13/09/2013 BBC News at One

Detectives launched a murder enquiry after a mother and her three

children are killed in a house fire in Leicester. The woman died with

her three teenagers this morning, in what police believe may be a revenge

attack linked to another murder. Also this lunchtime: Seeking the

common ground, Russia and America are said to be heading towards an

agreement on Syria's chemical weapons.

A court in Delhi sentences four men to death for the brutal rape and

murder of a young woman on a bus. Calls for a cap on the average rise

in house prices to stop another property bubble.

And Twitter and outs as it plans to offer shares to the public in a

company valued at £6 billion. Later on BBC London: Ministerial

meddling and departmental hindering could ruin plans for HS2, says an

influential business group. And as London Fashion week gets

underway, how technology could choose the clothes we buy.

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One.

Police in Leicester say they are treating the death of a woman and

three teenagers in a house fire this morning as murder. Detectives

investigating the blaze in the Spinney Hill area say it may be a

investigating the blaze in the revenge attack and may be linked to

investigating the blaze in the the murder of a man in his 20s

nearby several hours earlier. Our correspondent is at the scene.

Yes, forensics officers are continuing their work here this

lunchtime. They now say they are not treating this fire as accidental.

This is a murder investigation. A woman in her 40s died along with her

three children. Her daughter, who was 19 and two teenage sons who were

aged 17 and 15 and well-known here locally.

No room in this terraced home was and touched by the fire. It ripped

through the property in the early hours of this morning. You could see

the house on fire. I went to the front door and you could see the

staircase on fire. The door was open. If you were upstairs, there

was no chance of getting down stairs. Four people died here. Their

bodies were found in the upstairs dreams. It is understood the family

moved here a few years ago because of the local religious schools for

the children. Leicester police are investigating what happened. They

said they were not ruling out the possible link to the murder of a man

in Leicester yesterday. The circumstances and cause of the fire

are currently under investigation and we can confirm we are treating

this as suspicious. A murder investigation has begun. These are

obviously both very serious incidents and the investigations are

there very early stages. At Friday prayers, the family are being

remembered. The community here are shocked by a tragedy that they are

struggling to understand. Community leaders have said they will be

holding three days of mourning here for this family while police are

still trying to find out what exactly caused this lays.

Thank you. -- this lays. The American Secretary of State and

the Russian Foreign Minister have said their talks could lead to a

wider initiative to end the conflict in Syria. Mr Kerry said the talks

had been constructive. Our correspondent Rajesh Mirchandani

reports. In a heavily guarded motorcade, the

Russian and American teams arrived together, a sign perhaps of the

spirit of cooperation on day two of these important talks in Geneva.

John Kerry and said gay lover of first met UN officials before

resuming their task -- Sergei Lavrov. Early reports were good. I

think we would both agreed that we Lavrov. Early reports were good. I

had constructive conversations. Both of us want to get back to them now.

had constructive conversations. Both There is talk of reaching an

understanding by the end of today but much separates the sides. Russia

will not agree to military force as a way of making Syria comply. But

the architect of the plan, Vladimir Putin, sounded cautiously

optimistic. TRANSLATION: The initiative to establish

international control of the Syrian chemical weapons is underway and we

impart much significance to it, and hope for positive results which will

create the conditions for a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis. For

its part, Syria has begun signing up to the international treaty banning

chemical weapons. But a UN report on a poison gas attack near Damascus

last month, is due in a few days. It may show a trail of evidence leading

to Assad's forces. On the ground fighting goes on. Today, and major

human rights group accused Syrian government forces of executing

civilians. A reminder of the brutality of the Civil War.

This has been a green light for Syria to continue to kill its own

people. One of the worst scenarios would be to have blue helmets on the

ground looking for chemical weapons, at the same time as the Syrian

government continues to kill its own people with much more conventional

weapons. Already 100,000 people have died in Syria and whatever happens

in Geneva, there will be no quick solution on the ground.

In a moment, we will be speaking to James Reynolds who is in Kurdistan.

But first, James Robbins is that the talks in Geneva. What is the latest

from those talks? The latest is that John Kerry and Sergei Lavrov, his

Russian counterpart, are meeting in the hotel behind me. Meanwhile, in

other rooms of the hotel, smaller working groups of experts, on

chemical weapons disarmament is, are meeting in working groups, reporting

back to their ministers all the time. They are trying to see if they

can bridge differences on how to handle the process of stripping

Syria of its chemical weapons and the degree to which pressure needs

to be maintained on President Assad. The Russians are opposed to any

strikes. There are I think indications that they feel they are

making progress. The Russians said this morning they hope for a

positive outcome, possibly by the end of today, but they said Minister

Sergei Lavrov was prepared to stay until tomorrow if that is what it

took. Both sides say they will meet on the wider issue of trying to end

the Syrian conflict during the big UN conflict which opens in New York

in ten or 12 days time. There are positive signs but there are still

huge differences which need to be resolved. We can speak to James

Reynolds now. Monday will be an important day because the UN report

will come out, the report done by the UN weapons inspectors and that

could heap more pressure on all of this? It could. What we will be

looking for in that report is evidence one way or the other to

confirm that the Assad government was responsible for the chemical

weapons attack. If such language exists in that report, the West will

say to Russia and other countries that there is no doubt that Mr Assad

was responsible. But if the language in that report is circumstantial, if

it does not accuse Mr Assad's regime directly, then I think Mr Putin will

say that for the moment Russia's diplomacy will carry on. I watched

him at the meeting earlier today. He looked very confident. He received

the praise of China and Iran, the other crucial allies of Syria. It

looked at the moment that Mr Putin is in the diplomatic driving seat.

Thank you both very much. You can see more on this story on the BBC

News website. Four men who raped and murdered a

student on a bus in Delhi have been sentenced to death. The attack on

the 23-year-old woman caused outrage around the world and sparked days of

violent demonstrations in India. This morning, the judge refused

pleas for lighter sentences. Our correspondent Sanjoy Majumder sent

this report from Delhi. The four men were brought to court

under heavy security and driven past the waiting media. One of them

shouting out, brothers, save us. There was an unprecedented police

presence at the court today. All of India had been waiting for the

sentence. Minutes later, the judge announced his sentence, the death

penalty for all four, for a crime which he said had hurt the

collective conscience of India. The victim's family were present as well

and said justice had been served. Defence lawyers said the verdict did

not come as a surprise. TRANSLATION: The accused had hopes of getting

justice. They knew what would happen to them. Even while they were coming

to court, they were nervous and crying and saying, this is bound to

happen to us. It was on this bus that the young woman was gang raped

and brutally beaten. Her injuries so severe that she died two weeks

later. Her death led to an outpouring of grief and anger.

Indians came out onto the streets in large numbers, demanding justice.

This is a trial which has been closely followed, not just here in

India, but across the world. The national and international media

followed every minute of the trial. Now it has come to a conclusion and

the sentence has been handed out, some people are asking, will it

change things on the ground? A woman is raped in India every 20 minutes,

so many believe a lot more needs to be done for that to end. We need a

certainty of conviction, we need swift convictions, we do not need

extreme sentences. What we need is for these crimes to stop. The

defendants have the right to appeal for these crimes to stop. The

so it will be awhile before their sentences carried out. India has two

continued to search for answers on how to make the country safe for

women. The Royal Institution of Chartered

Surveyors is urging the Bank of England to cap the average rise in

house prices to prevent another house price bubble. It says the

ceiling of 5% a year would head off the danger of an unsustainable

hoppity boom. It is a way of bursting a house

price bubble before it gets too big, 5% annual rise would trigger

action slow prices down. A stable housing market is in the interest of

everyone and frankly, boom and bust does not do anyone any good. If

average prices jumped by more than 5% in a year, surveyors want buyers

to be forced to put down a higher deposit, to be able to borrow less

in relation to incomes, and be able to pay the loan back quicker to halt

demand. Prices are big concern in Winchester, in the south of England,

where estate agents have seen them crashed through the 5% are already

in the last year. But in other parts of the UK they have been falling and

even here the picture is patchy. What you will find it is very

location driven. If you went ten miles north or south from here, it

will be a very different from what Winchester has experienced. The

problem is trying to rein back the housing market could be unwelcome.

In a large part of the country where prices are pretty stagnant and

restrict to mortgages could be bad news for those people who are

already finding it difficult to raise the money to buy a home. At

the moment, the government is trying to read the housing market up. It

helped to buy scheme makes it easier to purchase new homes. The second

stage in January will offer mortgage guarantees to buyers of older

properties as well. The obvious thing to do is to curtail the second

part of the house scheme. The Bank of England will not curtail the

housing market while the Chancellor is doing the exact opposite. The 5%

limit is just an idea. The Bank of England says it is not needed

because it already has powers to restrict mortgage lending if it

wants to. Our top story this lunchtime:

Detectives have launched a murder enquiry after a mother and her three

teenagers are killed in a house fire in Leicester.

Still to come: And adventure are trying to float across the Atlantic

using helium filled balloons comes back down-to-earth with a bump.

Later on BBC London: More than 40 million pounds of talent, how

Arsenal's record signing could make his debut this weekend. And the

Bowie Bandstand in Beckerman which has been saved by found. -- saved by

a fan. It has become one of the most

powerful and intellectual media sites in the world. 200 million

people used Twitter to share news and information in under 140

characters and this morning, Twitter tweeted some big news of its own. It

has announced it is planning to offer shares to the public in a move

which analysts say could raise more Twitter has come a long way since

its first tweet in 2006. Jack Dorsey was still a student when he came up

with the idea. An online way of texting a group of people at the

same time. His idea took off. In three years, 1 billion tweets had

been generated, thanks to a growing number of celebrities and

journalists around the world. Seven years after its launch, Twitter has

more than 200 million active users worldwide.

more than 200 million active users Including 15 million in the UK

alone. Helping to generate half a billion tweets sent every day. It

has become a quick and effective way to communicate, so much so that

Twitter boasts at least 120 presidents and Prime Ministers. Pope

Benedict became the first pontiff on Twitter in September. President

Obama is the most followed world leader with 35mm. And Justin Bieber

currently rules Twitter, with more than 44 million followers. It has

come a place where news is broken. First reports on the raid on Osama

bin Ladin's compound came on Twitter. As did the first images of

the passenger jet forced to make an emergency landing on the Hudson

River in 2009. Twitter has also helped mobilise thousands across the

Middle East during the Arab Spring. It has given people a voice that

they did not have, to broadcast news to the world. But it is simple and

user-friendly and intuitive. That is the key. But it is had its fair

share of controversy, criticised for not doing enough to tackle rape

threats and for not doing enough to stop Twitter accounts, including BBC

weather, from being hacked. No Twitter is starting a new

financial chapter, and of course it announced it in a tweet. Rory

Cellan-Jones is with me. How will they make money? For years and

years, Twitter seems to be oblivious to the need to make money. It

concentrated on building its audience. Now it has that audience,

it is using it to send them advertising. Just like the thing

else on the internet, it depends on advertising. -- everything else.

That has grown in the last few months with promoted tweets and

companies using data to engage with customers. But it will grow even

more rapidly if it is to be a customers. But it will grow even

valuable company. The Education Secretary has attacked

official regulations which he says prevent the authorities from

stepping in to protect vulnerable children in care homes from abuse.

He says that data protection laws have left the police and government

departments unable to help children at risk, exposing them to the threat

of paedophile gangs. There are almost 5000 children

living in residential homes in England. Looking after them costs

more than £1 billion. But exactly where they are looked after and how

well they are looked after has never been clear. The rules are there to

protect children's identities and are being used and distorted by the

public authority who does not want scrutiny of their own actions. They

are not properly accountable to the taxpayer, who is spending a fortune.

There are men arriving at the front doors of children homes, and girls

are being led out of the front door and being sexually groomed. And

nobody is taking responsibility. That is a scandal that has to end.

Today, the Department for education published data that they say will

bring transparency and accountability to the system. What

has the information revealed? Lancashire has the highest number of

homes in England, with 89. Most children in those key reforms come

from outside the county. That is because there are 16 local

authorities who send or what their children outside of the local area.

In places like Shropshire, Rochdale and Brighton, nearly one in four

children are local. Many of these and Brighton, nearly one in four

children are many miles from their homes, isolated and at the risk of

harm. We have seen cases of sexual exportation which we have been

unable to tackle. This man has first-hand expedience of children's

homes. He grew up in one and now fosters children who spent time in a

home. Over the decades, he says, things have deteriorated. I feel

sorry for kids in care today. I think the system was better one I

was in care cos you knew your social worker and you got to see them. I

know social workers who travel hundreds of miles to keep track of

some of their kids. And that is wrong. Under new rules, police will

be given a role in assessing whether a home should be opened, and until

recently, forces were prevented from knowing even if a home existed in

the area. Don't hide behind the data protection act. We all want to see

vulnerable children protected. That is the core of this. It does nothing

to do with the data protection act. Somebody has been telling Ofsted

that they cannot do stuff or telling the Secretary of State that they

cannot do stuff and that is wrong. Today's data rates one in three key

homes as being below the standards of government would like to stop --

care homes. Too many children are being looked after but not cared

for. The leader of the Green party,

Natalie Bennett, said there will be a big shift away from the

Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the next few

years. Delegates are gathering in Brighton for the annual conference

which begins this afternoon. Miss Bennett said that voters were

talking about her party and UKIP in the same breath, even though the

parties have different policies. The Ned Boulting police say they have

broken up a plot to steal millions of pounds from a bank taking control

of one of its computers 12 men have been arrested in and around London

for trying to fit a device to a been arrested in and around London

computer in a branch of Santander in the Surrey Quays shopping centre.

Our correspondent is here. The police are saying that this is an

audacious plot. They are calling it very sophisticated. Essentially, a

man went into this branch in London posing as a maintenance engineer. He

attempted to fit a device called the keyboard video mouse. Essentially,

that is a black box with wires, very high-tech, which allows people to

access that computer from a remote location. The Metropolitan Police

say that if it had worked, they could have stolen gleams of pounds.

But these men, crucially, were already on the radar of the iconic

crime unit. And they had alerted the bank. The bank knew some months

before the man went in there. It seems that both sides played along

before the man went in there. It and yesterday, the arrested 12

people. 11 of them were arrested at an office in Hounslow. They are

still being questioned. What is the bank saying? Santander said this

morning that they work closely with the police to prevent this kind of

fraud. They say they want to point out the nonobvious staff were

involved and no money was taken. No customers were at risk. Crucially,

and this is what most people will want to know, Santander are say they

take full responsibility for fraud like this. It had worked, no

customers would have been left out of pocket. Thank you very much. 37

people have died in a fire that engulfed a psychiatric fiddle in

north-western Russia. A nurse trying to guide patients to safety was

among the dead. The blaze, south of Saint Petersburg, may have been

caused by a cigarette. There were around 60 people in the

hospital when the fire broke out before three o'clock this morning.

More than half of them are now dead or missing. Parts of the largely

wooden buildings dated back to the 19th century. The emergencies

Ministry tried recently to have it closed down because of your safety

standards. But the court gave the hospital until next year to improve.

Now it is a smouldering reminder of Russia's appalling fire safety

records in hospitals and nursing homes. It was only five months ago

that 38 people died in another fire in a wooden psychiatric hospital. At

the time, President Putin called on all public bodies to pay more

attention to fire safety. But it did not prevent another tragedy. This

attention to fire safety. But it did fire is being taken so seriously

that the head of Russia's equivalent of the FBI has personally flown to

the scene to oversee the investigation. And because some

patients were locked in, the death toll might have been much worse.

TRANSLATION: There was a bar on the door. Why broke it with a pic. I

said the patient is free. -- I broke it with a pic. Eyewitnesses say that

the psychiatric patients were confused and reluctant to leave the

building. Among the dead was a nurse who lost her life trying to rescue

those in her care. The man in charge of the 2022 football World Cup in

Qatar insists that the Gulf state is the right place for the competition

despite continuing concerns over the extreme temperatures during the

tournaments. FIFA is expected to stage it during

the winter months to avoid the heat. That will not satisfy all critics.

It was an announcement that stunned the world of football. But the

fallout from awarding Qatar at the the world of football. But the

2022 World Cup continues. The summer temperatures at the time the event

is traditionally hurled, the protest -- traditionally held, and the

process of moving the time that the event is traditionally held will

begin next month. But the man organising the event insists that

his region's time has come. The Middle East is the right place. We

represent the Middle East. It is a Middle Eastern World Cup. The Middle

East deserves to host a major tournament. 2022 will be the first

World Cup in the Middle East and the plans to cope with the heat include

air cooling technology, a key part of the legacy plans. Sepp Blatter

thinks that Qatar can host a memorable tournament had admitted

this week that a mistake may have been awarded in awarding the summer

cup. Many insist that a new country should be found if the original

intentions cannot be capped. But Qatar are confident that they face

no threat. No one is taking this on -- off you? You think someone is

quick to take it away from us? No, absolutely not. There is no reason

for it. Every promise that we have made, we have worked hard to insure

we were within the rules of hosting the event. At the same time, we are

delivering on the promises we have made. We are working hard to deliver

delivering on the promises we have it. The commitment is there. The

battle lines are being drawn but Qatar are determined that their

status as host nation will not be challenged.

An attempt to float across the Atlantic using 370 zillion balloons

has had to be abandoned because of technical problems. Jonathan Trappe

left at the east coast of America yesterday but was forced to land

after only 13 hours. In an online message posted from Newfoundland, he

said he was safe and well. It was always going to be ambitious.

As well as risky. And the touch eccentric. -- eight touch. Each of

As well as risky. And the touch the helium balloons was inflated and

attached to the basket to doubling as a lifeboat. Once they were

secure, the Star Spangled Banner, goodbye and take off. But despite

secure, the Star Spangled Banner, two years of planning, the journey

did not last long. Jonathan Trappe had to abandon his trip over

Newfoundland because of technical problems. He is safe and well but

for now, his journey has ended. Having already used his cluster of

helium balloons to travel over the Alps and the shallow, don't expect

helium balloons to travel over the him to give up on an Atlantic

crossing. Tens of thousands of people have

been told to leave their homes after severe flooding in the American

state of Colorado. At least three people have died. Roads and bridges

state of Colorado. At least three have been swept away and homes

damaged following heavy rain that started on Monday. Time for a look

at the weather. It is not looking too good, is it? There is a strong

jet stream across the Atlantic at the moment. That will play a big

part this weekend. The first big autumn low, a storm arriving on our

shores on Sunday. Nothing like that today. The wind is

fairly light. The South West of England and parts of Wales, pushing

into Liverpool and Manchester, really quite wet this afternoon.

Focusing in on that wet weather, across the south-west of England,

Wales, not particularly pleasant. A lot of water on the roads and

pavements. Further east, light rain and drizzle. Fairly humid, 19

degrees in London. Working the way into -- working its way into

Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is looking OK. As is the East of

Scotland. Further west, more cloud. is looking OK. As is the East of

The main area of rain is on the move, pushing across much of

northern England and onto Eastern England towards evening and

overnight. That rain will still lurk towards the south-east by dawn.

Further north, skies were clear and temperatures will drop away. In

rural spots, we are looking at Singer figures. -- single figures.

In many places, tomorrow will be a decent day. Overnight rain lingering

in the south-east. Eventually, the rain will ease. For many, a bit

fresher. Some spells of sunshine and rain will ease. For many, a bit

the odd shower. The message has to be, make the most of Saturday

because on Sunday, there is a deep Atlantic low. Lots of isobars, so it

is going to be quite windy. The wind is picking up as you move into

Sunday afternoon. Looking at the numbers, the wind will be up to 60

mph um maybe even more. -- 60 mph, maybe even more. The temperatures

are academic because it will not feel that pleasant in the wind. The

great North run is happening on Sunday and the rain will set in.

Notice that the wind is picking up all while. Not a day for that. The

weekend, Saturday is the better of the two days. In the north and west,

the Gaels will linger into Monday. Lots of sport events taking place

this weekend. See how the weather impact upon those on our website.

Warnings have already been issued for the weather on Sunday. A

reminder of our top story. Detectives have launched a murder

enquiry after a mother and three children were killed in a house fire

in Leicester. That is from us.