Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Nine 20240714

Human fossils outside africa for the first time and. England prepare to take on australia in the cricket world cup semifinal at edgbaston. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. A Royal Navy Frigate has intercepted iranian boats that were harassing a British Oil Tanker in the gulf. The ministry of defence says hms montrose moved between the tanker and the iranian vessels, issuing a number of warnings over radio, before they moved off. Iran has previously threatened retaliation for the seizure of a tanker carrying iranian oil off gibraltar last week. The ministry of defence said three iranian vessels, believed to belong to the revolutionary guards, asked the tanker to stop in iranian waters close by, but withdrew after a warning from a Royal Navy Frigate. Its a strategically very important stretch of water between the persian gulf and the gulf of oman, bordered by iran and the United Arab Emirates. Iran has denied any encounter between its forces and foreign ships in the last 2a hours. Peter bowes has this report on the latest incident. Growing tensions in the persian gulf. When Royal Marines helped officials in gibraltar seize an iranian supertanker last week, tehran said it was a form of piracy and that a British Oil Tanker should be seized if the iranian ship is not released. It was suspected of carrying oil from iran to syria, in breach of eu sanctions. You will realise the consequences, said president hassan rouhani. Translation you, britain, are the initiator of insecurity and you will realise the consequences later. Now you are so hopeless that when one of your tankers wants to move in the region, you have to bring your frigates to escort it, because you are scared. Less than a week later, theres been a confrontation in the persian gulf that looks like retaliation. Five armed iranian boats attempted to seize a british tanker before backing off when confronted by a warship. No shots were fired. In a statement, the Us Defence Department said it was aware of reports of harassment and attempts to interfere with the passage of the uk flagged merchant vessel British Heritage near the strait of hormuz. It added that threats to International Freedom of navigation require an international solution. There have been growing calls from iran for reciprocal action after the detention of its supertanker off gibraltar. Last month, two oil tankers, one norwegian owned, the otherjapanese, were attacked in the gulf of oman. The us blamed iran. This latest incident will only intensify the strain on anglo iranian relations. Simonjones is at the ministry of defence in Central London for us. Give us more detail on what the Defence Ministry are saying. The mod have said they are concerned by what happened and they are calling on tehran to de escalate tensions in the region. Officials here have given us a few more details of what they say happened. They say the british tanker was just off the coast of iran, making its way along the area when it was confronted by three iranian boats. We are told those iranian boats were trying to get the british tanker to slow down and come to a halt and change its path, but the british tanker was actually being accompanied by a Royal Navy Frigate. At that point, the frigate positioned itself between the iranian boats and the british tanker, reportedly training its guns on the iranian boat, and sending messages on the radio, telling the iranians they had to get out of their way immediately. At that point, the iranian boat obey those orders and the tension was de escalated. But certainly a lot of concern here amongst officials about what happened. And to a certain extent, some of this was expected or at least prepared for, hence the hms montrose being with the tanker, because the iranians had won, or some iranian officials had warned that there might be retaliation for the incident off gibraltar last week . The warnings had come clearly from iran that there were going to be consequences in relation to what happened last week. That was when an iranian supertanker was intercepted off the coast of gibraltar. Royal marines were involved in that. The british authorities said the reason they intercepted that supertanker was because they believed it was heading to syria carrying oil, and that would be in breach of eu sanctions. But after that happened, tehran was saying it was completely unacceptable. They described it as piracy and said there would be some retaliation for that. Interestingly, this morning we are getting a very different version of events out of tehran in terms of this latest incident. They are saying they dont accept that iranian boats were trying to intercept this british tanker. They have described the version of events given by the ministry of defence as meaningless. They say that the british are telling these stories to ratchet up tension in the region. They are denying that this confrontation, that there was this aim behind it to try to seize this british tanker is a message of retaliation. Simon, thanks. Lets talk now to rear admiral dr chris parry, former Royal Navy Warfare officer. We were hearing from simon that the iranians are denying any involvement in that. Is that plausible deniability, or do you buy it . |j dont buy at all. We know the iranians are past masters at pushing out fake news and denying anything. There is a bigger problem too. I am not sure the iranian government is in control of these situations. The Iranian Revolutionary guards, i think, are at the heart of this. They perpetrated the shoot down of the american drone. I think they attached explosives to tank as a couple of weeks ago, and i am sure they are at the heart of this as well. The reason for that is the great one, the tanker that was almost certainly taking contraband oil to syria, is controlled by the Iranian Revolutionary guard. It is pa rt Iranian Revolutionary guard. It is part of their Industrial Complex that they have in iran. American and eu sanctions recently squeezed them hard. How worrying do you see the actual specifics of this operation by hms montrose, these three iranian boats. Are you concerned by that or do you think that is a barely co ntrolla ble do you think that is a barely controllable incident . The montrose was going about her business, protecting those who are at sea on occasions. It is right that she should be both escorting and protecting british or indeed any other european ship that is in the region. I think we took a measured response to what was a calculated attempt to seize a british tanker and im afraid we have seen it before. In the 1980s, i was in a destroyer doing exactly the same thing when the iranians tried to apply pressure in the strait of hormuz. What we should be worried about is that the iranians themselves feel they have to ratchet up themselves feel they have to ratchet up the pressure because they have lost faith in this situation. We might see not only further attempts in the gulf, but elsewhere as well. Do you see this as part of a bigger geostrategic picture for the uk and the United States at this time . Do you think the iranians are playing the british off against the americans, against the eu allies . No. There is a special place in iranian thoughts for america as the great satan. They always see us as the little satan, and they always feel that they lose face if they back down against either us or the United States, so its an ongoing issue. But there is a biggerfactor at play here. Its about the freedom of the seas. The streets of hormuz are an International Straight and one of the things i write about is the sea as the physical equivalent of the world wide web. What goes virtually actually goes by sea, and we cant allow malware, if you like, to close down if the web was physical equivalent, the sea. Whether its happening in the streets of hormuz, the South China Sea or anywhere else, the royal navy and the United States navy and our allies are there to protect that freedom. Its a compelling image. How much will it cost to protect against the malware, as you describe it . Obviously, its a very busy sea route, with tankers coming and going. Does the uk need more than hms montrose there . They may do, it depends on the reaction of the iranians. They have significant land based missiles. They have aircraft to bring to bear as well as these fast attack craft. But its nothing the royal navy and the United States navy hasnt had to do before. They will take it in their stride. Wejust before. They will take it in their stride. We just have to reallocate and prioritise to make sure we maintain the freedom of the seas that has frankly underpinned globalisation of the last 350 years. Thanks forjoining us. Senior labour figures have expressed anger and alarm at claims that some ofJeremy Corbyns closest allies tried to interfere in disciplinary processes involving allegations of anti semitism. A bbc panorama investigation that aired last night heard from a number of former officials who worked in the partys disputes team. Labour rejected any claim that the party was anti semitic. Heres our political correspondent, jessica parker. E mails leaked to panorama suggest that labours general secretary, jennie formby, attempted to interfere in the selection of a Disciplinary Panel and later that she deleted the correspondence on her official labour party account. The correspondence also shows that Jeremy Corbyns own personal e mail was copied in. Labour said that she temporarily stopped using her party e mail because of concerns that a political opponent had access to it, and the e mails were about ensuring the panel was held accountable for the length of time they take to hear cases. The man who was in charge at party hq for years is iain mcnicol. The e mails that youve shown me are really important. The issues that are raised within them should ring alarm bells across the party. Panorama spoke to seven former officials from labours disputes team. I resigned my membership. I felt that i had tried as hard as i possibly could to do my bit to fight this, this sickness. And to me, its getting worse. I knew the atmosphere was bad, but it kept building up and up. I felt a bit complicit, actually. In what . In the labour party not dealing with anti semitism properly. Chant shame on you, shame on you labour has said the former staff making claims are disaffected and the party insists it is implacably opposed to anti semitism. We will do all we can to make it very clear to anybody who thinks that they can have those abhorrent views in our party and in ourfamily that they are not welcome. There has already been considerable pressure onjeremy corbyn around allegations of anti semitism in the party. Now, signs that that pressure could only increase further. Jessica parker, bbc news. Our assistant Political Editor norman smith is in our westminster studio. How serious is this for the labour party . Very serious, you get an indication of that from the response from the labour party, which is full rebuttal mode, batten down the hatches, attacking the bbc and the makers of the programme and the labour staff who took part in the programme, labelling them as disaffected anti corbin individuals with a personal and political axe to grind, suggesting that one of them was facing a grievance procedure from another labour party employee, also suggesting that one deliberately sought an e mail from Jeremy Corbyns director of communications, seamus milne, perhaps to release it later to embarrass mr milne. Suggestions that they misapplied party rules when they misapplied party rules when they were part of the disciplinary process , they were part of the disciplinary process, a whole series of allegations which have now been condemned by the partys deputy leader tom watson, who says he deplores the criticism and attacks on individuals who he described as very brave. It has sparked calls for a complete shake up of the disciplinary moves. It has been suggested that there should be a fully independent procedure outside of the party, which should include representatives of the jewish community. He suggested that there should be an automatic expulsion procedure for those with a prima facie case of making anti semitic remarks. But the real . The real question is whether any of this continued lines jeremy question is whether any of this continued linesjeremy corbyn as leader. Many labour mps that mr corbyn has allowed a culture to develop in the labour party which mr watson called a permissive culture towards anti semitism. In mr watson because my view, the only person who can tackle this problem is the leader himself. Not only do i think he can fix it, i think he is the only one that can fix it. And if he adopt some of the proposals that i am making, then these rule changes will go through our party. It wont be enough to rebuild trust with the jewish community, but it will be a start at trying to challenge a culture of permissiveness that allows anti jewish racism to be casually used in political discussion within one of the two great parties in the united kingdom. I have to say, there is a good deal of pessimism amongst many labour mps that anything is going to change. Even in the aftermath of this investigation by the equality and Human Rights Commission, which is carrying out a statutory investigation into whether the labour party is anti semitic because ofa labour party is anti semitic because of a view held by many labour mps that under mr corbyns leadership, with the massive expansion in party membership, individuals have been allowed into the labour party who previously would never have been allowed in and who hold views which previously would never have been accepted. But more than that, mr corbyn holds views on the middle east and israel which have given licence to those with views which are completely unacceptable, in other words, who allow their criticism of israel to tip into anti semitism. So there is a view among some labour mps that this may not change as long asjeremy corbyn remains leader. Norman, thanks. Lets speak now to baroness neuberger, the cross bench peer and author of the book anti semitism what it is, what it is not and why it matters. You are obviously not a member of the labour party. I am not. I grew up the labour party. I am not. I grew up in the labour party and my pa rents would up in the labour party and my parents would be ten in their graves, but i am not in the labour party. But you didnt leave due to fears of anti semitism. Party. But you didnt leave due to fears of antisemitism. No, i left in the 1970s, a long time ago. You have served as a rabbi for the best pa rt have served as a rabbi for the best part of nearly a decade. So you have a lot of experience of dealing with the questions of anti semitism. A lot of experience of dealing with the questions of anti semitismlj have. I have been a rabbi for more yea rs have. I have been a rabbi for more years than i care to think, a0 yea rs. Years than i care to think, a0 years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . Years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . |j years. What did you make of the Panorama Programme . I was appalled. The first thing i ought to say and that all of us ought to say is a real thank you to those people who we re real thank you to those people who were prepared to speak out on that programme. I thought they were brave. The labour party attacking them and say they are disaffected, i find absolutely shameful. The fact that there were eight of them, and we know the programme spoke to others as well, and all the labour party ca n others as well, and all the labour party can do is say they are rubbish and disaffected and they should be speaking, that is in itself highly questionable. I would expect a responsible employer, let alone the labour party, to show some sympathy to people who have had a breakdown and have suffered stress as a result of all of this. One of the messages that came out from the party was that came out from the party was that these were people with a personal and political axe to grind. So lets not deal with the personal, but the political, is there any credibility there . I dont think so. There are too many of them saying the same thing. They are talking about interference from the top. They are saying they were not able to get on with theirjobs. I know the labour party has denied this, but Mike Crichton said that seamus milne, when he asked him about. The director of communications for jeremy corbyn. When he asked Mike Crichton how they should deal with anti semitism and Mike Crichton said we should be more robust about it, a p pa re ntly we should be more robust about it, apparently seamus milne laughed. The labour party is denying that. It seems strange to deny that that conversation took place. It is not about them being political enemies of corbyn. It is about that they felt they couldnt get on with their jobs. The complaints procedure itself was not sufficiently independent and having a totally independent and having a totally independent complaints procedure or disputes procedure is obviously what is required. Tom watson said that their today. So where do you think their today. So where do you think the labour party should go from here . It needs to be cleaned up. Eitherjeremy corbyn has to accept this and instead of attacking the people, dont shoot the messenger. Instead, look at what is being said and deal with it. Either corbyn deals with it or we have to accept that under his leadership, nothing is going to change. That is what is depressing. We have to see a totally independent complaints dispute procedure. No interference from the top. No use of private e mails. I know there is an equality and Human Rights Commission investigation taking place and i hope they will look at unite e mails. And i hope Len Mccluskey will give them access to those. It needs to be cleaned up. There is nothing so good is a bit of sunlight shone on all of this. What you say to those who say, that is all very well, but it is not the only form of racism in our current politics. And alongside cleaning up anti semitism in the labour party, does there need to be more serious cleaning up of islamophobia in the conservative party . Completely. So you are evenhanded . Obviously, i get more coming my way of anti semitism because im a rabbi and it has affected some people in my congregation. But if we are going to be serious about this, we need to clea n be serious about this, we need to clean up of racism in all Political Parties and all institutions. The reason we are also taken aback by this in the labour party, though, is that the labour party has stood as an anti racist party. And guess what . Anti semitism is racism. Baroness neuberger, thanks for joining us. And well have a special edition of the Victoria Derbyshire show at ten, where shell be asking her studio audience if labour can move on from the anti semitism row, and if so, how . Now, people who consume a lot of sugary drinks, including pure fruitjuice, could have a higher risk of developing cancer, according to a new large scale study. It looked at 100,000 people in france over five years. Doctors are now calling for further research, as lauren moss reports. Bottles of pop and sugary drinks are often at the centre of the debate about Healthy Living and obesity. Now a study by scientists in france suggests they are significantly associated with the risk of cancer. Researchers looked at 100,000 people for five years. The average person drank around two cans of sugary drinks a week. But the study found that if they consumed two more cans on top of that, around 100 millilitres a day, there was an 18 increased risk of cancer. The study did not find any cancer links with artificial sweeteners, and it could not determine whether sugary drinks do cause disease, but Health Campaigners say the findings are another indication that intake should be limited. The fact that they did find a link, regardless of weight, is interesting. And potentially concerning. But we need more research on this. In the meantime, there is already lots of reasons to cut down on these drinks. Since last year, uk manufacturers have been paying a levy on high sugar drinks. Tory leadership candidate borisjohnson provoked criticism from Health Professionals last week by vowing to review what he called sin taxes if he becomes prime minister. Obesity is a known cause of cancer, and consuming many sugary drinks can lead to weight gain. But researchers say this study show that is not the full story. The British Soft Drink Association says soft drinks are safe as part of a balanced diet, but this research will feed into the continuing discussion about how we can lead a healthier life. The French Parliament is expected to approve a new tax on the worlds biggest internet and Technology Firms such as google and facebook. The measure, which will initially raise around £360 million a year, sets a precedent thats being closely watched by governments around the world. President trump has already ordered an investigation into the french plans. Lets get more on this im joined now by anna isaac, whos the economics and trade correspondent at the telegraph. Why are the french doing this and why are they doing it alone rather than part of a big, powerful you push . There have been two multilateral efforts between countries to try and arrive at a way where your bricks and Mortar Stores are put on the more even footing with the big digital dance, the likes of facebook, amazon, netflix and google, who generate huge amounts of money but their Business Structure is not easily taxable. One effort was by the eu to see if all of the eu finance ministers could arrive at an agreement. That was not moving fast enough for the french, so they decided to go it alone. The us wanted to try and find a compromise at the oecd, a big form of developed countries where they try and collaborate on International Economic issues. But again, that was not moving quickly enough for the french. So this thursday, the French Parliament are going to have a vote to see if they can get through a 3 tax on the revenue generated by these massive Digital Companies to try and level up this Playing Field. And as we move to a more digitised economy, make sure that you are still generating the cash you need to runa still generating the cash you need to run a government and or the services that come with that. Its obviously a hugely controversial issue, including here. A lot of british people and politicians feel that there is a tax issue with some of these powerful virtual place. You mention that the eu were not moving fast enough. Why not . Who were slowing it down . Lots of Different Countries want to be able to have a competitive tax environment because they feel like it will attract these Bigger Companies towards them. Ireland, for many years, and we have seen ireland, for many years, and we have seen it in quite distorted gdp output growth figures, has been playing host to some of these companies with a very low tax regime, in some cases virtually no tax regime, where you can be registered in ireland, but not for tax purposes. So you can generate a lot of income in the country, but not be taxed on where you are making it. That means they have vested interests in trying to maintain that edge over other countries. So it is difficult for the likes of luxembourg and other eu Member States like ireland and france to agree on what level is best suited to their needs. The uk has lost patience with it. Philip hammond has made a commitment to press ahead with a 2 tax on digital revenues. But we saw last night, when the telegraph business wrote a big story about the problems you are getting with us uk trade talks, that this digital tax issue is a massive roadblock to a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement with the us. They have flagged time and again that if the uk goes it alone rather than trying to reach this compromise at the oecd, it would be a big issue. But then you have borisjohnson, the likely next prime minister, last thursday at a hustings, said that he would support a tax on digital giants, that he thought it was deeply unfair that they are not put ona deeply unfair that they are not put on a level Playing Field with bricks and Mortar Stores. So this is an issue that will become fundamental not just to us uk issue that will become fundamental notjust to us uk trade talks, but to the whole special relationship, ata time to the whole special relationship, at a time when we are already seeing tension. The what . it is fascinating. Anna, come back and talk to us when it moves again and we will watch what happens in the French Parliament. Six tourists have been killed and at least 30 other people injured in a Violent Storm that swept across a region of northern greece. Gale force winds and hailstorms lashed halkidiki late on wednesday. A czech couple died when their caravan was blown away, and two romanians and two russians were also killed. The storm followed a spell of very hot weather in greece. A man has been arrested for climbing over a fence onto the forecourt of Buckingham Palace while the queen was in residence. The 22 year old is being held on suspicion of trespass. Its understood he scaled the barrier to the side of the building in the early hours of wednesday. Scotland yard say the incident is not being treated as terror related. Two graves in a small vatican cemetery are to be exhumed as part of an investigation into the disappearance of an italian schoolgirl more than 30 years ago. Emanuela orlandi was just 15 when she went missing in rome in 1983, in a case that gained huge attention at the time. The order was made to reopen the graves after her family received a letter with a photo of the tombs in march. Dust from car brakes and tyres will continue to pollute the air even after all vehicles become electric thats the warning from the governments air quality advisors. Their report shows fragments of microplastics from tyres, road surfaces and brakes will also flow into rivers and the sea. Ministers say they want action to improve the standards. Researchers have discovered the earliest evidence of modern human fossils outside africa. The evidence comes from a 210,000 year old skull unearthed in greece. The discovery pushes back the arrival of the first homo sapiens into europe from africa by 150,000 years and rewrites the history of our species. Our science correspondent pallab ghosh has this report. In the distant past, the first of our kind evolved here in africa. There were also other now extinct species of human, such as the neanderthals and denisovans in europe and asia. Our ancestors eventually left the continent and spread across the globe, and quickly took over from the other species. So the theory goes. But the discovery of this human looking skull in apidima in southern greece has changed this view. Scientists used to think that 200,000 years ago, europe was exclusively populated by the neanderthals, whereas our kind, modern humans, remained in africa until a0,000 years ago. But the discovery of the new skull in greece has shattered that view. It doesnt have the flatter, elongated shape of the neanderthal, but rather, its much more like our own, rounder. So this means that the two species could have interacted for 100,000 years. It had been thought that our ancestors had been prevented from leaving africa for tens of thousands of years, perhaps by the other types of humans, or the climate. But researchers are now having to rethink their old ideas. There was nothing to stop modern humans getting out of africa more than 200,000 years ago, and expanding. It potentially means that even places further to the east, there are claims of modern human fossils in china at 130,000 years. Id been very sceptical about those up to now, but given the evidence from apidima, maybe i should be more open minded about those early chinese records claim to be homo sapiens. Its potentially the biggest shift in our understanding of how modern humans left africa. Instead of overlapping briefly with neanderthals in europe, our kind may have coexisted with a wide variety of human species across the world for tens of thousands of years. In a moment, the weather, but first heres Victoria Derbyshire with what shes got coming up in her programme at 10 00. Hello. This morning, we are going to talk about the labour party in the wake of claims of anti semitism which have rocked the party. Is there a way labour can move on from this crisis . If so, what is it . Isjeremy corbyn the man to resolve the issue . Well also be looking at their new brexit position and what their priorities should be in the future with an audience of labour supporters and some mps. Do get in touch wherever you are with your views. Join us live at 10am on bbc two, the bbc news channel and online. Now its time for a look at the weather with simon king. Hello. Quite a messy picture today with lots of cloud around at the moment. Outbreaks of rain for many of us. The focus this afternoon will be on thundery showers across the east of scotland and the north east of england. Lots of cloud with patchy rain, generally drifting east. It will be replaced by further showers moving into the west. Some sunny spells in western scotland with a few brighter skies developing towards the south east of england. Maximum temperatures getting up to 2125. The maximum temperatures getting up to 21 25. The north east and eastern scotla nd 21 25. The north east and eastern scotland where we have got some heavy on thundery showers which will go on into the evening before finally clearing away. Elsewhere, some clear spells through the night into friday morning. Throughout friday, it should be mostly dry with some bright, sunny spells for many. A few showers in the north and west and highs of 19 2a. Goodbye. Hello this is bbc news. A Royal Navy Ship has intercepted three iranian boats that were harassing a British Oil Tanker in the gulf. Senior labour figures say theyre appalled by allegations that close allies ofjeremy corbyn tried to interfere in anti semitism cases. The French Parliament is expected to approve a new tax on Technology Giants that could provoke retaliation from the United States. A study in france suggests people who have a lot of sugary drinks, including pure fruitjuice, are at a slightly higher risk of developing cancer. Six tourists have been killed and at least 30 others injured in a Violent Storm that swept across northern greece. Time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. Fresh details have emerged about how the Foreign Office tried to contain the diplomatic row, surrounding the leaked emails of the uks ambassador in washington. Bbc news understands that us officials initially responded calmly to Sir Kim Darrochs comments but, after president trumps intervention, it became clear he was no longer welcome. Speaking to Mishal Husain on radio as today programme, gerard baker, editor at large of the wall streetjournal and Daily Telegraph columnist sue cameron gave their predictions for the future of the vacancy in britains top ambassadorial residence. The us still has a very strong Diplomatic Service, very capable people who rise to very senior levels. Some of them get ambassadorial posts but many become deputy heads of mission extremely effective. The important point is that the role of ambassador has changed significantly. Ambassadors dont really carry out much of the actual diplomacy any more. Much of the reporting that they do, as we saw in kim darrochs rather bland and rather banal observations about the truamp administration, they dont even offer any particularly interesting insights. So having people who actually do thejob is more effective. Quick thoughts on names, mark sedwill, William Hague . Both of those would be possible. Nigel farage . No, i dont think it would be nigel farage, but possibly karen pierce. Its high time the Foreign Office appointed a woman to a keyjob, and she is our ambassador to the un. The government says one of its warships had to intervene to protect a British Oil Tanker in the gulf, after iranian boats tried to block its path. The president of iran had warned the uk of consequences, after one of its tankers was seized off the coast of gibraltar last week. Quoting the Public Relations office of the Islamic Revolutionary guard corps navy, the Fars News Agency said, in a tweet, the irgc denies claims by american sources that it tried to seize British Heritage. Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad zarif said the uk made the claims for creating tension. These claims have no value, mr zarif added, according to fars. Labour has described a bbc panorama investigation featuring claims that some ofJeremy Corbyns closest allies tried to interfere in disciplinary processes involving allegations of anti semitism asseriously inaccurate. But senior labour figures, including the deputy leader tom watson, say theyre appalled. Speaking to radio as today Programme Labour peer lord levy gave his reaction to the panorama broadcast. The fact that a programme like that had to be done, the fact that there is an ehrc equality and Human Rights Commission enquiry taking place, something is very seriously wrong. When you hear the words shocked, chilled and appalled from, not a jewish person, but from the deputy leader of the party, tom watson, thejewish community is frankly in shock, disbelief and fear, and just cannot understand what is happening. You see young, committed labour staff and supporters. You hear about attempted suicide. You hear about anxiety attacks, heartbroken and disgusted, vocabulary used. Labour party not a safe space forjewish people. Surely the labour leadership should feel ashamed of what is going on. Lets take a look now at some of the other stories youre reading and watching online. Most of the top ones weve covered in the news, the freak storms in greece, iranian boats, sugary drinks and ambassadorial rail, lets look at number six on the list, european rocket lost minutes after liftoff. This is a story about a rocket carrying a military satellite from the United Arab Emirates commercial operation. Its the first time in 15 launches that a rocket has failed. They arent quite sure what the reason for the failure is. But they are expecting more data in the next few hours. They believe that the rocket went down in the atlantic, north of the space centre. We will keep an eye on that for further developments. People who consume a lot of sugary drinks including pure fruitjuice could have a higher risk of developing cancer, according to a new study. It found that the consumption of sweet drinks was associated with increased risk of overall cancer, as well as breast, prostate and bowel cancer. Dietician Nichola Ludlam Raine said the results should not deter people from drinking fresh fruitjuices. What we need to stress that the study didnt show a causal link, it showed an association. We have known for a while that drinking too much sugar isnt good for our health and this just adds to the body of evidence that ideally, we should be Drinking Water or second best, the diet alternative. And a glass of fresh fruitjuice is definitely healthier than a can of fizzy, sugary pop because it contains some fibre and some vitamin c. But the rules around fruitjuice, the guidelines say no more than 150ml a day, which is about a small glass. This was the advice that came out a few years ago now. So the three main take home messages really are, choose diet alternatives where possible, add less sugar into tea and coffee and when it comes to fruitjuice, limit it to that small glass just once a day. Thats it for todays morning briefing. Sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heres azi farni. Less than an hour to go until england play australia in the semi finals of the cricket world cup. England are trying to make it to theirfirst final in almost 30 years while reigning champions australia have won four of the last five tournaments. Will perry is at edgbaston for us what a day were in for with one of crickets biggest rivalries taking centre stage. Absolutely. Good morning. The sun is coming out, what a day this is going to be for england as the fans make their way into the ground. England havent won a knockout game at a world cup 27 years, that was against south africa where they went on to lose against pakistan in the final. Im joined by former england batsman mark ramprakash. Former england batting coach as well. Weve got to start by talking about england, theyve got their mojo back but australia know all about winning these High Pressure knockout matches. Annoyingly, australia have a very good track record and about eight months, ten months ago they we re eight months, ten months ago they were nowhere but they hit form at the right time coming into the tournament. The coach has found some continuity, a good balance in their side. Those guys have bolstered what has been a consistent side throughout the tournament. From an england point of view, we so nearly we nt england point of view, we so nearly went out of the tournament and it was here at edgbaston that england had to come out. It was a do or die situation and they had to come out and win and they not only won the game against india but it was the manner in which they played. They rediscovered their mojo and then of course theyve beaten new zealand subsequently very easily. I feel as though the momentum should be with england today. Is a big task to win, youve worked closely with these england batsmen. They are going to come out aggressively. If they win that toss the Opening Partnership really important. They bring out the best in each other, no question. Theyve had 31 innings together, 2000 runs as a partnership. Its quite incredible how prolific they have been. Thats hugely important. The picture looks good, ive been inside the stadium and im sure whichever captain wins the toss will wa nt whichever captain wins the toss will want to bat first the pitch looks good. If england can post anything above 270 in a world cup semifinal, thats going to take some getting. Its going to be tasty, i wonder what kind of reception they are going to get. Full coverage on the bbc sport website. It gets under way at10 30am. The cricket world cup is all over this mornings back pages. Well shut you up kp is the headline in the mirror. Thats england captain eoin morgan responding to Kevin Pietersens criticism of the way he played against australia in the group stages. The guardian has a picture of new zealand celebrating their shock semi final win over india at old trafford yesterday. They await the winners of todays game in sundays final. And the telegraph focuses on wimbledon, where rafa nadal and Roger Federer will play each other for the first time in more than a decade. Both men then are through to the semi finals after a couple of relatively straight forward quarter finals. Federer came from a set down to beat japans kei nishikouri japans Kei Nishikori in the quarters in doing so he became the first man to win 100 matches at one grand slam. Hes going for his ninth wimbledon title. Rafa nadal had a relatively easy ride against the american sam querrey. He won in straight sets to set up the semi with his great rival federer. The last time these two met at wimbledon was that epic final in 2008 which was eventually won by nadal after a five set thriller. Novak djokovic will play the spaniard Roberto Bautista agut in the other semi. Andy murray and Serena Williams have had plenty of fun over the last few days but their run in the mixed doubles is over. Murena as they like to be known lost in the third round to top seeds bruno soares and nicole melichar. The pair have looked like theyve really enjoyed playing together but well have to wait and see if they do it again. Murray has said that its pretty unlikely hell play singles at the us open in september. And Serena Williams will be in singles action today. Its the womens semi finals day. Williams plays unseeded Barbora Strykova whilst former world number one simona halep plays elina svitolina. Coverage will start across the bbc from one oclock. Thats all the sport for now. More from the bbc sport centre at 1115. A review of the way the benefits system deals with people who have a terminal illness has been ordered by the government. A committee of mps recently described the rules as outdated and unfit for purpose. The work and pensions secretary amber rudd says the she wants a fresh and honest evaluation of the system to ensure that people get the help they need. If you have a terminal diagnosis, you can go to special rules, which means you will quickly get access to additional Financial Support if youve had the sort of devastating diagnosis that we know about. People typically get the additional funds within six days. The system as it is is working well. But my concern is that it doesnt support other types of illnesses, and other sorts of diagnosis where people can live for longer, but still have a devastating deteriorating disease. What im saying is, i want to take a fresh look at it. I want to look at what is working and i want to find out, working with charities and other organisations, to see what needs to be improved. Its myjob as secretary of state to make sure that when people get this diagnosis, they get as much Financial Support and easy access to it as possible. Senior labour figures have expressed anger and alarm at claims that some ofJeremy Corbyns closest allies tried to interfere in disciplinary processes involving allegations of anti semitism. Former labour officials told bbc panorama in a programme that aired last night that members of the labour leaders top team attempted to interfere in their inquiry into the issue. The party strongly rejects the claims, saying they have been made by disaffected former employees. John mcdonnell, the shadow chancellor, was asked his response to all of this, a little earlier. Ive just watched the Panorama Programme. Some serious charges. They have been hotly contested, some of the ex staff have been contested by existing staff. There have been complaints put into the bbc and i think the bbc should investigate those and we can come to a conclusion. Has the Labour Party Leadership done enough to tackle anti semitism . Leadership done enough to tackle antisemitism . I think it has, speeding up the processing of claims and dealing with it more effectively. Ive always said at the beginning it was too slow and not ruthless enough and thats improved dramatically now. In the light of the programme and what ive seen, lets see what the bbc says in response to complaints. What weve got is x staff making accusations against existing staff and those existing staff have challenged those complaints so it needs to be looked at objectively. Is the Labour Party Going to take action on the points made . Its important we listen to whats been said and look at whats happening. What weve got now is two groups challenging each other so we have to look at that. Why were labour party people, workers, allowed to get involved in this process . That is what well have to look at from my understanding of the response to the Panorama Programme, in fact response to the Panorama Programme, infacta response to the Panorama Programme, in fact a whole group of staff were called in because of demands on existing staff, so there were existing staff, so there were existing staff, so there were existing staff brought in but they we re existing staff brought in but they were always working under the management of the complaints committee. Can i ask you about Sir Kim Darroch and what you think it should go . I think its appalling, the way hes been treated. The one thing about the Civil Service as it needs to maintain its independence, and if youve got people in the Diplomatic Service you need absolute honesty and thats what he gave us. To actually have him effectively forced out by Political Action of what is effectively a foreign state, some of the statements made by politicians here are unacceptable. It does undermine the whole status of the Diplomatic Service so its unacceptable. In terms of his successor, what qualities should that person have . Successor, what qualities should that person have . The most important qualities are the ones he displayed. Independence and honesty and speaking the truth to power, thats what we need. Its notjust in the Diplomatic Service, you need it in the Civil Service itself and that independence should be respected. Sir Richard Branson has warned that his companies will spend a less money in britain if the country leaves the European Union without a deal. The founder of the virgin group has been telling the bbcs transport correspondent, tom burridge that he thinks the pound would collapse in a disorderly brexit. A very stark warning today from sir Richard Branson about britain leaving the eu without a deal. It would be devastating to many virgin companies. We would be spending a lot less money in britain and putting energies into other countries. He has always opposed brexit and believes his airline alone would lose hundreds of millions of dollars through no deal. The pound will collapse to parity with the dollar if there is a hard brexit. All our costs are in dollars in maintenance, plane parts, the bottom line hit to that was 100 million us. A hard brexit will result in the freight we get from europe that we put on Virgin Atlantic going to america disappearing. We will not get any of that freight. That would be another 100 million down the drain. Virgin trains are set to largely disappear from our railways in march. In a dispute over pensions, its bid to keep Running Services like this one from birmingham to london has been disqualified by the government. Sir richard says operating a Train Company in britain has become harder. Nowadays, the department of transport in their wisdom, they give you a massive long list of dos and donts and it is very, very difficult to be entrepreneurial and i think that is sad. The government has commissioned a review of the railways. The expectation is that it will recommend radical change. Tonnes and tonnes of black plastic are being removed from the bed of a river in cumbria in what is thought to be one of the most significant River Restoration projects in the uk. Alison freeman reports. At first glance, the river keekle looks like any other, but take a closer look and you can see its dark secret. Reams and reams of black plastic. This plastic was used to line the river to protect it from contamination from a nearby disused mine. But over the past two decades its deteriorated and its become the pollutant itself, as well as an eyesore. Theres been such a knee jerk reaction to worry about what the river will do once the coal mine operations had finished. It was a natural thing lets just constrain the river, put it in plastic, and then we can walk away and it will be fine. Well, in only 20 years that plastic has started to degrade. Weve got to remember that, were not just taking a plastic covered river rivers go to the sea. So this potentially would end up in the sea. Whats happening here is thought to be the biggest River Restoration of its kind in the uk. This summers project is a pilot with plastic being cleared from a 200 metre stretch. Next year the rest of the 2. 5 kilometres will be restored, costing more than £1 million. Itll benefit wildlife as well as people. The plastic isjust a sheer plane, so the waters going down the river very quickly. Theres no boulders and cobbles and things to stop that water. So the waters whooshing downstream into an area where there is some flooding of some homes. What are the improvements we will see when the plastics gone . It will be a fully functioning river. So it will be meandering, it will work properly, it will shift its gravels as rivers like to do. And well get much more wildlife, therell be more fish spawning. At the moment there are hardly any fish in here because there is no spawning habitat for them. And people will be able to enjoy it much more. Catherine and her family live nearby. They welcome the project. The benefit of getting this back to nature for us as a community is that well be able to spend more time here safely and well be able to enjoy more wildlife, because when the rivers restored, obviously the wildlife that lives in it will be increased as well. It will be a better habitat, a more natural habitat for the wildlife. Its just going to be brilliant. And dogs can paddle and there will be so much wildlife and kids can paddle in it. Its just going to be amazing. More rivers have been re naturalised in cumbria than anywhere else in the uk. But the keekle is the most challenging by far. Allison freeman, bbc news. The pop Singer Taylor Swift has been named the worlds top earning celebrity. She was number one in the forbes 100 list for the last year earning more than 180 million dollars. Most of the money came from her reputation tour described as the highest grossing in us history. Tim allman reports. I promise that youll never find another like me e e im the only one of me. Baby, thats the fun of me. She may have recently lost the rights to her back catalogue, but taylor swift certainly hasnt lost the capacity to make lots, and lots, and lots of money. Nearly 200 million of it, in fact. Well, once the taxman took his share. And she made most of it by putting on a show. She toured like crazy. She did about a quarter of a billion dollars gross on her latest tour. We measured over the past 12 months and we caught most of that tour, and its Good Business when you can gross 5 6 million a night on the road. Coming in second with a positively paltry 170 million was social media sensation and cosmetics billionaire kyliejenner. Her brother in law kanye west came third, scraping by on a measly 150 million. As for taylor swift, shes releasing a new album next month and there is speculation that another tour may follow. If any financial obstacle gets in her way, she will, presumably, just shake it off. The japanese hayabusa 2 space probe has landed successfully for a second time on the same asteroid, to collect more samples. Hayabusa 2 last visited ryugu in february, when it gathered material spewed from inside the asteroid, about 300 million kilometres from earth. The former liverpool striker, daniel sturridge, has been reunited with his dog after it was reported stolen from a house where the footballer was staying in los angeles. In a post on instagram, the 29 year old thanked his followers for helping him find his pomeranian, called lucci. Now its time for a look at the weather. And mixed picture at the moment across the uk with quite a few showers in northern areas. The cloud is breaking up and sunny spells coming through. Weve got low pressure moving in across the north and that is providing the showers and that is providing the showers and later on there will be thunderstorms developing. Many across eastern and southern parts of scotla nd across eastern and southern parts of scotland but also across eastern parts of england is where you will have the greatest risk of catching one of these downpours. For many of us, mostly dry. There will be quite a bit of cloud but some brighter skies developing from time to time. A few showers drifting east with maximum temperature is 22 26. One or two bits of rain this afternoon as well. Its across scotland where we will continue to see some heavy showers. Intense downpours and thunderstorms giving a lot of rainfall ina thunderstorms giving a lot of rainfall in a short space of time. Even rainfall in a short space of time. Eve n a cross rainfall in a short space of time. Even across North Eastern england, some of those heavy showers drifting in as well. Tonight, showers clearing away and clear spells tonight with temperatures down to 1116. On tonight with temperatures down to 11 16. On friday, its going to be a bit drier with more settled weather and High Pressure moving its way in and High Pressure moving its way in and building up from the west. Still this weather system moving south, mainly across eastern areas on friday. That could produce a few showers throughout the day. Many in the morning across the north east but into the afternoon down eastern parts of england. Elsewhere, more sunshine breaking through on friday afternoon. Perhaps quite cloudy in northern and western areas. Maximum temperatures up into the high teens and low 20s. Into the weekend, this area of High Pressure will continue to build and move in from the west. Again, keeping things settled. A north easterly wind making things a bit chilly along the north sea coast on saturday. Cloud building up as the day goes along with a risk of showers down the spine of the uk. Mainly over the pennines and higher ground. Elsewhere, dry weatherwith sunny spells. Temperatures down a bit particularly around the north sea coast. Fine weather continuing into sunday with temperatures 21 2a. The final weather continuing into the next working week. Goodbye. Hello, its thursday, its ten oclock, im Victoria Derbyshire. Anger, alarm, disbelief. Claims that some ofJeremy Corbyns closest allies tried to interfere in disciplinary processes involving allegations of anti semitism have rocked the labour party. Former Party Workers say they were badly treated and not trusted. There were elements, certainly in the leaders office, that regarded us and our team as blairites who were working to undermine the leader of the labour party. The labour leadership has hit back accusing panorama of engaging in deliberate and malicious misrepresentation. But deputy leader tom watson has struck a different tone. You couldnt fail to be saddened and moved by the testimony, particularly of the young members whod had racist abuse in party