19/02/2013 BBC News at One

Oscar Pistorius tells a court in South Africa he had not meant to

kill his girlfriend. He said the couple had been deeply in love. But

couple had been deeply in love. But the Paralympic champion is charged

with pre-meditated murder on the day a private funeral is held for

Reeva Steenkamp, in her hometown of Port Elizabeth. There is a space

missing inside all of the people she knew. That can't be filled

again. Diamond heist - one of the biggest ever robberies takes place

in Brussels. Heavily armed men make off with �40 million worth of

precious gems. The world's biggest food company, Nestle, is the latest

to be embroiled in the horsemeat scandal. A warning that energy

bills will continue to rise as the UK becomes more dependent on

imported gas. And the Princess and the Author - controversy as Hilary

Mantel describes the Duchess of Cambridge as a machine-made

princess with no personality. Later in London, the police call for

regulations to clamp down on ticket, the outs and council will raise

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. Oscar Pistorius

has told a court he had no intention of killing his girlfriend

Reeva Steenkamp. The couple, he said, had been deeply in love. This

morning the Paralympic champion made a second court appearance

during which the prosecution claimed the killing had been

premeditated. They claim that in the early hours of Valentine's Day

he had put on his prosthetic legs, picked up a gun and walked more

than 20 feet before opening fire and killing his girlfriend through

a bathroom door. His defence argues he had mistaken her for a burglar.

From Pretoria, Peter Biles sent this report. The fate of South

Africa's best known athlete is in the balance. South Africans remain

gripped by the tragedy. The court was packed bng lofr Oscar Pistorius

appeared. And the magistrate asked him whether he was well under the

circumstances. Yes, he replied. But before long he had broken down in

tears. The prosecution outlined what they believe was the sequence

of events last Thursday. How Reeva Steenkamp went to the house

expected to spend the night there. The prosecution described how she

was allegedly shot three times by Oscar Pistorius while 2349 -- in

The magistrate has ruled it was pre-meditated murder. It will make

it more difficult for defence to argue that Oscar Pistorius be

granted bail. His lawyer say while there may have been an argument

between Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp, it was not proof of

murder. At Reeva Steenkamp's house, family gathered for her funeral.

There is a space missing inside the people that she knew that can't be

filled again. We are going to keep all the positive things that we

remember and know about my sister and we will try and continue with

the things that she tried to make better. We will miss her. What is

not in dispute is that Oscar Pistorius shot and killed Reeva

Steenkamp. But the story of how it happened is only now beginning to

emerge. And our Africa Correspondent Andrew Harding is

outside the courthouse. We have been hearing the prosecution case

and an affidavit read out establishing Oscar Pistorius's key

defence. What did the court hear? It was an extraordinary statement

from Oscar Pistorius, delivered by his lawyer. So emotional in fact

did Oscar Pistorius get that the hearing had to be suspended. He

said in the middle of the night he woke to bring in a fan from the pal

Connie and heard noises and went over not with his prosthetic leg on

and shot four times through bathroom door, convinced that he

was being burgled. He said he returned to the bedroom and then

realised that Reeva Steenkamp was not in the bed and that perhaps she

was in the bathroom. He says he put his pros Peth thetic limbs on,

picked up a cricket bat, found his girlfriend dying 5 took her down

stairs she died in his arms. We have heard friends describing a

very close couple, both apparently considering marriage. So a strong

case from the defence. Now we will hear from the prosecution in more

detail. The bail hearing just adjourned. So what does happen

next? The bail hearing will continue tomorrow. This is suppose

to be a two-day hearing. After that it is not clear hen a trial date

will be set. It could be some months away. Thank you. And we can

see the extents of the coverage, how would you describe the mood

there? It is a frenzy. There was almost a stampede as we tried to

get into the court. There is just phenomenal interest and a real

sense of mystery here. This is not an open or shut case and I think

although Oscar Pistorius's evidence is compelling to a lot of people,

still the prosecution will be saying what about those calls that

there was a disturbance at that apart., at his house that night.

What about the reports that he had some sort of abusive relationship?

Thank you. It's already being called one of the biggest diamonds

heists in history. Gems worth more than �40 million were stolen when

masked gunmen broke through a perimeter fence at Brussels airport

and held up a security van loading the diamonds on to a flight bound

for Zurich. Ben Ando's report has some strobing images. By the time

the police arrived the robbers had fled, all they left behind a gaping

hole in the fence and a burnt out car. The gang struck just before

8pm Brussels time, targeting a Swiss jet. It had just been loaded

with uncut diamonds from a Brinks security truck. Police say eight

robbers in police uniforms and brandishing guns grabbed the load

and escaped across the tarmac. It was all over in minutes.

operation at the airport has taken exactly three minutes. So this was

a very quick hit and run, very well organised. There has been no

shooting. There were no injuries. So far the airline has not

commented, police say passengers on board the jet saw and heard nothing.

Though the flight was later cancelled. The stolen diamondss had

come from Antwerp, known as the world's diamond capital, and are

said to be worth around �43 million. 30 years ago the Brinks Matt

warehouse near Heathrow was raided and robbers escaped with diamonds

and bullion worth in today's money around �86 million. Much of the

haul was never recovered. Unlike the Brinks Matt robbery, this raid

took place airside and experts say while it was well planned, the

airport will need to examine why a breach of the perimeter fence did

not sound alarm businessmens more quickly. -- alarm bells more

quickly. Energy bills will rise in the future as the UK becomes more

reliant on gas imports. That's the warning from the energy watchdog,

Ofgem, which predicts that the closure of old power stations could

lead to a 10% fall in capacity by April alone. John Moylan reports.

Our energy bills may be at record highs, but now there is news

they're likely to go higher. According to the the regulator,

there will an increase risk of power cuts and rising prices for

all of us. EU rules mean older polluting power plants like this

will start to close within weeks. With no new plants being built, our

national power network is about to enter unchartered territory. Within

a month 10% of our capacity, old plant, goes off the system and we

have been running this coal-fired plant as if it has been going out

of fashion and sadly it is going out of fashion three years earlier.

We will be very tight on power station capacity in three to five

years time. In the years ahead, more of our electricity will come

from gas. But our own off shore supplies are shrinking. So we could

need to import more gas at a time of rising global demand.

Campaigners warn that can only mean higher prices. Already six million

families live in fuel poverty and are spending more than 10% of their

income on energy. That will rise to nine million families. So what we

have got to do is protect the least well off and insulate the homes

better. The Government wants the UK to have a mix of energy sources, it

is negotiating with the French firm EDF over plans for two new nuclear

reactors in Somerset. But the talks are said to be in frubl and the

industry recognises there could be difficult times ahead. -- trouble.

It is going to be a tricky way forward to through this transition

into a new world at a price which is affordable for people and keeps

our industry competitive. Government says its energy bill

ensure there is sufficient supply when margins get tight and give

incentives for private sector investment in new power generation.

MPs have called for people who use aggressive tax avoidance schemes to

be named and shamed to discourage the rich and famous from exploiting

legal loopholes. The Public Accounts Committee says it's

costing the Treasury �5 billion a year. The world's biggest food

company, Nestle, is the latest to be embroiled in the horsemeat

scandal. The Swiss-based company has removed beef pasta meals from

shelves in Italy and Spain after tests revealed traces of horse DNA.

The firm says it has stopped deliveries of meat products from a

German supplier. From Berlin, Stephen Evans reports. Another day,

another batch of meat products is taken off shelves as the crisis

spreads. Today, the world's biggest food producer said there was horse

meat in some of its products. Nestle said brands of its beef

pasta contained horse and were withdrawn from sale in Italy and

Spain. And a beef product for sail in France also had horse meat.

Nestle is blaming a German company. The German company said it hadn't

bought horse meat, though in future its buying procedures would be

tightened with DNA testing of all the meat. In Germany, the

Government says there will be tightser regulation and expects

more cases. TRANSLATION: We expect more cases to be uncovered and that

is why these controls are being put in place. In order to get

everything on the table and in particular to resolve this.

drive for cheap food from consumers has led to an international market

in frozen meat with a supply chain that nobody can keep track of. The

problem for consumers and food sellers is that a lack of clarity

means an increase in mistrust of the whole process. The award

winning author, Hilary Mantell has compared the Kate Middleton as a

shop man Quinn request no personality. The -- mannequin with

no personality. The Prime Minister described the comments as misguided.

This report contains some frash photography. -- flash. She is

roughly four months pregnant and there is evidence of a more round

stomach than before. The pregnancy sickness of December has passed.

Yet Catherine is still taking things carefully. Last week she and

William were on holiday. Today she was fulfilling her first public

engagement for some weeks in London at a centre helping women with drug

and alcohol problems. Despite this low profile, she has become the

focus of unflattering comment business the author Hilary Mantel.

During a lecture, she described how the media has portrayed Kate

Middleton's transition to fashionable Duchess. I saw Kate

becoming a jointed doll on which certain rags are hung. In those

days she was just a shot window mannequin. With no personality of

her own and entirely defined by what she wore. Miss Mantell said

the person who eemerged saemed -- seemed machine made. St James'

palace declined to comment. But Catherine was defended by the Chief

Executive of the charity she visited. All can I speak of is my

experience of her. That is somebody natural and genuine and eager to

learn. She is a Dutch Ness a role which attracts attention and at

times robust views that won't Coming up: It is dark, and it

matters, the new theories that could revolutionise our

understanding of the universe. Later on BBC London, still no

confirmation over whether West Ham will move into the Olympic Stadium.

And designer Tom Ford unveils his first Fashion Week show in the

capital and tells us London is the most international city in the

A man who killed a two-year-old boy when he blew up a house has been

jailed for 10 years. The gas explosion in Oldham last June

destroyed the rented home of Andrew Partington and neighbouring houses.

The bottle of Jamie Heaton, will live next door to the House, was

found in the wreckage. -- the body. Ed Thomas's outside Manchester

Crown Court. We heard how Andrew Partington used

a sop to hack his way through two Gas pipes. For 11 hours, he used

his home to be filled with gas before the cigarette. What he did

took the life of two-year-old Jamie Heaton, because he had a row with

his girlfriend. Both this explosion did not just

destroy homes and a community. It took the life of a two-year-old boy.

Jamie Heaton was watching television seconds before the blast.

His parents, Kenny and Michelle, were in court today as their

neighbour was jailed for killing their son. It has been horrendous,

losing Jamie, we have just been up and down, it has been a bit of a

roller-coaster, really. Christmas was very hard. His birthday was on

9th February, that has just gone, another hard day, but every day,

you do not know how you're going to feel when you get up. Sundays are

good, sometimes bad. Andrew Partington caused the explosion.

The mother of his five children had left him after years of abuse, and

within hours he sent her this text message. It said, next time you

leave me, the house goes up with me, you left your kids with no dad and

no home, goodbye, despite cut, The night before the explosion,

neighbours say they could here arguing outside the house. The

morning before, neighbours said they could smell gas. By the time

they ran for help, it was too late. Eight months on, homes here are

still empty, streets deserted. selfishness has destroyed that much.

It has turned our lives upside-down and that of our neighbours as well.

For what he did here, Andrew Partington was told he was a threat

to others. The parents of Jamie Heaton said their lives were empty

and lost without their son. The judge accepted that Andrew

Partington was full of remorse for what he did, but he was also

described as a bully and a man with a pattern of violent offending. The

judge went on to say that in effect he had created and detonated a bomb.

Lloyds Banking Group has been fined �4.3 million for delaying

compensation to customers who were mis-sold payment protection

insurance. The Financial Services Authority set up to 140,000 people

have to wait longer than one month for their money. Lloyd's is the

first bank to be fined by the FSA for delaying payments. We can get

more from Simon Gompertz. Tell us about this particular case. Well,

payment protection insurance was mis-sold to millions of bank

customers, designed to help them if they could not pay back their loans.

It would not have worked in many cases, and the FSA, the financial

watchdog, has been scathing in its criticism of Lloyd's, saying it did

not have the systems in place to deal with the waves of hundreds of

thousands of complaints that were going to come in once people

realise there is and that they did not have the skilled and

experienced people in place to deal with them. It is 140,000 people who

had to wait for their payment, but we're also told that 24,000 of

these payments were simply mislaid and never sent out. So it really

did go wrong. What we are hearing from Lloyd's at the moment is that

almost all of those now have been sent out. The average payment is

around �2,750. David Cameron has been holding

talks in Delhi with his Indian counterpart on the second day of

his trade visit to the country. Manmohan Singh used the talks to

raise concerns about corruption allegations relating to the sales

of helicopters to India by the Anglo-Italian company

AgustaWestland. Sanjoy Majumder's report contains flash photography.

This was a visit meant to secured new deals for British business.

Instead, it was overshadowed by one already in the bag and threatening

to unravel. India is investigating allegations that bribes were paid

by the Anglo Italian firm AgustaWestland for 12 advanced

helicopters. They are built in a plant in Somerset. If the deal

falls through, jobs could be on the line. So David Cameron was quick to

say he would do everything to help with the investigation. We have

introduced and the bribery legislation that is probably the

strongest anywhere in the world. -- anti-bribery legislation. We will

root out any problems of bribery or corruption wherever they appear.

But there was plenty on the table. An agreement to help India fight

cyber crime aimed at protecting the personal data of millions of UK

citizens which is stored in Indian call centres. Mr Cameron also

pressed for more opportunities for British companies in infrastructure,

At a meeting with university students, the Prime Minister

invited them to study and work in the UK. He has already announced

easier visas for students and business travellers. Terrorism and

regional security were also on the agenda. Earlier, the Prime Minister

paid tribute to policemen who have lost their lives during the Mumbai

terror attacks of 2008. He spoke of the need to secured the region from

more threats, especially after the withdrawal of Western troops from

Afghanistan in the 2014. David Cameron has tried hard to hit the

right notes during this visit, bringing with him a large business

delegation, talking of his love for Currie, even playing a game of

cricket, all of which has gone down very well here. But he is not the

only one competing for India's attention and opportunities. The

French President was here a week ago, and even Belgium does more

business with India than the UK. A patient infected with a

respiratory illness similar to the deadly SARS virus has died in the

UK. He was being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in

Birmingham and died on Sunday morning. Of the 12 people known to

have been infected with the virus, six have died. In a moment we will

speak to Branwen Jeffreys to learn more about the virus, but first we

will speak to Ben Bland, who was outside the Queen Elizabeth

Hospital in Birmingham. What more do we know about this particular

case, Ben? Well, the hospital here has confirmed that the man who died

on Sunday was being treated in the hospital's Critical Care Unit. We

do not know how old he is, but we know that he had an underlying

health condition which left him with a weaker immune system and so

more vulnerable to catching this virus. We also understand that he

caught the virus from his father, he was being treated in Manchester.

His father had travelled to the Middle East recently, which is

where it is thought he picked up the virus. The man who died here on

Sunday have not travelled to that region. The reason that is

significant is because it suggests that this virus can be transmitted

from person to person. This is one of 12 cases to have been confirmed

worldwide, one of four in the UK, but crucially he is the first

person to have died as a result of the virus in this country. The

hospital is now working with the help protection agency to trace

anyone who had contact with him in the days before he died. -- Health

Protection Agency. Branwen Jeffreys, how concerned are the authorities?

Coronavirus is a family of viruses, responsible for everything from the

common cold that many of us get in winter to more serious illnesses

like SARS, that people will have heard about. This new type of

coronavirus has been responsible for, as we have been hearing, 12

cases worldwide, and because six of those people have died there has

been a high level of vigilance not just here in the UK, where cases

have been carefully monitored, but also around the world. They are

sharing information. It is because they are monitoring the case is

very carefully that they were able to confirm that link, that it had

been transmitted from one member of a family to another. But despite

that, the general public should not worry, although clearly this can be

a very serious illness. It has been transmitted through close contact.

The advice is, though, if you are travelling for family reasons or

business to the Middle East, and within 10 days of coming back, if

you develop severe respiratory problems, problems with your

breeding, you should really go to your doctor and get checked out. --

breeding. Scientists in America have

announced they are going to investigate one of the universe is

greatest mysteries, a force called dark energy. They will use the

Hubble space telescope to study the speed at which galaxies seemed to

be accelerating away from one another. Science correspondent

Pallab Ghosh has been finding out how they hope to rewrite some of

the theories of modern physics. The world around us is made of

atoms, a link-up to form the buildings we see, the water which

follows, and all life on the planet. Back in the 1960s, scientists

developed one of the most important theories of modern physics. It is

called the standard model. It explains how the atoms that make up

the world around us, this table, these chairs, the fruit in his bowl,

how they are held together and interact. But then, as the years

wore on, scientists began to realise that is incredibly

successful theory was incomplete and only explain the behaviour of

The rest is completely unknown. There are two discoveries that seem

to be driving the development of a brand-new theory of sub-atomic

physics. First, it is to do with the beginning of the universe.

After the big bang, the current theory of physics suggest that the

expansion of the universe would slow down and then contract under

the force of gravity. Instead, it seems that galaxies are flying

apart faster than ever before. Scientists believe that his force

is called dark energy and accounts for nearly two-thirds of the

universe. Scientists want to know where their seemingly endless

energy that is driving the universe apart is coming from. They are now

using the Hubble space telescope to find out. One of the researchers

involved in the project told me that the results may show that the

universe would continue to accelerate apart forever.

bigger it gets, the faster it will go, and that would be a universe

that expands and expands forever. The piece of the universe that we

get to see will have fewer and fewer galaxies in it, it will be a

dark, lonely, cold place, you know, 100 billion years from now.

mystery of dark energy is arguably the most important puzzle of our

time. The solution will rewrite the theories of modern physics and

change our own notion of the Well, finally, a drag car driver

has had an incredible escape after walking away from a 300 mph crash.

Anton Brown is in the blue car when The engine exploded, the car

careered across the track before ending up in a sand trap. He was

pulled from the wreckage and walked away with only minor injuries.

Right, on that note, we will take you to the weather with Ben Rich.

Nothing quite that dramatic, but big changes on the way. Another

beautiful day in most places, as you can see from the satellite

picture, barely a cloud in the sky. If only that was going to last! Out

in the North Sea, you can see a lump of cloud looming and advancing

from the east, and it is going to bring a change in our weather

through the next few days. For the time being, most of us enjoying the

sunshine, blue skies for the most part, pleasant in light winds, but

we see the beginnings of this change across the east coast of

Scotland and eastern England as this weather front begins to work

in during this evening and tonight. A week weather front bringing light

and patchy rain, maybe some sleet over high ground. It is certainly

going to increase the cloud moving westwards. Staying clear across

Northern Ireland and the south-west, a touch of frost here, fog patches

for a time. But under the cloud, temperatures will mainly hold just

above freezing. As we wake up tomorrow morning, a very different

started the day. Scotland, lots of cloud, patchy rain and drizzle,

wintriness mixed in over high ground. The same for much of

northern England. Across East Anglia and the south-east, the

cloud starting too thin a little bit to give some glimmers of

brightness, but not the crisp blue skies and sunshine of today, by any

means. One place where we will have a blue sky start will be across

Cornwall, no cloud by this stage, sunshine to be had first thing.

Some sunshine across the west of Wales, a cold start here, but not

as cold where we have the cloud in place. For Northern Ireland, a

bright start, particularly the further west you are. Northern

Ireland probably holding on to some of the brightest weather through

the day, but elsewhere this strip of cloud continuing to ease its way

westwards. To the east, the cloud thinning and breaking, some sunny

spells breaking through, but you will notice a difference in the way

that things feel. Temperatures eight degrees at best with an

easterly breeze, feeling really chilly. That breeze stronger still

on Thursday, accentuating the cold feel. A lot of cloud around, thick

enough to produce light snow flurries. The best brightness in

the West. Temperatures will reach four degrees, but with the strength

of the wind it will feel more like minus four. That bitter wind is a

big feature of the weather by the end of the week with widespread

frost and the risk of a few snow flurries. Make the most of the

A reminder of our top story: Oscar Pistorius tells a court in South