18/10/2011 BBC News at Six

Soaring energy prices drive inflation up to a three-year high.

The cost-of-living is up 5.2%, squeezing incomes still further.

don't know if I'm going to have enough money by the time I get to

the tills. I'll having to put stuff back and go without basics.

Also: Prisoner swap - the young Israeli soldier captured by Hamas

is back with his family after five years. There are celebrations in

Gaza after 1,000 Palestinians are freed in return.

No joke - the Appeal Court upholds tough sentences for two men trying

to incite a riot on Facebook. An official report concludes former

Defence Secretary Liam Fox ignored warnings about his relationship

with Adam Werritty. The Wales coach was so desperate to

win after his captain was sent off in the World Cup semifinal he

considered cheating. We discussed in the box could we

fake an injury to one of our props to go to uncontested scrums? Later

in sport: We preview the Champions League games this evening.

Manchester United are away in Romania. Manchester City are home

Welcome to the BBC News at Six. There's been a sharper than

expected rise in inflation, up to a three-year high. The consumer price

index has increased by 5.2%. It's mainly driven by soaring energy

bills which are more than 18% higher than a year ago. There is

better news for people getting state pensions or benefits. This

month's inflation figures are used to calculate next year's increases.

Let's join Hugh Pym who is in Wakefield in West Yorkshire.

Yes, whether it's people going home in Wakefield, or in any other

community, almost everyone's affected by this high rate of

inflation which is now running at nearly three times the rate of

average wage increases which shows how much spending power is being

eroded and the wider measure of inflation, RPI, is at a 20-year

high, 5.6%. No family waking up in West

Yorkshire this morning needed any reminding of the squeeze on their

budgets. But today's figures revealed it was worse than many had

expected, soaring domestic energy bills and fuel prices were the main

culprits. Alex is a young mother. She is struggling with her

household bills. She's on benefits and she's gone to Barnardo's for

help and support. The gas bill is hard enough to keep up with never

mind food and clothing prices. never know if I'm going to have

enough money by the time I get to the tills. So I'm having to put

stuff back and go without basics for weeks on end. Always a choice

between do I buy some new shoes or get some gas? Do I get her some new

clothes or more food? This man has seen his savings eroded by high

inflation. As he works out at his local gym, he reflects on the fact

that many families are worse off than his. He and his wife are both

working so they are not on the breadline but inflation is still

taking its toll both on their wage rises and savings income. Unless

you are mega-rich, which I am not, any increase that you receive year

on year on your salary is being eaten up by increasing cost of

commodities, fuel, gas, electric, just the day-to-day living.

Shoppers are often having to pay higher prices because retailers

don't have any alternative. They are facing their own increases.

This man is a local butcher, grappling with rising cost

pressures. He runs five shops in the area for his family business

which dates back 100 years. When his bills rise, he has no choice

but to pass some of the increases on to his customers. It's affected

us across-the-board, increasing prices on all our raw materials,

the fuel costs, the energy costs. We are having to absorb some of the

prices ourselves but unfortunately we have to pass it on to the

customers as well. Hard-pressed businesses and consumers will want

to know where inflation goes from here. The Bank of England and most

economists predict it will come down from the current level and

fall sharply next year with VAT and energy price increases not being

repeated. But most people will be more concerned about the here and

now and the big squeeze. Now, it is not as bad as it might

be for people on pensions or benefits. Those will be uprated

next April in line with this month's inflation rate, that high

level of inflation. Although people may say they have still got to get

through the winter on current levels of income so not such good

news for George Osborne, he has to pay out more because inflation is

higher than he predicted. It is having an impact across the economy.

Thank you. Our economics editor, Stephanie Flanders is with me.

These inflation rises are beginning to bite. Can we expect inflation to

come down any time soon? We can. I know it is hard to believe because

we see the numbers creeping up month after month and we keep

seeing everyone get the forecasts wrong. I think it would be hard to

find anyone in the City or at the Bank of England who thinks

inflation will go a lot higher from here. In fact, nearly everyone

thinks that this month or next month will be the peak. There's two

reasons: One those big changes, the big increases in energy prices from

overseas. Also the change in VAT. Those temporary factors, they will

fall out of the comparison so automatically inflation, the

headline figure, will come down. The other reason is the weak state

of the economy and the fact that we are getting some gloomy news from

the rest of the world. It is hard to see where a lot of new price

pressures will come from. We have seen an example of this. We have

seen in 2008 the last time inflation was this high, a year

later it was only 1.1% because of what was going on in the global

economy. I think we could see that in a year's time, although it seems

hard to believe now, the debate about inflation could be very

different indeed. Thank you. An Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit,

captured when he was 19 by Hamas and held in Gaza for five years,

has been released. He is part of a controversial prisoner swap which

will see more than 1,000 Palestinians freed in exchange.

Sergeant Shalit is back in Israel tonight after being transferred via

Egypt. Hundreds of Palestinians have been moved from Israel into

Gaza and the West Bank. From dawn, Palestinians were

gathering for the welcome home. Prisoners who took up arms against

Israel are xulted in Palestinian society. Israelis regard them as

killers or accessories to murder. This 11-year-old was waiting for

her mother imprisoned for ten years for helping suicide bombers raech

their targets. -- reach their targets. In northern Israel, the

Shalit family were picked up from their home for the reunion, only

hours away. Then Gilad Shalit was marched to freedom by head of the

Hamas military wing and his bodyguards. He gave an interview to

Egyptian TV. TRANSLATION: I have missed my

family. He hoped the deal would end wars between Israel and the

Palestinians. Back in Israel, he was flown to meet his family. The

Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, who greeted him first, has paid a

high price for his freedom. Then the reunion with his father who led

a tenacious campaign to free him. In Gaza, a big welcome was being

prepared for the Palestinian prisoners who were released as soon

as Israel had Gilad Shalit back. This is a victory for Hamas and its

leaders were there to receive them. On the West Bank, clashes started

when the release took longer. There was no sign of any new positive

atmosphere, just the old one - stones, tear gas and cannon-

shooting stinking -- cannons shooting stinking water. The

Palestinian President welcomed the prisoners back to the West Bank. He

has asked Israel many times to release them. Everyone in the crowd

knew that Hamas had succeeded where President Abbas had failed. These

men are being treated as conquering heroes. What freed them was a

transaction between Hamas and the Israelis. It doesn't of itself get

them closer to a peace agreement because there are still all the big

issues of War and Peace and the future of this land that remain. By

the evening, Gilad Shalit was back home. His last five years must have

been desperately lonely and he might get some peace now. His

country, and Is Palestinian neighbours, will have to wait

longer. Two men jailed for four years for

using Facebook to incite people to riot in August have lost appeals

against their sentences. The judge said that even though the men did

no more than post a comment online and no riot took place as a result,

decent citizens had been disturbed by what they had read.

What should be the appropriate penalty for this? This? Or even

those who broke the law not on the streets but in front of their

computers? The most controversial cases in front of the Court of

Appeal were those of Jordan Blackshaw and Perry Sutcliffe-

Keenan, both jailed for four years for inciting riots by posting on

Facebook. The judges decided Jordan Blackshaw's call for a smash down

in Northwich town was designed to encourage criminal damage and

rioting. Sutcliffe claimed he had a change of heart and taken down his

invitation to a riot in Warrington, but only minutes before the police

arrived. The Lord Chief Justice What the Court of Appeal have done

today is to make it clear that where crime is committed by

computer, however distant that crime is from the scene itself,

that it will be taken very seriously. Stephen Craven, David

Beswick and Stephen Carter had their sentences for being caught

with looted televisions and shoes reduced by half. The court decided

they were guilty of opportunistic involvement. They hadn't taken part

in the riots. Some charities and lawyers are concerned that

relatively long prison sentences will result in offenders caught up

in riot fever for perhaps just a day being drawn towards a lifetime

of crime. But today's judgment firmly argues that sentencing has

to deter potential future rioters. Hundreds more of those arrested in

the riots are working their way through the Criminal Justice System.

Today's decisions suggest they can also expect tough sentences.

Nottinghamshire Police has been strongly criticised for its

handling of domestic abuse cases following the murder of a young

mother. 21-year-old Casey Brittle called police about her violent

former partner Sanchez Williams before he murdered her last year.

Nottinghamshire Police has accepted the Independent Police Complaints

Commission's conclusion that the force's failures were systematic

and horrifying. There were 11 previous incidents where we had an

interaction with Casey but she refused to complain in each one of

those. We should have done a lot more. That is what we are building

into the future. A pit manager who survived a flooding incident in

which four men died has been arrested on suspicion of gross

negligence manslaughter. A Katia Zatuliveter is suspected of

using her position as an assistant to Liberal Democrat MP Mike Hancock

to pass information to Russian intelligence.

An official report published within the past hour has found that the

former Defence Secretary ignored warnings by civil servants about

his dealings with his close friend, Adam Werritty. It also concluded

that Dr Fox did break the Ministerial Code of Conduct. It is

now four days since he resigned his Cabinet post. James Landale is at

Westminster. What more can you tell us what about is in the report?

language of Whitehall is normally fairly opaque. They talk about

behaviour being ill-judged or perhaps a little unwise. Well, this

document from the most senior civil servant in the country is anything

but. He says that Dr Fox's relationship with Adam Werritty,

his so-called adviser, was inappropriate, it was unacceptable.

He says there was a clear breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct. He

said there was a failure of judgment on Dr Fox's part. He said

Dr Fox did not live up to the highest standards of behaviour.

Though in other words, this is a very, very brief report but it is a

very, very acute report and it explains very clearly why Liam Fox

had to resign as Defence Secretary. Now Downing Street have issued a

statement saying they accept the findings of this report and they

also accept the recommendations that the Cabinet Secretary has made

about changes to the Code of Conduct. Sir Gus O'Donnell says

those changes are very clear. Ministers should tell their

officials if they are having meetings with people. Officials

should be at these kind of meetings. Senior officials should discuss

with their Ministers if they have any acquaintances that might be of

concern. If those senior officials are worried about this and they

don't think they are getting the answers they are expecting to get,

they should talk to the Cabinet Secretary and failing that, they

should go to the Prime Minister himself. Also, Liam Fox himself has

issued a statement in which he has welcomed the report. He says that

he's glad that he is found to have been cleared of two charges, namely

that he made any financial gain from this. The report is clear that

he did not. Also, he says that he's very glad that there was no

security breach. There's also a note of defiance. He says in his

view there was no actual conflict of interest. Dr Fox is expected to

make a statement quite soon in the Our top story: Inflation is at a

three-year high. The cost of living is up 5.2%, squeezing incomes still

further. Coming up: One of the most influential bands of the 90s, the

Stone Roses, joins the acts trying to find success second time around.

Still to come on the BBC News Channel: Profits slump at Goldman

Sachs as it reports heavy losses. And the former boss of Olympus

tells us why he has referred the A vaccine against one of the

world's biggest killers of children, malaria, has moved a step closer.

Results from a major clinical trial in Africa shows that the jab cut

the chance of getting the disease by half, raising hopes that there

will soon be a more robust defence for the billions at risk worldwide.

This is a common sight in many African hospitals. Row upon row of

children, laid low by malaria. The parasitic infection is spread by

mosquitoes. An effective vaccine would transform the life chances of

millions. Nine-month-old Pamela from Kenya is one of those to

receive the experimental jab bien trialled in several African

countries. Malaria is a global threat. About 3 billion people in

the areas coloured red are at risk of infection. But most of the

nearly 1 million deaths a year are in Africa. Nearly 6000 children and

a two were involved in the trial. Results showed that the vaccine cut

malaria cases by about half. But its effectiveness might have waned

after one year. Over the next couple of years, we will get a very

clear view on what is really happening with protection. Is it

wading or is it just that people acquiring natural immunity? Do we

need a booster dose or not? All of that will become clear in the next

few years. Philanthropist Bill Gates has given billions for

vaccines in the developing world. He is encouraged by the results.

It's very promising, the very fact that this vaccine works. It gives

us data about how to build better vaccines and it gives us a tool to

combine with the spraying and mosquito Killing, the different

interventions that will help bring the number of deaths down quite a

bit. Bed nets and insecticide will remain vital in the fight against

malaria. The vaccine is no magic bullet. But even a jab that was 50%

effective could save huge numbers of lives in the years to come.

Europe's highest court has ruled that stem cells from human embryos

cannot be patented because of ethical concerns. A group of

leading scientists in the UK has criticised the ban, saying that it

could force research overseas and delay new treatments from been

developed by a range of treatments, including Parkinson's and diabetes.

The jury in the trial of Vincent Tabak, the man accused of murdering

John Gates, has been hearing from a prison chaplain to whom Tabak

confessed about the killing. The 33-year-old Dutch engineer admits

manslaughter but denies murder. John Kay is at Bristol Crown Court.

What did the chaplain have to say? Well, his name is Peter Brotherton

and he is a chaplain at the prison in Worcestershire where Vincent

Tabak was held after being charged with the murder of John Yates. He

told the court that in February of this year, while Vincent Tabak was

on suicide watch, he said to the prison chaplain that he had

something to say that would shock him. He went on to say that in a

trembling voice, the Dutch engineer had said that he was going to

change his plea to guilty. He said he was sorry and that he was going

to have to tell his girlfriend, which he said would be very

difficult. Mr Brotherton told his superiors. His was reported to the

police. He said that after that, Vincent Tabak showed some anger

towards him and said he would not tell him anything else. In May this

year, Vincent Tabak admitted the manslaughter of July and a gates.

He told police he had held her around the throat for 20 seconds

but he denies murder. Earlier today, her parents were in court for the

first time as images were shown to the jury of her body covered in

snow, as it was found on Christmas Day. They were visibly upset,

looking down at the ground and holding hands as some of the images

were shown. The jury was told that some DNA from Vincent Tabak was

found on the body, possibly sweat or saliva. The defence asked a

forensic scientist if her body had been carried from her flat to the

lane where it was found, in a large storage bag, which had been used

for Vincent Tabak's bicycle, whether it was possible that the

DNA had been transferred in that way, rather than any other way. The

scientists said that was indeed possible.

Two British teenagers have been arrested in Kenya on suspicion of

having links with and is on its grip in Somalia. The men, aged 18,

were picked up close to the border with Somalia. The father of one of

the teenagers worked with police to help find his son.

The Wales rugby coach Warren Gatland has revealed he considered

cheating during the World Cup semi- final defeat to France following

the sending-off of Captain Sam Warburton. He said he discussed the

possibility of asking a player to fake an injury to try and gain an

It was the moment that would haunt Welsh rugby for years. Captain Sam

Warburton's sending off for a dangerous tackle against France

almost certainly cost his team a place in the World Cup final. Wales

are still coming to terms with the defeat. Today, a new twist. Coach

Warren Gatland made an astonishing admission that he considered

cheating. We discussed in the box, do we fake an injury to one of our

props to go to uncontested scrums? But, morally, I made the decision

it wasn't the right thing to do. The rules state that once a team

cannot field a replacement front- row forward, that the referee must

order scrums to be uncontested, when neither team can show up. This

would have helped to a hard-pressed Welsh pack, a man down after the

red card. The whole world feels sorry for Wales. I think he spoilt

that by saying that they considered going for uncontested scrums. I'm

disappointed that he said it. was no cheating on this occasion,

but rugby has had its fair share of controversy. During the current

World Cup, two England coaches was suspended for illegally swapping

match balls for Jonny Wilkinson's kicks. At 2009, Harlequins were no

Tom Williams was banned for failing a blood injury in a Heineken Cup

match. Now the admission that Warren Gatland considered telling a

player took fake injury. But he has the backing of his boss. He should

be applauded, in its era were tough decisions are made, that he didn't

go into this particular zone. Senior officials at the IRB have

told me that they are stunned by the comments. They insist that

their system of independent pitch- side doctors guards against injury

faking. They will be taken a closer look at what the Wales coach said

went through his mind here on Now, they were one of the most

influential bands of the early 1990s. The debut album is widely

considered one of the greatest by a British band. Today, after an

absence of more than 15 years, the Stone Roses announced that they are

reforming. They have to become the latest in a growing list of pop

acts enjoying success second time They were one of the most

influential bands of the late 80s and 90s. The one at the forefront

of the Manchester music scene. Now, the four members are back together

for the first time in 15 years. The years that followed their break-up

or not forgiven -- forgotten, but certainly forgiven. Why have you

decided to take this step? I think we are great, I think we've still

got it. I think we've still got something to give to people and, in

times like this, we can uplift people. Bailey produced two albums,

the first in particular is considered a classic. It is one of

the most eagerly awaited the unions from a band that many felt still

had so much more to offer. And it's not just the Stone Roses, musical

acts from across the spectrum have been successfully reforming,

satisfying huge demand from nostalgic fans. This summer saw the

UK and Ireland's biggest ever to air, 1,340,000 fans paying to seek

take that be reunited with Robbie Williams. A still impressive

120,000 people sought Spandau Ballet's 2009 reunion. After

selling 34,000 copies in just a week, a greatest hits compilation

from newly reformed Steps is this week's number one album in the UK.

A lot of fans that grow up with bands such as the Stone Roses and

Take That are a lot older, they are the ones that still buy it music,

rather than illegally downloaded it. Promoters and labels know that they

can still make money out of them. So, fans of so many acts know that

a combination of adoration and nostalgia means that, if they wait

long enough for their favourite band to reform, chances are,

I used to love that album! Let's Chilly weather making a comeback.

One or two showers around as well. A heavy one with some snow across

the mountain tops of Scotland. They will continue in the far north,

with showers drifting in across Northern Ireland, north-west

England, parts of Wales and getting to the Midlands, perhaps. But most

of us will have a dry, clear and cold night. The frost will just

about hold of, unlike tomorrow night. Tomorrow, it will be chilly

again. Many of us can look forward to sunshine. There will be further

showers, and importantly they will be in different places compared to

today. For example, northern parts of England will see fewer showers.

The Midlands and northern England will see rather more. Things will

improve because a good part of more than England, with a good amount of

sunshine through the afternoon. Temperatures on the low side, 9 or

ten degrees. Showers will continue across northern Scotland. Aberdeen

chaise catching some. We could see a light covering up across the

higher mountains. For more than Ireland, the showers will tend to

dwindle. For Wales, they keep going across the western areas. To the

east of the hills they will fade away. For south-western parts of

England, relatively few showers. Temperatures are getting up to 11

of 12 degrees. The breeze is not just as blustery as it has been,

more showers than today across south-eastern parts of England. One

or two shop ones. Tomorrow night, the showers will fade away in most

places. The skies will clear and temperatures will tumble. A cold

night tomorrow night. By Thursday morning, many of us will be waking

up to our first frost of the season. This could well be the scene where

you live. You may be scraping the A reminder of the main news:

Inflation is that a three-year high. The cost of living is up 5.2%,