this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 2: grease star olivia newton—john becomes a dame in the new year honours list, alongside tv presenter floella benjamin. both are recognised for their charity work. they say there is nothing like a dame and ifeel that this morning. absolutely incredible. there are among more than 1,000 people recognised, including a d—day veteran who raised thousands of pounds for a national memorial. more than 70 people are believed to have been killed in a car bomb attack in somalia. many of the dead were students. a woman whose husband and two children drowned on christmas eve in a swimming pool in spain says all three could swim and blames a fault with the pool.

in sport, england are chasing a target of 376 runs to win the first test against south africa. join us, the brexitcast gang, in half an hour to look back at the year that was in the world of brexit. good afternoon. welcome to bbc news. leading figures from the world of entertainment, sport, politics and charity have been recognised in the new year honours list. sir elton john receives the highest accolade, he's been made a companion of honour, and olivia newton—john becomes a dame. four members of england's world cup—winning cricket team

are also on that list, but of the more than 1,000 people receiving honours this new year, around two—thirds are being recognised for their work in the community. as kathryn stanczysyn reports. # you're the one that i want... olivia newton—john says she is grateful beyond words to be made a dame for services to charity. a damehood, too, for former tv presenter floella benjamin for her lifelong work with children's charities. volunteering always features heavily in honours lists, with many who aren't household names being rewarded. i'm no hero, i was lucky. i'm here. all the heroes are dead and i'll never forget them as long as i live. thank you, darling. people like d—day veteran harry billinge, who becomes an mbe in recognition of his efforts fundraising for veterans. when i'm doing this collection, a wonderful calm comes over me, because i'm doing something for the boys. back in 2012, rhian mannings's

one—year—old son george died. her husband paul took his own life five days later. she now runs a charity in wales to help those experiencing bereavement and is now an mbe. it still hasn't sunk in, i still can't believe it. i'm pretty overwhelmed, i haven't slept very much. bittersweet in a way, but i'm extremely proud, i really am. in the world of politics, some controversy. the decision to award a knighthood to the former work and pensions secretary iain duncan smith has been criticised by opposition parties over his introduction of universal credit. and some questions over a damehood forformer director of public prosecutions alison saunders after a number of scandals. in entertainment, there were knighthoods for two british film—makers, steve mcqueen, who directed the oscar—winning i2 years a slave, and sam mendes, who directed bond films skyfall and spectre. and in sport, eoin morgan,

who captained england to victory in the cricket world cup, becomes a cbe. ben stokes an 0be, jos buttler and joe root both mbes. an mbe also for england star jill scott, for services to women's football. i'm joined now via webcam by the chief executive of keep britain tidy, allison 0gden—newton. she's received an 0be for services to the environment. massive congratulations. thank you very much. how are you feeling? delighted, it is an incredible honour and as other contributors have said, it has not sunk in yet, but it is an amazing recognition of the work that keep britain tidy does. it is fantastic. what work does. it is fantastic. what work does keep britain tidy de today? for many people it is about going litter picking in your village, perhaps?m is that and we had over 536,000

peoplejoin us for the is that and we had over 536,000 people join us for the great british spring clean this year and we will have to do better next year but we have to do better next year but we have raised awareness over plastics. we are trying to get people to understand the damage it does to the natural world, cigarette buts. we do the blue flags for beaches and the green flags for parks and we run nearly 20,000 equal skills, programme teaching young skills about what is important for the environment. hopefully keep britain tidy is making a real difference with our work. has the uk got better oi’ with our work. has the uk got better or worse when it comes to literal? it isa or worse when it comes to literal? it is a tricky question because the things we are producing that can subsequently be lettered has grown exponentially. we are the largest consumers of food and drink on the go anywhere in europe which means there is a lot of stuff that can be dropped as rubbish. we are

overwhelmed by the problem but it is a small minority of people who do not do the right thing. the vast majority of people find the rubbish bin or better still, they recycle, which is better still because we are stuck at 44%. there is lots of work to be done but people are getting the message. what motivated you to get involved with the organisation? it isa get involved with the organisation? it is a funny story, when i was a kid at school i got irritated about cigarette packets. i contacted the manufacturers, and one of them collected the packets i had collected. it has been a lifelong passion. it is fantastic to have my dream job. to really help the whole nation get to grips with its litter problem. you mentioned when we started talking that plastic is the menace of the future. what would you like to see happen, what is the take

of keep britain tidy on controlling oi’ of keep britain tidy on controlling or getting rid of plastic, how should we be looking at it as consumers? plastic is a problem, but not enough itself. it is single use plastic, things we use once and throw away, and so much of it find its way into the natural world. we all need to live a less disposable life and think about the way we are living. moving to keep copies for oui’ living. moving to keep copies for our coffee, water bottles for our water, and recognise that as individuals, we are making decisions everyday which add to a lot of waste which the planet cannot sustain. —— keep cups. 0nce rubbish is into the natural world, it looks awful. the rspca gets over 7000 calls a year by —— about animals who have been injured by letter. all of us can

make a difference by making simple choices and swapping out the single—use plastics we have got used to. allison ogden-newton, thank single—use plastics we have got used to. allison ogden—newton, thank you for your time. i should add, 0be. thank you. d—day veteran harry billinge, whose fundraising efforts have made headlines around the world, has received an mbe for services to charity. he's raised more than £10,000 towards the cost of building a national memorial honouring his fallen comrades. earlier, bbc breakfast‘s tim muffett spoke to harry at his home in st austell, cornwall. there is no words can express my feelings when i knew that, because it was far from my mind that i was ever going to be recognised for doing a bit of a collection for the blokes who never came back, and that is the only thing that drove me on. and just to recap, the fundraising you have done, what did you set out to do,

and why did you want to do it? i did start out because i wanted to raise at least £22,442, that is a pound for every person that was killed or missing on d—day on gold beach. and i done that up till august last year. but now they're going to have a new... it is a big monument. they're going to have a place there for education, for youngsters to go and have a look and see what d—day was really like. there is a museum there. there is a quiet... you cannot imagine what a wonderful place it will be, and i only hope that i am spared to see it. it will not be completed till about the 3rd of september, which really will be the anniversary of the start of the world war, which was the 3rd of september 1939.

and it started when i was a kid, then 1k, but i remember it well. now you, of course, landed on d—day, didn't you, in normandy? yes. how important is it that a memorial is built for those people who did not come back? well, i think it is a bit of a surprise, really, and a bit of a disgrace to think that the americans have got a lovely memorial, to the fallen, that is at omaha, the canadians onjuno have got a lovely memorial to the canadian fallen, and of course, a lot of the english fellows were with the canadians as well, but there is nothing to remember all these fellows. that was the d—day veteran harry billinge. he has been raising incredible amounts of money for a memorial and has received an mbe. we

have a statement from the cabinet 0ffice have a statement from the cabinet office before we leave the story, regarding a mistake that was made in the publication of the list. a spokesperson from the cabinet office has said that a version of the new year honours list was published in error, which contained recipients' addresses. the information was removed as soon addresses. the information was removed as soon as addresses. the information was removed as soon as possible. we apologise to all those affected and are looking into how this happened. we have reported the matter to the information commissioner's office and we are contacting all those affected directly. at least 90 people are reported to have been killed and 90 others wounded in a car bomb attack in the somali capital, mogadishu. it happened at a checkpoint at a busy intersection during the morning rush—hour. the mayor of mogadishu says most of the injured are students who were on buses at the time. the bbc‘s ben morris reports. the tangled wreckage of vehicles whichjust minutes before had been

waiting at a busy intersection in the mogadishu morning traffic. the attack happened at a crossroads in the middle of rush hour, hitting locals on their daily commutes. translation: the blast took place as i was getting off a minibus. i was on my way to work. my leg was injured. minutes later, chaos as the wounded are rushed to the nearest hospital. the mayor of mogadishu was sombre as the number of deaths climbed. translation: we do not have the exact death toll yet, but more than 90 people were wounded, according to the witnesses, however, the exact death toll will be given to us later, but it is not less. most of the people who were killed in the attack were school or university students. this city is no stranger to violent attacks. just this month, five were killed when islamist militant group al—shabab targeted this hotel which is popular with politicians and military officers, leading to a fierce gun battle with security forces.

no group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, but for citizens of this bustling capital city, it is a horribly familiar scene. a navy seal diver who helped rescue a youth football team trapped in a flooded cave in thailand has died from a blood infection he picked up during the rescue. petty officer beirut pakbara had been under medical supervision since the rescue 18 months ago, but his condition worsened. he died yesterday. riot police have clashed with protesters inside a major shopping centre near hong kong's border with mainland china. pepper spray and batons were used by security forces after demonstrators marched through the mall in sheung shui. the retail outlet near the chinese city of shenzhen is popular with shoppers from the mainland. protesters in hong kong have been targeting shopping centres

across the area in recent days. a mother whose husband and two children drowned in a swimming pool on the costa del sol on christmas eve insists they all knew how to swim. olubunmi diya says they were "dragged into the middle" of the pool and couldn't get out. the hotel's operator said exhaustive police investigations had confirmed the pool was working normally and there was no malfunction of any kind. our correspondent helena wilkinson is with me now. helena, what more do we know? this is the first time we have heard from mrs diya since it happened on christmas eve in spain. what she has said, it contradicts what the police in spain have been putting out in terms of information. mrs diya has put out a statement saying she is disturbed by what she describes as an accurate information. initially,

it had been reported that the father and your numberto it had been reported that the father and your number to my children could not swim, where unable to swim, did not swim, where unable to swim, did not know how. she has said that is com pletely not know how. she has said that is completely untrue, all three of them knew how to swim and she has given more detail about what happened on that day. she said the whole family, they have another daughter as well, they have another daughter as well, the five of them went to the swimming pool. the children went in down the steps and as you mentioned, she said the children find themselves dragged into the middle of the pool, which was deeper. her husband went in to help the children, she went off to get assistance and when she returned, she says all three were under water. in her words, she says, i believe something was wrong with the swimming pool which must have made swimming pool which must have made swimming difficult for them at that point in time. as you mention, the resort has put out a statement saying the police have done extensive investigations into the

swimming pool, it was working properly and there was no malfunction of any kind. before you 90, malfunction of any kind. before you go, obviously the police and the resort would like to draw a line under this and they do keep referring to this exhaustive police investigation. is that it is the investigation. is that it is the investigation ongoing? according to diya, —— mrs diya, who put out the statement, in her view, she thinks the spanish police are continuing to investigate to determine what happened, but she also says, no information has been passed to the family about their conclusions, so in her view, it is continuing but what we see as she is saying something that contradicts what the spanish police are saying, so i do not think this is over, questions still remain unanswered. the headlines on bbc news: grease star olivia newton—john is made a dame in the new year honours list. she's one of 1100 people recognised for their work.

more than 70 people have died after a car bomb exploded in the somalian capital, mogadishu. a woman whose husband and two children drowned on christmas eve in a swimming pool at a resort in spain says all three could swim. she blames a fault with the pool flags are flying at half mast across kazakhstan in a day of mourning for the victims of friday's plane crash which killed 12 people and left 47 others in hospital. the plane was carrying 90 passengers and five crew members when it crashed into a building in freezing weather shortly after take—off from almaty airport. the country's aviation committee has since suspended all flights operated by the budget airline bek air, as well as those involving fokker 100 aircraft, pending the results of an investigation. we've been speaking to one survivor who described the moment the plane crashed.

it was that quick and the force was huge. and once i think it first hit the ground, then we slide and hit the two storey concrete building. and i think the concrete building stopped the plane going further. and the thing i remember is that starting from the front end of the plane, you start squeezing that especially the ceiling started falling very fastly and everything was falling apart in the plane. and it was like a tin. you like someone is like squeezing the tin can everything was squeezing. the last thing i remember is that the guy was sitting diagonally right in front of me on the 14th row, he got smashed by all this falling ceiling of the plane. then immediately it stopped. sojust in front of my row, it stopped. but lights were on when this happened and once we

stopped, lights went off. nearly 2000 people have taken shelter in evacuation centres as tropical cyclone sarai batters fiji. the cyclone has brought high winds and rain, causing flooding to rivers and coastal areas on the pacific island nation. one man is believed to have drowned and another man is reported missing. james ra nsley reports. tropical cyclone sarai wreaking havoc in fiji. this vehicle carrying six people and a cow washed into a raging river. it's thought they all made it to safety. winds of up to 90mph and swells up to 5m have battered the small island nation, causing flooding and widespread damage. authorities are urging people to remain vigilant. an 18—year—old student is believed to be the country's latest drowning victim. the man is believed to have been swept away by strong currents

while he was swimming with his friends. more than 2000 people are in evacuation centres across the country, and aid agencies have been out in force. volunteers have been going out on some of the worst—affected areas to assess what people need and have been delivering things such as extra shelter items or torches. there have been some power outages in both the west and central divisions and trees down on the roads and flooding in low—lying areas. as the clean—up begins in fiji, the category 2 storm is expected to reach tonga next. campaigners are calling for a radical overhaul of britain's railways to try to improve travel. the pressure group campaign for better transport argues there should be a major fares reform, a single national railcard and more control of services given to major cities outside london.

railfares are set to rise next week. olivia richwald has the details. expensive, overcrowded and unreliable — three words which the campaign for better transport uses to describe britain's trains. today, the pressure group is urging a radical overhaul of the way the railways are run. its report suggests that franchises should be scrapped, fares reformed and control of rail services handed to cities and regions to improve the service. before today's report, the government was already considering big changes. within the next few weeks, the department for transport is expected to publish plans which it says will put passengers first and create a fairer and more effective system and that is something that people here in leeds think is overdue. there was a week about maybe two months ago, where i got about 1k trains that week. every single one was delayed up by about ten minutes or more. every time we've been on a train,

it's either been cancelled, delayed or so busy. i mean, if it's more effective to have it brought back into the council and they have actually control over what's going on, i think that probably could be quite good. you need the service, you can't guarantee it and that's the biggest frustration for me, personally. the mayor of greater manchester, andy burnham, has said he would like railfares to be integrated with buses and trams, like london's oyster system. if we had more control, we could integrate the trains with our trams and the buses. we could make it a london—style integrated transport system, and that is what a city like manchester needs to go up to the next level. it can't be right that it costs much more to travel round manchester than it does to travel round london. meanwhile, fares are due to increase by an average of 2.7% in just three days' time. one of the worlds rarest birds, the spoon—billed sandpiper, has been successfully reared

in captivity for the first time, raising hopes the species can be saved from extinction. it's taken almost a decade, from rescuing eggs in russia's far—east wetlands to breeding two of the birds at the wildfowl and wetlands trust in gloucestershire. victoria gill reports. the first sign of a conservation breakthrough. these spoon—billed sandpiper chicks, hatched from eggs collected in the far east of russia and brought into captivity in the uk. that rescue mission was eight years ago. now, at last, those critically endangered birds have reared their own chicks — the first ca ptive—bred spoon—billed sandpipers. we have to cover up our outdoor clothes, so everything from rubber boots that we can wash on the way in, to overalls, to this very attractive hairnet, because we do not want to be taking anything in there, into the aviary, where these very precious birds are, that might hurt them or make them sick.

this is their breeding aviary that they now live in. i guess they're kind of still babies, or are theyjust a few months old? they're classed as juveniles now. they would've been on their migration now, really. they would? yeah, yeah, so... but we still see them as babies. your babies. yeah. this long mission, though, has been punctuated by highs and heartbreaking lows. chicks first hatched here back in 2016, but they survived only a few days. it's taken just under ten years and what feels like a lifetime of no sleep, to find the recipe, or close to the recipe, for breeding spoon—billed sandpipers in an arc, in a captive situation. there are about 50 million other waterbirds that use the same place as the spoonies, so if we could save it — and we're starting to do so — we can save a lot of other birds and plants and people who depend on the wetland sites where those animals survive.

2019 was the year that scientists put a very big number on the extinction crisis. a global report published this year estimated that around a million species of animals and plants are at risk of extinction. the loss of natural habitats in our human—engineered environment is an increasing threat, so conservationists hope this will go much further than one charismatic little bird and that protecting the spoon—billed sandpiper and the wetlands it depends on will prevent many other species from being lost. 60 years after ivor the engine first steamed onto our television screens, his creators want to shunt him out of the retirement shed and onto the silver screen. the tales of the small steam locomotive were inspired by the poetry of dylan thomas and created by hand in a cow shed.

tomos morgan reports. snow was falling in the top left—hand corner of wales. ahead of its time, it was one of the uk's first tv cartoons. are you ready, ivor? ivor toots his horn. some may remember the adventures of the small green steam locomotive who worked for the merioneth and llantisilly railway traction company limited in north wales. snowdrifts lay deep on the railway line, but ivor charged through them and split them like meringues! snowdrifts lay deep on the railway line, but ivor charged through them and split them like meringues! the programme was the brainchild of the late legendary animator oliver postgate, who wrote the scripts, filmed the scenes and voiced many of the characters, along with artist peter firmin for a budget ofjust £10 a minute. my dad would put them together, using blu—tack. you'd move the foot along, take a photograph... nowadays, digital animation costs a fortune with high—tech computers and sophisticated software bringing

creations to life in 3d. ivor the engine, however, was made using paper and cardboard cut—out watercolours in a farmhouse barn in rural kent. he wanted to find a way of animating which didn't involve too much of people walking around, because that was difficult to animate. so ivor was quite good, because he had wheels. "edwinjones, we have an emergency! "eli the baker is out of flour!" a friendship with a welsh fireman fondly described how steam engines came to life when you rode on them, and there were strong welsh influences throughout. ivor toots his horn. he came up with the idea that there was a steam locomotive who wanted to sing in the welsh choir, and that was the starting point. he loved under milk wood and dylan thomas and he loved the whole magic and feel of how he felt about wales. "oh, dear!" although he probably wasn't the most famous cartoon train that

graced our tv screens, ivor was the inspiration for oliver postgate's more successful titles... yawns. ..such as bagpuss. bagpuss gave a big yawn and settled down to sleep. after the success of daniel's recent remake of the clangers — another of his father's classics — on the 60th anniversary that ivor first hit television, could there finally be a comeback — but this time to the silver screen? i was interested in the idea of a live—action story of ivor, because i think although it is a children's programme, it also has a lot of interesting characters. but you need to find lots of money to do things like that! ivor felt really happy. so, after over half a century, it may not quite be the end of the line for ivor, jones the steam and dai the station. ..as he pounded down the line.

now it's time for a look at the weather with phil avery. it's a little bit wet. quite damp in parts of scotland to say the least and because you're underselling it. this is south of stirling, you go south and west, and you're a little bit more involved with that weather front, heading into northern ireland through the day and that is why it is likely to stay. not all doom and gloom by any means, the scottish borders and in all points south, certainly drier. whether you get any sunshine is a moot point. mild as it was yesterday, the rain keeps coming across parts of scotland and northern ireland through the evening, then moves a little further north eventually. further south, where you break the cloud for any length of time in the southeastern core, the temperatures will be around four, where it does not, it could be closer to ten. tomorrow, i

chance a brightness in the south quarter and then the rain can find towards the north west. but here, you have 1a, for the south, ten. hello, this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines: grease star olivia newton—john becomes a dame in the new year honours list alongside tv presenter floella benjamin. both are recognised for their charity work. more than 1,000 people have been recognised for their contributions, including a d—day veteran who raised thousands of pounds for a national memorial. more than 70 people are believed to have been killed in a car—bomb attack in somalia. many of the dead were students. a woman whose husband and two children drowned on christmas eve in a swimming pool in spain says all three could swim