13/11/2012 BBC News at One

The cost of living goes up. It's the biggest rise in inflation for a

year. The rate has jumped by 0.5% partly down to higher tuition fees.

The Government warns energy companies will face fines if they

have rigged gas prices. The radical Muslim terror suspect,

Abu Qatada is released from prison on bail.

The authors are where I wanted to imagine you are playing tennis.

man, severely brain damaged and in a vegetative state for a decade,

communicates with scientists. A GP from Scotland prepares for a

gruelling challenge. Seven marathons, in seven days on seven

continents. And coming up in the sport, on the

BBC News Channel, good and bad news for England's cricketers ahead of

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. There's been a

bigger than expected increase in the cost of living with the rate of

inflation going up by 0.5% last month to 2.7%. The rise is being

put down, in part, to higher tuition fees even though most

students won't actually pay them for years. Our chief economics

correspondent Hugh Pym reports. A inflation which measures cost-of-

living increases has jumped and by more than most economists expected.

The annual rate hit 2.7% after the biggest search for more than a year.

Some of it was expected, the cap on the tuition fees has been a big

driver, but that was factored in so it was higher cost of transport and

food which does seem to have caused a bit of a surprise. Those higher

university tuition fees affecting first-year students in England were

certainly a big factor, hitting the inflation rate for the first time.

I asked a student at Manchester University how they felt about the

cost of living. My mum took me for a proper shop to stock up on

toiletries and basic things I would not think of and it's stacked up to

a lot more than I thought it would be. When I went to uni, it was 80p

but now it is one and 30, I think. You could always do with more money

and things could be cheaper. If you just focus and plan ahead, it's not

too bad. Breaking down the cost of living increase shows food prices

increased 3.3% in the year to October, Transport transports, 3.1%

higher, but clothes were down 0.2% so it means not all today's

inflation news is so bad for the consumer. This company in

Manchester can explain why clothing prices have not been going up as

fast as they were. They have had to keep the lid on prices to win

businesses from customers. We are looking to make sure we keep costs

down and we are not passing on costs to customers as much. People

are not as willing to spend money as they used to be. Inflation is a

lot lower than last autumn, above the 5%, and the fact it's gone

ahead of average wage rises will added to that squeeze on consumer

budgets for the. Hugh is here.

The first thing to make clear is this is not just goods measuring

their consumer prices index but includes his financial services and

things like that. If you are paying higher tuition fees, just first-

year students in England effect, paying more, the statisticians have

got to put into the CPI at some stage, even though you may not pay

it for a while to come so it has pushed the overall cost of living

up. Now 2.7%. If you to go dead, inflation would be nearer to 2.4%.

Food price inflation has been picking up, fuel price and so on,

so it's not a particularly promising picture.

Will it continue to have an impact on inflation?

Tuition fees will still affect the annual rate for some months to come

but we also have gas prices to come. Many have not fed through to these

figures so it's going to be had to go down to the Bank of England

target of 2%. They publish their inflation rate report tomorrow.

Thank you. The Government is warning of huge fines and criminal

proceedings if energy companies are found to have rigged the wholesale

gas market to push profits up. The allegations come from a

whistleblower, who works in the industry, who suggested that

traders supplied incorrect information about deals. All the

major domestic gas suppliers have denied the claims. Our industry

correspondent John Moylan has more. It's worth hundreds of billions of

pounds and it has a major impact upon our energy bills. But has the

UK's gas market been open to manipulation? By some of the

biggest power companies in the world? Looking at this craft, we

can see all of the trading which has occurred. This man works for an

organisation that sets the benchmark gas prices and says he

has seen several examples of unusual trading activity. It's

become apparent to me, having spoken to traders and analysed data,

that people are worried about manipulation and there are several

examples where it appears prices have been fixed. These key

commodity prices are set by a handful of firms and in recent

months there has been increased scrutiny of how exactly the system

works. The reason is because these same prices can be used on that big

long-term gas contracts which can have an impact upon how much we all

pay for energy. If traders have illegally inflated prices, it means

higher bills, and that's an important issue we need to figure

out in this market. There are dozens of companies involved in the

wholesale gas market including many of the main energy suppliers. They

have quickly denied any wrongdoing and say they will help of any

investigation. It's very important these allegations are locked into

quickly. By the regulators, and we want have not just good, clean

markets and well regulated markets in the UK, but we want to ensure

that customers have confidence and trust. The energy regulator OFGEM

and the FSA are examining the claims published by the Guardian

newspaper. The government which was told of the allegations on Friday,

says it's extremely concerned. There are criminal penalties since

anyone found to be manipulating markets and stringent fines against

any companies involved and, obviously, if these allegations are

turned out to be well-founded, we expect these powers to be used

vigorously. Those investigations could take weeks and may be months

to conclude but this is another setback for industry at a time when

energy prices are heading ever higher this winter.

Well, let's speak our political correspondent Norman Smith. Downing

Street are keen to say that if these companies have manipulated

prices, they will clamp down on them. There has been a concerted

attempt in Downing Street to stress just how seriously they asked

taking these claims, even though the big energy companies have

vehemently denied any involvement in price-fixing and the reason for

this approach is bluntly because energy is such a political charged

issue, the cost of gas and electricity bills are one of the

main pressure points on household budgets and ministers know they

have to be seen to be responding robustly. I think they have also

learned from the banking crisis are the absolute you do not want to be

caught behind the wave of public indignation when they look the

banks. There, too, they had been allegations of interest-rate fixing.

The consequences for the companies are colossal. Downing Street are

warning of possible criminal prosecutions and say companies

could face fines of up to 10% of their annual turnover, and

politically, there will be pressure for tighter regulation of the

energy market and the introduction of statutory binding controls

forcing companies to pass on pricing cuts to consumers. It seems

there's one other comparison with a banking crisis and that if energy

Boyce has -- bosses have been fixing prices, and they had been

given pride of place in the Hall of fame of a latter-day popular

villains. Norman, thank you. The radical Muslim cleric Abu Qatada

has been freed from prison on strict bail conditions after

winning the latest stage of his battle to avoid deportation to

Jordan to face terror charges. A special commission ruled yesterday

that he could not be guaranteed a fair trial if he were sent to

Jordan. The government says it will appeal. Here's June Kelly.

It was mid-morning when the prisoner described yesterday as a

dangerous terrorist subject emerged a free man. Abu Qatada departed

from Long Lartin top-security jail, an image ministers hoped they would

never see. They have been brief periods of freedom before but Abu

Qatada has spent much of the past decade in custody. Although he's

never been convicted of an offence in the UK. It's his home country

Jordan which is trying to put him on trial. For the second day in the

Commons there was fury from the government front bench. I have to

say that I do not believe it is ever the intention of those who

created their human rights framework we are currently

subjected to, people who have attempted to damage this country

should be able to use human rights laws to prevent the deportation

back to their country of origin. The Home Secretary Theresa May went

to Jordan as part of the drive to have Abu Qatada sent back.

Yesterday's court judge what is being looked at by many lawyers

including the barrister who refuse the UK's terror laws. The Home

Secretary lost this but only just lost. The court came close to

saying that if Abu Qatada are sent to Jordan he will have a fair trial.

The Jordanians have already done a lot to comply with what the Court

of Human Rights was asking of them. So what of the Government's

options? Britain will seek further guarantees from the Jordanians. The

government is also trying and appeared in the British courts. As

for suggestions that Abu Qatada could be put on trial in the UK,

not possible because certain secret material cannot be used as evidence

here. It was in the spring at the radical cleric was removed from his

family home which we can't identify on what was supposed to be the

first stage of his journey out of the UK. A short time ago, he

arrived back here. Police in Sussex investigating

historic allegations of child abuse in the 1980s and early 90s have

arrested two Church of England clergymen. The former bishop of

Lewes Peter Ball was detained at his home in Somerset on suspicion

of eight sex offences. A retired priest, Father Vickery House, has

also been arrested in West Sussex. A jury so the former Labour MP

Margaret Moran of falsely claimed more than �53,000 in expenses while

in office. She did not attend the proceedings at Southwark Crown

Court after she was deemed unfit to stand trial. The jury found him

guilty of 15 counts of false accounting and six of using a false

instrument over the claims. Scientists say they have managed to

communicate with a Canadian man who was thought to have been in a

vegetative state for more than a decade. They say Scott Routley,

who's 39 and suffered a serious head injury in a car accident, has

been able to let them know he isn't in any pain. It's the first time a

patient in this condition has been able to give answers to such

questions. Our medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reports.

Scott Routley is about to show he can communicate with his mind

rather than his body. Doctors thought he was vegetative. Unaware

of himself or the outside world. wanted to imagine you are playing

tennis. Imagining playing tennis produces a distinct pattern of

brain activity. It shows up on the screen as red dots. Inside the

scanner, he starts to respond, revealing he has an unconscious

thinking mind. Tell us whether you are in pain. This is a crucial

question for patients like Scott, and his scans clearly answer no.

It's the first time that we have asked the patient a question which

is relevant to their clinical condition, whether he was in any

pain. Researchers have validated this technique in publications in

the legal medical journals and they say the results here can't be down

to chance. His doctor says, although he still appears

vegetative, the brain scans tell the true story. I was quite

impressed that he was able to show a cognitive response. I think we

can no longer just rely on behavioural responses to tell if a

person is vegetative or not and we need the special techniques to show

that. I think that has to be introduced into the literature.

results have delighted his family. They thought he could sometimes

respond with his thumb or eyes, and say their observations were

dismissed as wishful thinking, so what questions would they like to

put to him? In the back of your mind, you always wandering, is he

happy? Does he want to keep going? Not that we would do anything to

stop that. You wonder if there's other things we could do. Signed to

say the scans could improve patients' quality of life, for

example, by checking if they are happy with the times they are fed

and washed. Or with the entertainment they are shown.

And you can see the full Panorama programme, The Mind Reader,

Unlocking My Voice, tonight on BBC Our top story this lunchtime: The

cost of living goes up by half of one per cent, the biggest rise in

inflation for a year. Coming up: Mothers of newborn

babies are promised the right to share their maternity leave with

Later on BBC London, why secondary schools could be missing out on

hundreds of thousands of pounds per year in extra cash.

And a win for Wimbledon means they could be heading for football's

China's new leaders will be unveiled on Thursday. The select

band of men will run the country for the next ten years. But they

are from a generation quite unlike the one now experiencing new wealth

and freedom. And, as our Beijing correspondent Martin Patience now

reports, relating to young people will be one of the greatest

challenges facing the new It is the glossy face of China, a

generation who is not shy about flaunting what it has got.

Many are cool, content and confident. They are wallowing in

opportunities their parents never had.

Unlike her mother, this girl was allowed to follow her passion and

became a fashion stylist. She says that her generation is now more

independent than her parents could ever have dreamed of.

It is all a far cry from the days of Chairman Mao. When China's new-

generation of leaders was growing up, a party governed almost every

aspect of life. Now they are said to lead a better society. Young

people have grown up in a country that has only become richer every

single year. They have become used to growing freedoms, which have

made China a noisier and more critical place. The challenge for

the country's new leaders will be engaging with the generations --

whether the generations experiences are so different.

This man enjoys the fast life as a stockbroker. Instead of spending

time with his family, he would rather be out on the track with

friends. He admits his generation is more

selfish than its parents. They care less about the country.

Many young people are busy pursuing their own hopes. That means they

are less likely to listen to what the party has to say.

President Obama has delayed the domination of supreme commander

because of the scandal surrounding the head of the CIA. David Petraeus

quit after it emerged he had had an affair. Now, John Allen, the top

command in Afghanistan, is being investigated for allegedly sending

inappropriate e-mails. A second top US general in the

firing line. John Allen in the charge of international forces in

Afghanistan, and he was about to be made the Supreme Allied Commander

in Europe. But now he has been drawn into an embarrassing military

scandal that has rocked Washington. He is being investigated because he

is alleged to have sent tens of thousands of pages of e-mails and

documents to this woman, Jill Kelley. She is a volunteer with

military family is at the US-based in Tampa, Florida. She's also a key

player in the scandal surrounding General Petraeus, who resigned as

director of the C I A last week. Paula Broadwell is General

Petraeus' by were far. She allegedly sent harassing e-mails to

Jill Kelley. This sparked the initial investigation. As agents

began my inquiries, they discovered she and the general had had an

extra-marital affair. Agents searched Paula Broadwell's House on

Monday. It is clear that with another general in the frame for

investigation is not over. General Petraeus is said to be

devastated by his fall from grace. As doubts hang over his future,

there are many questions, in particular why the White House only

learned of the investigation last week, and whether national security

was put at risk. Let's talk to our correspondent in

Washington. How embarrassing is all this for President Obama?

It is becoming more difficult for the whole American a full security

administration. This started as a personal tragedy, albeit one with

national dimensions because General Petraeus was such a famous soldier,

the man many people thought was responsible for bringing some calm

to Iraq. Over the weekend, it built and built, until on Monday you had

Congress talking about implications for security. Huge questions are

being asked about what levels of impropriety are involved, but also

what degree of national security breaches have taken place. The talk

is of 30,000 pages of documents that the FBI are looking at that

may have come between the commander of Afghanistan forces and a

volunteer in Tampa, Florida. In two days' time, people in Wales

and England, with the exception of London, will vote to elect their

new police and crime commissioners. 41 people will take charge of

overseeing their forces, replacing police authorities. It's been

described as the biggest change to police accountability in almost 200

years. Our Wales political editor Betsan Powys is in Anglesey.

I am on Anglesey, towards the west of what is a vast police force area

in North Wales, stretching from Wrexham in the East, along the

North Wales coast, to Anglesey, when many people live their lives

through the medium of Welsh, where they suffer their fair share of

crime driven by deprivation, and where people have their doubts

whether anything a brand new police commissioner on Thursday will make

a big difference to them. It is a bleak landscape. The

economic picture is pretty unforgiving, too. The island is an

unemployment blackspot. On his farm, this man has learned from

experience that when times are tough, farm machinery and stock is

vulnerable. Crime is on the up. The number of bodies he sees on the

beat is down. -- bobbies. Until 12 months ago, we had a

policeman coming to our community council every month. We could

actually tell him, this is a problem here, they are going there,

wherever. We don't see him any more. We are actually paying more for

less service. It is a bleak picture when it comes

to drug abuse, too. Drug-related crime is high here, and so is

serious drug and alcohol abuse. At this support group, they know what

they want from the new police and crime commissioner.

I would like to see both approaches. Strong enforcement, and then this

is on education -- and an emphasis on emphasis. Groups that this can't

help -- like this can help it with addiction.

Few seem to know much about the first a's election, let alone what

sort of power as the eventual winner will have. -- Thursday's

election. There should be no barriers between

the public and the authorities. fliers, nothing come through the

door. Don't know who is representing where or anything,

really. It is very disappointing. It seems that whoever becomes the

new bridge between the police and the communities of North Wales will

have their work cut out. A difficult job to be done here.

And yes, people in North Wales do pay more per head for policing than

in other parts of Wales. But, come Thursday, they also have a better

choice of candidates. Five in all. If you want to know who they are,

what they stand for, what they would do for the people of North

Wales, or indeed who the candidates A Royal Navy submariner has

admitted collecting secret coding programmes that could be useful to

an enemy of the UK. Petty Officer Edward Devenney pleaded guilty to

gathering details of encryption programmes, in breach of the

Official Secrets Act. Our security correspondent Gordon Corera is at

Edward Devenney pleaded guilty this morning to two charges, firstly,

collecting secret information, which was calculated to be useful

to an enemy, including code material. Secondly, misconduct a

public office by attempting to set up a covert relationship with

another country. He did plead not guilty, though, to actually

communicating any of that information. Prosecutors have said

they would not be pursuing the charge. What happened? It appears

that Edward Devenney thought he had sat at a meeting with officers from

the Russian intelligence service. In fact, he had been detected by

the British authorities and was meeting with undercover security

service officers. When he discussed the details of operations and

movements are brought of Royal Navy submarines, none of it actually

passed to a foreign power. He was remanded in custody until December

12th for sentencing. All staff would have the right to

request flexible working arrangements under plans set out by

the Government today. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, also

outlined proposals to allow mothers to share the year's maternity leave

with fathers from two weeks after a child is born. Adam Parsons is here.

How is this going to work? It is due to come in 2015. These

are proposals. It is about childcare straight after birth,

maternity leave, Alastair love getting 52 weeks, the mother would

have two weeks and would be able to split the remaining time between

the mother and the father. They can either have time together, taking

it one after the other, they can share it out as long as they don't

go be on the 12 months - it is fine. The other option is about flexible

leave. At the moment, it is open to parents with young children. The

proposal is to open the doors so that anybody can have the right to

request flexible working. That might be changing shift times,

working from home, those kinds of things. You don't have to get it

but to have a right to request it. As you would imagine, the response

from business has been it, yes, it sounds good. The caution here,

particularly from the Federation for small businesses, is that when

times are tough, we are trying to develop business, the last thing we

need is more red tape. A GP from Edinburgh will set off

tomorrow on a gruelling marathon challenge, which he hopes will

encourage more people to get active. Andrew Murray will run seven

marathons in seven days on seven continents. Lorna Gordon is in

Edinburgh. Dr Murray really is trying to lead

by example. He is not expecting everybody to reach his level of

fitness. But he hopes to encourage others to do 30 minutes of exercise,

to five times per week. A man on a mission embarking on a

mammoth challenge. Around the world in just one week, rally seven ultra

marathons in the process. -- running.

It is something I really want to do. It is 50 kilometres per day,

minimum, on for it. The total air miles is around 41,000.

Quite a journey! It is, but spectacular.

He is no stranger to a stream running. He has already travelled

more than 2,500 miles to the Sahara on for it. Earlier this year, he

came first in an arduous marathon at the North Pole. This latest

challenge will start in Antarctica. After that he will be heading to

Patagonia, then onwards to an answer in the night is States

before crossing the Atlantic to London. -- onwards to Atlanta in

the United States. On day seven, he returns from the opera house in

Sydney. The aim is to motivate others to

get out and get active, ideally to run, cycle or walk five kilometres

per day. It is good, not just physically but

mentally. The main thing we want to promote

is that people should be active for around half an hour every day.

Dr Murray has set himself a big challenge. But he already knows how

he would celebrate if he succeeds - a small drink and then a long sleep.

How difficult will this be? He will burn around 6,500 calories per day.

To get from all these places, he will travel more than 40,000 miles.

It really is a huge logistical and athletic challenge.

Good luck to him! Let's get a look Good luck to him! Let's get a look

at the weather. What is it like out there, Susan?

Very mild. The weather is no excuse to hide away inside today. It is

quite breezy. The winds is to thank for our remarkable temperatures.

This afternoon we are looking at perhaps 13 or 14 across much of the

UK. That is three or four degrees above average. You can see this big

rig and of cloud streaming up from the Atlantic. That is a weather

front coming into the UK. It is accompanied by the south-westerly

winds. It is mild this afternoon. The front will continue to bring

some more rain into Northern Ireland, particularly Western

Scotland. Certainly this is an area the Met Office is watching closely.

The rainfall is adding up. A bit cooler behind the weather front

tonight. Look at the temperatures to the south - a very mild night

under a thick covering of cloud. Temperatures no lower than 10 or 11

Celsius. Wednesday morning for Northern Ireland is looking grey

and rather wet. Still a pretty white picture in Southern Scotland.

The yellow triangle indicates the Met Office had issued a yellow

warning for their concerns about the rainfall. Further south, I

think quite a great picture to start the day, rather a lot of

cloud around, but mild. Temperatures are at 10 or 11. Those

are typically the figures we would be expecting during the middle of

the afternoon at this time of year. Temperatures are pretty healthy

from the word go. Hang on in there, because it seems we were sees and

cool air posing in from the South East. -- we will see. Northern

Ireland stays gloomy but loses the rain. Suddens, stays damp, but the

rain should continue to ease. -- Southern Scotland. The rest of the

week is increasingly drive. Rather misty and murky across England and

Wales first thing. Some of the mist and fog could cause problems for