03/12/2015 BBC News at Six

David Cameron warns of the need for patience, saying Britain's mission

against so called Islamic State in Syria will not be over quickly.

RAF warplanes have already launched their first air strikes

against IS-controlled oilfields in eastern Syria.

It is complex, it is difficult what we are asking our pilots to do,

and our thoughts should be with them and their families as they commence

Meanwhile, bitter divisions emerge within the Labour Party,

with calls for MPs who voted for the bombing to lose their jobs.

President Obama says terrorism can't be ruled out, after 14 people are

The gene therapy breakthrough which could prevent diseases being passed

It is too late for me but, for generations to come, this offers

the priceless possibility of putting an end to a disease which affects

And the Force is strong with these two.

We speak to the two new British stars of Star Wars.

RAF jets fly from Lossiemouth to take part in airstrikes in Syria.

The First Minister says she's deeply troubled by the decision.

And travel chaos at the Forth Road Bridge, as engineers say there'll

Good evening and welcome to the BBC News at Six.

David Cameron has warned that the British mission against

so-called Islamic State in Syria is complex and will take time.

He called for patience and persistence as RAF jets carried

out their first airstrikes in Syria, just hours after MPs

Four Tornado jets from the RAF's base in Cyprus targeted oilfields

in eastern Syria which are under IS control.

Our Defence Correspondent Jonathan Beale is at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus

Jonathan, have there been many more sorties today?

We haven't heard any leaving. We have certainly heard and seen some

arriving. There are twice as many British warplanes air at RAF

Akrotiri as there were yesterday, and clearly that means that there

will be a step up in the Campo of operations. With regular combat

missions not just over Iraq now but over Syria, too. Another thing is

clear, that these jets will be here for some time to come.

This evening, reinforcements arrived at Akrotiri. Another eight jets,

Typhoon, as well as two more Tornados to add to the aid already

here. It signals that the rules have now changed. The border between Iraq

and Syria, no longer a barrier. Last night, within an hour of MPs voting

yes, a pair of Tornados prepared for the first British air strikes in

Syria, loaded with ?500-macro bombs. It was a carefully choreographed

mission. -- ?500-macro. This is the second pair of Tornados to leave

tonight, after that Commons vote authorising military action in

Syria. We have not been told their destination but we understand they

will be flying over Syria. They already had a target. Their

destination, the Omar oilfield, a source of funding for extremists. It

wasn't that long before they returned. The MoD said it was a

successful mission. This is the first pair of RAF Tornados. They

have been flying for just over three hours. They went with three Paveway

bombs and it looked like -- it looks like they fired at least some of

them. As the initial operation, it is a breeze of infrastructure, so

you can preplan it. And you want a fairly big bang after a

parliamentary vote, so it is low risk from the perspective of the

pilots and high gain for the politicians. The targets are part of

a wider strategy. Cockpit footage released by the Pentagon shows US

warplanes hitting similar installations as well as tankers. It

is one of the main sources of income for the extremists. The Prime

Minister admits it will take more to defeat IS. We will need to be

patient and persistent. This will take time. It is complex and

difficult, and our thoughts should be with the pilots and their

families as they commence this important work. These pilots will

not be home by Christmas. This bombing campaign could take place --

could take years. It will need more than warplanes to defeat IS.

Bitter divisions within the Labour Party over the war in Syria

have come to the fore in the wake of last night's vote

Some Labour MPs who voted with the Government - against the position of

their own party leader - say they've been subjected to intimidation

There have also been calls for them to lose their jobs.

Our Deputy Political Editor James Landale reports from Westminster.

It was an astonishing moment. A Labour frontbencher applauded by all

sides after making a powerful speech for war. It is now time for us to do

our bit in Syria. But his great speech also revealed a divided

party. Look who is not clapping. On the front bench, his party leader,

utterly opposed to the military strike is now taking place in Syria.

This morning, Mr Benn tried to play down divisions in the Shadow

Cabinet. Now the House of Commons has made the decision, having heard

all of the arguments, all of our thoughts are with the brave men and

women of the RAF and we pray for their safe return. Others could not

resist a jab. I thought Hilary's oratory was great. It reminded me of

Tony Blair's speech taking us into the Iraq war. I worry that the great

oratory leads to great mistakes. Labour is not just divided at the

top. Look at the abuse some Labour MPs got online from some party

supporters for backing military action. Others had pictures of dead

children put through their front doors. When you get e-mails which

are personal abuse, that goes further than just voicing opinion.

One MP under fire was still a greasy, who this week faced

demonstrations outside her office which left her fearful for her

staff. -- Stella Crecy. Today, the BBC caught up with one of her

critics who compared the war to fascism. Is it right to say that?

Essentially, yes, because the views seem so in a box at the moment. The

Tories are voting one way and then half of the Labour Party of voting

the same way. Where is the balance? Where is the democracy? Some MPs who

backed military action fear they might be ousted and some Labour

members say, why not? If your local party doesn't agree with you, they

should have the right to a member they do agree with. But Labour are

considering a code of conduct and better security for MPs. I gather

today that some members have received photos of severed heads.

MPs have broad shoulders, but can I ask the leader to review the

arrangements regarding the security of members' homes and offices? The

Labour leadership says it deplores any such actions, but these

divisions are also about who runs this party.

14 people have been killed and 17 injured

A man and his wife dropped off their six-month-old daughter

before arming themselves with assault rifles and opening fire

They were later shot dead in a gunfight with police.

The motive for the attacks is not yet known,

although President Obama today said terrorism could not be ruled out.

Our Los Angeles correspondent James Cook reports from the scene.

At times yesterday, San Bernardino looked more like a war zone and a

city in California. The streets awash with police, hunting for a

young man who had gone on the rampage with his wife at a festive

party. Syed Rizwan Farook reportedly left the gathering after a

disagreement before returning with Tashfeen Malik, armed with automatic

weapons. We have two suspects, dressed in black. They went into a

room and locked the door. I turned off the lights. I didn't want... And

so the hunt began. Hours after the shooting, parts of the city were

still in lockdown. This operation is not over. This is the second scene

we are apt, a couple of miles from where the shooting began. Just up

that street, it was over for the two suspects. After a car chase, they

died here in a gun battle, with some 20 police officers. There was

shouting from the back. I don't know who first, but they were shooting

each other. It must have been frightening. It was very scary. They

were hidden at the back of the walls. As soon as we heard bullets

flying, hitting the building... Syed Rizwan Farook was a 28-year-old

American. -Month-old dating profile, he called himself a good Muslim,

looking for a girl who likes snowboarding and would wear a hijab.

Why would he do something like this? I am in shock. The FBI asking the

same question, scouring the couple's home for explosives.

Terrorism is a possibility, they say, but so, too, is a workplace

dispute which turned violent. Either way, the country he leaves has, by

one count, seen more than one mass shooting per day this year. We will

have to search ourselves as a society to make sure that we can

take basic steps that would make it harder, not impossible but harder,

for individuals to get access to weapons. This tense and grieving

city is still short of answers. Why did a mild-mannered man and his wife

spark all of this, leaving their own baby as an orphan?

Our North America Editor Jon Sopel is live for us now at the scene

America has become horribly accustomed to shootings but this

Exactly, Fiona. There is a weary familiarity to these episodes, but

some things about this don't feel as though they fit into the model of

previous incidents. The shooting that took place had clearly been

carefully planned. It wasn't just that a trigger and suddenly clicked

and this man went on the rampage with his wife. It was carefully

thought out. We have just had a news conference where police have told us

that they had three remote-controlled pipe bombs that

luckily did not go off. They had thousands of rounds of ammunition

with them. All of that suggests to some kind of terrorist motive, or

some degree of planning involved. The fact that we have backed

President Obama saying that the FBI will lead on this themselves also

suggests that is what the authorities are thinking. There is a

long way to go on this investigation, but a horrifying

picture has become clear, and that one statistic. This is the 355th

mass shooting this year so far. More than once a day.

The Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty

of murder after an appeal court judge in South Africa overturned

The athlete killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp

The judge said mistakes had been made in the first trial,

and that Pistorius must have known he'd kill someone when he repeatedly

From Johannesburg, Nomsa Maseko reports.

It is nearly three years since Reeva Steenkamp was shot dead by her

boyfriend, Oscar Pistorius. Today, the long wait for her family was

finally over. The accused conviction and sentence on count one set aside

and replaced with the following. Guilty of murder, with the accused

having had intent. As they anxiously gathered in the courtroom, one of

the prosecution lawyers hugged Reeva's mother. At least we have the

truth now and the right judgment. It is not up to me to say. I don't want

to hurt him in anyway. I have no revenge. They were South Africa 's

glamorous couple, a Paralympic in and a model but, in the early hours

of Valentine's Day 2014, she was killed in his bathroom when he fired

four high-calibre bullets through a locked door. Pistorius denied

intentionally shooting her, saying he believed he was shooting at an

intruder in self defence. The prosecution argued that he shot her

in a fit of rage after an argument. The Supreme Court did today that the

athlete should have foreseen the consequences of his actions when he

opened fire regardless of who was behind the door. By shooting through

a locked door, the judge concluded that he must have known he was going

to kill someone. The judge also found that there were fundamental

errors in how the trial judge interpreted the law when she

convicted Pistorius of a lesser charge of manslaughter, for which he

has spent a year in prison. Oscar Pistorius will remain here, in his

uncle's home on house arrest, now branded a murderer by the Supreme

Court of Appeal. The disgraced athlete will wait until next year

for resentencing to find out if he is heading back to prison. It is

unlikely Pistorius will be able to appeal. He now faces a possible 15

year jail term. As RAF fighter jets launch

their first airstrikes in Syria, David Cameron warns the mission

will not be over quickly. And from the BBC's Casualty to Star

Wars, the films' newest star on her Yeah, I guess it's daunting, but I

just mainly want people to think I Jail for a double rapist who once

attacked serial killer Peter Tobin The judge says he

may never be freed. And Rangers boss Mark Warburton

denies he's leaving to take over Should scientists be allowed to do

research which alters the DNA It's a question being discussed

by hundreds of scientists from 20 countries in Washington

at a conference on what's known The technology makes it possible to

change the genes parents pass It might help prevent inherited

diseases, but it also gives rise to fears about creating

designer human beings. From Washington, our Medical

Correspondent Fergus Walsh reports. From the discovery of DNA structure

by Crick and Watson, to the dawn of IVF with the birth of Louise Brown

to the decoding of our human genome. Decades of progress

in human biology means scientists can now alter the very DNA that

parents pass on to their children. And scientists in xhn said they had

altered the genes of humans in the lab.

Gene editing is cheap, simple and accessible to scientists

It's like a molecular sat-nav - it scans our DNA, reading the code,

Then it uses molecular scissors to snip through both strands, switching

off a faulty gene, or enabling a healthy copy to be be inserted.

Both techniques have the potential to treat or even cure

If gene editing was done in IVF embryos, that DNA chain would pass

The theory is it could be used to prevent inherited conditions

like cystic fibrosis or Huntington's disease.

Let's hear from three people, a patient, ethicist and scientist -

all with strong views on this technology.

I will lose the ability to think, I will lose

the ability to control my body, and my personality will change.

Charles Sabine carries the gene for Huntington's disease,

a devastating brain disorder which causes physical and mental decline.

It killed his father, his older brother now needs 24 hour care.

He says gene ediding offers real hope.

It's too late for me, but for generations to come this offers

the priceless possibility of putting an end to a disease which affects

But this ethicist argues it would be wrong to ever allow gene

It's too risky, we don't need it, there are other ways to have

And it would open the door possibly maybe likely to a world

We don't need more inequality, we don't need more discrimination

Sir Paul Nurse wants scientists at the New Crick Institute in London

to be allowed to do embryo gene editing,

He says cures for inherited diseases are still years off.

The ability to precisely manipulate individual genes and then to test

what effect that has on how a cell behaves, how a tissue behaves, how

an organ perhaps behaves is really going to open up new avenues of

research of understanding how our bodies work.

be a long way off, but these are designer dogs.

Chinese scientists edited their genes as embryos.

They have bigger muscles than other beagles.

Modifying DNA raises profound questions which science and society

Two Fifa vice-presidents have been arrested in a dawn raid at a Swiss

hotel on suspicion of accepting millions of dollars of bribes.

Alfredo Hawit and Juan Angel Napout - both presidents

of football associations in Latin America - were detained

as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged corruption

Our Sports Editor Dan Roan is outside Fifa's headquarters in

Zurich. Another day, another series of arrests, this Fifa scandal shows

That's right, yes, I think if Fifa thought the removal of its suspended

president, Sepp Blatter, meant the end of its trouble, this proved how

mistaken it was. The scandal intensifying. Another drawn raid by

Swiss police on the same luxury hotel here in Zurich as they did

back in May and arresting two senior football officials. Not household

names, but nonetheless Fifa vice presidents and ex-co-members. They

were meant to be discussing a proposal to expand the World Cup.

Instead they languish in a Zurich jail. In a few minutes the US

Attorney General is expected to confirm fresh details of the latest

wave of activity, effectively doubling the scale of the

investigation. Today was meant to be looking forward for Fifa, now the

message from the United States authority is is simple - we are not

finished with you yet. The BBC's Creative Director Alan

Yentob has resigned from his role after the controversy

about the collapsed charity Kids The BBC concluded Mr Yentob had not

influenced the corporation's news coverage of the charity -

despite claims he had tried. But the corporation said it would

consider Here's our special

correspondent Lucy Manning. He's held hands with the Dalai Lama,

swapped stories with Rod Stewart. And arm-wrestled with

Salman Rushdie. Alan Yentob was the BBC's Creative Director,

but also the man overseeing the money when Kids Company was

accused of being more than creative MPs had challenged him about

whether he had interfered with And your presence and

your phone calls were an abuse of I absolutely think that's

completely untrue. I think it's a great decision

both for Mr Yentob and the BBC. I think there was a clear conflict

of interest between his job at Kids In statement, Mr Yentob said media

coverage of his role as a former trustee of Kids Company

was proving a serious distration. Camila Batmanghelidjh,

the former Chief Eexecutive He's a kind and creative human being

who has added to the quality One day British history will

celebrate his contribution In a statement, the

BBC Director General said the BBC had considered whether Alan Yentob

had influenced the BBC's reporting But what the statement doesn't

say is whether Mr Yentob had Once he had tried to intervene in

the way the story was being covered by BBC news, as a senior BBC

Executive, although he had no direct authority to make anything happen,

and the actual result may have been Mr Yentob won't face further

investigation by the BBC's governing body and although he loses his

?183,000 executive job, he will keep But he is likely to be criticised

by MPs about the collapse of Now - a long time ago, in a galaxy

far, far away... In the new star Wars film sees two

unknowns cast. Will their stars shine? Our entertainment correct

meets them. Those stories... The saga is part of cinema mythology.

The two relative unknowns, lead roles that could propel their

careers to light speed. I was terrified. For a few months, I was I

don't know whether I'm coming on going, I think I will lose the job

and then surrounded by people who make you feel loved. How ready are

you? I don't get recognised as much. That will change. But you can never

be ready for this. It is just something that is going to happen

regardless. Dazy Ridley was making appearances in TV dramas and working

in a pub when she first started auditioning for a part that could be

career-defining. Do you give thought to the fact that it is not a

guarantee of longevity as a screen actor? No, I'm quite a hopeful

person. She is hoping for a better life and I have been so lucky what's

happened before. When I did Casualty, that was thrilling to me.

I think it will continue to be. John already has a few smaller films.

Filming this at Pinewood helped him feel at home. The funny thing is

being on this kind of like historical Hollywood set and then

you know walking down stairs and seeing the crew talk about the

latest episode of Eastenders. It is like a great balance. As opening day

approaches, how nervous do you feel? I'm so used to your voice talking

about films, this is the most serious I have been. It is daunting,

but I just want people to think I did a good job and then people love

it and the people who loved it from before and new people. It is layers.

But it is mainly exciting. Mount Etna, the volcano

on the Italian island of Sicily, has erupted in spectacular fashion

for the first time in two years. Etna sent a mile high plume

of fire and ash into the sky. The eruption caused the closure

of the nearest airport on the Italian mainland and left

the Sicilian city of Catania coated Now the weather. From the hot to the

cold in fact. We have got snow, this is one of our weather watches send

this in half an hour ago in Midlothian. Snow is a concern in the

south-east of Scotland. For most of us it is wet and windy and the

potential for disruption to travel. This low pressure, we will have

further snowfall in south eastern Scotland and northern England. Most

of us having wet and windy weather. It disappears by the early hours.

And it is going to be chilly and there will be icy patches in

Scotland. For most a benign night. And later we have the winds

gathering and more rain. After recent days of releaptless rain --

relentless rain in the north, it is drier tomorrow. But not as we end

the day in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Not just the rain, it is

Friday evening we have got some really atrocious conditions with

gusts of wind up to 70mph and this is why. Look at the tightly packed

isobars. And that moves south through Friday night into Saturday.

More rain along it. The concern not for just gales, but also more wet

weather. Scotland and Northern Ireland and northern England and

again North Wales in the firing line on Saturday. Very mild, so the snow

melt continues in the north and the winds blowing throughout Saturday.

Only easing slowly into Sunday when we get some respite in the north.

But again that rain could hang around in the south for much of the

day. And there are warnings out and they're on the web-site. Thaurchg

That's all from the BBC News at Six, so it's goodbye from me and on