:00:00. > :00:10.This is BBC World News Today with me, Philippa Thomas. David Cameron
:00:11. > :00:13.cancels his trip to the Middle East to deal with the worst English
:00:14. > :00:17.flooding in decades. It's been the most exceptional period of rain in
:00:18. > :00:21.the UK for more than 200 years - with at least 1,000 homes evacuated
:00:22. > :00:27.and in some areas tempers are rising as fast as the floodwaters. It is
:00:28. > :00:33.about time someone does something and come out and don't leave us
:00:34. > :00:36.stranded. Men and boys have been detained by the Syrian authorities
:00:37. > :00:42.during the evacuation of Homs. The Governor there says some could face
:00:43. > :00:46.arrest and trial. We'll get the latest from inside that besieged
:00:47. > :00:49.city. Also coming up: He may be having a difficult time at home, but
:00:50. > :00:55.it's a warm welcome at the White House for France's President
:00:56. > :00:58.Hollande. Saying goodbye to Hollywood sweetheart Shirley Temple
:00:59. > :01:00.who sang and danced her way into the hearts of Depression-era America and
:01:01. > :01:17.died today at the age of 85. Hello and welcome. 1,600 troops are
:01:18. > :01:20.on standby as severe flood alerts affect towns and villages along the
:01:21. > :01:23.River Thames - after what the Prime Minister David Cameron described
:01:24. > :01:31.today as the wettest English winter for 250 years. Roads and rail tracks
:01:32. > :01:33.are under water, more than 1,000 homes have been evacuated and Mr
:01:34. > :01:37.Cameron has cancelled his planned visit to the Middle East to focus on
:01:38. > :01:45.what has become a political and logistical emergency. Let's give you
:01:46. > :01:55.an idea of the impact of the flooding now with our correspondent.
:01:56. > :01:59.He is in Berkshire. I'm in the Thames Valley and communities from
:02:00. > :02:02.here where I am in Marlow down stream towards London are feeling
:02:03. > :02:06.the full impact of the floods. It has been raining so much the ground
:02:07. > :02:10.is so water-logged the river levels have been rising so fast that many
:02:11. > :02:14.homes have been flooded and more are at risk. In this town, some
:02:15. > :02:22.residents are saying they haven't seen it as bad as this for 40 years.
:02:23. > :02:25.We have seen pumps being set up and the army coming in, people
:02:26. > :02:30.sandbagging their homes and businesses. But many people say that
:02:31. > :02:38.all of this is rather too late. But more resources are being brought in.
:02:39. > :02:44.Jon Kay reports. High visibility - a Prime Minister keen to be seen.
:02:45. > :02:48.Visiting Devon's fractured railway line, insisting he will get
:02:49. > :02:52.storm-batter Britain back on track. If money needs to be spent, it will
:02:53. > :02:55.be spent. If resources are required, we will provide them. If the
:02:56. > :02:59.military can help they will be there. We must do everything, but it
:03:00. > :03:03.is going to take time to get things right. Next stop - Taunton. The
:03:04. > :03:08.Prime Minister had cancelled today's cabinet meeting to be here instead.
:03:09. > :03:11.In this control room the response to the Somerset Levels flooding has
:03:12. > :03:18.been co-ordinated and after all the criticism and blame, a chance to
:03:19. > :03:22.show a united front. A bit of welcome sunshine in Somerset today.
:03:23. > :03:25.But many here told us they wanted Mr Cameron to spend some of Britain's
:03:26. > :03:35.foreign aid budget helping flood victims at home. Some of the
:03:36. > :03:39.millions that is being sent to help people abroad, OK people abroad need
:03:40. > :03:42.help. We do here. This part of the country is in chaos. The school
:03:43. > :03:45.where Nicky teaches was closed by flooding today and she told she she
:03:46. > :03:48.wants to see more led leadership from the Prime Minister. I think
:03:49. > :03:55.he's panicking, because he doesn't quite know what to do. And it is an
:03:56. > :03:58.unusual situation and I do realise we are experiencing unusual weather,
:03:59. > :04:05.however there are still people cut off and people without provision. If
:04:06. > :04:08.David Cameron thought the South West was wet, wait until he reached the
:04:09. > :04:14.Thames Valley. In Staines he surprised people living on flooded
:04:15. > :04:17.Guilford Street. Mr Cameron has been in there holding a private meeting
:04:18. > :04:21.with residents about the state of their overflowing drains. Not the
:04:22. > :04:24.kind of think you would expect a Prime Minister to be dealing with
:04:25. > :04:28.himself. Burr he knows that his leadership will be judged by the way
:04:29. > :04:34.he deals with this whole wider crisis. And those who met him today
:04:35. > :04:39.agree. If action's not taken then all we can do is vote. Really it
:04:40. > :04:44.will make a difference to the way you vote? Yeah, I will vote for
:04:45. > :04:49.whoever fixes this problem. From Guilford Street, back to Downing
:04:50. > :04:53.Street and this message tonight. There is absolutely no sign of this
:04:54. > :04:56.threat abating. And with further rain and strong winds forecast
:04:57. > :05:02.throughout the week, things may well get worse before they get better.
:05:03. > :05:05.The Prime Minister announced he was cancelling his trip to the Middle
:05:06. > :05:16.East next week. Instead he will deal with the crisis in middle England.
:05:17. > :05:22.We could be talking about a lot of resources in the short and
:05:23. > :05:29.long-term. Where is it going to come from? Well, these two separate
:05:30. > :05:33.issues - the short and long-term. The Prime Minister said money was no
:05:34. > :05:39.object in terms of dealing with what needs to be done now. There will be
:05:40. > :05:44.questions about which budget that comes from. And then there is the
:05:45. > :05:47.issue about what should be done to make sure this doesn't happen again,
:05:48. > :05:52.or at least happen on this scale. That is not an issue just for here
:05:53. > :05:57.in the Thames Valley, but also in the South West, where there has been
:05:58. > :06:02.flooding for weeks now. Calms for more dredge - calls for more
:06:03. > :06:10.dredging and flood defences there. That is more costly and involves a
:06:11. > :06:14.lot more long-term commitment. Thank you. Let's talk to BBC Weather
:06:15. > :06:17.presenter Nina Ridge. One reason we are leading with this story, it is
:06:18. > :06:23.not just a weather event in Britain. This is sustained rain faufl having
:06:24. > :06:30.a -- rain fall having a damaging effect. Are we looking at climate
:06:31. > :06:33.change? As yet we have no tive answer. But there are some
:06:34. > :06:37.fundamental laws of physics that we can't get away from. As the world
:06:38. > :06:42.warms, which it has been doing, it will hold more water and many
:06:43. > :06:48.studies will indicate that we should inspect -- expect more intense ra
:06:49. > :06:51.fall as a result. There are studies which have forecasted that Atlantic
:06:52. > :06:55.storms would get more intense and have a more southerly track. That
:06:56. > :06:59.would fit with the pattern we have had this winter. You have been
:07:00. > :07:03.looking at patterns of weather around the world. How do they lock
:07:04. > :07:07.together? The different stories we have had through different
:07:08. > :07:13.continents. Yes, it is global weather. The weather we have been
:07:14. > :07:19.here we can link back to things in the Pacific. It has been unusually
:07:20. > :07:25.warm in the Pacific, which has brought enhanced rain fall across
:07:26. > :07:32.Indonesia. And then the jet stream has given cold air across Canada,
:07:33. > :07:37.central United States and Texas. In turn the jet stream across the North
:07:38. > :07:42.Atlantic has been intensified and set across parts of southern UK.
:07:43. > :07:47.That is why we have so many storms. And why you tell us to expect for
:07:48. > :07:53.this winter in the northern hemisphere more unsettled weather?
:07:54. > :07:58.Yes there is more unsettled weather. For the UK next week perhaps drier.
:07:59. > :08:04.But over all the jet stream looks stuck in place for a while yet. So
:08:05. > :08:07.there is a difficulty for politicians and planners in trying
:08:08. > :08:13.to work out what to do. The ground is soed soen, you -- wet you can't
:08:14. > :08:19.pump it away. We are expecting around a month's worth of rain still
:08:20. > :08:27.to fall by the end of Friday. It is a huge amount of water that has
:08:28. > :08:30.nowhere to go. Thank you. United Nations aid agencies say they're
:08:31. > :08:33.concerned about what's happening to the men and boys among the hundreds
:08:34. > :08:37.of civilians evacuated from the Syrian city of Homs - a city where
:08:38. > :08:40.people have been living in desperate circumstances under siege for the
:08:41. > :08:44.last 18 months. Large numbers of the men trying to leave during a locally
:08:45. > :08:47.agreed ceasefire have been detained for what the Syrian authorities call
:08:48. > :08:50.screening. Let's try to go to Homs now and speak with the UN's
:08:51. > :08:59.Humanitarian Coordinator Yacoub el Hillo. Thank you for speaking to us.
:09:00. > :09:05.Is it your understanding that the evacuation process is still under
:09:06. > :09:13.way? Thank you very much. It has been under way for the last three or
:09:14. > :09:21.four days and we have over a thousand people have come out of the
:09:22. > :09:26.old city of Homs. Into the larger city. This is a part of a deal that
:09:27. > :09:31.was agreed by and Government of Syria and the opposition groups
:09:32. > :09:36.inside the old city, which also provide this agreement for the
:09:37. > :09:41.delivery of humanitarian assistance inside the old city of Homs.
:09:42. > :09:47.Something that we have been able to partially achieve two days ago. So
:09:48. > :09:52.yes, people have been able to come out. And some partial achievement
:09:53. > :10:01.has been realised in delivering aid to the old city after what some
:10:02. > :10:06.calculated as 600 days. Are you concerned about what's happening to
:10:07. > :10:12.these men and teenage boys, they seem to be being separated from
:10:13. > :10:17.their families as they leave Homs? When they arrive, or when a they
:10:18. > :10:21.leave do you mean? Well I will take your information from the ground,
:10:22. > :10:25.but what we have been hearing is it as they leave the city, the men and
:10:26. > :10:35.boys are being taken aside and detained, questioned. Well, we have
:10:36. > :10:42.been actually running this exercise, this humanitarian exercise since the
:10:43. > :10:49.world go. And by we, I mean the UN agencies, as well as our partners,
:10:50. > :10:57.the Syrian Red Cross and Syrian remember crescent. At no moment have
:10:58. > :11:01.we actually men or... Are separated from their families. There is a
:11:02. > :11:04.facility prepared to receive families leaving the old city. But
:11:05. > :11:11.since all of the families that have come out so far opted to go
:11:12. > :11:16.elsewhere. In and around Homs city. The shelter, or the transit facility
:11:17. > :11:24.was available to receive these men, who are they? They are men under the
:11:25. > :11:30.age of 55, but maems whose age is 16 years and above. -- males. We were
:11:31. > :11:36.actually quite impressed that quite a number of males in this category
:11:37. > :11:40.chose to come out and that was the day bhfr yesterday -- before
:11:41. > :11:46.yesterday and even more yesterday. So the agreement with the Syrian
:11:47. > :11:54.Government was the arrival of these individuals came outside the pe
:11:55. > :11:58.rammer thes of the humanitarian - parameters of the humanitarian
:11:59. > :12:02.arrangement. But they will transferred with their families to
:12:03. > :12:07.this transit facility. That is where they are now. Many left today after
:12:08. > :12:10.having gone through the process of regularising their statements and
:12:11. > :12:20.checking if there was anything outstanding in their name while they
:12:21. > :12:25.were not able to be here out of the old city. 111 have left that
:12:26. > :12:30.facility, many with their families. So they were not separated. It is
:12:31. > :12:36.good to get the late fres you -- latest from you. Thank you. The US
:12:37. > :12:39.President Barack Obama today described the situation in Syria as
:12:40. > :12:42.fluid, saying Washington does not see a military solution to the
:12:43. > :12:44.situation there. He was speaking during his joint news conference
:12:45. > :12:48.with the French president Francois Hollande - after the two leaders
:12:49. > :12:51.held policy talks in the Oval Office. This visit marks a new era
:12:52. > :12:58.in US-French relations, which sank to a low a decade ago over the Iraq
:12:59. > :13:05.war. But Mr Obama was careful to be diplomatic when asked which European
:13:06. > :13:14.ally matters most to Washington. I have two daughters! And they're both
:13:15. > :13:23.gorgeous and wonderful. And I would never choose between them. And that
:13:24. > :13:31.is how I feel about my outstanding European partners. All of them are
:13:32. > :13:36.wonderful in their own ways. Now, to the serious part of the question,
:13:37. > :13:41.what I do believe is that the US/French alliance has never been
:13:42. > :13:46.stronger. And the levels of co-operation that we are seeing
:13:47. > :13:54.across a whole range of issues is much deeper than it was I think five
:13:55. > :13:59.years ago, ten years ago, 20 years ago. With me is Eric Albert, a
:14:00. > :14:03.London-based French Journalist working for Radio France and Le
:14:04. > :14:09.Monde. Now a look at some of the days other news. Which matters
:14:10. > :14:14.really matter to President Obama? The one thing for sure there is no
:14:15. > :14:19.big disagreement like there was on Iraq ten years ago. There is no big
:14:20. > :14:24.frontal kis a-- disagreement and there has been quite a few
:14:25. > :14:30.agreements on what France does in Africa in Mali and the central
:14:31. > :14:36.republic of Africa. France went there and the US, Barack Obama is
:14:37. > :14:44.happy to let France do it with some support, but not too much. Barack
:14:45. > :14:50.Obama ips not like -- is not like George Bush, somebody who wants to
:14:51. > :14:56.intervene. And the European influence in Africa so, he can step
:14:57. > :15:04.back. Yes. And the relationship is warmer, friendlier than before. It
:15:05. > :15:11.is better than the cheese surrender monkeys of the George Bush era. But
:15:12. > :15:16.there was no big treaty, no big trade agreement. Relationships are
:15:17. > :15:28.fine. It doesn't mean we are at a turning point or anything concrete
:15:29. > :15:34.has changed. Do you think there is any anguish in France? In Britain
:15:35. > :15:38.there is a worry about what happened to the special relationship with
:15:39. > :15:44.America looking to China for example. Do the French care as much?
:15:45. > :15:55.There was this fighting between France and the US. Britain almost
:15:56. > :16:00.wanted to beat the special friend. Barack Obama, he said he has two
:16:01. > :16:06.daughters and will not choose between them. The real shift is,
:16:07. > :16:13.Barack Obama is shifting towards the West, shifting towards retreating in
:16:14. > :16:19.places like Africa and Syria. President Hollande wanted to strike
:16:20. > :16:25.in Syria, Oregon Obama was the one who stopped it. France has a
:16:26. > :16:33.slightly friendlier relationship with America. Also, to be treated
:16:34. > :16:36.with dignity over the runaround by the international media over his
:16:37. > :16:45.private life? His private life has probably been more played on
:16:46. > :16:54.international media than in France. The page has turned. He dumped his
:16:55. > :17:00.girlfriend, it is over. He is a single man. He has no first lady
:17:01. > :17:07.being paid by the state. So things have gone back to a normal state of
:17:08. > :17:14.affairs now. So he can talk about the important things like Syria and
:17:15. > :17:19.Iran and climate change? That is one thing they are both trying to move
:17:20. > :17:23.forward. There will be a big climate change summit next year in France.
:17:24. > :17:35.With the US summit on board, aims might change. We will have to leave
:17:36. > :17:38.it there, but thank you. A moment of history for Beijing and
:17:39. > :17:43.Taipei today. Two capitals embarking on their highest level meeting since
:17:44. > :17:46.the end of China's civil war in 1949. Since the 50s Taiwan has
:17:47. > :17:48.called itself the Republic of China. Beijing has always insisted it has
:17:49. > :17:52.territorial rights over the island and has refused to rule out military
:17:53. > :17:55.force to take it over. But Taiwan's Minister of Mainland Affairs is in
:17:56. > :17:58.Nanjing on the Chinese mainland for talks with his opposite number.
:17:59. > :18:03.Could it be the key step towards normalised relations? Emily Buchanan
:18:04. > :18:06.reports. Carefully choreographed, the first
:18:07. > :18:16.handshake between two historic rivals. It is a big step between
:18:17. > :18:20.China and Taiwan, set symbolically in Nanjing, China's B for the
:18:21. > :18:32.Communists took over. The tables were laid out in perfect symmetry
:18:33. > :18:37.with no provocative flags. TRANSLATION: we need to apply a bit
:18:38. > :18:41.of creativity if we want to achieve a breakthrough in the relationship.
:18:42. > :18:48.We need to make efforts to make meetings like this happen. Taiwan's
:18:49. > :18:55.delegate was equally conciliar tree. TRANSLATION: we are able to sit down
:18:56. > :18:58.for a meeting to discuss issues concerning both sides and we should
:18:59. > :19:02.cherish this peaceful and stable momentum. I hope we can further
:19:03. > :19:07.promote the relationship on the basis of the consensus reached
:19:08. > :19:13.previously. Civil war and revolutions split the
:19:14. > :19:19.Chinese people. Chinese and Taiwan have had separate government since
:19:20. > :19:23.1949. The defeated Nationalists fled to Taiwan. China still considers
:19:24. > :19:27.Taiwan part of its territory, but Taiwan has never formally given up
:19:28. > :19:35.its claim to be the rightful government of China. But in 1971
:19:36. > :19:39.Taiwan lost its seat to China. In 1979 it received a further blow when
:19:40. > :19:46.the US officially recognised the people's Republic of China in
:19:47. > :19:51.Beijing. Recently, relations have been boring since 2008. Two years
:19:52. > :19:56.later, the president oversaw a trade pact with China, but many Taiwanese
:19:57. > :20:01.worried it was the first step in being taken over by Beijing. In
:20:02. > :20:04.spite of the diplomatic niceties, there are still lingering doubts
:20:05. > :20:17.about Taiwan's future sovereign tree.
:20:18. > :20:19.More than 100 people are feared dead in Algeria after a military
:20:20. > :20:25.transport plane crashed. One survivor was found. Bad weather was
:20:26. > :20:28.suggested as a possible cause. It went down in a mountainous area in
:20:29. > :20:33.the East of Algeria. The organisers of the World Cup in
:20:34. > :20:38.cat have published a charter of workers right after fever urged the
:20:39. > :20:47.state to revise its working practices. It is alleged 155
:20:48. > :20:55.Nepalese workers died there last year in work-related incidents.
:20:56. > :21:01.India has lifted its ban on the Russian Olympics. Fresh elections
:21:02. > :21:04.were conducted on Sunday which was seen as fair and the lifting of the
:21:05. > :21:11.ban means Indian athletes in Sochi who had been competing under the IOC
:21:12. > :21:20.flag can now compete under their national flag instead.
:21:21. > :21:24.It is the fourth day of the Winter Olympics in the Russian Black Sea
:21:25. > :21:26.resort of Sochi. Snowboarding legend Shaun White pulled out of the
:21:27. > :21:31.Slopestyle event earlier in The Games to focus on the men's half
:21:32. > :21:34.pipe. Tulsen Tollett is in the BBC Sports Centre. How did he get on?
:21:35. > :21:43.Not great. He was looking for his third consecutive gold medal. Shaun
:21:44. > :21:47.White won the last two Olympic Games, bidding for his third gold
:21:48. > :21:54.medal. His first run, unfortunately he fell. He could not get the
:21:55. > :22:01.victory. His second run was not good enough. He finished in fourth. The
:22:02. > :22:05.man who won is from Switzerland and who is factually known as iPod. He
:22:06. > :22:12.has been a big rival of Shaun White over the past few years. The
:22:13. > :22:20.15-year-old Japanese in there as well, who came in third place. The
:22:21. > :22:24.move which one it the iPod was called a yo-yo. I will not explain
:22:25. > :22:29.to you how it was because it was very difficult. The big event on
:22:30. > :22:34.Tuesday was the women's downhill ski jumping. The first time since the
:22:35. > :22:41.1924 Winter Olympic games this has been introduced. The Japanese,
:22:42. > :22:48.17-year-old was the favourite. The world number one. But she could only
:22:49. > :22:53.manage fourth. The winner was from Germany who was the last to go with
:22:54. > :22:59.a combined score of 247.4, which gained her the victory. There were
:23:00. > :23:03.eight gold medals on offer on Tuesday. Six others to speak of. If
:23:04. > :23:12.you want the information on those, go to our website.
:23:13. > :23:16.The actress Shirley Temple has died at the age of 85 after a career
:23:17. > :23:20.which you could say peaked at the age of five. The former Hollywood
:23:21. > :23:23.child star helped to raise American morale during the Great Depression
:23:24. > :23:27.of the early 1930s and later became a US diplomat to Africa and Europe.
:23:28. > :23:37.David Sillito looks back at her life.
:23:38. > :23:46.With her ringlets, dimples and talent, Shirley Temple was a child
:23:47. > :23:52.star without equal. Indeed she was Hollywood's biggest star in the late
:23:53. > :23:58.30s. Her innocent charm one box office magic. But her mother,
:23:59. > :24:03.Gertrude, had started her out in the less than wholesome baby burlesque.
:24:04. > :24:08.She was only four years old at the time. It wasn't long before she got
:24:09. > :24:26.the chance to show off her real talent for song and dance.
:24:27. > :24:30.Her popularity saved the FOX studios from bankruptcy and her optimistic
:24:31. > :24:39.films where an escape from the hard times of the 30s. Surely got her
:24:40. > :24:42.first car. It it is a shame she cannot run it anywhere else but in
:24:43. > :24:49.the studio grounds. She drives like a grown-up woman. She appeared to
:24:50. > :24:55.have everything and even had her own baby Oscar. What she did not have a
:24:56. > :25:00.friend is her own age. Mummy, can we go now? When she missed out on The
:25:01. > :25:04.Wizard of Oz to Judy Garland, it was the beginning of the end of her
:25:05. > :25:12.career and her well. She was just 12. Out of the $3,200,000 that I had
:25:13. > :25:24.earned from everything, all sales and books and things, I had $44,000
:25:25. > :25:31.left in a trust account. I wasn't upset, I was shocked. After her
:25:32. > :25:35.first marriage failed and her career stalled, she remarried and
:25:36. > :25:43.re-emerged into public life. I am dedicating my life and my energies
:25:44. > :25:47.to public service because I think our country needs it now more than
:25:48. > :25:55.it ever has before. And I want to help. Shirley Temple Black. Shirley
:25:56. > :25:59.Temple Black moved into politics and became an ambassador to Ghana and
:26:00. > :26:07.checkers are back here, as well as the White House Chief of Protocol.
:26:08. > :26:12.It was a startling reinvention, but whatever she did, most people will
:26:13. > :26:19.always remember her as America's little princess.
:26:20. > :26:27.Oh M Douglas! We will end the programme of a royal
:26:28. > :26:31.visit to our own newsroom. Prince Charles and Camilla were given a
:26:32. > :26:36.tour of the BBC and they met editors and producers working on our
:26:37. > :26:42.television and radio programmes. And also the World Service programme
:26:43. > :26:46.which will launch on Monday. They are doing rehearsals for that at the
:26:47. > :26:51.moment. This is World News Today. From me
:26:52. > :26:51.and the rest of the team, thanks for being with us.
:26:52. > :27:08.Whilst we are continuing to be concerned about the amount of
:27:09. > :27:11.rainfall, there is also likely to be sleet and snow through the night and