hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2:00pm. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus—hit chinese city of wuhan will take off early tomorrow morning. it comes as the number of infections from the corona virus in china reaches more than 7,000. the death toll from the virus continues to rise — some families face an agonising decision over who can leave and who must stay. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go and seek safety? it isa

family behind to go and seek safety? it is a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four yea rs because my daughter is only four years old. 7,000 passengers and crew are trapped on a cruise ship in italy amid fears two chinese holidaymakers are carrying the corona virus. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 — as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again — as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with chettan. good afternoon. novak djokovic is one win away from a 17th grand slam title after beating roger federer in straight sets in the semi finals of the australian open. thanks, chettan. and helen has all the weather. a rather grainy picture for many today with some rain and we will ta ke today with some rain and we will take a look at the forecast for the weekend coming up as well as the average global temperatures as well. a new statement out today from the met office.

also coming up: never in the field of human conflict was so never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many... tributes to one of the last of "the few" — former battle of britain pilot wing commander paul farnes has died at the age of 101. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. in the last few hour it's been announced that a flight from wuhan airport to the uk will leave tomorrow morning at 5am local time to bring back the british people who've been stuck in the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. plans are in place for their arrival in the uk — they'll be flown into the raf brize norton base in 0xfordshire, and sent to an nhs facility in the north of england, where they will face two weeks quarantine.

meanwhile the virus has now spread to tibet and all territories in china. as well as 16 other countries. and there's a warning that the "whole world needs to be on alert" as the world health organisation is reconsidering whether to declare a global health emergency. the death toll in china passed 170 today. almost 8,000 people have been infected. and today british airways announced it will halt all flights to and from both beijing and shanghai until the end of february. robin brant has this report from beijing. today was supposed to be the day they got out and away from this. the death toll and the number infected continues to rise here in china. the city of wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, but britons are still stuck there because of bureaucracy. we were really worried about the reports of younger and younger children becoming sick. and at the time they said it was fine, but when i received a call the next day, they said that only i could go and my son

would have to stay, which obviously was very devastating to hear. english teacher natalie‘s son can't go because he has a chinese passport. chris hill has a similar problem. his wife and daughter have dual nationality. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it's a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old, so it's a very hard choice to make. other countries have got their people out. japan and the us were the first of several planned flights. india and australia are among those planning others. the foreign office said it is working urgently to resolve the problem for british citizens, with talks at very senior levels. quarantine on a military base or an nhs facility back in the uk awaits.

fear about the virus spreading has caused scenes like this across all of china. even in hong kong, which has now all but cut itself off from the mainland. translation: i queued for an hour and ten minutes and bought two boxes of masks. we were running out of them at home. hong kong should act like taiwan to stop exporting masks and keep them for the locals, so that we don't have to queue for hours. more cases are being reported around the world. in italy, passengers on a cruise ship are being held on board because of two suspected cases among them. but the head of the world health organization had nothing but praise for china's efforts. i will praise china again and again, because its actions actually helped in reducing the spread of coronavirus to other countries. still, though, drastic measures are being taken here, far away from the worst affected area, to try to halt the spread.

office workers in buildings over 1,000 kilometres away are having their temperatures checked daily. i'm joined now by our health editor hugh pym. what is going to happen when the flight what is going to happen when the flight gets here? the official line is it gets to a military base and then the passengers are taken to an nhs facility. i understand it will be raf brize norton, and then they will be put on buses undertaken to an nhs site in the north of england. i understand this could be for my accommodation for nhs staff, nurses and doctors and others. it isn't clear where at the moment. we haven't been told. 0n the flight they will be accompanied by medics from the raf assessing their condition in case anybody appears to be unwell and the aircrew as well as those medics will wear protective clothing. when they get

to brize norton, the driver will also be wearing protective clothing and officials who are with them during the two—week quarantine will also where protective quarantine. it is a precautionary measure. that is what quarantine is all about. we are getting some idea of what happens before they get on the flight happens before they get on the flight in china? it doesn't seem as if arriving at the airport they will be given extensive health checks by chinese officials and if anybody appears to be unwell they will not be allowed to board and then tested. there is then the issue of what happens to then the issue of what happens to the spouses and partners of british citizens coming back? because currently anyone who is not a national cannot go. downing street said this morning at the briefing that the british government would be pressing the chinese authorities to allow partners and spouses who weren't british citizens to get on the

flight british citizens to get on the flight but we haven't necessarily had any confirmation of what that situation will be. i have to say, the flight is due to take off uk time in about an hour's time, so this will all be happening at the airport as we speak. and what we don't really know is exactly where they are heading in the north of england. we know it is an nhs facility. yes, the north west of england and it must be some kind of accommodation owned by the nhs which is available, so there will be flats 01’ is available, so there will be flats or bedsits there. it is being stressed people will be looked after, able to use wi—fi, keep in touch with families through facetime and so on, they will be catered for. we haven't had any clarity whether visits will be allowed by members of the family but the whole point of quarantine is for public safety and to ensure that the people coming back who could have been exposed to

the virus are not then in the position where if they have the virus but are not showing symptoms, they will spread it in the uk. i have seen copy from the scottish reporter saying that chief officer in scotland say it is highly likely there will be catered in the coming days. they say the public should be assured they authorities are well prepared for outbreaks like this and so far all test results have been negative. if there is a confirmed case in the uk, will that change how they will look at this issue of quarantine? that message from the scottish chief medical officer echoes what we have heard from public health england and the chief medical officer for england that statistically a case is highly likely and there is a fair chance they will be one in the uk. france and germany have had cases and it's almost inevitable that there will be one here, we've had more than 100 people tested and they

have all proved negative so far. we will be getting an update shortly. health systems around the uk are prepared. if somebody is tested and tests positive for this new strain, they will be treated in isolation at a hospital which is equipped with the right facilities. there are hospitals like the royal free and london which treated patients who came back with a the equipment is there. —— came back with ebola, so there. —— came back with ebola, so the equipment is there. 6,000 people are currently blocked on board a cruise ship near rome due to a chinese couple on board showing symptoms of coronavirus. the costa smeralda cruise ship docked at the port of civitavecchia but has not been allowed to disembark while the couple are checked by medical staff after suffering symptoms of fever and respiratory problems. another chinese couple are currently in hospital in rome, undergoing medical checks. 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen joins us now

to tell us more about this. it's pretty grim being stuck on a cruise ship? 6000 of them on board, simon, in civitavecchia, not being able to disembark. the 54—year—old woman has had respiratory problems and a fever and she is now in isolation, being blood checked to see whether she has contracted coronavirus. the results are expected later this afternoon. if it is confirmed, it could have serious implications for the 6000 people on board but that is why they are not being allowed to disembark. it isa are not being allowed to disembark. it is a cruise ship that has already gone to barcelona, marseille and majorca and then was coming back here to italy to go further north in italy but it is being held in civitavecchia. anybody on board is going to be

concerned given the close books emitted by definition that there is on board a ship like this? of course. we are told by the cruise company that there is no panic on board, that though it has all been explained to people and the authorities have everything under control but of course there will be concerned that in an enclosed environment like a cruise ship that has been on the water for five days 01’ has been on the water for five days orso, has been on the water for five days or so, there could have been contamination to other people. the focus is to try to ensure that this woman, if she has confirmed to have the virus, that they will check of course with whom she has come into contact on a cruise ship of 6000. also quite a large crew on board. it quite be quite a serious —— it could be quite a serious situation. italy is flying planes to the epicentre of the virus to evacuate its nationals and we are told by the deputy health minister here that some a0 italian nationals are going to be

evacuated within the next 72 hours, fewer than the number of italians there. the others apparently we are told did not want to leave. perhaps they have got a chinese spouse or family and they didn't want to leave. that is expected within the next 72 hours. kate is already in germany and france. i'm just wondering how authorities in italy are gearing up. —— cases already. they have been photos going around social media of pharmacies selling out of facemasks. people taking precautions. italy has several different borders and a long coastline with cruisers and the like. it isjust like coastline with cruisers and the like. it is just like any other country in europe and elsewhere, taking every precaution. there has not yet been a confirmed case in this country but this couple in hospital in rome undergoing checks and the woman on the cruise ship, perhaps it is just a

matter of time. thank you, mark. the transport secretary grant shapps has defended the right of tory mps to oppose hs2 — following growing criticism of the project from a number of conservative mps. the government appears poised to give the scheme the go ahead — after the chancellor sajid javid signalled his support, despite the mounting cost. let's get more from our chief political corresondent vicki young who's in westminster. some conservative mps muttering about rebelling? this is a subject that divides not just the conservative party but also others as well, partly because of the spiralling cost going from around 50 billion to may be over £100 billion. ithink around 50 billion to may be over £100 billion. i think that what the government is looking at is its promise to improve rail links to the north and in the north, but there are many who think the money could be better spent. instead of speeding up be better spent. instead of speeding up the journey time between london, birmingham and then onto manchester leeds actually what about the

trans—pennine leeds actually what about the tra ns—pennine routes, leeds actually what about the trans—pennine routes, what about doing more for them? the huge price tag is putting off a lot of people and there is also the environmental impact. maybe not supposing to from a newly elected conservative mp in the county of buckinghamshire, which will be impacted by the rail link. i was very clear in the general election campaign that i am opposed to hsz. i think it is wrong for my constituency and i believe it to be wrong for the country and i made a clear commitment in the general election that come what may, i will oppose hsz. i need to convince the government there are better projects we can deliver. even though there might well be a rebellion in the tory ranks, the thing for borisjohnson is that he has a large majority so he is unlikely to lose if he decides to go ahead. all the signals from cabinet ministers are that they are going to go ahead with this project,

something borisjohnson go ahead with this project, something boris johnson is go ahead with this project, something borisjohnson is keen on, and not just about the speed something borisjohnson is keen on, and notjust about the speed and bringing down the journey time between london and birmingham, it is about long—term capacity and there are other conservatives who feel this is the right thing to do. phase one is very likely to go ahead anyway, and that's london to birmingham. if they then cancel the northern sections it would look really bad and this is notjust about the north having a grievance about the north having a grievance about underspending, this is about economic opportunity. £15 billion a year of economic opportunity. compare that to the cost of delivering the project, the interest on £100 million is around £2 billion a year. it is a no—brainer in terms of economic return. the chancellor obviously crucial to all of those. he previously did support hs2 and it would certainly help his own constituents but when you are chancellor you are looking at things rather differently, how else there's huge amount of money might be spent on the department

will be coming under pressure to find their own savings so they can go ahead with the project. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again whilst the number of suspects being charged has increased slightly. our home affairs correspondent june kelly is with me now. what do these figures tell us? a bit of background as there is concern in the criminaljustice system and women's group about the continuing fall in rape prosecutions and we should also say that men can also be victims of rape. in recent yea rs also be victims of rape. in recent years while the number of people saying that they have been victims of rape has gone up considerably, today's figures show that the latest figures out that when it comes to prosecutions, they were down by 691. although there was an increase of 25 in the number of people actually being charged. some of those people

charged might not get to a full prosecution. in addition, the police are referring fewer cases to the crown prosecution service, down by a85. this morning the director of public prosecutions max hale said that while the prosecution number is down, they are prosecuting a higher percentage of the cases coming from the police so he thinks the trend is going on the right direction but nevertheless, these figures don't make good reading for them. there is an issue of trust here for many people who look at these figures and trust in the system? that is absolutely eight and max hale said that because they are co nsta ntly hale said that because they are constantly saying to people who feel they have been a victim of rape, they have been a victim of rape, they should come forward and people look at these figures and say, what are the odds of anyone being arrested let alone getting successful prosecution? women's groups have accused the cps of cherry picking the best cases so when the cases that were getting

too caught were more likely to get a conviction. the cps has always denied that and a review last month exonerated them of that charge. a new twist to date in that the women's groups are saying they are unhappy with the review that exonerated the cps and they are calling for the review to be rejected and they feel so strongly about it that they've written to the attorney general asking him to basically wipe out that review. thank you very much, june. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off early tomorrow morning as the number of infections from the corona virus in china reaches more than 7,000. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 — as a number of tory

mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again — as the number of suspects charged rises slightly an novak djokovic remains on call for a record extending eighth title in melbourne. they will be a new name on the women's trophy as an american shocks the world number one to set up a final against the former wimbledon champion. george north switches from wing to centre for wales as they begin their six nations title defence against italy on saturday. and i will be back with more and all those stories at 2:30pm. the widow of basketball star kobe bryant has made herfirst comments since her husband and their daughter were killed

in a helicopter crash on sunday, alongside seven others. vanessa bryant posted a photo of the family on instagram and said they were "completely devastated" by the sudden loss of kobe and their 13—year—old daughter gianna. she wrote "thank you for all the prayers — we definitely need them." the editor of the today programme, sarah sands, is to stand down in september after three years in charge. the former editor of the evening standard, said it had been a "privilege", and that she was proud to have championed "intelligent journalism and political independence". people who were mis—sold loans by one of the uk's biggest payday lenders wonga have been told they'll receive just over a% of the compensation they are owed. almost a00,000 claims have been made. the company collapsed in 2018 and its practices attracted intense scrutiny with its high—cost and short—term loans. joining me now to discuss this further is sara williams, a debt adviser and author of blog — debt camel. thank you for coming in. a% is going to bea thank you for coming in. a% is going to be a shock for a lot of people. it has been a

huge shock. the administrators had said that people would get significantly less but the average value of the claim was around £1000 so people thought, £500 would be significantly less. not expecting to have now got £a3 for that £1000 claim. it is that it? no appeal or anything they can do? there is no appeal. the administrators are dividing up all the money there is and there is no more money. what is really disappointing is that there was no back—up compensation scheme for these people, so for a ppi if you have got a ppi claim and your ppi company had gone under, you would have been paid the full value of your claim from the financial services compensation scheme, but that doesn't cover payday lenders. the financial conduct authority found it had lent money to many people who weren't in a position

to repay it anyway, so this is heaping misery upon misery. what advice is there? the one payday loa n what advice is there? the one payday loan isn't a problem but the problem is when you try to pay it back on your next payday, you are then left so short of money you have to borrow again to get through the next month. i've been seeing people who have borrowed for years, taking out 30, a0, 50 loans from wonga. and it is other payday lenders as well. and it is this constant borrowing that is the problem. high cost of borrowing. there will be a lot of anger about this, won't there? i suspect he will be seeing that on a personal level from people? people are very upset. people said it was money they didn't expect to get back so anything coming back is good and that's true, £a3 is better than nothing. but people really feel like they've been let down. they we re like they've been let down. they were trapped in these loans that

they couldn't get out of, except for taking on more loans. with hindsight they know they could have come to talk to debt advisers and see what other options there are but at the time they just other options there are but at the time theyjust needed to get through the next month and they didn't want their credit record affected. and that is still the advice you would give now for people thinking, we are in deeper trouble than we we re we are in deeper trouble than we were before? anyone who's got a payday loan or a high cost credit loan or a normal credit card bill that they can't pay injanuary, and credit card bill that they can't pay in january, and there credit card bill that they can't pay injanuary, and there are a lot of people facing those big bills after christmas, talk to a debt adviser, go to citizens advice or a phone up step change and look at what your options are. don't go and borrow more money to pay off another dad. there's been a significant rise in the number of prison officers in england and wales taking time off because of pressures at work.

figures given to the bbc under freedom of information laws show that 1,800 prison officers took time off last year because of stress, anxiety or depression. it comes as latest figures show the number of attacks on staff remain at record levels and — as danny shaw reports — at a time of renewed focus on the issues surrounding mental health. just a foreboding inside your belly, like you haven't done your homework as a child, but amplified a hundred times as you're getting in to go in through those doors. the fear of a prison officer. for 13 years bob worked at some of the most challenging jails in the country, dealing with outbreaks of violence and disorder and having to help prisoners who'd harmed themselves. this former soldier, who doesn't want his real name to be known, eventually cracked under the pressure. i started to be on occasions sick on the way to work, virtually physically vomiting. my sleep was disordered. my personal relationships were strained and certainly i lost one relationship through that period, and i started to shrink back socially as well.

i was seeing less and less of a circle of friends. and you put that down to the stress at work? stress at work, absolutely. the stressful nature of prison work is seldom talked about and the impact on staff even less so. but figures obtained by bbc news suggest increasing numbers of prison officers in state runjails are suffering from mental health problems — 1,900 last year. 0ver1,000 were off work with stress, and more than 800 had anxiety or depression — seven times the number reported two years earlier. although some conditions may be due to problems outside work, researchers believe prison officers are vulnerable because of what they encounter every day. if you're constantly aware that you are likely to be in danger it's part of almost like post—traumatic stress. so when you come home, you're still hyper vigilant. you're having problems

calming down. the anxiety levels are high and you can have trouble sleeping. alanjones became depressed after a prisoner hit him with a chair. he sustained serious injuries to his arm. a metal plate had to be inserted. the former prison officer sued the ministry ofjustice for failing to handle the incident properly and won. but he says his mental health suffered due to a lack of support. i'd always thought i'd be covered. you know, that if anything happened, the prison service would have something in place to look after me, to say everything will be fine, there's this in place, that's in place. and ijust felt so alone. the prison service says staff have access to trauma support, occupational health advice and counselling 2a hours a day. but bob, who was medically retired three years ago, says people considering a career as a prison officer must ask themselves if they're suited to the rigours of the role.

think carefully. are are they robust enough? some people may to cope with it a lot better than i did. i couldn't. danny shaw, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. helen willits is here with us now and the met office tells us things are getting warmer. predicted to break the record global temperature in the next five years. and we have been talking an awful lot about the heat. in australia they have had the warmest year on record and in the uk we had the temperature peaked in the summer. this is a picture taken very close to the area where we broke the record. seems a long time ago! it does, with the grey weather. even talking about the uk and australia 2019, it still wasn't the globally warmest year on record. when we talk about the average globally

we are talking about the day and night average across the globe and the record currently stands at 2016, when we have the hottest year on record. the met office is predicting we will exceed that 1.16 within the next five years, possibly as high as 1.2. we have the warming in the pacific which helped those record temperatures in ready 16 and we could get that again. i am trying to illustrate there that even though we have that intense heat in australia, the peak of heat here in the uk, on a global scale, that didn't impact largely the temperatures. we were at .98 celsius last year. we are not saying it's not happening but it is just on a global scale. let me show you some fantastic temperature graphics. i like these. i say! these have come from nasa. the blue

is depicting areas when we have lower than average temperatures and we are talking about the preindustrial period. these are a little bit lower in 1910, so we are going far back here. very few bits of yellow, which is warmer than average. i doubt you remember 1910! i remember all of it. average. i doubt you remember 1910! i rememberall of it. in 1970, we are starting to get temperatures more readily a little bit above average, and again we are talking this global average temperature that, as i say, the record is 1.16 above. it doesn't sound like much but it has a huge impact. 2019, it is incredible, isn't it? what is worth pointing out here is in the southern hemisphere you don't see as much big extremes because you don't see as much land. the land quickly fluctuates with the heat that we receive. it is of course an ocean atmosphere engine that we run. you know, the atmosphere is also run by

what is happening in the oceans, the current and what we saw in australia which was aided by the indian ocean as well. what we are saying is this is happening but we will also see the fluctuations in our weather as we saw in the uk in 2019. if you increase your average temperature prompts a 20 to 21, your extremes go up prompts a 20 to 21, your extremes go up as well. can't imagine what that is going to look like. it will be all right. it is quite a worrying thought. quite grey out there now, low pressure with us at the moment, low pressure with us at the moment, low pressure with us today tomorrow and through the weekend, which means we are back to business as usual. weather systems rolling in, packed isobars, some wind and rain at times. not a wash out all the time, read through the

afternoon across the north, low cloud elsewhere. some brea ks the north, low cloud elsewhere. some breaks and that where the persist into the evening and overnight, temperatures will hover close to freezing. for most of us, with cloud, wind and rain returning, a relatively mild night. but another great start tomorrow morning. this weather system will move southwards across england and wales, allowing brighter but surely weather back into northern ireland and scotland. winds will still be a feature of the weather, probably not quite as gusty as today, and this evening's rush hour could be quite difficult at times. but look at those temperatures, again well above average, 11 to 1a celsius. as we head towards the weekend, we have more rain coming, so one weather system coming in from the north, another band of rain coming in from the south, by the claim against a saturday morning. so you can follow the theme, if you like, relatively mild throughout, but we will have further outbreaks of rain. i am not saying this weekend will be a wash—out, but with feasible

pressures close by, we will see some further rain. but as you can see, we still have some relatively mild air coming around forjanuary, when we should of course be seeing night—time frosts, not much of that in the next few days. the details for saturday quickly, this next band of rain coming in across the southern and eastern parts of england and wales, another band coming into northern ireland and scotland. cold northerly winds, brighter at times, temperatures in little lower, feeling fresher, but it will not last, because as we come through saturday night, the next area of rain comes back in from the south—west, and we will see quite a soak in, i think, saturday night and into sunday. the afternoon looks like the better half of the day across england and wales. not so bad initially for scotland, but as it comes into the cold air, some snow over the hills as possible. lots of detail over the weekend, whatever you're doing, check out more on the website and there is a wind for the rest of today, is also on our website. ——

a warning for the wind. this is bbc news. our latest headlines — the foreign office confirms a plane bringing brits home from the virus—hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight. it comes as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. 7,000 passengers and crew are trapped on a cruise ship in italy, amid fears two chinese holidaymakers are carrying the coronavirus. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 — as a number of tory mps consider

rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. sport now on afternoon live with chetan. and novak djokovic is looking invincible at the australian open tennis, isn't he? yes, he is looking pretty much unstoppable at the moment. too good in the end for roger federer, who was already battling injury, of course, although the first set could have gone either way. fetter on a 20 grand slam titles overall, i found the dell on 19, and djokovic richard removes this —— wins this, djokovic would move on to 17. —— roger federer on 20, found the dow on 19. two surprise results in the woman's draw today, on favourite ashleigh barty went out, as did simona halep. we have the women's final complete,

we will come to that any moment, but let's on another novak djokovic victory in the semifinals here. a26 grand slam final, as he brushed aside the mighty roger federer in straight sets. roger federer was clearly struggling as he received a medical timeout at the end of the first set, which he lost. and then co mforta ble first set, which he lost. and then comfortable in the end for novak djokovic, living through in straight sets. hoping to successfully defend his title here, djokovic, and we will await who he will face in that final. the victor will come from the winner of alex is and dominic thiem in tomorrow's second men's semifinal. —— alex zverev are dominic thiem. world number one in the woman's game ashleigh barty was beaten today in straight sets by sophia kennan. disappointment for ashleigh barty, who has been carrying the hopes of a nation here at this home australian open,

hopeful that they would see a first female australian into the final here in a0 years. the ashleigh barty party is open. —— over. and regarding the grips are also in the final, coming through in straight sets. and she will be hoping to add a third grand slam trophy cabinet if she can come past sofia kenin. and to become one roger federer, some strong words from him afterwards, saying he has no plans to retire at the age of 38, despite nursing a groin injury. he called todaymatch horrible, and that he had a 3% chance of winning, but

he had a 3% chance of winning, but he says he will keep going, he believes he can add to his 20 grand slams. two british players in final in melbourne, gordon reid and joe salisbury. the six nations starts on saturday, so we're beginning to get the team news — what's the latest? it is all getting exciting ahead of saturday, when we will have wheels taking on italy in cardiff. first test for the new wales head coach. we now know that george north will start at outside centre, with wales struggling with injuries in midfield. scotland coach gregor townsend will give edinburgh number eight his international debut against ireland on saturday. ten changes to the starting 15 of that faced japan in their final match of the rugby world cup. sport continues

to be affected by the coronavirus in china, with the world motor sport governing body admitting that april's chinese grand prix near shanghai is at risk. the fia says it will take any action necessary to protect the global motorsport community, and the wider public. the races due to be held on the 19th to the of april. and that is all your sport news for now, back to you, simon. a bit of breaking news from the royal navy, we havejust a bit of breaking news from the royal navy, we have just named a royal navy, we have just named a royal marine who was injured and later died after an incident two weeks ago. royal marine recruit ethanjohns weeks ago. royal marine recruit ethan johns has just been weeks ago. royal marine recruit ethanjohns hasjust been named, thoughts and sympathies of the naval service arm of the families and friends —— are with the families and friends. the incident happened in a training operation, and the incident is still under investigation, they

say it would be inappropriate to comment further, and request for privacy for the family. that news just coming in, the marine recruit has been named as ethanjohns. —— ethanjones. a new movement in russia appears to be uniting people against the government, or in support of particular causes. the phrase "we are all" is being used by students and celebrities alike, and is thought to have helped release some people from police custody. some think its popularity has posed challenges for president vladimir putin, who hasjust reshuffled his government, since russians are showing that they are willing to rally behind issues they care about. marianna spring from bbc minute has been reporting on this, and shejoins me now. what is this symbol being used for, and where? as you said, the symbol means we are all will stop it was initially used to rally behind a journalist who was u nfa i rly arrested to rally behind a journalist who was unfairly arrested back in june to rally behind a journalist who was unfairly arrested back injune 2019. but since then,

it has snowballed, and become a commonplace phrase to use every day in russia, particularly when complaining about everything from the central heating being switched off to the state of roads. —— it means we are all.. but predominantly, it is being used by russians for causes they care about. so anti—government protesters, to rally behind climate change activists, and it is very unusual in russia for this kind of hashtag symbol to be so popular and universal in that way similar movements such as metoo have not had such popularity in russia. the phrase literally means i we, but the actual meaning of the phrase, is all of us. any company for media is

largely controlled by the state, it very interesting to see —— in a country where media is largely controlled, it is interesting to see how a symbol can unite people. it is a very how a symbol can unite people. it is a very rare how a symbol can unite people. it is a very rare thing, because we all heard about the metoo movement, and in russia there are loads of hashtags that do not get that kind of solidarity that often. it was first used to rally around this journalist was arrested back in june on drug dealing charges. his lawyer said that those charges had been fabricated to try and challenges investigative reporting, there was massive public outcry, including three of the big newspapers that usually backed the state in russia, and it was used on placards at protests and

by celebrities on instagram. he was released a few days after his arrest. we have since spoke at a 2a—year—old russian journalist who wore a t—shirt with the symbol on it toa wore a t—shirt with the symbol on it to a ceremony at the kremlin to kind of get the movement going, and he or she is now. the symbol for me is about solidarity, fighting for people for their freedom, for innocent people thrown injail. people for their freedom, for innocent people thrown in jail. 0k, tell us more about how important this symbol will be this year in russia. how things move on. so obviously after the journalist was arrested, it was then used for all these oracles as i mentioned, to help support activists who had been arrested during summer protests, for domestic violence victims, and so forth. and it has actually become, asi forth. and it has actually become, as i said, a common phrase now that russians used to complain about

everything. so it does not look as if it is going anywhere this year, russians will be using it, talking about it. and there is a lot happening in russia this year, president putin announced he is resettli ng president putin announced he is resettling his government, which he has now done, and he plans to hold a referendum on the constitution. —— reshuffling his government. but he now has an increasingly vocal group of people in his hand to seem more willing to rally behind causes with a symbol like this, so it'll be interesting to see what it means for 2020. we will be talking about it again, i'm sure, thank you for coming in. some live pictures now from wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. this is one of the new emergency hospitals that is being built to deal with the crisis. hundreds of military medical staff have also been sent to help. remarkable, given that this part of wuhan was pretty much derelict until a week or so ago. there is a vaccine, work on a vaccine for the new coronavirus, which could be ready for use in china before the

end of the year. us pharmaceutical company in oveyours is one of a number of research facilities urgently trying to develop a vaccine. —— us pharmaceutical company inovio. we are on day 21, and unfortunately we are at over 6000 confirmed cases... they may be more than 10,000 miles away from the centre of the outbreak, but the scientists are in emergency mode. do we know what the mortality rate is? they are working day and night to come up with a vaccine that could save lives in china and beyond. scientists were able to spring into action within just a couple of days of the new virus being identified, after china posted details of the virus‘s genetic code online. we received the sequence from the chinese government. we worked overnight and the next day we had designed a vaccine. we immediately put that

vaccine into manufacture, which is the stage that it's currently in, and we hope that that will be entering into human clinical trials by early summer. that timeline is absolutely unprecedented in vaccine development. scientists here are already developing a vaccine for another coronavirus called middle east respiratory syndrome. they're using the same dna technology for this new virus from china too. swirling around in these fermenters is a very musty—smelling solution of bacteria from which the main ingredient for this vaccine, a string of dna, which it's hoped will trigger a strong immune response against this virus will be extracted. traditionally, this process can take months. but here, using these new technologies, it's been taking scientists days. the work here and in two other research facilities in the us and australia is being funded by an organisation called cepi. it's a coalition of governments and philanthropic organisations that invest in developing new vaccines for emerging diseases

as quickly as possible. doing this is exciting work, but this is a very dangerous time. this is a real viral threat and we know these viruses do not respect borders so this virus could be on our doorstep very quickly. no—one knows how the outbreak in china is going to unfold and whether a vaccine will be ready in time. it's still very early days for the vaccine being developed here, but this crucial work to help save lives is under way. tulip mazumdar, bbc news, san diego. and some of breaking news coming from rome, according to the italian news agency, the first test from that cruise ship in your room so there is no coronavirus on board. 6000 passengers on—board the ship,

docked your rome, they have been banned from disembarking after a woman was suspected of having coronavirus. she is 5a years old, and her travelling companion was also being held in isolation on the ship. but those tests appear to have proved negative. usually for the 6000 passengers who can get off the ship, docked in rome. that is the latest. in a moment, we'll have the latest business news. first, a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing brits home from the virus—hit chinese city of wuhan will take off tonight, as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2, as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, as the number of suspects charged rises slightly.

here are your business headlines on afternoon live. in mark carney‘s final interest rate meeting as bank of england governor, the bank's monetary policy committee voted 7—2 to keep rates unchanged at 0.75%. however, the mpc kept the door open to cut interest rates in the future if a post—election bounce failed to materialise. people who were mis—sold loans by wonga have been told that they will receive just a.3% of the compensation they are owed. the company, which collapsed in 2018, was once the uk's biggest payday lender, but its practices attracted intense scrutiny. uk car production sank to its lowest in almost a decade in 2019, with output forecast to continue falling this year. according to the society of motor manufacturing and traders, exports to eu countries fell by over 11% last year, but the bloc remains the industry's most important market.

but you have some good news as well. a small british electric than me to have an a major boost from the american giant ups. yes, they have just invested £3a0 million into arrival, which could still be termed asa uk arrival, which could still be termed as a uk start—up. a small british company that makes bespoke electric delivery vans and micro factories all around the uk. so they do not rely on the traditional production model, which make them very agile. and they have just received this huge boost from ubs. this is fantastic, the are going to be rolled out across europe and north america from this year through until 202a. this comes off the back of, earlier in the month, arrival also received a 100 million euros investment from south korean

companies hyundai and kia, which gave arrival a unicorn status, the term for companies that should up in value. saw a bright spot in the uk motor industry in all this bad news. yes, because as i said earlier, the automotive body issued this morning earlier that the state of uk car production is a cause of great concern. factories produce only 1.3 million units last year, the third consecutive year of declines in uk car exports. so i sort of rare bright spot, it is, people are little bits unawa res. bright spot, it is, people are little bits unawares. i have now joined by the chief strategy officer at arrival. thank you forjoining us on the line. how are you feeling after getting this latest boost of investment? it is a great day for arrival. we have been around since 2015, 800 employees, but we have beenin 2015, 800 employees, but we have been in stealth mode, and

so, as you mentioned, we had the korean investment and now we are announcing the 10,000 vehicle order from investment and now we are announcing the 10,000 vehicle orderfrom ubs, with the option to buy 10,000 more, so it is a really great time for arrival. ——10,000 vehicle order from ups. and why do you think ups and other established giants have chosen to partner with a little uk start—up, effectively? chosen to partner with a little uk start-up, effectively? ithink what is interesting about arrival is we have started from the ground up in how we design, engineer and manufacture of vehicles, so we have been able to use a lot of new technology to remove a lot of the legacy. we are vertically integrated, so we do basically everything on our own, and we have created technology that allows us to be at price parity with diesel or petrol vehicles. so when you are electric and at the same price, it isa electric and at the same price, it is a no—brainer to go electric. electric and at the same price, it is a no-brainer to go electric. talk me through also your production model, because it is quite unique, isn't it? you use these micro factories across the uk, which then allow you to make these

very bespoke made electrical vehicles based on of these skateboard platforms. just explain what all that means. so we have 10,000 square metre and micro factories, so compare that to typical industry, which is 2 million to 15 million, really large factories. so they are low footprint and low capital, which basically allows us to pick up warehouses around the uk, turning to automotive manufacturing plants, and produced locally. so we have a few in the uk for we will be producing our vehicles, and we will be able to do that globally as well, it is rapidly scalable. 0ur skateboard platform, we have multiple different platforms you can build vehicles on top of it. so ups work with us very specifically on this booking according to their use case, so how their drivers get in and out, how to use the cargo hold, and we are able to build a ship that matches that exact specifications. —— they work with us on bespoking. we will

have to leave it there, but thank you for joining me. some good news! and now the markets. we had mark carney today, no change in interest rates. which is what markets and the pounds were all focused on, because the reason there was so much talk about mark carney because my speech, it was as last as head of the monetary policy committee, he will be relieved of that post in march, but also we did not know which way it was going to go. whether we would get a cut to 0.5% or keep them on hold. they have kept them on hold, this is how the markets and the pound have reacted. so keeping a close eye on those throughout the day. we shall talk later, thank you very much. one of the last surviving battle of britain pilots — wing commander paul farnes — has died at the age of 101. there are now only two who remain. mr farnes — who flew hurricanes during the war — joined the raf as a volunteer

in 1938. richard galpin has been looking back at his life. the summer of 19a0, and the battle of britain is under way. the spitfire and hurricane pilots fighting the german air force to stop the nazis invading the country. paul farnes, who flew a hurricane, became a fighter ace in the first month of the battle, after shooting down five german planes and damaging another. and he remembered no fear. i felt completely confident the whole time. i neverfelt...i was never afraid. i never became apprehensive, really. slightly apprehensive, occasionally, but never much. he often attended the annual battle of britain commemorations. he was known as a very modest man, who'd been acutely aware of the constant losses of fellow pilots. one thing he said was that you couldn't make friends,

because people didn't last very long. people were killed on their first day in action. but yes, they were a great group together nonetheless. i was at a commemoratives lunch, 20 years ago, where the few were spread around the different tables. number 501 squadron, paul's squadron, they all insisted they had to have their own table. that was the particular camaraderie that they had. wing commander paul farnes, who'd been awarded the distinguished flying medal in 19a0, was the last of the wartime fighter aces. and there are nowjust two surviving battle of britain pilots. never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few. winston churchill recognised the extraordinary achievement of these pilots, without whom the second world war could have turned out very differently.

and paul farnes was one of the elite. paul farnes, who's died at the age of 101. now it's time for a look at the weather. into period of whether over the coming days, through the weekend as well, we will see areas of low pressure moving through, bringing spells of windy weather as we have seen today, and of course some rain as well. this is today's area of low pressure, this is the cloud are tied in with those weather fronts behind me, the next area of low pressure coming on as well for tomorrow. in between, we get some a brief respite, but we have got some drier weather around today, she was prevalent in higher areas, anti—wind across the north as well. but a lot of grey, low cloud like cloud around. if you're lucky to see some attempt is above weather should be attempt is above weather should be at this time of year, they will stay above weather should be overnight,

except into the north—east where they will get close to freezing. a touch and go for frost in this part of the world. most of us, cloud, wind and rain to hold the temperatures up. so rainbow greeters again across parts of scotland, northern ireland and northern angled for tomorrow morning. it clears quickly for scotland and northern ireland, but showers following here, a lwa ys ireland, but showers following here, always the risk of rain in the north. and thieving moves south across england and wales. just an hour or two of them, followed by some sunshine. some clearing skies through friday night into saturday, lots of showers still with us in the west, with the next area of low pressure. so temperature is not dropping below daytime averages through friday night and saturday. but already mooring gathering in the south and west, so various weather systems running an our westerly atlantic

flow, which keeps things generally speaking milder than you would see at this time of year, but with it, lots of cloud, wind and rain. colder airat times in lots of cloud, wind and rain. colder air at times in the north on sunday, which means that when the weather front comes in, we could see some wintriness. 0n front comes in, we could see some wintriness. on saturday, as we clear one area of rain out the way, takes a few hours, then we see drier weather for parts of and wales, with a few showers. but a brisk northerly wind setting and across the north of scotland, bringing something a bit colder in at least for a time, saturday night into sunday. but then the next area of low pressure, the next rain bands will bring some more rain through saturday night into sunday, taking the time to clear away. and as they come into that cold air in the north, we could see ita cold air in the north, we could see it a bit more wintry. staying so hopefully in the north of scotland, but as always, more detail as we go to the next couple of days. goodbye.

hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 3:00pm: the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight. it comes as the number of infections from the corona virus in china reaches more than 7,000. the death toll from the virus continues to rise — some families face an agonising decision over who can leave — and who must stay. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it is a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old. a royal marine who died

after being injured in training two weeks ago is named as recruit ethanjones. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again — as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. novak djokovic is one win away from a 17th grand slam title after beating roger federer in straight sets in the semi finals of the australian open. more from you later, see you then. and helen willetts is looking at the weather. iam, simon. weather. i am, simon. it is quite unsettled in the uk at the moment. windy across the tra ns—pennine in the uk at the moment. windy across the trans—pennine routes. we will take a look at global average temperatures as well in about half an hour.

never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. tributes to one of the last of "the few" — former battle of britain pilot wing commander paul farnes has died at the age of 101. hello everyone, this is afternoon live. it's been confirmed that a flight from wuhan airport to the uk will leave tomorrow morning at 5:00am local time to bring back the british people who've been stuck in the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. plans are in place for their arrival in the uk — they'll be flown into the raf brize norton base in 0xfordshire, and sent to an nhs facility in the north of england, where they will face two weeks quarantine. meanwhile the virus has now spread to tibet and all territories in china. as well as 16 other countries.

and there's a warning that the "whole world needs to be on alert" — as the world health organisation is reconsidering whether to declare a global health emergency. the death toll in china passed 170 today. almost 8,000 people have been infected. and today british airways announced it will halt all flights to and from both beijing and shanghai until the end of february. robin brant has this report from beijing. today was supposed to be the day they got out and away from this. the death toll and the number infected continues to rise here in china. the city of wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, but britons are still stuck there because of bureaucracy. we were really worried about the reports of younger and younger children becoming sick. and at the time they said it was fine, but when i received a call the next day, they said that only i could go and my son would have to

stay, which obviously was very devastating to hear. english teacher natalie's son can't go because he has a chinese passport. chris hill has a similar problem. his wife and daughter have dual nationality. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it's a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old, so it's a very hard choice to make. other countries have got their people out. japan and the us were the first of several planned flights. india and australia are among those planning others. the foreign office said it is working urgently to resolve the problem for british citizens, with talks at very senior levels. quarantine on a military base or an nhs facility back in the uk awaits. fear about the virus spreading has caused scenes like this

across all of china. even in hong kong, which has now all but cut itself off from the mainland. translation: i queued for an hour and ten minutes and bought two boxes of masks. we were running out of them at home. hong kong should act like taiwan to stop exporting masks and keep them for the locals, so that we don't have to queue for hours. more cases are being reported around the world. in italy, passengers on a cruise ship are being held on board because of two suspected cases among them. but the head of the world health 0rganization had nothing but praise for china's efforts. i will praise china again and again, because its actions actually helped in reducing the spread of coronavirus to other countries. still, though, drastic measures are being taken here, far away from the worst affected area, to try to halt the spread. office workers in buildings over 1,000 kilometres away are having

their temperatures checked daily. and in a moment, we'll get the latest from our health editor hugh pym. we will also be live in geneva where the latest meeting of the world health organization is under way and we are awaiting an announcement from them later on. 6,000 people are currently blocked on board a cruise ship near rome due to a chinese couple on board showing symptoms of coronavirus. the costa smeralda cruise ship docked at the port of civitavecchia but has not been allowed to disembark while the couple are checked by medical staff. 0ur rome correspondent mark lowen joins us now to tell us more about this. we have got news. some news reports reporting the italian news agency that the first exams, the first

tests suggest that there is no coronavirus on board that the cruise ship, at civitavecchia. a5a—year—old woman was tested this afternoon. she is from macau and she and her husband are still on board, two of the 6000 patients on board. she had shown some symptoms of the coronavirus with fever and respiratory problems. she was held in isolation on board the ship and 6000 passengers were not allowed to disembark. she has had those tests and we are hearing on the italian news agency that the first results suggest there is no coronavirus on board, the tests are negative. if confirmed, that of course will be a huge relief for not least the 6000 passengers on board, because, of course, had the tests proved

positive then in such an enclosed environment it could have been extremely worrying for those there and it could have taken a long time to test all 6000 plus the crew. we are awaiting official confirmation but according to this one report, the test results are negative. how long before they know for sure? we expect to have the final confirmation later on today. she had blood tests and her husband a p pa re ntly blood tests and her husband apparently was not showing any of the symptoms, so she was the one they were concerned about. we are told that her respiratory problems and fever were light, so perhaps it was just and fever were light, so perhaps it wasjust simply and fever were light, so perhaps it was just simply catching a cold or feeling slightly under the weather. we will know for sure later today. as for the wider situation for italy, italy is one of the countries sending a plane to wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, within the next 72 hours, and evacuating 70

passengers. there are 20 or 30 people more who are choosing to stay put but the evacuation plan is ongoing over the next 72 hours. thank you very much, mark. i think we can go to geneva where image and folks is our correspondence there. there is a world health organization meeting under way and we are waiting to hear whether they upgrade it into a global health emergency. the who metjust a number of days ago and stopped short of declaring a global health emergency, now they are meeting again. let's not forget at the last meeting there were around 500 reported cases of the coronavirus and now there are almost 8000, 17 deaths a week ago, at 170 today. we see the spread and the rise of cases in this disease. the who may still be reluctant

to take that final step of declaring a public health emergency because of course the vast majority of the cases are still contained inside china. there have been no fatalities outside china either. nevertheless, it may hope to try and calm the situation by doing this because we see quite swingeing measures already being taken by countries, stopping at aviation, russia closing its far east border, non—chinese being airlifted out. huge damage, potentially, to china's economy. the reason the who might hold back some times from declaring a global public health emergency is that it fears being too alarmist and causing unnecessary economic damage. it looks as though that's already happening and the who may say, we will issue our

sensible recommendations. thank you very much, image and focus. —— imogen foulkes. a royal marine who died in a training incident in cornwall earlier this month has been named. ethanjones was part of a group that had been practising an assault from a landing craft on tregantle beach in cornwall. it's understood the recruit had been wearing full kit and had "gone under water" during the exercise two weeks ago. the royal navy said its "thoughts and sympathies" were with his family and friends and that the incident remains under investigation. i'm joined by our defence correspondent jonathan beale. what more do we know about this? this is the first time he has been named and we know he was 20. we have a statement from the family saying he fulfilled his dream and doing something he loved, joining the royal marines were something he wa nted royal marines were something he wanted to do for as long as we remember. we are very proud of all that he achieved. this was an exercise towards the end of their training. 32 weeks of training to be a royal marine. it was a beach

assault that took place at night in the dark with them wearing their full kit, backpacks and rifles. an assault on a beach, what marines are well known for and part of their job, what makes them different from other arms of the armed forces. that training incident appears went wrong. we know that the water was deep, that a number of recruits had to be recovered back into the boat. it would have been told as well this time of year. it seems that ethan was seen too late, that he was in the water for was seen too late, that he was in the waterfor some time was seen too late, that he was in the water for some time before they recovered him. efforts were made to resuscitate him. he was taken to derriford hospital by air ambulance but a day later, the confirmation that he died in the training incident. after every training incident. after every training incident there is an investigation to make sure that all the risk assessments were correct and the procedures were followed, and

that investigation is ongoing. we also have a statement from the navy, we can confirm that the royal marine who died was ethan. thoughts are with the family and friends of recruits jones. the with the family and friends of recruitsjones. the investigation is still ongoing therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further, they say. and a verdict that'sjust come in. a man has been found guilty of trying to steal magna carta from salisbury cathedral. a jury at salisbury crown court found a7—year—old mark royden guilty of attempting to steal the magna carta and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case. royden told police the document was a fake, when in fact it was the best preserved of the four remaining copies of one of the most celebrated documents in history. the transport secretary grant shapps has defended the right of tory mps to oppose hs2 following growing criticism of the project from a number of conservative mps.

the government appears poised to give the scheme the go ahead after the chancellor sajid javid signalled his support, despite the mounting cost. let's get more from our chief political corresondent vicki young who's in westminster. this is a subject that divides not just the conservative party, not just the conservative party, not just because of the spiralling cost, knowing from 50 billion to may be over £100 million. ithink knowing from 50 billion to may be over £100 million. i think what the government is looking at is its promise to improve rail links to the north and in the north but there are many who think the money could be better spent by instead of speeding up better spent by instead of speeding up the journey time between london, birmingham and then onto manchester and leeds, actually what about trans—pennine and leeds, actually what about tra ns—pennine routes and and leeds, actually what about trans—pennine routes and what about doing more them? this huge price tag is putting off a lot of people. there is also the environmental impact. maybe not surprising to hear from a newly elected conservative mp in the county of buckinghamshire, which will be very much impacted by

this new rail link. i was very clear in the general election campaign that i am opposed to hsz. i think it is wrong for my constituency and i believe it to be wrong for the country and i made a clear commitment in the general election that come what may, i will oppose hsz. i need to convince the government there are better projects we can deliver. so, even though there might well be a rebellion in the tory ranks, of course the thing for borisjohnson in that he has a large majority so he is unlikely to lose if he decides to go ahead with it. all the signals from cabinet ministers are that they are going to go ahead with this project. it is something boris johnson is keen on, large infrastructure projects, and it is not just about the speed, bringing down a journey time between london and birmingham, it is about long—term capacity and there are other conservatives who do feel this is the right thing

to do. phase one is very likely to go ahead anyway, and that is london to birmingham. if they then cancelled the northern sections it would look really good and this is notjust about the north having a grievance about the north having a grievance about underspending. this is about economic opportunity. £15 billion a year of economic opportunity. compare that to the cost of delivering the project, the interest is around £2 billion a year. it is a no—brainer in terms of economic return. the chancellor of the obviously crucial to all of this. it would certainly help his own constituents. when you are chancellor you are looking at this huge amount of money and how else it might be spent. departments might be coming under pressure to fight their own savings so they can go ahead with the project. some news justin and some newsjustin and prince harry has lost a complaint, and

this is against the mail on sunday. the press regulator has just rule it has backed the newspaper stance that photographs that he posted on instagram of him with elephants, lions and rhinos did not quite tell the full story about how they were tranquilize and tied with ropes. the duke of sussex had complained to the independent press standards committee. the animals were drugged and tethered. what harry didn't tell you about those awe—inspiring photos. that was the headline. prince harry had complained to the press regulator and the publication questioning the relevance about the fa ct questioning the relevance about the fact the publication had been made aware of the tethering process prior to publication. they say these matters have been clearly set out in the article however the focus of the story had been the instagram posts.

this of course in number of complaints from the duke of sussex on press coverage, and we arejust hearing he has lost that complaint against the mail on sunday. backing the paper's stance that the photographs did not quite tell the full story about the animals that appeared alongside. what reaction to this later on. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again — whilst the number of suspects being charged has increased slightly. our home affairs correspondent june kellyjoined me earlier to break down the numbers. in england and wales, prosecutions we re in england and wales, prosecutions were down by 691.

although there was an increase of 25 in the number of people actually being charged. some of those people charged might not get to a full prosecution. in addition, the police are referring fewer cases to the crown prosecution service, down by a85. this morning the director of public prosecutions max hill said that while the prosecution number is down, they are prosecuting a higher percentage of the cases coming from the police so he thinks the trend is going in the right direction but nevertheless, these figures don't make good reading for them. there is an issue of trust here, for many people who look at these figures, and

trust in the system? max hill said that because they are constantly saying to people who feel they have been a victim of rape, they should come forward and people look at these figures and say, what are the odds of anyone being arrested let alone getting successful prosecution? women's groups have accused the cps of cherry picking the best cases so when the cases that were getting too caught were more likely to get a conviction. the cps has always denied that and a review last month exonerated them of that charge. a new twist today in that the women's groups are saying they are unhappy with the review that exonerated the cps and they are calling for the review to be rejected and they feel so strongly about it that they've written to the attorney general asking him to basically wipe out that review. it's been confirmed that a flight from wuhan airport to the uk will leave tomorrow morning at 5:00am local time to bring back the british people who've been stuck in the city at the centre

of the coronavirus outbreak. plans are in place for their arrival in the uk — they'll be flown into the raf brize norton base in 0xfordshire, and sent to an nhs facility in the north of england, where they will face two weeks quarantine. i'm joined now by our health editor hugh pym. this has been thoroughly thought through, obviously. thought through in the last few days, simon. there may be questions to be asked in future about how well—prepared was the uk for the sort of scenario? we've not had this sort of scenario? we've not had this sort of scenario? we've not had this sort of quarantining in modern times, that is people coming into the uk put into quarantine and not having any access to anybody from the general public for two weeks, so it is not an easy thing to set up but that may be an issue for another time. what we understand as they will be checked at the airport first by chinese officials at a handling centre and then taken to the airport departure area and british officials including immigration will check their paperwork and do more health tests. anybody who is clearly unwell at that stage will not be allowed to board and have to wait

and be tested. there will be mod medics on board the flight, they will wear protective clothing along with the crew. they will arrive at raf brize norton and be taken to an nhs facility, probably former staff accommodation, in the north west of england. we've heard from the scottish medical officer and the chief medical officer in england. there is a sense that it is not a question of if but when the virus comes. what kind of testing are we seeing? we have seen an update and they have tested 161 people in recent days in total, and not a single case as of now. all negative. in france and germany, there have been cases. so far in the uk. have also had an update that there are around 1500 people who have arrived from flights

from you wuhan, they are trying to trace them and see if they have experienced any symptoms. 900 are either clear of the virus and clear of the incubation period or are clear of the uk so that leaves 600 orso, clear of the uk so that leaves 600 or so, trying to chase them in the uk to see how they are. a lot of effort is going into this but as you say, medical officers, officials around the uk including scotland are saying, it's a question of when, not if. it is highly likely there will bea if. it is highly likely there will be a case for a few cases in the uk. 0k, thank you very much to our health visitor. i just want to show you a picture of the costa smeralda, the cruise ship off the coast of rome, where we are hearing tests on a chinese couple have... initial tests have proved negative. i am just hearing cruise companies msc and costa are cancelling all departures from

chinese ports. that is the costa smeralda, one of the costa vessels over the scare over the coronavirus. you can see some of the coronavirus. you can see some of the passengers looking down, still awaiting news as further test results are being awaited. that is the latest. cruise companies msc and costa cancelling all departures from chinese points. a man has been found guilty from salisbury cathedral. a jury at salisbury crown court found a7—year—old mark royden guilty of attempting to steal the magna carta and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case. duncan kennedy is at salisbury crown court. what's happened ? what's happened? mark royden has been found guilty of attempted theft of magna carta and criminal damage in what is, by any accounts, and extraordinary story. magna carta is one of four

in existence, really to establish the rule of law in this country. it is a priceless document, extremely rare and been described by onejudge as the extremely rare and been described by one judge as the most important constitutional document anywhere in the world. in october 2018 this man, mark royden from kent, came to salisbury cathedral, tried to disable a cctv camera to hide his actions then walked over to the secure glass cabinet that holds this document and took a hammer to it. he smashed the glass cabinet three times, couldn't get his hands on it, try to make his escape, claimed it wasn't him, got stopped outside salisbury cathedral by members of the public, including stonemasons from salisbury cathedral itself. they made a citizens arrest and mark royden was placed in custody. it is

suggested to police he did it because he didn't believe magna ca rta was because he didn't believe magna carta was real. it wasn't quite clear but he kind of claimed it was fa ke clear but he kind of claimed it was fake and he wanted to take it in order to prove it was fake. here is the background story to this case of mark royden who has just been found guilty of both counts of attempted theft and criminal damage. magna carta, a document that helped create modern justice. magna carta, a document that helped create modernjustice. mark royden, the man who tried to thwart it. watch the bottom. he arrives at salisbury cathedral wearing protective gloves. he then looks for the camera, revealing his identity. he then tries to disable the camera, but fails. he walked off towards the ancient document and attacks it. this is what he did with a hammer. he puts three holes in the cabinet holding magna ca rta he puts three holes in the cabinet holding magna carta but can't break through. mark royden

then make self, still holding what is believed to be the hammer. but he doesn't get far as outside the cathedral, staff and members of the public... i've not resisted one bit. they make a citizens of —— a citizens arrest. it was such a striking event that the cathedral has now put the damaged display cabinet on show as part of magna ca rta's cabinet on show as part of magna carta's extraordinary 805 year history. what kind of loss would it have been? it's incalculable, you can't put a price on it. there are only four magna carta documents in existence. ours, we like to think, is the best preserved. it is remarkably clear, though it has come out of a laser printer. after his arrest, mark royden suggested to police it was fake. the glass has since been replaced

and the document is safe once again. it all comes at the end of a court trial which itself is based upon the concept of justice that trial which itself is based upon the concept ofjustice that is enshrined in magna carta. and just as magna ca rta also in magna carta. and just as magna carta also intended, mark royden was treated like everyone else in the land, with his legal rights guaranteed, proving that it has remained a document that has helped put the rule of law before the law of the ruler. as you heard in the peace there, the police are suggesting that it could be that mark royden believed this document was a fake. they don't have a clear motivation as to why he did it. he will be sentenced next month. duncan kennedy, it is definitely you. thank you very much. time for a look at the weather.

helen willetts is here, and we are looking at rather spectacular images of temperature change. the met office issued a statement today to talk about the fact that they expect us to break the global average temperature record within the next five years. it was set in 2016 so although we have talked about australia having their hottest year on record in 2019, we had our highest ever recorded temperature in 2019, globally, 2016 was warmer right across the globe. i thought to illustrate it we would pick out some of these temperature profiles from nasa to illustrate what has happened post—industrial revolution. that's the year and not the time last night? no, there is a 1910. let me give you a look at what's happening here. the blue means temperatures are above the post—industrial revolution average temperature. what we would expect back in the 18505. anything yellow or above means temperatures

we re yellow or above means temperatures were higher than that and of course were higher than that and of course we have seen warming, as is shown many times since 1850. this was 1910. a few places having above the average temperature. 1970, as he can see... can i be boring? how do we know? there weren't satellites so how do we know? vegetation, fossils, ice cores. we had temperatures recording not by satellite but standard recording since the middle of the 19th century... sorry, i... no, it is a very valid question indeed. what you have to try and do i5 indeed. what you have to try and do is make sure that they are co nsi5te nt is make sure that they are consistent with the way you take that source of information because otherwise you've got garbage in, garbage comes out. you got to have consistency. i've never heard that sentence before. perhaps i'm showing my

age. moving back onto the map, so around the 19705, the year i was born, we are seeing temperature is getting above average. more yellow on the chart, the warming trend starting to 5et chart, the warming trend starting to set in. when you're talking about the global average above the 18505, we are only talking about a degree, the record is1.16 celsius. and the met office are predicting we could get as high as 1.5, 1.62 in the next five years. picture spent 1000 words, look at this one i'm quite an incredible change. in 50 years, really. what is interesting to point out, australia has had the record hotte5t year last year, but actually, there is very little landmass in the southern hemisphere, you do not get the same contrasts as in the north, where you have got

greater concentration of greenhouse gases as greater concentration of greenhouse ga5e5 as well, because there is more landmass. you do not get so much greenhouse gas emi55ion around the tropics either, and again 5kewed here, it makes the poles look much larger than they are. but we are finding that the poles are heating ata finding that the poles are heating at a much greater rate than the tropics. when we talk about 1 degrees one, it is only around 0.5 degrees one, it is only around 0.5 degrees around the equator, so it is all happening acro55 degrees around the equator, so it is all happening across the northern hemisphere. so this continuing warming trend, also are fluctuations in our weather, so 2016 was the warmest year on record globally, but there will be places around the world where there were coal spell5 during that period, as we have seen. you're in the uk, it was not the warmest last year, but we had our extreme temperature recorded. fascinating, and concerning obviously. let's have a look at what i5 obviously. let's have a look at what is happening a bit closer to home and a bit closer in time. fro5ty and bright in the last couple

of days, beautiful weather for getting out and about. but a low pressure has returned today, tightly packed isobars, and concern of your travelling as the wind. wind is around 50 or 60 mph in the trans—pennine. showery rain in the north, and that is pretty much what we are going to see for the next four or five days, tho5e we are going to see for the next four orfive days, tho5e precious ruling of the atlantic, and we will dry to fine the detail. overnight, turning chilly in the north—east of scotland, but largely frost free. for most of us, enough reason cloud to evade frost, but more rain coming into scotland, northern ireland, northern england by the end of the night. the wind is a bit down on today by tomorrow, a south—westerly which means it is mild, which will pu5h which means it is mild, which will push the rain southwards acro55 england and wales through the day, returning to brighter skies for scotla nd returning to brighter skies for scotland and northern ireland, but with showers. so not plain sailing, but at least some sunshine coming through, and again mild. we could have 15 celsius in some eastern

areas tomorrow, several degrees above average for late january. in the mild weather will continue, the odd incursion of chilly air in the north. so we have the shower is continuing friday night into saturday, watching for another weather system to push back and across england and wales for saturday morning, so could be quite a wet start. those are daytime averages, that is friday night. and the reason is the south—westerly wind coming in, pumping in this mild airat times, the wind coming in, pumping in this mild air at times, the cold are not that far away, and at times particularly saturday night into sunday, it makes its presence felt across parts of scotla nd its presence felt across parts of scotland and possibly northern ireland. we could see some snowfall, not unusual for january, but ireland. we could see some snowfall, not unusual forjanuary, but we have not unusual forjanuary, but we have not seen much of it this season. more rain, as you can see across the south on saturday morning, rain in the north. between the two, some brighter dry weather, some sunshine. feeling a bit fresher on saturday because we have the westerly rather than the south—westerly. then through saturday evening and overnight, pushing the next weather

system's rain into the south—west before midnight, which will gradually move northwards through sunday morning, coming into the cold air. to the north, fairly decent, and through the afternoon, hopefully brightening across england and wales. but the devil will be in the details with the subsequent weather systems, so if you have plans, yes it looks mild, but it will be wet and windy at times, so do stay tuned to the forecast. more on the website. this is bbc news.

our latest headlines — the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight. it comes as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. the death toll from the virus continues to rise — some families face an agonising decision over who can leave, and who must stay. a royal marine who died after being injured in training two weeks ago is named as recruit ethanjones. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 — as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. a man is found guilty of attempting to steal the magna carta and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case at salisbury cathedral. sport now on afternoon live with chetan, and novak djokovic is looking invincible at the australian open tennis,

isn't he? novak djokovic is looking very good at the moment — too good in the end for roger federer who was already battling injury, although the first set really could have gone either way. federer remember is on 20 grand slam titles overall, rafa nadal on 19 — djokovic if he wins this would move onto 17, so just three away from the record. he's the defending champion — no shock to see him in the final — but in the women's draw, two surprise results today saw the home favourite ashleigh barty go out, as did simona halep. our reporterjohn watson's been keeping his eye over all of today's semi finals in melbourne. we have the women's final complete, we will come to that in a moment.

but let's reflect on another novak djokovic victory in the semifinals here too because place in an eight australian open final. the 26th grand slam final as he brushed aside of the mighty roger federer in straight sets. roger federer are clearly struggling, received a medical timeout at the end of the first set, which he lost. and then it was comfortable in the end for djokovic, as he moved through in straight sets. djokovic hoping to successfully defend his title here, and we await who he will face in that final, the victor will come from the winner of alexander zverev and dominic thiem in the tomorrow's second men's semifinal. an upset in the first women's semifinal, ash barty, the world number one in the women's game beaten today in straight sets by sofia kenin of the united states. kenin was in inspired form as a chicken through co mforta ble, form as a chicken through comfortable, disappointment as you can imagine for ash barty, who has been carrying the hopes of a

nation. —— kenin was in inspired form as she came through comfortably. kenin goes on to face derby the groups, another surprise success for her, —— garbine muguruza. she will be hoping to add a third grand slam to her trophy cabinet, if you can come past sofia kenin in saturday's final. we will of course wait to see who goes on to face novak djokovic, dominic thiem and alex serif, all eyes on that second men's semifinal to come. —— alexander zverev. strong words from roger federer afterwards, saying he has no plans to retire at the age of 38. he called today's match horrible and he had a 3% chance of winning with that groin injury he's been nursing.

but he says he'll keep going and believes he can add to his 20 grand slams. meanwile there are two british players in finals in melbourne — gordon reid in the men's wheelchair event, and joe salisbury in the men's doubles, with his american partner rajeev ram. jamie murray and bethanie mattek—sands play their mixed doubles semi final tomorrow. 396, 3%, how would you come up with that, iam3% 3%, how would you come up with that, i am 3% likely to win? anyway, i digress. let's talk about the six nations, which gets under way this weekend. we are getting lots of team news. roger federer clearly feels he can go on. the six nations gets under way, more team news trickling through. wales face italy in cardiff on saturday. this will be wayne pivac‘s first test since succeeding warren gatland as head coach of the reigning six nations champions, and we now know george north will start at outside centre with wales struggling with injuries in midfield. uncapped scarlets wing jonny mcnicoll will take north's place on the wing. scotland coach gregor townsend

will give edinburgh number eight nick haining his international debut against ireland on saturday. there are ten changes to the starting fifteen that faced japan in theirfinal match of the rugby world cup. on sunday, remember, england take on france in paris. sport continues to be affected by the coronavirus in china, with the world motorsport governing body admitting that april's chinese grand prix near shanghai is at risk. the fia says it will take any action necessary to protect the global motorsport community and the wider public. the race is due to be held on the 19th to the 21st of april. that's all the sport for now. there's been a significant rise in the number of prison officers in england and wales taking time off because of pressures at work. figures given to the bbc under freedom of information laws show that 1,800 prison officers took time off last year because of stress, anxiety, or depression. it comes as latest figures show

the number of attacks on staff remain at record levels and, as danny shaw reports, at a time of renewed focus on the issues surrounding mental health. just a foreboding inside your belly, like you haven't done your homework as a child, but amplified a hundred times as you're getting in to go in through those doors. the fear of a prison officer. for 13 years, bob worked at some of the most challenging jails in the country, dealing with outbreaks of violence and disorder and having to help prisoners who'd harmed themselves. this former soldier, who doesn't want his real name to be known, eventually cracked under the pressure. i started to be on occasions sick on the way to work, virtually physically vomiting. my sleep was disordered. my personal relationships were strained and certainly i lost one relationship through that period, and i started to shrink back socially as well. i was seeing less and less of a circle of friends.

and you put that down to the stress at work? stress at work, absolutely. the stressful nature of prison work is seldom talked about, and the impact on staff even less so. but figures obtained by bbc news suggest increasing numbers of prison officers in state runjails are suffering from mental health problems —1,900 last year. over 1,000 were off work with stress, and more than 800 had anxiety or depression — seven times the number reported two years earlier. although some conditions may be due to problems outside work, researchers believe prison officers are vulnerable because of what they encounter every day. if you're constantly aware that you are likely to be in danger, it's part of almost like post—traumatic stress. so when you come home, you're still hyper vigilant. you're having problems calming down.

the anxiety levels are high and you can have trouble sleeping. alanjones became depressed after a prisoner hit him with a chair. he sustained serious injuries to his arm. a metal plate had to be inserted. the former prison officer sued the ministry ofjustice for failing to handle the incident properly and won. but he says his mental health suffered due to a lack of support. i'd always thought i'd be covered. you know, that if anything happened, the prison service would have something in place to look after me, to say everything will be fine, there's this in place, that's in place. and ijust felt so alone. the prison service says staff have access to trauma support, occupational health advice and counselling 2a hours a day. but bob, who was medically retired three years ago, says people considering a career as a prison officer must ask themselves if they're suited to the rigours of the role. think carefully. are they robust enough?

some people may to cope with it a lot better than i did. i couldn't. danny shaw, bbc news. companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower prior to the fire knew their materials were dangerous, but promoted them in pursuit of money. that's the claim made by a barrister representing the victims, the bereaved and their families, who was speaking today at the second phase of the inquiry into the tragedy. 72 people were killed when the building caught fire in june 2017. our reporter sarah campbell has been at the inquiry. today we have heard opening state m e nts today we have heard opening statements from the legal teams representing those families who had believed members, survivors, and residents of the grenfell tower. this is phase two of the enquiry, and it is largely dealing with the refurbishment of the tower. when that cladding was installed between 2012 and 2016. one of those

representing families said that, in both the management and refurbishment of the tower, fire safety concerns were ignored or overlooked, and she said, everything from the removal of door closers to failing to provide an evacuation plan for resident she used the phrase and epidemic level of incompetence from a fire safety perspective. the enquiry has already heard this week opening statements from all the companies involved in that refurbishment, and so today, the legal representatives have gone through those companies, and they are emphasising why they believe those companies are culpable. for example, the manufacturer of the cladding, it has argued that, as the manufacturing, it did not have a duty to check that its products were being used safely, that not necessarily aware of where the cladding was being used. the advocate said that in 201a, the company did know it posed a potential fire safety risk, in particular when formed into boxes,

which is what happened on grenfell tower. and in the enquiry, they were shown some documents from the company which revealed it had a plan to double its sales in the uk that year, and in an e—mail dated 6th of june 201a, a sales manager e—mailed a colleague a list of projects she was still working on, and confident they would get them, and on that list is grenfell tower. why is that significant? she told the enquiry, this gives the lie to their previous narrative that all it does is sell the product and it is not involved in the process of persuasion to get the company onto —— to get the product onto a building. also today of the application made by many of the companies and organisations that they will be immune from any criminal prosecution for anything that they say during this enquiry in the witness box. the advocate said the witness box. the advocate said the timing of this application was made late on monday, and the timing it gives the appearance of

sabotaging the enquiry. the core participants know that seeking these undertakings will inevitably cause delay, and the timing of this application is much to their discredit. so the enquiry will hear today from those companies as to why they are seeking immunity from future prosecution, and then the enquiry will hear on monday from the families who are clearly angry that any such application has been made. in a moment, the latest business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. a royal marine who died after being injured in training two weeks ago is named as recruit ethanjones. chancellor sajid javid throws his support behind hs2 — as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against the government.

here are your business headlines on afternoon live. in mark carney‘s final interest rate meeting as governor, the bank's monetary policy committee voted 7—2 to keep rates unchanged at 0.75%. however, the mpc kept the door open to cut interest rates in the future if a post—election bounce failed to materialise. people who were mis—sold loans by wonga have been told that they will receive just a.3% of the compensation they are owed. the company, which collapsed in 2018, was once the uk's biggest payday lender but its practices attracted intense scrutiny. uk car production sank to its lowest in almost a decade in 2019, with output forecast to continue falling this year. according to the society of motor manufacturing and traders exports to eu countries fell by over 11% last year, but the bloc remains the industry's most important market.

newcastle city council blazing a trail when it comes to inclusive leadership. yes, the lgbt equality charity stonewall has awarded newcastle city council its number one spot in its 2028 top 100 employers list, meaning that newcastle city council is the first ever city council to be voted its most inclusive employer in the uk. -- 2020. so most inclusive employer in the uk. —— 2020. so as you say, blazing a trail nick forbes is the leader of newcastle city council. congratulations, the first city council ever to reach this position since stonewall started the 16 years ago. how do you feel?” since stonewall started the 16 years ago. how do you feel? i am delighted and very proud of this achievement, the first council in the country to have achieved such a ranking, and it isa have achieved such a ranking, and it is a real tribute not only to the

staff who have worked so hard to achieve this, but also to the kind ofa achieve this, but also to the kind of a vision we have for our city, inclusive, safe, welcoming, supportive. and getting this award, i think, is a realfeather in our cap is the kind of city that we are trying to build where everybody feels they can be who they are and feels they can be who they are and feel very much at home. you have been at near the top of the sleek table for a while now and 2019, you came fifth —— at the sleek table. the highest ranking local authority for the last three years. what do you think other councils and employers can take away from newcastle city council when it comes to the issue of inclusivity and making everyone feel they are a part of the team ? making everyone feel they are a part of the team? —— top of this league table. we have fundamentally set out to create safe welcoming workspaces for everybody regardless of sexual orientation, and the stonewall equality index is the measure of us achieving that. it is important to recognise that it is notjust lgbt staff that feel valued and included,

it is everybody. to do that, we have created a really good culture with lots of allies across the organisation making sure that all of our policies are properly examined for any potential discrimination issues. and also that the services we provide genuinely match the needs of the community and our city. we have spent a long time working towards this number one spot, never thought we'd actually quite achieve it, so getting there, i think it's absolutely fantastic for everybody who has worked so hard. and i hope that by achieving this, we can be a real beacon for other organisations, a real point of learning for how to make sure that people can be who they are, exactly who they are, at work, do not put energy and effort into trying to hide themselves away or pretend that they are somebody else, that is just wasted energy, and prevents people from really achieving their potential. we will have to leave it there, but congratulations again, nick forbes, leader of newcastle city council, many thanks. a quick look at

the markets now, how they are reacting to the big news story of the day for traders out there, both on the equity markets and the currency markets, the interest rate decision from a mark carney, no change. the bets on whether they would cut them, they decided to not, because the most they decided to not, because the m ost rece nt they decided to not, because the most recent data we have had since christmas has shown that the economy is gaining confidence, is improving. but we very much left the door open for a potential rate cut, in a few months‘ time. so not that exciting after all. still pretty exciting! i will take crumbs where i can get them. all right, i will see you later thanks, alice. one of the last surviving battle of britain pilots — wing commander paul farnes — has died at the age of 101. there are now only two who remain. mr farnes — who flew hurricanes during the war — joined the raf as a volunteer in 1938.

richard galpin has been looking back at his life. the summer of 19a0, and the battle of britain is under way. the spitfire and hurricane pilots fighting the german air force to stop the nazis invading the country. paul farnes, who flew a hurricane, became a fighter ace in the first month of the battle, after shooting down five german planes and damaging another. and he remembered no fear. i felt completely confident the whole time. i neverfelt...i was never afraid. i never became apprehensive, really. slightly apprehensive, occasionally, but never much. he often attended the annual battle of britain commemorations. he was known as a very modest man, who‘d been acutely aware of the constant losses of fellow pilots. one thing he said was that you couldn't make friends, because people didn't last very long.

people were killed on their first day in action. but yes, they were a great group together nonetheless. i was at a commemoratives lunch, 20 years ago, where the few were spread around the different tables. number 501 squadron, paul's squadron, they all insisted they had to have their own table. that was the particular camaraderie that they had. wing commander paul farnes, who‘d been awarded the distinguished flying medal in 19a0, was the last of the wartime fighter aces. and there are nowjust two surviving battle of britain pilots. never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few. winston churchill recognised the extraordinary achievement of these pilots, without whom the second world war could have turned out very differently. and paul farnes was one of the

elite. paul farnes, who‘s died at the age of 101. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. today‘s weather has been a rather cloudy and great event for some, with low pressure sitting to the north. tightly packed isobars indicating some windy weather, gusts of 60 to 65 mph in the west of scotland, but perhaps some of the winds causing most of the issues will be across the trans—pennine routes here, high sided vehicles, gusting to about 60 mph. gradually easing overnight, giving a lot of cloud, but when we have breaks in the cloud, potentially in the northeast and eastern parts of england, could hover close to freezing, particularly north—eastern scotland. but for most, when the cloud and rain meaning a relatively mild night, but another great start with still coastal fog around. ——

another grey start. rain hanging around for the far north of scotland, and showers to the south, but in between, drier. at least it will be some sunshine materialising between the showers, temperatures are still reaching 1a or possibly 15 celsius and eastern areas, well above the river should be for the time of year. and they should hold up time of year. and they should hold up friday night. again, we lose the rain and southern areas for a time, could see some more returning to the south for a time. showers and when continuing in the north, so actually does the wind really that sustains the temperatures above freezing it, another mild night for most of us. and we keep the mild fema, through the weekend actually, low pressure a lwa ys the weekend actually, low pressure always around our shores, which means we will continue to see spells of wet and windy weather. we can see the weather fronts arriving to bring longer spells of rain. a look at the detail, saturday sees the rain initially across southern and eastern areas which takes a while to clear, but they do will then brighten up, those showery. then

in the north, all those showers, the cooler northerly breeze blowing on here. feeling a bit fresher, if you like, on saturday, because the air has changed slightly, but already lining up towards the south—west, sunday‘s rain, or saturday night‘s rain, spilling into the south—west and wales. quite substantial rain, so quite a soaking as that pushes its way eastwards, and some snow over the higher ground as it moves northwards into scotland. brightening up behind it with some showers, but quite a wet start to our sunday before things slowly start to brighten from the south. as ever, more on the website.

hello, you‘re watching afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. today at four. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight. it comes as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7000. the death toll from the virus continues to rise — and some families face an agonising decision over who can leave and who must stay. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it is a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old.

the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. a royal marine who died after being injured in training two weeks ago is named as recruit ethanjones. a man is found guilty of attempting to steal the magna carta and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case at salisbury cathedral. coming up on afternoon live all the sport... that afternoon. novak djokovic is a one win away from a grand slam title after beating roger federer in straight sets in the semifinal of the australian open. thank you for that. looking at the weather, it is helen. good afternoon. a rather windy commute, particularly because the trans—pennine particularly because the tra ns—pennine routes. particularly because the trans—pennine routes. the weather stays unsettled for the next few days. i will have a more detail for you past have

passed. also coming up... never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many. to so few. tributes to one of the last of "the few" — former battle of britain pilot wing commander paul farnes has died at the age of 101. hello, everyone, this is afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. it‘s been confirmed that a flight from wuhan airport to the uk will leave at 7am local time — that‘s 11pm uk time — to bring back the british people who‘ve been stuck in the city at the centre of the coronavirus outbreak. plans are in place for their arrival in the uk — they‘ll be flown into the raf brize norton base in 0xfordshire, and sent to an nhs facility in the north of england, where they will face two weeks in quarantine.

meanwhile, the virus has now spread to tibet and all territories in china as well as 16 other countries. and there‘s a warning that the "whole world needs to be on alert" — as the world health organization meets in geneva to reconsider whether to declare a global health emergency. the death toll in china passed 170 today. almost 8000 people have been infected. and earlier this afternoon, british airways announced it will halt all flights to and from both beijing and shanghai until the end of february. robin brant has this report from beijing. today was supposed to be the day they got out and away from this. the death toll and the number infected continues to rise here in china. the city of wuhan is the epicentre of the outbreak, but britons are still stuck there because of bureaucracy. we were really worried about the reports of younger and younger children becoming sick. and at the time they said

it was fine, but when i received a call the next day, they said that only i could go and my son would have to stay, which obviously was very devastating to hear. english teacher natalie‘s son can‘t go because he has a chinese passport. chris hill has a similar problem. his wife and daughter have dual nationality. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it‘s a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old, so it‘s a very hard choice to make. other countries have got their people out. japan and the us were the first of several planned flights. india and australia are among those planning others. the foreign office said it is working urgently to resolve the problem for british citizens, with talks at very senior levels. quarantine on a military

base or an nhs facility back in the uk awaits. fear about the virus spreading has caused scenes like this across all of china. even in hong kong, which has now all but cut itself off from the mainland. translation: i queued for an hour and ten minutes and bought two boxes of masks. we were running out of them at home. hong kong should act like taiwan to stop exporting masks and keep them for the locals, so that we don‘t have to queue for hours. more cases are being reported around the world. in italy, passengers on a cruise ship are being held on board because of two suspected cases among them. but the head of the world health organization had nothing but praise for china‘s efforts. i will praise china again and again, because its actions actually helped in reducing the spread of coronavirus to other countries. still, though, drastic measures are being taken here,

far away from the worst affected area, to try to halt the spread. office workers in buildings over 1000 kilometres away are having their temperatures checked daily. our health editor hugh pym says there may be questions in future over the uk‘s preparedness for coronavirus. we‘ve not had this sort of quarantining in modern times, that is people coming into the uk put into quarantine and not having any access to anybody from the general public for two weeks, so it is not an easy thing to set up but that may be an issue for another time. what we understand is they will be checked at the airport, first by chinese officials at a handling centre and then taken to the airport departure area and british officials including immigration will check their paperwork and do more health tests. anybody who is clearly unwell at that stage will not be allowed to board and have to wait and be tested. there will be mod medics on board the flight,

they will wear protective clothing along with the crew. they will arrive at raf brize norton and be taken to an nhs facility, probably former staff accommodation, in the north west of england. we‘ve heard from the scottish chief medical officer and the chief medical officer in england. there is a sense that it is not a question of if but when the virus comes. what kind of testing are we seeing? we have seen an update and they have tested 161 people in recent days in total, and there‘s not a single case as of now. so all negative. in france and germany, there have been cases. so far none in the uk. we have also had an update that there are around 1500 people who have arrived from flights from wuhan in the last few weeks, they are trying to trace them and see if they have experienced any symptoms.

900 are either clear of the virus and clear of the incubation period or have left the uk, so that leaves 600 or so, trying to trace them in the uk to see how they are. a lot of effort is going into this but as you say, medical officers, officials around the uk including scotland are saying, it‘s a question of when, not if. it is highly likely there will be a case or a few cases in the uk. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, whilst the number of suspects being charged has increased slightly. our home affairs correspondent june kellyjoined me earlier to break down the numbers. has been massive concern. there has been an increase in allegations, the number of prosecutions has gone down. the figures show in england and wales, persecutions were down by 691. there was a

slight increase, only 25 in the number of people being charged. some of the charges may not get to a full prosecution. in addition, we learned that the police are referring fewer cases to the crown prosecution service. that was down by a85. this morning, the head of the crown prosecution service, he said while the number persecutions had gone down, his teams are prosecuting more, a higher percentage of the cases referred to them by the police. although the persecutions overall are lower, they are bringing more cases that are coming from police. this is another difficult day for the cps. at the heart is the issue of confidence in the system. he acknowledges that and he says the key thing is they are saying to people, come forward if you think

you have been a victim of rape and all of these figures don‘t help. campaigners have accused the cps of adopting a bookmakers approach and only prosecuting cases where they think they have a good chance of getting a conviction in court. they have always rejected this, saying thatis have always rejected this, saying that is not what they do and they we re that is not what they do and they were supported last year by a review by an inspector which said there was no evidence they were doing that approach. the campaign groups believe it is the case and any new twist they have to the attorney general, and amongst them also with them the victims commissioner, and they are writing to the attorney general say they do not accept the review and they are calling for it to be rejected. a man has been found guilty of trying to steal the magna carta from salisbury cathedral. a jury at salisbury crown court found a7—year—old mark royden guilty

of attempting to steal the magna carta and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case. duncan kennedy reports. mark royden has been found guilty and criminal damage. this is what is and criminal damage. this is what is an extraordinary story. it is one of the four in existence created in 1215, sent to all parts of the kingdom, to establish the rule of law in the country. it is a priceless document, extremely rare and described by a judge as the most important constitutional document anywhere in the world and in october 2018, this man, mark royden, came to salisbury cathedral just down 2018, this man, mark royden, came to salisbury cathedraljust down the road here, tried to disable a cctv camera to hide his actions, then walked over to the city where glass cabinet that holds this document and took a hammer to it. and it smashed the glass cabinet three times, couldn‘t get his hand on it, try to make his escape, claimed it

wasn‘t him, got stopped outside the cathedral by members of the public including stonemasons from salisbury cathedral itself. they made a citizens arrest and he was placed in custody. it is suggested to police that he did it because he didn‘t believe that magna carta was real, he claimed it wasn‘t quite clear, that it was fake, he wanted to take it in order to prove it was a fake force of this is the background story to mark royden who has been found guilty on both counts against him. magna carta, him. magna ca rta, the him. magna carta, the document that helped create modern justice. magna carta, the document that helped create modernjustice. mark royden, the man who tried to thwart it. watch the bottom, he arrived at salisbury cathedral wearing protective gloves. he then looks to the camera revealing his identity. he then tries

to disable the camera. but fails. and he walks off towards the ancient document and tax it. this is what he did with a hammer. he puts a three holes into the cabinet but can‘t break through. he then makes off, still holding what is believed to be the hammer. but he doesn‘t get far as outside the cathedral staff and members of the public make a citizens arrest. mark royden is taken into custody. the pain that was assaulted. it has now put the damaged display cabinet on show as part of magna carta‘s extraordinary 805 year history. how much of a loss would it have been? incalculable com you can‘t put a price on it. there are only four document still in existence. there we re document still in existence. there were more originally. and

ours we like to think is the best preserved, it is remarkably clear, like it has come out of a laser printer. after the arrest, mark royden has suggested to police that the document was fake. you can see the glass has now been replaced and the 3500 word document is safe once again. it all comes at the end of a court trial which is based on the concept of justice that court trial which is based on the concept ofjustice that is enshrined in magna carta. i‘m just as magna ca rta also in magna carta. i‘m just as magna carta also intended, mark royden was tracked like everyone else in the land with his legal rights guaranteed. it has remained a document that has helped put the rule of law before the law of the ruler. as you heard in the piece, the police are suggesting that it could be that mark royden believed the document was a fake, they don‘t have

a clear motivation to why he did it and mark royden himself will be sentenced next month. a royal marine who died in a training incident in cornwall earlier this month has been named. ethanjones was part of a group that had been practising an assault from a landing craft on tregantle beach in cornwall. it‘s understood the recruit had been on tregantle beach in cornwall. wearing full kit and had "gone under on tregantle beach in cornwall. water" during the exercise two weeks ago. the royal navy said its "thoughts and sympathies" were with his family and friends and that the incident remains under investigation. earlier, i spoke to our defence correspondent, jonathan beale. this was an exercise towards the end of their training, 32 weeks of training to be a royal marine. it was a beach assault that took place at night, in the dark, obviously, with them wearing their full kit, backpacks and rifles. an assault on a beach, what marines are well known for, and part of theirjob, essentially, and what makes them different from other arms of the armed forces, and that training incident, it appears, went

wrong. we know that the water was deep, that a number of recruits had to be recovered back into the boat. it would have been cold as well at this time of year. it seems that ethan was seen too late, that he was in the water for some time before they recovered him. efforts were made to resuscitate him. he was taken to derriford hospital by air ambulance, but a day later, the confirmation that he had died in that training incident. of course, after every training incident there is an investigation to make sure that all the risk assessments were correct and the procedures were followed, and that investigation is ongoing. so we have a statement from the navy, too. "we can confirm that the royal marine who died was ethan. "thoughts are with the family and friends of recruitjones. "the investigation is still ongoing therefore it would be "inappropriate to comment further", they say. you‘re watching afternoon live,

these are our headlines. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus—hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight, as the number of infections from the corona virus in china reaches more than 7000. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. a royal marine, who died after being injured in training two weeks ago, is named as recruit ethanjones. novak djokovic beats roger federer in the australian open final leg semifinal to be on course for his eighth title in melbourne. there will be a new name on the women‘s trophy, sofia cannon shocks world number one ashley batty to set up world number one ashley batty to set upafinalagainst world number one ashley batty to set up a final against the former wimbledon champion. judge mata switches from wing to centre for wales as they begin at their six nations title defence against italy

on saturday. i would be back with those stories at half passed four. the transport secretary grant shapps has defended the right of tory mps to oppose hs2, following growing criticism of the project from a number of conservative mps. the government appears poised to give the scheme the go—ahead, after the chancellor sajid javid signalled his support, despite the mounting cost. here‘s our chief political correspondent vicki young. this is a subject that divides not just the conservative party but also others because of the spiralling cost going from around 50 billion to maybe over £100 billion was not what they are looking at is the promise to improve rail links to the north and in the north but there are many who think the money could be better spent by instead of speeding up the journey time between london and birmingham and then manchester and

leeds, what about a trans—pennine routes, what about more for them? the huge price tag is putting up a lot of people. there is the environmental impact, so maybe not surprising to hear from a newly elected conservative mp in the cou nty of elected conservative mp in the county of buckinghamshire who will be impacted by this new railing. —— rail link. i was very clear in the general election campaign that i am opposed to hsz. i think it is wrong for my constituency and i believe it to be wrong for the country and i made a clear commitment in the general election that come what may, i will oppose hsz. i need to convince the government there are better projects we can deliver. so, even though there might well be a rebellion in the tory ranks, of course the thing for borisjohnson in that he has a large majority so he is unlikely to lose if he decides to go ahead with it. all the signals from cabinet ministers are that they are going to go ahead with this project. it is something borisjohnson

is keen on, large infrastructure projects, and it is notjust about the speed, bringing down a journey time between london and birmingham, it is about long—term capacity and there are other conservatives who do feel this is the right thing to do. phase one is very likely to go ahead anyway, and that is london to birmingham. if they then cancelled the northern sections it would look really bad and this is notjust about the north having a grievance about underspending. this is about economic opportunity. £15 billion a year of economic opportunity. compare that to the cost of delivering the project, the interest is around £2 billion a year. it is a no—brainer in terms of economic return. the chancellor obviously crucial to all of this. it would certainly help his own constituents. when you are chancellor you are looking at this huge amount of money and how else it might be spent.

departments might be coming under pressure to find their own savings so they can go ahead with the project. the widow of basketball star kobe bryant has made her first comments, since her husband and their daughter were killed in a helicopter crash on sunday, alongside seven others. vanessa bryant posted a photo of the family on instagram, and said they were "completely devastated" by the sudden loss of kobe and their 13—year—old daughter gianna. she wrote "thank you for all the prayers — we definitely need them". a huge search is under way in mexico city after a man alleged to be a senior member of the powerful sinaloa drug cartel escaped from a high security prison. officials say victor felix beltran and two other inmates managed to get through five locked doors as they made their escape. ten prison staff are being investigated. the commons speaker lindsay hoyle has called for an end to bullying in parliament, saying abusive behaviour will not be tolerated. he told journalists at a press gallery lunch

that he believed bullying had taken place and that westminster had been an unhappy place. our political correspondent nick eardley has the story for us, and joins me now from westminister. who is he talking about? no one in particular, but since lindsay hoyle became a speaker a couple of months ago there are big changes here, less ministers being hauled before parliament, things are sticking to timea parliament, things are sticking to time a lot more, we hear a lot less from the man in the chair than we did under his predecessor. i think what lindsay hoyle is trying to do todayis what lindsay hoyle is trying to do today is draw another line under what came before and say the atmosphere in this place, the way people are treated has to change completely. his message was that there has been volleying in parliament in the past, that shouldn‘t be a big surprise to many people because we have seen the numerous complaints made in the past talking about how some staff were bullied in the past, lots of

complaints made, some public and private. lindsay hoyle says under me, now! private. lindsay hoyle says under me, now i am in charge, it stops, it has to be a new culture of respect and that sort of behaviour is not going to be tolerated any more. many people will note that one of those who has been accused of bullying is mr hoyle‘s predecessorjohn bercow. he has denied doing anything wrong but we have seen complaints from former senior members of boco ‘s star. lindsay hoyle said he was never the victim of laying when he was one of mr burke‘s deputies. not going into the details of what happened when john bercow going into the details of what happened whenjohn bercow was in thatjob and saying we had a working relationship, that is as much as i will say. he has also spoken about the idea thatjohn bercow should get a peerage with the speaker saying his name should be put forward to the committee that decides on these sorts of things but they have to

make a call, if the complaints have been made by some of those who worked with john been made by some of those who worked withjohn bercow been made by some of those who worked with john bercow about bullying will mean he cannot get the peerage. some interesting comments from the new speaker on bullying, where he says he will not tolerate it. the number of british people who own property in france has fallen since the brexit refendum in 2016, but in some pockets of the country, estate agents have reported a brexit boost, with uk buyers in a race to find a home there before britain leaves the eu. our paris correspondent, lucy williamson, reports from the dordogne in south west france. karen and her husband came to europe to find a lifestyle they see britain has lost. the kennels they run in the dordogne have been home for the family since april. now, they say they will stay here no matter what brexit brings, even if it means becoming french. quite a change

for a couple who, back in 2016, voted to leave the eu. if i had crystal ball and like you say, three years‘ time... ooh! suddenly we‘re in france. you know, it is like, and now brexit is going to happen it is like, you know. for our own personal thing now, if you are voting just for myself, it would be stay. but, forthe uk, i stillthink leave is...could be beneficial for the uk. the family live near the pretty town of eymet in the dordogne, where17% of the population is british. there‘s even a weekly fish and chip van. terrie simpson owns nine estate agents in the region. after an initial dip in interest, she says brexit has been good for business. as time has gone on, i think people have become either used to it or frustrated with it or they have actually bought despite it. a lot of people have tried to work

to the deadlines around brexit, so last year was the busiest year we have ever had. now, i have got a big picture that will go... frieda has just moved here from scotland at the age of 80 to be close to her daughter, joanne. planning where to hang her paintings is the easy part. planning for her health care and residency rights after brexit is much harder. though little will change until the transition period ends. there is no way that we would go home. if france didn‘t want us, we would look for another european country to go to. i voted to remain, i love free travel and i feel sorry that that‘s been taken away. but we will make the best of it. uncertainty over brexit has become part of daily life here. the weak pound has made everything more expensive, but in this british heartland of france, panic over brexit has largely faded into stoicism,

denial and determination to stay. frieda is already a regular at the weekly market in eymet, where local goods mix with favourites and back home. president macron is fond of saying the british will always be neighbours. here in eymet, anglo—french relations don‘t span the channel, but the width of a garden wall. now it‘s time for a look at the weather. hello. a predominantly cloudy picture for what is left of daylight, some breaks in eastern parts of northern scotland, perhaps across northern ireland. you see the low pressure dominating, tightly packed isobars. it continues to be windy, not particularly pleasant for travelling across the trans—pennine routes. the winds ease a little, the rain clears away bed more rain coming back in. that is the

picture with all the cloud, wind, temperature is largely above freezing, a touch of frost in the clearing skies in the north and east. a friday, a band of rain in central and western areas which will move southwards and eastwards. drier and brighter weather following with sunshine but equally showers, still blustery winds tomorrow, nudge down on those of today but slightly lower temperatures but still mild for this time in january. you temperatures but still mild for this time injanuary. you will see the weekend focused on the website. —— weekend focused on the website. —— weekend forecast on the website.

this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the foreign office confirms a plane bringing britons home from the virus—hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight. it comes as the number of infections from the coronavirus in china reaches more than 7,000. the death toll from the virus continues to rise. some families face an agonising decision over who can leave and who must stay. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again, as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. a royal marine, who died after being injured in training two weeks ago, is named as recruit ethanjones. a man is found guilty of attempting to steal the magna carta, and causing £1a,000 worth of damage to its display case at salisbury cathedral. sport now on afternoon live, with

chetan. we are talking the australian open tennis, and novak djokovic looks unstoppable. he is looking outstanding. too good in the end for roger federer who was already battling injury — although the first set really could have gone either way. federer remember is on 20 grand slam titles overall, rafa nadal on 19 — djokovic if he wins this would move onto 17, so just three away from the record. he‘s the defending champion — no shock to see him in the final — but in the women‘s draw, two surprise results today saw the home favourite ashleigh barty go out, as did simona halep. our reporterjohn watson‘s been keeping his eye over all of today‘s semi finals in melbourne. we have the women's final complete, we will come to that at the moment but let'sjust we will come to that at the moment but let's just reflect on another novak djokovic victory in the semifinals here to book his place in

an eight australian open final, a 26 grand slam final as he brushed the mighty roger federer aside in straight sets. fed iraq clearly struggling as he received a medical timeout at the end of the first set, which he lost, then it was —— fair direct —— roger federer clearly struggling. djokovic successfully looking to defend his title here, we await the victor from the winner of alex zverev and dominic thiem in tomorrow's second men's semifinal. it was an upset, though, in the first of the women's semifinals, ash barty, the world number one in the women's game, beaten today in straight sets by sofia kenin of the united states. she was in inspired form as she came through a. disappointment, as you can imagine, for ash barty, who has been carrying the hopes of a nation here at this home australian open. hopeful that they would see a first female australian into the final here in a0 years. the party

is over though. sofia kenin faces gruber. former australian finds here she felljust short here, grabbing a grocer coming through in straight sets. she will be hoping to add a third grand slam to her trophy cabinet, if she can come through sofia kenin in saturday's final. of course we wait to see who goes on to face novak djokovic, dominic thiem and alex zverev, all eyes on that second men's semifinal tomorrow. jon watts in there. strong words from roger federer afterwards, saying he has no plans to retire at the age of 38. he called today‘s match horrible, and he had a 3% chance of winning with that groin injury he‘s been nursing. but he says he‘ll keep going and believes he can add to his 20 grand slams. meanwhile, there are two british

players in finals in melbourne — gordon reid in the men‘s wheelchair event, and joe salisbury in the men‘s doubles, with his american partner rajeev ram. jamie murray and bethanie mattek—sands play their mixed doubles semi final tomorrow. fed basically saying he is 97% below par, i suppose. fed basically saying he is 97% below par, isuppose. let‘s move fed basically saying he is 97% below par, i suppose. let‘s move on, the six nations gets under way, it is going to be a crackle. —— cracker. we‘re just a couple of days away now from the start of the six nations. wales face italy in cardiff on saturday. this will be wayne pivac‘s first test since succeeding warren gatland as head coach of the reigning six nations champions, and we now know george north will start at outside centre with wales struggling with injuries in midfield. uncapped scarlets wing jonny mcnicoll will take north‘s place on the wing. scotland coach gregor townsend will give edinburgh number eight nick haining his international debut against ireland on saturday. there are 10 changes to the starting

fifteen that faced japan in theirfinal match of the rugby world cup. on sunday, remember, england take on france in paris. sport continues to be affected by the coronavirus in china, with the world motorsport governing body admitting that april‘s chinese grand prix near shanghai is at risk. the fia says it will take any action necessary to protect the global motorsport community and the wider public. the race is due to be held on the 19th to the 21st of april. that‘s all the sport for now. now on afternoon live — let‘s go nationwide — and see what‘s happening around the country — in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. annabel tiffin is in salford, where the team at north west tonight are covering the return of hundreds of brits returning from

wuhan. we arejust we are just hearing we arejust hearing in we are just hearing in fact, annabel, it is 150, that has just been confirmed, so there you are, i am giving you some news as well. with you and just a moment. and in birmingham is nick owen, bringing us the story of a baby bank, which supports struggling families in stoke—on—trent. they say referrals are at an all—time high. back with nick in a moment. annabel, what more do we know? about this flight back. we don't know much, we do know it is 150 people now, as you said, and we know it will be landing at brize norton military base in 0xfordshire, and the reason we are doing this story is we then believe that 150 passengers will then be brought up to the north—west. now, where, we don‘t know, the question is i suppose what sort of place can house that number of people. we do know it will be an nhs facility with the capability of treating if necessary there 150 people. now, liverpool has a lot of expertise in this type of thing. there is a team based at liverpool university currently working on a new test to

identify the virus, and the royal liverpool hospital is one of only four in the country that can treat anyone confirmed as having coronavirus. so far as we know, though, these people arejust being far as we know, though, these people are just being quarantined, far as we know, though, these people arejust being quarantined, there is no evidence or suggestion that any of them actually have the disease, and actually logix is really the priority would be to keep these people out of the big urban centres and really away from anyone else. why has it taken so long to get them out of china? well, this seems to be administrative, about getting flight clea ra nce administrative, about getting flight clearance from the chinese authorities, which for some reason had been problematic. but now according to the foreign office, the plane will leave china at around 9pm our time. it is then due to land at around midday our time tomorrow at brize norton. now, one of those who will be delighted to be on that flight will be delighted to be on that flight is 81—year—old veronica theobald, who we have featured in the past or north west tonight. she was in wuhan visiting her grandson, who works there. she

has a lung condition, copd, was running out of medication, so it was really urgent she got back as soon as possible. her grandson, khan lambert, who gave up her grandson, khan lambert, who gave up his place on the flight before the quarantine arrangements were announced because he said he wanted to avoid the risk of avoiding other people. now that they will be quarantine he had changed his mind and he told me earlier he had to make a really quick decision about going on the flight. we haven't been given any details about the quarantine at the moment, basically we we re quarantine at the moment, basically we were just told that you will acce pt we were just told that you will accept you will be going into quarantine what you get on this flight quarantine what you get on this flight and arrived in the uk, and we had to say yes or no well we were on the phone to the foreign office this morning. he and his grandmother veronica will be on that flight. meanwhile, the world health organisation is expected to declare this and international public health emergency. plenty more tonight on north west tonight. 6:30pm, bbc one.

nick, a nappy project in stoke—on—trent. tell us more. nick, a nappy project in stoke-on-trent. tell us more. it is a nappy project but it provides a much more than nappies, food, clothes and other essentials to struggling families in stoke—on—trent, and literally hundreds of mothers come along. a typical example is one who said things took a difficult turn with herfamily when her things took a difficult turn with her family when her husband went down with tb and she was on maternity leave. they were financially desperate. another mother came in financially desperate. another mothercame in and financially desperate. another mother came in and asked why certain brand of baby food, when asked why she said she was eating it herself, she said she was eating it herself, she could not afford to feed herself, and you can tell things are getting worse because the women who founded the project, hayleyjones, said they have had 100 new referrals in the last month alone, a5 this week and 12 new ones just today. you mention the lady who started it but how did it all get under way? she set it up nearly two years ago now, she was actually running a bedtime story service to try to improve literacy in the potteries when mums

started asking randomly she had anything like food or shampoo for instance, and she could see there was a real need for some of these essentials. she started off helping just 20 struggling mums. now she deals with, you heard earlier, a50 families and wishes she could offer more. you look at some women and you can see they are broken, and you can't do anything to save all of them, and the hardest bit is when you see somebody and you know what you see somebody and you know what you need to do and you know what you need to give them and you know how to help, but you can only give them what they are asking for. the project is now desperately seeking new premises as the church hall where they are based has a leaking roof and it has been condemned. they are also looking to raise around £20,000 to help things along. they want to get charitable status, and they are hoping to take their service out into the community, and they are also asking for donations of baby milk, medicine isa for donations of baby milk, medicine is a nappy cream. incidentally, i must tell you this, hayley has

nine children of her own. respect, simon. indeed. sleepless nights, for her at least a nyway. indeed. sleepless nights, for her at least anyway. nick, thank you very much, plenty more, midlands today, 6:30pm. thank you both very much. that is nationwide tonight. if you would like to see any more of those stories, access on the bbc iplayer. companies involved in the refurbishment of grenfell tower prior to the fire knew their materials were dangerous, but promoted them in pursuit of money. that‘s the claim made by a barrister representing the victims, the bereaved and their families, who was speaking today at the second phase of the inquiry into the tragedy. 72 people were killed when the building caught fire in june 2017. our reporter sarah campbell has been at the inquiry. today we have heard

opening statements from the legal teams representing those families who had bereaved members, survivors, and residents of the grenfell tower. this is phase two of the enquiry, and it is largely dealing with the refurbishment of the tower, when that cladding was installed between 2012 and 2016. one of those representing families said that, in both the management and refurbishment of the tower, fire safety concerns were ignored or overlooked, and she said, everything from the removal of door closers to failing to provide an evacuation plan for residents. she used the phrase "an epidemic level of incompetence from a fire safety perspective". the enquiry has already heard this week opening statements from all the companies involved in that refurbishment, and so today, the legal representatives have gone through those companies, and they are emphasising why they believe those companies are culpable. for example, the manufacturer

of the cladding, it has argued that, as the manufacturing, it did not have a duty to check that its products were being used safely, that it was not necessarily aware of where the cladding was being used. the advocate said that in 201a, the company did know it posed a potential fire safety risk, in particular when formed into boxes, which is what happened on grenfell tower. and in the enquiry, they were shown some documents from the company, which revealed it had a plan to double its sales in the uk that year, and in an e—mail dated 6th ofjune 201a, a sales manager e—mailed a colleague a list of projects she was still working on, and confident they would get them, and on that list is grenfell tower. why is that significant? she told the enquiry, this gives the lie to their previous narrative that all it does is sell the product and it is not involved in the process of persuasion to get the product onto

a building. also today is the application made by many of the companies and organisations that they will be immune from any criminal prosecution for anything that they say during this enquiry in the witness box. the advocate said the timing of this application was made late on monday, and the timing it gives the appearance of sabotaging the enquiry. "these core participants know that seeking these undertakings will inevitably cause delay, and the timing of this application is much to their discredit". so the enquiry will hear today from those companies as to why they are seeking immunity from future prosecution, and then the enquiry will hear on monday from the families who are clearly angry that any such application has been made. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the foreign office confirms a plane

bringing britons home from the virus hit chinese city of wuhan will take off later tonight as the number of infections from the corona virus in china reaches more than 7000. the number of rape prosecutions in england and wales has fallen again — as the number of suspects charged rises slightly. a royal marine who died after being injured in training two weeks ago is named as recruit ethanjones. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. in mark carney‘s final interest rate meeting as governor, the bank‘s monetary policy committee voted 7—2 to keep rates unchanged at 0.75%. however, the mpc kept the door open to cut interest rates in the future if a post—election bounce failed to materialise. people who were mis—sold loans by wonga have been told that they will receive just a.3% of the compensation they are owed. the company, which collapsed in 2018, was once the uk‘s biggest payday lender but its practices attracted intense scrutiny.

uk car production sank to its lowest in almost a decade in 2019, with output forecast to continue falling this year. according to the society of motor manufacturing and traders exports to eu countries fell by over 11% last year, but the bloc remains the industry‘s most important market. it isa it is a non—as far as i can see, no change in interest rates. —— a nonstory. i am insisting it is a big story. they have left the door open to change it again. cliffhanger rate decisions must i suppose the excitement is that it was mark carney‘s last at the helm, he is due to hand over to andrew bailey in march, and usually in the run—up to these things we have more of a sense of which way the bank is to go, but this time it was really 50—50. there

we re this time it was really 50—50. there were lots of arguments as to why they might cut the rate to 0.5% but at the end they kept it on hold at 0.75%, no change was not a quick word about unilever, having to change their tea habits. we are famous the world over as a nation of tea lovers, a great skill of hours but apparently the traditional builder‘s bru is going out of fashion. we are all drinking our herbal teas and different sorts of speciality premium black teas, so unilever that has brands like pg tips and lipton are having to drastically rethink what they do about all of them. i know you are a herbal drink yourself. have they got into a brouhaha? oh, yes. emma—lou montgomery is from fidelity international. let‘s talk about tea in a moment. first of all, mark carney at noon today, his final rate setting announcement as the head of the bank

of england before he hands over to andrew bailey in march. there was a lot of build—up to this, we didn‘t know which way it was going to go, then there was the decision to keep rates at hold at 0.75%. what did you make of it all? there was suggestion that after the dismal christmas retail sales and disappointing wage figures that came out of the end of la st figures that came out of the end of last year that there was an odds—on, well, 50—50 chance of some sort of rate rise was top we know there is one potentially on the cards because the economy is not really booming, and there was talk it would be this month. obviously that hasn't happened. one thing i say is it doesn't mean there is some dramatic turnaround in fortunes, they are still forecasting growth to come in at an average of 1.1% over the next three years, so that has more than half of the chancellor's target, so we are still in dangerous territory, not dangerous, but uncertain territory, but the fact is there are still a lot of factors that can tip the balance, and the bank has

actually said it is prepared to cut interest rates if needed to stimulate the economy. you are so right, mark carney said it himself, less a case of so far, so good. so far, good enough, and made it very clear the door is still open to a potential rate cut. but the most recent economic data we have had so far in this year has been largely positive, but as you say, the gdp figures in the run—up to christmas, the retail figures weren‘t great. let‘s change tack and talk about unilever, and the fact that the british tea drinker is no longer a lwa ys british tea drinker is no longer always wanting a build‘s bru, we are now favouring our herbal teas and premium teas. so we have this announcement that the consumer giant unilever is considering perhaps selling some of their tea brands. unilever is considering perhaps selling some of their tea brandslj selling some of their tea brands.” know, i think this is the shock news of the day, apparently tea is not everyone has my cup of tea any more, i suppose you could say. it is a huge market, black teas to be the

thing everyone drank, we would celebrate, commiserate with it, always have a cup of tea, milk and sugar, but people are drinking that any more. trendy types are going for coffee may be, or fruit teas, but it is still a very lucrative market. the tea market is worth something like £767 million a year, so unilever does in particular want to rid its hands of this, it isjust may be looking at possibly selling, although it has said it will look at all options. pg tips and lipton's brands. but it is a real turnaround for a nation of tea drinkers, like you said, to this sudden shift away from good old builderindeed. one wonders if this is notjust about theissue wonders if this is notjust about the issue of tea itself but also the structure of these huge conglomerates, like unilever, is it pa rt conglomerates, like unilever, is it part of the efforts of the new chief executive alan jobe to refocus the company on a smaller, slimline number of brands? i think that is exactly it. he has come in and said he wants to look at all the brands

and make sure they are brands that are popular, but for unilever. it is pa rt of are popular, but for unilever. it is part of a general shake—up and making sure unilever is positioned to give consumers what they want. good to get your thoughts. markets. let‘s see. they have been trading in negative territory all day about quite a narrow width. the ftse100 reacting to that non—decision to keep interest rates on hold. thank you very much. winston churchill praised them as "the few" — the second world war pilots who protected the skies over britain in 19a0. one of the last surviving battle of britain pilots, wing commander paul farnes, has died at the age of 101. there are now only two who remain. mr farnes, who flew hurricanes during the war, joined the raf as a volunteer in 1938. richard galpin has been looking back at his life.

the summer of 19a0, and the battle of britain is under way. the spitfire and hurricane pilots fighting the german air force to stop the nazis invading the country. paul farnes, who flew a hurricane, became a fighter ace in the first month of the battle, after shooting down five german planes and damaging another. and he remembered no fear. i felt completely confident the whole time. i neverfelt...i was never afraid. i never became apprehensive, really. slightly apprehensive, occasionally, but never much. he often attended the annual battle of britain commemorations. he was known as a very modest man, who‘d been acutely aware of the constant losses of fellow pilots. one thing he said was that you couldn't make friends, because people didn't

last very long. people were killed on their first day in action. but yes, they were a great group together nonetheless. i was at a commemorative lunch, 20 years ago, where the few were spread around the different tables. number 501 squadron, paul's squadron, they all insisted they had to have their own table. that was the particular camaraderie that they had. wing commander paul farnes, who‘d been awarded the distinguished flying medal in 19a0, was the last of the battle of britain fighter aces. and there are nowjust two surviving pilots from that time. never in the field of human conflict was so much owed, by so many, to so few. winston churchill recognised the extraordinary achievement of these pilots, without whom the second world war could have turned out very differently. and paul farnes was one of the elite.

paul farnes, who‘s died at the age of 101. astronomers have revealed never before seen images of the sun. the striking high resolution images of our closest star‘s surface were captured by a solar telescope in hawaii. images showing what looks like a collection of gold nuggets will allow scientists to study the workings of the sun. freya cole spoke to the director of the observatory. babbling away on the sun‘s surface are cell—like structures known scientifically as solar granulation. never before have they been seen this close and for astronomers this discovery is a big step towards unravelling many mysteries. i was just very, very happy. we have spent 25 years of work on this telescope. the whole team of engineers and scientists have basically put their lives work into this.

the gold nuggets might look small under the telescope but in reality they are about the size of texas. the bright centre is very hot plasma, the dark cracks are where it goes to cool. this is the machine inside the telescope used to capture the images. experts hope it will hold the information needed to predict the sun‘s erratic weather. the sun generates this immense amount of energy and stores it in a magnetic field that sometimes becomes unstable and leads to solar eruptions. flares, ejections that impact us very much here on earth. power grid failures, communication failures, satellites can be taken out by solar storms. there is still a lot to figure out but never before has earth felt so close to its closest star. freya cole, bbc news.

now it‘s time for a look at the weather with helen willetts. hello. today‘s weather has been a rather cloudy and for some great event, because low pressure is with us. sitting to the north. the tightly packed isoba rs us. sitting to the north. the tightly packed isobars indicating some windy weather, gusts of 65 mph in the west of scotland, but perhaps some of the winds causing most of theissue some of the winds causing most of the issue will be across the trans—pennine the issue will be across the tra ns—pennine routes, the issue will be across the trans—pennine routes, high sided vehicles, gusting to about 60 mph as well first up they gradually ease overnight. we keep a lot of cloud but when we have brakes, potentially in the northeast and eastern parts of england, it could have a close to freezing, particularly north—eastern scotla nd freezing, particularly north—eastern scotland but for most was the wind, the cloud, the rain, meaning a relatively mild night but another great start with still hill and coastal fog around. the winds will bea coastal fog around. the winds will be a notch down on today but still windy, bringing some rain. that weather system southwards, some rain hanging around in the far north of scotla nd hanging around in the far north of scotland but in between it will be drier, it will be brightening up and yes, we will see showers but at

least there will be some sunshine materialising between. temperatures will still reach 1a, possibly 15 in eastern areas, well above where they should be for this time of year. they should hold up friday night. again, we lose the rain in southern areas for a time foster we could see some more returning to the south later. the showers continue in the north, as does the wind, so it is the wind that sustains the temperatures above freezing. another mild night for most of us. and we keep that theme through the weekend. but low pressure is was around our shores, which means we are going to continue to see spells of wet and windy weather. but throughout, not a com plete windy weather. but throughout, not a complete wash—out, that we can, but you can see those weather fronts arriving to bring longer spells of rain. the detail. saturday sees the rain. the detail. saturday sees the rain initially across southern and eastern areas, it takes a wee while to clear, but then the day brightens up to clear, but then the day brightens up but it will be a bit showery. in the north as well, showers, cooler northerly breeze blowing, and it will feel a little bit fresher if you like on saturday, because we have changed the air slightly.

but already lining up to the south—west, we have saturday night, sunday‘s rain, spilling into the south west and wales. quite substantial, so we will have quite a soaking as it pushes eastwards and we will see some snow over the higher ground as it moves northwards into scotland. behind it, it brightens up with some showers but quite a wet start to our sunday before things slowly start to brighton from the south. as ever, there is more on the website. —— start to brighten up from the south.

today at 5pm, the death toll from the coronavirus rises to 170. it‘s now reached every region on the chinese mainland. an evacuation flight to bring 150 british nationals back to the uk from the chinese city at the centre of the outbreak is due to leave in the next few hours. some families face an agonising decision over who can leave and who must stay. would you be willing to leave your family behind to go to safety? it‘s a very hard and moral question because my daughter is only four years old.

7000 passengers and crew are trapped on a cruise ship in italy after fears two chinese holiday—makers are carrying the virus. we‘ll have the latest on the spread of the virus and how quickly a vaccine could be developed. the other main stories on bbc news at 5pm: the chancellor, sajid javid, throws his support behind hs2 as a number of tory mps consider rebelling against a government go—ahead. the number of rape prosecutions continues to fall. there‘s a renewed appeal for victims to have the confidence to come forward. a man is found guilty of trying to steal a copy of magna carta, smashing the protective glass around the 805—year—old document using a hammer.