14/12/2017 BBC News at One

A memorial service at

St Paul's Cathedral to remember

the 71 people who died

in the Grenfell Tower fire.

Members of the Royal family joined

survivors and relatives of those

who died in the fire six

months ago today.

# Inshallah you'll find your way

More than 1,500 people attended

the multi faith service.

We come together as people

of different faiths, and none,

as we remember before God those

whose lives were lost.

We'll hear from survivors and

relatives who attended the service.

Also this lunchtime:

A major turning point

for a media mogul -

Rupert Murdoch is shrinking his

empire by selling the majority

of his company Fox to Disney.

Heading back to Brussels

after her Brexit Commons defeat -

the Prime Minister will join EU

leaders at a crucial summit.

At last a good day for England

in the Ashes, as Dawid Malan

scores his maiden test century.

A 70-year-old mystery is solved -

the story of the boy who was found

in a box as a baby

on the steps of the BBC.

Good afternoon and welcome

to the BBC News at One.

A multi-faith memorial service has

taken place at St Paul's Cathedral,

six months to the day since the fire

at Grenfell Tower in West London,

which left 71 people dead.

Reeta Chakrabarti is at St Paul's.

it's been a day of emotion and also

reflection here at St Paul's

Cathedral, as survivors, families

and rescuers gathered six months to

the day since that terrible tragedy

at Grenfell Tower. Our correspondent

reports on the morning's events.

It's been a long six months for so

many families whose lives were torn

apart exactly six months ago. The

tragedy which highlighted failures

alongside the bravery of the

emergency services and the unity

within a community. Today they came

together.

We try our best to stay

together and stay united, so that's

exactly what's happening and all the

difficulties we have, all of the

hard days, the hard time we had is

unforgettable, we cannot forget.

Joined by members of the Royal

family who have met many of those

affected by the fire, alongside

political leaders showing their

support. The Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge and Prince Harry making

their way to their seats, sat

alongside the Prime Minister, multi

faith leaders and the community

surrounding Grenfell Tower. But at

the heart of the service,

remembering the 53 adults and 18

children who lost their lives,

including the youngest victim who

would have been one today.

Welcome

each one of you to this national

memorial service of remembrance,

community and hope.

The service

incorporated in Islamic girls choir,

a steel band...

You begin to feel

survivors guilt and I think maybe

not now but within the next couple

of months we will start to question,

why wasn't them? Why did we survive,

why didn't they?

But for some, it

became too much. Raw emotions still

plain to see. Others watched the

service live streamed to a mosque

close to the tower which became an

emergency shelter at the time,

taking in clothes and food. After

paying their respects, families and

survivors left in silence carrying

white roses and pictured of their

loved ones, holding the heart of

their community which will lead a

silent vigil later today.

I'm joined now by Sandra, who lost

her 12-year-old niece in the

tragedy, and also by the right

Reverend Graham Tomlin, the Bishop

of Kensington. Thanks for joining

us. Sandra, how has this service

affected you?

It was a beautiful

service. It was very reflective. I

thought it was really representative

of the community. Wonderful having

the children there and the music was

lovely also. It gave everyone an

opportunity to come together. Some

families we see quite often, others

not so much but it was a wonderful

opportunity to come together and

remember our loved ones. That was

the purpose and I think it fulfilled

it.

It was very much a multi-faith

service, wasn't it, although it was

in St Paul's Cathedral. How

important was that?

St Paul's is a

great national place, a place where

we come together to remember,

commemorate and mourn. Faith is an

important part of the community for

many people. It's a Christian

cathedral, but it's important we

were able to represent lots of

different traditions and faiths

within the service at the same time

so that was reflected. We worked

hard with local groups to make sure

there was a sense that everybody

could feel this was a service they

could own and feel part of and feel

able to join in with, but also a

service that offered some sense of

hope that faith can bring.

Sandra,

we heard time and again of how the

tragedy will never leave people. How

has it gone on affecting you?

You

never know from one day to the next

how you will be feeling, so one day

it feels as if it was a few minutes

ago, other times it feels like an

eternity has passed and we can only

take it one day at a time. Different

members of the families have dealt

with it in different ways and we

just have to learn. It's a learning

curve for all of us. I'm hoping it

will get easier as time goes on.

Sandra Ruiz and Graham Tomlin, thank

you for joining us.

As you heard, this is an event that

will never leave the people who were

affected by it but it is hoped the

service will have gone some way to

help people come to terms with what

happened.

Thank you.

Rupert Murdoch has sold a majority

of his company, 21st

Century Fox, to Disney

in one of the biggest

media deals for years.

After decades of expanding his huge

empire, the 86-year-old media mogul

has finally taken the decision

to shrink his business

by selling off a major wing

of Fox - which owns Sky -

for 39 billion pounds.

Our media editor Amol Rajan is here.

How big the moment is this for the

Murdoch empire?

It would be hard to

state, not just in planet Murdoch

but across the whole of the media.

His business is a complicated, vast

and global business, now bought by

Disney which includes networks and

crucially the famous 20th Century

Fox film studio. There is a

revolution going on in media where

basically the idea of channels that

have a fixed moment where you can

watch stuff is long gone and now

people are consuming stuff by the

internet. There are these big

players like Amazon and Google, and

Rupert Murdoch feels he cannot

compete so it's a remarkable thing

that even Fox is a small player

compared to the big giants. What

makes this a truly astonishing

moment is that Rupert Murdoch has

spent decades building of a media

empire and this is him stepping

back. If you had said a year ago

that Rupert Murdoch would be

retreating, I would have said you

were completely mad but it's

happened because the revolution in

media is catching up even people

like Rupert Murdoch.

Thank you.

Theresa May is on her way

to Brussels for a summit with EU

leaders at which they're expected

to give the go ahead for talks

to begin on future trade relations

with the UK post Brexit.

The government is insisting

that its plans for Brexit won't be

affected by the defeat last night

in the Commons which means MPs

will have a final say

on any deal with the EU.

Here's our Political

Correspondent, Iain Watson.

Are you expecting another defeat?

Theresa May was remaining

tight-lipped about her first defeat

in Parliament as Prime Minister.

This is the moment it happened, when

the MPs in the middle shuffled

around, that signalled the

opposition had won and the

Government had lost. Until this

moment, pro-EU Conservative rebels

had been seen as a dog that didn't

bark. Last night those rebels didn't

just bark, they bit. Are 11 of them

Theresa May's own MPs joined most of

the opposition to inflict this

narrow defeat. The House of Commons

was less busy the morning after the

night before, but still passionate.

That was a humiliating and entirely

avoidable defeat for the Government.

This house now having spoken, can

the Secretary of State give an

assurance the Government will not

seek to undermined or overturn last

night's result.

He got a

noncommittal response.

We will have

to think about how to respond to it

but we take it seriously and

continue to do so.

Labour wanted to

push home its advantage and call the

Government to drop a specific date

or leaving the EU from its

legislation.

Rather than repeat last

night's debacle will the Government

consider dropping the ill-conceived

gimmick?

David Davis simply said he

would respect MPs' views. One of the

Conservative rebels said she took no

pleasure in defeating her own

government but she might do it

again.

Nobody drank champagne, not

on these benches. These are serious

matters. It was avoidable.

What did

last night's vote in the House of

Commons really mean? If MPs were to

vote down any deal Theresa May bills

with Brussels, technically she can

go back and renegotiate or we can

leave with no deal at all but in

truth if the Prime Minister were to

lose such a significant vote, it is

highly likely she wouldn't remain

Prime Minister for very long. Some

say the rebels have undermined her

in the short-term too.

I think in

the eyes of Brussels they will see

there is a weakness there that they

will try to exploit during

negotiations.

The fragile truce in

the Conservative Party has now been

shattered and rebels will hope

Downing Street will think twice

about sweeping aside their concerns

over Brexit.

In a moment we'll speak

to our Assistant Political

Editor Norman Smith,

who is in Westminster, but first

Adam Fleming is in Brussels.

As far as EU leaders are concerned,

how much will the defeat last night

change things?

Not actually a huge

amount because the leaders of the 27

EU countries staying in the EU know

exactly the political situation

Theresa May faces in London. Listen

to the president of Lithuania, she

said this would change nothing about

the Brexit process. Although they

are talking about it. The Prime

Minister of Luxembourg said to me a

little while ago that if the EU does

a deal with Theresa May, she goes

back to Westminster and Parliament

tells her to come back to Brussels

and change it, that would cause a

problem and not be ideal. Brexit is

not a big part of this summit,

Theresa May wants to raise it over

dinner tonight, then they will

discuss it without her tomorrow

morning, where the big event will be

whether they approve the blueprint

for the second phase of the

negotiations, opening the way for a

discussion about an implementation

period of about two years starting

in 2019 although they will probably

say they don't want to talk about

the shape of the future relationship

and cooperation on trade, climate

change and security until March next

year. Donald Tusk who chairs the

summit said actually if you thought

phase one was easy, phase two might

be even harder.

Our assistant political editor

Norman Smith is in Westminster.

So Downing Street says business as

usual, but does the defeat last

night change Theresa May's approach

to Brexit?

The view from Number Ten

is that this changes nothing when it

comes to Brexit. A good number of

MPs here think that is a rather

optimistic assessment in the sense

that last night may have been around

one with more defeats to come,

starting next week with a likely

revolt over setting a fixed date for

our departure, then the House of

Lords are likely to put the Brexit

bill through the mangle. But perhaps

the most significant thing is the

former remain as. They deny they

were drinking champagne last night

to celebrate but they are on a high,

they have the wind in their sales,

they have found their voice and they

have chosen steel after months when

they have not said boo to a goose.

The question is whether the balance

of power in Parliament has shifted

from the Brexit true believers to

the Brexit sceptics and whether that

will curb Mrs May's freedom of

manoeuvre and mean she has to look

to a softer Brexit, keeping us

closer to Europe. The other thing we

saw last night was the sheer level

of fear and loathing on Tory

backbenchers, the division over

Europe which will make it much

harder for Mrs May to continue a

balancing act, keeping both sides

happy. Sooner or later she will have

to throw in her luck with one side

and then you sense her Brexit woes

will really begin. Last night may

yet prove to be a significant moment

in the whole Brexit process.

Norman,

thank you.

A third person has appeared in court

charged with the murder of four

children in a house fire in Salford.

25-year-old David Worrall,

of no fixed address,

appeared before magistrates

in Salford and Manchester.

He will appear at Crown Court

tomorrow alongside a 23-year-old man

and a 20-year-old woman who have

already been charged with murder.

A deal has been reached

that its hoped will prevent one

of the UK's largest care home

companies from going

into administration.

Four Seasons Health Care,

which runs more than 300

residential and nursing homes

caring for 17,000 people,

has agreed a major restructuring

plan with its main creditor,

H/2 Capital Partners.

The debt-ridden company had warned

it wouldn't be able to make

a £26 million interest

payment due tomorrow.

Our top story this lunchtime:

A memorial services held at St

Paul's Cathedral to remember the 71

people who died in the Grenfell

Tower fire six months ago today.

And coming up - a sneak peak

inside the new billion dollar US

embassy building in London.

And in Sport on BBC News,

Dawid Malan's maiden test century

helps England to a good start

on the opening day of

the crucial third Ashes Test

against Australia in Perth.

Haemophilia - it's a condition that

leads to excessive bleeding,

even from minor injuries.

It severely affects around

2000 people in the UK.

Now a team of doctors say they have

achieved a significant breakthrough

in the treatment of the most common

form of the disease.

The research team at Barts Health

NHS Trust used gene therapy

to correct the defect

in a small safety trial.

Our health correspondent

James Gallagher reports.

Walking two miles to work used to be

unthinkable for Jake Omer.

He was born with haemophilia A,

a genetic defect that

means his blood did not clot.

The slightest injury used

to mean severe bleeding.

Even a long stroll would cause

bleeding in his joints.

But no more.

I think the gene therapy

has hopefully given me

a new lease of life.

It's going to allow me,

as my boys grow up, to be a lot

more active with them,

so kick footballs around,

climb trees with them,

to hopefully run around in the park

with them, and not be

someone who has to worry

about what I'm doing.

Jake's body struggles to produce

a protein for clotting of blood

called factor eight.

He was one of 13 patients given

gene therapy last year.

A virus was used to give his

body new instructions

for making factor eight.

All of the trial patients are off

their haemophilia medication,

and 11 have roughly normal levels

of blood-clotting proteins.

If this is how much factor eight

you or I produce, well,

this is how much is produced

in a haemophilia patient.

But you can see after

the gene therapy trial it's

almost up to normal.

This is huge.

It's groundbreaking.

Because the option to think

about normalising levels in patients

with severe haemophilia

is absolutely mind blowing.

To offer people the potential

of a normal life, when they've had

to inject themselves with factor

eight every other day to prevent

bleeding is transformational.

It's a really exciting time

for people with haemophilia.

This could be life changing.

But we need to understand who it

works for, we need to understand why

it works for those people and why it

might not work for some other

people, and understand the long-term

implications and side effects.

Large studies will now take place

to see if gene therapy can replace

these regular injections and truly

transform the lives of patients.

James Gallagher, BBC News.

It's cost $1 billion to build.

The new United States embassy

in London, which has

just been completed,

opens next month.

It's a 12-storey glass cube

on the banks of the Thames,

and comes complete with a moat -

the first new defensive moat to be

built in England for 150 years.

The US Ambassador to the UK said

the new embassy is a "signal

to the world" that the relationship

between the two countries

is strong, and going to grow.

Richard Lister reports.

This is what $1 billion looks like.

The new US Embassy in London is said

to be the most expensive

in the world and almost a decade

in the making.

Inside there's a garden

of American desert flora.

It's all designed to be airy

and welcoming, not words usually

associated with embassies.

I think this is a country

of great dignity and it

birthed the United States.

And this building should

be not some pop icon,

but certainly a building of great

dignity and serenity.

But this embassy is also a fortress.

It even has a moat, though

they prefer we call it a pond.

Some of the glass is six inches

thick, a reminder that an embassy

is the only place where one nation

intersects with another.

For decades that's been

here, Grosvenor Square.

The old embassy has been

sold to become a hotel.

But it's a place now

associated with American

triumphs and tragedies.

ARCHIVE:

At Grosvenor Square police

warned to expect trouble waiting.

It was where British people

repeatedly protested

against the Vietnam War.

ARCHIVE:

A huge crowd waited

for them at the American embassy.

Where well-wishers greeted America's

first men on the moon and came

to pay their respects

after the attacks of 9/11.

Now a new building

will represent America.

The US Ambassador says this glass

clad building represents

America's global outlook,

giving form, he says,

to the core democratic

values of transparency,

openness and equality.

What's not clear is whether

President Trump will be

at the opening next month,

though he has been invited.

It would be the most controversial

visit by any American president,

a moving in present

for the ambassador.

Trump is coming when he sets

the date for coming.

He's been invited for a state visit.

He's been invited and he's accepted

but he hasn't set a date

and for the ribbon-cutting of this

and taking a look at the embassy,

that will be announced

when he selects the date.

And of course the new embassy

will outlive this presidency

and many more to come.

Richard Lister, BBC News.

The Scottish Government is expected

to announce its major changes to tax

bands since power was awarded to

Holyrood last year. It is thought

higher tax bands are likely to help

raise funds for public services. It

could mean some people in Scotland

will pay more tax and those earning

the same salary elsewhere in the UK.

Catriona Renton reports.

Free University tuition fees, free

prescriptions, free personal care

for the elderly and free childcare,

just some of the services on offer

to people in Scotland. But it now

seems some Scottish taxpayers are

going to pay more than people

elsewhere in the UK. The SNP

government at Holyrood is facing a

shortfall in its day-to-day budget

of hundreds of millions of pounds.

The government has already pledged

to increase spending on the NHS and

has promised to lift the cap on

public sector pay. Local councils in

Scotland say they need more money to

help provide services. To raise the

extra cash, the Scottish Government

is widely expected to increase

income tax. They've pledged not to

raise the basic level, so what is

most likely is the introduction of a

new band, perhaps for those earning

more than £30,000 a year. Now most

Scots won't be affected by this

because the median salary here is

£24,000 a year. But what it would

mean is that some people will be

paying more than others in other

parts of the UK. They may also raise

the top rate of tax for the very

highest earners. Some business

leaders are warning any increase in

taxes could make Scotland

uncompetitive. Speaking ahead of

today's announcement, the First

Minister said her government needs

to invest in the future.

The

proposals we put forward this

afternoon will be responsible they

will be balanced, they will protect

our vital public services from Tory

cuts, they will protect the majority

of taxpayers, and they will invest

in business and the economy.

The

Conservatives are the only party

opposed to tax rises. They say the

SNP are breaking a promise not to

raise the basic rate at all. In just

under an hour's time we'll find out

just how much more some will end up

paying. Catriona Renton, BBC News,

Edinburgh.

Cricket now, and England have fought

back on the first day of the vital

third Test in Perth.

Dawid Malan scored his maiden test

century, sharing an unbeaten

partnership of 174 with Jonny

Bairstow.

Australia are already

2-0 up in the series,

and England need at least a draw

to keep their Ashes hopes alive.

Andy Swiss reports from Perth.

It all comes as the sun newspaper

has published more allegations about

illegal gambling involving the

Ashes. Andy Swiss reports from

Perth. They've been waiting a long

time for this. After watching

collapses, calamities and

controversies, at last for England

fans a bit of cricketing cheer. Not

that it necessarily seemed that way

at first. England opted to bat will

stop in Alastair Cook's case, not

for long, out for just seven, as

Australia's bowlers set about making

life decidedly uncomfortable. They

broke Mark Stoneman's helmet and

soon it seems England's hopes.

Stoneman gone controversially for

56. The video umpire deciding at

just brushed his gloves, to

England's frustration. 131-4, it

seemed another tale what if. But in

the nick of time a century and

emerged from the ranks. The

unheralded Dawid Malan. Yes, he rode

his luck, dropped on 92, but

together with Jonny Bairstow he made

Australia pay. What a time to score

your first test hundred. If the day

belonged to England, the moment was

all of his.

Magnificent effort.

It

was so emotional. I didn't really

know what to do and when I got the

hundred I was so emotional I almost

started crying, to be honest, when

it happened.

Just when they needed

it, England's best day of the series

so far. There's still a long way to

go in this match, but they've given

themselves a chance. In a series so

far defined by disappointment,

England will hope this just might be

a turning point. Andy Swiss, BBC

News, Perth.

Now to a family mystery

which has taken one man more

than 70 years to solve.

In 1943, a box was abandoned

on the steps of the BBC in London.

It was found by a studio

manager called Trevor Hill,

who at first thought it was a bomb.

But the box actually contained

a baby - Robin Peters.

Now 74, he says he's spent most

of his life wondering

who abandoned him, and why.

But thanks to DNA, and some dogged

detective work by his daughter,

he finally has some answers.

And he's been reunited with the man

who found him all those years ago,

as Steve Knibbs reports.

Amazing, incredible.

You're the baby!

A reunion, 74 years apart,

as Trevor Hill meets the contents

of the box he discovered outside

the BBC in 1943.

That today is

74-year-old Robin King.

You wouldn't fit into

that little box now.

In 1943 BBC Broadcasting House had

been bombed, so the overseas service

was set up in the Peter Robinson

department store on Oxford Street,

and one morning, as Trevor turned up

for work, he found a box outside.

So you were wrapped

in the blanket inside the box.

Did you worry it might be

a bomb or something?

Well, exactly, we were

pretty sure it was.

And particularly when it moved

slightly, we thought there a timer.

It's lucky I wasn't blown up.

Thankfully it was just Robin

in the box and aged just two weeks

he became a foundling.

He was named Robin Peters,

after the department

store where he was found,

and eventually adopted

at the age of four.

And these are my biological parents.

After decades of searching,

last year Robin's daughter

traced his biological parents

to Canada with the help

of a DNA expert.

They were Douglas and Agnes Jones.

He was in the Royal Canadian Air

Force, working at a radio training

school in South Kensington.

He met and married Agnes in Glasgow.

It's a bit of a mystery because it

seems very difficult for him

or my mother to actually leave a box

in that position at that particular

time during the war,

when there was a lot of security

worries, so that doesn't

make sense to me.

At least today, a few more pieces

of Robin's early life

have been filled in.

It's just been completely

for me a magical day,

a day that I never thought

would exist, and I never,

ever imagined that I would get

to meet the contents of that box.

He's still desperate to know why

he was left outside the BBC in 1943,

but grateful of course to have been

found by Trevor.

Steve Knibbs, BBC News.

Let's go back to our main story now.

Six months to the day

since the Grenfell Tower fire

which killed 71 people,

a multi-faith memorial service has

been held at St Paul's Cathedral

to remember those who died.

Reeta Chakrabati is there.

I'm joined by two men who have been

helping people trying to support

them through the trauma of this

time, Alan Everett, who is from

Saint Clements Church, near Grenfell

Tower, and also this man from the

Muslim cultural centre. Allen, tell

me about the sort of support people

have been needing from you?

People

are still deeply in trauma and so

our community, our sister community

organisation, the Clement James

Centre, has been working with a

large number of survivors and the

bereaved and that's in addition to

the very wide raging community

programmes which they already offer,

so we've very extensive connections

-- extensive connections with the

community and many have been coming

in looking for all kinds of support

from us.

The service today was very

much a multi-faith service. Our

important was that?

I think it was

very important. Somebody asked me

how I would sum it up and I said in

one word, hope. For people to come

together and pray and reach out to

God for the love of God, I said it's

very important, to express your love

for people, for your neighbours and

things like that. I think it just

came across abundantly very well and

I felt part of it. I was in

Christian service, as a Muslim and I

felt a connection with God in the

way that I didn't expect, quite

frankly and I'm really pleased to

say that.

Thank you both very much

indeed. There you heard it I think,

that this service was meant to

provide comfort and solace to people

of all faiths and people of non-,

and with that, back to you. Thank

you.

Time for a look at the weather.

Darren Bett is here to tell us all.

More snow?

It has been cold in southern parts

of Scotland, where we've had sleet

and snow, especially over the hills,

but it's an all or nothing sort of

day because large parts are enjoying

some sunshine. Kent, for example,

and here in the south-east, much of

the south-east, East Anglia and the

Midlands, staying dry with some

sunshine this afternoon. A lot of

showers elsewhere. That wintry mix

has been affecting southern Scotland

is heading southwards into northern

England as -- and as we head into

this evening will find behind that

the temperatures dropping away in

Scotland, a frost already for

eastern parts of the country. More

wintry showers in western areas,

more showers for Northern Ireland,

where it's also very windy. That

mixture of rain, sleet and primarily

held snow will be pushing across

northern England, perhaps into

Wales, a few heavy and blustery

showers across South Wales and into

the south-west of England, but

through this evening still largely

dry. Still quite cold for many

eastern parts of the UK. As we run

through this evening and overnight,

what we find is that it stays windy

for western areas. We will find

these bands of rain, sleet and

mainly hill slope continuing to push

southwards as skies tend to clear

further north we could have some icy

stretches, with temperatures not far

away from freezing. Tomorrow, a

mixture of sunshine and showers but

by this stage we have a northerly

wind so the showers are in different

places. More wintry showers and

cloud for the eastern side of

England. Further west, it will be

much drier and much more sunshine.

Wintry showers will continue in

northern Scotland, Central Scotland

Scotland probably dry and sunny and

large part inland across England and

while is missing the showers, seeing

some sunny spells. Temperatures

similar to today but feeling chilly

in the northerly wind. Tomorrow

night as the wind eases and the

showers begin to fade away, so the

temperatures will fall away sharply.

There could be quite a sharp frost

for many central and northern areas.

We've got the cold air to start the

weekend but things are going to

change, because the wind direction

changes. A milder west to

south-westerly wind coming in, but

those changes don't happen overnight

and it still going to be quite

chilly for the eastern side of the

UK on Saturday, despite some bright

weather and sunshine. There's more

cloud coming in from the West. A

little bit of rain here and there as

well. It could be quite cold for

eastern areas overnight before we

all get into the milder air. It

comes with some stronger winds, a

lot of cloud and