10/01/2018 BBC News at Six

Tonight at six...

A desperate search for survivors

after mudslides in California leave

at least 15 people dead.

Rivers of mud and huge boulders

crashing into homes -

leaving dozens trapped.

We dug down and found a little baby.

I don't know where it came from.

We got it out, got

the mud out of its mouth.

I hope it's OK.

They took it right to the hospital.

Another survivor pulled

to safety but officials fear

the number of dead could rise.

The firefighters won't let us go

up there any further.

They say the situation can change

in the blink of an eye.

As you can see, this

is how dangerous it is.

Some of those affected now

are the very ones who faced

wildfires last month.

Also tonight...

British factories are booming -

the longest run in manufacturing

growth for 20 years.

The former football coach accused

of dozens of child sex offences.

The court hears from

an alleged victim.

And lost and stranded

on a Cornish beach.

Rescuers struggle to cope

with the number of seal

pups they're finding.

Coming up in Sportsday

on BBC News...

Arsene Wenger must watch

from the stands again as Arsenal

play Chelsea in the EFL Cup

semifinal first leg at

Stamford Bridge.

Good evening and welcome

to the BBC News at Six.

At least 15 people have been killed

by mudslides and flash floods

in Southern California.

Rescue workers are now mounting

a desperate search for survivors,

fearing that hundreds of people

might still be trapped.

Many of those affected now

are the very same people who last

month fled from wild fires.

The extreme weather

has hit Carpinteria,

Santa Barbara and Montecito,

from where our correspondent,

James Cook, reports.

On California's Pacific coast,

ordeal by the elements continues.

First, they enjoyed the largest

buyer in the state's history. Next

came torrential rain, more intense

than anyone here could remember.

Then, within minutes, destruction,

caused by an unstoppable wall of mud

and debris. This 14-year-old

survived. Even she does not know

how. Firefighters using rescue dogs

heard her screams and worked for

hours to pull her from the wreckage

of her home. Her family's fate is

unknown. Everyone here, it seems,

has their own incredible story of a

struggle to survive.

Once the

boulders and trees came through our

house we climbed up onto the roof

and waited till the creek went down

a bit and then we climbed off the

roof and got to our neighbour's. We

just got pulled out of there by the

firefighters. Police are now

rescuing neighbours.

We heard a

little baby crying. We dug down and

found a little baby.

We got it out, got

the mud out of its mouth.

I'm hoping it's OK.

They took it right to the hospital.

But it was just a baby, four feet

down in the mud, under the rocks.

I'm glad we got him.

A mother and her newborn baby are

winched to safety. The little girl

makes it onto the roof of her

seven-year-old brother is saved as

well. Terrifying moments but they

are the lucky ones.

How do you

describe it? It is devastating.

The

fire created a situation where the

dirt was able to wash down. Had we

still had all the vegetation on the

hills it would not have been as much

of an issue.

Montecito.

Why did it

happen? The area soaked had been

affected with wildfires. The earth

was baked, leaving it slick and

hard. The water had nowhere to go

but down, fast, into the town of

Montecito with devastating effect.

This is one of the most exclusive

communities in the United States,

home to stars including actor Rob

Lowe and TV presenter Alan

DeGeneres. Oprah Winfrey posted a

video from her garden. See how deep

the mud is. The destruction was not

confined to the coast. Further

inland, in Burbank, a suburb of Los

Angeles, the cameras captured

another mudslide in action. The mud

roared down here with terrifying

speed, sweeping everything in its

path. Firefighters will not let us

go up that any further. They say the

situation could change in the blink

of an eye. As you can see, this is

how dangerous it is. The Pacific

coast was hardest hit. The financial

cost will be immense. The human

toll, even higher. James Cook, BBC

News, Montecito.

We can go live to James now. What is

the latest you have on the rescue

operation?

Well, the scene around me

here is one, as you can see, of

complete devastation. The power of

the mud as it charged down from the

mountains was quite immense. It has

left parts of houses smashed to

pieces and strewn across the road.

The rescue operation does continue.

We have seen helicopters overhead in

the last three minutes ferrying

people backwards and forwards,

presumably trying to get people out.

We have had no more formal details

on how that is going. The last we

heard there were some 300 people

trapped in one area alone. This is a

very difficult, very intense

situation still. There are also

questions about why people were not

evacuated. Some evacuation warnings

were given but were they given for

the right areas and where they

strong enough? Perhaps, should

people have listened to them more

intently?

Thank you very much.

There's a boom in goods

made in Britain.

Manufacturing output in the UK

has reached its highest

level in nearly a decade,

after showing growth

for seven months in a row -

that's according to the Office

for National Statistics.

The sector has been boosted

by a strong global economy

and the devaluation of the pound

since the Brexit vote,

which makes exports

relatively cheaper.

Our economics editor,

Kamal Ahmed, reports.

The sound of better economic news,

and the manufacturers making

the goods a faster growing

world is demanding.

The weakness in the value

of the pound makes everything

Britain sells abroad more

competitive, and firms that export

are taking advantage.

So this machine actually

is a high-end machine...

Like Brandauer in Birmingham.

Among other high-tech materials,

it makes the switches for 90%

of all the kettles in the world,

billions of them.

Its order books for household

goods, the car sector

and aerospace are bulging.

We've always exported a huge

percentage of what we make.

Currently, that's around 70-75%.

Global growth of our customers

and the manufacturing supply chain

means growth for us.

Our customers are doing well,

and technology demands

are ever-increasing,

which means Brandauer as a net

result will do well.

It's been a ten year roller-coaster

for Britain's makers.

Manufacturing suffered badly

in the financial crisis and has only

slowly recovered since.

But, in the last year,

things have taken a turn

for the better and output is now

at its highest since April 2008.

Behind these better figures is a big

economic trend, global growth.

For the first time since

the financial crisis ten years ago,

all the economic centres,

the USA, China, Japan

and the rest of Europe,

are seeing stronger growth,

and that rising tide

is lifting Britain and

confidence is flowing back.

It's not all good news.

Construction figures

are poor and there are still

the problems of falling wages

and the increase in prices.

Many economists warn that Britain

is not out of the economic woods,

including a former adviser

to the Chancellor.

What we've seen in the UK

relative to elsewhere

is growth relatively stable.

That is still better than most

predicted at the start of 2017,

because the Brexit negotiation

was expected to have a more

dampening impact on growth,

but the global environment has

actually ended up being much

stronger, and I think that has

supported UK activity.

The UK is still the laggard, though.

Businesses have been more

hesitant about expanding,

whereas elsewhere in the world

confidence is much stronger and we

have seen more business spending.

Manufacturing is a bright point,

but at just 10% of the UK economy

it's not everything.

The strength of Britain overall

will only become clear when the full

set of figures are published

at the end of the month.

Many economists believe

they will now be more

positive than expected.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond has

said the European Union should stop

talking about "punishing"

the UK over Brexit.

He'll make the warning

in a speech in Berlin tonight

and Kamal joins me now.

Do you detect a more robust tone

from the Chancellor?

I certainly do.

2018 will be very tight timetable

for those European Union

negotiations. Philip Hammond, in

this speech is certainly a change of

tone. He supported remaining in the

European Union. He talks about it

taking two to tango. The use should

stop talking about punishing the UK

over Brexit. He is really saying,

you need to help us find some

solutions. Other countries, Canada,

America and Australia are offering

free trade deals Europe, what you

going to put on the table? In

Brussels it may raise a few

eyebrows. They say, Britain decided

to leave the European Union. You

broke it, you fix it. They are

saying it is for Britain to come to

the table with solutions. As we have

heard time and again, it does not

want Britain to be better off

outside the user and it was inside

the EU. We cannot have, Brussels

says, our cake and eat it.

Police in Stockport have found human

remains in a suburban back garden.

Their search comes after a woman

went to the police at the weekend

and told detectives she had

killed a man.

Our North of England

correspondent, Judith Moritz,

is in Stockport for us.

Judith, what more can you tell us?

Well, George, the police say on

Sunday afternoon a 63-year-old woman

walked into a police station not far

from here and confessed to having

killed a man several years ago and

buried him in the garden. That's

part a forensic search and last

night detectives confirmed that they

have found human remains at the

property. The BBC understands that

the body that has been found is that

of a man called Kenneth Combs and

the woman, who is now talking to

detectives on suspicion of murder is

his daughter. Neighbours have been

asked if they remember the family.

The police say a postmortem

examination should give more

information into course about how

and when he died.

The trial of the former football

coach Barry Bennell on charges

of child sexual offences has -

for the first time -

heard from an alleged victim.

A man who claims he was sexually

abused as a child has told the court

that Bennell had what he called

a "power hold" over young

boys who dreamt of being

professional players.

Barry Bennell, who's now known

as Richard Jones, denies 48 charges

of child sexual abuse.

Our Sports Editor,

Dan Roan, reports.

Back in the 1980s, Barry Bennell

worked with some of the most

promising young footballers in the

north-west of England. Youth team

coach at Crewe Alexandra. He also

had links with Manchester City.

Liverpool Crown Court has told the

64-year-old, who now causes of

Richard Jones, exploited young boys

dreams of becoming footballers in

order to sexually abuse them. With

Bennell watching on via video link,

the jury was shown footage of the

complainants interview. He first met

him when he came as a scout for

Manchester City. The alleged victim

said he was abused up to 100 times

along with other boys by Bennell at

his home and in a shop he owned in

Derbyshire village. He had up to

three boys share a bed with him. The

said none dare speak out for fear of

jeopardising their football

prospects. It was almost like an

untold rule, he said. He had a big

power hold over us. The court was

shown a recording of this BBC

programme from November 2016

featuring other alleged victims

which the complainant said left him

in complete meltdown, prompting him

to contact police for the first

time. Appearing behind a screen in

court he was cross examined by the

defence, and asked if his complaint

was financially motivated. I am not

in it for the money, he said. The

court was read transcripts from

Bennell's interview with the police.

He said he has had no sexual contact

with him and remembered thinking he

was the one that got away with it he

was not one of my victims. It is

impossible. The trial continues.

Our top story this evening:

A desperate search for survivors

after mudslides in California

leave 15 people dead,

and officials warn

the death toll could rise.

And still to come:

The man behind Wallace

and Grommit on how he's

created his latest characters.

Coming up on Sportsday on BBC News:

Double amputee Billy Monger is back

behind the wheel and training

to be a stunt driver.

The teenager lost both his lower

legs in an accident last year.

In the last few years, dozens

of British citizens have travelled

to Syria to volunteer in the fight

against so-called Islamic State.

Today the bodies of two men

killed in battle have been

brought back to the UK.

Jac Holmes and Oliver Hall fought

with Kurdish forces.

The parents of Jac Holmes say

they are proud of him,

and were unable to prevent

him from going.

They've been speaking

to Emma Vardy.

The road outside the cargo

area of Heathrow became

the scene of tributes,

as the bodies of two men,

carried from Syria by Iraq

and Jordan, arrived home.

Both 24 and both with no

previous military training,

Jac Holmes and Oliver Hall had

a desire to join

the battle against IS.

Well, for me, it was

a personal choice.

I wanted to fight against Isis

and I wanted to help the situation

over here in Iraq and Syria.

Jac Holmes, a former IT

worker from Bournemouth,

was just 21 when he first travelled

to Syria and his parents

discovered his plans.

As we went to move a bit

of furniture, opened a drawer

to make sure it was empty

and found his flight confirmation.

I had to leave the house

pretty quickly because I

was so angry with him.

I had all these messages

and missed calls and stuff.

When I picked up the messages,

it was Jac and he said,

"Mum, I'm up a mountain.

"I've crossed the border

and I'm in Syria."

He spent two years fighting

with the Kurdish armed group

the YPG, which has allowed many

western volunteers

to join its ranks.

But fighting abroad with any

militia, say British authorities,

is against the law.

Morally, what was your stance

on what Jac was doing?

I think Jac had always has

had a sense of helping

the underdog, helping people.

Morally, I don't have an issue

if he has killed any Daesh

fighters, not at all.

I think, if you speak to most

people on the street,

they would say the same.

Just days after the battle

for the de facto IS capital Raqqa

was over, Jac was killed

by a suicide belt left behind.

My name is Oliver Hall and I came

here of my own free will,

knowing all of the risks

and consequences that can follow.

Oliver Hall from Gosport had

travelled to Syria in August.

His mother was told he was checking

to make sure an area was safe

for civilians when he was killed

by an IED.

A ceremony for Jac Holmes

and Oliver Hall was held in Syria

as they began the journey home.

People from the Kurdish community

in the UK have gathered

here at Heathrow today to pay

tribute to two men who took

up their cause to fight

against so-called Islamic State.

What Jac Holmes and Oliver Hall did

is something the British authorities

have tried to deter people from but,

for those here today,

they will be remembered as heroes.

I'm immensely proud

of my son, really.

You know, your average

22-year-old is more concerned

about who is winning X Factor.

I'll never forget him.

Of course I won't.

Seven British men in total have died

with the YPG in Syria in the war

which has seen so many British men

and women drawn to it,

with many lives lost.

Emma Vardy, BBC News.

Cancer patients at a specialist NHS

hospital could face delays

to their treatment due

to a major shortage of staff.

That's the warning from a senior

doctor in a leaked memo to staff

at Churchill Hospital in Oxford.

He says the number

of specialist nurses

at the hospital is down by 40% -

nearly a half.

Our Health Editor Hugh Pym

is outside the hospital in Oxford.

I wonder just how worried patients

in the Oxford area, cancer patients,

should be about this?

The trust

which runs this hospital says

patients should be completely

reassured there has been no change

in policy whatsoever and they should

continue to expect high standards of

care but in a timely fashion, but

this leaked e-mail shows that

doctors there are seriously

concerned about workforce shortages,

difficulties recruiting trained

cancer nurses, and they think

chemotherapy will be affected. They

are considering reducing the doses

for patients who are terminally ill.

It has been said that, for some

patients who don't need chemotherapy

urgently, there are delays of one to

two weeks, but the trust says that

is still within the target. The

trust has acknowledged there are

serious problems with workforce in

the area and difficulties

recruiting, and Cancer Research UK

says this issue must be urgently

addressed.

Conservation charities say they've

been "overwhelmed" by the number

of stranded seals found along

the Cornish coast over

the last few weeks.

Record numbers of sick and abandoned

pups have been discovered -

after a series of winter storms

and high tides.

Rescue centres say they

are struggling to cope,

as Jon Kay reports.

On a suburban estate...

OK, shall we get them out?

A pop-up seal sanctuary.

With the local rescue centres full,

these orphaned pups are having to be

housed in a garage near St Ives.

Father and son David

and Dan are fully trained

and caring for the seals 24/7.

Are you struggling to cope?

We're at the point

where we really are.

This sort of speaks for itself,

having all of these guys here.

The rehab centres just don't

have the space to handle this many

pups in such a short amount of time.

Every day, volunteers from the group

are racing to the Cornish coast

to rescue unprecedented numbers

of sick and starving pups, orphaned

and injured in winter storms.

Here's the tube in the

corner of its mouth...

Providing emergency

food is the easy bit.

Finding them somewhere to recuperate

is much more difficult.

They've had nearly 300 call-outs

already this winter.

We've been out 55 times

this year so far.

What, since the 1st of January?

Since the 1st of January, we've had

55 calls and we've rescued 25.

The situation we find

ourselves in is completely

shocking beyond belief.

So why are things

so bad this winter?

Because we've had a succession

of storms over really high tides,

flooded all the beaches,

washed all those seal pups

out without enough food

inside them to survive.

At Cornwall's seal sanctuary,

there is no room left.

Some pups have had to be

taken to rescue centres

hundreds of miles away.

In the hospital wing,

this one has an eye infection.

He has to be covered while he's

treated to stop him biting.

Staff don't expect it to get

quiet any time soon.

We are only just in the middle part

of the pup season at the moment,

and that season doesn't generally

finish until about March,

April time.

So, as you can imagine,

we're going to have quite

a considerable number coming

in at that point.

It's not just south-west England.

Rescue teams all around the UK

are reporting record numbers

of seals needing help.

Once these pups have recovered,

they'll be sent back into the sea,

but conservationists say,

if we're going to avoid

an accommodation crisis next winter,

we need to start planning now.

Jon Kay, BBC News, Cornwall.

It's the Bristol-based animation

company that gave us Wallace

and Grommit and Shaun the Sheep.

Now, Aardman and its Oscar-winning

director, Nick Park

are about to unveil a new film,

a prehistoric comedy

called Early Man.

It's been five years in the making

and Nick Park has been showing our

Arts Editor, Will Gompertz, exactly

how he's made his creations come

to life on the big screen.

The initial idea was, you know,

what if cavemen invented football?

And I hadn't seen a prehistoric

underdog sports movie before.

Come on, everyone.

Let's show them what we've got.

This is one of my first sketches.

I loved sketching all the time.

That's where the characters

tend to come from.

And are you thinking as you sketch

in terms of plasticine?

Yes, I do.

I think 3-D all the time,

and I'm always drawing

as if they have dimensions.

I'm thinking about how

they will interpret,

how they will translate into models.

What strange magic is this?

We try and prepare for every shot

before the animator starts.

We do quite often live-action

videos, so Nick will act out almost

the entire film in front of camera,

and we go through that with him,

and that's our starting point.

We wanted, following Nick's

initial brief, to keep it

all looking very handmade,

so all of these sections

are made of plasticine,

but the mechanics inside are made

of lots of different materials.

Underneath, we have armatures,

which we make all in-house.

They look something

a little bit like this.

So we have sort of ball

and socket joint in here,

and hinged joints and rotates,

and fundamentally that's what sort

of sits inside our main characters.

Just a little bit more!

There are aspects of it,

are there not, which hark back

to your earliest days,

back to Wallace and Gromit.

Yeah, I know.

At the heart of it,

it is these two characters.

Dug is a cavemen and

his pet hog Hognob.

I set out to try and be a bit

different to Wallace

and Gromit, but I guess

there is a sort of default.

I can't help it.

The eyes are close together

and there is a sort of man and dog

sort of relationship, I guess.

I mean, as man and hog in this case.

It's one thing trying to make it

a film you want to make and to stay

true to your vision.

But you are hoping that it also does

work for people out in the audience.

Time for a look at the weather.

Here's Helen Willetts.

Rather quiet across the UK at the

moment, which is good compared to

around the world. Some sunshine

today, but this band of cloud and

rain is still making for gloomy

conditions across the eastern side

of the country. Further west, we had

problems with fog, with a spate of

accidents with poor visibility. It

is taken up again not just for

Northern Ireland but across many

parts of England and Wales, where we

have had that sunshine today, in

south-western Scotland as well. That

will be coupled with temperatures

close to frigging, especially in the

countryside, so it could be icy and

could be freezing frog. --

temperatures close to freezing.

Parts of south Scotland, across

north-west England, the Midlands,

eastern parts of Wales, perhaps

Devon and the West Country, central

southern England, more widespread

than this morning, and there is also

the complication of the weather

front further east, with some

low-level fog over the hills, but

possibly at lower levels with holes

in the cloud. It would take a while

for the fog to play tomorrow

morning, and then there will be some

sunshine, but not as widespread as

today. -- for the fog to clear. Some

of the cloud coming back into Kent.

Not as persistently wet as today,

but still drizzly and cold. Why

Friday, a bit more of a breeze to

lift the fog from the west, but

there could be a lot of morning fog

and frost, a lot of cloud, and not

much change over the weekend. In

Northern Ireland, the weather front

gets stuck, and just to reiterate

its going to get quite foggy out

there from now until tomorrow

morning, and it might not clear in

some parts tomorrow morning.

That's all from the BBC News at six.

It's goodbye from me and,

on BBC One, we now join the BBC's