changes, simple as that. we don't even need to think about the next game until we get this one out of the way, it will be huge, that's what we are focused on. england play their semifinal here at the home of ulster rugby at quarter to eight this evening, the other semifinal kicks off at five between the underdogs usa and the four time world champions new zealand. the final is expected to be between the black ferns and the red roses of england but having played some colourful rugby so far france will be hoping to keep a good splash of ‘bleu' in the mix too. katherine downes, bbc news, belfast. time for a look at the weather... here's darren bett. hello, some rain on the way for a belfast and the rugby. we should see some sunshine arriving across england and wales, a good day to be walking the dog in cornwall. you can see what i mean, grey and misty in the hills here in the peak district,

very slow, we should see low cloud lifting, or sunshine coming up but not guaranteed. you can see them on the map, one or two showers in the west country, drifting further northwards, the wettest weather heading towards belfast, arriving in northern ireland through the afternoon and into the evening. not just heavy rain, could be thundery rain as well. a little bit of rain across northern scotland, petering out, trower, brighter, warmer. one oi’ out, trower, brighter, warmer. one or two showers arriving in northern england, warmer than it was yesterday, quite humid across england and wales in particular, and butchers 25 degrees in some places, especially where we get the sunshine. one or two showers, many places fine and dry with light winds, feeling warm. the rain to contend with further north, through the evening, eventually clearing from northern ireland, heavy and thundery rain working into scotland, turning wetter in northern england

later. to the south, a lot of cloud around, misty perhaps, left with a warm night like last night, temperatures no lower than 17. a wet start for scotla nd temperatures no lower than 17. a wet start for scotland and northern england, the weather front here with warm and muggy air, a band of cloud running eastwards, rain clearing, sunshine from the west, some showers. the last of the warm and muqqy showers. the last of the warm and muggy are confined to east anglia and the south—east, introducing fresh ayr on a westerly breeze, temperatures nearing 19—20. some sunshine later. into the fresh air as we head into thursday, the weather front out of the way, low pressure sitting here all week and it's getting a bit closer towards northern ireland. into thursday, friday, wetter weather pushing back into northern ireland, quite a few showers in scotland, some of them heavy on thursday into friday. fewer

showers further south, generally across the southern half of the uk there and friday, should be dry and fine, sunshine at times, temperatures in the low 20s, with the beginning of the weekend at least some sunshine and the chance of the few showers. aaron, thank you. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime... president trump says more us troops will be sent to afghanistan — to fight the taliban. that's all from the bbc news at one so it's goodbye from me and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon. now let's take a look at the sport. it is semi—final stay at the women's rugby world cup and defending champions england have friends standing between them and the final. they already met in six nations with

england winning but their captain says that is meaningless. let's go to belfast to find out if it is only mind games. catherine has been at this park. cat. yes, already hundreds of people arriving here because the rugby sta rts arriving here because the rugby starts at the stadium at 2pm. world ranking games to complete before the semifinals proper get going. the first of those starts at 5pm with underdogs usa against the four—time world champions new zealand. they already scored a whopping 35 tries injust the already scored a whopping 35 tries in just the three matches so far in this world cup. they are understandably be favourites to go through to the final. who willjoin them? on paper it should be england because new zealand and england are the top two sides in the world. new zealand defending... england the defending world champions and sickness nations grand slam winners as well but the right of the french. they won two of the last six nations titles and they know the english game very well. they have played their most recently in the six

nations. according to the england captain sarah hunter they are a well rounded squad and they have got strength right across the pitch and even england coach simon middleton says he is not yet preparing in his mind forafinal says he is not yet preparing in his mind for a final against the black ferns. we are a combination for all of the games. if it was the comedy in getting to the stage we are at now, it is about putting the best 23 out you feel right for the job. if you feel it is the right people at any point them out again and if not we make changes. as that. as you said, it will be huge, england against france, kick—off at 7:45pm tonight and england going for back—to—back world titles. before that usa against new zealand kicks off at 5pm. thank you very much indeed. elsewhere this afternoon... anti—racism campaign group kick it out have asked the fa to conduct "a comprehensive and independent review" into eniola aluko‘s claims against england boss mark sampson, suggesting her more recent accusations, made in a bbc interview, "throw new light on the allegations." the striker‘s club chelsea have

commended herfor coming forward and speaking about her experiences, and that it is imperative that players are supported when they do. aluko has accused sampson of "bullying and discrimination". two investigations have cleared him of any wrongdoing and he vehemently denies aluko‘s claims. the fact is, a week before i was dropped from the england team for the first time in 11 years, i had given my account of what i felt was discrimination towards me, what i felt was a bullying culture. so being part of that cultural review has potentially cost me my england career. the fa insist the timing of aluko being dropped, days after her initial accusations were made, is purely coincidental, and that they paid an £80,000 settlement to the player to avoid disrupting the england team's preparations for euro 2017. england are through to the semifinals of the women's eurohockey championships in

amsterdam. the defending champions beat scotland 2—0 to progress through. england took the lead after this great ball from anna toman. one goal from a short corner whilst scotland crash out of the competition with defeat. scotla nd scotland are eliminated from the tournament. jeffrey has apologised foran tournament. jeffrey has apologised for an alleged racist comment. the former batsman and commentator was speaking at edgbaston and according to the daily mirror was making a comparison between the number of west indian players who had been knighted and him being turned down twice for the honour. boycott has tweeted an unreserved apology, accepting his comments were unacceptable and accepting his comments were u na cce pta ble a nd clearly accepting his comments were unacceptable and clearly wrong. and ferrari have extended former world champion kimi raikkonen‘s contract until the end of the 2018 season. the firm, whose contract was due to expire at the end of the year, is currently fifth in the championship standings. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport.

i'll have more in the next hour. thank you. we will talk more about president reagan and his announcement about trips and it can stand in the next little while and we are stand in the next little while and we are also going to talk about —— president trump. and we will also get the business news. the liberal democrats' new leader vince cable says he continues to support the legalisation of cannabis. his comments come as a series of politicians from across the political spectrum tell bbc newsbeat it's time for laws relating to the drug to be looked at. jim connolly has the details. at the last election the liberal democrats made headlines with one of their most eye—catching manifesto promises, to legalise cannabis. lib dem insiders tell us it wasn't that popular. so is it a policy the party continues to back? the evidence is clear that

if you want to stop abuse and damage to young people, you've got to bring the trade into the open and out of the hands of the criminal underworld. attitudes to cannabis are changing across the world. take, for example, north america. in the us, 21 states have decriminalised personal possession, and eight have legalised it. next year canada is expected to go further and make the drug legal across the whole country. back in europe, portugal has some of the most liberal drug laws. all substances are decriminalised. we've come to meet the man often described as the architect of the portuguese system. we had one of the highest rates of problematic drug use in europe by the late ‘90s. 15, 16 years later we can look back and say that we were... of course, it's not a solved problem in our society, but we have a lot of improvement. cannabis is the most commonly used illegal drug in the uk.

take, for example, england and wales — in the past year, more than 2 million people have admitted using it, and there's a growing campaign to change the law on the substance. united kingdom cannabis social clubs is an umbrella group campaigning for the drug to be freely available. it went from no clubs back in 2011 to more than 100 this year. these brighton members get together to eat meals with cannabis cooked into them. take a look at spain, portugal, canada and america — they are all coming through with progressive, forward—thinking policies that are basically spreading more of a positive impact and utilising the cannabis culture for the positive it can do for local community, for the industry, for medical patients, for recreational users thatjust want to have a social experience but not be criminalised for it. the government says it's aware of different approaches being taken abroad, but won't be changing how things are done here, arguing it's overly simplistic to say that legalisation works. so, whilst there's no chance

of a change of law any time soon, these users say they'lljust carry on regardless. jim connolly, bbc news. promised we will have business news in the next minutes but now the headlines. president trump indicates more us troops will be sent to afghanistan as he steps up the war against the taliban. the former owner of bhs, dominic chappell, is to be four men accused of belonging to the terror cell behind the attacks in spain which killed 15 people, appear in court in madrid. the former owner of bhs, dominic chappell, is to be prosecuted by the pensions regulator. he's accused of failing to provide information to an investigation into the sale of the collapsed retailer. in the business news...

shares in the doorstep lender provident financial have been falling after it issued its second profit warning. it now says it expects to make a loss of up to £120 million. its boss, peter crook, has resigned. ford has launched a trade—in and scrappage scheme designed to cut pollution on our roads. the firm says drivers can trade in cars over seven years old and get £2,000 off a new ford car. the old car will then be scrapped. sports direct has increased its stake in debenhams to 21%. that's up from 16%. the government recorded a budget surplus last month for the first time since 2002. that's been fuelled by more taxes coming in from the self employed. the surplus forjuly was around £200 million. that compares with a deficit of £300 million, the same time last year.

for more on this, let's talk to victoria clarke from investec. thank you forjoining us, victoria. what does this say about the government? it is one—month's figures and july isa it is one—month's figures and july is a month in which we can to seem big inflows in self—assessment receipts and this particular month has been boosted by calendar quirks. the short answer is let's not get too excited. naturally if you look at the year overall, the government is still probably borrowing more thanit is still probably borrowing more than it did the year before. why our revenue is so strong when the economy is not exactly going on all cylinders? the self—assessment story is a big pa rt the self—assessment story is a big part of it. these self—assessment receipts tend to come in injuly, and a penny on how the calendar works, sometimes in august. that has certainly lifted these recent numbers. but it is notjust self—assessment receipts. it could

be receipts pretty robust in these latest figures, wealthy economy is running at a reduced pace, at the moment consumer spending has held up pretty well. so that has helped the situation in latest figures. the fa ct situation in latest figures. the fact the labour market is looking good. employment gains are strong and helping on the income taxed more generally. a slower economy but that is not being reflected in the reve nu es is not being reflected in the revenues coming into the exchequer. do you think that the government's finances will continue to improve? i suspect not. if you compare the last fiscal year's borrowing figures, that's the year 2016 to 2017, with the forecasts for this coming one, they are likely to show deterioration for various reasons. but also because we would expect there to be an effect from the slowing economy. and eventually our expectations are that the labour

market will weaken and over the months ahead consumer spending will start to be squeezed a little bit more, and that will bite on vat receipts a bit more. so the short a nswer receipts a bit more. so the short answer is actually, i think, from here on fora, things will get worse. what does that mean for you and me? the everyday people. not too much at the moment. the chancellor of the exchequer philip hammond will be looking at these figures month—to—month and they are volatile. of course the budget is 110w volatile. of course the budget is now going to take place in autumn wintertime, so here's looking at this in the run—up to that. if things carry up as they have been, it looks as if things are not1 million miles of the full fiscal year. so the chancellor looks at the numbers and says, i am happy with the broad shape of my tax decisions at the moment, we don't get too many big tax changes in the autumn, but of course we have got brexit on the agenda. the chancellor is looking at these figures in the context of that. again if there is a little bit of headroom to be made of the fiscal

figures, if they do look better, then perhaps he banks those for a rainy brexit day as we leave the eu in 2019. in other words, if the government is managing to balance its books, it is less likely that we will pay more taxes? quite possibly. victoria, thank you very much. here's a look at some other stories we're following today. uk factories are feeling the benefits of a fall in the pound, according to boss's organisation the cbi. a survey of 432 companies found that orders were strong, especially when it comes to exports. the house—builder persimmon has announced a rise in half year profit to £457 million. that's up by almost a third on the previous month. it says high levels of employment are helping to support the market. the summer has helped the big super market chains increase their sales. the four biggest grocers — tesco, sainsbury, asda and morrisons — saw their sales rise by around 4%. johnson &johnson has been ordered to pay more than 400 million dollars

to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after using their talc—based products. it's the largest award so far, in a series of cases claiming the company didn't give adequate warnings about the dangers of talc. the company has defended its safety record. let's have a quick look at the markets. the ftse 100 let's have a quick look at the markets. the ftse100 is making improvements on yesterday. investors in london are shaking off yesterday's blues and it looks as if some bargain hunting might be happening. mining shares have been strong. but provident financial, as we strong. but provident financial, as we said, are really suffering after news of the second profit warning. it will only take about 57% of the money it is owed, as opposed to 90% last year. shares have been down as much as 60%. that's it for me. thank you very much. now as promised let's talk about the announcement from donald trump. donald trump has indicated that he'll send more american troops to afghanistan to fight the taliban.

during the presidential campaign he had called for a speedy withdrawal from a conflict he'd called a "total disaster". but in a televised address last night, the president said a rapid exit would create a vacuum that terrorists would fill. our troops will fight to win. we will fight to win. from now on, victory will have a clear definition. attacking our enemies, obliterating isis, crushing al-qaeda, preventing the taliban from taking over afghanistan, and stopping mass terror attacks against america before they emerge. that was a section of what the president said about us troops but he also said pakistan continue to harbour militants in their country.

we go live to new york. in new york is husain haqqani, senior fellow and director for south and central asia at the hudson institute and former ambassador of pakistan to the united states. good afternoon to you, sir. thank you for being with us. pleasure to be here. your thoughts about the broader strategy, the sense that donald trump appears to be going back on what he said on the campaign trail, and acknowledging that us troops will stay in afghanistan and more will stay in afghanistan and more will be sent? i think the united states has a better chance of getting out of afghanistan as long as it does not set deadlines for itself, a big mistake of the obama administration. when you have an adverse to read that thinks that time is on their side, then you set deadlines for them, that we will leave after such and such date, and then they only know how long they must wait. i think in that sense president trump's message that the united states will fight to win is a realistic one. he is not committing very large numbers of troops. he is

just augmenting the afghan national army. sufficiently to fight the taliban and break their back to the extent it is possible. he also has a much more... a very different policy for pakistan, much harsher than before. what he is saying is that we have tried incentives and pakistan has not changed its policy of supporting the taliban. we will now try to see if isolating pakistan and acting ina try to see if isolating pakistan and acting in a much more aggressive manner will change them. if they do change, there will be a lot of incentives for pakistan. pakistan will have to reconsider whether it wa nts to will have to reconsider whether it wants to drag on the conflict in afghanistan, and in the process, also get india drawn in, which pakistan considers to be its next mercer —— it is pakistan's net and scenario to have india. and india play a role, so which either means

pakistan helps the united states in afghanistan or america turns to india, which isolate pakistan in the region further. when he says, in essence, pakistan is still harbouring these terrorists, and simply not doing enough, how will that message be received in islamabad ? iam one received in islamabad ? i am one of those pakistanis who wa nts i am one of those pakistanis who wants my nation to reconsider its interests, and make them much more realistic than they have been. but we are a realistic than they have been. but we are a nation which, like the rhetoric sometimes, we took three yea rs rhetoric sometimes, we took three years to recognise bangladesh after it left us and became an independent country. and our immediate reaction will probably be street marches, down with america, etc. but at some point the leaders of the country, the top military people, the civilian politicians, they will have to consider the situation realistically, what are the advantages or disadvantages? and i

think that this is the point at which pakistan will either try to help and negotiate a settlement with the taliban, or negotiate with the united states to find out what it can do to try to change the situation, and if that happens, president trump's gambit has already worked. that is interesting. he talked about suggestions from within the administration, anyway, that there could be a reduction within security assistance, unless pakistan cooperates in the way it wants it to, or thinks it should. is that going to concentrate minds? will not be considered bullying in islamabad 01’ be considered bullying in islamabad or actually does that and a good chance of working, that strategy? it will be considered bullying and that will be the initial response, when you ask somebody from the pakistan government they will say, no, we pakistan government they will say, no, we are pakistan government they will say, no, we are not doing what we are being accused of. we are not to be blamed, etc, etc. first they will be

denial and then there will also be a refusal to say that any of these measures are going to affect pakistan. there will be statements to the effect that it is not that big anyway for a 270 billion economy, what is a couple of billion dollars in military and economic assistance that the us gives? that said, ithink assistance that the us gives? that said, i think that the longer term consideration for pakistan has to be, will it be able to compete with india in the longer term, with the economic and other advantages that will accrue from a poor relationship with the unites states? the un pakistan relationship is multidimensional and there is the military relationship with young pakistanis coming to study in the united states. that is for higher degrees. many things can and do get affected when us pakistan relations go sourand affected when us pakistan relations go sour and president trump is the most unpredictable leader at that pakistan has ever dealt with, and

one who is likely to be much harsher in his decisions about the country that he sees as not being a loyal american ally. very interesting to hear your perspective. thank very much for your time. a former us ambassador. it's a case that's gripped — and now shocked — denmark. police investigating the disappearance of a female journalist during a trip with an inventor on his privately—built submarine, say the headless body of a woman has been found. peter madsen has been charged with killing kim wall. catriona renton reports. since kim wall went missing, the waters around sweden have been searched for her. now a female torso has been found. police said a cyclist saw a body in the sea and alerted them.

this was kim wall and peter madsen on board his submarine the nautilus, pictured on the 10th of august. she had been researching a feature she was going to write about him and the 40—tonne submarine which he designed and built himself. she has not been seen since and was reported missing by her boyfriend, with divers, helicopters and boats out looking for her. peter madsen was spotted on the nautilus the next day. his submarine sank but he was rescued. peter... he initially claimed he had dropped kim wall off on one of copenhagen's islands, but now he says there was an accident, that she died and he buried her at sea, but he denies any wrongdoing. translation: my client has not confessed anything. my client still pleads not guilty to the charges against him. peter madsen hit the headlines in 2008 when he managed to build the nearly 80m long vessel using online crowdfunding. now police believe peter madsen sunk his own submarine and he has been

charged with negligent manslaughter. a postmortem is currently being carried out on the body that's been found, as the investigation continues into what happened to kim wall. catriona renton, bbc news. much more coming up from 2pm. we will talk more about president trump and afghanistan and have the latest as well. now let's pause and catch up as well. now let's pause and catch up with the weather prospects from darren. hello there. today we have got some quite warm and muggy are across england and wales particularly but it comes with a lot of low cloud, misty weather and hill fog. it has been quite a slow start for some parts of this morning. this was earlier on in the peak district. things are tending to improve with cloud tending to lift. we do have some sunshine here in cornwall, breaking through that

cloud. when is our light when the sun comes out and it should feel warm. this is the cloud earlier on and not just warm. this is the cloud earlier on and notjust cloud but showers are affecting the west country, drifting northwards with rain across scotland. the main ring is developing towards northern ireland. i think here is the afternoon goes on it will turn wetter and might be quite heavy and could be accompanied by the odd rumble of thunder later on as well. for much of scotland it is probably going to be dry. bring in the north tends to peter out in the brighter and warmer for a in the north tends to peter out in the brighter and warmerfor a while in the south. a little sunshine peeping through that cloud across northern england and could trigger some showers. for many parts of england and wales will be dry through the rest of this afternoon into the early evening, with warm sunshine breaking through. a bit hazy at times but warmer than yesterday with the bridges to around 25 celsius or so. you showers. wetter weather for the north, and for a well across northern ireland that should time to clear through. it will push into scotland, heavy thundery rain for western scotland. likely to turn wetter later in the night for northern england. further

south, dreyer, cardiff are the most part, and that would warrant muggy are. one night late last night perhaps, in places, no lower than 70 degrees. weather front on the thing with warm and muggy are about with rain in wet start for northern england and scotland, the band of cloud further south with not much rain. putting its words with scientifically west and some showers and across northern ireland. the last of warm and muggy rain across east anglia and the south. otherwise introducing fresh air on the westerly breeze with temperatures back down to 19 or 20 celsius. we will get some sunshine. into there asa will get some sunshine. into there as a way will have weather out of the way and warm and muggy are out of the way. this low—pressure sitting around a place, ready with through the week, still there and getting closer to northern ireland on thursday and friday. wetter weather putting back into northern ireland. quite some showers into scotla nd ireland. quite some showers into scotland at your showers into northern england. generally across the southern half of the uk, i think the southern half of the uk, i think the rest of the week, the end of the

week, thursday, friday, should be dry with some sunshine at times. and in that pressure are we will find temperatures perhaps into the low 20s. thinking about that we can, as iam sure 20s. thinking about that we can, as i am sure you are, there will be centred around but perhaps a few showers. —— sunshine around. this is bbc news. the headlines at 2. "fight to win" — president trump indicates more us troops will be sent to afghanistan as he steps up the war against the taliban. we are not nation—building again. we are killing terrorists. the former owner of bhs, dominic chappell, is to be prosecuted by the pensions regulator, following the collapse of the high street store. human remains are found in the hunt for ten us sailors missing after their warship collided with a tanker near singapore.

a third child is pulled alive from the rubble of a house which collapsed last night, during an earthquake on the italian island of ischia . four men accused of belonging to the cell behind the terror attacks in spain that killed 15 people appear in court in madrid.