danny savage, bbc news. in football, leicester city were hoping to go top of the premier league table as they faced chelsea this evening. our sports correspondent andy swiss reports. in this tightest of title races, would it be leicester's turn to rise to the top? beat chelsea and they'd lead the way and they couldn't have asked for a much better start. wilfried ndidi certainly enjoyed it. leicester ahead in a flash of brilliance. and just before the break, it was 2—0. chelsea dithered, james maddison didn't, and the foxes could sense that premier league summit. and the second half soon brought them more chances. jamesjustin really should have put leicester out of sight, as chelsea struggled for any real spark, with the exception of their keeper's reflexes. edouard mendy sparing them a heavier defeat. 2—0, though, was enough for leicester to go top of the table and five years after they famously won the title, in this strange season, well, you just never know... andy swiss, bbc news. that's it. now on bbc on

danny savage is in york.be enough, though, to cause serious damage? that is still unclear, but it is going to be touch and go in some areas. the rain today has been especially heavy throughout daylight areas, but some people have had a lucky escape from flood water over the last 24 hours. tea—time last night — a supermarket delivery van is on its side in the river wear in westgate in county durham. the van driver has scrambled out of a side window and is now sitting on top. people living nearby heard him shouting for help. they believe he followed satnav directions through a ford and was swept away. he was rescued cold but unharmed by specialist firefighters. in south manchester tonight, there is concern that flood defences may not cope in the didsbury and northenden areas. the worst—case scenario is that 3000 homes may have to be evacuated, although people are flummoxed about where they can go in a pandemic. i don't know where they think you could go at the last minute, and you can't go to family, because yo

danny savage, bbc news.he next couple of days. the central message from police there is although we are under covid restrictions at the moment, if your home is flooded and you need to get out of it, then do leave your property, and don't worry about the covid restrictions in place. more heavy rain is expected over the next couple of days, the midlands and the north of england still expected to be the worst affected areas, inland first, then the lower valleys heading out towards the coast perhaps on thursday. danny, thank you very much. there's been a very special birthday party at a care home in devon. kathleen wiltshire is 105 today. but what makes her birthday all the more remarkable is the fact that she's just recovered from covid. jon kay reports. # happy birthday, dear kathleen. amidst the gloom, some light. kathleen, 105 today. eight weeks ago, she was in bed with covid. sadly, four other residents died. but she amazed staff and pulled through. she is just such a strong person. she is full of life. she

many thanks, danny savage in leeds. and for details of the rules and restrictions where you live, head to the bbc news website, that's bbc.co.uk/news, where you can follow all the links. let's take a look at some of today's other news. french authorities have defended the roll—out of the vaccination programme there, after criticism it was going too slowly. only 516 jabs were dispensed in the first week. a spokesman said the delay was because clinicians had to enter care homes and get a resident's permission before administering the injection. germany is expected to extend its lockdown untiljanuary 31st to curb the spread of coronavirus. tight restrictions have been in place since the middle of december but have so far had little effect. last week, the country reported a record number of daily deaths, over 1,000, and ballooning infection rates. the health secretary for england, matt hancock, has said he's "very worried" about the new south african variant of coronavirus. there are fears it may be even more tra nsmissable

danny savage, bbc news.rom police there is although we are under covid pandemic restrictions at the moment, if your home is flooded and you need to get out of it, then do leave your property. don't worry about the covid restrictions that are in place. more heavy rain is expected over the next couple of days. the midlands on the north of england are still expected to be the worst affected areas. in land first, than the lower values heading out towards the lower values heading out towards the coast perhaps on thursday. danny savage. you are watching bbc news. a piece of legislation that aims to provide greater legal protections for uk armed forces serving abroad, is being considered in the house of lords tomorrow. the 0verseas 0perations bill creats a new so—called "triple lock" — to give service personnel, and veterans, greater certainty that the unique pressures of fighting abroad are taken into account — when proscution decisions are made over alleged war crimes or other offences. joining me now is admiral

danny savage is in leeds, which has been moved from tier 3 to tier 4. uw, leeds and the wider yorkshire and humber area are in tier3 the wider yorkshire and humber area are in tier 3 at the moment, but it feels as though lockdown has already begun. we are just across the road from the main bus station, services have been coming and going, we haven't seen a single passenger on any one of them. it is less than a week since large parts of northern england were down in tier 2, places like north yorkshire and cumbria, and in cumbria the infection rate has taken off over the last week or so. two of the three main hospitals on the highest state of alert. the director of public health called for primary schools not to open, but 24 hours later. the latest figures for northern england look pretty dire, to be honest. they have been analysed this evening, and

yorkshire and the humber, the north west, east midlands and the east of england. 0ur correspondent danny savageet their homes ready for flooding. council lorries were out clearing drains and gullies, just in case. in these streets close to the town centre, they don't want a repeat of this, when the nearby river don burst its banks, back in 2019. i were in the garden, up to about to here.

now we will go to leeds and talk to our correspondent there, danny savage.given what we have heard, take us through the state of play in leeds, notjust in terms of health service and in terms of local business and the concerns they will have. well, yorkshire and the humber isa have. well, yorkshire and the humber is a wide area is in tier level 3. so life was continuing not normally, but the restrictions were not as tough as in most other parts of england. but it is less than a week since places were cumbria were still in tier2, but since places were cumbria were still in tier 2, but cumbria is a place where infections have rocketed and two of the three main hospitals in that county are on the highest alert level. it was only yesterday that the director of public health in cumbria called for schools to be closed. that is geographically a long way from the perceived worst affected areas in the south—east of england at the moment. now, areas in the latest statistics that has seen the latest statistics that has seen the biggest rises are here in the north of en

danny savage is in york. bring us up—to—date on the picture there, danny.ooks pretty spectacular here _ there, danny. jane, it looks pretty spectacular here behind _ there, danny. jane, it looks pretty spectacular here behind me - there, danny. jane, it looks pretty spectacular here behind me at - there, danny. jane, it looks pretty spectacular here behind me at the j spectacular here behind me at the moment, the river levels have been getting higher and higher throughout the week, but earlier this morning, it peaked. so it is going down again, otherwise you can see behind me, there are still building is being pumped out of water, still plenty of people on the bridges as well, taking pictures of what is always an extraordinary scene in this city centre. if you were to take to the skies above yorkshire and northern england, parts of wales in the midlands as well, you would see an awful lot of flooding right across the country. but the encouraging news is that most of that water is where it should be in this sort of scenario, it's on the flood plains, and by

danny savage reports. northwest, east midlands, danny savage sent this report. don't want to go through all that again. but this time, the council are better prepared, which is a good thing. but it gets everybody worried. and everybody has now started to move things upstairs, again. the sandbags are already out in anticipation of flooding. a major incident has been declared in south yorkshire. last time, people complained about a lack of preparation. brothers adam and john have seen it all before. in west yorkshire, anxiety is high in the calder valley around hebden bridge, an area damaged so many times before by flooding. it will be devastating. if it is anything like it was in february, it will be really devastating. the concerns of the local residents, especially the ones that have flooded before, is, "oh, here we go again." and unfortunately, that is one of the things of living in a valley bottom. but we can try and do whatever we can to minimize the effects of flooding. further afield, heavy rain has been causing problems in nottinghamshire, where it was a

earlier i spoke to danny savage who's in york.f you were to take to the air over north yorkshire and the wider area of northern england, parts of wales and the midlands as well, you would see an awful lot of flooding in the river valleys of this part of the country. by and large, most of the water is where it should be in this sort of scenario. it is in the flood plains. we have had about 400 properties flooded overall across england and wales over the last few days. but the environment agency say about 25,000 properties have also been protected by the flood defences which have been built in recent years. places to watch still, though, cheshire has a lot of flooding. places around warrington particularly bad at the moment. there is some concern about the river severn going into the weekend, flowing down through bewdley and into ironbridge as well, where there could be some flooding over the next 24 hours also. but the weather has improved, it has stopped raining. those river levels will therefore drop over the next few days, but t