10/03/2014 BBC News at One

sign of the Malaysia Airlines plane that's disappeared with 239 people

on board. The search area has been widened with rescue helicopters and

ships scouring the sea for the Boeing 777, as relatives wait

desperately for news. The authorities say two passengers

travelling on stolen passports were not Asian-looking men. We'll have

the latest. Also this lunchtime: Oscar Pistorius is sick in court as

graphic evidence from the postmortem on his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp is

read out. Labour pledges to fund a

back-to-work scheme for young unemployed, but the Conservatives

say the figures don't add up. Battered by the storms - Britain's

dramatically changing coastline is revealed. Great Britain's first-ever

Paralympic Gold at the Winter Olympics, as Kelly Gallagher and her

guide triumph in the women's visually-impaired super-G.

Later on BBC London: Claims that stopping dredging of the River

Thames made last months flooding even worse.

And gearing up to become "mini-Holland". The councils set to

share millions to make cycling safer.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. The search for the

missing Malaysian Airlines plane has been widened across a huge area as

officials say they are 'perplexed' by its disappearance. The Boeing

777, which was bound for Beijing, disappeared on Friday night with 239

people on board. A short time ago the authorities said they'd been

studying CCTV footage of two passengers who were travelling on

stolen passports. They said they were not Asian looking men and they

had been through security screening before they boarded. Jonathan Head

has the latest from Malaysia. Ten countries are now involved in

this search. This maritime rescue plane is Vietnamese. The missing

airliner may have gone down inside Vietnam's's territorial waters. But

with no clues, no distress calls, all they can do is scan the vast

expanse of the South China Sea. The multinational flotilla of ships is

visible far below. But the lack of progress is beginning to cause some

frustration. Not least in China, where most of the passengers

originated. We have a responsibility to demand and urge the Malaysians

side to increase search efforts. Start an investigation as soon as

possible, and provide relevant information to China, correctly and

in a timely manner. China is deploying seven ships to the area.

Some, like this one, with specialist roles in marine search and rescue.

It is also seeking answers about the two men on board who were travelling

on stolen passports. Malaysia says it has identified one of them and a

sharing intelligence with all the countries involved in the incident.

The features of those two passengers, we have looked at the

video, and the photographs, and it is confirmed that they are not Asian

looking men. At the mosque in Kuala Lumpur's government quarter, they

are holding special prayers everyday for the passengers of flight MH 370.

With no news of the plane, there is not much else they can do. For all

the resources and effort being put into this church -- search from

around the world, one disturbing question remains. How can a 200

tonne airliner with 239 people on board simply vanish without a trace?

Jonathan head, Kuala Lumpur airport. So as the mystery surrounding the

missing plane intensifies, our transport correspondent Richard

Westcott has been looking at how an aircraft could just disappear

without trace. It is one of the world 's safest

airliners. Made to the highest standards, full of electronic

equipment that tells the ground where it is. So how could an

aircraft like this simply vanish without trace. It is not an -- it is

very unusual for an aircraft like this do disappear without trace. We

would expect the emergency beacon to help us find it, or the bleeping

unit attached to the black boxes and the recorder 's helpers locate the

aircraft, so it's very unusual brick to disappear quickly. The search

goes on but everything points to a catastrophic and southern break up

in midair. It was cruising at more than 30,000 feet, but if both

engines failed it can glide for more than 100 miles, giving pilots time

to call in a Mayday. In fact, most problems should leave a clue. Even

with a serious malfunction, you can normally got time. The first thing

you do is concentrate on flying the aircraft and making sure the flight

path is safe. The new look where you are going. But soon after you will

be looking to get some communication to get help from the ground station

or other aircraft -- then you look. It revives memories of another

tragedy, the Air France flight which disappeared over the sea five years

ago. The clues were eventually found years later more than two miles

underwater. A combination of mechanical issues and pilot error

caused that crash, and it could be months, or even years before we know

what has happened to this Malaysia Airlines flight. Our correspondent

John Sudworth is in Beijing. The authorities were giving more detail

a short time ago. What more can you tell us about these two passengers

they have now seen on CCTV? We have heard the Malaysia authorities have

identified one of these men. We don't have much detail released.

They say he is not a Malaysians citizen. They have not told us what

nationality he is, and they also say he is not of Asian appearance.

Interestingly though, the Financial Times is carrying an interview with

the travel agent who said she booked the tickets for these two men, and

she said she was asked to book the cheapest available route to Europe,

which just so happened to be this flight, via Beijing, then on to

Amsterdam. If that is true, it suggests they did not deliberately

choose this particular aircraft, which you might expect to be the

case of something sinister was at work. But the truth is, at the

moment, we really don't know very much. Very little more than we did

on Saturday morning when the plane first disappeared. You follow the

latest on the search for the missing airliner on the BBC News website.

That's at bbc.co.uk/news. The Olympic athlete, Oscar

Pistorius, threw up in court this morning as graphic detail was heard

about the postmortem carried out on his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. The

judge banned the media from broadcasting the evidence live

because it was feared it may cause undue distress. Oscar Pistorius, who

says he mistook Reeva Steenkamp for a burglar, denies murdering her on

Valentine's Day last year. Our correspondent Andrew Harding was in

court and joins me now from Pretoria. Oscar Pistorius extremely

upset about all of the evidence he was hearing this morning.

Apologies, we seem to have a problem with the line to Pretoria, and we

will go back shortly. Meanwhile, Labour has pledged to fund a

guaranteed job scheme for the young unemployed throughout the lifetime

of the next government, if it wins the 2015 election. Those who have

been out of work for a year or more will be offered a

taxpayer-subsidised job lasting six months. But if they turn it down,

they risk losing their benefits. Labour says it would pay for this by

taxing bank bonuses and changing tax rules for the pensions of high

earners. But the Conservatives say the sums "don't add up". Our

political correspondent Ben Wright reports.

It is the first major plank of labour's next manifesto. Young

people out of work for a year would be offered a six-month job and

training. The scheme would also apply to all adults over 25 who have

been unemployed for more than two years. But the deal is this. Take a

tax payer funded job or lose your benefits. We need an economy that

doesn't just work for a few banks, but for all working people. We have

56,000 young people in our country who have been unemployed for more

than 12 months. A Labour government would tax banker bonuses and put

young people back to work. Labour had planned to fund the scheme for

one year but now it will do it for five. The ?1.9 billion cost for the

first year will be raised by a tax on bank bonuses. ?900 million per

year will come from cutting pension relief for people earning over

?150,000. Labour also plans to use money it says can be saved by

cutting the benefit bill. 80% of the jobs will come from the private

sector, but the private sector is not so sure. Businesses really don't

want these apprentice schemes. Businesses want people when there is

consumer demand for them, and businesses are the best people to

know when to hire people rather than the government. This is a big

spending pledge by the Labour Party. Since the election they have talked

about using funds from a tax on bank bonuses to pay for all sorts of

things, including 25,000 new homes. Now it says it will use all the

money it raises from the bonus tax to pay for its new job scheme. The

Tory Treasury minister said the scheme would cost far more Labour

thinks. Their proposals on taxes won't get the revenue they are

talking about. This is yet again Labour Party policy that will result

in more borrowing. Benefits will be cut for people who don't take the

jobs. A calculation that the Labour Party will convince voters as it

builds up an offer for next year's election.

The British Chambers of Commerce believes that the size of the

economy will return to pre-recession levels this summer, earlier than

previously thought. The BCC says that from July onwards GDP will be

higher than it was at the start of 2008, just before the financial

crisis. But it also warns of an "unacceptably high" level of youth

unemployment. Our Chief Economics Correspondent Hugh Pym is here. How

good a barometer is the BCC? It's a pretty reasonable representation of

business, with lots of members across UK industry and the forecasts

are taken seriously. The significance today is that it is

saying that the UK will get back to where it was in 2008 at some stage

in the next few months, because a lot of experts say that is the key

barometer, are you back to where you work? You might have had growth, but

if you're not back to where you were before the recession there still an

important step to take. The only problem is that the UK will get

there after the US and Germany, major competitors who have moved

beyond that point. The BCC has other encouraging singles -- signals.

Growth is up from 1.8% last year and says real wages, that is wages

growing faster than inflation. Picking up in the middle of this

year. It's been the other way round for the last couple of years with a

big squeeze on consumers, so some relief there. It also says that the

UK recovery is not balanced enough. There is too much consumer spending

and not enough investment in exports, and it needs to kick him to

be really convincing in terms of recovery, and that is the issue that

George Osborne will want to be addressing in the budget next week.

A murder investigation has been launched after the body of a soldier

was discovered at an army barracks. The 32-year-old soldier was from the

1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment. The Ministry of Defence

says the body was found at a barracks in Shropshire on Saturday.

A 23-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder. Two senior

Scottish politicians have entered the debate on Scottish Independence

today. The former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and the Liberal

Democrat Sir Menzies Campbell both say that Scots want greater

devolution rather than full independence. The referendum on

Scotland's future will take place on September 18th. Our Scotland

correspondent James Cook is in Glasgow.

That's right. We have been hearing in the building behind me from

Gordon Brown, in a speech in which he says he wants to see radical

reform of the United Kingdom and its constitutional settlement. In

particular, setting up half a dozen ways that that could be achieved,

notably with devolution of more powers to the Scottish parliament in

Edinburgh. In particular, unemployment, welfare, rail, land

and on a couple of other issues as well, and he also talks about

devolving more tax powers to Edinburgh. At present the Scottish

parliament raises about 12% of its own taxes and that will rise to

around a third. He says it should go up to 40%. This is what the former

Prime Minister has been saying. These six constitutional changes

make for a new relationship between Scotland and Britain. We set out the

purpose of the United Kingdom, we make it clear that the Scottish

parliament is permanent, we make it clear that there is a new division

of powers which makes sense of our commitment to the UK as a framework

within which we pooled and share resources. He is no longer Prime

Minister, but this prompted one wag in the Scottish National party to

suggest if only he had been able to deliver these policies he now

wants. That is essentially the same response we have heard from the

Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Government, Nicola

Sturgeon. Gordon Brown was Prime Minister for a number of years, and

in government for more than ten years and did not deliver the powers

he is now saying he thinks Scotland needs. That underlines the point

that the only way we can secure new powers, and the new powers Scotland

needs to meet the challenges we face is to vote yes on the referendum and

support independence. We have also heard from the former leader of the

Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, also proposing some kind

of change. All of this is basically coalescing into an argument about

what is being called devolution max, the alternative to the

proposals which are being put forward by the SNP. We will hear

from the Conservatives later in the year, but whether all of these

parties can agree and how much the voters are able to weigh up the

sides in terms of what the Scottish Government is offering will be a

difficult matter at the polls in September.

A woman who was allegedly indecently assaulted by the celebrity publicist

Max Clifford has told a court she thought she was going to be raped

when he "lunged" at her in his car. The woman, who cannot be named, was

14 in 1966 when she said Mr Clifford offered her a lift home. The

publicist faces 11 counts of indecent assault. He denies all of

the charges against him. Richard Lister is at Southwark Crown Court.

What more was said in court? We have been hearing all morning from this

witness, the first prosecution witness in this trial. She said she

met Max Clifford when she was 14, they boast used to hang out at the

same bar in south London. One afternoon after school, he offered

her a lift home, she said. She said she reluctantly agreed. She said he

was insistent that he wanted to show her something. Once in his car, she

said he started taking her away from her house, and she started to get

worried. She said he then showed her a photo album with lots of

celebrities and asked which one she would like to meet. He said, I can

arrange a meeting, but this is what you have got to do. She then said he

tipped her seat back and lunged on her, fondling her. She said, it was

quite obvious what he wanted to do...

But the QC for the defence suggested that she could not remember any

details about the car that was allegedly involved, something she

admitted to. He said that was a surprise, given that it was

something that was clearly so important in her life. He suggested

that in 1966, Max Clifford did not have access to a car. He said to

her, are you jumping on the bandwagon? No, Gestede, I have been

telling people about this for 30 years. Max Clifford denies all the

allegations against him. Our top story this lunchtime... The

search area has been widened with rescue helicopters and ships

scouring the sea for the missing Malaysian Airlines plane. And still

to come - a breakthrough in Alzheimer's research, a blood test

could be developed to detect the onset of the disease.

Coming up on BBC London, thousands of homeowners are promised ?1000 a

year off their council tax if Gatwick gets a second runway.

Abseiling down the BT Tower for sport relief.

Britain's coastline has taken a battering this winter with one storm

after another. Some areas have suffered the equivalent of seven

years of erosion in just three months. Now the National Trust has

called for a re-think on how Britain defends its coastline. It argues

some locations may have to be sacrificed because the sea can no

longer be stopped. Duncan Kennedy has been finding out more.

It was only really a matter of time before all this, and this, led to

this. Birling Gap in Sussex, just one of the places where the gap just

got bigger. Those pictures are pretty spectacular, and to give you

an idea of just what has gone on here this winter, the National Trust

tell us that they have had seven years' worth of erosion here in just

two months. The cliff collapse has made this spot even more popular

with visitors. Good for a photo, less good for safety. The BBC has

been shown this map, revealing that it is just one of 70 sites around

Britain now identified as being in critical danger of erosion, ranging

from Cayton Bay and Orford Ness in the East to Birling Gap and Wembury

in the South, to Woolacombe and other places in the West. All places

where man-made defences may no longer work. Defences we have come

to rely on in the past will not be plausible for everywhere in the

future. Adaptation is something we will need to be looking at. The

National Trust says this winter has been a wake-up call. Whether it is

here in Hastings, or here in Bournemouth, buttons cliffs have

been crumbling. And it is not just through waves and wind power.

Brand-new research at Southampton University has revealed

unprecedented amounts of water, surging off the land, rummaging our

coasts and estuaries. -- damaging. In the last few weeks we have seen

three times the amount of fresh water coming into the estuary that

we would normally see in a wet period. So, it is not just wet, it

is phenomenally wet. The amount of fresh water coming in is

unprecedented over the last 30 years according to our measurements. Old

photos show erosion to our shores this is Sussex 100 years ago, 20

years later, and finally, now. This winter has quickened the pace but

you cannot put a concrete wall around Britain, so what do you do?

Going back now to South Africa, and the trial of Oscar Pistorius, the

Olympic athlete who threw up in court this morning during evidence,

when graphic details were given about his girlfriend, who was shot

dead last year. Andrew Harding is there. Oscar Pistorius was really

visibly very distressed this morning? He was indeed. I think he

knew what was coming today. He was hugging his sister in the dock just

before the pathologist took the stand and gave very graphic evidence

about what had happened to Reeva Steenkamp. Oscar Pistorius put his

head in his hands, slumped forwards and repeatedly, during more than an

hour of testimony, retched into a bucket at his feet. At one point it

seemed he had his fingers in his ears to try to block out the noise.

The judge ruled today that we could not broadcast the evidence live, but

you are able to give a summary of what was said? Exactly. We heard

about three main bullet wounds, one to her head, one to her pelvis,

another to her arm. I think the two key points which are stuck out for

me were the fact that Oscar Pistorius had used a special type of

bullet, one designed, as the pathologist said, to cause maximum

tissue damage. So, the wounds on Weaver steam camp were particularly

extensive. The second fact which I think the prosecution will seize on

is that it appears Reeva Steenkamp had eaten something about two hours

before she was killed, so, at about one o'clock in the morning, that

despite Pistorius saying they had gone to bed at around nine o'clock

and nothing more had happened. The Chinese President has called for

all sides involved in the Ukrainian crisis to act with "calm and

restraint" in order to avoid an escalation of tensions. The call

adds to the mounting pressure on the interim government in Kiev - less

than week before the southern province of Crimea holds a

referendum on whether to join the Russian Federation.

The trial of the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons

Nigel Evans is getting under way at Preston Crown Court. Mr Evans, who

is the MP for Ribble Valley in Lancashire, is accused of eight

counts of indecent and sexual assault, and one of rape. These

alleged offences are said to have happened between 2002 and last year

- and involved seven men. He denies all nine charges.

A witness in the trial of a man accused of murdering PC Keith

Blakelock in 1985 during the Broadwater Farm riots says he saw

the defendant carrying a knife in a group of people who were surrounding

PC Blakelock. Nicholas Jacobs, who was 16 at the time, denies murder.

PC Blakelock was stabbed to death as he tried to protect firefighters.

Daniel Boettcher is at the Old Bailey.

The court heard today from a witness known as John Brown, which is a

pseudonym. He was giving evidence behind a curtain, his voice was

electronic leak altered to help protect his identity. The court

heard that John Brown had been in prison on charges of affray and

burglary, in connection with the riots on Broadwater Farm estate. The

wit this describe the events of the 6th of October 1985, speaking of a

group trying to rush police lines, and things being thrown, including

petrol bombs. He said he saw an officer being dragged to the

ground. Earlier in his evidence he had admitted that he himself had

kicked PC Keith Blakelock around ten times when he had been on the

ground. He was then asked about those in the group closest to the

officer, and among those he named was the defendant, Nicholas Jacobs.

The witness was asked by the QC for the prosecution coming he said, did

you see Nicholas Jacobs with a weapon? To which he replied, yes, I

did. He was asked what sort of weapon, and he said it was like a

curved blade, like a machete. He described the policeman on the

ground trying to curl up into a ball to protect himself, and screaming

for help. He was asked what he saw Nicholas Jacobs doing, and he spoke

about blows to the shoulder of the officer, between two and four

times, he says. Nicholas Jacobs denies murder, and this afternoon,

the witness will be gross examined by the defence.

Researchers in the United States say they have developed a blood test

which could accurately predict the onset of Alzheimer's. It is hoped

the test, which looks at fat levels in the blood, could lead to improved

treatment of the disease by detecting it earlier. Experts said

the results needed to be confirmed, but such a test would be a "real

step forward". Our health correspondent James Gallagher is

here. It sounds like a significant development? And in theory, it could

be. If you had a blood test which could predict Alzheimer's disease,

it would be a revolutionary moment in terms of treating it, but we are

not there yet. This is the very early stages. They have taken one

first step towards that treatment, but they need much bigger trials in

order to get to a point where they can say they have a blood test which

could be used by GPs to help with treatment. They are nowhere the year

that stage yet. I suppose the big question is, would you actually want

to have that test, would you want to know that years down the line, you

could get Alzheimer's? At the moment there is no quick and at the end of

the day if you did know. However, the real benefit could be in medical

research. Alzheimer's disease starts at least a decade before you are

ever diagnosed. So, the theory is, you can get drugs to act much

earlier, so the drugs could prevent brain cells dying before the

symptoms even emerge. It is Great Britain's first ever

Paralympic gold medal - the skier Kelly Gallagher, who is

visually-impaired, and her guide Charlotte Evans have made history by

winning the Super-G in Sochi. The 28-year-old from County Down, who

didn't take up skiing until she was 17, said the race was nerve-wracking

but they were delighted with their medal, as Andy Swiss reports.

Standing on the brink of sporting history, 28-year-old Kelly Gallagher

and her guide, Charlotte Evans. What followed was a test of talent, trust

and teamwork. Allegory was born with a visual impairment. She can only

see Evans' orange babe and hear her guidance fire a headset. But they

hurtled down the mountain at nearly 90mph. The pair had been tipped for

a medal, but in the downhill on Saturday, they finished last, and in

tears. Today was a glorious contrast. The first pair down, they

had clocked a testing target. The question now was, could anyone catch

them? Their own team-mates, Jade Etherington and Caroline Powell,

came close. They claimed bronze, to go with their silver on Saturday.

But soon, British gold was confirmed when the final pair failed to

finish. Gallagher and Evans had done it. Britain's first ever Winter

Paralympic champions. I dreamt so hard about being in the centre on

the podium. We had always been second and third, all of the time.

And then this season we started winning more races. So today, we get

to stand in the centre, and with some other British girls on the

podium as well. And for the first time in Paralympic or Olympic

history, Britain have champions on snow. Gallagher and Evans, under

golden skies, a glittering day for British sport.

Time for a look at the weather, with Nina Ridge. For most of us, it will

be a fairly good week this week. We are talking about high pressure, so

we are confident that that will bring plenty of dry conditions

across the country, with most places in seeing light winds. It will be a

little bit breezy around the coast at times. But it brings with it some

problems as well, as far as the forecasting is concerned. Quite how

much cloud we are going to see, versus sunshine, we cannot be sure

about. That has a big impact on temperatures. Already so far today,

we have had a bit of a problem, with a weak front and using a little bit

more cloud across the Midlands, down towards East Anglia. The high

pressure has brought an improved day to the north, with some sunshine,

and most places and staying dry. A little bit breezy across the western

Isles. Moving further south, we are picking up a little bit more cloud,

and with the breeze coming in off the North Sea, feeling cooler across

parts of Lincolnshire and towards the Midlands. Where we have got more

cloud towards London and into parts of the east Midlands, we are in

around 11-12 for the rest of the afternoon. That area of cloud stays

with us tonight. In between those two areas, we have got clearer

skies. Tomorrow morning, another dry day, with some good spells of

sunshine, for northern areas. Further south, we have got cloud

cover. That could be holding even into the afternoon. That will be

keeping temperatures down. A little bit warmer in the south on

Wednesday, with increased sunshine. Still staying dry and bright for

much of Scotland and Northern Ireland. A subtle change on

Thursday, as a with a front looks like it could brush past the

north-west of the UK. The breeze will be picking up here, with the

potential for a little bit of drizzle. Meanwhile, further south,

any missed an fault should be clearing. -- any missed and fog.

Now a reminder of our top story this lunchtime... The search area for the

missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been widened, with rescue

helicopters and ships scouring the sea. That's all from us - now on BBC

One, it's time