08/02/2014 BBC Weekend News

coastline faces another onslaught. Tonight, all rail services to the

West Country are cut off by flooding, the government faces new

accusations that it failed to act on warnings.

The lesson was their 18 months ago, everybody in Somerset knew that the

rivers would not be fit for purpose if we had another winter of rain.

The immigration minister resigned after admitting he had employed a

cleaner who was in the UK illegally. Wales wobble in the Six Nations, as

Ireland proved too strong. Hello, good evening.

A team I allow winds and heavy rain have again hit south-west England

and West Wales, with flood waters rising once more on the Somerset

Levels. The West Country is completely cut off by rail is all

rail services have been blocked, the train lines were already severely

disrupted, and a landslip at Crewkerne and flooding closed them

down completely. The forecast is for more bad weather ahead.

Along Britain's coastline, the weather has been making its presence

felt. Towns and villages across the South and West have been on the

front line of the force of this latest storm. The crashing waves are

indiscriminate in their assault and in places like kicking sand in

Cornwall, buildings are already battered. You cannot stop the

weather, this is relentless, and we have got more to come. We have got

to be resilient. Inland, the storms are having a major impact. Part of

this Railtrack are barely visible above the water. Flooding and a

landslip have left the lines between London and the West Country

blocked. Passengers have been warned it could be many days before they

are operational again. Phone calls say they do not know when they will

have replacement bus services, we are completely stuck. On the

Somerset Levels, roads are closed, and pathways have been swamped.

People have no choice but to wade through water to rescue animals from

this village today. This is not the first time fields here have flooded,

threatening livelihoods. With the rising water, there is anger, and

more serious questions for the government. Six months ago, this

farmers leader voted by Minister to ask for funding to prevent flooding.

His request was refused. Now, David Cameron says coaching setup rarity.

We have ministers coming down, environmental chairman saying we

must learn the lessons, but the lesson was there 18 months ago.

Everybody in Somerset knew that the rivers would not be fit for purpose

if we had another winter of rain. But the former floods minister who

took the decision not to provide funding insists he was acting on the

best information at the time. In hindsight, if dredging would have

sorted out their problem, absolutely. But if I am honest, the

evidence that was presented to me was, while it might have made some

difference, large parts would have flooded, whatever we had them,

because we have had the worst rainfall since 1760. The weather has

been exceptional, and it has caused problems across many communities,

including those along the Thames. In Reading, the army have been brought

in to help, but sandbags can only do so much to defend against such

severe surges and squalls. More question for the government.

Yes, new criticism of the Environment Agency. Yes, a senior

official has been quoted this evening is calling this winter a

success story. He referred to the fact that more than a million homes

had been protected by flood defences. In itself, that is true,

but at the same time, when you have many people who cannot reach their

homes, including scores of families on the road behind me, it is

difficult to talk about a success story. These words are political,

sensitive, and it is difficult for people to hear. When you take a look

around, you will find scenes like this, sandbags on the edge of

rivers, trying to stop the water from overflowing. The water

continues to overflow this evening. The gusts continue to come in. They

might be a brief respite for some communities, over the next 48 hours,

but then, later this week, the bad weather is going to return.

Meanwhile, here, with all of this water so high, and the ground so

sudden, a severe flood warning remains in place, so there is a risk

to life or homes. The immigration Minister Mark Harper

has resigned from the government after it emerged it had employed a

cleaner who was in the UK illegally. He had been in charge of

implementing the government's immigration reforms.

Mark Harper delivered a tough message on immigration, overseeing a

poster campaign telling those who were here illegally to go home, but

he has resigned because he has employed an illegal immigrant

himself. We are making it increasingly difficult for people to

be in the UK illegally. He says he checked the status of his cleaner

when she was first employed in 2007 will stop he was shown a letter,

apparently from the home office, saying she had the right to work

here. But after a second check, officials told him she did not. I

complied with the law at all times, I did the Czechs, but as immigration

Minister, on an immigration matter, I should hold myself to a higher

standard than we accept's expect of others. Also, he has been stealing

the controversial Immigration Bill from Parliament, which would compel

employers to do more to check the immigration status of employees. New

rules will put the onus on employers to check staff have valid documents

such as a visa or official leave to stay in the UK. They will have to

verify details, and they should request an official check from the

Home Office to validate the documents. Labour know what the

government to think again about pushing ahead with these changes

without piloting them first. The government are unlikely to rethink,

Conservative ministers are keen to get an immigration bill passed into

law before European elections in the spring, not least because UKIP have

made this a key campaign theme, and immigration is at or near the top of

voters' concerns. That made Mark Harper's position untenable.

Three Metropolitan Police officers who were arrested over allegations

they had exchanged illegal pornography on their mobile phones

will not face criminal charges. They are from the Diplomatic Protection

Group, which guards foreign embassies and controls access to New

Scotland Yard and Downing Street, they still face an investigation

into allegations of misconduct. Princess Cristina of Spain am the

youngest daughter of King Juan Carlos, has been questioned in court

over for the allegations involving her husband's business. He is

suspected of embezzling millions of public funds, which has provoked

public outrage. Both deny any and's both deny any wrongdoing. The report

has flash photography. For the first time ever in Spain, a member of the

Royal family arriving to be questioned in court.

Princess Cristina seemed relaxed. But inside the court, she sat

opposite a photo of her father, the King, and faced serious allegations.

According to reports, she said she trusted her husband, who is accused

of defrauding public money. She is suspected of spending some of it on

personal expenses. This while millions of Spaniards are

unemployed. When they married nearly two decades ago, the Royals were

more popular. But the scandal has damaged Spain's wants loved

monarch, whose popularity has been falling. King Juan Carlos was

heavily criticised while hunting elephants in Botswana when his

citizens were suffering a critical moment in the economic crisis back

home. Because of the crisis, any people in Spain are less likely to

give the monarchy the benefit of the doubt. People from my family, from

my work, are suffering. We have not done anything to have this crisis.

It is not fair. There is no doubt this has caused significant damage

to the reputation of Spain's Royals. When the Princess is answering

questions in court, she will not only be defending her self, but that

the monarchy in Spain. Tonight, her lawyer said she had answered all the

questions she could, but this is a country where corruption scandals

are common, and some of the Spanish public will judge for themselves.

Time to take you to the sport. Good evening, we start with the

action from the second weekend of the Six Nations. England beat

Scotland 20-0, Wales wobbled in Dublin, losing to Ireland in a

one-sided in counter. In the middle of the fog of grudges and hot air

that surrounded Ireland against Wales, a New Zealander.

Warren Gatland's decision to drop Brian O'Driscoll for the final Lions

test last summer has not been forgotten in Ireland as his side's

forwarded find out. The Irish gave their all, a new Wales will be

kissed in the maul. The bottom of the mound, Chris Henry. The

president had been set, the Pack one penalties. Wales had been pushed as

well, their hopes of a third is excessive Six Nations title hurt by

the marauding Irish. After Paddy Jackson's try, tempers came to the

fore, but the numbers were against Wales. The rivalry between Scotland

and England is older in origin, recent English dominance of the

fixture was rarely damaged. To their credit, Scotland did not

disintegrate as fast as the Murrayfield turf, but some magic put

in Mike Brown to settle the current ownership of the Calcutta Cup.

Despite defeat to France, England still have a chance of picking up

the Six Nations trophy. Much of The Day follows, so if you

do not walk's if you do not want to know the results, look away now.

Arsenal were thrashed by Liverpool at Anfield in the early kick-off.

Martin Skrtel and Raheem Sterling with two goals each in a five - one

victory. Manchester City had a Goldust raw at Norwich, meaning they

missed the chance to move top of the table. That position is held by

Chelsea, Eden Hazard with a hat-trick against Newcastle, the 3-0

victory move them one point clear of Arsenal. West Ham are out of the

relegation zone with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa.

West Brom dropped into the bottom three, Swansea move into the top

half. Celtic have been knocked out of the

Scottish cup, losing to Aberdeen, 2-1. Hibernian were beaten 3-2 by

Raith Rovers. Team GB missed out on medals in the

first full day of competition at the Winter Olympics. There was British

interest in the men's snowboard slopestyle.

The first final of the Winter Olympics, could it be a first medal

for Britain? Jamie Nicholls learn to snowboard on a plastic slope in

Halifax. Now he was going for Olympic gold. This event is judged

on tricks, jumps and flips, and he got off to a flying start. That

first run put him in the silver medal position, but in the second

round, he slipped on a rail and slipped back to sixth place. His

team-mate Billy Morgan's hopes also came down to earth with a bump. He

finished 10th, but for both, frustration was outweighed by pride.

I am really happy, I cannot believe it, and I am happy both of us got

into the final and got into the top ten. There was disappointment for

Britain's figure skaters, including Nick Buckland and Penny Coomes, they

failed to qualify for the final of the team event. After a difficult

build-up, this was a day the sporting drama took centre stage.

Britain will be hoping their best is yet to come.

That is all the sport. You can see more on all of the

day's stories on the BBC News Channel. Good night, goodbye.

Good evening, very little good news in the forecast for the coming

night. It looks as if it will be pretty nasty. We have got some nasty

conditions to