03/03/2018 BBC Weekend News

An end to the freezing

weather is in sight -

but thousands of homes tonight

remain without power.

The M62 in Greater Manchester

did start moving again

after being closed

for more than a day.

But the thaw has

brought flood warnings

to coastal areas of England -

and many rural communities

remain cut off.

We're actually cut off and we have

been since Thursday.

They are working on it,

but it's going to be

a couple more days before

they can get through to us.

And the other main stories

on tonight's programme.

President Trump threatens to impose

new taxes on cars imported

into the US from the European Union

The controversial video technology

designed to help football

referees is approved for use ahead

of this year's World Cup.

Action.

And on the eve of the Oscars,

we speak to the next

generation of film makers

about Hollywood's fightback

against sexual harassment.

Good evening.

Most of northern England

and Scotland remain in sub zero

temperatures, with high winds

and freezing rain leaving thousands

of people without power.

The bitter weather has

been easing elsewhere,

but there's been continuing

disruption to road and rail travel,

and a number of flood warnings

are in place in southwest

and northeast England.

Here's our correspondent

Dan Johnson.

Yesterday's empty strip of tarmac

across the country replaced this

morning by trans-Pennine traffic,

reconnecting Leeds and Manchester.

The M62 reopened, but many roads

across these hills are still

blocked.

It's been quite incredible, never

seen anything like it.

seen anything like it. We've had

cars getting stuck, including police

cars and so on.

These are the ice roads

of the North Pennines.

This lane leading to

the tiny village of

Bewcastle has been

blocked since Wednesday.

This morning, local

farmers cleared the snow.

People here are feeling

a bit forgotten.

I rang the highways department

yesterday morning asking them to

send out some assistance as our

tractor was stuck in a neighbour's.

And they said, there's no way

anybody was going to be out our way.

I think it's absolutely disgusting.

Right across the North, there's

still plenty of snow to clear.

We don't want any

more, but, you know,

it is what it is.

And we can cope with it.

When you see the amount of snow

here you get an idea of what

this community has had

to endure this week.

This is not the only village

that has been cut off.

High tides and flooding

are now a risk.

This is Dawlish on

the south-west coast.

And look what the trains have

to plough through in Scotland.

We're actually hopeful

of a near normal

service tomorrow, which will set

everything up for people going back

to work Monday morning.

Hundreds of homes

across Wales were without

power.

Leaking boilers have only

added to the misery.

All the bedding's all

damage, the bed itself

is all gone, it's soaking wet.

The carpets are saturated.

Some supermarkets are running short.

After the beast from the east,

the hysteria from Siberia.

Back in Bewcastle there

are signs of warmer

climes.

The long, slow thaw

may have started.

That doesn't mean

the problems are over.

Dan Johnson, BBC News, Cumbria.

North Devon has seen

particularly heavy snow

and there too some remote villages

have been cut off - for days.

Jon Kay has sent this report.

This is the A39, now being cleared,

one scoop at a time.

Miles of snow have to go

to free this part of Devon.

We need to dig through to get

the roads open again.

Volunteers are helping council

and highway staff on Exmoor

so supplies can come

in and villagers can get out.

What's happened here

is that the high winds have brought

all this snow in off the Moors

and it's basically become trapped

on the road by the high

trees and the bushes,

and it can't go anywhere,

it can't get away.

Compare it, look, with the hills

at the side, there the snow has

pretty much melted now,

but on the road itself -

completely blocked.

People are running low on supplies

and I think that worries people

in this day and age,

when we are not used to those

sort of circumstances.

There is so much to do,

the nearest town, Lynton,

is another four miles on from here.

Today, some of its 1,100 trapped

residents sent us videos showing

what they're having to cope with.

It's not easy.

We've run out of milk.

We're running out of nappies.

I've got three grandchildren

that are in nappies,

and my daughter's struggling.

Across Exmoor, in extreme

conditions, communities have told us

how they're helping one another.

A school giving all its

food to a care home.

We've all been talking to each other

and working together as a team.

In Paracombe, Linda is clearing

neighbours drives, resilience

in remote communities.

What you do is put an appeal

on the village Facebook site

and somebody will come up

to the door and help you out,

if you're really stuck.

So what have you had?

Well, it's always nice getting some

potatoes when you're short

of potatoes, isn't it?

At the Fox and Goose

they're running low.

We're holding together,

but it's not easy and we need stuff

to start moving now,

so that we can carry on and trade.

Tonight some progress,

an emergency route has been cleared

through the fields so Royal Marines

can get medicine to a sick patient.

Now we can hopefully walk

forward and give these

supplies to the woman,

who's been waiting all day

for her medical supplies.

You're busy?

We are.

Yeah, very busy.

Across the south-west

of England they push on.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Exmoor.

Donald Trump has threatened to apply

new taxes on cars imported

into the United States,

from the European Union.

It's the latest salvo in a war

of words over trade tariffs.

Let's speak to our correspondent

Chris Buckler who's

in Washington for us now.

Remind us of the background to this.

Yes, the threat of new tariffs has

fuelled fears of a trade war. You

are right in saying the war of words

is well underway. Countries had

already threatened retaliatory

action as a result of President

Trump's announcement he was planning

to put 25% tariffs on steel and 10%

on aluminium imported into America.

Probably one of the most memorable

warnings came from the European

Commission President Jean-Claude

Juncker who said they would tax the

most American of products, including

bourbon and blue jeans. It's clear

President Trump was listening and

today he bit back. It probably won't

come as a surprise to anybody he

responded on Twitter, saying he was

prepared to tax cars coming into the

US from Europe, and that will cause

concern across the Atlantic. Because

the European car manufacturer's

biggest export market is the US.

Many inside the White House urge

caution because they believe no one

really benefits from this kind of

tit-for-tat trade war.

Chris, many

thanks.

Three men have been charged

with manslaughter and arson over

an explosion in Leicester,

which left five people dead.

Several people were also

injured in the blast,

in the Hinkley Road area

of the city last Sunday.

Three members of the same

family died when the shop

and flat were destroyed.

Reports from Syria suggest

government forces have gained more

ground in the assault

on the rebel-held area of eastern

Ghouta, near the capital Damascus.

Once again, no aid was

delivered during the daily

five-hour humanitarian ceasefire

there - and no

civilians made it out.

President Assad's ally Russia says

rebels have prevented

civilians from leaving.

The rebels deny this.

Now with more on that news that

video technology is set to be

used at the football

World Cup, and with the rest

sport, here's Lizzie

Greenwood-Hughes at

the BBC Sport Centre.

Thanks very much.

Good evening.

Video assistant referees are set to

be used at the World Cup in Russia

after football lawmakers voted

unanimously to approve the

technology. Our correspondence

Richard Conway reports.

Our correspondence

Richard Conway reports.

From Diego Maradona's hand of God

to injustice in the biggest games.

Football has long opposed technology

to help officials make the important

decisions.

But after an historic vote

all that has changed.

Video assisted referees

or VAR as it's

known, finally given the go-ahead.

VAR is good for football.

It's good for refereeing.

It brings more fairness in the game.

And, for these reasons,

we have decided to approve.

VAR will be used to correct errors

relating to goals, penalties,

straight red cards

and mistaken identity.

Nearly 1000 games have formed

part of the two year VAR

experiment.

Tottenham's match against

Rochdale last week was

included in the trial but was

criticised given lengthy delays

while the referee

reviewed incidents.

Leading to claims technology

is killing the atmosphere

and pace of the match.

Some now question

whether VAR should be used

at all, including at this summer's

World Cup in Russia.

The holy grail of football

is the World Cup, surely

if it's not good

enough for the FA Cup

we can't wheel it out

into the

most prestigious tournament

we have every four years.

On sort of clear error situations,

clear situations, the accuracy of

the referee's decisions went

from initially 93% up to around 99%.

Of course there are

grey areas where an

incident could be

a penalty, could not

be a penalty, and they

were

always remain grey areas.

Football's leaders

want to eliminate game

changing mistakes,

but as the experiments have

shown, anyone who thinks

technology will stop controversy may

want to think again.

Richard Conway, BBC News.

Despite the poor weather,

the day's Premier League

and Scottish Cup fixtures went ahead

as planned - Match of the Day

and Sportscene follow the news

so if you don't want to know

the results, you need

to avert your attention now.

Liverpool are up to second

place in the table,

beating Newcastle and former

manager Rafael Benitez 2-0

in the late kick-off.

Mo Salah and Sadio Mane

the scorers at Anfield.

Elsewhere there were wins

for Burnley, Swansea -

who jumped out of the relegation

zone to 13th -

Tottenham and Watford.

Celtic are still on for

the domestic treble -

through to the semi-finals

of the Scottish Cup

with victory over Championship

side Greenock Morton.

Aberdeen and Kilmarnock

will replay after they drew.

Great Britain's Laura Muir has

won her second medal of the World

Indoor Athletics Championships,

claiming silver in the

1500m in Birmingham.

The Scottish veterinary student gave

her all to improve on her bronze

medal in the 3000 metres.

Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba won gold

for a middle distance double.

And the man being dubbed 'the next

Usain Bolt' set a championship

record on his way to winning

the 60 metres.

America's Christian Coleman

clocked 6.37 seconds.

Britain's CJ Ujah was disqualified

in the semi-finals.

England's cricketers are now 2-1 up

in their One Day series

against New Zealand.

After a nail-biting victory

in the third match in Wellington.

New Zealand finished four runs short

of their 234 target.

England can seal the series

with a win in Dunedin on Wednesday.

Katie Archibald and Emily Nelson

have won Great Britain's second gold

at the Track Cycling World

Championships in the Netherlands.

Dominating the women's Madison,

despite a late change of team,

as Nelson replaced Elinor Barker,

who crashed-out yesterday.

It takes Britain's

medal tally to six.

That's it.

But as always, there's

plenty more on the BBC

Sport website, including the latest

from the Welsh Open snooker.

But from me, for now, goodnight.

After one of Hollywood's

most tumultuous years,

with revelations of sexual

harassment and gender inequality,

movements such as #MeToo

and Time's Up have been pushing

for fundamental changes

in the entertainment industry.

Our arts editor, Will Gompertz,

has been talking to the next

generation of film makers

in Los Angeles to get their take

on an industry in flux.

I just have to figure out,

how do I see this in your...

We're on set with a

group of postgraduate

students from the highly respected

USC School of cinematic arts in Los

Angeles.

They are making a film for this

post Weinstein era that

explores how an encounter

between a young aspiring actress

and powerful male producer can

quickly result in

blurred lines being crossed.

Can I have somebody sit in?

I have plenty of stories

of my own work in

Hollywood that are in line

with #MeToo movement.

And I wanted to...

That's the area I know

the most about,

so I wanted to focus

on the

story and the business

that I know most about.

What do I have to do

to get what I want?

Do you think things are changing?

I'm remaining cautiously optimistic.

I do think that the pendulum

has swung in the

other direction and I think it needs

to find its way in the middle where

we can make some significant change,

because right now it's sort of, you

know, it's a bit

of a panic situation.

At this point what worries me

is still people being

judged for speaking up.

Because it's such a grey area.

And because you don't

want to build a bad reputation

for yourself when you're

starting your especially

for yourself when you're

starting your career

especially because it's such

a

financially risky

industry to go into.

If you say the wrong thing

or you paint something in the wrong

light, that jeopardises

your well-being.

That's the scariest part.

Yeah.

How do you change that?

We're trying to figure that out.

Because all of this stuff

is kind of happening

as we speak, how long

is

it going to take to turn

the tanker around?

Oh my gosh.

Probably a while.

What does a while look like?

I mean I would hope by the time that

my career is ending that it would be

maybe a little bit more equal.

But I...

I'm not sure if that's realistic.

So you think it's at least

like a 40 year turnaround?

I think so.

The Time's Up campaigners

won't be happy with that.

They are lobbying

for equal male- female

representation on film

sets within two years.

That's going to require

some serious...

Action.

Will Gompertz, BBC News, Hollywood.

You can see more on all of today's

stories on the BBC News Channel.

That's all from me.

Goodnight.