Browse content similar to 18/07/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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The conflict in Syria reaches the heart of the regime with a bomb- | :00:11. | :00:15. | |
blast in the centre of Damascus. The President's brother-in-law and | :00:15. | :00:21. | |
the Defence Minister have been killed as rebels strike close to | :00:21. | :00:28. | |
the Presidential Palace. violence has got worse. That tells | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
us that this is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control. | :00:32. | :00:36. | |
In parts of Damascus, they are celebrating this latest blow to the | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
regime. We will be asking if this marks a turning point in the | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
conflict. Also tonight: Unemployment drops by | :00:45. | :00:49. | |
65,000, helped along by new jobs during the Olympic Games. | :00:49. | :00:53. | |
The heir to a multi-billion pound fortune - Hans Kristian Rausing | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
charged with preventing the lawful burial of his wife. | :00:56. | :01:00. | |
Blink and you will miss it - the pickpockets from Spain who say they | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
are heading our way. And why sitting around doing | :01:03. | :01:07. | |
nothing is more dangerous than you think. A new study says it is as | :01:07. | :01:12. | |
bad for you as smoking. Two out of three UK adults are not | :01:12. | :01:15. | |
doing enough exercise. I will be examining the research which says | :01:15. | :01:21. | |
it is putting many of them into an early grave. | :01:21. | :01:28. | |
We will have Sportsday with all the latest reports, results, interviews | :01:28. | :01:38. | |
:01:38. | :01:50. | ||
and features from the BBC Sports Good evening. Welcome to the BBC | :01:50. | :01:54. | |
News at Six. The violence in Syria has reached the heart of the regime, | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
claiming the lives of key members of the country's ruling elite. | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
President Assad's brother-in-law and the country's Defence Minister | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
are reported to have been killed today, when a bomb exploded inside | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
the headquarters of the national security organisation. It follows | :02:09. | :02:13. | |
four days of clashes in the capital, Damascus. Caroline Hawley reports | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
on what some are seeing as a turning point in the conflict. | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
On state-run television, mouthpiece of the regime, a message of | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
defiance. As the authorities announce that a bomber had attacked | :02:28. | :02:36. | |
the heart of the country's military establishment. The dramatic news | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
came this morning. No images released of the headquarters of | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
national security, but the Defence Minister, seen here, was quickly | :02:46. | :02:51. | |
confirmed dead on television. He had been meeting with other senior | :02:51. | :02:54. | |
officials from Syria's secretive security system. It is a | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
devastating blow at the heart of a regime presided over by the Assad | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
family for 40 years. Two of the key figures are Bashar al-Assad and his | :03:04. | :03:14. | |
younger brother, Maher and then there was the husband of his sister. | :03:14. | :03:19. | |
This is about as close to the inner circle of President Assad as it is | :03:19. | :03:24. | |
possible to get and it is a fight for survival now. | :03:24. | :03:28. | |
TRANSLATION: This is a decisive battle. It is a decisive battle not | :03:28. | :03:32. | |
only in Damascus, but in Syria as a whole. They are wrong to | :03:32. | :03:36. | |
underestimate us. For months there's been fighting in | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
towns and cities around the country. But in the past few days, it's come | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
to Damascus itself. A major escalation in the conflict. 16 | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Months since a peaceful uprising against Bashar al-Assad began, the | :03:49. | :03:55. | |
battle is now on his doorstep. The capital once deemed impregnable has | :03:55. | :04:04. | |
seen fighting which began in the At Tadamon neighbourhood. The battle | :04:04. | :04:09. | |
then spread to Midan and further north as well. A military barracks | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
close to the Presidential Palace was set on fire, just hours before | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
the attack on the headquarters of national security. This is, as I | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
believe now, the beginning of the end of this regime. The regime | :04:21. | :04:29. | |
still has some power to continue killing Syrian people, but this is | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
the natural escalation of the struggle of the freedom fighters in | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
Syria. The Syrian army is still strong despite a string of | :04:39. | :04:44. | |
defections. On State TV, it's promising to fight back. The | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
international community is grappling with how to respond. | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control. And for | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
that reason, it is extremely important that the international | :04:56. | :05:01. | |
community, working with other countries that have concerns in | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
that area, have to bring maximum pressure on Assad. What the | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
diplomats are doing is increasingly irrelevant to what is happening on | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
the ground, where the rebels have been given a major boost. The | :05:13. | :05:19. | |
Syrian crisis has now entered a new phase. | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
Frank Gardner is here with me now. I know we have to be careful about | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
these things. Some people are seeing this as a turning point in | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
the conflict? I think it certainly marks the most serious threat yet | :05:32. | :05:37. | |
to President Bashir bash because Assef Shawkat is the closest you | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
can get to the President, other than his wife, or his brother, or | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
possibly his mother. He was the power behind-the-scenes. He has a | :05:46. | :05:48. | |
political intelligence and security background. It is really a triple | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
blow. It is a blow to the family, to the personal command and control | :05:53. | :05:57. | |
that he built up and it's going to make people in that regime look | :05:57. | :06:04. | |
over their shoulders and wonder, "Where next?" So it is troubling. | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
The General that we heard speaking earlier, who I met earlier this | :06:07. | :06:11. | |
year, several months ago he was saying it was the beginning of the | :06:11. | :06:15. | |
end. For 16 months people have been saying it's the beginning of the | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
end. Russia is still very much perhaps blocking tougher action | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
diplomatically. On the ground, things are moving. I think that we | :06:25. | :06:30. | |
will see a different evolution in the next few weeks. It does seem to | :06:30. | :06:36. | |
be escalating. Thank you. The latest figures for unemployment | :06:36. | :06:39. | |
show it's fallen for the fourth month in a row. The number of | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
people out of work for more than two years has risen to a 15-year | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
high. With forecasts for the economy still looking gloomy, the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Chancellor has announced a new financing deal aimed at boosting | :06:53. | :06:59. | |
expenditure on big infrastructure projects. | :06:59. | :07:05. | |
Two years ago, Lianne Mellor was an unemployed graduate who liked | :07:05. | :07:11. | |
drawing as a hobby. With a bit of encouragement, that hobby is a | :07:11. | :07:15. | |
thriving business. It is really hard work. It is so worth it. When | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
you can look around you and kind of think, "I got me here." Everything | :07:23. | :07:29. | |
around you you have created, it is a fantastic feeling. The number of | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
people in work grew by 181,000 in the three months to May, that is | :07:33. | :07:38. | |
the biggest rise in nearly a decade. The broadest measure of | :07:39. | :07:45. | |
unemployment fell by 65,000 to just over 2.5 million. There are still | :07:45. | :07:49. | |
more people out of work today than there were a year ago and 440,000 | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
who have been looking for a job for more than two years. We have had a | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
positive run of figures for a few months. It could perhaps indicate | :07:57. | :08:02. | |
that the economy isn't doing as badly as the official GDP figures | :08:02. | :08:05. | |
suggest. I think it might be a matter of time lags and I would | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
want to see the positive figures continue for a fair bit longer. | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
The picture in London was much brighter than many other parts of | :08:16. | :08:20. | |
the UK. Some said that short-term hires for the Olympics might be | :08:20. | :08:24. | |
flattering the figures, with the broader economy so weak no-one is | :08:24. | :08:28. | |
very confident that the good news on jobs is going to continue. Which | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
is probably why you found the Chancellor joined at the hip to his | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
Liberal Democrat coalition Chief Secretary standing by a massive | :08:36. | :08:40. | |
hole in the ground in Central London this morning unveiling their | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
plan to help the economy by partly guaranteeing big infrastructure | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
projects that can't otherwise get funding. There are private sector | :08:48. | :08:52. | |
projects, business projects, that can't go ahead because there is | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
problems in the banking system, problems in the world economy and | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
we are using the good name the British Government has earnt over | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
the last two years, thanks to this Coalition Government, that enables | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
us to borrow cheaply to lend to projects that wouldn't otherwise go | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
ahead. Everyone gets excited about big infrastructure projects. They | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
started digging here in April 2010 and they won't be done until the | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
end of 2016. Still, if the projects the Chancellor is talking about are | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
so worthwhile, some are asking why it took the Treasury nine months to | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
work out how to help. We have come a long way. We have had a speech | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
from the Prime Minister on infrastructure. Now, the Treasury | :09:35. | :09:40. | |
is getting its act together and starting to do stuff. But given the | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
scale of the infrastructure requirement, this is a small step. | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
They first started talking about building this Crossrail link | :09:50. | :09:54. | |
through London in 1948. Infrastructure doesn't come quick. | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
But whether it's new jobs or new investment, in a flat economy every | :10:00. | :10:06. | |
little helps. New figures show the Scottish | :10:06. | :10:11. | |
economy has gone back into recession. It shrank by 0.1% in the | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
first three months of the year, a second successive drop. The largest | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
contribution to the fall came from the construction sector where | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
output was down by nearly 7%. David Cameron has been visiting | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
British troops in Afghanistan where he's promised that more of them | :10:26. | :10:30. | |
will be brought home next year. During the trip to Helmand Province, | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
he said he wanted a sensible orderly process of handing control | :10:34. | :10:41. | |
of security to Afghan forces. Hans Kristian Rausing, the heir to | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
a multi-billion pound fortune, has appeared in court charged with | :10:45. | :10:50. | |
delaying the burial of his wife, Eva. Our correspondent is outside | :10:50. | :10:58. | |
the house for us now. The discovery of Robert | :10:58. | :11:07. | |
Rauschenberg's body has devastated -- of Eva Rausing's body has | :11:07. | :11:12. | |
devastated her family. The family have issued a statement. They said | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
they hoped their son could begin the long, hard journey to | :11:17. | :11:21. | |
rehabilitation. Driven from hospital to court, the | :11:21. | :11:26. | |
multi-millionaire, Hans Kristian Rausing. He has been receiving | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
specialist medical treatment since the body of his wife was discovered | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
nine days ago. Today he stood in the dock accused of preventing the | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
lawful and decent burial of her body. Looking thin and frail, he | :11:37. | :11:42. | |
spoke only to confirm his name, his date of birth and his address. He | :11:42. | :11:46. | |
showed no reaction as details of the case were read out to the | :11:46. | :11:51. | |
packed courtroom. Police arrested Hans Kristian Rausing on July 9th | :11:51. | :11:58. | |
following reports of his erratic driving. They searched the couple's | :11:58. | :12:03. | |
home in Chelsea. Eva Rausing's body was found in a bedroom on the | :12:03. | :12:06. | |
second-floor. The court was told it was discovered under layers of | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
bedding, clothing and bin bags. Eva Rausing's background was a | :12:12. | :12:19. | |
privileged one. Her family describe her as a loving, shy girl. | :12:20. | :12:29. | |
:12:30. | :12:36. | ||
Hans Kristian Rausing has been released on bail, but on condition | :12:36. | :12:41. | |
he stays at this mental health hospital. The magistrate told him | :12:41. | :12:44. | |
he must not leave here unless accompanied by a member of staff. | :12:44. | :12:51. | |
He is due back in court next week. Researchers say more than five | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
million deaths a year worldwide are caused by a lack of exercise making | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
it as big a risk to health as smoking or obesity. Here in Britain, | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
we do worse in the exercise stakes than many other high-income | :13:05. | :13:13. | |
countries. Pushing everything from pole vaults, | :13:13. | :13:18. | |
to paddles, the world's elite athletes are descended on London. | :13:18. | :13:24. | |
For most of us, the Olympics means a marathon in front of the TV. | :13:24. | :13:30. | |
Inactivity which may help send us to an early grave. To stay healthy | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
adults need to do two-and-a-half hours of moderately aerobic | :13:34. | :13:41. | |
activity every week. Such as brisk walking or pushing a lawnmower. | :13:41. | :13:45. | |
Riding a bike's another option, or swimming. You should be working | :13:45. | :13:52. | |
hard enough to raise your heart rate. Twice a week, you need to do | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
exercise which strengthens all the major muscle groups, such as heavy | :13:57. | :14:01. | |
digging or yoga. Two out of three adults in the UK don't manage that. | :14:02. | :14:06. | |
For example, that triggers one in ten cases of coronary heart disease | :14:06. | :14:16. | |
and causes a staggering one in six deaths here. What went wrong? | :14:16. | :14:20. | |
Britons used to be far more active, then came the car. Television glued | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
us to our seats as did sedentary jobs. Then came computers and the | :14:25. | :14:33. | |
internet, each generation getting less active. This Cardiff gym group | :14:33. | :14:41. | |
all have heart problems. Many never used to do any exercise. With his | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
manual job, this man didn't realise he was unfit until a heart attack. | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
I had a factory job. I never thought I would be as weak as this. | :14:52. | :15:02. | |
:15:02. | :15:04. | ||
When a heart attack come to me all Children are meant to do an hour's | :15:04. | :15:08. | |
physical activity every day. Four out of five do not manage it. The | :15:08. | :15:12. | |
school is bucking the trend, part of an Olympics education programme | :15:12. | :15:16. | |
aiming for a legacy of sports participation. I think it's | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
important in school that you set the habits for the rest of your | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
life. If we can get them engaged and enjoying sport and physical | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
activity, hopefully they will do that for the rest of their lives. | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
Inactivity is a killer. That is the message of the research in the | :15:31. | :15:35. | |
Lancet journal. Well we can't all win medals, staying active might | :15:35. | :15:45. | |
:15:45. | :15:45. | ||
Our top story: The conflict in Syria reaches the heart of the | :15:45. | :15:49. | |
regime as a bomb blast in the centre of the capital claims the | :15:49. | :15:55. | |
lives of three senior officials. Coming up: We investigate why text | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
messaging is now the most popular form of communication between | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
adults. In the business news, UK | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
unemployment falls by 65,000. The number of people claiming | :16:07. | :16:12. | |
jobseeker's allowance rises. The Government will underwrite �40 | :16:12. | :16:22. | |
:16:22. | :16:23. | ||
billion of infrastructure Police believe criminal gangs from | :16:23. | :16:27. | |
eastern Europe are intending to target the Olympics. Pickpockets | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
are a particular concern, with many expected to prey on tourists during | :16:31. | :16:36. | |
the Games. Chris Rogers has been to Barcelona. In this special | :16:36. | :16:39. | |
investigation, he exposes the career pickpockets with their | :16:39. | :16:46. | |
sights set on London 2012. Welcome to way pickpocketing Mecca. | :16:46. | :16:50. | |
Crime statistics show that Barcelona is one of the riskiest | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
places in the world to hold on to your bags and wallets. Barcelona, | :16:55. | :17:00. | |
very good. Very good for pickpockets! This gang are part of | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
a network of 50 Romanian pickpockets will stop we are going | :17:04. | :17:10. | |
to London this year! Johnny, Mario and Danny say they are aiming for | :17:10. | :17:16. | |
gold at the Olympics. Look, we go for gymnastics! They agreed to show | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
me how they do it. Here, Johnny is the destruction. Danny, the runner, | :17:21. | :17:28. | |
slips off with whatever Mario, the debt pair, give to him. They named | :17:28. | :17:32. | |
this tactic after the footballer who dances when he scores, | :17:32. | :17:38. | |
Ronaldinho. Cameras, laptops and phones are sold on the Romanian | :17:38. | :17:48. | |
:17:48. | :17:48. | ||
black market. What they really prefer his cash from wallets. | :17:48. | :17:53. | |
week you can make no euros, the next week you can make 5000 because | :17:53. | :18:01. | |
of tourists. He has just left his bag for a second, you know? Even | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
though I knew they were going to lift something from my pocket or my | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
bag, I was still shocked and surprised how quickly it happened | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
and the fact I did not notice. I did not feel anything leave my | :18:11. | :18:16. | |
pockets or my bag. Only a trained eye has any chance of spotting a | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
pickpocket as they strike. Tourists search for their valuables, but the | :18:20. | :18:26. | |
thieves are long gone and so on their clothes, wallets and phones. | :18:26. | :18:32. | |
The man in a white T-shirt is the pickpocket. The wallet! It is now | :18:32. | :18:40. | |
with him. Yes. Not, he takes the money. Look at the guy. He doesn't | :18:40. | :18:48. | |
know. He don't have wallet. This gang say they will soon leave | :18:48. | :18:52. | |
Barcelona and head to London. They are doing their research. You are | :18:52. | :18:58. | |
looking at the shopping centre, near the Olympic village? | :18:58. | :19:04. | |
London buses, the tourist buses. You can go upstairs. That's a good | :19:04. | :19:10. | |
target? But they spot a potential obstacle. An online article reports | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
on the British police efforts to crackdown on foreign pickpockets. | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
It is called Operation Podium, targeting a Olympic related crime. | :19:23. | :19:26. | |
This is the early morning wake-up call many foreign pickpockets could | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
receive. This house has been rented by a gang of suspected Romanian | :19:31. | :19:37. | |
thieves in east London. This is a pre-emptive strike to put gangs of | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
pickpockets out of business before tourists begin to arrive for the | :19:42. | :19:45. | |
Olympics. It's also a clear message to gangs still thinking of coming | :19:45. | :19:50. | |
here. We know where people are, the addresses they are using and the | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
vehicles they are using. We will come through the door, very hard, | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
and he will be arrested. In the first week of police raids, more | :19:58. | :20:01. | |
than 80 arrests were made. Scotland Yard said that public vigilance is | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
the best weapon against the pickpockets who claim they can | :20:04. | :20:13. | |
With just nine days to go until the opening ceremony of the Olympic | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
Games, the organisers have decided to cut some scenes. Apparently, | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
rehearsals have been running over time and they stunt bike sequence | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
has been taken out. Let's get the details from John Kay. | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
There are thousands of performers inside the stadium right now, | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
rehearsing hard for their big night next Friday. It's a performance | :20:35. | :20:39. | |
that could be seen by billions of people all around the globe. We | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
have heard a bit of the music drifting out of the stadium in the | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
last few minutes. I'm not going to ruin the surprise, but I can tell | :20:46. | :20:51. | |
you what is not in the show. You will not know their names, but | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
they are about to star in the biggest show on earth. Here is | :20:55. | :21:02. | |
ready for the ceremony? Me! Performers of all ages, arriving at | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
the Olympic Park today for more top-secret rehearsals. Opening | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
ceremony? What part do you play? are not allowed to say. We are | :21:12. | :21:18. | |
sworn to secrecy! We are hearing reports it is being shortened? | :21:18. | :21:23. | |
sad. But the amount of hours we have put in, at this late stage to | :21:23. | :21:27. | |
be told... But you know what, we have to work with what we have got. | :21:27. | :21:31. | |
The ceremony is being cut by about half an hour to make sure the | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
80,000 spectators can catch the last buses and trains home. So, | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
what is Danny Boyle, the man behind the show, going to lead out, with | :21:40. | :21:45. | |
just nine days to go? Will it be his celebration of the British | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
countryside, which she has already revealed? No, it is a BMX bike | :21:50. | :21:54. | |
routine, like this, that has been dropped, involving dozens of | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
cyclists. So, when they told you, what was your response? I was | :22:00. | :22:03. | |
completely and utterly gutted, to be honest. The bikers have signed | :22:03. | :22:09. | |
contracts which means they cannot be interviewed on camera. A once- | :22:09. | :22:11. | |
in-a-lifetime opportunity that is never happening again. I couldn't | :22:11. | :22:15. | |
believe it. I thought there are going to take me out because I | :22:15. | :22:20. | |
wasn't good enough or something. He says, no, it is everybody. It is | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
being cut for one simple reason, that we need to get people out of | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
the Olympic Park, on to the transport system and back into | :22:27. | :22:31. | |
central London before the last trains leave at 2:30am. We need to | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
do that in a secure, save and orderly fashion. Tonight, out of | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
you but just about audible, rehearsals continue. It might be | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
shorter now, but the organisers say it has only been Trent. The show | :22:45. | :22:52. | |
must go on. -- trimmed. There was a time when it was good | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
to talk. But in 21st century Britain, that is changing. Texting | :22:56. | :23:00. | |
has overtaken phone conversations as the most popular way to keep in | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
touch. On average, we send 200 messages a month from our mobile | :23:04. | :23:13. | |
Want to get in touch? We used to pick up the phone and call. Now it | :23:13. | :23:19. | |
seems we are more likely to tap a message on it and text. Here is the | :23:19. | :23:24. | |
modern face of communications in one family. Amelia is on a tablet | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
computer in one room. Her mother is on her phone, checking hair e-mail. | :23:28. | :23:32. | |
Next door, Charlie is on the computer, playing games and chatted | :23:32. | :23:36. | |
online. In the sitting room we seek dad on his phone, watching | :23:36. | :23:42. | |
television. How do they keep in touch? I tend to use Facebook and | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
Skype because they are free. No matter where someone is, I can talk | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
to them pretty much any time. prefer to speak to people in person. | :23:51. | :23:58. | |
Increasingly, I find myself texting or using e-mail. See? That is the | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
way the world is. The average UK consumer now Sen's... Up 50 text | :24:04. | :24:12. | |
messages per week. As for 16 to 24- year-olds... 96% of them are using | :24:12. | :24:16. | |
some form of text, sms or social networking, every day to | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
communicate with friends and family. But we are making fewer calls. The | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
time we spent chatting on the phone fell... By 5% last year. That is if | :24:27. | :24:34. | |
you add up both landlines and mobiles. On Saturday? Yes, let me | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
check my Filofax. Use of landlines has been falling for a decade. Now, | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
for the first time since mobile- phone is arrived, we are calling | :24:42. | :24:46. | |
less on them as well. 20 years ago you would walk past a bus stop and | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
people would be chatting away to each other. 10 years ago they would | :24:50. | :24:54. | |
still be talking, but on mobile phones. Today, you walk past the | :24:54. | :24:59. | |
same bus stop and everybody has their heads down, frowning at their | :24:59. | :25:04. | |
smartphone devices and tapping away at their screens. One thing is | :25:04. | :25:07. | |
bringing families closer, the advent of bigger, better | :25:07. | :25:10. | |
televisions means that we are more likely to spend time together in | :25:10. | :25:18. | |
It is Nelson Mandela's 94th birthday. Some 12 million | :25:18. | :25:21. | |
schoolchildren across South Africa have kicked off the celebrations. | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
He became South Africa's first black president in 1994, after | :25:26. | :25:33. | |
spending 27 years in prison for his fight against apartheid. | :25:33. | :25:37. | |
A nation salutes its hero. The message is the same, from black and | :25:37. | :25:46. | |
white, old and young. I would send him a gift and a card. I will write | :25:47. | :25:53. | |
that we always love you, because he gave us freedom. Nelson Mandela is | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
loved at home and respected around the world. Prime ministers and | :25:56. | :26:00. | |
presidents have flocked to his side. He did say how moved he was by the | :26:00. | :26:06. | |
way his birthday is being celebrated today. In South Africa, | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
the 67 minutes of service by every citizen across the country. | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
power, he symbolised public service. Today, South Africans volunteered | :26:15. | :26:20. | |
for charitable duty. My grandfather has always instilled in us that we | :26:20. | :26:30. | |
:26:30. | :26:32. | ||
should be of great service to our They know apartheid only as history. | :26:32. | :26:39. | |
Today, they celebrate the man who made that possible. Happy birthday | :26:39. | :26:47. | |
You can see the full interview with Bill Clinton on Newsnight this | :26:47. | :26:54. | |
Some flooding today in Scotland around Perth in particular. It's | :26:54. | :27:03. | |
not surprising when you look at There is some very heavy rain for | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
the next couple of hours around Lothian and borders. This band of | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
rain really got stuck in Scotland today. Further south we have heavy | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
and thundery showers whistling across Wales, through the Midlands | :27:14. | :27:18. | |
and East Anglia. A few more of them to come this evening. Low-pressure | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
is responsible for the wet weather. That is going to pull away, had to | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
do not see. Take away the showers and the heavy rain, this weather | :27:26. | :27:28. | |
front takes rain away from Scotland and pushes it into northern England | :27:28. | :27:33. | |
by the end of the night, leaving behind cooler air. Temperatures are | :27:33. | :27:38. | |
a little bit higher in the south, not as humid as last night. More | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
comfortable for sleeping. The rain in northern England should be light. | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
It drifts southwards through the Midlands, becoming patchy and | :27:44. | :27:48. | |
turning more showery. Some sharp showers in the south-east. | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Elsewhere, showers few and far between. What will two in Northern | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
Ireland. A drier day in Scotland. It's not getting any warmer just | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
yet because the breezes coming down from the north or north-west. | :28:03. | :28:07. | |
Showers will not be as heavy as today. With a bit of luck, the | :28:07. | :28:10. | |
south-west will be seen very few showers in the afternoon. The | :28:10. | :28:13. | |
south-east could be having some heavy, thundery showers. In and out | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
at the Oval for the start of the cricket. For the Open, starting | :28:17. | :28:23. | |
tomorrow, very few showers. It will probably stay dry with sunshine on | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
Friday and Saturday it will stop the wind is becoming lighter as | :28:25. | :28:31. | |
well. A scattering of showers around the UK on Friday. The we are | :28:31. | :28:36. | |
going to get high pressure building in later on Friday, particularly on | :28:36. | :28:46. |