19/01/2013 BBC Weekend News

Five Britons and a UK resident are feared dead or unaccounted for as

the hostage crisis in the Sahara is brought to an end. As the first

images emerge of the four-day siege, questions remain about the day's

events. Our focus is very much on getting British nationals who have

survived this ordeal back to the UK and away from that area and working

out exactly what has happened to those who are deceased or

unaccounted for. Four climbers are killed, and

another is airlifted to hospital, after an avalanche in the Scottish

Highlands. The disgraced cycling champion

Lance Armstrong says he'd like to compete again - despite his

Good evening. The Foreign Secretary has said tonight that he believes

five British nationals and a UK resident are dead or unaccounted

for in Algeria, at the end of a four-day siege at a gas plant.

Algerian special forces earlier today launched a final assault on

the remote facility, where Islamist gunmen were holding foreign

hostages. Another British man was already known to have died earlier

in the siege. Our diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall has

the latest. For the first time images of the hostage crisis as it

happened. Amateur pictures, apparently grabbed in stealth over

the past few days by those held captive, including this glimpse.

And these prisoners in the desert. The final toll of those killed in

this four-day drama, according to the Algerian Government, 32

kidnappers, and 23 hostages. Tonight, the Prime Minister said he

feared the worst for the remaining missing British nationals. William

Hague said finding out what had happened to them was top priority.

We believe that there are five British nationals and one UK

resident who are either deceased or unaccounted for, in addition to the

one fatality that we had already confirmed.

The crisis began in the early hours of Wednesday morning when gunmen

attacked the sprawling complex, taking hundreds hostage. On

Thursday, an initial assault by Algerian forces killed both

militants and captives, though others escaped. By Saturday, with

11 gunmen in one corner with seven foreign hostages, the Algerian army

stormed the complex again. The leader, apparently threatened to

execute the hostages. But the Algerians say by the time their

troops went in the hostages were already dead. The kidnappers also

threatened to blow up the plant. The extent of their weapons was

shown later on Algerian TV. Landmines, hand grenades, machine

guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Now the danger is over, freed hostages and those who had been in

hiding are beginning to tell their stories. We were surrounded by

militants in the room, says this man, it's a miracle we are alive.

barricaded myself with another colleague of mine. We barricaded

together in one of the offices. This evening, BP, the company which

part operates the complex, said four workers were still missing.

fear that we may not have full certainty on the circumstances and

all the information for sometime to come. But our efforts continue to

be to support the families and our colleagues. This desert crisis may

have ended, the worry is could something like it happen again?

Bridget is here now. And the immediate incident may be over, but

there are many, many questions about this, aren't there? There are.

In the first place, they're busy trying to secure the plant. The

militants it seemed had said they booby-trapped it. Secondly, as we

heard, several nations are not sure what happened to all their citizens,

it's not just Britain, it's also Japan, the Norwegians and other

countries want to know what's happened to those still unaccounted

for. Then, there is this question of how did this heavily armed

Islamist group get inside what is supposed to be a very secure

compound? Was it an inside job? That raises the question, could it

happen again? Even in a country like Algeria, which has a good

track record when it comes to keeping these compounds safe. The

more political question for governments in Britain, the United

States, other western countries worried about al-Qaeda-linked

afillates like this one, is does this mean that this part of north

Africa which until now had not really been in the spotlight, is

going to be the new centre of focus when it comes to worrying about

international terrorism? Thank you.

Four climbers have been killed in an avalanche in the Scottish

Highlands. They were in a party of six who were climbing a mountain in

Glencoe, when it's thought the slope they were on broke away.

Another member of the group is seriously injured in hospital.

Laura Bicker is outside Glencoe Mountain Rescue. What are they

saying there? Well, this is thought to be one of Scotland's worst

climbing incidents. What we know is that the conditions were actually

good as this party of six made their way down a slope. It's on the

ridge known as The Three Sisters, in the heart of Glencoe, one of the

most scenic well-known routes. It's thought as this party were making

their way down the slope a slab of snow simply gave way underneath

them, engulfing five of them in an avalanche. One man managed to

escape unhurt. The alarm was raised by a group of nearby climbers who

phoned one of the -- who found one of the casualties in the snow. A

major search operation was launched here from Glencoe and they found

one woman in a critical condition. She has been flown to hospital. The

bodies of the remaining four climbers have been recovered this

afternoon. The First Minister has described this as an appalling

tragedy and the mountaineering council of Scotland is urging

anyone taking to the hills to assess risks before they do so.

Thank you. Travellers are facing further

disruption because of the severe weather. More than a hundred

flights were cancelled at Heathrow Airport today and there's expected

to be more disruption tomorrow. The Met Office is warning of more snow

and ice for large parts of the UK. Phillipa Thomas reports.

There was plenty of space on Heathrow's runways this afternoon

as 115 flights were cancelled. That followed Friday's upheaval when

snow grounded a third of scheduled flights leaving frustrated

travellers with nowhere to go and little space to sleep. Today,

Britain's biggest airport decided to try and avoid a repeat of that

chaos by cancelling flights ahead of the next wave of bad weather.

Heathrow, the airlines and air traffic control have already agreed

to cancel 20% of flights on Sunday because of the high probability of

snow here. They're also warning that poor weather conditions at

other European airports could mean further cancellations.

Airports in Paris have tonight decided to ground 40% of their

scheduled flights tomorrow, when the heavy snow that's hit much of

France is expected to blow in to south-east England.

Which means little respite for British drivers who have been

reduced to a crawl on many roads, while freezing temperatures have

created treacherous driving conditions. Packed snow turns to

ice on the road. Very little grip, lots of sliding around on the side

roads, other main roads appear to be well gritted, the side roads are

still treacherous. The worst-hit areas so far have been to the west.

Parts of Wales have had as much as 25 centimetres of snow. But the

bitter cold is expected to continue across the UK.

It's going to stay very cold. Temperatures below freezing at

night-time. Daytime temperatures getting above freezing. The cold

snap is proving miserable for many. But for some it's been the perfect

Saturday with shops and garden centres reporting a run on sledges

and Wellington boots. A politician has survived an

assassination attempt in Bulgaria. Ahmed Dogan was giving a televised

speech when the attack happened. The gunman was wrestled to the

ground by security guards and arrested. He was also found to be

carrying two knives. 2,000 French troops are now in Mali, to fight

the Islamist forces in control of the north of the country. France's

President, Francois Hollande, says they will remain there as long as

is needed to defeat terrorism but that the deployment of African

soldiers is now a priority. From Mali, our correspondent Andrew

Harding reports. We are heading north towards the

Sahara and the frontlines. They're not much to look at, a cluster of

demoralised Government soldiers manning the last checkpoint,

watching Oprah Winfrey. Up ahead Islamist rebels have seized the

next town. Its population held hostage for days. As we watch, a

flood of civilians arrives, crossing no-man's-land. She says,

French air strikes have killed many of the Islamists, the rebels have

just fled. They were light-skinned, he says, Arabs, we were scared of

them. Not far away we find the French army refuelling at a French

garage. France is being drawn deeper than it hoped into the chaos

now gripping its former colony. The mess that the French are trying to

deal with here and the hostage drama in Algeria are symptoms of

exactly the same problem, over the years the Sahara has become a

hiding place for extremism, for criminals and for all sorts of

armed gangs and no one has made a serious attempt to tackle the

problem. So the plan, for now, is for these

French troops to hold a line in the centre of the country and for a

coalition of west African soldiers to join them and push north. The

French still sound confident that the Islamists can be beaten, but

the time-scale is unclear. We know the ground, we know how they fight.

So for us no problem. How long do you expect to be here? I don't know,

if you have the answer, I am very interested for that.

No doubt there will be more casualties in the meantime, like

this 13-year-old, apparently hit by a French bomb. His family was quick

to tell me that they don't blame France, saying the French have

saved Mali. In truth, that job has barely started.

The disgraced former cycling champion Lance Armstrong says he

hopes to be able to compete again, despite being given a lifetime ban

from sport for doping. In the second part of a televised

interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong compared his punishment

to the death penalty. This report from Andy Swiss contains flash

photography. From one of the greatest cyclists

in history, to one of the greatest cheats. Lance Armstrong's downfall

has brought him shame, disgrace, and a lifetime ban from all sports.

But that, he says, is too harsh. Sport, he believes, should give him

a second chance. I deserve to be punished. I am not sure that I

deserve a death penalty. If you are asking me do I want to compete

again? The answer's hell, yes. I am a competitor. Armstrong has now

told the world he cheated but far tougher, he said, was telling his

own son. It was the moment his composure finally cracked.

I told Luke... I said... Don't.

Time and again in his career, Armstrong said he had never taken

drugs, so how could he lie to so many people for so many years?

guy who felt invincible. Was told he was invincible, truly believed

he was invincible. That's who that guy was. That Guy's still there, I

am not going to lie. But after so much lying, many believe a return

to any sport is unthinkable. He had his chance. He bullied other

people, he's perverted the course of justice, suing people, he's done

awful things and I think he really has gone beyond the right to take

part in sport now. Armstrong's interview leaves many

questions still unanswered, what is certain, though, is his reputation

lies in ruins. Today's sport now which comes from

Olly Foster. Andy Murray says there is room for

improvement, but he's into the fourth round at the Australian Open

and he's yet to drop a set in Melbourne. No such joy for

Britain's Laura Robson who was knocked out today. Tim Hague

reports. These Grand Slams can be thirsty

work. Snow, not in Australia. The sun quite the opposite. Perhaps it

blinded Andy Murray. Errors were all too regular in the first set

but Murray below his best is still better than most and he won the

opening set against Berankis. Once again, he broke his opponent down

to take a commanding two-set lead. It was soon three. Not Murray's

easiest afternoon, but most crucially he is through. You want

to try and improve as the matches go on. So, I am sitting here happy

that I am through to the fourth round. Could Could 18-year-old

Laura Robson prolong her great form and join her there? A shoulder

injury made that much harder. Robson rallied, but after the

American Sloane Stephens won the first she made no mistake in the

second. Robson will be back for many years.

Football, and there are 25 goals on Match of the Day straight after the

news. I've got the Premier League results coming up now - so if you

want to avoid them, do whatever you have to do. Manchester City are

just four points behind leaders Manchester United after beating

Fulham 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium. David Silva scored both goals.

United don't play until tomorrow. Elsewhere, Liverpool thrashed

Norwich 5-0. Reading have their first away win after substitute

Swansea beat Stoke 3-1. QPR are still bottom after drawing at West

Ham. Sunderland won 3-2 at Wigan. West Brom against Aston Villa was

In the Scottish Premier League, Celtic remain 9 points clear at the

top after a 4-1 win over Hearts. At the other end of the table, Ross

County beat St Mirren by the same scoreline. Ivan Sproule scored

twice on his debut. There were also wins for Inverness and Dundee

United. Dundee drew against Hibs. England's cricketers have been

beaten again in India and are now 2-1 down in the One-Day series.

They were bowled out for just 155 runs in Ranchi. Ravindra Jadeja

took three wickets, all his victims making ducks. India reached their

target easily with 22 overs to spare. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni

sealing a seven-wicket win. There are two matches left to play.

Finally, Graeme Dott leads Mark Selby 4-2 at the Masters Snooker.

The first to six will face the defending champion Neil Robertson