:00:08. > :00:15.The Government announces the biggest overhaul of secondary
:00:15. > :00:18.school exams in England in a generation. GCSE's will go - in
:00:18. > :00:24.their place a new English Baccalaureate Certificate with a
:00:24. > :00:28.single exam. We believe it is time for the race to the bottom to end.
:00:28. > :00:33.We believe it is time to tackle inflation and dumbing down, and we
:00:33. > :00:37.believe that it is time to raise aspirations and restore rigour.
:00:37. > :00:42.concern for example is we set pupils out to fail. We set an exam
:00:42. > :00:45.so rigorous, so academic that actually pupils don't pass. We'll
:00:45. > :00:47.be looking at what the new exams means for pupils and teachers. Also
:00:47. > :00:50.on tonight's programme: Lawyers arrive in court as the Duke
:00:50. > :00:54.and Duchess of Cambridge try to prevent further publication of
:00:54. > :01:03.those topless pictures. But as the couple continue their
:01:03. > :01:06.tour, the photographs are published again, this time in Italy.
:01:06. > :01:07.The battle for Syria's largest city and a near miraculous story of
:01:07. > :01:10.survival. The police officer who pushed over
:01:10. > :01:15.a newspaper seller at the G20 protests, who later died, is sacked
:01:15. > :01:17.for gross misconduct. And the man described as the
:01:18. > :01:27.world's greatest living explorer sets off for the ultimate and
:01:28. > :01:55.
:01:55. > :01:58.Welcome to the BBC News at 6.00pm. It's the biggest change to
:01:58. > :02:01.secondary school exams in England for some 20 years. Its aim
:02:01. > :02:03.according to the Education Secretary Michael Gove is to create
:02:03. > :02:09.a more rigorous qualification which will restore faith in the exams
:02:09. > :02:15.system. The GCSE is to be phased out and will be replaced by the
:02:15. > :02:19.English Baccalaureate Certificate. The first courses will begin in
:02:19. > :02:22.September 2015 with no modules - just a single exam at the end of
:02:22. > :02:25.the course. It will be for all pupils, and they will be tested by
:02:25. > :02:31.just one exam board per subject. Here's our political editor Nick
:02:31. > :02:37.Robinson with the details. Must try harder - three words which
:02:37. > :02:40.strike fear in any school report - three words which both sides of the
:02:40. > :02:44.coalition believe sum up what's needed for the education system as
:02:44. > :02:49.a whole. How many of you want to go to university? What Michael Gove
:02:49. > :02:53.and Nick Clegg didn't tell this class is that the GCSEs exams they
:02:53. > :02:58.and millions and others will sit are considered too easy, and
:02:58. > :03:01.they're going to be scrapped. Secretary Gove... In the Commons,
:03:01. > :03:05.though, the Education Secretary was a little more direct. We believe it
:03:05. > :03:09.is time for the race to the bottom to end. We believe that it is time
:03:09. > :03:14.to tackle great inflation and dumbing down, and we believe that
:03:14. > :03:17.it is time to raise aspirations and to restore rigour to our
:03:17. > :03:23.examinations. In future, children in English schools will study for a
:03:23. > :03:28.new English Baccalaureate Certificate, E-BACCs. It will be
:03:28. > :03:33.base on an end-of-course exam and not use modules as now. The first
:03:33. > :03:37.courses in English, maths and science will start in 2015, so the
:03:37. > :03:43.first exams will be sat in 2017, and only one exam board will set
:03:43. > :03:46.the exams in each subject. It was a Conservative Government
:03:46. > :03:51.that first introduced GCSEs, and yet for years, many Tories have
:03:51. > :03:55.regarded it as an exam that was simply too soft, an exam that
:03:55. > :04:01.allowed all to win prizes, but when the Education Secretary, Michael
:04:01. > :04:05.Gove, hinted that he wanted to see a return to O-levels, it produced a
:04:05. > :04:10.furious row. Before the summer this Daily Mail
:04:10. > :04:16.head line produced instant condemnation by the Liberal
:04:16. > :04:19.Democrat -- Liberal Democratss. They and Nick Clegg said they want
:04:19. > :04:25.-- it would be one exam for the brightest and another for the rest.
:04:25. > :04:28.What I was not keen on was that idea that was floated, somehow move
:04:28. > :04:31.back to a two-tier system where children are divided up at a
:04:31. > :04:35.relatively early age. That's not what we're doing. So these children
:04:35. > :04:39.will be the last to sit GCSEs. Only the youngest, in year seven, will
:04:39. > :04:44.sit the new exam. Their deputy head is worried. My concern is, for
:04:44. > :04:49.example, that we set pupils up to fail. We set an exam so rigorous,
:04:49. > :04:52.so academic that actually pupils don't pass, and if pupils don't
:04:52. > :04:56.pass exams, they have no progression to go on. There are
:04:56. > :05:00.already moves to rely less on course work and more on exams, but
:05:00. > :05:07.Labour warn that taken too far, the search for a rigorous new exam
:05:07. > :05:12.could be a mistake. Is he saying that rigorously assessed fuelled
:05:12. > :05:15.work in geography won't count? Is he saying that an extended essay in
:05:15. > :05:20.English simply won't count? I think that approach is totally out of
:05:20. > :05:25.date and is typical of a Government that is totally out of touch.
:05:25. > :05:34.return to the best of the old or mere nostalgia? A new system for a
:05:34. > :05:41.new age or yet more disruption? Discuss, as they say in exams.
:05:41. > :05:45.Let's discuss that then with our education correspondent Reeta
:05:45. > :05:48.Chakrabarti. Reeta, will the new exam raise standards, and if so,
:05:48. > :05:53.what will that mean for less academic pupils? This will be the
:05:53. > :05:57.second major exams to aged 16 in 25 years. Teens used to face a two
:05:57. > :06:03.tier system, O-levels for more able children, CSEs for the less
:06:03. > :06:08.academic. That was seen as divisive, and in 1988 GCSEs were introduced
:06:08. > :06:12.sat by all ability levels. Now the new exam, the English Baccalaureate
:06:12. > :06:18.Certificate will also be set by all levels. It will be, say Ministers,
:06:18. > :06:22.tougher, though there will be no cap on how many pupils get top
:06:22. > :06:28.grades. The Education Secretary broadly supports today's reform but
:06:28. > :06:32.he also wants to see some assurance. What I don't want to see is any
:06:32. > :06:38.downgrading of qualifications at 16. These are critical. Millions of
:06:38. > :06:41.youngsters take qualifications. That involves project work, modular
:06:41. > :06:46.work and teamwork and learning by doing. I am a passionate believer
:06:46. > :06:50.you can learn by doing as well as studying. What sounded the
:06:50. > :06:57.deathknell for GCSEs? Critics led by Michael Gove say standards have
:06:57. > :07:03.dropped and point to year-on-year rises in results. In 1994 13% of
:07:03. > :07:06.students got the top grades. By 2012 that had risen by 22%, and
:07:06. > :07:10.exam boards which compete with schools to buy their papers have
:07:10. > :07:13.been accused of a race to the bottom, setting easier, narrower
:07:13. > :07:18.questions to deliver higher grades. The evidence has been piling up for
:07:18. > :07:22.the best part of two decades that the system is broken, that the
:07:22. > :07:26.inflation - grade inflation increases every year, and very few
:07:26. > :07:32.people outside the world of Westminster and education are
:07:32. > :07:35.prepared any longer to say that the GCSE means anything. But how do you
:07:35. > :07:40.have an academically tougher exam that is also suitable for the
:07:40. > :07:45.majority of pupils including those who are less able? The figures show
:07:45. > :07:50.last year 58.2% of teens achieved the Government's benchmark of five
:07:50. > :07:54.good g including English and maths, meaning 40% didn't. Some say this
:07:54. > :07:58.Government is focusing too much on the structure of the exams and too
:07:58. > :08:01.little on what'll be taught. At the moment, we know very little about
:08:01. > :08:05.the content of these new examinations. We know that the aim
:08:05. > :08:08.is for them to be rigorous and to be demanding and to be more
:08:08. > :08:12.difficult, but we don't actually know what that means, and my big
:08:12. > :08:17.question, bearing in mind that this is going to be one examination, is
:08:17. > :08:21.how it's going to motivate the whole of the ability range. And the
:08:21. > :08:26.Government has one more issue to deal with, given the new exam won't
:08:27. > :08:32.be sat until 2017 - they still have several years of teenagers sitting
:08:32. > :08:34.GCSEs and full knowledge that Ministers no longer believe in them.
:08:34. > :08:43.Fiona. Thank you.
:08:43. > :08:46.Lawyers acting for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are in court
:08:46. > :08:48.in Paris now trying to stop further publication of photographs of the
:08:48. > :08:51.Duchess sunbathing topless. They've also lodged separate, criminal
:08:51. > :08:53.proceedings under French privacy law against the photographer who
:08:53. > :08:56.took the pictures. They were printed last week in the French
:08:56. > :08:58.magazine Closer, and today an Italian magazine has followed suit.
:08:58. > :09:01.Christian Fraser is at the court now.
:09:01. > :09:04.Thank you. Yes, proceedings still under way in this courthouse behind
:09:04. > :09:07.me. This is the civil case that'll serve as a precursor before the
:09:07. > :09:11.criminal complaint that'll now follow. In the past few minutes the
:09:11. > :09:16.lawyer representing the Royals has been telling the magistrates that
:09:16. > :09:20.the balcony where the young couple were relaxing was not visible by
:09:20. > :09:26.the naked eye as has been stated by Closer magazine, but could only be
:09:26. > :09:29.seen by a long telephoto lens. He asked the three magistrates
:09:29. > :09:33.presiding to put themselves in the position of the Duchess and her
:09:33. > :09:40.parents. "She's a young woman, not an object." There is some flash
:09:40. > :09:45.photography in this report. A Papua New Guinea scrum in the court --
:09:45. > :09:51.Paparazzi scrum at the courthouse. Today the Royals made a request
:09:51. > :09:54.under civil law for an interim injunction, bang the publication
:09:54. > :09:59.and further distribution of the photos. Lawyers for Closer magazine
:09:59. > :10:01.said they'd be mounting a robust defence. Before this hearing began
:10:01. > :10:05.papers were filed with the public prosecutor relating to a separate
:10:05. > :10:08.criminal complaint. The Royal couple are now seeking damages from
:10:08. > :10:13.the French magazine that published and punishment for the photographer
:10:13. > :10:17.who took the pictures. The trouble is, within this criminal complaint,
:10:17. > :10:21.there is as yet no name. The Royals don't know the identity of the
:10:21. > :10:25.photographer that intruded on their privacy. The magazine is unlikely
:10:25. > :10:29.to tell them and the court won't force them to do so. In France, the
:10:29. > :10:36.protection of sources is taken very seriously. The legal challenge may
:10:36. > :10:40.be upper most in their mind, but in the eye-catching surrounds of the
:10:40. > :10:44.Solomon Islands, the couple were concentrating on Royal duties.
:10:44. > :10:49.Faced with this group of topless dancers, they seemed disinclined to
:10:49. > :10:52.linger. For Kate in particular, this was too close for comfort. Yet
:10:52. > :10:57.despite the frustrations that surely linger, this was the most
:10:57. > :11:01.relaxed they have looked for some days. Inevitably the photos will
:11:01. > :11:07.evoke memories of the treatment suffered by Prince William's late
:11:07. > :11:14.mother. It was here that a court ruling on the paparazzi responsible
:11:14. > :11:21.for the car crash that caused her death. Today despite Prince
:11:21. > :11:27.William's request for restraint, the photos were printed again, this
:11:27. > :11:33.time in Chi over 26 pages. Berlusconi's publishing house owns
:11:33. > :11:36.the two magazines. TRANSLATION: The answer is simple -
:11:36. > :11:41.it's a scoop, a journalistic scoop, an important scoop. Why publish
:11:41. > :11:49.them? Because we're talking about the future rulers of the United
:11:49. > :11:50.Kingdom. This alone makes it of interest to our readers. An interim
:11:50. > :11:55.injunction will only stop redistribution of the photographs
:11:55. > :11:58.here in France, and while the magistrate could order the
:11:58. > :12:02.magistrate is withdrawn from the shelves, the damage is already done.
:12:03. > :12:06.The Royal couple can hardly sue every publication in every country
:12:06. > :12:10.where the photos appear, and right now they're being offered for a
:12:10. > :12:16.princely sum. In the last few minutes, we have
:12:16. > :12:19.just been told by the court that we'll not get a decision until
:12:19. > :12:24.midday tomorrow, 11.00am UK time. One other important point coming
:12:24. > :12:31.from the lawyer - he said the Royals are not requesting the
:12:31. > :12:33.magazines on the shelves be withdrawn, but the reprinting to be
:12:33. > :12:36.withdrawn together with the further publication of the photos.
:12:36. > :12:39.Thank you. More tributes have been paid to two
:12:39. > :12:41.British soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan over the weekend with
:12:41. > :12:44.their commanding officer describing them as outstanding men. Married
:12:44. > :12:46.father of two Sergeant Gareth Thursby and 18-year-old Private
:12:46. > :12:50.Thomas Wroe - both from 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment,
:12:50. > :12:53.were killed in Helmand province by a man in Afghan Police uniform.
:12:53. > :12:56.Answering an urgent question in the House of Commons this afternoon,
:12:56. > :13:03.the Defence Secretary said this kind of insider attack couldn't be
:13:03. > :13:07.allowed to derail the work being done in Afghanistan.
:13:07. > :13:10.Both the Afghan government, ISAF and the UK national contingent
:13:10. > :13:15.commander have taken significant steps to tackle the threat. We're
:13:15. > :13:18.all united in the view that we cannot let these few terrible
:13:18. > :13:24.incidents derail the steady progress in preparing the Afghans
:13:24. > :13:27.to take responsibility for their own security and thus secure our
:13:27. > :13:29.long-term objectives. Fewer cancer patients will be
:13:29. > :13:32.forced to look for work while receiving treatment under new
:13:32. > :13:34.proposals from the Department for Work and Pensions. The Government
:13:34. > :13:37.had previously said that those deemed able to perform "work-
:13:37. > :13:39.related activities" would face means testing after 12 months and
:13:39. > :13:42.risk losing their sickness benefits. Cancer charities had argued that
:13:42. > :13:46.some patients were being classed as fit to work before they had
:13:46. > :13:49.recovered from treatment. The police officer cleared of
:13:49. > :13:52.killing a newspaper seller following the G20 protests three
:13:52. > :13:55.years ago has been sacked for gross misconduct. PC Simon Harwood
:13:55. > :14:04.admitted using unnecessary force when he hit Ian Tomlinson with his
:14:04. > :14:08.baton. A disciplinary hearing concluded the officer had
:14:08. > :14:13.discredited the police service and undermined public confidence. Our
:14:13. > :14:16.Home Affairs Correspondent Matt Prodger was at the hearing. This
:14:16. > :14:20.was the beginning of the end of Simon Harwood's career, the moment
:14:20. > :14:24.he hit and pushed to the ground newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson
:14:25. > :14:30.during the G20 protests three years ago. His subsequent death sparked a
:14:30. > :14:34.controversy the Metropolitan Police has struggled to live down. Today,
:14:34. > :14:38.PC Simon Harwood arrived at a disciplinary hearing. It concluded
:14:38. > :14:43.that he'd used unnecessary force and discredited the police service.
:14:43. > :14:47.He's been sacked for gross misconduct. But for Ian Tomlinson's
:14:47. > :14:51.relatives, it didn't go far enough because it stopped short of saying
:14:51. > :14:53.whether the actions of the police officer had contributed to the
:14:54. > :14:58.death. The people that are actually
:14:58. > :15:02.suffering this is us family, you know, and we still got an answer
:15:02. > :15:07.from this after three-and-a-half years. I think it's diabolical.
:15:07. > :15:10.know little more than you did... It's like we're back at day one.
:15:10. > :15:14.The family of Ian Tomlinson had hoped today's hearing would
:15:14. > :15:20.reconcile two conflicting verdicts. Last year an inquest found that he
:15:20. > :15:24.had been unlawfully killed, and yet last month, a jury cleared PC Simon
:15:24. > :15:29.Harwood of manslaughter. It means nobody has been officially blamed
:15:29. > :15:32.for the death. The Metropolitan Police confirmed that PC Harwood
:15:32. > :15:38.would keep his pension because he hadn't been convicted of a crime,
:15:38. > :15:42.but it apologised for the errant police officer. Today's hearing has
:15:42. > :15:46.resulted in the maximum penalty that was ever available to the
:15:46. > :15:51.panel - dismissal due to gross misconduct. This leaves no
:15:51. > :15:56.ambiguity as to how the Met views the actions of Simon Harwood.
:15:56. > :15:59.Simon Harwood will never serve again. Ian Tomlinson's family is
:15:59. > :16:09.using the civil courts to try to force somebody to take
:16:09. > :16:12.
:16:12. > :16:16.Our top story tonight: The Government has announced the
:16:16. > :16:22.biggest overhaul of secondary schools exams in England in a
:16:22. > :16:29.generation. Coming up: Britain's greatest living explorer
:16:29. > :16:33.- Sir Ranulph Fiennes announces his latest Antarctic expedition.
:16:33. > :16:37.Later on the News Channel: A new survey suggests businesses are
:16:37. > :16:40.losing faith in the way the Government is fast-tracking
:16:40. > :16:50.infrastructure spending. We look at the impact of piracy on the music
:16:50. > :16:54.
:16:55. > :16:59.The battle for control of Aleppo is about to enter its third month. The
:16:59. > :17:03.past week has seen the most intense air strikes on the city since the
:17:03. > :17:07.fighting began. Rebel fighters claim they are in control of three-
:17:07. > :17:14.quarters of Aleppo. The Syrian Government insist is clearing out
:17:14. > :17:18.what it calls "terrorists." Paul Wood and Fred Scott sent this
:17:18. > :17:26.report. Air strikes in Aleppo. The regime has tried everything else,
:17:26. > :17:35.but kit not afford to lose Syria's biggest city. So this goes on all
:17:35. > :17:40.day. There's another bomb. In those parts of the city held by
:17:40. > :17:49.the rebels, civilians are paying the price.
:17:49. > :17:54.A jet cannon spits fire. The planes return to strafe again
:17:55. > :17:58.and again after dropping their bombs. The pilots make slow, almost
:17:58. > :18:07.leisurely turns, they know the rebels have nothing, no ground to
:18:07. > :18:15.air missiles to shoot them down. Everybody is extremely nervous.
:18:15. > :18:21.That's a plane making a low pass over us. It's a nerve shredding
:18:21. > :18:25.experience. They've had many weeks of this here now. Civil war - best
:18:25. > :18:33.describes what is happening in Syria. An air strike hit this
:18:33. > :18:43.neighbourhood a few minutes ago. A woman flees barefoot from her home.
:18:43. > :18:52.
:18:52. > :18:59."Bashar, you pig," he shouts at President Assad. "You enemy of God.
:18:59. > :19:06.These were civilians." There were no emergency services to
:19:06. > :19:14.speak of. Neighbours came out to do what they could.
:19:14. > :19:22.Then some good news. Three little girls are pulled alive from the
:19:22. > :19:28.wreckage of the building. It's incredible they survived this.
:19:28. > :19:34.Ten people died here. A three-year- old boy was buried inside. Two
:19:34. > :19:41.girls, aged 10 and 12, were killed playing in the street. God is great
:19:41. > :19:51.- rises from the crowd. Then they run.
:19:51. > :19:52.
:19:52. > :19:57.Another plane is coming. Rama is one of the girls we saw rescued.
:19:57. > :20:02.Three family members and two friends were killed in the attack.
:20:02. > :20:08.Her father is still too afraid of the regime to show his face, but he
:20:08. > :20:13.criticises the rebels too. They put anty aircraft gun on the next
:20:13. > :20:19.building, he says. "I asked the commander to move it," he tells me.
:20:19. > :20:23.The bomb seems to have gone through the building with the gun in
:20:23. > :20:26.placement, and then it exploded in the family house across the road. A
:20:26. > :20:30.neighbour says that is what happened. People also accuse the
:20:30. > :20:40.regime of bombing recklessly or of deliberately killing civilians and
:20:40. > :20:44.the rebels say they have no choice but to fight. "Why is the whole
:20:44. > :20:49.world watching and doing nothing? People are in the streets - we bury
:20:49. > :20:53.people in gardens. Why is the world protecting Bashar?" western
:20:53. > :20:58.Governments don't want to step into Syria. The turn moil elsewhere in
:20:58. > :21:06.the Middle East makes intervention here less likely still.
:21:06. > :21:10.On the front lines of Aleppo the struggle often seems uneven. The
:21:10. > :21:15.free army fighters inch forward against the artillery and jets. For
:21:15. > :21:23.the time being, at least, Syria's rebels know that here on the ground
:21:23. > :21:27.they're on their own. Well, as if to illustrate how
:21:27. > :21:32.complex the picture is a leading human rights group says it has
:21:32. > :21:38.evidence that Syrian rebels have tortured detainees and carried out
:21:38. > :21:43.summary executions. It is being debated at the UN today.
:21:43. > :21:48.Our correspondent is here. It's not a straightforward picture, is it?
:21:48. > :21:52.That's right. Today, we have two human rights reports in the frame.
:21:52. > :21:56.Both are saying abuses are on both sides. Human Rights Watch today
:21:56. > :22:01.says that it has found, although it has found evidence of systematic
:22:01. > :22:05.war crimes by the Syrian Government and army, it also says the
:22:05. > :22:10.opposition has committed severe human rights abuses, as you say
:22:10. > :22:13.summary executions, detainees subjected to torture. The UN own
:22:13. > :22:18.investigation for its human rights council, which has been debated
:22:18. > :22:23.today, also says maybe stit- directed torture of civilians by
:22:23. > :22:26.the Syrian Government, but also the opposition committing abuses. It
:22:26. > :22:31.notes prisoners being used to detonate explosives, sort of
:22:31. > :22:34.unwilling suicide bombers. Today, the Brazilian diplomat who has been
:22:34. > :22:40.in charge of that investigation made it sound as if it will get
:22:40. > :22:44.worse. He said he's very worried about Islamist militants and
:22:44. > :22:47.foreign elements, as he put it, who are radicalising the rebels. He
:22:47. > :22:50.said in recent weeks the number of human rights abuses has soared so
:22:51. > :22:55.much so, that there are now too many to investigate.
:22:55. > :22:59.Thank you. A woman who terminated her
:22:59. > :23:01.pregnancy long after the legal abortion limit with a drug she
:23:01. > :23:06.bought on the internet has been zefrpbsed to eight years in prison.
:23:06. > :23:12.-- sentenced to eight years in prison. 35-year-old Sarah Catt
:23:12. > :23:15.ended her pregnancy a few days before her baby was due.
:23:15. > :23:25.Our correspondent is at Leeds Crown Court now. This is a shocking case.
:23:25. > :23:27.
:23:27. > :23:32.A hoily unusual case, Fiona -- holy unusual case. Sarah Catt knew she
:23:32. > :23:37.was pregnant at the end of 2009. She was 29 weeks pregnant when she
:23:37. > :23:40.went for a scan. Doctors and midwives never heard from her again
:23:40. > :23:44.and become concerned. The police were alerted. They took her
:23:44. > :23:50.computer and they found she had been doing Internet searches for
:23:50. > :23:55.things like "Where can I get an illegal abortion." In week 39-40,
:23:55. > :23:59.she took a drug, that induced labour. She said she gave birth to
:23:59. > :24:02.a baby who was stillborn, whom she then buried. I have been speaking
:24:02. > :24:07.to the senior police officer involved in this case. I have never
:24:07. > :24:10.had to investigate anything like this previously. It is very unusual.
:24:10. > :24:16.Given the circumstances that somebody who is highly intelligent
:24:16. > :24:20.could have avoided where we are today by either using contraceptive
:24:21. > :24:24.or having a legal termination when she knew she was pregnapbtd, this
:24:24. > :24:28.need not have happened -- pregnant, this need not have happened.
:24:28. > :24:32.judge said what she had done was somewhere between manslaughter and
:24:32. > :24:35.murder. It was that serious. He jailed her for eight years. The
:24:35. > :24:42.police have re-appealed to her to tell them where she buried her
:24:42. > :24:46.baby's body. Now, it has been called the Coldest
:24:46. > :24:50.Journey On Earth, where temperatures hit minus 70 degrees
:24:50. > :24:54.sentitkwraid. Today, Ranulph Fiennes -- centigrade. Today,
:24:54. > :24:59.Ranulph Fiennes described plans for that journey. He is to lead the
:24:59. > :25:03.first team on foot across Antarctica during the southern
:25:03. > :25:09.winter. Our correspondent, Matthew Price, caught up with him close to
:25:09. > :25:14.the Arctic Circle. They strode, man and machine,
:25:14. > :25:21.through the deep freeze of the Arctic night. Their breath turning
:25:21. > :25:25.to ice crystals almost as soon as it left their lungs. Fingers numb,
:25:26. > :25:30.toes hardened by the extreme cold. This is exploration at the limits
:25:30. > :25:38.of human endurance. Why? It's the way I make my living. I didn't get
:25:38. > :25:44.any A-levels and that's what I do. You could die out there? But more
:25:44. > :25:48.people die travelling as saelzmen in the UK on the motorway. It is
:25:48. > :25:55.minus 35 Celsius at the moment, there is ice on my eyelashes, yet
:25:55. > :26:00.they will have to cope with temperatures as low as twice that.
:26:00. > :26:04.In addition up to four months of this trek it will be pitch black.
:26:04. > :26:11.If they can make it across the continent, it will be an
:26:11. > :26:19.astonishing achievement. No-one has ever crossed Antarctica
:26:19. > :26:24.in winter before. So, for months, they test every bit of kit.
:26:24. > :26:31.Two bulldozers will drag three industrial sleds, a science lab,
:26:31. > :26:37.living quarters, their supplies and fuel. There are problems even here.
:26:37. > :26:42.They almost lost one of the bulldozers. The crevasses in
:26:42. > :26:49.Antarctica's ice sheet could prove fatal. If any of this is to succeed
:26:49. > :26:55.it is Sir Ranulph Fiennes who must make it across on foot. You just
:26:55. > :26:59.must not think about getting old. If you are lucky enough not to
:26:59. > :27:06.stoop, no Zimmer frame, you might as well go for it. So the pensioner
:27:06. > :27:12.will push himself to the limit again.
:27:12. > :27:15.A remarkable man! Let's look at the weather now with Jay. Thankfully
:27:15. > :27:20.weather now with Jay. Thankfully nothing like that to contend with.
:27:20. > :27:23.No, an ordinary autumn. The further north-west you travelled, well the
:27:23. > :27:26.showers were heavy, across Northern Ireland, parts of Scotland,
:27:26. > :27:32.swinging now across the north of England. But they will tend to fade
:27:32. > :27:36.away over the next few hours - fading away from most inland areas.
:27:37. > :27:41.We will keep a few going. Some may drive their way into the Liverpool
:27:41. > :27:45.and Manchester area. By the end of the night many of us will be fine
:27:45. > :27:53.and dry, with clearing skies and temperatures will dip away. Major
:27:53. > :27:57.towns and cities in the south will dip away. Seven to eight Celsius
:27:57. > :28:01.across parts of Scotland. Still showers over the Murray Firth. Much
:28:01. > :28:06.of the south and east getting off to a breezy, but chilly start.
:28:06. > :28:11.Showers in Northern Ireland, mainly around the north coast. As you head
:28:11. > :28:18.further south, it is a much improved story. It is a largely dry
:28:18. > :28:22.and bright di. It will be breezy -- day. It will be breezy. One or two
:28:22. > :28:26.showers towards Cornwall and Devon. A cool, westerly breeze during the
:28:26. > :28:31.day. It will drive the showers further inland. They will not be as
:28:31. > :28:36.heavy or as frequent as today's showers. Across south Wales, the
:28:36. > :28:41.south Midlands - a decent day. With that north-westerly breeze
:28:41. > :28:45.temperatures down a notch or two. Into Tuesday night, well the skies
:28:45. > :28:50.clear and it will turn cold. Major towns and cities into single