The british Prime Minister borisjohnson has admitted his government didnt understand the nature of the coronavirus pandemic in its first few weeks and months. Speaking to the bbc in an exclusive interview he said there were open questions about whether lockdown had been imposed too late. Us federal officials have repossessed the chinese consulate in houston days after President Trump ordered its closure, as diplomatic relations between the worlds two largest economies continue to deteriorate, china has retaliated by ordering the United States to close its consulate in chongdu. And authorities in iraq have created a city in the desert to bury the Record Number of people who have died from coronavirus. Doctors have issued a stark warning that returning to normal life would be premature, as coronavirus cases continue to soar. Rebecca vardy, the wife of the Leicester City strikerjamie vardy has filed legal papers and a possible lawsuit against Coleen Rooney. She claims to have suffered months of online abuse after rooney seem to imply she had been leaking details of her private life, allegations she denies. Here is oui allegations she denies. Here is our media correspondent david sillitoe. Rebecca vardy, wife ofjamie sillitoe. Rebecca vardy, wife of jamie vardy, is sillitoe. Rebecca vardy, wife ofjamie vardy, is herself a well known media figure, after her appearance on im a celebrity. However the last few months she says have been a tournament, as she revealed on the programme. I ended up with severe anxiety attacks and ended up in hospital three times. I ended up with kidney stones. And because of this tournament, herfriend stones. And because of this tournament, her friend Coleen Rooney, who is of course the wife of another footballer, wayne rooney. The trouble began when stories about calin and
wayne began appearing in the papers. Calin began some detective work and set up a private Instagram Account she says accessible to just one person and then watched to see if the information she posted appeared in the press. A few months later she revealed what she had done, and a name, rebekah vardy. She had done, and a name, rebekah va rdy. Rebekah she had done, and a name, rebekah vardy. Rebekah vardy says she didnt leak anything has filed a claim for libel, says she has suffered a torrent of online abuse, ridicule and threats to herself in to her family. In her court document, she says she has been targeted by online trolls and attack on social media platforms including but not limited to twitter and instagram. It said the claimant suffered from severe insomnia. She was taken to hospital three times while pregnant as she suffered anxiety attacks and adds that the abuse that followed the post made the claim and feel suicidal. She suffered from severe panic attacks and anxiety which manifested as
being scared to leave her house. On the football pitch it was the subject of chance. Chats. Rebekah vardy said that she didnt leak anything on various people had access to her Instagram Account. The response from Coleen Rooney has been a single statement through her lawyers saying. Now on bbc news, antarctica is one of the most remote and inhospitable places on earth. Our reporter travelled to thwaites, the so called doomsday iglesia. Glacier. Glacier. Antarctica the worlds most remote and inhospitable continent. This is the story of a team of scientists who are trying to get to thwaites, the so called doomsday glacier. No ones has really been under thwaites, and what icefins going to do is get up and close to the sea floor and allow us to see what is happening in a real way. Oh, oh look at that 0h yeah what happens to thwaites affects us all because as it melts it will drive up the sea level around the world. This glacier is part of a system. If all of that goes, you could end up with upwards of three metres of sea level rise. But first, the scientists need to get there. Its so difficult to operate here all of the planes are grounded. They say we wont fly anywhere. One only does anything in antarctica with the cooperation of the weather. Antarctica is a place of extremes. It is the coldest, highest,
driest and windiest continent on earth. Capped by an ice sheet up to five kilometres thick, this continent contains 90 of the worlds ice. I begin myjourney in new zealand. I dont need your passport, thats all good. They say travelling to antarctica is like travelling to another planet. So, here goes. The us air force provides the planes. The safety briefing may be familiar, but nothing else about this flight is. Im travelling with professor david vaughan, the director of science at the british
antarctic survey. After flying due south for five hours, i get my first glimpse of antarctica, snow and ice stretching as far as the eye can see. Finally, our destination. We are heading to mcmurdo. Which is pretty much straight off over there. It is the last fingerhold of civilisation, the most southerly town on earth, and the largest centre for Scientific Research on the continent. And out across the sea ice, the first peaks of the mighty tra nsa ntarctic mountains. Keep it staying in place. It is here in mcmurdo that our expedition to the thwaites glacier begins. So, thwaites glacier is vulnerable and there is nothing stopping a collapse
once it really takes hold. Thwaites glacier is the size of britain and already accounts for 4 of global sea level rise. The fear is if the melt rate increases, much of the west Antarctic Ice sheet could go, too. That could raise worldwide sea levels by more than three metres. Why is the glacier changing, why is it being eaten away . Its being eaten away because there are winds up here on the oceans surface that are actually driving currents away from this ice sheet. When that happens, this water comes in underneath like this. This deep ocean water is really warm. And that eats away at the glacier . This normally doesnt happen. These winds have been increasing and so more of this water has been coming up onto the Continental Shelf and interacting with this glacier. The Scientists SayGlobal Warming has changed the wind patterns and sea currents,
bringing warm ocean water to the front of the glacier. We have loaded the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, we have set the temperature going up, and. Doctor Britney Schmidt is in charge of a nasa robot submarine called icefin. The plan is to lower it almost half a mile through the ice to map conditions in the seawater below. So, britney, give me a tour of icefin. So, up at the front we have sensors that are going to make measurements of the oceanography, telling us what the temperature is, and the salinity of the water and how much oxygen is there. In addition to that we have a forward looking sonar here that allows us to map the three dimensional cavities, so it allows us to see the shape of the ice and its texture. No ones really been under thwaites, and what icefins going to do is get up and close to the physics, get really close to the ice, really close to the sea floor and allows us to see what is happening in a real way. How much of a challenge do you think this is going to be . Well, its always an impressive challenge to do anything here in antarctica and much more so when you are you know 1,200 miles from mcmurdo. When you think about drilling through 600 metres of ice, drilled by the best people in the world just to make an observation, its quite a challenge. And then to operate a moving platform through there is pretty special, actually. Icefin may have a big task ahead, but not the one but not as big as the one faced by the men who stayed in this hut. So this is a truly unique historical site literally frozen in time. It is the base camp of captain scotts ill fated 1911 attempt to reach the south pole. Whispering look at this this is amazing. Thats incredible. Ill tell you what strikes you first. Its its the smell, it really smells of. Kind of smoked fish. So there are all sorts of objects. The tin cans and the food they ate on the expedition. So weve got, tinned salmon . That looks like a can of sardines. Here we have cocoa, a huge drink for them, that was the drink of the polar explorers, they make cocoa. And dry, hard biscuits ships biscuits, baking powder. This is seal blubber. What they would do is kill the seals on the ice, bring them back here, eat the meat and use the blubber to burn in their stoves to keep them warm. Which is why it smells like smoked fish in here, because it is covered, you can see it is just covered with soot from the blubber fire. Its actually really ghostly because you get a sense of the people being here. Scott himself leaving from here with that great
ambition to get to the pole and then of course dying on the way back. And like captain scott before us, our plans are frustrated by the antarctic weather. I am beginning to understand why doing science here is so difficult. Then i hear a crisis meeting has been called. The delays have got so bad theyre going to have to scale back some of the science. I want to find out whats going on. I managed to track down david vaughan. Well, i think theres a lot of ambitions at stake here. People have been working on these projects for several years already. So, when the bad news comes, i dont think it is quite yet but, the delays are continuing. Things are going to change and that is going to mean a lot for some people. Can i come to the meeting . I would rather you did not on this one, justin. Let me . Im not allowed in . No. So youre not expecting a difficult meeting, but . No, no, i think but we just need to let people get that news and process it and think about what theyre going theyre actually going to when they actually get theyre actually going to do when they actually get finally get in the field. Thank you very much. Good luck. Thank you. When the meetings over, i learned the weather is hampering efforts to supply spare parts to the plane we need to get to thwaites glacier. Theres parts coming down from new zealand to get those planes functional again. So we have to sit and wait. How many days behind schedule are we now . Uh, i dont really even i dont know, actually. Why count . I think we can still imagine that we can still do 100 of the tasks but. You can still imagine . I can still imagine that we could do with the following wind 100 of the tasks but time is getting very, very tight. People are getting
a little itchy and a little bit concerned. One only does anything in antarctica with the cooperation of the weather. Suddenly the weather clears and miraculously it seems the project is back on track. Its all hands on deck to get the kit boxed up and transported to the airfield, ready to go. And the team are there, itching to get cracking. So we are super excited. Were out at lilyfield and were finally about to get to the plane out to thwaites divide. I cant wait to get out and start the next phase of the melt project. You cant fly straight to thwaites, theres no ice runway that can take these big planes. So the 1,300 milejourney is done in stages. Thwaites divide is the projects staging post in the middle of the west
Antarctic Ice sheet. This is where passengers, fuel and cargo are dropped off before being ferried on to the field sites on the glacier itself. The plan is only to stay here for a couple of days, but this being antarctica, its not long before the weather changes again. So weve been out here for like, i dont know, an hour and a half, and this is the result. It gives you an idea of why it is so difficult to operate here. All the planes are grounded. Theyre saying we wont fly anywhere for at least three days. Keeping the camp from being overwhelmed by snow is a full time job for the snowploughs. The wind is gusting up to 50 miles an hour and the temperature is 20. Check the snotcicles on this oh, my god, thats absolutely horrible. Oh, god. Ergh. I cant get it off. I do manage to warm up but i realise something isnt quite right. My finger has gone all kind of white and it looks a bit burnt. I think you should go and see the doctor to see if it needs a dressing on it because it doesnt look right to me. David is worried it could be the early stages of frostbite, commonly known as frostnip. Can you feel that . I can feel it but it doesnt feel the same as. It doesnt feel the same as the other fingers. It feels a bit numb. Frostnip is a freezing of the tissue but not a permanent freezing of the tissue. No ice crystals in the deep tissue like you would with full frostbite. So i havent actually killed the top of my thumb just yet . Not just yet. For the next couple of days, its going to be more likely to get frostbite. The cold and the wind and the vast distances here make the logistics of a project like this very challenging. Two ice hardened ships brought hundreds of tonnes of fuel and cargo to a remote ice shelf. Then, specialist snow vehicles hauled it 1000 miles over land. Everything that was previously done by aircraft and then as science projects grew and equipment grew, there became the need to do it more efficiently and cost effectively. Each machine could pull up to 70 tonnes. These vehicles transformed the science we can do in antarctica, increasing the scale, the number of people, the number of scientists we can bring to bear on these problems. Six people can deliver all the cargo for maybe 30 scientists, and then we can deliver the fuel that can operate five or six airplanes. Wejust truck along, day from day, nobody knows where we are and then we just turn up. Delivering bounty, bladders of fuel instead of sacks of presents. Presents would be very welcome because even in these extreme conditions, there are some traditions that have to be kept up. What are you doing . Im preparing us for christmas at the south pole. And christmas is not christmas without a few carols. They tried to get us to sing but we didnt practice. Because we dont have a song so we told somebody else. Who are we competing against . Lower thwaites. How many people at lower thwaites . Less than here. How many . Five people. Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh. Cheering and it doesnt stop there. I knew i was spending christmas on the ice and was set to have to forego my turkey dinner. How wrong i was i made some
salmon, turkey. And all in the middle of nowhere. Christmas is over and the storm has blown itself out. Time to load up for the final 400 miles to the glacier, not in one of the big planes this time but something much smaller, a twin author, small, reliable and great on onshore runways and perfect of working out on the ice. We are headed to where the base of the glacier goes, and where it is melting. It is called the grounding line. An advance party are already on the glacier, theirjob to mark
the glacier, theirjob to mark the area where the scientist will be deployed to make sure it is safe. The glacier is littered with deep crevasses which could be lethal. It is the first open crevasse we have driven into. Under this layer isa driven into. Under this layer is a void. Another team survey is a void. Another team survey is the site to pinpoint exactly where the grounding line is. It has taken almost five weeks, but we are finally at the front of the glacier. Until this year, only four people had ever been here before. Hello, brain. This is where icefin is going to be deployed but first they need to drill a hole or rather not one using hot water to blow down almost half a mile into
the ice, so task one, create a vast reservoir of water using this huge rubber bath which the scientists call a flubber. We need ten tonnes of water, 10,000 litres, and then we use these large borehole pumps, through these heaters. Basically, they are like an oversized domestic boiler. Heat the water, get it hot enough to melt the ice and put it down the hole, and it has taken six weeks to get here, huge resources of going to bringing in the few and all the stuff you need, and. Yes, that is, there is a serious sense of responsibility, a huge amount of money, time and effort has gone into a lot of people to get a say. If you lose the borehole you have lost all of the fuel used to make it. We are fewer limited, we have a certain number of drums of fuel
and when we have burned that, thatis and when we have burned that, that is game over. With the snow melted it is time to start drilling and that involves unwinding the longest hosepipe you have ever seen. Threading the hose through the winch, it was around here, and then it drives the hose up and down the hall. They fire up the bullet donors and it is melting time. They fire up the boilers. This is an historic moment, the first time anyone has tried to drill down through the most important glacier in the most important glacier in the world in terms of future sea level rises. Slowly the drill melts a 30 centimetre hole down through tens of thousands of years of ice deposits. It is looking 0k. It is not looking bad at all. After 36 hours, they finally break through to the sea below,
mission accomplished. Now, it is time for icefin to take centre stage. As it is lowered through the glacier, britney and the team ready themselves to fire up the robot submarine. It is more than a mile to whether warm ocean water meets theice whether warm ocean water meets the ice and on the way icefin gathers crucial data. We are driving forward slowly. We have rolled up maybe half a metre of this very clear ice. You can see the ice right above it through the ice layer, which was something i had never seen before. This is seriously another planet. What is going
on . This is really cool. Does it make you feel weird . You are ready to have your brain blow. This has particles in it, and let me introduce you to your new friend, these an enemy things borrowing out of the ice. Having your own vehicle underneath the ice is pretty cool underneath the ice is pretty cool, you can see the ice coming down on you, and it is just, this huge rush of energy. Look at that, yeah we do see warm water making it all the way back. It is changing the base right near the grounding
zone. App, app, app. We are the only people in the world right 110w. Only people in the world right now. We are seeing a whole new crazy thing. That place is really important because it controls how much ice is coming off the continent and what rate, so taking a vehicle right there to map it out in detail means that we can really start to figure out exactly what is going on. We have been talking about this for seven years, and to finally actually make it there isjust incredible. 0h, yes this is so cool because of all the delays, the time is spent at the grounding zone is shorter than planned, but icefin managed to complete five missions, one more than expected and collecting a huge amount of data. The team is
delighted. This season has been tremendously successful. We have seen the warm water coming up have seen the warm water coming up from the Continental Shelf and making contact with the ice. We have measured the rate of that. And to know that we are ina of that. And to know that we are in a position to begin to understand those changes in a way that actually can shape the future policy and of peoples lives, that is wonderful. As we leave we fly over the main front of the glacier, the epic forces that are tearing the ice apartare all forces that are tearing the ice apart are all too obvious. In some places the ice has broken up some places the ice has broken up completely, collapsing into ajumble of up completely, collapsing into a jumble of icebergs. Up completely, collapsing into ajumble of icebergs. Im surprised myself sitting here, thinking about it, how emotional i am. Yes, it is shocking. We should all be upset by what is happening
here. Did you come away feeling upset that what you see is a process of destruction destroying a huge body of ice . I feel like i understand the planet hopefully better. It is better to know how things are happening than to forget about it and hope it goes away. We know that there are changes we have to accommodate, and this story is about how do we get together and try to fix things and make the world sustainable for ourselves and future generations. Hello again. I have been looking ahead to the weekend weather prospects. For saturday i dont like particularly what i see. A cloudy day for many, with outbreaks of rain at times. Looking at the satellite picture, to the west, you can see how extensive the cloud is, and it is a complex area of low pressure, bringing different zones of rain across the country, with a couple of weather fronts mixed in, pushing east. The first of those, bringing rain at the moment to scotland across wales and england too. As that clears we will be left with low cloud, drizzle for Northern Ireland and heavier burst of rain there is rather murky conditions will extend to scotland. It will be a humid night with temperatures around 17 the low for some. Tomorrow, a cloudy start with some drizzle. I have mixed in thejet stream winds, you can see a dip, responsible for this line of very heavy showers extending in across
the republic of ireland and Northern Ireland, so some heavy downpours around, and as that dip in thejet stream, the trough hits over the English Channel it causes a wave to develop and there will be a zone of heavy rain across east anglia and the south east of england, and this wave could push into central and southern england, the midlands, lincolnshire and yorkshire, some of the wettest weather through the afternoon, but some areas will get pretty wet certainly in the east. The cricket will see some interruptions to play for the third test on monday. Looks like being a complete wash out. That is one to watch, as well. Through saturday night, outbreaks of rain clearing from east anglia and the south east. Skies clearing for a time, and it will begin to start to turn less humid but temperatures still around 12 celsius. Sunday, the better half of the weekend for many of us. Broadly speaking a day of sunshine and showers, with lengthy outbreaks of rain working their way into north west scotland and a breezier day but feeling
significantly fresher and more pleasant with more in the way of sunshine coming through. Temperatures for most of us between 17 20, not feeling too bad. Into next week, we have a lot of cloud on monday, so it is not exactly triple a rated weather, we will see cloud and some heavy rain as well, and turning drier and warmer as the week goes on. This is bbc news. Im aaron safir with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. France consider shutting its border with spain after a huge spike in coronavirus cases sparks fears of more deaths. Us federal officials repossess the chinese consulate ordered shut by President Trump as tensions between the us and china continue to escalate. Mirroring minneapolis, black lives matter protests in brazil where there were almost six times as many Police Related deaths as there were in the us last year. And formula one cancels this seasons races in the us, canada, mexico and brazil, blaming high covid rates in the americas