:00:21. > :00:24.following a stroke. A soldier first, then politician, Ariel Sharon loomed
:00:25. > :00:27.large over 50 years of turbulent history.
:00:28. > :00:32.We'll be assessing his life and legacy. Also on the programme:
:00:33. > :00:36.Hundreds of people have attended a vigil for Mark Duggan days after an
:00:37. > :00:42.inquest jury found he had been lawfully killed by police. And the
:00:43. > :00:44.rains may have eased, but swollen rivers mean yet more misery for home
:00:45. > :01:05.owners. Good evening. The former Israeli
:01:06. > :01:10.Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, has died at the age of 85. He suffered
:01:11. > :01:14.multiple organ failure, eight years after a massive stroke left him in a
:01:15. > :01:19.coma. Ariel Sharon was a dominant figure in the military and political
:01:20. > :01:22.life of his country. Today, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
:01:23. > :01:26.Netaiyahu, described him as a Great Warrior. But a senior Palestinian
:01:27. > :01:30.official said he would be remembered for his aggression and attempts to
:01:31. > :01:34.impose his will on the Palestinian people by force.
:01:35. > :01:38.Jermey Bowen looks back at his life. This report contains flash
:01:39. > :01:42.photography. Ariel Sharon's body was moved out of
:01:43. > :01:46.the Medical Centre near Tel Aviv where he's been treated. For many
:01:47. > :01:52.Israelis he was a hero. Some, though, saw him, especially in the
:01:53. > :01:57.the 1980s and 90s, as a dangerous maverick. For Palestinians he was
:01:58. > :02:02.always a villain, often called the butcher. Sharon called his
:02:03. > :02:07.autobiography "Warrior". That was how he saw himself. Tributes were
:02:08. > :02:14.paid by Israel's leaders. He was an outstanding man and an exceptional
:02:15. > :02:23.commander, who moved his people and loved them and the people loved him.
:02:24. > :02:27.He cultivated his land and made it flourish. Ariel Sharon was a veteran
:02:28. > :02:33.of Israel's independence war of 1948. In 1953, his men led a
:02:34. > :02:40.reprisal here in the Palestinianial village of Kibia on the West Bank,
:02:41. > :02:47.Antunes -- after an Israeli woman and her children were killed.
:02:48. > :02:51.Sharon's men blew up most of the buildings. 67 Palestinians,
:02:52. > :02:55.including many women and children died in the rubble of their homes
:02:56. > :02:58.in. 2006, when Sharon went into a coma, this survivor the raid told me
:02:59. > :03:03.that Palestinians would always regard him as a killer and a
:03:04. > :03:06.criminal. TRANSLATION: Sharon will never be a
:03:07. > :03:10.man of peace because he's committed so many massacres. We don't rejoice
:03:11. > :03:20.over him dying, but to us, he'll always be a killer and a criminal.
:03:21. > :03:24.For Israelis he was a daring fighter, leading an audacious
:03:25. > :03:33.paratrooper attack during the 1956 Middle East war. In the 1967 war, he
:03:34. > :03:41.led forces that captured large parts of Egypt's Sinai desert. In the 1973
:03:42. > :03:49.war, his men crossed the Suez Canal and encircled an Egyptian Army. In
:03:50. > :03:54.1982, as Minister of Defence, he was the Mastermind of Israel's invasion
:03:55. > :04:00.of Lebanon. Hundreds, perhaps several thousand Palestinian
:04:01. > :04:05.civilians refugee camps in Beirut were massacred by Lebanese Christian
:04:06. > :04:10.militiamen who were Israel's allies. Ariel Sharon was found to hold
:04:11. > :04:14.personal responsibility by an Israeli Commission of Inquiry and
:04:15. > :04:19.resigned. He rebuilt his political career. He was a major force behind
:04:20. > :04:23.Israel's drive to settle Jews in the occupied Palestinian territories. As
:04:24. > :04:29.he pushed to become leader of the Israeli right in 2000, he made a
:04:30. > :04:35.highly publicised, heavy-guarded visit to the ack amosque compound in
:04:36. > :04:39.-- Aksa mosque compound in Jerusalem, providing the spark for
:04:40. > :04:45.the uprising. With Palestinian suicide bombers attacking Israelis,
:04:46. > :04:50.Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister, presiding over a tough military
:04:51. > :04:55.response and the construction of a fortified barrier between
:04:56. > :05:00.Palestinians and Israelis. One of the what ifs of recent Middle
:05:01. > :05:05.Eastern history is what might have happened if Sharon had not been
:05:06. > :05:09.incapacitated by a massive stroke. Six months earlier, he had pulled
:05:10. > :05:13.Israeli settlers and soldiers out of Palestinian Gaza, a move for which
:05:14. > :05:18.he was condemned by many of his old allies on the Israeli right. Some
:05:19. > :05:22.Israelis believe he might have been the only man trusted enough to pull
:05:23. > :05:28.some settlers out of the West Bank too. By then, many Israelis saw him
:05:29. > :05:32.as the grandfather they could trust with their security. But
:05:33. > :05:38.Palestinians never reconciled themselves to the man or his legacy.
:05:39. > :05:42.Ariel Sharon's family visited the place on his farm where he's
:05:43. > :05:47.expected to be buried. His legacy is still a factor in the politics of
:05:48. > :05:53.war and peace in the Middle East, especially the Jewish settlements on
:05:54. > :06:02.the West Bank. Respect him or despise him, Ariel Sharon could not
:06:03. > :06:06.be ignored. In life or death. As a general and statesman, Ariel
:06:07. > :06:12.Sharon played a key role in shaping Israel and influencing the wider
:06:13. > :06:15.region. Our Middle East Correspondent Kevin Connolly reports
:06:16. > :06:20.from Jerusalem. As Israel emerged from the Jewish Sabbath, the weekly
:06:21. > :06:24.suspension of the rhythms of daily life, it was to news that Sharon
:06:25. > :06:29.shorn's eight years -- Ariel Sharon's eight years in a coma were
:06:30. > :06:34.over at last. TRANSLATION: He is gone and he went
:06:35. > :06:38.at a time of his own choosing. Not all Israelis loved him or even liked
:06:39. > :06:43.him, but no-one ever doubted that Sharon the warrior brought the
:06:44. > :06:47.courage of his convictions to his political life. He was a brave
:06:48. > :06:53.soldier, a general in the Israeli army, but also a man that knew how
:06:54. > :06:59.to understand the reality here in the Middle East, a very complicated
:07:00. > :07:04.reality. He was very tough Prime Minister. He was just, I think, he
:07:05. > :07:13.was black or white. He wouldn't compromise. He would do everything
:07:14. > :07:21.for us, for Israel. Public mourning began hours of the announcement.
:07:22. > :07:26.Israelis preparing to say goodbye. So too were Palestinians, they saw
:07:27. > :07:30.Sharon as an enemy to be hated and feared. In Gaza they handed out
:07:31. > :07:35.sweets on street corners and savoured what they saw as a kind of
:07:36. > :07:39.victory. TRANSLATION: Everyone is feeling
:07:40. > :07:43.happy. Look on anybody's Facebook pace -- page. Sharon committed a lot
:07:44. > :07:47.of crimes against the Palestinian people. Ariel Sharon, once a simple
:07:48. > :07:51.soldier, led his country through complex times. In the Middle East
:07:52. > :07:55.with its divided history, even in Israel with its fractious party
:07:56. > :07:58.politics, no-one leaves an undisputed legacy, but there's one
:07:59. > :08:03.central truth to the life of Ariel Sharon - it mirrored at almost every
:08:04. > :08:10.turn the short history of the state that he fought to establish and then
:08:11. > :08:13.to protect. Our correspondent Yolande Knell
:08:14. > :08:18.joins me from outside the hospital near Tel Aviv, where Ariel Sharon
:08:19. > :08:23.spent his final years. Details of the funeral arrangements have been
:08:24. > :08:27.announced. That's right. We have been hearing through the day, since
:08:28. > :08:33.Ariel Sharon's death was announced, around lunch time, his pod yay was
:08:34. > :08:36.-- body was taken away from the Sheba Medical Centre, where he spent
:08:37. > :08:39.much of the past eight years. We're now told that what is happening, his
:08:40. > :08:45.body is being prepared for him to lie in state at the Israeli
:08:46. > :08:49.Parliament tomorrow. That's where people will be able to pay their
:08:50. > :08:53.respects. Then on Monday, there will be the official ceremony there. That
:08:54. > :08:58.will be attended by some international VIPs, with the likes
:08:59. > :09:02.of the US vice-president Joe Biden in attendance. Then final lip, he
:09:03. > :09:05.will be take -- finally, he will be taken to the family ranch in
:09:06. > :09:14.southern Israel. That's where he will be buried alongside his late
:09:15. > :09:17.wife. Many thanks. Several hundred people gathered
:09:18. > :09:21.outside Tottenham police station in North London today to hold a vigil
:09:22. > :09:26.for Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police in 2011 sparked riots in many
:09:27. > :09:36.English cities. This week, a jury ruled he had been lawfully killed.
:09:37. > :09:43.The Duggan campaign has rallied under the crime why the no justice,
:09:44. > :09:47.no peace. " Family members insist that's a call for loud protest, not
:09:48. > :09:51.violence. This edon't believe a two-year police -- they don't
:09:52. > :09:55.believe a two-year police investigation, and the consideration
:09:56. > :09:59.of a jury has delivered justice. The verdict that Mark Duggan had a gun,
:10:00. > :10:06.threw it away and was shot lieufully, while -- lawfully, while
:10:07. > :10:11.unarmed, they describe as perverse. We fight on. The media, asked to
:10:12. > :10:16.stay well back from the speakers, were tolerated more than accepted.
:10:17. > :10:20.Mark Duggan's family and supporters continue to reject the conclusions
:10:21. > :10:24.of the inquest jury this week. They say the jury was considering the
:10:25. > :10:29.evidence put in front of it, but they say, the inquest itself was
:10:30. > :10:34.weighed against the interests of the family, the community and the
:10:35. > :10:41.victim. Mark Duggan's aunt said the campaign's next move was to push the
:10:42. > :10:44.IPCC to carry out a wider, in her words, more thorough investigation.
:10:45. > :10:48.The family are considering appealing against the inquest verdict. What
:10:49. > :10:52.are your hopes for further progress? We're just hoping, that's all we
:10:53. > :10:55.have got is help. We're in an unjust society. We have to fight for
:10:56. > :11:00.justice. We have got to hope and pray that we get that at some point.
:11:01. > :11:04.The police kept their numbers largely hidden, but this was a
:11:05. > :11:09.peaceful protest. The family's demand for there to be no trouble
:11:10. > :11:16.seemed to have carried weight which Mark Duggan's Motherwell comed. It's
:11:17. > :11:22.-- Mark Duggan's maerge welcomed. To further demonstrate their wishes,
:11:23. > :11:28.they released white doffs into -- doves into clear Tottenham skies.
:11:29. > :11:33.The French oil and gas giant Total is to invest in Britain's shale gas
:11:34. > :11:37.industry. The company is expected to announce on Monday, it's acquiring
:11:38. > :11:42.stakes in a number of UK exploration firms. The process to extract shale
:11:43. > :11:47.gas, known as fracking, has attracted widespread criticism
:11:48. > :11:49.because of fears about its environmental impact.
:11:50. > :11:53.There's been more violence in the capital of the Central African
:11:54. > :11:57.Republic, a day after the president resigned, and apparently fled the
:11:58. > :12:10.country. Life for civilians, caught up in weeks of fighting is getting
:12:11. > :12:15.increasingly desperate. The squalid camp next to the airport
:12:16. > :12:20.remains as overcrowded as ever. 100,000 people are behind the barbed
:12:21. > :12:25.wire. They're Christians who fled violence by the mainly Muslim
:12:26. > :12:30.militia. The political situation has been transformed in the past 24
:12:31. > :12:34.hours, but will take longer to end the humanitarian crisis. The camp
:12:35. > :12:39.has the size and feel of a small town now. Nobody that we've spoken
:12:40. > :12:43.to is yet prepared to go home. All these people are Christians and they
:12:44. > :12:50.want to wait and see, to make sure that the militia has left their
:12:51. > :12:59.neighbourhoods before they leave. So they're stuck in this place, their
:13:00. > :13:03.lives on hold. "It depends on the French and African troops. They've
:13:04. > :13:08.got to disarm the militia. They have to go."
:13:09. > :13:13.But there's been looting of Muslim homes and businesses. Christians
:13:14. > :13:20.feel they have the upper hand since the president's resignation. Some
:13:21. > :13:26.want to take revenge. Muslim areas are fearful. Many people staying at
:13:27. > :13:34.home. On this street, a tyre repair shop was one of the few businesses
:13:35. > :13:37.still open. "Now it's up to us to defend our families. The French and
:13:38. > :13:42.African troops are doing nothing to help us. We have to defend
:13:43. > :13:47.ourselves." Everyone here told me they were
:13:48. > :13:51.thinking of fleeing the country. French troops were very much in
:13:52. > :13:58.evidence. There has been trouble, but not the bloodbath many feared.
:13:59. > :14:04.Foreign soldiers have helped avert the genocide some predicted. No-one
:14:05. > :14:10.has any illusions the crisis is over yet.
:14:11. > :14:15.Refer levels in parts of England have continued to rise bringing more
:14:16. > :14:19.misery, with nearly 80 flood warnings still in place in England
:14:20. > :14:23.and Wales. Our correspondent Sarah Campbell reports from Marlow in
:14:24. > :14:27.Buckinghamshire. The volume of water currently
:14:28. > :14:30.surging through Marlow is eight times greater than normal. It's a
:14:31. > :14:35.torrent which has proved impossible to hold back. We have 350 cubic
:14:36. > :14:41.metres of water, that's tons of water, going past here every second.
:14:42. > :14:45.Usually, when we look at over the weir here, we see a difference
:14:46. > :14:49.between the upstream and down stream water levels, about 2. 5 metres.
:14:50. > :14:52.Here we see it's half a metre because of the sheer volume of water
:14:53. > :14:56.coming down through. With so much water in the system, it's hardly
:14:57. > :15:01.surprising that first farmland and then properties have been affected
:15:02. > :15:06.by the floodwaters. But here, at least, it does appear the river
:15:07. > :15:10.levels have peaked. Further down stream, there's still a chance they
:15:11. > :15:14.may rise again in. Parts of Surrey, leaving the house is already
:15:15. > :15:20.impossible without waders. Rivers may be the problem now, but the
:15:21. > :15:24.spectacular coastal storms, seen in places such as Aberystwyth, have
:15:25. > :15:29.left behind severe damage. Today, there's been a real determination to
:15:30. > :15:37.repair the battered seafront. I think it's a great community spirit
:15:38. > :15:40.here. People - parents, children, local councillors, everybody helping
:15:41. > :15:45.together to restore the prom to its usual glory, hopefully. Here, as in
:15:46. > :15:52.other flood-damaged areas, the hope is that the current dry spell will
:15:53. > :15:57.allow the clean up to continue. With all the sport now, here's Ollie
:15:58. > :16:01.Foster at the BBC sports centre. There were goals in all seven of
:16:02. > :16:04.today's Premier League matches. You can see them on Match of the Day
:16:05. > :16:09.straight after the news. If you want the results, here they come: Chelsea
:16:10. > :16:12.are back on top of the Premier League for the first time since
:16:13. > :16:18.September, after they beat Hull 2-0. Eden Hazard scored first at the kvrt
:16:19. > :16:20.C stadium. -- KC Stadium. And Fernando Torres completed the
:16:21. > :16:26.victory. Manchester United's mini slump is over, after three defeats
:16:27. > :16:28.in a row, they beat Swansea 2-0. Antonio Valencia and Danny Welbeck
:16:29. > :16:31.with the goals against the side that knocked them out of the FA Cup last
:16:32. > :16:34.weekend. West Ham have moved out of the
:16:35. > :16:41.relegation zone with a 2-0 win at Cardiff. They're now in the bottom
:16:42. > :16:52.three. Everton are up to fourth. ?. -- fourth. Adam Johnson scored a
:16:53. > :16:55.hat-trick there. Leaders Celtic have the weekend off
:16:56. > :16:59.in the Scottish Premiership, but there were three matches today.
:17:00. > :17:04.Motherwell have won their sixth game in a row. John Sutton scored the
:17:05. > :17:11.only goal against Hearts. Partick Thistle and Ross County drew 3-3. St
:17:12. > :17:15.Johnstone beat St Mirren 2-0. England's cricketers start their
:17:16. > :17:19.one-day series against Australia in the next few hours. The fallout from
:17:20. > :17:23.the Ashes whitewash continues. The captain, Alastair Cook, refusing to
:17:24. > :17:25.give Kevin Pietersen any guarantees about his future in the side.
:17:26. > :17:28.give Kevin Pietersen any guarantees about his future in the We know when
:17:29. > :17:32.I get home from this one-day series, a lot of important decisions on how
:17:33. > :17:37.we want to go forward with this Test team, with the one-day team, my
:17:38. > :17:41.future, all that kind of stuff is very important. But at the moment,
:17:42. > :17:45.my total focus has to be on us winning games of cricket in this
:17:46. > :17:49.one-day series. England's women cricketers are playing their Ashes
:17:50. > :17:53.Test in Perth. They bowled Australia out for 207 runs. Australia had a
:17:54. > :17:58.first innings lead of just six runs. But it's been a terrible start to
:17:59. > :18:02.the tourists' second innings. At the close, England were 18 for three.
:18:03. > :18:08.Two-time European champions Munster are into the quarter finals of Rugby
:18:09. > :18:13.Union's Heineken Cup. They won their pool, beating Gloucester at
:18:14. > :18:19.Kingsholm. Keith Earls scored the pick of their tries.
:18:20. > :18:20.Leicester, Clermont Auvergne and Ulster are through to the last
:18:21. > :18:24.eight. Great Britain are tipped to have
:18:25. > :18:28.their most successful Winter Olympics next month. There are great
:18:29. > :18:32.hopes in the Skelton, with more than one medal chance. Lizzie Yarnold
:18:33. > :18:37.claimed silver in St Moritz today. She finished on the podium in all
:18:38. > :18:42.six World Cup races this season. She remains on course to take the
:18:43. > :18:46.overall title. Her team meat Shelley Rudman won bronze. The American
:18:47. > :18:49.Noelle Pikus-Pace took gold. Tomorrow's BDO world darts final
:18:50. > :18:52.will be between the favourite Stephen Bunting and Alan Norris. The
:18:53. > :18:57.women's final was an all-English affair. There was a tlishing come
:18:58. > :19:01.back from Lisa Ashton to win her first world title. She beat Deta
:19:02. > :19:06.Hedman three sets to two. That's all the sport. Spvment -- sport. That's
:19:07. > :19:09.it from us. Don't forget, there's a first look at tomorrow's front pages
:19:10. > :19:11.on the BBC News channel. From me, and the rest of the team,
:19:12. > :19:32.have a very good night. Hell low there. 60 years ago, this
:19:33. > :19:37.very evening George Cowling became the very first BBC weather
:19:38. > :19:41.forecaster. Here is the cloud to come. You'll notice ahead of it, the
:19:42. > :19:43.clear skies which brought sunshine today and which is now bringing
:19:44. > :19:44.frosty conditions