Hello, youre watching afternoon live im martine croxall. Today at 2. 00 iran strongly denies it shot down a ukrainian passenger plane in tehran killing all 176 people on board. Including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth the Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible, to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. Bbc presenters samir ahmed wins an employment tribunal. The duchess of sussex goes back to canada amid talks to try and find new roles for her and prince harry. An assault on prison staff by two inmates wearing fake suicide belts is being treated as a terrorist attack. Coming up on afternoon live all the sport with jane latest on harry kanes injury. Thank you very much, and helen has all the weather. Climate statistics available for australia. Yes, and we will talk about that in the next hour. And what is heading into the weekend for the uk, as well, which is not all good news unfortunately. Also coming up, from dark satanic mills to new spaces, the regeneration of northern landmarks. Hello everyone
this is afternoon live. Ore do if will tell you all about oui ore do if will tell you all about our top story in one second. Iran has strongly denied claims it accidentally shot down a ukrainian passenger plane this week, killing all 176 people on board. The us, british and canadian governments now believe the jet was brought down by an iranian anti Aircraft Missile shortly after taking off from tehran airport. There are suggestions it could have been a catastrophic mistake, coming at a time of heightened tension between iran and the United States. Our Diplomatic CorrespondentJames Robbins reports. Iran says it has recovered these crucial flight recorders, which should provide vital evidence about events leading to the crash. Iranian Authorities Say they may ask for assistance from other countries to analyse the data. They are warning it could take one or two years to complete a full investigation, but they continue to insist no missile strike was involved. Translation the thing that was clear to us and that we can say with certainty is that the plane was not hit by a missile. As i said last night, this plane for more than one and a half minutes was on fire and was in the air and the location shows that the pilot was attempting to return. But many governments dispute that. Even if the pilot was trying to land after catastrophe struck, the canadians, who suffered the greatest loss of life after iran itself, are convinced from detailed satellite intelligence reports it was struck by surface to air missile, probably unintentionally. The result of a terrible iranian mistake. Britain agrees. The Iranian Regime must open up to the international community, including access to the crash site, so we can get the truth as quickly as possible,
to give the families of the victims an understanding of what happened to their loved ones. But iran has already brought heavy earth moving equipment onto the crash site. Not the normal procedure if you are trying to search for and protect every fragment of debris. All the evidence which normally helps investigators build a complete picture of happened. We know that this site of the crash has been compromised, there was heavy machinery operating throughout the crash site and so now we are very distressed, because we cant be guaranteed that the crash site has maintained its integrity. It is now a week since iranian general Qasem Soleimani was killed by the american drone strike. Its been a shocking week for hundreds of families around the world. Still, there are hopes that, because foreign governments are willing to see any Iranian Missile strike on the airliner
as a terrible error, International Tensions could be eased, not intensified. If this was the case, as it looks increasingly likely, that that was not something that they would then use against iran, they would not use this to escalate tensions and to create further problems, in a scenario which is already looking pretty unstable. Nothing can soften the immediate pain for all of those mourning the dead on the flight from tehran, but there is no doubt they will expect the full truth of what caused their loss. James robbins, bbc news. The us house of representatives has approved a largely symbolic resolution seeking to limit president Donald Trumps ability to pursue military action against iran. The measure was passed by a comfortable majority in the democrat run chamber but will struggle to get approval in the republican held senate. Democrats accused the president of acting recklessly in ordering the drone strike which killed the iranian general,Qasem Soleimani. Now, you may be able to help spread some light on the iranian approach, and absolute denial, still, that this was brought down by a missile of theirs. Absolutely. From the very first hour, it was a mechanical failure, they said, and they had to stick to this narrative. Today, again, the head of iranian sites it had been shut down by iranians surface to space missile, they deny it, and the colour to lie and a conspiracy, and warfare by the american allies. They have described it as psychological warfare, playing war games. What has happened at the crash site . Last night, some of the
people that we know inside iran sent us some people that we know inside iran sent us some pictures. It shows all those on the site removing to pre , and also, if you look at the picture, you see so also, if you look at the picture, you see so many people, unauthorised people, it seems to be the residence of the area, freely walking on the site. It shows they havent taken theissue site. It shows they havent taken the issue very seriously, at least investigators go there, chording off that region, and ask for further investigation. I just want to tell you, on the day the plane crash, one soldier in iran almost a minute after, they sent us a voice message on bbc persian, and they said, other soldiers, they have seen three missiles, objects in the air, and they hit it. We couldnt confirm it, we can confirm the identity of the person who sent that voice message
to us. He said he is a soldier, he was so to us. He said he is a soldier, he was so afraid, he thought it was an american missile, an american fighterjet. He american missile, an american fighter jet. He thought american missile, an american fighterjet. He thought the war had just began, which is why he contacted us. He was afraid to go back to the base, he was fearing for his life. Again, the iranian authoritys behaviour, first they say they have found the data recorder, then they said they will not hand it over to the americans, that added to the confusion and suspicion. White back as we know, the Aviation Industry is incredibly thorough and how it performs its investigation, and iran could be in a very peculiar position where they are, despite his denials, proved wrong. They have to stick to the narrative, and ahead of iranian aviation said they will allow eve ryo ne aviation said they will allow everyone to come to investigate. He said a team canada and United Statesare under way to iran. A team from ukraine have come and are cooperating. I think there are tones, it seems to me, is changing. There has been a lot of pressure in the past by the canadians. White back however this happened, there we re back however this happened, there were hundred and 76 people on board, and some of them were iranians. They chose canada, they were iranian, if i compare to universities in the uk like oxford and cambridge, these people were the top, the brightest brains in the country, it seems to me, years ago, they have left the country, chose canada to live, or they continue. Losing these people
is not just a they continue. Losing these people is notjust a tragedy they continue. Losing these people is not just a tragedy for they continue. Losing these people is notjust a tragedy for canada, its for all of us. Ukraines president has asked western intelligence to provide evidence to support their claims. Our correspondentjonah fisher is in the ukrainian capital kyiv. The ukrainians were not privy to the information that was circulated last night between United States canada and Great Britain, about a surface to air missile apparently kate taking down this aircraft, and this morning we had this rather desperate appealfrom this morning we had this rather desperate appeal from ukraines president on social media for it to be handed over, for that information to be shared. That appears to now have taken place. It was between the American Embassy here in kyiv, and
it was pointed out that the state of handed over, which is taken to mean that the information which the canadians, americans and british think clearly shows was taken down bya think clearly shows was taken down by a surface to air missile. Think clearly shows was taken down by a surfacetoair missile. What is the approach to irans denial . The ukrainians are in a difficult situation. They sent a team of ukrainians on wednesday night, 45 experts and officials, to take part in that investigation. They are relu cta nt to in that investigation. They are reluctant to be seen to what this investigation may be, but it will have a meaning for input and meaningful access to evidence as pa rt meaningful access to evidence as part of the investigation which is now taking place at the crash site, where the evidence is being collected in tehran. Once ukraine
has had time to digester this material, they may shift their position. Up to now it has been a case where the ukrainians have been saying, we are keeping all options open, we are not ruling anything in oi open, we are not ruling anything in or out. Certainly being shot down by one or a missile is something were looking at, but you havent made any definitive decisions or opinions on had happened. That may change once they have had a chance to have a proper look at what the americans have now shared with them. There are a number of countries involved in this investigation, or who want to be involved, but how helpful is it to the ukraine that one of them is the United States, which has a very tense relationship with iran . That is complicated. It may turn out that the tensions between United States and iran were one of the key causing factors for this plane being shot down, apparently, by accident. Ukraine isa down, apparently, by accident. Ukraine is a difficult position where it doesnt want to appear to prejudge any iranian investigation, while at the same time it appears that the evidence to support the american intelligence finding is piling up. We have other agencies coming forward, for example the dutch, saying they have similar findings. There is circulating purporting to show a missile impacting on the aircraft, and as the evidence piles up, it will become increasingly difficult for the ukrainians to do what they are doing now, which is effectively saying lets the investigation take its course, we are not prejudge what the result will be. The bbc presenter samira ahmed has won the equal pay employment tribunal she brought against the corportation. Thejudge ruled that under the equality act, her work on the programme newswatch was like that of her male colleague, jeremy vine on the programme points of view. The bbc had claimed they performed very different roles. The judgment added the corporation
has not shown that the difference in pay was because of a material factor which did not involve subjecting samira ahmed to sex discrimination. The bbc have released a statement reacting to the verdict saying. Our media correspondent david sillitojoins us now. Tell us more about this case. It is about two programmes, newswatch, for which the mirror i meant was paid. There was another programme, points of view, which is about the same
length of time, takes the same amount to record, and jeremy vine was paid a much higher wage. It wasnt for samira ahmed to prove that this was gender discrimination, it was for the bbc to explain where there was such a big difference. The x they said that one was entertainment and one was news, but they were unconvinced. They can quite understand when it was said that there was a glint in the eye of the presenter, and the consequence of all of that needs to be, well, making up or that pay. Added together, the amounts of Something Like £700,000. This was notjust one case at the bbc. They were forced to
publish the salaries of their top stars, and there was differences between the men and women. This is the first employment tribunal that has come, there are others in the pipeline, according to National Union ofjournalists. How many now make it there, it could be, well, they could be a number of cases, or it could be that there is a major change in the way that people are paid the corporation. The bbc has already admitted that in the past it system was not fair or transparent enough, it has made big changes. Samira ahmed, well, she says that no woman wants to take your employer to court, but she is resolved this is all over. Thank you. Youre watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. Iran denies a missile was responsible for this weeks plane crash in tehran western leaders believe the ukranian passengerjet may have been shot down by accident. The bbc news presenter samira ahmed has won her pay equality claim against the bbc. The duchess of sussex returns to canada, a day after she and prince harry revealed they will step back from their roles as senior royals. Former premier League Referee bobby madley says he has been sacked for filming a video mocking a disabled person destroyed his reputation in his life. Novak djokovic wins in three sets to send serbia into the atp semifinals. More after have passed. In your view, what are the factors that have prompted meghan, in particular, to leave the uk for at least pa rt particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the time. Particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the timelj particular, to leave the uk for at least part of the time. I think it isa least part of the time. I think it is a combination of factors. One of the things that is most striking for me as the things that is most striking for measi the things that is most striking for me as i watched the Royal Wedding a couple of years ago, is this smirk of zara phillips, while the pastor was giving the duke and duchess their vows, and it became very clear to mejust in their vows, and it became very clear to me just in that small gesture that she certainly wasnt being welcomed in, and really embraced in the way that i have seen other royals being embraced. That kind of
signalled that her being black, she had a black pastor, she had a gospel choir, that was something of an oddity to the royal family, and that seems to have been picked up in the press. Pearce morgan, specifically, has been making what i would consider coded statements that spoke to her race, so i would definitely speculate that the unequal treatment of meghan, based on the fact that she is biracial woman, would have been one of the contributing factors. However it is the racism that you believe she has faced . think, having grown up in the uk and then lived here in new york for the last 14 years, im sure it was the type of racism that i faced in the 90s and early 2000, where its very,
very covert. Its the Little Things that you cant quite put your finger on. So, labels like princess because she speak to other racial troops about black people being difficult to deal with. All these difficult reports about her staff quitting route time after time were really reinforcing that same stereotype, which is very similar to the treatment of Michelle Obama here in the uk, when she was first lady. Lot of people will struggle to actually pinpoint how this is racism, rather than clumsiness or snobbery, maybe because she is an outsider, rather than the colour of her skin. I think one of the thing about british racism that makes it quite unique, and it certainly one of the reasons i chose to leave the
uk, was it is in those unsaid moments, theres unspoken moment. Counter to that would be, in 2020, we are into the third decade of new century. That clumsiness should be informed by the fact that the uk has been a multiracial society, specifically since the windrush era, so specifically since the windrush era, so there should be an understanding of how the small indignities that are based, speak to race in a very indirect way, are actually what are termed in sociology as micro aggression. So, like i said, saying that she is difficult is a racialised epithet, if you look at it. It does speak to snobbery, and
there it plays a very different in there it plays a very different in the us. We do have black people of stature who are not necessarily treated in the same way as meghan, so, i would say there as someone who is an american, it shouldnt really be the focus but it should be the impact. The impact is racialised. Be the focus but it should be the impact. The impact is racialisedm social media doesnt respect boundaries. People should should be free to comment on meghan even when she is in america. How protected will she be in america and canada . would say that in america and canada there is a long tradition of pushback against anti black racism, so, for example, the emergence of black twitter, which is something that i look at a lot in my own research on my own work, to provide this protective social media circle
where it is basically, black people who are committed to an entire racism, and that is particularly in north america, but ive seen it in the uk as well. Committed to antiracism. You see black twitter being really protective of black women, and you see followers who, if anything is said about someone, they will come after her. In the actual world, she is a high profile woman in the United States there is a tradition of black exceptionalism, started with the work of we dubois, and it is to do with the class position, and there is an inherent belief in north america that some black people are special, and as a
duchess, she would definitely be seen as duchess, she would definitely be seen as part of that talent. Thank you very much. A draft deal has been published aimed at restoring power sharing in Northern Ire