:00:08. > :00:09.Still no respite for storm-battered Britain as heavy rain and gales
:00:10. > :00:14.In Ayrshire, 12 passengers are airlifted from a bus stranded
:00:15. > :00:19.In the Scottish borders, attempts to reinforce defences
:00:20. > :00:23.with a "danger to life" flood warning issued for the River Tweed.
:00:24. > :00:28.I am Peebles born and bred and I have never, ever seen it
:00:29. > :00:36.Was the beach the best place to be managing the crisis from?
:00:37. > :00:40.Back from his break, the Environment Agency chairman
:00:41. > :00:43.returns from Barbados to meet victims of the floods.
:00:44. > :00:46.We'll be looking at what might be causing the recent extreme weather.
:00:47. > :00:53.Life sentences for the couple who plotted to bomb London.
:00:54. > :00:56.The American actor Bill Cosby is charged with sexual assault over
:00:57. > :01:03.And England's cricketers beat South Africa by 241 runs to win
:01:04. > :01:31.A huge storm - the third to hit the UK in a month -
:01:32. > :01:32.has been battering parts of Northern Ireland,
:01:33. > :01:35.Scotland and northern England, bringing yet more flooding.
:01:36. > :01:38.Storm Frank blew in overnight, causing high winds and persistent
:01:39. > :01:43.Dumfries and Galloway and Aberdeenshire bore the brunt.
:01:44. > :01:46.Across Scotland around 6,000 homes were left without power.
:01:47. > :01:50.We have two reports tonight - one from Croston in Lancashire,
:01:51. > :01:54.where there are three severe flood warnings in place.
:01:55. > :01:56.But first, the situation in Dumfries, where the River Nith
:01:57. > :02:13.There is still a severe weather warning in place for the Whitesands
:02:14. > :02:15.year in Dumfries but the good news is what levels appear to have
:02:16. > :02:21.stopped rising so for the moment, all eyes are on whether it does
:02:22. > :02:25.start to increase, even though it still lapping away, or if it stays
:02:26. > :02:27.where it is and if it does, the question is, when will that water
:02:28. > :02:34.start to drain away? Nobody can say they were not warned
:02:35. > :02:40.about the flooding here but some still needed a last minute left to
:02:41. > :02:44.dry land anyway. Police acted fast to move people away as irreverent
:02:45. > :02:50.burst its banks and rapidly rose. It floods here are a lot but really
:02:51. > :02:54.like this, was up to 120 millimetres of rain forecast over 24 hours.
:02:55. > :02:59.Property owners did what they could to hold the waters back but with a
:03:00. > :03:05.strong sense that it was all in vain. I'm trying to get everything
:03:06. > :03:09.off the ground, as high as we can and the locals have done quite good
:03:10. > :03:12.in giving us a hand. When the flood hit, it lapped at dozens of
:03:13. > :03:18.businesses, many still waiting to see what the damages before they can
:03:19. > :03:23.even think about clearing up. This river has doubled in width and in
:03:24. > :03:26.terms of intensity, it is much, much bigger. It is an impressive sight
:03:27. > :03:30.that people have come to see but if you are one of the businesses on the
:03:31. > :03:37.opposite side of the river, you will not be impressed one bit by what is
:03:38. > :03:39.happening. At the time's Marina, the quayside vanished from sight, taking
:03:40. > :03:46.boarding this vessel a risky business. The tall ship has never
:03:47. > :03:49.quite stood as tall as this. The saving grace is that few residential
:03:50. > :03:55.properties have been affected but it is not over yet. Some of the
:03:56. > :03:59.businesses will suffer badly, some will struggle to get going again,
:04:00. > :04:03.there will be a huge clean-up exercise. A Newtownstewart in
:04:04. > :04:06.south-west Scotland, it with the first place to see evacuation is.
:04:07. > :04:11.People try to salvage what property they could. In Ayrshire, passengers
:04:12. > :04:19.had to be rescued from their service bus. Coastguards and the Royal Navy
:04:20. > :04:22.helped with this one. Near the Queen 's Balmoral residence, hundreds were
:04:23. > :04:27.forced to leave their homes. And in Peebles in the Borders, the speed
:04:28. > :04:32.with which the waters rose was a surprise, even to those who thought
:04:33. > :04:36.they had seen it all. It has come up very quickly I am Peebles born and
:04:37. > :04:41.bred and I have never seen it as high as this before. Tonight, the
:04:42. > :04:43.floodwaters are still high. Only tomorrow's daylight will truly
:04:44. > :04:47.reveal what damage has been caused. In the village of Croston
:04:48. > :04:49.in Lancashire, people are braced There are, as we heard,
:04:50. > :04:53.three severe warnings in place After many questions in the last few
:04:54. > :05:00.days about the adequacy of the UK's flood defences, the chairman
:05:01. > :05:02.of the Environment Agency, Sir Philip Dilley, said he'd be
:05:03. > :05:06.visiting flood victims. He's come in for criticism
:05:07. > :05:09.for being on holiday in the Caribbean during some
:05:10. > :05:11.of the worst storms in decades. In Croston's main street,
:05:12. > :05:20.still littered with the debris of the Christmas flood,
:05:21. > :05:23.residents kept an anxious eye on the river which had caused
:05:24. > :05:29.so much damage so quickly. Two miles away, the giant pumps
:05:30. > :05:32.had rumbled back into action, shifting floodwater off farmland
:05:33. > :05:37.to make room for more. Since Christmas, millions
:05:38. > :05:40.of gallons have been pumped back into the river,
:05:41. > :05:45.downstream of a damaged flood bank. volunteers from a local rescue team
:05:46. > :05:53.used their tracked vehicles to reach the breached defences
:05:54. > :05:58.and assess the remaining threat. The storm today hasn't
:05:59. > :06:01.helped us with that, you know, the high winds
:06:02. > :06:04.have meant it's been too strong to get a helicopter out,
:06:05. > :06:07.that is the only way we can move these large sandbanks
:06:08. > :06:09.at the moment, but we will be continuing to get that done
:06:10. > :06:11.over the next few days. In Croston Sports Club,
:06:12. > :06:13.where villagers are co-ordinating
:06:14. > :06:16.their own relief effort, news that the storm had moved
:06:17. > :06:19.further north was welcome, One urgent call came
:06:20. > :06:24.from this nursing home, its kitchen flooded,
:06:25. > :06:28.its power disrupted. Donations of fresh water and food
:06:29. > :06:30.were there within hours. Everyone, of all ages
:06:31. > :06:36.and from all walks of life, have come in and helped
:06:37. > :06:39.and asked what they can do to help. The plight of flood victims has led
:06:40. > :06:45.to criticism of Sir Philip Dilley, back today from a Christmas holiday
:06:46. > :06:48.in the Caribbean. Should he perhaps
:06:49. > :07:01.have turned earlier? Was the beach the best ways to
:07:02. > :07:02.manage this crisis from? I have been in close contact with a number of
:07:03. > :07:04.people... In Tadcaster, the Environment
:07:05. > :07:06.Secretary, here to see the town's badly damaged bridge,
:07:07. > :07:08.pointed out that the agency's chief executive had visited
:07:09. > :07:10.flood-hit areas over Christmas. Liz Truss said a plan to reunite
:07:11. > :07:14.the two halves of the town I've met people in the town who just
:07:15. > :07:22.want this back up and running, they want their lives
:07:23. > :07:24.sorted out as soon as possible, and that is our
:07:25. > :07:26.priority, to do that. there is still a reassuring
:07:27. > :07:30.presence on the main street. Tomorrow, the clean-up can resume,
:07:31. > :07:35.but there'll be more storms to weather in the weeks
:07:36. > :07:46.and months ahead. Storm Frank has done little to dent
:07:47. > :07:49.the determination of the committee and many others to get to something
:07:50. > :07:53.resembling normality as soon as possible. Work year has been going
:07:54. > :07:57.on through the afternoon and the managers of this pub just off the
:07:58. > :08:00.village green in Boston have told me we will work through the night to
:08:01. > :08:05.get it open for the New Year. Many thanks. Robert Hall there.
:08:06. > :08:08.The relentless storms which have swept across the UK this month meant
:08:09. > :08:10.it was a record-breaking December for rainfall in many parts
:08:11. > :08:11.of northern England, Scotland and Wales.
:08:12. > :08:13.It's meant the potential impact of climate change
:08:14. > :08:17.Our Science Editor, David Shukman, looks now at what's causing
:08:18. > :08:25.The coast of Cornwall was amongst the first to be hit by Storm Frank
:08:26. > :08:32.Then, soon after dawn, County Waterford in Ireland
:08:33. > :08:36.was struck by waves whipped up the dangerous winds.
:08:37. > :08:42.And by lunchtime it was the turn of Anglesey in Wales.
:08:43. > :08:44.And this extreme weather system reaches far beyond the
:08:45. > :08:48.This animation shows how, out to the west of the UK,
:08:49. > :08:52.the storm is so powerful it is driving a flow of warm air up
:08:53. > :08:55.to the Arctic, making the North Pole far warmer than normal.
:08:56. > :09:03.Here in Britain, the past month has seen a host of new rainfall records
:09:04. > :09:08.If you look at the averages for December rainfall from 1980
:09:09. > :09:13.to 2010, Capel Curig in North Wales normally gets 308 millimetres.
:09:14. > :09:15.But it has been hit with 1012 millimetres -
:09:16. > :09:20.The average for Shap in Cumbria is 215 millimetres but it
:09:21. > :09:29.And the average for Bainbridge in North Yorkshire is 156,
:09:30. > :09:37.We're on course for the warmest December in more than
:09:38. > :09:43.And the wettest December for many parts of the UK,
:09:44. > :09:46.including Scotland, Wales and north-west England in more
:09:47. > :09:51.But we don't expect those conditions to continue right
:09:52. > :09:57.And all this may be linked to what is called El Nino.
:09:58. > :10:02.Here, this Nasa image shows warm water rising in the eastern Pacific
:10:03. > :10:05.and this is happening on a large enough scale to disturb weather
:10:06. > :10:13.Exactly the kind of thing that El Nino can bring.
:10:14. > :10:16.And there are similar scenes in South America.
:10:17. > :10:20.Back here, the aftermath of yet more devastating rain and because warmer
:10:21. > :10:23.air can hold more moisture, it could well be that climate change
:10:24. > :10:28.And that will raise more questions about how well the country copes
:10:29. > :10:31.with more violent weather in the years ahead.
:10:32. > :10:37.And if you want regular updates on that story,
:10:38. > :10:40.the BBC Weather webpages have all the latest information,
:10:41. > :10:42.including all you need to know about the affected areas.
:10:43. > :10:49.Just go to bbc.co.uk/weather and follow the links.
:10:50. > :10:52.A couple who plotted a terror attack in London have been jailed for life.
:10:53. > :10:55.Mohammed Rehman and his wife, Sana Ahmed Khan, both in their 20s,
:10:56. > :10:59.were convicted of preparing terrorist acts and will serve
:11:00. > :11:04.a combined minimum sentence of 52 years.
:11:05. > :11:06.Rehman had discussed targeting the London Underground
:11:07. > :11:08.and Westfield Shopping Centre on social media under the name
:11:09. > :11:16.The judge said that Mohammed Rehman and Sana Khan were so dangerous
:11:17. > :11:19.they may never be released from prison.
:11:20. > :11:22.He said the pair had even tested their explosive device
:11:23. > :11:29.There's no longer any trace of the explosives
:11:30. > :11:33.It's still a place where his family live,
:11:34. > :11:35.and where his father runs a taxi business.
:11:36. > :11:37.But he was testing these explosives
:11:38. > :11:41.right here in the heart of this residential area of Reading.
:11:42. > :11:44.This man has known the Rehman family for 20 years
:11:45. > :11:47.and says no-one knew Mohammed Rehman had
:11:48. > :11:53.That someone could get so caught up in this little world
:11:54. > :11:55.in which I imagine he styled himself perhaps a hero,
:11:56. > :11:59.but what I think he was attempting to do or might have done
:12:00. > :12:08.The judge said Rehman and Khan, who had bought these materials
:12:09. > :12:11.online, had never intended to travel to Syria or Iraq to fight
:12:12. > :12:16.Rehman's parents, who didn't want their faces shown,
:12:17. > :12:18.told me before today's sentencing they believed
:12:19. > :12:22.their son was indoctrinated through the internet.
:12:23. > :12:28.somebody must have put him on the wrong track.
:12:29. > :12:32.In a letter to the judge, Khan said she didn't
:12:33. > :12:35.know what Mohammed Rehman, the man she married in secret, was up to,
:12:36. > :12:37.but the judge said both were Islamic radicals
:12:38. > :12:50.Duncan Kennedy, BBC News, in Reading.
:12:51. > :12:52.The American actor Bill Cosby is charged with sexual assault over
:12:53. > :12:59.The comedian has been accused of drugging a former university
:13:00. > :13:01.employees at his home near Philadelphian. He said under oath
:13:02. > :13:09.that they had consensual sex. Our Washington Correspondent,
:13:10. > :13:11.Laura Bicker, is in Washington This comes after dozens of women
:13:12. > :13:18.have alleged assault This is a first, not charge but
:13:19. > :13:22.against Bill Cosby and this is a man who was once the most highly paid
:13:23. > :13:28.entertainer on network television and he was the all-American father
:13:29. > :13:31.who once instructed young people in high to behave, now charged with
:13:32. > :13:37.doping and sexually assaulting a woman back in 2004. But women
:13:38. > :13:40.brought charges in 2005 but the district attorney decided not to
:13:41. > :13:46.prosecute. New evidence has come to life -- night, a legal document
:13:47. > :13:50.where under oath Bill Cosby admits giving women he wanted to sleep with
:13:51. > :13:56.drugs and also paying women to keep quiet. He has always denied the
:13:57. > :14:00.charges but since then, around 58 women have come forward and he will
:14:01. > :14:03.face a legal charge in court this afternoon. Laura, thank you. Laura
:14:04. > :14:06.Bicker there. The Cabinet Office minister
:14:07. > :14:08.Oliver Letwin has apologised unreservedly for any offence caused
:14:09. > :14:11.when he suggested in 1985 that "bad moral attitudes"
:14:12. > :14:14.in black communities Mr Letwin's comments were made
:14:15. > :14:18.in a confidential memo to then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher,
:14:19. > :14:20.as our Political Correspondent, On the Broadwater estate
:14:21. > :14:34.in North London, one officer was murdered
:14:35. > :14:38.by a mob wielding knives. As riots broke out
:14:39. > :14:40.in cities across England, Margaret Thatcher and her ministers
:14:41. > :14:44.debated the causes Some told her that urban
:14:45. > :14:52.deprivation in the largely black communities
:14:53. > :14:54.was partly to blame, but one young Downing Street
:14:55. > :14:56.adviser disagreed. In his memo to Mrs Thatcher,
:14:57. > :15:04.Oliver Letwin wrote, "Lower class, unemployed
:15:05. > :15:06.white people lived for years without a breakdown of public order
:15:07. > :15:10.on anything like the present scale." He added that attempts to improve
:15:11. > :15:13.inner cities would fail so long And he dismissed a plan
:15:14. > :15:20.to encourage black entrepreneurs, saying they would set up
:15:21. > :15:23.in the disco and the drug trade. Critics say Mr Letwin's comments
:15:24. > :15:26.show how totally out of touch he was with what was
:15:27. > :15:28.actually going on here in Tottenham 30 years ago, with no
:15:29. > :15:31.mention of the high unemployment, the poor housing, and the growing
:15:32. > :15:35.anger at the way that the police Oliver Letwin went on
:15:36. > :15:45.to become an MP, and today he's
:15:46. > :15:48.David Cameron's policy chief. are evidence of a racist
:15:49. > :15:52.view of the world. Others say they raise questions
:15:53. > :15:55.about his role in government. There must be real concern
:15:56. > :15:57.about Tory party policy in relation to the inner cities
:15:58. > :16:02.when Oliver Letwin is leading and we know that he held
:16:03. > :16:09.views like these. Mr Letwin has apologised
:16:10. > :16:11.for any offence caused, saying parts of the memo
:16:12. > :16:15.were badly worded and wrong. Friends say fighting
:16:16. > :16:17.discrimination It isn't the real Oliver Letwin
:16:18. > :16:23.speaking, and he's a very civilised and enlightened person,
:16:24. > :16:28.and I think the real message is that, over the 30 years
:16:29. > :16:31.since that note was written, attitudes have been
:16:32. > :16:33.absolutely transformed. The Broadwater estate
:16:34. > :16:36.is also transformed, with better housing
:16:37. > :16:38.and little crime. Mr Letwin's critics
:16:39. > :16:40.want to know that his views have changed
:16:41. > :16:42.with the times too. Cricket now, and England
:16:43. > :16:50.have beaten South Africa The visitors comfortably
:16:51. > :16:54.won by 241 runs. Our sports correspondent
:16:55. > :16:58.Andy Swiss has more. A thumping victory for England
:16:59. > :17:00.here in Durban. A crushing win over
:17:01. > :17:03.the world's top Test team. For both England's players
:17:04. > :17:07.and fans, so much to applaud. South Africa had begun the day
:17:08. > :17:10.still with faint hope, Star batsman AB de Villiers
:17:11. > :17:17.bamboozled by Moeen Ali, and it prompted the sort of collapse
:17:18. > :17:21.more traditionally associated Temba Bavuma's rush of blood
:17:22. > :17:26.offering the simplest of stumpings. For the South African balcony,
:17:27. > :17:30.it was almost too painful to watch. And it wasn't about
:17:31. > :17:33.to get any easier. Steve Finn ending Dale Steyn's
:17:34. > :17:37.brief resistance in about as emphatic a manner
:17:38. > :17:41.as you could wish to see. And by the time Ali picked
:17:42. > :17:44.up his third of the day, not so much leg as
:17:45. > :17:50.legs before wicket... ..South Africa had lost
:17:51. > :17:52.four for just seven runs. Indeed, what could have been a long,
:17:53. > :17:56.tense day was all over before lunch. whose last, desperate
:17:57. > :18:02.review proved futile. Replays showed it hitting
:18:03. > :18:05.the middle of the middle stump. A suitably decisive end
:18:06. > :18:09.to an utterly decisive win. There's more throughout the evening
:18:10. > :18:19.on the BBC News Channel. We are back
:18:20. > :18:21.with the late news at 10pm. Now on BBC One, it's time
:18:22. > :18:23.for the news where you are.