Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has confirmed that the National Government will take temporary control of the autonomous region of catalonia. Tim willcox is in barcelona. Welcome to central barcelona. In the next hour we are expecting hundreds of thousands of people to protest against the decision by the spanish cabinet in madrid to impose direct law, that wont happen immediately in terms of the imposition of direct rule, it has got to go through the senate but the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has made it very clear what will happen, unless there is any climb down, basically there is any climb down, basically the Catalan Parliament will be dissolved and the local police will be taken under control by madrid and the tv station here will also have to be put under control from the grid. From madrid. The people protesting in favour of separatism say that is a breach of their human rights and we are expecting hundreds of thousands on the streets within the next hour. We can now catch up with all of the latest events with this report. Looking relaxed, in a Cabinet Meeting like no other. Because no Spanish Government has done this before. But with the authorities in catalonia pushing to breakaway, spains Prime Minister is moving, to exert direct control and limit cata la n exert direct control and limit catalan autonomy. Translation we apply article 155 because no government of any democratic country can accept disregard for the law. Last night, spains king, firmly behind the Spanish Government. Translation spain of the 21st century is a country in which catalonia is and always would be a central part. We should root ourselves in loyalty and solidarity. Catalonia is split over the question of independence and there is anxiety over what the future will hold. But those who want independence say madrids tactics could backfire. There will be peaceful protest. Likely work to rule from Civil Servants, for example. The catalans are not going to lie down and take it easily. Theres no solution going this route. But the measures announced by the Spanish Government wont come thick and fast. Expect a careful and slow running strategy to minimise the risk of making a tense situation in catalonia even worse. Tom burridge reporting. Ever since the referendum deemed illegal by madrid on the 1st of october, there has been a inevitability of where we have reached today. We can get more on the crisis Cabinet Meeting with oui on the crisis Cabinet Meeting with our correspondent in madrid. It has got to go through the senate, that will happen, because even though this coalition government, Mariano Rajoy has people to support him on this. So when do we think the direct control will be imposed . There will bea control will be imposed . There will be a meeting of the Senate Commission that has been set up to discuss these measures and the technical measures of how this works. If it all goes to plan according to the Spanish Government, possibly as soon as friday there will be a vote in the senate in madrid on this issue. The Spanish Government believes it has three quarters of the senates chamber supporting it on this issue, it is confident it can push that through. This is a massive headache for madrid to impose direct rule, 20,000 Civil Servants here and a local police force of 17,000 and a tv station. Who connects the traffic fines and the parking speeding tickets question what collect. All of that potentially has got to go back to madrid. Thats right, there are several aspects of this article 155, the symbolic aspect, we knew this was coming for some time and it wasnt a great surprise, but it had a symbolic meaning, the fact it had a symbolic meaning, the fact it had a symbolic meaning, the fact it had never been used before, seen as the Nuclear Option for madrid. You get down to the logistics of it, how do you work the personnel, it is going to be very difficult, the Spanish Government recognises this, it will have to put the right people in the right places to make sure that Civil Servants are obeying madrid and not being disloyal but there will be many more challenges throughout, whether it is dealing with the regional broadcaster or the Regional Police which could be a very thorny issue, and these other areas which the Spanish Government has decided to take control of. And elections within six months, we understand, and in terms of the political leaders, two separatist leaders already being held in madrid jails and they could be held for four years without even being charged. They have been arrested on sedition charges and presumably this will apply to Carles Puigdemont, the cata la n will apply to Carles Puigdemont, the catalan president , for holding what madrid says is an illegal referendum and flouting the constitution. Thats right. One of the many potential repercussions of this crisis is that, and Carles Puigdemont was aware of that when he pushed ahead with the independent road map. He was aware he could be the target of some severe judicial action possibly sedition. Earlier this year his predecessor as the Catalan Leader was barred from office for having staged a non binding referendum on independence in 2014, but this referendum in october was much more serious and the stakes were higher and potentially be consequences could be tougher for carlos studio could be tougher for ca rles studio could be tougher for Carles Puigdemont. Carles puigdemont himself, we understand, will be making a statement at nine oclock local time tonight, it will be interesting to see what he says, but before that we have a mass demonstration. The history here is of nonviolent confrontations and we dont expect any violence today, but it will be interesting to see how many people come out on the streets in defiance or in opposition to what madrid hasjust in defiance or in opposition to what madrid has just announced. In defiance or in opposition to what madrid hasjust announced. Thanks for joining madrid hasjust announced. Thanks forjoining us. Explosives experts have been called to the Sellafield Nuclear plant in cumbria and a partial cordon is in place. Sellafield limited, which runs the plant, said there has been no explosion and no reason for People Living locally to be concerned. They are disposing of a number of chemicals which are no longer used and say its routine to call in experts. Joining me now from the plant, is sharon barbour. The weather is terrible, very cloudy, and the cloud hangs over sellafield today, when we spoke to you an hour ago we heard a small explosion and that was the bomb disposal experts carrying out a controlled explosion of those bottles of old chemicals. 25 years old, they had been found in a Laboratory Last night which was evacuated, and a 100 metre cordon was set up around it. Earlier i spoke to the head of security here at sellafield. As to how long theyve been there and should they have been dealt with sooner, its just a question of exploration as we uncover these things then we deal with them as quickly and as efficiently as possible. It sounds like they had been there too long, because the decision was made to remove them as soon as you saw them. I think so. As soon as we become aware, then we take proactive steps to get rid of the problem as quickly and safely as we can, then we get on with the process. There was a person who said they had crystallised, was that the case . There was a person who said they had crystallised, was that the case . |j cant honestly answer that question, but the reconnaissance that was conducted yesterday determined there was 110 conducted yesterday determined there was no immediate threat from these solvents. The issue around crystallisation is important, because they can become dangerous and stop but sellafield said they had not crystallise. Investigation is now underway, crucial to is looking through the laboratory at any other old chemicals which might be unsafe and need removing. Sellafield have stressed that the site here is safe. Sharon, thanks for joining site here is safe. Sharon, thanks forjoining us. Speed limits through motorway roadworks in england could be raised from 50 to 60 miles per hour. The proposed changes follow trials which found drivers would feel safer at higher speeds. Jon donnison reports roadworks and mile after mile of Little Orange cones are the bane of many drivers lives. The current speed limit when passing through motorway roadworks is 50 mph, but highways england says that could be increased to up to 60. It follows trials where drivers were fitted with heartrate monitors to measure stress levels, driving through roadworks at different speeds. 60 of participants recorded a decrease in average heart rates in the 60 mph trial zone. In the 55 mph zone, the decrease was 56 . Some drivers said they were more relaxed at higher speeds because it allowed them to accelerate away from large lorries. What you find at 50 miles an hour is many trucks have their Speed Limited to 56, and therefore they try and drive faster, they tailgate cars, a foot off their bumper. That becomes incredibly dangerous. So on those stretches, if you can have 55 or 60 miles an hour, you will get less tailgating, fewer drivers just studying their speedometer, and it really can be safer. But ucatt, the Union Representing road workers, has described the plans as a deadly version of wacky races, which would make dangerous work areas twice as dangerous. Highways england says it is carrying out further tests, but the changes could be phased in by the end of the year. Jon donnison, bbc news. Earlier i spoke to peter rodger whos head of driving safety at the Road Safety Charity iam roadsmart. He told me what he thought about this proposal. The original reason for having the speed limits is to protect the workers doing the roadworks. Highways agency, as it was, now highways england, have been successful at reducing the injury rate to their workforce, who are trying to do the roadworks on the motorway and we all want that. But we all know there are times when you drive past the roadworks and you are subject to a speed limit which is very uncomfortable for some people as a driver, when there is no work going on. Its balancing these things together. In some places this is easy because you have variable speed limits, and you could have it reduced when people are working and then raise it for the rest of the day. Its about finding that balance and getting it right. Uncomfortable why for road users at 50 mph and less so at 60 . The particular reason is to do with the speed that lorries are operating at. Lorries have speedometers, it is at. Lorries have speedometers, it is a european requirement, that govern them at 90 kilometres per hour, just over 55 mph. Lorries are all running around at that, and very many of them take the view that actually thatis them take the view that actually that is within10 , to mars bra, so they carry on running at 56, thinking they wont get prosecuted two miles per hour. And you can be in narrower lanes as well. Yes, you can be in narrow lanes, uncomfortably close to something that towers up above them. You mentioned the original plan, to help those who are doing the roadworks, and it would appear from what the union have said, they are worried about this possible change, how do you respond to their concerns . Its understandable. Highways england have said where it where road workers are working close to the traffic, on those roadworks they will retain the 50, at least i think that is what they we re at least i think that is what they were saying. When they released the information earlier. So they are clearly trying to manage this both ways. What worries the road Workers Union is the number of people who drive into the close off areas. That is concerning but maybe there are things we can do to make it more clear and more straightforward which bit that is. That was peter rogers on those possible speed restrictions. The headlines on bbc news the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced steps to remove to remove the Current Administration in catalonia. Explosives experts were called to the Sellafield Nuclear plant in cumbria after an audit of chemicals stored in a laboratory. And storm brian hits the uk, but is less fierce than predicted. In sport in the lunchtime kick off at stamford bridge, chelsea scored two late goals to come from behind to beat watford 4 2, and end a three game winless run. Holders celtic are through to the final of the Scottish League cup. They held off a second half fightback from hibernian at hampden to win 4 2. And aidan obrien has equalled the record for top level wins in a flat racing year hydrangea won the fillies and mares stake on british champions day at ascot. Obrien could break the record later today and ill be back with more on those stores later. Storm brian has hit the uk with Gale Force Winds and high seas. Gusts of over 70mph were recorded earlier this morning. Yellow strong Wind Warnings are still in place across much of wales, south england and the midlands. There are seven flood warnings across england, urging immediate action. Clare woodling has been out in storm brian in seaton, cornwall. Storm brian is making its mark, we have experienced this very strong south westerly wind forcefully coming onshore and bringing strong waves. We havent seen any boats out all day, the only person i have seen in the sea is a windsurfer. Conditions have felt rather changeable today, sunshine and brightness one moment and then really heavy downpours. The only consistent thing is the very strong wind and we measured it at 50 mph earlier. Here in seaton there are two car parks which are out of action because of the floodwater which is coming in and the road is completely submerged. This is it, when the road and the water has begin to subside, and when i have stood in this, it is up to the top of my boots. It is really still quite deep. People are hoping we have come through the worst of the weather but we are expecting more strong winds for the next two hours. Early results from the general election in the Czech Republic show the ano party led by the billionaire andrej babis well in the lead. With around a tenth of the votes counted, ano have about 30 . Populist mr babis has been dubbed czech trump. Lets talk to our correspondent in prague rob cameron. How is it looking . It hasnt changed much and we have had half of the votes. Mr babis is still well ahead. If the votes confirmed that he will emerge from the election with 30 of the vote, that is 80 seats in the 200 seat lower house, that was a big victory for him. He has been plagued by scandals, corruption scandals, over the past few months that have dented his popularity in the polls, and it seems these elections have confounded those polls, but the real story is the party that has come second. The very nationalistic and xenophobic stb party led by a half czech and half japanese xenophobic stb party led by a half czech and halfjapanese bid but, believe it or not stp party. That would be a sign of the success of populist anti eu parties in the Czech Republic as well. What does that mean for a potential coalition in the coming days . It could be very difficult. Mr babis will be in a strong position if he ends on 30 , but he will still need Coalition Partners to form a majority government. A viable government. Where he will go over those Coalition Parties and who he talks to will determine the future of this country, and if he goes to his current Coalition Partners who are on the centre and centre left, the direction of this country as a member of nato and the eu will remain unchanged, but if he is isolated and forced to look for support amongst the far right and the communist party, they have a very different set of priorities, a referendum on leaving the eu, leaving nato. They are more pro russian in tone and that could ta ke pro russian in tone and that could take the Czech Republic in a very different direction. How soon before the picture becomes clearer . By the evening we will have a good idea. It is still fairly early days because we havent had a significant amount of the results from prague and the other big cities, and there the voters are more open and more liberal voters are more open and more liberal and more western looking and that will change the picture, but at the moment it is looking pretty bad for the liberal democratic western parties, several of them will not even get into parliament. Thanks for joining us. The us and south korea are conducting joint military exercises off the korean peninsula, amid heightened tensions with north korea. The us says the drills are designed to be a show of sea and air power, to Deter North Korea from any military action. Pyongyang has described the exercises as a rehearsal for war. Among the ships taking part is the uss Ronald Reagan, the biggest of the us navys fleet in the asia region. Our correspondent mark lowen was on the ship. We have come down here to busan, south koreas second city, where the uss Ronald Reagan docked earlier today. If ijust step back and we can zoom in, we cant shoot directly at the port, so we have come up to the hill and you can see there the enormous aircraft carrier, the uss Ronald Reagan, leading the uss seventh fleet stationed in japan. It has a crew of 5,500. On board we went up to the deck, had a short time on deck and saw some of the 70 or so fighterjets and bombers that are stationed up there on the deck. This is one of the vessels that has been taking part in ten days ofjoint military exercises between the us and south korea. The commander of the vessel spoke to us. He talked about an ironclad alliance between the us and south korea. Clearly the us very keen to reinforce its military support for the republic of korea at a time when the escalation of nuclear tension, military tension, with north korea, the Nuclear Crisis from pyongyang and also with that escalation of bellicose rhetoric putting a real strain on international relations. And it has caused some fear here in south korea. The majority of households have experienced problems with their broadband over the last year, with slow speeds the most common complaint. A survey by which . Suggested customers of virgin media, talktalk, sky and bt were the worst affected. Our personal finance correspondent Simon Gompertz reports. Frustration with broadband is boiling over in some households. Weve become so dependent on it for shopping, banking and entertainment that the internet not working can drive people mad. It cuts out more than it should. I live in the countryside and its terrible there, like 5 megabytes per second is the maximum youll ever get. The speed in my area doesnt actually work as well as it should. It depends on where you live. I live in a newbuild apartment, so the speed is pretty good. I get what i pay for. Which . s survey shows 21 of customers had problems with speed. 17 experienced frequent dropouts in the connection. 12 had a wireless router fault, and 8 had no connection at all for hours or days. With talktalk, 33 said their speed was very slow. 22 in the case of bt. While 38 of virgin customers complained about price increases. Talktalk says its disappointed and its extensive Investment Programme has already led to fewer faults and quicker repair times. Virgin says its service is faster and the majority of its customers get their advertised speed or above at peak times. There is a regulator, ofcom, with the job of making sure companies provide what they promise. It says they must up their game. Simon gompertz, bbc news. And now to the streets of barcelona following the emergency Cabinet Meeting held in madrid in which the spanish Prime Minister outlined plans to remove catalonias leaders but not to dissolve the parliament of the semi autonomous region straightaway. There is talk of Regional Elections coming up in the near future. Earlier Regional Elections coming up in the nearfuture. Earlier our Regional Elections coming up in the near future. Earlier our reporter in barcelona anticipated crowds would gather in the streets and there is confirmation, people gathering and waving the now familiar catalan flags, very peacefully, making their point, that they dont agree with what Mariano Rajoy has announced. Clearly it is still comparatively early days in terms of numbers but you already get the sense of people wanting to take to the streets of barcelona to register their view as to what has emerged from madrid. We will keep you updated. An Animal Welfare charity has released footage of illegal loggers cutting down a tree with a sloth clinging to its branches. Its to try to stop people posting animal selfies. Campaigners believe the growing trend of tourists taking pictures alongside wildlife means more and more animals are being snatched from their natural habitat. Faith orr reports. Terrified and clinging to the top of a 100 foot tree, as illegal loggers cut it down. This undercover footage was captured in the amazon in peru and highlights the horrible method used to steal wild animals from their homes. The sloth is forced into a bag and dragged off to market, just so tourists can take photos with it. The social media platform instagram has seen a nearly 300 increase in wildlife selfies since 2014 from around the world. It says it wants the craze to stop. World Animal Protection says many animals are kept in filthy, cramped conditions and treated extremely badly, all for tourist entertainment. To tackle the issue, the charity is asking for those who want a photo with an animal to make it cruelty free by keeping a safe distance from the creature and making sure it is free to roam in its natural habitat. In order to stop this. From happening. How we have the weather forecast. It isa how we have the weather forecast. It is a blustery day thanks to storm brian which has been working its way is, the strongest winds on the southern flank of the area of low pressure, plenty of showers, as well. We are likely to have gales in scotla nd well. We are likely to have gales in scotland and wales, and heavy downpours piling in from the west with the risk of localised surface water flooding. It will feel quite cool through the first part of sunday morning. It will be a blustery start, cloudy with outbreaks of rain, but slowly but surely things will improve through the day. Still a scattering of showers and west, and quite chilly feel, 11 14 is below par for this time of year. Through the week ahead pretty mixed, spells of rain, but by the end of the week in the south things will start to warm up. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has announced steps to remove the Current Administration in catalonia and to hold fresh elections there as soon as possible. Army bomb disposal experts have been called to sellafield to detonate potentially flammable chemicals discovered at britains Largest Nuclear site. Speed limits for motorway roadworks could be raised in england under plans aimed at reducing congestion. Storm brian has hit the uk with Gale Force Winds and high seas though the weather is not as bad as predicted. Now on bbc news, former bbc weather presenter michael fish presents a special programme in which he retraces the route of the great storm of 1987 from dorset to sussex. Im michael fish and i was a bbc weatherman for over 40 years. Theres been a lot of snow in eastern parts of the country overnight and still quite a lot to come. The sun always shines on tv. And in october 1987, i drove an austin maestro
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