15/12/2011 BBC News at Six

Trained for the war zone - now they'll make their mark on London

2012. More than 13,000 troops are drafted in to help secure the

Olympics. A battleship on the Thames, attack

helicopters at the ready - the security operation is being stepped

up. The military will be using its full range of capabilities and

equipment to keep London safe during the Olympics.

Also on tonight's programme: The Stephen Lawrence murder trial -

one of the accused says he's innocent but can't remember where

he was that night. A new plan targets England's most

troubled families. Ministers promise a network of help, but what

do residents think? Do you think those troubled families will will?

No. No. No, they'll do their own thing. They'll do their own thing

because they always have done their own thing.

America brings the flag down on its controversial war in Iraq - we'll

be looking at the legacy. And despite the sales and discount

deals, new figures point to a cautious Christmas on the high

Coming up on Sportsday on the BBC News channel, Chelsea say Torres is

not for sale at any price. Reports suggested they might be ready to

let him go in the January transfer Good evening. Welcome to BBC News

at 6.00pm. Up to 13,500 British troops - that's more than the

number deployed in Afghanistan - are being drafted in to help secure

the London Olympics. Half of them will eventually patrol the sporting

venues and be used to protect the athletes and spectators. The rest

will work behind the scenes offering specialist equipment and

skills. Troops have been used at previous games, but there are

questions about why this announcement is being made now.

Here's our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale. They're there to

defend us, but troops who have been fighting on the frontline in

Helmand, fighter jets and warships which have recently seen action in

Libya along with elite Special Forces will soon be deployed for

the London Olympics. Billed as a global festival of

sport, it's now also become a major military operation, with thousands

more troops involved than originally planned. Military

hardware will be used. We'll be deploying helicopters. We'll be

deploying Typhoon fighters to defend London's airspace. We'll be

deploying ground-to-air missile systems, so the military will be

using its full range of capabilities to keep London safe

during the Olympics. The MoD will be providing up to 13,500 military

personnel for Olympic security. 7,500 will be acting as security

guards along with civilians at all the venues, making a third of the

total number. Another 6,000 military personnel, many of them

armed, will be on standby. The MoD says it's a similar response to

previous Olympics. That may be true of Beijing, which could call on the

world's largest Army, but in Sydney, the military presence was less than

10,000 troops. More military personnel are now

being deployed to secure the Olympics than the 9,000 British

troops who are currently serving in Afghanistan, but we are told this

is not a response to any specific threat. Security staff for the

Olympics have more than doubled from the original estimate of just

10,000. The costs have risen dramatically too. They will have to

patrol dozens of venues from Wembley to Weymouth and even beach

volleyball at horse guard's parade, but will the security swamp the

spectators? The number that is being planned is

the number that's required, and I've no doubt the armed forces

would not consider deploying anymore forces than they absolutely

have to because, of course, they're very heavily committed elsewhere,

and I understand that this deployment and this commitment is

not going to adversely affect other military commitments. When

Jacqueline Burke booked Olympic tickets for her family, she'd not

imagined the sheer scale of the security, but it hasn't put her off.

I think when I first heard, it does take you back a little bit, but

actually, the reality is it's a potential target, and anything that

helps with security I think is good and reassuring. The MoD says the

Olympic security remains a police- led operation, but with all the

military hardware on show and the thousands of uniformed personnel on

duty, it might feel different. Our sports editor David Bond is at

the Olympic Stadium for us tonight. David, why do you think we're

hearing about this huge deployment now? Part of this George, is what

happens in the run-up to every games. As you get closer, it gets

easier to refine your plans and see where you need to spend a bit of

extra money, but that shouldn't change the fact that London 2012

got their original estimate for venue security spectacularly wrong.

One Home Office official said it was a finger in the air exercise.

Now, that's inevitably led to the doubling of the budget to provide

security for venues like the main one just behind me to half a

billion pounds that much, in turn, has had a knock-on effect to the

overall budget, and now it's emerged in the last week or so that

there's only about �36 million of head room left in the overall �9.3

billion budget. Now, just a few months ago, Ministers and officials

were telling me it might even come in under budget. Well, with the

finish line in sight and the pressure growing, they might not be

so confident now. David, thank you.

One of the men accused of killing Stephen Lawrence 18 years ago has

insisted he was not at the scene on the night the teenager was murdered.

Under cross-examination David Norris said he couldn't remember

where he was that night, but declared his innocence. From the

Old Bailey, our home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds reports.

David Norris is now 35 years old. Today he entered the witness box to

be questioned about a murder which happened when he was just 16. Mr

Norris was asked repeatedly by the prosecuting barrister where was he

the night Stephen was killed in the London suburb of Eltham? Each time

he said he couldn't remember, but he was sure he wasn't in Eltham.

"I'm an innocent man. I was not in the Eltham area". He was asked

again by the prosecution barrister where was he at the time of the

murder? He said, "You're accusing me of murder, sir. I am an innocent

man". Clothing fibres on this sweet shirt seized from Norris' house

allegedly link him to the scene of the crime, but the defendant's

brother Clifford testified today that the top had been his 18 years

ago and possibly these stained jeans as well on which a hair

matching Stephen's DNA was found. And then David Norris's mother

Theresa took the stand. She insisted he had been at home that

night. Mark Ellison, QC, said, "You have made that up". She said "I

have made nothing up". He went on "Until today there hasn't been a

breath uttered you would be able to give an alibi." but she maintained

her position he had been at home that night. Mr Norris said he was a

regular visitor to Bournbrook Road where Neil and Jamie Acourt close

to the murder scene, but he lived seven miles away, and his mother

didn't allow him out late. The following year under suspicion of

murder he was filmed in a covert police video that's been shown to

the court discussing how he wanted to attack and maim black people. He

"It was all part of growing up," he Today's witnesses marked the end of

the evidence in the Stephen Lawrence murder trial. The case

will now be summarised for the jury before they consider their verdicts.

Nearly half a billion pounds is to be spent on turning around the

lives of 120,000 of England's most troubled families. David Cameron

says the money will be used to set up a network of "troubleshooters".

But the scheme assumes that cash- strapped local councils will pledge

even more money. Our UK affairs correspondent Chris Buckler reports

from Wigan on how the plan could The troubles of individual families

can cause problems for whole communities - from a simple lack of

respect to criminal behaviour. The Government thinks residents

shouldn't suffer because of their neighbours. We've 12 months of hell

with them. Doing what? Doing what? Drugs, you name it, and all sorts.

We had to go to court in the end and get them evicted. Do you think

those troubled families will listen? No. No. No. They'll do

their own thing. They'll do their own thing because they have always

done their own thing, haven't they? The Government says there are

120,000 troubled families across England, and dealing with the

probes of what the Prime Minister has called Britain's "broken

society" is costing the taxpayer. While David Cameron knows there is

no simple recipe to solve those issues, today he pledged �450

million for intervention schemes like this one across England, but

only if councils pay too, and that's at a time of cuts.

We'll fund 40% of the cost if they match this with the other 60%, and

crucially, the payment depends on results. Have they stopped - and I

mean completely stopped - anti- social behaviour? What David

Cameron is proposing today is not completely new. When he was Prime

Minister, Tony Blair pushed the idea of family intervention

projects as part of attempts to deal with anti-social behaviour. If

children aren't going to school, workers will be on the family's

doorstep first thing in the morning to get them ready and asking

questions if their parents aren't going to job interviews. There are

existing job intervention schemes operating in each part of the UK

including here in Wigan, where it's run by the charity Action for

Children. Between them, David and Ann have ten children. All but two

were placed with adoptive or foster parents, and they accept that their

many troubles started at home. not going to make much of it with

my folk because I would stay in bed. She'd be looking after the kids all

the time. I would stay in bed. Worklessness and mental health

issues were just two of their many problems, but a dedicated

intervention worker has been trying to keep the remaining family

together. I would have definitely lost the kids, no doubt about it.

The money promised to help more families has been diverted from

existing Government budgets, but the real worry for charities is

whether councils can afford to take advantage of the funding. It's got

to be matched by over �600 million worth of local Government money,

and I don't see any evidence local Government has prioritised this

money. What's more, councils know that to get any cash, they'll have

to prove that their troubleshooters have made a difference to those

troubled families. The American flag has been lowered

in Baghdad, formerly marking the end of Washington's military

operations in Iraq after nearly nine years of war. At the ceremony,

the US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, said Iraq was now fully

responsible for directing its own path to future security and

prosperity. The campaign, which began in 2003 with the so-called

Shock and Awe attack on the Iraqi capital, led to the fall of Saddam

Hussein, but in the following years of conflict, it's thought that more

than 100,000 Iraqi civilians were killed along with 4,500 US soldiers.

From Baghdad, our World Affairs Editor John Simpson reports.

A quiet, downbeat ceremony marks the end of an occupation which

lasted a hundred months, cost the lives of 4,500 Americans and of an

unknown, but far greater, number of Iraqis. This is a time for Iraq to

look forward. This is an opportunity for Iraq to forge ahead

on the path to security and prosperity. Welcome to Sadr City,

the sprawling, working-class Shi'ite suburb of Baghdad. The

occupiers are going, says the poster, "thanks to our government".

Yet things have changed here out of all recognition.

The last time I was here in Sadr City was about three years ago, and

I have to say I was pretty nervous. Kidnapping was rife. There were

bombs here just about every day, and now, well, you can see for

But not everything is necessarily better. There are power cuts every

day here and everywhere in Iraq. The Americans never managed to fix

the electricity supply. In Sadr City, US Army engineers put in the

first decent sewers and water supplies, but that's all been

forgotten. Instead, people remember the American attacks on Sadr City.

This man keeps the pictures on his mobile.

LAUGHTER These are pictures from the

internet, and that's American laughter.

The meat market, as everywhere else here, you don't find any love for

the United States. The butchers of Baghdad are happy to see the back

of the Americans. This chicken seller says, "They

brought poverty and killed our children." According to Jabar, who

sells cow hearts, "They destroyed our country." Tameer, the seller of

sheep's heads thinks things were better under Saddam, and yet the

United States has done a really good job of training the security

forces here. These checkpoints are wherever why, and they're the front

line of the continuing civil war. There are attacks on them every day.

There were 79 bomb attacks last month. This one targeted the Prime

Minister. Still, in 2007, there were a thousand bombs a month. The

suffering doesn't stop, but the insurgency is visibly winding down.

For 40 years, not just the eight of the American occupation, Iraq has

known little more than dictatorship, war and isolation. Now,000 people

here are daring daring to hope their luck may finally be changing.

We can talk to John in Baghdad now. Watching your report, it's

difficult to know whether America can be sure if it's left Iraq in a

I've been here a great, great many times during the last seven, eight

years. And there was a long time when I thought this place was never

get itself right and the Americans wouldn't be able to leave or if

they did, they'd leave just simply disaster behind them. That doesn't

seem to be the case now. I've been really surprised and it's actually

rather pleasant, of course, to see a country which is starting to put

itself together again. I don't think, frankly, there was any

possibility that the Americans could have stayed on all that much

longer. The President himself wanted to pull the troops out,

didn't approve of the whole thing in the first place and it just

simply is costing too much money and it's too difficult. So, I don't

think there was really much alternative to withdrawing them.

The question was when and obviously President Obama wants to bring them

back by Christmas and get whatever political kudos he can out of that.

But this country does now look to me as though it stands at least a

fighting chance of getting itself back on its feet.

John, thank you very much. The time is 6.17. Our top story

tonight: With helicopters and a warship, up to 13,500 military

personnel will help with security for the London Olympics.

Coming up - sold for nearly �700,000, the tiny manuscript

Sales down, shops failing to entice customers with special offers and

discounts. It's a picture of Christmas cause on the high street.

The new figures publish today make grim reading for retailers and

there are fears that some of them could go under once the festivities

are over. Our business correspondent, Emma Simpson, has

the details for us in Central London.

Emma. Yes, George, you join me here on

Oxford Street, probably the UK's busiest high street. Well, it

certainly feels like it tonight. Of course, these figures that we've

had today, official retail figures which showed a monthly 0.4% drop on

November. In the run-up to Christmas, this really is not good

news for retailers. After the year they've had, it's sink or swim for

some. But as for shoppers, there are an awful lot of bargains.

Discount Britain, from clothes to cameras. The Christmas promotions

are even earlier and deeper this year, as retailers try to entice us

to part with our cash. They know shoppers are after deals. I look

for things that are reduced where last year I wouldn't have bothered,

I would have got it whether it was on sale or not. It's all been on

discounts, promotions, not bought anything on full price this year.

Consumers have been buying less for much of the year. Sales have

generally been falling since the summer. At the Brent Cross centre

in London, they are hoping for a big rush next week, the pressure's

really on to clinch sales. We are seeing some of the trusted

brands, some of the better products that people aspire to buy often

reduced by 20-30%. That doesn't mean all of it, but slebgtsed

products. It's giving great value to customers finding it difficult

and the retailers are responding -- selected products. Hundreds of

miles away at a warehouse in Wakefield, they're working flat out

to move millions of goods to get them on the shelves for the big

Christmas shop. And the difference this year,

before stuff goes in the trolley, shoppers are likely to have sussed

out the price. This year, they'll be buying sparkling wine, treating

that as champagne... The boss to have Morrisons told me he's seeing

an army of professional shoppers using vouchers, the Internet and

leaving credit cards at home. had the largest drop in consumer

confidence in a generation, a third of customers get to the end of the

month and have nothing left over. That's why you have this

professional shopper adopt ago whole new attitude. I think when

the economy picks up, this professional savvyness is here to

stay. Santa was certainly all smiles

today, but for retailers, there's been precious little to be cheery

about, and the next few days will be make or break.

It's too late for Barratts, already in administration. The question is,

who could be next? Of course, this year, we've seen

more than half a dozen big names disappear from the high street in

terms of administrations, including Habitat and Focus DIY, and there is

a big quarterly rent bill looming for retailers on Christmas Day

itself, so I think the question now, George, is how many retailers are

going to hold their nerve or cave in and offer even steeper discounts

next week in a bid to get as many sales as they can?

Thank you. The former French President,

Jacques Chirac, has been given a suspended two year prison sentence

for embezzling funds and breach of trust. Mr Chirac paid wages to his

political allies for doing jobs that duz did not exist while he was

Mayor of Paris. Voters have gone too the polls in a by-election in

Heston and Haworth in West London. It was called after the death of

Alan Keen who won the seat at last year's general election with a

4,500 majority. Rail signal workers in Scotland

have announced a three-day strike from Christmas Eve. The Rail,

Maritime and Transport Union says its members at the west of Scotland

signalling centre will walk out because of a row over changes to

career progression practices. Controversial gagging orders used

by celebrities are back in the spotlight today. The premiership

footballer, Ryan Giggs, has accepted that suggestions that he

was threatened with blackmail by a former lover were not true.

The reality TV star, Imogen Thomas, alleged to have had an affair with

the married footballer, spoke today of how stressful it's been to have

to defend her character. Our Home Affairs correspondent, June Kelly,

is at the High Court. What more can you tell us, June?

If we cast our minds back six or seven months before the hacking

scandal blew up, one of the big stories was injunctions and

superinjunctions and one of those involved was the Manchester United

star, Ryan Giggs, alleged to have had a relationship with the model

Imogen Thomas and he went to court to seek an injunction on the

grounds that he thought Imogen Thomas was planning to sell her

story. The judge in the case said that the footballer's evidence

appeared to suggest he was being blackmailed and he granted an

injunction. Today, the same judge was told that the footballer now

accepted there was no blackmail attempt by Imogen Thomas, she said

the whole episode had been extremely upsetting. I'm just

relieved that the parties and the court now accept that I'm no

blackmailer. I have been vindicated and this is all I wanted. I have

nothing to add, it's all behind me now.

Well, despite what went on in court today, the injunction remains in

place which stops Miss Thomas talking about her alleged

relationship. In court, the footballer was referred to only by

the initials CTB. Thank you. It's half the size of a

credit card, has 19 pages and 4,000 words and today it sold for nearly

�700,000. This tiny manuscript was written in 1830 by British author

Charlotte Bronte to. The disappointment of British

collectors, it's on its way to a museum in France, as Ed Thomas

reports. So small that you need a magnifying glass the read it. But

every gauge is crafted with adverts and short stories. It details an

mdge their world written by Charlotte Bronte for her brosh's

toy soldiers. -- imaginary. It hasn't been seen in public for

years until its owners, a family in Germany, sold it at auction today.

Its new home will be a museum in France, a disappointment for many

when you consider how important this tiny manuscript is to English

literature. This is the first time it's been seen in living memory.

It's not been known about, modern scholarship hasn't seen this, so

it's a tremendously exciting opportunity.

That significance is not lost here in Haworth, the village where the

Brontes grew up. The family home is now a museum and the trustees were

outbid at the auction. They wanted it to complete their set because

all six of the mini manuscripts were written here. It was in this

room that Charlotte Bronte would talk about her story ideas with her

sisters and her brother. It's on this table that her classics were

written, like Shirley The Professor and Jane Eyre. Rtion he said every

now and then they glided to his eyes through to his brain with an

immense fire burned..." When you listen to her words, you might

recognise similar passages in Jane Eyre. For many, this goes some way

to explain how her genius developed. It's significant because this

teenager became one of the greatest novelists in English language and

it's significant because this particular little book has the

seeds of Charlotte's greatest work, Jane Eyre.

The manuscript may not be coming home, but there's still one edition

missing and with it, more Bronte stories yet to be told.

It's getting pretty nippy out there. Let's get a forecast now with John

Let's get a forecast now with John Hammond.

It's going to get even nippier as well. For some of us, the first

snow of the season coming up. This is the storm brewing. It was the

winds which were of most concern the last few days. Not so much now

but it's one to watch certainly. These damaging winds are not far

away. Across our shores, it's turning very, very well indeed in

the South West of England. It turns to snow, snirblly in -- initially

in Wales. The motorway network around the M5, M40 which will be

badly affected, hence we have an amber warn -- warning in place - be

warned. As we get into the rush hour, down and dirty underneath the

clouds. Notice in London it starts off as rain but, as we go through

the rush hour, there's every chance it will turn to snow. In London

itself, a few flakes, but in the vicinities of London where you

could see a covering of snow, these are up on the Chilterns and the

Downs. Widespread ice in Northern Ireland, northern glaerpbd and

Scotland. Snow down to low levels here. -- England and Scotland.

The sleet and snow will ease from East Anglia and the south. Some

sunshine in its wake but clumps of wintry showers pushing down to

Wales and southern England. Despite some sunshine, it will be a cold

day nationwide. Temperatures four or five with a chilly north-

westerly breeze setting us up for a cold weekend. Some sunshine, crisp

and sunny at times but widespread frosts and wintry showers to come.

For your latest update, check out your BBC local radio station or the

website. Latest warnings can be found on our website..

A reminder of the main news: The helicopters and a warship, up to

13,500 military personnel will help with security for the London