26/01/2013 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon. Hundreds of people spent last night

in their cars because of snow across parts of Scotland, northern

England and the Midlands. The M6 was badly affected and the Highways

Agency closed it in both directions near Wigan after vehicles became

stuck and many drivers abandoned their cars. We have this report.

As cars skidded and lorries came to a halt, the M6 became impassable.

The motorway closed in both directions near Wigan last night,

some drivers were stranded for hours.

It is about 2.00am. I'm in the middle of the M6

motorway. As you can see, probably at the back of me... We have come

to a stand still. It is quite cold here. It is thawing out. It looks

like we are here for the night. was horrible. By the time I got to

junction 25 on the M6 it was stand still.

The Highways Agency says there were as many as 140 incidents on the

roads in North Yorkshire alone last night. The problem has been not so

much the volume of the snow but the fact that so much fell so quickly.

A foot of snow in some places, within the space of two hours.

Deep snow in deep lanes. Many other roads in the hills above Bradford

are barely passable. Darren with his tractor has been in big demand

today. We came down in about an hour-and-

a-half. We started at 9.30pm, p was still knowing when I went to bed.

I got up at 4.30am to see what it was like. I went home in the

tractor to ensure I got to work. As the temperatures rise and the

ice melts, there is a new danger, flooding. The Environment Agency

has issued warnings across England and Wales with the midwest

vulnerable. There are catchments, there are

areas underneath this. It will probably see about ten inches of

snow that could find its way quickly into the river system.

With the temperatures rises in the coming days, this could be the last

chance to play in the snow. A masked armed robber collapsed and

died after being disarmed and pinned down by customers in a

bookies. The man was believed to bewaring a gas mask and holding a

gun. He stormed in the betting office in Plymouth last night.

We have this report. We don't know who the man was who

died here. We know he was in his 50s. He came into the bookmakers

wearing a gas mask and holding a pistol-type firearm it seems that

the customers disarmed the man and held him to the ground while the

police were called. One eyewitness told us what he saw.

My friend said he was coming in to rob the place. They were waiting

for the police. I was told to leave. The police said that when they

arrived at the scene, they realised that the man was unconscious. The

officers attempted CPR but they were not able to resuscitate him.

He was declared dead at the scene. The police have recovered a firearm

of sorts, they do not know if it is a replica or genuine.

The incident has been reported, standard procedure after police

contact. Ladbrokes are assisting the police with their enquiries.

A court in Egypt has sentenced 21 people to death in connection with

fighting between rival football fans last year in which more than

07 people died. In the Courtroom families of the deceased greeted

the verdicts with cries of God is great. The judge is to announce the

verdict for the remaining 52 offenders later.

Let's go to our correspondent there for us.

Aleem, what is the latest? Well, I'm outside the club here in Cairo,

there have been great celebrations here. It is in contrast to the

riots that we hear are going up in Port Said, but this was always to

be a charged verdict. One side or the other to start violence. This

relates to the fans that had gone up to Port Said and after the match

were attacked by the Port Said fans who killed about 70 people. The

people were stabbed to death, kicked to death, and even in some

cases clubbed to death. A lot of the fans here that the authorities

were explicit by locking the doors to the stid yum. -- stadium. There

were celebrations after the verdict was announced but the families of

the defendants, of those sentenced to death have attacked the prison

there. That is why there has been these deaths it adds to the feeling

of instability that has characterised Egypt for the last

couple of years. Britain is providing �21 million in

humanitarian asustance for those caught up in the crisis in Syria.

The aid was announced as the International Development Secretary,

Justine Greening, was visiting Jordan.

The United Nations says that the flow of Syrian refugees into here,

the Za'atari camp in Jordan has become absolutely dramatic.

The influx has accelerated throughout the week. 6,000 Syrians

have been recorded arriving here in one 24-hour period alone. Mostly

women and children and elderly people. Three children have died in

the camp this week. Under half of the new British aid funding is

intended to help Jordan cope with the numbers crossing the border. As

the winter conditions continue, that means tents, blankets and

other supplies to help make the refugees less vulnerable. Most of

the recent arrivals have been fleeing the fighting in the area of

Deraa. They have been escaping shortages

of food and fuel. The rest of the aid is to help to get vital

supplies of bread and flour to tens of thousands of people inside Syria

and to help to restock medical facilities and treat many thousands

of injured and sick people. The yupbz warned that the number of