this is bbc news. the headlines: south korea strengthens its military defences after signs the north is preparing more missile launches. pyongyang tested a nuclear bomb at the weekend. president trump tells north korea any threat will be met with a massive response — and the us is ready to use its nuclear capabilities. we're live at the un security council, where members are holding an emergency meeting on the situation. kensington palace announce the duke and duchess of cambridge are expecting their third child. the royal family are said to be ‘delighted'. how are you feeling about the news that you are going to be an uncle again? fantastic. great. how is your sister—in—law? i haven't seen her for awhile, but i think she's 0k. heading for ‘a perfect storm' — a senior police official warns of the impact of staff cuts and raising crime on forces in england and wales. the northern ireland secretary holds

separate meetings with the five stormont parties in an attempt to bring back the power—sharing executive. a red arrow salute as the the queen officially opens the new queensferry crossing. the queen was accompanied by prince philip — 53 years to the day after she opened the neighbouring forth road bridge. should girls and boys clothes be a thing of the past? john lewis decide to take gender labelling off their children's clothes. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. south korea says it has seen indications that the north is preparing more missile launches, possibly an intercontinental ballistic missile. the south has carried out live—fire exercises, and says it is strengthening its missile defence system. the escalation follows north korea's testing of a hydrogen nuclear

bomb at the weekend, which it says can fit onto a long—range missile. the us has warned that any threat to itself or its allies will be met with a ‘massive military response‘. a un security council meeting is under way in new york. our correspondent robin brant reports from seoul. after the north's nuclear explosion underground, this from the south. a series of missile launchers above ground. from land and from the air, south korea's armed forces carried out a dummy raid early on monday. it was designed to replicate an attack on north korea's nuclear testing site. this was how north koreans heard about the perfect success that was their nation's sixth nuclear missile test on sunday. it was more powerful than any before, and came with claims that kim jong—un now has the ability to order a nuclear strike on mainland america. fresh from briefing the president

of the united states, america's defence secretary gave this very stark warning. any threat to the united states or territories, including guam, or our allies, will be met with a massive military response, a response both effective and overwhelming. in the aftermath of this latest nuclear test, one of the most troubling things to emerge is evidence of a split between south korea and the united states. its main security guarantor. but it came from, you guessed it, a tweet. president trump has attacked notjust the north, but also his counterpart in the south — an ally. he criticised what he called south korea's appeasement. calling out your ally is not business as usual, but as things undoubtedly heat up here in seoul, some think it is their president who has the right approach to cooling things down. translation: it's our country's business.

i hope president trump will refrain from making comments like that. this man said, "about the appeasement, i think we need two tracks, sanctions and dialogue at the same time". the views of this man are very important, china's president — north korea's only ally. he had a summit of world leaders upset by the nuclear test. he and russia's president putin have promised to deal appropriately with their rogue neighbour. as the us reminds the world that nuclear weapons are an option here, the focus once again at an emergency un meeting will be on sanctions, economic pressure. the talk now, though, in south korea, is of beefing up the military options. with new evidence the north may launch another missile test soon, the signs are this is becoming more about missiles than meetings. robin brant, bbc news, seoul, south korea. well, the un security council is meetingn now

to discuss further sanctions against north korea. and president donald trump has asked to be briefed on all available military options, according to his defence chief. switzerland — with its long history of neutral diplomacy — has offered to help mediate. this is the scene in new york. this emergency meeting now taking place. richard galpin looks at what options are on the table. with north korea now believed to have developed a hydrogen bomb, kim jong—un could soon achieve his goal of possessing a credible nuclear arsenal capable of hitting the united states. it's left donald trump floundering. his threats of fire and fury failing to deter the north korean regime from the course on which it is set. but he's still signalling that a military response is possible. mr president, will you attack north korea? at the same time he's been

lashing out at key allies. including south korea, accusing it of being too soft on its approach to the crisis. that could make today's meeting of the un security council even more difficult. the aim of the discussions is to get agreement on imposing more sanctions. but already, russia is warning against this, saying it could break the north korean economy. amid the fractured diplomacy, one thing all sides agree on is that china could play the key role in preventing this crisis from leading to war. as north korea's closest ally and trading partner, it has enormous leverage. i think by far the best option would be for president trump to sit down with the chinese president and work out how they will control this unruly regime and country. while china has cut some of its trade with north korea, the united states and other world

powers have been pressing beijing to go much further. but today the chinese foreign ministry spokesman announced its response to north korea's nuclear test was to launch what it called "stern negotiations" with north korean diplomats. no surprise, then, that countries in the region like japan and south korea continue to prepare for the worst. installing increasing numbers of defence systems to protect themselves from a north korean missile strike. attempts to defuse this crisis peacefully do continue. but the need for a breakthrough is becoming ever more urgent. richard galpin, bbc news. the un security council meeting is

under the presidency of ethiopian for the month of september and has just got underway. —— ethiopian. for the month of september and has just got underway. —— ethiopianm accordance with rule 39, i invite the secretary—general for the political affairs and mrjeffrey feldman to participate in this meeting. it is so decided. this meeting. it is so decided. this meeting has come at the request of the us ukjapan france and south korea. the united states has said any threat to the us and its allies would trigger a massive military response. japan has already called for the tightening of sanctions on north korea. we can hear a bit more from new york. in a statement from its official news agency, the democratic people's republic of korea announced it had successfully

conducted a six nuclear explosive test. they characterise the event as perfect success in the test of a hydrogen bomb, into concern —— intercontinental ballistic missile. it marked a very significant occasion in obtaining the final goal of completing the state nuclear force. the executive secretary of the prep tour commission the conference if nuclear test ban treaty organisation in vienna said ina treaty organisation in vienna said in a statement that the monitoring stations had picked up an unusual seismic event. the data indicated that the event measured approximately 6.0 in magnitude and governmental sources from un member

states measured the yield as high as 6.3. in any case, it is evident that the yield of the device was larger than any of the previous nuclear tests. experts have estimated the yield at between 50 and 100 kilotonnes. at the low end of a thermonuclear weapon. there was a smaller seesmic event —— seismic event eight minutes after the main event. they have not yet completed their analysis of the second event, but experts have speculated that it could have been caused by the colla pse could have been caused by the collapse of the tunnel used in the nuclear test. in an earlier statement the same day, the dprk said there leader had inspected what they claimed to be a hydrogen bomb which was displayed in front of a

intercontinental ballistic missile. the dprk article stated the hydrogen bomb was a multifunctional thermonuclear nuke with great destructive power which can be detonated at even higher attitudes for super powerful emp attack, it said. this was a rare reference by the dprk to the use of emp, electromagnetic pulse which triggered by nuclear weapons would aim for widespread damage and disruption to electricity grids and sensitive electronics including our satellites. this is the second emergency security council meeting on proliferation of the dprk invest ina way, on proliferation of the dprk invest in a way, and the tenth time we have met to discuss the dprk this year. 0n the 31st of august the foreign ministry of the dprk issued a statement to reject the security council's recent presidential

statement and it said the ballistic missiles >> studio: missile launch -- ballistic missile launch was a meaningful prelude to restraining guam. according to the dprk may be preparing new missile tests, and we are alarmed by this dangerous provocation. the secretary—general condemns the tests announced by the dprk, and this act is yet another serious breach of the dprk's international obligations and undermines international nonproliferation and disarmament efforts. this act is also profoundly destabilising for regional and international security. the dprk is the only country that continues to break the norm against nuclear test explosions. the secretary—general

repeats his call on dprk leadership to cease such acts and to comply fully with the international obligations. under relevant security council resolutions. the secretary—general counts on the security council to remain united and take appropriate action. as was said in the security council meeting last week, as tensions rise, so does the risk of misunderstanding and miss cackle asian and escalation. —— miscalculation and escalation. such response must include wise and bolder primacy to be effective, —— bolder primacy to be effective, —— bold diplomacy to be effective for them we repeat the importance of responding to mallo terry and imperatives regardless of the political situation, the people of the dprk rely on the humanitarian

community —— responding to humanitarian imperatives. members of the council and other governments concerned, thank you.|j the council and other governments concerned, thank you. i thank you for this briefing. i now give the thought of those council members who wish to make statements. —— give the floor to those. i give the floor to be representative of the united states. we want to thank you for allowing us to have this prompt meeting, as it is very injured >> studio: ash as it is very urgent. for more than 20 years, the security council has taken actions against north korea's nuclear programme and for more than 20 years north korea has defied our collective voice. it's worth taking a few moments to recount some of the history. in 1993

the council approved resolution 825 calling on north korea to remain in the non—proliferation treaty, that did not work. north korea withdrew from the treaty and continued its nuclear pursuit and in 2006 the six party talks faltered and north korea conducted several ballistic missile launches and that led to resolution 1695 condemning them. the same year north korea conducted its first nuclear test, that led to resolution 1708, establishing a un sanction regime aiming to stop all nuclear ballistic missile and other weapons of mass to structured programmes. after six party talks fell apart again in 2009, north korea conducted additional missile launches in its second nuclear test, and that led to resolution 864 which expanded

sanctions including arms embargoes and treaty obligations. in 2012 the late day deal failed, north korea conducted two new space launches, the security council responded with the security council responded with the adaption of resolution 2007. following their third nuclear test the council adopted resolution 2094 to restrict financial, maritime, aviation and diplomatic activities, and by 2016 north korea had conducted its fourth nuclear test and another space launch. they followed that with more missile launches in response the council adopted multiple resolutions expanding sanctions even further, targeting whole sectors of north korea's economy. finally, this year, the council got even more serious, first we adopted resolution 2036

designating high—ranking north korean government officials and the military rocket force command for individual sanctions, and then just la st individual sanctions, and then just last month after the regime's first two icd launches we adopted another resolution, the strongest sanctions we have ever imposed on north korea. that resolution band north korean exports of coal, iron and seafood and imposed several other measures that will cut of the revenues needed to fund their nuclear programme, why didl to fund their nuclear programme, why did i take the time to go through this history? to make this point. the united nations security council has spoken with unusual unity and consistency on north korea. that is a good thing. along the way there have been problems with implementation and the council has at times been too slow and too weak but this is not a situation in which

we have allowed divisions amongst us to stop any action. still, here we are. despite our efforts over the past are. despite our efforts over the pa st 24 are. despite our efforts over the past 24 years, the north korea nuclear programme is more advanced and more dangerous than ever. they now fired missiles overjapanese airspace, they now have icbm capabilities, they now claim to have tested a hydrogen bomb, and just this morning there were reports that the regime is preparing for yet another icbm launch. to the members of the security council i must say enoughis of the security council i must say enough is enough. we have taken an incremental approach and despite the best of intentions it has not worked. members of this council will no doubt urge negotiations and a return to talks, but as i have outlined we have engaged in numerous direct and multilateral talks with the north korean regime and time

after time they have not worked. the time for half measures in the security council is over, the time has come to exhaust all of our diplomatic means before it's too late. we must now adopt the strongest possible measures. kim jong—un's action cannot be seen as defensive. he wants to be acknowledged as a nuclear power. but being a nuclear power is not about using those terrible weapons to threaten others. nuclear power is understand their responsibilities, kimjong—un understand their responsibilities, kim jong—un shows no such understanding. his abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war. war is never something the united states wants, we don't want it now. but our country's patience is not unlimited, and we will defend our allies and our territory and the idea that

somehow suggested as a so—called freeze for freeze is insulting. when a rogue regime has nuclear weapons and an icbm pointed at you you do not take steps to lower your guard. no one would do that. we certainly won't. the time has come to exhaust all diplomatic means to end this crisis. and that means quickly and acting the strongest possible measures here in the un security council and only the strongest sanctions will enable us to resolve this problem through diplomacy. we have kicked the can down the road long enough, there is no more roads left. this crisis goes well be and the un, the united states will look at every country that does business with north korea as a country —— well beyond the un. they will look at them as a country that is giving aid to their reckless nuclear

intentions, what we do on north korea will have a real impact on how other outlaw nations who seek nuclear weapons choose to conduct themselves in the future, the stakes could not be higher. the urgency is now. 24 years of half measures and failed talks is enough. thank you.|j failed talks is enough. thank you.” thank the representative of the united states for her statement and i give the floor to the representative of japan. thank you, mr president for the we appreciate the slip convening of this urgent briefing. requested by the united states, the republic of korea, france, uk and japan. we also appreciate the briefing. less than a week ago, the security council gathered to condemn the launch of the ballistic missile by north korea which flew over japan. the ballistic missile by north korea which flew overjapan. yesterday north korea announced it had

succeeded in miniaturising the nuclear warhead to be attached to an icbm and only hours later north korea conducted their six nuclear test. sing together, it is clear —— seen test. sing together, it is clear —— seen together, it is clear how dangerous the actions of north korea are, and how this is not a problem just for north korean's neighbours, but for the entire international committee. the security council must not waste any time in putting an end to such an outrageous and u na cce pta ble to such an outrageous and unacceptable challenge to the security and safety of the world. regarding the nuclear testing, north korea is the only one to have conducted nuclear tests in the 215t—century. conducted nuclear tests in the 215t—ce ntury. almost exactly

conducted nuclear tests in the 215t—century. almost exactly one year ago north korea conducted the fifth nuclear test and the council members were united in expressing condemnation in the strongest terms, the international community urged north korea to stop but north korea for precious resources to enhance their nuclear capabilities, and as a result the latest nuclear test exhibited a magnitude of explosion far greater than the previous one and has raised the threat to an unprecedented level. regarding missile launchers, the security council has adopted stern statements, less than a week ago, i will not repeat the discussion, but let me remind you that missile launches and nuclear tests are part and parcel of north korea's nuclear development, and taken together the

threat it poses has entered truly a new level, more grave and imminent. this nuclear test by north korea is a clear violation of the security council resolutions and is a brazen challenge to the international disarmament and nonproliferation regime centred on the treaty, on the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. it also violates japan's dprk union declaration and the joint statement of the six party talks. japan strongly condemns north korea and has launched a protest against north korea and has launched a protest against japan welcomes the fact that many countries in the world, including members of the council as well as the secretary—general, they have already issued statements strongly condemning north korea. but

beyond condemnation, the security council must act to stop north korea from continuing down this road. we should make it clear to the north koreans that continuation of the current policy will bring about serious consequences. we must put maximum pressure on north korea to change its policy. it continues to be critically important for all the member states to faithfully implement the 16 resolutions that have been unanimously adopted including 2070, 2356 and 2371. but thatis including 2070, 2356 and 2371. but that is not sufficient. japan stresses the need for the council to adopt swiftly a new resolution with further robust sanction measures. in

paragraph 29 of resolution 2371, the security council expressed its" determination to take further significant measures in the event of a further dprk launch or nuclear test". the council must act on this determination accordingly. japan is looking forward to continuing to work closely with all members of the council on this ever more urgent and grave threat to the peace and security of the world. i thank you, mr president. i thank the representative of japan for his statement and give the floor to representative of france. speaks french. translation:

speaks french. translationz” congratulate ethiopian on their presidency of the council this month and you can count on the sport of france this month. which is set to be very busy —— on the support of france this month. byjohnny request byjohnny sir, yesterday, north korea traversed a major threshold in escalation, following two into can enter all escalation, following two into can enterall —— escalation, following two into can enter all —— intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the engagement of a country in the region, and last night it undertook

a sixth nuclear test which was immediately detected by the monitoring system. my country through our senior most officials most vehemently condemned this incident. beyond the expression of solidarity which i especially address to the countries in the region from france, but it is through the international community asa through the international community as a whole that i call for there to bea as a whole that i call for there to be a clear— headed as a whole that i call for there to be a clear—headed resolute as a whole that i call for there to be a clear— headed resolute approach with a full grasp of the gravity of the situation. clearly, each of us todayis the situation. clearly, each of us today is concerned by this for each of us is threatened. so let us be frank. the course of a few months, the threat has changed in dimension and nature and the threat is no

longer regional, it is now global. it is no longer a virtual, it is now an imminent threat, it is no longer merely a serious threat, this is now an existentialists threat. —— existential. this undermines our security and strategic stability and undermines international peace, and through the sixth nuclear test the byes regime persists in fire late in the —— the pyongyang regime persists in violating international law. i'm referring to the possession of an operational nuclear arsenal which is designed to shift not only regional but global balances, and the combination of nuclear capacity to which i referred and north korea

intercontinental ballistic missiles now constitutes a ubiquitous danger. mr president, in this context, weakness or fascinating is not an option, and for this reason, france calls for an expeditious resolute united response by the council, underpinned by three elements. the prompt adoption of new sanctions against the north korean regime. the stringent implementation of sanctions by all stakeholders and lastly the adoption of additional measures by the european union. time is ticking. let us be aware of this. we know that pyongyang has not hesitated and will not hesitate even at the cost of the lives of its

people to breach the most basic rules which we have set forth in terms of non proliferation and beyond. this is a major and a vowed undermining of all foundations of our system of laws and security. we cannot countenance this. collectively we share responsibility to uphold and to safeguard and to reinforce this. our credibility is at stake. to those who believe that the willingness of dialogue on the pa rt of the willingness of dialogue on the part of the international community is lacking. unfortunately the present situation is far from providing negotiations. my country has always provided dialogue. north korea hasn't given the slightest signal, not the slightest pledge of a possible willingness to negotiate on its nuclear and ballistic missiles. given the content for international law and the authority

of the counsel, we mustn't compromise. we stated a violation of our own decisions cannot be subject to bargaining. we cannot allow our reactions to be dictated. north korea must relinquish its programme completely and it must without delay comply with international obligations and it mustjoin comply with international obligations and it must join the comprehensive test in prompting north korea to return to the negotiating table with our conditions. we must continue to implement existing conditions. these are not in and of them they have said. major economic sanctions were only adopted by the council in 2016. so they continue to be stepped up in the light of these recent developments we must further step up, we must maximise pressure being

brought to bear on the pyongyang, france supports the prompt adoption of new sanctions by this council particularly in the economic realm and other sectors we are firmly committed to similar initiatives at the european union as i mentioned. sir, in the alarming spiral of brinkmanship and provocations in which there has been, which has undertaken which there has been, which has under taken north korea must assume the consequences. the sole response that we presently can put forward is strict unambiguous policy. only on the basis of this position of upmost resoluteness and maximum pressure being brought to bear on the regime, only this way can we change its

calculations to prompt the north korean regime to return to the negotiating table without preconditions and that is the only way we can pave the way to a political settlement to the crisis. mr president, in the light of this heightened, extremely grave threat, the council must rise to the responsibility it has assumed and you may rest assured that france is committed to this as a permanent memberof the committed to this as a permanent member of the security council. thank you. i thank the representative of france for his statement. i give the floor to the representative of the united kingdom. thank you, mr president. this is the sixth time that the security council has come together to condemn a nuclear test by north korea. the sixth time that the world has held its breath. north korea is

the only country in the 21st century to have conducted such tests against all international standards of behaviour. in addition, we have met many times in recent months following other north korean provocations. most recently, just last week, in response to its reckless missile test overjapan. yesterday's nuclear test explosion was by far the largest yet. combined with the increasing range of its missiles, north korea poses a threat, not simply to its region, but truly to global peace and security. this latest test has been rightly condemned already by most of the government's represented here today. we have passed eight sanction resolutions on north korea. the country is subject to the most

stringent sanctions applied and still north korea continues to put its illegal missile and nuclear programmes ahead of international law, international security, and the will of this council. this is a disturbing and unprecedented situation. rarely has a state remained so defiant in the face of overwhelming international condemnation and repeated powerful rounds of sanctions. it is clear that existing sanctions applied by the security council on north korea are having an effect. in particular, the measures against commodity exports and the financial sector applied since 2016 are making it harder and harderfor applied since 2016 are making it harder and harder for pyongyang to acquire the hard currency necessary to fund its programme. each day that gets harder still thanks to the effo rts gets harder still thanks to the efforts of many states around this table. those who doubt this impact

need only read the statements coming from the north korean regime. they rail against the sanctions that we have placed upon them. but it is also clear that dprk is uniquely willing to put their illicit programmes ahead of the well—being of its people. those people suffer appalling repression and struggle even to feed themselves. the leadership of north korea has chosen this path of defiance at great cost. faced with this unique threat to international peace and security, the security council must condemn this test and the entire north korean nuclear and missile programme. we continue to wish for a peaceful way forward. dialogue will a lwa ys peaceful way forward. dialogue will always be our end goal. but returning to dialogue without a serious sign of intent from

pyongyang would be a set—up to failure. north korea must change course to allow a return to dialogue. where they to do so, the opportunity exists to end this crisis. until that moment, we must stay the course on sanctions and continue as the secretary general has called for to present a united front. i said when we met last week that the united kingdom believed a new un security council resolution was required in response to north korea's dangerous and illegal test flight korea's dangerous and illegal test flight of the missile overjapan. in the light of yesterday's test our resolve to act has increased further. we must increase the pace of the implementation of existing sanctions and work towards the adoption of a new and effective resolution while continuing to enforce the measures that this council has already agreed we should

go further by taking steps to sever the funds on which the regime relies in order to pursue its illegal and destabilising programmes. and we should not least further restrict the unethical exploitation of north korean workers overseas. mr president, north korea created a deeply dangerous and unstable swa kes. deeply dangerous and unstable swakes. the united kingdom will work with our partners on this council and beyond to tackle the challenge. iurge and beyond to tackle the challenge. i urge all states to join us, and beyond to tackle the challenge. i urge all states tojoin us, thank you. i thank the representative of the united kingdom for his statement. i give the floor to the representative of china. translation: mrfrgets president, on 3rd september, despite the general opposition of the international

community, disregarding the resolutions, provisions of the security council conducted once againa security council conducted once again a nuclear test. the chinese government opposes and strongly condemns the nuclear tests of dprk in violation of the un security council resolutions. achieving the denuclearisation of the peninsula and the non proliferation system and north—east asia, this is the firm stand of the chinese government and the general aspiration of the international community. we strongly urge the dprk to face up squarely to the will of the international community on the issue of the denuclearisation and start taking actions that are wrong and deteriorating the situation and not in line with its own interests either and truly return to the track

of solving the issue through dialogue. the situation on the peninsula is deteriorating co nsta ntly peninsula is deteriorating constantly as we speak, falling to a vicious circle. the peninsula issue must be resolved peacefully. china will never allow chaos and war on the peninsula. the parties concerned must strengthen their sense of urgency, take due responsibilities, play their due roles, take practical measures, makejoint play their due roles, take practical measures, make joint efforts together to ease the situation restart the dialogue and talks and prevent further deterioration of the situation on the peninsula. the proposal by china and russia of a two—track approach which promotes the denuclearisation of the peninsula, the suspension for for

initiative which calls for the dprk to spend its nuclear missile activities for the united states and the republic of korea to suspend the large scale military exercises and the step by step conception by russia are the basis on which both countries jointly proposed a road map to resolve the issue. this issue is practicable and feasible aimed at addressing the most urgent security concerns of the parties concerned easing the tension as soon as possible preventing the escalation of the situation round after another round achieving through dialogue the deknew collar collar riceation. we hope that the parties concerned will seriously consider this as actively respond to it. china calls upon the

international community to fully implement the relevant resolutions of the security council on dprk, firmly push forward the goal of denuclearisation and firmly maintain the peace and the security of the peninsula. i thank the representative of china for his statement. i give the floor to the representative of ukraine. mr president, i thank geoffrey for his briefing on this alarming issue and the united states, japan and korea. the open format of our meeting is important so that it leaves no doubt in what the north korean regime will hear... so the members of the security council having their say. the most stark warning coming from the us ambassador who said it was time for the un security council to impose the strongest possible measures on north korea over its sixth and largest nuclear test

because in her words enough is enough. she said the incremental sanctions of the approach to north korea had not worked and she described the north korean leader, kimjong—un, as described the north korean leader, kim jong—un, as begging for war. described the north korean leader, kimjong—un, as begging for war. she said the programme is more advanced and more dangerous than ever. war is never something the united states wa nts. never something the united states wants. we don't want it now, but our country's patience is not unlimited. the frustration echoed by the representatives from france, and indeed, from united kingdom. the representative said along with his french counterpart that sanctions should be implemented and in the strongest possible terms. come back to nicky hayley who was urging the security council to take the strongest possible measures. she said that means quickly enacting the strongest possible measures at the un security council and only the

strongest sanctions will enable us to resolve this problem due. we have kicked the can down the road and there is no more road left. we will be talking to richard lister. talking about the options that donald trump has at his disposal and we will be talking to our correspondent, jonathan marcus and about what the un security council sanctions and the calls will mean for north korea. that's to come on bbc news. now it is time for the business. i'm alice baxter. in the business news: many economists do not expect uk interest rates to rise until 2019 despite inflation remaining above target, that's according to a snapshot conducted by the bbc. they believe that the bank of england's monetary policy committee will be reluctant to raise rates during brexit negotiations. the uk's coastal communities are among the country's

worst off for earnings, employment, health and education, that's according to a special report for the bbc. it shows the economic gap between the so—called "pockets of deprivation" and non—coastal places has grown by around £3,500 a year on average. more in a moment. activity in britain's construction industry slowed unexpectedly to a one—year low last month as new orders fell for the second consecutive month. the study blames a lack of new orders for the slowdown, with housebuilding doing well, but that then being offset by the sharpest fall in commercial development since july last year. britain's coast is home to 11 million people, and is a special part of our heritage and identity, but the latest analysis has found that many people who live in coastal areas struggle financially. according to the social market

foundation, the economic gap between coastal and inland communities is growing. our correspondent jayne mccubbin has been in weston—super—mare to speak to people regenerating coastal areas. we are in weston—super—mare. research out today said this place is doing well in terms of economic growth. it is within the top five of all growth. it is within the top five of a ll coastal growth. it is within the top five of all coastal communities and in terms of economic per fixed—termance. however, the picture around all coastal communities in the uk is a grim one. far too many coastal communities are languishing at the bottom of league tables in terms of educational attainment, bottom of league tables in terms of educationalattainment, health, earnings, employment and economic growth. let's introduce scott from the social market foundation. you've crunched data to find out how the coast is doing compared to non coastal communities. what have you

found? what our research shows is there is a growing economic gap between the uk's coastal towns and the rest of the country which is widened significantly over the past 20 years and one thing that really comes out of our research, this is leading to bad outcomes that lead in the coastal communities. they are earning less. if they are in work than people elsewhere in the country. on average £4,000 less. than people elsewhere in the country. on average £4,000 lessm is interesting the gap has widened over 20 years. the government identified a problem with coastal communities ten years ago. five yea rs communities ten years ago. five years ago they started investing in coastal communities to try and fix the problem and yet are things getting worse? well, i think part of the challenge in the coastal communities is one of infrastructure. a lot of them aren't that well connected to the major employment, parts of the country. so this sort of entrenches deprivation and lack of community particularly for young people. so this in turn leads to an outflow of young talent

from the coastal towns to other parts of the country. scott, thank you very much for your time. you see behind me here, grand pier. the lady that owns grand pier is michelle michael. thank you for coming down. the government today announced £40 million extra investment to help coastal communities on top of £170 million it has spent in the last five years. what do you think of that sum of money and how do you think it should be spent? well, i don't think it is enough. i think that most coastal towns need as much help as they can get. as far as we are concerned our visitor numbers are concerned our visitor numbers are declining. in addition to that, they are finding it difficult getting here. motorways are congested so they are leaving later to come to our site. they are leaving earlier to go home because they want to miss the traffic and so, it shortens our day and therefore, their spend. there isn't enough here in weston—super—mare to keep people overnight so the majority of my visitors are day—trippers. two years ago, banksy

came for six weeks, bucked the trend and was able to bring people here in the rain and the wind in september which was wonderful. so for me, it would be investment in a national cultural attraction which would compliment what we have got and better infrastructure. the idea is when you have investment in a key cultural asset, as kiloical asset then private money will follow. it is happening in all of the areas around the country with someth best growth rates, but is it happening in enough places? in other business news, the chief executive of one of the uk's best known public relations firms has stood down amid claims it stirred up racial tensions in south africa. james henderson, the boss of bell pottinger, resigned weeks after the firm was found by a uk body to be in breach of an industry code of conduct. south africa's main opposition party criticised a media campaign the pr firm ran for the wealthy gupta family. irish drinks firm c&c, which owns magner‘s cider,

which owns magners cider, is to buy the pub chain admiral taverns in a deal worth £220 million. admiral, is being sold by hedge fund cerberus, and operates 845 pubs in britain and raked in £25 million last year. and would you like a bit of theme park in your back garden? alton towers are auctioning off everything from their flume ride as it makes way for a new rollercoaster at the staffordshire attraction. the 500 kilogram boats are currently attracting bids of about £200 with all the proceeds going to their in house charity. global stock markets have all slid on monday as investors seek out safe haven assets like gold after north korea claimed to have tested a hydrogen bomb, one week after firing a ballistic missile overjapan. so the ftse has followed asia

lower shedding 0.18%. the pound has also slipped slightly following that weaker than expected construction pmi data — it's down against both the dollar and euro. compounding matters is a growing belief among economists that the bank of england will not raise rates until 2019. more on the bbc business website. head there for all the stories. i will be back in an hour's time for a look at how all the european markets closed. the un security council still debating the missile launch in north korea yesterday. at the moment, if we ta ke korea yesterday. at the moment, if we take you live to new york, the swedish ambassador is speaking. we have heard from most of the permanent members of the un security

council and we are waiting to hear from the russian ambassador. he is scheduled to speak soon. we will go to new york when that happens. let's go to washington because richard lister has been monitoring this. strong words from the un ambassador, but that is all they were because the options frankly are running out, aren't they? yes, i think what became clear simon was just what a deep division there is between principally the united states and china. we heard the chinese talk about the need for what they call this twin track approach that they are promoting with the russians that the united states and south korea should suspend theirjoint military exercises while north korea can be urged to freeze its ballistic missual and nuclear programme. the us ambassador to the united nations called that approach insulting. it is clear the united states is not prepared for dialogue for any kind

of measures that replicate the kind of measures that replicate the kind of measures that replicate the kind of measures we have seen from the united nations over previous decades. she was clear, she said 24 yea rs of decades. she was clear, she said 24 years of diplomatic efforts at the united nations have left north korea stronger than ever. the united states is very clear that talking is not the answer. that was the line, of course, we heard interest president trump a few weeks ago. nicky hayley was really spelling that out saying that all can be done is the strongest possible measures against north korea. one phrase that rang out was she said "kim jong—un is begging for war." yes. and i think what the united states are saying, "look, we are in a wages here and in fact the world is in a situation where if north korea is not persuaded by the kind of measures that people are proposing that have been carried out over recent decades to draw back and reign in its weapons programme, then there will be a stage in which the united states feel threatened enough

that it will be required to take military action to defend its own territory. after all, the last ballistic missile test that north korea carried out suggested they have missiles which are capable of reaching the central part of the united states. certainly the west coast, los angeles and so on, is the united states expected say people here to wait until the north koreans have perfected that technology before taking any kind of action? richard, thank you very much. that's richard, thank you very much. that's richard lister there in washington as the ambassador for bolivia now addresses the un security council. we will keep an eye on that and we will be returning at the top of the hour to new york to hear from the russian ambassador. we will be talking to jonathan russian ambassador. we will be talking tojonathan marcus about the implications and indeed the options open as that crisis in nun deepens. now the weather. i

, thanks, simon. feeling humid and we have got some rain around. not just today, there will be some tomorrow. after that, a mixture of brighter spells. temperatures coming down a little bit, but it will feel fresher during the second half of the week. this is how things look outside. cloudy for most, but we are seeing sunshine break through the cloud and across parts of the midlands. 23 celsius the highest i have seen so far. so today, you can see the extent of the cloud. one or two breaks coming along, but the weather fronts bringing thicker cloud and outbreaks of rain with did. brighter skies working into the outer hebrides. we will see things cheering up. east anglia and south—east england, the cloud is thick enough to give an odd spit of drizzle. watching this bulge in the weather front, that's going to be working in. that's an extra piece of energy. so turning increasingly wet

across northern ireland with the rain turning heavier here overnight, the heavier spell of rain comes in from scotland and northern england. the south of our fronts, humid conditions. 16, 17 celsius, but turning fresher across scotland and northern ireland. here is the picture through tuesday. it will be a wet start to the day. a wet day coming upfor a wet start to the day. a wet day coming up for northern england. heavy bursts of rain. the rain relu cta nt to heavy bursts of rain. the rain reluctant to clear away. still warm across eastern england. fresher air for scotland and northern ireland. where we should see some afternoon spells of sunshine moving in. wednesday looks like being a decent day. dry for many of us and there will be some sunshine around. on thursday and friday the weather turning unsettled. cool at times across the north—west of the uk. now, i want to show you this out in the atlantic. we have got a big hurricane that's brewing. this hurricane that's brewing. this

hurricane is working towards the islands. it will cross the island. it will get close to the british virgin islands. if you know anyone going to the caribbean, they need to watch this storm. gusts of 160mph and there is the potential for this to track over towards florida next weekend. if you know anyone travelling to that part of the world they need to stay in touch with this forecast. this is going to be a devastating hurricane. that's your weather. this is bbc news. the headlines: following north korea's biggest nuclear test yet, the united states calls for tough action against north korea at the un security council. his abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war. war is never something the united states wants.

south korea has strengthened its military defences after signs the north is preparing more missile launches. kensington palace announce the duke and duchess of cambridge are expecting their third child. the royal family are said to be ‘delighted'. heading for ‘a perfect storm' — a senior police official warns of the impact of staff cuts and raising crime on forces in england and wales. the northern ireland secretary james brokenshire holds separate meetings with the five stormont parties in an attempt to bring back the power—sharing executive.