:00:23. > :00:30.Hello, good evening. Forecaster are warning of more bad weather ahead as
:00:31. > :00:36.homeowners face another night without power. Round 3,000 homes
:00:37. > :00:39.across the UK remain without electricity tonight, power
:00:40. > :00:44.distributors have faced criticism for being too slow in reconnecting
:00:45. > :00:49.households. Flood warnings are in place with heavy rain forecast for
:00:50. > :00:54.Monday. The Cabinet today held a meetle of COBRA to discuss the
:00:55. > :00:58.official response. -- meeting.
:00:59. > :01:02.It has been a miserable Christmas season for those pummelled by the
:01:03. > :01:06.worst of this winter weather. The rain lashed, the wind whipped and
:01:07. > :01:11.broken power lines plunged millions into darkness. Everything is going
:01:12. > :01:16.to have to go. It is contaminated. Year in Yalding they have been
:01:17. > :01:20.clearing up after flooding which went through the homes of Sue and
:01:21. > :01:25.her neighbour. It will take weeks but the power is coming back on This
:01:26. > :01:29.is the freeder room. There is one freezer here, look, full up to the
:01:30. > :01:34.top. Whichly have to throw away. It is heartbreaking. So things are
:01:35. > :01:36.looking good for in weekend? I can't say with confidence that every
:01:37. > :01:40.single individual will have power, but things are looking promising, we
:01:41. > :01:45.hope we will get the majority of people on today, and there will be
:01:46. > :01:50.some mop up work to do tomorrow. In other part there's is more work to
:01:51. > :01:55.do. In Cumbria almost 1,000 homes are without power, along with
:01:56. > :01:59.another 1500 in Wales. In Hampshire, too, some are
:02:00. > :02:03.struggling with a lack of electricity, this family hasn't had
:02:04. > :02:08.any running water since money as they use an electric pump We are in
:02:09. > :02:12.the dark literally, because if we, it is Saturday morning, if nothing
:02:13. > :02:17.is done until Monday, we will be out of water. It could be tomorrow.
:02:18. > :02:20.Businesses too have been badly affected.
:02:21. > :02:26.This hotel owner was flooded out on Christmas Eve. He is worried about
:02:27. > :02:29.what the future holds. It is very depressing, Christmas Eve I felt
:02:30. > :02:34.like breaking down and crying, to be honest. I didn't enjoy ringing up
:02:35. > :02:38.everybody that booked for Christmas Day lunch on Christmas Eve and
:02:39. > :02:41.telling them we couldn't do Christmas Day, hopefully I won't
:02:42. > :02:45.have do the same for New Year. The water level is still high here, but
:02:46. > :02:49.it is falling. And the good news is the lights are coming back on. But
:02:50. > :02:54.with more torrential rain expected to sweep across the UK from Monday,
:02:55. > :03:00.there is a real possibility of more flooding, and more power cuts next
:03:01. > :03:04.week. Well, ass you can see, our political
:03:05. > :03:09.correspondent joins us from Westminster. So what did come out of
:03:10. > :03:13.that COBRA meeting? Well, today's meeting, the emergency meeting was
:03:14. > :03:17.largely response to what David Cameron was told during his own
:03:18. > :03:20.visit to the flooded areas in Kent. He was told what the concerns of
:03:21. > :03:24.residents were, they were saying we can't get through to the local
:03:25. > :03:28.council, or we have difficulty talking to a human. We are getting
:03:29. > :03:32.recorded messages, difficulty getting through to power companies.
:03:33. > :03:35.So local councils will be told that funding will be available so they
:03:36. > :03:39.can properly staff emergency helpline, over the New Year period
:03:40. > :03:43.when further bad weather is expected and they can have staff available to
:03:44. > :03:48.respond to residents. Power companies have been told they have
:03:49. > :03:54.to come up with a clear public time line for reconnecting customer, I
:03:55. > :03:59.can't tell you what that will be. But the power companies have health
:04:00. > :04:05.and safety concern, we will find out a clearer time scale of when people
:04:06. > :04:11.will get their power back later. The man who is leading negotiations to
:04:12. > :04:14.try to resolve issues concausing division in Northern Ireland has
:04:15. > :04:19.called for a final agreement to be reached by Monday. Negotiations
:04:20. > :04:25.broke up before Chris has but Richard Haass returned to Belfast
:04:26. > :04:30.today to resume those discussions. Violence, a sign of instability,
:04:31. > :04:35.borne out of decades of division, images all too often familiar with
:04:36. > :04:40.Northern Ireland, that most people don't want repeated. Trouble blamed
:04:41. > :04:43.on contentious, unresolved issues like parade, how to deal with the
:04:44. > :04:48.legacy of our past and flags. Hope you had a good holiday. Dr
:04:49. > :04:52.Richard Haass and Megan O'Sullivan are back in Belfast, to try and get
:04:53. > :04:59.the five main parties to reach agreement. A final opportunity to
:05:00. > :05:04.come together, on an agreement, that we believe could and would change
:05:05. > :05:07.Northern Ireland for the better. The First Minister says they
:05:08. > :05:14.although Dr Richard Haass has only signed up to the New Year Progress
:05:15. > :05:17.has been made over the period of time that Dr Richard Haass and Megan
:05:18. > :05:22.O'Sullivan have been here, but there is still a lot of work to be done,
:05:23. > :05:26.we need to look at the issues seriously, we don't need lecturing,
:05:27. > :05:29.we are wear of the importance of getting a resolution, we are trying
:05:30. > :05:34.to do that. The Deputy First Minister says a no deal will be
:05:35. > :05:39.embarrassing. I think this presents a greatest opportunity we will
:05:40. > :05:44.possibly ever have, to move forward in a way that gives people
:05:45. > :05:48.confidence that politicians have the ability to take difficult decisions.
:05:49. > :05:52.Dr Richard Haass failed to get all party agreement before Christmas.
:05:53. > :05:56.That deadline has shifted to just before the New Year.
:05:57. > :06:03.Politicians here today though, appeared slightly more optimistic
:06:04. > :06:08.that a deal could be reached. A soldier who was killed in action
:06:09. > :06:11.in Afghanistan before Christmas has been named by the Ministry of
:06:12. > :06:16.Defence. Captain Richard Holloway was 29 and served with the Royal
:06:17. > :06:21.Engineers he was from County Durham, he was shot during an operation east
:06:22. > :06:27.of the capital Kabul. More than 70 passengers and crew
:06:28. > :06:32.onboard a research ship in Antarctica are waiting to be rescued
:06:33. > :06:35.after a Chinese vessel was forced to turn back, having been trapped since
:06:36. > :06:41.Christmas Eve the Russian ship is waiting for an Australian ship to
:06:42. > :06:45.come, to her rescue. So close, but yet so far. The
:06:46. > :06:50.Chinese ice break e the Snow Dragon came within sight of the stranded
:06:51. > :06:55.research vessel, but was forced to turn back after the ice proved just
:06:56. > :06:59.too thick. The Russian registered ship had been
:07:00. > :07:06.chartered by the Antarctic expedition to follow the route taken
:07:07. > :07:10.by a famous Australian explorer one hundred years ago. After
:07:11. > :07:15.experiencing the ultimate in a white Christmas, the 74 passengers and
:07:16. > :07:19.crew onboard were undismayed. Hemmed in by the ice the scientists
:07:20. > :07:24.continued with their experiments. Supplies are plentiful and the ship
:07:25. > :07:28.itself is in no danger. The ship has been trapped by pack
:07:29. > :07:32.ice since Christmas Eve. The Snow Dragon got to within several miles
:07:33. > :07:38.of the stranded vessel before being forced back by the ice. Now hopes
:07:39. > :07:43.rest on the arrival of a more powerful ice breaker, which should
:07:44. > :07:47.reach the scene within 24 hours. Communicating via satellite from the
:07:48. > :07:51.deck of the ship, the expedition's leader said a change in the weather
:07:52. > :07:55.could work in their favour. If the winds reverse and it does happen and
:07:56. > :08:00.suddenly it comes from the west or the south, it would take the
:08:01. > :08:06.pressure off the sea ice packing in and open up, at the moment the
:08:07. > :08:10.forecast isn't for that. If all else fails and the Snow Dragon has a
:08:11. > :08:19.helicopter onboard, which could shuttle the stranded passengers and
:08:20. > :08:22.crew of the ship to safety. England's cricketers have suffered
:08:23. > :08:27.yet another battle collapse and look to be heading for a fourth straight
:08:28. > :08:31.defeat in the Ashes. At the start of day three they had been odds on to
:08:32. > :08:35.win their first test of the series but it went badly wrong with a
:08:36. > :08:40.catastrophic innings in which they lost their last five wickets for six
:08:41. > :08:45.runs. English cricket may be under a cloud
:08:46. > :08:48.but here prospects seemed brighter. In soaring temperatures a chance to
:08:49. > :08:51.turn up the heat on their opponents. The morning after their best day of
:08:52. > :08:56.the series England needed just one more wicket to press home their
:08:57. > :09:00.advantage, unfortunately for them, Australia added 40 run, the tourists
:09:01. > :09:06.frustration at boiling point when Brad Haddin was finally caught for
:09:07. > :09:10.65. England's lead was 51. Useful but now they had to build on it.
:09:11. > :09:15.Alastair Cook setting about the task fluently. England were about to
:09:16. > :09:18.collapse, not once but twice. First Cook trapped by Mitchell Johnson and
:09:19. > :09:28.a ghastly spell of three wickets for one run as panic set in.
:09:29. > :09:33.England were left in crisis. Just as in the first innings everything
:09:34. > :09:37.seemed to depend on Kevin Pietersen, this boundary giving England a lead
:09:38. > :09:41.of 2 hundred. He was taking to chances, pulling away late when
:09:42. > :09:45.distracted. A furious Johnson letting him know what he thought of
:09:46. > :09:50.that as the bad blood that has marred this resurfaced. In a tour
:09:51. > :09:57.full of batting hour or shows England were about to undoe
:09:58. > :10:01.themselves. Spinner Nathan Lyon with five victims including Pete son as
:10:02. > :10:10.the tourists crumbled. Australia couldn't have made a better start in
:10:11. > :10:16.chasing their 231 run target. England are in danger of going 4-0
:10:17. > :10:20.down. England have somehow turned a hugely promising position into a
:10:21. > :10:26.perilous one, Australia still have work to do, but England may just
:10:27. > :10:31.have squandered their best chance of avoiding a whitewash.
:10:32. > :10:32.We are back with the late news at