:00:05. > :00:14.Five Britons and a UK resident are feared dead or unaccounted for as
:00:14. > :00:17.the hostage crisis in the Sahara is brought to an end. As the first
:00:17. > :00:24.images emerge of the four-day siege, questions remain about the day's
:00:24. > :00:29.events. Our focus is very much on getting British nationals who have
:00:29. > :00:34.survived this ordeal back to the UK and away from that area and working
:00:34. > :00:36.out exactly what has happened to those who are deceased or
:00:36. > :00:39.unaccounted for. Four climbers are killed, and
:00:39. > :00:43.another is airlifted to hospital, after an avalanche in the Scottish
:00:43. > :00:46.Highlands. The disgraced cycling champion
:00:46. > :00:56.Lance Armstrong says he'd like to compete again - despite his
:00:56. > :01:08.
:01:08. > :01:11.Good evening. The Foreign Secretary has said tonight that he believes
:01:11. > :01:19.five British nationals and a UK resident are dead or unaccounted
:01:19. > :01:21.for in Algeria, at the end of a four-day siege at a gas plant.
:01:21. > :01:23.Algerian special forces earlier today launched a final assault on
:01:24. > :01:30.the remote facility, where Islamist gunmen were holding foreign
:01:30. > :01:35.hostages. Another British man was already known to have died earlier
:01:35. > :01:44.in the siege. Our diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall has
:01:44. > :01:48.the latest. For the first time images of the hostage crisis as it
:01:48. > :01:56.happened. Amateur pictures, apparently grabbed in stealth over
:01:56. > :02:00.the past few days by those held captive, including this glimpse.
:02:00. > :02:04.And these prisoners in the desert. The final toll of those killed in
:02:04. > :02:08.this four-day drama, according to the Algerian Government, 32
:02:08. > :02:13.kidnappers, and 23 hostages. Tonight, the Prime Minister said he
:02:13. > :02:17.feared the worst for the remaining missing British nationals. William
:02:17. > :02:23.Hague said finding out what had happened to them was top priority.
:02:23. > :02:28.We believe that there are five British nationals and one UK
:02:28. > :02:33.resident who are either deceased or unaccounted for, in addition to the
:02:33. > :02:37.one fatality that we had already confirmed.
:02:37. > :02:42.The crisis began in the early hours of Wednesday morning when gunmen
:02:42. > :02:47.attacked the sprawling complex, taking hundreds hostage. On
:02:47. > :02:52.Thursday, an initial assault by Algerian forces killed both
:02:52. > :02:57.militants and captives, though others escaped. By Saturday, with
:02:57. > :03:03.11 gunmen in one corner with seven foreign hostages, the Algerian army
:03:03. > :03:07.stormed the complex again. The leader, apparently threatened to
:03:07. > :03:12.execute the hostages. But the Algerians say by the time their
:03:12. > :03:16.troops went in the hostages were already dead. The kidnappers also
:03:16. > :03:21.threatened to blow up the plant. The extent of their weapons was
:03:21. > :03:27.shown later on Algerian TV. Landmines, hand grenades, machine
:03:28. > :03:31.guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
:03:31. > :03:36.Now the danger is over, freed hostages and those who had been in
:03:36. > :03:41.hiding are beginning to tell their stories. We were surrounded by
:03:41. > :03:46.militants in the room, says this man, it's a miracle we are alive.
:03:46. > :03:50.barricaded myself with another colleague of mine. We barricaded
:03:50. > :03:55.together in one of the offices. This evening, BP, the company which
:03:55. > :03:59.part operates the complex, said four workers were still missing.
:03:59. > :04:03.fear that we may not have full certainty on the circumstances and
:04:03. > :04:08.all the information for sometime to come. But our efforts continue to
:04:08. > :04:15.be to support the families and our colleagues. This desert crisis may
:04:15. > :04:18.have ended, the worry is could something like it happen again?
:04:18. > :04:21.Bridget is here now. And the immediate incident may be over, but
:04:21. > :04:28.there are many, many questions about this, aren't there? There are.
:04:28. > :04:33.In the first place, they're busy trying to secure the plant. The
:04:33. > :04:37.militants it seemed had said they booby-trapped it. Secondly, as we
:04:37. > :04:41.heard, several nations are not sure what happened to all their citizens,
:04:41. > :04:44.it's not just Britain, it's also Japan, the Norwegians and other
:04:45. > :04:49.countries want to know what's happened to those still unaccounted
:04:49. > :04:52.for. Then, there is this question of how did this heavily armed
:04:52. > :04:56.Islamist group get inside what is supposed to be a very secure
:04:56. > :04:59.compound? Was it an inside job? That raises the question, could it
:04:59. > :05:04.happen again? Even in a country like Algeria, which has a good
:05:04. > :05:07.track record when it comes to keeping these compounds safe. The
:05:07. > :05:12.more political question for governments in Britain, the United
:05:12. > :05:15.States, other western countries worried about al-Qaeda-linked
:05:15. > :05:18.afillates like this one, is does this mean that this part of north
:05:18. > :05:22.Africa which until now had not really been in the spotlight, is
:05:22. > :05:29.going to be the new centre of focus when it comes to worrying about
:05:29. > :05:32.international terrorism? Thank you.
:05:32. > :05:35.Four climbers have been killed in an avalanche in the Scottish
:05:35. > :05:38.Highlands. They were in a party of six who were climbing a mountain in
:05:38. > :05:41.Glencoe, when it's thought the slope they were on broke away.
:05:41. > :05:46.Another member of the group is seriously injured in hospital.
:05:46. > :05:52.Laura Bicker is outside Glencoe Mountain Rescue. What are they
:05:52. > :05:55.saying there? Well, this is thought to be one of Scotland's worst
:05:55. > :06:02.climbing incidents. What we know is that the conditions were actually
:06:02. > :06:07.good as this party of six made their way down a slope. It's on the
:06:07. > :06:11.ridge known as The Three Sisters, in the heart of Glencoe, one of the
:06:11. > :06:15.most scenic well-known routes. It's thought as this party were making
:06:15. > :06:21.their way down the slope a slab of snow simply gave way underneath
:06:21. > :06:26.them, engulfing five of them in an avalanche. One man managed to
:06:26. > :06:31.escape unhurt. The alarm was raised by a group of nearby climbers who
:06:31. > :06:34.phoned one of the -- who found one of the casualties in the snow. A
:06:34. > :06:38.major search operation was launched here from Glencoe and they found
:06:38. > :06:42.one woman in a critical condition. She has been flown to hospital. The
:06:42. > :06:46.bodies of the remaining four climbers have been recovered this
:06:46. > :06:51.afternoon. The First Minister has described this as an appalling
:06:51. > :06:54.tragedy and the mountaineering council of Scotland is urging
:06:54. > :07:00.anyone taking to the hills to assess risks before they do so.
:07:00. > :07:03.Thank you. Travellers are facing further
:07:04. > :07:06.disruption because of the severe weather. More than a hundred
:07:06. > :07:09.flights were cancelled at Heathrow Airport today and there's expected
:07:09. > :07:15.to be more disruption tomorrow. The Met Office is warning of more snow
:07:15. > :07:20.and ice for large parts of the UK. Phillipa Thomas reports.
:07:20. > :07:25.There was plenty of space on Heathrow's runways this afternoon
:07:25. > :07:30.as 115 flights were cancelled. That followed Friday's upheaval when
:07:30. > :07:34.snow grounded a third of scheduled flights leaving frustrated
:07:34. > :07:38.travellers with nowhere to go and little space to sleep. Today,
:07:38. > :07:43.Britain's biggest airport decided to try and avoid a repeat of that
:07:43. > :07:47.chaos by cancelling flights ahead of the next wave of bad weather.
:07:47. > :07:52.Heathrow, the airlines and air traffic control have already agreed
:07:52. > :07:55.to cancel 20% of flights on Sunday because of the high probability of
:07:55. > :08:01.snow here. They're also warning that poor weather conditions at
:08:01. > :08:05.other European airports could mean further cancellations.
:08:05. > :08:09.Airports in Paris have tonight decided to ground 40% of their
:08:09. > :08:14.scheduled flights tomorrow, when the heavy snow that's hit much of
:08:14. > :08:17.France is expected to blow in to south-east England.
:08:17. > :08:22.Which means little respite for British drivers who have been
:08:22. > :08:26.reduced to a crawl on many roads, while freezing temperatures have
:08:26. > :08:30.created treacherous driving conditions. Packed snow turns to
:08:30. > :08:36.ice on the road. Very little grip, lots of sliding around on the side
:08:36. > :08:41.roads, other main roads appear to be well gritted, the side roads are
:08:41. > :08:45.still treacherous. The worst-hit areas so far have been to the west.
:08:45. > :08:50.Parts of Wales have had as much as 25 centimetres of snow. But the
:08:50. > :08:55.bitter cold is expected to continue across the UK.
:08:55. > :09:00.It's going to stay very cold. Temperatures below freezing at
:09:00. > :09:06.night-time. Daytime temperatures getting above freezing. The cold
:09:06. > :09:11.snap is proving miserable for many. But for some it's been the perfect
:09:11. > :09:19.Saturday with shops and garden centres reporting a run on sledges
:09:19. > :09:22.and Wellington boots. A politician has survived an
:09:22. > :09:28.assassination attempt in Bulgaria. Ahmed Dogan was giving a televised
:09:28. > :09:32.speech when the attack happened. The gunman was wrestled to the
:09:32. > :09:40.ground by security guards and arrested. He was also found to be
:09:40. > :09:43.carrying two knives. 2,000 French troops are now in Mali, to fight
:09:43. > :09:46.the Islamist forces in control of the north of the country. France's
:09:46. > :09:49.President, Francois Hollande, says they will remain there as long as
:09:49. > :09:55.is needed to defeat terrorism but that the deployment of African
:09:55. > :09:59.soldiers is now a priority. From Mali, our correspondent Andrew
:09:59. > :10:07.Harding reports. We are heading north towards the
:10:07. > :10:11.Sahara and the frontlines. They're not much to look at, a cluster of
:10:11. > :10:15.demoralised Government soldiers manning the last checkpoint,
:10:15. > :10:21.watching Oprah Winfrey. Up ahead Islamist rebels have seized the
:10:21. > :10:28.next town. Its population held hostage for days. As we watch, a
:10:28. > :10:33.flood of civilians arrives, crossing no-man's-land. She says,
:10:33. > :10:38.French air strikes have killed many of the Islamists, the rebels have
:10:38. > :10:45.just fled. They were light-skinned, he says, Arabs, we were scared of
:10:45. > :10:51.them. Not far away we find the French army refuelling at a French
:10:51. > :10:55.garage. France is being drawn deeper than it hoped into the chaos
:10:55. > :10:59.now gripping its former colony. The mess that the French are trying to
:10:59. > :11:04.deal with here and the hostage drama in Algeria are symptoms of
:11:04. > :11:08.exactly the same problem, over the years the Sahara has become a
:11:08. > :11:11.hiding place for extremism, for criminals and for all sorts of
:11:11. > :11:16.armed gangs and no one has made a serious attempt to tackle the
:11:16. > :11:20.problem. So the plan, for now, is for these
:11:20. > :11:24.French troops to hold a line in the centre of the country and for a
:11:24. > :11:28.coalition of west African soldiers to join them and push north. The
:11:28. > :11:35.French still sound confident that the Islamists can be beaten, but
:11:35. > :11:40.the time-scale is unclear. We know the ground, we know how they fight.
:11:40. > :11:47.So for us no problem. How long do you expect to be here? I don't know,
:11:47. > :11:51.if you have the answer, I am very interested for that.
:11:51. > :11:54.No doubt there will be more casualties in the meantime, like
:11:54. > :11:59.this 13-year-old, apparently hit by a French bomb. His family was quick
:11:59. > :12:09.to tell me that they don't blame France, saying the French have
:12:09. > :12:09.
:12:09. > :12:11.saved Mali. In truth, that job has barely started.
:12:12. > :12:15.The disgraced former cycling champion Lance Armstrong says he
:12:15. > :12:17.hopes to be able to compete again, despite being given a lifetime ban
:12:18. > :12:19.from sport for doping. In the second part of a televised
:12:20. > :12:24.interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong compared his punishment
:12:24. > :12:28.to the death penalty. This report from Andy Swiss contains flash
:12:29. > :12:33.photography. From one of the greatest cyclists
:12:33. > :12:38.in history, to one of the greatest cheats. Lance Armstrong's downfall
:12:38. > :12:41.has brought him shame, disgrace, and a lifetime ban from all sports.
:12:42. > :12:46.But that, he says, is too harsh. Sport, he believes, should give him
:12:46. > :12:50.a second chance. I deserve to be punished. I am not sure that I
:12:50. > :12:57.deserve a death penalty. If you are asking me do I want to compete
:12:57. > :13:01.again? The answer's hell, yes. I am a competitor. Armstrong has now
:13:01. > :13:07.told the world he cheated but far tougher, he said, was telling his
:13:07. > :13:17.own son. It was the moment his composure finally cracked.
:13:17. > :13:31.
:13:31. > :13:35.I told Luke... I said... Don't.
:13:35. > :13:43.Time and again in his career, Armstrong said he had never taken
:13:43. > :13:49.drugs, so how could he lie to so many people for so many years?
:13:49. > :13:56.guy who felt invincible. Was told he was invincible, truly believed
:13:56. > :14:01.he was invincible. That's who that guy was. That Guy's still there, I
:14:01. > :14:06.am not going to lie. But after so much lying, many believe a return
:14:06. > :14:13.to any sport is unthinkable. He had his chance. He bullied other
:14:13. > :14:18.people, he's perverted the course of justice, suing people, he's done
:14:18. > :14:21.awful things and I think he really has gone beyond the right to take
:14:21. > :14:25.part in sport now. Armstrong's interview leaves many
:14:25. > :14:34.questions still unanswered, what is certain, though, is his reputation
:14:34. > :14:41.lies in ruins. Today's sport now which comes from
:14:41. > :14:43.Olly Foster. Andy Murray says there is room for
:14:44. > :14:47.improvement, but he's into the fourth round at the Australian Open
:14:47. > :14:49.and he's yet to drop a set in Melbourne. No such joy for
:14:49. > :14:51.Britain's Laura Robson who was knocked out today. Tim Hague
:14:51. > :14:55.reports. These Grand Slams can be thirsty
:14:55. > :14:59.work. Snow, not in Australia. The sun quite the opposite. Perhaps it
:14:59. > :15:03.blinded Andy Murray. Errors were all too regular in the first set
:15:03. > :15:13.but Murray below his best is still better than most and he won the
:15:13. > :15:14.
:15:14. > :15:20.opening set against Berankis. Once again, he broke his opponent down
:15:20. > :15:25.to take a commanding two-set lead. It was soon three. Not Murray's
:15:25. > :15:29.easiest afternoon, but most crucially he is through. You want
:15:30. > :15:35.to try and improve as the matches go on. So, I am sitting here happy
:15:35. > :15:38.that I am through to the fourth round. Could Could 18-year-old
:15:38. > :15:46.Laura Robson prolong her great form and join her there? A shoulder
:15:46. > :15:51.injury made that much harder. Robson rallied, but after the
:15:51. > :16:01.American Sloane Stephens won the first she made no mistake in the
:16:01. > :16:01.
:16:01. > :16:05.second. Robson will be back for many years.
:16:05. > :16:08.Football, and there are 25 goals on Match of the Day straight after the
:16:08. > :16:11.news. I've got the Premier League results coming up now - so if you
:16:11. > :16:14.want to avoid them, do whatever you have to do. Manchester City are
:16:14. > :16:16.just four points behind leaders Manchester United after beating
:16:16. > :16:18.Fulham 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium. David Silva scored both goals.
:16:18. > :16:21.United don't play until tomorrow. Elsewhere, Liverpool thrashed
:16:21. > :16:29.Norwich 5-0. Reading have their first away win after substitute
:16:29. > :16:32.Swansea beat Stoke 3-1. QPR are still bottom after drawing at West
:16:32. > :16:41.Ham. Sunderland won 3-2 at Wigan. West Brom against Aston Villa was
:16:41. > :16:45.In the Scottish Premier League, Celtic remain 9 points clear at the
:16:45. > :16:47.top after a 4-1 win over Hearts. At the other end of the table, Ross
:16:48. > :16:50.County beat St Mirren by the same scoreline. Ivan Sproule scored
:16:51. > :16:53.twice on his debut. There were also wins for Inverness and Dundee
:16:53. > :16:56.United. Dundee drew against Hibs. England's cricketers have been
:16:56. > :16:59.beaten again in India and are now 2-1 down in the One-Day series.
:16:59. > :17:02.They were bowled out for just 155 runs in Ranchi. Ravindra Jadeja
:17:02. > :17:08.took three wickets, all his victims making ducks. India reached their
:17:08. > :17:14.target easily with 22 overs to spare. Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni
:17:14. > :17:17.sealing a seven-wicket win. There are two matches left to play.
:17:17. > :17:20.Finally, Graeme Dott leads Mark Selby 4-2 at the Masters Snooker.
:17:20. > :17:23.The first to six will face the defending champion Neil Robertson