Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At One 20170810

Will run in tonights final of the world Athletics 200m after running his heat alone, against the clock. And coming up in the sport on bbc news one major away from a career grand slam, Butjordan Spieth insists hes not feeling the pressure ahead of the uspga championship in north carolina. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. North korea has accused donald trump of being bereft of reason saying only absolute force can work on him as it gave more details about its threat to an American Military base in the Western Pacific. The regime, which is reported to have developed the ability to attach Nuclear Warheads to its missiles, says its considering firing four rockets towards the american territory of guam. South korea has appealed for calm. Our correspondent Yogita Limaye reports. One more fierce message on north koreas state tv. This time, its details of how it plans to attack guam. This us island in the Pacific Ocean is in pyongyangs crosshairs. North korea says it plans to fire four missiles in the waters around it. Its home to Tens Of Thousands of people. Obviously for me, because im a father, its really concerning. I wish it didnt have to come to that. Im pretty confident that the us will protect us. But in the war of words with north korea, americas president is not backing down either. He boasted of his countrys nuclear arsenal, matching the aggression that over the years, people have come to expect from pyongyang. Whats different this time is that were hearing very similar rhetoric from the us president , so thats certainly ratcheted up tension and perhaps gives pyongyang a bit morejustification to keep building their nuclear programme. So it will actually feed their anti american propaganda. But while Donald Trumps remarks might be provocative, there are hopes that others in his government could help tone down the message coming from america. Its a very difficult situation. I would say this, that his Secretary Of Defense and National Security adviser are universally respected. There are some cool hands around him during this crisis and i hope he listens to them. One country thats hoping to defuse this crisis soon is south korea. Its seen this kind of situation many times before, and while its working closely with the us to ramp up its defence programme, it also wants a diplomatic solution. Its National Security council held a meeting to discuss the issue, and it said it was keeping a channel for dialogue with north korea open. But the mood on the streets of pyongyang was not conciliatory. On wednesday, a mass of people marched in support of the leadership. No evidence here to suggest that things are going to cool down. Yogita limaye, bbc news, seoul. We can go live now to the Western Pacific and the us territory of guam. Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield hayes is there. Rupert, south korea appealing for calm and yet no sign of it. Whats the view from those living in guam . Well, there are very mixed feelings here. We have been talking to locals and tourists here today out on the beachis and tourists here today out on the beach is enjoying themselves. This is peak season in guam and there are Tens Of Thousands of tourists from asia. The locals are fairly calm. They told us they have experienced these threats before and they are upset and angry and do not like being threatened like this, but they are confident in the us military. They have anti Missile Systems based on the island, so if north korea did fire at the islands, it has defences. But we had a different message from japanese tourists, many of whom are here with families. They said they are nervous and Friends And Family Injapan have been sending their messages asking them if they are ok. So there is nervousness and tourists are starting to think about whether this place is safe. Starting to think about whether this place is safe. The number of people waiting for routine surgery in england injune was the highest since december 2007. Nhs england said 3. 83 million patients were on lists for operations. Other key targets were also missed, including urgent referrals for cancer care. Im joined by our health editor, hugh pym. Hugh, take us through the figures. This figure is an important gauge of how the nhs is performing. Waiting lists for routine operations and surgery. Lists for routine operations and surgery. The nhs is doing more than it was, but that waiting list has been climbing and it was 3. 83 million patients waiting for routine surgery million patients waiting for routine surgery and operations in the month ofjune. Nhs england says it could be even 4 million because not all hospitals reported their figures. What about the key target of waiting 18 weeks and no more for a routine operation . In june the 18 weeks and no more for a routine operation . Injune the percentage that was seeing was 90. 3 . For cancer treatment, another very important target for the nhs, 80. 5 of people were waiting after an urgent referral to be seen within 62 days. That is the target there. Obviously a lot more were not in terms of the number above that. They have missed the target of 85 . Can you put that into context in terms of the background of these figures . It demonstrates the pressures on the nhs. Key targets have been missed all year, and target in a e as well. It shows the stresses and strains on the nhs, dealing with more patients every year and resources and finances in england not keeping up with the patient demand growth. Many would say more money is needed, others say the nhs needs to be more efficient. But certainly patients are having to wait longer for these important treatment. The former director of public prosecutions, lord macdonald, has said that the grooming of vulnerable white girls by south asian gangs needs to be recognised as a profoundly racist crime. Yesterday, 18 people, mainly of pakistani or bangladeshi origin, were convicted of abusing girls in newcastle. The force involved in the case, northumbria police, has been defending its decision to pay a convicted paedophile £10,000 for information during the course of that investigation. Our Home Affairs Correspondent nick beake reports. The raids across newcastle smashed a Grooming Gang that was drugging and abusing young girls, one just 1a years old. The victims were mostly white, the attackers mainly british men from pakistani, indian and bangladeshi heritage. Its a story weve heard time and again, oxford, rochdale, cardiff to name a few. Today, one former leading prosecutor condemned what he said had been a reluctance to investigate asian gangs who target vulnerable white girls, and that a big change was needed. I think some recognition that this is a problem in all communities and across communities, and recognising it for what it is, not pretending its something else, recognising it for what it is, which is profoundly racist crime. Its thought more than 1,400 children in rotherham were groomed and abused by networks of predominantly asian men. The towns mp says a fear within the Public Sector of being branded racist has allowed this to happen. Sadly, i think there is Political Correctness going on. People historically have been more concerned about not being seen to be racist than they have been concerned about protecting children. That has to change right now. In the light of these latest newcastle cases, there are now calls for an inquiry into why groups of men are carrying out this abuse. Some warn against stigmatising whole asian communities. Others insist that the problem needs to be tackled head on. Amongst these criminals, there is a mindset that white girls are worthless, that white girls can be used and abused and discarded unlike their own daughters and sisters. And i think thats a form of racism. We in the British Pakistani Community have to confront that. Police forces say they have learned from their own failures in tackling Grooming Gangs, but the Northumbria Force has been criticised for paying a child rapist for information to help secure these latest convictions. Yes, you might have got that evidence through other means, but it could have taken a whole lot longer and that in itself would have exposed Vulnerable Women and girls to an unacceptable level of risk. Personally, that doesnt sit comfortably with me morally either. Controversy over the race of sexual abuse gangs has delayed justice for some victims. But these offenders in newcastle, at least, are now facing many years in jail. Modern slavery and Human Trafficking are far more widespread in the uk than previously thought according to the National Crime agency. It says there are currently more than 300 Policing Operations ongoing with cases affecting every large town and city in the country, many involving the sale of very young girls. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Casciani is here. The figures make for disturbing reading, dominic. It is one of the stories of crime in the modern world if you think about it. There have been six months of intensive operations from the National Crime Agency Coordinating red across the country with Global Police forces and international partners. The more it has looked, the more it has found. Before today we had an estimate of about 10,000 13,000 hidden victims across the uk. But it says it is the tip of the iceberg, it cannot count how many are out there. One third of known victims are british, but people from all sorts of nationalities in the uk are being forced to work across Great Britain against their will. Each of them is most likely today to come across somebody. The director of vulnerabilities says he is directed by what he has found. We have seen people being moved across and into the country for the purposes of being exploited and there was a case of a 12 Year Old Girl for labour exploitation. We are seeing people as young as 13 and 14 being sexually exploited and being engaged in prostitution. This is a growing problem to which we think there is a shared responsibility across society in the United Kingdom to be addressed. The nca said it has stepped up efforts and is coordinating more operations, but there have been questions as to whether this is too little too late. The official anti slavery commissioner raised questions last night about the amount of effort that has been put into the problem recently, saying too much intelligence has been lying dormant on databases intelligence has been lying dormant on data bases and intelligence has been lying dormant on databases and not acted upon. The nca in its defence has said there has been a sea change in operational activity, but it says it needs to hear from the public and once the Warning Signs at their people who may be victims of this appalling crime. The United States has expelled two cuban diplomats amid suggestions that mysterious technology was used to damage the hearing of Us Embassy Staff in havana. Us state Department Officials believe covert Sonic Devices may have caused the severe hearing loss. Cuba says its investigating the claims. Our correspondent tom burridge reports. It was a moment when cuba and americas relationship changed. For decades, they were enemies, but the opening of americas embassy in havana two years ago set this island and its neighbouring superpower on a new path, with some trade and Travel Restrictions lifted. Now, news about bizarre events in that very building. Its emerged that several us diplomats had to leave cuba last year for health reasons. They had apparently suffered severe hearing loss. One theory is that the diplomats were subjected to a device which gave off low or High Frequency sound which is inaudible to the human ear and that caused the damage. The Us State Department has given few concrete details. Theyve reported some incidents, which have caused a variety of physical symptoms. Im not going to be able to give you a tonne of information about this today, but ill tell you what we do have that we can provide so far. We dont have any definitive answers about the source or the cause of what we consider to be incidents. Since 2016 you dont know what this incident is . What this requires is providing medical examinations to these people. Initially when they started reporting what i willjust call symptoms, it took time to figure out what it was, and this is still ongoing. But despite the uncertainty america expelled two cuban diplomats from washington in may of this year. Cuba said that was unjustified. Via state television, the government categorically denied any foul play against the us embassy. Cuba said it was carrying out its own thorough investigation and called on america to share information. America is not overtly blaming cuba, probably because so much is still unclear, and the relatively constructive reaction from officials in havana at least shows how much the dynamic between these two countries has changed. Tom burridge, bbc news. Our top story this lunchtime. North korea accuses donald trump of being bereft of reason after his Fire And Fury Nuclear Threat and says it may fire four rockets towards the american territory of guam. Coming up, im at the world athletics championships, where the amazing story of one botswana sprinter has captivated the world. Coming up in sport the english fa are planning to enter a british womens team into the 2020 olympics in tokyo, even if they dont have the support of the other home nations who the fa say wont stand in their way. More than 9000 people currently sleep on the streets and the number of people sleeping rough across england, scotland and wales could jump by three quarters in the next decade. Thats the warning from the Homeless Charity crisis, which says homelessness has increased significantly in the past five years and will continue to do so unless long term action is taken to tackle the causes. Our correspondent sima kotecha reports. Not having a place to call home a reality for thousands, a problem expected to get a lot worse. Meet alan, a former courier, now homeless. Thats why people drink a lot and are on drugs. I dont blame them, because they cant live. Theyve got nowhere to live. Its a disgrace. Its not difficult to find people like this here in Leicester City centre, who tell us they have no choice but to sleep on the streets. This man says hes been homeless for more than ten weeks and believes that the main driver for homelessness is drugs and Mental Health problems. According to todays report, almost 160,000 households were experiencing the worst form of homelessness in 2016. Thats almost 250,000 people. That number includes more than 9000 people sleeping on the streets. Its estimated that number will increase by 76 , to 16,000, in the next decade, if there are no policy changes. The report includes more than 68,000 households who are staying with others on a short term basis so called sofa surfing. Charities are calling for urgent action. We know that if we stopped the welfare changes, the welfare cuts, that are going through the system at the moment, if we stopped them now, that projected figure of growing homelessness would be reduced by up to 7 . If we substantially increased the number of new houses we could decrease that figure by 9 . Ministers say they are investing more than £500 million into solving the problem, and that building more Affordable Housing is a priority. Todays report is largely based on estimates. There are questions around how the figures were calculated, but few are disputing that homelessness is a real issue which does need resolving. Sima kotecha, bbc news, leicester. Surveyors say falls in house prices in london are beginning to spread across the country, with the south east of england, east anglia and parts of the north now affected. Our personal finance correspondent Simon Gompertz is here. What exactly are surveyors saying . Its often been the case theres been this ripple effect, when prices have either gone down or up in london, then that spreads across the United Kingdom. They seem to be pointing to Something Like this happening at the moment. London prices, they say, have stalled. Thats not yet reflected in the official registers, but surveyors have a more up to date view of whats going on, and so london is stalling the last three months they are saying other areas too, the south east. The north, not the north west, but the north, and east anglia. Against that, there are some areas as well that are still going up areas as well that are still going up quite strongly and amongst those are northern ireland, west midlands, South West Of England and scotland as well. So there are some reservations about this. One is that prices have gone so high in london they are simply out of reach for many people. Thats not the same as the rest of the country. Also, if there is an effect from brexit uncertainty, i think people generally think thats more marked in london and elsewhere. Any predictions in terms of what could happen in the longer term . Thats the interesting thing about this su rveyors the interesting thing about this surveyors report because its not the exact data about house prices after the event, they are forward looking, whats happening to the house market. They are expecting a similar effect over the next couple of months of stalling and rippling out, but theyve moderated their view over the next five years. They are expecting increases still put of about 2. 7 a year over the next five years and thats the lowest that theyve expected in the history of doing this survey. So real moderation of their view of whats happening to the housing market. A widow has spoken of her shock and horror, after a private gp who treated her late husband admitted failings in the case. Dr Peter Wheeler, who was princess dianas doctor, has acknowledged he failed to properly monitor his patient, by not arranging the recommended blood tests. Our health correspondent, jane dreaper, has the details. A mother and son seeking answers. Stefanos vavalidis died from liver failure after spending the last eight months of his life in hospital. His widow is suing the private gp who was the familys trusted doctor over the prescribing of a drug mr vavalidis took for a Skin Condition for over a decade. It was an insidious build up of health problems, as a result of the drip drip drip of each one of these prescriptions over this very long period. Its heartbreaking enough to lose your partner of 45 years, but the complete shock and horror when we found out that it had been totally avoidable. That last period of his life was horrifying, so wed like to prevent it from happening to other people. Dr Peter Wheeler continues to practise at this private surgery, which was declared safe when inspectors visited four years ago, but hes since admitted in legal papers for this case that there were no systems at the time for flagging up the need for regular blood tests in cases like this, and that he failed to properly monitor mr vavalidis and that had he done so, his patient could have lived up to two years longer. The lawyer working on the familys legal claim says its one of the worst cases hes known. Private health care does have certain advantages over the nhs. Its more convenient, generally, and its more comfortable, but it certainly isnt better care. Dr wheeler states in legal papers that mr vavalidis would still have died from liverfailure because of his diabetes and obesity. The doctor is under investigation by the general medical council. Jane dreaper, bbc news. Relatives of the omagh bomb victims have announced that they are to sue northern irelands police chief. Next week will mark 19 years since the bombing by the real ira which left 29 people dead. Families of the victims have issued a writ against chief constable george hamilton. It focuses on what happened afterwards and why no one has been successfully convicted ina criminal court. A man who used a quick sale firm to sell his home claims he received less than half of what the property was actually sold for. Quick Sale Companies offer to buy your house quickly, usually paying below market value. But Phillip Edwards says that when he sold his three Bedroom House in hawarden in flintshire, he received just £68,000 from the £165,000 sale. Hes one of four alleged victims of whats believed to be a House Sale Scheme based in the midlands and police are investigating, as Geraint Thomas reports. Its advertised as an easy, fast and hassle free way to sell your property, but some claim that using a quick home sale company has ruined their lives. How or why should they be able to get away with it . Its just not right. Phillip edwards sold his house through an organisation called speedy property, after seeing a notice in the newspaper. It had belonged to his late parents and was the family Home Overfour decades. Mr edwards expected to receive around £100,000 for the sale he was selling the house because he owed around £60,000 to his ex wife. He wasnt clear how much the firm would deduct from the sale. Mr edwards expected to receive around £100,000 for the sale of his property, once payments had been deducted, but once the sale was complete he received just over £4000, while two named companies received £51,000 and £45,000 each. Mortified, really. Its as if everything that my parents worked for, and what ive worked for, you know, and at the end of the day theres nothing. It appears to be a large scale operation and west Midlands Police have confirmed that they are investigating a number of complaints. Two of my three clients are suffering from cancer. Theyve lost their life savings in these transactions. Nigel cole is pursuing negligence claims against one of the Solicitor Firms which handled the sales on behalf of the victims. He says theyre all elderly, vulnerable, or in ill health. All of them say exactly the same thing to me. They dont know the name of these companies these large amounts were paid to. Its only when they received the balance of the proceeds of sale that they realised that they are missing in one case £99,000, another case, £96,000, and i think in one case, £121,000. Whilst there are genuine companies which offer quick home sale deals, the warning is that if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Take a bit more time to read through all the paperwork, find out exactly what youre getting, get some Expert Advice if you can. Go and see a solicitor you trust, not a solicitor that they recommend to you, because if theres a scam they may well be in on it as well. Hey, come here. Mr edwards is now hoping that the police and civil investigation will see justice done, but some of the other clients of the firm may never be found. There are estimates up to four people a month were attracted by the companys advertising and promises over a four year period, and reports that speedy property were active as recently as june this year. So the number of people affected may be much higher. The botswa nan athlete, Isaac Makwala, has qualified for the final of the world Athletics 200 Metres after running his heat alone, against the clock. He was unable to take part in the heats on monday night, because the athletics authorities said he had the norovirus. Our Sports Correspondent Natalie Pirks is at the London Stadium for us. Its been nothing if not eventful. More drama no doubt to come . Well, the curious tale of Isaac Makwala really has captured the publics imagination. On monday was despondent at what he called sabotage, but tonight he could have a gold medal in the 200 metres final. It would be an astonishing turnaround in a World Championship thats already seen its fair share of shocks. One arm aloft, with the crowd cheering his name. Its fair to say Isaac Makwalas day had gone from bad to brilliant. 12 hours of madness began with him heartbroken in his hotel room. He told me hed lost everything after being diagnosed with norovirus that he claimed not to have and being forced to miss the 400 metre final. This was my time. This was my time for taking a gold medal here. But just hours later, he was out of quarantine and boarding a bus to come to the stadium. Athletics Governing Body had agreed to allow him to race alone against the clock in a bid to make the 200 metres semifinal. As the rain poured, it was the strangest of sights, as was his celebration. Commentator i think that is a message to the iaaf to say im fit and healthy. Even rival Wayde Van Niekerk was glad to have him back. But there was no time to soak up the adulation. Two hours later, he was back in the semis in the usually vacant lane one. The weather was still terrible. He was the opposite. What a performance from Isaac Makwala i wish to thank the iaaf for giving me another chance. And the crowd is so amazing. They gave me belief, the british crowd. I want to thank this crowd. Its so amazing. Tonight, he will face the likes of van niekerk, who onlyjust reached the final, and britains Nethaneel Mitchell blake, who also qualified as one of the fastest losers. Everyone now knows his name. Those 200 metres that he performed last night were just staggering, in horrendous conditions, it was cold, the rain was relentless. It was brilliant to watch. And hes one of the favourites for the 200 metres as well, so he could write history here. What began with sickness and despair could end with a World Championship medal. Well, what else is around today . Britains Team Captain Eilidh Doyle will run in the 400 metres final. Katarina Johnson Thompson is in the heat of hyderabad laura muir will hope to put the fourth place in the 1500 metres behind her in the heats of the 5000 metres. The makwala final tonight, all eyes will be on the Triple Jumper christian taylor, especially those of britains jonathan edwards. Could his 27 year world record be about to go . Taylor has come very close indeed. Natalie pirks, thank you. Time for a look at the weather. Wheres the sunshine . Better than yesterday, yesterday we we re better than yesterday, yesterday we were on the verge of gathering the animals two by two on to no dark. In