:00:00. > 3:59:59report from South Africa, on the impact of the long-running Oscar
:00:00. > :00:14.Pistorius Good evening. The chairman of
:00:15. > :00:18.Bristol Rovers has said tonight that the club has hit rock bottom and
:00:19. > :00:21.offered his sincere apologies to the fans. Rovers fell out of the
:00:22. > :00:24.Football League at the weekend. The board met today and announced twelve
:00:25. > :00:27.players including, David Clarkson and Fabian Broghammer, are to leave
:00:28. > :00:30.the club. Will Glennon sent us this report.
:00:31. > :00:33.Today is a reality`check day for Bristol Rovers and planning has
:00:34. > :00:36.begun for a future outside the Football League. All day meetings
:00:37. > :00:40.have been held, inside the Memorial Stadium, with the chairman and his
:00:41. > :00:44.board of directors as they tried to decide on the best way forward.
:00:45. > :00:47.Earlier this evening, the chairman Nick Higgs released a statement
:00:48. > :00:52.saying that he and the board of directors sincerely apologise for
:00:53. > :00:56.the relegation. He said that mistakes had been made and that the
:00:57. > :01:00.club must learn from them. He also said that the playing budget and
:01:01. > :01:03.costs for running the club will be reviewed, but Rovers will be keeping
:01:04. > :01:07.a full`time playing and backroom set`up. Essential, you would think,
:01:08. > :01:11.if Rovers will have any chance of bouncing back up into the Football
:01:12. > :01:15.League. He also said that Darrell Clarke, at the moment, remains as
:01:16. > :01:19.manager. There has also been an announcement this evening on
:01:20. > :01:22.players. Twelve of those in and around the first team are to be
:01:23. > :01:26.released from their contracts, including three big names. There are
:01:27. > :01:30.still other questions to be answered. Will other jobs be lost
:01:31. > :01:33.here? Will the board of directors change? The club insists, though,
:01:34. > :01:36.that the 20,000 seater, multi`million pound stadium planned
:01:37. > :01:42.for South Gloucestershire will go ahead. Some supporters have been
:01:43. > :01:47.here at the club buying season tickets for next year. Others say
:01:48. > :01:51.that they want to keep their cash in their pockets until they find out
:01:52. > :01:54.more about the future direction of Bristol Rovers. Will Glennon, BBC
:01:55. > :02:07.Points West, Memorial Stadium, Bristol. So just how much will
:02:08. > :02:10.Bristol Rovers lose by falling out of the Football League? Here is our
:02:11. > :02:13.business correspondent Dave Harvey. A bitter defeat and probably the
:02:14. > :02:16.most expensive in the club's history. Here is what Rovers earned
:02:17. > :02:19.this season from the Football League. Their share of TV rights and
:02:20. > :02:21.sponsorship, ?392,000. Then, the so`called solidarity payment from
:02:22. > :02:24.the Premier League is another ?240,000. And finally, a grant for
:02:25. > :02:28.youth development of ?270,000 ` taking the total pot to just over
:02:29. > :02:41.?900,000. Next year, that pot will be half. If they stay down, it
:02:42. > :02:45.disappears altogether. Of course, there is some cash in Rovers' new
:02:46. > :02:49.league ` the Football Conference. They will get just ?50,000 from life
:02:50. > :02:53.there, meaning tough decisions for the board. The knife is going to
:02:54. > :02:56.have to fall in staff costs right across the board. Staff costs
:02:57. > :02:59.account for just over ?3 million of the costs at Bristol Rovers. That is
:03:00. > :03:03.split between playing staff, office staff, and the centre of excellence.
:03:04. > :03:07.I think we will see cuts in all of those categories. Let us hope that
:03:08. > :03:10.the start of the season brings success on the field because that
:03:11. > :03:11.can regenerate the supporters. There is nothing like a good promotion
:03:12. > :03:17.battle to get out week after week. That is what
:03:18. > :03:24.the club desperately needs at the moment. Meanwhile, of course, there
:03:25. > :03:27.is this. Ambitious plans for a ?40 million new stadium at the
:03:28. > :03:30.University of the West of England. Experts tell me that this is still
:03:31. > :03:35.very much on track, as, after all, the main business here will be
:03:36. > :03:39.meetings and conferences. These days stadiums have to earn money every
:03:40. > :03:46.day and not just on match days. The stadium will sit 21,000 fans. The
:03:47. > :03:49.real question is now down to them. Will they keep coming to see
:03:50. > :03:52.Aldershot, Alfreton, and Welling? In the Football Conference, a club's
:03:53. > :04:01.finances rely very heavily on its fans.
:04:02. > :04:06.A group of experts has said the contract to build a new nuclear
:04:07. > :04:09.power station at Hinkley Point in Somerset may be null and void. The
:04:10. > :04:13.government signed a deal with EDF Energy worth ?16 billion over 35
:04:14. > :04:16.years. But a group of law and economics experts claim the contract
:04:17. > :04:23.favours the French firm and could also breach EU rules on state
:04:24. > :04:27.subsidies. The last group of servicemen and
:04:28. > :04:31.women to be sent to Afghanistan gathered on Salisbury Plain today.
:04:32. > :04:36.They will be the final UK troops to deploy there, as combat operations
:04:37. > :04:41.draw to a close by the end of 2014. Andrew Plant reports.
:04:42. > :04:46.Preparing themselves for one last push. These soldiers are about to
:04:47. > :04:50.fly to Afghanistan for the final time. Twelve years of military
:04:51. > :04:53.operations will end there in December of this year. For some
:04:54. > :04:56.here, the war in Afghanistan has spanned their entire careers. Cpl
:04:57. > :05:04.Dan Jones from Gloucester will provide protection for engineers.
:05:05. > :05:12.Our priority job is to create a ring of steel around Bastion, to deny the
:05:13. > :05:15.insurgents freedom of movement. It will take months to take Camp
:05:16. > :05:19.Bastion apart, a settlement the size of Reading, a military city in the
:05:20. > :05:22.desert. There are still hundreds of vehicles and thousands of tonnes of
:05:23. > :05:29.equipment in Afghanistan making up Camp Bastion. The job of the Armed
:05:30. > :05:33.Forces between now and the New Year is to break down that camp and bring
:05:34. > :05:39.most of that equipment back to the UK. Rifleman Angus from Stroud will
:05:40. > :05:44.help transfer responsibility to the local Afghan army. We are slowly
:05:45. > :05:47.letting them take over their own patrols and take over their own
:05:48. > :05:54.training as well. Over 90% of their patrols and their training are now
:05:55. > :05:58.self`taught. From the 1st of January next year, the UK will only help to
:05:59. > :06:01.train the Afghan officers and will take no responsibility for security
:06:02. > :06:04.in the country. But the remaining seven months there will be no less
:06:05. > :06:12.dangerous. The twelve`year conflict has already claimed 423 British
:06:13. > :06:15.personnel. No`one here seems clear whether they will be allowed to
:06:16. > :06:24.leave quietly or whether the Taliban will try to chase them away.
:06:25. > :06:28.That is just about all from me. Newsnight is getting started on BBC
:06:29. > :06:30.Two. Time now to take a look at our weather with Ian Fergusson.
:06:31. > :06:41.Good evening. Wednesday will be a dry day mostly with some showers as
:06:42. > :06:53.well. There will be some showers this evening. Temperatures will be
:06:54. > :07:00.mild, 8`11dC. In the morning there will be some showers in the rush
:07:01. > :07:12.hour. The general theme is for showers across this area. This
:07:13. > :07:25.evening should be dried. `` should be dry. Temperatures, 13`50dC. There
:07:26. > :07:30.will be rain on Thursday. It will turn wet and windy on Saturday. An
:07:31. > :07:35.unsettled story throughout. on Friday as well. I rather wet
:07:36. > :07:45.start the weekend and it will be blustery during the week. As you may
:07:46. > :07:53.have just heard, our weather is taking a turn for the worse. Some
:07:54. > :07:57.lovely weather on the Spanish Costas. We leave that behind and
:07:58. > :08:05.find low-pressure close by the British Isles. Behind that, there
:08:06. > :08:09.are bands of wet weather. Some heavy downpours. In Northern Ireland, this
:08:10. > :08:14.goes on through parts of England and Scotland. To the south, a few heavy
:08:15. > :08:17.showers moving through and the breeze freshening. Many of us will
:08:18. > :08:21.see some rain between now and the end of the night but it will not be
:08:22. > :08:27.cold. On the many for tomorrow will be a bit of sun here and there but
:08:28. > :08:29.nowhere near as much. Showers, yes, and stronger winds across southern
:08:30. > :08:37.areas in particular. That will make it feel a bit cooler. This is how it
:08:38. > :08:42.looks at ATM. There will be some dry weather around. A scattering of
:08:43. > :08:44.showers into England and Wales.