15/11/2013 BBC News at Six

David Cameron's convoy surrounded by protestors in Sri Lanka - they claim

their relatives were murdered during the country's bitter civil conflict.

The demonstration overshadows the start of the Commonwealth Leaders'

Summit. Mr Cameron insists coming here is the right way to highlight

the allegations. Also tonight. The plight of the

children in the Philippines, homeless and hopeless after Typhoon

Haiyan. The needs of this school here, the people, food and medicine.

Inspiration to move on. New proposals for the elderly and

vulnerable to have a named GP in charge of their care.

Princess Anne gives us all something to chew on as she says perhaps we

should consider eating horse meat. And follow the bear - Pudsey's on

parade for Children In Need. Good evening from Colombo, where the

Commonwealth Summit has got underway officially. The meeting has been

overshadowed by allegations that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of

war crimes committed at the end of the 30-year conflict with Tamil

separatists. Thousands of civilians were killed in the final battle.

David Cameron is here, and it's and issue he's raising with the Sri

Lankan President, Mahindra Rajapaksa. After the opening

ceremony here in Colombo, Mr Cameron became the first foreign leader for

over 60 years to visit Jaffna - the heart of the Tamil minority. Our

Political Editor Nick Robinson travelled with him.

David Cameron's convoy surrounded right women carrying photographs of

loved ones who they say have disappeared. The Prime Minister's

motorcade could not move as protesters were pushed away. David

Cameron deliberately make this trip to the capital of the northern

province of Sri Lanka to highlight alleged abuses of human rights,

which he explained. I think it is important to shine a spotlight on

what has happened in this country and speak up against abuses that

have taken place. Make sure those people in the north of the country

do have a proper voice. The tension over human rights makes the Prince

of Wales' task at this summit a tough one. His duty is to open

meeting three Commonwealth prime pulled out. Many are happy to see

the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, with the prestige of attending this

event. Commonwealth summit 's try to stress harmony and the shared values

meant to underpin this club. Today the Sri Lankan Prime Minister used

his speech to bat away all charges of abuses of human rights. In the

terrorism of 2009, we asserted the greatest human rights, the right

life. I am happy to state that in the past four years there has not

been a single terrorist related incidents, anywhere in Sri Lanka. It

was left to Prince Charles to deliver words carefully chosen,

hinting at problems, offering the Commonwealth as a potential balm.

Each one of us is here because of the Hope and the trust we place in

the Commonwealth, to bring that touch of healing to our troubles and

deliver the very best future for our people. For all of the colour and

ceremony which accompanies any opening of a Commonwealth summit,

even a herd of elephants cannot conceal the controversy and

division, which the decision to bring this summit to Sri Lanka has

created. In the talks, leaders will try to focus on challenges of

economic and political developments, but the Commonwealth family is not

looking too happy. Since the victory over Tamil separatists, the military

has achieved heroic status from those who saw the conflict as a war

against Terex, but the ticks have said the Sri Lankan armed forces

have too much power over civilian affairs. There are growing fears

especially among Tamils, but the military is planning to crowd out.

If the amount of concrete and glass is anyway to judge a country's

progress, then Sri Lanka's economy is on the up.

There is investment in infrastructure, not just in the

capital but in the war-ravaged north. Even the military is in on

the act. Without a water fight, perhaps it is better to have upwards

of 300,000 men under arms and occupied, rather than have them

return to civilian life in one, big rush. But some fear or troubling

development. Never before in this country's history has the military

had such a role of prominence in public life. My fear is that

institutionalised militarisation like we have at the moment, will

shift the structure of power. What about the East coat? We went to the

East Coast, the Tamil East Coast has some of the country's prime beaches.

During the civil war, it was out of bounds. When it was over, people

with land thought they would be reaping the dividend. Jesuit priest

and human rights lawyer, says the presence of the military has made it

difficult. There is denial of access to Tamil farmers and also Tamil

civilians who are getting back their lives. This is the beach. This man

has dreams of inviting tourists to his plot of land on the beach and

brought me, what he says, are his title deeds. We tried to go to the

property got no further than the military checkpoint. Yet, further

along the coast, the air force runs a resort for its personnel.

Elsewhere, the military is involved in everything from guesthouses to

agriculture. At the summit today, the presidential spokeswoman told me

the military was helping to develop the country. The idea the military

is helping economic development is one lost on the local people in the

east of the country. I am not sure I agree. We have heard outsides. We

have heard people commending the role of the military and all they

have done. I am not sure who you have spoken to, but we have heard

the other side. The great fear is, the growing presence of the military

is part of what they call a process of colonisation, an attempt to

change the demography of the country.

I am joined by our political editor, Nick Robinson who has been

travelling with David Cameron. That meeting between Mr Cameron and the

Sri Lankan president has taken place, will it make any difference?

We do not know. But the meeting be held at the David Cameron return

from the north of Sri Lanka was in the diplomatic code, a short, sharp,

Frank - in other words, not uneasy meeting. They looked slightly

awkward when they were photographed, and we roughly know what David

Cameron said. He argued, in victory you should show magnanimity. He

argued he had met with the first select the Tamil leader, of what was

once going to be a separate country, they hoped, is now not going to be.

That was the result of the victory in the civil war. This was a decent

man, that should try to work with him. He related the story of going

to see a Tamil newspaper in which six members of staff had been

murdered, the printing presses set fire to an smashed. David Cameron

was moved by what he saw. Those who travelled with him and found it

powerful. He said he is turning the spotlight on Sri Lanka. Is that

spotlight more powerful than the great prestige the president gets

from chairing this summit? Nick Robinson will have a report on the

news at ten later. That is all from us at the moment, act to you, Fiona.

Tonight's other news now. And the government has struck a deal with

doctors' leaders in England which it hopes will reduce the numbers of

patients turning to overstretched A departments for help. A million

of the most vulnerable patients, the over 75s or anyone with complex

health problems, will get greater support from their GP practice and a

named GP in charge of their care. For everyone, the minimum of ten

minutes per appointment will be scrapped allowing doctors to see

them for more or less time. And from next year patients must be offered

online booking of appointments if they ask for it. Our Health

Correspondent, Dominic Hughes has more details.

At GP's surgeries, doctors provide a broad range of care. Up this clinic

in Stockport, GPs even carry out minor surgery, but there have been

complaints there is too much bureaucracy and box ticking in

general practice. Ministers say this new contract would give. Does more

time to concentrate on the most vulnerable patients. This restores

the vital link between GPs and the patients they are to look after that

the over 75 is in the country. This is a very important first step.

We'll patients be reassured by a single named Doctor responsible for

their care. Much better to know the doctor and for the doctor to know

the patient. Different doctors don't see certain things. It gives me

confidence and I feel like he knows me. I am all for it. Do you think it

will be a reassurance as you get older? Definitely, yes. Do I look

old? Not every elderly patients will necessarily see the named GP every

time, just that the cow will be supervised by that doctor. Under

David Cameron it has got harder to get an appointment and nothing in

this announcement will correct that. These changes are designed to put.

The surgeries like this one right at the heart of care of elderly

patients. It should ease the pressure on a hard-pressed A

department. Providing better care for older people matters because

they make up the majority of patients admitted to A Faced with

an ageing population, doctors believe and much more fundamental

change is needed. We need to switch money from beds and hospitals to

looking after people in their own homes by switching. Us and nurses

and technology from an acute hospital bed system, to a primary

care system. This announcement will not take effect in England next

April, and negotiations for the rest of the country is underway. By 2020,

it is project did most people over 75 will have increased to around 5

million. The care of those frail and vulnerable people is changing.

?30 million has now been raised in the emergency appeal for those

affected by Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. This morning a cargo

plane set off from RAF Brize Norton loaded with heavy vehicles and

medical supplies bound for the islands. But a week after the

typhoon struck, aid and shelter is still desperately needed. Our

correspondent Jeremy Cooke has been to a school in the devastated city

of Tacloban, which is now home to 1,500 people.

The waters are calm off Tacloban today. The children playing in

peace. But metres away, the reality dash their homes destroyed by the

raging storm and giant waves that struck here a week ago. Their young

lives changed for ever. This lady was badly injured as she swam for

her life. This cut in her head is becoming infected. The parents are

waiting for someone, anyone to help. She is badly hurt, he says, doctors

say she needs to be transferred to another hospital. But they don't

have the facilities to treat her here. Amid the ruins, and the chaos

and the confusion, tens of thousands of children in this once city, are

homeless. The schools, if they still stand, have become shelters. Class

rooms and corridors are packed to capacity. Infant babies who somehow

did -- survived the disaster, entire families with no other place to go.

In an upstairs dorm, teenagers reflect on how totally, utterly life

has changed. Everything was normal. It was a sunny day and we thought

the storm wasn't true. Looking at the school now and seeing how the

storm hit the school, , it is never going to be the same. The children

and their families consider themselves to be among the lucky

ones. They have survived and found themselves a place of safety. Yes,

the future is still uncertain, but at least they are alive all stop so

far the international aid has not. This far. But the teachers, like

this, are organising for when it does. Everyone they say, will get

their share, and the requirements are basic. The needs of the people

here are food and medicine. And inspiration to move on. Inspiration

yes, but practical help needed also. There is hunger, but most

starvation. The need help, but the people, the children are holding on

despite so much destruction and tragedy. Our top story: David

Cameron's convoy has been surrounded by protesters at the Commonwealth

Summit in Sri Lanka. Still to come: I am live in the Children in Need

studio ahead of this year's appeal night. Coming up in Sportsday on BBC

News, a date with the world champions for Scotland. They take on

New Zealand this evening in the quarterfinals of the Rugby league

World Cup. Millions of Catholics are being

asked to fill out a survey about their attitudes to a number of

issues including divorce, gay rights and contraception. The global

questionnaire was ordered by the Pope. The results will be discussed

by bishops next year. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England

and Wales said it would allow the church time for a period of deep

reflection. High Mass at Westminster Cathedral.

A celebration for Catholics of their belief in an unchanging truths about

God. But even believers reject some church teaching, especially about

what they regard as their private lives. The Pope's instruction to

bishops around the world to consult, as far as possible, all Catholics,

represents an unprecedented attempt to gauge opinion in this vast

church. The way the survey is worded has been criticised as obscure and

convoluted, but there is no denying it goes to the heart of some

fundamental and often awkward issues about the way Catholics lead their

lives. The survey asks if divorced Catholics which remarry should be

allowed communion. Do people accept the rules about contraception? What

can the Church do to connect with gay couples? The leader of the

church in England and Wales insisted today that, whatever the response,

core Catholic beliefs would not change. The point of this is not, as

it were, to see the church's rules as a pragmatic policy which can

shift this way or that. The point of this is to say, how are we

journeying towards the Lord together? But there is a growing gap

between church teaching and the way Catholics behave. Only 5% of British

Catholics are good Catholics, according to the Catholic Church's

teaching. That is declining with every generation. The consultation

reflects Pope Francis's belief that what he calls the church's

small-minded rules have heard people. The Catholic Church don't

recognise me because I have been divorced and remarried. The rules of

the church must stay firm. Otherwise we will just be diminished. The

Pope's initiative shows that he wants to reform the Vatican's rigid

control of the church. It is also a tacit acknowledgement that the way

the church deals with those that cannot or will not conform to

teaching must change as well. George Osborne went down a mine

today and emerged to say he believed it would take at least a decade for

Britain to emerge from its black hole, economically. It comes at the

week when the Governor of the bank of England says there were finally

grounds for optimism, with unemployment and inflation falling.

Once, Conservative chancellors closed coal mines. Today, they visit

them. Bearing gifts. This is Thoresby colliery, in the East

Midlands, one of the last deep pits in England. George Osborne took the

lift deep into the ground, not just to see what it is like to work 700

metres below the surface, but also to announce help for 1500 former

miners who have lost their three coal allowance, when their old

employer went bust. When you come down here and see the hard work that

miners put in all of their lives, I am determined they do not lose the

allowance that they owned. To no fault of their own, they were losing

it, the Government stepped in to help. He came down here not just to

announce help for retired miners, but also to show that the economic

recovery is not just happening in London and the south-east, but also

in places like this, where places elite micro-jobs are being retained.

But on the surface, the Chancellor was keen to tell me that, for all

the positive signs, the recovery is not complete, not by a long shot. We

are making progress. There are lots of risks out there and fixing what

went wrong cannot happen overnight. When the Bank of England talks of

recovery gaining hold, the Chancellor is urging patients. A

plan to fix the debt and deficit, make sure that we fix the roof when

the sun is shining so we don't find ourselves in debt again. It's also a

decade-long project to sure our kids have the right skills, welfare

system rewards work, our companies expand and we can win the global

race. There is no quick fix to the mess that Britain got itself into.

For some living nearby, the recovery is yet to be felt. Our money is

worth nothing. Our savings, which we have saved all our lives, is not

worth anything. Might as well go and spend it. Prices in shops are going

up. Wages are not. Even pensions are not going up in real terms. I don't

think we feel the recovery yet. Here, we haven't got that many shops

which are empty. Most of them are... You know, they seem to be

getting people in there now. We are hopeful, aren't we? For all the

doubts, George Osborne says the recovery is taking shape and

protecting jobs in mines like this. But he also wants us to know that it

is going to be a long haul. Princess Anne has said we should

consider eating horsemeat to improve the way that horses are treated in

Britain. In a speech to the World Horse Welfare charity, she said that

a legitimate trade incorrectly labelled horsemeat might increase

the value of horses and make it less likely that they are neglected by

owners. Pony driving on Dartmoor. The annual

round-up of animals who have been here for more than 3000 years. But

the auctions that are now taking place cannot find buyers. Nobody

wants them. Farmers here say they cannot even sell them for meat. The

general public will not buy the meat, which is the healthiest meat

in the country, because supermarkets will not put it on their shelves.

There is a market out there. Now, others agree, including the Princess

Royal. A champion horse rider who thinks eating horsemeat should be

considered. She told this conference creating a valuable horse market

might improve the animal's welfare. Should we be considering a real

market for horsemeat? Would that reduce the number of welfare cases,

if there was real value in the horsemeat sector? I put that out for

what it is worth. I think it needs a debate. The scandal were horsemeat

was found in lasagne and burgers saw me people revolted. Yet in France,

equine eating is normal. That is why animal welfare groups in Britain

have accepted the Princess Royal's argument. The RSPCA is not against,

in principle, the eating of horses. However, it has to be done according

to good welfare principles. The horse has to be cared for properly.

Most consumers we spoke to thought that horses should be pets, not

products. Personally, I look at horses as friends, not food. They

should not be eaten, in my opinion. It is not necessary. Where does it

stop? I understand the instinctive apprehension somebody might have. As

long as it is ethically sourced, I don't think it is a problem, to be

honest. Whatever those views, for most people at the moment, when it

comes to horses they will probably think more company and kitchen. Our

times and tastes changing, led by Royals and others that believe that

consumption may actually help their protection?

In just over an hour, the annual BBC Children in Need television appeal

will begin, hoping to break last year's total of ?26 million. Doctor

Who, Torvill and Dean and the stars of the musical hit Matilda will be

taking part. Lizo Mzimba is in the studio with a special guest.

This is where it is all going to be kicking off in just over one hour's

time. Who better to talk us through the highlights and the man himself,

Sir Terry Wogan? You always wanted to make each year better than the

previous ones. How are you going to do that this year? It is never easy.

But what ever we raise, it is going to be to the advantage of Britain's

disadvantaged children. I just keep my fingers crossed. I think the

omens are good for this year. We had a very successful dinner, we have

had Children In Need Rocks. We've had lunches. I've eaten well, so I

am in good form for this. This week, the British public have already

given ?30 million to the Philippines typhoon appeal. How do you think

that will affect Children in Need this year? First of all, the British

public are unparalleled and unmatched, I think, anywhere in the

world, in their ability to respond when called upon. The terrible

tragedy in the Philippines, they have responded well to that. Knowing

them as I have over the years, they are going to respond to Children in

Need. I have no doubt about that. They have always risen to the

occasion. Last year was a record-breaking year. I have every

hope that this year is going to be another one. Thank you for talking

to us. Enjoy the evening. It kicks off on BBC One at 7:30.

Let's have a look at the weather now.

Should be a great evening for Children in Need. The weather will

remain quiet and generally dry through this weekend as well. There

is not going to be an awful lot of rain around. There will be a lot of

cloud around. Where it breaks, there will also be patchy frost and

hopefully that of sunshine. We had sunshine across the south-east.

Here, we had clear skies. Later, we will see mist and fog. There will be

more cloud and strong wind in Scotland. That will certainly keep

the temperature is up. Cold in the South. Those are the temperatures in

towns and cities. In rural areas, we are likely to catch a bit of frost.

There will also be that fog. In some areas, particularly the South

Woodlands, that could linger all morning. Beware if you are

travelling. The fog will lift. The cloud in the North will sink

southwards, limiting the sunshine to the southeastern corner. A lot of

sunshine and later some rain in the south-west. They be some drizzle

around western coast sandhills. Sunshine across Kent and Sussex,

along the south coast. Cloudy skies moving through the Midlands. A bit

of drizzle over the Pennines. Brighter, I think, to the east of

the Pennines. Later, we will see this rain coming into Scotland and

Northern Ireland. It is all change, really, tomorrow night. The frost is

going to be in Scotland this time, as the skies clear. Further south,

the temperatures will be held up because the cloud is going to be

around. It means on Sunday it will be a cloudy day across the bulk of

England and Wales. A bit of drizzle pushing back into Northern Ireland

later. The sunny skies or across central and eastern Scotland this

time. It will feel a touch cooler. Next week we are expecting to get

much, much cooler. As that happens, there will be some wintry showers,

particularly in the north and east. A reminder of the main story

tonight: David Cameron's convoy has been surrounded by protesters at the

Commonwealth Summit in Sri Lanka. That is all from the BBC News at

six. On BBC One we