15/08/2014 BBC News at One

A new Prime Minister for Iraq - and Britain offers weapons in the

We have exclusive access to an RAF mission over the north

of the country - helping the humanitarian effort

All of this is about gathering intelligence, getting an accurate

picture of what's happening down on the ground.

As Nouri al-Maliki stands down as Prime Minister - the west calls for

an inclusive government to be formed.

The Metropolitan Police confirms, for the first time,

the identity of undercover officers who had relationships with women.

The scale of the Ebola outbreak may have been vastly underestimated,

Criticism of the drugs watchdog, after it limits use of a prostate

And making a splash for charity - we find out more

about the ice bucket challenge, the latest craze to sweep social media.

Three years after the riots - a new report reveals that most

of the money earmarked for affected areas still hasn't been spent.

And surviving cancer - why London has some

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

The Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, has said the UK

will "consider favourably" any request to send arms to the

Speaking on his way into an emergency meeting of EU

foreign ministers in Brussels, Mr Hammond also called

for the quick formation of an inclusive administration in Baghdad,

following the resignation of the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

In a moment, we'll hear about the diplomatic

But first, this report from our correspondent Jeremy Cooke,

who's been given exclusive access to an RAF mission over Iraq.

RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus. We are joining the aircrew on a mission. Under

cover of darkness, it is full throttle. At this speed, it is a

short flight to the dark skies over Iraq. The crew is piloting what is

effectively a flying petrol station. Pretty soon, they are in

business. RADIO: We are going to need a left orbit before we go into

the air space. Tornado jets emerge from the gloom. They are potent

combat aircraft but this is a different role. RADIO: Request, five

seconds. Tonight's task is to fly high and fast over the killing

fields below. No bombs or bullets but instead, the combat fighters

carry state-of-the-art infrared surveillance equipment. They are the

eyes and ears of the wider operation. We are looking at fine

for another hour or 90 minutes before it comes back. This is a

critical operation to relieve the humanitarian issues we have on the

ground in Iraq. You know what you are doing is vital work. Very much

so. This is the first time in quite awhile we have had that feeling. Are

very happy to be here and we see it as a critical part of helping the

Iraqi people to alleviate themselves from the issues they have currently.

All this is about gathering intelligence, getting the most

accurate picture possible of exactly what is happening down the ground.

All of it could be vital in planning whatever comes next. For now, the

operation to deliver aid is on pause. But it could resume at any

time. It is still crucial to plot the ongoing advance of the Islamic.

And those fleeing the fighting. -- Islamic State. At dawn, the Jets are

back on base, preparing for the next operation. Their presence here is

just part of a build-up of military power in a region which remains

volatile and violent. Our world affairs correspondent

Mike Wooldridge has looked at what impact a change of leadership

in Iraq will have in the battle A new day in Baghdad, and a new

Prime Minister, taking over in the midst of deep political, military

and now humanitarian crisis. Some see the survival of Iraq as a

country at stake. Will Haider al-Abadi the key to the solution?

TRANSLATION: Domestic and international pressures meant Nouri

al-Maliki had to step down. We hope that the new designated Prime

Minister will correct past mistakes. With Haider al-Abadi by

his side, Mr Al-Maliki finally announced his departure, after

becoming seen increasingly -- increasingly as a divisive leader

with a pro-Shia agenda. Haider al-Abadi is from the same party and

his challenges to rebuild trust with the members of the Sunni and Kurdish

factions who have felt isolated. And from the Kurdish region, this new

appeal for their peshmerga forces to be supplied with weapons to match

those of the advancing and heavily armed Islamic State fighters. And

for greater support for Iraq as a whole. If there is no support for

the whole government, and especially Kurdistan, because if Kurdistan is

destabilised by terrorists, and somehow, they occupied the main

province in the North, then the whole of Iraq is going to fall into

chaos. Today's and scheduled EU Foreign Minister 's meeting on Iraq,

considering among other things, the question of arms supplies. France

has made an announcement that it is willing to supply arms. The UK has

said we will also consider favourably any requests for supplies

of arms. Iraq now need to have an inclusive government, representing

all the people of Iraq, so we can get behind it and push back this

terrible threat from ISIS. Unity on the arms issue may be elusive. But

Iraq's new Prime Minister not only enjoy support here. The country's

most senior cleric said today that the transition was a rare

opportunity to resolve Iraq's political and security problems.

Price, who's in Brussels, where the EU foreign ministers are holding

that emergency meeting. But first, Yalda Hakim, who's at a refugee camp

What kind of stories are you hearing where you are? I am just on the

outskirts of Dohuk in a refugee camp. About 15,000 people have fled

the fighting. Some of the most desperate people, who have told us

they were told to convert or die. The situation for them was really

very desperate. Just behind me, a complete tent city. Tractors are

making room for more sense to go up. It is relatively peaceful and

calm. -- more tempting. The Kurdish governorate are running it and they

are saying people are getting enough food and water, as will as managing

the humanitarian aid coming from the international community. I saw some

people who still don't have a tent. They have made shade from the sides

of cars and they were sitting, waiting for a tent to be put up for

them. Still a lot of very desperate people but at least better than what

they were facing before they came here. Let's go to Brussels. What

might we expect to hear from this emergency meeting? Ever since the

crisis started in Iraq, it has felt as though Europe has been relatively

reluctant to get directly involved. It has made noises about

humanitarian aid. But nothing more than that. The sense I get in

Brussels is that it is changing. It is worth reminding people that the

EU does not have any defence or real foreign policy power in the sense

that it cannot say, we are now, as a collective union, sending arms to

help the cottage fighters in Iraq. But what the French Foreign Minister

-- Kurdish fighters in Iraq. But the French and Minister is pushing for

some kind of statement, acknowledging the fact that European

countries need not just to supply humanitarian assistance to Iraq, but

also military assistance will stop as you saw Philip Hammond, the

Foreign Secretary, saying a moment ago, the French have Origi said they

are willing to send arms to Iraq and it looks like Britain has followed

that and will do so at some point. Even the Germans, the third big

power in European Union policy-making, are now indicating

they may be inclined to follow suit. There Foreign Minister is going to

Iraq this weekend. He has said they will do everything that is

politically and legally possible to help the Kurdish forces militarily

in their fight against Islamic State. It appears that there is a

national push to supply arms to the Kurds, and a European Union level

desire to allow it to happen. Thank you for joining us.

And for more analysis on the developing situation in Iraq,

You can find an interactive guide that explains how militant

fighters from the Islamic State have become such a powerful force.

The World Health Organisation says there's evidence that the scale of

the Ebola outbreak in West Africa may have been vastly underestimated.

Just over 1,000 deaths have been recorded out

of nearly 2,000 confirmed and suspected cases - making it

But the WHO believes that the situation is escalating.

With me is our global health correspondent Tulip Mazumder.

By how much do they think this may have been underestimated? The world

health organisation is not giving figures. It simply does not know.

Part of the reason for that is it is a very chaotic picture on the

ground. We have heard from one of the key medical charities who are

treating people on the ground, Doctors without Borders, in the last

hour. I have also been speaking to people on the ground. They are

saying that these are very weak health systems and they cannot cope

on their own. What we have heard today is that for example, one

treatment centre in Liberia has 40 beds and it is treating 140 people.

They are queueing outside the treatment centre and the bodies are

coming in faster than they can be buried. The way you stop an outbreak

and get a sense of how many people are really infected is to find

infected people and find out who they have been in close contact

with, and follow those people for 21 days. There simply aren't the

numbers on the ground required to do that huge work. This is why they

don't have a clearer idea. Also, we are still seeing that people are not

coming forward to get help because they are so afraid. And a quick

thought, a big question but what can they do about this? They have

announced today that we now know about 1 million people in the worst

affected area, the border between Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea

have been put on lockdown. They cannot move freely. The world food

programme is bringing in supplies to make sure based a in one place.

These are the kind of measures being taken. There are no travel

restrictions. The WHO does not recommend them at the moment. And

the risk to the UK remains low. The drugs watchdog for the NHS

in England is facing criticism for rejecting a treatment

for men with prostate cancer. Abiraterone is available

post-chemotherapy, but the National Institute for Health

and Care Excellence says it's too Our health correspondent

Dominic Hughes reports. Mike knows first-hand what a

difference Abiraterone can make. Six years ago, he was diagnosed with

advanced prostate cancer. He has been taking the drug since March,

delaying the moment he has to resort to chemotherapy and the negative

impact it will have on his quality-of-life. Abiraterone has

allowed me in the recent past to carry on working and living, carry

on my family life. It's decreased my PSA levels. It has made things

better, and given me some pain relief as well which has also been

helpful. Prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease in men.

Across the UK, 40,000 men are diagnosed each year. The most

aggressive form of the disease claims more than 10,000 lives each

year. At more than 250,000 men are currently living with prostate

cancer. Abiraterone is already used to treat men after they have had

chemotherapy. But the drugs watchdog, Nice, says it is too

expensive to prescribe before chemotherapy starts. What we have

been looking at is earlier in the condition, where it is used as a

means of avoiding chemotherapy. That is clearly very important. But the

data we have got does not suggest that using it at that point is going

to extend life. Mike was one of around 3000 men to access the drug

in the past year through the Cancer Drugs Fund in England. But that is

not an option currently open to those in the rest of the UK. The

drug 's manufacturer says it is disappointed and will appeal against

the decision. BBC News has learned that

for the first time, the Metropolitan Police has confirmed the identity

of two undercover officers. Both men are accused

of deceiving women by having relationships with them, without

disclosing their true identity. The Met, which is being sued

by the women, denies authorising the relationships - which it claims

were based on genuine feelings. Our home affairs correspondent

Matt Prodger reports. They were members of a police unit

so secret, they are accused of deceiving activists into sexual

relationships, and even fathering children with them. Jim Boyling

later married and had two children with one of three women he was

involved with. Bob Lambert had sexual relationships with free women

from environmental and animal rights groups, and a child with a fourth.

It was abusive to people. It was damaging. Years later, you was

exposed and challenged by the activists he had infiltrated while a

member of the undercover special demonstration squad. A court order

has forced the Mets to confirm the two men's identities. The force has

also offered a defence. It has denied that intimate and

sexual Asian ships were started as a deliberate tactic. There was nothing

genuine about it. The entire relationship was based on a massive

web of lies. They had all the power. That is not love. It is abuse. Helen

Steel is an environmentalist, who says she was psychologically scarred

after being fooled into a two-year relationship with another undercover

officer. Eventually, I found out he had been using their identity of a

child that died when they were eight. At that point, my world fell

apart. She is one of more than ten women suing the police over the

activities of six police spies. Although the Metropolitan Police has

been activities of six police spies.

Although the Metropolitan forced to confirm the identities of two of

them, it is refusing to be drawn on the other four. It says it needs to

protect it undercover officers. Campaigners say that if an excuse to

hide wrongdoing. Why after all this time has the merit done this? A

court told them to. One of the officers has publicly admitted his

role. The other, the commissioner himself of the Metropolitan Police

three years ago and admitted that he was an undercover officer. This

argument the Met had that did not confirm or deny the identity of

officers was effectively thrown out by the judge at least in relation to

two cases. This is a step forward for these women trying to sue the

Metropolitan Police. This has wider background as well. Not just about

the tactics that undercover police officers employed but also their

targets. Last month it was revealed Scotland Yard had gathered

information secretly on 18 people involved in justice campaigns,

things like deaths in police custody and holding the police to account.

There is the ongoing inquiry which was sparked by claims that the

police had spied on the family of Stephen Lawrence. This is not one

thing that is going to go away quickly.

Britain offers weapons in the fight against Islamist extremists.

Not for the first time, he has been beaten on the inside edge. A

dominant England watch India collapse.

The squatters living close to Heathrow who could be evicted today

after more than four years of living there.

Chaos at Crystal Palace as their manager walks out only

hours before the start of the new football season.

Thousands of people have held vigils across America, in honour

of an unarmed black teenager killed by police in Missouri.

Moments of silence and protests were held in New York, Chicago,

Atlanta and elsewhere, five days after Michael Brown was shot dead.

After four nights of violence in Ferguson, Missouri, where

the 18-year-old died, state police have now taken charge of security.

There's been strong criticism of the way police tried to restore

Witnesses claim Michael Brown was shot with his hands up and that is

what they have been chanting at protests across the United States.

This one in Times Square, others in San Francisco, Dallas and Chicago.

Michael Brown, 18, was shot dead by police last Saturday in the small

Midwest suburb of Ferguson, Missouri. Exactly what happened was

not clear. The police claim one of their officers was assaulted. The

teenager's death has provoked several nights of violent

confrontation. There has been vandalism and some looting but the

police have been criticised for using excessive force. The governor

said parts of the state were turning into a war zone. We need to rebuild

the trust that has been lost and broken and help the community regain

stability. With the world looking on, the police have decided to take

a different approach. The boss of the State Highway Patrol is now in

charge. He has already been out walking with the protesters,

spreading a message that the police are there to serve and protect and

not to instil fear. We are a community. We are all in it

together. Last night there were more protests, but this time without

violence. Anger over Michael Brown's death has not subsided. It

is not a black or white thing, it is an everyday thing, people are being

killed everyday by authority. The streets maybe, but the mistrust

continues to linger and Americans are once again facing difficult

questions about policing, equality and race.

Investigations are continuing this morning into an allegation

of historical sexual assault made against Sir Cliff Richard.

The singer has described the claim as "completely false".

It's thought he is currently in Portugal.

We can cross now to our news correspondent, Dan Johnson, who's

outside South Yorkshire Police headquarters in Sheffield for us.

The police emphasising this investigation is still in its early

stages. The officers who travel down to Berkshire yesterday to search

Cliff Richard's apartment have returned here and it is thought they

have recovered some items from his flat which will be being examined

for evidence. They spent five hours yesterday on that secluded private

estate and left around 3:30pm yesterday after five hours searching

the penthouse apartment. We have not had anything further from Cliff

Richard himself after the complete denial of this allegation yesterday.

We understand his lawyers have been talking to the police and he has

said he will cooperate fully with the investigation. He is in Portugal

so we are not sure what will happen next in terms of talking to the

police. The allegation dates back to 1995 and relates to an event in

Sheffield where a preacher was giving a speech in 1985. Cliff

Richard denying that anything improper happened at that event.

Ukraine says its guards are inspecting a controversial Russian

Ukraine fears the convoy, which is bound for cities in eastern

Ukraine, may carry military supplies for the rebels, though it's

Our Moscow Correspondent Steve Rosenberg has been given access to

You can see the group of journalists behind me.

We're about to be taken on an official tour of the Russian

aid convoy which has been organised by Russia's Emergencies Ministry.

They have opened up some of these lorries

Some sacks, I do not know what is in them.

The one thing that strikes me about these vehicles is how empty

There are some boxes there, I do not know what they are,

What we have here is drinking water, and lots of it.

Russia has been insisting that it is transporting

Ukraine suspects that is not the case, that there could be fuel

and ammunition for pro-Russian separatists.

Moscow says that is completely absurd, that this is purely

One thing I find interesting is there is no sign

There's no sense this is a military operation and yet earlier today

when we came down here there were soldiers walking around, we saw

tanks driving past this field camp heading towards the border and it

did feel like a sense of heightened military tension.

Steve Rosenberg reporting there at the Ukrainian/Russian border.

England have made a good start to a rain-delayed final Test

England won the toss and put India into bat and straightaway

James Anderson took the wicket of Gautam Gambhir for

Our sport correspondent Joe Wilson sent this report from the Oval.

August 15 is a day of great Indian pride, independence day,

and the cricket team a travelling reflection of Indian resilience.

In theory as it hasn't looked that way recently.

This is not the only Indian supporter who wonders, is there life

after Sachin Tendulkar? Without him some of the batsmen

seem to be not trying enough? I think his presence makes all

the difference. He gives the players encouragement.

I miss him. India were fairly quickly exposed.

England decided to bowl first. This is the fourth ball of the day.

A delivery he was trying to leave. He looked at his bat as

if they had only just met. Anderson closing in

on the wicket taking record. Just seven more.

From the other end, Stuart Broad, protection removed

from his broken nose, he looked as if he had gone 12 rounds.

For a batsman this is a typical knockout.

India 10-2 and Pujara feeling blue.

The sun had come out and Anderson and Broad were having a rest.

Maybe India had weathered the storm.

Who else was going to bowl? Chris Jordan. LBW? Yes, said the

umpire. A catch gratefully accepted. 36-5.

The latest craze sweeping social media seems to involve pouring ice

cold water over yourself and then posting a video of it.

Called the Ice Bucket Challenge, it aims to raise money and awareness

Many celebrities have risen to the challenge and even

President Obama has been asked, although he's yet to respond.

This contains flash photography. It is the craze sweeping the US and the

internet, people being doused or dosing themselves with ice cold

water. It is to raise money and awareness of motor neuron disease.

Celebrities are queuing up to day part. Justin Timberlake. The

Facebook founder. And golfer Gary Player. It is catching on on this

side of the Atlantic. Paul Scholes and Gary Neville amongst the first

to day part here. -- take part. Other charities are following suit.

Many thousands more are expected to experience their own cold wet

summer's day. The trouble with that as it is not warm enough.

Things are going to get cooler. We had localised flooding yesterday. We

had a funnel cloud. Today there are a few showers around but by and

large lot of dry weather look forward to. -- a lot of dry weather.

We have showers working into Cumbria at the moment. For Scotland and

Northern Ireland, a relatively quiet day. Temperatures 15-17 Celsius. The

showers will bring fairly sharp downpours for a time across

Yorkshire but probably relatively few for East Anglia and central and

southern England. South-west England and Wales should have a largely dry

afternoon with a few showers across Wales. Overnight we are going to

lose those showers and we will have clearing skies for the most part. It

will be cooler in rural areas with temperatures getting down into

single figures. The winds will be picking up across the north-west of

Scotland, bringing cloud and shimmery burst of rain. Weekend is

looking -- though beach and is looking blustery. A promising start

with a freshening breeze. A band of frameworks southwards across

Scotland into Northern Ireland eventually reaching Cumbria through

the afternoon with a late breeze. Temperatures generally into the

teens. We might manage 22 in London. For the second half of the weekend,

the low pressure comes in and we have winds from the Arctic Circle so

there is going to be a in air. Showers filtering. Does it get

better? Not really. It gets cooler. Temperatures down to 14 in Belfast.

Across things will be cooling off and across the Scottish mountains it

will be cold enough for August snow. It looks as if summer is on

hold for the time being. Now a reminder

of our top story this lunchtime: EU foreign ministers hold

an emergency meeting Britain offers weapons in the

fight against Islamist extremists. Now on BBC One it's time

for the news where you are.