good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. our headlines today: after years of delays and cancellations, a decision is expected today over the future of the northern railfranchise. we're at stations across the north of england throughout the morning. more than 130 people are known to have died from the coronavirus in china as the uk makes plans to evacuate nationals from the province at the centre of the outbreak. reports that prince andrew rejects claims of zero cooperation with the fbi over its inquiry into convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein, saying he's not been approached.

three—quarters of people only bank with only provider, meaning they're more vulnerable to any it crashes. could banks do more to protect customers? i'll have the latest. the home of ed woodward, the manchester united executive vice—chairman, is attacked by a group throwing flares and chanting death threats. good morning. a cold start to the day with frost and the wrist of ice on untreated surfaces. but many of us on untreated surfaces. but many of us off to a dry start. there is rain on the clouds coming in from the atla ntic on the clouds coming in from the atlantic later on. i will have more in about 15 minutes. after smashing the christmas ratings, the scars of gavin and stacey were given an award at last my‘s national television awards. there is still a lot of electricity between us. good morning. it is wednesday the

29th of january. the top stories this morning: a decision on the future of the north of england's biggest rail operator, northern, is expected to be made today. the government could nationalise the network after it's struggled to provide a reliable service for passengers. throughout this morning, we'll be reporting from stations right across the north. jayne mccubbin is at manchester piccadilly station and danni hewson is in sheffield. but for now, let's speak to our reporter tim muffett who's in leeds. good morning to you. potentially a really significant day for the transport industry right across the north. that is right. we have talked to many commuters and they will give you a pretty blunt answer when they say what they think of the northern rail franchise. there is say what they think of the northern railfranchise. there is widespread exasperation over the level of service over the last couple of yea rs. service over the last couple of years. today we expect an announcement as to the future of this franchise and what that future holds. it could be effectively renationalise as you say with the franchise ta ken away renationalise as you say with the franchise taken away from the german

owned company that runs northern, or it could be given more time and maybe run slightly differently with a bit more interest from the government. we have to wait and see. but there is widespread acknowledgement that something needs to be done. delays, overcrowding and cancellations. it is a joke. northern is one of the biggest rail franchises in britain. but it has beenin franchises in britain. but it has been in trouble for some time. no more northern! this lack of service is not acceptable. this is zero 748 service from not only delayed. it is unbelievable. it is late every day. half of them don't turn up. sometimes you can't get on and it is shocking. some people are fainting on the trains because it is so overcrowded and hot. this line is one of the worst performing of the northern network. almost two—thirds of services run late according to the most recent statistics. earlier this month transport secretary

warned northern its service was unacceptable and that it could lose its franchise. a further announcement to the future is believed to be imminent. the trains are frequently late and overcrowded, there are cancellations at the last minute, they need improvement. there are cancellations at the last minute, they need improvementm there are cancellations at the last minute, they need improvement. it is pooh minute, they need improvement. it is poor. will anybody else do any better? the franchise covers a huge commuter network on the midlands to northumberland. from lancashire to east yorkshire. more than 100 million journeys east yorkshire. more than 100 millionjourneys were east yorkshire. more than 100 million journeys were made last year. northern says many of its problems have been beyond its control such as delays of the electrification of the track. but a new timetable in —— introduction in may 2018 went badly. since december of that year, only half of app northern trains arrived on time. for the many commuters, changes to the way these services are run cannot come soon enough. ijust fine i wait for a long time, just to avoid the

commute. for many commuters, changes to the way these trains are run can't come soon enough. we will be back with him throughout the morning and also live in sheffield and manchester to hear from communities there in around 15 minutes time. to get in touch with us about all of that as well. 0ther to get in touch with us about all of that as well. other news now. the foreign office has updated its travel advice for mainland china, saying people should not travel there unless absolutely necessary because of the coronavirus. hundreds of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the city at the heart of the outbreak. the total number of cases has jumped to almost 6,000. rich preston reports. as the first japanese nationals returned home to tokyo from wuhan, the foreign office in london said it was working out on similar evacuation plans. there are believed to be about 300 uk nationals incubate problems with about 200 wanting to return home. as a japanese plane parked at the gate, a

number of ambulances, together with a light suited figures, could be seen “— a light suited figures, could be seen —— hubei province. authorities that anyone displaying symptoms of the illness will be taken to hospital immediately. everyone else would be tested for the virus and asked the quarantine themselves until the results were known. some passengers on board spoke to the media. this man, a steelworker, said nobody could move around the city freely. the restrictions were extremely strict so it was impossible to continue this work. a plane charted by the us state department has also left wuhan. this man was planning to be on board. department has also left wuhan. this man was planning to be on boardm has been very scary. we have been basically thunder house arrest, basically. you can't go anyway. all the places are closed down. in australia, the prime minister said there would be an evacuation of its passengers to an island best known for a controversial immigration detention centre. they will be transported to christmas island where we will be putting in place a tea m where we will be putting in place a team to travel there to provide the

medical support, and that will be supplemented as is necessary by other defence support. in china, we can itself looks like a ghost town with hardly any movement on the streets of a city bigger than london —— wuhan. prince andrew is said to have hit back at claims that he is refusing to assist us law enforcers in their investigation into the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. sources close to the prince are quoted in a number of newspapers suggesting the duke of york was "angry and bewildered" after claims that he had provided zero cooperation to investigators. andy moore is at buckingham palace for us this morning. just take us through it. what more can you tell us? i was stood here yesterday morning speculating that this could be just one giant misunderstanding, and now it seems prince andrew's camp is saying that is the case. this is an un—of identified source that is quoted in

quite a lot of the papers —— unidentified. they say that you give more than happy to talk to the fbi but he hadn't been approached by them yet. he is angry about the way this has been portrayed and bewildered as to why it seems certain people are jumping the bewildered as to why it seems certain people arejumping the gun. now, this was a very serious accusation from the seducer in new york who is leading the investigation. he was accusing prince andrew operating his word to co—operate with authorities. if an accusation like that is made, you need to challenge it very rapidly with an on the record statement. at the very least this speaks to a pr machine from prince andrew that is broken down. it seems the palace here are not making any statements on his behalf now that he is not a working royal. prince andrew of course denies sleeping with virginia roberts to fray, he is accused of going to bed with her after she was trafficked to him here in london. he also denies that he saw anything

u ntowa rd also denies that he saw anything untoward or suspicious when he was staying in the various homes of jeffrey epstein. but still, nothing on the record from prince andrew or his team of lawyers, and we haven't been able to verify ourselves these sources, the source that is quoted in many of the papers today. thank you very much. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is meeting the foreign secretary today amid concerns huawei could pose a risk to national security. the prime minister announced yesterday that the chinese tech giant would be allowed to play a limited role in building the uk's 5g network despite pressure from the us. let's speak with our political correspondent helen catt. there are several issues causing tension at the moment when the uk and the us, is that first one as you mentioned, huawei and the government was ‘s decision to outwit a limited role in building the uk's 5g

networks. the us has been very, very opposed to this. they believe there isa opposed to this. they believe there is a security risk and the trump administration has warned in the past that it suspend intelligence sharing with any allies who allowed huawei to build networks. yesterday, they said allowing the chinese tech giant involvement in the uk's networks would not affect our ability to share highly sensitive intelligence data. i think that is possibly going to come up. the other issue would be the extradition of the american woman who was accused of killing the 19—year—old motorcyclist last yea r. of killing the 19—year—old motorcyclist last year. a request from the uk to bring her back to the uk, and extradition request, has been turned down. the home office describe as a denial ofjustice and it could be a tricky conversation likely to be had. we will keep an eye on that one. thank you very much for the moment. women have been advised that drinking any alcohol at all during pregnancy could be harmfulfor the baby. a report by scientists at the university of bristol found that doing so could lead to poorer cognitive abilities in children

and lower birth weights. they say their findings reinforce official guidance that abstinence is the only safe approach. 0xford, cambridge and other leading universities have signed up to a plan to halve the gap between the number of students from richer and poorer areas. currently, young people from the most disadvantaged areas are six times less likely to be admitted to selective institutions. the targets have been set with the higher education regulator, the office for students. the stars came out for the national television awards in london last night with mrs brown's boys beating fleabag to the comedy prize. the night was hosted by david walliams, who took a gong himself. there were also some familiar winners — ant and dec crowned best presenters for the 19th consecutive year. every year since 2001. gavin and stacey took

a special award. ali... i don't know what you are laughing at. he never writes, i don't know what you are laughing at. he neverwrites, he i don't know what you are laughing at. he never writes, he never phones. there is still a lot of electricity between us. and he knows it. i don't really talk like that. thank you so much for this. thank you to the national television awards. she gave a very nice speech thanking everybody, but they are always short on time so halfway through the speech they kept cutting her. she had more people to think! if you have great success like that and come back after ten years, she wa nted come back after ten years, she wanted to make sure everyone onstage got a mention. they had just have to cut something else! television. wejust they had just have to cut something else! television. we just keep

going! how long has sally got this morning? 90 seconds! should i crack on? i started with a really disturbing story that has emerged this morning about the manchester united executive vice chairman ed woodward. you might be aware that the fans are not happy with him, manchester united found not happy with him at the moment. there has been some terrible chanting at the game. greater manchester police are investigating after the home of manchester united's executive vice—chairman ed woodward was attacked by a group chanting that he was "going to die". fans threw flares at the property. that was in cheshire. woodward and his family were not there at time. the club said anyone committing a criminal offence or trespassing would be banned for life. united play manchester city tonight for a place in the league cup final against aston villa, who beat leicester 3—2 thanks to an injury—time winner from trezeguet. that was last night. there's huge controversy in rugby league with the french side catalans dragons signing israel folau who was kicked out

of australian rugby last year for making homophobic comments on social media. folau says he will keep his personal beliefs private. alexander zverev has made it into the australian open semifinals. he beat stan wawrinka by three sets to one. simona halep and garbine muguruza are through to the women's semis. that might have been slightly more than 90 seconds. i apologise. the only person i apologise to is the person i have kept waiting. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. it could be called again by the looks of things. good morning, everybody! as louise said, it is a cold day. some frost around, you may have to scrape your car windscreen this morning and there is also the risk of ice on untreated surfaces once again where it has been so damp. and if there are any problems because of this you

can find out more on your busy local radio station where you are. today we have a transient ridge of high pressure a cross we have a transient ridge of high pressure across england and wales. this weather front coming in from the atlantic will bring rain, somehow and snow. 0ne the atlantic will bring rain, somehow and snow. one look at the isobars tells you it is going to be a blustery day. we start off on a cold and frosty note, we also have some sunshine to look forward to in the west. through the day the rain comes across northern ireland and also scotland, fringing into northern england and less engages with the cold at in scotland we will see that fall on the hills and mountains. the far north of scotland in the highlands, we're looking at something drier and brighter at this stage. as we move further south we haveit stage. as we move further south we have it ran across northern ireland, also getting into northern england, too. some of this will be heavy. where you see green on the chart, thatis where you see green on the chart, that is where we expect the heaviest to be. the rainfall totals will be mounting up. as we come south across the north—east england, east anglia,

the north—east england, east anglia, the midlands, sunshine building across wales and the south—west throughout the day. that will be big enough to produce just the odd shower. through the evening and overnight our band of rain is moving m, overnight our band of rain is moving in, putting your eastwards, it will still be very much here producing more rain. these totals continuing to mount and we are still looking out a to mount and we are still looking outafair to mount and we are still looking out a fair bit of cloud around. now, at the same time we've got an air mass coming in from the south—west so mass coming in from the south—west so things in the south—west are going to turn murkier. there will be some hill fog, some coastalfog, dampness in the air as well. with all of this going on most of us won't have an issue with frost, you might have some pockets across north—east scotland for a time. as we had through the course of the day tomorrow, you will notice the change in temperature. this air masses bringing much milder air across the whole of the uk and temperatures tomorrow will be above average for the time of year. so, we start off with what's happening in the south—west, all this cloud and

murkiness moving across southern areas. we have the rain moving across scotland, replaced by showers, some good merge and be heavy with hail, also some thunder. temperature—wise, we're looking at 9- 13 temperature—wise, we're looking at 9— 13 degrees. we could see some sunshine in the shelter of some hills, for example. 30 degrees is what we have in the charts but we could possibly get 14 or 15, as we could possibly get 14 or 15, as we could once again during the course of friday. louise and dan. curra, thank you very much. a pleasure! -- carol. let's take a look at today's papers. the daily express is reporting that a source "close to prince andrew" has disputed claims that the duke has shown "zero co—operation" with the investigation into jeffrey epstein. the paper's source says he is happy to talk to the fbi, but hasn't been approached yet. the daily mail's front page carries a warning over smart motorways. the paper reports that a senior police figure has called for their rollout to be scrapped, after it was revealed that 38 people

have died on them over the last five years. that is something we have discussed or looked out here on bbc breakfast. the guardian is leading on donald trump's new peace proposals for the future of the middle east. the paper's front page also shows an image of broadcaster nicholas parsons, who passed away yesterday after a short illness. really sad news yesterday. he had been the star of tv, radio, all sorts for so many years. such a familiar voice. and online, the national television awards are trending on twitter. strictly come dancing, ant and dec and peaky blinders were all winners at the 25th anniversary of the awards ceremony, which were held in london last night. peaky blinders pea ky blinders had peaky blinders had a very good night. so did ant and dec. and this question i know you will love, this made me giggle so much this morning. so, aviva sent an e—mail to all of

its customers, calling them michael. aviva has apologised. this is for anyone who had a car policy with them. they blamed technical error. they said we are really sorry about this, but don't worry your personal details have not been comprised, your data hasn't been compromised. because they don't even know your name? there are things were made worse for sandra, she said my name's not michael. aviva tweeted, hi, sarah, sorry for your inconvenience. we have one person who cast their range rover, and when it was repaired, they put the words on the wrong way around. it became a rover range. she said now it's an

embarrassment. i was so mortified, i was parking up against a tree to hide it. it must be the only rover rangein hide it. it must be the only rover range in the world. do you have a rover range? i wish i did. this story is really horrendous. here in the paper they have a picture that i know has been released online. it's ofa know has been released online. it's of a "furious mob" of manchester united fans attacking the home of edward wood, they through red flares at his house and try to get in by pressing the buzzer — nobody was home. usually intimidating and distressing to him. the people themselves have put the actual picture online —— ed woodward.

themselves have put the actual picture online -- ed woodward. these are pictures from the zoo, and our sleeping in a tree and two little kittens. these lions, they are just sleepy heads. if you need to hug them, well, i'm not a touchy—feely person. a woman was horrified after accidentally throwing away her elderly mum was mike £20,000 of life—saving —— elderly mum's £20,000 a life savings which she had a head in gravy tens. —— she had hid them in gravy tens. —— she had hid them in gravy tins. she had to beg the workers at the tip and kenny and

tony search beatings —— searched the tins. mr mcadam, who is kenny, 59, said it made me think about my own grandma and how it would be if it we re grandma and how it would be if it were her. so they searched around and after a couple of hours found them. thank you for that. its services have been described as "unacceptable" by the government, and this morning we're live from across the northern network as a decision is expected on whether it will be nationalised today. 0ur reporter danni hewson is at sheffield station. first we can speak to jayne mccubbin

who is at manchester piccadilly. jayne, what have people been saying to you there? well, my goodness, there are 1.1 million passengers who use this service every year, two and half thousand surfaces every day. if you ta ke thousand surfaces every day. if you take a camera, as we did, onboard a train and asked people how do you feel about it? my goodness, they are going to vent. as you heard before, the customer service satisfaction survey, 28,000 people found that ostomy satisfaction in this service, northern was lower than any other. this is what happened, this is why people told us as we went on the 517 from here at manchester piccadilly to southport yesterday. we've squeezed under northern's manchester to southport train from piccadilly. well, it's meant to go to southport. it is rachel. you get on the train and then they will cancel it at wigan without telling you. i am to stations after wigan. it willjust be cancelled and you will be made to leave the train. how

has that impacted you?” will be made to leave the train. how has that impacted you? i have a little boy he was two. a lot of the times i won't be there to put him to bed. you need a taxi or someone to put you up. the cost, for matthew it is? yeah it's £270 a month for a season ticket, which will be fine if the trains running on time or if you could get on them. neal isn't happy. its shambles. neither is sheila. i'm complaining, yes. do they deserve to keep the franchise question mark no, definitely not. there are absolutely no. sorry. if the government can do better, i would like to see. what would you like to see them do well... keeping it clean, iwould like them to be more reliable and keeping their promises. don't get nigel started on northern's promises. you read the franchise promises. you read the franchise promises. yes. doctor bottom? —— top

to bottom? promises. yes. doctor bottom? —— top to bottom ? it promises. yes. doctor bottom? —— top to bottom? it would win a prize for fiction. nothing will change. and thatis fiction. nothing will change. and that is the question. will anything change for northern today? if it does, will anything change for their everyday commute? these are all very good questions and we will be speaking to jayne a little bit later. i think she will be reporting from a translator. as promised, let's go to sheffield station. danni hewson is at sheffield station this morning. danni, what have been some of the main issues in yorkshire? good morning to you. good morning, yes. well, i'm afraid the story is very similar here in sheffield. i was talking to commuters yesterday and they were saying it was the unreliability that was the biggest issue for them. that and the fact some of these stations, they are served by trains which are only two averages long. if you are

trying to get on commuting to leeds or manchester, you need to be at work on time and that to carries —— and you know you are not going to be able to get on the train. that's the difference between getting to work and not getting to work they say they talk to their friends in the south of england who say we have problems with the trains, too, but they say yes, when the train doesn't come there is probably another one coming then—50 minutes later. for some of the villages on the way to settle, the service i was on yesterday, it could be at least an hour before another train comes along —— on the way to sheffield. 0nly along —— on the way to sheffield. only 20% of the —— 50% of the trains that too ran last year came on time. i think is are aware there are issues with the whole network, they know there hasn't been the investment and many of them have said perhaps too could be given another chance, but ultimately they just want to see change —— northern

could be given another chance they just want when they pay for their ticket to get what they pay for. we will see danni and jayne as well as tim moffat later this morning. still to come on breakfast: he was the presenter of radio four‘sjust a minute for more than 50 years — we'll look back on the life and work of nicholas parsons, who has died at the age of 96. he was a fantastic broadcaster, by what we've done is done it in just a minute. that's coming up a little bit later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london. i'm alice salfield. a self—taught trader from west

london who contributed to a brief crash in the us stock market has escaped a further prison term. navinder sarao has already spent four months in prison in the uk after making millions in bogus trades from his childhood bedroom in hounslow. a court in chicago ruled that he should be placed under house arrest for a year. the number of eu jobseekers looking for work in london has dropped by 13% since 2016, that's according to figures analysed for this programme. the globaljob site indeed warns that some industries may struggle to recruit enough staff if the trend continues. but there are already moves by the government to boost training in areas like construction to help provide more opportunities for londoners. we looked at hundreds of thousands ofjob we looked at hundreds of thousands of job searches we looked at hundreds of thousands ofjob searches on indeed and we found a 13% drop in clicks onjobs in london from overseasjobseekers over the last three years. what's interesting is that among the uk was

‘s closest neighbours we see declines from ireland and germany, which are not quite offset by increases that we see from countries like france, italy and the netherlands. the remains of a medieval mansion have been found during excavations at somerset house in central london. it's one of the palatial houses which once lined the strand. archaeologists say it'll teach them a lot, together with the artefacts also found, which will go on display at the coulthard gallery. let's take a look at the travel situation now. there is a good service on the tubes except for the overground, which has no service barking to south totte n ha m no service barking to south tottenham and minor delays supped totte n ha m to tottenham and minor delays supped tottenham to gospel 0ak. that's because of repairs to the track. turning to the roads and blackfriars road remains closed between st george's circus and southwark street for repairs following last weeks burst water main. and in beckton, there's a lane closed on the beckton roundabout for roadworks. it's been causing queues on the north circular southbound. now the weather with kate.

good morning. it is a chilly start out there this morning. some patchy frost here and there, but eventually todayit frost here and there, but eventually today it will feel less cold. we got some sunshine around and plenty of it, actually. barely any cloud through the morning, at least. the breeze, still a westerly but it isn't going to feel as chilly as yesterday. more cloud feeding and from the rest into the afternoon so we could see the sunshine turn a little hazy. temperatures between 6— 8000 years. being dried today we will see the cloud continue to thicken and increase overnight tonight and that will continue as we head into thursday. there were a rather grey start on thursday morning itself was that the minimum temperature, not as cold as last night, 4— six celsius. still breezy as we had through thursday, the cloud thicken up in part to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there, but temperatures are becoming quite mild — between 13— 14 celsius, 14-15 quite mild — between 13— 14 celsius, 14—15 for friday, maybe, but it does

they largely unsettled right through to the weekend —— it does stay. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. now, though, it's back to louise and dan. good morning. this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment. but also on breakfast this morning: alicia davis spoke to us about her husband who took his own life because of ptsd. we'll hear what happened when she met veterans ministerjohnny mercer to discuss what needs to be done to support others. it has been confirmed that chinese firm huawei will have a role in building the uk's 5g network, but is it a cause for concern? we'll ask culture secretary nicky morgan. and from mrs brown's boys to michael palin, we'll find out who the winners were at the national television awards.

good morning. here's a summary of today's main stories from bbc news. a decision on the future of the north of england's biggest rail operator northern is expected to be made today. the government could nationalise the network after what has been described as "unacceptable delays." northern say many of the issues affecting the franchise are outside of their control. prince andrew is said to have hit back at claims that he is refusing to assist us law enforcers in their investigation into the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. sources close to the prince are quoted in a number of newspapers suggesting the duke of york was "angry and bewildered" after claims that he had provided zero cooperation to investigators. more than 130 people have died from the coronavirus with a further 6,000 now thought to be infected. that's more than the number infected in mainland china during the sars epidemic in 2003. the uk foreign office has updated its travel advice for mainland china, saying people should not travel there unless absolutely necessary.

hundreds of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the affected region. the us has said it's disappointed by the decision to allow huawei a role in the uk's 5g network. yesterday, it was announced that the chinese tech giant would be allowed a limited role, but will be excluded from areas near military bases and nuclear sites. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is meeting the foreign secretary today. we promised you that sally was here with sport. a pretty ugly story for the manchester united boss at the moment, fred —— ed woodward. the manchester united boss at the moment, fred —— ed woodwardm the manchester united boss at the moment, fred -- ed woodward. it is not unusual for fans to lose patience, but this situation has gotten completely out of hand. manchester united fans are not happy. the cheshire home of manchester united's executive vice—chairman ed woodward has been attacked by a group chanting that he was "going to die". a video posted on social media showed an individual throwing a red

flare over a gate. woodward and his family were not in the property at the time. he has been the target of growing supporter discontent at united in recent weeks and the club said anyone committing a criminal offence would be banned for life. greater manchester police are investigating. united are playing tonight against manchester city for a place in the league cup final, waiting for them are aston villa who beat leicester 3—2 with a very late winner. penalties were looming, but trezeguet scored in the 93rd minute to take them through. villa were last in the final 10 years ago when they lost to manchester united. we have got a proud history in this competition as i have said many times. if we could go and lift to this trophy for the sixth time as a foot ball this trophy for the sixth time as a football club, i would this trophy for the sixth time as a football club, iwould be this trophy for the sixth time as a football club, i would be a very proud man, and we know it is going to be tough, manchester united or manchester city, at the hard type ——

party getting to the final, and we have done that against a very good team. after being kicked out of australian rugby union, israel folau has switched back to rugby league, signing for the french super league club catalans dragons. folau was sacked last may for posting offensive homophobic comments on social media. he says he'll keep his beliefs private in future. he's been warned that any repeat would see his contract being "terminated immediately. " as you can imagine, there's been quite a reaction to the signing. wigan warriors say that their match against dragons in march will be a pride day in support of lg btq groups. and keegan hirst, the first british rugby league player to come out as gay, posted this: we'll be talking to hirst in the next hour. let's get to melbourne now,

and the australian open. rafael nadal and dominic thiem will be playing for the last semifinal place in an hour or so. quite soon, actually. alexander zverev have made it through already. john watson is there. he was looking really good, wasn't he? yes, and that hasn't always been the case when it comes to performances at grand slam. he is always criticised for not turning up and making it through to the latter stages of these big tournaments, but he has certainly done that into the first grand slam semifinal here. he awaits the winner of the big match to come between rafa nadal and dominic thiem, an interesting one because they have met 13 times before, all 12 of those matters have come on the clay courts, only once before have they played on hardcourt they play on here melbourne park and that was at the open a few years ago. it went the distance, rafa nadal coming out on top was with dominic thiem being

older and more mature, on top was with dominic thiem being olderand more mature, he on top was with dominic thiem being older and more mature, he could rival the established order of the big three. it will be interesting to see how he gets on. interesting for his mum as well, because he was at a low point at the start of last year, and to inspire her son, she said every title you win, i will get a tattooed. he won five titles last year. dominic thiem is now three matches, three wins away from seeing his mum get another tattooed. you wonder what she will get. maybe a kangaroo perhaps? dominic thiem is one of those players, i am sure a lot of people at home don't know much about him but he is a character. hearing that about his mum does not surprise me at all. what is the women women's draw? we have seen simona halep go through, so have seen simona halep go through, so she will face garbine muguruza, she is a former grand slam champion, so an she is a former grand slam champion, so an interesting matchup with those two, and interesting from a spanish player because she was not feeling well at the start of this

tournament, sol well at the start of this tournament, so i don't think she anticipated she was going to reach a grand slam semifinal this year. simona halep, a brilliant performance. she came in straight sets. so you wonder with a performance like that, maybe we are looking at a grand slam champion this year, and in the other semifinal, we have sofia kenin into her first grand slam semifinal for herself up against ash barty, the home favourite in the women's singles. hoping to win the australian open for the first time. in the men's, novak djokovic and roger federer. we wait to see with rafa nadal in court on 1.5 hours up against dominic thiem, we know it is alex there are of germany waiting. —— alexander alex there are of germany waiting. — — alexander zve rev. alex there are of germany waiting. -- alexander zverev. thank you very much indeed. an online petition to a light —— not an online petition to honour kobe brya nt an online petition to honour kobe bryant is taking off.

and an online petition is calling for a more permanent honour, asking the nba to immortalise him in their logo. the petition has been signed over millions of times. —— over 2.5 millions times. hugely popular proposal that is going on. it is quite something to do that. but they want to incorporate what he was known for, maybe have some kind of link to him and his daughter, because his daughter, everyone said potentially would have had a really bright future. a huge amount of emotion at the moment. i think a definite feeling, the fans want to pay tribute to him and some permanent way, mark a legacy. we saw david willis was outside the staples centre, the la lakers, and he was there throughout the day. hundreds of people with their singing songs and talking to each other, talk about a potential step two,

something else to mark the legacy there. right across america and further afield, sports stars from every single sport around the world, tennis as well, the kyrgios came out ina la tennis as well, the kyrgios came out in a la lakers top. who knew he was mentoring novak djokovic? he would call him and say, how do i handle the press? having a private life, my family, business, all of that and kobe bryant had been a huge inspiration to him. also it looks very likely he is going to be put into the nba hall of fame, which you might think is an obvious thing to do, but in the states that is a big deal because it has to be voted on andi deal because it has to be voted on and i think they will scrap the vote and i think they will scrap the vote and this year they were obviously put his name in. thank you very much, sally. it has been less than two weeks since alicia davis told us the heart breaking story of her husband jamie, an army veteran who took his own life after suffering from post—traumatic stress disorder. since then, we've been

following her campaign to get more support for ex—services personnel, and yesterday she met the veterans ministerjohnny mercer. 0ur reporter fiona lamdin went with her. turning around to ask him something in him not being there, realising that he... he is not going to be there smiling, he is not going to be there... to watch... to watch his boys grow. this is a journey alicia never imagined she would have to take. just two weeks ago her husband jamie took his life. he suffered from ptsd after his time as a rifleman. i can't do anything for jamie buti rifleman. i can't do anything for jamie but i can do something going forward for others. now she has come to the ministry of defence to get a nswe i’s to the ministry of defence to get answers from the veterans minister johnny mercer, and by her side, jamie's four—month company commander

was they served together in afghanistan. what would jamie make of you being here and doing this?” think he would be proud. he knows that i will always stand up for something if i think that it is wrong, and the fact that the soldiers are not getting the help... i think that is wrong. we weren't allowed cameras inside the meeting, but caught up with them once it was over. richard strathfield south jamie is the fourth rifleman from his unit to die at home under similar tragic circumstances. in some ways, jamie was let down because ultimately he didn't get the treatment that he needed. and if he had got the treatment he needed, then we wouldn't be here today. and jamie is not alone. it is estimated that in the last year, at least 73 vetera ns that in the last year, at least 73 veterans have that in the last year, at least 73 vetera ns have ta ken that in the last year, at least 73 veterans have taken their lives. and after the meeting, the minister told me about his ambitious plans. that we will have the world but the best

vetera ns we will have the world but the best veterans care in this country in a short space of time. after today public meeting i am going to look at something called track and trace where we actually... if you have breast cancer or something in this country and you are at a high risk, the nhs will write you and say, come infora scan. the nhs will write you and say, come in for a scan. how do we replicate something similar like that to the military? so every case i can confidently say we will do everything we can to avoid tragedies like jamie. it was alicia reassured? at least it has got the ball rolling to go in the right direction, because i just don't want to going backwards and people getting hurt. i don't want another family to be in a position that i am in. we have come out feeling very positive about it, more positive than we went in, and now is the time for action on this. you fought so bravely for this country. so bravely to save people. but for now, jamie's family and friends need time to grieve. hoping

that people will see the pain that i am in and it will make them think twice about putting their family through that, wishing that theyjust had one more minute with that person, just one more minute to tell them how amazing that they are. they will say theirfinal them how amazing that they are. they will say their final goodbyes on friday. thank you again for talking to us about that. it must be really difficult few weeks for the family. this morning, don't travel to china unless it is absolutely necessary — that's the message from the foreign office as the country continues to deal with a rising number of cases of coronavirus. we can speak now to our china correspondent stephen mcdonnell who is in self—quara ntine in beijing after returning from the affected area. he reported from the area. tell us what you have been told and are you feeling all right? yes, i am feeling fine, but everybody who has been in

hubei province is expected to stay away from their workplace for two weeks, and that is what i am doing as others are. it is just that the authorities are taking more and more strict precautions when you go into buildings, iam strict precautions when you go into buildings, i am back in beijing now, you go into buildings, you have a temperature check, whether it be an office building or a building where people live with flat, the streets are very quiet in the chinese capital. it is normally kind of quiet for the spring festival, but it is very quiet. people are not walking around, they don't want to leave their homes if they don't have two at risk of being in fact did. i think it is hoped, by taking measures like this, they can quickly bring this under control. the rate of infection is still going up and up. authorities would rather have that plateauing or going down. that is what i wanted to talk to you about, the rate of infection going up, also the number of people who have died as well. is there a sense

they are getting this under control or not? there is an interesting comparison with sars. people in social media are plotting the trajectory with this outbreak and sars in 2003. it seems this is a much more infectious virus, so if you saw it on a graph, it is like sars is going that way and this one is going like that. however, the death toll is smaller so it seems that this is a virus that can be more easily passed on but is not as deadly. i think people, while they are worried on one level it is not as potentially bad as it would be, another interesting fact is that the number of those who have been released because they have been cured or really because they have just gotten better because there is no cure, your body makes you better, is still very small. so the official

figures, under 100 people who have been discharged from hospital and that would seem to suggest that they have been much more cautious in terms of how long they should keep people in hospital or they release them back out into the general community. thank you very much. you can still work, obviously, even though you are in quarantine. thank you very much. ever the reporter. go and get out there on the ground right now. no, not for a couple of weeks. here's carol with a look at this morning's weather. the morning. it is a cold start. there is some frost around, you may have to scrape your windscreen before you head out this morning and there is also the risk of ice on untreated surfaces, where of course that has been quite damp. now, what is happening today is we have a transient ridge of high pressure across southern areas, transient ridge of high pressure across southern areas, we transient ridge of high pressure across southern areas, we have a riverfront coming in across northern ireland and scotland. that is going to bring in some rain preceded by some hail and snow. 0ne

to bring in some rain preceded by some hail and snow. one look at these isobars will tell you it is going to be a blustery day. the stronger winds will be across north—west england and suffer scotland. so we start off on a bright note, there will be a fair bit of sun don't —— south—west scotland. the cloud moved thicken across wales and the south—west of england and the cloud comes in across northern ireland and northern england. that will bring some rain preceded by some hail and snow above about 300 metres. for the north of scotland, staying dry and relatively bright. we are expecting some heavy rainfall for the southern uplands. about 20-30 rainfall for the southern uplands. about 20—30 millimetres or so. that rain clipping the north of northern ireland and parts of northern england. now, moving south of that for the rest of england and wales, after a bright start the cloud will begin in wales, producing some drizzle. thickening across parts of south—west england. but for the midlands, down towards the south—east, we hang onto hazy sunshine through the course of the day. through this evening and

overnight this band of rain continues to advance steadily northwards. what you will find is the winds will moderate a tudge, but there will be a lot of cloud around tonight, thick enough for the odd shower. in the south—west we have a change of emmas. that means we will see a difference in temperatures through the course of tomorrow but it is possibly going to turn murkier with patchy rain, hail and fog, hill fog, that sort of thing. tomorrow here is that change of emmas coming our way, it's warmer by comparison, yellows a nd our way, it's warmer by comparison, yellows and ambers indicating temperatures are on the rise. we start tomorrow with some breaks in the cloud but essentially the system coming into the south—west, that change of emmas moves across southern areas, bringing a lot of cloud with it —— air mass, so we will see more cloud across england and wales generally. across scotland and wales generally. across scotland and northern ireland, meanwhile, the

rain pushes steadily northwards, living cells behind its wake. temperatures tomorrow —— living showers behind in its wake, temperatures tomorrow 14—18. we have a riverfront thinking southwards, that will bring some rain as well. behind that something drier and brighter with showers and some of those will be merging. it will be pretty windy across scotland and northern ireland. picture ways we are looking at six in the far north, still in the colder air, 214, maybe 15 as we push further south stop louise and dan. thank you, carol, we will see you later on this morning. we will indeed. it is 6:50am. more than three quarters of people bank with just one provider, and there are warnings this morning that could be leaving customers vulnerable to problems. victoria can explain. victoria, lots of people don't have more than one bank provider. but you do, you are one of the very few.” have three. less than 2596 of people

bank with more than one bank. when there are it glitches, when the bank goes down, we're in real trouble because the whole system might colla pse because the whole system might collapse then you can't get any cash out, you can't make any payments. it's a real problem. we've done some research, or we have had some research, or we have had some research in from ‘which?', a consumer group about it glitches. you might remember the massive meltdown at tsb last year in april. the bank was transferring the accounts of customers from the old it system run by lloyds onto the computer system of its new spanish owner. it all went horribly wrong. almost two million tsb customers were locked out of their accounts over several days. it caused massive problems for small businesses in particular who had to make payments and a lot of them were charged extra as a result. of course incidents like this get a huge amount of coverage. we were all talking about it. but they're more common

than most of us think. according to the banking regulator last year the main uk banks suffered over 250 it shutdowns that prevented customers making payments. they don't always make the news because they don't always last for very long. they can sometimes just phone customers, or it affects only online customers. and mobile banking users suffered over 100 outages while there were 90 telephone banking failures. this morning the consumer group ‘which?’ says that over three quarters of bank customers have their current account with the same provider. let's listen to them. while it's a good idea to have a second bank account elsewhere, is in case there is an outage, it shouldn't be all on ice. actually, it is on the banks to make sure they are putting in the appropriate measures in place to make sure they have more robust systems. so when they are rolling out updates, they are carefully

planned through, they are resourced properly. what do the banks have to say about it? uk finance — which represents the banks — say they invest billions to ensure systems are robust and secure. it says that when incidents do occur, firms work around the clock to minimise disruption and get services back up and running as quickly as possible. but the regulator wants the banks to do more. that and the central bank of england. in december the bank of england and the regulator, the financial conduct authority — proposed that banks and payment firms should have to identify their most important businesses and set the maximum level of disruption they would accept. if they go above that they should really get in trouble and be held to account stock but at this stage, it is very tricky, isn't it? so the advice is have a couple of banks or accou nts advice is have a couple of banks or accounts open so advice is have a couple of banks or accounts open so you advice is have a couple of banks or accounts open so you are never advice is have a couple of banks or accounts open so you are never left in the situation where you don't

have access to cash. i need to remember my pin numbers. with three different banks you would have pin numbers coming out of your ears. he was one of britain's best—known entertainers and broadcasters. yesterday it was announced that nicholas parson had died at the age of 96. he had a long career on radio and television, but was best known for hosting one particular radio 4 panel show for more than half a century. let's take a look back at his career in ‘just a minute'. welcome to ‘just a minute'! hello and welcome to the ‘sale of the century‘ was i was doing a lot of television in the 60s and 70s and i felt i was in many ways part of a golden part of television. i want to see your passport, please. i do think you could try and keep quiet?

so, off you go on hitler‘s parsons? john prisco told reporters these people are terrorising my wife. 0h, come on, john, this is a woman who has seen you in your underpants. 0h, yes, have you got a pin on you? isn‘t that charming? that little delicate belt tells us he‘s not going to bring the ice cream around, it tells us we only have time for one more round. i‘m expecting more reaction than that. what a lovely, familiar voice he has been over many years. he will be very much missed. nicholas parsons, and that segment in just a minute. he presented the programme since 1967, incredible, isn‘t it? he presented the programme since 1967, incredible, isn't it? even before i was born, dan. don‘t laugh. you can say that, i can. stephen fry

said yesterday, stephen parsons is gone, he wrote for a lifetime, never scripted, always immaculate, from comedian sidekick to great institution via sale of the century, unrivalled continuity, professionalism and commitment. farewell. a lovely tribute to nicholas parsons yesterday. and an announcement about northern from the department of transport, we‘ll be talking about that throughout the programme, and as soon as we throughout the programme, and as soon as we get the results, will tell you. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. we will be back with the national headlines at 7am. good morning from bbc london. i‘m alice salfield. a self—taught trader from west london, who contributed to a brief crash in the us stock market, has escaped a further prison term.

navinder sarao has already spent four months in prison in the uk after making millions in bogus trades from his childhood bedroom in hounslow. a court in chicago ruled that he should be placed under house arrest for a year. the number of eu jobseekers looking for work in london has dropped by 13% since 2016. that‘s according to figures analysed for this programme. the globaljob site indeed warns that some industries may struggle to recruit enough staff if the trend continues. but there are already moves by the government to boost training in areas like construction to help provide more opportunities for londoners. we‘ve looked at hundreds of thousands ofjob searches on indeed and we found a 13% drop in clicks onjobs in london from overseasjobseekers over the last three years. what‘s interesting is that among the uk‘s closest neighbours we see declines from ireland and germany, which are not quite offset by increases that we see

from countries like france, italy and the netherlands. the remains of a medieval mansion have been found during excavations at somerset house in central london. until now, relatively little has been known about the palatial residences which once lined the strand. archaeologists say it‘ll teach them a lot, together with the artefacts also found, which will go on display at the coulthard gallery. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. there‘s a good service on the tubes except for the 0verground, which has no service barking to south tottenham and minor delays south tottenham to gospel 0ak. that‘s because of repairs to the track. turning to the roads, and blackfriars road remains closed between st george‘s circus and southwark street for repairs following last week‘s burst water main. and in beckton, there‘s a lane closed on the beckton roundabout for roadworks. it‘s been causing queues on the north circular southbound. now the weather with kate. good morning. it is a chilly start out there this morning.

some patchy frost here and there, but eventually today it will feel less cold. we got some sunshine around and plenty of it, actually. barely any cloud through the morning, at least. the breeze, still a westerly, but it isn‘t going to feel as chilly as yesterday. more cloud feeding and from the west into the afternoon so we could see the sunshine turn a little hazy. temperatures between 6—8 celsius. through today we will see the cloud continue to thicken and increase overnight tonight and that will continue as we head into thursday. so a rather grey start on thursday morning itself. the minimum temperature, not as cold as last night, 4—6 celsius. still breezy as we head through thursday, the cloud thickening up in part to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there, but temperatures are becoming quite mild — between 13—14 celsius, 14—15 for friday, maybe, but it does stay largely unsettled right through to the weekend. i‘m back with the latest

from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. good morning. welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today: after years of delays and cancellations, a decision is expected today over the future of the northern railfranchise. we‘re at stations across the north of england throughout the morning.

reports that prince andrew is "angry and bewildered" by claims that he‘s failed to cooperate with the fbi‘s inquiry into jeffrey epstein, saying he‘s not been approached. more than 130 people are known to have died from the coronavirus in china as the uk makes plans to evacuate nationals from the province at the centre of the outbreak. three—quarters of people bank with only one provider, meaning they‘re more vulnerable to any it crashes. could banks do more to protect customers? i‘ll have the latest. the home of ed woodward, the manchester united executive vice—chairman, is attacked by a group throwing flares and chanting death threats. the club say anyone found guilty will be banned for life. good morning. a cold and frosty start with the risk of ice on untreated surfaces. a lot of sunshine to start with, a few showers and then some rain across northern ireland and scotland. after smashing the christmas

ratings, the stars of gavin and stacey are given a special impact award at last night‘s national television awards. he never writes, he never phones... there is still a lot of electricity between us. it‘s wednesday 29th january. our top story: a decision on the future of the north of england‘s biggest rail operator, northern, is expected to be made today. the government could nationalise the network after it‘s struggled to provide a reliable service for passengers. throughout this morning, we‘ll be reporting from stations across the north. but for now, let‘s speak to our reporter tim muffett who‘s in leeds. so many passengers have been affected by what is going on. what have they told you this morning? good morning. talk to commuters here at other stations, what do you think about northern rail? you get some pretty blunt

about northern rail? you get some pretty blu nt a nswers. about northern rail? you get some pretty blunt answers. there is widespread acknowledgement that something needs to be done, the service has not been good enough. today we expect an announcement on the department of transport as to the department of transport as to the future of this franchise. it might be effectively re— nationalised, that control is handed to the government. 0thers nationalised, that control is handed to the government. others say they should be given more time to try and sort things out. there is certainly widespread acknowledgement that something needs to be done. delays, overcrowding and cancellations. it is a joke. northern is one of the biggest rail franchises in britain. but it‘s been in trouble for some time. chanting no more northern! this lack of service is not acceptable. this is 0748 service. it is unbelievable. it is late every day. half of them don‘t turn up. sometimes you can't get on and it is shocking. in summer, some people are fainting on the trains because it is so overcrowded and hot.

this line is on one of the worst performing of the northern network. almost two—thirds of services run late according to the most recent statistics. earlier this month, the transport secretary warned northern its service was unacceptable and that it could lose its franchise. a further announcement on northern‘s to the future is believed to be imminent. the trains are frequently late and overcrowded, there are cancellations at the last minute, they need improvement. it is poor, it is. will anybody else do any better? god knows. the franchise covers a huge commuter network on the midlands to northumberland, from lancashire to east yorkshire. more than 100 million journeys were made last year. northern says many of its problems have been beyond its control such as delays of the electrification of track. but a new timetable introduction in may 2018 went badly. since december of that year, only around a half of the northern

trains arrived on time. i work from home quite a bit to avoid the commute. for many commuters, changes to the way these trains are run can‘t come soon enough. what could happen? effectively, the government could renationalise the franchise, it could become the operator of last resort as it is known. that happened a couple of yea rs known. that happened a couple of years ago on the east coast mainline. it is a magic wand? no, many people say there are still problems on that particular line, and that whatever happens, the issues are more broad than the franchise itself or uses do with infrastructure, electrification, delays to longer platforms. the people who run northern be given more time? perhaps. the announcement is thought to be imminent. whatever happens, many commuters really want change to happen and for it to happen soon. we were bring that

announcement as soon as happen soon. we were bring that announcement as soon as it does happen. thank you for the moment. and we‘ll be live in sheffield to hearfrom commuters there in just a few minutes‘ time. this is something we will be looking at throughout the morning in anticipation of that announcement so far today. yes, and thank you for your messages. prince andrew is said to have hit back at claims that he is refusing to assist us law enforcers in their investigation into the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein. yes, sources close to the prince are quoted in a number of newspapers this morning suggesting the duke of york was "angry and bewildered" after claims that he had provided zero cooperation to investigators. andy moore is at buckingham palace for us this morning. an interesting development. good morning to you. yes, good morning. i was here yesterday speculating that it was possible this was all a giant misunderstanding, but we couldn‘t know because we hadn‘t heard from anyone in prince andrew‘s camp. now it seems we have belatedly. some 36 hours after the original statement was made in new york. by this

unidentified source has been speaking to several of the papers saying a very similar things, and that source is quoted as saying andrew is more than happy to talk to the fbi, but he hasn‘t been approached by them yet. he is angry about the way this has been portrayed and bewildered as to why this was said in new york. it seems certain people are jumping the this was said in new york. it seems certain people arejumping the gun stop yesterday, buckingham palace said they were not issuing any statement on behalf of the duke of york because he wasn‘t a working royal anymore. they referred to his legal team. we heard nothing from them. it is extraordinary that if this very asset —— serious accusation was made in new york, effectively he had broken his word, you need to get out a statement to rebut that if you are going to challenge it. and that wasn‘t done. i think at the very least this suggests that the pr machine for prince andrew has broken down now that buckingham palace isn‘t issuing

state m e nts that buckingham palace isn‘t issuing statements on his behalf. prince andrew of course denies sleeping with virginia roberts to frey. she said she was trafficked to him in london in 2001. prince andrew also said he didn‘t see anything suspicious when he was staying at the home of jeffrey suspicious when he was staying at the home ofjeffrey epstein, and according to this source, he is very happy to talk to the fbi despite what the prosecutor says in new york —— giufre. the foreign office has updated its travel advice for mainland china, saying people should not travel there unless absolutely necessary because of the coronavirus. hundreds of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the city at the heart of the outbreak. the total number of cases has jumped to almost to 6,000. rich preston reports. as the first japanese nationals returned home to tokyo from wuhan, the foreign office in london said it was working urgently on similar evacuation plans.

there are believed to be about 300 uk nationals in hubei province with about 200 wanting to return home. as the japanese plane parked at the gate, a number of ambulances, together with white suited figures, could be seen. the authorities said anyone displaying symptoms of the illness will be taken to hospital immediately. everyone else would be tested for the virus and asked to quarantine themselves until the results were known. some passengers on board spoke to the media. this man, a steelworker, said nobody could move around the city freely. the restrictions were extremely strict. so it was impossible to continue his work. a plane charted by the us state department has also left wuhan. this man was planning to be on board. it has been pretty scary. we have been basically under house arrest, basically. you can‘t go anywhere. all the places are closed down. in australia, the prime minister

confirmed an evacuation of its nationals with its passengers sent to an island best known for a controversial immigration detention centre. they will be transported to christmas island where we will be putting in place a team to travel there to provide the medical support, and that will be supplemented as is necessary by other defence support. in china, wuhan itself looks like a ghost town with hardly any movement on the streets of a city bigger than london. rich preston, bbc news. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is meeting the foreign secretary today amid concerns huawei could pose a risk to national security. the prime minister announced yesterday that the chinese tech giant would be allowed to play a limited role in building the uk‘s 5g network despite pressure from the us. they will be excluded from areas near military bases and nuclear sites. we will talk about that at 7:30am. sta rs stars came out in force last night

for the national television awards in london. mrs brown‘s boy beat flea bag. in london. mrs brown‘s boy beat fleabag. that was a surprise to some. there were some familiar winner that you would expect. alan carr was there as well. gavin and stacey carr was there as well. gavin and sta cey too k carr was there as well. gavin and stacey took home a special gong.” don‘t know what you are loving it, tom. you never write, you never phones. there is still a lot of electricity between us. and he knows it! i don‘t really talk like that. thank you so much for this. thank you to the national television awards. you so much for this. thank you to the nationaltelevision awards. good night for them. sadly, they did not confirm.

no, it never came up. you can‘t keep everybody waiting, not on the cliffhanger on the end. its service has been described as completely unacceptable, and today, the government is expected to announce whether the biggest rail franchise in the north of england will be nationalised. we will be speaking to a series of reporters across the north for you. 0ur reporter danni hewson is at sheffield train station for us this morning. we are in leeds, and we are travelling from liverpool to manchester. hopefully we do that later in the morning. in anticipation of an announcement at some stage today, potentially while we are on—air. so many you getting in touch. this is day. the train service to nottingham is only two carriages, people cannot get on. the complete tram network is a joke. danni, how have people been affected where you are? you are at sheffield. so many stories of the real hardship this is

because people. what are people saying? there are about 10 million people who use sheffield station every year, and honestly, the anger and frustration is absolutely palpable. also what we have got here isa palpable. also what we have got here is a sense that honestly it doesn‘t matter what changes are made, services are going to improve —— are not going to improve a lot long time because it has been such an investment. the biggest issue for commuters is for those that live in the towns and cities outlining this area, the one that only have limited services, if the service is cancelled and they cannot get on, thatis cancelled and they cannot get on, that is a time i can‘t get to work. i took 710 from here in sheffield over to the manchester yesterday and asked commuters what they thought. at first, the journey is quiet, even pleasa nt at first, the journey is quiet, even pleasant as dawn breaks over the valley. i always get a seat going

into work because i am starting from quite a long way out from manchester, and at that point there is still safe. jim, a semiretired academic, want me it won‘t last. is still safe. jim, a semiretired academic, want me it won't last. by the time to get closer to manchester, you won‘t even be able to do this interview because there will be so many people on the train. this is new mills central, still 20 minutes to go till we get to manchester, and anyone getting on from here will be standing. this train is usually like this, yes. it gets slightly better in summer, but usually it is standing room only by now. normal. solicitor emily perches on her bag in the aisle. you would expect to get a seat for a hundred quid. all the grievances are nothing compared to the journey home. trying to get home with a rush hour in the evening and they put a two carriage train on and you get there a little bit later than ideal, chances are

you may not be able to get on the train. teacher ruth is not certain ditching northern is the answer.” just think tidy up northern.” ditching northern is the answer.” just think tidy up northern. i go to visit friends in the south and london and the train quality is so much better, so many more carriages and in the north, the train system is poor compared to what they have down south. honestly, those commuters were pretty ground down. theyjust feel that they have had so many promises, misses that services are going to improve, promises that new trains are coming, infrastructure will get better and they just have are coming, infrastructure will get better and theyjust have not seen the benefit of that. they say that they pay their money and theyjust can‘t guarantee that they are going to get to work on time, and they don‘t feel that whatever happens today will really make an improvement immediately, and that of course is what they would like.

thank you so much for that. we will continue to talk about that there are other morning. but we have had some news in the last few moments. this is about the coronavirus in china. we understand from british airways they have suspended all flights to and from mainland china with immediate effect following advice from the foreign office against all but essential travel. they apologised to customers for the inconvenience, they say the safety of customers and crew is always our priority. 0h, very interesting news coming from british airways, will get reaction to that was up we expect to speak to simon calder in the next few minutes. british airways have suspended all flights to and from mainland china with immediate effect. they were talking about the flights between now and the start of march. that has happened in the last few minutes. were those of you switching on your tv this morning, the number of dad is about 300, more than 6000 are

infected as well does make number of dad about —— the number of dead about 300. our other main story this morning is the direction of northern. we‘re joined now by director of the northern powerhouse partnership, henri murison, who‘s at leeds train station for us this morning. good morning and thank you for coming on this morning to speak with us. we might have a few technical issues but we will hold onto the line as long as we possibly can. we‘ve heard from so many commuters this morning about some of these is they are facing. what are you are some of the key failings of northern? i think the challenges for northern? i think the challenges for northern is that they aren‘t really the masters of their own destiny. there is infrastructure problems, you just heard danny hewson talking from sheffield, here in leeds, platform zero looks to be finished,

that was two years late. that was meant to be taking trains to places like harrogate, but they don‘t get the services they are promised. because of indecision by the government, various bits of upgraded infrastructure isn‘t there and so the services promised to commuters when the northern railfranchise the services promised to commuters when the northern rail franchise so they would, can‘t be run. so that infrastructure investment, without that can things get better? the chaos of bringing in a new management team et cetera could make things worse. that is a really key point, isn‘t it? you can say this hasn‘t been done and this hasn‘t been done and reliability is an issue and cancellations are an issue,in issue and cancellations are an issue, in actualfact, those running the franchise could say there is a huge lack of investment and those things we were promised we haven‘t had, therefore we can‘t deliver the service we want to. i think that's absolutely right. the government has got to take some responsibility because they come in the end, awarded the franchise to northern.

0ne awarded the franchise to northern. one person in whitehall promised various bits of infrastructure like longer platforms here at leeds would be delivered. henri murison when they got the franchise committed to buying longer trains to use those platforms are —— northern committed to buying the longer trains but they have nowhere to put them because longer platforms that exist here in leeds. so what we are hoping to hear from grant shapps‘ announcement today, if you do nationalise a bring back into public ownership this franchise, what they need to do was also promised more new trains in the north. those newly elected mps in towns have shocking rail services. if they were to buy new trains, that would make a huge difference was that if they provide more new trains, passengers will notice the improvements. we have seen some of the new trains coming into service going to places like bradford and chester, some passengers on those

routes approve more. the government could decide to buy more new trains, but i do worry pennypinching in the treasury could see this as a lossmaking franchise, it needs to be reconsidered because this is about investing in the northern economy. when you take other train franchises like land when you take other train franchises like l and r and trans— pennine, the do makea like l and r and trans— pennine, the do make a profit. —— do make. they provide services here in the north that they often need a subsidy to be able to run. it shouldn‘t be that every passenger on northern at a worse service because some of the services aren‘t profit—making. we need the williams field reforms which will get our mayers as well as leaders and people in the regions able to improve things as well as

having proper accountability —— our mayors. these issues from the theresa may government need to be fixed. a bit of rattle and harm on the tv line there to leeds, but i think you got the main issues from the point of view of the northern power —— northern power line. here‘s carol with a look at this morning‘s weather. good morning, everyone. it is a cold start to the day. you can see the pictures here in wrexham, a lot of ice around. watch out for icy services and rust as well. we have a transit ridge of high pressure keeping things fairly settled —— transient, but this moving front will move across scotland and bring

some snow above 300 metres. the strongest winds are in north—west england, south—west scotland, we are looking at gusts between 50—60 miles an hour. for many it is a sunny start, but the sunshine turning hazy throughout the day. then we have the rain. the rain coming in across southern england and scotland will be heavy, some of us could see a good end from this. we have snow on the hills above 300 metres. far north of scotland seeing something brighter with scattered showers. that rain also moving in across the north of northern ireland and parts of northern england. away from that, ifa of northern england. away from that, if a bit of cloud around although we could see some glimmers of sunshine, especially northeast england. as we come down the pennines, the east anglia and the south—east, sunshine turning hazy. the cloud thickening across wales to the afternoon enough to produce some drizzle. we will see some cloud encroaching in south—west england as well. through the evening and overnight our band of rain pushes steadily northwards, rainfall

amounts actually running quite by now. a lot of cloud around, again one or two breaks but we‘ve got some murky conditions coming in across the south—west. so, dampness, some hill and coastal fog to watch out for as a result of this. no issues with frost apart the far north—east of scotland. but the winds also starting to moderate. the wind will bea starting to moderate. the wind will be a feature on thursday and it is bringing usa be a feature on thursday and it is bringing us a different air mass, temperatures rising above average for this time of year. with that of any murky note in the south—west. that all bushes towards the south—east. formative england and wales it‘s going to be a fairly cloudy day. —— for much of it. we will see some brighter breaks in northern england later in the day as our rain band pushes northwards. we will be left with a fair few showers across the north—west and one or two of those could be heavy with somehow and some thunder. temperatures reaching 13 in the south, possibly

14, but nonetheless we‘re still at nine in aberdeen and ten in belfast. by nine in aberdeen and ten in belfast. by the time we get to friday, a weather from sinking south by the time we get to friday, a weatherfrom sinking south is by the time we get to friday, a weather from sinking south is going to be bringing its rain with it, the quite a lot of cloud around but behind that weather front we return to brighter conditions and also some showers. some of those will merge to give some longer and heavier spells of rain, especially in the north—west. for scotland and northern ireland it is going to be quite a windy day. temperatures — only six in lerwick too has a 14, possibly 15 somewhere in the south. back to you, louise and dan. let‘s get more in the breaking news we have had in the last few minutes. british airways has suspended all flights to and from mainland china because of the coronavirus. in fact, we found that out a couple of minutes ago. this came after the foreign office warned against all but essential travel to china as the death of from the coronavirus has risen to over

130, i know i said 300 earlier, but it is specifically 132. the updated advice comes as hundreds of foreign nationals have been evacuated from the central chinese city of wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak. we can now speak to the independent‘s travel editor simon calder. simon, what has changed? it's it‘s very, very dramatic news. let me tell you what happened. at around about 4am this morning from beijing, and a couple of hours earlier from shanghai, the last british airways flights for some weeks to go off to fly to london, heathrow. 0nboard was the normal crew and passengers, but also crucially, the crew who had flown in on those flights yesterday, they have been brought back. british airways is effectively closing down its mainland china operation. we‘ve got a flight coming in from beijing thatis got a flight coming in from beijing that is currently over siberia, at 3:25 a.m., and the flight from

shanghai just behind it. that was that 3:56am. that said, effectively. they are saying they are setting up shop. clearly there are many thousands of people booked on british airways flights to and from china. now, for the people who are travelling out, well, they won‘t be going, the foreign office has warned against all but essential travel. people coming back, i‘ve spoken to in the past few minutes, they aren‘t entirely sure, but since flights from hong kong are still operating normally, it‘s likely they will be — people will fly from beijing to shanghai to hong kong, and fly back from there. i appreciate this has happened in the last ten minutes or so. happened in the last ten minutes or so. what happens to british nationals who are there, who want to come back to the uk? well, it's a really anxious time for them, of course. you have to separate the people who are in wuhan, the centre of the outbreak and the surrounding hubei province, they have been told

by the foreign office there is a special flight operating tomorrow. everybody had to register by our time, earlier this morning to get on it. we think it will be flying to a london airport, probably heathrow during the day tomorrow. however, there is of course the good that i calculate at least 10,000 other people who are basically tourists in china, and they will be in places such as beijing, shanghai, shehan and so on, the foreign office isn‘t saying get out as quickly as you can, what the warning that came in over the foreign office seems to be we don‘t want to add to the problem, we don‘t want to add to the problem, we don‘t want any more british holidaymakers travelling to china. that doesn‘t necessarily mean you have to come back this minute. meanwhile, it does not apply to hong kong and macau, and an equal number, about 10,000 or so british holidaymakers, i calculate, about 10,000 or so british holidaymakers, icalculate, in about 10,000 or so british holidaymakers, i calculate, in those

locations, too. thank you for bringing us up—to—date on that. let‘s speak to yvonne griffiths who is a british university lecturer. she was left stranded in the region after her flight was cancelled this week. we really appreciate you coming on this morning to talk about this. what sort of situation are you one at the moment does make situation are you in at the moment? we just a news in the early hours from the foreign office, i think via the consulate. there is to be a flight from wuhan airport to england, we aren‘t sure which airport at the moment. i think stansted is a possibility but i think you‘ve mentioned perhaps heathrow. so, when not sure of that and were not sure of the time. we are to be on standby so we can go of the time. we are to be on standby so we can go to the airport very early, we are to be there 6— seven hours before the flight leaves and we would have a screening from some health people here in wuhan. if we

are not showing any symptoms, then we‘ll be able to board the plane. if we‘ll be able to board the plane. if we we re we‘ll be able to board the plane. if we were to be suffering temperature orany we were to be suffering temperature or any other symptoms or breathing problems, then it seems to be a possibility of quarantining at this end. in terms of getting information out of the embassy, yvonne, and finding out the details, you‘re unsure of that flight, as i been frustrating in the last few days? well, i think it has been frustrating up until today. i think the lack of certainty about the time of this flight isn‘t so, so worrying as long as we know that it‘s going to happen. prior to that, we had quite a long period of silence from the uk government about whether there was going to be any contingency plan to get people home. now that there is a plan, i think we are very relieved about that, we‘re

very pleased about something being put in place. we‘rejust very pleased about something being put in place. we‘re just sitting very pleased about something being put in place. we‘rejust sitting on standby. so i think the frustrating period was before, it was more before this. yvonne, tell quickly about what it is like practically. things like food and water and stuff like that? well, we've been fine. we‘re staying in a nice hotel the hotel is well stocked and the local markets, a couple that we have used, they are also at the moment well stocked. i believe in other parts of the city that is not the case and people have been stockpiling and supermarket shelves are empty. we haven‘t really, we haven‘t suffered through that. so i can‘t say that we really experience that was seen that. but the streets are deserted, yes, it was as your previous reporter said, it is like a ghost city. normally it‘s a very busy city of 11 million people. in our locality there are very few people

moving around and very little traffic on the roads. thank you for talking to us, yvonne. i appreciate that and i hope you get home safely. that is yvonne griffiths, one of those waiting for a flight back from china. we will get more on the fact that british airways have cancelled theirflights. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london. i‘m alice salfield. a self—taught trader from west london, who contributed to a brief crash in the us stock market, has escaped a further prison term. navinder sarao has already spent four months in prison in the uk after making millions in bogus trades from his childhood bedroom in hounslow. a court in chicago ruled that he should be placed under house arrest for a year. the number of eu jobseekers looking for work in london has dropped by 13% since 2016. that‘s according to figures analysed for this programme.

the globaljob site indeed warns that some industries may struggle to recruit enough staff if the trend continues. but there are already moves by the government to boost training in areas like construction to help provide more opportunities for londoners. we have looked at hundreds of thousands of job we have looked at hundreds of thousands ofjob searches on indeed we found a 13% drop in overseas jobseekers in the last two years. what is interesting is that among the uk polymer closest neighbours we see declined from ireland and germany which are not quite offset by increases we see from countries like france, italy and the netherlands. the remains of a medieval mansion have been found during excavations at somerset house in central london. until now, relatively little has been known about the palatial residences which once lined the strand. archaeologists say it‘ll teach them a lot, together with the artefacts also found,

which will go on display at the coulthard gallery. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. there‘s a good service on the tubes except for the 0verground, which has no service on the entire gospel 0ak to barking line now for repairs to the track. it‘s very slow on the north circular westbound through edmonton because of a collision. blackfriars road remains closed between st george‘s circus and southwark street for repairs following last week‘s burst water main. and in beckton, there‘s a lane closed on the beckton roundabout for roadworks. it‘s been causing queues on the north circular southbound. now, the weather with kate. good morning. it is a chilly start out there this morning. a bit of patchy frost here and there, but eventually today it will feel less cold. we got some sunshine around — plenty of it, actually. barely any cloud through the morning at least. the breeze, still a westerly, but it‘s not going to feel quite as chilly as yesterday. more cloud feeding in from the west into the afternoon so we could see the sunshine turn a little hazy. temperatures between 6—8 celsius. staying dry for today,

we‘ll see the cloud continue to thicken and increase overnight tonight and that will continue as we head into thursday. so, a rather grey start on thursday morning itself. the minimum temperature, though, not as cold as last night, between 4—6 celsius. still quite breezy as we head through thursday, a largely cloudy day, that cloud thick enough in part to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there, but temperatures are becoming quite mild — between 13—14 celsius tomorrow. 14, maybe even 15 for friday. but it does stay largely unsettled right the way through to the weekend. now, it‘s back to louise and dan. bye for now. hello. this is breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. here‘s a summary of this morning‘s main stories from bbc news. british main stories from bbc news. airways has suspend flights british airways has suspended all flights to and from mainland china because of coronavirus. it follows advice from the foreign office against all but essential

travel to china. more than 130 people have died from the coronavirus with a further 6,000 now thought to be infected. that‘s more than the number infected in mainland china during the sars epidemic in 2003. we can speak now with culture secretary nicky morgan. let‘s culture secretary nicky morgan. talk about china a british let‘s talk about china and the british airways decision to suspend all flights with immediate effect. as at the appropriate thing to do? the foreign office has advised against all but essential travel, andi against all but essential travel, and i think it is an understandable decision that british airways have taken. it is obviously a very worrying situation and ijust had the last interview you were doing with the lady who was in wuhan and the uk government is working very ha rd the uk government is working very hard on measures about bringing uk national home. again, people should

watch the foreign office website for further details of that. you will have her saying she didn‘t know when the flight was taking off, where it was going from a lack of information from people who have been told to leave. i understand that, and i think she has been interviewed over a number of days. 0bviously, think she has been interviewed over a number of days. obviously, the government is having to work with the chinese authorities, it is a difficult situation, we completely understand that uk nationals will wa nt to understand that uk nationals will want to leave and come home, and she said there will be a screening process as well. the details are being finalised and i am sure that people will be told about the details, where to go soon as all those details are finalised. we have heard simon holder saying they could be 10,000 uk tourists for example in china, british airways flight would have been one of the main ways for them to get back. so what are you going to do about those people who now can act on those flights? again, the foreign office will be aware and

will be working with consular embassy will be working with consular e m bassy staff will be working with consular embassy staff on the ground to identify uk nationals, i can‘t obviously set out the details of that here on tv, but again, of course, as you have seen that here on tv, but again, of course, as you have seen in other exercises which haven‘t involved a virus but where travel companies are no longer in business, we will get people home as quickly as we can as soon as we can make arrangements. people home as quickly as we can as soon as we can make arrangements. do you feel like the government is on the back foot about this? we have known about this coronavirus for some time now. no, i don't think so. the decision by british airways means that obviously that provides more impetus for the government obviously to make other plans and to communicate those, but as i say, the uk government, and we should say the health system is well—prepared, we are not aware of any confirmed cases of the virus here in the uk, but we do have the expertise to look after

people, treat and test should that become necessary. this is a fast moving situation. i want to talk to you about huawei. the uk using them to do the 5g network. you suggested it isa to do the 5g network. you suggested it is a high—risk vendor. why are you allowing to happen? we have set out, and my department last year did a review into the whole telecoms supply chain. we want to see the rollout of 5g, that is very important for the growth of our economy and productivity, but in making this decision we are clear we will not optimise our national security. to have 5g network we can rely on, they have to be resilient and you must have a number of different providers in the system. while i have been acting our 4g network, part of that for over a decade. because of that, the uk have the best understanding of how huawei operates than any other country around the world. we have said that in the core of the 5g networks,

huawei, a high risk vendor, will have no role at all. and in the periphery, providers can use huawei equipment up to a cap of 35%, and eventually, one of the other issues if there are not enough dividers in the uk, and we want to diversify and make sure there are more providers, we would like to be in a position eventually where we are not having to use any high risk vendor ‘s at all. you say it is a high risk vendor. there was also concern from the us secretary of state mike pompeo previously suggesting the use of the equipment posed as buying risk, also saying the implication being that they will not share information. this is about intelligence information with one of our major allies. there could be an impact. we obviously had a number of conversations with the us and politicians and officials in the us have made their views clear, but also conversation with our other allies around the world. we are absolutely clear that yesterday polymer decision in no way affects the ability for the uk to share classified data with our allies and

partners, including the us. as i say, the us have a different position because they haven‘t had huawei in their 4g networks. we have the expertise, we have the oversight of huawei for quite a number of yea rs of huawei for quite a number of years now, which gives our agency is the ability to give reassurance, the periphery of the network does not present a security challenge that others are worried about. thank you very much for your time here on bbc brea kfast. very much for your time here on bbc breakfast. thank you. a very busy morning this morning. breaking news for you, lots of news for you. sally is here talking about really ugly scenes last night for ed woodward, who is in charge of manchester united. sometimes things goa manchester united. sometimes things go a little too far. the cheshire home of manchester united‘s executive vice—chairman ed woodward has been attacked by a group chanting that he was "going to die." a video posted on social media showed an individual throwing a red flare over a gate. woodward and his family

were not at home at the time. he‘s been the target of growing supporter discontent at united in recent weeks and the club said anyone committing a criminal offence would be banned for life. greater manchester police are investigating. united are playing tonight against manchester city for a place in the league cup final. waiting for them are aston villa who beat leicester 3—2 with a very late winner. penalties were looming, but trezeguet scored in the 93rd minute to take them through. villa were last in the final 10 years ago when they lost to manchester united. let‘s get to melbourne now, and the australian open. rafael nadal and dominic thiem will be playing for the last semifinal place later. john watson is there for us. let‘s talk about alexander zverev — he‘s through and he‘s made a generous offer, hasn‘t he? yes, he has indeed. after his first round match, he said if he goes on to win this year's tournament, he will donate the entire price check for the winner in the men's singles which stands at just over £2

million. he hasjust reached the semifinals and he was asked again after his win over stan wawrinka if he was going to be true to his word and he said he would be. it would be and he said he would be. it would be a hugely significant donation to the relief effort for the bushfires out here in australia. he is already donating £5,000 for every match has won, so standard £25,000 already and we have seen a of players doing their bit. kyrgios, the australian said he would donate $200 for every ace that he served that this year's tournament. simona halep said she would do things a bit differently by donating money for every time that she has a go at her coach on court. a huge amount being done to try and help the country in its recovery from those terrible bushfires. but by far the biggest donation and biggest moment in that would be alexander zverev if biggest moment in that would be alexander zve rev if he biggest moment in that would be alexander zverev if he does go on to win the title this year with that donation of well over £2 million. and the women‘s semifinal line—up is complete. who‘s through?

yes, ash barty, the world number one and big australian hope this year at her home tournament was already through. she is up against sofia kenin tomorrow. but we know that i mcgruder is there as well after she came through her match. as a victim —— significant win for muguruza. she was not feeling well coming into the tournament so she did not anticipate tournament so she did not anticipate to get to the semifinals. i really impressive victory from simona halep. she won in straight sets. i think perhaps with that result coming in the quarter—finals at this stage of the tournament, perhaps simona halep will feel you could well be looking at the winner in the women's single this year. it is really opening up. we are accepting higher temperatures in the coming days and as far as tickets go, the tickets for the men's matches, the men semifinals, around $400, £200, but the tickets for the women semifinals is around $80. they are

struggling to sell out. the full allocation of the tickets for the women semifinals. there is worry for ash barty here is a big australian hopeful at her home grand slam that she might be playing in front of a half empty court because they are struggling to sell out the women semifinals will allocation at the moment. that is disappointing to hear. john watson in melbourne for us. after being kicked out of australian rugby union, israel folau has switched back to rugby league, signing for the french club catalans dragons. folau was sacked last may for posting offensive homophobic comments on social media, so as you can imagine, there‘s been a strong reaction, not least from keegan hirst, the first british rugby league player to come out, and he‘s here with us now. good morning. first, your reaction that israel folau has this newjob in the south of france. it's frustrating, really, i‘m frustrated because he undermines and alienates all the people who put

in all the hard work into making by in all the hard work into making rug by really tolera nt in all the hard work into making rugby really tolerant and forwardthinking and a progressive i would like to think it is renowned for being that way. yeah, itjust undermines all those guys at the same time as kind of endorsing what he said. and people with similar opinions and views to come into the game. he would say he has a strong christian faith and at the time was expressing that. where in his statement when he was talking about this, where was the point where he crossed the line for you?” this, where was the point where he crossed the line for you? i think of course everyone is crossed the line for you? i think of course everyone is allowed their beliefs and religions. you know, i‘ve played in teams alongside people who have really strong christian beliefs. my sexuality has never been an issue. the line is crossed when people use religious beliefs or political ideologies or whatever to justify any kind of

prejudice. and the thing that is disappointing about it is if what had been said was about race or another religion, then this wouldn‘t even be being discussed. but it seems like homophobia is a lesser prejudice and all prejudice should be treated equally as intolerable. this is a sport you love. yeah. do you feel let down? i do. and it's not just you feel let down? i do. and it's notjust me, it is fan lgbt fans and people who are associated with the game, it‘s fans who have any kind of sense of morals and values, those people have all been bruised to one side in favour of —— to one side over israel flower. —— israel folau.

there have been statements released over the last 24 hours. israel folau has released one saying he is not intending to offend anyone further. the body managing this port as they are unable to veto those players but the rugby football league, the governing body, they say there is a moral responsibility to decide whether to sign a player which fits within individual clubs. catalans says they are committed to the sport being open to everyone. they also think it is about tolerance existing and even if you disagree with someone and even if you disagree with someone strongly, it‘s about allowing them to have that view. of course you have to disagree with someone, course you have to disagree with someone, it isn‘t a question of freedom of speech. it — obviously speech has consequences and if that speech has consequences and if that speech is discriminatory or prejudice that needs to be cold out.

—— called out, whether that is racism, misogyny or homophobia, there is no place for any of them in by there is no place for any of them in rugby league. i believe you got a phone call from the catalans coach, steve mcnamara, i‘m interested in how the conversation went. he was quite one—sided. he said he was giving mea quite one—sided. he said he was giving me a call out of respect but imean, i giving me a call out of respect but i mean, i kind of rust that to one side because if that was the case you wouldn‘t have signed him —— i brushed it to one size stop —— one side. either they didn‘t care or they didn‘t care, maybe a couple of league places — it‘s worrying that people don‘t have the moral courage to stick by their convictions. keegan hirst, lovely to speak to you this morning. it‘s 7:40am. you are

watching breakfast. it‘s cold out there but carol has the full details. good morning, everyone. it certainly is cold out there. john was talking about the temperature for the melbourne 0pen, but the temperature is going to be roughly 108 fahrenheit. i‘m images are going to about 50 degrees for just a few. this morning we have some blue skies around, a lot wasn‘t signed and we have seen recently, a lovely —— a lot more sunshine than we have seen recently, and a lovely weather watchers picture. we have some icy patches to watch out for as you can see here in wrexham. we have a transient ridge of high pressure building across southern areas, we also have a weather front coming in across northern ireland and scotland. that is bringing in rain preceded by some hail and snow and one look at the other buzz tells you it is going to be a blustery date wherever you are. “— it is going to be a blustery date wherever you are. —— at the isobars. winds gusting to about 50—60 miles

an hour. a lot of sunshine to start the day, some showers as well, since i‘m turning hazy throughout the day and at the same time a weather front arrives to bring rain to scotland and northern england —— and the sunshine turning hazy. some heavy rain just sunshine turning hazy. some heavy rainjust missing northern ireland, but you still have that rain coming m, but you still have that rain coming in, as indeed you will in northern england. the brightest guys across the north—east of england. in fact the north—east of england. in fact the further east you are, you will hang onto the sunny skies the longest. but it will turn hazy. for wales and england, the cloud will become thick enough for some drizzle. going on into the evening and overnight, there goes that rain. there will be a lot of cloud around them are thick enough for some showers, but a change comes into the south—west. that change is going to

bring in some murkier conditions, some fog and dampness as well. through the course of tomorrow, what is going to happen is it‘s going to turn that bit milder. you can see the changes, the change of air mass, yellows a nd the changes, the change of air mass, yellows and ambers moving across the uk, indicating temperature is will go up. dumped as above average for a lot of us. tomorrow that cloud and murk is going to move across southern areas of england, we also going to see for england and wales a lot of cloud. the northern ireland and scotland there will be some showers, rain pushing steadily northwards and then more so is coming in behind in north—west scotland. they are likely to be heavy, possibly thundery with some hail. but for most of us, climbing into double figures. by the time we get to friday, a weather front moving south will bring some rain with it. a fair bit of cloud but behind it we start to see brightest guys. there will be some sunshine but there will still be some showers and some of those showers will merge

to give longer and heavier bursts of rain across the north—west. for scotla nd rain across the north—west. for scotland and northern ireland, it‘s going to be a windy day. but check out those temperatures, we‘re looking at six in lerwick, so still quite low. as we sink further south we are looking at 14 maybe 15. louise and dan. thank you, carol. it is chilly out there this morning? more than three—quarters of people bank with just one provider, and there are warnings this morning that could be leaving customers vulnerable to problems. that includes you, doesn‘t it? that includes you, doesn't it? yes, guilty. victoria can explain. well, says the one person on the sofa who has multiple providers. i've been looking at the reaction on twitter about this. people are saying imagine having enough money to have money in separate accounts? in fact, you don't need much money

to opena in fact, you don't need much money to open a bank account at all. this is research that's been done by the consumer group 'which?' about it glitches at banks. you'll probably recall the massive it meltdown that happened at tsb last april. that was in 2019. the bank was transferring the accounts of customers from the old it system run by lloyds onto the computer system of its new spanish owner. it was a complete, horrible nightmare for everyone. nearly 2 million customers were locked out of their accounts over several days. of course, incidents like this get a huge amount of coverage. we we re we were all talking about it, what a disaster. people were working around the clock to fix it. but it's actually more common than you might think. according to the banking regulator, last year the main uk banks suffered over 250 it shutdowns that prevented customers making payments. there could be a couple a week or

something, several. and mobile banking users suffered over 100 outages while there were 90 telephone banking failures. this morning, the consumer group 'which?' says that over three—quarters of bank customers have their current account with the same provider. and we are carrying less cars on us, you could scramble through the drawer and we just don't have it —— less cash on us. so three quarters of us have only got one bank that does everything for us. so the current account, savings account, at cetera, and we've got visa debit, it may be on the cards. so if it's a visa system that has gone down, you are in real trouble. let's hear from the consumer group 'which?', would say it is a real issue for people. while it may be a good idea to have a second back account where you have some cash on standby in case there is an outage, it shouldn‘t be all on

us. actually, it‘s on the banks to make sure they are putting in the appropriate measures to make sure they have more robust systems. so when they are rolling out updates, they are carefully planned through and resourced properly. what do the banks have to say about it? uk finance, which represents the banks, say they invest billions to ensure systems are robust and secure. it says that when incidents do occur, firms work around the clock to minimise disruption and get services back up and running as quickly as possible. but the regulator wants the banks to do more. these say there should be a level of disruption, a maximum ceiling at which people can be disrupted, and if banks go over or above that, they should get in real trouble. however, at this stage it is very difficult to see what they could be. i mean, like all things financial, you will lower your risk if you diversify your portfolio. don't put all your

eggsin your portfolio. don't put all your eggs in one basket. if you put a little bit in different places and have a little bit of cash on you, you could get around some of these problems temporarily, in the short—term. problems temporarily, in the short-term. thank you very much indeed. talking about disruption, we will be talking about british airways was that we know they have cancelled flights to and from china. we talk about the impact of that in the next hour and a quarter. still to come this morning: from mrs brown‘s boys to michael palin, we‘ll find out who the winners were at the national television awards. that was last night. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london. i‘m alice salfield. a self—taught trader from west london, who contributed to a brief crash in the us stock market, has escaped a further prison term. navinder sarao made millions in bogus trades from his childhood

bedroom in hounslow. he‘s already spent four months in prison in the uk. but a court in chicago ruled that he should be placed under house arrest for a year. there‘s been a 13% drop in eu jobseekers looking for work in london since 2016. that‘s according to figures analysed for this programme. the globaljob site indeed warns that some industries may struggle to recruit enough staff if the trend continues. but there are already moves by the government to boost training in areas like construction to help provide more opportunities for londoners. we‘ve looked at hundreds of thousands ofjob searches on indeed and we found a 13% drop in clicks onjobs in london from overseas jobseekers over the last three years. what‘s interesting is that among the uk‘s closest neighbours we see declines from ireland and germany, which are not quite offset by increases that we see from countries like france, italy and the netherlands. london has the highest percentage of young people going to university. more than half of young people

in the capital go into higher education compared to 39% in the north—east and 37% in the south—west. the figures come in a report from the office for students, which has set tough targets as part of attempts to improve access for people from disadvantaged backgrounds. let‘s take a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tubes, the 0verground has no service on the entire gospel 0ak to barking line while the track is being repaired. and the piccadilly line has minor delays between south harrow and uxbridge. 0n the roads, it‘s very slow on the north circular westbound through edmonton because of a collision. it isn‘t looking to bad there, though. and in beckton, there‘s a lane closed on the beckton roundabout for roadworks. it‘s been causing queues on the north circular southbound. now, the weather with kate. good morning. it is a chilly start out there this morning. a bit of patchy frost here and there, but eventually today it will feel less cold.

we got some sunshine around — plenty of it, actually. barely any cloud through the morning at least. the breeze, still a westerly, but it‘s not going to feel quite as chilly as yesterday. more cloud feeding in from the west into the afternoon so we could see the sunshine turn a little hazy. temperatures between 6—8 celsius. staying dry for today, we‘ll see the cloud continue to thicken and increase overnight tonight and that will continue as we head into thursday. so, a rather grey start on thursday morning itself. the minimum temperature, though, not as cold as last night, between 4—6 celsius. still quite breezy as we head through thursday, a largely cloudy day, that cloud thick enough in part to produce a little bit of drizzle here and there, but temperatures are becoming quite mild — between 13—14 celsius tomorrow. 14, maybe even 15 for friday. but it does stay largely unsettled right the way through to the weekend. that‘s it for me. i‘m back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. bye for now.

good morning, welcome to breakfast with dan walker and louise minchin. 0ur headlines today: british airways suspends all direct flights to and from mainland china because of the coronavirus outbreak. the airline, which operates daily flights to shanghai and beijing from heathrow, says it is halting the flights with immediate effect. the foreign office is warning against "all but essential

travel" to the country. reports that prince andrew is "angry and bewildered" by claims that he‘s failed to co—operate with the fbi‘s inquiry intojeffrey epstein — saying he‘s not been approached. after years of delays and cancellations, a decision is expected today over the future of the northern rail franchise. we‘re at stations across the north of england throughout the morning. the home of ed woodward, the manchester united executive vice—chairman, is attacked by a group throwing flares and chanting death threats — the club say anyone found guilty will be banned for life. good morning. it is a blustery day ahead with the risk of ice. but a fair bit of sunshine, turning hazy through the day with rain for scotla nd through the day with rain for scotland and northern ireland. i will have more later. after smashing the christmas ratings, the stars of gavin and stacey are given a special impact award at last night‘s national television awards.

you never writes, you never phones. there‘s still a lot of electricity between me and sir tom. it‘s wednesday 29th january. our top story. british airways has suspended all direct flights to and from mainland china with immediate effect because of the coronavirus outbreak. it follows advice from the foreign office against all but essential travel. more than 130 people have died from the coronavirus with a further 6,000 now thought to be infected. let‘s get more on this from victoria who joins us now. this from victoria who joins us now. is in the last hour: british this is in the last hour so all british airways flights cancelled, effectively? yes, they operate flights out of shanghai and beijing daily. this is a big deal, it is the first airline to completely suspend flights. cathay pacific said they

had severely reduced the number of flights going in and out of mainland china. it is hard to imagine the numbers. it is like the equivalent ofa numbers. it is like the equivalent of a city or a region, numbers. it is like the equivalent ofa city ora region, in numbers. it is like the equivalent of a city or a region, in terms of the population that is one in three of every single person in the uk, it is that kind of thing we are talking about. so it is understandable the transport networks, travel networks have been hit very hard. british airways saying this morning the safety of their customers and crew is always their top priority. we understand there are hundreds of british nationals who are currently stuck in wuhan, the city at the epicentre of all of this. and people just reacting to the news at the moment. we had baroness morgan on the programme just a few moments ago and she was just reacting to this news. it has just come out in the last half an hour or so. the foreign office has advised against all but essential travel. it is an

understandable decision that british airways have ta ken. understandable decision that british airways have taken. it is also a very worrying situation. ijust heard the last interview you are doing with the lady who is in wuhan and obviously the uk government is working hard on measures about bringing uk nationals home. again, people should watch the foreign office website for further details of that. so some good advice there. it is not just of that. so some good advice there. it is notjust the transport and travel networks that are being affected. anyone who has a global business is looking to this, to china, the well‘s second biggest economy. anything that affects the functioning of the well‘s second—biggest economy is going to be worried about this. starbuck are closing their stores in china at the moment, we have had the financial markets rattled and the oil markets are markets rattled and the oil markets a re rattle. markets rattled and the oil markets are rattle. so this coronaviruses is having huge implications for

businesses. thank you very much for that, we will be talking about it throughout bbc breakfast and simon calder will be with us shortly. he reckons there is about 10,000 tourists in china, many would have been expecting to come back via those british airways flights, which are no longer happening. prince andrew is said to have hit back at claims that he is refusing to assist us law enforcers in their investigation into the convicted sex offender, jeffrey epstein. sources close to the prince are quoted in a number of newspapers suggesting the duke of york was "angry and bewildered " after claims that he had provided "zero cooperation" to investigators. andy moore is at buckingham palace for us this morning. good morning. many viewers who watched yesterday will remember you wither and you were saying we haven‘t yet heard anything from prince andrew when we were hearing about zero cooperation from the fbi. today there have been those sources,

iam sure today there have been those sources, i am sure people who pick up the papers, can see there has been a response from prince andrew we here? yes, that appears to be won from sources close to him, very belated, i have to say. this is something like 36 hours after those accusations, in effect, were made by the prosecutor in the states. i was speculating this might be some giant misunderstanding, but we could know because we haven‘t heard from anybody on andrew‘s side. we still haven‘t heard anything on the record from buckingham palace, orfrom his tea m from buckingham palace, orfrom his team of lawyers. this unidentified source seems team of lawyers. this unidentified source seems to team of lawyers. this unidentified source seems to be team of lawyers. this unidentified source seems to be in contact with the papers and the source is quoted as saying, the duke is more than happy to talk to the fbi but he hasn‘t been approached by them yet. he is angry about this is being portrayed and bewildered as to why this was set in new york. it seems certain people are jumping the this was set in new york. it seems certain people arejumping the gun. that source again, says prince

andrew has been going through his evidence with his lawyers on a weekly basis and he was anticipating the fbi would come to him to talk to him in the uk, ratherthan the fbi would come to him to talk to him in the uk, rather than him going to the us. i think at the very least this suggests prince andrew‘s pr mechanism has broken down. it used to be the case that buckingham palace would issue a statement on his behalf. but yesterday they said they were not commenting, it was down to his legal team. we haven‘t heard from them at all. this was a very serious accusation, effectively saying prince andrew had broken his word. if you want to challenge that, you should get in with your response very quickly and say something on the record and thatjust has not happened. prince andrew, of course, denies he has slept with virginia roberts to fray. she says she was traffic to him in london in 2001 and prince andrew also says he didn‘t

see anything untoward when he was staying at the various homes of jeffrey epstein. and according to the source, is very happy to tell the source, is very happy to tell the fbi there. lots of ground to cover, andy, thank you very much from outside buckingham palace this morning. a decision on the future of the north of england‘s biggest rail operator northern is expected to be made today. the government could nationalise the network after it‘s struggled to provide a reliable service for passengers. throughout this morning we‘ll be reporting from stations across the north. let‘s speak to our reporter tim muffett who‘s in leeds. so many people have been affected by what is going on. i have spoken to so what is going on. i have spoken to so many what is going on. i have spoken to so many commuters over what is going on. i have spoken to so many commuters over the last few days and so many of them say the same thing, when it comes to the rail franchise run by same thing, when it comes to the railfranchise run by northern, it isn‘t good enough. today we are expecting an announcement from the department for transport, clarifying what will happen with this franchise. it‘s thought it could be renationalised and run by the government, all they could be given

more time, areva, the german company ru ns more time, areva, the german company runs a franchise. but many people agree that something needs to happen. delays, overcrowding and cancellations. it is a joke. northern is one of the biggest rail franchises in britain. but it‘s been in trouble for some time. chanting no more northern! this lack of service is not acceptable. this is 0748 service. it is unbelievable. it is late every day. half of them don‘t turn up. sometimes you can't get on and it is shocking. in summer, some people are fainting on the trains because it is so overcrowded and hot. this line is on one of the worst performing of the northern network. almost two—thirds of services run late according to the most recent statistics. earlier this month, the transport secretary warned northern its service was unacceptable and that it could lose its franchise.

a further announcement on northern‘s the future is believed to be imminent. the trains are frequently late and overcrowded, there are cancellations at the last minute, they need improvement. it is poor, it is. will anybody else do any better? god knows. the franchise covers a huge commuter network from the midlands to northumberland, from lancashire to east yorkshire. more than 100 million journeys were made last year. northern says many of its problems have been beyond its control such as delays of the electrification of track. but a new timetable introduction in may 2018 went badly. since december of that year, only around a half of the northern trains arrived on time. i work from home quite a bit to avoid the commute. for many commuters, changes to the way these services are run cannot come soon enough.

how could this work? the government could be the operator of last resort, as it is known. that is what happened on the east coast main line a couple of years ago. is it a magic wand that will make everything great? no, people say there are problems still on that line. but many of the problems facing northern are wider than the franchise itself. it is to do with infrastructure, the lack of electrification and the idea this can be solved quickly, that is not going to happen. we are expecting an announcement from the department for transport to clarify the situation. many people are exasperated with what has happened here, whatever the reason and they wa nt here, whatever the reason and they want something to happen soon. thank you very much for that, we will be talking about it in the next few minutes. and thank you for all your comments about travelling by train. a lot of frustrated people out there this money. people say they are having to change theirjobs people say they are having to change their jobs because of people say they are having to change theirjobs because of the impact. exactly, yes.

the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is meeting the foreign secretary today amid concerns huawei could pose a risk to national security. the prime minister announced yesterday that the chinese tech giant would be allowed to play a limited role in building the uk‘s 5g network, but will be excluded from areas near military bases and nuclear sites. the us has said it‘s disappointed by the decision. the stars came out for the national television awards in london last night with mrs brown‘s boys beating fleabag to the comedy prize. the night was hosted by david walliams, who took a gong himself. there were also some familiar winners — ant and dec, crowned best presenters for the 19th consecutive year, while gavin and stacey took a special award. 0lly, what‘s o—murrin‘? cheering and applause. i don‘t know what you‘re laughing at, tom. you never writes, you never phones. there‘s still a lot of electricity

between me and sir tom. and don‘t you knows it? i don‘t really talk like that. thank you so much for this. thank you to the national television awards. ant and deca said they were getting very, getting a bit worried. and also peaky very, getting a bit worried. and also pea ky blinders, very, getting a bit worried. and also peaky blinders, two awards, i think for them last night. more now on our top story, in the last hour british airways has suspended all its flights to and from mainland china because of the coronavirus. 0ur china correspondent, robin brant is in shanghai for us and simon calder is in our london newsroom. let‘s talk to first to robin. the news i think breaking in the last hour or so, is a significant development? yes, british airways,

has, on some occasions has two daily flights to the main airport here in shanghai and beijing. that is thousands of passengers across the week that ferries from london to china and back. but it says it is suspending, with immediate effect, for all flights to china and out of china in accordance with the foreign office advice that change yesterday, advising british citizens not to go to wuhan or hubei except for essential travel. there is a commercial reason for this, the foreign office advice change means there will be a sudden drop in demand for flights from london and the rest of the uk to china. it isn‘t just about health the rest of the uk to china. it isn‘tjust about health and safety, but it is the primary reason why they have taken this decision in the last couple of hours. give us an idea of the conversations happening in china at the moment about the coronavirus and the way the

government is dealing with it and how it has been reacted to outside the country as well? how long have you got? in wuhan, the epicentre city, population of 10 million, you got? in wuhan, the epicentre city, population of10 million, it is essentially on lockdown. people in enforced quarantine or self—imposed quarantine. severe restrictions in place in terms of trying to travel in hubei province and beyond. even on the east coast of china, it is 1000 kilometres away andi of china, it is 1000 kilometres away and i had my temperature taken by someone and i had my temperature taken by someone from building management this money. it is a lot more quiet outside. trying to get hand disinfectant and gloves, that kind of thing is a significant challenge. 0therforeign of thing is a significant challenge. other foreign governments are doing what the british government is planning to do tomorrow in terms of getting its people and from wuhan. the japanese have had the first of two flights today. the americans and the indians and the australian government is going to move 600 of

its citizens. not take them to the australian mainland but deal with them on christmas island, which is usually for asylum seekers. they will be quarantine for 14 days before they can be taken back to the mainland of australia. robin brant, thank you very much and it is interesting to get your indication of what life is like on the ground in china this morning. let‘s talk now to simon calder. we know these british airways flights have been cancelled with immediate effect, how many people will it disrupt? thousands, but we don‘t know how many thousands. last night the foreign office suddenly warned against travel to mainland china. this does not affect, i must stress hong kong and macau. at that point, british airways decided it was going to suspend flights. so the flights went out normally to beijing and shanghai yesterday. they are now on their way back, the flight from

beijing is due in at 3pm at heathrow this afternoon and the flight from shanghai is slightly behind it, they are both over siberia at the moment. they will have the normal passengers who were booked on that flight, but they will have the crew that flew out yesterday. and, everybody else who was booked on flights from tomorrow onwards from beijing and shanghai will now be trying to find alternative routes. it is a very stressful time because the foreign office has just said we warn against all but essential travel there. my understanding is, british airways will probably take people out via hong kong and there are still flights operating from shanghai and beijing to hong kong and they will travel back on the noble british airways flights. it is always a possibility they will be re—routed through seoul and japan and korea. what about people who had been planning to go? anybody who has not

yet gone and has a booking, whether it is flight yet gone and has a booking, whether it is flight only, you will be able to get your money back. but if you booked a package holiday and you are due to depart imminently, then the travel organiser will have to cancel the trip and evil get a full refund. if, however, you are booked to travel in the next two weeks, two months, it is too early to say what will happen to your holiday. i know there is lots of concern, but they will be dealing with initially justly in the imminent cancellations. also, people are wondering over how long the cancellation will be. it was thought until march, but now they said it will be monday at the earliest. but that could be extended. the foreign office stressed to me they don‘t wa nt to office stressed to me they don‘t want to have an airlift of people being brought back from the rest of china, just from wuhan, that airlift flight

china, just from wuhan, that airlift flight will be coming back tomorrow. everyone can continue their trip and come back. what they didn‘t want was lots more brits going out to china and if there was a lockdown in beijing and shanghai, how do you get those people back? so it is a precautionary measure. simon calder, thank you as ever. busy money, we will have breaking news for you on the announcement of the northern rail franchise. but we can the announcement of the northern railfranchise. but we can bring the announcement of the northern rail franchise. but we can bring you the weather right now because carol has it for us. good morning. some of us are waking up good morning. some of us are waking up to some beautiful sunrises, but it isa up to some beautiful sunrises, but it is a cold start. another beautiful start in bridlington. a bit more sunshine around this morning than we have seen of late. high pressure is dominating the weather across england and wales today. but we do have weather fronts moving it across northern ireland, scotla nd moving it across northern ireland, scotland and northern england bringing rain and they will be

preceded by hill snow in the highlands above 300 metres. whatever you are it is a blustery day but the strongest winds will be across north—west england and south of scotland. we have gusts as high as 50 to 60 miles an hour. a fair bit of sunshine to start with but through the day the rain arrives and the sunshine will turn hazy. do northern scotland there will be bright skies with showers, but we have the rain coming in from the south with snow above 300 metres. wherever there is green in the chart it is indicating heavy rain. some parts getting as much as an inch. the rain clipping the far north of northern ireland and northern england. the southern parts of northern ireland and north—east england, hanging onto some sunshine or at least bright skies. the same to the midlands, east anglia, down to the midlands, east anglia, down to the midlands, east anglia, down to the isle of wight and towards kent. hazy sunshine for you but cloud increasing across wales in the south—west and they will be drizzle in wales through the afternoon. overnight, this band of rain continues to push steadily

northwards. behind it there will be some showers and then a change comes into the south—west in the sense it is going to turn murky, so more cloud, damp with showers around and some hill and coastal fog. temperatures, not anticipating any problems with frost although you may see some in sheltered glens. the change is a change in air mass and that means through tomorrow, we will get more milder air than we have seen get more milder air than we have seenin get more milder air than we have seen in the last few days across the uk, indicated here by the yellow and the amber. it also means there will be more cloud around so cross the south we have got what in the south—west by the end of the night, moving steadily towards the south—east, including the channel islands, taking its murky conditions with it. for england and wales generally, it will be cloudy with one or two brighter breaks and dank in places. when the weather front clears in northern england and scotla nd clears in northern england and scotland it will brighten up, but still a lot of showers in the

north—west and one or two in northern ireland. it is cold over the next few days, carol, lots to prepare for. it is getting milder in the next few days. i was listening, i promise. the rail network northern could be re—nationalised in coming days after years of criticism about the performance of the company. we‘re live from across the network this morning, let‘s speak now to our reporter jayne mccubbin who is on board one of the services. hopefully, the line survives and we can technically speak to you. what train are you on? we havejust can technically speak to you. what train are you on? we have just left huyton outside liverpool and heading into liverpool lime street. we are only running three minutes late. is that pretty decent for the service?

yes. hands up anybody in this carriage who is happy with this service? hands up who is pretty furious about it? there you go, speaks volumes. let‘s speak to some people on board. you have to use this every day, how would you describe it? it is terrible, most of the time it is cancelled or delayed and it disrupts myjourney, being late for work. have you got an understanding boss? not really, not the big boss anyway.” understanding boss? not really, not the big boss anyway. i hope he is watching. how has your experience been? not good at all, i was late for my first exam at university, which stressed me out. i got into the exam and i didn't know how to answer. did you pass, this is the question? i did, but not with the best grades. there is a lot of theory about northern here and they would say it is not entirely their fault. they would say some of the problems they have is about the

underspend on infrastructure in the north and the broken promises from the government to deliver things like electrification. a lot of the trains don‘t operate on some of the stations because they are too short in parts of the north—west. cameron, we are talking to you because we might hear news about the service being nationalised? what do you think about? it is the right thing to do. i used to live in switzerland and the trains are nationalised, clean service, always on time. i think it is probably the right thing to do. he would be in favour of that. we sit and wait, a customer service survey yesterday of 28,000 people across the of the uk, found that satisfaction in the service was lower than any other in the country. grant shapps says something needs to be done and we wait for news today. back to you. the train continues and we managed to hearfrom you, so back to you. the train continues and we managed to hear from you, so that is good news. it worked a treat,

didn‘t it. we‘re joined now the metro mayor for liverpool steve rotheram. thank you forjoining us. listening to jay mccubbin speaking to commuters on the train, we asked speaking to people in and sheffield. people are struggling on all sorts of journeys at the people are struggling on all sorts ofjourneys at the moment? hopefully you can hear me, steve? it is bbc brea kfast you can hear me, steve? it is bbc breakfast here. i will ask you again, i don‘t think you had the question, we were listening to jane speaking to commuters on the train in liverpool, and we have been in leeds and sheffield, it is clear that people trying to get to all different places are struggling transport at the moment, particularly on the trains? at a time when we have the climate emergency, trying to attract more people out of cars and onto the

trains. actually what arriva north have provided is having the opposite effect. they claim they would have the lower subsidy and the highest performance. the subsidy is one of the highest in the country and the performance, as you have indicated, is the lowest. passengers have been let down forfar is the lowest. passengers have been let down for far too long and it seems the government may be on the verge of something about it doing but we are waiting for grant shapps to confirm that the franchise will be taken away from arriva north. give us an idea the impact and inadequate rail service has, not just the infrastructure business but individuals in the north as well? like a lot of politicians, i have a post that people have written to me and they have e—mailed and through twitter, saying they have lostjobs, lost job twitter, saying they have lostjobs, lostjob opportunities twitter, saying they have lostjobs, lost job opportunities because twitter, saying they have lostjobs, lostjob opportunities because they have missed appointments and interviews. people have not been

able to get to hospital appointments and all sorts of different things like family get—togethers. it is the human cost of this, notjust the fa ct human cost of this, notjust the fact that northern have let people down and are charging them more for the deteriorating service because their fares have gone the deteriorating service because theirfares have gone up, it is some of those stories that mean the government should have acted earlier and we have been calling for 18 months or more for northern to be stripped of its franchise and we will see what the announcement today actually provides, solace for some people who have been badly affected. we have been getting lots of comments and e—mails and messages from people across the uk. they say it is not just from people across the uk. they say it is notjust northern they are struggling with their services as well, so is it fair to single out northern? yes, i represent my constituents, 1.6 million people who have been telling me that they

wa nted have been telling me that they wanted myself, andy burnham in greater manchester to act to make sure the government does carry out what it said it was going to do, that if servants services didn‘t improve they would remove the franchise. we have been pushing grant shapps to do what he said he would do as a pre—election bribe and see what happens today, but for far too long the people here have had a second class service and i am not prepared to stand by and just allow the government to say, at some stage, it is going to get better. we need a quality alternative across the northern corridor and that is not being provided by arriva north. appreciate your time this morning, the metropolitan mayor for the liverpool city region and we are waiting for that announcement from the government. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are.

it‘s been a rather chilly start to the day. we‘ve had a bit of frost, we‘ve had some ice patches on untreated roads this morning. but you can see the bright lights there of the uk. some clear skies this morning, some sunshine initially before the cloud that you can see here out towards the west slowly moves its way in, and that will bring some rain across the north of northern ireland and into scotland. it‘ll fall as snow over the highest ground of scotland, and we‘ll see some of that rain moving its way into north—west england. one or two showers possible elsewhere, but mostly dry. sunshine this morning, a bit more cloud into the afternoon. not as cold as it was yesterday, except the far north of scotland — five or 6 degrees here. elsewhere about eight to 12 degrees. now through tonight, one batch of rain clears before further rain spreads into the north—west of scotland. elsewhere a fairly quiet night, really. a few clear spells. not as cold as last night, though — look at those temperatures actually rising as we go into thursday. so a milder day expected for all of us. quite a bit of cloud, some rain expected for far northern and western areas. bye— bye.

this is worklife from bbc news, with sally bundock and karin giannone. british airways suspends flights to china, as the fallout from the cornovirus continues to spread. live from london, that‘s our top story on wednesday the 29th of january. the airline joins the likes of starbucks, mcdonald‘s and toyota by pulling back their operations within the country. also in the programme... apple smashes its own records, as a surge in iphone sales sees its earnings soar.