the subs will eventually work alongside this, the uk's new polar research vessel. it was almost called boaty mcboatface after a public vote but that was deemed too silly and the vessel is now named after sir david attenborough, with boaty living on through the subs. and antarctica is the first destination. one of the boatys has just set off to dive into the coldest waters on earth to learn about how they affect the world's climate. it won't be long now before the other submarines head out too, so stand by for more on the adventures of the boatys. rebecca morelle, bbc news. time for a look at the weather. here's tomaz schafernaker. positively springlike. it is but the weather has been all over the place, one day the sun is out and the next we have the cloud like yesterday. and then the sun is out again. it is actually out every day but on some days it has been cloudy. look at this beautiful picture from

cambridge, these people on the river having a nice time and another from argyll and the sky is a bit more hazy and a bit of a breeze and in scotla nd hazy and a bit of a breeze and in scotland the breeze is going to be the feature in the coming days with gales on the way in northern parts but not in the short term. you can see is not clear everywhere, some clouds out there and a bit missed in south—west part of the country but in scotland, some rain in the far north. other than that, in scotland, some rain in the far north. otherthan that, most in scotland, some rain in the far north. other than that, most of scotla nd north. other than that, most of scotland and northern ireland and england and wales is enjoying the sunshine. this central swathe around yorkshire and wales where the cloud isa yorkshire and wales where the cloud is a big figure but even here there are glimmers of sunshine. the warmest weather is in the south—east and we might reach 17 degrees in london. around the coast of cornwall and north devon, a bit murky with some mist on the coasts and that my anger around into tomorrow. not com pletely anger around into tomorrow. not completely sunny but most of us will get the fine weather. i mentioned

the breeze in scotland and that will pick up this evening and overnight with a weather front moving off the atla ntic with a weather front moving off the atlantic and bringing blustery showers. in the northern half of scotla nd showers. in the northern half of scotland tomorrow, it starts off windy and it will be a very windy day, even quite stormy with the wind possibly in excess of 70 mph but only in the very far north. to the south, much lighter and another fine day, not completely clear blue skies, some clouds but warm in the south—east, 15 to 17 and elsewhere that bit cooler. in the middle of the week, this high will stick around through wednesday and thursday, low—pressure will move off to the north weaves —— at the north—west. wednesday and thursday, dry, a little bit of sunshine but also quite cloudy at times as well but the real change comes towards the end of the week. it is all change, we start again the jet

strea m change, we start again the jet stream in a different direction and rain coming through. on friday, i had a look at saturday when i came in andi had a look at saturday when i came in and i thought, i'm not going to bother! lets get through the week, all of this is going to be over as can the weekend. make the most of the dry weather. it is so awful i'm not going to tell you! thank you. that's all from the bbc news at one. goodbye from me. the three times tour de france winner chris froome has given his backing to stephen brailsford. he says without him there is no team sky. today chris froome has apologised for the way things have been handled. team sky denies any

wrongdoing. this is some of his statement released this morning. he says he understands why people feel let down because of the way the situation has been handled. either chelsea or manchester united will complete the draw for the fa cup later, but whichever one it is, they will have to do it without a striker. wayne rooney is injured and zlata n striker. wayne rooney is injured and zlatan ibrahimovic is suspended. anthony martial and marcus rashford are also both out. it is live on bbc one tonight. coverage starts at 7:30pm. coverage also on the bbc sport website. derby county are closing in on the appointment of

their next manager, following the sacking of steve mcclaren for the second time. we understand gary rowett is the wanted man. he left birmingham in december, having led them to seventh place, and the deal could be finalised in the next hour oi’ could be finalised in the next hour or $0. could be finalised in the next hour or so. wigan sacked warrenjoyce after just four months in or so. wigan sacked warrenjoyce afterjust four months in the job. they are second bottom in the championship. celtic‘s stuart armstrong has been called up to the scotla nd armstrong has been called up to the scotland squad for the first time. he hasjoined a 30 man party announced by manager gordon strachan today by bournemouth‘s ryan fraser who has broken through to the first tea m who has broken through to the first team this season, and tom kenny fall. all of them have been selected for the first time. they play a world cup game against canada. two of the biggest clubs in rugby have announced they will merge. racing 92

and stade francais is they will be merging to pool their performance. it is an incredible story, it is unprecedented and bizarre. these are not two small rugby clubs struggling to make ends meet. paris are heavyweights. stade francais won the french title in 2015 and racing 92, dan carter, potentially one of the greats of all time, he plays for racing 92, and they won the french title in 2016. two powerhouses of the french game have announced they will merge under one banner in order to get the best out of both clubs. their owners say they need to pool their resources and become one club. it is the equivalent of an england saracens merging with another one or

totte n ha m saracens merging with another one or tottenham and arsenal merging, it is a bizarre story, a bizarre story that only french rugby seems to throw up. durban have announced they will not be hosting the 2022 commonwealth games after months of issues about financial viability and the constraints they have in the south african city. you can find out more about that on the bbc sport website. much more for you in the next hour. we look forward to it. let's go back to our top story — scotland's first minister has announced that she plans to trigger another referendum on scottish independence. nicola sturgoen said she would seek permission to hold a second referendum between autumn next year and the spring of 2019, when the terms of the uk's exit from the eu are clearer. downing street said another referendum would be divisive and cause huge economic uncertainty at the worst possible time. this is how nicola sturgeon justified her plans for a second referendum. it is time for me to set

out decisively and with clarity the way forward. doing nothing at this stage is in many ways the easiest thing for me to do. it would mean letting scotland drift through the next two years with our fingers crossed simply hoping for the best. of course i do hope for the best. i want the uk to get a good deal from the eu negotiations. that is clearly in scotland's interests as well as in the interests of our friends in other parts of the uk. but i am farfrom alone in fearing a bad deal or indeed no deal. nor am i alone in fearing that even a so—called good deal will be significantly inferior to membership of the single market and that it will set scotland on a course that will not only damage our economy but change the very nature of the society and country that we are. the problem with doing nothing now is that by the time these fears are realised it will be too late

for scotland to choose a different path before the damage is done. that would not be right or fair. whatever path we take it should be one decided by us, not for us. let me set out the plan i intend to pursue. first, i will continue to stand up for scotland's interests during the process of brexit negotiations. second, i will now take the steps necessary to make sure that scotland will have a choice at the end of this process. a choice of whether to follow the uk to a hard brexit, or to become an independent country, able to secure a real partnership of equals with the rest of the uk and our own relationship with europe. the scottish government's mandate for offering this choice is beyond doubt. last year we were elected with the highest share of the constituency vote won by any party in the history of devolution

on a manifesto that said this: the scottish parliament should have the right to hold another referendum if there is a significant and material change in circumstances that prevailed in 2014, such as scotland being taken out of the eu against our will. these conditions have, of course, now been met. so i can confirm today that next week i will seek the authority of the scottish parliament to agree with the uk government the details of a section 30 order. the procedure that will enable the scottish parliament to legislate for an independence referendum. john curtice, who's professor of politics at strathclyde university, joins me from westminster. thank you forjoining us. has public opinion been softening towards

independence since the last referendum in 2014? if it has the a nswer referendum in 2014? if it has the answer is only to a degree. in december 2014 when the first referendum was held 55% said no. since then the opinion polls have been saying the picture has not changed a great deal, on average suggesting maybe 47% saying yes and 53% saying no. in the wake of theresa may's lancaster house speech, those numbers do seem to have narrowed a little. they are averaging around 48% for yes and an opinion poll this morning confirmed that picture. it has got a bit closer, though not as yet in a situation where the polls are consistent suggesting a majority in scotla nd consistent suggesting a majority in scotland will vote in favour of independence. but given how far out we are, given certainly the persistence of support for independence since the first

referendum, at this stage it looks very much like a 50—50 shout as far as the outcome is concerned. that is the outcome. how do people in scotla nd the outcome. how do people in scotland feel about the prospect of another referendum 7 last scotland feel about the prospect of another referendum? last time families were divided over the issue. yeast, families were divided. the election became very strongly engaged in the referendum and 85% turn out to vote, an all—time high since the advent of the franchise in scotland. lots of debate and argument, but a lot of participation. you can argue about whether or not that is or is not a healthy situation. virtually everybody who is opposed to scotland leaving the union does not want another referendum. you tend to get opinion polls finding just over 50% saying they should not be another referendum. you get a third and 40%

saying there should be a referendum, but that seems to be some hesitancy amongst yes supporters about should the referendum be held before brexit 01’ the referendum be held before brexit or should it be delayed? the interesting thing now will be whether or not in the wake of the announcement to the supporters of independence say, if that is when it is going to happen, that is when it should happen. and if we discover about whether the referendum divides the country in the same way as the question of how people would vote if the referendum were held now. the first independence referendum left the situation unresolved. whether the situation unresolved. whether the second referendum would resolve it, we will have to wait and see. but you can understand because of the poll is why there is such a free bradl debate and white nicola sturgeon thinks there should be another referendum. how much will brexit frame the debate? one in

three snp voters voted to leave the eu. do we know snp supporters are convinced of the logic of another referendum? the answer to that question is do not presume the referendum will focus that heavily on the question of eu membership. if you listened very carefully to nicola sturgeon this morning, she was talking about wanting to keep scotla nd was talking about wanting to keep scotland in the single market and in response to a question from brian taylor she did not ambiguously say therefore that means i want scotland to bea therefore that means i want scotland to be a fully independent member of the european union. that reflects the european union. that reflects the fact that the eu is a divisive issue for the nationalist movement as she pointed out. notice how she began to widen the terms of the argument saying, the other reason for having a referendum is because we think there is a serious prospect of the tories running the country until 2013. already she is moving

beyond the question of brexit to the wider question of would scotland be happy to be governed by the united kingdom through to 2030 under that scenario? brexit has provided her with the opportunity or the excuse for a referendum, buti with the opportunity or the excuse for a referendum, but i suspect the debate will be wide and not least by the snp themselves. always good to talk to you. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news. the leader of the snp, nicola sturgeon, says she will call a second referendum on whether scotland should become an independent country at the end of formal brexit talks. it comes as legislation that will clear the way for theresa may to begin formal brexit negotiations faces its final hurdle in parliament. the queen launches the commonwealth games baton relay in a ceremony at buckingham palace. it will visit 71 commonwealth countries before arriving for the games on australia's gold coast. i'm susannah streeter,

in the business news: energy supplier sse is to raise the price of electricity by 15%. it will cost an average user an extra £73 a year. the increase is the latest in a series of big price hikes for energy customers and comes into force at the end of april. sse says it last raised prices three and a half years ago. shares in bovis homes have soared as the troubled house—builder remains mired in takeover talks which could see it become a £2.4 billion business. shares in the companyjumped 7% on the london stock exchange as the market digested a flurry of weekend announcements, confirming that rivals galliford try and redrow had made offers for the firm. rail staff from three firms across england have started 24—hour strikes in a dispute over the role of guards. guards and drivers working for northern rail and merseyrail are striking over the introduction of driver only operated trains and similar action is

continuing on southern rail. it's a busy week for news from some of the world's largest central banks. as well as the federal reserve in america, central banks in four other rich economies meet. japan, britain, switzerland and norway, all due to deliver their latest decisions on thursday. so first up, the fed. joining me now from the floor of the new york stock exchange is samira hussain. many investors would be surprised if the fed did not raise rates this week. yes, that is absolutely right. basically market here have really built ina basically market here have really built in a rate rise and most people believe that will happen. if it did not raise rates, it would signal that this federal reserve was not very clear about communication we saw. we had a speech earlier from

janet yellen and that signalled a rate rise and the stellarjobs report from friday in the private and public sectors, that really showed that this economy is really ready for a rate rise. investors will be looking at the detail of what janet yellen and will say in the meeting to indicate when the next rate rise will be. exactly. many people believe that since we are seeing this rate rise that is coming in march, earlierthan are seeing this rate rise that is coming in march, earlier than most people anticipated, there is a sense that this year we will see three rate rises in the year. really what people will be looking for is what the economic outlook is according to the economic outlook is according to the federal reserve and what this means for future rate rises. the federal reserve and what this means forfuture rate rises. that the federal reserve and what this means for future rate rises. that is what people will be looking for, both in the press release that comes out after the meeting and of course the press conference that follows.

but that is not the only thing that us markets are looking at this week. of course the meeting on wednesday is big, but there are two other things happening. big business and economic news. we will see the first budget by president donald trump and at the end of the week there is the debt ceiling. we have had from the treasury secretary that by march 2017 the us economy will have to use extraordinary measures to pay its bills and it will be up to congress to vote to raise the debt ceiling. there have been lots of debates about raising this debt ceiling and sometimes it can be quite a vicious debate in congress. sometimes it can be quite a vicious debate in congresslj sometimes it can be quite a vicious debate in congress. i imagine that vicious debate is even more likely given that donald trump is pledging to spend so much money on infrastructure which has boosted stocks. it will lead to fierce debate in congress? that is right.

there will be a lot of debate, but it isa there will be a lot of debate, but it is a chance for congressional leaders and lawmakers to push the president for some of the kinds of things that they may want, their own pet projects. there is a lot of debate that is involved in this and thatis debate that is involved in this and that is something else that people will be looking at. these debt ceiling debates can really stretch out for months. even though there is a deadline happening it could still be many months before any congressional debate emerges with regards to the debt ceiling. thank you very much. here's a look at some other stories we're following today. energy supplier npower has published its full year results for 2016. they show revenues fell by £922m or 13% to £6.1bn, while its operating result improved. it made a loss of £90m compared with a loss of £99m in 2015. however, it managed to reduce complaints by 49% last year in comparison with the previous year. hsbc has appointed mark tucker, the current chief executive

of asian insurer aia, as group chairman. mr tucker will take over on 1st october, succeeding douglas flint who has been in the role since 2010. during seven years as chief executive of aia, mr tucker oversaw the insurer's expansion in asia. one of his firstjobs will be to find a replacement for stuart gulliver, the current chief executive of hsbc, who plans to step down next year. and according to the financial times, lloyds bank is close to agreeing a £1.3bn contract with ibm to outsource many of its it systems and more than 1,900 jobs. the staff would be transferred from lloyds' data centres in edinburgh and copley, west yorkshire. let's check in with the financial markets. they have been edging

higher with the expected trigger of article 50. big moves in the footsie. in the energy sector, wood group has reached an agreement to ta ke group has reached an agreement to take over and mick foster wheeler. bovis homes have also soared. back to you. back to the top story and scott's first minister nicola sturgeon has announced she will seek the power to call another referendum on scottish independence. in a speech in edinburgh she accused theresa may up refusing to move an inch in her determination to pursue a hard brexit. downing street said the negotiations would take into account the interests of all the nations in the uk. norman smith is at westminster. this was a dramatic announcement, but there are high sta kes at announcement, but there are high stakes at played for both sides.

huge stakes. it is not given that nicola sturgeon, if there is a referendum, would win it. if she did not the cause of scottish independence would be shattered, along with nicola sturgeon‘s political prospects. theresa may faces the challenge of being the prime minister not only who takes britain out of the eu, but who could potentially preside over the break—up of the uk. who knows what the knock—on effects could be with northern ireland as well. there are colossal issues at stake. at the moment downing street is coming out fiercely criticising the idea of a second independence referendum, but not ruling it out completely, not saying no chance. they are not saying no chance. they are not saying that, they are saying you had a vote two years ago and that was meant to be once in a generation. it would be economically damaging, focus on your dayjob. theresa may

will be very cautious about simply slapping that nicola sturgeon because of the potential impact that would have in scotland and in fuelling independence and nationalist sentiment. more likely it seems to me is that theresa may will seek to delay any final decision until after brexit, partly because she absolutely does not want to be fighting on two france at the same time, negotiating our departure from the eu and at the same time having to campaign to keep scotland in the union. but also because she knows that part of nicola sturgeon‘s pitch is that if there is a scottish referendum before the uk finally leaves, she can make a credible case, nicola sturgeon can make a credible case for saying that scotla nd credible case for saying that scotland is still part of the eu. if the referendum happens afterwards it is too late, we have already left. the other question is, will nicola

sturgeon actually win? how much of a gamble is this for her? it is a huge gamble. the polls are much better than they were before the last referendum, no doubt about that. the snp isa referendum, no doubt about that. the snp is a formidable campaigning machine. nicola sturgeon has built up machine. nicola sturgeon has built upa machine. nicola sturgeon has built up a strong reputation as a first minister, but there remains a very tough economic questions which pretty much did for the snp in the last referendum and remain to be answered. what happens about currency and collapsing oil prices? what happens about the scale of the deficit? all of these things have not really been answered. there is also a hope amongst ministers here that may be people in scotland might bea that may be people in scotland might be a bit tired of this endless uncertainty and upheaval and division. they had a referendum on two years ago, they had a brexit referendum and they are now to have another referendum. the final hope

is that maybe people in scotland might buy into theresa may's argument, that they should focus on the dayjob, argument, that they should focus on the day job, public argument, that they should focus on the dayjob, public services, the economy in scotland, rather than independence. these are massive sta kes independence. these are massive stakes and genuinely who knows and how it might go? let's catch up with all the weather news. thomas is on the other side of the newsroom with the other side of the newsroom with the forecast. i would rather be outside it is so beautiful and sunny. but there is some cloud around in some parts of the uk. this is what many people are seeing. look at this beautiful picture from cambridge. this is from scotland, a bit more hazy, but bright enough. the satellite picture shows where the sunny skies really are. in northern england and

northern parts of wales the skies area bit northern parts of wales the skies are a bit more overcast, but even here the sun will pop out from time to time. in the next hour this is what it looks like. the very far north of the uk there will be some spots of rain, but it is a dry day throughout the uk. 15 degrees in london at the very least, if not nudging up to 17. but this is the exception here, around the coasts of cornwall and devon. you are stuck with some missed here. this may hang around into tomorrow as well. not much change for this evening. some clear spells around, a little bit of missed here and there. but later on rain moves into northern ireland and scotland. behind this weather front we have got much colder and windier conditions getting into scotland. a very blustery day, particularly in

northern parts of scotland. some gusts may be in excess of 70 miles an hour. to the south of that it is nowhere near as wendy. in the middle pa rt nowhere near as wendy. in the middle part of the week on wednesday and thursday there is high pressure sitting on top of the uk mostly. in summary this is what the end of the week looks like, relatively cloudy with some sunshine around. then it is all change from the end of the week. from thursday night into friday there is a completely different rotation of the weather. this is making a beeline for the uk and later on friday things go downhill in western areas with increasing wind as well and all of this will be on top of the uk during the course of saturday. we have got some beautiful weather around today, not so bad during the week, but by

the end of the week and into the weekend it will be like that. this is bbc news. the headlines at 2pm. scotland's first minister takes westminster by surprise as she announces plans to trigger another independence referendum. nicola sturgeon says a second referendum should be held between autumn 2018 and spring 2019, once the terms of the uk's exit from the eu are clear. i believe that it would be wrong for scotland to be taken down a path that it has no control over, regardless of the consequences for our economy, for our society, for our place in the world, for our very sense of who we are as a country. it comes as mps at westminster prepare to vote again on whether to the give the prime minister the power to start the brexit process. the afternoon.

hundreds of thousands of commuters are hit by a 24—hour rail strike