16/08/2012 BBC News at One

A fall in the number of top A level grades for the first time in more

than 20 years. Thousands of students in England,

Wales and Northern Ireland are collecting their results. For the

first time, boys have outperformed girls in achieving the A-star grade.

Scuffles outside Ecuador's embassy in London - a decision's due on

whether the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be allowed

political asylum. The Prime Minister's former spin

doctor Andy Coulson is among six former News of the World

journalists and a private investigator who've appeared in

court over phone hacking. The Duke of Edinburgh remains in

hospital in Aberdeen as he's treated for a recurrence of an

infection. Man paralysed from the neck down

Man paralysed from the neck down will told shortly if doctors will

be free from prosecution if they help him to die. Later on BBC

London: can you help the police find the killer of this pensioner,

and the deck hand on the ferry whose death could have been

Good afternoon, and welcome to the BBC news at 1.00pm. For the first

time in more than two decades, the number of students getting A grades

at A level has fallen. Thousands of pupils in England, Wales and

Northern Ireland are getting their results today. And for the first

time boys have overtaken girls at the A star grade. Our education

correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti reports.

I am so proud of you! Two years of hard work and an outburst of joy.

Oh, my God. Hundreds of thousands of A-level students across England

and Wales and Northern Ireland today face their day of reckoning.

I was revising every day, and I was predicting grades I thought I would

never, ever get. Obviously, the hard work paid off, and I got it.

got A, B, C and I only needed 200 points. I got 300. It's exactly

what I hoped for, to be honest. I was worried about my English grade,

but I booted that one. Results of this school are up on last year,

but overall, those getting the very top grades have fallen slightly for

the first time in more than two decades. Entries awarded an A or A

star fell nearly half a percentage point to 26.6%, but the pass rate -

those getting an E and above - went up slightly to 97%. 8% of boys'

entries got an A star, outstripping girls for the first time. I found

out I got in this moreing. Andrew got a clean sweep, four A stars and

seemed stunned. I haven't even taken in awe all these words on

this paper yet. Where is it you want to do? What do you want to do?

Physics and philosophy in at Oxford. I can't stop saying hopefully at

the end of that sentence, automatic. Pupils with good grades have a

better chance this year. I trust the decisions students make. If the

university has the capacity to take them on, they should be able to go

to that university. I think this is incredibly empowering for students.

But UCAS, the universities admission service, said those

accepted by universities were down by nearly 7% this morning. This

could be because the places for those getting lower grades than two

As and a B were reduced. There are likely to be people who got A-B-B

who may not have been accepted, whereas in the past the university

might have been able to say, OK. You have only dropped by one grade,

and we'll let you in, so those people will now have to go into

clearing, and we'll have to wait and see what happens over the next

days and weeks. The futures of tens of thousands of young people will

have been decided today. For others, the uncertainty continues. From --

What about students who didn't get the grades they were hoping for?

Chris Buckler is at UCAS headquarters in Cheltenham. I

imagine they're already fairly busy. Yes, indeed, Sophie. Not everybody

is screaming and shouting about those results. Those are the people

these people are here to deal with. Half a million students they

believe have already been in contact with UCAS in some way

either by logging on on their website, getting in touch on social

media or making phone calls to them. If you take look at their website,

you can see they have something you can click through and get to the

clearing vacancies. That is all- important to the tens of thousands

of students who are still waiting to find a place or for a position

at university. The chair of UCAS is David. When we take a look at this,

that is very stressful time for students. What advice would you

give them to make sure they get a place The important thing is to

take their time. Out there are over 25,000 courses, good courses, who

have vacant places. There is plenty of time for those who have fallen

short of their level of expectations to reflect, to take

advice, to take advice from their schools, from their colleges, to

research their options, as you say, through the UCAS web site, then get

in touch with the universities that have got vacancies. We were hearing

about universities really having more of an option to take the top

performing pupils, those two take two As and a B at A level. From

your position as Vice Chancellor of Birmingham University will, you be

looking for students at that top level? Yes, at Birmingham we'll be

looking for students that have A, A B or better. Our phone lines are

open for students who are thinking of upgrading to a university like

Birmingham. You have two groups of student who have done very well, A,

A B or better who can think about a possible change of institutions,

and you got some others who might have been a little bit disappointed

by their results, but they can move into clearing, and there are a lot

of opportunities for them in clearing. UCAS telling us at this

stage there are 25,000 courses still with vacancies. Of course

what's important is getting on to the website and finding out what

your options are. Thank you very much. There is

plenty more information on the BBC News site -- website explaining the

clearing system, what to do if you don't get your desired results and

an opportunity to put your questions to our panel of experts

from the Association of Colleges. Just go to bbc.co.uk/news and click

on the education link. In the next few minutes Ecuador is

expected to announce whether it will grant political asylum to the

Wikileaks founder Julian Asssange. Mr Assange took refuge at the

embassy in London in June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he

faces allegations of sexual assault. Caroline Hawley reports.

Get off! Outside Ecuador's embassy in Knightsbridge this morning some

of Julian Assange's supporters came out to protest, and some were taken

away. But it's Mr Assange himself that Britain is determined to

arrest. He's been in the international

spotlight first for publishing classified documents, then for

allegations of sex crimes in Sweden. Now he's at the centre of a major

diplomatic storm. There have been police outside the

Ecuadorian embassy ever since Julian Assange walked into this

building almost two months ago claiming political asylum to avoid

extradition to Sweden arguing he feared onward extradition to the US.

British officials said he was protected from arrest while on

diplomatic territory but would be taken into custody if he walked out

for breaching his bail conditions, but Britain has now told Ecuador it

has a legal right to actually enter the embassy from Ecuador, a furious

response. TRANSLATION: We have received a

threat by the United Kingdom, a clear and written threat, that they

could storm our embassy in London if Ecuador refuses to hand in

Julian Assange. We want to make it absolutely clear that we are not a

British colony and that the times of the colony are over.

It was after the killing outside the Libyan embassy in London of

police officer eveon Fletcher that the obscure DiplomatIc and Premises

Act was brought in, but Britain is wont to act on it because of

international repercussions. suppose the Foreign Office note

about this was a mistake. There are object both legal and practical

implications about lifting legal obligations from embassy premises.

You expose British and other diplomats everywhere to similar

treatment. It would be wishful thinking from

Julian Assange's supporters to imagine he could be whisked to the

airport to fly to Ecuador. Britain has made clear it won't give him

safe passage, that he faces arrest regardless of Ecuador's decision.

Our diplomatic correspondent James Robbins is outside the Equador

Embassy in central London. If he does get asylum, what next, James?

Well, if you can hear me over the chanting by a lot of pro-Assange

supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy, whose chants have been

somewhat quietened by the rain that started a few minutes ago, they're

very eager to hear whether or not the Ecuadorian Government will

grant asylum to Julian Assange, just as the British side is. There

is no doubt feelings are running high on both sides. Britain's

Foreign Office says it has an absolute duty to comply with the

Swedish request for the arrest of Julian Assange and his extradition

to Sweden to face questioning and possible charges relating to

alleged sexual assault. Equally, the Ecuadorians say their rights

have been infringed and that the British are guilty of threatening

them directly by saying they might set aside the Geneva Convention and

they might feel it's necessary at some stage to go into this embassy

and arrest Julian Assange. Feelings running high on both sides as we

await the decision. Thank you very much. We're expecting that decision

any time now. When we get it, we'll come back to you. Thank you.

Retail sales grew unexpectedly in July. Figures from the Office for

National Statistics showed they were up 0.3% on the month before

despite predictions of another fall. It's thought high street sales and

fuel promotions helped to boost takings.

It's been confirmed that the body found at a house in New Addington

in South London last week was that of the missing schoolgirl, Tia

Sharp. Her grandmother's boyfriend, Stuart Hazell, has been charged

with her murder. Six former News of the World

journalists and the private investigator Glen Mulcaire have all

appeared in court charged with phone hacking. They're accused of

conspiring to intercept the voicemail messages of 600 people in

total, including those of the murdered schoolgirl Millie Dowler,

the actors Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jude Law and Sienna Miller

and the politicians Lord Prescott and Charles Clarke. Our home

affairs correspondent Tom Symonds reports. They were some of the

biggest names in tabloid journalism - the editor, Andy Coulson, led the

News of the World for four years. The managing editor, Stuart Kuttner,

the veteran reporter, Neville Fellbeck. The phone-hacking charges

have pulled in almost the entire top table of the red-top newspaper

during its heyday, and with them, this man, Glen Mulcaire, private

investigator, last in court six years ago when he was convicted.

They answered their names and took their seats in the dock. The court,

crowded with their former newspaper colleagues. It was a short hearing

to pass the case to the Crown Court. They're charged with intercepting

communications during transmission without authority, or, as it's

better known, phone hacking. It took 15 minutes to read out all of

the charges against the defendants here today. This has been one of

the biggest investigations the Metropolitan Police has mounted.

They will all appear next at Southwark Crown Court on the 26th

of September. It's alleged that the victims numbered 600. Those named

today include politicians - Lord Prescott, David Blunkett and

Charles Clarke, sports people like Sven Goran Eriksson and Wayne

Rooney, a string of celebrities, Jude Law and Cienna Smith -- Sienna

Mayor have already been paid damages by News International. Brad

Pitt is joined by Paul McCartney on the list and of course Millie

Dowler. When her name became public as a victim, the News of the World

closed within days. Some have publicly and vehemently stated they

weren't involved in illegality, most recently Andy Coulson. But he

and others are on bail awaiting the next court date. They can't speak

to each other. They must tell the police if they want to go on

holiday. Tom is here. Explain where this one

fits in. This is all getting very complicated. Most noticeable by her

absence today was Rebekah Brooks, who was charged with phone hacking

a little bit later than the others and has a later court date, but

she's also charged with perverting the course of justice in relation

to police investigations. Andy Coulson is being prosecuted in

Scotland for perjury, and the Crown Prosecution Service have an

enormous pile of files that they have to go through to try to work

out in a number of other areas whether there should be criminal

prosecutions, and they have their new guidelines to work out whether

that should happen. Those include the operation's work looking at

whether there was illegal payments to public officials. Down the line

there are possible charges for computer hacking, so a major job of

work really for the justice system, and if you look at how long this

might take to go through the courts, I think we're not counting in

months. We're counting in years. Tom, thank you very much.

The Duke of Edinburgh has spent the night in hospital after being re-

admitted with a bladder infection. Prince Philip, who's 91, was taken

to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary from Balmoral, where he'd been staying

with the Queen. Our Scotland correspondent Lorna Gordon is in

Aberdeen. Yes, Sophie, Prince Philip has had an extremely busy

summer so far. He was at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics

alongside the Queen. He watched his grand daughter Zara Phillips. Last

week they held a garden party at Balmoral for 3,000 guests, then

yesterday morning he returned to Balmoral after a series of

engagements on the Isle of Wight. It was when he returned that

doctors took the decision that he should be admitted to hospital here

in Aberdeen. He was brought here by ambulance on the 50-mile or so

journey from that private estate on Royal Deeside. Buckingham Palace

says his admission is a precautionary measure after a

recurrence of that bladder problem that flared up in June and which

led to his admission in hospital during the Diamond Jubilee

celebration. In the end, he ended up staying for five nights, but of

course, this is the third time in about nine months he has been

admitted to hospital, so doctors here will be keeping him under very

close observation - no Royal visitors so far, but we are told

he's expected to remain in hospital Our top story this lunchtime:

Thousands of students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are

collecting A-level results, there has been a fall in the number of

top grades for the first time in more than 20 years.

Coming up, South Africa win the toss and bat first in the decisive

third and final Test against England at Lord's.

Later on BBC London, pricing the locals out of the market, why plans

to redevelop South Tottenham have angered some traders and residents.

And a budget airline launches an engineering apprentice scheme to

The United Nations says at least 2.5 million people in Syria are in

need of aid. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the

United Arab Emirates have urged citizens in Lebanon to leave

immediately because of fears that the conflict in Syria is spiralling

across the border. Security correspondent Frank Gardner reports.

Searching for survivors, not from an earthquake but a man-made

tragedy. A Syrian government air strike yesterday on this village

killed and wounded dozens of civilians. It doubled the course

for an end to a conflict that has cost an estimated 20,000 lives and

contain. The UN emergency relief co-ordinator, Baroness Amos, has

been in Damascus. She says the situation is deteriorating.

humanitarian situation has worsened since I was here in March. Over one

million people have been uprooted and face destitution. Perhaps one

million more have agent humanitarian needs due to the

widening impact of the crisis on the economy and on people's

This unverified footage appears to show more government air strikes

this week. As world leaders fail to agree on how to stop the conflict,

a small but growing number of international jihadis are heading

to Syria to join the fight against the regime, some from Britain.

you start to have people, British citizens, going somewhere else,

involving themselves in fighting, are obtaining guerrilla warfare

skills and sometimes terrorist tactics, nobody knows exactly where

The ongoing plight are Syrian people is causing many to despair

of the UN efforts to end it. If international diplomacy continues

to founder on disagreements in the Security Council, the immediate

future for Syria and the wider region looks bleak.

Frank Gardner is here now. Is there any sign of a breakthrough on the

diplomatic front? To be bland, no. There's plenty of diplomatic

activity, but going in different directions. There is a senior

Syrian official in Beijing, talking to the Chinese. Essentially, he is

thanking them and the UN Security Council, because China and Russia

have blocked any more robust action against the Syrian regime. The

rebels are saying it is too late for dialogue, and Les Assad goes,

which he will not do. On the other hand you have the Organisation of

Islamic Co-operation, a powerful and important umbrella grouping for

the Muslim-majority nations, which has expelled Syria in the last 24

hours. That was against the wishes of Iran, another Syrian ally. So

Syria is certainly looking isolated diplomatically, but is any of this

leading to a solution? No, and in the absence of a diplomatic

solution, people are taking events into their own hands. More weapons

are flowing into Syria. As we have seen, really just a trickle, but a

dangerous trickle of international freelance jihadists who have very

little Syrian connection are starting to end up there, so it is

looking dangerous. Gunmen have attacked one of

Pakistan's biggest air bases, killing one sold and damage in an

aircraft. Several armed militants stormed the NRA's 60 kilometres

from Islamabad. Special forces killed eight are the terrorists.

The Taliban say they carried out the attack.

A landmark ruling is due at the High Court in the next hour or on

whether a man left paralysed on the neck down by a stroke should be

allowed medical help to die. He has locked-in syndrome and says his

life has become intolerable. He is fully conscious and mentally alert,

but he cannot move or speak. Jane Dreaper reports.

Tony Nicklinson wants to be allowed to die. A devastating stroke seven

years ago left him unable to move anything but his head and eyes. He

used to have an active lifestyle and a good job overseas. The

skydiver and played rugby. But now he has to use a special computer

which tracks his eye movements to communicate. Tony Nicklinson sums

up his life as demeaning and intolerable. Today's ruling is a

big moment for him. I am feeling believed that I love have an answer

to the question, who determines my future, me or the state? I am

thinking that I may not like the answer because the judgment will be

in favour of the state. Still, we will still have to wait for the

answer. It means everything to us, whether we have to sit and watch

and suffering for goodness knows how long or he gets to have a quiet,

pain-free death. Their husbands can only take his own life if he starts

himself to death. -- her husband. He is asking the court to sanction

help from doctors, but the legal challenge troubles son in the

medical profession. The deliberate termination of light in somebody

who is disabled has ramifications for the way we regard this ability

in our society as a whole. judges will also rule in the case

of another paralysed man today. Asians who have suffered similar

problems say they can still be hope, though. -- patients. After about

five years with total paralysis, one does not have a life. But one

of the things I would like to do is try and help people with locked-in

syndrome develop a new brain path and the motor function.

Ministry of Justice says Parliament should decide what happens here,

not the courts. There are indications this

lunchtime that the government wants to limit the cost of care for the

elderly. A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister is serious

about solving the issue after a review suggested they should be cap

on social care of �35,000. But there has been no agreement on a

final package of proposals. Robin Brant is in Westminster, and this

is all are trying to end the situation where elderly people are

forced to sell their homes in order to pay for long-term care. Yes,

under the current arrangements, elderly people who have assets

above �23,000 invariably end up selling their homes to fund them

move into retirement homes as part of their social care. Most of the

politicians here agree that is arbitrary, makes it difficult for

people to make plans for the later years of their life, and so they

want change. Andrew Bill Mott, the Economist, look at this for the

government last year and came up with two significance suggestions,

a cap of �35,000 above which the government would pay for care, and

a significant increase in the threshold at which people began to

face means-testing, rising to �100,000. Andrew Lansley, the

Health Secretary, said the government agreed in principle with

a cap but said it cannot be decided until after the next spending

Review, 2014, and most people saw that as taking it into the long

grass. Now it is clear that has been a change in sentiment, a small

shift not a huge leap, but the Prime Minister wants to sort this

before the next general election. Downing Street has said there is a

will to see a decision about funding social care reform in the

next Comprehensive Spending Review, which will come no later than 2014.

We do not know how much money will be needed, where it will come from,

and there's talk of the NHS budget, but it is clear Mr Cameron and Nick

Clegg one-twos of the problem. There is also a political

imperative for them. They want to embrace social care reform, it

could be a big legacy issue for the coalition, and they would prefer to

have some of the talk in the run-up to the next election being

dominated by NEC they can coalesce around, rather than their attempts

to divorce each other in the run-up to the election.

In the first day of the final Test at Lord's, South Africa opened the

batting and was 65-4 at lunch. England have to win the Day to

level the series and retain their position as the number one Test

side. -- the game. There is no Kevin Pietersen in his

team. His derogatory text messages have cost him his plays and

disrupted England, where South Africa have just been focusing on

becoming the best team in the world. It is a title Andrew Strauss did

not want to give up easily, and an early run-out chance was not taken,

so Stuart Broad thought he would try to rough Graham Smith up a bit.

Jimmy Anderson sends the captain back to the pavilion soon after

with a little help from a review. I think the Lord's faithful were

enjoying what they were seeing, and with early movement they were

hoping England would take advantage, but Le Hashim Amla at the crease,

it is never easy. His wonderful travel century in the first Test is

arguably the difference between the two sides. -- treble. Worryingly,

he pushed down the accelerator again. But Steve Finn is tenacious

and struck at the other end, another Pietersen not play much

part applause. Hashim Amla got nervous, and Steve Finn revelled in

it. Everything was going England's way, including controversial

decisions. He may have been blind, but Jacques Kallis was unlucky to

be given out. England united did not care, as they got off to an

Stop Ben Ainslie has returned to London to sail his boat down at the

Thames this morning. He won his fourth consecutive gold

at London 2012 and was chosen as the flag-bearer for Team GB at the

closing ceremony last Sunday. But there's no rest for the most

decorated Olympic sale of all time. He will be heading to San Francisco

tomorrow to compete in the America's Cup World Series.

And another Olympian has been back in action at a book-signing, but he

is also celebrating his A-level results. One week after diving

success at the Olympics, Tom Daley achieved top grades. Add that to

his bronze medal from the Olympics, and it has not been a bad week for

the teenager. Now, back to our correspondent

James Robbins, who is outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and

we are expecting a decision any minute now on whether Julian

Assange will be granted political asylum. That is right, and I have

to say, there is a substantial crowd gathered here outside the

embassy, which is contained in the building behind me, a flat within

that building. That's an surprisingly, they are supporters

of Julian Assange. -- perhaps unsurprisingly. They are chanting

slogans in his support, against the British government, against what

they see as Western bullying and in favour of Julian Assange's

championing of the freedom of the press. We are also hearing that

Ecuador's foreign minister is speaking at the moment. He has not

announced a decision yet on whether Julian Assange will be granted

asylum inside his embassy, but I should tell you that the Foreign

Office says that even if Mr Assange were to be granted asylum, it would

change nothing in their view, because Britain, in the view of the

Foreign Office, has an absolute obligation to follow its

responsibilities, to arrest Mr Assange, to extradite him to Sweden,

where he faces questioning in relation to possible charges of

sexual assault. This has gone far beyond that issue, and it has now

become a potentially dangerous political collision between several

countries in Latin America who believe that Britain is behaving in

a colonial way, and those in Britain, particularly around the

British government, who believe it is standing up for the rule of law.

A look at the weather now with I have not said this very often

recently, but some of us have got hot weather just around the corner,

most of it across central and eastern parts of England. Today is

a day of sunshine and showers, and some of them are heavy across the

Bristol Channel area, and they will work into the Midlands.

Thunderstorms here through the afternoon and heavy downpours

further north, across southern Scotland and Northern Ireland. The

far north of Scotland, though, should stay fine and bright with

temperatures of 22 in Inverness. Similar in Northern Ireland, heavy

showers working in from the Bristol Channel area into the Midlands.

Across south-east England, turning increasingly hazy with one or two

showers. Cloudy in the south-west, outbreaks of rain pushing him. Some

uncertainty about that, but there could be spots as far east as Devon

and Dorset. Overnight, heavy rain working in across the British Isles,

and the rainfall totals will really mount up. Across Northern Ireland

and south-west Scotland, up to 40 mm of rain, but perhaps 50

millimetres falling by the end of Friday across the south of Wales in

particular. It is going to be a wet night and very warm for most of us,

temperatures falling no lower than 16-18 Celsius, so a little

aggressive. Friday starts cloudy and wet with heavy pulses of rain.

The wettest weather on Friday will be across western areas, Wales and

the south-west of England, brightening up across Northern

Ireland and northern areas of Scotland, and later across the

south-east, where it will turn hot and humid. 27 Celsius is possible

in the Greater London area. For the weekend, a weather front across

central portions of the British jazz, and there is some uncertainty

about where it will lie, but it marks the dividing line between hot

and humid air in the south-east and north fresher, pleasant conditions

across western areas. Saturday will start cloudy with rain in the

morning, but easing across western areas, and the skies will become

brighter in the afternoon. Across the south-east, temperatures

rocketing during the afternoon, feeling oppressive and humid with

temperatures reaching 27 or 28 degrees Celsius through the course

of Saturday afternoon. Of the two days, Sunday will see temperatures

even higher, close to 30 degrees, not too far away from the hottest

weather that we have seen so far this year. If you want more details

about this hot spell, across eastern parts of England, my

colleague has done a piece on the BBC weather website. That is it