14/02/2018 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten: Jacob Zuma steps

down as president of South Africa,

after persistent allegations

of fraud and corruption.

He addressed the nation a short

while ago, saying he wanted

above all to prevent any violent

protests, and to maintain

the unity of the ruling ANC.

I have therefore come

to the decision to resign

as President of the Republic

with immediate effect.

He's been head of state for nine

years, but he's been under mounting

pressure in the past year,

over allegations of wrongdoing.

We'll have the latest

from South Africa,

where a new president,

Cyril Ramophosa, will be formally

sworn in within 24 hours.

Also tonight...

In Florida, at least one person had

died and dozens injured,

in a gun attack at a high school.

20 months after the referendum,

Boris Johnson tries to reach out

to those still opposed to Brexit,

and says it's cause for hope

not fear.

It's not some great V-sign from the

cliffs of Dover, it is the

expression of a legitimate and

natural desire of self-government by

the people, for the people and of

the people.

Following the kidnap, rape

and murder of a 20 year-old woman,

her uncle is sent prison

for at least 40 years.

In Northern Ireland,

the DUP says there's no prospect

of a return to devolved government,

after the failure

of the latest talks.

And, at the Winter Olympics,

Team GB's use of technology

in the skeleton competition,

has finally been approved.

And coming up on Sportsday on BBC

News: Liverpool lay a marker

in the Champions League

with an impressive start

to their last 16 tie

against Porto in Portugal.

Good evening.

Jacob Zuma has resigned

as president of South Africa,

with immediate effect.

He made the announcement

in a televised address

a short while ago, bringing

to an end his turbulent

9 years in power.

Mr Zuma, who's faced persistent

allegations of corruption,

said he disagreed with the way

the ruling party, the ANC,

had demanded his resignation.

He'll be formally succeeded

by Cyril Ramaphosa, the new leader

of the ANC, tomorrow.

Our Africa editor Fergal

Keane has the latest.

A former prisoner on Robben Island

with Nelson Mandela, Jacob Zuma was

once head of ANC intelligence. A

backroom operator with a gift for

manoeuvring party enemies. He could

also present an affable and

apparently open face. I first

interviewed him nearly two decades

ago when, as deputy president, he

was encouraging South Africans to

use condoms to prevent the spread of

aids. Do you use a condom?

Yes, I

do.

But questions about his

character soon at

character soon at surface to. He was

accused of raping the HIV-positive

daughter of a friend. He did not

wear a condom. A populist, a crowd

pleaser, he appealed to the ANC

grassroots, and with their backing,

became party leader in 2009. Even

though he already faced serious

corruption charges. I interviewed

him again just as he was about to

become state president. A lot of

people think you are a crock.

people think you are a crock.

Is

that so? I want to see those people,

they must tell me!

Are you a crook?

Me? I don't know. I must learn what

a crook is.

It was his relationship

with this family, the Guptas, Indian

immigrants which forced the ANC

party to act. The Guptas are accused

of using the president to acquire

state assets worth millions of

pounds. So powerful, they are

alleged, they could hire and fire

cabinet ministers. Today they also

felt the pressure. This was a police

raid on their compound in

Johannesburg. Seemingly untouchable

until now, criminal charges may be

imminent. If ever you wanted proof

of the changed political

temperature, this was it. The police

seem at last to have found their

courage. This may be giving police

the address of another Gupta

property. People are angry. But it

is the fear of losing the support of

the black majority which has

prompted the ANC to act. Near

Pretoria, this man is an unemployed

driver who once thought Jacob Zuma

was the answer for South Africa's

problems. No more.

When Jacob Zuma

came to power I thought we would get

jobs and better conditions, but now,

now we are in trouble.

now we are in trouble.

Thank you.

As I was saying, Jacob Zuma, former

president now, made that

announcement in that televised

address to the South African nation

in the past couple of hours. He

spoke for about half an hour and it

seemed for quite a long time he

would not resign until the last

section of the address itself and

this is what he had to say.

No life should be lost in my name.

And also, the ANC should never be

divided in my name. I have therefore

come to the decision to resign as

president of the Republic with

immediate effect.

The statement

there at the end of the address by

Jacob Zuma. Let's go to Pretoria and

talk to our Africa editor Fergal

Keane. Let's talk about the end of

this very turbulent presidency and

what is now lying ahead for South

Africa?

Well, what a dramatic night.

We were standing out here, looking

at the sun going down over Pretoria

when we were summoned suddenly

inside. I was sitting yards away

from Jacob Zuma. For a long period

he went through very defensive

language we heard earlier in the day

saying essentially, I am the victim.

Then suddenly that moment of

resignation. I could see him

closely. There was a certain sort of

melancholy at the end. He stood and

waved at us and said we will meet

again and

moved on. But he will not be meeting

the press again, unless it is on the

steps of the courthouse. He is

facing multiple corruption charges.

Today, the big work begins for Cyril

Ramaphosa, the man who will take

over this country. He said he will

tackle the corruption which was

endemic under Jacob Zuma. Corruption

has caused so much poverty and

instability. He knows he has to act

quickly here.

Many thanks. Fergal

Keane with the latest in Pretoria

after the resignation of Jacob Zuma.

Well, another story developing

tonight which is a shooting. Reports

from Florida in the last half hour

says the shooting at a high school

has left a number of people dead and

dozens injured. Our North America

editor Jon Sopel is in Washington.

He is monitoring events for us. What

is the latest you have?

Let me start

with a statistic. This is the 19th

school shooting so far in 2018, we

are in the middle of February. The

president is monitoring by far the

worst shooting and yet again the

terrified pictures of children

running for their lives as an active

shooter is on school premises, and

running as fast as they can to try

to get to safety. We understand the

shooter himself is in custody. He is

believed to be an 18-year-old former

student of this school. He is now

under arrest. The authorities are

saying a number of fatalities and a

number of people have been injured.

Donald Trump has treated in the last

hour or so: Mike Prez and

condolences of the victims of the

terrible Florida shooting. No child,

parent or teacher should feel unsafe

in a school.

-- my prayers and condolences to the

family of the victims.

Is he going to change security? It

is hard to see how he will and it is

hard to see that the president will

come out and say he supports greater

gun control.

Thank you for that

update, Jon Sopel at the White

House.

Boris Johnson has urged his fellow

Brexiters not to "gloat"

about the UK's departure

from the EU, and he's appealed

for people to unite behind

the vision of an "outward-looking,

confident" UK outside

the European Union.

Mr Johnson also insisted

the referendum result

could not be reversed,

and he questioned the economic

benefits of staying in the single

market and customs union,

which the government

is committed to leave.

His speech was the first of a series

of speeches by ministers,

ahead of key talks with EU

negotiators next month,

as our political correspondent

Vicki Young reports.

We're on the road to Brexit.

But Cabinet ministers are still

arguing about which route to take.

Do we stay close to the European

Union and all its rules, or take off

in a completely different direction?

Many are anxious about

the journey ahead.

Including Liberal Democrats,

who laid on this less-than-friendly

welcome for the Foreign Secretary.

He is trying to reach out to soothe

concerns and convince them

that Brexit is grounds for much more

hope than fear.

It is not good enough for us now

to say to Remainers,

"you lost, get over it."

Because we must accept the vast

majority are actuated

by entirely noble sentiments.

Brexit is not about shutting

Britain off, he said,

it is about going global.

I absolutely refuse to accept

the suggestion that it is some

un-British spasm of bad manners.

It is not some great V sign

from the cliffs of Dover.

It is the expression

of a legitimate and natural desire

for self-government of the people,

by the people, for the people.

At times, this speech felt

like a return to the heat

of the referendum debate.

And Mr Johnson certainly has not

changed his mind about the need

to diverge from EU rules.

The British people should not have

new EU laws affecting their everyday

lives imposed from abroad

when they have no power to elect

or remove those who make those laws.

That would be intolerable,

it would be undemocratic,

and it would make it

all but impossible for us to do

serious free trade deals.

He did say he was happy

for Britain to remain subject

to EU law during a transmission

or implementation period.

That could start after March 2019

and last around two years.

As the face of the Leave campaign,

some question whether Boris Johnson

is the right person to try to heal

the divisions of Brexit.

But he acknowledges today that that

positive case for leaving

the EU still needs to be made and

says that he has to try to make it.

But what about the obstacles

that could lie ahead?

Conservative MPs still disagree.

Boris is really good

at the broad brush strokes.

But I think what is really needed

now are the details.

You know, we're just over 14

months away from the UK

leaving the European Union.

And details on things

like customs and borders,

how the really difficult

of the Irish border

is going to be delivered,

how EU citizens will be able

to stay here, the position

that they will be in -

all that is needed now.

We now have accept the fact we have

had the referendum, we not having a

second one, we are not being part of

the single market or the customs

union, we are taking back control,

and that's what this speech

was all about.

More flesh on the bones

is what critics want.

Downing Street insists they will get

that in the coming days

when the spotlight turns

to Theresa May and what is billed

as a significant speech on security.

Vicki Young, BBC News, Westminster.

Boris Johnson's doubts

about the economic benefits

of staying in the single market

were being expressed, as figures

showed the economy of the Eurozone

enjoyed its strongest period

of growth since 2007,

expanding by 2.5% last year.

The UK's economy is estimated

to have grown by 1.8%

over the same period.

Our economics editor Kamal Ahmed

is here to look at how the UK

economy compares to

that of the wider EU.

Boris Johnson spoke of a Britain no

longer lashed to the EU,

our biggest trading partner.

It is a partner that has

suffered economically.

If we go back to before

the financial crisis, EU growth

was pretty good, peaking at over 3%.

Then the financial crisis hit the

world economy, and EU growth

plunged, like much of the rest of

the world, into recession.

Then the EU was hit

by a second crisis -

the eurozone crisis -

and a second recession.

But - last year, a significant

change.

Economic reform and global growth

led to this rapid pick up, growth

that was epitomised by this man,

Emmanuel Macron, the president of

France and poster child of an

economically confident EU.

These figures are really good,

overall, and if we have a look

in particular at the French figures,

here we have, well, very good news.

We have a sign of improvement,

both on the domestic side

and on the external side.

First, on the external side,

for sure French growth is benefiting

from the firming in world growth,

and, in particular,

it is strongly benefiting

from the improvement,

the strengthening,

of Eurozone growth.

Now, over the last ten years,

the picture for Britain

has been different.

We suffered the same drop

in fortunes during the financial

crisis, but from 2012 onwards,

we were top of the economic league,

as the rest of the EU struggled.

Now, with Brexit uncertainty,

growth has slowed, just

as it is speeding up

across the Channel.

Had it not been for the strength

in European and global growth,

the economy would have performed

much worse than this.

I mean, in our view,

the growth would have been probably

around 0.5 percentage points less

without the strength

in European and global growth.

Nearly 50% of our exports go

to the EU, so a strong rest

of Europe matters to the UK.

As the government plans

the UK's exit from the EU,

the economic relationship

between Britain and the rest

of Europe will be a vital part

of those Brexit negotiations.

In Northern Ireland, the Democractic

Unionist Party says there's no

prospect of a deal to restore

Northern Ireland's devolved

Government, despite the intensive

negotiations of recent days.

The DUP leader Arlene Foster said

that one of the main stumbling

blocks was Sinn Fein's desire

for an Irish Language Act.

Our Ireland correspondent Chris Page

has the latest from Stormont.

A breakthrough seemed likely when

Theresa May visited Northern Ireland

on Monday. She and the Irish Prime

Minister said they were hopeful of a

deal between the parties at

Stormont. Now, the prospect.

Renewed power-sharing is

disappearing. Unionists accused

Republicans of asking for too much.

We have, as I've said before, run

out of road in respect of this

process. We're not going to be able

to get Executive up and running

because there is not a fair and

balanced package available.

Sinn

Fein say the DUP are to blame for

the collapse of the talks.

There was

a lot of expectation over the course

of the last number of days were

people were either briefed or were

discussing the fact that there

potentially was a deal on the table.

I'm saying confidently that we had

an accommodation with the DUP and

the DUP leadership have failed to

close on that accommodation.

The

most difficult disagreement to

resolve has been over the Irish

language. Nationalists want a new

law to protect and promote it.

Unionists want a wider piece of

legislation including cultural

elements which are more important to

them. Valentine's Day brought a

demonstration at Stormont about

another sticking point in the talks,

Sinn Fein want to legalise same-sex

marriage in Northern Ireland. The

DUP don't. There have been no

ministers in place here for more

than a year now. That means civil

servants have been running Northern

Ireland, but they don't have the

power to make any major decisions.

The Westminster government

acknowledges the uncertainty is

affecting public services and can

can't continue.

We need to consider

practical steps. In the continued

absence of an Executive other

challenging decisions will have to

be taken by the UK Government.

The

DUP have said ministers should be

appointed in London to take on

Stormont's powers. A fix for the

broken politics of this part of the

UK feels a lot further away tonight.

Chris Page, BBC News, Belfast.

A man has been jailed for life,

with a minimum term of 40 years,

after being found guilty

at the Old Bailey of kidnapping,

raping and murdering his niece

and the attempted murder

of a second woman.

The court had heard that

Mujahid Arshid of Kingston,

in south-west London,

had developed an obsession with this

20 year-old niece Celine Dookhran

and the surviving victim,

who cannot be identified.

Our home affairs correspondent,

June Kelly, reports.

Celine Dookhran was 20 years old,

she worked in a bank

and had a boyfriend.

She also had a jealous uncle,

who was a savage sexual predator,

he kidnapped Celine and then raped

and murdered her.

Mujahid Arshid also raped and tried

to kill another young woman.

As a rape survivor, his second

victim can't be identified.

Celine Dookhran's mother

and stepfather were in court

to see a man who'd married

into their family found guilty.

A police officer read

a statement on their behalf.

We are pleased with the verdict

and the sentence, but we would

like our final words to be

about our wonderful Celine.

We love you, we miss

you and we thank you for being

an amazing, brilliant,

funny, intelligent and caring

daughter, sister and

cousin and friend.

Arshid's blue pick-up

truck was caught on CCTV,

he was transporting a freezer,

which was part of his plot.

Two-days later he was back

in his truck and the

kidnapping was under way.

He had bundled his two victims,

bound and gagged, into the open boot

and covered them with a tarpaulin.

He checked it before he set off.

Arshid was a builder

and he brought his captives

to a then empty house he was working

on in Kingston,

in south-west London.

Once inside, one after another,

he forced the women

upstairs and raped them.

He killed his neice Celine

by cutting her throat with a knife

and stuffing her mouth with a sock.

He then locked her body

in the freezer he'd

installed two-days earlier.

When it came to the second victim,

he slashed her throat

and wrists and told her,

"You've got ten minutes to live."

Astonishingly, she survived.

Then, desperate to try to find

a way out, she convinced

Arshid that from here

they could run away together.

Arshid later went on the run and

headed for the port of Folkestone.

He checked into a hotel,

and this is where he was arrested.

It's emerged that down the years

opportunities were missed to stop

Mujahid Arshid's sexual offending.

It was in 2008 that he first

abused his surviving victim,

this went on for a year.

In 2011, she finally

told some of her family,

but her story wasn't accepted.

In 2013, Arshid was caught

in an online sting inviting

an undercover police officer to drug

and rape her.

The following year he was

interviewed by detectives,

prosecutors decided they couldn't

bring a case because the police

hadn't found key evidence.

Arshid's controlling

behaviour culminating

in the killing of Celine Dookhran.

Today her mother said her daughter

had fallen victim to "pure evil."

June Kelly, BBC News.

Oxfam's director in Asia has told

the BBC she is aware of past

cases of misconduct,

involving some of the charity's

workers in the Philippines,

Bangladesh and Nepal.

During the day, senior

Oxfam officials met

the Charity Commission,

which is investigating

the organisation's handling of abuse

claims against former staff

in Haiti, back in 2011.

Our correspondent,

Angus Crawford, has the latest.

A scandal made in the poverty

of Haiti's shanty towns,

where a small number of aid

workers became exploiters.

It continues to send shockwaves

through the entire sector.

And today, new revelations

from Oxfam about other

under reported cases

involving its workers.

There were cases in the Philippines.

There were also cases in Bangladesh.

There were whistleblowers coming

forward in Bangladesh,

as far as I know.

There was also a case

I think in Nepal.

Abusers exploit the chaos

and confusion of natural

disasters, like here in 2013,

during Typhoon Haiyan,

in the Philippines.

Lan Mercado says even if they are

caught and disciplined,

charities aren't warning each other

about unsuitable staff.

Not yet, but that's a practice

that we need to start because...

You know, the funny thing

about cases like this

is we always see them

as reputational risks, no.

But the way to manage reputational

risks is not to keep silent.

But in disaster zones, speed is key.

Charities scale up their efforts

within hours, employing

thousands of new staff,

operating in what can

be a lawless vacuum.

When the first crisis passes,

sometimes within days or weeks,

many move on to a new emergency,

and possibly a new employer.

So a problem for the whole sector,

but one the International

Development Secretary

wants tackling now.

Unless you create a culture that

prioritizes the safety of vulnerable

people and ensures victims

and whistleblowers can come

forward without fear,

we will not work with you.

And unless you report every serious

incident and allegation,

no matter how damaging

to your reputation,

we cannot be your partners.

She's looking at the possibility

of setting up a worldwide register

of aid workers and tomorrow meets

officers from the National Crime

Agency, which says it's

closely monitoring events.

This British charity today dismissed

a member of staff accused of sexual

misconduct while at Oxfam in Haiti

in 2011, something he failed to tell

them when he applied for the job.

And tonight, Oxfam has revealed that

last year it sacked its country

director in Haiti for mismanagement

and inappropriate behaviour.

Angus Crawford, BBC News.

There is a "pervasive lack of trust"

among people with disabilities

about the way that their welfare

claims are assessed, according

to a parliamentary committee.

A new report says assessment work

by private contractors is often

riddled with errors and that

claimants don't trust

assessors to record evidence

of their health accurately.

The Government says

the system works well

for the majority of claimants.

Our disability correspondent,

Nikki Fox, reports.

Anastasia is having a good day,

but most of the time she's

in constant pain and struggles

to leave the house.

The 24-year-old has

multiple sclerosis and used

to work full-time.

Now she relies on disability

benefits, but applying for those

benefits has taken its toll.

I don't know how other

people can cope with it.

Why do I feel so crushed

and not believed?

When she was assessed at home

by a healthcare professional

from a private company,

Anastasia told her assessor

she could only walk 20 meters.

But when the report came back,

it said she could walk further.

As a result, she lost

part of her benefits.

She didn't give me a physical

assessment, I was sat

down the entire time.

I was very, very cross about that.

The committee heard evidence

to suggest that Anastasia's

experience is far from a one-off.

One of the assessors wrote down

things which didn't even happen.

The lady who was assessing me

was very unprofessional.

I looked at it and I

just cried, basically.

They received an unprecedented

number of responses detailing

failings in the system.

Their report says, "the Government's

low bar for what is considered

acceptable leaves room

for assessments to be riddled

with obvious errors and omissions."

It also says assessors risk

being viewed as "at best,

lacking in competence and,

at worst, actively deceitful."

Some parents were asked

when exactly their children had

caught Down's Syndrome.

Another claimant said, "apparently,

I walk my dog daily,

which is baffling, because I can

barely walk and I don't have a dog."

Since 2013, more than 200,000 people

have appealed the outcome

of their assessment.

The committee hopes that

its recommendations will reduce

the need for so many

to have to appeal.

We've asked the Government to record

all these key assessments,

so there can't be a dispute of -

I said that.

No, you didn't.

Yes, you did.

There's a record there.

The Government says it's exploring

options to promote greater

transparency and the majority

of claimants are happy

with their overall experience.

But with current contracts up

for review and targets

being consistently missed ,it's

uncertain who will carry out these

will carry out these

assessments in the future.

Nikki Fox, BBC News.

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's main

opposition leader, has died.

The 65-year-old, a former

mine worker, had been

suffering from cancer.

Mr Tsvangirai's career was marked

by a long political struggle

against the former President,

Robert Mugabe, and he was beaten

and imprisonned many times.

The Movement for Democratic Change -

that he set up in 2000 -

said tonight that they had lost

an 'icon and fighter for democracy'.

Liverpool are one step closer

to the Champions League

quarter-finals after beating Porto

5-0 in Portugal in

their last 16 match.

Sadio Mane scored a hat-trick

and that means Jurgen Klopp's side

will take a comfortable lead back

to Anfield for the second leg.

In tonight's other tie,

current holders Real Madrid beat

Paris St Germain 3-1.

At the Winter Olympics

in South Korea, Team GB's use

of technology has been approved,

averting a dispute about

the legality of the kit used

in the skeleton competition.

Some opponents have complained

that the technology used in Team

GB's skinsuits gives them

an unfair advantage.

Our sports correspondent,

Andy Swiss, reports

now from Pyeongchang.

Sliding into controversy.

The skeleton is Britain's

winter sports speciality.

COMMENTATOR:

Lizzie Yarnold

is the Olympic champion!

But now the team's speed

is under scrutiny.

After being no more than solid this

season, here in Pyeongchang they're

suddenly looking spectacular.

Setting the pace in final training,

so why the improvement?

Well, they're wearing

brand-new skinsuits specially

designed for the Games.

And in the sport of the finest

margins, they've found an edge.

Well of course we push

the boundaries, it's

the Winter Olympic Games.

No one sleeps, every nation will be

getting the best kit that they can,

and we're exactly the same.

But the skinsuit, developed

by scientists in Northampton

and which has special drag-resistant

ridges, has raised eyebrows.

The rules stipulate no

aerodynamic elements

can be attached to kit,

and some are questioning

its legality.

I was notified this morning

about the speedsuits.

So, yeah, that's interesting.

I'm just curious to

know if that is legal.

Do you think there's

a question there?

I do, yeah.

A frosty reception, then,

but tonight the controversial

skinsuit was cleared

by the authorities.

Well, when Britain's sliders

hurtle round this track

over the next few days,

they'll be hoping their new kit

could make that vital difference.

And British sport knows

all about making the most

of cutting-edge clothing.

Skinsuit technology has been a key

to British track cycling success

over the last decade,

and skeleton has also led the way.

COMMENTATOR:

Oh, yes!

Amy Williams is the queen of speed!

In 2010 there were questions

about Amy Williams' helmet

before she won gold.

For me, in Vancouver, we sent them

off to the jury months beforehand.

They got checked and

okayed by the jury.

So we knew 100% they were legal.

So I have no worries whatsoever.

I would just say, people just don't

want you winning, do they?

And winning is what Britain's done

now two Games running.

A hat-trick here, it

seems, would be a triumph

of technology as well as talent.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Pyeongchang.

Newsnight is coming up on BBC Two.

Here's Evan.

Tonight, we'll ask the DUP what next

for Northern Ireland after those

power-sharing talks collapse.

And, new trouble for Oxfam

as another big name ambassador

halts his association

with the charity.

Join me now on BBC Two.

That's Newsnight with Evan.

Here on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.