19/12/2017 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten, a counter-terror

operation under way

following an alleged plot to attack

during the Christmas holiday.

Four men were arrested in raids

early this morning in Derbyshire

and South Yorkshire with bomb

disposal officers at the scene.

They came banging on the door saying

you need to evacuate.

My grandad refused

to leave the house.

Still in there now,

the only one on the street.

They said it's for your own safety,

bomb disposal are here.

And later in the day a mosque

and community centre

were sealed off in Sheffield,

part of an extensive

operation by police.

We'll have more on the day's events

and the ongoing police operation.

Also tonight...

Facebook, Twitter and Google

are heavily criticised by MPs

about extremist content

on their platforms including death

threats against politicians.

A man who threw acid into a crowded

nightclub in east London has been

jailed for 20 years.

The scandal of contaminated blood

in the 1970s and 80s.

Families respond to the news that

inadequate research has been used

until very recently.

I started this as a young

woman and now I'm now

going towards retirement and there's

still no justice.

And life after 90, and why American

scientists predict that before long

new drugs will help delay

the way our bodies age.

And coming up on

Sportsday on BBC News,

could Manchester City

continue their unbeaten domestic run

and reach the semi-finals

of the League Cup with

victory over Leicester?

Good evening.

Police in Derbyshire

and South Yorkshire say

they've taken action

to prevent an alleged

Islamist terror plot that

could have been carried out

during the Christmas holiday.

Early this morning four men

were arrested on suspicion

of terror offences

and bomb disposal teams

were sent to the scene of one

raid in Chesterfield.

They were working with large numbers

of police as our correspondent

reports.

A street in central Sheffield

tonight, the second placed the Army

bomb disposal unit searched as part

of this terrorism investigation.

Early this morning two men

were arrested here in bedsits

adjoining a Muslim community centre.

Tonight the Muslim Association

of Britain said those detained had

no connection to the centre.

The other place the bomb squad

searched today was a property

on Sheffield Road in Chesterfield.

Counterterrorism officers arrested

a 31-year-old man here.

In the predawn darkness,

armed police were pictured guarding

the scene as the raid took place.

At the edge of the cordon,

people evacuated from their homes

could not believe what was happening

in their street.

They've come banging on the door

saying you need to evacuate.

My grandad refused to leave

the house, still in there now,

the only one on the street.

And they said it's for your own

safety, bomb disposal

are here and they made everyone else

leave apart from him.

How does it feel that this

is happening in your neighbourhood?

In the way it's a bit scary,

it's a bit weird, isn't it?

You know, you don't expect things

like this to happen in Chesterfield

or in a little area like this.

So it's a bit worrying in a way.

Arrests were made elsewhere too

as police took action

against an alleged Islamist terror

plot against the UK that could have

come to fruition over Christmas.

The most obvious activity

was in Chesterfield.

The other raids were about 15 miles

away around Sheffield.

As well as the two men arrested

next to the community

centre in Burngreave,

business raided in Stocksbridge

and another man was detained

in Meersbrook where local people

heard stun grenades being used.

We were woken up at around 5:30am

by a really, really loud bang

and initially we did think that

somebody had crashed

outside our house.

We were looking outside

and all we could see were police

officers dressed in riot gear

and they were storming a house

across the road from us.

Lots of running about and shouting.

These were coordinated

counterterrorism raids which may

have stopped a plot timed

to coincide with the

Christmas holidays.

Danny is in Burngreave

in Sheffield tonight.

As we were saying, this has been a

very extensive operation. What are

you being told about the state of

play tonight?

The four men who were

arrested now being questioned at a

police station in west Yorkshire,

aged between 22 and 41 and police

have up to 14 days under current

legislation to hold them, albeit

with oversight from the courts. The

BBC understands these arrests were

the result of intelligence gathered

by MI5 passed on to counterterrorism

officers and hence the raids this

morning. We also understand, people

thought they heard explosions when

the raids were taking place but it

was stun grenades being used as

police raided the addresses. The

timing is interesting, the week

before Christmas, although these are

only allegations with these men

under arrest on suspicion of

planning something. The police

presence here is set to be for a few

days and the cordons have reduced

the night, just this area sealed off

behind me in Sheffield and we

understand people in Chesterfield

had been allowed back into their

homes and in the last few minutes

the north-east counterterrorism unit

has given us an update, saying that

the searchers have been scaled down

for the night, there are no more

going on but they will resume here

at this community Centre in

Sheffield and also the address in

Sheffield Road in Chesterfield

tomorrow. There is a lot more to be

done on this investigation which

began early this morning.

Thank you

very much for the latest update.

Senior figures from Facebook,

Twitter and Google have been heavily

criticised by MPs

about extremist content

on their platforms

including death threats

against politicians.

Labour's Yvette Cooper,

chair of the home affairs

select committee,

accused the firms of

failing to remove abusive

material quickly enough.

Our media editor, Amol Rajan,

has more details.

Harmful content online takes

countless forms but not

all of them are illegal.

One kind is the hate speech

that attacks individuals

on the basis of attributes such

as disability or gender.

Internet safety campaigners met

at a conference in Geneva today.

One was Seyi Akiwowo,

herself a victim of abuse online.

If you stream music that

you haven't had permission for,

if you put up something like,

I don't know, Beyonce or Adele's

music, that gets taken down

within moments but when it comes

to someone saying, I'm

going to kill you, get lynched,

hope you die of a STD,

those are the words I've received,

you don't get much action

or reaction from these

Twitter companies.

Today MPs grilled tech companies

about this kind of abuse.

The committee chair said Twitter

still hadn't removed an offensive

tweet it was warned about in March.

That tweet is still

up on your platform.

Why is it?

I don't know the answer

to that question.

"I really do think that we

should all kill a Tory.

Just think of the benefits

if each family in the UK

were to kill just one Tory."

That's on Twitter, Miss McSweeney.

Your code says you will not

tolerate violent threats,

wishes for the physical harm,

death or disease of

individuals or groups.

How does that comply with your code?

We have 500 million tweets a day,

we have 330 million users.

Twitter is used in multiple,

multiple languages.

Another quite separate

form of harmful content

propagates extremism.

How easy is it to find this

extremist material online?

It's very easy indeed.

Here is effectively

far right material.

This campaigner, who works closely

with MPs, believes social media

platforms lure vulnerable adults

into the extremists' web.

Actually the material

clearly is not removed,

it is not illegal in the eyes

of social media providers.

But the other factor

is their algorithms are directing

individuals who may

have an aggressive world view

and the algorithms direct them

to join up with other groups

which may have similar content.

You are actively recommending

what is effectively racist material

into people's timelines.

I will ask our reviewers to look

at that and get back

to you with a good and solid

response to what our reaction is.

As I said, we are looking at how

we can scale those new policies

we have out across areas like hate

speech and racism.

Isn't the real truth

that your algorithms and the way

in which you want to attract people

to look at other linked

and connected things,

is that actually your algorithms

are doing that grooming

and that radicalisation?

But that's not how Facebook sees it.

But I do recognise we have a problem

which is a shared problem

with the police, with yourselves,

with civil society organisations

of how do we address that person

who may be going down a channel

which can lead to them

being radicalised?

MPs now have a personal stake

in the fight against

harmful content online.

They want tech giants to do more

but there is a danger that asking

them to censor content before

it is uploaded would

undermine the open web.

Most people can agree what harmful

content online is and everybody

agrees that there is too much of it

but nobody can agree

on what to do about it

and that is because the sheer volume

of content uploaded

onto the Internet every single day

is impossible to manage.

Ultimately this is probably a war

without end and our most effective

weapon in that war is not

going to be more human beings,

but smarter computers.

Amol Rajan, BBC News.

A man has been sentenced to 20 years

in prison for throwing acid

into the crowd at a packed nightclub

in east London.

Arthur Collins, who's 25,

squirted the liquid into a group

on the dance floor at the Mangle

nightclub in April last year.

He was convicted last month of five

counts of grievous bodily harm

and nine of assault,

as our correspondent

Tom Burridge reports.

Acid hurled across a

crowded dance floor.

Look closer on the CCTV and you can

see Arthur Collins' arm

throwing the liquid a second

and a third time.

Young people, like Lauren Trent,

suffered severe burns

and scars for life.

Today, she and other victims gave

vivid accounts outside court

of what it's like when acid

is thrown over your

skin and clothes.

I think that night I just

remembered the sheer panic.

The fear, the pain, more

importantly, the pain.

The smell, the smell

of the chemicals and your skin

blistering, and there's absolutely

nothing you can do about it.

I remember looking at the police

officers and the people around us

at the time when they arrived,

it was almost like disbelief that

something like this had ever

happened in a nightclub.

Collins caused severe

burns to 14 people.

His actions, in the Mangle

nightclub, left physical

and mental scars.

When you are out, like if just

a splash of somebody's

drink on your arm, like,

brings the worse things

through your head.

So it's just very hard to deal

with it and to just try and carry

on like normal because I know I'm

never going to be the same girl that

walked into Mangle that night,

but it's just trying to get as close

back to that as possible.

Earlier that evening,

Collins argued with two

of his victims, but the judge

said his indiscriminate attack,

which affected so many young

people, was unprovoked.

He sentenced him to 20 years.

It sends out the right message

that it will not be tolerated.

It will not be tolerated

by the criminal justice system.

Anyone carrying acid needs to look

at the offence and be aware that

a strong sentence will be passed.

Collins showed no remorse in court

for what was described

as a "despicable act."

One of his victims today

said her old life had been taken

from her on that night.

Tom Burridge, BBC News.

Government officials have been

using a discredited report

into the use of contaminated blood

products in the 1970s and 80s,

despite assurances that it would be

taken out of circulation.

The BBC has learned that the report,

issued in 2006, was still being

used earlier this year.

Theresa May announced in the summer

that there would be a thorough

inquiry into the scandal which saw

haemophiliacs and other patients

infected with HIV and hepatitis

C, causing the deaths

of around 2500 people.

Our health editor,

Hugh Pym, has the story.

Carol Grayson's husband,

Peter, was a haemophiliac.

Because he was given contaminated

blood products in the 1970s and 80s,

he developed HIV and hepatitis

and died at the age of 47.

The biggest hope that

the truth would come out...

Carol has campaigned for decades

for a full public enquiry

into the scandal which claimed 2500

lives and ruined thousands more.

At last that is about to happen.

She has uncovered hundreds

of documents which she says reveal

an official cover-up.

I think there are huge

implications for government.

The bottom line for government

is they don't want to pay

compensation because there are very

high numbers of people both

infected and affected

because you have the infected

haemophiliacs and you've got

the affected family members.

Blood products for haemophiliacs

and transfusions were

imported from the US.

Some were infected by donors

including prisoners.

In 2006 the government published

what was billed as a definitive

report but some original documents

had been destroyed so key

information was missing.

The BBC can reveal, however,

it was still in use this year.

In August, Sir Chris Wormald,

the top civil servant

at the Department of Health,

wrote that the report had not been

used by officials in recent years

and will not be used in the future

but the BBC has seen a letter,

written earlier this year

by a health minister,

which did make reference to the

report as an authoritative account.

It included a web link to it.

When Sir Chris was told

he apologised and said it

wouldn't happen again.

The former Lib Dem Minister

Baroness Featherstone,

who received the letters

from the civil servant,

said it was shocking that even this

year misleading information

was being put out.

He apologised because he himself had

been part of what the community has

suffered since day one.

Obfuscation, misuse of facts, lies,

rebuttals, refusing to acknowledge,

almost incapable of listening.

The Department of Health said

the independent enquiry

would ensure victims

and their families got answers.

For Carol, the long battle

with the authorities has come

at great personal cost.

At the end of the day it has

taken my family life away,

that is the reality.

I mean I started this

as a young woman.

I'm now going towards retirement

and there's still no justice.

Carol wants to pass

on all the documents

to the official inquiry.

She can only hope it gets

to the truth of what has been

described as the biggest disaster

in the history of the NHS.

Hugh Pym, BBC News.

In Washington, President Trump

is a step nearer to achieving his

first major legislative achievement

with his plans for radical tax

reform, which are being voted

on by both houses of Congress.

He's proposing tax cuts

for corporations and those

on middle and higher incomes.

Democrats describe it

as a Republican giveaway to big

business and the rich,

and say it would only add

to the national debt.

Live to Washington and our

North American editor, Jon Sopel.

Jon, how big a moment is this for

President Trump?

This is very big.

He failed on the legislation to

reform healthcare. This would be the

biggest change to America's tax

system in 30 years, since the Reagan

era. The House of Representatives,

they passed the measure. It will go

to the Senate for their approval

tonight. The House of

Representatives will have to do redo

the vote tomorrow morning because of

proceedual anomalies. It should give

Donald Trump that victory. A

pre-Christmas present for him that

he will no doubt enjoy. The

Democrats say this is just a tax

giveaway for the rich. It will line

the pockets of Republican donors and

swell the coffers of wealthy

corporations. To Republicans though

this is a sweeping reform that will

clear the tax code there will be a

turbo booster for economic growth

that will lead to more jobs and

higher wages. It's also going to see

a big change in terms of corporation

tax with the corporation tax rate

coming down from 35% to 21%. Why

does that matter? Because it will

mean American companies should be

much more competitive with British

and European companies were the

corporation tax rates are so much

lower. Opinion poll data suggests

that the Americans tend to believe

the Democrats over this tax reform,

that it's for the rich, it's not for

ordinary Americans. It may not be

for the Trump voters. That may give

Donald Trump a victory tomorrow, but

with consequences.

Jon, many thanks

once again. Jon Sopel for the vote

there later on in the Senate and

Capitol Hill.

A brief look at some

of the day's other news stories:

Local authorities in England will be

able to increase council tax

by just under 6% next year

without triggering

a local referendum.

Currently, a raise of 5% or more

must be put to local voters.

Ministers say it will ease

pressure on local services.

The Local Government Association

says councils will still be

at financial breaking point.

Elsewhere, the Home Office has

announced an extra £450 million

for police in England

and Wales next year,

but they say much of

that

would need to come from

a rise in council tax.

Police and Crime Commissioners

will be given powers to raise tax

by £12 per household.

The rest of the money would come

from central government.

Saudi Arabia says it has

intercepted a missile fired

towards the country's capital,

Riyadh.

The Houthi rebels in neighbouring

Yemen said they'd launched a rocket

that was aimed at a gathering

of senior figures in King Salman's

official residence.

A passenger train which crashed

in the state of Washington

was travelling at more than twice

the speed limit, according

to accident investigators.

The train veered off a bridge

onto a busy highway yesterday.

Three people died and more

than 70 were injured.

Two men who died following a fire

which destroyed a luxury hotel

on the banks of Loch Lomond have

been named as Simon Midgley

and Richard Dyson,

believed to be from London.

More than 60 firefighters fought

the blaze which started yesterday

and crews have remained there today.

Guests were led from the hotel

while emergency services

dealt with the fire.

The cause is still being

investigated as our correspondent,

Lorna Gordon, tells us.

On the secluded shores

of Loch Lomond, the burnt-out

remains of one of Scotland's

most prestigious hotels.

It was here that early yesterday

morning, while many of the 200

guests were still sleeping,

that fire took hold,

gutting the main building

and leading to the loss

of two lives.

The BBC understands that

Richard Dyson and Simon Midgley had

been staying at Cameron House

on a winter break.

Police have not confirmed

their identities, but tributes have

been paid to them on social media.

Firefighters arrived at the resort

nine minutes after the first

emergency call was received.

More than 60 of them were involved

in tackling the blaze.

Today some remained on site,

dampening it down.

The damage here is extensive.

The top two floors of the main

building look to be

completely burnt-out.

The priority for fire crews now

is to make this building safe.

Their initial investigation

is likely to fell focus on trying

to find out where the blaze began.

They'll be taking witness statements

from the guests and staff that

were at the property.

They will be looking to see

if there are CCTV cameras

about which may assist them

in narrowing the focus

of where the fire first started.

Dramatic footage, taken

at the height of the fire,

showed a recently married couple

being rescued from their second

floor room, their baby carried

out by a firefighter.

In a statement, the hotel

described this as a "heart

stopping moment" and called

the firefighters involved "heroes."

The swift actions of the emergency

services may have prevented further

loss of life in this fatal fire.

Lorna Gordon, BBC News, Loch Lomond.

The Metropolitan Police says it's

reviewing all of its current sex

offence investigations

after the collapse of a second

rape case in a week.

Scotland Yard says it wants officers

to ensure there has been full

disclosure of evidence.

The trial of Liam Allan

was halted last week after it

emerged that text messages

proving his innocence had not been

passed to the defence.

This afternoon, prosecutors said

they would end another rape case

because police provided them

with new information.

The future of the retailer

Toys R Us in the UK,

with more than 3,000 jobs,

is hanging in the balance

after the company was told

to allocate £9 million

to its pension fund.

The retailer has been ordered

to find the money by the end

of the week or its restructuring

plans will not be approved.

Our business correspondent,

Simon Gompertz, is at a Toys R Us

store in West London.

Simon, in your view, how precarious

is this company's future now?

Huw,

it's a desperate night for the 3,200

staff who work at Toys R Us because

if things stay as they are at the

moment, there is a real danger that

administrators will have to be

called in by the end of the week.

What's happened is that the Pension

Protection Fund, that's the body

which bails out the pension schemes

ofle troubled companies like this

one, is voting against a rescue plan

that Toys R Us is trying to put to

its creditors. Basically, Toys R Us

is going to slim down, this is one

of the stores that it would close

anyway, get support, financial

support, from creditors and soldier

on. But the Pension Protection Fund

has said that unless it stumps up

three years worth of pension

contributions in advance, it won't

get its support. Toys R Us has said

it hasn't got that money. Its US

parent hasn't got that money, it's

in financial trouble. That's putting

all 100 outlets in jeopardy. It's

not over yet because, if the company

can persuade the Pension Protection

Fund to change its mind by Thursday,

when the vote is finalised, there is

still hope, but tonight, which

should be the busiest, best time of

year for Toys R Us staff, is turning

into one of deep uncertainty.

Simon,

many thanks once again for updating

us on that. Simon Gompertz there for

us in West London.

The affordability of sanitary

products is a problem for thousands

of women across the United Kingdom.

Research by the charity

Plan International suggests that 1

in 10 girls and women in the UK,

aged between 14 and 21, can't afford

to pay for sanitary products.

Campaigners say it's keeping girls

out of school and stopping some

women from leaving their homes.

Now, the Scottish Government has

launched a pilot scheme in Aberdeen

to provide free sanitary products

to women on low incomes.

It's believed to be the world's

first government-backed scheme

to tackle the problem

as our Scotland editor,

Sarah Smith, explains now.

Trying to manage without adequate

sanitary protection can be

humiliating, many women don't

want to talk about it.

Trisha Chapman is remarkably frank

about the problems she's had.

I've seen myself for four days

using socks and tissue and a lot

of the time I wouldn't have tissue,

but I might have tissue

that I'd been using,

I put it in my underwear so it

wouldn't go on to my clothes.

I've seen myself wearing white

denims and I've been

actually saturated in blood.

That must be very embarrassing,

pretty distressing?

It's horrible, it's horrible,

knowing that you're bleeding

and there's nothing you can

do about it.

So if you haven't got

the protection you need,

does it mean that you end up stuck

in the house?

You don't want to go out in case

you have an accident outside?

I can't go out because when I bleed,

I bleed and I can't go

out anywhere, anywhere.

It's just a nightmare.

Tampax Compak regular...

This food bank in Aberdeen

is delivering towels and tampons

to those who need them funded

by the Scottish Government,

who want to explore

doing this nationwide.

This pilot scheme in Aberdeen

is trying to work out what's

the best way of giving women access

to sanitary products

that they cannot afford to buy.

What they've learnt so far

is just how many women have

been trying to manage

without these essential items.

We've had some girls that have come

in that say that they have to stay

off school because they don't have

pads or tampons and things.

They don't feel clean enough,

and things like that,

so they just stay at home rather

than going to school.

Even the volunteers here are women

who've themselves have had to do

without adequate monthly protection.

Have you had situations were you've

sent your daughter off to school

without proper sanitary products?

Never.

I would never ever

put her through that.

I mean, it's humiliating

enough for myself not

to have products but,

as I said, I would give up meals

for me so she could have

at least some protection.

You know we work with

the Simon Community,

we're the street team,

so it's a new initiative

that we're starting.

Some charities are trying to help,

street teams in Glasgow tell

homeless women how to access

free sanitary ware.

Trisha can help herself to whatever

she needs at this drop-in centre,

but these initiatives cannot reach

everyone in need.

The Scottish Government have

promised action next year,

campaigners are demanding the UK

Government follow their lead.

Sarah Smith, BBC News, Glasgow.

American scientists are predicting

that before long it

will be increasingly

normal to start a new career

in your 80s and to feel fit

and healthy in body and mind

and increasingly normal to take

on a new physical challenge

in your 90s, walking for miles

with no aches or pains.

The scientists are working on drugs

that could help delay

the way our bodies age,

meaning that we'll be able to do

much more for longer.

In the second of his reports

on so-called 'super-agers',

our medical correspondent,

Fergus Walsh, has been

to San Francisco and New York.

New York Public Library,

one of the city's grandest

buildings, which has one

of the city's oldest employees.

Hilda Jaffe is still going strong

at 95, so what's her

secret to a long life?

Pick your parents, it really is.

It's got to be genetic

because both my parents lived long.

Good morning, Fergus,

I'm glad you could meet me here

in this absolutely beautiful room.

Hilda gives tours of this historic

building when she's not

at the theatre, music concerts,

opera or her two book clubs.

I don't exercise,

I walk, I walk a lot.

If I had to give anybody advice

I would say, just keep moving.

Samples of Hilda's DNA are stored

in this freezer in the Bronx,

part of a study into longevity.

They found only one in 10,000 people

has protective superager genes,

but say drugs might be able to help

the rest of us.

Metformin is an old,

cheap diabetes drug,

but a major trial is planned to see

if it can delay ageing.

I can get you 690 of those for $60.

Scientists here believe it may slow

the biological processes that

trigger key diseases.

We have data in humans that

metformin would delay cardiovascular

disease and will delay diabetes

and is associated with less cancer,

and seems to delay Alzheimer

or cognitive decline in people.

Ageing is an inevitable process

which begins as we reach adulthood

and continues through the decades

as our muscles, bones

and organs gradually wear out.

This tai chi group in San Francisco

show that we can delay that decline,

it helps with balance,

core strength and provides

a social network.

It makes me feel so young,

I have so much fun.

I feel like I'm in the

kindergarten of the universe.

My mother lived to 103.

I don't desire to live that long,

but I want to be as healthy

as I can, as long as I can.

That's an ambition we can all share.

Imagine a future where it

didn't hurt to get old,

where our joints didn't wear out?

It would have a huge impact

on our quality of life as we age.

This biotech company in California

has developed a drug to counter

one of the key diseases

of ageing, osteoarthritis.

Human trials of this experimental

compound should begin next year.

This is an area of the cartilage

that is now diseased, you can see

the cartilage is damaged.

It works by clearing cells

which build up in the knee joint,

known as synthesis cells,

which may be a trigger

for the painful condition.

A single injection that we believe

and hope will alleviate their pain

and begin the restorative process

in their knee to perhaps at least

halt, regress and even completely

repair the knee in the end

is what our wildest

hopes would imagine.

That would mean more people

could age like Hilda,

free of aches and pains

and independent well into their 90s.

Fergus Walsh, BBC News, New York.

Newsnight is coming up

on BBC Two, here's Emily.

Tonight, we bring you

a broadcast world exclusive.

Zelda Perkins tried to bring

Harvey Weinstein to justice