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| | Manchester Arena bomb inquiry report due as survivor says response was all wrong | |  | | | | | | | | | Could two Manchester Arena bomb victims have survived had emergency services responded more quickly? This is being considered by an inquiry that was launched into the deadly attack on 22 May 2017. Twenty-two people including John Atkinson and Saffie-Rose Roussos - who, at eight, was the youngest victim - died at the hands of suicide bomber Salman Abedi. Hundreds more were injured. The second of three major reports is due to be published later. It will set out its findings on the emergency response based on the evidence heard. A series of failings have already been found in the planning and preparation for such an attack, and the response to it, by emergency and security services. This includes only one paramedic being at the scene for the first 40 minutes after the explosion.
One man, who was there on the night of the blast, believes "big mistakes" were made, and those in charge had "got it all wrong". Ron Blake (pictured), previously praised for his heroic efforts, has decided to tell his story for the first time. He tried to save Mr Atkinson, 28, who was losing a lot of blood - they waited 47 minutes for a paramedic. Mr Blake broke down when he later discovered Mr Atkinson had died. And, according to evidence heard at the inquiry, he would have had "quite a high" survival chance had he been treated more quickly. However, those giving evidence were divided over whether Saffie could have survived her injuries. The ambulance, fire and police services have all previously apologised. We will publish details of the findings here when they are released later this afternoon. | | | | | |
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| | Interest rates predicted to rise again | | | | | | | | | Interest rates are predicted to go up again - which would make it the eighth consecutive increase since December. If the Bank of England increases the rate from 2.25% to 3%, it would be at its highest level for 14 years. The US has already announced that it is taking this course of action in the hope that pushing up borrowing costs will bring down inflation, or the rate at which prices are rising - the same tactic as the Bank. So, what will another rise mean for the UK? Interest rates affect mortgages, credit cards and loans and savings, and as finances are already being squeezed for many due to soaring prices, the predicted interest rate rise could add further pressure to people's purses. Some have said they are anxious about their mortgages - this is what they told us. They, like us, will find out the Bank's new interest rate later, but our economics editor Faisal Islam says the real question is how high rates will go, and for how long they will stay there. Find out how high they could go. | | | | | |
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| | The most-streamed songs revealed | | | | | | | | | It's almost the 70th anniversary of the singles chart, and to mark the occasion the Official Chart Company has found the biggest streaming hits for every year since its inception. So, for anyone curious to know what that compilation would sound like, we can tell you that Adele, the Beatles, Elvis and Harry Styles made the list. Goo Goo Dolls, Oasis, Otis Redding, Toto and The Temptations also feature. We've got the full countdown from 1952 to 2022, which will be broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and Radio 2 next weekend. Take a look. | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | China's leader Xi Jinping insists there will be no swerving from zero-Covid - but the ongoing chaos which his government's policy is delivering is there for all to see at the Foxconn plant in the city of Zhengzhou. What drove the mass breakout at the world's largest assembly line for Apple computers was fear, panic and ignorance.
Foxconn, the company which runs this enormous factory, must shoulder a portion of the blame for this but really the root cause is this country's inflexible, strict, zero-Covid approach. The BBC has spoken to workers there who paint a picture of an urgent need to escape for their own safety. It may not be rational, but some say they feared for their lives. Take a 21-year-old Foxconn worker who had been hearing the rumours for a while. The more the stories and speculation continued, the more extreme they were becoming. | | | | | | | | | | | | Stephen McDonell | | BBC News, Beijing | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | | | | | | The continuing migrant crisis leads some of this morning's front pages. A group from a migrant processing centre in Kent were abandoned on a street in London by the Home Office, the Guardian reports. It is described as a "major error" in the i newspaper, and comes as Home Secretary Suella Braverman looks to expand the Rwanda scheme to other countries, according to the Daily Express. Meanwhile, stories about interest rates, births, Strictly Come Dancing and Matt Hancock's appearance on I'm a Celebrity also make the headlines. Read the newspaper review in full here. | | | | | |
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| | | | | Kent Migrant girl throws message in a bottle begging for help | | | | | | | North Korea Suspected intercontinental ballistic missile fired | | | | | | | Copyright Mariah Carey's Christmas hit lawsuit dropped | | | | | | | Speech One in four have accents mocked at work - survey | | | | | | |
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| | If you watch one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you listen to one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | If you read one thing today | | | | | | | | | | |
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| | Need something different? | | | | | | | | | With the margin of error being just one letter, the misspelling of footballer Erling Braut Haaland's surname is causing a stir - with the Swedish tourist board. Anyone searching for Halland on the Swedish coast is likely to find countless photos of the Manchester City (and Norway) player, leaving the tourism boss fed up of the confusion. Read more here.
Next, to some other words - well, a joke - that have caused a bit of a fuss. James Corden used some material that resembled something fellow comedian Ricky Gervais had said years ago. Corden held his hands up to inadvertently using it, but can you legally take someone else's joke? We've taken a look.
And finally, on the subject of the law, police officers in Peru added a superhero spark to their latest operation, dubbed Marvel. It saw Spiderman, Captain America, Thor and Black Widow carry out a drugs raid. Watch them in action. | | | | | |
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| | On this day | | | | | | | 1957 The Soviet Union sends the first ever living creature - a dog - into space aboard Sputnik II. | | | | | | | | |
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| | | Let us know what you think of this newsletter by emailing bbcnewsdaily@bbc.co.uk. If you’d like to recommend it to a friend, forward this email. New subscribers can sign up here. | | | | | |
