17/09/2011 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Investigators are trying to discover what caused the

Adam Mynott to flood in the Swansea valley, trapping and killing four

miners below ground. Our Welsh correspondent is close to the mine

and joins us now. I am outside of the entrance to the

mine where the four men were killed. This morning an appeal fund was set

up to support their families. As a community grieves, the

investigation into how the four miners died begins.

South Wales Police and a team from the Health and Safety Executive

began work at the mine early this morning. Their task, to find out

how the tragedy happened. This entrance leads to a maize of

tunnels inside the mine. The bodies of the four were found close

together after the shaft flooded. Flee other miners managed to escape,

one is still seriously ill. What the survivors remember of what

happened on Thursday could prove crucial to the investigation team.

What will happen now is that the mines inspectorate in the UK will

take charge of it with the police. They will investigate the plans,

work to the individuals that worked there previously and who are

working there now. So they will investigate as a crime scenes if

you like. This is the first fatal accident in

a Welsh mine for more than three decades. The pit had been inspected

as erecently at May last year. I spoke to a miner who escaped and

to the families. None of them reported any safety concerns, but

the investigation which has begun up in the pit now will establish

what has happened. As this community prepares for the

funerals of the four miners, it could face a long wait for answers.

The Health and Safety Executive has just issued a statement in which he

says it is too early to speculate on the possible causes of this

incident. It says that a full report on what

happened will be published in due course.

Thank you very much. Now, the Liberal Democrats'

conference is getting under way in Birmingham. Deputy Prime Minister

and party leader k Nick Clegg has promised to block moves to scrap

the 50 pence top income rate of tax. We are joined live now.

Nick Clegg is trying to accentuate the positive, Norman, but it has

been a terrible year for him and his party, hasn't it? Yes, Nick

Clegg's task is to settle his party down after a difficult year with

the shattering defeat in the AV referendum. Losss in the local

council elections and U-turns on tuition fees and VAT. Nick Clegg's

approach seems to point to what he regards as conspicuous Lib Dem

gains in Government. To that end he points to things like watering down

the Tory changes to the NHS and raises the tax threshold for lower

income earners, but he wants to talk about what he regards as key

differences with the Conservative Party. That is why in the run-up to

the conference, we have heard Nick Clegg talking about vetoing the

move to scrap the top rate of tax. We have heard other Lib Dems

stressing if there was a move to do that, they would expect first rises

in the tax threshold for those on the bottom of the pile and a new

tax on the rich, such as a mansion tax.

The Government say it is wants to legalise same-sex marriages before

the next general election. Consultation a-- is to start next

year to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in civil

ceremonies. A vintage fighter plane as crashed

in Reno National Championship Air Races. A p15 Mustang went out of

control and plunged to the ground. Forces loyal to Colonel Muammar

Gaddafi continue to hold out in two of their strongholds in the towns

there have been fired rockets and mortars, forcing them to retreat.

There have been fierce clashes around Sert. -- Sirte.

Our correspondent is following the opposition forces. He has sent this

report from the front line. In the desert of central Libya, a

war is still very much being fought for Sirte, the birthplace of

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. There's been a lot of heavy

fighting today with rockets coming in from the pro-Colonel Gaddafi

positions. They are turning -- returning fire now with the long-

range rockets. The target is the pro-Colonel

Gaddafi defensive line. It is 50 kilometres outside of Sirte, making

the calculations is the calm amid the fire.

This colonel is making those. TRANSLATION: I'm asking all of

those fighting for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to put their guns down. The

war is over, it is not necessary for more bloodshed.

It is how the Second World War was fought, in the same desert with

artillery, tanks and ground troops. The pro-Colonel Gaddafi troops are

fighting back. The injured are brought to a field hospital for

treatment. They counterattack this oil

refinery in raslan uf. Coming out of the des -- in Ras Lanuf. We met

this man who escaped but saw what they did to those captured. They

held them in three groups along the road, he told me, and then they

were excuted one by one, civilians and soldiers alike. He said that

the blood stains were still on the tarmac.

The rag-tag rebels have come a long way to get here, but the war is

still not over. Clearly, this is something or

someone in Sirte is worth the defending.

Now at the rugby World Cup there has been a major upset after a