07/08/2014 BBC News at One

Four men admit to the murder of two British medical students in Borneo.

Neil Dalton and Aidan Brunger were stabbed to

The 22-year-olds were just a few days from the end of their work

Also this lunchtime, Oscar Pistorius is accused of being a deceitful

witness, as his trial for murder enters the closing stages.

Israel offers to extend the cease-fire in Gaza. Hamas says it

has not yet agreed to the proposal. Prince William is to train as an air

ambulance pilot, and aims to make it And a stunning start for England at

Old Trafford. Anderson and Broad make short work of India's open a

full stop later on BBC London, the government announces the possible

extension of Crossrail to Hertfordshire. Bizarre, eccentric,

but making a comeback. The Indians bought the baddie comes to London.

-- kabaddi. Good afternoon, and welcome to the

BBC News at One. Police in Borneo say four men

arrested in connection with the killing of two British medical

students have confessed to the killings. Neil Dalton and Aidan

Brunger, who were fourth year students at Newcastle University,

were stabbed to death just a few days before the end of their work

placements, at a hospital in 36 hours after this attack took

place, the Malaysian police on Borneo say they are confident they

have solve this crime. The deputy Police Commissioner they're saying

the crime has been solved, we have finished our investigation, the

suspects have been apprehended and they have admitted the crime. Here

in Newcastle, staff and students at the medical school are still

struggling to cope then this news and there has been support also

across the country -- to comprehend this news. This lunch time, Neil

Dalton's school described him as a vibrant young man with a bright

future. They said he was an excellent mathematician and a

talented sportsman. Both men were said to be able to go on to be

successful doctors. Messages of sympathy from local people in the

province of Borneo where this attack took place. Neil Dalton and Aiden

Brando had gone there to further their medical experience, on a

hospital work placement. These are three of the four men police say

have confessed to murdering them, after a row in a bar. It was for in

the morning when the gang followed the two students and stabbed them to

death. Staff and students back at Newcastle University's medical

school are still coming to town with what has happened. Everybody is just

so shocked. It is difficult to describe. The loss of two young

people with so much promise and such good students, so close to becoming

doctors. It is tragic, and I think everybody in the place feels that

there is just an air of silence still, and shop. They travelled to

Borneo as part of learning how to save lives. Now their families are

waiting for their bodies to be brought back home. Two members of

the University 's Mac medical school staff have flown out to Borneo. We

understand they are with the five other students who are staying in

the same hostel as these two, but there is a wider group of more than

20 students who were on placement in this province to the north of

Borneo. It is expected that most of those students will return home in

the next few days, but the bodies of the two medical students who were

murdered are still awaiting a postmortem examination.

Oscar Pistorius has been called a "deceitful witness"

by the prosecution, as it presents its closing arguments

The South African athlete is accused of murdering his girlfriend,

Reeva Steenkamp, at his home in Pretoria last year.

He maintains he mistook her for an intruder.

Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding is outside

Yes, this morning the prosecution has been busy summing up its case

against Oscar Pistorius. We have heard about his neighbours. We have

heard from police experts. But above all we have heard about the athlete

himself, and his supposedly weak performance in the witness box. The

prosecution insisting that it is proved beyond all doubt that he is

not only a liar, he is also a murderer. Brisk and focused, Oscar

Pistorius trading back into court this morning to hear the prosecution

lay out their case against him. For the first time, Barry Steenkamp,

father of Reeva, was also here, alongside his wife, June. Ill health

has kept away from this murder trial until today. In court, prosecutor

Gerrie Nel started by quoting the fictional British lawyer, Rumpole of

the Bailey. I was thinking that a criminal trial is a very blunt

implement for digging out the truth. Then he went on the attack,

dismissing Pistorius's defence is a string of lies. My lady, it is just

so improbable, it can never be reasonably possibly true and it is a

clear indication of his mendacity and has the seat on us. The

prosecution focused on the shooting itself. -- his deceitfulness. The

four bullets that Pistorius fired through the toilet door, killing

Reeva Steenkamp. Gerrie Nel said the athlete offered contradictory

explanations, either that he shot instinctively in panic or that he

did so deliberately insult the fence, thinking there was an

intruder. The accused himself was confused between which defence he

must now pick during his evidence. The prosecution went on to attack

every aspect of Pistorius's defence, his refusal to take responsibility

for earlier gunshot incidents, his stormy relationship with Reeva

Steenkamp. Overall, Melo said, a pattern of dishonesty had been

established -- Gerrie Nel said. The accused was more adjusted in

defending his life than in trusting the court with a truthful account of

that fateful morning. Watching in the courtroom, not just Reeva's

father, but Oscar's as well, thanks Pistorius, long estranged from the

athlete, making his first appearance. The court said it had

long proved that it was premeditated murder, even if the story did think

there was an intruder in his house he walked towards the bathroom with

a gun intending to kill someone. The verdict could still be weeks away.

Israel says it is willing to extend the current 72-hour ceasefire

in Gaza when it expires tomorrow, but Hamas says it's not yet agreed

Further talks are taking place in Cairo to try to secure

Meanwhile, the Disasters Emergency Committee

has launched an appeal to help the hundreds of thousands of people

James Reynolds reports from Gaza City.

The Palestinian armed movement, Hamas, runs the Gaza Strip. This

afternoon, here in Gaza City, the group held a rally to make a point.

It is still here. And Israel's defensive did not damage its

support. Hamas is determined to show its strength. It wants to prove that

the last month of fighting has made its movement more popular here, and

certainly during a period of conflict no one in Gaza will openly

criticise Hamas. Thousands have been back to their neighbourhoods to see

if they have anything left. The outside world has promised support

for those who have lost their homes. We are going to have to see the

shift in opportunity for the people of Gaza. I have no sympathy for

Hamas. I have great sympathy for ordinary people who are struggling

within Gaza. On the other side of the border, Israel continues to

maintain its forces. It has warned that it will resume strikes if Hamas

breaks the truce, and it is looking ahead. Their opportunities now,

perhaps opportunities that we have not seen before -- there are

opportunities now, with a realignment of important parties in

the Middle East to be able to fashion a new reality, one more

conducive to the end of violence, to the establishment of calm,

sustainable peace, or at least a sustainable quiet which can lead to

other things. Much depends now on what will happen in Cairo, where

indirect talks between the two sides are taking place. Their demands are

far apart, and they have less than 24 hours before the cease-fire ends.

Liberia has declared a state of emergency, following the

the outbreak of the Ebola virus that has claimed the lives of more than

The World Health Organization is meeting to discuss

Its medical ethics specialists will meet next week,

to consider whether to approve the use of experimental treatments

Our World Affairs correspondent Nick Childs reports.

Under intensive care, now back in Spain, a medical motorcade for the

Spanish missionary priest infected in Liberia while caring for Ebola

victims were stuck with such a deadly virus, the Spanish

authorities are taking no chances. In Liberia itself, some basic

precautions, but the government has now declared a state of emergency.

The country's weak health system has been overwhelmed so far, and among

many librarians there is ignorance and cultural resistance over the

measures needed to control this epidemic. The medical doctors were

not getting access to the patients, because they have been attacked. And

the latest statistics show this deadly outbreak continues to grow.

932 deaths now in four West African States. They have been 108 new cases

and 45 deaths just this week. They are alarming, because they are

showing it is not under control. We have an increase of 55% in one week

in the number of cases in Liberia, so it does show that there are still

a lot of work to be done. The world health organisation is deciding

whether to declare this crisis and international health emergency. Its

ethics committee will also meet next week, is a debate has erupted over

the use of experimental drugs to combat this outbreak. Two US aid

workers infected in Liberia but brought back to the United States

were treated with such a drug. They have improved, but was the drug the

reason? I do think all of the other nation is in on whether this drug is

helpful. What we do know is that the Ebola virus, both currently, and in

the past is controllable. -- I don't think all of the information is in.

If you have a good public health infrastructure in place. But it is

what the outside world can do now to stop this epidemic from spreading

further. Australia is holding

a national day of mourning for the 298 people who died when the

Malaysia Airlines plane was brought 38 of those who were killed were

Australian nationals or residents. The Duke of Cambridge is to train

as an air ambulance pilot, before taking up

a full-time role next year. Kensington Palace say Prince William

will begin a civilian pilot course next month, followed

by 999 emergency response training. If he passes,

he'll join the East Anglian Air He will be paid a salary, which he

will donate in full to the charity. Our Royal Correspondent Nicholas

Witchell reports. It is merely a dear now since he

completed his tour of duty as an RAF search and rescue pilot, and ever

since -- nearly a year now. He understands the importance of his

royal role, representing the Queen as he did in Australia earlier this

year, but he is not ready yet to commit himself to a full-time royal

role. The solution to his dilemma? Another yellow helicopter, and a

civilian job as a pilot for the East Anglian air ambulance, based at

Cambridge and Norwich airports. It will take William six months to

complete the training for the civilian helicopter pilots license.

If he passes all of the exams, he will join the crew next spring. His

job will be to react to 999 calls, as required by the ambulance

control, to react to things such as road traffic collisions, cardiac

arrests, anything where there is an emergency medical situation. William

will continue to fulfil some royal judges, as he did for the First

World War commemorations in Belgium on Monday, but Kensington Palace is

making it clear that the air ambulance will be his principal

occupation. He and Catherine and George will move to a new home, and

the whole, a large house on the Queen's Sandringham estate, which

has been refurbished at private expense. William will receive a

salary which Kensington Palace says will be donated in full to charity.

The decision to join an air ambulance crew is very much William

Bosisto, there will be security concerns to be addressed but it

means he will once again find that sense of purpose that he had as an

RAF rescue pilot. To be able to see a son or daughter's face when you

bring their father or mother back from the edge of death to hospital

and they are cuddling them, it is quite powerful. William, the first

future king to take a civilian job, determined to be royal, but on his

terms. The time is quarter past one, the

top story. Four men have admitted to the murder of two British medical

students in Borneo who were stabbed to death after an argument in a bar.

Still to come on the programme, 400 years after cranes were wiped out in

the UK, there is a new project to bring back the birds.

One of the most important weapons of World War One - the wooden

sorting office, built in Regent's Park to boost morale with letters.

That story and a full weather forecast looking

The United Nations says it has rescued some of the thousands of

people trapped by the Islamic State group, formerly called ISIS,

in mountains near the town of Sinjar.

It's feared those remaining could starve without swift action -

access to them is impossible because militants control the area.

Our world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge reports.

According to this amateur footage, these are Yazidi taking to the

mountains to escape fighters. The followers of this ancient religious

sect made the journey knowing they were likely to find themselves

stranded with little or nothing to survive on. This woman says, will we

and our children ran away to save our lives and left everything

behind. We preferred to die, rather than change our faith, this woman

says. This is a desperate situation, particularly for children. We know

40 children have already died. These are the numbers we can confirm but

it is probably more than that. They have no food, water or medical

supplies. The UN says some people have been extracted from the

mountains in the past 24-hour was. What has happened in the area is,

the UN says, a tragedy of immense proportion. These are other

Yazidis. They are considered heretical and have been demanded to

change to Islam. There is similar pressure on thousands of Christians

living in the same region. A setback for the Kurdish forces who have been

trying to protect the north of Iraq. They joined volunteers in

their efforts to push back the militants in this intensification of

the battle for Iraq. Two former leaders of the

Khmer Rouge regime have been jailed for life after being convicted

of war crimes by a UN backed court in Cambodia - for

their role in the mass killings They're

the only leaders to face justice. Nuon Chea

and Khieu Samphan were found guilty of crimes against humanity during

the forced evacuation of Phnom Penh, After the television debate

on Tuesday between the yes and the no camp in the Scottish

Independence campaign, there have been heated exchanges at First

Minister's Questions at Holyrood. Our Scotland correspondent

Lorna Gordon is in Edinburgh. Tell us more about what was said. It

was a feisty debate. The leaders of the three unionist parties here in

Scotland focused on Alex Salmond's performance in the television

debate. They tried to nail him on policy. Every single one of their

questions was over the issue of currency. They were trying to get

Alex Hammond to answer what currency Scotland would use if people were

here when they go to the polls six weeks today, voted yes. And also

what his plan B would be of Scotland could not keep the pound. Alex

Salmond came out fighting, not surprisingly really. He referred

again and again to page 110 and 111 of Scotland's White Paper. He said

there is a range of options out there. He named them all. He did not

explicitly say what the second option would be if Scotland were

tabled to keep the pound and he did not explicitly answer the question

of what the consequences would be if Scotland could not keep the pound. I

think opposition leaders here feel they have found a weak point and

they will not let the issue go any time soon. Thank you.

Researchers say they've found the strongest evidence yet that

older people who don't get enough vitamin D may be more likely

A study in the journal Neurology found that people who were severely

Vitamin D deficient were at substantially increased risk.

Here's our health correspondent, Adam Brimelow.

This isn't the first paper to suggest

a link between vitamin D deficiency and dementia, but it's the biggest

study of its kind, and the link was much stronger than expected.

Researchers looked at the vitamin D levels

of more than 1,600 people over 65 from across the United States.

Nearly 500 didn't have enough vitamin D.

When everyone in the study was followed up six years later,

The risk was more than twice as high among 70 people who were

Sunlight is the main source of vitamins D. For most of us, 15

minutes of sunlight is enough but as we get older, our skin is not good

at generating vitamin do. We can also get vitamin deep from oily

foods such as fish and eggs and from supplements. Health charity is too

soon to say the sure that these will rip juice the risk of dementia. --

to -- reduce the risk of dementia. We need more research before we can

advise people to supplement on a long-term basis. The public health

benefits could be very significant given the cost and scale of

dementia. The average adult in Britain now

spends more time on digital devices than sleeping - according to

the media regulator, Ofcom. It also found that six-year-olds

have the same understanding of mobile phones and tablets

as 45-year-olds. Here's our technology correspondent,

Rory Cellan-Jones. Meet a techy group

of teenagers. They're on a summer camp in London

learning computer programming But across the UK,

Ofcom says it is 14 and 15-year-olds who are now the most confident with

technology, and it's downhill from there, with 45-year-olds overtaken

by tech-savvy children of six. Honestly, I think I spend most time

on Instagram on my phone or tablet. I'm spending less time watching TV

nowadays. How confident are you about using

new technology? I'm very confident because I have grown up with the

technology. Ofcom's research shows how big

a part technology plays 67% of 12 to 15-year-olds have

a smartphone. 49% use a tablet computer, and they

communicate in a different way. They spent just 3%

of their communications time talking Just 8% use it regularly

compared with 77% of adults. This may be the digital generation,

but the arrival of smartphones and tablets means we're all spending

more time with this technology. In fact, Ofcom worked out that

the average person spends eight hours and 41 minutes a day

on communications and the media. That's more time than

we spend sleeping. And when you think that many

of us do two things at once, say surfing the web

while watching the television, that brings the total up to 11 hours

and seven minutes every day. There's lots of different search

engines, but a lot of them have a lot of adverts, and that is

off-putting when you first start. While older people may sometimes

struggle to keep up, their habits This silver surfers group

in Manchester helps people get to The figures show one in five people

over 65 now owns a tablet computer. I bought the tablet with

the intention of getting to know what's happening

in the world, as you might say. The grandkids are coming in,

telling you, this is what you do, This group watches less TV and gets

more information from their phones. If you want to know what the future

looks like, ask a teenager. England have made stunning start

against India on the first day of the fourth test against India

at Old Trafford. Ideal conditions

for swing helped Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad rip through

the top of the order. Our sports correspondent Joe Wilson

sent this report from Old Trafford. Entrepreneurial spirit alive and

well outside Old Trafford this morning. An Indian themed umbrella

is the must have item. A test series without rain would be unthinkable.

Half an hour late, rain gone, did that hit anything? Not really. No

need to get worked up yet, is there? At the other end, he came Stewart

Broad. There went Galton Gambia. It was a decent score in the context of

the morning. Anderson's turn next. Keep watching. This is not a replay.

Lancashire's bowler in classic English conditions. This is why

Alastair Cook calls James Anderson the best English bowler he has seen.

Stewart Broad cannot be too far behind. They say cricket has become

a batsmen's game. Nice weather for ducks. Still a hint of rain in the

air. The drizzle was hanging around longer than India's batsmen, a

stunning half-hour. This test match is scheduled for five days. Here was

India's Captain Mest Tony defending. Not even Chris Jordan's lightning

reflexes could make the catch. -- India's Captain N S Tony.

Bright sunshine has just arrived. They are playing on. India have just

lost their fifth wicket. Sorry about that, but I think that

was good news! Five years ago an ambitious project

got underway to reintroduce birds to the wild which had been extinct

in the UK for centuries. Now almost 100 cranes have been

hand-reared and released, John Maguire has been given

exclusive access to film It's early morning and a group of

youngsters is about to move home. This is the latest batch

of crane chicks, brought over as eggs from Germany, to be hand-reared

then released into the wild. Staff disguise themselves

in these grey suits. It's an approach they've pioneered

here over the past five years at the Wildfowl And Wetlands Trust

in Slimbridge. This isn't the first time

the team have done this, of course. They're becoming really quite expert

at it, and there's a good deal of confidence,

but we're all being really, really Cranes were hunted into extinction

in the UK 400 years ago. Now this project is trying

to reintroduce them. It's always a little bit worrying

because you never quite know how they're going to handle jiggling

around in a box for a while, but they usually take it in their

stride, so hopefully if we just continue like this and get

everything done as fast and smoothly This is the first time anyone other

than the conservation team has been Every action is quick, quiet,

and efficient. Then, within a few hours, the

12-week-old chicks take their first tentative steps into their new home,

a secure enclosure in a secret They'll be in here for about two to

three weeks, until they're ready to The journey hasn't been too bad,

a few ruffled feathers. Some of the birds released over the

past five years have already started breeding, but these chicks born

in the spring failed to survive. The Great Crane Project team,

though, is optimistic. What we need to do is ensure that

these birds continue to receive protection, and that the wetland

habitats they like to live on are also managed properly, and maybe

increased in size, too, so that the For the population to be viable,

almost half of the birds that have been introduced

will need to become breeding pairs, There is some high impact weather

coming our way which I will talk about in a moment. There was a

delayed start at Old Trafford, some sharp showers across Northern

Ireland and some brewing up across East Anglia. In between, plenty of

fine warm weather. I will skip tonight, not a lot going on.

Tomorrow, there is an increasing risk of heavy rain. Outbreaks of

heavy rain developing across parts of the south-east and East Anglia.

Meanwhile, rain pushes across Northern Ireland into western parts

of the mainland. There will be heavy downpours developing in the middle.

Some places will stay dry. By the afternoon there are some nasty

downpours pushing in on the western side of Scotland down the spine of

England. There will be slow moving heavy, thundery downpours.

Potentially a lot of standing water and spray. Some brightness further

west. One or two showers creeping into Devon and will and

Pembrokeshire. There is the Eisteddfod in Llanelli. At Old

Trafford there will be problems with heavy downpours. On Saturday, bright

and breezy for many of us. There will be showers. Let me step to one

side. This was Hurricane Bertha. It is no longer a hurricane but a huge

mass of cloud. It is heading across the Atlantic. It is thousands of

miles away and some days. It is impossible to nail down the track of

the storm but it does look like on Sunday it will be coming to the

south-west of us. It will head in the more general direction towards

us. The exact track of the low pressure is open to some uncertainty

and computer models are struggling with the detail. The most likely

scenario is it will track across the southeastern parts of the UK and

impact a lot of heavy rain and strong winds. There will be

holiday-makers at the coasts. Big waves are the potential at the

weekend. Less likely scenario is it tracks further south eastwards and

the are more limited. It is still very much open. I advise you to keep

tuned to the forecast over the next few days because the detail will

change.