15/08/2012 BBC News at Ten

Virgin derailed - Richard Branson loses his train franchise and calls

the bidding process "insane". 15 years since Virgin Rail began,

Richard Branson says he may turn his back on the railways altogether.

It costs a lot of money to make these bids. If they stick with the

same rules, we're definitely out of Britain's rail network.

FirstGroup win the bid for the West Coast Main Line, paying �5.5

billion. But there are concerns about whether the price is too high

to make the new rail service viable. Also tonight: The Duke of Edinburgh

is forced to leave Balmoral to stay in hospital, with another bladder

infection. Three British banks are ordered to appear before an inquiry

in the United States into the rigging of key interest rates. In

Syria, the government is accused of launching an airstrike on its own

people, wounding dozens of civilians. The England cricketer

Kevin Pietersen is dropped from the team as his apology falls on deaf

And coming up in Sportsday on the News Channel: Fergie gets his man.

Personal terms and medical to be sorted, but Robin Van Persie's on

Good evening. Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Trains has lost its bid to

continue running the West Coast rail line. The franchise will go

instead to Britain's largest train operator, FirstGroup, to run the

line which links London, the West Midlands and Scotland. Sir Richard

attacked the bidding process as "insane" and says he may now turn

his back on the railways altogether. And there are questions tonight as

to whether the high price paid by FirstGroup may lead to higher fares

and cuts in services. Here's our Transport Correspondent, Richard

Westcott. His report contains flash photography. He is the man who

could get Prime Ministers along to a simple train launch. After a

decade-and-a-half, Sir Richard Branson is off the railways.

Speaking at home in the Caribbean, he says he's reached the end of the

line. If the rules stay the same we are almost definitely out of the

rail business. I mean we bid twice for the East Coast mainline before.

It costs a lot of money and, although we would dearly love to

run it, you know, if the rules are as they are, I don't think we'll

waste our money bidding again. It's all a long way from the smiles

of 1997 when Virgin became one of the first new private train

companies. 15 years ago the champagne was

flowing here on platform 7 at Euston, but now the party is over

for Virgin Trains. It's a big blow for Sir Richard Branson. It's a big

worry for his staff. But what will this mean for the millions of

passengers that catch these trains every year? The new owner,

FirstGroup, will add 12,000 extra seats to ease congestion. New

direct service also link London to Blackpool, Telford, Shrewsbury and

Bolton and some ticket prices will be cut, although season tickets

will go up, the same as everywhere else.

FirstGroup's paying the Government �5.5 billion for this franchise,

arguing that there's plenty of spare capacity to attract millions

more passengers on to the line. It's much better value for money

than getting in your car, paying the insurance costs and paying for

higher petrol. That's a medal shift that has been going on, it seems

undeniable. We think this will continue, especially on this line,

if we put compelling products in front of the public. But Virgin

says the company has got its sums wrong and will struggle to make

money.Agists agree it's a risk. -- analysts agree it's a risk.

very interesting that FirstGroup are bidding on the basis of having

found new capacity that Virgin didn't think was there. FirstGroup

are making a legal commitment to deliver. They must have done their

due diligence carefully. So, one can only assume the Government have

satisfied themselves that capacity is in fact there.

So what do we know about the winner? Well FirstGroup started out

in a bus depot in Aberdeen, but it's grown into the largest

privately-owned public transport company in the world. It's

currently nursing a �1.8 billion debt, though, which is forcing it

to sell off parts of its bus business.

Big rail bids have gone wrong before. The last two companies

running the East Coast mainline pulled out of the deal because they

couldn't make the payment. The Government will be desperate to

avoid that happening again. Richard is with me in the studio.

So there are concerns about this FirstGroup. Was the price they paid

too high to be sustainable? Let me put it like this, FirstGroup, to

make this pay have,to grow this business by 10% a year every year,

for 14 years, that's starting with an economy that's from the and with

fares going up. So businessically if they cannot attract millions of

extra customers ton their trains in the next few years they could

struggle to make the payments. -- so business basically if they can

cannot attract millions of extra customers to their trains. They

will have to pay back fines of they give up on the contract early. The

second one concerns future franchises. They already hold four.

But they will be going for a lot more in the near future. It is boom

time for the railways, a lot of lucrative franchises are up for

grabs in the neex few years. They are going to want to gith for those.

That puts them under pressure to get this right. -- they want to bit

for those. The Duke of Edinburgh was admitted to hospital today with

a recurrence of the bladder infection he had earlier the summer.

Buckingham Palace says he is likely to remain in hospital for a few

days. He was taken by ambulance from Balmoral, to the Aberdeen

Royal Infirmary. He seemed it make a full recovery

from the problems he had at the Diamond Jubilee. This was him last

week at a garden party at Balmoral, alert, chagt and joking with scores

of guests. Yet earlier this afternoon, doctors at the royal

estate became concerned. He was taken by am blns to Aberdeen Royal

Infirmary where medical staff diagnosed a bladder infection. --

by ambulance. He will remain in hospital for several days for

investigation and treatment. This latest problem is a repeat of the

condition which afflicted the Duke at the beginning of June. On that

occasion, after a long, damp afternoon watching the Thames

jubilee pageant, he was admitted to hospital. He left then after five

nights. A very much serious situation arose two days before

Christmas last year when the Duke suffered a blocked coronary artery

and was taken by helicopter to Papworth Hospital near came brik.

On that occasion the Queen and other members of the family went to

his bedside the next day. It had been an extremely anxious moment

but after a few days, the Duke left hospital to recuperate. Since then

he has remained remarkably active for a man of 91, accompanied the

Queen to most of the Diamond Jubilee events. He was with her for

the opening of the Olympics and then went with Princess Anne it

watch his granddaughter, Zara Phillips taking part in the Olympic

three-day event. For the past few days he has been

at the annual yachting regatta at Cowes on the Isle of Wight. This

photograph of him was taken this morning, shortly before he returned

to Balmoral. For the Duke this latest problem, while it may be

uncomfortable, certainly isn't critical, provided of course that

the infection is treated quickly. But after three admissions to

hospital now in nine months, his family, his doctors and officials

here at the Palace, will be keener than ever that he take greater care

of himself. He said himself "it's time to slow down", so far, though,

there has been little evidence of Three British banks have been

ordered to assist an inquiry in the United States investigating the

rigging of the key interest rate at which banks lend to each othe,

known as Libor. HSBC, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland, are among

seven banks being investigated. In June, Barclays was fined �290

million for trying to manipulate the rate. Let's talk to our

correspondent Michelle Fleury in New York. What is the significance

of this development? Well so far we are seeing that seven banks have

been asked to turnover more information. Essentially the key

thing with a subpoena is that it is a request for information by an

authority, and failure to provide it involves a penalty. The

authorities in this particular case are the Attorney-Generals from New

York and Connecticut. Apparently they made the requests for

information between May and July but they have only now become

public. What is interesting about that time is that you may recall

back in July, Bob Diamond, the former Chief Executive of Barclays

told MPs that other banks may be involved in the manipulation of

Libor. That of course is the key rate that banks use to determine

what rate to lend to each other it. Also play ascii roll on the

international financial markets which is why US regulators and

Attorney-Generals are paying close attention, requesting more

information. Of course we will have to see, when they go through this

information, what comes up and whether they find any evidence of

wrong-doing. Thank you. Unemployment has dropped

to its lowest level for a year. The number of people out of work fell

by 46,000 between April and June and now stands at just over 2.5

million. But no-one is quite clear why, particularly given that the

economy is still struggling. Britain's jobs numbers are a puzzle

that keeps getting harder to solve. Why? Because the number of people

in work rose by over 200,000 in the three months to June, three months

when our national output is supposed to have fallen by 0.7%.

Of course it is good news if there are more people in work and it is

good news that unemployment has fallen again as well, by 46,000.

But it's not necessarily good news for us, or for the Chancellor, if

we are needing more people, as a country, to make less stuff. That's

one of the worrying explanations for today's news. But there are

plenty more. One is that there is a lot of hidden unemployment or

underemployment lurking behind the statistics.

Jackie Connell is a nurse who was made redundant last year. She has

to register herself as self- employed to get any work at all but

it is a few hours a week, at best. I do feel that I'm a hidden figure.

I'm not unemployed but I'm not employed. I'm self-employed but I'm

in the a entrepreneur, setting up my own business -- I'm not an

entrepreneur. Making a lot of money. I'm doing casual work. The number

of people in work has risen by more than 500,000 in the past two years,

well over half of that rise, 278,000 is among the self-employed.

Another possibility: the economy is stronger than the official numbers

suggest. Recent figures on construction and manufacturing have

been better than expected. Meaning the overall growth numbers may well

be revised up. Though the economy would still be flat, we couldn't

explain why employment is going up. Or maybe there is no puzzle?

Britain's workers are just producing less. Certainly we have

seen low levels of investment which may mean the capital stock, the

stuff people are working with has become a bit clapped out. But the

real point I think is that it could well be just a low-level of demand

and that firms are just hoarding people, they are hanging on to

labour, not sheding them in the hope that demand will pick up.

There maybe some Olympics effect in the latest figures. London accounts

for nearly half the rise in employment. And in Yorkshire and

Northern Ireland, unemployment went But the mystery remains. As the

Deputy Governor of the Bank of England freely admitted last week.

There is a genuine economic puzzle that we don't really understand. We

are doing lots of work trying to dig deeper into the data, looking

at what is going on in different sectors, but I have to say, I don't

think we have the explanation and I don't think anybody else out there

does yet. Many in the City expect to see unemployment rising again in

the next few months. Until then, our economy's producing jobs, and a

The United Nations has accused Syrian government forces of

committing war crimes. Rebel forces were also accused of atrocities. In

Syria today dozens of civilians are reported to have been killed by a

government air strike. It took place in the rebel held town of

Azaz. Here's our correspondent Frank Gardner. Death and

devastation today in the north Syrian town of Azaz. Air strikes by

government warplane hit this residential area reducing it to

rubble, killing and wounding dozens. These pictures were filmed not by

rebels, but by an international news agency. Part of a growing

library of documented atrocities. UN human rights investigators have

published a damning 100-page report on events in Syria this year. It

says war crimes are being committed by both sides, including murder,

sexual violence and torture. But the worst crimes, it says, were

carried out by the government side. And that's included the massacre at

Houla in May, where over 100 civilians were killed. The Syrian

regime blamed what it called Islamist terrorists. The UN has

conclude today was government forces backed by militiamen. Will

this report have any effect? If and when members of the regime are

taken to the Hague for the crimes that they've committed, this kind

of report will be crucial, particularly the testimony that has

been gathered from the victims and the relatives of the victims of

this massacre. The UN's emergency relief coordinator was in Damascus

today, pressing the Syrian government for better access for

aid agencies, with only limited success. In the places where the

fighting is still going on, it's ordinary men, women and children,

who are caught up in the middle of that and who are feeling the full

brunt of this. I made it clear to the government and I repeat my call

on all parties who are involved in this conflict that the fighting has

got to stop. Too late for the citizens of Azaz, where terrified

residents struggle to reach hospital today. Reeling from an air

strike that will have changed their lives forever.

Coming up on tonight's programme: Once a biword for anarchy and

violence, how mag dish ewe is returning to something resembling -

- Mogadishu is returning to something resembling normality.

As the debate continues on how to maximise the legacy of London 2012,

critics claim the Government is making it easier for schools to

sell off playing fields. The Department of Education insists new

rules on how much outdoor space is provided will require schools to

obtain approval before selling land. Chris Buckler reports from Cheadle

Hulme. For many, this was a summer of inspiration. It's hoped the

achievements of Team GB will encourage children to enjoy sport

not just as a spectator, but as a participant. In summer camps across

the country, there are young people getting active and involved. Other

people don't usually do sport outside school. So it's important

that they do sport inside school. But there's concern about the

future of sport in schools, with some worried that changes could

lead to pitches potentially being sold off. Under the current rules,

the Government sets out minimum requirements for the size of team

gaem playing fields based on the number of pupils. These rules apply

only to state schools. Independent schools only need to provide

outside space for pupils to play safely. They're being replaced with

new regulations to cover all schools in England. They simply

state the need for suitable outdoor space, without any minimum

requirements for playing fields. I'm very concerned that the word

"suitable" will allow the flood gates to open of the sale of school

playing fields. Because it's suddenly becomes a really

subjective judgment. In the last two years, the Education Secretary

has approved the sale of more than 20 school playing fields in England,

including here on the outskirts of Rochdale. But houses were only

planned for this site after Haywood Community High was closed. The

Government points out that 18 of the 22 sales approved involve

schools that had been merged or shut down. The truth is there are

also still in place requirements and will be strong requirements in

place for schools to provide the right facilities for people to play

competitive sports. Between 1979 and 1997, under the previous

Conservative Government, an estimated 10,000 playing fields

were sold off. That makes this a sensitive issue for this coalition

and despite reassurances Labour and campaigners continue to raise

concerns about what these changes could mean. Political parties of

all colours know that in the shadow of the Olympics, facilities and

funding for sport will remain hot topics.

After years of anarchy and Civil War in Somalia, parts of the

country appear to be returning to something resembling normality. The

next few weeks will see a new President and Parliament in what

many believe will be a free and fair election. Many Somalis, who

were living in Britain, are now returning. The BBC's Andrew Harding

is in Mogadishu, where the tides of economic change are happening.

Stunning view, adventurous location, property - needs some work. Welcome

to Mogadishu a ruined city in the grip of an unlikely housing boom.

This beach-front property is good for coffee shop. Idris Darwan has

come back from Britain looking to invest in Somalia. The estate agent

urges speed. Prices are soaring. This is the patio where your

customers enjoy the beach. Beautiful views. Absolutely. After

years of war, it's no longer the guns that are hammering here. A new,

but fragile, stability is luring many exiles back home. You think

there's money to be made here? believe so. I believe there's a lot

of money to be made here. But it takes a lot of guts to stay in this

place. What do your family in the UK think? They probably be saying

by now he must be gone crazy, but I'll prove them wrong once

everything is set. Last year, we visited Mogadishu at its lowest ebb.

The Islamist militant group Al- Shabaab controlled half the city,

gunfire and famine on every street. Today, this feels like a different

city, the battle for Mogadishu is over. That's given Somalia's

endlessly feuding politicians an opportunity to build something that

hasn't existed here for more than 20 years., a functioning state.

Building a new army is part of that process, trained abroad and showing

off its new skills here. Stabilising the entire country

remains a messy work in progress, but look at this, electioneering on

the streets of Mogadishu, unimaginable only a few months ago.

A new President and Parliament are being nominated. Somali people are

ready to have a government that's just, that serves them. I think

they've had enough of Al-Shabaab rule. The last 21 years we've lived

under tyranny. Now we are ready to form a government that is

legitimate that will serve its people. But even if that happens,

the tasks ahead are daunting, a lost generation has known nothing

but war. "I've never been to school ," says this 15-year-old. Now I

want to get an education and then serve my community. Time is short.

If Somalia's new leaders stumble, chaos may quickly return to the

streets. So today's property boom could be a bubble, but right now,

it doesn't feel that way. For the first time in decades, the optimism

just might be justified. In the last few minutes, there's

been a development in the case of Julian Assange the WikiLeaks

founder. He is wanted as part of an ongoing investigation in Sweden,

where he's wanted for questioning about suspected sex offences. James

Landale is in Downing Street. James, this has just happened. What more

can you tell us? Julian Assange is still in the embassy that the

Ecuadorians have in London. He's determined to avoid extradition to

Sweden. The British Government is determined to make sure that

happens. What has happened in the last few minutes is that the

minister for foreign affairs in Ecuador has given a press

conference in which he has claimed that the British government

officially threatened to enter the Ecuadorian embassy and arrest Mr

Assange. Now what appears to have happened is that a British diplomat

in conversation with government officials reminded the Ecuadorians

of existing British law. There is something called the diplomatic and

consular affairs act 1987 which effectively gives William Hague the

right to say look, I declare that is no longer Ecuadorian territory

and thus allow the police to go in. The Ecuadorians have interpreted

that as a threat. A Foreign Office spokeman said "Throughout this

process we have drawn the Ecuadorians attention to relevant

provisions of our law, whether for example the extent of human rights

safe guards but also to the legal status of diplomatic premises in

the UK." In other words, the British Government started playing

hard ball on this. The Ecuadorians have replied by going public. They

have said they have made a decision about whether or not they're going

to grant Mr Assange asylum. They will not make that public until

tomorrow. Either way, the chances are that if Mr Assange makes any

attempt to leave those premises just down the road from here, the

British Government will make every effort to arrest him. Thank you.

Football now and the Arsenal captain Robin Van Persie is to move

to Manchester United for a reported transfer fee of �24 million. The

Dutch striker was the Premier League's top scorer last season.

Arsenal had threatened to make him serve out the remainder of his

contract. He travels to Manchester tomorrow to agree terms and complot

a medical checkment The Bolton midfielder Fabrice

Muamba has announced his retirement from football. It comes six months

after the 24-year-old suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch in a

cup tie at Tottenham. He says he is devastated his playing career is

over. But he is glad to be alive. The England cricketer Kevin

Pietersen has apologised for sending what he called

"provocative" text messages to the members of the South African team

about his own team-mates. It hasn't done enough to rescue his chances

of playing in the crucial third and final Test Match. Daniela Relph

reports. He is brash, bold and oven brilliant, Kevin Pietersen is

England's star batsman. He's got 100. He leaps into the air and

pufrpbls it. He takes his helmet off. But his international career

now hangs in the balance. Today he apologised for sending the texts

and talked of having to reign himself in. In a statement he said,

"I did send what you might call provocative texts to my close

friends in the South African team. The texts were meant as banter

between close friends. I truly didn't mean to cause upset or

tension particularly with important games at stake."

Over the years the England captain Andrew Strauss has shown great

loyalty to Pietersen. Today there was irritation and frustration.

When he's playing well and everything's happy in the

dressingroom, he's a great asset to the side. But that's not where we

are right at the moment. I think the selectors made a brave and

correct decision for this particular Test Match that he

didn't play. It is now obvious there is a real rift between Kevin

Pietersen and the other players, a clear lack of trust in. Dropping

Pietersen England have taken the view that team harmony matters more

than one player's talent. Under scrutiny from the Test Match

special commentary box, the Pietersen problem had to be

addressed. To be the best team in the world you all have to pull

together. You have to have loyalty, trust, all of those things. You

haven't got to be best mates. England practised without him. If