05/06/2013 BBC News at One

key town of Qusair after forcing rebels to withdraw after a two-week

siege. Soldiers backed by Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon seized control

this morning, saying they will now crush resistance elsewhere in the

country. We will be live at Westminster as

the government here says there is persuasive evidence now that the

Assad regime has used chemical weapons against its own people. We

will look at the significance of the news and ask what hope now of a

political solution for the conflict. Former News International chief

executive Rebekah Brooks pleads not guilty to phone hacking charges.

Ed Miliband is criticised by the government after refusing to confirm

if his party would reverse the decision to cut child benefits for

higher earners. Consultants advise pregnant women to

consider avoiding some common household chemicals, but they're

warning is labelled unhelpful and impractical.

Tailgaters beware - police will soon begin thing on the spot fines for

that and other motoring offences. -- begin giving on the spot fines.

80% of victims from the riots have not yet been paid compensation.

And police are treating a fire that Good afternoon and welcome to the

BBC News asked one. Syrian government forces are ported to have

taken full control of the strategic town of Qusair after a siege lasting

more than two weeks. Qusair links Damascus to the coast. Forces loyal

to President Assad have been reinforced by fighters from the

Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. Downing Street says there is no

persuasive evidence that the Assad regime has deployed chemical weapons

against its people. The French yesterday said there was no doubt

sarin gas had been used. Our world affairs correspondent reports.

Once a town, now a battle ground. The besieged city of Qusair has

fallen back into government hands. The rebels had held it for over a

year but have been driven out. The fighting was the roses --

ferociously. The town is near vital supply routes and is highly

strategic for both sides. Syrian born -- rebels are blaming the

defeat on the intervention of Lebanese Hezbollah militants. They

are experienced fighters. As Shia Muslims, they support President

Assad against his Sunni opponents. There are now a very large number of

Hezbollah fighters in Syria. They are invading Syrian territory. When

they continue to do that, and the Lebanese authority don't take any

action to stop them coming to Syria, I think we are allowed to fight

against Hezbollah within Lebanese territory. The threat of a widening

walk comes as France confirmed that samples taken -- collected inside

Syria have proved positive for the nerve gas sarin. A former doctor

from a British hospital claims he has witnessed the effects

first-hand. We have seen around 6000 injured people, some of them dead,

with no clear injuries except that they are in a coma or they might be

twitching. Very, very constricted by pupils. A new UN report says the war

in Syria has reached new levels of brutality, with an escalation of war

crimes including rape, executions and violence against children.

American and Russian diplomats are trying to pave the way for a new

peace conference, but as a man plans a Syrian flag on Qusair putts-macro

clocktower, the prospects for peace seemed mode. This could be a turning

point for President Assad, and his forces are likely to press on to try

to retake more ground. Hundreds of thousands of people have

fled Syria since the start of the conflict two years ago, many with

harrowing stories to tell. Jim Muir has been to the Lebanese border with

Syria to talk to refugees from the town of Qusair, which has fallen to

government troops this morning, as we have heard.

There are no international officials here, this is being run by the

municipality, with hundreds of Syrian refugees pouring across the

nearby border and flocking to register here. They are coming here

to get water, supplies and just to be registered. Those lists are

eventually passed to the United Nations, but it is taking people

about three months to get any international help from the UN.

Let's talk to some of these people. TRANSLATION: Hezbollah was

attacking. You have two daughters. We were just sitting in the street.

Every day, we come to register. Now we are just waiting. We need

mattresses, water or anything. TRANSLATION: They have been

murdering people with knives. Slaughtering people with knives.

He said, I've been waiting here since 6am, I'm broken. What I is

opposed to do? Tempers are clearly fraying, people have been waiting

weeks and weeks just to register with the UN for any kind of help.

The situation here is dire, more people are coming virtually every

night, most of them making most of the journey on foot from Qusair.

Jim Muir on the border, the Lebanese border with Syria. Norman Smith

joins us from Westminster, people are asking for help. The government

here now is that knowledge Inc VAT sarin gas has been used in the

conflict? -- the government here is now acknowledging that sarin gas has

been used in the conflict? There is a growing conviction that Assad has

used chemical weapons on his own people. Downing Street are saying

this morning that there is a growing body of persuasive evidence that he

has used these weapons. There is a view that it will not be possible to

cut any sort of deal with Assad, the Number Ten spokesman says that he

must go. The Prime Minister is personally of a view that it is an

hour just with Bosnia, and the only reason the Serbs work eventually

brought to the negotiating table was that the West intervened. We are not

on the cusp of any form of intervention yet or arming of the

rebels, because their arsenic -- important and significant checks.

One is the forthcoming peace conference, Number Ten wants to see

what prospect but has success. Number Ten wants to be in step with

the United States, and they want to be copper bottom sure that Assad has

used chemical weapons, and they are waiting for that confirmation from

the UN investigation. The biggest cheque is British political and

public opinion, and the shadow of Iraq is a very long and dark one.

Significantly, in the Commons this lunchtime, the Prime Minister was

asked whether Parliament would have any say on intervention in Syria, he

strongly indicated that there would be a debate and he flagged up that

he backed a vote over Iraq. If you want more analysis and

background on the conflict, including a report on why the town

of Qusair is so important, you can visit the website.

Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, has

pleaded not guilty to phone hacking at Southwark Crown Court. She

appeared with nine others, including her husband, Charlie Brooks. She has

denied charges of conspiracy to convert the course of justice and

conspiracy to pay public officials. Our home affairs correspondent is

outside court. This was a very big and busy hearing. The doc was full,

I counted 29 barristers in court. It was the first opportunity in this

long-running saga for many of the key defendants to enter pleas.

Rebekah Brooks pleaded not guilty to phone hacking, to conspiracy to

commit mist on the -- misconduct, for conspiracy to pervert the course

of justice. There were also not guilty plays from an James

Weatherup, also of the News of the World, the Royal editor pleaded not

guilty to misconduct in public office. There were a number of not

guilty pleas in relation to perverting the course of justice

from the coterie of people who worked for Rebekah Brooks two

summers ago. We can't give details for legal reasons. We are heading

towards what you might call a mega trial including bees keep people

from the News of the World -- involving these people.

A serious case review has been published into how a mother forced

her adopted teenage daughter to become pregnant by artificial

insemination. It found that agents had missed opportunities to protect

the girl. Her adoptive mother is serving a prison sentence for child

cruelty. Our social affairs correspondent joins me. Give us the

background to this very disturbing story. It centres on a mother who

adopted three children from overseas. She was denied the right

to adopt a fourth child, so she concocted this plant that she would

buy some frozen sperm online and then get her daughter to carry the

child for her. The first attempted impregnation took place when the

girl was 14, that is likely to have ended in a miscarriage. Finally, the

girl gave birth to a baby boy when she was 17. It was only then, when

the mother tried to remove the child from the hospital, that health

professionals called in child protection officials, which is when

the story unravelled. The review looks at the agencies that maybe

could have stepped in earlier? Social services, says the report,

had four opportunities and in one case an unqualified worker looked

into the case and no home visit was called for. Social workers were

fobbed off when the mother robustly denied there were any concerns. AGP

did not report an of sexual assault that the girl and the mother had

come forward with when she was 14, saying she might have been drugged

and raped when they were looking to get her pregnancy test. They

criticised health visitors who they say did not properly investigate

several instances safeguarding concerns because they may have been,

as the report says, influenced by the social profile of the mother -

educated, articulate and middle-class. The local authority

says they acknowledge that serious shortcomings were involved and they

say things will improve. A van driver who admitted driving

his car at pedestrians in Cardiff, killing a mother of three and

injuring 14, will be sentenced this afternoon. 32-year-old Matthew

Tvrdon, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, admitted grep --

admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Matthew Tvrdon is a man with a significant history of mental health

problems who, on October 19 last year, said to the police, something

just snapped after he finished with his girlfriend. So he set off on the

streets of Cardiff on his three tonne white van to seek revenge for

people who he believed had been mocking and bullying him. His

victims were, in fact, total strangers, innocent people making

their way home at the end of the school day.

Speeding van caught on CCTV as it makes its journey across Cardiff.

Just 29 -- in just 29 minutes, it strive ahead 14 people, mostly women

and young children making their way home from school. Matthew Tvrdon did

not know his victims but he deliberately revved his engine to

mount the curb and hit pedestrians. Others he attacked with a crook

lock. The police investigation spanned five crime scenes. The local

hospital had to close its doors in order to cope with the number of

victims. Among them was Karina Menzies, the 31 new roles was killed

after being hit by the full force of the van. She saved her two young

daughters by pushing them out of the way. It just makes me feel that was

the last thought in her mind, those girls, that is good. I saw the van

driver. Sarah Pryor was driving her daughter home from school when

Matthew Tvrdon cut across her path. Seconds later, she saw some of his

victims on the ground. I just saw the most horrific sight, two women

in the road, clearly they had just been involved in a very nasty

accident. Seriously injured. I have never seen anything like it.

Horrific. Horrible. Matthew Tvrdon pulls-macro guilty pleas means his

victims will no longer have to live the attacks during a trial, but some

questions about how and why they were subjected to such extreme

violence remain unanswered. Some of Matthew Tvrdon's victims

have been in court to watch the sentencing process. At one stage,

graphic mobile phone footage was shown of two women being dragged

under a van, and some had to leave because it was so distressing.

Sentencing will continue this afternoon. Labour Leader Ed Miliband

has refused to say whether his party would reverse cuts to child benefit

for higher earners which came into effect earlier this year.

The BBC has learned that Labour would not be able to reverse the

policy, despite repeatedly criticising the change. Carole

Walker joins us. Well, it was hugely controversial when the Chancellor,

George Osborne announced that the Government was going to strip child

benefit away from those earning over �60,000. At the time, Ed Miliband

condemned the decision in the strongest terms describing it as an

unfair attack on middle-class families that undermined a

cornerstone of the system of universal benefits. Well, the BBC

has learned that the Labour Party, if it came into power, would not

reverse that change. To do so would cost 2. .3 billion and it would mean

Labour giving money back to wealthier families, but when it came

to Question Time, the tables were reversed. Despite goading, Ed

Miliband refusing point-blank to utter a word about this policy. He

talked about the Health Service instead. Now, tomorrow, Mr Miliband

is making a speech about welfare and it is expected he will accept an

overall limit on the welfare budget, but when it comes to Labour's

policy, on this key issue of child benefit, it looks as though we are

going to have to wait until closer to the next election for the

official confirmation. Thank you.

Patients, doctors and managers have joined forces to call for a change

in the way their NHS delivers its services. They warn without change

the Health Service faces unsustainable demand and financial

ruin. Well, Dominic Hughes is at the annual conference of the NHS

Confederation in Liverpool and part of the changes they are suggesting

could involve hospital closures? Certainly, the closures of some

services within hospitals, Kate. This is a significant coalition, I

think, of doctors, of managers and of patients all coming together

saying the NHS has to change. It has to change the way services that we

all use are delivered and the model that those services operate on. So

this morning, the Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation told delegates

here at the NHS NHS Confederation's annual conference that things had to

change. We are saying for a sustain bible

service we need to get more money into community. More money to

primary and social care and we need to create the right circumstances so

we can relieve the pressure on our hospitals and because we only have

one pot of money, we are going to have to recycle that money and

reinvest it. So why are they calling for the

changes? Well, it is because how we have all changed. There are more

older people for example who are turning up to hospital with not just

one, but two or three conditions that need treating and they say for

example, people with dementia. A hospital is the worst place that

that person needs to be. But also it is about the money. The NHS in

England alone has been asked to save �20 billion over the next few years

and they are looking at a further ten years of austerity so things

have to change. Dominic, thank you.

It is now 1. 18pm. Syrian Government forces are

reported to have taken a town after a two week siege.

Coming up, I will be live at Highgrove, the home of the Prince of

Wales as he launches a plan to regenerate wild flower meadows

across the UK. New research shows London has the

highest rate of Sexually Transmitted Infections in England.

We have a sneak pre-view of the Royal Academy's highly anticipated

For many us it may have been frustrated or in fear of bad drivers

on the motorway, be it those hogging the middle lane or motorists who

tailgate, driving too close to the car in front. Well, that behaviour

about mean a fine and points on the licence as Richard Westcott reports.

Most drivers will have been on the wrong end of something like this.

Just look at how close the van gets. Tailgating. And most will have seen

this too. Sitting in the middle lane of the motorway and what about

pushing in a queue or jumping a junction? Ministers say these new

powers will help police tackle careless driving. Well, it is

safety, isn't it? It is people conforming and being good citizens

and all that on the road. You know. I think it is good.

It is just a money making thing. Whether it is going to improve

safety on the roads. It is judge and jury. It is under

giving the police too much -- it is giving the police too much power.

Everyone should know what the laws are so fair enough.

Up until now, the people who drive too close to the boot of your car or

who hog the middle lane on a motorway would have been prosecuted

in court, but from July, we are going to see police patrols on the

side of the roads, handing out on-the-spot fines, points and

retraining courses. Now, they say it will cut some of that anti-social

behaviour. But realistically, is it going to change the way people

drive? Or for on-the-spot fines, you need

on-the-spot policemen and the resources are stretched. It he

remains to be seen if the police will properly put the p policemen in

force to enforce it. Fines will up oen a range of other

driving offences too. Using a mobile phone or not using your seat belt

rises from 6 60 to �100 and driving without insurance goes up from �200

to �300. The changes are being welcomed by motoring and safety

groups, but the Government will have to convince people that it is not

just a way of making money out of Preg nanlt women should avoid --

pregnant women should avoid chemicals found in common household

goods. The report recommends using fresh food and avoiding tins and

plastic containers, but the advice provoked concern with critics saying

it is alarmist. Well, let's speak to Fergus Walsh.

Tell us more about the advice, first of all? Well, they are talking about

products, chemicals found in plastics and in thousands of every

day household products and the royal college said we think you should

adopt a safety first precautionary approach and it has given a list of

things that pregnant women could avoid. They include food wrapped in

plastic and in tins. Drinks in plastic bottles. Moisturisers or

cosmetics and fragrances. Don't buy new furniture or fabrics. Don't buy

a new car or a new non stick frying pan. The list goes on. So it is

quite comprehensive the things they are suggesting pregnant women might

considerle. And that's why the accusations

amount to it could aamount to being alarm alarmist. Where is the

evidence? The Royal College said it is difficult to assess the risk

which begs the question as to why did they give this advice in the

first place? There are potential dangers, but not the hard evidence

and that's why the Royal College has been criticised for being

unscientific and alarmist and perhaps detracted from the really

important proven dangers from things like smoking and excess alcohol and

things like avoiding some soft cheeses, liver, the list goes on.

They are the things that pregnant women really need to focus on.

Thank you. From today, crime victims in England

and Wales are able to challenge a decision not to charge a suspect or

to stop a prosecution. The new right to review policy will apply to about

100,000 cases a year. Many victims of crime feel they are

let down by a system which they don't understand and which fails to

look after them. Now, victims in England and Wales are to be given a

new power. If prosecutors denied to the to go ahead with a case, the

victim will be able to challenge that decision. The Victims' Right to

Review will apply to around 100,000 cases a year. This is made up of

70,000 cases where a decision is made not to bring charges and 30,000

where a prosecution is started and then dropped. There are hundreds of

thousands of cases every year and it is inevitable that there will be

rare mistakes and this scheme enables victims to have those

mistakes put right quickly, but for the majority of cases that are

right, it also gives them reassurance to know the decision has

been looked at again. So if the victim wants it, there

will be a fresh examination of each case and a a pledge that if there

are no legal barriers to a prosecution the suspect will be

charged. I think it puts victims at the heart of decision making about

prosecutions. To. Often victims feel like bystanders and the ability to

ask the CPS to look again at decisions around prosecutions is a

way of giving victims a greater voice and ensuring that the system

works for them and not just the State.

This new move is all about inspiring confidence in the system, but some

are sceptical about whether it is really necessary. The process as it

stands at the moment, there are a lot of opportunities tor victims to

engage with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service and so really

the process at the moment should be capable of giving victims that

voice, taking a their views on board and ensuring that those views are

brought out through either charging decisions or prosecutions.

The right to have a case reviewed will extend to those who have lost a

family member as the result of a crime. Suspects who escape

prosecution the first time around prosecution the first time around

prosecution the first time around new meadows to mark the anniversary

of the Queen's Coronation. The idea is to help conserve flower-rich

grasslands across the UK with a meadow in every county. Steve Knibbs

joins us from Highgrove House in Gloucestershire.

Kate, thank you very much. Look at the meadow the Prince has got in his

front garden. 120 different species is here. This isn't is a scene seen

across the country. 97% of wild flower meadows have disappear so the

Prince is launching this plan to bring them back. Joining me is

Stephen Davis from the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. Why have we lost the

med ease? As a result of development and it is a sad situation because

people and particularly children now, they have no opportunity to

experience the wonderful diversity that you can get in such meadows.

We need the agricultural intensification, can this work in

harmony with this new project? habitats need to be managed and cut

for hay in July and grazed by sheep or cattle. So that is important. But

we also want it to promote species diversity within the agricultural

landscapes. Tell us how the project will work. This meadow is a good

example of how it will work with yourselves? The project will work by

using green hay and wild flower seed from fantastic flower rich meadows

and using them to restar new grassland in new grassland in each

county in England. The Prince of Wales will launch the

project this afternoon. Thank you very much, Steve.

The British and Irish Lions kicked off their first home match in

Australia. Joe Wilson reports. There was incident and injury to concern

the Lions despite winning. The British and Irish Lions on

Australian soil for the first time in a dozen years. The elite of the

home nations and a cuddly toy! For Perth, western force, the chance

to play against them may never come again. They promised aggression and

intimidation and tackling. Johnny Sexton scoring after ten minutes.

There are boundaries. Look at the top of the pictures where the

western force scrum-half believes he was bitten by Kane Healey. The

incident removed unproven. The Lions continued to dominate. Bridon owe

discold played here for the Lions in 2001. He can still manage a classy

finish. It was 27-3 by half-time. Despite the grand occasion, the home

side rested some key players, unacceptable and disgraceful claimed

It is time for a look at the It is time for a look at the

weather. Do we dare? Well, the Lions are not m missing the sunshine. 29

Celsius in Perth. We have had more cloud today compared with yesterday.

Here it is on the satellite picture. It is reduck tant to clear the

Midlands and link shire, but hopefully we will see sunshine

coming through here. For most of us, it will feel warm in the sunshine.

There is just a few flies in -- flies in the ointment. One of them,

the odd shower. Along the North Sea Coast, the sea being so chilly, it

is a little bit cooler than elsewhere inland where we are seeing

temperatures getting into the high teens and ot low 20s. There is

sunshine to enjoy for many of us as the day continues, but there is a

little bit of cloud drifting along the South Coast of Devon and

Cornwall. So here it is bright rather than sunny. Some warmth

developing across the Midlands and Wales as the cloud continues to

break. I don't think we will see temperatures getting into the 20s

here. The showers will linger through this evening and overnight.

Through the night, the low cloud returns, but in the north, it will

be chill I willy. -- chilly. So a chillyish night and a chilly start

and potentially a grey start tomorrow morning, but that cloud

burns back and probably a bit quicker than today to the coast.

Still one or two showers or a risk anyway, but it is a dry and fine day

so with more sunshine coming through quickly it should be warmer. I think

the temperatures will peak tomorrow or Friday bringing the warmest day

of the year so far. So we are talking about the odd 25 Celsius

tomorrow and possibly on Friday as well, but probably not in the south.

We pick up a breeze in the south by Friday as the high pressure migrates

further northwards. We start to be threatened by this low pressure

coming up from France, but at this stage it looks as if it may hold off

until the beginning of next week, so not as warm over the weekend, the

weather does look fair for many of us. More sunshine to come. Still a

little chilly along the coasts with the sea breezes. I started saying it

will be warm and sunny for most and I think it will be warm and sunny

for most this weekend and hopefully the showers will hold off until next

week at least. The town in Syria is reported to