this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 3pm: more than 3000 homes in parts of wales and england are without power as the uk struggles with the bitter winter conditions. people in cardiff have been describing the situation. that's my car there, so that's not going anywhere and then all the local trains and buses are cancelled, people are just going around on sledges on the main road, it's quite entertaining. several flood warnings have been issued for parts of england due to high tides and strong winds. continued disruption is expected on roads and railways. the health secretary, jeremy hunt, says the prime minister's "honesty" in her brexit speech yesterday helped bring together remain and leave supporters. the use of video assistant referees throughout world football has been unanimously approved by the body that sets the global rules for the game. and coming up, the dateline london panel discuss the brexit talks and weigh the political implications

in china of indefinite rule for president xijinping — that's in 30 minutes here on bbc news. good afternoon. hundreds of people in the north of england and in north and mid—wales, are without power — as the uk struggles with the continued effects of the week's bitter weather. motorists and rail passengers have been told to expect continued disruption, with scotland receiving the heaviest snowfall, and some of the lowest temperatures, in the uk. elsewhere it's expected to get milder. as the snow begins to melt, the environment agency has 12 flood warnings in place for parts of the north east

and south west england. 0ur correspondent dan johnson reports. another day of britain taking a battering. after the snow come the high tides and the flood warnings. the sea has taken over the railway line. 0n the outskirts of cardiff, the snow is still hanging around. 400 homes across wales are without power, some people have now seen enough. very pretty and all that, but i must admit it is getting on my nerves now. it has affected me in not being able to get into work. i did not expect it to be as bad as it's been but we are getting cabin fever now. the motorway across the pennines was deserted for more than a day because of heavy snow and high winds. leeds and manchester were finally reconnected earlier this morning. the traffic may be flowing here, but most of the roads across these hills are still blocked with snow and there are strong winds in places too, potentially causing more snow drifts. further north, the a1 has reopened, the a66 is still blocked.

over the border, just look what the trains are having to plough through in scotland. with even more snow expected to fall. rail travel is difficult across the uk. as well as snow and ice, services on northern and merseyrail are affected by strike action. thousands of flights have also been cancelled. teams are battling to keep runways open. in manchester, officers searching for a man who had gone missing after leaving a nightclub pulled a body from the canal. there are flood warnings in the south—west and the north—east. the long thaw may have begun, but more problems are still to come. 0ne

one of 11 coastal spots for the environment agency has issued a flood warning, it looks rather ominous looking out at the water level behind you, what are the conditions? the high tide is predicted year from now until 5:30pm, there was a flood warning for here and whitley bayjust up the coast, in some cases it's coming over the sea wall, high winds and high waves, not reaching where we are at the moment. a further number of flood warnings down in the south west of england as well. in the south west of england it is one of the places people are sovereign power cuts, 2000 people in the south west of england without power. a thousand people in the north—west of england also without power, but authorities have restored power in the north—west. 500 people over in

yorkshire without power, they were hoping to get those back on stream with the last hour. people in wales without power as well. as far as roads go a number of minor roads com pletely roads go a number of minor roads completely blocked by snowdrifts in the north of england and in the south—west, in the midlands the a66 remains blocked by snow the m62 did reopen in the early hours of this morning after more than 2a hours shut because of hundreds of cars stranded between yorkshire and lancashire. the weather still affecting journeys, cross—country and virgin east coast have started to do and virgin east coast have started todoa and virgin east coast have started to do a limited services between scotla nd to do a limited services between scotland and england, virgin west coast, there will be no trains between scotland and england on that route today they have told us and no replacement buses either. the weather beginning to affect health

as well, the cumbrian infirmary has suspended visits because of an outbreak of nora virus and we have been for the number of people have been for the number of people have been rescued from snowdrifts and walking on exmoor, authorities saying of those people had not been rescued they would have died. the local team here, sunderland have opened up a warm room at the stadium of light for homeless people come people most vulnerable in this type of weather, a warm room with warm food drinks and sleeping facilities. the homeless can take their pets as well. they are not letting us in because of the vulnerability of some of the people who might want to use the service but they say they will keep the warm room open at the stadium of light open until 9am monday morning. just looking behind you there are people strolling along

the beach. in terms of snow, doesn't seem to be any of that from the view we've got, can the cameraman just pan round to give us a view further up the beach. you can see there is a brea kwater up the beach. you can see there is a breakwater which goes out into the north sea here. waves have been rolling along that quite spectacularly and further up the coast i am you can see from here but there are very high waves breaking over the sea wall. before we came on aira lady said over the sea wall. before we came on air a lady said she saw waves breaking over to a car park at a yacht club just so from where we are. there is a flood warning still in place. doesn't look like it's going to come up to where we are which is why there are families down year strolling along. we are also by the royal national lifeboat centre

here, hopefully they will not be needed. all right, we will leave it there, thank you. 0ur correspondent catriona renton spoke to us a little earlier from glasgow central station. it's still far from a typical saturday here at glasgow central station but services are starting to run. much improved from what we've seen in the last couple of days getting services back up and running. i am joined by david dixon the infrastructure director for scotrail, tell us how it's going? looking a lot better today, a lot of routes opened we did not have before, we are getting more and more services recovered. final safety checks, final checks that lines are clear and we are restoring the service so by the end of today people will see there is a pretty good service back in scotland. good news for commuters and passengers,

being held back, what's the picture between scotland and england at the moment? we are conscious that it's been difficult of the last few days for people to make connection between scotland and england. we hope to have the west coast main line open later on today. the east coast main line is actually clear in scotla nd coast main line is actually clear in scotland but there are problems further south we are told which will be clear later on but we are running scotrail services at the top end of the east coast ectoderm bar. looking ahead to the commute on monday morning, people will be wanting to check timetables and be sure they can get other work, what you think it'll be like, can you predict that? we are confident we will have a service come monday morning, we are making sure lines are clear, the normal service tomorrow should set people up for the monday morning

commute so we're pretty confident. fingers crossed, thank you very much for talking to us. to give you a quick look around the rest of the country, airports are open but the situation in improving but is always check with your airline before travelling. warnings on the road until monday morning so check it is safe to travel especially on side roads which have not been gritted, those of the areas causing problems locally and the scottish government urged people to show a bit more of that community spirit we have seen over the last few days to help clear roads and pavements, with her vulnerable people. they have set up an emergency fund which councils can access to make sure services can keep running. and of course the prime minister and the first minister spoke to each other yesterday evening on a phone call about the extreme weather conditions we have seen here. as of course you would expect because of the

cancellations and problems that have been over the last few days it will ta ke been over the last few days it will take time to get things back on track but it looks like you're starting to get there. 0ur correspondent tomos morgan spoke to me a little earlierfrom cardiff, where he said some roads were still blocked. it's been snowing on and off all morning but now the rain has begun, it's getting slightly warmer but it is around freezing point here. this road actually is quite clear, one of the better roads in cardiff. but the majority of the suburban areas and residential streets are still covered with snow. we were out earlier on and the community were shovelling up the streets so they could get their cars out finally after this winter spell. the transport across wales has come to a standstill over the past few days, cardiff airport completely closed yesterday. it has reopened but because of the cancellation of flights yesterday there has been a knock—on effect into today. trains are still disrupted to some degree across the country

and there are still some roads, some main roads that are shut across wales, mostly in the northern areas. around 400 homes without power in north wales. scottishpower is looking to get the power back on by tea—time. the yellow warning that had been due to come to an end here in wales for eyes was supposed to come to an end at ”pm but it has been extended into tomorrow, around midday tomorrow in wales. an independent investigation is being launched after delayed passengers were able to leave the delayed train and walk down the tracks. passengers were held up after ice affected power supplies to

the trains and caused major disruption. this led to frustrated passengersjumping disruption. this led to frustrated passengers jumping off the train after pressing an emergency alarm and then walking to the nearest platform. you can keep up to date with the weather and travel situation wherever you are, by visiting the bbc news live page, that's at bbc.co.uk/news. you can also get live updates on the bbc news channel and your local radio station. the health secretary, jeremy hunt, has said the prime minister's brexit offer showed that it is possible to get "frictionless" trade with the european union while leaving the single market and the customs union. theresa may's speech, which she made in london yesterday, has largely been welcomed by leave and remain supporters in the conservative party. mr hunt said the prime minister's vision should please all shades of opinion. the prime minister, and i think this is why the speech has worked in terms of bringing people

together, is very honest about it. she says everyone is going to have to compromise, everyone will be able to find things that they can nit—pick but in reality for people who are passionate about brexit this is a package which gives the british parliament control over the destiny of the british people and therefore restores democratic control. but i think for the people on the remain side one of the biggest worries was that we would lose that close business relationship with the european union and here you have got a vision which goes as far as when it comes to pharmaceuticals, chemicals, aerospace, becoming an associate member of european agencies and potentially becoming subject to some ecj rules in those areas. the headlines on bbc news: at least moo homes in parts of england and wales are without power as the uk continues to struggle with the bitter winter conditions. several flood warnings have been

issued for parts of england due to high tides and strong winds. continued disruption is expected on roads and railways. and jeremy hunt says the prime minister's honesty in her brexit speech yesterday helped bring together remain and leave supporters. in the sport video assistant referee ‘s is set to be used at the world cup this year after football ‘s lawmakers voted to approve the technology. burnley white back to beat everton and end a run of ii the premier league matches without a win, substitute chris wood heading the winner. elsewhere tottenham, bournemouth and swansea are winning. moussa dembele scores twice as celtic beat greenock morton to reach the semifinals of the scottish cup, in the other game aberdeen are 1—0 up in the other game aberdeen are 1—0 up against kilmarnock. and cj ulloa is due to the semifinal of the men's

60 metres after winning his heat at the world indoor athletics championships, he will be joined the world indoor athletics championships, he will bejoined by team—mate andrew robertson. the body which sets the rules for world football has approved the use of video replay technology throughout the sport. the system has been used on a trial basis in several countries including some cup matches in england, but it has proved controversial. earlier our sports correspondent richard conway told me what the decision could mean for football. it means in effect, it's a fundamental change in the officiating of the game. the laws of the game were codified over 150 years ago. one of the most significant moments in modern football history. we will see it in leagues and competitions, we will see it in the world cup at russia, that decision will be rubber—stamped at a meeting next month. will we see it in the english premier league? we have to wait on that. the clubs will meet later this year and i understand there is reticence

at the moment given some of the teething problems the video assistant referee system has demonstrated so far. is it needed ? the premier league are not particularly confident in it at the moment and here fifa have said they are happy to use it, does the game need it? if you look back to previous fifa leadership they were opposed to the use of technology in the game, they said it was a human game which needed human decisions and misstakes are part and parcel of what made the game so popular. but what we've seen in recent years is a number of key decisions being made mistakes, the rise of the sport, the popularity of it, the money involved has led to calls for technology to be used and when football looks around at other sports such as cricket, rugby and tennis they see the technology being utilised very effectively. football is of course a different game, it does not have that stop start element so making sure

that the system works for football, that it does not necessarily take away from the natural ebb and flow of the sport is critical. the two your trial has seen a thousand games used and experiment upon and they now say there is enough evidence to show it does work and it can be used effectively. a new one stop service to test for prostate cancer will cut diagnosis times from six weeks to a number of days, according to the nhs. the programme is currently being trialled at three hospitals in west london. earlier professor hashim ahmed told me how this trial would benefit men who are facing tests for prostate cancer. normally they have to come in repeatedly over a number of weeks and have lots of tests and visits and this pilot study within west london supported by nhs england is trying to convince men to have it all in one day.

they can have their mri scan, they can get reviewed by a clinician and if necessary they can have a biopsy on the same day and get a diagnosis within a few days. there must be a certain level of confidence for this trial to go—ahead, what have you seen in tests prior to this, how reliable has it been? the key element is to do an mri scan before a man has a biopsy and an mri scan is very accurate in telling us whether there isn't any cancer or if there is a suspicious area we can use very new technology to target our needle to the right area in the prostate. we can diagnose aggressive and high risk cancers much earlier than we were doing before. so are you saying there is no need for a biopsy, you can go straight to treatment, is this the difference? the difference is that men have an mri scan first,

if the mri scan looks normal we can reassure them that same day and discharge them back to their gp. there must be other benefits because a biopsy is pretty invasive, what other benefits are there to the patients? a biopsy normally done under most hospital care is at random — you take biopsies in the hope you will hit the cancer. if you have an mri scan beforehand you can target that area using precision technology that overlays the mri images onto the ultrasound during the biopsy. you get accurate biopsies and the risk of infection using this new type of biopsy is much lower. we are talking things like sepsis? yes, life—threatening infections. where, and how long will

the trial be held for? we started it at charring cross hospital recently and it's going to be rolled out across another two hospitals in west london. what we are hoping to do over the next year is sure the next year is show the nhs this can be done, that it can be done cost effectively and we can improve the outcomes for men in a much better way we were doing previously. i am very confident that within the next 2—3 years, provided we can prime it with further funding into the cancer alliances across the uk, we are doing this within the partners cancer alliance but we need to do it across the nhs on a much wider scale and if we can we can see these benefits for all men, notjust in west london but across the uk. scientists are trialling

a new camera which could help with the early detection of one of the deadliest forms of cancer. almost 8,000 people died from oesophageal cancer in the uk last year. now doctors and physicists in cambridge have joined forces to develop a new camera that could pick out abnormal cells before they develop into cancer. 0ur science correspondent, richard westcott reports. right now this is how you find one of britain's deadliest cancers. 0esophageal cancer kills 21 people a day because it is so difficult to spot. using a camera with a normal white light on the end, the doctor's looking at the dark red patch. these physicists already use different coloured lasers to study electrons. now they are adapting the technique to look for early signs of disease. what happens is the tissue becomes cancerous is we get a change in the chemical composition, and different chemicals have different colours, meaning that if we look at the cancer with a technique that

allows us to capture information from all of the different colours of light that are being reflected, we can get a fuller picture of the disease state that is present. and this is how it might look. two thirds of our patients present with a cancer that is already spreading to the lymph glands, and after that it can go to distant organs like the liver. if we treat a cancer at that point at which it is still within the tissue of the tissue itself and has not spread anywhere, we can remove it all and cure it. that is is that what happened to jackie. they caught her disease in time, and now she is fine. i knew there was something wrong. people should not have heartburn for 20 odd years, actually it was 30 years. they will start trials of the new camera on patients in the next few weeks. if successful, it could also be used to spot other cancers before they become fatal. the international monetary fund has joined international condemnation of president trump's plan to impose tariffs on imports of

steel and aluminium. it says such a move will not only hurt other countries, but also the united states. stock markets have fallen since the announcement. 0ur washington correspondent chris buckler reports. steel is essential to america's economy. but inside the us for many years, it has been an industry in decline. president trump blames cheap imports. however, his solution of new tariffs has sparked fears of a trade war and led to increasingly heated language from many of america's trading partners, including china, mexico and canada. we are impressing upon the american administration, the unacceptable nature of these proposals that are going to hurt them every bit as much as they will hurt us and we are confident that we are going to continue to be able to defend canadian industry. the president announced his plan for 25% tariffs for steel and 10% for aluminium at a meeting with industry executives but it came

as a surprise to many. apparently, including some inside the white house where details of the policy are still being worked out. many companies who rely on imported metal, as well as some of the president's own republican supporters, are worried about the potential impact on the us economy, particularly with the growing threats of international retaliation. european leaders made a point of singling out the most american of products. translation: we will impose tariffs on harley—davidson, on bourbon, on bluejeans, levis blue jeans. this is, well, highly regrettable. we are not en route to start trade wars. we would like to have a reasonable relationship with the united states of america but we cannot simply bury our head in the sand. president trump himself doesn't seem worried, tweeting, trade wars are good and easy to win. words probably not intended for the international community, but instead communities

in the former industrial heartland of the us where some old steel mills lie derelict. it was here president trump found huge support with his america first message. however, it's the modern supply of steel that worries many businesses here as well as abroad. they are concerned. their costs will rise with tariffs and that could prove to be the hard truth of this protectionist policy. chris buckler, bbc news, washington. cannot promise any particularly springlike weather in the week ahead but what i can tell you is it will not feel as cold as it has in the week gone, the cold snap easing in the days ahead, it will remain u nsettled. the days ahead, it will remain unsettled. tonight the risk of snow for midlands and wales, heavy

showers possibly turning thundery into the south of england further snow across eastern scotland and perhaps the far north—east of england. milderforsouthernmost counties, further north another frosty night and i shall be a big issue first thing on sunday. a change in the weather as the air comes from the south and it is blue on the map, not white. showers of rain pushing into southern scotland and northern ireland, snow confined to the highest ground. temperatures to the highest ground. temperatures to the highest ground. temperatures to the south back up at around eight or9 to the south back up at around eight or 9 degrees, still struggling close to freezing further north. this is bbc news. our latest headlines: weather warnings for snow and icy roads remain in place across much of the uk. more than 3000 homes are without power across the country. several flood warnings have been issued for parts of england, due to high tides and strong winds. motorists and rail passengers have been told to expect continued disruption on roads and railways.

following theresa may's speech yesterday, the health secretary, jeremy hunt, says the prime minister's brexit offer showed that it is possible to get "frictionless" trade with the european union while leaving the single market and the customs union. the use of video assistant referees throughout world football has been unanimously approved by the body that sets the global rules for the game. now on bbc news, it's time for dateline london. hello and a very warm welcome to dateline london. i'm carrie gracie. this week we discuss the brexit talks, look at the upcoming elections in italy and weigh

the political implications in china of the possibility of indefinite rule for president xi jinping. my guests this week are the chinese writer diane wei liang, ned temko of the christian science monitor, annalisa piras, italian film—maker and broadcaster, and the american podcaster michael goldfarb. welcome to you all. let's go for brexit first. ned, you are watching it closely. who's up and who's down on the brexit escalator? i suppose it was a good week for theresa may,