Browse content similar to 18/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Targeting the heart of power - a suicide bomber in Syria kills the | :00:08. | :00:18. | |
:00:18. | :00:18. | ||
defence minister and his deputy - President Assad's brother-in-law. | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
The Defence Minister was among those who died when a bodyguard | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
reporter to Blue himself up. His deputy, the President's brother-in- | :00:28. | :00:35. | |
law also died. Positive signs as the jobless total | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
falls again helped by a growing number of people becoming self- | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
employed. It is so worth it. When you look around you at the end of | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
the day and think, I got myself here. | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
Trying to get the economy to grow - ministers say they'll guarantee �50 | :00:49. | :00:51. | |
billion for investment in infrastructure. | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
Get moving - a lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths across | :00:54. | :00:56. | |
the world as smoking. And texting overtakes talking as | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
the young drive a change in the way we communicate. | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
On BBC London: Nine days to go and warnings to motorists that the | :01:05. | :01:07. | |
Olympics will disrupt motorists outside the capital. | :01:07. | :01:11. | |
And the father of a man crushed to death in a cement mixer says he's | :01:11. | :01:19. | |
no nearer the truth of his son's death. And is preparing to sue | :01:19. | :01:29. | |
:01:29. | :01:34. | ||
Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. A suicide bomber | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
in Syria has struck close to the heart of power killing the defence | :01:37. | :01:40. | |
minister and his deputy - who was President Assad's brother-in-law. | :01:40. | :01:43. | |
They're the most senior government officials to be killed in the | :01:43. | :01:46. | |
Syrian civil war as rebels try to oust President Assad. There are | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
reports that the bomber was the defence minister's bodyguard. The | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
bomb went off at the National Security Building in Damascus where | :01:53. | :01:55. | |
cabinet ministers and senior security officials were meeting, | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
during a fourth day of fighting in the capital. Our Middle East | :01:58. | :02:07. | |
correspondent Jim Muir reports from neighbouring Lebanon. | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
A blow at the very heart of the Syrian regime. Confirmation the | :02:12. | :02:19. | |
defence minister, Daoud Rajiha was caught in an explosion by the | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
suicide bomber. So was his deputy, Assef Shawkat, he is President | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
Assad's brother in law. Both in the inner circle of power. The attack | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
came as the fires were getting closer to the centre of power. | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
Activist said this blazing army barracks is helping guard the | :02:39. | :02:44. | |
presidential palace just below. Clashes and skirmishing have | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
continued in several parts of the city, mainly in the south-west and | :02:48. | :02:53. | |
north-east of the centre. Activists say Government forces have used | :02:53. | :02:58. | |
tanks and artillery while rebel fighters are likely armed but hard | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
to winkle out. The Syrian state media have played down the fighting | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
in the capital, but television showed these pictures of troops on | :03:07. | :03:14. | |
the corners of deserted streets of Midan near the city centre. The | :03:14. | :03:21. | |
clashes in Damascus hat -- started on Sunday spreading to Midan. They | :03:21. | :03:27. | |
later broke out on the other side of the city. Residents say some of | :03:27. | :03:36. | |
the affected districts have been surrounded by troops and tanks. | :03:36. | :03:39. | |
Media in Qaboun is showing residential houses and then | :03:39. | :03:47. | |
shooting everything, every moving thing. People are trying to run a | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
wave. Now the interest is especially towards the south and | :03:53. | :03:57. | |
towards the Damascus of birds and they are closed. After that saved a | :03:57. | :04:02. | |
dozen people have been killed in the city so far and many wounded. | :04:02. | :04:06. | |
Treating them in such conditions is clearly hard. Despite the | :04:06. | :04:11. | |
Government crackdown, defines continues both in Damascus and in | :04:11. | :04:17. | |
the outlying countryside where some of the approach roads to the | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
capital were blocked. The rebels are sensing victory. The news of | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
the deaths at the core of the regime will give them heart. The | :04:24. | :04:29. | |
battle is heating up but still may have a long way to run. | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
And Jim joins me from Beirut The number of unemployed people fell by | :04:32. | :04:35. | |
65,000 between March and May to nearly 2.6 million - the lowest for | :04:35. | :04:41. | |
almost a year. How much of a blow will this be to the Assad regime? | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
If you ask them to name one a double macro outsiders, Assef | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
Shawkat is always one of the top names people come up with. It is a | :04:52. | :04:57. | |
significant blow. The defence minister, very senior figures. It | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
is hard to imagine apart from getting President Assad himself, | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
being able to hit more important than these at the heart of the | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
regime will stop whether it is a death blow, we will have to wait | :05:09. | :05:15. | |
and see. The Defence Ministry has said this will only redouble its | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
determination to root out what it is calling terrorists who are | :05:19. | :05:24. | |
backed by foreign powers carrying out their plots. We can expect some | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
severe reprisals on the ground and a further crackdown as the fighting | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
moves closer to the centre of the capital. There is still a long way | :05:33. | :05:42. | |
to go before we can say the regime is in danger of toppling. | :05:42. | :05:48. | |
The number of people out of work fell by 65,000 between March and | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
May, to 2.6 million. The number of people in work increased to just | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
under 30 million - the highest figure for almost four years. But | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
the Office for National Statistics said the number claiming | :05:57. | :05:59. | |
Jobseeker's Allowance increased last month to 1.6 million. John | :05:59. | :06:08. | |
Moylan reports. This lady is one of the growing | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
ranks of the self employed. She was an out of work architecture | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
graduate before she decided to turn her hobby of drawing and | :06:16. | :06:22. | |
illustrating into a full-time job. It is hard work, but it is worth it. | :06:22. | :06:25. | |
When you can look around you at the end of the day and think, you're | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
only here because of your own hard work and everything around you, you | :06:30. | :06:37. | |
have created, is a fantastic feeling. For the 4th month in a row | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
unemployment has fallen. What looked like a blip seem to be | :06:40. | :06:44. | |
turning into a trend. What is happening in the labour market has | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
perplexed many economists given Britain is still in a double-dip | :06:49. | :06:56. | |
recession. One employment up by 180,000 in the last three months | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
when the country is in a recession. It does not happen. Either the doom | :07:01. | :07:05. | |
and gloom on the data has been overdone and we will seek a | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
pleasant surprise and GDP gets revised up. Or we will get a nasty | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
surprise and this latest data is too good to be truthful stock | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
unemployment remains at historically high levels. For those | :07:19. | :07:24. | |
looking for work, like these people at a Wolverhampton, getting on the | :07:24. | :07:30. | |
jobs ladder is not easy. It is hard to, not a lot on offer and a lot of | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
it is just work experience. I have a lot of work experience now and I | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
don't know what else to do. needed job because I have a lot of | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
things to pay for. I am looking for something in waitressing, retail, | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
something to get the money in, basically. There are more people in | :07:49. | :07:54. | |
work and vacancies are rising, too. This morning employment minister | :07:54. | :07:58. | |
was visiting his postal firm which intends to recruit 20,000 staff in | :07:58. | :08:04. | |
the coming years. There is a long way to go, I make no bones about | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
the challenge we face. Unemployment in this country is still too high | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
and we need to create economic growth to support businesses as | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
they develop, expand and create jobs. Of course we have to do more | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
of that. But at least things are moving in the right direction. | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
Olympics might be playing a part. The unemployment picture is mixed | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
across the UK but the biggest fall in recent months was in London. | :08:30. | :08:32. | |
Up to �50 billion is to be given to privately-funded infrastructure | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
projects by the Government. Ministers say that guaranteeing | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
loans to contractors will help work to start on many important energy | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
and transport schemes. Labour said it doubted whether the assistance | :08:41. | :08:44. | |
would speed-up any projects in the next year. Our political | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
correspondent Chris Mason reports. Building up the economy is the | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
biggest challenge for the Government. The latest idea the | :08:53. | :08:58. | |
Chancellor and his deputy are looking at involves trying to help | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
up to �40 billion worth of building projects get going. They are not | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
offering loans, but guaranteeing banks won't be out of pocket if a | :09:06. | :09:12. | |
project fails. Because the banking system is still recovering, it is | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
not always easy to get financing. We can use the low interest rates, | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
we have secured for the country and taxpayers, to help secure lower | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
interest rates for people who want to go ahead with construction | :09:23. | :09:31. | |
projects. Building new hospitals, constructing new roads and much | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
needed new flood defences are all potentially in line for Government | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
support. But to qualify, projects would have to meet strict criteria. | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
They would have to start within a year. They would have to be | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
financially credible and be good value for the taxpayer. Businesses | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
across the country will welcome the fact the Government is putting the | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
strength of the balance sheet of the Government, not taxpayers' | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
money, but their ability to guarantee projects to get some big | :10:01. | :10:05. | |
infrastructure projects moving. building projects don't happen in | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
reality this quickly. They take time to have a long term, economic | :10:10. | :10:17. | |
impact. I fear this plan is too little, too late. The | :10:17. | :10:21. | |
infrastructure projects it hopes to fund won't be coming on stream this | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
several months, if not years and the scheme is not the size to make | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
the significant difference we need. For both the Chancellor at Number | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
11 Downing Street and the Prime Minister next door, they are a work | :10:35. | :10:39. | |
economy getting back on its feet again is crucial to whether they | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
still live here after the next elections. After a rough couple of | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
months for the coalition, they want to be seen to be doing something | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
that will help. It won't be easy. Our economics editor Stephanie | :10:51. | :10:58. | |
Flanders is here. Will this extra money make a difference? A lot of | :10:58. | :11:03. | |
people thought it would be a good idea. It is not spending any money, | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
but the idea that Government can lend its credibility in the | :11:05. | :11:09. | |
financial markets to these projects to get them moving, I think people | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
thought it was worth exploring. But concern about the detail, whether | :11:14. | :11:18. | |
it can deliver. The Government has announced this type of project in | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
the past but has not been able to deliver. The Treasury won't want to | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
give these guarantees away lightly, so they will have to show they are | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
a strong project. For one reason or another, in needs a bit of a push. | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
People in the industry say it does not describe a lot of big projects | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
out there. Unemployment figures have gone down again, is this a | :11:42. | :11:47. | |
blip, or is this turning into a trend going the right way? There | :11:47. | :11:50. | |
has been a trend throughout the last few years. Although we feel | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
the unemployment figures are too high, they have not risen as high | :11:54. | :11:59. | |
and not risen as much as people would have expected given the time | :11:59. | :12:04. | |
the economy is going through. It has been encouraging for a while, | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
and to see these figures at a time when the economy is officially flat, | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
it is encouraging. But ministers are right to be cautious. London | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
has played a big part, may be something to do with the Olympic | :12:18. | :12:22. | |
hirings. In the next few months, if you look at how weak earnings are, | :12:22. | :12:29. | |
it is not a strong labour market, people are still finding it tough. | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
Lack of exercise is causing as many deaths around the world as smoking | :12:33. | :12:35. | |
according to research published in the medical journal The Lancet. In | :12:35. | :12:38. | |
a series of studies to coincide with the Olympics, scientists say | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
inactivity is causing five million deaths a year globally, with the UK | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
recording some of the lowest levels of exercise. Our medical | :12:44. | :12:49. | |
correspondent Fergus Walsh has the details. | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
Exercise is the miracle medicine that can benefit every part of the | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
body, but that message just isn't getting through, according to an | :12:58. | :13:03. | |
international team of researchers writing in the Lancet journal. They | :13:03. | :13:07. | |
estimate that worldwide, one in 10 deaths from heart disease, diabetes | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
and breast and bowel cancer is the result of inactivity. Because it is | :13:13. | :13:17. | |
such a common risk factor for many of the chronic diseases we suffer | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
from, on balance if we are physically inactive the risk of | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
premature mortality is probably comparable to that of smoking. | :13:26. | :13:31. | |
Adults are meant to do 2.5 hours of moderate aerobic activity every | :13:31. | :13:37. | |
week, like cycling or walking. But two out of three in the UK do not | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
manage that. Theresa Alchin has her health back on track now she is | :13:42. | :13:49. | |
more active. But there so they tree lifestyle led her to develop Tyke | :13:49. | :13:57. | |
two diabetes. It was a shock. But I had some fantastic medical advice | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
from my doctor and nurse which said you have to put together a | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
programme to work with this disease, which is going to be with you for | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
the rest of your life. With the Olympics just days away and | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
athletes arriving all of the time, most of the world will be spending | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
hours in front of the television watching a lead sport. Researchers | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
say we cannot all be champions, but we can extend our lives if we | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
choose to be more active. Police have charged Hans Kristian | :14:27. | :14:30. | |
Rausing, one of the heirs to the Tetra Pak drinks carton fortune, | :14:30. | :14:34. | |
with delaying the burial of his wife, Eva. Her body was found at | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
their home in London last week. Mr Rausing, 49, will appear in court | :14:37. | :14:47. | |
:14:47. | :14:50. | ||
in around an hour's time. Daniela Hans Rausing is due to be brought | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
here from hospital, where he has been since the discovery of his | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
wife's body. We understand that because of that on going hospital | :14:57. | :15:00. | |
treatment, the court staff one today's first hearing dealt with as | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
soon as possible and as quickly as possible. It is due to start at 2pm, | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
and that is when Hans Rausing will hear the charge that he prevented | :15:08. | :15:14. | |
the decent and lawful burial of his wife's body. He is one of the heirs | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
to the Tetrapak empire, but the life of both he and his wife have | :15:18. | :15:22. | |
been blighted by drug addiction. Hans Rausing was arrested on 9th | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
July by police in south London on suspicion of driving under the | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
influence of drugs or alcohol. It was during the subsequent search of | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
the couple's luxury home in Chelsea that the body of Eva Rausing was | :15:35. | :15:39. | |
discovered. But at this stage it is still not known how long her body | :15:39. | :15:47. | |
had been there, know exactly how she died. The editor of the | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
Mauritian Sunday Times has been arrested, after the paper published | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
photographs of the body of a woman who was murdered while on honeymoon | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
there. Michaela McAreavey, who was from County Tyrone in Northern | :15:57. | :16:01. | |
Ireland, was strangled in the room of the luxury Legends Hotel in | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
January last year. Last week, two hotel workers were recruited for | :16:05. | :16:10. | |
murder. The body of an RAF pilot has been recovered from the site of | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
a Tornado jet crashed in the Moray Firth. Flight-Lieutenant Adams | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
Sanders, who was 27, had been missing since his plane was | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
involved in a head-on collision during a training exercise on July | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
3rd. Squadron Leader Samuel Bailey remains missing. The Daily Mail and | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
the Mirror have been found guilty of contempt of court for publishing | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
articles which allowed the Serial Killer Levi Bellfield to avoid a | :16:34. | :16:37. | |
jury verdict on a charge of attempting to kidnap an 11-year-old | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
girl. The papers ran the story after he was found guilty of | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
murdering Milly Dowler, but the same jury was due to return | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
verdicts on the separate charge the next day. The former Marcus Pode | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
boss Max Mosley has told the Leveson Inquiry that a new press | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
regulator should be able to stop papers publishing stories and | :16:56. | :17:01. | |
should have the power to levy fines worth millions of pounds. He's been | :17:01. | :17:04. | |
campaigning for new press rules since the news of the World | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
published a story about his personal life. This report contains | :17:08. | :17:14. | |
flash photography. Max Mosley was the motorsport boss whose sex life | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
make the papers. A court ruled there wasn't a NATFHE theme to an | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
orgy, reported on the front page of the News of the World, and that his | :17:22. | :17:26. | |
privacy had been invaded. But no court ruling in the world could | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
wipe the knowledge of his most personal details from the public | :17:29. | :17:34. | |
mind. And debate, he came to the Leveson Inquiry but a plan for a | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
new press tribunal that would be able to issue injunctions to stop | :17:38. | :17:43. | |
papers publishing stories like that one. We absolutely have to have a | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
procedure where if somebody has got no money and knows that a story is | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
coming out that is a clear breach of privacy, that they should be | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
able to go somewhere and get someone to tell the newspaper not | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
to print it. Seeking the tribunal's held wouldn't cost money and it | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
would be able to find the papers of to 10 % of their parent company's | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
turnover. Max Mosley tried and failed to get the European Court of | :18:09. | :18:12. | |
Human Rights to force journalists to warn people before making | :18:12. | :18:16. | |
allegations about them. The plans he presented to the inquiry today, | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
he said papers could, in very rare cases, ask the tribunal for | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
permission not to give a warning. He said that would... Avoid the | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
situation where entire decisions are taken by the editor. Some of | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
his life can be ruined instantly. At the heart of this there is a | :18:34. | :18:38. | |
decision to be made between the right to publish and the right to | :18:38. | :18:41. | |
privacy. If journalists don't have to tell people before they write | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
stories about them, there's a risk of bad reporting. If they have to | :18:46. | :18:51. | |
tell, almost everybody, there's a risk that investigative journalists | :18:51. | :18:56. | |
are stopped from exposing bad people. Max Mosley's campaign for | :18:56. | :18:59. | |
changes to the way the press works has outlived the News of the World | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
itself. If he has persuaded Lord Justice Leveson today, he might yet | :19:04. | :19:12. | |
be able to chalk up another successful day before a judge. Our | :19:12. | :19:17. | |
top story... A suicide bomber in Syria kills two of the most senior | :19:17. | :19:22. | |
members of the Assad regime inside the national security building. | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
Join me at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, where Team USA makes its | :19:27. | :19:33. | |
final Olympic preparations. Later on BBC London. Another Olympic row. | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
This time it's over whether cyclists can use the Olympic Lanes, | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
although Transport for London insist most lanes can be used. And | :19:39. | :19:49. | |
:19:49. | :19:52. | ||
will the rain ever end? We have the Texting is now the most popular way | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
for adults in the UK to keep in touch with the average person | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
sending 200 texts a month. And, according to the latest figures, | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
the boom in texting means we are spending less time talking on the | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
phone for the first time. Saturday, get, just let me check in | :20:11. | :20:16. | |
my Filofax. It used to be good to talk. Now it seems it is better to | :20:16. | :20:22. | |
text. And here is the modern face of communications in one family. | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
Amelia is on a tablet computer in the kitchen. Elsewhere, her mum is | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
on her phone, checking e-mails. Next door, Charlie is on the | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
computer playing a gay man chatting on-line. While in the sitting room, | :20:35. | :20:43. | |
we find Dad on his home watching TV. So how do they keep in touch? | :20:43. | :20:46. | |
tend to use Facebook and Skype because they are free. No matter | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
where someone is, I can talk to them pretty much any time. I do | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
prefer to speak to people in person but increasingly I find myself | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
texting or e-mailing. You see! That is the way the world is. The Ofcom | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
report also shows that having bigger, better television's means | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
families are spending more time together in the living room. So we | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
are still watching a lot of television, on average about four | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
hours a day. But just about everything else about the way we | :21:16. | :21:21. | |
communicate has changed. Texting has more than doubled over the last | :21:21. | :21:27. | |
four years. We now send 50 a week on average. Four in 10 of us alone | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
a smartphone, but we are not using them to make calls but as internet | :21:31. | :21:35. | |
devices. That means the amount of data we send up the mobile networks | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
has more than doubled over the last 18 months. Ever since we started | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
using mobile phones, we've been spending more and more time talking | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
on them. Now that has dipped for the first time. 20 years ago, you | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
would walk past a bus stop and people would have been chatting | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
away to each other. 10 years ago, they would have still been talking, | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
but it was on their mobile phones. Today, you walk past the same bus | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
stop and everyone has got their heads down, looking at their | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
smartphone devices and tapping away at their screens. Whatever the | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
technology, it seems we are all communicating more, it's just that | :22:11. | :22:18. | |
we keep finding new ways to stay in touch. Road safety campaigners say | :22:18. | :22:21. | |
action must be taken to reverse an increase in the number of people | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
dying on the roads. Last year, the total number killed increased for | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
the first time in eight years. It is something that nearly all of us | :22:31. | :22:36. | |
do in one way or another. Using the roads. The perception is that if | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
you are careful it is generally safe. But the number of people who | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
died on roads in England, Scotland and Wales last year went up. It is | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
the first increase since 2003. And a cross-party group of MPs says the | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
government must do something about it. The government should show more | :22:53. | :22:58. | |
leadership, local authorities are losing their funding and losing | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
their road safety officers. There should be a review of driver | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
training, better designed roads, looking again at cycle lanes and | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
stopping a lot of young lives so soon after people have passed their | :23:10. | :23:18. | |
test. In 2011, 883 drivers or passengers in cars were killed. 453 | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
pedestrians died. And 469 cyclists and motorcyclists lost their lives. | :23:24. | :23:30. | |
The overall total is a 3% increase on the previous year. Doncaster, in | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
South Yorkshire, is highlighted in today's report for being an area | :23:34. | :23:38. | |
where there's been no improvement in road casualty rates for over a | :23:38. | :23:42. | |
decade. Nicky Webber was knocked down here when she was a child and | :23:42. | :23:46. | |
is now a road-safety campaigner. She says educating young people is | :23:46. | :23:56. | |
the key. Kids have got to learn that cars her to -- heard, but they | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
also kill. When you are in a car or when you are driving the car, you | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
are in control of a machine. government says it is disappointed | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
that the number of road deaths has risen, but points out that the | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
figures are still some of the lowest since records began. It says | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
it is spending money on targeting the most dangerous drivers and | :24:19. | :24:23. | |
cracking down on drug-driving and the use of mobile phones behind the | :24:23. | :24:30. | |
wheel. But the committee looking at fatality rates say it is shocking | :24:30. | :24:34. | |
that road accidents are the main cause of death among young adults. | :24:34. | :24:41. | |
And more must be done to address the issue. Britain's Bradley | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
Wiggins has embarked on a brutal mountain test to keep his yellow | :24:45. | :24:48. | |
jersey in the Tour de France. The Ryder resumed the race this morning | :24:48. | :24:51. | |
with a lead of two minutes and five seconds, but he faces his toughest | :24:51. | :24:55. | |
challenge yet as the tour goes through the Pyrenees. Meanwhile, | :24:55. | :25:00. | |
one of the big names in cycling, Frank Schleck, of Luxembourg, has | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
withdrawn from the race after failing a doping test. Before the | :25:06. | :25:09. | |
Cycling even got under way today, the Tour de France hit a pothole. | :25:09. | :25:14. | |
Frank Schleck, here seen on the right of the podium, has tested | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
positive for a banned substance and quit this year's race. He claims he | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
may have been poisoned. The bad day was about to become even worse. | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
Only a short distance into today's stage, Chris Homer disappeared over | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
the edge of the road - a reminder of one of the perils of this savage | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
event. Add to that today they heat, that climbs and the distance, in | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
this case through the Pyrenees. At the front of the peloton, the main | :25:40. | :25:45. | |
group of riders, the impasse of black-clad group of Team Sky riders, | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
escorting the man in yellow, their team-mate, Bradley Wiggins. The | :25:50. | :25:54. | |
ascents are exhausting, be descents, they can be terrifying. The writers | :25:54. | :25:58. | |
hitting speeds that even a camera bikes struggle to reach. There is | :25:58. | :26:02. | |
still a long way to go in today's stage, but the prospect of | :26:02. | :26:07. | |
Britain's first Tour de France winner remains on course. The | :26:07. | :26:10. | |
United States athletics team is training for the Olympics in | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
Birmingham today. Some of the country's most successful track and | :26:13. | :26:23. | |
field stars are also helping local school children to get into sport. | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
Team USA has well and truly landed in the city this morning. In spite | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
of a soggy British summer's day, they were given a warm Birmingham | :26:33. | :26:39. | |
welcome this morning. America's track and field stars are used to | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
the big stage, but this one was a unique opportunity, for them and | :26:43. | :26:48. | |
their hosts at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium we want to ask | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
you a few questions. Hurdler Michael Tinsley was happy to share | :26:52. | :26:57. | |
his Olympic dream in a field filled with local schoolchildren. When I | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
was a young kid, I used to come to events like this and see basketball | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
players, football players and athletes in America. They would | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
come and speak to the kids, and I wanted to do things like that once | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
I got to a platform where Wright could. It's great because you want | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
the kids to stay healthy and get out and live an active life. This | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
was one Sportsday the weather was never going to spoil. Elite | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
athletes and their trainers on hand to guide and inspire. I felt | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
amazing because I've never seen an athlete in real life. It was really | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
great. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. He was our age ones, | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
so knowing that he was once our age and he had a dream and is living | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
his dream and doing what he was inspired to do, that gives us faith | :27:44. | :27:49. | |
that we can grow up and do what we want to do as well. The stadium's | :27:49. | :27:52. | |
upgrade plans to Diamond Standard were brought forward so that Team | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
USA could enjoy them. With only a few days left, the athletes seemed | :27:57. | :28:02. | |
happy to take time out from their gruelling preparation... But not | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
for long. These top-notch facilities at Alexander Stadium | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
will continued to attract world- class athletes to Birmingham long | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
after the London Games, but today was all about giving the Olympians | :28:16. | :28:22. | |
a chance to spread some of that excitement well beyond the capital. | :28:22. | :28:31. | |
A day on day improvement for the next few days. Yes, there will be a | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
glimmer of sunshine at the end of this forecast. But for today, | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
another warning for yet more rain, and amber warning through central | :28:41. | :28:47. | |
areas of Scotland. The rain has been relentless through the morning. | :28:47. | :28:51. | |
Further south, the band of rain moving through south-east England. | :28:51. | :28:55. | |
Hot on its heels are some really heavy and already thundery showers. | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
We focus on the rain across Scotland, it's set in earlier this | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
morning and will be there through the day. 30-40 mm of rain falling | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
easily, very widely. We could see up to 80 mm, that is just over | :29:08. | :29:13. | |
three inches. Saturated ground with the persistent rain, it's worth | :29:13. | :29:16. | |
checking the website for any flood warnings through the day. The far | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
north of Scotland will be dry, but with the cloud and rain across the | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
bulk of Scotland it is a cool afternoon. Eastern Scotland | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
sticking with the best of any sunshine. But watch out for those | :29:28. | :29:32. | |
heavy shell was driving in. South- east England and many southern | :29:32. | :29:35. | |
counties of England are much cooler than yesterday, windier as well | :29:35. | :29:39. | |
with the outbreaks of rain continuing on and off through the | :29:39. | :29:44. | |
afternoon. Misty and murky around the western coasts of Cornwall and | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
the western coast of Wales. For much of Wales it is hit and miss, | :29:48. | :29:53. | |
sunshine and showers, many of them heavy and thundery. Equally, a | :29:53. | :29:56. | |
chance of picking up some heavy downpours across Northern Ireland. | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
These heavy showers with gusty winds continuing through central | :30:00. | :30:04. | |
areas during the evening rush hour and then gradually clearing to the | :30:04. | :30:08. | |
south. Overnight, thankfully the rain relinquishes its grip across | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
Scotland, easing as it pushes into and northern England and North | :30:12. | :30:17. | |
Wales. For the North, by Dawn it is a cooler, drier start. In the south | :30:17. | :30:24. | |
of his eight cloudy and damp start. But things are improving. It is a | :30:24. | :30:27. | |
North westerly flow tomorrow. Sunny spells, still some showers. | :30:27. | :30:32. | |
Tomorrow, showers could be heavy and thundery with light winds. But | :30:32. | :30:36. | |
at least it's a promising start for the start of the Open at Lytham St | :30:36. | :30:41. | |
Annes. The outlook for the next few days is largely dry and bright, the | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
risk of picking up the odd shower. Friday, the shower risk diminishes, | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
sunny spells and showers continued into the weekend. But with high | :30:51. | :30:54. | |
pressure building into the weekend, pushing our weather fronts north, | :30:54. | :30:57. | |
much-needed rain for western Scotland but elsewhere there is | :30:57. | :31:05. | |
some much-needed sunshine to look Our top story. A suicide bomber in | :31:05. | :31:10. | |
Syria kills two of the most senior members of the Assad regime inside | :31:10. | :31:14. |