And coming up in sport, england have a battle on their hands to keep their ashes hopes alive after australia dominated. Good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. The family of a lawyer who was stabbed to death with a screwdriver outside a busy Shopping Centre in newcastle, have described him as a kind and caring man who was always first to help others. Peter duncan died in hospital following the incident near eldon square on wednesday evening. Seven teenage boys aged between 1a and 17 remain in custody on suspicion of murder. Andy moore reports. It was an attack in broad daylight, just outside this busy Shopping Centre. Peter duncan, a lawyer, was taken to hospital after being stabbed, but could not be saved. His family described him as a kind and caring man who was always first to help others. They said he would be deeply missed, and his death would leave a huge hole in their lives. It appears to have been a chance encounter between the victim and the offender, which then led to again what appears to have been an unprovoked attack. We believe the weapon to have been a screwdriver and the fatal injury to be as a result of a single puncture wound. Seven boys aged between 1a and 17 remain in custody after being arrested in connection with the murder. Police said one of them is believed to be the main suspect. Andy moore, bbc news. Some breaking news coming in from reuters. This is all concerning the fate of British Steel. You may be aware that there were talks after British Steel went into compulsory liquidation in may. Thousands of jobs at risk. A lot of talks going on about how it may be saved, it may be taken over. We are hearing news from istanbul that turkeys military pension fund has reached what they are calling a provisional agreement to ta ke are calling a provisional agreement to take over British Steel, saying they plan to close that deal by the end of the year. So that coming out of istanbul. Turkeys military pension fund will take over British Steel. You may recall the owner of British Steel had been seeking Financial Support from the government here but had failed to reach an agreement. The union have previously said they would be watching any bid from the Turkish Military fund closely, and speaking with our turkish sister unions given tu rkeys record of with our turkish sister unions given turkeys record of repression. That is the unite union. There may be some concerns among Union Members about this. But it does sound like there has been a solution found. That turkeys military pension fund is set to provisionally sign an agreement to take over British Steel. Most of those jobs are at risk at the site in scunthorpe. North korea says it has no intention of holding any more direct talks with south korea a day after its neighbour called for reunification in the next 25 years. The north has also carried out another suspected missile test. 0ur correspondent in seoul, laura bicker, says north korea issued a sharp response to president moonjae ins suggestion of reunification. Lets get more on this from our correspondent, laura bicker, whojoins me now from seoul. The war of words continues . War of words and also the sound of the door of diplomacy closing on soul, which will be difficult for president moonjae in, the south korean leader, to hear. He worked so ha rd to korean leader, to hear. He worked so hard to bring together kim jong un and donald trump for talks. It now appears that north korea wants him frozen out. First of all, back to the missile test, we know that north korea fired off what has been described as two unidentified projectiles. We are hearing that they could be more short range ballistic missiles, the sixth missile testing 23 days. North korea has managed to build three new weapons systems, despite being under sanctions, weapons that are faster, fly very low and certainly, in one case, are able to manoeuvre within flight. Case, are able to manoeuvre within flight. That means they could potentially avoid radar. At the same time they issued a blistering statement against south koreas president , describing him as shameless. That the idea that he would take part in dialogue as delusional. And also, they said his remarks and re unifying the Korean Peninsula are so preposterous it would make the boiled head of a cow laugh. Some quite vivid language. The third player in all of this remains the united states. Where does this leave their role in this relationship . I think what you are seeing is pyongyang signalling they would rather deal directly with the united states, they would rather freeze out soul and deal directly with donald trump. By putting this they are putting pressure on south korea. South korea has said all along they would quite like to take pa rt along they would quite like to take part injoint projects, economic projects, port and Industrial Park that used to Work Together at together. Washington has always said no. All of a sudden pyongyang are beginning to realise that washington is the one making decisions. So we have to go to washington and not to south korea. They also want to put pressure on south korea to put pressure on south korea to put pressure on south korea to put pressure on the Trump Administration to sit down and talk. We havent seen to sit down and talk. We havent seen substantial talks since that summit in hanoi in february. Yes, there was the handshake between donald trump and kim jong un there was the handshake between donald trump and kimjong un in there was the handshake between donald trump and kim jong un in the demilitarised zone in june. Donald trump and kim jong un in the demilitarised zone injune. It was heavily publicised. But no deal has come from all of this. North korea is continuing to make weapons. And donald trump says he is open for talks. But nothing is set in stone. And no deal has yet been done. The clock is ticking because north korea has said that it may find a new path, a new way, by the end of this year. Laura, thank you. Laura bicker. The National Grid is to send its initial report to the Energy Regulator 0fgem, looking at the power failure which caused such widespread disruption a week ago. Its expected to give more information about exaclty what happened, but is unlikely to offer much insight into why Certain Services like trains were so badly affected. Theo legget reports. Trains stopped, passengers were left stranded, and railway stations were in chaos. Nearly a million homes were plunged into darkness across the country, and Traffic Control systems stopped working as well. National grid says last weeks power system failure was exceptional. Todays initial report is expected to provide more detail about exactly what happened, and when. We already know what triggered the blackouts. First, this power station in bedfordshire developed a problem and disconnected itself from the grid. At almost the same time, a wind farm in the north sea also went offline. That created instability in the grid, and triggered an automatic 5 cut in supplies. Within seven minutes, new sources of power had been brought in, and the system was running normally again. But, across the country, disruption lasted for hours. 0fgem will want to know why the knock on effects were so severe, and why Critical Infrastructure such as railways and hospitals like this one in ipswich lost power. Normally, their supplies are protected. Some experts believe the growth of Renewable Energy sources has made the electricity grid more difficult to manage, while critics say a lack of investment has left it more vulnerable to serious failures. Todays report is unlikely to provide comprehensive answers. Investigations including a separate government inquiry will take weeks. But answers will eventually be needed, because it is clear that something, somewhere, went very badly wrong. Theo leggett, bbc news. The leader of the liberal democrats, jo swinson, claims she has talked with senior figures in the conservative and labour parties who would be prepared to lead an emergency government to stop a no deal brexit. It comes afterJeremy Corbyns plan to prevent a no deal brexit, by being installed as a caretaker pm, was met with opposition from key potential allies. Lets get more on this with our political correspondent, nick eardley. So what has changed . What more do we know about this plan . 10 swinson got quite a lot of criticism yesterday for being so dismissive ofJeremy Corbyns plan, which was basically bring down borisjohnson, putJeremy Corbyn in numberio, bring down borisjohnson, putJeremy Corbyn in number 10, extend brexit and have a general election. She is also coming up with her own plan, basically saying she doesnt think mr corbyns plan will get enough support from across the house of commons, from different parties, from different people opposed to leaving without a deal. So she wants to look at somebody else. The two people she is suggesting are the longest serving male mp, ken clarke, conservative, and the longest serving female mp, Harriet Harman, who is a labour mp and has been acting leader of the labour party. What is interesting this morning is thatjo swinson what is interesting this morning is that jo swinson says she has spoken to both and both, in principle, are up to both and both, in principle, are up for it. What we need to do. You have suggested somebody else ought to take leadership of this government, somebody, you suggested, like ken clarke or Harriet Harman. Have you actually asked either of them if they would be prepared to do it . I have been in touch with them because, obviously, you dontjust mention peoples names without checking that they are ok with that. I mean, both of those are long serving member of parliament, the most experienced mps in the house, the father and mother of the house, as they are called in the house of commons. And did they actually say to you that they were prepared to lead a government of National Unity . They. They put public duty first and they dont want to see a no deal brexit and if the house of commons asks them to an emergency government, to get our country out of this brexit mess and to stop us driving off the cliff to a no deal, then yes, they are prepared to do that. And i think that is to their credit. I should say, we havent actually heard from Harriet Harman or ken clarke, but we are trying to figure out if they are up for this plan. As that means this is something that could work . I wouldnt be so sure for the simple reason jeremy could work . I wouldnt be so sure for the simple reasonJeremy Corbyn is pretty adamant it should be him. For the simple reason he leads the biggest Opposition Party in the commons. He thinks he is the inevitable man to take over if there isa inevitable man to take over if there is a vote of in the Prime Minister at the start of september. The big danger that the opposition parties haveis danger that the opposition parties have is that they are all squabbling over who is plan is better. If they cant compromise enough, they might end up without a plan at all and the government has made perfectly clear that they are going to leave on the 315t of october whatever happens. If the opposition parties cant get their house in order, they may not be able to stop them. Nick eardley. Thank you. A Civil Rights Group has warned the use of facial Recognition Systems in Public Places across the uk has reached epidemic levels. Big brother watch says the technology, which can scan peoples faces in crowds, comparing them with databases of criminals, is a threat to privacy. Heres our technology correspondent, rory cellan jones. The Kings Cross Development in london has shops, offices and an arts school, and this week the sites owner confirmed that cameras using facial Recognition Technology are scanning visitors. Now, big brother watch says it has uncovered other examples of where the Controversial Technology is being used. The meadowhall Shopping Centre in sheffield has confirmed that it used it last year in two trials with South Yorkshire police, one lasting two days, the other a month. And liverpools world museum used facial recognition to scan visitors to an exhibition about chinas terracotta warriors. The museum says it acted on advice from the police, and may use the technology again, in line with guidance from the information commissioner. Big brother watch is calling for a ban on its use in public spaces. The data watchdog has now launched an investigation into the use of facial recognition at the Kings Cross Development, and says it is deeply concerned about the growing use of the technology. Rory cellan jones, bbc news. Earlier this year dr Daragh Murphy published a report on the issues with live facial Recognition Technology. Hejoins us now from galway. Thank you very much for being with us. Thank you very much for being with us. Before we talk about perhaps some of the moral, privacy issues, tell us a little bit about what people need in place to use this technology . There are already regulations, and there . Well, there area certain regulations, and there . Well, there are a certain amount of regulations but one of the big issues around facial recognition being deployed by a private company, as seems to be the case in kings cross, the amount and extent of regulation is limited. Data protection applies and that is why you have the information commissioners offers conducting an investigation. But there is no real regulation around kind of the circumstances of use, whether it is appropriate to use the technology, what the restrictions are, and that is really a big issue. You feel there is a much wider discussion to have in society in general . Yeah, absolutely. There are two key issues. One is the lack of transparency around the issue. And a component of that is that it took an investigative journalist to uncover the fact that facial recognition was being used across a huge area of london. And the other element is that we dont know how it is being used. When people think of facial Recognition Technology, they often think of it as just about the identification of individuals faces, which of course it is, but that is the first step of the technology. The second element, which has the potential to be much more invasive in terms of human rights and civil liberties, is that it can conduct analysis on you, so it can build a profile. If you work or live in kings cross, the technology can monitor you effectively all the time, and it allows you to build a detailed profile of your life. What is done with that information, that is done with that information, that is something we should have access to. How much do you feel that debate is already going on, or do you think this has come so speedily it has caught us unawares . To a large degree it has caught us unawares. Certainly of mainstream level. There have been elements of debate that i think really the extent of the facial recognition at kings cross, the number of people affected and the number of people affected and the fact it is a private company doing this, has caught us unawares. I think what that really indicates is that we need a public discussion and regulation. It should not be the case that tech companies, or private companies, are determining what is appropriate to use in society or not. That is a decision for the government. And the public. I am interested in how this can be used by private companies. We talked about the fact that it takes peoples faces and cross references them with data bases peoples faces and cross references them with databases of known criminals. That would require access to presumably police files and so on. If a private company is using it, how can it be of help to them . Well, it doesnt have to be a database of criminals. If it is a private company, they may well have access to employee and photographs, for your access to employee and photographs, foryour id access to employee and photographs, for your id cards. They may access facebook. They might pull pictures from a social media. We just dont know. So the availability of information is obviously very significant, it opens doors to information, or Even Companies giving their own employees information is one potential source. It is not restricted to criminals. But the other thing is we dont know how it is being used and what it is being used for. And i think that is where the ability to analyse peoples patterns of life and then to potentially monetise it is something that has to be of concern. For example, if you are at kings cross and you go for a run at lunch ora cross and you go for a run at lunch or a smoke at lunch, and that is picked up and analysed on facial Recognition Technology, it could be sold to an Employment Company and affect your job sold to an Employment Company and affect yourjob prospects. These are things we need to know and have a discussion about. You raised some really interesting concerns. Do you feel there is a positive, useful side to this technology, or do you see it predominately as threatening . No, i wouldnt say it is predominantly threatening but it has the potential to have significant human rights h