:00:00. > :00:10.Michael Schumacher is fighting for life after undergoing brain surgery.
:00:11. > :00:15.The former motor racing champion suffered head injuries in a skiing
:00:16. > :00:25.accident in the French Alps. Doctors say he is lucky to be alive.
:00:26. > :00:28.TRANSLATION: The helmet did help. Without it, he would not be here
:00:29. > :00:31.now. Also this lunchtime - 14 dead in the
:00:32. > :00:35.second suicide bomb attack in Russia in two days. President Putin orders
:00:36. > :00:38.a security clamp-down. 90 Conservative MPs urge the Prime
:00:39. > :00:45.Minister not to lift border controls on Bulgarian and Romanian migrants
:00:46. > :00:48.on first January. The final stumbling blocks - crucial
:00:49. > :00:52.talks on the political future of Northern Ireland go down to the
:00:53. > :00:55.wire. And police are to change the way
:00:56. > :00:57.they record crime to give the public a clearer idea of why some crimes go
:00:58. > :01:19.unsolved. The seven-times Formula One world
:01:20. > :01:22.champion Michael Schumacher is said to be "fighting for his life" after
:01:23. > :01:28.a skiing accident in the French Alps. Doctors say he has suffered
:01:29. > :01:32.severe brain trauma and remains in a critical condition. The German is
:01:33. > :01:37.currently in a medically-induced coma at the University Hospital in
:01:38. > :01:48.Grenoble. Our sports correspondent Katie Gornall has more. Inside this
:01:49. > :01:52.hospital, Michael Schumacher is facing the toughest battle of his
:01:53. > :01:56.life. This morning, the doctors treating him spoke of just how
:01:57. > :02:02.serious his condition has become. TRANSLATION: He is in a critical
:02:03. > :02:07.situation, and we can say that he is fighting for his life. We cannot
:02:08. > :02:14.tell you what the outcome can be yet. We are working permanently, our
:02:15. > :02:20.buy our, but it is too early to say what is going to happen. Schumacher
:02:21. > :02:24.was skiing off piste with his son yesterday in Meribel when the
:02:25. > :02:28.accident happened just after 11 o'clock local time. He was taken by
:02:29. > :02:33.helicopter to hospital in Moutiers, before being moved to the larger
:02:34. > :02:37.University Hospital in Grenoble. It was here that he underwent immediate
:02:38. > :02:41.surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. The 44-year-old is a keen
:02:42. > :02:45.skier and was wearing a helmet at the time of his accident, then he
:02:46. > :02:50.fell and hit his head on a rock. Without it, doctors say he would not
:02:51. > :02:54.have survived. With any brain injury, the critical thing is speed
:02:55. > :02:58.of evacuation. If you are in the middle of nowhere, as was the case
:02:59. > :03:04.with him, it has an effect. It appears that he was evacuated very
:03:05. > :03:08.quickly, however, and sent on to a large hospital, where neurosurgery
:03:09. > :03:12.was available in very good time. Schumacher's career was defined by
:03:13. > :03:20.speed. The seven times world champion was unrivalled in terms of
:03:21. > :03:24.success. He was the fastest and most talented racing driver of all time.
:03:25. > :03:29.Undoubtedly he has been the most successful. If anyone knows how to
:03:30. > :03:33.fight, to muster up inner strength and determination, then there is
:03:34. > :03:37.absolutely no doubt in my mind that he is the best person to do that.
:03:38. > :03:43.COMMENTATOR: And Schumacher has brilliantly worked his way up... !
:03:44. > :03:47.Now, Schumacher must summon up that same fight for his life. Yet with
:03:48. > :03:55.each passing hour, concern for his recovery grows. Imogen Foulkes is in
:03:56. > :03:59.Grenoble for us. Imagen, clearly, this is a critical time for Michael
:04:00. > :04:07.Schumacher, but the hospital does have expertise on these types of
:04:08. > :04:10.injuries? Yes, it does. This is the University Hospital of Grenoble, and
:04:11. > :04:15.they have a specialist team for treating head injuries, and for
:04:16. > :04:19.treating skiing injuries. All morning we have seen helicopters
:04:20. > :04:23.coming in and out. I fear that some of them may also have been skiers
:04:24. > :04:28.who have injured themselves. But for Michael Schumacher, I am afraid to
:04:29. > :04:33.say, the doctors did not look or sound especially positive. They said
:04:34. > :04:37.this morning that he remained in a very serious condition, they said he
:04:38. > :04:42.was fighting for his life. The one thing they did say was, at least he
:04:43. > :04:49.was wearing a helmet, and that if he had not been, he would not have
:04:50. > :04:52.survived that collision Security is being stepped up across Russia after
:04:53. > :04:54.two suicide bomb attacks within 24 hours in the southern city of
:04:55. > :04:58.Volgograd. This morning, a bomb exploded on a
:04:59. > :05:01.bus, killing 14 people. Yesterday, at least 17 people died in an
:05:02. > :05:02.explosion at the city's main railway station. Our Moscow correspondent,
:05:03. > :05:17.Daniel Sandford, reports. The burnt, twisted, bomb shattered
:05:18. > :05:21.remains of a rush-hour us in Volgograd. Many of the passengers
:05:22. > :05:30.died almost instantly when a suicide bomber blew himself up as the people
:05:31. > :05:33.around him headed to work. Or for a bit of last-minute shopping before
:05:34. > :05:36.the New Year celebrations. A state of emergency has been declared in
:05:37. > :05:43.the city after the second bombing within 24 hours. Yesterday, at least
:05:44. > :05:48.one other suicide bomber attacked the city's main railway station,
:05:49. > :05:51.killing 17 people. The widespread assumption is that the explosions
:05:52. > :05:56.are linked to the Islamist insurgency against Russian rule in
:05:57. > :06:00.the nearby Caucasus republics, and that the attacks are timed to
:06:01. > :06:04.coincide with the build-up to February's Winter Olympics. Two
:06:05. > :06:08.suicide bombers in two days means the Kremlin has a problem. President
:06:09. > :06:13.Putin is going to have to move fast to reassure the Russian public that
:06:14. > :06:16.he can keep them safe and to reassure the international community
:06:17. > :06:21.that he can secure the socially Winter Olympics, which begin in less
:06:22. > :06:24.than six weeks time. -- the Sochi Winter Olympics. President Putin has
:06:25. > :06:28.insisted that the Winter Olympics will be safe, and today, the
:06:29. > :06:33.International Olympic Committee said it had no doubt that the Russian
:06:34. > :06:38.authorities would be up to the task. It is most likely that the bombs are
:06:39. > :06:42.the work of Islamists from the nearby Caucasus republics of
:06:43. > :06:45.Chechnya and Dagestan. The Olympics are the perfect platform for them to
:06:46. > :06:46.use violence to undermine the Russian government and President
:06:47. > :06:52.Putin. 90 senior Conservative activists are
:06:53. > :06:58.urging David Cameron not to lift border controls on Romanian and
:06:59. > :07:00.Bulgarian migrants on first January. They have written to the Prime
:07:01. > :07:03.Minister, saying the restrictions are needed to prevent a
:07:04. > :07:06.destabilising wave of mass immigration. Our political
:07:07. > :07:16.correspondent, Iain Watson, is in Downing Street for us. They have
:07:17. > :07:21.left it awfully late - what are they expecting the Prime Minister to do
:07:22. > :07:24.at this stage? With just two days to go until these restrictions on
:07:25. > :07:27.Bulgarian and Romanian migrants are lifted on New Year's Day, David
:07:28. > :07:32.Cameron is under pressure to take a tougher stance. What those activists
:07:33. > :07:37.want to see is David Cameron firstly recalling Parliament this week to
:07:38. > :07:40.impose new immigration restrictions on those people, and secondly, to
:07:41. > :07:44.follow the example of Spain by putting temporary limits on the
:07:45. > :07:49.number of migrants that can come here. But the European can say is
:07:50. > :07:52.that all countries in the EU, including Spain, have to lift every
:07:53. > :07:56.restriction by the 1st of January just so, I suppose, given that the
:07:57. > :07:59.Conservatives will be disappointed by that kind of reaction, what is
:08:00. > :08:05.the significance of this letter from the activists? You could say that it
:08:06. > :08:08.shows a deep unease within the Conservative Party, that UKIP seem
:08:09. > :08:15.to be making the running on immigration. They have imposed the
:08:16. > :08:20.maximum restrictions that they possibly can under European law, say
:08:21. > :08:24.the government. Labour says it is a sign of panic. But quite frankly,
:08:25. > :08:26.David Cameron could suffer more political damage from critics on his
:08:27. > :08:30.own side. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has
:08:31. > :08:33.urged the people of Scotland to reject independence when they vote
:08:34. > :08:36.in the referendum next September. In his New Year message, Mr Miliband
:08:37. > :08:37.also pledged that his party would continue to focus on people's
:08:38. > :08:47.concerns about the cost of living. The way police forces in England and
:08:48. > :08:51.Wales record offences is being changed, to give a clearer idea
:08:52. > :08:55.about why some crimes are not solved. Currently, cases that don't
:08:56. > :08:58.result in a charge or caution are recorded as undetected, but that
:08:59. > :09:00.will be replaced by several new categories such as "prosecution
:09:01. > :09:11.prevented", if for example a suspect is too ill to stand trial.
:09:12. > :09:17.Currently, 70% of cases are recorded as undetected. Here is our home
:09:18. > :09:21.affairs correspondent, Tom Symonds. At North Point Shopping Centre in
:09:22. > :09:25.Hull, the problem is shoplifting, but the 98% of those caught are
:09:26. > :09:28.first-time offenders, or low level offenders. The manager of the
:09:29. > :09:32.shopping centre has started banning people, rather than pushing for
:09:33. > :09:36.charges. We are actually going to stop them offending again, which
:09:37. > :09:40.will decrease time locally. -- decrease crime locally. But for the
:09:41. > :09:44.police, that means no crime has been recorded as detected, which does not
:09:45. > :09:48.look good on the crime figures. The new framework is designed to change
:09:49. > :09:55.that. The lease will still recorded somebody is charged or cautioned. --
:09:56. > :09:58.police will still record if somebody is charged or cautioned. But there
:09:59. > :10:02.will be more than a dozen new categories, including community
:10:03. > :10:05.resolution, where the crime is resolved without charge, for
:10:06. > :10:10.example, by banning shoplifters. Others include investigation
:10:11. > :10:14.complete, when the case is closed unless more evidence comes to
:10:15. > :10:18.light. Crime is definitely falling on all measures we have. But clearly
:10:19. > :10:21.there have been some problems with measurement, so we need to restore
:10:22. > :10:26.public confidence. Even more importantly, the police need to have
:10:27. > :10:28.information from the crime figures which enables them to cut crime. The
:10:29. > :10:33.Government says changing the recording of crime gives the police
:10:34. > :10:37.a wider range of outcomes and more discretion. But some police forces
:10:38. > :10:38.say the system could be more bureaucratic.
:10:39. > :10:43.The political parties in Northern Ireland are meeting in a final
:10:44. > :10:45.attempt to reach agreement on issues left outstanding from the peace
:10:46. > :10:49.process. The three contentious areas are parades, flags and the past.
:10:50. > :11:06.From Belfast, Andy Martin reports. The last-gasp, after six months of
:11:07. > :11:10.negotiation. Dr Richard Haass has extended his deadline before, but he
:11:11. > :11:15.is adamant that today is the day he intends to bring these protract it
:11:16. > :11:21.talks to a close. And this is what he is trying to draw a line under.
:11:22. > :11:24.The writing on the streets, often caused by disagreements between
:11:25. > :11:28.loyalists and Republicans, like what flags can fly where and when, what
:11:29. > :11:35.parades can take place in what areas. How to deal with thousands of
:11:36. > :11:43.unsolved murders, from 30 years of conflict. Now is the time to deal
:11:44. > :11:50.with it. We have created an opportunity, with Richard Haass and
:11:51. > :11:54.his team. Let's hope we can do it today. I am fairly confident that we
:11:55. > :11:58.should be able to do that. Dr Haass is proposing that new commissions
:11:59. > :12:02.should be created, one to reinvestigate murders, another only
:12:03. > :12:07.to establish the truth of what happened. Contributors to the
:12:08. > :12:10.commissions would have immunity from having any information they give
:12:11. > :12:14.used against them in court. There are still sticking points,
:12:15. > :12:19.particularly for unionists, over how parades will be managed, but this is
:12:20. > :12:26.make or break time. Deal or no Deal, Dr Haass will be on a plane back to
:12:27. > :12:29.America in the morning. You can see more on all of today's stories on