17/10/2012 BBC News at One

Unemployment falls again with a record number of people now in work.

The number of people fell by 50,000 in the months to August.

The Prime Minister says he is appalled by the ugly scenes, and

the alleged racist taunts - at the end of the England under 21

football team's match against Serbia last night.

Disability Campaigners say around half a million people and their

families will be worse off under planned benefit changes.

Barack Obama and White House challenger Mitt Romney go head to

head for the second time with angry exchanges on the economy, energy

and the Middle East. It's the gavel not the guillotine for Marie

Antoinette as her shoes and dinner plates are auctioned in Paris.

Later on BBC London: Fears over fire cover in the

capital - 17 stations could be closed with hundreds of jobs under

threat. And a large hoard of rare Roman

coins is found in a field near St Albans.

Hello and Welcome to the BBC News at One. Unemployment fell by 50,000

in the three months to August. The number of people out of work now

stands at just over two and a half million. Youth unemployment fell

62,000 to its lowest total for more than a year, and there was a

significant rise in the number of people taking part-time work.

Ministers say it's proof that Government's welfare policies are

having a positive effect. Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym

reports. It's certainly brighter news on the

economy. Unemployment has fallen to its lowest in more than a year.

myself, I thought I'm going to take this job. These young workers have

been recruited by the hotel chain Premier Inn, which has been

expanding across the south-east. This morning they met the

Employment Minister who hailed news the total numbers of work in the

economy had gone up again. These are landmark figures, more people

in work than ever before. We have seen 170,000 fewer people on out-

of-work benefits than there were on benefits in 2010, but there is

still a lot to do. Whilst youth unemployment is below a million we

know we can't be complacent about it. The overall up employment total

was down 50,000 between June and August compared to the previous

three months to leave 2.53 million out of work. High above the London

landscape, skyscrapers are being constructed, and that means more

solid foundations for the labour market. 9,000 jobs are being

supported as a result of this development and not just in the

capital. Those jobs are both within London and also throughout the UK.

Certain parts of this building will pre-fabricate in size and in the

north of England, Yorkshire and Scotland. More jobs are being

create. The employment picture looks brighter but even in areas of

buoyant private sector activity there are still challenges. The

number of long-term unemployed, for example, those out of work for more

than a year, has gone up again. Even a short distance from the City

of London, it can be a struggle to find work. Here the charity

Lifeline organises training to help the long-term jobless. It's a

programme funded by the Government. She's just started her own catering

business after battling for months to find a full-time job. There were

so many people wanting jobs. I have been to so many interviews I can't

even count them, so many, but it's been a great experience because

through all the interviews I have gone to, it's helped me build

myself up. Labour claims despite concessions like these, the

Government is failing to get to grips with long-term unemployment

An incredible one-third of people out of work have now been out of

work for a year. These are the people the Government said they

were going to help with their work programme. I am afraid these

figures are fresh evidence that programme is comprehensively

failing. It's a mixed picture across the UK. While unemployment

in Wales was down, it was up in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Let's get more on those unemployment figures from our chief

political correspondent Norman Smith.

Norman Texas Government then claiming this as a success,

particularly where its welfare policies are concerned, then.

I don't think one can overestimate how important to the Government

these figures are psychologically and politically. Psychologically

because, let's face it, the Government have had to endure a

fairly steady diet of grim economic news over recent months with

successive downgrades of bodies like the IMF of our growth

forecasts. Now they can trumpet unemployment being at its highest

level ever and more people being in work at any time since the banking

yeah, more important is the politics and the figure that youth

unemployment has dipped below the politically symbolic figure of one

million for the first time in 12 months. Although you can tease out

awkward details from the figures such as youth unemployment long

term, youth unemployment is still continuing to rise, it seems to me

politics is often fought in the headlines. People don't read

paragraphs two, three and four. They just read the headline, and

the headline the Government will want is the simple one that youth

unemployment dips below one million, added to which it dents and takes

some of the momentum out of Ed Miliband's favoured line of attack

over the so-called lost generation and the so-called forgotten 50% who

don't go on to university and struggle to get a job, so from the

Government's perspective, today is an important day which I think

they'll regard as a key moment in terms of any revival in their

political fortunes. Thank you very much for that. Up to half a million

disabled people and their families will be worse off under the

Government's proposed benefit system. That's according to a

report conducted for several charities. They're urging Ministers

to rethink their Universal Credit Scheme. The Government calls the

report highly selective and says it could lead to irresponsible scare-

mongering. Our social affairs correspondent has more.

Today was a good day for the LockHarts. 13-year-old Dante can be

disruptive, occasionally smashing furniture. The family gets �50 a

week to help with the costs of looking after the teenager. Under

Government proposals, that is set to be halved. The reality of it is

that life is very much a struggle, and for families like ours with a

child with a disability, it feels like we're being targeted. It just

feels like it's very unfair. Today's report says around 450,000

disabled people could lose out due to the move to universal credit.

That figure includes 100,000 families with disabled children who

could lose �28 per week and 116,000 working disabled people who could

lose up to �40 per week. My biggest worry is we have had a number of

people coming back to us saying - over 80% - that they'll be having

to buy less food. They won't be able to afford their heating bills.

They might have to consider moving home. The really worrying thing is

a number of parents have said they'd consider putting their child

into residential care. That is just not the best thing to happen to any

family. Universal credit is the Government's plan to radically

overhaul the �200 billion welfare system to ensure people are always

better off in work than on benefits. The Government says this report is

highly selective. They say when Universal Credit is introduced next

October no-one will lose out in cash terms, and they say the

reforms will mean that more money is targeted at the most needy.

We're sweeping away a tangled mess of benefits and introducing

Universal Credit, which is a much simplified system which people at

last will be able to understand. Many disabled people feel a variety

of benefit changes have unfairly targeted them. Today's report will

only add to those concerns. Anti-racism groups have called on

football's European governing body to ban Serbia after England's

under-21 players were subjected to racist abuse last night. The Prime

Minister says he's appalled at the incidents, and the Sports Minister

Hugh Robertson has written to UEFA calling for tough action. The

Football Association has sent in an official complaint about the

behaviour of the Serbian crowd. There was a brawl involving players

and coaching staff from both sides at the end of the match, which

England won. Our sports correspondent Dan Roan has the

latest. They were the sounds and scenes that shamed football -

players and coachs from England's under 21 squad under physical and

verbal attack after their match against Serbia last night -

accusations of racist abuse from the stands. I think there was one

or two racist incidents that come on certainly from the crowd, and

they have been reported to UEFA, I believe, by ourselves, and it's in

their hands now. They'll have to deal with it. I'm very proud of my

players and my staff, to be fair. As I say, I'm very proud of the

achievement of getting to the fourth tournament in a row.

Honestly, I don't understand that you after everything and your

qualifying and qualification, the first question you ask about these

things, so it's - that has nothing to do with football. You should be

happy to qualify. The trouble began when Connor Wickham scored

England's winner in crescendos. The visitors pelted with missiles as

they celebrated reaching the championship finals.

The match had finished, but defender Danny Rose then angrily

kicked the ball into the crowd and was sent off as tempers flared.

Visibly upset, the Sunderland player making clear with this

gesture that he'd reacted to racist abuse throughout the game. The FA

said several of their black players were subject to racism by the crowd

and were reported to UEFA. Some want the footballing authoritys to

get tough. Comparatively, I think you can liken it to the situation

we had here in English football with the hooliganism and the

violence. We were banned from European competition for a number

of years, and that significantly impacted the way we approached

hooliganism and it instigated a period of self-governance. I think

something similar to that - ban them for a tournament or a couple.

These scenes in Serbia, which the Prime Minister has described as

appalling, are merely the latest in a series of race-related

controversys the sport has had to contend with. John Terry must

decide this week whether to appeal against his four-match ban after he

was found guilty of abusing opponent Anton Ferdinand. Football

has come a long way since the dark days. Others are yet to start that

journey. So how is the fall-out from last

night's match being seen in Serbia? Let's talk to our correspondent in

Belgrade, Guy Delauney. How is the incident being reported there?

A lot of them are extremely embarrassed. The wet site of the

tabloid Blitz has footage of last night's match under the headline

"Serbian shame, racist riot" and one of the most popular radio

stations, B92 talks about scandal. A lot are concerned about the bad

image their country has which, of course, started with the war of the

1990s and considered into this century. These incidents in

football matches, there have been several in the last few years -

while some take gratification in them, for others it's mortification.

Can any action be taken? Is any action being taken? The Serbian

Football Association appear to have been utterly caught on the hop.

They were mostly at the senior match last night where the Serbian

National team were playing. They still haven't formulated a response

to this. Clearly they're going to have to. There is a rather

unfortunate picture developing of the authorities bowing down to

hooligan groups. Couple of weeks ago a gay pride march was banned

after being threatened by ultra- Nationalists. It was banned for

public safety, but a lot of people saw that as bowing down to

extremist groups. Guy, thank you.

$NEWLINE Gatwick Airport executives are beginning detailed work on an

option for a new runway. The plans have to honour a 1979 legal

agreement that no runway can be built there before 2019. The survey

at Gatwick, which handles 34 million passengers a year, will

evaulate various options and assess their economic and environmental

impacts. The Bank of England Deputy Governor

Paul Tucker has called for bank bosses to be partly paid in debt -

linked to the company's financial performance. Speaking to the

British Bankers' Association, Mr Tucker said this would mean the

bosses take a stronger interest in the fortunes of their banks.

Royal Bank of Scotland has moved a step closer to becoming a private

company after it withdrew from a government scheme that insured the

bank's riskiest assets. It means RBS saves by not having to pay an

annual premium and reduces risk to the taxpayer. The move has been

welcomed by Ministers. Tell us a little bit more about the

scheme and why RBS is leaving it. This insurance scheme began back in

2009 when people were still worried that our banks, including RBS,

could go bust. Now, you could liken this scheme to someone having a

hefty, risky mortgage where the parents had to step in and be a

guarantor these payments would be made, and we did this - we, the

taxpayer, with RBS on a large scale, but what it did - it provided RBS

with cover to give it valuable time to offload all of those risky,

toxic assets - those loans that had the potential to go bad. To begin

with they had �282 billion of loans insured. That's now fallen to �105

billion as RBS shrinks its palence sheet. It was paying a hefty

premium for that and a big excess, and now it's saying today it

doesn't need that insurance cover anymore. It doesn't need it. Does

that indicate it's part-way to becoming a private company again

This is a hugely symbolic step. The big boss Stephen Hester saying

today it was a milestone in RBS's recovery. We can say this is a bank

that's not in any danger of going bust, but it still has a problem of

nursing itself back to health. There is still 15 months to go in a

turnaround plan. As for privatisation, Government Ministers

were saying today it was a significant step towards that, but

selling the state was something they were continuing to look on,

but it would be long term, a long Our main headline - unemployment

has fallen again, with a record number of people now in work.

Almost 30 million people have jobs, but that figure includes more

people in part-time work than ever. Coming up, why a passenger plane

dropped 30,000ft to help a yachtsman in distress. My heart

started beating a bit faster. Anything out of the ordinary on an

international flight like that is a Just three weeks before the

election in America, Mitt Romney and President Obama have been

answering questions in their live televised debate. Our correspondent

reports from Washington. The opening handshake was as cordial as

it got. Moments later, this second encounter would descend into a bad-

tempered political brawl. Why? Because a President who was so

passive last time around removed the gloves, first on his opponent's

tax plan. Mitt Romney was a very successful investor. If somebody

came to you, governor, with a plan which said, I want to spend seven

or eight trillion dollars, and we're going to pay for it, but we

cannot tell you until after the election how we are going to do it,

you would not have taken such as Gucci deal. That was just the start,

as the President drew the kind of policy contrasts which had eluded

him in the first debate, and so when he got under his opponent's

skin. You will get your chance in a moment. Looking on was an audience

of undecided voters, who posed the questions, but at times, the

candidates seemed oblivious to their surroundings. It is not true.

Governor, we have produced more oil... Here is what we did...

was on energy production, and this, on personal investments in China.

Mr President, have you looked at your pension? I have got to say...

Mr President, have you looked at your pension? I do not look at my

pension, it is not as big as yours. This time, it was the challenge on

the back foot, but Mitt Romney stuck to his message. 23 million

Americans out of work, that is what this election is about. It is about

who can get the middle class in this country a bright and

prosperous future. They ended with foreign policy. On Libya, Barack

Obama shouldered responsibility for the recent killing of America's

ambassador, but visibly angry, he accused his opponent of

politicising national security. suggestion that anybody in my team,

whether it be the Secretary of State or our UN ambassador, anybody

on my team, would play politics or mislead, when we have lost four of

our own, governor, is offensive. When it finished, there was a

distinctly cool go by, then the traditional family embrace for two

bruised warriors, both still contenders, both wondering what

America made of that. A trainee NHS doctor appeared in court today

accused of kidnapping a British photographer in Syria. 26-year-old

Shajul Islam was arrested last week after arriving at Heathrow airport.

Our correspondent can tell us some more, from Westminster Magistrates'

Court. This was the first time that Shajul Islam had appeared in court.

As you said, he was arrested at Heathrow Airport more than a week

ago, when he arrived back on a flight from Egypt. He has been

questioned by anti-terrorism officers. He arrived this morning

in a police van for a hearing which lasted about half-an-hour. During

that hearing, we had quite a few things about him. He is from

Stratford in east London, and he is a recently qualified trainee doctor.

He had been studying at St Bartholomew's Hospital and

University of London Hospital, qualified, we understand, earlier

this year. The allegation is that he flew to Turkey earlier this year,

where he crossed the border into Syria and joined the camp of

jihadists. We understand that that camp was entered by a Dutch

journalist, Jeroen Oerlemans, and his colleague, a British

photographer, who has worked for the Sunday Times. They had been

covering the situation locally, they had also crossed the border

from Turkey, but when they stumbled across this camp, they thought it

was a camp where they were aiming to meet Syrian freedom fighters.

They were held captive for a week, and the charge is that Shajul Islam

was the doctor at that camp who treated the pair when they were

injured and shot during a failed attempt to escape. They did manage

to get out of the camp after about eight or nine days, when it was

overcome by Syrian freedom fighters. Well, he was remanded in custody,

and Shajul Islam will next appear in court at the Old Bailey on the

2nd November. David Cameron and Ed Miliband have

clashed over the future of Andrew Mitchell, the Chief Whip, after his

argument with police in Downing Street. Mr Cameron said the police

officer involved had accepted an apology, but the Labour leader said,

in his words, that Andrew Mitchell was no toast. However much they

might want the story to go away, it is not. That's right. It is nearly

a month since that infamous clash in Downing Street when the police

would not let Andrew Mitchell go through the main gate. Today, he

was sat on the front bench, looking pretty ashen-faced and

uncomfortable as Ed Miliband Moody tried to throw the book at the

Prime Minister for the first time over this, questioning why Mr

Mitchell was still in his job. Andrew Mitchell had denied ever

using the word pleb but Ed Miliband pointed out that if your bona

Saturday night was to swear at the police, he would end up with a

night in the cells. For Mr Mitchell, it meant a night at the Carlton

Club. The Prime Minister stood his ground. This apology has been

accepted by the head of the Metropolitan Police. It is clearly

not going to be accepted by the Leader of the Opposition, because

he does not want to talk about what we need to do in this country to

get the deficit down, because he has got no plans! Ed Miliband was

not going to let him change the subject, and he seized on the

suggestion that some other ministers would prefer it if Andrew

Mitchell did stand down. It is good to see the Cabinet in their place

supporting him in public, but in the newspapers, what are they

saying? His position is untenable, in other words, he is toast. That

is the reality. This was a pretty uncomfortable session, not just for

the Prime Minister, not just for Andrew Mitchell, sitting just a

couple of seats away, but for several of the other ministers

sitting alongside them. The difficulty for the Prime Minister,

for the Government, in this, is that much as they can continue to

say, well, he has apologised, he did not actually use the word pleb,

the difficulty is that that work reinforces people's worst

perceptions of the Tory party, and makes it very, very difficult

indeed for David Cameron to come back and say, look, we really are

on your side. Labour know this, and as long as Andrew Mitchell is in

his job, they're going to make the most of the Tories' embarrassment.

Thousands of mourners have lined the streets of the Cambodian

capital, Phnom Penh, to pay their last respects to their former King,

Norodom Sihanouk, who died in China on Friday. His body has arrived

from Beijing, where he spent the last years of his life. His body

will lie in state for three months. He led Cambodia to independence

from France in the 1950s. Now, news of a rather unusual

rescue mission in the Tasman Sea. A passenger plane dropped 30,000ft to

help a yacht in distress. The plane had been bound for Sydney, but

strayed from its flight path to help the yacht, which was low on

fuel, and had a broken mast. Daniela Relph reports. A lone

yachtsman stranded in rough waters with a broken mast and low fuel.

Help came in the unlikely form of a diverted passenger jet overhead. A

15-hour journey from Vancouver to Sydney was interrupted for those on

board Air Canada flight 003. The crew and passengers became lookouts.

Everybody's heart started beating faster. Anything out of the

ordinary on an international flight like that is a bit concerning. He

said, we would really appreciate it if everybody could look out of the

windows, and if anybody has any binoculars which could help to

identify this yacht, it would be really helpful. The trip from

Vancouver was nearing its final destination of Sydney when the

pilot was asked to divert, meaning it had to descend from 35,000ft to

just 5,000 camel while, allowing everybody on board to see the ocean

below. -- 5,000ft. I made an announcement, please help us if you

see anything, because it is very difficult to find anything even at

5,000ft, which is almost a mile above the water. Almost immediately,

as we closed in on the area, the First Officer said, I can see what

I think is the boat. We went right over it, it was almost exactly

where they had told us it would be. Once he had been spotted, an

Australian police boat picked up the yachtsmen. He is said to be in

good condition after his dramatic rescue.

Personal belongings of the 18th century French Queen Marie

Antoinette will be auctioned today to mark the anniversary of her

execution. The 80 lots include a pair of silk slippers, and the

clothes she wore in prison before she was guillotined in 1793. From

Paris, Christian Fraser reports. Before Marie Antoinette arrived at

the guillotine in October 1793, she had amassed an opulent collection

of art work and furniture. There are some rare pieces in this

auction, of particular note, this pair of slippers, which belonged to

the Queen - not one of the shoes she dropped while climbing the

Schaffel old - that still resides in a museum in France. -- climbing

the scaffold. This is a fragment of a silk gown she owned before her

arrest, one of hundreds of dresses which were said to fill three rooms

in the Royal Palace. The revolutionaries at least recognised

the value of what they confiscated. Over the years, some of it has come

back. Among the 80 lots are portraits and etchings of the King

and Queen. TRANSLATION: all those who acquire

an object which belongs to Marie Antoinette or another historic

figure have this feeling that by owning a part of her possessions,

they own something legendary. That's what is moving. To say that

a pair of shoes which belonged to the Queen are today, 200 years

later, on sale, that is pretty fantastic. Let them eat cake, said

the Queen, when told the Parisians were starving - at least, that was

the myth. But the extravagance of Versailles was real. Maybe these

are the symbols of a decadent tyranny, but they still hold great

fascination, and not just for the fascination, and not just for the

French. Time for the weather. You would have needed more than silk

slippers last night if you were in Highland Scotland. Temperatures

went down to minus 8, would you believe, at Braemar? Further to the

south, it was in the mid-teens by the end of the night. The mild air

has been moving northwards across the UK, producing some pretty heavy

rain. It is producing some snow at the moment across the mountains of

Scotland. Even if you have not got the snow, it is feeling decidedly

raw in the central belt. Coming further to the south, we have still

got that dry, bright weather, quite a pleasant afternoon. Brisk winds,

but temperatures in the mid-teens - not too bad for the middle part of

October. Stronger winds further to the west, with showers across parts

of Wales and the south-west of England. Those gale-force winds

will combine with high tides and later in the day, which could cause

problems with coastal problem -- with coastal flooding. Damp and

chilly across Northern Ireland, but turning particularly wet here this

evening and overnight. The south- west of Scotland looking wet, too.

Many eastern counties of England looking very wet as the night goes

on. Temperatures mostly staying in double figures. Even across

Scotland, certainly a milder night than last night! Tomorrow, a fairly

cloudy start to the day for most of us, but not as much rain around.

Never quite getting rid of that range from the south-eastern corner

of England. Most places will end up with a dry afternoon tomorrow. The

area of low pressure which is bringing the unsettled weather

gradually fades as we move into Friday. But that weather front

never really gets away from the far south-east of England. Otherwise, a

lot of dry weather to be enjoyed, with light winds. Temperatures

about where they should be for this time of year. Saturday will be the

better day of the weekend for most of us. Sunday sees rain gradually

working northwards across England and Wales. Next week, just a hint