This is bbc news. The headlines at 8pm a state of emergency is declared in south east australia amid warnings of more bushfires. Its the largest forced evacuation New South Wales has seen as thousands flee the path of the flames. The fireball just came through at about 80 kph. Hit the house and we ran into the lake and all the embers and everything were hitting us, burned our hair little bit. Theres anger over the governments handling of the emergency, as the Prime Ministerfound out when he toured the area. How come we only had four trucks to defend our town . Because our town doesnt have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister. Delays and cancellations on the railways, but fares still go
up from today by an average of nearly 3 . Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. Talks aimed at breaking almost three years of political deadlock in Northern Ireland have resumed. And coming up, why conservationists say bringing back the beavers to a devon river is a success, both for them and for us. In an hours time, a state of emergency will come into effect in the australian state of New South Wales, the area worst affected by raging bushfires. This will enable the authorities
to carry out forced evacuations. Already, many thousands are fleeing their homes. This map shows the fires that have been burning since monday. There are new ones breaking out all the time. Theyre concentrated in and around australias coastline, where 90 of the countrys population lives. Our sydney correspondent Shaima Khalil is in milton town, one of the areas under the evacuation order, and sent us this report. A mass exodus from the devastation on the Southern Coast and a race to escape the dangerous fire conditions ahead. Thousands of holiday makers inching their way to safety with a 48 hour deadline. Families have heeded the calls to evacuate, but because the conditions on the road are still very dangerous, there have been closures in Different Directions and now they tell us they feel stranded, having evacuated those fire risk towns, now unable to get home. You kind of have a feeling that you cant go forward, you cant go backwards. And really, you know, stuck between a burning rock and a burning rock, arent you . Just have to sit it out and hopefully, you know, not get caught in the middle ofa fire. Some families were able to get away early in the morning before the road closures. This couple lost their house and had to take refuge in the lake across the road. The fireball came over the hill just opposite the lake. We thought we had a few minutes at least. We were hosing down the house and everything, doing the gutters, what they say to do, and within two or three minutes, the fireball just came through at about 80kph, hit the house, and then we ran into the lake and all the embers and everything were hitting us, burnt our hair a little bit, and we were in there for about an hour before we got rescued. This is what theyre escaping. Burning since september, these bushfires have destroyed more than 1200 homes. The Prime Minister, who has been a staunch supporter of fossil fuels, insisted that government policy struck the right balance between supporting the economy and protecting the environment. How come we only had four trucks to defend our town . Because our town doesnt have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister but he got an angry reception from the residents of cobargo when he visited their town. No, hes an idiot, mate. Lake conjola is a popular holiday destination. Now it looks like a conflict zone. When kim harper came back to her house, she couldnt recognise the neighbourhood. It feels like im in the middle of the apocalypse. Like, i think someones dropped a bomb on us, basically. Thats what it feels like. In the neighbouring state of victoria, the navy has been helping evacuate people. So far, 18 people have lost their lives in the fires. Volunteer firefighter Geoffrey Keaton was one of them. Today was his funeral, where his i9 month old son harvey was presented with his fathers medal for bravery. Gusty winds and temperatures soaring above a0 degrees are set to create hazardous fire conditions in the coming days. Shaimaa khalil, bbc news, lake conjola, New South Wales. Bushfires have always been a feature of australian summers, but, as were reporting, this season has seen some of the most intense and extensive fires ever. Experts say its difficult to pinpoint a single cause, but three years of dry weather and the hottest tempertaures on record last year clearly played a part, as our science editor David Shukman reports. On a terrifying scale and burning in too many different
areas to be stopped, the flames are causing a massive shock. Even in a country that is used to fire. Usually, the blazes strike scrubland. These are instead tearing into the forests, which means the fires are hotter and taller and harder to tackle. For a sense of their size, on a map of the uk, here is the vast area in australia thats burned so far. The impact has been devastating. With lives lost among firefighters and residents, more than 1000 homes destroyed and an estimated death toll among animals of 500 million. So, whats behind these fires . Well, 2019 was the countrys hottest year on record, and the higher the temperatures, the greater the risk, because fires start more easily and plants and soils dry out. So, no surprise that australia has just come through its driest spring on record, leaving a lot of vegetation ready to burn. And this was partly caused by the waters of the indian ocean being relatively warm in the west and cooler in the east, which has the effect of leaving australia dry, and all the time the global average temperature is heading up. Scientists researching the fires say conditions have created a perfect storm, with Climate Change heating the planet and adding to the dangers. Clearly, the warmer, drier weather that we expect to see with Climate Change, and what we have probably already seen in australia, leads to more vegetation being available to burn and more vegetation being available to burn earlier in the year. So, the fire seasons have lengthened, beginning earlier and also finishing later as a result of Climate Change. The past year saw fires around the world. In the amazon rainforest, they were started deliberately to create farmland. And in california, they encroached on urban areas. A view from space of
the australian fires. The smoke drifting to new zealand, where on this glacier, the ice and the sky turned dark. The sense of threat is far from over. David shukman, bbc news. And well find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrows front pages at 11 30pm this evening in the papers. 0ur guestsjoining me tonight are madeline grant, the deputy comment editor of the telegraph, and the Financial TimesPolitical Correspondent laura hughes. Despite delays and poor performance from some train operators, millions of commuters in england and wales will have to pay an average of 2. 7 more for their tickets from today. It means some passengers face a rise of more than £100 for their annual passes. Prices in scotland are also going up. The rail delivery group, which represents the train companies, claims average fare increases have been kept to below inflation for the third year in a row. Emma simpson reports. Back to work today and not much to smile about. As usual, train fares are going up, and it has become a january ritual. My travel in particular is affected every day because i have late trains every day and they literally crawl into london waterloo, so it makes it very difficult for me to plan, so it makes it harderfor me to understand the justification of an increase in price, when i do not see any improvements. We have had a year of bad service, but i have just come to expect now. Ijust get on with it. The service has not been particularly good over the past two or three years, so i think youll find that a lot of people are annoyed about it. Todays increases are all about regulated fares which cover around 40 of journeys, including season tickets, for instance, the annual commute from reading to london is going up by £132. From gloucester to birmingham,
it is going up by £118. And edinburgh to glasgow, its not that far behind. All these season tickets are now well over £4000 per year. Nobody wants to pay more for their fares, we understand that, but by keeping the increase just below the rate of inflation, it allows us to cover the day to day running costs of the rail industry, which then frees up billions of pounds of public and private cash which is needed to upgrade the system. But it hasnt all gone to plan. For Northern Rail commuters, 2019 saw another year of misery, delays, cancellations and overcrowding. The transport secretary says Northern Rail is no longer fit for purpose and confirmed it may be stripped of its franchise. I dont think its right that people are unable to rely on their train services, particularly in places like northern, where it has been notably bad. I will absolutely bring that situation to an end. Today, he also announced two new trials on flexible tickets, including better value fares aimed at part time commuters. We think there needs to be a huge overhaul of the system, easier to work out and also has to offer better value. That will include tickets that reflect we live now. Change could be on the way, a big long awaited review of the railway commissioned by the government is due to be published in the coming weeks. Lets pick up that point about Northern Rail. Henri murison is the director of the Northern Powerhouse partnership. He joins us from ilkley in west yorkshire. Lets start with the comments from the transport secretary there which said the performance of Northern Rail has been unacceptable. Do you agree . I think we had been in this if you know for a number of months since the may timetable debacle back in 2018. Both Northern Rail and others have had bad times in
performance terms. The only thing confusing to the commuters is the tra nsfer confusing to the commuters is the transfer secretary issuing this on the day of the fair increases. Weve known this is under review for a number of weeks and the only question is why they are not doing anything about trance pin on. They had an awful december timetable back last year was put to use chaos across the north will be will try to get home for christmas and in the run up to Christmas Day and day. There are real questions about that franchise as well as of course areva who may be stripped of the franchisor may also be given a short Term Contract to continuing the trains which is the other alternative open to the traveller terry wa nts alternative open to the traveller terry wants to process is concluded. I will ask you about the options in a moment but pick up on the point you made there, he was cynical about the fact that this came with a tame same point as the railfare increase and it was perhaps an attempt to divert attention away from the government on that one. That is true and i think my concern is the money in the budget for Northern Rail, finds being paid by the current operator, which should be spent on improvements to ensure we get better reliability because about 10 million and sort of Small Projects and medium term initiatives that would make a practical difference to commuters. But we have got transport for the north who advised government on the franchise which is a Partnership Approach but the secretary of state and the department and what do sign off and that spending but it seems to us that spending but it seems to us that not enough effort is being made by whitehall to improve the service considering they hold many of the power to do this. It was given to Northern Leaders like andy burnham and others on the yorkshire side and in the northeast who are responsible for their local areas and be able to drive and improve service we would not have seen the situation getting to the point it has gotten to. There are many parties responsible for the current chaos in the north of england on the real service and im afraid the government at the end of the day still has a lot of
responsibility and knows it couldve done more to avoid situation we are in the could also be spending more on new trains. We need more new trades and on the mainland and lessening the department is unwilling to consider because that would be something of the capacitors real value for the additional money they are being asked to pay for this year. Quickly, are you saying it is short sighted to strip arriva given the fact that arriva tends to do very well with chiltern railways. The reality if situation is long term and i think the current Franchise Agreement to by the government is fit for purpose and need a replacement and some of our politicians here would like Public Ownership and others have advocated the other way. I think he misses immunity feels we need to see action but the real risk is we do something about Northern Rail but dont deal with trance pin i when the reality is stations like Manchester Victoria and a crossing point for liverpool to newcastle across the north of england, if you are behind trance
pin nine, does not matter how good northern operators are handling their trains, they cannot run reliable behind other trains. The issues had to be sought across both operators in partnership with network rail and perhaps a bit cynical of this was put him of the government to say over the next few weeks we will see more credible analysis of government notjust about capturing headlines but doing their bit to use money that is already in the system to start putting these problems right as well as committing to put the fair rise to good use especially as passengers are putting up with pay services which were never the previous track 400 terry. The current government have got a lot of form of this issue and if theyre not going to lose a commitment of for this issue and if theyre not going to lose agreement other new found strongholds, the blue walk on the need to be a lot more careful about how to present themselves on issues like rail service. Interesting stuff. We should come back to you as things develop, thank you very much indeed. An early and accurate diagnosis of Breast Cancer is quite often
the key to successful treatment. Now researchers at Google Health and Imperial College in london have developed an Artificial IntelligenceComputer Programme that is more accurate at assessing a mammogram than one radiologist working alone and as good as two experts working together. As our medical correspondent fergus walsh reports, this use of whats called ai could well improve all cancer care. This is painstaking work. It takes more than a decade of training to become a radiologist and have the skill to read a mammogram. In the nhs, two doctors analyse every womans x rays. Now, Artificial Intelligence, a Machine Learning computer designed by Google Health, can do itjust as well as humans. This went far beyond my expectations. It will have a Significant Impact in improving the quality of the reporting and also freeing up radiologists to do even more important things. Women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for breast screening every three years. The study in the journal nature showed al was actually better than one doctor working alone at reading mammograms. It produced 1. 2 fewer false positives, where a healthy mammogram is wrongly labelled as abnormal. And there were 2. 7 fewer cases where a cancer was missed. And ai will only get better. This study shows us that in the future it might be possible to make that Screening Programme more accurate and more efficient, which means less worrying time waiting for patients for results and Better Outcomes overall. Helen edwards from surrey has been clear of Breast Cancer for 15 years. She was a patient representative on the panel which had to approve Google Healths access to the mammograms, all of which were anonymised. Initially, i was concerned
google, what are they going to do with this information . What are they going to do with the data . But when i thought about it, longer term, it can only benefit women in having less recalls when you havent got a cancer. This is a breakthrough moment for Artificial Intelligence, which seems certain to play a major role in the diagnosis of Breast Cancer in years to come. And ai has already proved its ability to read other types of patient scan, showing itself as good as leading ophthalmologists in diagnosing more than 50 different eye conditions. The nhs needs another 1000 radiologists, so using al to replace one of the two doctors who read mammograms would ease that pressure and speed up diagnosis. Fergus walsh, bbc news. And later this hour, well speak to a specialist in Artificial Intelligence in medicine to see what this breakthrough means for the industry as a whole. The headlines on bbc news a state of emergency is declared in southeast australia its the largest forced evacuation New South Wales has seen as thousands flee the path of the flames. Delays and cancellations on the railways, but fares up from today by an average of nearly 3 . Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. Sport, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, heres 0lly. Good evening. England opener rory burns is out of the rest of the test series against south africa, after he was injured playing football in training. This was their final session before
the second test that starts tomorrow in cape town. He went over on his ankle, and a scan has revealed that he has ligament damage. Hell return home for treatment. He was englands top scorer in the first test that they lost last week. Jofra archer took six wickets in that match, and hes almost certain to miss the second test tomorrow. The fast bowler has an elbow problem and hasnt been able to bowl in the nets for the past two days. He wont be risked unless 100 . I think all options are on the table at this point, and i think having as much information as we can, making sure we see what results come back from the scan to see where he is. We dont really want to go into the game with him not being 100 , and we also dont want to potentially see him miss a lot more cricket through playing when hes not fit to play. Being really clear with where hes at and making a balanced decision on the side of the back of it all. Liverpool are looking to re establish their 13 point lead at the top of the premier league. They are at home to sheffield united, who are eighth. Theyve started well. Mo salah inside the first five minutes. Just one change to the liverpool side, that was supposed to be naby keita in for adam lallana, but keita was injured in the warm up so james milner has come in. Arsenal defender Calum Chambers will be out for the rest of the season after rupturing a cruciate ligament. He was injured in last sundays defeat at home to chelsea, and hes had surgery today on his left knee. Theyll look to find cover for him in the transfer window. Sportsmen are doing their bit to help with Fundraising Efforts for those affected by the australian wildfires. Nick kyrgios will donate just over £100 for every ace he serves
in tournaments there this month. And cricket australia will also look to raise funds at the third test in sydney that start later tonight. Both the australian and new zealand teams were hosted by the australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, at his official residence here in sydney a few days ago. They said they would wear black arm bands in acknowledgement of the bushfire crisis that is sweeping Many Australian states. Cricketing authorities here also say that there will be Fundraising Efforts during the sydney test match similar to those that raised money for Breast Cancer, the charity set up by glenn mcgrath. Australian cricketing authorities well aware this test match is coming at a time of great crisis for the country, and we also hear that in a practical way, the umpires will be allowed
to suspend play if smoke from the bushfire sweeps across the ground, as it has in sydney many times during recent weeks. The chairman of the professional darts corporation, barry hearn, says the rival bdo the british darts 0rganisation is in danger of collapse because of the way its being run. Their World Championships start on saturday, but prize money has been slashed this week because of poor ticket sales and sponsorship problems. Theyre not good at what they do. Theres no doubt, and this applies to many amateur governing bodies. Theres no doubt they love the sport, but there is another level to go to. Loving the sport is fine, but unless you can provide opportunities and change lives of sportsmen and women, your sport is never going to be perceived as upwardly mobile. And the bdo, after a succession
of abysmal commercial management, are now paying the price for not getting their shop in order, not getting their house in order. Thats all the sport for now. Liverpool still had 1 to go at anfield. Details of that match later. Slightly earlier at 10 15 p m. Tv star ricki lake has shared a picture of herself with a buzz cut as she revealed she has been struggling with hair loss for almost 30 years. She says that at times this made herfeel suicidal. Some types of hair loss in women can be temporary and caused by stress, cancer treatment, weight loss or a lack of iron, while other types are more permanent and caused by a medical condition. Alopecia is the general medical term for hair loss, and there are many different types. Im joined now by amyjohnson, the Communications Manager of alopecia uk, a charity dedicated to supporting people who experience hair loss. Very good of you to join us. Female hair very good of you to join us. Female ha i r loss very good of you to join us. Female hair loss is not something that is widely talked about. I wonder how encouraged you are to see ricky late come out today and open up this discussion. Good that she has come out because it gets to the conversation started around alopecia and afor conversation started around alopecia and a for many it is still a bit of and a for many it is still a bit of a taboo subject. So with somebody in the public eye comes out about hair loss, obviously there is an outpouring of others who want to share their experience. In terms of the impact, the way she has spoken about it, it becomes so clear how devastating this can be. Absolutely full survey has a different impact on different individuals but for some people it is life changing. It really ca n some people it is life changing. It really can have huge impact on levels of anxiety, lots people really struggle to face the world with their changed appearance. It is a big thing to come to terms with. |j
know that you have shared openly your own story and perhaps you can tell listeners at home about your experience. Coming up on my tenth year of having alopecia its about lost my hair in 2010. Quite suddenly so lost my hair in 2010. Quite suddenly soi lost my hair in 2010. Quite suddenly so i have a type of alopecia which isa so i have a type of alopecia which is a condition in my hair began falling out and climbs in february of 2010 and byjuly of the same year i had lost all of my hair including my eyebrows and eyelashes and that isa my eyebrows and eyelashes and that is a really difficult thing to experience and to go through. Something that i addition to over time and is not something i live with and is something i dont necessarily embrace but this is who iam andi necessarily embrace but this is who i am and i get on with it. |j necessarily embrace but this is who i am and i get on with it. I guess it is that identity that we connect with our personal appearance it can be so difficult to deal with when a change like that happens. Hair is a big part of our identity. Whether it is something. When i had eight
head of hair, i did not really value it and head of hair, i did not really value itand did head of hair, i did not really value it and did not spend a lot of time over my hair. To lose it, it did have a big impact on me because all ofa have a big impact on me because all of a sudden, you are faced with a different face looking back at you in the mirrorand different face looking back at you in the mirror and your hair and eyebrows and eyelashes when they are gone make a huge difference to the way you look at that takes a lot to adjust to looking up really different. Indeed him a very good of you to come on and talk to us about your experience and the welcome you have given to ricki lake starting the discussion. Thank you. Now its time for a look at the weather with lucy martin tomorrow brings a promise and sunshine but a dip in temperatures. These two fronts dip to the south and east them in a cloud and spell of rain but also drugging in this fresher air mass from the north and west. Cloud and patchy outbreaks of rain dipping southeast across england and in and clear spells to the north and a few showers into
northern scotland. Wendy across the Northern Isles and look at the difference at the temperatures under the clear spells but staying in the double figures in the south. Im ill start across their part of england and plenty of cloud and patches of outbreaks of rank. That clear to the south and east and plenty of sunshine to be had and a scattering of chalmers feeding from the north and west and could beat witchery over high ground by a dip in temperatures with highs around nine celsius. Wendy across the northern aisles and temperatures creeping up a degree or two for the weekend and a good deal of dry weather and some sunny spells to be had with potential for some weather and some sunny spells to be had with potentialfor some rain in the north. Hello, this is bbc news. The headlines a state of emergency is declared in southeast australia amid warnings of more bushfires. Its the largest forced evacuation New South Wales has seen, as thousands flee the path of the flames. Theres anger over the governments handling of the emergency, as the Prime Ministerfound out when he toured the area. How come we only had four trucks to defend our town . Because our town doesnt have a lot of money, but we have hearts of gold, mr Prime Minister delays and cancellations on the railways, but fares still go up from today by an average of nearly 3 . Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. Talks aimed at breaking almost
three years of political deadlock in Northern Ireland have resumed. And coming up, why conservationists say bringing back the beavers to a devon river is a success both for them and for us. Lets return to one of our headline stories. Talks to restore power sharing in Northern Ireland have resumed today in the hope of breaking three years of political stalemate at stormont. The talks were put on pause over the christmas holiday, after the dup was accused by opponents of standing in the way of a possible deal. Devolved government collapsed in january 2017. 0ur ireland correspondent emma vardy has been following developments at stormont. There is that the pressure is really on the parties right now, because if they dont reach a deal by the 13th of january, they will have to face Fresh Assembly elections, and that provided some real added incentive
and really focused minds here. Because both the dup and sinn fein got hit pretty hard and got pretty bruised with their vote share going down at the general election, so it is unlikely they will want to face voters, perhaps punishing them again at the ballot box quite so soon. One of the big issues is they are still wrangling over to get everybody over the line is something called the petition of concern. The mechanism used in the assembly a bit like a veto, if you get enough names on the petition, you can block certain legislation. Critics say it has been misused too many times by one party or another to block things they dont like. Same sex marriage legislation was blocked, for example, one of the things blocked because of it. But its one thing they need to get agreement on just to remind people of the unique situation, a government in Northern Ireland requires a mandatory coalition between unionists and nationalists. Why this all fell apart is the deputy first minister pulled out of the executive, and that collapsed the assembly. And one thing talked about today is sustainability so that cannot be collapsed so easily in future. The dup were particularly talking about that again,
and again they have accused sinn fein of Holding People to ransom over this. And want to make sure the executive cannot be collapsed easily again. Weve had three years now without a government. Three years people now of people being held to ransom, three years where key decisions were not being made that affect people i represent and people represented by all of us. And therefore we need to get this right. We cannot go for a quick fix solution, we need to ensure that we dont repeat the mistakes that have been made in the past, that we avoid getting into the kind of situation we have seen in the past, where people can walk away. We went over 30 years through the troubles in Northern Ireland, and our government worked its way through all of those 30 years and all the difficult issues that arose. We want stormont to be the same. We saw sinn fein come out today and urge the dup to make compromises
and to really get on with it. They were saying they dont want to see some sort of dramatic last minute agreement made just before the 13th of january. They believe theyre coming on the table right now that everybody could sign up to pretty soon, and just to warn you, we will hear this clip from sinn fein which does contain some flash photography. For our part, our objective has always been to restore credible sustainable functioning institutions which deliver for everyone which have sufficient resources to deliver our Public Services and are based on genuine power sharing on principles of the good friday agreement equality, respect, parity and that this the basis on which these institutions were designed and that is the basis on which they need to operate. We think this agreement can be reached in short order. We dont see any need to run this down to the wire to the 30th
ofjanuary in some kind of dramatic way. The issues we deal with are all well rehearsed. What we need now is political will to resolve them very quickly. And that is going to be our focus in the next day or two. The journalist and writer Siobhan Fenton joins me from st andrews. Thanks very much for being with us, we heard some of these stumbling blocks. Given those issues, how optimistic do you think people in Northern Ireland can be that there is light at the end of this tunnel . I think emma vardy mentioned in that report that it has now been almost three years when there hasnt been a government in Northern Ireland and we have seen about a dozen rounds of negotiations happening before, and obviously each of those different attem pts obviously each of those different atte m pts to obviously each of those different attempts to reach a deal have all failed, so to a certain extent many people have been feeling quite weary, quite pessimistic about stormont coming back. 0ver weary, quite pessimistic about stormont coming back. Over the course of the last couple of weeks,
there does seem to be a tentative tone from the dup and sinn fein, talking more positively about reaching a deal, and i think with this kind of looming 13th of january deadline, that has given a huge amount of impetus for the parties to finally reach an agreement, because that election is likely to see both parties suffer badly, so it does feel that this might be a last chance for any sort of agreement to finally be made, but even if an agreement is not struck now, i think agreement is not struck now, i think a lot of people will be wondering, will stormont ever come back . Because if even this isnt enough to force a breakthrough, they will be wondering what could. Do you think members of the public have much time for the kind of stumbling blocks that they are arguing about . Do people get it, or is it the stuff of political shenanigans and people just think, there are bigger issues to contend with here . It has changed a lot over the course of the last three years, the deadlock since
2017, so initially i think sinn fein had a lot of support among their voters for the fact that they had brought down the government, and thatis brought down the government, and that is because sinn fein said they would not go back into government with the dup unless they would agree to special legislation to give special status to the Irish Language in Northern Ireland, and the dup said they would not go back if that legislation was introduced, because they perceive the Irish Language is threatening Northern Irelands britishness. A lot of sinn fein supporters who would tend to support the Irish Language, the supported that stance, and many dup supporters supported their ha rdline that stance, and many dup supporters supported their hardline stance, but over the course of the last three yea rs, over the course of the last three years, with government ministers not in place, the day to day running of services has really started to suffer, and that has particularly been seen most acutely in the Health Service in Northern Ireland, and waiting lists have grown too much longer than any other parts of the
uk, andjust longer than any other parts of the uk, and just before christmas we had the unprecedented situation when nurses in Northern Ireland went on strike for the first time, because they said their working conditions we re they said their working conditions were becoming so bad and that Patient Safety was being put at risk. Issues like that have really changed Public Opinion in Northern Ireland, and a lot of people would see the Health Service is one of the most important things which local government provides, and they would perhaps argue that compared to that, issues like the Irish Language may pale in comparison. So i think we have seen the mood shift, most people in Northern Ireland would prefer people in Northern Ireland would p refer to people in Northern Ireland would prefer to see a deal being struck on these kind of different redline issues perhaps being backtracked on a bed just to see the government return. Really good to have your analysis, Siobhan Fenton, thank you very much indeed. Derbyshire police has referred itself to the independent 0ffice for Police Conduct after a man and a woman were found dead at a house in duffield yesterday. Helen hancock from duffield
and Martin Griffiths from derby were discovered by officers with fatal stab wounds. Its emerged that ms hancock had been in contact with the police before the incident. Phil mackie sent this update from in duffield. Derbyshire police have confirmed that a 39 year old man, rhys hancock, mrs hancocks estranged husband, has been charged with both murders. He is due to appear before derbyshire magistrates tomorrow morning. At around the same time as that announcement, detectives whod been here since just after four oclock yesterday morning, when they discovered the bodies in the house, packed up and left the scene. Weve had statements from both families. Mrs hancocks said that theyre devastated, they talked about her as being a beautiful, friendly, bubbly and social person. Martin griffiths family said that he would be greatly missed, they described him as a dad, a husband, a son, brother, and uncle he had two children. And as you said in the introduction, Derbyshire Police has referred itself to the iopc, as is mandatory in cases where they have had prior contact with the victim. In this case, theyd had prior
contact with mrs hancock. Lets take a look at some of todays other news. Tributes have been paid to three British Airways cabin crew who were killed in a crash near Heathrow Airport on new years eve. Rachel clark, Joseph Finnis and dominic fell, who were all in their 20s, died after their car collided with a lorry in stanwell near Heathrow Airport. The Foreign Exchange company travelex says that it has taken all its systems offline after a Software Virus was discovered on new years eve. The shutdown is a precautionary measure to protect data and the firms network of branches is continuing to provide Foreign Exchange services manually. A Landmark Legal case has been lauched, calling for veganism to be protected by law. Jordi casamitjana wants it classified as a philosophical belief comparable to a religion. Mr casamitjana claims he was sacked by the league against cruel sports
for disclosing it invested Pension Funds in companies that carried out tests on animals. The league says he was dismissed for gross misconduct. A british tourist who tried to resucitate members of the family who drowned in a spanish Holiday Resort on Christmas Eve has told the bbc he believes more could have been done to prevent their deaths. Josias fletchman says simple measures could have made a difference. Gabriel diya and his nine year old daughter comfort died alongside his 16 year old son praise emmanuel at a resort on the costa del sol. Helena wilkinson reports. I was at the reception, and a lady comes screaming. She was screaming, a spanish lady, but the way she come, she was traumatised. I could tell by the scream. Me personally, i knew it was something serious, because i said to my wife,
i said, thats a death cry, that. My wifes like, nah, nah, nah, but i said, thats a death cry. Thats something serious. This was the moment Josias Fletchman knew something terrible was happening. He was on holiday with his family in spain but ended up being one of the first to try and help a father and his two children who drowned. On Christmas Eve, nine year old comfort and 16 year old praise emmanuel got into difficulty in this pool at Club La Costa world. Their father gabriel diya then tried to save them, but all three died. Youth workerjosias was heading for a family swim when he realised something was going on. When i got there, the reception people had already, like, they must have got the bodies of the three people out, brought them out the pool. There was a lady there and she said, you know, can i take over . So i took over. At first i was like in my head thinking, whoa, because ive done cpr on dummies, but like
i said, to do it on a real body for a minute i was like, oof, but then the spirit kicked in yet again and allowed me to do my bit. The hotel resort has a number of swimming pools, butjosias says he doesnt think there was enough Safety Measures in place. There wasnt a lifeguard at that pool . No. Were you surprised by that . Yeah. Tell me why you were surprised. Because if a lifeguard was there, that probably wouldnt have happened. That person could have lived if there was a lifeguard there. Spanish police have now finished their investigations and say this was a tragic accident. Theyve lost not one but three people, a young little girl, a 16 year old lad and a husband. Im praying for her every single day, im praying for her. I was praying for her when i was on holiday, and i am still praying for her consistently. That was Josias Fletchman speaking to our correspondent helena wilkinson. Lebanon has recieved an interpol arrest warrant for the former nissan boss carlos ghosn following his escape from japan. He flew to lebanon via turkey after escaping house arrest injapan. The bbcs lina sinjab is in beirut. The whole world is chasing the route that he took, the way that he got out, so definitely his family were the people that were asked, so he wanted to protect them from any consequences and put the full responsibility on himself. And in fact, just before we come up on live, we managed to have an answer from the minister ofjustice regarding the arrest warrant by the interpol. They say that they have received it today, and they are going to do all the Due Diligence of legal investigation into the case, and they will take action in accordance to the finding of that investigation. However, they will never extradite him or turn him back tojapan, because this is something that they will not do for him. I mean, obviously, lina, this has a serious side to it, but it does read like the script of some kind of hollywood movie, doesnt it . I mean, this guy, the way that he allegedly reportedly escaped from japan to come through istanbul and into beirut, its just unbelievable. Yes, its unbelievable, especially when the story even tells that he got out of japan in a Musical Instrument box, so its really like a magical, mystical way of getting out and arriving in lebanon, but also choosing lebanon as a destination out of the three countries that he holds citizenship france and brazil and lebanon, it also says something about the country itself. Here earlier in the year, at the end of last year, revolts took place, and people took to the streets revolting
against a corrupt government, and what they call as a state that doesnt follow the law, and this has to do with why carlos chose to come to beirut rather than going anywhere else. However, having said that, even the french government said that if carlos arrived in france, they will not extradite him as well. The headlines on bbc news a state of emergency is declared in southeast australia amid warnings of more bushfires. Its the largest forced evacuation New South Wales has seen as thousands flee the path of the flames. Delays and cancellations on the railways, but fares still go up from today by an average of nearly 3 . Researchers say Artificial Intelligence can be better than doctors at diagnosing Breast Cancer from scans. An update on the market numbers for you. Back to the news that doctors hope that an Artificial Intelligence programme will help speed up the diagnosis of Breast Cancer from mammograms. A study found that a Computer System trained to read x rays did better than one radiologist working on their own and was as good as two experts. The findings have been called promising by the Charity Cancer research uk. Joining me now is professor andrea rockall, clinical chair in radiology at Imperial College london and consultant radiologist at Imperial College health care nhs trust and the Royal Marsden hospital. Great to have you with us. I know you want is directly involved in this study, but ai involved in diagnosis is something that you are looking at rigorously. Yes, a really exciting time in radiology at the moment, because the clinical radiologists can be working together with computer scientists to develop algorithms for Early Detection and, you know, in the uk and across the world, we are short of radiologists, so having tools that can support us and help us with accurate early diagnosis is really exciting, this isa diagnosis is really exciting, this is a good news story for the nhs. Absolutely, and in terms of machine versus human, what do we know about how the two compare . In this study, the machine has performed extremely well, and it is reported in the publication. I would say, in this particular case, we have what is called narrow ai, looking at x rays of the breast, looking for Breast Cancer. Things get more complicated
and difficult in al when we start looking at whole body scans, where the challenges are greater. This is a fantastic step in the right direction to support radiologists detecting Breast Cancer, reducing the number of false positives and improving performance. Buti the number of false positives and improving performance. But i think there is a lot of work to do, and we are at the beginning of an era. Given that you are working on whole body imaging, what are the challenges that you are thinking, if we can crack this, this is where ai will help . This study has cracked something called generalisability, whereas working with one patient type and once scanner type, we can detect cancer lesions across multiple different scanners in multiple different scanners in multiple different scanners in multiple Different Countries for different types of disease, and this is the big challenge. We are not there yet. How long do you think it will be before a lot of these scans
have an ai element, then . We still have an ai element, then . We still have an ai element, then . We still have a period of work where we have to clinically test these in trials, in what we call a prospective manner. This study was retrospectively looking at previous cans, so we need to challenge these going forward, but there are already approved tools which are used for triage of patience, putting them into high risk or low risk categories that can then go to a radiologist. Patients. Categories that can then go to a radiologist. Patients. What about people being nervous of machines, what if machines are programmed wrongly, how do you see the balance of the two . Here, we have a situation where we have Machine Learning that is supporting the doctor, and i think this is a good thing. It will create challenges, what if the doctor wants to overrule the machine, for example . These are not all answered questions yet, but
it is important to recognise the issues and develop ai ethically. We had a report earlier when i spoke to a lady who scans had been used in that study on mammograms, and she said she was hesitant to begin with because Google Health were involved, and she said, how are they going to use my information . That is something that needs to be thought about in terms of allaying concerns. Of course, and in the medical profession we have always had to use patient data for research in an unidentified way, so the patient could not be identified, so we are quite used to that, but we have to be super vigilant in the world of ai, and by bringing patients with us and demonstrating the potential benefits, i think we can win the argument and keep patient confidentiality is safe. Nice to have a good news story, professor, thank you very much indeed. Floods in indonesias capital,
jakarta, are now known to have killed at least 26 people, after the city experienced its heaviest rainfall in more than two decades. At least 30,000 residents have moved to temporary shelters. Officials said 37 centimeters of rain had fallen in a single day. In southern africa, the people of zambia are in the midst of a devastating drought that experts say is caused by a dramatic shift in weather patterns. Temperatures in the region are expected to rise by twice the global average and the United Nations is calling for urgent action. More than two Million People in zambia are now in need of food aid, following two years of poor rains and failed harvests. 0ur africa correspondent Andrew Harding reports from one of the worst affected areas. The Prime Ministers senior aide Dominic Cummings has called for rapid and large changes to how government works. Writing in his blog, the architect of the leave campaign and borisjohnsons election victory says there are profound problems with how the British State makes decisions, and he urges people with different
skills to send him their cvs. 0ur Political Correspondent nick eardley has the details. Tell us a little bit more about the thoughts of Dominic Cummings and how he has published them. We have heard a lot of speculation since Boris Johnson won the election last month that his government was going to oversee quite radical change to the way the Civil Service works, the way government works, and we are starting to get some clues in this blog about how Dominic Cummings sees this panning out. He reckons that in his words there are profound problems at the core of how the British State makes decisions, and he has some ideas for how that should change. A lot of it seems to be based on basically bringing a new type of person into the heart of government, into downing street, and allowing them to have a big say in how things go. He talks about
bringing people from different backgrounds with different expertise into number ten. Let mejust read out some of the particular areas that he talks about in the blog. Data scientists, software developers, policy experts, project managers, communication experts, junior researchers and, wait for it, weirdos and misfits with odd skills. Dominic cummings is a very influential man in number ten, he is probably Boris Johnsons influential man in number ten, he is probably borisjohnsons most senior aide, and right at the start of the new year, he is writing, albeit on his private blog, not through an official government source, writing about how this government wants to use its majority try to radically change the way things are done in whitehall, and it gives us pretty much the firmest assurance yet that this government intends to act very differently to how its predecessors did. Provide interesting stuff indeed, thank you very much, nick
ea rdley. The weather in a moment. Conservationists have declared a five year trial to re introduce beavers to the river 0tter in devon a success, and it turns out its good news for the environment too. The animals were hunted to extinction in the uk hundreds of years ago. The beavers play a part in protecting communities from floods because the way they build their nests can slow down rivers after heavy rains. Jon kay has more. Beavers are back. Hunted to extinction 500 years ago, this mother, her kittens and up to 50 more are now thriving here in east devon. And heres the evidence. Weve got a poplar tree here thats been felled probably over the last couple of days. Professor Richard Brazier has been studying the impact of beavers. He says they may be known as furry vandals but the dams they build at night here are actually a good thing, preventing flooding by slowing down the flow of water in winter and then retaining water
during summer droughts. 0verall, you would say they are useful . They are very, very useful, and they do a job that we cant afford to do. Were actually not as well adapted as beavers to doing it. They are natural water resource managers. This has been a five year trial to see if beavers can live successfully in england alongside other wildlife and humans. A similar scheme in scotland has already led to them getting protected status, and now the review in devon has shown they can improve Water Quality and help other animals to thrive. But some farmers see the damage caused by large beaver populations in north america and worry things could get out of control in the uk. And sometimes its been up sort of almost as far as here. In devon, the wildlife trust, who initiated this pilot scheme, has been clearing any dams that cause problems. They say, as long as that happens, local landowners should be satisfied. I hope this is providing some reassurance that actually this is quite effective. You know, we can manage conflicts that occur, as long as youve got people on the ground providing that advice and support when its required. These findings will now be reviewed by the government. The National Farmers union says there must be a wider discussion before beavers are reintroduced across britain. Jon kay, bbc news, devon. Now its time for a look at the weather with lucy martin. Hello, good evening. It was quite mild for the time of year today, with temperatures widely in the double figures, but there was a fair amount of cloud to be had. This photo sent in by a weather watcher in staffordshire. Then its all change as we move into tomorrow. Well see more in the way of sunshine, but with that a noticeable dip in temperatures. We see this drop in temperatures starting to feed in as we go through tonight. These two weather fronts sink their way gradually south and east,
bringing a spell of rain and some cloud, but opening the doors to this fresher air from the north and west. So as we go through tonight, well see cloud and outbreaks of rain gradually spreading south across england and wales. Some clearer spells feeding in towards the north and one or two showers. The winds tending to fall lighter than weve seen through the day, although the potential for gales across the Northern Isles, well see a marked difference in temperatures. Where we see the clearer spells developing, the temperatures really dipping way, although holding up where we have the cloud across the south. So a mild start to the day on friday across southern parts of england. Therell be some clouds, some patchy outbreaks of rain. That will clear towards the south and east, and then therell be plenty of sunshine across the board. A scattering of showers feeding in from the north west, could be wintry over high ground or even to lower levels across shetland. And again, itll be windy across the Northern Isles. The temperatures, though, noticeably cooler than weve seen today, highs of around nine degrees celsius. The temperatures dipping away across the south after the cloudy start. As we move into the weekend, High Pressure take charge, so there will be plenty of dry weather the further south you are. The best of the brightness found in the south east. More cloud as you head further north and the potential for some outbreaks of rain for northern parts of scotland. The temperatures on saturday not doing too badly. A maximum of around nine, ten degrees celsius. Not a great deal of change on the way as we move into sunday. High pressure remains in charge across the south. This weather front towards the north will bring some outbreaks of rain for parts of scotland, perhaps feed into Northern Ireland and again more in the way of cloud further north, but there will also be some brighter spells, the best of those to be found in southern and eastern areas. The temperatures fairly similar to what were looking at on saturday, a maximum of around ten, 11 degrees celsius. Bye bye. Hello, im ros atkins, this is 0utside source. Australias Prime Minister is heckled for his response to the bushfire crisis. You are not welcome here Scott Morrison was visiting a town where the bushfires killed two people and destroyed many homes. A state of emergency is declared in New South Wales where the crisis threatens to get even worse. Turkeys Parliament Passes a bill allowing the deployment of troops to libya to support the un backed government in the civil war. As transport strikes in paris enter their 29th day, police and protesters clash over emmanuel macrons pension reforms. And interpol has issued a red alert for the former