobs available at senior roles pa rt time for example working orjobs available at senior roles part time for example and other barriers to womens progression so you have to get under the skin of the issue to find out what causes it. The value of this exercise is that process, then looking at themselves that what women and men are being paid and ask themselves why they have such differences, and if we can get companies to engage with that and ta ke companies to engage with that and take action on the problem, we can see progress. Sam smith is of the Fawcett Society, thank you for joining us. Weather forecasters in the United States have warned that this weekend could bring record breaking low temperatures in some parts of the north east. The National Weather service predicts wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees celsius. Russell trott reports. The public coming to the aid of public transport on the streets of eastern boston, as snow and ice left many stranded. Elsewhere in the city, the Emergency Services were working flat out, and in deep water, as high tides flooded roads close to the harbour. Plummeting temperatures meant much of massachusetts was under huge quantities of snow. And after a 3ft storm surge brought seas inland, the flood water froze, trapping cars in ice. For the homeless of chicago, life on the streets is now all about survival. Those who do find shelter are happy to be anywhere but outside. We see an average of 700 800 people every single day. Sometimes there are people who come in when its extremely cold who wont come in when its not so cold. A sudden drop in temperatures can hit hard anywhere. In florida, where in some parts snow fell for the first time in 30 years, cold seas saw hundreds of turtles rescued after their muscles started seizing up. As thousands of snow ploughs are deployed throughout the eastern seaboard, forecasters warn that the weekend could bring record breaking low temperatures. I bet the england cricketers could do with some of that right now. Lets get more details on the ashes performance at the bbc sport centre. Good morning. Quite the opposite in terms of temperatures tomorrow its looking like the best englands cricketers, can hope for now is a draw in the final ashes test, and even that might be beyond them. Going into the 11th day tomorrow, australia have a lead of 133 runs and still have 6 more players to bat. 0ur reporter Patrick Gearey watched the day unfold in sydney. A brutal day for england and a wonderful one for australia. Only two wickets taken all day. Australia 133 ahead and england have to work in the sydney heat. This was the pink day of the tense match, the tenth such day in honour of jane mcgrath, the late wife of the australian fast bowler glenn, and her Breast Cancer foundation. The crowd were on their feet soon to claim a hundred from Usman Khawaja in his home city and expect to be on their feet not long after four steve smiths hundred but he was out by moeen ali. England thought they had another one when crane appealed for lbw against khawaja. The review showed it would have hit the stumps but was given as a no ball co ntroversially. But was given as a no ball controversially. Khawaja made 150 and looked great before crane eventually got the first test wicket when he had him stumped for 171. The marsh brothers then started to take the game away from england as they increasingly attacked towards the end of the day. England must go back to the field on day four where temperatures will be even hotter. They will be drained, australia very much have the advantage. A pretty tough day. We are 150 overs into the innings, there will be tight bodies out there, that is part of test cricket. It is not the first time we will have fielded 150 overs and when be the last time. I thought the way the guys worked out their was impressive and it was impressive for us as a side going forward. 0nto the fa cup, 3rd round, one of the highlights of any sporting year, because all the top teams enter the competition. And the Merseyside Derby was eventful, to say the least liverpool were leading everton1 0 when this happened Mason Holgate pushing Roberto Firmino into the stands there was an angry exchange and the referee had to intervene. Everton equalised after the break, but what a debut it was for liverpools new signing virgil van dijk, who scored the winner. In front of the cop it makes it even better. Use say cup games have different laws, and because it is a lwa ys different laws, and because it is always open and a fight, it is really rare that one team wins especially in the same league with higher results. And it was a Merseyside Derby. Manchester united left it late to beat derby county at old trafford. A replay looked on the cards until the 84th minute, whenjesse lingard scored before romelu lukaku, added a second. There are Nine Premier League teams hoping to avoid an upset against Lower League Teams today. One of them is newcastle united, who take on luton town of league two, and in the luton side will be the two sons of the former england midfielder rob lee, who made his name at newcastle. They didnt really pay much attention to it, i dont think. Nice to be appreciated it is only since i have got into professional football i think, dad was top end, i dont like to tell him that he was half decent. Here is rob lee, ran again, lee do you think about your brothers on the pitch . There are few surreal moments. The first time we walked out together, he is behind me it is a strange feeling and it is nice as the midfielder tried to setting up. Plenty of fa cup action on the bbc this weekend, starting this lunchtime with Fleetwood Town of league one, against leicester thats live on bbc one, 12. 45. That is all the sport. Lets get the weather. Hello. Arctic air arrives across the British Isles in time for the weekend. A fairly short lived cold blast but it will feel much colder than what we have been used to of late. 0n the plus side they should bea late. 0n the plus side they should be a lot of sunshine around particularly on sunday. A big area of High Pressure across the north of the country bringing north north easterly will arctic winds to our shores, and pushing the cloud we have had three central and northern parts south as the afternoon wears on. Some patchy rain on this weather front with a little bit of hill sleet and snow as well. The sunshine will gradually diminish across the south as the band of cloud moves south. To the north the sky is bright and temperatures very low, though, no single figures widely, out on the brisk north east wind it will feel much colder than these temperatures suggest. Wintry showers affecting the north east of england and eastern scotland but on the whole for much of Northern Ireland and scotland, dry, sunny and cold. The fa cup third round match, fleetwood against leicester, takes place in fleetwood at around midday, looks like it will be cold, dry and sunny for the game. As we head towards this evening and overnight it will be a cold one, those temperatures plummeting under clear skies, winds falling light, central and Northern Spirit areas with a ha rd and Northern Spirit areas with a hard frost, 5 up to 10 across Central Scotland over the snowfields. Incident at into sunday cold, frosty start but plenty of crisp winter sunshine. The wind like foremost as well, still quite breezy across southern and Eastern England so it will feel raw here in that wind, but to the north, those winds light with the sunshine, still feeling very cold. The High Pressure is with us on sunday into monday. This weather front will make inroads of the atlantic can bring a change to the weather from tuesday onwards bringing rain and slightly milder conditions, but for monday, a cold, frosty start with sunshine, starting to feel cloud of the near continent so skies turning cloudy for most of us. Cloudier still on tuesday, and there is the weather front encroaching into the west bringing strengthening winds, rain and temperatures coming up slightly by the end of the day as well. Hello and a very warm welcome to dateline london, imjane hill. This week we look at the situation in iran after protests in many cities and we ask is President Trump damaged by his former chief strategists allegations of treason . My guests this week Bronwen Maddox from the think tank the institute for government, previously with the times and the economist. The irish writer and broadcaster brian 0connell. The American Writer and broadcaster Michael Goldfarb who also brings us the podcast frdh. And iranianjournalist and editor of kayhan london nazenin ansari. Welcome to you all. The United States has been rebuked by some other members of the United Nations Security Council for calling an emergency meeting to discuss the recent Anti Government protests in iran. China and russia say the unrest isnt a threat to international security, and russia accused the us of abusing its position. Demonstrations and counter demonstrations filled the streets for many days, in numerous cities. More than 20 people have died and hundreds have been arrested, from your assessment, to what extent is this something we have seen before, in iran, what you shall take . This protest, first of all, is based in the grassroots, more widespread because there are certain strands of grievances and suffering thatis strands of grievances and suffering that is all coalescing into one trap. The feeling that the government and the system cannot a nswer government and the system cannot answer the aspirations and the hopes and the needs of the people. We have seen this protest, this was nothing new, as far as the protest itself was concerned, new, as far as the protest itself was concerned , we new, as far as the protest itself was concerned, we have seen this since 2013