04/04/2014 BBC News at Ten

More violence in Afghanistan, just hours before its historic vote to

choose a new president. Two western journalists are shot, one is killed

- by a man wearing an Afghan police uniform. Security is extremely

tight, after weeks of attacks by the Taliban. We'll be assessing the

prospects for a free and fair vote. Also tonight:

Controversial comments about the badger cull from Princess Anne - she

tells the BBC gassing is the humane way to kill the animals to prevent

TB. After damaging headlines, the Prime

Minister again defends his Culture Secretary - ordered to repay

thousands in expenses. Round the clock work gets Dawlish

back on track - the vital southwest rail link reopens after the February

storms. And "it's been nice to see ya" - Brucie announces he's stepping

down from Strictly. And coming-up in Sportsday on BBC

News: Andy Murray's Davis Cup quarterfinal

rubber is stopped due to bad light. Great Britain trail Italy 1-0.

Afghanistan is a few hours from its historic presidential election - but

today saw more bloodshed. The Taliban has consistently threatened

to disrupt the poll, and there are also anxieties about electoral

fraud. Tomorrow, people vote in what should be the first democratic and

free transfer of power in the country's history. Security is very

tight, as voters prepare to elect a successor to Hamid Karzai who's been

President for 13 years. After recent killings and bombings by the

Taliban, every one of the country's 400,000 police and military has been

deployed, in an effort to keep the ballot free and fair. But the

increased security presence has seen two journalists shot today - one

fatally - by an Afghan policeman. Dash-macro by a man dressed as an

Afghan policeman. This was the bullet ridden car after

a police officer opened fire on doss-macro reporters travelling

together, as these doss-macro too often did. Anja Niedringhaus died on

the scene, Kathy Gannon is being treated in the US military cost the

tall dash-macro military hospital near Kabul. Anja Niedringhaus won a

Pulitzer prize for photographs in Iraq, she had photographed conflicts

with a passion and a deep sense of humanity. I do my job is simply to

report with my camera and with my heart. The biggest military

operation since the fall of the Taliban is underway. Afghanistan is

locked down ahead of tomorrow's election, no traffic has been

allowed into Kabul since noon. If anything, threats from the Taliban

have made people more determined to vote. It doesn't only mean to elect

a head of state, it is much more. They want to see a peaceful

transition of power and to prevent a return to the bad days. I think the

level of enthusiasm you see is a reflection of that realisation. The

candidates have helped dozens of rallies across this rugged land. The

campaign of the man resident cards I -- President Karzai is believed to

favour is trailing in the polls. The former Foreign Minister Abdullah

Abdullah is ahead in the race, he is strongly opposed to any concessions

to the Taliban. Those who are massacring our people, those who

violate the rights of the people of Afghanistan, those who want to take

us back to the stone ages, the people of Afghanistan will not allow

them to do that. Another leading candidate is Ashraf Ghani but this

former World Bank economist has less credible at by having a former

warlord, General Don Strong, as his running mate. The truth is that

fraud could be the big winner in the Afghan campaign. Who pays for the

most votes. However hard these candidates fight. A high turnout

could be the best way to stop fraud and there is no doubting the users

of a country where three quarters of the country are under 25. New voters

are excited by the chance to have their voices heard. I feel in myself

responsible that this vote is a power. I want to use my vote today

for having a peaceful life in the future. The country, which saw the

deaths of 448 British troops, could now be seeing its first peaceful

transition of power for more than a hundred years.

From Kabul our Our chief international

correspondent, Lyse Doucet, joins us now from Kabul. What do you think

the chances are of this vote progressing peacefully? No one wants

to be in the business of predicting violence but sadly it is certain

there will be violence today in Afghanistan. We know that from past

practice. The last elections in 2009 saw hundreds of attacks across the

country, all of them small, none of them begin us -- big enough to stop

the process. It has been marked by far more attacks by the Taliban,

even attacking the headquarters of the election headquarters in Kabul,

even the interior ministry, the heavily guarded Interior Ministry.

Senior intelligence sources tell us they are expecting spectacular

attacks, they use this phrase. This is not just an election but a

referendum on the Taliban and the defiance on Afghans as such is that

every time is an attack, it strengthens their resolve, they want

to go out and vote and they are expected to vote in large numbers.

Thank you. Princess Anne has told the BBC she

is in favour of gassing badgers as a more humane way of culling them, to

limit the spread of TB in cattle. Yesterday, plans to extend the

badger cull in England were halted by the Government, after a review

found that shooting had been ineffective and sometimes inhumane.

The Princess Royal made her remarks in an interview with the BBC's

Countryfile programme. Tom Heap has this special report from Gatcombe

Park Estate. Princess Anne has run the estate

here in the heart of Gloucestershire for nearly 40 years. The main

farming business is rearing rare breed sheep and cows. Like many

farmers in this area, her cattle are frequently infected by TB and she

thinks badgers on her land are largely to blame. Like the

government, she thinks culling could combat the disease but favours using

gas, not guns. Most of the people who did it in the pass will tell you

that as is a much nicer way to do it, if that is not a silly

expression as who did it in the past -- who did it in the past will tell

you. It works because they go to sleep, quite simply. This will

horrify many people and sparked heated debate. I think gassing is

not the right way forward. I think it is not the right way forward for

merrily because farmers deserve an effective solution to this problem.

The evidence from the 1970s was begat Singh of badgers was not a

very effective way of controlling badger numbers. -- degassing of

badgers was not. An interest in agriculture stretches back to her

youth. Spending time on the farm at Sandringham and Balmoral. Shared

family experience does not mean shared views on the future of

farming. Her brother, Prince Charles, is famously a to

genetically modified cops but she isn't. -- famously opposed to. They

allow us to be more efficient users of the land that is good. When you

have the prospect of 9 billion to feed, you are going to need some

help in doing that, and to do it well. Her other great passion is

horses. She was European event in and competed in the Olympics.

Eyebrows were raised when she suggested eating them. There are too

many horses in Britain, thousands are neglected. An awful lot of the

abandonments are because they don't perceive there to be any value in

the animals. So OK, chuck them out, they will survive or die. But the

meat trade adds value to the animal, so there is some point in keeping it

healthy, if it has got an end point that it can go to. Have the ever

eaten horse? Certainly. How was it? Very good. Princess Anne believes

are experienced at Gatcombe gives the authority to speak out but that

won't stop opponents being alarmed to hear such striking views from a

senior member of the Royal Family. And you can see the full interview

with Princess Anne on Countryfile, this Sunday evening at seven on BBC

One. The Prime Minister has again

defended the Culture Secretary Maria Miller over her expenses claims -

after she was forced to apologise to the Commons and pay back thousands

of pounds. Tonight the Daily Telegraph released a secret

recording of a phone call which they say show Government advisers using

the threat of press regulation to warn the newspaper against pursuing

the story. Here's our political correspondent, Vicki Young.

She is responsible for bringing in stricter controls on the press and

she is embroiled in an expenses scandal. It made unpleasant

headlines formerly a Miller. She has apologised but something she has got

off lightly -- headlines for Maria Miller. Maria Miller should resign,

she has failed to apologise or take responsibility for her actions and I

think numbers of the cabinet should be halted the highest standards, and

it is a standard she has not -- should be held to. The prime

minister has tried to draw a line under the episode. It was found she

has made mistakes, she apologised unreservedly to the House of Commons

I think she should -- we should leave it there. The inquiry centred

on her home which she shared with her parents. She was cleared on

breaking rules on claiming expenses for relatives but she was ordered to

repay almost ?6,000 she had over claimed four on the mortgage, much

less than the 44,000 suggested by the independent watchdog. From the

outside it still seems as if MPs are pleasing themselves when it comes to

expenses and the system is not always transparent. There is another

element to this. Maria Miller is overseeing a plan for tighter

controls of the press following the Leveson Inquiry and that has put the

government on a collision course with many newspapers. When Telegraph

reporter 's first investigated Mrs Miller's expenses, they say senior

government adviser 's expenses, they say senior government advisers's

responsibility. -- senior government advisers phoned them. There was an

anti-press is doing of the Leveson. When advisers warn up newspaper

editors and warn them in that fashion, they are bound to take

those threats seriously. The Telegraph released a recording of

Maria Miller's adviser speaking to a reporter. Maria has been having a

lot of editor's meetings around Leveson at the moment. I am going to

flag up that connection for you to think about. That adviser, Joanna

Hindley, said she was planing about the way the Telegraph had approached

Mrs Miller's elderly father and was making it clear the culture

secretary would raise this with the paper's bosses. Some colleagues at

it the culture secretary could have handled this better crucially, she

has support from the top -- some colleagues admit. Trains ran again

today along the Devon coast after the line was closed for nearly two

months because of extensive storm damage. Network Rail says it that

taken 300 workers 54 days to rebuild the wall at Dawlish after a collapse

which left the rails standing in mid air. This report contains flashing

images. A railway re-opened, a region

reconnected. Normal service resumed. 5. 00am and we were on the first

journey across the route, with commuters who had waited two months

for a train. I know you've got the roads and other forms of transport

but the railway is the main link. We slow down the cross the new section

of track. It has all cost ?35 million. Hard to believe this is how

it looked eight weeks ago. The main line in and out of the West Country.

Since then, hundreds of engineers have worked around the clock, often

in terrible conditions, to fill in and then reenforce the embankment.

It is only when you look at the Victorian sea wall there that you

realise exactly what's happened here. There's a section which is

modern, made of new materials. It's been bolstered and they say it is

now stronger than when Brunel built it in the 180 #0s. Three cheers for

the orange Army... Among the first passengers to arrive by train was

the Prime Minister. It has been a Herculean effort, 56 days and 56

nights, ten,000 tonnes of concrete, 150 tonnes of steel. A huge task

carried out not on time but before time. So thank you for that. How

much of a challenge has it been to get to this change? A tremendous

challenge. We've had landslips, holes in the wall to repair, 650

metres of track to replace. A tremendous challenge but I'm proud

of the achievements of the whole industry. Business leaders say the

closure cost the South West economy ?2 million a day, so relief as the

tourist season gets under way. We're back on the map. We're back in

business, and that's what's really important to us. And, of course, now

you can actually get to Cornwall. But at Cornwall's biggest

attraction, they say the region's infrastructure needs a bigger share

of national funding. When I see the investment that's about to take

place on HS2, we do say, give us a couple of billion, guys. ?50

billion, do you want it all up there? How about us joining the

human rice down here. Some say the time has come to reroute this line

inland. For now, job done, but future uncertain.

A look at some of today's other stories. A Chinese businessman faces

extradition to the United States in connection with allegations that he

tried to supply Iran with equipment for use in its nuclear programme.

Sihai Cheng was arrested in the UK in February. He made a second court

appearance today and has been remanded until June.

The former Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher, has shown

moments of consciousness after months in a coma. He suffered head

injuries after a skiing accident in the French Alps last year.

Tributes are being paid tonight to the Scottish politician Margo

MacDonald, who's died at the age of 70. A committed supporter of

independence, she came to prominence after a historic by-election win for

the Scottish Nationalists in Govan in 1973. She had suffered from

Parkinson's disease for nearly 20 years and campaigned for a change in

the law to allow assisted suicide. Our Scotland Political Editor, Brian

Taylor, looks back at her life. To the end Margo MacDonald was a

committed campaigner for Scottish independence. And today that

lifelong political effort drew praise. Over the last few years

she's been at the centre of all the political developments of Scotland.

Very much part and one of the great driving forces behind Scotland's

home rule journey. She will be hugely missed. She had a spectacular

political career and she will be greatly missed. So close to the

referendum in September. Deeply serious, occasionally coquettish, a

political partisan who chafed within party constraints. But above all

charismatic and hugely popular. The SNP have won the constituency of

Govan. In 1937 3 Margo MacDonald won Glasgow Govan. I'm the MP for Govan,

can we get that straight first of all? She was to spend just 112 days

in that role, ousted in the general election. Feisty ander energetic she

was the SNP's deputy leader during the nationalist honeymoon of the

1970s, but political divorce followed. She quit the party in the

internal conflict which followed defeat in 1979. She built new

careers in the voluntary sector and as a respected broadcaster. In 1999

the rebirth of the Scottish Parliament brought her back to front

line politics. Scotland seemed happy to see her and today her passing was

mourned. While we disagreed profoundly on the question of the

constitution, actually most of what motivated Margo seemed to be

something that motivates most politicians, a desire to make a

difference, to see a world where children can achieve their full

potential, where people feel safe this their old age. In 2003 she quit

the SNP again and triumphed as a party of one. More lately a new and

controversial cause, backing assisted suicide for the terminally

ill face tag intolerable strain. And it was personal. She coped with a

degenerative disease. I don't want to burden any doctor. I don't want

to burden any friend or family member. I want to find a way in

which I can take the decision to end my life in case I'm unlucky enough

to have the worst form of Parkinson's near the end of life.

That rare being, a politician known to the public, simply by her first

name. Intelligent, driven, witty, passionate. Just Margo.

The politician, Margo MacDonald, who has died at the age of 70. The

department store chain House of Fraser is set to be taken over by a

Chinese company in a deal worth ?450 million. The company, Sanpower, will

take on an 9% share, making the deal China's largest foreign retail

investment in the UK. Hugh Pym is here. Part of a trend here with the

Chinese? Indeed, Jane. House of Fraser is a really well known

British name. More than 150 years old with 61 stores in the UK and

Ireland. It has had a slightly difficult recent history. It was

owned by an Icelandic group, which went under during the financial

crisis. Half the shares are owned by Icelandic banks and the rest by

British investors. The owners want to move it on and now we know who

wants to buy it, Sanpower of China, taking 9% for ?450 million. We've

seen Chinese businesses buy up Weetabix, Sunseeker, the yacht

maker, and stake in Thames Water. It is a sign of the times. Here you

have a Chinese business who wants to take a well known British brand and

grow it outside the UK. Thank you. There is good luck and outrageous

fortune. A scrap metal dealer in the American Midwest bought a gold egg

for ?8,000, thinking he could sell it or melt it down. It was only

after reading a newspaper article he discovered it was in fact an

imperial Faberge Easter egg, one of just 50 made for the Russian Royal

Family. It has just been sold to a private collector for ?20 million.

A lost treasure, remarkably rediscovered. Set with diamonds and

sapphires this sumptuous golden egg is among the rarest artworks in the

world. Tsar Alexander III had money and Palaces in abundance but when he

wanted to give something unique too his Empress, he turned to the most

sought after jeweller of the day, Faberge.

Many of the imperial treasures were sold to the West by the Bolsheviks.

How rare sit? Is it is beyond rare, if you can say that. It is so

unbelievable that this has been discovered and saved. It is a time

capsule that we will never ever see again. The egg was last seen in

public in 1902 at an exhibition of imperial Faberge treasures in St

Petersburg. It wasn't seen again until 1964, when it was auctioned in

New York for ?2,500, then ?870, but it wasn't identified as Faberge at

the time. It reappeared last year when the egg was bought by a scrap

metal dealer in a flea national in America's Midwest. He paid just

?8,000 and cabinet it here in his kitchen. It was only when the new

owner opened up the egg and found the inscription inside, the name of

the watchmaker, he looked it up online. He found an article about

the hunt for a missing Faberge egg and discovered this lump of gold was

worth ?20 million. What was it like for this jeweller to verify the egg

as Faberge? It was like Indiana Jones being presented by the lost

ark. This is the high point. The man who discovered the ultimate golden

egg wants to remain anonymous. It will soon disappear into the vaults

of a private collector and this historic jewel may never be seen

again. Sir Bruce Forsyth has announced that

he's stepping down as the regular host of Strictly Come Dancing. The

veteran entertainer, who's 86, has co-hosted the programme since it

began a decade ago. Sir Bruce said it was the right time to withdraw

from the rigours of presenting a live show. Here's our media

correspondent, David Sillito. Sir Bruce first appeared on BBC

television in 1939. 75 years on he's finally decided to give up on the

rigours of live TV. It's sad. I've loved the show, I've loved doing it

but there always comes a time when you have to look yourself in the

mirror and say should you be doing this any longer? I will miss it but

I will watch it intently. He's been part of our Saturday nights since

the '50s. Nice to see you, to see you... Nice! However, the decision

in 2004 to revive Come Dancing raised a few eye row rows --

eyebrows. The question is the future without its now 86-year-old host.

Who wants to follow a guy who's been at the top of his game for a long

time at the BBC. I know what that's like. This is an important show. BBC

has sold the format to 48 countries around the world. And also, if you

want to justify the licence fee, you've got to be popular. Having the

number one show on a Saturday night is really important. Hit shows often

wilt after eight or nine years. Both Strictly and its arch-rival X Factor

are into double figures. X Factor is hoping that Simon Cowell may perk up

its ratings but execs hate messing with winning recipes. Shows this

successful are rare. They are really hard to find these days. Really hard

to achieve, so when you do come across one such as Strictly you want

to look after it, cherish it and make sure you're keeping it as

successful and the show that people enjoy. Sir Bruce's suggestion for a

replacement is Boris Johnson. He will though still do a few one-off

recorded shows. Even at 86, he says he's not yet walking into the show

business sun set.