20/12/2012

:00:05. > :00:08.Tonight at ten: Severe weather causing problems in

:00:08. > :00:12.many parts of Britain, as the holiday weekend approaches. More

:00:12. > :00:16.than 300 flood warnings and alerts in force, as roads and railways are

:00:16. > :00:25.disrupted. People are told to prepare their homes for worse

:00:25. > :00:28.conditions over the next few days. We are going to be having people

:00:28. > :00:32.manning the incident rooms and out on the ground right across the

:00:32. > :00:35.Christmas period. The warning comes on the eve of one

:00:35. > :00:36.of the busiest days of the year on the roads.

:00:36. > :00:39.Also tonight: In Afghanistan, David Cameron

:00:39. > :00:44.visits British forces after announcing that 4000 will return

:00:44. > :00:46.home next year. The High Court has been told that a

:00:46. > :00:50.seven-year-old boy with cancer should receive radiotherapy,

:00:50. > :00:56.against his mother's wishes. The pay-off for the BBC's former

:00:56. > :01:06.Director-General was a cavalier use of public money, say MPs.

:01:06. > :01:07.

:01:07. > :01:11.And why the end of the world might be good news for some Mexicans. And

:01:11. > :01:15.in Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, England's cricketers have

:01:15. > :01:25.lost their first international against India. The hosts won by

:01:25. > :01:34.

:01:34. > :01:37.five wickets, with 13 balls to Good evening.

:01:37. > :01:41.There are more than 300 flood warnings and alerts in force

:01:41. > :01:44.tonight in parts of England, Wales and Scotland. Heavy rain has caused

:01:44. > :01:47.disruption for motorists and rail passengers and more rain is

:01:47. > :01:51.expected tomorrow, on one of the busiest days of the year on

:01:51. > :02:01.Britain's roads. One of the worst affected counties is Hampshire, so

:02:01. > :02:03.

:02:03. > :02:07.let's join Robert Hall in village For much of today, a single brick

:02:07. > :02:12.wall was all that stood between this village and the flood water

:02:12. > :02:16.raging down from the hills a couple of miles inland. Thankfully, due to

:02:16. > :02:21.the efforts of the council staff and the extra sandbags that were

:02:21. > :02:25.provided in a great hurry earlier this afternoon, the defences held.

:02:25. > :02:30.But that was not the case in communities stretching from the

:02:30. > :02:34.south coast to Scotland, and there is more bad weather on the way.

:02:34. > :02:39.Lazy streams swollen to fast- flowing rivers, sandbags once again

:02:39. > :02:42.in demand. This evening, councils and emergency services are looking

:02:42. > :02:52.back at another testing day, and forward to a difficult Christmas

:02:52. > :02:52.

:02:52. > :02:56.period. A miserable morning among so many. Dark skies over the New

:02:56. > :03:01.Forest, and puddles which merged into streams, flowing across the

:03:01. > :03:04.routes to work and to Christmas shopping. Early risers from

:03:04. > :03:10.Cornwall to Aberdeenshire had been met with persistent rain and roads

:03:10. > :03:14.which could so easily catch out the unwary. Near the town of

:03:14. > :03:18.Brockenhurst, a police community support officer rescued a father

:03:18. > :03:22.and daughter from this vehicle as the water rose around it. I had

:03:22. > :03:26.been on routine patrol coming across. You can see the Porsche in

:03:26. > :03:29.there, with two occupants trapped in the vehicle. We got it out

:03:29. > :03:34.before the car went on the water completely but they are very cold

:03:34. > :03:37.and waiting for an ambulance. Government have echoed calls from

:03:37. > :03:42.emergency services for drivers to be vigilant and take account of the

:03:42. > :03:47.way flooding can change the landscape. We have people driving

:03:47. > :03:51.through Ford's. Please do not do that. It is incredibly dangerous.

:03:51. > :03:57.Please stay at home. Do not make the journeys unless you absolutely

:03:57. > :04:00.have to command if you do, go the safe route. Further east, the

:04:00. > :04:04.Environment Agency issued a severe flood alert in the village of

:04:04. > :04:08.Wallington, near Fareham. Council teams hurried to strengthen a

:04:08. > :04:12.cracked retaining wall, as the river level rose and a high tide

:04:12. > :04:16.approached. Villagers prepared to evacuate, and remembering the

:04:16. > :04:20.damage caused by previous floods, they did what they could to protect

:04:20. > :04:24.homes and property. You have done as much as you can do. You just

:04:24. > :04:30.wait and hope that these will not be tested. If we are lucky, they

:04:30. > :04:35.will not be tested. If they are, I hope their work. As the rain fell,

:04:35. > :04:39.the volume of calls for help Rose. Fire crews helped council staff to

:04:39. > :04:44.keep floodwater moving in Cornwall. Environment Agency teams mobilised

:04:44. > :04:47.to prepare flood defences on the River Severn and the River Avon.

:04:47. > :04:51.Communities in the Somerset Levels, once again watching their farm land

:04:51. > :04:56.disappear across the flood plain. Muddy water spilling across roads

:04:56. > :05:01.which had barely been opened in recent weeks. Right across the

:05:01. > :05:05.country, the ground is saturated. We have had rain over the last few

:05:05. > :05:11.weeks, more rain this week, and is looking like an unsettled picture

:05:11. > :05:14.over the following days, right over the Christmas period. And the rain

:05:14. > :05:18.rolls on, bringing with it flood warnings extending into the weekend,

:05:18. > :05:23.and the threat of travel disruption to much of the UK just when we

:05:23. > :05:28.needed it least. The trouble is that even when the

:05:28. > :05:31.rain stops, it is never for long enough. It might clear the roads,

:05:31. > :05:35.but the ground water is still high, and when the next weather front

:05:35. > :05:38.comes in, back comes the flood water. They are several weather

:05:38. > :05:42.fronts on the way, with rain and wind. Scotland has been warned of

:05:42. > :05:45.coastal flooding, just as we are planning to get on to cars and

:05:45. > :05:49.trains to visit relatives for Christmas. The warning tonight is

:05:49. > :05:53.that there may well be disruption to travel. If you have to travel by

:05:53. > :05:56.road, prepare for delays and take care.

:05:56. > :05:59.David Cameron has been visiting British forces in Afghanistan, a

:05:59. > :06:03.day after the Government announced that nearly 4000 troops will return

:06:03. > :06:07.home by the end of next year. He said that British forces had paid a

:06:07. > :06:12.high price over the past 11 years but their presence had reduced the

:06:12. > :06:20.number of terrorist plots hatched in Afghanistan. James Landale is

:06:21. > :06:26.travelling with the Prime Minister and sent this report. The winter

:06:26. > :06:30.sky over Afghanistan. On the ground, it is cold but relatively peaceful.

:06:30. > :06:35.The weather making fighting hard and travelling tricky, as David

:06:35. > :06:38.Cameron found when his arrival in Helmand was disrupted by fog. The

:06:38. > :06:42.Prime Minister came to tell British troops himself that within months

:06:42. > :06:48.thousands of them would start leaving, a draw down based on the

:06:48. > :06:55.success they had had been building up the Afghan army, he said. But

:06:55. > :07:00.after 11 years of conflict, at what price? 458 dead, many more gravely

:07:00. > :07:05.injured. Has it been worth it? While it is still a difficult and

:07:05. > :07:08.dangerous place, when I sit in Downing Street and look at where

:07:08. > :07:11.the plots we face in terms of terror, where they come from, far

:07:11. > :07:16.fewer come from this part of the world then used to be the case when

:07:16. > :07:20.we first came to the Afghanistan, so we have Maint -- made real

:07:20. > :07:23.progress, but it is difficult and we have paid a high price. That is

:07:23. > :07:28.forward operating base, servicemen and women enjoyed the distraction

:07:28. > :07:32.of so it -- enjoying a meal and a game with the Prime Minister. What

:07:32. > :07:35.pleased them most is the idea of going home. And their boss, who

:07:35. > :07:40.commands more than half of all British troops, insisted Afghan

:07:40. > :07:45.forces were now ready to take their place. The insurgency is still

:07:45. > :07:49.there. It has not gone, but it does not dictate things. Afghan security

:07:49. > :07:52.forces are in control. We -- people enjoy the protection of their

:07:52. > :07:56.security forces and it is appropriate that we had more of

:07:56. > :08:00.that control to the Afghans. Cameron is getting a clear message

:08:01. > :08:05.from his commanders - it is right to withdraw and the Afghan army is

:08:05. > :08:12.growing in confidence. But the insurgency has not gone away and it

:08:12. > :08:19.may come back in the summer. This conflict is not over yet. But for

:08:19. > :08:23.now, a time to sing carols in a cold Helmand night. Moments pies

:08:23. > :08:26.for mulled wine, but tidings of comfort and joy from the Prime

:08:26. > :08:33.Minister that just maybe there will not be too many more Christmases

:08:33. > :08:36.like this. -- no mince pies. A High Court judge will decide

:08:36. > :08:38.tomorrow whether a seven-year-old cancer patient should receive

:08:38. > :08:41.treatment that doctors say he urgently needs. Neon Roberts'

:08:41. > :08:44.mother is against using radiotherapy because of fears it

:08:44. > :08:54.could cause him lasting damage. But the court heard that the child's

:08:54. > :08:58.father disagrees. Branwen Jeffreys reports. Sally Roberts spent

:08:58. > :09:03.yesterday in hospital with her son. Today, she was back at the High

:09:03. > :09:09.Court, taking on both doctors and her former husband. Neon Roberts is

:09:09. > :09:12.just seven. He has a common type of brain cancer. Doctors want to give

:09:12. > :09:18.him the standard UK treatment, described as the gold standard,

:09:18. > :09:23.because it offers more than 80% survival. And his dad agrees. But

:09:23. > :09:27.Sally Roberts does not want him treated with these machines. They

:09:27. > :09:33.target invisible cancer cells with radiation. She is worried about the

:09:33. > :09:36.side-effects. Experts say these are well known and can be minimised.

:09:36. > :09:41.Radiotherapy could affect a child's ability to learn, and therefore

:09:41. > :09:45.they might need more support in school. It can also affect the

:09:45. > :09:51.hormone levels in the brain. But this is less of a problem, as it

:09:51. > :09:55.can be monitored and corrected if necessary. On October 25th, Neon

:09:55. > :09:59.had an operation to remove a brain tumour. Radiotherapy and

:10:00. > :10:04.chemotherapy were meant to follow, but between 3rd December and 6th

:10:04. > :10:07.December, Sally Roberts and Neon went missing. After a High Court

:10:07. > :10:12.hearing on 7th December, the court was told that more tumour had been

:10:12. > :10:16.found in the same place. On the 18th, Mr Justice Bodey ordered

:10:16. > :10:21.another operation on the honour should go ahead. That happened

:10:21. > :10:25.yesterday. And today, the surly Roberts requested a further delay

:10:25. > :10:29.to the court case. Mr Justice Bodey rejected the application for

:10:29. > :10:33.further delays, saying there is not the luxury of time in this case,

:10:33. > :10:38.and adding that there needed to be decisions made about me on's

:10:38. > :10:43.treatment. The role of the judge is to consider the child's welfare,

:10:43. > :10:49.his best interests, and in doing so he will be considering both the

:10:49. > :10:53.views of the parents, and also the views of the medical evidence, the

:10:54. > :10:56.risks and benefits of treatment. Clearly, this is a very emotive

:10:56. > :11:02.decision and it highlights the difficulties we have about values

:11:02. > :11:05.and what we mean by best interests. Tomorrow, Neon's mother will get

:11:05. > :11:09.one more chance to try to produce evidence of a credible alternative

:11:09. > :11:13.treatment. Then it will be up to the judge to decide what happens

:11:13. > :11:16.next. A former Radio One producer has

:11:16. > :11:19.said he vehemently denies allegations put to him by police

:11:19. > :11:23.investigating sex abuse claims against Jimmy Savile and others.

:11:23. > :11:26.Ted Beston, 76 and from Bromley in south London, was released on bail

:11:26. > :11:32.yesterday after being questioned by officers on suspicion of sex

:11:32. > :11:35.offences. Detectives investigating whether a

:11:35. > :11:37.police officer lied about witnessing an incident in Downing

:11:37. > :11:42.Street involving the former Government chief whip Andrew

:11:42. > :11:46.Mitchell have made another arrest. The 23-year-old suspect has been

:11:46. > :11:53.questioned and released on police bail. Mr Mitchell admitted swearing

:11:53. > :11:57.at officers but has always denied claims that he called them "plebs".

:11:57. > :12:00.The head of the Police Federation has promised to apologise to Mr

:12:00. > :12:08.Mitchell if he's been the victim of an injustice, as Tom Symonds

:12:09. > :12:13.reports. The CCTV pictures show what happened in the darkness of

:12:13. > :12:17.Downing Street that night, but not what was said. Andrew Mitchell

:12:17. > :12:22.insists he did not call the police clubs. His reputation hangs on the

:12:22. > :12:25.police investigation, and now a second arrest has been made.

:12:25. > :12:30.Officers investigating the circumstances surrounding a police

:12:30. > :12:35.officer's claim to have witnessed an incident in Downing Street in

:12:35. > :12:40.20th September 12, have arrested a man on suspicion of intentionally

:12:40. > :12:44.encouraging, or assisting the commission of an indictable offence.

:12:44. > :12:48.This is a live, fast-moving criminal investigation. Scotland

:12:48. > :12:51.Yard have said little more about the arrest but it is likely to be

:12:51. > :12:55.connected with information police received last week, and the

:12:55. > :12:59.subsequent arrest of a serving police officer. Detectives want to

:12:59. > :13:04.know if he was involved in a conspiracy with someone else. It is

:13:04. > :13:07.alleged that this officer falsely claimed in an e-mail passed to

:13:07. > :13:12.Number 10 that he had seen it all happen through the Downing Street

:13:12. > :13:17.railings, including Mr Mitchell swearing. The Cabinet Secretary was

:13:17. > :13:21.asked to investigate by checking the CCTV footage, to see if someone

:13:21. > :13:26.could have been close enough to witness the encounter. Today, the

:13:26. > :13:30.Prime Minister confirmed that had raised suspicions. I made sure this

:13:30. > :13:34.individual was asked whether or not he was a police officer, and he

:13:34. > :13:38.flatly denied it. So I take full responsibility for it. But, of

:13:38. > :13:41.course, we knew this e-mail was unreliable so it did not affect my

:13:41. > :13:45.judgment, Hulton Abbey, about whether Andrew Mitchell should stay

:13:45. > :13:49.in the Government. The judgment was that the row had got so toxic that

:13:49. > :13:53.Mr Mitchell had to go. But the suggestion that he might be the

:13:53. > :13:57.wronged party has led to Conservative fury at the way the

:13:57. > :14:02.police campaign against him. police must be above politics in

:14:02. > :14:05.our country. The Police Federation decided to become a lobbying, an

:14:05. > :14:10.extremely aggressive lobbying body, determined to get a minister, a

:14:10. > :14:15.cabinet minister. Some local branches of the Police Federation

:14:15. > :14:20.free be linked plebgate to police cuts, but following recent events,

:14:20. > :14:23.the tone has softened. I will wait to see what happens in relation to

:14:23. > :14:27.the investigation and if he has been done a calumny in relation to

:14:28. > :14:32.what has happened, I will be one of the first to apologise. Under the

:14:32. > :14:35.shadow of that possible calumny, a false accusation, Andrew Mitchell

:14:35. > :14:41.visited his local police station today. The pictures confirm that

:14:41. > :14:44.efforts were being made to keep Coming up on tonight's programme:

:14:44. > :14:54.The story of the Gloucestershire woman spared the death sentence for

:14:54. > :14:54.

:14:54. > :14:57.drug smuggling in Bali. The White House has dismissed the

:14:57. > :15:00.Republicans' latest proposals for avoiding huge tax rises and

:15:00. > :15:03.spending cuts in the new year as an "exercise in futility". The budget

:15:03. > :15:06.changes, the so-called fiscal cliff, will be triggered automatically in

:15:06. > :15:09.11 days' time unless Congress can reach a deal. There are warnings

:15:09. > :15:15.the cuts would cause huge damage to the US economy and to global

:15:15. > :15:25.recovery. Our North America editor, Mark Mardell, reports from

:15:25. > :15:29.

:15:29. > :15:34.Washington. The latest on the fiscal cliff... Fiscal cliff...

:15:34. > :15:38.Fiscal cliff. The ugly phrase on everyone's lips - fiscal cliff - is

:15:39. > :15:42.what America could tumble off in just 11 days' time. If the

:15:43. > :15:48.President and the warring parties in Congress can't agree, there'll

:15:48. > :15:52.be automatic savage cuts and brutal tax rises. Neither side are budging

:15:52. > :16:02.much. Republicans blame President Obama. He blames them. It is very

:16:02. > :16:03.

:16:03. > :16:08.hard for them to say yes to me. But at some point they've got to take

:16:08. > :16:14.me out of it and think about their voters. For weeks the White House

:16:14. > :16:19.has said that if I moved on rates, that they would make substantial

:16:19. > :16:25.concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. I did my part.

:16:25. > :16:29.They have done nothing. Few doubt that falling toff cliff would be

:16:29. > :16:34.dramatic. It would be automatic spending cuts worth more than $1

:16:34. > :16:40.trillion. Taxing for households would go up by about �2,000. Most

:16:40. > :16:45.economists say the USA would be pushed back into recession and

:16:45. > :16:53.global growth for 2013 could be halved. The US defence budget alone

:16:53. > :17:00.would face a cut of $500 billion. Companies like eeds are nervous.

:17:00. > :17:03.Job would go but it is already hurting business - EADS. People say,

:17:03. > :17:08."Do I really have the confidence level necessary to make an

:17:08. > :17:13.investment in a particular asset when I know little about where this

:17:13. > :17:17.is going?" It is not just the big boys who worry about staying aloft.

:17:17. > :17:20.Scaled down, this toy shop has ha the same fears. The boss wants to

:17:20. > :17:23.open another store, but not if customers will have less money.

:17:23. > :17:28.People are going to have to pay more taxs. Everybody is going to

:17:28. > :17:32.have to pay more taxes. People may spend less money, the economy goes

:17:33. > :17:36.back into recession. The calamitous effect of failing to do a deal are

:17:36. > :17:41.deliberate, designed to focus minds. But it's a dangerous thing,

:17:41. > :17:44.fighting on the edge of a cliff. You can fall off without really

:17:44. > :17:47.meaning to. And you can find more detail on the

:17:47. > :17:54.so-called fiscal cliff and the proposals for dealing with it on

:17:54. > :17:57.the BBC News website - bbc.co.uk/news.

:17:57. > :18:00.The Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, has rejected strong

:18:00. > :18:03.criticism from MPs of the �450,000 pay-off to George Entwistle when he

:18:03. > :18:05.resigned as Director General in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

:18:05. > :18:10.The Public Accounts Committee accused the Corporation of a

:18:10. > :18:13."cavalier use of public money". But Lord Patten said the settlement had

:18:13. > :18:23.saved the BBC a lengthy legal battle which would have resulted in

:18:23. > :18:24.

:18:24. > :18:29.greater costs, as David Sillito reports. For those in charge of the

:18:29. > :18:34.BBC the papers were grim reading today. Chaos, confusion, melt doub,

:18:34. > :18:39.the verdict on how it handled the dropped investigation into Jimmy

:18:39. > :18:42.Savile was damning. So too is a new report into the �450,000 payout to

:18:42. > :18:52.the former Director General, George Entwistle. The man on the right

:18:52. > :18:52.

:18:52. > :18:56.here, the BBC chairman, Lord Patten paid twice to avoid a costly legal

:18:57. > :19:02.battle. This looks wrong and it might have been a better call to

:19:02. > :19:07.say OK, we'll pay him what we are contractually due and challenge him

:19:07. > :19:12.to take the BBC to court. chairman said his hands were tied

:19:12. > :19:15.and he felt the treatment being meted out was shabby given that he

:19:15. > :19:22.explained. If we hadn't done the settlement there and then we would

:19:22. > :19:27.have to do a more costly settlement where a constructive dismissal and

:19:27. > :19:32.probably an unfair dismissal on top of that. And the BBC is till

:19:32. > :19:36.digesting the pages of the Pollard Report and the stinging criticisms

:19:36. > :19:41.about its inability to deal with a crisis, find out facts, and,

:19:41. > :19:45.crucially, its lack of leadership. And one of those leaders, the BBC's

:19:45. > :19:49.director of news, Helen Boaden, today returned to work the day

:19:49. > :19:53.after her deputy had resigned. REPORTER: Do you think it is right

:19:53. > :19:59.thaw kept your job at the BBC? That's for others to decides. I'm

:19:59. > :20:04.just going in to do my job. REPORTER: How do you restore trust

:20:04. > :20:09.in BBC News? It has never diminished. It is still the most

:20:09. > :20:13.trusted news in this country. Pollard said during the Savile

:20:13. > :20:16.crisis her department had been in virtual meltdown. The pressure is

:20:16. > :20:20.on for real change. The really important thing is there needs to

:20:20. > :20:22.be a fundamental overhaul of the entire management structure of the

:20:22. > :20:27.BBC that. Doesn't just mean shifting a few people around.

:20:27. > :20:31.the BBC will have to brace itself in the coming months for more

:20:31. > :20:35.revelations. The second inquiry looking back over 40 years of the

:20:35. > :20:38.BBC and Jimmy Savile has only just begun.

:20:38. > :20:41.Prosecutors in Bali are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for a

:20:41. > :20:44.British woman who's accused of trying to smuggle more than �1

:20:44. > :20:50.million of cocaine onto the island. Lindsay Sandiford, who was arrested

:20:50. > :20:53.in May, had been facing the death penalty. Another British woman,

:20:53. > :20:55.Rachel Dougall, was sentenced to one year in jail. From Bali,

:20:55. > :21:05.Karishma Vaswani sent this report, which includes some flash

:21:05. > :21:06.

:21:06. > :21:09.photography. Covering her head from the glare of the cameras as she

:21:09. > :21:15.entered the coofplt 56-year-old Lindsay Sandiford listened intently

:21:15. > :21:19.to her translator as an Indonesian prosecutor read out his demand.

:21:19. > :21:23.Lawyers could have asked for the death sentence for the mother of

:21:24. > :21:31.two from Gloucestershire, but instead they demanded 15 years,

:21:31. > :21:36.saying she's co-operated with the police. Still, Mrs Sandiford was

:21:36. > :21:41.visibly agitated after the court proceedings. Throughout the trial,

:21:41. > :21:46.she's said she was coerced by the others involved in the case into

:21:46. > :21:50.bringing the cocaine from Bangkok to Bali. Mrs Sandiford was arrested

:21:50. > :21:55.in May when she entered Bali airport as a tourist. Police

:21:56. > :22:01.paraded her in front of the cameras, with the 4.8 kgs of drugs they say

:22:01. > :22:07.they found in the lining of her suitcase. And this is the woman Mrs

:22:07. > :22:11.Sandiford says forced her into it. Rachel Dougall from Brighton.

:22:11. > :22:15.Initially Bali police thought this mother of a six-year-old was a

:22:15. > :22:20.major player, but today they sentenced her to a year in prison

:22:20. > :22:26.for the charge of failing to report a crime, saying her involvement was

:22:26. > :22:31.minor. I'm just happy to be reunited with my baby, thank you.

:22:31. > :22:34.But for Lindsay Sandiford the wait isn't over yet. Her verdict is

:22:34. > :22:37.still a few weeks away. Lindsay Sandiford's trial and that of the

:22:38. > :22:44.three other British national it is involved in this case here the Bali

:22:44. > :22:49.has put the international spotlight on Indonesia's strict drug laws.

:22:49. > :22:54.The maximum penalty for drug trafficking here is death by firing

:22:54. > :22:58.squad. This peaceful holiday spot draws mofls tourists here every

:22:58. > :23:02.year. The authorities want to ensure that nothing ruins that

:23:02. > :23:04.image and they won't hesitate to enforce the law.

:23:04. > :23:07.The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, says his organisation will

:23:07. > :23:10.release a million more secret documents from many countries next

:23:10. > :23:13.year. He was speaking from a balcony at the Ecuadorean Embassy

:23:13. > :23:21.in London, where he claimed asylum six months ago to avoid extradition

:23:21. > :23:24.to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

:23:24. > :23:27.In Mexico the state of Yucatan is expected to draw a record surge of

:23:27. > :23:30.tourists, eager to test the ancient Mayan prediction that the world

:23:30. > :23:35.will end tomorrow. Or to be more precise, that the Mayan calendar,

:23:35. > :23:38.devised 5,000 years ago, reaches its last day tomorrow. The notion

:23:38. > :23:40.of an imminent apocalypse is affecting people in other parts of

:23:40. > :23:50.the world, including China and France, as Nick Higham has

:23:50. > :23:59.

:23:59. > :24:04.Whatever else it may be, the end of the world is good for business.

:24:04. > :24:11.Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, site of the ancient Mayan civilisation, is

:24:11. > :24:15.enjoying a tourist boom. Experts say it is not clear whether the

:24:15. > :24:19.Mayan prophecies really do mean the end of the world tomorrow. Some

:24:19. > :24:23.speak of apocalypse, the end of the world, of rising flood and fire.

:24:23. > :24:27.But others speak rather of a transition from one great cycle of

:24:28. > :24:35.human time and experience to a new cycle which will be much more

:24:35. > :24:39.positive, both for human kind and the planet. In China, one inventor

:24:39. > :24:43.has created an end of the world pod for those hoping to survive

:24:43. > :24:46.Armageddon. In Britain there are plans for parties. I could do a

:24:46. > :24:51.party tomorrow but at the end of the day, if it is the end of the

:24:51. > :24:58.day tomorrow the party's not going to happen is it? So just get one

:24:58. > :25:03.last one in. No-one knows what the end of the world might be like, but

:25:04. > :25:07.John Martin imagined in this painting. The seventh day

:25:07. > :25:11.adinventists forecast the end of the world in 1874. And Sir Isaac

:25:11. > :25:17.Newton thought Christ's millennium would begin and the world would end

:25:17. > :25:21.in 2000. But the prize for persistence goes to Harold Camping,

:25:21. > :25:25.who predicted the end of the world six times between 1949 and 2011. He

:25:25. > :25:29.was wrong every time France the village of Bugarach has been sealed

:25:29. > :25:34.off by police and surrounded by journalists after rumours spread

:25:34. > :25:40.that the local mountain would prove a safe haven tomorrow. The locals

:25:40. > :25:45.feared an onslaught of new age survivalists. We don't think the

:25:45. > :25:50.world will end. REPORTER: You came here for the fun of the story?

:25:50. > :25:56.The same as the journalists, come to meet some crazy people and maybe

:25:56. > :26:02.see some UFOs if we are lucky. Though it might take more than a

:26:02. > :26:05.UFO to survive this if it turns tout Mayans were right after all.