:00:10. > :00:14.Labour has joined Sir Richard Branson in urging the Government to
:00:14. > :00:19.delay the signing of a new contract to run the West Coast Mainline.
:00:19. > :00:24.They say MPs should be given time to scrutinise the decision toward
:00:24. > :00:30.the franchise to a new operator. Two boys die, a girl is critical in
:00:30. > :00:36.hospital and the search resumes for a man after their canoe capsizes.
:00:36. > :00:42.Opposition forces claim to have shot down a Syrian Army helicopter.
:00:42. > :00:52.And police in Essex warn residents that a lion may be on the loose
:00:52. > :01:01.
:01:01. > :01:06.Good afternoon. The Government is facing calls to
:01:06. > :01:09.delay the signing of a new contract to run the West Coast Mainline
:01:09. > :01:12.until Parliament's had time to scrutinise the deal. Labour's
:01:12. > :01:16.joined Sir Richard Branson to demand that MPs be given a chance
:01:16. > :01:20.to consider the decision to take the franchise from Virgin Trains
:01:20. > :01:24.and award it to First Group who has again stated that the bid is
:01:24. > :01:29.deliverable and the best deal for taxpayers. Our Political
:01:29. > :01:33.Correspondent, Ross Hawkins, has more.
:01:33. > :01:37.Often seen celebrating conspicuous success, time is running out for
:01:37. > :01:43.Richard Branson to overturn a defeat. The Government is set to
:01:43. > :01:46.sign a contract tomorrow that will see Virgin Trains replaced by First
:01:46. > :01:49.Group on the West Coast Mainline. Virgin is lobbying hard for a delay
:01:49. > :01:54.and has offered to run the franchise for free while ministers
:01:54. > :01:58.have a rethink. We are not letting this drop because we have spent 15
:01:58. > :02:07.years creating what we believe to be the best train network in the UK.
:02:07. > :02:13.We don't want to see that ruined. So we will fight very hard to try
:02:13. > :02:17.to defend our rights to continue to operate.
:02:17. > :02:22.But it's First Group that's set to run the operations now. Its critics
:02:22. > :02:26.fear it won't be able to afford the �5.5 billion it offered in its
:02:26. > :02:36.successful bid. In a statement this morning though, First Group's Chief
:02:36. > :02:50.
:02:50. > :02:52.This isn't just a row between two companies fighting for their own
:02:53. > :02:55.commercial interests. More than 130,000 people have signed an
:02:55. > :02:59.online petition urging the Government to think again and
:02:59. > :03:03.Labour says the process should be put on pause so politicians can
:03:03. > :03:06.have another look. This is a deal that's going to last,
:03:06. > :03:09.not for the next Parliament, but for the next three Members of
:03:09. > :03:14.Parliament. It seems that if the Secretary of State signs it in the
:03:14. > :03:19.recess, having announced it in the recess, MPs and they represent many
:03:19. > :03:22.whens affected by this, won't have a Hans to debate it. That's wrong.
:03:22. > :03:26.A spokesman for the Transport Secretary, Justine Greening, said
:03:26. > :03:30.the bidding had been run faurly. There is no sign yet of her giving
:03:30. > :03:33.way, but Richard Branson, still lobbying hard to stay in the race,
:03:33. > :03:38.knows there are just hours to go before the fate on Virgin on the
:03:38. > :03:43.West Coast line could be decided for good.
:03:43. > :03:46.Two boys, aged five and two, have died in hospital after a canoe
:03:46. > :03:50.capsized on a sea loch in the north-west Highlands. Six people
:03:51. > :03:55.were on the boat when it overturned in Loch Gairloch on Sunday
:03:55. > :03:59.afternoon. A man in his 30s is missing. Let's go to our
:03:59. > :04:01.correspondent James Cook who is there at the scene for us. Give us
:04:01. > :04:05.the latest. Well, what's happening at the
:04:05. > :04:08.moment is that a search is still continuing for the missing man,
:04:08. > :04:13.although we've been told that that is a recovery operation, that is to
:04:13. > :04:17.say he is missing, presumed dead. The search was called off last
:04:17. > :04:21.night with no sign of his body at all and so they are now just trying
:04:21. > :04:24.to find it and bring it ashore basically. What we know about what
:04:24. > :04:28.happened out here yesterday afternoon is, we are now told that
:04:28. > :04:31.it was a pretty lovely afternoon really. It was calm, sunny, with
:04:31. > :04:34.people sunbathing on the beach. These two families who were
:04:34. > :04:40.involved in the accident were staying at a caravan park a short
:04:40. > :04:43.distance up the beach here when they got into trouble in an open-
:04:43. > :04:46.decked Canadian canoe which capsized out there perhaps several
:04:46. > :04:49.hundred metres offshore. Exactly why that happened is not clear. We
:04:49. > :04:55.are told that the children involved were wearing life jackets but the
:04:55. > :05:00.adults were not. What we know is that basically, one family survived
:05:00. > :05:04.this accident, a man in his 30s, an eight-year-old girl and five-year-
:05:04. > :05:08.old girl who's seriously ill in hospital, while the father from the
:05:08. > :05:11.other family and the two boys, believed to be aged five and two,
:05:11. > :05:15.were the ones who died. Thank you very much.
:05:15. > :05:20.Now, opposition forces in Syria say they've shot down a helicopter
:05:20. > :05:23.during an attack on rebel fighters in a suburb of the capital Damascus.
:05:23. > :05:28.State television's confirmed that a helicopter crashed naer a mosque
:05:28. > :05:32.but didn't say whether it was actually brought down -- near a
:05:32. > :05:39.mosque. Barbara Plett reports from Beirut in neighbouring Lebanon.
:05:39. > :05:42.A dramatic development in the battle for the state of Damascus. A
:05:42. > :05:47.helicopter crashed. Rebels claim to have shot the
:05:47. > :05:52.helicopter down. This unverified footage peers to show the
:05:52. > :05:56.smouldering car bus. There is no sign of the pilot. -- car kus.
:05:56. > :06:00.Fighting has raged in the capital for over a week with the Army
:06:00. > :06:05.trying to drive out rebels who've regrouped in the outlying suburbs.
:06:05. > :06:12.These pictures are said to show a fire ignited by random shelling.
:06:12. > :06:18.The district worst hit was the one which ground troops entered on
:06:18. > :06:23.Sunday after a siege. 300 people are believed to have been killed.
:06:23. > :06:28.This unverified video of a mass grave is just one of many said to
:06:28. > :06:32.be of victims. In another part of Syria, the town
:06:32. > :06:37.of Maria, opposition fighters take a break from the war, but they're
:06:37. > :06:40.angry about being left alone to face a far superior Army. The rebel
:06:40. > :06:45.commander says the world needs to wake up.
:06:45. > :06:48.I have seen horrible things. I'm not talking to the people inside
:06:48. > :06:56.Syria, I'm addressing the world. Can you not see the shelling, the
:06:56. > :07:00.destruction, the children that are being vaugtered -- slaughtered? Is
:07:00. > :07:06.this not enough proof for the world. The world should proside us with
:07:06. > :07:16.safe havens. At least for refer gees who gather on the border of
:07:16. > :07:20.Turkey. -- provide us with safe havens.
:07:20. > :07:24.Afghan officials have accused the Taliban of killing 17 people,
:07:24. > :07:28.including two women in southern Afghanistan. One local Governor
:07:28. > :07:31.said they gathered to listen to music and watch the women dance
:07:31. > :07:37.when the party was attacked. Another official disputed that.
:07:37. > :07:41.Let's go to Quentin Somerville in Kabul. Tell us more?
:07:41. > :07:47.Matthew, this was an astonishingly brutal attack, 17 individuals
:07:47. > :07:50.including two women, all of them civilians, either had their throats
:07:50. > :07:54.slit or they were beheaded. It may have been a dispute over a party
:07:54. > :07:58.taking place, singing and dancing, which these Taliban commanders
:07:58. > :08:01.objected to, or local officials say the Taliban commanders were
:08:01. > :08:04.fighting over the affections of two women. The reason it's taken so
:08:04. > :08:09.long for this information to come out and the reason why it's been so
:08:09. > :08:13.difficult to get to the bottom of this attack is because this is
:08:13. > :08:18.Taliban controlled territory, a local police chief says he cannot
:08:18. > :08:23.get near the area and has not even seen the bodies. There have been
:08:23. > :08:32.two other attacks in Afghanistan today, serious attacks. Tell us
:08:32. > :08:36.about those? It's a reminder of the ferocity of this war, the
:08:36. > :08:40.continuing ferocity. Afghan soldiers were killed when a massive
:08:40. > :08:44.attack by the Taliban, over 200 attacked the checkpoint and killed
:08:44. > :08:50.them. The Taliban say they then took over the checkpoint. The
:08:50. > :08:56.Government say it's back in their hands. There are no international
:08:56. > :09:02.sources available to support that attack.
:09:02. > :09:07.An Afghan soldier turn his gun on those who we believe are Americans.
:09:07. > :09:11.Thank you very much. Shares in the Korean electronics
:09:11. > :09:16.company Samsung have fallen after the company lost a legal dispute
:09:16. > :09:21.with its American rival Apple. The price dropped 7.5% on the Seoul
:09:21. > :09:25.Stock Exchange. It's been ordered to pay $1 billion in compensation
:09:25. > :09:28.and noif withdraw some products from the US market.
:09:28. > :09:32.The authoritys in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama have
:09:32. > :09:35.declared a state of emergency as they brace themselves for the
:09:35. > :09:39.arrival of tropical storm Isaac. Currently in Mexico, the storm is
:09:39. > :09:41.expected the strengthen to a hurricane by the time it reaches
:09:41. > :09:46.land either tomorrow or by Wednesday. It's already brought
:09:46. > :09:50.strong winds and heavy rains to Florida, as Steve Kingston now
:09:50. > :09:54.reports. An unwanted guest touching down in
:09:54. > :09:58.Florida. Isaac hit as a tropical storm, not quite at hurricane
:09:58. > :10:03.strength but still packing winds of 65mph.
:10:03. > :10:09.Before long, the storm surge brought localised flooding. Earl
:10:09. > :10:14.euro, many heeded the official warnings, boarding up and getting
:10:14. > :10:18.out -- earlier. The Republican Party Convention in Tampa is not
:10:18. > :10:23.directly in the storm's path but it's close enough for organisers to
:10:23. > :10:26.have put it off until tomorrow. The building with the flags is
:10:26. > :10:30.where Mitt Romney will be formally nominated for the presidency. As
:10:30. > :10:34.the weather turns, you can see why Republicans have delayed things.
:10:34. > :10:39.Look how close it all is to the downtown waterfronts in one of
:10:39. > :10:43.America's most flood-prone cities. The forecasts say Isaac will pick
:10:43. > :10:47.up wind speed in Mexico before making hand fall as a hurricane
:10:47. > :10:51.midweek. Emergencys have been declared in four gulf states.
:10:51. > :10:53.Communities prepares for the worst include New Orleans which lived
:10:54. > :10:57.through the nightmare of Katrina seven years ago this week.
:10:57. > :11:03.Make sure you have got a game plan, make sure you follow the advice
:11:03. > :11:06.from your local leaders, make sure you are paying attention to the
:11:06. > :11:09.changing weather conditions. The storms can change, we have seen the
:11:09. > :11:15.change in the last few days. With hundreds of flights already
:11:15. > :11:24.cancelled, schools closed and homes scarred, this is now a waiting game
:11:24. > :11:28.to see where Isaac will strike next and with what force. Golf now and
:11:28. > :11:38.the European Ryder Cup Captain has announced his team for this year's
:11:38. > :11:41.
:11:42. > :11:50.competition, the Englishman Ian Poulter and the Belgian Nicholas
:11:50. > :11:53.Colsaerts were picked. Police in Essex are investigating
:11:53. > :11:57.reports that aly-on has been spotted in the field near Clacton-
:11:57. > :12:01.on-Sea. The alert was raised by a member of the public who spotted an
:12:01. > :12:06.animal resembling a lion in a field last night. Let's two to our
:12:06. > :12:12.reporter Lisa Hampele. What more are police saying about this?
:12:12. > :12:16.Police got a very unusual call last night. They are taking it seriously.
:12:16. > :12:26.They've cordoned off the area behind me and earlier, he want
:12:26. > :12:26.
:12:26. > :12:31.kolers joined the search. -- helicopters. Last night, armed
:12:31. > :12:37.police were called in after people staying in a caravan on farmland
:12:37. > :12:40.had seen what they thought was a lion. We believe we saw a large cat,
:12:40. > :12:45.looking at a tree, thought it was going to go up the tree because we
:12:45. > :12:49.were talking to the police at the time. It didn't go up the tree, it
:12:49. > :12:53.turned, sat, I believe it could be hearing us from the other side of
:12:53. > :12:58.the field and it just sat there looking at us. It was very
:12:58. > :13:02.impressive, a nice sight to see. A circus that was recently nearby
:13:02. > :13:06.did not have any lions and Colchester Zoo doesn't have any
:13:06. > :13:11.missing. Experts there have seen a photo but say it's hard to tell if
:13:11. > :13:15.it's the real thing. It's a picture of a blurry sandy
:13:15. > :13:18.coloured animal at a distance. I wasn't prepared to say really one
:13:18. > :13:22.way or the other as to what it could be.
:13:23. > :13:26.Essex Police initially advised people to stay indoors. That's now
:13:26. > :13:32.been relaxed but some are worried. I think it's quite concerning. If
:13:32. > :13:35.it's true and there's a large cat out there, then it's quite a
:13:35. > :13:41.worrying thing, but we do have a lot of fields around us here so
:13:41. > :13:45.there's men toif places for the animal to hide. -- plenty of places
:13:45. > :13:49.for the animal to hide. Many are worried the King of the jungle is
:13:49. > :13:52.hiding here, but the police can't afford not to take the sightings
:13:53. > :13:57.soariously. It's been 18 hours now since the