30/07/2016 BBC Weekend News

Tests to find out how the biggest European banks would cope

with a major economic crisis has found that RBS and Barclays

The analysis found RBS - which is mainly owned

by the British taxpayer - had one of the worst responses

Here's our business correspondent, Joe Lynam.

RBS was the bank that nearly destroyed the UK banking system.

We had to bail it out and even now, it, alongside Barclays,

would be left with some of the lowest levels

of financial reserves if there was another major downturn.

51 of the biggest lenders in Europe were tested to see

if they would survive a major economic shock.

In the case of RBS, its cushion of capital fell

by 7.5 percentage points, the third biggest fall of all banks.

But RBS won't need to raise any additional money after the tests,

That will come as a relief to the Bank of England,

and UK taxpayers, who spent ?45 billion on RBS eight years ago.

The stress tests only cover the largest banks.

They excluded the small banks, and that is where a lot

In Italy, possibly in Germany, and certainly in Greece

Greece and Portugal were entirely excluded from these stress tests,

Second, I think there is a specific problem in Italy.

We know Monte dei Paschi, the oldest bank in the world,

under these stress tests, its capital would disappear entirely

That bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, would have simply run out

of money, in the event of a major economic shock.

It had to agree to a last-minute refinancing worth ?4.2 billion

late last night, in order to reassure investors and governments.

Italy, it appears, is now in the same position

The debts were simply too big and they need a bailout or a bail-in

to ensure Europe avoids another financial crisis.

Britain would not be immune from that.

Theresa May had "objections" to the Hinkley C nuclear project

as far back as the days of the coalition, according

to the Liberal Democrat former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable.

Sir Vince told the BBC he believed at that time that Mrs May

was unhappy about what he called the "rather gung-ho approach"

to Chinese investment, which would fund part of the cost.

The French energy firm EDF was only told yesterday of the Government's

plan to delay the final decision on the ?18 billion project.

With me now is our Political Correspondent, Alan Soady.

Alan, what more do we know of the Government's reason

Now she is the Prime Minister, is she getting cold feet? That is the

big question, why were the breaks slammed on this object within hours

of EDF saying it wanted to go ahead. Downing Street is insisting it is

nothing more significant than Theresa May being a new Prime

Minister, this is a big project and she wants to have a look at it, but

some wonder whether it could be more significant and the whole project

could be in jeopardy. Vince Cable says Theresa May had long-standing

objections and she disagreed with the approach to attract Chinese

investment, calling it gung ho. The government is not directly

commenting on what he has said but Greg Clark has said nuclear remains

an important part of the energy mix, and also, there will be a decision

soon. Thank you. There's been a dramatic reduction

in the use of plastic bags in England since the introduction

of a five pence charge Data from retailers shows that just

over half a billion bags were used in the first six months

after the charge was introduced - Scenes like this may be becoming

a thing of the past. Today, shoppers are more likely

to bring a bag from home Since the 5p charge was introduced

in England last October, the latest data from the Government

shows that plastic bag Having to pay for these bags has

made a big early impact. In 2014, more than 7.5 billion bags

were used in England. In the six months since the charge

was brought in, just over half a billion bags have been

taken home by shoppers. 5p is so little it doesn't make any

difference at all. The 5p, you've paid your

money for nothing. I still forget that we have

to pay 5p for them, so, you know, when I say,

"Oh, yeah, can I have a bag, I never tended to waste the bags,

but I think for people who do waste There's less of them flying

about in the street at the moment. England follows the trend seen

around the rest of the UK. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland

all introduced the 5p levy earlier, and saw reductions of up

to 80% in single use Campaigners say this

could have a big impact on the environment,

especially the ocean. It is estimated that about 8 million

tonnes of plastic We're hoping, obviously,

that we'll see less and less plastic Every year we survey our beaches

and last year we found over 5000 Now we're hoping that

with the charge in place now in all the countries in the UK,

we will see a decrease in the number When people do buy plastic bags,

some money goes to charity, and it is estimated that ?30 million

has been raised so far. The Government will now continue

to track this to see if plastic bag Anti-terror police in Belgium have

arrested two men suspected of planning an attack

in the country. Officers carried out searches

at seven houses in the region A computer system used by Hillary

Clinton's presidential campaign is reported to have been hacked.

The programme is used to analyse voter data,

The FBI is investigating the first attack -

which President Obama has said is almost certainly

Pregnant women are being advised to consider postponing

non-essential trips to Florida, because of new concerns

The warning from Public Health England follows the confirmation

that four cases of the virus have been caught from local mosquitoes.

Previous US cases have been connected to people

The glistening sands of Miami Beach. More than a million Brits seek

sunshine in the state of Florida every year. But now, pregnant women

are being urged to reconsider their travel plans. And this is the

buzzing menace behind the warning. Mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus.

In most of us, it only causes a mild illness, but it has been linked to

major brain defect in newborns. British health experts described the

risk in Florida as moderate, but warned people who are about to have

children to consider the risk. They haven't been advised not to go and

we are talking about Florida, not the rest of the UK, so they will

have to speak to their travel health adviser, GP or the travel health

clinic they go to. That have been more than 1500 Zika cases in the US,

but they have all been connected to people who caught the virus abroad.

Now there four people who have picked it up from local mosquitoes

and Florida is doing everything to prevent a wider outbreak. Florida

has become the first state to have a major transmission and we will put

every resource available to fight the spread of Zika in our state. The

World Health Organisation declared the Zika virus a global health

condition. It has particularly affected Brazil where the Olympics

start in 12 days. Top golfers including Rory McIlroy are staying

away because of the risk. In the US, officials say they do not expect a

widespread outbreak of Zika but are preparing for small clusters of

cases. Women in the UK are being urged to check the latest government

advice and decide whether or not to postpone their trip.

And before we go, news that one very lucky ticket holder in the UK has

scooped the Euromillions jackpot - winning more than ?61 million.

It's the fourth time the top prize has been won

We don't know the identity of the winner yet, but the amount

falls well short of the record for the UK's biggest ever

win five years ago - which was ?161 million.

You can see more on all of today's stories on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC One is at 6.25pm.

Good afternoon. It is the last weekend of July and for many of us,

it is looking pretty good. Good spells of sunshine to be had, but

not completely dry weekend. There are few showers in the forecast. You

will notice a fresh appeal to things in the coming nights and mornings.

Some spells of sunshine for many places but we have had some rain

across the south-east and a scattering of showers development

across Scotland and Northern Ireland. Between those