24/07/2014 East Midlands Today

With your news now for the East Midlands, I'm Maurice Flynn.

First tonight, the police have confirmed that a Derby man

has joined a terrorist group in Syria.

Kabir Ahmed is thought to bd in a training camp run by ISIS,

the organisation that's swept through large parts of Iraq.

I've come across Islamic hardliner Kabir Ahmed before, in 2012.

He dodged my questions after being found guilty

in a landmark court case of inciting hatred of homosdxuals.

He had handed out offensive leaflets outside this Derby mosque.

He also put the flyers through letter boxes nearby.

Now he is in Syria, at an ISIS base, calling himself Abu Sumayyah.

Everybody has got their namd on the list.

Everybody is forcing them to put their name and push it tp.

You know, everybody wants to fight for the sake of Allah.

Here, I met an imam visiting Derby to teach in Islamic classes,

trying to influence young mhnds for the better.

The media, instead of reallx calming things down, the media is, xou know,

exploiting things and probably as well provoking those views.

speaking out against violence strongly enough?

Back in 2012, Kabir Ahmed s`id he was just a Muslim doing his duty.

The bread maker Hovis has revealed it's to close

its bakery in Leicester with the loss of 200 jobs.

Workers were told today the company's site

just off Troon Way will shut early next year.

Support staff will be affected, as well as those who produce the bread.

Union officials say they'll do all they can

No`one from the company has been available for commdnt.

Meanwhile, around 200 police officers could be let go

in Leicestershire as the force tries to deliver on deep financial cuts.

It's likely to mean a rise in civilians being used

In a moment, we'll hear frol the Chief Constable,

but first here's a look at the scale of the cuts.

Times are changing for Leicestershire Police.

After already cutting ?20 mhllion from its budget since 2010,

the force now needs to save another 15.4 million by 2017.

recorded crimes have fallen over the last four years.

And today the force promised a renewed focus on local policing,

Virtually nobody in the public will see any difference.

They will still see neighbourhood policing.

They will still have the same level, or indeed hhgher,

For them, what really matters is that their home, their c`r,

their families and their local neighbourhood is kept safe.

I'm certain what the chief has planned will deliver better

The force will now have to show the changes will only affect how

officers do their jobs, not public safety.

So, Chief Constable, how many uniformed officers

Well, to make sure the books balance going forwards

and that we can give local people safe,

we are going to lose about 300 people

There will probably be 200 or so plus of those

But what that means is we c`n then deploy mixed teams

of police officers, police community support officers

and accredited investigativd assistants.

My job is to maximise the public safety

that we can get out of the budget we have got.

Clearly, the budget is reducing and we'll be getting smaller as

an organisation but we will still be keeping local people safd.

If you say you are taking away 200 uniformed officers,

how confident are you that you can keep people safe?

Won't the public would be rhght in thinking their safety is in danger?

We have shown in the last four or five years and Her Majesty's

Inspectorate of Constabularx has reported on the fact that wd have

taken ?20 million out of thd budget and in doing that,

crime and anti`social behavhour has dropped

and public confidence has stayed high.

Of course, I would like more money but we are taking

our share of austerity and that means there will be less of us.

Chief Constable, can we expdct to see civilians taking statemdnts

We can anticipate that investigative support assistants,

who will be properly skilled and trained,

will be involved in the investigation of crile.

That is pretty commonplace across the country now.

Certainly, we have already got some investigative assistants

in place and people can be `ssured that they are very professional

Simon Cole, the Chief Const`ble of Leicestershire police thdre.

It's claimed house prices in the East Midlands rose on average

by more than ?10,000 in the first half of this ydar.

says the average value of a home in the region is now ?180,000

That's an increase of almost 6% this year.

As of today, BBC Radio Derbx is broadcasting in digital clarity

The station is now transmitting on DAB.

at Derby's iPro stadium earlier today.

Now, two of the most endangdred animals in the world

have been born here in the East Midlands.

Leciestershire's Twycross Zoo is celebrating the arrival

There are only 50 of these big cats in the wild so, understandably,

their birth has caused quitd a stir in the conservation world.

What is more important is how few there are in the wild

and what a significant contribution even having two cubs is.

and vital to the future survival of this species.

So that is what makes it most important.

As we've seen the Commonwealth Games officially opened

Duffield squash player Nick Matthew proudly led out Team England

in front of 40,000 spectators in the stadium,

with another billion watching on the TV!

So what are the East Midlands chances of medals?

Jeremy Nicholas has a round`up of our athletes to watch out for.

Raising the bar in the gymnastics will be Notthngham's

European champion, Becky Downie and Olympic medallist Sam Oldham.

It will be a squash to get ` seat in front of the telly

at Duffield Squash Club, when club members Laura Massaro

husband`and`wife team Nick `nd Gabby Adcock from Sutton in Ashfidld

hope to net a medal in the badminton.

Hucknall hurdler Andy Turner has overcome a lot of obstacles

to defend the title he won in Delhi.

Long Eaton's Will Sharman is one of those up against him.

And city of Derby's Adam Pe`ty is set to make a splash

in the breast stroke after two British records already this season

and Ollie Hynd from Kirkby In Ashfield

hopes to add to his medal collection.

So what will life be like for our athletes during the games?

Mark Shardlow's taken a look around the athlete's villagd.

Day by day, the village is filling up,

each nation making it a home from home.

and getting into the spirit of things.

The village is slowly slowlx, gradually now filling up.

When we got here, it was a little bit sparse, now it is

getting a little bit more occupied so, yeah, the atmosphere is growing.

The boys have got their house together and have been playhng

cards a lot and the girls h`ve been painting each other's nails.

I have done red with an England flag.

We were all up until 10pm, waiting for each other's nails to dry.

Really amazing atmosphere and great to see everything

and everything going on, there is a lot of different things

to experience, we have a lot of different athletes here.

The hub of the village is the dining hall.

With around 4,500 athletes `nd all of the support staff, they dstimate

20,000 meals a day will be served, catering for all tastes.

Team England is the biggest team here.

There has been a huge investment in sports science,

physio and recovery equipment in the lions' den.

It is all about making sure that the athlete stays as well

If a problem does happen, we treat it early

and get them back to the field of play.

And we can move people from off the podium onto the podium

and, more importantly, from bronze into gold.

So the athletes are here, the venues are ready

and an estimated 1.5 billion people will be watching

as Glasgow hosts the 20th Commonwealth Games.

But with your weather now, here's Anna.

Thank you. It was perfect wdather for the opening ceremony in Glasgow.

The dry, fine weather continues now for the next few days. Stayhng very

warm indeed. Dry with plentx of sunshine. This evening, we have had

dry conditions and it will remain so for the rest of the night. Clear

skies around. A little bit of low cloud leading in from the North Sea

as we head towards dawn. It is a warm night with lows of 15 Celsius.

Thursday morning starts with the low cloud but that starts to burn away

quite quickly and advice like we had on Wednesday, we will see plenty of

sunshine in the afternoon. Feeling great warm in the sunshine with

highs of 27 Celsius and a north`easterly breeze. The settled

theme continues as we go into Friday. There may be a little bit of

cloud around but plenty of sunshine to be had around with through the

day. Now for the outlook for the next few days followed by the

passion of forecasts. of some showers and at Wilton cooler

from the north. The national picture comes from Philip Avery.

Unusually, I can say good morning. Wednesday has been noticeable for a

number of reasons. From a meteorological