18/12/2017 BBC News at Six

Tonight at six, a damning report

says Bristol's police and council

were guilty of institutional racism.

Bijan Ebrahimi was beaten to death

and his body set on fire.

He was a victim of

collective failure.

Don't you dare take pictures of me!

Despite years of complaints,

officials repeatedly sided

with those who abused him.

Absolutely shocking and devastating,

especially as a family,

if these things happen,

it's just unacceptable.

But no individuals have been blamed,

we'll be asking why.

Also tonight, the prison branded

the worst in the country -

inmates describe rats

and cockroaches everywhere.

In the last hour, a hasn't trained

in America derails while crossing a

bridge, we will have the latest.

Two die in a blaze at one

of Scotland's top hotels,

other guests are in hospital.

It's all over, England lose

the Third Test and the Ashes.

Now the Aussies target

a 5-0 whitewash.

More than eight million of us

will live till we're 100,

but how do we stay healthy?

And coming up on Sportsday on

BBC News, we'll be looking back

at a night of sporting

celebrations and surprises

after Mo Farah is crowned

BBC Sport Personality of the Year.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News At Six.

An official report into the case

of an Iranian refugee

who was murdered in Bristol

has concluded

there was institutional racism

on the part of the authorities

who dealt with him.

Bijan Ebrahimi was killed

by a neighbour in the summer

of 2013, and his body set alight.

Today's report, by the Safer

Bristol Partnership,

found that Avon and Somerset Police

and Bristol City Council

repeatedly sided with those who had

abused him over a period of years.

But while the report found evidence

of collective failure,

it said that individuals

were not intentionally racist.

Jon Kay reports.

He came to Britain for safety,

but Bijan Ebrahimi

was brutally beaten to death

and his body set on fire.

Don't you dare take

pictures of me, all right?!

This is the neighbour

who killed him - Lee James,

now serving life for murder.

But this was not the first attack.

Today's report says,

time and time again,

at different addresses over

several years, Bijan alleged

he'd been attacked by a number

of different people.

But this report says

he was treated as a nuisance

by the authorities in Bristol,

with police and council staff often

siding with his alleged abusers,

rather than helping him.

Absolutely shocking

and disgusting...

Now, Bijan's sisters have been told

there was a collective failure

by Avon and Somerset Police

and Bristol City Council,

which amounted to institutional

racism, a phrase used nearly

20 years ago in the Stephen

Lawrence inquiry.

These are not the words

that we should hear

this day and age.

You don't want to see,

you don't want to hear

any more about this,

it's been dealt with so many times

before, and seeing it is happening

again is truly shocking.

We are very angry, as my sister

said, and it's very shocking

and upsetting as a family.

Today's report says

no individual members of staff

here at Bristol City Council,

or at Avon and Somerset Police,

were intentionally racist

themselves, but it says both

organisations had an ingrained view

of Bijan Ebrahimi which affected

the way they treated him

and that he didn't get the support

or the level of service

that he should have received.

The report says, as an Iranian man,

Bijan was put at a disadvantage

because the way the authorities

dealt with him was discriminatory.

That is why, it concludes,

there was institutional racism.

It's a word that's rarely used,

it's a finding that's rarely found,

because one would hope

that institutional racism

is not a common problem.

But the family's concern, in fact,

is that it is much more

common than it is found.

Last year, two members of police

staff were jailed for misconduct.

The force apologised

to the Ebrahimi family then

and, along with the city council,

has now accepted

today's report in full.

They say lessons have been learnt.

Bijan's death won't be in vain,

and it will be the basis of this

authority, and I'm sure many

institutions around the city,

having a look at what they do

and the way they do it.

Nearly five years after he was

killed here, Bijan Ebrahimi's family

say his voice has now

finally been heard.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Bristol.

Our home editor, Mark

Easton, is here with me.

So there is institutional racism but

no individual is to blame, how does

that work?

Well, institutional

racism is obviously a troubling

phrase but a complicated concept. In

this case, the inquiry said there

was no evidence that anyone from the

police or the council intentionally

behaved in a racist manner, nor that

they had policies or procedures were

Schwerner in any way racist, but the

definition of institutional racism

is laid out in the Macpherson Report

utterly Stephen Lawrence inquiry, it

includes attitudes and behaviours

which amount to discrimination

through unwitting prejudice,

thoughtlessness and racist

stereotyping. It is shocking that

the phrase is still being used

almost 25 years after Stephen

Lawrence's murder, but it is also a

reminder of how hard it is to change

deep-seated, hidden, and conscious

bias is from affecting the way that

professionals deal with often very

challenging, complex and sensitive

situations. There are

recommendations in today's report to

introduce additional oversight and

checks into the system to protect

against that. Clearly, for Mr

Ebrahimi family, they hope they will

not make the same mistake again.

All

right, Mark, thanks very much.

In the last hour, emergency services

have been responding to what's

being described as a major incident

in the United States

after an Amtrak passenger train

came off a bridge

and onto a highway

in Washington state.

The local sheriff's office says

there have been multiple fatalities.

77 people have been

taken to hospital.

James Cook has the latest.

It was the height of the rush-hour

on the busy I-5 motorway, and the

train was reportedly travelling at

more than 80 mph. The local sheriff

says it came off the rails near the

bridge at 7:40 in the morning,

smashing onto cars and at least one

lorry on the road below.

Multiple

agencies are responding. When we got

to the scene, it was obvious that

there were some but allergies and

there were a lot of injuries, and

some people were able to get off the

train.

The train was being operated

by Amtrak, the major US rail

passenger company. It was travelling

from Seattle in Washington state to

Portland in Oregon, and Amtrak say

there were approximately 78

passengers and five crewmembers on

board. In a statement, the firm said

it was aware of the incident but

gave few other details. Passengers

spoke of a rocking and creaking

noise as the train rounded a bend,

followed by crushing and screening.

To escape, said one survivor, they

had to smash windows as the doors

could not be opened. The governor of

Washington thanked the emergency

services for their swift response

and urged Americans to pray for

everyone on board. James Cook, BBC

News, Los Angeles.

Here, inmates at Liverpool Prison

are being kept in the worst living

conditions inspectors

have ever seen.

That's according to a leaked

report seen by the BBC.

Prison inspectors found rats,

cockroaches and exposed wiring

when they made an unannounced visit

to the prison.

A lack of leadership at all levels,

including government,

was the chief cause of the problems.

Our social affairs correspondent

Michael Buchanan has this report.

Behind the walls

of Liverpool Prison,

more than 1100 men live

in squalid conditions.

Rats and cockroaches are rife.

Pools of urine seep

from broken toilets.

If you put a dog in a place

like this, people would come

and take you away and lock you up

for cruelty to animals.

Darren Hurley spent just over

two years in the prison

after being convicted

of drugs offences.

Released in the summer,

he told me what life

on the inside was like.

Cockroaches, rats.

Rubbish just getting left

inside the buildings,

rather than put out

at the end of the evening.

Does it smell?

Yeah, it smells terrible.

Basically, like living in a tip.

The report we've seen

followed an unannounced

inspection in September.

The inspectors wrote

they could not recall

having seen worse living conditions.

There is a backlog of over

2000 maintenance jobs.

I think it's as bad

a report as I've ever seen.

This former Chief

Inspector of Prisons

is exasperated by the failings.

I ask the head of

the Prison Service,

how on earth do it he allow

the prison to get into that state?

Because the management was clearly

incompetent in the prison itself.

And how could anyone come up

from headquarters

and go into Liverpool and see that,

and not feel ashamed,

and do something about it?

Somebody I showed this report to

said to me this

is England's worst jail.

I wouldn't dispute that.

The inspectors agree,

blaming the failure of Liverpool

not just on the governor,

but on senior officials

at the Ministry of Justice.

Local prison managers had

sought help, said the report,

but their requests had been met

with little response.

Perhaps most damningly,

the inspectors write,

"We could see no credible plan

to address these basic issues."

This Liverpool prison officer says

the Ministry of Justice are

responsible.

It is not the fault of

staff or management, this is firmly

with the ministry and the

Government. Start investing in the

prisons and give us the resources to

do our job.

The Ministry of Justice

said they would not comment on

leaked documents but they did

appoint a new governor recently.

Former prisoners we have spoken to

be released in recent weeks say the

conditions inside remained dire. The

Victorian era jail abiding Victorian

living conditions in modern Britain.

Michael Buchanan, BBC News,

Liverpool.

US military personnel fired shots

today at a Suffolk airbase

used by the American air force,

as they stopped someone who tried

to force their way in.

RAF Mildenhall was locked

down by security staff,

after reports of an individual

ramming the gates with a vehicle.

The suspect was arrested.

The base hosts

the 100th Air Refueling Wing

and some special operations

squadrons.

A review of fire and

building regulations

following the Grenfell Tower

disaster says the current system

isn't fit for purpose

and a culture change is required

to ensure safety is

prioritised over cost.

Dame Judith Hackitt, in her interim

review for the Government,

says the rules should be simplified.

Let's speak to our home affairs

correspondent Tom Symonds.

How significant is this, and what

are the implications?

Well, very

significant, George, this is a

senior engineer setting up some of

the problems with the building

regulation system that may have led

to the tragedy here. She says the

system is so complicated that her

staff had to draw up a map for her

to try to understand it, and it is

very complicated. She said that this

has so many loopholes that if you

want to get away with checking

standards, then there is very little

chance of you being caught and very

few penalties. She is the Health and

Safety Executive, and she says she

wants a change as big as that which

happened in workplace safety over

the last ten years, but she says she

is not really here to come up with

particular technical standards. MPs

today wanted her to say that she

would ban the use of so-called

limited combustibility materials on

towers like Grenfell Tower, which is

just over their plans. She said that

was not so much her job as coming up

with a system that will maintain

safety in future. She will produce a

final report, George, next year.

Police in Lebanon have arrested

an Uber driver in connection

with the murder of a 30-year-old

British diplomat in Beirut.

The body of Rebecca Dykes,

who worked at the British

Embassy in the city,

was found beside a motorway

over the weekend.

Officers say she had been strangled

and sexually assaulted.

Tonight, her family said

in a statement that Rebecca

was "imply irreplaceable".

From Lebanon, our Middle East

correspondent Quentin Sommerville

sent this report.

Becky Dykes fell

in love with Lebanon.

She had only just moved

here full-time, but she was deeply

committed to her work,

helping the country

cope with the influx

of refugees from Syria.

There was a final night out before

she returned home for Christmas -

a colleague's leaving do

here at this bar in Gemmayzeh.

At around midnight, she called

a taxi, an Uber, to take her home.

She was never seen alive again.

She was driven out of Beirut.

Her body was found by

a highway the next day.

She'd been strangled

and sexually assaulted.

A 35-year-old Lebanese man

is in police custody.

The suspect is believed

to be an Uber driver.

He's worked for the company

for a short period of time.

Here in Beirut, Uber's generally

seen as a safe way of getting about,

especially by women on their own.

The company responded

in a statement,

saying that it was horrified

by this senseless act of violence

and that it's fully cooperating

with the police investigation.

Lebanon's dark days

lie mostly in its past.

In these neighbourhoods,

there's now a relaxed approach

to personal safety.

This is not the first attack

of its kind, but they are rare.

We all drink in this area,

we go out on Friday

and Saturday nights in this

very neighbourhood,

which is usually very, very safe.

So I think we're all just deeply

saddened that one of our friends

left by herself

and just didn't come back.

At the British Embassy,

staff are heartbroken.

The ambassador took to social media

and said, "The whole embassy

is deeply shocked,

it was a tragic loss."

Embassy staff are now providing

consular assistance

to the family of one of their own.

Becky Dykes hadn't been in Lebanon

long,

but she'd already

made a big difference.

Her friends say that's how

they want to remember her -

as someone who cared, a bright star

just beginning her career,

and a woman who'd already

helped improve the lives

of the most vulnerable

here in Lebanon.

Quentin Sommerville,

BBC News, Beirut.

In South Africa, the African

National Congress,

which has ruled the country

since the end of apartheid,

has elected a new leader.

Cyril Ramaphosa will

replace the controversial

Jacob Zuma as party leader.

Under Mr Zuma, who faces hundreds

of charges of corruption,

South Africa's economy

has stagnated,

and the political climate has

become more divisive.

Let's talk to our Africa

editor, Fergal Keane.

What does this mean for the party

and for the country? Potentially it

is a huge step forward. Cyril

Ramaphosa am pained for the post of

president promising to restore the

moral values associated with the

party of Nelson Mandela and those

great anti-apartheid campaigners.

You have to look at this result and

take into account the fact that

elected as the deputy president is

someone who was a strong loyalist of

President Zuma. So the scope for

radical attacks on corruption is

going to be limited. I have been

watching Cyril Ramaphosa since the

19th 80s here, when he was a union

negotiator, very tough man but also

one who seemed to know when to

strike a deal. I saw him help to

negotiate a new constitution for

South Africa. Also we have to

remember his role in the Irish peace

process, where he was brought in to

oversee decommissioning of IRA

weapons. In all of those roles he

has had tacked, patience and steel.

He's going to need all of those in

trying to sort out the problems

here.

Our top story this evening...

A damning report says Bristol's

police and council were guilty

of institutional racism in the case

of a murdered refugee.

And still to come...

Handshakes all round,

as England lose the Ashes,

but is there anything the team can

do to avoid a whitewash?

Coming up on Sportsday

on BBC News...

What next for England

after the Ashes are lost?

It used to be a rare occurrence that

deserved a special letter

of congratulations from the Queen -

but new figures show that one

in eight people in the UK

is projected to live

to at least 100.

That's around 8.5 million people.

It's part of a global trend.

But how do we make sure more

of us remain healthy -

becoming so-called "super-agers".

becoming so-called "super-agers"?

In the first of a series of reports,

our medical correspondent

Fergus Walsh has been to California,

a centre for research into ageing.

On your marks...

To me, I don't think about age

as being a handicap.

Set...

It's just a process.

You live, you die.

So, why not live?

Irene O'Bera is 84.

She makes old age look

like an irrelevance.

Irene's been breaking world

records for four decades.

It takes effort.

When she's not training at this

track near San Francisco,

she's in the gym.

Her philosophy is simple.

Live the life you love,

and love the life you lead.

And a quitter never wins,

and a winner never quits.

And I want to be a winner.

We're living in an ageing world.

By 2050, the number of people aged

65 and over is projected to triple

globally to 1.5 billion.

In the UK, the number of people aged

80 and over is projected to more

than double to 7.5 million by 2050.

And the number of centenarians

to increase sixfold to 94,000.

It's a whole body movement...

So, what can we do to increase

our chances of spending

those extra years in good

health, like Irene?

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

It's not just about exercising

the body, but also the mind.

That's because keeping the brain

active can lower the risk

of developing dementia.

SHE SPEAKS FRENCH

I joined

a French language class

in Berkeley, across the bay

from San Francisco,

where all the students

are in their seventies.

My mother had Alzheimer's.

So, I mean, there's part of me

doesn't want that to happen to me.

I do believe that, erm, intellectual

stimulation is important.

And science may be able to help.

In the hills above Silicon Valley

sits the Buck Institute.

Researchers there are working on how

to delay the way our bodies age.

This is our building...

This could increase

the healthy years of life,

free of conditions like cancer,

arthritis or heart disease.

We predict that there will be drugs

that will treat ageing, instead

of each disease individually.

People themselves would be

able to look forward

to the last decade of their life

still being vibrant,

engaged, healthy.

Just like Irene, who challenged me

to a friendly race.

She can run 100m only seven seconds

slower than Usain Bolt.

So, despite my 27-year advantage,

the winner was never in doubt.

That was fantastic.

So, I've just been beaten

by an 84-year-old,

but I've been beaten

by a super-ager -

and I think that's pretty inspiring.

Thank you!

Fergus Walsh, BBC News, California.

Two people have been killed

in a fire at a luxury hotel

on the banks of Loch Lomond.

Police Scotland say

the Cameron House hotel has been

extensively damaged.

Around 200 guests were evacuated

from the hotel after the alarm

was raised early this morning.

James Shaw reports.

The fire started before dawn,

and as the sun rose,

a huge plume of smoke was visible

rising from the central

building of the hotel.

One person died at the scene -

another died later in hospital.

Three other people, including

a child, were treated

for the effects of smoke inhalation.

The fire and rescue service's

condolences go out to the people

who were involved in

this tragic incident,

and our thoughts are very much

with the family and the friends

of the two people who have

lost their life this morning.

The hotel itself was badly damaged,

and is expected to be

closed for some time.

Other businesses in the area,

which is a major tourism

destination in Scotland,

are offering to help.

The Cameron House hotel

is one of the most famous

luxury hotels in Scotland.

But today, it was the scene

of a mass evacuation and desperate

attempts by hotel staff

and firefighters to save lives.

An investigation to find the cause

of the fire has already begun.

James Shaw, BBC News,

on the banks of Loch Lomond.

Theresa May says there's no place

for threats of violence

and intimidation against MPs.

She made the comments after it

emerged that several Conservative

MPs have received dozens of abusive

emails and tweets because

of their views on Brexit.

Our political correspondent Vicki

Young is in Westminster for us.

Vicki - how bad is the problem?

Well, several MPs have described

what they say is a febrile

atmosphere, particularly surrounding

the Brexit debate. Last week, of

course, Theresa May suffered her

first defeat on all of this. Several

Conservatives voted against their

own government to inflict that loss

on Theresa May, and some of them

have now gone to the police after

messages that they have received.

The BBC has seen some of them that

have been sent to, including an

e-mail which says, you should hang

for your crimes. Another said, I

hope you do live the rest of your

life looking over your shoulder in

fear. And there was one tweet which

said, you have committed treason and

your heads belong on spikes outside

Westminster, hashtag Jo Cox, a

reference to the Labour MP who was

murdered last year. MPs are trying

to get to a point where they can

have a passionate debate which they

feel very, very strongly about, but

without it tipping over into

intimidation. In the last few

minutes the Home Secretary has stood

up and said that this threatens

democracy, because in the end people

might be put off going into public

life completely.

The Right Reverend Sarah Mullally

has been named as the new Bishop

of London, making her the most

senior clergywoman in the history

of the Church of England.

She became a priest in 2006

after spending over 35 years working

as a senior nurse for the NHS.

Bishop Sarah, who is 55,

will be the third woman to run

a diocese and will take up a seat

in the House of Lords.

Cricket, and Australia have taken

an unassailable 3-0 lead

in the Ashes series,

after England were bowled out

for 218 in the third test in Perth.

for 218 in the third Test in Perth.

As Andy Swiss reports,

the result raises some serious

questions for the England camp.

It had been coming for a while,

but for Australia, still just

as sweet - for England,

just as painful.

Joe Root's side began the day

with an unlikely lifeline.

Overnight rain had leaked

onto the pitch, an army of leaf

blowers were deployed,

causing a three hour delay.

But Australia made up for lost time.

Jonny Bairstow clean bowled by one

that barely bounced.

Dawid Malan, one of the few

successes here, briefly gave

hope with a gritty 50.

But when his resistance ended

England's last hopes left.

Chris Woakes was caught behind,

Australia's victory party began.

England once again

whacked at the Waca,

and faced with Ashes failure.

It is bitterly disappointing.

One frustrating thing is we haven't

been blown away, we have not been

completely outplayed.

We've put up some really

good performances,

just for not long

enough, simple as that.

Once again, the scoreboard

in Perth makes sorry reading

for English cricket.

To lose the Ashes after just three

matches will be a crushing

disappointment, but this is a team

which has had problems both

on and off the pitch.

Their star player Ben Stokes didn't

even travel after an incident

outside a nightclub.

Other big names like Stuart Broad

and Alistair Cook have struggled.

England were the underdogs here -

as it turned out, with good reason.

I've not been surprised

with what I have seen.

If you look at the England tool box

they have arrived with,

they were missing a spanner,

screwdriver, no one with real pace.

Not having their best

player in Ben Stokes

would always be a big issue.

The challenge now for England

is a grim one - to avoid

the dreaded whitewash,

but after being outbatted,

outbowled and outclassed,

it could be a long few weeks.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Perth.

Let's have a look at the weather,

with Tomasz Schafernaker. We are in

for some really sick fog over the

next 24 hours. This is just a great

picture. It is no laughing matter,

because this could be really dense

fog and it could be disruptive to

some of us tomorrow morning, not

just on the roads, there might be

delays at the airports as well. This

just on the roads, there might be

delays at the airports as well. This

evening at fog will become more

widespread and thicker across many

parts of England, particularly

central England, eastern England and

the south. Freezing fog is a

possibility with those temperatures.

Further north I don't think there

will be too many fog problems. It

will be a bit milder there. This is

about six o'clock in the morning, so

approaching rush-hour. We are not

talking about fog patches, this is

widespread, extensive fog across the

south. In some areas it might stay

for the whole morning and possibly

the whole day. This time of the

year, when that happens, the

temperatures are barely above

freezing. More conservative estimate

might be 4-6 degrees in the

south-east. But look at the

temperature in Aberdeen, almost

tropical, relatively speaking. And

this is the following evening,

tomorrow night, a weather front

approaching and bringing some

weather in the north-west. But the

fog reforming across southern areas.

Wednesday looks cloudy and