04/10/2016 BBC News at Ten

The desperate plight of Aleppo, where 100 children have been

We report on the suffering of so many children,

as the UN demands an immediate end to the Russian bombing.

Everybody knows that as long as these kind

explosive weapons takes place, children will be killed.

And across the border in Lebanon, we report from the densely-crowded

camps, where many have managed to escape.

Those who've crossed the mountains of Syria behind me

and arrived here in Lebanon, find themselves carrying the trauma

of war in a world where they're hemmed in by poverty.

We'll have more on the latest demands that Russia and Syria

The pound hits a new low and shares hit a new high

After just 18 days in charge, it's reported tonight that

Diane James has quit as leader of Ukip.

The biggest Caribbean storm for nine years.

Hurricane Matthew has battered the coast of Haiti.

Can I look at your CV. CV? . You still don't get this, do you? . And

we talk to the British director about a life on benefits. His film

that won a prestigious prize. Coming up in Sportsday later

in the hour on BBC News: The five-time Grand Slam champion

Maria Sharapova has her doping ban reduced by nine months and can

play again next April. We start tonight with

the desperate plight of Aleppo - the Syrian city once again suffering

heavy bombardment - following the collapse

of the recent ceasefire. The United Nations has called

for an immediate end to the bombing of eastern Aleppo by Syrian

and Russian forces. The latest official figures show

that more than 100 children have been killed in the rebel-held areas

in just over a week. Our special correspondent,

Fergal Keane, reports on the growing His report does contain

some distressing images Tenderness, from a father who must

watch the slow wasting Yekya Eskif, aged 11,

was wounded in an air strike. A child starving because of

the damage to his bowel Hospitals have come

under sustained attack. With only basic facilities,

doctors struggle. "Good boy, we're almost

finished", the doctor says. His grandmother wants

to get him to Turkey. Listen to the sound of rockets

landing before she speaks. There's still an

irrepressible longing for normality. Ahmed, on the right, is risking

the walk to school with friends. The children are now

taught in the basement, in the hope they might be safer

from falling bombs. But, really, nowhere

in East Aleppo is safe. Aleppo's agony

began four years ago. The city's east is a claustrophobic

hell, for which there Before the latest encirclement,

many fled, children losing We met some of them

in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. The siege represents just

the first encirclement. Because even if they

manage to escape Aleppo, the children face a new trap -

those who've crossed the mountains of Syria behind me

and arrived here in Lebanon, find themselves carrying the trauma

of war, in a world where they're Wihdat arrived from

Aleppo three days ago. Crossing the mountains at night

on a mule, with a severe heart She's joined her grandchildren, who

arrived with her son Her father was killed by a sniper

in Aleppo. The old Aleppo family,

where parents were strong, Abdul Fatah cannot work

because of injury, so his 14-year-old daughter Batul

works in the fields all day every Cluster bombs, bunker busters,

barrel bombs, phosphorus bombs. They have all been dropped

here by the Syrian government 106 children have been killed

in just over a week. The Kremlin says rebels

are deliberately using populated areas and rejects claims Russia

is carrying out war crimes. We are taking the most strict

precautions to make sure we don't If this happens, well, we are very

sorry but we need to investigate I've never seen anything

so blatant as these kinds Everybody knows that as long

as this kind of attacks, with these massive explosive

weapons, takes place, It cannot be denied that this

will be the result, so these attacks There are enough treaties,

laws and promises to The trouble is that nobody

with power cares to That is the tragedy

of the children of Aleppo. So, Fergal, tonight we are in the

position again where the u niegsds is demanding an immediate end to the

bombardment of Aleppo. Are you detecting any signs that new

initiatives are coming forth which may bring better results? We do know

that the French and Spanish are trying to push a Megs to the UN

Security Council which calls for teend all flights over the city of

Aleppo and the appointment of a UN truce monitor. Frankly, I don't

think that's going to go anywhere. The Russians have already, on four

occasions, vetoed moves that they have saw as being an attempt to

isolate or punish President Assad in Syria. They are not likely to agree

to this. You also have to ask, from all the rhetoric of condemnation

that has come from the West, what, for example, would President Obama

be able to do. He knows the American public, as indeed the British

public, are opposed to further military ventures of any kicked in

the Middle East. So there is nothing GB toy public backing for a

unilateral no-fly zone. He would have to ask himself is he going to

put American pilots into the air to enforce a no-fly zone and risk

clashes with the Russian Air Force and maybe a I had weir

conflagration. People have known from the very outset and have been

clear about what their strategy are in all of this, is President Assad,

and the man who backs him with his Air Force, Vladimir Putin, they have

one strategy, they believe in whatever they need to do, whatever

the cost to civilians, to secure a victory. With what we have seen in

the past in places like Aleppo, the fighting continues until the robes

agree to a ceasefire deeshlings a deal under which they agree to

evacuate the stain only then is there really respite for civilians.

That's probably a more likely outcome. Thank you very much.

The Prime Minister says the economy remains strong,

despite concerns about Britain's exit from the European Union.

Though she acknowledged it wouldn't be plain sailing

There was a warning today from the International Monetary Fund

that economic growth in the UK will slow down next year,

and in the financial markets, the pound sank to a 31-year low.

Theresa May has been speaking to our political

Nothing about leaving the EU is likely to be neat and tidy.

But how much mess does the Prime Minister think

Exit is an opportunity, but with the pound

Prime Minister, the pound, today, has sunk to a 31-year low.

The very well-respected International Monetary Fund

is warning there is going to be a slowdown.

How worried are you about the impact on people's livelihoods,

as we untangled ourselves from the European Union?

Well, the process of leaving the European Union is going to be

one which is going to take complex negotiations with the EU.

I'm very clear that we want to get the right deal for the UK.

I've said it's not going to be plain sailing and there will be

I think we should always remember that the fundamentals

But, Prime Minister, the pound sinking to a 31-year low

is perhaps more than a bump in the road.

And, in fact, the Chancellor suggested yesterday this

Now many people find roller coasters pretty terrifying.

It's going to be a process of negotiation.

I'm very clear and I'm ambitious for the sort of deal that we get.

We are going to get the right deal for the UK as a result

That means the maximum opportunity for businesses here in the UK to be

able to trade with and operate within the single market

Are you not worried about what has happened to the pound today?

If you stand back and look at the fundamentals of our economy,

which are strong, if you look at the other economic data that has

been around in recent weeks, if you look indeed at the most

recent forecasts that are now coming out for growth

in our economy this year, all of that is more positive

than people had expected it to be and that people

You've said many times we'll make a success of Brexit

but unless you acknowledge the real risk, isn't there a danger

that you're not taking the risk seriously enough?

First of all, I've said it's not going to be plain sailing as we go

ahead and go through this process of negotiation?

People shouldn't be worried about what might happen

Well, we've been very clear, that as we look ahead over

the coming months and, yes, the IMF and others have said

that they are forecasting a slowdown in the economy next year,

but what the Government needs to do is to ensure

that we are taking the right approach,

that we are, in terms of the

process of Brexit, that we are making that

You have very clearly ruled out having a general

that the public has a Prime Minister that,

with respect, they haven't elected, for four years?

Well, first of all, the public elected a Conservative

They elected us on a manifesto that we are putting into place.

You are doing a lot of things that were not

Shouldn't there, therefore, be a mandate?

Do you really think you have a mandate to do some

They elected a Conservative Government on a manifesto

which my Conservative Government is putting into practice.

We are continuing the work that David Cameron started.

But, of course, circumstances have changed because on June 23rd,

we had a significant vote here in the United Kingdom

and of course, the Government has to look at whether it needs to do

Now, the first thing, of course, is to deliver on that vote,

to say that we trust the British people.

It's only the Conservative Party that is saying we trust the British

people and we will ensure that Britain comes out

of the European Union and what we need is stability.

You have talked about the economic situation, you have

Actually what markets want is stability and a general election

This week the Prime Minister wanted her party to know

But also to show a calm, brave face for the rest

Behind closed doors, ministers just don't

agree yet on how life outside the EU will look.

Right now, perhaps, Theresa May is only willing to provide one

As we heard there from Laura, sterling dropped to its lowest level

against the dollar for 31 years, as investors reacted to details

about the timing and manner of Britain's departure

But as sterling fell, share prices rose to nearly record highs,

as our economics correspondent, Andy Verity, reports.

A strong Government stance on Brexit goes in and a weak pound comes out.

In spite of all the upbeat economic figures since the referendum,

the currency markets are worried that tough trade negotiations

will mean weaker economic growth and that means a weaker pound.

In just over a year, sterling has dropped by 20%,

It's now down to its lowest since 1985 yet, at the same time,

shares in the biggest 100 companies on the London stock market surged,

closing the day just shy of a record high.

Well, we're seeing equity markets benefit from the impact of loose

monetary policy, ie interest rates globally remaining low,

but as far as UK stocks in particular are concerned,

because of the FTSE 100's makeup, where three quarter of its earnings

come from overseas, when those earnings are translated back

into the UK, earnings levels are benefitting from

The weak pound has also acted as a stimulus to manufacturers

and other exporters, making their goods cheaper

In the short-term, there's strong evidence that the weaker pound has

been helping large parts of the economy, at least as much

as it's been harming, but traders here are looking

to the furture and their calculation has to be that if there's less trade

and less economic growth, then it's less worth holding

pounds and investing in the British economy.

In the spring, this post-Brexit future was expected

by the International Monetary Fund to be pretty bad to very,

very bad with severe regional and global damage.

Now they're forecasting that this year will be the fastest growing

economy in the G7 group of industrialised countries,

I think it was wise of us to warn against those possibilities.

In fact, I think it would have been malpractice not to think about those

possibilities and I would credit that preparation in part

for the mild response that we ended up seeing.

The forecast for the UK next year is a sharp slow down.

The anxiety is that restrictions on immigration could lead

to new trade barriers that could make the whole

For now though, that anxiety is a long way

Business leaders have expressed concern about the Government's

latest plans to reduce immigration set out at the Conservative Party

conference today by the home secretary, Amber Rudd.

Those plans could include making it harder for firms to recruit

from overseas or imposing more rigorous conditions

Our deputy political editor, John Pienaar, has more details.

Why shouldn't your next Shami kebab or chicken madras be cooked up

You don't see many working in Birmingham's famous

Some here say there is a reason for that.

No British person can work up until 5.00am

in the morning, it's too difficult for them.

What about making curry, can you learn

Well, I personally can, but the English people

It's too difficult because of all the spices and mixing

But the new Home Secretary isn't taking no for an answer.

The vote to leave the EU showed a desire for tougher

There'd be fewer work permits for foreigners,

better training and more pressure on employers to train

This will include examining whether we should tighten the test

companies have to take before recruiting from abroad.

However, we still need to do more, so all British people get

the opportunities they need to get on in life.

The tests should ensure people coming here are filling gaps

The Government's committed to get the numbers added to the UK

population below 100,000, but the number's been below 100,000,

but the number's been rising, not falling.

Small firms and large would have to follow the British jobs for

The plan to get many more British workers into jobs normally done

Homegrown workers often won't work for the low pay involved.

There'd have to be a big increase in training programmes to make

the difference in migrant numbers ministers want to see and businesses

say their main concern is just doing business,

making profits, not helping to fulfil a minister's promise

We need to invest - and businesses do invest to the tune

of ?45 billion a year, in skills, development and training

- so that we have a workforce in the UK that can meet

But we have short-term skills gaps and it is vital for businesses to be

able to get employees from overseas who can meet those

Training British workers to do jobs they can't or won't do will take

time, but ministers feel they can't afford to wait much longer before

After just 18 days in charge it's being reported tonight that the Ukip

leader, Diane James, is set to stand down. She took over last month from

Nigel Farage, who resigned as leader after June's referendum campaign.

Our political correspondent joins us from Westminster. What are you

hearing from Diane James' decision here? The party hasn't confirmed

that Diane James is stepping down. Senior sources within Ukip are

telling me that is indeed the case. I haven't spoken with Miss James

directly, I'm told it's for personal reasons, in part the pressures of

the job, due to family commitments. She was elected as leader less than

three weeks ago. This news of her departure would create further

turmoil in Ukip which are suffering from rifts and speculation over who

may take over. Nigel Farage's return name is already in the fame. Thank

you very much for that update there on that story. Alex Forsyth.

One of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the Caribbean in recent years

Torrential rain and storm winds forced many people

Appeals are being made for fresh food and water.

Our correspondent, Nick Bryant, has the latest from Port-au-Prince.

Haiti has taken a brutal pounding from the worst storm to rip

through the Caribbean in almost a decade.

Hurricane Matthew has brought sustained winds

of 145 miles per hour and torrential, unrelenting rain.

This category four storm has compounded the problems of a country

still reeling from the 2010 earthquake and a cholera epidemic

that these conditions are sure to exacerbate.

The country's interim president said the storm has already claimed lives.

TRANSLATION: We've already seen deaths, people who are out at sea,

People who didn't respect the alerts and have lost their lives.

This is one of the world's poorest nations.

Many of the country's 11 million people live in shanty towns that

offer little protection from the high winds and rains.

Many refuse to evacuate, fearing the few possessions

This is the main route into the capital, Port-au-Prince,

almost impassible as the floodwaters began to rise.

The fear is of catastrophic mudslides in a landscape

Hurricane Matthew could drop as much as three feet of rain

and we're seeing evidence of flash-flooding already.

The conditions here are absolutely atrocious,

to step outside is to become drenched within seconds.

But coastal areas along the southern shoreline,

which we've yet been able to reach, are by far the worst hit.

There the floodwaters are said to be shoulder high.

It's three main cities along that southern shoreline that are

particularly badly hit. They are cut off from the rest of the country at

the moment because a bridge along the main route from the capital has

collapsed. As we came on air I spoke to a senior UN official who

estimated that some 5 million people have been affected by this

hurricane. Huw, that's almost half the population of this impoverished

country. Nick, thank you very much, Nick Bryant there with the latest

for us on the hurricane there in Haiti.

This year's Nobel Prize for Physics has been awarded to three

British-born scientists who all work at universities

David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz have been

honoured for their pioneering studies of unusual states of matter.

Their work has led to the development of new types

of electronic devices as our science editor, David Shukman, reports.

From steel strong enough to hold up bridges, to the intricate robots

on a production line, we depend on materials that have

qualities that make them useful for particular task,

but there's also an unseen world where materials don't behave

as you'd expect and research into that world was awarded

Three scientists, born in Britain, recognised for making some strange

One of the judges resorted to using pastries to

How materials can change their characteristics

One of the winner was Duncan Haldane, applauded

by his students at Princeton University.

Time to double down and learn some electro magnitudes

He told us that fundamental research could lead

Science goes by people exploring where they want to go and sometimes

they find something good and sometimes that actually

So we don't know where it's going to go, so it's really

important that people should follow their dream, basically.

So what's this Nobel Prize for Physics been awarded for?

Well, it's all about revealing that materials can exist in states

So take water, when it's heated it's in the form of steam,

a little cooler and it becomes a liquid that you drink,

colder still and it freezes into ice.

But it turns out that when the temperature is even lower,

materials can exist in another whole range of different states

in which they behave in ways that just aren't expected.

For example, allowing electricity to flow without resistance

and if this can be controlled, new much faster computers may be

So this research is seen as having huge potential.

Maybe it's going to help us develop new kinds of materials that have

I think the 21st Century we're going to start to see an explosion

of new electronic devices, new materials, all making use

of this information that was started back decades ago.

Duncan Haldane and his two fellow prize winners were at one stage

seen as out on a limb with their research,

now it's become mainstream and they're looking

Within hours, the candidates for the US vice-presidency will face

each other in the latest televised debate of the campaign.

It takes place as Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate

for the presidency, launched the first in a series of television

adverts focusing on her rival Donald Trump's tax affairs.

Leaked documents have suggested that the Republican has avoided

Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, has the story.

Most Americans pay federal income tax.

It's the subject that won't go away and it's the subject the Clinton

campaign are oh so keen to keep in the headlines.

Donald Trump's taxes, the focus of this latest attack ad.

This guy lost almost $1 billion in one year.

He's still refusing to release his tax returns,

but he's not denying the claims he may have not paid federal income

tax for nearly two decades, and last night claimed again it

I was able to use the tax laws of this country and my business

acumen to dig out of the real estate mess, you would call it

a depression, when few others were able to do what I did.

But the three pages of his 1995 return, published

by the New York Times, showed that he lost over

$900 million in one year, and Hillary Clinton

Yesterday his campaign was bragging it makes him a genius.

Here's my question - what kind of genius

loses $1 billion in a single year?!

Uncomfortably for Mr Trump, an interview has surfaced from five

years ago when he criticised those who didn't pay their fair

Well, you know, I don't mind sacrificing for the country,

to be honest with you, but you do have a problem

because half of the people don't pay any tax.

There's been no sudden collapse in Donald Trump's support, but it's

Polls suggest that roughly three quarters of Americans

think it's their civic duty to pay income tax,

roughly three quarters of Americans think that Donald Trump ought

On this issue, he seems to be on the wrong side of public opinion.

Tonight, it's the Clinton and Trump deputies who'll be in the spotlight

in the one and only wice-presidential debate.

Even if Hillary Clinton's running mate is asked about the weather,

you can bet the answer will be about Donald Trump's taxes.

A film about one man's battle to get welfare benefits -

which won the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival -

has been premiered in Newcastle tonight, the city in which it's set.

The film called, I, Daniel Blake, was made by the veteran British

Our arts editor, Will Gompertz, went to meet him.

No, mate, if I was going to create a scene, you'd know about it.

A single mother on housing benefit has been moved from London

Do you mind if this young lass signs

Enter Daniel Blake, the film's 59-year-old protagonist.

He's a joiner, recovering from a heart attack,

who also finds the welfare systems designed to support him thwart him.

We were really lucky in that the two main actors have a great,

I think - I'm saying it as the director -

a great sensitivity and nusiance and there's a fragility to them,

The film's about friendship and it's about two people trapped

in different ways, in the same system.

You still don't get this, do you, Mr Blake?

This is an agreement between you and the state.

Do you ever worry with your films that people won't go

because they think - Oh, it's a Ken Loach film,

we know what he has to say, it's always

Yes, I think it's not helpful, that's because everybody's story

is different and people's situations are different.

I mean, I guess Jane Austin has a tougher time, you know.

God, all she is telling us about is a vicarage.

Well, actually, there's more to it than that.

Ken Loach made his name 50 years ago with the profoundly

moving television drama, Cathy Come Home.

Cathy Come Home wouldn't be made today, it'd be stopped.

It wouldn't even get beyond the script stage.

Is there a problem for British directors and writers

I think it's a huge problem because it means that we're not

Good film directors, good writers could tell our stories,

I think you said you were going to stop making movies?

I said it in a moment of weakness and I thought -

how am I going to get through this again?

Well, there are so many stories to tell, aren't there, really?

It sounds like the 80-year-old director will continue to tell them.

We hear it and if you do it really realistically, it sounds right.

Will Gompertz, BBC News, Newcastle.