Browse content similar to 03/07/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Security is stepped up at Britain's airports, as America warns | :00:00. | :00:00. | |
The extra checks come amid fears that Al-Qaeda in Syria | :00:07. | :00:13. | |
and Yemen are developing bombs that could be smuggled on to planes. | :00:14. | :00:18. | |
The safety of the travelling public must come first. | :00:19. | :00:20. | |
I hope this won't lead to unnecessary delays | :00:21. | :00:24. | |
but it's very important that we always put safety first, and we do. | :00:25. | :00:29. | |
So far, the UK's airports are all said to be operating normally. | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
We'll be looking at how credible the threat is. | :00:33. | :00:35. | |
Also tonight, harrowing stories from Iraqis who've escaped areas seized | :00:36. | :00:38. | |
Problems with opening hours and making appointments to see a GP | :00:39. | :00:46. | |
lead to patients expressing growing dissatisfaction. | :00:47. | :00:49. | |
Almost half of underground drinking water stores in England and Wales | :00:50. | :00:54. | |
are in areas that could be exploited for shale gas and oil. | :00:55. | :01:01. | |
And the rise of the new generation, as 20-year-old Eugenie Bouchard | :01:02. | :01:07. | |
becomes the first Canadian to reach a Grand Slam final. | :01:08. | :01:17. | |
On BBC London, safety concerns after a lorry is set alight, and Michael | :01:18. | :01:24. | |
Gove on whether a collapse at a collapse that every school has | :01:25. | :01:27. | |
thrown his flagship policy into crisis. | :01:28. | :01:42. | |
Good evening, and welcome to the BBC News at Six. | :01:43. | :01:45. | |
Security at Britain's airports has been tightened after US officials | :01:46. | :01:47. | |
warned of a "credible terrorist threat" involving Al-Qaeda | :01:48. | :01:49. | |
American officials believe terrorists are developing | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
bombs which could evade routine security checks. | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
Downing Street says there's an "evolving threat" | :02:00. | :02:00. | |
to the UK and other countries but says people should travel as usual. | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
Here's our security correspondent, Frank Gardner. | :02:06. | :02:18. | |
Heathrow today and no signs of anything outwardly unusual. Today, | :02:19. | :02:24. | |
the government has announced new unspecified security measures have | :02:25. | :02:28. | |
been put in place to transatlantic flights to America. It is in direct | :02:29. | :02:34. | |
response that activist in Syria are planning to smuggle bombs onto | :02:35. | :02:37. | |
planes. We take these decisions looking at the evidence in front of | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
us, and working with our partners. This is something we have discussed | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
with the Americans, and what we have done is put in place extra | :02:46. | :02:48. | |
precautions and extra checks. The safety of the travelling public must | :02:49. | :02:53. | |
come first. This is where the government believes the threat | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
originated, with Al-Qaeda in Yemen, a group that has developed a unique | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
expertise in hard to detect explosives. Today's heightened | :03:01. | :03:06. | |
airport security is because that lethal expertise is thought to have | :03:07. | :03:11. | |
proliferated across borders. So the skills developed in Yemen are | :03:12. | :03:15. | |
believed to have been passed on by Al-Qaeda to their affiliates in | :03:16. | :03:18. | |
other parts of the Middle East, specifically Syria, where their | :03:19. | :03:21. | |
trainers are feared to have instructed a whole new generation of | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
bombers. These include European jihadists with European passports. | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
And this is almost the only known picture of their mental, who is | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
still at large. In 2009 he sent so-called underpants bomber on a | :03:38. | :03:39. | |
plane to Detroit with a hidden device that he tried, and failed, to | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
ignite as it came into land. The next year, built bombs inside | :03:45. | :03:46. | |
printer toner cartridges. They got Today, this explosive's experts | :03:47. | :03:57. | |
showed us the effect of even just a small drop of liquid explosive. When | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
you come to detect explosives, one of the traditional ways to do it is | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
by sniffing. You use an electronic sniffer, you could use a dog. A low | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
vapour pressure explosive is one that does not give off any vapours, | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
so there is nothing to sniff, and that is what makes them ideal for | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
smuggling through security and makes them hard to detect. With the | :04:21. | :04:24. | |
fighting in Syria pulling in thousands of jihadists from Europe, | :04:25. | :04:27. | |
intelligence analysts are worried that some of them are being quietly | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
trained to go back home and plan attacks. Both US and British | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
airports already have extensive security measures, including | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
explosives detectors and body scanners. It is not clear what more | :04:44. | :04:46. | |
scanners. It is not clear what precautions can be taken but | :04:47. | :04:53. | |
passengers are expected to be subjected to further delays. | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
Well, so far, the authorities say the UK's | :04:57. | :04:58. | |
But with the summer holidays approaching, | :04:59. | :05:01. | |
what will the heightened security mean for the travelling public? | :05:02. | :05:03. | |
Our transport correspondent, Richard Westcott, is at Manchester Airport. | :05:04. | :05:10. | |
Don't be flawed, I know it looks quiet now but more than 2 million | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
people will come through security in this airport just in July -- don't | :05:16. | :05:20. | |
be fooled. As well as the usual security measures we have all got so | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
used to, there will be extra security measures. It was day one | :05:24. | :05:27. | |
today. They did have a little blip here in the morning but frankly | :05:28. | :05:30. | |
across the rest of the country it has been business as usual. Off on | :05:31. | :05:38. | |
their holidays, Colin and Tracy have turned up early to make sure they | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
don't get stuck in security. Like thousands of others, they may now | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
face extra checks but they don't seem worried. It is peace of mind, | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
you would rather know you have been thoroughly searched and everyone | :05:51. | :05:54. | |
else has, rather than it being highlighted when something does | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
happen that there were lapses in security. Anyone who has travelled | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
anywhere nine slash 11, you are just used to it, the scenario, you just | :06:02. | :06:08. | |
do it automatically now. Day one of the new security regime at | :06:09. | :06:12. | |
Manchester, and may have had some bones, there were extra queues this | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
morning, not just for the people flying to America but for everybody. | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
Trish is from the airport, is this is what can expect, longer delays at | :06:21. | :06:26. | |
security? We definitely don't want that, this morning we had problems. | :06:27. | :06:32. | |
Clearly, our customers had heard from the media that there were | :06:33. | :06:36. | |
issues, our own colleagues needed to have briefings and we did see some | :06:37. | :06:40. | |
queues. Our aim is not to let that continue. Fears of spiralling queues | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
and missed flights never materialised today put up eight | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
airports fly commercial airliners directly to the United States. Each | :06:49. | :06:51. | |
told us they had been trouble free all day. It is a far cry from 2006, | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
when a plot to explode liquid bombs on airliners led to a security | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
lockdown. Overnight, passengers were banned from taking almost everything | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
into the cabin. Eight years on, we are still doing this, but people | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
seem to be used to the extra hassle. When you travel with 200 passengers | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
up in the air, you want to make sure you are safe, so no problems. I feel | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
a bit stressed because I heard the news this morning, but the | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
television on, and thought oh god. The more security, the better. I am | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
all for increased security but it is the queues that drive me mad. 35,000 | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
people went through security here today. Most seem to have had an easy | :07:36. | :07:38. | |
ride. Iraqis living in areas seized by | :07:39. | :07:43. | |
forces led by the Islamist extremist group, ISIS, have been telling | :07:44. | :07:46. | |
harrowing stories about people being ISIS is now in control in Tikrit, | :07:47. | :07:48. | |
Mosul and Tal Afar. Around 50,000 people have fled those | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
areas for the town of Sinjar Our correspondent Quentin Somerville | :07:54. | :07:56. | |
travelled through Iraq's desert Every corner of this town was taken. | :07:57. | :08:17. | |
Here, even building sites have become home to Iraqis fleeing ISIS. | :08:18. | :08:26. | |
In the city's schools, the only private moments are found inside | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
shelters made from desks and chairs. There are six families to a | :08:31. | :08:39. | |
classroom. These Shia walked 20 miles to escape ISIS. Mostafa told | :08:40. | :08:55. | |
me, they are targeting Sunnis, Shias everybody. Even the children | :08:56. | :09:03. | |
are trying to make the best of it. But they live in fear. This woman | :09:04. | :09:09. | |
said, I have five martyrs in my family all killed by ISIS. My | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
daughter is a widow, I have only two children left. Near the border with | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
Syria, aid agencies have struggled to get here. ISIS have planted | :09:19. | :09:26. | |
roadside bombs. Just up from Sinjar, the front line is on the town's | :09:27. | :09:31. | |
doorstep. Tens of thousands of Shia Muslims, Christians, Kurds and | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
others escaped along this road from Tal afar, with ISIS to the east and | :09:36. | :09:40. | |
to the West, here in Sinjar they found sanctuary, and they say they | :09:41. | :09:44. | |
need it, because ISIS is engaged with a campaign to systematically | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
clear the towns and villages they left behind. Hassan, a Kurd, was | :09:49. | :09:55. | |
kidnapped by ISIS and help to 16 days. He was let go but others | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
won't. The jihadists, he told me, were selected in their punishment. | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
TRANSLATION: They release them straight away, even paid their taxi | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
fare home, but for sheer, if they cannot be exchanged for prisoners, | :10:11. | :10:12. | |
they will simply cut off their heads stash macro but for Shia. We have | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
been told where ISIS take control they have been methodical with | :10:18. | :10:24. | |
hunting down those opposed to them. TRANSLATION: ISIS is collecting | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
information about people and compiling a database in order to | :10:30. | :10:33. | |
find those who work for the government or security forces. If | :10:34. | :10:37. | |
they do not repent and pledge their allegiance to the caliphate, they | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
will be killed. A lot of these people have disappeared. ISIS have | :10:41. | :10:46. | |
already ordered Iraq's borders. Through fear and force, they are | :10:47. | :10:51. | |
transforming the ethnic and religious landscape around Sinjar, | :10:52. | :10:55. | |
leaving many here wondering if they will ever be able to return home. | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
Patients in England are less satisfied with | :11:01. | :11:02. | |
the service they get from their GP than they were a year ago. | :11:03. | :11:05. | |
That's according to a study by the Department of Health, which found | :11:06. | :11:08. | |
that although most rated their overall experience as good, there | :11:09. | :11:11. | |
was dissatisfaction over opening hours and making appointments. | :11:12. | :11:13. | |
A rising population with more conditions to treat. That is all too | :11:14. | :11:26. | |
clear with the traffic in and out of surgeries to see the doctor. | :11:27. | :11:27. | |
conditions to treat. That is all too clear with the traffic in and So | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
what do patients in England think of their care? There were more than | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
9000 responses to an NHS England survey. 86% were happy with their | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
experience of local GPs, though that was down on last year, and there | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
were 17% unhappy with out-of-hours care, up over 12 months. Nearly a | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
quarter said they had problems with phone bookings at surgeries. Again, | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
up on the year. We found a range of opinions talking to people in one | :11:54. | :11:58. | |
town in Essex. Used to get an appointment very quickly, now you | :11:59. | :12:01. | |
have to wait a fortnight for the doctor of your choice, because they | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
have taken on 70 patients. He normally opens about eight o'clock, | :12:07. | :12:08. | |
I normally get my appointment by about 1030, 11am, so I am pretty | :12:09. | :12:16. | |
happy. To get an emergency point is impossible. The pressures on the NHS | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
are illustrated in the Parliamentary report out today, which says that 50 | :12:22. | :12:24. | |
million people in England are suffering from long-term conditions, | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
such as diabetes, arthritis and asthma, and they account for more | :12:30. | :12:33. | |
than half of GPs time. Some doctors say they are struggling to keep up | :12:34. | :12:37. | |
with the workload. John Cockroft, and Essex GP, says he is seeing | :12:38. | :12:43. | |
patients for 11 hours a day. He is aged 52, and because of the workload | :12:44. | :12:47. | |
he is now thinking of retiring early. I think I will start to feel | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
that I am really struggling to get through a day's work. Already it | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
feels like that on certain days, and if that starts to spill over and | :12:58. | :13:01. | |
affect the quality of the care I am able to provide, then I don't see | :13:02. | :13:06. | |
that I will be able to go on for that length of time. Some practices | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
they they are struggling to recruit new GPs. At this brother surgery, | :13:11. | :13:14. | |
there are vacancies for doctors, and more to come, with doctors leaving | :13:15. | :13:18. | |
over the next few months. One of the remaining doctors told me they were | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
having to cut services for patients. We are already feeling the effects, | :13:24. | :13:26. | |
we have lost some GPs and specialists, people have to wait | :13:27. | :13:28. | |
longer for their routine appointments. That does not reflect | :13:29. | :13:32. | |
well on the practice or do patients any justice at all. It is a very | :13:33. | :13:36. | |
difficult, session to have with patients, when they ring and say | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
come and see you. I say yes, in three weeks time. The Department of | :13:42. | :13:43. | |
Health said the vast majority of patients were satisfied with their | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
GP. Millions more were being offered extra evening and weekend | :13:48. | :13:50. | |
appointments and more money was available to improve access to | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
doctors. The time is almost a quarter past six, | :13:55. | :13:59. | |
Our top story this evening, security is stepped up at Britain's | :14:00. | :14:01. | |
airports, as America warns of a "credible terrorism threat". | :14:02. | :14:04. | |
still to come, as Yorkshire prepares to host the start of the Tour de | :14:05. | :14:11. | |
France this weekend, we look at the British hopes. Later on BBC London, | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
why campaigners say plans to relax laws over short-term lets will | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
blight their communities. Our building a new London is anything | :14:23. | :14:25. | |
significant skipper is about the history of our city. -- and earthing | :14:26. | :14:30. | |
significant. Fracking has already proved to be | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
highly controversial, and there are questions about the impact it could | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
have on the underground drinking New research has revealed that | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
much of the water is in areas with the areas of shale-bearing rock, | :14:40. | :14:43. | |
from which the energy industry is keen to extract billions of pounds | :14:44. | :14:49. | |
worth of fuel, using fracking. But the problem is this, those areas | :14:50. | :14:53. | |
also hold half of all reserves So how concerned should we be | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
about possible contamination? Our Science Editor David Shukman | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
reports. Clear, clean, drinking water, | :15:04. | :15:16. | |
something we all rely on. Samples are being tested in areas where | :15:17. | :15:17. | |
fracking may take a snapshot, to say, what are | :15:18. | :15:37. | |
the methane levels at the moment, before any shale gas extraction | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
occurs? If it is to take off on a large-scale, government and industry | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
will need to convince the public that it isn't safe. Up and down the | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
country, there will have to be decisions about whether to allow | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
fracking. Each case would allow weighing up the potential risks to | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
the environment and the benefits of getting a new, home-grown source of | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
energy. So, what are the things which could go wrong? The first | :16:01. | :16:05. | |
concern is that as the well is drilled down into the rock, there | :16:06. | :16:09. | |
could be leaks, especially when the layer of shale is fractured. In | :16:10. | :16:14. | |
theory, cracks could reach up to underground stores of drinking | :16:15. | :16:17. | |
water, though industry says this is highly unlikely. Another concern is | :16:18. | :16:22. | |
that the process of fracking can cause tremors, but these are thought | :16:23. | :16:26. | |
to be small and rarer. Then there are challenges above ground as well. | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
Methane could be accidentally released. It is a powerful | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
greenhouse gas. And wastewater pumped back up after the fracking | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
needs to be dwelt with. There is the risk of polluting the land nearby. | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
There is no scientific evidence that fracking causes water contamination. | :16:45. | :16:46. | |
A small percentage of the Wells which are used could leak, and it is | :16:47. | :16:51. | |
critically important those wells are checked. A 3D map of Britain. | :16:52. | :16:59. | |
Scientists are trying to establish some hard facts about shale and | :17:00. | :17:05. | |
possible hazards. They want to share everything with the public. Being | :17:06. | :17:13. | |
open, so that people can see I think if you can do that, then the public | :17:14. | :17:20. | |
will have more confidence. It is a lesson from the United States. | :17:21. | :17:24. | |
Fracking operations there often face opposition where people feel they | :17:25. | :17:27. | |
are being kept in the dark about what is happening, especially if | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
their homes are nearby. If you are living close to a well site, and in | :17:32. | :17:37. | |
that case you are first and foremost concerned about the quality of the | :17:38. | :17:40. | |
water that you are drinking, the quality of the air that you are | :17:41. | :17:44. | |
breathing, and this is heavy industrial activity. And | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
understanding the potential impact on our countryside matters more than | :17:49. | :17:52. | |
ever now. Next round of government licenses to allow drilling is | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
expected soon. The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, has | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
insisted his party's policies are designed to encourage business, not | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
stifle it. He told business leaders that key policies in areas such as | :18:08. | :18:13. | |
banking and energy bills would generate what he called inclusive | :18:14. | :18:16. | |
prosperity. He also said he remained absolutely convinced that Britain's | :18:17. | :18:20. | |
future lay within the EU. Here is our business editor, Kamal Ahmed. Ed | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
Miliband has said he wants to intervene in the energy market and | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
change the way banks operate. He has even raised questions about the | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
ownership of football clubs. Today, the leader of the opposition told me | :18:35. | :18:38. | |
he wants to change the terms of the debate, insisting he backs good | :18:39. | :18:41. | |
businesses which want to promote both. There is a shared mission | :18:42. | :18:45. | |
which I want the next Labour government to have with business. We | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
have deep problems as a country, the economy is not fixed, there are deep | :18:51. | :18:55. | |
problems of having hard work and people's reward being linked. | :18:56. | :18:58. | |
Business is vital to make that happen. The Labour leader is | :18:59. | :19:04. | |
certainly very different from Tony Blair, who made wooing business a | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
key part of the new Labour project. Many business leaders would like | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
that warmer tone to return home but I think the important thing, | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
whatever political party is in power, is that they remain very | :19:18. | :19:21. | |
clear that being pro-business is the only solution for the continued | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
growth of the economy. If labour and business have become a little | :19:32. | :19:34. | |
estranged over the past few years, maybe this is the first stage of | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
marriage counselling. Certainly those close to Mr Miliband, like Ed | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
Balls and Chuka Umunna, would like him to take a more positive tone | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
towards the businesses which create the jobs. On the other side of the | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
debate, the unions and say Mr Miliband is right to want a positive | :19:52. | :19:56. | |
relationship. It is important that there is a constructive relationship | :19:57. | :20:00. | |
with business, and many businesses are trying to invest for the future | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
and pay their workers fairly and pay their taxes as well. But for those | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
businesses who are not, of course we are going to need rules of the | :20:09. | :20:14. | |
game. At the 2010 election, no significant business leader came out | :20:15. | :20:17. | |
in support of Labour. Senior party figures have told me they do not | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
want that repeated next year. Mr Miliband's speech today is the start | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
of at least a conversation with those businesses which might be | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
sympathetic to the opposition's direction of travel. | :20:30. | :20:35. | |
Unionist parties have walked out of talks at Stormont aimed at solving | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
disputes about parades, the flying of flags and the past. They were | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
objecting to a decision to place restrictions on an orange order | :20:45. | :20:47. | |
parade in Belfast. In a joint statement, they said the Parades | :20:48. | :20:50. | |
Commission had treated their advice with contempt and described the | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
discussions as fruitless. The advance of a new generation of | :20:56. | :20:57. | |
players at Wimbledon continued today, as 20-year-old Eugenie | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
Bouchard made history by becoming. Meanwhile, Andy Murray's defeat | :21:05. | :21:09. | |
yesterday is still the subject of much discussion. The champagne will | :21:10. | :21:19. | |
be popping until the tennis stops, but the British Glass is neither | :21:20. | :21:22. | |
half full nor half empty, it has been drunk. On Thursday was hangover | :21:23. | :21:28. | |
day. Andy Murray's frustration in defeat to Dimitrov was obvious. He | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
was apparently overheard muttering about something happening five | :21:34. | :21:38. | |
minutes before he went on court, a brush with security, a row with his | :21:39. | :21:42. | |
girlfriend, short notice about the match starting? Officially, his camp | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
today says there was no issue. Conspiracy theories are easy. What | :21:47. | :21:50. | |
is harder to digest is that Murray has stopped beating the top players. | :21:51. | :21:56. | |
He will drop to I think he will win more Grand Slams, but this is a bump | :21:57. | :22:01. | |
in the road. As a sportsman competing at the highest level, you | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
have to deal with adversity. There are other national respect is at | :22:05. | :22:08. | |
Wimbledon. If you grow up in the Czech Republic, you basically do not | :22:09. | :22:13. | |
see one of these, the weather is too severe for grass courts, and yet | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
here were two Czech women in the semifinal. They tried to hit each | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
other off centre court. Safarova held her own in the first set. But | :22:25. | :22:30. | |
when it comes to power, there is no one stronger than Petra Kvitova. | :22:31. | :22:37. | |
Having won the first set on a tie-break, she rattled through the | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
second, 6-1. She was champion here three years ago. Success on grass is | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
every player knows there will be slips and stumbles. Simona Halep's | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
ankle required long treatment in the other semifinal. Eugenie Bouchard | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
went through. Named after a princess, just like her twin | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
Beatrice Comer celebrating is her backyard. I can tell you that Murray | :23:04. | :23:10. | |
is on centre court right now. I am referring to older brother Jamie, | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
who is in the mixed doubles with Katie Dellacqua. It looks like they | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
are going through to the quarterfinals. Already through is | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
another British pair. So, in the mixed doubles at least, Wimbledon is | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
retaining some British interest. The roads have been resurfaced, the | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
bunting is out and almost 200 cyclists who are competing in this | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
year's Tour de France are getting ready for Le Grand Depart, not in | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
France, but in Yorkshire. 2 million people are expected to line the | :23:41. | :23:47. | |
route this weekend. David Bond is in Leeds. Yes, in the next few minutes, | :23:48. | :23:54. | |
all 198 riders, from 22 teams, will be paraded through the streets | :23:55. | :23:58. | |
behind me. They will be arriving at the biggest party ever thrown to | :23:59. | :24:01. | |
mark the start of the Tour de France. Later this evening, bells | :24:02. | :24:05. | |
will be run across Yorkshire to mark the arrival of a race which starts | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
here in Leeds and will finish in just over three weeks on the chum | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
selling is a in Paris. Here in Harrogate, they are preparing for a | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
taste of France. This weekend, millions of people are expected to | :24:21. | :24:23. | |
line the roads of Yorkshire as the world's biggest bike race passes | :24:24. | :24:27. | |
through, en route to its more traditional home. It is a big moment | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
for Yorkshire, and another high point for British cycling. It is | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
still quite hard to believe, but Team Sky will this year be going for | :24:37. | :24:43. | |
their third win in a row. And while the architect of the sport's | :24:44. | :24:47. | |
incredible decade of success is not resting on his laurels, he knows how | :24:48. | :24:52. | |
far Britain has come. We have dominated two Olympic Games, we have | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
won the Tour de France twice. The biggest annual sporting event in the | :24:57. | :25:01. | |
world. I think we have got some fantastic female riders, we are | :25:02. | :25:03. | |
brilliant at downhill mountain biking. So, by anybody's | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
assessment, taking the last four or five years, six years, I think we | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
are the number one cycling nation in the world. All this is the result of | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
millions of pounds of investment which has helped take Team Sky to | :25:20. | :25:23. | |
the pinnacle of the sport. But having one the Tour de France two | :25:24. | :25:26. | |
years in succession, the challenge now is how to stay on top. Here is | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
the man tasked with that job, reigning champion Chris Froome. He | :25:33. | :25:36. | |
hopes the support of the Yorkshire crowd will push him to another | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
victory in Paris. Every little town and village along the route has | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
embraced the Tour de France. You can see bikes everywhere, you can see | :25:46. | :25:48. | |
polka dots everywhere, yellow jerseys, it is really special to | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
have this kind of reception. But the decision to leave out 2012 champion | :25:56. | :25:59. | |
and Olympic hero Sir Bradley Wiggins has caused tensions. The head of | :26:00. | :26:04. | |
Team Sky admits it was one of the hardest course he has had to make. | :26:05. | :26:11. | |
It was difficult, from a performance am a professional point of view, it | :26:12. | :26:16. | |
is straightforward. But from a personal point of view, it kept me | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
awake at night, that is sure. Cycling in this country has never | :26:23. | :26:29. | |
been more popular. For the sake of the sport's hard earned reputation, | :26:30. | :26:36. | |
everybody will be hoping the end of this year's Tour is as British as | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
its beginning. We saw Andy Murray crashing out yesterday, the | :26:43. | :26:45. | |
footballers coming up short in Brazil, and we have had | :26:46. | :26:49. | |
disappointing defeats for the cricketers and rugby union players. | :26:50. | :26:52. | |
So, not for the first time, the hopes of the nation are being pinned | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
on our cyclists. Time now for a look at the weather. Boiling hot today. | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
Yes, glorious in the south-east, the warmest day of the year so far. And | :27:03. | :27:11. | |
I suspect tomorrow we could do it all again. Temperatures could even | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
be a degree or so higher in that southeastern corner. That warm air | :27:16. | :27:19. | |
has really been sitting in the south-east only. There has been | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
plenty of cloud and rain further to the north and west. I suspect the | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
rain will continue to gather in strength overnight. It will be an | :27:32. | :27:35. | |
incredibly mild night tonight right across the country. The south-east | :27:36. | :27:43. | |
corner tomorrow morning will be the exception, rather than the rule. | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
There will be some heavy, persistent rain coming in to Scotland in | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
particular by the middle of the afternoon. Heavy pulses of rain | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
across the lake district as well. Thickening cloud towards parts of | :27:59. | :28:05. | |
Yorkshire, but hopefully staying dry through the majority of the day. | :28:06. | :28:18. | |
However, a bit of a question as to just when this weather front wheel | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
clear away on Saturday morning. It could be a pretty wet start in the | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
south-east first thing on Saturday. Clearing away, hopefully, to a | :28:27. | :28:30. | |
scattering of showers. But generally, it will be a fresher feel | :28:31. | :28:33. | |
right across the country for the weekend. Sunny spells, scattered | :28:34. | :28:40. | |
showers are likely to continue for Sunday as well. | :28:41. | :28:41. | |
showers are likely to continue for Sunday as | :28:42. | :28:43. |