13/12/2013 BBC News at Six

The government is accused of turning its back on Syria's refugees by not

offering any a safe haven here. Hundreds of thousands are forced to

eke out an existence in sub-zero temperatures, three years after the

civil war began. The world's big powers haven't been able to stop the

war in Syria. Perhaps that's not surprising. But sorting out this

problem should be much easier. The Prime Minister insists Britain

should be proud of the amount of aid it has given to help the refugees.

Also tonight. The closure of the first free school, ordered to shut

down after education standards were deemed too poor. After the execution

of North Korea's second most powerful figure, there are concerns

about the stability of the secretive communist state. And Nigella Lawson

is accused of lying in court about the extent of her drug use. I'm in

Nelson Mandela's home village as preparations are under way for a

state funeral this Sunday. In Pretoria, a last chance for South

Africans to see their revered leader. And a desperate rush as some

fear they won't make it. In sports day, another tough day for

tourists. A century for Steve Smith means England's cricketers are up

against it again in the Ashes series.

Hello and welcome to the BBC News at Six. Concern is growing for hundreds

of thousands of Syrian refugees forced to endure an exceptionally

harsh winter storm and freezing temperatures with no more than tents

for shelter. The human rights organisation Amnesty International

says Europe should hang its head in shame for failing to provide a safe

haven. David Cameron has rejected the criticism saying Britain can be

proud of the amount of aid it has given. Our Middle East Editor Jeremy

Bowen has spent the day with refugees in the Bekaa Valley in

Lebanon. No working caps, nowhere else, only slow. Women in this camp

collected two melted back into water. However bad, it gets here,

the families still have to drink. An extended family of 20 live in this

had in a refugee settlement in the Northern Bekaa Valley. They have a

small stove, but they don't have much wood, so they were boarding --

burning plastic mat. The area around the stove was quite warm but the

fumes of burning plastic hung heavy in the air. This is no place to be a

child. It's a much worse place to be a baby. Two sisters-in-law, 18 and

19, spend their days close to the small stove with their newborn sons.

Both around one-month-old. The babies have colds. Their mothers are

trying to breast-feed but it's hard because they are undernourished,

living each day on a single bowl of lentil soup or rice and beans. They

mix some baby formula with the melted snow water. One was born

without a hand. His mother said he was delivered by midwife and is

never seen a doctor. She has been told in operation could help him.

TRANSLATION: It needs money but I don't have it. He could possibly

have an operation but I don't have money to take him. The family seemed

to share a lot of love. But there are close to destitute. Because of

the cold and the lack of water, this is all but a bucket of melted snow

makes. They haven't washed the babies for around two weeks. Most

Syrian refugees live in informal settlements as the Lebanese

government doesn't allow the huge camps which have been built in

Jordan. It means aid is haphazard. In all the refugee settlements there

are children who don't have shoes, and proper winter clothes. They

often smile, but they are cold, undernourished and on the edge of

illness. The world 's big powers have not been able to stop the War

in Syria, perhaps that's not so surprising. But sorting out this

problem surely should be much easier. What it needs most is a

mixture of political will, and money. And the fact that these

people are still living like this in the third year of this crisis

suggests there is not enough of either. Big sums of money have been

donated to help Syrian refugees. But very little has reached here. These

are resilient people and local aid workers say the camp is no better or

no worse than the others in the area. The humanitarian crisis caused

by the Syrian war is growing exponentially. A bitter day is

becoming another freezing night. Human rights organisations say

woefully little has been done to resettle the most vulnerable Syrian

refugees. So far the conflict has led to 2.3 million people fleeing to

neighbouring countries. As we've seen, they are living in harsh

conditions, in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. Amnesty

International say only around 55,000 refugees have reached EU countries.

Hundreds have lost their lives in the process. It says, so far, the EU

has failed to play its part. The money the UK Government has pledged

its very important but it's extremely important to take the most

vulnerable people who are finding it extremely hard, to continue living

in places like Lebanon, the UK needs to take more people, resettle more

people like other countries have done like Germany, the USA,

Australia and Canada. Only ten EU states out of 28 have offered to

resettle refugees. Germany will take 10,000 people. France, 500. And

Spain just 50. The UK has no plans to take any. But the government

points out it has already pledged ?500 million in aid. That's more

than the rest of Europe put together. We have spent a huge

amount of money making sure that people have somewhere to go, making

sure they have water, food and shelter. Britain can be proud of the

role being played and the money we have put in. Other European

countries should now do more. But aid organisations say Syrian

refugees have been miserably failed by EU nations and until Europe opens

its doors to more of them, the situation will only get worse. Let's

join Jeremy Bowen live in the Bekaa Valley. Jeremy, it looks absolutely

desperate their anti-Europe and Britain have been criticised for not

taking in enough Syrian refugees. Given there are over 2 million

displaced, is that a realistic proposition? Yes, around 2 million

who have actually fled the country. Within the country, Estimates vary

up to about 9 million, I think it is now, people who have been displaced

from their homes. You are talking about large numbers of people. The

family who featured in that report I did with the two babies, I asked

them did they want to come to Europe. Particularly since one of

the children was of course born disabled without a hand? Maybe they

could get medical treatment the base of no, they would rather go home if

they could. The problem is, they can't get home because it is so

dangerous there because the war is going on. There's another problem in

terms of day-to-day aid. Here in the Bekaa Valley at the moment, the

roads are blocked. It is a flat area with mountains on that side going to

Beirut and on that side, going to Syria. All the road out of the Bekaa

Valley are closed because of the weather. And that means we can't get

out but also means more aid can't get in, so come on all levels of the

moment, those people, I think, in those camps are going to have to

stay where they are and their lot is not necessarily going to get any

better very quickly. OK, Jeremy, in the Bekaa Valley in the Vermont,

thank you. A free school in West Sussex which opened just two years

ago has been ordered to close. The Montessori Discovery New School in

Crawley went into special measures in May when the education

inspectorate warned that children risked leaving not being able to red

and write. -- red and write. It's the first free school to be shut

down. An embarrassment for the government as free schools are one

of its flagship education policies. Our Education Correspondent Reeta

Chakrabarti reports. The first free school in England to be closed,

inspectors had feared children here at Montessori Discovery New School

might leave unable to read and write properly. A damning verdict which is

forced ministers to act. A spokeswoman for the school and

parents expressed deep disappointment. In the last ten

days, governors, staff, headteacher and parents have worked incredibly

hard to address everything she raised, so I think we were surprised

because I think we pulled really hard to put everything out of the

bag for this. In the summer, it was judged inadequate in most areas.

Teaching was inadequate, and headteacher was said to lack the

skills and knowledge to improve it. There was a change of headteacher

but ministers were still not persuaded the school could turn

itself around. The first free skilled casualty means this

high-profile and controversial policy is now back in the spotlight.

There are 174 free schools in England, and can be set up by

different groups like parents and charities. The skills are

independent of state funded. Report this week that each freeze could

cost million on average. Two schools have so far been judged inadequate.

This skill in Derby is the other poorly performing schools. But it

has been given more time to improve under new leadership. Labour says

today's developer and stems from a reckless use of public money by the

government. The government opening free skilled and a breakneck pace

and not doing the due diligence, not doing the planning on the opening of

the schools. They haven't got qualified teachers in the classroom,

no systems of wine and shall transparency. But ministers say they

have acted quickly. As soon as they saw things going wrong. In this

case, we took robust action where the teaching was inadequate. And we

need to make sure that the school are in a better school, better

teaching in future. It is still a day ministers will of hoped not to

see, a bad day for a flagship policy. The school said it

considering legal action. In the meantime, the children will have to

found different schools. There's international concern

tonight about the stability of the secretive state of North Korea after

the execution of the regime's second most powerful figures Jang Song Tek

was the uncle of the country's leader, Kim Jong Un. It's reported

he was shot by machine gun after being found guilty of treason.

Official statements described him as despicable human scum worse than a

dog. South Korea has promised a heightened state of readiness. While

the British government said it was deeply concerned about the incident.

Our Seoul correspondent Lucy Williamson reports. This is the man

who sought to bring down the North Korean regime. The once powerful

uncle of the country's young ruler, reinvented as a criminal and a

leader of a coup. Faced with magical, before his execution. His

crimes are plotting to seize power, the most serious North Korea can

muster. His old influence and proximity to the North Korean ruling

dynasty only underlines the message delivered with his death. That no

one, not even family, is immune. The state news agency described him as

worse than a dog. And a traitor to the nation for all ages. With a

dirty political ambition. So who was the dead man? Jang Song Tek was

powerfully placed in North Korea's ruling group. He was married for

decades to the sister of the former ruler Kim Jong il. He died two years

ago passing control to his young son, Kim Jong un. He has now

reportedly purged all opposition. News of execution told of a man

responsible for all North Korea's ills. Its corruption and economic

failure. A despicable reformer close to China, and a warning to all those

who hope for change. Just over 100 miles away, here in the South Korean

capital, there is worry about what North Korea will look like without

its elder statesman. Jang Song Tek was seen as being too close to its

leader to cold, but there's a new generation rising and it's just

proved it will do whatever it takes to stay in power. In this reign of

terror, Kim Jong un has to realise, he has got to bring home the goods.

And if the people don't have food or jobs, or security, then who else can

he blame? Jang Song Tek has already been edited out of official

documentaries also his story rewritten by the country's powerful

propaganda machine. But many believe that story reveals far more about

the fears and floors eating away at the heart of the regime. Nigella

Lawson has been accused of lying in court about the extent of her drug

use. Her former personal assistant Elisabetta Grillo told Isleworth

Crown Court she believed the celebrity chef habitually used class

A and B drugs. Ms Grillo and sister Francesca are on trial for fraud

which they both deny. Luisa Baldini reports. It contains flash

photography. Nigella Lawson's former personal assistant Elisabetta

Grillo, seen here on the right, was given a second day of evidence. She

told the court her former bosses and their other personal assistance and

who have given evidence in this trial, have lied and that she was

telling the truth. The prosecution asked her, is it your evidence that

Miss Lawson lied to the court? She replied, yes, and Mr Saatchi? Yes.

And you're the one telling the truth? I am. Their defence is there

was a tacit agreement with the TV chef she could spend on the credit

card provider to her if she did not reveal her boss's alleged

drug-taking to her then husband Charles Saatchi. She told the court

it was after seeing these photos of Mr Saatchi's hand around Miss Lawson

Matt was neck and tweaking her nose, she provided a supplementary defence

statement last month mentioning Miss Lawson's alleged drug-taking and

said, I didn't want to use it before because I want to protect her. I

think, especially when Charles picked on her nose, it was proof she

still took drugs, and he discovered that day. So we then decided it was

a moment for everyone to know the truth, she could lie easily.

Questioned about cash withdrawals on her credit card, she told the court

shoe was allowed for the she said once, Charles Saatchi asked her to

get a taxi to book shops across London, buying up copies of his

books so it went up the book list. He didn't want to use a credit card

for that. She also explained that duty-free transaction for cigarettes

which were for Nigella Lawson underboss children. She acknowledged

they were underage at the time but said Miss Lawson did allow them to

smoke weed. Elisabetta Grillo and her sister deny fraud and the case

continues. Our top story this evening.

The refugee crisis in Syria - as hundreds of thousands shiver in

camps, Britain is accused of not doing enough to help. Coming up:

Preparations are underway in South Africa for the funeral of Nelson

Mandela, George Alagiah will be live from Mr Mandela's hometown. In the

next 15 minutes, I look at the weekend's Premier League matches,

bad news for Manchester United, an injury for Robin van Persie.

Good evening from Qunu, Nelson Mandela's remote childhood village

in the Eastern Cape. Preparations are underway here for the arrival of

Nelson Mandela's body tomorrow. It was his wish to be buried near the

place of his birth. Up north in Pretoria, three days of lying in

state have come to an end. Officials say a 100,000 people filed past Mr

Mandela's body. But as our special correspondent Fergal Keane reports,

many were turned away. On the last day of lying in state,

the patience of some was beginning to wear thin. They feared they would

never get to pay their respects to their dead leader. The policeman

called for calm. Then a gap was forced. The young were swept

through. It was a brief moment of drama, quickly contained by the

police. There were no serious injuries but all of this indicative

of the powerful feelings evoked by the death of Nelson Mandela. A pain

that here transcends all divides. We wanted to maybe push inside, so we

can be able to give our last respects to him. But a government

minister acknowledged many would not get through. If the numbers are too

big, there is nothing we can do, we don't have to apologise, that is the

situation. 500 miles the South, over his birthplace, the military

practised their flyover on Sunday's funeral. Operations here are

gathering pace. This is the convoy that will gather his body to its

final resting place. A away from the formality of the state occasion,

these ANC members run the man who was to them that a global icon but a

local hero. -- remember the man. There are small in prompted

celebrations of Nelson Mandela's life taking place in townships

across South Africa. But here, in his home region, the sense of

anticipation ahead of Sunday's funeral is particularly intense.

This is one of the poorest parts of South Africa. A place of deep anger

over government corruption, the failure to deliver on the promises

of liberation. Yet for people like this one dead mother of five

children, Mandela is exempt from blame. Do you feel proud he came

from this place? Crustacean macro -- transocean macro I am so proud. As

the day ended, the company was being readied to leave Pretoria. The man

who led South Africa to freedom will make his last journey to the place

of his birth. With the funeral less than 48 hours

away, there've been discussions between government officials and

local chiefs about how Sunday's ceremony in Qunu should be

conducted. Nelson Mandela was born into a minor branch of the royal

house. But some here are unhappy that the government is playing too

prominent a role. This is where his journey from her board president

began, 600 miles from Johannesburg and 1 million miles from the world

of politics, business and celebrity that Nelson Mandela came to inhabit.

It's one of the poorest parts of the country, having produced a global

icon hasn't changed that. Here they think it's time for him to come

home. TRANSLATION: This woman told me she's glad the funeral was not in

Johannesburg. This is where he belongs. I gathering of chiefs

today. Nelson Mandela -- Mandela's desire to be buried he has brought

up problems, there's been talk of a rift between these elders and the

government. It's a clash between the demands of the modern state funeral

and ancient rites, handed down through generations. We don't want

to create any tension, any chaos, any disruption. The government, we

understand how a statesman should be dealt with. It's been a challenge to

balance Nelson Mandela's heritage and his role as a former head of

state. It captures perfectly the tension there always was between his

respect for tradition but his willingness to set that aside in the

pursuit of political and social progress. So on Sunday, when he is

buried here, Nelson Mandela's life will have come full circle. That

night he has in common with many others in this part of the world.

It's what he did while awaiting sets him apart. We have had the tributes

from world leaders in Soweto, the formality of lying in state in

Pretoria and this weekend, here in Qunu, the last leg of his long

January. And there will be live coverage of Nelson Mandela's funeral

on Sunday, on BBC One, from 6am. Plans for a giant wind farm three

miles off the west coast of Scotland in the Inner Hebrides have been

dropped. ScottishPower Renewables said it would not proceed with the

Argyll Array scheme because of technical and environmental

concerns. The ?5 billion scheme would've had up to 300 turbines -

enough to power a million homes. Prince Harry and his team of four

injured British soldiers have completed their Antarctic trek for

charity by reaching the South Pole. The race had been suspended last

week after safety concerns but conditions improved and the "Walking

With The Wounded" team finished the 200 mile adventure with teams from

the US and the Commonwealth. Our Royal Correspondent Peter Hunt

reports. Prince Harry and the injured veterans at journey 's end,

after suffering delays, illnesses and trekking on ice for 13 days. It

was a moment to savour and to celebrate. Harry, the soldier prince

born in a palace, who has been in Afghanistan, is proud of the

achievements of his team-mates, who suffered serving their country.

Everyone is so happy. We have all had photos, hugs. All in all, the

mission is a success. United after the race became an expedition, they

have made it to the bottom of the world.

Cricket and England started well but ended badly as the third Ashes test

got underway in Perth. At one point Australia, batting first, teetered

on 143 for five. But the hosts recovered to end the day in a

commanding position. Joe Wilson reports.

Fast bowler, fast car. Mitchell Johnson tried to get a parking space

on his home ground. No special measures. This is despite England

longed to see, in reverse. The rest of Australia seemed to be following.

Chris Rogers took on James Anderson and throw one, run out. Having won

the toss, Australia seemed to be foisting the chance to bat first.

Watson: , will hold by Graeme Swann who then got rid of Australia's

captain. David Warner played fluently to 60 then held. George

Bailey wanted to help England with the catching practice. Here you go,

have this one! But Steve Smith led the revival. This shot to get to 50.

England kept rotating their bowlers to try to deal with the intense

heat, but Brad Haddin treated as an scornfully. Smith stayed. By the

time he made his century, Australia were delighted with their recovery.

By the close, Mitchell Johnson was having great fun batting. Australia

326 46. There are some key places in Perth but for England, it must seem

like a harsh environment. On the second day, Mitchell Johnson will be

revved up and ready to let them again. Time for a look at the

weather. Last night we had a spookily warm

night for the time of year. Overnight lows within double

figures, tonight, different story. Clearer skies and a chilly night.

Still some rain to get rid of, but by the end of the night, we will be

fine, thanks to high pressure building from the south but keep

your eye on the Atlantic that's what we're contending with on Saturday

daytime. Quite chilly in the towns and cities first thing on Saturday,

but lots of sunshine. Notice how the wind picks up towards the West, and

in comes the rain, the wind could cost up to 70 mph, strong enough to

cause some damage. Eastern and central areas will benefit, staying

fine until after dark. The system will work its way South-East, the

rain and wind through Saturday evening, a Saudi feel that evening,

later on, something more wintry across Scotland, then it goes quiet

towards the end of the night but we're not done, Sunday daytime we

need to look towards the Atlantic, another area of low pressure which

could again bring some strong winds and heavy rain into Scotland and

Northern Ireland. It's those winds that will most concern us

particularly late on on Sunday. They could cost up to 80 mph, even

stronger than late on Saturday. To sum the weekend up for Scotland and

Northern Ireland, some pretty stormy spells. England and Wales doing

quite well by day at times. There is criticism that Europe isn't

doing enough to help the plight of Syrian refugees as one of the

harshest winters in the Middle East for years strong was in. Draws