20/02/2013 BBC News at Ten

The death of Oscar Pistorius' girlfriend. A detective admits

there is no evidence to contradict the Paralympian's story. The South

African star breaks down as witnesses claim they heard shouting

and gun shots at the house in the early hours of Valentine's Day. And

there is claim and counter-claim in court as new evidence is presented.

His uncle says the athlete is in extreme shock. He is not a violent

extreme shock. He is not a violent person, he is a peacemaker. He has

always been a peacemaker. We will be asking if Oscar

Pistorius could be out on bail tomorrow.

Also tonight: The jury in the Vicky Pryce trial is dismissed after

failing to reach a verdict. Chris Huhne's ex-wife now faces a retrial

A record number of people now in work as unemployment falls again to

2.5 million. Women in their early 40s should be

allowed IVF on the NHS say new guidelines.

And after making it big in America, success for Adele and Mumford and

Coming up on the BBC News Channel: All the action from the first day

of the World Track Cycling Championships, where there have

Good evening. A detective investigating how Oscar Pistorius'

girlfriend was killed has admitted in court that no evidence has been

found to contradict the athlete's version of event. The South African

Paralympic champion says he shot his girlfriend in the early hours

of Valentine's Day after mistaking her for an intruder. At his bail

hearing, police said one witness reported hearing shots and screams

while another spoke of a loud argument. But the court was told

that witness was almost half a mile away. Back in court to fight for

bail, Oscar Pistorius arriving for a crucial day of evidence and

sometimes heated argument. A wall of cameras to greet him in

courtroom C. The Paralympic athlete still struggling to control his

emotions. The key witness today, the lead detective, Hilton Botha,

and on a screen, the first detailed plan we've seen of the crime scene

itself. Hilton Botha said he had two witnesses hearing a long and

loud argument before the shooting, but he admitted under cross-

examination that one witness could not identify the voices. Upstairs,

the bedroom the athlete shared with Reeva Steenkamp. Police said they

found testosterone, drugs and needles. The defence said it was a

herbal remedy and tonight the prosecutor admitted the police made

an error. Down the corridor, the bathroom. Reeva was locked in the

toilets in the far corner. The post-mortem showed she had an empty

bladder which backed up their claims that she had gone to the

toilet. Pistorius says he fired four times too deplore. The police

said the angle suggests but does not prove that Oscar Pistorius had

his prosthetic legs on. Also the implication that money had been

moved from Oscar Pistorius's accounts, indicating that he could

leave the country. In the end, the detective leading

the investigation was forced to concede that he had found no

evidence that contradicted Oscar Pistorius's version of events.

Pistorius's relative seemed relieved. I can tell you this, that

Oscar, with his character, is able to work through this, and the world

will see a different Oscar. That's for sure. In court, the magistrate

himself had seemed to ridicule the idea that a man as famous and

distinctive as Pistorius might try to jump bail and lose an

opportunity to clear his name. can't see any reason personally why

he shouldn't get bail. It's not as if he's unfamiliar or that he can

take the first flight out of the country. Oscar Pistorius will spend

a night in custody. A decision on whether to release him on bail

could well be taken tomorrow. The jury in the trial of Vicky

Pryce, the ex-wife of the disgraced Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne, has

been discharged after failing to reach a verdict. She was accused of

perverting the course of justice, after taking speeding points for

him ten years ago. A charge she denied. As he ordered a retrial,

the judge expressed his frustration saying the jury had a fundamental

deficit in understanding of their role. Tom Symonds was in court.

The extraordinary legal saga of Vicky Pryce and her former husband

Chris Huhne it looked to be entering its final stages today but

there was no verdict. Instead she left court this afternoon having

seen her trial collapsed in front of her eyes. Earlier, as the media

surrounded the court awaiting a verdict, the jury's deliberation

had ground to a halt. They had questions. It's normal for juries

to pass notes to the judge with queries during their deliberations,

but this jury sent a list of ten basic questions, prompting Mr

Justice Sweeney to say that they had misunderstood their fundamental

role, a situation he hadn't come The judge had told the jury they

could only decide their verdict based on evidence revealed during

included "Can a juror come to a verdict that was presented based on

a reason not presented in court and has no facts or evidence to support

it?". Answer, no. "Can you define what is reasonable doubt?". In

criminal trials juries are always being told to be beyond reasonable

doubt. The judge said these were standard English words which simply

meant they must be sure. Then this question: "Would religious

conviction be a good enough reason for a wife feeling that she had no

choice i.e. She promised to obey her husband in her wedding vows and

he had ordered her to do something and she felt she had to obey?". The

judge said no answer he could give Any jury that doesn't understand

that it's meant to decide the case on the evidence and is not allowed

to speculate on evidence that was not before the court is not a jury

I would like to be tried by, and I am afraid it does rock one's faith

in the entire jury system. There will be a retrial starting on

Monday. Chris Huhne will have to wait to be sentenced until it is

over. A record number of people are now

in work according to the latest figures after another fall in

unemployment. The jobless total went down by 14,000 between October

and December of last year. It now stands at two and a half million.

The new figures were published as it emerged that the Bank of England

governor Sir Mervyn King had called for more action to boost the

economy earlier this month, but was outvoted.

The jobs market is simmering along nicely. Numbers in work are rising

and Nick Duffy is one of the winners. He had been out of work

for a while but then got an apprenticeship at this restaurant.

It was a bit of a shock to the system at first because I have not

worked for years! But I am used to it now. Everyone in the kitchen is

great, it is like a family atmosphere. I like it or stop the

restaurant is newly opened and the boss says he wants to create more

jobs for the local community. have recruited 60 people. If we

increase sales over the next 18 months, this time next year we will

be looking at another 20 people. But Darren has yet to get a

foothold on the jobs ladder. Youth unemployment has gone up. He is on

a course at Salford City College and taught me how keen he was to

get a job. I'm really want a job, I am not lazy. I have always wanted

to do something. I am not happy with the way I am at the minute,

unemployed. Where does the economy go from here? There was a revealing

insight today make into official thinking. Minutes into the 18th --

latest meeting of policy makers said the governor of the Bank of

England wanted quantitative easing to stimulate growth. The committee

voted not to go ahead with more money creation but Mervyn King and

two others thought more quantitative easing could help the

process of rebalancing the economy and a void potentially lasting

destruction of productive capacity. We are seeing a new governor come

into place later this year. I think it is probable we won't see a

further boost to liquidity in advance of that but it is clear

there is a very strong discussion going on within the Monetary Policy

Committee after the appropriate next step. There are uncertain

times ahead. Axminster Carpets says it is at risk of going into

administration, with 400 jobs on the line, and HMB announced the

closure of more stores, with almost 500 jobs to go -- H&M v. These

casualties will feed through to future unemployment figures, which

may well look less rosy than today's.

And Hugh is with me now. Mervyn King was outvoted. What should we

read into that? It was always a surprise. Financial

markets assumed the issue of money creation, quantitative easing, was

off the table because of fears of higher inflation, and here we have

the Governor and two others voting for an immediate restart, but

obviously you were then out voted. What is more, the committee

considered the issue of further policy measures to increase the

flow of credit, so the whole perception of the Bank of England

view has changed and there is at least a minority who think the

economy is not picking up as it should be and more action is needed.

On the back of that, the pound fell to its lowest level for two-and-a-

half years. The government view is, let's look at them now. The latest

unemployment figures. Iain Duncan- Smith has pointed to another

increase in full-time jobs and he says the rate of job creation here

is higher than other leading economies, but Labour says the

government needs to do an industrial-strength back-to-work

programme. Millions of people will soon have

access to better, faster mobile broadband after Britain's biggest

phone operators bid more than �2 billion for the 4G spectrum. But

the auction raised �1 billion less than the government had expected.

Ministers insisted the shortfall won't affect spending plans.

Speeding up, 3G Britain is about to move to the next phase of mobile

communications. Today these five companies won the right to deliver

fast 4G services and make the internet truly mobile. You cannot

watch a TV programme on a 3G network on your Smartphone, you

cannot stream a video, video- conferencing, all of this is not

possible with a 3G network. But the auction raised less than expected.

The 3G sale raised �22 billion but the bids totalled just �2.3 billion

for 4G. Perhaps the experience of EE made others less keen to splash

out. Now is the time for digital Britain. Despite a big advertising

campaign, customers seemed lukewarm about paying more for extra speed.

Consumers arguably have a difficult decision. They probably do not know

what 4G is and it is more expensive, at least on EE, so the operators

have got a difficult job and today is the beginning for them. A mobile

phone companies are relieved they had to pay less than expected and

they believe they can get on quickly to delivering the fast new

services to customers but they are less happy at the Treasury after

the auction failed to deliver as much for the public purse as had

been calculated. In his Autumn Statement, the Chancellor included

an estimate for the proceeds of the 4G auction but it has proved more

than �1 billion too optimistic. This is another example of George

Osborne's failing economic plan. He was relying on this revenue to

reduce his borrowing forecast but the problem is we do not have the

growth in this country and living standards are rising and that is

what he is failing on borrowing. The government says the auction

will deliver the technology the country needs and the precise sum

was always difficult to predict. is common for the government to say

what it expects to receive in a given fiscal year and that is what

the Chancellor did. His budget is around the corner and I am sure he

will update us on his plans. Sweden is one of the number of countries

that have already moved into the 4G age and now, today's companies will

have to convince the public here it is worth signing up to a faster

future. Coming up on tonight's programme: The new generation of

British cyclists hoping to repeat Olympic success at the World

He left office in disgrace more than a year ago, amid allegations

of sleaze and corruption. But now Italy's former Prime Minister,

Silvio Berlusconi, is trying it make a political comeback. With

just days to go until Italians go to the polls, the billionaire media

mogul is back on the campaign trail, with a pledge to refund a

controversial tax. The move has been condemned by his political

rivals. This report contains flash photography.

Europe thought it had finished with him. Yet Silvio Berlusconi is

become on the campaign trail, mobbed by his supporters. A 76-

year-old who cannot resist the pull of power. He is not the favourite.

Neither can he be written off. In recent weeks he has narrowed the

gap, with the expected winner from the centre-left. Silvio Berlusconi

is a candidate full of strutting confidence.

At times his campaign rallies take on the appearance of a football

terrace. He is more showman than politician, selling optimism at a

time Italy is in deep recession. He promises not just to lower taxes,

but to give cashback from an unpopular property tax.

N unjust, he says, because it touches something sacred. -- it's

unjust. The house is a foundation on which every family builds their

future. This kind of reception for Silvio Berlusconi is causing plenty

of international anxiety. There have been strong hints from the

White House, from officials in Brussels, from ministers in Germany,

that they don't want to see a return of Silvio Berlusconi.

His main opponent, the centre-left candidate, Pier Luigi Bersani, is

reminding of audiences of Berlusconi's scandals. While Italy

was on the sage of financial ruin, he says, Berlusconi was pre-

occupied with Ruby, a reference to the dancer he is accused of having

under-age sex with. Particularly among younger voters, the

Berlusconi scandals matter. TRANSLATION: He made us a joke of

the world. It is time for something to change. We threw him out because

he was ruining Italy. What sense does it make to re-elect him?

Berlusconi's closest aides argue that his policies trump concerns

about his personal life. His basic message is extremely simple. It is

taxes that are killing our families and our companies.

These are tense political days in Italy. A protester interrupts a

Berlusconi rally, saying basta - enough.

But a failing economy makes predictions difficult. The former

cruiseship crooner may not win, but he may end up with influence,

preventing a stable government and causing new concerns in Europe.

David Cameron has visited the scene of a massacre by British colonial

forces at Amritsar in India. Mr Cameron described the shooting of

hundreds of Indian protesters, in 1919, as "deeply shapeful" but

stopped short of a formal apoll ji. The Prime Minister has been

visiting the country in an effort to boost trade and investment

between India and Britain. Women up to the age of 42 should

now be allowed to try IVF on the NHS according to new guidelines.

The age limit is 39 NICE says these people in England and Wales, should

be offered one cycle if it is the first time they've had IVF. And all

couples should be allowed treatment after two, rather than teleyears of

trying for a child. But the guidelines aren't binding.

Fertility treatments lining IVT have been highly owe motive ever

since they were developed -- like IVF. One of the questions is

whether the NHS should pay for it and in what circumstances. These

new guidelines tells us which treatments and investigations are

effective and ineffective and will help people work their way through

and hopefully gain what they want, which is a family. They aim to help

the one in seven couples who find they have a problem with fertility.

They include extending IVF for some women up to the age of 42 and

younger couples will have to wait two years before trying IVF instead

of throw. These new guidelines mean more people should be able to

access IVF on the National Health Service. But the big question is:

who is going it pay for it? Because it is till a postcode lottery when

it comes to fertility treatment. -- it is still. The problem is they

are just guidelines, not legally enforceable. An IVF cycle costs

around �3,000 and only one in four Primary Care Trusts in England are

meeting the existing NICE guidelines.

IVF helped Caroline Wood get pregnant. But she and her husband

had to pay for it themselves to the tune of �20,000. Their local NHS

triemry care trust refused to fund IVF for women over the age of 35. -

- Primary Care Trust. Someone living in one part of the country

might be able to receive the flee cycles of treatment that NICE

currently recommends -- the three cycles. Whereas in others,

currently they are not actually treating anyone at all and

therefore the only road to treatment is privately.

These guidelines apply in England and Wales. The health service in

Northern Ireland provides IVF up to the age of 39. In Scotland the age

limit is 38. But some experts believe unless they are enforced

the guidelines from NICE become meaningless. It is all well and

good to have good practice out there for the medical profession

and for patients. But if the NHS can't fund it, then they are just

words and guidelines which will never be adhered to, as we have had

in the past. Those who control budgets, though, say local health

priorities will be different across the country. The best thing, surely,

is to leave it to local people, dependent upon what their

priorities rand they can decide how the cash is best speb. You can't do

that centrally. -- spent. These are difficult choice. Balancing many

demands on tight budgets, with the needs of couples who are facing

their own challenges. After their triumph at the London

Olympics, Britain's cyclists have been back in action in Belarus for

their first major event since the Games. Now that Olympic star Sir

Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton have retired, hopes have been

pinned on a new generation of stars. It has become a familiar sight,

British cyclists on a medal podium. A after their success in London,

the long ride to the next Olympics starts here at the World

Championships. No gold medals today but a silver in the men's pursuit

and a bronze in the women's sprint. COMMENTATOR: What a ride there from

Becky James. Becky James and teenage newcomer Rebecca Williamson

show the potential. We had no expectations. I'm shocked. There is

a sense here for a new era for British cycling. The average age

here is just 21. It seems the next generation of stars are making

their move. Laura Trott is already a double gold medallist at 20. But

her new team-mate Elinor barqueer is just 18. A possibly World

Champion tomorrow but still studying for A-levels. It is quite

tough trying to teach myself everything. After the race I have

six weeks of no racial so I can try to cram studies in and get some

results. The focus is on the future. It's a team in transition be. The

British cycling's cycle of success may yet take some stopping.

After making it big in the United States, music acts, including

Mumford and Sons, Adele and One Direction have been rewarded closer

to home tonight in the BRIT awards. Mumford an sons won Best British

Group and Adele's Bond theme won Best British Single and Emeli Sande

one Best Female Artist and the main prize, Best Album.

This report contains flash photography. It is British music's

big night out. Welcoming some of the industry's biggest stars from

long-established acts to relative newcomers. It was boy band of the

moment, One Direction who provided a highlight as they premiered this

year's official coppic relief single. Like a number of -- Comic

Relief. Like a number of artists they have been successful in

America. They won the Global Success award tonight but lost out

to another British group who had taken the States by storm this year.

Mumford and Sons. It is a real honour. We love going

around the world and telling people we are British. We are proud and

grateful. Thank you. One of the biggest-selling artists

in America last year, Adele, picked up the Best Single prize for sky

fall, joke being her speech being famously interrupted during last

year's awards. I won't keep you too long, I don't want to interrupt the

Best Album speech at the end of the night.

Thank you very much. But it went just artists who had made it big in

the US who were awarded. Relative newcomer, Ben Howard took home two

prizes for Best Breakthrough and Best British Male. And Emeli Sande,

who is yet to make an impact on the other side of the at lan take, also

took two awards -- Atlantic. Also took two awards. Best British

Female and Best Album prize. I want to thank everyone who let me make

the album I wanted to make. Thank you so much. This is a dream,

really. Thank you for this year and this award. I'm so grateful. Thank

you. This has been a night when some of

the winners have been acts who've made it in America. While some of

them haven't managed to break it Statesside yet. Those who haven't