19/02/2013 BBC News at Ten

Also tonight: One of the biggest diamond heists in history, as

masked men steal more than �30 million worth of gems from a plane

at Brussels Airport. On the front line in Syria, as the

rebels try to take control of Aleppo's airport. We have a special

report. I can actually just see the airstrip and the main airport

building. Older power stations are closing.

Now a warning that fuel bills will increase, as Britain becomes more

reliant on imported energy. And the pregnant Duchess of

Cambridge is defended by the Prime Minister after criticism from the

novelist Hilary Mantel. She writes great books but what she says is

Coming up on the BBC News Channel, or we will bring you the highlights

of Arsenal's Champions' League Good evening. The South African

star Oscar Pistorius claims he shot his girlfriend because he thought

she was an intruder and he said the couple were deeply in love. 700

miles away, the woman he killed on Valentine's day, Reeva Steenkamp,

was being cremated. In court the prosecution accused the Paralympic

champion of premeditated murder saying he deliberately shot her

four times through a locked bathroom door. Oscar Pistorius is

back in police cells tonight. Tomorrow he will be told if he will

be released on bail or held in prison. Andrew Harding reports from

Pretoria. He spent five nights behind bars.

Oscar Pistorius back in court this morning for a bail hearing. His

family gathering again to support the man they believe killed his

girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in a terrible accident. But in the

courtroom, the prosecution came out fighting, arguing that Pistorius

had planned to murder. The magistrate took that on board when

he ruled that he would be treating this case as one of premeditated

murder, with a possible rise sentence. Pistorius and his father

took the news hard. The court is on a short break but this is where

Oscar Pistorius's family have been sitting, and just in front of them,

the bench where Oscar Pistorius has been sitting very emotional,

repeatedly breaking down, especially when the magistrate

announced he would be treating this as premeditated murder. His lawyers

busy preparing their evidence. And from this team came the first

detailed description of what Oscar Pistorius says happened between him

and Reeva Steenkamp last Thursday morning. The couple were in bed

asleep at Pistorius's home, the athlete said. There he woke up,

then heard a noise from the bathroom. He says he was not

wearing his prosthetic legs and felt vulnerable and afraid. He

shouted, then moved to the bathroom door and fired four shots through

it. It was only when he returned and found the bed was empty that

Oscar Pistorius said he realised he may have made a terrible mistake.

He picked up a cricket bat, or went back to the bathroom door and

smashed it enforce dog inside he found his girlfriend dying. He

picked up her body, to give downstairs, where he says she died

in his arms. This morning, Reeva's family gathered in the coastal city

of Port Elizabeth for a private memorial service. She was 30 years

old, a well-known celebrity, model and law student who had been dating

Oscar Pistorius since November. There has been much talk of

Pistorius's violent temper but today friends of the victim and the

athlete made statements in court saying the couple had been in love

and was starting to entertain thoughts of marriage. We are here

today as a family and there is only one thing missing, it is Reeva...

We have got together... But we missed one. Oscar Pistorius's bail

hearing will resume tomorrow, with the prosecution seeking to

challenge his version of events. A full trial could well be many

months away. It is one of the biggest diamonds

heists in history. Gems worth tens of millions of pounds have been

stolen from a passenger plane as it prepared to depart from Brussels

International Airport. Masked gunmen forced their way through a

perimeter fence, and held up a security van loading the diamonds

on to the plane. The passengers on board were oblivious.

The tarmac of an international airport is supposed to be one of

the most secure environments but last night a gang armed with

suspiciously good information swooped on a Swiss air passenger

plane and pulled off one of the biggest diamond heists in history.

This was a very quick hit and run, very well organised. There was no

shooting or injuries. The diamonds were transferred from a Brinks

warehouse to the cargo doors of a Zurich bound aircraft. Two vehicles

carrying up to eight men crashed through the perimeter fence. The

eight menu which packages they wanted, it soon it escaping with

�30 million worth of rough diamonds. Police later found a burnt-out van

close to the airport, where the trail goes cold. But not far from

Brussels is Antwerp, where they process and export 80% of the

world's rough diamonds. They go to extraordinary lengths here to keep

their lifeblood safe. I am frustrated, yes. Because knowing

the world we are in, with high- security, terrorism alerts, things

like that could happen in a country like Belgium, in Europe, is simply

unacceptable. A theft, and as easy as this one, is an embarrassment to

the industry's highly polished image, but it is not a first. Ten

years ago almost to the day, an Italian gang walked into this

diamond centre behind me, opened 123 of 160 maximum-security vaults

and walked away with $100 million in diamonds. The ringleader of that

group had worked in this building for almost two years. The lesson

being - you can't pull off something like this without

detailed insider knowledge. Someone surely knew of the impending

transfer. The experts think the gang would have a buyer in mind and

the stones will almost certainly be recut. In all probability, they

have already crossed the border. David Cameron's plan to build a

special relationship with India ran into difficulties today on a visit

to Delhi. The Indian Prime Minister raised what he called very serious

concerns about corruption allegations relating to the sale of

British-made helicopters to the Indian air force. James Landale is

travelling with the Prime Minister. His piece contains flash

They screamed and shouted, they could not contain their excitement.

Today David Cameron visited a girls' college in a deli and what a

welcome they gave. -- in Delhi. At least to the man standing next to

the Prime Minister, Amir Khan, Bollywood's most famous film-star.

An event to discuss education, but pictures also for the Indian voters

back home. Earlier at the reception was, let's just say, more formal.

India's Prime Minister chose publicly to explain why he put

plans to buy British helicopters on hold. I also conveyed to the Prime

Minister our very serious concerns regarding allegations about

unethical means used in securing the 2010 contract for Augusta

Westland helicopters. So much for the special relationship. Mr

Cameron made clear the bribery allegations focused on Augusta

Westland's parent company in Italy. Isn't this a test of the special

relationship with India? They are under political pressure to tackle

corruption but that could cost jobs in the south-west of England?

want to make sure that Augusta Westland, which is an excellent

company with a very skilled work force, and continues to succeed but

I will work closely with the Indians if necessary to make sure

they get to the bottom of what has happened. The Prime Minister also

met a group of women who drive taxis, a rare sight here.

Are you qualified? He was told by his hosts to allow

more young people like these into Britain. He said Goodall was all

with open to students and graduates, but... -- blue door was always open.

We should never be a soft touch. So we are looking at the housing,

education, benefit system, so that people cannot come who wanted to

use this systems and not work. presents the British Prime Minister

with a paradox. Public adulation one minute, a public rebuke the

next. This trip has opened doors but Britain is not quite India's

partner of choice, at least not yet. A man who caused a massive gas

explosion at his home in Greater Manchester killing a two-year-old

boy next door has been jailed for ten years. Eight houses were

destroyed in the Shaw area when Andrew Partington cut two gas pipes

after arguing with his partner, and later lit a cigarette. Two-year-old

Jamie Heaton, who had been watching television next door, died in the

blast. The judge said Partington had in effect created a bomb.

One of three family members in Britain struck down by a rare SARS-

like virus has died in hospital in Birmingham. The man, who has not

been named, already had an underlying illness that weakened

his immune system. Of the 12 people known to have been infected with

the virus worldwide, six have now died. Health officials are

stressing that the threat posed to the public by the virus is still

very low. There is a warning that people will

have to pay more for gas and electricity over the next few years

as older power stations are closed before new ones come on stream. The

head of the energy regulator Ofgem says the energy market is facing a

near crisis, as demand for gas increases. This report from our

industry correspondent. There is a perfect storm of roaring

across the energy world, with the likelihood of higher prices ahead

and serious questions over whether the likes will stay on in the

future. In a month, 10% of our power capacity goes off for good.

Within three years, it will be very tight. EU environmental targets

means that dirty political pot plants have to shut. These nine

power stations were all close in the coming years, some in a matter

of weeks, and that leaves all of us more dependent on gas. By 2020, 70%

of our electricity could be generated this way and with global

gas supplied expected to be tight, prices are expected to rise. Harsh

news when average household bills are already over �1,400. 6 million

families in this country living fuel poverty, spending more than

10% of their income on energy, and that will rise to 9 million in the

next few years. So we have got to protect the least well-off and

insulate homes better. government wants the UK to have a

mix of energy sources. It is currently negotiating with EDF over

plans that show macro nuclear reactors at Hinkley Point -- plans

for two nuclear reactors. But those talks are in trouble and it could

be difficult times ahead. It will be tricky to get rid this

transition period into the new world at a price which is

affordable to people and keeps the industry competitive.

government says its energy bill will ensure there is sufficient

supply when margins get tired and also incentivise �110 billion of

private sector investment in clean power generation.

Coming up on tonight's programme: Trouble for Arsenal in the

Champions League as Bayern Munich take control at the Emirates

As the United Nations warns of worsening human rights violations

and war crimes in Syria, the number of people being killed continues to

grow. Activists say 110 people have died in the violence today alone,

among them children. Our correspondent, Ian Pannell and

cameraman Darren Conway have been inside Syria to the rebel-held city

of Aleppo, where some of the most intense fighting has been taking

place. The night sky over Aleppo trembles with the sound of war. And

the toll has been terrible. Parts of this once grand city have been

eviscerated. Thousands have lost their lives. As the fighting

spreads, many parts of Syria now look like this. In the last few

weeks, rebel fighters have made key gains here in the north. Towns,

military bases, airfields. These streets have the misfortune to lie

beside their next and biggest target so far, Aleppo International

Airport. Too much has been lost to think of winners and losers, but

make no mistake, the rebellion is advancing. It's now a few hundred

metres away from the airport. I can see the airstrip there and the main

buildings. This is now the key target for the rebels. They've

managed to take many of the big facilities. If they take this, not

only will it have been a success, but also an important symbolic

victory. TRANSLATION: Controlling the airport means wiping out the

Syrian army. It could deal a fatal blow to morale and be a major boost

for us, as well as giving us a great military asset. Civilians pay

the highest price for this ambition. The battle for Syria's future

remains -- makes refugees of its own people. We drove south. An army

column has been trying to advance to protect the airport. But the

rebels have moved in to stop it. The ground bears witness to the

brutality of the fight. And the black flag in the roundabout lets

everyone know who is leading the resistance. We saw foreign fighters

from Libya, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Together with Syrian Islamists,

they seem to dominate the frontlines. They have a reputation

for being tough, disciplined and brave. Some fear these men want a

hard-line Islamic state, far removed from what began as a call

for freedom and democracy. But without help from elsewhere, many

Syrians are simply glad of their support. And their mounting success.

But there's another reason to worry about what is happening here. Only

a few kilometres away is the vast military complex of al-Safira.

Believed by some to store part of Syria's suspected chemical weapons

stock. And it's in the rebels' sights. The town of al-Safira has

been pounded relentlessly in a fight that resonates far beyond

Syria's borders. In towns like al- Safira, across Syria, they seam to

have borne the brunt of the fighting and Government shelling.

There's as many as 170,000 people, including refugees living here,

when the attacks began. Today, it's pretty much empty. Hundreds of

people were killed and thousands injured. No hospitals to treat them.

Nobody to save them. Nobody is interested. The Syrian army, the

regime's army is above the hill near the university. They can't

come to the city. They can kill the people at any time. They kill women,

children, burn houses, commit massacres and nobody in the whole

world is interested. Who really wants to help the Syrian people?

It's two years since this began. Hope that it will or even can end

soon has passed. And Syrians feel alone and abandoned by much of the

world. The Prime Minister of Tunisia, Hamadi Jebali, has

announced his resignation. Mr Jebali's own party rejected his

plans to appoint a caretaker Cabinet of technocrats in a bid to

calm tensions in the country following the murder of a leading

political opponent two weeks ago. A French family has been kidnapped in

Cameroon in West Africa, near the border with Nigeria. The three

adults and four children were returning from a trip to a national

park when they were seized by armed men on motorbikes. The French

President, Francois Hollande, said the kidnappers were a Nigerian-

based militant group who were known to the French authorities. The

technology giant, Apple, has become the latest big company to admit it

has been a victim of computer hacking. Apple says there's no

indication that any data's been taken but the authorities are

investigating. It follows similar attacks on Facebook and the New

York Times. Our security correspondent, Gordon Corera, is

here. Gordon, the finger's being pointed at China? That's right.

Apple hasn't said, but it's long been claimed that more cyber

attacks came from China than anywhere else. Until now, that's

something which has been hard to prove, but a security company,

Mandiant, has provided a detailed report in which it said it can link

some of the most significant attacks not just to China, but to

the Chinese state and they say they could do it through a building. A

building in Shanghai. They say they can trace one of the prolific

networks of hackers to the building and this building houses a unit of

the chin knees People's Liberation Army and that basically can't be a

coincidence. They steal companies' data and negotiating positions.

They steal product designs. In some cases, they steal consumer data,

private data. Facebook, Twitter and Apple have been hacked, but there's

no evidence that all of those were linked to China. This is a problem

which costs businesses millions, which costs governments some of

their secrets. The Chinese say they're not responsible. They say

they're a victim of hacking, which might be true and it poses a

dilemma for western governments in how they react. There are divisions

in those who say the finger should be pointed publicly at China and

those who say we need Chinese investment, our companies need to

sell products to China. The tide of stories and reports pointing the

finger at China is rising and that's tipping the balance to those

who want a pour robust response. Thank you very much. Thousands of

women and girls who were sent to workhouses in Ireland between the

1920s the 1990s have tonight received a formal apology from the

Irish Prime Minister. Enda Kenny said the Magdalene Laundries were

the result of a country that had been judgmental and intolerant.

Earlier this month, Mr Kenny was criticised for stopping short of a

formal apology. The Food Standards Agency has said they will start

testing items such as stock cubes and beef dripping next week in the

ongoing horsemeat scandal. Today, Nestle, the world's biggest food

company, announced that they were withdrawing beef pasta meals from

shelves in Italy and Spain after horse DNA was found in Buitoni

ready meals. The company says no horsemeat has been found in

products on sale in the UK. David Cameron has described remarks made

by the novelist, Hilary Mantel, about the Duchess of Cambridge as

completely misguided and completely wrong. The double Booker Prize

winner said in a recent speech that the Duchess appeared to have been

selected for her role because she posed no risk of showing any

character. But she also made it clear that she was reflecting a

view of the Duchess that had been put together by the press and

public opinion. Nicholas Witchell's report contains flash photography.

She's roughly four months pregnant now and behind the clasped hands

there is evidence of a more rounded stomach. The pregnancy sickness of

early December has passed, but she is taking things easily. Last week,

she and William were on holiday in Mustique. Today, she was fulfilling

her first public engagement for some weeks, visiting a centre that

helps women recover from drug and alcohol dependence. Despite her

low-profile, she has become the focus of unflattering comments by

Hilary Mantel. During a lecture, Miss Man tell described the

transition of Kate Middleton into a Royal Duchess. Kate Middleton, as

she was, appeared to have been designed by a committee. Built by

craftsmen, with perfect plastic smile and the spindles of her limbs

hand-turned and gloss varnished. Miss Man tell said the person who

had emerged from the transmission seemed machine-like and without the

risk, as she put it, of the emergence of character. St James's

Palace declined to comment, but the Prime Minister in India, dismissed

the remarks. I think she writes great books, but what she said

about Kate Middleton is completely misguided and completely wrong.

What I've seen of the Prince Phillip success on public events

and at the Games and elsewhere is this is someone who is bright,

engaging and a fantastic ambassador for Britain and we should be proud

of that. The Duchess shouldn't feel offended according to one historian,

would believes Miss Man tell's comments have been misunderstood.

She was very sympathetic to Kate and said she is the perfect bride

and mother and said how hard it is to be Royal in a guilded cage. It's

not intended to be an attack. Hilary Mantel's lecture was a

thoughtful and at times vivid examination of what it is like

toing Royal, however, the choice of language in relation to the Duchess

of Cambridge can scarcely be described as gentle. The Duchess

will just have to get used to it, if she hasn't already, as that,

after all, is part of being Royal. Football, and it's been a crucial

night for Arsenal in the Champions League. With their manager Arsene

Wenger under pressure, Arsenal were taking on Bayern Munich in the

first leg of the knock-out stages of the Champions League. Tim Franks

watched the action. Recent results have produced a cloud of gloom over

Arsenal and against them tonight Bayern Manchester Unitedishing --

Bayern Munich, the run-away leaders of the German league. If those

Arsenal fans were worried now, let's hope they were looking away.

A free hender, a sharp save, an easy gsh a free header, a sharp

save, an easy goal. If the first half had been predictable, the

second half was bizarre. Bayern's normally swarming defence suddenly

static. Arsenal's former Bayern player, Lukas Podolski the scorer.