16 countries take the stage in liverpool later for the second semifinal. sticking with the eurovision theme, we are in liverpool at the shopping centre right in the heart of liverpool, surrounded by these beautiful eggs, i will tell you about them later on. the bank of england is expected to raise interest rates again today to 4.5%, the highest level in 15 years. it will be the 12th consecutive hike since december 2021, meaning mortgage payments could rise further for millions of customers. our business correspondent hannah miller reports. this is the first home gheev has owned, bought with his girlfriend two months ago. but since they agreed their mortgage, the monthly payments have gone up twice in line with the base rate of interest set by the bank of england. when we were coming to find a mortgage, the fixed rates were astronomically high. we figured that if the bank of england base rate goes up by another two or three percentage points, we re actually better off staying
For restraint after what is believed to have been an Israeli Attack on iran overnight. According to us officials, israel was responsible for air strikes here, near the city of isfahan, which is at the centre of Irans Nuclear programme. It appears to be the latest in the tit for tat exchange between the two arch enemies. For days, israel has been threatening to retaliate after it was targeted last weekend by 300 iranian missiles and drones. 0ur middle east correspondent Yolande Knell reports. Lighting up the night sky over isfahan. This appears to have been israels answer to irans unprecedented Missile Attack last week. Triggering iranian defences. Not long afterwards, this Amateur Video was put out from a nearby nuclear site. A man showing his watch as he indicates its safe and secure. Irans state tv quoted military officials downplaying the strike, saying there were only aerial interceptions. Triggered by the presence of three small drones that were present in that area. Other than th
Spoke about the issues at stake with the president of the un generalassembly, dennis francis. Thank you very much forjoining us on bbc news, president. This is obviously a very busy week at the General Assembly, but also special summits on the sdgs, global finance, Un Security Council is meeting as well, High Level Health meetings, but leaders of some of the most powerful countries have chosen not to attend france, the uk, india, china, russia. Do you consider that a snob . No, i dont. I dont at all. Of course, we hoped that the house would be full, but we appreciate that leaders may have other pressing matters that require their attention, and i am sure the views and perspectives of those countries not led by Heads Of State and or government will be expressed and represented by their heads of delegation. But if you have only one of the five permanent members sending their leader here, does that raise legitimacy issues about the un . No, it doesnt, because the permanent members have a
Our chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, sent this report from doha. The first steps to freedom. Finally, leaving iran. Two hours later, touching down in doha. Imagine the emotion inside this plane. Opening the door on a new life, five former prisoners. Relief and joy palpable as they embraced american and qatari officials. The success of months of indirect talks here between arch enemies, iran and america. These are three of the freed prisoners. Two others did not want their identity revealed. 67 year old, morad tahbaz, arrested five years ago, in a crackdown on environmental activists. 58 year old, emad shargi, a businessman arrested in 2020, also on charges of spying. And 51 year old Siamak Namazi, who spent the longest in tehran s notorious evin prison. He issued this statement today. We spoke to one of his relatives who also spent time in evin prison. It is a joyful day but knowing Siamak Namazi and his strong personality and his values, im sure that he will try to come
The metropolitan police has confirmed its received a report of an alleged Sexual Assault in 2003, and is in contact with the woman, following Media Investigations into claims made against the comedian Russell Brand. Four women have accused him of Sexual Assault and emotional abuse, allegations he denies. One of them, who was 16 at the time, has told the bbc that brand said people close to him discussed how to keep the fact she was so young, out of the public eye. His Current Uk Live Tour has now been postponed, and hes been dropped by his publisher. Well assess the significance of the met s involvement, but first, heres our media correspondent, david sillito. I can pretend to be nice for a little bit. Russell brand. On this weekends Dispatches Programme he was accused of rape and multiple counts of Sexual Assault. Ill sleep on the sofa. The comedian now faces further allegations. More women have come forward. The metropolitan police say a complaint has been made to them of a Sexual Ass