13/08/2014 BBC News at One

David Cameron is back from holiday and chairing a meeting of

the Government's emergency committee to discuss the crisis in Iraq.

RAF Tornado jets have arrived in Cyprus from where they'll carry

out surveillance missions over Iraq to make air drops easier.

As tens of thousands of people remain on the run

from Islamist militants and stranded on a mountain,

We expect to have a further flow of refugees.

Also this lunchtime - Unemployment falls to

its lowest level for six years - but average earnings have also fallen.

A league of their own - headteachers in England plan to compile

And Lauren Bacall, the screen legend with the smoky voice, dies aged 89.

Later on BBC London - Scotland Yard examines leaflets

allegedly supporting the extremist group Islamic State.

And should thousands of new homes be built on Surrey's green belt?

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

David Cameron has arrived back from holiday and is this lunchtime

chairing a meeting of the government's emergency committee

The Prime Minister has been under pressure to consider direct UK

military intervention, with air strikes on the Islamist

America is stepping up its involvement - sending 130 more

military advisers to the Kurdish area in the north of the country.

And RAF Tornado jets have arrived in Cyprus from where they'll carry

out surveillance missions over Iraq to make air drops easier.

Up to 30,000 members of the minority Yazidi community

remain trapped in the mountains in north-west Iraq,

coping with 40 degree heat and without food, water or shelter.

Our correspondent, Carole Walker, is in Downing Street.

As we speak, that meeting is just getting underway at the

government's emergency committee, Cobra, with the Prime Minister

chairing it within hours of arriving back in the country. We have John Ed

-- Tornado jets and Chinook helicopters in the area. Kurdish

forces are confronting those militants. At the moment the stress

is on delivering cumin Terry and supplies to those desperate

refugees. -- delivering humanitarian supplies. There is no decision on

airlifting refugees. The Prime Minister will want to get the

details on all options before deciding whether to step up

Britain's involvement still further. With every image and every passing

day, the potential scale of the humanitarian disaster unfolding in

northern Iraq is becoming more apparent. For the most innocent, it

has been a frightening, gruelling and painful flight from the fighters

of the Islamic State. At this camp in the Kurdish area of neighbouring

Syria, they are doing what they can. For those who now have nothing,

picking through the clothes donated by locals is something but much more

is needed. The situation in the camp is kind of primitive, we are trying

to improve it to make it better, to increase the number of tents, lots

of people do not have a tent. We are doing our best to upgrade the

standard of the camp so it is at least regaining their dignity. And

some more relief from the air, a third wave of British airdrops of

shelter kits to those trapped and exposed to the heat on Mount Sinjar.

As the government considers its next move, RAF Tornadoes have arrived in

Cyprus. Their task for now is limited to reconnaissance for the

human Terry in operation. June Kelly copters are being sent for possible

relief missions -- humanitarian operation. She nuke helicopters are

being sent the aid effort continues to grow. Americans have this batch

130 personnel to the city of Irbil, to assess in depth what more needs

to be done. As the president has made very clear, we are not going

back into Iraq in any of the same combat mission dimensions that we

once were in. Very specifically, this is not a combat boots on the

ground operation. In the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, further unease

following a bomb attack at the home of the country's new minister

designate. The supporters of the man he is meant to replace, Nouri

al-Maliki, is -- have also been on the streets as a message of defiance

was issued. That will surely fuelled doubts that Iraqis can unite to take

on the militants. Our world affairs correspondent,

Rami Ruhayem, is in Irbil. Many dimensions to this affair, but

what is the situation of the refugees trapped on the mountain? It

must be a very difficult situation. Judging only by the weather, you can

only imagine how difficult it is for those without water. Until the

airdrops reach them, we donor how many people are trapped in the

mountain -- don't know how many. We don't know how many have access to

the attempts to drop supplies and relief from the air. We heard that a

force from the militia has arrived in the mountain, it is not clear

what they intend to do. Islamic State fighters arrived by

helicopter, they probably want to secure the operation and also

measure the situation and understand better what is going on, and how

many people are... We seem to have lost the line.

With me now is Jonathan Beale, our defence correspondent.

What exactly is Britain's role? Purely humanitarian or shading into

something else customer the government insists this is a

humanitarian mission. also June Kelly copters. You only

use those for inserting troops or extracting people -- also chew --

we have transport from third countries to the Kurdish people, the

Kurdish forces. You can see more deep involvement, the government can

still say this is a humanitarian mission but the door is open to do

more. If the government does decide to carry out air strikes, as the

Kurds would like Britain to do, or to directly supply weapons, as

France is now doing, you would see the pressure growing on David

Cameron to recall Parliament. Unemployment has fallen to

its lowest level since 2008. Figures from the Office for National

Statistics show 2.08 million people were out of work in the three months

to June - that's 132,000 fewer than But, average earnings in the year

to June also fell, by 0.2%. The jobless total has come down at

its fastest rate for a quarter of a century. The rise in average

earnings is still trailing well behind inflation. Excluding bonuses,

wages were 0.6% higher than a year ago.

Our business correspondent Simon Gompertz reports.

It is a recovery but not as we have known them before. More jobs but

still frustration in Manchester and elsewhere on getting an increase in

pay. I am quite lucky, I have a good salary but I have had that for a

long time. It has not gone up in recent years. I would not say they

have gone up in comparison to the cost of living. When we have asked

the boss recently about a rise this year, he said all rises are on hold

this year. Unemployment is down again by 132,000 in April to June

compared to the three months before, the total dropping closer to 2

million. But wages are virtually stuck. Basic pay is up I just 0.6%

year-on-year, the slowest for 13 years. Bonuses were unusually high a

year ago so including them, they were down by 0.2%. Here is a company

delivering more jobs, Hermes parcel service. By using independent

careers it is part of the boom in self-employed working, so managers

can worry less about wage rises. We have grown 15 to 20% year-on-year,

it means more income for couriers who negotiate their own rate of

pay, and if they don't like it they will not take on the work. So --

sluggish rises are influencing the governor of the bank of an, Mark

Carney, and the bank's decision on when to put up interest rates -- the

Governor of the Bank of England. Now is not the time, given the degree of

slack, given the weakness of wages, and given the start of some of the

recovery of productivity. There is a recovery, more jobs, that means the

Bank of England will raise interest rates, which were kept so low to

help homeowners and businesses through the hard years. Today's news

about wage is going up so slowly can put a question over when the rate

increase will come. I can't see a rise this year. The governor was

clear there is a lot of geopolitical risk, I think we are looking at a

rate rise towards the start of next year. For now, what we are getting

from the upturn is more work, and that is welcome, but not much more

in the pay packet. Simon is with me now, there are more

jobs but wages are stagnant, what is going on? Ministers will say there

are 200,000 more young people in work if you compare now to a year

ago. Young people tend to start on lower wages and that has brought

down the average rate of increase. Another factor is older people

staying in the workplace, not retiring so soon. If you are an

employer, it gives you more choice. You can say, I don't have to pay so

much to get hold of the staff I would like to have. Looking at the

question over interest rates, you heard the suggestion that an

interest rate increase might not come until next year, a lot of

people might be worried about that. Their mortgages. Some might be

looking forward to it if they are savers. What the governor of the

Bank of England did say is that any increase would be gradual and

limited. Don't expect fireworks, don't suddenly expect to get a large

extra mortgage bill. Five French climbers have been found

dead on Europe's highest mountain, Local authorities say

a sixth is still missing. 13 people have now died

on the mountain this climbing season, and guides have expressed

concern that it's becoming Canada says it will donate up to

1,000 doses of an experimental Ebola It follows the announcement

from the World Health Organisation that it was acceptable

for drugs that haven't been tested More than 1,000 people have died

in this outbreak. Our correspondent, Will Ross, sent

this report from Lagos in Nigeria. The Ebola virus has killed more than

1000 people. Most in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. There has now

been a third death in Nigeria. The number of confirmed cases in West

Africa is nearing 2000. The World Health Organisation has allowed the

use of experimental drugs to fight the outbreak. The vaccine developed

in a lab in Canada is to be sent to West Africa. The Canadian government

is donating between 801,000 doses of the vaccine, which has only been

tested on animals -- 800 and 1000. Liberia has received a small

quantity of the drug to treat infected patients. There are no more

supplies available. Drastic measures are being taken to stop the spread.

Guinea, where the outbreak began, has closed its borders with Sierra

Leone and Liberia. People asked ran it, frustration is growing. In the

Nigerian city of Lagos, there has been a third Ebola death. The first

victim was this man, is Liberian American man who should not have

been allowed to travel. This hospital is where Patrick Sawyer was

admitted, just hours after he arrived in Lagos from Liberia. He

was already very ill with the Ebola virus. The problem is the people who

helped him at the airport and the health workers initially did not

know he had the virus. The challenge is making sure all the people who

came into contact with him are tracked down. That is a tough job in

a bustling city of close to 20 million people. Nigerians are having

to change their habits to stay safe. I don't like to be in public places

where food may be contaminated. Around the world, countries are

preparing for the worst. In Taiwan they are carrying out a drill at the

airport, in protective suits they quarantined a dummy patient, gearing

up just in case Ebola strikes. David Cameron chairs an emergency

meeting on Iraq as REF jets arrive in Cyprus for surveillance missions

-- RAF jets. And Prince Harry champions the British Armed Forces

team who have overcome life changes -- life changing injuries.

How scientists in the capital are testing DNA

from people with anorexia to try to predict who's at risk.

And on the market for ?500,0000 - but you may need to commute by boat.

Number One, the Thames, is up for sale.

A rare collection of World War One documents has been discovered

in Staffordshire, relating to men from the county appealing

They cover nearly 20,000 cases, dating from 1916 onwards.

As our correspondent Phil Mackie reports,

some of them were Conscientious Objectors, but the vast majority

were men who argued that their families or businesses would suffer,

or that they were of more use to the war effort remaining at home.

Shedding light on a dark corner of history. Hidden away in the

Staffordshire archives they rediscovered a long forgotten

treasure trove of information about life at home in the First World War.

The final judgement from the appeal tribunal is brief and to the point.

We are at war, the work can be done by women. These are the files which

should have been destroyed. 20,000 individual cases where men argued

they should not be conscripted into the military. This comes into

existence in 1916. We are seeing how communities, families and businesses

coped. As battles raged and casualties increased the number of

volunteers fell. Conscription came in but thousand argued they were

needed at home. If your appeal was turned down then you had to come

here, the magistrates court in Stafford. He would face the tribunal

and explain why in your circumstances you should be exempt

from service on the front line. Every case reveals what is going on

on the home front. It is revealing the lives of individual men within

their families, within their local communities and within the county.

What it is showing is how the war is affecting those lives as a personal

and individual level. David Hope somewhere in the records will be

information about his grandfather Albert, a conscientious objector.

Here pictured at the cap badge at the camp where he was sent to work.

Some ruffians from Birmingham went and don't down the hut where they

lived one night. They all got out. So there was resentment against

them. The government ordered these records destroyed. They do not know

why they were not. Now they need an army of volunteers to help document

the lives of thousands of men in Staffordshire who did not want to go

to war. Headteachers in England have

proposed publishing their own They say

the tables will initially focus on secondary schools, and are expected

to cover the curriculum, class sizes, and activities such as music

and sport as well as GCSE results. Our education correspondent

Gillian Hargreaves reports. Schools are ranked according to how

many pupils achieve five good GCSEs including English and maths. Head

teachers say this is a crude measure of success and does not give enough

information for parents when they decide which school is best for

their child. Their concerns have given rise to demands for a new

league table, published earlier in the year. It is time for the

profession to take back ownership of the education system and work with

parents to save this is what our vision of the education system is.

We do not want to work on a two-year timetable for election results. We

need to build good schools of long-term. Alternative league tables

would include other information such as sports teams, music and other

character building activities are abided by the school. As well as all

the exam papers set by pupils to stop schools entering pupils for

exams over and over again until they pass. In response the government

says children should not be entered for exams before they're ready and

then for resits or other exams in the same subject, use of and of

course exams for GCSEs or rules the incentive to gain the system in this

way. Headteachers say they've done this to give parents more impartial

information was dubbed critics will see it as teachers engaged in a

political fight against the government.

For the first time in its 78 year history the Fields Medal, the most

prestigious prize in mathematics, has been awarded to a woman.

Professor Maryam Mirzakhani, an Iranian mathematician working

in America, has been recognised for her work on complex geometry.

Ukrainian government says it will not grant access to a convoy of

humanitarian aid from Moscow. By Minister announced the aid mission

from Moscow as an act of cynicism and said any aid had to be organised

under the auspices of the Red Cross. It comes as Russian lorries enter

the second day of travel to the east of Ukraine.

The first ever Invictus Games, a series of para-sport events

for wounded, injured and sick service personnel,

Prince Harry has been heavily involved in their organisation after

Well, this morning the British Armed Forces team was announced, as our

The soldier prince and the athletes. Many suffered life changing injuries

on the battlefield. Now the focus is the sports field as they continue to

recover from their injuries. Dave Henson was a captain in the Royal

Engineers in Afghanistan and came under attack three years ago. Going

from being in an intensive care bed with drips coming out of everywhere

to being here today ready to compete in front of friends and family and a

wider public audience is such a proud moment for me. Harry, the

Royal Games Makers. He has been the driving force behind this

international event inspired by a similar event in America. He has

brought his enthusiasm and his own style to the games. Prosthetics,

dogs, wheelchairs, high-performance cars, tattoos, we have got

everything. It can only be the big games. -- the games. In one month at

several iconic London Olympic sites, the competition will be for rail. 14

countries will take place in nine different sports. The war is in Iraq

and Afghanistan were divisive wars. The organisers of the games are

focusing not on the merits of the conflict but on the consequences and

the work being done to revisited those who once served their country.

Like the humans she was once deployed alongside, this fire and

protection dog was deployed in Afghanistan and is the mascot for a

British team engaged in the hunt for medals.

Great Britains's Jo Pavey has become the oldest female gold medallist

in the history of the European Athletics Championships.

Last night the 40-year-old mother of two won the 10,000 metres in Zurich.

Come on, Jo Pavey! Away she goes. A glorious run for Jo Pavey. Her whole

career has been about this moment. It is the gold medal, she is the

champion. It is funny to try for so many years and do it when I'm 40. I

should have learned a few things along time ago!

The voice of BBC commentator Steve Cram there.

Well, a few minutes ago, I spoke to Steve and asked him

Well Jo Pavey has been great athlete since she was a youngster. She won a

schools title and we will have watched her develop. She's had some

great days in her career. With female distance runners, they just

at times seem to get better with age. The thing is keeping clear of

injury and keeping the motivation. And the big change for her is what

has happened in her personal life, the family bed you saw here last

night, her children, that has given her a slightly different

perspective. And as she says she has learnt a lot about herself in the

past five years. So to keep training and competing at this level is

incredible at the age of 40. And at the beginning of the year I do not

think anyone including Jo Pavey would've thought she could come to

two major championships and win a medal in the 5000 metres and then

come here to Europe and be the oldest medallist we have ever seen

at the European Championships in the women's event. She has never won a

gold medal in her whole career so that capped off what would have been

a great night for everyone and certainly for the British team. And

we will see her again in the 5000 metres.

Lauren Bacall, the Hollywood screen legend, has died aged 89.

Born Betty Joan Perske in New York in 1924, she made her screen debut

at the age of 19 opposite her future husband Humphrey Bogart

She won an honorary Academy Award in 2009 in recognition of

"her central place in the golden age of motion pictures".

David Sillito looks back at her career.

Rarely has an actors made such an impact on her first appearance. She

was wise the -- beyond her years but she had that look of a woman totally

in control. But looks can deceive. I was really nervous. I had no

confidence in myself. My head would shake and the only way to keep it

still would be to hold my head down and look up. She fell in love with

Humphrey Bogart, they married and made three more films together. This

was perhaps the best. Who is this? This is not a police station. Look,

this is not a police station. They had 11 happy years together for

Bogart's death from cancer. Born Betty Joan Perske, she was inspired

by Betty Davis. One critic said her voice sounded as if she had been

smoked in vodka. She exuded confidence. I looked on as a woman

in total control of every situation. Just like those parts

that I played. As we all know, no one is that sure of themselves. And

if they are I do not want to meet them. And it was a role that her

hero Betty Davis once played that brought a Tony award. It was just in

1997 that she got her first Oscar nomination. I will have your birth

certificate blown up as a Christmas card!

12 years later, in an honorary Oscar. At last! This is quite an

event, I must say. It is something I never expected. I was in shock when

I got the call and the shock has not one of I have to say. She was a star

of the Golden age in Hollywood. Moving moments do not get much more

memorable than this. You know to whistle? Just put your lips together

and low. -- low. Now a look at the weather with Chris

Fawkes. The satellite picture shows an area

of low pressure today. Charlotte clouds already sweeping in. The

showers are spreading east and will turn heavy for a time across

Hampshire and into East and West Sussex and Kent. Showers possible in

London but they will be fleeting. That is generally true of the

showers in England and Wales. There should be fewer showers for Northern

Ireland for a time this afternoon and for south-west Scotland. But the

North of Scotland could have some coming and going through the rest of

the afternoon. As for temperatures we have highs just below par for the

time of year. And then overnight showers are more widespread across

Northern Ireland and coming into Wales overnight. Across more inland

parts of East Wales and England whether it should become largely

dry. Temperatures around 14 degrees in towns and cities but just 8

degrees in rural parts. On Thursday the wind again coming from a

northerly direction. That pattern stays with us really through the

rest of the month. We're looking at further showers, most widespread

across Wales. They swing to the South East of England as we head

into the afternoon. In the wettest areas we could see up to 20

millimetres of rain. But across Northern Ireland and South West of

Scotland, fewer showers here and a better chance of keeping some dry

weather. And it becomes drier as we head through Friday as pressure

begins to build. Still just some showers left here and there. And

temperatures just below par for the time of year. But whether it is

looks promising for the fifth test match at England take on India.

Looks like there will be showers later on in the test match. Into the

weekend, a lot of dry weather and round on Saturday but Sunday sees

return of the North Westerly wind. And further showers widely across

the British Isles. No return of the summer heat that we have had in June

and July any time soon. The rest of August probably staying showery with

a wind. Now a reminder of our top story this

lunchtime. David Cameron is back from holiday

and chairing a meeting of the government's emergency committee

to discuss the crisis in Iraq.