28/03/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10pm: The plans being made to deal with a possible fuel

crisis. Drivers are told not to panic buy despite advice from

government to plan ahead. There is no need to queue to buy petrol but

of course, people should take sensible precautions. If there is

an opportunity to top up your tank, then it is a sensible thing if you

are able to do that. There's no date set for a strike by

tanker drivers but some parts of the UK are already having problems.

There is no fuel anywhere. livelihood is gone unless I can get

to work for. We will have the latest on the

contingency plans as ministers are accused of creating a crisis.

Also tonight: The NHS in England is said to be forcing women to have

two operations if they want to replace faulty breast implants.

From Syria, a special report on the support needed by thousands of

children traumatised by violence. Surgeons unveil the results of the

most extensive facial transplant ever achieved.

And the British veterans marking one of the most daring raids of the

Coming up at 10:30pm on the BBC News Channel: A round-up of all the

night's Champions' League action, as well as news of Andy Murray at

Good evening. Petrol retailers have accused the government of creating

a crisis as they face the possibility of a strike by fuel

tanker drivers over the Easter holiday. The government has tonight

appealed to motorists to resist panic buying. Earlier today, the

Prime Minister had advised motorists to consider topping up

just in case. No dates have been set for industrial action, as Hugh

Pym reports. There were unusual scenes at

filling stations today. At some, there were queues of vehicles and

that others, fuels were running out but elsewhere, nothing out of the

ordinary. Some drivers were clearly worried. It is ridiculous.

Everybody is panic-buying and making it a lot worse. I must get

some today because we have hospital appointments to keep. My livelihood

is gone unless I can get to work. What was the government response?

One Minister's advice was to find a jury can and fill up just in case

of a stop -- jerry can. If people have a little bit in my garage as

well with eight jerry can, the longer we will be able to keep

things going. That idea drew swift condemnation. This is a government

trying to create a crisis out of what is a serious concern. I could

not believe the news this morning that the government were

encouraging people to stockpile fuel. What about the Prime

Minister? He was trying to calm the mood. There is no need to queue to

buy petrol but people should take sensible precautions and if there

is an opportunity to top up your tank, it is the answer boar.

Labour leader was under pressure to condemn the proposed strike by the

Unite union, Labour's biggest backer. The strike must not happen

and the government should not be ramping up the rhetoric but

stepping up the negotiation. And so a dispute over safety standards and

working conditions in the fuel distribution industry has escalated

into a row, which is a big worry for both politicians and drivers.

After a day of mixed messages at Westminster, motorists may well be

wondering what if anything they should be doing, given that dates

for strikes by drivers have not yet been set yet and they may well be

asking, what is the state of play with fuel reserves around the UK?

Most of the petrol and diesel is produced at UK refineries. The fuel

is sent down pipelines to terminals. The government requires the

industry to keep 67.5 days of supply in reserve but it still

leaves the tanker drivers to get it to the filling stations. Fear of

the impact of any strike saw demand for petrol 40% above normal

yesterday, but independent filling stations -- at independent filling

stations like this one. People are filling up as opposed to putting

the usual �5 in, and we are running low but we have a delivery today so

it is not causing us great problems at the moment. Ministers hope that

seems like this are few and far between and talks between the

unions and employers resume soon, but they know that you're, politics

and worried drivers can be a toxic mix -- that if you all, politics. -

- fuel. What is your take on this? How do

you warn the public to take sensible precautions without

causing panic? What Downing Street would really like the drivers to do

is to fill up their tanks when and if they get the chance. They reckon

most of us have our tanks the third for and they think it was better

that they were completely full, so if there was a strike, drivers

would put less pressure on petrol stations. Contingency buying, not

panic buying. But Labour thinks Francis Maude got the balance wrong

by saying people should fill up jerry cans because that encourages

stockpiling and that could lead to stocks running out and that could

make matters worse. At the moment we don't know when and if the

strike will take place. There are likely to be talks shortly under

the auspices of ACAS. The risk is in the meantime there is the risk

of panic-buying, which will make it harder for the government to

prepare for a possible strike. Downing Street insisted that

Francis Maude's woods have been blown out of proportion but if you

speak to ministers, they say they certainly haven't helped -- Francis

Maude's words. The way the NHS in England is

treating women who have had faulty breast implants flies in the face

of common sense according to MPs. At the moment, if private clinics

can't or won't help, the NHS will remove but not replace the implants

made by the French company PIP. The Commons Health Committee says the

women should be offered the option of paying for new ones at the same

time. Our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.

Is this implant a danger? This lab is trying to find out, compared

with PIP filler with medical grade silicone. 47,000 British women,

most who had PIP! Privately for breast enlargement, need to know.

Wales is offering free replacements but elsewhere, the NHS is refusing

to replace their implants and is simply offering removal. I don't

think it is fair nor do I think it is good medicine to expect a woman

who has got a faulty implant, acknowledge that that should be

removed, but who wants it replaced, then to go through a second

separate surgical procedure. Jane Brown's PIP implants are leaking

and she is in pain. She says her only option is to get the NHS to

remove them now and save up for private treatment later.

operations is always a risk, you know, two general anaesthetics, and

ideally the clinics should be doing it for us, removal and replacement

without cost. The fact we have to fall back on the NHS is not a good

thing. We have discovered this Merseyside hospital broke ranks.

The Trust had been removing PIP implants on the NHS and charging

It has now stopped for fear it breaches NHS rules. Once the NHS

put something in your body, it then had the duty of care that could

befall a lifetime, there needs to be civilians to make sure it is OK

and there maybe further operations so there are costs to the taxpayer

which means that NHS patients with clinical needs wind-up been down

the queue and that seems unfair. still don't know whether these

implants pose a health risk. The MPs said there was a striking

absence of evidence, compounded by uncertainty over the exact nature

of the filler that was used inside them. That is why these tests are

vital. To see with their PIP implants contain anything which

might prompt more women to have them removed.

The two British servicemen shot dead by an Afghan soldier on Monday

have been named by the Ministry of Defence. Sergeant Luke Taylor of

the Royal Marines, and Lance Corporal Michael Foley, of the

Adjutant General's Corps, died when the gunman opened fire at the

British headquarters at Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province.

There is enough evidence to indict President Assad of Syria on charges

of crimes against humanity, according to the United Nations'

human rights chief Navi Pillay. In a BBC interview filmed last week,

Ms Pillay said the Assad regime could end the detentions and stop

the killing of civilians immediately simply by issuing an

order. Fergal Keane has this In a place we cannot name, with

faces we cannot show. This is a kind of therapy for Syria's child

survivors. These art lessons organised by activists, for

children who can no longer go to school. Some have seen parents

dragged away in the night. Others have fled from the bombardment of

Homs. If we had stayed, says this boy, the war would have been over

our heads. This chart describes being at a

march, he won the chanting. -- this child. Hearing that chanting and

then the moment that the army opened fire. Now in an exclusive

interview, the UN top human rights official have accused the

government of deliberately targeting children. They have gone

to that children in large numbers, hundreds detained and tortures. I

have seen some of the evidence gathered by the commission of

inquiry, who spoke with parents and the victims. It is just horrendous.

Children shot in the knees, held together with adults in really

inhumane conditions, denied medical treatment for their injuries.

Syrian government denies the accusations and accuses the High

Commissioner of bias. But under international law, does President

Assad their command responsibility for crimes against humanity? That

is the legal situation. Actually there is enough evidence pointing

to the fact that many of these acts committed by the security forces

must have received the approval or the complicity at the highest level,

because President Assad can issue a single order and release all of

these children and stop the killings. Some of Syria's

opposition fighters have also been accused of carrying out gross

violations of human rights. unequivocally condemn that. Nothing

entitles anyone to inflict killings and torture on others.

International law absolutely for bids that. But the UN and human

rights groups agree most violations are being carried out by the

Government's side. Much of what bullets and bombs do to children is

simply too distressing to show, and the trauma inflicted on young minds

is beyond calculation. In Homs, a freelance cameraman met a boy whose

Is Assad ever going to face justify for -- justice for the atrocities

you say he bears responsibility for? There is no statue of

limitations. People like him can go on for very long time but one day

they will have to face justice. Here in Homs the body of ten-year-

old Anas. His grieving mother says he was shot by a sniper. Here, in

the heart of war justice is far away.

Coming up tonight: The veterans of St Nazaire remember

one of the most daring raids of the Second World War.

I thought it was going to be a pretty dodgy do, quite frankly, but

I never thought for a moment we would never do it, never.

The relatively new field of synthetic biology is potentially

dangerous and must be stopped, according to environmental groups.

The technology, as we reported last night, involves making artificial

genes for a range of applications from fuels to medicines. But

campaigners warn that tighter controls are needed at a time when

the costs of experimenting are becoming cheaper. Our science

editor David Shukman reports. In a back street in Manchester a

group has gathered to do something unimaginable even a few years ago.

These are amateur biologists and they're putting together a machine

that makes copies of DNA. A device for playing with the code for life.

A step towards ordinary people controlling nature. This is a whole

part of a movement of DIY for the normal person so it's garish

science, that's what's different about it. It's people coming

together that would be tinkering in their own houses. We are curious.

This is the stuff that you code life with. It's a big deal.

idea is to delve deep into cells to manipulate their DNA and even go a

step beyond that, to design new artificial DNA, that's attracting

huge interest and the technology is now easier to get hold of. What's

happen something highly sophisticated scientific equipment

which until recently only institutions could afford is now

tumbling in price so anyone working on their own can pick it up off the

internet. Here's a DNA synthesiser for well under �1,000. It's a

machine that allows you to make artificial genes. For amateurs and

a new younger generation of scientists this field offers

exciting potential. We engineered a bacteria cell... Harriet made

synthetic DNA for bacteria so they can detect parasites in water, a

device that could save lives in Africa. It was really exciting to

be able to apply synthetic biology to an area that doesn't get a lot

of research and they have real problems that need to be solved and

here's something we can actually do about that. Scientists and amateurs

are trying to create new forms of life to produce everything from

fuels to medicines, they say they're being really careful about

this synthetic biology but environmental groups and insurers

are worried. With synthetic biology there's a concern the pace of

change and the uncertainty, the unintended consequences of the

research could lead to harmful health and ecological effects in

the future. More research is necessary.

Back at the evening class and the revolutionary new science. The

challenge - making sure its use is positive, and not a danger.

In the last few minutes, a jury in Florida has convicted a teenager,

Shawn Tyson, of shooting dead two British tourists. James Kouzaris,

who was 24, and James Cooper, aged 25, died while on holiday in

Sarasota. Our correspondent is outside the court new. Tell us what

happened when the verdict came in. Well, the verdict came in just two

and a half hours, Shawn Tyson, now 17, was convicted on two counts of

first degree murder, witnesses during the trial had told how he

had boasted of committing these killings and had told one of his

friends to hide the murder weapon. James Cooper and James Kouzaris

were university friends here on holiday. They had been drinking and

stumbled into a poorer neighbourhood, and in in summing up

the prosecution said these were two vulnerable, lost drunk young men

who were the victims of an attempted robbery that escalated

into a double murder. But tonight the families of the victims here in

Florida have some sort of justice. Thank you very much.

The BBC has been told that a police chief at the centre of a major

political scandal in China had been in contact with British diplomats

before attempting to defect to America. In recent days it's been

claimed that the police chief had concerns that the death of a

British businessman, Neil Heywood, was not accidental. Damian

Grammaticas sent this report from the city of Chongqing.

Tonight the scandal that began in this vast and booming metropolis

and that's gripping khaoeupb's communist party has a new twist. At

the heart of the affair are three men. A rising star in the communist

elite sacked this month. A British businessman, now dead.

And a police chief who fell out with his boss and ran to foreign

diplomats for help, triggering the crisis.

Tonight UK Government officials have confirmed to us that the

police chief arranged a meeting here with British diplomats at the

kopbs hrat in early February. He didn't turn up, though. The next

day he fled to the American mission in instead, it's claimed he tried

to seek asylum, was turned down and taken away by Chinese security. He

hasn't been seen since. One of China's most popular but

controversial politicians, it was a huge embarrassment. But the

policies earned him enemies. This month he looked tired, under

pressure, days later he was sacked. It's ended his hopes of a top job

and exposed the party's deep divisions. It leaves the question

why did the police chief arrange to meet British diplomats here? One

suggestion, he may have had information to pass to them. It's

claimed he might have been looking into the death of the Britishman.

The official explanation was that Neil Hayward died from excessive

drinking, some of his friends have said the death is suspicious. The

British Government has asked China to reopen the case.

The affair that started here has unleashed infighting among China's

elites and no one knows when it will end.

The operators of an offshore platform in the North Sea which is

leaking gas say there is no immediate concern about the flare

that's still buring. All 238 workers were taken off Total's

Elgin platform, about 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen, when the

leak was discovered on Sunday. Tonight, the company said wind was

blowing the gas plume eastwards, in the opposite direction of the flare.

A man who's undergone the most extensive face transplant in

medical history is recovering well, according to surgeons. Richard Lee

Norris had lived as a recluse for 15 years, after suffering horrific

injuries in a gun accident. The techniques used at the University

of Maryland are now being studied by military surgeons dealing with

casualties from Iraq and Afghanistan, as Jane Hughes reports.

It is an astonishing transformation, from a young man with his life

ahead of him, Richard Norris went to being so badly disfigured he

felt unable to go out without a mask. Now he can look forward to

leading a more normal life. Surgeons at the University of

Maryland led a team of over 100 medical staff in a a 36-hour

operation. They believe it's the most extensive face transplant

procedure ever carried out. When he was accidentally shot in the face

15 years ago, Richard Norris lost his nose, lips, and most of the

movement in his mouth. Surgeons used finely tuned computerised

techniques to transplant the bones in his nose and the area around it.

They then gave him a new jaw, including teeth as well as a new

tongue. And finally, all his soft tissue was replaced right from his

hairline to his neck, including nerves and muscles. Six days on he

can move his tongue and he can smell for the first time in 15

years. We look at the donor and at Richard,

obviously it's a blend of two individuals. Clearly, there are

some specific features like the nose or maybe the chin, but behind

that soft tissue and skeleton it's Richard Norris. This was Isabelle

Dinoire in 2005, she made good progress but experts say physical

recovery is just the start. surgery of that sort you don't

recover quickly and he will have to gradually come to terms with this

new thing that he sees in the mirror, which is going to be his

face and I hope that he will have the support that enables him to own

it, own his face as his face. Doctors funded by the US military

have been developing face transplantation techniques for

years. The aim is to refine the procedures in order to help injured

veterans returning from Afghanistan. For Richard Norris, after 15 years

behind a mask, it means a chance to resume a normal life.

Seventy years ago today, British forces took part in one of the most

daring raids of the Second World War. It involved ramming a ship

packed with explosives into the dock at St Nazaire, on the Atlantic

coast of France, which was in German hands. The mission was a

success, five Victoria Crosses were awarded to members of the party,

but 169 British servicemen died in the raid. Our correspondent Gordon

Corera joined some of the survivors as they marked the day.

70 years on the last handful of survivors gather to remember one of

the most daring raids of World War II. An emotional moment for some.

It was a battle that was brief and costly. But helped shape the course

of the war. From 1941 a huge new German battle ship, the Tirpitz,

threatened to menace the Atlantic and Britain's vital supply link.

There was only one dry dock on the Atlantic coast large enough to

repair the Tirpitz. So, if this dock here at St Nazaire could be

destroyed then the Atlantic would be save from the German battle ship.

A daredevil plan was devised to destroy these vast gates. An old

ship, the Cambleton sailed, disguised with German and with a

huge bomb on board, it navigated a six-mile Estuary. It rammed into

the dock gates. And then the commandoes jumped off. This 20-

year-old's job was to destroy one of the winding houses for the gates.

I reported to my Colonel and said, Sir, we have destroyed the northern

winding house and we are ready to return to England. What did he say?

He then said to me, oh, boy, take a look at the river. Our transport is

not available. The small boats the men were supposed to escape on were

burning. Within hours, they were arrested. But then ten hours after

it crashed the Cambleton, pictured here, finally blew. Success came at

a price. Nearly 170 men were killed and today is a chance to remember