:00:00. > :00:07.This programme contains scenes of Repetitive Flashing Images.
:00:08. > :00:10.Tonight at ten, David Cameron will allow ministers to campaign
:00:11. > :00:13.for either side in the referendum on Britain's future in the EU.
:00:14. > :00:17.Ministers will be allowed to declare their positions once
:00:18. > :00:19.Mr Cameron has finished renegotiating the terms
:00:20. > :00:22.of Britain's membership, which could be as early as next month.
:00:23. > :00:25.There will be a clear Government position,
:00:26. > :00:28.but it will be open to individual ministers to take a different
:00:29. > :00:31.personal position while remaining part of the Government.
:00:32. > :00:34.There's growing expectation that the referendum itself
:00:35. > :00:41.Also tonight, the latest on the identity of the Briton
:00:42. > :00:47.as ministers face questions about how he jumped bail.
:00:48. > :00:49.Have you moved all your critics? Good morning.
:00:50. > :00:52.The Labour leader is still reshuffling his Shadow Cabinet team,
:00:53. > :00:56.and there's no sign yet of a formal announcement.
:00:57. > :00:59.A tearful President Obama tells victims of gun crime
:01:00. > :01:03.that he'll impose tougher controls on gun ownership.
:01:04. > :01:07.And we meet the Indian teenager who's the first cricketer
:01:08. > :01:15.to score more than a thousand runs in an organised match.
:01:16. > :01:21.On BBC London, police searching for a former EastEnders actress and are
:01:22. > :01:26.two children discovered three bodies. And four months before the
:01:27. > :01:27.election, is it already getting a little personal in the race for City
:01:28. > :01:43.Hall? After months of speculation,
:01:44. > :01:47.David Cameron has decided to give ministers the freedom to campaign
:01:48. > :01:50.for either side in the forthcoming referendum on Britain's membership
:01:51. > :01:52.of the EU. The vote is due by the end
:01:53. > :01:56.of next year. Ministers will be allowed
:01:57. > :01:58.to declare their positions once Mr Cameron has finished
:01:59. > :02:02.renegotiating the terms of Britain's membership, which could be
:02:03. > :02:05.as early as next month. There's growing expectation
:02:06. > :02:07.that the referendum itself Let's join our political editor,
:02:08. > :02:23.Laura Kuenssberg, at Westminster. Huw, there's nothing ordinary about
:02:24. > :02:26.is being asked whether to stay or leave the European Union, and think
:02:27. > :02:31.ordinary about Cabinet ministers being allowed to say exactly what
:02:32. > :02:34.they think on the use you, let alone make opposing arguments in public,
:02:35. > :02:38.but the Prime Minister has decided or had to decide that is what will
:02:39. > :02:42.happen, even though it was not his original plan. In the next few
:02:43. > :02:44.months, normal rules will be suspended.
:02:45. > :02:47.You, him and them - the Prime Minister wants
:02:48. > :02:51.to persuade you to stay in the European Union, but he admitted
:02:52. > :02:53.today there is no way he'll ever persuade his whole team.
:02:54. > :02:57.Statement, the Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr Speaker...
:02:58. > :03:01.As the Commons returned for business, to cheers and jeers,
:03:02. > :03:06.he said ministers won't have to toe the line when it is time to choose.
:03:07. > :03:07.There will be a clear Government position,
:03:08. > :03:10.but it will be open to individual ministers to take
:03:11. > :03:15.while remaining part of the Government.
:03:16. > :03:19.Ultimately, it will be for the British people
:03:20. > :03:26.by voting in or out of a reformed European Union.
:03:27. > :03:28.David Cameron is arguing for looser ties
:03:29. > :03:35.I think we'll be getting a good deal.
:03:36. > :03:37.But the risk of Cabinet turmoil if Eurosceptics couldn't
:03:38. > :03:39.make their case was too great, as the opposition knows.
:03:40. > :03:41.Leaders across Europe can see the Prime Minister's
:03:42. > :03:46.a figleaf for Conservative Party politics.
:03:47. > :03:49.Does the Prime Minister accept his bluff has now been called?
:03:50. > :03:52.Conservative Eurosceptics are cock-a-hoop.
:03:53. > :03:54.Mr Speaker, may I salute my right honourable friend's decision
:03:55. > :03:57.to allow ministers to exercise their freedom of choice
:03:58. > :04:03.And would he accept this is not a sign of his personal weakness
:04:04. > :04:08.of what David Cameron promised a year ago.
:04:09. > :04:11.If you're part of the Government, then clearly you're part of the team
:04:12. > :04:13.that is aiming for the renegotiation...
:04:14. > :04:16.So you're not going to do a free vote, as Labour did in the '70s?
:04:17. > :04:19.No, I've set that out very clearly in the past.
:04:20. > :04:23.of the last time the country had a vote on Europe.
:04:24. > :04:25.In 1975, a Labour Prime Minister was forced to allow
:04:26. > :04:29.the bizarre spectacle of his own Cabinet ministers
:04:30. > :04:30.arguing against each other in public.
:04:31. > :04:33.Will you please allow me to answer the question?
:04:34. > :04:35.Well, no, if I may say so, with respect,
:04:36. > :04:41.With more than half a dozen Cabinet ministers
:04:42. > :04:46.could it be Iain Duncan Smith taking on the Prime Minister?
:04:47. > :04:49.Or Theresa May opposing George Osborne?
:04:50. > :04:53.You're now going to have a Government in which there is
:04:54. > :04:55.no total collective unity, in which people will actually
:04:56. > :05:02.stay in office, apparently, but publicly oppose one
:05:03. > :05:04.of the fundamental policies of the Government
:05:05. > :05:07.in which they serve about the nation's future.
:05:08. > :05:09.And that is really a most unfortunate situation.
:05:10. > :05:11.To manage his party in this place, in truth,
:05:12. > :05:14.David Cameron didn't have much of a choice.
:05:15. > :05:17.If he tried to silence his ministers who want to leave the EU,
:05:18. > :05:24.But the decision you will make on staying or leaving the EU
:05:25. > :05:28.is much bigger than what happens in Westminster day to day,
:05:29. > :05:31.much bigger even than what happens in a general election,
:05:32. > :05:35.but a choice that will shape the future of our country
:05:36. > :05:40.David Cameron's avoided, or at least postponed,
:05:41. > :05:42.damage from disagreements inside his party,
:05:43. > :05:45.but in the wider world, to get his way on the EU,
:05:46. > :05:53.there's still an awful lot of work to do.
:05:54. > :05:59.And of course the Tories have a long history of trauma over Europe, so
:06:00. > :06:03.away from their backroom machinations, the big symbol from
:06:04. > :06:06.today is increasing evidence that Number Ten is feeling confident
:06:07. > :06:10.about getting a deal on all this wrapped up in the middle of
:06:11. > :06:16.February, just six weeks' time, and that adds to the sense that we are
:06:17. > :06:19.all likely to get a vote may be as early as June, six months away and
:06:20. > :06:21.might feel like a long time right now, but in this place the clock is
:06:22. > :06:31.ticking loudly. The brother of one of the five
:06:32. > :06:34.Syrian men who's shown being murdered in the latest
:06:35. > :06:37.Islamic State video has spoken about the devastating
:06:38. > :06:39.impact of the killings And he's denied that his brother
:06:40. > :06:43.was in any way involved with spying for Britain,
:06:44. > :06:45.as the militants have claimed. He's been talking to our world
:06:46. > :06:47.affairs correspondent The so-called Islamic State captured
:06:48. > :06:51.these five Syrian men in Raqqa. It forced them to confess
:06:52. > :06:52.to espionage, The men were Faisal Hammoud
:06:53. > :06:59.Al-Jaafar, who was 25, 31-year-old Mehyar
:07:00. > :07:03.Mahmood Al-Othman, Obay Mohammed Abdul Ghani,
:07:04. > :07:06.who was only 18, At a secret location in Turkey,
:07:07. > :07:19.we met Hael's brother. He says his brother,
:07:20. > :07:25.in Isis controlled Syria, My brother,
:07:26. > :07:31.he is a normal civilian, just like all
:07:32. > :07:35.the people inside my city. He have shop,
:07:36. > :07:39.he fixed the air conditioning or electric, electric
:07:40. > :07:43.things in the home. He hasn't slept since
:07:44. > :07:54.he learned of his brother's death. Came a moment I say,
:07:55. > :08:00.my brother is still alive. But after that, I'm back
:08:01. > :08:03.to reality, yes, he's died. At astonishing risk,
:08:04. > :08:12.activists inside Raqqa smuggle out footage of life inside
:08:13. > :08:15.the Isis-ruled city, and where it's safest
:08:16. > :08:22.simply to keep quiet. What is life like now
:08:23. > :08:25.for people in Raqqa? The water sometimes came,
:08:26. > :08:30.sometimes not. Isis arrests people without
:08:31. > :08:41.any charge, just like that. Taher Moqresh, a Syrian activist
:08:42. > :08:43.working in Turkey, He's also in hiding,
:08:44. > :08:53.but he asked us to show his face. TRANSLATION:
:08:54. > :08:56.The Isis video is a message By contrast,
:08:57. > :09:10.the five men in Raqqa More questions have been asked
:09:11. > :09:21.about the militant speaking with a British accent who appears
:09:22. > :09:24.on the Islamic State video. The man widely believed to be
:09:25. > :09:27.Siddhartha Dhar from East London left the country with his family
:09:28. > :09:31.in 2014 after jumping bail Our security correspondent
:09:32. > :09:39.Gordon Corera has the latest. How strange it is that a leader
:09:40. > :09:41.of a small island... A masked jihadist making
:09:42. > :09:45.threats against Britain. The chief suspect is
:09:46. > :09:49.Siddartha Dhar from East London. Officials are not confirming
:09:50. > :09:55.it is him, but we asked a speech analysis expert, who wanted
:09:56. > :10:01.to remain anonymous for his own On the basis of my experience,
:10:02. > :10:09.what I have got here are two samples which show a strong degree
:10:10. > :10:15.of similarity to one another. Dhar became involved with
:10:16. > :10:20.the organisation Al-Muhajiroun, he was arrested on
:10:21. > :10:27.suspicion of supporting the group. He was then released on police bail
:10:28. > :10:32.without being charged. After he was released on bail,
:10:33. > :10:36.he came back here to Walthamstow. He was supposed to surrender
:10:37. > :10:38.his passport, but instead he took his family
:10:39. > :10:43.and fled by Europe to Syria. That raised questions
:10:44. > :10:45.about whether the authorities Today the Home Secretary declined
:10:46. > :10:54.to comment on the specific case but said more had been done
:10:55. > :10:58.recently to prevent travel. Last year, the Counterterrorism
:10:59. > :11:01.and Security Act provided new powers to deal specifically
:11:02. > :11:04.with the problem of foreign fighters
:11:05. > :11:08.and prevent radicalisation. This included a new power
:11:09. > :11:12.to temporarily seize the passports of those suspected of intending
:11:13. > :11:14.to leave the UK in connection a child of five is seen briefly
:11:15. > :11:26.talking in English. Tonight, a woman from London
:11:27. > :11:28.told the BBC whom she hadn't seen
:11:29. > :11:32.for three years. It's hard to look at this,
:11:33. > :11:35.I have to go to work Christmas Day, Boxing Day, just to give myself
:11:36. > :11:40.happiness and comfort, because I would love
:11:41. > :11:47.to have my grandchildren with me, and which I have no power,
:11:48. > :11:49.I struggled, I just want my children, my daughter
:11:50. > :11:52.and my grandchildren back. Siddartha Dhar posted pictures
:11:53. > :11:55.from Syria with his own child, boasting of how easy it had been
:11:56. > :11:59.to evade the authorities. Whether or not he is the man
:12:00. > :12:02.in the video, his ability to get out there will raise questions
:12:03. > :12:05.about whether enough is being done to stop others following
:12:06. > :12:08.in his footsteps. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,
:12:09. > :12:15.is still in the process of reshuffling his team
:12:16. > :12:18.of Shadow Ministers. He's already sacked Michael Dugher,
:12:19. > :12:21.the Shadow Culture Secretary, against making radical changes
:12:22. > :12:25.to the Shadow Cabinet. There had been speculation
:12:26. > :12:29.about the future of the Shadow Foreign Secretary,
:12:30. > :12:32.Hilary Benn, but he was in his usual place in the Commons today
:12:33. > :12:34.at Mr Corbyn's side, and the latest word is apparently
:12:35. > :12:40.that he won't be moved. Let's get the latest
:12:41. > :12:49.from our political correspondent Is this taking shape or not? It has
:12:50. > :12:53.been an agonisingly slow process, we are very short on facts, it has been
:12:54. > :12:57.a matter of hanging around in corridors, and the latest person to
:12:58. > :13:02.go in to have a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn is his fellow London MPM Lee
:13:03. > :13:08.Thornbury, she has been in there tonight, and the rumour is that she
:13:09. > :13:12.might well get the defence brief. -- London MP Emily Thornberry. I am
:13:13. > :13:16.told he wants to improve diversity, he was criticised for not promoting
:13:17. > :13:21.enough women to senior jobs, but he also wants to get in place, in those
:13:22. > :13:24.crucial roles such as foreign affairs and defence, which could be
:13:25. > :13:28.divisive for Labour, people who better reflect his own view. Many of
:13:29. > :13:32.its close advisers and party members think there is no point in him being
:13:33. > :13:36.leader and less he really does try to change the shape of the party and
:13:37. > :13:41.impose his own will. -- and less. That is where we get to Hilary Benn,
:13:42. > :13:46.there has been a lot of speculation about him, a lot of calls for him to
:13:47. > :13:55.be sacked, but it seems that when he tries to stamp his authority, it
:13:56. > :13:58.does not always work. In this case, other members of the Shadow Cabinet
:13:59. > :14:00.have threatened to walk out if Hilary Benn was sacked. As the
:14:01. > :14:02.reshuffle moves into its third day, we still do not know who will be
:14:03. > :14:06.sitting at Labour's top table. President Obama has announced
:14:07. > :14:08.tighter control on gun ownership, most of which will be enforced
:14:09. > :14:18.without the approval of Congress. The President, who was in tears
:14:19. > :14:20.during part of his announcement, said that while it wasn't possible
:14:21. > :14:23.to do anything about the last mass shooting, it was his duty
:14:24. > :14:26.to try to prevent the next one. Our North America editor,
:14:27. > :14:29.Jon Sopel, reports. His nickname is No Drama Obama,
:14:30. > :14:32.but not today, not on the issue of gun control, as frustration,
:14:33. > :14:34.impatience and anger over the failure to act turned to raw
:14:35. > :14:38.emotion as he spoke about the young children who died at
:14:39. > :14:41.the Newtown School shooting. And from every family who never
:14:42. > :14:52.imagined that their loved one would be taken from our lives
:14:53. > :15:08.by a bullet from a gun. Every time I think about those
:15:09. > :15:16.kids, it gets me mad. And, by the way, it
:15:17. > :15:18.happens on the streets The stats - and there are any
:15:19. > :15:33.number to chose from - In the UK, latest figures show,
:15:34. > :15:37.excluding suicides, there were 24 gun-related deaths
:15:38. > :15:42.in the whole of 2014. Here in the US, there
:15:43. > :15:44.were three more gun homicides Yes, America has more than five
:15:45. > :15:50.times the population, but that doesn't begin to account
:15:51. > :15:54.for the discrepancy. For all the sound and fury on both
:15:55. > :15:58.sides, the proposals from the President
:15:59. > :16:01.are relatively modest. No class of weapon is being banned,
:16:02. > :16:05.it's about tightening background checks, but even that is going
:16:06. > :16:08.to run into fierce opposition from those implacably opposed to any
:16:09. > :16:15.moves on gun control. And, sure enough,
:16:16. > :16:17.on the presidential campaign trail, Republican hopefuls have wasted
:16:18. > :16:20.no time in piling in. We don't beat the bad guys
:16:21. > :16:24.by taking away our guns. We beat the bad guys
:16:25. > :16:27.by using our guns. It's not constitutional and I'm
:16:28. > :16:29.confident the courts And there's an irony in all of this,
:16:30. > :16:37.the more the President threatens to move on gun control,
:16:38. > :16:40.the more it leads to a spike December saw 38% more people trying
:16:41. > :16:48.to buy guns than a year ago. At least 34 people have drowned
:16:49. > :17:01.off the coast of Turkey after their boats sank
:17:02. > :17:03.during an attempted crossing Several children were
:17:04. > :17:14.among those who died. The narrow stretch of water is one
:17:15. > :17:17.of the key crossing points for the significant number
:17:18. > :17:21.of refugees and migrants from Syria and other countries trying
:17:22. > :17:24.to reach the European Union. In the past 12 months,
:17:25. > :17:26.more than 3,700 people have died From Lesbos our special
:17:27. > :17:38.correspondent, Fergal Keane, Most of the time the drownings
:17:39. > :17:42.happen away from the public eye, but occasionally, like this morning,
:17:43. > :17:44.the anguish is revealed. This man swam and then staggered
:17:45. > :17:47.the last yards to shore. And the bitter cold,
:17:48. > :17:53.rescue and comfort. But more than 30 other people
:17:54. > :17:58.travelling with him were lost. A wrecked dinghy, and above
:17:59. > :18:03.the rescue swimmer and helicopter "We came an hour
:18:04. > :18:18.ago", this man said. "We heard a boat sank
:18:19. > :18:20.and hit the rocks. I think these people died
:18:21. > :18:23.when they were trying to swim There were two separate wrecks,
:18:24. > :18:29.survivors here arriving at a fishing village, some who died
:18:30. > :18:32.were on a boat that had Across the sea on Lesbos another
:18:33. > :18:38.heavily crowded boat arrives, this time people from the Yazidi
:18:39. > :18:40.minority, persecuted Fear has driven them into the hands
:18:41. > :18:49.of people smugglers. These abandoned smugglers
:18:50. > :18:51.boats have been towed They haunt a doctor who's carried
:18:52. > :18:56.out 85 post-mortems on drowned "Among the people you see women,
:18:57. > :19:04.you see babies", the doctor told me. "I remember a shipwreck
:19:05. > :19:07.in which 28 people died. I wish there were no more
:19:08. > :19:12.lost innocent souls." With the distance so close,
:19:13. > :19:16.just six miles from Turkey, the temptation to risk the crossing
:19:17. > :19:20.to Europe is strong. The overwhelming majority who cross
:19:21. > :19:30.survive to find initial help. And then keep moving,
:19:31. > :19:32.most hoping to reach northern It's five months since I first saw
:19:33. > :19:38.people landing here on Lesbos and there is no sign that this
:19:39. > :19:45.crossing is going to stop. The rescuers head out to search
:19:46. > :19:49.for boats that might be in trouble, but they are too few and they can
:19:50. > :19:51.control neither weather Keane, BBC News, Lesbos. The latest
:19:52. > :20:11.arrivals on the island of Lesbos. Police in London say they have found
:20:12. > :20:13.three bodies at the house of a former actress who was reported
:20:14. > :20:16.missing before Christmas. Sian Blake, who's 43 and had
:20:17. > :20:18.starred in EastEnders, was last seen three weeks ago
:20:19. > :20:21.with her two young children. Her partner was questioned
:20:22. > :20:23.by officers shortly afterwards, Police say they have
:20:24. > :20:29.launched a murder inquiry. In Germany tonight, protesters
:20:30. > :20:31.gathered outside the cathedral in Cologne after around 80 women
:20:32. > :20:33.reported being robbed, threatened or sexually assaulted
:20:34. > :20:36.by groups of men on New Year's Eve. Police suspect that as many
:20:37. > :20:42.as 1,000 young males, many of them drunk,
:20:43. > :20:44.carried out the attacks. Chancellor Merkel has called
:20:45. > :20:46.for the perpetrators to be A school bus in North Yorkshire
:20:47. > :21:09.became stranded in flood water this morning after the driver apparently
:21:10. > :21:12.went through a road closed sign. The Council said the route normally
:21:13. > :21:16.taken by the bus had been closed by the highways authority
:21:17. > :21:18.since the heavy rains There were 26 children on board
:21:19. > :21:21.at the time. They were safely removed
:21:22. > :21:25.from the bus by the Fire Brigade. It's been confirmed that a British
:21:26. > :21:27.man is among five booksellers who've Paul Lee, also known as Lee Bo,
:21:28. > :21:31.specialises in books that are critical of the Chinese
:21:32. > :21:33.leadership in Beijing. The Foreign Secretary,
:21:34. > :21:35.Philip Hammond, who's in China, says he's raised
:21:36. > :21:37.concerns about the case. It's thought the five have been
:21:38. > :21:39.detained in mainland China as our correspondent,
:21:40. > :21:41.Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, reports. This street in Hong Kong is now
:21:42. > :21:44.at the centre of a growing mystery. Since October, five men who worked
:21:45. > :21:47.at this small bookshop The topics covered here include
:21:48. > :21:52.political corruption, power struggles, even the love
:21:53. > :21:55.affairs of China's top leaders. Nothing like this can be
:21:56. > :22:00.published in mainland China. Last Wednesday the owner, Paul Lee,
:22:01. > :22:25.became the latest to disappear. This man is a friend of Mr Lee's,
:22:26. > :22:29.he wrote some of the books here. I ask him if he feels safe any
:22:30. > :22:32.longer in Hong Kong. As we speak, two mainland Chinese
:22:33. > :22:53.men come in to the shop. Their dress and behaviour
:22:54. > :22:55.are not those of tourists. This really isn't just
:22:56. > :22:57.about a little bookshop that publishes salacious books
:22:58. > :22:59.on the Chinese leadership, it's about the fundamental
:23:00. > :23:01.difference between Hong Kong If, as now seems likely,
:23:02. > :23:04.the owner of this bookshop was abducted on the street outside
:23:05. > :23:07.here and spirited across the border, into mainland China,
:23:08. > :23:09.then it means that potentially no-one here in Hong Kong is any
:23:10. > :23:12.longer safe from the long arm This is not how it
:23:13. > :23:15.was supposed to be. When the Union Jack was lowered
:23:16. > :23:18.here, 18 years ago, China promised it would not impose its political
:23:19. > :23:21.or legal system on Hong Kong's Today, in Beijing, Philip Hammond,
:23:22. > :23:25.sought to remind his hosts In a question of any breach
:23:26. > :23:33.of our Hong Kong laws, the question must be
:23:34. > :23:37.settled in Hong Kong The response from China -
:23:38. > :23:44.mind your own business. TRANSLATION: Hong Kong's affairs
:23:45. > :23:46.are purely China's internal affairs. No foreign country has
:23:47. > :23:52.the right to interfere. Not so, says the woman who ran
:23:53. > :23:55.Hong Kong's civil service If the abduction is proven true,
:23:56. > :24:01.then I think you are spelling the death nail for one
:24:02. > :24:10.country's assistance. Since Britain left it has continued
:24:11. > :24:16.to prosper, but the freedoms that underpin this prosperity are now
:24:17. > :24:20.in peril as never before. Rupert Wingfield-Hayes,
:24:21. > :24:50.BBC News in Hong Kong. It's been a week of cricketing
:24:51. > :24:55.firsts and the latest achievement involves a 15-year-old
:24:56. > :25:01.Indian schoolboy who's become the first batsman
:25:02. > :25:06.in the history of the game Our South Asia correspondent,
:25:07. > :25:16.Justin Rowlatt, has the story. 15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade didn't
:25:17. > :25:19.expect to break any records today. He says he just played
:25:20. > :25:21.what he calls his "natural game" - attacking from the word
:25:22. > :25:24.go, and attack he did. 1,009 runs not out and all
:25:25. > :25:27.in a single innings. The son of an auto-rickshaw driver
:25:28. > :25:30.was powered into cricketing history, shattering the previous record
:25:31. > :25:32.of 628 runs that had stood When I go to bat, I only keep
:25:33. > :25:37.in mind that I had to play a big innings and after playing on,
:25:38. > :25:40.playing on, I scored 100 runs, Mumbai school cricket
:25:41. > :25:46.is seriously competitive, It's produced legendary cricketers
:25:47. > :25:48.like Sachin Tendulkar, widely reckoned to have been
:25:49. > :25:51.the best batsman of all-time and today he tweeted his
:25:52. > :25:53.congratulations to the young player, urging him to work hard
:25:54. > :26:01.and scale even greater peaks. He's certainly a hero to these kids,
:26:02. > :26:05.but perhaps it's the rival team that They were all out
:26:06. > :26:08.for a paltry 31 runs. Newsnight is about to get
:26:09. > :26:22.underway over on BBC Two. There will be updates on the Labour
:26:23. > :26:24.reshuffle