14/07/2012 BBC Weekend News

An apology from the company that has failed to recruit hundreds of

security staff for the Olympics, G4S says it will pay the cost of

drafting in more troops to help keep the Games safe.

The London to Sheffield railway lines set for half-a- million

pounds upgrade. And from Chelsea to China, one of the world's best

Good evening. The chief executive of the security firm G4S has said

he is sorry, disappointed and embarrassed that it has failed to

recruit enough security guards of an index. Nick Buckles said the

company would meet the cost of the deployment of extra military

personnel to replace them. He said he only found out about the

recruitment problems just eight or nine days ago. Richard Lister

reports. Olympic security was not supposed

to look like this. Just months ago, G4S was confident it could deliver

the civilian staff needed for security checks at the venues, but

now thousands more military personnel are being brought in,

Angie 4 S faces a loss of tens of millions of pounds. -- Angie 4 S.

Its chief executive said that they underestimate the task. The live

security was always going to be delivered by a large number of

elements. -- Olympic. We are embarrassed and the sorry about it.

This is a problem that has been years in the making. When work

started on the Olympic Stadium, the plan was for just 10,000 security

staff. In 2010, the incoming coalition government commissioned a

review of the figure, but it was not until last December that it

decided to more than double the number of security staff. The

military were asked to supply more than 13,000 personnel, with the

Now the MoD has been asked to commit more personnel to make up

the G4S shortfall, it means that around 17,000 servicemen and women

will be working at the Olympics, far more than a serving in

Afghanistan. G4S is still time to provide as many security guards as

it can, but some applicants have criticised the process as chaotic.

Those involved in the Games say the primary focus now must be on

getting the right security in place, although they are important

questions to be answered. Did G4S go into denial about their

inability to deliver this? What was the other side from the Home

Office? Where did that fail? I hope the process will be subject to the

most rigorous parliamentary scrutiny once the Games are over,

but now we have got to focus, with less than two weeks ago, are making

sure the games are safe and secured. The first of the live athletes are

due to arrive within days, but behind the scenes two parliamentary

committees are planning to find out United Nations observers in Syria

have entered a village where massacres are reportedly took place

on Thursday. Opposition activists claim that government forces killed

200 people including civilians entrance saved. The Syrian

government said it carried out a military operation against rebel

fighters, he would describe as at terrorists. -- in Tremseh.

A memorial service has been held for nine climbers who were caught

in an avalanche on Thursday. Candles were lit for each of the

victims, among them three British climbers, Steve Barber, John Taylor

and Roger Payne. The main rail line from London to

Sheffield is to be upgraded as part of a �9 billion programme of

government investment. Business leaders have welcomed the plan to

electrify the Midland Mainline route, which they say will protect

hundreds of jobs. From Sheffield, Danny Savage reports.

Monday's announcement on upgrading the railways is thought to be the

biggest investment in train travel for generations. Overall, it could

be worth �9 billion. Here in Sheffield, the fastest service to

the capital takes two hours seven minutes at the moment, a lot longer

than the links to other northern towns and cities, but in a few

years' time these diesels will be replaced with electric trains, more

environmentally friendly rolling stock bringing faster services. The

electrification of this, the Midland Mainline, has been called

for by businesses and politicians for years. What we are going to do

is attract investors to come up north, see what we have got to

offer and make the necessary investment to make our economies

grow. The cost of electrifying the line is set to be about �500

million. Some of the money will come from the taxpayer and some

from Network Rail borrowing the cash. But there are also concerns

from some politicians and rail users that fares will have to rise,

too, rises which would be well But Monday's announcement is not

just about the Midland Mainline. It is about other routes, too. It

could create jobs in places such as the Bombardier plant in Derby.

Well, speed limits on many rural roads in England could be cut from

60 mph down to 40 under government proposals aimed at improving road

safety. Figures from the Department of Transport show that in 2010 more

than two-thirds of road deaths in the UK were on rural roads. Under

the proposals, local authorities would also have greater freedom to

introduce 20 mph limits in urban areas.

The latest bad weather has caused more flooding and destruction

across parts of England. In Shropshire, emergency workers had

to rescue an 81-year-old who had become trapped in her home

overnight by rising floodwaters. In Caxton in Cambridgeshire, drivers

abandoned their cars after roads became impassable.

Hundreds of football fans have turned out in Shanghai to work in

the former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who has signed for the club

Shanghai Shenhua on a reported salary of �200,000 per week. John

Sudworth was there. His report It is a long way from Chelsea to

China, not least in terms of the standard of football, but Didier

Drogba's arrival this morning proves one thing, ambition and

For a striker at the very top of his game, it may seem like an

extraordinary move. His new club would struggle to beat a lower

division side on-and-off day, let alone Chelsea, for whom Drogba won

the Champions League trophy with the final kick of the game. And yet

Shanghai have reportedly doubled his salary. Just between you, me

and the BBC, are you really being paid �200,000 per week? Between me

and you and the BBC, really, I did not come here with the idea of

making our lot of money. I came here because it is a completely

different challenge from what I have seen in Europe. Chinese

football is notoriously corrupt, but it is trying to clean up its

act with dozens of officials, referees and players convicted of

match-fixing in the past few months. Shanghai has high hopes for Didier

Drogba. Its football team is currently languishing close to the

bottom of the league. But some fans will fear that all the money in