30/10/2012 BBC News at One

A major disaster is declared in after Superstorm Sandy sweeps

ashore on the East coast of America, killing at least 16. There's

devastation in New York City as fire destroys at least 50 homes.

Much of Lower Manhattan flooded and was plunged into darkness as power

failed. One hospital had to be evacuated. In New Jersey a major

rescue operation is underway - hundreds of people have already

been helped to safety after least three towns were flooded. I am in

Manhattan, where the clean-up has already begun, inner-city without

power. In other news, calls for more

information about breast cancer screening as research shows

thousands of women are having unnecessary treatment.

And it's here - 4G - the superfast mobile internet launches in 10

cities across the UK. Later on BBC London: The Met sell-

off - we speak to the deputy mayor for policing about why everything

must go. As Superstorm Sandy wreaks havoc, we look at its impact closer

Good afternoon and welcome to the BBC news at one. The biggest storm

to hit the United States in years has swept on to the East coast of

America, killing at least 16 people and leaving serious floods, fires

and power cuts in its wake. Superstorm Sandy came ashore in New

Jersey but the city of New York has been one of the worst affected

places. Record flood surges left much of Lower Manhattan under water.

Around 50 homes were destroyed by fire in the New Yrok borough of

Queens. Around 7 million homes and businesses across the East Coast of

America lost power. President Obama has declared a major disaster in

New York state. The morning after a night like no

other, in which the east Coast of America was pounded by gigantic

storm system on a scale not seen before. This was Staton Island in

New York at first light, the incredible sight of a tanker picked

up and dumped onshore by the water. Overnight, fire ripped through an

entire neighbourhood in the New York borough of Queens. The flames

quickly spread, destroying hundreds of homes. Firefighters struggled

through floodwaters to reach the emergency. Water going up the block,

we couldn't get any apparatus down the block due to chest-high water.

We got in the boat, went down there. In lower Manhattan, amateur video

showed what appeared to be an explosion at an electricity sub-

station, knocking out power. When it back up generator failed at this

Manhattan hospital, 200 patients were brought out, among them

newborn babies from intensive care. The desperate evacuation of the

newest New Yorkers. The waters were rising to levels the City have

never witnessed before. It poured into tunnels, a combination of high

tide and fierce storm surge. Before long there were some PlayStation

has flooded and the site at ground zero. The city that never sleeps,

shot down by Mother Nature. The we knew this was going to be a

dangerous storm and it has met our expectations. The worst of the

weather has come and the City is certainly feeling the impact.

what made this storm historic was the sheer scale of its impact. This

was coastal Connecticut where roads became rivers. Here, New Jersey

with sea foam lashing the boardwalk, debris from buildings flying

through the air. As far away as Tennessee, heavy snow falls as the

system combined with cold air from the Atlantic. This is what people

are waking up to this morning - trees down, all too often bringing

down power cables as well, and now millions of Americans are without

electricity. Many more who travelled here have been left

stranded. Hunkered down in their hotel just blocks from the White

House and with no confirmed flight home, we found this visiting school

group from Bristol. We were supposed to be visiting the White

House and the monuments, but we went out for an hour but the rain

was awful so we have to come home. My parents have been worried about

the hurricane because they have heard reports and they say it is

really dangerous. If it was relentless, a once in a generation

storm which show no mercy, and in the days ahead it will continue its

march across the battered Continent. Our correspondent is in lower

Manhattan with the latest. As you can see behind me, this is

one of the many streets in Manhattan where floodwater has

transformed this into a mini river. Many residents here are without

power. We had a little drive around this morning, and for example the

subway system has been shut down, and will remain so. One subway

system was filled with water. The strength of the wind so strong that

tiles were ripped off the walls. People are starting to come out,

assess the damage, and pick up the pieces.

What are the authorities saying about how long the clear-up can

take? Listening to Mayor Bloomberg's office this morning,

the first thing they said is they want to get in touch with the power

company here because 650,000 homes are without power in New York City

alone. Those figures are considerably higher, and they want

to establish a timeline, how long it will take to restore power. It

is complicated by the water damage, also businesses - how long will it

take for them to open question man the New York Stock Exchange was

closed yesterday and today, they say they are waiting and assessing

how long it will be before it is safe for their employees to return

to work. It will take a while for authorities to assess the full

extent of the damage before they can give any kind of time frame.

Thank you. Wall Street has been forced to

close for a second day. Already the economic cost of the storm has been

put at around twenty billion dollars but it's only 9 o'clock in

the morning on the East Coast. After a night of being battered by

the superstorm, the extent of the damage is still not clear. Our

correspondent Ben Thompson is in New York. As the light breaks over

Manhattan, the city is assessing the extent of the damage. Transport

authorities here say it is the worst disaster to have hit their

network in more than 100 years, and they are warning it could take up

to a week before transport and power infrastructure is back online.

The storm that may have passed and the extent of the damage is

becoming clear. What happens next is not. President Obama has

declared a major disaster in New York, throwing up federal money to

rebuild a battered city. New York is the financial centre of the

world, but its stock markets are now closed for a second day. Many

major financial institutions are without power, businesses are

boarded up and workers are staying at home. This could take its toll

on an already fragile American economy. The key question is how

long lasting this is, when people can go on with their daily lives,

and nobody knows the answer to that. That will depend on whether this is

a minor economic blip, or a possibly long-term negative problem.

President Obama's next moves will be watched closely. A national

crisis has the power to make or break his presidency, especially

coming just a week before the election. Fresh in his mind will be

the condemnation of George Bush when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005.

Then the authorities were criticised for lack of preparation

and slow relief and rescue effort. For Republican contender Mitt

Romney, it is an equally difficult challenge. He can't take control or

look ineffective, nor can he used the hurricane for political gain.

The real test will be in the coming days. If residents remain stranded

without power and water, their patience will wear thin. Hurricane

Sandy was historic, its political fall-out could be just as great.

One piece of economic information still set to be published on Friday

is the October jobs report which will be watched closely to see if

the unemployment rate stays below the crucial 8% level, and coming

just days before the election will be particularly significant.

Our science editor joins me in the studio. Why has this storm been so

bad? Partly because it is extremely large and covers a vast area. The

wind have been less bad than forecast. Many people seem to have

been listening to the authorities and they have kept out of harm's

way. Let's take a look at the bigger picture of what has been

going on here. The starting point for this story is in the north in

the Arctic, where a system of high pressure has dominated the

atmosphere over the Atlantic so that when Hurricane Sandy started

its journey north, it was not able to carry on over the ocean and

peter out as usual. Instead it did a sharp left turn slamming into the

east coast of the United States. We have never had a storm this big,

this far north, at this time of year, significantly because we have

another weather system pouring down from Canada bringing very cold air.

The two have come together bringing the Hurricane Sandy system more

storm surges. The America has been hit by extreme weather in recent

years - are these weather systems getting worse? The basic ingredient

for a hurricane is warm ocean, and the oceans are getting warmer. The

scientific jury is out as to whether climate change is causing

more hurricanes. The key factor is that we are a global population of

7 billion, the storm that hit last night hit a densely populated area

of the United States, so even if climate change is not making things

worse, we are certainly in a situation where more and more

people are exposed to the kind of extreme weather we saw last night.

You can find more information and get live update of the hurricane's

progress online. The rest of the news now. There are

warnings that thousands of women are receiving treatment for breast

cancer even though they may never become seriously ill. A team of

scientists says screening for breast cancer prevents more than

1,000 women dying a year. But it found that for every life saved,

three women had unnecessary treatment.

For more than 20 years, women in their 50s and 60s have been offered

breast screening on the NHS to spot the first signs of cancer but there

has been controversy about its true benefit. Today's review of the

evidence published in the Lancet, it is clear screening saves lives.

Women are 20% less likely to die from breast cancer, but every day

in the UK screening saves 1300 lives - but that every year the

screening diagnoses 4000 people with cancer who are never likely to

become ill. Medical experts don't yet know which cancer has picked up

through the screening process are safe to be left untreated, which

means every year several thousand women undergo procedures which are

traumatic and never needed. Miriam is one of those who believes her

cancer should never have been treated. Cancer treatment is not a

walk in the park, you don't want that. It is a tragedy when it's

necessary, but it is appalling to have it when you don't need it.

authors of the report today say they were surprised to find so many

women are being over diagnosed. Nevertheless, they are not changing

their advice. I would prefer to avoid a breast cancer death, and to

me the fact I might have cancer over diagnosed and treated would be

something I would be prepared to put up with. Christie in Davidson

has received confirmation she is now clear of breast cancer and has

no doubt it was worth going for breast screening. It was a good

thing to do because maybe by the time you think later you should

have done, maybe by then it will have grown more and will be more

difficult for the surgeons to deal with. It is extremely difficult to

know which women are being treated for breast cancer unnecessarily.

The government says it will now improve the information given to

women about the risk of so-called An Afghan man in a police uniform

has opened fire on foreign soldiers, killing two members of the NATO-led

coalition. The attack took place in the southern province of Helmand. A

Taliban spokesman said the gunman was one of their fighters who had

infiltrated the Afghan police force. A woman whose two children were

found dead at their home in South London last May has admitted

killing them. Felicia Boots pleaded guilty on the grounds of diminished

responsibility to the manslaughter of nine-week-old Mason and his one-

year-old sister, Lily. Jon Brain is at the Old Bailey. Tell us the

background. The judge referred this case as it indescribably sad. On

paper it seems that a Felicia Boots and her husband had everything. She

was a jewellery designer, he was an investment banker. They were said

to delight in their two young children. They had just moved to

their new home in an affluent part of south London, but he returned

home to find his wife sitting on the stairs, she told him not to go

upstairs. When he did so, he found that two children lying side by

side, dead on the floor of a walk- in wardrobe. They had been

asphyxiated. She had been suffering from post-natal depression. In

court today, a statement was read out on her behalf in which she said,

"I am a good mum and I never intended any of this to happen, I

am truly sorry." or what was decided in court? She had been

charged with murder. She pleaded not guilty to those charges but did

admit manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The

prosecution said didn't believe it was in the public interest to

pursue the murder charges. The judge said it would be

inappropriate sent her to Britain so she has been referred to a

psychiatric unit. I our top story: a major disaster is declared after

superstore must Sandy sweeps through the east coast of the US,

leaving flooding, fires and power cut in its wake.

Home to the Met for half a century, now a new Scotland Yard could be

put up for sale as part of plans to save �500 million.

Later, we spent 24 hours in a Tommy drenched. I historically accurate

reconstruction in Surrey. And the children's author who is inspired

by it to life of the first black Britain's first 4G mobile phone

service is now up and running in 11 cities. The EE network says it will

mean a much faster mobile internet connection, allowing you to

download films for example in just minutes. But rival networks are

telling consumers to wait until they provide a more comprehensive

service next year. Our technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones is

in Salford. Quite an important day for the mobile internet and all the

companies surrounding it. The final arrival of 4G in Britain. It is

only on one network, EE network, and only in 11 cities, including

Manchester. We are in Salford, we are getting a 4G connection on this

a fine. It is straining at the One o'clock News in a very good quality.

-- streaming. An indication of the sort of speed you get with this new

policy. But in the end up will be consumers to decide how quickly

this takes off. It is supposed to be the super-fast future of marbled

publications but 4G has taken its time to arrive in Britain. It is

all about speed. Now it has gone live with just one company, EE

network, but you will need one of the 4G could have bought phones and

you will pay more. We are all using a smart phones and tablets more,

using Google maps, Facebook, trying to send and receive presentations

if we are business people on the move, we have been talking to many

customers out there and there is a huge demand for being able to do

those things much faster than you are experiencing today. Manchester

is one of the 11 cities to get 4G a first and I have been out and about

testing it. So here, with a 4G master Narnia By Ruth, I am getting

a good signal. But what happens one move out of town? De 4G has

completely disappeared. But I'm getting a pretty good 3G signal.

People say it can be pretty patchy, and it can disappear. Back in the

centre of Manchester there is some excitement among high-tech firms

that faster connections are arriving, and a bit of caution, too.

I'm excited by the potential of 4G but I'm not going to rush out and

get it, right now it is expensive, the contractors don't have enough

data for what I want to do with them so I think I'm going to hold

off into what happens when there is more competition in the marketplace.

A decade ago 3G promised everything from video calls to online gaming

but it took time for did it start using the services. Now 4G to offer

even more, but again, people may wait until signing up to the super-

fast future. I have done another little test of the speed of this 4G

network, there it is, at 13 megs download, so that is good, not

quite as productive as you might have hoped for from this technology.

In the centre of London I have heard you can get 50 megabits a

second and there are big hopes for this, it is important to stress we

only have wondered what doing it, EE network. The other networks are

saying, wait and see, we are going to launch this technology, ours is

going to be better, it is going to be good indoors. That will really

make a difference. Next year, a lot more competition, that should also

mean it get a bit cheaper. The Metropolitan Police is drawing

up plans to sell New Scotland Yard in a bid to save �500 million a

year from its budget. The force would move its headquarters to a

smaller building. The Met also wants to shut almost half of its

front counters at police stations in London. Instead, people would be

able to talk to police officers at supermarkets and community centres.

Matt Prodger reports. A building in keeping with our time.

It has been home to the Metropolitan Police since 1967. New

Scotland Yard moved to a state-of- the-art building near St James's

Park. Bringing information within seconds of being received. For 50

years Dorival the sun has been the backdrop to some of the biggest

crime stories. But what was once high-tech is now old hat and the

move. The people of London one to see officers out on the street,

they don't want to see us in the office buildings. This is about how

we can be more imaginative and how we can save money. The idea is to

move here, a building closer to Parliament. It would cut the head

count at HQ from 3000 to 800, shifting many specialist units to

other London buildings. This would be the first time that Scotland

Yard has moved. It has done it twice before. His name derives from

its original address over there in Westminster, but this time it is

not expansion forcing the move, but budget cuts. The Metropolitan

Police needs to save half a billion pounds in pre- years. Another plan

is to cut senior officers and two put more police on the street. More

controversial is the closure of some police stations and counters.

Others it would meet the public in a supermarket and community centres

-- officers. It is not certain yet, but senior officers say that the

eye can make -- iconic assignable follow.

Up to 1,000 jobs are being created by Royal Mail's expansion of its

parcel business. The company is planning to invest �75 million over

four years because of an increase in demand due to online shopping.

The Swiss bank UBS has announced around 10,000 job losses worldwide.

They represent a 16% cut in the workforce, and follow more than

3,000 job cuts last year. The losses will affect its investment

banking arm. A Japanese company is to build two

nuclear power plants in the UK. Hitachi says it expects the project

to create up to 12,000 jobs, during construction and 2,000 permanent

jobs after that. Our industry correspondent John Moylan is in

Central London. Explain what has been announced. They have bought

what is called the Horizon project, which has been on hold, it was one

of our best options for getting new nuclear plant in the future, but

two German companies involved said they would pull out of it earlier

in the year, so Hitachi have decided to buy this project,

spending �700 million on it. Their plan is to build 46 nuclear

reactors in two locations in Britain, one in North Wales and one

in Gloucestershire. They said it will mean something like 12,000

people being employed, but the big news we heard at a hotel behind me

this morning was that 60% of the value of the first reactor will be

spent here with companies in Britain, that has to be good news

for British companies and for the supply chain, for what is going to

be a new industry. How long will it take until those jobs and the

investment come through? Good question, new nuclear is often

associated with running way over budget and behind schedule. Hitachi

have been building on their reactor designed for several years now,

they have built several of them and say it always comes in on time and

on budget, so they claim they will have the first tractor operational

by the early part of the next decade. But all of this depends on

whether Hitachi thinks it can make money here. That will depend on how

much they are going to get for the electricity, the strike price,

today they said they believed the strike price will be fair, but

negotiations between Hitachi and the government haven't even begun

yet on that. Dramatic footage has emerged of the moment that two

fishermen were rescued from a trawler in the middle of the Irish

Sea just minutes before their boat sank. The men were airlifted to

hospital and have now been discharged. Andy Martin reports on

a lucky escape. So often, fishing boats sink at

night, far from sure and from help. It doesn't help but the Snowdonia

skipper and his crew mates were incredibly fortunate that a largely

Lithuanian crew was close by, and one of thing captured the bike's

last dramatic moment. -- one of them. He was dragged down with it,

had he not somehow become free, he would almost certainly have drowned.

It has something that does happen in that industry, I am afraid.

is unique in that we have film footage of it, with other ones, we

haven't. The two boys were fortunate, that is for sure. They

were airlifted to hospital shortly after the rescue, but were

discharged within hours. We didn't even have time to put out a

distress call. They had the right equipment, they had time did get a

life jacket on, had they not done that, and have the equipment

available, we would be looking at a different outcome. Ardglass, like

many harbours, has seen its fair share of losses at sea. This

footage shows a rare glimpse of how frightening and fast as sinking can

be in this incredibly tough industry.

The Metropolitan Police have launched a criminal investigation

into alleged comments made by referee Marcus and boat during the

match between Chelsea and Manchester United. Chelsea say he

used it appropriate and racial language. The FA have also started

an inquiry. Time for a look at the Sandy certainly lived up to

expectations, just some of the statistics, we had 300 mm Of Rain a

falling in New Jersey. That is about half of what we would expect

any year in places like Birmingham and York. There is plenty more rain

and more snow to come from this huge storm, extending all the way

from the eastern seaboard to Lake Michigan. Back home, a spell of wet

and windy weather, but nothing that extreme. A pretty pleasant

afternoon across the bulk of England and Wales. A bit more cloud

across north-west England. De winds, picking up, that is going to

strengthen through the night. Bringing rain to Northern Ireland

and it is going to start coming down across much of Wales and

north-west England as well. It will not be anything like as cold as

last night. Perhaps telling a bit colder in north-west Scotland, as

the rain clears away. The rain should clear from Northern Ireland,

brighter skies here. To Rayner will last for much of tomorrow over the

hills in Cumbria, the same goes for the hills and mountains of north

and west Wales. That rain can that really building up. A dry and

bright start, maybe a bit more cloud and a few showers across the

south-east. Wherever you are, you will notice that wind. The rain

band will linger, wheelie building up -- really building up. Brighter

skies following across Scotland and Northern Ireland, a few showers

here. It will feel cooler because of the wind. The wind and wet

weather continues during Wednesday evening, particularly across

England and Wales. Be prepared for a blustery and rather soggy evening,

the rain clearing in Scotland and Northern Ireland, it could lead to

a frosty start on Thursday. The wet and windy weather is from an area

under pressure, the weather front is heading eastwards, getting to

Eastern Counties by the early hours of Thursday morning. Lida winds

further north, possibly a frosty start here. -- lighter winds.

Our top story: a major disaster is declared after superstore on sandy

sweeps through the east of the US, leaving flooding, fires and power

cuts in its wake. Much of lower Manhattan was flooded and plunged

into darkness as a PoW failed and one hospital had to be evacuated.