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Qualification event in tokyo after crossing the finish line hand in hand. Good evening. New figures out today reveal the extent of britains drug crisis in the starkest terms possible. Deaths caused by the mis use of drugs mainly heroin and cocaine hit a record high in england and wales last year. In scotland too, drug related deaths are at their highest. Almost 3,000 people died from illicit drugs in england and wales last year. Thats a rise of 17 on the previous year. Throughout the week weve been reporting on one of the key factors behind this crisis the supply of drugs from the cities to britains towns and even villages or what police call the county lines. All too often children are involved and today our special correspondent, ed thomas, has been showing the police what hes discovered. As heroin deaths reach record highs, for three months weve investigated the rise in county line drug dealing, exploited teenage drug runners, vulnerable, long term users. Just taking it to feel normal. With heroin and crack cocaine, trafficked hundreds of miles every week. Oh, my god put your legs down. Having watched that footage, its quite distressing, really, because its bringing home the reality. You cant not be shocked. As a Police Officer of 25 years experience, thats the harsh reality of what is happening in towns and cities across our country. We showed our reports to assistant chief constable chris green and to child safeguarding head, sarah 0brien. At times during ourfilming, the flow of teenage drug mules between merseyside and north wales seemed relentless. Youve got that there in case you get taxed, havent you . This is not just a st helens problem. This is a national problem. There are children out there on the street today who gone missing who we cannot keep safe. There are children out there today who are in the type of houses that you featured in your film. They are at risk. Can we keep all of them safe at the moment . No, we cant. Put that knife down. At the moment in st helens, children wise, we have three missings. We discovered a network of childrens homes in st helens targeted by county lines gangs. There is chaos. If it gets bigger, then theres just not enough of us. Criminal exploitation is a crisis. And i think the funding is a crisis. Mental Health Services are at breaking point. Schools are at breaking point. Social care is at breaking point. So we need more resource putting in. As we filmed in north wales, one officer told us he no longer arrested heroin and crack cocaine users for personal possession. His priority was to protect and safeguard child dealers. You ask any of the users, have i ever locked them up for having personal bits on them. As a person, i can absolutely understand someone making a decision to say, do you know what, i need to try and get into that house to make sure that people are safe, to make sure ive not got any children in there from elsewhere who are vulnerable. 0fficers provided this footage showing a young child being arrested. Screaming. Stop biting im not biting. They said the child had slipped into crisis after being exploited by criminals. Probably in that moment he was absolutely terrified. Oh, my god put your legs down. Banging. Stop banging your head. And hes somebodys child. And we collectively as a society, particularly for these vulnerable and young people who are in care for whatever reason, we need to protect them. Quite often it is absolutely right that a young person needs to be arrested. Itsjustified, its reasonable, and its lawful. It doesnt make good watching. No cop comes into work wanting to go out and arrest children. No one. As a nation, are we failing to protect our children . Yes, i think we are, from criminal exploitation. Drug gangs, grooming thousands of vulnerable children. Record drug deaths. County lines, one of the most complex policing challenges of the 21st century. Ed thomas, bbc news. Joining me now is imani robinson, Communications Lead at the uk drugs charity release, and editor of talkingdrugs, an Online Platform for analysis of global drugs policy. Thank you for coming in. Watching that report there. And the statistics that have come out today. None of this must be a surprise to you. Tell us why arent Government Policies on drugs working . you. Tell us why arent Government Policies on drugs working . I think the main issue with our government drug policies is that since before i was born, they have been trying to get people to stop taking drugs. Their campaigns around saying no, they have failed and continue to fail. That is not really changing. And i think there needs to be a real sort of commitment to looking at the evidence and the experts and drug policy and experts in Public Health and experts in criminology have showed us and provided us and then even the home office itself has shown critiques of the Government Policies, but the government has continued to ignore that evidence. What is the evidence . What does this say . We asked the public will not know this. The evidence is generally speaking that policies that are punitive, suggest that people cannot ta ke punitive, suggest that people cannot take drugs and shouldnt take drugs, that prohibit people from making that prohibit people from making that choice, also criminalise and stigmatize their act. In that lead to other resources because the criminalization in the various countries, practically for example in the Czech Republic and portugal, have shown that drug related deaths, which is what the statistics have been talking about today, are definitely decreasing because of policies that are not punitive. If you talk about a Public Health crisis as it is is a criminal justice issue, and the situation thinking you are not looking at the evidence which is showing that regardless of whether people are having their personal opinions about drugs and can have those, people are continuing to take. As a member of the public, and the public watching oi the public, and the public watching or seeing the story unfold today, many will perhaps in your opinion have a very simplistic idea of the drugs problem, for many it will be a case of just drugs problem, for many it will be a case ofjust do not go there in the first place then we would have to be picking up the tab for all of this. Has the drug issue been misunderstood today . Absolutely. I think the idea that responsibility and the onus is on these people who have died as a result of prohibition drug policies is actually a form of victim blaming. The people who have died are victims of prohibition is drug policies which criminalises them rather than supports them. Which ignores the evidence to show that Harm Reduction works in over 22 countries globally. Emberley puts us ina countries globally. Emberley puts us in a position where these policies are being made on the basis that kind of moral understanding that it is different and not looking at the very real consequences of these policies. And actually letting people die. Today we heard a lot about rehabilitation units and how they work. Do they work . |j about rehabilitation units and how they work. Do they work . I think for some people going through a rehabilitation and Recovery Process it works. They will say that themselves. There are other people for whom he does not. And i dont think we should prescribe a way of deciding how somebody should deal with or navigate any sort of substance dependency, i would also say that the un has given us evidence that nearly nine out of ten people who take drugs and consume controlled su bsta nces people who take drugs and consume controlled substances do not develop any sort of dependency or problematic symptoms of abuse. That is really important to drive home that actually, what we are talking about is a widespread commitment that people have two enjoying themselves, to consuming drugs, to also consuming drugs as a way of dealing with the trauma and the source of hardships that people are going through. And not everybody has access to services and in fact, what is the key reason that these drug related deaths are so high is because cuts to services have gone been widespread throughout the uk in england in i9 of cuts to funding for these Drug Services that are actually saving lives. That is an austerity situation. In a measure that needs to be resisted. Thank you very much for that insight. You are watching bbc news. The authorities in gibraltar have released the iranian tanker seized by Royal Marines last month on suspicion of supplying oil to syria. The government of gibraltar says its received written assurances from iran that the grace one wont deliver its cargo to a syrian refinery. The decision comes despite a last minute attempt by the Us Department ofjustice to stop the tanker from being allowed to sail. Tensions between iran and both the uk and the us have been ramping up over recent months. In may four tankers were hit by blasts in the gulf of oman. Iran denied Us Accusations that its forces had planted mines on the vessels. 0n the 4th ofjuly the iranian oil tanker, grace one, was seized by british Royal Marines near gibraltar. A fortnight later irans revolutionary guard seized the british flagged oil tanker, stena impero, in the strait of hormuz that ship is still being held. Joining me now from washington dc, is senior fellow at the International Institue for strategic studies mark fitzpatrick. Thank you forjoining us. What do you think is behind this release . think they are following the law, where it took them. The whole seizure of this iranian vessel was because it was deemed to be carrying oil to syria in violation of eu sanctions and when iran was able to prove or at least demonstrate they we re prove or at least demonstrate they were not going to be doing that, they had gibraltar had a legal basis for letting it go and whether there was some unofficial quid pro quo regarding the british tanker, that may well be but i dont think the British Government would play such a game. They have to be very careful about seeming to legitimise irans seizure of the tanker. What about this last minute plea by the us for them to take over responsibility of them to take over responsibility of the grace one . I think that was really a n the grace one . I think that was really an example of all districts by the us government. They had very little basis on which to demand that gibraltar turn over the ship to the United States. The original British Action was in regard to sanctions against syria. The United States one willey wa nted against syria. The United States one willey wanted to take it because of the sanctions against iran, a totally different reason for it. And it wasnt supported by un sanctions oi it wasnt supported by un sanctions or by eu decision, so the Gibraltar Authorities had no reason to give into the us request. Reading into president trumps policy on iran, you are getting very mixed messages and certainly this has been a complaint from a lot of allies over a policy on iran. What exactly is going on there . Laughter it is a real mess. You have at the very top ofa real mess. You have at the very top of a president who sees everything in terms of what is in it for him and his image and so forth and he would like if he could edit to strike a deal with iran. He wants to talk to them. But he has appointed people underneath them who seek regime change in iran and do not wa nt to regime change in iran and do not want to deal with iran, National Security adviserjohn bolton has made it clear he regards diplomacy with iran as a waste of time. So very much mixed signals, and americas partners, even those who would like to align themselves and help really do not know what the policy is lots of those of us in washington dont have any better idea ourselves. My next question was going to be what is going to happen next. With regard to iran, i think the answer is what is irans next move and we have to realise iran a lwa ys move and we have to realise iran always has a move of its own. Their move is whenever pressure are two resist and to put pressure of their own. They have said that if european states cannot make whole of the oil losses that they are suffering because the sanctions they will take another step in whittling away the restrictions that they had agreed to in 2015 iran nuclear deal. They have already into ways exceeded limits and posed by the dealer and they said they will exceed them again and there is no reason to doubt they will do that. In the european states and gungan members in the uk will have to decide whether enough is enough and iran has exceeded the degree they have to impose on sanctions. It is a spiralling downward and it does not look good. The only positive step is the one we are talking about the beginning of this interview. Gibraltar is releasing the ship now and i think that means that iran will probably release a british ship and that will be some reduction in tension. Thank you very much. The headlines on bbc news. Drug deaths in england and wales have hit a record high, with around a0 people now dying every week from illicit substances a seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released, despite a last minute plea by the us authorities. A level results are out the number of students getting the top grade drops to its lowest for more than a decade sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heresjohn watson. Good evening. We began with cricket. England with plenty to do if theyre to level their ashes series after being bowled on teh first days play of the second test at lords, australia trailing by 228 runs but have lost a wicket. It could have been a lot worse for the hosts after being put into bat. They lost opener jason roy for a duck. There was a 50 for rory burns to follow his century in the first test. But a brilliant catch from Cameron Bancroft got rid of him. And england were 138 for six at one point before some runs down the order, including a half centurty forjonny bairstow, got them to 258 all out. The wicket of davbid warner to stuart broad before the close left australia on 30 for one. Wolves and rangers can both move a step closer to qualifying for the Europa League tonight. They play the second legs of their third round qualifying ties. Win and theyre into a play off to reach the group stage proper. They face armenian side fc puyunik with a big advantage from the first leg aberdeen trail from the first leg. The rangers are currently up by one. The new saints are in trouble. A huge aggregate deficit. Arsenal manager unai emery says mesut 0zil and Sead Kolasinac are mentally ready to play against burnley following a failed car jacking last month. The pair sat out arsenals Opening League game with newcastle due to ongoing security concerns, following the attempted theft on the vehicle in north london. Two men were arrested last week, outside 0zils home, and charged with a public order offence. The mentality is now focused for us. Really the focus is positive i think. They are 100 with their mind here. I want to help them to be with us training, thinking about football. Taking the focus for each match. Another day and another outburst from nick kyrigos who could face a ban from tennis after smashing two rackets and rowing with an umpire at the cincinnatti masters he lost to karen kachenov. And his reaction led him to him being fined for five separate examples of unsportsmanlike conduct, one of verbal abuse, an audible obscenity and for leaving the court unauthorised during the match costing him 113,000 dollars. And the punishment may not end there. The atp says they are now looking into a potential suspension as well. With Gareth Anscombe ruled out of the world cup wales coach Warren Gatland has given dan biggar a start at fly half this weekend against england. Centrejonathan davies will be joined by his younger brotherjames for the first time in a wales shirt. Thyell be the first brothers to play alongside each other since 2006. Jamie and Nicky Robinson the last to do so. There is a lot of pressure on those quys there is a lot of pressure on those guys on the weekend because some of them do not and perform, they are opening the doorfor them do not and perform, they are opening the door for somebody else. You win last week and this week, you pretty much would have sealed potentially a starting spot for the first game in the world cup. So that is why you want them to make sure that the players are aware that they are under pressure, if they do not perform well on saturday, they are opening the door potentially for someone opening the door potentially for someone else. Thats all the sport for now. Ill have more for you in sportsday at 10. 30. Thank you. Israel has announced its blocking a planned visit by two us congresswomen. The two women are both muslim. This morning the president tweeted. It would show great weakness if israel allowed entry to ilhan 0mar who came from somalia and rashida tlaib, who is of palestinian origin. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took to the nations state broadcaster to defend the decision, saying the congresswomen planned to harm israel. Here Jeremy Corbyn has outlined his plans to stop a no deal brexit in a letter to opposition parties and conservative rebels. Hes calling on them to support him in a motion of no confidence, to end borisjohnsons premiership. If it passes he says he would be a caretaker Prime Minister for a limited period during which he would request a delay in leaving the eu and call a general election. But his plans have already been dismissed by the leader of the liberal democrats, jo swinson, who said mr corbyn was too divisive a figure to unite mps. 0ur political correspondent, ben wright, reports. Just another day in westminster. A protest about the potential risk to farming from a no deal brexit, and politiciansjostling to prove they have the best strategy for trying to stop it happening. LaboursJeremy Corbyn has written to other Opposition Party leaders asking them to back him as a caretaker Prime Minister. We, the labour party by far the largest Opposition Party have, i think, a responsibility to take over to ensure there is no cliff edge brexit. So, what is he talking about . Well, it is possible for mps to install a new Prime Minister without there being a general election first. If borisjohnsons government loses a vote of no confidence, there would then be 814 day period for mps to prove someone else could command support as Prime Minister in this place. For this to have any chance of working, some tory mps would have to join forces with opposition parties, and that is a very big step to take. I think it would be absolutely extraordinary if any conservative mp considered even for one minute installing Jeremy Corbyn in downing street. Jeremy corbyn would wreck our economy, he would destroy peoples jobs, their livelihoods. The snp do sound keen onJeremy Corbyns idea of trying to form a new government, delaying brexit again and then holding an election. Well work with anyone and explore any option to stop brexit. Its no secret im not a great fan ofJeremy Corbyn, but we wont rule out any option if it helps to avert what is a looming catastrophe. But the lib dems say they wont put Jeremy Corbyn in number ten and want a less divisive figure to emerge instead. There is no way he can unite rebel conservatives and independents to stop borisjohnson. Its not even certain he would secure all the votes of labour mps. By refusing to back a Jeremy Corbyn led interim government, arent your own red lines scuppering the whole idea . Jeremy corbyn, i think in his heart of hearts, knows he cant command a majority in the house of commons. And so this is about having a plan that works. So, among mps who want to try and block a no deal brexit, there is a big disagreement over methods and tactics. Ministers insist the uk will leave the eu at the end of october whatever parliament attempts. The house of commons is a tribal place. Party loyalties are deep, but brexit is the new divide in politics, and for many mps, this autumn will put allegiances to the test. Ben wright, bbc news, westminster. One of the biggest dinosaur graveyards in the world is being excavated in wyoming in the United States. The dig, which has been dubbed Mission Jurassic, has already discovered more than a dozen fossils and footprints and researchers think there may be more than 100 dinosaurs buried there including new species. Its thought the creatures died when they drowned in a catastrophic flood. Palaeontologists say the site is so rich in bones it will keep them busy for at least 20 years. 0ur science correspondent, Rebecca Morrelle joined them. A hot, dusty landscape extending for miles. But imagine from this barren terrain a dinosaur graveyard where the bones of some of the biggest creatures ever to roam the earth are being discovered. Where does this fit on this mass . That slots straight in here. So, you found the pelvis . Yeah, its brilliant. Thats amazing the dig is called missionjurassic. What is fantastic about this site, theres multiple bones from at least a dozen individuals already poking out of the ground. When you realise we have only really scratched a corner of this square mile, there is going to be dozens if not 100 plus dinosaurs lurking in the rocks of thejurassic here. This dinosaur drowned in a flash flood, and was then caught up in a logjam. The tree trunk it was crushed up against is still preserved millions of years later. These are just some of the amazing bones that are being discovered at this site. Right here, you have an arm bone. Next to it, a giant shoulder blade. And then you can just begin to see the backbone starting to emerge. And standing here, you really get a sense of the size of this creature. Its a type of sauropod which from nose to tail measured 30 metres long. And scientists think it might even be a species thats new to science. There are so many dinosaurs here. Excavating each bone is a painstaking process. So, it takes people power. But how do you tell bone from rock . Try licking it. 0k. Quite sticky . Yeah. Because its porous, and its sucking onto your tongue. So thats. Rock doesnt do that but bone does. The rocks are from thejurassic period 150 million years ago. A golden age when dinosaurs exploded in shape and size. Dinosaurs are getting really, really, really big and there are loads of them. There are loads of different types and they are all Walking Around on these flood plains eating presumably huge forests. And that is a really good question actually. Where were all these huge forests and how did they get enough food to eat . The dig is like going back in time. A meat eating allosaurus has been found here and herds of plant eating diplodocus also grazed on this landscape. Before that, there was a vast inland sea. Marine reptiles called ichthyosaurs were abundant in these waters. This dinosaur dig is expected to last 20 years but the team says the efforts will be worth it to unlock the secrets of the jurassic past. Rebecca morelle, bbc news, wyoming. Andrew rossi is a paleo technician and educator at the wyoming Dinosaur Centre in thermopolis. Hejoins me now. Thank you for speaking to us here. First off, why this particular site in wyoming . Good evening first and foremost. A pleasure to be here. Wyoming isjust foremost. A pleasure to be here. Wyoming is just the foremost. A pleasure to be here. Wyoming isjust the best place on the planet to find dinosaurs. At the time that dinosaurs. At the time that dinosaurs wouldve been living in this area, it was a low place surrounded by high places, when you have rain falling in the mountains picking up sediment, falls into this low area and cover it any dinosaur u nfortu nate low area and cover it any dinosaur unfortunate enough to die there. So here in the base in wyoming where they are digging, it is a fantastic dinosaur graveyard, the conditions we re dinosaur graveyard, the conditions were just perfect to preserve their fossils. What you need for fossilization is animals to be buried in an area where there is a lot of water. I suppose with it being so dry and aerated, that is helping conditions in a later periods as well . Absolutely. Those dry conditions make it so they did not run away quite as quickly but when you do find the bones, it is a race against time to get them out as quickly as possible to make sure they do not just quickly as possible to make sure they do notjust decay and turn the disc. Turn into dust. They do notjust decay and turn the disc. Turn into dust. I understand finding the footprints is also key in trying to track dinosaurs. Can you explain why the track ways are important . dinosaurs. Can you explain why the track ways are important . A dinosaur only has one body while it is a lie but it could potentially leave millions of footprints behind. By following the footprints, they could ta ke following the footprints, they could take you on a journey that can help you determine how fast a dinosaur might have been moving, if it was moving ina might have been moving, if it was moving in a group or a predator pursuing some unfortunate victim, footprints give us a more of an idea of the behaviour of dinosaurs that you might not be able to get from just the bones and if you are lucky of course, the prince can lead you toa of course, the prince can lead you to a spot where dinosaur skeletons could be buried. How exciting. It is like a treasure hunt. I see you have some we are friends with you there. Behind you. On the desk. The fossils that are being dug up, what will happen to them . From what i understand some of those fossils will be taken into three of the worlds best museums and they will be taken on great displays but there is a lot of work that has to be done before that, i have a piece that we remove from one of our sites here. Will you find the bones, you pour a lot of glue into them and make sure they stay stable as you are removing them. And you cover them but will call plaster jackets, them. And you cover them but will call plasterjackets, strips or brenet that have been soaked and wet plaster that creates a nice hard sheu plaster that creates a nice hard shell around the bones that will protect them as they are being transported to thousands of miles to the new homes in indianapolis and in london. It is notjust bones because there is the vegetation that would have been preserved. What are we learning from that . What we are learning from that . What we are learning about the vegetation at that time it was a lot of fairly primitive plants, ferns, these are very palm like trees called psych has and then pine trees and conifers that we see today. What is really interesting window trying to figure out if this plant life or how we know it did support vast populations and vast herds of these massive longneck dinosaurs, but these guys we re longneck dinosaurs, but these guys were such small heads and small brains for that matter, where trying to figure out how these very primitive plants could support so many animals. So the vegetation that they find will us more clues as the dinosaur diets and how such a small simple plant can maintain a dinosaur back away after a0 tonnes. Simple plant can maintain a dinosaur back away after 40 tonnes. That is a great question. We have to enter there. Thank you forjoining us. Ended there. What a great find he is. Now its time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. Hello. After some sunshine today, there is more rain in the forecast tomorrow, we start tonight merely dry with clear skies, cloud building all the while in the west and rain arriving to Northern Ireland, western scotland and western fringes of england and wales. As we head through the second half of the night, the further west you are, the pitch is not much lower than 1a or 15 celsius. Further east, they could drop as low as eight or nine, particularly for Eastern England and east anglia. And then tomorrow, we have this area of low pressure to deal with. Notice how the isobars clumped together. It is notjust wet, it is quite windy as well. Rain initially across scotland and Northern Ireland and western fringes of england and wales will slide this way south and east through the day. After a dry and perhaps a bright start, that rain settles and through the day turning dry and brighter across scotland, Northern Ireland and the far north of england, albeit with blustery showers and it is another windy day, those cost perhaps reaching a5 miles an hour or some southern and western coast, quite cool where we have the rain or a turn drier in the afternoon and temperatures up to 21 celsius. Hello this is bbc news. The headlines. Drug deaths in england and wales soar to their highest level since records began 25 years ago. A seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released, despite a last minute plea by the us authorities. A level results are out the number of students getting the top grade drops to its lowest for more than a decade. And, Mission Jurassic the biggest british led dinosaur hunt in decades hopes to uncover new species in the wyoming desert. And, british triathletes are disqualified from the World Triathlon 0lympic qualification event in tokyo after crossing the finish line hand in hand. Police investigating the death of 15 year old nora quoirin, in malaysia, say theyve found no evidence of violence. The teenagerfrom london was found dead 10 days after she disappeared while on holiday. A postmortem examination has concluded that she died from internal bleeding, probably caused by hunger and stress. Howard johnson reports. After nora quoirins body was discovered on tuesday, a senior pathologist was dispatched from the malaysian capital kuala lumpur to carry out a postmortem examination of the london teenager. Today, at a police press conference, the first details of how she died were revealed. Translation the real cause of death was internal bleeding of the intestines which may have been caused by not having any food over a long period of time. The state police chief went on to stress he believes there was no suspicion of foul play. Nora is believed to have died about two to three days before her body was found. No element of abduction or kidnapping. The teenager, who lived with her parents in london, had been missing for ten days. The family have always insisted, given noras learning difficulties, it is very unlikely she would have walked off alone. The Malaysian Police have always treated noras disappearance as a missing persons case. Behind this gate is the road that leads to the Palm Oil Plantation where noras body was discovered on tuesday. Today, the family said that they would like people to end the speculation about how nora died and to give them the space to grieve in peace. Although todays Police Announcement will have gone some way to clarifying how nora died, the circumstances surrounding her disappearance still leaves many questions to be answered. Howard johnson, bbc news, pantai, malaysia. Around 300,000 a level students in england, wales and Northern Ireland have received their results with the proportion achieving top grades falling to just over a quarter, its lowest level for more than a decade. For the first time, there were more girls than boys taking the three sciences. 0ur education correspondent, frankie mccamley, reports. Im terrified, im not going to lie. This feels a lot bigger than gcse results day did. Im feeling pretty nervous but also excited because i dont know what the future is going to hold. And that future for matt is a place at his chosen university. For lou, its also good news. An a in my epq and then abb so im into manchester. Just outside the college in stourbridge there is a huge sense of relief, the wait is over. Tears of happiness, a day for celebration, that the hard work paid off. Across england, wales and Northern Ireland, the number of students getting top grades dipped slightly to 25. 5 . The overall pass rate though was the same as last year, at 97. 6 . And, for the first time, more girls took a science a level than boys. Now students have got their results, for those who want to go on to university, they have more choice and control than they ever have done before over what course they want to do and where they want to do it. Its a buyers market. And students here are taking advantage of all sorts of options for the future. Im going on to an apprenticeship in accountancy and audit in birmingham. I didnt want to walk out with a degree and not have any work experience. For me, the career i wanted i had to go to university, which, obviously, i dont mind. Kind of figure it out as i go along, maybe uni, maybe not. But i only want to go if its something im really interested in. In the College Student support centre, 0livia really wants to go to university but didnt get the grades. Im not good at exams. I stress myself out too much and dont do as well as i could do. Like many who have done better or worse than expected, record numbers are going through clearing. But with a dip in top grades, questions are being asked about standards. If you look at the reforms in both the a levels and btec qualifications, there have been quite a lot of changes, so we expected the number of as to come down but i dont believe that the standards are any less, in fact i think they are pretty rigorous. After phoning around, 0livia has been offered a place at the university of reading. 0ne happy ending following a day of mixed emotions across the country. Frankie mccamley, bbc news. Today was also the day that the first year of reforms, pushed through by michael gove when he was education secretary, for maths a level came into force. The coursework element was reduced, with more emphasis on a tougher final exam. 0verall passes were down, and one maths board paper was described by experts as being fiendishly difficult to do. One person whos seen that decel maths a level paper is laura mcinerney. Shes an education columnist at the guardian, and former editor of schools week. Laura joins us from live from east london. Thank you for speaking to les, you saw that paper. What was your impression . I actually had not seen the paper sorry about that, but i do know from speaking with the exam boards and what we saw throughout was it mustve been incredibly difficult, so the great boundaries, which is a score you have to get on the paper was lower than before, and although yes i had not seen the paper, it does tell us we know it was difficult and the pupils had been saying particularly depressed to questions i want the papers were fiendishly difficult. Did you get the impression that parents and students, how do you think they feel about being guinea pigs . Yes, its a lwa ys about being guinea pigs . Yes, its always a tricky one. The important thing to remember as no one was disadvantaged by being in the press group when it comes to the exam grades themselves. So in the first year of a new exam, students tend to do slightly worse and thats the reason that a gradient boundary scores drop, what we find every time the students get more confident and great to the exam regulator can take that into account and they make things more difficult in terms of scoring. He did this year, yes you may have had a tricky few years with fewer exa ms may have had a tricky few years with fewer exams available but megabytes and should not be disadvantaged. There was no af level paper this year. How did that go down . There is a possibility but it does not count in the final grade and what that means is students were in the past at the end of the first year getting at the end of the first year getting a grade, and if they did not do well they could go back reset the year again ordrop they could go back reset the year again or drop math altogether. The stu d e nts again or drop math altogether. The students have to go into their second year with great sitting in the books if you like. And thats why we think the Great Scoring has come down a little bit and that could be mustered into if they had a chance to revisit it may be better. Im sure you heard some of the reactions from kids today, its a big day for them. Many of the student said it what they learned in the classroom was part of the sylla bus the classroom was part of the syllabus didnt match the exam. Dont know if you had a chance to speak to teachers and what their feelings are . There are certainly have viewed that as the levels have gotten harderfor the have viewed that as the levels have gotten harder for the last few yea rs, gotten harder for the last few years, which as mentioned earlier was michael go than his time as the education secretary, and means children are learning more facts but not getting to use skills as well. 0n the other hand we have seen surveys a teacher is saying they think it prepares children while for the next stage, therefore although it could be a challenging and means children are learning more facts but not getting to you skills as well. 0n the other hand we have seen surveys of teachers saying they think it prepares children well for the next stage, therefore although it could be a challenging in the moment, making positive, english is divided on this, but the 90 to see that it could set students up for the future study. Greatness to come out this year at a level as it is at the number of girls taking that stand subjects as well. Yes more girls are taking science than boys. There are two caveats, one is that are more girls taking a levels all across in total, and thats because girls do substantially better at boys, and its getting wider. So we have more girls doing a level. The other thing is theres quite a drop in english, because of this. The girls typically fit english at higher rates and science of life and living across english camellia not seeing the boys moving across to ta ke seeing the boys moving across to take their play so we end up with quite an imbalanced workforce, maybe that will be good for some industries maybe not for others. Lara, ithink industries maybe not for others. Lara, i think of your time. Facial Recognition Systems being used in the development around kings cross train station are to be investigated by the uks Data Protection watchdog. The information commissioner Elizabeth Denham says the use of the technology should concern us all. The kings Cross Central Development is home to both kings cross and St Pancras International stations, as well as restaurants, shops and cafes. For griff ferris, who is the legal and policy officer at Civil Liberties and privacy campaigning organisation big brother watch, this Technology Comes as a concern, but not as a shock. I think its extremely concerning, but potentially not surprising, seeing we have seen the Police Forces in the uk lawlessly using this authoritarian Surveillance Technology for three years now. The fact that there has been no political Decision Making on politicians, mps have passed on over dealing with this for that entire period. We have been calling on them to take serious action and we called on the ico to take action on this over a year ago when we investigated the polices use of this Surveillance Technology. They had been looking into it, they had said, but so far we have yet to see concrete action from them. You would think Something Like a biometric data, because this is essentially what they are connecting, would be something sanctioned at state level. How is it that a private company is allowed to get away with it . Its massively intrusive. People collecting people plus plus facial biometrics people collecting peoples facial biometrics is at the same as collecting fingerprints or dna. And, yes, its being collected by private companies and police at large. There has been a complete lack of Political Engagement with this. We have been calling for an end to this lawless technology because there is no legal basis. We believe that it infringes peoples fundamental rights to privacy and freedom of expression. We had seen police use it against people with Mental Health problems, ethnic minorities, even political protests. So the fact that there is no law, it is completely lawless. And how easy is it for this to all go wrong . Why should we be worried . We should all be worried that when both police and private profiteering companies are able to use this intrusive Surveillance Technology, we have seen how it can be used against ethnic minorities, people with Mental Health problems. We have seen examples where innocent members of the public who have declined to be scanned by these cameras, and they had been stalked by the police, subjected to fines. How accurate is it . Its massively inaccurate. We have seen its about 95 inaccurate. There is this very serious issue around discrimination. 0k, very quickly, just how private is our privacy in a public space reality, the reality of it . We should be able to choose what information we give away, and the fact that these trials or this use of facial recognition has been going on and completely unbeknownst to us, completely secretly, covertly and the private companies are refusing to say how long its been going for at all, whats been done with our images, lets been done with our very sensitive biometric information, thats a very serious concern for all of us. At least 3 soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire between pakistani and Indian Military forces along the line of control which divides the disputed territory of kashmir. Meanwhile in the uk anti india protests have been held in birmingham and london with thousands turning out in support of the disputed kashmir region. Delhis decision to revoke indian administered kashmirs special status which guarantees a level of autonomy to the countrys only majority muslim state has provoked widespread anger. Chinas ambassador to the uk, liu xiaoming, has warned that beijing will intervene in hong kong if the situation there deteriorates further. He said the territory faced its gravest situation since it was handed back to china by britain two decades ago. The ambassadors warning follows pro democracy protests at hong kong airport which have sometimes turned violent. The headlines on bbc news. Drug deaths in england and wales have hit a record high, with around a0 people now dying every week from illicit substances. A seized iranian tanker held in gibraltar is to be released, despite a last minute plea by the us authorities. A level results are out the number of students getting the top grade drops to its lowest for more than a decade. Reality tv bosses have called for an independent regulator to decide whether or not people are fit to appear on reality tv. Speaking to the radio as media show, jonathan stadlen, who makes shows like gps behind closed doors said psychological tests should not be paid for by the people making the shows due conflict of interest. Youre at the mercy of whatever an assistant producer or a producer on duty at the time to think that this person need help. So i think we need independent bodies to try and help us decide whether people have the capacity to be added, and i do not think that body should be paid for by Production Companies because at the moment we are paying psychs to test people, but there is conflict of interest there because the people paying them are the people doing that. There is another thing quickly i want to say, i think people who have gone on Reality Television are much more vulnerable than contributors, mainly because they are not going out for special skills like soliciting or baking, they are saying judge me on my personality and if social media doesjudge them on personality, its a much harder thing to deal with, in the sense of the people do not like me for who i am. Jo hemmings is a behavioural psychologist who helps behind the scenes of tv shows by giving psychological advice and assessment to reality tv producers and contestants both during the selection procedure and the series. Shejoins me now. Thank you for speaking to us. How badly needed is this regulation . Well i think theres lots of confusion about care and reality to be, that we needed data and access made to edit contestant support and assessment, data aftercare. I think we need some sort of regulation for shows. Whether we need a separate regulatory body, im not convinced. I think part of what i do working with Production Companies is developing a relationship with series producers, so they perhaps understand where i am coming from if i have to say someone needs to be looked out for in a particular way or rejected. I think we are sort of slightly losing what we need to do right this minute, which is to get a very robust system of assessment and support and aftercare and place. Whats a red flag for you . Support and aftercare and place. Whats a red flag for you . A red flag could be something that came up on an assessment test that i sent out, it might be during a conversation, a call with the co ntesta nt, conversation, a call with the contestant, it could be something they say that i want to make a note of. Red flags are not are exactly that, something i want a Production Company to be aware of. But will not necessarily prohibit them from appearing on the show, obviously there are contestant to apply who simply would not be resilient enough or appropriate to appear on the show and thats a judgement call depending on the kind of show it is and the time it goes out and what is demanded at the contestant, whether its a daily shell ive edited our weekly. Those are all factors that need to be taken into account. There will be a lot of questions in terms of transparencies of who should pay for the psychological tests . Transparency is absolutely key, and thats why i do not think this conflict of interest, because i am andi conflict of interest, because i am and i hope my colleagues are transparent as well, and who do i think should pay for the task is not i think the broadcaster, the channel as opposed to Production Company because they are ultimately co mforta ble because they are ultimately comfortable culpable if anything goes wrong and there is any tragedy. Soi goes wrong and there is any tragedy. So i think its a broadcaster that should be ultimately responsible for paying for the past. There are questions around independence, but quickly, less a picture of reality tv that you think, you had an inside view on whats going on. Tv that you think, you had an inside view on whats going on. tv that you think, you had an inside view on whats going on. I think we need to take a great deal more care and selection process. In particularly, more care after the show has been broadcast. I think its been very does not look to it and death, the impact that coming out of the show has on contestant equally if not more than the time they appear. And i think its something we should concentrate on. Thank you very much. I look like a David Schwimmer has been jailed. A cctv image of abdulah husseini, 36, clutching a crate of beer went viral after Police Posted it in an appeal to trace him in october. Husseini used a stolen bank card to make or attempt to make fraudulent purchases in blackpool. He was jailed for nine months at Burnley Crown court. A case involving a christian bakery, which refused to make a cake with a slogan supporting same sex marriage, has been referred to the European Court of human rights. Gareth lee tried to order the cake at ashers bakery in belfast in may 201a but the company declined the order as it was at odds with its beliefs. Last year, the firm won its appeal at the uk supreme court, which ruled its actions were not discriminatory. British triathletesjess learmonth and Georgia Taylor browns were disqualified from the World Triathlon 0lympic qualification event in tokyo after crossing the finish line hand in hand. The race which took place in searing temperatures was awarded to learmonth on a photo finish but the pair were later deemed to have broken a race rule. The win was awarded to bermudas flora duffy. Back in 2016, an exhausted Jonny Brownlee was helped over the finish line by his brother alistair but the rule has subsequently changed to prohibit such assistance. Joining me now from wiltshire is Helen Webster editor of the sport magazine 220 triathlon. Thank you for speaking to us. What did you make of this story and this decision . Its been a very dramatic day in the world of triathlon, it happened overnight in uk time so we went to bed thinking its a fantastic result for great britain, they took first and second in this test event and then waking up this morning to a whole drama and then being disqualified. Now the rules that they are supposed to let infected which was upheld by governing committee has ruled 2. 11 point effort which is very specific, this is about finishing a race and a contrived type situation, so basically youre not allowed to cross the line together and make that happen. I think the triathlon while it is in some shock because from what we had seen, wanted to believe the best of these athletes, what we see is them having a fantastic race together, this great camaraderie and as they come down the finish line they hold hands and a great moment of celebration, cross the line together and everyone thinks its fantastic display of camaraderie, but sadly thats was not to be and this ruling has come into for us there but disqualified. Would they have been aware of the rule if its onlyjust recently into force . Rule if its onlyjust recently into force . Yeah, its a slightly different rule from what was brought in the previous 2016 situation. This really is about contriving to finish the race together. Its there in the regulation, so it is fairfor eve ryo ne regulation, so it is fairfor everyone to see. I think personally, we had seen this, and we think they just got slept in the moment and its so easy to have that happen in a race. You have this great race, and the finish line and your training together and they been together, so it wouldnt have it wouldve been hugely emotional. It speaks to the heat of the moment. Its speaks to the heat of the moment. Its a Beautiful Image have been coming across there. And reaching out to each other. Is that it then, are they out and how likely is an appeal to go in theirfavour . Are they out and how likely is an appeal to go in their favour . There is an appealand appeal to go in their favour . There is an appeal and place, we dont know which way itll go, they are getting lots of support on social media, that athletes are getting behind them, but whether that affects the Committee Hearing is like to be seen, they had delayed the plate best podiums of the metal ceremony will take place after tomorrow, so there sometime. But you know, we can only wait and see what happens. Helen, thank you. Now its time for a look at the weather with alina jenkins. Hello. After some sunshine today, there is more rain in the forecast tomorrow. While we start tonight with mainly dry and clear skies, cloud will build all the while in the west. Rain arriving into Northern Ireland, western scotland, western fringes of england and wales, as we head through the second half of the night. Temperatures not much lower than 15 celsius. Further east, they could drop to eight or nine. Especially for Eastern England and east anglia. Tomorrow, we had this area of low pressure to deal with, once again notice how isobars are close together. So its notjust wait, its quite windy as well. And rain and initially across scotland, Northern Ireland, western fringes of england and wales will slide east through the day. After a dry start, rain settles through the day turning dry and bright across scotland, Northern Ireland, by north of england albeit with blustery showers. Another windy day, gusts reaching a5 miles an hour. Southern and western coast, quite cool. Rain turns dry in the afternoon, temperatures 21 celsius. Hello, im karin giannone, this is 0utside source. Israel bars two us muslim congresswomen from entering the country. A move encouraged by president trump. The women have been critical of israel in the past, supporting a boycott over its treatment of palestinians. The latest twist in the row over a seized iranian supertanker, gibraltar orders the Immediate Release of grace one despite a us request not to. Russian pilots hailed as heros managing to safely land this airbus in a field after its engines were struck by a flock of birds. Translation we have just crashed

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