12/02/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten.

More pressure on Oxfam

as the Charity Commission launches

a statutory inquiry into claims

of sexual misconduct.

The claims relate to some relief

workers in Haiti in 2011

amid concerns that Oxfam did not

fully disclose all that it knew.

There were a lot of rumours

on the ground about management

and leaders exploiting the locals -

sexually and in other ways.

Oxfam's deputy chief

executive has resigned,

saying she's ashamed

of what happened, as the charity

insisted things had

changed since 2011.

We apologise to the British public

and to the Haitian public.

Secondly, we've made major steps

to improve since 2011.

We'll have the latest on the move

by the Charity Commission

and what it could mean for Oxfam.

Also tonight.

Three Britons killed

in a helicopter crash

in the Grand Canyon have been named.

Another three Britons and the pilot

are being treated for injuries.

Despite a visit by the Prime

Minister and the Taoiseach, still no

agreement in Belfast on restoring

the devolved government

at Stormont.

A special report on the people,

including thousands of children,

fleeing the violence

in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

It's a perilous journey from

the Congolese border to the

Ugandan side.

Some of these people

are using vessels that are not very

safe and in some cases

the lake is rough.

And, Team GB's Aimee Fuller feels

the force of the weather

at the Winter Olympics in South

Korea.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News,

could Chelsea end their

two-game losing streak

in the Premier League with a win

against bottom club West Brom?

Good evening.

Within the past few hours,

the Charity Commission has launched

a statutory inquiry into Oxfam,

citing concerns that the charity

might not have fully

and frankly disclosed,

all the details about some

of its workers in Haiti in 2011.

Earlier today, Oxfam's deputy

chief executive resigned

following allegations

of sexual misconduct

involving some of its staff.

Penny Lawrence said she took

full responsibility,

and said she was ashamed this had

happened on her watch.

Our special correspondent

Lucy Manning reports.

Haiti's red light district.

Prostitution is illegal here,

but that didn't stop

some of Oxfam's aid workers.

The charity now admitting it knew -

knew about concerns about its team

and prostitutes, not just

in Haiti, but also in Chad,

and that nothing was done.

Widza Bryant worked in human

resources in Haiti for Oxfam

from 2009 for three years.

She says she flagged

concerns and was ignored.

There was a lot of rumours

on the ground about management

and leaders exploiting the locals,

sexually and in other ways, to get

jobs, and to have good standing.

So these were ongoing rumours that

would come to me through the drivers

and other employees.

So, on many occasions, I would share

those rumours with my boss.

The blame now stretching almost

to the top of Oxfam.

The charity's deputy

chief executive, Penny

Lawrence, now resigning.

She was programme director

when the prostitution allegations

were made and ignored.

She said, "I am ashamed this

happened on my watch and I take

full responsibility."

The actions of senior Oxfam employee

Roland van Hauwermeiren in Chad

and Haiti never properly dealt with.

At that time, the use of prostitutes

was not explicitly contrary

to Oxfam's code of conduct.

Bringing Oxfam into disrepute,

in any way abusing people who may

have been beneficiaries,

of course, was.

So there was an exploration of how

should the organisation respond?

But we didn't act on it and,

more significantly, we allowed him -

because there weren't formal

complaints - we allowed him

to move onto another post,

and that was our failing.

So will there need to

be more resignations?

I still feel we have

not done enough.

If it is felt by those

who employ me that I am not doing

that forcefully enough,

or well enough, they will have my

resignation straightaway.

Oxfam's bosses were called

in to meet ministers this

morning with question marks

about the £32 million the charity

receives from the Government.

Ministers here at the Department

for International Development know

British charities do good work

overseas, but with Oxfam only

telling half the story

about what happened with its staff

in Haiti, it has now put pressure

on the entire charity sector.

Oxfam says it investigated 87

allegations of sexual abuse

or exploitation last year.

Save the Children says it looked

into 31 cases of sexual misconduct,

where half the people were fired.

And Christian Aid said

it had two cases -

one was reported to the Charity

Commission.

I don't think anybody

can say in good faith,

operating in an environment

like ours, that we can eliminate all

risk as a matter of 100% certainty.

What we can do is put in our 100%

best effort to keep these people out

of our organisation.

The Charity Commission says it

receives reports about 1,000

incidents involving safeguarding

from charities every year.

But a culture of cover-up not

the image charities want.

Lucy Manning, BBC News.

Let's get some reaction in Haiti

today and talk to our correspondent

Will Grant who is in Port-au-Prince.

Wahab Keith Hill been saying in

response to Oxfam's difficulties?

I've been speaking to some senior

government sources in Haiti and they

say they are going to watch an

investigation into the allegations

of abuse at Oxfam. They say they

fear it could be the tip of the

iceberg and they want to widen that

investigation into other aid

agencies operating in the country.

Of course, it's important to

remember the context when it comes

to Haiti, this is one of the poorest

countries in the world, the poorest

country in the Americas, and as such

is very reliant on foreign aid. If

Oxfam would leave altogether it

would have an impact on a lot of the

poorer small communities where Oxfam

operates. That said, a lot of the

Haitians I been speaking to have

expressed real anger at what they

see as impunity by international aid

agencies for the way they have

behaved here and it is clearly going

to take a long time for Oxfam to

recover its reputation in Haiti.

Many thanks for the latest, Will

Grant in Haiti with some of the

latest thoughts.

Our special correspondent

Lucy Manning is here.

As I was saying earlier, more

pressure on Oxfam tonight.

The

problems are mounting for Oxfam, the

Charity Commission that regulate

charities announced it is going to

investigate Oxfam to see whether

they did hand over all of the

information about these allegations

about the use of prostitutes in

Haiti in 2011. The European

Commission which funds Oxfam to the

tune of around £30 million a year

said that could stop if standards

are not met, and a difficult meeting

between the charities and the

Secretary of State Penny Mordaunt on

Oxfam apologising unreservedly,

saying it felt disgraced and shame

about what happened. She has given

it the rest of this week to sort out

how it will deal with any further

allegations. And scrutiny now for

all charities because she's written

to them all, all of those working

overseas, saying they need to make

sure that any allegations of sexual

abuse have been passed to the

relevant authorities. No doubt about

this, this is a real shock wave for

the charity sector.

Lucy Manning,

thank you, our special

correspondent.

Relatives and friends

have been paying tribute

to three British tourists,

who were killed in a helicopter

crash in the Grand

Canyon at the weekend.

Becky Dobson and brothers

Stuart and Jason Hill,

all originally from Worthing

in West Sussex, died on Saturday.

Four survivors of the crash had

to wait several hours to be

rescued, as our correspondent

James Cook reports.

It's just before sunset

in the Grand Canyon

and a helicopter is ablaze.

On board were three British

couples and a local pilot.

Two men in white shirts

approach one of the

survivors, seen on the bottom

right of the picture.

Three of the tourists

died at the scene.

They were Stuart Hill, a Mercedes

salesman in Brighton who was

celebrating his 30th birthday.

And his girlfriend, Becky Dobson,

a receptionist from Worthing in

West Sussex.

She was 27.

Stuart's brother Jason Hill,

a lawyer near Milton

Keynes, also died.

He was 32 years old.

His girlfriend survived.

Also on board were newlyweds seen

here on the left at their wedding

with Becky and Stuart. The friends

had been saving up for their holiday

for a year, all three who died had

attended Worthing College.

As

excellent night of the college they

have gone on with their passions to

enjoy their young lives, going

through their careers as they have

wanted and to get to the stage in

their life and die so young is just

devastating.

In the minutes after

the crash passengers and crew from

other helicopters in the area rushed

to help. They included a nurse,

Katie Kineally.

When we finally got

some medical equipment down there I

started helping putting in IV lines

and another crew came with pain

medication so I started

administering that, gave them fluids

to help prevent them going to shock,

kept a really close eye and did what

I could do.

The helicopter took off

from Boulder city in Nevada

travelling through the Grand Canyon

and crashed in the remote

quartermaster Canyon in Arizona at

5:20pm. A dust storm at rescue teams

had to walk to the scene. It was

2am, nearly nine hours later before

the survivors were flown to

hospital.

We were not able to

extract everybody from the crash

site until 2am this morning. High

winds, brownout dust conditions,

rugged terrain, and as you know,

when you fly in treacherous

conditions like this you have to

have special training and special

people.

The Grand Canyon is

attractive because it is untamed,

drawing visitors from all over the

world. The tour company Papillion

Airways flies around 600,000 people

a year, this crash involving a Euro

copter EC 130 is the firm's second

fiddle accident here. The three

British survivors and pilot are

being treated at this hospital in

Las Vegas, all four said to be in

critical condition. Investigators

are at the hospital and I just spoke

to them. They have made contact with

all four survivors and they are

preparing to take statements. As for

the families, they have been being

done at paying tribute, the father

of Becky Dobson said his daughter

was full of life and always happy,

and the father of Stuart and Jason

Hill said his sons loved one another

and were very close and took some

small comfort from knowing that they

died together. James, many thanks

for the latest in Las Vegas, James

Cook, our correspondent.

In South Africa, leaders

of the ruling party, the ANC,

have been meeting to decide the fate

of President Jacob Zuma.

He's been resisting

calls to stand down

amid allegations of corruption.

But over the weekend the party's

new leader, Cyril Ramaphosa,

said the question of his position

would be finalised today.

Our Africa editor Fergal

Keane is in Pretoria.

Has it been finalised?

There is a

sense of high political drama

tonight here, reliable sources at

that meeting are saying that

President Zuma has been given 48

hours to resign. Just about an hour

ago, the ANC President Cyril

Ramaphosa left here in a convoy and

apparently went to the residence of

President Zuma to deliver that

message. Within the last few minutes

he has returned, possibly with a

response. Now, if President Zuma

agrees to resign there should be a

relatively calm, smooth transition.

But if he says no, the ANC is faced

with the possibility of either

having to move a motion of

no-confidence against him in

parliament, or impeach him. That

would risk splitting apart Africa's

oldest liberation movement and into

this country a new element of

instability. We are waiting here. It

could go on for more hours. They

have already been talking for ten

hours but there is a sense that

momentous decisions are on the way.

Many thanks for the update in

Pretoria, Fergal Keane, our Africa

editor.

A brief look at some of the day's

other other news stories.

London City Airport remains closed,

after an unexploded bomb

from the Second World War was found

in the River Thames,

not far from the runway.

It was discovered in the early

hours of Sunday morning

forcing the evacuation

of the neighbouring area.

Work to dispose of the device should

be completed by tomorrow.

Barclays Bank has been fined

by the Serious Fraud Office

in relation to a £2.2 billion loan,

provided to the state

of Qatar in 2008.

The bank has been accused

of unlawful financial assistance,

which is banned in the UK.

Its parent company Barclays

was charged with the same

A government report suggests

politicians and industry leaders

have exaggerated the potential

of fracking for gas in the UK.

The industry said a fracking

boom would see 4,000

wells drilled by 2032.

But a newly-released document

predicts fewer than 200 wells

will be constructed

in the next seven years.

British tourists will be

able to resume package

holidays to Tunisia

from tomorrow for the first time

since a terror attack claimed

the lives of 38 people

at a beach resort in 2015.

The first fully booked flights

from Manchester and Birmingham

will be operated by Thomas Cook.

Our security correspondent

Frank Gardner has just

returned from Tunisia,

with this exclusive report.

Tunis by night, and a National Guard

unit prepares to raid

a suspected terrorist hideout.

Since two devastating attacks

in 2015, this country has found

-- vowed to stamp out terrorism

and make Tunisia safe for tourists.

Well, they've just gone

into a house here.

We can hear some shouts.

We're in a tiny little backstreet,

and they're looking for members

of an Isis cell that has been

in Libya, they suspect, so the whole

street is flooded with these armed

National Guard soldiers.

Three years ago, on this beach

near Sousse, an Isis gunman

shot dead 38 people,

30 of them British.

Now, Tunisia is getting training

from Royal Navy instructors

in maritime security,

while Met Police detectives have

been training up hotel staff.

At four key airports,

British aviation experts have

installed new screening equipment.

So I asked Britain's ambassador,

how safe is it now?

Well, no country is 100% safe,

as we saw with the tragic attacks

in London and Manchester last year.

But it is safer here

than it was in 2015,

because the Tunisians'

capability has improved.

In the resort town of Hammamet,

where Thomas Cook is taking

the first returning British

tourists, I asked the hotel manager

what precautions he's taking.

We have around 60 cameras

all around the hotel.

The exterior cameras

are all monitored 24 hours

by persons behind the screens.

But Tunisia sits in

a dangerous neighbourhood.

Across this border, Libya

is in chaos, and Isis has bases.

The Manchester bomber trained in

Libya, and so did the Sousse gunman.

Back in the capital Tunis,

the night raid yields results.

Suspects are arrested

and will now face trial.

Tunisia has made huge

progress against terrorism,

but if its tourist industry

is to recover fully,

it will need to stay vigilant.

Frank Gardner, BBC News, Tunisia.

The Prime Minister says there is the

basis of an agreement to restore

power-sharing in Northern Ireland

soon. She and the Taoiseach held

talks at Stormont in an attempt to

end the deadlock over key issues

including the status of the Irish

language. Our island correspondent

has the latest. The Prime Minister

began her visit to Belfast at a

place that was recently the seed of

an unexpected victory. Hundreds of

jobs had been under threat at the

aircraft manufacturer Bombardier.

They are safe now after winning a

trade dispute against Boeing in the

US. Theresa May came to Northern

Ireland looking for another win.

Talks to restore Stormont are at a

critical stage.

I have urged the

parties to make the final push to

see if we can get an executive up

and running. I believe there is the

basis of an agreement and it should

be possible to see an executive in

Northern Ireland very soon.

She was

joined by the Taoiseach, who shares

her optimism.

The differences that

exist between DUP and Sinn Fein are

not insurmountable and we are

hopeful they will come to agreement

this week.

The main sticking point

has been whether there should be a

new law to protect and promote the

Irish language. For speakers, Irish

is about identity and culture and

history and they believe it needs

legal recognition.

It needs equality

and to be on the same level of the

languages in Scotland and Wales. It

needs to be on an equal footing.

In

unionist areas there is suspicion

and even hostility towards the idea.

Here on the Shankill Road in west

Belfast, people are strongly

opposed.

This is a British country,

not an Irish country.

I think it is

terrible. The Irish language has

been a sensitive and symbolic issue

in this long political crisis but

there are other differences between

the parties, notably Sinn Fein want

to legalise same-sex marriage and

the DUP do not. There are

disagreements over how the unsolved

killings from the troubles should be

investigated. The Irish border is a

significant matter in the Brexit

negotiations, which is one reason

parties say they want devolution

back.

It is about finding an

accommodation that recognises the

need to respect all languages and

cultures in Northern Ireland.

The

issues have been difficult but they

were never beyond resolution. What

we want is to finalise a deal.

Theresa May left with the Stormont

situation still unresolved but the

mood improved. Events in the next

few days will determine whether

power-sharing returns.

The United Nations says

it is gravely concerned

about the escalating violence

in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

with thousands fleeing the northeast

of the country, because of

the continuing conflict

between ethnic groups.

The humanitarian situation

across the country has drastically

worsened over the past year -

in total, some five million people

have been displaced.

Fighting has flared up

across three provinces,

the latest in Ituri,

where more than 20,000 people have

fled into neighbouring

Uganda since Friday.

Our deputy Africa editor Anne Soy

sent this special report, which does

contain some distressing images.

This shore has become a safe haven.

Thousands of Congolese cross

Lake Albert every day,

forced to run from ethnic violence.

They carry what they can.

More than half of those

fleeing are children.

It is a perilous journey

from the Congolese border

to the Ugandan side.

Some of these people

are using vessels that are not

very safe, and in some

cases, the lake is rough.

We have heard reports of vessels

like this one capsizing.

But desperate refugees

have little choice.

They either risk being

attacked and killed at home

or dying in the water.

People on this canoe almost made it.

It sank just before

it reached the shore.

Four of those on board drowned.

The body of this three year

old was later washed up on shore.

Only his father survived.

TRANSLATION:

I was travelling

with my brother, my son

and two of people.

I swam to the shore after heavy

winds overturned our canoe.

The pain of losing an only child.

His mother came on a different boat.

She was waiting to

receive him here, alive.

47-year-old Emile Nguzuma

says his family hid in the bush

when their village was attacked.

When they came out, he found four

of his children had been butchered.

Fearing further attacks,

he took the remaining

eight children and fled.

TRANSLATION:

We could not bury them.

The enemy doesn't like

us burying our dead.

They chop them up.

You cannot even recognise them.

I am sad.

My heart is troubled.

I don't know what we

did to wrong them.

Many here have harrowing stories.

This man tells me 16 members

of his extended family were killed.

The death toll from the clashes

across the border is still unknown.

This is the largest refugee flight

from DRC's Ituri area since the last

ethnic massacre nearly 20 years ago.

More than 60,000 people

were killed then.

Conflict has kept these residents

of one of the eastern region poor,

and the current flare-up has now

given them a deeper

into destitution.

Aid organisations are scrambling

to deal with the influx.

What are the tags for?

To make sure that we have accurate

numbers in relation to how many

people come through.

Because we move people so quickly,

we don't want to lose them,

and this way we also don't want

people joining on.

Right.

From the testimonies we have had,

there are many more Congolese

gathered on the other side

of the border, so it is expected

in the coming days, refugees

will continue to arrive

here in large numbers.

Here they hope for a new beginning.

For some, like this mother of three,

this is now their new home.

Her country of birth

robbed her of her husband.

She has vowed never to go back.

The minister in charge

of persuading more couples

to share their parental leave has

revealed he's not allowed

to take part in the scheme.

The business minister

Andrew Griffiths,

who is due to become a father

in April, said that as an office

holder rather than an employee,

he was not eligible.

His comments were made

as the government launched

a new publicity drive

to encourage a higher take-up

of shared parental leave,

which currently stands

at an estimated 2%,

as our correspondent

Elaine Dunkley reports.

Charlotte and David take it in terms

to read James a bedtime story. All

childcare is split 50-50 and so was

parental leave, with both deciding

to take six months off work.

I think

both of us felt it would be nice to

post have the opportunity to bond

with the baby in the first year. But

also for both of us to have the

chance to go back to work. So that

neither of us had to really choose

as much, make such a stark choice.

There is a strong thought that mums

stay at home and look after the

kids. I think we felt strongly that

was not what we wanted.

285,000

couples are eligible to take shared

parental leave every year and it

allows them to share 50 weeks of

leave and off that 50 they can be

paid for 37 weeks, but the

government estimates the take-up

could be as low as 2%. Andrew

Griffiths the Business Minister in

charge of the policy is due to be a

father in April but admitted he will

not be able to take advantage of the

scheme.

Ministers are not allowed to

take shared parental leave. I am now

I think going to be... It is because

I am an office holder, not an

employee you're not allowed?

Bat is

right.

How can you say it without

laughing? For most, a ministerial

role is not the issue. Cultural and

financial reasons play a part. It is

paid out £141 a week, roughly half

the national living wage so for many

families it is hard to think that

the mother will lose her wage for a

number of weeks and months but

particularly for the couples where

he is the higher wage earner it

becomes difficult to budget at that

level.

Sharing parental leave is a

personal and professional decision.

I was there for his important

milestones, crawling, walking, not

just hearing about him walking and

talking, I was the one he was

walking towards with his first

steps.

The government plans to spend

1.5 million to publicise the scheme

but it is the financial cost to

families that is the biggest

obstacle.

The singer Vic Damone has

died at the age of 89.

Best known for the hits

You're Breaking My Heart

and On the Street Where You Live,

he was part of the golden age

of singers who came to fame

after the Second World War,

including Frank Sinatra,

Tony Bennett and Dean Martin.

High winds have disrupted the Winter

Olympic Games in Pyeongchang,

where the final of the women's giant

slalom had to be postponed

and conditions in the women's

slopestyle final were described

as 'absolutely brutal'.

The Team GB snowboarder Aimee Fuller

was one of those whose

performance was affected -

she crashed on her final jump

and finished in 17th position.

From Pyeongchang, our

sports correspondent

Andy Swiss reports.

Just getting to the

start was a struggle.

Howling winds for the women's

snowboarders and soon

a blizzard of controversy.

Instead of postponing, they went

ahead, with calamitous results.

COMMENTATOR:

Oh, goodness me.

Quite how no one was injured,

especially Slovakia's Klaudia

Medlova, almost defied belief,

as one after another,

their hopes crash landed.

All of the 25 riders fell

at some point, including

Britain's Aimee Fuller.

The wind forced her to pull out

of a jump on her first run,

which meant on the second

it was all or nothing,

and, agonisingly, it was the latter.

Fuller finished 17th, but,

more importantly, intact.

The conditions, she said,

were simply brutal.

It felt like I had

a sailboat under my board.

The wind just ripped me sideways.

There was not a chance

I was going to land.

So, yeah, devastated.

Amidst the chaos, America's Jamie

Anderson kept her balance

and her Olympic title.

Organisers felt it had been safe

to start the final, but was it?

The coaches and judges,

they all have a chat together

and they make a decision

at the top of the slope.

And I wonder what went on in that

conversation, why somebody didn't

say, let's postpone this.

These biting winds have already

blown the schedule off course.

Today's women's giant slalom

had to be postponed,

and with more high winds forecast

tomorrow, there could

be more disruption.

For now, though, there will be

relief no one was badly hurt,

on a day when extreme sport

certainly lived up to its name.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Pyeongchang.

Early morning here and organisers

will keep their fingers crossed for

the weather. The wind is howling

already but the good news for

spectators is temperatures are

forecast to rise. Could this be the

day Team GB win their first medal?

Speed skater Elise Christie going

for gold in the 500 metres. Elise

Christie is a triple world champion

and probably Britain's best hope of

a medal at these games. She is

competing in three events and the

500 metres probably her least

favoured but she looked impressive

in qualifying

in qualifying where she set an

Olympic record. Four years ago in

Sochi she was disqualified for all

three events and she received death

threats and thought about quitting

but she is back with a real chance

of a gold medal. Team GB are

targeting their best ever Winter

Olympics performance between four

and ten medals. They have had a

disappointment so far, particularly

in snowboarding, but they will be

hopeful Elise Christie can finally

get them off the mark. Looking

forward to it. Thank you, Andy.

Newsnight is on BBC Two. Tonight is

stop and search the best way to deal

with knife crime? We hear from young

men on their experience with the

police and from the authorities.