this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 3. president trump commits more us troops to afghanistan as he takes on the fight against the taliban. we must ensure they have every weapon to apply swift, decisive and overwhelming force, our troops will fight to win, they will fight to win. four men accused of belonging to the terrorist cell that carried out the barcelona attacks appear in court in spain. the former owner of bhs, dominic chappell, is to be prosecuted by the pensions regulator, following the collapse of the high street store. a third child is pulled alive from the rubble of a house that collapsed last night, during an earthquake on the italian island of ischia . bodies are found in the flooded compartments of a us warship that collided with an oil tanker near singapore. also in the next hour, should there be a change in the law when it comes to cannabis? lib dem leader sir vince cable says he continues to support support the legalisation.

channel 4 gets ready to unveil their version of the great british bake off. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. more us troops are to be be sent to afghanistan to fight the taliban. the move was announced by president trump in a speech last night, in which he said the us would "fight to win" in afghanistan and would concentrate on killing terrorists rather than nation—building. during the presidential election campaign, the president had called for a speedy withdrawal from a conflict he described as a "total disaster". but in his speech he said he'd changed his mind — and that a rapid exit from afghanistan would create

a vacuum for terrorists to fill. here's our north america correspondent aleem maqbool. the man who always said he didn't want to intervene abroad, came to announce the intervention in afghanistan he's going to ratchet up. but said it was for the right reasons. we are a partner and a friend, but we will not dictate to the afghan people how to live, or how to govern their own complex society. we are not nation—building again. we are killing terrorists. he announced the lifting of a cap on the number of us troops in afghanistan, and that there would be no time limit on them staying there. my original instinct was to pull out. and, historically, i like following my instincts. but all my life i've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk in the oval office. a very different donald trump

to the one who said this kind of thing right through the obama years. "can you believe that the afghan war is our longest war ever? bring our troops home. rebuild the us. make america great again." and that's the basis on which he campaigned as a presidential candidate — that he wouldn't spend american resources abroad, but here at home. he says he now realises that pulling out american troops from afghanistan could leave a vacuum for militants. our primary mission for coming into afghanistan after 9/11 was to kill terrorists. and i think he is going back to the original purpose, that the reason we came into afghanistan was because of what happened on 9/11 and the fact that afghanistan was being used as sanctuary and safe haven for terrorists. the toughest words of his speech were directed at afghanistan's neighbour, pakistan.

we have been paying pakistan billions and billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars. at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. but that will have to change. and that will change immediately. how the president expects pakistan to comply, and more broadly, how he believes the us will, in his words, fight to win in afghanistan, wasn't made entirely clear. the only thing that is certain is that there is still no end in sight for america's longest war. aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. earlier i spoke to our washington correspondent gary o'donoghue. about how donald trump's policy has shifted. it is a volte face, no question in what he said as a candidate, even describing it in the campaign as a waste of money and that is a lot of base thought

as well about foreign adventures. but you heard him giving the justification for why he changed his mind — things look different behind the desk of the oval office. what has changed? a couple of things. the metrics that have been always used are being dropped, in other words how long and how many? those things that were constant during the time of president obama and president bush. he wants to drop those kinds of measurements from the discussion. the other thing that has changed, more gradually, is the pentagon has been given more flexibility, more of its own decision—making power. president obama used to fight wars from the white house, but the pentagon will now be in charge. some of the fundamentals have not changed. clearly the goal of pushing the taliban back from the half of the country it controls is still there and eradicating those

islamic state affiliates in the east of the country and bashing pakistan for having safe havens, that is still there. bits of changed, most of it hasn't. the difficulty for him is people who will not like the message rather like the america first message of the presidential campaign. the america first thing was powerful, not least because of overtones to the 1930s, but also because isolationism is a word people resist here, but there is a tradition i guess of american isolationism going back to the revolution and their ideas about not getting entangled in foreign adventures. it is a powerful idea for many american voters. we will see whether his base turns against him as a result of this. an interesting glimmer from the breitbart website. that one, steve bannon,

his fired chief strategist has gone back to breitbart to help them carry on their commentary. talking about this as a flip—flop. you may see the signs are there of the right beginning to be disillusioned with president trump. four men accused of belonging to the cell behind the terror attacks in and around barcelona last week are appearing at the spanish high court in madrid. the judge is deciding what charges to press over the attacks that left 15 people dead and more than 100 injured. our correspondent tom burridge is following the case. spain's high court deals with terrorism cases of this magnitude and the four men will be given an opportunity to address the court today and if they do, they could be cross—examined by a state prosecutor. appearing, mohammed houli chemla, a 22—year—old who was badly injured in the explosion on wednesday at the alleged bomb factory in alcanar, the day before the attacks

on las ramblas in barcelona. it is thought — police are investigating — that whether that explosion caused the terrorists to change their minds and opt for a more rudimentary attack using a vehicle the following morning in cambrils. also mohammed aalla in court. the interior minister said a car spotted speeding with four alleged attackers. two more men of north african descent, both in their 20s, also in courts throughout today. we should get more details about whether they have spoken today to address the court and possibly about the alleged involvement in the attacks. the former owner of the collapsed retailer bhs is to be prosecuted. the pensions regulator says it's decided to take action

against dominic chappell, after he failed to provide information and documents requested during an investigation into the sale of the retailer. bhs went into administration last year, with the loss of about 11,000 jobs. with me is our business correspondent, emma simpson. give as background to this. in fact it is almost a year to the days since those final bhs store is closed, after 90 years of trading on the high street. this spectacular colla pse the high street. this spectacular collapse was the biggest retail failure since woolworths went down and 11,000 jobs, failure since woolworths went down and 11,000jobs, and failure since woolworths went down and 11,000 jobs, and a big scandal over the pension deficit. sir philip green controversially sold that business for £1 to dominic chappell in 2015. he was a former racing driver, bankrupt tea, no retail experience. a year later the chain colla pse experience. a year later the chain collapse sparking a host of enquiries. we have the parliamentary

committee. it produced a damning report. fast forward to february 2017, sir philip green reached a deal with the pension regulator, a 363 million settlement to rescue the pension scheme to avoid it going into the pension protection fund. today's action is specific, focused on dominic chappell. it is technical because it relates to the investigation into what happened. yes. i will tell you how technical. he has been summoned to appear at brighton magistrates‘ court next month for failing to comply with three notices issued under section 72 of the pensions act 2004. under section 72 of the pensions act 200a. three charges of neglecting or refusing to provide information or documents without a reasonable excuse. documents without a reasonable excuse. that is quite a specific set of charges, but meanwhile, the pension regulator is still pursuing him over whether he also avoided any

pension responsibilities. they began enforcement action. they did it with sir philip green and with dominic chappell. sir philip settled in february. this is relating to documents. clearly the regulator wa nted documents. clearly the regulator wanted to get its hands on. meanwhile, as they still investigate the case. thank you. divers searching for ten missing american sailors off singapore have found human remains in their damaged warship, according to the us navy. the remains were in sealed compartments of the uss john s mccain, which was nearing port yesterday when it collided with a merchant tanker. the impact tore a hole in its port side and flooded a crew sleeping area. on the line is our correspondent rupert wingfield—hayes who is in singapore. this is not entirely unexpected, but no less making this the disaster,

second time in as many months. yes. i have just second time in as many months. yes. i havejust come back second time in as many months. yes. i have just come back from the press conference with the commander of the us pacific fleet where he made the announcement they found remains. he would not say how many. this is the news i think we expected, certainly everybody in the us naval community feared. it is the second serious incident and for the families and personnel, the second major disaster in the space of two months. to make iti in the space of two months. to make it i suppose worse, it is bad, but these ships, the usss fitzgerald and mccain are sister ships and both based in japan and mccain are sister ships and both based injapan and this is a small community of us service personnel and families based injapan. this potentially means seven sailors were killed in june and potentially means seven sailors were killed injune and possibly another ten here in singapore. it will be a

huge blow to the community. the relatives, along with everyone else, wanting to know how it happened. yes, and we did not get a huge amount of information from the admiral on that front. he said the investigation had just begun and he was asked about rumours of a cyber attack and he said there was no evidence to support that. had the steering failed? he said no evidence to support that. there has been talk of the internet amongst families of us naval sailors saying they are overstretched and overworked and exhausted and one expert in singapore today said the last 16 yea rs, singapore today said the last 16 years, since 911, the us military and particularly the navy has become very stretched and there is widespread talk of exhaustion and the rate of going out on deployment being higher than before. a disaster in human terms but looking at the damage as we are at

the moment, this is not going to be an inexpensive vessel to repair. no, as with the fitzgeralds, this is a very major piece of damage. for them in singapore it is a logistical problem because they do not have the facilities they have injapan. in japan they have dry docks, very extensive repair facilities. japan they have dry docks, very extensive repairfacilities. in singapore they are basically visiting another country. they will have to do some sort of temporary repairs to the hole in the ship. i asked the admiral about this and he said he did not know how they would do that yet but they will have to do a temporary repair and baby go back to japan a temporary repair and baby go back tojapan and in the a temporary repair and baby go back to japan and in the case of the fitzgerald, they say it will take at least a year to repair that ship. thank you. rescue workers are still trying to reach survivors, after a magnitude four earthquake hit the italian island of ischia. at least two people have been killed, and nearly a0 injured, after the tremor brought down several buildings.

the island, off the coast of naples, has a population of about 50,000, and is also popular with tourists. richard lister has the latest. minutes after the earthquake, dazed survivors picked their way through a ruined house in the town of casamicciola. around them, in a blizzard of dust, buried cars and rubble—strewn streets. their neighbours are escaping, too, as the emergency services move in. "it was terrible", she said. "i was terrified. ischia was a trap." several buildings collapsed. under the wreckage, rescuers worked frantically to get to those buried. at this site, rescuers hear the faint sound of a baby crying. and after some careful digging, a minor miracle. seven—month—old pascale

was tearful, but safe. work continued at the house to reach his two brothers. daylight revealed the extent of the damage. the earthquake struck as people were sitting down for their evening meal. some houses were almost untouched. others may have to be demolished. translation: the house is destroyed. we can‘t even get in. what should we do? translation: i was really scared. in all the years i've lived here, it is the first time there has been such a strong quake. at least one of the dead was killed by falling masonry. it remained a threat, as the emergency services brought in more resources to continue their search and rescue operation. translation: we have helped more than 1,000 people leave ischia. we have set up a coordination centre. technical teams are checking hotels to make sure they are safe. as the work continued,

some good news. both of little pascale‘s brothers were found alive. his family survived. others though are counting the cost of a terrifying night. richard lister, bbc news. the headlines. the afghan president hails donald trump‘s decision to commit troops to the country to fight the resurgent taliban. four men accused of belonging to the terrorist cell that carried out the barcelona attacks appear in court in spain. the former owner of bhs dominic chappell is to be prosecuted by the pensions regulator following the collapse of the high street store. and it supports the strongest team for their toughest tests. the new coach promises no more rotation for the women‘s rugby world cup semifinal against france in belfast. also through, the ingham‘s women at

the eurohockey tournament and at scotland‘s expenses they win the group game between the two. chelsea have commended eni aluko for speaking of her experiences after she accused the england boss of bullying discrimination. the england boss mark sampson vehemently the claims. the liberal democrat new leader, sir vince cable, says he continues to support the legalisation of cannabis. his comments came in an interview for bbc radio one‘s newsbeat, which has been speaking to a number of politicians across the political spectrum about whether 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 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. newsbeat‘s politics editor, jim connolly, is with us in the studio. it is unlikely in terms of the real politic. given the fact that the last election the lib dems were the only party who stood on the basis of legalising cannabis and with all due respect they will not form a government $0011. respect they will not form a government soon. realistically, when you look at the government stance that it you look at the government stance thatitis you look at the government stance that it is a class b drug and they are not changing that because of the harm it does to society in users, i cannot see it changing soon, although there is a growing movement across the world. it is changing across the world. it is changing across the world. is that supported here? the best example is to look to north america. in the us there are eight states that have legalise the drug and more than half have

decriminalised it for medical use in canada is set to legalise across the country and you have uruguay and pockets in europe doing similar things, decriminalising. here, the people you saw in the film at the cannabis club, they said membership is growing. they went from no clubs in 6—6 years ago and through to over 100. one of the biggest in brighton with hundreds of members and big support for that movement. but, the political reality, i do not see a change soon. what about europe. as pa rt change soon. what about europe. as part of your programme you have been to sweden and portugal. massively contracting approaches. sweden is like here, but the law there is strict. they use the law to punish people and you do not see cannabis on the streets, you do not smell it. the idea of anyone smoking a joint

next to anyone is absolutely shocking. we went there to see a country getting tough on cannabis and they said it works, they have few people using it. they do have a problem however with heavy drugs users having fatalities connected to that because their education programmes are not as strong. portugal, the opposite, there, all drugs are decriminalised. you see a lot of people in the streets using and dealing drugs. however, we sat in on a court case with a guy who had been caught withjoints going into a festival, and he said the system worked because he had to speak to a psychiatrist and go through a bit of a process and reality check and he said he was not going to do it again because it made him stop and think. they say that is the success of their system but on the success of their system but on the flip side you have a lot of people using crack and heroin openly in the equivalent of trafalgar square. i know your documentary is

already out on the website but was there that changed your view? what is interesting, what engaged us, was the science behind it. you could have a row on the political level but as we have said, not a lot is changing, but the science behind it is fascinating. there is a substance in cannabis, thc, which gets bandied around when people talk about skunk, which has high levels, and that is linked to mental—health problems. we met someone whose son, a guy who is a hereditary peer, he is running a counterintuitive campaign because his son sadly killed himself after taking what he called skunk. he wa nts to taking what he called skunk. he wants to legalise cannabis, which seems strange for someone whose son killed himself as a result of the drug. he wants to legalise it to regulate the market and he said

skunk is the problem, not traditional herbal cannabis that is causing problems. fascinating. it is on the iplayer. thank you. at 9pm tonight there will be a special programme. radio 1‘s newsbeat — debating the future of britain‘s laws and attitudes to cannabis. presented by tina daheley it will be shown live on the bbc news channel as well as on bbc radio one. the former conservative chancellor, george osborne, has called on the prime minister to commit to building a high speed rail line across the north of england. the government says it‘s investing billions of pounds across the north of england. mr osborne, who spearheaded the northern powerhouse project while in government, told the bbc more money should be spent on public transport outside the capital. if the government is serious it used to commit to high—speed links between the northern cities so we bring those cities together and the whole of the north will be stronger

than the individual parts. this autumn is when we need to get on with that because businesses are crying out for a long—term plan that enables them to invest and bring jobs to the north of england. how would these proposals affect the main towns and cities in the north of england. our correspondent dan whitworth is outside leeds train station. we have heard some of this before. yes it is not the first time we have heard george osborne speak on this issue. the former chancellor, he helped to launch the northern powerhouse initiative. he is no longer in government but he chairs the northern powerhouse partnership. we have been here to get a sense of opinion on comments made by the former chancellor. it is a transport hub in the north at leeds station. looking at the departure board. destination sheffield, hull, newcastle, penzance, liverpool. where george osborne has entered the

fray this morning again, he is talking about how important the line from hull to liverpool, across the north of england, is to the economy in the region. he is calling on theresa may, he wants a commitment from the prime minister to make the hull liverpool line high—speed. he wa nts to hull liverpool line high—speed. he wants to prioritise the electrification of the line from leeds to manchester and he says although that could cost around 7 billion, spread over several years, the return on the investment would transform the economy in the north, and a couple of statistics. george osborne saying if we had the £7 billion investment it would bring an extra 7 billion people to within a 90 minute journey of the north of england and three times as many businesses. so a real call to action from the former chancellor. let's look at when he is saying it, what about the timing of this? very interesting, the timing. george

osborne made his interview on the bbc today programme and wrote an article in the financial times and no coincidence tomorrow there is a regional meeting of regional mayors from places like manchester and liverpool and local politicians and business leaders. their frustration is close to boiling point at what they see as the prioritisation by they see as the prioritisation by the national government spending on public transport projects in london to the detriment of the north of england and elsewhere in the uk. also that frustration from leaders, business leaders and politicians, the general public, 70,000 people have signed a petition demanding more investment in public transport in the north. the government says it is spending billions to better connect communities and improve journey times across the region. thank you. it‘s no longer on the bbc — but the great british bake off returns to our screens later this month , on channel 4.

three quarters of the presenting line up has changed, is it still is good? none of it sounds straightforward. we have to send someone away. you could send noel i will go now. i will take a hit for the team. it has been great. i have loved working with you. you have seen the first episode. is it any good? it is good. that was the surprise. thinking it would be changing channel and the new host in charge, it would really change everything in the show, but they have stuck to what made this show good in the first place, which is around what the bakers are doing. the characters they are doing themselves. i read that you said you thought you would

have a hole in your heart when mel and sue and mary went. but you look all right. that was the weird thing. i still miss mel and sue and mary. i am having moments when i‘m thinking, i wonder how they would have taken it differently. sandi toksvig and noel fielding are themselves. they are having a different comedy lined with it and it works. what about prue leith? she is different to mary, very analytical and thorough. she always comes to the same decision as paul. that makes it kind of feel that she brings in something different. you were at the press conference yesterday. the moment when prue leith says there will be adverts, i know it has gone to channel 4, but you can always watch it on catch up and avoid the adverts. how did that go down? not well. quite a few laughed. you can

senseit well. quite a few laughed. you can sense it went awkward. but that is how many people are watching great british bake off and watching tv these days. they cough has this social element where you want to be on twitter and discussing it with people but the issue is, will people be willing to spend 17 minutes every episode trying to do ads? wanted it cost channel 4? about 75 million. they have the same tent, crockery and bunting. where has the money gone? ifeel when and bunting. where has the money gone? i feel when you and bunting. where has the money gone? ifeel when you have and bunting. where has the money gone? i feel when you have the biggest show on tv in the uk, you do not mess around with it. channel 4 said they had given it their own channel 4 spin but from watching the episode i have not seen evidence. i think it is trying to promote what has been good with it before. i have felt they cough is like strictly, it can run and run because each year you have new bakers. you are relieved about it, aren‘t

you? yes. i can tell. could keeping your teeth clean ward off dementia? we‘ll be speaking to a member of the alzheimer‘s society. let‘s have a look at the weather with darren bett. good afternoon. warmest weather at the moment is in the channel islands. wettest weather is in fermanagh and tyrone in northern ireland. it‘s not completely plain sailing today. we have had a lot of low cloud and still areas of cloud out there with a few more holes which has led to one or two light showers. through the next few hours, the weather is pushing into scotland where there‘ll be heavy rain and thunder possibly in there as well. we‘ll see a few more showers arriving in northern england too. further south, it will be largely

dry. a lot of cloud around and a warm and humid night. temperatures 16 or 17. the humid air is ahead of this weather front and there is a band of cloud in the south. further north it‘s a band of heavy rain and it will take a while to clear from north—east scotland and england. sunnier skies follow on behind before we see a few showers arriving too. the last of the muggy air is across east anglia and the south—east with the sunshine. after the rain, we get fresher temperatures, back to 19 or 20 celsius. hello, this is bbc news with the headlines. president trump says he‘s changed his mind on afghanistan — and that more us troops should be sent there to fight the war on terror. he says us forces will stay and "fight to win" — to avoid mistakes made in iraq. the pensions regulator says it will prosecute the former owner of bhs, dominic chappell. he‘s accused of failing to provide

information that was requested during the regulator‘s investigation into the sale of the high street store. human remains are found in the hunt for 10 us sailors, who went missing after their warship collided with a tanker near singapore. divers were sent down to search inside the ussjohn s mccain. 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. at least two women have died and 39 people have been injured. four men accused of belonging to the terror cell behind the attacks in spain last week — in which 15 people were killed — appear in court in madrid. there are reports one of the suspects told a judge that he and others were planning a ‘much bigger attack‘. now to the sports centre, there is hugh. hello. england will have wing lydia thompson fit for their rugby world cup semifinal against france tonight. coach simon middleton

is promising no more rotation... there are hundreds of people arriving here. it started at 2 o‘clock this afternoon. there are some world ranking games to complete before the semi—finals proper get going. the first of those starts at 5 this afternoon, underdogs usa against the champions new zealand who‘ve already scored a whopping 35 tries in the three matches they‘ve played so far. they‘re understandably the favourites to go through to the final. who‘lljoin them? on paper, it should be england because new zealand and england are the top two sides in the world. new zealand the defending world champions there. the six nations grand slam winners as well. don‘t write off the french just yet because they‘ve won two of the last six nations titles and they know the english game very well having played them most recently of course in the six nations. according to the england captain sarah hunter, they‘re a well rounded squad with

strengths across the pitch. even the england coach simon middleton says he‘s not yet preparing in his mind for a final against the black ferns. we had our combinations mapped out for all of the pool games and it was culminating to get to the stage where we are at now which was about putting the best 23 out that you think are right for the job. if you think are right for the job. if you think they're right for the next one, you'll put them out again, if not you make changes, simple as that. it's going to be huge. england against france, kick off at 7. 45. england going for back—to—back world titles. before that, usa v new zealand kicking off at 5. england are also through to the semi—finals of the eurohockey championships. scotla nd

scotland are eliminated from the tournament. we knew coming in, they we re very tournament. we knew coming in, they were very good in defence and would drop deep. we knew it would be a close game, particularly in the first half. we knew if we continued to do the right things that the opportunities would open and obviously joe opportunities would open and obviouslyjoe hunter got a fantastic first goal then a great corner from giselle. we came out here with not much to lose so we were just going out to stick to the system we wanted to play and see if we could get the result. slightly disappointed but all in all it was a good performance and we have proven how well we can play so moving forward to the rest of the tournament we are happy with that performance. germany beat ireland 5—1 to reach the last four with the third straight win of the competition. anti—racism campaign group kick it out say the fa should conduct "a comprehensive and independent review" into eniola aluko‘s claims of bullying against england boss mark sampson...

chelsea have commended herfor coming forward and speaking about her experiences and they say it‘s imperative the players are supported when doing so. aluko has accused sampson of bullying and discrimination. two investigations have cleared him of wrongdoing and he vehemently denies aluko‘s claims. ferrari have extended kimi raikkonen‘s contract until the end of the 2018 season. his contract was due to expire at the end of this season. he is fifth in the standings. more in the next hour. if you keep your teeth clean, you are less likely to develop alzheimer‘s. that in a nutshell is the finding of research in taiwan suggesting that people with long—term gum disease are 70 per cent more likely to develop dementia. although the study of 28,000 people could not prove that gum disease directly caused alzheimer‘s,

researchers think that proper tooth—brushing should be advised to ward off dementia. dr clare warton from the alzheimer‘s society is with us in the studio. we have heard things along these lines before but this research is fairly definitive? yes, so it's not really a new idea that gum disease and other infections in the body may be putting you at an increased risk of alzheimer‘s, but this is the longest and largest study. it tells us longest and largest study. it tells us that it‘s the long—term gum disease problems that may put you at greater risk. because of what, harm to the immune system, this is what is exciting about this century? —— this research? yes, we are learning that the activation of the immune system that the activation of the immune syste m ma kes that the activation of the immune system makes you at greater risk of alzheimer‘s and makes alzheimer‘s progress quicker. it‘s starting to open lots of doors and how we might be able to treat alzheimer‘s. rather

than looking at the proteins in the brain, we can start to look at how can we intervene with the immune system. a lot of money has gone into research looking at things and we don‘t seem to have made progress. are we now beginning to see all of that money pay off? we hope so. you‘re right, there hasn‘t been drug treatment for alzheimer‘s or any form of dementia in over 20 12 yea rs, form of dementia in over 20 12 years, almost 15 years now. that‘s obviously a huge problem. dementia is increasing and we really need treatment. but lots of money is coming in now. we havejust founded the uk dementia research institute which alzheimer‘s society contributed money to and that will really be looking at basic mechanisms, so what is going on in the brain or with the immune system or the gut, like all different aspects of our biology that might contribute to alzheimer‘s, i hope that kind of research is what will crack it. it's so simple, brush your

teeth. but the benefit in this case specifically could be highways agency? we know that poor oral health increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. the message is clear — look after your teeth, it‘s good for your health and your heart and it‘s possibly good for your brain as well. very briefly, are we getting there? it is the one disease everybody hopes that the next generations will not have to worry in the way we do about. are we in the right direction with this research? we are definitely getting there with our understanding, we know so much more now. it‘s more complex than we thought 20 years ago, the drugs are more comely kate and target the disease from different angles. that is what we do with cancer and it gives us the best chance of beating the disease. very good to talk to you about it. thank you very much. ford has become the latest car company to offer customers an incentive to trade in an old vehicle for a new, less polluting one. the scrappage scheme will run for four months,

and will offer 2,000 pounds off some new models. unlike similar schemes by bmw and mercedes, which apply only to diesel vehicles, ford says it will also accept petrol cars. our transport correspondent richard westcott has the details. millions of us still drive older, more polluting cars, but what‘s the best way to get them off the road? ford has become the latest and biggest firm to offer a scrappage scheme, £2,000 to crush your old car or van, as long as you buy a new one. it wouldn‘t be an incentive to me. good for the people who want to do it and have £2,000 if they have an old car that isn‘t roadworthy, good for them. but it wouldn‘t be an incentive for me at all. good incentive, give you £2,000 towards a new car and the side—effect is of environmental benefit, why not? cleaner air, it benefits everybody, and i get a new car. if i can afford it. ford claims it is about protecting the environment not boosting sales, which have been falling for months.

some people will look at this cynically and say, sales are down, you‘re only offering this for four months, only £2,000 scrappage scheme, this is about selling more cars, isn‘t it? it really is anything but a cynical marketing ploy. i can spend my money on much more efficient things to drive sales, this genuinely is about air quality. ford sells more cars than any other company in britain, the fiesta is the most popular model, that is why it is significant they have come up with a scrappage scheme. but it‘s only going to last four months initially, the company is talking about perhaps saving thousands of dirty cars being scrapped and taken off the road. there are 19 million in total, so could it really make a difference? the problem with a scrappage scheme that is aimed at air quality is that it really needs to be targeted at the vehicle driving around most in the areas where air quality is a problem. things like buses and trucks are particularly important, so are commercial vehicles too.

after months of speculation about a possible government scrappage scheme for dirty vehicles, it‘s now the car—makers who are taking the initiative, but not yet on a scale that could really make a difference. richard westcott, bbc news. joining me from brussels is anna heslop, air quality lawyer at the environmental law organisation clientearth. is this a big step in the right direction or, as some suggest, something will do wonders for ford sales ? something will do wonders for ford sales? of course we welcome anything that helps get older polluting diesel vehicles off the road but what we really need to see is a concerted evident by government to do something more coordinated and bigger than this, so something that lasts four months from one vehicle manufacturers and which you can trade in an old diesel vehicle for a new diesel vehicle probably isn‘t

going to fix the problem of the air quality. what seems interesting is they‘re pandering so what they see asa they‘re pandering so what they see as a consumer change of direction, consumers are looking at air quality. that clearly is going to drive the whole sector, isn‘t it? absolutely. what we have seen and are hearing over the last few months is there‘s been a drop in sales of new diesel cars and that will be a concern for manufacturers but what we would say to manufacture evers is, well, this is an opportunity for them to make cleaner models, things like hybrids and electric vehicles and to move more into that market because wing that is the way the wind is blowing. what about the laws in the uk and throughout europe in terms of pushing us into that direction where pollution will be cut dramatically? so many countries around europe like the uk are in breach of legal limits for nitrogen docks ied which is a pollutant often caused by diesel vehicles,

particularly in towns and cities where people are most exposed —— carbon dioxide. that needs to come down urgently. the government‘s evidence soot thompson quickest way to bring that pollution down is to put in place clean air zones in city centres where the most polluting vehicles are dissuaded from driving in by normally having a charge for those vehicles. alongside that, you have to help people who have to drive into towns and cities and who may be on lower incomes or might be disabled people, help them to transition to cleaner technology, so something like a targeted scrappage scheme to help those people would be more sensible. we see that in london, if you drive a zero emission car, you don‘t see the charge. that is what you want to see? absolutely and the mayor of london will be bringing ina and the mayor of london will be bringing in a charge where older diesel vehicles will have to pay an extra charge on top of the

congestion charge coming into london. what do you drive? i don't drive a car, i take public transport. probably the right answer! thank you very much. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: the afghan president hails donald trump‘s decision to fight the resurgent taliban. reports in spain say one of the men accused of being a member of the terrorist cell has told a court the group was planning a much bigger operation. the pensions regulator is to prosecute the former owner of bhs. it‘s accusing dominic chappell of ‘failing to provide information and documents‘ during its investigation into the sale of the company. 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. sports direct has increased its stake in debenhams to 21%. that‘s up from 16%. car giant ford is the latest car company to launch an incentive for consumers to trade in their cars over seven years old by offering £2,000 off some new models. unlike schemes by bmw and mercedes, which are only for diesels, ford will also accept petrol cars. ford said all of the part—exchanged vehicles will be scrapped, having an immediate effect on air quality. the boss of ford in the uk says it‘s not just about selling more cars and consumers have a role to play too. emission levels have been improving all the way through and some of the cars, the air quality‘s improved by 96% on some of the particulars. so they‘ve gone a long way so far. consumers have been slow to adopt new technology. only 5% of the car market today‘s electric or hybrid, that‘s driven by either the cost of the vehicle or things like range anxiety that some customers have.

so it‘s got to be technology that‘s real, relevant and available today that really enlightens the consumers. all this week we are looking at the financial side of our mortality. dave lee has been looking at how technology is being used to help people prepare for their own demise and loved ones once they‘ve passed on. thinking about death can be difficult. it can be uncomfortable. i‘m trying out a chat bot that takes you through some of the most important wes. do i want to be resuscitated, do i want family members to pray for me if i‘m unconscious. the chat bot named emily is made by life folder, a small start—up based in oakland, california. you could do this as a forum now. a lot of the forums are not easy to understand and it's

easier to be talked through it step by step. at the end of the conversation, emily will send you a link by e—mailing allowing you to download a set of documents which include legally binding documents that you can sign and have witnessed or you can have them note rised. at that point they're legally binding in the states we support. using technology like this could give us a more comfortable, private way to a nswer more comfortable, private way to answer difficult questions about the end of our own lives. chat bots also offer the cans to have a vivid memory of loved ones as well. when james learned his father was terminally ill with lung cancer, he set about creating a chat bot that would give responses that mimic what his father may have said in real life. i had some background in this ai technology that was sort of allowing people like me to create something like a dad bot and fairly soon it just something like a dad bot and fairly soon itjust came to feel like this is something that i should do. this

is something that i should do. this is the raw material? this is the raw material for the dad bot. james interviewed his dad about all aspects of his life so the text a nswe rs aspects of his life so the text answers the chat bot gave were in character. let's talk about college. ...healso character. let's talk about college. he also recorded his dad singing his favourite college football song. the words on the screen can‘t always tell the whole story! do you think there is a business here? i'm convinced there‘s a business around this just because it‘s so universal, like everybody has lost somebody, is losing somebody and is already grasping at every technological means to keep them around still. for now, james says he only intends to use the technology as a private way to remember his father. uk factories are feeling the benefit

ofa uk factories are feeling the benefit of a fall in the pound according to the cbi. a survey found orders were strong, especially when it comes to exports. persimmon has announced a rise in half year profits to £457 million. that is up almost a third on the previous month. it says high levels of employment have been helping support the market. the summer has helped the big supermarket chains increase their sales. the four biggest, tesco, sainsbury‘s, asda and morrisons, saw their sales rise by around 4%. johnson &johnson has been ordered to pay more than $400 million to a woman who says she developed ovarian cancer after using products such as baby powder. johnson &johnson has defended the products‘ safety and says it plans to appeal. michelle fleury is in new york. investors here in london are shaking

off yesterday‘s blues. it looks as if some bargain hunting may be going on. mining shares have been especially strong. but provident financial really suffering after news of that second profit warning. it‘s also only collecting about 57% of what it‘s owed as opposed to 90% last year. shares have been down as much as 60%. that is it, back to you. a plane full of passengers had a spectacular view of the eclipse.

james cook was on board. as the day dawned, the chase was on. the moon was after the sun and we were on the tail of both. from portland in the north—western state of oregon, the flight north—western state of oregon, the flight dubbed solar one struck out over the pacific. by the time we arrived, 800 miles from the shore, our satellite was already taking a chunk out of our star. ten, nine, weight, seven... and as the moment of totality drew close, time itself seemed to speed up. it's the final countdown... orb, my gosh. totality. totality. it's such an incredibly breathtaking experience. you can‘t describe it, words or pictures don‘t do itjustice. describe it, words or pictures don‘t do it justice. it‘s describe it, words or pictures don‘t do itjustice. it‘s incredible to witness. really, it is, it‘sjust

amazing. how was that? it was amazing. how was that? it was amazing. it was more beautiful than i had ever anticipated. more beautiful than any picture i've seen. it was diverse in colour and in density and it was just amazing, just too short. jasmine and her brotherjoshua were the envy of their fellow brotherjoshua were the envy of theirfellow americans, brotherjoshua were the envy of their fellow americans, having won a competition to see the eclipse for the 15 minutes before the waiting world. we are really in awe to be the first in the us to be able to witness such a spectacular event. we arejust in awe and humble and grateful. it was a great experience and everybody on board is super excited and the countdown to totality was cool. we are very excited. god is good, that's all i can say. that that was a truly breathtaking moment but it was over ina breathtaking moment but it was over in a flash and the shadow is racing towards the united states where millions more are watching and waiting. but only those on board could say they were the first to see

this spectacle from a front row seat in the theatre of the heavens. ken cheng won the tenth annual dave‘s funniestjoke of the fringe with, i‘m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, i hate all change. think you can do better? well send them to me on twitter — it‘s @bbcsimonmccoy and we‘ll read some of the best later on. some people have already been in touch and i can‘t repeat this. one producer said, i say i say i say, my wife is going to southern spain to have some plastic surgery on her nose. really, andalucya, no, just on the nose. we are running out of time! we‘ll leave the humour. darren

bett is the other side of the newsroom. at least you are laughing. somebody has to. good afternoon. we have a real mixture of weather out there at the moment. a lot of warmth and humidity that has been spilling out from the south—west, particularly across england and wales. slowly we have broken up the cloud. it‘s been a good afternoon to be on the beaches. this picture taken in lincolnshire, for example. but we have also got some very heavy rain and that‘s been turning very wet across western parts of northern ireland. put them on the map and you can see how things are shaping up. we have one or two showers that have been moving east across england and wales, along the coast coast but the wetter weather across northern ireland and over the next few hours the rain will push east across northern ireland. heavy thundery rain potentially and that will ease its way into scotland in the night. by its way into scotland in the night. by then it will turn wetter across northern england, whereas further south after some sunshine we‘ll have some breaks many the cloud. it‘s

going to be another warm one. tomorrow, we start with some rain. it will have cleared from northern ireland. sunshine coming. we have a wet start across much of scotland and the rain is still heavy there for the rush hour. that extends its way down into northern england. we can way down into northern england. we ca n follow way down into northern england. we can follow the cloud into wales, the west midlands, down to the west country but it‘s mainly cloud hear. there won‘t be much rain. sunshine beginning to arrive behind that. we have hazy sunshine ahead of that where we have the last of the warm, humid air. that warm and humid air is ahead of this weather front here and it‘s on this weather front that we have this band of cloud and heavy rain which takes pretty much all day to clear north—east scotland and england. then the breaks in the cloud come in with some sunshine and one or two showers. we have still got some warmth and humidity in the south—east. otherwise we are

ushering fresher air on a westerly breeze and temperatures will be 19 or20. breeze and temperatures will be 19 or 20. most end the day with some sunshine. low pressure has been sitting in that position all week and it‘s going to start to edge back towards northern ireland. we are going to find more rain coming in as well. further south, the pressure is that bit higher. for many across the south thursday and friday will be dry and bright with sunshine. as you head north, pressure is lower and we have the wetter weather arriving in northern ireland. temperatures back down to 17 or 18. this is bbc news. i‘m simon mccoy.

the headlines at four. four men appear in court in madrid over the barcelona killings , reports say one has admitted they were planning a much bigger attack. president trump commits more us troops to afghanistan as he takes on the fight against the taliban. we must ensure they have every weapon to apply swift, decisive and overwhelming force, our troops will fight to win. we will fight to win. the former owner of bhs is to be prosecuted by the pensions regulator, following the collapse of the high street store. a third child is pulled alive from the rubble of a house that collapsed last night, during an earthquake on the italian island of ischia . also in the next hour. taking the biscuit.