evacuations are underway in several counties, as the risk of flooding continues after storm dennis. severe flood warnings remain in place in england and wales — the river wye is at the highest level ever recorded we don't actually know how high it is, all we know is i've never had a tide line on our fields this high before. the mess we are going to have to clear up is phenomenal. we'll be live on the river severn. also on today's programme: a british couple on board a cruise ship quarantined in japan say they've tested positive for coronavirus 35,000 jobs are to go at hsbc, after the bank's profits fell by a third bbc news learns some transgender people are self medicating with hormones bought online — because of the long wait for specialist nhs appointments

and a government adviser resigns, after a wave of criticism of his past comments about eugenics and race and coming up on bbc news the champions league knockout stages get under way later. liverpool play atletico madrid at the stadium where they lifted the trophy last season. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. evacuations are taking place in shropshire and herefordshire amid severe flooding in parts of the uk. one woman died after being swept away in worcestershire, hundreds of homes have been flooded after the rain caused by storm dennis, and the river wye in monmouth has reached its highest level on record.

there are nine severe flood warnings in place — seven in england and two in wales — meaning there is a danger to life. and there are 162 flood warnings in place across england, wales and scotland — which mean immediate action is required. 0ur correspondent phil mackie is by the river severn in worcester. yes, this is a flood event like we haven't seen for at least a decade, perhaps longer. you heard about those record levels on the river wye, they'd be near to that on the river severn in the last couple of days as well, but things are gradually beginning to improve. this morning. however, more pigs making their way down the river severn, perhaps bringing the river back up to levels we saw yesterday, terrible time especially for those people who thought they had been protected by

flood defences but because the river has been so high, it has breach them. there's water everywhere, this is where two rivers meet and over the past few days it's been as high as anyone can remember. we came through this village with such force it knocked down this wall, leaving mayhem in its wake. that is the flood plain, this river a raging torrent, miles and miles of water. the green bank as the flood defence that protected the nearby village, it came over the top of that, the environment agency is pumping the water to allow people back into their properties. the water came up to about here. chris has been flooded before but not this badly and not since the defences were built. this was footage he shot yesterday morning, when it was at its highest level. we were told when they built the flood defence, we wouldn't have been flooded and they said that was a one—off, we really

thought we were safe and although there'd been a couple of near misses over the last few years we were still confident we would not get flooded again. roads are beginning to reopen but it's still not easy to get about. in worcester, they are used to this kind of thing, this row of houses been flooded five times this winter. but it doesn't make it any easier. quite a lot of the properties we can see have lifted their floors, they've got ceramic tiles, wash proof plaster so when the flood water is gone, they can wash down, sanitise and try and get on with normal living. there have been calls for even more money to be spent on flood defences because of the increasing regularity. we've got to realise now, what we call one in 100 year floods when they happened 14 years ago have happened three times in 21 years. we've got these incredibly high levels from the river severn which are akin to what we saw in 2007 but elsewhere, we've been saying all—time record highs and we got to plan for that. ten

miles south in upton upon severn they feared defences would be breached last night, it was close with the properties were saved. the river at levels have fallen. but we are not out of the woods yet, there are not out of the woods yet, there are still properties flooded and now we started to move into the recovery stage, however, there is more water, more rain due and that could lead to further flooding. the advice is heed the warnings, still make preparations and particularly for journeys, plan yourjourney and do not drive into flooded rivers. further up the river severn there is another peak making its way down the river, in ironbridge in shropshire they evacuated properties, in herefordshire residents have been rescued from a care home and while things may be beginning to look better, there's more bad weather forecast so the danger won't past forecast so the danger won't past for several more days. so, we managed to get around a lot of the west midlands in that piece, let's not forget wales, there have been

terrible flooding over the past couple of days. the river wye is seeing in one area its highest ever recorded levels, remember in hereford yesterday this happened, this is the same peak a surge of water travelling down the river wye and it's got some distance to go before it heads out into the bristol channel. there's also a yellow weather warning now in place particularly for north wales but also affecting south wales for heavy rain, perhaps 100 millimetres in north wales from tomorrow night. that's not to help the situation anywhere, some of that rain actually feeds back into the river severn. subsequent to that, probably more bad weather to come. we are a long way from getting out of the woods at the moment you can see how tight the river is, they are pumping out the restau ra nt river is, they are pumping out the restaurant at the moment. i note that restaurant has been flooded many times over the years but they had hoped they had managed to flood proof themselves, so people are gathering to look at the floods and ta ke gathering to look at the floods and take pictures but i think probably what will happen over the next

couple of days as we will see river levels go down but then come back up again. thank you phil maggie. a british couple on board a quarantined cruise ship in japan say they've tested positive for coronovirus. sally and david abel from northamptonshire are among 74 britons on the diamond princess, which was quarantined in the port of yokohama two weeks ago. more than 500 people on board have contracted the virus — they're due to be transported to specialist hospitals from tomorrow. 0ur correspondent nick beake sent this report. for two weeks, the diamond princess has been a floating prison. more than 3000 people quarantined to prevent the corona virus spreading on shore. but all the time, more and more passengers have been testing positive on board. 30 seconds must be up, let's see british tourist david and sally abel had been documenting their experience and pleading with the government to help

them leave the ship. we had a message from the embassy to say there's the possibility, there might be things happening, there be things. but there is nothing constructive. there certainly is no aeroplane on the way to japan to pick up the brits. not to the best of our knowledge. we have not been informed of that, 0k? of our knowledge. we have not been informed of that, ok? but this morning in a facebook post david revealed the couple had both tested positive for the virus. their son says britain has treated them appallingly. i've seen the cracks in the armour, coming down, my mum brea ks the armour, coming down, my mum breaks into tears frequently, when we call her. and my dad is short tempered. but this is all because of the situation they are in, they are not getting any communication from our country, which is terrible. following america ‘s lead, south korea is among the country is preparing to fly at citizen song.

using its presidential plane to do so. using its presidential plane to do so. the uk foreign office now says it's working to organise a flight back. but an evacuation is unlikely to happen today. all this, as china released findings from the biggest study so far on this corona outbreak. health officials in china looked at more than 40,000 cases of the corona virus and concluded that more than 80% of them were mild. unsurprisingly, the elderly and the sick were most at risk. the research also highlights just how dangerous the virus can be for doctors and nurses on the front line. as medical director of a hospital in wuhan, for the outbreak began, this doctor led the outbreak began, this doctor led the fight against this invisible killer. but he has now died after contracting the virus in cell. back in the port of yokohama, where so many are so desperate to leave, the britons on board are among those who

must wait longerfor britons on board are among those who must wait longer for their misery to end. europe's biggest bank, hsbc, has announced plans to cut 35,000 jobs after profits fell by a third last year. it's not yet known how many positions will be lost in the uk. our business correspondent ben thompson is here — how much do we know at this stage? few details at this point, thank you. hsbc employs more than 40,000 people in the uk, it has its headquarters here. but so far, few details about where the axe will fall. we know it will slash 35,000 jobs over the next three years. taking the bankpos macro global workforce to around 200,000. the cuts are much deeper than forecast, they took the city by surprise. 0ne in sevenjobs will go, they took the city by surprise. 0ne in seven jobs will go, it's expected the european and us investment banking business will bear the brunt but the bank hasn't been specific about where the cuts will come. all

of this is the bank records pre—tax profits of just over of this is the bank records pre—tax profits ofjust over £10 billion, down by more than a third on the year before, blamed on several key issues. chief executive noel quinn blamed the impact of the coronavirus, given that hsbc makes most of its revenues in asia. he is also blamed uncertainty over the eu withdrawal —— the uk withdrawal from the eu, with consumers and businesses putting off spending or investment until there is more clarity. and historically low interest rates around the world have made it more difficult for the banking giant generate profits. analysts say the cuts will be a smaller bank, more focused on economies in asia. it depends on where those staff numbers are being lost. if they are in unprofitable parts of the business, then naturally you could argue that's a benefit because you're not only not losing money any more but you are saving on the headcount. taking investment banking as an example, not only is this very

capital intensive, it requires a lot of funding, the return on that is lower than other parts of the business, but the salary count for the headcount is much higher than other parts of the business so you could quite easily argue that it's actually better for business rather than worse. so a three year plan, a smaller bank and an anxious time for the firm's 40,000 uk staff. but the one job it is looking to fill? the topjob. hsbc says it will make a permanent appointment of a new chief executive within the next six to 12 months. he'll inherit hsbc‘s third major overhaul in less than a decade. thank you. a government adviser has resigned, after a wave of criticism about past comments he made about eugenics and race. andrew sabisky suggested black people have lower iqs than white people, and is also alleged to have said compulsory contraception could prevent creating what he called a permanent underclass. he was drafted in to number 10 after the prime minister's chief adviser, dominic cummings, called for ‘misfits and weirdos' to apply to advise the government. mr sabisky accused the media of selective quoting and hysteria.

0ur political correspondent jessica parker reports. andrew sabisky, hired to work at the heart of government after dominic cummings, the prime minister's senior aide, said he wanted to recruit misfits and weirdos. reporter: why did you hire sabisky? today, not an apology from mrcummings, but a reading recommendation. reporter: have you got any more weirdos? read philip tetlock's superforecasters, instead of political pundits who don't know what they are talking about. reporter: so, do you regret his appointment? in iraq and afghanistan, our troops fought bravely... andrew sabisky, seen here in a 2017 bbc programme, is a self—described superforecaster — someone who can supposedly predict future events. but it was past comments online in his name that caused controversy. he was reported to have said that...

also... and... so are applications to work at number ten being properly screened? i think we should prevent racists from coming into number ten, or wherever he was working. i think we do need to look at these processes. but the fact is his remarks have been identified and now he's very quickly been pushed out. andrew sabisky may be out, but downing street's refusal yesterday to condemn the remarks attracted searing criticism from opposition mps and caused disquiet too on tory benches.

i think his comments were racist, they were deeply unpleasant towards women and disabled people, and that is why yesterday i had to call out the fact that number ten were not distancing themselves from his comments. announcing his resignation, andrew sabisky claimed he'd been selectively quoted, saying... this number ten operation has repeatedly signed a willingness to take on its critics, but even though its power doesn't actively lie behind this door, mr sabisky‘s departure shows that downing street isn't immune to political pressure. jessica parker, bbc news.

—— power does lie. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is at westminster. is this the end of the matter, do you think? i suspect it may not be, because the absence of one little word and that is sorry. despite the fa ct word and that is sorry. despite the fact under sabisky ‘s comments have been described as racist, repelling, unacceptable there hasn't been a hint of repentance, contrition, apology from number ten or indeed from andrew sabisky who we have seen has gone on to attack the media as has gone on to attack the media as has his boss, dominic cummings. the question is quite no apology? and i think the answer is in part because well, borisjohnson think the answer is in part because well, boris johnson does think the answer is in part because well, borisjohnson does not really do sorry but perhaps more importantly, because downing street isn't sorry. they are prepared to ta ke isn't sorry. they are prepared to take on so—called weirdos and misfits to see if they can challenge conventional thinking at westminster and challenge the westminster establishment which is why number ten does not want to be seen to be being browbeaten by the westminster

village into apologising and why elsewhere, we've seen a number ten ready to square up to what it sees as the establishment, the bbc, the judiciary, or the house of lords. the risk though with that strategy as you can spend an awful lot of your time continually crossing the road to have a fist fight with some of the other residents of the westminster village, rather perhaps than getting on with what mrjohnson likes to call people ‘s priorities. norman, thank you. our top story this lunchtime: evacuations are under way in several counties in england and wales, as the risk of flooding continues after storm dennis. and still to come — the name's eilish. .. billie eilish — we meet the 18—year—old singer who is performing the theme to the new james bond film. coming up on bbc news: mako vunipola will miss this weekend's six nations match against ireland.

the prop has returned to tonga for family reasons. the rest of eddiejones' squad is unchanged. next week, members and official supporters will begin voting in the labour leadership and deputy leadership contests. over the next three days we'll be looking in depth at the three candidates hoping to become leader of the opposition. today, our political correspondent iain watson looks at the career of the shadow business secretary rebecca long—bailey. what i'm talking about is real aspiration. it's called socialism, and it's what we believe in. cheering. aspirational socialism, that's rebecca long—bailey's pitch. firmly in the left of the party, she is certainly a socialist. but as for aspiration, well, shejoined labour in 2010, became an mp in 2015, wants to lead the party in 2020 and become a potential

prime minister by 2025. the daughter of a docker, she did a whole range ofjobs before being elected to represent salford. mostly, though, she was a solicitor, working on nhs contracts. but she also did this. i worked in a pawnshop, that's p—a—w—n shop. laughter. she is backed by the left—wing grassroots group momentum and the big unite trade union. her critics call her the continuity corbyn candidate, and certainly she rated his leadership ten out of ten. she's the candidate closest to his politics but, unlike the current labour leader, she wouldn't rule out pressing the nuclear button. if you have a deterrent, you have to be prepared to use it. she thinks too much was crammed into the 2019 manifesto, but she doesn't distance herself from the contents. she said she didn'tjust agree with the policies, she's spent the last four years writing them and as shadow business secretary she is particularly proud of her work on her party's environmental stance. it was a great set of policies,

both for our quality—of—life but also for our industries, and we need to recognise that we didn't really do enough to sell that in the election campaign. 0n brexit, unlike some of her rivals, she is said she'd been against a second referendum and the party's offer of a new public vote had simply baffled the electorate. we talked about having a vote on the final deal, and the next question that came was, well, are you going to vote for your own deal, if you get a deal? and then the answer to that was, well, we're not sure, because we'll have to see what it looks like. and that was a bit of a disastrous position for us to be in. but what does she do to relax? well, she says she's pretty down—to—earth. no one gets the way of my netflix and chinese takeaway on a friday night. apparently i wasn't exciting enough when i said that. i don't know what they expect me to do. start, like, paragliding on a friday night or something? but perhaps some of her leisure pursuits have a bit more edge. well, i'll leave it up to you to decide why i was in amsterdam. it's either my inherent love of flower markets or it was to partake

in the local delicacies. rebecca long—bailey is working hard to rally the labour left. but the big question is whether she can reach out to other members of her party and then to the country. that report from iain watson. average weekly wages have returned to pre economic crisis levels for the first time. figures from the office for national statistic show weekly pay reached £512 in the three months to december — the last time it was this high, after adjusting for inflation, was before the downturn in 2008. 0ur economics correspondent andy verity is here. so, finally we are at a point where wages can buy a little more than 12 yea rs wages can buy a little more than 12 years ago? cause for celebration, you can see the pattern on this charge, we are a £512 that we, the average wage now, it was equivalent in 2008, not the same number because it has been growing, it was

shrinking for a long time, as you can see, in real terms, because wages were not coming john michael keeping up prices, it grew again, then shrink again, now it is back here. but you are talking about pay, sign 511.61 per week, only 65p more in terms of the goods it will buy than 12 years ago. that is not a positive economic record, in fact thatis positive economic record, in fact that is the worst record for improvement in living standards this country has gone through in the last 200 years. so it is quite a poor record, that way. some quite interesting figures in terms of the number of eu nationals in the workforce at the moment? we have had the numbers are nationality and country of birth, nationality, you had an increase in the number of eu workers here, up 36,000, in the year to the last quarter of 2019, and

non—eu workers went up by 49,000, but then compare that with uk nationals joining but then compare that with uk nationalsjoining the but then compare that with uk nationals joining the workforce, which was up by 227,000. interestingly, that has been the pattern ever since the 2016 brexit referendum, although there have been fluctuations in the eu and non—eu nationals it is pretty much as compared to this bigger trend for uk born or national people to join the workforce. that may bear some relation to what we were discussing in the first question, if household income is not keeping up prices, you need to do more work. thank you, andy verity. some transgender people are self—medicating with hormones bought online from unregulated sources, because of the lengthy waiting times to see nhs specialists. the bbc has learned that in some parts of the country, patients can wait more than two years for an appointment. the target in england is 18 weeks. one woman told us she was so low, she felt her only choices

were self—medicating or suicide, as michael cowan reports. kara is a 20—year—old law student. she's been on the waiting list for a gender identity clinic for two years so far. last summer she started self—medicating with oestrogen pills she bought online. she's aware of the dangers, both and mentally. but with all risks considered, for kara and many others, she saw it as her only option. i was so low before that it basically felt like a choice between suicide or self—medicating, because i couldn't deal with the thought of further masculinisation, in my case. data obtained exclusively by the bbc has found every trust in england is consistently missing their target of 18 weeks. in northern ireland, their target is to be seen within 52 weeks, but patients will wait

over three years. wales and scotland don't have targets but the highlands are home to the uk's shortest waiting time, at 32 weeks. london's tavistock clinic weren't able to provide accurate figures, but anecdotal evidence points to patients waiting up to two and a half years to be seen. nottingham has the longest wait in england atjust under three years. dr grainne coakley at sheffield's gender identity clinic acknowledges wait times contribute to self—medication, but would caution against it. if you take testosterone, there is a risk of a condition which can lead to spontaneous clotting of the blood. again, there's increased risk of clotting if you take oestrogen. if that's not being monitored by a gp, somebody isn't having regular blood tests, then they are putting themselves at risk. we bought hormone projects from unregulated websites based outside the uk.

we sent them to a lab to test their authenticity. the oestrogen products appeared to be authentic, but the testosterone we received contained only one out of the four ingredients it claimed to, meaning it's a counterfeit product and potentially unsafe to use. is it fair that you had to make that decision? it obviously was my choice, but i feel like i've been basically forced into it, because in no way, shape orform do i want to be taking hormones not under the guidance of a medical professional. michael cowan, bbc news. now, she's only 18 — and she's already won a clutch of grammy awards and has a number one album. billie eilish is also the youngest artist to perform a title song for ajames bond movie —

and tonight she'll sing no time to die at the brit awards. she wrote the song with her brother, and in the run—up to tonight's performance, they've both been speaking to louise minchin. you made history at the grammys, you played at the oscars, you are right on your way to having number one here in the uk. how does it feel to be finneas and billie right now? 0verwhelming. it feels... yeah, it's insane. it's super crazy. we just feel really lucky, mainly, ithink. it's a surreal thing, our lives, as a whole, but it... we are very grateful for it. # i'm the bad guy... # duh! take us back a bit, for those who don't know a lot about you. you collaborate together, your brother and sister, you are best friends... mmm—hmm. is that true for both of you? yes! i know it's true you say that, yes? oh, yeah. undoubtedly, yeah. how did you start working together? it was, like, 2015. i was 13, he was 17. and...

it was kind of... i don't... it wasn't a joke, but we kind of had this, like, i don't know... i remember finneas one time was like... i said this in an interview a couple of months ago, he wasjust, like, literally, this was a joke, he said this as a joke, "dude, i'm going to make you the biggest pop star in the world!" name? bond. james bond. # i've fallen for a lie... so, the bond song... correct. no time to die. does somebodyjust give you a call? how does it work? i don't actually remember. i do know that we've been wanting to make a bond song for years, and i rememberat the beginning of last year it was like we kind told our whole team that we were like, team that we were like, "hey, if any bond things come, we want to be involved if we can possibly be. whatever we have to do, we will do."

# you were never on my side... who does it matter most? your mum's point of view, or daniel craig's? my mom's point of view or daniel craig?! she is actually in the room with us. i think you'd better say mum. what are you going to say? wow, it's a really hard one. well, this is the first song i know daniel's opinion of, of ours. oh, you know the opinion? what has he said? well, he had to like it. if daniel doesn't like it, you don't get the job. he's got a big say in it. we learned that from this. ididn't... i didn't think that would happen, but he's really involved. he could have vetoed it, wow. absolutely. you have a huge amount of instagram followers. yeah. do you still read everything that's on instagram? no. i stopped, like, two days ago. just... literally two days ago. have you stopped stopped? i stopped reading comments, fully.

because? because it was ruining my life. was it? once again. yeah. it's weird, like, the cooler the things you get to do are, the more people hate you. it's crazy. so you're playing at the brits tonight... crazy. yeah, so that's crazy for you, even at this stage? yes! do you feel nervous? i'm just nervous to hit the belt, to hit that high note. i'm terrified. first time ever. billie eilish speaking louise minchin there. and making me feel very, very underdressed. time for a look at the weather. here's darren bett. let's turn to more serious matters. even though the weather has turned more showery, there are rivers in england responding to the rain from storm dennis, a number of severe flood warnings. records river levels in the trent, in the