27/01/2012 BBC News at Six

The backlash over the bonus - politicians line up to criticise

the Royal Bank of Scotland payout. The bank's chief executive, Stephen

Hester, is under pressure to turn down his bonus of just under �1

million. Now there's a row over who approved the deal. This pay for

Stephen Hester, the bonus, was sets by the board of RBS under the

arrangements that were put in place by the previous Government. It's a

disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime Minister. He's been

promising for months action against excessive bonuses and pay and now

he's nodded through a �1 million bonus.

Also on tonight's programme: Passengers on the ship that ran

aground off Italy are offered �9,000 each in compensation.

Six months to go until the Olympics and a first glimpse of how the

opening ceremony will look. We will want to make something that touches

people, in a way that feels important to us and feels like it

will transfer to people and they will remember us by.

And Murray gets so close but just fails to win through at the semis

in the Australian Open. I'll be here with Sportsday later in the

hour on the BBC News charge with an in-depth look at the Australian

Open. Plus Monty takes three Good evening, welcome to the BBC

News at Six. There's growing pressure on the

Royal Bank of Scotland boss, Stephen Hester, to turn down his

bonus, following a political backlash. Yesterday it emerged Mr

Hester would receive shares worth �963,000 on top of his salary at

the bank, which is mainly owned by taxpayers. The Labour Leader, Ed

Miliband, called it a "disgraceful failure of leadership by the Prime

Minister" and called on him to explain why he'd allowed it to

happen. But the Government is blaming Labour for drawing up the

deal when it was in power. Here's our chief economics correspondent,

Hugh Pym. Royal Bank of Scotland, its future matters to all of us.

There is �45 billion of taxpayers' money invested in the bank

following the bail-out in 2008. That's why there's a big row over

the boss, she'ser, being awarded a bonus of �963,000 in shares on top

of a bid 1 million salary. People will not understand how somebody

can get a whacking great bonus like that when they are baigsically

running a state-owned concern. a disgraceful failure of leader by

the Prime Minister. He's been promising action against excessive

bonuses and excessive pay and now he's nodded through a �1 million

bonus. Stephen Hester was brought in to head Royal Bank of Scotland

by Alistair Darling after the bank had nearly collapsed. He had worked

his way up to the top of the ladder. A country house is amongst the

fruits of his success. A year ago the RBS share price was 40p. Now it

is around 27p, partly because of the eurozone crisis. He's reduced

risky lending by �600 billion since he took the job. He oversaw �68

billion in lending to UK companies in the first nine months of last

year and successfully sold off 16 businesss to reduce the size of RBS.

Stephen Hester's bonus this time is half what was awarded to him a year

ago. It is all in shares and he won't be able to sell them for

another couple of years. There are some in the City who feel this is a

sensible way to reward and incentivise a boss in an industry

as competitive as banking. There was a range of opinion among City

workers I spoke to today. These people are in a powerful position.

They can create jobs and put the bank on track, so I think it is

worth it. They want to get talent to do that job, so there had to be

an incentive for that. It is a controversial issue and he probably

didn't deserve it given that it is a state-owned bank and hasn't been

performing well. The Chancellor was consulted on the award. He

explained the Government's thinking on the decision. The arrangements

for paying the bonus were determined by the contract he

signed is with the previous Government. They were determined by

the board of RBS under is arrangements said up by the

previous Governments. The alternatives of either a larger

bonus of the kind he would have got a couple of years ago or the

British Government taking over the running of RBS and putting even

more taxpayers' money at risk would have been worse for British people.

The decision was made by the RBS board but it had to take on board

the views of shareholders, and they are dominated by the Government

other banks will be announcing their bonuses soon. It remains to

be seen how generous RBS has been with Stephen Hester. The Government

and Labour are blaming each other for this deal. Who is responsible?

It is undoubtedly true that the overall pay structure for Mr Hester

was set up under Labour. They recruited him. But it is down to

the board to make the final decision. This time they are only

paying out 60% of their entitle. That's their judgment. They have to

act on behalf of all shareholders, including the Government. There

would have been a two-way conversation. The Prime Minister

made it pretty clear he wanted Mr He's tore get a lower bonus, of

below �1 million, and that's happened. The Chancellor feels he

couldn't have gone further. But he is left with a highly contentious

situation. A Government headed bay Prime Minister who has gone out of

his way to say the boardroom should behave responsibly and we have a

state-controlled bank with a highly controversial beens payout. Hugh,

thank you. Passengers on the cruise liner

which ran aground off Italy earlier this month are each being offered

around �9,000 in compensation, plus a full refund for their holiday.

But many who were on board are likely to reject the offer, saying

they can't yet put a cost on the trauma they endured. Alan Johnston

reports from Italy. The cruise ship has just capsized and now each of

those tiny figures is scrambling for their lives. Terrified women,

children, old people, all hoping they will reach the boats. And out

of sight down in the dark flooded depths of the hull some passengers

are drowning. At least 16 people will die. Scenes from a little

earlier. The ship's only starting to sink but already the faces tell

the story. People realising that disaster is coming. Now all the

drama is over, but if you had been on that ship, if you had lived

through that night, how much compensation do you think you would

deserve? The cruise operator is offering 11,000 euros, just over

�9,000. TRANSLATION: There are 3,000 passengers and they should

take advantage of this offer. The big plus is they can get an

immediate response and they will incur no legal expenses. They can

put this whole thing behind them. Italians remain fascinated by this

story and today they watched the ship's operators try to deal with

the compensation question as fast as possible. The company will be

desperate for its passengers to accept its offer, because it knows

that around the world lawyers are urging the survivors to press for

much, much more money. We are very, very keen to ensure that our

clients receive full and fair compensation for their claims and

that needs to be carefully assessed. It is just too early to do that

assessment at this stage. The Costa Concordia's disastrous final voyage

only lasted a few hours. But for her operators a much longer journey

through the courts may lie ahead. Harry Redknapp told police he's

paid "fortunes in income tax" and was a "giver not a taker". A taped

interview with detectives was played to Southwark Crown Court

today, where the Spurs boss is accused of receiving untaxed

payments during his time at Portsmouth. Both he and former

Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric deny charges of tax evasion. Our

correspondent, James Pearce, was in court. This evening he will be

leading his Tottenham team in the FA Cup but this morning Harry

Redknapp was back to court for the end of the first week's evidence in

his trial. The charges date back to 2002 when Redknapp was working at

Portsmouth with the former chairman, Milan Mandaric. Mandaric paid money

into an account that Redknapp had opened in Monaco. He named it

"Rosie 47" after his dog. The prosecution claim that the offshore

bank was used to avoid tax on a bonus paid by the chairman to his

bonus paid by the chairman to his manager. The jury heard recordings

of Harry Redknapp's interviews with The jury was told that Harry

Redknapp's a man of hithser to good character. They heard him conceive

during one of his police interviews he should have told his accountant

about the existence of "Rosie 47" but he hadn't omitted the

information on purpose. He had thought there wasn't any tax to pay

thought there wasn't any tax to pay on it. Redknapp told police that he

had paid �1 million in tax the previous year and that saving

another �20,000 or �30,000 would make little difference to him. I'm

not the cleverest, he said, but I'm not stupid. The trial will continue

on Monday. Around 350 workers at a steel firm

in Kent are to be made redundant, after the company went into

administration. Attempts are still being made to find a buyer for the

Thamesteel plant in Sheerness. The GMB union said it was disastrous

news for the UK economy. The founder of the French company

at the centre of the health scare over sub-standard breast implants

has been charged with causing involuntary injury, and has been

released on bail. Around 40,000 British women had PIP implants,

which were filled with industrial grade silicone.

Police have released an e-fit likeness of a man who helped a

prisoner escape while being transported to hospital. The gunman

helped Andrew Farndon flee after threatening prison guards as he

arrived at West Suffolk Hospital from Highpoint Prison on Wednesday

evening. With exactly six months to go until

the London Olympics, organisers of the Games have offered a

tantalising glimpse of how the opening ceremony will look. The

film director, Danny Boyle, who is behind the showcase event, has

revealed the theme will be Isles of Wonder. Our correspondent, Dan Roan,

is in the Olympic Park. Dan, what more can you tell us about it? This

is the point when the Games begin to feel very real indeed. The

details of Olympic opening ceremonies traditionally are kept

secret but today London decided to give us something of a sneak

preview. The aim it was ramp up the excitement. As the Games draw

closer so the pressure to deliver on what's come before intensifies.

This is what London has to live up to, opening ceremonies at the last

few Olympic Games have reached the highest of standards for an event

which sets the tone for the greatest show on earth. Auditions

are already under way and we now it will feature local schoolchildren,

NHS nurss and a 27 tonne specially commissioned giant bell in an

opening ceremony ambitiously entitled Isles of Wonder. You stand

on the shoulder of giants, your predecessors and you hope to

inherit some of their best features and to put your own unique spin on

it. It is intimidating but it doesn't get you anywhere being too

intimidate. You have to just get on and hope that you are in a position

now in your own career and with the right team around you that you will

be able to reflect something about the country and that they'll all be

pleased today. The film director has a huge job on his hands but

hopes the spectacle will provide a few laughs. The most difficult

thing to do is show a sense of humour but it is unique about it.

With much of the infrastructure in the Olympic park already in place

it's the finishing touches which remain to be applyed. Today the

athletes village was formally handed over to organisers as the

build-up enters its final phase. This is where the result of all

that planning and preparation will be unveiled to the world, the

Olympic stadium where in exactly six months the opening ceremony

will get under way and London's moment will finally have arrived.

The budget for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics

and par Olympics was doubled last month. 15,000 volunteers will be

involved, for whom 23,000 costumes are being made. A combined global

television audience of 4 billion people is anticipated. The opening

ceremony can reintroduce a city and country to the world, like Sydney

did. It can reaffirm the world's perception of a place, like Beijing

- or reinvent itself like Athens. The last time London staged the

Games in 1948 the opening ceremony was a modest affair. The Olympics

return here in another age of austerity but the expectations will

be that much higher. When that giant bell rings at 9

o'clock in the evening on July 27th to mark the beginning of the Isles

of Wonder opening ceremony, the ambition many must be to impress

the 80,000 spectators and many more watching on television around the

world and to justify the �27 million price tag. Danny Boyle's

films may have won Oscars but this production promises to be his

Donors backlash, and Labour and the Conservatives blame each other for

approving the payout to the boss of RBS.

Steely determination from Andy Murray, but not enough to get him

through to the final of the Australian Open. I started really

well. It's a disappointing way to finish the Australian Open. But in

terms of my game, it is meaning that there are still things I can

improve on. On the BBC News Channel: Contentious FA Cup clashes.

Anton Ferdinand will come face-to- face with John Terry this weekend

for the first time since Terry was A team of researchers say they have

taken the first step towards detecting autism as a much his --

earlier age than previously thought. The condition is usually spotted

between the ages of one and two. A new study has identified

differences in the brain waves of much younger babies, later found to

be autistic. What have they found? Autism is a broad ranging condition

that affects the way that people relate to others. Born in 100

people have the condition in the UK, including 88,000 school children.

The average age of formal diagnosis is as late as eight years. This

research wanted to see if signs could be spotted in infancy.

This is how you test the brain patterns of babies. Isaac is eight

months old and developing normally. These electrodes will painlessly

pick up his responses. There was a big difference in his brain

activity between the periods when the faces on the screen were

looking straight towards him, compared to when they looked away.

This suggests normal social interaction. 100 babies were tested

in all. With some of those that later developed autism, there was

little difference in brain patterns. It is a first step, we are wanting

to be cautious. But it is showing something that we didn't know

before in the different ways that infants as young as six months seem

to be processing the social world around them in a different way.

would be a mistake to read too much into this small study. The test

predicted autism correctly some of the time. But it also got it wrong

several times as well. The prospect of diagnosing autism in infancy is

hugely attractive because the earlier it is spotted and support

begins, the better the outcome for children. But this research is

really in a very early stages. The test would need to be a lot more

accurate before it could be used routinely. Nine-year-old Jed seemed

to develop normally until about 18 months. Then his speech stopped.

His mother says, as with any health condition, in early diagnosis is

vital. He went from a child that was very sociable, very interactive,

responding to his name, talking, to none of the above. Perhaps if we

had known at six months, which is what the study would suggest, we

might be able to pick that up and could have done something even a

earlier. A lot more babies are going to be studied in a wider

trial at Birkbeck College in London, a move that has been welcomed by

autism charities. This research marks a useful starting point which

might eventually lead to earlier diagnosis of autism. But we are not

there yet. In Syria, activists claimed that

the army has launched renewed assault on several cities. More

than 130 people are believed to have been killed in the country in

the last 48 hours. United Nations Security Council meets this evening

to discuss a draft resolution that could result in President Assad

standing down. Jeremy Bowen reports from Damascus suburb of Saqba,

another area where the Government's grip appears to be weakening.

To find out the strength of the opposition, drive in to the suburbs

of Damascus. We had no idea what we had discovered. We found the Free

Syria Army, deserters from the President's forces and local men,

securing Saqba, a port district in the city. They said they were

protecting the people that were about to hold a funeral. They

looked well-established here, with sandbag firing positions. Everyone

was on edge. For 10 months, regime forces have been cracking down hard

on Friday protests. This commander said that he had been a general in

the Syrian government forces. A man interrupted to praise the Syria

Free Army. Then, something nobody wanted to hear. Security are here!

Security? Don't be afraid, said the general. Our resistance is strong.

Some of them got ready to fire. Stay with me, said the general, do

not be afraid. Sentries were sending information by phone. They

all seemed to know what their jobs were, going to their positions and

others moving deeper into Saqba, It felt as if every man in Saqba

was there. A big send-off for the man killed by the security forces.

Across Syria, funerals are a focus for opposition. They chanted, God,

you are all that we have. God, we This is another suburb of Damascus

that has set out of control of President Assad. The only way he

can enforce his authority is by sending in his men and using their

guns and bullets. And, for a moment, that is what they thought was about

to happen. It shows the tension. Even with the Free Syria Army close

by. It was time for us to go. He warned about snipers ahead. Getting

out was not easy. The Free Syria Army control a surprisingly big

area, but it was surrounded. All of this does not mean that the

President is about to fall. He has his own strong support and heavy

weapons. But regime forces cannot be everywhere at once. The power of

A Nottinghamshire farmer has been jailed for a year after being found

guilty of mistreating and neglecting livestock. A concerned

member of the public alerted trading standards officers, who

found 30 dead animals on Keith Littlewood's Farm, near the village

of Bestwood. Officers described it as the most horrific case of animal

cruelty they had dealt with. You may find some of the images in this

report upsetting. The stench is quite disgusting.

Trading standards officers, with years of experience, were clearly

shaken by what they saw. She is not moving. Emaciated animals, left to

roam around the carcasses. And there were scores of them. The

inspectors filmed themselves picking their way through Keith

Littlewood's yard. They walked about the dead and dying. He

arrived at Nottingham Crown Court to watch the footage being played

in front of a judge. I think it is the worst case that Nottingham

County Council have dealt with. It was quite horrific. As you can see

from video footage, it did shock the officers involved. This is

White Haven Farm. Trading Standards came here after a member of the

public reported seeing a dead animal in a field. But nothing

could have prepared them for what they found. The judge said that

there was no excuse for treating animals like this and that Keith

Littlewood had virtually abandoned them. He jailed the 47-year-old for

one year, formal double offences of cruelty and failing to dispose of

scores of carcasses. It is something animal welfare experts

say needs better regulation. Currently, the situation is that

there is no legal requirement for this type of inspection on annual

or any other basis. It may be hope for in the future, this type of

inspection system may become mandatory for farms within the UK.

Many of the pigs, cattle and poultry found here had to be

destroyed. While there are still animals on the farm, Trading

Standards hope he will be banned from keeping them at a hearing next

Tennis, and Andy Murray is out of the Australian Open, losing a

thrilling five-set semi-final against defending champion Novak

Djokovic. He took an early lead in a roller-coaster match which lasted

nearly five hours. But Djokovic finally won through, to Secure a

place in the final against Rafael Nadal on Sunday.

So the air, and yet agonisingly so far. -- so near. Andy Murray Pot

Black request for a Grand Slam title has always ended in

frustration, but never in such extraordinary drama. Murray was

frankly walloped here last year, at first another walloping beckoned.

His new coach Ivan Lendl's face said it all. From the depths, his

game scaled the heights. A slam dunking smash and he seemed re-

energised. He swash buckled his way to the second set and then the

third, which lasted an ally and a half on its own. Murray, with a

remarkable win now firmly in his sights. But back came Djokovic, to

set up a nerve-shredding decider, as both players pushed themselves

to the physical brink. What a break of serve! From 5-2 down, Murray

came roaring back. But after nearly five hours of pure theatre, he

finally faltered. For Djokovic, a blend of exhaustion and elation.

For Murray, another Grand Slam disappointment. But he believes he

is getting closer. That is probably the main thing I take away tonight.

It was a great performance from him. He was so dominant in the Slams

last year. I'm happy with that. Murray Pozzato misfortune is to be

up against three of the greatest- ever players. He laughs -- lost to

Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, Roger Federer at the 2010 Australian

final and to Djokovic in last year's. Will he ever get his hands

on that elusive grand-slam trophy? Mentally he was up, he was never

moping or whining like he does sometimes. I thought it was a

tremendous performance. Watching that performance today has

convinced me he will win a Grand Slam. So, it was no choke, but the

gutsiest of defeats. You expect right now that that will not be

huge consolation. There is all sorts of talk in the

papers about a Siberian winter on the way. Is it?

It is going to get colder, Siberian probably pushes it too much. We are

getting back to the levels we normally see in winter, rather than

the conditions of the last few days. Tonight will be another wintry

night. Still some showers around. A mixture of rain, sleet and snow.

They will be fading and then it will turn increasingly icy. Some

showers will push across the Midlands, producing snow on higher

ground for a time. Sleet and hail on lower levels. Skies will clear

for the majority. Across England and Wales, and ice risk after the

showers. Temperatures could get as low as minus seven in Scotland. In

Scotland, it will be a chilly start, but dry and bright for the majority.

One or two mist and fog porches -- patches. A little bit more cloud

pushing in on the west, but still dry and bright. Across much of

England, it is going to be a dry and bright start. Some fog in the

north-west and the south-east corner. A grey, misty start. We

will have a legacy of cloud and fog to get rid of during the morning.

One or two showers across Kent, Suffolk, maybe Norfolk and Essex.

For the majority of the country it will be a dry, bright Saturday.

Feeling cold, even with the sunshine. A chilly might well

follow, with widespread frost. Temperatures below freezing in many

areas. The exception will be Northern Ireland, temperatures are

holding up because we are seeing cloud and rain spreading across

Ireland during the day. Outbreaks of rain initially, but on that

leading edge, as it pushes into the cold air, a dry and bright day. We

should see some snow, which might become an issue on Monday. The

exact position of the Snow Band and exactly how much will fall is open

to a little bit of uncertainty. The best advice I can give in Monday's

rush-hour is to keep watching the The main news: Bonus backs --