24/05/2016 BBC News at Ten

Birmingham Children's Services - once described as a national

disgrace - are to be taken over by a voluntary trust.

The department has been under the spotlight for nearly a decade,

following the deaths of several children being monitored

Birmingham City Council has a long history of failure, we all know

that, but the last two years we've been pushing away from that.

But it's a bad move by the city's leaders,

according to the man who was Birmingham's Children's

A trust will simply divert Birmingham's management and social

workers away from the job of continuing to improve services for

We'll have details of the new plan, which is meant to put social

Also tonight, a report from Fallujah,

where Iraqi troops are trying to retake the city from the forces

An exclusive report on the NHS doctor from Sheffield,

who's gone to join Islamic State in Syria.

The American comedian, Bill Cosby, WILL stand trial over an allegation

that he sexually assaulted a woman 12 years ago.

And the doping scandal involving Russian athletes is growing,

with more failing re-tests of samples going back eight years.

And coming up in Sportsday at 10.30pm on BBC News -

It took him five sets across two days, but Andy Murray

is into the second round at the French Open in Paris.

Birmingham City Council, the biggest local authority in the UK,

is to hand over control of its children's services

The department - once judged a national disgrace by inspectors -

has been in the spotlight for the best part of a decade,

following a series of scandals, including the deaths

The authority says that the new model offers

But some experts say it's a bad move which could possibly put

Our correspondent, Sian Lloyd, reports from Birmingham.

Vulnerable children failed by Birmingham Social Services,

including seven-year-old Khyra Ishaq, who was starved to death.

They were all known to social workers. Keegan Downer is the latest

child to have died. She suffered 153 injuries inflicted by her legal

guardian. The placement had been assessed by staff at Birmingham

Social Services. The Serious Case Review into her death will be the

28th to be held in Birmingham in the past decade. In future the job of

safeguarding children like Keegan will be overseen by a new

organisation. But for Darren Marr who got to know the toddler during

her short life, changes should have come sooner. I think it's too late.

I think that should have been done way before. No-one's really standing

up and having a responsibility for what failed. This social worker was

part of the team for Birmingham for many years. She wants to remain

anonymous, because she still works in social care elsewhere. I no

longer work at Birmingham, because I wasn't able to do any job properly

as a frontline social worker there. The case loads are too high. There's

not enough support for frontline staff. There's not enough resources

to properly support the children we work with. They're the same issues

repeatedly highlighted by Ofsted inspectors. The department's been in

special measures since 2009. Improvements have been made, but

today, the Department for Education said they hadn't gone far or fast

enough. The 700 social workers based at Birmingham City council were

informed by e-mail that in future a trust will be running Social

Services. We've obtained a copy of it. It was sent just before 9am this

morning, but after the story had broken on social media. The council

says now staff will be consulted about the proposed changes. It also

informed staff that today's announcement had been brought

forward in advance of a Channel 4 under cover documentary to be aired

on Thursday. The council stresses the decision to move Children's

Services to an external trust is voluntary. We've come a long way in

two years, but we haven't gone far enough. That's why we're looking at

the trust model, specifically, so we can provide the very best to the

children and the families that rely on us every day. Will this model

make the difference? Are you confident that vulnerable children

will be protected in Birmingham? I think there's some really exciting

opportunities with the trust model to make children safer in

Birmingham. Birmingham Council has resisted relinquishing control of

its Children's Services in the past. Some are questioning why the council

is opting for a voluntary trust now. When I left Birmingham after my

period of Children's Commissioner, we discussed the idea of a trust and

we abandoned that in order to let Birmingham complete the

implementation of their improvement plan. I can see no reason for

actually changing that direction. The council says it will still be

directly involved in protecting children in the city in the future.

It faces another Ofsted inspection next week. It's anticipated that the

new trust will have its work cut out.

With me now is our social affairs correspondent, Alison Holt.

We heard Lord Warner say clearly why he thought this wasn't a good move,

how controversial is it? We have seen trusts in operation in places

like Doncaster and Slough where there have been problems and we know

that this is a model which the Government is pointing Children's

Services to when they continue to fail. So it is a model that is being

used and we will see it used increasingly. There is an advantage

to putting a clean break in to give a fresh start to a troubled

department and that may be one of the reasons why Birmingham feels it

should go for it. It would allow experts to come in and just

concentrate on improving Children's Services rather than the noise that

can go on in a council administration. The disadvantages or

concerns is that it's another reorganisation. Many will say that

takes the eye off the ball of actually improving services on the

ground for children. There are still many questions which haven't been

answered about how this will work in Birmingham and in the end, the real

test is going to be whether or not it makes a genuine difference on the

ground for children who need protection. OK, Alison, once again,

thanks a lot. The group which calls itself

Islamic State is being targeted in two separate military operations

in Syria and in Iraq. Kurdish groups are advancing

on the IS stronghold of Raqqa in northern Syria,

and they're being backed In Iraq, the army is attacking

the city of Fallujah, where fears are growing

for tens of thousands Our correspondent, Jim Muir,

has been to the front line Pounding away at the self-styled

Islamic State in Fallujah. Day two of this offensive saw heavy

bombardments being meted out as ground forces pushed forward

towards the outskirts of the city. This footage, which the militants

said was filmed on the other side of the line, inside Fallujah,

shows their fighters defiantly The campaign against them

was the result of Thousands of army and police troops,

backed by Shia militias and Sunni tribal irregulars,

all massed against the militants. They come from Nasiriyah

or other cities in Baghdad The Shia militias, who are playing

a prominent back-up role, are in jubilant mood

after the initial advances. One of their leaders

was also upbeat. TRANSLATION: It is going according

to plan and we have In a few days, we expect to have

Fallujah completely surrounded, then we may pause a little

because of the real problem, the presence of so many civilians

in the town being used The frontline advance has seen

thousands of regular troops and militias all pushing

in towards the town being defended by, at most,

a few thousand militants, but also there are an estimated

50,000 civilians. You can see, behind that factory

there, smoke going up because there's a battle

going on there as these forces move in on Fallujah from

different directions. The next phase would be a major

assault on the town itself and that's when it's believed

that the civilians, if they cannot get out,

would be at most risk and they're rather hoping that IS will be under

such pressure that it will let It's not yet clear how much of

a fight the militants will put up. If they do fight to the death,

there are fears that not much As we've heard, the Syrian city

of Raqqa - home to thousands of Islamic State fighters -

is also being targeted. Does this suggest the group

is losing influence and territory? Our security correspondent,

Frank Gardner, has this assessment. An army on the move

in northern Syria. This is part of a 30,000 strong

Kurdish force, backed by the US, aiming to take back control of Raqqa

province from so-called Islamic The US is preparing air strikes

in support, Russia has offered its help and back here,

the man who controversially sent British forces into Iraq,

13 years ago, admitted today he'd underestimated the forces

unleashed by that invasion. Now he wants the West

to intervene in Syria. Air strikes are not

going to defeat Isis. They've got to be tackled

on the ground now. It doesn't mean to say that

it's our forces all the time. Our forces can be in support,

but do not be under any doubt at all, if you want to defeat these

people, you're going to have to go and wage a proper ground

war against them. Kurdish and Arab units

are being trained up. They fought well, when supported

by air strikes, but they lack the suicidal fanaticism

of the jihadists they're facing. The advance of US-backed forces

towards Raqqa is an important step, but for the moment they're only

in northern Raqqa province and at least 30 miles

away from the city. Raqqa is the de facto capital

of Islamic State, where hostages have been held

and atrocities carried out. Crowds have often been

ordered to attend public But now coalition leaflets have

been dropped on Raqqa, warning residents to leave,

an assault is coming and there are fears

about just how IS will react. Isis itself has, in effect,

been a reaction over the last two years to a political vacuum

in the region. So if they're pushed back too much,

their whole rational of creating a caliphate will actually incite

them further, I think, to try and attack targets

within Europe, outside the region. Taking on targets in the open

countryside is relatively easy Going into Raqqa itself

is a different matter. There'll be tunnels, booby traps,

die hard defenders and a terrified David Cameron has insisted the

Conservatives will come together after the EU referendum despite

divisions on the European questions and despite claims some Conservative

MPs might call a vote of no confidence after the referendum is

over. The Prime Minister rejected suggestions that he's engaged in a

campaign to frighten people into voting to remain in the EU. Our

deputy political editor has the latest the

Here it comes right on schedule, we've been told a one-way ticket out

Staying in might mean migrants in their millions.

Today's scary warning - vote to quit the EU and you'll pay

If we were to leave and the pound were to fall,

which is what most people expect, and what the Treasury forecast,

that would put up the cost of a typical holiday for a family

of four to a European destination by ?230.

No-one knows whether or for how long the pound might drop.

But now the campaigns are accusing each other of lying,

bare faced lying the In campaign said about a minister,

who claimed Britain couldn't stop Turkey joining the EU.

Do you stand by that accusation, and if you do, what do you say

as Prime Minister about a Government minister lying to the country

on a matter as serious as this European referendum?

I'm not accusing anybody of telling lies.

It's very important we get the facts straight.

He was avoiding the "L" word at all costs, calling a fellow

minister a liar, a step too far for the PM.

Not that that's held back the In campaign or his

Down the road it felt like it was already too late.

I think they're giving their version what have they think is best

There's probably never been so much apathy and cynicism about politics.

It's one reason why both sides have turned the volume up so high,

but bare-faced lying, even the accusation, is far rarer

than many people imagine, and now we're hearing that

It's potentially lethal for David Cameron's relations

One senior MP has told me he believes 50 colleagues are ready

to sign a demand for a vote of no confidence in their leader.

Nigel Farage, appealing to the converted maybe,

but also making them more likely to vote,

like scary claims about staying in and a little name calling.

This Prime Minister, three months ago, to have said

To now say if we leave it will cause World War Three,

It's not as if the hard sell's not hard enough.

Every week we send ?350 million to Brussels.

The Leave campaign's stoking fears of strain on the NHS.

For the Remain side, it's about putting

If we remain in Europe, there'll be more opportunities for

All too much for an old Cameron friend and former advisor,

What you're seeing is just silly point scoring and phony

figures being flung around, and what that does is not just make

it hard for people to really work out where they stand

on the EU referendum, it actually puts people off

Both sides now seem set on their course, and if David

Cameron regrets calling this referendum we won't know till he's

His danger now, that time may, just may, come sooner

The doping scandal involving Russian athletes is growing,

with the revelation that 14 of them have failed re-tests of samples

that were taken during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

The country's government admitted tonight that the news

It comes ahead of a crucial decision on Russia's

participation in the Rio Games, just three weeks away.

Our sports editor, Dan Roan, reports now from Moscow.

This week's modern Pentathlon World Championships here in Moscow,

just one of the many global events Russia plays host to.

But the action takes place against a backdrop

Today, it was revealed that 14 of 31 athletes from the 2008 Olympics,

who failed recent re-tests of their doping samples,

London 2012 Gold medallist, Anna Chicherova, among them.

This afternoon, during rare behind-the-scenes access, granted

to us by the Russian authorities, the Sports Minister tried

Almost half of that 31 being Russians, not good at all?

TRANSLATION: Certainly, it doesn't look good,

but take into account the fact that the Russian national team

is the second biggest after the USA and represented by many leaders

in their disciplines, so this doesn't give a objective

picture of the doping situation in Russia.

In 2014, a German documentary alleged that 99% of Russian

An independent commission then finding the country guilty

In November, Russia's athletes were banned

Tonight, our sport finds itself in a shameful situation.

But the crisis has now deepened, a former drugs testing chief

claiming he ran a doping conspiracy at the Sochi Winter Games in 2014.

This anonymous looking building is Moscow's

1,400 samples were allegedly destroyed here to cover up doping.

Its licence has been revoked, but allowing us in here

is all designed to show that Russia is cleaning up its act.

So this is it, the place where it all happened.

This lab, the epicentre of what's alleged to have been

a state-sponsored and sophisticated doping programme.

With a decision on Russia's participation in Rio looming

and less than a month away now, every fresh claim of wrong-doing

makes a humiliating exclusion from sport's flagship

You can see it from our statistics that we had 150

I think that we needed changes and we are open

It's wrong to have drug cheats anywhere near the Olympics.

If the way to stamp it out and stop it is to this year to remove

a country that has been proven to be doing what they're doing then,

in my opinion, that hes a the right way to go about it.

One of the country'ses most celebrated athletes say Russia must

be allowed to compete dm Rio. She told me a ban would be a violation

of her human rights. I feel very sad, disappointed and of course very

angry because all that is going on now, it's unfair. In my opinion,

it's totally unfair. Russia say it is will criminalise doping but with

results due of more re-tests of samples taken from London 2012 the

country could well lose more medals and any remain chance its athletes

have of competing on sport's grandest stage.

A BBC investigation has found that an NHS doctor from Sheffield has

joined the group which calls itself Islamic State.

Issam Abuanza left his family in the summer of 2014.

His sister has told the BBC his parents will never forgive him.

Abuanza's details are part of a set of IS registration documents,

completed by British recruits and seen by the BBC.

Our home affairs correspondent, Daniel Sandford, has the story.

Doctor Issam Abuanza, trained in the NHS, but seen

here in surgical clothes and carrying a handgun.

Not in Britain, but in Syria, working for so-called Islamic State.

Here he is last year, cradling a Kalashnikov

Issam Abuanza still uses Facebook from Syria.

In one post he wrote about this Jordanian air force pilot,

who was burnt to death by IS in a cage.

"I would have liked for them to burn him extrmely slowly

and I could treat him so we could torch him once more."

The Security Minister told me Issam Abuanza was an example

of IS recruiting highly skilled, intelligent people

We're taking down 1,800 of those kind of messages from the internet

every week and they do target vulnerable people.

They target children, they target young people,

but they also target professionals, too.

In 2013, just a year before heading to IS,

Issam Abuanza had filmed himself at Friday prayers in the doctor's

He worked for the NHS for seven years - in Wales, north-west

England and Yorkshire - and became a British citizen.

The last place Dr Abuanza lived in Britain was on this modern

His wife didn't want to give us an interview, but she told us

that he left about two years ago and that nobody, not even she,

As he crossed into IS territory he filled out one of these,

On it he wrote that he was a doctor and regarded himself as a soldier,

His is one of 80 forms filled out by IS fighters from Britain,

One third of them said they were university educated.

Doctor Abuanza has been denounced by his family.

His sister, Najla, told us: "I have no idea how he became

like this or who showed him the path to terror."

Asked about their parents, she said, "they will

A doctor, with a wife and two young daughters, it's not even clear

Daniel Sandford, BBC News, Sheffield.

A judge in Pennsylvania has ordered the comedian, Bill Cosby,

to stand trial over an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman

Our correspondent, Laura Bicker, is in Norristown.

What was the reason given by the judge, Laura, for proceeding with

this case? Well, she based her decision on police statements made

in 2005 by the alleged victim. She was given three unidentified blue

pills which made her dizzy, unable to stand or talk. She said she was

in and out of consciousness and that's when she alleges that Bill

Cosby molested her. His defence team say sexual contact did take place,

but they say it was consensual. Since this claim first came to light

a further 58 women have now come forward with similar allegations and

some may actually be called to court to give evidence when this goes to

trial. As for the entertainer himself, it's worth remembering he

was once known as America's Dad, the foremost entertainer in this

country. At 78, not only is he facing the inside of a court room,

he could face his last years behind bars if he's found guilty. Huw.

Laura, thanks very much for updating us. Laura Bicker there in

Pennsylvania. French police have raided the Paris

headquarters of the internet giant. Google have been raided by French

police and finance officials. The internet company is accused

of owing the French state more Google was co-operating

with the authorities. The social networking site,

Twitter, is to change some of its long-standing rules

to try to attract new users. Despite its high profile

and its many millions of users around the world the business

has been struggling. The man who sent out

the very first tweet, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey,

wants to simplify He's been speaking to our

North America technology It's the social network used by

everyone from battling politicians, celebrities and sports stars and

millions of the rest of us tweeting about our daily lives. The business

is doing badly. The man behind it is under pressure to put things right.

It will be simpler to use, especially around tweeting. We are

focussing our energy on making sure when people tweet it makes sense.

When Twitter hit the New York Stock Exchange in 2 o 013 they had a

valuation of $31 billion. Expectations were sky high. It's

quite hard to imagine a world without Twitter, over the past

couple of years the company has had a rough time. The value has dropped

massively. People are tweeting less, not enough people are signing up to

use the service. Twitter hopes making it easier to include more in

a single tweet will help as well as other changes to make things a

little more straight-forward for newcomers. Others say widespread

issues with bullying and trolling on the social network is what's really

holding it back. Many people's reluctance to be involved in Twitter

is still this sense in many case it is's not a nice place to be on the

internet. More so than other social networks, you are seeing abuse,

trolling? I don't think the negativity and the abuse and the

harassment is unique to Twitter. It's an industry-wide, internet-wide

issue that we all need to solve. We did make it a priority for the

company and making sure that people feel safe to express themselves.

Give them easy tools to mute and to block. It's not exactly difficult to

find Twitter users in a city like San Francisco, even here the social

network is perhaps falling behind. Do you use Twitter? No, I don't. Why

not? I just don't. . I have Facebook and Instagram. They are enough. It's

not so easy to use it as people expect. Twitter and Facebook, for

that matter, have been trending up in age. The average user of both of

those have been increasing in age. Younger people are flocking much

more readily to things like snap chat and Instagram. Twitter has had

a really hard time. He insists the latest tweaks to Twitter are just

the beginning and he has many more ideas to get people coming back to

the network. They have a fight on their hands if they are to excite a

whole new generation of social media fanatics.

Much of the debate in the EU referendum campaign centres

A new report by the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University

suggests that in 2014 there was an overall net benefit

The Remain campaign says this would be at risk if Britain left

the EU - a claim that is hotly disputed by those

Our Wales correspondent, Hywel Griffith, has been sampling

From verdant hills to slowly greening slag heaps,

a journey across the Heads of the Valleys Road reveals

a lot about Wales' past, but what about the future?

While it's argued Wales gets more out of the EU than it puts in,

the decision facing every voter is far from straight-forward.

Bridget Rowlings farms above the Swansea Valley.

Every year she receives thousands of pounds in subsidies via Brussels,

but she argues the money is really British and shouldn't go

So, obviously, the more area you've got, the bigger the payment is.

For Bridget, the EU also means a lot of rules and regulations.

She's not convinced farmers really benefit.

My payment is down considerably this year and, by 2019, it's going to be

So the amount of money that I'm receiving, if I'm in or out,

it's not going to have a significant impact upon me.

Head east and you come to some of the most deprived areas,

not just in Wales, but in the entire European Union.

Since the turn of the century, millions of pounds have come

via the EU to towns like Ebbw Vale, which has lost its steelworks.

There's signs of spending everywhere, but that doesn't mean

voters here are desperate to stay in.

The issues that people have been talking about,

when they're talking about the EU referendum, don't seem to be

They don't seem to really seem aware of the amount of money that Wales

They really seem to be focussing more British wide issues -

such as immigration, security and so on.

Only 2% of people here were born outside the UK but,

for the voters we spoke to, immigration is the key issue.

The main concerns are people taking jobs and coming in and,

with all the threats at the moment, it's worrying because you don't know

who's coming in and they're not being vetted, and stuff like that.

I think we're far too lenient and lax with immigration.

It probably has an impact but, obviously, you've got to have,

you know, immigration and, you know, people coming in.

You know, obviously, us going out to other parts

of the EU, you know, so we can get jobs.

Over in Abergavenny, at the end of the road, they're

The boss of this car parts company says he's already had customers,

like BMW and Audi in Germany, asking him what's going to happen,

just the uncertainty is bad for business.

I think it's the fear of the unknown.

There's a lot of ideas out there what could happen.

But the fact is, we're inside a marriage now

which is working and why get divorced when there's no need to?

Wales can't choose its own direction in this referendum, it's the UK

as a whole that will decide whether staying in or leaving

The actor, Burt Kwouk, who played Inspector Clouseau's manservant,

Cato, in the Pink Panther series, has died.

The actor was a martial arts expert and was famous for keeping

Peter Sellers' clueless detective on his toes by attacking him

Burt Kwouk also featured in three Bond films and television drama.

Tonight we have learnt that the vote Leave campaign has embarked on a new

strategy, changing their focus to getting out the core vote and making

immigration their main issue. Join me now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in

Scotland. Here, on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.