24/01/2012 BBC News at Six

A warning on fuel prices after a major oil refinery in Essex goes

bust. This plant is one of only eight refineries across the UK, up

to 1,000 jobs are at risk. What will it mean when we fill up?

Experts say the bankruptcy comes on top of other problems in the

industry. All of that is going to mean further pressure on price as

we have to import more product and I can see a new record for diesel

within days. Also tonight: More gloomy forecasts

for the economy. A recession in the eurozone, a slow down across the

world and Britain's debt hits a trillion pounds - that's a record.

For the first time surgeons use human embryonic stem cells to treat

eye disease. To me it's exciting, hopefully

something positive will come out of it and even if it doesn't improve

my sight, if it maintains it at the level it is now that will be good

enough. And the Silent film The Artist,

George Clooney's The Descendants, and Hugo, the 3D epic adventure

film lead the Oscars race. I will be here with Sportsday later,

including the two championship sides one step away from Wembley,

Cardiff and Crystal Palace will Good evening, welcome to the BBC

News at Six. One of the UK's eight oil refineries has gone bust,

prompting fears that it could lead to a disruption in fuel supplies.

More than 800 jobs at the plant in Coryton, Essex are now at risk. The

refinery supplies a tenth of all the fuel in Britain. Industry

experts are already predicting a hike in the price at the pump. Our

industry correspondent John Moylan has the story.

This huge complex is a key part of our energy infrastructure. But

tonight it's in the hands of administrators, its future and that

of its 1,000 employees is now uncertain. A lot of apprehension.

People don't know what's going to happen, insecure about their future.

But I think there's a little bit of quiet optimism that people do

believe that they are a viable concern, as a refinery, and very

hopeful that something can be done to solve the situation and a buyer

may be found. The problems here were triggered by the bankruptcy of

the plant's Swiss parent company. Coryton is one of the UK's eight

refineries. The plant can refine around 17 ra,000 -- 175,000 barrels

a day, around 10% of UK fuel needs. Should we be worried about

supplies? Supplies in the UK should be absolutely fine. Our reserves

exceed two months' work at any given time, so even if every

refinery closed simultaneously we would have adequate. The realish

sue a logistics issue, those supplies are around the country in

reserve, they've all to be moved to the right places at the right time.

But Coryton also provides around 20% of the fuel in London and the

south-east. BP is its biggest customer, today the company

insisted it had no supply problems across its network. But there were

problems elsewhere. In Lincolnshire around 100 tanker drivers started

seven days of strike action. It's all led some to warn of higher

prices on the forecourts in the days to come. With the petrol plus

refinery in some doubt, we have tanker drivers striking, all of

that is going to mean further pressure on price as we have to

import more product. I can see a new record for diesel within days.

At Coryton's refinery this is how... Once refineries were owned by the

big oil giants, but in recent years they've been sold to smaller

independent firms, which don't have such deep pockets when times get

tough. Tonight some petrol companies are

seeking other sources of supply, and the search for a buyer for this

plant continues. And John is at the refinery now.

Presumably there are talks going on, what's the latest? Well, today the

plant has been continuing to operate. It's refining crude oil

and that's sort of the plan. So they're talking to the companies

who take fuel out of here, the likes of BP and talking to giants

who bring crude oil in here to try and ensure those contracts continue,

and that fuel continues to flow through and that hopefully supplies

could start coming out of the plant in the next few days. Of course,

longer-term what they really need here probably is a new buyer. The

good news on that front is that this is a profitable plant, whereas

many across Europe are not, and there are reports tonight that

there have been some expressions of interest in the plant. But all of

that will take sometime. You have to say that tonight the future of

this really important part of our energy infrastructure still looks

uncertain. New figures on Britain's economic

prospects have been released today and they make for some gloomy

reading. The International Monetary Fund has revised down its forecast

for growth here. It comes on the day that Britain's debt topped a

trillion pounds. As our economics editor, Stephanie Flanders, reports,

we are not alone. The IMF is warning of a tough road ahead for

the eurozone. The International Monetary Fund

doesn't know what's going to happen to the global economy in 2012, but

it's not looking good. Its latest forecast say the global recovery

has stalled, down side risks are intensifying and the financial

systems deep into the danger zone. It's all thanks to the crisis

across the Channel. The epicentre of the danger is Europe, but the

rest of the world is increasingly affected. There's an even greater

danger, namely that the European crisis intensifies, in this case

the world could be plunged into another recession. Where do we fit

into this gloomy picture? The answer is somewhere in the middle.

The funds still expects the US economy to grow in 2012, that's not

what President Obama would be hoping for, but it's a lot better

than most. The forecast for the UK this year has been cut to just 0.6%,

slightly less than the official forecast. And even that's better

than the eurozone, which is expecting to shrink slightly in

2012, with much sharper downturns for countries like Spain and Italy.

European finance Ministers disappointed the markets today by

failing to reach a deal on Greek debt, but it's not just Greece, the

IMF says debt, private and public, is weighing on all of the advanced

economies, and so are Government efforts to get the debt under

control. Increasing debt is a marathon, not a sprint. Going too

fast will kill growth and further derail the recovery. It is useful

to remember that it took more than two decades to successfully

decrease debt from its World War II levels.

Does that mean the fund wants the Government to ease up on cutting

our deficit? Well, yes. Today the UK Government's debt rose

to over a trillion pounds, believe it or not that's below average for

an economy of our size, but it's still the equivalent of �16,000 for

everyone in the country. It has hit a new high but that was expected.

The positive news is the monthly figures are starting to come down

and down considerably. So if that does offer the Government more room

to offer a fiscal stimulus that's good news for the UK. The message

from the IMF today is he shouldn't expect a lot more good news on

borrowing or the economy, if the world can't put the eurozone crisis

hyped it -- behind it. Police are investigating the death

of a sixth person which they think may be linked to saline drip

contamination at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport. Detectives

believe 73-year-old John Beeley was among the 21 people poisoned with

insulin last July. A 46-year-old nurse has been arrested and bailed

in connection with the investigation.

The source of a deadly infection that has claimed the lives of three

babies at the Royal Maternity Hospital in Belfast has been traced

to the taps in the neo-natal unit. All of the taps and connecting

pipework are to be removed to eliminate all trace of the pseudo-

monas bacterium. A �10,000 reward for information is

being offered by police investigating the escape of a

murder suspect from a prison van. John Anslow, who is 31, got away

when the vehicle taking him to court was ambushed near Bromsgrove,

in Birmingham on Monday. Let's get the latest from Daniel Boettcher

who joins us now from outside Staffordshire Police headquarters.

Are the police any closer to finding this man, Daniel? Well,

it's almost 36 hours since he escaped. Police have not found him

but they say their investigation continues to move quickly, they're

following several lines of inquiry. He escaped yesterday morning when

the van that was taking him from prison near Redditch to Stafford

Crown Court was stopped by a gang of masked men armed with sledge

hammers. Police are interested in the movement of two cars they

believe were used by the gang in the escape, one was later found

abandoned and a silver Mercedes. Police have offered a �10,000

reward for information that leads to the arrest of John Anslow and

this afternoon we got an update on the latest in this inquiry from the

detective superintendent. Last night search warrants were

executed at five homes in the West Midlands area. We have recovered

some property following the searches and this is now being

further examined. We also arrested a 44-year-old man from the Tipton

area last night on suspicion of assisting an offender.

They give -- to give you a sense of the scope of the inquiry police are

liaising with other forces in the UK, also with the UK Border Agency

and with authorities in other countries, too.

Thank you. The trial of the Spurs manager,

Harry Redknapp, has been told that he failed to declare his offshore

bank account for six years, only registering it with tax officials

two months after he'd been arrested. Mr Redknapp denies two charges of

tax evasion. From Southwark Crown Court, here's our sports

correspondent James Pearce. There's some flash photography in this

report. Arriving at court, the second day

of a trial which has put the the financial affairs of the Tottenham

manager in the spotlight. And made his dog one of the best known in

the country. That's because rosy, on the left, is alleged to have

given her name to the Monaco bank account which at the heart of this

case. The court was told today about the conflicting reasons given

by Redknapp and Mandaric, the former Portsmouth owner, about why

the money was put there in the first place. The prosecution have

pointed to the transfer of Peter Crouch, they claim that Harry

Redknapp was unhappy about his 5% share of the profit, demanding 10%.

Mandaric told a reporter from the News of the World who got hold of

some of this information that the transfer was nothing to do with

bonuses, not money from football. But Harry Redknapp told the same

reporter that the money was paid to me as a bonus for selling Peter

Crouch. The prosecution told the jury that

Harry Redknapp had kept quiet about his Monaco account, in fact he

hadn't told his own accountant for four and a half years. Later in

interviews with the police Harry Redknapp said that was because he

didn't realise there was any money still left in the account. He

claimed that Mandaric had told him that the investment there had been

a disaster, totally wiped out. Harry Redknapp and Mandaric both

deny using the account in Monaco to avoid paying taxes. The trial is

due to last two weeks. The time is coming up to 13 minutes

past six. Our top story: One of only eight oil refineries in

the UK has gone bust. Coming up: �41 million for the lottery-winning

Mansfield millionaires. But how are they going to spend the money?

did say a carpet for the landing, because it's terrible. Nobody is

allowed upstairs, it's that bad. Later on the BBC News channel: The

IMF warns the global economy is deeply in the danger zone. And UK

borrowing hits a record one trillion pounds.

For the first time scientists have used stem cells derived from human

embryoes in the treatment of eye disease, the experts say helping

the blind to see again is a long way off, but two patients who

received stem cell injections into their retinas had slight

improvement in their sight. Our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh

is here. How important are these latest trials?

Well, we have to be cautious because the trial involved just two

people and and its aim was to see whether the treatment was safe, not

if it was effective. A newly fertilised human embryo has the

potential to turn into any tissue, that's why many scientists believe

the stem cells inside offer potential to treat a vast range of

diseases. But the destruction of embryoes just a few days old has

made it controversial. American scientists manipulated embryo stem

cells to become become specialised eye cells and injected them into

the back of the eye of two patients. Their vision is so poor their

registered blind and the hope was the treatment might restore some of

their damaged eye cells. Both patients noticed a slight

improvement in vision, that might be down to chance, but importantly,

they suffered no ill-effects. Marcus Hilton, who runs a bar in

West Yorkshire, is the first patient in Europe to have the

treatment. He has a disease which means his sight's been getting

worse since childhood and it makes This condition is frustrating at

times. I can't read what I want to read. But I get on with it because

it has always been like that. eye specialist at Moorfields

Hospital is running the UK trial. He hopes it could eventually be

used to help patients with age- related macular degeneration, the

most common form of blindness in the common world. -- developed

world. There is little we can do for people at the moment and it is

exciting to start to test the potential of new interventions.

Marcus had his treatment last week so it will be some time before he

knows whether it has had any effect. It is exciting, hopefully something

positive will come out of it and even if it doesn't improve my sight,

if it might improve the level it is that now, that will be good enough.

This trial is the first time a treatment involving a human

embryonic stem cells has been published in a medical journal, but

it is far too early to know whether the treatment reworks and what its

potential might be in the future. - - really works.

It's been a favourite winter sun destination for decades, but now

Egypt is being shunned by thousands of British tourists. Many were put

off by the fall of President Hosni Mubarak in a revolution that's now

triggered a rise in the power of hardline Islamists. As our Middle

East correspondent Rupert Wingfield-Hayes reports from Luxor,

those now in power have strong views about what kind of tourism

Egypt should offer, and the future This is where the future of the

Egypt will be decided. Not in Tahrir Square, but in the thousands

of villages where most Egyptians live. Deeply conservative and a

long way from Cairo. This is the heartland of the Salafists. Ahmed

and his wife are Salafists. They want and Egypt where Islamic Sharia

law is applied to every aspect of life. TRANSLATION: Islam is king.

If someone steals, his hand will be cut off. Killers will be killed.

And adulterers will be stoned to 20 minutes' drive away, Stan the

ancient ruins of Luxor. This place draws thousands of tourists from

across the world. Outside, a group of German tourists is grilling the

newly elected local MP. Cut off your hand if you take something.

Yes. They have to stay in your constitution? Abdul is from the

Muslim Brotherhood. The biggest party in the new parliament. That

is something that needs to be handed in the court, cutting the

hands is not an end in itself. But the essence of it is to protect the

larger society. The German tourists do not look reassured. Since last

year's revolution, tourists have deserted Egypt. Now the industry

must deal with the new power of the Islamists. I have just sat down at

this cafe on the waterfront and opened the menu and there's a whole

page of alcoholic drinks. When I tried to order a beer are was told

they no longer serve alcohol here, the waiter said they are scared of

what he called the men with beards. The men with beards would certainly

not approve of this or anything like it. And back in the village,

the local English teacher is also one of the Salafists and he has

this description for this thousands of tourists visiting Egypt speeches.

Why not have special beaches for women to swim and we can also have

special beaches for men. It may not be what Egypt's liberals and its

Western friends want to hear, but out here, such friends -- views are

extremely common and can no longer be ignored.

A British soldier serving with the 200 Signals Squadron has died at a

patrol base in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. The

Ministry of Defence said the death was not thought to be the result of

hostile action. The soldier's family has been informed.

Divers searching the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise liner have

found another body. It brings to 16 the number of bodies found on the

ship which ran aground on the island of Giglio 11 days ago.

Salvage operators have attached a platform to the hulk and are

working on ways of draining the fuel from the wreck.

The Sunday Times has handed police emails linked to the investigation

into the Energy Secretary Chris Huhne. There have been allegations

that Mr Huhne asked his wife to take penalty points after he was

caught speeding. The nominations for the 84th

Academy Awards have been announced in Los Angeles. The Martin Scorsese

children's film, Hugo, is leading the field with 11 Oscar nominations,

just ahead of the silent offering, The Artist, with ten. Alistair

Leithead joins us live from Los Yes, those other two films that

stand out from the crowd. The French silent-movie The Artist and

Hugo. Brad Pitt and George Clooney go head to head in Best actor,

along with British hopeful Gary Goldman, who has also been

nominated for the first time. As you would expect, it was a very

This morning, we will share the news we have all been waiting for.

It seems nothing matters more in Hollywood than this. The Oscars

have always been the most formal award ceremony, as well as the most

prestigious. And in the melee of names, if you stood out. Hugo.

Their descendants. The Artist. all, The Artist picked up 10

nominations, including best film, director and actor. The Descendants

took five, it is also a favourite for best picture, as is Hugo,

nominated in 11 categories, most of them technical. For best actor,

George Clooney in The Descendants goes up against Brad Pitt for

Moneyball. And the best British hope lies with Gary Oldman and and

his role in tinker tailor soldier Spy. His first Oscar nomination.

Meryl Streep's portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the Iron Lady

is a favourite for Best actress category, up against Michelle

Williams in My Week With Marilyn and viola Davies in the help. The

entertainment reporter has managed to rev up their excitement. Right

now it is all about Hugo and The Artist. Despite the announcement

being made before dawn in LA. It hit the American breakfast shows.

If The Artist wins Best Film, it will be only the second time a

silent movie has won the top prize since Wings won at the first ever

Academy Awards in 1929. The Artist is the No. 1 contender right now

because everybody has a crush on it. They are delighted with it. But

there are big reservations about whether it is really an Oscar

winner for best picture. George Clooney has never won an Oscar for

best leading actor. His Golden Globe has tipped the odds in his

favour for The Descendants. And it would be Brad Pitt's first gong for

best actor if he won. Tinker tailor soldier Spy was ignored by the

Golden Globes. If you're caught... The film gives Gary Oldman his

first ticket to the awards, which will be held on the last Sunday in

February. Everybody seems to be talking about The Artist. Do you

think it will do it? Oh dear. I'm sorry. We seem to have lost

Alastair. Now, �41 million - how would you

spend it? Well, for one Nottinghamshire couple, that's

reality not fantasy tonight. Gareth and Catherine Bull hit the

EuroMillions jackpot and they've been speaking about their new life

as the Mansfield millionaires, as This contains flash photography.

This is Mansfield, home to Britain's newest multi-millionaires,

the whole town has been guessing who they might be until this

afternoon. Gareth and Catherine Ball collected their lottery

winnings and a much bigger cheque than they were expecting. You're

looking at the numbers and trying to comprehend things. It must be �4

million, maybe. So how do you tell the family? I said I need to tell

you we have won a raffle. Then your mum said, do you mean the lottery?

It all clicked. The big one on Friday? Yes. She just cried and

screamed. We are all encouraged to save for a rainy day, but it was

the wet weather that stopped Gareth ball from working so he popped in

here and bought a ticket worth a fortune. There were no set numbers

or superstitions behind the jackpot. Gareth, a self-employed builder,

took the lucky dip option. First thing, I will check my ticket! If I

am not the winner, my brother called me, he's the boss. So happy.

Good luck to them. Whoever it is. All week I come in here so

hopefully it is my lucky week! Fingers crossed! When you think

about the champagne lifestyle they can now accelerate into, they are

now appearing to have modest plans. Get a box at Old Trafford, football

ground and cricket. You're a big fan? A big man United fan. I could

not afford a season-ticket any more. I said a carpet for my landing!

news is still sinking in for Britain's 7th biggest EuroMillions

winners. They left here to tell their children, who may have a few

ideas of their own about what to do with �40 million. Great stuff. We

with �40 million. Great stuff. We might have lost the line to LA, but

Alex has showed up. Thank you! �40 million could not buy you any

sunshine today. A grey day across the country and it was cold as well.

Tomorrow should be brighter and it will be a bit warmer because

tonight, at milder air is spreading across the country. One of foes

nights where temperatures will rise, particularly in the east. It will

be a cloudy night, further rain for many in Scotland and parts of

eastern England. Damp and drizzly almost anywhere. Look at these

temperatures. This time yesterday they were dropping to freezing.

Tonight, no hint of a frost. It will be a milder day tomorrow, but

in the West there will be a brisk wind blowing, particularly across

western Scotland. Wet and windy here and rain moving across

Northern Ireland. Slowly approaching Western parts of

England and Wales, arriving in the afternoon. Look at these

temperatures. 10 or 11 Celsius. Central and eastern areas will

generally be dry, but it will be cloudy. Today across parts of

Yorkshire, just one or two Celsius. Tomorrow, nine of ten Celsius. A

windy day for Northern Ireland and western Scotland. That rain in the

West is from this cold front, which steadily sweeps across the country

tomorrow night, bringing all of us a spell of rain and also it

reintroduces the cold air. Tomorrow night, the frost returns and it

could turn icy across the North. The rain across the south-east is

there early on Thursday but it soon moved away and we should see

brighter skies. But there will be showers developing. By Friday, not

so many showers and a better chance of sunshine. Further north, a

mixture of sunshine and showers on Thursday, but those showers will

turn wintry with the cold air. By Friday, the weather looks like

coming down, which may continue into the weekend. It turns milder

tonight and milder tomorrow, but tonight and milder tomorrow, but

then it will get colder as we head towards the weekend.

A reminder of tonight's main news. One of only eight oil refineries in