that happened when silken�*s responsible partner was, you guessed it, luther denis. when you look at the official documents stored here at companies house in cardiff, it looks like luther denis must be some sort of shipping magnate or serial entrepreneur. and he signs documents which give away the ultimate control to the real owners. that leaves a gaping loophole where companies house won't tell us who really owns these companies. to me, it's a shock that the government hasn't used the opportunity of the economic crime bill to close down every loophole of which it is aware. and it certainly is aware of this one and, frankly, really can't even be called a loophole. i mean, it's so wide you can drive an oil tanker through it. the government has the chance to close it down with this legislation. it's choosing not to. we asked luther denis to comment, but he declined to say anything publicly. alpha consulting told us... alpha consulting's involvement in uk based limited partnerships is limited to providing advice and assistance with registering, incorporating and structuring them in accordance with uk regulations. the management and operational decisions of these businesses remain the sole responsibility of those and clients and the individuals that run them. we have customer due diligence and anti—money laundering procedures in place which comply with laws set by the relevant regulatory authorities. the european union has now added the seychelles to its transparency blacklist. our partner at the seychelles broadcasting corporation challenged the regulator there on our findings. perhaps seychelles is being used as a way to circumvent those sanctions. the fsa's stance and position on sanctions is to ensure that seychelles, as a financial services centre, is not abused or used by any nefarious characters, or criminals or people who might be evading sanctions to basically continue what they're doing. so it's something that we take very seriously. the department for business and trade told us its economic crime bill would make it easier for companies house to tackle rogue agents and de—register illegitimate, limited partnerships and to challenge and remove suspicious information. but anti—money laundering experts say the uk is still wide open to dirty money. we all know what it's like. you know, take your passport, take your utility bill, take whatever to get a basic bank account. and yet the government itself doesn't follow its own rules. it allows anybody to come along and put their name on a a bit of paper. well, away you go, you've now got a company. you can go and trade anywhere in the world. everyone thinks, "oh, it's a british company, it's fine." and we're facilitating global corruption, money laundering and all sorts of other crimes. it is a disgrace. farfrom forcing bad actors into the open, our evidence exposes a gaping hole in the uk's financial defences which the government's failed to fix. as a result, suspected criminals and even members of putin's inner circle could still use uk firms to facilitate illegal activity in secret as if nothing's changed, without any fear of exposure to the light. that's all from us tonight. mark's back tomorrow. until then, goodnight. breaking news from around the world, 24 breaking news from around the world, 2a hours a day — this is bbc news. the first coins to be struck include the one pound featuring british bees, the 5 pence featuring an oak leaf, and the 50p featuring an atlantic salmon. the first of the new coins are expected to enter circulation at the end of the month. you're live with bbc news. the former head of nhs england, lord simon stevens, has told the covid inquiry that during the pandemic the former health secretary, matt hancock, thought he should decide who should live and who should die if the health service became overwhelmed. lord stevens said it was fortunate that what he described as the "horrible dilemma" never crystallised. here's our health editor, hugh pym. february 2020, sporting fixtures taking place with crowds present and limited public awareness of coronavirus. an individual secretary of state, other than in the most exceptional circumstances, should be deciding how care would be provided. lord stevens also said he'd seen no evidence for accusations at the inquiry that mr hancock was untruthful. the timing of lockdowns was also discussed with the top civil servant at the department of health at the time, and still in post, saying they'd come too late, including the second in november. if you're going to have a lockdown, which we did, it would have been it would have been much better to do it earlier, in my view — i wasn't the decision taker, but in my view — than when we did in november. matt hancock will give his version of events at the inquiry in a few weeks�* time. hugh pym, bbc news. let's take a look at some other stories in the headlines. on friday, hong kong will become the first asian city to host the gay games. athletes from 45 countries are expected to participate in the sporting event. the games, which aim to promote diversity and equality through sport, are a cause for concern for some hong kong politicians. they say the games are a threat to security and traditional chinese values. relatives of the jailed iranian rights activist and nobel peace prize winner, narges mohammadi, say she is being denied urgently needed medical treatment for refusing to wear a hijab. they say ms mohammadi is suffering from heart and lung conditions but has been refused a hospital transfer. britain's prime minister, rishi sunak, says he believes the first global ai summit that's just been held in the uk, will "tip the balance in favour of humanity" with an agreement from some governments and tech firms to work together to test the safety of new ai model. today, the world's richest man, elon musk, has been discussing the future of ai with mr sunak. mr musk has warned that artificial intelligence may give rise to humanoid robots that could turn against us. our political editor, chris mason, reports now on the ai summit at bletchley park. the world of artificial intelligence. i'm standing in front of a picture of parliament, a real picture of parliament. but here is the twist. if we zoom out, this technology, ai, has the capacity — of its own accord — to fill in the blanks. now, i can tell you, that is not what parliament actually looks like, but it is believable. and we can also choose what to add, so how about we spruce up this place? well, we could add a flower bed, for instance. and the possibilities are endless. this is just a very small example of the power of this technology, being discussed a few stops away from here, in buckinghamshire. some reckon artificial intelligence will mean another another industrial revolution — shaking up the workplace, health care, education — but the focus here at bletchley park, once the home of the world war ii codebreakers, is on the potentially massive risks ai poses to us all if computers can design new diseases or weapons. the prime minister's invited folk from around the world, the un secretary—general and the vice president of the united states among them. the late stephen hawking once said, "ai is likely to be the best or worst thing to happen to humanity". if we can sustain the collaboration that we've fostered over these last two days, i profoundly believe that we can make it the best. the world is still working out what on earth to do about al, what international rules might be needed. some say the technology has in—built problems already, but the government has said it won't rush to regulate. i think that that's wrong. i think there's plenty of evidence of the risks and the harms that are happening here and now to people, and the government should be regulating right now and could be moving faster, if it had the political will to do so. rishi sunak reckons ai can help grow the economy overall, but where will it leave ourjobs? do leaders need to be more candid about the consequences of ai revolutionising workplaces — bluntly, potentially, putting lots of people out of work? we should look at al much more as a co—pilot than something that necessarily is going to replace someone�*s job. you know, ai is a tool that can help almost everybody do theirjobs better, faster, quicker, but that does mean jobs can change. technology has long been revolutionary. this next wave, ai, terrifies some, excites others. chris mason, bbc news, at bletchley park. it's been more than 60 years since the beatles released their first single, but today, they've released another one. it's called "now and then" and based on demo vocals john lennon recorded in 1978 — with the song finally completed last year. let's have a listen. # now and then # i miss you # 0h, now and then # i want you to be there for me.# earlier, i spoke to katy tessler, who teaches a masters on the beatles at liverpool university, to hear what she made of the song. i think it's a really fitting and a really lovely way to mark this point of departure in the beatles recorded music career. the beatles' recorded music career. can you explain to us how this song came about when it was written, can you explain to us how this song came about, when it was written, how it was recorded and so on? sure. this is originally a john lennon song, and it was something he had written in that period when he and yoko had gotten back together again. so, if you listen to the lyrics on one level, they're very much about his life with yoko and their relationship, and at this point they're raising their son sean. and it's reallyjust this idea that i wouldn't be where i am without you now and without you then. but in a second level, you can sort of almost understand it as a message to paul mccartney as well. and certainly, if you think about it as crossing over space and time, i think it's a very poignant song. but in terms of the actual production, john recorded it on a demo recording cassette back in around 1977 or 1978, and it sat in a drawer for years and years. and then, in the �*90s, when the beatles were putting together the anthology project, yoko found this tape and gave it to paul and george and ringo and said, "if you want to work on it, by all means do." and that cassette had three songs on it — free as a bird, real love and now and then. and at the time, they got free as a bird and real love into the studio and got it into shape. they felt they could release a singles, but now and then, the quality wasn't quite good enough at the time and they decided not to release it. and paul mccartney has had it all these years, ever since. and now the technology that's emerged has enabled them to really isolatejohn�*s voice and bring it to the fore. and if you listen to the song, his voice is certainly the biggest and most prominent feature, and it really is quite haunting when you hear it. but that's how it came together. of course, the beatles has older fans, but also younger fans as well. what do you think this song will do to its legacy? i think what this song does in its release now is give fans in the 21st century the opportunity to really experience what it would have been like in the �*60s, to have a new beatles release, the opportunity to go into a record shop, for instance, and buy the single. and it also gives us a chance to say goodbye to the beatles in a more gentle way, in a way that in 1970, when they broke up, of course, they were four angry young men and they really weren't getting on. and what this song allows us to do is see through the eyes of 80—year—olds paul mccartney and ringo starr as they look back, especially as they're able to work with two of their friends who they've lost. and it really becomes a much more gentle and natural and organic ending to the beatles' recorded music career. so, i think in terms of their legacy, what this will do is help us to remember the beatles a little bit more fondly, especially at the end of it. that's it for this show, thanks so much for watching. hello there. storm ciaran brought some disruption and damage to the far south of england, and certainly through the channel. the channel islands bearing the brunt of the storm. friday, though, looks a lot quieter. we've seen the back of the storm now. it will remain quite blustery and we'll see sunshine and showers, but a lot more sunshine around than what we've had of late. there it is, storm ciaran continuing to fill and weaken in the north sea. it's still influencing our weather enough to bring us another blustery day, certainly across more northern and eastern areas. and it's here where we'll see most of the showers or longer spells of rain — northern, eastern scotland. elsewhere, sunny spells, scattered showers, the odd heavy, maybe thundery one, but we'll see some lengthy sunny spells around in places. but the winds quite fresh coming in from the west or the northwest. temperature—wise, generally be around 10—13 degrees, but it'll feel a bit chillier with the strength of the breeze. as we head through friday evening and overnight, we hold on to some further showers across scotland. but elsewhere, lengthy, clear skies before the next frontal frontal system starts to work its way from the south west, to work its way from the southwest, bringing some rain, southwest england and wales, so temperatures recovering here. otherwise, it's pretty chilly elsewhere — low single figures. now, this feature once again will be impacting france in the biscay area more. it looks like, for england and wales. winds will be lighter, but the weather front could bring some very unwelcome rainfall. some of the rainfall could be quite heavy. could be quite heavy, so a wet morning saturday for large parts of england and wales. skies brightening up though across the south behind it, but a scattering of heavy, maybe thundery showers continuing here, with more of a breeze. far north of england, scotland, northern ireland having a pretty decent day. sunny spells, a few showers and generally temperatures in the low teens at best. that area of low pressure pushes through again, the low countries into the north sea. and then we're in a run of west—northwesterly winds, but we're in between weather systems on sunday. so, certainly part two of the weekend, at this stage, does look better. in fact, many central, southern and eastern parts of england and scotland will stay dry all day, with sunny spells continuing. most of the showers will be peppering western coasts, the odd heavier one. but at least there'll be plenty of sunshine around, temperatures 10—13 degrees. monday and tuesday next week look pretty decent with quite a bit of sunshine around, but thereafter, looks like it could turn a bit more unsettled once again. see you later. this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines at the top of the hour as newsday continues, straight after hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i'm stephen sackur and this is manchester, a british city which profited enormously from the exploitative economics of empire. it also attracted many migrants from that empire who came to settle here. my guest today is the renowned british artist, lubaina himid. now, her roots are a mix of industrial lancashire and zanzibar. she made her name in the black arts movement of the 1980s. she was the first black woman to win the prestigious turner prize. so what does her career tell us about race and culture in modern britain? lubaina himid, welcome to hardtalk.