15/03/2016 BBC News at Ten


15/03/2016

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All state schools in England will become academies.

:00:00.:00:07.

The plans will be announced in tomorrow's Budget.

:00:08.:00:11.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, will insist that the plans deliver

:00:12.:00:13.

greater freedom to decide on the curriculum and admissions

:00:14.:00:16.

There are certain freedoms around curriculum, around the way you use

:00:17.:00:20.

an academy that you don't have with a local authority school.

:00:21.:00:26.

But the move will end the long-standing role of local

:00:27.:00:28.

authorities in providing education and Labour says it's a distraction.

:00:29.:00:33.

This feels like it's a press ahead with an agenda that there is very

:00:34.:00:36.

little evidence for, to hide from some of the really

:00:37.:00:39.

We'll have more details of the academies plan and we'll be

:00:40.:00:46.

looking at what else is likely in the Budget.

:00:47.:00:48.

A major security operation in Brussels - one suspect is dead.

:00:49.:00:54.

The investigation is linked to last year's attacks in Paris.

:00:55.:00:58.

A welcome home for Russian fighter pilots, among the first to be

:00:59.:01:01.

withdrawn from Syria by President Putin.

:01:02.:01:05.

A special report from central Africa on the urgent need for action

:01:06.:01:08.

to save the elephant from poachers and traffickers.

:01:09.:01:12.

There are another four of these carcasses spread all around

:01:13.:01:14.

They arrived too late to catch the poachers who were long gone.

:01:15.:01:21.

And from dismay to despair, the champion player beaten

:01:22.:01:23.

by a computer and what it says about the future

:01:24.:01:26.

Coming up in Sportsday later in the hour on BBC News,

:01:27.:01:33.

find out if Manchester City have reached the Champions League

:01:34.:01:36.

quarterfinals despite an early injury to their captain,

:01:37.:01:38.

There's to be a radical shift in the way state schools

:01:39.:02:06.

The plans will be announced by the Chancellor

:02:07.:02:09.

Ministers want to force all schools in England to become academies,

:02:10.:02:13.

making them independent of local authority control.

:02:14.:02:17.

Schools would have to convert by 2022.

:02:18.:02:21.

them greater freedom to decide their curriculum,

:02:22.:02:25.

Our education editor Branwen Jeffreys has more details.

:02:26.:02:36.

It is the school revolution that began under Labour. Failing schools

:02:37.:02:42.

closed under the council, reopened as academies. As Education

:02:43.:02:50.

Secretary, Michael Gove gave cash to more schools to convert. Now a

:02:51.:02:54.

Conservative government wants to finish the journey, ending more than

:02:55.:02:58.

100 years of English councils running local schools. My next

:02:59.:03:04.

ambition is this, 500 new free schools, every school in academy,

:03:05.:03:09.

and yes, local authorities running schools a thing of the past. Academy

:03:10.:03:15.

schools have more freedoms, freedom to choose what to teach, freedom to

:03:16.:03:21.

decide what to pay staff. It is meant to encourage fresh ideas,

:03:22.:03:24.

offering parents greater choice and headteachers the chance to work

:03:25.:03:30.

together in a chain of schools. The real win I suppose of being an

:03:31.:03:35.

academy is working in a trust, because you have the collaborative

:03:36.:03:37.

environment where you can hold each other to account and the learning is

:03:38.:03:42.

richer I suppose in that kind of environment than perhaps was

:03:43.:03:46.

traditionally the case in local authority schools. Already in

:03:47.:03:51.

England, 2000 secondary schools are academies, more than half, but fewer

:03:52.:03:56.

than 3000 primary schools have changed so most are still run by

:03:57.:04:01.

councils. Now council schools will have up to six years to start

:04:02.:04:08.

becoming academies. In the next couple of days, officials will be

:04:09.:04:11.

working on finalising detailed plans. This will require a change in

:04:12.:04:17.

the law. It goes much further than before, not just intervening in

:04:18.:04:22.

schools that are failing or underperforming, this will radically

:04:23.:04:25.

change how even the best schools in England are run. Labour says there

:04:26.:04:31.

is little evidence these plans will mean a better school system. Some

:04:32.:04:36.

academies have struggled and failed too. There are some areas -

:04:37.:04:42.

Lincolnshire, Swindon, my own area Manchester - where all the schools

:04:43.:04:49.

are already academies but still require significant improvement.

:04:50.:04:52.

What is the Government strategy for these areas? And from the Chief

:04:53.:04:58.

inspector, a warning just a few days ago. Some academies are paying top

:04:59.:05:03.

executive salaries but delivering poor results for pupils. For the

:05:04.:05:08.

Chancellor, this is about putting his stamp on public services, in

:05:09.:05:13.

reshaping schools he is also taking England on a very different journey

:05:14.:05:22.

from the rest of the UK. Those plans are expected in tomorrow's Budget.

:05:23.:05:29.

It will be the eighth delivered by George Osborne.

:05:30.:05:31.

And in the four months since his last report on the state

:05:32.:05:34.

of the UK's finances, economic growth has dipped and tax

:05:35.:05:37.

Added to that is the political challenge posed by the referendum

:05:38.:05:40.

on Britain's future in the European Union.

:05:41.:05:42.

In a moment we'll be talking to our political editor

:05:43.:05:44.

Laura Kuenssberg, but first our economics editor Kamal Ahmed reports

:05:45.:05:47.

on some of the likely measures to be announced tomorrow.

:05:48.:05:49.

Home to the Chancellor, number 11 Downing Street,

:05:50.:05:51.

and where George Osborne has been spending the last few days

:05:52.:05:54.

Four months ago, the Autumn Statement was full of optimism.

:05:55.:06:00.

I report on an economy growing faster than its competitors,

:06:01.:06:03.

and public finances set to reach a surplus of ?10 billion.

:06:04.:06:07.

The Chancellor will travel from here down the road to Parliament.

:06:08.:06:11.

He will have his red box with him and in there he will have

:06:12.:06:15.

new forecasts, and they are likely to show that the UK economy has

:06:16.:06:18.

taken something of a turn for the worse.

:06:19.:06:23.

The Bank of England has revised economic growth downward

:06:24.:06:26.

Our wages are rising less quickly, just 3% a year.

:06:27.:06:38.

Both reduced tax revenues for the Government, which,

:06:39.:06:40.

don't forget, is facing debts of ?1.5 trillion.

:06:41.:06:42.

That means the Government has to borrow more to pay

:06:43.:06:45.

So, what state are the Government's finances in?

:06:46.:06:52.

Well, so far this year, the Government has

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Now, that's 13.7% down on last year, but still a long way

:06:55.:07:01.

above the optimistic expectations of last autumn.

:07:02.:07:08.

The Government's target is to borrow ?73.5 billion this financial year.

:07:09.:07:15.

Will George Osborne hit that target in the Budget?

:07:16.:07:24.

And what about that ?10 billion Budget surplus -

:07:25.:07:26.

The surplus that was forecast in November was already not that

:07:27.:07:32.

large when we are thinking about the four-year forecast.

:07:33.:07:34.

Things have moved against him since November so he may not

:07:35.:07:37.

have a lot of room for manoeuvre, particularly as there are number

:07:38.:07:40.

of giveaways already promised in the Conservative manifesto.

:07:41.:07:46.

In his Budgets, George Osborne has always mixed pain

:07:47.:07:48.

What will the Chancellor want to trumpet?

:07:49.:07:51.

He could increase the point at which we pay tax on our income

:07:52.:07:54.

That could make taxpayers a few hundred pounds a year better off.

:07:55.:07:58.

He could also raise the level at which the higher 40p

:07:59.:08:01.

rate of tax kicks in, meaning fewer people pay it.

:08:02.:08:06.

He will announce support for major infrastructure projects -

:08:07.:08:12.

a high-speed rail link between Manchester and Leeds,

:08:13.:08:14.

His critics say this is all a bit of a diversion, but the real story

:08:15.:08:21.

of this Budget will be public sector cuts and tax rises.

:08:22.:08:25.

Fuel duty, the tax on petrol and diesel, is facing

:08:26.:08:30.

Unprotected departments such as the Home Office could be facing

:08:31.:08:41.

There are likely to be higher taxes on business.

:08:42.:08:45.

Whatever George Osborne announces, he will have to sell it here,

:08:46.:08:47.

The Conservative majority is actually quite small and every

:08:48.:08:51.

debate is dominated by the European referendum.

:08:52.:08:57.

Fear of a Brexit could make this a rather more careful

:08:58.:09:00.

Our political editor Laura Kuenssberg is at

:09:01.:09:09.

the Chancellor's official residence, Number 11 Downing Street.

:09:10.:09:13.

We heard about some of the measure is there, but what for you is the

:09:14.:09:21.

main challenge for George Osborne tomorrow? I think there are a trio.

:09:22.:09:28.

We know he is likely to announce more cuts, he said as much three

:09:29.:09:32.

weeks ago, and that's coming after six years of cuts that have hit

:09:33.:09:36.

millions of families around the country so he wants to show that the

:09:37.:09:40.

Government is not just about that, they have still got ideas for

:09:41.:09:45.

reform. I think the Government 's announcement to force schools to

:09:46.:09:48.

become academies in England with more cash and the option of

:09:49.:09:53.

extending the school day with more time for extracurricular activities

:09:54.:09:54.

is part of want to show they have not

:09:55.:10:07.

run out of ideas and they are not all about balancing the books. The

:10:08.:10:09.

second challenge he faces is polishing up his own political

:10:10.:10:12.

reputation. After a series of defeats on tax credits being thrown

:10:13.:10:14.

out, Sunday trading plans being defeated, something of his stock has

:10:15.:10:18.

fallen away in recent months and he will be wanting to use a big day

:10:19.:10:22.

like tomorrow to rebuild that. The third big challenge is how he knits

:10:23.:10:26.

together with the Government 's number one priority right persuading

:10:27.:10:33.

us to vote to stay in the European Union in the referendum at the end

:10:34.:10:36.

of June, because budgets at the end of the day are not just numbers,

:10:37.:10:41.

they are semaphore for the Government and certainly in this

:10:42.:10:46.

case, the Chancellor's ambitions. Laura, thank you very much. Laura,

:10:47.:10:52.

looking ahead to the Budget in Downing Street.

:10:53.:10:54.

There's been a major security operation in Brussels this evening

:10:55.:10:56.

linked to last year's terror attacks in Paris when 130 people were killed

:10:57.:11:00.

Belgian security forces are said to be hunting for at least two

:11:01.:11:03.

people and one suspect has been killed.

:11:04.:11:05.

Our Europe correspondent Damian Grammaticas is at the scene.

:11:06.:11:14.

Yes, that raid took place at three o'clock this afternoon here, it was

:11:15.:11:21.

a joint raid by Belgian and French police and ever since those Paris

:11:22.:11:26.

attacks, the two forces have been hunting down any leads. There are 11

:11:27.:11:31.

people in custody here already and any associates are being

:11:32.:11:35.

investigated as well. Those investigations brought the police

:11:36.:11:39.

here this afternoon to carry out this raid. One French policewoman

:11:40.:11:43.

was injured, and one man armed with a Kalashnikov was shot dead, it has

:11:44.:11:49.

been confirmed this evening that he was not one of the prime suspects

:11:50.:11:53.

still being sought for the Paris attacks, that is Salah Abdeslam, who

:11:54.:12:00.

is still on the run. From across the city, armed police converged on

:12:01.:12:04.

southern Brussels. It was the middle of the afternoon, dozens of police

:12:05.:12:08.

units moved in. They sealed off a web of streets, a few minutes drive

:12:09.:12:12.

from the centre of the Belgian capital, looking down the entire

:12:13.:12:17.

area. Belgian and French investigators have been following

:12:18.:12:20.

Leeds since the Paris terror attacks, they try to search a flat

:12:21.:12:24.

here. As soon as they reached the door, they had been met with

:12:25.:12:31.

automatic gunfire. TRANSLATION: Two individuals are apparently holed up

:12:32.:12:35.

in the building, a security cordon has been set up by police, special

:12:36.:12:41.

forces teams arrived and are in position along with Federal police

:12:42.:12:45.

so the investigation is ongoing. Police kept the area cordoned all

:12:46.:12:50.

afternoon, parents left waiting on the street for hours. They were

:12:51.:12:56.

locked up, there was shooting in the street, this man told me. Parents

:12:57.:12:59.

had to wait to be told they could pick up their children. My daughter

:13:00.:13:06.

told me she was sad, she was crying all afternoon, she says. We are

:13:07.:13:11.

still very scared. Armed officers have taken up positions on rooftops.

:13:12.:13:15.

Late in the afternoon they made their move, there was more gunfire

:13:16.:13:19.

and then confirmation, they found one body. Belgium's Prime Minister

:13:20.:13:28.

said this evening that four police officers have been wounded in the

:13:29.:13:33.

shooting. Brussels has lived with police raids, terror alerts and city

:13:34.:13:37.

lockdowns since the Paris attacks and tonight the police operations

:13:38.:13:42.

were ongoing, still searching the surrounding streets, unsure if more

:13:43.:13:43.

gunmen were holed up there. The first Russian fighter jets to be

:13:44.:13:47.

withdrawn from Syria have returned to their home bases

:13:48.:13:50.

following yesterday's announcement by President Putin that most

:13:51.:13:51.

of his forces were being moved. The decision was welcomed

:13:52.:13:55.

by the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, who said the withdrawal

:13:56.:13:57.

might be the best opportunity to end Our chief international

:13:58.:14:00.

correspondent, Lyse Doucet, The pull-out starts at first light,

:14:01.:14:19.

at Russia's air base in northern Syria. The bombers are leaving. It

:14:20.:14:25.

is just hours after President Putin's sudden announcement, mission

:14:26.:14:32.

accomplished. The homecoming, heroes' in Russia. A carefully

:14:33.:14:39.

choreographed parade. The band plays an old Soviet military song, this is

:14:40.:14:42.

all about Putin power. TRANSLATION: We're really

:14:43.:14:53.

glad our troops are coming home. TRANSLATION: Thanks to our soldiers,

:14:54.:14:55.

the so-called Islamic State is doing Russia sent its warplanes

:14:56.:15:08.

and advance weaponry Ostensibly to target Islamic State,

:15:09.:15:13.

but it mainly bolstered In Damascus, Syrians

:15:14.:15:17.

are still savouring a rare moment President Putin's announcement last

:15:18.:15:20.

night took the world by surprise, but here the government

:15:21.:15:57.

says it knew all along. The agreement was for Russian forces

:15:58.:15:59.

to enter Syria for a certain period and now we're advancing step-by-step

:16:00.:16:05.

in the peace process. But Damascus, emboldened by Russian

:16:06.:16:07.

might, is taking a tough line, refusing to discuss

:16:08.:16:10.

President Assad' future. I ask a prominent member

:16:11.:16:11.

of parliament, is Russia Russia is not putting

:16:12.:16:13.

pressure on us. They are talking to us

:16:14.:16:16.

and are trying to find the best You in the West are wrong

:16:17.:16:19.

if you think Russia is telling But there's no denying Russia's

:16:20.:16:23.

pivotal role in Syria. Russia's military objectives

:16:24.:16:27.

here are now clear, so the big question is - what is

:16:28.:16:29.

President Putin's political Does it necessarily include

:16:30.:16:31.

President Assad and, if not, who or what

:16:32.:16:34.

is the alternative? But the fighting in Syria isn't over

:16:35.:16:40.

despite the partial truce. So Russia isn't pulling

:16:41.:16:43.

out completely. Its military presence

:16:44.:16:45.

remains significant. Even that may not be enough to end

:16:46.:16:46.

this most tangled of wars. You have been there for nearly a

:16:47.:17:00.

fortnight. What is your sense of the prospects for a more robust

:17:01.:17:06.

settlement? Well, Huw, I think millions of Syrians, after all they

:17:07.:17:09.

have been through, don't dare to believe this could all be over soon.

:17:10.:17:16.

This truce as impartial as it is, as imperfect as it is, has given

:17:17.:17:20.

Syrians a tantalising glimpse of what Syria could be like again. It's

:17:21.:17:25.

this truce and those talks that are slowly getting jumped way in Geneva

:17:26.:17:30.

that represent the best chance in years to try to move Syria a little

:17:31.:17:35.

bit closer toward peace rather than a lot further back towards a more

:17:36.:17:39.

destructive war. But you have to be clear on why it's happening. It's

:17:40.:17:45.

not because Syrian warring parties have understood there is no military

:17:46.:17:49.

solution or put aside their profound differences it's only because the

:17:50.:17:52.

outside powers, 17 in all, are finally sitting around thele same

:17:53.:17:56.

table. They don't trust each other. They have different enemies and

:17:57.:17:59.

agendas on the battlefield, but it has to be recognised that Russia's

:18:00.:18:06.

decision, last September, to much more involved militarily and

:18:07.:18:10.

politically in Syria has galvanised a stagnant process. It broke the

:18:11.:18:15.

deadlock. It's to the credit of the West, particularly the United

:18:16.:18:19.

States, reluctantly accepting that Russia has the best cards at this

:18:20.:18:23.

table and it should be allowed to play them. The difficulty, if not

:18:24.:18:28.

the danger, is that Russia, and in particular President Putin, is

:18:29.:18:32.

playing a much bigger game. Much bigger than Syria, having a lot to

:18:33.:18:35.

do with Russia's position on the world stage and being taken

:18:36.:18:40.

seriously when it comes to solving world crises. Even President Putin,

:18:41.:18:44.

with Russia's might, may not succeed in Syria. For the first time in five

:18:45.:18:50.

years at least he and other major players are trying. In Syria now a

:18:51.:18:57.

little is a lot. All right, Lyse thank you very much again for your

:18:58.:19:00.

analysis there. Lyse Doucet in Damascus.

:19:01.:19:09.

Airlines, shipping companies and conservation charities are among

:19:10.:19:11.

those who've promised to share more information to make life harder

:19:12.:19:13.

for traffickers of animal products and wildlife.

:19:14.:19:15.

The declaration was signed by dozens of companies at Buckingham Palace,

:19:16.:19:17.

One of the most urgent cases right now is the African elephant.

:19:18.:19:22.

Every year, between 30,000 and 40,000 thousand African

:19:23.:19:24.

elephants are killed for their ivory.

:19:25.:19:29.

With fewer than half a million left, their numbers are being dramatically

:19:30.:19:31.

cut by the endless appetite for ivory in Asia.

:19:32.:19:36.

Poachers and rangers are now in armed conflict in a number

:19:37.:19:39.

of African countries, with the Democractic Republic

:19:40.:19:41.

Our Africa correspondent, Alastair Leithead, has sent this

:19:42.:19:45.

It's tough terrain in Garamba National Park,

:19:46.:19:55.

where less than 100 rangers are trying to protect the last

:19:56.:20:00.

of the elephants across thousands of square miles of grassland.

:20:01.:20:06.

We joined one of their foot patrols to a place where

:20:07.:20:08.

The grass is so high, the only way to see a carcass

:20:09.:20:22.

is from the air and then to direct the rangers in.

:20:23.:20:24.

Well, this elephant was clearly killed by a poacher.

:20:25.:20:28.

Its ivory tusks were hacked off, it's been dead about three weeks.

:20:29.:20:32.

There are another four of these carcasses spread all around

:20:33.:20:34.

They arrived too late to catch the poachers,

:20:35.:20:38.

30,000-40,000 elephants are being killed in Africa every

:20:39.:20:45.

year and with only around 400,000 left, it's not going to be long,

:20:46.:20:48.

And with so few boots on the ground, those responsible often get away

:20:49.:20:54.

"We followed their footprints", one of the rangers told me,

:20:55.:21:02.

There are perhaps 1,300 elephants left here,

:21:03.:21:09.

Garamba was one of Africa's first national parks and a World Heritage

:21:10.:21:17.

site, originally set up to protect the northern white rhino,

:21:18.:21:20.

but that has already been wiped out by poachers.

:21:21.:21:25.

Now, they're fighting to save the elephants that are left,

:21:26.:21:29.

in a place surrounded by civil war and heavily armed militia.

:21:30.:21:43.

That's why African Parks, the group managing Garamba,

:21:44.:21:45.

But the weapons are old, few hit even a close target.

:21:46.:21:50.

This ranger explained how dangerous the work is,

:21:51.:22:00.

his patrol was ambushed by 40 men, probably from Sudan,

:22:01.:22:02.

Eight rangers have been killed in the last year.

:22:03.:22:08.

Training rangers takes a lot of time and money and the men they're up

:22:09.:22:13.

This really does feel like you're fighting a war against poachers?

:22:14.:22:18.

I think Garamba is probably today at the forefront of conservation,

:22:19.:22:25.

I just don't think that many other places which have so much contact

:22:26.:22:33.

and so many threats to one park as we have here.

:22:34.:22:35.

This local man was arrested after a tip-off and ivory recovered.

:22:36.:22:40.

By the time it reaches the market in Asia, it goes for at least ?750.

:22:41.:22:50.

Then reports came in of another attack.

:22:51.:22:55.

And there are the carcasses, just down there by the river.

:22:56.:22:58.

Five of them, one of them a baby, and the sixth we've just spotted,

:22:59.:23:02.

a little bit further up the river from there.

:23:03.:23:04.

That the tusks have been taken. but you could see that their faces

:23:05.:23:10.

They need hundreds more rangers to protect Garamba.

:23:11.:23:13.

On the front line of the poaching war, the elephants

:23:14.:23:16.

Alistair Leithead, BBC News, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

:23:17.:23:25.

A brief look at some of the day's other news stories.

:23:26.:23:28.

The Church of England is to introduce changes to the way

:23:29.:23:30.

it deals with allegations of sexual abuse by clergy.

:23:31.:23:33.

It follows a critical independent report, which has been seen

:23:34.:23:35.

It reveals that senior clergymen kept no record of claims disclosed

:23:36.:23:39.

A prison officer, Adrian Ismay, injured in a bomb attack

:23:40.:23:49.

in Northern Ireland earlier this month has died.

:23:50.:23:52.

The 52-year-old was seriously hurt after a booby-trap device exploded

:23:53.:23:55.

A dissident republican group, widely referred to as the New IRA,

:23:56.:24:02.

A report into a helicopter crash off Shetland, in which four people died,

:24:03.:24:08.

says that flight instruments were not adequately monitored

:24:09.:24:10.

in the moments leading up to the crash.

:24:11.:24:17.

The Air Accidents Investigation Branch report says that the lack

:24:18.:24:19.

of monitoring meant a reduction in air speed was not noticed

:24:20.:24:22.

Americans are voting tonight in five states in primary contests

:24:23.:24:27.

for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominees.

:24:28.:24:31.

The results could see Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump

:24:32.:24:37.

making significant steps towards securing their party's

:24:38.:24:38.

Mr Trump's recent campaign events have been disrupted by clashes

:24:39.:24:42.

between supporters and opponents and he's faced criticism

:24:43.:24:44.

for appearing to encourage the violence.

:24:45.:24:46.

Let's join our North America editor, Jon Sopel, in Palm Beach Florida.

:24:47.:24:54.

Huw, when Donald Trump arrives at his private members club behind me

:24:55.:25:01.

later this evening, he's hoping that the Republican race will effectively

:25:02.:25:05.

be over and that he will be the undisputed champion. This despite

:25:06.:25:10.

the millions that have been spent back conservative groups attacking

:25:11.:25:17.

him and vie lens at his rallies today President Obama has stepped in

:25:18.:25:21.

calling the words being used vulgar and divisive. -- violence.

:25:22.:25:34.

If there's one place in America where Donald Trump shouldn't

:25:35.:25:36.

He's upset a lot of Hispanics with his rhetoric and he's up

:25:37.:25:41.

against the local Cuban-American Senator, Marco Rubio.

:25:42.:25:43.

But for all the controversy, if you join up the dots,

:25:44.:25:45.

Trump is the most important man in the world now.

:25:46.:25:49.

Donald Trump is scary, but he's the only one who can beat

:25:50.:25:52.

I think anything's better than Hillary Clinton.

:25:53.:25:55.

I'm very proud of Rubio, but I identify with Trump.

:25:56.:26:00.

The latest fire storm is the violence that has erupted

:26:01.:26:06.

at Trump rallies, as his supporters skirmish with protesters.

:26:07.:26:10.

Actions that should have no place in democratic politics.

:26:11.:26:19.

The charge against Mr Trump is that, far from condemning,

:26:20.:26:21.

his language has condoned, even incited, such behaviour

:26:22.:26:26.

I'd like to punch him in the face, I tell you.

:26:27.:26:31.

You know what they used to do to guys like that,

:26:32.:26:34.

They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks.

:26:35.:26:38.

I don't know if I would have done well, but I would have been -

:26:39.:26:41.

So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato,

:26:42.:26:47.

knock the crap out of him, would you?

:26:48.:26:49.

I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees, I promise.

:26:50.:26:56.

Am I allowed to rip that whistle out of the mouth?

:26:57.:26:59.

And that sort of language brought this rebuke

:27:00.:27:05.

I know that I'm not the only one in this room who may be more

:27:06.:27:16.

than a little dismayed about what's happening

:27:17.:27:17.

We have heard vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women

:27:18.:27:25.

and minorities and Americans who don't look like us our pray

:27:26.:27:28.

Yes, Donald Trump's comments have caused a furore,

:27:29.:27:32.

If anything, his poll lead is increasing and at this polling

:27:33.:27:36.

station in Miami, he seems to be the only name in town.

:27:37.:27:40.

The others seem to have given up the fight.

:27:41.:27:44.

For all the discussion of punch-ups, if he wins here tonight,

:27:45.:27:47.

and in Ohio, the talk will instead be about having delivered a knockout

:27:48.:27:51.

Manchester City have qualified for the quarter-finals

:27:52.:28:05.

of the Champions League for the first time in their history.

:28:06.:28:13.

Despite getting close to scoring a few times,

:28:14.:28:25.

they could only manage a 0-0 draw at home tonight against Dinamo Kiev,

:28:26.:28:28.

but make it through to the last eight thanks to a 3-1 victory

:28:29.:28:31.

A computer programme, designed by Google, has

:28:32.:28:35.

comprehensively beaten a human champion of the ancient Chinese game

:28:36.:28:37.

of Go, winning the match four games to one.

:28:38.:28:39.

Lee Sedol, a Korean champion of the game, said he regretted

:28:40.:28:42.

the result which has raised new questions about the power

:28:43.:28:44.

of artificial intelligence over human beings.

:28:45.:28:46.

Our technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, examines what's

:28:47.:28:47.

been learnt from the contest and considers the future

:28:48.:28:49.

It's been an epic contest between man and machine,

:28:50.:28:53.

pitting a supreme player of a complex game against an artificial

:28:54.:28:55.

intelligence programme which teaches itself to play ever better.

:28:56.:28:57.

And, at the end of the final game, Lee Sedol's face told the story.

:28:58.:29:01.

Although he'd fought hard and even won once,

:29:02.:29:03.

the machine, AlphaGo, had come out on top.

:29:04.:29:09.

No triumphalism from the British founder of the company behind it.

:29:10.:29:12.

As with all powerful technologies, they bring opportunities

:29:13.:29:15.

and challenges and we have to make sure, as developers of these kind

:29:16.:29:22.

of systems, all AI researchers around the world that they think

:29:23.:29:25.

about the ethical responsibilities they have.

:29:26.:29:28.

The technology behind programmes like AlphaGo is already finding

:29:29.:29:31.

Better voice recognition software is one and Cambridge is one

:29:32.:29:37.

of the world's leading centres in the development

:29:38.:29:40.

At Microsoft's Cambridge research lab, you might think that this

:29:41.:29:48.

was down time, in fact, it's serious artificial intelligence research.

:29:49.:29:51.

Scientists here are using the game Minecraft to test how AI programmes

:29:52.:29:55.

The idea is to teach the AI how to interact with people and objects.

:29:56.:30:03.

The programme is all about augmenting the skills

:30:04.:30:06.

Another example, a system using AI to examine scans of brain tumours

:30:07.:30:11.

The researchers here insist that it's all

:30:12.:30:16.

about collaboration, not competition.

:30:17.:30:19.

I think we have a choice, we're in control of the technology,

:30:20.:30:22.

I think we should avoid that dystopian future of -

:30:23.:30:28.

I think we should make a conscious decision to create artificial

:30:29.:30:33.

intelligence as a deep partnership between humans and machines

:30:34.:30:35.

This is not about the rise of machines, it's about

:30:36.:30:39.

One of Britain's leading scientists says the sheer pace of change means

:30:40.:30:42.

There's a boundary between science and science fiction,

:30:43.:30:46.

we don't know quite where that lies, but certainly some people

:30:47.:30:49.

are raising concerns that a computer might,

:30:50.:30:51.

as it were, go rogue and if we have the internet

:30:52.:30:57.

of things, then a computer could interact with the real world

:30:58.:31:00.

If that happened, that would obviously be potentially

:31:01.:31:05.

It had been thought that a computer would take another 10 years to beat

:31:06.:31:10.

AI's victory has brought its potential and its risks into focus.

:31:11.:31:15.

Newsnight's about to begin over on BBC Two in a few moments.

:31:16.:31:24.

On our running order tonight, Brexit and the Press.

:31:25.:31:27.

Alastair Campbell says the papers are pulling the wool over our eyes

:31:28.:31:30.

to persuade us to vote to leave the EU.

:31:31.:31:32.

He'll debate that with Sun writer, Trevor Kavanagh.

:31:33.:31:34.

Join me now on BBC Two, 11.00pm in Scotland.

:31:35.:31:40.

Here, on BBC One, it's time for the news where you are.

:31:41.:31:44.

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