NewsBeat
How to protect your home in heavy rain and high winds
Storm Éowyn is threatening to unleash severe gales across parts of the UK on Friday.
Weather warnings are in place and forecasters say buildings could be damaged, travel is likely to be affected and power cuts are possible.
What should you do to prepare before a storm hits?
There are a number of steps you can take to protect your property.
These include:
- Securing loose objects outside a property such as bins, ladders, trampolines and outdoor games, garden furniture and tools
- Checking fences and roof tiles are secure
- Clearing guttering of debris such as moss and leaves
- Closing and fastening external doors and windows
- Securing storm shutters, if they are fitted
- Parking vehicles in a garage, if you have one; otherwise ensuring they are as far away as possible from buildings, trees and fences
- Closing and securing loft trapdoors
- Making sure you know how to turn off your gas, electricity and water in case you have to leave your home, for example because of flooding
- Charging mobile phones and any other critical devices including battery packs
If you are in a flood-risk area, try to move valuable or essential items upstairs or store them as high as you can on the ground floor.
Make sure sure you have emergency contact numbers for your insurance company, local authority and utility companies.
You may also want to gather passports, driving licences and insurance policies and a few days’ supply of any regular medication you take.
Consider adding emergency contacts and medical information to your mobile – often called “ICE” or “Medical ID” on smartphones.
The RSPCA advises bringing all animals inside before a storm, and ensuring you have sufficient food, bedding and fresh water.
Listen out for bad weather warnings on local radio and TV, and check government and news websites for the latest updates.
What should you do during a storm?
During a storm, people are advised to stay inside as much as possible and keep internal doors closed.
If you do have to go out you should avoid walking next to buildings, trees and the sheltered side of walls or fences, in case of collapse.
You should not attempt to repair any damage while a storm is in progress.
If you have a power cut, switch off all non-essential electrical appliances but leave a light on so you know when the power comes back on. You can report a power cut online or by calling 105, which is a free service in England, Scotland and Wales.
If you are trapped by floodwater, you should go to the highest level of the building you are in. Avoid attic spaces because of the risk of being trapped by rising water, and only go onto the roof if absolutely necessary. Call 999 and wait for help.
Do not drive unless your journey is unavoidable, and steer clear of flooded or exposed routes such as bridges or high open roads.
If you have to drive, make sure you have essential supplies such as warm clothing, food, drink, blankets and a torch, and carry a fully-charged mobile.
Drive slowly, and be especially cautious around high-sided vehicles and when overtaking. Give other vehicles extra room.
What should you do after a storm?
Most home buildings, contents and commercial business policies cover storm damage.
Comprehensive motor insurance covers the cost of repairing or replacing vehicles.
If you have suffered storm damage to your property or possessions you should:
- Not do anything that puts you or your household at risk
- Be especially careful around any exposed electrical or telephone cables
- Only return to your home or business after a storm when it is safe to do so
- Contact your insurance company as soon as possible: most have 24-hour emergency helplines, which can advise on next steps and arrange repairs
- If necessary, arrange temporary emergency repairs to stop any damage getting worse. Tell your insurer and keep receipts, as this will form part of your claim
- Unless they are dangerous, don’t throw away damaged items without discussing it with your insurer, in case they can be repaired
- Remember it can take weeks or even months for a property to fully dry out after storm damage, so you may need to wait some time before redecorating
NewsBeat
Why wasn’t Southport killer Axel Rudakubana given a whole-life order?
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana been jailed for a minimum of 52 years after pleading guilty to murdering three young girls in a frenzied knife attack last year.
Rudakubana, 18, stabbed and killed the girls aged between six and nine with a 20cm-long kitchen knife as he ambushed a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside.
Wearing a green hoodie, a surgical face mask and armed with the blade, the then 17-year-old travelled five miles from his family home to the studio where he unleashed his murderous rampage.
Sir Keir Starmer vowed the attack would be a “line in the sand” for Britain while announcing a public inquiry into the atrocity after the killer admitted to 16 offences.
However, despite the lengthy sentence Rudakubana was not given a whole life order. The Independent takes a look at what one is below, and why the killer has avoided one.
What is a whole life order?
An offender can be sentenced to a whole life order – or “whole life tariff” – for the most serious cases of murder, meaning their crime was so serious they will never be released from prison.
There were 65 prisoners serving whole life orders in the UK as of 30 June 2023, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Killers Rosemary West, Levi Bellfield, Michael Adebolajo, Wayne Couzens and Lucy Letby were among those serving this type of sentence.
How is it different to a life sentence?
Any offender found guilty of murder must be given a life sentence. However, a judge must decide whether to set a minimum term which must be served in full before release on licence, or impose a whole life order.
A murderer will serve a life sentence with a minimum term for the rest of their life, but does not necessarily spend this entire time in prison.
They would usually serve a term in prison, and then be released on licence subject to certain conditions. For example, the minimum term for murder with a knife is 25 years, then the offender would be released on licence. If they broke the conditions of this licence at any point, they could be sent back to prison.
Why has Rudakubana avoided a whole life order?
A judge cannot impose a whole life order on anyone who was under the age of 18 at the time of the offence, irrespective of the seriousness of that offence.
Despite being aged 18 at the time of his conviction, Rudakubana was 17 when he murdered Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine.
NewsBeat
Email demands US government workers report DEI programmes
The Trump administration emailed thousands of federal employees on Wednesday, ordering them to report any efforts to “disguise” diversity initiatives in their agencies or face “adverse consequences”.
The request came after President Donald Trump banned diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices and programmes throughout the government.
Emails seen by the BBC directed workers to “report all facts and circumstances” to a new government email address within 10 days.
Some employees interpreted it as a demand to sell out their colleagues to the White House.
“We’re really freaked out and overwhelmed,” said one employee at the Department Health and Human Services (HHS).
The Office of Personnel Management, which manages the federal workforce, issued guidance requiring agency heads to send a notice to their staff by 17:00 eastern time on Wednesday. It included an email template that many federal staffers ultimately received that night.
Some employees, like those at the Treasury Department, got slightly different versions of the email.
The Treasury Department email excluded the warning about “adverse consequences” for not reporting DEI initiatives, according to a copy shared with the BBC.
In one of his first actions as president, Trump signed two executive orders ending “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI” programmes within the federal government and announced any employees working in those roles would immediately be placed on paid administrative leave.
Such programmes are designed to increase minority participation in the workforce and educate employees about discrimination.
But critics of DEI, like Trump, argue that the practice itself is discriminatory because it takes race, gender, sexual identity or other characteristics into consideration.
Trump and his allies attacked the practice frequently during the campaign.
In a speech Thursday at the World Economic Conference in Davos, Switzerland, Trump declared he was making America a “merit-based country”.
Critics of DEI have praised Trump’s decision.
“President Trump’s executive orders rescinding affirmative action and banning DEI programs are a major milestone in American civil rights progress and a critical step towards building a colour-blind society,” Yukong Mike Zhao, president of the Asian American Coalition for Education, said in a statement.
The group had supported a successful effort at the US Supreme Court to overturn affirmative action programmes at US universities.
But current federal employees, who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity because they feared retaliation, said that the email they received felt more like an attempt to intimidate staff than to make the government more fair.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Trump has signed a torrent of executive orders since he took office, including a hiring freeze in the federal government, an order for workers to return to the office and an attempt to reclassify thousands of government employees in order to make them easier to fire.
The HHS employee who spoke to the BBC criticised the government’s DEI practices, believing that while it was important to build a diverse staff and create opportunities in health and medical fields, “identity politics have played into how we function normally and that’s not beneficial to the workforce”.
“But that doesn’t mean I want my colleagues to get fired,” the employee added.
He described the the impact the email and the DEI orders had on his agency as “very calculated chaos”.
The employee’s division had been thrown into confusion, he said, with questions about hiring practices going forward, as well as what programmes and directives were allowed to continue, given Trump’s broad definition of DEI.
A second HHS employee said that hiring and research grants had been frozen and the entire department staff was waiting to see what they could do next.
The HHS, and one of its subsidiary agencies, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), issue millions of dollars in federal grants to universities and researchers across the globe to advance scientific research.
Agency employees feared that the DEI order could have an impact outside the government as well. One questioned if grants that allowed laboratories to create more opportunities for hiring minority scientists and medical professionals would now get the axe.
An employee who worked at the Food and Drug Administration told the BBC that she had not received the email, but all DEI-related activities had been paused.
“We have been told by seniors to keep doing our jobs,” she said. “But there is a sense of fear about how it’s going to have an impact on our work in general.”
NewsBeat
PM accused of 'pathetic bullying' by environmental campaigner after NIMBY article
Keir Starmer has been accused of “pathetic bullying” by a Norfolk environmental campaigner who was singled out and ridiculed by the prime minister in an article in the Daily Mail.
Politics
‘We have to kick start the economy!’ MP defends building plans as Labour accused of ‘ignoring will of the people’
Labour MP Matthew Pennycook has defended the Government’s new planning reforms, insisting that local communities will retain their right to object to developments.
Speaking to GB News, Pennycook emphasised that “no one is saying that the views of local communities should be ignored”.
The defence comes as part of Labour’s broader initiative to streamline planning processes for major infrastructure projects across the UK.
The Government plans to reduce the number of legal challenges allowed against major infrastructure projects from three to one for “cynical cases lodged purely to cause delay.”
Matthew Pennycook said that they are not ignoring local communities
GB News
Speaking to GB News, Pennycook said: “No one is saying that the views of local communities, local people up and down the country, should be ignored under any of the changes we’re making. People will still have a right to object to planning applications.
“They will keep the right to challenge the lawfulness of government decisions. What we’re saying today is that as part of our plan for change, we’ve got to kick start economic growth.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
“We’ve got to streamline the delivery of the critical national infrastructure that our country needs, whether that’s energy, transport or aviation projects.
“We already made a number of changes to national planning policy last year to aid with that objective. We’re making further changes to the planning and infrastructure bill we’re bringing forward in the coming months.
“As part of that package, what we’re saying today is that your ability to bring forward repeated judicial review permission requests shouldn’t be allowed.
“We’re going to reduce the number of those permission requests from three to two in most cases. And in cases where a judge says that this challenge has no merit whatsoever from three to one, that will get the delivery of critical national infrastructure speeded up.
Keir Starmer has vowed to defeat what he calls “blockers”
PA
“That will have a real world impact. Because, I’m sure your viewers put it to you repeatedly, it is just too difficult to get anything built in this country.”
The changes follow recommendations from Lord Banner KC’s review of legal challenges against major building projects.
Lord Banner said: “I saw broad consensus from claimants to scheme promoters that a quicker system of justice would be in their interests, provided that cases can still be tried fairly.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to defeat what he calls “blockers” who are preventing the UK from completing vital infrastructure projects.
The government plans to reduce the number of legal challenges allowed against major infrastructure project
GB News
“For too long, blockers have had the upper hand in legal challenges – using our court processes to frustrate growth,” Starmer said.
He added: “We’re putting an end to this challenge culture by taking on the NIMBYs and a broken system that has slowed down our progress as a nation.”
The Prime Minister described the reforms as “taking the brakes off Britain by reforming the planning system so it is pro-growth and pro-infrastructure.”
According to the government, projects that have faced significant delays include the Sizewell C nuclear plant, the A47 national highway project and new windfarms in East Anglia.
NewsBeat
CCTV: Southport killer’s journey to Taylor Swift dance class | News
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana was caught on CCTV footage travelling to the Taylor Swift dance class where he murdered three girls.
Wearing a surgical face mask while armed with the blade, the then 17-year-old travelled five miles from his family home to the studio where he killed Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe on 29 July, last year.
CCTV footage shows the killer in the taxi and also getting out of the vehicle at The Hart Space.
Rudakubana was today (23 January) jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years.
NewsBeat
US doesn’t need Canadian energy or cars, says Trump
President Donald Trump has said the US does not need Canadian energy, vehicles or lumber as he spoke to global business leaders at the World Economic Forum.
Trump also reiterated his threat to impose tariffs on the country, saying it can be avoided if the neighbouring nation chose to “become a state” of the US.
“You can always become a state, and if you’re a state, we won’t have a deficit. We won’t have to tariff you,” he said to gasps in the hall in Davos.
Trump has threatened to impose up to 25% tariffs on Canadian imports, possibly by 1 February.
The renewed threat of tariffs has been met with deep unease by the trade-dependent Canada.
But it has also said it will consider significant countermeasures, including a “dollar-for-dollar” response if the Trump administration follows through.
Roughly 75% of Canada’s exports head south. In contrast, Canada accounts for a much smaller 17% of US exports, though it is the second largest US trading partner, behind Mexico.
Trump in his remarks on Thursday said Canada had been “very tough to deal with over the years”.
“We don’t need them to make our cars, we make a lot of them, we don’t need their lumber because we have our own forests… we don’t need their oil and gas, we have more than anybody,” he told forum attendees via video link from Washington DC.
Trump reiterated the assertion that the US has a trade deficit with Canada of between $200bn and $250bn. It’s not clear where he got that figure.
The trade deficit with Canada – expected to be $45bn in 2024 – is mostly driven by US energy demands.
The North American auto industry also has highly integrated supply chains.
Auto parts can cross the borders between the US and Mexico and Canada multiple time before a vehicle is finally assembled.
Trump has also tied the tariffs to border security, saying it will be imposed unless Canada increases security at the shared border.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly said that everything is on the table in response if the tariffs are imposed.
That includes a tax or embargo on energy exports to the US, though some of Canada’s provincial leaders disagree with that response.
On Thursday, Trudeau told reporters that Canada’s goal is to avoid US tariffs altogether but it will step up its response “gradually” to seek the quick removal of levies if they are imposed.
Canada is also pitching itself as a reliable trading partner and a secure source to the US for energy and critical minerals as it lobbies American lawmakers in a bid to avoid the tariffs.
Economists suggest the US depends on Canadian products for energy security.
In 2024, Canadian energy exports came to almost $170bn (C$244bn), according to a recent analysis by TD Bank economists.
Trump also said on Thursday that businesses should make their products in the US if they want to avoid tariffs.
Tariffs are a central part of Trump’s economic vision – he sees them as a way of growing the US economy, protecting jobs and raising tax revenue.
The new president has ordered federal officials to review US trade relationships for any unfair practices by 1 April.
With reporting from Faisal Islam, economics editor, in Davos.
Politics
Inheritance tax raid on military families will raise ‘nothing’ for Treasury, ex-Chancellor claims
Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng has branded Labour’s plans to impose inheritance tax on military families as “total insanity”, warning the measure would raise “nothing” for the Treasury.
Speaking to GB News, Kwarteng criticised the policy that will affect death-in-service payments for Armed Forces personnel from April 2027.
NewsBeat
Axel Rudakubana orders taxi to school week before Southport murders | News
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana ordered a taxi to return to his former school just a week before he stabbed three young girls to death.
Footage shows Rudakubana’s father pleading with a taxi driver not to take him to Range High School, which he was expelled from five years earlier, on 22 July, last year.
He was wearing the same hooded sweatshirt and surgical mask he wore during the attack one week later.
The 18-year-old admitted stabbing Alice da Silva Aguiar, Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Rudakubana was today (23 January) jailed for life with a minimum term of 52 years.
NewsBeat
‘Evil’ Southport killer jailed for minimum 52 years
BBC News
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has been sentenced to a minimum of 52 years for the “sadistic” murders of three young girls in an attack described as “shocking” and “pure evil”.
Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died while eight other children and two adults – dance class leader Leanne Lucas and businessman Jonathan Hayes – were seriously wounded.
The 18-year-old refused to come into the courtroom as he was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court, having been removed from the dock earlier due to disruptive behaviour – which included demands to see a paramedic and shouts of “I feel ill”.
Sentencing him, judge Mr Justice Goose said: “Many who have heard the evidence might describe what he did as evil, who could dispute it?”
Warning: This story will contain distressing details
Earlier, the details of Rudakubana’s crimes were laid out in court for the first time in graphic detail – including CCTV and dashboard camera footage from outside the Hart Space studios on Hart Street.
The court heard how, just after 11:45 BST on 29 July, Rudakubana moved through the sold-out dance workshop, organised by Ms Lucas, “systematically” stabbing young girls as they sat making friendship bracelets and singing along to Swift’s music.
Ms Heer also described how Rudakubana gloated about the attacks as he was escorted through Copy Lane police station after his arrest – saying he was “glad the children were dead”.
The teenager had booked a taxi to take him to Hart Street after leaving his home in Old School Close, Banks, west Lancashire, at 11:10 BST, the court was told.
Ms Heer played footage of Rudakubana asking the driver to point him to the address of the dance class – before getting out without paying.
The driver’s dashboard camera also captured Rudakubana walk up the stairs of the Hart Space building to the first-floor studio which had 26 children, Ms Lucas, and her colleague and friend Heidi Liddle inside.
Seconds later, the sounds of screaming children filled the courtroom and the footage showed girls streaming out of the Hart Space dance studio.
The families of the victims cried in the public gallery as Ms Heer played footage of three of the girls staggering into the street and collapsing – including two of the survivors and Alice.
Unlike Bebe and Elsie Dot, Alice had managed to get out of the building despite her grave injuries, but collapsed by the car of a woman who had arrived to pick up her daughter.
Inside the studio, Bebe had been subjected to 122 knife wounds, while Elsie Dot had 85.
Ms Liddle and one other child were hiding in a locked toilet on a landing outside – Ms Liddle later describing how she realised that some of the children had not escaped when she heard them begging Rudakubana to stop.
The police arrived at Hart Street shortly before 11:59 BST – three officers and a member of the public, window-cleaner Joel Verite, charged up those stairs to find Rudakubana stood over the body of Bebe King holding a knife.
Police body-camera footage showed him tackled to the floor as Mr Verite shouted in utter shock and horror at the injuries he saw had been inflicted on Bebe.
A short time later Ms Liddle and the child hiding with her were seen sobbing in terror and relief as the police told them it was safe to emerge.
‘We were easy prey’
One of the survivors, a seven-year-old girl referred to as Child A, had been pulled back inside the building by Rudakubana as she tried to escape and was stabbed repeatedly, before managing to stagger into the street where she fell to the ground.
A statement written by the mother of Child A, read by Ms Heer, said her father had been “broken” by what happened to his daughter.
“Our daughter has not only experienced the most violent, frenzied attack on her body, but she’s witnessed so much horror too.”
The leader of the dance class, Ms Lucas, who read her statement in court, looked around the packed courtroom at the family members of fellow victims and survivors as she spoke.
She said: “He targeted us because we were women and girls, vulnerable and easy prey.
“To discover that he had always set out to hurt the vulnerable is beyond comprehensible.
“For Alice, Elsie, Bebe, Heidi and the surviving girls, I’m surviving for you.”
Victim impact statements were also read out by prosecutor Deanna Heer KC, in which the grieving families of two of the murder victims branded their daughters’ killer as “pure evil” whose actions have left them in “continuous pain”.
Stan Reiz KC, defending, told the court Rudakubana had appeared to have been a “normal child” until he reached 13.
Mr Reiz said: “There is no psychiatric evidence before the court that could suggest that a mental disorder contributed to the defendant’s actions.
“However, he did make a transition from a normal, well-disciplined child to someone who was capable of committing acts of such shocking and senseless violence.”
In his sentencing remarks, Judge Mr Justice Goose said: “I am sure Rudakubana had the settled determination to carry out these offences and had he been able to, he would have killed each and every child – all 26 of them.”
Justice Goose confirmed the offences did not reach the legal definition of terrorism because he did not kill to further a political, religious or ideological cause.
However, he told the packed courtroom that whether the “motivation was terrorism or not misses the point”.
“What he did on the 29 July last year has caused such shock and revulsion to the whole nation, that it must be viewed as being at the extreme level of crime”, the judge said.
“His culpability, and the harm he caused and intended, were at the highest.”
Rudakubana was sentenced for three counts of murder, 10 of attempted murder, one of producing the biological toxin ricin and one of possession of an Al Qaeda training manual, an offence under the Terrorism Act.
In a statement after the hearing, Elsie’s family offered their gratitude to the emergency services who responded to the incident.
“We are so thankful for their bravery, compassion and strength which should serve as an inspiration to everybody,” they said.
The family also thanked Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, King Charles and the Prince and Princess of Wales for arranging private meetings where they offered their condolences.
Earlier, the prime minister said “the thoughts of the entire nation” were with the families of Rudakubana’s victims.
Sir Keir said: “I want to say directly to the survivors, families and community of Southport – you are not alone. We stand with you in your grief.
“What happened in Southport was an atrocity and as the judge has stated, this vile offender will likely never be released.
“After one of the most harrowing moments in our country’s history we owe it to these innocent young girls and all those affected to deliver the change that they deserve.”
NewsBeat
Police investigation into Southport attack continues as officer reveals murderer was overheard making ‘disturbing’ remarks | UK News
A police investigation into the Southport attack is still active, a senior officer has said.
Rudakubana murdered three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last summer in the Merseyside town, when he was 17 years old.
He was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years behind bars after pleading guilty to killing Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, in July.
Merseyside Police’s detective chief inspector Jason Pye told Sky News’ national correspondent Tom Parmenter police have been unable to establish that Rudakubana followed any ideology, only that he was “obsessed with violence of all kinds”.
“All of the evidence that we found in relation to him shows that he was obsessed with violence,” he said.
“The planning shows that he was intent that day on going out to commit mass murder and everything else that we found shows that he has a real intent for violence.
“I suppose what we don’t know, because we’ve never found it, is the ideology. That’s just not there.”
He added police also found no evidence to indicate anyone else had played a role in radicalising the now 18-year-old.
“It was more a suggestion that he was probably more socially isolated than being radicalised by anybody,” he said.
Following a clip showing Rudakubana’s father trying to stop his son from entering a taxi which was going to head towards a high school the week before, the officer was asked what the input from the killer’s immediate family had been in the investigation.
“We still have a live investigation ongoing. So I’m unable to answer any questions in relation to the parents at this stage,” Det Chf Insp Pye said.
When pressed on what that meant, the officer added: “We have a live investigation ongoing, and that is something that we are still looking into.”
However, the officer said Rudakubana had made “disturbing” comments about his victims when he was overheard talking while in custody.
“The words that he said were really disrespectful to the families and those three little children,” he said.
“Very distasteful. It’s some of the worst things that I think I’ve ever heard as a detective.”
One of the country’s most senior counterterrorism officers, meanwhile, said that although the absence of an obvious motivation meant the killings had not met the legal definition of terrorism, “that does not make the horrendous acts any less terrifying or terrorising”.
Deputy assistant commissioner Vicki Evans, senior national co-ordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said: “The full weight of our collective investigative teams and the criminal justice system has been brought to bear to deliver this conviction.”
-
Fashion8 years ago
These ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2025
-
Entertainment8 years ago
The Season 9 ‘ Game of Thrones’ is here.
-
Fashion8 years ago
9 spring/summer 2025 fashion trends to know for next season
-
Entertainment8 years ago
The old and New Edition cast comes together to perform You’re Not My Kind of Girl.
-
Sports8 years ago
Ethical Hacker: “I’ll Show You Why Google Has Just Shut Down Their Quantum Chip”
-
Business8 years ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Disney’s live-action Aladdin finally finds its stars
-
Sports8 years ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Mod turns ‘Counter-Strike’ into a ‘Tekken’ clone with fighting chickens
-
Fashion8 years ago
Your comprehensive guide to this fall’s biggest trends
You must be logged in to post a comment Login