she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations — now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed 8 people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. we are happy that this dangerous and evil man has been removed from society, and while we continue to grieve forjacob, we must ask the obvious question — why was zephaniah mcleod, known to so many agencies, allowed to be out and about? the worst ever performance — again — by emergency departments in wales, with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. do it yourself — apple makes spare parts available so that customers can do their own repairs to their devices. and lady gaga stars in the new movie house of gucci, and tells us how she drew on the abuse she suffered as a teenager. reliving your trauma for a character is maybe not the healthiest thing, but i'm a romantic. the government has confirmed it is scrapping a key part of the h52 high speed rail link. the eastern leg between the east midlands and leeds won't now be built, saving tens of billions of pounds. businesses in the region have reacted angrily but ministers deny they are breaking a promise to level up the country. they say their integrated rail plan, unveiled this morning, will deliver benefits to the region through track upgrades up to ten years sooner. let's go now leeds station and our presenter rowan bridge is there for us. that afternoon. the criticism from civic and political leaders was swift and damning. the west yorkshire natural mad described it as a betrayal of the north. there is also criticism from those using the railway lines as well. commuters told me this is to provide the north—south divide and said that a shame that it wasn't come to the area. here i have a critic of the government's decisions. what's your reaction to the news today? this was a massive moment _ reaction to the news today? this was a massive moment from _ reaction to the news today? this was a massive moment from the - reaction to the news today? this was a massive moment from the north i reaction to the news today? this was| a massive moment from the north for government to make good on commitments they have made. it would have gone a long way for their levelling up agenda. i think a lot of us are bitterly disappointed that they have fallen short on promises made for a long time. the government sa ou are made for a long time. the government say you are getting _ made for a long time. the government say you are getting trains _ made for a long time. the government say you are getting trains to _ say you are getting trains to sheffield. {lin say you are getting trains to sheffield. say you are getting trains to sheffield-— say you are getting trains to sheffield. . . , ., �* , sheffield. on the cheap. that's different to _ sheffield. on the cheap. that's different to what _ sheffield. on the cheap. that's different to what was _ sheffield. on the cheap. that's| different to what was promised. across the north, there is widespread disappointment that having worked to this and made the commitment, the government are now not going to make good on the commitments they have made. the government — commitments they have made. the government said that improvements will be done faster by improving existing networks. surely that's what commuters want? iligiiiiii existing networks. surely that's what commuters want? will see if that's the case. _ what commuters want? will see if that's the case. but _ what commuters want? will see if that's the case. but so _ what commuters want? will see if that's the case. but so far- what commuters want? will see if that's the case. but so far i - that's the case. but so far i haven't spoken to any nor meeting with anything but bitterly disappointed that the government haven't honoured their obligations. people feel this is a huge missed opportunity and not back to the government's levelling up agenda. quite make the costs of hs to have been spiralling so surely they need to be brought under control? of course it is, but this is a missed opportunity. it as course it is, but this is a missed opportunitv- i— course it is, but this is a missed opportunity. it as you heard there, there are rail— opportunity. it as you heard there, there are rail improvements, - opportunity. it as you heard there, there are rail improvements, but. opportunity. it as you heard there, i there are rail improvements, but for many it doesn't feel like enough. the government claims the £96 billion programme would bring faster journeys up to 10 years earlier than planned — but labour said ministers had "ripped up" promises — describing the announcement as a "great train robbery". theo leggett has this report. a new £96 billion improvement plan for rail, hailed as the most ambitious in a generation, but here in bradford there is little sign of celebration. its two existing stations are run down and rail links are unreliable. a new one was meant to be built as part of the northern powerhouse rail scheme, a high—speed line linking leeds and manchester. now only half of it will be built. the rest of the route will have to be upgraded and there will be no shiny new station for bradford. the services were delayed so i feel like we could benefit from less transfers and more direct trains. they are not that bad on time, it's just they're old trains, overcrowed with people. they are not very good. they are quite on and off. they always get cancelled a lot of the time, and i usually go to college, i'm usually late every other day. ambitions for hs2 are also being reined in. the london to birmingham section is already being built but there won't now be a dedicated high—speed link between birmingham and leeds. instead the new track will stop in the east midlands. the rest of the route will be upgraded. the government insists the changes mean it will be able to deliver major improvements much more quickly. it will offer for young people commuting in the midlands and the north the same type of confidence about their daily lives, their commute, as people have been used to for a century in the south. it's a huge investment, costing £96 billion, though not all of it is new money. it includes plans to spend £360 million on introducing contactless payment systems to help commuters and there will be price caps for trains, trams and buses. there will also be a new mass transit system for leeds but labour says promises have been broken. we set out a compressive plan for hs2 and northern powerhouse rail and we stick by that. that's the big difference between us and the government. when we set out promises we stick to them for top the government makes promises and then rips them up, which is what it has done today. for mps along the northern powerhouse rail route the stakes are high. if we find a better, cheaper, more deliverable way to get a better result for our constituents, isn't that a better way to go? in west yorkshire, badly affected, a very different view. is a betrayal of the north and the people i represent in west yorkshire to stop only what feels like months ago the prime minister stood in front of stevenson's rocket in manchester and promised a new rail line, northern powerhouse rail. no one is questioning the need for better transport links in the north of the country but the row over how to achieve that is becoming more bitter than ever. i'm joined now by former labour transport secretary. what do you make of these changes to plans? what do you make of these changes to lans? ,., what do you make of these changes to lans? ., plans? verre sat back to the eastern side of the country. _ plans? verre sat back to the eastern side of the country. if _ plans? verre sat back to the eastern side of the country. if you _ plans? verre sat back to the eastern side of the country. if you stand - side of the country. if you stand back from the detail, what is going to happen is a really serious east—west divide in england in the next generation, on top of the north—south divide, which is part of the reason why we developed hs two in the first place. if hs two only goes to birmingham and manchester, but no longer goads leeds, durham, sheffield. it meansjourney but no longer goads leeds, durham, sheffield. it means journey times from london will be one hour to manchester, two hours to leeds, twice as long, though it is the same difference from london, three hours to newcastle, which will be six times the travel distance from birmingham, which is going to be really debilitating for the whole of the north—east of the country, when it is so badly treated. this east—west divide will have very serious consequences for england in the next generation. it means social activity, enterprise, is all going to move to the south and the rest of the country, and for the great county of yorkshire, east midlands, and the whole of the north—east of england, around newcastle, durham, going north into edinburgh, which was also going to be part of hs two but will no longer get fast trains, it's seriously bad news. i don't think it sustainable. i think it will have to be reversed. when people realise this east—west chasm is being introduced, like the victorians choosing the western part of the country believing east with canals. once is clear, it will be completed all the way through to edinburgh, and it will be done much more slowly, 20 or 30 years late, and more expensively. in more slowly, 20 or 30 years late, and more expensively.— and more expensively. in the commons. — and more expensively. in the commons, the _ and more expensively. in the commons, the transport - and more expensively. in the - commons, the transport secretary said the changes to the plans might not necessarily mean that all the new lines that are built will be built, but by upgrading existing lines, benefits will be felt in some cases up to ten years sooner than original ideas. i cases up to ten years sooner than original ideas.— original ideas. i think that's very doubtful. the _ original ideas. i think that's very doubtful. the hs _ original ideas. i think that's very doubtful. the hs to _ original ideas. i think that's very doubtful. the hs to plan - original ideas. i think that's very doubtful. the hs to plan was - original ideas. i think that's very i doubtful. the hs to plan was ready to go. it was designed in great detail. forthe to go. it was designed in great detail. for the government made a plan of cancelling, the plant is announced today are literally have been produced from no one. all the detailed design work will have to be done. in terms of the first bits of hs two that is going to be built, just the first stretch out from birmingham to a complete new destination east midlands, there is no design work for that at all. it will be much slower to get that going than the previous plan. there reason why hst was delayed anyway as the government is proving so slow in getting the scheme implemented in the same problem of getting the public sector moving, which has been a big problem with this government, when applied to the other schemes they are proposing today, too. you were involved _ they are proposing today, too. you were involved in the original concept of hs2. the prime minister said the old plans got the balance wrong. it focuses on services that are less glamorous but more important to most people. is there not something in that? if you focus on smaller towns and cities, that is just as important people, and encouraging them to make journeys by train rather than by car? it is train rather than by car? it is ossible train rather than by car? it is possible for _ train rather than by car? it 3 possible for governments to do more than one thing at one time. i'm strongly in favour of improving local transport. strongly in favour of improving localtransport. it's strongly in favour of improving local transport. it's all very important, but that can't be at the expense of intercity travel, particularly when getting the fast and long distance trains off the existing rail lines predates additional capacity, and you can then introduce more local and regional services. when hs2 goes to birmingham and manchester, this will free up capacity on the old victorian lines for new local and regional services. the eastern side of the country, sheffield, leeds, durham, newcastle, will not have that opportunity. they will lose both long—distance fast trains to be connected to the rest of the country, and also have a massive penalty to pay intensive better local services, too.— penalty to pay intensive better local services, too. very briefly, one thing _ local services, too. very briefly, one thing i _ local services, too. very briefly, one thing i have _ local services, too. very briefly, one thing i have never _ local services, too. very briefly, l one thing i have never understood local services, too. very briefly, - one thing i have never understood is the idea of introducing a contactless payment system across areas in the north and north—west and north—east of england so difficult when it's been in place in london for so long. what is it about that? the government says they will do it now, but why is it taken so long? do it now, but why is it taken so lon. ? �* . ., , do it now, but why is it taken so lona ? �* , ., , long? because the government is useless in implementing - long? because the government is useless in implementing these i long? because the government is i useless in implementing these ideas. in london, transport for london, which are subject to the mayor, is probably the most efficient transport system in the world. there is no equivalent, unfortunately, in birmingham, manchester, and other parts of the north. as soon as the government can set up an agency serving the midlands and the north, they will continue to be behind the curve on really important things like transport technology. doubts have been cast on an email supposedly written by the chinese tennis star peng shuai, saying that she's safe and well. the two—time grand slam doubles champion hasn't been seen for a fortnight, since she accused china's former vice premier zhang gaoli of sexual assault. the email, purportedly from her, has been published by chinese state media but the head of women's tennis says he has a hard time believing that it's genuine. our china correspondent robin brant reports from shanghai. for years, peng shuai has let her racket do the talking, and she's risen to the top, a star in a sport where there are not many chinese success stories. at 35, she is someone the ruling communist party leaders could be proud of. but an allegation about one of those senior party figures change that. in this social media posting earlier this month, peng named vice premier zhang gaoli, and claimed he forced her to have sex. china state censors removed the posting within an hour. peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly challenge senior authorities like zhang gaoli without paying some price, and i think it would be telling if she were able to leave the country, for example, and speak freely, where she wouldn't face those kinds of repercussions. in the ensuing days, tennis stars old and new spoke out, worried about her. billiejean king and naomi osaka were among them. then, in the middle of the night, an e—mail appeared, or at least what one arm of chinese state media says is an e—mailfrom peng shuai to the head of the women's tennis association. basically, the message is, don't worry, i'm fine, and i didn't mean what i said two weeks ago. in what looks like a screen shot, it's claimed she started out saying, "hello, everyone," and went to say the allegations made two weeks ago were in fact false, and she has just been resting at home, everything is fine, she adds. promise people do disappear in china one tech billionaire was not seen in public for months after criticising state regulators. but athletes — that's unusual. in a hasty response, the man to whom the e—mail was reportedly sent, wta chief steve simon, said he had a hard time believing peng actually wrote it. this comes as this country prepares to be at the centre of the sporting world when beijing hosts the winter olympics next february, a game is already facing the prospect of some kind of boycott over what the us says is genocide against chinese muslims in the west of the country. howard zhang is editor of bbc chinese, and joins me now. what sort of attention and reaction has there been to this in china? in china, at the very beginning, in the first hour when the post was from macklin's account, when this post was first out, it went viral within ten or 20 minutes. of course, within the hour, the authorities took it down. a lot of people later found they could no longer post peng shuai's name, or search the former vice premier�*s name. they were trying to use all sorts of things that could give people the idea that they were talking about the subject, for example, peng shuai is a name that was used for the korean wartime chinese martial, and herfirst name also meant the name of a marshal in chinese. they put up a chinese war veteran's. and the name zhang gao is also the name for career. there was lots of parities and all sorts of things to discuss what was happening. of course, a lot of people also used vpns to go over the firewall into the bigger world, onto youtube, twitter, and elsewhere, anonymously trying to post things. so that was quite a big reaction in china. it so that was quite a big reaction in china. , ~' so that was quite a big reaction in china. , ~ ., china. it sounds like there are doubts as _ china. it sounds like there are doubts as to _ china. it sounds like there are doubts as to whether - china. it sounds like there are doubts as to whether this i china. it sounds like there are i doubts as to whether this e-mail is doubts as to whether this e—mail is from her or not? doubts as to whether this e-mail is from her or not?— from her or not? that is absolutely true. not from her or not? that is absolutely true- not only _ from her or not? that is absolutely true. not only normal _ from her or not? that is absolutely true. not only normal people i from her or not? that is absolutely true. not only normal people have | true. not only normal people have doubts, but authorities have doubts. many have openly said, unless they can have more solid proof that peng shuai is well, theyjust don't have that at this moment. they don't have the evidence. a man has beenjailed for life after admitting to a series of knife attacks in birmingham in september last year. zephaniah mcleod must serve a minimum of 21 years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter ofjacob billington, as well as 3 attempted murders and 4 counts of wounding with intent. phil mackie has the background. injust over an hour and a half, zephaniah mcleod wrought havoc on the streets of birmingham. police emergency. one guy tried to stab me on the street and he stabbed me in the neck but... you've been stabbed in the neck? he was described in court as a dangerous offender. he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had recently been released from prison. and she's still breathing? 0k, we just found out someone else has been stabbed now. _ armed with a knife, he stabbed eight people. they were serious attacks, often targeted towards people's head, neck and upper chest areas, which have left victims with some catastrophic injuries, but also, you know, the mental scarring that the victims will have. in the confusion, police didn't initially realise all the attacks were related. within 2a hours, they had identified the man responsible. the worst of the attacks was here in irving street. a group of friends from liverpool had spent the night in birmingham and were walking back to the hotel when zephaniah mcleod attacked them. he's losing a lot of blood from the neck. is he breathing and conscious? he is conscious. 0k. not really, he's losing consciousness. welcome to the vedetts garden sessions... - two of the fans were in this band, the vedetts. the lead singer is michael callaghan, the drummer, his best friend jacob billington. despite their friends' best efforts, jacob didn't make it. now his family want to know why mcleod wasn't under closer observation. he didn't appear to have been monitored in the way you would imagine he would, as somebody who was known to be dangerous and had a long previous history of being dangerous, had a known mental health condition. he is kind of a personification of the problems of the legal system and the mental health team in this country. michael callaghan survived but, like some of the other victims, he suffered life—changing injuries. the knife completely severed his ijugular vein and carotid artery. i he lost a huge amount of blood, and we don't really understand l how he even survived. michael's progress has been astonishing, but in his statement, which was read in court, he said he sometimes wishes he hadn't made it. there are still many unanswered questions about what happened last september, and whether more could have been done to stop zephaniah mcleod and prevent the attacks which left a seven people wounded and one, jacob billington, dead. phil mackie bbc news, birmingham. hospital emergency departments and ambulance services in wales have recorded their worst ever performance figures again. last month only 65% of patients were treated within 4 hours in a&e. and just half of callouts to people with immediately life threatening injuries were reached within the target 8 minutes. our correspondent mark hutchings, has been giving us the latest. if you've spent any time lately, possibly a long time waiting for treatment from the welsh nhs, then these figures public in as little surprise to you. they see another set of tumbling records for poor performance. 65% of patients waiting less than four hours in a&e — the target for that is 95%. nearly 9500 people waited more than 12 hours in a&e. the target for that is that no one should have to wait that long. 50% of ambulances answering the most urgent calls within eight minutes, they haven't met their targets for the last 15 months. 21% of the welsh population is now on a waiting list for a planned treatment. these case notes are pretty depressing, the welsh nhs confederation, who run the health board, say it is a picture that is unsustainable. the welsh government, who are based here, insist they are investing more money, but they are calling on people to choose carefully — do they really need emergency treatment? also, there is the added problem of an estimated up to 15% of patients in acute hospital beds who don't need to be there but there isn't a care package for them to leave hospital. the leaves are still falling from the trees, it's only november, but it's largely in the coming winter months when more unwelcome records will be broken. (pres)the widow of a top scottish government official who died the widow of a top scottish government official who died after contracting coronavirus last year, has told the bbc she believes officials concealed the full circumstances of his death to protect the reputation of the hospital. andrew slorance was being treated for cancer at glasgow's queen elizabeth university hospital last november when he first tested positive. his wife louise believes he caught covid there, as well as another life threatening infection, that was never revealed to the family. this from our scotland editor, sarah smith. andrew slorance was in charge of scotland's covid response when he was admitted to hospital for cancer treatment a year ago. the father of five died nearly six weeks later after testing positive for coronavirus. it was only after requesting his medical record that his wife discovered he was also being treated for a potentially life—threatening infection caused by a fungus called aspergillus. i saw the aspergillus and i wondered what it was. she believes the full details of his illness were concealed to protect the reputation of the hospital. i am angry that nobody has ever told me about it, in regards to the aspergillus, somebody, probably a number of people have made an active decision not to inform his family of that infection. police scotland are investigating a number of other deaths at the queen elizabeth university hospital in glasgow which is already the subject of a public enquiry. nhs greater glasgow and clyde said it has been open and honest about mr slorance's kate and there has been no attempt case and there has been no attempt to conceal any information from the family. ten—year—old millie was being treated for leukaemia at the hospital campus and she died after contracting an infection found in water. a review found that infection was probably caused by the hospital environment. her mother says the hospital should be closed. nicola sturgeon led the tributes to mr slorance when he died, saying the government was devastated. she faced questions in parliament today about his case and the hospital in which he died. enough is enough. this is the worst scandal of the devolution era i and in any other country. in the world there would be resignations and sackings but under this government, it is i denial and cover—up. how many more families had to lose a loved ones before anyone - is held to account? these are serious issues, i think they deserve to be treated seriously and on the substance of the issues, the public enquiry is doing that work right now. and the findings and any recommendations that flow from that public enquiry absolutely should be, must be and will be acted upon. the scottish government says it will do everything possible to get answers for the slorance family and will consider any wider implications for the queen elizabeth hospital. sarah smith, bbc news, glasgow. the home secretary, priti patel, has confirmed a public inquiry will be held into the fatal poisoning of a woman in wiltshire. dawn sturgess, who was 44, died in 2018 after coming into contact with the nerve agent, novichok. the substance has been linked to the attempted murder of the former russian spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, in salisbury a few months earlier. the tech giant, apple, is to start selling spare parts and tools so that customers can carry out their own repairs on their phones and computers. the "self—service repair" programme will begin in the united states next year before expanding to more countries. let's get more from our business presenter. it's an interesting idea, isn't it quite mad i hope they give a manual as well, because you wouldn't want to get it wrong, were due? wouldn't want to get it wrong. they are offering the software as well. it does turn out that you don't actually have to be a genius to fix fix an iphone. the idea behind _ genius to fix fix an iphone. the idea behind this _ genius to fix fix an iphone. tie: idea behind this is genius to fix fix an iphone. tte: idea behind this is that genius to fix fix an iphone. tt9: idea behind this is that perhaps it could bring down the cost of fixing iphones altogether and extend the life cycle of all our devices. the right to repair movement, because that has gained huge traction in the united states, is saying what apple and the like, including other companies such as microsoft, is what they have done by making it very difficult to repair your own device, as they are effectively taxing the environment, and by making sure that people have to go to the official repair shops through the likes of apple, it can actually mean that the costs of repairs can run up to more than half the costs of a replacement phone or a replacement device, which incentivises customers to just chuck the broken one, and shall at a new one, which boosts the bottom line for these tech companies. as of next yearin for these tech companies. as of next year in the united states, they will offer to people replacement parts and tools, and also some of the software. it's not yet known how much it will actually cost to get these replacement parts. certainly quite a big win. this comes off the back of microsoft bringing back some of their rights to repair legislation in october. quite a big win. perhaps if you are not sure about these things, you should take it to a technician if it is not within your skill set, shall we say. mejust within your skill set, shall we say. me just recently got device, and some things gone wrong, have apple said anything about the guarantee? often, the manufacturer's guarantee is only valid if you get it repaired officially. having said anything on that front? , :, �* , that front? they haven't yet. in the ast, that front? they haven't yet. in the past. there's _ that front? they haven't yet. in the past, there's been _ that front? they haven't yet. in the past, there's been a _ that front? they haven't yet. in the past, there's been a lot _ that front? they haven't yet. in the past, there's been a lot of - past, there's been a lot of controversy on this. various companies subside, shame on apple for making it harder to replace a cracked screens and the like. you can quite easily find yourself out of guarantee and out of warranty. they haven't said as much about that. it will be really interesting. it's so easy to do, you sit down, it's in your pocket, you've got a new device, and it's cracked within a week. it will be really interesting to see what they say about that. some of the applicants for rights to repair include some of the former employees of apple. in fact, now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. some have enjoyed sunshine today but it is a predominantly cloudy picture. really, the trend is for the mild weather to continue through the rest of the working week. the cloud is quite thick and low so it is giving some drizzly rain across northern and western areas. dank and drizzly and western areas. dank and drizzly and on the hills and coast further west, hilland and on the hills and coast further west, hill and coast fog will mean a mild night for most. even in southern areas, it is unlikely to be frosty, more likely to turn misty with some cloud around. fog again in the morning, perhaps some breaks in the morning, perhaps some breaks in the cloud east of the grampians. a weather front still hanging around in the north—west, drizzly rain around hills and close. still mild across the hello, this is bbc news. the headlines: ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high—speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds — the government promises the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is fantastic, a monumental programme for rail investment for commuters, for passengers in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. this was the first test of a levelling up and the government has completely failed and let down everyone in the north, and you can't believe a word the prime minister says. doubts have been cast on an e—mail supposedly written by the chinese tennis star pung shuai — saying that she's safe and well. a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed eight people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. the worst ever performance, again, by emergency departments in wales — with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. sport now — and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. here's jane. good afternoon. the government will intervene if the england and wales cricket board do not take strong enough action, following the powerful testimony given to mps by former cricketer azeem rafiq on racism he experienced in the game. that's according to the sports minister, nigel huddlestone, who's been speaking at the dcms select committee looking into the racism scandal and says he's frustrated at slow progress. this has been going on with azeem rafiq formally from about 2017. we have seen the fact that this has been clearly kicked into the long grass for years. that's not appropriate, so i think we need a little bit of time for ecb and lord patel, who is conducting his review, to think about what actions maybe taken, but i think we are all impatient here, including myself. meanwhile, somerset county cricket club have reprimanded jack brooks over historical tweets he sent which contained racist connotations. the club investigated two tweets sent in 2012, when brooks played for northamptonshire, as well as calling cheteshwar pujara "steve" when they were both at yorkshire. brooks has "unreservedly" apologised. steven gerrard says it's an honour to be the new aston villa head coach. he's been speaking to the media for the first time since his appointment. gerrard said being closer to his family and being back in the premier league were his reasons for leaving glasgow rangers. but the former liverpool midfielder denied it was in order to eventually get his dream job of managing his old club. you'll never hear me saying it's a stepping stone. for me, i'm really honoured and proud to be in this position. as i say, i'm all in. i will give this job everything but it needs to be a success. i will be 100% committed to and more so my staff and i don't think there's anything wrong in football to have dreams and aspirations, but as i say, liverpool have got a world—class coach that they are very happy with. if he was to sign a lifetime deal right now, i would be very happy for them and him. england's ashes test against australia in melbourne and next year's australian tennis open will be played in front of full crowds. it's after covid—19 restrictions were eased in the state of victoria. the mcg cricket ground has a capacity of 100,000, and will stage the traditional boxing day test, which starts at 11.30pm uk time on christmas day. the fourth and fifth tests in sydney will also be held in front of full crowds, but restrictions mean the grounds in brisbane and adelaide will only be three—quarters full. earlier this year, there were limited spectator numbers at the australian open, and there was a five—day snap lockdown in the middle of the event, but january's tournement will be open to full crowds. well, it's not clear if the world number one novak djokovic will be there to defend his title at the australian open, as he reiterated his stand about freedom of choice over taking the covid vaccine. the victorian premier, daniel andrews, says international players who haven't received both doses of the vaccine will be denied entry into the state. djokovic has repeatedly declined to disclose his vaccination status. it doesn't really matter, whether it's vaccination or anything else in life, you should have the freedom to choose, to decide what you want to do. in this particular case, what you want to put in your body. so, i have been a proponent of that and a supporter of freedom of choice and i will be always supporting that because freedom is essential for a happy and prosperous life. eddiejones has named his england side to play south africa this weekend at twickenham. courtney lawes will captain the side as owen farrell is injured. newcastle hookerjamie blamire and sale prop bevan rodd both start in an inexperienced england front row. joe marchant is on the wing, with manu tuilagi returning to the midfield. the full squad is on the bbc sport website. that's all the sport for now. let's get more now on the government's decision to scrap the leeds leg of the hs2 high speed rail link. the eastern leg between the east midlands and leeds will no longer go ahead. the transport secretary, grant shapps, said the overhaul of plans for the rail network will result in fasterjourneys in a quicker timeframe. as part of the intergrated rail plans, thejourney from birmingham to nottingham will be cut from an hour and a quarter to just under half an hour. i'm joined now by ben bradley — the conservative mp for mansfield and leader of nottinghamshire county. what do you say to your constituents who say we were promised faster links from the midlands up to leeds, and we are not now going to get it? it is not fair to say that the whole eastern lake is scrapped because we are getting a new high—speed rail line between birmingham and nottingham. that is massively important for our region, it brings the whole of the west midlands into a commutable distance for nottinghamshire. in my. we also have a hub forjob creation of the back of all this. my constituents can hop onto a new train line and get to those newjobs, that will be hugely beneficial for life chances in what is a very disadvantaged part of the country so good news. it is is a very disadvantaged part of the country so good news.— country so good news. it is still the problem — country so good news. it is still the problem for _ country so good news. it is still the problem for those - country so good news. it is still the problem for those who i country so good news. it is still the problem for those who do | country so good news. it is still. the problem for those who do wish country so good news. it is still- the problem for those who do wish to travel from east midlands up to leeds, the high—speed rail that was promised, they might have even chosen to live on that basis. we have been _ chosen to live on that basis. 9 have been ensured that the journey times using the east midlands and sheffield will be the same. we will have four stations on that network with mainline upgrades as well. if anything, there might be more points for people to get on around the region. that part of the high—speed line is also economic, job creation is to stop government have listened and made that commitment to our key job creation plans and will help local residents get to those jobs. i think levelling up is about creating good paying jobs and helping people get there. t good paying “obs and helping people aet there. , ., :, i. ., get there. i 'ust want to give you a few words get there. i just want to give you a few words from _ get there. i just want to give you a few words from the _ get there. i just want to give you a few words from the conservative i few words from the conservative chair of the transport select committee, who said that the prime minister has promised that the hs2 and northern powerhouse rail wasn't either or, people would get both. is that a position that you now find yourself in?— that a position that you now find ourself in? ,:, .,, ., ,, yourself in? the point he was making was not about — yourself in? the point he was making was not about the _ yourself in? the point he was making was not about the plan, _ yourself in? the point he was making was not about the plan, he _ yourself in? the point he was making was not about the plan, he went i yourself in? the point he was making was not about the plan, he went on l was not about the plan, he went on to say that there is an awful lot of good news in this plan. he was saying that people had high expectations will stop the north—east is not my part of the world, i can't pretend i understand local links as well as other colleagues well. from our perspective and at the east midlands, it is not the original plan. but where government have listened to us is that being a cree priority in terms ofjob creation, they have given us a solution that will help assist i would deliver those outcomes. when you change anything, people will when or lose from it. from our point of view, totalling pounds an east midlands transport network is not something that comes very often. [30 transport network is not something that comes very often.— that comes very often. do you consider is — that comes very often. do you consider i's a _ that comes very often. do you consider i's a victory _ that comes very often. do you consider i's a victory for- that comes very often. do you | consider i's a victory for people who have campaigned against the building of hs2 for various reasons they are? it building of h52 for various reasons the are? , :, :, :, , ., they are? it is not going to be a one-sided _ they are? it is not going to be a one-sided view _ they are? it is not going to be a one-sided view either _ they are? it is not going to be a one-sided view either way. it i they are? it is not going to be a l one-sided view either way. it was one—sided view either way. it was always going to be divisive in terms of whatever the outcome, which ever way you decided to go. i don't agree that it has all been scrapped, although those outcomes have been lost i think there is a lot to celebrate. my colleague quoted in that report said there are lots of residents would much rather have a better local service line have a high—speed line. i'm sure those people would welcome our plans. housing and consumer experts have told the bbc that shared ownership schemes designed to help people on low incomes get on to the property ladder must be reformed in light of the cladding crisis. concerns about building safety were triggered by the grenfell tower fire in 2017, and it's estimated more than half a million people still live in homes covered in dangerous materials. sarah corker reports. who should pay to fix britain's dangerous buildings? from london to leeds, birmingham to manchester, more than half a million people are stuck living in unsafe, unsellable homes. what work needs doing? if you look at all the timber cladding that you see, that all has to come down. in south london, single mum emma has outgrown this one—bed flat. this is the living room and... this doubles as your bedroom? yes. in the evening it is like changing rooms, and in here is my bed. it was 12 months ago when we first met. residents had just been told the building was so unsafe it needed round—the—clock fire wardens. i'm angry, i'm actually furious at it. this is ruining people's lives. a year on, emma's share of the bill to remove the cladding and fix other fire safety faults could be up to £30,000, and the building doesn't qualify for any government funding because it is under 18 metres. and emma only actually owns 50% of the flat. she bought through an affordable housing scheme but terms of the lease mean she is liable for 100% of the costs. what has the reality of shared ownership been for you? i don't think shared ownership is fit for purpose. it is to help people like me who couldn't afford to get i guess a full mortgage on a property. it has really done me a disservice, i wouldn't recommend anybody to go on a shared ownership. under shared ownership, you pay rent to a housing association on the part you don't own. housing experts say the cladding crisis has exposed it is a flawed system and needs urgent reform. i think the scheme does have a fundamental unfairness. there are potential liabilities which are so great that people are potentially going to go bankrupt or lose their homes. any scheme which purports to be affordable housing and which can leave people in that situation is not doing itsjob. this is one of the worst affected... the conservative mp for stevenage says leaseholders should not have to pay these huge bills but warns housing associations are facing a tough choice between building safety and building new homes. some of the ones in london have said they are going to build 300,000 i fewer homes over the next few years as a result of it, so not only- is it really damaging - the shared ownership market, it is also damaging the supply- of affordable homes going forward. emma's housing association, optivo, said safety is its number one priority and it is continuing to call for government funding to help cover costs on low and mid—rise blocks. the government told us it is unacceptable leaseholders are facing the excessive bills and further proposals to help will be set out soon. but until then, emma and thousands of others are stuck living in homes they can't afford. sarah corker, bbc news, in south london. the headlines on bbc news: ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. doubts have been cast on an email supposedly written by the chinese tennis star pung shuai — saying that she's safe and well. a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed eight people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. the number of daily covid—19 cases registered in germany has risen sharply to 65,000 — by far the highest figure since the pandemic began. the lower house of the german parliament has just passed new laws to control the virus, they will be considered by the upper house tomorrow. several other european countries have already tightened restrictions as cases on the continent continue to surge. let's take a look at some of the measures being taken across the bloc. i'mjessica parker in brussels. with rising case rates, the belgian government has announced new measures that are going to kick in on saturday. they include making it compulsory to work from home four days a week, that is unless you really can't work from home. and then the plan is to looosen that little bit in mid december. the idea partly behind this is to cut the number of contacts on public transport. they are also going to extend the rules around the wearing of facemasks. it will now be compulsory of children of ten years old and above to wear facemasks in many settings. previously, the lower age limit was 12. i'm anna holligan in the netherlands — a country that keeps on breaking its own worst record this week. the infection rate has almost doubled in the last seven days. a lockdown light has just been imposed — so bars, restaurants, afes and supermarkets have to close by 8pm. the over—80s have just become the first to be invited forward for their booster vaccines. there is talk of more restrictions, but fears they could further polarise a nation already deeply divided over how best to avoid a full—blown lockdown this winter. i'm damien mcguinness in germany — where infection rates have yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 new infections in just the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described it as an emergency situation. which is why germany's parliament is right now deciding new measures. they would include access to public transport or the workplace only for people who have had the vaccine or a recent test. already in many regions across germany you can only access most leisure services, such as cavities, bars, the gym or the hairdressers, only if you have the vaccine. all of this is to really get those high infection rates down, but also to encourage more people to get the jab. i'm nick thorpe in budapest. here in hungary, the coronavirusi infection and death rate are going up fast despite the country boasting the highest vaccination _ rates in eastern europe, some 6 million people, i over 60% of the population, are double—vaccinated. i 1.6 million have had the third jab. further down the river danube, in romania and bulgaria, - infection rates are plunging, i confounding experts who blamed the previous surge on the very low vaccination rates there. _ only— vaccination rates there. 23% only vaccination rates there. 23% of bul-arians are double—vaccinated. the nhs is to start offering people with hiv injections every two months to keep the virus at bay. the drug will replace daily pills, making treatment more convenient for around 13,000 people who are eligable to receive it. 30 years ago today the world's media watched as terry waite was released from captivity in beirut. he had last been seen five years earlier, negotiating with kidnappers who were holding hostages, including brian keenan and john mccarthy. but in a dramatic turnaround, terry waite himself had been kidnapped by the extremists. to mark the anniversary of his release, he spoke to our security correspondent, frank gardner. freedom, at last. terry waite released after nearly five years, held as a hostage underground in beirut. now, 30 years on since that release, does he have any regrets? it doesn't seem like 30 years. they have gone remarkably quickly. i still remember those days. but strangely enough, you know, i don't look back and deeply regret them. beirut in 1987 was an especially dangerous place. racked by civil war, a city teeming with heavily armed militias who had already seized western hostages. terry waite arrived hoping to get them released but he was tricked into a meeting with jihadists that saw him kidnapped and held for years in solitary confinement. there were dark times. i was beaten on the soles of the feet with cable. and i faced a mock execution. i was blindfolded and taken into another room. my throat went dry because of fear. i'd never experienced that before. i wasn't afraid of death so much as to how would i die. other hostages at the time included the british and usjournalists, john mccarthy and terry anderson, and the us academic, thomas sutherland. their cell next to terry's, but his first meeting with john mccarthy was unorthodox. they decided they were going to move me now so they wrapped me in this tape, carried me out, threw me into the boot of this car and closed the lid. and as i landed in there, i realised there was somebody else in there! i said, "not much room in here!" and a voice came back and said, "untilyou came in, there was plenty of bloody room!" that was my first meeting with john! terry waite has since returned to the city where he was held captive for five years. he has also founded a charity, hostage international, to help those who find themselves in a similar predicament. frank gardner, bbc news. next week sees the release of house of gucci, the new film by director ridley scott about the fashion giant, which focuses on the turbulent relationship between maurizio gucci and his wife, patrizia. to prepare for the role of patrizia, lady gaga says she drew on the abuse she suffered as a teenager. she's been speaking to our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba. it was a name that sounded so seductive. in 1998, patrizia reggiani was convicted of arranging the murder of herformer husband, maurizio gucci of the gucci fashion empire. to play her, lady gaga immersed herself in months of preparation. i don't consider myself to be a particularly ethical person. finding the pain of the character experienced as a woman in a male dominated world came from her own past. what was the most relevant about my personal experiences, lizo, was the trauma that i've been through in my life, being assaulted when i was 19 by a music producer. i took from every trigger point that i could find, so it was very painful. the singer has spoken before about how two years before she became one of music's biggest stars, she suffered not one but multiple assaults. i have been very open about having post—traumatic stress disorder and i have complex ptsd so that is not a single incident ptsd, it's multiple incidents. i used all of them, at different times in different moments in the script. it is what i was compelled to do for the role because i thought to myself, well, there is simply no other answer for why she would have her husband murdered. gucci needs new blood. goodbye, 1930s. hello, �*80s! she says the film's director, ridley scott, was constantly concerned that she was immersing herself too deeply into painful memories. reliving your trauma for a character is maybe not the healthiest thing, but i'm a romantic. i have a romance with this script, a romance with my character, a romance with the cast. it was, i think, in a way, therapeutic in the way that, what he called it was an exorcism. i relived all of this to play her. father, son and house of gucci... you must be very thrilled to again be talked about as a potential best actress oscar nominee this year? you know, it is so, it's so flattering and so kind of everyone to say that and i just want to say that i love artists and i love people so i'm here to celebrate all the great actors, all the great films, and to be talked about in that way is lovely. lady gaga, thank you so much for your time. thank you, lizo. two men convicted of the murder of the american civil rights leader, malcolm x, are set to be exonerated. he was shot dead in new york in 1965 as he prepared to give a speech. the manhattan district attorney said muhammad al aziz and khalil islam did not get the justice they deserved. the conviction of a third man, thomas hagan, has not been overturned. now, you've never seen a millions of crabs on the move before, then you better get your claws into these pictures from australia. the crustacean commute is taking place on christmas island — one of the largest animal migrations on the planet. they swarm up specially made bridges and across roads closed to cars. look at them on the go. i wonder if they look left or right before they cross? they should be moving, shouldn't they? not stop on the middle of the road, but i suppose everyone needs a break when they are on their commute. quite mesmerising, isn't it? now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. we have enjoyed a little sunshine in a few spots today. this is aberystwyth, just a short while ago. but on the whole, for what remains of today, tonight, and tomorrow, it will be predominantly cloudy. that will keep things mild because we are introducing south—westerly winds off the atlantic. quite tightly packed isobars, so quite a lot of wind through the rest of the day across the north, close to gale force, and with it, those weather fronts in close proximity, giving some rain, particularly across north—western parts of scotland and up into the northern isles, quite wet. but east of the grampians, some breaks in the cloud still. it is here we are seeing the highest temperatures, 16 or 17 celsius. but really, for most, temperatures are three, four, five celsius above what they should be during the day at this time of year. around about 9 or 10 celsius for most. as i say, it's the wind direction. it's coming off the atlantic, it is quite a blustery wind out there today for all. but it should start to ease a little bit as we go through this evening and overnight. as it does so, actually, the cloud in the south, the holes will be filled in by cloud, misty, low cloud in the south, and it's already quite drizzly around some of the irish sea coast and of course close to our weather front which is still hanging around tonight. so, it should be milder for all parts, even in southern areas overnight tonight. so, less sunshine potentially tomorrow. i think it will be quite misty and grey leaden skies, particularly again close to the irish sea coast where we have got that moisture coming in off the sea here and with our weather front starting to intensify later, but still potentially 15 or 16 where the cloud breaks east of the mountains across scotland and across the north—east of england. but that is really it. that is where the mild air stops, because as we get into the weekend, it is turning much colder. so this is the atlantic influence. as we go through saturday into sunday, we get a blast from the north, from the arctic, so it will feel much colder, and we will introduce night—time frost as well through the coming weekend. and they will linger into next week. so, this is the culprit. this is the cold weather front, so behind it, cold air coming southwards. it is still quite mild across southern areas on saturday, still quite cloudy and grey at times, but much brighter skies coming to the north behind. as we go into sunday, we will also feel that colder air arrive across southern parts, as well. there is that weather front exiting the south coast, and then these showers coming southwards. over the tops of the mountains in scotland, yes, they could be wintry, but the main change is how it will feel much colder for all. this is bbc news. the headlines... ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is fantastic, a monumental programme for rail investment for commuters, for passengers in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. this was the first test of a levelling up on the government has completely failed and let down everyone in the north and you can't believe a word the prime minister says. we're expecting more reaction from the mayors of some of the northern cities affected shortly. where is this chinese tennis star? she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations. now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed 8 people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. we are happy that this dangerous and evil man has been removed from society. while we continue to grieve forjacob, we ask the obvious question. why was he known it to so many agencies but allowed to be out and about? the worst ever performance — again — by emergency departments in wales, with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. do it yourself — apple makes spare parts available so that customers can do their own repairs to their devices. the government has confirmed it is scrapping a key part of the hs2 high speed rail link. the eastern leg between the east midlands and leeds won't now be built, saving tens of billions of pounds. businesses in the region have reacted angrily but ministers deny they are breaking a promise to level up the country. they say their integrated rail plan, unveiled this morning, will deliver benefits to the region through track upgrades up to ten years sooner. this report from theo leggett. a new £96 billion improvement plan for rail, hailed as the most ambitious in a generation, but here in bradford there is little sign of celebration. its two existing stations are run down and rail links are unreliable. a new one was meant to be built as part of the northern powerhouse rail scheme, a high—speed line linking leeds and manchester. now only half of it will be built. the rest of the ruth wilson to be upgraded and there will be no shiny the rest of the route will to be upgraded and there will be no shiny new station for bradford. the services were delayed so i feel like we could benefit from less transfers and more direct trains. they are not that bad on time, it's just they're old trains, overcrowded with people. they are not very good. they are quite on and off. they always get cancelled a lot of the time, and i usually go to college, i'm usually late every other day. ambitions for hs2 are also being reined in. the london to birmingham section is already being built but there won't now be a dedicated high—speed link between birmingham and leeds. instead the new track will stop in the east midlands. the rest of the route will be upgraded. the government insists the changes mean it will be able to deliver major improvements much more quickly. it will offer for young people commuting in the midlands and the north the same type of confidence about their daily lives, their commute, as people have been used to for a century in the south. it's a huge investment, costing £96 billion, though not all of it is new money. it includes plans to spend £360 million on introducing contactless payment systems to help commuters and there will be price caps for trains, trams and buses. there will also be a new mass transit system for leeds but labour says promises have been broken. we set out a comprehensive plan for hs2 and northern powerhouse rail and we stick by that. that's the big difference between us and the government. when we set out promises we stick to them for top the government makes promises and then rips them up, which is what it has done today. for mps along the northern powerhouse rail route the stakes are high. if we find a better, cheaper, more deliverable way to get a better result for our constituents, isn't that a better way to go? in west yorkshire, badly affected, a very different view. is a betrayal of the north and the people i represent in west yorkshire to stop only what feels like months ago the prime minister stood in front of stevenson's rocket in manchester and promised a new rail line, northern powerhouse rail. no one is questioning the need for better transport links in the north of the country but the row over how to achieve that is becoming more bitter than ever. our reporter rowan bridge has been giving us the latest from one of the cities affected by today's announcement — leeds. for criticism from civic and political leaders was swift and it was damning. the west yorkshire metropolitan map described it as a betrayal of the north. there is also criticism from those using the railway lines. commuters told me it typified the north—south divide, and with me is the metro map for south yorkshire and critic of the government's decisions. what is your reaction? , ., government's decisions. what is your reaction? , ., reaction? this was a massive moment for the north — reaction? this was a massive moment for the north and _ reaction? this was a massive moment for the north and an _ reaction? this was a massive moment for the north and an opportunity i reaction? this was a massive moment for the north and an opportunity for i for the north and an opportunity for the government to invest in our railway— the government to invest in our railway structure. it would have gone _ railway structure. it would have gone a — railway structure. it would have gone a long way in supporting their levelling _ gone a long way in supporting their levelling up agenda. a lot of us are bitterly— levelling up agenda. a lot of us are bitterly disappointed that they have fallen short on promises they have been _ fallen short on promises they have been making for a long time. the government _ been making for a long time. tt9: government say that you will been making for a long time. tt9 government say that you will get hsz government say that you will get hs2 to sheffield. fin government say that you will get h52 to sheffield. : ., , �* , to sheffield. on the cheap. it's based on a _ to sheffield. on the cheap. it's based on a different _ to sheffield. on the cheap. it's i based on a different arrangement to what was _ based on a different arrangement to what was promised. across the north, there _ what was promised. across the north, there is— what was promised. across the north, there is widespread disappointment of having _ there is widespread disappointment of having made the commitment and drawn— of having made the commitment and drawn these plans together, the government will now make good on the commitments they have made. the government — commitments they have made. tt9 government say we will see improvements faster by improving the existing network, surely that's what commuters want, improvements as soon as possible. we commuters want, improvements as soon as ossible. ~ , :, commuters want, improvements as soon as ossible. 9 , ., , as possible. we will see if that is the case. as possible. we will see if that is the ease- so _ as possible. we will see if that is the case. so far _ as possible. we will see if that is the case. so far i _ as possible. we will see if that is the case. so far i haven't - as possible. we will see if that is the case. so far i haven't spoken j as possible. we will see if that is i the case. so far i haven't spoken to any northern leader that isn't bitterly— any northern leader that isn't bitterly disappointed that the government has not honoured their obligations. people feel this is a huge _ obligations. people feel this is a huge missed opportunity and a knock to the _ huge missed opportunity and a knock to the levelling up agenda. you huge missed opportunity and a knock to the levelling up agenda.— to the levelling up agenda. you are aware that the _ to the levelling up agenda. you are aware that the costs _ to the levelling up agenda. you are aware that the costs have - to the levelling up agenda. you are aware that the costs have been i aware that the costs have been spiralling. surely there is a need to bring it under control? qt spiralling. surely there is a need to bring it under control? of course it is. this to bring it under control? of course it is- this is— to bring it under control? of course it is. this is an _ to bring it under control? of course it is. this is an opportunity - to bring it under control? of course it is. this is an opportunity to i it is. this is an opportunity to level— it is. this is an opportunity to level up— it is. this is an opportunity to level up our railways and i think it's a _ level up our railways and i think it's a missed opportunity. there are rail improvements _ it's a missed opportunity. there are rail improvements to _ it's a missed opportunity. there are rail improvements to the _ it's a missed opportunity. there are rail improvements to the north, i it's a missed opportunity. there are rail improvements to the north, but for many, they don't go far enough. lord adonis from transport secretary under the former labour prime minister gordon brown. he told me that the government's plan for the rail network would created an east—west divide for passengers across england. ona mapa on a map a step back for the country. if you step back from the detail, what will happen is a very serious east—west divide in england in the next generation on top of the north—south divide, which is part of the reason why we developed a chest tool in the first place. if it only goes to birmingham and manchester, but not to leeds, durham, newcastle, sheffield, it means the journey times from london will be half an hour to birmingham, when i were to manchester, two hours to leeds, twice as long, though it is the same distance from london, and three hours to newcastle, which will be six times the travel distance from birmingham, which is going to be really debilitating for the whole of the north—east of the country, when it is so badly treated. this east—west divide will have very serious consequences for england in the next generation. he means businesses, social activity, enterprise, is going to move to the south and the rest of the country. the great county of yorkshire, the east midlands, and the whole of the north—east of england around newcastle, durham, going north into edinburgh, which was also going to be part of the hs to line, idyllic it was to speak sustainable. it will have to be the first. —— i don't think it will be sustainable. it's the equivalent of the victorians building railways in the western part of the country but even the east with canals. once that is clear, hs2 will be completed all the way through to edinburgh, and it willjust be done much more slowly, 20 or 30 years late, and more expensively. th 20 or 30 years late, and more expensively-— 20 or 30 years late, and more expensively. 20 or 30 years late, and more exensivel . :, :, , expensively. in the commons, the transort expensively. in the commons, the transport secretary _ expensively. in the commons, the transport secretary said _ expensively. in the commons, the transport secretary said the i expensively. in the commons, the i transport secretary said the changes to the plans might not necessarily mean that all the new lines that were going to be built are going to be built, but by upgrading existing lines, the benefits could be felt up to ten years sooner than the original ideas. t to ten years sooner than the original ideas.— to ten years sooner than the oriainal ideas. ~ ., �* , , original ideas. i think that's very, very doubtful- — original ideas. i think that's very, very doubtful. the _ original ideas. i think that's very, very doubtful. the hs2 _ original ideas. i think that's very, very doubtful. the hs2 plan i original ideas. i think that's very, very doubtful. the hs2 plan was| very doubtful. the hs2 plan was ready to go. it was designed in great detail with parliamentary legislation before the government made an announcement of counselling this line. the plans today were produced from nowhere. all the work will have to be done in terms of the first bits of hs2, in terms of the first bits of hs2, in terms of the first stretch, from birmingham to a completely new destination in the east midlands, there is no design work for that at all. for much slower to get that going than the previous plan. the reason why hs two is delayed anyway is that the government was so slow in getting the scheme implemented. the same problem of getting the public sector moving, which has been a big problem with this government, will and it will apply to the other schemes they are proposing today, too. doubts have been cast on an email supposedly written by the chinese tennis star peng shuai, saying that she's safe and well. the two time grand slam doubles champion hasn't been seen for a fortnight, since she accused china's former vice premier zhang gaoli of sexual assault. the email, purportedly from her, has been published by chinese state media but the head of women's tennis says he has a hard time believing that it's genuine. our china correspondent robin brant reports from shanghai. for years, peng shuai has let her racket do the talking, and she's risen to the top, a star in a sport where there are not many chinese success stories. at 35, she is someone the ruling communist party leaders could be proud of. but an allegation about one of those senior party figures change that. in this social media posting earlier this month, peng named vice premier zhang gaoli, and claimed he forced her to have sex. china state censors removed the posting within an hour. peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly challenge senior authorities like zhang gaoli without paying some price, and i think it would be telling if she were able to leave the country, for example, and speak freely, where she wouldn't face those kinds of repercussions. in the ensuing days, tennis stars old and new spoke out, worried about her. billiejean king and naomi osaka were among them. then, in the middle of the night, an e—mail appeared, or at least what one arm of chinese state media says is an e—mailfrom peng shuai to the head of the women's tennis association. basically, the message is, don't worry, i'm fine, and i didn't mean what i said two weeks ago. in what looks like a screen shot, it's claimed she started out saying, "hello, everyone," and went to say the allegations made two weeks ago were in fact false, and she has just been resting at home, everything is fine, she adds. promise people do disappear in china one tech billionaire was not seen in public for months after criticising state regulators. but athletes — that's unusual. in a hasty response, the man to whom the e—mail was reportedly sent, wta chief steve simon, said he had a hard time believing peng actually wrote it. this comes as this country prepares to be at the centre of the sporting world when beijing hosts the winter olympics next february, a game is already facing the prospect of some kind of boycott over what the us says is genocide against chinese muslims in the west of the country. lijia zhang is a chinese writer and social commentator. what sort of action is this getting? in china. it what sort of action is this getting? in china. : ., :, :, , in china. it received an enormous amount of— in china. it received an enormous amount of news. _ in china. it received an enormous amount of news. within - in china. it received an enormous amount of news. within 20 i in china. it received an enormous i amount of news. within 20 minutes, the post was removed. in amount of news. within 20 minutes, the post was removed.— the post was removed. in terms of this e-mail, _ the post was removed. in terms of this e-mail, what's _ the post was removed. in terms of this e-mail, what's the _ the post was removed. in terms of this e-mail, what's the reaction i this e—mail, what's the reaction like as far as that is concerned. are people accepting it as genuine? to people except its veracity? tt to people except its veracity? if they question it, they won't be able to publish it. personally, i doubt this e—mail is genuine. she was probably coerced to write it. i am genuinely concerned about her and i am afraid and i'm afraid her career might be ruined. the chinese are obsessed with maintaining stability. they will go to any lengths to silence any voice which they see as a threat. in this case, especially. i'm not surprised the authorities took this matter seriously. is i'm not surprised the authorities took this matter seriously. is that what ou took this matter seriously. is that what you believe _ took this matter seriously. is that what you believe has _ took this matter seriously. is that what you believe has happened? | took this matter seriously. is that i what you believe has happened? that she has been silenced? t what you believe has happened? that she has been silenced?— she has been silenced? i think she miaht she has been silenced? i think she might have — she has been silenced? i think she might have been _ she has been silenced? i think she might have been detained - she has been silenced? i think she might have been detained and i she has been silenced? i think she i might have been detained and under house arrest. she may be banned from playing for a long while. we don't know yet. playing for a long while. we don't know et. ~ :, ~ playing for a long while. we don't know et. 9 . ~ :, playing for a long while. we don't know et.9 . ~ :, ' . playing for a long while. we don't know et.9 . ~ :, '. know yet. what kind of effect does this have more _ know yet. what kind of effect does this have more widely? _ know yet. what kind of effect does this have more widely? if - know yet. what kind of effect does| this have more widely? if someone speaks out about sexual assault allegations and they are silenced in this way. that must have a damaging effect. , �* ., ., , this way. that must have a damaging effect. , �* . ., , effect. yes, i'm afraid they may deter other _ effect. yes, i'm afraid they may deter other women _ effect. yes, i'm afraid they may deter other women from - effect. yes, i'm afraid they may i deter other women from speaking effect. yes, i'm afraid they may - deter other women from speaking out. i wish the authorities would investigate and deal with sexual harassment among party officials, which is really rampant. if you look at all the disgraced party officials, you will see almost all officials, you will see almost all of them have mysteries. so much so, keeping mysteries among officials have become a symbol of corruption in china. looking at the positive side, and i think this story shows that you cannot always silence people. i think in the media to movement, many people have dared to speak out, and i think there will always be courageous women like peng shuai who dare to speak out. thank ou ve shuai who dare to speak out. thank you very much- _ shuai who dare to speak out. thank you very much- my _ shuai who dare to speak out. thank you very much. my pleasure. i a man has beenjailed for life after admitting to a series of knife attacks in birmingham in september last year. zephaniah mcleod must serve a minimum of 21 years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter ofjacob billington, as well as 3 attempted murders and 4 counts of wounding with intent. phil mackie has the background. injust over an hour and a half, zephaniah mcleod wrought havoc on the streets of birmingham. police emergency. one guy tried to stab me on the street and he stabbed me in the neck but... you've been stabbed in the neck? he was described in court as a dangerous offender. he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had recently been released from prison. and she's still breathing? 0k, we just found out someone else has been stabbed now. _ armed with a knife, he stabbed eight people. they were serious attacks, often targeted towards people's head, neck and upper chest areas, which have left victims with some catastrophic injuries, but also, you know, the mental scarring that the victims will have. in the confusion, police didn't initially realise all the attacks were related. within 2a hours, they had identified the man responsible. the worst of the attacks was here in irving street. a group of friends from liverpool had spent the night in birmingham and were walking back to the hotel when zephaniah mcleod attacked them. he's losing a lot of blood from the neck. is he breathing and conscious? he is conscious. 0k. not really, he's losing consciousness. welcome to the vedetts garden sessions... - two of the fans were in this band, the vedetts. the lead singer is michael callaghan, the drummer, his best friend jacob billington. despite their friends' best efforts, jacob didn't make it. now his family want to know why mcleod wasn't under closer observation. he didn't appear to have been monitored in the way you would imagine he would, as somebody who was known to be dangerous and had a long previous history of being dangerous, had a known mental health condition. he is kind of a personification of the problems of the legal system and the mental health team in this country. michael callaghan survived but, like some of the other victims, he suffered life—changing injuries. the knife completely severed his ijugular vein and carotid artery. i he lost a huge amount of blood, and we don't really understand l how he even survived. michael's progress has been astonishing, but in his statement, which was read in court, he said he sometimes wishes he hadn't made it. there are still many unanswered questions about what happened last september, and whether more could have been done to stop zephaniah mcleod and prevent the attacks which left seven people wounded and one, jacob billington, dead. phil mackie bbc news, birmingham. hospital emergency departments and ambulance services in wales have recorded their worst ever performance figures — again. last month only 65% of patients were treated within 4 hours in a&e. and just half of callouts to people with immediately life threatening injuries were reached within the target 8 minutes. our correspondent mark hutchings said waiting lists in wales are likely to get worse in the winter months. if you've spent any time lately, possibly a long time waiting for treatment from the welsh nhs, then these figures probably come as little surprise to you. they see another set of tumbling records for poor performance. 65% of patients waiting less than four hours in a&e — the target for that is 95%. nearly 9500 people waited more than 12 hours in a&e. the target for that is that no one should have to wait that long. 50% of ambulances answering the most urgent calls within eight minutes, they haven't met their targets for the last 15 months. 21% of the welsh population is now on a waiting list for a planned treatment. these case notes are pretty depressing, the welsh nhs confederation, who run the health board, say it is a picture that is unsustainable. the welsh government, who are based here, insist they are investing more money, but they are calling on people to choose carefully — do they really need emergency treatment? also, there is the added problem of an estimated up to 15% of patients in acute hospital beds who don't need to be there but there isn't a care package for them to leave hospital. the leaves are still falling from the trees, it's only november, but it's likely in the coming winter months when more unwelcome records will be broken. the tech giant, apple, is to start selling spare parts and tools, so that customers can carry out their own repairs on their phones and computers. the "self—service repair" programme will begin in the united states next year before expanding to more countries. joining me now is ugo vallauri the co—founder of the restart project who run events to show people how to repair their small electrical goods. ugo is also a founding member of the european right to repaircampaign. what do you make of this? it's a ureat what do you make of this? it's a great step- _ what do you make of this? it's a great step- apple _ what do you make of this? it's a great step. apple will _ what do you make of this? it's a great step. apple will heavily i great step. apple will heavily campaigning against this. they can change and make things better for consumers. but there is still a lot of unknown. don't know how costly these spare parts will be. we don't know if apple will continue their questionable practices of putting their software locks to preventing people from using third—party parts for example. share people from using third-party parts for example-— for example. are the thing is, if ou are for example. are the thing is, if you are minded _ for example. are the thing is, if you are minded in _ for example. are the thing is, if you are minded in that - for example. are the thing is, if you are minded in that way, i for example. are the thing is, if you are minded in that way, if l for example. are the thing is, if i you are minded in that way, if you have a bit of skill, then you would think nothing of perhaps trying to repair your iphone. if you are a complete novice, and i put myself in that category, i would be worried about ruining the whole phone if they tried to repair it. this won't appeal to everyone, whether it? brute appealto everyone, whether it? we are not appeal to everyone, whether it? 9 are not advocating that everyone should be doing all of their repairs, but we are advocating that everyone should have a choice of doing themselves, or choose professional to help their repairs. this is the spirit of right to reply. people should have choice, everyone should have repair information and spare parts, and no weather they will be supported by the manufacturer for a weather they will be supported by the manufacturerfor a long time, otherwise we are risking creating a lot of electronic waste. we know that we want in the uk a lot more access to regulation. over 80% of the public in this country wants more regulation in the country to give us right to reply. the mass majority of people want consumers to to all information, notjust professional repairs. we want to make sure that people can choose, can have options, and can repair it themselves, when possible, and have themselves, when possible, and have the confidence that the product can be used for much longer. that the confidence that the product can be used for much longer.— be used for much longer. that the . [u i be used for much longer. that the au: for be used for much longer. that the plug for some _ be used for much longer. that the plug for some people, _ be used for much longer. that the plug for some people, they i be used for much longer. that the plug for some people, they drop l plug for some people, they drop their phone, they smash the screen —— the problem for some people, and aesthetic it to the authorised apple repairs, if they get it done elsewhere, it voids the warranty. having said anything about that? there are some people who may be a few months after getting a new phone, they want to repair it, but there worried about losing their guarantee. taste there worried about losing their guarantee-— there worried about losing their auarantee. 9 , :, guarantee. we will see how their olicies guarantee. we will see how their policies might — guarantee. we will see how their policies might evolve. _ guarantee. we will see how their policies might evolve. by - policies might evolve. by understanding is that replacing a screen will not void the warranty product. we can't celebrate the move until we know the details exactly of how this will effect their policies. but more generally speaking, if you break the screen of your device, it shouldn't voids the warranty for everything else in the device. what's the situation with other phone manufacturers? to they already provide this? is this apple following suit of other manufacturers, or is it leading the way and others may then follow? some manufacturers — way and others may then follow? some manufacturers provide _ way and others may then follow? °rn9 manufacturers provide access to spare parts directly, some don't. spy hard to compare manufacturers, because some might excel in certain areas, and some in others. this is why we have started a petition to ask the uk government to commit to regulations that give us a real right to repair, so asking all manufacturers to bring to the uk market products to make them repairable by everyone with designs that make it easier to disassemble for repair and clear commitments for how long that product will be supported software wise. everyone can sign that petition on our website. 9, ~ can sign that petition on our website. :, ,, , :, , . the home secretary, priti patel, has confirmed a public inquiry will be held into the fatal poisoning of a woman in wiltshire. dawn sturgess, who was 44, died in 2018 after coming into contact with the nerve agent, novichok. the substance has been linked to the attempted murder of the former russian spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, in salisbury a few months earlier. the nhs is to start offering people with hiv injections every two months to keep the virus at bay. the drug will replace daily pills, making treatment more convenient for around 13,000 people who are eligable to receive it. two men convicted of the murder of the american civil rights leader, malcolm x, are set to be exonerated. he was shot dead in new york in 1965 as he prepared to give a speech. the manhattan district attorney said muhammad al aziz and khalil islam did not get the justice they deserved. the conviction of a third man — thomas hagan — has not been overturned. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. some have enjoyed sunshine today but it is a predominantly cloudy picture. really, the trend is for the mild weather to continue through the rest of the working week. the cloud is quite thick and low so it is giving some drizzly rain across northern and western areas. dank and drizzly and on the hills and coast further west, hill and coast fog will mean a mild night for most. even in southern areas, it is unlikely to be frosty, more likely to turn misty with some cloud around. fog again in the morning, perhaps some breaks in the cloud east of the grampians. a weather front still hanging around in the north—west, drizzly rain around hills and coasts. still mild across the board. hello, this is bbc news with ben boulos. the headlines: ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds — but the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is fantastic, a monumental programme for rail investment for commuters, for passengers in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. this was the first test of a levelling up and the government of levelling up and the government has completely failed and let down everyone in the north, and you can't believe a word the prime minister says. where is this chinese tennis star? she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations — now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed eight people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. the worst ever performance, again, by emergency departments in wales — with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. do it yourself — apple makes spare parts available so that customers can do their own repairs to their devices. sport — and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's jane. good afternoon. cricket could face the "nuclear option" of an independent regulator if the ecb doesn't act quickly enough in the wake of the racism scandal. the words of the sports minister, nigel huddlestone, who's been speaking at the dcms select committee. mps have been asking more questions following the harrowing testimoney given by former yorkshire cricketer azeem rafiq. i cricketer azeem rafiq. think what we all want is fo cricket i think what we all want is for cricket to put its house together and get its act together and sort this problem out. if we don't see sufficient action being taken, then we as a government will intervene if they don't get their act together, we have the nuclear option of the legislating in order to bring in a regulator. that is probably right, if we absently had to, that we could go down. steven gerrard says it's an honour to be the new aston villa head coach. he's been speaking to the media for the first time since his appointment. gerrard said being closer to his family and being back in the premier league were his reasons for leaving glasgow rangers. but the former liverpool midfielder denied it was in order to eventually get his dream job, of managing his old club. you'll never hear me saying it's a stepping stone. for me, i'm really honoured and proud to be in this position. as i say, i'm all in. i will give this job everything but it needs to be a success. i will be 100% committed to and more so my staff and i don't think there's anything wrong in football to have dreams and aspirations, but as i say, liverpool have got a world—class coach that they are very happy with. if he was to sign a lifetime deal right now, i would be very happy for them and him. england's ashes test against australia in melbourne and next year's australian tennis open will be played in front of full crowds. it's after covid—19 restrictions were eased in the state of victoria. the mcg cricket ground has a capacity of 100,000, and will stage the traditional boxing day test, which starts at 11.30pm uk time on christmas day. the fourth and fifth tests in sydney will also be held in front of full crowds, but restrictions mean the grounds in brisbane and adelaide will only be three quarters full. earlier this year, there were limited spectator numbers at the australian open, and there was a five—day snap lockdown in the middle of the event, but january's tournement will be open to full crowds. eddiejones has named his england side to play south africa this weekend at twickenham. courtney lawes will captain the side as owen farrell is injured. newcastle hookerjamie blamire and sale prop bevan rodd both start in an inexperienced england front row. joe marchant is on the wing, with manu tuilagi returning to the midfield. rory mcilroy has said he had to take responsibility for himself after a difficult ryder cup. he was speaking after topping the leaderboard on the opening day of the dp world tour championship. mcilroy shot six birdies and an eagle on his way to finishing on seven under. mcilroy�*s chasing a third victory of the european tour's season finale. he said he had to reset and spent some time working out what he needed to fix. i'm a i'm a big boy now, i've been around the block a bit. if i have problems or struggles, the block a bit. if i have problems orstruggles, i the block a bit. if i have problems or struggles, i should the block a bit. if i have problems or struggles, ishould be the block a bit. if i have problems or struggles, i should be able to sort them out myself, instead of looking to others to try to fix my problem is, i'mjust going looking to others to try to fix my problem is, i'm just going to try and take responsibility a bit. that's really what i did after the ryder cup, i put my head down, spent a lot of time just on the range, just figuring out what i do well, what i need to get back to. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. housing and consumer experts have told the bbc that shared ownership schemes, designed to help people on low incomes get on to the property ladder, must be reformed in light of the cladding crisis. concerns about building safety were triggered by the grenfell tower fire in 2017 — and it's estimated more than half a million people still live in homes covered in dangerous materials. sarah corker reports. who should pay to fix britain's dangerous buildings? from london to leeds, birmingham to manchester, more than half a million people are stuck living in unsafe, unsellable homes. what work needs doing? if you look at all the timber cladding that you see, that all has to come down. in south london, single mum emma has outgrown this one—bed flat. this is the living room and... this doubles as your bedroom? yes. in the evening it is like changing rooms, and in here is my bed. it was 12 months ago when we first met. residents had just been told the building was so unsafe it needed round—the—clock fire wardens. we are going to take you to a virtual news conference, a meeting being held by the labour mayor smack of the northern cities on the government's revised plans. bradford, the worst connected city in the country is left on a branch line to the national network, this is absolutely not levelling up. instead of new lines are built for the 21st century, we are being offered a 20th—century upgrade to a 19th—century infrastructure. passengers in the north could face years and years of uncertainty and disruption as upgrade impact on our existing services. this is absolutely not the crossrail of the north that was promised. the integrated bill plan should have given loving mercy the opportunity to double challenge —— to recharge a green revolution. people across the north were excited by the opportunities these new buildings with a bring. obviously, we northern leaders will not let them down, we will not let this pared back plan hold them back. here in yorkshire that we have an economy with £54.5 billion bigger than european countries. 2.3 million people live here. there is endless potentialfor our economy to grow and will not let the government to double our ambitions and aspirations for a west yorkshire. we will never stop making the case for the north. but we want parliamentarians to have the chance to do the same, that is why we bring a jointly those of other readers across the north calling on the prime minister to offer a three vote in parliament on the integrated rail plan. in our view all mp should have the chance to vote against these piecemeal proposals that are not in their best interest. just for clarity, we are going to put on screen at the map from government documents today to see just how disconnected this supposed integrated rail plan actually is. as you can see, leeds gets very little, sheffield at the same, newcastle even less. which is why it is really important that we all speak as one. we all are interconnected, we all need each other, and the potential for all of us across the north is absolutely limitless. if i can now hand over to dan for his thoughts on the plan and what it means for south yorkshire. 9, ~ the plan and what it means for south yorkshire. :, ,, , :, the plan and what it means for south yorkshire. 9, ~' , 9, 9, the plan and what it means for south yorkshire. :, ,, i. :, , , yorkshire. thank you for bringing us toaether yorkshire. thank you for bringing us together today. _ yorkshire. thank you for bringing us together today, tracy. _ yorkshire. thank you for bringing us together today, tracy. today - yorkshire. thank you for bringing us together today, tracy. today we i together today, tracy. today we should _ together today, tracy. today we should have been having a very different — should have been having a very different conversation, today should have been— different conversation, today should have been a landmark moment for the north, _ have been a landmark moment for the north, the _ have been a landmark moment for the north, the at the government showed the courage _ north, the at the government showed the courage to fix one of the greatest _ the courage to fix one of the greatest injustices in our country, fixing _ greatest injustices in our country, fixing the — greatest injustices in our country, fixing the generational and deep inequality between our regions and at the _ inequality between our regions and at the chronic underinvestment in our people — at the chronic underinvestment in our people and our economy. it should — our people and our economy. it should have been a day to unlock our potential, _ should have been a day to unlock our potential, but instead i think we have _ potential, but instead i think we have seen— potential, but instead i think we have seen a package of broken packages, the announcements and spin _ packages, the announcements and spin be _ packages, the announcements and spin. be very clear, today's announcement is bad news for passengers, businesses and for the north _ passengers, businesses and for the north the — passengers, businesses and for the north. the prime minister is filling nobody— north. the prime minister is filling nobody if— north. the prime minister is filling nobody if you think the people in south _ nobody if you think the people in south yorkshire and across the north will believe _ south yorkshire and across the north will believe that this is a good deal — will believe that this is a good deal let— will believe that this is a good deal. let me be clear about what today's _ deal. let me be clear about what today's announcements means for south _ today's announcements means for south yorkshire. it is a lot of pain for precious — south yorkshire. it is a lot of pain for precious little gain. sheffield and leeds, the two biggest cities in yorkshire, — and leeds, the two biggest cities in yorkshire, are now closer to getting faster— yorkshire, are now closer to getting faster or— yorkshire, are now closer to getting faster or more frequent services. it isiust_ faster or more frequent services. it isiust not— faster or more frequent services. it isjust not acceptable faster or more frequent services. it is just not acceptable that our two powerhouse cities have one fast service — powerhouse cities have one fast service an — powerhouse cities have one fast service an hour, taking 40 minutes. today's— service an hour, taking 40 minutes. today's announcement does nothing to do that _ today's announcement does nothing to do that a— today's announcement does nothing to do that. a new line is nowhere to be seeh _ do that. a new line is nowhere to be seeh a _ do that. a new line is nowhere to be seen. a vague promise of electrification and fasterjourney times— electrification and fasterjourney times have vanished. this appears to read back— times have vanished. this appears to read back from the briefing to the media _ read back from the briefing to the media from just over the weekend. when _ media from just over the weekend. when the _ media from just over the weekend. when the government's own league to the media _ when the government's own league to the media are fun to be seenjust a few days _ the media are fun to be seenjust a few days after they have been made. the government has also the announce work on _ the government has also the announce work on hope valley line between sheffield and manchester and a identification of the midland mainline between sheffield and london. — mainline between sheffield and london, which has already been cancelled — london, which has already been cancelled twice by queens conservative ministers. —— electrification. given that this government was mike form we take these _ government was mike form we take these commitments with a huge pinch of salt _ these commitments with a huge pinch of salt this _ these commitments with a huge pinch of salt. this tells you all you need to know— of salt. this tells you all you need to know about this government. yet again— to know about this government. yet again they— to know about this government. yet again they have abandoned the transformational change is needed for levelling up to be more than a slogan, _ for levelling up to be more than a slogan, in — for levelling up to be more than a slogan, in place for a quick fix. you _ slogan, in place for a quick fix. you cannot— slogan, in place for a quick fix. you cannot power the 21st century economy— you cannot power the 21st century economy on victorian infrastructure. we needed — economy on victorian infrastructure. we needed transformation, and we got tinkering _ we needed transformation, and we got tinkering. the diving concern throughout seems to have been a pr, not actual— throughout seems to have been a pr, not actual progress. the prime minister— not actual progress. the prime minister pledged again i'm going to deliver— minister pledged again i'm going to deliver hsz minister pledged again i'm going to deliver h52 and northern powerhouse rail in _ deliver h52 and northern powerhouse rail in full _ deliver h52 and northern powerhouse rail in full. not in part, not in the distant _ rail in full. not in part, not in the distant future. but when it finally — the distant future. but when it finally came to actions rather than words. _ finally came to actions rather than words. he — finally came to actions rather than words, he has done the bare minimum. but today's— words, he has done the bare minimum. but today's announcement, people in south _ but today's announcement, people in south yorkshire and across the north will know— south yorkshire and across the north will know that this government has not lived _ will know that this government has not lived up to their promises. no one in— not lived up to their promises. no one in the — not lived up to their promises. no one in the north should believe a word _ one in the north should believe a word that — one in the north should believe a word that they say again.- one in the north should believe a word that they say again. thank you so much, word that they say again. thank you so much. dan- _ word that they say again. thank you so much, dan. now— word that they say again. thank you so much, dan. now we _ word that they say again. thank you so much, dan. now we are - word that they say again. thank you so much, dan. now we are going i word that they say again. thank you l so much, dan. now we are going over to steve rotherham. ltrul’hat so much, dan. now we are going over to steve rotherham.— to steve rotherham. what the government — to steve rotherham. what the government would _ to steve rotherham. what the government would like - to steve rotherham. what the government would like us i to steve rotherham. what the government would like us to l to steve rotherham. what the i government would like us to believe is that— government would like us to believe is that they— government would like us to believe is that they have _ government would like us to believe is that they have just _ government would like us to believe is that they have just unveiled - government would like us to believe is that they have just unveiled a i is that they have just unveiled a comprehensive _ is that they have just unveiled a comprehensive plan _ is that they have just unveiled a comprehensive plan to - is that they have just unveiled a comprehensive plan to deliver i is that they have just unveiled a. comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated — comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated rail— comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated rail network— comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated rail network fit - comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated rail network fit for- comprehensive plan to deliver an integrated rail network fit for thej integrated rail network fit for the zist integrated rail network fit for the 21st century _ integrated rail network fit for the 21st century. but _ integrated rail network fit for the 21st century. but instead - integrated rail network fit for the 21st century. but instead they. integrated rail network fit for the i 21st century. but instead they have proposed _ 21st century. but instead they have proposed a — 21st century. but instead they have proposed a solution _ 21st century. but instead they have proposed a solution that _ 21st century. but instead they have proposed a solution that could i 21st century. but instead they have | proposed a solution that could have been proposed _ proposed a solution that could have been proposed by— proposed a solution that could have been proposed by gladstone - proposed a solution that could have been proposed by gladstone in- proposed a solution that could have been proposed by gladstone in thel been proposed by gladstone in the victorian— been proposed by gladstone in the victorian era _ been proposed by gladstone in the victorian era. i'm _ been proposed by gladstone in the victorian era. i'm sure _ been proposed by gladstone in the victorian era. i'm sure the - been proposed by gladstone in the victorian era. i'm sure the prime i victorian era. i'm sure the prime minister— victorian era. i'm sure the prime minister and _ victorian era. i'm sure the prime ministerand many— victorian era. i'm sure the prime minister and many of _ victorian era. i'm sure the prime minister and many of his- victorian era. i'm sure the prime i minister and many of his colleagues think that _ minister and many of his colleagues think that the — minister and many of his colleagues think that the not _ minister and many of his colleagues think that the not his _ minister and many of his colleagues think that the not his actual - minister and many of his colleagues think that the not his actual living i think that the not his actual living in a monochrome _ think that the not his actual living in a monochrome way _ think that the not his actual living in a monochrome way anyway, i think that the not his actual living | in a monochrome way anyway, but think that the not his actual living i in a monochrome way anyway, but if today's _ in a monochrome way anyway, but if today's announcement— in a monochrome way anyway, but if today's announcement was - in a monochrome way anyway, but if| today's announcement was supposed in a monochrome way anyway, but if i today's announcement was supposed to take the _ today's announcement was supposed to take the north _ today's announcement was supposed to take the north back— today's announcement was supposed to take the north back to _ today's announcement was supposed to take the north back to the _ today's announcement was supposed to take the north back to the future, - take the north back to the future, it managed — take the north back to the future, it managed to _ take the north back to the future, it managed to miss— take the north back to the future, it managed to miss out— take the north back to the future, it managed to miss out the - take the north back to the future, it managed to miss out the future| it managed to miss out the future bit. it managed to miss out the future bit~ northern— it managed to miss out the future bit. northern powerhouse - it managed to miss out the future bit. northern powerhouse rail- it managed to miss out the futurei bit. northern powerhouse rail had the potential— bit. northern powerhouse rail had the potential to _ bit. northern powerhouse rail had the potential to be _ bit. northern powerhouse rail had. the potential to be transformational for our— the potential to be transformational for our area, — the potential to be transformational for ourarea, for— the potential to be transformational for our area, for the _ the potential to be transformational for our area, for the wider- the potential to be transformational for our area, for the wider north, i for our area, for the wider north, but equally— for our area, for the wider north, but equally as _ for our area, for the wider north, but equally as important - for our area, for the wider north, but equally as important for- for our area, for the wider north, but equally as important for the i for our area, for the wider north, i but equally as important for the uk as a whole — but equally as important for the uk as a whole. that _ but equally as important for the uk as a whole. that is _ but equally as important for the uk as a whole. that is why _ but equally as important for the uk as a whole. that is why we - but equally as important for the uk as a whole. that is why we have i but equally as important for the uk i as a whole. that is why we have been promised _ as a whole. that is why we have been promised things — as a whole. that is why we have been promised things time _ as a whole. that is why we have been promised things time and _ as a whole. that is why we have been promised things time and time - as a whole. that is why we have beenj promised things time and time again. many voices. — promised things time and time again. many voices, including _ promised things time and time again. many voices, including my _ promised things time and time again. many voices, including my own, - promised things time and time again. many voices, including my own, said i many voices, including my own, said we are _ many voices, including my own, said we are going — many voices, including my own, said we are going to— many voices, including my own, said we are going to try— many voices, including my own, said we are going to try to _ many voices, including my own, said we are going to try to deliver - we are going to try to deliver transformation. _ we are going to try to deliver transformation. instead i we are going to try to deliver transformation. instead they| we are going to try to deliver i transformation. instead they have chosen _ transformation. instead they have chosen not — transformation. instead they have chosen not to _ transformation. instead they have chosen not to deliver— transformation. instead they have chosen not to deliver at _ transformation. instead they have chosen not to deliver at all. - transformation. instead they have chosen not to deliver at all. we i chosen not to deliver at all. we were _ chosen not to deliver at all. we were promised _ chosen not to deliver at all. we were promised grand _ chosen not to deliver at all. we were promised grand designs, i chosen not to deliver at all. we i were promised grand designs, and chosen not to deliver at all. we - were promised grand designs, and now were promised grand designs, and now we are _ were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed — were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed to _ were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed to settle _ were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed to settle for— were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed to settle for a - were promised grand designs, and now we are supposed to settle for a 60 i we are supposed to settle for a 60 minute _ we are supposed to settle for a 60 minute makeover. _ we are supposed to settle for a 60 minute makeover. leaders - we are supposed to settle for a 60 minute makeover. leaders acrossl we are supposed to settle for a 60 i minute makeover. leaders across the north— minute makeover. leaders across the north maids — minute makeover. leaders across the north maids and _ minute makeover. leaders across the north maids and an _ minute makeover. leaders across the north maids and an arguable - minute makeover. leaders across the north maids and an arguable case i minute makeover. leaders across the north maids and an arguable case for| north maids and an arguable case for npr, so _ north maids and an arguable case for npr, so much — north maids and an arguable case for npr, so much so— north maids and an arguable case for npr, so much so that— north maids and an arguable case for npr, so much so that the _ north maids and an arguable case for npr, so much so that the prime i npr, so much so that the prime minister— npr, so much so that the prime minister himself— npr, so much so that the prime minister himself and _ npr, so much so that the prime minister himself and the - npr, so much so that the prime minister himself and the chance | npr, so much so that the prime i minister himself and the chance both agreed _ minister himself and the chance both agreed today— minister himself and the chance both agreed today they— minister himself and the chance both agreed. today they have _ minister himself and the chance both agreed. today they have broken i minister himself and the chance both| agreed. today they have broken their promise _ agreed. today they have broken their promise to _ agreed. today they have broken their promise to the — agreed. today they have broken their promise to the people _ agreed. today they have broken their promise to the people of— agreed. today they have broken their promise to the people of the - agreed. today they have broken their promise to the people of the north. i promise to the people of the north. why would — promise to the people of the north. why would you _ promise to the people of the north. why would you have _ promise to the people of the north. why would you have any— promise to the people of the north. why would you have any faith - promise to the people of the north. why would you have any faith that i why would you have any faith that those _ why would you have any faith that those disjointed _ why would you have any faith that those disjointed upgrades- why would you have any faith that those disjointed upgrades now- those disjointed upgrades now announce _ those disjointed upgrades now announce will— those disjointed upgrades now announce will ever— those disjointed upgrades now announce will ever be - those disjointed upgrades nowl announce will ever be delivered those disjointed upgrades now- announce will ever be delivered when we have _ announce will ever be delivered when we have heard — announce will ever be delivered when we have heard it— announce will ever be delivered when we have heard it all— announce will ever be delivered when we have heard it all before? - announce will ever be delivered when we have heard it all before? what i we have heard it all before? what message — we have heard it all before? what message does— we have heard it all before? what message does it _ we have heard it all before? what message does it send _ we have heard it all before? what message does it send to- we have heard it all before? what message does it send to the i we have heard it all before? what i message does it send to the millions across— message does it send to the millions across the _ message does it send to the millions across the red — message does it send to the millions across the red wall _ message does it send to the millions across the red wall who _ message does it send to the millions across the red wall who led - message does it send to the millions across the red wall who led the - across the red wall who led the prime — across the red wall who led the prime minister— across the red wall who led the prime ministertheir_ across the red wall who led the prime minister their vows- across the red wall who led the prime minister their vows in. across the red wall who led the i prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps _ prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps we — prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps we will _ prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps we will find _ prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps we will find out _ prime minister their vows in 2019. perhaps we will find out soon. it i prime minister their vows in 2019.| perhaps we will find out soon. it is the same — perhaps we will find out soon. it is the same old — perhaps we will find out soon. it is the same old story— perhaps we will find out soon. it is the same old story again - perhaps we will find out soon. it is the same old story again and i perhaps we will find out soon. it is. the same old story again and again. if the same old story again and again. if the _ the same old story again and again. if the north — the same old story again and again. if the north received _ the same old story again and again. if the north received the _ the same old story again and again. if the north received the same i if the north received the same amount— if the north received the same amount of— if the north received the same amount of funding _ if the north received the same amount of funding that - if the north received the samei amount of funding that london if the north received the same - amount of funding that london had over the _ amount of funding that london had over the test — amount of funding that london had over the last decade, _ amount of funding that london had over the last decade, we _ amount of funding that london had over the last decade, we would - amount of funding that london had. over the last decade, we would have had £86 _ over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion— over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion more. _ over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion more. that- over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion more. that is- over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion more. that is not- over the last decade, we would have had £86 billion more. that is not a l had £86 billion more. that is not a p0p had £86 billion more. that is not a pop at— had £86 billion more. that is not a p0p at london. _ had £86 billion more. that is not a p0p at london. i_ had £86 billion more. that is not a pop at london, ithink— had £86 billion more. that is not a pop at london, i think that - had £86 billion more. that is not a pop at london, i think that they i pop at london, i think that they deserve — pop at london, i think that they deserve more _ pop at london, i think that they deserve more than _ pop at london, i think that they deserve more than transport. deserve more than transport infrastructure. _ deserve more than transport infrastructure. but _ deserve more than transport infrastructure. but so - deserve more than transport infrastructure. but so do - deserve more than transport infrastructure. but so do b. i infrastructure. but so do b. successive _ infrastructure. but so do b. successive governments i infrastructure. but so do b. . successive governments have neglected _ successive governments have neglected the _ successive governments have neglected the north - successive governments have neglected the north of- successive governments have neglected the north of the i successive governments have| neglected the north of the fair share — neglected the north of the fair share of— neglected the north of the fair share of funding. _ neglected the north of the fair share of funding. once - neglected the north of the fair share of funding. once again. neglected the north of the fair. share of funding. once again they have _ share of funding. once again they have asked — share of funding. once again they have asked us _ share of funding. once again they have asked us to _ share of funding. once again they have asked us to settle _ share of funding. once again they have asked us to settle with - share of funding. once again they. have asked us to settle with scraps of the _ have asked us to settle with scraps of the table. — have asked us to settle with scraps ofthe table. a _ have asked us to settle with scraps of the table, a cheap— have asked us to settle with scraps of the table, a cheap and _ have asked us to settle with scraps of the table, a cheap and nasty - of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, — of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, facing _ of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, facing up _ of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, facing up to - of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, facing up to 15- of the table, a cheap and nasty solution, facing up to 15 young | solution, facing up to 15 young people — solution, facing up to 15 young pe0pte across _ solution, facing up to 15 young people across the _ solution, facing up to 15 young people across the north. - solution, facing up to 15 young people across the north. that| solution, facing up to 15 young i people across the north. that is 'ust people across the north. that is just not— people across the north. that is just not on _ people across the north. that is just not on. believe _ people across the north. that is just not on. believe me, - people across the north. that is just not on. believe me, these i just not on. believe me, these artists— just not on. believe me, these artists grabs. _ just not on. believe me, these artists grabs, they— just not on. believe me, these artists grabs, they will- just not on. believe me, these artists grabs, they will not - just not on. believe me, these artists grabs, they will not doi artists grabs, they will not do about— artists grabs, they will not do about the _ artists grabs, they will not do about the pre—pandemic- artists grabs, they will not do - about the pre—pandemic economic benefits— about the pre—pandemic economic benefits to — about the pre—pandemic economic benefits to our— about the pre—pandemic economic benefits to our area _ about the pre—pandemic economic benefits to our area alone. - about the pre—pandemic economic benefits to our area alone. —— - about the pre—pandemic economic i benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps _ benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps. they — benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps. they will _ benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps. they will not _ benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps. they will not take - benefits to our area alone. —— these r scraps. they will not take heavy. r scraps. they will not take heavy polluting — r scraps. they will not take heavy polluting hgv _ r scraps. they will not take heavy polluting hgv vehicles _ r scraps. they will not take heavy polluting hgv vehicles off- r scraps. they will not take heavy polluting hgv vehicles off the - r scraps. they will not take heavy. polluting hgv vehicles off the road, they would — polluting hgv vehicles off the road, they would help _ polluting hgv vehicles off the road, they would help tackle _ polluting hgv vehicles off the road, they would help tackle the - polluting hgv vehicles off the road, they would help tackle the climate. they would help tackle the climate emergency — they would help tackle the climate emergency or— they would help tackle the climate emergency or help _ they would help tackle the climate emergency or help connect - they would help tackle the climate emergency or help connect up - they would help tackle the climate emergency or help connect up our| emergency or help connect up our region— emergency or help connect up our region with — emergency or help connect up our region with opportunities - emergency or help connect up our region with opportunities across . emergency or help connect up our. region with opportunities across the country _ region with opportunities across the country and — region with opportunities across the country and it— region with opportunities across the country. and it will— region with opportunities across the country. and it will not _ region with opportunities across the country. and it will not be _ country. and it will not be delivered _ country. and it will not be delivered any— country. and it will not be delivered any faster - country. and it will not be delivered any faster than i country. and it will not be i delivered any faster than we country. and it will not be - delivered any faster than we were deviously— delivered any faster than we were deviously promised. _ delivered any faster than we were deviously promised. on _ delivered any faster than we were deviously promised. on price, - delivered any faster than we were| deviously promised. on price, the document— deviously promised. on price, the document says _ deviously promised. on price, the document says the _ deviously promised. on price, the document says the liverpool- deviously promised. on price, the document says the liverpool city. document says the liverpool city region _ document says the liverpool city region won't _ document says the liverpool city region won't see _ document says the liverpool city region won't see any— document says the liverpool city. region won't see any improvements delivered _ region won't see any improvements delivered until— region won't see any improvements delivered until 2040. _ region won't see any improvements delivered until 2040. that - region won't see any improvements delivered until 2040. that is - region won't see any improvements delivered until 2040. that is no - delivered until 2040. that is no tletter— delivered until 2040. that is no better than— delivered until 2040. that is no better than the _ delivered until 2040. that is no better than the timescales - delivered until 2040. that is no better than the timescales that| delivered until 2040. that is no - better than the timescales that were -iven better than the timescales that were given the _ better than the timescales that were given the four— better than the timescales that were given the four existing _ better than the timescales that were given the four existing plans. - better than the timescales that were given the four existing plans. these i given the four existing plans. these anaemic— given the four existing plans. these anaemic proposals— given the four existing plans. these anaemic proposals will— given the four existing plans. these anaemic proposals will leave - given the four existing plans. these anaemic proposals will leave our. anaemic proposals will leave our economies, _ anaemic proposals will leave our economies, our— anaemic proposals will leave our economies, our resident- anaemic proposals will leave our economies, our resident and - anaemic proposals will leave our i economies, our resident and alois country— economies, our resident and alois country less — economies, our resident and alois country less balance _ economies, our resident and alois country less balance and - economies, our resident and alois country less balance and our- economies, our resident and aloisl country less balance and our planet worse _ country less balance and our planet worse off — country less balance and our planet worse off it — country less balance and our planet worse off it is _ country less balance and our planet worse off. it is not _ country less balance and our planet worse off. it is not levelling - country less balance and our planet worse off. it is not levelling up, - worse off. it is not levelling up, it is holding _ worse off. it is not levelling up, it is holding us— worse off. it is not levelling up, it is holding us down. _ worse off. it is not levelling up, it is holding us down. but - worse off. it is not levelling up, it is holding us down. but it's. worse off. it is not levelling up, i it is holding us down. but it's not you like — it is holding us down. but it's not you like to — it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix _ it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix it. _ it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix it. i— it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix it. i say— it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix it. i say to - it is holding us down. but it's not you like to fix it. i say to the - you like to fix it. i say to the secretary _ you like to fix it. i say to the secretary of _ you like to fix it. i say to the secretary of state, - you like to fix it. i say to the secretary of state, at - you like to fix it. i say to the secretary of state, at my. you like to fix it. i say to the l secretary of state, at my door you like to fix it. i say to the - secretary of state, at my door is always _ secretary of state, at my door is always open _ secretary of state, at my door is always open-— always open. thank you, steve, really powerful. _ always open. thank you, steve, really powerful. over _ always open. thank you, steve, really powerful. over to - always open. thank you, steve, really powerful. over to you, i always open. thank you, steve, - really powerful. over to you, jamie. really powerful. over to you, jamie. everyone who comes to newcastle by rail is— everyone who comes to newcastle by rail is struck— everyone who comes to newcastle by rail is struck about that majestic view— rail is struck about that majestic view of— rail is struck about that majestic view of the bridges over the time. the high _ view of the bridges over the time. the high level bridge was opened by queen— the high level bridge was opened by queen victoria in 1949 firsts. —— 1859~ _ queen victoria in 1949 firsts. —— 1859 in — queen victoria in 1949 firsts. —— 1859. in 1857 at the durham railway viaduct _ 1859. in 1857 at the durham railway viaduct open. that gives you that world—renowned view over durham castle _ world—renowned view over durham castle and — world—renowned view over durham castle and the cathedral. i am blessed — castle and the cathedral. i am blessed with a beautiful region. the north-east — blessed with a beautiful region. the north—east invented the railways, so is a travesty — north—east invented the railways, so is a travesty that we are still using — is a travesty that we are still using that same infrastructure now. it is using that same infrastructure now. it is 164— using that same infrastructure now. it is 164 years old. back then, said since _ it is 164 years old. back then, said since they— it is 164 years old. back then, said since they claim side line was mothballed, there are only two lines into the _ mothballed, there are only two lines into the north—east. all the trains to edinburgh, london, leeds, sheffield, manchester, birmingham and liverpool heading north or south surely _ and liverpool heading north or south surely stacks with freight and local commuter— surely stacks with freight and local commuter services for us. that means only six— commuter services for us. that means only six trains — commuter services for us. that means only six trains an hour can safely use the — only six trains an hour can safely use the track. boarded the ship we have had _ use the track. boarded the ship we have had to — use the track. boarded the ship we have had to cancel the edinburgh to liverpool— have had to cancel the edinburgh to liverpool train, reducing services to berwick, — liverpool train, reducing services to berwick, morpeth, newcastle and darlington. that works both ways. poor _ darlington. that works both ways. poor connections from the north—east we can— poor connections from the north—east we can all— poor connections from the north—east we can all northern cities. the answer— we can all northern cities. the answer is _ we can all northern cities. the answer is to reopen the lean side line, _ answer is to reopen the lean side line. it _ answer is to reopen the lean side line. it will— answer is to reopen the lean side line, it will put washington and tyne _ line, it will put washington and tyne and — line, it will put washington and tyne and worked on the rail network, and make _ tyne and worked on the rail network, and make it _ tyne and worked on the rail network, and make it easier for thousands of people _ and make it easier for thousands of people on— and make it easier for thousands of people on sunderland and south tyneside — people on sunderland and south tyneside to travel across the country _ tyneside to travel across the country. without at the north—east will receive — country. without at the north—east will receive no benefit from northern powerhouse rail, from hsz, hsz be _ northern powerhouse rail, from hsz, hsz be ordered not to be, or anything _ hsz be ordered not to be, or anything else. newcastle isn't even on that— anything else. newcastle isn't even on that map that tracy showed. the argument _ on that map that tracy showed. the argument this is going to get deliver— argument this is going to get deliver sooner it is like promising someone — deliver sooner it is like promising someone a — deliver sooner it is like promising someone a three course meal and saying _ someone a three course meal and saying here, have a bag of crisps instead, — saying here, have a bag of crisps instead, but that's good news because — instead, but that's good news because you will get fed quicker. reopen — because you will get fed quicker. reopen and electrify the lean side line will— reopen and electrify the lean side line will cost 600 million, less than _ line will cost 600 million, less than i% — line will cost 600 million, less than i% of— line will cost 600 million, less than 1% of the hsz in the south, or 3% of— than 1% of the hsz in the south, or 3% of crossrail. for a government saying _ 3% of crossrail. for a government saying they — 3% of crossrail. for a government saying they are keen to preserve the union, _ saying they are keen to preserve the union, they— saying they are keen to preserve the union, they are failing to connect england _ union, they are failing to connect england and scotland. this does not level up— england and scotland. this does not level up the north—east, it slowly strangles— level up the north—east, it slowly strangles our transport arteries, and it— strangles our transport arteries, and it is— strangles our transport arteries, and it is being financed by a low level— and it is being financed by a low level government plan.- and it is being financed by a low level government plan. finally, and d. studio: there we are, the meeting of mayors of northern cities affected by the changes to the real plans for the midlands and north of england, just some of the points lately there about the changes to the plans and there are concerns around them, saying the government has abandoned its levelling up the agenda. when the government outlined the plans in the government outlined the plans in the commons earlier, said that the revisions means money would be saved and people would feel the benefits up and people would feel the benefits up to ten years sooner than they would under the original plans. one of the changes was the scrapping of the h52, of the changes was the scrapping of the hsz, the high—speed new line between the midlands and leeds. that was just one of the elements. of course that there is a lot more to it than that. full details of the integrated rail plan, if you want to see how it affects the area you are in at your local town, city and stations, you can have a look at the bbc website. people forced to live with the debilitating effects of long covid often say they feel alone and anxious. but patients in blackburn, which has the highest number of recorded cases in the country, say support groups run by the council are helping a lot. abbiejones has been to one group to hear their stories. physically i look fine, but internally i don't. and sometimes i feel that people think i am a fraud. 11 months has passed and i've missed all that time with my children. two young children. some days i can hardly get out of bed and that's - because i have been going - through a lot of pain with my body. they live very different lives, but are on the same difficultjourney, battling debilitating health problems months after contracting covid. it leaves them feeling isolated and afraid. i felt like everything were getting on - top of me. like a big heavy... like a big heavy blanket, i guess. i felt at the point of not wanting to be here, - i guess is the word. some days have been quite emotional. and me thinking, am i ever going to get back to normal? i've changed in the last 11 months. i overthink things that would never have bothered me before. for the last seven weeks they have been coming here to a long covid support group in blackburn. the main thing with me at the moment is the tremoring. sufferers can share their feelings, the lows and the victories, their experiences and strategies to cope and access help. i have been to the doctor's today, and i have been referred to in urology. has this group been a lifeline? it is like a weight off your shoulder. oh, my goodness, there is somebody here that actually understands and knows what i am feeling, knows what i am expensive. if i hadn't come across this, this group, i suspect i - wouldn't even be here, because i got such a low point in my life. _ i find them to be trailblazers. the progress is actually visible from confident to talk to each other about it. but no—one here has started treatment at a long covid clinic. getting help outside this group has been a struggle. there is no one source of support. my gp self—admittedly doesn't know what the long covid clinic is doing, what the process is, what other support there might be for me. they are using me to feed into them. the nhs, everybody needs to understand what long covid is, to understand what long covid is, and not kind of brush it under the carpet. but for those who have been helped here, there is now hope for the future. light at the end of. the tunnel, i guess. don't be frightened of coming forward. | these people are only here to help. i am emerging from this now, but i'm still a long way from myself. but with time, and by being kind to yourself as well, there is hope and you can come out of the other side of it, undoubtedly. i am not going to stop until i get to what i was before. abbiejones, bbc news, blackburn. 30 years ago today, the world's media watched as terry waite was released from captivity in beirut. he had last been seen five years earlier, negotiating with kidnappers who were holding hostages, including brian keenan and john mccarthy. but in a dramatic turnaround, terry waite himself had been kidnapped by the extremists. to mark the anniversary of his release he spoke to our security correspondent, frank gardner. freedom, at last. terry waite released after nearly five years, held as a hostage underground in beirut. now, 30 years on since that release, does he have any regrets? it doesn't seem like 30 years. they have gone remarkably quickly. i still remember those days. but strangely enough, you know, i don't look back and deeply regret them. beirut in 1987 was an especially dangerous place. racked by civil war, a city teeming with heavily armed militias who had already seized western hostages. terry waite arrived hoping to get them released but he was tricked into a meeting with jihadists that saw him kidnapped and held for years in solitary confinement. there were dark times. i was beaten on the soles of the feet with cable. and i faced a mock execution. i was blindfolded and taken into another room. my throat went dry because of fear. i'd never experienced that before. i wasn't afraid of death so much as to how would i die. other hostages at the time included the british and usjournalists, john mccarthy and terry anderson, and the us academic, thomas sutherland. their cell next to terry's, but his first meeting with john mccarthy was unorthodox. they decided they were going to move me now so they wrapped me in this tape, carried me out, threw me into the boot of this car and closed the lid. and as i landed in there, i realised there was somebody else in there! i said, "not much room in here!" and a voice came back and said, "untilyou came in, there was plenty of bloody room!" that was my first meeting with john! terry waite has since returned to the city where he was held captive for five years. he has also founded a charity, hostage international, to help those who find themselves in a similar predicament. frank gardner, bbc news. now, if you've never seen a millions of crabs on the move before — then you better get your claws into these pictures from australia. the crustacean commute is taking place on christmas island — one of the largest animal migrations on the planet. they swarm up specially made bridges and across roads closed to cars. as you can see, with good reason, because they don't need particularly fast. i'm not sure how long the migration takes, i don't think it's going to set any land speed records. you wouldn't want to step in the wrong place if you are walking among them. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen. good afternoon. we have enjoyed a little sunshine in a few spots today. this is aberystwyth, just a short while ago. but on the whole, for what remains of today, tonight, and tomorrow, it will be predominantly cloudy. that will keep things mild because we are introducing south—westerly winds off the atlantic. quite tightly packed isobars, so quite a lot of wind through the rest of the day across the north, close to gale force, and with it, those weather fronts in close proximity, giving some rain, particularly across north—western parts of scotland and up into the northern isles, quite wet. but east of the grampians, some breaks in the cloud still. it is here we are seeing the highest temperatures, 16 or 17 celsius. but really, for most, temperatures are three, four, five celsius above what they should be during the day at this time of year. around about 9 or 10 celsius for most. as i say, it's the wind direction. it's coming off the atlantic, it is quite a blustery wind out there today for all. but it should start to ease a little bit as we go through this evening and overnight. as it does so, actually, the cloud in the south, the holes will be filled in by cloud, misty, low cloud in the south, and it's already quite drizzly around some of the irish sea coast and of course close to our weather front which is still hanging around tonight. so, it should be milder for all parts, even in southern areas overnight tonight. so, less sunshine potentially tomorrow. i think it will be quite misty and grey leaden skies, particularly again close to the irish sea coast where we have got that moisture coming in off the sea here and with our weather front starting to intensify later, but still potentially 15 or 16 where the cloud breaks east of the mountains across scotland and across the north—east of england. but that is really it. that is where the mild air stops, because as we get into the weekend, it is turning much colder. so this is the atlantic influence. as we go through saturday into sunday, we get a blast from the north, from the arctic, so it will feel much colder, and we will introduce night—time frost as well through the coming weekend. and they will linger into next week. so, this is the culprit. this is the cold weather front, so behind it, colder air coming southwards. it is still quite mild across southern areas on saturday, still quite cloudy and grey at times, but much brighter skies coming to the north behind. as we go into sunday, we will also feel that colder air arrive across southern parts, as well. there is that weather front exiting the south coast, and then these showers coming southwards. over the tops of the mountains in scotland, yes, they could be wintry, but the main change is how it will feel much colder for all. this is bbc news. the headlines... ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is a fantastic, a monumental programme for rail investment, for commuters, the passengers, in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. this is absolutely not levelling up. instead _ this is absolutely not levelling up. instead of — this is absolutely not levelling up. instead of new lines being built for the 21st _ instead of new lines being built for the 21st century, we offer the 20th century _ the 21st century, we offer the 20th century upgrade four lines built in the 19th _ century upgrade four lines built in the 19th century. where is this chinese tennis star? she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations — now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed eight people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. we are happy that this dangerous and evil man _ we are happy that this dangerous and evil man has been removed from society. — evil man has been removed from society, and while we continue to grieve, _ society, and while we continue to grieve, we — society, and while we continue to grieve, we must ask the obvious question. — grieve, we must ask the obvious question, why was this man, known to so many— question, why was this man, known to so many agencies, allowed to be out and about? — the worst ever performance — again — by emergency departments in wales, with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. do it yourself — apple makes spare parts available so that customers can do their own repairs to their devices. the government has confirmed it is scrapping a key part of the hs2 high speed rail link. the eastern leg between the east midlands and leeds won't now be built, saving tens of billions of pounds. businesses in the region have reacted angrily but ministers deny they are breaking a promise to level up the country. they say their integrated rail plan, unveiled this morning, will deliver benefits to the region through track upgrades up to ten years sooner. this report from theo leggett. a new £96 billion improvement plan for rail, hailed as the most ambitious in a generation, but here in bradford there is little sign of celebration. its two existing stations are run down and rail links are unreliable. a new one was meant to be built as part of the northern powerhouse rail scheme, a high—speed line linking leeds and manchester. now only half of it will be built. the rest of the route will to be upgraded and there will be no shiny new station for bradford. i'v e i've had to take an uber all the way to manchester because services were delayed. ifeel like we to manchester because services were delayed. i feel like we could benefit from less transfers and more direct trains. they are not that bad on time, it's just they're old trains, overcrowded with people. they are not very good. they are quite on and off. they always get cancelled a lot of the time, and i usually go to college, i'm usually late every other day. ambitions for hs2 are also being reined in. the london to birmingham section is already being built but there won't now be a dedicated high—speed link between birmingham and leeds. instead the new track will stop in the east midlands. the rest of the route will be upgraded. the government insists the changes mean it will be able to deliver major improvements much more quickly. it will offer for young people commuting in the midlands and the north the same type of confidence about their daily lives, their commute, as people have been used to for a century in the south. it's a huge investment, costing £96 billion, though not all of it is new money. it includes plans to spend £360 million on introducing contactless payment systems to help commuters and there will be price caps for trains, trams and buses. there will also be a new mass transit system for leeds but labour says promises have been broken. we set out a comprehensive plan for hs2 and northern powerhouse rail and we stick by that. that's the big difference between us and the government. when we set out promises we stick to them for top the government makes promises and then rips them up, which is what it has done today. for mps along the northern powerhouse rail route the stakes are high. if we find a better, cheaper, more deliverable way to get a better result for our constituents, isn't that a better way to go? in west yorkshire, badly affected, a very different view. is a betrayal of the north and the people i represent in west yorkshire to stop only what feels like months ago the prime minister stood in front of stevenson's rocket in manchester and promised a new rail line, northern powerhouse rail. no one is questioning the need for better transport links in the north of the country but the row over how to achieve that is becoming more bitter than ever. speak now to the director of the northern powerhouse ship. what is your impression?— northern powerhouse ship. what is your impression? fundamentally, when this was launched _ your impression? fundamentally, when this was launched by _ your impression? fundamentally, when this was launched by george _ your impression? fundamentally, when this was launched by george osborne, l this was launched by george osborne, it was clear we needed that new line across the pennines. has been the historical cross—party consensus on this issue. those schemes which have a lot of work done on them, a lot of promises made by the prime minister, personally, to deliver in full, particularly across the pennines and first speech as prime minister. all of that has been ripped up. the challenge with these leaders is that there been tens of billions less. later evening, we will be demonstrating how much less this than what we promised. i think it's important that we know that when someone stands up and says there is a great new investment, and actually, it'sjust a great new investment, and actually, it's just cuts to projects that were already promised, we can't get away with that without evidence being put forward. the get away with that without evidence being put forward.— being put forward. the prime minister's — being put forward. the prime minister's defensive - being put forward. the prime minister's defensive it - being put forward. the prime minister's defensive it is - being put forward. the prime minister's defensive it is by l minister's defensive it is by devising the plans, the benefits will be felt in some cases up to ten years sooner than sticking to the original plan rather than build on existing ones?— existing ones? that's simply not true. existing ones? that's simply not true- these _ existing ones? that's simply not true. these lines _ existing ones? that's simply not true. these lines could - existing ones? that's simply not true. these lines could have - existing ones? that's simply not. true. these lines could have been delivered within a decade. the project today in the electrification of the line to hull, a city that had so many broken promises, that scheme is one that the transport for the north as demonstrate of the first part of the northern powerhouse rail. the government is not being straight. the cancelled projects that they don't like, perhaps for political reasons, and the ones that have the easiest opinions that can be taken away. but when it comes to the leeds line, vitalforfreight capacity, when it comes to the opportunity to connect bradford, city of half a million people, i'm really concerned that the economics of the northern powerhouse rail have been forgotten. the whole point of h52 been forgotten. the whole point of hs2 was to bring more capacity down from leeds and sheffield down to birmingham and london, that that would unlock capacity on existing lines. now that existing line south of sheffield will have to take existing trains. rather than getting more capacity on the network, the full benefit of hsz, which was always about taking congestion of the rail network has been undermined. when it's across the pennines, it's a commitment, when itch the hsz, it's a project that had so much investment, that walking away from large chunks is i think a mistake. when we talk about the £96 billion that was committed today, almost half of that is hs2 phase one. standing here in sheffield, there will be no transit will get as far as the east midlands, there is not even a plan to do that yet announced. in the north—east, there is no viable way to get trains to newcastle or darlington. newcastle missed out originally and being on the eastern leg, navigate the train services at all. the whole area of the uk completely cut off from hsz. looking at the words of the prime minister himself, he said the balance with the original plans was wrong and it focused too much on high—speed showpiece elements and too little on local elements. this will benefit people on smaller stops along the route, more so than perhaps the original plans would have done, than directly with high—speed lines. i’m have done, than directly with high-speed lines.— have done, than directly with high-speed lines. i'm afraid the prime minister _ high-speed lines. i'm afraid the prime minister has _ high-speed lines. i'm afraid the prime minister has been - high-speed lines. i'm afraid the - prime minister has been ill-advised prime minister has been ill—advised in terms of the drafting they chose to use. it's the main elements of the northern powerhouse rail in the north—east. east coast main line was mentioned in terms of upgrades. that project has been knocking around government since the 90s. it's so old it was properly first proposed when i was in primary school. we have a scheme above a billion, probably less than 2 billion, which would have opened a station in the former prime minister's constituency, gordon brown. areas like this now, you build a station there, they won't be able to get to newcastle, only to middlesbrough. the commuter services between newcastle and middlesbrough are terrible. and now newcastle won't get the capacity on this maine coast line even after being upgraded for the current services, never mind the extra trains want to offer to run from warrington across to manchester and manchester to marsden. not only do use that intercity capacity to newcastle, because you can't get a line from newcastle to leeds to benefit from the new line is being built, but you also lose out on a community like salary health. there is nowhere more iconic lease connected to the routable like fairy hell. an mps campaign for a station there. and he's been clear that it's about local people. by —— in ferry hill. one of the best levelling up projects has now been cancelled and the problem with it was it was expensive. this government is more interested in opening train stations and actually operating trains, because you can't operate trains and outline capacity, state, we are losing tens of billions worth of line capacity here in the north of england undermining the northern hat powerhouse potentially beyond repair. one of the areas set to benefit from the plans is the route from birmingham to nottingham — which will be cut from an hour and a quarter to less than 30 minutes. the conservative mp for mansfield and leader of nottingham county council, ben bradley said it would greatly benefit those who commute between the two cities. mention the times, lad. it's massively important for our region. we've also got it commitment to another station which will be a hub forjob creation of the back of this. my constituents will be able to hop on a train line and to those newjobs. that will be hugely beneficial for life chances in what is the disadvantaged part of the country. so good news.- is the disadvantaged part of the country. so good news. there is still a problem _ country. so good news. there is still a problem for _ country. so good news. there is still a problem for those - country. so good news. there is still a problem for those who . country. so good news. there is i still a problem for those who wish to travel from the east midlands and leeds,in to travel from the east midlands and leeds, in that the high—speed rail as promised, they may have even chosen were to live on that basis, and i won't go ahead.— and i won't go ahead. we've been assured that _ and i won't go ahead. we've been assured that the _ and i won't go ahead. we've been assured that the journey - and i won't go ahead. we've been assured that the journey time - assured that the journey time between east midlands and sheffield will be the same as they were under the original plan. we will have four stations on that network, with the midline upgrades as well. if anything, they might be more access for people to get on at different points around the region. although there is a high—speed line, a part of that is an economic and job creation part, the government have listened in the east midlands from that point of view, and make that commitment to our keyjob creation plans, which will help local residents go to those jobs. i think levelling up is about creating good, while sustained jobs, and helping people get there. i'm joined now by louise gittins, the interim chair of transport for the north, and labour leader of cheshire west and chester. in terms of the areas that you largely represent, they haven't been as badly affected by these changes as badly affected by these changes as areas further to the east, have they? i as areas further to the east, have the ? ., they? i disagree with that. the whole purpose _ they? i disagree with that. the whole purpose of _ they? i disagree with that. the whole purpose of the - they? i disagree with that. the whole purpose of the northern| whole purpose of the northern powerhouse rail is about freeing up capacity on the whole network. if i want to get a train from chester or liverpool, which is near to me, it all depends on what is happening in manchester, whether trains are delayed. so this freed up space on our network. by not delivering on the whole of it, our whole network will be affected. all we did was have a vision for the future, for what future rail will look like, and we wanted to do the big things first, and then all the other things would happen afterwards, but now, unfortunately, we've come to a position where we willjust grind to a halt. give you example. i was in the offices yesterday afternoon in manchester. i left at 5:30pm and got public transport back to where i live and it took two and a half hours so i got home at 8pm. if i had driven, i would have been in at 6:30pm. i don't see that these plans will make that any different. white backed the plan set out in the commons today suggested that if they were to update the existing lines, rather than building new ones, people would feel the benefits sooner, is the same time as the project saving money. it sounds a bit short term, really. i think we need that long term view. and we wanted to take 58,000 cars off the road. i will be to that? is also about the climate emergency. we are seeing an increase in freight. the competition between passenger and freight lines will impact on the railway. so, yes, it's all very nice to open a station, and it will have an impact, but what we're trying to do as northern leaders, and this is cross party, were all speaking with one voice, is to look at that bigger picture and identify what needs to be done to unlock the rest of the net rail network. and this is the only way of doing that. we spent quite a long time on this with evidence. i must say, i haven't seen any evidence. something about liverpool to manchester in 35 minutes, but in the small print that was to victoria. in piccadilly yesterday, the line from piccadilly to victoria takes 18 minutes, so is it really 35 minutes? when really, it's 50 something on a good day. there's a lot of smoke and mirrors coming out in the document. obviously, i haven't had the chance to read it all. it's woefully inadequate and disappointing. i152 to read it all. it's woefully inadequate and disappointing. h52 is an overall project _ inadequate and disappointing. h52 is an overall project is _ inadequate and disappointing. h52 is an overall project is always _ an overall project is always divisive. there will be some people cheering and celebrating the scrapping of parts of this, because they didn't want new rail lines going through their parts of the country, and they didn't want their homes affected by the noise and construction works. some will be breathing a sigh of relief. i’m construction works. some will be breathing a sigh of relief. i'm sure the will breathing a sigh of relief. i'm sure they will d0- _ breathing a sigh of relief. i'm sure they will do. and _ breathing a sigh of relief. i'm sure they will do. and i _ breathing a sigh of relief. i'm sure they will do. and i totally - they will do. and i totally understand how they are feeling, and what that means to them. but i was at cop26 last week. we need to be on at cop26 last week. we need to be on a mission with this if we are going to deal with climate change, we need to deal with climate change, we need to act quickly. i like to think that disruption would be short—term, in the long—term benefits of what this would bring needs to be seen. i've lived next to railway lines or my life, to be honest, so it's comforting for me to hear a train. not so much now, but sydney when i was a child. there are a part of our lives. actually, we are using victorian tracks at the moment. the country with their insight and vision for railways, and we need to be doing the same, notjust a sticking plaster approach. that spring you the latest uk coronavirus figures which have just been published. the uk have recorded 46,807 cases for the latest 24—hour period. that is a jump of about 8000 on the previous day. and as far as coronavirus —related deaths are concerned, there were 199 coronavirus deaths recorded in the uk in the latest 24—hour period. that is down slightly from 201 the previous day. of course, the criteria for that is daft for any reason following a coronavirus task within 28 days. —— criteria for that is any reason following a coronavirus test within 28 days. doubts have been cast on an email supposedly written by the chinese tennis star peng shuai, saying that she's safe and well. the two time grand slam doubles champion hasn't been seen for a fortnight since she accused china's former vice premier zhang gaoli of sexual assault. the email, purportedly from her, has been published by chinese state media but the head of women's tennis says he has a hard time believing that it's genuine. our china correspondent robin brant reports from shanghai. for years, peng shuai has let her racket do the talking, and she's risen to the top, a star in a sport where there are not many chinese success stories. at 35, she is someone the ruling communist party leaders could be proud of. but an allegation about one of those senior party figures change that. in this social media posting earlier this month, peng named vice premier zhang gaoli, and claimed he forced her to have sex. china state censors removed the posting within an hour. peng hasn't been seen in public or heard from since. few people are allowed to publicly challenge senior authorities like zhang gaoli without paying some price, and i think it would be telling if she were able to leave the country, for example, and speak freely, where she wouldn't face those kinds of repercussions. in the ensuing days, tennis stars old and new spoke out, worried about her. billiejean king and naomi osaka were among them. then, in the middle of the night, an e—mail appeared, or at least what one arm of chinese state media says is an e—mailfrom peng shuai to the head of the women's tennis association. basically, the message is, don't worry, i'm fine, and i didn't mean what i said two weeks ago. in what looks like a screen shot, it's claimed she started out saying, "hello, everyone," and went to say the allegations made two weeks ago were in fact false, and she has just been resting at home, everything is fine, she adds. promise people do disappear in china one tech billionaire was not seen in public for months after criticising state regulators. but athletes — that's unusual. in a hasty response, the man to whom the e—mail was reportedly sent, wta chief steve simon, said he had a hard time believing peng actually wrote it. this comes as this country prepares to be at the centre of the sporting world when beijing hosts the winter olympics next february, a game is already facing the prospect of some kind of boycott over what the us says is genocide against chinese muslims in the west of the country. a man has beenjailed for life after admitting to a series of knife attacks in birmingham in september last year. zephaniah mcleod must serve a minimum of 21 years after pleading guilty to the manslaughter ofjacob billington, as well as three attempted murders and four counts of wounding with intent. phil mackie has the background. injust over an hour and a half, zephaniah mcleod wrought havoc on the streets of birmingham. police emergency. one guy tried to stab me on the street and he stabbed me in the neck but... you've been stabbed in the neck? he was described in court as a dangerous offender. he had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and had recently been released from prison. and she's still breathing? ok, we just found out someone else has been stabbed now. _ armed with a knife, he stabbed eight people. they were serious attacks, often targeted towards people's head, neck and upper chest areas, which have left victims with some catastrophic injuries, but also, you know, the mental scarring that the victims will have. in the confusion, police didn't initially realise all the attacks were related. within 24 hours, they had identified the man responsible. the worst of the attacks was here in irving street. a group of friends from liverpool had spent the night in birmingham and were walking back to the hotel when zephaniah mcleod attacked them. he's losing a lot of blood from the neck. is he breathing and conscious? he is conscious. 0k. not really, he's losing consciousness. welcome to the vedetts garden sessions... - two of the friends were in this band, the vedetts. the lead singer is michael callaghan, the drummer, his best friend jacob billington. despite their friends' best efforts, jacob didn't make it. now his family want to know why mcleod wasn't under closer observation. he didn't appear to have been monitored in the way you would imagine he would, as somebody who was known to be dangerous and had a long previous history of being dangerous, had a known mental health condition. he is kind of a personification of the problems of the legal system and the mental health team in this country. michael callaghan survived but, like some of the other victims, he suffered life—changing injuries. the knife completely severed his ijugular vein and carotid artery. i he lost a huge amount of blood, and we don't really understand l how he even survived. michael's progress has been astonishing, but in his statement, which was read in court, he said he sometimes wishes he hadn't made it. there are still many unanswered questions about what happened last september, and whether more could have been done to stop zephaniah mcleod and prevent the attacks which left seven people wounded and one, jacob billington, dead. phil mackie bbc news, birmingham. hospital emergency departments and ambulance services in wales have recorded their worst ever performance figures — again. last month only 65% of patients were treated within four hours in a&e. and just half of call—outs to people with immediately life threatening injuries were reached within the target eight minutes. our correspondent mark hutchings said waiting lists in wales were likely to get worse in the winter months. if you've spent any time lately, possibly a long time waiting for treatment from the welsh nhs, then these figures probably come as little surprise to you. they see another set of tumbling records for poor performance. 65% of patients waiting less than four hours in a&e — the target for that is 95%. nearly 9500 people waited more than 12 hours in a&e. the target for that is that no one should have to wait that long. 50% of ambulances answering the most urgent calls within eight minutes, they haven't met their targets for the last 15 months. 21% of the welsh population is now on a waiting list for a planned treatment. these case notes are pretty depressing, the welsh nhs confederation, who run the health board, say it is a picture that is unsustainable. the welsh government, who are based here, insist they are investing more money, but they are calling on people to choose carefully — do they really need emergency treatment? also, there is the added problem of an estimated up to 15% of patients in acute hospital beds who don't need to be there but there isn't a care package for them to leave hospital. the leaves are still falling from the trees, it's only november, but it's likely in the coming winter months when more unwelcome records will be broken. the former yorkshire cricketer azeem rafiq has admitted and apologised for anti—semitic messages he sent ten years ago. rafiq has been central to a racism controversy in the past week which has engulfed yorkshire cricket club and the wider game. let's speak our sport presenterjane dougall. had this come to light? what to we know? the former yorkshire cricketer at the centre of the racism scandal, had to apologise for historic exchange, appears he himself sent to anti—semitic messages. he exchange, appears he himself sent to anti-semitic messages.— anti-semitic messages. he has actually posted _ anti-semitic messages. he has actually posted an _ anti-semitic messages. he has actually posted an apology - anti-semitic messages. he has actually posted an apology for. anti-semitic messages. he has i actually posted an apology for this on social media. he said he was sent on social media. he said he was sent on an image of this exchange from 2011 today. he said he said he went back to check his account and it is me. i have absolutely no excuses. i am ashamed of this exchange, and have now deleted it so as not to cause further offence. i was 19 at the time, and hope and believe i am a different person today. i am incredibly angry at myself and apologised to thejewish community and anyone else who is rightly offended by this. so an apology from the former cricketer who send these messages in 2011. find the former cricketer who send these messages in 2011.— the former cricketer who send these messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when — messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when he _ messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when he has _ messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when he has been _ messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when he has been shining - messages in 2011. and this comes at a time when he has been shining a i a time when he has been shining a light on racism in cricket, which got so bad that he was pushed to the point of almost taking his own life at yorkshire county cricket club. do you think this will distract attention from the court message —— court message? i attention from the court message -- court message?— court message? i would imagine the 'd court message? i would imagine they'd cancel— court message? i would imagine they'd cancel each _ court message? i would imagine they'd cancel each other - court message? i would imagine they'd cancel each other out. - court message? i would imagine they'd cancel each other out. he j they'd cancel each other out. he also questioned for two hours on the treatment he had endured when he was a player at yorkshire county cricket club. examples are being called racist names of a number of years and is not being given the support he felt he should have been given following the death of his son, who died at stillborn. as you said, this racism scandal has threatened to engulf the sport of cricket. there's been several resignations from the board, following him saying that he felt that yorkshire county cricket club was institutionally racist, despite further than yorkshire. it also led to the withdrawal of sponsors from yorkshire county critic club. —— yorkshire county cricket club. today, the sports minister was asked several questions, and made several demands, as well, of the eec b. in fact, he said that the sports minister said that cricket could face the nuclear option of an independent regulator if they don't act quickly enough to address this racism scandal. as we have said, this comes today of the back of an apology for historic exchange in 2011where he appears to have sent anti—semitic messages to another cricketer. jane, for now, thank you very much. we will return to that in the sport round up in a few minutes. meantime, let's look at the weather with helen willits. the sunshine has been most abundant in eastern areas, scotland and england. we have started to lose it now the sun is going down, but we have some rain across the western side of scotland, a tale of two halves here, and it will continue that way for the rest of today. heavy rain across the northern isles. 17 celsius in the grampians. temperatures well above what they should be at this time of year, the average being nine celsius also. it is one of the lowest temperatures we will see overnight. the cloud will blanket the fall in temperature. it is unlikely to be as cold under clear skies as it was last night, more likely to be misty with low cloud. you can still see some brightness coming through tomorrow, particularly east of the pennines, across the eastern side of scotland as well, and other areas where we are sheltered from the south—westerly. a wet day for the far north and west of scotland in particular. for most of us, mild again, but it won't stay that way. i'll tell you more about that later. hello this is bbc news. the headlines: ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is a fantastic, a monumental programme for rail investment, for commuters, for passengers in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. this west midlands, the whole of the north of the country.— north of the country. this is absolutely _ north of the country. this is absolutely not _ north of the country. this is absolutely not levelling - north of the country. this is absolutely not levelling up. | north of the country. this is - absolutely not levelling up. instead of new _ absolutely not levelling up. instead of new lines built for the 21st century. _ of new lines built for the 21st century, we are being offered a 20th—century upgrade to 19th—century infrastructure. former yorkshire cricketer azeem rafiq has apologised for anti—semitic messages he sent 10 years ago — just days after giving testimony to mps about the racist abuse he faced while a professional player. where is this chinese tennis star? she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations — now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? a life sentence for zephaniah mcleod — the man who stabbed eight people in birmingham in what the judge called a murderous rampage. we are happy that this dangerous and evil man has been removed from society, and while we continue to grieve forjacob, we must ask the obvious question — why was zephaniah mcleod, known to so many agencies, allowed to be out and about? the worst ever performance — again — by emergency departments in wales, with record waiting times for an ambulance and at a&e. do it yourself: apple makes spare parts available so that customers can do their own repairs to their devices. sport, and for a full round up, we go over to the bbc sport centre. azeem rafiq has apologised for a historical— azeem rafiq has apologised for a historical post azeem rafiq has apologised for a historical post in he appeared to be anti—semitic. he appeared to be anti-semitic. fox cricket could face the " nuclear option' of an independent regulator if the ecb doesn't act quickly enough in the wake of the racism scandal that's engulfed the sport. the words of the sports minister nigel huddlestone who's been speaking at the dcms select committee. mp�*s have been asking more questions following the harrowing testimoney given by former yorkshire cricketer azeem rafiq on tuesday. i think we all want cricket to put its house in order, get its act together and sort this out. if its house in order, get its act together and sort this out. if we don't see sufficient _ together and sort this out. if we don't see sufficient action - together and sort this out. if we: don't see sufficient action being taken, we as a government will intervene. if they don't get their act together, we have the nuclear option of legislating in order to bring in potentially an independent regulator, so that is probably the route that if we had to that they had to we could go down. steven gerrard has denied that he's taken the job at aston villa purely as a stepping stone to becoming manager at his old club, liverpool. gerrard was speaking to the media for the first time since being appointed as villa head coach. the former liverpool captain said he was excited to be back in the premier league and that he had no ulterior motive for taking the job. you'll never hear me say it is a stepping stone. for me, i am monitored and proud to be in this position. as i say, i'm all in, i give thisjob everything position. as i say, i'm all in, i give this job everything that it needs for it to be a success. i will be 100% committed and more, so will my staff. i don't think there's anything wrong in football to have dreams and aspirations, but as i say, liverpool have got a world—class coach that they are very happy with. if he was to sign a lifetime deal right now, i would be very happy their mountain. —— for them and him. —— for them and him. chelsea's women will be confident of picking up another three points when they take on servette in the women's champions league at kingsmeadow later. chelsea thrashed the swiss side away earlier this month and are top of the group with seven points after three games. they go into the match on a high, having beaten manchester city 4—0 on sunday. eddiejones has named his england side to play south africa this weekend at twickenham. courtney lawes will captain the side as owen farrell is injured. newcastle hookerjamie blamire and sale prop bevan rodd both start in an inexperienced england front row. joe marchant is on the wing with manu tuilagi returning to the midfield. rory mcilroy tops the leaderboard after the opening day of the dp world tour championship. mcilroy shot six birdies and an eagle on his way to finishing on seven under. mcilroy�*s chasing a third victory of the european tour's season finale. afterwards he said an improvement in his game was down to him having to re—set after a disappointing ryder cup. he was working on the range on the putting _ he was working on the range on the putting green this morning before he went out _ putting green this morning before he went out. i�*m putting green this morning before he went out. �* . . putting green this morning before he went out. �* . , ., �* went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around _ went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around the _ went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around the blog _ went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around the blog a - went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around the blog a bit, - went out. i'm a big boy now, i've been around the blog a bit, and. went out. i'm a big boy now, i've| been around the blog a bit, and if went out. i'm a big boy now, i've l been around the blog a bit, and if| been around the blog a bit, and if i have problems or struggles, i should be able to sort them out myself instead of looking to others to fix my problem is, i'm just going to try to take responsibility a bit. that's really what i did after the ryder cup — i put my head down and spent a lot of timejust cup — i put my head down and spent a lot of time just on the range, just figuring out, ok, what is it that i do well? what do i need to get back to? spain's garbine muguruza has won the season—ending wta finals in mexico. she beat anett kontaveit of estonia in the final, in straight sets 6—3, 7—5, to win the tournament for the first time. the two—time grand slam champion will go up to third in the world rankings as a result. and alexander zverev is through to the semi—finals at the atp tour finals in turin. he needed a win against hubert hurcasz to qualify and the world number three came through 6—2, 6—4. he'll play novak djokovic in the semis. that's all the sport for now. more details on all of those stories, including the apology from azeem rafiq, on the bbc sport website. back to you. the tech giant, apple, is to start selling spare parts and tools — so that customers can carry out their own repairs on their phones and computers. the "self—service repair" programme will begin in the united states next year before expanding to more countries. ugo vallauri the co—founder of the restart project who runs events to show people how to repair their small electrical goods and who is also founding member of the european right to repair campaign spoke to me a little earlier about the new home repair trialfrom apple apple. apple, until the day before, was heavily campaigning against repair, can change and can make things betterfor can change and can make things better for consumers. there are a lot of unknowns still. we don't know how costly the spare parts will be, if apple will continue its questionable practices of putting software locks to prevent people from using third—party spare parts, for example, and that's why we need to really regulation for the right to really regulation for the right to repair, in the uk and in europe. i suppose the thing is, if you are kind of minded in that way, if you have a bit of skill, then you would think nothing of perhaps trying to repair your iphone. if you're a complete novice, and i put myself in that category, i would be quite worried about ruining the whole phone if i tried to repair it. this won't appeal to everyone, will it? absolutely. we are not advocating that everyone should be doing all of their repairs, but we are advocating that everyone should have the choice of whether they should do it themselves or choose a professional to help them with the repairs. this is the spirit of right to repair — people should have choice, and everyone should have access to spare parts and repair information. and now when they buy a product whether it will be supported by the manufacturer for a long time. otherwise we're just risking creating a lot of unnecessary electronic waste. we know that the uk public really wants a lot more access to such regulation. we recently ran a poll showing that over 80% of the public in this country once more regulation from the government to give us a real right to repairfor the government to give us a real right to repair for laptops, smartphones and tablets, and the vast majority of people want consumers as well as community repair initiatives such as repair cafes to have access to all of that information, notjust professional repairers. we want to make sure that people can choose, can have options and can, when possible, repair it themselves, but particularly have themselves, but particularly have the confidence that a product they buy can be used for much longer. fik. buy can be used for much longer. ok. the problem — buy can be used for much longer. ok. the problem for some people, and a lot of people drop their phone and smash the screen, even just getting the screen repair, unless you take it to the authorised apple repair option, they will turn round and say, if you get it done elsewhere, it voids your guarantee or your warranty. have they said anything about that? there will be some people who may be a few months after getting a new fund, —— a new phone, they are worried about losing their guarantee. taste they are worried about losing their auarantee. ~ . they are worried about losing their auarantee. ~ , ., guarantee. we will see how the oli guarantee. we will see how the policy evolves- _ guarantee. we will see how the policy evolves. my _ guarantee. we will see how the i policy evolves. my understanding guarantee. we will see how the - policy evolves. my understanding is that replacing a screen will not void the warranty of a product, but again, we cannot really celebrate a move until we know the details of exactly of how this will affect their policies about the product. housing and consumer experts have told the bbc that shared ownership schemes, designed to help people on low incomes get on to the property ladder, must be reformed in light of the cladding crisis. concerns about building safety were triggered by the grenfell tower fire in 2017, and its estimated more than half a million people still live in homes covered in dangerous materials. sarah corker reports. who should pay to fix britain's dangerous buildings? from london to leeds, birmingham to manchester, more than half a million people are stuck living in unsafe, unsellable homes. what work needs doing? if you look at all the timber cladding that you see, that all has to come down. in south london, single mum emma has outgrown this one—bed flat. this is the living room and... this doubles as your bedroom? yes. in the evening it is like changing rooms, and in here is my bed. it was 12 months ago when we first met. residents had just been told the building was so unsafe it needed round—the—clock fire wardens. i'm angry, i'm actually furious at it. this is ruining people's lives. a year on, emma's share of the bill to remove the cladding and fix other fire safety faults could be up to £30,000, and the building doesn't qualify for any government funding because it is under 18 metres. and emma only actually owns 50% of the flat. she bought through an affordable housing scheme but terms of the lease mean she is liable for 100% of the costs. what has the reality of shared ownership been for you? i don't think shared ownership is fit for purpose. it is to help people like me who couldn't afford to get i guess a full mortgage on a property. it has really done me a disservice, i wouldn't recommend anybody to go on a shared ownership. under shared ownership, you pay rent to a housing association on the part you don't own. housing experts say the cladding crisis has exposed it is a flawed system and needs urgent reform. i think the scheme does have a fundamental unfairness. there are potential liabilities which are so great that people are potentially going to go bankrupt or lose their homes. any scheme which purports to be affordable housing and which can leave people in that situation is not doing itsjob. this is one of the worst affected... the conservative mp for stevenage says leaseholders should not have to pay these huge bills but warns housing associations are facing a tough choice between building safety and building new homes. some of the ones in london have said they are going to build 300,000 - fewer homes over the next few years as a result of it, so not only- is it really damaging - the shared ownership market, it is also damaging the supply- of affordable homes going forward. emma's housing association, optivo, said safety is its number one priority and it is continuing to call for government funding to help cover costs on low and mid—rise blocks. the government told us it is unacceptable leaseholders are facing the excessive bills and further proposals to help will be set out soon. but until then, emma and thousands of others are stuck living in homes they can't afford. sarah corker, bbc news, in south london. the headlines on bbc news: ministers confirm the scrapping of a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. former yorkshire cricketer azeem rafiq has apologised for anti—semitic messages he sent 10 years ago — just days after giving testimony to mps about the racist abuse he faced himself while a professional player. where is this chinese tennis star? she disappeared after making sexual assault allegations — now there's an email saying she's safe and well, but is it genuine? the number of daily covid19 cases registered in germany has risen sharply to 65,000, by far the highest figure since the pandemic began. the lower house of the german parliament has just passed new laws to control the virus, they will be considered by the upper house tomorrow. several other european countries have already tightened restrictions as cases on the continent continue to surge. let's take a look at some of the measures being taken across the bloc. i'mjessica parker i'm jessica parker in i'mjessica parker in brussels. with rising case rates, the belgian government has announced new measures which will kick in on saturday, including making it compulsory to work from home four days a week, unless you really can't work from home, then the plan is to loosen that a bit in mid—december. the idea partly behind this is to cut the number of contacts on public transport. they are also going to extend the rules around the wearing of facemasks. it will be compulsory for children of ten years old and above to wear facemasks in many settings. previously, the lower age limit was 12. mw settings. previously, the lower age limit was 11— limit was 12. i'm anna holligan in the netherlands, _ limit was 12. i'm anna holligan in the netherlands, a _ limit was 12. i'm anna holligan in the netherlands, a country - limit was 12. i'm anna holligan in the netherlands, a country that l the netherlands, a country that keeps _ the netherlands, a country that keeps on — the netherlands, a country that keeps on breaking its own worst records — keeps on breaking its own worst records. this week, the infection rate has— records. this week, the infection rate has almost doubled. a lockdown li-ht rate has almost doubled. a lockdown light has _ rate has almost doubled. a lockdown light has been imposed, so bars, restaurants, cafes and supermarkets have to _ restaurants, cafes and supermarkets have to close by apm, and the overrateds have just become the first to _ overrateds have just become the first to be — overrateds have just become the first to be invited forward for their— first to be invited forward for their booster vaccines. there was talk of— their booster vaccines. there was talk of more restrictions, but fears they could — talk of more restrictions, but fears they could further polarise a nation already— they could further polarise a nation already deeply divided over how best to avoid _ already deeply divided over how best to avoid a _ already deeply divided over how best to avoid a full— blown lockdown this winter _ to avoid a full-blown lockdown this winter. �* a , ,, winter. i'm damien mcguinness in german , winter. i'm damien mcguinness in germany. where _ winter. i'm damien mcguinness in germany, where infection - winter. i'm damien mcguinness in germany, where infection rates i winter. i'm damien mcguinness in i germany, where infection rates have yet again— germany, where infection rates have yet again reached _ germany, where infection rates have yet again reached a _ germany, where infection rates have yet again reached a new _ germany, where infection rates have yet again reached a new record. - germany, where infection rates have| yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 — yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 new— yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 new infections - yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 new infections in - yet again reached a new record. more than 65,000 new infections injust- than 65,000 new infections injust the last— than 65,000 new infections injust the last 24— than 65,000 new infections injust the last 24 hours. _ than 65,000 new infections injust the last 24 hours. angela - than 65,000 new infections injust the last 24 hours. angela merkel. than 65,000 new infections injust. the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described _ the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described it — the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described it as — the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described it as an _ the last 24 hours. angela merkel has described it as an emergency - described it as an emergency situation, _ described it as an emergency situation, which _ described it as an emergency situation, which is _ described it as an emergency situation, which is why- described it as an emergency - situation, which is why germany's parliament — situation, which is why germany's parliament is _ situation, which is why germany's parliament is right— situation, which is why germany's parliament is right now— situation, which is why germany's parliament is right now deciding l situation, which is why germany's i parliament is right now deciding new measures. _ parliament is right now deciding new measures, including _ parliament is right now deciding new measures, including access - parliament is right now deciding new measures, including access to - parliament is right now deciding new measures, including access to public transport _ measures, including access to public transport or— measures, including access to public transport or the _ measures, including access to public transport or the workplace _ measures, including access to public transport or the workplace only - measures, including access to public transport or the workplace only for l transport or the workplace only for people _ transport or the workplace only for people who — transport or the workplace only for people who have _ transport or the workplace only for people who have had _ transport or the workplace only for people who have had vaccines - transport or the workplace only for people who have had vaccines or. transport or the workplace only for people who have had vaccines or a| people who have had vaccines or a recent— people who have had vaccines or a recent test. — people who have had vaccines or a recent test, and _ people who have had vaccines or a recent test, and in— people who have had vaccines or a recent test, and in many- people who have had vaccines or a recent test, and in many regions. recent test, and in many regions across— recent test, and in many regions across germany— recent test, and in many regions across germany already, - recent test, and in many regions across germany already, you - recent test, and in many regions| across germany already, you can recent test, and in many regions- across germany already, you can only access _ across germany already, you can only access cafes. — across germany already, you can only access cafes. bars, _ across germany already, you can only access cafes, bars, the _ across germany already, you can only access cafes, bars, the gym - across germany already, you can only access cafes, bars, the gym or- across germany already, you can only access cafes, bars, the gym or the i access cafes, bars, the gym or the hairdresser's— access cafes, bars, the gym or the hairdresser's if— access cafes, bars, the gym or the hairdresser's if you _ access cafes, bars, the gym or the hairdresser's if you have _ access cafes, bars, the gym or the hairdresser's if you have the - hairdresser's if you have the vaccine _ hairdresser's if you have the vaccine. this _ hairdresser's if you have the vaccine. this is _ hairdresser's if you have the vaccine. this is to _ hairdresser's if you have the vaccine. this is to get- hairdresser's if you have the vaccine. this is to get those| hairdresser's if you have the - vaccine. this is to get those high infection— vaccine. this is to get those high infection rates— vaccine. this is to get those high infection rates down _ vaccine. this is to get those high infection rates down but- vaccine. this is to get those high infection rates down but also - vaccine. this is to get those high infection rates down but also toi infection rates down but also to encourage _ infection rates down but also to encourage more _ infection rates down but also to encourage more people - infection rates down but also to encourage more people to - infection rates down but also to encourage more people to get. infection rates down but also to i encourage more people to get the 'ab. �* w' encourage more people to get the 'ab. �* x' ., , encourage more people to get the 'ab. �* , jab. i'm nick thorpe in budapest. in hunua , jab. i'm nick thorpe in budapest. in hungary. the _ jab. i'm nick thorpe in budapest. in hungary, the coronavirus _ jab. i'm nick thorpe in budapest. in hungary, the coronavirus infection l hungary, the coronavirus infection and death rate are going up fast, despite the country boasting the highest vaccination rate in eastern europe. some 6 million people, over 60% of the population, a double vaccinated, 1.6 million have had the third jab. further down the danube in romania and bulgaria, infection rates are plunging, confounding experts who blamed the previous surge on the very low vaccination rates there. on the 23% of bulgarians are double vaccinated. nick thorpe, ending our look around europe. 30 years ago today, the world's media watched as terry waite was released from captivity in beirut. he had last been seen five years earlier, negotiating with kidnappers who were holding hostages including brian keenan and john mccarthy. but in a dramatic turnaround, terry waite himself had been kidnapped by the extremists. to mark the anniversary of his release he spoke to our security correspondent frank gardner. freedom, at last. terry waite released after nearly five years, held as a hostage underground in beirut. now, 30 years on since that release, does he have any regrets? it doesn't seem like 30 years. they have gone remarkably quickly. i still remember those days. but strangely enough, you know, i don't look back and deeply regret them. beirut in 1987 was an especially dangerous place. racked by civil war, a city teeming with heavily armed militias who had already seized western hostages. terry waite arrived hoping to get them released but he was tricked into a meeting with jihadists that saw him kidnapped and held for years in solitary confinement. there were dark times. i was beaten on the soles of the feet with cable. and i faced a mock execution. i was blindfolded and taken into another room. my throat went dry because of fear. i'd never experienced that before. i wasn't afraid of death so much as to how would i die. other hostages at the time included the british and usjournalists john mccarthy and terry anderson, and the us academic thomas sutherland. their cell was next to terry's, but his first meeting with john mccarthy was unorthodox. they decided they were going to move me now so they wrapped me in this tape, carried me out, threw me into the boot of this car and closed the lid. and as i landed in there, i realised there was somebody else in there! i said, "not much room in here!" and a voice came back and said, "untilyou came in, there was plenty of bloody room!" that was my first meeting with john! terry waite has since returned to the city where he was held captive for five years. he has also founded a charity, hostage international, to help those who find themselves in a similar predicament. frank gardner, bbc news. two men convicted of the murder of the american civil rights leader malcolm x are set to be exonerated. he was shot dead in new york in 1965 as he prepared to give a speech. the manhattan district attorney said muhammad al aziz and khalil islam did not get the justice they deserved. the conviction of a third man — thomas hagan — has not been overturned. next week sees the release of house of gucci, the new film by director ridley scott about the fashion giant, which focuses on the turbulent relationship between maurizio gucci and his wife patrizia. to prepare for the role of patrizia, lady gaga says she drew on the abuse she suffered as a teenager. she's been speaking to our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba. it was a name that sounded so seductive. in 1998, patrizia reggiani was convicted of arranging the murder of herformer husband, maurizio gucci of the gucci fashion empire. to play her, lady gaga immersed herself in months of preparation. i don't consider myself to be a particularly ethical person. finding the pain of the character experienced as a woman in a male dominated world came from her own past. finding the character, though, she says, was helped by drawing on her own painful past. what was the most relevant about my personal experiences, lizo, was the trauma that i have been through in my life, being assaulted when i was 19 by a music producer. i took from every trigger point that i could find, so it was very painful. the singer has spoken before about how, two years before she became one of music's biggest stars, she suffered not one but multiple assaults. lady gaga says it was two years before she became one of music's biggest names that she suffered not one but multiple assaults. i have been very open about having post—traumatic stress disorder and i have complex ptsd so that is not a single incident ptsd, its multiple incidents. i used all of them, at different times in different moments in the script. it is what i was compelled to do for the role because i thought to myself, well, there is simply no other answer for why she would have her husband murdered. gucci needs new blood. goodbye, 1930s. hello, '80s! she says the film's director, ridley scott, was constantly concerned that she was immersing herself too deeply into painful memories. reliving your trauma for a character is maybe not the healthiest thing, but i'm a romantic. i have a romance with this script, a romance with my character, a romance with the cast. it was, i think, in a way, therapeutic in the way that, what he called it was an exorcism. i relived all of this to play her. father, son and house of gucci... you must be very thrilled to again be talked about as a potential best actress oscar nominee this year? you know, it is so, it's so flattering and so kind of everyone to say that and i just want to say that i love artists and i love people so i'm here to celebrate all the great actors, all the great films, and to be talked about in that way is lovely. lady gaga, thank you so much for your time. thank you, lizo. prince charles and the duchess of cornwall have visited the giza pyramids at the start of a two day tour of egypt. the royals were given a tour of the pyramids exterior and held talks with the country's president — which centred on climate change, female empowerment and efforts to preserve cultural heritage. tomorrow they will head to egypt's second largest city alexandria. now it's time for a look at the weather. thank you. the sunshine we have seen today has been quite pleasant in eastern areas, temperatures around 16 celsius across eastern parts of scotland. it has been mild across the board and will stay milder though it might mild through the night and tomorrow. we have this quite brisk wind coming in off the atlantic, hence the reason it is mild, but you have may notice —— you may have noticed a high pressure to the south, keeping things quite dry. we have some rain on the radar here. through the evening, that turns more patchy, but it will pick up at times overnight with the approach of the cold weather front. overnight with the approach of the cold weatherfront. in overnight with the approach of the cold weather front. in the south, cloud migrating east, misty, low cloud migrating east, misty, low cloud shrouding coasts and hills in fog and stopping temperatures falling much below nine celsius. it doesn't look as cold as last night, when southern parts got a touch of frost. it won't be completely cloudy tomorrow. the cloud may thin and break in eastern areas, but predominantly cloudy, but a lot of dry weather around. still mild as well. the average tomorrow afternoon is around nine celsius. we are still above, but it's all about to change. tomorrow evening and overnight, that weather front takes shape across the northern half of the country. that's our cold weather front. still a relatively mild night tomorrow night across southern areas. behind this weather front things turn much colder. it is a cold weather front, so true to its name, it introduces this arctic air right across the uk, and in fact south africa —— further south into france and the low countries. saturday is transition day. the cold weather front is bringing rain southward, initially brighter weather to the south of that. brighterskies, clear blue sunshine coming in behind. colder weather as well. over saturday night, the cold weather front clears from the south coast, so then the shower is coming south will be wintry over the hills in the north. it is the drop in temperature that important here, a significantly different feel to things on sunday, and a colder night as well, quite widespread frost, only eight or nine by day, plunging below freezing in many areas overnight. the outlook, it stays cold into the beginning of next week, but there is a further step down in temperature later in the week potentially, when it gets even colder. ourfirst the week potentially, when it gets even colder. our first sustained cold and frosty spell is on the cards. this is bbc news. i'm ben brown. the headlines at 5: the government confirms it is scrapping a key part of the high speed hs2 rail link between the east midlands and leeds. business and political leaders in the north are furious but the government promises faster journeys up to ten years earlier than planned. i think this is a fantastic and monumental programme for rail investment for commuters and passengers in the east midlands, west midlands, the whole of the north of the country. the proposals would leave — north of the country. the proposals would leave our _ north of the country. the proposals would leave our economies - north of the country. the proposals would leave our economies and - would leave our economies and residents— would leave our economies and residents and country less balanced and our— residents and country less balanced and our planet worse off. it's not living _ and our planet worse off. it's not living up. — and our planet worse off. it's not living up. it— and our planet worse off. it's not living up, it is holding us down.

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