Transcripts For BBCNEWS BBC News 20180103

Streamed in the uk alone. Thats almost like every Single Person in the uk streaming music continuously for three days, but video games, tv and film also saw an increase. And a chef receives Death Threats online after claims she deliberately prepared a non vegan dish for a Vegan Customer. Good morning and welcome to bbc news. Storm eleanor has swept across the uk, causing flooding, damage to homes and disruption to motorists. Gusts of up to 100mph were reported in the pennines and hundreds of homes across Northern Ireland, wales, the midlands and South West England are without power. Jon donnison reports. As storm eleanor whipped in from the atlantic, the republic of ireland was the first to take a pounding. In galway, theres been severe flooding. Some, though, still prepared to take their chances. In the uk, the met Office Issued an amber weather warning for parts of the country. This is anglesey in wales. Waves driven by winds gusting up to 80mph. Horizontal hail was what greeted anyone foolish enough to brave blackpools promenade. Weve got a hell of a storm here. And in corby, the midlands, john wright recorded the moment his house was hit by hail. Across the country more than 15,000 homes have been left without power, the bulk of them in Northern Ireland. 0n the m25 motorway, traffic was briefly brought to a standstill by a fallen tree. But the full extent of the damage will likely not emerge until later in the morning and forecasters are warning storm eleanor will continue to bring strong winds until the end of the day. Andy howard reports from clevedon in somerset. Several flood andy howard reports from clevedon in somerset. Severalflood warnings andy howard reports from clevedon in somerset. Several flood warnings are still in place. From gloucestershire up still in place. From gloucestershire up in that direction behind me to North Somerset here and down the coast towards devon and cornwall. That means that flooding is likely and look over my shoulder and you can see why. This is high tide at clevedon. A big one too brought to us clevedon. A big one too brought to us by the first full moon of 2018. Add to that 40mph plus winds im standing at the moment leads to scenes like this. The coastguard told me this is the highest he has seenin told me this is the highest he has seen in about four years and on that day that was considerable damage caused. I am ahearing of homes waking up in somerset to no power, about 120 of them along across minehead and cheddar and up the coast, in bridge water, the Environment Agency set up a special unit to deal with this and to try and monitor this stretch of water. They leave us with two warnings this morning. 0ne if youre coming to the seaside, stay up and stay away and also a more 21st century warning of dont take any storm selfies you could end up in more danger than you were. The one line from the Environment Agency, they are fearful of tomorrow evening. Another high tide is expected along this somerset coast. Andy howard reporting. Joining me in the studio is edmund king, president of the aa. Have you been busy . We have been very busy. 0ur calls are up 30 , 40 , very busy. 0ur calls are up 30 , a0 , before 9 oclock, we dealt with 2600 break downs, things like wet engines, car wouldnt start, 2600 break downs, things like wet engines, carwouldnt start, or even ca is engines, carwouldnt start, or even cars damaged by debris on the roads, falling trees damaging vehicles, smashing windscreens etcetera. Yes, busyin smashing windscreens etcetera. Yes, busy in terms of breakdowns and some of the conditions on the roads for driving are hazardous at the moment. What is the advice to drivers in these conditions . Very windy, you know, gales, a lot of hail, we saw as well actually . Yes, i mean, the wind can be quite deceptive because if youre driving along a road and then there is an opening between buildings or indeed, hillsides, and you get a gust of wind that can affect you. So keep both hands on the steering wheel, slow down and also be careful passing higher vehicles, high sided vehicles because they can be hit by the wind. And if you see twigs on the road, on rural roads, do expect when you go around the corner that there could be branches on the road. So its really slow down, take care, and check on the bridges before you travel because a lot of the bridges today, the Severn Crossing has been closed and various bridges in scotla nd closed and various bridges in scotland have been closed. So check the travel news before you set out and really, be prepared for some pretty wet and windy conditions and its really throughout the country although the Flooding Risk is mainly on the west coast and again, for flooding, dont drive through moving water, even if it is a ford, if its moving, it can actually wash your ca raway moving, it can actually wash your caraway and four inches depth of water can damage the car. It can suck water into the engine intake and it only takes about an egg cup full of water to ruin your engine. So really be prepared for these conditions. I know that from personal experience. Ive broken down trying to drive through floodwaters. What about the festive period . It is has been incredibly busy. We thought because christmas was staged and not everyone going back to work on the same day, but really every day since bobbing day, we have been dealing with Something Like 19,000 calls a day which is way up like 19,000 calls a day which is way up on normal. Normally we would expect 10,000, so very busy out there. A lot of people just left their cars for a long period of time and when the cars came out of hibernation, you have problems with batteries, particularly when there has been slow weather. So, people have been patient, but were obviously getting to people as quickly as we can. Good to talk to you, happy new year, edmond king from the aa, thank you for being with us. Nhs england has insisted theres no crisis in the Health Service, despite their decision to postpone all non urgent operations and routine outpatient appointments until next month. Officials say they have taken early action to ease winter pressures and avoid last minute cancellations. But senior doctors say pressure has escalated rapidly over the festive period. Its estimated tens of thousands of patients could be affected. Our health editor, hugh pym, has more. Ambulance siren. Theres always great pressure on the nhs in the new year. But the strains seem even bigger this year. Two Ambulance Services in england, covering the north east and east, are on the highest state of operational alert, asking families to use their own transport to bring patients into hospital where possible. The trust running scarborough and York Hospitals said high numbers of patients and staff were under considerable pressure. Ive worked in a number of different Emergency Departments around the country and thats the worst ive seen. Ijust want to do a good job. I want to do the best i can for the patients that im seeing. , but im not being given the resources to do thatjob properly. Twitter carried reports from some staff at other hospitals. An emergency doctor in stoke said he personally apologised to local people for what he called third world conditions due to overcrowding. Nhs england has told hospitals to postpone all non urgent operations and outpatient appointments until the end of january, an escalation of temporary measures announced just before christmas. In that time hospitals wont be penalised for putting patients in mixed sex wards. This is a planned response to a winter that we knew was going to be difficult and we are managing that in the way that we expected and were taking early action. Were not waiting to have to respond to a problem. The authorities in scotland, wales and Northern Ireland have said theyre facing higher demand from patients and more pressure on frontline services. With flu cases on the increase, the worry now is that a predicted outbreak may become a reality. Earlier the bbc spoke to professor Suzanne Mason from the Royal College of emergency medicine who warned that the situation in the nhs could put patients at risk. Absolutely safety is being compromised. Theres no doubt about that. When patients are in crowded Emergency Departments and staff cannot actually move between patients and provide the basic level of care thats required then safety is compromised. Patients who spend many hours on a trolley and these are often elderly patients, they are the sickest patients in our department, do much worse in the long term. Theyre much more likely to have a poor outcome and even die as a result of their experience in the Emergency Department and that is a huge tragedy for us in our speciality and this is why we are so desperate to try and see things improve. Im joined from our westminster studio by phillippa hentsch, the head of analysis for nhs providers, which represents acute and Emergency Treatment Services in the nhs. Thank you very much indeed for being with us. Can you explain a bit more about the reasons why were seeing these routine, non urgent operations and procedures postponed until next month . What were seeing across the nhs is high demand for services. Increased security through respiratory illness, norovirus and flu on the rise combined with challenges in primary care and also severe challenges on bed occupancy as well. So, the nhs saying this is not a crisis. Is that your view . |j think it is very early to say at this point. Data is not yet available after 24th december, but from all the evidence were hearing up from all the evidence were hearing up and down the country is that staff and trusts are under tremendous pressure and are having to treat patients perhaps in corridors, on trolleys, in places that they would otherwise not wish to provide. So, the real crux of the problem is simply not enough beds . That is certainly one of the issues thatis that is certainly one of the issues that is a challenge for trusts. Workforce challenges as well. Even if you were to put beds into a ward 01 if you were to put beds into a ward or increase capacity in the next couple of weeks, staffing those wards is incredibly challenging. There are well known workforce shortages across the country at the moment. We know the nhs has real problems every winter because of flu and other conditions, how different is it now to previous winters . As i said, it is very difficult to say at this moment because we havent got the available data, but from all the evidence were picking up from trusts across the country is that this winter is really very severe through the combination of greater severity of patients coming in, flu on the rise, and bed occupancy under sustained pressure and thats at a time when weve got funding pressures in the nhs and workforce shortages. The people who are going to be affected by this really are people waiting for what, things like hip operations, which are going to be postponed . Yes, absolutely, they have said, they have extended the period by which, so elective care is delayed by additional two weeks and it will put many patients at an inconvenience, they will have to wait slightly longer, but we are in unprecedented times in terms of trying to care for patients in the safest way and it will mean that non Emergency Care will have to be delayed slightly whilst the nhs copes with the pressures they are facing now. You say delayed slightly. Delayed until the beginning of next month, but who is to say there wont be another postponement, another delay beyond the beginning of next month . The nhs will have to consider all options at its disposal. This is not where many trusts wa nt its disposal. This is not where many trusts want to be. They dont want to be postponing operations. They do not want to be delaying treatment to patients, but they have to prioritise Patient Safety and that means caring for emergency patients and then reviewing elective and planned surgeries and operations and treatments after that. 0k, thank you for being with us. Thats philippa hentsch. Six people have been arrested on suspicion of being members of the banned far right Group National action. The five men from cambridge, banbury, wolverhampton, leicester and stockport, and a woman from banbury, were detained by police earlier. Our Home Affairs Correspondent june kelly is with me now. What more can you tell us . This operation involved officers from different parts of the country. Were told it is an intelligence listen head operation and it is being co ordinated by the West Midlands Counter Terrorism unit and all the people arrested are being held at a Police Station in the West Midlands. They have been arrested on suspicion of two offences. First of all, on suspicion of the commission, preparation and instigation of terrorist acts and then also on suspicion of being members of this banned far right organisation, National Action which was prescribed in this country in december 2016. Now, we are being told by the police various properties are being searched but there shouldnt be public concern. National of National Action, what kind of group is it . Public concern. National of National Action, what kind of group is mm isa action, what kind of group is mm is a far right group and such was the concern about its activities that it was prescribed just over a year ago and we have seen other arrests, people allegedly involved in National Action, what is interesting is the geographical spread of these arrests and the fact that we have all these officers around the country involved. June kelly, thank you very much. The headlines on bbc news storm eleanor sweeps across the uk causing flooding, damage to homes and disruption to motorists following gusts of up to 100 miles an hour. Nhs england insist there is no crisis in the Health Service as thousands of nonurgent operations may be delayed until the end of january. Donald trump boasts on twitter that his Nuclear Button is much biggerand more powerful than north koreas. In sport, Manchester City go 15 points clear at the top of the premier league. After christmas schedule which Pep Guardiola will kill players, Raheem Sterling scored at the etihad. Andy carroll gets his first goals of the season including the 94th minute winner as beat they west brom to move back out of the bottom three. And mason crane will make his england test debut in the final match of the ashes in sydney tonight. He replaces chris woakes who is out with a side strain. I will have more on this story is after 10 30am. Thank you. Lets take you back to the weather situation now. There is a yellow weather warning in place in parts of wales with 28 flood warnings in place. Joining me now from our cardiff studio is jeremy parr, the head of flood and incident Risk Management at Natural Resources wales. Thank you for being with us. What is the situation in wales . It has been a very stormy period as you said over the last 2a hours. We have had a lot of flood warnings out with travel disruption and power cables down. It has been the strong winds in particular which have pushed the waves on straw and there have been some dramatic pictures around the coasts of wales. Had there been adequate preparations for all of this . Were people ready . The forecast was good and our role is to predict flooding, so we issue warnings telling people where it is going to happen. The advantage with coastal events is you are able to predict it because the worst of it happens at the high tides and they are fairly predictable. You need that combination of high tides, Stormy Weather and strong winds to get the worst of it. Luckily, we didnt see the worst of it in wales. I think ireland was more badly hit this time. In ireland, there has been a lot of power cuts. What has been a lot of power cuts. What has been the situation wales with electricity and so on . That have been power cuts and also travel disruption, trees down, reports of damage to cars and some roads still closed. Disruption to travel and trends as well. The situation is easing now . It is. They weather warning is still out today. There will be strong winds as this weather passes through. It is notjust wales, it is affecting the whole of the uk in different parts. We have got to keep close eye on it because we have high tides over the next couple of days. Indeed, thank you for being with us. The Palestinian Government says they will not be blackmailed by President Trumps threat to cut more than 300 million of financial aid. Writing on twitter President Trump said the palestinians are no longer willing to talk peace. Last month, the palestinian president said us peace plans were unacceptable, following mr trumps decision to recognise jerusalem as the capital of israel. Mr trump has also again targeted north korea on twitter as our correspondent, peter bowes explains. Another twitter tirade by donald trump. The president questions why the us should continue to provide aid to countries that show no respect in return and dont reciprocate. 0n the middle east, he tweets that the status ofjerusalem, which the us now recognises as the capital of israel, will no longer be part of future negotiations. Its not only pakistan that we pay billions of dollars to for nothing, but also many other countries and others. As an example we pay the palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars a year and get no appreciation or respect. They dont even want to negotiate a long overdue peace treaty with israel. The Us Ambassador to the United Nations confirmed that us aid to the palestinians was in jeopardy. We very much still want to have a peace process. Nothing changes with that. The palestinians now have to show their will that they want to come to the table. As of now they are not coming to the table, but they ask for aid. Were not giving the aid. Were going to make sure they come to the table and we are going to move ahead with the peace process. In another tweet, the president turned his attentions back to north korea. Apparently responding to a new year message from kim jong un in which he said the countrys Nuclear Weapons could reach anywhere in the us. Mr trump tweets, north Korean Leader kim jong un just stated that the Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times. Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that i too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works. It marks a new tone and new level of rhetoric in the Nuclear Crisis with north korea. Meanwhile, in what appears to be a major diplomatic breakthrough, south korea says the north has restored a hotline between the two governments. It follows seouls offer of direct negotiations with the north and a suggestion that the two sides meet at the highly contested border on january 9th. North korea said the order had been given with a view to sending a contingent to the winter olympics, scheduled to take place next month in south korea. Translation kim jong un has given an order to open the hotline between the north and the south from 3pm onjanuary the 3rd, to contact south korea regarding a right time for talks, and sending a delegation to the pyeongchang winter olympics. By upholding the decision by the leadership, we will make close contact with south korea, in a sincere and faithful manner. We will discuss working level issues related to the dispatch of the winter 0lympic delegation. A little earlier our correspondent sophie long, whos in seoul, gave me this update on the possible softening of relations. I think we are the stage now where there could potentially be talks about talks happening potentially next week. At three oclock pyongyang time we heard from the Reunification Ministry that that telephone line had been opened and the first telephone call in nearly two years between north and south korea had taken place. The call came from the north to the south. The only detail we have of the content of the call is that an officer answered, said hello and gave his name. The north side did the same. We are told the telephone line was connected for 20 minutes. They checked the line and the signal and it seems like more words would have been exchanged but we have not heard what that is. 0n the 1st ofjanuary kim jong un said he would be open to dialogue with the south. 0n the 2nd, the south the government said they offered proposed high level talks on tuesday of next week. 0vernight we waited for a response and that came today in the form of this hotline reopening. Sophie long reporting from seoul. The amount of music bought, streamed or downloaded in britain rose at its fastest rate for nearly twenty years in 2017, with total consumption up 9. 5 . The bpi, which represents the British Music industry, says 135 million albums were purchased or accessed with a particularly big jump in the number of songs streamed. We can now speak to our correspondent Chi Chi Izundu who is outside the bpis headquarters in Central London for us. Good news for g em streams in 2017. About 68. 1 billionstreamsin 2017. 7 put that t about 68. 1 billionstreamsin 2017. 7 put that in about 68. 1 billionstreamsin 2017. 7 putg in context, that is to put that in context, that is about every Single Person in the uk playing 1036 songs in that year alone. It was notjust good news for the Music Industry. The Entertainment Industry in general had a really good year for the fifth yearin had a really good year for the fifth year ina had a really good year for the fifth year in a row. We are talking film, tv programmes, music and online gaming. Joining me now tv programmes, music and online gaming. Joining me now is Gennaro Castaldo from the bpi. The music is doing well . Yes, it is doing well. Obviously, we had some challenging years. In 2017 we saw significant growth, 9. 5 . That is the highest level of growth since 1998, nearly 20 years. A big part of that was streaming. Over 50 of our consumption is now streaming, which means it cannot just consumption is now streaming, which means it cannotjust be the millennials, of oldies are doing it as well and getting to grips with it. What is fascinating is one of the Big Christmas presents this year was the so called voice activated smart speakers. There has to be more catchy name for them you literally say they are bad, play bruce springsteen, and it will play it for you. You will save play abba. Given that streaming is about ease of access, this can only grow that and make it a more accelerated process. At the same time, the other dynamic we have seen which is great for the industry is when people come across something they really love, they want to go out and buy it so they want to go out and buy it so they can own it, collect it and give it. Vinyl did incredibly well last year. You have to go back to 1991 to see the same sort of levels. There was an increase of about 26 . Over the last ten years about 1900 . 1 million of those fell in december. Vinyl was a big gift item. It is a great ecosystem. But we should not overlook the fact that artists help to drive that. It begins and ends with great music. We can be proud of british artists who had eight out of the top ten bestselling albums last year, including the number 1 bestseller for the 30 row, by a certain mr ed sheeran. His album was the most streams, the most downloaded, the most purchased on vinyl and the most purchased on cd. He also had the biggest selling single of the year which was a great anthem and accompanied many a tv advert. And he had the christmas numberone. He was advert. And he had the christmas number one. He was getting very greedy at the end of it. And he had two other albums in the top 20. We also had at macro rag and cat macro bone man come through. He picked up a couple of brit awards. We had dua lipa and stormzy. Little mix showing they are here to stay, they are a great act, sam smith and lots of other artists to get excited about. The more we can get a Virtuous Cycle happening, the more we can keep investing in talent. Savary quickly, only two years ago the Music Industry was scared of streaming. They did not think people would pay for this. Are they happy . Yes, because people are subscribing. Families are doing it. We as individuals value a really good experience. We do not want to mess about not having good signals or songs in perfect recordings. Having something which is seamless is ideal something which is seamless is ideal so subscribing to spotify and deezer and other at is great and record industry is investing back into more talent. The downloads, the one thing that people thought would stick around for a long time looks like it is on its way out . They were meant to be the physical killer but physical is surviving and people are going towards streaming is the preferred digital format. It is so easy, accessible and cost effective. So music streaming is increasingly on the way up and very popular, especially with the fact that a lot of the artists internationally do so well. 68. 1 billion streams in 2017 alone. Many thanks indeed for that. Now lets ta ke many thanks indeed for that. Now lets take a look at the weather. Storm eleanor has been battering the uk. Good morning. The winds have been pretty gusty overnight. It is still pretty gusty overnight. It is still pretty windy out there today with some heavy showers dotted around as well. The storm has cleared now into the north sea but behind it we are still feeling the effects of the storm, notice the squeeze on the isobars. It will be windy today. If you are travelling this morning, ta ke you are travelling this morning, take care. There could be some trees and power lines down. Generally todayis and power lines down. Generally today is a day of sunshine and some squalling showers. Some showers mixed with hail and thunder. Gradually through the afternoon the winds. To ease. We will see the next weather front pushing up from the south. Some heavy pulses likely ahead of it. Clear skies across scotla nd ahead of it. Clear skies across scotland and northern england. The temperature is not dropping very much in the south. Chilly in the north. Hello. This is bbc news with ben brown. The headlines at 10. 30am. Storm eleanor sweeps across the uk causing power cuts, flooding and damage to homes following gusts of up to 100mph. Non urgent nhs operations and procedures in england have been postponed in attempt to ease winter pressures. Donald trump boasts on twitter that his Nuclear Button is much bigger and more powerful than north koreas. A Scottish Wildlife park has welcomed the first polar bear born in the uk for over 25 years. Now the sport with with hugh ferris. Good morning, ben. A busy old time in the premier league. It is not over yet. Pep guardiola claims the christmas schedule is going to kill players despite his Manchester City team going 15 points clear at the top of the premier league. City beat watford in what was their tenth game in a month. And after their 18 match winning run in the league ended on new years eve, it took just 39 seconds for Raheem Sterling to put city ahead at the etihad. An own goal and then Sergio Agueros 16th of the season put them three up before a late watford consolation. So city have won 20 of their 22 league games so far, but guardiola says the premier league should be about quality not quantity. They know that here in england the show must go on and you have to play, but thats not normal guys, to play again in less than 48 hours. The big bosses should reflect. So were going to kill the players. I dont know how many injuries there are in period for all the teams, but for the big federations it doesnt matter because the show must go on. The players are not here. They dont think about the players and we have to start to think about the players. West brom also had two games in just over 48 hours and actually wanted to postpone last nights match at west ham who hadnt played since boxing day and perhaps unsurprisingly it was a late goal that won it for west ham. It came in the 94th minute from andy carroll, his second of the game. They came from behind to win 2 1 at the london stadium. The two goals were his first of the season and take west ham out of the bottom three. If i was alan pardew i would be disappointed with the way the premier league have set this up for them. Ive got sympathy for them. We have to play in two days time as well, but at least tottenham are playing the same day as us so it is the same for both clubs. I must give credit to west brom. You wouldnt think they played two days ago. It was difficult for us. We stood up to it and it was brilliant and our defence was resolute, even though they were literally hanging in the last 15 minutes. Its ridiculous to play this game. Mason crane will make his england test debut in the final match of the ashes series which starts tonight in sydney. The tourists are hoping for a consolation win after already losing the urn. Crane is only 20. His captainjoe crane is only 20. His captain joe root says crane is only 20. His captainjoe root says crane is ready. The way he has conducted himself this whole trip, he has been outstanding. For a young man to apply himself and absorb himself in the environment as he has, is what you are after. He has performed very well when he has had his opportunities on this trip and in and around the games he has been there or thereabouts. So it is a good chance for him to show everyone what he is capable of, but on this surface he will be a really good option. The wicket has got a fair bit of grass and it looks to be a pretty good wicket. So id say we will probably opt forjust the one spinner. Nathan has done a terrific job throughout this series and yeah, id say well go down that route. Every opportunity we get to play on this ground, its special and its another ashes test match and guys need no more motivation. It is a great opportunity to try and win this test match and win the series 40. Mitchell starc back for the aussies. Coverage of the fifth ashes test sta rts coverage of the fifth ashes test starts on five live sports extra at 10. 30pm. Play gets under way an hour later. Lets get more on storm eleanor sweeping across the uk causing flooding, damage to homes and disruption to motorists. Gusts of up to 100mph hour were reported in the pennines and thousands of homes across Northern Ireland, wales, the midlands and South West England are still without power. Our ireland correspondent, chris page, said it had been a pretty battering and bruising night from storm eleanor. At the peak of the problems more than 20,000 homes in Northern Ireland were without electricity, but engineers have been working throi to put that right and the figure is down to around 2,000. Now, many roads still blocked because of fallen trees, mainly in ruralareas, minor roads, the main routes that were blocked by trees have on the whole been cleared by now, but the police are saying that motorists travelling to work this morning or indeed going out throughout the rest of the day should allow more time for theirjourney as the weather warning remains in place until late this afternoon. Now, as regards where the brunt of the damage was, well, it was mainly across the southern parts of Northern Ireland, counties fermanagh, armagh and down and the strongest wind was recorded at orlock head on the county down coast which is on the stretch of county down, the coast there that faces towards scotland and there a gust of 90mph was recorded. So very strong winds. Most people seem to heed the advice of the authorities, they stayed indoors and they secured anything around their house that could have been blowing around. Clearly, with trees coming down and debris flying around, well there was a risk to life and thats what the met office was warning about last night, but fortunately, no reports of any injuries as a result of storm eleanor. Back to the nhs and claims that the Health Service is in crisis after tens of thousands of non urgent operations and procedures have been put on hold until the end of january, due to winter pressures. Nhs england say there is no crisis despite senior doctors saying pressure has escalated rapidly. Cancer operations and Time Critical procedures should still be going ahead as planned. Earlier i spoke to our Health Correspondent nick triggle and asked what was causing these nhs pressures. The start of the new year is always a very busy time for the nhs. Community services are less available during the Christmas Period so theres a build up, but what hospitals are facing at the moment is they simply havent got any spare beds. So, theyve started to see an increase in the number of patients coming in and thats caused them real problems. Some people point to the long term funding situation, the nhs is in the middle of the tightest financial squeeze in its history, but in the most recent weeks, what we have seen is this increase in the number of patients coming in and thats caused problems like the Royal College of emergency medicine are describing. So this is an extension of an existing postponement of routine operations and procedures . Yes. Just before christmas, nhs england announced that in the first two weeks of the new year, non emergency operations, treatments and outpatient appointments would be cancelled, not all of them, but just some of them to sort of ease the pressure on hospitals. Last night they announced that would be extended until the end ofjanuary. The thinking being if you take the less urgent cases out, it will give hospitals the time and space and free up staff to see the patients that are coming in and need urgent treatment. But some doctors have said that is too little, too late because those operations and treatments would have been cancelled anyway simply because hospitals are too full. The nhs, they are trying to avoid last minute cancellations, thats the idea for people with hip operations and that kind of thing . Yes, its hip operations, its minor knee treatments, and your general check ups with hospital consultants. Cancer care for example is being prioritised and patients should be seen as normal. So, theyre hoping the last minute cancellations dont take place, but much depends on how hospitals cope in the next week or so. And weve just had some figures from the Health Service in scotland where hospitals cancelled more than 2,700 planned operations in the year to november 2017. Those official figures show that the number is slightly fewer than the previous 12 months. Around a quarter of cancelled surgeries fell victim to a lack of capacity in the hospital or other non clinical reasons. A man is due in court charged with murdering a woman whose body was discovered in a disused building in Finsbury Park in north london last week. 22 year old, iuliana tudos, went missing after visiting friends on christmas eve. 31 year old kasim lewis will appear before magistrates in wimbledon later. A chef has received Death Threats after boasting online that shed deliberately prepared a non vegan dish for a Vegan Customer at her restaurant. Laura goodman said she had spiked the womans meal. Shes since apologised and denied any animal products were involved. But trading standards officials have begun an investigation. Giles latcham reports. Police at carlinis in shropshire, responding to Death Threats made online against Laura Goodman, co owner and head chef. In the early hours of sunday, she posted in a closed Facebook Group that she had just spiked a vegan and that a pious and unjudgemental judgmental vegan i spent all day cooking for has gone to bed still believing shes there has been a storm online. Herfiance and Business Partner is doing his best to quell it. Weve got the possibility of demonstrations outside the restaurants. Weve had Death Threats. All i can say to those people that are active vegans and vegetarians is listen to our side of the story. Nothing happened here. Nobody had anything with meat in it. They say the spiked comments relate to one of the vegan diners ordering a pizza with cheese on it which laura prepared. But comments online include your behaviour as a chef towards vegans is sickening. Disgusting behaviour on the part of your chef, possibly illegal. What if that vegan was allergic to animal products . This is fraud. I spoke briefly to Laura Goodman and she looked pale and exhausted. She said she was deeply sorry for the comments shed posted, deeply distressed by the response to them. Too distressed, she said, to appear on camera. A committed vegan from telford says its a question of trust. Your initial thought is, oh, my goodness, am i able to trust the restaurant again . But also makes you worry for people who might have gone there who might have had an allergy or whatever, and may well suffer from some kind of symptom as a result of, you know, not being given what they thought they were having. Food standards officials have begun an investigation. A new dish at the restaurant, humble pie. The United States says it plans to call an emergency session of the Un Security Council to discuss the ongoing unrest in iran. 22 people have so far died in six days of Anti Government demonstrations which were initially against price rises and corruption. But they later began to express wider Anti Government sentiment, including protests over the strict islamic dress code by women, who risked arrest by publicly removing their hijabs. Tens of thousands of people are reported to be gathering for pro government demonstrations today after the government said it would organise counter rallies. Well, rana rahimpourfrom bbc persian explained these latest developments to me. The state television has been showing several cities in which pro government rallies are happening right now. Many of them are carrying flags. The iranian flag and posters of the supreme leader. But we also have unconfirmed reports that many of the Government Employees have been told that they must take part in these rallies otherwise they would risk losing theirjobs. Obviously because cant be there, its very difficult to confirm these. We also heard that many streets where the pro government rallies are happening right now, are closed to others. Just because the government is worried that Anti Government protesters might get involved and they would chant against the government. So some evidence the pro government rallies are being orchestrated by the regime. But what about the Anti Government rallies, we have seen so many in the last few days. Yes. Have they continued . Yes, they continued, not in the major cities. The Authorities Say in the major cities, things were calm last night, but we received footage that shows Anti Riot Police and many Security Forces in major squares of the bigger cities. But we have received reports of more protests, specially in the south of the country where many people have been deprived ofjobs and are living in a very difficult situation. So, yes, that did continue. It looked very violent. We are waiting to get official reports about the possible tolls of last night. And, as i was saying, most of the Anti Government demonstrations focussed on economic grievances really and Living Standards and so on, but also some complaints about religious restrictions that people live under . Yes, there is its quite complex and there is a number of reasons that people are angry and out on the streets, political freedom, social freedom and most importantly, as you say, its the economy and i think the president has understood this. He mentioned it in his first reaction to the protests and he said that people dont only care about money and food, they want other freedoms and we have to try to give it to them. Whether he will be able to do that, i think its very unlikely. The headlines on bbc news storm eleanor sweeps across the uk causing flooding, damage to homes and disruption to motorists following gusts of up to 100 miles an hour. Nhs england insists theres no crisis in the Health Service as tens of thousands of non urgent operations may be delayed until the end of january. Donald trump boasts on twitter that his Nuclear Button is much bigger and more powerful than north koreas. The uks first dedicated Treatment Centre for people with rare genetic diseases and skin conditions has opened in london. The centre at St Thomas Hospital has been designed with the specialist needs of its patients in mind, featuring curved furniture and ultra violet free lighting to prevent damaging delicate skin. Graham satchell has been to meet one patient who hopes the new unit will help to change his life for the better. St Thomas Hospital in london. 24 year old james dunn is heading to the new Rare Diseases centre. Hello. I love that wall. James is here to get some news. Ok, ome on in, james. Thank you. Welcome. Nice and spacious. A couple of weeks ago, a consultant found a cancerous lump in his left hand. So, last week, you came, and we cut that out for you. I can tell you the good news is it is completely out. There is no cancer left. Thank you. Which is really great news. Thank you i was worried about that. Thank you. I was really nervous. Luckily, it hasnt spread, so it is fantastic. Yeah. We will celebrate later. You wrap me that good. James has a life shortening rare genetic skin condition called epidermolysis bullosa, or eb. It affects around 5,000 people in the uk. Jamess skin, as delicate as a butterflys wing. My type of eb means i am missing the anchors and glue in between each layer of skin. I would say 80 of my body is covered in chronic wounds. I have to bandage all of the wounds. So, although you can only see my arms, i have this type of bandage from my neck down, right to the bottom of my feet. It is hard. Yeah. I cant explain it. It is like your body is burning, or i dont know. Your dad is made up. Says he is over the moon. The newly opened Centre Brings together Specialist Services for rare conditions in one place for the first time. It will mean better conditions for patients like james and more collaboration between experts. I think there are reasons to be cheerful. Whereas before weve just had medicines and trying to patch people up, now weve got opportunities to provide more effective treatments through gene therapy, or cell therapy, and hopefully, one day, a cure. In germany, nine year old hassan has had a highly experimental treatment to successfully replace 80 of his skin. The new treatment will not work for everyone with eb, but it may offer hope with a condition that is severely life limiting. In the last 3 4 years, weve noticed a huge difference, from bandages to experimental treatments and research thats going on all around the world. Thanks. Take care, safe journey. Thanks. James is going home. For all of the debilitating pain of his condition, he and his mum remain resolutely upbeat. We have a good life, dont we . Yeah. You dont know what is around the corner. We keep fighting, dont we . Yeah, keep fighting every day. James knows his time may be running out, but with the help from the new Rare Diseases centre and his remarkable spirit, there is always hope. Graham satchell, bbc news. The International Trade secretary liam fox is travelling to china to discuss how to develop the countrys future trading and investment relationship with the uk. He has described china as an important market for british companies. There is talk that britain mayjoin an ambitious transatlantic trade pact as well. He has got a trickyjob because nothing formal has been agreed on before the uk leave the European Union next year. But the key is to put trade arrangements in the. One is with china and the uk is exploring being part of the transatlantic trade partnership. This is the pact that donald trump pulled out of. Trade between the companies are leave countries is estimated at 80 billion. If britain succeeds at the ttp, it will be the first country without a board on the Pacific Ocean or the south china sea. The other states includejapan, china, mexico, singapore and canada. The fashion Retailer Next has upgraded its profit forecast, after a rise in sales over christmas the high street giant said full price sales were 1. 5 higher than expected in the 5a days leading up to december 24. Online sales jumped 13. 6 in the period, while high street sales declined 6. 1 . This year marks the centenary of the end of the first world war. It is also 100 years since women in the uk got the right to vote and National Institutions such as the aria came into existence as well. All this week we are looking at some of the organisations developed in the era of great social change which followed the first world war. Tim muffett has been to visit one person who remembers it all because she lived through it. Meet 105 year old diana gould. I was born may 23rd 1912. You were born before world war i broke out. Yes. Do you have any memories of life during world war i . I remember seeing our vicar on a push bike with a whistle because there was an air raid on. The bombs came down. I said this is ours and it fell. And we were covered in glass, wood, not a scratch. I remember this huge zeppelin coming over shoreditch. Never seen or heard anything like that before. How could it fly . After the war, society must have felt very different i guess, because so many men didnt return . You just heard people died and he was killed. Wheres bill, wheres bert . Harry got shot, but hes 0k. In the second world war, during the daytime, planes were obviously fighting up there, but i didnt take much notice. Then i heard ba ba ba ba ba and theres these shots coming down the middle of the road as i was walking along. That was cheeky. When it first started, the national Health Service was fantastic. Youd just go to the hospital and you didnt have to pay. You were 50 when the beatles had theirfirst single, in 1962. I used to think what a fuss theyre making. All right, so what, the beatles. Fine. We got married injanuary 1936. Wed been friends for many years before we ever got married. 1978, ted had an aneurysm and just died. It really seemed the end of the world for me. And you carried the olympic torch, didnt you . And i was 100 at a time. It really was lovely. And having lived such an incredible, active life, whats your main words of advice . I have a very positive outlook on life. I get up and do the diabolo, i do 150 throw ups day. I dont walk about with a long face. As long as ive got my family, which is the most important thing in my life. Im lucky. What an extraordinary lady. I want to tell you about an impatient ryanair passenger who was fed up with waiting on the tarmac after landing in spain, and is said to have forced open an emergency exit and tried to leave via the wing. A fellow passenger took this video of the 57 year old polish national. It is reported that the plane was frustrated that the plane had left sta nsted la ke frustrated that the plane had left sta nsted lake and frustrated that the plane had left stansted lake and was held on arrival for half an hour stansted lake and was held on arrivalfor half an hour in stansted lake and was held on arrival for half an hour in malaga it is arrival for half an hour in malaga it is reported that the passenger was frustrated. Lets have a look at the weather. We saw gusts between 70 to 80 mph but the good news is the winds are either easing today. We have a squeeze on the isobars so it is still pretty windy but through the afternoon the winds will ease. Today, generally, it is a day of sunshine and squally showers. Some of the showers are heavy across Northern Ireland, western parts of england and scotland as well. Further south, it is dry with the best of the brightness as well. A few showers across devon and cornwall. Otherwise still dry. Nowhere near as windy as last night the temperature is above average for the temperature is above average for the time of year. A few showers across north wales but otherwise dry. Much of the heavy showers across Northern Ireland, scotland and western parts of england as well. Some clear skies across the north east where it will be rather chilly. Through tonight we will start to see the band of rain pushing up from the south west, some heavy pulses likely and ahead of it, some clear skies. We will see widespread frost forming. Temperatures in rural spots getting down to about minus eight celsius. Further south it is pretty mild, five to nine selfies. Tomorrow we do have this weather front which is pushing its way north and east ward. Behind it, hopefully something drier and brighter late morning. Not very nice for the eu rush hourfirst thing tomorrow morning. We have the rain. It will brighten up and where we have the clearest skies across the north east, still very chilly. As we head into friday, still a pretty u nsu btle as we head into friday, still a pretty unsubtle day, some rain still to come across central parts. Starting to feel cooler. Highs of five to nine celsius and a change on the way as we head into the weekend. North easterly winds bringing much colder aryan. It will be a cold weekend with more chances of seeing the sunshine. On sunday, edinburgh temperature is not getting much above zero. You will certainly need those thermals as we head into the weekend. That is your latest forecast. This is bbc news and these are the top stories developing at 11am storm eleanor sweeps across the uk, causing power cuts, flooding and damage to homes following gusts of up to 100 miles an hour. Northern ireland has borne the brunt of the storm. Work is well under way to re m ove of the storm. Work is well under way to remove trees from roads and to restore electricity to homes. More than 50,000 non urgent nhs operations and procedures in england may be delayed until the end ofjanuary, due to winter pressures. Patients who spent many hours on a trolley, often elderly patients, they are the sickest patients in our department. They do much worse in the long term. They are much more likely to even die as a result of their experience in the Emergency Department. Six people have been arrested on suspicion of being members