:00:12. > :00:18.Over 200 flood warnings in place across central and southern England,
:00:18. > :00:21.after days of torrential rain. Flooded roads and railways isolate
:00:21. > :00:26.some hard-hit communities, with hundreds of people forced out of
:00:26. > :00:32.their homes. In Exeter, a woman has died after a tree fell on to her
:00:32. > :00:37.tent as she slept. It has come in all the rooms. We have the latest
:00:37. > :00:43.on the struggle to save homes and possessions, as forecasters warn of
:00:43. > :00:47.more bad weather. Also tonight: New laws to protect people from
:00:47. > :00:50.stalkers come into force. And Jenson Button wins the Brazilian
:00:51. > :01:00.Grand Prix, but it is Sebastian Vettel who is crowned Formula One
:01:01. > :01:09.
:01:09. > :01:13.Good evening. Flood affected parts of southern and central England are
:01:13. > :01:21.experiencing more rain tonight, further isolating communities who
:01:21. > :01:26.have born the brunt of days of extreme weather. Over00 days have
:01:26. > :01:31.been flooded 400 homes have been flooded. The Prime Minister said
:01:31. > :01:36.everything possible will be done to help. Our first report is from our
:01:36. > :01:41.correspondent, Jon Kay, who has been to some of the worst-affected
:01:41. > :01:47.areas. They battled with buckets. This was Somerset in the early
:01:47. > :01:54.hours of this morning. Villagers scoping to save their homes.
:01:54. > :01:59.This is even worse than Wednesday. It's absolutely horrendous. But no
:01:59. > :02:08.bucket could deal with this. In the Devon village of Kenford, by the
:02:08. > :02:13.time they had woken up, it was too late. It has come in all the rooms.
:02:13. > :02:17.Cornwall's rescue services said they had never known a night like
:02:17. > :02:22.it. 100 properties flooded in this county alone.
:02:22. > :02:26.One pub, in Millbrook was deluged for the third time in as many weeks.
:02:26. > :02:33.There was nothing we could do. Nothing! It was coming in this door,
:02:33. > :02:39.the back door. We could not stop it. By daylight, the West Country was
:02:39. > :02:44.more like the wet country! This, the railway line outside Exeter.
:02:44. > :02:51.High winds added to the chaos. A young woman was crushed to death by
:02:51. > :02:56.a falling tree. She had been camping underneath. 100 miles away,
:02:56. > :03:01.the weather was still causing problems. More rescues - this time
:03:01. > :03:06.in Wiltshire. The historic market town of Malmesbury, now rewriting
:03:06. > :03:10.local history. Everybody you talk to will say they have never seen
:03:10. > :03:14.anything like this before. In the last week more than 800 homes have
:03:14. > :03:18.been flooded, most of them in southern England. Tonight, there
:03:18. > :03:23.are warnings in many parts of Britain and there is yet more to
:03:23. > :03:29.come. The trouble is, once again, it has been raining for pretty much
:03:29. > :03:35.most of the day here. That means rivers are full and flowing fast.
:03:35. > :03:42.It means another worrying night for Petra. Already flooded once, now
:03:42. > :03:45.fearing a second time. I am starting to think - what is next?
:03:45. > :03:49.What's next - well, she won't like the answer. After a weekend which
:03:49. > :03:56.has pushed communities to the limit, it is forecast to be another
:03:56. > :04:02.difficult start to the working week. The Government says 20,000 homes
:04:02. > :04:07.have been saved from flooding by recently constructed defences. In
:04:07. > :04:12.Kemsey, in Worcestershire, dozens of homes had to be evacuated after
:04:12. > :04:17.the failure of a costly defence system.
:04:17. > :04:24.In a village flooded 20 times in the last 30 years, new flood
:04:24. > :04:28.defences were supposed to keep them dry. Last night, they failed.
:04:28. > :04:33.Householder Dan is counting the cost. Because of the flood defences,
:04:34. > :04:37.we were in... We didn't expect it to happen. We had not moved
:04:37. > :04:40.everything upstairs. We were not prepared for this. Obviously if the
:04:40. > :04:45.flood defences weren't in, we would have moved everything up because of
:04:45. > :04:49.all the warnings that were on the news any way. As the nearby River
:04:49. > :04:56.Severn rose, householders rushed to save themselves and their
:04:56. > :05:02.belongings. This was the lounge and this is where the water started oh
:05:02. > :05:06.come in first of all -- started to come in first of all.
:05:06. > :05:11.Literally had about ten minutes, five or ten minutes to do as much
:05:11. > :05:17.as we could before the flood damaged all my furniture. This
:05:17. > :05:22.morning, engineers were examining the new �1.7 million flood defences
:05:22. > :05:27.that just didn't work. So, what went wrong? In the middle of the
:05:27. > :05:31.night one of the two pumps that is meant to move the water from the
:05:31. > :05:34.village into the River Severn just didn't switch on.
:05:35. > :05:39.The Environment Agency says hundreds of other flood defences
:05:39. > :05:43.did hold, protecting thousands of homes. That's little consolation to
:05:43. > :05:52.those in Kemsey, who thought they were safe, only to find themselves
:05:52. > :05:55.clearing up after their defences proved anything but water-tight.
:05:55. > :05:59.Let's return to Devon and Cornwall now, one of the worst affected
:05:59. > :06:04.areas. Jon Kay is for us in Exeter. How is it looking there? It is
:06:04. > :06:08.looking bad again. It is pouring with rain, yet again. Another wild
:06:08. > :06:12.evening here. People are dreading what comes next. If I step out of
:06:12. > :06:16.the way you can see the effect of all this extra rain. People have
:06:16. > :06:20.come here to take pictures of the River Exe, because they say they
:06:20. > :06:24.have never seen it this angry looking, this noisy before, in
:06:24. > :06:27.decades. Make no mistake, we might be talking about the south-west of
:06:28. > :06:32.England here, there might be more flooding tonight in Devon and
:06:32. > :06:37.Cornwall, but this has been described by the Environment Agency
:06:37. > :06:42.as "a national flood crisis." There are warnings from North Yorkshire,
:06:42. > :06:45.Nottinghamshire - many parts of the UK are affected. The advice is two-
:06:45. > :06:50.fold - look at the Environment Agency website to see if the area
:06:50. > :06:55.you are in is vulnerable. If so, make precautions. Secondly, get
:06:55. > :06:59.more advice from your BBC local radio station, not just tonight,
:06:59. > :07:02.but crucially tomorrow morning - rush hour, the beginning of a
:07:02. > :07:09.working week - that information could save you an awful lot more
:07:09. > :07:12.trouble. Thank you. A new law making stalking a
:07:12. > :07:15.specific criminal offence has come into force in England and Wales.
:07:15. > :07:19.The change was recommended by a parliamentary inquiry. Crime
:07:19. > :07:22.statistics have shown as many as three million women have
:07:22. > :07:28.experienced some form of stalking. Our legal affairs correspondent
:07:28. > :07:33.reports. Stalking instills fear and can ruin
:07:33. > :07:37.the lives of victims. Often described as persistent and
:07:37. > :07:41.repeated contact with or attempts to contact a person who does not
:07:41. > :07:46.want it. Dr Alison Hewitt and her family were subjected to what a
:07:46. > :07:50.judge described as deliberate and chilling stalking by an ex-partner.
:07:50. > :07:54.I was completely paranoid. I didn't want to go into the bathroom and
:07:55. > :08:00.lock the door. I needed everything open so I could see what was going
:08:00. > :08:06.on and who might be around and any changes in the light if somebody
:08:06. > :08:14.walked past the door. Stalking is prosecuted as harassness. High
:08:14. > :08:18.figure cases have been the targets of unwanted attention. It is a much
:08:18. > :08:24.wider problem. Around 120,000 victims, mostly women, are stalked
:08:24. > :08:28.each year. Just 53,000 are recorded as crimes. Only one in 50 leads to
:08:28. > :08:32.an offender being jailed. Up until now, there's been no specific
:08:32. > :08:36.criminal offence of stalking. But that all changes today, with new
:08:36. > :08:41.offences coming into force. Stalking, which carries a maximum
:08:41. > :08:45.of six months' imprison and stalking involving a fear of
:08:45. > :08:50.violence or serious distress, which carries a maximum term of five
:08:50. > :08:55.years. Will the new offences make a difference? These new offences will
:08:55. > :08:59.clarify the law. They will afford the public greater protection. In
:08:59. > :09:04.particular women, who are generally the victims of stalking and
:09:04. > :09:09.therefore, these new offences of stalking are undoubtedly to be
:09:09. > :09:12.welcomed. Police and prosecutors will be especially trained and
:09:12. > :09:18.given greater powers to gather evidence. The Government hopes all
:09:18. > :09:22.this will help tackle the nightmare of stalking.
:09:22. > :09:25.More than 100 people are known to have died at a fire in a clothing
:09:25. > :09:28.factory in Bangladesh. Hundreds were trapped when the fire started
:09:29. > :09:32.on the ground floor of a nine- storey building, just to the north
:09:32. > :09:38.of the capital, Dhaka. Some of those who died had jumped from the
:09:38. > :09:41.windows trying to escape the flames. Polls are about to close in the
:09:41. > :09:47.Spanish region of Catalonia in an election which could put the unity
:09:47. > :09:50.of Spain at stake, just as it deals with its worst economic crisis for
:09:50. > :09:55.decades. Nationalist parties are promising a referendum on
:09:55. > :10:00.independence if they win, amid deep discontent with the central
:10:00. > :10:08.Government's austerity measures. Spain is the fourth largest economy
:10:08. > :10:12.in the eurozone. Any indication of how this will turn out? It looks
:10:12. > :10:17.like a high turnout. That is unsurprising. This is an important
:10:17. > :10:20.election. We expect Catalan pro- independence parties to win this
:10:20. > :10:24.election. What happens next though is less certain. The Government
:10:24. > :10:27.here, the Catalan Government wants to hold a referendum on
:10:27. > :10:31.independence from Spain. The Spanish Government is vehemently
:10:31. > :10:35.opposed to that and will probably block any move for that to happen
:10:35. > :10:38.in the future. The fear is there'll be political uncertainty. Here in
:10:38. > :10:42.this region, which will affect the rest of Spain. Of course the
:10:42. > :10:46.Spanish economy is trying to get out of a deep recession, with
:10:46. > :10:49.record levels of unemployment and rising debt. We have spoken to
:10:49. > :10:51.people all week, who with their hearts would vote in favour of
:10:52. > :10:55.independence, but when it comes to voting with their heads, they would
:10:55. > :10:59.be less certain because of the unknowns, if you like. What would
:10:59. > :11:03.this mean for the economy here? We will hear the word Scotland here
:11:03. > :11:06.more and more. A lot argue if Britain can give the opportunity to
:11:06. > :11:10.Scotland to have a referendum on independence, why shouldn't that
:11:10. > :11:18.happen here? Thank you very much.
:11:18. > :11:25.Now the sport. Thank you. Good evening. Sebastian
:11:25. > :11:28.Vettel is the Formula One world champion for the third year in a
:11:28. > :11:32.row. Lewis Hamilton was on pole position in his last outing with
:11:32. > :11:35.McLaren, but he did not finish a race which had drama from the very
:11:36. > :11:41.start. Many sporting journeys seem to be
:11:41. > :11:44.heading towards Brazil right now. With the title race reaching the
:11:45. > :11:48.season finale Formula One joined the party. Fourth place, or better
:11:48. > :11:53.was all that Sebastian Vettel required. Rival, Fernando Alonso,
:11:53. > :11:58.with it all to do. While the sport prepares to welcome its next
:11:59. > :12:05.champion it is a day of emotional farewells here. Lewis Hamilton's
:12:05. > :12:11.last race for McLaren. A last race for the legend he will replace here
:12:11. > :12:16.at Mercedes next season, Michael Schumacher, before he retires.
:12:16. > :12:21.we go.... With rain adding to the tension, drama was guaranteed. A
:12:21. > :12:27.few seconds after the start came this. Vettel hit, and sent spinning
:12:27. > :12:31.to the back of the field. In spite of the damage to his car,
:12:31. > :12:38.Vettel proved why he's the reigning champion, flying through the pack
:12:38. > :12:43.and back up to fifth by lap 16. With Hamilton and another leader
:12:43. > :12:48.colliding, he had his chance. Now a point behind Vettel n a tilt race
:12:48. > :12:52.that was going to the wire. Then -- in a title race that was going to
:12:52. > :12:56.the wire. Then it meant the race would finish under the safety car.
:12:56. > :13:03.Jenson Button led over the line. Vettel, the champion once again, by
:13:03. > :13:08.just three points. With sixth place, Sebastian Vettel is the 2012
:13:08. > :13:16.Formula One world champion. So, as one German greats retires, another
:13:16. > :13:18.stakes his claim w a third successive title.
:13:18. > :13:23.Brilliant batting performances from Kevin Pietersen and Alastair Cook
:13:23. > :13:28.have given England a chance of wining the second Test against
:13:28. > :13:31.India. Centuries helped England to a commanding position.
:13:32. > :13:37.Strolling into history. Before today, only three England batsmen
:13:37. > :13:42.had made 22 Test centuries. These two were about to do it ten minutes
:13:43. > :13:48.apart. Captain first. Cook moving to 100 in an assured fashion. Not
:13:49. > :13:54.long later, Pietersen would join the club too. The next milestone
:13:54. > :13:58.was India's first innings score. Cook would not take England that
:13:58. > :14:02.far. Batting was becoming uncomfortable, unless you were
:14:02. > :14:07.Pietersen. He's apparently being reintegrated into the England team.
:14:07. > :14:11.This was some bonding exercise. By the time it ended, Pietersen's side
:14:11. > :14:18.were ahead and the spin which manage him one of Ojha's five will
:14:18. > :14:25.be a useful tool in English hands. Facing 86 and devilment in the
:14:25. > :14:33.pitch, India disintegrated. The hosts seemed terrified of him
:14:33. > :14:39.and Swann. Tendulkar surrended to Panesar. He was far from alone. By
:14:39. > :14:45.the time he had Ashwin, Montgomerie had five and India had lost seven.
:14:45. > :14:48.Their lead just 31. Their series lead should be short lived.
:14:48. > :14:54.Rafael Benitez took charge of Chelsea for the first time today
:14:54. > :14:57.but was booed by his own fans during their game against
:14:57. > :15:03.Manchester City. He brought Torres back to the starting line-up. The
:15:03. > :15:07.game finished 0-0. Ricky Hatton has announced his
:15:07. > :15:10.retirement from boxing for the second time, following the defeat
:15:10. > :15:14.to Vyacheslav Senchenko in Manchester. Hatton last fought in