20/12/2012 BBC News at Ten


20/12/2012

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Tonight at ten: Severe weather causing problems in

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many parts of Britain, as the holiday weekend approaches. More

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than 300 flood warnings and alerts in force, as roads and railways are

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disrupted. People are told to prepare their homes for worse

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conditions over the next few days. We are going to be having people

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manning the incident rooms and out on the ground right across the

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Christmas period. The warning comes on the eve of one

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of the busiest days of the year on the roads.

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Also tonight: In Afghanistan, David Cameron

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visits British forces after announcing that 4000 will return

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home next year. The High Court has been told that a

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seven-year-old boy with cancer should receive radiotherapy,

:00:46.:00:50.

against his mother's wishes. The pay-off for the BBC's former

:00:50.:00:56.

Director-General was a cavalier use of public money, say MPs.

:00:56.:01:06.
:01:06.:01:07.

And why the end of the world might be good news for some Mexicans. And

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in Sportsday on the BBC News Channel, England's cricketers have

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lost their first international against India. The hosts won by

:01:15.:01:25.
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five wickets, with 13 balls to Good evening.

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There are more than 300 flood warnings and alerts in force

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tonight in parts of England, Wales and Scotland. Heavy rain has caused

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disruption for motorists and rail passengers and more rain is

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expected tomorrow, on one of the busiest days of the year on

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Britain's roads. One of the worst affected counties is Hampshire, so

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let's join Robert Hall in village For much of today, a single brick

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wall was all that stood between this village and the flood water

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raging down from the hills a couple of miles inland. Thankfully, due to

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the efforts of the council staff and the extra sandbags that were

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provided in a great hurry earlier this afternoon, the defences held.

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But that was not the case in communities stretching from the

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south coast to Scotland, and there is more bad weather on the way.

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Lazy streams swollen to fast- flowing rivers, sandbags once again

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in demand. This evening, councils and emergency services are looking

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back at another testing day, and forward to a difficult Christmas

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period. A miserable morning among so many. Dark skies over the New

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Forest, and puddles which merged into streams, flowing across the

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routes to work and to Christmas shopping. Early risers from

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Cornwall to Aberdeenshire had been met with persistent rain and roads

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which could so easily catch out the unwary. Near the town of

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Brockenhurst, a police community support officer rescued a father

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and daughter from this vehicle as the water rose around it. I had

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been on routine patrol coming across. You can see the Porsche in

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there, with two occupants trapped in the vehicle. We got it out

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before the car went on the water completely but they are very cold

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and waiting for an ambulance. Government have echoed calls from

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emergency services for drivers to be vigilant and take account of the

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way flooding can change the landscape. We have people driving

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through Ford's. Please do not do that. It is incredibly dangerous.

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Please stay at home. Do not make the journeys unless you absolutely

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have to command if you do, go the safe route. Further east, the

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Environment Agency issued a severe flood alert in the village of

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Wallington, near Fareham. Council teams hurried to strengthen a

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cracked retaining wall, as the river level rose and a high tide

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approached. Villagers prepared to evacuate, and remembering the

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damage caused by previous floods, they did what they could to protect

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homes and property. You have done as much as you can do. You just

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wait and hope that these will not be tested. If we are lucky, they

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will not be tested. If they are, I hope their work. As the rain fell,

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the volume of calls for help Rose. Fire crews helped council staff to

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keep floodwater moving in Cornwall. Environment Agency teams mobilised

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to prepare flood defences on the River Severn and the River Avon.

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Communities in the Somerset Levels, once again watching their farm land

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disappear across the flood plain. Muddy water spilling across roads

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which had barely been opened in recent weeks. Right across the

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country, the ground is saturated. We have had rain over the last few

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weeks, more rain this week, and is looking like an unsettled picture

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over the following days, right over the Christmas period. And the rain

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rolls on, bringing with it flood warnings extending into the weekend,

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and the threat of travel disruption to much of the UK just when we

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needed it least. The trouble is that even when the

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rain stops, it is never for long enough. It might clear the roads,

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but the ground water is still high, and when the next weather front

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comes in, back comes the flood water. They are several weather

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fronts on the way, with rain and wind. Scotland has been warned of

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coastal flooding, just as we are planning to get on to cars and

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trains to visit relatives for Christmas. The warning tonight is

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that there may well be disruption to travel. If you have to travel by

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road, prepare for delays and take care.

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David Cameron has been visiting British forces in Afghanistan, a

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day after the Government announced that nearly 4000 troops will return

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home by the end of next year. He said that British forces had paid a

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high price over the past 11 years but their presence had reduced the

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number of terrorist plots hatched in Afghanistan. James Landale is

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travelling with the Prime Minister and sent this report. The winter

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sky over Afghanistan. On the ground, it is cold but relatively peaceful.

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The weather making fighting hard and travelling tricky, as David

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Cameron found when his arrival in Helmand was disrupted by fog. The

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Prime Minister came to tell British troops himself that within months

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thousands of them would start leaving, a draw down based on the

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success they had had been building up the Afghan army, he said. But

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after 11 years of conflict, at what price? 458 dead, many more gravely

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injured. Has it been worth it? While it is still a difficult and

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dangerous place, when I sit in Downing Street and look at where

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the plots we face in terms of terror, where they come from, far

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fewer come from this part of the world then used to be the case when

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we first came to the Afghanistan, so we have Maint -- made real

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progress, but it is difficult and we have paid a high price. That is

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forward operating base, servicemen and women enjoyed the distraction

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of so it -- enjoying a meal and a game with the Prime Minister. What

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pleased them most is the idea of going home. And their boss, who

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commands more than half of all British troops, insisted Afghan

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forces were now ready to take their place. The insurgency is still

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there. It has not gone, but it does not dictate things. Afghan security

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forces are in control. We -- people enjoy the protection of their

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security forces and it is appropriate that we had more of

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that control to the Afghans. Cameron is getting a clear message

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from his commanders - it is right to withdraw and the Afghan army is

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growing in confidence. But the insurgency has not gone away and it

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may come back in the summer. This conflict is not over yet. But for

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now, a time to sing carols in a cold Helmand night. Moments pies

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for mulled wine, but tidings of comfort and joy from the Prime

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Minister that just maybe there will not be too many more Christmases

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like this. -- no mince pies. A High Court judge will decide

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tomorrow whether a seven-year-old cancer patient should receive

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treatment that doctors say he urgently needs. Neon Roberts'

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mother is against using radiotherapy because of fears it

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could cause him lasting damage. But the court heard that the child's

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father disagrees. Branwen Jeffreys reports. Sally Roberts spent

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yesterday in hospital with her son. Today, she was back at the High

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Court, taking on both doctors and her former husband. Neon Roberts is

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just seven. He has a common type of brain cancer. Doctors want to give

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him the standard UK treatment, described as the gold standard,

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because it offers more than 80% survival. And his dad agrees. But

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Sally Roberts does not want him treated with these machines. They

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target invisible cancer cells with radiation. She is worried about the

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side-effects. Experts say these are well known and can be minimised.

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Radiotherapy could affect a child's ability to learn, and therefore

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they might need more support in school. It can also affect the

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hormone levels in the brain. But this is less of a problem, as it

:09:45.:09:51.

can be monitored and corrected if necessary. On October 25th, Neon

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had an operation to remove a brain tumour. Radiotherapy and

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chemotherapy were meant to follow, but between 3rd December and 6th

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December, Sally Roberts and Neon went missing. After a High Court

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hearing on 7th December, the court was told that more tumour had been

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found in the same place. On the 18th, Mr Justice Bodey ordered

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another operation on the honour should go ahead. That happened

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yesterday. And today, the surly Roberts requested a further delay

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to the court case. Mr Justice Bodey rejected the application for

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further delays, saying there is not the luxury of time in this case,

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and adding that there needed to be decisions made about me on's

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treatment. The role of the judge is to consider the child's welfare,

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his best interests, and in doing so he will be considering both the

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views of the parents, and also the views of the medical evidence, the

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risks and benefits of treatment. Clearly, this is a very emotive

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decision and it highlights the difficulties we have about values

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and what we mean by best interests. Tomorrow, Neon's mother will get

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one more chance to try to produce evidence of a credible alternative

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treatment. Then it will be up to the judge to decide what happens

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next. A former Radio One producer has

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said he vehemently denies allegations put to him by police

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investigating sex abuse claims against Jimmy Savile and others.

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Ted Beston, 76 and from Bromley in south London, was released on bail

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yesterday after being questioned by officers on suspicion of sex

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offences. Detectives investigating whether a

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police officer lied about witnessing an incident in Downing

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Street involving the former Government chief whip Andrew

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Mitchell have made another arrest. The 23-year-old suspect has been

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questioned and released on police bail. Mr Mitchell admitted swearing

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at officers but has always denied claims that he called them "plebs".

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The head of the Police Federation has promised to apologise to Mr

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Mitchell if he's been the victim of an injustice, as Tom Symonds

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reports. The CCTV pictures show what happened in the darkness of

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Downing Street that night, but not what was said. Andrew Mitchell

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insists he did not call the police clubs. His reputation hangs on the

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police investigation, and now a second arrest has been made.

:12:22.:12:25.

Officers investigating the circumstances surrounding a police

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officer's claim to have witnessed an incident in Downing Street in

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20th September 12, have arrested a man on suspicion of intentionally

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encouraging, or assisting the commission of an indictable offence.

:12:40.:12:44.

This is a live, fast-moving criminal investigation. Scotland

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Yard have said little more about the arrest but it is likely to be

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connected with information police received last week, and the

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subsequent arrest of a serving police officer. Detectives want to

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know if he was involved in a conspiracy with someone else. It is

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alleged that this officer falsely claimed in an e-mail passed to

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Number 10 that he had seen it all happen through the Downing Street

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railings, including Mr Mitchell swearing. The Cabinet Secretary was

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asked to investigate by checking the CCTV footage, to see if someone

:13:17.:13:21.

could have been close enough to witness the encounter. Today, the

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Prime Minister confirmed that had raised suspicions. I made sure this

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individual was asked whether or not he was a police officer, and he

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flatly denied it. So I take full responsibility for it. But, of

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course, we knew this e-mail was unreliable so it did not affect my

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judgment, Hulton Abbey, about whether Andrew Mitchell should stay

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in the Government. The judgment was that the row had got so toxic that

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Mr Mitchell had to go. But the suggestion that he might be the

:13:49.:13:53.

wronged party has led to Conservative fury at the way the

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police campaign against him. police must be above politics in

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our country. The Police Federation decided to become a lobbying, an

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extremely aggressive lobbying body, determined to get a minister, a

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cabinet minister. Some local branches of the Police Federation

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free be linked plebgate to police cuts, but following recent events,

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the tone has softened. I will wait to see what happens in relation to

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the investigation and if he has been done a calumny in relation to

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what has happened, I will be one of the first to apologise. Under the

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shadow of that possible calumny, a false accusation, Andrew Mitchell

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visited his local police station today. The pictures confirm that

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efforts were being made to keep Coming up on tonight's programme:

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The story of the Gloucestershire woman spared the death sentence for

:14:44.:14:54.
:14:54.:14:54.

drug smuggling in Bali. The White House has dismissed the

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Republicans' latest proposals for avoiding huge tax rises and

:14:57.:15:00.

spending cuts in the new year as an "exercise in futility". The budget

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changes, the so-called fiscal cliff, will be triggered automatically in

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11 days' time unless Congress can reach a deal. There are warnings

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the cuts would cause huge damage to the US economy and to global

:15:09.:15:15.

recovery. Our North America editor, Mark Mardell, reports from

:15:15.:15:25.
:15:25.:15:29.

Washington. The latest on the fiscal cliff... Fiscal cliff...

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Fiscal cliff. The ugly phrase on everyone's lips - fiscal cliff - is

:15:34.:15:38.

what America could tumble off in just 11 days' time. If the

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President and the warring parties in Congress can't agree, there'll

:15:43.:15:48.

be automatic savage cuts and brutal tax rises. Neither side are budging

:15:48.:15:52.

much. Republicans blame President Obama. He blames them. It is very

:15:52.:16:02.
:16:02.:16:03.

hard for them to say yes to me. But at some point they've got to take

:16:03.:16:08.

me out of it and think about their voters. For weeks the White House

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has said that if I moved on rates, that they would make substantial

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concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reforms. I did my part.

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They have done nothing. Few doubt that falling toff cliff would be

:16:25.:16:29.

dramatic. It would be automatic spending cuts worth more than $1

:16:29.:16:34.

trillion. Taxing for households would go up by about �2,000. Most

:16:34.:16:40.

economists say the USA would be pushed back into recession and

:16:40.:16:45.

global growth for 2013 could be halved. The US defence budget alone

:16:45.:16:53.

would face a cut of $500 billion. Companies like eeds are nervous.

:16:53.:17:00.

Job would go but it is already hurting business - EADS. People say,

:17:00.:17:03.

"Do I really have the confidence level necessary to make an

:17:03.:17:08.

investment in a particular asset when I know little about where this

:17:08.:17:13.

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

:17:13.:17:17.

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

:17:17.:17:20.

open another store, but not if customers will have less money.

:17:20.:17:23.

People are going to have to pay more taxs. Everybody is going to

:17:23.:17:28.

have to pay more taxes. People may spend less money, the economy goes

:17:28.:17:32.

back into recession. The calamitous effect of failing to do a deal are

:17:33.:17:36.

deliberate, designed to focus minds. But it's a dangerous thing,

:17:36.:17:41.

fighting on the edge of a cliff. You can fall off without really

:17:41.:17:44.

meaning to. And you can find more detail on the

:17:44.:17:47.

so-called fiscal cliff and the proposals for dealing with it on

:17:47.:17:54.

the BBC News website - bbc.co.uk/news.

:17:54.:17:57.

The Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, has rejected strong

:17:57.:18:00.

criticism from MPs of the �450,000 pay-off to George Entwistle when he

:18:00.:18:03.

resigned as Director General in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

:18:03.:18:05.

The Public Accounts Committee accused the Corporation of a

:18:05.:18:10.

"cavalier use of public money". But Lord Patten said the settlement had

:18:10.:18:13.

saved the BBC a lengthy legal battle which would have resulted in

:18:13.:18:23.
:18:23.:18:24.

greater costs, as David Sillito reports. For those in charge of the

:18:24.:18:29.

BBC the papers were grim reading today. Chaos, confusion, melt doub,

:18:29.:18:34.

the verdict on how it handled the dropped investigation into Jimmy

:18:34.:18:39.

Savile was damning. So too is a new report into the �450,000 payout to

:18:39.:18:42.

the former Director General, George Entwistle. The man on the right

:18:42.:18:52.
:18:52.:18:52.

here, the BBC chairman, Lord Patten paid twice to avoid a costly legal

:18:52.:18:56.

battle. This looks wrong and it might have been a better call to

:18:57.:19:02.

say OK, we'll pay him what we are contractually due and challenge him

:19:02.:19:07.

to take the BBC to court. chairman said his hands were tied

:19:07.:19:12.

and he felt the treatment being meted out was shabby given that he

:19:12.:19:15.

explained. If we hadn't done the settlement there and then we would

:19:15.:19:22.

have to do a more costly settlement where a constructive dismissal and

:19:22.:19:27.

probably an unfair dismissal on top of that. And the BBC is till

:19:27.:19:32.

digesting the pages of the Pollard Report and the stinging criticisms

:19:32.:19:36.

about its inability to deal with a crisis, find out facts, and,

:19:36.:19:41.

crucially, its lack of leadership. And one of those leaders, the BBC's

:19:41.:19:45.

director of news, Helen Boaden, today returned to work the day

:19:45.:19:49.

after her deputy had resigned. REPORTER: Do you think it is right

:19:49.:19:53.

thaw kept your job at the BBC? That's for others to decides. I'm

:19:53.:19:59.

just going in to do my job. REPORTER: How do you restore trust

:19:59.:20:04.

in BBC News? It has never diminished. It is still the most

:20:04.:20:09.

trusted news in this country. Pollard said during the Savile

:20:09.:20:13.

crisis her department had been in virtual meltdown. The pressure is

:20:13.:20:16.

on for real change. The really important thing is there needs to

:20:16.:20:20.

be a fundamental overhaul of the entire management structure of the

:20:20.:20:22.

BBC that. Doesn't just mean shifting a few people around.

:20:22.:20:27.

the BBC will have to brace itself in the coming months for more

:20:27.:20:31.

revelations. The second inquiry looking back over 40 years of the

:20:31.:20:35.

BBC and Jimmy Savile has only just begun.

:20:35.:20:38.

Prosecutors in Bali are seeking a 15-year prison sentence for a

:20:38.:20:41.

British woman who's accused of trying to smuggle more than �1

:20:41.:20:44.

million of cocaine onto the island. Lindsay Sandiford, who was arrested

:20:44.:20:50.

in May, had been facing the death penalty. Another British woman,

:20:50.:20:53.

Rachel Dougall, was sentenced to one year in jail. From Bali,

:20:53.:20:55.

Karishma Vaswani sent this report, which includes some flash

:20:55.:21:05.
:21:05.:21:06.

photography. Covering her head from the glare of the cameras as she

:21:06.:21:09.

entered the coofplt 56-year-old Lindsay Sandiford listened intently

:21:09.:21:15.

to her translator as an Indonesian prosecutor read out his demand.

:21:15.:21:19.

Lawyers could have asked for the death sentence for the mother of

:21:19.:21:23.

two from Gloucestershire, but instead they demanded 15 years,

:21:24.:21:31.

saying she's co-operated with the police. Still, Mrs Sandiford was

:21:31.:21:36.

visibly agitated after the court proceedings. Throughout the trial,

:21:36.:21:41.

she's said she was coerced by the others involved in the case into

:21:41.:21:46.

bringing the cocaine from Bangkok to Bali. Mrs Sandiford was arrested

:21:46.:21:50.

in May when she entered Bali airport as a tourist. Police

:21:50.:21:55.

paraded her in front of the cameras, with the 4.8 kgs of drugs they say

:21:56.:22:01.

they found in the lining of her suitcase. And this is the woman Mrs

:22:01.:22:07.

Sandiford says forced her into it. Rachel Dougall from Brighton.

:22:07.:22:11.

Initially Bali police thought this mother of a six-year-old was a

:22:11.:22:15.

major player, but today they sentenced her to a year in prison

:22:15.:22:20.

for the charge of failing to report a crime, saying her involvement was

:22:20.:22:26.

minor. I'm just happy to be reunited with my baby, thank you.

:22:26.:22:31.

But for Lindsay Sandiford the wait isn't over yet. Her verdict is

:22:31.:22:34.

still a few weeks away. Lindsay Sandiford's trial and that of the

:22:34.:22:37.

three other British national it is involved in this case here the Bali

:22:38.:22:44.

has put the international spotlight on Indonesia's strict drug laws.

:22:44.:22:49.

The maximum penalty for drug trafficking here is death by firing

:22:49.:22:54.

squad. This peaceful holiday spot draws mofls tourists here every

:22:54.:22:58.

year. The authorities want to ensure that nothing ruins that

:22:58.:23:02.

image and they won't hesitate to enforce the law.

:23:02.:23:04.

The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, says his organisation will

:23:04.:23:07.

release a million more secret documents from many countries next

:23:07.:23:10.

year. He was speaking from a balcony at the Ecuadorean Embassy

:23:10.:23:13.

in London, where he claimed asylum six months ago to avoid extradition

:23:13.:23:21.

to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault.

:23:21.:23:24.

In Mexico the state of Yucatan is expected to draw a record surge of

:23:24.:23:27.

tourists, eager to test the ancient Mayan prediction that the world

:23:27.:23:30.

will end tomorrow. Or to be more precise, that the Mayan calendar,

:23:30.:23:35.

devised 5,000 years ago, reaches its last day tomorrow. The notion

:23:35.:23:38.

of an imminent apocalypse is affecting people in other parts of

:23:38.:23:40.

the world, including China and France, as Nick Higham has

:23:40.:23:50.
:23:50.:23:59.

Whatever else it may be, the end of the world is good for business.

:23:59.:24:04.

Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, site of the ancient Mayan civilisation, is

:24:04.:24:11.

enjoying a tourist boom. Experts say it is not clear whether the

:24:11.:24:15.

Mayan prophecies really do mean the end of the world tomorrow. Some

:24:15.:24:19.

speak of apocalypse, the end of the world, of rising flood and fire.

:24:19.:24:23.

But others speak rather of a transition from one great cycle of

:24:23.:24:27.

human time and experience to a new cycle which will be much more

:24:28.:24:35.

positive, both for human kind and the planet. In China, one inventor

:24:35.:24:39.

has created an end of the world pod for those hoping to survive

:24:39.:24:43.

Armageddon. In Britain there are plans for parties. I could do a

:24:43.:24:46.

party tomorrow but at the end of the day, if it is the end of the

:24:46.:24:51.

day tomorrow the party's not going to happen is it? So just get one

:24:51.:24:58.

last one in. No-one knows what the end of the world might be like, but

:24:58.:25:03.

John Martin imagined in this painting. The seventh day

:25:04.:25:07.

adinventists forecast the end of the world in 1874. And Sir Isaac

:25:07.:25:11.

Newton thought Christ's millennium would begin and the world would end

:25:11.:25:17.

in 2000. But the prize for persistence goes to Harold Camping,

:25:17.:25:21.

who predicted the end of the world six times between 1949 and 2011. He

:25:21.:25:25.

was wrong every time France the village of Bugarach has been sealed

:25:25.:25:29.

off by police and surrounded by journalists after rumours spread

:25:29.:25:34.

that the local mountain would prove a safe haven tomorrow. The locals

:25:34.:25:40.

feared an onslaught of new age survivalists. We don't think the

:25:40.:25:45.

world will end. REPORTER: You came here for the fun of the story?

:25:45.:25:50.

The same as the journalists, come to meet some crazy people and maybe

:25:50.:25:56.

see some UFOs if we are lucky. Though it might take more than a

:25:56.:26:02.

UFO to survive this if it turns tout Mayans were right after all.

:26:02.:26:05.

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