29/07/2014 BBC News at One

Gaza endures one of its heaviest nights of bombardment as Israel

Health officials say at least 60 Palestinians were killed overnight -

We are striking and we are determined to strike this

organisation and relieve ourselves from this threat.

We'll get the latest from our correspondents on the ground.

The EU is set to agree new sanctions against Russia- as international

investigators again fail to reach the crash site of flight MH17.

Tougher restrictions on benefits for EU migrants -

the amount of time they can claim out of work benefits will be cut

I am here and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. 40,000 fans here and

they have watched one of Scotland's's biggest hopes get off

to a winning start in the 400 meter hurdles.

And from Russia with love - the first British dancer to join

the renowned Mariinsky Ballet is back to perform in Covent Garden.

London's diesel drivers could face a ?10 fee to drive

into the city centre - as part of efforts to tackle air pollution.

And Tower Hamlet's Mayor fails to stop a legal challenge which could

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

Gaza has seen one of its heaviest nights of bombardment in the current

conflict, as Israel carried out 60 air strikes, targeting sites

associated with Hamas, and also damaging Gaza's only power plant.

Local health officials said at least 60 Palestinians were killed.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said

his country would continue to act to destroy tunnels dug by militants

under the Gaza-Israel border, which he said had the "sole purpose"

of destroying Israeli citizens and killing Israeli children.

Our correspondent Chris Morris sent this report.

Overnight, Israel took its gloves off... Again. Massive explosions all

across Gaza as flares lit up the night sky. On the ground, people

moved to try and find safety. Daybreak. Among the targets, the TV

station of Hamas. The house of Ismael Haniyeh as well. Both

buildings were empty. This is a gradual increase in the pressure on

this organisation. They have taken a new step every day and indeed, we

are striking and are determined to strike this organisation and

relieves ourselves from this thread. The port had also been hit. A small

ring warehouse used by local fishermen. TRANSLATION: Each room

had 20,000 dollars of fishing equipment in it. It is a

catastrophe. Does Hamas use this place? That is a lie. Israel said it

carried out 60 air strikes all over Gaza last night and there have been

more this morning. You can see the damage that has been done just here.

Benjamin Netanyahu said this could be a prolonged military campaign and

the damage would be felt most deeply by the people of Gaza. This is

barbaric, one man said. What do you think of the argument that if Hamas

stopped firing rockets into Israel... No, no, this is no

argument. Do not talk to me about rocket. Look at this. Look at this.

This is nonsense. I am now south of Gaza City. This is the main fuel

storage facility for Gaza's only power plant. It was hit by a strike

last night. There is not much to say about it, just look at it. Israel

said it also targeted command and control units last night. In

southern Gaza they were looking through the rubble once again for

the bodies of Palestinians. We can speak to our correspondent in

Jerusalem, Bethany Bells. Israel says it is not going to give up

until it has destroyed the network of tunnels. How easy will that be?

It seems to be complicated. The Israeli army says it is identified

30 of these tunnels but the army were caught off guard last night

when five Israeli soldiers were killed I Palestinian militants

coming up through the tunnels from Gaza into Israel. We have been told

that these are not single shaft tunnels but they are a labyrinth of

multiple underground passageways with many openings to the ground,

and destroying them and finding them is difficult. Some Israelis are

beginning to ask whether the government and army underestimated

this threat, but in general there is widespread support for what the Army

is doing in Gaza. Recent polls suggest that the Israelis are about

90% in favour of what is going on in Gaza.

David Cameron says the government intends to halve the amount of time

From November, EU nationals will be able to claim

for only three months, unless they have "very clear" job prospects.

The Prime Minister says he wants the system to put Britain first,

but Labour says the government has produced little in the way

Our political correspondent Robin Brant reports.

Immigration, we have warrants, open the door, please. Early this morning

in west London, a team was out looking for people who may be in the

UK working illegally. The Prime Minister, with his Home Secretary in

tow, got to see for himself and then explain why it is those who may be

here working illegally we will see changes. Some people are coming to

work, some people are coming to claim, some people are pretending to

be students. I have a clear approach to this. If you do not have a right

to be here, you will be sent home, you should not be here. From the

autumn, EU migrants will be able to claim jobseeker's allowance for

three months, down from six. It is not so much a crackdown but a series

of measures to make the UK less attractive to foreigners who do not

want to work. It is not clear what the numbers are or how many will be

affected. It is claimed 600 thousand migrants are in this country who are

out of work. The EU said it is far lower at 60,000. We are from the EU

and we deserved to have this benefit. I think the government are

trying to do everything they can to support the people. You just have to

get into employment or some form of training or a course. Or whatever.

This should save taxpayers money. Parliament predicts tens of millions

of pounds but it is more about domestic X. The Coalition Government

and the Tories in particular are showing that they are trying to

address that most vacations of issues that has made UKIP a force in

politics. The scars are still healing after UKIP's big win in the

May elections. David Cameron is trying to send out the message that

he is tackling immigration. Labour say he is failing on his promise.

This obsession with a net migrates targets. They said they would cut it

to 100,000 but it is up to 200,000. They are taking their eye off the

ball on things that could make a difference, like tackling illegal

immigration. The reality is they guarantee freedom of movement means

the Prime Minister is limited in what he can do to restrict numbers

coming here. Let's speak to our chief political correspondent,

Norman Smith. How much has this announcement got to do with pressure

on the Conservatives from UKIP? This is all about sending out a series of

political messages, more than migrant numbers. Yes, it is about

appealing to those Tory voters who deserted Mr Cameron for Nigel

Farage. It is also about sending out a message to EU migrants who then

they can come to Britain and live on the benefit system. It is a message

to the electorate generally to say David Cameron takes immigration

seriously. It matters because he seems doomed to miss his target of

getting net migration down to the tens of thousands by the next

election. The figures suggest that it is going up to more than 200,000

in the last year. When you ask ministers how big a problem we have

here, how many EU migrants are coming here to claim benefits, there

is silence, there is no answer. The EU insists there is no trouble with

benefits tourism which reinforces the view that this is more about

sending out a message that it is about migrant numbers. Norman, thank

you. As fighting intensifies between government and rebel forces in

eastern Ukraine, international investigators have been forced to

cancel plans to travel to the crash site of the Malaysian airline plane.

It is the third day running that the delegation has been turned back. 298

people were killed and some bodies are still unaccounted for. This

field of destruction could also be a war crime scene. For a third day,

international inspectors have been blocked from getting here to carry

on the vital task of finding the clues of what happened and how. It

is feared there may be the remains of victims here as well. It is the

new flare-up in fighting in Ukraine that has troubled inspectors. These

images are from the pro-Russian rebels. Having retaken a town, the

focus of year seems to be on Donetsk. It is perilously close to

the crash site which has been in rebel hands. So, the grieving

families are preparing to meet David Cameron, full of anguish and with

many questions unanswered. There are urgent questions for the aviation

industry about continuing to fly over conflict zones like Ukraine and

Barack. -- Iraq. Our concern is that some airlines are making decisions

based on financial security rather than saving six minutes. On the

ground in Ukraine families have continued to flee the fighting, all

part of the backdrop to a new level of economic sanctions on Russia

for, they say, destabilising Ukraine, something that Moscow

denies. It is the fallout from flight MH17 and the loss of life

that may have tipped the balance in finally agreeing to turn the

economic screw on Moscow. As the fighting continues, new sanctions

are being drawn up by EU ambassadors in Brussels. Russia is accused of

destabilising Ukraine with its support for rebels. We can speak to

our correspondent in Brussels. The move seems to have changed, why is

that and what can we expect in terms of sanctions? The 28th ambassadors

of the EU are meeting now and we expect by the end of the day an

announcement on sanctions, tougher than we have seen before. The EU has

struggled to come up with any agreement about extending sanctions,

beyond the limited asset freezes and travel bans for a certain number of

individuals. There has been a feeling that the economic interests

are too great for any agreement on wide-ranging economic sanctions to

hurt specific sectors of the Russian economy. What changed was the

downing of MH17. That has firmed the resolve of European leaders to get

serious and sent Moscow a message. It does not believe Russia is doing

enough to secure the crash site or doing enough to stop the flow of

arms between Russia and eastern Ukraine. They want Vladimir Putin to

the escalate this crisis. We expect sanctions on an EU wide basis

against sections of the Russian economy, making it difficult for

Russian banks to tap European capital, banning the flow of exports

in energy and arms, all capital, banning the flow of exports

that this economic pressure will convince President Putin to change

course in the Ukraine. Thank you. The top story this lunch time:

Israel steps up its bombardment of Gaza. Officials say 60 Palestinians

were killed. Israel says it was targeting Hamas. Still to come. It

is not cricket. A cricketer comes under fire over the wristbands he is

wearing. On BBC London: Could thousands of derelict sites across

the capital be the answer to easing the housing shortage? The fight to

prevent these Victorian allotments from being concreted over.

After a successful night on the track and in the pool for

the home nations, today there are 31 more gold medals up for grabs,

from track and field, to gymnastics, to mountain bikers taking to

the trails around Glasgow. Well, with all the morning's news

so far, our sports correspondent, Andy Swiss, is at

the athletics venue, Hampden Park. It has been another busy morning

around Glasgow, not least here inside Hampden Park. 40,000 fans

inside the stadium. Tremendous atmosphere. They have seen plenty of

the big names in action. He was the man who lapped into Olympic history

will stop Greg Rutherford, gold in London, now going for gold in

Glasgow. Wow. So far, so good. He qualified for the final with his

very first leap. But for his team-mate Andy Turner there was only

agony. The defending hurdles champion crashing out in the first

round. His title defence over before it had begun. Make a mistake like

that at the first hurdle, to come back is very difficult. Schoolboy

error. Idiot. It was the return of the well-off, David Weir in the

heats of the 1500m. He proved in a class of his own once again. The

morning's biggest cheer was reserved for Scotland's biggest star. She

carries the nation's hopes into the hurdles heat. What nerves? She

charged to a comfortable win and safely through to the final. I have

been dying to get out and get the first round out of the way and get a

feel for the atmosphere. It was nerve wracking watching it all

happening. Mountain biking came back, dropped for the last Games, it

returned in style. The picturesque Trail south of Glasgow. The

hillsides filled with fans as Canada and Australia battled it out. There

has also been a new doping controversy. The 16-year-old from

Nigeria won weightlifting gold last week. She has been provisionally

suspended after failing a drugs test. Plenty for the fans to enjoy

here inside Hampden Park. Let us talk to the Commonwealth 400m

medallist. First of all, what they performance from a Lee Childs. She

is one of the medal hopes on the track. She coped very well with the

pressure. She controlled the race from the start and she had a great

run. Fantastic. Give us an idea of some of the pressure. She is the

poster girl. She is. Huge amount of pressure. She has coped really

well. She said she is aware she is the poster girl, high expectations,

but she is coping with it and enjoying it and that is how she is

managing to deliver great performances. Tonight we have the

final of the 400m. Tell us how you see it shaping up. It is between the

three Jamaicans and the raining Commonwealth champion from Botswana.

They are the four main contenders. The English girl in there, we will

see what she can do. She did well to get to the final. Also the women's

1500m final. That is the one I am excited about seeing. We have a

Scottish girl, third in the Commonwealth at the moment. Two

strong girls ahead of her. Two Kenyans. She will have it tough. A

couple of English girls as well. Hannah England was silver medallist

from the World Championships but not running quite so well this year. A

busy morning for the athletes. Also busy for the Royals who have been

touring the facilities in Glasgow as Lorna Gordon now reports. A royal

visit to a grassroots sporting project in Glasgow. Prince Harry and

Prince William are in the city for the Commonwealth Games. This morning

they took the chance to show off their sporting price. We are

delighted to welcome... -- sporting prowess. They have been enjoying the

action at a number of different sports. Boxing, watching the

swimming pool. At the gym asters, the royals were for a time almost

unnoticed by the crowd for a short time at least. And informal tribute

to her Majesty at the hockey. Perhaps because of this, the selfie

who hit the internet. Inadvertently photo bombed by the Queen last week.

We did ask, can we have a selfie with you? He said, I hate selfie 's.

I will have a photo with you. We had a photo with him with a few of the

other girls. While Prince Harry professes to hate what are known as

selfies, he did pose happily in the back of someone else's. The royals

showed their support for athletes from all over the Commonwealth

competing for glory. We have some big finals here

tonight. Including the men's 110m hurdles. 24 of the fans to look

forward to. Back to you. -- plenty for all of the fans.

the athletics venue, Hampden Park. Some of the South Korean teenagers

who survived the ferry disaster last April in

which over 300 people died have been telling a court about their ordeal.

The captain and 14 crew members are on trial.

Our Seoul correspondent, Lucy Williamson,

was at court this morning and we spoke to her a short while ago.

There have been some harrowing details that have emerged

from the second day of the student testimony here in South Korea.

One student described how the teenagers tried to stay in

their places inside the ship when suddenly all the lights went out

and the water started rushing in. We were swept along, he said.

He described at least one student having to swim

his way out to safety under water. Another schoolmate said how he was

feeling guilty for having survived. A third, how he found it difficult

even to take showers in the aftermath of the sinking.

This trial, in which the captain and three other

crew members are facing homicide charges, has also been examining

the behaviour of the coastguards sent to rescue those on board.

One student said the passengers inside the ship could be clearly

seen by the rescuers outside. Another student described how he

only received help from the coastguard as he was about

to board the rescue helicopter. There is a strong sense here

in South Korea that people need to know who to blame for this shocking

and unexpected disaster. But the list of allegations is long

and the targets include individuals, commercial interests

and state organisations. The Shadow Health Secretary,

Andy Burnham, has called for all contracts

between the NHS and private providers in England to be halted

until after the general election. He claims the health service

is being forcibly privatised. Further privatisation

of services should not proceed until the public have had a proper say.

Today I have written to the chief executive of NHS England to ask that

no further contracts for NHS clinical services are signed until

after the next election when we have had a chance to have that debate.

Well, our health editor, Hugh Pym, is with me.

Why is Andy Burnham raising this? I think he is trying to tap into a

groundswell of opinion against what he calls for Sprite is. This view

holds the Government's reforms to the NHS in England a couple of years

ago opened the back door to private companies to come in. The people who

commission health care argue they are obliged to put things out to

tender. Staffordshire, a contract for cancer care, contracts are out

there and up for grabs. The argument is the very fabric of the NHS is

being threatened. But the Government says Labour started allowing the NHS

to commission hip replacements from private hospitals. If you look at

the percentage spent on clinical provision from the private sector,

it is only about 6.6% of the overall NHS budget in England. The

Government says they have given the power of decision-making to local

clinical commissioning groups, GPs in effect. I think this argument

will run and run until the election. Thank you very much.

is with me. England's cricketers have

re-inforced their strong position on day three of the third Test

against India. The tourists are 108-3 at lunch,

but as our sports correspondent, Joe Wilson, reports,

at the start of the day, it was England batsman Moren Ali who

was attracting all the attention. Moeen Ali is a serious cricketer,

thoughtful man, a Muslim. What opinion is he allowed to express

during play? On Monday, he wore wristbands supporting Gaza and

Palestine. Would he do it today question he not say. The cricket's

governing body warned him not to. England said he could. Look for the

long sleeves in the centre of the shot. His wrists appeared bare.

England's job was to take wickets. Close here, not out. The umpire

statement was clear. Highly visible on England's collars, a charitable

cause theme permissible. It was Broad who got the breakthrough. A

significant obstacle removed. India 56-2, still over 500 behind.

Sometimes when you are bowling, the stumps can seem 15 feet macro tool.

-- 15ft tall. Anderson found the edge of his bat. The ball bounced in

front of Ian Bell who was in pain and took a precautionary trip to

hospital. Vijay had made over 300 runs in the first two Tests. To get

him out before lunch as well as a cause for serious celebration. Moeen

Ali was using his wrist to bowl before the end of the session. Did

it brushed the glove? Probably. Not out. Everyone obeys the umpire.

was attracting all the attention. Four years ago,

Xander Parish left Hull to become the first British dancer, male or

female, to join the illustrious Mariinsky Ballet in Russia.

Well, after being promoted to soloist earlier this year, he's

back in the UK starring in three ballets in London's Covent Garden.

Our arts correspondent, Rebecca Jones, has been to see him.

On stage and in the spotlight, Xander Parish is Romeo

in Romeo and Juliet. For a boy born in the North

of England, it is no surprise he was inspired by Billy Elliot.

It was just great to see ballet and boys dancing brought to

a wider audience. I think Billy had it a lot

harder than I did, to be honest. I didn't go down any coal mines.

Away from the gilded grandeur of Covent Garden is the Skelton Hooper

School of Dance and Theatre in Hull. Vanessa Hooper taught him ballet.

She can still picture a small boy arriving

for his first lesson 20 years ago. I remember this enthusiastic little

boy running into class, with his sister, in his black shorts

and a T-shirt, looking very out of control, rather like Bambi on ice.

Then eventually he started to understand the technique and I

realised he had these beautiful legs and feet.

Now he is in a very different class. From Hull,

he joined the Royal Ballet, but no one took much notice of him and he

became increasingly frustrated. You are already in the cream

of the crop. Each year they kick people out.

The cream joins the company. Out of that cream,

everyone is trying to get the same parts and the same roles.

It is very difficult to break out. It took a visit from the

Mariinsky Ballet to spot his potential and invite him

to join the ballet in Russia. I feel very privileged to

have gone for the Mariinsky. It is a huge honour.

For a Brit, it is unheard of. It is a huge experience for me and

one I would not change for anything. Now he is returning home a star.

Quite a journey for the Yorkshire lad turned Russian romantic lead.

Time for a look at the weather. Here's Stav Daneos.

This is the satellite picture of what has been going on for the last

few hours. A bit of cloud across the south-east which cleared away.

Plenty of unbroken sunshine. The different story further north and

west. Thicker cloud and a breeze and spots of rain. More of a breeze in

Glasgow for the Games. It could be quite gusty at times. The odd

shower. As we had through the course of this afternoon, the cloud

spilling further south. Not spoiling the sunshine in the south-east.

Across Scotland and the Northern Isles, frequent showers. The best of

the sunshine for eastern Scotland. For Northern Ireland, thicker cloud,

the odd spot of light rain, maybe the odd shower pushing into the

north-west of England. Maybe for the Pennines. In the south, holding onto

the sunshine. Very warm. Unbroken sunshine for the cricket at

Southampton. Looks like there will not be any interruptions there.

Perfect conditions. This evening and overnight, the band of cloud will

continue to advance south-east. Clearing away. Not really any rain.

Slightly cooler air. Cloudy and breezy in the north-east. Wednesday,

the northern half of the UK will remain unsettled. Closer to the area

of low pressure. Quite a breeze blowing in from the west. Midlands,

much of Wales, southern England, a fine day to come. Variable amounts

of cloud. Mainly dry. Not quite as hot. Looking at upper teens to

around 1 degrees. Thursday looks like the unsettled conditions

continue to move further south. Outbreaks of rain for Northern

Ireland, northern England and Scotland. Breezy too. The south-east

just holding onto the dry weather. Friday on the weekend, an area of

low pressure turns things more unsettled. As we look towards the

end of the week, things turn more unsettled but good news for the

gardens that need some rain.