17/06/2011 BBC News at Ten

The Government and public sector unions on a collision course over

pay and pensions. The Government proposes that workers, many who've

been paying into their pensions for decades, could have to work until

they're 66. It makes you think about your career prospects and

career path, and as a young teacher it is making me think whether I

want to stay in teaching. We'll be looking at what can be

done to avert a mass walkout over the summer.

Also tonight: Anti-government rallies and more

violence in Syria. The BBC defies a ban on foreign

journalists to report from inside the country. What many people here

have told us is that the Syrian army and secret police are getting

closer to this point every day. We now believe they are two or three

miles in that direction. London 2012 - the organisers reveal

how two-thirds of people who applied for Olympic tickets didn't

get any. It's the legal minimum workers are

paid, but a Tory MP sparks outrage by suggesting disabled people

should work for less. And a record breaking round for

Later, in Sportsday, today's cricket action, where there were a

few rain delays. Sri Lanka were 177 for nine when play was called off,

Good evening. The Government has confirmed a

major shake-up of the pensions of millions of public sector workers.

People are going to have to pay more and work for longer, with

their retirement age rising to 66. The announcement has outraged trade

unions in the middle of talks with the Government on the issue. Some

have threatened to walk out. Over their working lives, millions

of public sector workers pay into pensions, hoping to retire at 60,

or 65. Now the Government has confirmed that in future that will

rise to 66. Good morning. Jo Letson is in the early stages of a

teaching career, so she could be working in decades to come. But

paying more and working longer for what could be a less generous

pension is making her reconsider. It makes you think about your

career prospects and your career path. It is making me think about

whether or not I want to stay in teaching, or try something

different. The government says on average workers will have to pay

around 3% more towards retirement, but those earning less than �15,000

a year will not pay any extra. Those earning up to �18,000 will

have extra contributions capped at 1.5%. Above that, increases will be

phased in over three years. 12 million people either rely on or

pay into a public service pension, hence the importance of the current

talks between the Government and trade unions on pension reform. But

today there has been both surprise and anger in union circles that the

Government has gone public with what appear to be firm proposals,

when everything was still meant to be up for discussion. This is an

inflammatory and unhelpful intervention. We are engaged in

negotiations and for ministers to make pronouncements while the talks

are still going on, that is deeply, deeply unhelpful and it shakes my

confidence in the Government's good faith. So why did the Government

risk scuppering the talks? In a week dominated by threats of strike

action, the Government feels that some unions have misrepresented its

position. Today it appealed directly to the wider public and

lower-paid workers to say that there is no alternative to change.

We have a reasonable proposition on the table that, for millions around

the country, is what is happening right now. The public sector, if we

want to protect good quality public sector pensions, where when you

reach retirement the benefits are broadly similar to those at the

moment, then we also have to move with the times. We have to move

with the times in terms of retirement ages. Today, the issue

led another union to announce a strike ballot, but both sides know

that we are all living longer so the deal will have to be done.

Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym is with me here. Given

that talks are still going on with the unions, why has the Government

come out and announced these changes? I think the Government may

have been stunned by some of the headlines this week, rather bad

news for them, the strike votes in the public sector for action over

pensions, and they wanted to come out and get their message across. I

think Mr Alexander was trying to go over the heads of the union

leadership to the lower paid public sector workers and to say, your

contributions will not go up if you earn up to �15,000. We had not

heard that before. Also, they may feel they have been criticised more

widely over watering down health service reforms, pushing back other

areas of reform, and they want to show they mean business over

pensions. They had a report on this issue which called for some way of

bringing down the cost to the taxpayer. The TUC have not

criticise the substance of the proposals. They said they were

angry about how they had been sprung on them, but no comment on

the substance. And Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, equally has not

criticised the idea of reform of pensions, so there is scope for

further talks on the issue. In Syria, government forces are

reported to have shot dead 16 people at a demonstration against

the rule of President Assad. Across the country, thousands joined in

anti-government rallies. This is said to have been the scene in

Damascus, although the pictures cannot be independently verified.

10,000 people are estimated to have fled the violence, taking refuge on

the border with neighbouring Turkey. Foreign journalists are banned from

Syria but Matthew Price has crossed into the country and has this

report. We took a route that the smugglers

use. Winding through the olive groves and down the hillsides to

avoid the border patrols. After an hour's hike, we were inside Syria.

This is how some 10,000 now live here, stranded along the border,

too scared of their own army to return home. In one tent sat this

woman, elderly and frail. I came here because of the violence, she

said, because of the army. We are frightened of them.

Everyone here has a tale of horror. Few will tell there's on camera,

too afraid of reprisals, but their stories are all similar.

TRANSLATION: We were watching from a place in the city of Jisr al-

Shughour, so we could tell our families what was happening. The

soldiers went in with tanks and army vehicles. They brought

bulldozers, and they started to attack the buildings. They entered

officers and they stole whatever they wanted, and then they set fire

to them. The people of Syria have been all but sealed off for three

months now, as the President has tried to crush a rebellion he

blames on religious extremists. What many people here have told us

is that the Syrian army and secret police are getting closer to this

point every day. We now believe they are just two or three miles in

that direction. And on the other side of the country, we also know

that army units are getting closer to centres of rebellion along the

Iraqi border. The tactic seems clear. The army, the regime, is

trying to assert its dominance across the country to quash the

rebellion. And this, many here told us, is how the army is doing it. We

cannot showed his mobile phone footage. It is of a dead man with a

long, bloody wound along the top of his skull. What does this make them

think of their President? The Shah, he is a traitor, this man told us.

He should give us our freedom. Such open dissent was once unheard

of in Syria. It is perhaps a sign that the brutality, far from

crushing this rebellion, is actually fanning its flames.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that two British soldiers

have been killed in Afghanistan. Both died in separate incidents in

Helmand province yesterday. One, a member of the Royal Electrical and

Mechanical Engineers, was killed in an explosion in the Nahr-e Saraj

district. The other was from the Parachute Regiment, attacked --

attached to special forces. The families have been informed.

If you apply for Olympic tickets and did not get any, you are not

alone. The organisers of London 2012 have revealed that almost two-

thirds of people who apply for tickets fails to get any, and many

high-profile events were heavily oversubscribed. But if you missed

out, you can have another go next week. Tickets will be available on

a first-come first-served basis. David Bond has the details. Many

British sports fans hoped that with the Olympics coming to London they

would not have to do what they did last time, Watchet on the

television. But with 2 million applications for a seat at next

year's opening ceremony, that is exactly what the vast majority of

us will have to do. It is not much better for the men's 100 metres

final. There were 1.3 million applications to watch Usain Bolt.

Just 21,000 were successful. In total, London 2012 received 21

million applications in the first sales phase, from 1.9 million

people. But only 700,000 were successful. For the first time,

today's figures have given us a bit of clarity. But what does the man

in charge of London 2012 say to those who have missed out? I will

say I absolutely understand your disappointment. Massive, massive

demand, unprecedented demand. we you apologise, because they do

not feel, from speaking to them, that they competed in a fair

process? I think they competed in an entirely fair process. Seb Coe

enters London 2012 team will not admit they made any mistakes, but

this sales process lacked transparency, which is why so many

people have been left feeling frustrated. Now the pressure is on

to ensure they get it right second time around. For disappointed fans

like this, there will at least be a second chance. From next Thursday,

2.3 million tickets go on sale, but the vast majority of four football,

with only 600,000 for the other Olympic sports. -- they are for

football. If I was going to try again, I would roll up my sleeves,

do some analysis and go for it. I am not terribly optimistic. There

do not seem to be that many tickets available, and my degree of

confidence that I could get some is still pretty low. With such high

demand for tickets, London 2012 can at least be confident they will

avoid empty venues, and will raise their half a billion pounds that

they need. The challenge now is to keep all those who missed out

interested in the Games. After days of the instability on

the financial markets and riots on the streets of Athens this week,

the leaders of Germany and France have a new financial rescue package

for Greece which should be agreed as soon as possible today. Angela

Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy was speaking hours after a new Greek

cabinet was sworn in to deal with the crisis. Gavin Hewitt reports

from the Greek capital. A Cabinet reshuffle, Greek style.

European leaders and the financial markets have watched as a new

Cabinet was sworn in. Facing a violent unrest, Prime Minister

George Papandreou dumped his Finance Minister. A desperate

gamble that a new team could more easily push through austerity

measures and so prevent the devastating default. Outside

Parliament, the protesters remain at the gates. Late evening, they

were sitting in. They had heard that the new Finance Minister might

try and negotiate with his European paymasters to soften some other

reforms. The protesters were sceptical. The mood here was

uncompromising. No more austerity. The more austerity you have, people

are more unemployed and have less to spend and the economy is

collapsing. The protesters who have been camping gear for weeks are

trying to make it impossible for the government to implement cuts.

Away from the protests here in Greece, there have also been

divisions elsewhere in Europe about how to resolve this crisis. Germany

and France, the big beasts in the eurozone, have not seen eye to eye

on this, and today their leaders The smiles did not disguise the

tension between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. The Germans had

wanted private investors to shoulder some of the burden of a

second Greek bailout, the French disagreed. Today, Angela Merkel

backed down. That means more pain for the German taxpayer.

TRANSLATION: Europe and the euro hang together. Our economic

strength depends on a strong euro, and because of this I will do

everything to ensure the euro's stability. Rhys's debt mountain

stands at �298 billion. Just one year ago, it was loaned �95 billion

in a bailout. It did not do the trick, and a second bail-out of

around �106 billion is now being considered. This is the end game,

because Europe has to make up its mind whether it is going to have

the political will and the financial resources to address this

finally and definitively, or whether it faces a kind of chaos.

The next big test will come early next week with a confident vote in

the Prime Minister's leadership. Coming up on the programme:

Pioneering research into Parkinson's disease, turning skin

cells in two pieces of brain. -- in two.

A conservative MP suggested that disabled people should be allowed

to work for less than the minimum wage has been sharply criticised.

Philip Davies said employers were reluctant to take on disabled

workers and might be encouraged if it was cheaper to employ them. The

mental health charity Mind described his comments as

preposterous. This report is from political correspondent Ben Wright.

The law is clear, everyone over 21 must be paid at least �5.93 per

hour, that is the minimum wage. It is less for people who are younger.

But this MP says people should be allowed to work for less if they

want to. He thinks it will help people with mental health problems

get a job. For some of those vulnerable people, it makes it

harder for them to get their first run on a ladder. We will never get

anywhere trying to help them get into employment. The suggestion of

low wages for vulnerable workers has outraged charities, who say the

minimum wage is not the problem. His comments are preposterous and

offensive to thousands of people with mental health problems whom

work and want to work on an equal footing with fellow-citizens.

People should not be paid less because they have a disability.

They should be supported and given the chance to work alongside their

colleagues. Michael Brooks from Bristol has been disabled for the

last 15 years following an accident at work in which he broke his back.

As much as there is equality or they try to say there is equality

in the workplace, employers are going to go for an able-bodied

person every time, even if you say you will work for half the wages.

Politics can be a minefield, and Philip Davies has stepped on one.

The Conservative Party was quick to say that neither they nor the

Government's share his view and the law will not change. There is an

issue of prejudice and discrimination, but the

overwhelming view of people here is that paying people less is not the

answer. Rebels in Libya say at least 10

people have been killed and a rocket attack by Colonel Gaddafi's

forces. In recent weeks, rebel numbers have been swelled by some

Libyans who live abroad returning to join the fighting in his rata.

Andrew Harding met one student who left behind his studies in Britain

to fight on the front line. In high spirits, a very full of

rebels heading for the besieged city of Misrata and the front lines

that surround it. Among the reinforcements, the young

maths student from Lancaster University, Siddique. In England, I

could not do much for this revolution, so I decided to go and

hold a gun for the first time in my life. For Siddique, this is

personal. His father has come to greet him, but Gaddafi's forces

have taken 16 members of their family. Within hours, a shy, Ennis

student seems transformed. -- Ernest. It is a short journey to

the front line. But is he ready for Those were uncomfortably close.

Allahu Akbar! Gaddafi's superior firepower is a constant threat for

Siddique has come right to the very front lines here, very active front

lines. Colonel Gaddafi's forces are just a mile or so down the road. We

can hear their missiles whistling overhead. NATO planes are

patrolling the skies above. The men here are placing themselves what

they believe could be an imminent Gaddafi offensive. -- brazing. In a

quieter moment, Siddique's training begins. These are the rockets.

hopes his maths skills will help with targeting. I do not want to

kill anybody, actually, and my friends, they don't want to kill,

but we have to fight. So where is the enemy now? Over there?

Siddique's lack of experience is nothing new here. The rebels need

training and weapons, and too many are dying. Very nice! And so, after

a near how or so of training, Siddique joins the ranks. -- a mere

hour or so. Either we live in peace Scientists in Oxford have made what

they hope is a significant breakthrough in the fight against

Parkinson's disease. They have pioneered a technique which turns

pieces of skin into pieces of brain. It is part of a large-scale study

to create a bag of artificially grown brain cells. Science

correspondent Pallab Ghosh has this exclusive report.

An X-ray of the human brain, the body's most complex organ. This is

one with Parkinson's disease. The dark areas are where the cells have

been ravaged. Derek Underwood is helping scientists combat the

disease. He is one of the 120,000 people in Britain who have the

condition. I started getting twitches in my face, like spasms. I

started getting a tremor in my left hand. And sometimes I did not even

notice it. People brought it to my attention. Derek is involved in a

pioneering study in which researchers will grow brain cells

from tiny bids of his game. Researchers chop it up into small

pieces and add chemicals. Over the next few weeks, these skin cells

will be turned into brain cells. By studying these artificially created

brain cells, researchers will be able to see in great detail how

Parkinson's disease develops. Chemicals are added to genetically

reprogrammed the cells, then they are put into an incubator. Here,

seen for the first time, is what happens. First, Derek's skin cells

break down. The small bids clump together to form thousands of stem

cells. These turn into nerve cells. They grow long strands, connections

which send signals to other parts of the brain. After 16 weeks,

Derek's skin sample has grown into brain cells. Because they are made

from his DNA, they were gradually develop Parkinson's. That is

something scientists have never been able to observe before.

have never been able to study them in detail, because they are inside

the brain and inaccessible. Now we can grow them in a dish, study them,

cultured them for weeks and months on end to study how they live and

die, and why they are different. The researchers are growing brain

cells from many Parkinson's patients. With his brain bank, they

hope to be able to develop new A man who blocked and tweeted the

details of his wife's affair on the internet has been cleared of

harassing her lover. Ian Puddick posted videos and pictures all over

the night in theory at his wife's ten-year fare. After the verdict,

he said his victory was won for the small man.

Now, some politicians are fond of talking about the squeezed middle,

people in work but none the less facing tough times as Britain

struggles out of recession. Many will be affected by today's news on

public sector pensions, but what other changes are on the way? How

are people coping? All this week's special correspondent Richard

Bilton has been gauging the mode. Today he sent this report from

Derbyshire. Welcome to Middle England,

Melbourne sits in the hills of south Derbyshire but agriculture

does not pay the bills here any The parents of these kids at the

village school are much more likely to be commuters than work the land.

Sarah the dinner lady says you can feel the village tightening its

belt. Well, our school dinner numbers have gone down. By about 20

in his last half-term. Roast potatoes, George? So that has

affected us, because that has cut all of our powers. Which one did

you look out for ideas? Mrs Howell teaches the reception class. She

came here after being made redundant at a Las school. Have you

finished? She is happy here, but the staffroom has concerns. A

national dispute over pensions looms. I will not be striking

personally, because I'm here to do my job, but I am 100% behind anyone

who chooses to do the strike. school sits in a village full of

small businesses. So, of course, people are worried about cuts to

the public sector, but here they are just as worried about the state

of the economy and what might come The school's chair of governors is

also one of the village's main employers. The ships spring water

from Melbourne all over the country. How does he find a live in tougher

economic times? The cuts have got to come, because we are

overspending. I agree with it, but I think the man in the street has

got less money in his pocket. Generally, the concern is about

jobs. They are being very careful at the moment. All of this means

little in the playground. But there are not many families here that are

untouched. Job worries and budget cutbacks, a life in middle England.

In golf, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy has fired a 66 to lead the

US Open by six shots after the second round at the Congressional

calls. If he can hold his nerve, he has put an suffered a strong

position to win his first major trophy with two rounds to go. Joe

This is Rory McIlroy, and what follows is extraordinary. The US

Open prides itself on humbling the world's best golfers, it provides

challenges to test the most experienced. Well, McIlroy is 22,

and the ball obeyed his every command. It is often said that his

putting is suspect. Rock solid here. By the 17th, he was out of sight,

shot the other has dreamt of, he rated it as so-so. But this that

made history. It left him 13 under par. No one had ever been 13 under

par at the US Open before. I am bowing down to the young man!

he has blazed a trail in major championships before only to fall