Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20240714

At the rugby world cup. And coming up, dateline london reflects on what was another momentous week in westminster. That is in half an hour here on bbc news. Good morning. Downing street has reacted angrily after borisjohnson was referred to the Police Watchdog over his friendship with an american businesswoman. The independent office for Police Conduct will look at whether a criminal investigation should be launched into allegations thatJennifer Arcuri was given favourable treatment, including financial grants, when mrjohnson was mayor of london. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Daniel Sandford reports. Come to london. Build your businesses here. The mayor of london supports you. The american tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri received £11,500 sponsorship for events run by her company innotech from organisations linked to borisjohnsons office while he was mayor of london. She then went on three overseas trade missions with borisjohnson all of which shed originally been turned down for. The bbc has spoken to several people who were on the trips. They said Jennifer Arcuri seemed out of place, as her companies were less substantial than those of other participants. Borisjohnsons office intervened to make sure that she got on one of the trips to tel aviv, though she paid her own way. Ilike it its brilliant the allegations of Improper Conduct were originally made in the sunday times and have been looked at by the Greater London Authority Monitoring officer this week. Shes now decided to ask the Police Watchdog, the independent office for Police Conduct, to assess whether borisjohnson should be investigated for the criminal offence of misconduct in public office. The iopc are involved because, as mayor of london, borisjohnson was also in charge of londons metropolitan police. I really think there are so many more important issues like putting more police on our streets, increasing funding for schools. All of these things are the kind of issues that my constituents and the general public want us to focus on. Ijust do not believe that this complaint is the issue that it is being made out to be in the media this morning. The Prime Minister has vigorously denied the allegations. A senior government source said the referral to the iopc was a nakedly political put up job. Daniel sandford, bbc news. Jeremy corbyn is to commit a future Labour Government to scrapping universal credit the conservatives flagship welfare reform which merges six benefits into one. In a speech in north london, he will describe it as cruel and inhumane and say it needs to be replaced with a system which treats people with dignity and respect. Our political correspondent, nick eardley is here. Interesting timing. Why did they not announce this at Party Conference . suspect they would have liked to announce it at conference but they couldnt because it was truncated by events at westminster and Jeremy Corbyns speech of course most of the policy was taken out of it because they were worried it would because they were worried it would be overshadowed by the Supreme Court decision. But this is something labour have been edging towards for some time. There was originally some welcome for the idea of streamlining the benefit system under universal credit. But as we know it has been beset by problems over some people not getting enough money or some people not getting the money quickly enough. Labour is now calling for quite a radical change. The first thing they would do is to scrap the benefit cap and two child limit on benefits. But then in time they would also get rid of the system of universal credit completely. Have a listen to the shadow work and pensions secretary. Were going to be scrapping universal credit and going to be replacing it with a Social Security system that has respect at its heart and that tackles poverty. Because everywhere universal credit has been rolled out, weve seen very serious problems. Weve seen people going into debt, people going into rent arrears. Some people even facing eviction as a result of it. We think the system really is too flawed and it has to be scrapped. What labour is not saying is exactly what it would replace it with however. And even some of universal credits main critics in the other parties think that you are better to reform the system rather than replace it completely. So i think there will be a lot of questions for Jeremy Corbyn on exactly how he is going to set up a completely new benefit system. Just before we move on to what might be coming up this week, what is the politics of wanting to scrap universal credit . Are they trying to shore up their core vote . Are they trying to shore up their core vote . I think quite frankly the labour party thinks it is beyond redemption. They have been promising a lot of bold economic changes over the last couple of weeks or so, including at the conference. And there are some in the party who just think that this system cannot be salvaged and they need to come up with something radically different. For example, they want to replace the department for work and pensions with the department of Social Security. So for the labour party moving in that direction of helping benefit claimants rather than the conservative position which was pushing them in the direction of work. Absolutely. Well, this week, we have heard today the snp talking up we have heard today the snp talking up the likelihood of a vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson. Up the likelihood of a vote of no confidence in borisjohnson. How likely is that really . Because the opposition is so divided arent they . There seems to be an increase in prospect but it is not a guarantee yet. So the snp quite frankly are increasingly worried that they have not done enough to block or no deal brexit. They hope that legislation would be enough but among the opposition parties there is concern that borisjohnson might be prepared to move beyond that and go ahead with no deal anyway. We heard this morning from the snp who was asked specifically what chance ofa was asked specifically what chance of a vote this week . I believe that is and we have to do that because there is no confidence that the Prime Minister will obey the law and seek the extension which parliament voted for a few weeks ago. And certainly his performance the other evening, when he was asked explicitly what he do that, he said no. Now, that is incredibly disturbing that a Prime Minister is even giving the impression that he might not obey the law. And that is obviously a key concern for many as we look towards the end of october. But in terms of installing some sort of transition government if there was a vote of no government, labour and the snp do not have the numbers to putJeremy Corbyn in do they . What is the likelihood of some sort of alternative coalition coming together . Youre right they are some way off a majority for a Jeremy Corbyn lead man. Chucked out of the party by borisjohnson for not obeying the party, they are not on board either. I think this is designed to put pressure on opposition parties to come up with a strategy, lock them in a room and say if it is notJeremy Corbyn tell us say if it is notJeremy Corbyn tell us who it is, we will thrash that out. Labour have never quite conclusively said that they wont sign up to something that doesnt putJeremy Corbyn in number ten for a few days before calling an general election. There is a big meeting of opposition leaders on monday and i think that will start to feel a bit like crunch time for this idea, to figure out whether or not they can come up with a plan they all agree on. So whetherJeremy Corbyn can beasts seem to look slightly statesman like by allowing a broader coalition to go through, that could bea coalition to go through, that could be a plan couldnt it . I want to touch on what else is coming up next week. Starting tomorrow the tory Party Conference. It will be interesting if borisjohnsons speech was interrupted by vote of no confidence. It would be indeed. We have already heard there are plans in place to ferry mps down the road from manchester if the opposition do try to spring some sort of vote on the government next week. The conservative party is going to be adamant over the next few days it is about more than brexit. Today for example it is announcing investment in electric cars, it is announcing banning long journeys to slaughter for animals. It is saying look, we have policies beyond brexit but be in no doubt brexit is going to dominate and Boris Johnson in no doubt brexit is going to dominate and borisjohnson knows that if he is going to stay Prime Minister he has to come up with a plan. And they are the moment cannot deliver anything can they because brexit is using up all the energy and time and they dont have a majority. Absolutely. You have a unique situation at the moment where you have a government that has lost control but at the same time you have an opposition which isnt quite sure that it can get what it wants evenif sure that it can get what it wants even if it passes things in parliament. So a really unique time for the british constitution. And the truth is, no matter what anyone tells you, nobody is quite sure how it is going to end up. No, other thanit it is going to end up. No, other than it is going to be very busy. Leading democrats in congress have made their first demand for documents in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The secretary of state, mike pompeo, has been ordered to hand over ukraine related material within a week. The us special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, has resigned. Our north america correspondent, david willis, reports. Donald trump is defiant and lashing out on his preferred medium, twitter. Taking aim at the man who will play a key role in his impeachment hearings, the democratic chairman of the house intelligence committee, adam schiff. Of him, the president said. The whistle blower who revealed details of his telephone conversation with ukraines president , volodymyr zelenskiy, mr trump has branded a partisan operative. Yet the whistle blowers account of events has proved uncannily accurate, not only about the contents of the telephone call but attempts by the white house to cover them up. They have now confirmed that a transcript of the call was moved to a more secure server. As the democrats impeachment inquiry gathers pace, today saw the first subpoena to the secretary of state, mike pompeo, demanding documents relating to contacts between members of his staff and the government of ukraine. Committee members also said they had scheduled depositions from five state department officials, among them the former Us Ambassador to the ukraine, marie yovanovitch, who was recalled over policy disagreements with President Trump. And the us special envoy to ukraine, kurt volker, who is said to have helped President Trumps personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, set up meetings there with government officials. Shortly after the news of the depositions was announced, mr volker resigned from his job at the state department. President trumps reaction to the impeachment inquiry continues to veer from anger to incredulity. The witchhunt continues. But they are getting hit hard on this witchhunt because when they look at the information, it is a joke. Impeachment for that . Yet the pressure is growing from outside congress as well as within. More than 300 former Us National Security officials from both republican and democratic administrations have endorsed the impeachment inquiry, saying they want to know the facts. Events are moving quickly here, with some democrats predicting that articles of impeachment could be ready to be voted on by the end of november. David willis, bbc news, los angeles. Its the fifth most common cancer in the uk and in the most serious cases it can kill within a matter of months. But researchers say two drugs which target the immune system have improved survival rates for advanced melanoma a skin cancer once regarded as untreatable. A Clinical Trial showed half of patients were living for five years and some are in complete remission. Professorjames larkin from the Royal Marsden foundation was involved in the Clinical Trials. This is a trial involving people with melanoma that has spread around the body. And we actually started the body. And we actually started the trial about five years ago and in the trial, basically, the people who went into it had three different potential options. One was to get one immunotherapy drug, another one was to get another immunotherapy drug and then the third option was to get the two together. What we are presenting today is the results after five years, which, presenting today is the results afterfive years, which, as presenting today is the results after five years, which, as you said, have shown that 52 of people who have the two immunotherapy drugs together are alive at five years. And that is on a background of the disease that ten years ago there was really no effective drug treatment at all and average Life Expectancy for people ten years ago with this disease was probably between six to nine months. Theres been a series of attacks in a number of afghanistan cities, as president ial elections got underway across the country. Security forces are on high alert, after the taliban vowed to attack polling stations. 16 people are reported to have been injured in an explosion in the Southern City of kandahar, and several more wounded in a blast in the Northern Province of kunduz. And at least five bombs went off in the eastern city of jalalabad, killing at least one person. Those explosions have happened despite the government deploying tens of thousands of security personnel to protect polling stations across the country. The main candidates, incumbent president ashraf ghani and the chief executive Abdullah Abdullah have managed to cast their votes. More than nine Million People are expected to vote in this election. There are 16 candidates, including former warlords, ex spies and members of the countrys former communist government. Im joined now by afzal ashraf a consultant fellow at the Royal United Services institute rusi. He served in afghanistan as an Inter Security adviser to the minister of interior. Thanks forjoining us. In terms of what has happened today, obviously, already some violence and these elections take place under that threat of attack by the taliban. Yes, they do. And this is the situation that has been, broadly speaking, in place in the last three oi speaking, in place in the last three orfour speaking, in place in the last three or four elections and what we now haveis or four elections and what we now have is an Even Stronger Security Threat simply because the taliban wa nt to threat simply because the taliban want to send out a message of disapproval. And their disapproval is the fact that they had agreed a peace deal with the us and the us withdrew at the last minute. And they want to reinforce the point that they are, in their minds, the most important organisation in the country and that these elections are not going to be a success until they get the peace deal that they want. We have seen already one of the contenders a former warlord, who is also running for this, claiming that his key rivals are trying to rig the polls. I mean, is the public broadly in afghanistan going to have confidence that these elections are going to be carried out freely and fairly or not . I dont think so. There have been some very strong allegations in the past with some backing in reality. I think this year probably much more so. People have mocked the election system in saying that we dont have a president , we have a mayor of campbell. And what we will probably see this year is an even more localised degree of elections. There will be elections in the main city kabul and some other areas but the bulk of the population will probably be prevented from voting. And those that manage to vote, there are some very serious allegations of rigging and so on, which there is nothing this year to believe, or in this particular election, to believe it has been sorted out. So i think there will be a lot of cynicism nevertheless. What do you think is the key factor in the fact that afghanistan is still in such difficult straits . Well, the key factor is that within the country there is no unity of purpose. There isa there is no unity of purpose. There is a great deal of corruption. The system in place, which have actually fundamentally democratic, they have an egalitarian system of government, they elected their own king over 200 yea rs they elected their own king over 200 years ago, those systems have been broken down by the invasion and the country has become polarised between the so called islamist movements such as the taliban, the warlords, who were in power during the soviet invasion, by the us, and now we have this type of Organisation Led by people like the president , who at too small, to make a difference. And so too small, to make a difference. And soi too small, to make a difference. And so i think we are really not going to get anything democratic or reflective of the people until the security situation is sorted out and that relies on this agreement between the us, the taliban and the government in kabul. And that i think is back in the doldrums. We thought we had some success a few weeks ago but less President Trump decides to resurrect it, i think we will have to look forward to afghanistan been one of the most bloody places on the planet. Recent reports have indicated more people are dying in afghanistan through violence than even in syria and iraq. Afzal ashraf, violence than even in syria and iraq. Afzalashraf, thank violence than even in syria and iraq. Afzal ashraf, thank you very much for coming today. The headlines on bbc news a a politically motivated attack downing street reacts angrily as borisjohnson is referred to the Police Watchdog over his links to an american businesswoman when he was mayor of london. The labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn promises to replace the governments controversial welfare policy, universal credit, should they get into power. Renewed pressure on the Trump Administration over its dealings with ukraine the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is ordered by democrats to turn over documents connected to the impeachment investigation. Protesters in hong kong are holding a rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the so called umbrella protests. This is the scene there live now. The original series of pro democracy demonstrations took place in 2014 with protestors carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from Police Pepper spray. The movement has surged again this year with Anti Government protests. More rallies are due to be held over the weekend, as protesters continue their calls for political change. The broadcasting regulator ofcom says it is assessing comments made by the bbc presenter Naga Munchetty following tweets by President Trump in july. She was speaking on bbc breakfast after President Trump called for four non white congresswomen to go back to their countries. The bbc received a complaint and ruled that naga was entitled to comment about her own experience of racism but she should not have speculated about the president s motives as that breached impartiality. Ofcom says it has now received complaints about the broadcast and it is assessing whether a full invesigation is necessary. More than half of british holidaymakers affected by the collapse of thomas cook have returned to the uk. The Civil Aviation authority said 76,000 people have flown home in the last five days since the Tour Operator went into administration. Operation matterhorn is repatriating over 150,000 people with the majority expected to be back in the uk by the end of next week. Skin lightening creams act like biological paint stripper and should be avoided at all costs thats the stark warning from the local government association. Seizures of whitening creams sold by rogue retailers online, in market stalls and in some shops showed that many contained hydroquinone which strips off the top layer of skin, and is illegal in the uk unless prescribed by a doctor. Sport and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre. Not a happy morning for you, holly it has been watching from behind my fingers kind of morning we start with the rugby world cup, and a shock defeat for ireland beaten byjapan in their second group match in shizuoka, in what was a stunning comeback from the hosts. Ireland took an early lead Gary Ringrose crossing the line early into the first half before rob kearney but japan tightened the gap with three penalty kicks before the break, followed by this deserved effort from kenki fukuoka as the host nation took the lead. Yu tamuras penalty made it 19 12, as japan made history to beat ireland for the first time and make it two wins from two and move to the top of their group. More bad news for ireland jack conans world cup is over, he broke his foot in training earlier in the week. Earlier, argentina picked up a bonus point as they beat tonga 28 12. All their four tries came in the first half withjulian montoya scoring three. Argentina are now second in pool c, behind leaders england who they play next saturday in tokyo. In the days other game, south africa are currently leading namibia 24 3. To the athletics world championships, where the womens marathon started at midnight local time. But with temperatures of 32 degrees celsius and humidity reaching over 70 , 28 of the 68 starters withdrew in the gruelling conditions briton Charlotte Purdue among them. Organisers decided to go ahead with the race where kenyas Ruth Chepngetich went on to win in in two hours 32 minutes 43 seconds 15 minutes slower than the world record. It wasnt just the marathon that was affected. This isjonathan busby of aruba he was competing in the mens 5000 metre heats, and he was in serious trouble. Helping him across the line was braima dabo of guinea bissau. Busby was ok in the end he even had time to stop his watch so how are the british athletes faring in these conditions . Well, so far so good for Shelayna Oskan Clarke and Alexandra Bell who are into todays semi finals of the womens 800m. But there was huge disapointment for the former european champion lynsey sharp, who failed to qualify. She finished fourth the top three went through and she wasnt quick enough to get a fastest loser spot. Sharp had been touted as a medal contender in a depleted field this year, in the absence of the defending champion caster semenya. Eight matches in the premier league today. The days early kick off sees liverpool travel to promoted sheffied united. The european champions have a 100 record in the league so far. Sheffield united have had a good start to their first season back in the top flight since 2007, and liverpool manager jurgen klopp is wary. We just want to go to sheffield and make their life as uncomfortable as possible. That is the plan. Maybe we are considered as a top team but we do not want to behave like a top team, playing, if possible yes, but fighting like a proper challenger. That is it because i do not see any reason why there should be any advantage for sheffield apart from playing in their own stadium. Britains nicola adams has retained her wbo world flyweight title after a split decision draw in her historic fight against maria salinas. After becoming the first female boxers to fight at the royal albert hall, the pair were closely matched. Afterwards the two time olympic champion admitted she was a bit ring rusty after a year out and offered the mexican a rematch. Thats all the sport for now. Now for the weather with alina jenkins. Hello. Whilst there is some sunshine in the forecast this weekend, there is also further wet and windy weather, particularly across england and wales, through this evening, overnight and into tomorrow. Some heavy rain falling onto already saturated ground, so we could see some flooding in places. Gales too, so the potential for some travel disruption. And its all tied in with this bank of cloud in the atlantic, heading its way towards us. Thats associated with an area of low pressure and its frontal systems. And we have another area of low pressure to the north east of the uk, pulling away through this morning, still bringing some outbreaks of rain across the eastern side of scotland and Northern England. That will slowly start to pull away, and behind it most of us will see some spells of sunshine. Still a scattering of showers, they could become a little bit more frequent through the day across northern parts of wales, into the midlands, the far south of Northern England, ahead of our heavy rain arriving into the south west approaches later on this afternoon. The winds will be strengthening here as well, becoming quite gusty. Elsewhere, a fairly breezy day, lighter winds across scotland and northern ireland. And temperatures generally in the mid to high teens, locally up to 20 celsius across east anglia and south east england. Turning wet and windy initially across South West England and wales through this evening and overnight, that then extends its way north and eastwards, perhaps as far north as southern scotland by the time we get to the early hours. The strongest of the winds will be across central southern england and wales, where you could see those gusts touching 50 mph in places. Its a very mild night across much of england and wales temperatures here not much lower than 13 or 1a celsius. A little bit cooler across scotland and northern ireland. Still quite wet through tomorrow across Northern England and the midlands, that rain slowly starting to pull away north and eastwards. To the north and south of this, some spells of sunshine, a scattering of showers, particularly across england and wales, but not too bad a day for much of scotland and northern ireland. But a cooler feeling day here and starting to feel colder too across Northern England, particularly where that rain is slow to clear. That rain does pull away north and eastwards through tomorrow evening, but notice the squeeze in the isobars so once again some windy conditions, particularly across central and southern england, where those gusts still touching 50 mph for a time. That system pulls away into the north sea as we go through monday. Behind it, something drier and brighter for many before our next atlantic system approaches as we go through monday afternoon. So still unsettled to start next week. Things looking drier but colder through the middle part of the week. Bye bye. Hello, and welcome to dateline london. Im carrie gracie. This week, the peoples republic of china marks its 70th anniversary. Who is celebrating, who is not . And britains Top Court Rules against the british government, triggering another torrid week in westminster. My guests today David Aaronovitch of the london times. Vincent magombe of africa international, chinese writer diane wei liang, and john fisher burns, veteran of the new york times. Communist china is 70 this week. Beijing is decked in red flags, all rehearsed and ready for a giant military parade. But because the communist party does not like spontaneity at big moments, many things have been banned including kites, balloons and pigeons. At 70, there is much for the peoples republic to celebrate. Under xijinping, it has outlived and outperformed the predictions of many and now looks more united and invincible than at any point in its history. Or does it . Diane . 70 years. It has been a long journey for china. I would take it into two parts, the first 30 years, and that is very much under mao, and then the last a0 years. The first 30, china was one of the poorest countries in the world