Hello, youre watching afternoon live im martine croxall. Today at 2. 00 iran strongly denies it shot down a ukrainian passenger plane in tehran killing all 176 people on board. Including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth the Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. Bbc presenters samir ahmed wins an employment tribunal. The duchess of sussex goes back to canada amid talks to try and find new roles for her and prince harry. An assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport with jane latest on harry kanes injury. Thank you very much, and helen has all the weather. Climate statistics available for australia. Yes, and we will talk about that in the next hour. And what is heading into the weekend for the uk, as well, which is not all good news unfortunately. Also coming up, from dark satanic mills to new spaces, the regeneration of northern landmarks. Hello everyone
this is afternoon live. Ore do if will tell you all about oui ore do if will tell you all about our top story in one second. Iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. The us, british and canadian governments now believe the jet was brought down by an iranian anti Aircraft Missile shortly after taking off from tehran airport. There are suggestions it could have been a catastrophic mistake, coming at a time of heightened tension between iran and the United States. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Robbins reports. Iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. Iranian Authorities Say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. They are warning it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation, but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. Translation the thing that was clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. As i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. But many governments dispute that. Even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck, the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from detailed satellite intelligence reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. The result of a terrible iranian mistake. Britain agrees. The Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible,
to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. But iran has already brought heavy earth moving equipment onto the crash site. Not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris. All the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of happened. We know that this site of the crash has been compromised, there was heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site and so now we are very distressed, because we cant be guaranteed that the crash site has maintained its integrity. It is now a week since iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. Its been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. Still, there are hopes that, because foreign governments are willing to see any Iranian Missile strike on the airliner
as a terrible error, International Tensions could be eased, not intensified. If this was the case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems, in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. Nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the dead on the flight from tehran, but there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. James robbins, bbc news. The us house of representatives has approved a largely symbolic resolution seeking to limit president Donald Trumps ability to pursue military action against iran. The measure was passed by a comfortable majority in the democrat run chamber but will struggle to get approval in the republican held senate. Democrats accused the president of acting recklessly in ordering the drone strike which killed the iranian general,
Qasem Soleimani. Now, you may be able to help spread some light on the iranian approach, and absolute denial, still, that this was brought down by a missile of theirs. Absolutely. From the very first hour, it was a mechanical failure, they said, and they had to stick to this narrative. Today, again, the head of iranian sites it had been shut down by iranians surface to space missile, they deny it, and the colour to lie and a conspiracy, and warfare by the american allies. They have described it as psychological warfare, playing war games. What has happened at the crash site . Last night, some of the
people that we know inside iran sent us some people that we know inside iran sent us some pictures. It shows all those on the site removing to pre , and also, if you look at the picture, you see so also, if you look at the picture, you see so many people, unauthorised people, it seems to be the residence of the area, freely walking on the site. It shows they havent taken theissue site. It shows they havent taken the issue very seriously, at least investigators go there, chording off that region, and ask for further investigation. I just want to tell you, on the day the plane crash, one soldier in iran almost a minute after, they sent us a voice message on bbc persian, and they said, other soldiers, they have seen three missiles, objects in the air, and they hit it. We couldnt confirm it, we can confirm the identity of the person who sent that voice message
to us. He said he is a soldier, he was so to us. He said he is a soldier, he was so afraid, he thought it was an american missile, an american fighterjet. He american missile, an american fighter jet. He thought american missile, an american fighterjet. He thought the war had just began, which is why he contacted us. He was afraid to go back to the base, he was fearing for his life. Again, the iranian authoritys behaviour, first they say they have found the data recorder, then they said they will not hand it over to the americans, that added to the confusion and suspicion. White back as we know, the Aviation Industry is incredibly thorough and how it performs its investigation, and iran could be in a very peculiar position where they are, despite his denials, proved wrong. They have to stick to the narrative, and ahead of iranian aviation said they will allow eve ryo ne aviation said they will allow everyone to come to investigate. He said a team canada and United States
are under way to iran. A team from ukraine have come and are cooperating. I think there are tones, it seems to me, is changing. There has been a lot of pressure in the past by the canadians. White back however this happened, there we re back however this happened, there were hundred and 76 people on board, and some of them were iranians. They chose canada, they were iranian, if i compare to universities in the uk like oxford and cambridge, these people were the top, the brightest brains in the country, it seems to me, years ago, they have left the country, chose canada to live, or they continue. Losing these people
is not just a they continue. Losing these people is notjust a tragedy they continue. Losing these people is not just a tragedy for they continue. Losing these people is notjust a tragedy for canada, its for all of us. Ukraines president has asked western intelligence to provide evidence to support their claims. Our correspondentjonah fisher is in the ukrainian capital kyiv. The ukrainians were not privy to the information that was circulated last night between United States canada and Great Britain, about a surface to air missile apparently kate taking down this aircraft, and this morning we had this rather desperate appealfrom this morning we had this rather desperate appeal from ukraines president on social media for it to be handed over, for that information to be shared. That appears to now have taken place. It was between the American Embassy here in kyiv, and
it was pointed out that the state of handed over, which is taken to mean that the information which the canadians, americans and british think clearly shows was taken down bya think clearly shows was taken down by a surface to air missile. Think clearly shows was taken down by a surfacetoair missile. What is the approach to irans denial . The ukrainians are in a difficult situation. They sent a team of ukrainians on wednesday night, 45 experts and officials, to take part in that investigation. They are relu cta nt to in that investigation. They are reluctant to be seen to what this investigation may be, but it will have a meaning for input and meaningful access to evidence as pa rt meaningful access to evidence as part of the investigation which is now taking place at the crash site, where the evidence is being collected in tehran. Once ukraine
has had time to digester this material, they may shift their position. Up to now it has been a case where the ukrainians have been saying, we are keeping all options open, we are not ruling anything in oi open, we are not ruling anything in or out. Certainly being shot down by one or a missile is something were looking at, but you havent made any definitive decisions or opinions on had happened. That may change once they have had a chance to have a proper look at what the americans have now shared with them. There are a number of countries involved in this investigation, or who want to be involved, but how helpful is it to the ukraine that one of them is the United States, which has a very tense relationship with iran . That is complicated. It may turn out that the tensions between United States and iran were one of the key causing factors for this plane being shot down, apparently, by accident. Ukraine isa down, apparently, by accident. Ukraine is a difficult position where it doesnt want to appear to prejudge any iranian investigation, while at the same time it appears that the evidence to support the american intelligence finding is piling up. We have other agencies coming forward, for example the dutch, saying they have similar findings. There is circulating purporting to show a missile impacting on the aircraft, and as the evidence piles up, it will become increasingly difficult for the ukrainians to do what they are doing now, which is effectively saying lets the investigation take its course, we are not prejudge what the result will be. The bbc presenter samira ahmed has won the equal pay employment tribunal she brought against the corportation. Thejudge ruled that under the equality act, her work on the programme newswatch was like that of her male colleague, jeremy vine on the programme points of view. The bbc had claimed they performed very different roles. The judgment added the corporation
has not shown that the difference in pay was because of a material factor which did not involve subjecting samira ahmed to sex discrimination. The bbc have released a statement reacting to the verdict saying. Our media correspondent david sillitojoins us now. Tell us more about this case. It is about two programmes, newswatch, for which the mirror i meant was paid. There was another programme, points of view, which is about the same
length of time, takes the same amount to record, and jeremy vine was paid a much higher wage. It wasnt for samira ahmed to prove that this was gender discrimination, it was for the bbc to explain where there was such a big difference. The x they said that one was entertainment and one was news, but they were unconvinced. They can quite understand when it was said that there was a glint in the eye of the presenter, and the consequence of all of that needs to be, well, making up or that pay. Added together, the amounts of Something Like £700,000. This was notjust one case at the bbc. They were forced to
publish the salaries of their top stars, and there was differences between the men and women. This is the first employment tribunal that has come, there are others in the pipeline, according to National Union ofjournalists. How many now make it there, it could be, well, they could be a number of cases, or it could be that there is a major change in the way that people are paid the corporation. The bbc has already admitted that in the past it system was not fair or transparent enough, it has made big changes. Samira ahmed, well, she says that no woman wants to take your employer to court, but she is resolved this is all over. Thank you. Youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her pay equality claim against the bbc. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. Former premier League Referee bobby madley says he has been sacked for filming a video mocking a disabled person destroyed his reputation in his life. Novak djokovic wins in three sets to send serbia into the atp semifinals. More after have passed. In your view, what are the factors that have prompted meghan, in particular, to leave the uk for at least pa rt particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the time. Particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the timelj particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the time. I think it isa least part of the time. I think it is a combination of factors. One of the things that is most striking for me as the things that is most striking for measi the things that is most striking for me as i watched the Royal Wedding a couple of years ago, is this smirk of zara phillips, while the pastor was giving the duke and duchess their vows, and it became very clear to mejust in their vows, and it became very clear to me just in that small gesture that she certainly wasnt being welcomed in, and really embraced in the way that i have seen other royals being embraced. That kind of
signalled that her being black, she had a black pastor, she had a gospel choir, that was something of an oddity to the royal family, and that seems to have been picked up in the press. Pearce morgan, specifically, has been making what i would consider coded statements that spoke to her race, so i would definitely speculate that the unequal treatment of meghan, based on the fact that she is biracial woman, would have been one of the contributing factors. However it is the racism that you believe she has faced . think, having grown up in the uk and then lived here in new york for the last 14 years, im sure it was the type of racism that i faced in the 90s and early 2000, where its very,
very covert. Its the Little Things that you cant quite put your finger on. So, labels like princess because she speak to other racial troops about black people being difficult to deal with. All these difficult reports about her staff quitting route time after time were really reinforcing that same stereotype, which is very similar to the treatment of Michelle Obama here in the uk, when she was first lady. Lot of people will struggle to actually pinpoint how this is racism, rather than clumsiness or snobbery, maybe because she is an outsider, rather than the colour of her skin. I think one of the thing about british racism that makes it quite unique, and it certainly one of the reasons i chose to leave the
uk, was it is in those unsaid moments, theres unspoken moment. Counter to that would be, in 2020, we are into the third decade of new century. That clumsiness should be informed by the fact that the uk has been a multiracial society, specifically since the windrush era, so specifically since the windrush era, so there should be an understanding of how the small indignities that are based, speak to race in a very indirect way, are actually what are termed in sociology as micro aggression. So, like i said, saying that she is difficult is a racialised epithet, if you look at it. It does speak to snobbery, and
there it plays a very different in there it plays a very different in the us. We do have black people of stature who are not necessarily treated in the same way as meghan, so, i would say there as someone who is an american, it shouldnt really be the focus but it should be the impact. The impact is racialised. Be the focus but it should be the impact. The impact is racialisedm social media doesnt respect boundaries. People should should be free to comment on meghan even when she is in america. How protected will she be in america and canada . would say that in america and canada there is a long tradition of pushback against anti black racism, so, for example, the emergence of black twitter, which is something that i look at a lot in my own research on my own work, to provide this protective social media circle
where it is basically, black people who are committed to an entire racism, and that is particularly in north america, but ive seen it in the uk as well. Committed to antiracism. You see black twitter being really protective of black women, and you see followers who, if anything is said about someone, they will come after her. In the actual world, she is a high profile woman in the United States there is a tradition of black exceptionalism, started with the work of we dubois, and it is to do with the class position, and there is an inherent belief in north america that some black people are special, and as a
duchess, she would definitely be seen as duchess, she would definitely be seen as part of that talent. Thank you very much. A draft deal has been published aimed at restoring power sharing in Northern Ireland. The british and irish governments say the proposals are a fair compromise and contain something for everyone. Northern ireland has been without a government since it collapsed three years ago injanuary 2017 when the dup and sinn fein clashed over a green energy scandal. Heres our ireland correspondent chris page after months of negotiating with Political Parties, the Northern Ireland secretary was holding a different kind of discussion this morning. Weve got some hard questions, im a bit nervous. The talks at stormont have been intense, but now he says politicians must do business. We have gone for three years without government, without politicians taking the right decision. We have had three years where mlas
have been paid their salary. The time is up, we need to get to work. Last night, he and the Irish Foreign minister, Simon Coveney, made a bold move to break the deadlock. This deal enables the journey for Northern Ireland, from peace to power sharing, to prosperity to continue. They have made proposals to settle the most contentious issues. There are plans for two commissioners, one would protect and promote the Irish Language, which is particularly important for nationalists. The other would work on ulster scots language and culture, which are more associated with british identity. And the rules for stormonts Cross Community veto system would change, so it can only be used as a last resort. The leader of the Largest Party has said the deal is good enough for her. It is not a perfect deal, it is certainly not one that was written by the Democratic Unionist Party but i feel it is a way forward. People want us to have our own government here. Sinn fein will also need to agree, if devolution is to return. Its senior members are meeting
to make their decision. Well, scenes like this have helped to concentrate political minds over the last few weeks. Nhs workers, including nurses, are staging a third day of strike action, over pay and staffing levels. One of their messages is the devolved government needs to come back, to deal with a Health Service that is widely acknowledged to be in crisis. I think its important for people to get back into government. At the end of the day, our nurses and our staff deserve as much as anybody. We are going to keep fighting until the government is restored and we get our money. For more than 1,000 days, no ministers have been in office to run Northern Ireland. The problems have piled up. But the biggest one, ofjust putting a government in place, may be solved very soon. Chris page, bbc news, stormont. A woman who posed as a teenage boy to sexually assault up to 50 girls some as young as 14 has been jailed for eight years. 21 year old gemma watts created an online persona as jake waton, a 16 year old boy, and used social media to strike up relationships with girls. Our news correspondent Duncan Kennedy is outside Winchester Crown court. This is extraordinary on many levels. First of, its unusualfor a woman to groom girls, which is good that what she did. Not only did she pose as a young boy online to entice victims, she then went to meet them in person posing as a young boy. You will see what i mean when you look at these two photographs here, of
the real gemma watts, and her alter ego. On the left is the real gemma watts , ego. On the left is the real gemma watts, and on the left is her posing as the boy jake. Watts, and on the left is her posing as the boyjake. She not only watts, and on the left is her posing as the boy jake. She not only food her young victims when she met them, she also thought some of their pa rents, she also thought some of their parents, as well. She would put her hairup under her parents, as well. She would put her hair up under her hat and wear baggy clothes, all of which convinced people that she was a boy. Police say gemma watts was a very manipulative person, and she traumatised her young victims. This isa very traumatised her young victims. This is a very shocking case, and were very pleased with the sentence thats been passed today. Its a reminderof the thats been passed today. Its a reminder of the length of the perpetrator will go to to exploit children and young people in our communities. Parents and carers should have the opportunity to speak to their children about their online activity. By speaking about this they can open the door in relation to these conversations so that they can understand any risks. To those
that do harm to children in our community, this should serve as a warning that victims will stand up against you. They will support police and other professionals and bring you tojustice, and police and other professionals and bring you to justice, and today we have seen that done today. Well, the judge sentenced gemma watts just a short time ago to eight years in jailfor her crimes, short time ago to eight years in jail for her crimes, saying that she didnt appreciate how her behaviour affected the girls involved, all of whom experience psychological harm. We had a couple of witness impact statements, victim impact statements, victim impact statements, where they said they we re statements, where they said they were embarrassed, they were ashamed to meet their friends were embarrassed, they were ashamed to meet theirfriends now, knowing that they tried to make a boyfriend out of someone who is actually a woman. Some of the young girls involved had been suicidal. Police say there were four young victims, all under 16, say there were four young victims, allunderi6, in say there were four young victims, all under 16, in this case, they believe that ultimately there may be as many as 50 victims of gemma
watts. As many as 50 victims of gemma watts. Thank you very much. Lets ta ke watts. Thank you very much. Lets take a look at the weather forecast. Now, we have been talking about the plight of australia, and you have some climate statistics. Yes, so these statistics have come through to saying that it is the hottest weather year on record. I willjust show i will just show you the i willjust show you the warming trend, if you look behind me, you can see the black line showing 1910 to just be can see the black line showing 1910 tojust be on can see the black line showing 1910 to just be on 2010, can see the black line showing 1910 tojust be on 2010, a can see the black line showing 1910 to just be on 2010, a steady warming trend. So, slightly worrying that it has been warm and very dry, as well. It has been the driest year on record, as well as the warmest, which is why we have seen such awful, devastating pictures coming out of australia. This is just to
show you, we had the record breaking year, but also how diet has been. Only 40 of the rainfall that you would normally expect, summaries, the blue areas, we had rainfall above average, but that speaks for itself, a picture paints a thousand words. It is very dry. What are the prospects for australia . We what are the prospects for australia . We have what are the prospects for australia . We have had a couple of storms. One across western australia, we will look at the forecast now. This one is slightly concerning is that well give potential flooding. The one concerning is that well give potentialflooding. The one in concerning is that well give potential flooding. The one in the north has already given 500 millimetres of rain, that is western australia. This one has not been named, it looks like it is moving offshore but could bring some rain. Were also watching thats weather front in the south east where we need to rain at the moment. Getting getting 10 15 millimetres of rain but only a smattering in mind, or on
the coast. Concern is the wind following it are really strong so the fire risk is extremely high in those areas with high winds. But the news is as it moves through to the weekend, the wind starts to ease. It then becomes drier next week and temperatures start to rise. I suppose the good news in some ways as it is not towards 40, it is into the 30s but still dry and still very warm. January, only to murk more months of summer here. We are at the opposite end of the spectrum. Wind and rain. And i stated a, very decent day for most of us but looming large and already approaching the western side of scotla nd approaching the western side of scotland and Northern Ireland, the next deep area of low pressure. Not named a strong but, believe you me, the next 5 10 days look very turbulence. Rain and strong wind the concerns turbulence. Rain and strong wind the concerns across scotland, Northern Ireland and Northern England overnight. The end of the afternoon for many, still fine and dry,
increased cloud and rain for the western isles, and north west. Through the evening and overnight, that pushes the metal scotland and Northern Ireland, perhaps not wales as well. After an early dip in the temperatures, because of the strengthening wind, we will see widespread gales in north and western areas. Relatively mild. Not a cold start to saturday but for most of us are rather cloudy one. Best chance of sunshine will be across southern and eastern areas, gradually this mild area will meanderfurther gradually this mild area will meander further south and east across the uk. So it will be not as sunny as it has been today and it will be a lot wetter for north and western areas. It starts to break up with showers for scotland and Northern Ireland but the rain keeps coming for Northern England and wales. Strong and gusty wealth, particularly scotland but east of the pennines prone to the disruptive windscreens and we could have up to 100 millimetres of rain before this finally clears out the way. Relatively mild through the day tomorrow despite all the wind and
rain. Not going to feel that way because you have the wind and the rain. Gradually the weather front slips southwards into sunday so behind it wiese get this incursion of slightly chillier air but that is the sea so we will have as i say. A better frost on the north to start but by a large again because of the cloud we should stay largely frost free. Sunday looks bright at the moment for most of us except the south and east because there will be a few more showers your dad saturday but they cleared away for the afternoon so if you want to go out for a walk at least decent. Not as one but temperatures still a bit above the average for this time of year. Wintry showers following to the north but then the next area of low pressure unleashes its presence on monday. Look at this one. Fill the whole north atlantic. Looks nasty at the moment with another following on tuesday. The potential for Stormy Weather into next week. This is bbc news, our latest headlines. The Foreign Office advises agains all travel to iran against all travel to iran as the country denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Bbc presenter samira ahmed wins in an employment tribunal she brought against the bbc in a dispute over equal pay. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, after she and prince harry reveal they will step back as senior royals. Sport now on afternoon live with jane dougall. Weve been hearing from tottenham about harry kanes injury how are they dealing with it . This was an injury that harry kane sustained on new years day when tottenham played southampton. Its been confirmed that he needs surgery on his left hamstring and hell be out for up to three months. Its to repair a ruptured tendon, but this will be a huge loss for his Club Tottenham, hes their top scorer this season so far with 11 goals. Also so important for england. Also so important for england. Kane will miss two warm up matches at wembley for his country ahead of the euros this summer. His Managerjose Mourinho has a few injuries in his squad, including Moussa Sissoka whos just had surgery. He said kane is a crucial player. Harry is important. He is irreplaceable. There is no player that can replace harry kane and
sissoka was playing so well with us since i arrived. I think one of our best performers. And the bad news is that it best performers. And the bad news is thatitis best performers. And the bad news is that it is not Something Like a couple of weeks and they are back. It is not a couple of weeks, it is. It is surgery and a long, long time. Hell miss englands matches against italy and denmark at wembley, but its wait and watch as to whenther hell be fit for england for the euros which start in june. The former premier League Referee bobby madley has been speaking to the bbc after being sacked from his position. What has he had to say . This was around 18 months ago bobby madley was sacked from refereeing in the premier league for gross misconduct on grounds of discrimination. It was after he had filmed a video mocking a disabled person. In an interview with the bbc he said it had destroyed his reputation and his family life and he regreted it. Iam i am embarrassed in myself. I am embarrassed and not because i got caught, now i look and think ok, i did not have social media then, was not allowed social media account. I do now. I am very, very conscious of everything that i put on there. Every word i put on there, everything i liked on there because i now know that anything taken out of context can reflect on the as a person. As i said, i let myself down. And if you want to hear more from bobby madley whos now trying to rebuild his career in norway you can watch the full interview on football focus tomorrow at 12 tomorrow at 12 on bbc one. Brighton goalkeeper maty ryan is the latest sportsman to pledge his support to help the australian bushfire relief efforts. Hes from plumpton near sydney, and hes also australias number one. Hes vowed to donate 500 australian dollars thats about £260 for every save by a premier League Keeper this weekend. Several warm up tournaments for the Australian Open have been affected by the bushfires, including an event the british number six katie swan played in. It was due to be held in the capital, canberra, but the players werent able to train there because of the poor air quality and it had to be moved to melbourne. We were advised not to go outside. They told us to try and buy masks so that when we were outside we could breathe basically. And notting hill all the smoke. They were able to move the tournament to a different city, so we ended up staying in canberra for three days without being able to practice or really use the gym because the smoke was inside as well as outside. Thats all the sport for now. Further questions have been raised about the safety of boeings 737 max after the firm released hundreds of messages as part of its commitment to transparency. In one communication an employee said the plane was designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys. The 737 max was grounded in march last year after two fatal crashes in indonesia and ethiopia, which killed almost 350 people. Our Business Correspondent theo leggett is here. This theo leggett is here. Was boeings fastest selling and this was boeings fastest selling and newest aircraft but in november 2018, soon after it entered service, one of these planes crashed off indonesia, 189 people were killed. That was a lion aircraft but boeing allowed the aircraft to continue
flying, and regulators allowed it to continue flying. In march last year, another one crashed in ethiopia, a few minutes after take off. At that stage, the decision was made to ground the aircraft. It has been unable to fly since. There are concerns about one of its features, a Flight Control system, and at the moment, regulators are still arguing about when it can start flying and carrying passengers again. In the interest of transparency, all of these messages about this aircraft have been made public. But what kind of image does it create . Very humiliating one for boeing and the regulators. We dont know the exact context of some of these messages, but if you look through them it becomes pretty clear that people working for the company were becoming very frustrated with their managers, that it reinforces the picture already come up through what whistle blowers have said and what hasnt set in congress, that boeing isa hasnt set in congress, that boeing is a company was going down the wrong path. The emphasis at senior
levels on keeping costs under can call, keeping costs under control rigidly, production schedules and safety perhaps taking a back seat. So you have references to employees telling lies, covering up problems, treating cape Scott Mcgregor letters with contempt. All of that goes down badly. The question, they have come to the conclusion reputation is shattered anyway and what they can do now is yes transparent as possible about what has happened in the past and try and focus minds on what will happen in the future. It needs to rebuild it links with regulators, it needs to make sure the aircraft before it comes back into service is as safe as possible. And it needs to convey that message to the flying public as well. Thank you. The metropolitan police say they are treating as a terrorist attack an incident yesterday when two inmates wearing fake suicide belts stabbed a prison officer. Four other members of staff at hmp whitemoor in cambridgeshire were also injured. One of the prisoners involved
in the attack was serving a sentence for planning to kill a british serviceman. Our Home Affairs CorrespondentDaniel Sandford reports. Brusthom ziamani was jailed four years ago, for plotting to behead a soldier. He had been arrested while carrying this large knife and hammer. Ziamani is now one of two men suspected of a vicious attack on prison officers yesterday morning. Police say it was a terrorist attack. The assault took place on a wing of whitemoor prison, a high securityjail with a long and sometimes controversial history of holding terrorist prisoners. Two inmates wearing fake suicide belts and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officer from behind as he opened a store cupboard. They were carrying home made knives. Five prison staff ended up in hospital, including a female officer and a male nurse. This was a cowardly, vicious attack on our members, which hospitalised five members of staff. In many respects, from the information that ive received, we are very lucky that im not standing in front of the cameras today, talking about the murder of a prison officer, it was that serious. The Prison Service has been repeatedly warned, by one former senior governor, about the risk that convicted terrorists pose to prison staff, who are obvious targets for any inmates wanting commit violent political acts. There has been a colossal failure of intelligence here, in terms of protecting prison staff from somebody who was clearly very radicalised. And that is really important because if we cant recruit and retain and train and protect front line prison staff, who are dealing with some of the most dangerous and sophisticated terrorists in the country, we are going to have a very serious problem. Whitemoor prison is where osman khan was held, he was the released terrorist prisoner who carried out
the attack on fishmongers hall in november. People whod been trying to rehabilitate him. Daniel sandford, bbc news. In a moment, the latest business news. First, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her equal pay case against the bbc. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day
after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The release of a batch of internal messages has raised more questions about the safety of boeings 737 max. In one of the communications an employee said the plane was designed by clowns. The plane maker described the communications as completely unacceptable. The 737 max was grounded in march 2019 after two fatal crashes in indonesia and ethiopia, which killed almost 350 people in total. Fashion chain superdry has warned that its profits could be wiped out after a sharp sales slide of more than 15 over the Christmas Period. The firm, which has been trying to sell more clothes at full price, said it had been hit by unprecedented levels of promotional activity by rivals. Joules shares have fallen by a third after the fashion retailer warned its annual profits will be significantly behind expectations due to supply chain issues
during the Christmas Period. But ryanair has had a good christmas. Its raised its full year Profit Guidance after a stronger than expected performance over the festive period. The airline, which is led by michael oleary, now expects pre tax profit to be between £806m to £890 million. However, it said its austrian subsidiary, laudamotion, continues to underperform, with net losses widening. So a big of a mixed bag as far as the christmas retail results yes the retail winners and losers of the crunch Christmas Period are emerging. As ive mentioned fashion chain superdry has issued a profit warning after sales fell sharply over christmas and joules also had supply chain issues. It supply chain issues. Has a really good black friday but it has a really good black friday but it seems sales fell off after
that. The way promotions are run has changed. We have gone away from the lead up to christmas and full sales after christmas, we have black friday which have really made it a kind of confusing time for retailers and consumers. Even if it wasnt black friday, before christmas you could get a bargain but those two companies you mentioned are not the only ones struggling on the high street was not the british sales consortium said overall sales fell for the first time in 25 years, november and december especially bad. But there are exceptions. Today lidl reported an 11pc rise in sales in the four weeks to dec 29, confirming it as the uks Fastest Growing grocer over the Christmas Period. And jd sports said it expects annual profits to be at the higher end of forecasts after posting encouraging sales growth over the key festive period, despite challenging conditions. Its Good Relationship with major brands like nike and adidas a key part of its success. Tell me more about the latest concerns over the safety of the 737 max. Yes this has come from a batch of internal messages which were leaked and published by the washington post. Raising concerns about whether or not the pilots should have been trained on simulators, michelle hasnt following this story. Has been following. Clearly this is embarrassing for the company. They were forced to release this, after they said on tuesday they would do simulator tests on the plane. Why does this matter . Because it adds a huge amount of costs and what these documents reveal was a culture that was trying to avoid having to take on those extra costs. But, of course, now there are questions about whether or not boeing can be trusted with the way its aircraft are certified. By the american aviation regulator. The ffa have said we have seen these e mails and communications and it does not raise any fresh safety concerns, as a result that has not been much real reaction to boeing share prices today but again another slat in the face for boeing. Before you go, we have had the latest snapshot about thejobs have had the latest snapshot about the jobs market have had the latest snapshot about thejobs market in have had the latest snapshot about the jobs market in the United States. What are the figures show . This was a jobs report in which we saw one hundred and 45,000 jobs created by American Companies in december which sounds good on the surface but here is the thing, it was lower than forecast and certainly a step down from novembers trigger and i think the takeaway if you look at what is
happening in the American Economy is that 2019 as a whole, this was the la st that 2019 as a whole, this was the last month reporting for last year, there were solid job growth spot the pace of growth appears to be cooling and if you look at certain trends, wage growth remains soft despite almost full employment so that a lot of the jobs are low wage jobs, there isa of the jobs are low wage jobs, there is a concern about that. The does not seem to be much wage pressure, the other thing is if you look at what is happening in terms of the sector is creating jobs, it is education, hospitality, retail, health care, manufacturing now appears to be in a slowdown, december another terrible month for the sector. Transportation and warehousing also had surprisingly bad month given you would think december when all the e commerce and Holiday Shopping is going on might bea Holiday Shopping is going on might be a bit ofa Holiday Shopping is going on might be a bit of a boost to the industry, that was not the case. Thank you very much. Always fascinated looking
at the conversations in the background. Lets check in with the Financial Markets now and the ftse100 the index of the top 100 Companies Trading on the London Stock Exchange has turned negative. Possibly not helped by those jobs figures from the us showing there was less momentum in the Worlds Largest economy at the end of the year. Airline stocks like easyjet and British Airways owner iag have taken off after irish carrier ryanair raised its profit forecast and the broader sentiment improved as tensions in the middle east subsided a little. Retailers came under pressure, after that warning of poor sales from superdry. And despite a more bouyant Trading Update from jd sports its share are only up a nudge. Thats all the business news. The mills of Northern England still dominate skylines across many towns which were once considered
the workshops of the world. But today, many mills are derelict and empty and in the first survey of its kind, Historic England has found almost 600 of the buildings could be prime candidates for conversion into homes and businesses. Coletta smith reports. With thousands of workers heading in for shifts, this old textile mill was the beating heart of wigan for nearly 100 years. But now, pagefield mill is just a shell, totally derelict. Its only vandals and pigeons within these walls now. Its been empty since 2006. The council would love that to change, but they know it needs to happen quick. We need to keep working to get a viable scheme that brings as much of the Building Back into use as it possibly can. I think we are, otherwise, in danger of actually getting to a tipping point, where that becomes incredibly difficult. Historic england say if we do not act now, within the next few years,
hundreds of mills could be lost forever. Its the skyline that we all know and are aware of and it is what built the towns and cities that we all use and live in, so the buildings and the chimneys are really critical to our heritage in the north west and yorkshire. So, here weve the access ways into each of the apartments. There are some developers willing to take that risk, stump up the money and wait longer for the work to be done. You have got the old beams and youve got exposed brickwork and exposed flooring and all of these Different Things that you can really make the most of and bring out. These flats sell in central manchester, but it would not work in a little town, would it . I think in some of those other towns, i think the Public Sector does need to get involved. Without that, theyre just, some, at the moment, anyway, some of those buildings are just going to get worse and worse and worse. If you can save those buildings and regenerate them, that is what then attracts people to want to live in those towns. And thats exactly what they have done here in halifax. 5,000 staff used to work
here in dean clough mill, as crossleys carpets was once upon a time the biggest carpet maker in the world. It has been a gradual process, restoring one little section at a time. This beauty has taken more than 30 years to reach this point. These buildings that we were in now were built in 1841. I dont think they have been occupied for 50 years, other than by pigeons. So, to have the opportunity to create something really amazing for our people, but also to bring a Building Back to life, it was the nicest opportunity you could have. Just one pearl in a necklace strung across the north of england, forming the original northern powerhouse. Itll take more of this level of cash and this kind of love to bring more mills to life. Coletta smith, bbc news. Now its time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. Were heading toward solutions. It isa were heading toward solutions. It is a Beautiful Day outside but it is
not going to last, it is all change as we head into tonight with this bloom of cloud and now menacing and marching its weight in the north west. Starting to see the cloud arriving in Northern Ireland and scotland. It is tied in with this area of low pressure, bringing quite area of low pressure, bringing quite a lot of rain and strong south westerly winds, a lot of rain. Lots of sunshine from Eamon Britton and eastern parts of Northern Ireland, much of scotland, and it is rendered relatively mild across scotla nd rendered relatively mild across scotland and Northern Ireland compared with recent days. Temperatures around average for this time of year. We will see the rain paving its way in across scotland into Northern Ireland pushing south into Northern Ireland pushing south into Northern Ireland pushing south into north west england and Gale Force Winds driving it in. Further south and east, the likelihood is largely dry but increasingly cloudy, after initial debts and temperature early in the evening, temperatures
will recover by, we have this large atla ntic will recover by, we have this large Atlantic Wind with us through to night and into saturday as well. That will eventually sink southwards so through saturday for most of scotla nd so through saturday for most of scotland and Northern Ireland, wet and 20 start. Wind gusting 50 60 mph persisting it will continue to rain but to the north of that it will brighten up, much windier but largely dry for many parts of central and southern wales, central and eastern parts amendment and relatively mild as well. Clearly not feeling that way, struck in the wind and rain across central areas but the weather front bringing the wind and rain or low pressure bringing it will gradually start to weaken, pushing southwards during saturday night into sunday and allowing some slightly colder air to come back into the north. A touch of frost in the glens of scotland but in the south, it will remain very mild indeed. Because we still have that cloud and rain to clear on sunday morning but it should clear in the
morning but it should clear in the morning with a peppering of showers followed behind, more rain if you like southern and eastern parts compared with saturday but come the afternoon along with the rest of the uk, idrive afternoon along with the rest of the uk, i drive a brighter picture with just a few showers. A bit colder, 811 in just a few showers. A bit colder, 8 11 in the south, five in the north. Does it last . No, we have the next area, large and menacing, barrelling in for the start of the new week. Hello, youre watching afternoon live im martine croxall. Today at three iran strongly denies it shot down a ukrainian passenger plane in tehran killing all 176 people on board. The Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. Iran prepares to open the flight data recorders and invites boeing and Government Agencies from the us, ukraine and canada to help investigate. The duchess of sussex goes back to canada amid talks to try and find new roles for her and prince harry. An assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack. Bbc presenter samira ahmed wins
in an employment tribunal she brought against the bbc in a dispute over equal pay coming up on afternoon live all the sport with jane the latest on harry kanes injury. Jose mourinho says his striker harry kane breaking news, the Football Association are in talks with the bbc about broadcasting outside the blackout period on a saturday. And helen has all the weather. We will talk a little bit about australia and half an hour, i have most of the wet and windy weather in the uk. Also coming up from dark satanic mills to bright airy workspaces well be taking a look at the regeneration of northern landmarks. Hello, everyone this is afternoon live. Iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. We will return to that story very soon, but we are about to hear a statement from samir ahmed after news that she has won her equal pay case at an employment tribunal against the bbc. You will see her there, she isjust appearing against the bbc. You will see her there, she is just appearing from this building where we are broadcasting from. She is surrounded by many of her colleagues from the bbc, some of whom you will recognise. No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer. I love working for the bbc, im really glad it has been resolved. I would like to thank my union, especially
the general secretary. My legal team, and my barrister, and everyone, all the women, all the men who have supported me and the issue with equal pay. I would especially like to thank the Ford Dagenham women and the women of the factory strike who fought for equal pay going back to the 1960s and 70s. Im now looking forward to continuing to do myjob, reporting now looking forward to continuing to d myjob, reporting stories, now looking forward to continuing to do myjob, reporting stories, and not being on them. So, i will leave the general secretary to answer your questions. Can youjust the general secretary to answer your questions. Can you just tell us how you feel . What do you think the implications of this judgment are four other women working . I think it is an absolute landmark victory. It is not just a victory for samir ahmed and
the union, but all those women who are pursuing equal pay cases, and many more who are currently disadvantaged their workplaces are not being paid the same for like work, and i think this is going to be an absolutely inspiring victory, and one that will spark so many more cases, and hopefully will be a bit ofa game cases, and hopefully will be a bit of a game changer in the industry. Clearly a lot of people will be saying newswatch is just clearly a lot of people will be saying newswatch isjust not the same programme as points of view, and they are different. They absolutely are the same, and anyone who reads thatjudgment, it is the most slam dunk judgment who reads thatjudgment, it is the most slam dunkjudgment youll ever read from an employment tribunal court. Its not a victory that is on any kind of legal technicality, it is slow clear clot, so i would say to all those people, just read the judgment. Will it have indication of
the women working outside the media . I think it will be an inspiring victory for everybody. There is a societal problem with equal pay in this country. Its a scourge, and it ta kes this country. Its a scourge, and it takes brave people to step forward and challenge it. Lets be honest, it is an incredibly difficult thing for any person to do to take their own employer to a tribunal. Its restful. We saw in the course of this hearing that the bbc, or rather their legal strategy was undermining samira, it was undermining the bbcs own output and people. No one wants that. I think women will see this result and see that they dont have to put up with being paid differently. Are you asking for the full back pay that samira has missed out on . Absolutely, the schedule of loss is very clear if we are looking for that to be settled. We dont know if the bbc will exercise its right to appeal, i hope they dont, it would be a monumental waste of
licence payers money, we hope that common sense has prevailed. Samira will get the settlement, and we can move on. How many will get the settlement, and we can move on. How many more will get the settlement, and we can move on. How many more cases are there . There are probably around 20 in the pipeline of the actual tribunal system, but there are many more that remain unresolved, possibly as many as 70 at the time of the hearing, but actually, since the hearing i have met the bbc and ive pressed them to use this window of opportunity to think that actually we need to put effort into resolving these outstanding cases, not putting us through the self harm of another tribunal like samiras, some of been resolved, but there are more to sort out. The penultimate paragraph of the judgment says that the bbc has put forward a change. Do you think that the bbc have put forward enough of a change in sex discrimination . I think the issue
they were talking about there was they were talking about there was the change in the nature of programming, but absolutely, the change in the nature of programming, butabsolutely, i the change in the nature of programming, but absolutely, i think it isa programming, but absolutely, i think it is a game changer in terms of sex discrimination in the industry. I think it drives a coach and horses through this perceived separation between news and entertainment that many of the broadcasters are probably also guilty of, and i think for the bbc that is why they pressed ahead. Its common sense to go ahead with this case rather than resolve it, because they thought it would be precedent setting. It is precedent setting, but more the for them for putting themselves in that position. Do you reject the argument that profile has an economic value . There is always scope within the law, because the law is as it stands, the employees can come up with all manner of reasons for pay differential. The bbc couldnt provide any documentation to prove a
reason for the differentia. Some of the evidence they presented was highly dodgy, they didnt have a rationale. We are talking about two people with long standing experience and skills in profile and ability, doing programmes are any normal person would think, do you know what . There is more in common between these two programmes and what separates them. Do you guys, is your position, you reject the idea that people get paid more for a greater profile . I think you would have to have clear evidence of what the profile means, and some sort of impartial way of evaluating and determining that. If employers had that, then they would have the protection they needed in a court of law. The bbc didnt in this case. To bring it down to very basic situation, does that mean that nobody like gary lineker, who is often mentioned, should get the kind often mentioned, should get the kind of money he is compared with female pundits . If they have commensurate skills and experience and doing similar role that is profile in nature, there is clear arguments to
argue that they are doing light work, but dont forget, this wasnt about the difference in perception that people might now have about two presenters, it was about what was going on in 2008, what were the decisions that impacted on the bbcs decisions that impacted on the bbcs decisions on pay then . Not the retrofitting of excuses based on peoples different programmes in profile in the intervening years. It was about what decisions they made them, and why they had more than six times differential between two journalists presenters of, i would argue, equivalent standing. So there is still room for big stars who pay big money . There is. The legislation on equal pay in this country is not as progressive as it should be. It is really difficult for women to win equal pay cases, often. It is not cut and dry, there are lots of ways in which employers can get away with paying people, you know, lesser amounts, but the reality is that in
this case and in many, many others, the Decision Making behind these decisions on pay is arbitrary and unfair, and tainted by race or tainted by gender. So, if a man was paid 340 quid for a new swatch while jeremy vine is being paid £3000 for points of view that would be ok . That is one of the lawyers to be determined, i think one of the issuesis determined, i think one of the issues is that the bbc is notjust any other business, it is a Public Service broadcaster, its a public body, it has a duty on its shoulders that goes beyond anyone else, but it is also a big problem in the industry, the media industry, and society as a whole. There is a lot to do to clean up our act on equal pay, and i just to do to clean up our act on equal pay, and ijust hope this case is a massive step forward in many respects. To that point, how do you
think we should change how we define the value of talent . There should be some transparency and clear and consistent approach in dealing with that. You know, we are all grown ups, everyone involved in this case are ups, everyone involved in this case a re vetera ns ups, everyone involved in this case are veterans of this industry and know how it works, and a lot of arbitrary decisions can be taken when youre talking about talent, peoples respective skills, but there has got to be a framework that makes ita has got to be a framework that makes it a level framework to be mac Playing Field across the piece, and there is documentation and clear headed Decision Making, and it is hard not to come to the conclusion that the fact that you area conclusion that the fact that you are a woman, the fact that youre a person of colour, is actually a significant part of that determination. Thanks very much. She saying that it was a slam dunk judgment, and should be a game changer be on the media and to other places. The bbc has responded to this ruling saying. More in the story throughout the hour. Iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. The us, british and canadian
governments now believe the jet was brought down by an iranian anti Aircraft Missile shortly after taking off from tehran airport. There are suggestions it could have been a catastrophic mistake, coming at a time of heightened tension between iran and the United States. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Robbins reports. Iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. Iranian Authorities Say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. They are warning it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation, but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. Translation the thing that was clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. As i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. But many governments dispute that. Even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck,
the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from detailed satellite intelligence reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. The result of a terrible iranian mistake. Britain agrees. The Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. But iran has already brought heavy earth moving equipment onto the crash site. Not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris. All the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of happened. We know that this site of the crash has been compromised, there was heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site and so now we are very distressed,
because we cant be guaranteed that the crash site has maintained its integrity. It is now a week since iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. Its been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. Still, there are hopes that, because foreign governments are willing to see any Iranian Missile strike on the airliner as a terrible error, International Tensions could be eased, not intensified. If this was the case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems, in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. Nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the dead on the flight from tehran, but there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. James robbins, bbc news. Lets go to the lebanese capital beirut and talk to our correspondent there caroline hawley. How much in evidence is the story across lebanon and its neighbours, given the fact that they are in a pa rt given the fact that they are in a part of the world which, at the best of times, is highly volatile, and particularly so of late. This is a region that was really holding its breath after the killing of Qasem Soleimani, after irans retaliation with those missiles fired at the american bases in iraq, and there was a sigh of relief when it seemed that both sides were in the words of donald trump, stepping back, standing back, standing down. Then came this intelligence suggesting that the plane was shot down by on a rainy and missile, and i think there was concern about what that might
mean, but, interestingly, today we have all the signs that iran is keen to be seen to be cooperating with the outside world over this, and, as you heard from james, no suggestion that any countries in the west would like to hold this against iran at this very, very delicate and dangerous moment in the middle east. So, of course that is being followed, and of course it is being followed, and of course it is being followed most of all in iran itself, but these completely contradictory narratives, and iran are still insisting that it was a technical problem, saying that it is going to start trying to look at the information, listen to the recordings on the flight recorders, and that it would like to do that itself, does it would seek help if itself, does it would seek help if it needs to from russia, canada, france and the ukraine, and saying that it has invited all countries which have citizens, or had citizens
on board a plane, to take part in the investigation, and also American Transport safety officials, and boeing, and interesting point on the right coach, a cbsjournalist in tehran visited the site this morning, and said there was no recorder, no security, and scavengers were basically picking the site clean, but she has treated again and said that iran cleared the wreckage from the site, but it has been collected at another location and is being enveloped examined by ukrainian investigators, so i think it will be very interesting to hear from the ukrainian investigators about what they have gleaned from the wreckage. The head of nato, has called on iran forfully the wreckage. The head of nato, has called on iran for fully transparent investigations into this plane crash. That has just dropped on the reuters wires, caroline. It would be
extraordinary if the loss of life on this scale turned out to be the thing that actually reduced the tensions between iran and the United States. It certainly would, but it would be a massive relief to many people across this region, but certainly, for the moment, western countries insisting on that full and transparent investigation. Canada has called for it, britain has called for it, and countries also taking action to try to prevent any such incidents occurring over the next few days at this time of heightened tension. You have sweden stopping iran flights, the uk advises against all travel to iran, and then you have had the german carrier lufthansa cancelling flights untiljanuary. Carrier lufthansa cancelling flights until january. It seems carrier lufthansa cancelling flights untiljanuary. It seems at the moment that neither side wants to use this to escalate tensions in any
way, so we will wait and see how that investigation goes ahead. Ukrainians, 45 of them, or on the ground in tehran, and were hearing that a delegation of about ten people from canada there is on its way to iran, and that is interesting because canada at the moment does not have diplomatic relations with iran. Thank you. Youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her equal pay case against the bbc. The Football Association are in discussions with the bbc and bt sport about broadcasting every fa cup tie outside of the usual blackout period on a saturday. It comes after criticism of the organisation for allowing betting companies to stream the ties. Jose mourinho says his striker harry kane is irreplaceable after confirming hell be out for three months. The england captain needs surgery on his left hamstring. And england wont call up another batsman in place of the injuried rory burns for the final two test matches against south africa. England have already added dom bess and Craig Overton to their original touring party. Ill be back with more on those stores e. G. After half past. A woman who posed as a teenage boy to sexually assault up to 50 girls some as young as 14 has been jailed for eight years. 21 year old gemma watts created an online persona as jake waton, a 16 year old boy, and used social media to strike up relationships with girls. Well our correspondent Duncan Kennedy has been at Winchester Crown court. He says Police Believe there may be more unknown victims
of gemma watts. As an extraordinary story in so many levels. It is extremely unusual a woman to groom young girls. She not only posed as a young boy online to entice victims, but went in person posing as a young boy. Look at these two photos here, of the rio gemma watts , two photos here, of the rio gemma watts, and the one she posed as. On the left and signed of the screen is gemma watts as she is, a 21 year old woman from north london. On the right hand side of the screen, it is her posing as a teenage boy called jake. It was so convincing say police, that she not only for their young victims, she also fought some of their parents, as well. Police say she would put her hair up under her hat, wear baggy clothes, all of
which would convince these people that she was genuinely a boy. Police say it, in reality, gemma watts was a very manipulative person, and that she traumatised her young victims. This is a truly shocking case, and were very pleased with the sentence thats been passed down today. Its a reminder of the length of the perpetrator will go to to exploit children and Vulnerable People in our communities. Parents and carers should have the confidence to speak to their children about their online activity. By understanding this they can open the door in relation to those conversations with the children in their family so that they can understand any risks. To those that do harm to children in our community, this should serve as a warning that victims will stand up against you. They will support police and other professionals in bringing you tojustice, and today we have seen that done at Winchester Crown court. Thejudge sentenced her the judge sentenced her to eight yea rs the judge sentenced her to eight years for her crimes. She they say that all the girls experienced psychological harm. They were embarrassed, they were ashamed to meet theirfriends, embarrassed, they were ashamed to meet their friends, knowing that they had tried to make a boyfriend out of someone that was actually a woman. Some of the young girls involved had been suicidal. Police say there were four young victims, all under 16, but ultimately, there may be as many as 50 victims of gemma watts. Political parties in Northern Ireland are studying a draft deal aimed at restoring power sharing. The british and irish governments say the proposals, published last night, are a fair compromise and contain something for everyone. Northern ireland has been without a government since it collapsed three years ago injanuary 2017 when the dup
and sinn fein clashed over a green energy scandal. Heres our ireland correspondent chris page. What is in the deal . This covers a whole range of things from Health Service to education system, to how this place, stormont, operates, but devolution, its all about language and culture, so the British Government have put forward proposals that they think will break the deadlock. Very broadly, it will involve two commissioners, one looking at protecting and promoting the Irish Language, was something which is important to nationalists, and the other when looking at elements of the culture that would be important to british identity, ulster scots language and culture. Here at stormont, the dup and sinn fein, one half of that prospective
partnership is on board. The dup say they think they can work with this deal. Arlene foster says she thinks it is fairand deal. Arlene foster says she thinks it is fair and balanced. Sinn fein have been holding a meeting of the ruling executive to discuss their response. There has been no outcome to that meeting yet. The media are gathered here waiting for, perhaps, someone at some stage to come down the steps and tell us something as to whether or not they will be returning here in the coming hours, but for the moment it is very much a waiting for, perhaps, someone at some stage to come down the steps and tell us something as to whether or not they will be returning here in the coming hours, but for the moment it is very much awaited game still. Thank you very much. Time for a look at the weather, and helen hasjoined us. We have some weather statistics for australia. Yes, it has been confirmed, it has been the hottest year on record for australia. It is the seventh year in succession when it has been the
hottest records, so out of the last ten years, seven of them have been the hottest. Looking at the black line, that is just the gradual increase in average temperature for those years. So, from 1910 to 2010 you can see there has been a rise of a degree and a half, almost, in some places. As we know, we smashed that record for the average daytime temperature, which stood around 40 degrees, set in 2013. In december that this increase by over a degree, and it was only december, we are worried still have january and february to come. Notjust hot, but very, very dry. Only about 40 of the average rainfall has fallen in australia, and obviously that was to do with the fact that it was not just right, but it is driven by some climatic factors like the indian
ocean, which encourages dry weather across australia, as well. Some misfortune coinciding as well as being hot and dry. So, the effects of the indian ocean have now stopped. What is the focus for australia . A little bit better. So, some rain across the north. Let me take you through the focus of the next couple of days. We have the remains of a storm in western australia, flash flooding, over five storm in western australia, flash flooding, overfive millimetres of rain. Notfar flooding, overfive millimetres of rain. Not farfrom flooding, overfive millimetres of rain. Not far from darwin. Flooding, overfive millimetres of rain. Not farfrom darwin. Where we need the rink desperately, we are getting a bit of rain. Only five to 15 millimetres has been reported, but at least it dampens the soil is a little bit, it gives cloud cover so you dont get so hot. U nfortu nately, so you dont get so hot. Unfortunately, some very lively winds following that cold weather front, which do subside over the weekend. Bad news with the weather there. The heat in the dry weather
return next week, but it is not as hot as it has been, so something to cling to, at least, a little bit of good news, but high fire risk. Meanwhile, here, in the midst of what feels like autumn, so wind and rain is on its way. It has been a lovely day out there today, if you have been able to enjoy it, there has been plentiful sunshine, but, as you can see, trailing right the way back into the atlantic, lines of cloud and a big area of low pressure. It is the warm up event, if you like, for what looks like a stormy week next week. Wind and rain setting and across northern and western parts of the uk through this evening. For most, another hour or so of sunshine to come. Relatively mild, not as much though as recent daysin mild, not as much though as recent days in the south, because it was chilly start, im notjust wet but windy, too. Gales across scotland, Northern Ireland, parts of Northern England and wales have been warned, potentially hundred millimetres of
rain before the event ends which is really through tomorrow evening and night. Look at those temperatures, akin to daytime, that we will see tonight. That is because we both have picked up this really warm, moist south west wind. We have got some chilly air to come later in the weekend, but saturday, it is cloudy, it is windy, mostly dry for southern and eastern parts of wales, and later it brightens up in scotland, but to some areas of southern scotla nd but to some areas of southern scotland and Northern England and wales it will rain. Lively, gusty winds through the Trans Pennine routes, west of the grampians, continuing to blog gay all around the coast of northern wales and england. Three tomorrow night, we will drag a weather front southwards, getting into the colder air behind. A touch of frost in the glens, but mild. We still have this weather front in southern areas. Much brighter as we go through sunday afternoon, but before that a
few showers to clear away. Temperatures back down to where they should be for the time of year, but it doesnt last, because as we go into monday, we have yet another of the area of low pressure. Almost the warm up event, because these next low pressure is coming in through monday, tuesday and again looking very potent. This is bbc news, our latest headlines. The Foreign Office advises agains all travel to iran, as the country denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Bbc presenter samira ahmed wins in an employment tribunal she brought against the bbc in a dispute over equal pay. No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer. I love working for the bbc. Im really its been resolved. Im really glad its been resolved. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, after she and prince harry reveal they will step back as senior royals. An assault on prison staff, by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts, is being treated as a terrorist attack. And Northern Irelands main Political Parties are considering a draft deal to restore power sharing at stormont. Sport now on afternoon live with jane dougall. And further developments this afternoon on the story relating to the way the fa cup is broadcast . Yes, this hasjust been revealed in the last hour. The Football Association have said theyre in discussions with the bbc and bt sport about broadcasting every fa cup tie outside of the usual blackout period of 3pm on a saturday. You might remember a few days ago the fa was criticised for an existing deal they have with seven uk bookmakers, which allow matches in the fa cup to be streamed on their websites, but in the case of bet365,
only afterfans had opened an account or placed a bet. Yesterday, those betting Companies Said they were happy for the games to be shown on other platforms. A timely move because last weekend, matches started one minute late as part of the heads up Mental Health awareness campaign. Lot of pressure on the fa to be seen to be acting swiftly. And weve been hearing from tottenham about harry kanes injury how are they dealing with it . This was an injury that harry kane sustained on new years day when tottenham played southampton. Its been confirmed that he needs surgery on his left hamstring and hell be out for up to three months. Its to repair a ruptured tendon, but this will be a huge loss for his Club Tottenham, hes their top scorer this season so far with 11 goals. Also so important for england. Kane will miss two warm up matches at wembley for his country ahead
of the euros this summer. His Managerjose Mourinho has a few injuries in his squad, including Moussa Sissoko whos just had surgery. He said kane is a crucial player. Harry is important, he is irreplaceable. There is no player that can replace harry kane. And moussa was playing so well with us since i arrived. I think one of our best performers. And the bad news is that it is not Something Like a couple of weeks and they are back. It is not a couple of weeks, it is. It is surgery and a long, long time. England say they won t be calling up another batsman in place of the injured rory burns for the final two tests of their tour of south africa. Burns suffered ankle ligament damage playing football on the eve of the second test in cape town, which england won, with fellow
opener dom sibley scoring a century. Of course, england are also missing James Anderson ruled out for the rest of the series with a broken rib. Brighton goalkeeper maty ryan is the latest sportsman to pledge his support to help the australian bushfire relief efforts. Hes from plumpton near sydney and hes also australias number one. Hes vowed to donate 500 australian dollars thats about £260 for every save by a premier League Keeper this weekend. Several warm up tournaments for the Australian Open have been affected by the bushfires, including an event the british number six katie swan played in. It was due to be held in the capital canberra, but the players werent able to train there because of the poor air quality and it had to be moved to melbourne. We were advised not to go outside. They told us to try and buy masks, so that when we were outside we could breathe, basically. And not inhale all the smoke. They were able to move the tournament to a different city, so we ended up staying in canberra for three days without being able to practice or really use the gym because the smoke was inside as well as outside. One tournament that is continuing is the team based atp cup, with rafa nadal helping spain to the semi finals. Having lost his singles match against belgiums david goffin, nadal and partner Pablo Carreno busta won their doubles rubber to set up a semi final against hosts australia. Thats all the sport for now. Ill have more for you in the next hour. In the last few minutes the bbc have given their response to thejudgement. Somewhere ahmed went to an appointment tribunal
some ahmed is an excellent presenter and journalist. We regret this case ever had to go to tribunal. We are committed to equality and equal pay. We have dealt with equal pay cases in the past but have also believed thatjeremy vine and similar ahmeds to was not based on their gender. Presenters have always been paid more on points of view than on use once. We are sorry the tribunal did not think the bbc provided enough evidence about decisions in this case. In the past, a pay framework has not been fair and transparent enough. We have made significant changes to address this and the tribunal recognise that point. We will need to consider this judgment carefully. We want to Work Together to move on in a positive way. The metropolitan police say they are treating as a terrorist attack an incident yesterday, when two inmates wearing fake suicide belts stabbed a prison officer. Four other members of staff at hmp whitemoor in cambridgeshire were also injured. One of the prisoners involved in the attack was serving a sentence for planning to kill a british serviceman. Our Home Affairs CorrespondentDaniel Sandford reports. Brusthom ziamani was jailed four years ago, for plotting to behead a soldier. He had been arrested while carrying this large knife and hammer. Ziamani is now one of two men suspected of a vicious attack on prison officers yesterday morning. Police say it was a terrorist attack. The assault took place on a wing of whitemoor prison, a high securityjail with a long and sometimes controversial history of holding terrorist prisoners. Two inmates wearing fake suicide belts and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officer from behind as he opened a store cupboard. They were carrying home made knives. Five prison staff ended up in hospital, including a female officer and a male nurse. This was a cowardly, vicious attack on our members, which hospitalised five members of staff. In many respects, from the information that ive received, we are very lucky that im not standing in front of the cameras today, talking about the murder of a prison officer, it was that serious. The Prison Service has been repeatedly warned, by one former senior governor, about the risk that convicted terrorists pose to prison staff, who are obvious targets for any inmates wanting commit violent political acts. There has been a colossal failure of intelligence here, in terms of protecting prison staff from somebody who was clearly very radicalised. And that is really important because if we cant recruit
and retain and train and protect front line prison staff, who are dealing with some of the most dangerous and sophisticated terrorists in the country, we are going to have a very serious problem. Whitemoor prison is where usman khan was held, he was the released terrorist prisoner who carried out the attack on fishmongers hall in november. People whod been trying to rehabilitate him. Daniel sandford, bbc news. The duchess of sussex has travelled back to canada, following the news that she and prince harry are stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family. The queen, the prince of wales and the duke of cambridge have asked officials to come up with a workable agreement on what harry and meghan will do next. Mutale nkonde is race and Technology Fellow at Harvard University and told us from new york that coded statements which spoke to meghans race may have been a factor in the couples decision to want to move away. One of the things that was most
striking to me, as i watched the Royal Wedding a couple of years ago, was this smirk of Zana Phillips well the pastor was giving the duke and their vows and it became clear to me in that small gesture that she certainly wasnt being welcomed and really embraced in the way that i have seen other royals being embraced. So that kind of signalled that her being black, the wedding, she had a black pastor, a gospel choir, was something of an oddity to the royal family and thatjust choir, was something of an oddity to the royal family and that just seems to have been picked up in the press, piers morgan specifically has been particularly egregious around making what i would consider and what many critical race scholars would consider, coded statements that spoke to her race. So i would definitely speculate that the unequal treatment of meghan based on
the fact that she is a biracial woman would have been one of the contributing factors. How overt is the races in that you believe she has faced . Races in. Having grown up has faced . Races in. Having grown up in the uk and lived here in new york for the 14 years, i am sure the races in i faced in the 90s and the early 2000 where it is very, very covert. It is the Little Things that you cant quite put your finger on. Labels like princess kishi speak to other existing racial tropes about black women being aggressive set aggressive and difficult to deal with, the idea that all of these reports for her staff quitting time at after time reinforcing the stereotype similar to the treatment
of Michelle Obama while showers first lady in the uk. A lot of people will struggle to pinpoint how this is races in. Rather than clumsiness or snobbery, maybe because she is an outsider, rather than the colour of her skin. because she is an outsider, rather than the colour of her skin. I think one of the things that makes british races in unique and it is one of the reasons i chose to leave the uk, it is in those unsaid, unspoken moments, my counter to that would be in 2020, were into the third decade of new century, that clumsiness should be informed by the fact that the uk has been a multiracial society, specifically since the windrush era, so there should be an understanding of how these small
indignities that speak to race in a very, in a very indirect way, are actually what are termed in sociology as micro regressions. So like i said the suggestion she is difficult is a racialised epithet which you can see if you look into the literature. The fact she is an outsider and you speak to snobbery is but it is a class system here in the us. It plays it very differently. We do have black people in the us who have stature, who are not necessarily treated quite in the same way that meghan would be. So i would suggest that as somebody who is an american, the intention should not be the focus but it should be more the impact. And the impact was racialised. Lets just quickly show you the pictures from washington where were expecting a News Conference from the secretary of state mike pompeo shortly. We may also see the treasury secretary appearing as well. We are expecting to hear an update on the iran situation, following the crash of the ukrainian aircraft. In a moment well have the latest business news. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her equal pay case against the bbc. Heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The release of a batch of internal messages has raised more questions about the safety of boeings 737 max. In one of the communications an employee said the plane was designed by clowns. The plane maker described the communications as completely unacceptable. The 737 max was grounded in march 2019 after two fatal crashes in indonesia and ethiopia, which killed almost 350 people in total. Fashion chain superdry has warned that its profits could be wiped out after a sharp sales slide of more than 15 per cent over the Christmas Period. The firm, which has been trying to sell more clothes at full price, said it had been hit by unprecedented levels of promotional activity by rivals. Joules shares have fallen by a third after the fashion retailer warned its annual profits will be significantly behind expectations due to supply chain issues during the Christmas Period. Sorry to interrupt you, we are
joining the press conference at the white house. First, the president is issuing an executive order authorising additional sanctions against any individual owning, operating, trading with or assisting sectors of the iranians economy, including construction, manufacturing, textiles and mining. And let me be clear, these will be primary and secondary sanctions. The eeo also allows us to designate other sectors as secretary pompeo and me think is appropriate. Second, we are announcing 17 specific sanctions against irans largest steel and iron manufacturers, three seychelles based entities and a vessel involved in the transfer of products. As a result of these actions, we will cut off billions of dollars of support to the Iranian Regime and will continue our enforcement of other entities. Third, we are taking action against eight senior iranians officials who advanced the regimes destabilising activities and were involved in tuesdays Ballistic Missile strike. Secretary pompeo well comment more on this. To dates sanctions are pa rt on this. To dates sanctions are part of our commitment to stop the Iranian Regimes terrorist activities. The president has been very clear, we will continue to apply economic sanctions until iran stops its terrorist activities and commit that it will never have Nuclear Weapons on. I will now turn it over to secretary pompeo. Thank you, good morning everyone. Today, President Trump is delivering on the pledge that he made. The day after a on the pledge that he made. The day aftera iran on the pledge that he made. The day after a iran attacked american forces, there will be a series of
new sanctions. Eight senior iranians officials responsible at home and abroad. We are striking at their end security apparatus. This includes the secretary of the national council. That is the regimes squad which has in the last few months killed approximately 1500 iranians who were simply demanding freedom. Our action also targets other Senior Leaders close to the ayatollahs. They have carried out his terrorist plots and destabilising campaigns across the lease and around the world. They have employed soldiers across the regions battlefields. They have trained militias in iraq, syria and elsewhere in the arts of domestic repression. Today, the goal of ourcampaign is domestic repression. Today, the goal of our campaign is to deny the regime the resources to continue its destructive foreign policy. We want iran to simply behave like a normal
nation, we believe the sanctions we have imposed today further that strategic objective. Our campaign is composed of diplomatic, economic, components that have denied the regime billions in revenue, used to fuel death and destruction across the world and the middle east. Sadly, the Previous Administration had opened up Revenue Streams for iran. Under arad ministry, had opened up Revenue Streams for iran. Underarad ministry, oil revenues are down by 80 and iran cannot access roughly 90 of its foreign currency reserves. And not even two weeks ago, the president of iran admitted ever sanctions have cost them over 200 billion in lost foreign income and investment. As long as irans outlaw ways continue, we will continue to impose sanctions. Finally i want to reiterate President Trumps concerns for american citizens, iran knows the charges against them are fake
and we will do all that we can to get all of them returned safely. To their families. But that will take a few questions. The administration said the strike was done facing an eminent french. But this morning you said we did not know precisely when or where. That is not the definition of imminent. The president has also suggested there was some kind of attack being planned against an embassy or several embassies. Can you clarify you have information about a significant threat, eminent threat and it had anything to do with our embassies . We had specific information on an eminent threat and those included attacks on us embassies, per, so you were mistaken when you said you did not know precisely when or where . No, i dont know exactly which minute or day it would happen executed, but it was very clear, Kassem Soleimani himself is plotting a broad large scale
attack against american interests and those were imminent. American embassies, military bases, american facilities throughout the region. Embassies, military bases, american facilities throughout the regionm the initial hours after the metal attacks on the airfield, it was believed that iran may have taken steps to avoid us casualties. But then the chairman and joint chiefs came out to see now, these muscles we re came out to see now, these muscles were intended to kill americans. If it was irans attempt intent to kill americans, does that not deserve a response . If they take a shot and you do not get hit because you ducked, does that not mean they were trying to kill you . Ducked, does that not mean they were trying to kill you . There is no doubt in my judgment trying to kill you . There is no doubt in myjudgment as i observed, the iranians activity in the region, they had the full intent of killing us forces, whether that was military
automatic folks who were in the region, i automatic folks who were in the region, lam automatic folks who were in the region, i am confident the response president has taken as appropriate. The president said we do not want war, want iran to behave like a normal nation, the reason were here this morning is to continue this campaign, our strategic effort to get to behave in a way that does not continue their 40 year long effort to televise the world. Do you believe the iranians shutdown to televise the world. Do you believe the iranians shut down the Ukrainian InternationalAirways Plane and if they did, will be consequences . We do believe it is likely that they were shot down by an Iranian Missile, we are going to let the investigation play out before we make a final determination supporting that we get to the bottom of it. I was on the phone with presents zelensky just before of it. I was on the phone with presents zelenskyjust before i came here, iwas presents zelenskyjust before i came here, i was on the phone with my canadian counterpart, they were working to get their resources on the ground to conduct that thorough
investigation, we will learn more about what happened and when we get the results of the investigation i am confident we and the world will ta ke am confident we and the world will take appropriate actions and response. I was going to comment on that, the treasury will issue waivers for anyone, americans or others, that can help facilitate the investigation. The last time you bothjoined us in this room was in september, announcing initial sanctions, at that point, you said i think we have done more sanctions on iran than anybody and it is absolutely working. Since then, we have seen an escalation in violence from iran, shooting down a drone, attacking an embassy, contractor who was attacking an embassy, contractor who was killed, us troops wounded, how are sanctions keeping the United States interests more secure .
think we have 100 confidence and are consistent in our view that the economic sanctions are working. That, if we did not have the sanctions in place, literally iran would have tens of billions of dollars, they would be using that for terrorist activities throughout the region. And to enable them to do more bad things. There is no question that by cutting of the economics to the regime, we are having an impact and as a president has said, the fact that the Obama Administration turned over 150 billion to the regime, we think we would not be in the situation had that not been the case. Me ijust add, it is important to keen mind what is taking place. This country has never been in the place that it is today. But, challenging problems. Their budget will feel by tens of billions of dollars achieving their revenue for this year. They have got real challenges in figuring out how to make difficult decisions. Do you
underwrite his brother . Do you pick, or do you allow your people to have the opportunity to live the life they want and grow your economy . Close are the difficult choices. You can see the protests we expect will continue that will be demanded of the regime that the treat the iranian people in the way they deserved. You mentioned secondary sanctions. What is your message to our european allies continuing to do business with the iranians, specifically wellness impact the barter mechanism set up by a number of European Countries to avoid us sanctions and continue to do business without using the us dollar . Those are both very important questions. Let me comment first, i dont believe the husband any transactions like that, we have made clear we are working on a swiss
channel that we have approved for humanitarian transactions. We will continue to allow humanitarian transactions. We have warned that they will most likely be subject to secondary sanctions depending on how they use that. So that is the case, as it relates to the europeans, both the secretary and i have spoken to our counterparts in europe, several times over the last few days, we have emphasised the impact and the issue of iran has announced that they are no longer part of thejc poi and we have had very direct conversations with our counterparts about that. What is your definition of imminent . This was gonna happen. And american lives were at risk. We would have been culpably negligent as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, had we not recommended to the president that we take this
action, he made the right call and america is safer as a result. We are going to do one question for everybody so as many people can get questions i dont mean to cut you off at we are trying to. Six months ago, secretary pompeo, the president said Us Intelligence agencies had been running amok. He spent most of the past three years he has been in office denigrating and attacking the Intelligence Community and disputing findings, whether on russia, or north korea or any area that contradicts things that he has said. Why, then, should americans suddenly believe your assertions that you had good intelligence on this, when the head of the executive branch has been casting aspersions on the Intelligence Community for most of his time in office . I served as cio
director for the first year and a half of this admin station, i watch the present rely on the work of the Intelligence Committee did as i served as the head of the cia, i have watched them rely on the capable men and women delivering exquisite information to the executive branch, watched and have confidence in that information. We all challenge their work, we have to make your we get it right. The Intelligence Committee is not flawless, we get it wrong, in this case the Intelligence Community got it fundamentally right. Even the reflections we have seen after the fa ct, reflections we have seen after the fact, after this strike has demonstrated that we were quite right. There was an eminent attack, there was active plotting and we took an action that we thought was likely to create less risk for the American People and im confident that we did that. The question is for secretary
pompeo. You have been it has been said that you are withdrawing from iraq immediately, is that right . To the larger, more important point, we are happy to continue the conversation with the iraqis to what the right conversation is. It is very clear, we have been here to perform a trading mission, and continue the campaign against isis. We are going to continue that mission, but as times change and we get to a place where we can deliver on what i believe and the president believes is the right structure, with fewer resources dedicated to that mission, we will do. We also have a nato team here at the state Department Working to develop a plan which will get burden sharing right in the region, as well, so we can continue the Important Missions to protect and defend, and the risk to
the soldiers and sailors in the region. Here today, you said that the imminent threat was a threat to us embassies, you didnt know precisely when or where. Last night the president said it was a threat to embassies including our baghdad embassy. Why can you say that, and the president has said its a rally in toledo, but no one is saying it to lawmakers . We did. We told them about the imminent threat, all of the intelligence that we breathe, we have provided in both unclassified and classified settings. The imminent threat was that embassies we re imminent threat was that embassies were to be targeted . Make no mistake about it, those leaders, those members of congress who want to access the same intelligence can see that very same intelligence, that will reflect what is the president said last night. Threats are never
gone. Theres always a lot of danger in the world. Always a lot of danger in the world. Always a lot of danger in the world, throughout the region, and nobody believed that a Single Mission in any respect took down the risk of terror, terror from alanda, terror from risk of terror, terror from alanda, terrorfrom isis. Look at the list, though. Look at the achievements of the administration. We took away the caliphate in its entirety, we took down bin laden, we took down Qasem Soleimani. This is a warning to terrorists around the world, and we are very proud of what we have accomplished. One more. Right there. About the trade deal with china. So, they will be here next wednesday to sign the deal, but china is also a big importer of iranian oiland minerals, china is also a big importer of
iranian oil and minerals, and thats a big part of the economy. Are you concerned about the iranian issue coming up . Let mejust, common i have no idea you had asked that question, but thats a good last question. We are looking forward to the chinese delegation coming next week, phase one is very significant. It has very significant components, including technology issues, intellectual property, and 50 billion of purchases from farmers. I would comment, i dont agree with your comment that china is a big buyer of oil. The china state companies are not buying oil from iran, and we are having conversations with china on the sanctions evasion. Thank you, thank you everybody. I lightly press Conference Held by us secretary of
state mike pompeo, and also the treasury secretary, where they announced new sanctions that have been referred to a few days ago by President Trump, 17 various sanctions against irans economy, targeting iron and steel and also the Iranian Security structure, so we are told, but making it clear that there will be waverers available if there will be any American Contractors or organisations that were being asked in the investigation in the crash involving a ukrainian passenger plane. Mike pompeo is saying that the United States did believe that Iranian Missile was responsible, but also he said that he wanted to let the investigation play out. A lot of questions from reporters at the white house, asking for clarification over what exactly the
United States meant by saying that there was an imminent attack likely, and predicted against american facilities and embassies. He said that he didnt know which day those attacks are going to take place, but said that they had convincing evidence about the air strike that killed Qasem Soleimani. More sanctions in place, also discussions ongoing with a over whether United States troops should remain in the country for training purposes, as the ongoing efforts to try and keep the ongoing efforts to try and keep the Islamic State group at bay. Iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. The us, british and canadian governments now believe the jet was brought down by an iranian anti Aircraft Missile shortly after taking off from tehran airport. There are suggestions it could have
been a catastrophic mistake, coming at a time of heightened tension between iran and the United States. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Robbins reports. Iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. Iranian Authorities Say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. They are warning it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation, but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. Translation the thing that was clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. As i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. But many governments dispute that. Even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck, the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from detailed
satellite intelligence reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. The result of a terrible iranian mistake. Britain agrees. The Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. But iran has already brought heavy earth moving equipment onto the crash site. Not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris. All the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of what happened. We know that this site of the crash has been compromised, there was heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site and so now we are very distressed, because we cant be guaranteed
that the crash site has maintained its integrity. It is now a week since iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. Its been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. Still, there are hopes that, because foreign governments are willing to see any Iranian Missile strike on the airliner as a terrible error, International Tensions could be eased, not intensified. If this was the case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems, in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. Nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the dead on the flight from tehran, but there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. James robbins, bbc news. Earlier i spoke to our
ukraine correspondentjonah fisher. He explained more about ukraines request to access western intelligence as evidence to support their claims. Well, the ukrainians were not privy to the information that was circulated last night between the United States, canada and Great Britain regarding the american intelligence about a surface to air missile apparently taking down this aircraft, and this morning we had this rather desperate appeal from ukraines president on social media for it to be handed over, for that information to be shared. That appears to have not taken place. There was a meeting between the presidency and the American Embassy here in kyiv, and, as was tweeted out, important data was handed over, which we are taking to mean that intelligence information which certainly the americans and the canadians in the british think very clearly shows that this plane was taken down
by a surface to air missile. What is the ukraines view on the approach that iran is currently taking with its denial . Well, look, the ukrainians are in a difficult situation. They sent a team of ukrainians on wednesday night, 45 experts and officials, to tehran, to take part in that investigation. I think, on one level, they are reluctant to be seen to be taking a position as to what the end result of this investigation might be, because they are still hoping that that team on the ground is going to have a meaningful input and meaningful access to evidence as part of the investigation, which is now taking place at the crash site, and where the evidence is being collected in tehran. I think once ukraine has time to digest this new material, the material they have been given by the United States, they may shift their position. Up to now, it has been very much a case where the ukrainians have been saying, we are keeping all options open, we are not
ruling anything in or out. Certainly being shot down by a missile is one of the things that we want looked at, but we havent made any definitive decisions or opinions as to what might have happened. That may well change once they have a chance to have a real, proper look at what the americans have now shared with them. There are a number of countries involved in this investigation, or certainly want to be involved, but how helpful is it to ukraine that one of them is the United States, which has a very tense relationship at the moment with iran . Look, that has complicated everything, and, indeed, it may turn out that the tensions between the United States and iran were one of the key causing factors for this plane being shot down, apparently by accident. So, yes, its difficult. Ukraine is in a difficult position, where it doesnt want to be appearing to prejudge any iranian investigation, while at the same time it appears that the evidence to support the american intelligence finding is piling up. We have other agencies coming forward, for example, the dutch, saying that they have similar findings. There is now a video circulating which is purporting to show a missile impacting, possibly, on the aircraft, so, as that evidence piles up, it will become increasingly difficult to do what they are doing now, which is effectively saying, that the investigation take its course. We arent prejudging what that end result might be. Us secretary of state mike pompeo and secretary treasurer Steven Mnuchin announced an increase in sanctions in a News Conference. Mr pompeo also reiterated washingtons stance on the ukrainian plane. We do believe that it is likely that each plane was shot down by an iranians missile. We are going to let the investigation play out before you make a final determination. It is important that we get to the bottom of it. I have
been on the phone with the ukrainian president just before i came here, i been on the phone with the canadian counterpart, we are getting forces on the grant to conduct their investigation, we will find out more about what happened to that aircraft, and then we get the results of the investigation, i am confident that we in the world will ta ke confident that we in the world will take appropriate action is response. This then we have the details of how more pressure is going to be applied in tehran. Thats right, and, of course, a lot of countries have an interest in this, because a lot of canadians died in that air crash. Germans, and swedes, as well, afg ha ns, germans, and swedes, as well, afghans, as well, died, so there is aof afghans, as well, died, so there is a of pressure on tehran to let know what it knows about the crash itself. I think the us obviously has some history in this area, it has
some history in this area, it has some expertise in interpreting what happened, which is what tehran is not happy about letting these black boxes go anywhere near the United States, but you have to remember, as well, the us has some experience of shooting down passenger airliners by mistake, as it did back in 1988, as we have been learning about in the last few days in detail, so this is a hugely complicating factor, and one that, in terms of the overall situation, makes, perhaps, any sort of diplomatic progress tricky until the details of this are resolved properly. For the moment, thank you very much. Political parties in Northern Ireland are studying a draft deal aimed at restoring power sharing. The british and irish governments say the proposals, published last night, are a fair compromise and contain something for everyone. Northern ireland has been without a government since it collapsed three years ago injanuary 2017 when the dup and sinn fein clashed over a green energy scandal. Joining me now from stormont is reporter keith doyle. I must put a health advisory, if they will come out and stand about acting, they could be a flash photography, we must moan people about that. What is in this draft . There are banks of reporters and cameras here waiting to see sinn fein come down those stairs and say, yes, they have signed up to this deal. If they have done that, that means that the dup and sinn fein have both signed up to it, and that will bring the assembly back in two working, and the executive will then be set up. So, in this deal to put forward by the Northern Ireland secretary and the irish deputy premier star last night . Its called a new decade, new approach, and it cove rs a a new decade, new approach, and it covers a whole raft of issues for
Northern Ireland, education, health, enterprise, the environment, brexit, and how this institution here works itself. Basically, all the parties can agree on wide ranging areas, they can agree on most of it. The bones of contention rrrrr that they wa nt bones of contention rrrrr that they want a stand alone Irish Language bill that would give legal standing to the Irish Language. This is something that we need to see if sinn fein will sign up for. We have got dup, which are have been to vehemently opposed, so we will see what sinn fein have to say, and its a waiting game over the next few minutes, but we do expect sinn fein to come down the steps sometime soon, and we will know if Northern Ireland will be back up and running. Certainly an appetite to see what
they have to say, thank you very much. Im joined now byjonathan powell former adviser and held a crucial role during the Northern Ireland peace talks which led to the good friday agreement. Works closely, of course, with tony blair. Thank you forjoining us. We hear that this deal offers something for everyone. In your view, hear that this deal offers something for everyone. In yourview, is hear that this deal offers something for everyone. In your view, is that true . Yes, im not sure it so much about the contents of the deal, its about the contents of the deal, its about the contents of the deal, its about the timing. The fact that the government have set the deadline, its a bit like, if you remember the st andrews agreement at the end of tony blairs time, when we get legislated to abolish all the institutions by the end of the year, that focused minds in december to get that agreement. No one wants a new election, and so they are going into it, and they have come up with a reasonable compromise that should satisfy people both on the language
and on Scottish Irish issues that the unionists have boys insisted on. How much were politician shamed by what was said at the funeral of the journalist lyra mckee, when the priest said it is time to get over these issues. Im not sure they have got over those divisions, and this new generations of politicians who are not directly involved in the trouble is, they have found it harder to make these agreements than Martin Mcguinness and ian paisley did. They need to make progress not just because a brexit, but really the entirety of Northern Irish politics is against brexit and has strong views about what will happen, and the border than the channel between ireland and the united
kingdom, so they need to have a voice in that discussion. The union unison is saying that they are holding the people of Northern Ireland to ransom. And they will get it all is in the laps of the politicians. They have thrown a lot of money at Northern Ireland get into fine deals. Gordon brown sent millions to get them to agree to the policing agreement, and that was well spent. Theresa may spent a billion to getjust put the tory party, and that was less well spent. We also have this question over the legal standing of the Irish Language. That has been a perennial concern for sinn fein. How much of a Sticking Point might that be, if all the other pieces seem to be fitting . Well, i mention the st andrews agreement in 2006, and that was, we
had a lot of discussion about the Irish Language then, and it has been a vexed point between sinn fein and the dup for all that time. I think they have come up with a sensible compromise here. I see it has been denounced by the orange order and some of the Irish Language organisations, so it must be fairly well balanced. I hope both parties will embrace this is a reasonable way forward to make sure that the Irish Language is taken seriously. Good of you to join Irish Language is taken seriously. Good of you tojoin us, thank you. The duchess of sussex has travelled back to canada following the news that she and prince harry are stepping back from their roles as senior members of the royal family. The queen, the prince of wales and the duke of cambridge have asked officials to come up with a workable agreement on what harry and meghan will do next. Mutale nkonde is race and Technology Fellow at Harvard University and told us from new york that coded statements which spoke to meghans race may have been a factor in the couples decision to want to move away. One of the things that was most striking to me, as i watched
the Royal Wedding a couple of years ago was the smirk of zara phillips, while the pastor was giving the duke and the duchess their vows, and it became very clear to me, just in that small gesture, that she certainly wasnt being welcomed in, and really embraced in the way that i have seen other royals being embraced. So, that kind of signalled that her being black, at the wedding, she had a black pastor, she had a gospel choir, was something of an oddity to the royal family, and thatjust seems to have been picked up in the press. Piers morgan, specifically, has been particularly egregious around making what i would consider, and what many critical race scholars would consider a coded statements that spoke to her race. So, i would definitely speculate that her. The unequal treatment
of meghan, based on the fact that she is a biracial woman would have been one of the contributing factors. How overt is the racism that you believe she has faced . I think, having grown up in the uk and lived here in new york for the last 14 years, i am sure it was the type of racism that i faced, kind of in the 90s and early and early in the 2000s, where it is very, very covert. Its the Little Things that you cant quite put your finger on, so, labels like princess cushy speak to other existing racial tropes about black women being aggressive and difficult to deal with. The idea that, you know, all of these reports about her staff quitting, time after time after time, were really reinforcing that same stereotype, which was very similar to
the treatment of Michelle Obama here in the uk while she was first lady. A lot of people will struggle to actually pinpoint how this is racism. Racism, rather than clumsiness. Or snobbery, maybe because she is an outsider, rather than the colour of her skin. Well, i think one of the things about british racism that makes it quite unique, and its certainly one of the reasons i chose to leave the uk, was it is in those unsaid moments, those unspoken moments. My counter to that would be, in 2020, we are into the third decade of the new century. That clumsiness should be informed by the fact that the uk has been a multiracial society, specifically since the windrush era. So, there should be an understanding of how these small indignities that
are based, speak to race in a very indirect way or actually what is termed in sociology as microaggressions. So, like i said, the suggestion that she is difficult is a racialised epithet, which you can see if you look into the literature. The fact that she is an outsider, and you do speak to snobbiniess, but there is a class system here in us that plays out very differently. We do have black people in the us who have stature, who are not necessarily treated quite in the same way that meghan was. So, i would suggest that as someone who is an american, the intention shouldnt be the focus, but it should really be more the impact, and the impact was racialised. A woman who posed as a teenage boy to sexually assault up to 50 girls
some as young as 14 has been jailed for eight years. 21 year old gemma watts created an online persona as jake waton, a 16 year old boy, and used social media to strike up relationships with girls. Well our correspondent Duncan Kennedy has been at Winchester Crown court. He says Police Believe there may be more unknown victims of gemma watts. Its an extraordinary story in so many levels. It is extremely rare for a woman to convicted of grooming young girls online, which is exactly what gemma watts did using instagram and snapchat. But she went further. She not only posed as a young boy online to entice her young victims, but went and met them in person posing as a young boy. Look at these two photographs here, of the real gemma watts, and the one she posed as. On the left hand side of the screen is gemma watts as she is, a 21 year old woman from north london. On the right hand side
of the screen, it is her posing as a teenage boy called jake. It was so convincing, say police, that she not only for their young victims when she met, she also fooled some them of their parents, as well. Police say she would put her hair up under her hat, wear baggy clothes, all of which would convince these people that she was genuinely a boy. Police say, in reality, gemma watts was a very manipulative person, and that she traumatised her young victims. This is a truly shocking case, and were very pleased with the sentence thats been passed down today. Its a reminder of the length of the perpetrator will go to to exploit children and Vulnerable People in our communities. Parents and carers should have the confidence to speak to their children about their online activity. By understanding this they can open the door in relation to those conversations with the children in their family so that they can understand any risks. To those that do harm to children in our community, this should serve as a warning that victims will stand up against you. They will support police and other professionals in bringing you tojustice, and today we have seen that done at Winchester Crown court. Well, the judge sentenced gemma watts just a short time ago to eight years injail for her crimes, saying that she didnt appreciate how her behaviour affected the girls involved, all of whom experienced psychological harm. In fact, we heard a couple of witness impact statements, victim impact statements, where they said they were embarrassed, they were ashamed to meet theirfriends, now, knowing that they tried to make a boyfriend out of someone who is actually a woman, and that some of the young girls involved have been suicidal. Now, police say there were four young victims, all under 16, in this case, but they believe that ultimately there may be as many as 50 victims of gemma watts. Reporting, there, from Winchester Crown court. A reasonable and to the week for most of us, with decent spells of sunshine in many areas, but we have advancing cloud, some rain as we head towards tea time for parts of Northern Ireland in western scotland, and Gale Force Winds. The winds will become stronger right across the uk as we go through the night, pulling and rain into Northern Ireland, into scotland, north west england, even in the south after a temporary dip in temperatures becomes much milder as we head towards dawn, but it does bode well for southern and eastern areas. Perhaps some drizzle later in the day. Very heavy rain continuing for parts of Northern England and northern wales, and strong and gusty winds here, but on the whole, some wet weather around on saturday, and some windy weather, too. Saturday
night brings that range further south, a cold and i, but hopefully a brighter day sunday. This is bbc news, our latest headlines. The Foreign Office advises agains all travel to iran as the country denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Northern irelands main Political Parties are considering a draft deal to restore power sharing at stormont. Bbc presenter samira ahmed wins in an employment tribunal an assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack. Bbc presenter samira ahmed wins in an employment tribunal she brought against the bbc in a dispute over equal pay. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, after she and prince harry reveal they will step back as senior royals. Sport now on afternoon live with jane dougall. And further developments on the story relating to the way the fa cup is broadcast . Yes, this in the last few hours the Football Association have said theyre in discussions with the bbc and bt sport about broadcasting every fa cup tie outside of the usual blackout period of 3pm on a saturday. You might remember a few days ago the fa was criticised for an existing deal they have with seven uk bookmakers, which allow matches in the fa cup to be streamed on their websites, but in the case of bet365, only afterfans had opened an account or placed a bet. Yesterday, those betting Companies Said they were happy for the games to be shown on other platforms. Timely move because last weekend, matches started one minute late as part of the heads up Mental Health awareness campaign. Lot of pressure on the fa to be seen to be acting swiftly. And weve been hearing from tottenham
about harry kanes injury, how are they dealing with it . This was an injury that harry kane sustained on new years day when tottenham played southampton. Its been confirmed that he needs surgery on his left hamstring and hell be out for up to three months. Its to repair a ruptured tendon, but this will be a huge loss for his Club Tottenham hes their top scorer this season so far with 11 goals also so important for england. Kane will miss two warm up matches at wembley for his country ahead of the euros this summer. His Managerjose Mourinho has a few injuries in his squad, including Moussa Sissoka whos just had surgery. He said kane is a crucial player. Harry is important, he is irreplaceable. There is no player that can replace harry kane. And moussa was playing so well with us since i arrived. I think one of our best performers. And the bad news is that it is not Something Like a couple of weeks and they are back. It is not a couple of weeks, it is. It is surgery and a long, long time. England say they won t be calling up another batsman in place of the injured rory burns for the final two tests of their tour of south africa. Burns suffered ankle ligament damage playing football on the eve of the second test in cape town, which england won. Of course england are also missing James Anderson ruled out for the rest of the series with a broken rib. Brighton goalkeeper maty ryan is the latest sportsman to pledge his support to help the australian bushfire relief efforts. Hes from plumpton near sydney, and hes also australias number one. Hes vowed to donate 500 australian dollars thats about £260 for every save by a premier League Keeper this weekend. Several warm up tournaments for the Australian Open have been affected by the bushfires, including an event the british number six katie swan played in. It was due to be held in the capital canberra, but the players werent able to train there because of the poor air quality and it had to be moved to melbourne. We were advised not even to go outside. They told us to try and buy masks, so that when we were outside we could breathe, basically. And not inhale all the smoke. They were able to move the tournament to a different city, so we ended up staying in canberra for three days without being able to practice or really use the gym because the smoke was inside as well as outside. World number two Novak Djokovic has led serbia to the semi finals of the atp cup. He did it the hard way, coming from a set down to beat Canadas Denis Shapovalov in their singles tie winning the match in
a third set tie break. Serbia won the doubles too for a 3 nil overall win. Theyll meet russia in tomorrows semi final,. Thats all the sport for now. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her pay equality claim against the bbc. Ms ahmed claimed she was underpaid for hosting the audience feedback show newswatch when compared with jeremy vines salary for points of view. We can speak to our media correspondent david silitto. Hes outside bbc, new broadcasting house in central london. This house in central london. Is a story of two bbc presenters this is a story of two bbc presenters and two programmes. Both bbc Audience Response programmes. One, of course, points of view, the other one news watch. Samira ahmed presented news watch, being paid for
£40, went up to 465, thenjeremy vine was being paid £3000 a programme. Both programmes are roughly similar duration and talk about the same amount of time to record. The bbc said one was an entertainment show, the other was news. However, an employment tribunal was not convinced and found in samira ahmeds favour. Today, she gave her reaction to the verdict. No woman wants to have to take action against their own employer, i love working for the bbc. I really get it has been resolved. Id like to thank my union the nuj, especially the general secretary my legal team, thompsons solicitors, and my barrister, and everyone, all the women, all the men who have supported me and the issue of equal p5y~ supported me and the issue of equal pay. I would especially like to thank the dagenham women and women of the factory strictly fought for equal pay going back to the 19605
and 705. I am now really looking forward to continuing to do myjob of reporting 5torie5 forward to continuing to do myjob of reporting stories and not being one of them. This is not an isolated case. There are many women within the bbc, who have complained and may be bringing cases in the months to come out as well. This follows revelations of bbc salaries that came in the bbc was forced to publish them. The bbc says it has accepted in the past it was not transparent orfair accepted in the past it was not transparent or fair enough in the way it handled its pay structure. But the director of Human Resources said this particular case was not gender related. Mess samira ahmed is an excellent journali5t gender related. Mess samira ahmed is an excellent journalist and presenter. We regret that this case ever had to go to a tribunal. We are committed to equality and equal pay, where we find ca5e5 committed to equality and equal pay, where we find cases of equal pay in the past we have dealt with these. But we have always believed that samira andjeremy vine5 but we have always believed that samira and jeremy vine5 pay was not ba5ed samira and jeremy vine5 pay was not based on their gender. Pre5enter5, female as well as male, have always been paid more on points of view than new5 been paid more on points of view than news watch. We are sorry the tribunal did not think the bbc provided enough evidence about specific deci5ion5 provided enough evidence about specific decisions in this case. In the past, our pay framework has not been fairor the past, our pay framework has not been fair or transparent enough. We have made significant changes to address this. And the tribunal recognise that point. We will need to consider this judgment carefully. We want to Work Together with samira to move on in a positive way. The National Union of journalist described thejudgment National Union of journalist described the judgment as a slam dunk. And said it would have an impact notjust on the bbc, but the rest of the entertainment and media industry. It is said that around 20 other women have got cases in the
pipeline and there are many others who have complaints about the way they have been put paid about previous years. The metropolitan police say they are treating as a terrorist attack an incident yesterday when two inmates wearing fake suicide belts stabbed a prison officer. Four other members of staff at hmp whitemoor in cambridgeshire were also injured. One of the prisoners involved in the attack was serving a sentence for planning to kill a british serviceman. Our Home Affairs CorrespondentDaniel Sandford reports. Brusthom ziamani was jailed four years ago for plotting to behead a soldier. He had been arrested were carrying this large knife and hammer. Ziamani is now one of two men suspected of a vicious attack on prison officers yesterday morning. Police say it was a terrorist attack. The assault took place on the a wing of whitemoor prison, a high securityjail with a long and sometimes controversial history of holding terrorist prisoners. Two inmates wearing fake suicide belts and shouting allahu akbar attacked an officer from behind
as he opened a store cupboard. They were carrying home made knives. Five prison staff ended up in hospital, including a female officer and a female nurse. This was a cowardly, vicious attack on our members, which hospitalised five members of staff. In many respects, from the information that i have received, we are very lucky that im not standing in front of the cameras today talking about the murder of a prison officer, it was that serious. The Prison Service has been polluted or repeatedly warned by one former senior governor about the risk that convicted terrorists posed to prison staff, who are obvious targets for any inmate wanting to commit violent political acts. There has been a colossal failure of intelligence here in terms of protecting prison staff from somebody who is
clearly very radicalised, and that is really important, because if we cant recruit and retain and train and protect front line prison staff, who are dealing with some of the most dangerous and sophisticated terrorist in the country, we are going to have a very serious problem. Whitemoor prison is where usman khan was helped. Usman khan was held. He was the released terrorist prisoner who carried out the attack on fishmongers hall in november, killing jack merritt and saskia jones, people who had been trying to rehabilitate him. Daniel sandford, bbc news. The nhs is appealing for more young men to donate blood amid concerns about a gender imbalance. For every 100 women who started giving blood last year, only 70 men did. But the high level of iron present in male blood makes it especially helpful to patients who rely on regular life saving transfusions. Lisa hampele reports. Do you want that ending, or the other side ending . Jo daniels life turned upside down,
when her sight began deteriorating at an alarming rate. Over four weeks she went from seeing normally to being completely in the dark. I was absolutely terrified that that was the end of my career and my daughter was very small at that point, when it first started, and again, i was really scared that i was never going to see her grow up. Literally, see her grow up, so it was really quite a scary time. Numerous treatments for her autoimmune disease, sjogrens syndrome, failed, but a last ditch attempt using serum, made from the plasma from male blood donors, changed all of that, and now she can see. If not enough men donate, this treatment will no longer be available forjo and others. Its absolutely vital for these drops. They cant be made without male blood donations and there are so many people who are affected. Male donors are crucial, because men have higher iron levels, necessary for patients who receive many hundreds or thousands of transfusions over their lifetime. And women can produce antibodies during pregnancy. This makes their blood unviable for many specialist transfusions and blood based product, such as complete blood transfusions in newborn babies, and for making fresh, frozen plasma. So, why arent men coming forward . Women are more easily recruited via social media and donor sessions in offices have stopped. Thats where we used to get a lot of our male donors from, so we have less coming from there. And we also think men dont always, from our research, understand the importance of donating, how it is used. Sharp scratch. Nhs blood and transplant says ordinary men can become extraordinary, simply by donating blood. Lisa hampele, bbc news. In a moment, the latest business news. First a look at the headlines on afternoon live. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran. Western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. Northern irelands main Political Parties are considering a draft deal to restore power sharing at stormont. An assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack heres your business headlines on afternoon live. The amsterdam based online food ordering firm takeaway. Com has won the battle for the uk listed just eat with a £59 billion all share offer. The deal will create one of the Worlds LargestMeal Delivery companies. Fashion chain superdry has warned that its profits could be wiped out after a sharp sales slide of more than 15 over the Christmas Period. The firm, which has been trying to sell more clothes at full price, said it had been hit by unprecedented levels of promotional activity by rivals. Joules shares have fallen by a third after the fashion retailer warned its annual profits will be significantly behind expectations due to supply chain issues
during the Christmas Period. But ryanair has had a good christmas. Its raised its full year Profit Guidance after a stronger than expected performance over the festive period. The airline, which is led by michael oleary, now expects pre tax profit to be between £806 million to £890 million. However, it said its austrian subsidiary, laudamotion, continues to underperform, with net losses widening. Obviously weve been covering equal pay today, but youve also been looking at the disparity in how much women are being charged for some Services Compared to men. Yes the equality act of 2010 protects people from discrimination. It means that when providing goods and services a business must not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of gender. And it applies to businesses such as barbershops and salons. But there is evidence that women are paying a lot more
for a haircut than a men. This issue has been raised again by the actor Georgia Frost who says she was recently refused service by two consecutive barbers in west london, something she found humiliating. Elizabeth mcglone is a partner at bindmans llp why this was happening even though under law a business must not discriminate against anyone on the grounds of gender. On the face of it, Service Providers shouldnt discriminate on grounds of sex, but there are caveats to that, in that if it is not reasonable or practicable to provide that service, or it can be justified by way of being appropriate. So, for example, if you, as a female, go into a barber shop and ask for a full head of highlights, they may be able to turn you down on the basis that cant provide that service,
but if you go in and ask for a short haircut, a short back and sides, there shouldnt be any reason for them to say no. I dont think it is proportionate to take it through the courts. You could pursue a discrimination claim against the Service Provider or sex discrimination, but the cost is going to outweigh any benefit. The most effective way to address it would be effectively social media, or to boycott using the barbershop, or hairdressers, and tell your friends that they dont cut womens hair. I havent ever experienced it, but i do know is that a number of my friends who have short hair, either dont feel comfortable going into a barber shop, or feel that they will be turned away, or that the service is just not available to women. For me, i can get my haircut for £10, so im than happy to go into a local barber shop and ask them to cut my hair the same way that they would cut a mans hair. Quite a difference compared to some
prices. Markets whats been happening today. Lots of retail results out showing how Different Companies fared during the crucial Christmas Period and there are winners and losers lets get more on this with gervais williams, Senior Executive director, premier miton investorssuperdry joules loserslidle jd sports winnersus jobs the share price was beginning to rise on the hope it was beginning to almost the price it was a couple of months ago. We have seen a similar situation injoules, they have had a difficult trading period and their share price is down. They have come down in the last few months. Little andjd down in the last few months. Little and jd sports are doing particularly
well. They said sales were pretty strong, particularly lidl. What are they doing right . The point as customers are very price sensitive and you are saying one and algae taking market share the other supermarket groups are coming in to match them but have got a very good range and the customers like them. Lidl are not, their share range and the customers like them. Lidlare not, their share prices have come up up to about 830 and reported ongoing sales. They do sell internationally and have about 20 of sales in the us, and that has been helpful to them. Are key of sales in the us, and that has been helpfulto them. Are key jobs figure out in the United States. Although on the face of it it looks pretty strong again for the us economy, it certainly shows there is a better velocity momentum, isnt there . Night unemployment is down to 3. 5 so there is only so it can go
but we have also seen some wage growth becoming a bit disappointing, slower wage growth and that implies growth is not as good as people think and perhaps a long look for world recovery is not happening as quickly as people think. And the news about a takeaway dot com winning the race to argue they become the Worlds LargestHome Delivery provider. Quite a coup isnt it . Delivery provider. Quite a coup isnt it . These internet businesses are network operators, they need scale to compete. They are hoping by consolidating, the can get into profit a bit like amazon when they dominate the market. That is the reason for the deal and hopefully it will happen, not just to reason for the deal and hopefully it will happen, notjust to make more profit, but deliver even quicker to their customers. Thank you very much. Lets go to stormont where sinn fein arejust about to make a statement on the Draft Agreement to restore powersharing in Northern Ireland. Joining me now from stormont is reporter keith doyle. Any signs it is going to be a thumbs 7 any signs it is going to be a thumbs t any signs it is going to be a thumbs up . It is hard to tell whether it will be or not but i suspect it may well be. That is just my opinion, the mood music here, in the great hall of stormont, there are an awful lot of media here, can we move the camera around, you can see the banks of tv cameras, lots of media, all focus on this podium in the centre of the whole, as we wait for sinn fein to come from their offices at the sight of the hole here. To come out and let us know if they have accepted that deal that was put forward by the Northern Ireland secretary, julian smith and the irish deputy prime minister, Simon Coveney, called new decade, new
approach. It is already being given the thumbs up, guarded thumbs up, by the thumbs up, guarded thumbs up, by the dup Arlene Foster said it has a fairand the dup Arlene Foster said it has a fair and balanced deal. So if the dup accepted an sinn fein accepted, then that is our goal for the assembly to be up and running and ended if that happens, we could see the assembly up and running within hours. Just a warning that when they do emerge, those camera flashes are going to go off so anyone who has light sensitivity, please be very careful about watching the screen. Three years, without power sharing in what is supposed to be devolved government. The government, the British Government has had to put quite a lot of pressure, dangle a few carrots, to try to incentivise people . India, yesterday marked three years since the assembly was dissolved and that essentially meant that there was no government here in Northern Ireland, the knock on effect of that was no decisions were made on schools, hospitals, infrastructure, roads, all the that
day to day running of a place like Northern Ireland. And that had a knock on effect, today, nurses on site, there is disputes on education, massive Infrastructure Projects waiting to be signed. So whatjulian smith, Northern Ireland secretary and Simon Coveney said last night is that this deal put forward covered a whole range of things. It covered education, health, and for such a project, it covered how this assembly works, it covered how this assembly works, it covered climate change, and brexit. So what they are trying to do with this deal is have so many areas that all the parties can agree on and then its just these small bones of contention that they really have to get over. So really, the parties are going on pretty much everything in this deal except the issues about the Irish Language and this thing called the petition of concern. That is kind of a safety mechanism that stops legislation brought in that would favour one community over
another. Now, if sinn fein think that enough has been done to win them over on that, then they will accept the deal, and as i say were just waiting here to see if that is something that they can do. I know in the corridor beside me, i can see the sinn fein delegation at the end of the corridor, talking, whether they are ready to come out and give their decision, i really cant say. Thanks you in Northern Ireland tend to slip, three times we have been waiting for the assembly, so let us see how much longer we have to wait. We are used to waiting. Notjust for Northern Ireland politicians, it happens the world over. Speaking of the people of Northern Ireland, what is the general view, if you can give us that all the way that the politicians have behaved . Because they have still been hit paid even though we have not working. Not. But they are still getting something. I think in Northern Ireland, a very divided society, but there is one
thing i think most people in Northern Ireland seem to be agreed on, is that they want this up and running, they want people making decisions about their schools, their hospitals, their boats, big sewage schemes, waste water schemes. Massive things, now, maybe in other parts of the uk, and the public of ireland, people take for granted, but here, those projects are not given the go ahead and seem to be sick to death of it. The feeling on the streets here, when you talk to people is just get these politicians back, doing the day to day, the normal politics. What are the chances of the Irish Language issue still being a Sticking Point . Because it is not fully resolved in this draft . It depends who you talk to on that. Whether it is or not. Sinn fein wanted a stand alone Irish Language act, giving the Irish Language act, giving the irish
language legal standing. And he wa nted language legal standing. And he wanted that act as a stand alone act. The dup unionists were totally vehemently against that, so that was one of the stumbling blocks. So what we have seen in this agreement is that there is legislation for a commissioner that is then going to bring in the Irish Language and give it legal standing. Not a stand alone bill, it is kind of complicated, typical Northern Ireland fudge. Whether it is enough to convince sinn fein, lets wait and see. See what happens in the next three minutes. You keep nervously looking over your shoulder, thank you. What. I have just over your shoulder, thank you. What. I havejust been over your shoulder, thank you. What. I have just been told, over your shoulder, thank you. What. I havejust been told, i have just been told by some sinn fein press people that they are just coming out now. So i dont know if they are waiting for me to stop talking, but i happen told by the press people they are coming out now . Ok. So i will stand to the site
here, andi now . Ok. So i will stand to the site here, and i have been reliably informed that ahead of the side of this building, here comes, lets hear what sinn fein have to say. This building, here comes, lets hear what sinn fein have to saym everyone in . We like to bring company. Breen she speaks irish sinn fein has met today, and taken the decision to re enter the power sharing institutions and
nominate ministers to the power sharing executive. We believe that the changes which have been achieved in the negotiations of the la st achieved in the negotiations of the last year, build on what was agreed in february 2018. We now have official legal recognition of the Irish Language for the first time, an irish line was commissioner and increased Irish Language funding. And i want to Irish Language. I wa nt and i want to Irish Language. I want to commend the activists, particularly the young people who have worked so hard to ensure that this was delivered. We now have legislation to deal with legacy cases to be delivered within100 days. We have reform of the petition of concern, to try and end its misuse as a veto by one political pa rty. We have
misuse as a veto by one Political Party we have key measures to ensure transparency and accountability, to prevent corruption and bad practice and to implement the we have strategies to tackle poverty and sectarianism and a plan to put objective need at the heart of a programme for government. Finance has been committed to begin the job of repairing the damage done ofa the job of repairing the damage done of a decade of tory austerity and to help with the crisis in our Health Service, including a commitment to settle the Health Service strike, an action plan on waiting lists, the implementation on the bingo recommendations on health and social care and the Mental Health action plan and the medical school at magee. The first action we believe of the incoming executive must be