phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire.d barry show — the former president talks to the british royal about the irresponsible use of social media. the most ambitious financial and political change ever attempted has gotten under way with the introduction of the euro. tomorrow in holland we will use money we picked up in belgium today and we will use the same money in france. it has got to be the way to go. george harrison, the former beatle is recovering in hospital after being stabbed at his oxfordshire home. a 33—year—old man from liverpool is being interviewed by police on suspicion of attempted murder. i think it was good. just good? no, fantastic! that's better. this is bbc world news. the latest headlines: the ukrainian government and russian—backed rebels have carried out the biggest prisoner exchange since the conflict began nearly four years ago. syrian volunteers have evacuated the first group of critically—ill children from a rebel—held suburb near damascus. how do you stop poachers devastating wildlife in remote

phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. was found dead in an outbuilding in finsbury park in north london has been named by police. officers say 22—year—old iuliana tudos died as a result of a stab wound and a head injury. it's thought she was killed on christmas eve. a murder investigation has been started. every year, thousands of planning permissions are granted for new homes but the properties are not actually built. there are currently 684,000 valid permissions that haven't yet been put into effect. the chancellor, philip hammond, has set up an urgent review to understand the reasons. so in the midst of an acute housing shortage, why is the process of building much—needed new homes proving to be so cumbersome? my colleague sophie long has been to clacton in essex to try to find out. clacton—on—sea. like many towns across the country, they need to build hundreds of houses here, to provide homes for those that don't have them, in a way that is sympathetic to those that do. well, this is a site that got planning permissio

phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire.ffice warnings apply to most parts of the uk, including the south—east of, our correspondent wyre davies is in hendon in north london. with the latest on the conditions and what they are saying there. these are the kind of wintry weather conditions that might make scots and scandinavians scoff. but as we saw in phil mackie‘s report, it wasn't that a lot of snow fell in one particular base but huge swathes of the country, central and southern england and parts of wales were affected by subzero temperatures and it had an effect on much of the transport networks. roads, railand in particular airports. there's icy conditions are set to continue through most of the country, those 15 weather warnings issued by the met office tonight. much of the uk will experience those subzero temperatures. this is one of the main arteries out of london tonight, the m1. it seems many drivers have heeded the advice of the rac and police to take extreme caution and care. if you're out driving tonight and tomo

phil mackie is in birmingham. the immediate aftermath of the crash.oss four lanes. medics were desperately trying to save lives, but five people were already dead, and a sixth was dying. the rest of the footage is too graphic to show. in daylight, the scale of what happened became clearer. three of the people who died were in this taxi. astonishingly, the man and the woman in the small car crushed between it and the wall walked away with minor injuries. the sound of the crash woke many of the people who live nearby. got out of bed, looked out the window and just saw loads of people running towards where the crash was. and then the police officers telling everyone to get back, get back, so i guess people were trying to help people. they pulled two people out of the taxi. i didn't realise it was a taxi until today, but they pulled two people out of the taxi, resuscitating them straightaway for about 25 minutes. they took one in the ambulance. i didn't see them take the second one away, so i don't know if they didn't make it, but yes it was havoc. the cr

phil mackie, bbc news, warwickshire.fice warnings apply to most parts of the uk, including the south—east of england, our correspondent wyre davies sent us this from hendon in north london. these are the kind of wintry weather conditions that might make scott and scandinavians scoff but it was not that a lot of snow fell in a particular place but huge swathes, central, southern england and wales we re central, southern england and wales were affected by subzero temperatures and it had an effect on transport — roads, airports. throughout much of the country, 15 whether warnings issued by the met 0ffice whether warnings issued by the met office and much of the uk will experience those sub zero temperatures. this is one of the main arteries out of london, the m1, and many drivers of egypt advised to ta ke and many drivers of egypt advised to take extreme caution and care. if you are out driving tonight and tomorrow morning. it will get better by the end of the week that the kettle if you are going on the roads tonight or if

phil mackie was at today's announcement. as a surprise, birmingham was the only bidder, but there was genuine joy when the announcement was made. it is my great pleasure to announce that the host of the 2022 commonwealth games will be birmingham! cheering the bid focused on the second city's population, which is the youngest in europe. it also looked at its diversity. their are people here who can trace their heritage to all of the commonwealth nations. most of the venues already exist. they simply need an upgrade. the benefits to the city are huge. this is an opportunity to reposition the city of birmingham. but also the economic benefit. it will generate over half a billion pounds gross for birmingham, and also for the uk as a whole. this is a wonderful christmas present for the city of birmingham. it's all about the legacy, not just the stadium. these students could be participants in 2022. it's a great thing for me to aim for. to try and get to these commonwealth games. i would love to be part of it with team england. it

studio: many thanks for the latest there in kenilworth, phil mackie there.anuary, has warned about the irresponsible use of social media. he said social media was, in some cases, distorting people's understanding of complex issues, spreading misinformation, and reinforcing people's bias. mr obama was interviewed by prince harry, in his capacity as guest editor of radio 4's today programme, as our royal correspondent nicholas witchell reports. prince harry, first of all. you are very welcome to our studio. good morning. coming injoining the today programme for the day had been a big learning curve, harry said, but he had enjoyed being the interviewer rather than the interviewed. it was quite fun, especially interviewing president obama. his principal scoop had been to persuade barack obama to give his first interview since standing down as us president. the word "trump" was never mentioned but may have been in mr obama's mind when he warned about the use of social media. all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the

phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. his first ever gold medal at the 1998 commonwealth games in kuala lumpur. i'm alsojoined in birmingham by the olympic gold medallist, mark lewis francis, he of course won both silver and gold at the commonwealth games in delhi in 2010. mark thank you for coming in. thanks for having me. what do you make of it, tony? great news. they will put ona it, tony? great news. they will put on a great show. we have done it in london, did it in glasgow, we will it in manchester. manchester is a good city. i'm thinking, what does it mean for a city like birmingham to be hosting this? what kind of impact will it have? it will have a great impact. they are great talents in birmingham. this commonwealth game will help young talented athletes and bring jobs to help that city. it will be a great show. mark, what do you make of it? over the moon. gutted i retired too early. i think it's great news for birmingham. the youngsters that are going to be working towards 2022 should start getting excited. i c

our correspondent phil mackie reports.arge swathe of central england and most of wales woke up to a winter wonderland, but the morning commute was tricky, many areas saw their heaviest snowfall for seven years. some areas saw 20 centimetres, which froze when temperatures plummeted. driving conditions were extremely dangerous, and the breakdown services have been working around the clock. on an average sunday, we do 10,000 breakdowns, but yesterday we did 1a,000 — 600 of those were vehicles stuck in snow. the main advice would be to take it very steady, pack a few extras in the car, like a blanket. if you have a torch, a mobile phone, make sure they are charged. make sure you know how to use everything safely. make sure you have your main contacts saved in your phone should you need them desperately. there's been criticism of local authorities after hundreds of schools were shut, meaning an enforced day off for parents who had to look after children. as you can see, for a lot of people, it is a snow day, a lot of fun, but i

our correspondent at the scene, phil mackie, told me the police had found dealing with the aftermathcrash very upsetting. they have been talking about the harrowing nature of what they had to deal with since the early hours of this morning when this happened, around 1:10 a:m.. if you can see the underpass tom was referring to a news report, the cars on the left, largely avoided serious injury, colliding trying to avoid the crash. 0n the right—hand side behind the police van is where the taxi where three people were killed is lying on its side. between us and the wall, another vehicle completely crushed. that was the one tom was referring to the man and woman driving in that astonishingly managed to escape with minor injuries. beyond that, further along the underpass is where the other vehicle that was involved in the most serious part of this accident is lying. lots of activity, forensic officers, specialist teams inspecting the scene. i have been talking to people who live there, there are flats overlooking the scene. some people heard the crash, went out, so what happened. 0ne thin

phil mackie reports from kenilworth, warwickshire in the english midlands. horn blasts.here anyway, but throw in five centimetres of snow and you've got chaos. 0n the aia things were even worse. this lorry span out of control, leaving drivers stranded. good morning. it's just gone past ten o'clock in the morning. as you can see, we're stationary here on the aia, not going anywhere. i've been here for five hours, and... ..so have these! my name is tara, i'm on the aia trying to go eastbound to northampton. i set off from my house in hinckley at 6am this morning, as you can see, there's nothing going in the other direction. i'm a bit cross, i'm canadian so i'm used to this kind of weather. i know you guys aren't. in the end, they were stuck for seven hours before the road was cleared. stansted airport had to close twice to clear snow from the runway. birmingham airport had to do the same for a short while too. and the weather kept ground crews busy, as planes had to be constantly de—iced. a swathe of central and southern england was worst affected, from gloucestershire, to

let's go to kenilworth in warwickshire — and our correspondent phil mackie.ell we had the snow and the floods today and also power cuts. across the central swathe of england, it is a day to heed the warnings. horn blasts. the motorway at a standstill. it's always busy here anyway, but throw in five centimetres of snow, and you've got chaos. on the a14, things were even worse. this lorry span out of control, leaving drivers stranded. good morning. it's just gone past ten o'clock in the morning. as you can see, we're stationary here on the a14, not going anywhere. i've been here for five hours, and... so have these! my name is tara, i'm on the a14 trying to go eastbound to northampton. i set off from my house in hinckley at 6am this morning, i've been on the a14 for three hours now. as you can see, there's nothing going in the other direction. i'm a bit cross, i'm canadian so i'm used to this kind of weather. i know you guys are not. in the end, they were stuck for seven hours before the road was cleared. there have been problems all day here at this interchang

phil mackie reports from kenilworth, warwickshire in the english midlands. horn blasts.here anyway, but throw in five centimetres of snow and you've got chaos. on the a14 things were even worse. this lorry span out of control, leaving drivers stranded. good morning. it's just gone past ten o'clock in the morning. as you can see, we're stationary here on the a14, not going anywhere. i've been here for five hours, and... so have these! my name is tara, i'm on the a14 trying to go eastbound to northampton. i set off from my house in hinckley at 6am this morning, i've been on the a14 for three hours now. as you can see, there's nothing going in the other direction. i'm a bit cross, i'm canadian so i'm used to this kind of weather. i know you guys are not. in the end, they were stuck for seven hours before the road was cleared. there have been problems all day here at this interchange, which is where the m6, the m1 and the a14 alljoin. it's the snow that has caused accidents and jackknifed lorries which has led to long delays, notjust here but elsewhere on the motorway networ

half of hospital trusts also charged for at least some of their disabled bays. 0ur correspondent phil mackiesit can be upsetting, even traumatic, and that's before you pay for your parking ticket. nhs hospitals in england made over £17a million in fees last year. that's a rise of 6% on the year before. and nearly £1 million came from fines, which was an increase of 32%. the hospital trust which make the most money was the heart of england, which runs three hospitals in sutton coldfield, solihull, and here in birmingham. last year its income from car parking was £a.8 million. it's shocking actually, because i come quite a lot with my son and the amount we have to pay, it's really bad. i don't mind paying a small fee but i've had occasions where i've spent £20 in one day. it's the hassle of visiting hospital on a regular basis, it's just another hassle. no—one from the heart of england trust was available today but they have given a statement saying they know that parking costs can be a financial burden to patients and visitors. they say that fees have come down in the past year and the money

phil mackie has this report.thew richards is in north—east wales, and duncan kennedy is in hindhead, in surrey, and duncan, first, it has been snowing again this morning where you are. absolutely, snow currently horizontal, not only have snow but wind, we have arrived here after a journey up from the south coast and we have met absolutely every kind of weather condition going. self coast, rain. up through hampshire, petersfield, winchester, rain and sleet. by the time you get here, sorry, this kind of snow. we are 800 feet, we are getting between three and five centimetres of this blizzard like conditions as well. do give you an idea of where we are, below the m25, and next to the eighth three. both of those roads are flowing, quite smoothly, it has to be said. —— a3. around here, on the smaller roads, things are much more tricky. the roads are open, they have been gritted, cars slip—sliding around, as soon as they get a little gradient, wheels lose traction. knocks and bumps and one 01’ traction. knocks and bump

phil mackie is at the scene now. the police have just been the police havejust been holding the police have just been holding a news co nfe re nce to the police have just been holding a news conference to give more details about what happened. yeah, they have been talking about the harrowing nature of what they have had to deal with since the early hours of this morning, this happened at about 1:10am. you can see the underpass behind me tom was referring to in the report. the cars on the left we re the report. the cars on the left were those who largely avoided serious injury. the taxi in which three people were killed is lying on its side. there is another vehicle between it and the wall, the one that was crushed, the man and the woman driving in that, astonishingly, they managed to escape with minor injuries. further along the underpass, the other vehicle involved in the most serious pa rt vehicle involved in the most serious part of the accident, that is where it is at the moment. lots of activity, forensic and sp

million — the most expensive sports event in britain since the london olympics. 0ur correspondent phil mackie for the games. this is where they'll have the opening ceremony and where the athletics will take place. it's one of the reasons birmingham won debate, because it already has a lot of facilities. this one needs a reva m p of facilities. this one needs a revamp but it's probably would cost as much as in other parts of the world. birmingham has a young population which is diverse, with lots of people with heritage from commonwealth nations that will be participating but, in the end, it was the only bidder, so the news wasn't really a shock. it hardly came as a surprise, but in the end birmingham was the only bidder. but there was genuine joy when the announcement was made. it's my great pleasure to announce that the host of the 2022 commonwealth games will be... birmingham. cheering. the bid focused on the second city's population which is the youngest in europe. it also looked at its diversity. there are people here who can trace their heritage to all of the commonwealth nations. most o

thank you. 0ur correspondent phil mackie is at the catthorpe interchange, where the m1 meets the m6.ve been on thatjunction many times! how are things at the moment? it is not normally a great junction and if you throw snow into the mix, things can get pretty bad, which is what happens morning. you can see that things are running better now, that is because the jackknifed lorry that was mentioned is now clear. when i came here, there were accused coming off the m6 on to the a14, at the moment things have improved as a result of that. the snow has stopped and the sun is beginning to sneak through the clouds, so we will expect better weather conditions the supplement. a lot of those homes that have had power outages are in this part of the world as well, west and east midlands through warwickshire and the leicestershire digitally badly affected overnight. western power has began to get some of them back on this morning but a lot will be cut up right through until this evening. birmingham airport was also closed overnight for about one hour and a half because of snow on the runway, they

phil mackie, bbc news, worcestershire. the channel crossing has been closed, duncan kennedy is in hindhead in surrey, and speak tojon kay who's in the village of amberley in gloucestershire. simonjones from simon jones from dover. simonjones from dover. notjust this side of the channel affected? not at all. calais has been shut for a second day in a row due to the weather conditions on the other side of the channel. not very good here either in dover. at the moment, snow coming down, it is wet, there is sweet. not settling because it is so wet but the wind is whipping up. it is cold. —— sleet. the ferries were tentatively moving this morning but delays of a couple of hours. no celcius between dover and calais because the portrait shot now. yesterday, the big incident in calais where a very grounded with around 300 people on board. p&0 says there is a full investigation, weather it was a mistake or how it came about. big problems on eurotunnel. some passengers said they waited seven hours in their ca i’s they waited seven h

let‘s speak to our correspondent phil mackie, who‘s in bromsgrove, worcestershire. or seven yea rs much smokes before because it‘s six or seven years since we‘ve had this much snow. around seven centimetres here, but again quite localised so most of these snow showers have been coming through regularly in a line from chester to gloucestershire, so in places like wolverhampton, kidderminster, here in bromsgrove have had a lot of smoke. you can travel ten miles in each direction and it‘s not so much. around 700 homes have been without power at one stage, most of those in shropshire but in isolated pockets elsewhere. you can probably see in the background the side streets will be covered in snow, the main streets clear. there hasn‘t been too much disruption but we are watching the forecast knowing there is this amber warning on sunday. possibly not here but further north, although it might start and end up snowy in the south midlands but then it‘s never an exact science with snow forecast. on appeal has gone out in hospital in rural shropshire for 4x4 drivers to help t

phil mackie has been braving the weather at the catthorpe interchange , where the mi meets the m6. he described what he saw when he arrived: there were queues getting of both the mi onto the a14 and also the m6 on to the a14, and at the moment things have certainly improved as a result of that. and the snow has stopped and the sun is beginning to peek through the clouds, so we are expecting much better weather conditions this afternoon. a lot of those homes that have had power outages are in this part of the world as well, so west and east midlands through warwickshire and leicestershire are particularly badly affected overnight. western power has begun to get some of them back on this morning, but a lot of them will be probably cut off right through to this evening. birmingham airport was also closed overnight for about and an hour and a half because of snow on the runway. they have cleared that now and there are no further problems there today, but it did mean that much like at stansted this morning, some flights had to be diverted. prince harry has told the bbc that his fiancee

let's go now to phil mackie in worcestershire.t more snow here, eight centimetres in the city centre in worcestershire, much more out in the countryside, in parts of staffordshire, shropshire, the black country. up to 20 centimetres of lying snow, meaning hundreds of schools are closed, all of the schools are closed, all of the schools in birmingham, most in those other counties and beyond down into 0xfordshire and even buckinghamshire, schools are closed. in terms of travel, public transport is running, people are being warned to check before they go and catch a train, but by and large things haven't been badly affected. birmingham airport much like heathrow is dealing with the backlog created yesterday, trying to de—ice the planes. temperatures are dropping, when i arrived it was above freezing and now it has dropped below, which is why people are saying be careful, the snow is turning to ice. because so many schools are shut, it has had the impact of reducing the amount of traffic on the roads, things are running quite smoothly

phil mackie is in worcestershire for us. good morning. good morning. it is not terribly bad.ow so perhaps it is not as deep as it was off the past. 38 centimetres in worcester last night. it snowed for about 24 hours. there is an area from cheshire and dartford in the north downs to oxfordshire and buckinghamshire in the south, where they have been real problems. thousands of schools are closed today, but that will probably ease congestion this morning. it was a bit of a pain yesterday for people who were trying to travel through airports. east midlands airport was one of those who had problems. problems at birmingham and at heathrow. in fact, problems at birmingham and at heathrow. infact, heathrow problems at birmingham and at heathrow. in fact, heathrow have been saying flights are cancelled today and you should check before you travel. i think that would be the advice anywhere that i have mentioned in that belt, where there is lots of lying snow. the trains are also advising people to check before they travel but most of the services seem to be able to run, although with