12/04/2012 BBC News at Six

The fragile ceasefire in Syria tonight for the first time after

months of bloodshed. There have been reports of some violations on

both sides, but the UN secretary general said that the truce appears

to be holding. The world is watching, however, with sceptical

eyes since many promises previously made by the Government of Syria

have not been capped. All so on the programme: Policies

breached and boundaries blurred. The Met Police is heavily

criticised for employing a former News of the World employee as a PR

consultant. Hundreds of patients are sent home

in the early hours of the morning. She could not get a lift home and

the taxi arrived and took her to a cash machine and made her withdraw

�60 before he would take care. What will London 2012 leave behind?

We will report from Barcelona on the next Olympic legacy. There is

no question that the Olympics help to regenerate Barcelona, turning it

into one of the most vibrant and popular cities in the world. But up

here, where most of the sport actually happened, that is a very

different story. I will have Sportsday later on the

BBC News Channel, including the best action from Aintree at the

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News At Six. A fragile ceasefire in

Syria seems to be holding 12 hours after it came into force. Reports

suggest there has been a drop in violence despite both sides

reporting violations of the truce during the day. Anti-government

activists claim they have seen no sign of President Assad pulling his

forces away from opposition strongholds like Homs. Tens of

thousands of Syrian civilians who fled the violence are living in

refugee camps on the Turkish-Syrian border. We report from there.

After months of violence, it did seem a very different kind of dough.

Not so much peace, but the absence of large-scale conflict. -- kind of

day. Activists recorded these pictures of Government tanks on the

mood. In Aleppo, they were able to film a sniper position. And in the

same city, students came out to form a chain bearing the words SOS.

Both sides accuse each other of violations. In this Damascus suburb,

a activists said they filmed shelling by the army. For its part,

the Government accused the opposition of a lethal roadside

bomb attack. The Secretary-General of the UN spoke for many with a

wary response. At the moment the situation looks calm. The world is

watching, however, with us -- sceptical eyes because many

promises previously made by the Government of Syria have not been

kept. In Damascus, among supporters of the regime, there was a welcome

for the ceasefire but also for the Government's threat to retaliate if

attacked. We are against the withdrawal of the army and

especially in the hot stones. We are seeking stability for the

country. -- hot zones. Syrians are supporting the ceasefire because we

are tired of this mess and the events taking place. What is meant

to happen now? Under the plan, the Government's heavy weapons, tanks

and troops are supposed to be withdrawn. UN monitors are meant to

report on compliance with the plan. And both sides are meant to meet

with an intermediary. But this evening there was a blunt rejection

of this from the command of the rebel army. This regime has already

violated the ceasefire, from the first minute. It will not honour it

or its pledges. We cannot enter into dialogue with a criminal

regime. We believe that this regime is illegitimate. The Refugees that

dream of returning home, today's news present the possibility. This

woman is in her 70s and was separated from her children and

grandchildren when they tried to escape serious. When everything is

peaceful I will go home to my children. Every day I am crying and

thinking about them. The news from across the board is confused.

Generally quiet but with reports from some areas of violations. The

Kofi Annan, the problem is that the political crisis that caused the

violence is not resolved. The opposition will not accept any

solution that keeps President Assad in power. After thousands of deaths,

tens of thousands driven into exile, the bitterness and mistrust in the

way of real peace is immense. It is telling perhaps I did not meet any

Refugees today who believed they would be going home soon.

Our diplomatic correspondent is with me now. The ceasefire holds

for now. But there are plenty of people that are pretty sceptical

about whether it can last. That is right and possibly with good reason.

There have been peace plans before. The Arab League had one and look

what happened there, with observers going in a just lead to more

violence. The verdict from the UN so far seems to be cautiously

hopeful. Ban Ki-Moon said that it looked, and Kofi Annan said there

was a rare moment of calm for Syria. But behind the scenes, he seemed to

be tougher. He has called on them to demand collectively that

President Assad should withdraw those troops and heavy weaponry is

from built up areas. Presumably the heavy lifting will be done by

Russia and China, part of this peace plan. In before they were not

in concert with the rest of the UN. It looks like Kofi Annan wants to

move swiftly. They want a small observer team, possibly of 30

people, possibly in the next two days, to be put in to test the

waters before sending in a bigger team. But before that, there could

be a moment when the ceasefire is tested and that comes tomorrow,

after Friday prayers. If tens of thousands of people take to the

streets, according to the peace plan they should be able to

peacefully demonstrate. Will that be allowed? Will this fragile truce

collapse into more violence? Thank you.

Senior staff at Scotland Yard have been criticised for poor judgement

over their decision to hire a former News of the World executive

as a PR consultant. The police watchdog the IPCC said that

Scotland Yard had blurred professional boundaries when they

employed Neil Wallis in 2009. Yes, the phone hacking scandal

reignited just over a year ago. In the intervening time, the doors at

Scotland Yard have been revolving nearly as much as the famous sign,

with the departure of senior staff. The affair has also left a number

of investigations on-going with the Independent Police Complaints

Commission. The final report on those have been published today.

The police and the press. Since the phone hacking affair reignited last

year, it has been claimed that senior Met Police staff were just

too close to the News of the World. In particular, Assistant

Commissioner John Yates and the communications chief at the police,

Dick Fedorcio. Today the police watchdog gave its final verdict.

Why did you give this to the man who was the deputy editor of the

News of the World? Dick Fedorcio has faced repeated questions about

his relationship with News of the World journalists and executives.

Today's report focuses on one decision that he made in 2009. As

Director of Public Affairs at the Met Police, he employed Neil Wallis,

freelance public-relations consultant as a media adviser. But

he is the former deputy editor of the News of the World. The IPCC's

report says that Dick Fedorcio compromise the competitive process

by signing him up before signing a proper contract. Policies were

breached. And Dick Fedorcio could be guilty of misconduct. Senior

people appear to be oblivious to the perception of conflict. It is

clear to me that professional boundaries became blurred.

Imprudent decisions were taken and poor judgment was shown by a senior

Metropolitan Police personnel. IPCC also reported on the link

between former newspaperman Neil Wallis and former senior policeman

John Yates. He passed the CV of Neil Wallis's daughter to the Met

Police personnel department, displaying poor judgment according

to the IPCC, because it created the expectation that she would be found

a job. The commission did not conclude that he or Dick Fedorcio

acted corruptly. But both men have now resigned. Dick Fedorcio only

went about two weeks ago, shortly before, it is thought, the

Metropolitan Police were about to begin disciplinary proceedings

against him. The IPCC have said that his departure before

disciplinary action is hugely damaging for public confidence in

the Met Police. The Government is facing growing

pressure tonight to alter its planned changes to the tax system,

following concerns that wealthy people could be deterred from

giving to charities. The Chancellor wants to cap the relief on

donations to cut down on tax avoidance. Liam Watts and has the

latest. David Cameron says that he believes

in the Big Society because the state has to make savings, so

charities and voluntary groups should do more. But charities are

warning that changes to the tax laws could cost those and those

that depend on them dearly. believe that if this tax change

proceeds as is currently proposed, that it will be the poorest and

most vulnerable children paying the price of that. They could pay that

price with their lives. Some charities say they rely heavily on

wealthy individuals. Millionaires are responsible for as much as �750

million worth of donations. There are fears that the attempts to cut

down on tax avoidance could hit charities in the pocket. At the

moment, someone earning �4 million a year could give �2 million to

charity before any income tax is deducted. They would then pay tax

only on the remaining �2 million. But from April next year, the

proposal is that someone earning �4 million would be limited to giving

a maximum of �1 million, or quarter of their income, to charity before

tax is deducted. They would then have to pay income tax on the

remaining �3 million. They could still give more money to charity,

but it would not be tax free. Through the use of various tax

reliefs, very wealthy individuals are able to reduce their income tax

rate, not to the 45, 40, 20% that people generally pay, but down to

very low numbers indeed. Possibly not paying any income tax at all.

Some coalition MPs are drumming up opposition here. Vince Cable is

calling for a rethink so that charges do not suffer from wider

moves to tackle tax avoidance. Some Conservative ministers say they

were not consulted on the policy and even more and charitably, a

former Conservative minister has told the BBC that this must be

reversed. -- uncharitably. Labour have accused them of incompetence.

Only this Government could be so out of touch, and so failing to

realise that we are all in it together, that they cut taxes for

the most affluent people in our society, at the top 1%, except for

those that do the right thing. Except for those that want to give

money to charity. The Government could pay an unexpected political

price for tackling tax avoidance. A 90 year-old woman with dementia

sent home from hospital at 4 o'clock in the morning. A 94 year-

old man put in a taxi on his own in the middle of the night. Another

patient discharged without any shoes at 4:30am. These are some of

the distressing stories that have emerged from the research which

reveals that almost a quarter of a million patients in England have

been discharged from hospital overnight in the past year.

When a patient leaves hospital, they expect to be well enough to go

home and to be able to get there. But many are being discharged in

the middle of the night when families and care homes are not

expecting them. They sent me home in a taxi. I could not get into the

house because the front door was locked from the inside. We were

extremely surprised that she was in and out so quickly. Residents

returned late at night with a flimsy nightdress and of that will

like it. Lisa Smurf's elderly mother and law was sent home at 11

o'clock. -- and a hospital blanket. They phoned her a taxi because they

would not give her a lift home. The taxi took her to a cash machine and

made to withdraw �60 before he would take her home. Figures

obtained by the Times newspaper from nearly two-thirds of hospital

trusts in England found that a quarter of a million patients were

discharged between 11 o'clock at night and 6 o'clock in the morning.

Those figures are not straightforward. University

Hospitals of Leicester discharged 9000 patients overnight, but that

includes 7200 patients who died during the night, were on a

maternity ward, or went home voluntarily. Derby hospitals have

the highest rate of overnight discharges but they say that

includes discharged patients moved to different wards and when they

run short of beds they sometimes have no alternative. Clearly

discharging people in the middle of the light, for that particular

patient, it is not ideal and it is not going to be ideal. But when you

look at the needs of a desperately sick person in casualty, it is

often balancing those needs. Some fear that growing pressures on

health service could make this a growing problem, and ministers say

that must not happen. It is a particular problem for elderly and

vulnerable patients to be sent home at a time of day that is not safe

or convenient. The Government has promised to investigate and says

that hospitals must only ever send patients home when it is safe for

Our top story tonight: A fragile ceasefire is holding

across much of Syria, though there have been reports of sporadic

violence on both sides. And coming up - Munch's Scream on

public display, and on course to become the world's most valuable

work of art. It's a portrait of torment, anxiety and despair - how

many tens of millions of pounds is Later, more than 1,000 jobs at risk

as British Airways reveals its plans for BMI. Struggling retail at

Mothercare is to close over 100 of In just five months' time, after

all the years of planning and hard work, the London 2012 Olympics will

be over - the athletes and crowds will have been and gone. So what

will be left behind? In the second of our series from former host

cities, our sports editor, David Bond, has been to Barcelona, which

hosted the games 20 years ago, to find out what the legacy has been

for that city. Take a boat along Barcelona's

waterfront, and it is easy to see the legacy the Olympics left here.

20 years ago, this city had its back turned to the sea. Now it is

the perfect spot for a bit of sport, or maybe something a little less

taxing. It is hard to imagine, but before the Games, this long stretch

of sandy beach was an industrial dumping ground. Maria and her

friends have been meeting here for years. They remember what it was

But it wasn't only about spending billions on redevelopment projects.

The global profile of the game's transformed the city's image. Now

it is one of the hottest tourist destinations in the world, with the

number of visitors doubling in the decade which followed. There is no

question the Olympics help to regenerate Barcelona, turning it

into one of the most vibrant and popular cities in the world. But up

here, where most of the sport actually happened, that is a

Build many of its Olympic venues, including the diving, on Montjuic.

While they had stunning views, they were not all developed with long-

When we visited the diving Centre, it was in a shocking state. Only

used in high summer, it has been largely neglected. So does the

iconic then you have a future? let's say, the economic turnaround

comes, and the City has money, it is a facility to invest and make it

Indore. But it is true that it hasn't been a big demand.

Olympic Stadium has been well looked after, and still attracts a

lot of visitors. The only problem is there is not a lot to see.

Football club Espanyol moved out three years ago, leaving it without

an anchor tenant. 20 years ago, the stadium was packed to see Sally

Gunnell win gold for Great Britain. Such a shame... Back at the scene

of her greatest triumph, she told me she hoped London would take note

of the experience here. A great stadium, it has got a fantastic

surface. OK, maybe it doesn't work so well for football, but there is

no reason why we can't see athletics on here. I think we have

to learn from this. I hope they learn from what we can do back in

London. Away from the flagship venues, most of the smaller

stadiums, like the velodrome, continue to have community use.

Although even here, the lack of a roof means it can't host big

competitions. Few did more to bring the Games to Barcelona than the

late IOC president, Juan Antonio Samaranch. His son says his

father's legacy goes way beyond infrastructure. You look at

basketball, football, handball, team sports, tennis, where ever you

look, you have very competitive Spanish sports men and women who

are doing very well. That all started over there in that stadium,

20 years ago, yes. Maybe so, but Barcelona's Olympic achievement was

to prioritise urban renewal of the sporting legacy. London is

promising both. The Welsh Conservative Party has

launched its manifesto for next month's local elections, saying

Tory-run councils would prioritise cleaning up litter and dog mess,

and repairing roads. The party is defending around 160 seats on May

3rd. For decades it's been a port of

call for mums and parents-to-be. But today, Mothercare announced

it's to close more than 100 of its outlets over the next three years.

The majority will be Early Learning Centres. The company announced more

than 700 redundancies, but said it hoped some of those who'll lose

their jobs can be redeployed. Shopping for a baby is always a bit

special, but Mothercare has lost its shine. UK sales are continuing

to fall. A household name that has struggled to keep up with the

competition. In the past, it was all about how many stores you had.

Accessibility for retailers was number of stores. Now accessibility

is about the internet, you don't need as many stores. The stores

that you have have to work harder. If someone is going to visit a

store, they want a really positive experience. Neither Mothercare, not

only learning centre, have kept up with that. -- nor Early Learning

Centre. No surprise that more closures are on the way. 730 jobs

will be affected. Closing underperforming stores is all part

of Mothercare's plans to revive its UK business. The going may be tough

at home, but it is a different story overseas. International sales

are growing. Mother can now has more than 1,000 stores in 58

countries -- Mothercare now has. Like here in Saudi Arabia. Success

that is based on an historic brand. In the old days, Mothercare was the

one stop mother and baby shop. Attracting families today is much

harder. Obviously a lot to do with internet shopping, people's habits

have changed. People used clothes from supermarkets, but yes, the big

online monster will soldier on. company says the fightback has

begun with a leaner, more competitive business in future.

Getting there, though, won't be It's one the most recognisable and

highly-valued works of art in the world. The Scream - by the

Norwegian, Edvard Munch - is a haunting depiction of man's

alienation. Today, the only version of the painting in private hands

went on display at Sotheby's in London. It's to be sold in New York

next month and is expected to fetch around �50 million. Our arts

correspondent, David Sillito, has The Scream is for sale. It is a

phase of torment, despair and magazines, posters, cartoons, book

covers. It has been reproduced in a million cartoons and films, fridge

magnets, inflatable toys. It has a sort of double life, as both in

fine art, one of the defining images of the Expressionist

movement, but's also an image that is recognisable around the world.

So this is not just another painting going on display before a

sale. It is a global icon of despair, inspired by a walk by the

sea in Norway. Edvard Munch wrote that he was with some friends when

he suffered a sudden attack of anxiety, a scream passing through

nature. He painted three other versions, but they are all in

museums. This one was acquired by a neighbour, and it is his family who

are putting it up for sale. It is the only version of The Scream to

be in private hands, and this image is one of the most famous in the

whole of art history. So how do you put a price on it? The estimate,

�50 million, puts it on a par with this painting by Renoir, and this

one by Van Gogh, which were in their time record breaking prices.

Then came the shock of this painting by Cezanne, rumoured to

have been sold privately for �160 million. With such work, normal

rules do not apply. This is going to be the only The Scream in

private hands and that is the most extraordinary opportunity for

someone. You set the price and you set the value. It is the paradox of

the market. From advertisers to art thieves, The Scream is undoubtedly

popular. The question now is, what is that worth in the auction room

Let's have a look at the weather now.

From one disturbing picture to another. Things have got very

lively over the last few hours, torrential thunderstorms across

parts of England and Wales, hail, gusty wind, and his band is

bringing heavy rain to the south coast. This photo was taken in

Littlehampton, symptomatic of the storms which will rumble on but

gradually eased down through the evening. One or two will linger.

Just like last night, it will turn mighty cold in rural areas, perhaps

a touch of frost. The showers turning increasingly wintry, to

lower and lower levels by the time we reach tomorrow. That is the

theme, turning colder across is part of the world. Once more, the

showers will develop. No two days are the same, that has been the

case through this week. It looks like the heaviest of the showers

will be across southern areas, further north they will be lighter.

One or two showers for Northern Ireland, northern England, but not

as heavy or as widespread as they have been recently. The southern

half of the UK will catch the heavy ones. Maybe the odd thundery one to

the South East and more showers today in the south-west of England.

We concentrate on these powers -- areas because we could see pronged

areas -- prolonged showers for a time. Elsewhere, cold wind

spreading down. For many, brightness around, one or two

showers, fewer than we have seen recently. That is good news for the

Grand National. I am hopeful it will be dry and bright through

Saturday at Aintree. Looking ahead to Sunday, after a very frosty

start, most places are again dry with a chilly wind. Temperatures

A reminder of tonight's main news: After over a year of bloodshed, a