29/12/2013 BBC Weekend News

Michael Schumacher, seven times the world motor racing champion is

seriously ill tonight after a skiing accident. He was rushed to hospital.

A suicide bomber attacks a railway station in Russia. At least 16 are

dead. Passengers are winched to safety after a fire on board oar

North Sea ferry. Two men are arrested.

4-0 it is. And Australian celebrate victory in the fourth Test as

England face an Ashes white wash. Good evening. The former world

moator racing champion, Michael Schumacher, is in a critical

condition in hospital after he suffered a head injury, skiing in

the French Alps. He fell and hit a rock whilst skiing off piste with

his son near the resort of Meribel. Tonight the former racing driver is

in a coma after undergoing brain surgery.

This evening, Michael Schumacher is being treated by trauma specialists

in this hospital in Grenoble. In the past few minutes the hospital said

he was admitted in a coma with a severe head injury which required

immediate neurosurgery. Michael Schumacher is an experienced

skier. He was off piste with his 14-year-old son when he had the

fall, cracking his head against a rock. But he was wearing a helmet

and he remained conscious. Officials at the resort, at the time, said the

injury was serious but not life-threatening.

Initially he was taken by helicopter to a small local medical centre but

later, in a sign that his condition might be worse than thought, he was

moved to a much bigger hospital. Now aged 44, Michael Schumacher is

the most successful Formula 1 driver of all time.

Winning the world title seven times. He finally retired only last year.

He is a man highly atuned to the thrills of high speed sport but, of

course, to its dangers, too. Well, hue Schofield reporting. He

joins us live now from Paris. Things look pretty serious, don't they, for

Schumacher tonight? Well they look much more serious than we thought

they were, that's for sure. We were led to believe, really it was a

light accident that wouldn't require much more than a bit of treatment in

the local hospital. But now it seems it is serious and we have had this

statement just in the last few minutes, really, saying he is in a

critical state and he was indeed in a coma when he arrived in the

hospital. His family are there. And this - France's top trauma

specialist has flown down from Paris in another sign this is being taken

very seriously indeed. It seems likely that he walked initially away

from the injury or the accident, without too many signs of it doing

any damage, but maybe at this first hospital, while he was being

treated, maybe he lost consciousness there. Maybe there was some

bleeding, we just don't know. Thank you very much.

At least 16 people have been killed in a huge explosion at a railway

station in southern Russia. A suicide bomber carried out the

attack in the city of Volgograd. It's the greatest in a series of

bombings by separatist Islamist groups in the North Caucasus, ahead

of the winter Olympic Games which begin in the Russian city of Sochi

in six weeks' time. Volgograd's Central railway station

inthe moment a bomb went off in the entrance hall at lunch time,

instantly killing many of the passengers. Investigators at first

said it was the work of a female suicide bomber who had blown herself

up just inside the building, at the exact spot where the metal detectors

were. Later, they said the bomber may in fact have been a man. The

Kremlin immediately ordered railway stations and airports to step up

security. President Putin told his law enforcement services to do

everything that was necessary to keep people safe.

Russia is grieving. The immediate concern is for the injured and the

relatives of the dead. The New Year is the big, annual family holiday

here. For 16 fwamlies today t became a time of mourning.

-- it became. But Russia is also due to host the

Winter Olympics in six weeks' time. The eyes of the world are on the

host city, Sochi, just 400 miles from Volgograd.

There have always been security worries about staging the Olympics,

so close to Russia's troubled republics of Chechnya and Dagestan.

In June, one of the leaders of the Islamist insurgency there, dom cue

um rof called on his supporters to use maximum force to disrupt what he

called, the satanic games. I was always saying that people were

responding to cock due um rof's callings. President Putin has done

all he can to reassure the international -- respond responding

to Doku Umarov. It is not far from Beslan, the scene

where children were killed nine years ago. Today's scene was just a

reminder that you cannot guarantee security in Russia.

Account Russian authorities realistically talk of guaranteeing

safety in any way for their own people indeed and of course for the

Olympic Games? Or the winter Olympics? Well, there will be

extraordinary security in so muchia in an attempt to protect the

athletes and spectators, drones will be hovering over the area with the

ability to zoom in on people's faces and zoom in over number plates.

There is antiaircraft missile battery. All cars registered outside

Sochi will be banned from entering the city. There will be extensive

surveillance systems to monitor phone calls and e-mails. Physical

security will be quite difficult. It's bounded by very high mountains

on one side and the Black Sea on the other which gives opportunities for

anyone who wants to get into the area, unnoticed. Today reminds us

that anyone wanting to make a point during the Sochi Winter Olympics

doesn't have to do that in Sochi. Any bomb in any major city in Russia

will attract maximum international attention, cause maximum

embarrassment to President Putin's Government and that, of course, is

what the bombers want. Here a voluntary register of all

breast implant operations is to be set up in England. It follow the

scandal involving dangerous implants supplied by the French company. PIP.

New qualifications for cosmetic surgeons will be introduced, along

with tighter rules on the marketing of procedures.

The leader of the UK Independence Party, nighing ale Farage, has said

some refugees from the war in Syria should be allowed to come to

Britain. -- Nigel Farage. He said Western countries had a

doubty to offer sang Toure. The Government has failed to let any

refugees into the UK, arguing it is better to offer financial support.

It's a conflict that has created hardship and displaced millions. But

what should happen to the innocent victims? The UK leader, Nigel

Farage, such a strong advocate of reducing the number of economic

migrants entering Britain, says in this case we need to be more

generous. I think refugees are a very different thing to economic

migration. I think this country should honour the spirit of the 1951

declaration on refugee status that was agreed and I think actually

there is a responsibility on all of us in the free West to try to help

some of those people fleeing Syria, literally in fear of their lives.

The United Nations is calling for a global effort to help those

struggling in Syria. The UN wants richer countries to take in a total

of 30,000 refugees. Germany's offered to accept 10,000 people.

France is taking 500, in contrast, 18 EU countries, including the UK,

are refusing to take any. But the UK is the most generous cash donor,

pledging more than ?500 million in aid.

The Prime Minister has visited refugee camps in Jordan to see some

of the suffering for himself. Labour says it'll allow around 500 people

to enter Britain and some Conservative backbenchers are urging

the Government to soften its mind. I think the Government will change its

mind. Britain is an open and tolerant society. We can't take all

the refugees from Syria but I think we should abid by international

commitments and take some, 1,000 or 2,000. There is no sign of that

changing yet, despite the increasing pressure but the Government's more

worried about immigration of a different kind. Restrictions on

workers from Romania and Bulgaria will be lifted on Wednesday and

ministers don't know how many will come.

Two men have been arrested, one on suspicion of arson, after fire broke

out on a North Sea ferry shortly after it set sail from North Shields

for amster da. Six people were flown to hospital by RAF helicopter and

the ferry was forced to return to Tyneside.

In the middle of the night, a fire on MS king seaways, with more than

900 passengers on board. Frightened and confused they were dragged from

their beds and up on to the decks. There is a fire on board. Everybody

is coming to the lifeboats. This photo, taken by a passenger,

shows the damage done to the cabin. It was really thick smoke. You could

smell it. There was a lot of panic from some people, with kids,

obviously they were panicking. Our cabin was five doors away from the

fire. Quite scary as the whole place filled with smoke. RAF helicopters

winched six people to safety. They were flown to Scarborough hospital

and treatedes for smoke inhalation. Therefore four doctors on board,

travelling as passengers. They treated the people. Luckily it was

down to just six people requiring evacuation. Five of them being crew

members who had been involved with fighting the fire and one was a

prenanted lady. Police were waiting when the ferry returned to North

North Shields. Passengers were then kept on board for more than four

hours while they probable ducted inquiries. Two men were arrested,

one on suspicion of arson, the other on suspicion of a fray. The other

passengers were released. Emotional and exhausted We were going to go

for a weekend, a couple of friends. Enjoy the day in Amsterdam, and come

home tonight. Never mind. Back to Carlile. They may not be where they

planned to be tonight but most passengers we spoke to were just

grateful that nobody had been seriously hurt. Many of them praised

staff on board for remaining calm but most importantly, containing a

fire that could have been a lot more dangerous.

So, for tonight, the MS cap king Seaway has become a floating hotel

as mass injuries spend the night on board. -- MS King Seaway.

Now, with the day's big sports news, Katie Gornall.

Good evening. England are on course for an Ashes

white wash after losing the fourth Test by eight wick totes go 4-0 down

in the Series. Alistair Cook says he wants to continue as England captain

but admits his latest defeat leaves his future uncertain.

Melbourne this morning and the fourth Test had reached a crucial

junction. Time and time again on this tour, England had failed. Now

finally, it seemed like things could go either way.

With Australia resuming on 30-0 but still needing a tricky 201 runs to

win, England had genuine hope but knew they had to take every chance

offered. Sadly for them, captain Alistair Cook squandered two almost

immediately. The first unfortunate. The second unforgivable. England's

lamentable fielding would cost them. Having been handed a reprieve, David

Warner were eventually snared by Stokes but it would prove a false

down. After two batting collapses yesterday, Chris Rodgers proved the

pitch was no excuse. He steered his side to victory with a brilliant

century after England ran out of idea. With Shane Watson in one day

mode, the end was mercilessly quick. Australia had romped home by eight

wickets. On a tour that has brugted daily disappointment, this is

arguably the most painful defeat of all, with England throwing away a

winning position. With the Ashes already gone, this could have been a

fresh start. Instead, the humiliation of a 5-0 white wash in

Sydney next week, now feels inevitable.

Well it's been an eventful day in the Premier League. All the goals

are coming up on match of the day 2, straight after the news, but if you

want to know the results now. Here they come: Arsenal will end the year

on top of the table after beating Newcastle United 1-0 at St James's's

park. Olivier Giroud scored the only goal of the game to lift his side

one point above Manchester City. Chelsea came depr behind to beat

Liverpool 2-1. Liverpool drop to fifth. Lu scored his first goal in

six matches for Everton -- Lukaku. Tottenham beat Stoke. Celtic remain

unbeaten in the Scottish Premiership after a 1-0 victory over Inverness

Caledonian Thistle. They were ahead after three minutes when Kris

Commons fired in his 15th goal of the season. The win sees Celtic

preserve their 11-point lead at the top of the table. That's all the

sport for now. Thank you. The main news again: The

former world motor racing champion, Michael Schumacher s critically ill

in a coma tonight, following a skiing accident in France. More on

that and on all today's millimetres. An amber warning in

force. Yellow warning is i th Good evening.

More heavy rain and strong winds are heading towards the Home Counties

tonight, bringing the risk of further flooding. There are fears

the rain could cause problem with the ground already waterlogged.

Sarah Morris went to Guildford where they're still recovering from the

Christmas storm. Five days ago, this is how central

Guildford looked. A submerged landscape studded with marooned

cars. The doors of buildings shut to the rising torrents but water

finding its way in and up through the ground anyway.

This was the scene today, the water back where it should be, but a damp

residue left behind for cleaning by the business owners still recovering

from the Christmas soaking. The water started to come in through

the ceiling. We have got an