27/07/2012 BBC News at Ten

Let the games begin. After all the anticipation and speculation, the

Opening Ceremony is under way at It began with a bucolic vision of a

rural Britain from centuries past. And took the spectators through the

industrial revolution up to the present day. With a spectacular

vision of the Olympic rings. The Queen made a dramatic entrance. Or

at least appeared to. Earlier, some 65,000 people poured into the

Olympic Park as excitement mounted ahead of the ceremony. 1000 %!

Brilliant! I've been looking forward to it for so long. Will be

taking a look at the day's events and bring you the latest from

inside the Olympic Stadium. Also, as the number killed rises in Syria,

the UN calls on President Assad to pull back from a full-scale attack

on the country's second city. The man convicted of threatening on

Twitter to blow up Doncaster airport has his conviction

overturned. Spain's soaring unemployment. How one in four

people in the working-age London's 2012 Olympics has begun in

spectacular style. After seven years of planning, the waiting is

finally over. The Opening Ceremony started an hour ago and will

continue late into the night. This is the scene live in the Olympic

Park, with the stadium it up, flashing lights, big screen --

screens applied showing the action below. It has cost �27 million to

stage the event, which is being watched by 65,000 spectators inside

the stadium and its estimated up to London's Olympics have been in the

distance for so long that it often felt like this momentous day might

never come. But at eight 12am, 2012 exactly, the Red Arrows flashed

past the new Olympic Park to provide a very British start to the

Games. Down on the ground, a very familiar rural setting in entirely

unfamiliar surroundings. Danny Boyle's green and pleasant land

providing the extraordinary backdrop for the start of his hours

of -- for his Isles of Wonder spectacular. Then the first big

surprise of the night. Newly- crowned Tour de France winner

Bradley Wiggins, complete with yellow jersey. Chosen to ring a

giant Bell, to formally get the Danny Boyle wanted his ambitious

journey through British history to reflect the country's deep

connection to the countryside. not feared. The isle is full of

noises. Sounds and sweet airs that give delight. But he also wanted to

acknowledge the age of innovation. And, with a speech from

Shakespeare's Tempest, Kenneth Branagh took on the role of

Isambard Kingdom Brunel, to usher in the industrial revolution.

Suddenly, chaos replaced rural serenity, leaving the 62,000 crowd

to wonder at the director's vision of the Victorian age. Then, from

high above the roof, five giant steel rings moved to the centre of

the stadium to form the five Olympic rings. This was only a

taste of London's show for the world, but it was already leading

the global TV audience of 1 billion with a very different view of

Britain. For many, the Opening Ceremony is as widely anticipated

as much of the sport that follows it. There were tens of thousands of

spectators travelling to the Olympic Park, it's an important

test for the Biriba's organisers, too. The report on the day the eyes

of the world turned to Stratford. It started with a celebration. Led

by Big Ben, bells across the country welcomed in the first day.

The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, tried to join in. Oh, my goodness

me! But that didn't really work out. Bigger tests were the head. The

transport system first in the spotlight, as the world gathered

and headed to east London. For the Godfry family, a hope for

application ending with an invitation to the Greatest Show on

Earth. I've seen the sort of things on the TV but I never thought I'd

get to go to one in my lifetime. I'm going to see billions of famous

people in a massive Opening People have talked about the

Olympic party for years. Now, outside the stadium, it was

starting. I love you, London. A kiss from Brazil. Everything is

fine, everything is in good shape. Well done. Be is a great event,

it's brilliant for Britain and the public. The Kamal family live

around the corner. They haven't got tickets but they wanted to see

their new noisy neighbours. I have been living in this area the last

five years. This has massively changed everything. Construction,

building. It is my area. I'm really excited. But there were different

views. This is an East End market a couple of miles from the stadium.

How many people from this area will be sitting in the front seats?

There won't be many, and that is what is wrong. I'm fed up with the

Olympics. They haven't even started yet. I know, that's what I mean.

Please clear this area, this is tickets only. Back in the stadium,

but those with tickets, an enormous security presence. And a separate

GB team of police officers from across the country. I think it's

the experience of a lifetime. It's a thumbs-up from me. So by the time

you get here, very near the stadium just around the corner, you are in

no doubt about the tightness of security. By the time you get here,

you've had about five cheques. But for the lucky few, into the park

and a seat to watch history being made. 1000 % - brilliant! I've been

looking forward to it for so long. A but thousands without tickets

have tonight shared the moment. 60,000 here at Hyde Park. It sounds

like a cliche but I think it makes you feel proud to be British.

been waiting so long and finally it is here. There are screenings like

this across the country. The first Test seems to have been passed. The

Games have begun with a national party. Very soon the Olympic torch

will reach its final destination at the Olympic Stadium. Since it

arrived in Britain to 70 days ago, but torch has travelled the length

and breadth of the land. Robert Hall has been that it every step of

the way, and he reports on the final day as it was carried down

the River Thames. The twists and turns of this nationwide journey

are virtually complete. The Olympic flame leading dry land via Hampton

Court's famous hedge maze to follow the currents which once carried

Henry VIII to his capital. Four time gold medallist Matthew Pinsent

dance his way to the rowing Bargh Gloriana. And the fiery cauldron in

her bow. At her oars, Olympians spanning more than six decades.

Including Michael Le Page and Paul Berger, both in their 90s, who rode

in the 1948 games. Behind Tergat at dozens of Thames rowing skiffs,

some dating back to the 1900. Ahead, on grassy river banks, we'd covered

slipways, craning over the parapets of bridges, the early risers adding

their voices to the millions who cheered the flames passing. In all,

90 boats representing the Thames tradition would take part. The

flotilla shepherded through the lock by Michael Knight, the man who

organised a similar event on a soggy Sunday a few months ago.

be part of it, carrying the flame back into London to go on to the

stadium tonight, it's fantastic. the Boat race course, young rowers

from clubs across the capital joined the procession. In Fulham in

Putney, rolling communities lined the water's edge to urge them on.

And so to central London's urban landscape, with more lofty vantage

points on offer. Under the famous bridges to the seat of government.

In a way, the torch relay was a production with great locations and

a huge cast. And on those terms we are now in the finale. A last

chance for the people on the banks and bridges to glimpse the flame

before it performs the task the world awaits. Down river at Tower

Bridge, the Thames had become an arena, populated by London as and

their Olympic visitors. Seeing the crowds and people, it has brought

it back home that it's really exciting. I've travelled a long way.

Go, London! Below them, the story which has touched so many was

drawing to wait close. The relay proved a huge success but it was

just a curtain raiser.... For the main event. The start of that main

event is going on now. James Pearce is inside the Olympic Stadium. What

is the atmosphere like? It is fantastic. It is a little dark

around me because we can't turn the light on the camera and disrupt

this spectacular. It's been a very British show so far, full of humour

and also full of surprises. The biggest one, one of the talking

points for the whole show is going to be a film which was shown just

before the entrance of Her Majesty the Queen and the Jacques Rogge,

the President of the aisle seat. It was filmed back in March in

Buckingham Palace. There was a scene when Daniel Craig, James Bond,

was invited to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen. The Queen turned

round and said, good evening, Mr Bond. The tour were then filmed

leaving Buckingham Palace, they headed here towards the stadium.

That film then cut two-way live sequence with a helicopter hanging

over the stadium. We saw the Union Jack coming out, parachutes coming

out and this dictionary James Bond coming down to the stadium. Much

more in store, the athletes haven't even arrived yet. We will have more

on events at the Olympic Park later in the programme. First, let's take

a look at the rest of the day's news. World leaders have called on

Syria's government to end its assault on the country's biggest

city. Thousands of troops have surrounded Aleppo, parts of which

have been seized by rebel fighters. The United Nations, along with

Britain and France, say they fear a full scale attack on the city and

the mass so -- slaughter of civilians. This report contains

That sound of a shell landing and exploding is too familiar in Syria.

These pictures aren't verified, as they were downloaded from the web.

But they show how heavy weapons can This is said to be a town near

Damascus, but as the civil war spreads it could be anywhere in the

country. Some people are getting out of Aleppo, Syria's biggest and

richest city, and they are attempting to drive out rebels

holding parts of the city, as they expected. Shells are coming in as

well and the regime cannot afford to lose a Aleppo. This could be the

turning point in the civil war. At night, a bakery was operating and

foodies in short supply. The rebels would like to make Aleppo, the

centre of a liberated area, close to the border, which is why the

regime wants it back. In London, David Cameron met his Turkish

counterpart with more strong criticism of the President Assad

regime. This regime needs to realise it is illegitimate, it is

wrong and needs to stop what it is doing and the international

pressure against the regime and the President is only going to build

until he finally goes. The Turkish Prime Minister has his own worries.

The factions appearing in Syria are changing the balance of power in

the region. One beneficiary of that could be the Kurdish, a stateless

people who live in parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran. In north-west

Syria, the Kurds are taking control of some towns, alarming the Turks

who have been fighting the coalition insurgents for years. It

is another sign of how the civil war is exporting political

instability. And this family got out of Syria into Jordan, but their

three-year-old son were shot dead by a Syrian border guard, according

to Jordanian officials. His mother said she was a martyr but was now

no better place night - his mother said he was a martyr. On target on

target in the archery, the first world record of 2012. A man who

joked on Twitter about blowing up Doncaster Airport because of

disruption to his travel plans has had his conviction over-turned at

the High Court. Paul Chambers was found guilty of sending a

threatening message two and a half years ago. Mr Chambers' case

attracted support from campaigners for freedom of speech as Matt

Prodger explains. Innocent at last. On the left, a man whose joke about

blowing up an airport costing two jobs and landed in a criminal

record. The well, he won. He won. He is clear. Really each, have

indicated and that is about all I can muster at the minute. It is

ridiculously got this far. He has had the backing of thousands of

people on Twitter, and famous faces like Al Murray, who said it was

about free speech. He was doing what we all do, which is saying

something in the heat of the moment which was an expression of

frustration. The absurdity of it, really. By back in 2012 Paul

Chambers was about to fly to Northern Ireland by until he found

out that a flight from Doncaster had been cancelled due to bad

weather. This is what he'd waited weather. This is what he'd waited

to his followers. His lawyers said the swear words and exclamation

marks only reinforce the fact that the threat to blow up the airport

was a joke. But prosecutors said it was a menacing message and until

After two and a half years and consideration by nine different

judges and magistrates, Paul Chambers is clear. The question is,

why was he ever prosecuted in the first place? The answer, say the

prosecutors, is that the law with regard to Twitter is not clear

enough. With today's judgment, it The man who murdered the Indian

student Anuj Bidve has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years. Kiaran

Stapleton shot the 23-year-old in the head at point blank range on

Boxing Day last year. He was convicted of murder at Manchester

Crown Court yesterday. Barclays has made a half-year

profit of more than �4 billion despite the recent turbulent time

for the bank. Last month it received a record fine for

attempting to manipulate the lending rate between banks and it's

now subject to a new investigation Unemployment in Spain has reached

the highest level since records began in 1976 with a quarter of the

working age population unable to find a job. The news comes amid

fresh rumours that Spain would seek a bailout to deal with their

government debt. The German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and

French President, Francois Hollande said that they were "determined to

do everything to protect the euro zone". Our Chief Economics

Queues of the unemployed are growing. Nearly a quarter of the

Spanish workforce are out of work, the highest proportion in the

European Union. It is back to the 70s and the Spanish jobless rate

has not been so high since this era, when dictatorship was giving away

too modern democracy. Violent protests have been seen on the

streets of Madrid, and recently firefighters joined other public

sector workers to campaign against austerity measures, and the Spanish

government could be running out of time as it battles to reduce

borrowing in the face of a deepening recession.

unemployment rate is continuing to be a drag on growth and from a

purely market point of view, Mike - - most investors are looking for a

bail-out for the Spanish government this year. The French President and

German Chancellor said in a joint statement that they would do

everything they could to protect the euro, one of the biggest

challenges for the Franco-German alliance. They celebrated the 50th

anniversary earlier this month. Their response followed the

dramatic pledge yesterday by Mario druggy, the European central bank

chief. He said they would do whatever it takes to preserve the

euro, and believe me, it will be enough. In the European financial

markets, including here on the City of London, traders drew 1 at key

conclusion, that the European Central Bank was ready to intervene

are large fell by buying up Spanish and other government bonds, having

previously been reluctant to do so. The markets are reacting positively.

They do think this could be a turning point in the crisis. If the

ECB gives up that reluctance and puts up more funds to support the

markets, this could indeed be the end of this market panic. But that

still leaves the Greek problem. International lenders left Athens

having pushed the government to stick to war austerity plans. The

Commission President urged Greek ministers to deliver, but there is

growing speculation that they can't or they won't, which leaves a Greek

Elsewhere there have been fresh indications that the US economic

recovery is faltering. Figures reveal that growth has slowed to

1.5%, the slowest pace for almost a year. The commerce department is

blaming the slowdown on weaker consumer spending and increased

Back to the Olympics now, and while the Opening Ceremony still has some

way to go, the sporting action has been up and running for three days.

Today, the first world records started tumbling. The first went to

South Korea's Im Dong-Hyun, who is partially sighted, when he broke

his own individual record in the men's archery, as Joe Wilson

The home of cricket for the first Test between bows and arrows, and

the first Test for Olympic sport in London. The preliminary round of

archery but a Major attraction for those who love the sport. But there

they were, left outside. Over the morning hundreds arrived outside to

watch, but they couldn't. This event was widely advertised as on

ticketed and his family came from Oregon, USA, thinking it was an

invitation. My interpretation was free to the public. A free day for

people to come in, get a feel for it, get an idea of what it is like.

It sounded like a generous gesture. Had you feel to not be able to get

in? What sort of words and I allowed to use on the BBC? I don't

think I'm very happy about it and I don't think my family are. They

were meant to explain that tickets were never available for Friday

archery, meaning it was closed. A least the cameras captured

something extraordinary. South Korea's men set a new standard for

accuracy, with Im Dong-Hyun are making the highest score

individually ever, and his eyesight is so poor that he can not see the

target virtually. You sometimes don't want to see what is going on

because it is distracting. So he could have a little advantage.

whole point of the archery today was to decide who would play who in

the knockout matches tomorrow, and for the main event they will move

to the main venue. This could be a stunning location for Britain's men

have to win a medal, but they will Let's return to the opening

ceremony behind me here. Our Sports Editor David Bond is in the Olympic

As you can see we are surrounded by the most wonderful scene of

pandemonium. To my left, some of the dancers and performance --

performers who have just finished their Estyn. What was it like? The

If I can just turn away to my right, you can see the athletes from the

marching teams about to go into the stadium for the opening ceremony.

We are obviously only halfway through and there is a lot more to

come, including the big moment of He wanted this to be a modest but

proud reflection on British history and culture, but if this is modest,

others like to see what he does when he shows off, because this has

been spectacular. Lots of people commenting about how good it has

been in reflecting British culture and music, but also the British

sense of humour, particularly that moment with the Queen and Daniel

Craig playing James Bond. I think that went down really well. There

will be moments of controversy. The whole sequence with the NHS may

lead some people to question whether Danny Boyle was trying to

make a political point, but overall, it seems to be going very well.

ceremony will continue for some time yet over on BBC One. We still