22/08/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tony Nicklinson, who lost the legal battle to allow a doctor to end his

life, has died. Paralysed from the neck down for seven years, his last

message to the world - goodbye, the time has come. Once, he was a

family man with a taste for adventure. He described his life

after a stroke as a living nightmare. He made people think,

what would it be like if that happened to me? What would I want

in those circumstances? He focused attention on these very difficult

end of life issues. We will be asking where this case leaves the

debate on euthanasia. Also tonight: Asil Nadir, guilty of a further

seven charges of theft - he stole nearly �29 million from his Polly

Peck business empire. The mother and daughter murdered by

her ex-partner - an official report criticises Essex police. There is

anger from the family. More could have been done. Her life could have

been saved. A living it up in Las Vegas -

Prince Harry caught in a controversy over what happened

after this pool party. Tyre tracks on Martian soil -

NASA's rover passes another crucial test on its mission of discovery.

Coming up in Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, more fun times for

Frankel. The colt makes it a 13 wins from 13 races with a stunning

Good evening. Tony Nicklinson, who last week lost the legal battle to

allow a doctor to end his life, has died. He was paralysed from the

neck down since suffering a stroke in 2005 and described his ordeal as

a living nightmare. Mr Nicklinson, who had refused food from last week,

died from pneumonia. Branwen Jeffreys reports on how a man whose

any form of communication was blinking managed to ignite the

debate on euthanasia. Just over seven years ago, Tony

Nicklinson had everything a man could want - a happy family, his

career, his health. He had been married happily for years to his

wife Jane. Tony Nicklinson was an active and outgoing man. But his

life was changed abruptly by a devastating stroke. He was left

paralysed below the neck, unable to speak, living a life he described

as miserable and demeaning. Tony Nicklinson wanted a doctor to be

able to kill him legally. Last week, his distress was evident after the

High Court turned down his request. He stopped accepting food and

developed pneumonia. This morning, one of his daughter has posted a

message on Twitter. Before he died, Today, the Dickinson family asked

for privacy. Their solicitor spoke for them to describe the last week.

After Tony received the draft judgment on 12th August refusing

his claim, the fight seemed to go out of him. He said he was

heartbroken by the High Court's decision that he could not end his

life at a time of his choosing with the help of a doctor. No one could

lack sympathy for Tony Nicklinson's plight, but some also strongly

opposed the change he was asking for. With the help of his family,

he used social media to which the public. He is personality shone

through. He made people think, what would it be like if that happened

to me? What would I want in those circumstances? He focused attention

on these very difficult end of life issues. The debate over the right

to die has intensified recently. They -- Debbie Purdy's case led to

cases in legal guidelines around assisted suicide. Families helping

loved ones to travel abroad to die may not face prosecution. Tony

Nicklinson took things further with his court case in 2010. He wanted

doctors to be able to kill him in the UK, without facing a murder

charge. But High Court judges want Parliament to decide, because this

is a moral and ethical debate for society. His wife Jane said today

that she had lost the love of her life. Tony Nicklinson had planned

to carry on his legal battle. Instead, he was embraced by the

death he wanted, leaving his family to grieve the man only they really

knew. Branwen is with me now. Where does

this leave the debate on euthanasia? For a man that could

not speak, Tony Nicklinson had an incredibly loud voice in this

debate, really raising its public profile. But because the courts

pushed it back to Parliament, that is where we will see campaigners

focus their efforts. Both those that say that because of Tony

Nicklinson's suffering, the law should change on voluntary

euthanasia, and those who are against that change, both some

medical organisations and disabled lobby groups who do not want any

change on that or assisted suicide. It is worth remembering that

attempts in Parliament to change the law in England and Wales before

have not been successful, and nor have more recent attempts in the

Scottish parliament. Asil Nadir, the man who ran the

massive Polly Peck business in the 1980s, has been found guilty of a

further seven counts of theft. The jury at the Old Bailey heard that

he stole nearly �29 million from his own company. On Monday, Mr

Nadir was convicted of three charges and has been cleared of

three others. Arriving at court, the man who once

reigned supreme over a vast business empire. Two days ago, he

was found guilty of three counts of theft amounting to nearly �6

million. Today, another nine counts will be decided. Asil Nadir

remained impassive as the verdicts were delivered. Afterwards, he put

his hands together in front of his face, almost as if in prayer, as

the judge thanked the jury for their stamina in what has been a

gruelling seven-month trial. The Serious Fraud Office's pursuit of

Asil Nadir has finally been vindicated. We are pleased that we

were able to bring it to court and we are pleased with the result. Mr

Nadir is an intelligent man, and he had a complex network of companies

and trusts in order to route the money out of the jurisdiction.

Leaving court, the toll telling on Asil Nadir's wife. I am not going

to comment. Will you appeal? Yes. Asil Nadir was found guilty of 10

counts of theft amounting to around �29 million. He stole 1.3 million,

partly to pay for the Baggrave Hall, a stately home and farm in

Leicestershire, and 5 million which benefited his family. In 1980, he

paid nearly �300,000 for a stake in a small textile company called

Polly Peck. Ten years later, it was worth �2 billion and had 200

subsidiaries including the fruit giant De Monte. In 1990, following

raids by the Serious Fraud Office on his and Polly Peck's offices, he

was arrested and charged with theft on a vast scale. In May 1993,

months before his trial was due to start, he fled the UK for northern

Cyprus. 17 years later, he returned to face justice, saying he finally

want to clear his name. The collapse of Polly Peck took

shareholders' like Robin hillier by surprise. I had a brilliant and

your report from the accountants, which gave you no reason to think

they would be bad, that it would suddenly go broke. A few days later,

complete collapse. When I spoke to Asil Nadir before the trial, he

remained defiant. Did you still that money?

Absolutely not. It makes you wonder, a man worth millions of pounds,

spending dozens of millions of pounds a year and charity, what

motive does you have? Asil Nadir's reputation is now in tatters.

Tomorrow morning, he will be sentenced.

Essex police have been severely criticised for the way they dealt

with a man who went on to kill his ex-partner and their daughter.

Christine Chambers had been complaining about violence from

David Oakes for two years before the murder. The Independent Police

Complaints Commission says the force's response was inadequate.

Many times during her daughter Shania's short life, Christine

Chambers has sought help from the police, fearful of the child's

father, she finally separated from him. Two months later, a custody

battle ended with both mother and child murdered at their home.

Christine Chambers' elder daughter escaped by jumping out of a window

of the house in Braintree in Essex. After shooting his ex-partner and

child, David Oakes turned the gun on himself, but despite his

injuries, he survived. As those who knew Christine heard the news, one

man shouted, you knew it was going to happen again. Today her family

were critical of the Essex force. am so angry, because you are so

frustrated that more could have been done. Lives could have been

saved. Today's report by the Independent Police Complaints

Commission contains a litany of failings by Essex police, among

them the evidence of David Oakes' violence tendencies was not taken

into account. Action taken to arrest him was inadequate, and

Christine Chambers' reluctance to give evidence against him was a

sign that she was vulnerable. Although the police responded to

each of the calls and did invest resources in those responses, they

dealt with each incident as if it was isolated. They did not join the

dots and see the whole picture. force says it now has more officers

specialising in domestic violence. I met Mr and Mrs Chambers last week

and offered my condolences and apologies. We owe it to Christine

and Shania to learn from the lessons and recommendations of this

report. David Oakes is now serving a life term for events here last

year. The judge at his trial said he should remain in prison for the

rest of his life. Meanwhile, the police have to reflect on their

failings in this case. The report says it is impossible to say if

Christine and Shania would still be alive today if things had been done

differently. The UK's second largest energy firm,

SSE, is to increase its charges from October. The company blamed

the rise on wholesale energy prices. The move will see bills going up by

an average of 9%, hitting nearly 8.5 million customers with an

increase of just over �100 a year for a standard dual fuel bill. The

company says it will cap its bills until at least the second half of

next year. Other big energy suppliers are also expected to

increase prices this autumn. A series of high-level meetings

this week could once again expose the fault-lines at the heart of the

Eurozone crisis. The Greek Prime Minister is asking for more time to

implement the tough spending cuts imposed on the country. Today the

head of the euro group of finance ministers said Greig was facing its

It's the latest act in this Greek drama. A plea for more time to

bring down the Government's borrowing. The economy's on its

knees. Unemployment is at nearly 25%. Empty shops tell their own

story and many feel their country can't take any more spending cuts

or tax rises. The Greek Prime Minister, Antonis

Samaras, today met the leader of the eurozone's lenders to ask for

breathing space with the austerity programme it. Includes 11.5 billion

euros of cuts over two years. Trans Sonic The only thing that this

government and the Greek people and reason want is to remove to

recovery as soon as possible. a deepening recession it is getting

harder for Greece to raise tax revenues. The International

Monetary Fund predicts a 4.8% contraction this year and no growth

next year. Though many experts think that's too optimistic.

economy is almost dead and a lot of economists here, Samaras is one of

them, feel that if you just squeeze a little bit more, then that will

be the death certificate. Nothing will be moving any more.

Events in Athens and the latest developments in the Greek financial

crisis are being watched closely in Europe's financial markets. I think

the Greek situation is very serious today. This economist told me she

thinks Greece won't be able to meet the tough borrowing targets, set by

lenders, as part of the bailout deal. I don't think Greece will be

able to achieve the targets as they are set out today. I think

ultimately Greece will need more money but I think it's also a

decision that will come in the medium-term. If we are looking in

the immediate issues for the euro area, there are other issue that is

need to be addressed but Greece will need more time, they will need

more money. As the Greek Prime Minister left today's meeting, he

was no clearer whether he'd get an extension on the deficit reduction

programme. He'll meet the German Chancellor on fri, and the next day

the French President. -- on Friday. Two key players, he really needs to

get on side. Coming up on tonight's programme:

On the highest peaks in the United Kingdom, lighting the Paralympic

flame, despite the weather. A website in the United States has

published photographs showing Prince Harry naked in a Las Vegas

Hotel room. The pictures were apparently taken at a party with

friends in his hotel suite, during a private weekend break. St James's

Palace has confirmed the photos are of Harry but won't comment any

further. Please stand for His Royal Highness,

Prince Henry of Wales, representing Her Majesty the Queen. He was last

seen in Britain at the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, with

the world looking on, Prince Harry was there as the Queen's personal

representative. A few days later and a very different Harry was on

display, in Las Vegas in a swimming pool in a nightclub. He was there

with friends on what officials say was a short break from his military

duties. But what was what happened later, in his hotel suite that's

causing acute embarrassment to the third in line to the British throne.

An American gossip website published photographs of Prince

Harry, naked, apparently playing strip billiards. A woman companion

also appears to be naked. The mainstream media here in Britain

has so far chosen not to publish the photographs, mindful, no doubt,

that Lord Justice Leveson is currently writing his report on the

British press. For Harry, the episode is an unfortunate reminder

of earlier times when his judgment was called into question. But more

recently the image of a partying Prince has been replaced by

something more level-headed. A caring Prince, fulfiling his

military duties and bringing a sense of fun to his work as a

central member of the Royal Family. Those who know Harry, say the

pictures are a real setback for him. It really undermines, you know, the

work he has been doing in the last six months. His char constable work

in South Africa and even his military career. -- his charitable

work. And that has taken off in a

fantastic direction. "Queen and much of her family trying to relax

up in Balmoral, it has been left with royal officials in London to

deal with the kind of attention the Royal Family could do without.

Nothing is being said here about the photographs. There's probably

very little that can be said. However it is being pointed out

that everyone should have a reasonable expectation of privacy

in their own hotel room. Friends of Harry say this was a

young officer, letting his hair down before returning to military

duty. But of course it's never as straightforward as that, when

thatster is third in line to the British throne -- when that officer.

Amnesty International says there is evidence that civilians are facing

indiscriminate attacks in the battle for Aleppo and it is warning

of an increase in the Ilic treatment of soldiers. -- ill-

treatment of Today one of their tactics emerged. Filmed by New York

Times journalists, it shows them trying to turn a captured soldier

into a suicide bomber. The battle a month old, with no end

in sight. These men form one of the many units fighting the Assad

regime in the city. The group's leader a former accountant,

prepares his men for battle and this film, shot by New York Times

reporters, who joined them for five days, shows how far they are

willing to G-force force The journalists show them rigging a 300

Kyle yo bomb. Inside there is a prisoner, said to be a member of

the government militia accused of massacres.

Rebels say one confessed to beatings and rape.

This man is offered significant relts and a shur and he is told he

will be released as part of a prisoner exchange -- he is offered

cigarettes and a shower. He is told all he has to do is

drive on to a government checkpoint. What he doesn't know and the

reporters say they didn't realise, is that he would be transferred

into the truck, carrying a bomb, which rebels plan it detonate

remotely as he approaches the checkpoint. He is being tricked

into being an unwitting suicide bomber. In the moment the rebel

fighters return disappointed, when they press the detonator, the bomb

failed to explode. What essentially is happening there, it seems, is

the attempted murder of a captive which would be classed as war crime.

Certainly the scale of the abuses happening in Syria right now, by

the armed opposition, do not match the crimes against humanity

happening from the Syrian government. What this video does is

provide a new insight into some of the tactics employed in the pivotal

battle that's under way for Aleppo. Neither side can afford to lose, so

the tactics are becoming more extreme. It's here that the

Government has first started using fighter jets to bomb built-up areas

and it is also here that some rebel units have been accused of the

summary execution of prisoners. As the fighting continues, the level

of brutality is increasing. The Government responsible for the

lion's share but it is the civilians who are bearing the brub.

Tonight David Cameron has spoken to the US President, brak and the

French President, Francois Hollande, and Gordon joins me now. What has

emerged? The conversations? Well in conversations with the French and

American Presidents, the Prime Minister talked about how to build

on existing support to the opposition forces in Siria. It is

non-lethal support, so they are not supplying arms it the kinds of

rebel groups we saw in the report. The other thing that I think is

significant is that Downing Street said both David Cameron and the

American President ray greed that the use or threat of chemical

weapons was "kpwhreetly unacceptable" and would force them

to revisit their approach. -- "completely unacceptable." That

echos language that President Obama used when he warned the Syrians

about chemical weapons, it was a redline saying, that they were to

use the weapons, then perhaps their calculus about intervening might

change. In a seas' Mars Rover has made its first test drive, moving

just a few metres. -- NASA's Mars Rover.

Pallab Ghosh has the latest details on the mission. Tyre tracks on a

distant planet. Curiosity has just taken its first short journey on

the martian surface. The day began with a little wiggle of its wheel.

Then, at mission control, engineers sent instructions for the Rover to

roll. If this operation failed, the long journey to Mars would have

been in vain. Straight to the good stuff and put

up the image from today. The very beautiful image. I'm pleased to

report that Curiosity today had our first successful drive on Mars.

APPLAUSE And this is what Curiosity will be

exploring. Will - a vast crater who's rocks the Rover will spend

the next two years studying in incredible detail. Curiosity here

is the most sophisticated piece of equipment ever to have land on

another planet. Its laser can assess the chemical composition of

nearby rocks. It is the first Rover on the surface of Mars to be able

it drill and analyse samples. All this data can then be sent back to

Earth, along with the most detailed images yet of the martian surface.

We will be driving only short bits in the beginning but eventually we

will be able to go maybe 100m each day. There will always be new

science targets and new questions coming up river time we stop the

Rover and look around. The science can now begin. By studying the

crater, layer by layer, scientists hope to learn whether this now dead

planet could once have supported life, billions of years ago.

A week to go before the biggest Paralympics ever get under way in

London, and the flames for the torch relay have been lit in poor

weather on the highest peaks of England, Scotland, Wales and

Northern Ireland. James Pearce reports from Snowdon.

Four flames lit on the highest peaks of the four nation up the

United Kingdom. Next week they'll be merged to form London's

Paralympic flame. At Snowdon, Lord Coe was lead big example, choosing

a three-hour climb, rather than a leisurely train ride to the top. I

might have wondered if he'd made the right decision, as the clouds

began to roll in. But eventually he and his team of scouts made it to

the top. A well-earned warm cup of tea. While Wales' Paralympic torch

was lit from the flame. Then, just a few does more steps to Snowdon's

summit. The contrast could hardly be

greater, with the sunshine of ancient Olympia for the lighting of

the Olympic flame back in May but the symbolism is similar and the

organisers hope the end result will be the same, one of the greatest

games ever staged. He was on top of Snowdon but after the success of

the Olympics, probably feeling on top of the world and now in

confident mood. We get the Paralympics in this country. You

know, a lot of our competitors are household names. This is just a

great way of really starting the flame on its journey to the

Paralympic stadium. The weather was little better at the other

locations around the UK. This was the lighting at the top of Ben

Nevis in Scotland. In Northern Ireland, there were numerous failed

attempts before eventual success. And in England, they had to use a

tarpaulin for shelter. It was pretty difficult. It did take a

little longer than expected. It did start hailing at one point and was

very windy but with a bit of tender, loving kai, we managed to get the

flame lit. -- loving care. Meanwhile, thousands of

Paralympians arrived in London. More than three-quarterings of