this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 11:00: ministers announce more support for flood victims in the north of england. some 30 flood warnings remain in place, with more heavy rain forecast, as locals say they feel let down by the official response. communities by the official response. have been absolutely amazing. communities have been absolutely amazing. the official people but should have been telling us what to do, get out of your house, move your things, even it was coming, we had no idea. just a complete contrast. the environment agency says flood defences have reduced some of the impact, prompting more debate about where the money has been spent. life sentences for the parents of six children who murdered two teenage sons a day after trying to poison them. in hong kong, police warn

that the rule of law is ‘on the brink of total collapse‘ after months of pro—democracy protests. and — the spats between raheem sterling and joe gomez are just like a family disagreement, according to the england manager. and at 11:30, we'll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers henry zeffman, political correspondent for the times, and kezia dugdale, the former scottish labour leader. stay with us for that. good evening. the prime minister, who's facing criticism for his response to the severe flooding in parts of northern england, has announced more support for the communities affected.

boris johnson was speaking after chairing a meeting of cobra, the cabinets emergency committee. he said the situation was ‘an absolute tragedy‘ but labour and the liberal democrats have again said that a ‘national emergency‘ should be declared. following a month‘s worth of rain in just 2a hours last week, rivers burst their banks, flooding parts of south yorkshire, nottinghamshire, derbyshire and lincolnshire. but the environment agency says the 20 million—pound flood defences, built after the 2007 floods, significantly reduced the impact in areas like meadowhall in sheffield. severe flood warnings around the river don have been in place since friday. some 400 homes have been flooded and 1,200 properties evacuated. more heavy rain is forecast this week. 0ur correspondent dan johnson has sent this report from the village of fishlake near doncaster.

this is the community church, the centre of the local response and there has been so much to admire in there has been so much to admire in the way the people have come together, helped each other out and the resolve that those residents have shown. but there was frustration here, too, because people are asking, if this is not an emergency than what is it? today, the government announced more soldiers will be heading to flooded areas to help out and more pumping equipment is being brought to this village tonight to try to rid fishlake of the floodwater that is surrounding it. it‘s right through the house. it goes all the way through. it‘s ripped all the flooring up... in the furthest reaches of fishlake, this is what life‘s been like since friday. james and his pets are cut off and barely coping. you‘ve been living like this for five days? yeah, trying to keep warm. sleep. everything we‘ve got is wet, it‘s destroyed. no heating.

no heating, no power. no light? we have one light eventually, in the bedroom. people think, why haven‘t you left, why haven‘t you gone to the refuge centre? well, i‘ve got two dogs, goshawk and ferrets. you know, so how can you carry all that? take this to a church or whatever? watch where you‘re walking. he says, despite offers of help, he won‘t leave without his animals. plough on down these flooded lanes and you only find more misery. some are returning to see how much they‘ve lost and to salvage what‘s my mother—in—law is in the village, which is not flooded, but they want everybody out of there. but you can‘t leave if you‘ve nowhere to go. i think we‘re all scared, worried about what we are going to do, how we‘re going to live. and on it goes, everywhere you look. five days on from the heaviest rain

and you can now get through most of the village with a proper 4x4. but that doesn‘t mean there aren‘t people still struggling and people who are still really angry. communities have been absolutely amazing. the official people that should‘ve been telling us what to do, get out your house, move your things, or even that it was coming. we had no idea. so, just a complete contrast. the only good news here is that clare renewed her insurance a day before the rain came. not everyone‘s covered though. and today the politicians descended as flooding spilt over into the election campaign. we cannot leave people living in this awful sense offearand limbo. it is wrong that it seems to be just outed the local communities. —— down to the local communities. important though this work is, it's clearly a national emergency. winter, after winter, after winter, its homes and communities that get destroyed as a result of action and long—term action not being put in place.

the prime minister said over the weekend, this was no national emergency. but now, extra support is on its way. we‘re co—ordinating a national defence and programme of flood defences. there‘s been £2.6 billion of national investment and the environment agency is there to ensure that cash is spent on the right defences, the right earthworks, earth banks and everything else that we are going to need. here, pumps are now starting to get the water moving. emergency teams have been getting through, but some here are still feeling forgotten. could‘ve done a lot more. could‘ve had a lot more warning. what do you say? what can you say?

been let down, somehow. dan johnson, bbc news, fishlake, in south yorkshire. the environment agency has warned that severe flooding episodes are set to become more frequent. it‘s prompted a renewed debate about the measures and the money needed to the limit the impact. 0ur science editor david shukman looks at the challenge of saving homes, businesses and communities at risk. year after year, we see the misery of flooding, but this time it‘s striking in the middle of an election, adding real edge to questions about why it‘s happened and how to avoid scenes like this in future. a key dispute is over money, so how much is spent on flood defences? a view from the air of the floods in south yorkshire today — the plight of the village of fishlake at the centre of the current political storm. the total budget for flood defences for this five year period is

£2.6 billion, but there‘s long been criticism that governments of all parties need to spend far more. what‘s striking is how it‘s the small villages like fishlake and farmland that are bearing the brunt of the flooding, and that‘s for a very simple reason. the money forflood protection is allocated according to the number of people who benefit from it, so the big cities do well and smaller communities are bound to lose out. another challenge, who‘s in charge of flood protection? rescue work by the emergency services is highly praised and well co—ordinated, but behind—the—scenes it can be another story. there‘s so much more water that these pumps are having to deal with... with central government, local authorities and drainage officials here monitoring the pumps at fishlake, a complicated mix that can slow down the system of early warning. if people don‘t know where they‘re getting their flood warning from,

their flood information from, it can be very confusing, and that kind of undermines the actions they might take in order to protect themselves and their families. and all the time the question of whether flooding will be worse in future. we spot emergency barriers are being thrown up at a key electricity substation. scientists are warning that, as temperatures rise, rainstorms are likely to become heavier, so the threat of flooding may well intensify. we need to really speed up if we are going to keep on top of the problems that are being exacerbated by the change in the climate. we don‘t really have the infrastructure in place for the next 25 years, and that is very frightening. 50 years, you know, i‘m really scared. the emergency pumps in action here are now centrestage in the election, and the struggle reflects wider battle over how the country should protect itself now and in coming years. david shukman, bbc news, south yorkshire. the government announced

an additional 100 armed forces personnel will be sent to south yorkshire and councils there are being given some additional funding to help households and businesses. 0ur deputy political editor john pienaar says that it shouldn‘t come as a shock that the floods have become highly politicised. given we are in such a close and unpalatable election campaign, i am guessing it will come as a great surprise that you absolutely no—one. certainly since the prime minister chaired that emergency committee meeting earlier today. he has promised rants for councils, grants for businesses, he has promised troops and sandbags and trips bearing sandbags and all of bit too little, too late, according to the opposition parties. labour and the liberal democrats have promised to write bigger checks for flood defences was up 5 billion extra in the case of the liberal democrats, 5.6 billion in the case of the

labour party. and jeremy corbyn was tapping into a familiar line of attack when he was just become a conservatives of caring about people and places in the south and the south—east more than the north. looking after their own heartlands, in other words. it is denied, obviously, by the tories, flatly denied. and that may have selected with the fact that the midlands and the north are rich in electoral battlegrounds. as people struggle with the floodwaters, he is winning his political battle —— how is winning his political battle? the a nswer winning his political battle? the answer is simple as it is obvious will stop the voters will have the last word and will decide who to place their trust when they put their crosses in those boxes. and we‘ll find out how this story and many others wright are covered in tomorrow‘s front pages at 11:30 this evening in the papers — our guestsjoining me tonight are henry zeffman, political correspondent for the times, and kezia dugdale, from glasgow university and former scottish labour leader. a father and mother who murdered two of their sons and plotted

to kill their other four children have been sentenced to life in prison. sarah barrass and brandon machin — who are half—siblings — strangled their two eldest children boys aged 13 and 1a in sheffield in may. 0ur correspondent frankie mccamley reports. tristan barrass in a bbc children‘s programme in 2017, a happy boy with lots of friends. but tristan was murdered along with his 14—year—old brother, blake, on the right, by their parents at their home in sheffield. sarah barrass and brandon machin were half siblings. when poisoning their children failed and drowning didn‘t work, together the pair strangled the boys, then suffocated them with bin bags. today, for the first time, the court heard why the couple murdered two of their children and tried to kill the rest. the pair feared their children would be taken into care if the local authority found out about their secret incestuous

relationship, so barrass and machin decided killing all six of their children would be better than letting that happen. as the pair were both sentenced to 35 years in prison, friends of the family paid tribute. a piece of all our hearts died on the 24th of may 2019 which we will never get back. blake and tristan leave a huge empty void in our lives, and we did not get the chance to say goodbye. at their funeral in august, the motorbikes they loved came together to remember the boys, who were regularly told by their mother, "i gave you life, i can take it away" — which she and her partner did in a crime described as "nothing but evil." frankie mccamley, bbc news, sheffield. the headlines on bbc news: ministers announce more support for flood victims in the north of england.

some 30 flood warnings remain in place, with more heavy rain forecast, as locals say they feel let down by the official response. life sentences for the parents of six children who murdered two teenage sons a day after trying to poison them. and the spats between raheem sterling and joe gomez are just like a family disagreement, according to the england manager. the former head coach for british cycling and team sky, shane sutton, has walked out of a medical tribunal denying allegations that he‘s a "serial liar and doper." the tribunal is considering the case of the team‘s former doctor, dr richard freeman, who‘s facing charges of medical misconduct for obtaining testosterone for an unnamed rider. he claims they were obtained at the direction of mr sutton, as our sports editor dan roan reports.

former british cycling and team sky head coach shane sutton arriving today is the key witness in the case that‘s cast a shadow over the country‘s most successful sport. this man, the organisation‘s former chief medic, dr richard freeman, has been charged with ordering testosterone to the sport‘s headquarters in 2011 for an unnamed rider to dope. he admits lying to cover up the order but insists sutton bullied him into doing so to treat his alleged erectile dysfunction. sutton denies that, insisting he wasn‘t behind the delivery of the banned drug. however, as he gave evidence for the first time, freeman‘s lawyer, mary 0‘rourke qc, said: "he is a habitual and serial liar, he is a doper with a doping history." later, 0‘rourke told him his two witness statements to the general medical council are lies — therefore i have to test your credibility. in remarkable exchanges, 0‘rourke said she had evidence from an anonymous witness who saw sutton inject himself with testosterone in the late 90s.

sutton denied that, calling her a liar and a bully and saying he‘d never failed any of 100 tests during his riding career. enraged by the line of questioning, he said: "you want the truth, i‘m telling you the truth! you‘ve already called me a doper, you called me a serial liar. you don‘t even know me. you can say these things and i have no defence. i think you are totally out of order." sutton said his wife wanted to testify that he didn‘t suffer from erectile dysfunction, as alleged by freeman, who was sat behind a screen because he‘s being treated as a vulnerable witness. "take the screen down, man up and look me in the eye," said sutton, banging his fist on the table. "tell me to my face i ordered it. he won‘t because he knows i didn‘t." threatening to sue 0‘rourke for defamation, he then stormed out of the hearing, calling freeman "spineless". i got myself into an emotional state because, you know, when you know that you are not lying and you are accused of lying, you get yourself worked up.

pretty disappointing, the way i‘ve been singled out and feel like i‘m on trial, but i need to go and talk to my family and discuss whether i‘ll return to give any more evidence. with or without sutton, the case will resume on thursday, but for a sport desperately trying to move on after a series of scandals, this has been yet another damaging episode. dan roan, bbc news. ok, let‘s take a look at some of today‘s other news: a man has gone on trial at the old bailey accused of a series of rapes and sexual assaults on women and children in london, hertfordshire and north—west england. joseph mccann, who‘s 3a, is also charged with multiple counts of kidnap and false imprisonment over a two—week period earlier this year. he denies the charges. official figures show the number of people in work fell by 58,000 in the three months to september, the biggest quarterly drop for more than four years. the office for national statistics

says the reduction was partly caused by the collapse of a number of major retailers. the number of people who are unemployed also fell by 23,000 to 1.31 million. in a month‘s time, voters across the united kingdom will be voting in the general election and as the campaign progresses, bbc news is continuing its series looking at political priorities in different parts of the uk. my colleague clive myrie has spent the day in the constituency of bishop auckland in the north—east of england. what a fascinating town this is. the death of traditional industry has hit this area hard and there is a sense this town has never recovered politically, it is also a bellwether for the rest of the north—east. the constituency is a mixture of both

industrial towns, pretty market towns and agricultural communities. historically, it‘s been a labour stronghold in general elections, and barring four years in the 1930s, labour has held bishop auckland since 1918 but this majority has been withered away over the years. it's been withered away over the years. it‘s now down to just 500 votes, and that has made it a key conservative target in this election. when it comes to brexit, it was a decisive vote with 61% of people here using to leave the eu. in the two days we‘ve been here we have spoken to a number of people who feel this place has been forgotten since the heyday of its industrial time when bishop auckland was truly on the map. it‘s bishop auckland in the amateur cup final at wembley... there was a time when the whole country knew of bishop auckland. warren bradley centres... its footballers lit up terraces the way the region‘s coal lit up homes. the team‘s fans, working

miners and families. their political allegiance — always to labour. the whistle‘s gone and bishop auckland have made their hat—trick. but there‘s been disappointment at a forgetting that this place exists since the pits closed, when the football was good. and now there‘s anger for some at this working men‘s club that labour‘s handling of brexit, they say, is a final kick in the teeth. ask kevin, an nhs hospital worker switching from labour to tory. it‘s notjust me being ignored or the north—east, it‘s the 17.4 million people who voted to leave. and you are fed up with that? absolutely fed up. i‘ve had it up to here. ask shannon, silent witness to thousands of conversations. i think a lot of people will end up voting conservative rather than labour, yeah, from what i‘m hearing. i normally vote labour. so where are you thinking you might go this time?

i‘m undecided. right. and askjohn, unhappy but unable to bring himself to vote conservative. what about the brexit party? well, to me, i don‘t like farage. then again, i don‘t like corbyn. i don‘t likejohnson. you are a bit stuck then, aren‘t you? are you going to stay at home then on election day? i‘ll probably still go to the ballot box and have a read and think about it. sounds as if you might reluctantly end up voting labour again. probably, yes. the brexit party candidate standing here could split the leave vote, but as allegiances shift, a changing of the political weather wouldn‘t be down to just brexit. years of neglect will play their part, too. auckland castle, with its priceless paintings, has been restored with money from a local multimillionaire.

jonathan ruffer is also financing museums, galleries, gardens, shaming past governments of all stripes. the purpose of what we‘re doing is to help a community find itself. county durham has been under the cosh for a long time, but what we knew was that this was about people, it wasn‘t about buildings, pictures, anything else, and if you care for people, they respond. bishop auckland are currently mid—table in the northern football league, but how to bring back the glory days, better jobs, futures for young people, hope? that‘s what next month‘s election is all about. clive myrie there with that report from the constituency of bishop auckland. now the former head of the armed forces, lord bramall, has died at the age of 95. lord bramall served during the normandy landings in 1944.

he oversaw the falklands campaign in 1982 and became chief of the defence staff. he was falsely accused in 2014 of sexual abuse and his friends say a very distinguished public servant was dealt a grave injustice by the episode. a draft report based on an official review of the hs2 high—speed rail project says the line should go ahead despite the soaring cost. the review was commissioned by ministers in august after the estimated cost reached £88 billion — and it‘s likely to rise again. but members of the review panel have said the line linking london with birmingham and the north of england should be built with just a few minor changes. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge reports now from birmingham. 0n the edge of birmingham to make space for this high—speed rail. it‘s

almost ready for construction to begin. supporters of the scheme say this area, was would he will benefit. obviously it's slightly rundown, adjuster is just going to generate somejobs may rundown, adjuster is just going to generate some jobs may be, rundown, adjuster is just going to generate somejobs may be, and it will be good for the area. they just‘ make future was thrown into doubt in the summer when boris johnson announced a review. but a lea ked johnson announced a review. but a leaked version of that review only recommends minor alterations to the project. when the rail depot here is finished it will create hundreds of jobs but the benefits of the new railway have been overshadowed in recent months by its price tag which has lapped up by around £30 billion. this leaked report suggests the price could rise further, but recommends the scheme should still go ahead. supporters of a just do 110w go ahead. supporters of a just do now want a more definitive green light from the main parties. what we need to see as older parties committing in their manifestoes to find those new lines between north

and south, we can work out the finer details later. but to be committing on priorities and not back hs2 is a real mistake. but this letter written by the deputy chair of the review criticises its lack of balance. lord tony barclay also said the cost of hs2 hasn‘t been properly scrutinised. they haven‘t managed it in the best interests of the public. he developed a costing method used bya he developed a costing method used by a network rail. he argues it won‘t be value for money. i believe it will cost £106 billion, i believe it will cost £106 billion, i believe it won‘t be delivered until at least 2035, possibly 2040, and the share of costs outweigh the benefits it is going to deliver over that time, given the risk that are still there in the scheme. the direction of travel that hs2 is denote more certain. but whoever wins the

election will have the final say. tom burridge, bbc in birmingham. in hong kong, a senior police officer has warned that unrest has brought the city to "the brink of total breakdown." in the latest clashes between police and democracy campaigners the violence has spread to a university campus, where tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannon were used. some of the protestors built barricades and threw petrol—bombs at the police. 0ur correspondent robin brant sent this report. "run", she is shouting in cantonese, and they are running, but not for fun. hong kong students at the university racetrack were escaping the tear gas and rubber bullets as police raided their campus. moving onto the grounds of the chinese university is a marked escalation by the police. he said they needed to stop people throwing bricks and other dangerous items from a campus bridge onto passing traffic.

by night, that bridge became the front line in a stand—off. police on one side, protesters on the other, a raging fire in between. 24 hours previously, this place had been completely normal. across the university, protesters and students formed a human chain to supply the front line with water and food. 0thers sat in groups are preparing their supply of weapons. you are sitting here making kind of come up what is a better phrase, petrol—bombs. why we are doing this? because yesterday you know they used real bullets, shooting him right in the chest, and that can kill someone. so if they upgrade their weapons, we need to upgrade our weapons to protect ourselves, too. this scene shows you how drastically the nature of this competition has changed. it started out five months ago with hundreds of thousands of people marching on the streets

in peaceful demonstration. now, at the entrance to a university there is a roadblock on fire, a burned—out car blocking the entrance to this bridge, and around me dozens of protesters in black sitting and waiting, not knowing what‘s coming next. the start of this week has been different here. the stand—off at the university more dangerous, and in its sixth month 110w this particular part of the protest felt less like a competition and more like a conflict. robin brant, bbc news, hong kong. and we‘ll be taking an in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers: henry zeffman, political correspondent for the times and kezia dugdale, the former scottish labour leader. that‘s coming up after the headlines at 11:30pm. now it‘s time for the weather with mel coles. hello there. the middle part of the week we have a bit of a break from all the wet weather, but it will be

short—lived. and of course many areas are still flooded from the recent rainfall that we have had. so we‘re going to be in between systems. 0ne we‘re going to be in between systems. one area of low pressure has lifted out of the north sea. there is another one waiting in the winds but a transient ridge of high pressure should help to settle things down, albeit briefly. it will bea things down, albeit briefly. it will be a chilly stutter wednesday, widespread frost for the northern half of the uk. electives let you so is feeding into southern part of scotla nd is feeding into southern part of scotland which could have a wintry flavour to them. some spots are not the scotland could struggle to get above reading. 0ne the scotland could struggle to get above reading. one or two showers in north—west england, there is this next area of rain starting to show its hand later in the afternoon that we‘re going to keep an eye on. it will put into the south—west of england, up into wales, stretching into parts of northern ireland, too. the wednesday evening and overnight into thursday this area of rain will slowly to pivot, working its way north and west words. potentially moving into areas that have already seen moving into areas that have already

seen lots of rain fall, that are already flooded. this rain will be heavy and persistent, accompanied by some strong winds, too. however in this area of rain, either side of it there will be a good slice of something drier and brighter, but it will still feel cold. now as we go from thursday into friday, low pressure remains in the driving seat, so it will be another unstable day. quite a lot of cloud around on friday and there will be further outbreaks of rain at times. quite a blustery day once again for many spots. there will be some breaks in the cloud and we should get to see some brightness the further north you go. but these temperatures are below average for the time of year, at best, mid— high single figures. so from friday and on into the weekend, low pressure still in charge, this time working its way up from the near consonant. so bit of a different direction to be coming from, no longer an atlantic system. but it does look as though this was

not your and something cool