Fresh weather warnings for heavy rain and wind have been issued for parts of England and Wales by the Met Office after a weekend of battering by Storm Eowyn.
Following miserable weekend weather which saw record wind speeds of 114mph as Storm Eowyn swept through the UK, new warnings have been put in place as the low pressure that caused Spanish-named Storm Herminia arrives.
A warning for periods of heavy rain that could cause some flooding of roads and properties was in place for most of Wales and some of the West Midlands until 9pm on Tuesday, with the Met Office predicting 20mm to 40mm to fall quite widely and 50mm to 60mm on higher ground.
A yellow warning for rain was also in place in London as well as the southeast and southwest of England until 10am Tuesday.
Image: All the current warnings. Pic: Met Office
A yellow wind warning is in place for the east of England, London and the southeast, the southwest of England and Wales until 6am Tuesday.
A major incident has been declared in Somerset due to overnight flooding, with residents in the worst-hit areas being evacuated from their homes.
More than 50 flood warnings are in place for England and two in Scotland as the country recovers from Storm Eowyn.
In the coming days, much of the week will see rain in various parts of the UK.
Sky weather producer Chris England said: “Looking further ahead, it will be very windy again tomorrow in the south with widespread heavy showers, some prolonged, and a risk of hail and thunder.
“On Wednesday, it will be calmer with showers in the north, mainly near north-facing coasts, with the possibility of rain in the Channel brushing the far south of England.
“Thursday will be mostly fine, but rain will move across Ireland and Northern Ireland into the northwest later, and this could be heavy over western Scotland for a time overnight.
“Then, on Friday, one band of mostly light rain will clear the southeast across England by early afternoon, with more rain moving into the northwest overnight.”
It comes after Storm Eowyn wreaked havoc in different parts of the UK and Ireland, with the Met Office issuing a swathe of red warnings as record wind speeds were recorded.
Image: Damage to a partially collapsed building that was undergoing repairs before being damaged during Storm Eowyn in Hale, Greater Manchester. Pic: Reuters
Hundreds of thousands lost power after Storm Eowyn hit on Friday, bringing hurricane-force winds to parts of Ireland and the UK.
Around 65,000 homes and businesses remained without power in Northern Ireland, 278,000 in Ireland and 8,000 in Scotland following Storm Eowyn, as at 11.30am. Hundreds of thousands have been reconnected.
Ten schools in Northern Ireland remain closed on Monday due to storm damage, with around 80 schools still without power.
There was ongoing travel disruption due to the high winds, with Network Rail working on repairs and reopening lines when safe to do so, after train operator ScotRail reported it had received reports of 500 incidents across its network and more than 120 trees falling on to tracks.
Two men aged 19 and 20 died in two separate incidents relating to Storm Eowyn.
The 19-year-old died after his car was struck by a falling tree in Mauchline, East Ayrshire, on Friday morning,
Kacper Dudek, 20, died in County Donegal, Ireland, on Friday morning when a tree fell on his car.
While not as powerful as Storm Eowyn, Storm Herminia was named by meteorologists in Spain as it formed in the north Atlantic. It was expected to bring strong winds as it headed toward the UK.
Chris England said that while it is a storm, it is unlikely that it would have been a named storm in the UK as it’s effects won’t be felt as strongly as they will in Spain and France.
He added: “That doesn’t mean it won’t have impacts here, especially with structural weakening following Eowyn.”
The train crew member who was seriously injured while trying to protect passengers during a mass stabbing has been discharged from hospital.
Samir Zitouni, 48, known as Sam, was working on board the London North Eastern Railway (LNER) train from Doncaster to London when the attack began in Cambridgeshire on Saturday 1 November.
Mr Zitouni had been in a critical condition, having suffered multiple injuries in the incident, but was discharged on Saturday.
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Mahmood praises rail worker
His family said: “We are so grateful for the outpouring of support from the public, and very touched by all the kind words about Sam’s brave actions on the night of the attack.
“While we are really happy to have him home, he still has a significant recovery ahead and we would now like to be left in privacy to care for him as a family.”
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Train mass stabbing: A timeline of events
David Horne, managing director at LNER, said: “In a moment of crisis, Sam did not hesitate as he stepped forward to protect those around him.
“His actions were incredibly brave, and we are so proud of him, and of all our colleagues who acted with such courage that evening. Our thoughts and prayers remain with Sam and his family. We will continue to support them and wish him a full and speedy recovery.”
The attack is understood to have started shortly after the train left Peterborough, with passengers pulling the emergency alarms on the LNER service.
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Train driver Andrew Johnson, who served in the Royal Navy for 17 years, contacted a signaller and requested an unscheduled stop at Huntingdon station.
11 people were treated in hospital after the mass stabbing – nine were initially reported as having life-threatening injuries.
Anthony Williams, 32, was remanded into custody at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on November 3, charged with 10 counts of attempted murder over the incident.
He will appear at Cambridge Crown Court on 1 December.
Donald Trump has said he will sue the BBC for between $1bn and $5bn over the editing of his speech on Panorama.
The US president confirmed he would be taking legal action against the broadcaster while on Air Force One overnight on Saturday.
“We’ll sue them. We’ll sue them for anywhere between a billion (£792m) and five billion dollars (£3.79bn), probably sometime next week,” he told reporters.
“We have to do it, they’ve even admitted that they cheated. Not that they couldn’t have not done that. They cheated. They changed the words coming out of my mouth.”
Mr Trump then told reporters he would discuss the matter with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the weekend, and claimed “the people of the UK are very angry about what happened… because it shows the BBC is fake news”.
The Daily Telegraph reported earlier this month that an internal memo raised concerns about the BBC’s editing of a speech made by Mr Trump on 6 January 2021, just before a mob rioted at the US Capitol building, on its flagship late-night news programme.
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BBC crisis: How did it happen?
The concerns regard clips spliced together from sections of the president’s speech to make it appear he told supporters he was going to walk to the US Capitol with them to “fight like hell” in the documentary Trump: A Second Chance?, which was broadcast by the BBC the week before last year’s US election.
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Following a backlash, both BBC director-general Tim Davie and BBC News chief executive Deborah Turness resigned from their roles.
‘No basis for defamation claim’
On Thursday, the broadcaster officially apologised to the president and added that it was an “error of judgement” and the programme will “not be broadcast again in this form on any BBC platforms”.
A spokesperson said that “the BBC sincerely regrets the manner in which the video clip was edited,” but they also added that “we strongly disagree there is a basis for a defamation claim”.
Earlier this week, Mr Trump’s lawyers threatened to sue the BBC for $1bn unless it apologised, retracted the clip, and compensated him.
Image: The US president said he would sue the broadcaster for between $1bn and $5bn. File pic: PA
Legal challenges
But legal experts have said that Mr Trump would face challenges taking the case to court in the UK or the US.
The deadline to bring the case to UK courts, where defamation damages rarely exceed £100,000 ($132,000), has already expired because the documentary aired in October 2024, which is more than one year.
Also because the documentary was not shown in the US, it would be hard to show that Americans thought less of the president because of a programme they could not watch.
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Sky’s Katie Spencer on what BBC bosses told staff on call over Trump row
Newsnight allegations
The BBC has said it was looking into fresh allegations, published in The Telegraph, that its Newsnight show also selectively edited footage of the same speech in a report broadcast in June 2022.
A BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC holds itself to the highest editorial standards. This matter has been brought to our attention and we are now looking into it.”
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
A man has been given a 13-month prison sentence for stealing Banksy’s famous Girl With Balloon print from a London gallery.
Larry Fraser, 49, of Beckton, east London, was sentenced on Friday after pleading guilty to one count of non-residential burglary at Kingston Crown Court on 9 October.
The print, one of the street artist‘s most famous, was stolen from a gallery in New Cavendish Street in London at around 11pm on 8 September last year.
Image: The recovered artwork back in the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser used a hammer to smash his way through a glass entrance door at the Grove Gallery before stealing the artwork, which was valued at £270,000.
He concealed his identity with a mask, hooded jacket and gloves, but the Metropolitan Police’s Flying Squad was able to identify him and track him to a location streets away.
He was also caught on CCTV loading the artwork into a van before fleeing the scene.
A second man, 54-year-old James Love, was accused of being the getaway driver in the burglary, but cleared of stealing the print.
Image: Larry Fraser. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Image: Damage to the Grove Gallery after the theft. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Fraser was arrested at his home address on 10 September, within 48 hours of the burglary, and charged the next day.
Officers were able to recover the artwork after executing a warrant on the Isle of Dogs. It has now been returned to the gallery.
Fraser pleaded to the court that he was struggling with a historic drug debt and agreed to steal the work “under a degree of pressure and fear”.
He said he did not know what he would be stealing, nor its value, until the day of the offence.
Image: Fraser was caught on CCTV taking the artwork away from the gallery. Pic: Metropolitan Police
Jeffrey Israel, defending, said Fraser lived with his mother as her principal carer, and had only managed to “break his cycle of drug addiction” after his last prison sentence.
He added that it “would take a bold advocate” to suggest that the value of the print had increased by the burglary, but insisted “that is probably the reality”.
Judge Anne Brown was unmoved, however, and said the offence was “simply too serious” for a suspended sentence.
“This is a brazen and serious non-domestic burglary,” she said.
“Whilst you did not know the precise value of the print, you obviously understood it to be very valuable.”
She added: “Whilst I am sure there was a high degree of planning, this was not your plan.”
However, Fraser may be eligible for immediate release due to time spent on electronic curfew.
Detective Chief Inspector Scott Mather, who led the Met’s investigation, said: “Banksy’s Girl With Balloon is known across the world – and we reacted immediately to not just bring Fraser to justice but also reunite the artwork with the gallery.
“The speed at which this took place is a testament to the tireless work of the flying squad officers – in total it took just four days for normality to be restored.”
The 2004 artwork was part of a £1.5m collection of 13 Banksy pieces at the gallery.
Gallery manager, Lindor Mehmetaj, said it was “remarkable” for the piece to have been recovered after the theft.
The 29-year-old said: “I was completely, completely shocked, but in a very, very positive way when the Flying Squad showed me the actual artwork.
“It’s very hard to put into words, the weight that comes off your shoulders.”