01/11/2013 BBC News at One

The phone hacking trial hears that morning. Goodbye.

illegal" way of checking stories. We'll be live at the Old Bailey.

Also this lunchtime: Royal Bank of Scotland says it will

deal with tens of billions of pounds' worth of toxic assets

internally and not split into so-called "good" and "bad" banks.

Barclays Bank suspends a number of traders in connection with the

possible manipulation of the currency markets.

GCSEs in England get their biggest shake up in a generation.

And the growing concerns about the dangers of head injuries in rugby

are not being taken seriously enough.

?On BBC London: Fire Brigades urge households to postpone fire works

displays. And why university union members are

being banned from attending Remembrance Services in an official

capacity. Good afternoon and welcome to the

BBC News at One. The former News of the World editor

Andy Coulson told a senior journalist investigating an

exclusive story on television celebrity Calum Best to "do his

phone". Jurors at the trial of two former editors of the News of the

World have been told that journalists at the paper used phone

hacking as a "perfectly rational but entirely illegal" way of checking

stories. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, along with six other

defendants, deny all the charges against them. Tom Symonds is at the

Old Bailey where the prosecution has been outlining its case against Mr

Coulson. Yes, day three of this long,

detailed prosecution opening statement. This is a complex trial.

The defendants face charges including phone hacking, but also

illegal payments, some of them to public officials, what is called in

legal jargon conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. Today,

the jury heard submissions on both sets of allegations.

The submissions again today focused on Andy Coulson's editorship of the

News of the World, and the long list of victims of the paper's phone

hacking. In 2005, it believed that the then Home Secretary Charles

Clarke was having an affair with an eight, Hannah Pawlby. He wasn't, but

the prosecution said that dozens of her friends and family had her

--their phones hacked. Calum Best, the son of George Best. The paper

paid woman who claimed he was the father of her child. Andrew Edis QC

said Andy Coulson was worried Calum Best had burned out and might spoil

the scoop by telling a rival newspaper. Ashman found out. This

resulted in a key bit of evidence, and email between Mister Coulson and

Ian Edmonson. Mr Coulson wrote... It is a clear sign, the prosecutor

said, that he knew about and ordered phone hacking. The opening statement

then moved onto the allegations against former royal editor Clive

Goodman, along with Mr Coulson, accused of illegally paying police

officers for confidential Royal Households phone directories. The

court heard one of them was obtained from a royal policeman at Saint

James's Palace and the standard price would be ?1,000. But in an

email, price would be ?1,000. But in an

Clive Goodman warned Mr Coulson... Prosecutor Andrew Edis said that was

the clearest possible evidence of a conspiracy between them to make the

illegal payments. And it is the prosecution's case

that buying these royal phonebooks actually helped the phone hacking,

because they included the numbers of senior household officials, like Sir

Michael peat, a top aide to the Prince of Wales, who was targeted by

the News of the World because the paper again thought he was having an

affair. Tom, thank you very much.

Royal Bank of Scotland is to create an internal "bad bank", rather than

breaking the business in two, as it tries to recover from the financial

crisis. There have been calls for the bank, which is mostly owned by

the taxpayer, to separate its most high-risk assets from the core

retail business. But the Chancellor, George Osborne, has backed the new

solution, saying it will deal decisively with the problems of the

past. This morning, RBS announced a pre-tax loss of more than ?600

million in the third quarter. Here's our business correspondent Emma

Simpson. There has been a big debate about

the future of Royal Bank Of Scotland. Should it be broken up?

But after a four-month review, the Government has delivered its

verdict. It has rejected the idea of a complete separation. The best

advice I got was that the best thing for the British taxpayer was an

internal bank splitting like this into a good bank and a bad bank, but

under the umbrella of the existing bank. So what goes into the bad

bank? It'll have ?38 billion worth of RBS's high risk assets, its most

troublesome loans, most of them in commercial property. They make up 5%

of RBS's total assets. The idea is to sell them or run them down more

quickly by 2016. The bank hopes this will help free up more cash to lend

to small businesses, like this bike shop, visited by the Chancellor and

the new RBS boss. But it is the bank's lending that is in need of

repair. Today, a scathing independent report says RBS is

failing small and medium-sized businesses and that a complete

overhaul is needed. Small and medium business is the heart of our

business in the UK and we need to do more for those customers. But when

you look at the bank's history for the last five years, it has had to

concentrate so much and getting back into a stable position, it is now up

to me and my executive team to focus on the service delivery to customers

and we will do better. The hope is that online will be drawn under all

of RBS's past problems and bad management can now focus on

rebuilding this bank, getting back to basics and supporting the

economy. It is a work in progress. RBS plunged back into the red today,

and cleaning up the bad debts will mean more heavy losses to come.

Labour says the ultimate test is whether we, the taxpayers, get our

money back. Some in the city are sceptical. I think the answer is

never, in terms of the taxpayer recouping the whole 45.5 million

investment in RBS. The reason is government actions are destroying

earnings and shareholder value, so will there be a recovery? Yes, but

the pace will be slower than we thought. RBS may be on a new path,

but the road to privatisation is likely to be a long one.

With me in the studio is business editor Robert Peston. I suppose the

key question is is this going to mend the bank and by when?

There are two big things, in my view, that RBS announced today. One,

it confessed that it has not been serving customers properly. The

millions of retail customers, but perhaps more importantly, small

businesses. So vital to the UK's economic future. They published a

report that they commissioned into small business lending by a former

governor of the Bank of England which is horrifying in terms of the

lack of skills that it discloses within RBS when it comes to small

business lending, the lousy management of the small business

operation. Ross MacEwan, the new chief executive of RBS, has promised

that he will do better and indeed, he said that in an interview I did

with him today. Separate from that, they are also trying to get rid of

the ?38 billion of toxic, stinky debts, Batard consuming vast amounts

of its capital --that are consuming. It would be much better deployed

backing a good, new loans. There are some distinguished people, like the

former Chancellor Nigel Lawson and former governor of the Bank of

England Mervyn King who thought the best way to deal with that was take

it out of RBS and put it onto the public sector balance sheet. George

Osborne has decided against that but that said, it is not a completely

cosmetic exercise because RBS has promised to work as hard as it can

to shift this stuff, find buyers as quickly as it can. There is a

paradox here. By saying they are going to get rid of it faster, they

are going to have to sell it more cheaply and at a bigger loss, and

that why RBS's shares have actually fallen rather sharply this morning.

Now, on your question therefore when it is going to be fixed, not soon.

The other thing that the Chancellor said to me when I interviewed him

today was privatisation of our 81% stake is a long way away, almost

certainly not before the 2015 General Election.

Robert, thank you very much. Barclays has suspended several

traders as part of an investigation into the foreign exchange market.

Yesterday, it emerged that RBS had taken similar action against two

traders. There is no suggestion of wrong-doing. Let's speak to our

chief business correspondent, Hugh Pym. What more you able to tell us

about this? Well, there has been an

investigation known for a few months involving the regulator that is

relevant here in the UK, the financial conduct authority. It has

been following up suggestions that it is possible that a key benchmark

for exchange rate in London might have been manipulated in some way by

banks who contribute their data, their buying and selling prices, at

a certain point in the day, 4pm, when this benchmark is worked out,

and it is used as a basis for pension funds, investments and

people trying to hedge themselves into the future. They are just

suggestions. It is an investigation at a very early stage, there is no

accusation, nobody has been accused of any wrongdoing at this stage but

several leading banks have confirmed they are talking to the regulator

about this. Barclays has taken this position with traders, several of

them being suspended. Similarly, RBS suspended two yesterday and three

other major banks have sent investors on leave. So some way to

go but the potential to be pretty embarrassing the London if anything

is proved to have been untoward in all of this, particularly coming out

of the Libor scandal, the rigging of interest rates last year.

The exams regulator Ofqual has confirmed what it's calling the

biggest shake-up of GCSEs in England for a generation. A new numerical

system for marking will see an extra grade added. Students will be scored

from one to nine, rather than G to A*. The assessments will also be by

final exams, rather than coursework. Our correspondent Sarah Campbell

reports. It is likely that some of these Year

8 parents were the first to take GCSEs back in 1988. Now they too

will have to get used to a new way of working in the run-up to their

own exams in 2017. This is the biggest change in a generation. They

have been around for over 25 years as qualifications but now we are

seeing fresh content, a different structure, we are seeing high

quality assessment is really coming in. So it is a significant change

for students and the schools. The key changes to English and maths,

the first subjects to be changed, are scrapping of modules and

assessment by exam at the end of two years. A new grading system, with

America nine being the top grade and more marks set aside for punctuation

and grammar --with nine being the top grade. Content is also to be

changed. In English literature, for example, there is a greater emphasis

on studying classic British authors and poets, so set texts will include

at least 1/19 century novel and romantic poet. Maths will have more

content, and schools will have to spend more time teaching a more

rigorous syllabus. We want to encourage schools and teachers to

focus on the core skills that employers really want, because that

is what is going to help our children get good jobs when they

leave school. But some pupils at this school, and staff, have

concerns. I don't think I like the number system, because if you want

to compare with other people the grade you got, different years, it

will be confusing. People panic in an exam and you don't get your

coursework taken into account. Coursework is a more individual

thing. Nobody would argue that not having change is good, because

obviously change can be effective but it is how that change is managed

and the consultation that takes place within the teaching profession

is a concern of mine. Reforms to other core academic core subjects

will follow, but similar changes are not planned in Northern Ireland and

Wales and Scotland has its own separate exam system.

The mother of Baby P, who was jailed in 2009 for her role in the

toddler's death, is understood to have been freed from prison earlier

this week. The Government's refused to comment on the matter. Tracey

Connelly was given a minimum of five years for causing or allowing her

son's death. She'd been held on remand for several months before

being sentenced. The Prime Minister has announced

plans to give the Welsh Government control over certain taxes and the

power to borrow for the first time. Stamp Duty on sales of houses in

Wales will be controlled from Cardiff. The new borrowing powers

are likely to be used to construct a new motorway near Newport, to ease

congestion on the M4. Our Wales political correspondent Tomos

Livingstone reports. While Scotland have raced ahead to a

referendum on independence, Wales has moved at its own pace. Since

1999, the Welsh assembly has gradually taken on board more and

more powers, but now the pace of change is about to accelerate. At

the moment, the Welsh assembly has control of areas including

education, health and transport. Under the plans being announced

today, part of the income tax take will be devolved, subject to a

referendum. It is also being suggested that revenue raised from

Stamp Duty on the sale of houses in Wales should go to the devolved

administration and that the assembly should have the ability to borrow to

fund Welsh projects. The Prime Minister says it is all about

growing up. I think it will make for better, accountable government. I

think it is good for a government to be responsible for raising at least

some of the money that it spends. That leads to better conversations

about how to raise the money, about how to spend the money and how to

spend the money effectively, and how to manage your economy better. The

Welsh government wants to borrow money to pay for a new motorway

south of Newport. The scheme would cost ?1 billion and ease congestion

on the existing M4. The First Minister says it is a big step

forward for Wales. Today is an important day in the history of

Wales, because the announcement today shows that we are being

treated as equal partners in the UK, both as a government and indeed the

people of Wales. Some of the politicians here in Cardiff Bay are

already talking about cutting Welsh taxes. That is a long way off, but

with all eyes on Scotland and its referendum, the coalition government

is keen to show that you can hand more powers to the devolved

administrations whilst staying within the United Kingdom.

Our top story this lunchtime: The phone hacking trial hears that

ex-News Of The World editor Andy Coulson told a senior journalist

investigating a celebrity to "do his phone" and that he knew that the

paper was illegally paying palace policemen from oil phone

directories. Still to come, how to tell if your

dog is happy or nervous. It is all in the wag of a tail.

On BBC London, an investigation is underway after two shop workers were

shot in an attempted robbery in plaster last month.

And painting by numbers and a sign we speak to the Londoner using a

type writer -- typewriter. American officials have confirmed

that is really a aircraft have carried out a strike near the Syrian

coastal city of Latakia. The official said the strike targeted

Russian-made missiles intended for the Lebanese militant group

Hezbollah. The attacked town is a stronghold of the President Bashar

al-Assad, where his Alawite community is concentrated.

Israeli airpower, on show just last week. There is every likelihood that

this was the squadron that carried out the attack on Syria. But Israel

will not say its planes were responsible for the strike . It is

thought that the attack came late on Wednesday and near the Syrian port

of Latakia . The target was Russian-made ballistic missiles.

This was an earlier attack on Damascus in May. It sent shock waves

across the city. Israel has long said it would use its military might

to stop weapons reaching Syrian ally Hezbollah. TRANSLATION: We are

checking the northern front. If anything happens that we don't want

to happen, we would prefer to take care of it as soon as possible. We

are watching before something develops. In the aftermath of

previous attacks, President Assad warned of appraisal is against

Israel, but none came. Despite the lack of official confirmation, there

is little doubt that Israel has attacked Syria at least half a dozen

times. It can strike the country at will and will do so again. Even if

President Assad acknowledges that this attack took place, he is

unlikely to be able to do anything about it. As the civil war in his

country grinds on, he is unable to respond forcefully to Israel. In

Damascus today, the UN envoy said that peace talks in Geneva would

only happen if Syria's representation attended. People are

realising that they don't see any other way of getting out of this

horrible situation except through Geneva. But with little progress on

those talks, Syria's neighbours can only hope the conflict remains

within its borders. A hospital in Cardiff has apologised

for flaws in the way it's diagnosed miscarriages over several years. The

ombudsman for Wales as a woman who went on to have a healthy daughter

had initially been told she had lost her baby because the University

Hospital of Wales failed to carry out enough scans.

Emily Wheatley is now able to delight in her healthy baby girl,

but she is still horrified that early on in her pregnancy, she was

mistakenly told she had suffered a so-called silent miscarriage. I was

very ill, showing lots of signs of early pregnancy. And to be told that

I had miscarried was a real shock. It took a lot to adjust to that

after adjusting to the fact that I was pregnant in the first place. The

error happened during a scam here at the University Hospital of Wales. It

was only when in the league refused to take a pill to complete the

process and sought treatment from a different hospital that the mistake

into light. Guidelines to diagnose early miscarriage state that if an

ultrasound scan shows possible problems, a second internal scan

must be carried out with immediate effect. But University Hospital of

Wales only gave Emily wants Gann, something the ombudsman for Wales as

heavily criticised. It is clearly an unacceptable mistake. The guidance

was in place . If they had followed it, the mistake would not have

happened. It was the failure to properly implement the guidance. The

hospital has apologised and says it has corrected its practices, but it

is feared that staff there may have been operating flawed diagnoses

since 2006. There may be a number of women who are worried about this, so

we have opened a helpline which is available all day today and through

the weekend. We will review things on a case-by-case basis and give as

much reassurance and information as we can. It is believed about 600

women each year have been at risk of getting the wrong diagnosis at the

hospital, and unlike Emily Wheatley, they may never know if there was a

mistake. Lancashire police have announced

that they are setting up a new team to investigate the disappearance of

the teenager Charlene Downes. The 14-year-old from Blackpool was last

seen ten years get today. The team will also investigate the case of a

15-year-old who went missing in August 2007. Officers say there is

currently no evidence linking the cases, but both are thought to be

connected to sexual exportation. With the autumn internationals

getting under way tomorrow, there are growing concerns in rug be about

the dangers of concussion. A former senior medical adviser to rugby's

world governing body told our correspondent that putting concussed

players back on the pitch is experimenting with player to Mac

brains. -- players' brains. They are the head-on collisions that

are making rugby stop and think. The sport is currently trialling a

policy that can allow players who suffer head injuries to return to

the field of play after a five-minute medical assessment, and

some are angry. Imagine what is happening to the brain. For 15

years, Barry O'Driscoll was medical adviser to the rugby governing

body, but resigned after watching his nephew Irish legend Brian

O'Driscoll, being cleared to play on in this match despite obvious signs

of concussion. I don't think anyone has given us in rugby a mandate to

experiment on player to Mac brains like this -- players' brains. The

arena they are going into is brutal. In other contact sports like

American football, there is mounting medical evidence that repeated

concussion can lead to degenerative brain disease and neurological

problems later in life. A settlement of half ?1 billion has just been

reached after some players sued the NFL over the issue. Could rugby

would be next's those at the top of the sport admit that concussion must

now be a priority. Gone are the days when we would put play a welfare at

risk. The priority for any medical team is the player, and we have to

abide by that. Rugby union has taken a proactive stance on this. It is no

surprise that concussion is now the number one cause of missing matches

to injury. The IRB says the issue is a priority and that it's five

minutes rule is backed by both players and experts, and that it has

reduced the number of instances where players have been allowed to

play on who have later been found to have concussion. Here at the

grassroots, the RFU has announced an awareness campaign providing

information and advice, but there is no obligation for pictures of junior

rugby to undergo any concussion awareness training. That is

something Peter Robinson wants to change. His 14-year-old son died

from what is called second impact syndrome after he was allowed to

play on, despite suffering concussion. Concussion is like the

elephant in the room. No one wants to talk about it. I know Ben is

gone, and nothing will bring him back, but if one person is taken off

on a Saturday or Wednesday afternoon, it has not been in vain.

Rugby's authorities say they are doing all they can to tackle this

issue where things are uncertain and emotions run high, but there is no

doubt that the sport's big hits are forcing it to confront some

uncomfortable questions. Now, have you ever studied the way

your dog wags its tail? A group of scientists have been doing that, and

they say its movements are linked to mood, but is there more to it? Our

correspondent is on Southampton, now and has been investigating.

I know this interests you as a dog owner. If you come to any part like

this, you will see dog owners watching dogs, and dogs watching

back. When you consider how long men and dogs have been partnered up in

life, it is perhaps surprising that we still have a lot to learn about

them. It all seemed so simple. Wagging

equals happy, tail down, and settled law threatening. Throughout the

centuries, man's best friend has learned to read us like a book,

anticipating our actions, gauging our mood. But how do dogs read and

send signals to each other? And have we got it wrong? The latest research

suggests that dogs communicate more about themselves with their tails

than we previously thought. Scientists in Italy believe we were

missing something, so to prove their point, they took 30 family dogs to

the cinema. They showed them film of other dogs and monitored their

breathing and behaviour. On the screen, some tiles whacked more to

the right, others to the left. And the audience reacted differently to

reach movement. On that evidence, happy dogs will work their tails

more to the right, while nervous dogs will favour the left, the

result of emotional responses in the right and left halves of their

brain. The dog has been man's best friends are thousands of years, but

we have only recently realised how much detail that tails are

providing. Dog owners braving a rainy day in Southampton told me the

experiment simply bore out there and belief that there was a great deal

going on between the ears. She can be nervous of some dogs, so she

shows her moods with that. You can see it. If she is not happy with

him, she puts her tail down. His tale is always wagging. When there

is a big wag, there is lots of excitement, happy dog. A bit of

wagging means yes, I am OK, don't worry . Ears, eyes, and she will

tuck her tail in if she is not happy. We humans don't always make

it easy. Some dogs live their lives minus that vital appendage, an

enigma with no alternative but to keep friends and enemies guessing.

Gary here knows more about Jimmy. I suspect you will be looking harder

when you go home as well. There is so much still to learn about these

animals. Now the weather.

Walkies will have to be planned carefully around the weather this

weekend. Some rain and even snow in the forecast. Before we look ahead,

let's look back at October. It was a mild month. Could be one of the top

ten warmest Octobers on record. Not as much sunshine as we would like,

and away from Scotland, it was a wet month, England's wettest since 2000.

Rain on saturated ground brings a risk of local flooding. More rain

has been pushing up across England and Wales. In Scotland, heavy

showers are driven in on strong wind. Some hail and thunder is

possible. Elsewhere in Scotland, and northern England, mainly dry. But

across Wales and central England, more rain. To the south of that,

plenty of cloud. The closer you are to the south coast tonight, the dry

situation could change. Some of the rain will be heavy, especially in

the far south-east. Where you have cloud in England and Wales,

temperatures hold-up, but where you have got the clear skies, a touch of

frost in places. Saturday begins with one weather system clearing,

but don't be fooled by the dry start. Another Atlantic low is

coming in on Saturday, pushing rain across Northern Ireland in the

morning, then across England and Scotland, where it reaches the

north-east late in the day. In Scotland, snow may come down to 500

metres. Hill walkers, take note. Where you have the wind, rain and

snow, it will feel cold. The wind will be picking up, which is

important on Saturday evening. Strong winds, especially in England

and Wales. That coincides with bonfires and fireworks. It will not

be the same as Monday's storm, but it will still be windy, so take

care. Diwali celebrations take place this weekend. On Sunday, blustery,

with some sunshine. More rain in southern areas late on, bringing a

risk of local flooding again on saturated ground. Hope I am not in

the dog house. That is all from