Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News At Six 20171222

Would you like to ask me some questions about my life . And how a holocaust survivor is answering the questions yet to be asked by generations to come. And coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news well look ahead to all the festive fixtures that starts tonight with arsenal against liverpool at the emirates stadium. Good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. The first visit by a British Foreign minister to moscow for five years has ended in public disagreement with russia accusing the uk of fabricating allegations against it. Boris johnsons visit was intended to try to repair what both sides acknowledge is a low point in relations between the two countries. Mrjohnson accused russia of meddling in the uk election and brexit referendum the Russian Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said mrjohnson was making that up and criticised the uk for making what he called a series of aggressive and insulting public statements about russia. Our Diplomatic Correspondent James Robbins reports from moscow. Handshakes can be deceptive. True, this foreign secretary has broken a five year british boycott of visits to moscow. But when russias Sergei Lavrov says he wants a return to business as usual, borisjohnson says that impossible. As you rightly say, sergei, things are not easy between us at the moment. The talks aired the grievances on both sides and examined space for a limited cooperation, by supporting the Iran Nuclear Deal together, and opposing the Nuclear Threat from north korea. But deep disagreements remain. At theirjoint news conference, that was stark. For all the attempts at banter, there was a seriousness when Sergei Lavrov tried to brush off british allegations of russian meddling in foreign elections. Translation my neighbour, Boris Johnson, recently stated he had no evidence that russia medal in the referendum on the withdrawal of britain from the European Union. Not successfully. Not successfully, i think is the word. Not successfully is the word that i think you need to introduce. Translation you see . He is scared if he doesnt disagree with me, his reputation will be ruined in the media at home. Sergei, its your reputation im worried about. But this was dark, serious humour. When borisjohnson was asked if he trusted russias foreign minister, he tried to make light of that. You know, its a measure of my trust that as soon as i got into this excellent foreign ministry, i immediately handed my coat, my hat, my gloves and indeed everything that was in my pockets, secret or otherwise, to Sergei Lavrov. Translation i can say there was nothing in the pockets of boris coat. So how did relations go from bad to worse . Russias use of radioactive poison to murder Alexander Litvinenko in the middle of london started the slide. Three years ago, russias annexation of crimea and interference in ukraine, provoked tough eu sanctions strongly backed by britain. Then last month, theresa may accused russia of Cyber Espionage and meddling in the elections. Britain says it has cyber weaponry to retaliate if attacks get worse. So, striding across red square, the foreign secretary was no mere tourist. He was nodding to russias historic greatness, while pressing for a radical change of direction. Coming here to red square, Boris Johnson insists he likes russia. He points to his name, the fact he has russian ancestry. What he doesnt love is the present russian government. So, paying his tribute at the tomb of russias unknown soldier had a particular symbolism. Britain and russia fought together against hitler as allies. Restoring that closeness now seems a long way off. James, it was pretty tense at the press c0 nfe re nce james, it was pretty tense at the press Conference Today between Boris Johnson and Sergei Lavrov. The whole point was to improve relations do you think it has . There seems to be no breakthrough, but this was a very important meeting. These are two big players in different ways. Russia is by far the largest in the wild by land area. Britain is relatively tiny but has a far larger economy in the world. Together, they make up two of only five veto powers at the un. They have to get along better if they are to improve global security. There were real tensions in the meeting and at the press conference. There are huge differences, russia talking about the construct of western lies designed to do russia down. Borisjohnson saying he is no cold warrior but coming here determined to stand up for some socially liberal values. He very deliberately championed the rights of the Lgbt Community while he was here, for instance. He mentioned it in Sergei Lavrovs presents, and he laid flowers at the spot where an Opposition Leader was assassinated to make years ago. Some strong m essa 9 es to make years ago. Some strong messages from both sides, but no breakthrough, i think. James robbins, thank you. A 44 year old man is being questioned on suspicion of murder, after a woman was stabbed to death while at work in a supermarket in skipton in north yorkshire. 30 year old Jodie Willsher whos married with a young daughter was attacked in the aldi store in front of shoppers yesterday afternoon. Judith moritz is in skipton for us tonight. Fewer than 15,000 people live in skipton, and a good proportion of them would have known would recognise at least Jodie Willsher, because she grew up here, she went to school and college locally, she worked at this supermarket, and she married and was bringing up her young daughter in the area she knew. So, many people in this community have been affected by her murder. Jodie willsher was looking forward to a family christmas. Married with a young daughter, she was wearing her festive jumper, serving supermarket shoppers getting ready for the holidays. Jodie had worked at the skipton aldi since it first opened to make years ago. Two years ago. The store was full when she was stabbed. Trolleys were abandoned as some shoppers ran away in terror. Other customers and staff pins down the attacker and try to savejodie, but she died later in hospital. She liked to be around her friends, around her family. Its just such a tragedy, really, whats happened. She such a beautiful girl, i cant believe its happened to her. Shes so young. She had all her life ahead of her. The supermarket became a crime scene. Forensic staff and Police Officers removing items including what is thought to be a potential weapon. Today, the shop has remained closed, with customers coming instead to leave tributes for the popular member of staff. Whenever ive shopped in aldi, shes always been friendly, pleasant, you know, a lovely girl, really, and its just. What a shock. What an absolute shock, really. Its just absolutely awful. With christmas, and her little girl being the same age as mine. Things like this dont happen in this little town, and its absolutely heartbreaking. The community here is small and tight knit. Jodie willsher worked at its heart, well known and well liked. Specialist Police Officers are comforting her husband and her young daughter. Judith moritz, bbc news, skipton. Ten members of a moped gang from london have beenjailed for between seven and 18 years for a series of smash and grab raids on mobile phone shops. The judge at Blackfriars Crown court said the robberies had been meticulously planned and that nothing and no one was allowed to stand in the gangs way. The fourth election in as many years in the spanish region of catalonia has demonstrated just how divided the region remains. The party that won the most votes doesnt support independence for catalonia but put together the separatist parties are able to form a slim majority. It follows the controversial referendum in favour of independence in october. The sacked Pro Independence catalan leader, Carles Puigdemont, whos in self imposed exile in belgium, has called on the spanish Prime Minister to negotiate a political solution to the crisis in catalonia. Heres james reynolds. Catalonias Pro Independence voters enjoyed their victory. And now they wa nt enjoyed their victory. And now they want their power back. Starting with the return from exile of their deposed leader, Carles Puigdemont. But he cant just deposed leader, Carles Puigdemont. But he cantjust fly back from belgium. He faces arrest in spain on the charge of rebellion. So, from brussels this afternoon, mr puigdemont had a message for spain lets talk. We want to be an independent state. This is the wish of the catalan people. The next step is to talk with president Mariano Rajoy. We need to find new ways, the political solution to our crisis between the Spanish State and catalonia. That offer doesnt interest spains leader. This afternoon, Mariano Rajoy made it clear, if ca rles afternoon, Mariano Rajoy made it clear, if Carles Puigdemont isnt here, he cant talk to him. Translation i will have to talk with the person who actually 0pera pies that office of president of the cata la n pies that office of president of the catalan regional government. For this to happen, they need to take up their seat and be in a position to talk with me. Who actually occupies that office. There followed months of argument, protest, debate, emergency measures, and then the vote. Now, catala ns emergency measures, and then the vote. Now, catalans find that they are right back to where they were when the crisis began. Nobody has really changed sides. For now, the local government headquarters here awaits its permanent occupant. The man who won this election cant come to ta ke man who won this election cant come to take up his old job. The law says that all sides now have until april to decide what to do next. James reynolds, bbc news, barcelona. Annual Consumer Spending has risen by its lowest rate for five years just one per cent. The office for National Statistics says that evidence suggests people are dipping into their savings to fund their spending. 0ur economics editor kamal ahmed is here whats your assessment of these new figures today . This is the last Economic Data of the year, so its time to take a health check on 2017. If we go back a year, the forecast for this year was pretty gloomy. Growth this year has been lower than last, but not as bad as some people believed. We are ina bad as some people believed. We are in a period of strong global growth. Britain has had weaker sterling, which has meant that exports have been good and Business Investment has been higher, and consumers have kept spending. But as you said, there are worrying signals. We are borrowing more than we are saving over the last year, and that is the first time that has happened since 1987, when records first began. Looking forward to next year, the bank of england thinks that the rate of inflation will start to ease, so prices will go up less quickly. Wages might start rising as well, so the income squeeze might start easing, but of course, the Brexit Process is still live, and whilst it is, on the economy, most people will be pretty cautious. Thank you. Our top story this evening. The first visit by a British Foreign secretary to russia in five years, ends with accusations of lying. Still to come. Im at the highways angling control centre to see how bad the traffic has been on the day they are calling frantic friday. And coming up in sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, well look ahead to all the festive fixtures, starting tonight with arsenal against liverpool at the emirates stadium. Its a growing problem in countries like the philippines children put to work in front of webcams, forced to perform sex shows for paedophiles watching on the other side of the world. In 2013, a Dutch Organisation tried to find out how big the problem was, by using the fake online profile of a ten year old filipina girl they called her sweetie. More than a thousand men offered her money to perform for them. Now the team behind sweetie are launching a new project, this time targeting individual predators themselves. And the softwares being offered to Police Forces across the world. From holland, Angus Crawford reports. 0nline, undercover, searching chat rooms, looking for predators. Sweetie is back. Always its about sex. And always its about adults who want to talk about sex. Look, hes british, like many others, and remember they are talking to what they think is an 11 year old girl. Remember this . Im not real. The computer generated. Back then, sweetie needed human operators to type her chats online. The new version is different. The popping up. Fully automated, she can now handle hundreds of conversations at the same time. So you could be getting the information on thousands of men . There is no end. Sweeties avatar has been retired and replaced by two new ones, sometimes being shown to predators via webcam. But we cant show you or theyd be no use any more. They invite them into their house, which is the cybersex den. So, why is this new campaign . Heres why. In the philippines more and more children are being forced to sell sex to foreigners via webcam. Five people were arrested and there were more than 600 foreign customers in the network. He has turned on his camera. Sweetie first showed us the scale of the problem. Now the team is going on the offensive against men like this. Hes naked and he thinks he knows youre just 12. Exactly. And he wants you. To be naked. To turn on your camera. Be naked, as well. I think he will. Take off his trousers. Their details could be passed to the police. And theyll get a nasty shock. An automatic message sent straight to their inbox. That will have a major impact on their behaviour. We know who you are, we know where you are, we know what you want, stop this. Sweeties job was to raise awareness, not catch criminals. This man, australian scott hanson, was one of the few to be prosecuted. But in many countries this kind of evidence doesnt count. Some Police Forces support the project, others dont. But the sweetie team go on, scarring chat rooms, turning the same Technology Used to exploit children back against the predators who seek them out. Angus crawford, bbc news. Drivers are being told to expect delays as people hit the roads before christmas. Train services have been affected by maintenance works, while airports have been busier than usual there were delays for thousands of passengers at Bristol Airport after an aircraft came off the runway as it taxied to the terminal. Heres our transport correspondent, richard westcott. Such a frustrating start to your Christmas Holidays. The departure board lit up in red rather than the tree. Flights were suspended at Bristol Airport after a plane came off the runway. Nobody was hurt by thousands of passengers faced delays and cancellations. I was going to meet friends i hadnt seen for 20 yea rs. Meet friends i hadnt seen for 20 years. Sad meet friends i hadnt seen for 20 yea rs. Sad really. Meet friends i hadnt seen for 20 years. Sad really. What are you going to do . Its christmas. Get on with it. It is the busiest day of the holidays by britains other brits were fine today. Heathrow is handling 130,000 passengers. Highways england are temporarily lifting 400 miles of road works to ease any jams. Another Christmas Holiday tradition is Engineering Works on the railways, with a multi Million Pound upgrade programme starting tomorrow. Some services will be cut. Sun london stations will be shut. Including London Bridge, where they are putting the finishing touches to a £1 billion rebuild. If you have used London Bridge station over the past few years, London Bridge station over the past few yea rs, you London Bridge station over the past few years, you know how stressful it has been as they try to redevelop it whilst keeping it open as best they can. There will be lots of work going on here over christmas, so that these five platforms can open onjanuary that these five platforms can open on january the 2nd. Its that these five platforms can open onjanuary the 2nd. Its more frustration for holiday travellers. So why do it at christmas . We do it at this time of the year because the ra ilways at this time of the year because the railways mistake and boxing day. But also, about 50 fewer people travel by train. In terms of the overall level of impact on passengers, this is the best time of the year. A lorry fire shut the fm a bit. The highways england control centre you can see they managed to get one lane open again. Despite warnings of a frantic friday, with millions of extra carjourneys, the morning and evening peaks have not been too busy. Iamat been too busy. I am at that control centre now. You can see the bank of screens behind me is great. You can basically go to any camera on any major road in england and see what the traffic is like. We have seen the traffic has been 0k, despite some of those dire warnings. I suspect people stretching theirjourneys across the day rather than going at the same time. You saw Bristol Airport in the film. That will reopen tonight at 9pm. Still a lot of Christmas Plans ruined from flights delayed and cancelled. Rela Engineering Works start tomorrow. That affects roots going into london. Check before you travel. You can get good information on the bbc website and on bbc local radio. Richard westcott, thank you. British passport covers are to revert to classic blue once britain leaves the European Union in 2019. The current burgundy passports will continue to be issued until then, but without the eu insignia. The home office says the new blue passport will be more high tech and secure, to prevent fraud and forgery. Tom symonds reports. The Great British passport shortly to be available not in european burgundy because, it turns out, brexit means blue. The government admits it is largely symbolic, restoring our national identity. Outside the passport 0ffice, what is the reaction . Its blue, isnt it . Back to england. Ijust think its a crying shame. We have this fantastic ability to travel around the best of the world, and we are looked upon favourably with our immigration policy and everything else, but now itsjust a bit embarrassing, to be honest. I think the decision was a huge aspect of the country moving forward. And i think in order to move forward, there needs to be changes. And if that needs to be distinguished by a simple colour, why not . What is the difference . Its a different colour. Thats it i just preferred it when we were in europe. Just everything. The last true british passport was hard back, much bigger and a very, very dark blue. The european one, which replaced it in 1988, was smaller, floppy and much easier to put in your pocket. The new one and this isjust a mock up will be roughly the same design, but it will keep all of the security features which make it so hard to copy, and it will add some. This is the passport of the future. And its in circulation from today. When the red eu passport was introduced 30 years ago, britain agreed to a common standard. It didnt have to accept the colour. Croatias passport remains blue. Even so, the burgundy one was never loved. I think it is one of the most revolting, insignificant, tiny minded, small pieces of paper ive ever had the misfortune to witness. Its not really a british passport, is it . These days passports are redesigned regularly to cut fraud, so the blue ones should not cost more. They will start appearing in 2019. People who already have a passport have no need to do anything at the moment. Even at that point, if people have still got time left on their passport, we not be asking them to change at that point. But obviously people can renew at whatever point they want, should they wish to move to the new passport. Brexit is tough. Changing the passport colour is relatively easy. But like brexit, its dividing the nation between those who say at last, and those who say, why bother . Tom symonds, bbc news. The official christmas number one has been announced and its the perfect present for this years winner. Youre so beautiful, i dont deserve this. Ed sheerans single, perfect, featuring beyonce, wins the accolade with 85,000 combined sales this week, split between downloads and streams. After a career defining year, the singer songwriter said becoming christmas number one is a dream come true. How do you keep the memories of the holocaust alive to answer the questions of future generations . Holocaust survivor eva schloss the step sister of anne frank has been taking part in a groundbreaking interactive project that will allow people to ask her hundreds of questions about her life, and will preserve her testimony long into the future. Reeta chakra barti has been to meet her. Three, two, one, go ahead. Meet eva schloss. She is 88 and survived the horrors of auschwitz. She has spent days being filmed recounting her past, so that people now and in the future can question her virtual self about what happened. My name is eva schloss. Would you like to ask me some questions about my life . Survivors are worrying what will happen when we are not around any more, who is going to continue telling the story . Because they think it is very important. Now, at the museum of jewish heritage in new york, people can directly interview eva about what it was like in auschwitz, how she survived and how it has affected her since. One of the questions was, what was your most terrible moment in the camp . One day my mother was selected to be gassed. We were separated. And i thought i had lost her. But through a miracle she was saved, and about three months later, we were reunited. Over five days, eva answered more than a thousand questions about her story. And while she was doing so, a film maker recorded the process. I think whats different about this experience is it puts the viewer in a really active role. So instead of passively watching a movie or reading a book, youre forced to think of your own question, what you want to ask. And this is more or less the only picture i have with my mother, my father and me, because my father usually took all the pictures. Eva schloss lost her father and brother in the holocaust. Remarkably, she says she has no hatred or bitterness in her heart. But she does want people to listen and to learn. This is what we have to teach our young people to get involved in what goes wrong, and if they see things going wrong, to speak out. Technology is helping to prepare for the time when the survivors of this monstrous crime are no longer alive. It means eva schloss can continue telling her story for many decades to come. Reeta chakrabarti, bbc news. Eva schloss, a remarkable woman. Time for a look at the weather. Heres sarah keith lucas. If you have been dreaming of a white christmas, you may want to rethink that idea. Things remain mild and cloudy. We have had quite a bit of code out there today. Some brighter spells. This was the sun setting in topsham in devon. As we move into this evening and overnight, the cloud will continue to thicken from the west, bringing quite a lot of hill fog, murky conditions overnight. Further east we are likely to see the odd past patch of mist and fog. Things largely frost free. Some rain for the Northern Isles of scotland. That will be more of a player in the next few days. Saturday shipping up to be similarto few days. Saturday shipping up to be similar to today. Lots of cloud and fog. More of a breeze developing. It will break up that cloud. There should be some brightness. Again, murray very mild. More rain working into the northern half of scotla nd working into the northern half of scotland later. As we move through saturday night and into christmas eve, sunday morning, the rain will push further south into parts of northern ireland, southern scotland. The rainfall totals will mount in western scotland over the christmas. Mostly dry and still mild with some hill fog and mist. This is christmas eve. Rain pushing further south across scotland and northern ireland. Much of england and wales largely dry. The odd shower. Temperatures around ten or 11 degrees. 0n temperatures around ten or 11 degrees. On christmas eve, that theme continues for Christmas Day itself. It looks like we will have the rain across southern scotland and part of northern england, perhaps words later. For most it is looking quite breezy. Certainly mild. Perhapsjust looking quite breezy. Certainly mild. Perhaps just the looking quite breezy. Certainly mild. Perhapsjust the north looking quite breezy. Certainly mild. Perhaps just the north of scotla nd mild. Perhaps just the north of scotland seen the odd flurry snow. Thank you. A reminder of our main story. The first visit by a British Foreign minister to moscow in five yea rs has foreign minister to moscow in five years has ended in public disagreement, with russia accusing the uk are fabricating allegations against it. That is all from the bbc news. Goodbye from me. Now the local news for you. This is bbc news, the headlines at 6 30pm. The first visit by a British Foreign secretary to russia in five yea rs foreign secretary to russia in five years finish with accusations of lying. There were hopes of meeting borisjohnson lying. There were hopes of meeting Boris Johnson and the lying. There were hopes of meeting borisjohnson and the russian minister would repair relations but they ended in disagreement. Russian attem pts they ended in disagreement. Russian atte m pts to they ended in disagreement. Russian attempts to interfere