03/12/2011 BBC Weekend News

The Government delays a decision on Britain's second high-speed rail

line. A new half-a-billion-pound tunnel is now being considered

after concerns about the environment. Request

Jacques Delors, one of the architects of the euro, admits

there were fundamental faults in the way the currency was introduced.

Republican candidate Herman Cain suspends his run for the American

presidency after allegations of sexual misconduct. Becoming

President was plan A. And before you get discouraged, today I want

to describe plan B. Thousands of Leeds fans pay their

respects to Gary Speed. His wife and sons are there to watch the

tributes. And in rugby, Shane Williams scores

a try in his last appearance for Wales, but it's not enough to beat

Good evening. Plans for Britain's second high-speed rail link between

London and Birmingham are to be reviewed because of concerns it

could damage an area of outstanding natural beauty. The Government is

looking into whether to build an extra tunnel through countryside

north of London, costing around half a billion pounds. The study

means a final decision on whether the whole project should go ahead

will be delayed. Our political correspondent Ben Geoghegan reports.

This is what getting from London to Birmingham could be like in the

future - a train travelling at up to 250mph, the journey time cut to

less than 50 minutes. But the plans for the high-speed link are

controversial because the route passes through some prime

countryside. Some people are opposed because of the cost -

likely to be around �33 billion. So the Government is thinking of

changing part of the route in order to win over the critics.

The fact that the Government is now tinkering with the line shows a

clear commitment to the project. High-speed rail is going to support

the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs in the north and

in the Midlands. It's going to help to rebalance our economies and is

going to provide the UK with the rail capacity it so badly needs.

it's built, the new route will be a hundred miles long. The reported

changes will affect the area outside Amersham in Buckinghamshire.

At the moment, the plan is for part of the track to pass through two

tunnels. The Government is now considering adding an extra stretch

of tunnel to join them together. That would mean this part of the

track in the Chilterns would be underground. The proposed route

would cut through some pretty spectacular sceneries, including

this part of the Chiltern hills in Buckinghamshire. It will also go

through the constituencies of several MPs, so by building an

extra bit of tunnel, the Government will be hoping it can bury part of

the problem. It would cost money which would be saved through other

engineering changes on the track, but one Conservative councillor

doesn't think these latest proposals will weaken the

opposition to the line. Weee really need to know where this �500

million is going to come from and who is going to suffer potentially

as a result of it. There are much better alternatives to the 33

billion that they're proposing to spend on this. The Government is

delaying its planned announcement on the high-speed link until the

beginning ofest in year. If it decides to go ahead with the

proposals, the new route is unlikely to go ahead for another

125 years. The former European Commission

president Jacques Delors, one of the architects of the euro, has

said the current crisis stems from a fault in the way the single

currency was introduced. Ahead of a crucial Euro summit next week, he

told The Daily Telegraph that not enough attention was paid to the

economic weaknesses of some member states. He also accused current

leaders of doing too little too late. Here's our Europe

correspondent Chris Morris. A powerful President of the European

Commission for a decade, famous for his fights with Margaret Thatcher,

Jacques Delors was also one of the architects of the single currency.

Now in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he says his carefully-

laid plans weren't followed by the Jacques Delors denice he got it all

wrong and still believes the euro will survive. Others are

predictably far less certain. he is saying is actually the

British Euro-sceptics were right because we said from the beginning

you couldn't operate a single currency without Central Bank with

real powers and effectively without it being a single European state.

Jacques Delors also says today's European leaders have done too

little too late. He talks of the stubbornness of the German idea of

monetary control and no clear vision from other countries.

The last response that we need from Jacques Delors or anyone else

involved with us at the European level is once again to sort of

redraw the architecture of Europe. What we should be dealing with is

the hard but necessary economic decisions to enable our economies

to recover together. Plenty to ponder for Angela Merkel

and Nicolas Sarkozy due to meet again Monday to outline proposals

for closer fiscal union in the eurozone. Their plan is that the

promise of radical change will be enough to restore confidence and

calm the storm surrounding sovereign debt in Europe.

Jacques Delors was a blast from the past, but what matters now is the

immediate future. Over the coming week, can Europe's politicians do

enough to persuade the financial markets to trust them again? If not,

things could get ugly. Lloyds Bank has begun legal moves

to claw back part of a bonus of �1.4 billion paid to its former

chief executive Eric Daniels. The decision by the part-nationalised

bank is believed to be linked to the costs associated with the mis-

selling of payment protection insurance to some customers.

Nearly 3,000 so-called "honour attacks" were recorded by police

last year. It's the first national estimate of the extent of this kind

of violence in the UK - which includes abduction, acid attacks

and murder against women who are deemed to have brought shame on

their family. Sarah Campbell reports.

A young girl enjoying a family wedding, but a year after these

pictures were taken, the 14-year- old was dead, killed by her father,

who believed her choice of boyfriend shamed the family. More

victims - Jasvinder Singh was disowned by her family. Her sister

committed suicide suffering an abusive marriage. My sister set

herself on fire, suffering over 80% burns and died. In whose honour? In

my family and in other families, it is better to commit suicide than to

divorce your husbands, in terms of that being the honourable thing.

According to responses from 39 of the UK's 52 police forces, more

than 2,800 acts of so-called honour-based violence were carried

out last year. Almost 500 of these were in London. That's almost

double the number recorded in 2009. Diana Nami founded a charity to

help victims and says more than 500 women contacted them last year

alone. They have been imprisoned. They have been beaten up by their

family. They were at risk of an "honour killing" or other form of

violence. They need great help and support. A national strategy

covering police forces in England and Wales and Northern Ireland,

though not Scotland, has improved training and awareness of the issue

according to Police Chiefs. As long as the lives of women and girls

like this are seen as less important than family honour,

campaigners say more must be done to help them.

The Church of England has issued its clergy with new guidance ahead

of a change in the law next week which allows civil partnership

ceremonies to be conducted in places of worship. It says that no

Church of England building can be an ''approved premises'' for civil

partnerships without a formal decision by the General Synod. It's

being seen as a bar on gay couples having ceremonies in Anglican

churches. Police have released pictures

showing the full impact of a concrete block which was thrown off

a bridge over the A12 in Essex. A woman was seriously injured after

it hit the car she was a passenger in. The incident is being treated

as attempted murder. A leading contender for the

Republican nomination to challenge President Obama in next year's

elections has effectively withdrawn from the race. Herman Cain, a

former businessman from Georgia, said he was suspending his campaign

because of allegations about his private life. From Washington,

From man who once led the race, this was a long and defiant goodbye.

With his wife of 43 years beside him, Herman Cain first denied the

allegations of sexual misconduct. am at peace with my wife.

APPLAUSE And she is at peace with me.

APPLAUSE But he said the claims had put an

unbearable strain on his family. am suspending my Presidential

campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt

caused on me and my family. former pizza executive had proved a

consummate campaigner, a career salesman, marketing himself as a

plain-speaking outsider, but then came the allegations of sexual

harassment and infidelity. And he put his hand on my leg, under my

skirt and reached for my genitals. I was single. I was not married. Mr

Cain has been married. And there were other weaknesses, notably a

hazyness on Foreign Affairs. OK - Libya. Of the candidates still

standing, Mitt Romney has the deepest pockets and the slickest

campaign. But for many, he's not conservative enough. And with Mr

Cain out, the alternative appears to be neutrino, who -- Newt

Gingrich. It's hard to look at the recent polls and think, the odds

are high. This remains an unpredictable contest, which begins

in Iowa one month from today. Now with all the day's sport,

here's Amanda. Hi. Good evening.

Thousands of Leeds United fans have paid tribute to former captain Gary

Speed today. Their match at Elland Road against Millwall was their

first home game since his death last weekend. His wife Louise, and

two sons were there. Nick Ravenscroft reports.

There had been a flood of tributes all week, but for Leeds fans this

was the first chance to gather as one and applaud Gary Speed. Step

forward Gary McAllister, Gordon Strachan and David Batty. They'd

played alongside him in Leeds' triumphant 1992 season. Watching

the tributes from the stands, his widow Louise and their two sons.

Today's fixture here was always going to be a highly charged

occasion. Leeds was the club where Gary Speed signed as a trainee, and

it's also the club he helped take to the very top of English football

nearly 20 years ago. I was in tears watching the minutes at the

beginning, watching the wreaths being laid on the pitch. It was a

very emotional moment. My stomach was in knots, you know, and I was

just thinking about the legend that he was. I was just thinking it was

a fantastic, fitting tribute to a wonderful, wonderful man. The crowd

showing their appreciation for Gary Speed. With nearly 300 appearances

for Newcastle, Gary Speed was also a legend at St James' park. Before

kickoff, thousands of fans clapped at his name. The assistant manager,

who knew Speed well, was clearly moved. At Cardiff's Millennium

Stadium, there were tributes too from lovers of a different sport,

rugby. Speed, a great Welshman as well as a great footballer. And in

his days here at Elland Road, he was number 11. Today this shirt

said it all. Rest in peace, Gary Speed.

Tributes were paid to Gary Speed across the Premier League today.

Before I bring you up to date with all the scores - I've got to remind

you that Match of the Day follows the news here on BBC One, so now's

the time to close your eyes and ears if you don't want to ruin the

surprise. Didier Drogba opened the scoring for Chelsea in a 3-0 win

over Newcastle to see them climb into fourth.

Yakubu was the hero for Blackburn Rovers, scoring all four goals as

they recorded just their second league win of the season. They beat

league win of the season. They beat Swansea 4-2 and move off the bottom

of the table to ease some of the Phil Jones scored the first goal of

his career as Manchester United beat Aston Villa 1-0. But United

stay five points behind leaders Manchester City who produced a 5-1

drubbing of Norwich. Queens Park Rangers drew one all with West Brom

at Loftus Road. Tottenham produced their sixth straight league win -

beating Bolton 3-0. And Wigan prop up the rest at the bottom after

losing 4-0 to Arsenal. Martin O'Neill says his driving

ambition is to help Sunderland to a period of success after being

confirmed as their new manager. The 59-year-old former Leicester, Aston

Villa and Celtic boss takes over from Steve Bruce, having signed a

three-year contact. Sunderland are currently 16th in the league and

play Wolves tomorrow. Rangers have moved seven points

clear at the top of the Scottish Premier League after a hard fought

victory over Dunfermline. They won 2-1. St Johnstone continued their

impressive form under new manager Steve Lomas with victory over

Hearts. Gary Harkins and James Dayton were on target to secure

victory for Kilmarnock against Aberdeen, while Inverness Cally

Thistle moved off the bottom thanks Former world Player of the Year

Shane Williams said farewell to international rugby at the

Millennium Stadium today. The Wales winger signed off with a try - but

couldn't quite inspire victory against Australia. His side were

beaten 24-18, as Tim Franks reports. Friendlies can be meaningless, but

try telling Shane Williams that his final international game didn't

matter. The first half was flaccid, notable most for a Shane Williams

tackle which just prevented an Australian try. But come the second

half, Lee Halfpenny could only stop the Australians illegally, yellow

card, and for ten minutes, Wales would be a man down, during which

time Australia would score three tries. Their small man touched down

first. The pressure didn't relent, Turner scoring on the left. With

seconds of the sin bin to go, Barnes gave them the match-winning

lead. Back at 15 minute, Wales played to one of their strengths -

Priestland rolling in for Wales' first try. First, because Shane

Williams would have the last word with the final move of the game.

He's going to go on to the finish, last game, last try! It has been a

It's all been a great journey for me. I have enjoyed every second of

it, the ups and the downs, and I just want to say thank you.

complement international rugby can only return.

Great scenes. Back to you. Thank you very much, Amanda. That's

it. You can, of course, see more of the day's stories on the BBC News

Channel. From us here, a very good Good evening. There was a distinct

whiff of winter in the air today. That is only going to intensify

over the next couple of days. There is some snow in this forecast.

Tomorrow, well, predominantly the showers will be of rain, but there

will still be a chilly breeze blowing. It was blowing through the

day today. It will only slowly ease overnight. The showers continue to

feed into Western Scotland, north- west England and Wales. A colder

night than last night. It may turn icy, not quite so coldation, cross

the far south-west. Sunny spells around Sunday morning, but for most

places, expect a much cloudier day compared to today, certainly

turning increasingly grey across many southern areas, and by

afternoon there will be showery outbreaks of rain, of course,

southern counties of England and Wales. This will be showers across

the Midlands and some parts of East Anglia - another fairly cloudy day

across north-west England - frequent showers here and for North

Wales. To the east of the Pennines, here, sunshine, but temperatures

only 5-6 Celsius. The same goes for Eastern Scotland. Sunshine and

showers for Northern Ireland. The showers turning increasingly wintry,

initially over the higher parts of Scotland, but during Sunday night,