Browse content similar to 09/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Italy condemns as inexplicable Britain's decision not to give | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
advanced warning of the failed hostage rescue. Briton Chris | :00:13. | :00:15. | |
McManus and Italian Franco Lamolinara were both killed when | :00:15. | :00:20. | |
Special Forces tried to free them in Nigeria. New pictures have | :00:20. | :00:23. | |
emerged of the house where the men were kept and the battle to free | :00:23. | :00:31. | |
them. The Foreign Secretary tries to defuse the diplomatic row. | :00:31. | :00:36. | |
were able to inform the Italian government as the operation got | :00:36. | :00:46. | |
:00:46. | :00:48. | ||
under way but not to do more than that. Also on tonight's programme: | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
The MP, Eric Joyce, pleads guilty to assaulting four politicians in a | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
Commons bar. It is a matter of considerable personal shame. I have | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
been duly punished. I'm lucky to avoid prison. And the energy | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
company, EDF, agrees to pay �4.5 million after admitting staff | :01:06. | :01:14. | |
misled customers. Coming up: Rangers players agreed to pay curbs | :01:14. | :01:24. | |
:01:24. | :01:35. | ||
as efforts to save the club from Good evening. Welcome to the BBC | :01:35. | :01:41. | |
News at Six. A diplomatic row has erupted after Italy's President | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
attacked as inexplicable Britain's failure to inform him before | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
launching a rescue mission to free two men - a Briton and an Italian - | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
who were being held hostage in Nigeria. Chris McManus from Oldham | :01:51. | :01:54. | |
and Franco Lamolinara were killed yesterday by their captors, as UK | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
Special Forces and the Nigerian military attempted to free them | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
from the north-western city of Sokoto. Downing Street defended the | :02:01. | :02:04. | |
way the operation was handled, saying it had been a fast-moving | :02:04. | :02:13. | |
situation. Here's our security correspondent. The house in North | :02:13. | :02:19. | |
West Nigeria at the centre of yesterday's failed rescue attempt. | :02:19. | :02:23. | |
Inside, evidence of a fierce gun battle - one which ended with news | :02:23. | :02:28. | |
that the two hostages had died. Chris McManus from Bolton and | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
Italian Franco Lamolinara had been held for 10 months by a violent Al- | :02:34. | :02:39. | |
Qaeda linked cell. The Italian President asked why his government | :02:39. | :02:43. | |
had not been consulted before the raid. | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
TRANSLATION: The behaviour of the British government in not informing | :02:47. | :02:53. | |
Italy is inexplicable. Political and diplomatic clarification is | :02:53. | :02:57. | |
necessary. Foreign Office officials say the decision to send in troops | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
had to be made fast - so fast the Italians could only be told after | :03:01. | :03:07. | |
it was made. Why did it happen so quickly? The Nigerians confirmed | :03:07. | :03:12. | |
the location of the hostages after arresting a suspect in the last few | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
days. There were concerns the kidnappers were alerted to a | :03:15. | :03:20. | |
possible rescue and the hostages were in danger of being moved or | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
killed. Under pressure, the Prime Minister authorise the raid | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
yesterday morning and then informed the Italians. The Special Boat | :03:28. | :03:33. | |
Service went in first in a daylight raid, killing one gunman as they | :03:33. | :03:36. | |
entered. They found the hostages had already been murdered by the | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
time they reached them. We had to make a decision very quickly. We | :03:41. | :03:45. | |
had very limited time. That constrained how much we were able | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
to consult others. We were able to inform the Italian government as | :03:50. | :03:56. | |
you operation got under way but not to do more than that. Today former | :03:56. | :04:01. | |
colleagues of Chris McManus paid tribute to the 28-year-old from | :04:01. | :04:07. | |
Oldham. My reaction was devastation. Chris was a very good team player. | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
We're all distraught this has happened at this stage. The family | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
of Chris McManus say they believe that everything that could have | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
been done has been done. The tragic death of the two hostages are now | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
risks sparking a diplomatic row. Gordon Corera is here. How serious | :04:28. | :04:33. | |
is the row? The Italian Minister has said he wants more details in | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
the next few hours. If you look at why this happened, there is | :04:38. | :04:41. | |
speculation that perhaps the British did not tell the Italians | :04:41. | :04:45. | |
because they feared they would not sanction the raid. Officials deny | :04:45. | :04:50. | |
that categorically. They say it was partly because events are moving so | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
fast with concerned -- with concern the kidnappers might have realised | :04:55. | :04:59. | |
there was going to be a rescue attempt. They also say that in | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
discussions with the Italians over recent months, it was always clear | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
that the rescue attempt was a strong possibility. If the tent had | :05:08. | :05:12. | |
succeeded, I do not think there would be many questions about when | :05:12. | :05:15. | |
the Italians were told but it did not. The Italians are upset about | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
the timing and want more answers. David Cameron has been setting out | :05:21. | :05:24. | |
his plans to speed up the adoption process in England and remove what | :05:25. | :05:29. | |
he says are the absurd barriers to mixed race adoptions. He said there | :05:29. | :05:32. | |
was no more urgent task than to ensure every child was given the | :05:32. | :05:35. | |
love of a stable family and that councils would be told to avoid | :05:35. | :05:44. | |
waiting for the perfect match. Finding loving parents for a child | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
through adoption simply takes too long. That is the message from the | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
Government and it intends to make new laws to cut delays in the | :05:52. | :05:59. | |
adoption process. Catherine Gibbs says the present system does not | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
work. She adopted this boy who is eight and has cerebral palsy from | :06:03. | :06:09. | |
South Africa. She had to be approved by the UK authorities. | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
felt under a lot of scrutiny and came up against a lot of negative | :06:14. | :06:20. | |
attitudes to me and to what was trying to do. It was incredibly | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
difficult. It needed a lot of perseverance on my part to keep | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
going with it and not stop when people were so very obviously | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
against what I was trying to do. The Government says it will use | :06:33. | :06:37. | |
legislation to force local councils to speed up the process. | :06:37. | :06:41. | |
Interracial adoptions will be made easier so councils do not lose a | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
time looking for a perfect match. Children identified for adoption | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
should be put on a national register more quickly. Research | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
suggests one in five adoptions breaks down. Some urge caution in | :06:54. | :06:59. | |
too much speed. Ethnicity should not be a factor in finding loving | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
parents for a child. The Prime Minister visiting a children's | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
centre said it was an urgent task for the Government to sort had that | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
option. He suggested social work concerns about white parents | :07:10. | :07:18. | |
adopting black children were absurd. Kevani Kanda says it is not that | :07:18. | :07:22. | |
simple. She has her own children now but was in care herself from | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
the age of nine. She spent her childhood being fostered and in a | :07:27. | :07:30. | |
home. She is not against interracial adoption but warns from | :07:30. | :07:34. | |
her own experience with white foster parents that it is complex. | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
It is easy to say we have found a local white couple to adopt shoot | :07:40. | :07:47. | |
but there needs to be support in the long term for the child in the | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
family. They need to train me and teach me about my culture and where | :07:51. | :07:56. | |
I come from. Senior social workers welcomed the move to cut delays but | :07:57. | :08:01. | |
warned that adoption is a life- changing decision and has to be | :08:01. | :08:05. | |
taken to Caerphilly. Sometimes you need to balance various factors | :08:05. | :08:09. | |
that make you decide whether the quickest option is the best option | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
or whether you should wait longer for a family that will be a better | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
match. Each case is individual. It is a complicated process. Her all | :08:19. | :08:25. | |
agreed that delay in the life of a far Honourable child is damaging. | :08:25. | :08:32. | |
They have to live with the decisions. -- the life of a | :08:32. | :08:36. | |
vulnerable child. The MP Eric Joyce says he was lucky to escape jail | :08:36. | :08:39. | |
after pleading guilty to assaulting four politicians in a bar at the | :08:39. | :08:42. | |
House of Commons. A court heard how the member for Falkirk head-butted | :08:42. | :08:44. | |
a Tory MP, attacked two Conservative district councillors | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
and then turned on a Labour MP. He has been fined and banned from | :08:48. | :08:51. | |
entering a pub but he can still enter the House of Commons. Here is | :08:51. | :08:59. | |
Ben Wright. Politics and drink can be a combustible brew. This is Eric | :08:59. | :09:04. | |
Joyce, heading into court. The MP and former Army major set upon | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
drinkers in a House of Commons bar last month. He pleaded guilty to | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
four charges of assault during a late-night brawl but witnesses said | :09:12. | :09:17. | |
was like a scene from the Wild West. The court heard accounts of flying | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
fists, up turned tables and chaos. Eric Joyce had been drinking and | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
looked completely out of it. He shouted, there are too many Tories | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
in this bar. If people said I was Hammad, that was probably true. The | :09:33. | :09:39. | |
prosecution said Eric Joyce shouted at the police: Stuart and she is | :09:39. | :09:42. | |
the Conservative Member of Parliament he head-butted. This is | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
Bill Wilson, the Labour MP who was punched. Two Tory councillors were | :09:47. | :09:54. | |
also assaulted. It is a matter of considerable personal shame. I have | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
been duly punished. I am lucky to avoid prison. He was spared a | :09:59. | :10:04. | |
custodial sentence but given a 12 month community order and fined. He | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
told the magistrate he would draw a line under his drinking. Drink was | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
an aggravating factor. There is no doubt about that. Not everyone who | :10:15. | :10:21. | |
drinks gets involved in fights, certainly not when you are my age. | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
It was clearly a combination of alcohol and a tendency towards | :10:25. | :10:30. | |
being physically aggressive. Eric Joyce has also been banned from | :10:30. | :10:35. | |
bars and pubs for three months. There are plenty of watering holes | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
in Parliament. Heavy boozing by politicians has dropped away in | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
recent years. The MP who was head- butted said the case raises the | :10:42. | :10:47. | |
issue of how well the House of Commons looks after MPs in | :10:47. | :10:50. | |
difficulty. Eric Joyce were not contest the next election and | :10:50. | :11:00. | |
:11:00. | :11:01. | ||
Labour sources say he was soon be expelled from a party. -- at the | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
party. A fresh allegation of attempted fraud at the welfare to | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
work company, A4E, is to be investigated by the Government. | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
Last month, the boss of A4E, Emma Harrison, stepped down as the | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
Government's family champion after it was revealed that police were | :11:11. | :11:13. | |
investigating allegations against former A4E employees. The company | :11:13. | :11:16. | |
handles millions of pounds worth of government contracts for schemes to | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
help people back into work. Eurozone ministers say that Greece | :11:19. | :11:22. | |
has met the conditions to receive the first tranche of a massive | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
multi-billion euro rescue package. It follows a deal reached by the | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
Greek government with its private sector creditors to write off more | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
than 100 billion euros of debt. It is the largest restructuring of a | :11:33. | :11:38. | |
European government's debt since the Second World War. Two senior | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
staff at Barclays each earned more than �6.5 million last year, | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
according to the company's latest accounts. That is more than the | :11:45. | :11:47. | |
bank's chief executive, Bob Diamond, whose earnings were just short of | :11:48. | :11:51. | |
that amount, including a �2.7 million bonus. Robert Peston | :11:51. | :11:59. | |
reports. Barclays is not the only bank to reward their top earners. | :11:59. | :12:03. | |
The high rolling, big paying City of London. Today we learn the | :12:03. | :12:09. | |
rewards paid by top executives by Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland | :12:09. | :12:15. | |
and Lloyds. Or less than last year but substantial sums by most | :12:15. | :12:19. | |
standards. For years, one of the best-paid chief executives of any | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
bank has been Bob Diamond at Barclays. He has received awards of | :12:25. | :12:31. | |
�6.3 million in total. One of his senior colleagues is getting more - | :12:31. | :12:35. | |
�6.7 million. At the World Bank of Scotland, the rewards of Stephen | :12:35. | :12:42. | |
Hester and our �2.8 million. That is somewhat less than his colleague, | :12:42. | :12:47. | |
who has been paid bonuses of �3.3 million and has received �4.2 | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
million in shares and a signing-on deal. As for Lloyds, its chief | :12:52. | :12:58. | |
executive has a package worth �2.3 million. He waved his bonus after | :12:58. | :13:04. | |
taking time off for extreme exhaustion. Of the three banks, but | :13:04. | :13:10. | |
Keyes was the most generous pair with seven executives receiving �5 | :13:10. | :13:20. | |
:13:20. | :13:20. | ||
million each or more than that. -- Barclays. Eight of its bankers earn | :13:20. | :13:27. | |
more than �2 million each. The Treasury says it shows RBS is | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
responding to government pressure. It is controversial because it is | :13:31. | :13:36. | |
82% owned by the tax payer. Chancellor and Prime Minister had | :13:36. | :13:40. | |
given various promises that they would rain in excess and use their | :13:40. | :13:45. | |
power as a shareholder in RBS to ensure there is responsibility | :13:45. | :13:48. | |
exercised. People would be entitled to ask, where is the Prime Minister | :13:48. | :13:54. | |
and where is the Chancellor? What are they doing about this? Stephen | :13:54. | :13:59. | |
Hester, he waved his �1 million bonus in January under extreme | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
pressure from politicians and the media. One influential City figure | :14:05. | :14:10. | |
warns that the British economy would be damaged if people like him | :14:10. | :14:14. | |
would prevent en masse to work abroad. I think this country has to | :14:14. | :14:21. | |
ask itself whether we really do want great international banks - | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
great international financial companies - head quartering | :14:24. | :14:30. | |
themselves here and basing themselves in London, making a �63 | :14:30. | :14:32. | |
billion a year contribution to the income of the Exchequer or whether | :14:32. | :14:37. | |
we would prefer to kill the golden goose and chase them all out. | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
Bank of Scotland was found guilty by the Financial Services Authority | :14:41. | :14:47. | |
a serious misconduct will take in crazy race between 2006 and 2008 | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
before it was bought by Lloyds. Bankers paid rose by two match in | :14:53. | :15:02. | |
the boom years and has not been cut Our top story tonight: | :15:02. | :15:03. | |
Italy has condemned as "inexplicable", Britain's decision | :15:03. | :15:06. | |
not to give advanced warning of the failed hostage rescue. | :15:06. | :15:08. | |
Coming up: Racing towards 2012 - we meet the | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
new stars of Britain's swimming team hoping for its strongest ever | :15:11. | :15:21. | |
:15:21. | :15:24. | ||
Coming up, the latest from Istanbul, as British athletes go for gold at | :15:24. | :15:34. | |
:15:34. | :15:36. | ||
the World Indoor Athletics Championships. | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
David Cameron is promising a further crackdown on so-called | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
legal highs. They're drugs not intended for human consumption but | :15:42. | :15:45. | |
that can be legally sold - such as methoxetamine, which has been | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
linked to the deaths of two people in Leicestershire. Our UK affairs | :15:48. | :15:50. | |
correspondent, Chris Buckler, reports on the drugs's popularity | :15:50. | :15:59. | |
and how easily it can be bought for For many on a night out, alcohol is | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
the drug of choice. But others will take a legal substances, or similar | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
drugs -- will take illegal substances or similar drugs. | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
Methoxetamine, or MXE, is one of a range of so-called legal highs sold | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
online, or in the shops. This week, the government took steps towards | :16:16. | :16:21. | |
banning it, after Leicestershire Police linked it to two deaths. The | :16:22. | :16:25. | |
results of toxicology tests are still to be released. However, it | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
is clear that just like illegal drugs, legal highs can have | :16:29. | :16:35. | |
negative effects on their uses. don't feel right. I thought my | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
teeth were going to fall out, it was horrible. Don't do them. | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
legal highs, there is no result of what the comedown or the | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
experiences. Legal eyes are not controlled under the Misuse of | :16:49. | :16:59. | |
:16:59. | :16:59. | ||
Drugs Act. The government -- legal We found that many shops, including | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
this one in Stockport, stick to those rules, but it is not the case | :17:05. | :17:09. | |
with every supplier. In a store in Sheffield we were told what the | :17:09. | :17:19. | |
:17:19. | :17:19. | ||
effect of the different legal highs We asked about the packets stating | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
that the drugs were not for human consumption, the warning was | :17:22. | :17:32. | |
:17:32. | :17:39. | ||
Another of the legal highs we were David Cameron was asked about black | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
mamba during this week's Prime Minister's Question Time. He said | :17:43. | :17:46. | |
the Home Office were aware and looking at the drab, and insisted | :17:47. | :17:51. | |
that the government were determined to stamp out legal eyes -- at the | :17:51. | :17:55. | |
drug. One of the problems is people buying it and thinking it is like | :17:55. | :18:00. | |
cannabis. In actual fact, it is much stronger. Despite the promise | :18:00. | :18:07. | |
of action, drugs charities say banning individual substances will | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
not work. We are not going to solve the problem in the long term by | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
doing that. We are going to replace one with another and you will end | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
up sooner than later with something that is much worse. The government | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
said it will ban groups of drugs that cause harm, but many are | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
worried about the availability of legal highs. This store in | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
Sheffield insisted it was not their policy to sell drugs fought legal | :18:30. | :18:39. | |
:18:40. | :18:42. | ||
consumption but insisted there employee had ignored that. | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
The energy firm, EDF, has agreed to pay out �4.5 million after | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
admitting its sales staff misled customers. The energy regulator, | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
OFGEM, found that people weren't given enough information during the | :18:50. | :18:52. | |
sales process. Our business correspondent, John Moylan is here. | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
This is pretty embarrassing for EDF, what exactly did they do wrong? | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
is the result of an 18 month investigation which found that some | :18:58. | :19:00. | |
doorstep people from EDF for not giving customers all of the | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
admission that they needed, and its telesales agents who were cold- | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
calling were claiming big savings, without knowing they could be | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
delivered. EDF was facing a sizable find that has offered to make a | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
sizable payment, the biggest of its kind, that will effectively go to | :19:16. | :19:20. | |
customers -- but has offered. The payout is in the region of �4.5 | :19:20. | :19:25. | |
million. It means that 70,000 of EDF's Most Honourable customers | :19:25. | :19:31. | |
will receive a payout in the region of �50 as a refund on their bills - | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
- Most Honourable customers. Ironically, it is not going to the | :19:35. | :19:45. | |
:19:45. | :19:45. | ||
customers most affected -- most Probes into N Powell, SSE and | :19:45. | :19:51. | |
Scottish Power are ongoing. -- into Npower. Probably because of this | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
ongoing investigation and criticism from MPs which talked about Del Boy | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
sales tactics, most of the major suppliers have ended unannounced | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
doorstep sales. A year after the tsunami that | :20:03. | :20:06. | |
struck in Japan, the cost of the nuclear meltdown at Fukushima is | :20:07. | :20:14. | |
now put at $130 billion. The human costs are incalculable. 130,000 | :20:14. | :20:18. | |
people are still unable to return home. Damian Grammaticas has been | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
back to see how life has changed in two communities close to Fukushima. | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
You can't see it, but absolved by the trees, the radiation threat is | :20:28. | :20:38. | |
:20:38. | :20:41. | ||
all around us. From this point, A year ago, Iitate was home to | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
26,000 people, 25 miles from Fukushima. Today, it is too | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
radioactive to live here. Japan's government wants to clean up not | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
just Iitate, but several thousand square kilometres of contaminated | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
land around here. Nothing like it has been done before, not even | :20:59. | :21:02. | |
after the Chernobyl disaster. No one knows whether all this can be | :21:02. | :21:08. | |
made fit for humans to live in again. Professor Yoichi Tao is | :21:08. | :21:11. | |
trying to work out how to find and remove the caesium that the | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
disaster spewed out. Carried on the wins, it has spread over an area | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
several times the size of Greater London. The radiation will last | :21:20. | :21:27. | |
longer than a human lifetime. government say they will | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
decontaminate everywhere, but it a huge area, I don't think they can | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
do it. It will cost a colossal amount. And Fukushima's reactors | :21:35. | :21:43. | |
are still fragile, so many are too fearful to live in the shadow of | :21:43. | :21:49. | |
the nuclear plant. 15 miles from it, Minamisoma is bisected by the | :21:49. | :21:55. | |
nuclear explosions own -- exclusion zone. The 25,000 people who fled | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
last year have not returned. Across the town, the top five centimetres | :22:00. | :22:04. | |
of soil is being removed. More radioactive particles keep falling | :22:04. | :22:11. | |
from the trees. At the Haramachi Saiidi nursery school, they now | :22:11. | :22:17. | |
take radiation readings every day, and then swab the playground clean, | :22:17. | :22:22. | |
before the children are allowed out to play. All wear masks. The school | :22:22. | :22:26. | |
is one of the few places that has been completely decontaminated. A | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
counter installed in the playground shows radiation a little above | :22:29. | :22:35. | |
normal, but within safe limits. TRANSLATION: They have cleaned up | :22:35. | :22:39. | |
our Nursery and playground, that's all. We can't even take the | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
children out of the front gate. Our life is limited to these tiny | :22:44. | :22:50. | |
spaces. Even when it levels are low, many parents won't bring their | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
children back here. Living with radiation is a risk they don't want | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
to take. An agreement appears to have been | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
reached that will allow Rangers Football Club to complete this | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
season's fixtures. It is understood the players have struck a | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
provisional deal with administrators to take wage cuts of | :23:08. | :23:13. | |
up to 75%. The club needs to save �1 million a month to keep going. | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
Rebecca Adlington became a household name when she won two | :23:16. | :23:20. | |
gold medals at the Beijing Olympics four years ago. Now there is a | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
whole host of other British swimmers hoping for Olympic glory, | :23:24. | :23:29. | |
and many believe this could be the strongest British Olympic swimming | :23:29. | :23:34. | |
team ever. James Pearce is at the Aquatics Centre in Stratford. | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
Roberto Adlington is hoping to qualify for the 800 metres tonight, | :23:37. | :23:42. | |
is she likely to get through -- throwback Adlington. Her final gets | :23:42. | :23:47. | |
under way in 15 minutes. I don't need to be very bold to say she | :23:47. | :23:56. | |
would look at place and win the race. Rebecca Addington is in very | :23:56. | :24:01. | |
good company when it comes to potential medallists. It is one of | :24:01. | :24:04. | |
London 20 top's most impressive structures, but British runners are | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
becoming increasingly confident that the venue will end up being | :24:07. | :24:13. | |
known more for them success inside, than any view outside. It has been | :24:13. | :24:17. | |
an outstanding week for a number of our top competitors. One after the | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
other, they have shown their Olympic potential. Hannah Miley, 21 | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
years old. Winner here in the 400 metres individual medley, his | :24:26. | :24:36. | |
silver medallist at last year's Liam Tancock, aged 26, one of the | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
world's finest backstroker us. Already, North champion, now aiming | :24:41. | :24:49. | |
to be Olympic champion. Ellen Gandy, 20 years old, impressive winner of | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
the 200 metres butterfly. She too is a 200 metres silver medallist at | :24:55. | :25:01. | |
the World Championships. She has a real chance of becoming a star of | :25:02. | :25:07. | |
Team GB. A medal of any colour would be brilliant but a gold medal | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
would be the best thing. I have dreamt that the Queen would present | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
them and it would be great. then there is Rebecca Adlington, on | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
Sunday she was dominant in qualifying for the freestyle event. | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
She is likely to win by an even greater margin in the 800 metres. | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
British women is in a fantastic place, particularly the women's | :25:31. | :25:36. | |
team. In some events we have at four ladies in the top 16, going | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
for two spots. Loss of 15 and 16 year olds are ready to fill their | :25:40. | :25:49. | |
This should be just the beginning. British medals in a British pool, | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
no Maunder Olympic tickets are so hard to come by. | :25:55. | :26:00. | |
Paralympian Ellie Simmonds became the first person to break a world | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
record in this pool. The Aquatics Centre is going to be one of the | :26:05. | :26:15. | |
:26:15. | :26:16. | ||
places to be this summer. Thank you. We could get some fine | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
spring sunshine by day this weekend. There may be some interesting | :26:20. | :26:25. | |
viewing at night. The recent increase in solar activity means | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
the aurora is possibly visible almost anywhere. It does depend on | :26:29. | :26:33. | |
the cloud. And there will be some breaks here and there overnight. I | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
can't promise everywhere clear skies. We are expecting lumps of | :26:37. | :26:43. | |
cloud to drift across the country. The thickest cloud will persist | :26:43. | :26:46. | |
across Northern Ireland and western Scotland. Where there will be | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
drizzly rain. Elsewhere it is generally dry. It is a mild night. | :26:50. | :26:56. | |
By and large, a cloudy start to the weekend but it should cheer up. | :26:56. | :27:05. | |
At one or two spots of drizzly rain, we are going to keep thicker cloud | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
throughout the weekend across the Highlands of Scotland. To the east | :27:09. | :27:16. | |
of the hills with a bit of sunshine, temperatures could jump out. 13 or | :27:16. | :27:21. | |
maybe 14 -- jumped up. Cloudy over north-west England. Temperatures | :27:21. | :27:27. | |
with a bit of sunshine may reach 13 or 14. Much of England and Wales | :27:27. | :27:34. | |
will see bright and find conditions. Western coasts may stay quite grey | :27:34. | :27:37. | |
and dreary. It should brighten up for the Millennium Stadium for | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
Wales against Italy. As for Ireland against Scotland, it could be | :27:41. | :27:46. | |
milder in Dublin. Through the evening, we will not see a great | :27:46. | :27:51. | |
deal of change. A few more holes in the cloud, we could again see the | :27:51. | :27:56. | |
aurora. Sunday is a similar day. Eastern areas favourite for bright | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
and sunny spells. Most likely to stay grey with the odd spot of | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
drizzle. Where the sun comes out, temperatures will jump into the | :28:04. | :28:08. |