07/12/2011 BBC News at Ten

Demands for a referendum on Europe as Tory backbenchers seize their

opportunity ahead of tomorrow's EU summit. David Cameron is called on

to win back powers from Brussels in any agreement about a new EU treaty.

This EU summit is a defining moment. Will the Prime Minister do Britain

proud on Friday and show some bulldog spirit in Brussels? I want

to make sure we have more power and control here in the UK to determine

these things. We'll be looking at whether the Prime Minister will be

able to resist the intense pressure coming from his own backbenches.

Also tonight: Syria's president denies issuing any command to kill

protestors, despite the deaths of thousands of people. No Government

in the world kill its people unless it's led by crazy person.

An investigation is ordered into claims that examiners are giving

teachers secret advice on how to improve results.

How over 40% of cancers could be prevented by lifestyle changes like

stopping smoking and losing weight. And, a disastrous night for both

Manchester sides in the Champion's league. I will be here with

Sportsday later on the news channel. We will look at all tonight's

Champions League matches and the latest from the UK championship

Good evening. David Cameron has come under intense pressure from

his own backbenchers over Europe, on the eve of a crucial summit that

is likely to fundamentally change the way the EU works. With France

and Germany agreeing a proposal to impose greater economic discipline

within the EU, the Prime Minister's own MPs and supporters are asking

him to grant a referendum on any treaty changes and use the

opportunity to claw back greater powers for Britain. Our political

editor Nick Robinson reports. Under pressure, the man who once told his

party to stop obsessing about Europe. Now David Cameron's having

to do just that. The EU summit which starts tomorrow could

determine not just the fate of the British economy, but of a coalition

deeply divided on this issue. the Prime Minister do Britain proud

on Friday and show some bulldog spirit in Brussels? Today, one MP

after another leapt to their feet to ask the Prime Minister what he

would do to see off what they see as the threat of further EU

interrogation. This EU summit is a defining moment. A once in a

lifetime opportunity. Will the Prime Minister seize the moment?

The Prime Minister says he won't sign a treaty that doesn't

safeguard the City of London from new euro rules. But... The British

national interest absolutely means we need to help resolve this crisis

in the eurozone. It is freezing the British economy, just as it is

freezing economies across Europe. Note carefully what he didn't say.

Ed Miliband certainly did. David Cameron wasn't listing the specific

powers that he wanted back from Europe. At the European summit what

powers will he be arguing to repatriate? Well as I have just

explained, at the summit, let me explain... They had all noticed the

Prime Minister had not really answered the question. Six weeks

ago he was promising his back pwfrpblgers a handbaging for Europe,

now he is reduced to hand-ringing, that's the reality of this Prime

Minister. Aides say David Cameron wants to protect his negotiating

hand. There was one hint of what he might do at the summit. The more

that countries in the eurozone ask for, the more we will ask for in

return. But we will judge that on the basis of what matters most to

Britain. Adding to the pressure on David

Cameron are those demanding a referendum on Europe, including

that man again, the Tory Mayor of London, Boris Johnson. If there is

a new EU treaty that creates a kind of fiscal union within the 27

countries, or within the eurozone, then we would have absolutely no

choice, either to veto it, but certainly to put it to a referendum.

Another Tory thinking out loud about how Britain should react to

more European integration is the Northern Ireland Secretary, Owen

Paterson. He told the Spectator David Cameron and Nick Clegg may

have very different views of the future of Europe, but when it comes

to a referendum, or not having one, they speak as one.

Of course there should be a referendum if we as a country were

to surrender new powers to the European Union. But there's no

question of us doing that now because the new powers that will be

surrendered by anyone will be within the eurozone and we are not

a member of the eurozone. So the question simply doesn't arise.

What's made Britain's eurosceptics so twitchy is the proposals of the

couple known as Merkozy, Germany's chancellor Merkel and Franz's

President -- France's President Sarkozy. Today they wrote a letter

on ways to halt the euro crisis, proposing that at least those in

the eurozone should now agree a euro tax on financial transactions,

a common approach to company taxes, and common employment rules, too.

Precisely the sort of agenda loathed by British Conservatives.

As if all that euro pressure weren't enough, David Cameron has

to put whatever is agreed at this summit to a Commons vote, the last

volt on Europe produced the biggest rebellion seen in years.

In a moment we'll be talking to our political editor Nick Robinson, but

first our Europe editor Gavin Hewitt in Brussels. We've been here

several times before with EU summits that have failed to result

in a definitive solution. Is it going to be different this time?

Well, the mood this time is very different. The message is no half-

baked solutions. The French say they'll stay here at the table

until they have an agreement. The Germans tonight are trying to lower

expectations, they say it may take until Christmas to reach an

agreement, but if it takes that long, they'll be there. Now the

mood amongst the French and Germans is to play it tough and certainly

if David Cameron comes here and plays the British bulldog and is

insistent on safeguarding British interests, in exchange for

supporting a treaty change, he may find himself in a very difficult

conversation. And in any event, if he pushes too hard, then the 17

members of the eurozone could go it alone and set up their own euro

treaty, marginalising British influence and that's why I think

tomorrow and on Friday it will be a very difficult situation for him.

Just to say how will this summit be judged, it will be judged if by

insisting on greater budgetary control, the European Central Bank

is freed up to spwe convenient more aggress tkr aggress -- intervene

more aggressively and help troubled countries. Nick Robinson, David

Cameron under intense pressure as we saw tonight from his own back

benches, he has a difficult balancing act. Hugely difficult,

because today the pressure was all from eurosceptics who want to say

at the moment we told you so, we always thought this euro project

would fail. We now want Britain, either to get out altogether, or at

least to pull aside from the future of that tighter euro group and in

the end demand a referendum on Europe because they don't trust

what is said in Brussels, they don't trust what's said in

Whitehall, they they don't even trust their own Prime Minister here,

not to do what the Europeans want. Yet tomorrow he will come under

opposite pressure, from European leaders who say we have to boost

confidence in the euro, in the global economy, and we have to do

it now. So, don't stand in our way. I think the compromise he will seek

for is to do enough to help the euro without doing so much that the

new eurozone can dictate new rules on all sorts of things for Britain.

So there's no real problem at all for him, he merely has to sort the

euro crisis, without provoking a referendum, convince the

eurosceptics without upsetting the pro-European Liberal Democrats.

Easy really! Thank you both. The Syrian

president, Bashar al-Assad, insists he hasn't ordered the killing of

any protestors during his government's brutal crackdown. The

United Nations estimates that more than 4,000 people have lost their

lives during the nine-month pro- democracy uprising. In a rare

interview for the America's ABC News, President Assad said any

leader who killed his own people would be crazy. Our Middle East

correspondent Paul Wood has sent this report from Beirut.

Day after day, unarmed Syrian protesters have come out to face

machine guns, snipers, and armoured vehicles.

GUNFIRE. The costs so far is 4,000 dead. But

in his ABC interview, President Assad denied killing his own

citizens. We don't kill our people, nobody kill, no Government in the

world kill its people unless it's led by crazy person. For me as

President, I became President because of the public support. It's

impossible for anyone this state to be order to kill. We saw a

different picture in a week of travelling inside Syria. In the

city of Homs, this woman catalogues her losses. Her son was shot dead

at a protest she explains. Then her grandson was killed by a sniper

while out getting bread. A few days after speaking to us, she too was

shot dead in the street. There are military forces belong to the

Government. I don't own them, I am President. You have to give the

order? No, no. Not by your command? No, no. The crackdown was without

your permission? No, there's difference between having policy to

crackdown and between having some mistakes committed by some

officials. There's big difference. That's just ludicrous, says the US

state department. The demonstraters would no doubt agree. After ten

months of this, there is an absolute determination not to give

up. People have suffered too much. The men of this family are in

hiding from the security forces. One was held for six weeks. He says

he was beaten continually, stripped naked, threatened with castration,

doused in boiling water, but still he would not confess.

The officer said this dog is not afraid of dying, he recalls, so

hang him by his hands. They did so, for five days. A UN report says

torture is common in Syria. Send us the documents, as long as we don't

see the documents and the evidences, we can not say yes that's normal.

We can not just say the United Nations - who said the United

Nations is a credible institution? You do in the think the United

Nations is credible? No. You have an ambassador to the United Nations.

Yeah, it's a game you play. Where is all this going? Some have

responded to the Government crackdown by taking up arms. The

international community is deeply worried that Syria's heading into a

fully-fledged civil war. President Assad's interview paints a picture

of Syria which is completely at odds with what's being experienced

by the demonstraters who are still being shot down in the streets

almost every single day. At the beginning, their demand was simply

for reform. Now after months of unfulfilled promises, they want

President Assad to go. The Education Secretary, Michael

Gove, has ordered an investigation this evening after claims that

examiners have been giving teachers secret advice on how to improve

their GCSE and A-level grades. The Daily Telegraph claims that some

teachers have paid �200 a day for advice on upcoming exam questions,

to help boost their students' grades. Our education correspondent

Reeta Chakrabarti is with me here. What more can you tell us? This

came about because the Daily Telegraph sent undercover reporters

to meetings that had been organised by the exam boards for teachers in

England. These meetings are perfectly above board, because they

are there to give support and advice to teachers and that is

within the board's code of practice, but the Telegraph's reporters found

that examiners were telling teachers what questions their

pupils could expect, telling them how the pupils could best answer

those questions, and in one case, the examiner actually admitted that

he was cheating by telling them all this. Now there's been quite a

response to this as you can imagine, the exam board say they stand by

the integrity of their systems but if one or two individuals have

broken rules rules they'll investigate but the Education

Secretary has ordered his own investigation, he has asked the

regulator to take a look at this and to report back in two weeks.

Cancer Research UK has found that smoking, diet, alcohol and obesity

all play a significant part. Smoking is by far the highest risk

factor. For men, it is followed by a lack of fruit and vegetables,

while for women, being overweight plays a significant role.

These are magnified cancer cells, under attack from antibodies and

multiplying at frightening speed. For decades, scientists have been

searching for the causes of cancer. Today's report adds to our

understanding of how much the condition is linked to preventable

factors. That is something Elaine wishes she had known earlier. Two

years ago, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had major surgery.

She had no idea being overweight could have been putting her at risk.

Since then, she has transformed her life style. It was a real shock to

me. Within a year or 18 months, I had lost four stone put up I had

managed to do that through diet and lifestyle changes. I stopped

drinking, took more exercise, changed my portion sizes and the

types of food I was eating. Weight is one of the four major lifestyle

risks when it comes to cancer. By far the biggest danger is smoking,

causing 19% of all cancers, particularly lung cancer but also

liver and kidney. For men, the second biggest risk is a poor diet,

linked to 12% of cancers, including stomach, lull and oral cancers. For

women, it is worse being overweight. Responsible for 7% of cancers,

among them breast, uterus and bowel cancers. Alcohol is the other key

risk. Heavy drinking results in 4% of all cancers including mouth,

throat and bowel cancers. Over half of all cancers cannot be prevented.

They are caused by age or family history. That means however healthy

you are, you cannot eliminate your risk. This study does not say that

if you control all of these factors, you will guarantee to never get

cancer. What it does say is that you can stack the odds in your

favour, and reduce the risk, very considerably. Maybe we should get

together with arcades and Eid better. Spending on public -- with

arcades and Eid better. Spending on public campaigns has been reduced.

The government encourages people to take responsibility for their own

health. We can contribute by talking to our friends, families,

encouraging healthy lifestyles. Small changes can make a real

difference in terms of the number of cancers. Because we are living

longer, more of us are getting cancer. It is now clear we can have

some control over our risks. Coming up, misery for Manchester in

the Champions League. How both the City's teams had a night to forget

The by the end of this month, the last US military forces are

scheduled to have left Iraq, bring to an end a campaign that has

lasted eight and a half years. The war has been fought at immense cost

to those involved on both sides. Almost 4,500 American servicemen

and women have lost their lives, with another 32,000 wounded. What

has this huge investment in lives lost and damaged achieved, in the

minds of the troops and their families? Our Washington

correspondent has been to meet some of those who served.

A think we should have two flags and a pinwheel. This is where the

war in Iraq began and it is ending. Families across America have been

the backbone of a long campaign. Jacquie Byrd's husband, banned --

Alan, has been aware for most of the last two years and now he is

coming home. He was my best friend and he was not there. He could get

in touch with us, and he did. But when we needed him, it was not

always easy for us to get hold of him. That was probably the hardest

part of the whole year. Few here questioned the value of a mission

that was America's war of choice, based on the threat of weapons of

mass destruction that did not exist. But today it is about something far

Within a few weeks, all the troops would have left Iraq, and most will

be home for Christmas. For every one of the 300 also a man and women

who returns today, there are many more who never came back -- 300 or

so. The memorial at Fort Hood is a pretty sombre reminder of the

sacrifice of the last eight years. Nearly 4,500 US troops and tens of

thousands of Iraqis have lost their lives in a conflict that still is

not over. For many of those who have made it home, their battle,

their struggle, in many ways, is still going on. Bernie Teich lost

his leg in a roadside bomb. Four years later, the pain in his other

leg is so bad that it will also have to be amputated. His marriage

has failed and he is raising three children on his own. Plenty of

reasons, you might think, to be bitter about the Iraq war. They

have to ask whether you think it is worth it. Yes, I do. I really feel

like we helped the Iraqi people. I think there will be turbulent times

for a little bit, but I think what we did was the right thing to do.

President Obama may have wanted to give some of these soldiers on in

Iraq, but the war had become increasingly unpopular, damaging

America's standing in the world. He can still claim credit for ending a

deeply flawed campaign, and finally bringing the troops home.

A vulnerable man, who died after suffering 30 years of torment by

feral youths on a south Manchester council estate, was unlawfully

killed, a coroner has killed -- has ruled, though no one has been

charged in relation to his death. David Askew had learning

difficulties and a mental age of 10. The inquest heard how he and his

family had called the police 88 times in the three years before his

death about the constant harassment. Detectives investigating

allegations of phone hacking by newspapers have arrested the

private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire. He was jailed almost five

years ago for intercepting voice messages while working for the News

of the World. The BBC has learnt that the Metropolitan Police is

investigating allegations that the News of the World may have

illegally obtained details of medical records.

Glenn Mulcaire, one of the original guilty men in the phone hacking

affair. Five years on from his first arrest, to date came and

early-morning knock from the police. This time, he was taken in for

questioning on suspicion of packing and perverting the course of

justice. He is the 16th person to be arrested as part of the

Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking. He is following

in the path of high-profile figures like Rebekah Brooks and Andy

Coulson. Both, former senior figures in the Murdoch empire.

Scotland Yard is working its way through 300 million e-mails from

News International. So far, please have identified over 5795 potential

packing victims. -- hacking victims. The hacking inquiry has spawned two

other investigations. One into computer hacking, and another into

alleged police corruption. One of the people arrested in that is

Clive Goodman, the journalist who has already served time for hacking.

Tonight there is a development on yet another front. Officers from

here are investigating allegations that the News of the World

illegally obtained details from the medical records of an unnamed

celebrity. News International says it is co-operating fully with the

police. Some victims, already in contact with Scotland Yard over

hacking, have already given ever since to the lead as an inquiry --

given evidence to the Leveson inquiry. The fall-out could cost

millions and go on for years. Today, detectives were back where it began,

gathering evidence at the home of the private investigator, Glenn

Mulcaire, jailed all those years ago. Tonight, he was released on

bail until March. A former editor of the News of the

World, Andy Coulson, is suing his ex-employer over its refusal to pay

the legal fees he has incurred as a result of defending himself in the

phone hacking scandal. Mr Coulson is arguing that News Group

Newspapers is liable under the terms of the details -- the terms

of the deal when he resigned, but the company says the arrangement

did not cover criminal allegations. It has been a terrible light for

Manchester, both United and City have gone out of the Champions

Yes, they might be leading the way in the Premier League, but

Manchester clubs it won't be winning the Champions League this

season. Manchester City are out, despite beating Bayern Munich 2-0.

Far more surprisingly, Manchester United, expected to qualify but

beaten by Basel. For Manchester United, the equation was simple,

the reality anything but. They needed just a draw against

unglamorous Basel, but within 10 minutes, calamity. David DeGale

flaps, Marco Streller pounced and United were thinking the

unthinkable. They had to score and before the break, failed a spectre

at -- spectacular lead to do so, especially Wayne Rooney. -- failed

spectacularly to do so. United swarmed forward. Basel nearly

gifted them an equaliser. When Alexander Frei put them 2-0 up,

United seemed as good as finished. Not quite. With time running out,

Phil Jones scrambled one back, but to no avail. For the first time in

six years, Manchester United, out before the knockout stages. The

shock will reverberate for some time. As for Manchester City, they

faced a truly daunting task. They had to beat Bayern Munich and hope

Napoli could not beat Villarreal. An unlikely combination, but City

boost belief. Just before the break, they were ahead, a delightful

finish from David Silva. Yaya Toure made it 2-0 with the calmest of

finishes and at at point, City were going through. But two Napoli goals

shattered the celebrations. This was a valiant effort but

disappointment for them, on a deeply disappointing night for

Manchester. It leaves Arsenal and Chelsea as the only British clubs

left in the Champions League. Arsenal and Manchester City go