:00:00. > :00:00.A Japanese company buys a huge stake in one
:00:00. > :00:07.of our biggest train operators - what'll it mean for
:00:08. > :00:12.Calls for companies here to take on former soldiers,
:00:13. > :00:14.as Government promises have produced few jobs.
:00:15. > :00:17.And find out how a satellite built in Stevenage will help improve
:00:18. > :00:34.It's been announced that a Japanese investor is to take a 40% stake
:00:35. > :00:39.They run trains from Cambridge to London Liverpool Street,
:00:40. > :00:41.as well as between Peterborough, Cambridge and Norwich.
:00:42. > :00:44.Abellio says the partnership with Mitsui will lead
:00:45. > :00:47.to "significant improvements", but not everyone agrees.
:00:48. > :00:54.Worth ?1.4 billion, it's been just three months since the Dutch firm
:00:55. > :01:06.Abellio began the nine-year franchise that promise to transform
:01:07. > :01:08.rail transport across the region for passengers.
:01:09. > :01:10.To deliver its pledge, it sold 40% of the franchise to the
:01:11. > :01:13.Japanese company Mitsui, a fair deal for stakeholders and customers, says
:01:14. > :01:17.All these companies who have come in for the medium and
:01:18. > :01:18.long-term franchises bringing money with them.
:01:19. > :01:24.Naturally, they expect a return on it and we're told it
:01:25. > :01:26.averages about 6%, no more than that.
:01:27. > :01:29.That isn't big-money buy any commercial standards.
:01:30. > :01:32.So nobody is being ripped off, so to speak.
:01:33. > :01:35.Every day, the service carries 250,000
:01:36. > :01:37.passengers from London Liverpool Street to Cambridge, Norwich,
:01:38. > :01:47.In a multi-million pound investment, the
:01:48. > :01:50.rail operator says it will replace more than 1,000 carriages with more
:01:51. > :01:53.seats and faster services by 2020 and ?60 million will be spent on
:01:54. > :01:56.improving stations, including Cambridge.
:01:57. > :01:59.The investment could cut average journey times by 10%.
:02:00. > :02:01.Unions say it simply shows that a chunk of
:02:02. > :02:04.Britain's rail network is up for grabs.
:02:05. > :02:12.It makes a mockery of the tendering process.
:02:13. > :02:14.Tendering processes are quite tough, if they satisfy
:02:15. > :02:17.safety, customer satisfaction, and reliability.
:02:18. > :02:19.And we have this company, come in out of the blue,
:02:20. > :02:22.never been in the process and they are buying up
:02:23. > :02:34.Japan introduced the world famous bullet train but it
:02:35. > :02:37.is unlikely those sorts of speeds will be seen in this country
:02:38. > :02:44.Is it worrying that a private company that wasn't involved
:02:45. > :02:46.in the tendering process has such a huge stake in Abellio?
:02:47. > :02:49.Here's our Busines Correspondent, Richard Bond.
:02:50. > :02:57.Bear in mind, the Government was unaware of his Japanese interest
:02:58. > :03:00.But bear in mind, Abellio is still in charge.
:03:01. > :03:09.It is still in charge of the operations of the company.
:03:10. > :03:13.All terms and conditions of this new franchise will have to be met,
:03:14. > :03:14.otherwise the operators will be in hot water.
:03:15. > :03:17.Mitsui is being vetted by the Department for Transport,
:03:18. > :03:20.and the Government actually put out a statement tonight saying that it
:03:21. > :03:23.would only approve this partial sale once both parties,
:03:24. > :03:26.in other words Abellio and Mitsui, have satisfied us that passengers
:03:27. > :03:38.So there you are, basically, checks are being made to make sure
:03:39. > :03:41.that it is a fit and proper partner for Abellio.
:03:42. > :03:43.Next - are businesses doing enough to support servicemen and women
:03:44. > :03:47.The BBC has discovered that just 58 companies in our region have signed
:03:48. > :03:50.up to the Armed Forces Covenant - a Government promise to look
:03:51. > :03:55.In our region, Hertfordshire has the most companies with 32,
:03:56. > :03:57.but there are only six in Milton Keynes and
:03:58. > :04:10.Para-ice hockey in Peterborough with Stuart, who lost a leg
:04:11. > :04:14.Now he's trying to help others make the transition from
:04:15. > :04:17.It's not easy, even for an able-bodied person.
:04:18. > :04:25.You lose a whole network of support, once you leave the forces.
:04:26. > :04:31.And you're suddenly left with nothing.
:04:32. > :04:34.And that's exactly what happened to Daniel Johnson Morris,
:04:35. > :04:37.who felt let down when he left the Army three years ago,
:04:38. > :04:40.with mental health problems, no job, and no home.
:04:41. > :04:43.I went into one of the hospitals in Peterborough.
:04:44. > :04:47.I was literally in one room, on my own, two single
:04:48. > :04:56.And I was just keeping myself to myself.
:04:57. > :04:59.The only time I went out was to go and see my two boys.
:05:00. > :05:05.Here in Peterborough, they're trying to get more companies
:05:06. > :05:08.to take on ex-service people, and they can get support
:05:09. > :05:10.from the government, if they sign the Armed Forces Covenant.
:05:11. > :05:12.But, for now, out of 3,000 companies in the city,
:05:13. > :05:21.At this drop-in session, they're trying to link
:05:22. > :05:26.But with so few signing the covenant, it's hard.
:05:27. > :05:29.I'm disappointed on the fact that a lot of companies
:05:30. > :05:34.They are looking at an array of different backgrounds,
:05:35. > :05:36.different trades, different skills that all three services
:05:37. > :05:42.The service person that's leaving the forces wants another career.
:05:43. > :05:44.They could have that person for many years to come,
:05:45. > :05:49.They just need to give them the chance.
:05:50. > :05:52.But one of the companies which have signed up is Anglian Water,
:05:53. > :05:54.who found how employing ex-servicemen and women has
:05:55. > :05:58.In the last three months alone, we've had nine employees
:05:59. > :06:02.that we've hired with service backgrounds.
:06:03. > :06:07.And we find that they're just amazing people.
:06:08. > :06:09.They've got brilliant skillsets that are really transferable
:06:10. > :06:13.They have health and safety, they have supply chain,
:06:14. > :06:14.and they have engineering and practical requirements
:06:15. > :06:18.So, that's absolutely brilliant for us, too.
:06:19. > :06:22.It's all about getting them more integrated into civilian life.
:06:23. > :06:28.Because, as any ex-forces person will tell you,
:06:29. > :06:32.forces life is completely different to civilian life.
:06:33. > :06:35.It's hoped that by giving people a chance, it might mean the nation
:06:36. > :06:38.lives up to its promise of looking after those who served
:06:39. > :06:48.A court's heard how the man accused of murdering the author Helen Bailey
:06:49. > :06:50.told police she had spoken of "wanting space".
:06:51. > :06:54.Ian Stewart made the comment during a recorded 999 call
:06:55. > :06:56.to report her missing, four days after she disappeared.
:06:57. > :07:01.Ms Bailey was found dead in a cesspit under the garage
:07:02. > :07:02.of her home in Royston three months later.
:07:03. > :07:06.Cambridgeshire Police are investigating a
:07:07. > :07:13.They say at least three people are in hospital with serious but not
:07:14. > :07:16.life-threatening injuries and four people have been arrested.
:07:17. > :07:18.It happened in the Wentworth Street area of Peterborough
:07:19. > :07:22.Now, just before we bring you the weather,
:07:23. > :07:25.a look at how our region is helping to improve the accuracy
:07:26. > :07:30.A satellite made in Stevenage will be the first to measure
:07:31. > :07:40.In Greek mythology, Aeolus was the keeper of the winds.
:07:41. > :07:45.Now, it's the world's first ever satellite to study the Earth's wind
:07:46. > :07:56.It's going to collect more data in one week than we have already.
:07:57. > :08:00.It's been built in a clean room at Airbus to keep its lasers
:08:01. > :08:09.It shines it through the atmosphere and a telescope picks up
:08:10. > :08:11.the reflections of that signal from the dust particles
:08:12. > :08:17.From this, we can see the wind speed throughout the whole
:08:18. > :08:24.At the minute, we don't measure the wind in this way,
:08:25. > :08:27.we just use weather balloons that pop up in individual
:08:28. > :08:29.points, and radios that are scattered around the world.
:08:30. > :08:32.There are huge parts of the planet where we actually don't know
:08:33. > :08:34.This will make it much more accurate.
:08:35. > :08:37.It means that there will be actual data rather than estimated data
:08:38. > :08:40.and that should feed into more accurate weather forecasts.
:08:41. > :08:43.Aeolus works by firing a laser into the atmosphere
:08:44. > :08:50.It's reflected back by molecules and clouds,
:08:51. > :08:52.but at a subtly different frequency in what is called
:08:53. > :08:55.It is the difference between these two signals that
:08:56. > :09:03.This satellite, which weighs about the same as a Mini,
:09:04. > :09:05.is going to be travelling around the Earth at
:09:06. > :09:12.In its three-year life span it will orbit the Earth over 17,500 times.
:09:13. > :09:15.There is all sorts of fundamental building blocks to making a weather
:09:16. > :09:17.forecast, but none really more important than
:09:18. > :09:21.People obviously appreciate the wind at the surface,
:09:22. > :09:27.But the wind is a really complicated thing.
:09:28. > :09:29.It varies very dramatically as you go up through the atmosphere.
:09:30. > :09:33.What we can do with the satellite is just get a much broader image
:09:34. > :09:36.and you need to know what the winds are doing right now
:09:37. > :09:38.to be able to predict the weather in the future.
:09:39. > :09:41.The data that Aeolus sends back could lead to a breakthrough
:09:42. > :09:49.in our understanding of the Earth's climate.
:09:50. > :09:51.Fascinating stuff - so lets get our latest
:09:52. > :09:55.But from me and the team here, goodnight.
:09:56. > :09:58.Well, we've already got temperatures in some spots below freezing.
:09:59. > :10:02.As the night goes on, we'll see a lot of the clear sky
:10:03. > :10:04.filling in with cloud from the north.
:10:05. > :10:06.And that could produce a little bit of light rain and drizzle.
:10:07. > :10:09.But for most of us it will be a dry night.
:10:10. > :10:11.As the cloud increases, that will probably bring
:10:12. > :10:19.the temperatures back up in many sports above freezing.
:10:20. > :10:22.So some of us will wake up to a frost tomorrow morning,
:10:23. > :10:26.And then, tomorrow, we have high pressure in charge again.
:10:27. > :10:29.This weather front to the north, that's likely to push a bit more
:10:30. > :10:32.Generally more cloud around tomorrow compared to today.
:10:33. > :10:35.I hope it will thin and break in time to at least allow
:10:36. > :10:40.Temperatures at best only up to about four Celsius, but we do
:10:41. > :10:45.But it's going to stay on the chilly side, and stay largely dry
:10:46. > :10:49.Although we may again just to see a little bit of drizzle out
:10:50. > :10:52.In a moment, Nick will have the national forecast,
:10:53. > :10:56.Thursday and Friday, high pressure stays in charge,
:10:57. > :10:58.so it stays fine and dry, but largely cloudy.
:10:59. > :11:00.On both days, we should see temperatures perhaps closer
:11:01. > :11:01.to average - about six Celsius at the best.
:11:02. > :11:05.from time to time. Staying settled still. Nick has the national
:11:06. > :11:10.forecast this evening. Hello. If you are watching the
:11:11. > :11:14.football earlier it turned out to be an evening for football fans in
:11:15. > :11:18.Lincolnshire. This is how it looked at the start of the day. No idea
:11:19. > :11:22.whether this weather watcher is a football fan, it's a fan of weather
:11:23. > :11:26.that matters here. All sorts of weather, from 13 in Aberdeenshire to
:11:27. > :11:29.two, despite the sunshine in Kent. I wonder if this six in the cloud
:11:30. > :11:34.across the Midlands into northern England and parts of Wales felt
:11:35. > :11:38.colder, particularly in these misty and foggy conditions in this weather
:11:39. > :11:41.watcher view. Some drizzly rain around at times still from the
:11:42. > :11:43.thicker cloud into parts of England and Wales overnight, hill fog too.
:11:44. > :11:44.Cloud for Scotland and