08/07/2011 BBC News at Ten

The Prime Minister's former Head of Communications is released on bail

after being arrested over phone hacking and corruption. There is an

awful lot I would like to say but I can't. Andy Coulson, the former

editor of the News of the World, spent nine hours in custody as

David Cameron defends giving him a job. The decision to hire him was

mine and mine alone, and I take full responsibility. We saw a prime

minister today who still does not seem to get it, and he doesn't seem

to be able to lead the change we need in the way the press works in

this country. -- lead the way. As police search Andy Coulson's London

home, another former News of the World journalist is arrested and

bailed. News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is still

in a job but no longer in charge of the company's internal inquiry.

As shares drop in BSkyB, we'll be exploring how the regulators now

view Rupert Murdoch's takeover bid. Also tonight: Turning up the heat

on its customers - British Gas will charge 18% more this year. We feel

like we can't pay it all the time and the more and we will be

choosing between food and heating this winter.

An emergency appeal for millions facing starvation in East Africa

after the worst drought in decades. And Atlantis becomes the very last

shuttle to blast off as an era of Good evening. The Prime Minister's

former head of communications Andy Coulson has been released on bail

tonight after his arrest over allegations of corruption and phone

hacking at the News of the World. Mr Coulson, a former editor of the

paper, spent nine hours in custody. He left tonight saying, "there's an

awful lot I would like to say, but I can't". Today, David Cameron

repeatedly defended his decision to hire him and confirmed that there

will be two separate inquiries into the scandal. Our political editor,

Nick Robinson, looks now at the arrest and its implications. His

report contains some flash photography. What happened? Koch

snicked David Cameron's man, a headline Andy Coulson may have

written better when he was editor of the News of the World. I can't

say any more. That is because he was arrested and questioned for

nine hours at Lewisham police station today, on suspicion of

corruption. His former boss had thought the hacking scandal would

disappear. Instead it exploded in his face. Finding himself in the

political dog, the Prime Minister decided to plead guilty for failing

to take seriously the epidemic of phone hacking. We turned a blind

eye to the need to sort this issue, to get on top of the bad practices

to change the way newspapers are regulated. We have not gripped this

issue. There were mitigating circumstances. He, like other

politicians, wanted the papers to help him win. The relationship

became too close, too cosy. We were all in this world of ones and the

support of newspaper groups and broadcasting corporations. When we

do that do we spend enough time asking questions about how these

newspapers are regulated? No, we didn't. David Cameron's close aide

was warned before the election that he had hired a man facing serious

criminal charges, but he said today that he always accepted Andy

Coulson's assurances he did nothing wrong. Andy Coulson said he

resigned as a result of the phone hacking at the News of the World

and I decided to give him a second chance. But you hired him when many

people were saying that hacking was widespread, and when many people

believed it was simply implausible for someone who ran a newspaper to

say nothing to do with me. Nobody gave beat any specific information.

Obviously I sought assurances, I received assurances, I commissioned

a company to do a basic background check but I am not hiding from the

decision I made. His -- is he still a friend? Yes, he became a friend.

A judge lead inquiry will investigate why phone hacking

spread and why the police uncovered it. The other were looking to the

ethics and regulation of the media. The Prime Minister said it was not

up to him to decide whether Rupert Murdoch should be stopped from

buying all of Sky TV. Labour disagree. We saw a prime minister

today who still doesn't seem to get it, and he doesn't seem to be able

to lead the change we need in the way the press works in this country.

He couldn't even bring himself to apologise for hiring Andy Coulson.

The test of the talk from both main parties of the brave new world may

be whether we see less of this, the red hair of Rebekah Brooks arriving

at Number 10. Or this. Greeting her friend, the Prime Minister, with a

kiss. He went to her wedding, as did Gordon Brown when he was Prime

Minister. She was also friends with Tony Blair when he was in Number 10,

a certain man called Andy Coulson took him on a tour of News

International but did not want the kiss on cameras. Today David

Cameron, who spent days refusing to condemn his friend, said that her

offer to resign as boss of News International should have been

accepted. She told her staff tonight that when they saw what she

had seen they would know why the paper had to close. David Cameron

must be wondering how he ended up being the man who has promised to

clean up the British press, too regulated better, and to end the

cosy relationship between politicians and media barons. After

all, what we used to call the Tory press will not be impressed. That

say, his aides, his leadership. His critics say it is only the

beginning of the price he has to pay for hiring Andy Coulson. The

man who returned home tonight, knowing he is destined to make

Well the police investigation appeared to gather pace today. The

News of the World's former royal editor Clive Goodman was released

on bail tonight after being arrested to be questioned about

corruption. In 2007, he was convicted and jailed over phone

hacking. Here's our home affairs correspondent, June Kelly, on the

state of the investigation. While Andy Coulson was under arrest, the

police were at his home looking for evidence. A computer among the

items seized. Detectives removing the belongings of a man who was

once a confidant of the Prime Minister. Also arrested today and

bailed tonight, Clive Goodman, four years described as a roving

reporter, now under investigation for corruption. He was first

arrested five years ago during the initial criminal investigation. He

and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire both served time for phone

hacking, also under suspicion and currently on bail Ian Edmondson,

Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup. Andy Coulson is the most

senior a rest to date. It was the discovery at News International's

headquarters of certain e-mails which sparked the corruption

investigation, involving alleged links between journalists and

police officers. There are new claims when it comes to e-mails

today. We understand the police have found evidence that the News

International executive deleted a large proportion of an archive of

e-mails, e-mails sent by and two journalists from the News of the

World over a five-year period. International says this is untrue

and all evidence has been handed to the police. Meanwhile, the role of

the News of the World in one of the country's most high-profile

criminal investigations is being questioned tonight. A road rage

murder in 1996 - police knew their prime suspect was Kenneth enjoy it.

His name appeared in the News of the World, potentially jeopardising

the inquiry. Kenneth was a well- known killer and I didn't need

publicity about that. The vast majority of journalists respected

that and were very co-operative but the News of the World were not.

the final edition of the News of the World is prepared this weekend,

Rebekah Brooks is no longer overseeing the paper's internal

investigation team. News International is continuing to

try to contain the crisis but its financial impact is becoming

increasingly clear. Shares in BSkyB dropped 8% a day after the media

regulator indicated it might intervene in the bid to take full

control of the satellite broadcaster. Our business editor

looks at the future of the Murdoch business. The famous Wapping

headquarters of News International, owner of a quartet of leading

newspapers, which becomes a trio after the News of the World's final

edition on Sunday. Here is the man who decided to axe the newspaper,

James Murdoch, chairman of News International, who decided that

with advertises deserting, he had no commercial future. But News

International's Sun daily paper continues to thrive and says it is

highly likely a new Sunday edition of the Sun will be launched. There

has been a long-standing plan, we understand, to move to a seven-day

operation with the same brand. This closure of the News of the World

may be expedient way to turn a problem into an opportunity.

News of the World, whose revenues were around �160 million a year,

was a pretty big business but that is less than 1% of the revenues of

News Corporation. Its annual turnover is more than �20 billion.

Far more important to News Corporation is British Sky

Broadcasting, with income greater than �6 billion each year. News

Corporation currently owns 39% of Sky but it wants 100%. Not everyone

thinks that would be a good idea. There have been 156,000 electronic

submissions about the deal in a week to the Culture Secretary, most

of them urging him to block the takeover. A leading Liberal

Democrats today petitioned the media regulator to declare News

Corporation unfit to control BSkyB. Broadcasters in this country are

now going to be required more than ever to have the highest standards.

That can't mean that companies have licences when employees of theirs

have been bribing the police, of obtaining information from the

police by paying for it illegally, and by breaking into people's

phones. Ofcom this afternoon indicated it may well erect a

sizable obstacle in the way of the takeover because it regards the

scandal at the News of the World relevant to whether the News

Corporation should own Sky. As a result, BSkyB shares have fallen

sharply. Or that alleged wrongdoing turned the banned toxic, that is

what its executives, including Rebekah Brooks, concluded. So toxic

indeed that even after the News of the World's demise, it may continue

to taint the Murdoch's global Millions of British Gas customers

are facing higher bills. Gas will go up by an average of 18%,

electricity by 16%. The company is blaming high prices on the

wholesale market, but the energy secretary Chris Huhne says that is

not good enough. Another series of price rises for

heat and power, just as households are being burnt by food and petrol

increases and pressure on their incomes. Mark Butler and his family

are particularly badly affected, because they are dependent on

benefits while he deals with a back problem. They cannot help using gas

and electricity, but it is taking a huge share of their income. It is

25% of my household budget and the single largest payment we have. It

will push us below the poverty line if we are not already there. The

effect it will have on us at is that we will be able to eat their

heat the house or feed ourselves. The price rise is at the top end of

expectations. �190 a year will be added on average to the bill of a

customer who buys both gas and electricity. British Gas is the

biggest supplier, so there is a direct impact on 9 million

customers. At British Gas, we know it has not been easy. Despite

saying last week that it would move reluctantly, the company has

decided not to hold back on this major increase. We have recently

seen Middle Eastern turmoil which has pushed up wholesale gas prices

by 30%. We have been selling at a loss for four months, and that is

unsustainable. This round of price rises started with Scottish Power

last month. Now British Gas is pushing up its prices, and the fear

is now that the other big suppliers will do the same. Consumers are

told to shop around, but that is hard if prices are all going in one

direction. British Gas customers will take a hit on this today, but

there is a concern that where they go, everybody else will follow.

Nobody will be immune to that. Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said

consumers were being buffeted by fuel prices, and he refused to

stand by and watch this happen. He will not be able to stop British

Gas, but he has promised to heat up competition by bringing in more

suppliers. British aid agencies have launched

an urgent appeal for millions of people suffering in East Africa's

worst drought for 60 years. The Disasters Emergency Committee says

10 million people could now be at risk of starvation, with over 1000

people, mainly children, arriving in refugee camps every day, often

after a gruelling journeys. Large areas of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia

and South Sudan are affected. Our correspondent has a first-hand

account from the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya.

Dadaab is a dusty, desolate place, but the drought is forcing

thousands of refugees to flock here. The infants are the weakest of the

new arrivals. There is not much of them to measure. Tiny bodies,

ravaged by malnutrition and dehydration. Caterina is a Swiss

nurse here. She told me that recently, she cried with one mother.

Just babies, young children are dying. It happened to me last week.

I saw a crowded area and when there, and the baby was just dying. So I

tried to do something, but I could not do anything, so it died in my

arms. Caterina knows that this little boy is also hovering between

life and death. His mother agrees to take him to hospital, but only

reluctantly. She has five more children to care for, and was

prepared to let this one die, a sacrificed to save the others.

had some instances where some families have already prepared the

children for death. So we had to intervene and tell them no, this is

not possible. This child is still alive, and he can make it. This

camp is growing all the time. It is becoming increasingly overcrowded

and unsanitary as well. Aid agencies here are stretched to the

limit, and more people are arriving with every day that passes, over

1000 of them fleeing from civil war and now drought as well in their

native Somalia. No one here has any intention of going home any time

soon. But aid is making a difference here. On Monday, we

showed these pictures of a chronically malnourished baby. This

is him now. His doctors say he is out of danger and gradually growing

stronger. Amid the misery, there is also hope.

The TV and radio appeals have been Coming up on tonight's programme:

cowboy hats and a rodeo for William and Kate as they end their tour of

Canada. The space shuttle Atlantis has

blasted off on the last mission in NASA's 30 year shuttle programme

after more than 120 million miles of travel. Four astronauts are

aboard, carrying supplies to the International Space Station. Our

science correspondent watched the final lift off at Cape Canaveral.

Cheers for a moment of history. Four astronauts about to fly on the

final space shuttle. It is the end of an era. At the launchpad,

Atlantis fuelled and ready. With three hours to go, the crew clamber

inside. An awkward fit, but the launch is on. Good luck to you and

your crew in this to American icon. Ignition. Should the shuttles have

flown for 30 years. Now, the last count down. And lift off! The final

lift off of Atlantis. Even from three miles away, it is

staggeringly bright as the shuttle accelerates towards 17,000 miles an

hour. An incredible sight. Here it comes, a great wave of sound. You

can actually feel it inside you. Huge crowds were watching, and

emotional sight. I wanted to see a shuttle launch more than anything.

And the final one makes it even better. We came all the way from

Virginia. And seeing that made me have something to tell my friends

when I get home. The mission is to deliver supplies to the

International Space Station, but who will do the job after the

shuttle? For several years at least, Russian rockets will be the only

way Americans will reach space. Humiliating for the nation that put

men on the moon. So NASA wants private companies to step in. This

commercial system could ferry astronauts in three years' time. So

where does this lead? This NASA video talks of missions to

asteroids and Mars, but a former boss of the agency says man's space

flight is in disarray. What an incredible mistake it is to be

retiring the shuttle without a replacement. Despite all the

political flimflam talking about commercial space operations, we do

not have those yet. Tonight, Atlantis is in orbit. It will

return in 12 days, when America will face tough questions about its

future in space. In the last half-hour, the world's

newest country has come into existence. Celebrations have begun

in South Sudan, but there are new fears about security, with the UK

approving a 7000 strong peacekeeping force there. The birth

of South Sudan comes after two decades of the Sudanese civil war,

which claimed some 2 million lives. A peace deal signed in 2005 paved

the way for autonomy in the South. But there are fears of new conflict

between north and south, centred on the oil-rich Abyei area on the

border. From Juba, the capital of South Sudan, Will Ross reports.

The final march to independence. I will never leave my land till I die,

the song herder throughout the decades of war with North Sudan.

Now they have their land, and South Sudan is born. With a little help

from a mobile, people rehearse the brand new national anthem. The way

of life has not changed much for centuries. Because of the war,

South Sudan will start out as one of the poorest nations on the

planet. When we were ruled by the north, we had no opportunities,

this chief tells me. Our children could not go to school, but now

things will change. We will see development here. But for now, this

is where the money is going. PC is still on shaky ground, and so in

the south, three times as much money is spent on the military

compared to education and health combined. These are the soldiers of

the army that fought for so many years against the Khartoum

government. The question for now as South Sudan becomes a new country

is, can all the people with guns stay united, or will different

rebel groups pop up? Like this group that just last week declared

war in the south, where clashes between tribes are common. The

border area is rich in oil. Just inside the north, President

Bashir's warplanes drop bombs to crush a rebellion. The fear is that

instead of sharing the oil, the two countries will keep fighting for

more. We are absolutely committed to peace. People have suffered for

too long, 58 years of war. It is in the interest of the North for the

South to be in peace with it, for the survival of the two states, it

is essential that we maintain two viable states. The struggle for

Southern independence is over. The struggle for peace is just

beginning. Prince William and the Duchess of

Cambridge are on their way to Los Angeles after a tour of Canada

widely regarded as a success. They spent their last day in Calgary

dressed down in cowboy hats and jeans, and attended a world famous

rodeo festival. Our royal correspondent's report contains

some flash photography. The final stop in Canada on their

first overseas tour together, and it has culminated in Calgary, home

of Canada's cowboys, where William and Kate launched the Annual wild

West rodeo, the Calgary Stampede. It has been a nine-day visit which

according to William has far surpassed the expectations. Canada

has once again shown that where Royals are concerned, particularly

where those Royals are young and glamourous like these two, no

country is capable of a more devoted welcome. Earlier, William

and Kate had seen something of those essential stampede activities,

the riding of angry bulls, something frowned on by animal

rights groups, and driving chuckwagons. It is a visit for

which the couple's down-to-earth style has been perfectly suited.

His visit was pretty much guaranteed to be a success. One of

the reasons for coming to Canada is that so many Canadians are

enthusiastic about the royal family. But the fact that it has been such

a spectacular success is down to the couple themselves. Everywhere

they have been, they have shown an unStaffie side to royalty. They

have demonstrated what a potent impact two young royals working

together are capable of having. Tonight they said farewell to

Canada, having promised to return, and headed on to California.

While we have been on air, there has been a development in the phone

hacking investigation. Scotland Yard has issued a statement saying

that a 63-year-old man was arrested at a residential address in Surrey