Tonight at ten, the High Speed Rail link hs2 will go ahead. The Prime Minister says its a difficult and controversial decision. The initial phase will link london and birmingham. The second phase will go to manchester and leeds. But rising costs and delays have hampered the project. This is a fantastic project for the country. It delivers a massive increase in capacity for rail up from north to south and south to north. In those areas affected by the route, theres been dismay at the decision, especially among those whose homes are under threat. Ive got children. Itd be nice to think that they could come into the business, but obviously we dont know that now, what future it holds. Well have details and reaction, as the latest estimated cost
of h52 stands at over £100 billion. Also tonight the british businessman linked to 11 coronavirus cases says hes now fully recovered but still in quarantine. In syria, thousands more people flee their homes in Idlib Province under fire from forces loyal to president Bashar Al Assad. And we meet the first member of team gbs Sport Climbing squad, a new Olympic Event for tokyo later this year. And coming up on sportsday on bbc news, a Third Premier League club makes the move toward safe standing, as Manchester United want to install rail seating for 1500 fans at old trafford. Good evening. Our main story is that the controversial hs2 High Speed Rail link
linking london to birmingham, leeds and manchester has been given the go ahead by the Prime Minister. The first phase of the line connecting london to birmingham, with an additonal section to crewe, was due to open at the end of 2026. But the trains may not be running on the route until at least 2028. The next phase of the project, extending to manchester and leeds, is not expected to be ready before 2035. The initial cost set out in 2015 was just under £56 billion, but a recent review said it could now be more than £100 billion. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports on the h52 go ahead and the reaction to it. It was Boris Johnsons £100 billion dilemma, and his decision to push on with hs2. This is a fantastic project for the country. It delivers massive increase in capacity for rail up from north to south and south to north, and then it allows us
to go forward and develop Northern Powerhouse rail, which is exactly what is needed, we need connectivity east west in the north. For those living along the route, the fight is over. Sandras family was forced to sell nearly half of their firm, customers at their stables driven away. Its been in the family for about 90 years. Its turned their way of life upside down. What its doing to your health, the worry of it all, the worry on my side and my health, my family, ive got children, itd be nice to think that they could come into the business, but obviously we dont know that now, what future it holds. The railway will run from london euston to west london, cutting through buckinghamshire and warwickshire to birmingham. That stretch could be ready in ten years time. But the lines to leeds and manchester, where the railways are badly overcrowded, will take ten years on top of that. The government wants to review that part of the project again to improve connections and to cut costs. Weve got good headlines here, but not so much detail underneath them, and there are a number of issues now that ill be pressing the government on if were to get a new railway for the north of england to a reasonable timescale thats on the right route. Work to prepare sites on the first stretch of the railway has been going on for years. Here, theyve dug up the foundations of an old station. Well, this area here used to be one of the platforms in the old station, dating back to the 1830s. This whole area used to be a car park. Its been cleared. But now the Real Construction work of the railway, the new station, with new platforms here in central birmingham, can begin. This is what that station will look like. Hs2 will reduce journey times to london by half an hour, to leeds from birmingham by an hour. Hsz, dont want you environmental groups say hs2 will cause irreversible damage along the route. The government believes the long term benefits for the country will be worth it. Tom burridge, bbc news, in the west midlands. The government has also promised to boost spending over the next five years to improve bus services and cycle routes across england. The Prime Minister said an extra £5 billion would provide more frequent services and more affordable fares. Labour says the measures wont be enough to reverse years of conservative cuts, which caused thousands of bus routes to be axed. 0ur north of england corrrespondent danny savage reports. Darlington at lunchtime today an abundance of bus Services Covering the town
and many places beyond. Where we live, theres a bus about every ten minutes into town, and then on the way coming back, yes, so its excellent. So frequent and reasonably priced . Yeah, i would say so. Smashing, yeah, no problems. Im going to catch this one. Head out of darlington to barnard castle, and again there is a decent regular service linking this Rural Community to its bigger neighbour. But getting elsewhere is problematic. So if i wanted to get a bus over to Kirkby Stephen, which isnt too far away, theres one at three oclock, thats all right. But there is a c next to it, which is. Ah, wednesdays only. We headed over the snowy tops into the neighbouring county. Welcome to cumbria, where Rural Bus Services in some parts of the county are virtually nonexistent. Many services have been axed over the last few years as the county council withdrew funding due to budget cuts. This bus from Kirkby Stephen to
penrith and back is tuesdays only. The operator says its a private Company Providing a public service. We dont make money off the bus services. We make our money from our private hire. The bus services, it covers the cost for a bus, and it covers the cost for an employee. It doesnt make a profit, we do it as a community service. They also do it to tackle isolation. Teenagers here are jealous of their peers in big towns and cities. Theyre very lucky to live somewhere where they can do stuff and they can get to places a lot easier. They can go shopping or, you know, just do what they want, really. You can rely on your mum and dad to a certain point, but then theres other people who cant, obviously, they dont have that same reliability with their parents. A report last year into bus services in england tells the wider story. Bus funding is almost £400 million a year lower than it was ten years ago. More than 3000 local authority supported services have been lost or reduced, and 2113 have gone in the past year. The government is pledging money for hundreds of miles of new cycle lanes too. A decade ago, Cumbria County Council spent nearly £2 million a year on subsidising buses. Now they spend nothing. Will todays announcement mean that such cutbacks will be at least partially reversed . Danny savage, bbc news, cumbria. 0ur economics editor, faisal islam, is in birmingham. Today we learned that the economy in the uk did not grow at all in the last three months of 2019, so how important is the claim from the Prime Minister that this project will boost growth . Well, there is a impact that the court hope from this kind of infrastructure investment. This is not just kind of infrastructure investment. This is notjust about a very kind of infrastructure investment. This is not just about a very fast train line, it is about changing the
economic geography of the country, those city leaders in places like birmingham, manchester and leeds being able to market their cities to International Investors at a tough time. But there is also a short term impact, we saw that entered as gdp numbers. Without public spending, those numbers would have been negative in the last three months of 2019. As it was, the numbers were flat, zero, which means that going into the 20205, the economy was not roaring but whimpering because manufacturing and production was squeezed by political uncertainty, by brexit 5toppage5. That wont necessarily be helped by the likes of the government announcing the end to the frictionless trade that busine55e5 to the frictionless trade that businesses have enjoyed. In china, where the coronavirus outbreak started, the number of deaths has now passed the 1000 mark. The World Health Organization says the disease will be officially called covid 19 and warned it could be 18 months before the first vaccine becomes available. The british businessman whos thought to have infected 11 people with coronavirussays he has fully recovered. Steve wal5h, from hove in east sussex, remains in isolation in hospital. 0ur correspondent catherine burn5 reports from brighton. Steve wal5h is still in hospital he says its just a precaution now. But brighton is dealing with the after effects of his infection, with two gp surgeries being closed to patients. Today, mr walsh has been named and has explained that he did everything by the book. He says, i was advised to attend an isolated room at hospital, despite showing no symptoms, and subsequently self isolated at home, as instructed. When the diagnosis was confirmed, i was sent to an Isolation Unit in hospital, where i remain, and a5 a precaution my family was also asked to isolate themselves. But in the roughly two weeks between being infected and diagnosed, it was life as normal, including a trip to the pub. Its still open five staff have gone into isolation. But the pub says its worked with Public Health england and that theres a minimal ongoing risk of infection. The disease now has an official name covid 19. The government rates the risk level for the public as moderate but sounded this warning. The situation will get worse before it gets better. We will be guided by the science. Be in no doubt, we will do everything that is effective to tackle this virus and keep people safe. Mr wal5h picked up the coronavirus at a conference in singapore. On his way back to the uk, he stopped off for several days at a ski chalet in france, where he passed the virus on to 11 other people. Five of those infected remain in france, and one man returned to majorca. Mr walsh and the other five british people came back to the uk. Two of them are gps, and two surgeries have been temporarily closed. Mr walshs neighbours are baffled by all the attention. His wifes told me on the phone that really hes not that ill. She thinks its a complete. Basically a load of rubbish, and that its no worse than flu, probably not as bad. But Health Experts are taking this seriously. This gp surgery has been closed for two days now, for what theyre calling extensive cleaning. Down the road, another surgerys been closed too. We know that one of the infected gps, katrina greenwood, used to work here. Its just five days now since steve walsh was officially diagnosed, and he says hes well recovered. That is generally true for this virus. Most people tend to only get mild symptoms. Catherine burns, bbc news. Our Global Health correspondent Tulip Mazumdar is at the World Heath Organization in geneva. Can what have they been saying today, tulip . Well, around 400 of the worlds top scientists have been gathering here, trying to come work with a global plan of action to find out as much as they can about covid 19. Almost two months into this outbreak, there is still so much scientists do not know, like where did it come from and how long is it infectious in people . Without these answers, it is going to become increasingly difficult to contain this outbreak, mainly for china, and remembered 99 of global cases are still in china. The world health 0rganization says the biggest concern continues to be what will happen if cases start popping up in poorer countries with weaker health systems. It said that could cause global havoc. But it says that is not happening right now, there is a window of opportunity is still to contain this outbreak. Tulip, many thanks indeed for the latest there. In syria, tensions have escalated as forces loyal to president Bashar Al Assad continue their campaign to destroy the last rebel strongholds in Idlib Province. Theyve captured a key road which links aleppo with the capital damascus for the First Time Since 2012. Turkish backed rebels responded by shooting down a helicopter. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled Idlib Province in the biggest displacement of people in syrias nine year war. This report by our middle east correspondent Quentin Sommerville contains some distressing images. The long and winding death of rebel held idlib is quickening. Another 700,000 people fleeing. Among them, in the traffic heading north, this family. This is the biggest exodus since syrias war began. They fear whats behind them more than what lies ahead. Translation we are fleeing
from our village towards the Turkish Border because we are in fear for our children and women. Theyve packed up everything they can carry, knowing that they will likely never be back. Translation were leaving our house because of the army. The army executes those who stay here. Bashar al assads forces are tearing at their heels. Air strikes and artillery are redrawing the landscape here as the regime captures more and more territory. The world has stopped counting syrias dead, but in idlib, they dont have that luxury. In the blanket, the charred corpse of another victim. Here, they knew the regime warplanes were coming and ran for cover, but their homes gave them little protection. I cant recognise him. My father or my brother . I dont know, he says. The Turkish Backed rebels and islamist extremists are losing idlib, but today they had a small victory, the downing of a helicopter. The helicopter behind me belongs to the regime, he says in turkish. It was dropping barrel bombs on innocent civilians, women and children. There is no peace here, even for the dead. Returning regime soldiers film themselves desecrating the grave of a rebel commander. The living here are running out of breathing space. Ahmed hasjust been dug out of the rubble after syrian jets attacked a market in idlib city. 17 people died around him. The pleas for a ceasefire, some respite, are ignored. Girl cries. In a nearby bed, an 11 year old
screams from shrapnel wounds. She and ahmed will recover, but then what . They will likely end up here, joining many of idlibs other children, clinging on in the sprawling camps at the countrys edge with turkey, a place where people are corralled and forgotten. Once again, idlib is asking for help, but the world has left it and syria behind. Quentin somerville, bbc news. The plight and the suffering of people in idlib. That was Quentin Somerville reporting. The broadcasting regulator ofcom is to become britains first internet watchdog. The bbc understands that ministers will confirm their decision tomorrow, giving ofcom the responsibility for holding Online Platforms to account for any illegal or harmful content. Our media editor, amol rajan, has the story. Good afternoon. If you make a habit of asking young people across the country about their digital lives, you find a generation both addicted to smartphones and alert to the dangers. We just go past the terms and conditions, just press agree, but really, no one actually takes time to actually read it. Those dangers, which evolve every week and test parents tech savviness, have led to long awaited proposals on online harms. Its centrepiece is a statutory duty of care for companies that allow for companies that allow User Generated Content and the appointment of ofcom as the uks first internet regulator. But theres still no detail on what the penalties will be for Companies Breaking the law. Why would a californian tech giant worry about a slap on the wrist from a british regulator . Well, because i think there are a lot of users in britain. Theyve got a big footprint here. There are many platforms who ideally would not have wanted regulation, but i think thats changing. I think they understand now that, actually, regulation is coming. We know that 9 Million Girls in europe have experienced Cyber Bullying before the age of 15. For a lot of people, this is long overdue. Seyi akiwowo hosts workshops, like this one to local councillors, to help people with what she calls digital self care. When i first suffered abuse, the response from Tech Companies was below par, and thats why im really excited about about this online white paper and this bill, because its actually in our place and the duty of care on these Tech Companies. And its now saying, actually, these multi billion pound Tech Companies have a duty to all its users to enforce this idea of rights and responsibilities, and make sure everyones safe. And one woman, whom weve called kay, described how her 13 year old daughter was groomed by a 24 year old man on snapchat and facebook. He then raped her. I dont think there was anything more that we could have done. And believe me, ive quizzed myself over and over and over. Is there something i missed . I dont think there was. Snapchat is one of the platforms he was using to message her. He admitted to the police the reason it was snapchat was because there are no chat logs. No evidence. The internet has morphed from the utopian vision of its founders into humanitys digital echo chamber, full of dark corners. Reducing online harm is a responsibility shared between citizens, companies, and governments. And these proposals could make britain a template for others to follow. The aim here is to give britain the toughest internet laws in the world, while protecting free speech and enterprise. Yet, without clarity on the punishments for offenders, its impossible to know if thats what well soon get. Amol rajan, bbc news. The first same sex couple have got married in Northern Ireland today after a change in the law. Theres some flash photography in these pictures of the couple, robyn peoples and sharni edwards, at their wedding ceremony in county antrim. They described it as a landmark moment for equal rights in Northern Ireland. Tomorrow the Uk Supreme Court will consider the case of care workers and how much they should be paid for shifts during which theyre able to sleep. Unions say that care staff should receive the minimum wage for these sleep in shifts. If they win, then care providers may have to pay millions of pounds in back pay, which they say they cant afford. Our social Affairs Correspondent alison holt has the story and it contains some flashing images. Emma has autism. Would you like to get me one, emma . And later, when she settles down to sleep at her Residential Home near doncaster, its important that she knows theres a care worker like victoria close by to help, whatever the time. They work in the nights. Does it make you feel safe . Yes, it does, definitely, thank you. But how much should a care worker be paid for a shift where they can sleep . The Supreme Court has to decide whether theyre entitled
to the minimum wage, even if they arent disturbed. The staff bedroom is just up here. We have our Service Users bedrooms on either side. Whilst victoria will get the minimum wage for her sleep in tonight, unions have brought this case because many other care staff get a lower flat rate. You 100 have to be on top form all the time because if something happens, youre in charge. You have to make sure you are all right to sort them out. Shes adamant that they are on duty for the whole shift. Youre always at work. Its not like you can get up and leave to go anywhere else. But if care workers when their argument over sleep ins, charities and private care providers fear that they will face a bill for back pay costing millions of pounds. Philip barty runs the charity that supports emma. He says during austerity, councils and the nhs only paid them a low rate for night care. For providers including ourselves
to pay up to six years in backpay for all those years that we have paid a flat rate of £50 per night per shift, we would be facing a bill of £2. 5 million. Could you pay that . We dont have the resources to pay that, and nor do many others in the sector. The Supreme Court will hear arguments that this is an issue that could put some care providers out of business. Whatevers decided here at the Supreme Court, all involved in this case say at the heart of the issue is the underfunding of the social care system, and thats a matter which can only be sorted out over there by politicians. Governments for a long time have been talking about sorting the social care crisis. This is the point where they really have to step in and help out, because we just cant have a situation where we are saying either low paid workers dont get paid, or people dont get the vital care they need. Thats not tenable. The government says care workers should be fairly rewarded and that it will pay close attention to the courts judgment. It will be several months before that is delivered. Alison holt, bbc news. The Transitional Government in sudan has agreed to hand over the former president , omar al bashir, to the International Criminal court. He is wanted for crimes against humanity and genocide in the darfur region of the country. The conflict there began in 2003, when rebels took up arms against bashirs government. He responded by arming local militia, who burned villages and killed thousands. The un estimates that 300,000 died and millions were displaced. The bbcs Mohanad Hashim is one of the first journalists over the past decade to travel freely in the region. He sent this report. This is kalma refugee camp, home to nearly 200,000 darfuris. After 20 years of conflict, the camp has become a city and 2 Million People across the region have been displaced. We are one of the First International journalists to travel freely here in a decade. The worlds attention may have shifted, but the memories of the conflict are still fresh here. Ilyas was 19 when he fled his burning home. In the morning, he teaches, and in the afternoon he cuts hair to earn a bit of extra cash. Translation one of the government soldiers saw that i was from a different area. And i fell face first into the fire. The next generation of darfuris are growing up in these camps. The government of sudan wants these people to go back to their areas. It says its safe enough. Theres a Peace Process ongoing. People here have told me more than once that its very difficult
for them to move back to their homes when there is no security. Peacekeepers patrol the lanes of kalma, but not for long. In november, the un withdrew most of its troops from south darfur, leaving just 200 to patrol an area the size of england. For those still living as refugees in their own country, the government plans to try bashir may give them hope. But until peace is achieved, these camps will remain. Mohanad hashim, bbc news. One of the new competitions being introduced at the Olympic Games in tokyo this summer is Sport Climbing. And today, the first member of team gbs climbing squad was announced. Shes Shauna Coxsey from cheshire, who has already won five british titles along with other medals in the world championships. Our Sports CorrespondentKatie Gornall reports. Starting beep. Reaching for the top. Its set to be one of the most explosive sports at this summers olympics, and right now british
hopes are in the fingertips of Shauna Coxsey. Shes the countrys most successful competitive climber and today she became the first ever sport climber selected for team gb. I started climbing when i was four. I would watch the Olympic Games and it was so inspiring, but also, i felt quite disconnected because my sport wasnt part of that. So now to be here talking about the games and im going to be there too, its just so crazy. Im really, really excited. Climbing is a sport on the rise. It will make its olympic debut in tokyo this summer along with the likes of skateboarding and surfing, all sports popular with younger people and all hoping to reach a whole new audience. Olympic exposure offers a huge opportunity for climbing, which has already experienced a surge in popularity. In 2017, its thought1 Million People climbed on an indoor wall. By 2019, that number had grown to almost 1. 5 million. More and more people, it seems, are spending their free time hanging
around places like this. Some people say, what are you doing on the weekend . And i say, im climbing and theyre like, what . The adrenaline when youre up there feels amazing. You get stronger and healthy. And its fun. For Shauna Coxsey, this summer is notjust about scaling a wall, but lifting her sport to new heights and winning over a whole new set of fans in the process. Katie gornall, bbc news. Thats it. Now on bbc one, time for the news where you are. Have a very good night. Hello and welcome to sportsday im katie shanahan,
on the programme tonight. Another step towards safe standing in the premier league. Manchester united are the latest team to make a plan. England leave outjimmy, but some familiar faces return for sri lanka. And climbing high. Britains Shauna Coxsey packs her bags for tokyo, and one of the most exciting new sports at the olympics. Were going to start tonight by talking about safe standing, because Manchester United have become the latest premier league club to try and bring it to their stadium. Theyve asked for permission to install 1,500 rail seats in the north east corner of old trafford, and want to trial it later this season. Tottenham and wolves already have rail seating sections in their stadiums, and the move towards safe standing at the top level of english football now seems inevitable, asjoe lynskey reports. For more than a century at old trafford, theyve looked for ways to keep up with demand. They were one of the first clubs to build a roof ona of the first clubs to build a roof on a stand without pillars, so every United Supporter had a clear view. Now, this club wants in on the latest idea. This is rail seating, a new way to watch football standing up. Already, its in use across europe. Dortmund are one team in germany who get extra noise by design. But in the uk, standing has a more painful history. It was one of the factors behind the hillsboro disaster. It led to football grounds in the top divisions going all cedar. But such