06/02/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at ten: The Syrian regime unleashes a

massive rocket attack on the people The latest shelling claims dozens

of lives and injures many more. Uur correspondent Paul Wood is one of

the few reporters there. shelling his constant, we are

hearing it impact every few seconds and in reply, you can also hear a

little bit of Kalashnikov fire. It is a pretty futile gesture.

Parents are forced to bury their children at night in a climate of

extreme fear - most of the world community is appalled. This is a

doomed regime as well as a murdering regime. There's no way it

can recover its credibility internationally or with its own

people. We'll be looking at the efforts to mount a new

international effort to end the violence. Also tonight:

The extremist Muslim cleric Abu Qatada is to be released on bail

after a special immigration appeal. At Network Rail, the chief

executive and senior colleagues will not be accepting bonus

payments this year. 60 years to the day after the

Queen's accession, a visit to King's Lynn as Diamond Jubilee

years gets underway. And England's cricketers lose the

third Test against Pakistan, losing In sport, England suffered their

first ever series whitewash against Pakistan. Bewildered by spin, the

batsmen are told they have Good evening.

For a third day, the residents of Homs in western Syria have suffered

a sustained bombardment from government forces. It's the

heaviest assault on the city since the uprising against the Assad

regime started last year. Britain says it's trying to build an

international coalition to press for a peaceful resolution. There

are very few international journalists inside Syria - the

BBC's Paul Wood is one of them, along with cameraman Fred Scott.

Their report from Homs includes Daybreak in Homs. The artillery

fire was just beginning. Dazed, he In this part of the city, it is the

worst they have endured. God is great, he shouts, in defiance. The

shelling is constant now, we are hearing it impact every few seconds.

In reply, you can also hear a little bit of Kalashnikov fire. It

is a pretty futile gesture. Eyewitnesses say a field clinic was

hit. They filmed the injured being Over several days of this, most of

the casualties have been civilians. The houses don't have basements,

there's nowhere to hide. Her Where's the Arab League, she shouts.

Her this woman's son is badly wounded. Give us guns, she screams,

we can't defend ourselves. Even in the midst of all this, most hide

their faces. They say there's no telling what the regime will do.

The only thing they had was the UN. We wanted the Arab League to give

our situation to the UN so they could help us, but now they've

abandoned us. Who will help us now? Some of the dead were armed. This

man died attacking a government sniper position yesterday. The

regime says the violence is caused by the fighters of the Free Syrian

Army. TRANSLATION: No. Everything we do is to defend our people. The

regime can't get to us so it retaliates against civilians

instead. They are certainly paying the price. The shroud is for a

seven-year-old girl. They carefully Like all the dead here, she must be

buried in darkness. A daytime is There's no family, no prayers and

little dignity. They have to hurry, even now they are attacked. There

will be many more such desperate and lonely burials.

For the latest on the situation, let's talk to Paul. What can you

tell us about what is happening this evening? We think we counted

several hundred mortar and shell impacts during the day. It hasn't

kept up this evening, but they are still falling every so often. We

can hear explosions, some of them quite close. People have tried to

stay inside and that has kept the number of casualties down. They

believed 42 were killed here, though that is not confirmed. You

saw a night-time burial. People have gone out this evening from

this neighbourhood the Bury 17 people at once and they felt

themselves in such danger that they had to dig in one large hole for

those 17 bodies. They put the bodies into a mass grave and

hurriedly covered over that grave before making their escape and even

then they were fired on. What people really fear is that ground

troops are about to come in, there's about to be an invasion. We

don't know if that is the case, we have had by witnesses saying troops

have moved up to within about one kilometre of where I'm speaking

from. People believe that after the UN vote at the weekend, the Syrian

regime now feels itself invulnerable and can therefore act

without restraint. If that is the case, it will be very bad for

people here. Her thank you. The United States has responded to

the crisis by closing its embassy in Damascus. And the British

ambassador to Syria has been recalled for talks in London. The

Foreign Secretary, William Hague, spoke of the Government's

abhorrence of the violence and the loss of life. With the latest on

the diplomatic efforts to find a peaceful resolution, here's our

On the streets of Beirut today, for a change it wasn't American flags

they were burning, but flags from China and Russia. Anger at both

countries for blocking the UN Security Council this weekend from

criticising President Assad and his forces. In the House of Commons,

there was a chorus of condemnation, above all of Russia. Will not

Russia bear of very heavy responsibility if Syria now

descends into a bloody and protracted civil war? Isn't it the

case that as the former Foreign Secretary just said, Russia is

turning itself into a pariah state? William Hague branded the vetoes a

grave error of judgment and accused Russia and China of siding with

President Assad and his government. This is a doomed regime as well as

a murdering regime. There's no way it can recover its credibility

internationally or with its own people. The UN Security Council's

failure to agree a resolution at does not signal the end of our

efforts to end the violence in Syria. Her but the question is,

what options are there for risen -- removing President Assad? Russia

and China has vetoes and means that Security Council is virtually

impotent for now. William Hague says pressure can still be ramped

up by other UN bodies like the Human Rights Council, by further

tightening EU sanctions and by setting up of friends of Syria

group to support Syrian opposition. But none of this will stop the

violence. And as President macro made clear it again today, there is

no likelihood of a Libyan star intervention. -- President Obama.

It is important for us to resolve this without recourse to outside

military intervention and that is possible. The Assad regime is

feeling the noose tightening around them. This will not be a matter of

if, it is when. Her meanwhile Russia is pursuing its own

diplomacy, hosting his Bahraini counterparts today, the Russian

foreign minister dismissed the Western reaction to the UN Security

Council veto as bordering on He's due to meet President Assad to

Maurer in Damascus, but whether Russia can or wants to persuade the

Syrian leader to stop his bombardment and start peace talks

is not certain. And with the outside world split, the danger

grows of the conflict in Syria that is increasingly militarised.

Diplomacy won't stop, but it doesn't look promising.

The extremist Muslim cleric Abu Qatada must be released from prison

on bail despite claims that he poses a threat to national security.

That's the decision of the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.

He's been in custody for almost nine years - fighting deportation

to his native Jordan, where he faces terrorism charges. The Home

Office says it's very disappointed by today's decision, as our

For a decade, he has been doing battle with the British authorities

as they have sought to detain and deport him. Last month, Abu Qatada

won the right to stay in the UK. Now, to the dismay of the Home

Office,es won the right to be free. And those conditions involve

virtual house arrest. He will be allowed out for just a couple of

hours each day and will be banned from using mobile phones and the

internet. In 2005, the then Home Secretary said he was a very

dangerous man and he should be removed. Nothing that has happened

over the last seven years has indicated that he has changed his

position. It is therefore important that he should be deported as soon

as possible. Shortly after 9/11, Abu Qatada praised Osama Bin Laden.

TRANSLATION: Bin Laden, in the image I have of him, that is the

image of a Muslim man who defends the causes of his nation against

its enemies. He should be supported by every Muslim. A UK is trying to

return him to Jordan. Europe has said he can't be sent back because

evidence obtained by torture could be used against him. Human rights

activists here have welcomed today's bail ruling. Has he

committed any offence in the UK? There's no evidence of that, he's

never been charged. Like any other person, he is entitled to be free.

Ministers at the Home Office know they are in running out of time and

options. Today the judge said that if in three months there's no

progress on sending Abu Qatada back to Jordan, the restrictions on his

freedom would probably have to be lifted. For now, a man who is said

have advocated killing Jews and attacking Westerners is preparing

for life outside prison. The former First Minister of

Northern Ireland, the Reverend Ian Paisley, has been admitted to

hospital in Belfast. Mr Paisley, now Lord Bannside, is 85 and was

taken ill yesterday. The nature of this condition isn't known. He's

suffered serious ill health in the past. His family has appealed for

privacy at a difficult time. Senior executives at Network Rail

have decided not to accept their bonuses. The Transport Secretary,

Justine Greening, had said she would go to the firm's annual

general meeting this week and vote against the payments, but said she

wasn't able to veto them. Network Rail said the bonus money would now

be allocated to improving safety, as our deputy political editor

Last week the boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, gave up

his bonus, this week, the people who run our railways gave up theirs.

Sir David Higgins could have gotten as much as �340,000, but under

pressure, he and his fellow directors said that they would

waive the bonuses for this year. The Transport Secretary was being

urged to use the levers that she had, she promised to vote against

them at a meeting this Friday. That meeting has been postponed. Justine

Greening welcomed the re-think. I think it shows that they have

understood the public mood on the issue.

Labour stayed was their pressure that enforced ministers to act

against a company that gets about �4 billion a year from the taxpayer.

It is a pity that Justine Greening and the Government have been out of

touch. Have not realised that this is something that matters to the

public and did not take action earlier, but I welcome the fact

that Network Rail have done their job for her. Network Rail has been

criticised for late running trains and last week it admitted mistakes

that led to the deaths of two girls at an Essex crossing. The company

said a any spare bonus cash would help to make the crossings safer in

a fund. The amount needed to improve

Network Rail is huge. This is nothing more than a gesture.

For London commuters, a mixed response to the decision on bonuses.

Hallelujah! I would say a triumph for common sense. Everyone is

feeling the crunch, why shouldn't they? Jirbgs without incentive the

countries -- the companies don't flourish, neither does the country.

Clearly, the bonus situation is beginning to have impact, at least

with companies like Network Rail, but it is too early to say if there

is a culture of restraint, especially in the private sector.

There are a lot of bonuses to be awarded.

In the city some are worried. What you don't expect, whether it

is from the Government or not, but that there could be an antibusiness

message. Whether it is denied emphatically or not, that is the

message that we are not only getting in the City of London, but

right across the world in business and industry and commerce it has to

stop. But for now it appears that there

is little light at the end of the tunnel. For many, there is a

difficult journey ahead. The Leveson Inquiry has heard from

Paul Dacre, the editor in chief of the Daily Mirror. Paul Dacre made a

robust defence of his paper's journalism, saying that celebrities

who use lifestyles to promote themselves should be subject to

press scrutiny and criticism. Paul Dacre said that phone hacking had

never taken place at the Mail's papers.

He is the man who runs Britain's second biggest daily, with a drive

and a feel for he is readers's prejudices. Paul Dacre rarely

appears in public. Today he came to the Peter Lovenkrands and lived up

to his reputation as one of Fleet Street's most competitive editors

and one with a clear sense of right and wrong.

A lot of celebrities, celebrity chefs, sports people, they make a

lot of money by revealing their lives to the public. Newspapers

should be given some latitude to look into their lives when they err.

By err do you mean morally? Without going into a definition of what

morality, then rewith? He was asked about the death of Boyzone singer,

gait gait gait. Thousanding complained it was homophobic, but

other newspapers carried similar stories. He brought the examples

with him. Last week, Barnon yes, sir Hollis complained about

coverage of a knife attack that left her daughter, Abigail

Witchalls paralysed. Paul Dacre said that the cover was

compassionate. Then there was Hugh Grant, who had come to accuse the

Mail papers of phone hacking. That, said the Mail, was a mendacious

smear. Paul Dacre stood by the phrase, that there had been no

phone hacking at the Mail and he went furniture.

Hugh Grant has exposed every intimate detail of his life. Let me

finish, especially he has spoken frequently about his desire to have

a child. Especially the time he was making a film about a child. Paul

Dacre also had a explosive suggestion for locking newspapers

into a future system of voluntary self-regulation. Get the newspaper

industry to issue reporters with a press card like this, without it

they would not be allowed to report the courts, police press

conferences and other events. It would be like a kitemark for

responsible journalism, but some are saying it is too close to

licensing journalists. Something that is unacceptable in a free

society. Coming up:

Join me to hear the remarkable stories of three people who sat to

have their portrait painted by Lucian Freud.

The Queen has marked the 60 anniversary of her accession to the

thrown with a visit to King's Lynn Town Hall in Norfolk. The visit was

the start of celebrations for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee to be

marked with four days of celebration in early June. Duerl

the day, royal gun salutes were fired.

-- during. It is what she's been doing for 60

years, now, constant and understated. Today at an infant

school in Dersingham, where the children offered her thanks for 60

years on the thrown. From Buckingham Palace, there were

photographs and a message. In this special year, the Queen says, as

she dedicates herself anew to the service, I hope that we are

reminded of the power of togetherness and the strength of

family, friendship and good neighbourliness.

This sentence embraces many of the themes of the reign of the Queen,

above all, service and dedication. Themes that she carried forward

after the death here at Sandringham, of her father, King George VI.

Elizabeth was 25. She was in Kenya when she heard she was now the

Queen. She and hur husband returned to London to be met by the then

Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. It was a huge upheaval as Lady

Prudence Penn who has known the Queen for 70 years, recalls.

This was her destinies, her private secretary said she grasped her

destiny with both hands. She did. So, what are the character

International Cricket Councils of the person whose image is so

familiar, but whose personality remains largely hidden.

Stree is a very strong person. She has a lot of common sense and great

wisdom. She really has. It is those qualities which have us

stained, -- her, say her friends, that has kept her going right up

until the wedding of Kate and Wills. I think with all of the occasions

she was genuinely comforted by the enormous sign of affection from

everybody and was. Always will be. She has earned it.

What then of the future of a Monarch who will bele 6 this year.

From a friend there is certainty about one thing.

To my mind, Her Majesty will remain sov rain as long as she lives --

sovereign as long as she lives. Even if she were unable to perform

some of her duties and pass them on to her family. She is still the

Queen and will be until she dies. Queen Elizabeth II, as committed as

ever to continue a lifetime of service.

England's cricketers have lost the third Test against Pakistan, it

means that they lost the series 3-. The first Test whitewash that pack

stran has inflicted on England. It could affect their ranking as the

world number one team. Andrew Strauss said they were not

good enough. History will record that England's cricketers were

tourists in Dubai. Neither the time nor the tide will erase the shame

of the whitewash. A near impossible 324 to win. Two out by lunch,

losing Jonathan Trott was a blow. Kevin Pietersen doinging in to

advance his reputation in the matches. He was not alone. Bell had

scored 51 runs in the whole series. A flourish from Prior took us into

the afternoon a glimpse of what might have been. The reality was

another lbw, the series was going to Pakistan. Once outcasts of world

cricket, they had outplayed the world's top ranked team.

We were not good enough or quick enough to adapt our games here,

that is for sure. Obviously, I have not been involved in a series where

so many of our batsmen have had a hard time as this one.

Well, for England losing the series 3-0 was an embarrassment they did

not see coming. Do they have the right technique? Do they have the

right team? The winner of the 2010 Tour de France, Alberto Contador

has been stripped of his title and banned from the sport after failing

a drugs test 18 months ago. He said he had eaten meat contaminated with

steroids. The ban is back-dated so he will be eligible to race again

this the summer, but will miss the Olympics.

Now, the first major exhibition of Lucian Freud's works since the

artist's death last year is to open at the National Gallery on Thursday.

He was known especially for his painting of the human body. Our

arts editor has been to see what the exhibition involves.

Move forward. This is very, very rare footage.

Lucian Freud did not like being documented at work. He was filmed

in his studio, on the last day that he ever painted. He was working on

this, his final portrait. He died leaving it unfirned.

-- unfinished. The sitter was the same man allowed to film the artist

at work, it was David Dawson, his long-time assistant.

He would look intently at a certain part of your body. Mix a colour on

the palette, put a mark down. Look again, clean that bit off on his

apron. Mix some more. A slight gradient difference, put that down,

decision-making all the time. Lucian Freud had the eyes of a hawk

with which he used to scrutinise his subjects. The objective to get

to the truth. To create paintings that revealed the inner personality

of his sitter and the artist. He liked to paint family members

and they liked to sit for him. Here is his daughter, Bella. He

portrayed her many times. She got to observe how he worked.

I would go in and he would just was working on something new. He would

sketch out the image. If it was a portrait there would be this piece

around here, these brushstrokes like their mind was coming to life

or something. Lucian Freud was a meticulous

painter. Spending weeks, months, even years on a single portrait. He

rushed for no-one. I watched it slowly being made,

what he did. I could talk, sit there talking

until he began to bend the mouth. Which was enjoyable.

And I could smoke as well. But, yes, it was a fascinating

experience. I think it is a very good portrait.

Lucian Freud's portraits are of a hauntless timeless quality. You can