Browse content similar to 29/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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A police investigation into allegations of child abuse at care | :00:06. | :00:09. | |
homes in North Wales has found the abuse to be more widespread - and | :00:09. | :00:18. | |
to have lasted longer than previously thought. | :00:18. | :00:22. | |
They say 140 people have contacted them to say they were abused. The | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
Chief Constable of North Wales Police had this message for | :00:24. | :00:26. | |
offenders whose activities hadn't yet come to light. Defenders quite | :00:27. | :00:29. | |
rightly should have to look over their shoulders for the rest of | :00:29. | :00:34. | |
their lives. We'll be talking to Mark Easton | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
about the investigation in North Wales. Also this lunchtime: | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
Three British men who say they were tortured by police in Dubai have | :00:40. | :00:44. | |
been jailed for drug offences. Syria's Prime Minister survives an | :00:44. | :00:51. | |
assassination attempt in a car bomb attack on his convoy in Damascus. | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
Six days after the collapse of an eight-story building in Bangladesh, | :00:54. | :00:58. | |
rescuers say there's no hope of finding more survivors. | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
Tackling the collapsing bee population. EU states vote on a | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
proposal to restrict the use of certain pesticides. | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
And Sir Bradley Wiggins eyes up a new title. This time, his sights | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
are on the Italian road race title. On BBC London, regular closures for | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
they Jubilee Line. And a former monastery opens to the | :01:24. | :01:34. | |
:01:34. | :01:43. | ||
public after more than six and and Good afternoon and welcome to the | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
BBC News at One. Police say they're investigating | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
140 allegations of historical child abuse at 18 care home in North | :01:51. | :01:55. | |
Wales. They say the allegations cover a period of four decades | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
going back to 1963 and they had uncovered significant fresh | :01:58. | :02:04. | |
evidence of "systematic and serious sexual and physical abuse". The | :02:04. | :02:07. | |
number of alleged victims and care homes, and the duration of the | :02:07. | :02:10. | |
period involved, is much wider than previously thought. The Chief | :02:10. | :02:13. | |
Constable of North Wales warned the perpetrators that they would be | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
caught and they would be looking over their shoulders for the rest | :02:16. | :02:25. | |
of their lives. Before the children who once lived | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
here, it was home, -- for the children. But some were subjected | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
to systematic abuse by the very people paid to look after them. The | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
former residential centres have now been put to other use, but their | :02:40. | :02:43. | |
names will never be forgotten by the victims whose childhoods were | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
destroyed. A police investigation more than 20 years ago led to seven | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
convictions, but in a Newsnight report last November which led to a | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
Tory peer being falsely accused of being involved in paedophilia, it | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
was also claimed that child abuse in North Wales had been more | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
widespread. De Home Secretary Theresa May set up an investigation | :03:06. | :03:10. | |
into the abuse, and this morning, its preliminary findings were made | :03:10. | :03:16. | |
public. 140 people have no contacted the Operation Pallial | :03:16. | :03:19. | |
investigation team. The complainants were aged between | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
seven and 19 at the time of the alleged abuse. The allegations date | :03:23. | :03:31. | |
back as far as 1963, and most recently, 1992. They relate to 18 | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
care homes in North Wales. So far, the allegations involved 84 named | :03:36. | :03:43. | |
individuals. People who commit serious sexual offences should live | :03:43. | :03:46. | |
with the knowledge that we will always examining new information | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
and evidence and seek to bring them to justice for their crimes. | :03:51. | :03:54. | |
Offenders quite rightly should have to look over their shoulders for | :03:54. | :04:00. | |
the rest of their lives. This inquiry was also set up to look at | :04:00. | :04:03. | |
how North Wales Police handled the original investigation. This | :04:03. | :04:05. | |
preliminary report finds no evidence of systemic or | :04:05. | :04:11. | |
institutional misconduct by members of the force. Last week, police | :04:11. | :04:14. | |
working on Operation Pallial made their first arrest, a man in | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
Suffolk was questioned about allegations of serious sexual | :04:17. | :04:24. | |
offences. It is expected that more arrests will follow. | :04:24. | :04:26. | |
And Mark Easton is outside North Wales Police headquarters in Colwyn | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
Bay. This investigation, as we were | :04:31. | :04:35. | |
hearing, is much bigger than police previously thought. | :04:35. | :04:42. | |
And that is quite a surprise, isn't it? We have had a huge police | :04:42. | :04:45. | |
investigation in the 1990s, a public inquiry led by a former | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
judge and other inquiries conducted as well and here we are all these | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
years later, we look at this again and we discover that it is, as you | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
say, far more widespread, other four decades, going back to the | :04:58. | :05:04. | |
early 1960s. We thought it was from a period of the mid-70s, not just | :05:04. | :05:09. | |
covering three all four children's homes, but 18. We are talking about | :05:09. | :05:12. | |
systemic abuse, serious sexual and physical abuse, it would appear | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
conducted by a large number of people. 84 names, most of those men, | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
75, but including nine women. If the allegations are true, it is an | :05:23. | :05:27. | |
appalling scandal and a scandal that, as some victims have been | :05:27. | :05:33. | |
saying, was left unresolved for far too long. | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
The Syrian Prime Minister is reported to have survived a bomb | :05:36. | :05:39. | |
attack on his convoy in the capital Damascus. His bodyguard is | :05:39. | :05:43. | |
understood to have been killed and his driver seriously injured. Our | :05:43. | :05:50. | |
Middle East Correspondent Jim Muir reports. | :05:50. | :05:55. | |
Another big bomb in a heavily secured part of Damascus, patrolled | :05:55. | :05:59. | |
by government forces. It wasn't as massive as some of the recent bombs, | :05:59. | :06:04. | |
but it was enough to Wrexham vehicles and set others on fire. -- | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
Rick. State television said there were casualties, including | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
civilians passers-by. But it is that the main target of what it | :06:14. | :06:21. | |
called a terrorist explosion, the convoy of Wael Al-Halki. He escaped | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
unscathed. That version seem to be borne out by later footage on State | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
TV showing the Prime Minister at an important economic meeting. He is | :06:29. | :06:32. | |
reported to have told them that what he called such terrorist | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
attacks only showed the desperation and bankruptcy of the rebels and | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
their backers, after recent successes by government forces. | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
This is far from the first time there has been a big explosion | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
inside government controlled central Damascus. In December, a | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
suicide attack caused heavy damage and casualties at the Interior | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
Ministry. Officials said then that nobody senior was hurt, but it | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
later turned out that the minister himself was seriously wounded. This | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
time, it does seem that the reported target of the attack, the | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
Prime Minister himself, has survived. But what it shows is that | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
the violent and bloody confrontation between rebels and | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
regime drags on, the rebels do seem, if indeed it was then, to be able | :07:17. | :07:20. | |
to slip through the net and strike in the very heart of the Government | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
controlled areas. Up to 40 people have been injured | :07:25. | :07:28. | |
in a powerful explosion in a building in the Czech capital | :07:28. | :07:32. | |
Prague. Police say that the blast, which blew the windows out of | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
nearby buildings, was likely to have been caused by a gas leak. The | :07:35. | :07:38. | |
popular tourist area has now been sealed off and people have been | :07:38. | :07:43. | |
evacuated from nearby houses. Three British men have been found | :07:43. | :07:47. | |
guilty of drug offences in Dubai and jailed for four years each. | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
Suneet Jeerh, Grant Cameron and Karl Williams, who are all from | :07:50. | :07:55. | |
London, claim to have been tortured by police after they were arrested. | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
David Cameron says he will raise the issue with the president of the | :07:58. | :08:06. | |
UAE, who starts a visit to Britain tomorrow. Richard Galpin reports. | :08:06. | :08:10. | |
The more than nine months after arriving on holiday here in Dubai, | :08:10. | :08:15. | |
Grant Cameron, along with Karl Williams and Suneet Jeerh, finally | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
found out what their fate would be. Inside this court, they were found | :08:20. | :08:25. | |
guilty of taking illegal drugs, and they were sentenced to four years | :08:25. | :08:30. | |
in prison. Grand's mother Tracy Cameron have little hope they would | :08:30. | :08:34. | |
be released, despite the allegations they had been tortured | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
by the Dubai police. She told me how Karl Williams had allegedly | :08:38. | :08:42. | |
been singled out for the worst treatment. He was laid out on the | :08:42. | :08:48. | |
bed, his trousers were stripped down and electric shocks were | :08:48. | :08:54. | |
administered to his testicles while he was blindfolded. I believe all | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
of them had guns held to their head. They were told they were going to | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
die. The dream holiday last July soon went wrong when the police | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
arrested the three men, saying they had drugs on them. Human rights | :09:07. | :09:11. | |
campaigners say there is evidence to back up the torture allegations | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
and the men should be released immediately. Given the horrific | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
allegations of torture, the President and the shake up to buy | :09:20. | :09:26. | |
need to work together to pardon the men as soon as possible. They have | :09:26. | :09:31. | |
been imprisoned for nine months, in prison for all of that time, they | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
have not receive proper medical attention and it is time to send | :09:34. | :09:39. | |
them home. -- received. Here at the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, | :09:39. | :09:44. | |
they are making final preparations for the visit of their President to | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
Britain, which starts tomorrow. David Cameron has indicated that | :09:49. | :09:54. | |
the torture allegations will be raised during the visit. | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
So the issue threatens to overshadow the state visit. As the | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
authorities in United Arabs have denied all the allegations. -- | :10:04. | :10:08. | |
United Arab Emirates. There is much at stake, the country is an | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
important trading partner for Britain. Now these three men must | :10:11. | :10:15. | |
be hoping the talks in London will convince the President to pardon | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
them. A massive shake-up in the UK | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
benefits system has begun, with the first claims made for the new | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
universal credit, which merges several benefits and tax credits | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
into one monthly payment. The scheme is being piloted with a | :10:29. | :10:32. | |
small number of new claimants in Greater Manchester, but the | :10:32. | :10:34. | |
Government says it could eventually affect nearly eight million | :10:34. | :10:43. | |
households. Our Local Government Correspondent Mike Sergeant reports. | :10:43. | :10:49. | |
If this is a welfare revolution, it is getting off to a slow start. One | :10:49. | :10:51. | |
JobCentre in one town and a tiny number of new claimants will be | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
losing -- using Universal Credit, but for the Government, this is the | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
beginning of a radical overhaul of the benefits system which ministers | :10:59. | :11:04. | |
say, people will always be better off in work. It is a big change, a | :11:04. | :11:07. | |
big positive and it saves money through fraud and error and get | :11:07. | :11:10. | |
people back to work making them taxpayers, and Britain will grow | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
and be a strong nation. Government's plan is to combine six | :11:15. | :11:18. | |
benefits, including Jobseeker's Allowance, tax credits and housing | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
benefit, into one payment. The process begins today in Greater | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
Manchester. In October, new claimants in other parts of the | :11:25. | :11:31. | |
country will start using the system and by 2017, around 8 million | :11:31. | :11:33. | |
households will be claiming Universal Credit. It Ashton under | :11:33. | :11:37. | |
Lyne, there has been no press conference or fanfare for the | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
launch of Universal Credit. Ministers and local officials want | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
this to be a low-key beginning, so any problems with the new benefit | :11:44. | :11:47. | |
can be sorted out as it is gradually introduced across England, | :11:47. | :11:53. | |
Scotland and Wales. Labour says the Government plans are not as bold or | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
ambitious as ministers claim. were promised a great big welfare | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
shake-up, what we have is a small scheme starting in the north-west, | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
three years into this Parliament. Meanwhile, the social security | :12:04. | :12:09. | |
budget is up more than �20 billion than forecast. So what do residence | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
in the first time to -- in the first town to try Universal Credit | :12:13. | :12:19. | |
think? It is a bit confusing, but it will help get people into work. | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
You need an incentive, you need to get encouraged to work. Some people | :12:23. | :12:27. | |
do not have enough money, they need various things and they will spend | :12:27. | :12:31. | |
it on those other things before they probably by what they actually | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
need for the children to survive. Some concerns have been raised | :12:35. | :12:39. | |
about whether a new on-line system for claiming the benefit is going | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
to work, but the Government says there will be plenty of time to | :12:42. | :12:50. | |
resolve any issues. Norman Smith is in Westminster. It | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
may be a small scheme to start with, but the stakes are rather high. | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
The stakes are huge, Simon, that is why Iain Duncan Smith is so | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
cautiously proceeding, dipping his toe in the water with a limited | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
trial, because he knows this is not some sort of one mind tweet, this | :13:07. | :13:14. | |
is -- week, kisses responsible for 5 million claimants, real families | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
and real claimants and if it goes wrong, there will be a real tales | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
of hardship and woes and media backlash. The stakes are also high | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
because Iain Duncan Smith has raised the bar so high, talking | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
about reshaping the entire benefits system, and we know successive | :13:30. | :13:34. | |
secretaries of state have talked B on welfare reform, but delivered | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
little. -- talk to beat. Why? Because of the complexities of | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
people's lives and the quagmire of reform. But the stakes are high | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
overall because the success is predicated on the IT system working | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
and we know, Whitehall is littered with the detritus of the failed | :13:53. | :13:58. | |
schemes. Iain Duncan Smith says this will be different, saying | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
there is a universal jobs scheme already on Lyne, receiving 6 | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
million hits a day. But the Universal Credit and the fate of | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
Iain Duncan Smith may hinge not on politics, politicians will benefit | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
groups or even us in the media, but on the IT department. | :14:15. | :14:20. | |
Norman Smith, thank you very much. And you can find out more about the | :14:20. | :14:23. | |
new Universal Credit and how the changes might affect you on the BBC | :14:23. | :14:33. | |
:14:33. | :14:42. | ||
raping a 14-year-old boy, who was attacked in the toilets of a | :14:42. | :14:45. | |
Debenhams store in Manchester City Council. The court heard how the men | :14:46. | :14:49. | |
approached the teenager when he was visiting the Arndale centre last | :14:49. | :14:57. | |
year. This attack took place during a busy | :14:57. | :15:06. | |
shopping day right in the city centre of Manchester. Once inside, | :15:06. | :15:10. | |
the two men came and approached him. They stood either side of the | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
teenager, threatened and grabbed his arm. They said to him, you are | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
coming with us and you will do what we say. He was marched from the | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
Arndale Centre over market Street, one of the busiest streets in | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
Manchester, and into the Debenhams store, where he was sexually | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
assaulted and raped. The men who carried out the attack work | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
42-year-old Alex Wilson Fletcher and an Iraqi attack -- Iraqi asylum | :15:36. | :15:43. | |
seeker. The judge said that both men would expect substantial sentences | :15:43. | :15:47. | |
in June this year. Before then there will be a presentence report carried | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
out to assess how dangerous these men are and what threat they pose to | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
teenage boys. Before the end of proceedings, the judge turn to the | :15:56. | :15:59. | |
jury and thanked a free single member for their consideration | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
during this very difficult case -- and thanked every single member. | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
Our top story: An investigation into allegations of child abuse at care | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
homes in North Wales has found the abuse to be more widespread than | :16:17. | :16:22. | |
previously thought. Will an EU vote to ban pesticides | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
halt the decline of the European bee population? | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
I will have the sport on the BBC News Channel, including former Black | :16:31. | :16:38. | |
and Rovers manager Henning Berg has won over �2 million in compensation | :16:38. | :16:48. | |
:16:48. | :16:50. | ||
against the club. Rescue work on a collapsed building | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
in Bangladesh has entered a sixth day. Officials say they no longer | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
expect to find any survivors. At least 380 people are known to have | :16:58. | :17:04. | |
died when the factory complex caned our money outskirts of the capital, | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
Dhaka, and huge cranes have been used to remove the debris. Anbarasan | :17:09. | :17:15. | |
Ethirajan is there for us. The heavy machinery was suppressed | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
into service to remove the rubble from the building behind me after | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
rescue workers lost hope of finding any survivors after midnight. | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
Still, there are hundreds of people thought to be trapped inside and | :17:27. | :17:33. | |
this has generated widespread anger in this country. | :17:33. | :17:38. | |
The eight story building fell like a pack of cards last week, trapping | :17:38. | :17:44. | |
hundreds inside. The country years yet to recover from the shock. For | :17:44. | :17:50. | |
the first time, the Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina wet -- | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
witnessed the disaster site in person. Her government has been | :17:55. | :18:01. | |
under intense pressure. Five days after the disaster, the | :18:01. | :18:08. | |
owner of the building was arrested on charges of negligence. Rescue | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
teams have been frantically working to find survivors, but the price of | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
those trapped became weaker through the night. -- the tri- -- the cries | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
of those trapped. Fire broke out as the rescue workers were attempting | :18:24. | :18:28. | |
to free a girl. It started from the sparks of cutting equipment, forcing | :18:28. | :18:36. | |
rescuers to pull out. Heavy lifting gear has been brought in to aid the | :18:36. | :18:44. | |
clear up, effectively signalling the end of rescue operation. Anguished | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
relatives are waiting for news of those still trapped. | :18:49. | :18:53. | |
TRANSLATION: I was on the third floor. After the accident I was | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
inside the building for three days unconscious lying on the floor, then | :18:56. | :19:01. | |
I was rescued and taken to hospital. When I got my senses back I saw my | :19:01. | :19:08. | |
mother was missing. She was working alongside me in the factory. | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
Officials say they don't expect to find more survivors. Bangladesh's | :19:13. | :19:17. | |
worst ever industrial disaster has come as a wake-up call for the | :19:17. | :19:26. | |
clothing exporters and the authorities. | :19:26. | :19:31. | |
As the renovation work and clearing workers going on, hundreds are | :19:31. | :19:34. | |
waiting to hear about friends and relatives in the building, like | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
these people. They were working inside the building earlier and they | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
still have no answer and they don't know how long they have to wait to | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
hear about their loved ones who were working in this building. | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
Anbarasan Ethirajan, thank you. The Greek parliament has approved a | :19:51. | :19:56. | |
bill which will see 15,000 state employees lose their jobs by the end | :19:56. | :20:01. | |
of next year. Greece had to introduce the new law to receive 9 | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
billion euros, the latest instalment of an international bailout, but it | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
has prompted protests outside the parliament in Athens. | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
Civil servant in the line of fire. They burned an effigy of the public | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
sector worker, protesters angry at plans to lay off 15,000. The | :20:20. | :20:25. | |
demonstrator was smaller and -- demonstration was smaller and more | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
peaceful than before, but passions were still high. Inside parliament, | :20:29. | :20:34. | |
the bill was passed with a clear majority. It is the first time that | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
the sacred cow of the Greek constitution, civil service jobs for | :20:39. | :20:42. | |
life, will end, a condition for more bailout money. The Prime Minister | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
was visibly relieved. We are going through a very difficult patch. This | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
will be a success story. Less so are those who think they will be laid | :20:51. | :20:58. | |
off. This town Hall worker already has a salary of just 600 euros a | :20:58. | :21:03. | |
month. With a family to support, she is worried she will be among those | :21:03. | :21:10. | |
sacked. Of course I am fearful. My contract is not you for renewal for | :21:10. | :21:15. | |
three years. My family will be starving. On a political level, | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
Greece is, than last year. The talk of a Euro exit has faded and the | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
country no longer feels like it is falling off a cliff, but the | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
situation is dire, with unemployment over 27 %, one in three below the | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
poverty line, and many say the new measures will make things worse. The | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
public sector is already tearing up the seams, the cuts have hit | :21:39. | :21:46. | |
hospitals hard, a vital resource. Conditions are very harsh at the | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
moment, the impact of the austerity on public hospitals is a matter of | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
life and death, meaning we have had a shortage in wound dressings and | :21:57. | :22:02. | |
medical gloves and the doctors need to inform patients they need to buy | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
them themselves from the pharmacies. The government says tackling an | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
unwieldy public sector is long overdue. It now expects almost 9 | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
billion euros of bailout money within the next few weeks, but that | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
won't calm the social unrest as Greece desperately seeks a way out | :22:21. | :22:26. | |
of its pain. The Chief Inspector of Constabulary | :22:26. | :22:33. | |
for England and Wales, Tom Winsor, is calling for police to focus more | :22:33. | :22:37. | |
on preventing crime than catching criminals. He wants them to target | :22:37. | :22:41. | |
would-be offenders and crime hotspot 's, saying such a strategy would | :22:41. | :22:45. | |
save the criminal justice system money. | :22:45. | :22:50. | |
A European commission spokesman has confirmed that the commission will | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
go ahead with the temporary ban on neonicotinoids, the pesticides | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
linked to a dramatic decline in the numbers. But a formal decision will | :22:59. | :23:04. | |
only be made in a few weeks time. John Maguire is at an apiary in | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
Chippenham. This apiary has eight living hives | :23:09. | :23:14. | |
going into the winter, but only two survived intact. I would not be able | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
to get so close to a hive were the bees inside still alive and flying. | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
Bees are famously industrious, busy, hard-working but they are says that | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
double to their environment, to changes in the weather, to | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
infections and diseases like any other farm animals. The key is | :23:32. | :23:39. | |
whether this group of pesticides is making the bees' life even tougher | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
than it already is. In common with so many of the | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
beekeepers, Pete Douglas has seen his colonies on this organic form in | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
Wiltshire declined drastically -- organic farm. This is one of the | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
colonies which has died over the winter. If we look on this frame, | :23:58. | :24:06. | |
usually this would be absolutely covered in bees, there is a very old | :24:06. | :24:11. | |
patch here of brood where some of the bees should have emerged, they | :24:11. | :24:18. | |
are just dead. We know bad weather and disease have hit hard, and some | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
believe the pesticides called neonicotinoids are making matters | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
worse. Many of the scientists are showing that there is a huge problem | :24:26. | :24:31. | |
in terms of the impact of neonicotinoids on particularly | :24:31. | :24:38. | |
honeybees but also wild bees as well. At the food and environment | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
research agency near York, they say the issues are more complex. Weather | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
conditions play the most important role, the impact of pestilent | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
diseases, colony management. The more stresses you add to colonies, | :24:51. | :24:57. | |
the worse it will be. Despite concerns raised by the European Food | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
Safety Authority, the belief is that far more research is needed. They | :25:01. | :25:04. | |
have studied bumblebees and found no adverse effect. There is more work | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
to be done. If we can't find the harmful effects in the real world, | :25:10. | :25:15. | |
we know we will not be able to measure any benefits resulting from | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
a ban on neonicotinoids. And these are a very useful group of | :25:19. | :25:23. | |
pesticides for farmers and growers used to control a Hugh -- a whole | :25:23. | :25:30. | |
range of pest. Honey production was devastated last year. The bees are | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
vital pollinators. Look at the pollen caked on their legs as they | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
return. It is a huge help to the very farms that those supporting a | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
ban believe are worsening the plight of the honey bee. | :25:44. | :25:50. | |
So this is a complex issue and there is little agreement, really. No real | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
consensus. The EU ministers voting this morning did not manage to reach | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
a qualified majority. Because the European commission is minded to | :25:59. | :26:04. | |
bring forward this ban, it will take place. It will come in across Europe | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
later this summer, proudly in July. The moratorium will take two years. | :26:09. | :26:14. | |
The key thing will be to make sure there is more and more research, the | :26:14. | :26:20. | |
ultimate objective being to better protect such a vital pollinators. | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
Last year Sir Bradley Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
France, catapulting him to global fame. Olympic Lawrie follows, a | :26:30. | :26:33. | |
knighthood and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. This year | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
he is hoping to add another honour, by winning the Giro d'Italia. Andy | :26:39. | :26:44. | |
Swiss is in Wigan. For Sir Bradley Wiggins, his journey | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
starts in Wigan but it will finish on the streets of Naples. The tour | :26:49. | :26:56. | |
of Italy, his first big race of the summer. Can the man who wrote to | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
glory last year rise to his latest challenge? He is Britain's knight in | :27:01. | :27:07. | |
shining like red, Sir Bradley Wiggins, for many the man who | :27:07. | :27:13. | |
defined 2012, a world of speed and sideburns who captured the Tour de | :27:13. | :27:18. | |
France, Olympic gold and the public imagination. How on earth do you | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
follow that? You go for the next biggest prize, the tour of Italy, a | :27:24. | :27:32. | |
relief to get back to Britain. My saving grace is I have not gone out | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
and tried to cash in on the Olympics and got my face everywhere. Gone on | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
game shows and all this stuff like most of them have done, dancing | :27:42. | :27:48. | |
programmes. I went back to work on the 1st of January, that has been my | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
fate -- my saving grace. Wiggins was expected to support Chris Froome -- | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
Chris Frew in the Tour de France. Today Bradley Wiggins said he is | :27:56. | :28:02. | |
also still out to win it. The Giro d'Italia comes first, then it is not | :28:02. | :28:08. | |
a case of getting fat, it is getting back them to it, where will we be? | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
Then into the tour. The challenge is the Giro d'Italia. It will be a long | :28:15. | :28:22. | |
and intriguing summer, last year's king of the road has no intention of | :28:22. | :28:27. | |
giving up his crown. The two of Italy starts on Saturday, | :28:27. | :28:32. | |
interesting to hear him say that he still wants to win the Tour de | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
France, too. A remarkable double is still on the cards. | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
If you think spring has been slow to get going, spare a thought for the | :28:44. | :28:49. | |
people of Spain, who have been blanketed in snow for the last few | :28:49. | :28:52. | |
days. 18 provinces have extreme weather warnings, with temperatures | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
hovering around freezing. Some smaller roads have been blocked, and | :28:56. | :29:06. | |
:29:06. | :29:14. | ||
near Valencia, the coastal region is one of the many faces of spring that | :29:15. | :29:21. | |
we will see. We will see sunshine at times in the South, but rain at | :29:21. | :29:26. | |
times in the North. We will all season quite chilly nights. Here is | :29:26. | :29:31. | |
the satellite from so far today, 20 of sunshine across southern areas, | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
some fair-weather cried -- fair-weather cloud developing. The | :29:34. | :29:41. | |
best of the sunshine is across areas of southern England and South Wales. | :29:41. | :29:44. | |
Fair-weather cloud developing, but you will be unlucky if you catch a | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
shower. Temperatures not feeling bad in the sunshine. Some showers in a | :29:51. | :29:57. | |
fuel areas, across Scotland some of them will be heavy with hail and | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
thunder and a little bit of snow over the highest ground. The showers | :30:01. | :30:06. | |
have blown in on a pretty brisk north-westerly wind. Showers across | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
Scotland continue. In some spots we could see some snow to quite low | :30:10. | :30:16. | |
levels. It should not be too disruptive, just for the far north | :30:16. | :30:21. | |
of Scotland. Elsewhere, Shell is fading away, largely clear night. | :30:21. | :30:25. | |
Towns and cities are not so far away from freezing, out in the | :30:25. | :30:31. | |
countryside, some countryside areas in England could get close to | :30:31. | :30:35. | |
freezing, some sheltered glens of Scotland even a bit below. A | :30:35. | :30:41. | |
widespread ground frost and some as frost tomorrow morning, but then | :30:41. | :30:46. | |
better weather. There will be extra cloud through Northern Ireland, | :30:46. | :30:50. | |
Scotland and northern and eastern areas of England, producing the odd | :30:50. | :30:54. | |
isolated shower but Shell is nothing like as heavy as today. The highest | :30:54. | :31:04. | |
:31:04. | :31:05. | ||
temperatures are in the South. That sets us up for what looks like a | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
north-south split for the middle of the week. High pressure keeping | :31:08. | :31:11. | |
things largely settled. Cloud and patchy rain across Northern Ireland, | :31:11. | :31:17. | |
Scotland and northern England across Wednesday. Temperatures at 15 or 16 | :31:17. | :31:21. | |
Celsius in the south, you will be lucky to get that in the north. The | :31:21. | :31:26. | |
north-south contrast to continue. Just six degrees in Fort William on | :31:26. | :31:31. | |
Friday, parts of the South could get up to 15 or 16 with more sunshine | :31:31. | :31:36. | |
and more dry weather. Many different faces offspring as we head to the | :31:36. | :31:40. | |
next few days. The driest, brightest weather will probably be in the | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
South. Our main story: An investigation | :31:45. | :31:49. |