07/11/2013 BBC News at Six

In the trial of three marines accused of killing an Afghan, a

recording is made public of them talking as the man was shot.

The three marines deny murder - one claims he thought the Afghan was

already dead when he shot him. Also tonight: Britain's three top

spy chiefs testify about their role in public for the first time at

parliament. A first look inside a damaged

nuclear reactor at Japan's Fukushima plant since the tsunami, as

engineers try to stabilise it. The whole of this building was blown

apart by the scene army. -- soon army. Twitter shares soar as

the company goes public, taking it to a value of more than $30 billion.

And William and Kate on a walk about to support the Royal British Legion

ahead of Remembrance Sunday. In the sport, AP McCoy has done it. He has

ridden 4000 winners in his career, the final one coming this afternoon.

Good evening and welcome to the BBC news. At the court-martial of three

Royal Marines accused of killing an Afghan, an audio tape has been made

public. One Marine can be heard offering to shoot the Afghan in the

head. Laughter and a gunshot are heard. All three have pleaded not

guilty. Caroline Wyatt is in Bulford. The evidence has been

pretty harrowing? That is right. The court martial has gone on for more

than two weeks. There has been much evidence heard in open court. We

have not seen the defendants because of the anonymity. They have said

behind a screen. The prosecution showed the video in full to the

board, or the jury, made up entirely of seven personnel from the Royal

Marines and the Royal Navy. This was a highly unusual case. The

first time British forces have been put on trial for murder during the

12 year campaign in Afghanistan. Three Royal Marines were accused of

murdering an unknown Afghan in Helmand province. They were granted

anonymity. That they they had been sent out to a field near their base

to do battlefield damage assessment after an Apache attack helicopter

was called in to fire at an insurgent. For the first time we can

show you stills taken from the video footage from Marine B's helmet

camera, which sparked this trial after it was found a computer by

civilian police. The audio of what happened was released today. On it,

all three marines discuss what to do with the wounded enemy

but the personal camera is switched back on again will stop and then, I

should warn you, a shot can be heard.

The defence from Marine a was that he thought the insurgent was already

dead when he fired a pistol. Marines see said he did not realise that the

first Marine had fired his weapon and that the discussions were simply

dark soldier humour. The Royal Marines faced tough and repeated

attacks in Helmand. They lost seven of the own men.

The jury on board heard the judge's summing up yesterday and into this

morning. He told them to use their judgement on the experience of

service life in order to judge each of the defendant's cases

individually. They deliberated today. They were sent on tonight.

Tomorrow they will continue those deliberations.

Thank you, Caroline Wyatt. For the first time, three heads of

Britain's spy agencies have appeared in front of MPs and in front of

television cameras. A committee of senior MPs and Peers questioned the

heads of MI5, MI6 and GHQ for 90 minutes. They said their work

protected liberty and democracy in Britain. They claimed revelations by

Edward Snowden and damaged the UK's security.

Not long ago the identity of these three men would itself have been

secret. Their job, to spy for Britain and run its three

intelligence agencies. Andrew Parker is the head of the Security service,

MI5, dealing with domestic threats like terrorism. Sir John Sawers is

the chief of MI6, collecting intelligence abroad from agents. Sir

Iain Lobban is the director of GCHQ which monitors global

Communications. All three warned of the threats they see, especially

from terrorism. More British citizens have been killed overseas

in 2013 than in the previous seven years combined. I think our job is

harder, has got harder, is getting harder. 34 plots have been disrupted

in this country. GCHQ -- GCHQ has been in the spotlight recently with

questions over whether it has been using its surveillance against

ordinary people. The agency heads said it was not listening to

people's phone calls. That led to a question from Sir Malcolm Rifkind. I

will say that I believe that certain methods should remain secret. We

have to talk about whether there has been damage from that. I do not

think There were no angry exchanges and no secret Scots built. But what

those of us upstairs in the room got was a glimpse of what Britain's

spies are really like. Most of what they do will continue to be secret.

MPs set least ?140 million spent on the government's flagship welfare

reform, universal credit, they have to be written off. The government

insists the scheme will continue to be rolled out step I step. Our

Deputy political editor has more. It is one of the government's list

reforms, an attempt to overhaul the welfare system which will affect

millions of people. Some people are worried it will not go to plan. My

worry is there is enough blame to go around. This case indicates a

fundamental failure of leadership across the piece. The aim of

universal credit is to create a welfare system which is simpler and

cheaper. Six benefits such as job-seeker's allowance and tax

credits will be merged into one single credit. 8 million households

receiving benefit could be affected. Some of those testing the new scheme

say it does not work. Ron Beswick started claiming two months ago when

he lost his building job. It does not do what it says on the box.

Nothing happens in the timescales they are saying. A string of

critical reports raises implications, above all about the

computer systems needed to process claims. Today a report criticising

is the extremely poor management, leaving personal assistants

authorising deals. In all, ?140 million of unused software may have

to be written off. Who is to blame? The man ultimately responsible is

Iain Duncan Smith. He insists actions have been taken. Others

blame Robert Devereux. Today there were claims that Mr Duncan Smith and

his allies had asked Tory MPs to criticise directly in their report.

Iain Duncan Smith did not approach me. Beyond that, I cannot comment.

This blame game shows what is at stake. Ministers believe that making

cuts in welfare is popular. But the problems are jeopardising the

Government's reputation. The Government are taking it

step-by-step. The way we are doing it is not by some big bank project

we saw from the Labour government. We are taking it step-by-step, first

in Manchester, now in London, to make sure we get it right. The

latest plans to rescue universal credit will be announced within

weeks. The idea of introducing the scheme more slowly is being

considered by ministers. The jury in the hacking trial of

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson has heard that recordings of voice mail

mail 's were found in a safe at News International. The messages were

left by former Home Secretary David Blunkett on the mobile phone account

of a woman he was in a relationship with. Tom Symonds is at the Old

Bailey. What was said in court? The 2004 saw -- story of David Blunkett

and Kimberly Quinn and the affair never having, was a big front-page

splash. The court heard it was sourced through phone hacking. Those

voice mail messages were, the court heard, deeply personal. They were

found with the recordings of them in a safe at News International, along

with a piece of paper which had a version of the story written by

Neville Thurlbeck, the chief reporter of the News of the World.

He used the code names big ears and noddy. The court heard that Andy

Coulson, then the editor, went to David Blunkett and said he had this

story, in an attempt to get it's confirmed. The conversation they had

was recorded. The jury heard the tape. Mr Coulson said that if the

story was true and if Mr Blunkett did not deal with it, then his

sources would take that information to another newspaper. Mr Coulson did

say that he was not able to lay out clear-cut evidence, but he believed

it to be true. It was the Crown's case that he could not lay at the

evidence because it was illegally gathered. The Crown say that Andy

Coulson knows all about that. Mr Coulson denies the charges against

him. A man accused of the manslaughter of

two teenage girls who died after being hit by a car, sobbed in court

as the details of the crash were read out. Samuel Etherington from

Gosport was remanded in custody until he appears in Winchester court

tomorrow. It has been keenly anticipated stock

market flotation. Today, the sale of Twitter exceeded -- Twitter exceeded

expectations. They fetched almost double what they were expected to

fetch. Twitter takes flight on the New York

Stock Exchange. It was the start of trading on the social media

phenomenon. On the floor of the exchange, one of the founders

captures the excitement. Tweeting a video as the share price soars. It

is such a simple tool, yet people have done so many amazing things

with it. The Twitter team has spent the last few weeks explaining to

investors why a company which has yet to make a profit would be a

great bet. It all began in 2006 with this tweet from one of Twitter's

founders. It now has more than 230 million users, from President is

celebrating an election victory, to celebrities like Justin Bieber

telling his followers that Brazil has been incredible. Twitter even

tweeted the details of its own shares sale. Now it has to prove

that it is a serious business. Twitter's opening share price valued

this still young company at ?19 billion. Royal Mail is worth less

than 6 million. Facebook, and social network based in California, is

worth more than ?74 million. -- and other social network. Companies from

silicon valley met British firms in London today. Why can't the UK catch

a Twitter? There is a track record in the states which says it is

possible. We don't yet have a place where you can do that in Europe. I

think the secret is that we encourage and foster creativity,

innovation, a culture of trial and error. Investors are already showing

great faith that Twitter can start making big profits. For users, that

could mean they will find plenty of adverts among their tweets.

Our top story this evening: The court-martial of three Marines

accused of killing an Afghan releases the tape discussing

shooting him. And still to come: He has done it! The 39-year-old makes

racing history with his 4000th win. Coming up in Sportsday: Roy Hodgson

speaks for the first time about an inappropriate joke he told at

half-time. There is going to be a task of

extraordinary delicacy and danger, but engineers at Japan's Fukushima

nuclear part are beginning a key step to finally repair one of the

damaged reactors. The power station was hit during the tsunami in 2011.

It will take nearly a year to move 500 tonnes of radioactive fuel into

safe storage. Our correspondent Rupert Wingfield Hayes is one of a

small number of journalists are allowed inside reactor number 4 for

the first time since the disaster. This is Fukushima reactor number 4.

Inside is nearly 500 tonnes of toxic nuclear fuel, enough radiation to

cause two Schnabels. The explosions which tore through Fukushima in 2011

shattered three of the buildings -- two Chernobyls. Last time I came

here, this is what reactor four look like. Now it has been transformed.

Today, for the first time since the disaster, a group of foreign

journalists were allowed inside. This is why we were brought in here.

I am standing on top of what used to be reactor building four. This is

the cooling pool where there is a large amount of nuclear fuel. 1000

500 fuel assemblies down inside that pool. They have been there ever

since the disaster. Now the operation to take those out is going

to begin. It will be a difficult and delicate operation. The fuel may

have been damaged so pulling it out like this could be dangerous. Some

antinuclear groups say and accident during this operation could be

catastrophic. What does the man in charge say? Is it safe to say that

scenario is impossible? Another large-scale disaster is impossible?

TRANSLATION: I personally think it is impossible. Even if this goes

without a hitch, it is just the tip of a very large radioactive iceberg.

When we were back inside reactor building number four, my radiation

monitor was reading about 250 counts per second. This behind me is

reactor three. As our bus drove past it to the radiation reading shot up

to 2500 counts per second. How on earth they are going to start

cleaning up Fukushima's other reactors, nobody knows.

The terror suspect who fled from a West London mosque disguised in a

burka last Friday is seeking compensation from the government. It

has been revealed in the High Court that Mohammed Ahmed Mohamed, who cut

off his electronic tag before he disappeared, insist the British

authorities were complicit in his torture in Somaliland in 2011. Our

correspondent June Kelly is at the Home Office. This application for

compensation was underway before he disappeared, wasn't it? Yes, that is

right. There is a joint action involving Mohammed and another

terrorism suspect. Both are of Somali origin and both are said to

have fought with the terror organisation Al-Shabab. They say

they were tortured by the authorities and this was done by the

complicity of the British state. The big question is, how do you have a

court case when the main man is missing? We are told these court

cases do not just fall away because someone has vanished. There is a

hearing in this case tomorrow and the judge may go through the

formalities of asking Mohammed's lawyers are you still taking

instructions from this man? When they say, no we are not, that is

when his case may come to an end. Thank you.

Britain's newest deep sea container port is opening on the North bank of

the Thames. London Gateway has been built by the Dubai owned company DP

World. The port will be the UK's second largest when fully

operational and will be capable of accommodating the biggest cargo

ships in the world. Champion jockey Tony McCoy has made racing history

today by riding his 4000th winner at Towcester this afternoon.

The 39-year-old Northern Irishman has more wins than any other

national hunt jockey. Joe Wilson was watching a thrilling ride.

If there is a day with a Y in it, there will be a horse with AP McCoy

on it. He will travel anywhere for a winner. Today he was at Towcester on

a horse called Mountain Tunes. Can he do it? The wait for a fourth

thousandth winner had enthralled the sport. This took every ounce of Tony

McCoy's ability. He retrieved a situation which looked hopeless to

win. Celebrations were emotional but a waste of alcohol. McCoy does not

drink. You are washing champagne out of your eyes. How does that feel? It

is an amazing feeling. For the first time in my life I have been really

proud of what I achieved. Today my wife and my daughter, whose birthday

it is tomorrow, and my little boy and my dad are here. I have spent a

lot of time in the hospital in my life and it is physically and

mentally demanding at times but there is no better sport in the

world. The respect for AP McCoy in racing is unique. 4000 winners. That

is 1500 ahead of the next best jump jockey. It is a tale of utter

dedication. McCoy's regime is ruthless. To keep to ten stone in

weight he will skip many meals altogether and there is barely a

bone in his body he has not broken. He has forced himself to endure

record low-temperature is in a modern torture tame the -- chamber.

If you had spoken to a few hours ago I would not have spoken to you but

it is brilliant to get it over. It is suddenly dawning on me how proud

I am of him. He has now written a novel but he has not finished with

the familiar. A peep McCoy's profession is there is always

another winner to ride somewhere -- AP McCoy.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge sub prized Londoners today as they

joined poppy sellers outside an underground station. They travelled

there by bus. For the first time, Prince Harry was accompanying the

Duke of Edinburgh for his annual visit to the Field of Remembrance at

Westminster Abbey. Nicholas Witchell reports.

Here is something you do not see very often, the Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge on a red London bus. Not any old London bus, a Royal British

Legion red poppy bus which took the couple on a brief visit to an

underground station close to their Kensington Palace home. The purpose,

to offer support to service men and women taking part in this year's

Remembrance Day Poppy Appeal. At 11 o'clock in the Field of Remembrance

I Westminster Abbey, Prince Harry stood side-by-side with the Duke of

Edinburgh. A grandfather who saw active service in the Second World

War, with a grandson, who this time last year, was serving in

Afghanistan. Placing their crosses with those who honour service men

and women who have perished in nearly a century of conflict, from

the Western Front in the First World War to the more recent casualties of

Afghanistan. Harry was there at the invitation of his grandfather, for

whom remembrance duties have been a regular and important part of life

for years. The Duke remains very busy. He will be attending five

different remembrance events over the next few days, most with the

Queen but more and more, there is a sense that the Royal family is

looking to the future. The baton is being passed. Harry chatted with

veterans. His presence was appreciated. I was not expecting him

to be here. We were told the Duke of Edinburgh was coming. He is one of

us. He served. And then on a day when Harry and his elder brother had

successfully focused attention on remembrance, William chose to do

something which was absolutely nothing to do with remembrance. He

joined medical staff at London's Royal Marsden Hospital to watch two

operations. The baton is passing, the younger royals are getting

busier. Now time for a look at the weather.

It will be Chilean showery but there will be some sunshine as well over

the next few days. -- Chile and showery. Some heavy showers getting

into western parts of the country. One or two will make it further

east. There may be a touch of frost across eastern England. It will be a

breezy day tomorrow. Sunshine and showers and we will have to keep an

eye on this area of rain heading towards the south-east as we go

through the day. Further north, at three o'clock, there will be some

showers. Quite a lot of sunshine across eastern parts of Scotland and

England. Northern Ireland will see a mixture of sunshine and showers.

Wales as well. There will be a spell of rain across parts of south west

England and parts of the south-east are prone to wet weather later on in

the day. The rain heading up into East Anglia. The rain should clear

as we go into the night. A cold one again tomorrow night. Wintry showers

in the North. Another blob of rain will sweep across England for a

time. That will be followed by sunshine and showers. The

temperatures are on a lowering trend. It looks as if we will see a

widespread frost on Saturday night into Sunday morning. If you are

going to any remembrance events where some layers. Rain will be

arriving across parts of Northern Ireland on Sunday and sweeping its

way further east. Much more detail on the weather and a vicious typhoon

which is going to hit the Philippines on our website. That is

all from the BBC News