indeed. phil mercer, a huge debate, one i know you will continue to be a cross for us. thanks so much forjoining us on newsday at this hour. that's it from phil mercer who is at sydney. more on that on our bbc news website. some more stories to bring you now. dozens of homes and businesses have been damaged after storms and a tornado hit pasadena, in the us state of texas. the storm system also affected towns south of houston. high winds damaged power cables and torrential rain caused flooding in a number of areas. police say no one was seriously injured. the controversial social media influencer, andrew tate, has spoken for the first time since his arrest in romania and said the case against him is "empty". tate and his brother, tristan, are due to be held in custody until 27 february, while police investigate allegations of human trafficking and rape. tate gained mainstream notoriety for misogynistic remarks that got him banned from all major social media platforms.
towns south of houston. high winds damaged power cables and torrential rain caused flooding in a number of areas. police say no one was seriously injured. the international olympic commitee has suggested that russian and belarusian athletes will be allowed to compete at the paris 2024 summer games if they participate as neutrals. in a statement, the ioc said it was exploring a pathway, saying no athlete should be prevented from competing just because of their passport. the move has been criticised by ukrainian athletes. in china, a bbc investigation has found evidence of many covid—related deaths in rural areas after the virus spread from big city areas into more remote areas with older populations. people working in the funeral industry say they've been much busier than usual. the chinese authorities have been consistently accused of under—reporting the number of people who've died from covid.
battery maker, ideally. this vision of the future could yet be realised, but the question remains the same as it did for britishvolt — who will pay for it? alistair gill, bbc news. jamie driscoll is the labour mayor for the north of tyne — and he joins us from newcastle. good morning. in five years' time will there be a plant on that site? we will see industry developed there, yes. it is the best side in there, yes. it is the best side in the country because it is an old power station. the country because it is an old powerstation. if the country because it is an old power station. if you are going to build batteries, you need a huge electricity supply. that requires heavy infrastructure like the power cables, which are already there. it has the interconnector to norway bringing in huge amounts of cheap energy. it is right by the port side which we have been investing heavily. it is disappointing. if you have been working with britishvolt
When building a rig, you may stumble upon multiple PSU cables and wonder which one is for the graphics card. Since every connector’s configuration is a bit
nurses but their big concern right now will be what is ahead in hugh will be reporting from an a&e department in berkshire where he talks with staff coping with the largest number of patients they of patients they have seen. well, there've been big problems on the railways today — not because of strike action, but because of damaged power cables affecting trains into and out of london's euston station. passengers have been stuck on trains for up to three hours. hundreds had to be led to safety by the fire brigade. major disruption is expected until the end of the day. the problems started just before nine this morning when the power lines were brought down by a passing train. it has affected avanti west coast services from between glasgow central and edinburgh to london and the london northwestern railway between crewe and euston. 25 people have been arrested in germany, on suspicion of being involved in a plot to overthrow the government.
we've seen the theft of infrastructure, such as copper and power cables, resulting in billions of dollars in damage. gold and platinum are illegally mined or stolen and sold illicitly. this is a dismal state of affairs for you as minister ofjustice. so, in a nutshell, what are you doing to tackle all this? yes, there is work happening with the npa and the south african police where there is a unit dedicated to respond to the issue of theft of copper cables. as you look now, there have been lots of sentences that have been handed over by our courts to various criminals who played their role in cable theft. some of them have been sentenced to more than 15 years, some ten years. so, it has been a range of heavy sentences to criminals involved in cable theft. there is also a dedicated focus on the, on the issue of the mining towns challenges.
it will have to be accepted to by the, by the president. the current sixth administration is, also, in the process of distributing about 700,000 hectares of land to respond to this challenge. yeah. we remain committed to the land question. we will also obviously have to accelerate some of the various pieces of legislation aimed to accelerate land reform. 0k, thank you. you've set that up very clearly for us. you mentioned the ncop, which of course is the national council of provinces, which is the upper house of the south african parliament. another big challenge which is often associated with south africa is the issue of crime. we've seen the murder rate go up by 40% since 2010. we've seen kidnappings for ransom quadruple. we've seen the theft of infrastructure, such as copper and power cables, resulting in billions of dollars in damage. gold and platinum are illegally mined or stolen and sold illicitly.
of infrastructure such as copper and power cables, resulting in billions of dollars in damage. gold and platinum are illegally mined or stolen and sold illicitly. this is a dismal state of affairs for you as minister ofjustice. so, in a nutshell, what are you doing to tackle all this? yes, there is work happening with the npa and the south african police where there is a unit dedicated to respond to the issue of theft of copper cables. as you look now, there have been lots of sentences that have been handed over by our courts to various criminals who played their role in cable theft. some of them have been sentenced to more than 15 years, some ten years. so it has been a range of heavy sentences to criminals involved in cable theft. there is also a dedicated focus