14/11/2013 BBC News at Six

Britain sends its biggest aircraft carrier - HMS Illustrious - to help

in the relief effort in the Philippines. As the Americans send

helicopters and more food - the aid effort steps up a gear. We are

seeing the outside world turning up for the first time in real force. A

week after the typhoon, little sign of any aid in the Morimoto areas. --

the more remote areas. Also tonight.... A last chance.

Birmingham Council could be stripped of its troubled Children's

Department by Christmas. Applause rings out in Mumbai as Sachin

Tendulkar plays his final test. Dropped by club and now country. Joe

Hart will not start for England against Chile in their friendly at

Wembley tomorrow. Good evening and welcome to the BBC

News at Six. The Royal Navy aircraft carrier, HMS Illustrious, is on her

way to the Philippines to help in the relief effort. She'll join the

US aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, which has arrived with

5000 sailors on board and will be a floating base for helicopters

carrying supplies. HMS Illustrious arrives in ten days. The ship can

produce large amounts of much needed drinking water. As well as sending

support and supplies, governments have pledged millions of pounds to

help including ?12 .5 million from America and ?16 million from the UK.

It has taken nearly a week. Today, the might of the US Marine Corps

finally arrived in Tacloban in force. Not just the Americans back

from France and Belgium, Malaysia and Australia. It is the Americans

who have, in the end, had to take control. When we got here, not a lot

was happening. It was like everyone was recovering from the shock of it.

Now the Philippines military believes we are getting on and we

can get them out of here. There has been a dramatic change in the

streets beyond the airport. After a week of lying in the open, the dead

are being counted and removed for burial. In this one district alone,

police registered more than 100 dead bodies. It is a grim task. Even for

those trained to deal with death. You are a trained policeman but is

it shocking? Yes, yes. We have something to do. I need to finish.

One of the most important things is to work out the true death toll.

This afternoon we returned to a devastated neighbourhood either see.

Even here, some progress is being made. -- why the sea. When I came

down here on Monday, this road was totally impassable. It was piled

high with debris and fallen trees. Today it has been cleared and

traffic is flowing again. This building behind me was used as a

morgue and was piled with dead bodies. Those have gone as well. It

is not only the dead who have gone. Every day, more and more of the

living are helped. This man is wife 's freshly covered grave is behind

me. -- this man 's wife 's freshly covered grave is behind me. However

much international help now arrives, for some here it would be

impossible to overcome the agony and loss of the last few days. The

island of Leyte is one of the worst hit in the Philippines. Much of the

focus so far has been on the city of Tacloban. But our correspondent,

Alastair Leithead, has travelled from the north west of the island to

its east coast to find out how more remote areas are coping. He's sent

this report. Under clear skies, it is hard to imagine the terror that

blew into this beautiful island. These scars are deep. It is an

agricultural economy. Broken coconut palms lost income, now and for years

to come. Livelihood and homes have been crashed. Rice paddies and

banana plantations have been flattened and feedstocks which

survived the storm are running low. We drove from west to east as people

started to cope with the new normal - shortage and uncertainty. They are

waiting for a bus to take them anywhere - anywhere where there is a

mobile phone signal and to get food. If we do not receive any donations,

these stores do not have food. Down in the interior of the island, the

extent of the disaster folded in front of us. After striking the city

of Tacloban, the Typhoon powered West down this valley, destroying

everything in its path. Imagine the strength needed to bring down a tree

of this size. There is fear here. Some prisoners escaped and people

are starting to get desperate for food. This man is taking his

daughter is taking his daughters to Manila for safety. No communication

and electric. For my children, we are going to Manila. Are you worried

for your safety? At the same time, scared. We are very scared. When

someone is desperate to have food, they do whatever they want to have

food. It is even more miserable when the rain comes. It seeps through the

thrown together shelters. The bulk of the aid effort has focused on the

areas worst affected and you can understand why. This is on the coast

and it took the full force of the typhoon. Unless the AIDS network

widens quickly, this country potentially faces an even greater

catastrophe. -- the aid network. Let's go back to Tacloban now. Tim

Willcox is there. It's a week since the typhoon hit, but there are still

an awful lot of people not getting the basics they need. Absolutely

right. Many people may now be seeing the first signs of a concerted

international aid effort. They can hear the planes and helicopters

landing at the airport through the night. For tens of thousands, life

is still incredibly miserable and squalid. Some corpses have been put

into body bags. When we arrived earlier today, they were still lined

up by the roadside. Survivors have seen very little change. There is no

power, no proper food and no shelter. They will be hoping that a

week on things will change radically in the next few days. Birmingham

City Council could be stripped of its troubled Children Services

Department by Christmas if standards don't improve. The Department for

Education will step in to run it if inspectors decide it hasn't improved

when they return in a few weeks. Last month, the chief inspector of

Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said the city's failure to protect

vulnerable children was a national disgrace. Our social affairs

correspondent reports. For more than a decade, children in Birmingham

have been dying needlessly - killed usually by their families but also

failed by the agencies failed to protect them. Innocent young lives,

whose deaths shame the second city. More than a million people live in

this sprawling city - nearly a quarter are under 16 and nearly 2000

children are being looked after by social services. Tara Collins new

Keanu Williams during his short life. She gave evidence in court on

behalf of her friend were his mother, who is serving a life

sentence for his murder. She feels betrayed. He was used as a punchbag.

I think he had 37 injuries, if I remember. Bite marks, Burns,

bruises. He had been put through so much suffering because nobody

noticed anything. Each individual tragedies speaks of a broader

failure. There is a huge demand for services here in this city. It has a

large, young, diverse population, often living in some of the most

deprived communities across the country. Years of challenges and

broken promises that improvements are imminent are now coming to a

head. The man currently running children's services will here by

Christmas the fate of his department. The Secretary of State

has a big decision to make. If there has been an easy answer, and that

includes bringing in people to run the service, we would have taken it.

Ofsted will soon return to Birmingham and discuss whether

progress is being made. There have been eight whistle-blowing incidents

and nine years of serious case reviews and a decade of failure.

Whatever option the government chooses, for Birmingham social

workers, the uncertainty continues. We have had lots of wee

organisations, none of which have made a significant difference to

lives of the children. After years of failure, a decision on how best

to protect children in Birmingham is imminent. And you can hear much more

about this story on Radio 4 tonight. Simon Cox investigates for The

Report. That is at 8pm. Barclays says it is losing 1700 jobs from its

high Street branch is because of increased use of technology and

online banking by customers. These equate to about one job in every

branch and it hopes the cuts can be achieved by voluntary redundancies.

The hospital being investigated by police over allegations that staff

were bullied into falsifying details about cancer waiting times has been

placed in special measures. The health regulator, Monitor, says data

inaccuracies at Colchester General Hospital meant it had breached its

licence to provide health services. The hospital will now be given

advice and support to make improvements. The NHS in Wales is

struggling to meet its waiting time targets with the number of patients

waiting for more than 36 weeks for hospital treatment doubling in the

last six months. The Prime Minister has repeatedly accused the Labour

administration in Wales for failing. Our Wales correspondent has the

details. Planning treatment, dealing with emergencies. A pressure every

hospital across the UK has to cope with everyday. Is the Welsh NHS

coping? Not, according to Philip Jones. He has been waiting 12 months

for a hip replacement and have just learnt his treatment may be

postponed until spring, which means his weight could be 18 months. The

target time for treatment in England is 18 weeks. I cannot believe things

have got as bad as they are. It is difficult for me to come to terms

with the fact we are so far behind our neighbours in England,

especially on waiting times and on action such as this. That comparison

with England is beating the Prime Minister has turned to several

times. There will not be the winter crisis in the NHS in Wales where

Labour are in control because there is a crisis every day of the week in

Wales. The Welsh NHS has not been performing well for some time.

Planned operations have been off track since March 2012. Ambulance

response times have been too long since made 2012. Waiting times in

A have not hit the target since August 2009. The Labour health

minister for Wales was not available for interview today. The Welsh

government stresses the majority of patients are seen on time. The

pressure is mounting at Wells hospitals are also being felt

elsewhere. The cuts to the NHS budget have been deeper than in the

rest of the UK. As it finds ways to cope, it has been leading the way.

This unit in Newport has consultant cover seven days a week. The wheel

College of physicians want it copied across Britain. -- the Royal

College. They get wetter treatment and they go home earlier quicker and

they are more satisfied. -- better treatment. It is a service that is

struggling. Coming up... We join the fans with

tickets for cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's last ever Test. Chris

Coleman extend his stay as Wales manager for further two years.

Prince Charles has arrived in Sri Lanka to represent the Queen at the

Commonwealth summit, which opens tomorrow. David Cameron is also

attending, despite some calls for a boycott because of the human rights

record there. Sri Lanka's president hit back at criticism over human

rights, saying any complaints or abuses committed during or after its

civil war will be dealt with. The summit is being held for 53 nations

in the Commonwealth, three of those staying away because of those rights

issues. Our diplomatic correspondent sent this report, which contains

some flash photography. Many people think about slowing down on their

65th birthday, but not the Prince of Wales. He is present today. He

arrived in Sri Lanka to open a Commonwealth summit, something the

Queen has always done until now. She is cutting back on long haul travel,

so the birthday prince is the centre of attention here. At a very British

party for him in the High Commissioner's garden, all the local

produce on show was organic, of course, and spicy, too. Is this for

a spicy curry? Yes, spicy. This was always going to be a very

significant birthday. It may seem even more significant when one

remembers he is here representing the Queen at a highly charged

political summit meeting. So a birthday cake offered by Sri

Lanka's controversial president had a distinctly political flavour.

David Cameron will confront the Prince's host over human rights

tomorrow, while Sri Lanka's leader is still batting away all the

criticism. If anyone wants to complain about the human rights

violation in Sri Lanka, whether it is rape, the system. You must

respect the system of a country. The culture of a country. But Britain is

not backing down. Instead, the Foreign Secretary flew across the

country to push the case for greater reconciliation. William Hague opened

a new British funded reconciliation Centre in the south. Sri Lanka

unites is a project bringing together and training together young

people across ethnic, religious and political divides. That is something

his government wants Sri Lanka's President Bush much harder. -- to

push much harder. But this evening at his party, the Prince of Wales to

get time to relax. For him, plunging into a divided Commonwealth summit

is tomorrow's test, after the birthday greetings have faded. David

Cameron is due to arrive in Sri Lanka shortly. Before he set off

from India this afternoon, he spoke to us and explained why he feels it

is important to engage with the government in Sri Lanka, despite the

concerns about possible human rights abuses. I know before heading to Sri

Lanka you watched a lot of the footage from the end of the terrible

civil war there will stop what did it make you feel, what did it make

you conclude? The images in that film are completely chilling. It

really is an appalling set of allegations. These allegations have

been backed up by the work of a UN special rapporteur who has had them

verified. I've been talking to the UN High Commissioner about that

precise point. These are chilling images of appalling acts. They need

to be properly investigated. That is one of the points I will be making

on my visit to Sri Lanka. Do you believe that the Sri Lankan

government may be guilty of war crimes? I think what is clear from

that film is there are legitimate accusations of war crimes that need

to be properly investigated. That is actually what the Sri Lankan

government and its own lessons learned down, that there were more

questions to be answered. But it hasn't answered them. They need to

be answered. This was an appalling Civil War, a civil war in which the

Tamil Tigers, using suicide bombs and child soldiers, did some

appalling things as well. At the end of the war and this particular set

of events where civilians seem to have been targeted, that needs to be

properly investigated. How on earth is it right that that man and that

country is able to chair an important organisation like the

Commonwealth and to welcome you as Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom? First of all, the decision for Sri Lanka to host a Commonwealth

conference was not taken by me or my government, it was taken by the

Commonwealth in 2009 when there was a Labour government in Britain. I

have the choice to go to that conference because the Commonwealth

matters, because we will be discussing how you eradicate

poverty, increase free trade and grow our economy is, or to leave

that conference, leave an empty chair where we wouldn't be able to

have our input. The body of Warrant Officer Ian Fisher has been

repatriated to RAF Brize Norton this afternoon. The 42-year-old Warrant

Officer Fisher from the 3rd Battalion Mercian Regiment died in

Afghanistan on November the 5th. He was killed in a suicide blast while

on patrol in Helmand province. The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg,

has said that Roma immigrants who come to Britain from Central and

Eastern Europe must respect the British way of life. His comments

came after the former Home Secretary, David Blunkett, said he

feared problems in part of his constituency in Sheffield, where

Roma migrants from Slovakia have set up home, and it could escalate into

violence. It could be any terraced street in any northern town, but

Page Hall in Sheffield is different. Come to hear at one o'clock in the

night, all children, all of them outside. Who? The Roma. It's causing

a lot of trouble. The road is dirty, noisy, everything. They are

just kicking the ball to ball every time, I'm fed up of it. We never had

it before. We are fed up with it now. There are hundreds of Roma

here, mainly from Slovakia. In just a few streets they stick together.

Not surprising when you consider they are the most discriminated

against minority in Europe. These people didn't want to show their

faces. Like many Roma here, they are suspicious of what people think. I'm

working here ten years. I don't want to go back to Slovakia because I

have a better life here. Better life for my children. Do you have

problems here? Very good school here. Witt but change can be hard.

Kashmir was born in Sheffield and has lived here all his life. People

have moved out of this area. As politicians talk about the

challenges of integration, the tensions are being felt here. I'm

coming here for a better life. What is your problem with that?

Disturbances, crowds, hanging around everywhere. It is not very good for

the community and the area. The Roma here have been talked about like

never before. Words that have to be chosen carefully. So everyone here

can live their lives in peace. The Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar,

regarded by many as the greatest batsmen of all time, has begun his

200th and last ever test match. He is the only player to score 100

centuries in international cricket and at close of place dashed back

close of play today against the West Indies, he'd racked up almost 16,000

runs. A record-breaking career. Our correspondent has been soaking up

the atmosphere in Tendulkar's home city of Mumbai. There was an

international Test match in India today. But Sachin Tendulkar was who

they'd really come to see. The man they call the Master Blaster.

Fans were queueing for block after block for a last glimpse. We are

lucky to watch the match. They come from all over the world, among them

this woman from London. All the dreams he's made come true for me,

the country, the team and the fans. This is history in the making, his

last ever match. I'm feeling really emotional. He is God. We all know

that. Some fans had come from just down the road, including his mother.

She finally built up the courage to watch for the first time ever. Many

say he gives the whole nation a boost. Sachin Tendulkar is India's

best antidepressant. Whenever India has felt depressed, whenever I've

felt depressed, I've turned to this young boy, watched him bat and felt

good all over again. After an earlier quarter century of hitting

centuries, he's become a global superstar, bigger than Beckham,

bigger than cricket. This is the countdown to Sachin Tendulkar

leaving the international cricket stage forever, and India is in

mourning. But many say his legacy will never be challenged. It is not

goodbye yet, as the match is still not over. India is preparing for a

new hero without its biggest brand. -- a new hero. Finally, the last

living person born in Britain in the 19th century has died at the age of

113 years old. Grace Jones, who would have turned 114 next month,

was born in 1899. She was a seamstress who lived in London and

retired about 50 years ago. She didn't marry, saying she never met

anyone as nice as her fiance, who was killed in action during the

First World War. The weather looks very different to

last night. Temperatures will be dropping. Still got some light

showers to come in Wales and the south-west. Where we've got the

clear skies, eventually the winds will drop. Temperatures falling away

quickly in eastern Scotland. Later, a touch of frost in rural areas

across parts of England and East Wales. There is more cloud coming

into western areas, western Scotland and Northern Ireland. That cloud

isn't going to move a lot tomorrow will stop away from here we should

enjoy a good deal of dry weather and some sunshine. Some cloud coming

into Cornwall and western parts of Wales, northern parts of Wales.

Elsewhere, a good deal of sunshine. After that cold start, temperatures

only up to nine degrees in the Midlands and the south-east.

Sunshine to the east of the Pennines, more cloud in the

north-west of England. A reasonably mild state for Northern Ireland. A

bit of rain in western Scotland, some sunshine for the North East of

Scotland. Saturday looks like this. Maybe a touch of frost first thing

in the south-east of England. A lot of cloud around on Saturday. Later,

a band of rain coming in southwards into Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Temperatures just getting into double figures. The rain slides

slowly southwards into England and Wales. Behind that band of rain it

turns a little cooler across the North. But early next week, this is

when the cold air arrives. There's the potential for some snow.