it will be very, very tough, which is why they need to practise in conditions as harsh as these. there are seven ice maidens. two will be reserves as only five can cross the antarctic, where they hope to break the ice ceiling, putting them in the history books alongside explorers like scott, shackleton and amundsen. phil mackie, bbc news, norway. so impressive! louise lear, ifeel cold just looking at those pictures. they need to to practising, staterooms, you might just they need to to practising, staterooms, you mightjust get some. this week we will see the two faces of late february, it was the warmest day of the year so far, 18 degrees, one with sunshine, but look at what is likely to happen during thursday. severe gales, rain and the potential for snow, which could cause

disruption. more on that in a moment. out to the north and west, turning increasingly wet and windy. further south, the rain is fairly light and patchy with lots of cloud around and a pretty grey afternoon with good visibility towards the coast —— with poor visibility. the rain lightand coast —— with poor visibility. the rain light and patchy through the midlands but peps and through north and west england, the isle of man, western scotland and northern ireland, where the winds will start to strengthen. relatively mild for the time of year, seven to 11 degrees are high, perhaps dry during daylight hours for aberdeen share. overnight, wind strengthened to gale force, the rain turning heavy as it sinks out of scotland into north—west england and wales. to the south, it stays rather grey, overcast and mild through the night, clear skies to the north, a cold night, but winds increasing and showers turning increasingly wintry.

we could see severe gales of 70 or 80 mph across the far north—east and into orkney, a good slice of sunshine across much of scotland, a scattering of showers, then further south underneath the front which keeps driving in cloud and patchy rain it will be a dull, dank wednesday. mild to the south, a little bit cooler into the north. by little bit cooler into the north. by thursday we have an amber weather warning, be prepared for disruption due to the wind strength. there is the potential for severe gales because we have our fourth named storm expected, storm doris, a deep area of low pressure which will move across the local tree to the southern flank where the squeeze on the isobars is where we are likely to see the strongest winds. severe gales across the pennines, midlands and east anglia. cold out behind it, we could see snow across the grampians, the southern uplands onto scotland. jumping back in time to explain to you that in scotland,

through central and southern areas that perhaps the north pennines week and disruption with snow. keep abreast of the warnings online and we will update you when we get developments. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. some hospital services could be cut 01’ some hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly two thirds of england in an effort to save money and improve efficiency. that's all from the bbc news at one, so it's goodbye from me — the football association is investigating the background to an incident at last night's fa cup tie at sutton united when the home team's reserve goalkeeper was caught on camera eating a pie in the dugout towards the end of the match, which

arsenal one. the betting company that sponsors the team had offered odds on that actually happening. he seemed to confirm afterwards that some of his friends had made many on the back, which would break fa rules. speaking to the bbc today before the fa confirmed the investigation, he seemed to deny that. we are told we are not allowed to gamble because it is full—time football. i have no way put anyone in jeopardy football. i have no way put anyone injeopardy of that football. i have no way put anyone in jeopardy of that and this is definitely not the case here. this isjust a bit of definitely not the case here. this is just a bit of fun. definitely not the case here. this isjust a bit of fun. if it definitely not the case here. this is just a bit of fun. if it was a pie, obviously, whoever it was, it was a pasty that i was eating. the england's women's head coach has made seven changes to his squad for the cup in america next month. casey stoney is in the party of 28 after recovering from injury. england lost to norway and true to sweden in two friendlies last month. they are going to play the three top—ranked

teams in the world. the usa, germany and france. starting with the french on march the 1st in pennsylvania. it's all part of their preparations for the european championships in the netherlands injuly. laura muir is aiming for double gold at the indoor athletics championships last month —— next month. she is in a 31 strong british team. she has been in great form this year, setting a new indoor record in the 1000 metres in birmingham last weekend where she took a second off dame kelly holmes‘ previous record. she will race in the 1500 metres and the 3000 metres. uk sport‘s chief executive says sports can have no excuses for any failure to look after the welfare of their athletes. a report into alleged bullying, sexism in british cycling is expected to be published in the next month. she has also revealed that they were never given

the full details of a 2012 internal review into cycling that might have highlighted some of the current issues being investigated. it is no excuse for not actually addressing their responsibilities to athletes. there is no excuse for not putting athletes first. they are the ones that will deliver the medals. if in every programme should be ensuring that they have happy athletes, successful athletes. they‘re probably hasn‘t been enough attention given in sport if i am being honest about how they do things. there is a lot of focus on operational delivery, probably not enough on leadership, management and communication. the favourite for next month‘s cheltenham gold cup, thistle crack, is out. he has suffered a tendon injury. that is all the sport for 110w. injury. that is all the sport for now. much more on the bbc sport

website, including a lot more on highgate. did he or did he not know about that bet about whether he would be appearing on camera eating a pie in the fa cup defeat last month? the gambling commission are also investigating that. we will be backin also investigating that. we will be back in the next hour with much more for you. more now on the couple who lost their court of appeal battle to have a civil partnership instead of a marriage. rebecca steinfeld and charles keidan, from london, claim it‘s unfair that only same—sex couples can have a civil partnership. our correspondent daniel boettcher spoke to them both after the hearing this morning and started by asking them why marriage wasn‘t for them. we recognise it is a meaningful institution for many people but it is notjust institution for many people but it is not just right institution for many people but it is notjust right for us. there are

many others who feel the same way. there are over 3 million cohabiting couples in this country. they are the fastest—growing family type. they currently lack financial and legal protections and a measure to introduce legal protections would improve family life in this country. i have two outline some of the points have been considering but what, in essence, is at the bottom of your legal action at the courts? the base of our legal action is that we are being treated unfairly based on our sexual orientation. although we lost today, it was a very narrow loss. it was a split decision from thejudges, 2—1. loss. it was a split decision from the judges, 2—1. on loss. it was a split decision from thejudges, 2—1. on many points the judges agreed with us that we are being treated differently based on oui’ being treated differently based on our sexual orientation and it is affecting our family life. the writing is on the wall. the government needs to act now and extend civil partnerships to everybody so that the 3 million

cohabiting couples can have legal and financial protections that they deserve. it was a narrow decision but it did go against you. what happens now? it really depends on what the government do. if the government to respond to the fact over 72,000 people have signed our petition and thousands of people are supporting our effort and they recognise it is time for the law in parliament to with where society is and introduce a measure in the queen's speech, none of this would be necessary any more, but if they aren't able to do that, and we hope that isn't the case, our solicitors have been contacted. the number of civil partnerships has actually fallen. do you think there is a danger here that the end result of all this could be that civil partnerships will be ruled out for everybody? it's possible but it would be a retrograde step because there is a significant minority of same—sex couples who want to have

civil partnerships. given that the house of civil partnerships exist, why not open the sign on the door and say everyone is welcome and should their conscience mean they wa nt should their conscience mean they want to form one. we will have more on that story throughout the afternoon. rebecca stei nfeld throughout the afternoon. rebecca steinfeld and charles keidanjoining us steinfeld and charles keidanjoining us just after steinfeld and charles keidanjoining usjust after 2pm. the bodies of at least 7a migrants have been washed ashore on the coat of syria —— libya. the united nations estimates that 5000 migrants drowned trying to cross the mediterranean to europe last year. stephen ryan from the international federation of the red cross and red crescent explained more about what measures have been put in place to try to stop people smuggling. measures have been put in place to try to stop people smugglinglj measures have been put in place to try to stop people smuggling. i know that many of the national authorities and intergovernmental agencies have been making strong effo rts agencies have been making strong efforts to try and work against

people smuggling but from the point of view of the red cross and the red crescent, we continue to remind people that while they push and pull factors remain in the countries of origin, while people have no choice 01’ origin, while people have no choice or little choice but to leave their home countries due to conflict, in security or extreme poverty, they will continue to try and risk this journey and it is worth keeping in mind that this is the tragedy that we hear about. each day, each week, there are other tragedies that often don‘t make the news and u nfortu nately don‘t make the news and unfortunately many of those families never find out what happens to their loved ones and this is why the red crescent and the red cross take the role of providing assistance and providing dignity to the dead so seriously because we have to put ourselves in the shoes of the individuals who have taken this journey and the families doing their best to make sure that their loved ones are safe. the red cross and red crescent also wants to remind everybody that they need for increased joined up international

response to try and help people maintain their lives and their dignity and be able to take this journey safely is something which remains absolutely essential today and will continue to be into the future. malaysia says it still can‘t confirm that the half brother of north korea‘s leader was poisoned a week after his death. he died after being attacked by two women at kuala lumpur airport. cctv shows one woman grabbing him from behind and wiping a substance onto his face. but a week later malaysia and investigators say they have still not determined the cause of death. a day after declaring a famine in south sudan, the united nations has warned that other countries could see similar crises. a hundred—thousand people are facing starvation as a result of the civil war in south sudan. but the united nations says almost one—and—a—half million children are at risk of dying of starvation in four countries in africa and the middle east. catriona renton reports. in this children‘s hospital in the country‘s capital, there‘s acute malnutrition.

this girl gets one or maybe two meals a day. her mother can‘t afford to feed her. in the country, where the fighting goes on, even more people are affected. in unity state, the rebel stronghold, 100,000 people are now in the grip of famine. a further million in the country are on the brink. some aid has been delivered, but not enough is getting through. people are dying of starvation every day. three years of civil war have taken their toll. the real tragedy is that this is largely man—made. we do have famine and food insecurity has worsened in many parts of this country, largely because of this u nfortu nate conflict. and this is part of a bigger picture. the un is warning three more countries — somalia, nigeria and yemen —

are at risk of famine. in south sudan, over 3 million have been forced from their homes. 1.5 million have fled to neighbouring countries, like these people arriving in uganda, creating one of the worst refugee crises in the world. as these mothers and children wait for help, the un warns urgent action is needed or the situation will only get worse. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first. the headlines on bbc news: hospital services in nearly two—thirds of england could be cut or scaled back, bbc analysis of local plans shows. a heterosexual couple have lost their court of appeal battle to have a civil partnership instead of a marriage. four us citizens and an australian pilot have died after their light plane crashed into a shopping centre in melbourne, australia. now the business news.

shares in hsbc are down 5% after the bank reported a steeper—than—expected fall in annual profits. they banked a £5.7 billion pre—tax profit for 2016, down 62% on the year before. the bank says most of the fall is down to one off charges including fines and the sale of its operations in brazil. chancellor philip hammond has told conservative mps he is listening to their concerns about the re—evaluation of business rates. rates are being updated for the first time in seven years to bring them into line with property values. but some have argued that significant increases will lead to businesses shutting down and are urging mr hammond to use next month‘s budget to soften the impact. and sticking with the budget, government finances were £91! billion in surplus last month, meaning the government took in more than they spent. the figures come from the office for national statistics. it‘s normal to have a bit left over injanuary because of the high level

of income tax receipts that month, but it‘s the biggest january surplus since 2000. so it‘s leading to lots of speculation about how much extra money the chancellor might have to play with in next month‘s budget. the owners of asda, the us company walmart, have reported their earnings for the last few months of 2016. joining me now from the new york stock exchange is samira hussain. how stock exchange is samira hussain. are those resul1 best how are those results looking? the best way to describe those results isa best way to describe those results is a little bit of short—term pain for long—term gain and that has been the mantra for walmart. what they have been doing is investing heavily in its e—commerce business. that is online sales. we have seen them investing heavily so they bought the online companyjet .com, which was really built to be a rival to is on.

that really increased their online sales. but also we saw a lot of investment coming from walmart. they we re eve n investment coming from walmart. they were even trying their own free delivery system to rival that of amazon. it has been a big competitor for them. it seems some of that work is really paying off in terms of how much their online sales have increased. what kind of challenges do you think they are facing in the next year or so? the challenges are a lwa ys next year or so? the challenges are always going to be things like the economy and, in terms of the middle—class or lower middle—class, americans and how their pocket books are faring. that is always going to bea are faring. that is always going to be a concern. given that there has been a change in administration, while the us economy is still chugging along quite well, receiving thatjob chugging along quite well, receiving that job growth, there chugging along quite well, receiving thatjob growth, there are a few unknowns and that is going to be of

concern for walmart going forward. that is one big concern, the health of the us economy. but also walmart is trying to grapple with the increased competition from other big box stores and online retailers. they are slowly trying to chip away at that in terms of the online retailing. they are seeing some success but they have to try and do that without impacting any of their store sales as well. thank you very much. the world‘s biggest miner, bhp billiton, reports a near eight—fold rise in underlying first—half net profit to £2.6 billion from £332 million a year earlier. and shareholders received a bigger than expected dividend of 32p a share, signalling its growing confidence amid a resurgence in commodity prices. now, the prices of commodities — the stuff mined by these companies

including iron ore and coal, have risen, which has helped. also there‘s been an increase in demand from china. mps on a select committee have called the government "inadequate" and "deeply disappointing". the women and equalities committee said the government has failed to act on its recommendations published last march to help bridge the gender pay gap. they want more focus on flexible working and shared parental leave. and youtube is to scrap those 30—second adverts that are unskippable at the start of videos. google are going to have a think about a format that works for both users and adverts.they‘ve acknowledged that those adverts can be a bit of nuisance. a quick look at the markets. the hsbc shares are down about 6%. they say that is down to a series of one—off charges. interestingly, it

had been climbing steadily since the eu referendum. that is it from me. we will be back with more business news in about an hour‘s time. an israeli soldier, elor azaria, has been sentenced to 18 months in jail. it has polarised opinion in israel. a short time ago, we heard from our correspondent who was outside the court in tel aviv. correspondent who was outside the court in telaviv. nearly correspondent who was outside the court in tel aviv. nearly everyone here serves in the israeli defence force. nearly everybody‘s children serves in the force and it was an action involving the israeli defence force in march 2016 that saw elor azaria come across what had been a hostile action. two pollard ——

palestinians had approached a checkpoint, they approached collea g u es checkpoint, they approached colleagues of elor azaria. as he came to the scene ten minutes later, tended to his college who had been injured, then loaded his weapon and shot one of the attackers in the head, killing him immediately. he was convicted of manslaughter in january and today was sentencing. the prosecution had asked for a sentence of 3—5 years but in the end thejudges gave a sentence of 3—5 years but in the end the judges gave a lower sentence than that. 18 months. outside the court, you can see the protests. people have come to express their very vocal support. all around israel this issue has been deeply polarising between those who say this is a young conscripts serving his country and protecting his people who should never have been prosecuted and those who say the rule of law has to be upheld and that shooting to kill, especially when the victim was lying on the ground and incapacitated, was

something that should not be tolerated. an extremely divisive case. there will be an appeal, they may be attempts to receive a pardon or to get the sentence reduced, and the people who are here outside are not at all happy about the sentencing, would like to have seen this case dismissed in its entirety. what has the political and military reaction been? we don't have any political reaction at the moment. the prime minister himself is in australia. he is presumably a sleep. the senior hierarchy of the israeli defence force have always backed this prosecution. they say it is important that the rule of law is upheld. this was a military court, threejudges upheld. this was a military court, three judges listened to the evidence and went through the evidence and went through the evidence and went through the evidence and came to their conclusion in march that manslaughter had been committed but there was a division between senior military figures and senior

nationalist politicians, who almost immediately back elor azaria, including benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister. i think that division will continue. it should be said we have had reaction from the pa rents of said we have had reaction from the parents of the attacker, the palestinian victim, who said the verdict was, in their words, a joke, and that the courts were laughing in their faces because of what they saw asa their faces because of what they saw as a very light sentence. a former house of lords speaker has claimed that many peers contribute "absolutely nothing" to parliament — despite claiming their £300 daily allowance. a house of lords spokesman said the chamber was "active and effective" and peers could be suspended if they claimed allowances without doing any work. the former lords speaker baroness d‘souza made the comments in a bbc interview for a documentary about life in the house. the three part film is to be shown on bbc two. there is a core of peers who work incredibly hard to do

that work and there are, i‘m sad to say, many, many peers who contribute absolutely nothing but who claim the full allowance. i can remember one occasion when i was leaving the house quite late and there was a peer who shall be utterly nameless who jumped out of a taxi just outside the entrance and left the engine running. he ran in, presumably to show he‘d attended, and ran out again while the taxi was still running. the deputy speaker of the house of lords, lord mcfall, said any members who abuse the code of conduct should be reported to the commissioner for standards. what surprises me is, as the lord's speaker at the time, she did not take the opportunity to defer it to the right place, namely the independent commissioner. the independent commissioner has investigated a number of complaints over the years. only last year she investigated a complaint by a lord who was suspended until the end

of that session. a man in new york has had an extraordinary escape after he was crushed by a car while shopping in a supermarket. he was in mini—mart in the bronx when a vehicle smashed through the window. he was taken to hospital, but was not seriously hurt, as tim allman reports. an entirely unremarkable afternoon in the bronx. a man enters a local grocery store, waves to the person behind the till and starts to shop. he goes to a fridge and picks up some bottles of what looks like water. so far so normal. little can he imagine what‘s about to happen. he heads to the counter but there is one last item he needs. then this happens. caught on cctv from a different

angle, you can see a white car ploughing through a plate glass window and crushing the man between two rows of shelves. but look at him staggering free, obviously shocked and hurt but remarkably, amazingly, not suffering from any major injuries. he sits down in the corner. later he would apparently walked to the ambulances. and what about the people in the car? one of the doors opened and a woman clambers out. she looks around more than a little shocked herself. it‘s not clear why she or the car she was in top this unusual beads or, adding a whole new dimension to drive through shopping. but when you see these images again, you can only wonder how tragically this might have ended and how miraculous it was

that no one was seriously injured or killed. that no one was seriously injured or killed. time for a look at the weather i know it is rather grey and dull at the moment but the story is anything but dull. yesterday was a warm, springlike day for many. the warmest day of the year so far at 18 degrees. but by thursday it is all change. we are likely to see gale force winds, heavy rain and maybe the potential for some disruptive snow to arrive. for the her rant now, we have got some wet and windy weather. in the far north—west as we speak. further south it is cloudy and grey. some poor visibility close to west facing coast. some patchy drizzly rain likely up through the

midlands, becoming heavier, more extensive midlands, becoming heavier, more exte ns ive a cross midlands, becoming heavier, more extensive across north—west england, into northern ireland and western scotla nd into northern ireland and western scotland through the afternoon. eastern scotland should stay rather dry, albeit cloudy, as we go through the day, but the rain arrives later on this afternoon and tonight. that weather front will sink its way slowly southwards. it‘s going to introduce colder air but it will sit across much of northern england and north wales towards dawn. here it stays mild. double figures likely through the night. but behind it colder and the wind will continue to bea colder and the wind will continue to be a feature. 80 mph gusts not out of the question. a good slice of sunshine for a time. further south, that weather front continues to feed impulses of wet weather with the westerly wind. it stays dull and drab on wednesday afternoon. here, brighter and fresher to the north.

but there is the potential for some disruption as we move into thursday. the met office has issued an amber warning. be prepared for some disruption due to the strength of the wind. it is our fourth named storm set to arrive, storm doris. on the southern flank, as the isobars squeezed together, that is where we are likely to see the strongest of the winds. behind it, really starting to pick up some cold air so we could see some snow even falling at lower levels. thursday morning, for scotland in particular, across the grampians, the southern uplands, maybe the north pennines, we could see some snow which could cause issues for the early morning rush—hour. you can always catch the up rush—hour. you can always catch the up to date details online. this is bbc news.

the headlines at two. some hospital services could be cut or scaled back in nearly two thirds of england. a heterosexual couple who went to the court of appeal after being told they could not have a civil partnership have lost their case. better news about government borrowing: the treasury records its biggest january surplus for 17 years. four us citizens and an australian pilot have died after their light plane crashed into a shopping centre in melbourne. and in the next hour. the ice maidens cometh. seven british soldiers make their final preparations to cross antarctica, unassisted. and who ate all the pies? the keeper