23/02/2018 BBC News at Ten

The UN Security Council struggles

to agree on a ceasefire

as bombardment continues

of civilians trapped in Syria.

For the sixth day in a row Syrian

air strikes hit the rebel held

enclave of Eastern Ghouta.

Dozens are reported to have been

killed today, over 400 this week,

with medical supplies running out.

We'll bring you the latest

from the Security Council as world

leaders plea for the carnage

to be stopped.

Also tonight....

EU leaders meet without Theresa May

and warn the UK can't cherry

pick its terms and to think

otherwise is an illusion.

A review finds not just girls

but also vulnerable women

are being sexually abused

by grooming gangs in

the north east of England.

Donald Trump repeats his call

to the party faithful that teachers

should be armed in schools.

The beauty is it's concealed.

Nobody would ever see it

unless they needed it,

and a teacher would have shot

the hell out of him before

he knew what happened.

The family of two brothers,

aged six and two, killed in a hit

and run pay emotional tribute

to their two lovely, happy boys.

And in hiding and fear -

the man who revealed Russian doping

tells the BBC Russia shouldn't be

allowed at the closing

of the Winter Olympics.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News,

the third round of the Six Nations

began this evening, with France

and Italy playing outside of Paris

for the first time in their history.

Good evening.

Members of the UN Security Council

are still struggling to reach

agreement on the terms of a 30-day

humanitarian ceasefire in Syria.

Three times today an announcement

has been expected and then delayed.

There were more air strikes today

targeting the rebel-held

area of eastern Ghouta,

near Damascus, which has been under

heavy bombardment since Sunday.

More than 400 people are reported

to have been killed this week.

We'll go live to the UN in New York

for the latest in a moment,

but first our Middle East editor

Jeremy Bowen reports.

This is what happened in eastern

Ghouta as diplomacy studied. --

studied. The enclave was pounded.

400,000 people spend most of the day

underground. Above them, Russian

jets, with their Syrian allies, were

in action. As the Russians demanded

guarantees that rebel fighters would

respect any truce. In eastern

Ghouta, men from civil defence

risked their lives to rescue

civilians, even though the buildings

could collapse and the planes could

come back. In the dust and

confusion, these children were

separated from their parents. The

rescuers ignored the dangers. The EU

condemned what it called brutal

attacks. Diplomacy is supposed to

find words and deeds to stop this

happening. They were rushed into

underground hospitals. It is hard to

end a war, or even a battle, with

words. Especially when one side, in

Syria, the regime and its allies,

believes victory is close. In Syria,

military power, the capacity to

inflict pain and death, sets the

pace of events. Treating the wounded

is one-way for humanity to push

back. Another is to recreate small

pockets of normality, kindness and

decency. This girl is 11 and, like

most people in eastern Ghouta, has

been living in a basement. Mothers

and their children wait and hope.

TRANSLATION:

Has been two months

since I went to school and saw my

friends. We are here in the shelter

because of the bombing. The rockets

and missiles never end. I hope that

the war will stop so we can go home.

Among Syria's children, only

teenagers remember peace. The world

has failed a generation. These men

waited for a lull in the bombing to

try to bury a member of their

family. They ran out of time. In

Syria, nobody can rest in peace.

Jeremy Bowen, BBC News.

Joining me is Nick Bryant at the UN

in New York. The Security Council

members have been locked in talks

for hours now. We keep expecting an

announcement and not getting one. Is

there any sign of a breakthrough to

end this bloodshed?

All 15 members

of the Security Council have been

meeting behind closed doors in a

conference room close to where I'm

standing. In the last 15 seconds,

the Russian ambassador has walked

past, I asked if would be an

agreement, he shrugged his shoulders

and said we will see tomorrow. There

is not going to be a vote today.

Three votes have been postponed

already. The Russians have been

demanding changes to the draft

resolution. Many concessions had

been made. According to negotiators,

some of the problems are not over

the substance of the revolution,

they are over semantics, words,

granular details. What Western

diplomats have been saying all along

is that these are delaying tactics

by the Russians to give more time

for the Assad regime on the ground,

in eastern Ghouta, to continue its

military offensive. The United

Nations is not just a place where

diplomats meet. It is a place where

humanitarian and aid experts work.

They have watched this with great

and mounting frustration. They want

to be organising a monitoring

convoys to go into Ghouta, they want

to organise medical evacuations.

They are waiting for a green light

from the Security Council and, at

the moment, the Russians will not

give it. It sounds like we will have

to come back tomorrow to see if they

can reach an agreement.

Thank you.

The president of the European

Council has described as "pure

illusion" any attempt by Britain

to pick and choose the terms of its

future relationship with Europe.

Donald Tusk, speaking

at a summit of EU leaders not

attended by Britain,

said he hoped to get more clarity

on exactly what Britain's

proposals were when he meets

Theresa May next week.

From Brussels, Damian

Grammaticas reports.

France, Germany, Italy.

Europe's leaders all

in Brussels today, all

waiting to hear what the UK wants

from its future ties.

But if Theresa May's plan

is to seek special access

to the single market

for parts of the UK economy,

it was immediately rebuffed.

It is not an a la carte.

It is not possible to be aligned

with the European Union when it

suits and not when it doesn't.

That's not possible.

The EU doesn't yet know

what was decided by Mrs May

and her ministers at Chequers

yesterday but EU leaders have said

before and they said again today

that she cannot pick and choose only

the bits of the single

market she likes.

I am glad that the UK

Government seems to be moving

towards a more detailed position.

However, if the media

reports are correct,

I'm afraid that the UK position

today is based upon pure illusion.

It looks like the cake

philosophy is still alive.

But the UK's exit poses

problems for the EU, too.

Today its leaders were tackling

perhaps the thorniest issue of all,

the EU's looming budget problem.

When UK payments to the EU cease,

the EU will face a shortfall of more

than 10 billion euros a year,

at least 10% of its annual spending.

There's a hole in the budget,

so is your country prepared

to accept less and see

cuts to spending?

Well, you know, if you listen

to politicians there is usually

a hole in the budget but finally

things are financed.

So if we want to finance more,

we have to pay more.

It's very simple.

Is your country prepared

to pay more after Brexit?

No.

If I would keep my answer

short, I would say no.

So, hints at divisions

between EU countries,

and that might just give

the UK some leverage

in the negotiations to come.

And before he left the summit here

tonight, Donald Tusk said he would

be travelling to London on Thursday

next week to meet with Theresa May.

He said he is looking for more

detail on the UK position and he had

a warning. He said that even if the

UK is not ready, the EU will press

ahead with its own preparations for

the talks on the future

relationship. Fiona.

Thank you.

A review into sexual exploitation

in the north-east of England has

concluded it is likely that not just

girls but also vulnerable women

are being "extensively"

abused across the UK.

It follows Operation Sanctuary

in August last year,

which saw these 18 people jailed

for the sexual abuse of young women

and girls groomed in Newcastle.

A review of that case has concluded

a number of gangs have abused

more than 700 victims

across the Northumberland region.

From Newcastle, Fiona Trott reports.

A city under scrutiny.

On these streets, as many as 700

vulnerable girls and women

were sexually exploited.

Some were trafficked

from one house to another

and abused by several men.

Vanessa - not her real name -

was a victim of sexual exploitation.

To protect her identity,

we have used an actor's voice.

At first, nothing was expected.

I would just meet them

and sit and have a drink.

As time went on, I would have

to have sex with them.

When you're in care,

they say you need education.

But what they seem to forget is that

you can have the mental

intelligence, but if you're not

emotionally educated,

it's pointless.

That is why schools

like this are teaching

children about grooming.

Operation Sanctuary

happened on their doorstep.

In Newcastle, we have seen

people being arrested.

Generally, it tends to be men.

It makes you afraid to go

out in case it happened

to you or your friend.

Were you that worried?

Yeah.

Scared in case it happened to me

and you don't know who to turn to,

or who you could trust.

Both people in a relationship need

to be comfortable and you need to be

in a situation where they can

open up and listen.

Today's report says

it's not just children.

For the first time, a focus

on vulnerable adults and a warning

to other towns and cities

across the UK.

What I'd like the Government to do

is to have a really good look

at the learning that's now available

about abuse of adults

with vulnerabilities,

check the legislation,

make sure the legislation that's

in place is fit for purpose.

In the meantime, this is how police

are tackling the problem

Takeaway staff across Newcastle

are being trained on how

to spot adult victims.

They know the exploitation

still exists in this city.

I think it would be naive and wrong

for me to suggest that

because of Sanctuary,

and at the point that this

report is published,

that this has stopped.

That we've solved the problem.

We haven't.

It continues.

It carries on, I would suggest,

in most, if not all towns

and cities in the UK.

Most of the perpetrators who cruised

these streets were from Pakistani,

Bangladeshi and Indian backgrounds.

Today's report is calling

for research into their cultures

to understand their motivation

and what it calls an

"arrogant persistence".

Fiona Trott, BBC News, Newcastle.

President Trump has repeated his

call for teachers to be armed

with guns so that they can,

in his words, "shoot the hell

out of any attackers".

He was speaking as pressure grows

for action after the shooting

at a school in Florida last week

that left 14 students and three

members of staff dead.

Meanwhile, the Governor of Florida

has announced proposals to restrict

the sale of guns and to raise

the minimum age at which

you can buy them to 21.

Jon Sopel reports.

Staff and teachers return

to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas

school today as a nation continues

to grope for explanations

of what happened.

For some, it's all about guns.

For others, it's mental health

and societal breakdown.

But today, a new culprit.

Scot Peterson, a deputy sheriff

who arrived outside the school 90

seconds after the shooting started.

But for whatever reason, didn't act.

And he's taking a mighty

kicking from the President.

He was there for five minutes. Five

minutes. He heard it right at the

beginning, so he certainly did a

poor job.

That's the case, where

somebody was outside.

They were trained.

They didn't react properly under

pressure or they were cowards.

Speaking to Conservative activists,

the President also restated his

belief that some teachers should be

carrying concealed

weapons in school.

And the beauty is it's concealed,

nobody would ever see it.

Unless they needed it.

It's concealed!

So this crazy man who walked

in wouldn't even know who it is that

has it, that's good.

That's not bad, that's good.

And a teacher would have shot

the hell out of him before

he knew what happened.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE.

And in Florida, the governor has

announced a range of measures

to tighten security.

The goal of this plan of action

is to make massive changes

in protecting our schools.

Provide significantly more

resources for mental health.

And to do everything we can to keep

guns out of the hands of those

dealing with mental problems

or threatening harm

to themselves or others.

The President has just

told a news conference,

"we're well on the way to solving

that horrible problem

of gun violence".

But so far there have only been

sketchy proposals and no class

of weapon is being banned.

Well on the way?

Well, that might be

wishful thinking.

Jon Sopel, BBC News, Washington.

The man who exposed

the Russian Olympic doping scandal

says his country's athletes should

not be allowed to parade

under their national flag

at the closing ceremony

of the Winter Games this weekend.

Two Russian athletes have tested

positive for banned drugs.

Dr Grigory Rodchenkov's revelations

of state-sponsored doping

saw the country banned

from the Olympics, its athletes

forced to compete as neutrals.

In fear of his life,

Dr Rodchenkov went into hiding.

Now in the United States,

our sports editor Dan Roan

travelled to interview him

at a secret location.

It's one of sport's

greatest scandals.

Russian cheating reached its height

at the last Winter Games in Sochi.

The mastermind, Doctor

Grigory Rodchenkov.

In 2015, the former head

of Moscow's anti-doping lab

turned whistle-blower,

fleeing to the West.

Ever since, he's been

in FBI witness protection.

And we are on the way to meet him.

For more than two years now,

the man at the very heart

of Russia's doping scandal has been

living in hiding, here somewhere

in the United States.

Finally, he's agreed to speak to us,

but such are the security

concerns surrounding him,

we've not even been told

where we have to go.

After hours on the road,

we are taken to a location

that we are told has to remain

a secret, along

with his new identity.

If you had not left Russia,

where would you be now?

You'd be dead?

Rodchenkov's role in Russia's

remarkable doping programme

became the subject of

an Oscar-nominated film.

Were you the mastermind that

cheated the Olympics?

He said the conspiracy

went right to the top,

and that London 2012

was also targeted.

So what does he say to British

athletes whose Games were tainted?

The Russian government

says you are lying.

You were cheating.

It wasn't them, it was you.

Does British sport have a problem

with cheating, do you think?

Rodchenkov says he may soon be

prepared to name names, and has

vowed to reveal more information.

Despite Russian claims he is part

of a Western conspiracy,

his information led to a ban

from the Winter Olympics.

168 of the country's athletes

competed as neutrals,

but they may now be allowed to march

under their national flag

at the closing ceremony.

The Olympic athletes

of the Russian team...

Only clean Russians were meant

to be in Pyeongchang,

but today a second of its athletes

at these games, Nadezhda Sergeeva,

failed a drugs test.

Moving forward from sport's biggest

crisis is proving no easy task.

Dan Roan, BBC News.

The family of two young brothers

killed in a hit-and-run collision

have paid tribute to them as "jolly,

happy, lovely boys".

Corey and Casper Platt-May, aged six

and two, were struck by a car

yesterday afternoon in Coventry.

A 53-year-old man and a 41-year-old

woman have been arrested.

Sima Kotecha reports.

Casper and Corey.

One brother loved maths

and football, the other enjoyed

splashing in puddles.

Yesterday, on this road in Coventry,

they were hit by a car.

Today, bewilderment,

confusion and shock.

They were the most loving boys.

They did nothing wrong.

They were loved by so many people,

and so cheeky and...

Corey was cheeky,

artistic, mischievous.

A right wrestler.

Casper followed his brothers,

being a wrestler, being

mischievous and being cocky.

Just a normal little toddler.

They didn't deserve this.

It was around 2pm and the boys

were on their way to the park

with their mother when they were hit

by a black Ford Focus.

They were taken to hospital

with severe injuries

but neither of them survived.

I feel really heartbroken,

to be honest.

I've known the dad

almost all my life.

And such a lovely family.

Why do bad things happen?

My little one, she knows the older

one, because she's six.

He was really friendly.

And kind.

A 53-year-old man and a 41-year-old

woman have been arrested

on suspicion of drink-driving

and causing death

by dangerous driving.

Casper and Corey's mother paid

tribute to her sons on social media,

calling them amazing,

cheeky and fun.

Their grandfather had this to say.

The boys were lovely.

They'd do anything.

Just very happy, jolly, lovely boys.

And their lives have been

taken away so young.

It's unbelievable.

I just don't know

what to say, you know.

It's just crazy.

Sima Kotecha, BBC News, Coventry.

Mabil's long-standing general

secretary has quit. The resignation

after seven years in the role

follows continued claims that allies

of Jeremy Corbyn wanted to oust him.

In a statement, he said he was

standing down to pursue new

challengers.

The head of Royal Bank of Scotland

says its return to profit,

for the first time since

it was bailed out by

the government in 2008,

is a "really symbolic moment".

RBS, a majority of which is still

owned by the taxpayer,

made an annual profit

of £752 million in 2017 compared

with a loss of nearly

£7 billion the year before.

Our economics editor

Kamal Ahmed reports.

Faced with one of the biggest crises

since the Second World War...

A coordinated response

to the financial crisis...

For RBS, the Government will take...

It was an astonishing time,

a global, risky bank on the verge

of collapse, customers unsure

if they could withdraw their own

money, a rescue plan funded

by the taxpayer to save the economy.

A decade on, after years of losses,

the man at the helm of a partially

revived RBS said he believed

the worst was behind them.

This is actually very symbolic.

I think not just for our colleagues

at work but also for the UK,

who did put a lot of

money into this bank.

And we've been restructuring it,

taking losses through conduct

and litigation issues.

From the out of control

RBS to the new, a focus

on the simpler Natwest,

which RBS owns, and selling off

the riskier bits of that old bad

bank after past bad behaviour.

A better day, a symbolic day

for this bank, but it's a bank

that is not out of the woods.

Ahead is a huge fine

from the American authorities over

this bank's involvement

in the mortgage crisis over there.

Here, there's the continuing fallout

from the terrible treatment

of many small businesses.

Yes, this year a profit,

but the accumulated losses

by this bank over the last

decade, £58 billion.

With profits coming in at last,

is it now time for the government to

sell its stake?

Will the taxpayer get their money

back for bailing you out

in the financial crisis?

It will take a number

of years to come through.

The government has said

they want to start that process

in the fiscal year 18-19,

and it will take probably

about three to five years for them

to get down to a much smaller

percentage of their ownership.

Mr McEwan said costs still had

to be controlled and gave

no guarantees on jobs,

or that more bank branches

would not be closed.

The British public have invested

in RBS and supported it supported it

for the last ten years.

We would like to see that support

invested back into the local

communities RBS serves.

That starts with the bank

branch closure programme,

which we think should be

slowed down and stopped.

A more positive time for RBS,

but challenges ahead

and a clear message -

the taxpayer will not be getting his

or her money back any time soon.

Kamal Ahmed, BBC News.

At the Winter Olympics,

Britain lost to Sweden

in the semi-final of the women's

curling, although there is still

the chance of a bronze medal.

Elsewhere, a Russian girl

aged just 15 won gold

in a stunning performance

in the women's figure skating.

Andy Swiss reports.

So would it be another step

towards the Olympic title?

The British team walked out to a mix

of noise and nerves.

The captain's face betraying just

how much was at stake.

Four years ago in Sochi, the British

women lost in the semifinals.

So for Eve Muirhead and her team

this is a chance to put that

disappointment behind them

and to guarantee themselves

an Olympic medal.

What followed proved

predictably tense.

Sweden went ahead early

but Britain fought back.

COMMENTATOR:

Has Eve Muirhead

played a cracker here?

A spot of Muirhead magic

to level things up.

Well done, Eve Muirhead.

But their hopes

suddenly slipped away.

An error by the captain giving

the Swedes three shots.

The expression said it all.

From there, there was no way back.

Sweden wrapped up an emphatic win.

Britain will now play off

for bronze, but their

golden hopes have gone.

Absolutely gutted.

I guess we've trained hard

for the last three or four years

to be in that position

and unfortunately today

we were just outplayed.

But if that was one-sided,

the other semifinal

delivered astonishing drama.

In extra time, South Korea

had the final stone

and a nation willing it on.

COMMENTATOR:

They

are going to get it.

They have.

What a fantastic shot!

Victory over Japan sparking

wild celebrations.

The hosts in the final

and utter jubilation.

They are into the gold medal match.

But perhaps the day's

greatest achievement

belonged to a 15-year-old,

the remarkable Alina Zagitova

winning a first gold

medal for the Olympic

athletes from Russia.

Her country is banned

from these Games so,

come the presentation,

no national flag

and a neutral anthem.

An unusual ceremony

for an extraordinary teenage talent.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, PyeongChang.

That's it.

Now on BBC One, it's time

for the news where you are.