:00:08. > :00:12.A failed rescue attempt by British special forces in Nigeria ends in
:00:13. > :00:17.tragedy, as a British and Italian hostage are killed. It is with
:00:17. > :00:21.great regret I have to say that both Chris and Franco have lost
:00:21. > :00:25.their lives. We are still awaiting confirmation of the details, but
:00:25. > :00:28.the early indications are clear that both men were murdered by
:00:28. > :00:32.their captors, before they could be rescued.
:00:32. > :00:36.Our diplomatic editor Mark Urban is here.
:00:36. > :00:40.This was a set piece British operation, conducted after an
:00:40. > :00:44.intelligence gathering operation that lasted months. But tragically,
:00:44. > :00:47.it failed to save the hostages. We speak to an Italian senator who
:00:47. > :00:50.said they should have been consulted about the rescue
:00:50. > :00:54.operation. Spring is in the air, and just as
:00:54. > :00:59.we thought house buying was about to bloom, wham, balm, mortgage
:00:59. > :01:05.rates start to rise, what now for our property-obsessed economy.
:01:05. > :01:09.These photographs are the work of Time Magazine, William Daniels, who
:01:09. > :01:15.came under attack with the late Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik in
:01:15. > :01:20.Baba Amr. We talk to him about that attack, and his harrowing escape
:01:20. > :01:24.with his wounded colleague, Edith Bouvier. Reasons to be cheerful, it
:01:24. > :01:31.may be International Women's Day, but are women suffering more in the
:01:31. > :01:36.downturn. These women are divided over a 21st century women's lot.
:01:36. > :01:39.-- woman's lot. Good evening. A British and an
:01:39. > :01:42.Italian hostage being held in Nigeria are dead tonight. After a
:01:42. > :01:49.failed rescue attempt involving British Special Forces. Their
:01:49. > :01:55.captors, believed to be from the Al-Qaeda-inspired militant Islamist
:01:55. > :01:58.sect, Boko Haram, were working on a construction project and have been
:01:58. > :02:04.hostages since last May. The operation to rescue them has been
:02:04. > :02:10.on going for six months. The two men were taken on the 12th
:02:10. > :02:13.of May last year, appearing in a video made by their kidnappers.
:02:13. > :02:18.Chris McManus and Franco Lamolinara, both worked for an Italian
:02:18. > :02:24.construction company, on projects in the state of Kebbi. A joint
:02:24. > :02:28.Nigerian and British security operation cornered the kidnappers
:02:28. > :02:31.in Sokoto, not far from where they were taken, and tonight David
:02:31. > :02:35.Cameron announced the outcome of a failed attempt to save them.
:02:35. > :02:40.Preparations were made to mount an operation to attempt to rescue
:02:40. > :02:45.Chris and Franco. Together with the Nigerian Government, today, I
:02:45. > :02:49.authorised it to go ahead with UK support. It is with great regret I
:02:49. > :02:53.have to say that both Chris and Franco have lost their lives. We
:02:53. > :02:57.are still awaiting confirmation of the details, but the early
:02:57. > :03:02.indications are clear that both men were murdered by their captors
:03:02. > :03:07.before they could be rescued. The skeej in Sokoto at the house
:03:08. > :03:14.where the two -- scene in Sokoto at the house where the two hostages
:03:14. > :03:19.were killed is described by an eyewitness. The neighbour told me
:03:19. > :03:24.they numbered about 40-50 and the occupants of the house were about
:03:24. > :03:28.seven, including these two hostages. The kidnappers were from the
:03:28. > :03:33.militant group, Boko Haram, it has recently been responsible for
:03:33. > :03:37.bloody bomb attacks in northern Nigeria. It is a Jihadist Islamic
:03:37. > :03:41.organisation, that emerged two years ago. Although loosely
:03:41. > :03:45.modelled on Arab militant groups, it has its own agenda in Nigeria.
:03:45. > :03:49.The point is they are making a political statement that it is very
:03:49. > :03:55.dangerous for westerners to work in northern Nigeria, a move they hope
:03:55. > :03:59.that will destablise the Government of Goodluck Jonathan, the President,
:03:59. > :04:04.and drive western companies out of Nigeria.
:04:04. > :04:08.With today's operation, Boko Haram moves up the international militant
:04:08. > :04:12.league table. Western firms, that for years have operated with care
:04:12. > :04:16.in Nigeria, because of the risks, will now have to look again at
:04:16. > :04:22.whether it is safe enough to carry on there, as this new insurgency
:04:22. > :04:27.gathers force. Mark Urban is with me now, a pretty
:04:27. > :04:30.dreadful end to the operation. In military terms it will not be seen
:04:30. > :04:34.in any way to be well planned, do you think? I think it could be
:04:34. > :04:41.argued that it was well planned. In a sense that finding the right
:04:41. > :04:45.intelligence to zero in on a kidnap gang is extremely hard, that was a
:04:45. > :04:48.Nigerian-led process, they raided a Hughes recently where they obtained
:04:48. > :04:53.intelligence of what was called a rebel stronghold, in the town where
:04:53. > :04:59.the incident took place today. They closed in, the British role was to
:04:59. > :05:03.provide the assault force, the SBS, the Special Boat Service, a group
:05:03. > :05:06.up to 24 troops engaged in assaulting it. It turned out to be
:05:06. > :05:09.a tough target, heavily defended. It is thought the hostages were
:05:09. > :05:13.probably killed while it was happening. This is the difficult
:05:13. > :05:18.thing with these operations. Some Downing Street tonight as to
:05:18. > :05:22.whether any of the hostage-takers emerged. The Nigerian President
:05:22. > :05:26.said they did, but people are telling me nobody came out alive.
:05:26. > :05:31.That would make the assumption that the SBS had to work very hard
:05:31. > :05:35.because they were very well armed? It was a heavy firefight, that is
:05:35. > :05:39.what people are saying. significant diplomatic fall-out
:05:39. > :05:43.from this? A significant fall-out, the Italian Government are unhappy
:05:43. > :05:46.about what happened. When this was put together, as an intelligence
:05:46. > :05:51.operation between the Nigerians and British several months ago, as we
:05:51. > :05:55.have been saying. I understand there was a general Italian
:05:55. > :05:59.approval given to pursue this type of init tell begins and follow it
:05:59. > :06:04.to its logical conclusions. It is clear -- intelligence and follow it
:06:04. > :06:09.through to its logical conclusions. But it is clear when David Cameron
:06:09. > :06:14.spoke today, he did not consult the Italian authorities when he gave
:06:14. > :06:18.the go ahead. I have the chair of the all-party parliamentary group
:06:18. > :06:26.on Nigeria, and I'm joined by a member of Silvio Berlusconi's
:06:26. > :06:30.People of Freedom Party. First of all, Mark Urban was saying that the
:06:30. > :06:37.Italians were not informed of the imminent attack, is that true?
:06:37. > :06:43.apparently so. It is something that is against what is usually done in
:06:43. > :06:51.this case, as it is quite uncommon that a country that is involved is
:06:51. > :06:55.not informed before. Apparently it was very difficult in the situation.
:06:55. > :07:00.It might have been the best decision, but it is still to be
:07:00. > :07:03.explained why the Italian authorities haven't been informed,
:07:03. > :07:08.although they are quite present on the territory of Nigeria. They were
:07:08. > :07:10.present on the territory, but presumably they signed up to the
:07:10. > :07:14.initial intelligence gathering operation, with the logical
:07:14. > :07:24.conclusion that it would be acted upon. Was that not sufficient for
:07:24. > :07:25.
:07:25. > :07:29.Italy's needs? Well, it is something that we are not
:07:30. > :07:36.completely informed on so far. Usually in these cases, the other
:07:36. > :07:42.countries are informed when the operation is started. It was not
:07:42. > :07:46.started by surprise, I mean, it was something planned. The situation
:07:46. > :07:50.that we have heard about the situation, tells us that maybe it
:07:50. > :07:57.was impossible to do better than that. But certainly the outcome was
:07:57. > :08:01.not good, and we are not satisfied. I was going to say, it is a
:08:01. > :08:06.dreadful loss to have the death of the hostage, but, I assume, for the
:08:06. > :08:10.family as well, although, obvious low, the British family did not
:08:10. > :08:15.know there was about -- obviously, the British family did not know
:08:15. > :08:20.there was about to be an attack, neither did the Italian family as
:08:20. > :08:24.well? Every human loss deserves all the respect, we are not saying that
:08:24. > :08:29.our fellow countryman is more important than others. But the
:08:29. > :08:35.British Government was informed and our Government was not informed.
:08:35. > :08:40.That is all. I think that we are two countries that are friends,
:08:40. > :08:46.that fight alongside together say in Afghanistan, for instance, and
:08:46. > :08:51.I'm sure that everything will be set. Still, we would like to have
:08:51. > :08:55.what is the common way of doing in this case, as we would have liked
:08:55. > :08:59.to see the same also this time. this the mood generally, a cross-
:08:59. > :09:08.party mood, is this the mood emerging among all politicians in
:09:08. > :09:14.Italy? Yes. The current Government itself has asked for an explanation.
:09:14. > :09:22.The Government we have today is supported by more than 80% of the
:09:22. > :09:27.MPs. It expresses the positions, the position of the whole political
:09:27. > :09:35.Panorama of Italy. Finally, what would you like to hear from David
:09:35. > :09:41.Cameron? I think that he used the right words. We are absolutely sure
:09:41. > :09:46.that he was very sorry about what happened. As I said, we just want
:09:46. > :09:52.explanations to know why we have not been informed. With all the
:09:52. > :09:58.understanding we are ready to give, but to understand one has to be
:09:58. > :10:03.informed. Thank you very much for joining us.
:10:03. > :10:07.It was always going to be a very difficult operation, what do you
:10:07. > :10:11.make of what happened? I wasn't on the ground, I don't know what
:10:11. > :10:15.information the Prime Minister had. It seems there must have been some
:10:15. > :10:20.long-term negotiation going on. It is a very fraught country, Nigeria.
:10:20. > :10:24.We don't know exactly who is involved, it is too early to
:10:24. > :10:29.analyse that, but there seems to be links, possibly with Boko Haram.
:10:29. > :10:34.Boko Haram being an Islamist sect, following Al-Qaeda? It is early
:10:34. > :10:38.days. I would say where it happened is a long way from where they have
:10:38. > :10:44.been active before. Because of that distance we have to be careful of
:10:44. > :10:47.the analysis. I don't know if there are survivors. In terms of the
:10:47. > :10:51.Italian situation, I don't know how fast-moving it was at the moment.
:10:51. > :10:54.It seems odd that an ally like Italy was not kept informed. It is
:10:54. > :10:58.important we find out what happened, and the Prime Minister explains to
:10:58. > :11:02.the Italian Government what happened. So you would like him to
:11:02. > :11:05.apologise to the Italian Government? It is unusual that the
:11:05. > :11:12.Italian Government wasn't informed. At the moment with the military
:11:12. > :11:16.action you would that wouldn't happen, but diplomats in London
:11:16. > :11:21.could have been talking to Rome. the hours running up? Yes. There
:11:21. > :11:26.must be some point when knew the decision was going to travel, we
:11:26. > :11:30.are talking about long distances, we are not talking about split
:11:30. > :11:34.second decisions, it is difficult to talk about the distance.
:11:34. > :11:40.know the territory well, this would not be said to be, as it were, a
:11:40. > :11:44.coup for the hostage takers, but it was probably probblebatic for the
:11:44. > :11:49.Government, two men are -- problematic for the Government, two
:11:49. > :11:57.men are dad. Boko Haram is a threatening organisation for lots
:11:57. > :12:01.of people working in Nigeria? was a small group, it was
:12:01. > :12:05.geographically complicated until its leader was killed, now it is
:12:05. > :12:08.spread. It is difficult to know who is Boko Haram and who is taking the
:12:08. > :12:12.mantle. This is one of the challenging things about the issue
:12:12. > :12:16.of security in Nigeria, it is not easy to identify the leaders. It is
:12:16. > :12:20.a very serious issue for the country, a strategic importance in
:12:20. > :12:23.west Africa and the UK. The President has a really big task to
:12:23. > :12:28.tackle the security issue in his country.
:12:28. > :12:32.Now, for some borrowers it has just go got a whole lot more expensive
:12:32. > :12:36.to get a mortgage. As some lenders hike up their standard variable
:12:36. > :12:41.mortgage rates. The Chancellor wanted low-cost mortgages to remain
:12:41. > :12:45.that, as a cornerstone of recovery. But the banks say borrowing on the
:12:45. > :12:50.wholesale market has risen and they are reluctant to lend to each other.
:12:50. > :12:53.With the Bank of England saying interest rates will be held at 0.5%
:12:53. > :12:56.even longer. Are things getting completely out of kilter?
:12:56. > :13:00.It is exactly three years now since the Bank of England slashed its
:13:00. > :13:04.official rate to its lowest in three centuries, and it stayed
:13:04. > :13:08.there. Which has borrowers like Linda wondering, why, when the
:13:08. > :13:13.Central Bank is holding its rates at record lows, is her bank jacking
:13:14. > :13:18.them up. With a mortgage of �25 2,000, it is not the Halifax giving
:13:18. > :13:21.her extra, more the other way round. I got out Michael lator, I haven't
:13:21. > :13:25.had anything officially from the Building Society yet, but on the
:13:25. > :13:29.figures they were giving on television, our mortgage will go up
:13:29. > :13:34.by �100 a month. How will that affect you? It is a lot of money,
:13:34. > :13:38.our train fares have gone up �50, that is an extra �150 a month, it
:13:38. > :13:43.is a lot of money to have to find. The only way to do it is by cutting
:13:43. > :13:51.down on other things. Linda supplements her meagre income at a
:13:51. > :13:54.city farm in south London, by working as an estate agent at the
:13:54. > :13:59.weekends, even then she can't rein in her costs. I understand if the
:13:59. > :14:03.Bank of England puts up the risks, that is a risk -- puts up its rates,
:14:03. > :14:08.that is a risk we took. But for the mortgage lenders to put up rates is
:14:08. > :14:11.despicable. It used to be in the dim distant days before the credit
:14:11. > :14:15.crunch, that where the Bank of England led, the mortgage lenders
:14:15. > :14:18.would follow, rates would only go up and down when the Bank of
:14:18. > :14:24.England changed its rates. Four years ago that mechanism got
:14:24. > :14:29.crunched. Ever since then it hasn't been the Bank of England policy s
:14:29. > :14:32.but mortgage lenders' finances that have dictated what happens to
:14:32. > :14:36.interest rates. What is worrying is interest rates can be at record
:14:36. > :14:39.lows for years, and tens of billions have been printed, and
:14:39. > :14:43.still the Bank of England can't hold rates down. While the bank
:14:43. > :14:49.tries and fails to rein in mortgage costs, which lenders are refusing
:14:49. > :14:58.to follow its lead? Halifax is putting up its standard variable
:14:58. > :15:02.rate, from 3.5 to 3 .99%. Bank of Ireland's rate will raise to 4.49%
:15:02. > :15:09.by September. At RBS some offset and one mortgage account rate will
:15:09. > :15:13.climb from 3.75% to 4%. Those rises will affect 1.2 million households,
:15:13. > :15:17.just over a tenth of all mortgage borrowers, expect more to follow.
:15:17. > :15:23.Mortgage lenders say it is costing them more to get hold of the funds
:15:23. > :15:27.to lend, so they have to pass that cost on, in higher rates. Mortgage
:15:27. > :15:31.lenders have to attract savings in from the public, they have to offer
:15:31. > :15:34.rates that attract the money. Equally, in some cases they have to
:15:34. > :15:37.go to the wholesale markets to raise money. They have been
:15:37. > :15:43.affected by the general economic situation in the eurozone. So it
:15:43. > :15:47.isn't as stable a position as you might say, as you might think, when
:15:47. > :15:51.you look at the base rate. At the moment I don't see any rise in
:15:51. > :15:54.savings rates, in fact they seem to be as low as they ever were three
:15:54. > :15:59.years ago, why is that a justification for raising mortgage
:15:59. > :16:05.rates?. It is quite a complicated position. I think some rates are
:16:05. > :16:09.rising. Bear in mind as well, a lot defends on the particular need of
:16:09. > :16:12.the particular lender. -- depends on a particular lender, their
:16:12. > :16:18.particular view of their mortgage book, and what sort of business
:16:18. > :16:26.they want to attract. Back at Linda's farm that is not enough to
:16:26. > :16:31.satisfy the lend ers' critics. Last year -- lenders' critics. Raising
:16:31. > :16:35.rates when the banks bonuses were out might not have gone down well,
:16:35. > :16:39.and the cost of funds has come down since then. First of all, a lot of
:16:39. > :16:42.us put money with the banks and get nothing at all. Then they raise
:16:43. > :16:47.money broadly, they have to put capital when they lend. That cost
:16:47. > :16:53.to them, if you like, of supplying mortgages, it did go up last year
:16:53. > :16:58.and squeeze, in recent week it is has relief. I'm very surprised they
:16:59. > :17:03.put the rate up now, the margin has widened. Their money is cheaper
:17:03. > :17:09.than a few weeks ago? It is cheaper for the banks to lend to us. This
:17:10. > :17:14.is the wrong time, in my opinion, for them to raise mortgage rates.
:17:14. > :17:21.Economists hope as spring gets under way, so will the economic
:17:21. > :17:24.recovery. Many are in negative equity, and 1.9 million with equity
:17:24. > :17:29.of 10%. For mortgage prisoners it is difficult to switch mortgages,
:17:29. > :17:34.when their rates go up there is little they can do. With me to
:17:34. > :17:37.discuss the changes in the mortgage market, is the director of Europe
:17:37. > :17:40.Economicss, and Wendy Evans-Scott, President of the National
:17:40. > :17:44.Association of Estate Agents. That whole very point, that the banks
:17:44. > :17:47.are offering nothing to savers, because they can't, the Bank of
:17:47. > :17:50.England interest rates are there, they could add little and little
:17:50. > :17:53.bit on for different policies. But that is a quick way of getting
:17:53. > :17:57.money in, people can't move suddenly, they will be getting
:17:57. > :18:03.money in quickly from the additional mortgage costs?
:18:03. > :18:07.shouldn't be too fussed about the timing. It hasn't been politically
:18:07. > :18:11.expedient or economically expedient for banks to have raised rates over
:18:11. > :18:17.the last nine months. They now think they have the opportunity to
:18:17. > :18:23.do so. The opportunity? It is an opportunity. RBS, and Halifax, are
:18:23. > :18:30.owned by the public? They face some genuine funding difficulties
:18:30. > :18:32.associated with liquidity scheme from the Bank of England which is
:18:32. > :18:36.stopped. There are various regulatory requirements, associated
:18:36. > :18:40.with the way mortgages are looked at, tightening over time. We are
:18:40. > :18:44.reaching a point at which, looking out in the future, either we are
:18:44. > :18:47.going to, the economy will tick along or get worse, in which case
:18:47. > :18:50.we will get lots of foreclosures because of that, lots of defaults,
:18:50. > :18:55.or the economy will start to get better, in which case interest
:18:56. > :18:58.rates will go up, in which case a lot of people currently in distress
:18:58. > :19:04.will default. The economy gets better or worse, but people will be
:19:04. > :19:10.stung, it is the market? Well, the aspiration is still there to own a
:19:10. > :19:14.home. An Englishman's home is his castle. The market has seen some
:19:14. > :19:18.signs of recovery recently, this is a great shame, because obvious low
:19:18. > :19:22.the market was doing very well. -- obviously the market was doing very
:19:22. > :19:27.well. We are not happy about the interest rate rises. It effects
:19:27. > :19:32.roughly 1.2 million at the moment, it might go up to five and a bit
:19:32. > :19:35.million if everybody follows suit. Of that 5.5 million, there is bound
:19:35. > :19:41.to be a proportion that won't be able to pay the mortgages and there
:19:41. > :19:43.will be defaults, and people will have less disposable income to fuel
:19:43. > :19:47.the recovery? It is the wider picture, how it is affecting the
:19:47. > :19:52.rest of the economy. What will happen to the housing market if
:19:52. > :19:55.people default on their mortgages? We will have more repossessions,
:19:55. > :20:00.repossessions have been very low, recently, we are hoping a lot of
:20:00. > :20:05.people will take advantage of some new fixes on their mortgages,
:20:05. > :20:09.perhaps remortgage now, if they can. Would you be concerned about
:20:09. > :20:12.repossessions, increasing repossessions? We are concerned
:20:12. > :20:16.about repossessions. Especially when you have negative equity at
:20:16. > :20:22.the moment for people. So it is bad for people, isn't it?
:20:22. > :20:25.It is obviously difficult for individuals, but I think from the
:20:25. > :20:30.banks' point of view, they have to price realistically, one of the
:20:30. > :20:34.problems in the past is mortgage rates were too low, things which
:20:34. > :20:38.place mortgages moraleistically with respect in the genuine risk
:20:38. > :20:42.around mortgages should be welcomed. Difficult for individuals but
:20:42. > :20:48.better for the economy as a whole. Locking a little bit further ahead,
:20:48. > :20:52.if we get some recovery in the economy, it is often the case that
:20:52. > :20:58.the early phase of recovery is associated with many corporate
:20:58. > :21:02.insol Len sis, businesses finally give up the ghost in the recovery
:21:02. > :21:07.phase. Many households clinging on by their fingernails, once interest
:21:07. > :21:12.rates start to rise in the recovery rate, a symptom of recovery will be
:21:12. > :21:15.some bleeding off of households, that, frankly, should have been
:21:15. > :21:19.foreclosed on some time ago, and only kept on by policies. People
:21:19. > :21:24.will be out of their houses, this is exactly what the Chancellor
:21:24. > :21:27.didn't want? It is politically different. Those houses, in some
:21:27. > :21:30.cases they might benefit by these matters being resolved. If in the
:21:30. > :21:33.end they are going to have to default, it is better it happens
:21:33. > :21:36.sooner rather than later. You are actually saying this could be a
:21:36. > :21:41.good thing because it weeds people out with crippling mortgages they
:21:41. > :21:44.can't afford any way? The natural state here should be much more
:21:44. > :21:51.foreclosures. Do you agree with that? It is not a good thing at all.
:21:51. > :21:57.As I go back to what I was saying before, it has a greater impact on
:21:57. > :22:05.the economy. So many businesses are relying on property sales. It will
:22:05. > :22:10.affect the high street, in the US a recent survey said that the housing
:22:10. > :22:15.market is vital to the economy. Absolutely vital, and actually
:22:15. > :22:18.equated it to a number of jobs. We shall see what happens. As far
:22:18. > :22:22.as you are concerned, it is going to be 5.5 million affected by this
:22:22. > :22:26.in the end, this will find their way to things that are not variable
:22:26. > :22:32.mortgages, of that proportion, how many will be out on their ears?
:22:32. > :22:36.the 1990s, there were 300,000 foreclosures, housing price crash,
:22:36. > :22:40.that is larger than that, you should expect a fairly similar
:22:40. > :22:44.number. Policy has kept people going for a very long time. It is a
:22:45. > :22:49.legitimate for policy to think if things are temporary, stuff might
:22:49. > :22:53.get better, you can use policy to get people through that. If it will
:22:53. > :22:58.carry on for years and years, it is not the job of the Bank of England
:22:58. > :23:02.to punish prudent people by keeping savings rates very low, and coping
:23:02. > :23:12.inflation high, so as to keep some people who shouldn't have borrowed
:23:12. > :23:13.
:23:13. > :23:18.the run in houses they can't afford. -- borrowed in houses they can't
:23:18. > :23:21.afford. We can't verify the facts in Homs.
:23:22. > :23:26.Today Baroness Amos said she had been deaf Vass tailted by what she
:23:26. > :23:29.witness -- devastated in what she witnessed in Homs. Kofi Annan has
:23:29. > :23:33.warned that further militarisation of the conflict would worsen a
:23:33. > :23:37.desperate situation. The pictures behind me were taken by the Time
:23:38. > :23:42.Magazine photographer, who came under attack, the same attack that
:23:42. > :23:51.killed Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik. We will hear from him in a moment.
:23:51. > :23:56.First this. The streets of Homs, once the
:23:56. > :23:59.centre of Syria's uprising, are eerily quiet now. Days after the
:23:59. > :24:04.Government forces crushed the rebellion there. We don't know for
:24:04. > :24:14.sure what has happened. Newsnight has heard reports from several
:24:14. > :24:43.
:24:44. > :24:47.sources in the city of whole Paul Conroy, the British
:24:47. > :24:51.photographer, injured in Homs, whom Newsnight spoke to last week, has
:24:52. > :24:55.heard similar reports from other sources tonight about killings in
:24:55. > :24:59.another district, Baba Amr. I got a message out from activists
:24:59. > :25:03.who I worked with on the ground, they have sent me through very
:25:03. > :25:07.detailed reports full of names, locations and places of eight
:25:07. > :25:12.families that were massacred, also that the women, the young girls
:25:12. > :25:18.were taken off to a separate place. Very detailed, very accurate, very
:25:18. > :25:22.credible reports. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity.
:25:22. > :25:25.The reports can't be verified, monitoring organisations say they
:25:25. > :25:33.are also aware of the alleged murders, they think they may be
:25:33. > :25:38.sectarian in nature. Certainly this senior foreign
:25:38. > :25:42.visitor, the UN humanitarian chief, Baroness Amos, wasn't able to check.
:25:42. > :25:46.She was talking to Syrian officials in Damascus today, after a 24-
:25:46. > :25:50.minute tour yesterday of Baba Amr, the scene of the worst violence in
:25:50. > :25:58.Homs. I have been struck by the difference between what I have seen
:25:58. > :26:04.here in Damascus, and what I saw yesterday in Baba Amr. The
:26:04. > :26:07.devastation there is significant, that part of Homs is completely
:26:07. > :26:11.destroyed, and I'm concerned to know what has happened to the
:26:11. > :26:14.people who lived in that part of the city.
:26:14. > :26:17.She is still trying to negotiate access for international aid
:26:18. > :26:22.workers. While the violence continues.
:26:22. > :26:25.After quelling the uprising in most parts of Homs, the regime is now
:26:25. > :26:29.reported to be turning its attention further north. Its troops
:26:29. > :26:34.massing on the border of Idlib province. In the Jabal Al-Zawiya
:26:34. > :26:37.area, a stronghold of the rebel Free Syrian Army, there are said to
:26:37. > :26:41.have been clashes already with Government forces. Meanwhile back
:26:41. > :26:46.in the capital, Damascus, today, the army opened fire to disperse
:26:46. > :26:51.mourners at a funeral. Now, for the first time, a member of Syria's
:26:51. > :26:56.Government has defected, on YouTube. TRANSLATION: I do not want to end
:26:56. > :27:01.my career serving the crimes of this regime, I choose to join the
:27:01. > :27:04.voice of justice, knowing they will burn my house, persecute my family,
:27:04. > :27:08.and fabricate lies against me. I advise my colleagues and those who
:27:08. > :27:13.have remained silent for a year, about the crimes of this regime, to
:27:13. > :27:17.abandon this sinking ship. He's the most senior civilian official to
:27:17. > :27:23.abandon the regime, since the uprising began a year ago. The news
:27:23. > :27:27.has delighted opposition leaders. It shows, perhaps, the beginning of
:27:27. > :27:36.defections by important people, in the regime, who have started to
:27:36. > :27:40.realise that this regime is not going to stay. One defection by a
:27:40. > :27:47.junior minister, is also a reminder of how united Assad's Government
:27:47. > :27:51.has remained until now. Of his army, once 200 strong, maybe a quarter
:27:51. > :27:59.have deserted. Only -- 200,000 strong, maybe a quarter have
:27:59. > :28:05.deserted, not all of those have joined the opposition. His regime
:28:05. > :28:10.may not be done for yet. It is similar after how the Algerian
:28:10. > :28:14.Government won the civil war, after eight years. It is framing itself
:28:14. > :28:17.like those regimes, and saying provided the west doesn't intervene
:28:17. > :28:21.as it did against Gaddafi, perhaps the regime can survive with a
:28:21. > :28:26.smaller social base, but with a powerful security force, keeping it
:28:26. > :28:30.in power. In Hama, in 1982, the President's
:28:30. > :28:35.father, crushed an uprising and saved his regime at the cost of
:28:35. > :28:42.many thousands of lives. His son may still think he can repeat that
:28:42. > :28:46.feat. One person who has seen the
:28:46. > :28:50.bombardment of Homs up close is the Time Magazine photographer, William
:28:50. > :28:55.Daniels. He was with reporters Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik when
:28:55. > :28:58.they were killed last month in Baba Amr. He eventually escaped the city
:28:58. > :29:03.with another injured journalist, Edith Bouvier, at one point making
:29:03. > :29:07.use of a network of water pipes under the city. I spoke to him
:29:07. > :29:12.about his experiences from our bureau in Paris.
:29:12. > :29:15.Images like these are rare, not the grainy, unverified pictures we have
:29:15. > :29:19.grown used to from Syria, but professional photographs from
:29:19. > :29:22.inside a conflict that has grown increasingly bloody, and
:29:22. > :29:27.increasingly invisible to the outside world. These are the work
:29:27. > :29:31.of William Daniels, one of few foreign journalists to have worked
:29:31. > :29:34.inside Syria in recent month. A French photo magazine working for
:29:34. > :29:38.Time Magazine, he was in the same building as Marie Colvin and Remi
:29:38. > :29:42.Ochlik, when they were bombed and died two weeks ago. He took these
:29:42. > :29:46.pictures of Baba Amr and Homs on that ill-fated trip. Daniels was
:29:46. > :29:49.lucky, after a harrowing journaly, with wounded journalist, Edith
:29:49. > :29:54.Bouvier, he made it back to France for a presidential welcome. But the
:29:54. > :30:01.story he left behind is far from over.
:30:01. > :30:07.Can you tell us what happened at 8.00am on February 22nd? All of us,
:30:07. > :30:15.the six journalists, we were in this apartment, it is called the
:30:15. > :30:19.Media Centre, it was an apartment with a internet connection. At
:30:19. > :30:23.8.25am the first rocket hit the apartment out on the road. Two more
:30:23. > :30:32.rockets close to the apartment, then the fourth one, after the
:30:32. > :30:37.third one one Syrian guy asked us to go out, so we tried to escape
:30:37. > :30:43.very quickly. And Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik were already outside.
:30:43. > :30:51.They were ready to go. Then this same guy was taking care of us, he
:30:51. > :30:55.heard a launch of a new rocket. So he said, no, go back inside, to
:30:55. > :31:01.protect yourselves. Then the rocket hit the road, just at the entrance
:31:01. > :31:08.of the building, and Remi and Marie were very close to the impact, so
:31:08. > :31:16.they died directly. The four other journalists were
:31:16. > :31:24.inside the room with some Syrian people. Some had been wounded, like
:31:24. > :31:27.Edith and Paul, Javier and myself were just behind a wall and were
:31:27. > :31:32.safe. What happened with the Syrian activists and residents, residents
:31:32. > :31:35.were kind and risking their own lives to try to help you? Of course
:31:35. > :31:44.they were, they carried us to the hospital, they spent some time with
:31:44. > :31:50.us. Several days, and we were treated, Edith and Paul while we
:31:50. > :31:55.were shelled. Our apartment was targeted, for sure. But the people
:31:55. > :31:59.who took lots of danger to save us are the ones who helped us escape
:31:59. > :32:05.from Baba Amr and to go back to Lebanon for the last five days.
:32:05. > :32:09.had gone in by the tunnel, and you and he had dit tried to get out by
:32:09. > :32:13.the -- Edith tried to get out by the tunnel. What happened in the
:32:13. > :32:18.tunnel, you were pulling her stretcher, is that right? In the
:32:18. > :32:22.tunnel we went all together to try to escape. Before the end the
:32:22. > :32:31.Syrian forces, the Syrian army began to fire at the exit of the
:32:31. > :32:37.tunnel. I have been told they killed some people, the two
:32:37. > :32:42.journalists, Paul and Javier could escape, Edith and I had to stay in
:32:42. > :32:49.the tunnel and go back to Baba Amr, we came back to the hospital, Edith
:32:49. > :32:55.had to have a small operation on her knee. We went to bed, slept
:32:55. > :33:00.just two or three hours, and then in the morning a man who we have
:33:00. > :33:05.been seeing for several days, he told us, there is a solution now,
:33:05. > :33:09.maybe the guy is here, it is dangerous, do you want to try. We
:33:09. > :33:18.looked at each other and said OK, we will try it. We tried this road,
:33:18. > :33:25.and it was something very, very scary. As we said before, it was
:33:25. > :33:29.very close to Assad's army. Edith r dit was in great danger, wasn't --
:33:30. > :33:33.Edith was in great danger, there was a danger she could get a blood
:33:33. > :33:36.clot? If he was transported like this she could have had a blood
:33:36. > :33:43.clot and died. It was a lot of responsibility for me. It was
:33:43. > :33:47.something very, very, that makes me very anxious. But, well, it was
:33:47. > :33:50.fine. We are fine now. And we are safe. So I think now what is
:33:50. > :33:54.important is to talk about the Syrian people. We are safe, but the
:33:54. > :33:59.Syrian people are not safe. From your observations, what is daily
:33:59. > :34:05.life like in Baba Amr? It is something unbelievable. It is
:34:05. > :34:09.unbelievable. The city is all destroyed. On the streets you have
:34:09. > :34:13.pieces of concrete everywhere, you have big holes in each buildings,
:34:14. > :34:18.big rocket or mortar holes everywhere. There is no water or a
:34:18. > :34:21.little bit of water. There is not much food. You feel like there is
:34:22. > :34:26.nobody living in this city when you go out. Because you see nobody in
:34:26. > :34:31.the street. When you try to find you can, when you try to look for
:34:31. > :34:35.people, you can find that many families were still living in Baba
:34:35. > :34:39.Amr, just hiding in some apartment, hiding in some basement. They just
:34:39. > :34:46.couldn't escape. It was too dangerous to escape. Every day you
:34:46. > :34:50.have the shelling, sometimes it was like several hundred, maybe three
:34:50. > :34:59.hundred, I don't know, it is a personal estimation. Maybe
:34:59. > :35:04.sometimes it was something like 300 bombs a day. These bombs kill women,
:35:04. > :35:08.children, men, fighters of course. Thank you very much.
:35:08. > :35:11.Women across the globe marked International Women's Day today,
:35:11. > :35:15.but how much is there to celebrate. Everywhere you look, from
:35:15. > :35:18.parliament to the boardrooms, women are still underrepresented. This
:35:18. > :35:23.morning I was at the meeting where the Deputy Prime Minister couldn't
:35:23. > :35:27.remember how many women were in the cabinet. Nearly two years after the
:35:27. > :35:34.coalition came to power, promising to be the most family-friendly
:35:34. > :35:38.Government ever, what has changed. With are my guests.
:35:38. > :35:41.Labour MP Stella Creasy, Conservative MP Claire Perry, and
:35:41. > :35:46.Ruth Porter from the Institute of Economic Affairs. We are going to
:35:46. > :35:52.begin with Deborah and Ruth, I want to see your charts to support your
:35:52. > :35:56.ideas about whether women are doing better or not starting with you
:35:56. > :36:01.Deborah? I have pulled out a few statistics to get the discussion
:36:01. > :36:05.going. What we find is that women are significantly more likely than
:36:05. > :36:08.men to be unhappy with the Government's performance in general.
:36:09. > :36:13.Particularly with the Government's performance on the economy. Let's
:36:13. > :36:23.see? We have a couple of slides. Do you approve or disapprove of the
:36:23. > :36:33.
:36:34. > :36:37.Reasons for that? I think women have very high hopes for this
:36:37. > :36:41.coalition Government. The idea of the coalition, two parties working
:36:41. > :36:49.together for the good of the country really appealed to women.
:36:49. > :36:54.You think women are generally more consensual? They are, they don't
:36:54. > :36:58.like back-biting politics, or dog- eat-dog politics, they wanted two
:36:58. > :37:08.parties working for the common good and they didn't see it. What is the
:37:08. > :37:16.
:37:16. > :37:22.next chart? It is focusing more That's a net figure. Now, what I
:37:22. > :37:26.think that tells us is, it is a number of things. I think women
:37:26. > :37:29.actually are harder hit by the changes at the moment. They are
:37:29. > :37:35.more likely to have lost their job, they are more likely to be working
:37:36. > :37:39.in the public sector, more likely to be employed in the public sector.
:37:40. > :37:42.A million women now unemployed is the highest for 20 years. The women
:37:43. > :37:45.don't look at the economy from their perspective, they are
:37:45. > :37:52.thinking about their kids and their mum, they are seeing the economy in
:37:52. > :37:57.a round. Before your charts Ruth, just some response to that, the
:37:57. > :38:01.YouGov date it is woman are going bad, because they are disappointed
:38:01. > :38:05.by the coalition Government, and they are hit harder in the
:38:05. > :38:08.unemployment stakes? We have to be careful that we don't let
:38:08. > :38:11.perception influence how we view reality, in a sense, how we feel
:38:11. > :38:16.about things, often isn't a true reflection of how things are. We
:38:16. > :38:20.see that all over at the moment, with things like the people's
:38:20. > :38:23.attitude, people think that the Government is closing down the debt
:38:23. > :38:26.that actually they are reducing, they won't be adding to the debt
:38:26. > :38:29.over the course of the parliament. They are adding masses to the debt
:38:29. > :38:32.over the course of this parliament. How we feel about what is happening
:38:32. > :38:35.in the economy isn't always a reflection of what is happening. I
:38:35. > :38:40.think when we look at the data on women and how they are being
:38:40. > :38:45.affected by the coalition's policy, I think we see actually a different
:38:45. > :38:48.picture toe that. Let's see the charts you have -- Picture to that.
:38:48. > :38:52.Let's see at the charts you have brought? It looks at the redundancy
:38:52. > :38:56.rates. It is across the public and private
:38:56. > :39:01.It is across the public and private sector. Who is this from? The ONS.
:39:01. > :39:10.When you look at it, it is men feeling the hit overall, in erpls
:39:10. > :39:14.it of redundancy ..-- in terms of redundancy ..4% per 1,000, and 5%
:39:14. > :39:22.per ,000 for women. That is public and private sector. What is
:39:22. > :39:26.interesting when you look at the public sector, you can see. So
:39:26. > :39:31.public sector, the work force, it is made up disproportionately of
:39:31. > :39:36.women, 65%. We will see more cuts in the public sector. Women will be
:39:36. > :39:39.hit harder there. We need to be careful we don't engage with this
:39:39. > :39:45.debate in simplistic terms. Women will be hit with more public sector
:39:45. > :39:48.quts cuts, are you expecting them to do better when the private
:39:48. > :39:53.sector picks up the slack? Absolutely, for all women, getting
:39:53. > :39:57.the economy back on track, getting rid of the deficit and the public
:39:57. > :40:00.sector down to managable levels is important. There might be short-
:40:00. > :40:04.term pain for certain women in certain contexts for that to happen.
:40:04. > :40:09.I think we are falling into classic politicians' traps here. That is
:40:09. > :40:11.why women feel very turned off by politics. Number one, there are 32
:40:11. > :40:18.politics. Number one, there are 32 million in this country. To define
:40:18. > :40:21.us all as having one set of policy needs and agendas, we heard in this
:40:21. > :40:25.programme about mortgages, millions of women are paying off mortgages
:40:25. > :40:28.across the country, who have done extremely well by the low interest
:40:28. > :40:37.rates this Government has secured. We are taking a million people out
:40:37. > :40:40.of taxation all together. 60% of those are women. The other trap we
:40:40. > :40:44.are falling into is we are chucking up all the charts MPs like to talk
:40:45. > :40:48.about all the time. Let's get back to a principle here, there is
:40:48. > :40:53.nothing good for women about leaving this deficit for our kids
:40:53. > :40:57.and grand kids to pay off. That is why so many people like me have
:40:57. > :41:01.come into politics. We think we have an opportunity to sort this
:41:01. > :41:05.country out, and pay off the Labour Party's debt. What do you think of
:41:05. > :41:08.this? I think Claire is right, not every woman is suffering in the
:41:08. > :41:14.same way. It is the women' poorest end of the scale most affected by
:41:14. > :41:18.this. In the next couple of weeks thousands of families will lose
:41:18. > :41:22.Working Tax Credits, because you have changed the rules about
:41:22. > :41:26.entitlement. Unless they have more hours at work they will lose �4,000
:41:26. > :41:30.on incomes, they are on �17,000 a year, they are not the people you
:41:30. > :41:35.are talking about. This is the challenge we are facing. This is
:41:35. > :41:40.happening particularly to the poorest communities. Communities
:41:40. > :41:46.like mine where losing tax benefits and Child Tax Credits are important
:41:46. > :41:50.to women, they are in charge of household budgets. We had an
:41:50. > :41:55.International Women's Day today, and Labour activists got up saying
:41:55. > :42:00.we are removing child benefit from the seventh-richest country in the
:42:00. > :42:08.world. This is not what it is about, it is about when there is no money.
:42:08. > :42:14.The bendy bus drivers in my area, it is not a fair thing. Listening
:42:14. > :42:17.is a good women's thing to. Do we talked about public sector
:42:17. > :42:21.employment, 65% of public sector employment is women, it is actually
:42:21. > :42:25.at the lower end. There is a reason, flexibility in the work place has
:42:25. > :42:28.been a real problem for women in the private sector. It is easier,
:42:29. > :42:33.right now, to be a mother working in the public sector rather than
:42:33. > :42:40.the private sector, sharing parental leave. A lot of the jobs
:42:40. > :42:45.doing now are jobs seen when the chips are up as expendable jobs?
:42:45. > :42:50.disagree completely. That is why they are not in the redundancy
:42:50. > :42:53.figures. I suspect a lot of the redundancies are managerial jobs,
:42:53. > :42:58.in Wiltshire Council the cuts have been in management, no cuts to
:42:58. > :43:02.frontline services. That is not the case, it is evidence it is the
:43:02. > :43:07.people like lolly pop ladies, care workers and support officers,
:43:07. > :43:12.people who do an important job to help the public and private sector
:43:12. > :43:14.grow together. Without these women the country falls apart. Let's talk
:43:14. > :43:18.about perception, you are right we mustn't muddle up perception and
:43:18. > :43:22.reality. If you are the woman on the receiving end of the cut, your
:43:22. > :43:26.perception is your reality. A lot of women do feel very hard done by,
:43:26. > :43:29.and not just, you know, they are worried because their husbands are
:43:29. > :43:32.losing their jobs too. They are worried because their kids can't
:43:32. > :43:39.get jobs. They are also worried because they see public services
:43:40. > :43:44.begger roded, and they are much more likely than men to think cuts
:43:44. > :43:50.are administered unfairly. What we need to do is look at actually how
:43:50. > :43:55.to create more jobs, in the private sector, what can we be doing in
:43:55. > :43:59.labour market deregulation. One of the problems here is women are bore
:43:59. > :44:03.lowing from companies like illegal -- borrowing from legal loan sharks
:44:03. > :44:07.to cover that. It is the people at the poorest end making decisions
:44:07. > :44:12.that could leave them in debt for generations. That is a problem here.
:44:12. > :44:15.Let's widen it out, culturally, International Women's Day is
:44:15. > :44:19.celebrated, but culturally do you think things are better for the
:44:19. > :44:22.majority of women in this country? I think the clock is turned back.
:44:23. > :44:27.Whether we see changes on domestic violence. There are 230 women every
:44:27. > :44:35.single day in this country now being turned away from refugees. It
:44:35. > :44:39.is -- refuges, it is a huge cost to the public purse to look after
:44:39. > :44:43.those women. There is a 30% cut in provision. I am a Ukhtaing actually
:44:43. > :44:48.about a society, that might be the manifest -- I'm talking actually
:44:48. > :44:52.about the society. That might be the perception, but it is the
:44:52. > :44:56.manifestation of it. Women don't have the courage to say where the
:44:56. > :45:00.cuts will fall. It is still acceptable for men, in some
:45:00. > :45:04.families, for men to hit women in this country? It is completely
:45:04. > :45:07.unacceptable. That is why today, at Number Ten there was an
:45:08. > :45:11.announcement, three very important announcements, the adoption of
:45:11. > :45:14.Claire's Law, it is in recognition of a woman who was battered to
:45:15. > :45:19.death by somebody with a history of domestic violence. We are puting
:45:19. > :45:23.that on the statute book, we are pass ago law to make stalking
:45:23. > :45:27.something that is now illegal. Today we have put more money into
:45:27. > :45:30.Rape Crisis and Victim Support centres, in my constituency they
:45:30. > :45:35.say it is the first time they have been on a sustainable footing for
:45:35. > :45:39.three years. I wish I could convey to you how strongly MPs across the
:45:39. > :45:45.House feel about this. The time for this clapped out ideology is over,
:45:45. > :45:50.the time for women to work together on these incredible initiatives. Do
:45:50. > :45:59.you support the amendments freedom? Support the amendments to the bill
:45:59. > :46:04.to tackle stalking. Let's not talk over each other. You have 20
:46:04. > :46:07.seconds. This is the point, violence against women is not just
:46:07. > :46:10.about rape, but it is domestic violence, we are losing half a
:46:10. > :46:15.million street lights in this country, people won't be able to
:46:15. > :46:20.walk down streets because they are dark. You and I go home most nights
:46:20. > :46:25.after dark, it is not just about us, it is women at home fearing their
:46:25. > :46:28.partner's vie leoints. We have an amendment in the law for you to do
:46:28. > :46:38.this. Do you think things are better? Women have felt their lot
:46:38. > :46:43.has improved. We did a big survey recently when we asked men and
:46:43. > :46:48.people -- women feel, men are pessimistic, worried about the
:46:48. > :46:51.economy, jobs, worried about their kids, particularly. Health centre -
:46:51. > :46:54.- the lost generation. That is important thing to do as a
:46:55. > :46:57.Government. We can't transfer the borrowing to our daughters and sons
:46:57. > :47:03.to pay off. Thank you very much, tomorrow
:47:03. > :47:08.morning's front pages, that story about Nigeria, British hostage
:47:08. > :47:13.killed in a failed rescue bid. Kidnap Britain killed as PM sends
:47:13. > :47:17.in Special Forces. In the times, new laws will speed up adoption.
:47:17. > :47:27.That story, Al-Qaeda hostages die as SBS rescue fails. That is all we
:47:27. > :47:52.
:47:52. > :47:56.have time for on Newsnight. From A cloudy night tonight means it is
:47:56. > :48:00.not quite as cold T does make for a rather grey start on Friday morning.
:48:00. > :48:03.Overall a much cloudier day, wet weather across North West Scotland,
:48:03. > :48:09.slowly spreading into south of Scotland and parts of Northern
:48:09. > :48:15.Ireland. Drizzley conditions over the Pennines and general lie across
:48:15. > :48:19.Cumbria. Most places dry, some spots brighter skies in eastern
:48:19. > :48:24.England. Temperatures jumping up to 13 Celsius, even where it is cloudy
:48:24. > :48:29.around the western most coast, temperatures still 10-11. A bit of
:48:29. > :48:34.drizzle here and there, conditions over hills and mountains over the
:48:34. > :48:37.west coast. Most of Wales dry and cloudy. Dry and cloudy across the
:48:37. > :48:41.southern half, maybe 14 in Belfast, northern parts of Northern Ireland,
:48:41. > :48:46.after a dry start, it will turn wet by the afternoon. That rain
:48:46. > :48:50.affecting the central belt of Scotland. Central Scotland starts
:48:50. > :48:53.wet but brighter during the day. More brightness on Saturday,
:48:53. > :48:57.eastern parts of Scotland and England. Where we get any sunshine
:48:57. > :49:01.over the next couple of days, temperatures could really jump up,
:49:01. > :49:06.maybe 14, 15 in the south-east on Saturday, similar conditions on
:49:06. > :49:09.Sunday. Overall on Saturday it will start off cloudy, one or two spots