:00:08. > :00:11.Britain is officially out of recession - the latest figures show
:00:11. > :00:14.the economy grew by 1% in the three months to September. The figures
:00:14. > :00:22.are better than expected. The Prime Minister David Cameron gave the
:00:23. > :00:26.news a cautious welcome. We still have a long way to go and there are
:00:26. > :00:32.still difficulties ahead but I think these figures do show that we
:00:32. > :00:35.are on the right track. We have got the right approach. We have had a
:00:35. > :00:40.difficult two years with the recession. Borrowing is rising.
:00:40. > :00:44.There are risks with our economy. A complacent thing to do is for the
:00:44. > :00:47.government to cross its fingers and hope for the best. Ticket sales for
:00:47. > :00:50.the Olympic and Paralympic Games helped boost the economy. After
:00:50. > :00:56.nine months of recession, and now appears to be growing at its
:00:56. > :00:59.fastest rate for five years. It is not all good news. Ford is to close
:00:59. > :01:03.its Transit van factory in Southampton and a plant in Dagenham
:01:03. > :01:06.with the loss of up to 1300 jobs. Scotland Yard says the number of
:01:06. > :01:09.possible sexual abuse victims of Jimmy Savile could be as high as
:01:09. > :01:12.300. It says other high-profile figures are being investigated.
:01:12. > :01:14.And 40 years after Dutch elm disease, a fungus that has the
:01:14. > :01:20.potential to devastate the ash tree population has been discovered in
:01:20. > :01:23.Later on BBC London: Compensation for the residents having to move
:01:23. > :01:26.for high-speed rail, but is it enough?
:01:26. > :01:36.And plans for a network of cycle paths above the capital's streets,
:01:36. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :01:54.Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC News at One. The UK economy has
:01:54. > :01:57.come out of recession and grew by one per cent in the three months
:01:57. > :02:00.from July, more than was widely expected. The Olympics and
:02:00. > :02:05.Paralympics provided a boost through ticket sales and jobs in
:02:05. > :02:09.London and the south-east. But after nine months of recession, the
:02:09. > :02:12.economy now appears to be growing at its fastest rate for five years.
:02:12. > :02:16.David Cameron said the figures showed the country was on the right
:02:16. > :02:22.track, but Labour insisted the government still had to do more.
:02:22. > :02:27.Our chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym reports.
:02:27. > :02:31.The British economy is growing again. GDP, that is the value of
:02:31. > :02:36.all goods and services, fell back last autumn and the UK went into
:02:36. > :02:40.recession. But between July and September it bounced back with
:02:40. > :02:45.growth of 1%. The Prime Minister gave a cautious welcome to news
:02:45. > :02:49.that the UK had come back out of recession. We still have a long way
:02:49. > :02:54.to go. There are still difficulties ahead but I think these figures do
:02:54. > :02:58.show that we are on the right track. We have got the right approach. We
:02:58. > :03:02.can see that with unemployment falling. With a quarter of the
:03:02. > :03:06.deficit paid down in the last two years, there is more to do but
:03:06. > :03:10.these figures are good progress. Labour welcomed the return to
:03:10. > :03:14.growth but it said the economy was some way from a full and
:03:14. > :03:18.sustainable recovery. I do not think today is a day for
:03:18. > :03:22.complacency. Borrowing is rising. Going forward, there are real risks
:03:22. > :03:26.in our economy. I think the complacent thing to do as for the
:03:26. > :03:31.government to cross it fingers and hope for the Bathurst. I have
:03:31. > :03:36.wished they would act to get jobs moving. Kick manufacturing saw
:03:36. > :03:41.solid growth. This company has ambitious expansion plans and
:03:41. > :03:46.covered by a government grant. It is about to start making washing
:03:46. > :03:51.machines and taking on a lot more staff. It will probably take us 18
:03:51. > :03:56.months to two years but it should double our number of staff here. We
:03:56. > :04:01.currently employed 200 people. Over the next 20 years, we want to start
:04:01. > :04:05.making all appliances so that will be massive. The Olympics gilded the
:04:05. > :04:10.latest growth estimate. Ticket sales were included in these
:04:10. > :04:17.figures and there was always going to be some recovery because of the
:04:17. > :04:21.Jubilee celebrations. But there was nothing to cheer about in the
:04:21. > :04:26.construction industry. Once again, output fell back. Public sector
:04:26. > :04:29.cuts have affected the mood. One barometer of the state of the
:04:29. > :04:34.construction industry is brick production. The number of bricks
:04:34. > :04:39.leaving sites like this gives an indication about how active the
:04:39. > :04:43.building trade is. Brick production is down 8% year-on-year. This
:04:43. > :04:47.company has seen it all does hold up but bosses acknowledge that is
:04:47. > :04:52.partly because other brickworks have closed and they have picked up
:04:52. > :04:56.business. Overall, they say, at the climate has worsened since the
:04:56. > :05:00.spring. Housing numbers have gone back, both in terms of private
:05:00. > :05:05.housing but also public housing. There has been a general loss of
:05:05. > :05:11.confidence. This is just one corner of the economy. Other sectors may
:05:11. > :05:16.be based on firmer foundations. Today's news is looking back. As
:05:16. > :05:21.for the future, there are many uncertainties, not least in the
:05:21. > :05:24.eurozone. Any downturn there could pull back activity here.
:05:24. > :05:29.Our economics editor of Stephanie Flanders joins me now. How
:05:29. > :05:34.significant are these figures? think they are significant because
:05:34. > :05:41.they do show in effect, if it had not been for that extra gene bank
:05:41. > :05:47.holiday for the Jubilee in June, we may have seen the economy growing
:05:47. > :05:52.since the spring. It is hard to reap the underlying picture. We
:05:52. > :05:56.knew the extra gene bank holiday would have pushed down the figures
:05:56. > :06:00.by or half a % in the second quarter and then pushed them up
:06:00. > :06:05.again as people made up the lost output in this quarter. We also
:06:05. > :06:10.knew we had the Olympics which may have added another 0.2 to the
:06:10. > :06:14.figures. Despite that, we can see some growth leftover, some
:06:14. > :06:19.underlying momentum. We have probably been growing by 0.3 %
:06:19. > :06:22.every three months. That is much slower than the long-term average.
:06:22. > :06:27.It is lower than many people would like to see after the deep
:06:27. > :06:32.recession which started in 2008 but it is more than the city was
:06:32. > :06:35.expecting to see. They thought we might see no growth at all. I think
:06:35. > :06:41.ministers might be profoundly cheered but there is some sign of
:06:41. > :06:45.forward momentum. We are moving forwards, not backwards. They know,
:06:45. > :06:50.looking at the head wins facing the recovery, that this number will be
:06:50. > :06:54.a hard act to follow. Thank you. Let's get some more reaction to the
:06:54. > :07:01.GDP figures and joined our correspondent Dave Harvey at a
:07:01. > :07:07.factory in Gloucestershire. Good afternoon. 1%, try 108 %. That
:07:07. > :07:12.is what happened to company profits here. They make precision measuring
:07:12. > :07:16.equipment and they are printing their own circuit boards. 36,000
:07:16. > :07:20.components come of this expensive machines. Wide as a profit in a
:07:20. > :07:24.company like this matter? You need this kit if you run a factory. Are
:07:24. > :07:29.all their kit is sold to other factories. If they are doing well,
:07:29. > :07:34.it suggests everyone is doing well. Is that true? It is in
:07:34. > :07:40.manufacturing. We support things like aero-engine production and air
:07:40. > :07:45.freight production. That has helped us. We are trying to find 120
:07:46. > :07:49.people to work here in the UK. are recruiting and that this end of
:07:49. > :07:53.the economic pipe, things are good. But it does not mean they are
:07:53. > :07:59.cracking open the champagne here. You are one of the guys who works
:07:59. > :08:06.here. The bills are still tough, aren't they? Yes, the cost of fuel,
:08:06. > :08:13.food, gas and electric, they are continually rising. Obviously, the
:08:13. > :08:19.wages do not go up as much. I think we are in a good position. Lots of
:08:19. > :08:23.people will say to you it is still tight. It is, and I do not think it
:08:23. > :08:27.gets any better in the near future but hopefully, the way that the
:08:27. > :08:33.company is going, we are doing well and I hope it continues that way.
:08:33. > :08:38.And you keep on plugging away. It is a hi-tech firm. It started when
:08:38. > :08:42.they were producing Concorde down the road in Bristol 40 years ago.
:08:42. > :08:47.Now they use their equipment to make the latest mobile phones. Hi-
:08:47. > :08:50.tech is certainly high growth. Thank you. Our political
:08:50. > :08:55.correspondent Norman Smith is in Downing Street. Hard as this effect
:08:55. > :08:58.the argument over the economy? There has been no attempt in
:08:58. > :09:04.government to present today's figures as some sort of turning
:09:04. > :09:09.point. I think if any minister had dared to utter the dead -- dread
:09:09. > :09:13.phrase green shoots, they would have been taken out by a Treasury
:09:13. > :09:17.sniper. Instead, there has been an attempt to warn of difficult days
:09:17. > :09:22.ahead. We do not know what will happen with the eurozone. But
:09:22. > :09:26.politically, these figures are important. To help the government
:09:26. > :09:31.in terms of its core political narrative on the economy. They
:09:31. > :09:36.enable them to nail down another key plank in terms of plan A. Last
:09:36. > :09:42.week we had unemployment down. That was one plant meltdown. Then we had
:09:42. > :09:48.inflation down. That was another plank. And now GDP up, another
:09:48. > :09:51.plank meltdown. It helps to can since -- create another convincing
:09:51. > :09:55.argument to present to the electorate. For more on what these
:09:56. > :10:02.figures might mean to you, you can visit our website,
:10:02. > :10:06.bbc.co.uk/economy. Ford is to close its Transit van
:10:06. > :10:11.factory in Southampton and one of its plant in Dagenham in Essex,
:10:11. > :10:19.with the loss of around 1,300 jobs. Union officials have described the
:10:19. > :10:24.news as devastating. John Moylan is at the Southampton factory for us.
:10:24. > :10:28.Staff were due to knock off work at 2 o'clock this afternoon. In fact,
:10:28. > :10:33.they have all been sent home early. They have received the devastating
:10:33. > :10:37.news that this plant is to close. They will lose their jobs. It will
:10:37. > :10:41.close next summer. That is a move which will end more than 100 years
:10:41. > :10:45.of vehicle production by Ford here in Britain.
:10:45. > :10:50.It is the news that workers he had dreaded. For decades, this plant
:10:50. > :10:56.has been home to a, a Transit van. In meetings held this morning,
:10:56. > :11:01.staff were told production would end and the plant would shut.
:11:01. > :11:07.gutted. I have worked there for 25 years. It seems like the hard work
:11:07. > :11:11.we have put in has been a waste of time. When people in a few years'
:11:11. > :11:19.time by a Transit van which you think will be a British icon, they
:11:19. > :11:24.are buying a Turkish Van. Transits have been built here since the
:11:25. > :11:29.early 1970s. In its heyday, the plant employed 4,000 people. Those
:11:29. > :11:34.who spent much of their working life here said it is a key plant of
:11:34. > :11:38.the -- a key part of the local economy. It is very sad for those
:11:38. > :11:42.who have young families and all of us who have gone through Ford with
:11:42. > :11:46.our families hold it very deeply that these people are losing their
:11:46. > :11:51.jobs. How will they manage? How will they pay their mortgages?
:11:52. > :11:58.the 500 jobs going here are part of wider cuts being made by Ford. A
:11:58. > :12:02.plant in Dagenham which makes parts for the Transit will also close. A
:12:02. > :12:07.total of 1,300 jobs are expected to go in Britain. Unions fear the
:12:07. > :12:12.number could be even higher. Ford is cutting capacity in Europe to
:12:12. > :12:18.stem mounting losses. Yesterday, it announced plans to close a major
:12:18. > :12:22.car plant in Belgium. Having cut back operations in the US, the car
:12:22. > :12:27.giant is now targeting Europe where sales have plummeted in the wake of
:12:27. > :12:30.the financial crisis. The European market is having a tough time
:12:30. > :12:36.because the European economy is going back a. It is affecting
:12:36. > :12:42.northern Europe. Event well one companies like Ford are being
:12:42. > :12:46.sucked in. Everyone will have to cut costs and restructured. There
:12:46. > :12:52.is some good news. Ford makes 2 million engines a year in Britain.
:12:52. > :12:56.Today, it has confirmed that the next generation Pamper model will
:12:56. > :13:01.be billed here as well, safeguarding hundreds of jobs.
:13:01. > :13:06.A head is worth saying other parts of the auto industry in the UK are
:13:06. > :13:12.doing better than here. Jaguar Land Rover continues to expand. There
:13:12. > :13:17.has been investments in Nissan and BMW. The news we are hearing today
:13:17. > :13:21.is worse than expected. It does look as if the UK and Belgium are
:13:21. > :13:25.bearing the brunt of the restructuring that Ford is doing in
:13:25. > :13:31.Europe. Today, the main union that covers car plants is describing
:13:31. > :13:34.this as a betrayal. It is talking about 1,500 jobs and says Winnie
:13:34. > :13:37.bring in the wider impact on the supply chain, there could be
:13:38. > :13:42.thousands of workers affected by this news today.
:13:42. > :13:46.The number of possible sexual abuse victims of Jimmy Savile is
:13:46. > :13:50.understood to be fast approaching 300. Sources close to the
:13:50. > :13:55.investigation say police are also investigating other high-profile
:13:55. > :13:59.figures. Danny Shaw is at Scotland Yard for us. How do we think this
:13:59. > :14:04.investigation is progressing at the moment? Earlier this month we were
:14:04. > :14:10.told the number of potential victims would be around the 30 mark.
:14:10. > :14:15.That was revised by Scotland Yard to 60. Last week we were told it
:14:15. > :14:19.was 200. Now we are looking at 300 potential victims over 50 year
:14:19. > :14:24.period. There are also other individuals who may be implicated.
:14:24. > :14:28.People who may have assisted Jimmy Savile, facilitated the abuse,
:14:28. > :14:32.organised children to come to his dressing room or covered it up or
:14:32. > :14:37.people who took part in the bees themselves. I am told we are
:14:37. > :14:41.looking at figures of high standing. Clearly, those figures are at an
:14:41. > :14:45.early stage. No one has been arrested so far. It is likely in
:14:45. > :14:50.the days and weeks ahead, police will be knocking on the doors of
:14:50. > :14:54.suspects to make arrests. Thank you. Two British service personnel have
:14:54. > :14:59.been killed on patrol and Afghanistan. A Royal Marine from 40
:14:59. > :15:02.Commando and a female soldier from 3 Medical Regiment died after being
:15:02. > :15:07.injured in Helmand Province yesterday. The Ministry of Defence
:15:07. > :15:10.has just said there was an exchange of fire between Japan and an Afghan
:15:10. > :15:20.man who was believed to be a member of the Afghan police but not
:15:20. > :15:27.
:15:27. > :15:30.wearing uniform at the time. The Royal Marine and female army
:15:30. > :15:34.medic were hit by gunfire and fatally wounded with a least one
:15:34. > :15:39.other injured. Afghan sources say an Afghan policeman was also killed.
:15:39. > :15:43.But it is not yet clear what actually happened or Ewshot first.
:15:43. > :15:47.Different sources have given compact -- conflicting accounts and
:15:48. > :15:51.the MoD says the investigation is continuing -- who shot first. The
:15:51. > :15:56.bleak picture of what has been achieved in Afghanistan, despite
:15:56. > :16:00.the sacrifice is made, was painted today by the British Government's
:16:00. > :16:05.parliamentary aide watchdog. It said that creating a viable state
:16:05. > :16:07.in Afghanistan is probably not achievable. MPs on the
:16:07. > :16:11.international development committee said years of intervention had
:16:11. > :16:15.failed to create a working, transparent Afghan government, and
:16:15. > :16:20.that Britain should reconsider its ambitions in favour of more
:16:20. > :16:23.traditional aid targets. A huge amount of life has been lost in
:16:23. > :16:27.Afghanistan. Gains have been made since the Taliban were in charge,
:16:27. > :16:30.but the thing we have to focus is on securing those rather than the
:16:30. > :16:34.more ambitious objectives of building a viable state,
:16:34. > :16:38.particularly in the interests of women. They have been the worst
:16:38. > :16:43.victims in the past and made the most gains, but those are the ones
:16:43. > :16:47.we are most seen under pressure. But they also stress it is vitally
:16:47. > :16:54.important not to abandon the people of Afghanistan, especially the
:16:54. > :16:59.country's women. Here in couple -- Kabul, there have been gains, but
:16:59. > :17:04.they are fragile and a threatened by corruption. This is one of the
:17:04. > :17:09.worst and biggest problems, corruption is everywhere. It is
:17:09. > :17:13.such a corrupted system. Women are the first victim of this corruption.
:17:13. > :17:17.The focus is now very much on what the West can realistically achieved
:17:17. > :17:22.as international combat forces prepare to leave by the under 2014.
:17:22. > :17:26.Many lives have been lost over the past 11 years and nobody wants
:17:26. > :17:28.sacrifices to have been in vain. But it is clear that while the
:17:28. > :17:38.international community wants to continue to help, much of what
:17:38. > :17:40.
:17:40. > :17:43.happens next is up to the Afghan Our top story this lunchtime:
:17:43. > :17:46.Britain is officially out of recession. The economy grew by 1%
:17:46. > :17:50.in the three months to September and appears to be growing at its
:17:50. > :17:52.fastest rate for five years. Coming up: We'll be looking through
:17:52. > :18:01.Microsoft's latest Windows, as the computer giant challenges its
:18:01. > :18:04.Later on BBC London: The Olympic athletes who had their medals were
:18:04. > :18:14.stolen as they celebrated in the West End. And former Crystal Palace
:18:14. > :18:16.
:18:16. > :18:19.manager Dougie Freedman is A disease that's killed a huge
:18:19. > :18:29.number of ash trees in Denmark and central Europe has been found in
:18:29. > :18:32.the East Anglian countryside. The Forestry Commission says that up
:18:32. > :18:35.until now, the deadly fungus had only been found in Britain in
:18:35. > :18:38.nurseries and new woodlands. Ben Ando is in one of the two areas
:18:38. > :18:44.where the disease has been found at Lower Wood reserve in Norfolk.
:18:44. > :18:48.Good afternoon. This is Ashwellthorpe in Norfolk, dedicated
:18:49. > :18:52.ancient, which means in recorded history it has only ever been a
:18:52. > :19:00.woodland. But now the ash trees are facing a potentially deadly new
:19:00. > :19:03.threat. In woodlands, parks and forests, native ash trees make up
:19:03. > :19:07.nearly a third of the last -- landscape. They provide an
:19:07. > :19:10.important habitat for nesting birds and other wildlife, but in this
:19:10. > :19:16.area in Norfolk and another in Suffolk, significant numbers of
:19:16. > :19:22.trees have fallen victim to ash dieback, a deadly fungus which has
:19:22. > :19:24.the potential to devastate the population. The my hope is that the
:19:24. > :19:30.trees are slightly more resilient than they have been on the
:19:30. > :19:35.Continent. My fear is we will lose the ash trees from the woodland. It
:19:35. > :19:40.will mean a significant reduction in habitat for nesting birds and it
:19:40. > :19:49.will change the light levels to the woodland floor. Of course, any
:19:49. > :19:51.species last is terrible. In the 1970s, Dutch elm disease killed 20
:19:51. > :20:01.million trees in Britain and effectively destroyed the native
:20:01. > :20:01.
:20:02. > :20:06.In Denmark, ash dieback has wiped out 90% of the ash trees in the
:20:06. > :20:09.last seven years and is spreading across continental Europe. In a
:20:09. > :20:14.typical coppice there will be standard ash trees with a single,
:20:14. > :20:18.big trunk, as well as cut trees with multiple trunks, and often
:20:18. > :20:23.these are all there. However the experts say that both types are
:20:23. > :20:28.equally at risk from the fungus -- these are all there. For now the
:20:28. > :20:32.outbreak in East Anglia is isolated, but woodland workers are observing
:20:32. > :20:36.strict a buyer of security and the government is being urged to create
:20:37. > :20:40.a emergency task force to tackle the disease. A measure of the
:20:40. > :20:45.urgency is that this morning the government announced a ban on
:20:45. > :20:50.imported ash and severe restrictions on the movement of
:20:50. > :20:55.cash within the UK to be enforced from Monday. -- ash trees. But will
:20:55. > :21:04.that be enough to save Britain's estimated 80 million ash trees from
:21:04. > :21:06.Child-related benefits for families may be capped at two children.
:21:06. > :21:09.That's the plan from Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan-
:21:09. > :21:12.Smith who says it's "madness" that taxpayers are supporting families
:21:12. > :21:20.with large numbers of children to live on benefits. Our political
:21:20. > :21:26.correspondent Gary O'Donoghue is at Welfare is one of the budgets and a
:21:26. > :21:30.huge financial pressure. Already �18 billion has been saved in this
:21:30. > :21:34.Parliament and they are looking at a further �10 billion of savings,
:21:34. > :21:39.but they say in this case this is not really about the money in terms
:21:39. > :21:42.of capping the help people get at two children. They argue the
:21:42. > :21:47.average family in the country has 1.8 children, so why should people
:21:47. > :21:51.on benefits not make the same kind of calculations as those in work
:21:51. > :21:55.when it comes to how many children you can afford? This is an idea for
:21:55. > :21:59.after each the next election. It will not say that much money. There
:21:59. > :22:02.are two Major problems. Firstly the Liberal Democrats are not signed up
:22:02. > :22:08.to this what some of it. One of their spokes people said earlier
:22:08. > :22:11.that this was Tory kite-flying, same at the Conservative Party
:22:11. > :22:15.conference. The second problem, how do you make the moral case for
:22:15. > :22:18.withdrawing support for children who may be born in the future who
:22:18. > :22:28.do not have a choice in coming into the world, just because of what
:22:28. > :22:28.
:22:28. > :22:32.their parents have chosen? mortgage rules are being applied by
:22:32. > :22:35.the financial services regulator. From 2014, lenders will have to
:22:35. > :22:38.consider the borrower's income and outgoings and interest-only
:22:39. > :22:42.mortgages will be hard to obtain. The measures are designed to make
:22:42. > :22:45.sure that people only get loans they can afford to pay back.
:22:45. > :22:51.Hurricane Sandy is passing through Cuba, causing flooding after 30-
:22:51. > :22:55.foot storm surges. Thousands of homes have been evacuated. Earlier,
:22:55. > :22:57.the storm hit Jamaica with 100 mile an hour winds. 70% of the island
:22:57. > :23:07.was left without power, residents were advised to stay indoors, and
:23:07. > :23:09.airports remained closed. It's now been 24 days since five-
:23:09. > :23:13.year-old April Jones went missing. Although a man has been charged
:23:13. > :23:16.with her murder no trace of her has been found. Police are continuing
:23:16. > :23:18.to search the mid-Wales area where the community is still coming to
:23:18. > :23:28.terms with the disappearance of the young schoolgirl. Hywel Griffith
:23:28. > :23:29.
:23:29. > :23:33.At first light, they start again. After more than 44,000 hours of
:23:33. > :23:38.searching, there is still no end date to the biggest police
:23:38. > :23:41.operation in a quarter of a century. What is remarkable is the officers
:23:41. > :23:46.from all over the country who come here and share the desire and will
:23:46. > :23:50.to find April. We share a common goal. And you know that her family
:23:50. > :23:54.are watching and waiting? Absolutely, yes. April Jones went
:23:54. > :23:58.missing on the 1st October. She had been playing with friends outside
:23:58. > :24:04.her home. A 46-year-old man has been charged with the abduction and
:24:04. > :24:08.murder. Here at April's School, they have tried to find ways for
:24:08. > :24:12.the children to express some of the difficult emotions they have felt
:24:12. > :24:20.over the last three and a half weeks. This area has been set aside
:24:20. > :24:23.for them to come and sit quietly and reflect. Some children are just
:24:24. > :24:27.three-and a-half, not even writing yet. Every pupil has made a message
:24:27. > :24:32.for April. The head teacher has been trying to slowly bring back
:24:32. > :24:36.some kind of normality to school life. Outside in the town it is not
:24:36. > :24:41.normal. It is getting harder and harder as the weeks go on. The
:24:41. > :24:46.children are asking things, and they know Christmas is coming, so
:24:46. > :24:50.the questions are getting harder. Throughout the town pink ribbons
:24:50. > :24:54.decorate every corner, showing the hope that many cling to.
:24:54. > :24:58.thoughts are still with the family. We still want able to come home. We
:24:58. > :25:03.have hope she is out there and she will be brought home to us -- we
:25:03. > :25:08.want people to come home. Beano's how or when the search will
:25:08. > :25:14.end. -- nobody knows how. 24 days in, nobody is prepared to give up
:25:14. > :25:17.The computer giant Microsoft is unveiling the latest version of its
:25:17. > :25:19.Windows operating system today in an attempt to catch up with rivals
:25:20. > :25:23.such as Apple and Google. The company's chief Executive Steve
:25:23. > :25:32.Ballmer, has acknowledged it's a 'pivotal time' for the company. Our
:25:32. > :25:37.technology correspondent Rory This is what computing has looked
:25:37. > :25:41.like for 30 years, the age of the Windows PC. Now we are moving into
:25:41. > :25:48.a different era of touch-screen mobile computing where Microsoft
:25:48. > :25:52.risks being left behind. We have re-imagined Windows in Windows 8.
:25:52. > :26:00.The new system is supposed to take the company into this brave new
:26:00. > :26:05.world. The boss knows what is at stake. The launch of Windows 8 is
:26:05. > :26:10.really an epic thing for Microsoft. It is right up there in the top two
:26:10. > :26:15.or three big moment, including Windows 95, and the launch of the
:26:15. > :26:24.IBM PC. Apple is bigger and Google has caught your up. Do you lie
:26:24. > :26:29.Tried don't worry about the valuation of our company -- I don't
:26:29. > :26:36.worry. It is a topic on which I'm very very proud. My go soft remains
:26:36. > :26:40.a giant -- Microsoft remains a giant, employing 40,000 people in
:26:40. > :26:44.Seattle alone and in generating big profits. But what the clever people
:26:44. > :26:50.in the buildings have undone in the last 10 years is produce anything
:26:50. > :26:54.that has changed the world war made consumers shock. Unlike Apple which
:26:54. > :27:00.launched another iPad and has outpaced its rival in delivering
:27:00. > :27:06.smart, new products. But this, the Surface tablet computer is the
:27:06. > :27:11.answer from Microsoft. Analysts say it is about time. They have not
:27:11. > :27:15.really been at the forefront of looking at what the next phase of
:27:16. > :27:22.the computing industry was going to be and how consumers were going to
:27:22. > :27:26.interact with their devices. Microsoft's founder, Bill Gates, at
:27:26. > :27:30.a charity event, handed over the reins more than a decade ago. Now
:27:30. > :27:36.his successor needs to show that Windows 8 can deliver a smarter
:27:36. > :27:42.future. And Rory is here with me now. It's important for the
:27:42. > :27:44.business, so what is it like? ways dangerous to do a live
:27:45. > :27:51.technology demonstration, but this is the first computer Microsoft has
:27:51. > :27:55.ever made. This is intended to showcase it. It has a keyboard.
:27:55. > :27:59.That is the look of it. The important thing is that the same
:27:59. > :28:04.look will exist across phones, computers and tablet computers.
:28:04. > :28:07.What is important for Microsoft is that it does transition into this
:28:07. > :28:11.new world where people are using computers in different ways. It
:28:11. > :28:15.does look very slick, but what everybody will be saying is, how
:28:15. > :28:21.does it compare with the existing things, the iPad? Other devices on
:28:21. > :28:26.the market. Aren't the competitors already a long way ahead? Microsoft
:28:26. > :28:29.has to prove in a hurry that it is smarter than its rivals. An Army
:28:29. > :28:35.sniffer dog who died hours after his handler was killed in
:28:35. > :28:38.Afghanistan was given a posthumous award today. Lance Corporal Liam
:28:38. > :28:41.Tasker was shot by insurgents last year while on patrol in Helmand
:28:41. > :28:43.with his springer spaniel Theo, who died of a seizure shortly
:28:43. > :28:50.afterwards. The pair, who were inseparable, detected 14 Taliban
:28:51. > :28:58.roadside bombs and weapons hoards. Theo's been awarded the animal
:28:58. > :29:05.equivalent of the Victoria Cross by Keith let's have a look at the
:29:05. > :29:10.Gray, cloudy and mild in the last couple of days but all change for
:29:10. > :29:14.the weekend. A lot brighter but also a lot colder as we get a blast
:29:14. > :29:17.of air coming in from the Arctic. It is already pushing into Scotland,
:29:17. > :29:22.northern England and Ireland and it is here we will get the best
:29:22. > :29:28.sunshine. Further south, more cloud and grey and murky with drizzly
:29:28. > :29:32.rain. Very mild with temperatures at 13 or 14. Overnight we will see
:29:32. > :29:39.the cloud confined to southern England with outbreaks of rain.
:29:39. > :29:42.Further north as the sky clears, it will be colder. Lowe's eight or
:29:42. > :29:45.nine and further north, the colder it gets and widespread frost or
:29:45. > :29:48.Scotland and parts of northern England by the end of the night.
:29:48. > :29:53.With some showers across the North Sea for Scotland we could have some
:29:53. > :29:57.issues on the road -- the north- east of Scotland. We will pick up
:29:57. > :30:00.some wintry showers early on across Shetland, Orkney and into
:30:00. > :30:05.Aberdeenshire. Actually start for northern England but the sunshine
:30:05. > :30:11.spreads into the Midlands. Still crate across East Anglia and the
:30:11. > :30:15.south-east. A lot of drizzly rain, but a mile start. Contrast the
:30:15. > :30:18.temperatures of eight or 9:00am to those hovering around freezing to
:30:19. > :30:23.the north of the UK. Wales probably on the boundary with the cold
:30:23. > :30:27.weather pushing him by this stage. We will see temperatures to the
:30:27. > :30:31.north already on the way down, but further south a little milder. The
:30:31. > :30:35.sunshine extends into Wales and Northern Ireland and heralds the
:30:35. > :30:42.arrival of colder weather. To hammering home, let's add on a
:30:42. > :30:46.northerly breeze. --, it home. It will make it feel very cold.
:30:46. > :30:50.Temperatures scrabbling around single figures in Scotland. The far
:30:50. > :30:54.south-east keeping some cloud and outbreaks of rain, but that what
:30:54. > :30:58.clear into Saturday and watch the icy blue come trickling down the
:30:58. > :31:02.map first thing on Saturday. A much colder night that we have had in
:31:02. > :31:08.some time. A widespread frost and temperatures below freezing first
:31:08. > :31:15.thing on Saturday. Abbey to start but a sparkling day of sunshine. --
:31:15. > :31:19.a better start. Saturday, a uniform start, blue sky and sunshine but
:31:19. > :31:23.highs of just eight or nine. Sunday, the cloud piling back in, the
:31:23. > :31:27.breeze picks up and the chance of outbreaks of rain and temperatures
:31:27. > :31:33.lift again as well. A real mixture for the next few days and hopefully
:31:33. > :31:36.there is something in there to your taste. More details can be found by
:31:36. > :31:43.taking a look on the website. And there is a promo which shows you
:31:43. > :31:46.what is happening with the cold Thanks, Susan. At 1:30pm, a
:31:46. > :31:49.reminder of our top story: Britain is officially out of recession. The
:31:49. > :31:53.economy grew by 1% in the three months to September, and appears to
:31:53. > :31:59.be growing at its fastest rate for five years. Still to come on the