05/01/2016 BBC News at Ten

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Tonight at ten, David Cameron will allow ministers to campaign

for either side in the referendum on Britain's future in the EU.

Ministers will be allowed to declare their positions once

Mr Cameron has finished renegotiating the terms

of Britain's membership, which could be as early as next month.

There will be a clear Government position,

but it will be open to individual ministers to take a different

personal position while remaining part of the Government.

There's growing expectation that the referendum itself

Also tonight, the latest on the identity of the Briton

as ministers face questions about how he jumped bail.

Have you moved all your critics? Good morning.

The Labour leader is still reshuffling his Shadow Cabinet team,

and there's no sign yet of a formal announcement.

A tearful President Obama tells victims of gun crime

that he'll impose tougher controls on gun ownership.

And we meet the Indian teenager who's the first cricketer

to score more than a thousand runs in an organised match.

On BBC London, police searching for a former EastEnders actress and are

two children discovered three bodies. And four months before the

election, is it already getting a little personal in the race for City

Hall? After months of speculation,

David Cameron has decided to give ministers the freedom to campaign

for either side in the forthcoming referendum on Britain's membership

of the EU. The vote is due by the end

of next year. Ministers will be allowed

to declare their positions once Mr Cameron has finished

renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership, which could be

as early as next month. There's growing expectation

that the referendum itself Let's join our political editor,

Laura Kuenssberg, at Westminster. Huw, there's nothing ordinary about

is being asked whether to stay or leave the European Union, and think

ordinary about Cabinet ministers being allowed to say exactly what

they think on the use you, let alone make opposing arguments in public,

but the Prime Minister has decided or had to decide that is what will

happen, even though it was not his original plan. In the next few

months, normal rules will be suspended.

You, him and them - the Prime Minister wants

to persuade you to stay in the European Union, but he admitted

today there is no way he'll ever persuade his whole team.

Statement, the Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr Speaker...

As the Commons returned for business, to cheers and jeers,

he said ministers won't have to toe the line when it is time to choose.

There will be a clear Government position,

but it will be open to individual ministers to take

while remaining part of the Government.

Ultimately, it will be for the British people

by voting in or out of a reformed European Union.

David Cameron is arguing for looser ties

I think we'll be getting a good deal.

But the risk of Cabinet turmoil if Eurosceptics couldn't

make their case was too great, as the opposition knows.

Leaders across Europe can see the Prime Minister's

a figleaf for Conservative Party politics.

Does the Prime Minister accept his bluff has now been called?

Conservative Eurosceptics are cock-a-hoop.

Mr Speaker, may I salute my right honourable friend's decision

to allow ministers to exercise their freedom of choice

And would he accept this is not a sign of his personal weakness

of what David Cameron promised a year ago.

If you're part of the Government, then clearly you're part of the team

that is aiming for the renegotiation...

So you're not going to do a free vote, as Labour did in the '70s?

No, I've set that out very clearly in the past.

of the last time the country had a vote on Europe.

In 1975, a Labour Prime Minister was forced to allow

the bizarre spectacle of his own Cabinet ministers

arguing against each other in public.

Will you please allow me to answer the question?

Well, no, if I may say so, with respect,

With more than half a dozen Cabinet ministers

could it be Iain Duncan Smith taking on the Prime Minister?

Or Theresa May opposing George Osborne?

You're now going to have a Government in which there is

no total collective unity, in which people will actually

stay in office, apparently, but publicly oppose one

of the fundamental policies of the Government

in which they serve about the nation's future.

And that is really a most unfortunate situation.

To manage his party in this place, in truth,

David Cameron didn't have much of a choice.

If he tried to silence his ministers who want to leave the EU,

But the decision you will make on staying or leaving the EU

is much bigger than what happens in Westminster day to day,

much bigger even than what happens in a general election,

but a choice that will shape the future of our country

David Cameron's avoided, or at least postponed,

damage from disagreements inside his party,

but in the wider world, to get his way on the EU,

there's still an awful lot of work to do.

And of course the Tories have a long history of trauma over Europe, so

away from their backroom machinations, the big symbol from

today is increasing evidence that Number Ten is feeling confident

about getting a deal on all this wrapped up in the middle of

February, just six weeks' time, and that adds to the sense that we are

all likely to get a vote may be as early as June, six months away and

might feel like a long time right now, but in this place the clock is

ticking loudly. The brother of one of the five

Syrian men who's shown being murdered in the latest

Islamic State video has spoken about the devastating

impact of the killings And he's denied that his brother

was in any way involved with spying for Britain,

as the militants have claimed. He's been talking to our world

affairs correspondent The so-called Islamic State captured

these five Syrian men in Raqqa. It forced them to confess

to espionage, The men were Faisal Hammoud

Al-Jaafar, who was 25, 31-year-old Mehyar

Mahmood Al-Othman, Obay Mohammed Abdul Ghani,

who was only 18, At a secret location in Turkey,

we met Hael's brother. He says his brother,

in Isis controlled Syria, My brother,

he is a normal civilian, just like all

the people inside my city. He have shop,

he fixed the air conditioning or electric, electric

things in the home. He hasn't slept since

he learned of his brother's death. Came a moment I say,

my brother is still alive. But after that, I'm back

to reality, yes, he's died. At astonishing risk,

activists inside Raqqa smuggle out footage of life inside

the Isis-ruled city, and where it's safest

simply to keep quiet. What is life like now

for people in Raqqa? The water sometimes came,

sometimes not. Isis arrests people without

any charge, just like that. Taher Moqresh, a Syrian activist

working in Turkey, He's also in hiding,

but he asked us to show his face. TRANSLATION:

The Isis video is a message By contrast,

the five men in Raqqa More questions have been asked

about the militant speaking with a British accent who appears

on the Islamic State video. The man widely believed to be

Siddhartha Dhar from East London left the country with his family

in 2014 after jumping bail Our security correspondent

Gordon Corera has the latest. How strange it is that a leader

of a small island... A masked jihadist making

threats against Britain. The chief suspect is

Siddartha Dhar from East London. Officials are not confirming

it is him, but we asked a speech analysis expert, who wanted

to remain anonymous for his own On the basis of my experience,

what I have got here are two samples which show a strong degree

of similarity to one another. Dhar became involved with

the organisation Al-Muhajiroun, he was arrested on

suspicion of supporting the group. He was then released on police bail

without being charged. After he was released on bail,

he came back here to Walthamstow. He was supposed to surrender

his passport, but instead he took his family

and fled by Europe to Syria. That raised questions

about whether the authorities Today the Home Secretary declined

to comment on the specific case but said more had been done

recently to prevent travel. Last year, the Counterterrorism

and Security Act provided new powers to deal specifically

with the problem of foreign fighters

and prevent radicalisation. This included a new power

to temporarily seize the passports of those suspected of intending

to leave the UK in connection a child of five is seen briefly

talking in English. Tonight, a woman from London

told the BBC whom she hadn't seen

for three years. It's hard to look at this,

I have to go to work Christmas Day, Boxing Day, just to give myself

happiness and comfort, because I would love

to have my grandchildren with me, and which I have no power,

I struggled, I just want my children, my daughter

and my grandchildren back. Siddartha Dhar posted pictures

from Syria with his own child, boasting of how easy it had been

to evade the authorities. Whether or not he is the man

in the video, his ability to get out there will raise questions

about whether enough is being done to stop others following

in his footsteps. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

is still in the process of reshuffling his team

of Shadow Ministers. He's already sacked Michael Dugher,

the Shadow Culture Secretary, against making radical changes

to the Shadow Cabinet. There had been speculation

about the future of the Shadow Foreign Secretary,

Hilary Benn, but he was in his usual place in the Commons today

at Mr Corbyn's side, and the latest word is apparently

that he won't be moved. Let's get the latest

from our political correspondent Is this taking shape or not? It has

been an agonisingly slow process, we are very short on facts, it has been

a matter of hanging around in corridors, and the latest person to

go in to have a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn is his fellow London MPM Lee

Thornbury, she has been in there tonight, and the rumour is that she

might well get the defence brief. -- London MP Emily Thornberry. I am

told he wants to improve diversity, he was criticised for not promoting

enough women to senior jobs, but he also wants to get in place, in those

crucial roles such as foreign affairs and defence, which could be

divisive for Labour, people who better reflect his own view. Many of

its close advisers and party members think there is no point in him being

leader and less he really does try to change the shape of the party and

impose his own will. -- and less. That is where we get to Hilary Benn,

there has been a lot of speculation about him, a lot of calls for him to

be sacked, but it seems that when he tries to stamp his authority, it

does not always work. In this case, other members of the Shadow Cabinet

have threatened to walk out if Hilary Benn was sacked. As the

reshuffle moves into its third day, we still do not know who will be

sitting at Labour's top table. President Obama has announced

tighter control on gun ownership, most of which will be enforced

without the approval of Congress. The President, who was in tears

during part of his announcement, said that while it wasn't possible

to do anything about the last mass shooting, it was his duty

to try to prevent the next one. Our North America editor,

Jon Sopel, reports. His nickname is No Drama Obama,

but not today, not on the issue of gun control, as frustration,

impatience and anger over the failure to act turned to raw

emotion as he spoke about the young children who died at

the Newtown School shooting. And from every family who never

imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives

by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those

kids, it gets me mad. And, by the way, it

happens on the streets The stats - and there are any

number to chose from - In the UK, latest figures show,

excluding suicides, there were 24 gun-related deaths

in the whole of 2014. Here in the US, there

were three more gun homicides Yes, America has more than five

times the population, but that doesn't begin to account

for the discrepancy. For all the sound and fury on both

sides, the proposals from the President

are relatively modest. No class of weapon is being banned,

it's about tightening background checks, but even that is going

to run into fierce opposition from those implacably opposed to any

moves on gun control. And, sure enough,

on the presidential campaign trail, Republican hopefuls have wasted

no time in piling in. We don't beat the bad guys

by taking away our guns. We beat the bad guys

by using our guns. It's not constitutional and I'm

confident the courts And there's an irony in all of this,

the more the President threatens to move on gun control,

the more it leads to a spike December saw 38% more people trying

to buy guns than a year ago. At least 34 people have drowned

off the coast of Turkey after their boats sank

during an attempted crossing Several children were

among those who died. The narrow stretch of water is one

of the key crossing points for the significant number

of refugees and migrants from Syria and other countries trying

to reach the European Union. In the past 12 months,

more than 3,700 people have died From Lesbos our special

correspondent, Fergal Keane, Most of the time the drownings

happen away from the public eye, but occasionally, like this morning,

the anguish is revealed. This man swam and then staggered

the last yards to shore. And the bitter cold,

rescue and comfort. But more than 30 other people

travelling with him were lost. A wrecked dinghy, and above

the rescue swimmer and helicopter "We came an hour

ago", this man said. "We heard a boat sank

and hit the rocks. I think these people died

when they were trying to swim There were two separate wrecks,

survivors here arriving at a fishing village, some who died

were on a boat that had Across the sea on Lesbos another

heavily crowded boat arrives, this time people from the Yazidi

minority, persecuted Fear has driven them into the hands

of people smugglers. These abandoned smugglers

boats have been towed They haunt a doctor who's carried

out 85 post-mortems on drowned "Among the people you see women,

you see babies", the doctor told me. "I remember a shipwreck

in which 28 people died. I wish there were no more

lost innocent souls." With the distance so close,

just six miles from Turkey, the temptation to risk the crossing

to Europe is strong. The overwhelming majority who cross

survive to find initial help. And then keep moving,

most hoping to reach northern It's five months since I first saw

people landing here on Lesbos and there is no sign that this

crossing is going to stop. The rescuers head out to search

for boats that might be in trouble, but they are too few and they can

control neither weather Keane, BBC News, Lesbos. The latest

arrivals on the island of Lesbos. Police in London say they have found

three bodies at the house of a former actress who was reported

missing before Christmas. Sian Blake, who's 43 and had

starred in EastEnders, was last seen three weeks ago

with her two young children. Her partner was questioned

by officers shortly afterwards, Police say they have

launched a murder inquiry. In Germany tonight, protesters

gathered outside the cathedral in Cologne after around 80 women

reported being robbed, threatened or sexually assaulted

by groups of men on New Year's Eve. Police suspect that as many

as 1,000 young males, many of them drunk,

carried out the attacks. Chancellor Merkel has called

for the perpetrators to be A school bus in North Yorkshire

became stranded in flood water this morning after the driver apparently

went through a road closed sign. The Council said the route normally

taken by the bus had been closed by the highways authority

since the heavy rains There were 26 children on board

at the time. They were safely removed

from the bus by the Fire Brigade. It's been confirmed that a British

man is among five booksellers who've Paul Lee, also known as Lee Bo,

specialises in books that are critical of the Chinese

leadership in Beijing. The Foreign Secretary,

Philip Hammond, who's in China, says he's raised

concerns about the case. It's thought the five have been

detained in mainland China as our correspondent,

Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, reports. This street in Hong Kong is now

at the centre of a growing mystery. Since October, five men who worked

at this small bookshop The topics covered here include

political corruption, power struggles, even the love

affairs of China's top leaders. Nothing like this can be

published in mainland China. Last Wednesday the owner, Paul Lee,

became the latest to disappear. This man is a friend of Mr Lee's,

he wrote some of the books here. I ask him if he feels safe any

longer in Hong Kong. As we speak, two mainland Chinese

men come in to the shop. Their dress and behaviour

are not those of tourists. This really isn't just

about a little bookshop that publishes salacious books

on the Chinese leadership, it's about the fundamental

difference between Hong Kong If, as now seems likely,

the owner of this bookshop was abducted on the street outside

here and spirited across the border, into mainland China,

then it means that potentially no-one here in Hong Kong is any

longer safe from the long arm This is not how it

was supposed to be. When the Union Jack was lowered

here, 18 years ago, China promised it would not impose its political

or legal system on Hong Kong's Today, in Beijing, Philip Hammond,

sought to remind his hosts In a question of any breach

of our Hong Kong laws, the question must be

settled in Hong Kong The response from China -

mind your own business. TRANSLATION: Hong Kong's affairs

are purely China's internal affairs. No foreign country has

the right to interfere. Not so, says the woman who ran

Hong Kong's civil service If the abduction is proven true,

then I think you are spelling the death nail for one

country's assistance. Since Britain left it has continued

to prosper, but the freedoms that underpin this prosperity are now

in peril as never before. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes,

BBC News in Hong Kong. It's been a week of cricketing

firsts and the latest achievement involves a 15-year-old

Indian schoolboy who's become the first batsman

in the history of the game Our South Asia correspondent,

Justin Rowlatt, has the story. 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade didn't

expect to break any records today. He says he just played

what he calls his "natural game" - attacking from the word

go, and attack he did. 1,009 runs not out and all

in a single innings. The son of an auto-rickshaw driver

was powered into cricketing history, shattering the previous record

of 628 runs that had stood When I go to bat, I only keep

in mind that I had to play a big innings and after playing on,

playing on, I scored 100 runs, Mumbai school cricket

is seriously competitive, It's produced legendary cricketers

like Sachin Tendulkar, widely reckoned to have been

the best batsman of all-time and today he tweeted his

congratulations to the young player, urging him to work hard

and scale even greater peaks. He's certainly a hero to these kids,

but perhaps it's the rival team that They were all out

for a paltry 31 runs. Newsnight is about to get

underway over on BBC Two. There will be updates on the Labour

reshuffle