Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20171229

The biggest stories our programme has covered in the last 12 months in half an hour on bbc news. Good morning. Snow and ice are causing more disruption in parts of the uk today. The met office says delays to road, rail and air travel are likely and is warning of possible power cuts. Glasgow airport says is operations have restarted after they were suspended earlier. A yellow warning is in place for snow and ice in Northern Ireland and parts of england and southern scotland throughout the day. Theres an amber warning for areas of the north midlands, yorkshire and the north west of england until iiam, with heavy snow forecast around the southern pennines. Between 5 and 10 centimetres of snow is expected, with up to 15 centimetres possible over higher ground. And sub zero temperatures have been recorded overnight with lows of minus 12 in northern scotland. Highways england is advising drivers to plan theirjourney carefully before setting off. Been doing pretty well through this morning. We have been told that the gritters were out in force through the night and that does look to have done the trick on this motorway. But on some smaller roads there have been problems on the Trans Pennine routes where when we get snow there are problems. So the snake pass and the cat and fiddle have been closed while they try and clear the snow and the ice that is lying on the roads there. We have this amber warning for snow in force for much of the north of england and also for the north of the midlands. Eventually that amber warning means that people should be prepared, people should take steps to try and protect themselves on the highest ground like where we are here, there is the potential there that there could be up to 15 centimetres of snow. So the advice to drivers is dont go out unless you have to and if you have to, take some simple steps to try and prepare yourself. So put a shovel in the car. Make sure you have food and water and possibly a hot drink in a flask. Make sure you have a blanket and are wrapped up. If the conditions on the road do deteriorate, if there are problems and you get stuck, you are going to end up being very cold in these temperatures. Lets get an update with the latest situation on the roads from the racs pete williams. Hes in our bristol studio. What is the latest then around the country . Well, obviously, in the amber warning region we are incredibly busy. Around leeds, bradford, doncaster. Motorists are finding it quite hazardous on the road. We are also attending a lot of people who have had minor accidents and those whose vehicles just arent starting, because it is too cold and killed their battery. Elsewhere, we are very busy in scotland. It is largely affected around the central region. But it is very busy across the way. And then in swansea, the valleys, and then through into bristol and bath where we are seeing heavy rain fall and hail stones. So it is pretty severe every where and high winds are making driving hazardous. Always a busy time of yearfor hazardous. Always a busy time of year for people like yourself, is this a particularly busy in term of number of emergency call outs . Absolutely. The last few days we have been seeing very high volumes and when that is largely attending people who are travelling back from christmas break or perhaps just doing a visit to the shops to see the sales, we have less people actually commuting and normal commercial traffic. So it is very busy. We have got lots of orange patrols out rescuing motorists, but the advice is if youre in one of the advice is if youre in one of the sort of Severe Weather regions, just consider whether your journey is necessary f you have to go out, proceed with caution, reduce your speed, keep a good grip of the Steering Wheel and just drive steadily dont brake or accelerate sharply. Just be aware, there is black ice as well as snow and the flood water. The advice to drivers is also to pack things like a shovel. Some motorists might think thatis shovel. Some motorists might think that is excessive. But if you get stuck that could be essential. Yes. Prepare for the worst and you will be glad. Hopefully you will never need it. But pack plenty of warm clothing and waterproof clothing and a shovel and some food and a hot drink. All of these things will be a god send if you break down and get stuck somewhere. Thank you very much. A fire has swept through an Apartment Building in new york killing at least twelve people including a one year old baby. The Emergency Services said at least 15 people were also injured some of them critically. Jon ironmonger reports. It is new yorks deadliest blaze for decades. Fire broke out on the first floor of the 5 storey Apartment Building and spread rapidly, sparking panic among residents in a busy corner of the bronx district. Fire crews arrived at the scene within three minutes, but it was too late for many of the residents. Those who managed to escape described the chaos as people rushed to flee the smoke. The fire truck wasnt even here yet when all the smoke and stuff was coming out at first. They werent even here yet. They started to get everybody out but people were on the fire escape already, trying to get down on their own, that is how fast it was moving. At least 12 people were rescued from the building as firefighters plucked residents from this fire escape. Outside in the bitter cold, locals huddled under blankets. Speaking after the fire had been brought under control, new york mayor bill de blasio called it an unspeakable tragedy. In the middle of the Holiday Season is a time when families are together. Tonight here in the bronx there are families that have been torn apart. This is the worst fire tragedy we have seen in this city in at least a quarter of the century, based on the information we have now. This will rank as one of the worst losses of life to a fire in many, many years. The Fire Department said it was too early to comment on the cause of the blaze and the search of the building is continuing, while the mayor has warned the death toll could rise further. Earlier i sfoebg a cbs correspondent who gave me the latest on that fire. Fire marshalls are still trying to find out what caused this blaze. It started just after 7 last night near in the bronx in new york city, just a short walk from the famous bronx zoo. The fire started on the first floor. Quickly spread throughout the building and firefighters responded within three minutes and as you mentioned 12 people were killed. Four critically injured. Among the dead three children and one infant. The cause again still unknown, but typically here in new york city cold weather, the Fire Department goes through great outreach effort to educate new yorkers about not trying to stay warm by using candles or space heaters and overloading power strips in the process. It is dangerous and it is one of possible, possible causes of the fire here in the bronx. Fire marshals are investigating, still trying to figure out the exact cause. As you said, the fire spread rapidly and a number of residents did manage to get out though . Yes, about 12 or 13 managed to escape relatively unharmed. Complicating matters last night and again this morning is the bitter cold. Single digits with the wind chill yesterday and the new york city officials who responded set up, there is a city bus here for residents who need to come in from the cold. The red cross came here quickly to help residents who were displaced by the fire. So all in all, a tragic scene here in the bronx yesterday and what new yorkers do in a time of tragedy is we come together and there have been people already stopping by this morning at this early hour asking if they can help. And the mayor of new york has been saying this is one of worst fires in the citys recent history . Yes, that is correct. In fact the new york city Fire Department commissioner said it is of historic magnitude the worst fire, there was the triangle shirt factory disaster many years ago, about 27 years ago, there was the Happyland Social Club fire that killed 87 people, but this ranks up there. I2 fatalities is not the norm and certainly has left this city shaken this morning. Police say a woman found murdered in north london had been stabbed and beaten. The body of Iuliana Tudos who was 22 and from moscow was discovered on wednesday in finsbury park, near her home. Its thought she might have been attacked on christmas eve. Apple has apologised to its customers after it admitted slowing down older iphones in order to protect their batteries. The company said it would never intentionally shorten the life of any apple product and said it would offer replacement batteries at a discounted price. The Technology Specialist Charlie Brown says the company has given in to anger from its customers. Joining me now is our business correspondent, joe lynam. Rory cellan joans. Rory cellan joans. An apology from apple. Yes and that is surprising. Apple means never having to say youre sorry. They say this in lengthy screed, there has been misunderstanding, we apologise. Wow usually lie just brazen things out. A week ago they were forced to say, yes, we are doing this, we are intentionally slowing down older iphones a whole range of older iphones. But they say there is a good reason and they expand on it and say it is about ageing batteries and say it is about ageing batteries and managing how they perform. Our batteries give us less as we go on. Phones have been shutting down due to the cold. It seems to have been more effective or had a bigger effect on peoples phones than they expected, because a lot of people have been complaining, my phones slowed down. The suspicion was that they were deliberately doing this to make us buy new models. Yes that is the conspiracy theory, they are saying it is about batteries and they have not publicised you get a new battery, but it has been £79 and people havent known about it. And they are saying in is in announcement they will slash the price it says from 79 to 29. I assume the same will apply in pounds. So that is a concession that the batteries wont last and the phone wont perform unless you get a new battery. Once you could take the lid off a phone and swap out a battery. But the iphone changed that and most other phones are the same now. If they think theyre justified, what are they apologising for . Maybe they have been provoked by the fact there are a numb were of lawsuits in america and israel by customers saying we have been mis sold and you werent telling us. They werent transparent. This happened a year ago this Software Update and they didnt say, hey, this what is we are doing and this is why. I think they have learned quite a lesson there. Thank you very much. The the headlines on bbc news there are warnings of delays to road, rail and air travel and possible power cuts because of snow and ice. Glasgow airport has now reopened, after snow caused it to suspend all flights. At least 12 people are dead, including a baby, after a fire at an apartment block in the bronx district of new york. Apple apologises for deliberately slowing down ageing iphones. It said the move was intended to prolong the life of the phones. Now we can get a sport update. Including the cricket. Just when england were going well, the rain got in the way. Typical. The british weather comes in and ruins england when they are on top. Englands chances of victory in the fourth ashes test were hampered by rain in melbourne overnight australia were still 6 behind and two wickets down when the players came off for the second and final time. After the close however, the main talking point centered on pictures and insinuations in the australian media of a potential ball tampering story involving james anderson. Patrick gearey has the latest from the mcg. England denied by english conditions in melbourne. They took two australian wickets before the rain came down, and showers turned to storms after three oclock and we got no more play. But england will be consoled by the faact they are the only side with a realistic chance of winning the test and will avoid an ashes whitewash. The innings lasted one ball this morning before anderson was out. Alastair cook 244 not out, batting all the way through the england innings undefeated, the first to do it since 1997 for england. And a record score for anyone who has done that in a test match. England took two australian second innings wickets. Bancroft bowled and khawaja edged behind. Then england bowling to david warner and steve smith, the two best australian batsmen and the england tactic was to dry up the runs, which was effective, but they did not get them out and they will be there on the final day of play as the biggest obstacles to an england victory. Both sides in this match have been warned about throwing the ball deliberately into the pitch to scuff it and generate reverse swing. But some in the australian media made serious accusations againstjimmy anderson and his treatment of the ball. England were furious. I asked their head coach what he thought. As soon as i saw the headlines i raced into the umpires. Their words, nothing to worry about, a beat up, absolutely fine. That is as much as i know. I am assured beat up is australian for made up. And the coach said it was an element of pommy bashing. An element of spice going into an intriguing final day of the test match. Arsene wenger celebrated his record equalling 810th game in the premier league in charge of arsenal with a 32 league in charge of arsenal with a 3 2 win at crystal palace. He matched sir Alex Fergusons record as his side ended crystal palaces eight match unbeaten run in a thriller at selhurst park. Nobody knows what will happen. It is a lwa ys nobody knows what will happen. It is always difficult to speculate. At the moment we are focused on short term. Within the next game with the players committed and ready. It is not a guarantee of how long you will stay somewhere. As long you will stay somewhere. As long as you are somewhere, you give your best. As youve probably seen from the weather forecast, snow, sleet and ice have hit the country this morning and the first sporting casualty is the racing at doncaster today which has been called off because of a heavy overnight frost and morning snow. I wonder how many more sports that will affect. That is all the sport. Back to you. Thank you. The head of the nhs in england is considering making mobile alcohol Recovery Centres known as drunk tanks a permanent feature across england, to ease pressure on accident and emergency units and ambulance services. Simon stevens said too many resources were being taken up by people whod drunk too much alcohol ending up in hospital, particularly during the festive season. Adina campbell reports. Binge drinking at its worst a big headache for police and a burden for the nhs. It is estimated up to 15 of attendances at Emergency Departments in the uk are alcohol related. At this time of year that number is significantly more with as many as 70 of attendances at a e because of drinking. The uks first mobile drunk tank was introduced in bristol three years ago and there are have been others in manchester, cardiff and newcastle. A supervised area in a city centre it offers those who have had too, much to drink a chance to be checked over by medical staff and sleep off the alcohol. Keeping them away from a and £ or a police cell. And now nhs england says it is considering routine use of the facility. We think that these facilities do have the potential to take the pressure off a e departments. But we are interested in looking at them further and seeing the results over the winter before making a decision about rolling them out more widely. We find alternative services, and this is one potential possibility. Nhs england says it is monitoring new Year Celebrations to see whether the scheme should be extended to other areas. And it will make a decision early next year. Earlier i spoke to doctor Katherine Henderson from the Royal College of emergency medicine. I asked whether she thought drunk ta nks i asked whether she thought drunk tanks were needed to relieve pressures on a e departments. We need pressure taken off a e units, but the issue here is this where we have to be with this situation, do we have think about having a drunk tank . It is a horrible term. Alcohol Recovery Centre maybe. Would we rather been able to have a conversation about people not drinking so much that they need these facilities . That is the wish that people dont get hopelessly drunk, but it is always going to happen. Almost by having a facility, youre saying it is ok, there is a safety net, you dont have to look you can depend on the nhs providing a safe place to sober up. You need to think about how you get home and your friends home safely. It is good to evaluate it and see if it makes a difference because we need to avoid patients coming to Emergency Departments. How much pressure drunken patients putting on the nhs and a e, especially at weekends . A huge amount of pressure. At the moment hospitals are busy and there is a lot of winter illness. We are extremely busy, so ending up having more patients coming in at this time of year, when it is hard to manage, is something we do not need. We are seeing patients so intoxicated they need to be on the trolley automatically, which takes up trolley automatically, which takes upa trolley automatically, which takes up a cubicle space. We see people who need cleaning up and it takes up nursing time, we see people who have serious injuries, who may be difficult to spot among the many who are extremely drunk. These alcohol recovery ce ntres , are extremely drunk. These alcohol Recovery Centres, d rug are extremely drunk. These alcohol Recovery Centres, drug tax, they would be staffed by nhs staff, is that the idea . Very often yes. You are using nhs staff. You get organisations like saintjohns, who use volunteers, but there would be other occasions when they could be used, helping an elderly person, somebody who has had a fall. You are still using nhs staff, it is in a different location. Which is helpful, we accessed it is helpful not to have these patients coming m, not to have these patients coming in, but it is still front line staff needing to manage patients. You say what we need to focus on is getting the message out to people not to get hopelessly drunk and think about resources they are taking up . Every time you call an ambulance it is an ambulance not immediately available for someone else. That could be someone having a heart attack, a sick baby, somebody falling over and breaking their hip. If the ambulance is picking up someone from the roadside, vomiting because they have drunk so much alcohol, they might not be available to someone who has a serious illness. The anti Landmine Programme launched by Princess Diana is to get extra funding to expand de Mining Operations across the world. The government announced it would match the £200,000 raised in a bbc radio appeal to tackle what was described as the hidden, indiscriminate killer. The money is on top of the 100 Million Pound Programme Announced earlier this year by prince harry. Wyre davies reports. Although nearly 30 countries where de Mining Operations have taken place have now been declared mine free, there are still millions of mines littering existing and former war zones across the globe. Small plastic antipersonnel mines in particular kill or maim thousands of unsuspecting civilians every year, long after they were originally laid. In april, the department for International Development made a three year commitment worth £100 million to support de mining programmes in parts of africa, South East Asia and the middle east. The programme was launched with the support of prince harry, whose late mother, Princess Diana, brought the issue to public attention in 1997, when she walked wearing body armour through a partially cleared mine field in angola. The International Development secretary Penny Mordaunt has now announced plans to expand the uks de mining efforts to angola and has given a further £200,000 to the Mines Advisory group, which carries out this work. The funding matches the sum raised in a bbc appeal earlier this year. The british polar explorer ben saunders has been forced to abandon his quest to cross antarctica unassisted, after he was left without enough food to complete his journey. He was undertaking the feat in memory of his friend henry worsley, who died attempting the journey alone last year. Saunders is only the third person in history, and the first briton, to have skied by himself to both the north and south poles. National archives far files have revealed that Margaret Thatcher once refused to share a flight to washington with a giant panda from london zoo. National archives files have revealed lord zuckerman, president of the london zoological society, suggested that chia chia the panda could share the prime ministers concorde flight in 1981. Washingtons Smithsonian Institution had asked to borrow chia chia, to mate it with us based ching ching. But mrs thatcher said pandas were not happy omens for politicians. We can see what the omarosa for the weather. A mixture of rain, sleet and snow moving in and snow will be the biggest hazard with an amber warning to be prepared across the south pennines region. Snow falling across Northern England into central and southern scotland, even at low levels but gradually the snow, rain and sleet will move east and so things improving in the north, but further showers of snow in scotland and later in the north pennines but further south, rain tears with sunny spells in the afternoon. Still cold in scotland and the far north of england. This evening and tonight, rain spreading into wales and the south west of england, which means it will be a wet start to the weekend but gradually drier and brighter weather particularly on sunday, although the risk of showers for the last day of 2017. This is bbc news our latest headlines heavy snow and icy conditions are expected to cause severe disruption to travel, in parts of Northern England and scotland. The rac says driving would be very difficult, if not impossible, in the worst affected areas. Glasgow airport temporarily suspended flights due to heavy snow, but has since reopened. At least 12 people including a one year old baby have been killed when fire swept through a new york Apartment Building. 15 people were also injured some of them critically. New york city mayor bill de blasio said the fire was the deadliest in the city for at least 25 years. Apple has apologised after facing criticism for admitting to deliberately slowing down some ageing iphone models. The company now says it will replace batteries for less and will Issue Software in 2018 so customers can monitor their phones battery health. The nhs is considering making mobile alcohol Recovery Centres known as drunk tanks a permanent feature across england, to ease pressure on accident and emergency units and ambulance services. Now on bbc news, Victoria Derbyshire takes a look back at the exclusive interviews and films which have featured on her programme in 2017. This programme begins with women talking frankly about intimate health issues