27/02/2013 BBC News at One

A farewell to the faithful. Hundreds of thousands of people

pack St Peter's Square as Pope Benedict makes his final appearance.

The Pope, who will retire from public life tomorrow night, says

he's faced joy, light and difficult moments during his papacy.

continue to accompany the Church with my prayers and ask each of you

to pray for me and for the new Pope. We'll be live from the Vatican on

the latest on an emotional day for the Roman Catholic Church.

Boosted by the cold weather - a sharp rise in profits for British

Gas after the recent sharp rise in prices.

Nick Clegg admits "very serious mistakes" were made over the

handling of sex allegations against the former Lib Dem chief executive,

Lord Rennard. The doomed hot air balloon in Egypt

- relatives of the dead head to Cairo as investigations into the

crash continue. People in England could be drinking

far more than was thought, say researchers after analysing alcohol

sales figures. Later on BBC London, raids at dawn as the Met carries

out a day of action targeting Good afternoon and welcome to the

BBC News at One. Hundreds of thousands of people

have packed St Peter's Square at the Vatican to say a final farewell

to Pope Benedict, before he steps down tomorrow night. During his

last public appearance, the Pope told the crowd that he was fully

aware of the seriousness of his decision but that he had peace of

mind because of his faith in God and the Church. Pope Benedict is

the first pontiff to resign for almost 600 years. Jon Sopel is at

the Vatican for us now. Sophie, thank you. As you can see behind me,

the crowds have now dissipated. The Vatican authorities put out seats

for some 50,000 people. In the event, foufr times that number

turned up for this unique occurrence. In effect we've now

heard from Pope Benedict for the last time before he retreats into

prayer and meditation. From this very private man a public

acknowledgement of the problems that have buffeted the Catholic

Church, and his reasons for going. Let's get this report from our

special correspondent Allan Little. Pope Benedict has never seemed

entirely comfortable in front of crowds, even a crowd as adoring as

this one. The Vatican said they expected 50,000. It seemed many,

many more than that. It is like, it means the world to me. I grew up a

Catholic so it is just huge, monumental. To deepen our

understanding of this great event that is taking shape in our Church.

This is the main reason why I'm here today. It was a long and

physically demanding event for a man whose frailty is all too

evident. His message was emotional and personal. And he referred to

the controversyies that have dogged his pontificate. He said the Church

had faced stormy weather. It had seemed at timed that the Lord was

sleeping. When he was elected Pope eight years ago, he said, he had

surrounded his right to a private life, and there could be no going

back. I am not, he said, a I abandoning the cross. I will

continue to accompany the Church with my prayers and I ask each of

you to pray for me and for the new Pope. APPLAUSE This is the last

time the public will see this Pope. Very soon for the sake of the

credibility and authority of the next Pope Benedict 16th will in his

own words be hidden from the world for the rest of his life. His

troubled eight-year pontificate has taken its toll on him but today he

retreats from public view buoyed nonetheless of the affection of the

faithful. I'm joined by Monsignor Roderick

Stranger. Thank you for being with us. It must have been difficult for

him, a private man, to have to explain why he did what he did and

acknowledge the difficulty the Church has faced? Yes, it must have

been very difficult. Who knows the emotions he is going through, but

it must be a powerfully emotional time for him, as when his voice

broke when he was reciting the Angelus or speaking on Sunday

morning at the Angelus. It is a powerful emotional time for many of

us I feel. Yes, I wonder for him but also for the pilgrim who is

were here. I can't speak for them, only for myself. I thought this

morning when I woke up, why am I feeling did way I feel? I was

feeling heavy and sad. This is a wonderful day of Thanksgiving for

the papacy but it is sa sad day. We are losing a wonderful Pope and his

gifts. And now the process of finding a new one. And that will be

exciting and invigorating as well. It will, who knows how long it will

take but we would hope not too long, as there've been uniquely in modern

times there's been two or three weeks to prepare and the Cardinals

to arrive in Rome and get ready. Thank you. My pleasure. Something

like 70 Cardinals are reportedly already in Rome that. Process will

start pretty quickly and perhaps by Monday week the conclave will have

begun. From here at the Vatican in St Peter's Square, Sophie, it is

back to you in the studio. Jon, thank you.

Britain's biggest energy supplier, British Gas, has seen a big rise in

the profits it makes from residential customers. They were up

11% in 2012 to �606 million. The company says a particularly cold

winter led to an increase in gas usage. The company put up its

electricity and gas bills by 6% at the end of last year. Here's our

industry correspondent, John Moylan. Britain's biggest energy supplier

has had a bumper year. Colder weather meant its 50 million

customers used more energy, sending profits flying everhigher.

In 2012 British Gas saz profits jump to �606 million. That's up 11%

on last year and comes on the back of a 12% rise in gas consumption.

Under fire this morning the company was unrepentant. If we are going to

continue to keep the lights on, to keep secure supplies of gas coming

into the UK, we have entered into �50 billion worth of commitments

for gas for our UK suppliers. You cannot do that unless you remain a

successful company. All the major suppliers hiked tariffs last year,

making life tougher for comerz. In October British Gas announced it

was increasing prices by about 6% for both gas and electricity. Now

that added around �80 to a typical dual fuel bill, which then jumped

to more than �1,300 a year for a typical household. Some like Karen

O'Brien from Gosport pay even more. Around �30 a week for gas alone.

I put the gas cooker on I generally switch the heating off and vice

versa. We don't have it on at night when we are asleep. It is not a

huge house, so there's not a lot to heat, but British Gas have raised

their prices as well, which we've noticed, so it is costing us more

money. Consumers will listen to the results and say my prices have been

going up for years, my household bills are more and more stretched

and yet British Gas are announcing huge profits. Reaction will be on a

range from resignation to anger. British Gas's parent company points

out that it supports 170,000 jobs in the UK and pays �1 billion each

year in tax too. The Liberal Democrat leader, Nick

Clegg, has admitted that his party made "very serious mistakes" in the

way it handled complaints of sexual harrassment against its then chief

executive, Lord Rennard. He also conceded that the issue was "in the

background" when the peer, who strongly denies the allegations,

stepped down from his post four years ago. Obviously this is all in

the background. Look, I became like any new leader of any organisation,

political party, any organisation, I wanted to make sure that the

organisation reflected my priorities, my values. I felt it

was the time for a change at the top of the kind of, you know, the

professional party. His health was, was poor and that was the immediate

reason why he left, but of course these things were in the background,

but his ill health was the immediate reason why he stood down.

Nick Clegg speaking this morning. Norman Smith is at Westminster.

These things were in the background? More revelations, more

twists and turns in this story. sense is poor old Nick Clegg

probably feel as bit like you are when you are at the dentist and he

is drilling away, and he wishs with it is over. But here we are a stole

id week since the Chris Rennard saga first broke. Today another

shift in the Lib Dem line. Remember at the weekend we had Nick Clegg

acknowledging for the first time that yes actually he did know about

some general allegations about Chris Rennard. Now today he

acknowledges for the first time that he wasn't forced to go just

because of ill health but because of also inappropriate behaviour. It

also suggests that maybe Mr Clegg's knowledge of the allegations

against Lord Rennard were perhaps more substancive if they formed

part of the case that forced him to quit. Lord Rennard's friends

insists he was a very ill man. Doctors had told him he may have

only a year to live if he didn't change his lifestyle and that was

why he was forced to go. But it tell us that one day ahead of a

crucial by-election, this story is still dominating the political news.

The party have been unable to draw a line under it, to get a grip on

it. It is not so much a bit of light political dentistry he is

having to ignore but it is beginning to look more like root

canal surgery. Norman Smith, thank you.

The amount of alcohol consumed in England could be much higher than

previously thought. Researchers at University College London have

compared alcohol sales with what people say they drink, and they

found a big difference in the figures. Dominic Hughes reports.

Most people know they shouldn't drink too much but when it comes to

it, how honest are we about our consumption? When you go to the

doctors they ask you how many units you have a week and if you are

honest you will get the stamp. will probably drink nothing one

week and maybe double the amount the next week. There's a cultural

thing where people don't remember how much they drink. Researchers

compared alcohol sales figures in England with surveys detailing what

we all say we drink. Almost half of the alcohol sold in England is

unaccounted for, indicating that we are drinking more than we admit to.

If you factor in underreporting that could mean 08% of women and

three quarters of men are drinking at dangerous levels had, and half

of all men and women would be classed as binge drinkers. That

means that people are drinking twice as much as they realise, if

everybody underreports by the same amount. The health implications of

that are very worrying. Government is currently reviewing

the advice on safe alcohol limits. At the moment it is no more than

four units day for men... (Inaudible) if there is this

difference between what we say we are drinking and what we are

actually consuming, that has big implications on how to Government

tackles the Government's drinking culture.

The supermarket chain, Tesco, says it's going to start buying more

meat from British farmers to prevent a repeat of the horsemeat

scandal. Tesco was one of the first retailers that had to withdraw

products when horsemeat was found in some of its frozen burgers. It's

chief executive will address the National Farmers' Union conference

in Birmingham this afternoon. Our correspondent, Jeremy Cooke, is

there. Thank you Sophie.Ine as the farming delegates were arriving

here at the conference came word that yet another company has been

dragged into the horsemeat scandal. This time it is Welsh Brothers of

Newport. Traces of horsemeat have been found in their frozen minced

beef, which has now been withdrawn from distribution. No wonder the

horsemeat scandal is dominating the agenda and in our fields. On

British farms the age old process of producing British beef continues

in many ways as it always has. But look closer. Each of these young

cattle has ear tags. They are electronically connected to a

database. Their breeding, location, entire history on record and

traceable. Standards are high, but there's growing concern that the

horsemeat scandal is damaging to even our best farm businesses.

think farmers are really frustrated because they do produce to very

high standards and it has always been very frustrating to have

inferior products coming on to the marketplace that aren't produced to

the same standards that we produce to. Clearly the horsemeat scandal

has been damaging to the reputation of the food industry, but down here

on the farm they believe that a moment of cries Christ become a

moment of opportunity. And so gathering at their N fufplt

conference this morning farmers sensed that this is the time to

push for a short her, less- complicated food supply chain, so

that we can all understand how food gets from the farm's gate to our

plates. The message - buy British. We now need supermarkets to stop

scaring the world for the cheapest products they can find and start

sourcing high quality traceable product from farmers here at home.

For the big retailers the horsemeat issue has been a big embarrassment.

Today Tesco's boss will tell farmers that things will change.

The reason I'm here today talking to the NFU is to signal a change, a

change which means we'll have the most stringent testing regime, a

change that means we'll bring production closer to home, and more

partnerships with farmers near the There are of course concerns that

home-produced home-processed food could put prices up. But the NFU

says its latest opinion poll suggest there's a growing demand

for British produce. The Tesco boss will address farmers

in a short time. The relationship between those farmers and big

supermarkets has sometimes been pretty difficult but you get the

sense today this may just be a The Environment Secretary has

confirmed that he is pressing ahead with proposals to cull badgers as a

measure to control Bovine TB. The cull will begin in West

Gloucestershire and West Somerset this summer. It had been postponed

last year with the Government laying out a number of factors for

the delay including the bad weather and time consuming legal challenges

to the cull. Our top story this lunchtime:

Hundreds of thousands of people have packed St Peter's Square as

Pope Benedict made his final public appearance before retiring from

Coming up: The controversial practice of

dumping thousands of unwanted fish is finally being phased out by the

European Union. Britain has described the vote as a historic

Later on BBC London: How the success of the Olympics is

helping the capital attract other sporting events.

And how the front-man of this 1990s All balloon flights in Egypt have

been grounded while the authorities investigate yesterday's accident

near the ancient city of Luxor. 19 foreign tourists, three of them

from Britain, were killed when their balloon exploded and crashed

to the ground. One other British tourist survived. Our correspondent

Aleem Maqbool, is in Luxor. Yes, Sophie, I am outside the city and

this is where that hot air balloon was flying over the West Bank of

the Nile just behind me to my right is the Valley of the Kings and

that's where it crashed in this sugar cane field. There are

remnants of the charred balloon, the ropes and the basket as well

and some of the belongs of those -- belongings of those who have died.

Officials have been here laying flowers and we are getting a

This was the moment the balloon started its flight over the West

Bank of the Nile with its pilot and 20 tourists. An hour later, it was

in trouble, on fire. We got this chilling footage from the pilot of

another balloon. He told us the fire on board got worse and drove

the balloon higher into the sky before there was an explosion and

it dropped from the air. Among those who died was Joe

Bampton and his partner, Suzanna Gyetvai Suzanna Gyetvai.

The other Britain who died was Yvonne Rennie. But her husband

Michael was the only tourist who survived the crash. The British

ambassador to Egypt visited Mr Rennie in hospital in Cairo and

said he was in remarkably good shape. The testimony of Mr Rennie

who is said to remember everything of the accident and that of the

Egyptian balloon operator will be key in finding out what caused the

tragedy. We have had some of the initial findings of one of the four

investigations that has been launched and what we have been told

is that there was no criminal intent in the tragedy that happened.

But we also heard that the very same company which operated this

hot air balloon, Sky Cruise, passed an official inspection just two

weeks ago and that was by the Egyptian authorities and that will

worry people, not only are the regulations not tight enough, but

the inspections regime is not working.

Police in Switzerland say there has been a shooting at a wood

processing factory and three people have been killed. Seven others have

been injured. Some of them seriously. An area in central

Switzerland has been sealed off and emergency services there are at the

scene. The Department of Health in

Northern Ireland has promised to take the first step towards giving

the NHS there clear advice on abortion. It was facing legal

action in the high court today over delays in spelling out the law.

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland, except in very restricted

circumstances and currently no official guidelines exist. Here's

our health correspondent, Branwen Jeffreys. In Northern Ireland,

abortion remains an issue of the highest sensitivity. Even the

opening of a clinic to provide advice pro pro provoked protest.

Abortion is only legal under limited i. There is no official

advice to the NHS on how to interpret the law. The Family

Planning Association came to court this morning to force the

Department of Health to publish guidance. In a surprising last

minute move, the court was told draft guidelines would be put

before the Executive next week, a move welcomed by health

professionals. This Is why we need this clarification and we needed it

seven years ago and we are frustrated that it is good that

some movement must now happen within the the Department of Health,

but there is no time scale and we could be having this interview next

year on the same topic. The law on abortion in Northern

Ireland is different from the rest of the UK. It is a serious criminal

offence which carries a life sentence in prison. Unless it is to

preserve the life of the woman or if a woman is at serious risk of

permanent damage to her physical or mental health. Every year, 40

abortions are carried out in Northern Ireland under the law. Any

advice to the NHS will have a significant impact on the decisions

made to allow terminations. Today's decision is likely to be only the

first stage in deciding what that advice should be.

A man was killed in a shark attack off the coast of New Zealand. The

the 47-year-old was swimming 200 meters from shore when eyewitnesses

described him shouting for help before being dragged under the

water by what is believed to be a Great White shark.

The Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell has appeared in court

charged with 19 sexual offences against a child. He did not enter a

plea, but his solicitor said the charges would be fully contested.

Our correspondent, Judith Moritz, is in Manchester. Yes, Sophie,

Michael Le Vell was arrested in connection with sexual offences

against a child back in 2011. But no charges were brought at that

point and the matter was dropped. More recently though, the Crown

Prosecution Service has reviewed the case and a week-and-a-half ago

they said there was enough evidence to prosecute and today, the actor

came here to Manchester Magistrates' Court to face the

As one of the best known faces on British television, Michael Le

Vell's arrival at court this morning attracted considerable

media interest. This is the first time that the actor has appeared in

court to answer the charges which were brought against him earlier

this month. He is charged with a total of 1 sexual offences against

-- 19 sexual offences against the same girl.

The offences are said to have happened between 2001 and 2010.

Charged under his real name of Michael Turner the actor stood in

the dock and spoke to confirm his details. His solicitor said he

would fully contest the charges. The hearing lasted for less than

ten minutes. Michael Le Vell, who is 48, was given bail and told to

appear at Manchester Crown Court on 20th March.

Well, the court here in Manchester City centre is less than a mile

from the the Granada Television Stewed yos. He -- studios. He isn't

on screen, ITV said he won't appear in the soap while legal legal

The controversial practise of fishermen dumping unwanted catches

overboard will begin to be phased out from next year following an

agreement by European Union fisheries ministers. Almost a

quarter of all fish caught is thrown away. Britain has described

the vote as a historic victory to end a scandalous policy. Our

environment analyst, Roger Harrabin, has more. Eat fish, we are told, it

is healthy, low-fat food, but industrial fishing has taken a huge

toll on the oceans. This for instance, the practise of dumping

fish because they are not the sort the crews intended to catch. Almost

a quarter of Europe's fish catches are discarded largely because the

current quota system doesn't work. Most of the fish are dead.

Fisheries Ministers Arrived in Brussels on a wave of public anger

about fish discards after an all night session, they agreed in a

landmark decision that discards should start being phased out from

next year. It is a very important milestone in our desire to see an

end to discards and see meaningful reform of the Common Fisheries

Policy. Greenpeace is concerned about the

outcome. There was inTim tation from the -- intimidation by the big

fishing nations. A powerful group of countries including the the UK

held up against that. Some loopholes were created in the deal.

New net technology will be needed to help crews catch the right sorts

of fish. This grid grid being demonstrated in Denmark allows

small fish to swim through and escape. CCTV cameras like these on

trial in the UK record everything that fishermen discard. They are

likely to become widespread to keep the rules. The people of Europe

have voiced their disgust at the practise of throwing away perfectly

good fish. Ministers have at last begun to to take heed, but it will

be a big task to restore the oceans after almost 100 years of

destructive industrial fishing. Prince Harry is back in Lesotho to

visit the charity he helped set-up seven years ago. Peter Biles sent

this report. Prince Harry is a welcome visitor to Africa's

mountain kingdom. His first trip was nine years ago and he takes a

keen interest in the charity which he and the local prince helped set-

up. Bea Sentebale means forget me not. This is one of the community

projects which the charity supports and in around the capital, Maseru.

This is a far cry from act of service in Afghanistan. Since he

first came to Lesotho in 2004, he says he found real inspiration here.

Prince Harry spent the last three day ins Lesotho familiarising

himself with the problems of this impoverished country where life

expectancy is 41. The country has the world's highest HIV infection

rate and a a quarter of the population are orphaned or

vulnerable children. Later Prince Harry will be attending a dinner in

South Africa where it is hoped Sentebale will raise �2.4 million

to help more children in need of to help more children in need of

help. Now the weather. You will have noticed that things

aren't changing quickly at the moment and that's because we have

this big ridge of high pressure in charge of our weather. The one

thing that's changing is the amount of cloud in the sky. This is the

satellite picture from earlier today. We have had a cloudy start.

It feels cold underneath the cloud, at the same time this lovely wedge

of clear weather making things feel more pleasant in the sunshine.

Across Northern England for example, temperatures of 7, 8 or 9 Celsius

likely. The sunshine beginning to to ninl away at the -- nibble away

at the cloud. The cloud thinning across the South East. For many

areas, it is a cloudy story. Where this cloud is at its thickest,

producing the odd spit and spot of drizzle. A few breaks in the cloud

along the Antrim Coast and cloudy for the far north-west of Scotland.

For many eastern parts of Scotland, here the best of the sunshine

through the day. Where we have the sunny skies by day, the skies

remain clear overnight and temperatures plunge. You can see

the blue shading on the map indicating a frost. Temperatures

are are going to drop away close to freezing and below in places

particularly where we have the clear skies. To the south and the

north-west, things are likely to stay above freezing. A much milder

night. A different feel to things. There could be fog patches in the

clearer zone, but they should clear away during tomorrow morning and

then sunny skies for Northern England and the sunny skies sinking

into the Midlands and parts of the south-east. South-west England

holding on to thicker cloud and rain. More cloud across Northern

Ireland and Northern Scotland. But where we have the best of the

sunshine, well the best of the temperatures - 9, 10 and possibly

11 Celsius. Through tomorrow night, we will see this weak weather front

sinking south, but it is running into our ridge of high pressure.

Nothing much more than a band of cloud cloud cloud sinking

southwards. A cloudier day and it will feel colder. Temperatures

around 6 or 7 Celsius, but there will be a little bit of brightness

at times. The changes remain slow as we head on into the weekend.

Again, we will see slithers of brightness. Generally a lot of