15/05/2014 BBC News at Ten

Tonight and ten, violent protests in Turkey have to the country's worst

mining disaster. Water cannon and tear gas are fired at protesters

taking part in a national strike against poor safety standards and

cost-cutting. Funerals have been held for some of the victims. More

than 280, as families express anger. TRANSLATION: The mine is dangerous

but there are no other jobs here. We are angry at the people at the top.

We will have the latest in the search for missing miners continues.

Also tonight, more clarity needed on statins as experts admit a major

study on side-effects was flawed. At the Rolf Harris trial, a woman

alleges that he sexually assaulted her when she was seven or eight will

stop Mexico's war on drugs, a special report from one of the

country's most feared cartels. And why two of Britain's best-known

retailers are joining forces, driven by mobile technology.

On BBC London, flood victims claim an honours document supports their

cause to dredge the Thames. And the row over plans to build a

cancer centre next to Saint Barts Hospital.

Good evening. There have been violent protests in Turkey following

the country's worst mining disasters. Demonstrators in several

cities claim that privatisation of mines as lead to cost-cutting and

poor safety standards. 283 people are known to have died after more

bodies were discovered during the day. More than 100 are believed to

be still missing with the search focused on two areas of the pit.

Trade unions have held a strike in protest of the government's handling

of mine safety. Our correspondent has just sent this report.

At the cemetery in soma, the cotton is kept coming. To an area they call

the markers plot. -- Coughlin is kept coming. Miners who work

together and died together were laid to rest side-by-side. Relatives

consumed by grief. They wept for victims of what some are calling

industrial homicide. This woman lost her nephew. He was 26. He had just

become a father. TRANSLATION: The mine is dangerous. But there are no

other jobs in Soma. Of course, we are angry with the people at the

top. The graves are being are angry with the people at the

here one by one. This community is saying goodbye to husbands, fathers

and sons. For some, the grief is compounded by anger. By a belief

that all of this could have been avoided by better safety standards

at the mine. And at the scene, the struggle to recover the victims has

continued. Slowly. Rescuers say that they have been hampered by hellish

conditions below ground. TRANSLATION: Imagine a black

tunnel, there is water mixed with coal dust coming up to your knees.

It feels like wet cement. We have built bridges in their so that we

will not have to walk in it. And the dirt will not fall into the mix when

we carry people out. This man survived. But he lost 30 friends. He

helped to save three of his colleagues. He tried to save more.

TRANSLATION: I went home to see my kids after I'd got out. But then I

went back to help my friends. I cannot feel happy that I am alive

because hundreds are dead. The huge loss of life has sparked

anti-government protests which have spread to several major cities. This

was is mere, two hours from Soma. Police were out in force but the

anger would be hard to quench. -- Ismir. It was on view during the

Prime Minister's visit yesterday. He had to be hustled into a shop for

refuge. In the hustle, he appeared to slap this man in the blue shirt.

His office told us that whatever happens, it was a reaction to a

tense moment. And then there is this, the Prime Minister's aids,

kicking a protest in the town. Critics say the government is, once

again, showing contempt. Back at the cemetery, the parade for victims.

Many demand justice for the dead. This human tragedy is becoming a

political crisis. Live to Soma. Given the grief and

anger in the report they, what do the next few days hold, do you think

the back this has the potential to become a major political problem for

the embattled Prime Minister. And he is a politician who has faced many

problems already. He is a polarising figure and in the past few days, he

has managed to alienate many of his countrymen with his response to this

tragedy. You saw the video of him appearing to slap a look, and in a

supermarket. That has been played on local television here and it has

gone viral one social media. The man himself has come forward to say that

he would like an apology. Of course, all of this follows those

photographs we saw of the Prime Minister's aide kicking someone in

the town. There is a strong sense that while this community has

suffered the most profound loss, the government, the Prime Minister in

particular, as exhibited extreme insensitivity to the plight of those

here, and all of this at a time when the search is still continuing and

rescue teams are back inside the mine. There are more than 100 men

still unaccounted for. Many in this community feel that they have been

badly let down. Both before this disaster and by the response to it.

The British Medical Journal has acknowledged that two academic

papers which questioned the widespread use of statins were

flawed. The author's claims that up to 20% of patients on statins

suffered harmful side-effects have been withdrawn. More than 7 million

people take the drug in the UK to reduce cholesterol. There are calls

for urgent clarification for patients.

This is a bitter pill to follow for one of the most respected of all

medical journals. It has had to admit failing to spot a basic error

in two articles on statins, and taking seven months to put it right.

The BMJ's editor said her response had been speedy and she denied that

the affair was embarrassing. Both articles contained a single sentence

referring to another paper and misinterpreted the information in

that paper. They did so in a way that exaggerated the extent of

side-effects of statins, compared with what we know from the clinical

trials. But the controversy about these articles as sown confusion

about the safety of statins. 7 million people in the UK take them,

and they prevent around 7000 fatal heart attacks and strokes every

year. The benefits for patients at high risk are undisputed. The BMJ

article criticised plans to extend their use to most adults from their

mid-50s. Saying that the benefits for helping people were outweighed

by side-effects in 20%. The BMJ now admits that this figure was

incorrect and a misreading of an earlier trial. Statins can cause

muscle pain and trigger type two diabetes. But a leading expert on

the drug said that the articles exaggerated this risk twentyfold.

And that this could cost lives. The anxiety is that these claims will be

believed and that people on statins might stop taking them,

believed and that people on statins are not on them, may not start. So

that they will avoid the benefits of taking treatment and there will be

unnecessary heart attacks and strokes as a consequence.

unnecessary heart attacks and Cardiff have some side effects of

aching joints, but these have subsided. While he is confident

about statins, he is worried that the controversy may put others off.

It is hard and it could be confusing for the public to accept that things

might be right for them. If people are taking statins, and they then

here that there is the potential problem with them, then clearly they

here that there is the potential will be concerned. Doctors say those

at high risk of heart disease or stroke should continue with statins.

But the debate about whether healthy middle-aged people should still take

them is set to continue. Two more women who claim they were

abused by the entertainer, Rolf Harris, had been giving evidence at

his trial. One told the jury that she was seven or eight when she was

assaulted in the late 1960s. Rolf Harris denies 12 charges of indecent

assault involving four girls between 1968 and 1986.

It was the late 1960s. Rolf Harris was a star. Off-screen, according to

the youngest alleged victim, he was a dirty old man. Accompanied by his

daughter and niece, Rolf Harris made his way into court to hear evidence

from a woman who claims that he assaulted her when he -- she was

seven or eight after she asked for not a graph. She told the court that

she met the entertainer at this community centre, and she alleges

that suddenly, out of nowhere, she felt his hand go down the back and

up between her legs. Rolf Harris denies ever visiting the

community centre here where the alleged assaults took place. He

denies all 12 charges against him, including a second alleged victim,

to give evidence you today. It was here in the mid-70s that that woman,

then aged 13 or 14, alleges that Mr Harris in decently assaulted her.

Giving evidence from behind a screen, she said that whenever she

sees him on television or in the papers, to this day I have a

physical reaction to it. Asked whether she was sure it was

the defendant who assaulted her, the woman replied: It was Rolf Harris,

without a doubt. David Cameron says his message to

Scottish voters ahead of the referendum on independence is

unrelenting the positive. Speaking at an army base in Glasgow today he

said that keeping United Kingdom together made sense in economic

terms and for security. But as our special correspondent reports, the

Prime Minister faces constant claims that he is alienating my not

persuading Scottish voters. Where better to argue the virtues of

the unified Britain? At the intended message is unmistakable. The Royal

of Scotland, proudly Scott but part of a greater whole. And this is

light touch intervention in the referendum debate. If Cameron, whose

party is unpopular in Scotland, cannot afford to give the impression

he is taking control here, so he must tread softly. Think I am one of

many voices. As Prime Minister, I have a role to play in this debate.

-- I think. I'm passionate about the UK and the future of our country. I

think we can achieve extraordinary things together. Think of what we

share as members of NATO, the G7, the G20. Think of our role in the

world. There is an anxiety in the prounion campaign as support for

independence has grown. Better to gather changed the tone of their

campaign this week, trying to encourage affection for Britain. --

Better Together. David Cameron knows he runs a risk by coming here, the

risk that he will make things worse rather than better for the prounion

collars. A succession of government ministers have come to Scotland to

warn of what they see as the dire consequences of a yes vote. There is

strong evidence that it just does not work and the Scots are not

buying it. The yes campaign say that they are buoyed by private polling

which they say shows many Scots on a journey towards trusting the

Nationalists message about Scotland's economic strength. The

movement is about the democratic choice of the people in Scotland,

that they are entitled to. That is to choose a government of our

choosing, that we elect. To have a country that is more prosperous but

also fairer and more equal. David Cameron will make more visits year

before September. But he needs the leadership of the prounion campaign

to come from Scotland itself, and not Westminster. Mexico's war on

drugs has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people in the past

decade. Countless attempts by authorities to stem the violence

have so far failed. Between 2006 and 2012 more than 120,000 people are

thought to have died, largely in drug-related violence. The illegal

trade is thought to be worth around $30 billion a year. The Sinaloa

cartel is one of the biggest and most powerful in the country and was

led by Choackeen Guzman until his arrest in February. But the cartel

has continued its operations, and the BBC has gained exclusive access

to this feared criminal organisation. Our correspondent,

Paul Wood, and cameraman Fred Scott, report from the city of Culiacan in

the state of Sinaloa. This report does contain some flash photography.

Welcome to Culiacan, Mexico's drugs capital. Drugs mean guns and there

has just been a shooting here. As many as 120,000 people have died in

six years in the war on drugs. That term is not used by the new

government, it's the wrong image for Mexico. The body count has fallen

but not by much. Often the violence is one cartel against another, or

just as likely, violence between different factions of the same

cartel. What seems to have happened here tonight is a shoot out between

a local policeman and a gangster of some kind. Regardless, a shooting

isn't exactly an unusual event here. Fallen gangsters are remembered

here. With so much money at stake, life counts for little.

The shrines dedicated to the bandit saint, who was killed a century ago.

The drugs business has thrived in Sinaloa that long. Crime has deep

roots here. Sinaloa has Mexico's oldest and

richest cartel. Hector is a long-standing member. The code of

silence covers this secret world. He agreed to give us a rare interview.

He misses the old days of smuggling marijuana. A new drug, crystal meth,

is lucrative but soaked in blood. TRANSLATION: When the crystal meth

boom started, the war started, the jealousy started, he says. The

cartels recruit people who have never seen a Kalashnikov. They give

them drugs. That makes an crazy. The new generation is sick. The ones who

kill, the ones who send them to kill.

You could drive right past a safe house for cartel gunmen and not know

it. We were told there were more than 100 in Culiacan.

They are known as sicarios or blades. Hit men who kill for the

cartel. They wear masks for the camera but they wait like this to go

to war at a moment's notice. No wonder some talk of a narco

insurgency. Raphael, aged 18. He joined the sicarios at 14, comitted

his first murder at 15. He felt nothing, he says, just adrenaline.

It can be anyone, says the boss, about their targets. A traitor, a

snitch, a thief. Someone who hasn't paid the cartel. They aren't worried

the police will burst in. They work with the police, they say. Sinaloa's

police chief denies that. He was himself accused of working for the

cartel. There was a five million peso reward for his arrest. The

warrant was eventually withdrawn and now he is back in charge.

TRANSLATION: We are not in bed with the cartel, he says. That is a myth.

We don't back one cartel over another. We arrest all the

criminals. People in Sinaloa don't believe that. They don't speak

publicly about it either. The mothers accused the police of

investigating cases because of links with criminal groups. Maria says her

son was arrested by the police and handed to kidnappers. Just tell me

where my son is, she remembers asking police. She never saw him

again. Many police officers have died

fighting the cartels. The traffickers have co-opted parts of

the state. You never know who you are dealing with. For Mexicans, that

is another reason the drugs war is so dangerous.

BBC News has learned that Google has received many requests to remove

information from its search engine. It follows the rule by the European

information from its search engine. of -- the European Court of Justice

earlier this week that an individual had a right to be forgotten. Those

making the requests include a former politician and a man convicted of

possessing child abuse images. Our technology correspondent, Rory

Cellan-Jones, is with me. The potential for this is enormous. Not

just Google but organisations like the BBC have received quite a lot.

We know that Google has received one from an ex-politician wanting

material about his behaviour removed. From a man convicted of

possessing child images. He wants that taken away. It is unclear

whether some of those people being in public life, they have to obey

that. It will probably end up with the Information Commissioner having

to act as an adjudicator. Opponents say it is evidence of creeping

censorship. Supporters say, finally, giant, powerful, American web firms

are finding they are not beyond the law. Five contenders for the most

powerful position in the European Commission have taken part in a

televised debate. It's the first event of its kind in the history of

the Commission. The debate was dominated by the economic problems

of the eurozone. It is experiencing a much weaker recovery than the UK

and other major global economies. The countries which share the euro

grew by just 0.2% in the past three months. Our Europe editor, Gavin

Hewitt, watched the exchanges. Scroll back over the past five years

and you can see why Europe is proving a tough sell. The riots, the

Eurozone bailouts, unemployment lines, still in some countries 25%

are out of work. And, for many, the hard times are not over. Today, in

France, there were no tests against a public sector wage freeze and

there was sobering news that the Eurozone economy are scarcely

growing with stagnation in France. This was the backdrop to one of the

main events of the European elections. A TV debate tonight,

involving candidates for Europe 's top job, president of the European

commission. The idea is that the candidate of the largest group in

the European Parliament should get the prize of leaving -- leading the

EU. Heads of government will also make their choice. None of these

politicians are well known. But their vision for Europe might

matter. In the European Union, 6 million young men and women are

unemployed. They are paying with their future. You we cannot have the

European Union where a whole generation is being lost and where

people lose their faith and perspective in a better life in

future. The candidates were asked about the growth of Euro scepticism

and the Euro crisis. It should be a disaster for all the economies in

Europe, in the north and the South, if we go back to national

currencies. Candidates found themselves having to defend actions

in the Eurozone crisis. TRANSLATION: Over years, I worked

day and night are more nights than days to keep Greece in the euro. If

the UK ends up trying to renegotiate its membership of the EU, the person

chosen to become president of the European commission is of huge

significance. The candidates here say they remain ready to negotiate

with Britain and, they say, they are open to more being done at a

national, rather than a European, level. The Government in the UK

however will be wary. Almost all these candidates want closer union,

more integration. The battle for Europe 's top job may prove to be

long and divisive. Anti-government protests have been taking place in

cities across Brazil, with less than a month to go to the World Cup, In

Sao Paulo, main roads into the city were blocked and demonstrators

marched to the stadium where the tournament will open. Protesters are

angry that billions of dollars have been spent on the World Cup instead

of social projects, transport and housing. Two of Britain's biggest

retailers are merging to produce a new chain in a deal worth ?3.5

billion. Dixons, the owner of Currys and PC World, is joining forces with

Carphone Warehouse, to form Dixons Carphone. The company will have more

than 1,000 stores and, as Emma Simpson reports, the company hopes

to harness the full potential of new mobile technology. Currys and PC

World, two big high-street brands that are owned by Dixons. They are

now joining forces with Carphone Warehouse, creating Britain's

biggest electronics empire, Dixons Carphone.

Why are they doing it? Well, whether it is your TV in your living room,

the cooker in your kitchen, or your washing machine, both companies

believe that, in the future, there will be a lot less hassle when it

comes to controlling the equipment around our homes because we will be

doing it through a smartphone or tablet. They hope this merger will

eventually make it easier for consumers to get connected in just

one shop. Increasingly, customers want to think about the mobile

device, connectivity and the rest of their lives as one seamless whole.

Nowhere on the planet are they able to do that. From when this merger

concludes, we will be able to tell that story in a way in which I think

is completely unique. There are lots of devices that are already

connected to the internet, like this aerial camera. The smartphone is

being used as a remote control. It looks amazing but does the merger

make sense? Shares fell sharply in both companies today. Whilst they

are building a futuristic vision of the reasons for this merger, in

terms of the connected home and the internet and things, it's really

more of a defensive play. Dixons are coming under strong attack from the

likes of Amazon and Carphone Warehouse have their own issues with

regard to the carriers, the networks they do business with. These big

names will stay the same. They have more than 1,000 UK stores between

them. It is not clear if there will be the same number of shops in

future. This is an industry that has seen plenty of failed tie-ups

before. The question is, is this one destined to be a perfect match?