what the role of a conservative mayor is. this will be a great contribution to the national debate to get people to think, well, maybe they are onto something there. affordable in the west midlands will mean homes with rents or mortgages costing less than 35% of typical incomes among lower—paid key workers. private house—builders will have to offer smaller and cheaper houses. will there be some developers who will say, "we can't make the numbers add up"? i suspect that there probably will be. not every developer has a business model like our own. we are a partnership housing company. so i suspect, yes, there will be companies who see this as not being able to make the returns that their business might demand. so, can the private sector be relied upon to deliver the genuinely affordable homes needed? labour's mayoral candidate in the west midlands argues for state intervention, not just redefining affordable. it's a lovely idea, but do you know what, we just need to build more houses. so the number of houses for social

rent, council houses as we used to call them, we're building 17% fewer in our region than we were last year. at that pace, it's going to take us until 2052 to clear the council waiting list. when it comes to housing, affordability is more than a definition or a marketing pitch. if public sector workers are priced out of a decent home, that's about our values as a nation. mark easton, bbc news, wolverhampton. now it's time for a look at the weather with chris fawkes. hello. the weather continues to cause some issues for the next few days. we still have 112 flood warnings currently in force, and we could see some further flooding problems over the next few days, because we have more rain on the way. the rain is quickly spreading in at the moment. it's going to move across wales, the midlands, whereas scotland, northern england, at least for a time, will have some clearer skies, allowing temperatures to dip away to about 2 degrees in many towns and cities. the milder conditions working in to the south—west. as we head into monday morning, as the rain bumps into some of that colder air, we see it turn to snow for a time across northern england and scotland,

particularly in the hills, but maybe also down to lower levels, and it could cause some disruption as we head into monday morning. it's not the only problem, though. we have a band of rain pushing its way southwards and eastwards across england and wales. this could bring another a0 to 50 millimetres of rain to the hills of wales, which sets the scene for further flooding in the week ahead. hello, this is bbc news. the headlines... four of the cruise ship passengers taken to the wirral test positive for coronavirus, and are transferred to specialist infection centres. the virus has spread to 21 countries. six people have now died in south korea, and a third death has been confirmed in italy. politicians in south wales say westminster needs to stump up more money for those affected by the region's recent floods. in las vegas, tyson fury produces the best performance of his boxing career to become the new wbc

heavyweight world champion. with house prices in england hitting record highs, we report on the struggle to make homes affordable for first—time buyers. now on bbc news, it's the travel show. this week on the travel show: carmen's chilling in northern japan, despite a lack of snow. wooo! i'm in brazilfor the countdown to carnival. i don't know what i'm doing! and we hit the road in america, with one man and his very devoted dog.

this week we're kicking off on japan's northern island, hokkaido. it's the country's winter playground, hosting skiers and snowboarders from everywhere. it's also home to one of the world's famous winter events — the sapporo snow festival. but, sadly, milder temperatures and drier conditions have led to problems for organisers this year. so carmen has pulled on her snow boots and headed north to see how they're coping. the wide open spaces of hokkaido. at any time of year people come here to be outdoors, but especially injanuary and february — the height of the ski season. the resorts on hokkaido are globally renowned, partly because of the quality of the snow. but also there's a real

diversity in the landscape which provides fast black runs, gentle nursery slopes and loads of backcountry off—piste skiing. but this year, there's been a problem. it's the lowest snowfall on record injapan since 1961. and at this resort here they had to delay their opening by one month because there just wasn't enough snow. so do you think skiing as a pastime, a winter pastime, might be in danger?

all of this is difficult to hear if this is the highlight of your sporting year. but the weather's had an even bigger impact at the bottom of the hill. this is the sapporo snow festival, held every february right in the heart of hokkaido‘s capital. laughter. wooo! up-tempo music plays. it's a big deal and famous internationally. about 2 million visitors come every year. most people come for the incredible snow sculptures. it started in 1950 as a way for high school students to publicly display their sculptures, but now it's grown into

something quite different. teams come from all over the world to compete and, for me, watching them sweat is just as much fun as seeing the final result. gosh, this is serious business. look at this man here, he's even got a sculpture, a mini version. hi. what's it going to be? it's going to be the legend of pele the fire... pele? 0h. ..the fire goddess on the big island, the volcano killer whale. they say that when the flames would go to the heavens she would do a hula to the gods. wow! her spirit would be inside the fire. so this is the australian entry, and it's going to be, eventually, a waratah, is an indigenous bush flower.

because we've had the bushfires over the summer and the flower is like a beacon in the australian bush and it's got to regenerate after the fire. so we're going do this beautiful flower with a beautiful flower head and it's going to regenerate and it's an ode to the bushfires from summerand our country, australia. great. this is our team up on the top. hi, guys. hello! hi! konnichiwa from japan. so how long have you got? tell me the logistics of the snow festival competition. there's11 international teams. but we're all, equally, given the same amount of tools and we've got four days. so we work from nine o'clock in the morning until nine at night. we can have breaks whenever we want. basically today we're marking out and each day we'll progressively remove the snow and then start to put the detail and then finish off the beautiful flower of the waratah. so what are conditions like this year compared to last year? there's a lack of snow this year. it's been reported that the snowfall is 40 days late, they said. wow. so there should be a lot more snow.

and in past years, we've been standing against the sign and the snow's been up to the bottom of that sign. so we're actually standing... wow. ..so we're really low. with the good quality snow, it's really easy to cut and carve. the snow quality is a bit less than what we would we have, but it is snowing now, which is great. as this year's festival opens, the hills around the city were measuring snowfall of about 60cm. normally it's close to a metre. so, where did all the materials come from? well, a massive logistics operation sprung into action. thousands of lorries scooped up snow from around the island and brought it into sapporo.

let's hope next year doesn't show a further decline. and, by the way, if you're interested in how the australian entry turned out — here it is. the waratah flower — symbol of the country's resilience following those forest fires. and the winners? well, for the third year in a row, first place went to thailand for this mother and baby sea turtle. well, if you're still keen to hit the slopes, here's the travel show guide to some places other thanjapan you might want to think about.

two of scandinavia's biggest resorts are now much easier to get to. scandinavian mountains airport opened in december and serves norway's biggest resort, trysil and salen in sweden. salen‘s only a 10—minute drive, but you can also book a transfer by dog sled. the airport's served by london, copenhagen and aalborg. if you're in europe and would rather not fly, there are plenty of seasonal train options running to the resorts in austria. there's another month left on the alpine express, for instance, the sleeper train which runs all the way from the netherlands, through germany, to a number of stations that serve about 100 different resorts. it's one way to shave a substantial amount of the carbon footprint of your trip. and if you can't get your act together before the end of the season in the northern hemisphere, there's always copenhill in the danish capital — open all year round. it's an artificial slope built onto the side of what they say is the cleanest waste energy power

plant in the world. once you're done with skiing, you can try tobogganing, climbing, or hiking. and if want, you can book ahead you have a peek of the incinerator inside. still to come on the travel show: i'm getting ready for this year's carnival here in rio. and we meet and easy—riding duo taking on an incrediblejourney across the usa together. so don't go away. this week we're in rio de janeiro, a city certainly not lacking in colour. there's graffiti, there's music, but nothing quite prepared me for this. this is the selaron staircase, first created 30 years ago by chilean artistjorge selaron

as a way to brighten up his local neighbourhood. there are more than 200 of these kaleidoscopic steps. it's a bit like a giant i spy. there's photos, little mosaic tiles of princess diana, bob marley, kazakhstan, right in the middle. as its fame grew, people from all over the world contributed tiles to the project. for selaron, it was a cumulation of his life's work. he died in 2013. his body found at the foot of the stairs. but his creation lives on. today it's a big tourist attraction in a largely safe section of the city. get here after 10am in the morning and you'll probably be jostling for space. this isjorge selaron‘s legacy. tiles were sent here from all of the world to create it, now tourists come here from all over the world to enjoy it.

it really is a special spot here in rio dejaneiro, brazil. up next, it's time for another of our incredible journeys. michael fiala and his best buddy, a siberian husky called sox, are part way through a truly amazing road trip across america. their aim is to take on all 50 states and 61 national parks and, as you can imagine, they're turning quite a few heads as they do it. we caught up with them as they arrived in florida. my name's michael fiala and this is my dog, sox, and we are currently travelling all over the country. we're trying to visit every single state and every single national park in the country all on a motorcycle.

this all started when i actually went on a trip abroad and i wasn't able to bring sox with me, and when i got back the greeting that he gave me, it was really heart—warming, but it also made me feel kind of bad because i knew that he was really upset that i was gone for so long. so i kind of rearranged my bucket list to do all the things i could do with sox. his safety is my absolute most important thing. i know that my eyes are on the road at all times, that i am fully attentive to what's going on. at this point in time, he's now got almost 3,000 hours on a motorcycle. and so i'm not concerned with sox falling off, because he knows how to shift his weight, he knows how to hold onto me. every national park has blown me

away, just the cosmetic beauty of it, looking across a landscape that you've seen nothing that looks like that in your life. it's really impressive. and then of course the fact that every single time i'm there and i'm enjoying some sort of view i look down and my dog is doing the exact same thing, he's taking in the experience just as much as i am. my best memories with him was when we were actually in big bend national park in texas and we were driving on a highway and a deer actually ran across the road. i saw the deer run across and then run into the woods. but when i actually looked back on his go—pro you could see that he watched the deer run into view and then traced it as it was running off in the woods. i'm enjoying all these moments, but when i look at film like that and see that he was seeing the same

thing i was, to me that's really special. i get a lot of people who say, well, you should strap him down so that he's secured to the bike. but it's a common misconception. truly, the safest thing for a motorcyclist is to be able to get away from the bike, so god forbid if anything ever did happen, the best case scenario is for us to be away from the motorcycle, away from the accident. don't go in there! buddy, you are going to be cold tonight. i'm doing this because there's too many people that say, "i wish i did" in their life.

and i don't want to be one of those people. i want to say i did the things i wanted to do and i don't want to wait until i'm much older to say, ok, now i can life. to me, you don't know how long your life is going to be so you should just live it, and i have to include him, because he's living it too. sox!

this weekend, millions of people across brazil are preparing for the world's biggest party — carnival. the main celebration in rio de janeiro lasts five days, but the action does not stop there. over 500 parties line the streets of rio during carnival season, and this year you're in luck, because the mayor has more than doubled the celebration, from 23 days to 50. so in 2020, there's plenty of time to join the fun. carnival began here almost 300 years ago as a ball for the portuguese elite. but since then, it's opened up to everyone. local groups called samba schools prepare all year round for the events, designing floats and costumes and planning epic dance routines. these schools are often located in poor neighbourhoods, which beyond carnival preparations

also provide havens for local children, teaching them vital skills to help them later in life. this is you in the photo? yes! it's got to be, right? wait, ah, this one! yes, that's me. the smile‘s the same. king benefited first time from the social outreach provided by her samba school. you know, when you grow up in a favela you don't have of opportunities, so when you get the chance to have an opportunity, you just grab it. so i started at the social project when i was about nine. and then i got a chance to learn english, that's why i'm communicating with you, because i got a course for free through the social project. so this is the part that most people don't know, the way that people can be part of the samba school. so the party is good, the social idea, it's much more important.

patchy public funding means the samba schools have to find clever ways to support themselves. king's school, grande rio, has turned to tourism. they've opened the doors of their workshop to those who want to catch a glimpse of the monumental effort that goes into carnival‘s centrepiece parade. along with other ex—samba school students, king is now one of the tour guides here. wow. this is the backstage of the carnival. this is the most fun i've ever seen in a warehouse. i think so. we have six floats in here. only six floats?! only six. inside of this warehouse, only six. i guess i assumed this was a float, this was a float, that was another float, but they're the size of city blocks, almost? yes. they'll be massive. yes, yes. you can really see the scale of the operation. the parade is a serious business. the samba schools all compete against each other for a big cash prize.

each school keeps their plans and designs top—secret. so much of rio grande‘s workshop is strictly off—limits to tourists. but i've been allowed a rare behind—the—scenes look. i'm having a hard time understanding this. this is all for your parade? it is, this is only for our samba school. all this warehouse, all the costumes are ours. all the welding, the sewing, the machines? everybody‘s working on one show, your parade? yes, everything. we can have about 3000 costumes, easily. so this is one show out of thousands, because it looks as though these headdresses have five, six, eight, maybe, per headdress. there's be a hundred headdresses. you know, the last time i did arts and crafts i was probably in grade five. i have not worked with sparkles in a long time. this is the part i'm good at. ready? laughter. 0k.

0k! not bad for a first one, eh? you think so? he said it's amazing. it's amazing! somehow i don't believe him. grande rio has been running for more than 30 years. the school's current leader, camilla, has grown up with it. we have an educational programme called the schools carnival and we have many courses, all through year, for free. when you meet the families and the kids and you understand the passion that they have, why not to get this and transform it for education? especially in brazil, a place that needs a lot of effort to make people's lives better. ok, of course, the parade is amazing in itself and all the kids love it, but all year long, you need something more for these kids.

camilla's school of carnival gives these kids hope and three times a week they all come together to rehearse for the highlight of the year — the carnival parade. moments like these are why i travel. i don't exactly know what is going on, but it's a rehearsal? ah, yes, this is the place where we actually do the rehearsal. so as you can see, it's an enormous place. we can get involved, apparently! i don't know what i'm doing! but maybe that's half the fun.

behind me in this building a whole new generation is finding their best life through drums, dance, and a whole lot of fun. i think if we've learned something today, it's that carnival is much more than a party in brazil. it's part of its soul. well, that's all for this week. but coming up next week: i'm continuing my journey through south america by heading across the border into argentina to find out how one of the continent's most fearsome predators might just hold the key to saving some of its most stunning scenery. oh, my... guys, this is... when you make eye contact with a beast of this size, your heartjust goes... so make sure not to miss it. but for now, from me, mike corey, and the rest of the travel show team here in beautiful

brazil, it's goodbye. hello. it looks like the weather could cause us further problems over the next few days. first, we'll look at the current flooding situation, with 112 flood warnings in force, and if we pick outjust one of those,in and if we pick outjust one of those, in shropshire, in shrewsbury, well, here we could see a new record set for the level of the river severn. the current record is 5.25 metres, and we might get close to or beat that on monday, which is a

result of last night was rain running the hills, but with more rain in the forecast, we might see some further flooding concerns rain in the forecast, we might see some furtherflooding concerns in the coming days. wet weather pushing into wales, northern ireland and the midlands overnight, and with that we will start to see milder air pushing in. it will hit colder air in northern england and scotland, setting the scene for some potentially destructive weather for monday morning. rain turns to snow across the hills of northern england and scotland, and it could get down to lower levels for a time, and that could coincide with the monday morning rush hour in scotland, so some atrocious conditions here and a risk of some disruption. this band of heavy rain pushes its way south and east across england and wales. it could bring another a0 to 50 millimetres across the hills of wales for a time, and that water will be running into river catchment, providing further flooding problems. as the rain

clears, it blustery with showers following. for tuesday and wednesday, high pressure to the south—west, maintaining north—westerly winds, and on tuesday they will be bringing us a mixture of sunshine and showers. many eastern areas starting dry and sunny, showers will swing in through the day, getting increasingly widespread as a trough stops to push in. showers could turn thundery and will still have a wintry field. for wednesday, the showers continue to be brought in on cold north—westerly winds, particularly frequent in north—western areas, the cheshire gap, greater manchester, north—west midlands and north wales. for western scotland and northern ireland, showers through the morning and afternoon.

this is bbc world news today. i'm karin giannone. our top stories. south korea raises its disease alert to the highest possible level as the coronavirus outbreak claims a sixth life. in italy, site of the biggest outbreak in europe, panic buying in two regions after the government imposes widespread quarantine restrictions. a mounting crisis in syria's idlib province — nearly a million people have fled the fighting, in freezing conditions. fury on fire in las vegas — tyson takes the world heavyweight title, giving deontay wilder the first defeat of his career. i think ithink i'm i think i'm good, you know. i got