15/04/2014 BBC News at Six

Ukrainian forces launch military action against pro-Russian gunmen in

the east of the country. A Ukrainian jet patrols the sky as the president

claims an airfield has been retaken. There are reports pro-Russian

activists have been killed. Ukrainian soldiers and tanks gather

outside at least one other city in the east. So far it's not clear how

far this operation by Ukrainian forces will go - the Russian

military is still massed on the border and there's been no response

from President Putin. Also tonight.... Remembering the 96

- tens of thousands gather in Liverpool to remember the victims of

Hillsborough 25 years on. Criticism as a former police head of

counter terrorism is appointed to investigate allegations of Islamic

extremism at schools in Birmingham. The editor of the News of the World

tells the Old Bailey he knew nothing about phone hacking at his paper.

One of the largest ever exhibitions of Matisse's famous cut out

artworks. Revealed - the borough is raising

most money by using CCTV to find motorists. The family firm refusing

to make way for the multi-million pound redevelopment of White Hart

Lane. Good evening and welcome to the BBC

News at Six. Ukrainian security forces appear to

have retaliated against pro-Russian gunmen in the east of the country.

The Ukrainian president claims that an airfield has been retaken amid

reports of heavy gunfire and Russian media is reporting up to 11 people

have been killed. Armoured vehicles with guns and dozens of Ukrainian

police have also gathered north of the city of Sloviansk. Russia itself

still has tens of thousands of troops massed along Ukraine's

eastern border. So far, there has been no response from President

Putin. Our correspondent, Daniel Sandford, reports from Sloviansk.

Ukrainian fighter jets, screaming through the sky in the east of the

country. There was gunfire at the local airfield and reports of

casualties as the government started trying to reassert its control. On

one of the main roads into the restless Donetsk region, Ukrainian

troops, well armed and on public display. After days in which we have

seen very little sign of the Kiev government's exertion of its

authority, suddenly, the most public display of force you can imagine. A

military helicopter had just arrived to deliver ammunition. I asked one

of the soldiers what his orders were. TRANSLATION: We are core

operating with interior ministry were. TRANSLATION: We are core

troops so we can give them back up. After weeks of people questioning

whether Kiev could demonstrate power in the east, this was a very public

answer. Less than an hour's Drive South, we saw once again the extent

of the problem that confronts them. Outside the main council offices in

Sloviansk, well armed men, much more disciplined than we have seen so

far, appeared to be in charge. Men who look similar to the Russian

troops we saw in Crimea. They had taken over the town's seat of power

and were asking everyone to leave. Stuff coming out told us they had

been ordered to go home, leaving the building of the hands of the men

with guns. Marina, a senior civil servant, was one of those who had to

abandon their desks. TRANSLATION: Today, we arrived at work. They are

allowed in three people at a time so we could take a personal belongings.

Now we have to work from home. Soap, just 25 miles apart, both sides,

both heavily armed were in position, both claiming to be defending the

rights of the people in Eastern Ukraine. Are you getting any idea on

the ground of how far this operation by Ukrainians to forces might go? --

Ukrainian security forces. There are two things we know for certain. This

show of force today is a deliberate way of saying, we are doing

something. Secondly, this significant moment when they took

back some ground, they took back Kramatorsk airfield, which had been

loosely held by pro-Russian militia for the last few days. It looks like

Ukrainian soldiers landed with four helicopters on the airfield. There

was shooting. At the moment it looks like it might have been in the air

but there are reports by Russian media of casualties. The Russian

media have been inaccurate on this story in recent days. What we do not

know is whether Ukrainians are going to push for it into the city of

Sloviansk, the city at the end of my report. That would be a different

matter. Not only is it surrounded by barricades and well motivated young

man, but in the heart of the city is that building where we sought the

men today, who looked like experienced soldiers fighting on the

side of the pro-Russian forces. The former editor of the News of the

World, Andy Coulson, has told the Old Bailey he had no knowledge of

phone hacking at his paper and played no part in the hacking of

Milly Dowler's phone. He described the practice as a breach of privacy

and lazy journalism. He denies conspiracy to hack phones and

continued misconduct in public office.

It was only a matter of time before the former editor was asked about

the most explosive episode in the phone hacking saga and so it was on

his second day that the questioning turned to the tabloid targeting of

Milly Dowler. He told the court that, at the time of her

disappearance, listening to people's voice mails was not called

phone hacking and he did not know it was illegal, but it was something

journalists gossiped about. His new... -- his view...

The Milly Dowler story, published in April, 2002, is central to the

trial. It began with a paper's believes that the missing schoolgirl

must have been alive and applying for a job. It is agreed her phone

was hacked - a message from an employment agency was discovered. Mr

Coulson was asked was he aware of it. His answer, I was not. The court

saw an e-mail suggesting the paper offered the police recordings from

Milly Dowler's phone. He said it would have been interference in a

police investigation. The newspaper said five reporters and two

photographers were in Telford where a factory might have been offering

Milly Dowler work. I do not think I was aware, Mr Coulson told the

court. The editor, Rebekah Brooks, was in Dubai on holiday at the

time. The prosecution says Andy Coulson, the acting editor, called

her to discuss the story. But he said, I do not remember any

conversation about Milly Dowler. He said the resulting article,

suggesting a hoaxer had been calling Milly Dowler, was unremarkable. As

an editor, Andy Coulson described himself as risk-averse, a custodian

of the News of the World's brand, and not someone who wanted to land

the paper in trouble. He denies phone hacking and two other charges.

Tens of thousands have gathered at Anfield in Liverpool to remember the

victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Bells rang out across

Merseyside at 3.06 to mark the exact moment 25 years ago when the FA Cup

semifinal in Sheffield was stopped after a crush that killed 96

Liverpool fans. Our sports editor David Bond is at Anfield now.

This is always a day when Liverpool and football stop to pay tribute to

the 96 victims who died at Hillsborough. This service, 25 years

on from the tragedy, felt more moving than ever before. The moment

Liverpool stood still to remember the victims of Hillsborough.

A city united in respect and grief. Raymond Thomas Chapman. Gary

Christopher Church. Sarah Louise Hicks. Victoria Jane Hicks. As the

names of the victims were read out, lights were lit in a new sculpture

to commemorate the sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, all

of whom died just watching a game of football. Liverpool's star players

past and present looked on. Some witness that dreadful day. For the

victims families and the survivors, the memories will hold them for

ever. Families, we warn our loved ones constantly, and especially

today. But the spirit of the 96 burns in our hearts and drives us

on. What happened here has left a city, a club, a sport scarred by the

experience. Improvements to safety have been made, but for the families

who lost loved ones, that has never been enough. Mairead Corrigan lost

her son, Keith, at Hillsborough. He was just 17. Every year, she comes

here to remember and like all of the victims' families, she never gives

up hope that their long campaign would force people to notice. It is

poignant to think that 25 years we have struggled, we have fought,

appears have gone out to finally get people to listen to us and what we

knew. Five years ago, as a government minister Andy Burnham

received a hostile impression welcome. What was your call five

years ago is mine today. Justice for the 96! Liverpool have not won a

league title since a year after Hillsborough. The current manager

knows winning at this season would be a fitting tribute. Your courage,

fortitude, resilience and dignity and the love for the people you

lost, that is what inspires me every single day of my life as the manager

of Liverpool football club. No trophy, Memorial or public enquiry

can ever heal the endless sorrow felt by these families and fans, but

they may at least make the pain easier to bear. Five years ago, the

memorial service here turned out to be a watershed. It led to the

release of thousands of pages of documents which, in turn, have led

to the inquest going on down the road in Warrington and two new

criminal investigations. It may take months, if not years, for those to

be included. But there was an overwhelming sense today that there

is at least progress being made towards a new chapter in the story.

The gap between increases in the cost of living and people's wages is

narrowing after the rate of inflation fell for the sixth month

in a row. Prices rose 1.6% in the year to March,that's down from 1.7%

in the year to February. And that compares with the current rise in

average earnings, including bonuses, of 1.4%. Our chief economics

correspondent Hugh Pym reports. Inflation, which measures price

increases across the economy, affects everyone. For shoppers and

savers, the good news is that prices are not rising so rapidly. Last

month saw the lowest annual rate in 4.5 years. Inflation has been

falling for several months and now it is at 1.6%. It has fallen where

it matters, food prices and filling up the car. People will feel

benefits of it. As inflation eases, rage rises are picking up, at

companies like this in Leeds. -- wage rises. The economy is growing

and sales are rising and they are awarding a bigger pay increase so

they do not lose staff. We want to keep old people. A lot of people are

ambitious and they want to succeed themselves and the personal growth.

We are keen to keep them on what's we train them up and make sure that

the workforce stay with us for a certain amount of time so we get

value out of them. The gap between pay and price increases is

narrowing. Inflation picked up rapidly from 2010 under point was

above 5%, but has fallen back a lot in the last few months. Average wage

rises were running behind inflation but are now only just below the

inflation rate. Lucinda, who works in customer service, says it is

easier to cope with everyday bills. The cost of living seemed to go up

in the past but at the moment it is constant. Rises go up and down, but

not in a major way. It is not hard to get by at the minute. Average

wage rises may be catching up with cost of living increases, but what

does that mean for consumers? After a long squeeze on their living

standards it may take a while for people to notice the difference.

Many have seen the inflation adjusted value of their pay fall

since the recession. It may take a while to get back where it was.

While inflation may be easing, house price rises are accelerating. The

average annual increase was above 9% in February, according to the Office

for National Statistics. For home-buyers, that means more

pressure on their budgets. The electoral commission is to write

to UKIP to investigate claims that he used an office rent free. It

follows an investigation by The Times newspaper that Mr Friars

received ?30,000 per year but spends only 3000 per year. Mr Farage said

he spends the money on legitimate expenses and accused the Times of a

political smear. West Midlands Police have publicly

criticised the government's decision to bring in the former National Head

of Counter Terrorism to handle an investigation into 25 Birmingham

schools. Peter Clarke is to analyse claims that the schools have been

infiltrated by Islamist extremists. But the police say it's a

desperately unfortunate appointment. Reeta Chakrabarti has the details.

What is going on in Birmingham's schools? Today those doing the

investigating came to blows because Peter Clarke put into fact find used

to beat the national head of counterterror, an unfortunate

appointment according to a senior police officer. The conclusions that

will be drawn I think will play out in the community and beyond. Very

clearly from our perspective this is not a counterterrorism

investigation. It is about education and whether hardline Muslims are

trying to take over school governing bodies. Building in a

counterterrorism expert in this multi-ethnic city is sending out the

wrong messages. All the schools are shut for the Easter break, but local

people working to express their support for this school. This school

is very nice, my grandchild is very happy, no problem. We spoke to

several parents who said they were supportive of the school and some

said they thought the stories were propaganda. But we spoke to two

older children at the school and they said the atmosphere had changed

and things had become more strictly Islamic. Whatever is going on, the

Department for Education said Peter Clarke had integrity and

independence and was the right person to uncover the truth. Our top

story this evening: Ukrainian forces launch military action against

pro-Russian gunmen in the east of the country. President Putin has

condemned it and called on And Oscar Pistorius's last day in the witness

box after five days of cross examination. The EU to condemn it as

well. On BBC London: The latest house price figures show they are

continuing to soar, but how long will the rise go on for? And

inspired by the Paralympics, now young, disabled people head to Stoke

Mandeville for a special sports day. There is no guarantee that warships

would continue to be built in Scotland if the country votes for

independence. That is the warning from the Defence Secretary, Philip

Hammond, who said thousands of jobs would be at risk. In a speech in

Glasgow he said the UK's security would be damaged by independence.

But Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, insisted the Royal Navy

would continue to order ships from Scottish yards because they are the

best place to make them. Alan Little reports from Glasgow.

This company has made the periscope for every submarine in the Royal

Navy's history. It is now French owned, but the UK Government chose

it to argue their case to the European -- the union was good for

everybody. Philip Hammond wanted to be positive and to bring no dire

warnings of catastrophe. Defeating fascism, fighting communism,

building the most successful and enduring democracy in the world and

one of the strongest economies. The partnership between our peoples has

been an economic, social and military success.

But he also said an end to the union would jeopardise the UK Government

contracts on which companies like this depend and that touched an

increasingly familiar raw nerve. You come up here and you talk about the

dire consequences of independence, but I feel aggrieved that you have

come up here and you seem to be threatening our jobs will go. Could

the UK Government guaranteed the workload of the Scottish defence

industry if Scotland voted for independence? The straightforward

answer is no. That is not a threat, it is an answer to a question. It

illustrates the predicament UK ministers always face when they come

here to urge people to vote no. No matter how positive they try to be

about what they see as the benefits of the continued union, the loudest

message that comes across is both yes and you are risking your

livelihood. The yes campaign can make hay with that. The Scottish

Government said an independent Scotland would be a fully

contributing member of NATO similar to Norway and Denmark. Alex Salmond

said the rest of the UK would not sever its links with Scotland's

defence industry. And as he has done with George Osborne he accused

Philip Hammond of bluffing. Ironically he made his speech in the

offices of a French multinational. It exemplifies the fact that defence

corporation takes place across countries and that will be the case

when Scotland is independent and Philip Hammond knows it. It is the

problem UK ministers have faced from the start, how to enter the fray in

Scotland without the risk of antagonising more voters than they

persuade. Oscar Pistorius's girlfriend told him she loved him in

a Valentine's Day card on the day she died. The athlete was asked to

read out Reeva Steenkamp's message as his five-day cross examination

came to an end. The chief prosecutor summed up by saying that the

Paralympian's version of events was "so improbable it can't be true".

Pistorius denies murder, saying he thought he was shooting at an

intruder. Our Africa correspondent Andrew Harding was in Pretoria.

One final morning in the witness box for Oscar Pistorius, soon his fate

will be in the hands of others. Five days of relentless cross-examination

ended with him trying to explain what was going through his head as

he fired his pistol, killing Reeva Steenkamp. I was screaming because I

was overcome with terror and despair. You were not screaming at

Reeva because she was hiding in the toilet? No, my lady. Pistorius has

struggled all week with the question of who is to blame for Reeva

Steenkamp's death. We should not blame you, we should blame somebody

or something. You should we blame? I am not sure, my lady. The

prosecution are battling to prove that Oscar Pistorius killed Reeva

Steenkamp on purpose, but I am told they are very confident that they

have shown he fired deliberately at the store, intending to kill whoever

was hiding behind it. The defence then tried to limit the damage of

the past few days asking Pistorius about this, the Valentine's Day card

Reeva Steenkamp had given him that night. She says I think today is a

good day to tell you that, and then it says, I love you. With that a

drained Pistorius left the witness box, his forensic team taking over,

seeking to show that the evidence supports his claim it was all a

terrible accident. A new lorry design aimed at reducing

the number of cyclists killed in collisions with lorries has been

approved by the European Parliament. If Westminster agrees to the

changes, lorries will have to have bigger windows, round fronts and

crumple zones, all to reduce the driver's blindspot which has been

blamed for so many deaths. Sian Lloyd reports.

The battle to get through the traffic, but for cyclists that

battle can cost them their lives. One in five cycle deaths involve

lorries. Campaigners have called for design changes to improve safety and

this could be the truck of the future. It incorporates new

standards approved today by the European Parliament. Rounder cab

fronts and bigger windows to tackle the driver's blindspot which can be

fatal. Alex McVitie was killed cycling to work when a cement lorry

crossed her path. Her mother hopes the new standards will be adopted

into British law. To lose a child in that way is absolutely horrific and

even more so if you discover it did not need to happen, that there are

ways of preventing this. 607 people were seriously injured in accidents

involving heavy goods vehicles in 2012. 141 were killed, including

three cyclists. We have a forward facing mirror and two driving

mirrors. We have a safety camera system. Adrian Ricketts has

installed cameras to try to improve the safety on his fleet, but he says

cyclists need to be aware of the risks. Stay away from the near side

of the trucks. We cannot see you when we have turned left because

there is a blindspot. We cannot see you. Warnings like this can help,

but it will be years before lorries get a face-lift and that is only if

the rules are adopted here. When ill-health stopped the French

artist Henri Matisse from painting he began to cut out paper shapes to

create stunning collages. Around 130 of them are going on display at Tate

Modern in London later this week in one of the largest ever collections

of his work. David Sillitoe has been to see them.

This is a tease the great master when he was an old man fearing

death. He lacked even the strength to pain, but in those painful,

sleepless Knights, he began cutting out shapes and it was the beginning

of this, a new art form, an explosion of creativity from a man

in his 80s, bedbound in his studio. This is his own personal garden. And

this is where it began, on the walls of his studio. Some people thought

it was all over for him, but he was proving them wrong. Definitely. He

was an incredible man who until the very end was inventive. This proves

why he was one of the greatest masters of the 20th century. They

are such famous images and when you see them in books and from a

distance they look so perfect. This allows you to look close up and you

can see the jagged edges, a reminder of how he worked, with those big

shears, cutting the paper out very quickly. The idea of seizing an

enormous pair of scissors and slicing up bits of paper was a

revolutionary thing to do and people could not taken seriously at all.

They thought poor old Mattis had lost it. How wrong they were. 60

years on we can see the full scale of his late flowering, an Indian

summer, a celebration of his life. Fabulous, aren't they?

Now it is time for a look at the weather.

It has been a fabulous day, but as soon as the sun sets the

temperatures will drop like a stone and it is a particularly cold night

before April. Rural areas are close to freezing in many places. A touch

of frost first thing in the morning. But it will be another dazzling

start to the day's sunshine. For most of us it will be more of the

same, but in Northern Ireland and Scotland it is a different story.

Outbreaks of rain should arrive in the north-west of Scotland and

Northern Ireland. Further south it is another beautiful day with hardly

a cloud in the sky. On the coastal areas there will be a cooling

breeze. Art into the high teens in a number of places. 17 and 18 in some

spots, but for Northern Ireland and Scotland it will be a cooler day. We

will have more breeze and cloud and some wet rain getting into the West

of Scotland by the end of the afternoon. There could be rain well

in advance of that through tomorrow evening. But as it slips its way

southwards they tend to fade away, so the odd bit of rain by Thursday.

But a lot of rain pushing its way southwards on Thursday. Behind that

are brighter and cooler conditions. One last day across the South East

and some places could hit 20 degrees. For the Easter weekend we

start off OK, but an increasing threat of outbreaks of heavy rain

for some of us later on in the week. Too good to last.

Our main story tonight: As Ukraine launches military action against

pro-Russian gunmen in the east, President Putin calls for the West

to condemn it. Now it is time