millions face hunger in 31 degree temperatures. it s in! and the marvel of darvel how the sixth tier side felled a scottish premiership giant. and coming up in sport on the bbc news channel: ten years after she won her last grand slam title, victoria azarenka reaches the semi finals of the australian open, where the wimbledon champion awaits. after the organisers go bust. another borough. good evening. a bbc investigation into abuse and neglect at three children s homes and schools in doncaster has found that more than 100 reports of concern were made before they were closed. leaked documents show that children were said to have been badly mistreated, yet the regulator, 0fsted, continued to rate the homes as good, and there d been a0 separate alerts over three years. 0fsted s chief inspector says she s deeply sorry, and the hesley group, which ran the homes, has also apologised. some of the details in this report from noel titheridge you may find distressing. it has
the british volunteers reported missing in eastern ukraine have been killed, according to one of the men s families. and the conflict in ukraine could be set to change if germany as now seems likely approves the supply of tanks to ukrainian forces. the number of british firms struggling to survive hasjumped by more than a third according to the latest figures. we need your help. very busy today and no time to help you. and the science fiction film everything everywhere all at once leads the field in the oscar nominations. and coming up on the bbc news channel. mikaela shiffrin breaks the record for world cup wins with victory in italy taking her total to 83. good evening. we start tonight with the humanitarian crisis in afghanistan. ever since the taliban seized power again in 2021 conditions have been grim and dangerous especially for millions of women and girls whose freedoms have been wiped out including access to education. afghanistan is now facing its coldes
if it came to light. i mean, this is embarrassing to the bbc and potentially the government, isn t it? having had a discussion with the cabinet secretary about avoiding a conflict and the perception of conflict, i felt comfortable, and i still feel there was no conflict, because at that stage what i was seeking to do was ensure that the process was followed exactly by the book, and that the process hadn t started of any kind in terms of any support that sam was going to provide to the prime minister. do you think you misled the select committee and the advisory panel? no, i don t. why not? because i had clarified and agreed with the cabinet secretary, both of us had the judgment that i d avoided a conflict or a perception of conflict. but you do understand, particularly at a time when the bbc is making great efforts to be impartial, to highlight transparency, that this looks the opposite? i see attacks on the bbc all the time from the media, and for example.
now in the spotlight. over reports about a loan guarantee reportedly offered to mrjohnson by another old friend, businessman sam blyth who, mr sharp says, read about mrjohnson s financial problems in the news and wanted to help. so in late 2020, mr sharp connected sam blyth with the head of the civil service simon case for advice on the rules mr sharp says he agreed not to be involved any further to prevent a conflict of interest. he d already applied for the job of bbc chairman, and a few weeks later was announced as the government s choice. he says he did nothing wrong. he says the three friends all had dinner at chequers, the prime minister s country residence, later that year, after he d got the job, but describes this as a social meeting and mrjohnson s financial affairs were not discussed. this morning i asked mr sharp about exactly what had happened. during the process, candidates were asked if there could be anything that could embarrass the government or the organisation
richard sharp, says he won t resign, following claims of a conflict of interest when he was appointed in 2021. he s to appear before a commons committee next month to answer questions after he reportedly helped the then prime minister, borisjohnson, secure a loan of up to £800,000 beforejoining the bbc. 0ur media editor katie razzall has been speaking with mr sharp, and she s here now. katie. thanks, clive. first, a reminder of the background. richard sharp has been chairman of the bbc since february 2021, in charge of upholding its independence. he had a ao year career as a banker. he was a major donor to the conservatives, and worked alongside rishi sunak both at goldman sachs and when he was chancellor. mr sharp is also a close friend of the former prime minister boris johnson. he calls him al, as some of his friends do. it s that relationship that s now in the spotlight over reports about a loan guarantee reportedly offered to mrjohnson by another old friend, businessman sam blyth