20/09/2013 BBC News at Ten

A UKIP MEP is suspended after calling a roomful of female party

members sluts. Godfrey Bloom made the comments at

the party's conference, to the fury of his leader. I made a joke and

said, you are all sluts, and everybody laughed, including all of

the women. What are you trying to make of this? We cannot have any one

individual destroying UKIP's National conference, and that is

what he has done today. We'll look at whether this will

affect the party's growing popularity.

affect the party's growing Also tonight: Another bank is

targeted by cyber thieves. This time, over £1 million is stolen

from Barclays. How hundreds of children are being

blackmailed by paedophiles online, with some driven to self harm, even

suicide. After the decades-long civil war in

Sri Lanka, we have a special report, as the country rebuilds but remains

divided. And how TV manufacturers plan to

transform the way we watch. In Sportsday: Sir Bradley Wiggins

leads the Tour of Britain by 32 seconds.

Simon Yates won today's stage. Good evening.

The UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, had intended to use his annual

conference today to boast of how far the party has come and how it has

grown in popularity. Instead it's been overshadowed by the comments of

the UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom, who called a roomful of female party

members "sluts". He insisted he was joking, but his leader failed to see

the funny side and suspended Mr Bloom. It's not the first time the

MEP has found himself in hot water. In August, he was forced to

apologise after he said that British aid should not be sent to "Bongo

Bongo Land". Here's Robin Brant. This was supposed to be his big day.

UKIP has had a great year. A breakthrough in local elections. The

message from Nigel Farage was, we are one of the big boys now. We have

over 30,000 members, rising fast, and by the next general election we

will have the third highest membership of any party in this

country. But a few hours later, one of the current members torpedoed

UKIP was my bid to broaden its appeal. At a fringe meeting about

women, MEP Godfrey Bloom, a senior party spokesman was recorded

women, MEP Godfrey Bloom, a senior apparently joking about housework.

You said the place is full of sluts. Is that true? You will have to look

at the clip, I cannot remember. What I remember is that everybody, I

think all of the girls said, none of us clean behind the fridge. And I

made a joke and said, you are all sluts, and everybody laughed,

including all of the women. Was there a single woman that did not

laugh at the joke, you sad little man? Then there was more, this time

on race. What do you make of the cover of this brochure with no black

faces? What they racist comment. That is an appalling thing to say.

You are picking people out for the colour of their skin! New disgust

me. Get out of my way. You are disc race for! Later, explained that he

meant the very old fashioned meaning of the word slut. It means under

side. As your mother never called you a slut Western Mark perhaps you

are very tidy. It was a joke. Head held high, there was no apology, but

one of the party's prominent women was quick to call for him to go. It

is demeaning to the person who made that comment and to whoever they

consider the target. It is not the language I would use, nor language

that is endorsed by other members of UKIP. Nigel Farage was in a pub

having a pint when he first heard about the slut comment. He knows

that controversial remarks like that in the past have not necessarily

damaged UKIP's reputation. But what is clear is that what unfolded in

the hall next door could be a major setback for the party. A man with a

look of despair by the end of the day, Nigel Farage told members the

conference was gone, dead, he said. We cannot have any one individual

destroying UKIP was Mac National conference, and that is what he has

done today. And I am sad about that, but we cannot tolerate it and we

have to act. UKIP has been accused of being a one-man band, all about

Nigel Farage. Today, the party tried to show there is more to it, and it

succeeded, but this is 1 million miles from the plan.

Lets get more from Norman Smith, who joins us from Westminster. Not

exactly the kind of coverage Nigel Farage was hoping for from the

annual conference. How damaging is this to UKIP? I suspect profoundly

damaging. Nigel Farage has tonight conceded that Godfrey Bloom's

comments are politically "disastrous" . They overshadow what

was UKIP's biggest ever conference. They are a gift to Nigel Farage's

political opponents. Being in no doubt that David Cameron will be

wearing a particularly large grin tonight. But above all, it will fuel

the perception that UKIP contains in its ranks people who are frankly

rather reactionary and out of touch, decidedly the moment when Nigel

Farage is trying to present UKIP as representing mainstream

middle-of-the-road opinion. I suspect it may also call for

something of a rethink about the way that UKIP is run and its ethos.

Nigel Farage has made much of the fact that UKIP are different to

other parties, not hidebound by political correctness and party

discipline. That brings advantages, but huge risks, too, and it seems

those risks have come back to clobber Mr Farage with a vengeance.

A man described by police as the "Mr Big" of UK cyber crime is believed

to be one of eight men being questioned tonight after £1.3

million was stolen from a branch of Barclays Bank. Scotland Yard is

linking the crime to a similar attempted theft last week, and said

those responsible were significant players in a sophisticated criminal

network. Here's Rory Cellan-Jones. Britain's banks are under constant

cyber attack but usually we learn nothing about it. Today was

different. It was back in April that this north London branch of Barclays

Bank suffered the theft of £1.3 million. Now, police have arrested

eight men alleged to have got control of the bank's computer

systems in an operation masterminded from a flat in this block. Police

seized cash, jewellery and thousands of credit cards. They say the raid

was the work of a sophisticated of credit cards. They say the raid

criminal network. This premises, we would consider the control room of,

again I would use Mr Big of UK cybercrime at doesn't. In there, the

evidence, the setup and Logistics has overwhelmed us. This heist

depended on physical access to the bank. A man posing as an IT engineer

visited the branch, claiming he had come to fix the computers. Once the

intruder got access to one of the computers, he was able to hook up

this device, called a KVM switch, which allows the user to control

several computers from one keyboard monitor and mouse. They are widely

used. This one had a 3G router attached with a mobile card in it,

which meant the gang could control the computer remotely, from their

headquarters. Last week, the same technique was used in a failed raid

on a branch of Santander, and police are investigating links between the

plots. Most banks have made their online services more secure by

making customers use authentication devices. But now they face a new

threat. The banks need to be better about human and physical security.

They need to put more tests in place as to who is coming into the branch

and what they are doing if they are meddling with computers. That will

be difficult because they want people to come in off the street.

Barclays Bank is stressing that no customers have lost money as a

result of this incident, but banks which have spent huge sums making

computer networks secure from hackers now have to stop the raiders

from just walking through the door. Hundreds of children are being

tricked into sharing sexual images of themselves online and are then

being blackmailed by paedophiles who threaten to send the pictures to the

child's family and friends. Investigators say almost 200

children in Britain, some as young as eight, have been targeted. Some

of the victims have been driven to self-harm, even suicide. Here's Tom

Symonds. The role of written's child

protection agency, CEOP, is to spot emerging threats to young people. It

is really worried about this one, internet lack mail by abusers posing

as teenagers. 424 young victims have been identified worldwide, of which

184 were in the UK. There were six British suicide attempts, and one

resulted in death. Daniel Perry, 17, thought he was having an online

relationship with an American teenager. He sent explicit images,

but he was communicating with a blackmailer threatened to send the

pig was to his friends and family. He felt his death from the Forth

Road Bridge, the victim of an abuser he had never met. If they speak to a

14-year-old they say, I am 14, 15, are you interested in me? It is

introduction through the web as they would introduce themselves at

school, except they go straight for the sexual exploitation imagery.

This is a transcript of messages between an abuser and his victim. He

begins by asking her age, sex and location. She responds, 16, female.

He says he is 17, which is a lie, and mail. He quickly asks if she has

a webcam. Within minutes, the victim is talked into sending explicit

video to someone she thought was her own age. It could be posted online

at any time. The next day he types, two times more and you will be free

for ever. Her response, thanks for making me want to kill myself. He

for ever. Her response, thanks for ignores her distress. Remember, I

have your video, he says, so don't do anything bad. In this form of

sexual abuse, every young person is vulnerable simply because they are a

young person. Because they are an adolescent they will be exploring

young person. Because they are an their sexuality and are more likely

to take risks and be impulsive than an adult. And that vulnerability so

concerns a small number of parents that they are now taking direct

action. Chasing down men who they say have tried to approach children

online. The Leicester group Letzgo Hunting posed as under age girls,

watching for the moment innocent chat becomes grooming for sex. They

turned their cameras on this man, James Stone, who was today sentenced

to eight years for child abuse, but the police say the group's

activities played no part in the conviction and can result in harm,

including the recent suicide of a man its members accused. Their

advice to children targeted online is to tell someone because you are

not to blame. The Syrian government has begun

sending details of its chemical weapons to the international

watchdog which will supervise their destruction. Under a deal brokered

by America and Russia, Syria has been given until tomorrow to give a

full account of the weapons it possesses to the Organisation for

the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The US had threatened military

action over a chemical attack in Damascus which the UN says was a war

crime. A former member of the Scottish Parliament has been jailed

for a year for assaulting his three ex-wives and a stepdaughter.

71-year-old Bill Walker was found guilty last month of 23 charges of

domestic abuse between 1967 and 1985. He was expelled from the SNP

party when the allegations were raised and resigned two weeks ago.

Germans head to the polls on Sunday in an election which many

commentators are suggesting is too close to call. Angela Merkel is on

course to win a third term as Chancellor. Of that there seems

little doubt. But the German political system means she will need

to form a coalition, and there's no indication yet as to who with. Gavin

Hewitt has been following the campaign and reports from Munich. A

main square in Munich tonight, one of the last campaign stops for

Chancellor Angela Merkel, as she made her final pitch to the German

voters. The most powerful politician in Europe is expected to win a third

term on Sunday, when Germany votes. But the polls have narrowed. She has

built her campaign around having shielded Germany from Europe's

financial crisis. But he told the crowd the election was a fight down

to the wire. TRANSLATION: Ladies and gentlemen,

in just a few more hours we are pleading with you to choose. I want

to be your Chancellor for four more years. On the street she undoubtedly

command respect, but there is also an appetite for change. She might

not be that charismatic but she did a great job. It's our Chancellor and

she's doing her work really well, but I'm thinking it's time for

change. It's time for a new party to come to power. Her main opponent is

Pere Steinberg, from the social Democrat party. In recent days he

has attacked Angela Merkel for dithering, for her innate caution.

Has she done anything about the infrastructure he asks. No, the

crowd. Education? Has she improved local finances? Yet one of the

possible outcomes of a close result on Sunday is that Angela Merkel

could be forced into a grand coalition with the social Democrats.

It would be an uneasy alliance. And at Angela Merkel's Valley tonight

there were concerns that the outcome might be confiscated. Angela

Merkel's party will get the most votes, that's not in doubt. Whether

she will end up with an absolute majority is less certain. Her fate

is in the hands of some of the smaller parties including her

current coalition partner and how smaller parties including her

well they poll. The crowd in Munich clearly expected the woman they call

mummy to be returned to power. But there are uncertainties. Who will

she be in coalition with, will decisions over Europe be harder and

could Germany face weeks of haggling over its future government? The

Labour leader Ed Miliband has said he will scrap the government's most

controversial cut to benefits if he becomes the next Prime Minister. Mr

Miliband says the policy, which cuts benefits for social housing tenants

with spare rooms, is both unfair and doesn't work. It is one of the

government's most controversial benefit changes. Since April, social

housing tenants with spare rooms have either had to pay more in rent

or move somewhere smaller. Labour said that was wrong, but Ed Miliband

hadn't promised that he would scrap it. Until now. We are starting by

showing how we would abolish the bedroom tax, by ending boardroom tax

loopholes that this government is allowing. That is a fair choice that

will help disabled people and some of the people in the greatest

hardship in our country. The announcement follows months of

criticism from the government, who claimed Ed Miliband moaned about a

policy but couldn't be certain he would get rid of it. You ranted and

raved about the spare room subsidy will stop are you going to reverse

it? Just nod. Labour say it would pay for this policy by scrapping

what it calls a tax break for hedge funds. Getting rid of a Treasury

scheme that allows employees to give up some right in exchange for shares

that Labour claims creates a tax loophole. And closing what it calls

tax scams in the construction industry. This would save, the party

says, more than £1.5 billion. Susan Lloyd lives in Saint Helens with a

says, more than £1.5 billion. Susan husband and grandson but has three

bedrooms. She receives disability living allowance for a chronic chest

condition and now gets around £50 a month less in housing benefit. The

gas is more important than the bedroom tax. For a little bedroom

like this, it's disgraceful. This idea will cheer those hoops in their

rents going up in recent months. It will also cheer those within the

Labour Party have been stressing its about time the party set out clear

policy ideas. But welfare cuts, opinion polls suggest, are often

quite popular. And the government is scathing about Labour's idea, and

questioning, too, whether it has even thought through how it will be

paid for. Only three months ago Ed Miliband were saying we needed iron

discipline in spending. And the very next thing he announces is for more

spending on welfare paid for by more borrowing. Meanwhile, a new book

from Gordon Brown's former adviser, Damian McBride, is full of claims of

backstabbing that went on when Labour was in power. So, after a

tough summer for Ed Miliband, his challenge now, as the party gathers

for its conference, will be announcing other policies like this

that set out what he would do if he became Prime Minister. For more than

two decades should like was torn apart by a brutal civil war, with

the government accused of human rights abuses. Now it is trying to

rebuild its reputation ahead of the Commonwealth heads of government

summit, which takes place in niche Lankan capital later this year. For

26 years the country was riven by violence and bloodshed. The

government tried to stop the Tamil minority in the North from gaining

independence. The war finally ended four years ago, leaving up to

100,000 dead and the country deeply divided. But for the first time in

25 years, voters in the Tamil dominated northern province will get

their chance tomorrow to vote in local elections. We report from

Jaffna City. Celebrations for what local elections. We report from

the shrill and in government calls a new era. It is staging a group

wedding for former Tamil rebels who've gone through a process of

re-education to convert them to its side. They are rewarded with a

government job. TRANSLATION: We are happier now. We

spent a year and a half in the rehabilitation programme and we've

changed ourselves. We have started a new life. Sri Lanka's civil war

lasted nearly 30 years, the Tamil Tigers becoming notorious for

suicide attacks in their battle for independence. But after a massive

Sri Lankan army offensive, they were defeated four years ago. Both sides

were accused of atrocities. The rebels of using Tamil civilians as

human shields. And the army of indiscriminate shelling. Among those

caught in the crossfire was this woman and her family. Then her

daughter and son-in-law were arrested. She admits he was a rebel.

But she tells me her grandchildren were taken as well. Four years

later, the army still won't say what happened to them.

TRANSLATION: They were just five and three years old when they were

taken. They were flowering buds. I have to believe they are still

alive. That is what keeps me going, otherwise I will kill myself. The

government wants to move on. It is spending huge sums trying to revive

the economy in the north. But the price for the majority Tamil

population isn't -- is an often intimidating military presence.

There's a real sense of fear here. We've come to this shopping area to

talk to people. These soldiers have showed up, there's also a police car

nearby. Now no one wants to speak to us. Tamil Tigers a-macro say they

are second-class citizens, like this us. Tamil Tigers a-macro say they

man who tells me he was forced to close his business by the army.

TRANSLATION: They accused me of getting money from Tamils with links

to the rebels. It's not true, but they see us all as their enemy. With

to the rebels. It's not true, but the president due to host the

Commonwealth summit later this year, calls are growing for Britain and

others to boycott it. It is militarily dismiss accusations they

massacred Tamil civilians. I don't think... Not everyone can buy that.

This war, unlike in other countries, this war was between government

forces, not against the civilian population. The obvious scars of war

are fading, as northern Sri Lanka population. The obvious scars of war

prepares for elections. The land is united now, says one Tamil. But

people 's minds are still divided. A retired teacher has been trampled to

death by a wild elephant while on safari in southern India.

67-year-old Colin Manvell, from safari in southern India.

Havant, was on a jungle tour in the state of Tamil Nadu. It's believed

that he was trying to photograph the animal when it charged. The Anglican

church has appointed the UK and Ireland's first female Bishop. The

Reverend Pat Storey was chosen by the Church of Ireland to be the new

Bishop of Meath and Kildare. The married mother of two, who grew up

in Belfast, said she was both "excited and daunted" by the

historic appointment. The Canadian smartphone maker, Blackberry, is to

sack 4,500 of its employees worldwide, cutting its workforce by

40%. The company, which is looking for a buyer, said it expects to

report loses of more than £600 million when it publishes figures

for the three months to September next week.

Over the years, technology has shrunk most things in our lives -

but not the size of our televisions. The days of a family huddled around

a tiny screen are long gone - and our screens keep on growing with 40,

50 even 60 inch screens readily available. And now TV manufacturers

are going even further with screens double that size, as our media

correspondent David Sillito reports. The TV, the small screen, the box to

sit around. An idea that is being challenged. Welcome to one vision of

the future. Wallpaper TV that surrounds you. Controlled by a

tablet device, this prototype throws any content in any size onto walls

lined with ultra-thin screens. For Simon Parnell, a man described as a

thought leader for the future of TV, the 130 inch movie screen is the

future. Look at how sharp that is. The television as a box in your

room, it's over, isn't it? I think so. Television is going to inhabit

our homes in a way that is unobtrusive. It's going to blend

into our environment. And one thing is already definitely happening.

Television is getting an awful lot bigger. If you measure this one, it

is... 85 inches. That's the equivalent of four 42 inch

televisions. The price, £32,000. Prices have a habit of shrinking. By

the end of the decade, we expect a third of all TV sets sold will be

jumbo-sized, 33 inches or larger. Within there, there will be a good

proportion that a 60, 80 or even 100 inches in size. But there are

doubters. Covering the house with screens doesn't seem to resonate

yet. Damian Reid shows 60 inches is a natural limit. How far away should

we be standing to watch ourselves here? You'll a-macro for a 60 inch

screen and it is typically 15 feet. Bigger than most British living

rooms today. Of course, this 15 foot ideal viewing distance may fuss and

be a matter of opinion. Indeed, the whole heart of this debate isn't

technology, it's us. Just how much of our living space and our lives do

we really want screened? That's all from us. There a first