18/01/2012 BBC News at Ten

Tonight at 10 o'clock: Job losses and faltering growth. The latest

evidence of the state of the economy. Unemployment rises again

to 2.68 million, with youth unemployment at record levels.

Ahead of next week's growth figures, a less than optimistic note from

the Chancellor. I don't know what next week's GDP number is going to

be. Our independent forecasters, the OBR, has warned us that it may

well be a negative number. That was their forecast in November. We will

be hearing from George Osborne who has been visiting Japan in the Far

East. Also tonight, their view from space

of the capsized Italian cruise liner where hope has faded of

finding anyone else alive. 30 years after the Falklands War

Britain accuses Argentina of a colonial approach to the

sovereignty of the islands. Why hundreds of websites including

Wikipedia have been off line in a protest against planned privacy

laws. And a new planet discovered by

amateur astronomers here in Britain. On the BBC News Channel I will be

here with all of the action from the third round replays of the FA

Cup. Wrexham are pushing Brighton Good evening. The parlous state of

the British economy is underlined by the latest unemployment figures.

The number out of work has risen again to reach 2.68 million with a

record number of young people out of work. As the news was announced,

the Chancellor was signalling that next week's growth figures might

well be negative, raising fears of a renewed recession.

The bad news about the economy is swirling round Downing Street.

Today unemployment reached another new high. Next week official

statistics may show that the economy is shrinking rather than

growing from the end of last year. They have not seen those growth

numbers, GDP in the jargon, inside Number 11 yet. But the Chancellor

is preparing us all for the worst, even as he was meeting his

counterpart on a trip to Japan. When you look at the GDP numbers

for Britain, they are very similar to the GDP numbers of France,

Germany and other Western countries. I don't know what next week's GDP

number will be. Our independent forecasters, the OBR, has warned

last that it may well be a negative number. What George Osborne knows

is that any number with a minus sign on it, even if it is just

minus 0.1% as forecast, will lead his critics to conclude that the

British economy is not moving forwards. It is going backwards.

don't think it is good enough just to have statements from the

Chancellor in Japan, which are about managing expectations, making

excuses in advance. The economy has not been growing for a year.

Chancellor knows that next week's statistics could provide him with

pretty dreadful headlines about the economy started to shrink. But

today's statistics about unemployment showed the human side

of an economy that simply is not growing. The number of young people

looking for work hit another new record today. The Wildlife Trust

near Bolton is trying to give them much-needed skills and teamwork.

John has a master's degree. What you can't get is the job. I kind of

expected it because of the climate. It is very demoralising. Sometimes

you get down for a few days. It is all about keeping the roll up.

the High Street, the clothing chain Peacocks is the latest big name to

go into administration, putting 10,000 jobs at risk including at

the Cardiff headquarters. We know that we are formally in

administration so we will find that if we have our jobs in the morning.

What was the atmosphere like? upset. They Prime Minister pointed

to one bit of good news. It was a small decrease in long-term

unemployment. It is a tragedy for the person that becomes unemployed

and it can lead to real difficulty for that family and that is why we

are taking so much action to help people to get back into work.

defining characteristic of this Government is that it stands aside

and does nothing as thousands of people find themselves unemployed.

Behind the door of Number 11 they know things will get worse before

they get better. It is quite clear that the

Chancellor wanted to get the message across today. Absolutely.

The economists at the Treasury do not care much if it is a little but

positive or negative, because it does not make much difference. --

little bit positive. But the Chancellor knows that will create

bad headlines and a hit to economic confidence as well. Although he is

reassuring us that unemployment figures do not look good but could

have been worse, he is being told privately, although the official

forecasts and the private advice is that we will not see two quarters

in a row of negative growth, the technical definition of a recession,

he is preparing us all for the fact that there is bad news to come.

Indeed. And added to all of that, a potential new challenge today

arising from the debt crisis. is right. The International

Monetary Fund has now put the number on the amount of money that

it wants the world to contribute to give it to the funds to stand

behind the eurozone countries that get into trouble. It is half a

billion dollars. People are now beginning to do the calculations

about what that means for an increased contribution for the UK.

No official number has been talked about or confirmed. On our

calculations we are talking about in the region of �15 billion or

more. The political problem for the Chancellor is that figure is high

enough that he has to go back to the House of Commons to have a new

vote. Last time he had a vote on this, there was quite a sizable

Tory rebellion. With Boris Johnson telling Tory MPs tonight that it is

time to stop trying to bubblegum together the eurozone, it is

another fight the Chancellor could do without. Thank you.

Rescue teams searching the cruise liner which ran aground off the

Italian coast last week have suspended their work after the ship

slipped further into the sea. More than 20 people are still missing.

The captain of the ship, he was accused of abandoning his

passengers and colleagues, is reported to be claiming that he

accidentally fell into a lifeboat. A team of specialist cave divers

headed out to the wreck. And into a dangerous world. It is slow going

inside the ship. Moving through the floating debris of a once luxury

liner. Along corridors turned on their side. They search for

survivors, but no more likely. They will only find the dead. -- they

know it is more likely that they will only find the dead. At one

point the glass door of a shop was above me with the contents inside

all pressing down. It could have shouted at any moment. We now know

that this violinist from Hungary was among the dead. He had helped

some children with their lifejackets and had then gone to

pack his violin. Among the missing is Russell Rebello, a waiter on

board. Today his brother Kevin came to the island. His first sight of

the Costa Concordia. Does he think that his brother can possibly be

alive? It is the 5th day, so it is a logical question that people are

making, it is an assumption. But there have been miracles. People

have come home after many days. the mainland, the captain's wife

was mobbed by journalists. He is enemy number one here, criticised

for abandoning ship. He is reported as saying that he slipped by

mistake into a departing lifeboat. Few here believe that. His lawyer

says that the captain, under house arrest, is deeply shaken by what

happened. But the sister of another missing crew member, Erika, has no

sympathy. It is outrageous that they have him under house arrest.

It is like he is a free man and the search is taking too long.

satellite picked up this image of the ship. It looks stable. It is

not. Officials here tonight are closely monitoring the ship's

movement. It shifted slightly during the day, stopping the rescue

effort and postponed the start of the salvage operation. People here

know that until the Costa Concordia can be secured, there is always the

chance that fuel may leak from its tanks. Also deceiving thereof

reports that the captain has admitted making a navigation error.

-- this evening there are reports. It has cost him and those sailing

with him dearly. Boris Johnson claims that ministers

are increasingly interested in his controversial plans for a major new

airport in the Thames estuary. The Government is to include the

proposal in its wider consultation on the future of air travel in the

UK and where extra capacity might be found. Our transport

correspondent has more details. It is an ambitious idea to turn a

sleepy corner of Kent into an airport twice the size of Heathrow.

Four new runways, new roads, a high-speed line, and a high-profile

backer, the London Mayor. I think this is something that would

deliver a huge number of jobs for people in the South East of England

and would help us to compete in the long term. London's airports are

running out of space. Heathrow is already full and unable to expand,

while demand keeps rising. In 2010, 140 million passengers flew in or

out of the City. That could rise by 400 million by 2050. The new

airport would take 150 million passengers. More capacity means

more routes to growing markets like Brazil, China, India. Some worry

that Britain is losing out. When it comes to our infrastructure,

unfortunately when Britain dithers, others do. We have seen new runways

in France, Germany, Holland in recent years. Those countries could

become the beneficiaries of inward investment if the UK does not act.

It is hard to imagine, but this spot here would be the end of one

of the runways. Aeroplanes taking off and landing over my head. I

would be surrounded by houses and roads. They would even build a new

Thames flood barrier of river that would double as a road crossing.

The scale is incredible and there is a price tag to match. Total

costs, �50 billion. Although there is no clue yet as to who might find

it. And it could take decades to build. -- who might find it. This

crash in the New York Hudson River happened after birds got sucked

into the engines. The incident of bird strike from trying to fly

aircraft through birds that have been migrating down here for

millennia would perhaps be 12 times the normal. British Airways said it

would kill off Heathrow and while their boss Michael O'Leary has

called it absolutely nuts. -- Ryanair boss. There is also an

election coming up in London and nobody standing against Boris

Johnson likes the idea. It will be discussed in the spring when the

Government does consulted on its wider plan for aviation across

Britain. -- starts Consulting. Tensions between Britain and

Argentina are running high as we approach the 30th anniversary of

the Falklands War. David Cameron has angered Argentina by accusing

it of colonialism in its continued claim to the sovereignty of the

islands. The sovereignty -- security of the Falklands was

discussed yesterday. Is it your view, James, that David Cameron is

trying to put more pressure on Argentina? Yes, very much. It is 30

years since the conflict and tensions are rising quite high. Oil

has been discovered in the Islands and Argentina is stepping up its

anti-British rhetoric. Ships flying the Falklands flag have been banned

from local ports. David Cameron was trying to push back against this.

In the House of Commons he accused Argentine of colonialism. He

insisted that the Falkland Islanders themselves must determine

their future. He has also held a meeting of the National Security

Council this week to discuss the situation and make sure that

Britain is ready diplomatically and militarily just in case the

situation escalates, as some in Whitehall fear that it could. All

of this in a year of many events to mark the anniversary and also just

as Prince William is preparing to go there to fly search-and-rescue

helicopters. Argentina has hit back. The interior minister has accused

David Cameron of being totally offensive. It is a toxic if not

explosive diplomatic makes and will surely not end here. -- diplomatic

The High Court has ordered the eviction of protestors who've been

camping outside St Paul's Cathedral since October. The Judge said their

camp site had a damaging impact on one of Britain's most important

public buildings. The Occupy campaigners say it is a case about

freedom of expression and are appealing against the decision.

Thousands of workers at the giant consumer goods manufacturer,

Unilever, have started a series of strikes over the company's plans to

axe its final-salary pension scheme. Unilever, which makes everything

from Marmite to Persil, says the changes are needed as people are

living longer. Hundreds of internet sites, including Wikipedia and the

blogging service WordPress, have been taking part in a blackout

protest. They're concerned about anti-piracy laws being discussed by

the Americans. The proposed legislation would allow the

Department of Justice and content owners to seek court orders against

any site accused of enabling or facilitating piracy. Our Technology

Correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, The internet - founded on the idea

of free-flowing information available to all, but for many

giants, an American plan to crack down on pyrecy poses a serious

threat to that ethos of freedom and openess. That's why Wikipedia and a

number of others have gone dark for a day of protest. Why should a US

law should down a global site? Although it's an American law, it

would affect the whole of Wikipedia, because if we posted something that

linked to some content that was copyright protected then with this

law the whole website would have to come down. President Obama

indicated he was unhappy with some aspects of the legislation. That

angered a big supporter of the anti-drive, murd, who took to

Twitter to accuse firms like Google of promote the piracy. You will

find plenty of links on Google, many of them to piracy websites,

but what Wikipedia and others say is that the new laws can be

indiscriminate, threatening both legal and illegal material, with

the possibility that much of the internet could end up going dark.

Behind the scenes, Hollywood is lobbying hard for the laws, arguing

that their possible impact has been exaggerated and American jobs are

at stake. It's a jobs and benefits issue. Hundreds of thousands of

people who work in Hollywood and those who depend on the jobs,

depend on the passage of the bills. The fact is that each year we lose

thousands of jobs to digital theft. Tonight at least one senator used

Twitter to announce he was dropping his support for the laws. The

internet blackouts have been pretty patchy. You could find Wikipedia if

you really wanted it, but the webcam painers believe their voices

have -- webcam painers believe their voices have been heard.

Coming up - we'll explain why everyone has switched off their

light in a Somerset town earlier this evening. The Chancellor is in

the Far East this week and has been visiting Japan where the economy

has taken years to recover from its own crisis and he's keen to see

what lessons the UK can draw from their experience. Japan. For years

it's been the great cautionary tail of a one booming economy which

turned to bust 30 years ago, with a massive financial crisis. The

country's battled with deflation and economic stagnation ever since.

When the financial crisis hit us in 2008 policy makers were determined

they weren't going to make the same mistakes as Japan. There would be

no lost decade for Britain or America. But more than three years

later, we are still struggling to put the crisis behind us and

Japan's lost decade is starting to look pretty good. Japan grew by

just 0.8% a year on average in the ten years after its bubble bust.

That's pretty bad, but it's no worse than the latest official

forecast for the UK from 2007 onwards. That assumes the eurozone

crisis gets resolved. You might wonder where George Osborne would

want to come, but he's here to drum up business for Britain. He does

like his high-speed trains. Would I go forward? I asked him about what

he thought about UK turning Japanese. When you have an enormous

property and financial crash it takes a long time to fully recover

from that. That was the Japanese experience and has been the

experience of Britain and other western countries and it's just a

reminder of what a mess we are having to clear up. I think the

second lesson from Japan is that you need to take decisive action

sooner rather than later. Others see it differently. That trying to

cut the deficit too fast can derail your recovery. Japan did that in

1997. It resulted in five quarters of negative growth and the deficit

increased by 68%, even with higher taxes and lower spending. It took

Japan ten years to climb out of that policy mistake. That's the

kind of thing I see in the UK and US and Europe. I'm tempted to say

if this is stagnation then bring it on. Even today, only three

countries export more than Japan. Their unemployment rate is less

than 5%. In these years UNIQLO has almost managed to make itself the

fourth-biggest clothing producer in the world. The President, Tadashi

Yanai, is now worth over $8 billion. I see you have a sign in your

boardroom that says, "No challenge, no future." You have had plenty of

challenges here in Japan. TRANSLATION: I really feel that you

need to keep challenging yourself in the global market. Without any

challenge you cannot make profit. Japan's still got big challenges

but a shrinking workforce means their unemployment stays low even

when the economy is flat. As we saw today, there's little chance of

that in the UK. All in all, Mr Osborne might think we could do

worse than follow Japan. But if the forecasts are right, we might well.

Britain has called for tougher sanctions against Syria in response

to the brutal crackdown on demonstrators who want more freedom

and democratic rights. An Arab League monitoring mission has

failed to stop the violence which has been continuing for the past

ten months. But Russia has hinted that it will block any move at the

UN Security Council to impose sanctions. We can join our Middle

East editor, Jeremy Bowen, in Damascus for us tonight. Very few

western journalists have been reporting. What are your

impressions on arriving there? First impressions are that compared

to how it was when I was last here, it's subdued. The economy is

suffering here. It is a quieter city than usual. That economic

trouble might tip the steal mate evently, in which this conflict now

is, which is that neither side is strong enough to overwhelm the

other. The rebelling continues. The regime continues. Strong views on

either sides of course and no political process to try to bring

them together. At the moment, it is simply a zero gain. It's winner

takes all, with the rebellion saying that the President has to go

and the President saying his people are being killed as well and that

there is a foreign conspiracy here to try to destroy Syria. The Arab

League monitors will be delivering their report tomorrow, to their

ministerial masters and their response over the weekend is going

to shape the international next steps in this particular crisis.

Thank you very much. A seven-mile flotilla of a thousand ships is to

sail down the Thames as part of the celebrations to mark the Queen's

Diamond Jubilee in June. The pageant will feature vessels from

the countries of the Commonwealth. The Queen and other senior members

of the Royal Family will travel at the head of the flotilla aboard the

Royal Barge. A new planet orbiting a distant star has been discovered

by amateur astronomers in Britain. The planet, thought to be too hot

to sustain kind of life, was found by viewers of the BBC programme

Stargazing Live, which has drawn millions of viewers to take an

interest in space. Our science editor, David Shukman, takes up the

Beyond Earth, beyond the Solar System, new worlds are emerging

deep in space. Tonight came the discovery of yet another. This

artist's impression shows a planet nearly four times larger than Earth,

found not by a space agency, but by an amateur. Chris is in

Peterborough, going through computer data and stumbling across

a whole new planet. I've had a passing interest in where things

are, but never had any more knowledge than that. Being involved

in a project like this and being the one to find something is very

exciting. It was the programme that got him interested. Running all

week, it's attracted massive audiences. Thousands have been

inspired to join the search for new planets. I think it's the science

that anybody can do. We have seen it with this discovery. These are

just normal viewers, actually doing science and just think about this -

discovering a planet around a distant star. What is emerging is

that more and more planets may be discovered by people just hunting

on the internet. The technique involves a professional telescope

watching a star the size of a light dimming. A planet is passing in

front of it. There is so much data that the public are needed to go

through it, but the reward is finding a new planet like this one

tonight. What is it like? You have to think of Neptune, but it's

probably as warm as mercury, so pretty unpleasant, but none the

less a discovery has been made. lure of space is infectious. Three,

two, one... A small town of Dulverton if Devon tonight switched

off all of its light for a better view of the heavens while the

programme was on air. Astron my is suddenly popular. The starsen

Exmoor are extraordinary. On a clear night we sit out in deck

chairs. New techniques and mounting enthusiasm for space among the