24/02/2012 BBC News at Ten

A small humanitarian breakthrough in Syria, as the Red Crescent

secures the evacuation of some women and children. After weeks of

shelling in the city of Homs, four ambulances are allowed in to

evacuate wounded civilians. World leaders gather to condemn the

violence in Syria and call for an immediate ceasefire and

humanitarian aid. If the Assad regime refuses to allow this life-

saving aid to reach people in need, it would have even more blood on

its hands. But there's little agreement on how

to make Syria's President Assad stop killing his own people.

Also tonight: She was the Government's family

tsar. Now Emma Harrison steps down as chair of her troubled welfare to

work company. The retired British businessman

extradited to America. Christoper Tappin says his treatment is unfair.

I have no rights. Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today,

and we cannot extradite him. He has more rights than I have.

Lloyds posts losses of �3.5 billion but it still pays out hundreds of

millions in bonuses. And this time the Oscars could be a

In Sportsday at 10:30pm, a full round up of the news, including

more on Wales going for the Triple Crown in the Six Nations at

Good evening. After urgent negotiations with the

Syrian government by the Red Cross and Red Crescent, a handful of

ambulances have been allowed into the wreckage of the city of Homs to

evacuate 20 women and children and seven wounded. The two foreign

journalists who have been seriously injured there are refusing to leave

until there is a ceasefire. World leaders have gathered to condemn

the violence in Syria. They've called for humanitarian aid to be

allowed into the areas devastated by shelling and gunfire. But

divisions remain on how to persuade or force President Bashar al-Assad

to end the bloodshed. From Tunis, No end to the shelling of Baba Amr

in on Saturday. -- in Hom's today. Tonight, glimmer of a breakthrough.

Some severely wounded casualties, including women and children in the

district, were evacuated to a local hospital. Not be injured foreign

journalists, though, who apparently refused to go. Red Cross

negotiations on their fate are continuing. Meanwhile, today's

conference in Tunis sent a strong political message. Dozens of

countries, backing the call for President Assad to go, and

endorsing the main opposition grouping, the Syrian National

Council. I do believe they justify our intensified support and working

with them. So I have offered them whatever additional practical help

we can provide from the United Kingdom, the political opposition

outside Syria. I believe they are doing the right things and will be

able to bring greater unity to the opposition in Syria. Among the

points they agreed in Tunis, to promote the Syrian National Council

as a legitimate representative of the opposition, to ramp up economic

sanctions against Syria and close embassies, and to position

humanitarian aid, just in case President Assad ever agrees to a

ceasefire. But behind the scenes, there was

chaotic disagreement about whether to arm the rebels. Britain has

always been against it. The Americans this week hinted they

might consider it, but sitting next to Hillary Clinton, the Saudi

Foreign Minister said he was all for it. An excellent idea, he

called it. REPORTER: What you think about

bombing the Syrian opposition? think it is an excellent idea.

Because they can't protect themselves. One thing that all here

in June is seemed to agree on, the failure of the outside world to

take action to stop the violence in Syria is not to do with their own

lack of political will, but the fault, they say, of Russia and

China, who blocked any UN approval and refused to turn up to this

conference. It is quite distressing to see two permanent members of the

Security Council using their veto, when people are being murdered,

women, children, brave young men, houses are being destroyed. It is

just despicable. And I ask, whose side are they on? Not everyone is

opposed to President Assad. One noisy rally of his supporters

nearly disrupted proceedings. A reminder that there are plenty of

people who do not think he has the worst option for Syria. What has

emerged at this conference is that even if all the countries are

united in wanting to see the violence in Syria stop and to see

President Assad go, they do not really have a clear idea about how

to do it. They might claim Russia and China for blocking action at

the United Nations, but the truth is, there is deep unease about

getting sucked into a conflict in Syria with unforeseen consequences.

Despite the rising death toll and support for President Assad in some

areas, in many towns around Syria people are trying to organise

themselves into an embryonic opposition and into armed militias.

Ian Pannell has sent this report Soldiers, farmers, mechanics, even

greengrocers. Citizens bearing arms. These are the men of the Syrian

Liberation Army, a brand new armed group. Britain and the West won the

opposition to unite. But in truth, each village, each family is now

forming its own separate militia here. More of a self-defence force

than a rebel army. But ask them what they want from the diplomats

in Tunis, and then they agreed. the people, all the world, they are

now watching what is happening inside Syria. Every day more of the

killing, from Young, from old, from children, from women. And it is

very important to get the victory and a buffer zone and we need a no-

fly zone. People gathered across Syria today as the clamour for

change grows. Strength in numbers, perhaps, but some still did not

dare to show their face. Syrian people want freedom and dignity.

Our people are being killed every day. So we want to stop this

violence, to stop the killing of civilians. This has become a Friday

ritual for almost a year. They don't just want the freedom to

speak out, but the right to be heard. You can see them, you can

hear them. Freedom, freedom, freedom! This is Syria's revolution

in full flow. It is easy to forget that for much of the last 40 years

a demonstration like this would have been almost unthinkable. But

their sheer strength of numbers is not matched by a fire power, and in

the face of overwhelming force, the truth is they have little capacity

to resist. Some were attacked today for daring to protest. Our view of

the country is limited, but what we have seen is complete desperation

at the lack of help from the outside world. And so, as night

falls, men with guns stand guard across Syria. There is little

reason to think their government would accept today's idea of a

ceasefire. And the road ahead is likely to see more bloodshed and

The Government's scheme to get the unemployed back into work suffered

another blow tonight. The head of the company that handles millions

of pounds' worth of welfare to work contracts has resigned. Emma

Harrison was chair of the firm A4e which has found itself at the

centre of a storm of criticism. Iain Watson is as Westminster. Is

It is certainly not hold for when the chairman of the company at the

centre of the Government's attempts to get people back into work has

put herself out of a job. Emma Harrison is described as

inspirational by the Prime Minister recently but she steps down from

A4e just one day after resigning as an unpaid Government adviser. This

follows news that police are investigating allegations of fraud

that her company. I thought you would like to hear it first...

events tonight suggests there is such a thing as bad publicity. Emma

Harrison built up her employment business over a quarter of the

century. Last year she paid herself a dividend of over �8 million. Her

company's job is to get the long- term unemployed back to work, but

The Government has �180 million of contracts with A4e. It pays by

results. So ministers see it as a crucial means of getting people

back into work more quickly at a time of high unemployment. Tonight,

there are calls for the Government to suspend those contracts and for

greater scrutiny of Parliament employment firms. -- private

employment firms. The Government must take some blame. The job of

Government when it is issuing contracts like this is to make sure

they are properly delivered. This comes on top of more gloomy news

for the Government, and well-known retailers getting twitchy about

their own involvement in back-to- work programmes. The high street

store Poundland pulled out of a scheme aimed at the long-term

unemployed, saying it is wrong that some people are forced to work for

their benefits. And earlier this week, Tesco criticised a scheme for

young unemployed people, while the fashion chain Matalan is thinking

twice about whether to take part in it in future. David Cameron had

seen A4e's chairman as inspirational. Tonight, the company

has launched its own investigation into fraud allegations. Wider

questions are being asked about the Government's approach to getting

people back to work. Ministers are insisting their work programmes are

still on track, but let's face it, the last thing the Government

needed tonight was a high-profile job loss at a company that is seen

as crucial to getting rising unemployment back down.

A 65-year-old British businessman is due to arrive in the United

States around now in the custody of US Marshals, to face charges of

conspiring to supply missile parts to Iran. At Heathrow this morning,

Christopher Tappin said his extradition was a disgrace and

criticised the Prime Minister for failing to prevent it. June Kelly

reports. Christopher Tappin, leaving his

home in Kent for possibly the last time. It is already on the market

to help to pay the legal bills. The former golf club president and

company director wanted as a suspect in an international

criminal conspiracy. At Heathrow, before he went into the custody of

US air marshals, he went on the attack. I look to Mr Cameron to

look after my rights, and he has failed to do so. I have no rights.

Abu Qatada is walking the streets of London today, and we cannot

extradite him. He has more rights than I have. Downing Street says

the cases are completely different. At Christopher Tappin's side, his

wife, who has health problems. He is accused of being involved in a

plot to export batteries for Hawk air-defence missiles to Iran. The

Americans arrested one of his business clients in an undercover

operation, and according to Christopher Tappin, this man has

falsely implicated him. His case is the latest to highlight what some

see as the unfair extradition agreement between Britain and

America. Gary McKinnon is one of those also facing charges in the

States. He is wanted for hacking into US military computers. Critics

of the agreement with the Americans argue that legally it is unbalanced.

If we make a request to the United States, we have to provide evidence

the quality of which a judge in America will assess before deciding

to extradite. If the Americans make a request to us, all they have to

do is to give aid their recitation of the essential facts of the

allegation, with no detail, so there is no judicial assessment of

the quality or reliability of that evidence at all. And that is what

is so unjust. A review commissioned by the Government found the system

was fair, but David Cameron is still under pressure from many in

his own party. Of course, balance in these arrangements is absolutely

vital, but it is important that at the same time we remember why we

enter into these extradition treaties, which is to show respect

to each other's judicial processes and make sure people who were

accused of crimes can be tried for those crimes. Christopher Tappin

believes he should have been tried in the UK. He boarded the plane in

the custody of the Americans and will spend tonight in a detention

centre in Texas. Extradition is a sensitive issue, both politically

and diplomatically. And there has been no Government response yet to

last year's review. No public comment from ministers today on the

Christopher Tappin case. A statement said only that the Home

Secretary had considered the relevant issues before she signed

Lloyds Banking Group says it is in a significantly stronger position

than it was 12 months ago, despite announcing losses of �3.5 billion

2011. The bank, which is 40% owned by the taxpayer, blamed the result

of the compensation it has paid to customers who were mis-sold payment

protection products. The bank says it will pay bonuses of �375 million

to staff. With the details, business editor Robert Peston.

Lloyds, the Black Horse, back in the red again. The previous year's

return to profit, the apparent recovery, did not last. A whopping

loss of �3.5 billion in 2011, largely because of a �3.2 billion

charge to compensate thousands of customers who were mis-sold credit

insurance. That has hit the result that we have now seen. They are

keen to move away from that. A number of people at bonuses

withdrawn because of that mis- selling that took place. But this

is what should worry taxpayers, all of us to put �20 billion into

Lloyds to rescue this along with Halifax and the Bank of Scotland.

Even without the charge, Lloyds would have made a loss of several

hundred million pounds. The big story at Lloyds is of a squeeze on

what it earns. Increasingly, customers are reluctant to borrow,

and some are even repaying their debts because of the general

economic uncertainty. When Lloyds is able to lend, it is making less

profit, because banks have to borrow what they lend, and the cost

of borrowing for banks like Lloyds is going up, quite a lot. In spite

of its losses, �375 million of bonuses are being paid by Lloyds,

which some believe is not appropriate. These bonuses have

gone to thousands of staff, so the average was 3,900 fans, far less

than the bonuses at banks like Barclays and RBS, which had become

a high pain investment banks. Lloyds was Antonio Horta-Osorio is

back in the saddle after his leave of absence for exhaustion. He told

me today that Lloyds is just one year into a five-year recovery

programme, which means it will be years before the taxpayers' stake

in the bank can be sold. Lloyds TSB's motto was for the journey,

and we will be with them on a sure we would get our money back

eventually, it is just a question of when. Lloyds may be in a red,

but it is less at risk of going bust than it was. Even so, it will

be a slow trot and tell taxpayers get their �20 billion back, if we

ever do. Coming up: The UK's biggest fishing

fraud, and the group of Scottish skippers who netted themselves

millions of pounds. It was one of the most enduring and

shocking images of this summer's riots in England, a family-run

furniture shop consumed by fire in Croydon in south London. Today the

man who started the blaze pleaded guilty. The judge said 33-year-old

Gordon Thompson faces a lengthy jail sentence. The store's owner

said parts of him had died when the shot went up in flames. From

Croydon, Tom Symonds reports. It was one of the most imitating,

destructive acts of the summer riots. -- devastating. A family

business deliberately burned to the ground. Now we know who was

responsible, Gordon Thompson, 33, admitted arson, burglary and

violent disorder. People across the country were appalled and shocked

at the level of violence and destruction that was committed on a

good Augusts 2011. The images of Reeves Corner are some of the most

iconic from that day. Thompson was caught on his CCTV footage. He is

one of the figures moving from left to right at the top of the screen.

He approaches the store, something is burning in his hand, and he

appears to touch it to a sofa. By nightfall, the flames had spread

fast, feeding on hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of brand-

new furniture. There was little the firefighters could do. The store

was reduced to smouldering rubble, and during the fire embers drifted

across the street to these flats. Inside, lives were at risk. In his

dramatic picture, a shop worker jumped to safety as the fire spread.

The burning of the furniture store seemed to symbolise the mindless

nature of the summer disorder, and senior politicians came to visit.

Six months on, the father and son who owned it are still negotiating

with insurers and still disgusted at what happened. The business has

been here for so long, as I said before, many times, it has survived

two wars, the Great Depression and many other things that have been

thrown at it. But this one destructive incident has bedded

down. It does not say much for society. The investigation into the

summer disorder continues. Thomson will be sentenced in April. --

Thompson. 17 men at the heart of the UK's

biggest fraud involving illegal catches of fish, or with a

processing factory, have been fined almost �1 million. The skippers

from Shetland sold vast quantities of mackerel and herring, and aiding

strict quotas. Two other factories were also involved in the fraud.

Lorna Gordon reports. In the waters off Britain, the

largest and most profitable boats in the fleet draw for mattering and

heroin. They catch is limited by European quotas to prevent

overfishing, but a single trip to see can be worth millions. But

these givers have admitted fraud on an industrial scale. They conspired

with some factories and industry middlemen, and more than half the

Scottish boats were in on the crime. Wealthy people wanted to make

themselves even wealthier. Staggering sums are involved, both

in terms of the official landing of fish and undeclared fish.

investigation started in Shetland, where the authorities discovered

that all but one of the large trawlers on the island were

ignoring limits on how much they could fish. The skippers involved

in the scam were landing their catch our herring and mackerel, and

this processing plant on the edge of gnomic handled it. When the

factory was raided, it was discovered that Scales had been

adopted. The fraud was not confined to the Northern Isles. In Peterhead,

two other factories were raided, and police uncovered a pipeline to

smuggle fish on shore. The industry says practices have now changed and

they have been singled out for breaking quotas. This was quite

widespread, not only within the UK but across Europe as well. If you

look at the approaches taken by different governments, there is not

a level playing field across Europe. But the staggering level of

declarations by these boats in Shetland contributed to the EU

reducing Britain's allocation armour and the fleet is now being

monitored more closely to make sure the quotas, however unpopular, R

Ayutthaya is too. Up at hereto. The Green Party's spring conference

has opened in Liverpool with Caroline Lucas telling delegates

the party is growing on a national and local level because of

disillusionment with Westminster politics. She said the image of

Britain as a fair country where people have equal access to

facilities is being undermined by the economic crisis. The coalition

have set out to dismantle the welfare state, to punish the poor,

the old and the sick, and to take away those things we can all

equally share. And so the libraries are closing, the swimming pools are

shutting down, the playing fields sold off for development. But,

conference, people are fighting back. We are fighting back,

fighting for fairness and for our principles.

The leader of the Green Party, Caroline Lucas.

Preparations are under way for the most eagerly awaited show business

ceremony of the year. The red carpet is being rolled out, the

stars are heading into town for the 84 Oscars ceremony. But this year's

events could be remembered as a distinctly European affair, with

the French film of The Artist favourite to win several awards.

Here is Arts editor Will Gompertz. Preparations are under way for

Sunday night's Oscar ceremony. It is the culmination of the eight-

month epic that is the award season. Will the winners be as expected, or

might there be surprises? You sense the circus a telegram...

Could it be that the British star Gary Oldman wins best actor as

George Smiley in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy? The right honourable

gentleman knows very well that we had no choice but to close the

school. This year, the Oscars have been at the centre of heated debate.

A survey in the LA Times reveals that the Academy lacks diversity

among voting members, which the paper said were predominantly white,

male and middle-aged. She doesn't seem to mind. Whose fault is that?

Yours! But does the most nominated actress of all time care about the

Oscars? Sadly, it still matters! It does, it is so exciting. It

really is. I remember the first time I went. Lord Olivier was there,

I was next to Gregory Peck, Bette Davis was behind me. I mean, I have

been going to that thing for many As for best film, well, all of the

talk has been about the French silent-movie The Artist. Everyone

from this kid at Harvard, who has got a programme of predicting the

Oscars, to all of the people in what they call the blogosphere,

making predictions. Everybody seems to think it is a foregone

conclusion that The Artist has won. It doesn't seem like it will be the

year of the American film. Or maybe it will. The Americans certainly

are not out of the picture. There is Steven Spielberg's War Horse.

There is Martin Scorsese's family feature, Hugo. And Woody Allen's

romantic comedy, Midnight In Paris. I just want to walk around Paris

with you. I keep forgetting you're just a tourist. That's putting it

mildly. The Help, a story about racial tensions in Mississippi, is

another contender. And Viola Davis In the last few minutes, Burger