05/01/2016 BBC News at Six

Cabinet colleagues will be allowed to speak their minds

When the campaign comes, David Cameron could be arguing

against those around the Cabinet table.

There will be a clear Government position but it will be open to

individual ministers to take a different personal position while

remaining part of the Government. Some senior Tories say the move

risks more Conservative Also tonight: The victims

of the latest IS video. We hear from the brother

of one of those murdered. Police searching for a former

EastEnders actor and her two The President in tears -

Barack Obama weeps as he makes the case for tougher

gun controls. The moment Rhian Lewis'

world changed. The computer chip that

could restore her sight. The floods waters are receding

but for many communities the misery And, Police Scotland's

new Chief Constable, Phil Gormley, is sworn in but he has

plenty of challenges ahead. Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six. David Cameron has decided

to let his Cabinet colleagues choose sides when Britain gets its chance

to vote on whether to stay There's criticism of the move

within the Conservative Party but, as our political editor,

Laura Kuenssberg, reports, the Prime Minister was under

pressure from some of his You, him, and them.

The Prime Minister wants to persuade you to stay in the European Union.

But he admitted today there's no way he will ever persuade his whole

team. Statement the Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr Speaker. As the

Commons returned for business, to cheers and jeers, he said Ministers

won't have to tow the line when it's time to choose. There will be a

clear Government position but it will be open to individual ministers

to take a different personal position while remaining part of the

Government. Ultimately, it will be for the British people to decide

this country's future by voting in or out of a reformed European Union.

At meetings around the continent, David Cameron's arguing for looser

ties with the EU as early as June, you will then have your say but the

risk of Cabinet turmoil if they couldn't speak out was just too

great as the opposition knows. Leaders across Europe can see the

Prime Minister's demands are a bluff, a figureleaf for Conservative

Party politics. Does the Prime Minister accept his bluff has been

called? Conservative Eurosceptics are cockahoop. Maybe I salute the

decision to allow ministers to express freedom of choice on this

matter, this is not a sign of personal weakness but strength.

Except it's the opposite of what David Cameron promised a year ago.

If you are part of the Government then clearly you are part of the

team, that is aiming for the renegotiation A free vote? No, I set

that out clearly in the past. There are strange echos of the last time

the country had a vote on Europe. In 1975, a Labour Prime Minister was

forced to allow the bizarre spectacle of his own Cabinet

Ministers arguing against each other in public. Will you please allow me

to answer the question. No, if I may say with respect... Now the sequel.

You are now going to have a Government in which there is no

total collective unity in which people will actually stay in office,

apparently, but publicly oppose one of the fundamental policies of the

Government in which they serve about the nation's future. That is really

a most unfortunate situation. To manage his party in this place, in

truth, David Cameron didn't have much of a choice. If he tried to

silence his Ministers who want to leave the EU, there would have been

uproar. But the decision you will make on staying or leaving the EU is

much bigger than what happens in Westminster day-to-day. Much bigger

even than what happens at a general election. But a choice that will

shape the future of our country for decades to come. David Cameron's

avoided or at least postponed damage from disagreements inside his party.

But in the wider world to get his way on the EU there's still an awful

lot of work to do. And Laura Kuenssberg

is at Westminster now. Laura, does this mean a referendum

is likely sooner rather than later? I think it does, George. Exactly a

year ago this was certainly not the Prime Minister's original plan but

with the risk of ministers attacks in public he has had to shift but

this does show pretty clearly that Number 10 is increasingly confident

they'll be able to get a deal in February and will be able to push

that to a vote perhaps as early as June. Because there's been

speculation about what decision David Cameron would make for many

months. Now they've decided to go public with his decision, make this

announcement, clear the decks and start to be able to get on with the

arguments proper as he continues to go around Europe pressing the flesh,

trying to get a deal he thinks he can sell at home. For the

Conservatives, at least, despite their own internal traumas over

Europe, this is much bigger than those backroom machinations, this is

about all of us making the biggest decision in decades and after today

the clock is really ticking. Thank you very much.

Now to the latest IS video, thought to have been fronted

In the footage, five men are murdered, accused

The relative of one of the victims has been speaking about the killings

He's been talking to our world affairs correspondent

The so-called Islamic State, captured these five men. It forced

them to confess to espionage. Then it killed them.

The men were one 25-year-old, 35-year-old, an 18-year-old,

30-year-old, and a 40-year-old. At a secret location in Turkey, we

met one of the brothers, he is a democracy activist. He says his

brother in Isis-controlled Syria was just a normal person. My brother is

normal, normal civilian just like all the people inside my city. He

have shop. He fix the air conditioning, electric things in the

homes. He live a normal life. He hasn't slept since he learned of his

brother's death. How do you understand what happened? I don't

really accept the reality, my brother, not until now, not accept

just this moment came to me, now. My brother is good. Sorry.

Can I say my brother still alive, but after that I Back To Reality.

Yes, they execute him and he is innocent.

At astonishing risk activists inside Raqqa smuggle out footage of life

inside the Isis-ruled city where gunmen are in charge and where it's

safest simply to keep quiet. What is life like now for people in

Raqa? It's hell. The water sometimes come, sometimes not. Isis arrest

people without any charge, just like that. The five men who were forced

to make confessions had no chance to give their defence and to tell their

own stories. They paid with their lives.

The masked frontman in that IS video is thought to be

Siddhartha Dhar disappeared after being granted bail

at a Magistrates' Court in September 2014.

Now the Home Office is facing serious questions over how

an extremist suspect could flee the country

Here's our security correspondent Gordon Corera.

How strange it is that a leader of a small island... The masked jihadist

making threats against Britain. In the same video, a child of five is

seen briefly at the end talking in English. Tonight a woman from London

told the BBC the child resembled her grandson whom she hadn't seen for

three years. The eyeballs, the eyelashes, then the mouth. The lips.

So it looks like him. But I am not taking it as he is my grandson. The

chief suspect of being the masked man in the video is Siddhartha Dhar

from east London, seen here before he fled to Syria.

Officials are not confirming it is him but we asked a speech analysis

expert who wanted to remain anonymous for his own security to

compare Dhar's voice with that in the video. On the basis of my

experience what I have got here are two samples which show a strong

degree of similarity to one another. After he converted to Islam, Dhar

became involved with a group which was banned by the authorities. In

August 2014 he was arrested on suspicion of supporting the group.

The following month he was released on police bail without being

charged. After he was released on bail, he

came back here to Walthamstow, he was supposed to surrender his

passport but instead he took his family and fled via Europe to Syria.

That's raised questions about whether the authorities could have

done more to stop him. Dhar taunted the authorities from Syria, posting

pictures and boasting of how easy it had been to travel out. Statement,

the Home Secretary. Today, the Home Secretary declined to comment on the

specific case but said more was being done to prevent travel. Last

year, the counterterrorism and security act provided new powers to

deal specifically with the problem of foreign fighters and prevent

radicalisation. This included a new power to temporarily seize the

passports of those suspected of intending to leave the UK in

connection with terrorism-related activity. Whether or not Dhar is the

man in the video, questions will still remain about his ease of

travel and whether new measures have done enough to stop others following

his path to Syria and to violence. Three bodies have been found

by police searching for a missing former EastEnders

actress and her family. 43-year-old Sian Blake -

who played Frankie Pierre in the series - vanished

with her sons, Zachary, eight, and Amon, four,

on December 13th. Police said the bodies were found

in the garden of Ms Blake's Our reporter Dan Johnson joins us

from outside the family What's the latest on the

investigation? Forensic teams are still at work in this bungalow.

They've been taking out a number of items and a couple of hours ago we

saw them remove the bodies they discovered in the garden here.

They've been at work here, the police, for 24 hours now. It was

nine days before Christmas when they first came to this house searching

for Sian and her children. They spoke to her partner. He couldn't

tell them where his family was and he hasn't been seen or heard from

since. Now police are still appealing for anybody who knows

where he is to come forward with any information. They haven't confirmed

the identity of the bodies they've discovered here, but it does look

like this could be the worst possible news. They've informed

Sian's family. There may be questions about how long the bodies

lay here and whether they could have been discovered sooner. Thank you

very much. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn,

who is carrying out a reshuffle of his top team, has sacked

Michael Dugher as the Shadow Culture Mr Dugher has, in the past, publicly

criticised Mr Corbyn's leadership. Further changes are

expected this evening. This report from our political

correspondent Vicky Young contains There have been weeks

of speculation, and Jeremy Corbyn has held meetings for two days,

but we still don't know who will be sitting with him at

Labour's top table. And this morning, his Shadow Cabinet

were desperate for information, too. Hilary Benn, who publicly disagreed

with Mr Corbyn and voted for air strikes in Syria, has faced

calls for his dismissal With matters still unresolved,

Mr Corbyn and Mr Benn were forced And David Cameron

couldn't resist a dig. Can I apologise for interrupting

what is clearly the longest After hours of rumour,

this was the first concrete news. Michael Dugher, sacked from his job

as Shadow Culture Secretary. We believed Jeremy Corbyn

when he said that he wanted to bring people together, he wanted a party

where there was room for a little dissent, where we could have proper

debate and where we could The truth is, that has just not

transpired, and I think that is a real squandered

opportunity for Labour. Mr Dugher says Labour MPs who do not

share all of Mr Corbyn's views Jeremy has got to really learn some

tough lessons from this, which is, the truth is,

you cannot treat people the way that some people have been treated

in recent weeks, and when people like myself choose to stand up

and call that out for what it is, you know, actually we should be

saying that is something After Mr Dugher's dismissal,

several of his former colleagues took to social media

to express their disappointment. But Mr Corbyn's friends insist

he is entitled to make changes. If he doesn't want people

in the Shadow Cabinet who spend more time attacking the Labour Party

leadership than the Tory benches opposite us, then he is perfectly

within his rights to do that. They could be burning the midnight

oil in Mr Corbyn's office. This is it proving to be a slow

process. Is Jeremy Corbyn trying to achieve? He wants to improve

diversity in the Shadow Cabinet, promoting more women after the

criticism. It was described to me as extreme disloyalty help wants people

in the defence and foreign affairs brief who reflect more the way he

thinks about these things. All eyes again are on Hilary Benn. There has

been a move to push him from his job. Last night he was reassured and

told he could stay. Tonight that seems to be up in the air again. So

who know what is will happen in the next few hours. Many thanks. The

time is 6. 16pm. David Cameron will allow his Cabinet

colleagues to take sides An Indian teenager becomes the first

batsman to score 1,000 runs Coming up on Reporting

Scotland at 6.30pm. Abergeldie Castle is now only feet

away from collapsing into the Dee. And, Erraid Davies,

the Commonwealth Games swimming sensation, on her bid to win a place

in the Paralympic team. A new implant or "bionic eye" has

helped a blind woman It's hoped it could eventually help

restore the sight of thousands A computer chip is implanted over

the retina and sends light signals Each chip costs at least ?50,000,

roughly the same as training If trials are positive,

surgeons hope it could be available on the NHS in as

little as two years. Our medical correspondent,

Fergus Walsh, has the story. Since the age of five, Rhian Lewis

has been gradually losing her sight as a result of a rare condition.

It's a bit like someone has put the dimmer switch off gradually. It's

been maybe eight years since I've had any idea what my children look

like. I certainly don't know how I've aged. Now, surgeons at Oxford

Eye Hospital are to fit a German made implant in a bided to restore

some of her vision. The tiny chip is fitted over the retina's light

processing cells which have stopped working. Just 3x3mms. The implant

has 1600 light-sensitive pixels. When light hits the implant it sends

signals to the optic nerve and onto the brain which processes them.

Rhian has to learn how to interpret those messages. This control box

allows her to adjust the contrast and frequency of the images. Can she

now tell the time? Three. I think three is longer. Have a feel. Oh, it

is. Oh, my God! Well done. I got it right. It's nice to compare those

early TV pictures. Grainy black-and-white. An outline of

things, moving and coming and going. Compared to what we see that would

be a low-level of vision. For someone who is blind it's a

life-changing event. She needs help getting around, but Rhian saying

having the implant is pure joy. You're not completely helpless. Can

you find the edge of a wall. I really can't put it into words. It's

just... I felt elated. Switch the machine on. It comes on completely

instantly. I'll start moving my head around. There. The flashing is

starting now. In 2012 I met Robin Miller one of the first patients to

receive an earlier version of the implant. Those devices lasted up to

18 months. It's hoped Rhian's implant could stay in place for five

years. Fergus Walsh, BBC News. No way, no way! Exactly on it.

You can see more on that story, Trust Me, I'm a Doctor,

President Obama has given an emotional speech about his latest

attempt to tighten gun controls in the US.

He said he was using his presidential powers because Congress

And from every family who never imagined that their loved one

would be taken from our lives by a bullet from a gun.

Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad.

And, by the way, it happens on the streets

Our North America editor, Jon Sopel, is in Washington.

Emotional President, clearly, Jon, will it help change minds in

Congress? When we interviewed the President, six months ago, he said

it was the greatest frustration of his period in office that he hadn't

been able to do more about gun crime. Add to that impatience,

anger, as we saw in that clip, emotion as well. Will it change the

minds of people in Congress - no, it probably won't. There is sufrp

bitter division on this issue. If you look at the proposals, they are

relatively modest. It's about saying that anyone who buys a gun should be

subject to a background check. It's not as though the President is

saying a whole had class of weapons should be banned entirely. Because

this is so divisive people say on philosophical grounds. Tl abuses the

second amendment on the right to bear arms it's impractical it won't

stop shootings. You can be sure at the end of this it's likely to end

in a legal challenge. Jon, thank you very much.

The Met Office has confirmed that last month was the wettest December

on record and the warmest since 1910.

The unseasonal weather, that's seen temperatures around four

degrees Celsius above the long-term average, was mainly the result

of the jet stream and the El Nino current in the Pacific Ocean.

A school bus in North Yorkshire became stranded in flood water this

morning after the driver went through a road closure sign.

The Council said the route normally taken by the bus had been closed

by the highways authority since the heavy rains

There were 26 children on board at the time.

They were safely removed from the bus by the Fire Brigade.

A clean-up operation is underway in Cornwall after thousands of pink

detergent bottles were washed up on the shore.

The authorities are urging residents to keep children and dogs away

They say it's the latest in a string of problems

And another one. As the sunset in Cornwall tonight, more pink bottles

were coming ashore. They've been washing up since Sunday, dozens of

them, then hundreds, now thousands. Local volunteers, who have turned

out to clear them, can't quite believe. It It was like a wave of

pink, of pink. It was pink along the edge of the sea, all along here.

It's really a bit of a disaster. How many of these do you think you've

done? Quite a few hundred, if not 1,000. I don't know. I'm not

counting, I'm just doing it. Tonight Cornwall Council said it believed

the bottles contained Vanish stain remover. The company who makes the

products is urgently investigating if that's the case and offered to

help with the clean-up. A container full of Vanish sank off Cornwall

last May, but it's not clear if that's where these bottles came

from. Until the contents and origin are known the public are being

warned not to touch and to keep children and animals away. Most of

them are still full. Some of them are leaking. So they are leaking,

you know, stain remover, detergent, onto the beaches, into the marine

environment. They are a hazard to people and wildlife. Whatever is

inside them, this is a bright pink reminder about the peril of plastic

in our oceans. Plastic does not in any circumstance automatically break

down into the sea. It just breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces

which get ingested into the food chain. So far Poldhu Cove has been

the worst affected. Bottles are being cleared from beaches all along

the Lizard peninsula. The trouble, is for every load that's taken away,

a new lot, here's some more, come in. Daylight tomorrow is expected to

bring another pink tide. John Kay, BBC News Cornwall.

Ben Stokes double century against South Africa -

the fastest for England with a record 11 sixes -

Now, a 15-year-old Indian schoolboy has become the first batsman

in the history of the game to score more than 1,000 runs

Our South Asia correspondent, Justin Rowlatt, reports.

15-year-old Pranav Dhanawade didn't expect to break any records today.

He says he played what he calls his "natural game" -

attacking from the word go, and attack he did.

Six-and-a-half hours later, he'd run up a total of more

1,009 runs not out and all in a single innings.

The son of an auto-rickshaw driver was powered into cricketing history,

shattering the previous record of 628 runs that had stood

When I go to bat, I only keep in mind that I had to play a big

innings and after playing on, playing on, I scored 100 runs,

Mumbai school cricket is seriously competitive,

It's produced legendary cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar,

widely reckoned to have been the best batsman of all-time

and today he tweeted his congratulations to the young player,

urging him to work hard and scale even greater peaks.

Right, come on lads, let's try again.

He's certainly a hero to these kids, but perhaps it's the rival team that

They were all out for a paltry 31 runs.

Hello. Hello. Next week it might be ice surrounding York Castle. A

familiar scene, further flooding up-and-down the UK. Thank you very

much to Gary for sending in this particular picture the weather

watchers have been sending your pictures in in abundance. Teesside

suffered from flooding, you are ma'am ham and Northumberland has an

amber warning in force, be prepared for disruption and flooding into the

night. Another wet and windy night for Scotland. Cluster of showers

elsewhere which could cause problems into the night. Many places will

become dry and where the winds fall light across the heart of England we

have patches of fog falling. A murky end to the night. Locally, where the

skies remain clear, temperatures could get close to freezing. I think

fog more of a concern first thing tomorrow morning. Slow to clear. It

could disrupt your travel first thing in the morning. That low cloud

will linger well into the day. A murky day cross the eastern side of

the country. Further west a better chance of seeing sunshine. A lot of

dry weather on offer through tomorrow. Not for all of us, there

will be further rain to eastern parts of Scotland, not the

persistent deluge we've seen. Cold and raw with further snowfall for

the Grampians. Showery rain to north-eastern parts of England. It

shouldn't be too disruptive. There are warnings in force. Further west

dryer. Probably the best of the brightness across western parts of

England and Wales and Northern Ireland as well before more rain

turns up across Cornwall by the end of the afternoon. That rain will

sweep across the country, as we go through tomorrow night, a bit of a

splash. For many it won't last that long, further persistent rain and

hill snow for Scotland. That is something we will keep a close eye

on. That's it. Back to you, George. .

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