This is bbc news. Im rebecca jones. The headlines at 2pm. Heavy rain and strong winds are battering parts of the uk as storm dennis arrives. The army has been deployed in West Yorkshire. Dozens of flood warnings are in place across the uk forecasters say a months worth of rain could fall in some places. The storm is scuppering travel plans for many. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled and Train Services are disrupted. France records the first death from coronavirus in europe as beijing orders everyone returning to that city from holidays to go into quarantine for m days or risk punishment. From today, companies which provide phone, broadband and Pay Tv Services will have to alert customers when their contracts
are coming to an end. In her first podcast interview, the duchess of cambridge reveals her parenting inspiration comes from her granny, who involved her as a child in arts and crafts, gardening and cooking. And in half an hour here on bbc news talking movies goes to hollywood for an oscars review special. The army have been called in to help shore up flood defences across West Yorkshire, with large parts of the uk expected to be hit by severe rain and wind from storm dennis. The regular troops and reservists have been deployed to ilkley and calderdale. The Highways Agency has warned of hazardous driving conditions and north wales police has urged people not to go out unless its absolutely neccessary. Matches in the scottish premiership at rangers and motherwell have been called off. British airways and easyjet have cancelled flights across the country for safety reasons. Easyjet have confirmed they have cancelled 234 flights in and out of the uk. Wind speeds are forecast to reach 70mph along coastlines and the Environment Agency warns homes are at risk of flooding. There are more than 220 flood warnings and alerts across the uk. 230. The armed forces have been deployed to West Yorkshire to support the ongoing recovery from last weekends flooding and in preperation for storm dennis. Jon donnison reports. A relative calm before the storm. Still clearing up from storm ciara last weekend, residents in the Calder Valley are bracing themselves for another onslaught. This area has borne the brunt of the bad weather. Flooding is expected later, which could further devastate this community. The army has been deployed here in calderdale to help once the storm hits. The first thing they are going to be providing is reassurance reassurance to people that actually, we are doing everything we can to keep them safe during storm dennis. The second thing is that were actually, with their engineering experience, basically check our river walls and reinforce them where there are weaknesses. As well as the army, volunteers are preparing for what is to come. Across most of the country, there are Severe Weather warnings in place. Forecasters say that a months worth of rain could fall in some places. This is sidmouth in devon, where storm dennis has already made an entrance. And there is already massive disruption for travellers on trains and at airports. This is gatwick, where passengers are facing cancellations. Its notjust here at gatwick where theres disruption thousands of easyjet passengers have had their flights cancelled at airports across the country. British airways has had to ground a0 of its flights in and out of heathrow when the storm is likely to be at its peak. Experts are warning storm dennis could cause more damage to communities already still recovering from last weekends storm. Helena wilkinson, bbc news, gatwick airport. Phil bodmer is in mytholmroyd in West Yorkshire. Phil are villagers resigned to the prospect of being flooded for the second time in a week . Yes, i think they are. Last weekend,
as you say, storm ciara had a devastating effect in the Calder Valley, places like mytholmroyd and hebden bridge, hundreds of properties flooded and Business Owners and that followed the flooding of 2015, boxing day, and last weekend, that was a third time this valley has been affected in eight years. I should say that it is a fairly middling afternoon and we have drizzle and light rain and light showers and it seems the main event has not yet begun but if you look beyond me you can see this temporary flood defence which has been put in about one hour ago, soldiers, around a0 soldiers from four scots based at the local garrison have arrived in the contract is to install temporary defences and they have started already to build the wall. These walls were designed after the 2015 floods and the engineering work
started in 2016 but that has not been completed so clearly there is a concern to the properties to my left. That they potentially could be flooded if storm dennis comes. And this water level below me rises, which people tell me it will do once the storm gets under later. And what advice our locals being given . The advice our locals being given . The advice is for people to watch and wait and prepare if they can. Somebody will walk through. They wa nt somebody will walk through. They want people to make their own preparations so if they have flood defences under way or installed, that they put those up and take precautions and make furniture upstairs. The other advice is for people not to sightsee and come to the Calder Valley because with the road on single file at the moment while the temporary defences are installed , while the temporary defences are installed, congestion is pretty heavyin installed, congestion is pretty heavy in this part of the world. What the authorities do not want is extra people clogging this up. This area is on an amber warning along with other areas of the uk, including scotland, wales and the south west of england. The advice for people who live here is to make sure you are prepared, prepare for the worse, they are hoping for the best. If you dont live in the area, stay away for the time being. Because this storm is set to comment, later this afternoon, and this river will rise very quickly like last weekend and that is when problems began. Hopefully this temporary flood defence will prevent a repeat of what we saw last week but there are no guarantees of. just but there are no guarantees of. |j just wonder, from conversations you have had with People Living there, what is the mood . Are People Fairly stoic . Yes, the people have a certain amount of stoicism. You have
to admire that tenacity in the face of adversity and they have been through this before many times. But each time they seem to come through and fight back. There is a certain relu cta nce and fight back. There is a certain reluctance and resignation that whatever happens happens and all they can do is watch, wait and hope. We have been speaking to locals in mytholmroyd earlier today who shrugged their shoulders and said, here we go again. They know that work is being done to shore up defences and the contract to build proper stone defences has been going on for the last four years and i think some people have said to us that they cannot work out why it is taking so long, hear the phrase that the chinese can build hospitals within weeks and yet here in this pa rt within weeks and yet here in this part of the world it has taken four yea rs part of the world it has taken four years to build these flood defences and they are still not complete. A lot of people would like to see these flood defences completed much sooner these flood defences completed much sooner than they have been. But i think the mood amongst people today
is one of watching and waiting. Indeed. Asimilar is one of watching and waiting. Indeed. A similar story across many parts of the country. Thank you. Driving conditions are likely to be bad during the storm. Earlier we spoke tojohn bickerstaff from highways england. We have been doing a lot of planning in the days up to this event, making sure our resources are available. We have also been sending our contractor teams out to key locations where we have seen flooding in the past, clearing drains and making sure that we can pre empt any disruption that we can to our roads. When it comes, as it will in some form, what are likely to be the biggest potential dangers . Well, we are seeing wind speeds at about 55 miles an hour at the moment, that has led to some closures on some of our key routes including the severn bridge. We are also expecting closures later today on other bridges. Particular at risk are high sided vehicles and caravans, so we would ask to check before you travel today to check that your route is clear. Some other disruption were likely to see if fallen trees, debris across the carriageway but we will be responding as quickly as possible to clear the roads and keep them open for oui customers. What sort of demands do you get in an incident like this with people contacting the Highways Agency or presumably local authorities liaising with you about roads that are blocked in what they need to be done to clear them . Yeah, we have a lot of regional centres around the uk, we have seven that look after geographical areas, they have been very busy with local authorities the last few days leading up to this. All our systems are linked with the police so we are sharing information in real time as it happens so we can respond as quickly as possible. We also have a Customer Contact centre open 2a 7 to offer advice and traffic information as well. The travel picture changes quite quickly in a situation like this. You get at least some advance notice of where the principal problems are likely to be. What advice do you give to travellers, those who have to travel, i know your best advice is stay at home if you possibly can. But what advice would you give to drivers who have to travel at this time of the weekend, given it is half term and given the weather is going to be so atrocious . Yeah, we appreciate people need to travel to get to where they need to, so we do our best to keep the roads open. I would just ask them to check before you travel, we will be putting the latest information on the status of our roads via traffic england or media outlets. So just have a little look and see what is closed and what isnt and what has got delays and we will be fielding from there. If youre going to set out on a long journey it is usual safety checks, make sure you have oil and fuel in your car, take some extra bits in case you do get stuck. And also just high sided vehicles, remember that you are more vulnerable to the wind, so we would ask drivers of hgvs if they have their curtains and are carrying an empty load to keep those open if youre driving. We have an amber warning, maybe just slow down and keep a good distance from the cars in front and that will help you to get to get to where you need to go safely. Ryan biggerstaffe from highways england. And for the latest information on storm dennis in your area, you can find more on your local bbc online pages or tune into your local radio station. France has recorded the first death from coronavirus in europe an 80 year old chinese tourist. Only three deaths had previously been reported worldwide outside of mainland china. In china, beijing has ordered everyone returning to the city from holidays to go into quarantine for 1a days or risk punishment in the latest attempt to contain the virus. 0ur correspondent, nick beake, is in hong kong. China has declared war on an invisible killer sending more doctors as well as soldiers into the worst affected area. But now the new coronavirus has claimed its first victim outside asia, an elderly chinese man who had travelled to france. Translation last night, i was informed of the death of an 80 year old patient who had been hospitalised at the bichat hospital since the 25th of january. He was suffering from a coronavirus lung infection. Back in china, all those returning to the Capital Beijing after whats been an extended holiday have been told they must quarantine themselves for two weeks the latest drastic order. Its not clear if it will apply to foreigners, too. Passengers of many nationalities are still stuck aboard the diamond princess off the coast of japan. 285 people have now tested positive for the virus on the ship, and america says it will remove all of its citizens tomorrow and fly them home. There is no such escape from wuhan, the chinese city where the outbreak began. Officials report more people catching the virus and more people dying from it. Beijing claims its acted quickly and decisively to try to stop the spread,
but few are willing to predict what the Global Impact of this crisis will be. Nick beake, bbc news, hong kong. And its been announced that the last people being held in quarantine at Arrowe Park Hospital on the wirral after returning from china have been allowed to leave. 9a people were transferred there in the last few weeks. Separately, all but one of the patients being treated for the virus at other nhs trusts have now been discharged after twice testing negative for coronavirus. Chinas state Railway Company has offered to build the entire hs2 High Speed Rail line linking london to birmingham, manchester and leeds in just five years. In a letter, seen by building magazine, beijing says it could also deliver the project at a much lower cost. Government officials said preliminary discussions had taken place but no concrete commitments had been made. Premier league champions
Manchester City have been banned from European Competition for two seasons and fined £25 million. European footballs governing body, uefa, found the club had carried out serious breaches of its regulations. The club said it was disappointed but not surprised by the decision and said it would appeal. Christoph winterbach is a sportjournalist at the german magazine, der spiegel. He told my colleague, shaun ley, how his investigation led to Manchester Citys ban. It was part of our football leagues revelations. We went through a lot of material, millions of documents and we had a team at der spiegel and with our partners at european news media. We looked into the books and the e mails of Manchester City as well as uefa and we found out that there was a clear case, at least from what we have seen, regarding the sponsorship income that Manchester City
declared towards uefa. So it seems that they overstated sponsorship income, whereas they were actually expenses from the club ownership. Uefa tries to prevent clubs from paying as much money as they want, they want to balance their expenses with their income and they want to prevent clubs from over spending and going bankrupt. This was against the ambition of the Club Leadership from Manchester City, which is governed from the state leadership in abu dhabi. It appears like they didnt adhere to the rules that everyone else in europe had to stick to. Once this has been established obviously that uefa says it has found Manchester City guilty of this offence and it has imposed a fine and a ban, how does it compare with other action that uefa has ta ken before, disciplinary
action, against clubs for this kind of abuse . Are they being treated fairly or is this a more severe punishment than you would have expected . This is a very severe punishment. It is the hardest that we have ever seen to any club. But this is an extraordinary case as well because these investigations against Manchester City have been ongoing for quite some time. There was already a settlement between Manchester City and uefa back in 201a. After we published our articles, uefa found that they felt misled by Manchester City, even back then, for these investigations. So the rules are quite clear for uefa, if they find that a club does not stick to their rules, the hardest punishment they can hand out is ban them from the competitions that uefa organises. And this is a significant step because these competitions are very lucrative for each individual club because they can make a lot of money with that. And if Manchester City now sits out two years its going to be a huge gap in their income. So they are going to miss out on a lot of money. Uefa really had to take a step like that if they wanted to be taken seriously in the future because if they didnt, if they hadnt punished Manchester City for those blatant wrongdoings that seem to be the case, then all the other clubs in europe could have seen that there is a simple way to circumvent the rules and the uefa control bodies dont really act on it. Christoph winterbach. The headlines on bbc news. Heavy rain and strong winds are battering parts of the uk as storm dennis arrives the army has been deployed in West Yorkshire. The storm is scuppering travel plans for many hundreds of flights have been cancelled and trains services are disrupted. France has recorded the first death
from coronavirus in europe as beijing orders everyone returning to that city from holidays to go into quarantine for 1a days or risk punishment. From today, companies which provide phone, broadband and Pay Tv Services will have to alert customers when their contracts are coming to an end. The media regulator, 0fcom, says about 20 Million People are currently out of contract with many likely to be paying higher prices than they need to. Our business correspondent, katy austin, joins me. I have to ask, shouldnt companies have been doing this all along . Some have been doing this all along . Some have been doing this all along . Some have been but they dont have to. And that is going to change. If we are completely honest, many of us could not say of the top of our head when our phone, broadband or pay tv
contract is ending and that means we might miss the event and automatically be put onto a higher rate and that means that the cheaper deal we might have signed up to immediately when we took out the contract for one year or two years wont apply any more and we automatically are paying more. What is going to happen . These providers will have to get in contact with customers between 10 and a0 days before the contract is due to come to an end and the need to outline their options, say how much you are currently paying and how much you could pay if you go up to the standard rate and then tell you what your options are, how you can quit the contract without having to pay a penalty. If we take broadband, were 25,000 people get out of contract every day, 0fcom thinks these new rules could save customers about £150 off their annual bill. Is this phone call going to guarantee you will get the best deal . 0r phone call going to guarantee you will get the best deal . Or will it
just means you will get the best deal with your previous provider . The idea is that whatever happens, you end up with the best deal, and consumers in lots of different areas are encouraged to switch at the moment if they want the best deal, to shop around and not believe that staying loyal to your Current Company will guarantee the best deal because it often will not. But at least under the new rules you will have an option, you will be informed as to the options and 0fcom says that some companies have already said they will brick be prepared to let customers stay on the lower deal, the ones that are being offered to new customers, to entice them, when they want to move to the new one. The ideal is that overall it will make things cheaper and sometimes when these rules, and you get concerns that the bills might rise for everyone because the customers wont offer those cheaper deals any more because they cannot hike them up automatically. 0fcom does believe that some companies are showing willingness to do the thing. How the company has been made to do this . We have seen this in the Energy Market and i wonder why it has taken so long . You might have to ask 0fcom that it is the Communications Watchdog so it has noticed there is an issue here and many of us might have noticed this ourselves if the bills have gone up and it has chosen to address this to make it a rule so that suppliers should really stick to. Thank you. A british man who was detained in egypt for allegedly patting an Airport Security guard on the back has been released. Tony camoccio was falsely accused of Sexual Assault after the incident at hurghada airport earlier this month. The Campaign Group detained in dubai said the 51 year old was on his way back to the uk. They said the case had been dismissed due to lack of evidence. Tensions between the United States and europe have come to the fore at the International Security conference in munich. The us secretary of state mike pompeo hit back strongly at accusations
that the United States no longer believes in the international community. He told the conference that nothing could be further from the truth. Mr pompeo went on to attack chinese and russian influence. 0ur chief international correspondent, lyse doucet, is in munich and earlier sent this update. It is day two of the munich security conference, a conference whose theme this year is restlessness, and world where the west is either absent or increasingly irrelevant. Day two has started off with dual link narratives and the us secretary of state says that is not true, the west is winning and we are winning together. The french president talked about the west weakening stop where does the truth lie . With us to discuss this is a former secretary of defence from the us, you have been listening to these, is the west
willing or is it still in a leading role . I think the discussion has been about western values and western values still are the dominant values through the world. The aspirations of all people to be free andrew that kind of liberty to express themselves so in that context, if you balance that against the autocratic systems, china or russia or turkey, or any place else, you would say that the western values are still dominant. 0n you would say that the western values are still dominant. On a military level, what you are not seeing is the rhetoric is to say we are pulling out and we are not committed but in fact the rhetoric does not reflect the reality, the reality is we are putting more money into nato and the european theatre than ever before. All of the countries i have talked to are very happy with the us commitment to their security and to natos
security and so the rhetoric is the us is not as committed but the reality is we are even more committed. If you look at some of the battlefields that you spent a lot of time looking at when you were secretary of defence, whether it is syria, libya or yemen, the United States is not calling the shots any more, it is regional powers and so many regional powers that it makes the situation worse and not better. Whenever the United States reduces 01 whenever the United States reduces or diminishes its presence, other countries move in and we dont necessarily share those values or ideals so that is one of the great paradoxes that we want to disengage somewhat, not have so many countries are so dependent on the United States and get other countries dont have either the military capacity, the economic prosperity, the International Diplomacy to be able to carry the load. The question is, can the eu do more, they are doing more on the military side, they are certainly being encouraged to do
more in terms of diplomacy and investment and human interest. So the United States will. Ifrankly do not approve of the unilateralist approach, my background has been multilateral and that is changing. You are seeing the United States saying we would like more ability to act with allies when we need to but basically to take action without being encumbered or restricted by other countries. That is the policy of the president and that is basically what is being carried out. The duchess of cambridge has said her parenting inspiration is her amazing granny, who involved her in arts and crafts, gardening and cooking as a child. In her first podcast interview, she said she wants to make sure she gives similar experiences to prince george, Princess Charlotte and prince louis. Catherine was speaking after lauching a major survey on childhood last month, as our royal correspondent, Sarah Campbell reports. Do they like Brussel Sprouts too . I never knew that. The last few weeks have seen the duchess of cambridge interact with children, their parents and carers across the uk, from a Childrens Centre in cardiff, a womens prison in surrey, a farm in belfast, and a cafe in aberdeen. Hello, everybody. Catherine, who has spent eight years exploring issues around children and their development, wants to spark a National Conversation about the importance of the early years. But it is rare for her to speak about her own views. At this nursery in south london, she was joined by giovanna fletcher, who hosts the happy mum, happy ba by podcast. On its latest edition, catherine talks about her childhood, and experiences she hopes to pass on to her own three children. I had an amazing granny who devoted a lot of time to playing with us, doing arts and crafts and cooking with us, and i try and incorporate a lot of the experiences that she gave us at the time
into the experiences that i give my children now. Catherine also talked about her passion for the outdoors, where she spent much of her time as a child. That passion was clear from the child centred garden she helped to design at last years chelsea flower show, a garden that was enjoyed by her own three children. Now its time for a look at the weather with darren bett. You have something sticking out of your head move to the right a little bit thats lovely. Is that storm dennis buffeting you about . Little bit thats lovely. Is that storm dennis buffeting you abounm is indeed because storm dennis is arriving and we are expecting strengthening winds and further heavy rain in the process. The centre of the storm at the moment is between scotland and iceland and it is undergoing explosive cycle of
genesis, deepening rapidly which is why the winds are strengthening. Impacts come from the rain, numerous amber warnings from the met office, over Higher Ground with the heaviest across mid and south wales and transpire in the southern uplands, no warning tomorrow and on amber warning but the amber warning moves towards the downs in the south east. We are starting to see rain coming into this part of the uk, not much rainfor into this part of the uk, not much rain for eastern england, weather towards the west over the hills and an inch already in places and more to come. Through the rest of the afternoon we have rain spreading in across the whole of the uk, the winds continue to strengthen as well, south to south westerly wind and widely those gusts will be at around 50 or 60 months per hour with the higher numbers around exposed western h ills the higher numbers around exposed Western Hills and coasts, around 70 mph. Because it is a south westerly, it might well be wet and windy and mild with temperatures away from the far north of scotland in double
figures. Scotland as a whole and Northern Ireland could get thundery downpours this evening before the rain clears and we get showers following. More cloud and rain coming back across england and wales and developing widely, heavy over the hills and threatening further flooding. It transcoder in scotland and Northern Ireland, very mild, exceptionally mild across parts of england and wales where we have a wet and windy start on sunday, the rain does push away towards the south east and a brief respite and then lots of showers, packing in across the uk again, wintry over the hills in scotland. The winds in the afternoon are not quite as strong for england and wales but picking up in scotland and Northern Ireland. After that rain moves through and we introduce the showers, we introduce colder air tomorrow so temperatures will be dropping. Double figures in the south east, six or seven in scotla nd the south east, six or seven in scotland and Northern Ireland. Into the evening and overnight, that is storm dennis getting closer to the north west of scotland so the winds could be gusting 80 mph here, pretty
windy elsewhere for