Browse content similar to 03/06/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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House prices show their highest annual increase for seven years. | :00:00. | :00:08. | |
But Brussels says the UK should take steps to moderate the housing market | :00:09. | :00:11. | |
We'll be getting reaction to the latest edict from Brussels. | :00:12. | :00:20. | |
Police and sniffer dogs search scrubland in the Algarve close | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
to where Madeleine McCann went missing seven years ago. | :00:25. | :00:28. | |
Syrians go to the polls in a presidential election | :00:29. | :00:30. | |
which has been denounced by the opposition and the West. | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
Universities face record numbers of complaints from thousands | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
A new treatment for advanced skin cancer is hailed | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
Later on BBC London, new clues in the search for the Hackney | :00:44. | :00:56. | |
backpacker missing in Malaysia. And the innate -- the police criticised | :00:57. | :01:01. | |
for the way it treats mentally ill suspect. -- suspects. | :01:02. | :01:15. | |
Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. | :01:16. | :01:18. | |
The annual rise in house prices has increased by its fastest rate | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
for seven years according to figures from the Nationwide. | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
However there are signs from the monthly figures that | :01:26. | :01:28. | |
It comes as the European Commission offers advice to the UK government | :01:29. | :01:33. | |
on how to adjust the housing market to sustain growth. | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Our Economics Correspondent Simon Gompertz reports. | :01:38. | :01:46. | |
They are still rising, now 11% higher than a year ago, putting the | :01:47. | :01:54. | |
average home at over ?186,000, and putting pressure on potential | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
buyers, like these near Manchester. Me and my partner have been trying | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
to get onto the property ladder to the last two years and it's a real | :02:02. | :02:05. | |
struggle. It seems ridiculous that house prices can increase that much | :02:06. | :02:09. | |
when salaries are not going up in comparison. We will never be able to | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
buy. Even a council house that we rent. But the highest prices are in | :02:14. | :02:19. | |
London and the rate of increase could be moderating. There are | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
tentative signs that activity might be starting to slow down a little. | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
We are looking at the number of mortgage approvals in April, and | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
they were down around 17% from the levels in January. Things may be | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
starting to cool down. There is wide agreement that we need more homes, | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
and today the European commission intervened, saying more building was | :02:44. | :02:49. | |
required, that the government's Help-To-Buy mortgage guarantee | :02:50. | :02:51. | |
scheme might need to be scaled back, and council tax should be | :02:52. | :02:55. | |
reformed so owners of higher value homes pay more. Ideas which gained | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
the sympathy of the former chief financial regulator of the UK. After | :03:01. | :03:08. | |
the crisis of 2009/10 across the whole political spectrum, amongst | :03:09. | :03:11. | |
all commentators it was said we needed a balanced economy that was | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
not dependent on a credit fuelled property boom. It's clear we are | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
getting back to growth, but at the core is a credit fuelled property | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
boom. The question is, will the big house price increases slow down or | :03:25. | :03:27. | |
will they rise into the stratosphere? If they carry on going | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
up at the current pace, the pressure will build on the government and the | :03:32. | :03:34. | |
Bank of England to do something about it. Ministers say they have | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
given the bank the power to intervene, and there is speculation | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
that bank officials could come up with measure -- measures to cool the | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
housing markets as early as this month. | :03:48. | :03:50. | |
Let's speak to our chief political correspondent | :03:51. | :03:51. | |
Advice from the European commission on cooling the housing market. | :03:52. | :04:02. | |
Interesting timing, that. Very interesting, and it's not just the | :04:03. | :04:06. | |
criticism of the government housing policy and the Help To Buy scheme, | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
this is the European Commission getting out the old Brussels | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
blunderbuss and blasting George Osborne's economic strategy saying | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
not enough is being done to tackle the deficit and he should not rely | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
on cutting so much. They should be tax rises and more money on capital | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
project and more done on tackling youth unemployment, on affordable | :04:27. | :04:33. | |
childcare. On and on and on. In the Treasury, when they received the | :04:34. | :04:37. | |
report, they were incredulous. One source said they wondered whether | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
the report was meant to be ironic given that the UK economy is growing | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
faster than any other economy in the EU and any other developed economy. | :04:47. | :04:49. | |
The real significance of the report is not the content, it is the | :04:50. | :04:53. | |
timing, because it comes as David Cameron is engaged in a fraught | :04:54. | :04:57. | |
struggle with Europe about who will be the president of the European | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
Commission, with many Tory MPs saying if he can't win that | :05:02. | :05:04. | |
struggle, what chance does he have of winning back power from Brussels? | :05:05. | :05:10. | |
The fear is that the report will fuel the view amongst camera's | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
critics and backbenchers that Europe and London are increasingly on | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
different wavelength -- Cameron's critics. | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
It would appear to be an election in name only, after more than three | :05:25. | :05:27. | |
years of civil war, the Syrian government is seeking to | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
bolster its standing at home and abroad by staging what it says | :05:31. | :05:33. | |
Bashar Al-Assad, who's looking to secure a third seven-year term, | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
appears certain to top the vote which has been denounced | :05:37. | :05:39. | |
His two challengers have been approved by the government, | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
and voting is taking place only in areas controlled by the regime. | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
Our world affairs correspondent Emily Buchanan reports. | :05:49. | :05:55. | |
The report contains flash photography. There are three | :05:56. | :06:00. | |
approved candidates, the first time that Syrians have had a choice for | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
President since the 1950s. But there is no doubt who will win. President | :06:05. | :06:11. | |
Assad is more confident than ever, even as his critics say the election | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
is a sham. I think it's sending a strong message in the way he is | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
rubbing it in, telling the West that three years ago you said I was | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
gone, but I am still here and I'm here to stay, and there's nothing | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
you can do about it. While he is saying that, and while he is being | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
re-elected, he is still bombing his people and nobody is doing anything | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
about it. There is no sign of voting in the shattered rebel held areas | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
bombarded by the government. This war widow said the election is a | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
mockery. My husband and his three brothers did not martyr themselves | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
for people to go out and vote for Bashar Al-Assad. This man was | :06:51. | :06:56. | |
contemptuous. What elections? The elections of a butcher? They mean | :06:57. | :07:00. | |
nothing to us. Assad would win even if nobody voted for him. While most | :07:01. | :07:07. | |
of the 2.5 million Syrian refugees are either excluded or boycotting | :07:08. | :07:12. | |
the poll, some are going back to vote for President Assad. Many here | :07:13. | :07:15. | |
fear that the government will find out who has not voted and punish | :07:16. | :07:23. | |
them after the election. Inside Syria's rebel held areas, elections | :07:24. | :07:29. | |
have not stopped the Army's bombs. Nor the rebels bullets. This is | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
Aleppo, and 50 people died here over the weekend. It is likely President | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
Assad's victory will only tighten his grip on power and strength in | :07:41. | :07:44. | |
his desire to crush the insurgency. -- strengthen his desire. | :07:45. | :07:47. | |
Our Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen has been to one polling station | :07:48. | :07:50. | |
in central Damascus and has just sent this report. | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
The buses have been coming and going all morning to this polling station. | :07:57. | :08:04. | |
The vote that has been got out of this particular place is the | :08:05. | :08:08. | |
national water company. These men all say that they work in the water | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
company and there have been some women as well, who get ushered | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
straight in to vote. Everybody that I have spoken to has said that he or | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
she will vote for President Bashar Al-Assad. This election has been | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
savagely criticised both by Syrians who have taken up arms against the | :08:26. | :08:30. | |
president, and also by the Syrian politicians who are in ex-oil. And | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
it's also been criticised by Western leaders -- ex-oil. William Hague has | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
called it a parody of democracy. The people I have spoken to in and | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
around the regime, they said it was democracy, look at this, people are | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
voting, in secret, and here is a ballot paper with two candidates as | :08:52. | :09:01. | |
well as President Assad. And that this is all the promise of a better | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
life. President Assad does have genuine support. He would not have | :09:06. | :09:08. | |
weathered everything he has gone through since the war started | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
without that support, and they do by those arguments. As far as the | :09:14. | :09:15. | |
president is concerned, this is good politics. -- they do accept those | :09:16. | :09:18. | |
arguments. In Portugal, British police sniffer | :09:19. | :09:24. | |
dogs have been brought in to search scrubland near Praia de | :09:25. | :09:26. | |
Luz, where Madeleine McCann went A large team of officers | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
from the Metropolitan Police has joined Portuguese officers | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
in the search which is a five-minute walk from the holiday apartment | :09:34. | :09:35. | |
where Madeleine disappeared. This does seem a very specific area. | :09:36. | :09:48. | |
Yes, 15 acres to look at, but they seem to be targeting precise points | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
in the scrubland. This area where we are at the moment seems to be the | :09:53. | :09:55. | |
main focus. You can see there is a plot which is about ten metres by | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
six metres with a police officer kneeling down in the middle. That | :10:01. | :10:03. | |
was cordoned off this morning, and they seem to be taking samples, | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
pegging it. It looks like they are preparing to be more substantial | :10:10. | :10:12. | |
work. The noise you can hear in the background are streamers -- mowers | :10:13. | :10:19. | |
being used by workmen clearing the underground around the site. This is | :10:20. | :10:24. | |
the first area that the police dogs were brought to this morning. They | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
had been brought over from South Wales police to Portugal to assist | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
with the search. We are told that the spaniels were used in the hunt | :10:36. | :10:41. | |
for April Jones in Wales in 2012 and have been brought here with that | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
specific experience in mind. The British are here, working alongside | :10:47. | :10:53. | |
the Portuguese police. The British request the work and the Portuguese | :10:54. | :10:56. | |
are facilitating. We understand from Portuguese police sources this | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
lunchtime that another couple of sites, also around the resort, are | :11:00. | :11:06. | |
set to be searched in the day ahead. We knew the British wanted to look | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
further, and we did not know when, but it will happen sooner rather | :11:11. | :11:11. | |
than later. A 12-year-old boy and a bus driver, | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
who's 54, have suffered serious injuries after a crash between two | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
school buses in County Durham. More than 20 other children aged | :11:22. | :11:23. | |
between 11 and 18 were hurt in the accident which took place in | :11:24. | :11:26. | |
Stanley, near to Chester-le-Street. We heard a loud noise, crash, bang, | :11:27. | :11:37. | |
looking behind me there were two buses behind me. People were | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
screaming. The bus driver was trapped. So I ran down, checked the | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
driver after the impact, and there were kids all over the bus. Blood | :11:47. | :11:51. | |
all over. Just a mess, kids screaming. I helped about five or | :11:52. | :11:53. | |
six kids onto the grass. Figures obtained by the BBC show | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
that complaints and appeals made against universities in the UK | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
have risen by 10% since 2012. More than 20,000 were | :12:00. | :12:01. | |
made last year alone. Grievances included changes to | :12:02. | :12:03. | |
courses, students unhappy with their grades and fees being increased once | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
a course had started. Our education correspondent | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
Gillian Hargreaves has the details. Louise and Rachel are not happy | :12:10. | :12:23. | |
customers. Both paid a deposit for a one-year legal practice course at | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
Anglia Ruskin University in Chelmsford, but now the course is | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
only available online with tutorials at its other campus 45 miles away in | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Cambridge. It feels like we are getting less for our money without | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
the live lectures, so we're not happy how they have treated us as | :12:43. | :12:45. | |
customers. They have not consulted us, and I feel they should have done | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
that. The girls are not the only ones feeling dissatisfied. In a | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
Freedom of information request submitted by the BBC to 149 | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
institutions across the UK, Anglia Ruskin have the highest number of | :13:00. | :13:07. | |
student complaints, 992. Others included were Staffordshire | :13:08. | :13:09. | |
University, the London Met, and the University of West England. | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
Universities provide marketing and glossy brochures but they don't | :13:14. | :13:16. | |
provide the information of what is expected of students to be able to | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
succeed, and also the support that the institution will give you to be | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
able to be successful in studying. If students cannot resolve their | :13:25. | :13:27. | |
grievance with the university they can complain to an independent | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
adjudicator. If a university has made a promise to a student in the | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
prospectus, or in its marketing, which it then fails to deliver, then | :13:36. | :13:43. | |
the student can come to us and, looking at the facts, we will find | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
for the student. Anglia Ruskin told the BBC has a high number of | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
grievances because it has a lot of students and an effective complaints | :13:53. | :13:56. | |
procedure. Universities are big business. In this bit of central | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
London there are six separate institutions. But students are | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
getting more self confident and assertive about what they want. | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
Since 2010,, ?1 million has been paid out in compensation. The | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
government says it is good that students are willing to challenge | :14:15. | :14:15. | |
universities when they are unhappy. And you can get more | :14:16. | :14:21. | |
on that story on File on Four on A British mining company has become | :14:22. | :14:24. | |
the first foreign company known to have evacuated some staff | :14:25. | :14:30. | |
from Sierra Leone because There are around 50 cases of the | :14:31. | :14:32. | |
incurable disease in the country. Five people are known to have died | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
and more than 100 have died in neighbouring Guinea, | :14:38. | :14:40. | |
where the latest outbreak started. Our world affairs correspondent | :14:41. | :14:42. | |
Mark Doyle reports. Highly infectious, Ebola is deadly | :14:43. | :14:57. | |
serious whenever it occurs. But this outbreak is causing special concern | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
because it is so widespread. It started earlier this year in | :15:02. | :15:05. | |
Guinea. More than 100 people have died there. Then the virus moved | :15:06. | :15:09. | |
across the border to Liberia, and now Sierra Leone. The company, | :15:10. | :15:19. | |
London Mining, said that as well as pulling some nonessential staff out | :15:20. | :15:21. | |
of Sierra Leone, it was checking all its employees. It is looking for | :15:22. | :15:27. | |
signs of fever like conducting body temperature screening at the mining | :15:28. | :15:32. | |
site. The company also said it had imposed travel restrictions on its | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
employees inside Sierra Leone and was promoting awareness of the | :15:37. | :15:41. | |
disease. The company says it has had no cases at its mine but is taking | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
all the necessary precautions. Ebola is one of the deadliest viruses on | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
the planet. Around 90% of people who contracted, die. It's incredibly | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
infectious. You cannot catch Ebola by simply touching someone. The | :15:57. | :16:03. | |
symptoms start with fever, but then comes heavy bleeding, including | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
internal bleeding, and eventually organ failure. David Heymann has | :16:08. | :16:10. | |
been at the forefront of research into Ebola for many years. It is | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
transmitted from person to person by close contact, either with body | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
secretions, a cough, or some other mechanisms. If they pay -- patient | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
travels on an aeroplane and his sick there is a chance that a few people | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
sitting around them would become sick. International medical teams | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
are working now in three West African countries trying to bring | :16:33. | :16:33. | |
the outbreak under control. Now a reminder of our top story this | :16:34. | :16:38. | |
lunchtime. House prices show their highest | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
annual increase for seven years. Brussels says the UK should take | :16:41. | :16:43. | |
steps to slow the housing market. Coming up, one of the most crucial | :16:44. | :16:56. | |
decisions taken in the campaign against Hitler, and it was not taken | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
by a military leader. Imagine 70 years ago, when the decisions of | :17:03. | :17:07. | |
weather forecasters were preparing aircraft like this to head into | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
D-day and could decide the outcome of the Second World War. | :17:11. | :17:15. | |
Later on BBC London, Frank Lampard says farewell to Chelsea after 13 | :17:16. | :17:20. | |
years at Stamford Bridge. He will leave this summer. | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
And they were famous in the 1920s. How art by the East London group is | :17:25. | :17:26. | |
about to be revived. It's the latest in a number of | :17:27. | :17:30. | |
breakthroughs in the battle against cancer, and specialists describe the | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
results of two international trials of drugs to tackle advanced skin | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
cancer as "hugely promising". Both treatments are designed to enable | :17:38. | :17:41. | |
the immune system to recognise and target tumours. The findings were | :17:42. | :17:44. | |
released at the American Society of Clinical Oncology conference in | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
Chicago. Every year in the UK, around 2,000 people are killed by | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
skin cancer. Our medical correspondent, Fergus Walsh, has | :17:53. | :17:56. | |
more details. A few months ago, | :17:57. | :18:00. | |
this man could barely walk. Advanced melanoma had spread to | :18:01. | :18:03. | |
his lungs. Now, | :18:04. | :18:11. | |
a new treatment has helped him. Now I have a life. | :18:12. | :18:14. | |
Before, all I had to look forward to was weeks, | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
maybe months, of chemotherapy. This drug is a lifeline. | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
This scan shows a large area of cancer growing in his lung. | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
But after just three drug infusions, it has completely cleared. | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
The experimental drug blocks a biological pathway | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
which cancers use to camouflage themselves from the immune system. | :18:43. | :18:48. | |
In a trial, 69% of patients survived at least a year. | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
Average survival used to be around six months. | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
In a trial of another drug and existing immunotherapy, | :19:01. | :19:00. | |
survival was even better. 85% after one year and 79% | :19:01. | :19:07. | |
after two years. It is truly astonishing that such | :19:08. | :19:08. | |
a new drug at a very early stage of development is really showing us | :19:09. | :19:19. | |
very tangible benefits at such an early stage. | :19:20. | :19:21. | |
These are still experimental treatments | :19:22. | :19:29. | |
And some of them involve immunotherapy, harnessing the | :19:30. | :19:34. | |
body's natural defences to fight tumours. Melanoma trials are leading | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
the way, but lung cancer is another area showing particular promise. | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
Fergus Walsh, BBC News. The Worldwide Palliative Care | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
Alliance has told the BBC that the lack of access to pain relief for | :19:46. | :19:48. | |
dying patients around the world is a public health emergency. It says | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
almost 20 million people across the world died in unnecessary pain in | :19:52. | :19:54. | |
2012, partly because they were denied access to powerful | :19:55. | :19:57. | |
painkillers because of exaggerated fears about addiction. Our | :19:58. | :19:59. | |
correspondent Tulip Mazumdar Betty was diagnosed with breast | :20:00. | :20:15. | |
cancer two years ago. She could not afford treatment, and the tumour | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
grew to the size of a football. She was in agony for a year, until she | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
was found by a volunteer from Hospice Africa Uganda. TRANSLATION: | :20:25. | :20:33. | |
The pain was too much before. I was not getting any medicine. It was | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
excruciating. I had given up on life. I wished I was dead. The | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
charity arranged free chemotherapy and access to the powerful | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
painkiller morphine. Eddie says her suffering is now manageable -- | :20:50. | :20:56. | |
Betty. That morphine is home-made by the Hospice here in Kampala, using | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
cheap kitchen utensils and a simple mix of morphine powder and water. | :21:01. | :21:08. | |
Almost 1500 bottles of morphine are currently being packed up and put | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
into the Ministry of health van that is waiting outside and take in the | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
community health centres and hospitals around the country. | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
Morphine is cheap. It is a controlled drug which is also used | :21:22. | :21:24. | |
to make heroin, but doctors say exaggerated fears over addiction in | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
patients means governments are wrongly restricting medical access | :21:30. | :21:36. | |
to them. We need bounds on access to these treatments, because we don't | :21:37. | :21:38. | |
want them is used. The government should provide these medicines and | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
if they don't, it amounts to torture. 4000 miles away from | :21:43. | :21:48. | |
Kampala, Sara is dying from a rare form of lung cancer. I have talked | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
over the end-stage with my beautiful doctor at the Hospice, who is a | :21:55. | :22:02. | |
source of great comfort. He described what was the usual way for | :22:03. | :22:07. | |
people with my condition to go, which is to get sleepier and | :22:08. | :22:11. | |
sleepier, and in one of the sleepy times, I will fall into | :22:12. | :22:16. | |
unconsciousness. The UK has one of the world's best palliative care | :22:17. | :22:20. | |
systems. Sara deals with her pain like Betty using morphine, and also | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
like Betty, she says she wants to spend her final days with her | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
family. Sara and Betty both passed away within a few weeks of our | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
interviews. They were given medical and psychological support at the end | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
of their lives, something they said everyone in their situation | :22:40. | :22:46. | |
deserves. And you can see more on this story | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
on the health section of the BBC news website. | :22:51. | :22:54. | |
News website. President Obama has announced that | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
the United States is to strengthen its military forces in eastern | :22:57. | :22:58. | |
Europe in response to the crisis in Ukraine. Speaking in Poland at the | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
start of a European tour, he said more equipment and personnel would | :23:03. | :23:05. | |
be based in the region and military exercises would be expanded. He | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
warned Russia against "further provocation". Mr Obama also defended | :23:09. | :23:10. | |
his decision to release five Afghan prisoners in exchange for freeing an | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
Regardless of the circumstances, whatever those circumstances may | :23:14. | :23:29. | |
turn out to be, we still get an American soldier back who was held | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
in captivity, period. We don't condition that. | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
The Spanish government is drawing up plans to change the country's | :23:39. | :23:41. | |
constitution in order to allow King Juan Carlos to abdicate after nearly | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
40 years on the throne. The monarch, who's 76, announced yesterday that | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
he would step down in favour of his 46-year-old son, Crown Prince | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
Felipe. Tom Burridge is at the Escorial Palace near Madrid, and | :23:51. | :23:52. | |
Tom, the king and his heir have been out in public today? | :23:53. | :24:02. | |
That is right. Lengthy of symbolism this morning. This is a palace | :24:03. | :24:10. | |
monastery to the north of the Spanish capital, where Spain's kings | :24:11. | :24:12. | |
and queens throughout the ages have been buried. In the last couple of | :24:13. | :24:16. | |
hours, we have seen a military parade and the image of the day, | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
father and son, Prince and King side aside for the first time since King | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
Juan Carlos announced his application yesterday. That process | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
of abdication will last three to six weeks, and on a carefully | :24:31. | :24:34. | |
choreographed day not far from here, there has been a special | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
cabinet meeting. The Spanish government have approved a law which | :24:39. | :24:40. | |
will make the abdication of King Juan Carlos possible. So Felipe, his | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
son, can become King Felipe the sixth of Spain. Then I think there | :24:47. | :24:52. | |
is a key question. Can King Felipe turn things around for the monarchy | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
in Spain? According to the polls, in recent months and years, the | :24:57. | :24:59. | |
popularity of the monarchy in Spain and in particular of the King has | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
been on the decline. King Felipe is much younger when he is king. He is | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
a former salesman in the Olympics. He is married to a former television | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
presenter. Is he the man to make the monarchy in Spain more popular | :25:15. | :25:18. | |
again? Tom Burridge, thank you very much. | :25:19. | :25:21. | |
Now, it was one of the most crucial decisions of the Second World War - | :25:22. | :25:25. | |
the tming of the D-Day landings. And it wasn't down, in the end, to | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
senior allied soldiers, but to the weather forecasters. This week 70 | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
years ago, one planned date came and went as storms battered the Normandy | :25:32. | :25:34. | |
Beaches. Then suddenly, the weather turned - mainly sunny, with 15 mile | :25:35. | :25:37. | |
per hour winds, small amounts of cloud and good visibility - just | :25:38. | :25:40. | |
acceptable for landing in Northern France. The BBC's own weather | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
forecaster, Peter Gibbs, has the story. | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
In early June 1944, thousands of men and tonnes | :25:53. | :25:55. | |
of equipment were amassing on the shores of southern England, ready to | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
launch the D-day offensive. But one thing was crucial to | :26:00. | :26:06. | |
the success and timing of that operation - the weather. | :26:07. | :26:15. | |
Poor conditions would jeopardise the whole operation, preventing aircraft | :26:16. | :26:21. | |
from flying and chips from landing troops on the Normandy beaches. | :26:22. | :26:29. | |
There was enormous pressure on weather forecasts, being passed by | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
Eisenhower to predict up to five days ahead at a time when even a | :26:33. | :26:35. | |
forecast for 24 hours was a challenge. The man at the sharp end | :26:36. | :26:39. | |
of the whole forecast operation was group Captain Stanning. | :26:40. | :26:43. | |
The tactical use of weather, just to be able to pick out some | :26:44. | :26:44. | |
interlude unknown to enemy forces which would allow us to make use | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
of it and catch the people on the other side unaware. | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
Meteorologists than corn-fed explained the huge difficulties that | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
he had to overcome. It was his judgement that was roared to bear | :27:02. | :27:06. | |
amongst forecasts which were often very different, because the subject | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
was not anything like as advanced as it now is. There was a war on, so | :27:11. | :27:15. | |
you did not get as much information. It was just his strength of | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
character and perception that got us through. | :27:21. | :27:22. | |
Weather forecasting is pressured enough these days, | :27:23. | :27:23. | |
but imagine 70 years ago, when the decisions of forecasters preparing | :27:24. | :27:24. | |
this one could actually decide the outcome of the Second World War. | :27:25. | :27:31. | |
Even now, we are still finding new information. | :27:32. | :27:34. | |
These recently discovered weather charts show | :27:35. | :27:38. | |
the Germans had much better knowledge of the weather over the | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
Atlantic than previously thought. The Allied Commander made the right | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
decision from the wrong information, whereas the Hitler team made | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
the wrong decision from the right information. | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
So the Germans may have won the battle of the forecasts, but if the | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
invasion had been delayed two weeks later, gales would have destroyed | :28:03. | :28:04. | |
any chance of a landing and history would have been very different. | :28:05. | :28:19. | |
There is still pressure to get it right, 70 years on. It has improved | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
a lot since then, but the weather can still give us some headaches. | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
Even this week, there is a bit of uncertainty from time to time. This | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
week looks like being a mixture of sunshine and showers. Some of those | :28:35. | :28:38. | |
showers will be heavy and the area across northern and eastern parts of | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
the UK. Blankets of cloud are continuing to push eastwards, with | :28:44. | :28:47. | |
sunshine now pushing into many western and southern areas. For the | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
rest of the afternoon, you can see holes in the cloud, allowing for | :28:53. | :28:54. | |
pleasant sunshine, but also a scattering of showers. For the | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
Northern Isles, it is staying murky, misty and wet. The main part of is | :29:00. | :29:05. | |
Gotland could catch the thunderstorm in the afternoon -- Scotland. For | :29:06. | :29:09. | |
the east of the Pennines, the showers could he have the, but away | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
from here, the showers will not be quite as heavy. There should be some | :29:14. | :29:20. | |
good spells of sunshine. Not quite as warm as yesterday. This evening, | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
the showers rumble on for a while across northern and eastern areas. | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
Then it is all eyes to the south, that weather system pushing up and | :29:30. | :29:34. | |
bringing rain which will be heavy at times across central and southern | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
areas. A mild night for much of the country, but a few chilly spots | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
under clear skies in Scotland. The culprit bringing in that wet weather | :29:43. | :29:45. | |
for Wednesday is this area of low pressure, which will continue to | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
move northwards as the day progresses. It is uncertain how far | :29:50. | :29:54. | |
West it will bring that rain, but it looks like bringing much of England | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
a wet start tomorrow, and atrocious commute into work. The rain will | :29:59. | :30:02. | |
spread towards eastern Scotland as well. The best of any brighter | :30:03. | :30:07. | |
weather will be across the far west and south-west, but even here there | :30:08. | :30:12. | |
will be a few showers. Temperatures are feeling cooler everywhere. The | :30:13. | :30:16. | |
Thursday, a vast improvement for England and Wales. The rain will | :30:17. | :30:21. | |
become confined to central and northern parts of Scotland. Some | :30:22. | :30:25. | |
lengthy spells of sunshine will make it feel warmer. Later in the day, an | :30:26. | :30:30. | |
area of rain pushes up from the south-west. For Friday, Northern | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
Ireland and Wales may see some of the rain the south-west. Northern | :30:35. | :30:38. | |
areas are largely dry and warm. And look at the temperatures, very | :30:39. | :30:44. | |
warm. That is a sign of things to come as we head towards the weekend. | :30:45. | :30:47. | |
We start to import warm and humid air from the near continent. But it | :30:48. | :30:53. | |
could eat thundery. We have to watch out for heavy showers and | :30:54. | :30:54. | |
thunderstorms. Now a reminder of our top story this | :30:55. | :30:55. | |
lunchtime. House prices show their highest | :30:56. | :30:58. | |
annual increase for seven years. | :30:59. | :31:02. |