Surf is up. Hello and welcome to todays verified live. Downing street has described as unacceptable remarks alleged to have been made by one of the Conservative Partys biggest donors about the mp diane abbott. The guardian reports that during a Business Meeting in 2019, frank hester said diane abbott made him want to hate all black women and that she should be shot. Mr hester has admitted making comments about her which he described as rude. Mr hester has issued a statement saying that at the meeting in question, he said he abhorred racism. Diane abbott has also released a statement responding to his alleged comments. She said. Government ministers have faced questions from the media and they called his comments unacceptable but stopped short of calling them racist. Well, its clear that what he said was inappropriate. He has, as i understand it, apologised for those remarks. I think the Critical Point here is i dont think what he was saying was a gender based or a race based comment, b
Australia suffers its worst day since the pandemic began, with rising numbers of both cases and fatalities. Hospital trusts reveal up to three quarters of patients discharged into care homes in england during march and april were not tested for coronavirus. Prosecutors respond to a record low in convictions for rape cases in england and wales, saying they want them to increase. A quarter of britains native mammals, including Red Squirrels and hedgehogs, are now at risk of extinction, with an urgent call for action to prevent their loss. And a multi billion dollar, decade long project to bring rock samples from mars to earth prepares to blast off, in an attempt to answer whether there has ever been life on mars. Good morning. Welcome to bbc news. Im anita mcveigh. People with coronavirus symptoms in england are expected to be told to self isolate for ten days, rather than seven, as the government tries to avoid a second outbreak of the virus in the uk. Currently, people with a new conti