11/06/2014 BBC News at Six

Another Iraqi city falls into the hands of Islamist militants

- as they continue their advance towards the capital, Baghdad.

They've taken control of Tikrit - just two days after attacking Mosul

- the country's second biggest city. Hundreds of thousands have fled from

their homes as the militants threaten new areas.

There's tens of thousands of these guys and they now have a territory.

They control territory, they control border crossing points, they control

We'll be live in Iraq with the very latest.

A record rise in the number of people in work brings unemployment

down to its lowest level for five years.

Passports under pressure - extra staff drafted in to try to

clear a backlog of applications which have hit a 12-year high.

The Harry Potter creator - JK Rowling - conjures up ?1 million

to help the campaign against Scottish independence.

Gridlock in London and other European cities as taxi drivers

protest about a new smartphone app they say is damaging business.

On BBC London: We reveal the secret report on widespread police

corruption that Scotland Yard have refused to publish.

The Home Secretary is to decide whether to approve the use of water

cannon only after considering the safety issues.

Good evening. Welcome to the BBC News at Six. Islamist militants in

Iraq have attacked and gained control of another major city.

Tikrit, the birthplace of Saddam Hussein, fell into their hands this

afternoon just two days after they took Mosul, the country's second

biggest city. Iraq's Prime Minister has urged civilians to arm

themselves and fightback. At least 500,000 refugees are believed to

have fled as the militants get closer to Baghdad. James Robbins

reports. Latest pictures from the road

towards Tikrit, suggest more heavy fighting. The Islamist militants

overwhelm Iraqi government forces once again. Reports suggest the

Sunni fighters have taken Tikrit, birthplace of Saddam Hussein, now

they apparently control another city soon after seizing Mosul. Iraq's

second city Mosul is still emptying out. The country risks breaking

apart. These are some of the 500,000 people who have fled and crossed the

river to escape fighting on the other side. Thousands of families

are fleeing refuge elsewhere. Mosul has fallen, a disaster for

Iraq's government, but also for the wider world, too. As Islamist

extremists take more ground from which to plan attacks. It's

humiliating for Iraq's Prime Minister vowing to fight back.

TRANSLATION: We are dealing with the situation. We are not going to allow

this to carry on regardless of the price. We are getting ready. We are

organising. We are restructuring the armed units.

So who are the fighters? They are a Sunni Muslim jihadist group formed a

year ago and pledged to create an Islamic state across Iraq, Syria and

neighbouring countries. They are now in control of significant parts of

Syria, where Westerners including some British Muslims are fighting

with them. It's all helping to increase their power in Iraq, too.

They took Fallujah five months ago, now they have Mosul and appear to

have taken the city of Tikrit as well. This is their leader, Abu Bakr

al-Baghdadi, seen as a brilliant commander and tactician,

battle-hardened. Some blame the American-led invasion

for all this. Others say it's Iraq's failed political system which can't

stop the daily bloodshed, but increasingly, it is Islamist

fighters who are gaining ground. Our correspondent Paul Wood is in

the village of Kalak on the road to Mosul for us now. He joins me now.

It looks like a mass exodus behind you. What have you seen in the last

few hours? I'm speaking to you from about half an hour north of Mosul,

the first checkpoint that people arrive at and the cars behind me are

people leaving Mosul. People have left Mosul on foot as well. There is

a little aid station giving out bread and water to people who are

tired, hungry and frightened. They are not only frightened of Isis. One

woman told me they had been very polite to them. The thing that made

her flee was a speech on television by the Iraqi Prime Minister. People

here are afraid. They have also been telling us stories of how there was

a complete collapse among the Iraqi security forces. Policemen and

soldiers abandoned their posts and fled along with the other refugees.

You have to wonder if the security forces did not stand and fight the

day before yesterday, how is the Iraqi government going to get back

this large city of two million? People here feel it will be massive

air strikes. That is why we are seeing this exodus of people away

from Mosul. Thank you. Extra staff have been drafted in to

get through a backlog of passport applications in what's been the

busiest period for 12 years. The Prime Minister has admitted that up

to 30,000 passport applications have been delayed but he insisted that

the Government was dealing with the problem. Our correspondent has spent

the day at the Passport Office in Liverpool.

When this woman was booking her holiday, a trip to Liverpool was not

in her plans. holiday, a trip to Liverpool was not

in her After six weeks of waiting, she took matters into her own hands.

I had to resort to going to my MP, my MEP, finding out the e-mail

address of the CEO... She ended up travelling 200 miles from South

Wales to get the passport in person. I have lost two days work. That is

without the phone calls. I have had to pay for a hotel. We have had to

hire a car. So, it's cost me ?500. Alison wasn't the only person we

found who had problems. Others had given up waiting and come to the

Passport Office themselves. About 20 phone calls, we got different

advisers every time. Saying the same thing. It was repeated, "We will

ring you back" and they never did. So we decided this morning to come

up here and try and sort it. Horrendous, the system, it is so

bad. They couldn't track where our passports were at. Today, these

pictures are said to show a backlog of applications waiting to be

processed with an overthrow of files being stored in meeting rooms at the

Passport Office. It is unprecedented for something like that to happen

for office space to be used for the storage of applications. It is a big

indicator of how much of a mess it is in. Labour have warned thousands

of people face cancelled holidays as a result of the problems. ABTA has

say it's seen no increase in people changing their plans. We have 250

staff redeployed to the frontline... Today, the Government announced that

extra staff were being brought in to help with demand. We have 300,000

extra applications. We have increased massively the staff. The

level of applications outside the normal three-week limit is less than

the 10% of that 300,000. The Passport Office has said it's

experiencing its highest demand in 12 years and to help cope, more

staff and extra officers are being laid on.

-- offices are being laid on. Unemployed has fallen to its lowest

level for five years. The number of people out of work went down by

161,000 to 2.16 million between February and April, bringing the

rate down to 6.6%. But there's been a slowdown in the growth of average

pay. It now stands at 0.7%. Here is our business correspondent, Emma

Simpson. How to hire new workers and fast. In

Stoke-on-Trent this afternoon, a ceramics manufacturer held a jobs

fair to find 65 new workers and it fired up plenty of interest. Today,

I'm trying to find myself a job. I'm really pleased that there are more

opportunities now because I think we have suffered as a city for a long

time. It's not only this business which is powering ahead, so is the

UK's jobs market, judging by today's figures. After some difficult years,

the UK economy is bouncing back, record numbers of people are in

employment, big falls in unemployment. The economic plan that

we as the Liberal Democrats and the Coalition Government have put in

place is working for hundreds of thousands of people who are now

getting back into work. Today's figures show s employment increasing

at a record rate. What's behind this big rise? There are 780,000 more

people in work than a year ago, the largest increase for nearly a

quarter of a century. Here's the striking thing. 337,000 of those

extra workers are self-employed. Take this man, who has made a fresh

start. When he couldn't find a job, he decided to set up his own

commercial laundry business in Leicester. He was forced into self

employment as the recession took hold. But business is now thriving.

Had I been employed, I would not have looked at this option. It's a

blessing in disguise. Would you ever go back to being an employee? After

being employed, I can't see myself going back working for anybody else.

But the cost of living is still going up more quickly than pay, with

news today that the growth in average annual earnings has slowed

sharply. Wage s are increasing at half the rate of prices, so people

are finding their money is going less far, struggling to pay the

bills, the rent and the mortgage, and that is making life very tough

for many families. Ironing out the squeeze on household finances is

still a work in progress, but the jobs market is gathering pace.

Unemployment has fallen in every area of the UK apart from the North

East. And if things go smoothly for this man's business, he hopes to be

hiring, too. The Defence Secretary has dismissed

a warning from the public spending watchdog over plans to save billions

of pounds by cutting the size of the Regular Army and boosting numbers of

reservists. The National Audit Office said the decision to reduce

the number of regular soldiers had been taken without an appropriate

feasibility study but Philip Hammond says he is confident the target of

35,000 part-time soldiers would be reached by 2018.

The author JK Rowling has donated ?1 million to the campaign against

Scottish independence. The creator of Harry Potter said she was

concerned about the economic impact if Scotland left the UK and

criticised what she called a fringe who demonised the opponents of

independence. Allan Little reports. High on a hill... She chose to make

Scotland her home 21 years ago when she was a single mother living on

benefits. She married here, raised her three children here and plans to

stay here for the rest of her life. Her support for a devolved Scotland

is no surprise, she declared it two years ago. Independence right now is

not a great idea. Devolution has been fantastic for Scotland. I

really do. I suppose I think we have a great deal currently. JK Rowling

accuses the "yes" campaign of minimising and denying the risks of

independence. Reasonable questions she says are drowned out by

accusations of scaremongering. Especially on oil revenues, which

currency Scotland would use and EU membership. A fringe of

Nationalists, she says, like to demonise anyone who is not blindly

and unquestionably pro-independence. J K Rowling's success began here.

Today, she has been attacked online. She knows there are intelligent,

thoughtful people on both sides. Indeed, she says intelligent,

thoughtful people prevail, but much of the campaign is being fought out

on social media and on the fringes of that dialogue, there is without

question some intolerant, aggressive and intimidating behaviour. Is the

support undermined by the online abuse of others? Yes, they should

not do it and they should apologise for it. Don't let's pretend that the

debate we are having is anything other than an example of how to

conduct a democratic debate. JK Rowling brings her money to the

anti-independence cause. Allan Little, BBC News, adden buRg. --

Edinburgh. Another Iraqi city has fallen to the

hands of Islamist militant s. I will be live here in Sao Paulo on

the eve of the 2014 World Cup Finals in Brazil.

Later on BBC London: A pair of teenagers die after

falling from a balcony at a party. And more Londoners are finding work

- but are they the right ones? They're drugs that lower cholesterol

to guard against strokes and heart disease.

But now a group of leading doctors says plans by

the health watchdog to give statins to millions more people in England

and Wales should be scrapped. Statins are already

the most commonly prescribed medicines in the UK.

Around seven million people take them.

And it's thought they prevent up to 7,000 deaths a year.

Statins cost just 10p a day per patient, but critics say the side

effects are underestimated and they question why relatively healthy

people should be put on medication for the rest of their lives.

Fergus Walsh reports. These pills are setting Doctor opens

Doctor, academic against academic -- doctor against Doctor. Confused

about statins, you have every right to be as a result of one of the most

heated rows in medicine in recent years. Both sides agree that if you

already have heart disease, the benefits of the tablets are

overwhelming. But the new NICE guidance would mean pretty much

everyone from their mid-50s onwards would be on these tablets for life.

At present, anyone with a 20% chance of having a heart attack or stroke

over the next decade is offered statins. Draft proposals would lower

the threshold to a 10% risk. It could mean an extra 5 million

patients on statins. Those in favour say it will save more lives. First,

a leading critic. Statins can prevent heart attacks if taken by

well people. Not deaths. But we also have diabetes caused by statins.

They can also cause cataracts, liver disease, muscle disease. We have

built in all of the known adverse effects including the increase in

diabetes into the models which guidance is based on and the

benefits of statins shine through. Michael would rather be gardening

than worrying about statins. He hopes the pills are doing him good

but has some concerns. I have a certain amount of confidence but

some of it is confusing. I think we really... They should have

investigated a bit more and give us more information. It is hard to see

the row being settled before NICE's final guidance comes out next month.

The uncertainty could turn high risk patients of statins and that would

cost lives. -- off statins. Scotland Yard says no evidence has

been found relating to the Madeleine McCann investigation.

From the scene, this report. Just outside the resort of Praia da Luz,

another unremarkable piece of wasteland, now the latest focus in

the hunt for Madeleine McCann. First thing this morning, specific areas

were sealed off so that British and Portuguese police officers with

sniffer dogs could search the fields around these derelict buildings.

Working next to all of the police activity, this farmer. He told me

the police searched this area thoroughly when Madeleine vanished

and he says they will not find anything now. We just have a few

dead horses buried in the ground as well as a donkey, he says. That is

it. It is seven years since Madeleine disappeared. She was last

seen in the holiday apartment. Officers spent the whole

seen in the holiday apartment. Officers of last week searching a

site in the town centre. With that complete, today they moved onto two

new areas about half a mile outside of the town either side of a main

road. The searches that are taking place here were requested by British

police officers and there is a lot of cynicism here about that. This

graffiti arrived this morning. It says in Portuguese, the English

police are stupid. There is no indication anything significant has

been found during the searches. But Scotland Yard has said the end of

their work here will not mean the end of their investigation. This

will be one of many lines of enquiry. This is taking place in the

public domain because it is an outside location. We need to allow

the detectives to do their work. Over the next few weeks, behind

closed doors, several local suspects will be questioned.

700,000 people are still awaiting assessment for the new Employment

and Support Allowance. The government blames the delay on ATOS.

Around 100,000 people should have been assessed for the new benefit by

the end of April. Fergus Walsh reports.

Traffic has ground to a halt in several European cities including

London today as taxi drivers staged a protest against a new smartphone

app which they say is damaging their business. The app allows passengers

to book and track minicabs from their mobile phone. Here's our

technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones.

No trouble getting a cab in Whitehall this afternoon. But if you

Whitehall this afternoon. But if wanted to get anywhere fast, it was

not so easy. In Paris too there was transport chaos as taxi drivers

staged a protest. And similar scenes in Madrid. Everywhere the cause was

the same, anger that is smartphone app called Uber was harming the

livelihoods of taxi drivers. The power of the internet is threatening

us. They have to do it the legal way. Then you cannot complain. A lot

of people have the Uber app and it seems on the face of it illegal.

They said that the app which measures how far you travel and

calculates the fair is in effect a meter and only they are allowed to

have one of those. They are furious that transport for London has

refused to act. Here is how Uber works. You tap to request a driver

and within minutes a car draws up. ?11. That is good. I did the same

journey and within minutes a car draws up.

?11. That is good. I did the in reverse with a black cab. The driver

Richard who spent three years doing the knowledge found a faster route

that I paid a bit more with a tip thrown in. : ?17. Thank you. Uber

founded in San Francisco has grown into a hugely successful business.

The company incest is it is legal. -- the company insists. Uber offers

another choice to customers and drivers and increases competition

which is good for all of us. The taxi drivers say they are not

opposed to innovation but an un-regulated American company should

not be allowed to threaten the livelihood. Uber says the publicity

has provided a huge boost to their business.

Cellan-Jones. The president of Brazil

says her country is ready, both on and off the pitch, for the

World Cup which kicks off tomorrow. But England got a nasty surprise

today when this picture emerged. It appears to show the pitch

in Manaus, where the team will take on Italy on Saturday night, in what

looks like a pretty poor state. Nothing though can stop the huge

excitement in Brazil, as our chief sports correspondent, Dan Roan,

has been finding out in Sao Paulo. They need no excuse for a game

of football here in this favela. Imagine what it means to these

youngsters to have the World Cup on their doorstep

in just a few hours' time. This is one of Sao Paulo's

tougher neighbourhoods but it is communities

like this that have produced many of the game's greatest ever players.

That is the dream for this 13-year-old for whom

football is more than just fun. It is very importent to me, he says.

Becoming a football player would enable me to leave this place,

to help my family and my community. If we can win the World Cup here

at home, I am going to be very, very happy.

Many Brazilians say the World Cup is too expensive,

that the money would have been better spent in places like this.

But ask these youngsters who is excited and the answer is clear.

But with passion like this comes pressure too.

These kids and millions like them across Brazil expect

nothing less than for their country to be crowned World Cup champions

in just over a month's time. When it comes to this event,

Brazil has history. World Cup winners five times, this

is a country that has come closer than any to mastering the sport.

Pele has scored! Its most iconic player knows

all too well what is at stake. I think this for

the country is fantastic, to show the world what we are capable of.

What Brazil can do. I think we have to take

this opportunity because it is very important for us.

Not least for these players, the select few who carry the hopes

of a nation on the shoulders. The football team has become

a brand in its own right. It is like Brazil itself.

It defines everything about the culture, the creativity,

the way they play, their attacking formation,

all of those things really personify the Brazilian personality.

We have just been lucky to be a part of that and actually see it

grow over the years. Football is in the blood here

and no matter how fraught the build up to their own World Cup may have

been, the people's passion for the sport that has come to define

them burns as brightly as ever. What has always been billed as the

ultimate dream World Cup has perhaps become the most controversial in

history. The event rather limping with concerns over readiness and

protests at the expense of the tournament. FIFA will be desperate

to see tomorrow night in the stadium behind me Brazil and Croatia kicking

off the tournament and for the Shia and disputable love and passion for

the sport the Brazilian people have two sweep away most concerns -- the

un-disputable love and passion. them burns as brightly as ever.

And you can see more of that interview with Pele on a Match of

the Day World Cup Preview tonight on BBC One at 10.35pm. Time for a look

at the weather. Here's Nick Miller.

London for the next few days might be a bit warmer than Sao Paulo. Life

is not pleasant for hay fever sufferers that the movement -- at

the moment. But there has been fine weather for the bulk of the UK.

Showers in north-east Scotland today. They are pushing away. Plenty

of dry and clear whether around. Cooler in the countryside. Dipping

into single figures. England and Wales will see the best of the

sunshine. They fine day for many of us. Some rain in north-west Scotland

later in the day. It is the start of a test match tomorrow. It surely

means rain! Far from it. Sunshine and warmer than today. Here is a

look at the weather across the UK at 4pm. Mostly light winds and the sea

breezes. We are widely in England and Wales in the low 20s with a

mixture of cloud and sunshine. There will be some warm sunny spells at

times in Northern Ireland, southern and eastern Scotland. More cloud

coming in and some of us, especially in the north and north-west of

Scotland, getting outbreaks of rain. Friday, more widespread rain across

Scotland and Northern Ireland and heading into northern England. The

warm sunshine is just across southern areas by Friday. There

might be late date thunderstorms on Friday night. What about the

weekend? High pressure is still close by. The flow of air has

changed to a north-easterly direction, down the eastern side of

the UK. More cloud and lower temperatures. On the weekend, the

best of the warmth and sunshine will be in the West.

The main story: Another Iraqi city has fallen into the hands of

militants. That is all