24/09/2013 BBC News at Six

Ed Miliband promises Labour will freeze gas and electricity bills for

Ed Miliband promises Labour will 20 months if it wins the next

election in 2015. Speaking at his party conference, the Labour leader

election in 2015. Speaking at his said raising people's standard of

living would be a key priority. Britain can do better than this.

Britain must do better than this. Britain will do better than this,

with a government that fights for you. Mr Miliband's pledge to freeze

energy prices went down a storm in the conference hall. We'll be asking

whether he can actually do it. Also tonight: The siege at a

shopping mall in Kenya continues - the country's president says he

can't confirm whether a British woman is one of the terrorists.

Two British women appear in court in Peru accused of trying to smuggle

£1.5 million worth of cocaine. And how cute are they? China parades

the arrival of no less than 14 panda cubs.

In the sport, Theo Walcott is out of next month England World Cup

qualifiers. The Arsenal forward needs a stomach operation.

Good evening. The Labour leader has made his bid to be the next prime

minister with a promised to freeze energy prices for all UK homes and

businesses until 2017 if his party wins the next election. Speaking at

the Labour conference in Brighton, Ed Miliband said that improving

people's standard of living would be a defining feature of his

government, and criticised the Conservatives -- the Conservatives

for leading Briton in what he called a race to the bottom.

for leading Briton in what he called She knew he could do it. He hoped he

could. Today was the day Ed Miliband had to convince everyone else he had

what it took to be our next prime minister. And that meant silencing

the worries and the doubts of those who queued to hear him. That even

meant laughing at himself. He told the story of the day he came to the

rescue of a woman who had fallen off her bike. She said I was an action

hero who had mysteriously appeared out of nowhere. She said Ed is

actually attractive! And not geeky at all! Above all, it made passion,

the sort of passion that used to browse its party -- this party when

it thought Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. Today I say to them and

millions of others, you are right. Britain can do better than this.

Britain must do better than this. Britain will do better than this.

That phrase, Britain can do better, was used again and again, 17 times

in all. So too his morning that David Cameron was engaged in what he

called a race to the bottom. He believed in this thing called a

global race. What he doesn't tell you if he thinks for Britain to win

the global race, you have to lose. Lower wages, worse terms and

conditions, fewer rights at work. But Britain can't win a race for the

lowest wages against countries where wage rates are pennies an hour. The

most important policy prime minister needed, he said, was a sense of what

was right. Labour wouldn't cut Britain off from the rest of the

world, but it would protect working people. Government turning a blind

eye. It's a race to the bottom. Not under my government. My government.

Now that is an idea he has barely dared to talk of before. And here is

the big policy he has been waiting all week to one bail. The system is

broken, and we are going to fix it. If we win that election in 2015, the

next Labour government will freeze gas and electricity prices until the

start of 2017. That, say Labour, is not a return to price controls. It

is not a new tax. It is, they insist, a respite for consumers and

businesses, whilst the energy market is sorted out. Your bills will not

rise. It will benefit millions of families and businesses. That is

what I mean by a government that fights for you. That's what I mean

when I say Britain can do better than this. He promised his

government would aim to build 2000 new homes each year, and once

again, it was big business that was in his sights. We will say to

private developers, you can't just sit on land and refuse to build. We

will give them a message - either use the land or lose the land! In a

long speech delivered without a single note, his colleagues were

never mentioned. The Liberals were mentioned just once. He knows the

Tories are itching to make the next election a personal contest between

him and David Cameron. His reply today - be my guest. When it was

Murdoch against the McCanns, he took the side of Murdoch. David Cameron

is a prime minister who introduced the side of Murdoch. David Cameron

the bedroom tax. I will be the prime minister who repealed the bedroom

tax! The man who joked about being a minister who repealed the bedroom

geek had repackaged himself as a fighter for the underdog. And they

loved it. Written's best days lie ahead. Britain can do better than

this. We are Britain. We are better than this. I will lead a government

that fights for you. Thank you very much! When Ed Miliband took to this

that fights for you. Thank you very stage, he knew the question was,

could he, should he be Prime Minister? He has answered it as far

as they are concerned. The question is, has he convinced you? Ed

Miliband has been called many things since becoming Labour leader. His

enemies are sure to use this speech to revive one - the label red Ed.

The voters may start to think about him in another way - is a man who is

proving himself ready for Number Ten. The system is broken and we are

going to fix it - those were his words to describe the UK's energy

market. But how will his promise to introduce a freeze on Bill 's work?

What has been the reaction? Power, gas and electricity, provided

by half a dozen giants. We can't live, keep warm or run businesses

without them, but some save they take advantage of our dependence on

them. We find if you look at how much consumers are paying now

compared to the cheapest deals in the market, they are overpaying by

nearly £4 billion. Consumers cannot find the cheapest deal. Remember

Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of gas followed by electricity? Since

then, there has been a progressive relaxation of controls on energy

prices, so Labour's price freeze would reverse a quarter-century of

freeing up this market. What is motivating Ed Miliband? Well, while

our incomes have been squeezed, the power giants have charged as more

and more. During the long years of recession, stagnation of wages since

2007, gas prices have risen 39% and electricity by 17.5% that has why

there has been a painful 18% increase in the share of what we pay

on energy bills. But with scare capacity in electricity generation

set to fall by 2015, what would happen to vital investment needed to

keep the lights on? Superficially, it might look attractive that you

are going to freeze prices, but in doing so, you freeze the investment

that will take place, and increase doing so, you freeze the investment

the problems with lights going out and houses staying warm. You are

without cooking and heat? Nostalgia for the 1970s, but probably not for

huddling round a candle during power cuts. But buses -- bosses warn me

privately that we could get back there. This would happen if they

lost the ability to set prices that reflect costs. But consumers in

Manchester seemed only moderately warns. Something is better than

nothing. I think it should help some people. Is it a choice between cheap

power and reliable power? As winter looms ever closer, answering that

power and reliable power? As winter question would seem pretty important

to most of us. Lets talk to Nick Robinson in

Brighton. Today's speech and Lets talk to Nick Robinson in

surprise announcement about freezing energy prices - is this going to be

enough to increase his chances of getting into Number Ten? It was

designed to kill off once and for all the question, what would you do?

But it has also highlighted a divide between Ed Miliband and David

Cameron, who he claims wants squeezed living standards as the

basis of his economic policy. This talk of dealing with energy prices,

of dealing with apprenticeships, of dealing with ill being more houses -

these are all very popular themes, but there is a reason oppositions

are not advised to spell out their policies to early. It gives your

enemies something to target. His stance appears to be taking on

business, telling them what to do, or passing a law. Began born Mr

Miller band has taken this week is that that is precisely what the

public is crying out for. -- the gamble Mr Miller has taken. They

want someone to stand up to big business.

In the last few minutes, the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta,

has made a televised announcement in which he said the country was

bloodied but unbalanced. He said five terrorists had been killed and

11 were in custody. Kenyan security forces have spent the day searching

the Westgate shopping more. They launched a new assault on the moor

at around 6am. Some terrorists were said to be barricaded inside a

casino. Others were in a supermarket, where fires continued

casino. Others were in a to burn. The flames then spread

through the building and part of the car park roof collapsed.

President Kenyatta addressed the nation. He said five terrorists had

been shot dead. He said that others had been trapped in the building

when part of the roof collapsed. He said 11 suspects had been arrested,

and that forensic experts are combing through the rubble, trying

to determine whether or not foreign nationals, possibly from Britain or

America, were involved in the attack here. Room by room, Kenyan troops

move through the Westgate more today. They are searching for any

remaining militants. Here, you can just make out a soldier throwing a

grenade, then taking cover. Now, from inside the battle scarred

shopping centre, a rare glimpse of the attackers themselves. This photo

has not been independently verified, but Somalia's Al-Shabab,

who have claimed responsibility for the bloodshed, say it is genuine. A

block away, the city is returning to life. Many here are wondering who is

behind the carnage. Someone from Britain, perhaps? From the

information that we have, two or three Americans. I think so far I

have heard of one Brit. And the Brit was a British-born woman? Yes. I

think she has done this many times before. That sounds like a reference

to Samantha Lewthwaite, the British widow of one of London's July the

7th bombers. She is thought to be hiding here in Kenya. Others say

there is no evidence she was involved. As for whether any women

have taken part, this survive insists he saw one black woman. She

had a skirt up to just below her knees, and narrow headband. She was

throwing a grenade. Are you sure she was a woman? My instinct right away

was it was a woman. We keep being told the security operation here is

was it was a woman. We keep being nearly over, yet there is still

was it was a woman. We keep being smoke pouring from the building. In

the past hour we have heard gunshots and explosions. This endgame is

turning out to be a very long one. Meanwhile, the hearses and city

mortuaries are preparing to receive more bodies. There is a deep concern

that the death toll from four days of the purest terror could now rise

sharply. President Kenyatta did not mention specific details of the

number of civilians who died in this terrible bloodshed, but he did

praise Kenyans from all walks of life for the compassion and bravery

they had shown. He said Kenya stared down evil and triumphed.

Significantly, he called for tolerance in the days ahead. There

are concerns here there could be tolerance in the days ahead. There

reprise of against members of the Somali community. It is clear that

Kenya has defeated this particular attack, but there are big threats

ahead for this country. More harrowing stories have been emerging

about those who were caught up in the shooting at the mall on Saturday

morning. They include Britons who managed to escape, and those who

spent hours waiting for family members who never made it out.

Gabriel Gatehouse reports from Nairobi. The day after the assault.

We still don't know exactly how many people lost their lives inside this

building. One of those who died was this girl pictured here with her

father. She and her mother were shopping, both were killed. This

four-year-old British boy was lucky to escape with his life, here he is

with his six-year-old sister being led to safety by his mother. This

with his six-year-old sister being woman was also out doing some

Saturday shopping with two members of her family. We just got outside

and they saw us running so they started shooting and they hit a taxi

driver, right behind me. Meanwhile, back home in Wales, her mother got a

message from her daughter telling her not to watch the news. She got

worried so she switched on the television. When I saw it and Lynsey

explained that the man behind her had got shot, the man probably

doesn't know it but he saved her life. Over the past few days, Lynsey

and her family have been able to hear the shots at the nearby

shopping centre. Now I just want to take my family home because the

situation now, the place is unsafe. It is going to happen again. We have

been warned it is going to happen again, and this time may be or maybe

not we will survive it. After the attack most of the victims, those

who required medical attention, were brought to this hospital nearby and

also the biggest and best in the city. Amongst them were a number of

British nationals. As well as medical treatment, some of the

survivors had been receiving counselling for their trauma, but

the Kenyan Red Cross says more than 50 people are missing so for some

families there may be more bad news to come.

Our top story this evening: Ed Miliband tells his party conference

he'll freeze energy bills if he becomes Prime Minister Still to

come: Barack Obama at the UN, but can we expect face-to-face talks

between the US and Iran for the first time in over 30 years?

between the US and Iran for the In Sportsday you can hear from the

new man in charge of the LTA. Two British women are appearing

before a judge in Peru accused of trying to smuggle drugs out of the

country. Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, who are both 20, were

arrested last month after 11 kilos of cocaine worth about one and a

half million pounds were found hidden in their luggage at Lima

airport. If convicted they could face 25 years in jail. Our

correspondent Wyre Davies is at the prison where the hearing is taking

place. In the last hour that women have

arrived here at one of the toughest jails in Lima for this hearing.

Sources close to the family say they will accept the charges against them

because they want to spend as little time as possible in the Ruby in

jail. Looking pale and with their hands cuffed, Melissa Reid and

Michaella McCollum-Connolly said nothing to waiting journalists as

they were taken to the hearing. Pictures newly obtained by the BBC

show two young travellers enjoying the sights of Machu Picchu and the

ancient Inca capital. But just days later, Michaella McCollum-Connolly

and Melissa Reid were detained at Lima's International airport with 11

kilograms of pure cocaine hidden in their luggage and facing the

possibility of years in a Peruvian jail. The women who travelled here

from Ibiza initially said they had been forced under the threat of

violence to carry the packages, a story that has now changed. This

year more than 140 so-called drug mules have been stopped at the

airport but many more get through, risking everything for a few

thousand pounds. Despite the high-profile arrests of many young

people at the airport, every day more and more people are being

detained carrying drugs. As we were filming today, there are several

foreigners, Nigerian I believe and a Polish national, who have been

arrested on suspicion of carrying drugs. The rue insists it is in the

middle of the war against drugs and there is little sympathy for the

drugs mules however desperate they may seem. Where were you taking the

barracks? I was going back to Africa. You were stuck and you

needed some money to go home? Now you are in prison. The critics of

the government say that these are just small fry. They are caught,

they will find a lot more people in the streets. The revisions,

students, and they will find more and more people in Europe. Melissa

Reid and Michaella McCollum-Connolly will join many of the British

nationals in the Peruvian jail for smuggling drugs.

President Obama has welcomed what he called "a more moderate course" from

the new Iranian Government. He's been speaking today at the United

Nations, where Iran's new President, Hassan Rouhani, is due to speak

later. There's speculation both could meet in what would be the

first face-to-face contact between American and Iranian heads of state

in more than 30 years. Here's our UN Correspondent, Nick Bryant. The

in more than 30 years. Here's our UN United Nations General assembly, a

gathering of over 100 world leaders where the length of your motorcade

is a measure of the power. America always wins on that front, but it

has been weakened by two was and its president is reluctance to be

involved in another. On Syria, Barack Obama is calling for a new

resolution to be agreed between America and Russia. If we cannot

agree even on this then it will show the United Nations is incapable of

enforcing the most basic of international laws. Last year

America was confronted by an Iranian president whose speeches provoke

mass walk-outs from the hall. Now a different Iranian leader , Hassan

Rouhani, is in town offering warm words. I don't believe this can be

overcome overnight. The suspicions run too deep, but I do believe that

if we can resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear programme, that can

serve as a major step down a long road to a different relationship.

There is speculation the long road could start here with the

possibility of a brief encounter between the American and Iranian

president is at a UN luncheon. Not since the hostage crisis in the

1970s have the leaders of these two countries come face-to-face. History

may be in the offing. I can tell you what is on the menu, chocolate

mousse, but I cannot tell you if those two men are in the same room.

We were told earlier Hassan Rouhani did plan to eat here this lunchtime,

the United Nations are saying they did not get an RSVP. In the past,

encounters between these presidents, there have been examples

of the Iranian president getting cold feet. Today President Hassan

Rouhani has received permission from the supreme leader for a handshake

to take place. We are still waiting to find out whether it happens.

At the trial of a woman accused of starving her son to death,a police

officer has told the jury that when she visited the family home, the

smell was both overpowering and vile. The body of four-year old

Hamzah Khan was discovered at the home of Amanda Hutton, almost two

years after he died. She denies manslaughter. Our Correspondent Ed

Thomas is outside Bradford Crown Court harrowing evidence today in

this most harrowing of cases. Yes, and in September 2011, PC Jody

Dunsmore was newly recruited and only on her second day she received

complaints about Amanda Hutton but despite repeated visits to her home

there was no answer. She said on one occasion she looked through the

letterbox, she could see flies on the windowsill, rubbish ankle deep,

but she said she was overwhelmed by the smell which she described as

vile and said it knocked her back. She told jurors this made her even

more determined to investigate what was happening in the house. When she

finally did confront Amanda Hutton, she said there were flies coming

from her clothing, her hair was matted and she had a home -- she had

a look of fear on her face. She immediately rang social services and

later the body of Hamzah Khan was discovered by police, 21 months

after he died. Amanda Hutton denies manslaughter.

The former UK Independence Party MEP who last week jokingly referred to

some women party members as sluts will no longer represent UKIP in

Europe. Godfrey Bloom had been facing disciplinary action after his

remarks at the party conference. He says he will continue to sit as an

independent member of the European Parliament, but that what he calls

"the new UKIP" is not right for him. While Scotland waits to find out

whether Tian Tian - a giant panda in Edinburgh zoo - will finally give

birth or not, in China they've been happily parading the arrival of no

less than 14 baby cubs. The little bears were all born within the last

two months at a special breeding base, in the south of the country.

Our China Correspondent Damian Grammaticas reports. Tiny and

clinging to survival. Just being born is a triumph for these pandas,

14 new arrivals in the last three months. This panda breeding centre

has been the most successful in two decades. They were all is conceived

artificially, pandas are notoriously bad at conceiving naturally. It is

one reason their species is threatened with extinction, another

is that their habitat is shrinking, even here in the high mountains of

Sichuan province. So the tourists who come by the million to this park

do not see any pandas, the last bears have left. All that remains

other souvenirs. 1.5 -- 1500 pandas survive in the wild. Only one panda

has been taken from the wild into captivity and reproduce

successfully. This park keeps the species alive and earns China a lot

successfully. This park keeps the of money. To hire a pair of growing

pandas, zoom like Edinburgh pays China around half £1 million a year

so these new arrivals are extremely valuable. No wonder they are handled

so these new arrivals are extremely with care.

Time for a look at the weather. Here's Darren Betts. If only the

weather forecast were as black and white as that. Instead there are

grey skies and we will have a warm and humid night. It has been mixed

fortunes, a grey and gloomy start but in the sunshine 23 degrees. A

different story across Scotland, only 13 degrees here and some

showers. We will see patchy rain developing with showers running up

the Irish Sea coast. There will be more mist and fog and the strongest

signal for fog is across southern England with dense patches for the

morning. A warm and muggy night ahead. Many places will see some

sunshine but we do have a cloudier zone further north, possibly with

some rain. For northern Scotland, we should probably get some sunshine

but it will feel fresher. Through the central belt southwards, across

northern England, this is where we have still got a lot of cloud

pegging back the temperatures. Some rain here and there with showers

around first thing. The south-west enjoying some warmth, 20 degrees,

but a few showers as well. They will run northwards through Wednesday

night and into Thursday, some heavy showers arriving into Northern

Ireland. Away from those western fringes it should be dry and

bright, cooler and fresher in the north-east. Temperatures are 20

degrees plus. Some mist and fog around, but as the breeze picks up

on Friday, that will blow away to the west. Temperatures approaching

20 degrees, still humid in the south.

That is all