Of control could take weeks to put out. The billionaire businessman elon musk is cleared of defaming a british cave explorer after calling him pedo guy on social media. Also in the programme. Small business saturday. We find out about the campaign to support small uk businesses. And coming up in sport. Its fight night. Can anthonyjoshua win back his world titles from andy ruinunior in saudi arabia later . He borisjohnson and Jeremy Corbyn have gone head to head in a tv debate for the final time before the general election next week. They put forward competing visions on brexit, the nhs, and the economy, and attacked each others plans but neither scored a knockout blow. More than four Million Viewers watched the debate. Our political correspondent, nick eardley, was there. With just a few days until the country goes to the polls, one of the last big chances to persuade voters. How would we be better off from the brexit deal or a future labout deal, compared to what we already have as a member of the eu . Can you guarantee that it will happen next year . On brexit, they attacked each other. What i have not heard from the leader of the labour party, is this deal that he thinks he can get in three months time, who is going to negotiate it . Who is going to secure this deal . The news came out of whats happening with Northern Ireland. For people who did not hear the news, what are you claiming the documents show . They show quite clearly that there are going to be charges, there are going to be customs checks, there are going to be restrictions on trade between britain and Northern Ireland. What the document also says is that Northern Ireland is part of the customs territory of the uk. All his political life he has campaigned to break up that union and actually supported for four decades the ira in their campaign violently to destroy it. How about the Prime Minister showing a degree of honesty and so it is a question of openness on all of this. He says you have supported people who are opposed to the union your whole life, you dont even believe. . You dont even believe. What i have done is always wanted to see a Peace Process in Northern Ireland and that is exactly what we have got and thank you to the Labour Government that negotiated it. Labour wants voters to think about a lot more than brexit next week, though. It costs a lot to train as a nurse but the starting salaries are low. How would you deal with the shortage of nurses and ensure the nhs can retain them . Mr corbyn again questioned claims made by the conservatives. Announced there was going to be 40 new hospitals. A week later that became 20. A bit later on, it became six new hospitals. He seems to have a problem with the figures about Hospital Building in britain. We have a very clear agenda, which is to upgrade 20 hospitals, to build a0 new ones. It is perfectly true that the cash allocation for the whole hospital build is for six initially, but we are putting in the seed funding now. Both parties have faced questions on how they will pay for all their promises and, with the question of trust so high on the agenda. What punishment do you think is appropriate for elected politicians who lie during political campaigns . They should be made to go on to their knees. They should be made to go on their knees. Down through the chamber of the house of commons scourging themselves with copies of their offending documents which claim to prove one thing and actually prove something quite different. Jeremy corbyn . When people paint slogans on the side of a bus that are totally unsustainable, perhaps it is time that we do have an independent monitoring of what goes on. Actually, if you look at the numbers we put on the side of the bus, look at the gross figure we pay to the eu, the number is going up. With polls suggesting the tories are ahead, that may suit mrjohnson more than mr corbyn. But, with just a few days left in the campaign, nothing is certain. Nick eardley, bbc news, maidstone. Ben wright is in greater manchester, where the Prime Minister is campaigning today. What is your sense there, of the reaction this morning from the conservatives . They know this debate was a significant hurdle in the election diary they needed to clear without incident, without fluffing it, without making a mistake, because they have got a pretty consistent lead in the polls which i think they are inclined to believe. They did not want to make a mistake, a blunder, and they will be satisfied i think that did not happen. In some ways it was a fairly restrained debate. It was not that bruising, they did not really go for each other, they concentrated on getting out their messages and repeated again and again which of course for Boris Johnson repeated again and again which of course for borisjohnson is about brexit, which he managed to crowbar in pretty much every answer and subject he was thrown by the audience, insisting that politics could resume properly once britain was out of the eu by the end of january next year and he said the only way of getting that done was with a tory majority. I think they feel they put the spotlight firmly onJeremy Corbyn feel they put the spotlight firmly on Jeremy Corbyn and feel they put the spotlight firmly onJeremy Corbyn and questions about what sort of deal he would negotiate with the eu if labour won. I think mr corbyn was effective asking johnson how effective realistic is the timetable to get these deals once the eu how the uk has left the eu, with the united states. So both have all to play for. I do not think change the dynamics of the campaign. We have had the audience figures, just over 4 million watched last night compared with 6. 72 million watching the itv debate back in november. Is that the fact that it isa in november. Is that the fact that it is a friday night, shortly before christmas, do we have evidence these debates change opinion . |j christmas, do we have evidence these debates change opinion . I think there have been a number of debates and interviews during the course of what now feels like a Long Campaign and may be people feel they have seen quite a lot of these two in recent weeks and it is a friday night but the key thing, even those are the audience figures for the live programme, for the campaign, that debate will produce a proliferation of clips for social media that the campaigns will be using to pump out to voters in key seats, who will determine how this election will turn out. The parties know precisely where the voters are and in which constituencies and they will package up those clips from the debate and use them to ram home their core messages. ForJeremy Corbyn, the nhs, austerity, inequality, Living Standards and for borisjohnson primarily inequality, Living Standards and for Boris Johnson primarily about inequality, Living Standards and for borisjohnson primarily about his insistence that brexit needs to be resolved and the country needs to move on and i think they will take from that debate clips that suit those arguments. What are the Campaign Messages for today . We are in the north west, greater manchester, at the moment, and the campaign now will be full throttle in the next five days for both sides. Borisjohnson today in the next five days for both sides. Boris johnson today focusing on football. He is talking about an extra £550 million the tories say they will put into Grassroots Football funding in england, looking ahead to the world cup bid they want to secure. That is what Boris Johnson is doing. I thinkJeremy Corbyn is in wales talking among other things about electrification and modernisation of bus services. Which matters a lot to people. Exactly, and i am sure also the internet message forum, reddit, says it believes a leak of sensitive uk us trade documents, seized on by labour during the election, is linked to a Russian Campaign to influence voters. The dossier, which runs to several hundred pages, has been used byJeremy Corbyn to claim that the nhs would be on the table during us trade talks something denied by the conservatives. Labour says the release of the documents was in the Public Interest and neither the uk nor us governments have denied their authenticity. There are calls for an independent review into the shocking failures that allowed a serial rapist to be released from jail by accident, allowing him to carry out a series of attacks on women and children. Joseph mccann was released earlier this year after an error by the Probation Service. His 11 victims over a two week period included a pensioner and an 11 year old boy. John mcmanus has more. Joseph mccann captured on cctv in a petrol station. The assistant behind the counter has no idea that the customer opposite him is a sadistic criminal. Outside in mccanns car, sits a woman too terrified to attempt to escape. He has already assaulted her after kidnapping her, after she left this club. A few days later, he abducts another woman near this tube station in london, then, not long after, a third woman. Terrible in itself, but instead of being free to terrorise them, mccann should have been behind bars. In 2008, he was jailed for an aggravated burglary at the home of an 85 year old man. In 2017, he was freed on licence. The same year, he was arrested for new offences and should have been recalled to prison, but was not. A year later, he was sentenced for his new crimes and should have gone before the parole board before he was considered safe to be freed. Instead, at the start of this year, he was mistakenly let out and free to go on to attack 11 women and children. Yesterday, he was convicted of 37 offences, including kidnap and rape. Now, richard burgon, labours shadowjustice secretary, has called for an investigation, saying the public must have full confidence in the justice system. He wants an independent review into what labour calls shocking failures and deep government cuts. The Probation Service has apologised, with one officer being demoted and another sacked. But that is little comfort to mccanns victims. John mcmanus, bbc news. Im joined now via webcam by philip wheatley. Hes a former head of the Prison Service and a former director general of the National OffenderManagement Service what is now her majestys prison and Probation Service. Where do you think the key failures we re where do you think the key failures were in this particular case . Where do you think the key failures were in this particular case7m where do you think the key failures were in this particular case . It is quite clear that he should have been recalled as soon as he was arrested and charged with burglary, which would be the normal thing for a prisoner on an indeterminate sentence on licence, subject to fairly stringent conditions built into his release. It is incomprehensible he was not recalled by the Probation Service at that stage, let alone at the stage when he was convicted of the offence later, when the trial took place. Thejudge who later, when the trial took place. The judge who commented, seem to comment on the basis he expected recalled to happen but it still did not happen. That is frankly beyond belief. What i cannot understand and is not clear to me, how a Probation Service failed to do that and what we re service failed to do that and what were the precise things that went wrong . There were individuals responsible, but the degree of churn and alteration to the way probation works that was taking place in 201516 and works that was taking place in 2015 16 and is still playing out in i7 2015 16 and is still playing out in 17 may have played a part, as would shortages of staff which have been reported on recently and are still occurring in the south east of england. Are you saying this sort of case could happen again . The chief inspector of probation who has looked at south east of england, the area that covers an area where he was, says at the time he was looking and reported, september this year, there were over 100 staff short, 16 of the total. Officers have too high a caseload to manage safely and there was a risk of further service 01 there was a risk of further service or service failures. There was a risk of further service orservice failures. Independently, the chief inspector has said there remains a problem in that area caused by a lack of staff and two high caseloads of dangerous offenders, because that is what the national Probation Service look after. They take dangerous offenders. Do you know how many pairs of eyes would look at one case like this, in terms of the recall not happening, and when you say too much casework, does it mean they did not look at the notes properly . How can these errors happen on an individual basis . To me it is incomprehensible. I am used to working with high risk offenders and spent a lot of my career in the Prison Service doing that and worked with the Probation Service and somebody on an indeterminate sentence under licences always taken seriously so i cannot imagine how this came to pass. There must be people who should have known what theirjob was who simply did not know what they were meant to do or for some reason failed to do it. I cannot think of any good reason why that would happen. Our Political Parties of any stripe to blame in this for the cuts scene and a lack of clear policy perhaps . The cuts area direct of clear policy perhaps . The cuts are a direct result of ulcerative policies so the ministry ofjustice has lost a substantial amount of money. The prison and Probation Service at the point they were dealing withjoseph service at the point they were dealing with Joseph Mccann service at the point they were dealing withJoseph Mccann had lost about 25 of their budget versus 2010 and they now have money back because they have more money for extra prison staff and are now 13 down. The courts to play a part have lost 30 of money they had in 2010 and the Probation Service have taken on specifically additional work, they are now responsible for supervising short term offenders. In doing that with slightly less money than they had in 2010. That means a reorganisation and that has been compounded with a major change in the way probation operates, splitting low and medium risk away from high risk cases, giving the lower risk to private Sector Companies with contracts and leaving the national Probation Service concentrating entirely on the higher risk tier of offenders. That amount of change being delivered at the same time as the number of high risk offenders was going up was no doubt distracting to a lot of people, managers and staff worrying about their jobs, managers and staff worrying about theirjobs, and managers and staff worrying about their jobs, and at managers and staff worrying about theirjobs, and at the same time wage rates were held down as part of restrictions on the public sector. Thank you very much. Its feared a giant bushfire thats burning out of control near sydney may take weeks to put out. In recent days, severalfires have combined to form what Emergency Services are calling a mega blaze on a belt of land about an hours drive north of the city. Since october, australian bushfires have killed six people and destroyed more than 700 homes. Our sydney correspondent phil mercerjoins us. Is the capital, is sydney itself at risk of seeing these fires come ever closer . The fringes of australias biggest city have been menaced by fires to the north, the south and also to the west. A couple of weeks ago we had a bushfire in a suburb of syd ney ago we had a bushfire in a suburb of sydney half an hours drive north of the harbour bridge. This huge bushfire that has sent a blanket of smoke once again over sydney is burning about an hours drive to the north west of sydney. It is the combination of five large fires that have come together to conspire to create a mega blaze, a beast of a fire that is bigger in area than the size of sydney itself. It has a fire front of a0 miles. It is huge in scale and very intense and Authorities Say it may burn for many weeks. Officials have told us that it may be only is extinguished by heavy rain. The forecast for the australian summer is for more dry and very warm weather. So heavy rain is not on the forecast and outlook. This fire could burn indefinitely into next year. There are more than 100 blazes across the state of new south wales. In the state of queensland to the north, the situation is perilous with a5 blazes raging in queensland. The authorities today have been taking advantage of more benign conditions to try to strengthen containment lines, but there is a fear and expectation that heat wave conditions will return to the fire zone next week. So the brutal fire season looks set to continue in australia. Thanks. The headlines on bbc news. Angry exchanges over brexit and the nhs as borisjohnson and Jeremy Corbyn squared up for the last tv debate before thursdays general election. Calls for an independent review after a serial rapist is found guilty of kidnapping and multiple rapes after being released from prison by mistake. Warnings that a mega bushfire near sydney thats burning out of control could take weeks to put out. Sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, heres olly foster. Anthonyjoshua faces andy ruiz anthonyjoshua faces andy ruinr this evening, and they are fighting again after anthonyjoshua lost to him injune. Earlieri again after anthonyjoshua lost to him injune. Earlier i spoke to the boxing writer and broadcaster steve bunce about what is at stake for joshuaif bunce about what is at stake for joshua if he loses again. It might very well be all over forjoshua if there is any repeat of the mayhem, violence and lunacy and unexpected craziness of that glorious night, during the first at Madison Square garden. Call me a fool, call me something, i see a differentjoshua, he is lighter, but his head is packed with revenge, packed with tactics. He will box differently and hopefully for british boxing and joshi were the result will be different. Steve bunce will be alongside Mike Castello and commentary on radio 5 live. Just the five premier League Matches this afternoon but one of them is the the manchester derby, pep guardiolas city are looking to eat into liverpools11 point lead at the top of the table, united are 11 points behind city, but they had a good win a few days ago against spurs. Confidence is a strange thing in football sometimes. You can get performances and results likely had and results like we had on wednesday night, and i know our boys will be up for it. 5 30 is the start of the game and the players decide who is going to win. The rest, of course, history is huge and the team, the quality of the players they have is always there, always has been there, and you have to try to beat them and we try today to speak a little bit with the players about what they are as a team and what they should do to win. The lunchtime kick off is at goodison park. Everton sacked their manager on thursday and take on chelsea. Former striker Duncan Ferguson who had been on the Coaching Staff has been put in temporary charge. That is something iam temporary charge. That is something i am considering. I think the club will find a top manager to attract to the club. Of course it is a dream of mine to be everton manager. Its the european champions cup in rugby union this weekend, bath are having a tough time of it. They are stuck at the bottom of their group after being beaten 3a 17 Clemont Auvergne at the rec. The french ran in four tries to secure a bonus point, with Samuel Ezeala twice crossing the line. They go back to the top of the pool. Bath have lost all three of their games so far. Nigel bonds run at the uk snooker championship is over, he knocked out judd trump this week but was beaten by last yea rs runner up judd trump this week but was beaten by last years runner up mark allen. It went to a final frame decider. He goes through 6 5 to the semifinals and will play stephen maguire. Another big shock. Had a lot of them at york. Three time winnerjohn higgins knocked out by the chinese teenager who had already beaten world a neil robertson. He will now ta ke world a neil robertson. He will now take on his compatriot in the other semifinal, ding junhui. You can watch that on bbc two and the mcguire and mark allen match is at 7pm. I will be back in the next hour. More now on that anthonyjoshua fight this evening where hes hoping to win back his heavyweight world titles. Lets speak now to charlie edwards. Hes a boxer himself and a friend of anthonyjoshua. Have you spoken to anthonyjoshua about this fight in the past few days . Not in the past few days. He isa days . Not in the past few days. He is a busy man and will probably cut off all social media and focus on the fight. I was with him before he got out in camp and we were chatting and he seemed hungrier than ever and was determined to get these belts back. How might he be preparing today . I think he will stay cool, calm and collected. He has been boxing a long time. He cannot let andy ruiz boxing a long time. He cannot let andy ruinr get too much into his head. For me personally he was not the same as he normally is in fights, especially looking at him in the ring. He will stay relaxed, keep his team around him and be focused. The main thing is to enjoy it. What did go wrong last time and how will he change what he does today . Did go wrong last time and how will he change what he does today7m could have been a load of things, with all the opponent changing at the last minute. He was focused on someone the last minute. He was focused on someone else and andy ruiz the last minute. He was focused on someone else and andy ruinr came in late and he probably took him for granted and did not realise what he was capable of. Now he knows and so this time he will be focused and really super focused. He will be there to prove a point. Some will say it is a career defining moment because if he does not win tonight it is game over potentially for his career. I do not think it is game over if he does not win. His opponent is a great fighter. It is top of the game. The british fans have given him a lot of stick since the last loss and he wants to go out and prove a point. I believe he will do itand and prove a point. I believe he will do it and i hope so. This fight is taking place in saudi arabia. Any concerns within the boxing world about taking part in something in a country that has got severe criticism internationally about its record on security, and human rights and so on . I am not too sure, i have not looked too deeply into that. When i went out to dubai, it was very safe. And to saudi. Eddie hearn, he would not take his fighters if they were going to be in danger. It was a question more about the ethics of supporting that country and what is going on there. Bringing you back to today, what do you think the final outcome will be and how much time is there once the match starts for anthonyjoshua to prove himself and go on top . |j really do believe anthonyjoshua can win the belts back. It will be a sticky fight, nip and tuck all the way. I think it will catch fire early and will test him again, especially his mental willpower. Especially last time when he got hurt. He will have to be switched on all the way through and boxing clever fight but i believe he can, he is experienced and he is hungry and determined more than ever so i will go with an anthonyjoshua win. Thank you. Ajury in california has acquitted the tech entrepreneur and tesla founder, elon musk, of defaming a british caver who he called pedo guy on twitter. Vernon unsworth who helped rescue 12 boys and their football coach from a flooded cave in thailand last year had been seeking almost £150 Million Pounds in damages. Dave lee has more. Elon musk entered court on friday for the fourth and now final day of this trial. What has surely been the most intense, not to mention expensive examination ever of a single tweet. How many of you . That tweet, sent in july 2018, came in the midst of the miraculous rescue of 12 thai boys and their football coach from a flooded cave. Vernon unsworth, a british man who lived nearby, was instrumental in advising that effort. Elon musk also travelled to the region with a specially designed mini submarine. In a tv interview, mr unsworth called it a pr stunt, prompting mr musk to snap back, using the phrase pedo guy. He later deleted the tweet, but Vernon Unsworth sued him for defamation, arguing he had wrongly been accused of paedophilia. Elon musk was described in court as a billionaire bully, a man who dropped a nuclear bomb into the life of Vernon Unsworth. But the jury saw it differently. They said the tweet was an insult but not an accusation, a view which could set a precedent when it comes to libel cases involving social media. This verdict sends a signal, and one signal only, that you can make any accusation you want to, as vile as it may be, as damaging at it may be, as untrue as it may be, and someone can get away with it. The only thing im going to say is the jury got this right, and we dont have any further comment at this time. How is mr musk with the decision . Everyone is well. Thank you all. Ultimately, mr unsworths lawyers were unable to prove that his life had been sufficiently negatively impacted. Indeed, in the days after the tweet, the defence argued mr unsworth was the focus of celebration and praise, not suspicion. It means that while ill judged tweets may have cost mr musk millions of dollars in the past, that was not to be the case this time. I accept the jury verdict, take it on the chin and move on. Dave lee, bbc news. At least 280 people have been killed and two Million People are having to cope with unusually heavy rainfall and flooding in eastern africa, according to the un. In somalia, warnings have been issued as cyclonic been issued as cyclonic storm pawan nears the coast and in kenya its reported that at least 100 people are dead and more than 30,000 have been displaced. A woman who alleged shed been raped in northern india has died in hospital after being set on fire. She was attacked earlier this week as she was on her way to court. Five men, including her alleged rapist, have been arrested. Today is Small Business saturday, the nationwide campaign to encourage britons to support the uks Small Businesses. It was started in the us in 2010 and the campaign in the uk is part of an ongoing commitment to encourage consumers to shop small. Lets talk to karen woolley, Development Manager at the staffordshire and West Midlands federation