02/01/2016 BBC Weekend News

The BBC understands one of those executed in Saudi Arabia was

involved in the murder of the freelance cameraman in 2004. He had

been on assignment working with the BBC security correspondent, Frank

Gardner, who was seriously injured in the shooting. British soldiers

who served in Iraq have been warned they could be charged with war

crimes. Allegations have been made some civilians were mistreated

during the conflict and discussions will take place with persecutors as

to whether there should be legal action.

Claims of mistreatment of Iraqis by British personnel have been rife in

the aftermath of the Iraq war. So much so, the government set up a

team to investigate historic allegations. Today it had said,

there could be criminal charges. He told a newspaper...

This team is costing a total of ?57 million and is examining more than

1000 cases. It's not due to finish its work until the end of 2019.

Lawyers representing alleged victims say it is taking too long and will

not confront systemic abuse. They were established in 2010 and now we

are at the beginning of 2016 and there has been a single prosecution.

When we look at it like that, there isn't much to indicate we will get

very far any time soon in terms of prosecuting soldiers. The Ministry

of Defence says it takes all allegations of abuse or unlawful

killing seriously. But most of killing very seriously but the vast

majority of those Armed Forces conduct themselves

professionally and in accordance with the law. Some have expressed

frustration at continued claims against military personnel and doubt

over the sheer numbers. The British Army has an incredibly effective

disciplinary system, chain of command, which makes sure this kind

of thing doesn't happen on a frequent basis. Occasionally it will

happen but our system prevent it from happening. That is why

thousands of cases couldn't happen, it's fiction. Critics say fear of

future prosecution could prevent soldiers operating effectively. The

Defence Secretary has criticised ambulance chasing law firms. Two

public enquiries have already looked at claims against UK troops in Iraq.

Now almost 13 years since the war there started, the military is still

having to confront this dark side of its involvement.

Increases in rail fares come into force today in England, Scotland and

Wales with prices rising. The lowest increase since 2010. Campaigners say

the service is so poor that customers may be surprised fares are

rising at all. The chief executive of the Environment Agency says

people will always come first when tackling the risk of flooding. Sir

James Bevan was defending the agency against accusations some rivers are

left under edge to protect wildlife. Many areas of the UK have suffered

flooding after weeks of heavy rain and tonight there are dozens of

flood warnings in place across England, Wales and Scotland. Two men

have been arrested following a shooting in a McDonald's car park in

Hull. A car with two people inside was fired at this morning though the

occupants were injured. Another people was treated at the scene for

shock. It is thought those involved knew each other. A hacking group

which target so-called Islamic State website says it was behind a cyber

attack on the BBC this week. Many of the Corporation's services were

taken off-line for several hours on Thursday. The group has claimed

responsibility, it is called New World Hacking. What do we know about

this group? They got in touch with BBC journalists including me to

claim responsibility. They said it was a test, not of the BBC, but the

power of their own servers, they didn't mean to take down the BBC for

as long as they did. Two days ago the iPlayer went down, BBC website

went down. Distributed denial of service, they send billions of tiny

messages towards a server in a short period of time, which cripples the

website. The real target was on the BBC, it was the so-called Islamic

State. They want to block its propaganda, websites, and those

people who support IS. I exchanged instant messages with these guys

online today, they claim to be ordinary Americans, doctors,

dentists, teachers, who give freely of their time and expertise to deal

with this issue, this online threat from IS. This is why they attacked

various different websites. We can't verify these claims, but it is a

measure of the issue affecting very large organisations. In recent years

we've seen banks attacked for using this service. Last autumn we saw

talk talk and thousands of their customers were affected. Many

thanks, Joe Lynam. In cricket England have made a solid start to

the second test against South Africa in Cape Town. After winning the toss

and opting to bat. Ben Stokes, top scorer with an unbeaten 74. England

finished on 317-5. Here is Adam Wilde. In Cape Town, plenty of

awe-inspiring sights. South Africa, once towering giants of the game.

Their peak almost behind them. Little wonder 12,000 England fans

made the trip. The hosts still rated the world's best, but England

finding little to fear. Until Alastair Cook frowned and edge. Paul

Barden, one of South Africa's next generation. Having dismissed the

England captain, others were proving more stubborn. This took Alex Hales

to a half-century. South Africa needed inspiration and it was Rabada

once again providing them with a lift. This time to see off Nick

Compton. That was the ball before the tea break. This, the ball after.

South Africa's new playing like South Africa of old. Like them, it

wasn't to last. Jo Wood on his way to 50, Stokes going even further. --

Joe Root. Today it was England offering plenty to admire. That's

it, more through the evening on the BBC News Channel and I'll be back

with the late News at Ten PM.