16/07/2012 BBC News at One

Thousands of athletes and officials begin arriving for the 2012 Games.

As the teams touch down, questions remain about security. The London

Mayor says the city will be safe. These Games are going to be very

safe, very secure. Obviously, you can never be complacent about

security. Improving the railways: more than

�9 billion will be pumped into the network. Passengers will pay some

of it. Side by side: David Cameron and

Nick Clegg dismiss suggestions that the coalition is under strain.

even more committed to a coalition Government, to making this

coalition Government today than I was in 2010 when Nick Clegg and I

formed this Government. Kenyans arrive in court to fight

for damages over alleged colonial atrocities in the '50s.

And Born to Over-Run - organisers explain why they pulled the plug on

Springsteen and McCartney. Later on BBC London: How commuters

are bracing themselves for the Good afternoon and welcome to the

BBC News at One. The Government and the London Mayor have reassured

athletes and officials arriving from around the world today that

the Olympics will be safe. Questions remain about security

after the private company G4S admitted it could not provide

sufficient guards for the Games. In the last half hour it has been

announced Theresa May will answer questions in the House of Commons

this afternoon. Here's our sports correspondent, Tim Franks. Seven

years to triprepare, now something of a scramble. At short order

another 3,500 troops have been called up to provide extra security

at the Games and for those arriving at the Olympic Park today. The

reason, the inability of the private security firm G4S to

provide trained staff. It's absolutely vital we get the message

across these Games are going to be very safe, very secure. Obviously,

you can never be complacent about security. You can never take

anything for granted, and huge amounts of work continue to be done,

particularly on the intelligence side, to make sure we've

anticipated every conceivable threat, but London will be very,

very safe. G4S have apologised and say they'll pay up to �50 million

for the cost of the extra troops. That may not save the job of the

Chief Executive of the company, seen here on the right. It

certainly won't stop Labour saying the Government is also responsible.

I think it's still incomprehensible that the Home Secretary should not

have known until Wednesday what the problem was, but it's also

important the problem is sorted now. That's why she needs to demonstrate

she's got a grip because we all want the Olympics to be fantastic

and make sure the plan is in place. It's not a shambles. The Government

has done what is right for Government to do - when the

contractors said they weren't able to provide the number of staff that

they had contracted to provide, it was absolutely right for the

Government to move in and to put arrangements in place to ensure we

had the personnel on the ground to ensure security. In just over a

week, you won't be able to see the ground at the Olympic Park for the

crowds swarming over it. The Ernest hope of organisers is the current

kerfuffle over security will be swept away over the celebrations,

rather than the oppress age of the message to come.

Heathrow Airport says athletes from 50 nations are expected to start

arriving today, and it says it has additional staff on duty to cope.

The athletes will be heading towards the Olympic Village in

Stratford. We'll be at the Olympic Park with our correspondent Katie

Gornell in a moment, but first, Luisa Baldini is at Heathrow.

Well, unfortunately, the weather hasn't been very welcoming. It has

been raining for much of the day. One of the athletes asked if he'd

landed at the Winter Olympics. But joking aside, it is important for

the athletes to acclimatise to the British winter conditions. That's

why so many of them have started arriving, and so far here at

Heathrow, all has been running smoothly. Arriving at Heathrow was

a breeze for the American sailing team this morning. The first among

many athletes who will be touching down this week, their first

impression was positive. Taking a look at what London has put

together, the accredititation process, all the support staff the

host city has put together, it's going to be a great event. Hoping

to smooth the arrival experience are a thousand volunteers from the

local community speaking 20 languages between them. I expected

the normal staff and the people did - the volunteers coming to meet you,

the help with immigration, which was great. They just led Us

straight through. Heathrow was the host airport for the 2012 Olympics.

80% of all Games visitors will be passing through here, so it's a

testing time for the airport. have been planning for the last

seven years. We have been learning as much as we can from the other

host airports, so we have been to Beijing and Vancouver and Athens

and Sydney and learned what they can do. Following mounting

criticism about the length of immigration queues at Heathrow,

there have been assurances from the Home Office that there will be

extra passport staff and priority channels for athletes and officials,

but it's not just passengers the airport's handling. With Olympians

comes a lot of luggage of all shapes and sizes. The airport

carried out training exercises earlier this year to cope with all

the excess baggage. Once reunited with their kit, buses pick the

athletes up and ferry them to the Olympic Village along special games

lanes, the first of which came into operation on the M4 this morning.

So after years of planning, London 2012 is finally on its way.

Over 300 athletes are expected to arrive today. There will be more

arriving every day during the next week with the peak expected to be

next Tuesday, July the 24th. Over a thousand athletes arriving on that

day alone. But bear in mind there will be lots of VIPs. There are

also lots of Olympic sponsors arriving here, so it is going to be

a very busy period here at Heathrow over the next few weeks.

Thank you very much. The athletes arriving today will be

heading towards Stratford in East London and will be the first to

take up residence at the Olympic Village. Katie Gornall joins us

from the Olympic Park. So how was the athletes' journey to the

Olympic Park, Katie? As you say, they'll be going down the M4 and

arriving here at the Olympic Park, more specifically at the Athletes'

Village. Athletes from around 30 treams will be arriving there.

They'll get to hear their National Anthem played. They'll see their

national flag raised. For some of them, it could be the first and

only time they get that experience at the Games unless they make the

podium. Members of Team GB are arriving today, including the

woman's football team. They have been on Twitter expressing their

excitement of making their way to The other venues are still having

the finishing touches applied, something the athletes will notice

if they do make the short walk down to the Olympic Park. Aside from the

number of military personnel walking down to the park are a

large number of construction workers. People in hard hats and

yellow vests getting things ready. You can hear heavy machinery

getting ready. The venue itself is still being completed and the

finishing touches at the Games just days away. Thank you very much.

Ministers are describing it as the biggest investment in the railways

since the Victorian era. Today they announced a �9.4 billion package of

improvements, around half of them new schemes that should lead to

faster and more reliable trains across England and Wales. But there

are fears that fares will have to keep rising to pay for it all.

Here's our transport correspondent Richard Westcott. The scale is

ambitious - new electric lines will mean faster trains and more seats

across England and Wales. Stations will be upgraded. Track replaced.

In all, nearly �9.5 billion will be spent modernising the railways, �5

billion on schemes that are already under way and �4 billion on new

schemes. It's a huge investment. It's really the most serious

investment going into our railways since Victorian times. It's on the

back of �18 billion already invested as part of the spending

review. It's more capacity, further connections with people, faster

journey times. Much of the cash will go on electrifying lines. The

route from London to South Wales will now be upgraded all the way to

Swansea. I think it will make a difference. It's going to be 15

minutes faster to London, so 15 minutes off the journey for people.

It's going to help save the planet as well. With a really good

infrastructure and transport infrastructure, then it's difficult

for the economy. In Manchester, Leeds and York, the main line

running up the spine of England will be electrification from

Sheffield all the way to London. This is a diesel train. It costs

more to run than an electric train, and it's slower between the

stations as well, so if you swap that for electric, you could save

something like ten minutes off the journey from here in London to

Sheffield. The big question is, is the passengers who are going to end

up paying for all these upgrades? Our concern is passengers will be

priced off the railways? There will be all of these gleaming new

electric trains which will be great, but people won't be able to afford

to travel on them because the Government will have insisted on

putting up fares above and beyond inflation for the foreseeable

future. When Richard Beeching suggested savage cuts in the 1960s,

many forecast the slow death of the railway, but today they carry

record numbers. The Government won't actually start

spending this cash for at least two years, but they were out in force

today, keen the look like they're investing in growth. After a recent

aviation paper was postponed because of tensions in the

coalition, Ministers want to prove they agree on something.

As we saw there, David Cameron and Nick Clegg staged a show of unity

as they made that announcement at a railway depot. The Prime Minister

said he was "even more committed" to the coalition Government than

when it was first formed two years ago despite the questions raised

over the future of the partnership by last week's Tory rebellion over

Lords reform. Really what has driven this Government is a view

that we need to get things done, a view that we need to safeguard the

British economy in difficult times, but above all that what we do is

about the national interests. That is what drives the Deputy Prime

Minister and I. That is what this Government is all about. That is

its foundation. I think that the reasons why this coalition

Government was formed and the purpose of two parties to come

together to form a coalition Government - those reasons are as

strong today - if not stronger, arguably, given all the challenges

we face - than they were back in May 2010. Nick Clegg and David

Cameron. Let's talk now to our political correspondent Norman

Smith. He joins us from Smethwick in the West Midlands where that

rail announcement was made. How far do you see this as a relaunch of

the coalition Government? Well, it may seem an awfully long way from

the sun-kissed rose garden press conference by the two men after the

election to today's rain-sodden rail siding outing, but the two are

linked because if not a coalition relaunch, it is most certainly a

coalition respray, an attempt to represent the benefits of coalition

Government as they see them to the electorate and to those in their

respective parties that do not believe or do not want the

coalition to survive until 2015 with both men saying they believe

the benefits of coalition Government now are actually greater

than in 2010 precisely because coalition Government can take tough

economic decisions which they say would be much harder for a minority

single-party Government, also setting out the prospect of a new

coalition two document in the autumn with the next steps for the

coalition for the preand myer of this Parliament, but it seems to me

aside from the respray, there is a harsh economic reality binding

Messieurs Clegg and Cameron together, and that is the deficit

and the double dip, with neither men wanting to have to go to the

electorate or risk spooking the markets before the economy is well

on the road to recovery. Thank you, Norman Smith joining us

from Smethwick. The population of England and Wales

has gone up to more than 56 million, a rise of 7% over the last decade.

The census survey showed the largest growth in any period since

records began. Our home editor Mark Easton joins us from central London

from the Office for National Statistics which released those

census results. What else did they Fascinating, as you can see there

is is a bit of London outside of the rain. London had the biggest

rise in population. 12%, compared to 2001. Also, an interesting point.

We have been trying to guess how many people there are in England

and Wales over the last ten years, so the Census, it acts as a

benchmark. How close were we? We were close, less than 1% to the

official figures to what the Census suggests it is, but that accounts

for almost half a million people. So an additional half a million

than we thought and the likely reason for that is that we

undercounted the impact of net migration on England and Wales

during the last ten years. Some interesting smaller points that

come out of this, the number of people over 90 in England and Wales

is well over 430,000 now. The number of children under the age of

five, a real baby boom over ten years, an additional 400,000

smaller children around today than there were in 2011. Another

interesting point, we have 1 million more people in their 20s

than we had so years ago. That is very much down to the number of

migrant workers who have come here in the last ten years.

Mark, whether the numbers are picked over, what impact does it

have over future policy? I'm sure that people will be pouring over

the data to see how they relate to what they thought the figures were.

If you are a local authority or service provider, these figures are

hugely important to you. It may be in terms of the budget you get if

you are a loul council it could anybody terms of future planning if

you are in education or health, what we need to provide for the

population shape that we are now having? What will that look like

going forward? One of the things that will happen in the autumn now

is that the Office for National Statistics will be revising their

overall population project ex-s, based on the new benchmark of the

Census. We can pretty much guarantee that the expectations is

that the population will be larger than we thought.

Thank you very much. Now the top story:

Thousands of athletes and officials begin to arrive for the 2012 Games

as Government ministers and the Lord Mayor answer questions about

security. Coming up: Why are you on the run? You have dumped thousands

of tyres on innocent people, tell us why? The BBC tracks down those

responsible for the fly-tipping of tyres.

And on BBC London: The giant oil tanks showcasing the latest art and

performance at Tate porn modern and how much worse will it get? A full

weather forecast, all to come in ten minutes.

The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, has accused Western

powers of blackmail for their efforts to get Moscow to agree

sanctions against Syria. He is meeting the UN Special Envoy on

Syria, Kofi Annan today. Shots ringing out at dawn today

over a Damascus suburb. Fofr the second day running,

clashing between the rebels and government forces have brought

Syria's conflict to the capital. All of this is unverified footage,

but yesterday one eyewitness said it was like a war zone. This was,

apparently in a district outside of Damascus, the residents fleeing

heavy shelling. People called it the worst clash in Damascus since

the uprising began, the Syrian government seems powerless to stop

it. Another dangerous mission for the UN observers, they were sent to

Syria to monitor a ceasefire. Today they set off for the Damascus

suburbs to see for themselves a conflict that the Red Cross is now

calling to all intents and purposes, Civil War.

This weekend it was reported that the mass killings in the village of

Tremseh that the UN was investigating. Today a spokesperson

confirmed that they found 50 homes destroyed and the use of heavy

weapons and reports of summary executions.

According to those interviewed it started with shelling, after that

there were ground operations. According to them, the Syrian army

went and conducted house-to-house searches. They asked for men, they

asked for their ID cards. After, some of these men were killed.

Meanwhile, the UN Security Council is deadlocked over terms for

extending the UN monitor's mission, the deadline is Friday. The UN

peace envoy, Kofi Annan, has gone to Moscow, hoping to persuade the

Russians to include the threat of sanctions on Syria but the Russian

Foreign Minister was having none of There are even elements of

blackmail, we are told if we don't agree to a new UN resolution, then

the UN monitoring mission will not be extended.

For its part, the Syrian government insists that is the armed rebels

that should be blamed for the violence.

Three Ken yons who allege they were tortured by the British colonial

authorities have taken their battle to the High Court. They claim they

were victims of brutality at the hands of the British officials,

during the Mau Mau uprising. It ended British rule in encar.

They are old now, but not diminished by age. More than half a

century after the Mau Mau uprising, thee three Ken yons have brought

their fight to London. They claim they were the victims of torture

and abuse at the hands of British officials during the rebellion

against colonial rule in the 1950s and in the early 60s.

The clients are elderly with likely few years left to live. Two are in

their 80s. If they are successful at trial, they will be worth

considerable sums, but what they want is an apology for the abuse

that they were subjected to and to be able to live out the fine years

of their lives with a degree of dignity. In the Mau Mau rebellion,

the rebels attacked and killed some white farmers as well as thousands

of their own who, fought with the British against the uprising. Tens

of thousands of Ken yons were detained in prison camps. Many died

there and many were tortured. The Nobel Laureate, Archbishop

Desmond Tutu has intervened in the case. He has written directly to

David Cameron, having met the Prime Minister in South Africa last year.

In his letter, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said that the evidence of

torture in Kenya was clear and substantial.

He said it was high time that the British Government showed

compassion. According to the lawyers for the

former maur Mau Mau fighters, the group represents a wider community

of elderly Kenyans, still alive and who were the victims of brutality.

The Foreign Office has said that the Mau Mau issue remains divisive.

That this period of Kenyan history caused a great deal of pain for

many on all sides. The leader of Scotland's Roman

Catholics, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, is calling for a referendum on gay

marriage. The Scottish Government is expected to publish plans this

week that would allow same-sex couples to marry. At the moment

they can tern into a civil partnership. 80,000 people

responded were consulted on the issue.

The BBC has cut the pay bill for its biggest stars by 25%, according

to its annual report on accounts. It paid more than �16 million to

the top talent, that is down from more than �21 million the year

before. The British countryside is littered

with tense of thousands of used tyres that are meant to have been

recycled. The BBC's Panorama programme had tracked down some of

those responsible for what is big described as fly-tipping on an epic

scale. Some of these vast illegal dumps of

triers are so big they can be picked up by satellites in space.

At one point there were over 2 million tyres dumped at this site

in the Hampshire countryside. This should not be happening.

The so-called green theme, usually between �1 and �2 a tyre, that we

pay to garages was introduced by the industry to ensure that the

tyres were recycled, but those paid to dispose of the tyres are not

recycling them. They are running scams and instead dump them on

unsuspecting land owners. You pay the price to have the tyres

disposed of in a friendly American, but these criminals are laughing in

the face of the law, ripping us off. Steve and Amy Marlow run a

recycling scam in North Wales. They collected fees from garages to

dispose of thousands of waste tyres. They would then rent farm

warehouses to put them in. Like this one. Three years ago they told

the owner, that they were bringing in a shredding machine to help

recycling tyres. As the tyre mounting grew, still no

sign of a shredding machine. Then one day, Steve and Amy Marlow

disappeared. The Marlows' few weeks of work

netted them more than �15,000. Every morning I wake up, the first

thing that comes into the head is I have to get rid of the tyres, who

do I do it. How do I get the money? We tracked the pair to Majorca, but

Steven Marlow was not willing to talk about the money he taken and

the huge tyre dumps he had left behind.

Why are you on the run? You have dumped thousands much tyres? Can

you tell us why you dumped thousands of tyres on innocent

people in North Wales and come running here too? Are you going

back to the UK to face justice? So, who is regulating the disposal of

tyres in Britain? The Tyre Recovery Association reinglaets the process,

but they say more enforcement and resources are needed to be given to

the Environment Agency to go after the jeeing operators. As in the

case of this fire in Swansea last year, it is the Environment Agency

and the taxpayer who is left with the toxic mix of black smoke and

the clean-up bill. Well you can see more of that in

Panorama: Britain's Biggest Waste Dumpers.

It is on tonight at 8.30pm on BBC One.

Officials at the Tour de France have asked the police to

investigate after at least 30 riders suffered from punctures at

the top of the final climb in yesterday's 14th stage of the race.

Tacks and small nails were thrown on to the road. British cyclist,

Bradley Wiggins was not affected but slowed down to allow the others

to catch up. He holds a two- minute, 5 second lead.

Someone had thrown tacks on the floors it shows it not necessarily

what happens on the bike, but how the public affect the bike race.

The race could be over for something as stupid as that.

Concert organisers who pulled the plug on a performance by Bruce

Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney in Hyde Park in London on Saturday

night have been criticised for sticking to a sound curfew. The men

this the microphones cut to comply with the terms of the show's

licence that set a finishing time of 10.30pm, so the local residents

were not disturbed by the noise. Sir Paul McCartney joining Bruce

Springsteen on stage for the climax of the American rock stars'

Saturday knight headline performance at the London's Hard

Rock Calling event. A dream collaboration that or for many

became close to a nightmare when the sound was cut off. The three-

hour plus set, supposed to end at 10730pm, exceeded that. Bruce

Springsteen was addressing the crowd, unaway that the plug had

been pulled. While fans voiced their disapproval.

One of Bruce Springsteen's backing band, Steven van Zandt took to

Twitter to complain, saying that one of the great gigs ever, and

seriously, whether did England become a police state? Maybe the

only individuals left on earth that would not want to hear one more

from Bruce Springsteen and Sir Paul McCartney. A fan summed up his

frustration. How dare they pull the plug on

these two guys and the whole band, making music history, rock history

together, and some jobs' worth has gone, you are out of here it was

weird! The concert organisers who made the decision defended what

Westminster council adding that licences for such events are

granted only until certain times to protect the residents from late-

night noise. That may not satisfy many who paid more than �50 for a

ticket and were disappointed that a meeting between two music legends

ended in such a frustrating fashion. Now, the weather.

Grey skies again from Laura. More frustration from people with

yet more wet weather. For many of us this week we start with the

unsettled theme of weather, perhaps more optimistic to next week with

not so much rain, but today, more not so much rain, but today, more

cloud, more rain. Theada showing Moving in this morning across the

western areas, it has been heavy over Wales it is transferring into

the the central areas of England and Wales. For many it is the south

half of the -- southern half of the UK and with windy conditions adding

on top of the rain. For the north, we could get up to

17 or 18 Celsius. Heavier spells of rain in East Anglia. For the

southern areas of England it is set to be a windy afternoon. Gusts

around some coasts are up to 35 mph. It is grey along the southern

coasts with mist and low cloud as well. The rain is there thorough

the evening in Wales, but easing off through the afternoon.

Northern Ireland is hit and miss with showers in the south. Brighter

skies in the north. For Scotland a few showers over the southern half,

the rain easing in the north and where the sunshine comes out here

we could get up to 18 Celsius. So, a damp end to the day in the south,

but the first spell of rain for the week is to clear overnight.

Staying mild in England and Wales, though, you notice 15 Celsius is

the overnight low. Clear spells in the lort, a little cooler at up to

-- in the north, a little cooler at 8 Celsius. Then Tuesday, the second

spell of wet weather affecting the north of the country, Scotland,

Northern Ireland, northern England, picking up rain that is heavy. In

the south, though, with humid air and sunshine, we could get up to 23

Celsius. So 9 rain sets in tomorrow. Turning heavy tomorrow night and

this weather front staying with us into Wednesday.

Northern England, southern Scotland, set to see an inch or two of rain

falling, the ground is saturated. There could be further flooding.

South of here with the July sunshine and there will be some,

the temperatures are into the low 20s. A breather towards the end of

the week. The heavy rain easing off. Then a story of sunshine and