05/07/2011 BBC News at Six

The pressure on News International grows, with fresh allegations about

phone hacking. Tonight, it's emerged the parents of murdered

schoolgirls, Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, have been

contacted by police investigating the scandal. It follows claim

that's Milly Dowler's phone was hacked, after she disappeared.

The editor of the News of the World at the time, Rebekah Brooks, says

she's shocked and appalled. course she should consider her

position. This goes well beyond one individual. This is about the

culture and practices that were obviously going on at that

newspaper, the News of the World, over a sustained period. If they

are true, this is a truly dreadful act and a truly dreadful situation.

What I've read in the papers is quite, quite shocking. Tonight, the

car giant Ford has said it's pulling its advertising from the

News of the World. Also on the programme: A human tragedy of

unimaginable proportions, the UN is warning about the drought affecting

ten million people in east Africa. The train manufacturer, Bombardier,

is to cut almost half its workforce in Derby. 1400 jobs will go.

will take 20 years to recover from this. Never. I don't know how many

is unemployed in Derby, when all these thousands join the queue,

you'll never get one. How the e- mails, tweets and computer games

are changing family live. In Sportsday: England's women are

in action against Japan at the World Cup in Germany. A draw will

confirm their place in the quarter Good evening. Welcome to the BBC

News at six. The storm of controversy about phone hacking at

the News of the World is growing. Tonight it's emerged that police,

investigating the scandal, have contacted the parents of Holly

Wells and Jessica Chapman, the schoolgirls killed in Soham in 2002.

There have been calls for the chief executive of News International and

the editor at the time, Rebekah Brooks, to resign. Though she says

she knew nothing about the alleged phone hacking. MPs on all sides

have expressed their revulsion. Our business editor, Robert Peston,

reports. Milly Dowler, murdered in 2002,

whose mobile phone voice mails were allegedly intercepted by the News

of the World, after she was killed, but before her body was found.

Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, the schoolgirls murdered in Soham,

also in 2002, police are investigating whether Jessica

Chapman's father's phone was hacked. Rebekah Brooks was editor of the

News of the World when the alleged phone hacking took place. Today she

said she's not resigning from her current job as chief executive as

News International, as her company faced a deluge of criticism. What

I've read in the papers is quite, quite shocking, that someone would

do this, actually knowing that the police were trying to find this

person and trying to find out what had happened. We all now know the

tragedy that took place. Of course she should consider her position.

But this goes well beyond one individual. This is about the

culture and practices that were obviously going on, at that

newspaper, the News of the World, over a sustained period. This

wasn't a rogue reporter. Rebekah Brooks told staff today that the

allegations were horrific and that she knew nothing about them when

she was editor of the Sunday paper. She's absolutely determined to get

to the bottom of this issue. She's put three very senior executives in

charge of it. We run this fulltime. We make decisions. We report to her

and we are under no illusion that she is determined if things went

wrong, that we will correct them and that justice will be done.

News of the World, Rebekah Brooks was editor in 2002. She was

replaced in 2003 by Andy Coulson. After the first revelations about

hacking, he quit in 2007 and went on to work for David Cameron as

Director of Communications. Today, Rebekah Brooks is the boss of the

publisher of the News of the World, News International, in turn owned

by News Corporation, so her boss and protector is Rupert Murdoch,

chairman of News Corporation. News International's position is that

they're investigating whether Milly Dowler's voice mails were hacked

into. But privately they accept that the basic allegations are true.

Perhaps more striking, is that those executives also say there may

be even more embarrassing revelations to come about the way

that News of the World journalists obtained information about other

individuals. British Sky broadcasting uction News

Corporation owns 39% of the UK's largest broadcaster and it's trying

to buy 100%. This organisation, Ofcom, has the power to decide

whether or not News Corp is now a fit and proper owner of Sky.

they were to decide at any point in the future, given what may have

emerged by then, that News Corporation were not fit and proper,

they could act at any point. pressure keeps piling on News

International. NPower, the energy group and the Halifax, are

reviewing whether to stop advertising in the News of the

World and because of concern abouts standards of behaviour at the paper,

Ford has suspended advertising. The Home Secretary, Theresa May,

has said police will follow the investigation into phone hacking

wherever it leads. The scandal, which began with a minor story

about the Royal Family in the News of the World, has now gone deeper

and wider than anyone could have anticipated. Our home affairs

correspondent, Tom Symonds, joins me now.

Some tabloid journalists have described phone hacking as just a

trick of the trade. But the Milly Dowler allegations demonstrate the

seriousness of the criminal investigation. They deepen the

moral debate about British journalism. It all started with a

News of the World story, Prince William suffering a knee injury.

Information obtained by phone hacking. The News of the World

royal editor Clive Goodman here was jailed. Back then, a handful of

well known people were known to be victims. But in 2009, it emerged

that the number was much higher, more than 100 we now know. Under

pressure the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson resigned

from his job, as the Prime Minister's spokesman. Now a major

police investigation is under way. We wait for answers.

These allegations are truly shocking. It is right that they

should be looked at, that they should be investigated with great

vigour. Obviously we have been absolutely clear in relation to all

the allegation that's have come about phone hacking, this is a

matter for the police to investigate and they should take

those investigations wherever the evidence leads them. The private

investigator Glenn Mulcaire is still at the centre of this. Police

are examining which journalists he worked for and what he was doing.

The Milly Dowler revelations, if true, date from an earlier period,

2002, when Rebekah Brooks, here giving evidence to MPs, was News of

the World editor. There is evidence Mulcaire was working for the paper

at the time. It comes from his reporter's note books, 11,000 pages

of notes, seized by police years ago. They're important because he

meticulously recorded the names of his targets, their phone numbers,

voice mail, pin numbers and account details and crucially, which

journalists commissioned the hacking. The police inquiry's

likely to lead to more prosecutions, not before time say some critics.

We were told firstly that News International had carried out an

investigation and that they'd found no evidence, other than one

reporter, being involved. That was plainly not the case. All this

evidence was available to the police for the last few years, yet

only now is it being uncovered. something many of those involved

keep saying is that there are more allegations to come, more victims,

other newspapers involved as well as illegality beyond phone hacking.

And it's increasingly clear that after that may come big questions,

about where to draw the line in British journalism.

Lets lae -- let's talk to Nick Robinson now. There's been

condemnation from all sides on these revelations, how big is the

political storm over this? Just imagine for a second that you are

the chief executive of News International, that you are the

woman who used to edit the News of the World. Then this about this:

Your friend, the Prime Minister, has condemned in the most serious

terms what happened on your paper. The leader of the Opposition has

gone further, told you to consider your position and called for a

public inquiry. That call has been backed, not just by people on his

own side, but by a former Tory party chairman and journalist

Norman Fowler. Advertisers are pulling out. The police are having

an inquiry involving 40 to 50 staff, I'm told by one source, this is

probably the biggest police investigation in Britain today. It

doesn't look good. And where is this likely to go next then? She is

now a News International are now having to find answers to the

questions about whether the parents of holly and Jessica, the two

victims of the Soham murders, had their phones hacked. All we know at

the moment is that the police have been in contact. There are no

specific allegations at this stage. I'm told, once again, Rebekah

Brooks, is shocked and appalled by this, yet, pause for a second, it

is many weeks since now the suggestion that the Soham murder

victims might have been involved in this was raised in the House of

Commons. I know that News International did carry out their

own internal inquiries. Into whether there was a paper trail of

that and found none. Yes, they may be shocked by the evidence. No,

they are certainly not shocked by the suggestion. And all this in a

week they are hoping that News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch's

parent company will get permission to take over BSkyB. This is not

just now a big political story, it is a major business story involving

one of our biggest and most successful companies. Thank you.

A human tragedy of unimaginable proportions, that's the warning

from the United Nations High Commissioner for refugees, who says

there are unprecedented levels of malnutrition among children fleeing

Somalia to escape the severe drought in east Africa. Oxfam say,

Save the Children and the Red Cross are launching emergency appeals.

More than ten million people across large parts of Ethiopia, Somalia,

and Kenya are facing dire shortages of food, shelter and health

services. Ben Brown is the only British TV journalist at the Dadaab

refugee camp. Day after day, mile after mile,

they walk and walk. These are the people of the drought, but they're

also escaping from Somalia's endless Civil War. And they trek

vast distances across land where it no longer seems to rain.

Some are sick like this six -month- old baby. These people are all from

the same village in Somalia. What they carry is all they possess.

journey was too long. We had no food. We were carrying children on

our back no, water, threats from wild animals. All kinds of

suffering. This group have been walking for five days to get here.

Others have travelled for several weeks. All of them are looking for

the same thing - food, water and medical supplies. And pleasing for

help from the international community. When they arrive at the

refugee camp, they are desperate. This place has been overwhelmed and

aid workers are struggling to cope. The UN say they do give basic

rations to everyone who comes here. But some refugees complain they can

wait for days or even weeks without getting any proper food supplies.

Unless we can scale up our operations to meet this need, this

crisis can turn into a catastrophe, this is what we have to stop.

The most vulnerable at this camp are the malnourished children who

have just arrived. Often they die within a day or so of getting here.

So the graveyards are filling up fast, mainly it's children and

babies buried here, families, who've come in search of food and

water, have found death instead. The train manufacturer, Bombardier

is to cut almost half its workforce at the plant in Derby. It's

shedding more tan 1400 jobs, as a result of missing out on a

Government contract to proo pro- vied Thames link trains.

Richard Scott is at the plant now. What you can see here is carriages

being assembled for London underground. They start their life

at the far end of the hangar and are assembled in stages and

completed at this end. In a few months, this contract will be the

only work that's carried out here. There was no summer warmth today

for workers at the Bombardier factory. The Government is giving a

contract for 1200 new carriages to the German company Siemens, because

it says that's the best value for money for taxpayers. But that means

many workers here will lose their jobs. Take 20 years to recover from

this, never. I don't know how many's unemployed in Derby, when

these thousands join that queue, if you ain't got a job, you're never

going to get one. If I haven't got a job now, the Government will have

to pay more money for me to be unemployed. That's silly. That's

stupid. Disappointed with losing our jobs. That's that. Thanks to

the Government. The Bombardier is cutting nearly 450 permanent jobs

in Derby, as well as nearly a thousand temporary contract staff.

In addition it thinks at least 6,000 jobs at suppliers are at risk.

The Siemens contract will create some UK jobs. The trains will be

built in Germany. In some respects Bombardier is almost a victim of

its success. Over the last few years, it's been dealing with huge

orders for various different train companies. This train, for example,

is in its final fit out for London Midland. But with one exception,

all those contracts are going to finish offer the next few months,

and without the Thames link contract, there isn't enough work

to keep people on. Bombardier has said that more than

a thousand jobs would have gone in Derby any way, even if it had won

the contract. It argues if France or Germany were building trains

they would have given the contract to domestic factories. In May,

Siemens won a multibillion deal to build trains in Germany too. It's

difficult to see an economic model, where particularly in times as

tough as these, procuring work from overseas, instead of supporting UK

The Government says it had no choice with this deal, but is

looking at the issue. We've got to look at long-term procurement,

staying within European rules. We have no alternative but to do that.

But to operate like the French and the Germans, insuring that tenders

are drawn up in a way that helps our manufacturers'. There could be

more bad news on the way. Bombardier is carrying out a review

of UK operations. That could see more jobs go.

There is some good news on the horizon for train production in the

UK. A attack she is due to open a new factory in the North of England.

Our top story: It has emerged that police investigating the News of

the World phone hacking scandal have contacted the parents of Holly

Wells and Jessica Chapman, the schoolgirls killed in Soham in 2002.

Coming up, the head of FIFA Sepp Blatter meets Robert Mugabe, as

concerns are raised about the World Cup bidding process.

On the news channel we will have more on Bombardier as the train

maker announces it is to cut 1400 jobs. And the service sector grew

in June. But the latest economic figures that show a worrying slump

David Cameron has issued a direct appeal to the Taliban to lay down

their arms and become part of the political process in Afghanistan.

Speaking on the second day of his visit to the country, he also

announced that Britain would set up and run a new officer training

academy for the Afghan army and increase the amount of aid given to

British troops in Helmand. Dropping into one area the Taliban

previously controlled. The Taliban, wisely, were not there to meet them.

So far, British soldiers have not run into any opposition. Usually,

when the insurgents see NATO coming in strength they retreat. But not

always. One of the villagers hopes that things will improve without

the insurgents around. The Taliban steal our food, he says. I'm very

poor, but if I protest they say, you support NATO. NATO is

successfully pushing the Taliban out of places like this. In Helmand

it is because 10,000 British troops will be enforced by 20,000

Americans. That deployment has now peaked. David Cameron said in Kabul

today that progress was good enough to withdraw more British troops. He

will make the announcement tomorrow. It will probably be just a few

hundred soldiers. But by 2015 there will be no British combat forces

here at all. I think the British people deserve a deadline because

we have been in Helmand province since 2006. We have been in

Afghanistan, militarily, since 2001. I believe the Afghan government,

the Afghan people, the Afghan army deserter had a deadline so that

they can plan properly towards transition. So, it over to the

Afghan forces. The police seemed willing to help themselves to food

just like the Taliban. They did, though, find a Taliban ammunition

store in a vegetable patch. The insurgents have not gone away. They

were sniping at the soldiers on the operation that we joined. The

Afghan forces lack much. British officers say privately that there

is still a big problem with corruption. The question now, will

the Afghans be able to do the job that British soldiers had been

The footballer Rio Ferdinand has told a court of his anger when he

read a kiss-and-tell story about himself in the Sunday Mirror last

year. The married Manchester United play is suing for breach of privacy

over an article that alleged he had an affair with another woman. The

newspaper claims it was in the public interest to run the story.

The EU has partially banned imports of seeds and beans from Egypt after

some were linked to an E.coli outbreak in Germany and France. The

European Food Safety Authority has said a batch of Fenham Greeks seats

is the likely source of the strain, which has so far killed 50 people.

MPs looking into the bidding process for the World Cup have

accused FIFA of attempting to sweep corruption scandals under the

carpet. Members of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee also

found that England's Football Association failed to learn the

lessons of previous World Cup bids. Sepp Blatter, meet Robert Mugabe.

Something of an open goal for the headline writers, as yesterday the

presidents of FIFA and Zimbabwe shared a chuckle. But in England,

FIFA remains no laughing matter. Back in May, Lord Triesman told a

select committee that four FIFA members asked for favours in return

for supporting England's World Cup bid. Sepp Blatter dismissed the

claims. Today, he and FIFA were accused of trying to sweep the

candle under the carpet. -- scandal. FIFA need to hold a full,

independent investigation into all allegations of corruption,

demonstrating they are taking them seriously. I think they have been

contemptuous of the allegations that have been brought by the

Football Association, by other people with regards to corruption.

As well as FIFA, the English bid itself has been roundly criticised.

The report questioned its leadership and unity and said the

FA at Wembley simply didn't have enough international cloud. The FA

spent �15 million on the bid. They had stars like David Beckham. Yet,

with few allies in football, it all counted for little. It's not about

what England did or did not do in the last 15 months. It's about what

they did or did not do in 15 years. In that context, they needed to

prepare the ground within international organisations in

which we operate. Yet again, it is mainly FIFA in the firing line.

Speaking in Zimbabwe, Sepp Blatter said he would try to solve their

problems in the next three months. In the report's words, his record

does not inspire confidence. Now, it has become an integral part

of our everyday lives. Mobile phones, texting and social media

keep us connected and entertained. New research has found one in three

of us has found the new technology overwhelming. Researchers from

Cambridge University also found that children still prefer to

I went to meet Jo Hagan and her two daughters. They have been part of a

study following how many hours they are checking e-mails, texting,

chatting on-line. I asked Jo to tot up heard daily hours. I think... 10

hours? Yes. It's a lot. Too many? would say so. Every now and again I

go through phases of trying to cut it down. And then there was 16

year-old Jessica. Have they think, -24... How many? 18! Yeah... It's

the BlackBerry's fault! Do you feel bad? You just made me feel bad

thinking about it, when I started counting it up. Yeah, it's scary.

And it seems that there online habits are not that unusual.

Research claims that 50.3%, around half of us, are on line for more

than four hours a day. 19%, one in five of us, for more than seven

hours. And 36% of those, about a third of parents, feel that family

life is being disrupted by all of this. And this is far from being

just an issue about teenagers. reality is that if mum or dad is

sitting at breakfast on their iPhone, checking e-mails, the kids

will get the message that it is acceptable. Back at the Hagans, a

final question. Have you ever gone a week without any online content?

No! So, while one in six of us have never been online, for Jessica the

idea of one day Offline is science Its return to our list top story,

the revelation that police investigating allegations of phone

hacking at the News of the World have contacted the parents of Holly

Wells and Jessica Chapman, who were murdered in Soham and 2002. Robert

Peston is here. The News of the World find itself in the eye of the

storm tonight, politically, commercially. How much worse can it

get? Although the News of the World's reputation has been damaged

in the last 24 hours, to an extent that I think is unprecedented in

terms of a British newspaper group, I have to say that the executives

fear that it could get worse before it gets better. You know, I learned

this afternoon that the police are looking into allegations that the

father of one of the Soham victims, Lesley Chapman, his phone may have

been hacked. We just had a statement from the private

investigator or that was hired by the News of the World in many of

the hacking cases. He said he was under relentless pressure from the

News of the World to obtain results. That is why he behaved in the way

he behaved. He has now issued an apology to the various victims. And

then there is extraordinary financial pressure. Ford said

tonight that it was suspending advertising in the News of the

World. Virgin, the Halifax, nPower, the Energy Group, they have all

said they are accruing -- reviewing whether to advertise. You must

remember that this is a period where media groups, newspaper

groups are under intense financial pressure. This combination of a

financial squeeze, damage to a reputation, it is about as bad as

Well, let's take a look at the The heat, the last vestiges of the

heat are disappearing from eastern England. So pretty heavy rain

overnight, all courtesy of a fairly active weather front. It is

marching west to east. At the moment the rain is quite light, but

it will pepper up later on in the night. Some heavy bursts across

East Anglia. Later in Scotland, where it will stay for much of

tomorrow. Behind we will see drier spells and also heavy showers.

Temperatures are staying in double figures. Showers will be an issue

tomorrow. A whole scattering of them across the UK. Very few places

staying entirely dry. Look at the rain across Scotland, it will stay

pretty wet for much of the day, particularly across the central

belt of Scotland where we could see 30mm of rain. Double VAT across

parts of Fife, Stirlingshire, East Lothian. We will be watching that

closely over the next few days. Elsewhere across the UK there will

be brightness South of the Border into northern England. Watch out

for the showers, a reader will mean business. Further south we have

lost a heat across East Anglia and south-east. Today we saw 26 or 27.

More like 21 or 22 at best tomorrow. Most places will struggle to get

out of the teens. Across parts of the south-west of England and Wales,

heralding some very smallish -- squally showers. Make the best of

the brightness while it lasts. Northwards, at 4pm, the wind will

be lighter across Northern Ireland. It means that the showers will last

longer. Hit-and-miss showers for Northern Ireland. Sunshine in

between. Elsewhere, the wind will be a feature. There will be a lot

of showers scattered around. Not a lot changes as we head towards the