04/04/2014 BBC News at Six

the South West of England. The track was washed away by the February

storms - now trains run for the first time in weeks. 300 staff have

worked around the clock to get the line open in time for the Easter

break. We are back on the map. We are back in business. That is what

is really important to us. We'll be hearing from people who say much

more should be done to improve the region's infrastructure.

Also tonight: In Afghanistan, a western journalist

is shot dead and another is wounded on the eve of the country's

Presidential election. Michael Schumacher is having moments

of consciousness, three months after his skiing accident which caused

severe head injuries. Princess Anne says gassing is the

most controversial comments about the

badger cull from Princess and, who says gassing is the most humane way

to kill them to prevent TB. And "it's been nice to see ya" -

Brucie bows out from Strictly Come Dancing.

On BBC London. We're live with a special programme from the Queen

Elizabeth Olympic Park which re-opens tomorrow. It's already got

a Royal seal of approval - we get Londoners' verdict on the capital's

newest park. Good evening and welcome to the BBC

News at six. It was one of the defining images of

the winter storms - the battered railway line at Dawlish on the Devon

coast. When part of the sea wall protecting the track was swept away,

the service which links Cornwall and much of Devon with the rest of the

UK was cut off. Today the line re-opened, and the Prime Minister

declared the South West "open for business" again. The repairs have

cost about ?35 million and have taken eight weeks to complete, with

a team of 300 Network Rail staff working around the clock. But while

many are celebrating, there are calls for greater improvements to

infrastructure in the South West. Our correspondent, Jon Kay, is in

Dawlish tonight. It is rare to spend a day at a row

waystation and only see smiling faces, only hear positive comments,

but that is what it has been like today. That is why this line has

reopened. This stretch of track became an emblem for the way the

whole of Britain was buttoned by the storms -- battered by the storms and

it raised questions about the UK's ability to deal with severe weather

and the resilience of the entire infrastructure.

A railway reopened and the region reconnected. After eight long weeks,

normal service restored. 5:30am and we were on board the first train to

cross the new track. Not many passengers, but for early commuters,

this was a big day. It is great for tourism, it is a fantastic scenic

stretch of the line, it is very important for business, Exeter, the

South West, Devon and Cornwall. You have other forms of transport but

the railway is the main link. You will not see much this morning. Not

at the moment! We slow down as we make our way along the repaired

section of the route. Hard to believe this is how it looked two

months ago. The main line in and out of the West Country, hanging in

midair. Since then, hundreds of engineers have worked around the

clock, often in terrible conditions, filling the gap with thousands of

tonnes of concrete, and then reinforcing the embankment. It is

only when you look at the Victorian sea wall that you realise exactly

what has happened here. There is a section which is modern, made of new

materials. It has been bolstered and they say it is now stronger than

when Brunel built it in the 1800 's. Three cheers for the Orange Army!

Hip, hip, Ray! Among the first passengers to arrive was the Prime

Minister, who said the project had shown the best of the tissue. It has

been a Herculean effort. 56 days and nights, 10,000 tonnes of concrete,

150 tonnes of steel, a huge task, carried out not on time, but before

time. So thank you for that. How much of a challenge has it been to

get to this stage? Recommend this challenge, we have had landslips,

holes in the wall to repair, 650 metres of track to replace full. We

are really proud of the achievements of the whole industry. Business

leaders estimate the closure of this line has cost the South West's

economy ?2 million a day. So great relief here that it has reopened

interning for the crucial tourist season. -- in time for. We are back

on the map, back in business. The man who runs the region's biggest

attraction says they're now need to be funding for the wider

infrastructure in the South West. When I see the investment on HS2,

which is a really good idea, we say, give us a couple of billion, how

about making us join the human rights down here. Some question how

viable this coastal route is and ask if it should be moved inland. Today,

job done, but future, still uncertain.

Talking there about this stretch of track and the South West's economy,

but where ever you are watching this, it is likely that somewhere

near you, the road or the railway was affected by those storms.

Maidenhead station in the south-east of England, Crewe station in the

north-west. Our resilience has been tested, they say we are back on

track here but one engineer said to me earlier, you are only as good as

your next storm. Two western journalists have been

shot, one fatally, in Afghanistan on the eve of the Presidential

election. The country goes to the polls this

weekend in what should be the first democratic transfer of power in its

history. President Karzai is standing down after 13 years in

power. There are three frontrunners to replace him, but the elections

have been overshadowed by a spate of bombings in recent weeks. Every one

of Afghanistan's 400,000 police and military is deployed to try keep the

vote safe and free from the threat of the Taliban. But this morning the

two journalists were shot by a man in an Afghan police uniform. From

Kabul here's our Afghanistan correspondent, David Loyn.

This was the bullet ridden car after a police officer opened fire at the

two journalists, both highly experienced. The photographer Anja

Niedringhaus died at the scene. The correspondent Kathy Gannon, who was

injured, is in hospital. There is huge security, with Afghanistan on

lockdown ahead of tomorrow's election. No traffic has been

allowed into Kabul since noon. The country has known no president but

Hamid Karzai since the Taliban fell. The constitution prevents him from

standing again. There has been real enthusiasm around this campaign.

Three quarters of the Afghan population are under 25. New voters

are excited by the chance to have their voices heard. I feel in

myself, responsible that this vote itself, it is a powerful sub I want

to use my vote today for having a peaceful life in the future -- it is

a power. . The candidates have held rallies across this rugged land. The

favoured candidate of the president is trailing in the polls. The former

foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah is leading in the race. He is

strongly opposed to any concessions to the Taliban. Those who are

massacring our people, those who violates the rights of the people of

Afghanistan or want to take us back to the stone ages, the people of

Afghanistan will not allow them to do that. Another leading candidate

is Ashraf got it, but this former World Bank economist has lost the

ability by having a former warlord as his running mate. It may sound

like a normal election and look like a normal election, but the truth is

that fraud could be the big winner in the Afghan campaign, who pays for

the most votes, however hard these candidates fight. The anti fraud

operation is almost as big as the security operation. It is much

more, they want to see a peaceful transition of power and to prevent

the return to the bad says. I think the level of enthusiasm you see is a

reflection of that realisation. If President Karzai hands over to an

elected successor, it will be the first usable handover of power in

Afghanistan for more than 100 years. The Prime Minister has again

defended the Culture Secretary Maria Miller over her expenses claims -

following a series of stinging newspaper headlines. Mrs Miller made

a 30-second apology to MPs yesterday for failing to co-operate with a

Commons inquiry into her expenses. She was cleared of abusing her

allowances, but told to repay nearly ?6,000. Here's our political

correspondent, Vicki Young. She is responsible for bringing in

stricter controls on the press and she is embroiled in an expenses

scandal. It made unpleasant headlines for Maria Miller. She has

apologised but some think she has got off lightly and have asked the

police to investigate. Maria Miller should resign today, she has failed

to apologise, failed to take responsibility for her actions. I

think members of the Cabinet should be held to the highest standards and

it is a standard she has not met. Today, the Prime Minister tried

again to draw a line under the episode. It was found she had made

mistakes, she accepted that, repaid the money, she apologised

unreservedly to the House of Commons so I think we should leave it there.

The inquiry sintered Henri Miller's London home where she lived with her

parents -- centred on Maria Miller's London home. MPs on the

Standards Committee did order her to play almost ?6,000 she had over

claimed on the mortgage, much less than the 44,000 suggested by the

independent watchdog. From the outside it seems as if MPs are

policing themselves when it comes to expenses and the system is not

always transparent. There is another element to this. Maria Miller is

overseeing a plan for tighter controls of the press, following the

Leveson Inquiry and that has put the government on a collision course

with many of the newspapers. When Telegraph reporter 's first

investigated Mrs Miller's expenses, they say senior advisers find them,

pointing out the responsibility for press regulation. That comes quite

close to menace. They're in mind also, there was quite a climate of

anti-press hysteria in the aftermath of Leveson. When a Cabinet

Minister's advisers ring up newspapers in that fashion and warn

them in that fashion, they are bound to take those threats seriously.

That has been denied by David Cameron's director of

communications. Some colleagues admit Maria Miller

could have handled this better, but crucially she has support from the

very top. Princess Anne has spoken in favour

of gassing badgers as a more humane way of culling them, to limit the

spread of TB to cattle. In a wide ranging interview for Countryfile

this Sunday, the Princess Royal also talks of having eaten horse meat and

finding it "very good". Some animal welfare groups have criticised her

remarks. Countryfile's Tom Heap sent this report.

Princess Anne has run the estate here for nearly 40 years. Whilst not

exactly your average farmer, the business matters. It is not

something that comes free, it has got to pay its way, otherwise I

can't stay here. Alongside holding events for riders of both horses and

mountain bikes, she rears sheep and cows and like many West Country

farmers, she has a disease problem. She owns a herd of around 30 cattle,

mainly these rare breed once. In the last two years she has lost 15 to

TB, including two prize bulls. Last year the government licensed badgers

shooting in two TB hotspots but it hasn't worked as they hoped.

Princess and believes gassing badgers would be more effective. --

Princess Anne believes. Most of the people who have done it in the past

will tell you it is a much nicer way of doing it, if it is not a silly

expression, because of the way it works. How it works is you go to

sleep, basically. Badger welfare groups are horrified and some

scientists say gassing doesn't work. I think gassing is not the right way

forward. Primarily because farmers deserve an effective solution to

this problem. The evidence from the 1970s was that gassing of badgers

was not a very effective way of controlling badger numbers. Another

one of her views may cause argument a little closer to home. Her

brother, Prince Charles, is famously opposed to genetically modified

crops, but she isn't. They do add to our ability to perhaps be more

efficient users of the land that is good. Because I think in the

long-term, when you have the prospect of 9 billion to feed, you

are going to need some help in doing that. And to do it well. Her other

great passion is horses. She was European event and competed in the

Olympics. So eyebrows were raised recently when she suggested eating

them. There are too many forces in Britain, thousands are neglected. An

awful lot of the abandonments are because they don't perceive there to

be any value in the animals. So, OK, chuck them out... They survive or

they die. But the meat trade adds value to the animals, so there is

some point in keeping it healthy, if it has got an end point that it can

go to. Have you ever eaten horse yourself? Certainly. How was it?

Very good, actually. Princess Anne believes her experience gives her

the authority to speak out but that won't stop opponents being alarmed

at hearing such striking views of a senior member of the Royal Family.

And you can see the full interview with Princess Anne on Countryfile,

this Sunday on BBC One at 7:00pm. The number of cases of the highly

infectious illness scarlet fever have reached record levels in

England. Health officials are warning that 5000 new cases have

been reported since September. They are urging people with symptoms,

which include a sore throat, headache, fever and a rash to see

their doctors. The former Formula One champion, Michael Schumacher,

has shown moments of consciousness after months in a coma, according to

his agent. It's just over three months since the 45-year-old

suffered a severe head injury in a skiing accident in the French Alps.

Here's our sports correspondent, Natalie Pirks. As the waiting for

his family turned from days to weeks to months, rumours about whether

Formula One 's most decorated driver would ever recover have continued to

fly. Today, a small but encouraging sign. His manager said, Michael is

making progress on his way. He shows moments of consciousness and

awakening. We are on his side during his long and difficult sides --

fight. We keep remaining confident. Four days after Christmas,

Schumacher skied off piste and hit a rock. He was airlifted to hospital

in a critical condition. Since then, doctors have been working to bring

him out of a medically induced coma. His friends in Formula One

holding their breath. Maybe it is too early for us to start

celebrating anything. Let's hope he comes out of the coma and hopefully

with the kind of effects we will know as Michael Schumacher and let

him live a very positive life thereafter. We do not want him to

come back and drive racing cars, we just want him around. Experts remain

concerned at the sheer length of time he has been in hospital. From a

large experience of patients who have been in a medically induced

coma for a long period of time, I would be cautious. The duration of

the medically induced coma is a good surrogate for the severity of the

underlying condition. Michael Schumacher won seven world titles in

total. Along the way, he claimed many Formula One records, most pole

positions, the fastest laps, most races won. He is one of the greatest

drivers, if not the greatest driver, of all time. One of the wind was the

first-ever Bahrain Grand Prix a decade ago. This weekend, goodwill

messages as the sport known for speed can only wait for news they

can truly celebrate. Our top story... After major damage caused

by the winter storms repairs on the key West Country rail link are

completed ahead of schedule. And still to come... Sir Bruce Forsyth

on why the time is right to step aside from Strictly. Later on BBC

London... Claims of a culture of fear at The Met. The body which

represents rank and file officers labels performance targets as

draconian. And Tom Daley's new coach on her move across the pond to the

Aquatic Centre in the Olympic Park. In the last few years, we have

heared about the collapse of some of the big names on the British high

street - Woolworths, HMV, Oddbins - among others. But a new report

suggests it hasn't all been doom and gloom for the average shopping

street. An analysis of the number of empty stores shows that just 20% of

those on the high street remain vacant. Compare that to 29% in

shopping centres, and even more in retail parks, nearly 40% vacant. Our

business correspondent, Emma Simpson, reports from Weston super

Mare. First it was Woolworths, then it was one household name after

another. Many did not vanish but they did end up with fewer shops,

creating an awful lot of gaps. What has happened since? We went to

Weston-super-Mare where Woollies is now a Poundland. In days gone by,

this was a prime destination for shoppers. This branch closure

another blow for the town. This store has been sitting empty for two

years. It has now got a new owner. The top floors could eventually be

transformed into new flats. And there might be a bit of retail once

more down here. This is one empty store that is about to get a new

lease of life. Mary Portis, the queen of shops, she did a review of

the future of the high street for the Government and told me today's

figures were encouraging. It shows the high street is not dead. We are

using it in a different way and preparing a new type of high street

for the way consumers want to live. Turns out, retail parks are

suffering more when it comes to the fallout from the big

administrations. Meet the boss of the 99p chain. He snapped up dozens

of the vacant stores, all of them on the high street. After Woolworths

went bust, a lot of landlords were worried. They were worried about

empty sites. A lot of them did quick deals at discounted rates to fill

up. That is part of the reason why us discounters have kept the high

street going. The tide has not completely turned. Weston-super-Mare

still has a fight on its hands. There are plenty of empty shops of

the main high street, gaps which may not be so easy to fill. One of

Scotland 's most prominent campaigners for Scottish

independence, Margo MacDonald, has died at the age of 70. She later

served as a member of the Scottish Parliament for the Lothian region.

She had been suffering ROM Parkinson's disease for 20 years.

She called for a change in the law to allow assisted suicide. Deeply

serious, occasionally coquettish, the political partisan who shaved

within Karthik -- constraints. In 1973, Margo MacDonald won Glasgow

Govan in the by-election. I am the MP for Govan. Get that straight.

Guff and got it, Scotland got it but she was to spend just 112 days in

that role as MP, ousted at the general election. She was the Deputy

Leader during the Nationalist honeymoon of the 1990s. She quit the

party in the internal conflict that followed defeat in 1979. She was

much more than a politician, she first qualified as a PE teacher.

Joining us is Margo MacDonald. Good morning. Here with the youthful

Jeremy Paxman, she built a career as a respected broadcaster. The rebirth

of the Scottish Parliament brought her back to front line politics.

Scotland seemed happy to see her. She fought hard on issues like

health care. In 2003, she quits the SNP again and triumphs as a party of

one. Her politics of the left but of the world. If we artificially

confined our interests to our small corner, we will think small thoughts

and do small things. She was the mother of the Scottish Parliament.

She was somebody who believes passionately in Scottish

independence. She was very political. She managed to transcend

party politics. She was backing assisted suicide for the terminally

ill, facing intolerable strain. And, of course, it was partly personal as

she coped with the degenerative disease. I do not want to burden any

doctor, any friend or family member. I want to find a way in which I can

take the decision to end my life in case I am unlucky enough to have the

worst form of Parkinson's near the end of life. Despite that illness,

to the last, she campaigned for Scottish independence, only to die

just months before the referendum. Margo MacDonald, who died today at

the age of 70. England have beaten South Africa to reach a second

successive Women's World Twenty20 final. They restricted South Africa

to 101, then reached their target within 17 overs. They will meet

Australia in the final on Sunday. After ten years, Sir Bruce Forsyth

is stepping down as the regular host of Strictly Come Dancing. The

86-year-old says it is the right time to leave the rigour of hosting

the live shows. The controller of BBC One said Strictly's success was

due in vast amounts to him. Here's our entertainment correspondent,

Lizo Mzimbo. For the last ten years, he has ruled Saturday nights. But

for no longer. Sir Bruce Forsyth is stepping down from one of TV 's most

popular shows. It is sad. I love the show. I have loved doing it. Always

the time comes when you have to say to yourself, look yourself in the

mirror saying, should you be doing this any longer? When the show began

back in 2004, no one was quite sure how successful it would be. You will

see sequence fly and bad-tempered tantrums. And that is just the boys

dressing room! It was an instant hit with viewers. It is not just

Strictly 's loss, Saturday night vision is saying farewell to one of

its most enjoying stars. Nice to see you, to see you nice. For many

years, he hosted The Generation Game. Few believed he would still be

pulling in millions of viewers when he was still into his 80s. He has

made the right decision at the right time. It is important to know when

to call it a day. It is the greatest viewing figures ever achieved by

Strictly. He is not retiring quite yet. He will still do some Strictly

specials and he will definitely keep watching, whoever takes over from

him, on the regular live shows. Follow that, Peter.

Things will quicken up as we go into the weekend. You will notice the

breeze beginning up. Definitely worth factoring some rain into your

plans for the next couple of days. The first batch will head into the

south-west. A little bit chillier than it was last night with rules

sports down to three, four degrees. -- rural spots. As we go through the

day, most of the rain will hang around in the north and west. The

further east you are, the better the chance of getting away with a

largely dry day. During the afternoon, grey and fairly dismal at

times in the South West and Wales. Onshore breezes keep temperatures

down on the south coast. Inland, it is still mild air. A little bit of

rain perhaps for the big race at Aintree and patchy rain in Northern

Ireland. In Scotland, the rain on and off during the day. Chilly on

the eastern coasts. Things looking a little better as we go into Sunday.

A definite change and a brisk south-westerly wind. The next

weather system will come in and it will be more active. There will be

more heavy rain at times across England, Wales and Scotland. Tending

to come and go. In Northern Ireland, a good chance of things drying up

and brightening up on Sunday. Despite the cloud and patchy rain,

it is a mild direction with temperatures up around the mid

teens. Some dry weather now and again. Thank you very