25/01/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at Six - the thousands who sleep rough on our streets -

Latest figures on the homeless in England show it's more

than doubled since 2010 - we find out what it feels like.

It's horrible, it does torture you, and other people walk past

you like you're scum because you've had a problem in life.

We'll be looking at what's driving this sharp rise in numbers.

He promised a wall, now he says he's going start building it in months -

Donald Trump sets his plans on immigration control.

Reliving the horror of Italy's avalanche -

we speak to a couple who survived - as the search for five

Two girls born with a disorder no-one could explain -

now scientists unlock the causes - and offer hope to other families.

Now Usain Bolt loses one of his record nine gold medals

And coming up in the sport on BBC News,

Serena Williams says Britain's Johanna Konta can be

a future Grand Slam champion, after knocking her out in this

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

There's been a sharp increase in the number of homeless people -

with more than half the councils in England recording a rise.

On a single night last year more than 4,000 people

were sleeping rough - that's according to

It amounts to a 16% jump on the year before -

campaigners say it's an appalling rate.

Our Midlands Correspondent Sima Kotecha reports

now from Birmingham - one of the areas with the largest

As the darkness creeps in, the wind chill begins to bite.

Those who have nowhere to go look for shelter.

Volunteers roam the streets, making sure nobody has died

The young man there, I'm just checking that he is

He's fine, he is fast asleep, so I'm not going to wake him up.

Paul is just checking up on a rough sleeper here.

He says he's in a lot of pain, severe pain, in fact.

So Paul has called an ambulance to make sure he's OK.

He says he was stamped on by a couple

of strangers in the middle of the night.

Minutes later, a paramedic arrived and he was taken to hospital

As dawn broke, a rough sleeper expressed his frustration.

It's horrible, of course it's horrible out here.

What are you supposed to do, you have no prospects, you know.

And people walk past you like you are scum

because you have had a problem in life.

There needs to be more help out there.

Some charities blame council cuts for putting more vulnerable

Local authority budgets have been reduced by around 20%

Which they say have led to fewer support services.

Homelessness is affected by austerity, the cuts that have

come down from nationally, the cuts to the NHS,

local authorities and also those in terms of benefit caps,

that has a huge impact on why people are on the streets.

Birmingham City council are doing a lot to try to reduce this

by partnership work, we are working with key agencies,

we are doing outreach, surgeries, and we are actually listening

At this centre, they come for relief from the cold.

This place is funded through private donations.

Paul, who was once homeless, came up with the idea.

A lot of these guys in here are skilled people that need a break.

We all deserve to have a kick start again.

And try to get our lives back on track.

And that's why places like this are so needed.

The government says by 2020 it will have invested

more than ?500 million on tackling homelessness.

But with a further squeeze on council spending expected

in April, there are concerns that hostels and shelters

What can be done about these rising numbers? It is not inevitable and we

know with political will you can solve it, in 1999 the labour

government said there were a certain number of people on the streets and

they could reduce it by two years, and they did. They said they would

eradicate rough sleeping once and for all, in 2008, they thought they

could, and then in 2008 we have the financial crash, policies of

austerity and welfare reform were introduced to deal with the economic

crisis and critics say, as you heard, that exacerbated the

homelessness crisis. The figures for those sleeping rough have been

increasing rapidly over the last few years. A couple of examples.

Christchurch in Dorset, no one star there in 2010 but today ten people

are on the streets. -- no one slept rough there in 2010. In Brighton,

down 144, and that 4000 figure that we have been quoted, that is an

estimate, probably underestimate of the numbers sleeping on any one

night across a year. Tens of thousands of people are bedding down

over the year. There have been schemes, the government is

supporting a private members bill which will put a duty on local

authorities to try and prevent homelessness. Something already

exists in Wales, and there is some money for that, some, but no one

thinks this is the answer to rough sleeping and in the end you have got

to find places for people to afford to be able to live in. Thanks for

joining us. Now that he is president

Donald Trump is wasting no time in returning to those pledges

he made during the Today he is announcing his plans

for immigration control - including the controversial promise

to build a wall between Our correspondent James Cook

reports from the border Donald Trump's vision of a fortress

America was at the heart of his controversial campaign

for the presidency. Now in office, he faces

the challenge of pulling up the drawbridge, by strengthening

and extending the existing barriers on his country's

frontier with Mexico. Ultimately it will come out of what

is happening with Mexico and we will stop those negotiations relatively

soon. When will construction begin? As soon as we can physically do it.

A few months? I would say so, yes. Mexico continues to resist any

effort to make it pay for the wall. Here in the Mexican

border city of Tijuana, business leaders are worried

about the impact on trade and sceptical about

the president's plans. The problem is that the majority

of Americans are not really And consequently the idea of a wall

seems to be appealing. But the truth of the matter is that,

you know, I think that is a symbol. This fence at the Pacific Ocean

is the very start of the land border between Mexico and the United

States, and President Trump has always said he wants

to build a much taller, much better, much bigger wall,

stretching all the way from here, nearly

2000 miles, to Texas. But even in liberal California,

there is backing for President Trump's hard line

on immigration, not least from these supporters who call

themselves The Trumpettes. I always say my Scripture

is Ezekiel 22:30. "I sought for a man

who would build a wall." And I was reading that the other day

and it just stuck out in my spirit And I pray for America and I pray

that God will shore up The president's exact plans are not

yet clear but it is reported he will sign orders suspending

the arrival of refugees and halting immigration from certain nations

where Muslims are in the majority. Mr Trump says this will be a big day

for national security. It will also be a big

test of his resolve. James Cook, BBC News,

on the US-Mexico border. Our North America Editor Jon

Sopel is in Washington. This is part of a security agenda

and we are learning more about what Donald Trump would like to do to

make America safer. Yes, there is a draft executive order which sounds

like a throwback to the George Bush era, talking of enhanced

interrogation techniques and extraordinary rendition,

waterboarding. The kind of methods which can be used against potential

terrorists outside of America, at Guantanamo Bay, reversing the

policies which have been introduced by Obama to stop torture which had

been voted on by Congress. This is controversial star. He will face

opposition from Republicans and Democrats and even maybe his own

Defence Secretary -- this is controversial stuff. Thanks.

The Prime Minister says the government will, after all,

publish a detailed policy document setting out its plans

Theresa May has been under pressure from Labour and some of her own MPs

to lay out her plans in what's called a White Paper.

Legislation to trigger the formal process of leaving the EU is set

Our Deputy Political Editor John Pienaar reports.

A once dominant PM out on his ear when Britain chose Brexit.

David Cameron's doing charity work now, today visiting

Are you worried about defeat Prime Minister?

Now, his successor's got her hands full with

And today Theresa May kept a half step ahead of her critics.

She'd outlined her Brexit game plan in a big speech.

And as the time came for questions...

She had held off promising MPs a policy paper but now...

I can confirm to the House that our plan will be set out

in a White Paper published in this House.

Could we know when this White Paper is going to be available to us?

Will they withdraw the threats to destroy the social structure

of this country by turning us into the bargain basement

But the Prime Minister's kept the initiative and the Brexit paper

is unlikely to tell MPs more than they know now.

It was an easy concession for Theresa May to make but Tory MPs

She is also keen to appear ahead of the game when she visits

Donald Trump in the White House later this week.

And she told MPs she won't duck policy differences.

I'm not afraid to speak frankly to a President of the United States.

I'm able to do that because we have that special relationship.

MPs queued to offer issues where she could take

He must abide by and not withdraw from the Paris

President Trump has repeatedly said he will bring back torture

When she sees him on Friday, will the Prime Minister make clear

that in no circumstances will she permit Britain to be dragged

Will the Prime Minister tell President Trump that she is not

prepared to lower our food and safety standards or to open

She and her government would stand their ground.

We will put UK interests and UK values first.

Another former Prime Minister's been in Brussels.

Tony Blair knows getting close to the White House

at the wrong time can end badly, and MPs on all sides are anxious

Rescue teams in Italy have found more bodies in the ruins

of a hotel that was struck by an avalanche last week.

In all 24 people were killed with five

Our Rome correspondent James Reynolds has been speaking

to two people who survived - and they say it's

How many of us will ever know what it's like to come back to life? On

Saturday these two people were appalled from the hotel. The couple

had been trapped underground for 59 hours -- were appalled. This

afternoon we met them at home, they tell be what happened when the

avalanche it. TRANSLATION: It felt like a bomb, I felt glass exploding

and it felt as if an entire wall had hit me. Somewhere underneath these

tonnes of snow and debris, they were jammed together in a tiny space.

TRANSLATION: I looked at Vincenzo Nibali is I was panicking, the first

thing he told me was, we have got to become. We just have to wait. I

touched him to see if we were OK, if we were injured. We were lucky, we

were alive. I thought we would be trapped for a week, I did not want

to tell her. After two days rescuers made contact with them. TRANSLATION:

When we heard a rescue it was as if an angel was talking to us. As if

someone had come to pick us up literally from under the ground, I

was born again. It was a miracle. I feel as if I'd been brought to the

world for a second time. And this time not by my mum, but by God. They

survive, but many others died. One week on, rescuers continue to search

for those still missing under the snow. James Reynolds, BBC News,

central Italy. The thousands who sleep

rough on our streets - latest figures on homelessness

in England show it's more the woman who was told to wear heels

at work or go home, turns out

she's far from being alone. Usain Bolt is stripped of one

of his nine Olympic gold medals, after his teammate Nesta Carter

was found guilty of doping, British scientists have identified

14 new developmental They sequenced the genes

of thousands of children with rare, undiagnosed conditions

from across the UK. Pinpointing the genes responsible

should lead to a greater understanding of the serious

disorders which affect the development of the brain and body -

and might eventually Our medical correspondent

Fergus Walsh reports. A big moment for these two families,

meeting for the first time. Ten-year-old Tamika and

nine-year-old Caitlin have the same newly identified genetic condition

called CDK 13 disorder. There are only 11

known cases in the UK. The girls are so alike,

they could be sisters. Living so close, we could have

easily bumped into each other. We could have gone home

with the wrong child. Looking at them,

it would have been easy. It's quite amazing to finally come

across somebody who also has a child so different to anybody else's child

and, yet, here we are To look at them, they are

so similar, aren't they? The developmental disorder

affects the girls' learning Tamika has good language skills,

Caitlin has only a few words. It definitely gives me hope that

Caitlyn's speech will form. This is where Caitlyn and Tamika's

genetic condition was identified, at the Wellcome Trust

Institute near, Cambridge. They mapped their genes and found

an identical fault in their DNA. But the mutation was not passed

on by their parents, Each of us inherit half our DNA

from our mother, through the egg Sometimes, when those

genes are passed on, spontaneous mutations occur

that cause rare developmental

disorders in children. The older the parents,

the more likely that is to happen. Scientists here have identified

14 new developmental disorders calculated that one in every 300

babies will be affected by a spontaneous

genetic condition, In the UK, that amounts to around

2000 children every year. The research, in the journal Nature

provides reassurance for many families

all over the country. The discoveries end the long odyssey

that these parents have had trying to find the underlying cause

of the child's condition. It provides them with the risk

of future pregnancies. Which, for these conditions,

is actually very low. And it provides opportunities

for research into the causes and possible therapies

that might be applied. Katja was told last year

that she had not passed And that gave her confidence

to have another child, Both families say being part of this

research has been hugely rewarding. It's like belonging to a club

or a new-found family. It has felt like we've been

for the whole nine years that But, now, knowing that there

are other families it's all changed. Laws to prevent women

being discriminated against when it comes to dress codes at work

aren't being enforced properly - The report was commissioned

after a receptionist was sent home When MPs began to investigate,

they were inundated with complaints She was told to wear

high heels on her first day Scarlet Harris is the women's

equality officer at the TUC. Melanie Bramwell runs

a recruitment agency. I caught up with them to hear

about dress code discrimination and how Nicola refused

to toe the line. When I realised that they were

insisting that all women wore high heels to portray their desired

image, it made me realise that, actually, my employer didn't want me

to just look smart and professional, they wanted me to look attractive

and I didn't want to be seen So, Scarlet, how

widespread is the issue? The committee found lots

and lots of women talking about their experiences

of being made to wear, not just high heels but a certain

types of make up, being asked to wear sheer blouses,

being asked to wear skirts The government said Nicola's

dress code was unlawful, But MPs said that the law wasn't

effective enough, leaving employers It is open to interpretation,

as we say, the word reasonable is used there and that is

open to interpretation. Is it so bad to ask a woman worker

to wear a heel when we ask male I think they are two

entirely different things. They took lots of evidence

from women saying they were going home with bleeding feet,

they were taking painkillers at night to be able to sleep

because they were in so much pain from the shoes they'd been

wearing during the day. That's just not comparable

to wearing a tie or a suit jacket. Some might say this is all a bit

of a storm in a teacup. They might very well do but you have

to look at the bigger picture. It should be about choice

there are plenty of women who like to wear heels to work

like to wear a face full This issue, the high heel thing,

is symbolic of a hangover from that 1950s kind of era where women

were only seen as secretaries and receptionists and now

we are running the companies. Let us wear what we want,

as long as we are smart. Usain Bolt has been stripped of one

of his nine Olympic gold medals - for the 4 by 100 metre relay

at Beijing in 2008 - Nestor Carter tested positive

for a banned stimulant It means Bolt no longer holds

the accolade of having won the triple-triple -

as Katie Gornall reports. In a sport measured

in fractions of a second, this was an astonishing

feat of longevity. COMMENTATOR: The triple triple!

He's done it. Usain Bolt's nine gold

medals at three different Now, through no fault of his own,

that history has been tarnished. The reason lies with

this man, Nesta Carter. Bolt's team-mate in the relay

at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His start propelled Jamaica both

to gold and to a world record. But last year Carter's sample

from these Games was retested and today he was found

guilty of doping. Under the IOC rules the whole team

is now disqualified. It is an outcome that Bolt

has feared for some time. I asked him about it back in August

in his hometown of Kingston. At any point I lose one of my gold

medals it would be devastating. After all this hard work,

that this would happen. But I think the sport is in a really

bad place right now and the only It must be hard, as well,

because the triple triple Sadly, while Usain Bolt

stood clean, his rivals Justin Gatlin has been banned twice

for failing drugs tests. Tyson Gay has tested positive

for an anabolic steroid. And his fellow Jamaican Asafa Powell

has served a six-month ban. Today, Nesta Carter was found

to have taken the banned You can't rerun the race,

you can't get those medals back. And in the case of Bolt,

after what we saw in Rio, we now know that that was his last

Olympic Games, so it has gone from those nine medals, that

were unbelievable, to eight medals. But that is still unbelievable,

what he achieved in his career. He will now have to hand back one

of his precious medals, but he will still retire

with his legacy intact. It's been a mixture of weather today

but across the board called. This beautiful picture was sent in from

Cornwall. I'd like to be there rather than under the foggy skies

we've seen in the south-east of England today. This was Kettering in

Northamptonshire. You can see where we've had cloud and where sunshine.

This evening, there could well be some fog around. The wind lifts it

onto the hills overnight. There could be some will fog. The wind

will prevent a frost in most places tonight but cold air is still coming

in. Frost quite widely in Wales and the Glens of Scotland. With thicker

cloud and some drizzle, it could be quite icy first thing in the

morning. Once again, ice on untreated roads and pavements. Fog

sitting on the hills through tomorrow. But into the Peak

District. Brighter across Scotland with some sunshine coming through

here. A little cloudy across Northern Ireland. That wind really

has a difference. It will pull in dry air for the South tomorrow

afternoon. Temperatures will only get to 4 degrees. Add on the wind

and this is how it will feel. A change in the wind direction on

Friday. Not quite so cold. Some showers coming into the western side

of the country. Still feeling awfully cold.

Before we go - a look at what's coming up on the BBC News at Ten -

we will have a special report on the increase in knife

Scare tactics. Bigger the better. When did you start carrying knives?

12. Abuse. Torture. My life just stopped that day.