07/12/2013 BBC Weekend News


07/12/2013

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Thousands of people are stranded at airports across Britain as hundreds

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of flights are cancelled or delayed. An air traffic control problem has

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affected most major airports since this morning and has yet to be

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fixed. South Africans celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela, as more

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details are announced of plans to honour the former president. And

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clean up operation - home and business owners count the cost after

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the most serious tidal surge in 60 years.

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Good evening. Thousands of passengers have spent the day

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stranded on planes and in airports after a fault at an air traffic

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control centre. More than 200 flights were cancelled at Heathrow,

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with most of the other major airports in the United Kingdom and

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Ireland affected as well. Passengers and airlines have expressed anger

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about the delays. The problem is supposed to be fixed within the

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hour, but the disruption it's caused will continue throughout the evening

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and into tomorrow. There has been a restriction on the

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number of lights that can go to or from the United Kingdom. The age: 30

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flight from Heathrow to Bill in this morning, going nowhere. Just one of

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many planes trapped on the ground due to technical problems with air

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traffic control. This is where it went wrong, the National air traffic

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control service. A problem switching from night to day operations caused

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the chaos. Engineers said it was linked to voice communications,

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including telephones. At fixing it is proving difficult. We are not

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100% resilient, as today has shown. But every time we have a glitch like

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this, one of the things that we do with great effort afterwards is to

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look at exactly what happened and why, and to make sure we don't have

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it happen again. There is some movement today. Traffic control said

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80% of flights have been operating. But that still leaves 20% grounded,

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affecting hundreds of planes and thousands of passengers. We tried to

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check in, and they wouldn't let us. They said it would take a long time

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to find out if the flight had been cancelled. Now we have to wait eight

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hours for the next one. I came in from Trinidad, landed at Gatwick,

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transferred to Heathrow. It's just chaos, queues everywhere. I've come

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in to find my flight is cancelled. Travel experts are warning there may

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be more trouble ahead. Even if the system is fixed right now, there is

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a terrible backlog of planes waiting to depart, particularly from

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Heathrow and quick. On top of that, you have pilots and aircraft in the

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wrong places. I'm afraid it's going to be pretty miserable for the rest

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of the day. Air-traffic controllers now say they understand what has

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caused today's chaos and they are hoping to fix the fault sometime

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this evening. Let's get a few more details with

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Richard Wescott at Stansted Airport. What confidence that the problem

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will be fixed soon? I have just got off the phone to the air-traffic

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controllers. There is still no news. They are still hoping to get it

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fixed within an hour. Even if they do, expect delays. They are

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inevitable, not just tonight but tomorrow as well. As ever, if you

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are travelling, check with your airlines. Don't go thinking this is

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some kind of high-tech computer that has gone wrong. What has happened is

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there is an internal phone system. The controllers literally use

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telephones to swap data about the flights. It's very important stuff.

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That system has not worked properly today. They literally could not open

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as many work stations as they needed to cover a normal Saturday. Hence we

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have had this reduced service. To give you some idea of the scale of

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this, it has affected 8% of flights across the whole of Europe. 8%

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delayed. The South African government has

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given more details of plans to honour the former president, Nelson

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Mandela. His funeral cortege will travel through the streets of the

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capital, Pretoria, on three days, before his burial next Sunday.

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On the rough edges of Johannesburg, a sombre mood today. A young Nelson

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Mandela once lived on this corner, long before he went to prison.

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Signing a book of condolence in the courtyard is Clara Letswala. When

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she was a schoolgirl, she met Mandela here, and again years later,

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when he returned as an old man. He was a very good man. He was a man of

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passion. Today, this is still a poor,

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sometimes violent neighbourhood. But Mandela's name prompts only

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gratitude and respect here. We are what we are today, even though we

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don't have good houses and some of the others have houses, and we're

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still struggling to get houses. But for him, he has done a lot for us.

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We love that man. So the mood is down. Everyone is just thinking of

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Mandela. Today, Mandela's grandson Ndaba joined the crowd still

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gathering outside the family home in Johannesburg.

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South Africa is gearing up for a momentous week, with vast crowds

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gathering, thousands lining the roads. Every world leader is heading

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to town. The mood here for now is wavering between sorrow and

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celebration. If you look at the crowds that are

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gathering, this is the South Africa that Nelson Mandela created for us.

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Even though he is not with us, he continues to unite this country. I

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believe our leaders and the future leaders must learn from this great

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man. Do you think they are learning? Not enough, honestly speaking.

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Tomorrow there will be more singing as the first remembrance services

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begin. Nearly 160 countries have struck a

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deal which it's hoped could boost global trade. The World Trade

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Organisation agreement will cut import barriers and help developing

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nations subsidise their farmers to safeguard food supplies.

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Thousands of people are returning to their homes on the east coast of

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Britain after what the Environment Agency described as the most serious

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tidal surge in 60 years. 14,000 homes were flooded, including 300 in

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Boston in Lincolnshire, from where Ed Thomas sent this report.

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Clearing up and bringing Boston back to life. The floodwaters have gone,

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but the mess hasn't. The bottom oven was filled with water. Some here

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have had their lives turned upside down. Only last week, Rebecca Callow

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won a business award. Now her home, car and cake shop have been ruined

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by the floods. It feels like my heart has been ripped out, because

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everything, from the past year, I have put into this business. It was

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a 48-hour battle for the Environment Agency, police, council and

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firefighters to hold the waters back here. Today, the Environment

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Secretary came to Boston to thank them for their efforts. I'd really

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pay tribute to the Environment Agency, local councils, the

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emergency services, who have been planning well in advance. That work

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came to fruition. Also, they moved very quickly. Here in Boston there

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was a breach of the defences, the Environment Agency moved rapidly

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during the night and a number of properties were saved. But we have

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to remember this was really exceptional. It took just minutes

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for this street to flood. It will take weeks to clear up. This will

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give you some idea of just how ferocious the tidal surge was. The

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height of the wet bricks gives you some clues about what the water

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did. Compare that to the flood defences along this lane. Look at

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the height of the sandbags. It's clear the homes and businesses here

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did not stand a chance. Forecasters say the worst is over. But what

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isn't known is the cost of repairing the homes and businesses battered by

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the waves and storms. England are heading for a big defeat

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in the second Ashes Test match at Adelaide. The Australian fast bowler

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Mitchell Johnson took seven wickets as England's batting collapsed

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leaving them a difficult task to avoid going 2-0 down in the series.

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There is a famous tale about the band playing on while the ship

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sinks. The jaunty Adelaide jars, England disappeared. Joe Root

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withstood the pace only to throw his wicket away against spin bowling.

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Self-inflicted woes. Kevin Pietersen's approach to adversity

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was one of those Pietersen shots. Australia predicted he would play

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it. Was batting possible? Certainly for Michael Carberry, who helped

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England to 211-3. 160, he fell. Wonderful catch from Warner which

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put England's drops into context. Now over to Mitchell Johnson. Matt

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prior lasted four balls. Broad went to the first he faced. Graeme Swann

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stood around for seven. Anderson, another first ball duck. Broken

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stumps me much more than words about open arms. No need to speak. In the

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midst of this, Ian Bell attacked, knowing he had run out of partners.

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He finished on 72 not out. Monty Palis are showed courage. No

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disgrace for him. But seven wickets for Mitchell Johnson. Do in which

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batsmen have the stomach to face him? Australia already lead by 530.

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At some point, they will make England bat again and unleash

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Mitchell Johnson again. And there is no hiding place. Unite I in today's

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Premier League games there were wins for Crystal Palace, Liverpool, Stoke

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and Norwich and Newcastle won at Old Trafford for the first time in 41

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years. The only goal of the game was scored by Yohan Cabaye, who slotted

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the ball into the net after 61 minutes to add more pressure on

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United boss David

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