:00:09. > :00:13.Tonight at Ten - wealthy pensioners are warned they could lose some of
:00:13. > :00:16.their benefits. Nick Clegg says that in a time of austerity,
:00:16. > :00:26.benefits such as free bus passes and the winter fuel payment should
:00:26. > :00:28.
:00:28. > :00:31.be looked at again. I think we need to ask people who have far more
:00:31. > :00:34.considerable means to make an additional contribution.
:00:34. > :00:37.coalition also announced it is looking for billions more in
:00:37. > :00:39.spending cuts from 2015. Also tonight... A special report on the
:00:39. > :00:49.Syrian conflict and the widespread use of sexual violence, including
:00:49. > :00:52.
:00:52. > :01:00.rape. They were raping me one by one. I started to say, please don't
:01:00. > :01:03.do that. Please don't do that. track down the man who ran a
:01:04. > :01:06.detention centre where the attacks took place.
:01:07. > :01:09.Concerns about Abu Hamza expressed by the Queen but the BBC apologises
:01:10. > :01:12.for revealing details of a private conversation.
:01:12. > :01:17.Homes evacuated and travel disrupted, as heavy rain causes
:01:17. > :01:27.problems across northern parts of Britain. And new images of the
:01:27. > :01:53.
:01:53. > :01:55.missing schoolgirl who travelled to Good evening. The wealthiest
:01:55. > :01:59.pensioners could find themselves without universal benefits such as
:01:59. > :02:05.free bus passes or the winter fuel allowance if the Lib Dems are still
:02:05. > :02:11.in power after the next election. Nick Clegg says the payments should
:02:11. > :02:14.be looked at in the current economic climate. The coalition is
:02:14. > :02:21.now drawing up plans for billions of pounds in savings for the year
:02:21. > :02:27.2015 and beyond. Mr Clegg spoke to our political editor, Nick Robinson.
:02:27. > :02:31.If you thought the cuts were bad, be prepared. Here in Brighton,
:02:31. > :02:36.there have been cut to school buildings, bus roots and council
:02:36. > :02:41.services, and so much more that we do not see. Now, the council is
:02:41. > :02:45.beginning negotiations about finding another �16 billion worth
:02:45. > :02:49.of savings per year to start in three years' time. No wonder Nick
:02:50. > :02:53.Clegg has warned his party of scars to come. It is a huge number, but
:02:53. > :02:58.it should be put in the context of the overall amount of money. It has
:02:58. > :03:03.to be done, but it has to be done fairly. Do you accept that you will
:03:03. > :03:08.have to cut the welfare budget, in part, to meet those savings? Yes, I
:03:08. > :03:15.don't think it will be possible to set the welfare budget completely
:03:15. > :03:19.aside. It constitutes a third of public spending. Being discussed by
:03:19. > :03:23.ministers behind closed doors is whether to stop things like
:03:23. > :03:27.Jobseeker's Allowance rising with inflation. There is a perfectly
:03:27. > :03:33.understandable case which some people say, that my earnings have
:03:33. > :03:38.only gone up by a certain amount, why shouldn't the people who get
:03:38. > :03:42.support from me, from taxpayers, be on a similar footing? We can look
:03:42. > :03:47.at that. I am not prepared to introduce a huge cut across the
:03:47. > :03:52.piece for many of the people who rely on benefits. Would it be more
:03:52. > :03:54.fair to stop better-off pensioners getting free bus passes and TV
:03:54. > :04:01.licences and a winter fuel allowance? 1 Lib Dem minister, with
:04:01. > :04:06.a bus pass, thinks so. I think somebody like me, on an MP's salary,
:04:06. > :04:10.should not be receiving a �200 winter fuel allowance. That money
:04:10. > :04:14.could be saved out of the welfare bill, which would avoid as having
:04:14. > :04:20.to take more off the least well-off in society. The coalition will not
:04:20. > :04:23.do that, says the Lib Dem leader, but as for the future... There is a
:04:23. > :04:30.question mark about whether it is white that Peter Stringfellow or
:04:30. > :04:35.Alan Sugar has a free bus pass, subsidised by normal workers.
:04:36. > :04:41.Lib Dems say what they really want to do is to introduce a tax on
:04:41. > :04:45.mentions, if only the Tories would let them. If, as seems unlikely,
:04:45. > :04:50.the Conservatives agreed to your mention tax, how many more billions
:04:50. > :04:57.of savings, cuts or tax rises, would you still have to find?
:04:57. > :05:01.Considerably more billions, of course. A mention tax of itself is
:05:01. > :05:05.not going to fill the black hole. Is it not the honest thing to say
:05:05. > :05:09.to the country, it will not come from mansions, oligarchs and
:05:09. > :05:14.millionaires, ladies and gentlemen, it will come from you? You're
:05:14. > :05:18.missing the point. In politics, as in life, your values are reflected
:05:18. > :05:24.in where you start. When you have to tighten your belt, who do you
:05:24. > :05:27.first ask to make a sacrifice? Nick Clegg came to London Derry having
:05:27. > :05:32.said sorry. He knows very well there could be many more difficult
:05:32. > :05:41.things to say in the next few months. And we can speak to Nick in
:05:41. > :05:44.Brighton now. Nick - what can we expect from Nick Clegg tomorrow?
:05:44. > :05:48.think I can say with absolute and total confidence that there is not
:05:48. > :05:52.the slightest chance of Nick Clegg mentioning pension or benefits when
:05:52. > :05:57.he speaks to his conference tomorrow. That's because the whole
:05:57. > :06:00.idea, frankly, was a bit of a mess today. He was trying to reassure
:06:00. > :06:04.pensioners that he was not coming for their benefits, when he said to
:06:04. > :06:08.me, it would only be millionaires that he was really looking at, and
:06:08. > :06:13.only then, after the next general election. And yet one of his
:06:13. > :06:17.closest advisers, David Laws, then appeared on BBC radio and said,
:06:17. > :06:21.actually, if you only to benefits away from millionaires, you would
:06:21. > :06:26.raise so little, it would be virtually not worth doing. It shows,
:06:26. > :06:30.if you like, the real problem of high lighting, yes, that you want
:06:30. > :06:34.to make further cuts, and that the country needs that, but that you do
:06:34. > :06:40.not want to take them away from ordinary people, simply from the
:06:40. > :06:44.very rich. The numbers simply do not add up. In part, that will be
:06:44. > :06:48.the underlying message, though, of what is in the speech. He will say
:06:48. > :06:52.to his party that they are on a journey, away from the easy
:06:52. > :06:56.promises of opposition, as he sees it, towards the tough choices of
:06:56. > :07:01.government. He will say to them, I know many of you in the audience
:07:01. > :07:05.may be wishing to turn back, but it is right to press on, and he will
:07:05. > :07:12.claim that the Liberal Democrats are now one of three parties of
:07:13. > :07:15.As the conflict in Syria continues to intensify, the BBC has heard
:07:15. > :07:20.allegations of sexual violence, including rape, taking place within
:07:20. > :07:22.government detention centres. The British government is asking the UN
:07:22. > :07:27.to address the issue, insisting that those responsible must be held
:07:27. > :07:29.to account. The BBC's Fergal Keane travelled to the Middle East and
:07:29. > :07:39.spoke to some of the victims. His special report contains graphic
:07:39. > :07:40.
:07:41. > :07:43.accounts of the attacks taking The BBC says it deeply regrets that
:07:43. > :07:51.one of its journalists revealed details of a private conversation
:07:51. > :07:56.with the Queen about the radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza. These are
:07:56. > :08:00.among the 250,000 refugees of the war in Syria. They bring with them
:08:00. > :08:04.stories of the crimes which haunt the survivors. This woman says she
:08:04. > :08:10.was arrested at a checkpoint and later repeatedly break, along with
:08:10. > :08:13.three other women. TRANSLATION: The Daily rape took
:08:13. > :08:16.place in front of the other girls. That was the time they would remove
:08:16. > :08:20.the blindfold, so that they could see what was happening, and they
:08:20. > :08:27.would not know when their turn would come, whether it would be
:08:27. > :08:32.tomorrow, after one hour, they did not know. It was done in rotation.
:08:32. > :08:37.The witness says it happened in the most glorious Palestine branch of
:08:37. > :08:45.military intelligence, a building in Damascus which was later bombed
:08:45. > :08:50.by rebels. -- the most notorious of Palestine branch.
:08:50. > :08:57.TRANSLATION: She was screaming. Afterwards, we saw blood on the
:08:57. > :09:05.floor. He told her, is this good enough for you? They were mocking
:09:05. > :09:12.her. It was obvious that she was in agony. After that, she no longer
:09:12. > :09:17.moved. The witness says that after two monks in the nightmare world of
:09:17. > :09:22.detention, she was helped to escape and to flee Syria. Human Rights
:09:22. > :09:26.Watch says sexual violence is used to humiliate and to degrade.
:09:26. > :09:30.Neither they nor the UN have so far made accusations of rape against
:09:30. > :09:34.the rebel side. We have spoken with victims of rape and with the people
:09:34. > :09:38.who have given the medical help, and what is clear is that sexual
:09:38. > :09:47.violence is taking place across Syria, and has been directed at
:09:47. > :09:56.women and men. These young men were arrested in
:09:56. > :10:01.Damascus after taking part in demonstrations against the regime.
:10:01. > :10:11.They did it to me one by one. I start to say, please don't do that.
:10:11. > :10:11.
:10:11. > :10:20.Please don't do that. Nobody listened to me. And they said, this
:10:20. > :10:29.is for freedom. You want freedom? This is freedom. And the other
:10:29. > :10:33.officers, the other security, they were just laughing. I was alone.
:10:33. > :10:37.followed this allegation of abuse across the region, here to Istanbul.
:10:37. > :10:41.Because the general who commanded the centre where the young man says
:10:41. > :10:45.he was raped recently defected to the opposition. He says that there
:10:45. > :10:51.was great in other centres, but he always protected prisoners. Let me
:10:52. > :10:57.quote to you what a former detainee at your facility said. He said,
:10:57. > :11:06.they were raping me, they were like animals. That's from a detainee at
:11:06. > :11:12.the centre you ran. TRANSLATION: That is not true, when
:11:12. > :11:16.it comes to the time that I was done so. That is absolutely untrue.
:11:16. > :11:20.And if it were true, let him confront me, because I am
:11:20. > :11:27.responsible, and can be questioned before any authority, whether
:11:27. > :11:31.national or international. international community gives aid
:11:31. > :11:35.to refugees, but it is too divided over Syria to order a war crimes
:11:35. > :11:41.investigation. We asked the Syrian government to respond to the
:11:41. > :11:46.allegations, but received no answer. It recently dismissed UN reports of
:11:46. > :11:51.torture, including sexual violence, as neither accurate nor objective.
:11:51. > :11:55.In the absence of other witnesses, and with UN investigators being
:11:55. > :12:00.refused access to Syria, it is impossible to corroborate the
:12:00. > :12:07.allegations. But some survivors are determined to speak out.
:12:07. > :12:16.TRANSLATION: Nobody visits you, nobody has your voice. It seemed
:12:16. > :12:20.this was our destiny, to be tortured for days, and then to die.
:12:20. > :12:25.In this society, there is a huge degree of shame about speaking
:12:25. > :12:32.about a subject like this - why have you decided to speak to me?
:12:32. > :12:37.am still afraid for the girls who remain inside. Every few days, they
:12:37. > :12:43.would bring a new girl. I have been out for six or seven months - how
:12:43. > :12:52.many goals have that brought in during this time? That, as the war
:12:52. > :12:55.escalates, is the most haunting of The BBC says it deeply regrets that
:12:55. > :12:58.one of its journalists revealed details of a private conversation
:12:58. > :13:01.with the Queen about the radical Muslim cleric, Abu Hamza. The
:13:01. > :13:04.Corporation said it was a wholly inappropriate breach of confidence.
:13:04. > :13:07.Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Abu Hamza
:13:07. > :13:17.and four other men could be extradited to the United States on
:13:17. > :13:18.
:13:18. > :13:21.terrorism charges. Our home editor, Mark Easton, has more details. Abu
:13:21. > :13:26.Hamza, a hugely controversial figure, who for years appeared for
:13:26. > :13:30.making a mockery of the British justice system. There was public an
:13:30. > :13:33.press fury at the apparent inability at the police at the Home
:13:33. > :13:38.Secretary office to arrest the man regarded as a threat to public
:13:38. > :13:43.order. After a police raid on the finsary park mosque in 2003, where
:13:43. > :13:46.he had previously been the I am man, he caused out rage when he preached
:13:46. > :13:55.in the streets. It's now emerged the Queen herself shared the sense
:13:55. > :13:58.of frustration. The Queen was pretty upset. This morning the
:13:58. > :14:03.BBC's security correspondent, Frank Gardner, revealed what the Queen
:14:03. > :14:07.had said to him about the affair over a private lunch. She spoke to
:14:07. > :14:14.the Home Secretary at the time and said, surely this man must have
:14:14. > :14:17.broken some laws, why can't this - why is he still at large? However,
:14:17. > :14:21.the revelations have led the BBC to make an apology to the Queen,
:14:21. > :14:24.because they related to a private conversation held in 2008. Frank
:14:24. > :14:29.Gardner has written personally to the Queen saying he's extremely
:14:29. > :14:34.sorry for the embarrassment caused. The Queen is known to express her
:14:34. > :14:38.views to journalists at private meetings, but strict protocol
:14:38. > :14:41.dictates her comments should not be reported. However, constitutional
:14:42. > :14:47.experts say there's nothing surprising about the monarch asking
:14:47. > :14:50.questions on matters of public concern of ministers. The Queen can
:14:50. > :14:53.discuss whatever they likes with the prom and the Home Secretary or
:14:53. > :14:57.whatever, and the great thing is that's completely private and no
:14:57. > :15:04.record is ever kept. There are no others present and that's all for
:15:04. > :15:07.the good. Meanwhile, the Home Office today said they were hopeful
:15:07. > :15:11.after an eight-year battle against extradition to the United States
:15:11. > :15:15.Abu Hamza would be on a plane within weeks. Once there, he faced
:15:15. > :15:19.multiple charges, including allegations he was involved in a
:15:19. > :15:25.1998 kidnapping of western tourists in Yemen. Three Britons and an
:15:25. > :15:34.Australian died during an attempted rescue. My main concern is that I
:15:34. > :15:38.want him tried to see exactly what his involvement in the Yemen was. I
:15:38. > :15:40.feel there is so much evidence. Today has been p another
:15:41. > :15:44.embarrassing reminder of the frustration that Abu Hamza seems to
:15:44. > :15:48.have been able to inflict on the British establishment for well over
:15:48. > :15:51.a decade. For a second day heavy rain and high winds have caused
:15:51. > :15:54.disruption in many parts of northern Britain. Hundreds of homes
:15:54. > :15:58.have been flooded, rail lines and roads have been closed and pupils
:15:58. > :16:00.sent home from many schools. Some 80 areas in England and Wales are
:16:00. > :16:10.being warned to expect more problems, as our correspondent,
:16:10. > :16:10.
:16:10. > :16:13.Danny Savage, reports. As the heavy rain continued to fall, the
:16:13. > :16:21.inevitable happened. Rivers across northern England burst their banks
:16:21. > :16:29.and chaos ensued. In Morpeth, the river wans Beth washed out about
:16:29. > :16:35.100 homes -- the river wapbs Beck washed out about 100 homes. There's
:16:35. > :16:39.not as much water as last time. owner of it riverside B&B is
:16:39. > :16:44.angered that flood defences haven't been significantly improved since
:16:44. > :16:48.last time. I just think four years of chitchat. It's stuff and
:16:48. > :16:51.nonsense. The flood defences should have been built two years ago.
:16:51. > :16:56.Completed. This wouldn't have happened. You are left with a
:16:56. > :17:01.ruined business? Again. emergency services have been on
:17:01. > :17:06.hand to help, but it is little consolation to those here left
:17:06. > :17:13.homeless, wondering just how much insurance will cost them now. In
:17:13. > :17:17.County Durham and cleaver land, police declared a major incident. -
:17:17. > :17:23.- Cleveland police declared a major incident. Schools were closed and
:17:23. > :17:27.30 homes were flooded. In Otley in West Yorkshire the river overflowed
:17:27. > :17:31.towards the town centre. Heavy rain in the Yorkshire Dales is causing
:17:31. > :17:36.these sort of problems downstream. But some of today's most
:17:36. > :17:40.astonishing sight were on the roads. This is the A1 in North Yorkshire.
:17:40. > :17:43.A 30-mile stretch was closed for much of the day, because it was
:17:43. > :17:49.under water. The queues built up and many were left stranded for
:17:49. > :17:55.hours. People struggled to get through on the die versionary
:17:55. > :17:58.routes as well. It -- diversionary route as well. There were long
:17:58. > :18:03.delays on the East Coast Main Line. Trains were diverted and passengers
:18:03. > :18:07.advised not to travel. Although tickets will be valid tomorrow.
:18:07. > :18:12.East of Edinburgh, the river burst its banks for the second time in
:18:12. > :18:15.just a few months. Putting flood victims back to square one.
:18:15. > :18:22.Obviously it's very distressing, particularly when we are here
:18:22. > :18:26.watching it and there's minimum we can do. Today, with the rapid
:18:26. > :18:31.response and sandbags we've managed to contain it a bit more than the
:18:31. > :18:37.last time. Scotland also saw these extraordinary scenes. In Aberdeen,
:18:37. > :18:42.the waves whipped up a flilty brown foam, which covered buildings --
:18:42. > :18:44.filthy brown foam, which covered buildings. A messy, but relatively
:18:44. > :18:48.harmless consequence of today's terrible conditions. But further
:18:48. > :18:58.south, the coast of north-east England this afternoon really
:18:58. > :19:00.showed the force of the weather battering so much of the UK. Coming
:19:00. > :19:03.up on tonight's programme - Europe's golf stars are warned to
:19:03. > :19:05.expect a lively reception from American fans at the Ryder Cup.
:19:05. > :19:08.Police searching for the missing teenager, Megan Stammers, have
:19:08. > :19:15.released new images which they hope will bring more information on her
:19:15. > :19:18.whereabouts. The 15-year-old, from Eastbourne, travelled to France on
:19:18. > :19:21.Friday with one of her teachers, Jeremy Forest, who's 30. Her school
:19:21. > :19:23.has now confirmed that it had been investigating their relationship
:19:23. > :19:33.before they went missing, as our correspondent, Ben Geoghegan,
:19:33. > :19:40.
:19:40. > :19:43.reports. Arm in arm, hand in hand, these CCTV pictures show 14-year-
:19:43. > :19:47.old Megan stamers and her maths teacher on board the ferry that
:19:47. > :19:51.took them to France last week. Megan was reported missing last
:19:51. > :20:00.Friday and a huge effort is now being made to find her and Jeremy
:20:00. > :20:04.Forrest. 30 years old, he's an amateur musician as well as a maths
:20:04. > :20:07.teacher. Megan had been having extra lessons before they both
:20:07. > :20:12.disappeared. Today it's been reported that one of her classmates
:20:12. > :20:15.here at the school raised concerns about her relationship with her
:20:15. > :20:19.maths teacher several months ago. The two of them were seen holding
:20:19. > :20:22.hands as they returned from a school trip to the United States.
:20:22. > :20:26.That's worried some of the parents here. They should have done
:20:26. > :20:29.something straightaway, not waited seven months before they done
:20:29. > :20:34.anything. He should have been suspended as soon as they were
:20:34. > :20:44.aware while investigations went on. Today, the local authority said it
:20:44. > :20:52.
:20:52. > :20:57.had been looking into Mr Forrest's I'm absolutely certain that when
:20:57. > :21:01.the report comes out and I gather the local authority will be doing a
:21:01. > :21:06.report this school will come out with flying colours. Bishop Bell is
:21:06. > :21:10.that sort of school. But the school has had to deal with issues in the
:21:10. > :21:15.past. In 2009 Robert Healey was jailed for seven years for grooming
:21:15. > :21:18.two pupils on the internet. And former chairman of the governors,
:21:19. > :21:22.Canon Gordon Ridout has been charged with a string of child sex
:21:22. > :21:26.offences, although the allegations don't relate to this school. For
:21:26. > :21:29.the moment, the police focus is getting Megan home. It's thought
:21:29. > :21:34.she may have talked to some of her friends about going away. Police
:21:34. > :21:37.are still trying to find out exactly what she was planning.
:21:37. > :21:39.David Cameron has again offered his support for the Government Chief
:21:39. > :21:45.Whip,,Andrew Mitchell, who was involved in a confrontation with
:21:45. > :21:48.police in Downing Street last week. But there was more news tonight on
:21:48. > :21:51.the Number Ten response, as David Cameron arrived in New York, where
:21:51. > :22:00.he's preparing to address the United Nations. James Landale is
:22:00. > :22:04.travelling with him. What have you learnt? I think all we have learnt
:22:04. > :22:08.today is why the Prime Minister is standing so firmly behind Andrew
:22:08. > :22:12.Mitchell. Despite the fact that the Daily Telegraph have published the
:22:12. > :22:16.full police notes of the altercation last week, the disputed
:22:16. > :22:21.allegations that Mr Mitchell swore and despite it emerged a day later,
:22:21. > :22:25.he had another go at cycling through the main gates and was
:22:25. > :22:29.again refused and the Mayor of London has waded in and said he was
:22:29. > :22:32.glad that the police threatened to arrest Mr Mitchell. Despite all of
:22:32. > :22:35.this, the Prime Minister is supporting Mr Mitchell, because at
:22:36. > :22:39.a meeting last Thursday, the Prime Minister hauled him into Downing
:22:39. > :22:42.Street and at that meeting Mr Mitchell looked the Prime Minister
:22:42. > :22:47.in the eye and said - gave an assurance that the words had been
:22:48. > :22:51.at bueded he had not said and it's on that basis that he's operating -
:22:51. > :22:57.- attributed he had not said and it's on that basis that he's
:22:57. > :23:00.operating. President Obama has urged world leaders at the United
:23:00. > :23:03.Nations to speak out forcefully against violence and extremism. In
:23:03. > :23:06.a speech to the General Assembly, he said it was time to address the
:23:06. > :23:09.tensions between the West and the Arab world. And he warned Iran,
:23:09. > :23:18.once again, that America will do what it must to stop the country
:23:18. > :23:23.developing a nuclear weapon. From New York, Jeremy Bowen reports. The
:23:23. > :23:28.motorcade pulled in just as the UN Secretary-General was sounding the
:23:28. > :23:32.alarm, about a world he said was in a time of turmoil, transation. For
:23:32. > :23:37.the Americans that means the fallout from the protests about the
:23:37. > :23:41.anti-Muslim film that was produced in this country. The US ambassador
:23:41. > :23:44.to Libya had three colleagues killed in one of the protests. The
:23:44. > :23:50.President told the General Assembly that no words could excuse the
:23:50. > :23:54.killing of snpbts in a region where the US has lost a lot of influence.
:23:54. > :23:59.It speaks for a need for all of us to honestly address the tensions
:23:59. > :24:03.between the West and Arab world that is moving towards democracy.
:24:03. > :24:08.Let me be clear, just as we cannot solve every problem in the world,
:24:08. > :24:13.the United States has not and will not seek to dictate the outcome of
:24:13. > :24:16.democratic transitions abroad. with strong anti-American feeling
:24:16. > :24:20.in the new Arab democracies it's not as if they can. The protests
:24:20. > :24:23.have made the Middle East into an issue in the US election now only
:24:23. > :24:28.six weeks away, with accusations that President Obama's approach has
:24:28. > :24:35.been weak. Three years ago, President Obama could still call on
:24:35. > :24:39.Egypt's former President, Mubarak's and the West's other friends. For
:24:39. > :24:42.30 years Americans presidents regarded Mubarak as the first Arab
:24:42. > :24:48.they would ring in a crisis, but now they need a new address book
:24:48. > :24:52.and new friends to put in it. In his speech the President defended
:24:52. > :24:55.his response to the uprisings and looking past the elections to the
:24:55. > :25:01.talk of war over Iran's nuclear installations, warned that time was
:25:01. > :25:04.running out for a deal. Make no mistake, nuclear-armed Iran is not
:25:04. > :25:08.a challenge to be contained. It will threaten the elimination of
:25:08. > :25:14.Israel and the security of Gulf nations and the stability of the
:25:14. > :25:18.global economy. It risks triggering a nuclear arms race in the region
:25:18. > :25:21.and the unravelling of the non- proliferation treaty, that's why
:25:21. > :25:25.the coalition of countries is holding the Government to account
:25:25. > :25:29.and why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from
:25:29. > :25:35.obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran also here in New York at the UN
:25:35. > :25:39.says it doesn't want a nuclear weapon. The Americans and their
:25:39. > :25:44.western allies are still struggling to find a way to deal with the
:25:44. > :25:49.changes in the Middle East in the Arab world. The truth is it will
:25:49. > :25:55.probably never again be as straightforward as it was when they
:25:55. > :25:58.had their old authoritarian friends to rely on. Europe's best golf
:25:58. > :26:01.players are in Illinois at the Medinah Country Club, preparing to
:26:01. > :26:05.compete for the Ryder Cup, which they've won in four of the past
:26:05. > :26:08.five contests. The practice rounds started today and while the
:26:08. > :26:12.Americans have the advantage of playing at home, the Europeans are
:26:12. > :26:20.hopeful that their impressive record can be maintained. Our
:26:20. > :26:26.sports correspondent, Andy Swiss, sent this report. It's where
:26:26. > :26:31.dazzling golf meets dazzling knitwear. The European team relaxed,
:26:31. > :26:36.refreshed and resplendent in orange as they gathered hoping once again
:26:36. > :26:42.to topple their American rifles. They did it two years ago in a
:26:42. > :26:48.quite spine-tingling finish. The hero of Celtic Manor believes that
:26:48. > :26:55.will count for nothing. It's going to be an exciting week. Like I said,
:26:55. > :26:58.we all start from scratch.. It's a lot of fun having the Cup in our
:26:58. > :27:03.team room and we want to play hard and take it back to Europe. I don't
:27:03. > :27:07.think there's any advantage from history. And the United States can
:27:07. > :27:11.certainly pack a punch. They have big names and after last time's
:27:11. > :27:14.disappointment they have high expectations. The USA will start
:27:14. > :27:18.this year as slight favourites, mainly because they have home
:27:18. > :27:25.advantage. Europe are up against not just 12 American golfers, but
:27:25. > :27:28.thousands of American fans. Today, the mood was traditionally genteel
:27:28. > :27:37.but come Friday the hosts are hoping it will be anything but.
:27:37. > :27:42.will be loud. It will be raucous and fun. It's the same as when we
:27:42. > :27:47.go to Europe. They get into it for their team and our fans will get
:27:47. > :27:54.into it for our team. And for those out on the course today there was a
:27:54. > :27:59.sense of calm before the storm. crowd will drown out the Europeans.
:27:59. > :28:07.I think we can build into a good sense of fury by Saturday or Sunday,