03/04/2012 BBC News at Ten


03/04/2012

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Of James Murdoch quits as chairman of BSkyB, the latest twist in the

:00:10.:00:15.

phone hacking scandal. He says he wants to protect the satellite

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broadcaster from the controversy surrounding him. It comes just

:00:19.:00:24.

weeks before MPs report back on the scandal. Now the succession from

:00:24.:00:29.

father to son could be in doubt. Rupert's fondest wish, to be

:00:30.:00:33.

succeeded by one of his children, and James was the heir apparent,

:00:33.:00:38.

that is even less likely now than yesterday. We will ask where this

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leaves the future of BSkyB. Also tonight: plans to give the

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security services greater access to online activity - he is the

:00:47.:00:51.

Government backing off? We will not simply ram some

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legislation through Parliament. We will make sure our proposals are

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published so that people can debate them.

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Trailers tossed into the air and homes destroyed - a tornado rips

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through Texas tonight. The crisis in Syria - now the

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president's uncle tells the BBC that Bashar al-Assad will not be

:01:13.:01:18.

able to hold on to power. Winter returns to Aberdeenshire, or

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with six inches of snow just days after record high temperatures -

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what is happening to our weather? And in Sportsday on the BBC News

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Channel, Champions League, as Milan and Marseille face uphill struggles

:01:33.:01:43.
:01:43.:01:57.

Good evening. James Murdoch has resigned as chairman of BSkyB as

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the phone hacking scandal continues to take its toll on the media

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empire built up by his father, Rupert. James Murdoch, who faces

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questions about what he knew and when, said he did not want the

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fall-out from the phone hacking affair to tarnish BSkyB. The

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broadcaster's future is being considered by the media watchdog of

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cob. -- Ofcom.

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It is a long running saga about James Murdoch, phone hacking and

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the conduct of newspapers owned by his family's media empire. MPs have

:02:31.:02:35.

questioned him. He resigned as chairman of News International,

:02:35.:02:39.

which runs the newspapers, and is now stepping down as chairman of

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BSkyB, part owned by the Murdochs' News Corporation. All that follows

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phone hacking allegations at the News Of The World. The former

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editor Rebekah Brooks was questioned by police and the

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parliamentary inquiry took place. This is the most humble day of my

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life. The committee which quizzed Rupert Murdoch and his son heard

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claims that James Murdoch was warned about phone hacking in an e-

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mail in 2008. He says he did not properly read it. With the benefit

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of hindsight, we can look at all these things. If I knew then what

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we know now, we would have taken more action around that and moved

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faster to get to the bottom of these allegations. Today in a

:03:21.:03:30.
:03:31.:03:36.

letter to the board, Mr Murdoch Today's boardroom change will not

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make any difference to Sky viewers. The same executive management team

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is still in place. But it is highly significant that James Murdoch

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personally, and his position in the media industry and the Murdoch

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empire. When he resigned from being head of the press interests in the

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UK, it was said by News Corp that James Murdoch would then focus on

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pay-TV interests in the company. The fact that he is leaving the

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crown jewel of News Corp's pay-TV interests does mean that he is

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unlikely to have a consistent job in the pay-TV area. The protesters

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outside the reason BSkyB shareholder meeting criticised what

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they called the Murdoch Mafia. There are questions now are about

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where James stands in the family pecking order. For James Murdoch

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and his prospects of succeeding his father at the top of News

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Corporation, which remember, is Rupert's fondest wish, to be

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succeeded by one of his children, and James was the heir apparent,

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that seems even less likely now than yesterday. Before the long-

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term succession is resolved, James Murdoch has the shorter term issue

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of what a parliamentary committee concludes about his knowledge of

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the phone hacking scandal. Cue, the timing of this resignation

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is crucial, isn't it? Absolutely crucial. The Department of Culture,

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Media and Sport committee will come up with its report in a few weeks'

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time. What it says will be critical, what it finds about James Murdoch's

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evidence about what he knew and when about phone hacking. Then you

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have the strong probability that James Murdoch and his father Rupert

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will appear at the Leveson inquiry at the end of this month, again.

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There was a huge amount of attention when they appeared before

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MPs. There will be a lot more attention this time. Then there is

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the investigation by the broadcasting regulator Ofcom into

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whether BSkyB is fit and proper to hold broadcasting licences. They

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are looking at the role of the majority shareholder. That has not

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changed today. They are also looking at the controlling director.

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James Murdoch moving aside from chairman to being just a director,

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could be seen in that context. Maybe he has tried to create space

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for BSkyB in that inquiry so that the heat is off a bit in that sense.

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But we do not know what they will come up with. But the pressure is

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still very much on James Murdoch tonight, even after he has stood

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down as the executive chairman of BSkyB, and on his family's media

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business as well for us stop the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg

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appeared to signal a retreat to date over controversial plans for a

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greater surveillance of e-mails on the internet use.

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Mr Clegg said more consultation was needed and the legislation would

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not be rammed through Parliament. Earlier today, the Home Office had

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indicated that the proposals, which critics have labelled a "snooper's

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charter", would be pushed through Parliament as soon as possible.

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The way the world communicates has changed. The way serious criminals

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and terrorists communicate has changed. So the Government wants to

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update the law, but the plan has proved controversial and now the

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Prime Minister is on the back foot, forced to defend his proposals.

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This is not about extending the reach of the state into people's

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data, it is about trying to keep up with modern technology. But we

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should remember that this sort of data, used at the moment through

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the proper processes, is vital in stopping serious crime and some of

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the most serious terrorist incidents that could kill people in

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our country. The police and security services are increasingly

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interested in social media and Internet conversations. The

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Government wants to let them access information on that at will. None

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detailed content, just details of websites visited. But the idea of

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more intrusion has been roundly criticised. It is unclear what it

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means for people. It is always going to lead to fears about the

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general browsing of people's e- mails unless they are clear about

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what the proposals would mean and about how they are changing the law.

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The Prime Minister has to get a grip on this government. It is

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clear that there were different views on this inside the government.

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The Home Secretary Theresa May used a piece in a tabloid newspaper to

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try to justify the changes. She claimed it could prevent another

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7/7-style a pack and maybe another paedophile murderer like Ian

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Huntley. But some Liberal Democrats within the coalition led by the

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Deputy Prime Minister saw an attack on civil liberties, and they do not

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want to rush the charges through Parliament. On the local election

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campaign trail, Nick Clegg was keen to intervene. The Home Office has

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maintained that the plan will not be delayed, but with talk of a

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draft bills and scrutiny before it goes to parliament, it looks like

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the brakes are on. We are not going to ram legislation through

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Parliament. We will make sure our proposals are published in draft so

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that people can debate them. There is a debate to be had. The critics

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were not just from the Liberal Democrat side. High-profile Tories

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who jumped on the plan sensed signs of a victory. The agencies should

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not be able to intrude on your private information or mine without

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a magistrate's approval, a warrant. If we get that, we will have made

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progress. Without that, the battle will go on. The Home Office can now

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add its name to the list of departments who have struggled over

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the past two weeks to communicate what this Government wants to do.

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The BBC understands that the changes will feature in next

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month's Queen's speech, but ministers have made a mess of it

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along the way. The exile uncle of the Syrian

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President Bashar al-Assad has said he does not think the regime can

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hold on to power for much longer. Rifaat al-Assad, who has lived in

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Paris since he unsuccessfully tried to seize power from his brother in

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the 1980s, has told BBC that the level of violence on the streets of

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Syria was too high for his nephew to survive.

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30 years ago, Rifaat al-Assad was the second most powerful man in

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Syria. The army commander at the right hand of his brother, who was

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the first president of Syria, and the father of the current leader.

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But since he led a failed coup, Rifaat al-Assad has mostly been in

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exile. At the moment in a grand house in Paris, perhaps dreaming of

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a return to power. It is not surprising that he is pessimistic

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about the chances of the son of the man he tried to overthrow. Do you

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think that President Assad's regime will survive what is happening at

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the moment in Syria? TRANSLATION: It will be difficult

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for him to stay in power. The problems are now general to all

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parts of Syria. There are no places that have escaped violence, so I

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don't think he can stay in power. Running Syria is still a family

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affair. President Bashar al-Assad nominated his brother to lead

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operations against armed insurgents. Here in Homs, which the president

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visited last week and elsewhere. Today's events echoed the past. In

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1982, Rifaat al-Assad and his brother crashed a revolt by the

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Muslim Brotherhood in the fourth biggest town in Syria. Estimates of

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the dead in backstreets like this started at 10,000. But now, Rifaat

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al-Assad denies it happened like that, and prefers to talk about the

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latest peace initiative. Kofi Annan is trying to get a political deal

:11:24.:11:28.

going at the moment. Do you think that is possible, or do you think

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the future for Syria is perhaps a much more serious civil war?

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TRANSLATION: Kofi Annan's initiative is week. There have been

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stronger initiatives before. Nevertheless, the point of staying

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in this initiative comes with international consensus. And do you

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think the initiative might work, or could there be a future involving

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civil war? If he is serious about co-operating with those responsible

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to an act change, we can make this initiative succeed. Without

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international consensus, we may reach a civil war. The Syrian

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government's tanks are still in and around rebellious turn up -- towns

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like this and parts of the capital, Damascus. The Kofi Annan peace

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plans say they must pull back by a week from now and there should be a

:12:27.:12:32.

two hour truce. But their arguments over which side should stop

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shooting first and scepticism over whether the deadline will be met.

:12:35.:12:39.

Britain's top policeman has said his shot over allegations of racism

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and assault by officers during last summer's riots. In an internal

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statement to his staff, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner

:12:47.:12:50.

Bernard Hogan-Howe said he would not stand for any racism in his

:12:50.:12:54.

force. He spoke after footage emerged of one officer apparently

:12:54.:13:03.

Police in the United States say that the man suspected of shooting

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seven people dead in Oakland had been teased over his poor English.

:13:08.:13:13.

One Goh, 43, felt disrespected and isolated after being expelled from

:13:13.:13:18.

the school. He later surrendered at a supermarket in Alameda. He was a

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former student. An emergency has been declared in

:13:21.:13:25.

parts of Texas tonight after a series of tornados struck, causing

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widespread damage. Footage showed drugs being tossed hundreds of feet

:13:30.:13:40.
:13:40.:13:48.

into the air. The -- traps. There Emergency warnings crackle on the

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airwaves as a huge tornado tears through one of the largest

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metropolitan air -- areas in the country. The storm picks up huge

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lorries and spins them around a parking lot. In the aftermath,

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graphic evidence of the tornado's power. No detailed account of the

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damage yet, but this area is home to 6 million people and countless

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businesses. With emergency calls flooding in, police and fire crews

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arrived in the worst affected areas. Suburban homes ripped open. Trees

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and power lines down. Amid the chaos, reports of survivors trapped

:14:29.:14:38.

in buildings and in vehicles. Texas is used to extreme weather, sitting

:14:38.:14:43.

at one end of what is known as tornado alley. After a lengthy

:14:43.:14:47.

drought, local Myers had to introduce partial hosepipe bans

:14:47.:14:54.

later this week. -- Mayors. But the last two years has brought a series

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of devastating storms. Tornados now affect more of the country than

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ever and scenes like this are increasingly familiar.

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Coming up on the programme: Plans to make A-levels harder to help

:15:08.:15:13.

students cope with the move from school to university. They teach

:15:13.:15:16.

you a dumbed down version at A- level and when you get to

:15:16.:15:19.

university you find out what you have been told has nothing to do

:15:19.:15:22.

with what you will be taught in your first year and it is very

:15:22.:15:30.

scary. Research by the BBC shows that up

:15:30.:15:34.

to 20,000 small businesses may have bought complex financial products

:15:34.:15:37.

from banks without properly understanding the risks. The BBC

:15:37.:15:41.

has also learned that the Financial Services Authority is close to

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completing its initial probe into whether banks systematically mis-

:15:44.:15:52.

sold these products, known as swaps, and whether they are now at risk of

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paying hundreds of millions of pounds of compensation.

:15:56.:16:00.

On the trail of what some see as the next great misselling scandal

:16:00.:16:04.

involving British banks. The sale of bets on the direction of

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interest rates, known as swaps, to small businesses, here in sunny

:16:09.:16:15.

East Anglia. I am in a small market town in Norfolk, about as far from

:16:15.:16:21.

the financial sophistication of the City of London as you could

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possibly get. Except a few years ago Barclays Capital, one of the

:16:25.:16:30.

most powerful investment banks in the world, turned up and sold a

:16:30.:16:36.

complicated interest product to this family firm, Adcocks. In 2007,

:16:36.:16:40.

Paul Adcock was sold what is called an asymmetric cap and collar. He

:16:40.:16:46.

now admits he did not understand it. He thought he was putting a ceiling

:16:46.:16:49.

on the rate you would pay if interest rates went up. What he did

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not realise is that he was also making a big bet that interest

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rates would not fall, because ASBOs rates fell, the interest he paid

:16:59.:17:05.

rose. -- as rates fell. He is now paying a crippling interest rate on

:17:05.:17:10.

9% on a commercial mortgage of �900,000. Given that you patently

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did not understand the financial product you are being sold, why on

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earth did you agree to take it? would not have believed that a bank

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that has supported our business for the last 100 years could

:17:24.:17:27.

potentially ever dream of selling as a product that has done such

:17:27.:17:33.

irreparable damage to our business. It has torn the sort out of our

:17:33.:17:38.

business basically. We have to cut costs. The softest target his staff,

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cut the staff. But most of our staff are members of the family. It

:17:45.:17:51.

is very difficult and a very hard thing to do. Sorry. Some of these

:17:51.:17:57.

are so complex... Abhishek Sachdev sold swaps like these when he was

:17:57.:18:02.

at Lord's. Now he is showing small companies how to get out of them. -

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- at Lloyds. Several thousand companies may have been involved in

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these deals with Lloyds, Barclays, HSBC and RBS. Do you think there

:18:14.:18:19.

was pressure put on the junior managers to sell? Undoubtedly.

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These products have been and will continue to be very, very

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profitable for the banks. Several benefits would be shown to the

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client around the complex structured products. Those benefits

:18:31.:18:34.

are fine and they are valid, but you cannot show the benefits

:18:34.:18:38.

without the risks at the same time. That is where the banks are at

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fault, I think. The banks insist that swaps can be good for clients

:18:43.:18:49.

and Barclays says they stuck to the rules when dealing with Adcocks.

:18:49.:18:53.

That is small comfort for a firm now managed by a 4th generation of

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the founding family, fearful that the business will not still be

:18:57.:19:05.

alive for the next generation. Planned strike by ground staff at

:19:05.:19:08.

Stansted airport over Easter have been called off after talks.

:19:09.:19:12.

Members of the GMB union had been due to walk out for four hours on

:19:12.:19:17.

Good Friday, Saturday and Easter Monday, in a dispute over pay.

:19:17.:19:21.

A-level exams could get much tougher if the Education Secretary

:19:21.:19:25.

has his way. Michael Gove says the current exams, which students sit

:19:25.:19:30.

in England, and in some schools in Wales and Northern Ireland, do not

:19:30.:19:34.

prepare them for the rigour of university education. He wants

:19:34.:19:38.

universities to have a say over what goes into the papers. The

:19:38.:19:42.

watchdog has welcomed the proposal but some teachers say it is a quick

:19:42.:19:48.

fix gimmick. Securing a place in university is a

:19:48.:19:52.

major achievement. But the Education Secretary is concerned

:19:52.:19:56.

that success at A-level does not necessarily mean you are ready to

:19:56.:20:00.

start studying for a degree. In a letter sent to the exams regulator

:20:00.:20:10.
:20:10.:20:15.

Ofqual and obtained by Newsnight, The coalition's answer is to give

:20:16.:20:18.

universities a say in helping to decide A-level courses and how they

:20:18.:20:23.

are assessed. It is very often a stepping-stone into university and

:20:23.:20:28.

that is why it is a good thing to make sure that universities are

:20:28.:20:31.

involved in having the highest possible standards at A-level.

:20:31.:20:34.

There are students that admit that going from school to university can

:20:34.:20:38.

be quite the lead. I thought A- levels were quite straight forward

:20:38.:20:41.

and then you come to university and it is all theorists and stuff and

:20:41.:20:46.

it is confusing at first. I think in science subjects especially they

:20:46.:20:50.

teach you a dumbed down version at O-level. Many of them may never

:20:50.:20:54.

even have taken an exam. For decades the number of people

:20:54.:20:57.

studying at university has grown, as have the claims that A-levels

:20:57.:21:02.

are getting easier. The pass rate has certainly been rising. In the

:21:02.:21:07.

mid- 1990s, 85% of candidates in England were awarded a grade

:21:07.:21:11.

between grade A and grade E. That has been steadily increasing and

:21:11.:21:18.

last year 98.5% of students passed. Teaching unions are angry that they

:21:18.:21:21.

have not been consulted about these proposals and they do have some

:21:21.:21:26.

concerns. The Russell Group, made up of some of the leading

:21:26.:21:30.

universities in the UK, so there should be changes about the way A-

:21:30.:21:35.

levels are taught. -- say that there should be changes. We would

:21:35.:21:40.

like to change A-levels to reduce the number of resits, to reduce the

:21:40.:21:45.

marginalisation of A-levels, and to beef up some of the components. --

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modularisation. Scotland has a different education system and

:21:50.:21:53.

Highers are generally used as a qualification for entering

:21:53.:21:57.

university. There are other examining boards in Wales and

:21:57.:22:02.

Northern Ireland, but some students do sit papers set by English boards.

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For many future students, this is a clear sign that exams could become

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harder and getting into university could become rather more difficult.

:22:13.:22:17.

England's cricketers have had a mixed first day in the second Test

:22:17.:22:20.

match against Sri Lanka. They need to win in Colombo to keep their

:22:20.:22:23.

position as the world's best Test team, but Sri Lanka recovered from

:22:23.:22:28.

an early slump with a century from the captain, Mahela Jayawardene,

:22:28.:22:34.

which helped the hosts to 238 for six at the close of play.

:22:34.:22:38.

In football, Barcelona are through to the semi-finals of the Champions

:22:38.:22:44.

League after defeating AC Milan 3-1. Barcelona were helped with this

:22:44.:22:50.

penalty by Lionel Messi. He scores! The player of the year went on to

:22:50.:22:54.

score another, matching the record of 14 goals in one season of the

:22:54.:22:59.

competition. Wintery weather has returned to

:22:59.:23:03.

much of Scotland with six inches of snow falling in Aberdeenshire. It

:23:03.:23:08.

is just a week since people were basking in temperatures of just

:23:08.:23:12.

over 20 degrees. In England it remains dry, with March recording

:23:12.:23:17.

the warmest and sunniest conditions on record. These dramatic weather

:23:17.:23:23.

changes are now affecting our landscape and farming patterns.

:23:23.:23:27.

Springtime in Aberdeenshire. After last week's record-breaking high

:23:27.:23:33.

temperatures, you could say that normal service has been resumed.

:23:33.:23:41.

Basking in the unseasonal heat several days ago, Aboyne is now

:23:41.:23:46.

under snow. Thousands of homes have no electricity and drama on the

:23:46.:23:50.

mountains. A helicopter evacuation for nine Belgian tourists from the

:23:50.:23:57.

slopes of Ben that do we, Britain's second highest peak. -- Ben Macdui.

:23:57.:24:01.

They were brought in from the cold, safe and well. They did have

:24:01.:24:06.

camping gear with them and they made camp when the weather started

:24:06.:24:11.

to deteriorate. They managed that before they got cold. In town, snow

:24:11.:24:16.

shovels that had been packed away by back in service. Last week we

:24:16.:24:20.

have customers on the deck and it was 24 degrees in the shade and 32

:24:20.:24:24.

degrees in the sunshine. We knew that it was not going to last that

:24:24.:24:32.

long. Down South, a different picture. At the Royal Horticultural

:24:32.:24:34.

Society's Gardens, there were plenty of tips on making things

:24:34.:24:39.

grow, even in the drought. Spring is in full bloom, but the dramatic

:24:39.:24:43.

shift in our weather patterns are presenting big challenges to the

:24:43.:24:47.

gardeners. On a bigger scale, our farmers are having to adapt to the

:24:47.:24:52.

changing weather conditions. The soil for many is starting to look

:24:52.:24:59.

like dust. We have had two Super dry winters in a row. Official

:24:59.:25:06.

figures for March so that it was the warmest since 1967. -- say that.

:25:06.:25:10.

It was also the driest for more than a decade. The official advice

:25:10.:25:14.

for farmers, expect the unexpected. The first thing to say is that I

:25:15.:25:18.

don't think farmers, as climate change is developing, will be able

:25:18.:25:22.

to rely on the average temperature and rainfall as they have done for

:25:22.:25:26.

many years. There has to be an expectation that that will change

:25:26.:25:31.

and they need to ponder how they adapt to that. In the East of

:25:31.:25:34.

England, the lack of rain is bringing trouble on the roads.

:25:34.:25:38.

Cracks are appearing as the earth beneath the carriageway tries and

:25:38.:25:44.

shrinks. Big repair bills. And of course in much of England, the

:25:44.:25:48.

hosepipe ban comes into force on Thursday this week and is likely to

:25:48.:25:53.

remain in place for the entire summer.

:25:53.:25:57.

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