:00:00. > :00:09.The Christmas storms leave thousands stuck without power and flooding
:00:10. > :00:12.across the south of England. Is But there are warnings of further
:00:13. > :00:20.flooding with more storms about to hit the UK. The weather for the next
:00:21. > :00:27.24-hours is going to deteriorate and the flooding that is happening now
:00:28. > :00:33.will get worse. And, they're off. Shoppers race to the Boxing Day
:00:34. > :00:35.sales. Australia's bowlers put England under pressure again at the
:00:36. > :00:58.start of the Fourth Ashes Test. Good evening. The Christmas misery
:00:59. > :01:00.for thousands is set to continue, with the Environment Agency warning
:01:01. > :01:05.of further storms to come and significant flooding in parts of
:01:06. > :01:09.southern England. Just over 10,000 households are still without
:01:10. > :01:13.electricity and power companies are warning some customers may not be
:01:14. > :01:20.reconnected until the end of the week. It was difficult to see where
:01:21. > :01:23.the river ended and the road was supposed to begin. Only rescue
:01:24. > :01:28.vehicles could cope with these conditions. Their mission, to
:01:29. > :01:34.evacuate anyone in danger. This is an ongoing situation. The weather
:01:35. > :01:39.for the next 24-hours is going to deteriorate and the flooding that is
:01:40. > :01:42.happening now will get worse. Many people without electricity have been
:01:43. > :01:48.celebrating Christmas as best they can. Well, very difficult. No hot
:01:49. > :01:53.water, no heating. It's very cold now. We've had to put off our
:01:54. > :01:57.Christmas Day and we just have no idea when we will get our
:01:58. > :02:03.electricity back again. Power cuts have hit many areas. 24,000 homes
:02:04. > :02:09.were without electricity this morning. Winds gusting up to 70mph
:02:10. > :02:15.are predicted for tonight. 76 people were rescued from a caravan park in
:02:16. > :02:20.Kent. The Government is doing its best to help those affected. There
:02:21. > :02:24.has been major disruption to power supplies. Energy companies have
:02:25. > :02:28.brought people back off holiday to get power supplies up. It's an
:02:29. > :02:32.inevitable thing when you have serious stormy weather and trees
:02:33. > :02:38.down, knocking down electric cables it will take time to get the power
:02:39. > :02:43.supplies up. I'm please today -- pleased today we got most people
:02:44. > :02:47.back on electric power. Is being hit by storms at the moment. There is no
:02:48. > :02:50.end in sight for the bad weather. We can talk to Andy in Byflee in
:02:51. > :02:57.Surrey. Judging by the situation there, another difficult night for
:02:58. > :03:01.people and warnings of more to come? That is right. We are in a lull
:03:02. > :03:06.before the next storm at the moment. They are expecting about
:03:07. > :03:09.two-and-a-half centimetres of rain, that is of concern to people around
:03:10. > :03:13.here where river levels are very high. The water is not quite in the
:03:14. > :03:17.houses though. They are concerned about what will happen tonight. We
:03:18. > :03:22.have yellow and amber severe weather warnings for much of the country.
:03:23. > :03:29.Very strong winds tomorrow, about 70-80mph. As to the power situation,
:03:30. > :03:33.a lot of people have been reconnected since this morning.
:03:34. > :03:40.10,000 homes without power tonight. Watch out, there is more bad weather
:03:41. > :03:43.on the way. Thank you. The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed it
:03:44. > :03:46.is to hold a review into Gatwick Airport's response to the bad
:03:47. > :03:50.weather before Christmas. Thousands of passengers faced cancelled
:03:51. > :03:54.flights and delays on Christmas Eve after a power failure in the North
:03:55. > :03:57.Terminal which the airport says was caused by flooding. Shop verse been
:03:58. > :04:02.out in force for the Boxing Day sales. Some queued outside stores in
:04:03. > :04:06.London from before midnight on Christmas Day. Analysts say there
:04:07. > :04:10.will be 8% more shop they ares year, compared with Boxing Day last year.
:04:11. > :04:14.London's West End alone is expect to see just short of 1.5 million
:04:15. > :04:17.shoppers. It's not just on the high street, it's thought there will be
:04:18. > :04:21.more than 100 million online purchases today. Our correspondent
:04:22. > :04:30.Andrew Plant is in a shopping centre in Bristol. How busy has it been
:04:31. > :04:34.there? People have been waiting from around 3.00 am trying to get a
:04:35. > :04:40.Boxing Day bargain. Similar scenes across the UK. Good news for
:04:41. > :04:45.retailers who were hoping for a bumper season. No time for a Boxing
:04:46. > :04:48.Day breakfast this morning, these shoppers were hungry for sales.
:04:49. > :04:54.Surrounding the accordings of Selfridges in London with many
:04:55. > :04:57.tourists teaming through first. This morning's bargain hunting began with
:04:58. > :05:04.some waiting since late on Christmas Day to bag the biggest discounts on
:05:05. > :05:08.designer brands. In Birmingham's Bullring shopping centre the crowds
:05:09. > :05:11.snaked around the corner with some shoppers waiting for six hours in
:05:12. > :05:15.the cold to be first through the doors. It's fun. We have come for
:05:16. > :05:23.the experience really. We have never done it before. Most people will get
:05:24. > :05:30.out rather than sit-in front of the telly. It's fun. Across the UK some
:05:31. > :05:34.2.5 billion could be spent today. More than ?500 million of that
:05:35. > :05:39.online. With many stores now starting sales before Christmas, it
:05:40. > :05:43.is still the high street and shopping centres that make up by far
:05:44. > :05:47.the biggest slice of the Boxing Day sales. When you look at the number
:05:48. > :05:51.of people who are here today, the question you could ask is, why
:05:52. > :05:55.aren't they online? They could be sat in the warmth of their home
:05:56. > :05:58.online they choose to come here. I think that there will always be the
:05:59. > :06:04.benefits of actually shopping in the store. In Cardiff too shoppers hit
:06:05. > :06:09.the high streets to pick up next year's presents with retailers
:06:10. > :06:12.seeing the next seven days as a key spending window, hoping to have
:06:13. > :06:19.their tills ringing more than ever in the post-Christmas spending
:06:20. > :06:23.spree. The funeral has taken place in London of a British doctor who
:06:24. > :06:26.his family and the Foreign Office claim was murdered by the
:06:27. > :06:29.authorities in Syria. The Syrian government insists Abbas Khan took
:06:30. > :06:33.his own life while in custody. He was arrested after going to the
:06:34. > :06:40.country to work in a hospital in a rebel-controlled area. Family and
:06:41. > :06:46.friends, even people who didn't know Abbas Khan, came to London's central
:06:47. > :06:52.mosque today to pay their respects. For his mother, Fatima, the pain of
:06:53. > :06:57.laying her son to rest was clear. I touch everybody's feet, please give
:06:58. > :07:02.me my son. The 32-year-old was imprisoned by the Syrian authorities
:07:03. > :07:06.in November last year. An orthopaedic surgeon, he travelled to
:07:07. > :07:10.Aleppo to help victims of hospital bombings. In letters he wrote home
:07:11. > :07:15.he told of his ill-treatment in prison. He said he had been beaten
:07:16. > :07:20.for no or other reason than the pleasure of his captors. Abbas Khan,
:07:21. > :07:23.seen here showing his medical kit, was found dead days before he was to
:07:24. > :07:30.be released. The Syrian authorities claimed he took his own life. His
:07:31. > :07:33.family say he was murdered. They criticised the British Government
:07:34. > :07:37.for not trying to save him. The family will think they haven't done
:07:38. > :07:41.enough. There has been no real contact with them whatsoever. They
:07:42. > :07:46.tried to seek a meeting with William Hague, to no avail. They revealed a
:07:47. > :07:51.letter from the Prime Minister post the tragic thing occurring. David
:07:52. > :07:55.Cameron said Syria should be held to account in that letter. The
:07:56. > :08:00.Government said they were giving them the privacy and space to
:08:01. > :08:05.grieve. This family and community want answers. What happened to the
:08:06. > :08:12.young father will be the focus of the inquest into his death which
:08:13. > :08:16.opens tomorrow. The leaders of two of South Sudan's neighbours, Kenya
:08:17. > :08:19.and Ethiopia, have held what officials are calling "constructive"
:08:20. > :08:23.talks in a bid to halt the fighting which it's feared could leaded to
:08:24. > :08:27.civil war. UN officials believe thousands have been killed since
:08:28. > :08:31.violence erupted on 15th December when clashes broke out at a meeting
:08:32. > :08:35.of South Sudan's ruling party. Of Boxing Day hunts are underway, nine
:08:36. > :08:38.years after fox-hunting was banned across England and Wales. Support
:08:39. > :08:41.remembers calling for a new vote on the ban. The latest poll suggests a
:08:42. > :08:48.clear majority of people are against it. The From the Bedale Hunt in
:08:49. > :08:53.North Yorkshire, Dan Johnson reports. Gathered in the Market
:08:54. > :08:59.Square on what has been the biggest day in the hunting Calder. --
:09:00. > :09:03.calendar. There are people's jobs who need to be kept up. People's
:09:04. > :09:08.very livelihoods trying to be kept up and what they do with their free
:09:09. > :09:12.time. We have tried to do everything we can to keep hunting going. There
:09:13. > :09:17.were bitter protests outside Westminster when the ban was
:09:18. > :09:22.introduced, almost 10 years later, it's still controversial. This hunt
:09:23. > :09:27.can trace its history back almost 200 years, but nowadays it seems the
:09:28. > :09:37.debate over the hunting ban is as much a part of the tradition. A
:09:38. > :09:42.survey claims that eight in ten of those questioned want hunting to
:09:43. > :09:46.stay illegal. A lot of wild animals are still being chased and brutally
:09:47. > :09:52.killed, brought down by a pack of hounds in the most appalling
:09:53. > :09:56.cruelty. The riders were off following a trail laid by farmers
:09:57. > :10:00.following the scent of a fox. The Government promised to revisit the
:10:01. > :10:09.ban and give MPs a free vote. It's unlikely to happen before the next
:10:10. > :10:12.election. The Treasury has announced it's considering new technology to
:10:13. > :10:15.speed up the process of paying in cheques which at the moment can take
:10:16. > :10:19.up to six days to reach and an account. One option to be piloted
:10:20. > :10:26.next year will enable people to pay in a cheque by sending a smartphone
:10:27. > :10:31.image of it direct to the bank. It could become as simple as this.
:10:32. > :10:34.Picking up your mobile phone, taking a picture of the cheque you have
:10:35. > :10:39.received, and your bank account is credited. No more queueing at a bank
:10:40. > :10:42.branch. The the Government's considering legislation will make
:10:43. > :10:47.this become a reality. The we are determined as a government to make
:10:48. > :10:51.sure that banks are helping their consumers in every way they can. If
:10:52. > :10:56.you can introduce a new invasion that will help clear cheques for
:10:57. > :11:00.quickly, that is very welcome. What about security? Can an image of a
:11:01. > :11:06.cheque really be a safe substitute for the real thing? The banking
:11:07. > :11:08.industry say it is does now have the right technology. They have rolled
:11:09. > :11:12.out mobile banking that infrastructure is in place. They
:11:13. > :11:15.have been upgrading their process systems to deal with the image of
:11:16. > :11:22.the cheque. Around that of course is massive amounts of security. Moving
:11:23. > :11:24.into a virtual world will create a more secure customer experience and
:11:25. > :11:29.that the paper experience today. More convenient, more secure. It is
:11:30. > :11:34.hoped that cheque imaging will speed up the clearing process. Time could
:11:35. > :11:38.be saved by not having to sort and move paperwork between banks. The
:11:39. > :11:43.technology is widely used in the United States. The plan is not just
:11:44. > :11:46.aimed at consumers who receive cheques for example at Christmas and
:11:47. > :11:50.can't get them quickly into bank accounts to spend the money. It is
:11:51. > :11:54.designed to help small business, many of them still use the cheque
:11:55. > :11:58.system. Ministers say this is all about preserving cheques using
:11:59. > :12:04.modern technology rather than speeding up their decline. Football
:12:05. > :12:08.now. Arsenal are top of the Premier League this afternoon after they
:12:09. > :12:12.beat West Ham by 3-1 rat Upton Park. Elsewhere there were wins for
:12:13. > :12:15.Crystal Palace, Chelsea, Southampton, Fulham, Sunderland and
:12:16. > :12:22.Newcastle. Manchester United recovered from a dreadful start
:12:23. > :12:27.against Hull City to win 3-2. First the handshakes, then the fireworks.
:12:28. > :12:32.A Boxing Day blockbuster at the KC Stadium, Hull City threatened to
:12:33. > :12:36.humble the Premier League champions. Barely had James Chester, a foer
:12:37. > :12:45.Manchester United trainee, no less, put Hull ahead it was 2-0, Meyle
:12:46. > :12:50.re-r's shot, Steve Bruce's delight. Suddenly, United stirred. Chris
:12:51. > :12:55.Smalling led the come back. A breathless first half was capped in
:12:56. > :13:00.breath taking style as Wayne Rooney put the visitors level. After the
:13:01. > :13:04.break, Hull hung on, but their hopes turned to heartbreak. The man who
:13:05. > :13:10.put them in front, now put them behind. Chester heading into his own
:13:11. > :13:17.net, his expression said it all. In injury time, a final chance for
:13:18. > :13:21.Chester re -- redemption surely. It wasn't to be. A cruel Christmas for
:13:22. > :13:32.him. For United another welcome victory. Silviniaco Conti riden by
:13:33. > :13:42.Noel has won the King George VI Chase. Cue Card had look set for
:13:43. > :13:45.victory but Silviniaco Conti, trained by Paul Nicholls, pulled
:13:46. > :13:51.away. It's the eighth time Nichols has won the race. England are once
:13:52. > :13:58.again in trouble in the Ashes. They had a tough time on the fist day of
:13:59. > :14:04.the Fourth Test. Australia who have already secured the series, won the
:14:05. > :14:11.toss and put the visitors in to bat. England had reached 226-6. This
:14:12. > :14:17.could have felt like an anticlimax, tell that to the 90,000 who came
:14:18. > :14:20.here, a new world record Test match crowd. The last time the England
:14:21. > :14:27.were here they retained the Ashes, now they had to salvage some price.
:14:28. > :14:36.Alastair Cook has lost three Tests and Four tosses. They were asked to
:14:37. > :14:42.bat. The skipper started well but perished for 27. Car berry got
:14:43. > :14:46.himself in there was a fateful misjudgment. Australia were applying
:14:47. > :14:54.the pressure. It was a matter of when, not if Kevin Pietersen hit
:14:55. > :14:59.out. When he did, he got lucky. Nile with the catch, but ran out of room.
:15:00. > :15:04.When it felt like the tourists were getting the upper hand, Ian Bell
:15:05. > :15:08.went for 27. Pietersen was living dangerously. Having received
:15:09. > :15:13.treatment after swallowing a fly he dug in to reach a crucial unbeaten
:15:14. > :15:21.auto 50. Ben Stokes failed to build on his century in Perth. Bairstow
:15:22. > :15:27.was no match for Mitchell Johnson. The tourists hopes of a competitive
:15:28. > :15:32.total had begun to fade. It felt like damage limitation by a team Des
:15:33. > :15:39.he per rate to avoid a series whitewash. England retain some hope.
:15:40. > :15:43.It seems it was Australia's day. That is it for now. There is more
:15:44. > :15:46.throughout the evening on the BBC News Channel. We are back with the
:15:47. > :15:47.late news at