only now, scientists deploy their instruments. the whole of this region is below sea level, which is why the so—called doomsday glacier is so vulnerable. the water can just keep on melting it. only by taking measurements here can we hope to get accurate predictions of how sea—level is going to rise in future. even if it means arousing the curiosity of some of the creatures that live here. this year's work has confirmed the scientists‘ fears. warm sea water is melting the ice of west antarctica increasingly rapidly, raising sea levels worldwide. the challenge now is for the rest of us, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and preparing for the rising oceans we will face in the decades to come. justin rowlatt, bbc news, west antarctica. time for a look at the weather, here's nick miller.

we have had our coldest weather of the week and for now our brief flirtation with the winter is coming to an end. we have some sunshine today after that frosty start. warmer weather from the south is lifting the temperatures. but there will be cloud and rain at times and it will be windy for the rest of the week. but much milder. we already have rain across a large part of west of scotland this afternoon. that will push further east. elsewhere the cloud increasing after that frosty start. later this afternoon some showers into the northern isles, still some snow into the highlands. windy with rain and snow. some of that turning wetter into cumbria for example. cloud

increasing across the welsh hills. cloud increasing for many through the afternoon and already a little bit milder. we will notice the change into tomorrow morning, although we still have some rain in scotla nd although we still have some rain in scotland and hill fog across south wales. tomorrow morning temperatures well above freezing, so no frost in the morning but it is cloudy and wet in places. some drizzly weather with poor visibility and hill fog across southern parts of wales and southern england. and it is blustery especially in scotland today and tomorrow, for the rest of the week and into the weekend. but temperatures into double figures just about across the board tomorrow. and into friday more weather fronts heading away which means more rain and blustery and wet

in the north of the uk. a few brighter skies and showers following behind. anyone could see some gusty wind for a time on friday. temperatures if anything a bit higher, a0 celsius possible. at the start of the weekend turning colder from the north over the weekend. more about the weekend as we get closer to it. more details on the website. a reminder of our top story... britons returning from the chinese city of wuhan, which has been hit by the coronavirus, are to be put in quarantine for a fortnight. that's all from the bbc news at one — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are.

good afternoon, it's 1.30pm and here's your latest sports news. world number one rafael nadal is out of the australian open. he lost to austria's dominic thiem in a four set thriller. john watson was watching in melbourne. we watching in melbourne. have witnessed a huge ups on we have witnessed a huge upset here on day ten. rafa nadal, world number one, knocked out by the fifth seed, dominic thiem, it came over for sets, a topsy—turvy match. nadal hit back to take the third set. thiem had those three match points, taking it on the third in that fourth set, tie—break. it means it is the earliest exit of rafa nadal since he lost at this stage in the tenant backin lost at this stage in the tenant back in 2018. dominic thiem marches on into the semifinals where he will face alexander zverev, after stan

wawrinka today. after that victory, promised to donate the winners check to the bushfire relief effort if he goes on to win the tournament this year. in the women's semifinal, that is all complete. we saw simona halep progress to the last four, she will play garbine muguruza who came through in straight sets against anastacia pavlyuchenkova. we will see ash barty, world number one and big australian hope in action against sofia kenin, muguruza and halep will be in action as well. we will also see roger federer up against the defending champion, novak djokovic. by talking point today, the exit of rafa nadal here at melbourne. manchester united has condemned an attack on the home of one of its executives, ed woodward. videos on social media appear to show a number of hooded figures throwing flares

outside his house in cheshire. 0ur correspondent katie gornall is at old trafford— is at old trafford, what's the latest katie? this has been quite a distressing escalation in the tension between manchester united's fans and the club's hierarchy. we have known for sometime are unhappy with how the clu b sometime are unhappy with how the club is being run, perceived failures in the transfer market and the fact manchester united have fallen behind their premier league rifles. 35 points off the title race at the moment. we have heard that in the stands, that toxic atmosphere has spilled into the terraces, songs at recent gains celebrating the death of ed woodward and calling for the american owners to leave 0ld trafford but things escalated last night with the news that emerged that a group attacked the homes of ed woodward in that video on social

media that you mentioned of someone throwing a red flare towards the house and also red paint was daubed on the gate as well. we understand ed woodward two has a young family we re ed woodward two has a young family were not at home at the time but united have condemned this attack on his house, saying that those found responsible will be bad for life and they also said in a statement that fa ns they also said in a statement that fans expressing opinion is one thing, criminal damage and intent to endanger life is another. there are simply no excuses for this and cheshire police have launched an investigation. a lot of condemnation and manchester united fans, we know they are angry and have been for some time. as far as manchester united are concerned, they are trying to boost the squad, aren't the? that is it, a lot of the criticism aimed at ed woodward since he took over in 2013 as executive vice—chairman is that he has not done well enough in the transfer market, the irony of this at the

moment is that this has come at a time when he was working to get a big transfer over the line. bruno fernandes, a key target, attacking midfielderfrom fernandes, a key target, attacking midfielder from sporting fernandes, a key target, attacking midfielderfrom sporting lisbon, that looks to be completed in the near future. that looks to be completed in the nearfuture. he is believed to be on his way to the north—west, the finishing touches on a deal worth an initial £a7 million so that will be a big boost to the squad should that be completed as it looks very likely to be. that is not the only addition to be. that is not the only addition to the squad that is expected, we have also learned that nathan bishop, the young southend goalkeeper, just 20 years of age is going to bejoining the club as goalkeeper, just 20 years of age is going to be joining the club as well to link up with a developing squad. an england under 20 international, one for the future and we heard of a departure as well. marcos rojo hasn't really featured much for all gonna show for —— 0le gunner solskjaer, he has far out of favour.

he did not think he would be leaving in this transfer window but it appears ideal as entice him to return to argentina on loan, that deal looks to be going through as well. for the moment, thank you. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport in the last half hour, it's been revealed that the struggling rail operator, northern, is to lose its franchise and will be nationalised in march. the service, which is run by arriva, has been accused of allowing unacceptable delays across its network. the transport secretary grant shapps joins us from westminster. thank you forjoining us. the network's problems have been well documented but why have you decided to go down this route of as you put it, the last resort of the government taking over?”

it, the last resort of the government taking over? i approach these things as a frustrated commuter and i have been very concerned about mcnaughton since i became transport secretary last summer became transport secretary last summerandi became transport secretary last summer and i immediately put steps in place to look at the alternatives and issue notices of what has happened today is that essentially the northern franchise has set the franchise, they are to be stripped of that franchise and instead it will go to what is called the office of last resort which means we will ta ke of last resort which means we will take over running best franchise and start to bring in improvements. and what sort of improvements will you be able to bring in and how soon will it take passengers to notice a difference? it is 108 million passengers a year, 500 stations, massive network, very large, improvements will take some time. straightaway we will deep clean the trains to start with and make sure thatis trains to start with and make sure that is a proper schedule in place for cleaning. improve sunday services where the trains have not been running immediately getting things like that back into place as quickly as possible. i have actually

asked what is called the office of last resort, the people now running that for me, to come up with 100 day plan so that within those 100 days, they will making prudence and recommend the way forward to relieve some of the congestion. for example, that a platform extensions to ensure that a platform extensions to ensure that the overcrowding on some services produces and many other steps that will be taken, including bringing more trains into the network, getting rid of those pacers and more trains into next year. on track to be clear, you mentioned 100 days, is that is 100 days from the plan are 100 days to see improvement? we will start doing these things straightaway, the first thing i have ordered is a deep clean of the trains. get a proper cleaning rota in place, so people can get on clea n rota in place, so people can get on clean trains and get the sunday rota sorted out so that trains run and actually frankly some of, i know some of the facilities for the staff and train drivers are in terrible state. so i have asked them to sort those sort of things out so that people are able to come to a decent

place of work as well. i think there are all manners of things to do and we within100 dude days i wanted to do the shorter term things they can do the shorter term things they can do now but also the plan for longer term which eventually, this is not the final state of this, the whole of the real network is too complex these days, it was set up like this during the days of privatisation, that has been a success in as much as there are now twice as many passengers travelling but it is also far too fragmented for today's network, too complicated, will now come forward with a white paper, the williams review which will put this into a much more stable and long—term state. for today, into a much more stable and long—term state. fortoday, i into a much more stable and long—term state. for today, i think at least northern passengers and staff no government is taking action. a lot of changes that are proposed that you are envisaging. how much will that cost? first of all, i should say that for passengers, they will carry on turning up to trains, hopefully they

will start arriving more on times, and for staff at northern they should do the same. this does not mean there is any changes from those points of view. next thing to say is that our costs involved in doing these things. if we do not get our rail network sorted out, then the bigger cost is people not being able to get to work, get back onto their families, and being yielded living a normal life. we also know that we wa nt normal life. we also know that we want the whole of the country to be as productive as places which are best linked up, which is across london and the south—east and i think in people living in the north should have exactly that quality of service. the cost of not doing it is much bigger than the cost of sorting this out. you have made that very clear but you have not given us a figure of how much you think this is going to cost. no immediate cost implications in as much as if you like the economics of running a railway don't change because of what we're doing. what we're doing is putting their management place, rita

resetting things, a new page for a new chapter and it is about doing those things as well as bringing those things as well as bringing those nutrients, some of which were already planned, some of which will be much accelerated by this office of last resort. running the northern franchise rather than the current owner. you mentioned a little earlier the williams review which is looking at reforms across the railway, you see in your statement that you put to parliament a little earlier that across the country, a number of franchises are failing to provide reliable services that passengers require. we know change is needed and it is coming. does that mean other franchise holders should be worried and the same fate could befall them? i think it is unacceptable not to have trained start—up to have the level of cancellations that haven't suffered on some particular roots. this is a clear signal that i won't stand for it, or misgovernment, so people should be able to turn up, and expect the train to be there and

exposed to that extent it is a warning but i also think there are wider issues to do with the structure of our railways. too fragmented, very difficult to tell who is in control of different elements. some things are frankly bizarre. if a bird knocks over a line and get a power failure that could be a train operator fault or the fault of network rail and that depends on the size of the bird. ridiculous. we have to have a simpler railway that operates in the interest of passengers. could it mean other companies lose their franchises? good. one final question, some people will be seeing a conservative government nationalising a train company? what is going on? i don't process from an ideological point of view, i want the trains to run on time to the minute,, not five the trains to run on time to the minute, , not five or ten the trains to run on time to the minute,, not five or ten minutes late so i don't mind how we get there. i do say that since

privatisation come on the plus side weight as many journeys privatisation come on the plus side weight as manyjourneys and passengers, plus the distance travelled, so the way the system is a victim of its own capacity constraints. what we have to do is have a railway which still brings in private investment and the entrepreneurship and ideas to the railway, not to carry on having companies bid for but on a long longer term basis, contracts which focus on whether the train sign up on time, not all of these other things which make it so complicated to runa things which make it so complicated to run a railway. much more of that in the williams white paper. but i do think it will be a better model for the 21st century in a railway which needs to have much increase capacity. 0n the yesterday, i was talking with the reopening of some of these beeching lines which were axedin of these beeching lines which were axed in the 19605 and 705, this government police and rail travel, making it easier for people to get from a to up communities which have been left behind over the years. you

5eem been left behind over the years. you seem to be saying that privatisation has been successful but not enough? that is probably a very good way of 5umming it up. it has doubled numbers and distances travelled to... it is fragmented, can't guarantee train5 running on time, so from passengers guarantee train5 running on time, so from pa55enger5 that is crucial. guarantee train5 running on time, so from passengers that is crucial. as a passenger that is exactly my point. i think the system is not joined up enough. the issue is when you have a problem who is to blame? we saw in 2018 the timetable problems and no one could really pinpoint quite who had made the decisions, who was responsible for getting it right again and we need an operation on our rail weather is what the media loo5ely call fat controller in charge. a system where you can tell who is in charge, where the lever is pulled and how that get5 train5 running on time cut, thatis get5 train5 running on time cut, that is a system we will build, including private capital and investment but much more joined including private capital and investment but much morejoined up into the system and elucidate on the

northern franchise to help people suffering should be seen in that that wider context of moving towards a much morejoined up railway. that wider context of moving towards a much more joined up railway. we have to leave it there, grant shapps, you forjoining us. let's hear more now about coronavirus, there've been a number of developments today, as countries around the world step up their efforts to bring their citizens home from china. the uk now says it will quarantine returnees from the city of wuhan for two weeks, possibly in a military base, and ba has stopped all direct commercialflights in and out of shanghai and beijing. it's rowed back on an earlier statement however and now says flights are "temporarily suspended" until friday. earlier my colleague annita mcveigh spoke to kharn lambert — a pe teacher trapped in wuhan with his grandma who was visiting him. he was critical of the government response before the announcement to apply mandatory quaratine and screening to anyone returning from wuhan.

this was his response to the news. i am happy that they have been listening and put that in place. you know, first and foremost, we do not want to put the uk public at any risk. if this makes it safer for those, then i think that is what is necessary. will you now come back? that is a good question. it is late here, 7:15pm. i think it would be too late for me, but that is a consequence of the government releasing tentative information, rather than concrete information and the time difference that we have between here and the uk. how difficult has it been for you to get information? very difficult. i mean, i cannot understand why it has been so difficult when, you know, other countries like the us have had constant and continual access to information from their government, and so that is something that the government must answer to later down the line. this has been a decision of a change

in strategy here just in the past 30 minutes or so, so i assume you will not have had time to filter that through there. what will you do tomorrow when you wake up to work out what the plan might be? well, as i said, i will try to call the embassy now, but even if i call them and they allow me to get on the flight, it is probably too late for me to make other plans in terms of what i will do here. i have a dog. now i have to try to find somewhere for that dog to go because we cannot bring pets home. so, these tentative plans that the government released this morning and that were put across to us when we called the embassy, you know, they have far—reaching consequences. why did you feel so strongly about not coming back when quarantine was not in place? look, i mentioned this morning about these things, and it wasn't the fact that i had a problem with self—isolation, it was the problem of the transport between the airport and the self—isolation point.

if we say that we have these screening things and tests in place at wuhan airport, at heathrow airport... let's say we're going to heathrow first — i don't know — but this virus can live in you for up to 1a days without showing any symptoms. so, if we get tested at the airport and do not show any symptoms, they willjust let us out into the public. my issue this morning was how do we get from the airport to the self—isolation point without infecting hundreds of people when we come into contact with them? are you worried that the longer you remain in wuhan, the more risk you have of being exposed to the virus? i am not worried, i am keeping myself in the house as much as i can. i have only been out twice in the last 10 or 11 days, just to get some essential supplies. so my biggest worry was my grandmother, because of her copd. my biggest concern was getting her out because it would be better for her to be in the uk if she needs

medical treatment, rather than in china. so that is a problem with her lungs. if she now on a flight back to the uk? i haven't had any e—mail to confirm, but i have had it on good authority from the embassy that she will be on that flight. they have contacted me about making arrangements to get her to the airport because of her condition, and the assistance she will require at the airport in terms of wheelchair access and helping with bags and stuff. that is pretty much confirmation for me, but i am waiting for the e—mail. presumably that flight will be the first flight that will see everyone on it put into quarantine. we do not yet know any of the details of it. i would presume so. the flight is coming from the epicentre. it says a lot. and it says a lot when ba have cancelled all of their flights for the foreseeable future. that tells you about the seriousness of this and that is why i made that decision that i was not coming home,

because it is serious and we do not want to put everyone else's health at risk. what is it like in wuhan? you said you have only been out twice in the past 11 days or so. yeah. it is very eerie. many people are staying indoors and only going out when they have to. in the evening... i am looking out of the window at the moment and normally you would see vibrant lights on the buildings, light shows. wuhan has a lot of light shows across the city. and all of the lights are switched off on the buildings during this outbreak. so it is really eerie and unusual. earlier, when you were talking before this announcement, you suggested that perhaps an air base might be a good place for people to be quarantined and you said it had happened before. how do you feel about that, that you suggested it before the government announced it? to me, that is common sense. it is not about... i do not know anything better than the government, but it is common sense to me. you isolate people coming

from the epicentre of such a situation in a place that is away from the general population. more on brexit now, as the 31st january approaches, and throughout the brexit process, many people in northern ireland have opposed the government's plans, for different reasons. nationalists and cross—community parties don't want to leave the eu. unionists do — but are angry about checks on goods coming into northern ireland from the rest of the uk. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page has been hearing from people in county down, as brexit day approaches. this place is a picture of calmness and natural beauty. and yet, it's been on the front line of a fierce debate and an often fraught process. soon one side of carlingford lough will be in the eu, the other won't be. the question of how to keep

the border open has been a huge diplomatic problem. but in the next phase of brexit, other complex issues will come up more. like citizenship and national identity. previously a lot of the discussion around brexit focused on trade, on finance, and business arrangements. but now people are starting to really feel the effects, but it's opened a much greater conversation, particularly in northern ireland, where we already know people have the option to identify as irish, british, or both. it's easy to drive between the two states. but sometimes the shortestjourney from north to south is across water. well, somewhere underneath here is the border between northern ireland and the irish republic. which has been the focus of so much negotiating effort during the brexit process. but over the next 12 months we can expect attention to turn more towards what unionists perceive to be a potential economic frontier, out there in the irish sea. because northern ireland will continue to follow some eu rules, there is the prospect of checks on goods coming from

the rest of the uk. a few miles from the ferry terminal is the fishing port of kilkeel where people will be taking an interest in the brexit trade talks. this local unionist voted to leave the eu, but doesn't like the terms as they stand. am i happy with this withdrawal agreement in its current form? no, i'm not. but i'm very optimistic that we can go and get a free trade agreement that will eliminate these customs and tariffs and that means there will not be any word of this border in the irish sea and that we can get out as quick as we can, make the best of brexit, and be the best united kingdom we can. one united kingdom, leaving together. the journey to brexit might in one sense be over, but in this part of the uk, there will still be a particularly challenging path to navigate. chris page, bbc news, in county down. now it's time for a look at the weather with nick miller. hello, weather changes on the way for the rest of the week.

we know the first half of the week has been quite chilly, unusually so so far this winter. lovely sunrise this morning, but a frost out there for many of us. that is all about to change. we are about to bring in milder air from quite a long way south and west of the uk. and so you can see the change here, very visually. the warmer colours arriving as temperatures leap back above average. but — there is always a but — plenty of weather fronts around, low pressure. it will be wet at times. it will often be quite windy for the rest of the week. now, there are, this afternoon, still some sunny spells across the eastern side of england, but some rain, quite heavy, across southern and western parts of scotland, and into parts of northern ireland, northern england, and some outbreaks of rain developing in north wales as well. now, the far north of scotland still with a bit of brightness around and a few showers here, not as windy as it is further south in scotland. but you can see still some outbreaks of heavy rain here. brushing parts of northern ireland, especially in the north and west, turning wetter through the afternoon across cumbria. some outbreaks of rain in the pennines, reaching into snowdonia.

a few showers elsewhere in wales, one or two developing into the south—west. but a large part of england will be staying dry, but more cloud than we have had so far today. now, tonight, still a bit of rain, northern ireland, the north of england, but most of it will be in scotland, and spreading north. some low cloud, misty, murky, damp, drizzly weather heading towards parts of south—west england and south wales. your temperatures are staying well above freezing for most of us overnight. so that will feel different in the morning, but it will look different — plenty of cloud around. some rain still in scotland, a lot of cloud elsewhere delivering a bit of light rain. more especially towards south wales and southern england, where it is misty, low cloud, poor visibility at times. fairly blustery day, particularly in scotland during thursday, and those temperatures — look at the transformation, just about to cross the border into double figures. as high as 1a celsius in south—east england. looking at the big picture going into friday, we are in the milder air, but, yes, there are still these weather fronts close by. so, we start with rain on friday, into the north and west. that's going to feed further south

and east during the day. it'll be blustery across the uk, quite widely at times, and a chance of seeing gusts of between a0 and 50 mph. and even from where the persistent rain clears, there will be further showers. look how mild it is going to be, though!

hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2: end of the line — troubled rail operator northern will lose its franchise and be taken back into public hands on the 1st of march. and we are going to come forward with a white paper called the williams review which will put this into a much more stable and long—term state but for today, i think at least northern passengers and staff know that the government is taking action. compulsory quarantine, britons being evacuated from wuhan from tomorrow will be placed in isolation for 1a days, as the corona virus crisis worsens. we don't want to put the uk public at any risk and if this makes it safer for those then that is what is necessary. road blocks and ghost towns — the virus has caused more