:00:05. > :00:13.French police raid the flat in which the man suspected of the
:00:13. > :00:17.Jewish school killings was holed up. A blaze of gunfire and the 32-hour
:00:17. > :00:27.stand-off is over. A police marksman shot Mohamad Merah dead as
:00:27. > :00:29.
:00:29. > :00:32.he tried to flee. How did a 23- year-old petty criminal grow into
:00:32. > :00:35.such a dangerous fundamentalist, and how did he get such a lethal
:00:35. > :00:38.arsenal of weapons? Also on tonight's programme... The morning
:00:38. > :00:45.after the Budget before - pensioners accuse the Chancellor of
:00:45. > :00:55.a stealth tax on their incomes. When I realised what he had done
:00:55. > :00:56.
:00:56. > :01:00.with the age allowance, I felt that was a direct hit to me. What we are
:01:00. > :01:05.doing for Britain's pensioners is delivering the biggest ever
:01:05. > :01:08.increase in pension, in April, �5.30 a week. The great escape -
:01:08. > :01:11.the BBC learns that hundreds of suspected sex offenders and
:01:11. > :01:14.thousands of violent suspects have jumped bail. Team GB show off their
:01:14. > :01:24.Stella McCartney kit - but are the athletes spending too much time in
:01:24. > :01:49.
:01:49. > :01:52.Good evening, welcome to the BBC News at Six. The stand-off between
:01:52. > :01:57.French police and the man accused of killing seven people, including
:01:57. > :02:02.three Jewish children, is over. After a 32-hour siege, an armed
:02:02. > :02:05.unit raided the flat in which Mohammed Merah was holed up. They
:02:05. > :02:08.were met with a hail of bullets before the gunman himself was shot
:02:08. > :02:18.dead as he tried to flee. Our correspondent Christian Fraser is
:02:18. > :02:20.
:02:20. > :02:27.in Toulouse. It has been 11 days since the first shooting, since
:02:27. > :02:34.when this region of France has been gripped by fear, act now or --
:02:34. > :02:40.anger and sadness. It has finally ended today, and now, this region
:02:40. > :02:44.will want to forget Deni Marney, and the violent crimes he committed
:02:44. > :02:49.-- will want to forget the money, and the violent acts he committed.
:02:49. > :02:54.It was thought Mohammed Merah had taken his own life in the Ernie Els
:02:54. > :03:03.of this morning, but as police moved in to clear the apartment,
:03:03. > :03:07.sustained rounds of gunfire were omitted. This is him falling about
:03:07. > :03:11.in his car. He was a 23-year-old criminal with a string of
:03:11. > :03:18.convictions for robbery and violence. A French citizen trained
:03:18. > :03:21.in Afghanistan who claimed he had orders from Al-Qaeda. For hours he
:03:21. > :03:26.had negotiated with police, but late last night he told them it was
:03:26. > :03:31.against his conscience to surrender, and all Communications stopped.
:03:31. > :03:35.There were attempts to break his resolve. Several times, flash
:03:35. > :03:39.grenades were thrown at the apartment, but with no response
:03:39. > :03:40.during the night, the decision was taken to send in the elite
:03:40. > :03:44.commandos. They entered through the commandos. They entered through the
:03:44. > :03:49.front, blowing off the door, and using specialist fibre-optic
:03:49. > :03:54.cameras, they picked their way through the apartment, trying to
:03:54. > :04:00.locate Merah, until they reached the balcony. Suddenly, he appeared,
:04:00. > :04:06.armed with a Colt 45 handgun, opening fire. Two policemen were
:04:06. > :04:09.injured. He jumped from the window wearing a bullet-proof vest, and
:04:09. > :04:15.still firing wildly, but waiting for him was a police marksman, who
:04:15. > :04:19.shot him dead. Merah had died exactly as he wanted, in a
:04:19. > :04:23.ferocious stand-off with police, armed, with a pistol in his hand.
:04:23. > :04:30.In three separate and brutal attacks, Merah had killed seven
:04:30. > :04:35.people, three soldiers, and, on Monday, three children and a rabbi
:04:35. > :04:39.at the Jewish school. Police said he conversed in negotiations that
:04:39. > :04:42.his only regret was not killing more. He had filled his attacks,
:04:42. > :04:47.revelling in the gruesome and appalling way in which he had
:04:47. > :04:51.appalling way in which he had executed each victim.
:04:52. > :04:57.He told us he had been radicalised in prison, said the prosecutor, and
:04:57. > :05:03.had been reading the Koran, although he did not show any signs
:05:03. > :05:07.of fundamentalism. He was violent with other prisoners, however. He
:05:07. > :05:11.travelled to Afghanistan on his own, and later immersed himself in
:05:11. > :05:14.extremist websites. He burgled houses to raise the money to build
:05:14. > :05:19.up an extraordinary arsenal of weapons, which was found in the
:05:19. > :05:22.boot of his car. Today, the French President told the nation an
:05:22. > :05:27.inquiry was under way to find his apprentices. Every person who goes
:05:27. > :05:31.on websites which glorify terrorism, he said, will be punished by law.
:05:31. > :05:35.For a President facing a battle for re-election, it is a successful
:05:35. > :05:39.conclusion. Throughout the week he has been centre stage in this
:05:39. > :05:44.crisis, overseeing the biggest manhunt France has ever known. But
:05:44. > :05:46.questions have been asked today by his own Foreign Minister - how did
:05:46. > :05:50.the domestic intelligence agencies lose track of such a violent
:05:50. > :05:57.criminal, who had travelled to Afghanistan, and was already on
:05:58. > :06:00.their radar as a dangerous fundamentalist? Merah told
:06:00. > :06:04.negotiators that he had killed Jewish children to avenge the
:06:04. > :06:08.deaths of children in the Palestinian territories, and that
:06:08. > :06:11.he had killed soldiers in retribution for his country's
:06:11. > :06:15.involvement in Afghanistan. This afternoon the prosecutor told me
:06:15. > :06:24.that yesterday morning, he was planning to leave to kill another
:06:24. > :06:27.David Cameron has been defending changes in the way pensioners are
:06:27. > :06:29.taxed, insisting that yesterday's Budget had been fair and would help
:06:29. > :06:32.Britain's economy. It comes after an angry backlash from some
:06:32. > :06:34.pensioners after it emerged that more than 4 million people in
:06:34. > :06:43.retirement would have less money than they expected, as our
:06:43. > :06:47.political correspondent Vicki Young reports. A raid on the elderly, a
:06:47. > :06:50.tax cut for the rich, that is not how George Osborne once his Budget
:06:50. > :06:54.to be remembered. Millions of workers will get to keep more of
:06:54. > :06:59.their earnings, but pensioners were surprised by a move to get them to
:06:59. > :07:04.pay more tax in future. The Prime Minister wants to focus on jobs and
:07:04. > :07:08.growth, visiting the pharmaceutical giant Glaxo SmithKline today. He
:07:08. > :07:13.welcomed news that they have confirmed 1,000 new jobs in Cumbria.
:07:13. > :07:17.Mr Cameron insisted the Budget was fair. For Britain's pensioners we
:07:18. > :07:21.are delivering the biggest ever increase in pension, in April,
:07:21. > :07:26.�5.30 a week, which will help pensioners right across the country.
:07:26. > :07:30.At the same time the Budget has delivered a tax cut for 24 million
:07:30. > :07:34.working people. But so vitally important for people to see. It is
:07:34. > :07:37.a fair budget and a good budget. The argument at the Treasury is
:07:37. > :07:41.that while benefits have been cut and many workers have had their
:07:41. > :07:48.wages frozen, pensioners have not done too badly. This has been
:07:48. > :07:53.backed up in a report by leading economists, which says that the
:07:53. > :07:56.over-65s have recently lost a lot less than any other group. The
:07:56. > :08:03.Treasury will be hoping that the bad headlines about a granny tax
:08:03. > :08:08.will soon be forgotten. But it has given ammunition to Labour, who say
:08:08. > :08:11.targeting pensioners while cutting the 50p rate of tax shows the
:08:12. > :08:17.Government has written a budget for the rich. I think it is wrong to be
:08:17. > :08:20.given a tax cut to millionaires of �40,000, at the same time as your
:08:20. > :08:24.hitting hard-pressed pensioners. We will be fighting against this still
:08:24. > :08:28.tax on pensioners. It is outrageous what the Government has done. The
:08:28. > :08:33.Chancellor was not open and honest about it yesterday. I think they're
:08:33. > :08:38.going to have to think again. Tebbit has called it unfair and
:08:38. > :08:44.lousy politics. What to pensioners think? Pensioners are a fairly
:08:44. > :08:48.resilient, but they have hit us, and it is not fair. The last time,
:08:48. > :08:53.we were less hit, so I'm not too worried about, did a more concerned
:08:53. > :08:57.that the rich are getting away with it. So unfair, from the top to the
:08:57. > :09:01.bottom, I have been up all night thinking about it. With money tight,
:09:01. > :09:05.George Osborne could not afford a big giveaway, so someone has to pay
:09:05. > :09:08.for the tax cut for those on low and middle incomes. In the coming
:09:08. > :09:12.years he will have to prove it is the rich forking out, not the
:09:12. > :09:15.elderly. So, plenty of controversy around those changes to pensioners'
:09:15. > :09:17.tax allowances. But taking other benefits for the elderly into
:09:17. > :09:27.account, are pensioners really worse off? Our chief economic
:09:27. > :09:28.
:09:28. > :09:29.correspondent, Hugh Pym, has been Yes, George, a lot of attention is
:09:29. > :09:32.Yes, George, a lot of attention is focusing on the restriction of the
:09:32. > :09:37.pensioners' tax-free allowance. That's the amount they can receive
:09:37. > :09:40.from the state pension and other sources before paying tax. For 65-
:09:41. > :09:45.to 74-year-olds, it's set to be �10,500 a year. For the over-75s,
:09:45. > :09:48.it will be a little bit more. But next year it will be frozen - it
:09:48. > :09:53.will keep up with inflation, meaning more income will be taxable.
:09:53. > :09:56.Around 4.4 million taxpaying pensioners will be affected. They
:09:56. > :10:00.will see an average loss of �83 in the first year - not money taken
:10:00. > :10:05.away, but a reduction on what they would have received. And there's
:10:05. > :10:09.bad news for new pensioners. If they reach 65 on or after April 6th
:10:09. > :10:19.next year, their allowance will be lower - around �9,200. That's an
:10:19. > :10:20.average loss of more than �280. This man is one of those pensioners
:10:21. > :10:24.This man is one of those pensioners whose allowance will be frozen. He
:10:24. > :10:29.could be up to �100 worse off next year than he would have been if the
:10:29. > :10:33.Chancellor had not announced a change, and he is not happy. I felt
:10:33. > :10:39.that that was a direct hit to me, as a pensioner, and millions of
:10:39. > :10:42.other pensioners. Maybe they might not all be like me, that have
:10:42. > :10:46.supported the Conservative Party all their life, but I had, and I
:10:46. > :10:50.felt betrayed by that. But some argue that pensioners have done
:10:50. > :10:55.relatively well, compared to other households. Their state pension has
:10:55. > :10:59.gone up in line with inflation, more than 5% this year, and
:10:59. > :11:05.benefits like the bus pass and the winter fuel allowance have not been
:11:05. > :11:09.touched. On average we think pensioners will lose about 0.25% of
:11:09. > :11:12.their income as a result of this change, obviously some will be hit
:11:12. > :11:16.harder. It is worth saying that up until now, pensioners have been
:11:16. > :11:19.pretty much protected from the various changes enacted by this
:11:19. > :11:22.government. And it's worth stressing that most of the under-
:11:22. > :11:25.65s have benefited from a big increase in their tax free
:11:25. > :11:29.allowance. But as so often after Budgets, the losers make a lot more
:11:29. > :11:39.noise than the winners. George. Our political editor, Nick Robinson, is
:11:39. > :11:42.
:11:42. > :11:45.at Westminster for us this evening. There is a danger, is there not,
:11:45. > :11:51.that is Budget will be remembered for the granny tax? There is, and
:11:51. > :11:54.there is a danger that the people behind me at Number 11 Downing
:11:54. > :12:00.Street did not foresee this happening. It reminds me of Tony
:12:00. > :12:07.Blair, when he had a row with pensioners. He said that aggrieved
:12:07. > :12:10.pensioners were like Rottweilers on speed. In a battle between your
:12:10. > :12:14.grandparents and a man in a suit in Westminster, you can be pretty
:12:14. > :12:18.clear about who will win. George Osborne has every reason to be
:12:18. > :12:22.nervous. But he will be pleased that at least the Institute for
:12:22. > :12:25.Fiscal Studies, the body which is normally terrifying for government
:12:25. > :12:31.ministers and officials, has effectively backed his Budget on
:12:31. > :12:35.that particular issue, saying that this is a marginal change, not
:12:35. > :12:39.taking cash away from pensioners now, but denying them extra tax
:12:39. > :12:43.relief which they might have got in the future. On that 75p pension
:12:43. > :12:48.rise, every pensioner got a letter telling them that it was going to
:12:48. > :12:51.be 75p, whereas every pensioner has now just had one saying they are
:12:51. > :12:55.getting an inflation-linked rise. George Osborne will hope this goes
:12:55. > :13:00.away, but the one big danger for him will be that people will say,
:13:00. > :13:03.look at those people who are getting a big tax cut. Whether you
:13:03. > :13:08.think this change for grannies is big or small, it sure as hell is
:13:08. > :13:08.not as big as that. For everything you need to know about the Budget,
:13:09. > :13:12.you need to know about the Budget, including our Budget calculator,
:13:12. > :13:22.which helps you work out what has changed for you, you can go to our
:13:22. > :13:23.
:13:23. > :13:28.A soldier killed in Afghanistan has been named as captain Rupert Bowers.
:13:28. > :13:32.The 24-year-old was working alongside an Afghan security force
:13:32. > :13:37.patrol when he was struck by the blast from an improvised explosive
:13:37. > :13:41.device yesterday. A 17-year-old youth has gone in
:13:41. > :13:49.trial of Florida accused of murdering two British tourists.
:13:49. > :13:51.Shawn Tyson denies shooting them dead in Sarasota last April.
:13:51. > :13:55.The BBC has uncovered evidence which appears to show widespread
:13:55. > :13:58.fraud at a flagship employment programme. A draft internal audit
:13:58. > :14:02.produced by A4E, a private company paid by the Government to get
:14:02. > :14:08.people into work, found numerous cases of irregular behaviour.
:14:08. > :14:13.Newsnight's Paul Mason is with me now. I know you have looked at
:14:13. > :14:18.these documents, what do they reveal? A4E is already facing
:14:18. > :14:23.reveal of all its contracts after four employees were arrested in
:14:23. > :14:27.January on suspicion of fraud. A 5th person has been arrested today.
:14:27. > :14:31.Nick Clegg has made it clear that all the contracts will be
:14:31. > :14:36.terminated if there is evidence of systematic fraud. The company
:14:36. > :14:40.claimed money for placing people in the work and that job is expected
:14:40. > :14:46.to last 13 weeks. Newsnight obtained an internal report from
:14:46. > :14:49.Tue 1009 which suggests widespread internal fraud, activity across
:14:49. > :14:53.numerous offices and the report warns of a systematic failure to
:14:53. > :14:56.mitigate risk in relation to these fraudulent or potentially
:14:57. > :15:01.fraudulent activities or stop it warns that the management's
:15:01. > :15:07.knowledge of whether their own controls were working were minimal.
:15:07. > :15:10.The report surveyed the work of the 20 top recruiters. Highly-
:15:10. > :15:16.successful people in putting people into work and earning money from
:15:16. > :15:21.the taxpayer. 8% of the claims were either potentially fraudulent or
:15:21. > :15:26.irregular, 14% and could not be checked, 17% only could be verified.
:15:26. > :15:29.What other reaction has there been? The Department for Work and
:15:29. > :15:33.Pensions told us they were made aware of the auditor at the time
:15:33. > :15:37.but they had not uncovered any major issues. A4E have said only
:15:37. > :15:41.one person was found to have done wrong and they repaid any monies to
:15:41. > :15:44.the Department for Work and Pensions. Thank you. And you can
:15:44. > :15:50.see Paul Mason's report for Newsnight on BBC Two this evening
:15:50. > :15:53.at 10.30pm. Our top story tonight:
:15:53. > :15:57.French police shoot dead Mohammed Mareh - the man suspected of
:15:57. > :15:59.killing children and a rabbi at a Jewish school.
:15:59. > :16:09.Coming up: Stella McCartney launches her new
:16:09. > :16:12.
:16:12. > :16:16.Olympics kit, but critics see red Ind Business, sales slump.
:16:16. > :16:19.Disappointing retail figures for February reveal a continuing
:16:19. > :16:29.squeeze on consumers. And GlaxoSmithKline announced plans
:16:29. > :16:30.
:16:30. > :16:34.Deaths from liver disease in England have risen by a quarter
:16:34. > :16:37.over the last decade. A new report says more than 11,000 people died
:16:37. > :16:40.in the eight years up to 2009. A major factor in the dramatic
:16:40. > :16:50.increase is alcohol abuse, with many more victims now in their 40s.
:16:50. > :16:52.
:16:52. > :16:56.Our health correspondent Dominic In hospitals across the country,
:16:56. > :17:01.every day, staff see the damage caused by alcohol abuse. Grant has
:17:01. > :17:06.been a regular visitor, admitted 71 times in the past year as his
:17:06. > :17:16.drinking started to take its toll on his health. I couldn't eat, I
:17:16. > :17:16.
:17:16. > :17:18.couldn't keep any food down. Then I ended up in hospital with chronic
:17:18. > :17:23.pancreatitis and then acute pancreatitis. Because of the
:17:23. > :17:29.drinking. This latest study makes the start reading. Deaths from
:17:29. > :17:32.liver disease in England are up by 25% since 2001. Alcoholic liver
:17:32. > :17:37.disease caused well over a third of those deaths and the people who
:17:37. > :17:39.died were relatively young, 90% of them were under 70. The north-west
:17:40. > :17:46.had the highest death rate, followed by the North East and
:17:46. > :17:52.London. 10 years ago it may have been 15% of hospital beds taken up
:17:52. > :17:57.by liver patients. Now it is 60% to 70%. The wards are full of patients
:17:57. > :18:02.with liver disease. By the time a patient is sick enough to get into
:18:02. > :18:06.hospital, they have quite advanced disease. Many specialists blame
:18:06. > :18:09.cheap alcohol for the steep rise in deaths through liver disease. They
:18:09. > :18:13.are not alone in calling for a minimum price for alcohol in
:18:13. > :18:18.England, similar to the proposals for Scotland. In a late stage case
:18:18. > :18:23.like this, you will see most of the liver replaced by Scottish U.
:18:23. > :18:27.Doctors like Steve from Aintree Hospital are left to cope with the
:18:27. > :18:31.damage done when drinking gets out of control. This is the kind of
:18:31. > :18:37.disease he sees on a regular basis. Patients here are struggling with
:18:37. > :18:41.an alcohol habit that is fearsomely hard to get. The consequences for
:18:41. > :18:45.them, the hospitals where they all took often come to died, could not
:18:45. > :18:48.be more serious. A man who was dubbed the M25 rapist
:18:48. > :18:51.has been convicted of an eighth rape - an attack that took place
:18:51. > :18:55.almost 25 years ago. Antoni Imiela is already serving a life sentence
:18:55. > :18:59.for a series of assaults on women and children along the route of the
:18:59. > :19:06.M25 motorway a decade ago. Our correspondent Sangita Myska is at
:19:07. > :19:12.the Old Bailey this evening. Why has this case they can so long
:19:13. > :19:16.to come to court? This case came to the Old Bailey as a result of a
:19:16. > :19:21.cold case review conducted by the Metropolitan Police. Imiela
:19:21. > :19:26.brutally attacked his victim in 1987 on Christmas Day in Forest
:19:26. > :19:30.Hill, south London. It was samples taken back then, put into cold
:19:30. > :19:34.storage that were then retested during this review and it was their
:19:35. > :19:40.DNA link that link -- led to him. In unrelated circumstances, the
:19:40. > :19:48.victim died in 2006. Nevertheless, the Crown Prosecution Service
:19:48. > :19:58.today's said they believed justice had finally been done.
:19:58. > :20:07.
:20:07. > :20:17.In his conviction. During the trial, the jury were told that Imiela was
:20:17. > :20:21.
:20:21. > :20:28.By a police say they believe he raped other women in the 1980s and
:20:28. > :20:31.1990s. They want those women to contact their local police force.
:20:31. > :20:37.Five Metropolitan Police officers are in hospital after being savaged
:20:37. > :20:40.by a dog in east London. They were attacked when they went to arrest a
:20:41. > :20:44.man in Newham. Four of the officers have serious injuries. The animal,
:20:44. > :20:53.described as a pitbull-type dog, has been put down and a man in his
:20:53. > :20:56.20s has been arrested. Thousands of people accused of
:20:56. > :20:59.violent crimes, including sexual offences, are on the loose and
:20:59. > :21:02.evading trial. The BBC has learned that the police are hunting for
:21:02. > :21:05.more than 30,000 suspects, many of whom were released on bail but have
:21:05. > :21:15.now disappeared. Victims groups are calling for much tougher rules on
:21:15. > :21:15.
:21:15. > :21:19.just who qualifies for bail. Nicola Fleeing justice, these are some of
:21:19. > :21:23.the UK's most wanted suspects. Thousands of people charged with
:21:23. > :21:30.crimes, some as serious as murder and assault, have disappeared. Many
:21:30. > :21:35.were arrested but fled while on bail. Like this man. He is wanted
:21:35. > :21:41.for an alleged rape and is still at large. This is the woman who says
:21:41. > :21:46.he attacked her. She has waived her right to anonymity to speak to us.
:21:46. > :21:53.I went through something twice. A wedge through the incident and end
:21:53. > :21:59.the ordeal afterwards. It feels like nothing. For nothing. Where is
:21:59. > :22:03.the justice in that? How can you encourage other people to go and
:22:03. > :22:07.report serious crimes when nothing comes of it? People are allowed to
:22:07. > :22:11.walk free. All suspects have a right to bail unless there's a risk
:22:11. > :22:15.they may flee, commit more crime or interfere with witnesses. But the
:22:15. > :22:20.BBC has learned that the police are hunting for more than 30,000 people
:22:20. > :22:23.across the UK. Only the details of half of the warrants were submitted
:22:23. > :22:27.to us. Of these, 2027 relate to to us. Of these, 2027 relate to
:22:27. > :22:33.to us. Of these, 2027 relate to violent crimes like assault. 423
:22:33. > :22:40.concern sex crimes, including rape. In London, the Met Police are
:22:40. > :22:44.cracking down on wanted suspects. Good morning. More than 700 arrests
:22:44. > :22:48.have been made over the past today's. This woman was wanted for
:22:48. > :22:53.jacket -- traffic offences. Operations like these aim to round
:22:53. > :22:56.up people who fail to attend court. The Association of Chief Police
:22:56. > :23:01.officers say their priority is to target the most dangerous suspects
:23:01. > :23:05.and bring them back to court. Police officers have been co-
:23:05. > :23:10.ordinating the operation from this command centre. Senior officers say
:23:10. > :23:14.they are committed to capturing these suspect. We have an approach
:23:14. > :23:18.called total policing, about using a relentless approach to tackling
:23:18. > :23:23.crime, tough as during offenders. If you have not turned up in court,
:23:23. > :23:27.we will pursue until we catch you. The question still remains why so
:23:27. > :23:30.many suspects have been granted bail. The Ministry of Justice say
:23:30. > :23:35.the decision as a matter for the courts, but the courts say it is a
:23:35. > :23:38.matter for the police. Team GB unveiled their kit for the
:23:38. > :23:43.Olympic games today - designed by Stella McCartney. But there's been
:23:43. > :23:46.some criticism of the way she's used the Union Jack. And as some of
:23:46. > :23:49.the athletes took to the catwalk, there have been questions over
:23:49. > :23:51.whether team GB stars are spending too much time on their promotional
:23:51. > :24:01.work and not enough on training. Here's our sports editor, David
:24:01. > :24:03.
:24:03. > :24:07.It was more London Fashion Week than London Olympics. Gerat
:24:07. > :24:11.Britain's new kit unveiled today, all under the watchful eye of its
:24:11. > :24:15.famous designer, Stella McCartney. Even for McCartney it was a big
:24:15. > :24:21.challenge for top come up with a kit for 900 athletes of different
:24:21. > :24:25.shapes and sizes from 46 different Olympic and Paralympic sports.
:24:25. > :24:30.Concerned about it... She told me why she wanted to put her label on
:24:30. > :24:34.Team GB. I'm really excited about the games. You can really feel it
:24:35. > :24:38.now, living in the city. I was born and bred here and I now work here
:24:38. > :24:45.every day. You can really feel it in the streets and in the city
:24:45. > :24:49.itself. After presenting the kit like that, you get the energy.
:24:49. > :24:53.not everyone was excited about her take on the Union flag, with
:24:53. > :24:58.different shades of blue replacing read. So was she trying to make a
:24:58. > :25:04.fashion statement? When you look at it, you read it as the flag. You
:25:04. > :25:08.knew what was the flag, it is very recognisable. I have definitely
:25:08. > :25:13.represented or of the nation's, the different parts of Great Britain
:25:13. > :25:16.visually. A lot of red, but I have used it in a very different way.
:25:16. > :25:21.Most Olympic athletes don't get the chance to taste this sort of glitz
:25:21. > :25:24.and glamour very often. But the danger is that in spending too much
:25:24. > :25:29.time at launches like this on the catwalk, they jeopardise their
:25:29. > :25:33.chances of delivering gold medals this summer. Tom Daley knows all
:25:33. > :25:37.about the risks after British diving's top coach went public with
:25:37. > :25:42.his concerns about his commercial commitments. Other young medal
:25:42. > :25:46.hopefuls insist they will not make that mistake. As an athlete you
:25:46. > :25:49.have to be sure that you don't spread yourself too thin. You need
:25:49. > :25:54.to be at a peak level because the rest of the world are. It is
:25:54. > :25:58.getting the balance. British cycling has created some of our
:25:58. > :26:03.biggest stars. The man behind that success says the profile is just
:26:03. > :26:09.reward for all their hard work. and Mrs mediocre haven't got this
:26:09. > :26:14.chance. It is credit to them that they have the opportunity, but it
:26:14. > :26:19.needs to be carefully managed from a performance first perspective in
:26:19. > :26:25.order to make sure that both the training demands and commercial
:26:25. > :26:29.demands can live happily and are integrated into the same plan.
:26:29. > :26:33.the game's getting closer, today's launch show how the hype and
:26:33. > :26:36.expectation is growing for Britain's athletes of up come July,
:26:36. > :26:41.most people will worry more about what they are winning and less
:26:41. > :26:47.what they are winning and less about what they are wearing.
:26:47. > :26:50.It's time to look at the weather. T-shirt weather for most today and
:26:50. > :26:55.through the weekend with a few notable exceptions. Today's
:26:55. > :26:59.exception was across the south-west of England. Some showers there. Fay
:26:59. > :27:03.will continue to push up through for south-west England and into
:27:03. > :27:08.South was Wales. For the rest of us, a fine end to a fine day. It will
:27:08. > :27:17.stay that way overnight. Some cloud forming, but the figures cloud will
:27:17. > :27:20.be across western areas. -- thickest cloud. Most of us will
:27:20. > :27:24.stay dry. A fairly cool night and maybe a touch of frost in the glens
:27:24. > :27:29.of Scotland. It could be a slow start with mist and low cloud in
:27:29. > :27:32.one or two places, but that should readily break-up and for most of us
:27:32. > :27:36.it will be another stunning day with a lot of sunshine. Showers in
:27:36. > :27:42.western areas would become very isolated. One or two left behind,
:27:42. > :27:45.but for most it will be dry and fine. Some low cloud persisting in
:27:46. > :27:53.some sports and a chance of sharp showers in the central belt of
:27:53. > :27:58.Scotland. Eastern coastal areas, a cooler. A chance of some low cloud
:27:58. > :28:04.coming in off the North Sea. Further west, a lot of sunshine.
:28:04. > :28:08.The showers will be very isolated. Temperatures as high as today.
:28:08. > :28:13.Somebody somewhere could reach 20 Celsius. More of the same on
:28:13. > :28:18.Saturday. Eastern coast areas prone to have more cloud. Most other
:28:18. > :28:22.places fine and dry. The West is the best of sunshine. To sum up the
:28:22. > :28:25.weekend, dry, warm and sunny nearly everywhere, but eastern coastal
:28:25. > :28:28.areas will be cooler with the risk areas will be cooler with the risk
:28:29. > :28:33.of some mist lapping onto the shore from time to time. Looking good for
:28:33. > :28:37.most. A reminder of the top story.