18/10/2016 BBC News at Ten

A final decision - on whether to expand Heathrow

or Gatwick airports - will be announced by

But the Government's official preference,

on where to build a new runway, won't be put to a Parliamentary vote

And the Prime Minister is to allow colleagues to speak out

Some Conservative MPs are unhappy with the position.

I think it's deeply disappointing if we fudge and delay this decision,

so vital to Britain's interests, so vital to Britain's

We'll have more on the latest indications that backing will be

Following the killing of a mother and daughter in Lincolnshire,

a 15-year-old girl has been convicted of murder.

The rising price of fuel and clothing pushing inflation to its

highest level for nearly two years. (

50 years after the Aberfan disaster, the story of the community's long

And we meet Bruce Springsteen to talk about life, music

And coming up in Sportsday on BBC News:

Riyad Mahrez scores a crucial opening goal, as Leicester City

look to take a huge step towards the Champions League

A final decision on whether to expand Heathrow or Gatwick

will be announced by the Government next week.

But that won't be the end of the matter, because the preference

won't be put before MPs for at least another year.

And in a highly unusual move, Cabinet ministers who are opposed

will be allowed to speak publicly against the plan.

That's being seen as a strong hint that backing will be given

to Heathrow, which is opposed by the Foreign Secretary,

Our deputy political editor, John Pienaar, has the story.

The long awaited choice of where and how to expand Britain's airport

capacity has hung in the air for over a quarter of a century. It's

vital to travel and trade in post Brexit Britain. Today the verdict -

a new or extended runway at Heathrow or another at Gatwick has drawn

closer. Demos have marched through the years. Parties are split and so

is the Cabinet. Education Secretary Justine Greening, seen here shoulder

to shoulder with Labour's Shadow Chancellor against Heathrow. And

Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, another colleague whose

opposition has been loud and clear. I will lie down with you in front of

the bull dozers and stop the building, stop the construction of

that third runway. Today the Prime Minister wrote to ministers setting

out plans to reach a decision and keep her Cabinet from splitting. The

time table looks like this: Next week a Cabinet committee meets to

recommend a preferred option. Ministers will be free for a time to

restate their known views and objections, but they can't actively

campaign, which should avoid resignations. Then there will be

public consultation. Then in winter 2017/18 Parliament votes on a final

plan. Then it could take at least a decade before any runway is built.

It's important to get the decision and get it right. We've been waiting

for a long time for airport expansion in the UK. We need it.

Post-Brexit, if we are going to be an open, trading nation, and looking

at new alliances around the world, then we're certainly going to need

more airport capacity. Have you changed your mind on Heathrow

expansion? Senior ministers, including Boris Johnson, and his

fellow opponent to Heathrow expansion, Justine Greening, were at

Number Ten today to hear of the deal that's meant to keep them aboard.

Not everyone likes. It If you are a minister, if you sit round the

Cabinet table, as I've done in the past, you have to go along with the

collective decisions or you don't have to be a minister. That's your

choice. This fudge, this in-between world, that's unacceptable and it

will do great damage to our economy. It's about internal Tory party

political issues. We have divisions of opinion in our party as well. But

we wouldn't have let that cause us to delay making a decision. Tonight,

Boris Johnson seemed to suggest casually as ever, he still hoped the

case against Heathrow might yet prevail.

REPORTER: Are you going to lie in front of the bull dozers at

Heathrow? It's unlikely there will be bull dozers. Take care. Either

way there's a distance to travel before this long and hazardous

political journey reaches its end. Navigating the course is tricky. The

decision taking like the planning process deeply complex and none

hurried. Even when a final decision is taken, there's every chance of a

legal challenge from the likes of Greenpeace and a queue of local

authorities. Those who have been press soing hard for a decision --

pressing so hard for a decision will just have to wait, whether they like

it or not. Thanks very much.

A 15-year-old girl has been found guilty of murdering a woman

and her daughter at Spalding in Lincolnshire, in what police said

The girl - who can't be named because of her age -

had admitted the manslaughter of Elizabeth and Katie Edwards

but claimed to have been suffering from a mental disorder.

Her teenage boyfriend had already admitted a charge of murder.

They'll both be sentenced next month, as Danny Savage reports.

Liz Edwards and her daughter Katie were found murdered in their home

They were both well liked and adored each other.

This crime is exceptional, though, because they were

killed by two children, a boyfriend and girlfriend,

drawn together by violence and extreme thoughts.

She was today found guilty of murder and has never shown any remorse.

What makes this case even more shocking is that these two were 14

years of age when they planned, committed these callous,

senseless and unprovoked attacks on Elizabeth and Katie.

This case has left a number of lives in ruins.

Liz Edwards, 49-years-old, and enjoying Christmas with the man

she was hoping to marry.

Friends say she was happy and content.

I did notice a change in her, she was a lot happier in herself,

she met somebody she could trust, who loved her kid as much

as she did, which I thought was really sweet.

Jane Blanford also knew Liz Edwards and she has strong views on the two

14-year-olds who sat down to watch teen romance vampire films

I've got nothing to say, he's just scum.

I hope he gets locked up and they throw the key away,

She could have had a bright future ahead of her.

If this didn't happen, he could have had a bright future.

I just see it that they've thrown everything all away.

And they didn't just throw everything away on a whim,

the two teenagers planned these murders in detail.

They went and sat in a local McDonald's to plot.

And on the night of the killings, the boy walked along

this river in the dark to rendezvous with the girl,

carrying kitchen knives to kill their victims.

What happened next was described in court as cold, calculated,

The girl told police she'd felt like murdering for quite

a while and that a gun would have been easier,

The murder weapon was shown to the jury, who were asked

to consider if the girl was mentally ill.

The personal possessions of the victims have now gone

from an end terrace in a Lincolnshire cul-de-sac.

The two killers of this mother and daughter cannot be named

That may change when they're sentenced next month.

The rate of inflation has risen to its highest level

for nearly two years, with some experts warning it

could be driven significantly higher by the fall in the value

of the pound, following the vote to leave the EU.

The Consumer Price Index hit 1% last month, driven by higher fuel

The impact will start to be felt by millions of public sector

workers and families on benefits and tax credits,

as our economics editor, Kamal Ahmed, explains.

How much we pay to fill up with fuel.

How much we pay for what we wear all have increased in price

as inflation starts to march upward and it is just the start.

I think it's fair to say that the trajectory for inflation

from here is likely to the up side and that really is largely

as the falls in the currency start to feed through to

We've only just started seeing signs of that.

Clothing prices were 6% higher last month as stores slowed

Restaurant and hotel prices were also up by 0.7% after summer

bargains ended and fuel crept up a little to 111 pence per litre

compared to 110 pence last year, a small increase with larger rises

Well, currently there's a bit of a double whammy,

the main factor is the pound is so much weaker against the dollar,

We buy our fuel in dollars, so that affects us and then,

on the other side, Opec and Russia are talking about cutting back

on production, so that puts the crude price up.

Higher prices for fuel, higher prices for food are difficult

for people to pay particularly if they are on lower incomes.

They're also difficult politically, Theresa May knows there is one key

equation in politics - if inflation is rising

faster than incomes, then people feel worse off and that

That political risk could crystallise as early as next year

with predictions inflation could rise above 3%.

With the Government also freezing benefits for people in work,

the just managing classes could be hit hardest.

Theresa May's made it clear that she wants to help those

families that are just about managing or kind

of struggling to get by, but actually that's exactly the kind

of group of families that this freeze in working age benefits

affects because it doesn't just affect out of work households

claiming benefits, but in-work households claiming things

As those benefits stay flat in cash terms, if prices rise,

they're going to find it harder to afford things like food and fuel

The head of Tesco in the UK said that food inflation was lethal

A little inflation might be good for the economy,

but too much and the consumer will soon start to feel

President Obama has said he's confident that the battle

to to retake the Iraqi city of Mosul from so-called Islamic

Mr Obama was speaking on the second day of the military offensive,

which has seen Iraqi security forces, backed by coalition air

strikes, taking several villages in the south.

In the north east, Kurdish forces - known as the Peshmerga -

are also closing in on the city, which has a million inhabitants.

Our correspondent, Orla Guerin, is travelling with them

In the distance, Mosul, a city in waiting for deliverance

It's the last bastion of IS in Iraq, but for how much longer?

As the net closes on so-called Islamic State, the risks

are increasing for those trapped down below in Mosul.

There's the danger of coalition air strikes, IS could try to use

the local population as human shields and if and when Iraqi forces

make it inside the city, they could be caught

Here's what IS wants you to see from inside Mosul, it's latest

propaganda video paints a picture of normality.

The message is, all's well, anyone daring to say

"Thank God everything is fine", says this man.

But some in Mosul are challenging the extremists.

This video, from one activist network, shows a recent attack

We made contact with the network's founder outside the city,

for his own safety, we can't identify him.

"We are divided into eight groups, each has their own plan

Some will destroy communications equipment, some will

We have assault rifles an rocket-propelled grenades,

but we can't rise up until the security forces get

Victory over the extremists can look like this.

A year ago they were driven from Abu Mohammad village by air

strikes and the Peshmerga, troops from Iraq's autonomous

They took us to see what IS may have in store when the battle

Here a homemade chemical weapon, chlorine gas attached

to an improvised mortar, crude but potentially lethal.

The fuses have already been removed.

How many of these did you find?

Some are fleeing areas near Mosul as troops advance.

There could be many more to follow if they can find a way,

but Kurdish sources told us IS executed 15 civilians in one

village yesterday, just for trying to escape.

Orla Guerin, BBC News, east of Mosul.

Concerns about the leadership of the inquiry into historical child

sexual abuse in England and Wales were reported to the Home Office

in April more than three months before Dame Lowell Goddard resigned

That was the evidence presented to the Home Affairs

Dame Lowell was the third head to quit the inquiry.

Our home affairs correspondent, Tom Symonds, has the story.

The panel of experts running Britain's massive child abuse

inquiry arriving for a grilling about its troubles, including

the breakdown in relations between them and their former chair,

Dame Lowell Goddard, followed by her resignation.

It was clear from the beginning that Lowell Goddard really

would have preferred to sit on her own without the assistance

There were challenges. However...

That's a very all-encompassing word "challenges" usually?

Well, and indeed there were some fairly all-encompassing

The panel had concerns about the qualities of leadership

that were being evidenced through the course of the inquiry.

Was she a nightmare to work, as some papers have suggested?

I would prefer to say that there were challenges.

Dame Lowell was appointed in February 2015,

but the Home Office - which set up the inquiry -

says it only became aware of problems on the 29th July this year.

Lowell Goddard resigned six days later, so did the Home Office

The answer to that is a categorical, no.

There's nothing in the Home Office records to suggest any of my staff

dealing with the inquiry were aware, until it was brought

Except that, months earlier, a Home Office Director General,

Mary Calam, was tipped off by the inquiry, but agreed

One problem for the Home Office is that the inquiry

There are victims' groups which are deeply concerned

at the number of Home Office staff working on the inquiry and some

of them are strong supporters of Dame Lowell Goddard.

If the Government had intervened, it might have been accused

of interfering, a new row, and the inquiry has had

Perhaps that's why the Home Secretary gave this reason

She was a long way from home and she decided to step down.

..when giving evidence to MPs in September, without mentioning

Today one member of the committee said they'd been misled.

This week, the people of Aberfan in South Wales are having to relive

the terrible events of half a century ago, when a mountain

of coal waste collapsed onto the village school,

claiming the lives of 116 children and 28 adults.

The scale of the disaster made headlines around the world,

and people gave generously to support the community.

But the families of Aberfan had to fight for decades to get justice,

a fight that started on that Friday morning in October 1966.

NEWS REEL: We are now returning to the newsroom.

Disaster struck suddenly this morning at the small Welsh

coalmining village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil.

At 9.15am, on the last morning of lessons before half-term,

Pantglas Junior School was buried underneath a mountain of coal waste.

The scale of the loss, 116 children and 28 adults,

is still difficult to comprehend, half a century later.

What happened at Aberfan was one of the greatest disasters

in the modern history of Wales, indeed the modern history

of the United Kingdom, and it's important to get one thing clear,

It was a man made disaster, it was entirely foreseeable and it

of negligence, arrogance and incompetence.

One of those who survived the disaster, her life

still overshadowed by the events of 50 years ago, is Gaynor Madgwick.

She was eight at the time and lost her brother Carl and sister

Marylyn on that day, she's since written a book

We met in the memorial garden on the site of

The ceiling of the school had come in and it landed on half

the children and I had a radiator, that had come off the wall,

I just remember looking at another friend of ours, who had literally

tried to climb up through the roof, which was on top of the children,

and she said, "I'm going to get help, I'm going

I was whisked away in the ambulance to St Tydfil's Hospital

and I remained there, isolated I feel, for over three months.

And it was then, in the evening time, that I was told

that my brother and my sister had died and all my friends had

Within weeks of the disaster, an official tribunal was set

up, under the Welsh Judge Edmund Davies,

ARCHIVE: Well, I should hate to think that anybody

would connect me with any whitewashing exercise.

But getting straight answers from the National Coal Board,

the public body which owned the mines, proved a very

The Chairman of the National Coal Board was Lord Robens and he denied

any responsibility for the disaster and kept on insisting that it

ARCHIVE: We have our normal procedures for ensuring that pits

are safe, but I'm bound to say that we have no proceedure that

tells us that there is a spring deep down under a mountain.

This is the site of the old Merthyr Vale Colliery, this is where

the coal waste was put in trams and then sent across the valley

and piled high on the mountains opposite and those tips used

There was plenty of evidence, based on previous incidents,

that piling this waste on wet mountain sides was an exceptionally

risky and dangerous thing to do, and yet those warnings were ignored.

By the time the report was published, the National Coal Board

had been forced to admit that the disaster was foreseeable.

It was blamed, unequivocally, for what had happened,

but no-one was disciplined or sacked.

I only wish that Lord Robens was here today.

They should have been sent to jail, lost their jobs.

But the battle was far from over, there was still coal tips

above Aberfan and people, quite naturally, wanted them gone,

but no-one was ready to pay - not the Government, not the Coal

The families lobbied the Welsh Office in Cardiff

demanding help, what they got instead from the Welsh Secretary,

He wanted the local community to use their charity fund

ARCHIVE: Of course they will pay what they can afford,

but the scheme will depend on what they pay.

It took 30 years for the people of Aberfan to regain

the money they'd lost, it was finally repaid

by the Welsh Government and today the gardens and memorials

of the village have been restored giving the families the sense

Collectively, we've been able to 50 years get through it as a family.

I've always said Aberfan is a family.

We've shared our thoughts and feelings, so many good things

have come out of Aberfan and have you to think like that.

You know, they are courageous, courageous people.

That was Gaynor Madgwick, a survivor of the disaster,

speaking to me in Aberfan to mark the 50th anniversary.

Tonight, at 10.45pm, after the news on BBC One,

I'll be telling the full story of Aberfan's long fight for justice.

Donald Trump's wife has dismissed the widespread

criticism of his conduct, insisting that he's "a gentleman."

Melania Trump said that the comments Mr Trump was heard making

about women were "inappropriate", but amounted to what

Our correspondent, Nick Bryant, has been considering to what extent

the Republican presidential candidate is alienating

It's pumpkin rolling season in America, a sure sign that polling

day is fast approaching and it can't come soon enough for many of these

mothers in the suburbs of Philadelphia, deeply offended

by Donald Trump's words and alleged behaviour.

A new poll, conducted here, suggested he's trailing

Hillary Clinton amongst female voters by a staggering 43 points.

It just seems part of who he is and I find it just

His words are just not something, you know, I want my children to hear

and it's just not something that, you know, we want to invite

into our house, even though typically I would vote Republican.

In an attempt to quell this political storm,

a serene Melania Trump has gone on television.

A wife, turned character witness, stressing she's

Those words, they were offensive to me and they were inappropriate

and he apologised to me, and I accept his apology.

Even before this scandal, Donald Trump's support amongst

Republican women had started to slide, but he still has die

Donna is not just still planning to vote for him, but also to clock

Well, to be honest with you, I wasn't happy, but I know Mr Trump

and I know his heart and he loves this country, and he does

Ever since the mid 1960s, more women in America have voted

than men and they've often had the decisive say in the suburbs that

tend to decide the outcome of presidential elections,

but for Donald Trump this has become a nationwide crisis.

The Republicans have had a women problem for 30 years,

that's how long female voters have supported Democratic presidential

candidates at a higher rate than men.

But Donald Trump has turned that gender gap into a gaping chasm.

One recent poll suggested that Hillary Clinton has a 30

Today, protests outside Trump buildings around the country

from women sensing the likelihood of what they'd see as poetic justice

- the election of America's first female president.

Nick Bryant, BBC News, Philadelphia.

The current state of American politics is an embarrassment

in the eyes of the singer and songwriter Bruce Springsteen.

He was speaking on a visit to London to launch his autobiography -

which has taken seven years to write - and expressed the view that

millions of ordinary Americans were being left behind.

He spoke to our arts editor, Will Gompertz.

Bruce Springsteen wrote Born to Run sitting on the edge of his bed in

his rented cottage. It was a humble beginning for a song that would

launch this man from Newses Jersey into rock-and-roll superstar doom.

I had two records out. They hadn't done that well. I had only a few

record deals. This was my last shot. Initially I have the riff, it's a

Duwayne Eddie, riff, basically. Then I had the chorus... Babe yes we were

born to run. I couldn't get the rememberses. I spent six months

writing it and six months recording it. It developed as it went along

into this, into this very, big piece of music. Is that the moment you

think - you found your voice, you found yourself, you found Bruce

Springsteen? Yeah. One of the few records where I made, after we mixed

it, I came home, I I put it on the next morning and said - that's

exactly what I wanted it to sound like.

# We go down to the river... # You talk about depression. You are

32 years old, in the car, and this phrase rang out at me "toxic

confusion." What does that mean? You hit a wall. You hit a wall where you

simply don't know what to do with the next day. You are uncomfortable

with your skin. Unsatisfied with where you are. Completely at loose

ends. You don't know how to continue constructing your life. You don't

know... You just don't know how to Stepney further.

# Oh, down to the river we'd ride... #

very unpredictable, but It's toxic confusion would be a good

description of where you sit once it lands on you.

# Born in the USA # I was born in the USA... #

Your country today, what's going on? I'm not going to be able to explain

that to you! Part of what's going on is you have 30 or 40 years of

deindustrialisation and the globalisation of the economy. So

there are a lot of people that were left out of that. Whose voices have

been fundamentally ignored and not heard. Why aren't the Democrats

doing that? They address it more than Republicans do. You know. But

I'm still not sure it's being addressed on a deep enough level to

provide answers to until a dem God like Trump comes along who appears

to be listening whochl has very simple answers to very, very

complicated and difficult questions. I think he's a conman and they are

getting plagued, but, you know, if you've been... I know if I was... If

I couldn't play music tomorrow and had to fine another completely

different line of work. I have no idea what I do He says going into

politics isn't a career option. He's going to stick with the day job and

let his music do the talking. Will Gompertz, BBC News.

Britain's medal-winning Olympic and Paralympic athletes were invited

to Buckingham Palace this evening and were greeted by members

of the Royal Family, including the Queen

The reception marked the end of two days of parades,

in Manchester and in London, to celebrate their success

at the Rio Games, as Natalie Pirks has this report.

With 240 guests to host, you could forgive the Queen for not

But to take an active interest in the hockey team's injuries went

Whilst some Paralympians gave Her Majesty a lesson

in rattling medals, others were quizzed on the matters

She was wondering how I was not managing to break my neck

It's the question that I got asked quite a lot, actually.

But, yes, she seemed very lovely, bless her.

So what did you say when she asked you that?

I told that they were making my neck very sore,

The Duchess of Cambridge is known for her love of hockey.

Catherine came bounding in when you won.

The Prince told the all conquering team she "bounded in" to break

No bounding, but plenty of patriotism from Adam Peaty.

For Britain's first gold medallist at the Rio Olympics,

It is, you know, a huge honour to be here and just to be in this kind

of building is, you know, I'm a hugely patriotic guy,

This is why you win golds, for stuff like this and you get

Earlier today, in Trafalgar Square, it was a less formal affair.

Time now for the athletes to relax and take a well-earned holiday.

Many will surely be back to the Palace though

when the New Year's Honours list is announced.

Newsnight's about to begin over on BBC Two in a few moments.

50 years ago, the BBC lay Cathy Come Home stunned the nation,

50 years on, we still have huge problems with housing.

We'll be asking if we can ever get a decent home for all.

Join me now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in Scotland.

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.