02/11/2012 BBC News at Ten

Obama and Rumney neck and neck. Jobs and the economy takes centre-

stage in the presidential campaign. Old men stake their claim to the

White House in a key battleground of Ohio. Unemployment is higher

today than when Barack Obama took office. This morning we learnt that

companies hired more workers in October than at any time in the

last eight months. With just four days to go, we will be assessing

just how close the race is. After the devastation of Hurricane Sandy,

the authorities in New York give in to public pressure to cancel this

weekend's marathon. A man with a hatred of Christians jailed for

life for a double murder. He killed retired teacher Betty Yates and

Reverend John Suddards in their homes. A former Labour minister

resigns after submitting false invoices described as plainly

intended to deceive. Accusations of war crimes against Syrian rebel

fighters, as a video appears to show them executing government

soldiers. And the fungus killing Briton's ash trees. Walkers are

told to wash their pets, their boots, even their children to try

Sir Alex Ferguson says he doesn't believe Mark Clattenburg racially

abused a Chelsea player in the With just four days to go till

America heads to the polls, President of Obama and republican

Mitt Romney are still neck-and-neck. The employment figures have offered

neither candidate the chance to pull ahead. They are putting jobs

and the economy centre-stage and they can. Tonight they are in a

high heel. It to be there is regarded as crucial in securing the

keys to the White House. We report from the City of Columbus. A few

days in charge of a crisis seems to have energised the President.

There's a new bounce and even jury in the steps of the man who needs

all of these voters. He seized on today's jobs figures, the best for

eight months, he said. But the passion of an old-time preacher, he

roared out his promises. It's time to keep pushing forward. Great new

jobs to make sure that no matter who you are or where you come from,

you can make it in America. That's what we are fighting for. Another

rally, another swing state, another perspective entirely a. Mitt Romney

says the slight increase in unemployment proves the economy is

stagnant. He has his own promises. If there's anyone who fears the

American dream is fading, if there's anyone who wonders whether

better jobs and better pay cheques are things of the past, I have a

clear and unequivocal message. With the right leadership, America will

come roaring back. But words are easy. The car industry in Ohio has

already come back. Something that is down to President Obama's deeds.

But other industries portray him as a job killer. We have 250 years of

Col... This advert accuses Obama of waging a war on coal, through

tougher environmental rules. This plays well with workers on the

ground in Ohio's coal country. Vast vehicles 10 at the Earth to uncover

the fuel below. But permits for new hard to come by, and the President

is blamed. I think he is running this country into the ground. He is

wanting to get away with burning coal for Energy, that's my

livelihood. I think Obama would Steph -- stick by the working

classes. Mitt Romney has been contradicted so many times by

himself that you don't know where you stand with him. Mitt Romney's

team believes there's a rich vein of it votes running through

America's coal country. Not just here but in other vital swing

states as well. But Ohio or is the big prize, and those of votes here

could mean the difference between winning and losing. But the

President looks pretty happy. He's telling crowds here he's got plenty

of fight left in -- fight left in him and the battle will rage on

over the next few days. Away from the election trail, the death toll

from Hurricane Sandy has reached over 90. The New York Marathon has

been called off in response to growing calls for it to be

cancelled. It's starting line is on Staten Island, one of the hardest-

hit areas when 19 people have died, there is no power and supplies of

food, fuel and water are running low. And I opening drive along this

street on Staten Island. A street remade by a vicious act of nature.

Some homes are completely gone. Others are ripped apart. It has

been four days now. Those cleaning- up of feeling abandoned. Nobody

came to my door yet. The storm was on Monday night, it's now Friday.

still have nobody year. Somebody help us, please. Deraa police in

the neighbourhood. As we filmed they detained a young man suspected

of looting. But the power is still out and the temperature is falling.

As you make your way through a bad third, eerily quiet neighbourhood

like this and see people's possessions on the ground, homes,

like this one here, completely obliterated, it really is hard to

comprehend that this is New York City, the financial capital of the

world. Putting right what has happened here is going to take many

months and may be longer. On the Maine Road this was the queue to

buy petrol. Supplies are low, tempers being tested. Some are

struggling to make sense of what has happened. It is a disaster,

terrible! And we are going to be voting. I don't know how we are

going to go out to vote. Manhattan, the skyline was real --

reveals stars. The lights come on in a mere half the city. So while

Broadway glitters, Lower Manhattan is in darkness. We found residents

are finding their way by torchlight, and candles keeping customer live

at a bar owned by British expats. would have liked to have power back.

It's really hurting our business to have two of our major restaurants

closed for what should be one of the busiest weeks of the year,

being Hallowe'en. Tonight, the storm claimed another casualty, as

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that Sunday's New York Marathon

will not go ahead. He had been criticised but earlier saying the

race could go on. The runners were to have set out from Staten Island,

with its bruised shores, lives lost and near disbelief at what Mother

Nature has done. Let's return to Columbus in a high AIL. Coming back

to the presidential campaign, just days to go now. What lies ahead

this weekend for the candidates? There's going to be a rather crazy

three days of madly dashing by both candidates across the country,

travelling thousands of miles. They keep returning to this state. Both

of them will hold final rallies here in Columbus on Monday. But I

wonder how much all this matters compared to the momentous event

that America has been through this week. How much that helps more than

all the rhetoric we will be hearing over the weekend. We have been

hearing that the suffering goes on and in some cases gets worse. There

must be a slender chance that President Obama gets blamed for

some of that. But on the whole, I've heard only praise for the way

he's handled it. More than that, because both men suspended

campaigning, he shot Mitt Romney out of the public arena for a

little while and stopped his momentum. President Obama still was

very much on the national stage, being seen to cope with the crisis.

He seems to have come back with a bit more of a spring in his step.

Over the weekend Mitt Romney will be trying to get back in again.

President Obama will be trying to build on that. I think the storm

probably matters more than all of the words we will be hearing.

is comprehensive coverage of the A homeless man with a hatred of

Christians who murdered a retired teacher and a vicar has been jailed

for life. Stephen Farrow, diagnosed as a psychopath, killed Reverend

John Suddards at his vicarage in south Gloucestershire, and 77-year-

old pensioner, Betty Yates, at her home. Stephen Farrow, a homeless

drifter with a deep loathing of the Church. He claimed he'd been abused

as a child by a priest. His victims, the Reverend John Suddards and

Betty Yates, were described by the police today as exemplary members

of their communities. Betty Yates, a widow, died at her isolated

cottage in Worcestershire. Farrow battered her with her own walking

stick before stabbing her four times in the head. She will be

remembered by her family, friends, colleagues and pupils as a woman

who was kind, determined and, above all, good fun. After killing Mrs

Yates, Farrow went on the run, arriving in Thornbury 70 miles away,

six weeks later. He'd previously been in the town over Christmas and

had burgled a house and left a note pinned to a table with knives

referring to Christian scum. In February, in the same town, he

found Reverend John Suddards alone in his vicarage. Barrow told a

psychiatrist who examined him that he'd stabbed Reverend Suddards,

kicked him to keep him down and ordered him to die and hurry up.

Afterwards, instead of fleeing the scene, he spent the night here,

drinking beer and watching DVDs. When the police arrived they found

a Bible open on the vicar's chest, and a canvas painting of Jesus

alongside. After today's verdicts Mr Suddards' sister said there were

questions that still need answering. Do we come as a country, do enough

to ensure that psychopaths with a known history of violence and

criminal offences are not left roaming around at large, ready to

attack someone? I could well have been another victim. And questions

tonight but Dorset police, who were warned by this woman about Farrow.

Before the first murder he Senturk a series of text messages. I won't

stop until I'm caught, he said. You don't know how disturbed I am. The

Church will be the first to suffer. Maybe the two deaths of Betty and

the Reverend would not have happened. I just find it so sad

that those two people had to die in those circumstances. Dorset police

have announced an internal review. Farrow will spend the rest of his

A former Labour minister has resigned as an MP after wrongly

claiming thousands of pounds in expenses. The Parliamentary

Committee on Standards and Privileges said Denis McShane had

submitted 19 false invoices which were plainly intended to deceive.

Gary O'Donoghue is at Westminster. Can you give us more detail about

what the committee found? Three years after the expenses scandal

rocked Westminster, it still continues to cast a shadow.

Effectively what Denis McShane did was supplied fake invoices, 19 of

them, amounting to around �13,000 worth of public money. He

effectively send invoices to himself and then wrote the cheques.

He also claimed for 14 publicly- funded computers over a three-year

period. At that time, he allowed his interns to take them away with

him when they left is employed. He says he's been harshly treated but

he accepts his parliamentary career is over. The police did look at his

behaviour earlier in the year and decided there was no reason to take

the case any further. They've told the BBC today that they will be

looking at the evidence that the parliamentary inquiry brought to

bear. It does mean that there will be another by-election in Rotherham.

Labour has a pretty healthy majority there, 10,000 majority,

but they will be worried that Denis McShane's behaviour could bring a

There's growing condemnation tonight from human rights activists

about a video which appears to show the summary execution of Syrian

soldiers by rebel fighters. Gunmen are seen kicking and then shooting

around ten soldiers. The UN has said if the footage is verified, it

could constitute a war crime. From neighbouring Lebanon, Paul Wood has

more, and his report contains Syria's dirty war. This video is

said to show Syrian government soldiers captured by rebels and the

north of the country. Petrified, bleeding, begging for their lives.

Please, I did not shoot anyone, a prisoner pleads. Shut up, you

animal, one of his captors replies. The prisoners endured kicking and

stamping. Then the shooting starts. What happens next is to graphic to

show, but we are told that all the prisoners were killed.

Unfortunately, this could be just the latest in a string of

documented summary executions by opposition factions, as well as by

government forces. Another internet video shows another summary

execution, again blamed on the rebels. Often, it is groups with

Islamist sympathies. They are still a minority of those fighting, but

some fear their influence will grow if the West does not support more

secular groups. They have been saying for months, look, we would

prefer the United States and NATO to help us out, but if it reaches

the point where the only people coming to our aid are the guys with

the long black beards who have experience building improvised

explosive devices and were willing to blow themselves up, if it means

taking up the regime, we will accept that a deed. The US believes

this chaos comes from a lack of political leadership in Syria's

uprising. Secretary of state Hillary Clinton and her officials

have been trying to help to form a new opposition government in

waiting. They hope it will be able Meanwhile, people are dying in

Syria at the rate of more than 160 each day. The opposition says

36,000 have been killed since the uprising began. Western governments

have a dilemma. If they stand by and do nothing, how will a Syrian

regime that is bombing and shelling its own people be stopped? But, if

they do on the rebels, what if those weapons fall into the wrong

hands, reaching groups they go on to use them for war crimes. -- if

they arm the rebels. Coming up:

Diamond encrusted watches, handbags, property - the immense Chinese

We're all being urged by the Government to wash our dogs, our

boots, and even our children, if we venture into woodland this weekend.

Ministers are concerned that the fungus which is destroying ash

trees could be transferred from fallen leaves. Labour has accused

the Government of "dithering" and failing to act fast enough. With

the latest, here's Jeremy Cooke. It is a killer disease which could

wipe out ash trees in their thousands. The symptoms are obvious

- dead, blackened leaves, linear scars along the bark. Today, the

Government's response, the meeting of the COBRA committee, normally

associated with terror alerts and national crisis. And this amid

claims that ministers ignored warnings that may have stopped the

disease before it got here. We did the right things at the right time.

Now, the issue which we have addressed rapidly is to promote the

import ban and the movement than as we approach the planting season.

But others accuse the Government of failing to protect our woodlands.

The Horticultural Trades Association wrote to the Forestry

Commission in September 2009 to request a ban on imports of ash

trees. That did not happen, and now the infection is here and taking

its toll. In this space, there should be 50,000 ash saplings, but

they fell victim to Chalara fraxinea, and have been removed and

burned. And the grower is left footing the bill. I feel really sad.

I entered the industry because I love the environment and a log

trees. That is why I'm doing what I am doing. It is a sad day. I can

remember Dutch elm disease and the devastation that had. This will be

far worse. These Government labs are in the front line in this

battle. Hi-tech DNA analysis, mapping out the spread of the

disease. Work here starts with this, raw material being brought in from

across the country. This piece of ash appears to be infected. You

have this dark Lizzie and write down the Bach, classic symptoms.

But we need scientific evidence. So far, cases in the wild are limited

to East Anglia but there is no known control. The Government says

we should all clean our boots, our children and our dogs after a walk

in the woods. Whether that will make a big difference is

controlling an airborne fungal spore is debatable.

A prominent republican has been arrested by police investigating

the murder of a prison officer in County Armagh. Colin Duffy was

acquitted earlier this year of the murders of two soldiers outside

their barracks in Antrim. Two other men are also being questioned about

yesterday's shooting of David Black on a motorway near Lurgan.

The jailed tycoon Asil Nadir has been ordered to pay back �5 million

in compensation or face a further six years in jail. Nadir was jailed

for 10 years in August after being found guilty of stealing just under

�29 million from his Polly Peck business empire.

This summer's exam crisis over GCSE English results in England was

caused by teachers being over- generous in their marking of

coursework. That's the conclusion today of the exams watchdog Ofqual.

But teaching unions have reacted angrily, saying teachers should not

be made the scapegoats. Here's Reeta Chakrabarti.

The GCSE England Igs -- English exam open the door to a bitter row.

The marks required for a good grade were raised in the middle of the

year, meaning that those who sat it in June needed higher marks than

those in January. Ofqual says that was because teachers were too

generous in marking pupil's coursework or controlled assessment,

in a bid to boost grades. Teachers want the best results for children

and schools, and they are judged on it. And sometimes, too many times,

that has been pushed to the limit. This London School is one of over

600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to see a major drop in

grades. It is half-term and pupils are preparing for resits this month.

The head teacher is furious that Ofqual seems to be blaming teachers

for what has happened. Outraged. Absolutely outraged. The report

that came out today failed, and I am disappointed with Ofqual,

because they failed to recognise and take responsibility for their

own mistakes and have started pointing the finger at others.

Playgrounds might be empty this week but the fall-out from the

marking row goes on, with questions being asked not just about last

summer's grades, but the whole system of school league tables.

Teachers mark their own pupil's assessments, overseen by examiners.

Ofcom says there is pressure to deliver at least a grade C, as that

is how pupils and schools are judged. This graph of one exam

board's English results shows hummers pupils are near one of the

greats. Teachers say the system forces them to push pupils to the

next grade, rather than providing a rounded education. The Education

Secretary, Michael Gove, is strongly opposed to exams at

different times of the year, and they will be phased out soon. But

on league tables, so far he has been silent. Ofqual faces potential

legal action from unions, schools and local councils, want the exam

regraded, as in Wales. This controversy is far from closed.

Next week, China's ruling Communist Party will gather to appoint new

leaders who'll rule the country for the next decade. The change of

leadership will be watched closely around the world, not least here in

the UK, where China is the third largest foreign investor. Stephanie

Flanders looks now at whether the close economic ties will continue.

If you wanted to see China's contribution to the world economy,

the best place to see it used to be the toy department. This is how

most of us first saw China's economic growth - made in China on

more and more of the things we wanted to buy. But things are

changing. Now we are not just seeing its products, but China's

growing wealth. And when I say wealth, this is what they buy. At

Harrods there are now special terminals to let Chinese customers

paid direct from their home bank accounts. The restaurant menus have

been adapted to the Chinese, too. They are worth it. Over the last

five years, their sales in this store has multiplied by 20 times.

They used to be one-fifth of the American spend, and now they are

five times the American spend. This is a customer cohort we really have

to look after. Harrods are not the only ones getting new business from

the Chinese. 330,000 people visited the UK from China and Hong Kong

last year, 17% more than the year before. What they spend here counts

in our exports. 5% of Britain's exports go to China or Hong Kong

now, but sales there have risen 60% in just five years. They are

investing here, as well. This week, China's main public Investment Fund

bought a 10% stake in the company that owns Heathrow. That Chinese

money has been going into a lot of different industries. The telecoms

giant recently announced another �1 billion investment in the UK. We

have seen Chinese investors by a Weetabix and a chunk of Thames

Water. I wonder whether the Chinese tourists who come here for their

traditional Savile Row suit realise that it is now owned by the Chinese

as well. Something else the Chinese are buying into, a very British

education. All of these women are studying economics at University

College London. The number of Chinese students in the UK has

doubled in five years. I believe the majority of students will have

a good time studying in Britain. And this is good for the British

university as well. Because if those alumni enjoy their time in a

British university, when they go back it will establish a high

reputation for British universities. If you see the view from the window,

in the north, Canary Wharf. This is the kind of flat Chinese parents

buy for their kids, or just as an investment. But there are strict

controls on the many people can take in or out of China.

mainland Chinese were able to take money out of the country freely and

wanted to invest in real estate to the extent that they seem to at the

moment, we think it could move London prices by as much as 15%.