27/02/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10:00pm: the Murdoch press empire in the

spotlight yet again - The Sun is accused by police of making

unlawful payments to a network of public officials. There also

appears to have been a culture at The Sun of illegal payments, and

systems have been created to pursue a take those payments. The -- to

facilitate those payments. Meanwhile the singer, Charlotte

Church, gets �600,000 in damages and costs after her phone was

repeatedly hacked. Nothing was deemed off-limits by those who

pursued me and my family, just to make money for a multinational

corporation. We'll have the latest on today's events at the High Court

and the Leveson Inquiry. Also tonight:

Nick Clegg says he wants more amendments to the health reforms.

David Cameron says no big changes are needed.

31 Britons onboard an Italian cruise ship, drifting without power

in the Indian Ocean. How the UK's heavy snowfall of

recent years could be linked to the melting of ice in the Arctic.

And The Artist breaks his silence Good evening. A day after Rupert

Murdoch launched his new Sunday paper, his press empire is again in

the spotlight. The Leveson inquiry heard claims that The Sun had

fostered a culture of illegal payments. The allegation was made

by one of Britain's top police officers, Sue Akers, who said she

was investigating a network of corrupt officials as part of the

inquiries into phone hacking and police corruption. Nicholas

Witchell reports. Report contains - photography.

The Leveson Inquiry has moved on to the relationship between the press

and the police. It is the area of greatest potential danger for News

International, as today's evidence demonstrated. Little more than 24

hours after Rupert Murdoch launched the Sun's Sunday edition, here was

a shocking insight into practices that News International had hoped

to keep secret. Giving evidence, deputy commissioner Sue Akers, head

of the Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking and improper

payments at News International. payments had been made not only two

police officers, but to a wide range of public officials. As well

as police, military, health, government, prison and others. It

suggests payments were being made to public officials in all areas of

public life. I have said that the current assessment reveals a

network of corrupted officials. told Lord Justice Leveson that this

approach to journalism was deeply embedded. There also appears to

have been a culture at The Sun of illegal payments, and systems have

been created to facilitate those payments, whilst hiding the

identity of the officials receiving the money. The journalists involved

were well aware that what they were doing was unlawful according to

criminal law, is that right? Yes, and that is by reference to

commence being made in staff risking losing their pension or

their job, the need for care and cash payments -- comments.

Akers said payments had been authorised at a senior level. The

sums were significant, one journalist was given �150,000 to

pay sources. The vast majority of disclosures that have been made

have led to stories which I would describe as salacious gossip,

rather than anything which could be remotely regarded as in the public

interest. In a statement, Rupert Of course, one of the reasons why

the press was able to get away with those alleged past practices was

the alleged proximity, then, between the press and the police.

The inquiry heard of another example of that cosy relationship,

of power in September 2006 Rebekah Wade, the then editor of the Sun,

was briefed by police that they would not be widening the phone

hacking inquiry at the News of the World beyond its news editor, --

its royal editor, even though there was evidence of hundreds of people

having their phones hacked. Brian Paddick claim that Glenn Mulcaire

had obtained details of the new identities given to people in the

witness protection programme. this information to be in the hands

of Glenn Mulcaire, and by implication, potentially in the

hands of the News of the World, it is clearly worrying. It was a day

of evidence which had raised new questions. Fought News

International, the Metropolitan Police and others. -- for News

International. As the Leveson inquiry heard its

latest evidence the singer, Charlotte Church, was at the High

Court, accepting �600,000 in damages and costs from the

publishers of the News of the World. The High Court heard that

journalists began hacking her phone when she was 16 and continued for

many years. Our home affairs correspondent, June Kelly, has more

She has been famous from the age of 11. Charlotte Church was the young

girl who grew up in the public eye. As she moved into her teens, media

interest became more intense, and more intrusive. Today, the court

heard how, when she was 16, the News of the World began hacking her

phone. It went on for years. They ran stories about her personal life,

including her first boyfriend. Some of the medical details were also

published. What I have discovered as the litigation has gone on has

sickened and disgusted me. Nothing was deemed off-limits by those who

pursued me and my family, just to make money for a multinational News

Corporation. Someone in a newspaper thought that was OK. How can that

be, in any right-thinking society? Charlotte Church has often been in

the headlines because of her private life. Here, with her former

boyfriend and the father of her two children, the rugby star, Gavin

Henson. The News of the World decided her parents, too, were fair

game. The paper was said to have issued an ultimatum to her mother,

Maria, described as a vulnerable with a complex medical history. She

was coerced into an interview in which she was asked about how she

had harmed herself and attempted suicide. These people were prepared

to go to any lengths to prevent the exposing their behaviour. Not just

in the deliberate destruction of documents over the number of years,

but also by trying to make this investigation into the industrial

scale of their illegal activity into an interrogation of my

mother's medical condition. In my opinion, they are not truly sorry,

only sorry they got caught. 600,000, the church family payout

is one of the biggest. Other large settlements have included the actor,

Jude Law, he received one at around 30,000. His one-time goal from

Sienna Mellor got 100,000, and there was -- one-time girlfriend

Sienna Miller. And there was �60,000 for Paul Gascoigne. Because

some of the claimants haven't revealed how much they have

received, it is impossible to do a running total of how much this is

costing the company. There are 180 more potential claims.

Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, says he wants further

changes to the Government's controversial health reforms in

England. He's written to colleagues saying he supports amendments

designed to limit competition within the NHS. Downing Street says

there's no need for significant changes to the bill, which was

being debated by the House of Lords again today. Our political editor,

Nick Robinson, reports. There is, you might think, something rather

curious about the deputy prime minister writing a letter which

appears to call on the Prime Minister to amend the government's

health bill, but that is what happened today. In a joint letter

with Baroness Shirley Williams, Nick Clegg proposes a series of new

amendments to the health bill, because we want to rule out beyond

doubt any threat of a US-style It is important to address the

concerns that people have expressed about the role of competition. I

have always regarded competition as a means to a better NHS, not as an

end in itself. That is why our amendments will make it clear that

the competition is the servant of the NHS, never its master. Nick

Clegg sounds like a campaigner trying to change a bit of

government legislation, rather than a senior minister who is actually

pushing it through. The reason is clear put up in his letter, he says

he wants to give final reassurance to those with worries about the

health bill. Who does he mean? People in his own party. Peers who

are going to vote on the bill in the next few days, and party

activists, who could vote to kill the whole thing in just under a

fortnight. A year ago, the Lib Dems spring conference voted for major

changes to the health bill. Now, the man who proposed that mission

is planning another, to kill it altogether. He is gathering names

on a party petition. The question is, would the NHS be better with

this bill, with all the amendments that have been passed, all with no

bill at all. I have no doubt in my mind that the NHS would be better

with no bill at all. Public health, not private wealth. The government

will move to amend its health bill, to try to reassure those who fear

the NHS will be damaged by competition, and the further

involvement of private companies. It won't be enough, though, to

satisfy the opposition. This has all the hallmarks of a face-saving

exercise for Mr Clegg, that will convince nobody. He has had two is

to work out his position and it is a bit late in the day to come

forward with these amendments. It is as if Lib Dems have finally

woken up to the fact that this bill turns the NHS into a market. Not so

long ago, the Prime Minister, his deputy and the Health Secretary

said they had listened to critics of their NHS reforms. Today, Nick

Clegg said yet more changes were needed, though, to make what his

aides say was a bad Bill, it better. European Union leaders have imposed

further sanctions on Syria today, in response to the violent

suppression of anti-government protests. During the day, Syrian

troops have again attacked a number of towns, including Homs, and

according to activists more than 120 people have been killed. As the

attacks continued the Syrian government was celebrating victory

in a referendum on a new constitution, as our diplomatic

correspondent, James Robbins, Night time protest in a suburb of

Damascus. Pictures apparently taken yesterday evening, although that is

impossible to verify it. The crowds denounced President Assad's regime.

The regime's response is grimly predictable. A protest to lies

wounded, but still moving, as others call for help and chance,

may God protect the Free Syrian Army. And these new pictures appear

to show up shelling of the Baba Amr district of Homs. It is not

possible to verify when they were taken, but a BBC correspondent in

northern Syria is witnessing renewed efforts by government

forces to seeds back towns in open revolt. We were work -- welcome to

the sound of artillery bombardment. There is gunfire in the distance,

we believe they are using anti- aircraft guns against the town, and

setting up mortar position. response to this, the European

Union is united in his response, even if the international community

as a whole is not. EU foreign ministers have agreed to impose new

sanctions on Syria, adding to their existing ban on oil imports. Assets

abroad of more Syrian officials are being frozen and the freeze will

apply to assets of Syria's central bank as well. There will be a new

ban on cargo flown from you airports, but Europe admits they

are blunted by lack of support from key powers -- from EU airport.

have a difference with China and it remains a major blockage in what

the international community can do. Look how Syrian state television

this drawing a stake through Russia's position. Vladimir Putin

asserts that nobody should be allowed to repeat the Libyan

scenario in Syria. Russia welcomes the referendum on the constitution.

It is no surprise President Assad won the referendum comfortably. The

opposition boycotted the poll and many called it a sham and a farce.

So far, the Assad regime has proved An Italian cruise ship is drifting

without power in the notion. 31 British citizens are among more

than 1,000 passengers and crew on board. The Costa Allegra is owned

by the same company as the Kostunica kst that ran aground last

month. It is 260 miles from the Seychelles, the captain says that

the fire that caused the merge has now been put out.

We have this report from Richard Galpin.

In the midst the notion, the Costa Allegra sent out distressed signals

this morning. It steamed from Madagascar to the Seychelles.

A fire had broken out and the 636 passengers were ordered to galter

at emergency assembly points. The commander of the Italian

coastguard, said that the fire was in the generator room.

But he stressed that it had been put out quickly and no-one had been

hurt. On the company's website today, the

live feed of pictures and information from the cruise had

stopped. The Costa Allegra's engines have

been cut. All that they have now is battery power to keep emergency

equipment working. You have to think positively.

More than 30 families around Britain now await news of loved

ones. Amongst them, this woman, whose daughter, Hannah, works on

the boat. Half of me, from what the news is

saying is to say not to worry, but as a parent, as a mother, you are

always wondering are they OK? has been a disastrous year for the

cruise company. Last month another of its ships, Costa Concordia, hit

rocks off the Italian coast, at least 25 people were killed. Now,

in the Indian Ocean, another emergency, with the Costa Allegra

drifting in the dark, in an area where there is a high risk of

piracy. And the first tug boats will only

arrive tomorrow afternoon. Coming up on tonight's programme:

Home to hundreds of illegal immigrants, the ramshackle sheds

housing some of Britain's poorest workers.

This is just one street. On the end of each garden there are brick

buildings like this one. The heavy snowfall seen across the

United Kingdom in recent years could be linked to the melting of

sea ice in the Arctic, according to research published this evening.

American stists e scientists say that the volume of ice has shrunk

by a third in the last few years. It suggests that this could be the

cause of the patterns in the past few years. Pilots waving from a

plane, stranded in the snow. December 2010, a defining image of

Britain in a grip of a deep freeze. Nothing moving at Heathrow Airport.

A year earlier, motorways at a stand still. Conditions like this

should not be a surprise in the winter months, but if they are

striking more often, what is behind it? One answer may lie far in the

north, in the Arctic. More of the frozen sea has been

melting in the past three decades. Scientists think that this may be

changing the patterns of our weather. The new research suggests

a key factor is the retreat of the Arctic ice. Over the last 30 years,

satellites have captured a dramatic reduction in the ice during the

regular summer melt. The ice refreezes in the winter, but the

trend is downwards. The theory is that this affects the jaet stream,

the high altitude winds that drive rainy weather. The heavy melting

ice can weaken it, allowing cold air to flow in, Britaining us the

wintery weather. The researchers say that a loss of 1 million cubic

metres of ice can increase the snowfall by three to 12%.

If the jet stream is weak, then the warm moist air is no longer

impinging on the UK, instead you have the winds from the east,

bringing colder air. That gives us more snowfall and lower

temperatures with that. But the weather is driven by many

factors. The research may high light an important one, but it is

not conclusive. The study suggests that there is a

link between the Arctic sea ice and weaker north Atlantic jaet streams.

It is a glimpse, if you like, into one of the processes that may have

influence on our European weather. If the theory is right, it could

explain why China and the eastern United States have seen heavier

snow. A sign that a warmer world could bring unexpected change.

Hundreds of illegal immigrants who arrived from India in recent years

are stranded in Britain without work because of the economic

downturn. They came here to try to earn money to send back to their

families, they have paid traffickers in some instances,

thousands of pounds for the opportunity. In the first of two

special reports we visit some of the people trapped in the slum

conditions, unable to go home. These are Britain's 21st century

slums. Hidden at the ends of suburb gardens.

They are poorly constructed buildings, and they house hundreds

of illegal emgrants. They call them sheds with beds. Many are built

without planning permission. Others are converted garages. This is just

one street. On the end of each garden there are brick buildings

like this one. All of them with windows and doorways leading to

this alley way. They just go on, and on, an and.

Inside, the accommodation is basic. They came here from India to make

money, but Britain's economic downturn has driven them into

poverty. TRANSLATION: We can barely make

ends meet. It's been two months. We have only worked four days, what

can we do? We have to pay the landlords, there are four or five

of us, so we club together to fey. They pay �800 a month to land

Lord's originally from India, who will risk illegal immigrants for

inflaeted rents. They have been told not to open the doors to

anyone, in case they are planning officials but we got inside posing

at volunteers. We brought them food and blankets. They complain of the

damp, cramped conditions, but what angers them the most is the people,

their own people who exposed them to this.

TRANSLATION: The people that got us here have houses, great mortgages,

that is paid for by us. Everyone here is Punjabi.

Row after row of houses like this are housing illegal immigrants in

back gardens. Many that we spoke to are paying hundreds of pounds a

month to live in squalid, illegal, and in some cases illegal buildings.

REPORTER: How much do you pay? It is a lot of money.

It is a separate flat. It is a flat? So... Two people? Oh,

the electrics have gone. There are an estimated 10,000

illegal dwellings in garages, sheds and outer buildings across London

and the Home Counties. The highest number has been dedected in Ealing

and neighbouring Slough. -- detected. So how has the problem

grown to such a scale? Local authorities say that they are

hampered by the law. Which means that they have to give 24 hours'

notice before inspecting a property. Lots of time for the landlords to

conceal evidence. The BBC is making its evidence available to the

authorities. Meanwhile, recent figures show that thousands of

illegal immigrants have had enough. They are applying for voluntary

deportation, but getting home is not always that easy. Tomorrow

Chris reports on the illegal immigrants living rough on the

streets, long after they volunteered for deportation that is

tomorrow night. Now, HSBC reported annual profits

of almost �14 billion, a rise of almost 15%. There was an increase

in profits in the UK, but most of the money was made overseas. Stuart

Gulliver received a total pay award of more than �7 million.

A French film about Hollywood's transition from silent movies to

sound has won five awards at the Oscars. The Artist scooped Best

Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. Meryl

Streep won an Oscar 30 years ago and then yesterday won another for

her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in Tom Ironside. A red carpet

crammed with Hollywood royalty. Tinseltown at its most glamorous.

Sacha Baron Cohen used the spotlight to plug his role as a

dictator. The Academy warned him of stunts and throwing pretend Ashes

of Kim Jong Il certainly broke the protocol and you know that the show

is ready to start when Brad and Angelina hit the carpet. Always the

last to arrive with a flourish. It was the clear favourite from the

beginning. The Artist did not disappoint. Becoming only the

second silent movie ever to win Best Picture. It took Best Director,

benefit Costume, Benefit Music and Best Actor.

The Oscar goes to Jean Dujardin. George Valentine, if he could speak,

he would say "Wow! Merci, I love you." I love you.

If the honourable gentlemen could listen closely to what I am

saying... The last time that Meryl Streep won as Oscar, Thatcher

thatch was the Prime Minister, but it was her portrayal of the Prime

Minister that won her this prize. I look out and see my old friends

and new friends. Thank you, departed for all of this and this

inexpoliticably wonderful career. Thank you.

There were hopes for a British Benefit Supporting Role, but

Christopher Plummer won at aged 82, the oldest actor to ever win an

Oscar. You are only two years older than

me, my darling, where have you been all my life? The biggest British

win went to shore shore, a gritty tale set amid Northern Ireland

which one the Best Short Film. We made this film a couple of years

ago, it is based on peace and reconciliation. Little did we know

that we would be here tonight. This was not the year for a big

British movie or block buster. Those films did not make it into