07/01/2014 BBC News at One

Yet more heavy rain is forecast as over 100 flood warnings remain in

place across the UK. Warnings of further serious flooding in southern

England after another night of rain and high tides. We'll get the latest

from the Dorset coast, where emergency flood sirens were sounded

last night. Also this lunchtime: The Business Secretary, Vince Cable,

criticises the Prime Minister's target of cutting net migration to

under 100,000 by the next election. Back on the road - UK sales of new

cars reach a six-year high, driven by consumer confidence and cheap

credit. Chicago - the frozen city - with temperatures down to minus 23

today as the Arctic blast sweeps across more of America. And from

wearable technology to drones - will the latest gadgets unveiled in Las

Vegas really take off? In London... Temporary flood defences for

Guildford in a bid to protect the town centre. And the Lord Mayor of

London tells us why the city needs to become more inclusive. Good

afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. More than 100 flood

warnings are in place across the UK as storms continue to batter the

coast. Large swathes of the UK are still being warned of the risk of

floods as the Met Office forecasts more heavy rainfall for the south

and South East of England. Three severe or "danger to life" flood

warnings are in place in Dorset, where emergency flood sirens sounded

as huge waves continued to batter the coast. One English Channel

coastguard said she had never seen such a prolonged storm. Our

correspondent, Duncan Kennedy, is there. Sophie, good afternoon. It

may look spectacular this busy latest place Britain to take a

pounding from all of winter weather that you have been talking about.

The wind is still working it in, making it quite hard to stand up.

Where I am is 20 feet above these waves but last night, not only did

they come over my position here but also to the upper floors of the

surrounding houses, that is how high these seas where, prompting for the

first time ever the emergency services to sign their siren,

warning people to take shelter. They have not seen big seas like this

year for two decades. Gigantic herds of white horses running rampant

along this Dorset coastline. So high, they pounded the cold in,

which sits 20 feet above the beach, leading authorities to signed the

first warning siren that anyone can remember. It was fantastic to watch

from a pure, you feel safe. The landlady decided to stay and took

shelter upstairs. During a night of rattled brickwork and nerves. It was

frightening in some respects but also quite exhilarating because we

were upstairs watching from the window and at one point, one wave

came across and there was water pouring all down the windows, down

the doors, everywhere. But it didn't actually come so we were lucky.

Other coastal stretches have taken another January pounding. In north

Cornwall, this arch went from this... To this. It's famous

doughnut shape and I with a big bite taken out of it. Seven people have

not died and 7000 homes and businesses have been flooded since

the Christmas period. MPs and others have questioned the government's

ability to respond to emergencies like flooding. We certainly have

concerns about the impact of the proposed budget cuts on the

Environment Agency's ability to respond to flooding events in future

but to be able to do the work that is required between floods to

maintain defences. Flood defences are down to the Environment Agency,

run by DEFRA. Since 2010 its budget has seen ?500 million in cuts.

Officials have warned of further cuts of ?300 million over the next

two years. But ministers say that ?370 million earmarked for new

defences by 2016 is safe. We are in a different -- difficult environment

and there is not much money around but what we are doing is

prioritising spending on flood defences within the budget we have.

Aberystwyth, like any other drenched areas of Britain, is another place

trying to clear up today. A time peppered with the debris of its own

beach. All part of what will become known as the wet winter. 2013-14.

Whether it is Aberystwyth or in Devon, thousands of lives have been

affected by this severe weather over the last few weeks. As you heard,

there is a political debate underway about how to protect ourselves,

protect coasts like this and protect inland areas from the flooding in

that debate is still going on and, of course, this winter still has a

long way to run. Thank you very much. There are more on the storms

on the BBC News website. That includes forecasts for your area and

BBC local radio will keep you up-to-date on the impact near you.

The Business Secretary, Vince Cable, has dismissed David Cameron's target

of cutting net migration - that's the difference between the number of

people coming to live in the UK and those leaving - to below 100,000 by

next year. He says the idea's impractical and almost certainly

won't be achieved. In an interview for a BBC Two documentary tonight,

The Truth About Immigration, Vince Cable says the Liberal Democrats

have never signed up to an arbitrary cap. Our political correspondent,

Ross Hawkins, reports. It is a key target for Prime Minister keen to

look tough. He wants to cut net migration, the difference between

the number of people coming to live in Britain and is emigrating, to

under 100,000 a year by the general election. And it is a target that

one member of his Cabinet says he is set to miss. Setting an arbitrary

cap is not helpful, it almost literally will not achieve the level

the Conservatives are setting anyway so let us be practical about it. Why

Lib Dems, like Labour have, have always approach this approach, net

migration has fallen by a third since the last election and rose

recently to over 180,000, so can the target be met? My job is to carry on

looking at every aspect of immigration and make sure that we

are making the changes that we need to do. Some politicians are shy

about talking to the British people about immigration now the tone has

changed, in part because they know some voters want them to do much

more. The British survey suggests that over three quarters of people

want to see emigration cut, the highest level of concern since it

first ask the question in the 90s. Over half want immigration reduced a

lot and were almost a third think immigration is good for the economy,

half of them still want it cut. Many believe that fewer immigrants would

make is this more difficult for staff from abroad but UKIP says this

is not just about economics. I don't want to live in a country whose

population is heading towards 75 million people because are some

people in society that matter more than money. Quality of life.

Overcrowded Britain. Politicians seem to agree that they should say

more about people travelling here to live and work, but even within

government they cannot agree how many should be stopped from coming

in. Sales of new cars have risen to their highest level in six years.

That's according to figures from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and

Traders, which represents the industry. Our business

correspondent, Ben Thompson, is here. A sharp rise - what is behind

it? Another sign of confidence in the UK economy and the Society of

Motor Manufacturers and Traders told us that last year, 2.26 million cars

were registered here in the UK and that is a rise of more than ten

present on the year before so insubstantial rise. It also makes it

the best year for sales since 2007. Taken together, all of that means

the UK is the second largest car market in Europe, behind Germany. So

clearly an important industry. But why the rise? The record low

interest rates have helped, we need people can go and borrow more and

spend on big-ticket items but also that has been a lot of pent-up

demand. People were putting these big producers during the worst of

the downturn and many people say neither is it time to do that. There

is also a suggestion that PPI compensation payments have helped

people, getting an average ?3000 each if you were affected. That is

for a deposit for the car. But there is an underlying feeling that the

economy is picking up and more people are going out and spending

and confidence is on the up. These figures are in stark contrast with

the rest of Europe? In Europe are falling. Table in Europe are not

filling is confident about the state of the economy. Also in the UK,

people are starting to feel that things are picking up and are voting

with their feet and going out and spending. But it is worth pointing

out that this is an important industry for the UK, these figures

suggest that one in seven cars sold last year were made in the UK and it

is an important industry not just for manufacturers but creating jobs

here. It is thought that production in the UK is at a six-year high. And

last year we heard that the Jaguar Land Rover and Bentley company

expanded production here. Thank you. A small number of people added to

the pressure on accident and emergency departments last winter.

New figures obtained by the BBC show that some people went to A more

than 50 times in a year. And almost 12,000 people made more than ten

visits to their local A last year. Our health correspondent, Branwen

Jeffreys, reports. A familiar scene in emergency departments around the

country. Casualty staff dealing with a patient they have seen hundreds of

times. A man whose alcohol problems bring him here frequently. But there

are many reasons why some patients visit A repeatedly. From serious

medical emergencies to people who want nowhere else to turn. And those

who think it is easier than seeing a GP. A Doctors say even small extra

numbers add to the pressures of busy departments. The BBC investigation

reveals the scale of the repeat visits in some hospitals. Across the

UK, 12,000 people accounted for more than 200,000 visits last year. At

least 157 patients made more than 50 visits to the same casualty

department. 183 A depart this released figures under the Freedom

of information request. This hospital in Stockport this morning

had a staff working flat out. Some repeat visits they see here are from

very elderly people with complex medical problems. We have an ageing

population, it is a sector publishing and we are trying to

reduce capacity by reducing bed stays and that is a big ask and the

future looks like more of the same unless we really get on top of how

we manage patients in the community better to stop them leading hospital

care. A departments or open around the clock. Hospitals sometimes feel

they pick up the pieces when others are closed. There are definite gaps

in services, for example social services and drug and alcohol

services but it is also an issue about A being the victim of its

own success. People understandably come back. There is no doubt that

A departments around the UK are hard-pressed. And because they are

busy, there is increasing interest in who is coming through those

doors. People making repeat visits are just one small part of that. But

it all adds to the workload in these busy departments. If you want to see

how your local A is coping, you can visit bbc.co.uk/nhswinter to

track weekly data on all of the major emergency departments in

England. An Afghan girl believed to be under the age of ten and wearing

a suicide vest has been arrested by police in Southern Afghanistan. It's

thought she was trying to blow up a police checkpoint. Our defence

correspondent, Caroline Wyatt, sent this report from Kabul. The face of

a child, just ten or 11 years old. She is called Sphozmay and is the

latest pawn in a little insurgency. It is not clear how old she is, with

certificates are rare. But officials say her brother, a Taliban

commander, gave her a suicide vest and told her to blow up a police

station. She told journalists in Helmand that are friend forced to

win the vest but when she saw the river she would cross, it looked

cold and she said she couldn't. Once back at home, she gives her father

beat her so she ran away and give herself up to the police. The use of

female suicide bombers remains rare here in Afghanistan, even more so

the use of children. The last similar case anyone could think of

was in 2011, when an eight-year-old girl was given a bomb to carry to a

police car, blowing herself up. It has aroused a sense of deep

revulsion across Afghanistan, with many saying it shows a sense of

desperation amongst the Taliban. It was shocking, and in the family, my

girls were shocked. In the committee, in the parliament today,

we had MPs talking about it. It is scary in a way that this happens,

how brittle a brother could be to promote his sister to commit

suicide. It indicates that despite the fact that many people talk about

possible changes in the perspective of the Taliban, still that change

has not come. The story has also been used in the war of words

between the Afghan government and the Taliban. What will happen to the

little girl caught in the middle is not yet clear. The Afghan

authorities have described her as an innocent child who should be treated

as such. Yet more heavy rain is forecast to hit parts of the UK,

more than 100 flood warnings remain in place after another night of rain

and high tides. And coming up, much of America is in

the grip of an arctic freeze. These are live pictures of Indianapolis,

where temperatures are expected to dip to 20 below.

Later on BBC London, in training for the European Hockey Championships,

we catch up with the England indoor team in the Olympic Park.

And the man from Kent whose telescope invention has changed the

way we see the night sky. It's the coldest weather to hit the

United States for two decades, and now it's heading south and east

across the country. Millions of people in America's Midwest have

been told to stay at home as a result of the blast of Arctic air.

Forecasters say almost 190 million people will have been affected by

the freezing temperatures by end of the day. In one part of Montana, a

wind chill of minus 53 Celsius was recorded. Sangita Myska reports.

The United States big freeze is getting bigger. Bob settles across

Lake Michigan, engulfing this view of Chicago. People have been told to

stay at home unless absolutely necessary as plummeting temperatures

promise to break all records. And those who battled their way through

the snow have never felt anything like it. This is quite frigid! I am

not used to this at all. Several sweaters, two jackets and walk fast.

Road conditions are treacherous. Two states have banned diving except in

emergency. Air passengers are not faring much better either. 4500

flights have been cancelled across the country, with 5000 delayed.

Meanwhile, emergency units have begun treating people with

frostbite. Strong winds mean some part of the US have experienced

temperatures as low as minus 50 Celsius. We are worried about skin,

fingers, toes, ears, noses, that kind of thing, but leading the court

temperature fall can be life-threatening and can stop once

had, once breathing, and bleed to death. Meanwhile, blizzard

conditions have moved further south, forcing the mayor of New York

to declare a state of emergency. Many schools have shut, and

motorists face dangerous conditions. Forecasters say it will be another

two days before these conditions ease. Sangita Myska, BBC News.

In the city of Indianapolis, temperatures are expected to fall to

around minus 20 today. Ryan Owens, a correspondent with America's ABC

News network, is there now. Extraordinary temperatures, tell us

what it is like to be there and how people are coping. Good morning from

the Midwest of the United States, Sophie. Right now it is minus 25

Celsius, and Indianapolis is essentially a ghost town. This

places shut down. At least the interstate behind me is open.

Believe it or not, the governor closed down the entire interstate

system and told everybody to stay at home, that it would actually be

illegal to drive on the interstate system here in the United States, at

least in the state of Indiana, if you can believe that. People are

doing their best, mostly staying inside. School is cancelled, as you

mentioned, most employers are not requiring people to come to work, so

all of that is good. I want to update you on a situation in

Illinois, right next to us, about 80 miles outside of Chicago. Three

trains operated by Amtrak, which operates the trains here in the

United States, was stuck in a snow bank. This happened yesterday in the

afternoon, and so people, more than 500 passengers stuck on those three

trains outside of the Chicago area for 14 hours. So I don't think I

have to get to graphic here, but if you can think about the bathroom

situation, the living conditions on that train, no thank you very much,

a bad situation. Amtrak has finally got some buses to those people and

have started to rescue them. They will then be bussed to Chicago, but

the roads the whole way are a mess, the airports are a mess as well, so

the end of the journey still very much in doubt, Sophie. Ryan Owens,

thank you very much. Details have been revealed about a

spate of violent incidents at the UK's biggest prison, Oakwood jail

near Wolverhampton. A number of cells were damaged in nine hours of

disturbances there on Sunday, and now BBC News has seen documents

describing a series of assaults and an outbreak of disorder in November.

Our home affairs correspondent, Danny Shaw, reports.

Its mission is to become the leading prison in the world, but the

evidence suggests that Oakwood is a long way from achieving that goal.

On Sunday, the prison witnessed the worst scenes of violence since it

opened two years ago. Prison cells were damaged as about 20 inmates

threatened staff. It took nine hours to restore order. Today the security

firm G4S, which operates Oakwood, defended its record. We are

obviously working very hard, the staff are gaining experience day by

day, the managers are leading them in that, and I think it is time that

people recognised the work my staff are doing at Oakwood. But now it has

emerged that Sunday's disturbance at Oakwood is just the tip of the

iceberg. I have seen documents suggesting that they were serious

problems at the prison two months ago, with senior officials at the

Ministry of Justice told about assaults and violence. In one week

during November, there were five incidents when staff or prisoners

were assaulted. There was also a serious outbreak of disorder when

prisoners threatened officers with pool cues and broom handles and lit

a number of small fires. All this at Bryn's biggest prison, Oakwood holds

1600 inmates. That Britain. And the Government was planning an even

bigger one at Wrexham in North Wales. That too was likely to be

operated by a private company. There are currently 14 privately run

prisons in England and Wales. They are run by three firms, G4S and

Serco. Last summer officials said they had serious concerns about

Oakwood and another large prison, tame side in London. There is no

evidence that large prisons work or that they are driving down unit

costs. There is no evidence that they work in control, in reducing

reoffending. Quite the reverse is true. The Government will be closely

following G4S's management of Oakwood in the future. It may be one

of the companies bidding to operate the new prison in Wales, but these

disturbances are a reminder of the difficulties of running such a big

prison. Danny Shaw, BBC News. Princess Cristina, the youngest

daughter of King Juan Carlos of Spain, has been summoned to appear

in court to face questioning over a long-running corruption scandal

surrounding her husband. She will have to answer questions over

allegations of tax fraud and money laundering. Let's speak to our

correspondent Tom Burridge, who's in Madrid. How damaging is all this

proving to Spain's Royal Family? Well, Sophie, potentially very

damaging. This is a long-running scandal, every twist and turn of it

has been to covered in the Spanish media, and the Royal household here

has always tried to draw a line between the Princess and other

direct members of the Royal Family and her husband, Inaki Urdangarin.

He is accused of misusing millions of euros of public money, but the

fact that the Princess has now to appear in court in the orca in March

will make that much harder, and this comes in the context of the

declining popularity of the Royal Family here in Spain, and in

particular the King. A year and a half ago, he was heavily criticised

for hunting elephants in Botswana at the height of the economic crisis,

and a poll in a leading Spanish newspaper at this weekend found that

62% of people in Spain now wants the King to abdicate. Tom, thank you

very much. The family of teenage girl who went

missing 11 days ago say she was angry and upset that her family's

asylum-seeker status barred her from going to university. Speaking at a

press conference, her sister made an emotional appeal for the 18-year-old

from Newport to return, saying the family could not live without her.

Our Wales correspondent, Hywel Griffith, reports.

A model student, desperate to go to university, Nida Ul-Naseer's

disappearance is said to be completely out of character. Her

family says the 18-year-old was upset on the night she disappeared,

angry that their status as asylum seekers meant she couldn't go on to

higher education. She decided to leave the house because she could

not getting opportunity to go to university. Nida went missing from

the family home on December the 28th, stepping out, they say, to put

out the rubbish. Her family say that when she walked out of the house,

she didn't have her coat, her purse or even her mobile phone, which she

took everywhere. They say they simply have no idea where she could

have gone. A team of 40 officers have been searching for the

teenager, combing through local streets and lanes, examining

hundreds of hours of CCTV footage. We remain open-minded about the

reason for Nida's disappearance and we will consider all lines of

inquiry. Family has stressed several times that they are not angry with

the teenager and only want her to return home. Hywel Griffith, BBC

News, Newport. Technology you can wear, cameras,

so-called augmented reality glasses that allow you to watch 3D

television and look at the internet at the same time, 3D printing and

drones. They're just some of the latest gadgets on display at the

world's biggest Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Our technology

correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, is there.

Las Vegas in January, and gadgets have taken the place of gamblers as

this town's biggest money spinners. Thousands of new Roberts which

promised to change the way we live are fighting for attention, even at

a preview event the trends are clear. What strikes me here is the

importance of these, just about everything is controlled connected

to a smartphone, so what is happening here? This drive is about

as fast as most people can run, it would get about a metre of air. It

is a taut connected to a smartphone. This is the first electric connected

toothbrush. It gives you real time information about how well you brush

your teeth, for instance there are three members of the family, and

Lucy, the last one, has not brush their teeth for the last two weeks.

Wearable technology is big, so what is this? It gives personalised

advice. So it measures how much you have been in the sun and you read it

out on your smartphone? Yeah. There is also the world's first curve

smartphone and any number of devices that measure what is happening to

you and your phone, from a sleek monitor to Mother, which collect

information from sensors around the house. Then there are unmanned

aerial vehicles, or drones as they are commonly known. We took one

outside to put it through its paces. So what kind of users are

people finding for these new vehicles? There are a lot of users,

say, like agriculture, monitoring crops. There are users for search

and rescue, people can throw something up in the air quickly

without having to get fully manned helicopter out there. When it comes

to new technology, Las Vegas is the place to see the big picture, but

many of the products launched here may fail to take off. Rory

Cellan-Jones, BBC News, Las Vegas. The Duke of Cambridge took the train

today as he began his studies at Cambridge University. Prince William

is taking an agricultural management course which has been designed to

help him prepare for when he inherits the Duchy of Cornwall

estate. Time now for a look at the weather,

series Chris Fawkes. Sunshine and showers, strong winds

whipping up stormy seas bringing crashing waves onto the coastline of

south-west England, where it will be pretty dangerous to get too close to

the EC. The radar shows us where we have the showers at the moment,

widespread showers affecting the north and west of the British Isles.

We have got 70 odd weather warnings in force across southern England

alone, but today's wet weather continues to clear away, followed by

another couple of pulses of rain tonight, and one tomorrow night,

again falling on saturated ground, bringing a risk of further localised

flooding problems over the next 24 - 48 hours. This afternoon, a large

swathe of eastern England, East Anglia and southern counties of

England were showers will be really rare, so many areas will stay dry

with sunshine. Not so for Wales and the north-west, plenty of downpours

here, and for Northern Ireland and Scotland, we are also expecting lots

of showers, but not as heavy as yesterday by and large. Temperatures

similar to yesterday, seven or eight degrees. Overnight this first batch

of rain comes in anywhere from Dorset across towards Norfolk, a

risk of seeing another 10-20 millimetres of rain, again bringing

a risk of further localised flooding problems, plenty of showers to the

north and west, staying pretty windy overnight. That means it will be

frost free and another mild one in store. That takes us on into

Wednesday, and we should have a reasonable day weather-wise.

Although we do have an approaching weather system towards the

south-west, we get a little bump of high pressure building in across

England and Wales, and that means any early morning showers across the

North tending to clear away, England and Wales having plenty of sunshine

for the afternoon, staying mainly dry for many. Northern Ireland also

improving, and in Scotland the showers increasingly confined to

northern areas, so an improving picture for many of us, but we

finished the day with a band of rain working into the south-west of

England and southern Wales once again. This area of rain looks

likely to move northwards to affect parts of Northern Ireland, moving

across England and Wales, across the Pennines into southern Scotland.

Over the highest hills, a chance of seeing a bit of snow for a time.

This extra rainfall will not help the flooding situation. As we get

towards Thursday, though, that band of rain clears out of the way, a

fine afternoon in prospect, we start to build pressure across England and

Wales. Now I am not going to say it is good to be dry, but the weather

fronts are likely to be increasingly weak for a time at least as we head

towards Friday and the weekend, so hopefully that should allow some

easing of the current flooding problems we have.

A reminder of our top story this lunchtime: Yet more heavy rain is

forecast to hit parts of the UK, over 100 flood warnings remain in

place after another night of rain and high tides. And that is