And children over a three day period earlier this year. Three thousand Fire Fighters are battling catastrophic conditions as wildfires continue to rage in australia seventy fires burning in New South Wales as the flames close in on sydney shrouding the city in smoke and Raheem Sterling is dropped from the england team ahead of a euro 2020 qualifier after an altercation with teammatejoe gomez coming up in the sport later in the hour on bbc news, captain Andy Robertson has pulled out of scotlands final two euro qualifiers over the next week. Ryan fraser and Scott Mctominay are also injured. Good afternoon and welcome to bbc news at one. The labour Leaderjeremy Corbyn has heavily criticised the government for what he has described as a woeful response to flooding in yorkshire and the midlands. Five days after the flooding began, the Prime Minister will this afternoon chair a meeting of the governements Cobra Emergency Committee to discuss the issue. About 400 homes have been flooded and 1,200 properties evacuated. Five severe warnings remain in place on the river don in south yorkshire. Tolu adeoye reports. They say its never been this bad. They say its never been this bad. The village of fishlake near doncaster are still submerged, hundreds were forced to leave their homes as the water moved in. Many parts remain under several feet of water. The Prime Minister is to chaira water. The Prime Minister is to chair a meeting of the government s Emergency Committee cobra in response to the floods but to date the labour party Leaderjeremy Corbyn said it was too little, too late. The conservative government s response to the floods has been woeful. Just imagine if this had happened in surrey instead of yorkshire and the east midlands. I think thered have been a very, very different story. Meanwhile the liberal democrat leader met with volu nteers liberal democrat leader met with volunteers helping the ebutt near fishlake, the volunteers helping the ebutt near fishla ke, the Party Volunteers helping the ebutt near fishlake, the party has set out plans for a £5 billion fund to improve flood defences across the uk. Its a really inspiring sense of Community Spirit that is going on here and that gives great cause for hope, really but it is wrong that it seems to be just down to the local communities, important though this work is, this is clearly a National Emergency and the government should be declaring it as such. £2. 6 billion is being spent on flood defences in england in a scheme that started in 2015. For those affected now, there are serious questions about how this has been able to happen. I want to go back and see whats happening but there are no a nswe is whats happening but there are no a nswers to whats happening but there are no answers to the questions. You know, i need to know white did this happen, it hasnt happened in 100 yea rs, happen, it hasnt happened in 100 years, you must have seen that loads of fishlake years, you must have seen that loads of fishla ke residents years, you must have seen that loads of fishlake residents are saying exactly the same thing. The National Farmers union has called for a seismic change to cope with events such as this, an emergency appeal to support displaced families has raised more than £50,000 but thousands more will be needed to help those affected is what is a personal disaster for so many, turns political. Lets go to our assistant Political Editor norman smith in westminster. As we heard, plenty of questions from those affected as well as from the opposition parties for the government. Plenty of questions, although normally at a time of National Crisis or emergency, politicians tend to shy away from making political points because it can making political points because it ca n ofte n making political points because it can often seem as inappropriate or at the very least, a distraction. Jeremy corbyn has deliberately chosen to go on the attack and to make the floods an election issue by speaking out ahead of what was a standard, scheduled speech he was making an adult education. The reason i think is in part, yes, anger at what he sees as Boris Johnson s in action but also because it underlines what has been the labour party Court Message at this election, namely the impact of austerity on front line public services, citing for example, that the Environment Agency has suffered cuts of around a fifth, the fire service around a quarter, at a time whenjeremy service around a quarter, at a time when Jeremy Corbyn service around a quarter, at a time whenJeremy Corbyn says with Climate Change we face more and more extreme weather conditions. But he also added a personal dimension to the criticism and questioning why it has taken Boris Johnson five days criticism and questioning why it has taken borisjohnson five days to convene a meeting of cobra, comparing his response to that of one of his predecessors, david cameron, who when there was flooding down in the south west in 2014, said, dont worry, money will be no object and as we heard, questioning if his response would have been different if the flooding had been in the south, somewhat like surrey rather than yorkshire and the east midlands. I know many Senior Tories are furious at his intervention and accuse him of playing politics, the real question is how do people respond, do they believeJeremy Corbyn is raising genuine issues or is just corbyn is raising genuine issues or isjust a corbyn is raising genuine issues or is just a cynically electioneering . Norman smith, thank you. A man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a string of sex attacks on women and children one as young as 11. 34 year old Joseph Mccann is accused 37 charges including multiple rapes, kidnap and false imprisonment involving 11 victims over a period of three days in april and may. June kelly is at the old bailey. Joseph mccann is facing 37 counts, as you say, eight counts of rape and 11 alleged victims on that chargesheet. Today, thejury heard how in april this year, a young woman was abducted near her home in east london, she was held prisoner for 14 hours, driven round in a car, repeatedly raped and also suffered a number of other sexual attacks and abuse. The court was told this ordeal was a shocking depravity and violence. She was also threatened to be hit with a vodka bottle and hit in the face as well. Later at the same day, two sisters were near their home in north london and on this occasion they were walking down the road, one of them was bundled into a the road, one of them was bundled intoa carand the road, one of them was bundled into a car and driven off. The other sister managed to escape and raise the alarm, she went home, told their mother and the court was played a very distressing 999 call for a mother is reporting to the police the fact that her daughter, 21 years old, had been abducted. We then heard details of the other allegations that mccann is facing, they include charges in the north of england and some of those offences include victims ranging in age from 71 to children and including a family, that is a family, mother and two children. The trial is expected to last six weeks. June kelly at the 0ld to last six weeks. June kelly at the old bailey, thank you. Weather conditions are worsening in a vast area of australias east coast including the area around sydney where dozens of bush fires are continuing to rage. Fires are burning across the state of New South Wales ahead of predicted catastrophic conditions. Authorities warn that fires will spread quickly to endanger lives amid hot temperatures and strong winds. Phil mercer reports. Fires are unpredictable beasts. More than 70 are burning across New South Wales. About half are out of control, in terrain that is often rugged and hard to reach. More homes have been destroyed. Siren wails. 3000 firefighters have prepared for what officials said was the most dangerous bushfire week australias most populous state has ever seen. A catastrophic fire warning was issued for the first time in sydney, and even homes a short distance from the city centre were at risk. There are fires in the suburbs of sydney, the outbreaks here came very close to homes which was just over the road from the bushland that continues to burn. The blaze has been brought under control and the pink substance you can see on the roads and on the roofs of these houses is fire retardant and these fires just go to show how dangerous it can be here in australias biggest city as conditions get worse. Homeowners here were lucky. Their properties were spared, even though flames had raged just metres away. They were pretty bad, actually. All crackling noise and the flames were really black, up in the sky, like, i cant even explain it to you. It was just like, i thought, i wont see my house again. As soon as i saw that i ran inside, grabbed my kids, got my dog and put them in the car. Much of eastern australia remains on edge. Strong winds are expected to fan the flames in the coming hours. The fear is that in such dry and gusty conditions, new fires could start easily and spread quickly. Conditions in New South Wales tomorrow are expected to be far less extreme. For now, sydney remains hostage to a smoky, toxic haze. Phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. The labour party says its foiled what it says was a large scale cyber attack against its systems. The party says some election campaigning activities were slowed but they dont think there has been a breach of data. Labour says it has reported the attack to the National Cyber security centre. 0ur Cyber Security correspondentjoe tidy reports. Keeping a Campaign Like this in full swing isnt easy, there are Computer Systems and now we know someone, somewhere, has attempted to bring the Labour Party Campaign to a halt. The Cyber Attacks that have taken place to place yesterday against the labour party platform. It was a very serious cyber attack, we have a system in place in our office to protect us against these Cyber Attacks but it was a very serious attacks but it was a very serious attack against us, so far as we are aware or none of our information was downloaded, and the attack was actually repulsed. The party wouldnt say what systems were affected but insiders sent us this screen grab of one of the Campaign Tools they use, it says the software is experiencing issues. Labour hq maintains the attack failed and all systems stayed online clearly, some we re systems stayed online clearly, some were failing entirely. The type of cyber attack used is known as a distributed denial of service, they can be sophisticated but often they are more basic, ready made kits can be bought online and launched from a hacker s bedroom for example. Labour has appointed any fingers yet but it says its seen similar attacks range from russia and brazil. With this type of attack what happens is the hacker hijacks thousands and thousands of badly protected computers around the world and sends them as an army, gets them to do their bidding and tries to overwhelm a particular website or online resource, it may be that the attack is pointing back to russia or brazil or who knows where, doesnt necessarily mean its a smoking gun that those are the countries involved. Election campaigns had been targets for hackers before. In the 2016 us president ial election Hillary Clinton had her e mail stolen and posted online, the Us Department ofjustice went on to charge 12 russians. Labour will deliver that real change, thank you very much. With no dead or secret stolen this incident looks to be far less serious but it may act as a warning to the party and others, that during this volatile election period, attacks can come from unexpected places. Former us president ial candidate Hillary Clinton has condemned the british governments decision not to release a report on alleged russian political interference ahead of the election. The former us president ial candidate had accused russia of interfering in the 2016 election that she lost to donald trump. She told the bbc the failure to publish the report was inexplicable and shameful. Im. Im dumbfounded that this government wont release the report about russian influence, because every person who votes in this country deserves to see that report before your election happens. That should be an absolute condition, because there is no doubt we know it in our country, we have seen it in europe, we have seen it here that russia in particular is determined to try to shape the politics of western democracies, not to our benefit but to theirs. Hong kong pro democracy protesters clashed with riot police in the citys Business District and on university campuses. Fires have been burning after protesters threw molotov cocktails and fireworks at police. 0ur china correspondent robin brant is in hong kong. I think we can see some live pictures of what is going on in hong kong right now, some Serious Violence . High School Students and University Students have been at the forefront of the Democracy Movement in the past and it appears tonight in particular, police are seeking to ta ke in particular, police are seeking to take them on on their own ground, as it were, officers moving into the campus of the Chinese University here. Particularly uncomfortable confrontations in the last hour or so between police and students, weve seen the use of petrol bombs from the protesters, weve seen police using tear gas and rubber bullets, none of that is unfamiliar, u nfortu nately, bullets, none of that is unfamiliar, unfortunately, these protests are entering their sixth month but what is unusual is this is happening on a university campus, tear gas fired on a sports field as well but also happening during the working week, tuesday night here, in the past much of the has been on events that go on over the weekend. The past 48 hours here, theres definitely been an escalation, weve seen a record amount of arrest by police on monday, 287 people arrested and that follows on monday morning by the shooting of a man by police in a rush hour protest, he was shot in the chest, the third person to be shot by police since these protests began back in june. Robin brant with the latest, thank you. The time is 13 15. Our top story this lunchtime 0pposition leaders heavily criticise the governments response to the flooding in england. Labour calls it woeful, the liberal democrats urge more action. And still to come Raheem Sterling is dropped from englands euro 2020 qualifier against montenegro after an altercation with team mate joe gomez. Coming up in the sport in the next 15 minutes and bbc news, the wales centrejonathan davies is out for six months following knee surgery. He was injured at the Rugby World Cup in japan. With just over four weeks to go until the general eleciton, we will be looking closely at the places where it could be won and lost. Bbc news will be visiting ten parts of the uk where seats will be closely contested. Today were in Bishop Auckland, which is in the north east of england. This seat was won by labour in the last election and is bordered by three other labour constituencies, plus one conservative and one independent. The labour incumbent won by 502 votes in the last election. But will the party be able to retain the seat . Labour have held the seat since 1935 and 61 in the area voted leave in the eu referendum. It is a target seat for the conservatives, who came second in the last election. Christian fraser is in the town centre. Welcome to Bishop Auckland. This is a tale of two towns. Behind me is the ancient centre, bm jess is the castle which gave the town its name. Beyond us is the castle. There is investment flowing into the town, all good, but look at the main drag Bishop Auckland, a very different side. The top half of the high street is dying, local businesses finding it hard to survive. Come the election, it will be a toss up between local Economic Issues and the way they voted at the referendum. Yesterday the brexit party announced they would withdraw from seats won by the conservatives in 2017. But not here, which will prove for a very interesting contest. Last week we were out with the campaigns in leeds, this week we have avoided them to try get the unfiltered view from the people of bishop aukland. And weve been for three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. This cafe said saturday for kai above the gerund tales, on a chunk road, and in the mornings its owner is busy serving breakfast to those heading north, but she also has regulars from nearby Bishop Auckland, the town which in four weeks will find itself at a political crossroad. I am not voting just for brexit, which is why at the moment i am really torn. There is a menu of options for people right now, including a Brexit Party Candidate. In Bishop Auckland, nigel farage thinks he can take crucial votes from labour. If that is his tactic, he is making the wrong decision, he should withdraw and let it be that race. He is not stupid, he knows. Auckland castle was the seat of the prince bishops. Full 750 yea rs seat of the prince bishops. Full 750 years they ruled the Northern Frontierfor years they ruled the Northern Frontier for the kings of england. It has been a labour stronghold in modern times, built on coal, and in every election since 1935 the town has voted the same way. The impregnable redwall is in danger of being breached. Since 2005, the labour majority has collapsed to just over 500, and if the tories are to have any chance of securing a majority this time, it is brexit seats like this that they have to take. The newly reopened castle bringing welcome trade to this tea shop, where we meet rebecca and steve, who are decidedly undecided. Who will get us out of this the best . This is the northeast, how can this be a target seats for the tories . I feel as though there was nobody i can trust at the moment, in terms of labour, the conservatives, the others, there is nobody i have confidence in. It is no longer black and white. Hold political ties have frayed. I would and white. Hold political ties have frayed. Iwould booking and white. Hold political ties have frayed. I would booking for dinner was at the three horseshoes, a coaching in nearby barnard castle. Inside, from labour routine and bar worker came, first time voters. Inside, from labour routine and bar worker came, first time votersm simply came in and explains what they wanted, it would be an easier choice. If somebody came in. The plastic with boroughs, see if he can get thejob done, plastic with boroughs, see if he can get the job done, hopefully. What if nigel farage puts in a Brexit Party Candidate . Good question. Nobody knows what the election will serve up, buta knows what the election will serve up, but a tory win in these parts would be the rarest of things. Throughout the general election campaign, we have been asking for you to send in your questions. Youve responded in your thousands, and one popular subject is why we still cast a vote using a pencil and a piece of paper at a polling station. 0ur correspondent Chi Chi Izundu has been to meet one voter in county durham, who emailed the bbc to ask why new technology isnt used in elections. We can detect water on mars, i can make a telephone call with my watch, ive got a mobile phone which basically can carry thousands of images. And yet, despite all these technological advances colin grant doesnt understand why he still has to walk charlie to a polling station to cast his vote. Why cant we have electronic voting . Why do you want e voting so bad . I think a number of reasons, very recently we had elections where a lot of the people who dont engage could have engaged, could change the result. The cost is also a big complication. We can also have speed as well, you can have the answer straightaway, you would eliminate or virtually eliminate, human error as well, i believe, too. All arguments for change, but there is a very long history to the way we vote. For almost 150 years with or without their dogs, people have put an x in the box on the paper ballot. Archive its a simple affair, set against a background of local halls and schools. But fast forward to election systems of today and estonia is one of the few countries in the world to hold nationwide ballots using online voting. 44 of estonians use that method. So voting online is possible in other countries, but we took colins questions to an expert in online voting at the university of surrey. Why can we still not vote online . I would say the main reason why we dont vote online at the moment is to do with Cyber Security, so the security around these kind of systems is really complex and difficult to get right. Systems are being attacked all the time. Theres nothing there that you can disagree with but i would reiterate the point that no one is wanting to do this now but certainly in ten years time, i would like to think we are starting to transition to electronic voting. Weve still got the human error issue with counting a simple x, making sure they go in the right pile, the piles go to be counted and i think the computer is the way forward. So for this selection and maybe the next few, colin and charlie will still have to make that walk to the polling station to cast a vote. Chichi izundu, bbc news, county durham. We will be braving the north east weather on the bbc news channel this afternoon, sojoin us weather on the bbc news channel this afternoon, so join us for that. And you can find out more about Bishop Auckland and meet the people at the heart of the community in our long read article at bbc. Co. Uk news or on the bbc news app. Thank you, christian. The labour former cabinet minister, frank dobson who served as Health Secretary under tony blair has died at the age of 79. The veteran mp had stood down at the 2015 election, after 36 years representing the london seat of holborn and st pancras. A family spokesman confirmed the former cabinet minister had died following a longstanding illness. The latest estimates from the office for National Statistics show that wages have continued to rise, but not quite as quickly as most economists expected. The average pay rose by 3. 6 in the three months to the end of september, compared with a year before. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here. Wages going up, but onlyjust . Yes, 500 and 8p because the average wage, about 25, 26 grand annually, about two or £3 less than in august 2007. £508 the two or £3 less than in august 2007. £508 the average weekly wage. We have had a long decade of falling Living Standards and it is only in recent months and years we have started to catch back up, we remain below that peak. If you look at what will drive improvements in wages, productivity, if you can make each worker produce more per hour then that will enable you to afford inflation beating pay rises, u nfortu nately inflation beating pay rises, unfortunately the inflation beating pay rises, u nfortu nately the latest productivity figures are flat. It is good news but there is a question about whether it will be sustainable. Interesting figures about the numbers coming from abroad to work . The latest figures on employment by nationality show that the number of eu workers in the uk, according to these estimates, was down by 130,000. 0n the other hand, we have seen a different movement from workers from outside the eu, we have seen an increase, it is about 60,000, the number of workers from outside the eu, but all of that is dwarfed by the increase in the number of uk workers working in the uk, people are working into retirement, for example, to supplement income is. A teenage boy who almost died after using e cigarettes has urged people not to take up vaping. Doctors say ewan fisher, whos 19 and from nottingham, suffered a catastrophic reaction in his lungs that left him unable to breathe. Health Officials Say vaping is not risk free, but is still better than smoking. 0ur Health Correspondent James Gallagher reports. Ewan fisher is a keen boxer, but vaping left him fighting for his life. He was 16 when he first used e cigarettes. Getting hold of them was easy, despite being underage. But around four months later, he started finding it hard to breathe. Something in the e cigarette vapour was causing a catastrophic immune reaction in his lungs called hypersensitivity pneumonitis. His lungs were failing fast, and he rapidly ended up in intensive care. Doctors had to connect ewans blood vessels to an artificial lung in order to keep him alive. It worked, but ewans recovery has been slow. I urge everyone not to vape, because i dont want them to end up how i have been. I dont wish it upon anyone, not even my worst enemies. Ewans doctors say severe reactions like his are rare, but this is not an isolated case. He had to have help, and lots of help. The most help anybody can get. Clearly im worried about this young person being exposed. There are case reports from elsewhere and a lot of International Bodies have actually recommended that vaping should be banned in children under 21 years. E cigarettes are promoted as a way of quitting tobacco, and 3. 6 Million People in the uk now use them. So how safe is vaping . Its a difficult question because, on the one hand, nobody who doesnt smoke should consider vaping, in my view. It would be madness. But somebody who already smokes should switch. So, where young people are taking up vaping as an alternative to smoking, despite the bad experience that this particular young man has had, i would endorse that. Ewan says he is back to 80 of his former self, and wants to go into accountancy. His experience is a reminder that vaping is not completely safe. James gallagher, bbc news. Manchester citys Raheem Sterling has been dropped from the england squad for the euro 2020 qualifier against montenegro after an altercation with liverpoolsjoe gomez. Sterling has admitted emotions got the better of him but says the two of them had figured things out and moved on. Katie gornall is at englands St Georges Park complex. Tea m team unity has been such a key part of Gareth Southgates tenure as england manager, it helped propel them to a semifinal spot in russia. The timing has not helped, coming so soon the timing has not helped, coming so soon after the huge game between liverpool and man city at the weekend. For a moment at St Georges Park, the team rivalries were reignited. This morning the england squad put a brave face on things, but this has been a testing 24 hours for Gareth Southgates side. Raheem sterling trained despite having been dropped for the next game with montenegro after clashing with joe gomez for the next game with montenegro after clashing withjoe gomez in the tea m after clashing withjoe gomez in the team canteen. Liverpool defender appeared with a scratch near his eye. Tensions were still running high following liverpools 3 1win over man city at the weekend. Billed as the biggest game of the season so far, the pair were involved in a Heated Exchange towards the end of the match. Sterling has since addressed the incident on social media, saying, bothjoe and i have had words, figured things out and moved on, we are in a sport where emotions run high and i am man enough to admit when emotions got the better of me. It is a blow to the better of me. It is a blow to the team unity that southgate has tried so hard to foster at england. He acted quickly and decisively, saying yesterday in a statement, one of the great challenges and strengths for us is that we have been able to separate Club Rivalries from the national team, u nfortu nately from the national team, unfortunately the emotions of yesterdays they not still roll. The decision to leave sterling to its made with the agreement of the entire squad, as england look forward to their 1000th senior mens international. There are bridges to build. We will hear from Gareth Southgate this afternoon ahead of the game against montenegro, where a win or a draw would see them qualify for the european championships next summer. Time for a look at the weather heres mel coles. We
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