this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 12:00pm: the energy watchdog demands an explanation from national grid after nearlyi million people across england and wales lost power on friday — the electricity provider says it an incredibly rare event, the simultaneous loss of two large power stations. we'll be looking very hard at what happened to make sure we will minimise disruption in future. i am at kings cross station, one of the worst affected following yesterday's power outage. trains are now running a normal service outbound but it is the inbound trains where commuters have complained of delays of up to one hour to get to the capital.

michael gove says there'll be a bail—out fund for businesses hit by brexit. real pay for millions of lower and middle income earners is lower than it was a decade ago, says the tuc. more than a million people are evacuated from their homes as a powerful typhoon hits china. liverpool make an ideal start to the season as they thrash newly promoted norwich 4—1 at anfield. and click reports on internet shutdowns in kashmir and a new car scanner in israel. if the energy regulator is demanding answers from the national grid after a major blackout which struck large areas of england and wales

yesterday evening. around a million people were affected by the power cut — which led to major disruption for rail passengers, caused traffic lights to fail and left thousands of homes without electricity. the national grid said the major power cut was a ‘rare and unusual event‘ caused by the ‘almost simultaneous‘ loss of power at a gas station and an offshore wind farm atjust before five o‘clock yesterday. in a statement, rwe, owners of the gas—fired power station in bedfordshire that failed said a technical issue resulted in a shutdown of the site in line with their normal operating practices. meanwhile, the owners of hornsea one wind farm said it was investigation the cause of the loss of power at their site. train passengers were stranded across the network and particularly at king‘s cross station — with many not getting home until the early hours. andy moore reports. darkness at clapham station.

the lights went out, the display boards died, even the ticket machines were completely dead. after four hours on a train outside saint pancras, this passenger was glad to see help arrived. the people on board were offloaded and escorted to a nearby station where water bottles were waiting. others weren‘t so lucky. this was the message for travellers stuck on a train that finally got into king‘s cross just before two o‘clock in the morning. they tried to provide taxis but the wait was about a0 minutes. which meant i wouldn‘t have got home until even later, so i would have had to pay out of pocket again for an uber, which cost me £40. national grid has given little details about what caused the power cuts, but industry experts say that at 16:58pm the gas—fired plant at little barford failed. two minutes later, the hornsey offshore wind farm also disconnected from the grid. there were still problems on the trains hours after power was restored to the million or so homes that lost

their electricity. it was about a 5% loss of power over about 90 minutes. that‘s what happened. so why that led to the heart of the national transport infrastructure being closed down is a big question that the grid have to address. the regulator, ofgem, has asked for an urgent report about what went wrong, and enforcement action, including fines, could follow. our correspondent greg mckenzie is outside kings cross station. you have been talking to commuters and those who have been trying to com plete and those who have been trying to complete their journeys. and those who have been trying to complete theirjourneys. what is the picture there now? the picture is calm, actually. all train services out of king‘s cross running a normal saturday timetable. albeit slightly busier than it normally would be, that is a knock—on effect from yesterday‘s

power outage which caused problems not just here power outage which caused problems notjust here at king‘s cross but up and down england and wales. now, as the picture is today, right now, no cancellations. all trains running out. but we have discovered is that as the inbound trains heading into the capital where passengers have reported delays up to an hour, or an hour and reported delays up to an hour, or an hourand a reported delays up to an hour, or an hour and a half, reported delays up to an hour, or an hourand a half, many reported delays up to an hour, or an hour and a half, many simply want a nswe i’s. i‘ve been speaking to many of them earlier today. since last night at 5:30pm we were trying to get a train from gainsborough to get to london at king‘s cross and we waited for hours. we kept getting, at the last minute, cancellations until last night at 7:30pm no one could really tell us which train was going to be on time, how long the power outage was going to be. it was a little scary. we waited almost three hours without getting any notice. we got cancellation after an hour any notice. we got cancellation afteran hourand a any notice. we got cancellation after an hour and a half and they told us the train was cancelled. that was very disappointing. because

we did not get any prior notice anything and even when we tried calling we were not getting any answers so calling we were not getting any answers so that was very disappointing for us. so many commuters i have spoken to have said to, we just want answers for that we want to know if we‘re going to be compensated. where do we going to be compensated. where do we go for compensation? is it the national grid? many simply wanted to get away from the capital yesterday for that many of them returning this morning to try to get trains out. it was very, very busy. eight, nine, ten o‘clock here just by me through that concourse. and now it is quite calm here and you go through just your average saturday here at king‘s cross station. thank you very much. spekaing to bbc breakfast, the director of operation for the national grid, duncan birt said there were many lessons to learn from this ‘rare and unusal event‘. we saw an incredibly rare event yesterday evening, the near simultaneous loss of two large power stations. the normal protection systems we have responded normally

to try and manage that, but the loss was so large that we went into our secondary systems, and what they do is disconnect small amounts of electrical demand around the country in order to protect the rest of national demand. the power cuts last night made a sick could impact on people‘s evenings, they were related to those protection systems firing. how much of a shock to it was to national grid? it is rare but we are ready for it. the last time we saw a similar event was in 2008 and the progression of that event was very similar. we saw the system working again and a number of points of electrical demand disconnected around the country. obviously it has a huge impact on people, but ourjob is to operate that network 24/7 as reliably as we can make sure that people the power they need, but when we have a very rare event like this, that operations continue as much as they can.

you say yourjob is to operate as reliably as you can, it was the idea of two power generators failing in succession is you are ready for, but that doesn‘t really balance up with the chaos that this has caused across the country? we recognised a very significant amount of disruption across the country, and... people were stuck on trays for hours until the early hours of the morning, it doesn‘t sound as if you are ready for holding up your end of the bargain in terms of being responsible for our power supply. following the loss of the generators, the systems worked to protect supply to the majority of the country. the supplies were remade available again within 15 minutes, and distribution networks who operate that process confirmed that power was restored to the supply by 6:30pm.

so a large amount of disruption going on from that through the evening and that is something we want to sit down with colleagues across the electricity industry and key partners such as network rail to understand what happened and how we can avoid it happening in future. have you not had conversations like that before? absolutely, it is a regular part of our review of these contingency arrangements, we wouldn‘t want to see the kind of effects we did. we needed a detailed technical examination of the event, we will be sending that report through to ofgem and will build that analysis over the coming days and weeks as we review it. off that, i am sure we well—known lessons and want to review how this worked to avoid some of those impacts in future. yesterday, a quote from the national grid says the events were out with their control. that could worry a lot of people. are you in control? absolutely, and when we say that what we mean is that the simultaneous loss of those two power

stations is very rare and sits outside the normal standards we would work to, to make sure people have all the power they need 21w. that level of extreme event meant we went into those secondary protection systems which caused the disruption that we saw yesterday evening. let me refer back to something you were explaining to is earlier in this interview, that you chose to deliver a cut power to certain services, signals, trains, hospitals. how is that logical? that is something we want to look at. those are open automatic protection systems on the local networks around the country, and those protection systems, this event happens very quickly, so those signals fire at the electricity demand is removed, and that has had a big impact on transport, railways, hospitals, and newcastle airport. we will want to look at that closely. we would always want to minimise

the disruption that is seen even under these severe and unusual events, and of easily what we saw last night, we appreciate the real challenge that put on people and the significant disruption it made to people‘s lives i‘m joined now from our edinburgh studio by david hunter, director of market studies at schnieder electric, a company involved in reforming the energy industry. thank you for being with us on bbc news this lunchtime. what do you make of yesterday‘s events ? what do you make of yesterday‘s events? first of all, it is a very rare event. the first time in seven yea rs rare event. the first time in seven years that we‘ve seen a blackout as severe as this. as you have already mentioned, two power stations dropped off the system in a very short space of time. back to the national grid by surprise as it is a very rare event and in this case they were not able to maintain sufficient frequency across the whole system and so had to make

selective blackouts in order to maintain quality for the vast majority of customers. should they have been able to? that is the big question and i suspect there will be a detailed investigation as a result of this. it is not unheard—of to have two power stations dropped off. it is quite rare. it has happened, i can think of a case in the last two or three years when i know that this in the national grid was able to manage that by having other power stations working harder to compensate and also bringing on alternative sources of supply and working with businesses to reduce demand so it is demand and supply. but in this case 596 demand and supply. but in this case 5% of energy supply dropped off within two minutes, unexpectedly, they were not able to make up that shortfall so that is when the safety systems to protect the overall systems to protect the overall system kicked in. as to how the safety systems operated, we are told by the team there that these are kinda programmed in already so that it just takes input of it does not need

any human intervention. but i suppose the question then is are they prioritising the right thing to those mechanisms? some people may be surprised, i think a lot of people would be surprised that hospitals are cut off. one would have thought that hospitals would be quite a long way down the chain before you contemplated cutting power to that. i think there are controls. you have to ask the national grid for the detail but i think there are controls on the local distribution networks as well. there are controls up networks as well. there are controls up to networks as well. there are controls uptoa networks as well. there are controls up to a point that they must make decisions very rapidly on a systems basis in terms of where and what to cut. with regard to hospitals, they are designed with back—up power generation capacity so there are fail safes that are meant to be in place though i do know of the case in ipswich, and there was outpatients department back—up power did not work so obviously that is something that they need to look at and that is certainly an issue,

generally. this is a wake—up call for us whether we are looking at critical infrastructure, whether we are looking at businesses, i‘ll be fit for situations where these are very rare, very unlikely to happen but it has happened, how did we respond? and but it has happened, how did we respond ? and where but it has happened, how did we respond? and where the back—up system is robust enough to maintain the kind of critical infrastructure that we need and that, i am sure, will be a focus over the next few days. the next question that would come into a lot of peoples minds is whether or not the system itself is robust enough, whether our infrastructure is robust enough to deal with some of the consequences of the way the world is changing, not least in terms of our ways of generating electricity in one of the pla nts generating electricity in one of the plants dropping off, it was wind power and one might suspect that those plants might be more... you can tell me if i am correctness, more inclined to drop off in electricity gas plants?

they are more inclined to variability of supply but the grid monitors forecasts, it knows when the wind is blowing when it is scheduled to drop so we recognise already that renewables are intermittent and actually the grid has evolved quite a lot to cope the intermittency of renewables to have back—up power available. that is a rather different question than saying at the any more likely to drop off for other reasons such as a loss of connection to the grid as happened yesterday. and that is probably not the case. but what is interesting is that yesterday we saw very high levels of wind generation asa very high levels of wind generation as a percentage of the energy mix and one of the challenges for grids around the world as renewables grow it is quite technical but it is around inertia, basically, the gas and coalfire around inertia, basically, the gas and coal fire tradition of power stations have more flexibility and inertia, they keep spinning so that when one drops out there is more capability for others to pick up the

slack. there are technical reasons why that is not quite as automatic for the likes of wind generation. it is too early to say whether that was a factor yesterday but the national grid has been adding to its arsenal of tools in terms of frequency, response and they mentioned the demand side, industrial responses. and companies that have self generation on—site, exporting to the grid at short notice, to make up the shortfall is. so it is designing systems that are designed to be able to cope with the increasing mix of renewa bles to cope with the increasing mix of renewables in the energy mix. but, obviously, we will need to see what the details of this drop—off was and why the grid was not able to make up the shortfall in the very limited amount of time it had available. remembering that the actual power outage lasted, 15 minutes or so. lots of big questions which do need to be addressed. david hunter thank you very much. david hunter thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news.

national grid says it will learn lessons after nearlyi million people across england and wales lost power on friday. michael gove says there‘ll be a bail—out fund for businesses hit by brexit real pay for millions of lower and middle income earners is lower than it was a decade ago, says the tuc. michael gove, the cabinet minister in charge of preparing for a possible no—deal brexit, says a support fund for british businesses will help firms to deal with any "bumps in the road". he spoke openly for the first time about what‘s known as ‘operation kingfisher‘, while on a visit to northern ireland. claire walker is co—executive director of policy and campaigns at the british chambers of commerce. thank you for being with us. this

is, presumably, good news. that there is a contingency fund, that there is a contingency fund, that there will be somewhere companies can go if they are being hit by losses caused solely by the way we leave the european union. well, i think the first thing to say is that the majority of businesses wa nt to is that the majority of businesses want to avoid a messy and disorderly exit on the 31st of october and government need to make sure they are focusing as much energy as possible on ensuring that we leave with a negotiated deal. however, in the case that we do leave with a no deal, then it is prudent to plan for and it is a number of things that government could be doing and it sounds like, from this announcement today, that they may be doing in order to smooth the path for businesses. in terms of what options could be available, what sort of size fund as the government need to have, do you think, in terms of contingency? because one of the unknowns, i suppose, out of this is the range of businesses could be hit by even quite small things that could disrupt their lines of supply,

potentially, for example, if you think of fresh fruit and vegetables, whether or not the product is going to get them intact at all? well, you‘re absolutely right. the first thing that is really important for businesses of all to be doing something that we have been campaigning on for some time is for them to do their own risk assessments on what the impact to their businesses of different scenarios would be. i think the other thing which is really important for government is to look at whether there are currently any a nswe rs at whether there are currently any answers in various areas for businesses trying to plan and there are still areas, for example, and customs, where the detail is not clear which makes it very for businesses to plan and make the kind of scenarios, planning situations that they need to do. and then there are things, as highlighted by this fund, that businesses, that the government can do to support business. it is about making sure that they have working capital, that they are able to still trade if they

are delays in supply chain. and also they need to commit is notjust about government, it is also about making sure that banks themselves are enabling these businesses to have working capital. so a whole packet of activity is needed, not least a public information campaign to make sure those businesses that are not prepared start to prepare but there are many steps you need to be taken in the most important is actually avoiding the situation in the first place. other barriers to trade that things make it so much more difficult, for companies, or just add make it so much more difficult, for companies, orjust add kind of things that take time, inconvenience or the other thing that they may wa nt to or the other thing that they may want to spend instead on preparing properly for brexit. other things you think government could do there? absolutely. we have seen, you know, investment is down, people are diverting the resources away from investing in their businesses to ensure that they can stockpile and do other things to make sure they are prepared for all scenarios but there are a number of

intentions that business... that government could take to make things easierfor government could take to make things easier for businesses. government could take to make things easierfor businesses. for government could take to make things easier for businesses. for example, currently if you trade internationally and you need to register for that number in a no deal scenario, if government is issues then then that would be so much easierfor issues then then that would be so much easier for businesses and it is one less thing for them to do as they plan further the uncertain time ahead but we cannot stress enough that we are working constructively with government on looking at all these things that they can take but equally the most important thing is to avoid this scenario in the first place. thank you very much. this is the scene in hong kong for another day of protest has been taking place and this time we have seenin taking place and this time we have seen in the last few minutes the hong kong police firing tear gas at some protesters. not necessarily

this particular group of protesters that we have seen various pictures from the agencies which are playing out including live feeds from television news cameras that are positioned in different places around the island. the protests, which of course began against the government‘s proposal in hong kong for extra rhythmic extradition of suspects to face trial in mainland china, those are strongly objected to. we saw the current chief executive on the island yesterday and she was stressing the damage to hong kong‘s economy which she said was now being done by these protests which have now been going on for nine successive weekends. that is the scene in hong kong on saturday night as the protests continue. north korea has fired two short range ballistic missiles into the sea of japan — its fifth major weapons test in under three weeks. western officials say the test breached 11 un security council resolutions.

pay rates have fallen for millions of lower and middle income earners in the uk over the past decade according to a report from the trades union congress. the report said austerity and a lack of bargaining rights had held down pay in working and middle class jobs. a treasury spokesperson said it had given the lowest earners a pay rise, and had cut income tax for 32—million people. the tuc has called for more action to be taken. what we have seen is people saying, cuts in their pay packet. people amid a learning job is actually pay full. jobs construction, local government, if you are doing a more administrativejob government, if you are doing a more administrative job there you are likely to have seen your pay go down and that has a real impact on, you know, your your ability to pay your bills as well. know, your your ability to pay your bills as well. the mother of the missing 15—year—old girl nora quoirin, has thanked the malaysian search teams who are looking for her daughter.

nora went missing nearly a week ago while on a family holiday. her mother maeve spoke to rescue workers early this morning. we want to say thank you to each and every one of you we know you searching night and day for nora, we see you working so hard at also praying with us, being with us. we know you have given up your time, especially at a special festival time, to be with us here. it means the world to us, and we are so grateful for everything that you are doing for us. at least 50 people have been killed and many more injured after a fuel

tanker exploded in tanzania. the lorry is believed to have exploded in the area of morogoro around 200 kilometres to the west of the capital city dar es salaam. a local police chief said people were trying to remove fuel from the vehicle when the blast happened. in china, at least 13 people have been killed, 16 are missing, and over a million people have been forced from their homes as a powerful typhoon heads towards the financial capital, shanghai. as sophia tran—thomson reports, typhoon lekima is thought to be the region‘s worst storm in five years. super typhoon lekima hit eastern china on saturday, blasting the coast with heavy rain and 200 kilometre an hour winds. leading to mass evacuations and widespread transport disruption. the typhoon made landfall around the city and has been making its way to the south—eastern province. 800,000

people have been evacuated in the province and 250,000 in shanghai. over 200 homes have been destroyed and an additional 2.7 million people had lost power across the province. one of the biggest concerns for emergency workers is that at least 49 reservoirs across the region have registered water levels exceeding the normal capacity. one natural dam has already collapsed. chinese state tv has reported that over 2000 flights have been cancelled across the country since friday because of both the typhoon and heavy thunderstorms. the civil aviation authority says airports are closely monitoring the weather and accommodating affected passengers but warned that the extreme conditions would continue to challenge airlines the some time to come. to exacerbate travel issues trains have also been cancelled and highways have been closed as roads and some areas had turned into

rivers. the emergency services are working to rescue stranded motorists and search for missing people. the condition that usually challenging. the typhoon is expected to lose some of that strength before it hit shanghai but the slow pace increases the risk of prolonged rainfall and flooding. the environment agency is investigating why the water in the river frome has turned bright blue. these pictures show the turquoise coloured water in the somerset river — which is believed to have been caused by pollution. a spokesman for the environment agency said samples of the water had been sent for testing and there hasn‘t been any harm to wildlife. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with matt taylor. a few are on the move this weekend or have any outdoor plans then weather could still prop day mackay isa weather could still prop day mackay is a hindrance. further downpours at

times but we can also see gail is causing issues across and wales to the rest of the day. we can see winds, gusts of 40, 50 mild an hour especially around the coast but in man that is strong enough to bring a few branches down and cause further travel disruption. showers in the southis travel disruption. showers in the south is a little bit. heavy rain in parts of northern england, northern ireland and thunderstorms in scotland, too. tonight that will eat just a little bit but further dampers can be expected and temperature tonight between ten and 15 degrees. as we go into tomorrow, the winds and southern areas will ease a little bit foot of the best chance of some sunshine there but thunderstorms developing later but at the breeze will pick up across scotla nd at the breeze will pick up across scotland and northern making it feel that bit cooler but we will see brighter weather develop. we could see some of the wetter spots with a gain that risk of flooding. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines at 12:30pm: national grid says it will learn

lessons after nearlyi million people across england and wales lost power on friday. an incredibly rare event, the simultaneous loss of two large power stations. we will of course be looking very ha rd we will of course be looking very hard at what happened to make sure we minimise disruption in future. michael gove says there‘ll be a bailout fund for businesses hit by brexit real pay for millions of lower and middle—income earners is lower than it was a decade ago, says the tuc. sport now, and a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. hello, john. good afternoon. last season‘s runners—up liverpool made a flying start to their premier league campaign, beating norwich in the opening match of the season. 4—i it finished at anfield — the only sour note an injury to goalkeeper alisson, who had to be substituted. andy swiss was there.

excited? just a little. the start of a new season left some liverpool fans literally jumping forioy- and who can blame them? they are the european champions, after all, but becoming english champions is what they crave. after being pipped to the title last season, they began this one against newly promoted norwich. a big night for the visitors, but their premier league dream soon became a nightmare. an own goalfrom their captain, grant hambly, set the tone, as any early liverpool nerves quickly vanished. mo salah scoring a typically ruthless second, before norwich‘s defensive frailties were once again exposed by virgil van dijk. it was liverpool at their irresistible best, and by the time divock origi landed a fourth just after the break, even the most culinary norwich fan surely found it hard to stomach.

to their credit they didn‘t crumble.