10/12/2017 BBC Weekend News

Heavy snow falls, cause disruption

across much of the UK,

bringing problems on the roads,

railways and at airports.

Motorists are told to travel

only if absolutely necessary,

after several accidents cause long

tailbacks on some motorways.

Hundreds of flights are cancelled or

delayed for several hours, including

Heathrow and Birmingham.

I left work

early after an night shift to find

out my flight has been cancelled.

We

saw the weather before we left home.

Boris Johnson tries to secure the

release of Britons in Iranian jails.

The disgraced publicist Max Clifford

has died after suffering a heart

attack in prison. And Liverpool room

several missed chances as Everton

snatch a draw in the Merseyside

derby.

Good evening.

Heavy snow has hit much of the UK,

causing disruption to roads,

airports and rail travel.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled

or delayed at a number of airports ,

including Stansted,

Birmingham, and Belfast.

A number of motorways

were covered in snow,

with police asking motorists

to travel only if

absolutely necessary.

In parts of North Wales there are

amber warnings in place, along with

the Midlands, northern and eastern

parts of England. The Met office

says it is the heaviest snowfall to

hit the affected areas in four

years.

Our correspondent Richard Lister

is in Gerrard's Cross,

in Buckinghamshire.

Few people this far south did not

expect to see snow when they woke up

this morning and they didn't expect

it to hang around as long as it has

done. The roads are slushy, the

pavements are slippery and getting

from a has been a treacherous ordeal

for many and that has been the story

for millions of people around the

country.

Much of Britain look like a

Christmas card today. Scotland and

northern England had been expecting

snow, but this was Bucks and it

wasn't pretty. Breakdowns and

blizzard conditions on the M25 near

Gerard 's cross made for slow going.

On the A34 meant two stuck lorries

meant the southbound carriageway is

had to be close. In Wales, some

small communities were cut off and

thousands lost power. This was

clanged off and today.

This is the

worst I have ever seen. It is

probably the worst snow I have ever

seen, it is certainly about a foot

deep.

In the Midlands they helped

critters would keep the roads safe,

but in Redditch they needed

snowploughs. It has been a long day

for breakdown services like the RAC,

which is getting five calls a

minute.

Problem starting it. I tried

starting it last night. Try to start

it this morning...

Mark says

everything he has dealt with has

been weather related.

Only travel if

you have do, if you do, make sure

you have a fully charged phone, warm

clothing in case you get stuck

because you may be stuck in traffic

for hours and hours.

This car at

least got going again. This is just

one of an estimated 25,000

breakdowns across the UK, 15% more

than usual. Everything from flat

batteries to people stuck in their

drives because of the snow. It's not

just motorists who have been having

problems. 70 flights were cancelled

at Heathrow, Luton and Stansted had

problems and there were unhappy

passengers at East Midlands Airport.

Bit frustrated and a waste of time.

They could have told us when we

checked in the flight was cancelled.

We have been cancelled, so we're

waiting around for about six or

seven hours.

P&O ferry with 300

passengers on board ran aground in

Calais due to the wind. No one was

hurt and it was refloated but this

was a day to stay at home.

OK, calm

down. Where we live, we never get

any snow, it is just sleet.

I like

snow because you can make snow

angels and snowmen and I find it

really fun to do.

And maybe do some

of this. It has been a great day for

snowmen, sledging and snowballs. But

what looks like fun on a Sunday

afternoon, can look very different

on a Monday morning at rush hour.

Critters are out in force as the

roads ice up for a difficult day

tomorrow.

And Richard what's in

store for this evening?

You can feel it here. The

temperature is dropping rapidly and

that means ice will be the problem.

The Met Office says for the next 24

hours, watch out for the ice. In

some places, it is still snowing. It

means the rush hour tomorrow morning

could be dreadful in many places.

You really do have to take care.

Before you set out, ask, do you need

to make the journey? If you live in

an area which has had snow, make

sure if you need to find this out,

the school is open for your

children's. Some will be closing

tomorrow. There is a possibility of

snow and ice bringing down tree

branches or disrupting power lines.

25,000 people in Wiltshire,

Berkshire and Oxfordshire are

without power and back could rise

tomorrow. Highways England saying if

you don't need to take to the roads

tomorrow, try to find a way to avoid

it. If you do have to go out in your

car, go prepared and make sure you

are wearing warm clothing, boots.

Take food and drink and medication

if you need it. You could be in

trouble if you don't have access to

it for an extended period of time.

Above all, the advice is, it is

probably a good idea to take a

shovel.

Thank you very much,

Richard.

The Foreign Secretary Boris

Johnson has held talks

with the Iranian President,

in a bid to secure the freedom

of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliff,

a British woman imprisoned

on charges of spying.

Mr Johnson described the visit

to Tehran as "worthwhile".

Today Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliff's husband

said he hoped his wife

would be home for Christmas.

Our Diplomatic Correspondent

James Robbins reports.

Boris Johnson spent nearly an hour

with Iran's president. That access

itself, seen as a good sign as

improving relations. The Foreign

Office says both sides spoke

forthrightly about obstacles in the

relationship and the need to make

progress. Boris Johnson raised the

case of dual nationals in Iranians

prisons, including Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliff. The Foreign

Secretary met some of her family in

Tehran. In London, her husband

Richard is much happier, showing me

pictures of his Iranian family and

delighted by the fact she didn't

have to face a possible court

appearance. He told me about the

family meeting with Boris Johnson.

The Foreign Secretary also met with

her father and had a long chat with

him, talked and said, I have raised

her case with everyone I have met.

Keep worrying and battling for her.

Don't worry, we will do what we can.

They came away pretty helpful.

If

there has been progress, where might

it have been made? The Foreign

Secretary has been careful to say

nothing publicly while in Iran. But

a Foreign Office statement says the

two sides discussed the full range

of issues, including banking matters

and concerns about the consular

cases of dual nationals. Those

banking matters include two major in

radiant grievances. One, that no UK

bank will open an account for Iran's

embassy in London. Fearful it could

put them in trouble with US

authorities. There are signs that

could be sorted soon. Second, the

Iranians want Britain to pay a

long-standing debt of around £400

million. A way to do that without

breaching sanctions looks closer.

Both sides these issues say they are

not linked to prisoner releases, but

giving one side something it wants

often helps the other to give in

return. One gift to Britain would be

the reunion of Nazanin

Zaghari-Ratcliff with her

three-year-old daughter, seen here

just before her arrest in April last

year. The family is feeling much

more positive. The Foreign Office

delegation left Iran sensing both

sides wanted to resolve the

difficult issues in the

relationship.

The Brexit Secretary David Davis,

says Britain won't pay a divorce

bill on leaving the European Union,

if there's no final

trade deal with the EU.

Today, he's been giving details

of the kind of future

arrangement he'd like to see.

Meanwhile the Labour Party has

suggested, it may be

willing to pay for access

to the European Single Market,

in order to retain its benefits.

Here's our Political

Correpsondent Iain Watson.

The strain was beginning to show.

This was the Prime Minister

on her early morning dash

to Brussels on Friday.

It was meant to be the easy bit,

but getting the EU to talk trade

proved tricky and serious

challenges lie ahead.

The EU has called for more clarity

with what kind of relationship

Britain wants in future.

Today the Brexit secretary

tried to give it.

Canada plus, plus, plus.

So what on earth does that mean?

Well, Canada has negotiated

a wide range of trade

deals over seven years.

But it doesn't include

financial services.

A Canada plus deal would cover this

vital industry for the UK.

What else could we expect?

Look at any free-trade deal,

what you see is agreement on where

product standards normally comply.

That's what it comes down to.

Sometimes you see other things.

In the free-trade deal

between Europe and Canada,

they say on labour standards,

they will not go below the ILO,

the International Labour

Organisation minimum.

But he made clear that paying

a divorce bill to the EU would be

dependent on getting a good deal.

I don't expect to see an awful lot

of seasonal goodwill when ministers

finally discuss what kind of deal

they want to do with the EU

just before Christmas.

Already, for example,

the Brexit secretary

and the Chancellor seem to disagree

over whether we should pay a divorce

bill under all circumstances.

But one thing has

become clearer today.

What Labour would do

if Jeremy Corbyn moved

in here to Number Ten.

The shadow Brexit secretary

suggested it would be economically

damaging if Britain moved too far

away from EU rules and regulations.

What sort of Britain

do we want to be?

Do we see Europe as our major

trading partner in the future?

Or, do we want to rip

ourselves apart from that?

And he suggested, like Norway,

Labour wanted to stay close

to the EU and may be prepared to pay

for access to its single market.

Norway pays money in.

They do it on a voluntary basis,

but there may be...

Would you accept it?

There may have to be payments,

that would have to be negotiated.

And the Shadow Foreign Secretary

would consider staying close

to the EU's Customs union,

which might restrict

the ability to do trade deals.

We have always been

pragmatic and realistic.

Most of our trade is

with the European Union.

We are just stating

a fact and so we should

not be kiboshing that.

The political parties have contained

some of the disagreements in Europe

by being a bit ambiguous

about the future.

With trade talks about to start,

difficult decisions can

no longer be deferred.

Ian Watson, BBC News.

The Qatari government is buying 24

Typhoon jets from BAE Systems. The

Defence Secretary signed a deal

worth in the region of five million

Joe Hart, around 5000 BAe employees

are involved in building the Typhoon

at Wharton in Lancashire.

The disgraced publicist

Max Clifford has died.

He was 74.

He'd suffered a heart attack

in prison, where he was serving

an eight year sentence for eight

indecent assaults against teenage

girls.

Danny Shaw reports.

He was the PR supremo who could make

or break a reputation. But when Max

Clifford's past caught up with him,

his own career lay in ruins. The

last three years of his life was

spent in prison in failing health

and this morning, after suffering a

heart attack, he died in hospital.

The allegations in respect of which

I have been charged are completely

false.

Max Clifford always denied

the claims of indecent assault that

eventually led to his downfall. But

his trial lends evidence of his

manipulative behaviour and how he

promised to boost the careers of

aspiring models and actresses in

return for sexual favours. He was

found guilty of eight charges

against four women and girls, the

youngest victim was 15. For 30

years, he provided sensational

stories for the tabloids. He

represented this lady, who had an

affair with Sven-Goran Eriksson. It

was Clifford who helped expose the

relationship between a former

Conservative MP David Mellor and

Antonio Kissinger. The part of it

were not true. This story was also

fiction but it made the great

headlines. His death leaves many

unresolved legal issues. He was

being sued by his victims and

appealing against his convictions,

protesting his innocence to the end.

With all the sport, here's

Karthi Gnanyasegram,

at the BBC Sport Centre.

Good evening.

There are two big derbies.

Manchester City are currently

playing Manchester United at Old

Trafford in the top of the table

clash. It was 1-1 at half-time after

David Silva put city ahead and

Marcus Rashford equalised with this

goal. Manchester City have taken a

2-1 lead. There are just 17 minutes

remaining. If they win, they will be

11 points clear of Manchester United

and it will be difficult for any of

their rivals to catch them.

Wayne Rooney scored his first goal

in the Liverpool derby.

Liverpool held to a 1-1 draw

in the Merseyside derby

with Everton at Anfield.

As Natalie Pirks reports.

The weather may have been freezing,

but this fixture is always enough to

get pulses racing. Everton were on

the ropes from the start and just

before half-time, Mohamed Salah got

the goal Liverpool deserved.

Absolutely magnificent.

It was a

superb strike on his Derby Debbie.

Things were just starting to heat up

and it nearly got worse for Everton

before the break. Or at least it

would have, had Mane had not gone

for glory. And Everton attack handed

them a lifeline. When Lovren went

for a push, the penalty was given.

Wayne Rooney put the ball on the

spot. Almost 13 years since his last

Merseyside derby, he revelled in his

role as party pooper. Everton

snatched a point and big Sam left

with a smile. Unlike a protesting

Liverpool.

Also, 85 minutes separated the goals

at Saint Mary between Southampton

and Arsenal.

Charlie Austin opened

the scoring with just three

minutes on the clock.

Olivier Giroud came to the rescue.

Let's hear from both managers,

Southampton's Manager

Scottish champions Celtic nearly

had their 67-game unbeaten run

in domestic football

ended by Hibernian.

It finished 2-2 at Easter Road,

but Neil Lennon's Hibs came so close

to snatching it late on.

In rugby union's European Champions

Cup, Wasps were well beaten

in a high scoring game

away at La Rochelle.

The French side top their group,

and scored six tries in this match,

including two from Levani Botia

as they won 49-29.

Wasps though did manage to score

five tries of their own,

to take an extra bonus point.

The other game in that group

was affected by the weather

but still went ahead with Ulster

beating Harlequins

17-5 at the Stoop.

Quins cannot qualify for the

quarterfinals.

Saracens match against

Clermont Auvergne was postponed.

Leinster are 5-3 up against Exeter.

The rest of the stories are on the