Hello, youre watching afternoon live im simon mccoy. Today at 2pm. Two us airbases in iraq are targeted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general soleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. As President Trump tweets that there were no casualties and that all is well, borisjohnson warns iran not to retaliate further. We of course condemn the attack on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. Wade mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three from the uk. The number of homicides
in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with olly foster. The Football Association is under pressure to review its broadcasting deals, thats after a betting company streamed fa cup matches live over the weekend. All the details coming up. Thanks and darren has the weather. Much colder today across the northern half of the uk but not as windy as it was yesterday. The next few days will see some rain and some stronger winds. We will look at that later and also an update on the forecast in australia. Thanks, darren. Also coming up. Staying with that. After a brief respite firefighters in australia are preparing for more dangerous conditions, with temperatures expected to rise again by the end of the week. Hello, everyone this is afternoon live im simon mccoy. Two us airbases in iraq have been hit by more than a dozen Ballistic Missiles fired from iran. Iranian state television said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of general Qasem Soleimani, in a us airstrike last week. The missiles targeted two air bases in irbil in the north of iraq, and al asad, west of the capital baghdad. The attack took place about 2am local time. In all, 22 missiles were fired, though two did not explode. ani the ministry of defence says there have been no british casualties and President Trump tweeted overnight that all was well and said damage was being assessed. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Landale reports. On and on they came, one missile after another, soaring high into the iranian night sky. More than 20 in all, their destination two American Military bases in iraq. Direct
retaliation, the iranians say, for the us a nation of their general Qasem Soleimani. The attack covered closely by the iranian tv was launched in the early hours in these pictures appear to show the moment of impact. Most of the missiles were aimed at the al asad airbase in the west of iraq, the others in the north. So far there has been no confirmation of any casualties. In tehran, at a publicised meeting, they shouted god is great and death to america as the countrys Supreme Leader told them that us had been given a slap on the face, but he suggested this was not the end of it. Translation military action like this is not sufficient. What is important is ending the corrupting presence of america in the region. But iran has met foreign minister insisted iran had included what he described as proportionate measures in self defence in line with un
rules. We did not start this process of escalation, the United States waged an economic war against iran. The presence of iranian people in the streets of many cities, unprecedented in the history, a sea of humanity, has to bring to the United States to its senses. On the streets of tehran, the missile strikes were welcome but will people feel it was enough to avenge the death of general soleimani . The attack was limited in scope and iraq said it had been warned in advance it was coming. The question now is how President Trump, here shown visiting the al asad bass in 2018, will respond. In a tweet, he appeared keen to avoid further escalation. All is well, he said. But it is not only us targets that are in iranians sites will stop israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Neta nyahu promised to israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu promised to hit back hard against any attack on his country. Translation we stand with the resolution and strength. Whoever tries to attack us will be dealt the strongest blow. In his first Public Comments about the crisis since returning from holiday, the Prime Minister condemned the missile strikes. But what i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. I think we are having a great deal of success we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a European Response and in bridging that European Response with that of course of our american friends and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. Last nights general soleimani was finally buried at his home town in iran. The question now is whether irans show of force will be seen as enough to avenge his death and draw
a line under this latest confrontation between iran and the us. James landale, bbc news. Our middle east editor jeremy bowen gave us the latest from the iraqi capital baghdad. Even if this is the beginning of the end of the crisis caused by the assassination, the long term conflict between iran and the us continues to edge towards war. And that process wont stop without some kind of diplomacy leading to a political deal. There seemed to be one back in 2015 when they signed the iran nuclear agreement, but President Trump pulled out of that a couple of years ago and since then this crisis has grown and grown. There remains a really serious danger of war. Video on social media seemed to show missiles striking him at the us base in western iraq. This remains one of the worlds most dangerous and unstable conflicts. Here, the Prime Minister has spoken publicly for the first time about the events in iran. At the start of Prime Ministers questions, borisjohnson gave his reaction to the attacks overnight wheee, of course, condemned the attack on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. We can speak now to the conservative mp crispin blunt, former chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs select committee, he joins us from westminster. Just picking up on what Boris Johnson had to say. What are the hopes that it will come down now . |j appear hopes that it will come down now . appear with your i agree that it appears it will come down now. There is no vision that it will escalate further. The iranians have made
their point in response to the killing of general soleimani and there is no need for either side to ta ke there is no need for either side to take it further. But we heard in the contribution of ayatollah how many ayatollah khamenei, and we talked about the corrupting influence of america in the region, and we now have to put our attention on the corrupting influence on the Republican Guard corps in iran supporting what many shear muslims regard as a heretical and iran that they are exposing by their consumption of resources and the way they are spreading corruption in that region. There is an opportunity here and we have to stay the course in iraq because probably most people in iraq because probably most people in iraq do not want to find themselves under the baleful influence of the Republican Guard corps from iran. Do you regard that
as fact because it is clearly quite clear there are those in iraq that people are saying of this are the future we are not sure we want this to be the way things go. There is the beginning in iraq of the emergence of new political identities. People dont want to be pigeonholed into what particular sect they belong to decide what their politics are. And we have got to support the emergence of those political movements that move beyond simply saying whether somebody is shear or sony or kurdish, simply that sunni. That that makes up their identity. If we abandon the field now under the threat of the consequences of this last couple of days, we will be doing a grave disservice to the majority of iraqis who want a future free from corruption with a Justice System that works properly for them, and a
functioning economy that uses the great resources of iraq for the benefits of its citizens. How irreleva nt benefits of its citizens. How irrelevant is the uk in all of this, we just punching beyond irrelevant is the uk in all of this, wejust punching beyond our weight . No, we are part of an International Coalition but our commitment to the region, the fact that we are prepared to put not only Hard Military power on the line but also we are in effect a development superpower, because of the 0. 7 of ourgdp superpower, because of the 0. 7 of our gdp that we put into development, we put real money and real resources in all the fields at our disposal, and we obviously have long experience of the region, all of that to be drawn on in our relations with our international partners, such as germany and the United States and france, where we basically share the same interest. This is in the end are going to be a battle of values, and we need to reinforce our values, and we are going to have to see what the fallout is from the killing of
general soleimani within iraq and iran. We should be under no doubt that he was a formidable military operator, that did grave harm to british forces, as well as many others by arming the shia militias in basra for example in 2007, 2008. What about other countries in the middle east region. What about the role of saudi arabia, future reaction from israel, who are obviously watching what is going on very nervously . I think the west ought to be standing for a set of values based around justice as the key central principle, and thats why i believe actually you will find there was a legaljustification for there was a legaljustification for the killing of general soleimani, which is why it was one of the options presented to President Trump some days before he decided to take it up. But we have got to make sure that those values have the
opportunity to be heard and to be respected for what they are and that they are standing with the majority of people in both iraq and iran. Now you are dealing with the nations, saudi arabia and israel and their particular interests, we have got to get saudi arabia and iran out of the contests they have been in. I have visited both capitals on the same fact finding visit a few years ago, you just hear a mirror image of the critique of iran and saudi arabia for their contribution to islamic extremism. We have got to get the debate beyond that, and based on the real interest of the people those governments represent. Crispin blunt, thank you for your time, good to talk to you. More than 170 people, including three from the uk, have been killed after a ukrainian passenger plane crashed in iran. Within the last few moments, bp has
confirmed one of its workers was amongst the death toll. So is with deep regret one of our colleagues was a passenger on the Airlines Plane that crashed in iran this morning. We are shocked and deeply saddened they say by the tragic loss of ourfriend saddened they say by the tragic loss of our friend and colleague, saddened they say by the tragic loss of ourfriend and colleague, all of our thoughts are with his friends and family to stop the bearing threes 737 came down moments after taking off from tehran. Jonah fisher sent this report from kyiv. A ball of fire, it came down just a few minutes after an Early Morning take off. On board, 176 passengers and crew, most of them iranians and canadians. Among the other nationalities, three from the united kingdom. This is the crash site, a few kilometres from tehran airport. Shoes, a dress, a Christmas Toy litter the floor. And the remains of
the boeing 737 max aircraft. Nobody could have survived this. The plane has my final destination, kyiv, questions about what caused the crash are already being asked. The timing is certainly extraordinary full stop last night, iran fired Ballistic Missiles at military bases inside iraq. This morning, iranians state media was keen to stress that this crash wasnt linked, and put it down to technical error. The airline held a press conference and cast doubts on that claim. Translation there were no issues on the technical side. The last service was done two days ago and there were no problems. The aeroplane was good to fly. The investigation into the crash is now under way, with the black box already found, all eyes are now on the iranian authorities
to see how transparently they cooperate. Jonah fisher, bbc news in kiev. We spoke to the bbcs transport correspondent tom burridge who has been following the story. It is early stages. I mean, this was a new aircraft, it had been maintained and serviced within the last few days. From data, which is available online, we can see that the plane took off, and the initial phase of take off seem to pass off as normal, it climbed about a500 feet after taking off from the Main International airport near tehran, but suddenly then disappeared from radar, and we dont have any trace of its decline, or even the rise of the plane tailing off. Now, that is strange, and it suggests some type of catastrophic incident. Now that isa of catastrophic incident. Now that is a very broad term. We have no suggestion at this stage what would have been the cause. There was a line from a ukrainian official, saying it could have been an engine failure. They have since retracted that statement, and i think although that statement, and i think although thatis that statement, and i think although that is a possibility it is unlikely. The boeing 737 is designed
to withstand an engine failing, pilots are trained for that scenario every few months. The black box is the data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, they will be crucial. The iranian authorities have those, protocol dictates that they lead the investigation, the crash happened on their territory, the ukrainians will be heavily involved because it is their airline but their role is normally crucial, normally the americans would be involved because boeing is an american manufacturer, but given the dynamic in the region at the moment that will be much more tricky, so the ukrainians i guess will have some kind of role brokering i guess between the americans and the iranians, andi between the americans and the iranians, and i think diplomacy will have a role to play in that kind of thing youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. Two us airbases in iraq are targeted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general soleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. President trump will talk at a0. President trump will talk at 40. Will talk at a0 m. Will talk at a0 m. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three from the uk. At at a0 m. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. And spot the Football Association is under pressure to change its broadcast rights. The government save the fa should reconsider its relationship with a Gambling Company that allows their customers to watch live fa cup matches. Johanna konta has she will not play again before the Australian Open later this month. Englands director of cricket ashley giles says that five day tests are precious to him and the players. A proposal to reduce tests to four daysis proposal to reduce tests to four days is being discussed but that has been met with strong resistance. More on that story and a lot more in the next 15 minutes. See you then. Despite the number of stories we reported about knife crime and violence last year,
analysis by bbc news now shows that the number of people murdered across the uk has fallen for the first time in five years. There were 650 killings in 2019, down from 77a the year before although killings in the capital rose for a third consecutive year. Our Home Affairs Correspondent tom symonds has more details. Freeze we have a warrant. Relentless. Thats how Merseyside Police described their battle against organised crime. In the last year, theyve seized drugs, cash, guns, even hand grenades. Theyve been using these quad bikes to search for the weapons gangs hide in the undergrowth. And theyve been persuading communities to turn against the serious criminals. The result . The force appears to have turned a corner, cutting murders and manslaughters. Organised crime and killing, it says, are inextricably linked. We know a lot of those homicides are related to serious organised crime, which is why we are relentless in targeting those who lead,
who bully, who exploit young people, who will carry guns and knives in order to dominate a certain territory. We have tracked every single murder or manslaughter in the uk in the last year. And our figures show that for the first time in four years, the number of killings has fallen, with 650 in 2019. Hopeful, but only a start. In london the rate has gone up. The metropolitan police has around 150 ongoing investigations. Including this one, theyve discovered the remains ofa missing man, shah subhani. His family are desperate for help and as is so often the case, detectives need information. We need the public to please speak up. There is a wall of silence and i know there is a few out
there that know what has happened. Speaking on lbc this morning, the mets commissioner accepted there was more to do across london. We are determined to carry on bearing down on violence. We cannot go out and try and stop every single homicide, of course we cant. What we can do is try to stop people going around with weapons with impunity, for example, as we have seen. We can try to stop the offences which lead to homicides. And there are many causes, gangs, drugs, domestic violence, even just alcohol. Murders have their roots in societys deepest problems. Tom symonds, bbc news. And you can find more analysis of those figures on the bbc news website bbc. Co. Uk news carlos ghosn nissans former chairman has made his first public appearance since skipping bail in japan, escaping house arrest by reportedly hiding inside a suitcase. Mr ghosn, who has a lebanese, french and brazilian citizenship, was facing trial injapan on charges of financial misconduct
when he fled to lebanon. On tuesday, japan issued an arrest warrant against his wife, carole. Speaking at a News Conference in beirut a short time ago mr ghosn said he was left with no other choice but to flee to protect himself and his family. He told reporters he was the victim of a coup inside the company and that the japanese Justice System had been rigged against him. Our Business Editor simonjack is with me. Lets deal first with what he isnt talking about, that is how he got out. He is not going to talk about his escape. He said, listen, i know you are already interested but im not going to talk about how i got out of japan, not going to talk about how i got out ofjapan, i will talk about why, and why i was arrested in the first place, and on that, he said that there were forces within nissan, forces for the prosecutors there who didnt like the strategy the company was undergoing, which was basically a closer merger between renault and nissan, and that he was the victim
ofa coup, nissan, and that he was the victim of a coup, which involved not only prosecutors, nissan executives, former allies who turned whistle blower on him, but also for my money the most interesting thing he said was the japanese government we re he said was the japanese government were involved. Im not naming names. I think it is quite amazing he didnt name names, given it was quite a classic carlos ghosn performance. He started out with an emotional appeal about how he was brutally removed from my life as i knew it, i didnt get to see my wife and my family, a00 days, 130 detentions, 270 under house arrest, i had no chance of a fair trial, very sharp words for the japanese Justice System say they have a 99 conviction rate and says i am willing to bet it is higherfor foreigners, and i think that is really interesting because what he is alleging is that there was. The japanese establishment had decided he had too much power, that renault we re he had too much power, that renault were gaining too much influence and they were set on the re japan if
occasion if you like of some of their crown Jewel Company assets. Why did he say about the reason he was arrested in the first place, his salary, money being put where it shouldnt have been put, is the claim. Imjust shouldnt have been put, is the claim. Im just looking at the picture, this is going to be a great film. Is it jack picture, this is going to be a great film. Is itjack nicholson . He was going to play him . Jack nicholson might bea going to play him . Jack nicholson might be a shade too old, joaquin phoenix, may be you, simon. It is a movie in the making, one of the most spectacular stories. This guy is a folk hero in japan, spectacular stories. This guy is a folk hero injapan, in lebanon, he is hero in brazil where he was born. He is a regular in the company of emmanuel macron, he really is genuinely a citizen of the world, and he didnt do himself any favours by the fact he lived more like a head of state than the head of a car company. There was a claim he was a dictator in this News Conference. He said, about those claims, of course iam said, about those claims, of course i am committed to them 17 years to
discover i was a dictator . Management by consensus doesnt work. I think it was the concentration of power in the personage of carlos ghosn as he assembled this Massive Alliance between renault, nissan, mitsubishi, to rival the volkswagen and volvo of the world. Concentration on him began to wrangle. Lets hear from him. Today is a very important day for me. One that i have looked forward to every single day for more than 400 days, since i was brutally taken from my world as i knew it, ripped from my family, my friends, my communities, from renault, nissan and mitsubishi, and the 450,000 women and men who comprise those companies. So he started the News Conference in english, i think it speaks five languages, he still going, andi speaks five languages, he still going, and i think there will be a lot of analysis of what he has to
say. It is very difficult one to report on in a way, because he has presented a blizzard of slides about, this person knew, the fact i was dinners all my own is nonsense, these houses were actually nissans property and not mine, everyone knew what was going on, it was all signed off by the board. We are going to ta ke off by the board. We are going to take some time to process that, but clearly he feels that in a way, it was like a perry mason type presentation of the case for defence in an International Press conference, so i think it will take some time to get to the bottom of it. It is funny, imjust reading some time to get to the bottom of it. It is funny, im just reading on reuters that a lebanese Public Prosecutor general has summoned carlos ghosn for questioning, this is over the interpol Red Notice Issued by japan, calls is over the interpol Red Notice Issued byjapan, calls for his arrest. The prosecutors will also hear his statement. There is going to bea hear his statement. There is going to be a lot of analysis of what he has got to say because he is technical still in a lot of trouble. Obviously he is wanted injapan, the japanese authorities have also
issued savings against his wife, and interpol have a red notice out on him. And interpol red notice is a fairly sort of nebulous concept, you dont have to arrest this person, you dont have two extradite them, thatis you dont have two extradite them, that is no doubt why he chose to flee. He was actually raised in lebanon on and lived in beirut as a boy. I think the lebanese authorities have to go through we have gone through the motions of we have gone through the motions of we have an interpol red notice, and what are we going to do about it . I dont think it will be that he will be deported back to japan anytime soon. Fascinating, thank you. Police in canada say they are responding to a shooting taking place in the city
of ottawa in ontario. Police say they are conducting a coordinated response to reports of gun shots. Theyve urged people to avoid the area. We will keep an eye on that. Four former Brexit Party Mps have joined the conservatives. Annunziata rees mogg, who is the sister ofjacob rees mogg, lance forman and lucy harris all resigned the party whip the week before the election. Their former brexit party colleaguejohn longworth alsojoined the tories after he was sacked for repeatedly undermining leader Nigel Farages brexit strategy. The four confirmed they switched parties to become tory meps in the European Parliament doubling the number of conservatives in brussels. The Football Association is to review its decision to allow a gambling website to acquire the broadcast rights to some fa cup games. Under a six year deal, which was signed in 2017, bet 365 can show some matches on its website but fans have to place a bet or open an account in order to watch. The deal appears to jar with the fas recent heads up Mental Health campaign, as our Sports CorrespondentNatalie Pirks reports. This weekend, all fa cup matches kicked off one minute late. Time to take a minute
before kick off. It was to publicise the fa president prince williams Mental Health drive. In life, as in football, we all go through highs and lows. But today, the fa has been accused of an own goal on Mental Health after indirectly selling rights to show live fa cup matches to a bookmaker. At the start of 2017, the fa did a deal with Sports Agency img to sell live matches. Last season, img sold those rights on to bookmaker bet365. Gamble responsibly. Fa cup matches this weekend were streamed live on the bet365 website. Fans wanting to watch had to either place a bet or spend at least £5 to open a betting account. Gambling addiction has repeatedly been cited as a major issue forfuelling Mental Health problems. Tracey crouch was the sports minister when this deal was done. Im deeply uncomfortable about the rights deal with bet365,
i think many people will want to watch the magical fa cup and will seek ways of doing so. And if that means downloading a gambling app then they will do that. And that in turn can lead to some very harmful behaviour in the future. As the body which regulates footballs betting rules, the fa ended a lucrative deal with Bookmaker Ladbrokes injune 2017, after this contract was done. Today it said, we will review this element of the media rights sales process ahead of tendering rights to the new cycle from 202a 25 season onwards. The government wants the deal ended now, but it is complicated, much like footballs relationship with bookies. More than half of englands top aa football clubs have a Gambling Company as their shirt sponsor. Natalie pirks, bbc news. More on that with olly foster in the sport in a few minutes but first lets catch up with the weather. Darren bett is here. Thats
australia, clearly. They are bracing themselves, what, it isnt australia . It is not, we are used to seeing pictures of this of australia but this is actually new zealand. It looks like auckland in the background, drone footage just a few days ago, so a lot of that smoke and particles have handed over to new zealand, another view here looks like the top of the franz zealand, another view here looks like the top of the fraanoseph glacier. I have been there, did exactly where the pilot is standing and it didnt look like this. Normally the glacier is white, and it has just got this sort of brown tinge to it, so the particles have settled on top of the snow on the glacier. The worry is that it affects the albedo. Surface albedo is the reflection of the heat. A high albedo surface, new mainly white, snow, respects that might reflect a lot of heat from the sun, when you darken the service you observe a bit more of the heat from the sun and therefore you could warn
that surface and potentially not a bit more of the snow on the ice. We have another way of showing just how far this plume of smoke and particles have stretched across the southern ocean, normally it has been through the norm of new zealands dash mac the not amusing but it has taken a track towards chile, and they have been reports of some of they have been reports of some of the particles settling in chile. This line here was actually swept up bya this line here was actually swept up by a weather front that arrived just a few days ago into the south east of australia and that has pushed some of the debris over toward southern parts of new zealand. And they are expecting worse in the next few days . We have seen recently the winds have dropped, temperatures dropped, at the beginning of the week there was a bit of rain, not enough of course to extinguish the fires, never going to be that much. If we look at what is happening over the next few days, you can see in melbourne for example there is some rain on friday, it is a weather front that will track its way up towards New South Wales as well. But
ahead of that for canberra and waqar wacker, which is a city to the west of canberra, where we have a lot of wildfires, those temperatures back up wildfires, those temperatures back up to a0 degrees will stop the average maximum temperature this time of year is 28, and we are back down to that value on saturday, so the heat is building in the next few days, particularly across New South Wales was not it is quite a change within 2a hours. Wales was not it is quite a change within 24 hours. It is a massive change, tomas did it on this programme two days ago, when we looked at the temperature changes, or due to a change in the wind direction. It is quite common to see massive temperature fluctuations, and we have the Australian Open taking place soon in melbourne, and no doubt within those two weeks there will be massive changes in temperature, that is really what we are seeing. The heat is building over the next couple of days, back up over the next couple of days, back up to a0 degrees and then it drops again as the weather front moves through. It is getting hot, not as hot as it has been, it will not be as hot for as long as it has been before it cools down a bit and i am no doubt we will see fluctuations continuing over the next few months,
because we are still in the middle of the bushfire season that continues into march. What about closer to home . Changes especially in the northern half of the uk, the temperatures have been a bit lower, sunshine coming through, as well, and a couple of showers can but nowhere near as mild or windy as yesterday. On the satellite picture you can see the difference, further south the cloud is shielding the uk but out into the atlantic we have thickening cloud which is potentially bringing wet and windy weather tomorrow and ahead of that weather tomorrow and ahead of that we have the thick cloud towards the south west of england. We will have rain developing later this afternoon. Still quite cold across the northern half of the uk, those showers a bit wintry of the scottish hills, but the ask continue to decrease. The wetter weather that
develops more widely over england and wales. May be a of snow over the highest route in the northern pennines in the cold air but still very mild in the south where we have wind and rain. As we move into tomorrow we will find the wetter weather in Northern England and southern scotland petering out, north of that still dry, southern parts of england and wales with sunshine and then it gets wetter and windier late in the day in the south west and the rain could be heavy and sundry. Still mild over most of england and wales thundery. Still uncertainty about how windy it will get because not just uncertainty about how windy it will get because notjust one area of low pressure but two, and they will push their way east through tomorrow night and by friday the weather calms down so theres more certainty about the details for friday. It will be a cold start for scotland. A fine day for the most part on
friday, dry and bright with sunshine, the ask picking up on the north west of the afternoon, ahead of the rain which will arrive in the evening, but those temperatures are bit lower than we have seen of late the wind picking up. Into the weekend, milder wins arriving, and head of the weather front which will bring more rain, this could be quite heavy, and this will push its way down the south of the country and we are into the sunshine and showers makes. Cold enough for them to be wintry over the hills of scotland but it is not desperately cold for this time of the year. This is bbc news our latest headlines. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general soleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. As President Trump tweets that there were no casualties and that all is well borisjohnson warns iran not to retaliate further. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019 for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Sport now on afternoon live with olly foster, and the government has called on the fa to reconsider its decision to sell fa cup broadcast rights to a gambling website. The fa are in a tricky position, they agreed in may 2017 to cut all ties with betting sponsors, partly because of the perceived conflict, it also governs betting regulations within the sport, but this weekend the betting company bet365 showed 23 of the fa cup ties live through their website and apps. Theyve been able to do this since the start of last season for their customers. They had bought the rights off another broadcasting partner of the fa and their deal goes through to 202a. It probably surfaced this weekend because of the high profile heads up campaign in the cup,
the Mental Health charity that has drawn links to problem gambling. The fa say they will review their broadcast deals. But that probably will not be enough for the government and nicky morgan said this morning, she is looking for immediate action, basically, saying this is a contractual matter for the fa and bet365 but things have moved on since the contract was signed and she hopes they will reconsider, but it will be very difficult to undo the contract and you would think that a bit of money will be at stake, as well. Studio indeed so. And now cricket, the future five day test matches is up in the air. Ashley giles has a view . Wrote slightly at odds with his bosses, ashley giles is the director of cricket. We brought you this news a few days ago,
the International Cricket council four day test proposal, they want to free up some days in the packed calendar and four day tests would certainly do that. The english and Wales Cricket board have said they would cautiously support the proposal but its also met with a lot of resistance. The International Players union say that making a fundamental change simply in order to provide calendar space to fill with additional or meaningless cricket is clearly not something we can support, and this comes off the back of one of the most thrilling finishes on day five of a test when england beat south africa in cape town yesterday to level their current series, ben stokes with those late wickets. Englands director of cricket ashley giles says five day test matches are precious to him and the players, and heres what man of the match stokes thinks. A huge boost for us Going Forward in the series,
and i think itsjust great. Test cricket has been a bit of a talking point recently in terms of how many days it should be played for, but today showed why it should be five days. The first two series, in a four match series, a result is great for the game of cricket and great for the series. Its the second of the League Cup Semi finals tonight, Leicester City host aston villa in the first leg at the kingpower stadium. Its 20 years since leicester won the cup you have to go back to 1996 when villa last lifted the trophy. After the punishing festive schedule the players havent had much time to recharge but leicester manager Brendan Rodgers believes his team, that are second in the premier league, are still full of energy. To get to a final you have to suffer, so there will be periods over the two games where we have to suffer in the games but this team have shown over the course of the season, that is why the mentality
doesnt change, we have shown we can suffer and keep clean sheets and we can score goals and we can play fast dynamic football and we can play counterattacking football. We want to be able to bring all of that into the games to get to the final. The best tennis players in the world are in austarlia, all building up to the first grand slam of the year. British no 1 Johanna Konta has pulled out of next week s Adelaide International and wont play another match before the Australian Open starts on 20th january. She says its a precautionary measure, shes been managing a knee problem for much of the past year. On monday, she lost in the first round of the brisbane international. Maria sharapovas been given a wildcard to play in the Australian Open. The 2008 champion and former world no 1 is now ranked 1a7th after playing just 15 matches last year, because of a long term shoulder injury. The inaugral atp cup is into the quarterfinal stage, greece are out after being
beaten by australia. The greeks star player Stefanos Tsitsipas lost his temper during his defeat to nick kyrgios and managed to injure his father, apostolas, who is also his coach and team captain, that prompted a telling off from his mother julia from the stands. He laterjoked that hell probably now be grounded. He was told, wasnt he . Thats all the sport for now. Studio that was very good. She gives him quite a go, doesnt she . Studio that was very good. She gives him quite a go, doesnt she . speak greek so i know what she was saying but i will not translate thanks forjoining us. About 9,000 nurses across Northern Ireland have begun a 12 hour strike over pay and staffing levels. More than 2,000 appointments and procedures have been cancelled. The heads of Northern Irelands health trusts have warned that the strike could tip services over the edge. Pat cullen, director of the Royal College of nursing in Northern Ireland, spoke to us a little earlier from belfast. Nurses have been telling those very Health Chiefs for many years now. It is all a matter of record that the system was about to tip and actually that we were in an absolute crisis in the Health Service in Northern Ireland. That is not new information and certainly shouldnt be new information to those Health Chiefs. Witnesses said to me last night, when those very Health Chiefs came out on the airwaves and said to them, enough is enough, they may tip the Health Service over, i wish they had listened to our voice for the many years that we have been telling them, please do not put in place cost savings plans, freeze nurses vacancies and put in temporary measures to get money out of the system. Please put back in the 2,800 nurse vacant posts in Northern Ireland and please address
the nursing crisis. Nurses are coming into their work every day and every night and having to manage in an absolute crisis situation. Beds lined up in corridors, single rooms meant for one patient. There are two patients pushed into it now and with one oxygen point it is those nurses that are trying to deal with that day today. Theyre waking up in the morning and they get out of their bed and go into their work and it is with an absolute dread and they wonder how will we get through the day . How we provide that care . How are we going to cope and how we can keep our patients safe because someone has to take the responsibility and last of all what we have seen is our nurses are saying it is tantamount to bullying going on by our Health Chiefs and putting the responsibility on to nurses and trying to silence the nursing voice once again, the very voice that is speaking up
for patients and nurses in Northern Ireland are saying that enough is enough. A 28 year old man from luton has gone on trial accused of planning a terrorist attack on a high profile target in the uk. Mohiusunnath chowdhury had spoken about a number of potential targets in london. He is pleading not guilty. Our Home Affairs Correspondentjune kelly is at Woolwich Crown court. The jury has been told that Mohiussunnath Chowdhury had spoken of a number of potential targets including madame tussauds, the gay pride parade and the london open top tourist bus. The prosecutor Duncan Atkinson qc told the court that the object was to unleash death and suffering on non muslim members of the public using a firearm, a sword and even a van as part of an attack. Now, Mohiussunnath Chowdhury was originally arrested in 2017. He was found outside buckingham palace, and in a struggle with police he produced a sword from his car. He stood trial for terrorism offences and was acquitted by a jury. But the police and Security Service m15 continued to monitor him and they bugged his home and his car, and he also had, unbeknown to him, conversations with Undercover Police officers. And in those conversations
he is said to have talked about attack planning and also said to have talked about how he had deceived thejury at his earlier trial. In the dock with Mohiussunnath Chowdhury is his younger sister who is accused of withholding information. She is pleading not guilty and he is denying all the charges against him. June kelly at Woolwich Crown court. In a moment we have the latest Business News with alice. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general suleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including 3 britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. As youve been hearing, the fugitive ex nissan boss carlos ghosn has said the decision to flee japan, where he was charged with financial misconduct, was the most difficult of his life. Speaking at a highly anticipated News Conference, mr ghosn said his treatment went against International Standards of justice. The boss of sainsburys has said sales were lower during the Christmas Period because fewer people bought toys. Mike coupe told the bbc that toy sales had fallen by 20 across the market in the last two years. Customers of travelex the foreign currency trader say they feel let down after being left with no travel money. The company confirmed on tuesday that it is the victim of a ransomware attack. Good news for employees at greggs . Yes,
staff are to get a £300 one off bonus after a phenomenal year. The 19,000 greggs staff who have been with the chain since before 31 march will get a £300 windfall at the end of january, the remaining 6,000 will get £75 for each quarter they have worked for greggs. The one off payment to staff will be on top of the Profit Sharing scheme that greggs already has, a spokeswoman said. The bakery chain already shares 10 of profits with employees, she said. Greggs staff will share a £7 million payment after shareholders received a £35 million special dividend in october. It is going well for the company. Yes, sales growth had been helped by greggs now iconic vegan sausage rolls and Strong Demand for its traditional snacks,
the bakery chain said. The firm expects underlying annual pre tax profit to be ahead of its expectations when it reports in march. Greggs says it plans to open about 100 new shops in 2020. One of our top stories today has been escalating tensions in the middle east following irans Ballistic Missile attack on Iraqi Air Bases Housing us forces. And youre looking at this as well . Yes, because fears of a further us response means oil prices are once again on the rise, brent crude rose to 68. 53, although not as much as earlier highs of more than 71. And Financial Markets here have also been volatile as a result. But lets find out what reaction is like stateside. Michelle fleury is at the new york stock exchange. We are expecting donald trump to speak at four oclock our time and
we are used to seeing this almost remarkable correlation between what the president says and what happens in the markets, but what has the Market Reaction been so far . Astonishingly it has been very muted, and looking at the markets right now, and all of the major us markets are flat at the moment, and typically when you get news of any sort of rising geopolitical risks, the potential for conflict, you start to see investors fleeing, people putting money in places where they do not think it will be negatively impacted by a conflict, but that is not the case in here because overnight as we learned more details about this attack in iraq which we understand was from iran on us air bases there, and there were no casualties, and there was also no attempt to attack Oil Infrastructure and those factors have given
investors a bit of relief but as simon mentioned we are waiting to hear from donald trump shortly, and the question is whether the language he uses will seek to ramp up the tension between the us and iran or whether he will de escalate in any way. Depending on that you could see a reaction with investors, but oil right now, typically you would expect it to rise in this situation, but right now west texas and brent crude by the trading slightly lower. Yes, not near 71 per barrel that we have seen in the past, but given that the ongoing geopolitical risks, you think we can expect the oil price to increase . This is the thing, in normal circumstances if you look at how markets have reacted throughout time you would expect the oil price to go up on these concerns, oil price to go up on these concerns, and one of the things you hear from investors is that the oil
prices are overvalued, and the world is no longer quite so dependent on oil coming out of the middle east as it was in the past, we have new entrants in the market from the us shale producers and there is a thought that maybe the price of oil was too high and geopolitical concerns are helping to deflate it a bit, but theres a feeling that maybe it got ahead of itself and thatis maybe it got ahead of itself and that is what you are not saying that kind of sustained price increase that maybe we have had in previous instances of geopolitical tension and risk like we are experiencing right now. Interesting, michelle, thanks forjoining us. A quick look at the markets. Nerves jangling around on markets, the ftse100 like global stocks generally has been in the road all day, and we have talked about oil in the red. Other safe haven assets also did as well,
things like the japanese yen. Gold typically receives a spike but it did not pare back as quickly as some of those other commodities like yen and oil, but gold initially experienced a 2 spike above 1600 but it has come down a little bit. Thanks forjoining us. The six candidates in the running to become the next labour leader had a chance to impress potential voters in the first hustings of the Campaign Last night. But what do people in a labour constituency think of the six hopefuls . Jayne mccubbin went to Ellesmere Port to see what people there are thinking. We understand that unison is backing keir starmer to be the leader. Last night, while leadership hustings were going on behind closed doors here, we travelled 200 miles north for a cheap night out here,
Ellesmere Ports labour club. And we brought all of the contenders for the top job with us. This is a brexit voting town where labour held on but lost votes and one of the votes they lost belonged to michael. Did it kill you . It killed me. To vote for conservatives, it absolutely killed me. But to get brexit done he says he lent his red vote to the tories, and it wasnt for keeps. So you are looking for new blood to convince you to go back . Yes. Ok then, right, are you ready . The main character, out of all the faces that youve shown me, keir, him here. This is it . Even though he was a remainer, i still think that this man could be a good leader. 200 miles away, sir keir told the hustings labour had a mountain to climb to win back the heartlands. In the heartlands, party members, ray and mark, clashed over who was the person to do this. I would say them two are my strongest votes. Lisa nandy and keir starmer . Yes, absolutely. I think rebecca long bailey will carry on with the policies that the party has developed. For me, this is more of the same. Back in london, long bailey insisted she was not the continuity candidate to replace corbyn, but still gave him a ten out of ten rating for leadership. We still got more votes in 2019 then we got in 2015, more votes than we got in 2010 under both miliband and gordon brown. We still lost. I do not think we will be in the wilderness. We are going to be in the wilderness for a little while. Weve lost, what, four elections on spin now. We have. The worst weve had since 1935 that cant be ignored. It cannot be ignored. But was it policy or personality which cost labour dearly . And will it be policy or personality to turn it around . Can she pot the red, under pressure . No marie works in the nhs. Marie, tell me how you voted
in the last election . I voted conservative. Have you voted labour in the past . I have voted labour in the past, yes. Ijust did not believe him. You did not believe corbyn . No, i didnt believe him. So labout party leader contenders. No, theyre not familiar to me, no. Nor to lee orjane. These are the candidates here . These are them. I dont know anything about them, thats the thing. Theres nobody i could see voting for. Is that because they are not on your radar or because you dont like what they stand for . No, its because i do not know much about them. Back in london, lisa nandy told her party now it is not the time to steady the ship. If we do not change course we will die and we will deserve to, but first she and they have got to fight to simply sell themselves. A new labour leader is picked on april ath. Jayne mccubbin, bbc news. Now its time for a look at the weather. Noticeable change about the weather
today for the northern half of the uk, after very mild but windy weather yesterday, it is not as windy today, but also a bit chilly. There is a bit of sunshine around, sheltered parts of eastern scotland, and clouds coming in, as well. Further south we have a shared cloud which is thickening up, we have the potential for wet and windy weather overnight into tomorrow morning, but already ahead of that we have fairly grey skies over parts of wales and towards the south west we have the clout thickening and still quite cold further north, mind you, but with showers and a touch wintry over the Higher Ground. This is the main area of rain developing widely over england and wales and as the wind picks up it will push the wetter weather at north into the cold air. The airquitea weather at north into the cold air. The air quite a bit cold as we move into scotland, very much milder through the midlands towards southern england, but we have wet
weather on the scene on thursday morning, stronger winds for a while, stays dry in northern scotland but wetter weather petering out over southern scotland and Northern England and to the south we have sunshine. Ahead of developing rain in the south west later on. This could be quite heavy and thundery. Quite a range of temperatures, 5 6 at best, the northern half of the uk, double figures for south. There are two areas of low pressure but which one will develop is hard to say. By the time we get to friday theres more certainty, it will be quiet but a cold start to friday, crossed likely, especially in rural areas, but the promise of a fine day for the most part with sunshine frost likely. Winds will pick up in scotla nd frost likely. Winds will pick up in scotland and Northern Ireland in particular, head of the rain which will arrive from the north west, and the temperatures are typically 6 7, a bit cooler than of late, but
milder south to south west winds return for the uk, and they will be rain right the way across the country on saturday. Sunshine and showers following for the second half of the weekend. Cold enough for the show is to be wintry over the Higher Ground in scotland. The air is getting a bit colder but not desperately cold for this time of year. Hello, youre watching afternoon live im simon mccoy. Today at 3pm. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general suleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. As President Trump tweets that there were no casualties and that all is well borisjohnson warns iran not to retaliate further. We of course condemn the attacks on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three from the uk. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years
though killings rose in the capital. Coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. Three Football Association is under pressure to review its fa cup broadcasting deals, after a betting company streamed matches live over the weekend. All the details coming up. Thanks. Darren bett with the weather. It is cold across the northern half of the uk, not as windy as it was but there are some wet and windy weather in the forecast, we will look at that late on plus the latest on the forecast for australia. Thank you, darren. Also coming up the former boss of nissan, carlos ghosn, explains his decision to skip bail and fleejapan, where hes under investigation on charges of financial misconduct. Hello everyone this
is afternoon live im simon mccoy. In washington in an hours time President Trump will give his response to the attacks on us air bases in iraq. Two bases were hit by more than a dozen Ballistic Missiles fired from iran. Iranian state television said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of general Qasem Soleimani, in a us air strike last week. The missiles targetted two air bases in irbil in the north of iraq, and al asad, west of the capital baghdad. The attack took place about 2am local time. In all, 22 missiles were fired, though two did not explode. The ministry of defence says there have been no british casualties and President Trump tweeted overnight that all was well and said damage was being assessed. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Landale reports. On and on they came, one missile after another, soaring high into the iranian night sky. More than 20 in all. Their destination, two American Military bases in iraq. Direct retaliation,
the iranians say, for the us assassination of their general, Qasem Soleimani. The attack, covered closely by iranian tv, was launched in the early hours and these pictures appeared to show the moment of impact. Most of the missiles were aimed at the al asad airbase in the west of iraq, the others at irbil in the north. So far, there has been no confirmation of any casualties. In tehran at a televised public meeting, they shouted, god is great and, death to america as the countrys Supreme Leader told them, the us had been given a slap in the face. But he suggested this was not the end of it. Military action like this is not sufficient, he said. What is important is ending the corrupting presence of america in the region. But irans foreign minister insisted that iran had concluded what he described as proportionate measures in self defence
in line with un rules. Well, we did not start this process of escalation, the United States waged an economic war against iran, the United States has to come to its senses. The presence of iranian people in the streets of many cities, unprecedented in history, a sea of humanity, has to bring the United States to its senses. On the streets of tehran the missile strikes were welcomed. But will people there feel it was enough to avenge the death of general soleimani . In advance that it was coming. The attack was limited in scope and iraq said it had been warned in advance that it was coming. The question now is how President Trump, here shown visiting the al asad base in 2018, will respond. In a tweet, he appeared keen to avoid further escalation. All is well, he said. Missiles launched from iran at two military bases located in iraq. Assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now. So far, so good. But it is not only us targets that are in iranian sights. Israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu promised to hit back hard against any attack on his country. We stand with resolution and strength, he said. Whoever tries to attack us will be dealt the strongest blow. In his first Public Comments about the crisis since returning from holiday, the Prime Minister condemned the missile strikes. What i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. I think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a European Response and in bridging that European Response with that, of course, of our american friends and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. Last night, general soleimani was finally buried at his home town in iran. The question now is whether irans show of force will be seen as enough
to avenge his death. And draw a line under this latest confrontation between iran and the us. James landale, bbc news. Our middle east editor jeremy bowen gave us the latest from the iraqi capital baghdad. Even if this is the beginning of the end of the crisis caused by the assassination, the long term conflict between iran and the us continues to edge towards war. And that process wont stop without some kind of diplomacy leading to a political deal. There seemed to be one back in 2015 when they signed the iran nuclear agreement, but President Trump pulled out of that a couple of years ago and since then this crisis has grown and grown. There remains a really serious danger of war. Video on social media seemed to show missiles striking home at the us base in western iraq. This remains one of the worlds most dangerous and unstable conflicts. And a reminder that injust under an hours time, President Donald Trump will be making a statement on the iran missile strikes. Well bring you that live on the bbc news channel at four oclock. Here, the Prime Minister has spoken publicly for the first time about the events in iran. At the start of Prime Ministers questions, borisjohnson gave his reaction to the attacks overnight. We, of course, condemned the attack on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. We can speak to dr vladimir rauta, lecturer in politics and International Relations at the university of reading. Im just wondering what you think we
will see now from iran. When a be hoping that is the limit of their reaction or will they be assessing perhaps what President Trump has to say in the next hour or so . What we have just seen is the conventional response, the measured, calculated response. We are yet to see a symmetric one. So what are the options . Micro for iran . Yes. So far we know this is the definite responsible the options are first of all to coordinate these proxies, these militias into a regionwide response, but also there is the danger and the risk that these proxies take matters into their own hands. We have only seen shia iraqi
militiasjumping hands. We have only seen shia iraqi militias jumping on the hands. We have only seen shia iraqi militiasjumping on the narrative that the us forces are now illegal in iraq, following the discussion in parliament. When you talk about proxies, how Many Disparate groups are we talking about here . So this notion of proxy is quite problematic, we also have a lot of small militias that iran has used, either in syria or against isis. So from very established actors like the hutu rebels, hutu rebels, into micro militias. We have seen how the Iranian Regime deals with those protesting against them, just wondering how much control and notice is taken of that regime by those who are the so called proxies . I think the proxies have always retained a degree of freedom, in terms of their operations. And this is where the problem is, they might not necessarily wait for a green flag from tehran to act. Just looking at the event since the assassination, is general soleimani now more powerful in death than he was in life . In a way, yes. Should Us Forces Leave Iraq then one of irans main objectives, namely them leaving the middle east, will be achieved. So there are something to be said on that, yes. So the role iran could have is effectively coordinating, they can say to the
outside world, they are not operating under our control, but it could coordinate attacks against others, if it wished . Very much so, which is why the us allies are on high alert, and canada has been moving its personnel in neighbouring countries, and this is why us allies have actually been quite concerned with the repercussions. Very good of you to talk to us. Thank you very much for your time. You are watching afternoon live from bbc news. More than 170 people, including three from the uk have been killed after a ukrainian passenger plane crashed in iran. The boeing 737 was destined for kyiv, but came down moments after taking off from tehran. Jonah fisher sent this report from kyiv. It is early stages post a bid had been maintained and serviced within the last few days. From data, which is available online, we can see that the plane took off, and the initial phase of take off seem to pass up as normal. It climbed about a500 feet after taking off from the Main International airport near tehran. But suddenly it then disappeared from radar, and we dont have any trace of its decline or even the rise of the plane tailing off. Now thatis rise of the plane tailing off. Now that is strange, and it suggests some type of catastrophic incident. That is a very broad term. We have no suggestion at this stage what would have been the cause. There was a line from a ukrainian official, saying it could have been an engine failure. They have since retracted that statement and i think although that statement and i think although thatis that statement and i think although that is a possibility, it is unlikely. The boeing 737 is designed to withstand an engine failing. Pilots are trained for that type of scenario every few months. The black boxes, the flight data recorder and
the cockpit voice recorder. They will be crucial. The iranian authorities have those. Vertical dictates they lead the investigation, the crash happened on that territory, the ukrainians will be heavily involved because it is their international airline, but i think their role is very crucial, because normally the americans would because normally the americans would be involved because boeing is an american manufacturer, but given the dynamic in the region at the moment, that will be much more tricky, so i guess the ukrainians will have some kind of role brokering i guess between the americans and the iranians andi between the americans and the iranians and i think diplomacy will have a role to play in that kind of thing. The plane was distant from kyiv, and from there, this report from jonah fisher. It is early stages post a bid had been maintained and serviced within a ball of fire, it came down just a few minutes after an Early Morning take off. On board, 176 passengers and crew, most of them iranians and canadians. Among the other nationalities, three from the united kingdom. This is the crash site, a few kilometres from tehran airport. Shoes, a dress, a Christmas Toy litter the floor. And the remains of the boeing 737 800 aircraft. Nobody could have survived this. At the planes my final destination, kyiv, questions about what caused the crash are already being asked. The timing is certainly extraordinary. Last night, iran fired Ballistic Missiles at military bases inside iraq. This morning, iranians state media was keen to stress that this crash wasnt linked, and put it down to technical error. The airline held a press conference and cast doubts on that claim. Translation there were no issues on the technical side. The last service was done two days ago and there were no problems. The aeroplane was good to fly. The investigation into
the crash is now under way, with the black box already found. All eyes are now on the iranian authorities to see how transparently they cooperate. Jonah fisher, bbc news in kiev. Youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general suleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including 3 britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in 5 years though killings rose in the capital. In sport, the government say the Football Association should reconsider its relationship with a Gambling Company that allows their customers to watch live fa cup matches. British number one Johanna Konta has pulled out of next weeks Adelaide International. Shes been nursing a knee problem for a number months. She wont play again before
the Australian Open. Then whens director of cricket ashley giles has said five day tests are precious to him and the players will stop a proposal to reduce test four days is being discussed but is met with strong resistance. I will be back in 15 minutes with more details on all those stories. Lets cross now to downing street, where the new European Commission president ursula von der leyen is due for talks with borisjohnson. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is there. We have only heard from her, she was speaking at the lse, and some very warm words about with the relationship between the uk and the eu, even with brexit. Thats right. I think the acceptance of course that this is now happening, that general election result and the determination of the government to get this through, they Withdrawal Agreement bill, which is actually being voted on at the moment imparts in the house of commons. It means the uk will be leaving the eu at the end of january and the British Government is hoping that will focus
minds. Borisjohnson government is hoping that will focus minds. Boris johnson has government is hoping that will focus minds. Borisjohnson has said he wa nts minds. Borisjohnson has said he wants the second part of all of this, if you like, given that the Withdrawal Agreement is about the divorce settlement, if you like, the future relationship, the future trading relationship, that is even more complicated to determine but he has said he wants it all done and dusted by the end of the year. Lots of people saying this is a very tricky and ambitious aim, given the differences there are likely to be. Now if of course the uk was to stay very closely aligned to all the rules and regulations of the eu, then that might be possible, but borisjohnson then that might be possible, but Boris Johnson making it then that might be possible, but borisjohnson making it clear that he does want divergence, he wants the uk to be able to go its own way if you like, and that of course will mean if you like, and that of course will m ea n lots if you like, and that of course will mean lots of difficult negotiations but ursula von der leyen is making it very clear that they will still be the best of friends, eu and the uk after years and years of course of together very closely. She picked
out the areas of security, foreign policy, saying of course there will still need to be collaboration, working together, making sure they come up with common responses. None of that will change but nevertheless she also made it very clear that the uk, no longer a she also made it very clear that the uk, no longera member of she also made it very clear that the uk, no longer a member of the eu, that the further it wants to diverge and go its own way, that means of course not the same access to the Single Market that there is now. So making the point that without freedom of movement of people for example, there cannot be freedom of movement of goods and services, so all of those are decisions for the uk really to make. The further Boris Johnson wants to move away, then maybe be less access that the country will get. Lots of people think they could end up by the end of the year being some agreement, if you like, sectoral agreement, so you could look at manufacturing for extremely for example, saying it is very important for example for the car Manufacturing Industry in the car Manufacturing Industry in the uk to be closely aligned with the uk to be closely aligned with the rest of europe, so that may be one area that can be decided, and
actually as ursula von der leyen so that may be the case, they have to prioritise the areas where come the end of the year they have no International Agreement to fall back on. She was remarkably kind about the british, she studied in the uk, and when she spoke at the lse said she understood particularly things like the british sense of humour and things like that, but when she is in behind closed doors talks with Boris Johnson, things are going to get quite tough, arent they, for both of them . Yes, people are talking about it in terms of friends being honest with each other and laying out really the red lines, the areas that will not necessarily be prepared to be budged on. But i think this is obviously going to be fraught, it is not something particularly borisjohnson wells wa nt to particularly borisjohnson wells want to spend the next year talking about. It is very clear from downing street that actually they want to look at the domestic agenda, but this of course will be incredibly important, it will be going on over the next months, and actually in the
political declaration, that is the bit alongside the Withdrawal Agreement if you like, it is set out by certain dates what they need to talk about, the First Priority being financial services. Now of course thatis financial services. Now of course that is a huge part of the economy in the uk, that is the first thing they will have to agree on, and then they will have to agree on, and then they move on to things like fisheries for example. Although in terms of economic, the size of fishing in terms of the economy is not as important, it is politically incredibly sensitive, so all of these things, no matter how much downing street wants to be won and talk about the domestic agenda, of course this will be a huge a few months for both sides as they try to get this trade agreement drawn up. Issue there already or are you expecting her soon . No, she is due in the next 20 minutes or so. We will have more on that tough friendship. It is a bit like you and me, actually vicki, thank you very much. Despite the number of stories we reported about knife crime and violence last year,
analysis by bbc news now shows that the number of people murdered across the uk has fallen for the first time in five years. There were 650 killings in 2019, down from 77a the year before although killings in the capital rose for a third consecutive year. Our Home Affairs Correspondent tom symonds has more details. Police. We have a warrant. Relentless. Thats how Merseyside Police described their battle against organised crime. In the last year, theyve seized drugs, cash, guns, even hand grenades. Theyve been using these quad bikes to search for the weapons gangs hide in the undergrowth. And theyve been persuading communities to turn against the serious criminals. The result . The force appears to have turned a corner, cutting murders and manslaughters. Organised crime and killing, it says, are inextricably linked. We know a lot of those homicides are related to serious organised crime, which is why we are relentless in targeting those who lead, who bully, who exploit young people, who will carry guns and knives in order to dominate
a certain territory. We have tracked every single murder or manslaughter in the uk in the last year. And our figures show that for the first time in four years, the number of killings has fallen, with 650 in 2019. Hopeful, but only a start. In london the rate has gone up. The metropolitan police has around 150 ongoing investigations. Including this one, theyve discovered the remains ofa missing man, shah subhani. His family are desperate for help and as is so often the case, detectives need information. We need the public to please speak up. There is a wall of silence and i know there is a few out there that know what has happened. Speaking on lbc this morning, the mets commissioner accepted there was more to do across london. We are determined to carry on bearing down on violence. We cannot go out and try and stop every single homicide, of course we cant. What we can do is try to stop people going around with weapons with impunity, for example, as we have seen. We can try to stop the offences which lead to homicides. And there are many causes, gangs, drugs, domestic violence, even just alcohol. Murders have their roots in societys deepest problems. Tom symonds, bbc news. And you can find more analysis of those figures on the bbc news website bbc. Co. Uk news firefighters in australia are preparing for more dangerous conditions, with temperatures expected to rise again by the end of the week. 2,000 homes have been destroyed since the bushfires began in september, and at least 25 people have died. Katy watson reports
from south eastern australia. The recovery effort continues on kangaroo island. Already a third of the island, home to some of australias most important wildlife, has been ravaged by bushfires. The fear is the next few days could bring even more devastation. Australias Prime Minister visited the community earlier today and called on tourists not to be put off by the bushfire devastation. Australia is open. Australia is still a wonderful place to come and bring your family and enjoy your holidays. These fires have captured worldwide attention. We feel so deeply for the families. Prince charles took to social media to send his message to those affected. In the hills of victoria, farmer chris is holding his breath. Fires have already scorched much of his land and there is a real danger that existing bushfires further north could merge and create one big mega blaze. As the crow flies its probably about 70 or 80ks. It sounds like a long way in the forest but, you know, two hours and it can be upon us. Chris says there is a simple solution. More bush land needs to be burnt in a controlled manner to stop fires getting out of hand. Its the lack of fuel reduction burns which is causing these intense mega fires. If you take away the fuel, the issue of these mega fires is gone away. Authorities, though, say it is not a silver bullet. But this isnt a time for politics. Already an area the size of england has burnt, with bushfire season far from over. Katy watson, bbc news, in victoria. Darren bett is here with a forecast. We will hear what is happening here a later bit on, but in australia the effect is way beyond and that is not actually australia. This is not australia, no, this is new zealand, drone footage taken a few days ago, looking across towards auckland. These guys have been incredible,
even that far away from australia. This was the scene earlier on in the year on the top of the franz this was the scene earlier on in the year on the top of the fraanozef glacier, i say flocks i say fox glacier. Because it meets the fox glacier. Because it meets the fox glacier. They didnt look like this when i was there, it was a lot whiter because the particles seem to have settled on top of the glacier, and the worry is they change the albedo, the surface reflect the surface reflectivity. What hes trying to say is that when it is white it reflects a lot and when it is brown it absorbs the heat and thatis is brown it absorbs the heat and that is an added problem. Then it could warm up and melt. Absolutely, brilliant. Lets move on. This is just a visualisation really of how the smoke has spread over the southern oceans. That is the source region. You can see how it has moved across, actually steering for the most pa rt across, actually steering for the most part just recently across, actually steering for the most partjust recently to the north of new zealand but arriving, some of that dust and ash there into
southern parts of chile. This area of ash has been swept up from the south east of australia head of a weather front which brought some rain from the start of this week, much needed rain but not enough to put those fires out as we have seen. As we were just reporting, it looks like it will not tot up for too long. We are seeing these familiar temperature fluctuations, familiar toa temperature fluctuations, familiar to a certain extent but more extreme. We have had record temperatures over the past few days, few weeks, and we are looking at temperature to rise up to about a0 degrees, so not as hot as it has been but still hotter than it normally is. In canberra for example, the maximum temperature is normally 28 degrees this time yet thatis normally 28 degrees this time yet that is what it is likely to be on saturday as the wind direction changes. Instead of the heat, dry, hotaircoming changes. Instead of the heat, dry, hot air coming from the interior, you get something a little cooler and damper coming in from the southern oceans on a southerly breeze. That brings about the change
in temperatures. But as you can see, the heat is building but it shouldnt last too long before the temperatures drop. When we are still in the bushfire season in the coming months, we will get further temperature fluctuations, which means more heat and probably extremes. Not just means more heat and probably extremes. Notjust melbourne, canberra and sydney as we were seeing. Absolutely. Sydney is interesting, i know what youre trying to do. Wagga wagga. It is still to the west of canberra, but sydney, the spring in australia was the driest on record across the country and december, the start of the summer, in sydney there was only 1. 6 millimetres of rain recorded. The average is over 70, near 80, so the dry weather has continued, that has been one of the factors that has led to this wildfire season, this bushfire season being worse than the past few years. And it doesnt finish until march. No. Start december, ends in march but we have the first fires in september. Ok. Lets turn our attention to closer to home, it has been very mild of late. It has. Yesterday was very mild across the whole of the uk, also very windy as well. What we are seeing today is a change across the northern half of the uk, it feels much colder, not as windy, we have some sunshine but plenty of shower clouds coming in from the atlantic. Further south it is grey skies, still mild, this thickening cloud coming in from the atlantic potentially bringing some wet and windy weather overnight into tomorrow morning. Ahead of that, though, a lot of cloud across southern parts of england and wales and towards the south west we are seeing it thicken, with rain beginning to set in more widely. That is the we head into the early evening, still cold of the north, still some wintry showers in the north west of scotland, the winds here will ease, the number of showers will reduce but the wetter weather develops more widely across england and wales moves its way northward, and meeting the cold air we could well find a couple of centimetres of snow, and you can see
a big difference in those temperatures, still mild in the south but wet and potentially quite windy weather overnight into the morning too. It soon dries off in Northern Ireland. That wetter weather continues into the morning across before petering out. To the south of that we get some sunshine arriving back later on we have got signs of some more wet weather, this could be quite heavy and potentially thundery rain pushing into southern counties of england later on in the day. Mild in the south again, called for Northern England, Northern Ireland and also for scotland. Now the reason we have got some uncertainty about the strength of the wind is because there are two areas of low pressure. One of them is likely to develop. Uncertainties over which one. The whole thing sweeps through overnight. Much quieter into friday, more certainty about the details on friday, a cold start, particularly across scotland and Northern England, at least a first in rural areas but the promise ofa first in rural areas but the promise of a fine day for most of us on friday with some sunshine. But the winds will strengthen in the afternoon, especially across scotla nd afternoon, especially across scotland and Northern Ireland ahead of this rain that is arriving in the north west by the evening. But
before then, temperatures seven or 8 degrees, a little bit cooler than it has been of late, but the start of the weekend sees milder, windier weather, south to south westerly winds arriving, head of that with the front, which will bring some rain during saturday, pushing its way south eastwards, the second half of the weekend, we are into sunshine and showers. The air gets a bit cold as well, maybe a touch of wintry dust over the Higher Ground in scotla nd dust over the Higher Ground in scotland over their showers, so fluctuating temperatures over the next few days, the potential for some wet and windy weather tonight. This is bbc news our latest headlines. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general soleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. President trump tweets that there were no casualties and that all is well hes due to give a statement in the next half an hour. Borisjohnson warns iran not to retaliate further. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Sport now on afternoon live with olly foster
and the government has called on the fa to reconsider its decision to sell fa cup broadcast rights to a gambling website. Yes, good afternoon. The betting industry and sport, that uncomfortable relationship at times. The fa are in a tricky position, they agreed in may 2017 to cut all ties with betting sponsors, partly because of the perceived conflict, it also governs betting regulations within the sport, but this weekend the betting company bet365 showed 23 of the fa cup ties live through their website and apps. Theyve been able to do this since the start of last season for their customers. They had bought the rights off another broadcasting partner of the fa and their deal goes through to 202a. It probably surfaced this weekend because of the high profile heads
up campaign in the cup, the Mental Health charity that has drawn links to problem gambling. The fa say they will review their broadcast deals. Dcms say their relationship needs to be reconsidered. The former sports minister Tracey Crouch thinks it should be done now. minister Tracey Crouch thinks it should be done now. I hope the fa reconsider this deal before the next rights deal because there is real concern about the deal now rather than in the future. It would be only right that the fa look at how this actual deal came about and whether it was something they had oversight of and whether or not it is something they wish to be associated with, here and now, especially because we are starting to look as to whether we bid for the football world cup in 2030. It could be hard to unpick. Bet365 say they have got the right to live strea m say they have got the right to live stream at certain fa cup matches through a long standing media rights
deal and that these streaming Services Provide added value to them, to their customers, and enable them, to their customers, and enable them to watch fa cup matches that they might not otherwise have been able to see, so it seems as though the betting company is sticking to its guns, but we will keep an eye on that. Now, precious, that is how ashley giles is describing five day test matches. Slightly at odds with his bosses, ashley giles is the director of cricket. We brought you this news a few days ago, the International Cricket councils four day test proposal, they want to free up some days in packed calendar and four day tests would certainly do that, the english and Wales Cricket board have said they would cautiously support the proposal but its also met with a lot of resistance, the International Players union say that making a fundamental change simply in order to provide calendar space to fill with additional
or meaningless cricket is of one of the most thrilling finishes on day five of a test when england beat south africa in cape town yesterday to level their current series. Englands director of cricket ashley giles says five day test matches are precious to him and the players. I played test cricket and i love te st i played test cricket and i love test cricket and if we play four day cricket i think we would miss out on a lot of matches like yesterday, and i know a lot of test matches dont go to i know a lot of test matches dont gotoa i know a lot of test matches dont go to a fifth day these days but it is precious to me and i know it is to the players. The best tennis players in the world are in austarlia, all building up to the first grand slam of the year. British no 1 Johanna Konta has pulled out of next
week s Adelaide International and wont play another match before the Australian Open starts on 20th january. She says its a precautionary measure, shes been managing a knee problem for much of the past year. On monday, she lost in the first round of the brisbane international. Now how about this for this for the family album, Stefanos Tstitsipas in happier times with his parents. The greek star has managed to become the black sheep in a matter of seconds at the atp cup. He lost his temper during his defeat to nick kyrgios as greece lost to australia, and he managed to injure his father, apostolas, who is also his coach and team captain, that prompted a telling off from his motherjulia from the stands. I know what she is saying he laterjoked that hell probably be grounded. Look at his reaction. He has lost
the match and injured his father and been told off by his mother. Studio it was clear which was worse what was she saying . I cant tell you. It is all great . It is all greek to you thats all the sport for now. We will hear from President Trump as soon as he is a statement gets under way. There have been celebrations in iran following the missile attack on two bases used by us troops in iraq. The overnight operation was in response to the killing of general Qassem Soleimani in a us drone strike last week. More than a dozen missiles were launched from iran in the early hours of the morning. They struck air bases in al asad, in the west of baghdad, and irbil in the north. Its unclear if there have been any casualties. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner is here. We are awaiting President Trumps reaction to the iranians reaction and he will be wondering whether thatisit and he will be wondering whether that is it and whether iran has retaliated. That is the big question for National Security chiefs in washington and also here in whitehall to some extent, and this is probably the beginning of the beginning of the iranian action any weight be the end of it. This is an overt action from iran and they needed to do something for their population who were baying for blood and revenge for the killing of Qassem Soleimani and it wont be the end of it. This is a direct attack by iran against bases housing americans but they warned iraq in advance that the attack was coming, although they did not say where was going to be had and so far there are no reports of any casualties, iraqi or american. Quite clever in that sense, but i dont think that will be the end of it. I would expect to see iran carrying out some covert
actions which will be harder to find actions which will be harder to find a return address for. The initial reaction from the iranians and the foreign minister was that this was a carefully considered retaliation and thatis carefully considered retaliation and that is it, and then within the next few hours we heard from the Supreme Leader, that they still need to get the americans out of iraq. The Iranian Foreign minister does not necessarily speak for the opinions of all iranians, but there are two iran perera, the front of house, the comparatively moderate irans. The relatively eloquent people who want to dampen these down and bring iran out of its isolation and lead a normal life, and then you have the deep state, hardliners and the security judiciary and intelligence establishment who are pathologically anti western and they will want far
more revenge than this. That is for certain. Their cult hero has been taken out certain. Their cult hero has been ta ken out by certain. Their cult hero has been taken out by the americans. He will be more powerful in death than he was in life . Quite possible. The Bigger Picture here, what iran wants is to drive us forces out of the middle east, specifically initially out of iraq and syria, but it will be harderfor them to out of iraq and syria, but it will be harder for them to drive them out of the golf because the uae and the saudis and bahrain want them to stay, but there are only 5000 americans left in iraq and only a few hundred left in syria and that is where they are most vulnerable so they will harass those americans who stay if iraq does not kick them out, to make life so unpleasant for them that eventually they are hoping by attrition america will say they are done with iraq, we are off, and in which case iran has a complete swathes of reigning dominated territory from the Afghan Border to the mediterranean, that is their
plan. The television address from donald trump will be crucial . We can see the podium. That is where the address will come from. What he says is going to have huge implications. We have some idea of his thinking from the tweet he put out already today, basically saying all is well which is slightly bizarre. It is for domestic consumption, dont worry, we have got this, i have not overreach myself by killing this quy overreach myself by killing this guy, is essentially what he is saying, but it is quite provocative to iranians, basically it is saying, you didnt get us, but the iranians lead at saying, this is a slap in the face to america, you have got to be careful saying things like that to donald trump because he is impulsive iranians leader is saying. The uk is keen for the
rhetoric to dampen down and just to get people talking. As ever, thanks for joining get people talking. As ever, thanks forjoining us. The new president of the European Commission, ursula von der leyen, has arrived in downing street for talks with the borisjohnson. Theyre expected to discuss how to proceed with negotiations on a future trade deal. Earlier mrs von der leyen delivered a lecture in london, where she said the eu and britain will have to prioritise what they want agreed by the end of this year, unless there is an extension of the negotiating period. Our partnership cannot and will not be the same as before. And it cannot and will not be as close as before because with every choice comes a consequence. With every decision comes a trade off. Without the Free Movement of people you cannot have the Free Movement of capital, goods and services. Without a level Playing Field on environment, labour, taxation and state aid, you cannot have the highest quality access to the Worlds LargestSingle Market. The more divergence there is, the more distant the partnership will be, and without an extension of the transition period beyond 2020, you cannot expect to agree on every single aspect of our new partnership. We will have to prioritise. The European Unions objective in the negotiations are clear. We will work for solutions that uphold the integrity of the European Union, its Single Market and its customs union. There can be no compromise on that. About 9,000 nurses across Northern Ireland have begun a 12 hour strike over pay and staffing levels. More than 2,000 appointments and procedures have been cancelled. The heads of Northern Irelands health trusts have warned that the strike could tip services over the edge. Pat cullen, director of the Royal College of nursing in Northern Ireland, spoke to us a little earlier from belfast. Nurses have been telling those very Health Chiefs for many years now, it is all a matter of record, that the system was about to tip and that we were in an absolute crisis in the Health Service in Northern Ireland. That is not new information and certainly shouldnt be new information to those Health Chiefs. What nurses said to me last night, when those very Health Chiefs came out on the airwaves and said to them, enough is enough, they may tip the Health Service over, i wish they had listened to our voice for the many years that we have been telling them, please do not put in place cost savings plans, freeze nursing vacancies and put in temporary measures to get money out of the system. Please put back in the 2,800 nurse vacant posts in Northern Ireland and please address the nursing crisis. Nurses are coming into their work every day and every night and having to manage in an absolute crisis situation. Beds lined up in corridors, single rooms meant for one patient, there are two patients pushed into it now, and with one oxygen point it is those nurses that are trying to deal with that daily. Theyre waking up in the morning and they get out of their bed and go into their work and it is with an absolute dread, they wonder, how will we get through the day . How will we provide that care . How are we going to cope and how we can keep our patients safe . Because someone has to take the responsibility and last of all what we have seen is our nurses are saying it is tantamount to bullying going on by our Health Chiefs and putting the responsibility on to nurses and trying to silence the nursing voice once again, the very voice that is speaking up for patients and nurses in Northern Ireland and saying that enough is enough. In a moment alice is going to bring us the latest Business News. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general soleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. As youve been hearing, the fugitive ex nissan boss carlos ghosn has said the decision to flee japan, where he was charged with financial misconduct, was the most difficult of his life. Speaking at a highly anticipated News Conference, mr ghosn said his treatment went against International Standards of justice. The boss of sainsburys has said sales were lower during the Christmas Period because fewer people bought toys. Mike coupe told the bbc that toy sales had fallen by 20 across the market
in the last two years. Customers of travelex the foreign currency trader say they feel let down after being left with no travel money. The company confirmed on tuesday that it is the victim of a ransomware attack. Another week and another company is getting rapped on the knuckles by the Advertising Standards Authority . Yes, this is the turn of a company which is an Online Platform which connects businesses with freelancers, and the aca said they up freelancers, and the aca said they up held 19 complaints after they launched this big advertising Campaign Last year which was accused of being harmful, upholding harmful gender stereotypes and are belittling women, and it featured
the slogan, you do the girl boss thing. It was accused of demeaning women and suggesting they were not capable of doing the technical side of the business which is what the company offers. It has been removed from the London Underground and the company has said sorry and removed the word girl from the slogan. And that does it . Ok. They are not the only ones in trouble . Yes, on a different side of the advertising industry, a major instagram influence out there, molly mae hague, she appeared on love island and was a runner up, she is a major influence, she has been rapped on the knuckles after not making it clear that the clothes she put on a recently were being sponsored by a retailer and so the asa have said if youre going to put up an image of
yourself you have got to say where it has come from, reinforcing that evenif it has come from, reinforcing that even if you are not a company and just an individual, but you are part of this core brand of influencers comic you have got to make it clear. You have been looking at the issue of carbon offsetting . As businesses and consumers become much more environmentally aware, we are all becoming conscious of our Carbon Footprint this is something businesses are very keen to be aware of and businesses are very keen to be aware ofand our businesses are very keen to be aware of and our next guest is a expert on this. Rob yorke is a chartered surveyor and rural commentator. It isa it is a no brainer decision that eve ryo ne it is a no brainer decision that everyone should be planting more trees . Thanks for having me on. We have got to look back, last year was the hundredth anniversary of the forestry commission, 120 years ago in 1900 there were 5 of the uk
cove red in 1900 there were 5 of the uk covered in trees and now we have 13 so covered in trees and now we have 13 so there has been an increase in tree cover and there are many benefits from a Tree Planting, carbon offsetting, Carbon Capture, these are important elements come up but it is a huge subject and we are doing that broadly. We are talking about softwoods as well which are conifers, scotch pine and douglas wrote fur, so this is a big and complex issue douglas fern. Wrote fur, so this is a big and complex issue douglas fernm wrote fur, so this is a big and complex issue douglas fern. It is a complex subject, especially for businesses out there because on one side of the coin if you plant trees and then manage the woodland that
creates jobs but if you use the land which was made for Food Production that can have a negative impact on the economy of that area. Yes, which is why Tree Planting is something very political at the moment because as you highlight it is about where you plant trees, it will it be on the agricultural productive load and which are more important for Food Production, you could also look at some of the more marginal protective problems but then you run into habitat regulations productive lowlands. In scotland they are doing more upland conifer big plantations, or planted under the uk forestry standard, so a lot of people see conifer upland, is detrimental to the landscape, that kind of planting them about the new planting regimes are much more sensitive and that it enables more outcome is whether that is for Public Benefit orjust
recreational staff, and farmers also are ina recreational staff, and farmers also are in a key position to utilise woodland, for example as a shelter about to stop pesticides getting into the water and to prevent manure getting into it, but at the same time to keep the weather off their livestock, so that provides an economic benefit to farmers as well as Carbon Capture and being paid handsomely for that. Fascinating to talk about that very complex issue of Tree Planting. Thats all the Business News. Britains biggest trade union, unison, is to back sir keir starmer to be the next labour leader. Sir keir has become the First Leadership hopeful to secure enough nominations to enter the race. Our Political Correspondent, iain watson, is at westminster. Let me tell you a couple of things
about the labour leadership contest about the labour leadership contest a slightly different this year, mps need to get nominations from their fellow m ps need to get nominations from their fellow mps and keir starmer has already got enough of those to get him through the initial hurdle but then he needs two trade unions so he has succeeded today in getting the support of britains biggest trade union, a trade union which has nominated Jeremy Corbyn in the past and some people might have thought they would back rebecca long bailey, they would back rebecca long bailey, the candidate on the left of the labour party. The figures we have from the meeting, it was a clear lead for keir starmer, 1a people backing him and only five backing rebecca long bailey. Keir starmer is here. You must be pleased, how significant is this . Im delighted and honoured to be backed by unison, one of our biggest trade unions,
fantastic Public Servants so it is a great thing to have their support. What i want to do is lead a United Labour party that works with the trade unions and is able to bring the strengths and talents of all our members and supporters and trade unions together as we face the future. What did you have to promise them to get their support . They have campaigned for higher Public Sector pay and an end to outsourcing in the Health Service and in local government. They have been running important campaigns on Public Sector pay and privatisation which i have supported but this was their decision and they came together and made a decision about which candidate they thought would be best placed to take on this challenge and i have worked with unison and with a numberof i have worked with unison and with a number of trade unions over many years and ive been proud to do so and to have this endorsement is an
honour. They are backing Angela Rayner for deputy. Im not bagging anyone for deputy, im going for leader of the labour party. Backing. I want to be leader and i wa nt backing. I want to be leader and i want to work with whoever the deputy is in my plea is for my party to pull together and be united and to face the future and that is where im focused, relentlessly focusing on the future, Going Forward to making the best possible challenges. You do have critics, of course, and one of them said unison has made a mistake because keir starmer coming from london will be toxic in many of the northern seats where there are many Public Sector workers and this will play into the hands of Boris Johnson. I live in north london but i grew johnson. I live in north london but igrew up johnson. I live in north london but i grew up outside of london in a town and the leader of the labour party has of course to make the argument to win back the heartlands but also we need to win seats in
scotland and wales and in the south west and south east so the leader of the opposition has to speak for the whole of england and the whole of scotland and the whole of wales and the whole of Northern Ireland. This was a contest people would assume would start with the membership who had moved to the left, but you are the first to get the nominations and you are now the frontrunner, is that uncomfortable, you are now the present bit . This is very early in the race and Excellent Way to go you are now the person to beat. Im proud to set aside my colleagues who have put themselves forward to make their case and there isa forward to make their case and there is a long way to go, there are many excellent candidates and in the end it will be for our membership to decide who they think is best placed to take this forward but we are in the very early stages of this race. Very quickly, are you confident to get the second trade union to get onto the ballot . Im doing
everything i can to get the best support i can and unify this party. Keir starmer, thanks forjoining us. That is the shadow brexit secretary sir keir starmer who will have his work cut out on the Withdrawal Agreement but he has also been strongly tipped to be the next leader of the labour party and he has been given the backing of unison. Thanks forjoining us. We are awaiting the arrival of President Trump at a podium where he will be addressing the nation following the iranians air strike on us air bases in iraq. Now its time for a look at the weather. It has been a much colder day for the northern half of the uk, the winds easing down to the evening, still share is continuing in the colder air and to the south it is mild but cloudy, the rain arriving to the south west of england and
wales and the wetter weather will push its way east and north overnight together with strengthening wind, and those showers are becoming fewer over northern scotland as the winds ease down. Likely to get a couple of centimetres of snow over the high roots of the Southern Uplands and the northern pennines but further south it is milder. Could be windy for a while. A lot of the rain it should be moving away early in the morning, lingering for a while over Northern England and southern scotland, the snow petering out as the wet weather pushes the air, sunshine to the south and north but towards the south west in the afternoon it gets wet here is the rain could be quite heavy and thundery. Wild in the south again but quite chilly further north. Mild. Hello, youre watching afternoon live im simon mccoy. Today at apm. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general suleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. As President Trump tweets that there were no casualties and that all is well borisjohnson warns iran not to retaliate further. We, of course, condemn the attacks on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. And this is the scene at the white house, where President Trump is expected to speak shortly. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed
including three from the uk. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Coming up on afternoon live, all the sport hello again they are, simon. More resista nce hello again they are, simon. More resistance to the proposal of four day tests. Englands director of cricket ashley giles says they are precious. Thank you very much. Thanks, olly, and well bejoining you for a full update just after half past. Darren has all the weather. A big change for the northern half of the uk, not as windy but an awful lot colder. The next few days will see some wet and windy weather. We will have a look at that and they nod to the weekend forecast, simon. Thanks. Also coming up the former boss of nissan, carlos ghosn, explains his decision to skip bail and flee japan, where hes under investigation on charges of financial misconduct. Hello everyone this is afternoon live. Im simon mccoy. In washington, President Trump will give his response to the attacks on us air bases in iraq in the next few minutes. Two bases were hit by more than a dozen Ballistic Missiles fired from iran. Iranian state television said the attack was in retaliation for the killing of general qasem soleimarni, in a us air strike last week. The missiles targetted two air bases in irbil in the north of iraq, and al asad, west of the capital baghdad. The attack took place about 2am local time. In all, 22 missiles were fired, though two did not explode. The ministry of defence says there have been no british casualties and President Trump tweeted overnight that all was well and said damage was being assessed. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Landale reports. On and on they came, one missile after another, soaring
high into the iranian night sky. More than 20 in all. Their destination, two American Military bases in iraq. Direct retaliation, the iranians say, for the us assassination of their general, Qasem Soleimani. The attack, covered closely by iranian tv, was launched in the early hours and these pictures appeared to show the moment of impact. Most of the missiles were aimed at the al asad airbase in the west of iraq, the others at irbil in the north. So far there has been no confirmation of any casualties. In tehran at a televised public meeting, they shouted, god is great and, death to america as the countrys Supreme Leader told them, the us had been given a slap in the face. But he suggested this
was not the end of it. Military action like this is not sufficient, he said. What is important is ending the corrupting presence of america in the region. But irans foreign minister insisted that iran had concluded what he described as proportionate measures in self defence in line with un rules. Well, we did not start this process of escalation, the United States waged an economic war against iran, the United States has to come to its senses. The presence of iranian people in the streets of many cities, unprecedented in history, a sea of humanity, has to bring the United States to its senses. On the streets of tehran the missile strikes were welcomed. But will people there feel it was enough to avenge the death of general soleimani . The attack was limited in scope and iraq said it had been warned in advance that it was coming. The question now is how President Trump, here shown visiting the al asad base in 2018, will respond. In a tweet, he appeared keen to avoid further escalation. All is well, he said. Missiles launched from iran at two military bases located in iraq. Assessment of casualties and damage is taking place now. So far, so good. But it is not only us targets that are in iranian sights. Israels Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu promised to hit back hard against any attack on his country. We stand with resolution and strength, he said. Whoever tries to attack us will be dealt the strongest blow. In his first Public Comments about the crisis since returning from holiday, the Prime Minister condemned the missile strikes. What i will say is that the uk will continue to work for de escalation in the region. I think we are having a great deal of success in bringing together a European Response and in bridging that European Response with that, of course, of our american friends and working both with the iranians and with the iraqis to dial this thing down. Last night general soleimani was finally buried at his home town in iran. The question now is whether irans show of force will be seen as enough to avenge his death. And draw a line under this latest confrontation between iran and the us. James landale, bbc news. And this is the scene at the white house, where President Trump is expected to speak shortly. Well bring that to you live when he starts. Our middle east editor jeremy bowen gave us the latest from the iraqi capital baghdad. Even if this is the beginning of the end of the crisis caused by the assassination, the long term conflict between iran and the us continues to edge towards war. And that process wont stop without some kind of diplomacy leading to a political deal. There seemed to be one back in 2015 when they signed the iran nuclear agreement, but President Trump pulled out of that a couple of years ago and since then this crisis has grown and grown. There remains a really serious danger of war. Video on social media seemed to show missiles striking home at the us base in western iraq. This remains one of the worlds most dangerous and unstable conflicts. Jeremy bowen there in baghdad. Here, the Prime Minister has spoken publicly for the first time about the events in iran. At the start of Prime Ministers questions, borisjohnson gave his reaction to the attacks overnight. We, of course, condemn the attack on Iraqi Military bases hosting coalition forces. Iran should not repeat these reckless and dangerous attacks, but must instead pursue urgent de escalation. Back to the white house because it is pretty imminent, the arrival of the american president , who many commentators in the United States say faces one of the greatest test of his presidency, after iran launched Ballistic Missiles at us troops in iraq. He planned this address to the nation five or six hours ago, this coming in the late morning in washington time. Irans attack, the most brazen, direct assault on america since the assault on the us embassy in tehran, and President Trump expected to address many of those issues on the middle east crisis when he comes to the
podium shortly. We will take you back to the white house, running a little late but we will take you as soon as he appears. More than 170 people, including 3 from the uk have been killed after a ukrainian passenger plane crashed in iran. The boeing 737 was destined for kyiv, but came down moments after taking off from tehran. Jonah fisher sent this report from kyiv. A ball of fire, it came down just a few minutes after an Early Morning take off. On board, 176 passengers and crew. Most of them, iranians and canadians. Among the other nationalities, three from the united kingdom. This is the crash site, a few kilometres from tehran airport. Shoes, a dress, a Christmas Toy, litter the floor. And the remains of the boeing 737 800 aircraft. Nobody could have survived this. At the planes final destination, kiev, questions about what caused the crash are already being asked. The timing of this crash is certainly extraordinary. Last night, iran fired Ballistic Missiles at military bases inside iraq. And this morning, Iranian State media was keen to stress that this crash wasnt linked and put it down to a technical error. The airline held a press conference and cast doubts on that claim. Translation there were no issues on the technical side. The last service was done two days ago and there were no problems. The aeroplane was good to fly. The investigation into the crash is now under way, with the black box already found. All eyes are now on the iranians authorities to see how transparently they cooperate. Jonah fisher, bbc news, in kiev. Tom burridge has been following the story. We dont have any trace of its decline to stop that is strange and it suggest some type of catastrophic incident. Now that is a very broad term. We have no suggestion at this stage what would have been the cause. There was a line from a ukrainian official, they have since retracted that statement. Although thatis retracted that statement. Although that is a possibility, it is unlikely, the boeing 737 is designed to withstand an engine failing, pilots are trained for that type of scenario every few months, the black box is the cockpit recorder and the
black box. Ukrainian authorities have that, protocol dictates they leave the investigation, the crash happened on the territory, the ukrainians will be heavily involved because it is a Ukrainian International airlines but i think there was even more crucial because normally the americans would be very much about what the investigation because boeing is an american manufacturer, but, given the dynamic in the region at the moment, that is going to be much more tricky commerce of ukrainians i guess will have some kind of role brokering, i guess, between the americans and the iranians, andi guess, between the americans and the iranians, and i think diplomacy will have a role to play in that kind of thing. You are not missing anything, we are keeping an eye on the white house. Still awaiting the arrival of President Trump who is scheduled to address the nation, he was scheduled to address the nation 11 oclock washington time, which is four oclock our time, but he is running more than ten minutes late with that. We will return to the white house as soon as he comes to the podium there. Earlier i spoke to Frank Gardner, who gave me his thoughts on that missile strike last
night. This is probably the beginning of the beginning of the iranian reaction. It is not going to be the end of it. This is an over reaction by iran. They needed to do something for its population, which were baying for blood in retaliation for the killing of Qasem Soleimani for stop this at the first time we have seen anything like this, and over to direct attack by iran on bases housing americans but it was very carefully calibrated. They warned iraq the attack was coming, they didnt tell them where, but it was pretty officer was going to be bases where the americans were at kvamme so far there are no reports of any casualties, either iraqi or american, so quite clever in that sense. That i dont think well be the end of it. In the weeks and months ahead, i would expect to see iran carry out probably some covert actions which are perhaps more deniable, hard to actually find a return address for, but there are two irans, return address for, but there are two ira ns, what return address for, but there are two irans, what i call the front of house, the comparatively moderate,
internationally eloquent people who are keen to dampen this down and bring iran out of its isolation and basically lead a normal life. But then youve got the deep state, the hardliners, the security, judiciary and intelligence establishment, who are pathologically anti western, and they will want far more revenge than this, thats for certain. You know, their cult hero has been taken out by the americans. So is the irony he is going to be more powerful in death than he ever was in life . Its quite possible, is a bigger strategic picture here is that what iran wants is to drive us forces out of the middle east, specifically initially out of iraq and syria. It will be much harderfor them to drive them out of the gulf because saudi behind the uae or when them to stay as their strategic umbrella, but certainly there are only 5000 americans left in iraqi, only a few hundred left in syria, that is where they are most vulnerable to label harry and her rest those americans
that stay if iraq dont kick them out, to make life so unpleasant for them that eventually they are hoping by attrition america will say, you know what, we are done with a rug, you guys can have it, we are off, in which case iran has a complete swathes of iranian influenced or dominated territory from the Afghan Border to the mediterranean. That is their plan. Patricia degennaro is security and politics expert at the world policy institute. Shejoins me from her car somewhere in virginia. Do you think President Trump knew when he sanctioned the killing of this iranian general that this would lead to the biggest test of his presidency so far . this would lead to the biggest test of his presidency so far . I think he calculated that very well. This was quite a big risk for the administration, and they certainly knew that, but i think their intentions were twofold. To find out basically what the reaction of the International Community would be and then basically what their response would be from the Iranian Regime and
the government. He is going to have to explain what information he was acting upon when he made this decision, isnt he . Acting upon when he made this decision, isnt he . Ithink acting upon when he made this decision, isnt he . I think that is absolutely true. There is a lot of explaining to the International Community and the legal parameters that have been sent for these types of actions. However, this president is well known for pushing this idea of warfare, and he is not really he has not really adhered to International Standards or agreements on the legalities of these kinds of actions. So i dont think it really matters to the white house, one way or another. Outside the United States, things looked to have got worse in the middle east. Is there a sense in washington do you think that they may just is there a sense in washington do you think that they mayjust have got better . Well, i think there is a sense in washington that again they wa nt to sense in washington that again they want to see how far they can push this. Basic conflict. I think it
goes a lot further than iran. It actually reaches out and placate the israeli rhetoric that is going on, it also looks at how china and russia are going to respond to this type of blatant risk taking action ofa type of blatant risk taking action of a higher seniority general in a sovereign government, so i think these are all calculated risks they are taking on the white house, and it seems to have paid off, because we havent had much response from anyone, except for the chinese asking for basically restraint, and even nato members have stood by the current action. So it is u nfortu nate, current action. So it is unfortunate, i think, current action. So it is unfortunate, ithink, because current action. So it is unfortunate, i think, because these types of, you know, outright assassinations against country leaders are very detrimental to how future global actors are going to think that they can play in this
type of international competition, structure, that the us has set. You have got back from iraq recently. A lot of people will wonder how the iraqis are going to respond to this, because that is a gamble the president of the United States has taken is well, isnt it . President of the United States has taken is well, isnt it . Ithink overall the population is, if you go from lebanon to syria to iraq, most of those populations want the us troops out of the region, they have wa nted troops out of the region, they have wanted that for a very long time, andi wanted that for a very long time, and i think that is going to give irana big and i think that is going to give iran a big part to play on. The other aspect of this is that the us has a very strong military, as we all know, they are not going to be able to be pushed out very easily. So, i mean, this is going to be a bit of a tug of war, and i think it is up to the International Community really to start putting pressure on the American Administration if this conflict, if they dont want this
conflict, if they dont want this conflict to escalate, because there is always a risk of that, no matter what. Great to talk to you, thank you very much for your time. Lets just show you what is happening in the white house. We are still waiting for President Donald Trump to address the nation, a televised address scheduled for some 20 minutes ago, we are still waiting for him. But that is the scene and i will take you straight back to the white house as soon as he takes that podium. You are watching afternoon live, these are the headlines. Two us airbases in iraq are targetted in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of general suleimani, killed last week in a us airstrike. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including 3 britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in 5 years though killings rose in the capital. In sport, england has backed
director of cricket ashley giles says that five day tests are precious to him and the players. A proposal to reduce tests to four days to ease the cricket schedule is being discussed but is met with strong resistance. The government say the purple association should reconsider right now its relationship with a Gambling Company that allows their customers to watch the fa cup live. British number one Johanna Konta has pulled out of next weekss Adelaide International. Shes been nursing a knee problem for a number of months, wont play again before the Australian Open. We will have more sport for you a little bit later. The European Commission president ursula von der leyen is meeting the Prime Minister in downing street to discuss how to proceed with negotiations towards a uk eu trade deal. Earlier, she warned it would be impossible to reach a comprehensive trade deal by the end of 2020. Our chief Political Correspondent vicki young is there. One words from her when she was
talking at the lse earlier, but tough negotiations with Boris Johnson lie ahead. Yeah, there will be. I mean, she talked about the European Union and the uk still being best friends once the uk had left. She talked about having a truly ambitious partnership, unprecedented in scope, so all of that chiming very much with what the British Government wants, which is a free trade agreement, to have a very close trading relationship, but of course there are problems in all of this, given that borisjohnson has made it clear he does want the uk to diverge from the current rules and regulations. That will mean trade offs, it always does, and the eu has made that very clear from the beginning, but you are not going to carry on in the same way as you are now as a member of the European Union when you are outsiders. So these are the decisions the government has to make, as to how far they want to go down that scale, if you like, which is diverging from the eu, but then that in some ways causing some impediments in their
relationship within the Single Market, so all of that is to be discussed. Now borisjohnson has been very clear, he wants this sorted out by the end of this year. Thats when the transition period, the implementation period where not much changes really after we leave at the end of january until the end of the year, he wants that all to be done and dusted, because he doesnt wa nt done and dusted, because he doesnt want and has said there will be no extension to all of that. Now, some have been speculating about whether there may be sector by sector deals, whereas you could look at some aspects, may be car manufacturing, saying yes, we will stay closely aligned on all of that and not in others. But all of that is up for grabs. Now, Boris Johnson others. But all of that is up for grabs. Now, borisjohnson has talked a lot about having an up and ready deal, he meant the Withdrawal Agreement built of course, which is going through parliament at the moment. This is part two if you like and could end up being much more difficult. One of his spokespeople speaking to the media in the last few minutes, saying the Prime Minister doesnt want the mantra that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed to define these
trade talks. That would suggest that is what they are looking at possibly, in that case, which is that you could look at different sectors, youre not going to wait right until the last minute and then say everything to be in place. Now, whether the eu goes along with that or not we dont yet know because actually these negotiations wont start in earnest immediately after the end of january. Start in earnest immediately after the end ofjanuary. The commission needs to be given its remit, its mandate by the eu leaders before that can really start, but also downing street making clear they will be talking to other countries as well, it is notjust this eu trade deal that will be going on, there will of course be talks with america and other countries as well. Funny you say that because were also hearing Boris Johnson funny you say that because were also hearing borisjohnson and donald trump have had a conversation and have discussed the missile strikes on iraqi bases, and downing street just like the rest strikes on iraqi bases, and downing streetjust like the rest of us waiting to hear what President Trump has to say. Yeah, and actually no other details about that call from
downing street simply saying that it did happen about one oclock today, but not many other details about what they discussed. But clearly from what borisjohnson said in the house of commons at lunchtime today, what is being said by government ministers in the last few days, they are urging a de escalation in the situation. I think they will be hoping that with iran retaliating to some extent today that that will be the end of the matter, but they are clearly very concerned, because it is an incredibly sensitive and volatile situation. Just so people know, we are watching in the white house, summary has just checked the podium so it would appear Donald Trumps arrival is fairly imminent, but just looking at trumps arrival is fairly imminent, butjust looking at events in downing street, vicki, we saw Michel Barnier amongst the team that have accompanied ursula von der leyen. Listening to her earlier, with her studying in the uk, she was saying i understand the british better than most. Yeah, that is true, she spent some time here of course studying as
a student, and, you know, she is seen as someone who was very friendly seen as someone who was very friendly towards the uk, but you know none of that will make any difference when it comes to these negotiations, which will be hard headed. We saw that before. In the end, the eu is protecting its own interest, it is protecting its own interest, it is protecting its own Single Market, and she was making it very clear alongside the warm words that there is no way the uk will have the same relationship outside of the eu as it has done inside. She talked about close cooperation on things like security, foreign policy, making the point that there would still have to be responses to events as we have seen for example in iraq and the middle east recently. There will still be responses which are done with the eu and the uk and other allies alongside each other, so to some extent that doesnt change. The uk when it comes to security very much seen as having an expertise that many other countries within the eu dont have. So that idea that they will still be the best of friends
after the end of january, will still be the best of friends after the end ofjanuary, once will still be the best of friends after the end of january, once the uk has left, that is true, but it doesnt mean that these negotiations are not going to be pretty difficult. It looks to me as though she is about to leave. There are a couple of cars, so you never know. We have optimistically put a microphone there, thinking she might come out. I will tell you what, vicki. Here she comes. come out. I will tell you what, vicki. Here she comes. I am not entirely sure she will. Did you have friendly discussions . Michel barnier gets to walk, and i am just looking at the white house. I think we need to go there, because
they are gathering there ready for they are gathering there ready for the president of the United States donald trump who is giving his reaction to events in the middle east, and as vicki was saying, restau ra nts a nd east, and as vicki was saying, restaurants and had a conversation with donald trump at 1pm, and he spokein with donald trump at 1pm, and he spoke in the commons, the Prime Minister, saying that general Qasem Soleimani, killed by that us drone strike last week about the blood of british troops on his hands. He told the commons that the general was also responsible for a string of attacks on innocent civilians, but he has called for urgent de escalation. That is something no doubt the president will address in this televised address. As you can see, the Vice President and senior military leaders are gathered there to be part of this address from the president , who many in america are saying faces the toughest test of
his presidency, after iran launched those Ballistic Missiles at iraqi us bases last night. No casualties reported and indeed a warning from iran. Lets hear from reported and indeed a warning from iran. Lets hearfrom President Donald Trump, speaking the white house. As long as i am president of the United States, iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning. Iam pleased be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. Good morning. I am pleased to inform you the American People should be extremely grateful and happy no americans were harmed in last nights attack by the iranians regime. We suffered no casualties, all of our soldiers are safe, and only minimal damage was sustained at
our military bases. Our Great American forces are prepared for anything. Iran appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and a very good thing for the world. No americans or iraqi lives were lost because of the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an Early Warning system that worked very well. I salute the incredible skill and courage of americas men and women in uniform. Forfar too long, all the way back to 1979 to be exact, nations have tolerated irans destructive and destabilising behaviour in the middle east and beyond. Those days are over. Iran has been the leading sponsor of terrorism and their pursuit of
Nuclear Weapons threatens the civilised world. We will never let that happen. Last week, we took Decisive Action to stop a ruthless terrorist from threatening american lives. At my direction, the United States military eliminated the worlds top terrorist, Qasem Soleimani. As the head of the quds force, soleimani was personally responsible for some of the absolutely worst atrocities. He trained terrorist armies, including his brother, he fuelled bloody civil wa rs his brother, he fuelled bloody civil wars all across the region. He viciously wounded and murdered thousands of us troops, including the planting of roadside bombs that
maim and dismember their victims. Soleimani directed the recent attacks on us personnel in iraq that badly wounded four servicemembers and killed one american, and he orchestrated the violent assault on the us embassy in baghdad. In recent days, he was planning new attacks on american targets, but we stopped him. Soleimanis hands were drenched in both american and iranians blood. He should have been terminated long ago. By removing soleimani, we have sent a powerful message to terrorists. If you value your own life, you will not threaten the lives of our own people, as we continue to evaluate options in response to iranian aggression, the United States will immediately impose additional punishing economic sanctions on the Iranian Regime. These powerful sanctions will remain
until iran changes its behaviour. In recent months alone, iran has seized ships in international waters, fired an unprovoked strike on saudi arabia, and shot down two us drones. Irans hostility substantially increased after the foolish Iran Nuclear Deal was signed in 2013. And they were given 150 billion, not to mention 1. 8 billion in cash. Instead of saying thank you to the United States, they chanted death to america. In fact, they chanted death to america the day the agreement was signed. Then iran went ona agreement was signed. Then iran went on a terrorist spree, funded by the money from the deal, and created hell in yemen, syria, lebanon, afghanistan and iraq. The missiles
fired last night at us and our allies were paid for with the funds made available by the last administration. The regime also greatly tightened the reins on their own country, even recently killing 1500 people at the many protests that are taking place all throughout iran. The very defective jcpoa the very defectivejcpoa expires soon anyway and gives iran a clear path to Nuclear Weapons, but they must end their Nuclear Ambitions and end their support for terrorism. The time has come for the united kingdom, germany, france, russia and china to recognise this reality. They must now break away from the re m na nts of they must now break away from the remnants of the iran deal orjcpoa,
and we must all Work Together towards making a deal with iran that makes the world a safer and more peaceful place. We must also make a deal that allows iran to thrive and prosper and take advantage of its enormous untapped potential. Iran can bea enormous untapped potential. Iran can be a great country, peace and stability cannot prevail in the middle east as long as iran continues to foment violence, unrest and hatred and war, and the civilised world must send a clear and unified message to the iranians regime, yourcampaign of and unified message to the iranians regime, your campaign of terror and murder and mayhem will not be tolerated any longer. It will not be allowed to go forward. Today, i am going to ask nato to become much more involved in the middle east
process. Over the last three years under my leadership our economy is stronger than ever before and how america has achieved energy independence, and these historic accomplishments shaped our Strategic Priorities and these are accomplishments no one thought was possible and we are now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world. We are independent and we do not need middle eastern oil. The American Military has been completely rebuilt under my administration at a cost of 2. 5 trillion and Us Armed Forces are stronger than ever before. Our missiles are big, powerful, accurate, lethal and fast, and under construction are many hypersonic
missiles, and the fact we have this great military and equipment does not mean we have to use it, however. We do not want to use it. American strength both military and economic is the best deterrent. Three months ago after destroying 100 of isis and its territorial caliphate we killed the savage leader of Isis Al Baghdadi who was responsible for so many deaths including the mass beheadings of christians, muslims and all who stood in his way. He was and all who stood in his way. He was a monster. Al baghdadi was trying again to rebuild the isis caliphate but failed. Tens of thousands of isis fighters had been killed or ca ptu red isis fighters had been killed or captured during my administration. Isis is a natural enemy of iran and
the destruction of isis is good for iran, and we should Work Together on this and other shared priorities. Finally, to the people and leaders of iran, we want you to have a future and a great future, one that you deserve, one of prosperity and a home and harmony, with the nations of the world. The United States is ready to embrace peace with all who seek it and i want to thank you and god bless america. Thank you very much. Thank you. Studio no questions for the president as he gives his statement, saying that the us does not want to use its military mightand us does not want to use its military might and economic strength. He says its economic strength is its best deterrent but he has announced
stronger economic sanctions against iran and also calling on the uk, germany and france to pull out com pletely germany and france to pull out completely from the Iran Nuclear Deal, the decision by the us to pull out of that deal, many say precipitated this Current Crisis in the middle east. He says iran appears to be standing down and he said that the us people should be extremely grateful and happy with the results of his decision to take out the iranians general in that drone strike in a week ago. He said ever since 1979 the world has tolerated irans behaviour and he said the time to put up with that had come to an end. A strongly worded statement from the us president , saying that iran appears to be standing down, and he said no americans were harmed from the
missiles. We will get much more reaction to what he had to say from others who have been watching this statement which came 20 minutes after it was scheduled, so just in time for the end of breakfast programmes in the United States and the domestic audience is very much on his mind, of course. We will have more on that throughout the afternoon and evening here. Now to other stories. A 28 year old man from luton has gone on trial accused of planning a terrorist attack on a high profile target in the uk. Mohiussunnath chowdhury had spoken about a number of potential targets in london. He is pleading not guilty. Our Home Affairs Correspondentjune kelly is at Woolwich Crown court. The jury has been told that Mohiussunnath Chowdhury had spoken of a number of potential targets including madame tussauds, the gay pride parade and the london open top tourist bus. The prosecutor Duncan Atkinson qc told the court that the object was to unleash death and suffering on non muslim members of the public using a firearm, a sword and even a van as part of an attack. Now, chowdhury was originally arrested in 2017. He was found outside buckingham palace, and in a struggle with police he produced a sword from his car. He stood trial for terrorism offences and was acquitted by a jury. But the police and Security Service m15 continued to monitor him and they bugged his home and his car, and he also had, unbeknown to him, conversations with Undercover Police officers. And in those conversations he is said to have talked about attack planning and also said to have talked about how he had deceived thejury at his earlier trial. In the dock with Mohiussunnath Chowdhury is his younger sister who is accused of withholding information. She is pleading not guilty and he is denying all the charges against him. June kelly at Woolwich Crown court. Despite the number of stories we reported about knife crime and violence last year, analysis by bbc news now shows that the number of people murdered across the uk has fallen for the first time in five years. There were 650 killings in 2019, down from 77a the year before although killings in the capital rose for a third consecutive year. Our Home Affairs Correspondent tom symonds has more details. Freeze we have a warrant. Relentless thats how Merseyside Police described their battle against organised crime. In the last year, theyve seized drugs, cash, guns, even hand grenades. Theyve been using these quad bikes to search for the weapons gangs hide in the undergrowth. And theyve been persuading communities to turn against the serious criminals. The result . The force appears to have turned a corner, cutting murders and manslaughters. Organised crime and killing, it says, are inextricably linked. We know a lot of those homicides are related to serious organised crime, which is why we are relentless in targeting those who lead, who bully, who exploit young people, who will carry guns and knives in order to dominate a certain territory. We have tracked every single murder or manslaughter in the uk in the last year. And our figures show that for the first time in four years, the number of killings has fallen, with 650 in 2019. Hopeful, but only a start. In london the rate has gone up. The metropolitan police has around 150 ongoing investigations. Including this one, theyve discovered the remains ofa missing man, shah subhani. His family are desperate for help and as is so often the case, detectives need information. We need the public to please speak up. There is a wall of silence and i know there is a few out there that know what has happened. Speaking on lbc this morning, the mets commissioner accepted there was more to do across london. We are determined to carry on bearing down on violence. We cannot go out and try and stop every single homicide, of course we cant. What we can do is try to stop people going around with weapons with impunity, for example, as we have seen. We can try to stop the offences which lead to homicides. And there are many causes, gangs, drugs, domestic violence, even just alcohol. Murders have their roots in societys deepest problems. Tom symonds, bbc news. And you can find more analysis of those figures on the bbc news website bbc. Co. Uk news. We can return to the speech by President Trump. Patricia degennaro is security
and politics expert at the world policy institute. The president said that since 1979 the world has put up with the behaviour of iran but his patience and the patience of america has run out. The president is very good at getting out his message and his narrative and i think it was very successful in doing that with this speech. I think that at the expense of the iranian people, the American Government has been successful on this risky attack, and the u nfortu nate this risky attack, and the unfortunate thing here is that we have come to this position where we feel like war or military action is the answer to the difficulties that we have with engaging each other and discussing differences with each other, and that is the danger in this whole particular action and i think we need to step back and take
a look at how we are really moving the world into endless conflict. And think about that and how we want to envision it in the future. He also said iran had gone on a terror spree paid for by the funds they received after signing the non nuclear deal, after signing the non nuclear deal, a very strong words for the uk, germany, france, russia and china, to get out of any thought of returning to that nuclear deal. This was part of the nuclear deal, to lift some of the sanctions and give them some money and the Iran Administration the Obama Administration the Obama Administration was correct to move this dealforward, administration was correct to move this deal forward, and administration was correct to move this dealforward, and we did not wa nt this dealforward, and we did not want the iranians or anybody to have Nuclear Weapons in the hands of that regime are in fact anybody elses and we have got to keep that in mind. Or in fact. And we have got to keep that in mind. Or infact. You have and we have got to keep that in mind. Or in fact. You have got to give and take if you are going to make agreements. Iran lost quite a bit because they did not make essential economic agreements in understanding the exchange of the dollar and other currencies work, and so even if we were giving them some release of the money is based on sanctions, that did not help them in the long run. I wonder having watched what the president had to say, will they feel that things have calmed down a bit in the middle east . His tone was to help at least come down, saying that the us does not have any intention to go to a full scale war essentially, and we certainly have been taxed with the middle east and afghanistan and other areas of the world where we operate in with our military, and thatis operate in with our military, and that is very high risk. The
intention again was back to what i said earlier, to see how the International Community response to this, are they going to back out of the jcpoa . Are this, are they going to back out of thejcpoa . Are they going to stand up thejcpoa . Are they going to stand up and facilitate a better engagement between the us and iran . How is that going to work . What about the chinese and russian responses . And turkey, for that matter. This was a very big risk it was a high risk assassination target ina was a high risk assassination target in a volatile environment that we have today, but it seems that it has triggered a lot of aspects of the geopolitical region and the world to see how we want to start mitigating this use of military force all over the place and start engaging in a more robust diplomatic way. Thanks for joining more robust diplomatic way. Thanks forjoining us. Lets speak now to our washington correspondent gary odonoghue. He said of the American People should be thanking him at the start of his speech. Yes, they should be grateful and happy, its what he said, that is a reference to the fa ct said, that is a reference to the fact there were no american casualties and minimal damage from those attacks last night, he also says he thinks iran is now standing down but that is an optimistic view, lets say. You hardliners in iran will want to see more retaliation for the killings killing of soleimani but how that manifests itself we have got to wait and see, but the pivot from the president towards the question of a replacement for the iran nuclear agreement, that agreement was meant to stop iran getting a nuclear weapon, which america pulled out of under this president and which the
europeans have been much more interested in continuing, creating a fracture in the western alliance and also china and russia involved, appealing for a new push in that particular realm, we will see if theres any response to that from capitals in western europe. And also suggesting that there will be additional punishing sanctions as he says on iran and it will be interesting to see what they are. Frankly they seem to have sanctioned pretty much everything anyway, at the moment, including a bunch of senior individuals in the administration. The clear message to the uk germany and france was to stop your negotiations and a message to nato to get more involved. We know that the president has views on nato and that has been well documented since he came into power,
he defended it briefly at the nato summit in london just he defended it briefly at the nato summit in londonjust before christmas, but largely he has been a sceptic about nato. That it doesnt put its weight and it doesnt do what it should be doing and it allows america to carry the can too often. Not clear exactly what he is asking of nato but maybe he is asking of nato but maybe he is asking for more troops in iraq from nato as opposed to us troops, we will see. No specifics at the moment. There will be reluctance from other nato members do commit more forces to that part of the world right now. To commit. The other thing that was missing from the statement was a justification from the president as to why soleimani had to be killed. Yes, there was talk about plant on his hands blood on his hands, and we have heard all that in the last few days, but the discussion about an imminent attack, some kind of
spectacular, something big, that justified doing this now as opposed to not doing it before, we did not hear that. I wonder if we will ever hear that. I wonder if we will ever hear that. I wonder if we will ever hear that. Gary, thanks forjoining us. Breaking news from Northern Ireland. After suggestions that things were getting pessimistic in talks aimed at restoring power sharing in stormont there is a window of opportunity and parties are expected to be briefed on the text of a draft deal shortly. This follows the resumption of talks between the parties last week and the british and irish governments to restore power sharing and it is three years tomorrow since the colla pse three years tomorrow since the collapse of the executive and Fresh Assembly elections could be called if it is not restored next week. Eileen foster of the dup said they are hoping to achieve a deal to
restore power sharing. We are hearing there may be progress. In a moment alice is going to bring us the latest Business News. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Within the last few moments, us President Donald Trump confirmed that no us or iraqi lives were lost in last nights airstrikes and said that iran appears to be standing down after targeting two us airbases in iraq. Mystery surrounds the crash of a ukranian passenger plane in tehran more than 170 people are killed including three britons. The number of homicides in the uk fell in 2019, for the first time in five years though killings rose in the capital. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. As youve been hearing, the fugitive ex nissan boss carlos ghosn has said the decision to flee japan, where he was charged with financial misconduct, was the most difficult of his life. Speaking at a highly anticipated News Conference, mr ghosn said his treatment went against International Standards of justice. The boss of sainsburys has said sales were lower during the Christmas Period because fewer people bought toys. Mike coupe told the bbc that toy sales had fallen by 20 across the market in the last two years. Customers of travelex the foreign currency trader say they feel let down after being left with no travel money. The company confirmed on tuesday that it is the victim of a ransomware attack. One of our top stories today has been escalating tensions in the middle east following irans Ballistic Missile attack on Iraqi Air Bases Housing us forces. We just heard trump on this. Yes, the tone taken by the president there would have been aimed to have eased the markets and it has been interesting how at the beginning of the day we saw the Oil Price Spike and we also saw safe haven assets
like the japanese yen and gold spike but they have all pared back and it will be interesting to see how markets react following the press conference by President Trump. Richard hunter is head of markets at interactive investor. How are the markets going to react . Investors will be quite pleased with what we just heard and there was no outright aggression and no further threat and of course as you rightly say we have said over the last few days we have seen strength in the oil price and other assets which has reversed over the course of today, as investors have decided that for the moment no further escalation of military action is likely and that tends to be confirmed by what we have heard from the president. Were you surprised by the fact that oil
did not go as high as we have seen in recent times when similar actions have taken in recent times when similar actions have ta ken place . In recent times when similar actions have taken place . It did not go near 71 a barrel mark. And gold did not pare back as far as some of those other equities. Gold had a fairly good time over the last 18 months for various reasons, and in terms of the oil price and as we were just hearing from the president , the us is aiming to be totally self sufficient in terms of its own energy needs and its a fair way down that line, so when you are talking about the usual supply and demand balance or imbalance which drives the oil price, may be given what we have been hearing today, thatis what we have been hearing today, that is less of a surprise. Another of the big four supermarkets in the uk, sainsburys, released their Fourth Quarter numbers. The supermarkets like for like sales fell 0. 7 in the 15 weeks
to fourjanuary and Grocery Sales actually increased by 0. A , poor sales in the division that includes argos, which is owned by sainsburys, weighed on the companys overall performance mike coupe insists the company delivered a real sense of momentum. Is he right . Sainsbury is in a fairly uninspiring time at the moment, it has already said that a lot of the paring back to the bone will come in the form of cost cutting and it is difficult to see a clear way in which sainsbury is differentiates itself from the competition at the moment. Granted there are a couple of pockets of potential, but generally speaking the argos acquisition has been successful and the online offering they have is well established and it has had some success with its convenience stores. Having said that, there is clearly a long way to go and if you look at the share price which is around 13 in terms of how much it has fallen, that is proof that in that particularly competitive environment, other
competitors will not stand still while sainsburys tries to catch up. All of the supermarkets are struggling against the german discounters. Thanks for joining struggling against the german discounters. Thanks forjoining us. The markets . The ftse100 hasjust gonein the markets . The ftse100 hasjust gone in to positive territory at the end of the day. Thanks forjoining us. Breaking news from the ministry ofjustice, now. The ministry ofjustice has been ordered to release ian simms, the man convicted of murdering helen mccourt, after an appeal was rejected. Simms, 63, has spent 30 years injail for the murder but has never admitted his guilt or revealed what he did with helens remains. In november, the parole board said simms should be freed but helens family asked the board to review the decision. The board has upheld the decision saying its satisfied that imprisonment is no longer necessary for the protection of the public. Ian simms is to be released. It was a high profile case. We will be getting reaction throughout the afternoon. Next on bbc news, ben brown has the news at five, first the weather. It has been a much colder day for the northern half of the uk, the winds easing down through the evening,
still showers continuing in the colder air and to the south it is mild but cloudy, the rain arriving to the south west of england and wales and the wetter weather will push its way east and north overnight together with strengthening winds. Those showers becoming fewer over northern scotland as the winds ease down. Likely to get a couple of centimetres of snow over the high routes of the Southern Uplands and the northern pennines but further south it is milder. Could be windy for a while. A lot of the rain should be moving away early in the morning, lingering for a while over Northern England and southern scotland, sleet and snow petering out as the wet weather pushes through, sunshine to the south and north but towards the south west in the afternoon it gets wet, here the rain could be quite heavy and thundery. Mild in the south again but quite chilly further north. Today at five President Trump says there were no american casualites in irans missile attack on us bases in the middle east. Two us airbases in iraq were hit in retaliation, the iranians say, for the death of an iranian general killed last week on the orders of mr trump. Our forces ourforces are prepared our forces are prepared for anything. Place mic appears to be standing down, which is a good thing for all parties concerned and for the world. Around appears to be standing down. Here, the first Prime Ministers questions of the year is dominated by the crisis in the middle east. Boris johnson warned iran against further retaliation. Iran should not repeat these