time, stjames park will be bouncing for the champions league. the equation for newcastle tonight is a simple one, they have to win and even then that might not be enough if paris saint—germain beat dortmund. notice that milan's maps is pretty much the same. newcastle win at psg don't and newcastle will go through. but for a hotly debated penalty in paris a fortnight ago, newcastle's destiny would be in their own hands. but their manager still feels they have nothing to lose. i still feels they have nothing to lose. ~ , , lose. i think being under the lights here is always _ lose. i think being under the lights here is always a _ lose. i think being under the lights here is always a very _ lose. i think being under the lights here is always a very special. - lose. i think being under the lights | here is always a very special. under the lights, champions league, with something to play for and with everything to gain. i think that has got to be our way of looking at it. i think before the paris game we would definitely have taken this position. of course it could have been very different, but we are where we are and the position that we are in. i think we are looking forward to trying to improve and our last two performances, so i think the lads are very focused. millinery team packed _ the lads are very focused. millinery team packed with _ the lads are very focused. millinery team packed with pedigree, - the lads are very focused. millinery team packed with pedigree, seven| team packed with pedigree, seven times champions, semifinalists last year, but have only picked up one point on their travels in the group stage so far. translation: ~ ~ ., stage so far. translation: ~ ., ., translation: we know of the importance _ translation: we know of the importance of— translation: we know of the importance of this _ translation: we know of the importance of this game - translation: we know of the importance of this game and i translation: we know of the - importance of this game and staying in europe, we expect to pay a great game against a tough opponent. this year, they have only lost at home against liverpool and borussia dortmund and beat the others. we must turn this moment into our moment. ., u, , ., ., ,, moment. for newcastle to make it theirs, they _ moment. for newcastle to make it theirs. they may — moment. for newcastle to make it theirs, they may need _ moment. for newcastle to make it theirs, they may need to _ moment. for newcastle to make it theirs, they may need to throw - moment. for newcastle to make it. theirs, they may need to throw their weary bodies on the line. the same ten outfield players have started their last five games, they have lost the last two heavily born out of the necessity of their injury crisis. but callum wilson could make his first start in a month tonight. is he ready? {iii his first start in a month tonight. is he ready?— his first start in a month tonight. isheread? , ._ is he ready? of course. born ready. is he ready? of course. born ready. i think is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you — is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you work _ is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you work so _ is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you work so hard _ is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you work so hard during - is he ready? of course. born ready. i think you work so hard during your rehab that you can get back and tolerate any load and demand that is put on you. i feel like i am tolerate any load and demand that is put on you. ifeel like i am in tolerate any load and demand that is put on you. i feel like i am in a very good place right now. speak to many players _ very good place right now. speak to many players and — very good place right now. speak to many players and many _ very good place right now. speak to many players and many fans - very good place right now. speak to many players and many fans in - very good place right now. speak to | many players and many fans in their can be few better places. few more daunting places to play in st james park. the european future is at stake, plenty on the line on the tyne. ben crouch, bbc news. manchester city take on red star belgrade in their dead rubber tie in a few minutes, the champions missing erling haaland who is out with a foot injury. you can keep up to date with that one on the bbc sport website. the turkish football federation has announced that matches in all top—tier leagues will resume next tuesday — after being suspended due to an on—field attack on a referee by a club president. referee halil umut meler, who was punched in the face at the end of a match by the president of mke ankaragoojew, has been discharged from the hospital where he was receiving treatment for a fractured eye socket. it's understood he'll continue to referee. eddiejones has been appointed japan head coach for a second time. the former england coach led japan between 2012 and 2015, which included arguably the greatest upset in world cup history when the cherry blossoms beat south africa at the 2015 edition, jones, whose mother and wife are japanese, will begin the job at the start of january. and that's all the sport for now. the prime minister says his victory in the house of commons last night on his flagship rwanda policy, will pave the way for him to stop small boats coming to the uk with illegal migrants. but what about the backlog of asylum seekers applications? well, exactly a year ago, rishi sunak pledged to eradicate that by the end of this year. the home office has said it is on track to meet that pledge. but to do it — record numbers of asylum cases are being granted — and a record number of people have been withdrawn from the asylum system. nick eardley is at the bbc verify hub — and had more on whether the government is on trck — and how they're actually doing it. the answer is that they think they are on track. a minister was asked about this in parliament in the last hour and he said we are on track to deal with all of the cases that can be dealt with, which is slightly ambiguous language. but let's have a look at how we are doing it. just a quick reminder that this was the pledge from rishi sunak, the backlog, the legacy backlog cases beforejune 2022. they would be dealt with by the end of this year. so a couple of weeks from now. this is what it looked like at the start of the year, 91,000 cases or so. it falls over the course of the year quite dramatically in the last couple of months, and as you can see, at the start of december here it is around 18,000 cases still to be processed. as i say, the home office thinks it is on track to meet that target, but what is really interesting when we have drilled into the numbers is how the backlog is being reduced. let me show you this. this is a breakdown of how many cases have been dealt with since the conservatives came to power back in 2010. how many cases have been granted, how many have been withdrawn, how many have been refused. we only have the figures for the first nine months of this year. but already you can see there is a record number of cases being accepted. it is the highest so far since 2002. but by the end of the year it is pretty inevitable that it will be the highest number on record. there are a lot more cases being processed as you can see, so it was always likely that more would be approved. what is also interesting is that the government has sped up the system for some countries, people from those countries, to submit their applications meaning that they don't have to have a face—to—face meeting, they can do it on paper. have a look at this section here, the yellow bit, that is people who have been withdrawn or taken out of the system completely. it is also at a record high, it is three times bigger than it was last year and five times bigger than it was back in 2021. a war of words has broken out between the uk government and the un refugee agency over the uk's policy of sending migrants to rwanda. the minister for international development andrew mitchell told the bbc �*it was "extremely difficult for the un to argue that rwanda "was not a safe country" now that the un decided to send 169 migrants from libya to rwanda. the head of the un refugee agency, filippo grandi, hit back — saying that the uk plan with rwanda was a violation of the un convention of reugees. he added that the un operation in libya is an evacuation of very vulnerable people. this comes as world leaders meet in geneva to respond to record numbers of refugees around the world. 0ur geneva correspondent imogen foulkes has the latest on the situation. i have just come away from talking to andrew mitchell and you do get the impression that members of the uk government are sick and tired of being asked to defend this policy on the international stage. if you come to a big summit on refugees and you have a policy like this, which has garnered so many headlines, you are going to be asked about it. andrew mitchell really hit back saying how can the un say this is unlawful when it's sending refugees, poor migrants, anyway to rwanda to? the un refugee agency is very irritated by this, because it points out that the asylum seekers and migrants that it has sent were in libya where there is documented evidence of migrants and asylum seekers being raped, tortured and enslaved and killed. and that what the un is doing is basically saving their lives, evacuating them to rwanda where they can be screened and then resettled in safe countries. and that all of those people chose to be evacuated. the uk proposal, of course none of it has happened yet, would obviously involve people who don't choose, they arrive illegally via the channel and britain's shores and are sent automatically to rwanda. that is where the un has a big difference with britain. that under the refugee convention, you are required to assess someone's claim for asylum, whether they arrive legally or illegally. and you can'tjust automatically send them somewhere, particularly somewhere that you are not sure is safe. briefly, aside from that row, there is of course the wider problem for refugees, so many european countries battling it, the americas, is there any sort of new idea that is being discussed our strategy? the short answer to that i am afraid is no. usually these forums are very nice people saying nice things, maybe sometimes different from what they say when they're back on the domestic front at home. what is being looked at, what the un would like focus on, is the fact that we have 55 conflicts raging around the world right now, so clearly we are not doing anything at all to try to prevent the situations where people become refugees in the first place. look at that, try to stop seeing migration and asylum as such a negative thing. there are a lot of refugees here in geneva now offering a positive image of what a refugee can become, despite the challenges that somebody who has to flee their country faces. so whether we will get any hard decisions, i don't think so. a lot of fine words, yes, and quite, as we said, quite unusual for a forum like this row breaking out between one un member state, britain, and the un itself. a coroner has found the double killing of an elderly couple was �*entirely preventable'. michael and marjorie cawdery — both 83 — were stabbed to death in their portadown home in may 2017 by a paranoid schizophrenic who had escaped from hospital. the man had repeatedly come to the attention of police and health services in the days leading up to the attack and the coroner says staff had missed multiple opportunities to prevent the deaths. michael and marjorie's son in law gave this reaction. what is really shocking is the utter chaos that appears to have existed in both the health service and the police. and their inability to appreciate how ill this man was. you know, it was just really breathtaking how bad it was. there is, as i say, it is also very interesting that the first series since this review that the health service carried out concluded that there was nothing of a problem, nothing to answer. the police service onwards decided there was nothing to investigate. and having heard what the coroner said there, you do wonder how those decisions could possibly be reached. live now to our ireland correspondent sara girvin. sara, tel is a little bit more about what the coroner actually said there today. what the coroner actually said there toda . , ~ . ., what the coroner actually said there toda . , ~ . . . what the coroner actually said there toda. , a ., ., ., today. yes, michael and mar'orie macri were _ today. yes, michael and mar'orie macri were described �* today. yes, michael and mar'orie macri were described by h today. yes, michael and marjorie macri were described by their - today. yes, michael and marjorie i macri were described by their family as being a devoted couple who spent their entire lives helping other people. they were the victim of a frenzied stabbing attack in their own home back in may of 2017. their killer was thomas scott mac and tea, he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia and he is now serving ten years in prison for their manslaughter. much of what was discussed at the inquest involved interactions between police and medical professionals and the man himself. we know that he sought help for his mental health issues in the day is coming up to the double killings and just hours beforehand he was seen walking naked down the street. he then ended up at the hospital under police escort because of those concerns about his mental health. but he absconded while i nurse was trying to take blood. he broke into the macri �*s home and killed them both. in terms of what the coroner had to say today, she had very strong words indeed, saying that the deaths of the couple were entirely preventable. she said that it was her belief that if police had detained the man on two occasions and if he had better treatment on two occasions, then things would have been very different indeed. she talked about a succession of missed opportunities that there had been a lack of decision—making and communication which led to devastating consequences. perhaps most strikingly she said that she could not be satisfied that something like this wouldn't happen again. she said more must be done. we have heard from the body is at the centre of this inquest as well. the southern health trust says it will review the findings, the belfast health trust says it was committed to learning from them and the psni says it has taken steps to address shortcomings in how it handled this incident.— handled this incident. sarah, the 're handled this incident. sarah, they're in — handled this incident. sarah, they're in bembridge. - handled this incident. sarah, they're in bembridge. thank| handled this incident. sarah, - they're in bembridge. thank you so much. one of the british army's first rastafarian guardsman has won a claim of race discrimination and harassment against the ministry of defence. dwight pile—gray, who was a member of the band of the grenadier guards was accused of "playing the race card' when he tried to enter his barracks. the white guard on duty, he says, didn't believe he could be a soldier. mr pile—gray — who's given his first broadcast interview to the bbc — says his case shows that "in the army it's worse to accuse someone of racism than it is to be a racist". he's been talking to our defence correspondentjonathan beale. dwight pile—gray was once a poster boy for the army. the first rastafarian soldier allowed to wear his hairy marks. but dwight�*s exemplary 16 year service was brought to an end by an incident of racism. ~ ., ., , racism. well, i thought i was the victim, racism. well, i thought i was the victim. but _ racism. well, i thought i was the victim. but i _ racism. well, i thought i was the victim, but i was _ racism. well, i thought i was the victim, but i was treated - racism. well, i thought i was the victim, but i was treated as - racism. well, i thought i was the l victim, but i was treated as though i was a criminal.— i was a criminal. dwight, an accomplished _ i was a criminal. dwight, an accomplished musician, - i was a criminal. dwight, an i accomplished musician, joined i was a criminal. dwight, an - accomplished musician, joined the army in 2005. he played the french horn on many state occasions. here, with a band of the grenadier guards, marking the queen's 90th birthday. but as a minority, he knew he would stand out. i but as a minority, he knew he would stand out. ., but as a minority, he knew he would stand out. . , . ., stand out. i had experience of --eole stand out. i had experience of people using _ stand out. i had experience of people using the _ stand out. i had experience of people using the n _ stand out. i had experience of people using the n word - stand out. i had experience of people using the n word and l stand out. i had experience of- people using the n word and people using... referring to the size of my genitals, because i am a black guy. what people would say, well, it is just banter. is it banter? it what people would say, well, it is just banter. is it banter?— what people would say, well, it is just banter. is it banter? it was an incident at — just banter. is it banter? it was an incident at wellington _ just banter. is it banter? it was an incident at wellington barracks . just banter. is it banter? it was an incident at wellington barracks in | incident at wellington barracks in 2021 which proved the last straw. dwight was stopped at the guard room, he was wearing civilian clothes and explained he had forgotten his past. but dwight says he was treated differently from those in front of him, with disrespect shown by a junior white guard. i disrespect shown by a 'unior white ruard. ,., disrespect shown by a 'unior white ruard. ., ., i. guard. i said to him that you were disbelieving _ guard. i said to him that you were disbelieving that _ guard. i said to him that you were disbelieving that i _ guard. i said to him that you were disbelieving that i could _ guard. i said to him that you were disbelieving that i could actually l disbelieving that i could actually be a soldier. they weren't having it, they accused me of playing the race card. and in fact, when the manager accused me of playing the race card, i absolutely lost my temper. race card, i absolutely lost my tem er. , , race card, i absolutely lost my temer. , , �* temper. dwight still can't comprehend _ temper. dwight still can't comprehend what - temper. dwight still can't i comprehend what happened temper. dwight still can't - comprehend what happened next. temper. dwight still can't _ comprehend what happened next. he reported the incident, he asks for mediation rather than making a complaint. but instead, he found himself being charged with insubordination. it himself being charged with insubordination.— himself being charged with insubordination. , ., , insubordination. it 'ust leaves me feelinu insubordination. it 'ust leaves me feeling betrayed. — insubordination. itjust leaves me feeling betrayed. would - insubordination. itjust leaves me feeling betrayed. would you - insubordination. itjust leaves me feeling betrayed. would you call. insubordination. itjust leaves me i feeling betrayed. would you call the british army — feeling betrayed. would you call the british army institutionally - feeling betrayed. would you call the british army institutionally racist? l british army institutionally racist? i would absolutely call it an absolutely institutionally racist organisation.— absolutely institutionally racist oruanisation. , ., , , organisation. dwight is now pursuing his music career _ organisation. dwight is now pursuing his music career as _ organisation. dwight is now pursuin