17/12/2017 BBC Weekend News

Good afternoon.

Six people have died, and a seventh

is in a critical condition,

after a car crash in central

Birmingham.

Six vehicles were involved

in the collision which happened just

after 1am at an entrance

to an underpass, just

south of the city centre.

Four others needed

hospital treatment.

Police described the scene as very

difficult and upsetting.

Tom Burridge reports.

Horrific and upsetting is how the

emergency services described the

scene. This black taxi flipped onto

its side, the driver and a couple on

board all died. Next to it, the

mangled remains of another car.

Police are now investigating how the

vehicles collided with such force

killing many of those on board.

Clearly a very difficult scene for

the staff to deal with, to have so

many casualties at the same time, 13

people having to be seen in rapid

time, including the first job

finding out who is most seriously

injured, that was established very

quickly.

Four men in one of the cars

were all thrown out of the vehicle.

Three of them died at the scene, the

fourth man is in a critical

condition in hospital. A man and a

woman travelling in a third car

which was badly damaged survived

with relatively minor injuries. This

photo shows the aftermath as those

first to arrive tried to save lives.

A devastating scene with debris

strewn all over the road. The crash

happened on a section of the

Belgrave Middleway, a busy road in

the heart of Birmingham. The

vehicles collided before the

entrance to the underpass at the

junction of Bristol Road. Police say

the dual carriageway will probably

stay closed for the rest of today.

Three other cars were also involved

in what ambulance crews called an

extremely distressing and complex

crash scene. Tragedy on one of

Birmingham's main roads a week

before Christmas. Tom Burridge, BBC

News.

Phil Mackie is at the scene now.

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

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

part of the accident, that is where

it is at the moment. Lots of

activity, forensic and specialist

teams inspecting the scene. I have

been talking to people who live

here. Flats overlooking the scene.

Some people heard the crash and went

out to see what had happened. They

have all said it is a particularly

busy stretch of road, even late at

night, and a lot of people speed

along here, that will almost

certainly be a focus of the

investigation. For the time being,

everyone's thoughts are with the

families of those people who have

died. Thank you.

Every worker who's 18 or over

could be automatically enrolled

in a workplace pension,

unless they opt out,

under plans unveiled

by the Government today.

At the moment, employers

have to provide pensions

for all staff aged 22 or over,

and earning more than £10,000.

The move is expected to affect

around 900,000 people.

Joe Lynam reports.

Ollie and Nate are both 21.

Ollie on the left has not yet

started saving for his retirement.

It's not really crossed my mind yet.

I've moved jobs quite frequently,

tend not to stay in one place too

long, so pensions have always been

lower down the list of things

I've been conscious of.

Nate has been saving

for his retirement since he was 16.

I grew up with a family on welfare,

so I was aware of the effects that

being reliant on public money can

have and how insecure

it can be sometimes.

If the Work and Pensions Secretary

David Gauke has his way,

young people like Ollie and Nate

could soon be automatically enrolled

into a pension at their employers.

That, I think, will get more people

into the habit of saving.

It will mean that younger

people will be saving

for those extra years,

so that is obviously significant

when it comes to their retirement.

At the moment, only those aged over

22 are automatically

included in a pension scheme

by their employers, but the

Government wants that lowered to 18.

Soon, 8% of our salaries will be

going into a pension pot, something

employers are worried about.

I think what the Government needs

to bear in mind however is how much

of the cost of that is going to be

falling on employers in the future,

because already the cost

to employers is on course

to treble by 2019.

Today's announcements means the cost

to employers will be

even higher than that.

To 18 or even 21-year-olds,

retirement must seem a long way off,

especially if they don't earn much.

But if this plan proceeds,

it could help young people avoid

depending on the state

in decades to come.

The Prime Minister says developments

over the last ten days have marked

a watershed in the UK's departure

from the European Union.

Writing in two newspapers this

morning, Theresa May said

the Government is proving

the doubters wrong after the EU

agreed to move on to the next

phase of negotiations,

but Labour say their

Brexit plans are a mess.

Our political correspondent,

Jonathan Blake, is here.

Jonathan, this comes ahead of big

discussion in Cabinet this week?

The timing is important because

Cabinet will meet this week to

discuss for the first time in full

what the UK's future relationship

with the EU will be. The Prime

Minister is striking a defiant tone

in her piece on the Sunday Telegraph

and Sunday Express, the familiar

phrases, taking back control,

getting on with the job. She is

looking ahead to the next phase of

negotiations which she describes as

the exciting part. Two reminders, if

they are needed, it will not be an

easy ride, at home in Westminster,

two Conservative and he's writing in

the Observer that the Lords will not

stand for a restrictive timetable.

Boris Johnson in an interview with

the Sunday Times saying Britain

should not simply mirror Brussels'

regulations in future because it

will end up being a vassal state in

the EU. Others in Cabinet take a

different view. They will have to

agree this week of the Prime

Minister is to deliver her promise

that she will not be derailed in

delivering Brexit.

Thank you very

much.

Cricket, and England's battle

to save the Ashes will go

into the final day of the third Test

in Perth, after rain brought

an early end to play.

But it looks a tough task.

Needing at least a draw,

England are still 127 runs short

of Australia's first innings total,

with four wickets down.

Andy Swiss reports.

A day when English cricket

was rescued by some very English

weather, but for how long?

It had started out a damage

limitation exercise to restrict

Australia's gargantuan total.

The video umpire helped,

finally dislodging Steve

Smith for a mere 239.

Some hefty late-order took

Australia's total way out of sight.

COMMENTATOR:

Sailing overhead...

For England's batsmen,

it was now all about survival.

Oh, dear.

Josh Hazlewood's brilliance

did for Alastair Cook,

and worse was to follow.

Joe Root, the captain, remember,

what was he thinking?

But as his team-mates fell

around him, James Vince stood tall,

a fluent 50 starting the recovery,

until the ball of this

or perhaps any summer.

Mitchell Starc, the stump destroyer.

Just watch this zigzag off the pitch

at 90 miles an hour.

Unplayable.

Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow

helped calm the nerves

with an unbeaten partnership

until a deluge sparked delight

among the Barmy Army,

but their team needs

something very special.

Got two guys at the crease that

have spent a lot of time

there in the first innings.

It's slightly different conditions,

but, yeah, we've got to have belief

that we can stay in the series

and get over the line tomorrow.

So, England are still hanging on.

More rain is forecast for tomorrow.

They will need that and some

determined batting to have any

chance of saving their Ashes hopes.

Andy Swiss, BBC News, Perth.

Prince Harry has interviewed

Barack Obama for

BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

If you use long pauses, you will get

the face.

Let me see the face.

LAUGHTER

The interview is part of Harry's

guest editorship of the programme

and features the former US president

sharing his memories of the day

he left office and his hopes

for his post-presidential life.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

The next news on BBC

One is at 5.20pm.

Bye for now.

Bye for now.

Bye for now.