30/07/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at Ten: For a third day the fighting rages in the city of

Aleppo. Government forces have again been

attacking the rebel-held areas, we have a special report.

We know there are snipers around here, because it is an urban area,

the sounds ring out, you can't tell, though, which direction they are

coming from. There is concern about the feat of

civilians as thousands flee and the UN warns of food and water

shortages. During the day, Syria's top official in London resigned his

post. In the programme: From the Olympic

Park in East London, Britain's male gymnasts have won the first team

medal in a century. To tackle the problem of empty

seats more troops are brought in and an extra 3,000 tickets are sold.

We can do better on this, I think you will see fewer empty seats and

more people getting to see the fantastic events.

COMMENTATOR: Oh, I dop know what to say! In the diving, disappointment

for Tom Daley and waterboarding, no medal for them.

The US and German, underline the need for coordinated action to

tackle the eurozone crisis. And why this punk band is on trial

in Moscow, pursued by the Russian President. On BBC London: The Prime

Minister praises the capital's transport system for coping well

with the first working day of the Olympics, but some free events put

o on for the day suffer as the Good evening.

For a third day, fighting has raged in the Syrian city of Aleppo, where

the hospitals are filled with casualties. The UN is warning of

shortages of food and water. There are signs that the government is

coming under pressure, and its senior official in London resigned,

saying he is no longer willing to represent the Assad regime. Our

correspondent Ian Pannell and cameraman Darren Conway were

trapped by fighting in Aleppo, they have this report which does contain

some strong images. The battle for Aleppo is raging.

And parts of the vast ancient city are now at war.

Which means that the ranks of the dead and the wounded are growing.

Eight-year-old Mohammed is peppered with shrapnel wounds from a

government shell. His older cousin's leg was torn apart in the

attack, the pain is too much. And beside him is Mohammed's

brother, he has just been pronounced dead. Victims of a war

with no end in sight. Those who can get out of the city

are. They are desperate to escape the

shelling that does not discriminate between the soldiers and the

civilians. But notice how many of them are

women and children - the men have stayed to fight.

For those left behind, daily life is a tale of survival.

The bakery has just opened for the first time in days. It is now the

only place to get food here. The fighters try to control the

crowd that is hungry and desperate. Shortages make life hard. Bombs and

bullets make it unbearable. In Aleppo, it's the weakest that

suffer the most. And yet this battle has only just

begun. The rebels get ready. They have had news that government

soldiers are heading this way. The fighters move along empty streets

to defend the area. This war pitches the government

against an armed rebellianion. -- rebellion.

Syrian against ririan. -- Syrian.

And neither side can afford to lose this vital city.

Armed with just light weapons, the rebels face daunting odds.

They race to support a unit that is trapped.

The army is trying to take back these districts, but the resistance

is stiff. Well the rebels are now advancing.

They believe that government forces are moving towards this area.

Ducking behind a wall for cover, a fighter shouts to move.

He is pointing to snipers behind us. Well, the rebels have moved up

because the government's... They've been trying to push into this area.

It is a very confused situation. We know that there are snipers all

around here, because it is an urban area the sounds ring out, what you

can't tell is which direction they are actually coming from, but you

can see that the rebels are incredibly tense. One of of the

chanders has been shot. He is liing in the gutter, bleeding to death. A

truck braves the sniper fire to try to get him out, but the group is

attacked and they have to pull back. Guns blazing, they lay down

covering fire. But by the time the man was hauled

up it was too late. Three commanders from the same base

died that day. We pulled back as more fighters

came to help. For a while, they were pinned down.

Then en masse, they shot their way out.

It is impossible to predict who will win this war, but it will

shape the destiny of Syria and this region and it will leave countless

more bleeding and dying. Ian Pannell, BBC News in Aleppo

city. Well, let's talk to our diplomatic

correspondent James Robbins outside of the Syrian embassy in London.

James, when we see what is going on in Aleppo and we consider the

resignation that has happened today, how do you read things? Well, we

don't know if it was that battle for Aleppo that finally convinced

the top diplomat here at their embassy in London that he needed to

abandon the regime which he said had committed such violent and

oppressive acts against his own people, according to a Foreign

Office statement. We know from the Foreign Office that he told them

this morning he was no longer prepared to continue in his post.

We do know that he and his immediate family here in Britain

have been provided with a secure, safe house, such is the real fear

of potential violent retribution against him. David Cameron seized

on this and said it was one in the eye for the Assad regime and he

hoped that the regime would crumble and fold very fast, considering the

behaviour in Aleppo. It is important to point out that there

have been only a handful of deforeign exchanges by Syrian

diplomats and few deforeign exchanges by military leaders close

to the regime, but not a flood. It is important to point out that

Khaled al-Ayoubi was not particular senior in the foreign service, he

got to be head of the mission as so many more senior diplomats were

expelled in May, but as one British diplomat said to me, that this is a

move in the right direction. Thank you very much.

Here at the Olympic Games, Britain's male gymnasts have won

the first team medal in a century. Initially they were announced as

the Silver Medallist, but they were then downgraded to bronze medal,

following a successful appeal by Japan. The Gold Medal went to China

for the third time in the last four Olympic competitions.

We have the story. They had come in the hope that Team

GB's gymnasts could make history. Rope climbing was among the

disciplines the last time a men's team finally reached the sport. Now

we had the first chance of a medal in the competition in a century.

The enormity of simply reaching the final had reduced Louis Smith to

tears. Now the Beijing Bronze Medallist underlined his status as

a Standard Bearer for the sport. Britain started well, but to leap

into contention they needed more. COMMENTATOR: We are about an hour

into the competition. A third of the way through.

Going in this round Team GB were in fifth place. This was the moment

they needed to raise their performance to claim a medal.

Kristian Thomas had done that. A stunning vault, giving his team a

chance of bronze medal. China's grip on the Gold Medal was assured,

but Japan were letting second place slip.

With the exceptional Kristian Thomas landing his all-important

floor routine, Great Britain had somehow stolen the silver medal, a

feat met with Royal approval, but it was not as simple as that,

unhappy with the score, awarded to Kohei Uchimura, the Japanese lodged

an appeal and then they were elevated from fourth to runner's up.

That then relegateed Britain to bronze medal.

The protest and them getting the score changed, for us this is a

dream come true. It is what the dreams are made of. When I was

young it is all that I thought about. Winning an Olympic medal.

Getting the bronze medal is amazing. Dispite the cruel late twist, that

saw the silver medal snatched from their grasp, Britain's gymnasts

exceeded reputations today. These were medals to cherish, regardless

of their colour. But there was disappointment this

afternoon for one of the most popular fatess in the British team,

Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield. Despite the high hopes, the pair

failed to win a medal in the synchronised 10m platform synchro.

Tonight there's been more competition at the Aquatics Centre.

Front page billing for one of the poster boys of the Olympics. In

terms of popularity, few members of Team GB come close to matching Tom

Daley. This event knows all about the

partnership, not the individual. Pete Waterfield, 31, a relative old

man and a relative unknown compared to his 18-year-old team-mate.

1, 2, 3, go... COMMENTATOR: First, what we were

looking for. The first dive of the six was good.

Leading them joint leaders with the red hot favourites, yawning yawning

yawning representing China. The Chinese dominate the sport. If Tom

Daley and Pete Waterfield were to beat them, they had to come up with

something very special. COMMENTATOR: Fantastic! Cheered on

by the Prime Minister it was all going so well. Halfway through the

competition, they were in first place.

We had been told that the Chinese pair were unbeatable, but with

every dive the expectation is rising. Here we go with Tom Daley

and Pete Waterfield's fourth dive and they are still leading, but it

was all about to go very wrong. COMMENTATOR: Oh! I don't know what

to say. One bad dive and they had fallen

down the leaderboard. You could have been forgiven for wanting to

bang his head against the wall. The medal hopes over, they could only

finish fourth, despite the support. The crowd have been amazing. I'm

getting emotional thinking about it. It is all of what we dreamed of. To

come fourth is agonising after the hard work and the training.

One dive that cost Tom Daley and Pete Waterfield so much, an Olympic

medal. They will have a second This evening didn't get any better.

Liam Tancock was one of three British swimmers to miss out on a

medal in a final. Well in response to many complaints

about empty seats at some venues, the orlgers have outlined a gnaw

proch. They'll be contacting international sports federations

and the media to check whether they're intending to use their full

aloe indication. 3,000 tickets for today were sold last night. David

Cameron says he shares frustration about the empty seats. Our sports

editor David Bond reports. To the rescue again, first they were

called up to boost Olympic security, now they're helping to fill empty

seats. The armed forces are turning into one of the star teams of the

London Olympics. No problem finding a seat for these

two today. David Cameron and the French President, engaging in a bit

of Olympic diplomacy at the handball. The Prime Minister said

organisers were trying to get to grips with the latest ticketing

gripes. I totally share that frustration. LOCOG has decided to

make available 3,000 more tickets for sale and to get the volunteers

and armed service personnel, that are doing a fantastic job and allow

them to use more of those seats. The only have to look at the huge

crowds on the Olympic Park to realise the appetite for these

Games. After four days, it's clear there's still a problem with empty

seats. The reason we're still seeing gaps in the stands is

because they're in areas reserved for Olympic officials,age lots and

the media, who have special accreditation. While they might

come to big events in big numbers, early morning sessions and

qualifying rounds are less well attended. London 2012 are now

trying to reclaim the seats so they can sell them. Last night they sold

1,000 for the gymnastics, mostly in the higher price brackets. 700 for

the BBC volleyball on Horse Guards Parade and more than 100 for the

swimming. The issue is ultimately down to the

sports which run the venues. I asked the head of world swimming

why the seats weren't being filled. Because it's not a matter that it's

not all taken. All normally are taken. They're empty. No empty. In

the final seating at the final, no. In the heats in the morning, yes.

Some of the people have some other duty. There was better news for

organisers on the transport front, as London's streets remained earily

quiet. This was supposed to be manic Monday, the first full

working day since the Olympics started. In the end, the network

seemed to cope. Dealing with the huge demand to come to the Games

has always been one of the biggest challenges. Most of the venues are

full. But the sight of empty seats has only served o to -- to anger

those would can't be here. Let's talk to David in the Olympic

Park tonight. We've had three full days of competition, let's have

your thoughts on how it's going for the organisers and also Team GB.

Ticketing is still an issue. LOCOG say they're getting to grip was it.

Many people will be asking the question why having said seven

years to build up to that event they seem to be scrambling to come

up with a solution now. On transport, well, there will be huge

relief from Boris Johnson and other organisers that today went so

smoothly. We were all expecting it to be Armageddon. In the end the

transport network coped. As far as Team GB go, I've been speaking to

officials tonight. They're hugely excited and lifted by that

performance from the men's gymnastics team, their first medal

of any colour in 100 years. That's given a lift after the medals that

came yesterday. If you look where they are in the medal table,

they're still only 20th. They haven't yet won a gold. So, they

will be thinking that they do need to get off the mark there. But

they're pretty confident that will come because the rowing finals, the

sailing finals and the track cycling start from Wednesday. Once

they kick in, they're pretty confident the gold rush will follow.

David, thank you very much. Coming up tonight: On trial, the

Russian punk singers who dared to criticise President Putin.

The European Central Bank is under more pressure to spell out the new

measures it intends to adopt to deal with the debt crisis in the

eurozone. The German and US governments have both called for

coordinated action. The German Finance Minister interrupted his

summer holiday to discuss the crisis with the US Treasury

secretary, Tim Geithner, who expressed confidence in the efforts

being made. This report from our chief economics correspondent Hugh

Pym contains some flash photography. A quiet seaside hotel on the North

Sea island might seem an unlikely venue for a meeting of two leading

policy makers, but these are unusual times. The US Treasury

secretary, Tim Geithner, concerned about the eurozone crisis, sought a

meeting with the German finance minister, on his holiday. They said

there was a need for global cooperation to resolve debt

problems. Momentum is building behind a new action plan, possibly

to be unveiled at Thursday's meeting of the European Central

Bank. Its chief promised last week to do whatever it takes to preserve

the euro. Invest ofrz took that to mean the ECB would help countries

like Spain by buying up their IOUs, known as government bonds. Now they

want the detail. The ECB has taken action in the government bond

markets before now. It purchased 211 billion euros' worth of bonds

from 2010 until early this year. After that it seemed reluctant to

do more. What the options now? It could make a verbal pledge to

intervening, hoping that would persuade markets it means business

or it could expand the scheme buying billions more to ease market

pressures. The ECB President, Mario Draghi, may have other ideas, like

funding for banks. He knows there are critics in Germany for example,

who think the ECB would be going beyond its legal power if it

splashed out heavily on government debt. To make that quantum leap of

unrestrained intervention in eurozone government bond markets

required a lot. It is not clear, at all, whether Draghi will have the

backing to conduct such a U-turn, such a breach, almost, of its own

mandate. There was another reminder of the eurozone's problems with

news that Spain's recession has deepened. That makes it harder for

the Government to bring down its debt and tougher for Spanish people

to get by. We try to save on the small things. Maybe we go out once

every two weeks instead of every week. I will spend less you know.

We are all afraid of losing the job. Spain is gritting its teeth and it

may need help. The question is can Europe's Central Bank and political

leadership come up with something. HSBC is setting aside a further

�950 million to cover the cost of compensation for mis-selling

insurance products and fines for money laundering in the United

States. Its chief executive said the bank was very sorry for past

mistakes. His comments came as HSBC reported half yearly profits of

almost �7 billion. The trial has started in Moscow of

three members of a punk band who sang a protest song about Vladimir

Putin, weeks before his controversial re-election as

President. The whimper formed the song in Moscow's main cathedral and

were highly critical of support within the Russian Orthodox Church

for Mr Putin. They could face up to seven years in prison. Our

correspondent Daniel Sandford reports. Locked behind bullet-proof

glass in Amos co-courtroom, the three young women at centre of a

trial that mixes high politics with high religion. Today, they denied

desecrating Moscow's main cathedral are an angry protest song. The

women have been held in prison for five months ahead of today's trial,

despite the fact that two of them are mothers of young children.

This is their own video of the performance, which savages both

President Putin and the church In court, one of the women told us

she apologised for any offence caused to worshippers.

TRANSLATION: We made an ethical mistake, but an ethical mistake

should not be punished as a crime. Russia is divided over the case,

but at St Nicholas' in central Moscow we found some worshippers

genuinely outraged by Pussy Riot's actions.

TRANSLATION: It was bad for me. Russia is the last orthodox power

in the world and they need to go to prison.

The case is being heard against a background of political upheaval in

Moscow and the Kremlin has started making life difficult for the

opposition. Even raiding their homes and businesses. Today, the

most prominent opposition activist was sum opbsed to the Russian

equivalent of the FBI. Some human rights groups have been told me

must register as foreign agents. How worried are you there's a big

clamp down on the opposition in Russia?

TRANSLATION: I have no great joy about, it but I'm not scared. For

the past four years there hasn't been a day when someone hasn't told

me I'm going to end up in jail. opposition claimed the Kremlin

controls the criminal justice system, so Pussy Riot's supporters

believe their fate won't be decided bit judge, but by Vladimir Putin

himself. Well let's have more on the Olympic

action and on the third full day of action and on the third full day of

competition, this is where the Andy Swiss reports now on some of

Team GB's highlights today. For Britain they are the very

strongest of Gold Medal favourites, Kath Grainger and Anna Watkins.

They have never been beaten in more than two years together. It wasn't

hard to see why. They seemed to be rogue in a race of their own,

smashing the Olympic record as they powered to the final. After three

consecutive silver medals, Grainger on course for gold, inspired, it

seems, bit fans. You feel it in seems, bit fans. You feel it in

your body. It pulses through you. The crowds are sensational. I think

we both feel very lucky. We have incredible support behind us. We're

conscious of. That when you physically have it behind you, it

does lift you like nothing else. There was plenty more action on the

water. David Florence and Richard Hounslow in the canoe slalom

qualifying. More home success at Wimbledon as both Laura robson and

heather Watson won their opening matches. And in the weightlifting,

Zoe Smith lifted twice her own body weight on her way it a British

record, for the teenager an emotional experience. That's beyond

my wildest dreams. To come here and compete, I'm an Olympian now. I

competed as an Olympian in my home town. I'm overwhelmed by that.

Smith finished 12. While the tears flowed, on this showing a bright

future beckons. Well Zara Phillips had more than

one cause for celebration today. It's her first wedding anniversary

and she made a good start to the cross koun tristage of the Olympic

eventing competition. Britain's in second position going into the

final round. 50,000 people watched her compete at Greenwich park. The

audience included her mother, the Princess Royal, the Duke of

Cambridge and his brother Prince Harry. Our correspondent Joe Wilson

has the story. 50,000 were doing the cross country, a huge crowd for

the second stage of eventing. Not all locals were pleased that

Greenwich park had been turned into a venue, but it became a kind of

equine festival. Normally at the Olympics, the equestrian cross

country stage is miles out of town. Not so this time. The horses will

also feel they're jumping straight into the City of London. The

British team is full of experience. At 51, Mary King has dealt with

just about every obstacle. She finished in contention in sixth.

Many others fell in. Total 15 eliminations, so frequent delays.

Frustrating for those who'd come to watch a family member. So many eyes

in Greenwich turned to Zara Phillips. Twice she missed the

Olympics because of injury to her horse. Now she was making up for

lost time, flying from 24th to tenth. In eventsing riders don't

just compete for themselves, there are team medals at stake too.

COMMENTATOR: Let's look at the clock. That motivation drove Zara

Phillips towards perfection. The object was to clear all fences

inside ten minutes and three seconds. Precious few made it. Zara

Phillips crept it, even if she lost track of time in the excitement.

She's going to be inside if she jumps it, and she has. You can't

hear your watch beeping at you. But it's unbelievable. Hopefully we