01/08/2011 BBC News at Ten

Breaking the debt deadlock, America's politicians are poised to

start voting on a deal. After weeks of wrangling, President Obama

announces a plan to raise the debt ceiling, but has to accept big

spending cuts. It will allow us to avoid default and end the crisis

Washington imposed on the rest of America. It is time for America to

deal with its spending problem and the fact that we have made promises

to the American people that kids and gran kids cannot afford.

will have the latest on the attempts to end the debt crisis.

Also, facing up to an impoverished old age. A warning that private

pensions need an urgent overhaul. It is a wake-up call for the

industry, saying you have to devise a trustworthy system which shares

the press, which is transparent and After its deadliest day, more

violence in Syria, as international condemnation grows.

From good health to a hospital bed. The shocking impact of alcohol on

young people. We have a special report.

And India crushed. England are unstoppable as they win the second

Good evening. After weeks of wrangling, arguments

and uncertainty, America's politicians are poised tonight to

start voting on a deal to stop the country potentially defaulting on

its debts. The last minute plan, thrashed out between President

Obama and party leaders, would raise the country's debt ceiling by

2.4 trillion dollars. It also includes the same amount in

spending cuts. The President described the last few weeks as

messy, but urged everyone to back the deal. Paul Adams has the latest

on the move to end the debt crisis, and his piece contains flash

photography. As the clock ticks down, the

politics goes on. Frenetic activity on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers

gathered to hear details of a deal struck over the weekend, and give

their verdict. Members of the Democratic Party met in the bowels

of the building, plenty frustrated with the outcome. We have to

swallow our egos and a pride, and self-respect, and save our country

and the American people. Do you think you can get behind this bill?

No. It fell to the vice-president to win the Democrats around.

thought it was a good meeting. I feel confident that this will pass.

What do we know about the deal that is on the table? First of all, it

sets a new debt ceiling of 16.7 trillion dollars. It says future

government spending should be cut by around one trillion dollars, and

it establishes a congressional committee to come up with even

deeper cuts in the future. Everyone has had to make concessions, but

the Republican leadership in the House of Representatives is doing

its best to claim victory. We see this as a good step in the right

direction. As a decent down-payment on the deficit and a huge change in

the culture of spending. No one is pretending that getting here has

been nice to watch. This was a mess, there is no question, it was a

circus at times. We unnecessarily sent the message around the country

and the Globe that the United States might default on its

obligations for the first time in its history. But in the end,

compromise won out. One Wall Street, which never really doubted that a

deal would be done, stocks rose this morning -- on Wall Street.

Then the real world intruded. The latest Dismore manufacturing

figures sent the markets tumbling - - Dismore. This has been a bruising

And the debates about the size and function of government rage on.

What can we expect in the next few hours? We think that possibly,

within the next hour or so, the House of Representatives will hold

its vote. And we think that the bill is likely to pass. You will

hear plenty of opposition, and there will be plenty of no votes

from Conservative members of the Tea Party wing of the Republican

Party. They think the cuts don't go far enough. They will be joined by

Liberal Democrats to think the cuts go too far, and that the burden of

those cuts will fall on the poorest and most vulnerable in society. The

Democratic leader in the House, Nancy Pelosi, said she would

support the Bill, but was concerned it contained not one red cent from

the wealthiest people in the country. The Senate, we think, will

vote on this tomorrow. Once again, it is likely that the Bill will be

passed. You are right, this isn't the end of this row, it is perhaps

just the beginning. We are going to hear all of the arguments that have

been passionately debated, thrashed out again when the committee meets

to discuss phase two of the cuts. Debates about the size of

government and where the cuts should fall, about whether income

tax should be raised as part of the whole process. And we have eight

election coming up at the end of next year. Frankly -- we have an

election. What you have been hearing about is what the election

Millions of people face a bleak old age, because their pensions will be

nowhere near enough for them to live on when they stop working. A

review of private sector pensions commission by part of the industry

itself says that workers must get a better deal from pension funds, if

they are to save enough for their retirement. The chair of the

commission said schemes what will complex, costly and inefficient --

were too complex. 14 million people who work in the

private sector are not saving for their old age, because they find

the pensions system too difficult to understand, and they don't

believe they will benefit from the scheme when they retire. This

report warns of a bleak dawn in the years ahead, with a generation of

retirees who will be unable to adequately exist when they stop

working. It is a wake-up call for consumers. Saying to them, if you

don't save, you are going to face that impoverished retirement. It is

a wake-up call for the industry, saying you have to devise a

trustworthy system which shares the risk, which is transparent and low

cost. John takes his retirement plans very seriously. He has a

workplace pension but says because of the complexity of it, he needs

to manage it very carefully on a regular basis. It is not all

straightforward. You have to look into it yourself and work out what

you need and what you don't. It is easy for me because I have spent a

lot of time looking into it and trying to work it out for myself. I

think most people leave it for another year. The pensions

commission has called for a less complex system. Lower charges, and

a government cap on costs, as part of wide-ranging proposals. The

report says people need to feel they get value for money when

investing in a pension scheme, or they simply won't bother saving for

their retirement. Instead, they will spend today, ignore tomorrow,

and end up scraping by in old age. Major changes aimed at forcing

people to save come in next year. Compulsory enablement will mean

millions of workers will automatically have a pension. --

compulsory and Romans. People in their 30s and 40s, it will be

decades before they retire and we need to get people saving much

younger than in the past, because a People must save more for their

retirement, but the strongest criticism is aimed at the pensions

industry, claiming charges are too high, and most tellingly, it says

trust in the pensions industry is low.

Syrian troops, backed by tanks, have renewed attacks on the city of

Hama, won the second day of a crackdown on anti-government

protesters. Violence was reported in several cities around Syria over

the weekend, with human rights activists claiming dozens of people

were killed in the opposition controlled Hama. Foreign

journalists are restricted from reporting freely within Syria.

This report was sent from a writ. A big turnout from the funeral of

one of the scores of protesters human rights groups say were killed

by security forces yesterday. But on Syrian state TV, there was no

mention of the civilians who died. The trouble was all blamed on armed

terrorist gangs. Instead, the official focus was on military

funerals. Today, at least half-a-dozen,

killed in yesterday's clashes. Up in Hama, the army's role is not

seen as so heroic. Tank shells, machine guns and sniping claimed

scores of civilian lives, according to activists. It was one of the

bloodiest days since the uprising began in March. It has stirred

widespread international condemnation. We were extremely

appalled and shocked by what happened in Hama yesterday, there

has never been any justification. You cannot justify attacking

civilians who are exercising their right to democratic process. You

can't send in the tanks and attack them like that. For the past month,

the city has been virtually taken over by its own people. That is why

the regime felt it had to try to take it back. Civilians are in

danger, but they say they don't want outside intervention. No, no,

not at all. We refuse all military interference. We need political

support for our opinions, we will continue our peaceful uprising

without weapons. Even if they kill us, we will not use weapons. It is

in the international arena that part of the battle is now being

waged. Syrian nationals living abroad have been staging rallies

for and against the government. The European Union has announced more

economic sanctions. And there is growing pressure for a UN Security

Council meeting to condemn the Syrian regime. Some countries are

put off by the messy NATO operation in Libya. The Syrian people are

paying the price for what is perceived as an end less

intervention in Libya. China and Russia and these countries to say,

we are not signing up again... The problem is that by refusing to act,

they are allowing the massacres to continue. The upshot is that

President Bashar al-Assad does not have to worry about international

intervention. The diplomatic and economic pressures might have a

cumulative effect, but that is in the wrong run. Four-and-a-half

months on, -- the long run. Four- and-a-half months on, the uprising

shows no sign of petering out, but the demise of this entrenched and

ruthless regime is far from sure, and clearly, it is not imminent.

Our correspondent is at the United Nations in New York, where an

emergency meeting is under way. What are the options for the

international community? Remember that the UN Security Council has

been paralysed for weeks over Syria. Two months ago, Britain and its

European partners tried to get the Council to condemn what is going on,

but Russia and China, who are traditionally allies of Damascus,

would not. They and other developing -- developing countries

feared that condemning the violence could be a first step towards

military intervention. That is what happened in Libya which they feel

is a mess and they didn't want to go there. Now the violence has

restarted, Britain and its allies are trying again to get the UN

Security Council to condemn what is going on. British diplomats are

hoping the mood has shifted tonight, they are pointing to the fact that

Russia has strongly criticised his latest violence. The question is

whether the UN Security Council can overcome its own divisions and try

to act over Syria. In Egypt, troops have clashed with

protesters camping out in Tahrir Square. The protest broke out after

Britain's largest bank, HSBC has warned it could be shedding another

25,000 jobs worldwide as it pulls from countries where it is struggle

to compete, but for now, the bank is not planning many more job cuts

beyond those it has announced. Today it announced surprise profits

for the first half of the year, the first of a string of well-known

High Street bangs to announce its earnings.

Hment is BC may be coping with the crisis better than some, but it is

still unpicking its old way of working, moving from 20 countries

to save billions and boost earnings. HSBC made �7 billion, a figure that

surprised the City and pushed up its shares.

In UK, it made �843 million. With profits up a third.

HSBC wants to be more effective and I efficient. To do more with less.

That means less people, adding more technology, they have to make every

transaction mean more than it did before.

But the jobbings continue to go even though the bank is back in the

black. The next round of redundancies to see 25,000 forced

to leave over three years. That is one in ten of the existing global

workforce. The staff in the UK will be relieved that for now, there is

no new job losses alongside the 700 announced. The bank is building its

business in Asia and Latin America. That strategy is producing higher

pro-ities of the kind that Barclays, Lloyds and the Bank of Scotland may

not match when they announce earnings, but with the banks blamed

by many for the lending that brought financial chaos, are

banking job losses that bad for the economy? Banks cutting jobs is a

sign that business generally is at the top of what we call the

business cycle, that is what the economists say for a cycle over the

companies hiring and firing people. It is a bad sign to get to the top

of that it suggests that company pro-ities are peaking. We have been

counting on improving corporate pro-ities to keep the British

economy motoring when public spending is reduced. HSBC adds it

is on track to meet its promise to extend lending to smaller

businesses, but it is a also a sign that it may take years for the bank

earnings to fully recover. On the programme:

COMMENTATOR: That is a bad... Sachin Tendulkar cannot stop

England as they sweep India aside at Trent Bridge.

Alcoholic liver disease in the under 30s has risen by a half in

ten years according to figures. Doctors are warning of the impact

of alcohol on young people's health after the findings suggest that a

quarter of the population drinks too much. Richard Bilton had been

given rare access to patients and staff at one hospital.

This is Victoria. She is 35. She is yellow as her liver is failing.

You just are selfish through drink. As long as you are OK.

You just don't care. You're just ruined by a substance

that I pour into my body. She's in Liverpool's Royal Hospital,

pail Richardson is her doctor. He is worried about her condition.

He decides to take Victoria's mum for a chat.

Off camera, she is told that her daughter is getting worse. She may

There have been better days. Victoria has two young children and

her own home, but her mother says that the drink has never been far

away. When she was 16 she started lying,

saying she had not had a drink but you could smell it on her.

Her doctor says that they see more and more young people with alcohol

re-lated disease. Those running the hospitals are concerned.

We are seeing people as young as in their 20s dying of alcoholic liver

disease. Now that was not seen 30 years ago.

Overall, alcohol consumption is falling, but in our hospitals,

alcohol re-lated admissions continue to soar. Last year for the

first time there were more than 1 million. Alcohol admissions have

doubled in a decade. Here they say it is no longer just

A&E, alcohol is an issue in every ward.

Nationally, the health campaigners want controls on pricing, marketing

and the availability of alcohol. They say that the drinks industry

has too much of a hold on government policy.

It is costing the health service about �2.7 billion a year. About 9

million people are affected by the harm that alle alcohol causes it is

a big problem. Back in Liverpool, a week on and Victoria's made a

strong recovery. She is out of danger, but liver disease is now

the country's fifth biggest killer. What used to kill the old is

threatening the young. Nurse Rbeecca Leighton has appeared

in court in relation to the deaths of a number of patients in Stepping

Hill Hospital in Stockport. She appeared by video link and spoke

only to confirm her name. Rbeecca Leighton is charged with three

counts of criminal damage with intent to endanger life and also

three other charges. Jim Devine has been released from prison after

serving a quarter of his 16-month sentence for expenses fraud. He was

jailed for putting in for false invoices of more than �8,000.

Jake Davis a member of the Annonymous was arrested by the e-

crime unit. Jake Davis has been released on bail.

A memorial has taken place in the Norwegian Parliament to commemorate

those who died in the bombings and the shootings ten days ago.

Norway's Prime Minister warned against the danger of a witch hunt

after the deaths of 77 people, most of them teenagers, saying that all

of us have something to learn. A shrine to the fallen.

So many flowers and candles surround Oslo's cathedral, that

other memials have sprung up around Norway's capital.

-- memorials. Today at the country's Parliament,

politics was put aside as the king and the Crown Prince led a memorial.

As relatives of some of those when died watched on, the Prime Minister

said that all of Norway had lessons to learn.

TRANSLATION: I ask from this podium that we do not start a wif hunt.

The unity we have shown during the unreal days calls for continued

generosity. We all have something to learn from the tragedies.

It was, perhaps, the most unusual meeting in the Parliament's 197-

year history. The McOf Norwegian violinist Arve Telleson being

played. At the scene of the bomb attack the

workers were told to extend holidays until the clear up is

complete. Some BBC journalists are taking

part in a second 24 hour strike. Members of the International

Consortium Of Investigative Journalists walked out in a dispute

over compulsory redundancies. At heart of the strike job losses at

Bush House, headquarters of the BBC's World Service brought on by

cuts in Government funding. Out of 400 closures, 100 are being made

forible redundant. Here at the BBC's monitoring centre and the

Caversham. 43 of them left the BBC today. Journalists across the

country walked out at midnight. The union arguing that the BBC is big

enough to find jobs for all of those made redundant.

The BBC is being intransigent and treating individual members of

staff unfairly, forcing them out, sacrificing livelihoods when we

know there are jobs to be had within the BBC that they could have

been redeployed into. There are changes to the schedule

today... As managers and non- striking staff put out a reduced

news service, the BBC insisted that its position will not change.

The reality is that like many or organisations facing this level of

cut, it is not possible to absorb all of those people in the rest of

the organisation. But journalists on the picture duty

around the country have other worries. The licence fee is frozen,

the BBC is looking for deep cuts to keep itself afloat over six years.

That means that hundreds more jobs are likely to go.

In cricket, England have won the second Test against India in

convincing style in front of a packed house at Trent Bridge. The

bats pen reached 544 all out. Tim Bresnan taking five wickets.

They now have a 2-0 lead in the series.

It is the series that keeps on giving. Fans missing work knew that

they would not be disappointed. England with Tim Bresnan were in

full flow from the off, boundary after boundary was hit. He and

Stuart Broad bullied the Indian attack. Piling on the misery and

the runs as the pair set a target and then decided to terrorise them

with the ball. Stuart Broad got the early wicket. Rahul Dravid gone,

the celebrations said it all. They were soon rejoicing again, VVS

Laxman's remove by Jimmy Anderson. India were running out of ideas.

Bats were used in self-defence. Fewile work from Yuvraj Singh.

Then Scott Elstone waved the white flag. Only Sachin Tendulkar showed

staying power getting his 50, but once he was gone, the contest was

over. Late flourbishes included Tim Bresnan -- fourishes included Tim

Bresnan getting a hall. And the Yorkshireman was allowed to

bask in the moment and England controlled the series.

We have had to dig deep in this treft. We have not -- Test, we have

not had it all our own way. In a situation like this what you

want to do as a team is to be at your best. Here we have not been

able to do that. That is the major difference between the two sides.

We are hoping we have time to regroup before the next Test Match.