03/05/2012 BBC News at Six

The documents that reveal Osama bin Laden was hoping for another

spectacular attack on the West. Papers siezed from the Al-Qaeda

leader's hide-out show he feared losing support - and wanted to

assassinate Barack Obama. We'll be asking what the documents

say about Bin Laden's global influence.

Also on the programme: Even as he was on the run he was still very

much connected to and participating in actuflgts1 ir.

April queues - new figures confirm Heathrow was way off target for

getting non-European passengers through immigration.

Slow and steady - the Bank of England Governor says there are

signs of economic recovery. seems to have a curve.

Chris James was blind for years. Now he can see shapes after

scientists fit a microchip behind his eyes.

And a world first - Wales becomes the only nation to have a footpath

Coming up on the BBC News channel, almost three months in

administration, but Rangers may have a new owner by the end of the

season. American tycoon Bill Miller Good evening, and welcome to the

BBC News at 6.00pm. Documents released today reveal that right up

to his death Osama bin Laden was hoping to carry out another

spectacular terrorist plot. The papers found in his Pakistani hide-

out when US Navy seals killed him last year also show that Bin Laden

was worried about losing support among Muslims. He thought the

assassination of President Barack Obama would restore faith in Al-

Qaeda. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports. The last

days of Osama Bin Laden - holed up in his walled compound in Pakistan

before he was killed by US Navy commandos last year. Now we're

getting a glimpse of the so-called treasure trove of documents grabbed

from that compound. In a US election year, Washington has

chosen to release a fraction of the 6,000 documents. The Bin Laden

files reveal he'd tasked two Bin Laden's plan was for Joe Biden

to take over as President, believing he was incompetent and

would lead the US into crisis. Every insurgent looks at his

adversary and tries to figure out how can you conduct a military

strike that has operational significance, but even more

importantly, has enormous political significance? Terrorism or

insurgency is at its heart a political contest as opposed to a

military contest. One of the declassified documents refers to

What emerges here is by the time he was killed a year ago Osama Bin

Laden was struggling to remain in control of Al-Qaeda. The

organisation had already fragmented, so today its offchutes have sprung

up pretty much independently in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq and Somalia.

There is no longer a firm control at the top.

Keep in mind that Al-Qaeda was already on the decline before Bin

Laden's death, but the group itself is still struggling to be relevant.

There are new outfits that have emerged from Al-Qaeda's shadow that

have their own leadership, financing and desire to plot mass

casualty attacks. They don't need Al-Qaeda to do it, but certainly

they're motivated by Bin Laden's ideology. That perhaps is his most

relevant aspect today. That legacy will take a long time to fade. Bin

Laden was a highly charismatic figure for many, and in that sense

it's surprising the US has chosen to revive his memory today but then

the boogie man who once terrified America is no more, his

organisation a shadow of what it once was.

Frank is with me now. Do these documents reveal how extensive

Osama Bin Laden's contacts were? Yes, they do. It shows he was in

contact with leaders, particularly the media leaders, in pretty much

all of Al-Qaeda's Fran shiez offchutes around the world. So in

Somalia, for example, he advised Al-Shabaab don't actually publicly

join us, Al-Qaeda. You're better off not publicly being part of us.

You'll get more recruits that way, which is interesting. In, it's he

and his associates argued with Al- Qaeda's franchise in Iraq to tone

down the violence. He was aware killing a lot of Muslims was losing

them a lot of recruits and reputation. He suggested that the

Yemenis should concentrate not on trying to establish an emirate but

attack the United States from there which of course they did do by

putting onboard the pants bomber on the flight to Detroit. In Pakistan

he argued, it seems, with the Taliban organisation the TTP. It's

interesting he had these rather fractious arrangements. Was he in

charge of any of the operations? No. I think he was kind of an inspirer-

in-chief. Thank you.

The delays at Heathrow, Britain's busiest airport, have been at the

centre of a political row with claim and counter-claim. New

figures from the British Airports Authority seem to settle the

argument. All four terminals dealing with non-EU passengers

missed their targets. Our home affairs correspondent Matt Prodger

has more details. Welcome to Britain, though for thousands of

passengers arriving at Heathrow it has been anything but welcome.

After pictures emerged of travellers queuing for hours after

passport control, the travel industry today urged the Home

Secretary to get a grip on the situation. We don't think it's

acceptable that people should be waiting for two or three hours to

get into the country. It gives a very bad impression of Britain. How

can the Government possibly want people to want to come here if that

is the experience they have? Monday the Immigration Minister

Damien Green said more immigration officers would be deployed, but he

said that some estimates of queuing times had been exaggerated.

information shows that queuing times bore no resemblance to some

of the more wild suggestions. Border Force data shows the longest

queuing time for immigration control was one-and-a-half hours at

Terminal 5 Friday night for non-EU nationals. But the figures from BAA

show in fact by Monday, apparently unknown to Mr Green, passengers

from outside the European economic area were queuing for up to three

hours at Terminal 5. It wasn't just once the passengers were stuck in

long queues in April. At one point it took two hours, 20 minutes to

get through immigration at Terminal 3. On another day, they waited over

two-and-a-half hours in Terminal 5, where target waiting times were

missed on 23 out of 30 days. The good news for British passengers is

that on average last month they weren't waiting any longer than the

25-minute target time for them to clear passport control, but that's

no consolation for foreign visitors from outside the European economic

area, and there will be plenty of those in the run-up to the Olympics.

This passenger worked on the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City ten

years ago. Yesterday she was stuck in the queue at Heathrow.

I find it troubling that my first encounter coming to London so close

to the Games was no help in immigration, so I don't think it's

a good sign. I hope it can be corrected because it's needless at

this point in time. Meanwhile, on the other side of London, visa

appointments have been suspended for two weeks after the computer

system at this government office crashed, another headache for the

The head of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, is

coming under intense pressure to resign. A number of senior

politicians have called on him to step down following revelations in

a BBC documentary about his role in a secret child abuse inquiry in

1975. He was among a small group of priests who knew the names of

children being abused but failed to inform the police or their parents.

The Serious Organised Crime Agency's website was disabled for

hours after it was targeted by computer hackers. The Agency said

the site became unavailable after being deliberately hit by a flood

of visits, but the organisation's security hadn't been put at risk.

Humberside Police say they have traced the teenage mother of a

newborn baby whose body was found at a recycling plant. Staff raised

the alarm after finding the child at the Bell Waste control site in

Scunthorpe. The mother has been admitted to hospital for post-natal

care. A steady, slow economic recovery is

on the way according to the Governor of the Bank of England.

Sir Mervyn King said better times were coming during the course of

the year. But today some small business leaders were sceptical of

Sir Mervyn's prediction. This report from our chief economics

correspondent, Hugh Pym. He has a key role in running the

economy and is a watchdog of the banking system, and the Bank of

England Governor Sir Mervyn King has been criticised over both. Now

he's come out with his own assessment of how things are.

The UK may technically be in a double-dip recession, but Sir

Mervyn said in a BBC interview that a return to growth wasn't far off.

It's patchy picture, but there are indeed signs of a recovery coming,

and we see that in the business surveys and I think also in the

employment data, so I think a reasonable view would be that we

would start to see steady, slow recovery coming during the course

of the year. The real problem - These small business bosses

listened closely to Sir Mervyn King at their breakfast meeting in

Nuneaton this morning. Some were sceptical. Roy, who is an estate

agent in the town, and Suzy, who is a local florist, were both at that

meeting. It's going to drag on for another I think about five years

before we actually see some benefit, so we've got to just hang in there

and try and make the best of what we can. I just feel there is no

quick recovery. "Patchy" suggests there are discernible ups and downs,

and that's not really what we're seeing. We have seen it pretty flat

in our business in that it's on the level. We've noticed no significant

ups or indeed downs. Some leaders of bigger businesses

are more optimistic and would probably share the Governor's

assessment on growth, but few would disagree that there is still a

threat to the prosperity of British High Streets, households and

businesses if there is another turn for the worse outside the UK.

Eurozone pressures are mounting again with students demonstrating

against education cuts in Barcelona today. Their protests took place as

the European Central Bank held a meeting of top policymakers in the

Spanish city. An extra 2,000 police were deployed with security for the

meeting tightened. Back at the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn's critics

aren't as noisy as that. He's acknowledged the bank should have

done more to warn of the dangers in the banking system before the

crisis, but it's not clear whether that goes far enough to reassure

the doubters, who wonder what'll happen in the next crisis.

Two men - who've both been blind for more than 20 years - have had

part of their vision restored after pioneering surgery. They've had

light-sensitive microchips placed at the back of their eyes. As our

medical correspondent Fergus Walsh reports, it's hoped the project

could eventually benefit many more blind patients. Welcome back, Chris.

Nice to see you again. Thank you very much indeed. Do come and take

a seat in this chair for me, please. Just six weeks ago Chris James was

totally blind. Now he can perceive light.

This box powers his implant, but it's what's under his scalp which

is amazing. This X-ray shows the computer processor above his ear

linked by a cable to the implant behind his retina. The wafer-thin

chip is just three millimetres square.

Compare this sight test before the implant was fitted when he had no

vision. No. There is nothing I can make out. Nothing at all? No.

this one after. Now he can perceive light... It seems to have a curve.

And even the outlines of shapes. find it very exciting, really. We

know the optic nerve is working, which is the most important thing.

Otherwise, this trial wouldn't be able to go ahead. And it's just a

question of now teaching the brain to wake up and interpret what the

flashes of light are telling me. Chris is one of thousands of people

in the UK with retinitis pigmentosa, the light-processing sells in his

eye no longer function. The 1,500 pixel retinal chip sends signals

direct to the optic nerve, and in there to the brain. Getting the

implant in place required a steady hand at the Oxford Eye Hospital,

the operation lasting several hours. This surgery is the culmination of

years of research here and in Germany, where the implant is made.

Up to 12 British patients will have the chip fitted as part of a major

trial of this truly innovative technology. I think this is an

amazing development. Here we're talking about a patient who was

completely blind, able to see. We're talking about what is here

and now, not in five or ten year, but what's actually happening now.

Switch the machine on. It comes on instantly. I start moving my head

armed. There. The flashing is starting now. A second patient,

Robin Miller, showed me how the implant enables him to see light,

and there's been another unusual benefit. The biggest upside for me

is that I am dreaming in colour for the first time in 25 years -

intense, bright colour, which is an extraordinary thing.

Retinal implants have been compared to early grainy photography, but

with the hope of restoring clear vision for future generations of

The time has just gone 6.15pm. Our top story:

Osama Bin Laden was plotting to kill Barack Obama according to

documents from his hide-out in Pakistan.

And coming up: Battling paralysis and fatigue -

one woman's determination to finish Weetabix is now in Chinese hands.

More than half of Aviva's shareholders vote against executive

salaries. It's a world first for Wales and its supporters say it

will take in some of the most beautiful countryside anywhere on

the planet. Never before has it been possible to walk the entire

length of a nation's coastline. The new path, stretching 870 miles,

opens on Saturday. Hywel Griffith is on the path for us now. Thank

you very much. This has been six years in the planning, cost

millions of pounds to the Welsh government to join all the existing

paths around Wales's coast to form Carved out of cliffs and beaches,

the Welsh coast is much more than just a line between land and sea.

The new path takes in everything from ancient burial grounds to a

power station, winding through 11 nature reserves. We sent our

cameras out to give you a snap shot of the 870 journey. We meat few

walkers already enjoying the views. Would you fancy walking the whole

thing? Yes, I would. For Caroline Thompson the path represents a

challenge to walk the entire coastline of her country. She is

frustrated the route doesn't always cling to the water's edge. There

are private estates and there isn't the coastal access. It would be

great if that could, you know, be opened up, so that the public could

access it. This is much better than you had? Yes, yes. Yes. Some argue

the path goes across their rights. Lyn Jenkins runs a park. Walkers

will have to walk around his country after he fought access to

his land. It finishes our business. It's letting everybody in free.

It's bringing people into a dangerous area that is clearly

dangerous where the cliffs are crumbling. One guide book has

already declared the Wales Coast Path the best region in the world

to visit this year. It beats locations in South America, it beat

regions of Canada. We felt it was deserved. It was time to recognise

just how far Wales had come as a destination. The path opens

officially this weekend. First step in trying to bring an extra 100,000

tourists to Wales every year. Some of the visitors I have been

speaking to here yesterday said they came to North Wales for the

mountains, having heard about the coastal path, they might come back

next year. If 870 miles isn't enough, you can add on another 170

and take on the path which goes across the border between England

and Wales. Thank you very much. Voting has been under way since

this morning in this year's local elections. Almost 5,000 seats are

being contested in 1 81 local authorities in England, Scotland

and Wales. There are also mayoral contests in London, Liverpool and

Salford and referendums in ten other cities on whether to

introduce directly elected leaders. Voters have until 10.00pm tonight

to cast their ballots. Dd and -- David Dimbleby and his guests will

bring you all the election results live as they come in from around

the country. Vote 2012 starts at 11.35pm tonight on BBC One and the

BBC News channel. Plans to push through big pay rises for bosses at

Aviva, the UK's biggest insurer, have been voted down by

shareholders. Many are angry that the new boss of the UK arm of the

business was being offered a �45,000 bonus after a month in the

job. Our biz course is here. Is it binding on the management? No. It's

not binding. This is humilitating for this insurance giant. Hugely

symbolic. This is only the fourth time that a FTSE 100 company has

lost a vote on executive pay. It boils down to the fact that

shareholders and their view are angry that the payouts for the big

bosses haven't been matched by performance. Aviva's share price

has fallen by 30% over the last year. The group Chief Executive

tried to keep a lid on this by waving a 5% pay rise that would of

taken his salary beyond the �1 million mark. That wasn't enough to

appease investors. We are getting the sense that the investors and

owners of the business are getting restless. Another fiery general

meeting for Aviva today. The Government is watching all this

very closely. It is consulting on legislation that will look into

making these votes on pay binding The only privately owned version of

the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch masterpiece, The Scream, has become

the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction. It fetched neerm

�74 million in New York. Three other versions of The Scream are

all owned by Norwegian museums. The administrators of Rangers say

they've accepted an offer for the football club from an American

businessman. The deal with trucking magnate Bill Miller should be

completed within the next few weeks. Big questions remain about how the

debts of one of Britain's biggest clubs will be settled. We accepted

an offer for the sale of the business and assets of the club. We

will enter a purchase agreement with Bill Miller where by the

trading operations and its assets are trade into a new company.

will happen to Rangers? It will continue. Bill Miller's requirement

of the SFA and the SPL is that any sanctions are not of a footballing

nature. Rangers would continue in the top flight next season without

a points penalty. There is some disquiet about where the club is

heading. For many of the tens of thousands of fans who regularly

pack this stadium, Bill Miller's bid was not 9 the preferred option.

They have a long list of questions about what it means for the future

of the club. For now though, in the streets around Ibrox, where Rangers

is woven into the fabric of life, the main emotion was relief. Quite

happy somebody has took it at last. This guy is American I hope they

get up and running again. The deal is not done yet. Bill Miller wants

the valuable bits of Rangers, leaving the creditors with the

remains. Tonight the biggest creditor, the tax man said, "we

have agreed to nothing". The manager of the Italian football

team, Fiorentina, has been sacked after he attacked one much his own

players in a row over a substitution. Delio Rossi jumped

into his team's dug-out in order to punch the midfielder during a game

last night. Rossi lost control when the man sarcastically applauded his

decision to replace him. Now, for almost 36,000 competitors the

London Marathon ended 12 days ago, but for one woman the race is still

on. Claire Lomas lost the use of her legs in a horse riding accident

five years ago. She is walking the course in a special suit to raise

money for Spinal Research. Eight miles from the finish line, Sophie

Raworth has been to meet her. It's a struggle to get the robotic suit

on. Before the marathon Claire hadn't managed to walk more than a

mile in. It she is adamant she will complete the 2 6.2 mile course by

next week. It feels OK on. My injuries are quite high. It's

keeping my body up. My core gets flop. Five years ago, Claire was

left paralysed from the chest down after she fell from her horse. 12

days ago, along with thousands of others, she set off across the

start line at the London Marathon. Now, she's the only one left on the

course. The challenge is immense. She has her husband with her,

keeping her steady along the way. What made you take on this

challenge in the first place? Before my accident I always had a

lot of challenges on horses, I'm yourself. For that reason, and for

raising as much as I can. Progress is slow. She is managing a mile-

and-a-half a day. She has had plenty of support along the way.

What Claire has been doing is incredible. Proving you can get

back from a sporting injury and take on the marathon. She has been

walking for days and days for through here on my way to the

finish. When I got there I was given one of these, my own official

London Marathon medal. At the moment there isn't one waiting for

Claire, the rules changed this year. To get a medal you have to finish

on the day. So many of this year's runners have been impressed by her

courage and determination that they have said they will bring their own

2012 London Marathon medals to the malwhen she finishes to give to her.

Incredible. Let's take a look at Incredible. Let's take a look at

the weather now with Alex Deakin. We have seen a lot of rain in the

past 12 days. It should be dryer for the weekend. It will not get

any warmer. Over night a lot of cloud, outbreaks of rain. Damp and

misty night. Lovely sunshine in western Scotland and Northern

Ireland, the cloud will spill in here over night. We keep outbreaks

of rain across the Midlands and parts of Wales. With the cloud

around temperatures at seven to eight degrees. Colder across

northern Scotland. Snow showers across Shetland. Winds will push

the rain bands southwards. They are weakening all the time, some rain

here and there. A chilly day. There could be brighter skies on the

south coast of England and Wales. With sunshine we may reach 13

degrees, typically nine or ten Celsius. Northern Ireland, Scotland

will have sunny spells. There will be showers and winds bringing frost

on Friday night. Another band of wet weather south across Scotland,

more snow here on Saturday. For many, Saturday a dry and bright day.

10-11 at best. Colder on Saturday night, extensive frost forming.

Unusually cold start to Sunday. Showers here and there. Many places

dry and bright. We will see some sunny spells. The temperatures are

disappointing for a weekend in May. The weekend does promise dryer

conditions, it will feel chilly. Gardners take note, unusually cold