first, forecast in a moment but first, workers in on the latest from the hurricane, hurricane maria, thought to have killed more than 40 people so to have killed more than 40 people so far, the majority of which have been in dominica and puerto rico. —— 30 people. there could be further localised damage in turks and caicos, and from there it will spin harmlessly into there it will spin harmlessly into the atlantic, that should be the last that we hear from maria. a weather front moving in from the western side of the uk, just like over the last few days. high pressure across scandinavia and europe, then it will weaken. a pattern we have seen repeating, northern ireland, western scotland, and a sense of the weather front fragmenting across wales and south—west england with the rain becoming increasingly light and patchy year as we go through the coming few hours. across much of the midlands and eastern england, largely dry, sunny spells, feeling

pleasant, and sunshine will come out in northern ireland, highs of 17 in belfast. overnight we will be left with the dregs. cloudy night, not as cold as last night, patches of light wind and drizzle chiefly over the hills, quite murky. one ortwo wind and drizzle chiefly over the hills, quite murky. one or two fog patches the weekend weather prospects, not looking too bad, sunny spells forjust about everyone , sunny spells forjust about everyone, reasonably warm for the time of year, we will have some rain coming our way, particularly the western side of the country on sunday. we will start on a damp note for some, across england and wales, but the rain will peter out, sunshine coming through, gusty winds, the wind coming in from the south—easterly direction, mild direction for this time of year. 17 degrees. and 20 towards london. there will be more rain on the cards this weekend, coming in overnight, to northern ireland, again, into

western scotland and western parts of england, quite slow—moving rain tending to become lighter and increasingly patchy as the day goes by. central and eastern england, sunny spells, south—easterly winds, could get even warmer, temperatures reaching a high of 22, 20 three degrees. as the rain band clears away, brightening up with sunny spells and one or two passing showers. mixed picture. —— 22, 23 degrees. sounding very promising, thank you very much. just a reminder of the main story: prime minister is preparing to deliver her keynote speech about britain's departure from the in florence. for now, that is all from the bbc news at 1pm team and goodbye from all of us here. we good afternoon. a look at the day's

sport on bbc news. we begin with by sport on bbc news. we begin with rugby union. begin with rugby union. four of this summer's british and irish lions have been left out of the england training squad for camp in oxford this weekend. james haskell is the most experienced player to be excluded along with fellow forwards george kruis and kyle sinckler. centre jonathan joseph also misses out having featured regularly for eddie jones of late. jones has, though, brought 18 year old fly half marcus smith as a surprise inclusion amongst the 33 names. he has done very well, played very well for his club. well enough to warrant selection in our training squad for oxford. is he a feasible england international this autumn? he is feasible at cleaning the boots and holding the bikes. we are treating him like an apprentice, he

is an apprentice. we want him to learn the game, learn to be respectful of the players around him, earn his stripes. if he does that, he will be in a position to play for england. the liverpool managerjurgen klopp has insisted he has the right characters in his squad to turn around their recent on—field struggles. liverpool are eighth in the premier league table, but they haven't won in their last four matches in all competitions. they were knocked out of the efl cup by leicester in midweek and the two sides meet again in the league, tomorrow. it sounds like they have no points and we are the worst team in the league. we have obviously problems, thatis league. we have obviously problems, that is why we only have eight points and not 15. that is the situation, but... we can make it more serious than it is or we can ta ke more serious than it is or we can take it like it is. former leicester manager nigel pearson has been named head coach of belgian second—tier side oh lerrven. king power international own both clubs, meaning pearson will again be

working with the thai owners, who sacked him from leicester injune 2015. west ham will auction all match—worn shirts from this weekend's london derby against tottenham, with all proceeds going to the victims' families and survivors of this week's earthquake in mexico. the club will then double the figure raised by the auction, before donating the total amount to an appeal organised by their strikerjavier hernandez and his fellow mexico international miguel layun to aid the relief effort in mexico city and the surrounding areas. olympic relay silver medallist dan wallace has lost his elite podium funding. he was suspended for three month by british and scottish swimmings after admitting drink—driving earlier this year. scottish commonwealth champion ross murdoch has had full funding restored after encouraging performances at this summer's world championships. the european 200m breaststroke champion lost elite podium funding last year after a disappointing rio olympics. scotland's catriona matthew has been appointed europe captain for the 2019 solheim cup at gleneagles in scotland.

matthew has played in the cup nine times for europe against the united states. she takes over as captain from sweden's annika sorenstam, having previously served as a vice—captain. that's all sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. you can keep up with the county championship. yorkshire are trying to avoid relegation. i will have more in the next hour. let's go back to our top story — the prime minister's speech in florence in nearly an hours' time. all about brexit. the conservative mp for croydon south, chris philp, said it was important for european businesses to put pressure on the eu to agree a deal with the uk because it would benefit both sides. it's going to move the debate forward , it's going to move the debate forward, which we need to do, and

one of the crucial points is whether we can now move forward to discuss the free trade agreements or the free—trade arrangements after we leave the eu. up until now, we have not been able to even talk about free trade because michel barnier has refused to do so. that is due to get revisited in october and it is extremely important that we start talking about free trade, notjust for the sake of the uk, it is important for us, but also for european countries. france, germany, italy and in particular industries like the german car manufacturing. we are their biggest export market. we are their biggest export market. we need to get the european governments and european industry groups, like those german car manufacturers, the now put pressure on the european commission to get on with those free—trade talks, not because they want to do us a favour but because it will help jobs and industries in their own countries. we have been putting up on the screen today this figure of £18 billion, 20 billion euros. that is

really a n billion, 20 billion euros. that is really an upfront payment. are you really an upfront payment. are you really talking about a much bigger figure than that when we take into account the loans and pension pot that the europeans expect us to pay for? we're talking about two different things. if we are going to have some transitional arrangement, and none of us have read the speech so we and none of us have read the speech so we will find out what she says later, it maybe there are some payments during the transitional period which may or may not be separate to settling the liabilities for leaving, like those pension contribution. david davis had a discussion or a debate on those exit liabilities in early august and the european commission presented him with some thoughts and he was able to go through that list and explain in forensics detail why are some of their requests were not legal and not justifiable. we may their requests were not legal and notjustifiable. we may or may not be talking about two different things, the speech in a couple of hours will clarify that. it shows that the uk is serious about this because editions, has a genuine

vision for how we will leave the eu, and we need to get on with those free—trade talks. a failure to do that will damage european countries just as much as it will damage us andi just as much as it will damage us and i hope the european government start saying that forcefully to the european commission. full coverage of the speech coming up full coverage of the speech coming up from 2pm. let's get more now on the decision by london transport regulator to not renew the license of the taxi—app uber. uber says it intends to "immediately challenge" the decision and has 21 days to appeal the decision, during which it can continue to operate. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, says he fully supports this decision by transport for london. he has spoken to our reporter.|j by transport for london. he has spoken to our reporter. i want london to be at the forefront of innovation and new technology, but you have to play by the rules. tfl has spent some time going through

the regulations that parliament has given them in relation to deciding whether a private hire vehicle operator is fit and proper. they have looked at the evidence and tfl have looked at the evidence and tfl have concluded today that uber are not fit and proper. there were concerns around safety and security, so concerns around safety and security, so tfl have reached the decision not to renew ubers license. i fully support tfl. 40,000 drivers could be out of a job, 3.5 million londoners use it. you are supposed to be a pro—business mayor. use it. you are supposed to be a pro-business mayor. drivers and users should rightly be angry at uberfor not users should rightly be angry at uber for not playing by the rules. they are there for a reason. tfl‘s job as the regulator is to look at the evidence and decide whether somebody is playing by the rules. this is not an anti—private hire vehicle operator decision. it is not anti—minicab. it is an anti not playing by the rules decision. tfl

ensure people who operate private hire vehicles do it safely and security click. people have had —— the moore have had time to reassure tfl. but they have problems with medical examinations in relation to the enhanced checks that should be undertaken and also in relation to a device used to block the regulator checking what is wrong with the app. tfl do not reach these decisions lightly but they have to act like a judge and look at the evidence. they did so and concluded that uber are not playing by the rules and if users of uber or drivers are angry, they should be angry at uber. the mayor of london, sadiq khan, there, talking about the decision by transport for london not to renew uber‘s license. the licence expires at the end of september but it will continue operating during the

appeals process. we will have more reaction to that story over the course of the afternoon. let's talk about something com pletely let's talk about something completely different. manchester is to ta ke completely different. manchester is to take the lead in a new area of bb said. it will see the insects connected to the internet. behind this fire station in stockport, some bees are about to get connected. an australian scientist leading the monitoring project is fitting them with a chip which will allow them to be tracked. we are using superglue and what we will do, we will pick up a tag, find a friend. it does take some time. and it takes a little bit of practice to get technique. he may not find it hard but i struggle to fit a tiny backpack onto a bee. some of these desperately want to be tagged.

and now the bees will be counted in and out of the hive. we understand more of the behaviour when they leave the hive and when they return, who they are travelling with, we are identifying individual insects which we have not been able to do in the past. cisco has recruited beekeepers across greater manchester to take part in the programme. one hope is the data will give greater understanding of what keeps bees healthy. it's very difficult to look inside the hive and know what is happening with an individual bee so by tagging in individual bee, you get to know how long it lives. the bees are among a number of things being connected to the internet including trams, and rubbish bins. it is part of the internet of things and it's supposed to provide data to make the city smarter. what you have is a live feed from the centre of manchester. in the government—funded smart city project, all sorts of internet devices and these are being monitored across manchester.

benjamin disraeli said on the 19th century, what people do today in manchester, the rest of the world do tomorrow. this is about making it true for the 21st century. and the bees are part of that. they are, it's a real problem to be solved for everyone in the world. we only managed to get about half a dozen bees looked up at over the coming months, thousands will be at work, providing data which could make manchester a healthier and smarter city. edging up to1:45pm. edging up to 1:45pm. in a moment, the latest business news but first a reminder of the headlines. the prime minister is preparing to deliver her keynote speech about brexit in an attempt to break the deadlock in negotiations. an 18—year—old man has been charged with attempted murder

following the attack on the london underground last friday. and transport for london says the app —based taxi service uber is to lose its right to operate in the capital. it is because of concerns about public safety and security implications. the business headlines for you. uber‘s license has not been renewed in london. the regulator transport for london says uber is not fit and proper to operate in the city. tfl says the company's approach to reporting criminal offences and driver vetting checks are not good enough. uber licence runs out on the 30th september — it has 21 days to appeal and can continue operating until appeals are exhausted. facebook founder mark zuckerberg says his company is going to show us investigators 3,000 political adverts from the 2016 election race that it says were probably paid for by russia. he has promised to make it easier to find out who paid for which political advert on the site. more tourists came to the uk injuly

than in any single month since records began. they spent more than ever too — thanks to the falling value of the pound. it makes the uk a cheap place to visit. the numbers: 4m visits, up 6% from a year ago. they spent £2.7bn, up 3%. unsurprisingly the number of brits going abroad fell — for the same reason — down 2%. hello, welcome to the business news this afternoon. let's get more on our top story at the moment — transport for london will not renew uber‘s operating license which runs out at the end of the month. tfl are not happy with the way uber runs its business — they're worried about public safety and security issues. uber has 21 days in which to appeal the decision. sam dumitriu is from the free market think tank the adam smith institute. thank you forjoining us. firstly, we know on paper white tfl have done this. either other messages in that?

what has happened is that tfl have decided to listen to the black cab lobby rather than the 3.5 million users in london. i think this is a decision that says, as sadiq khan likes to say, london is open. this isa likes to say, london is open. this is a decision which says london is closed to implement airship, innovation and competition. closed to implement airship, innovation and competitionm closed to implement airship, innovation and competition. it is about making the public safer. public safety issues have been cited, drive the vetting checks. you can't argue with that. uber puts all its drivers to the same security checks as a black cab company would. second, some of the things that have been brought up, so people have mentioned ten won not supporting crimes, but a report every single allegation to tfl right away. for certain cases, they don't go to the metropolitan police without the victim's content in the first place and they have done that because they we re and they have done that because they were consulting with actual women's and victims groups. these issues are

and victims groups. these issues are a lot more complicated. they seem to have been actually... the safety thing never really seemed to be that much of an issue for most people who use it. in fact, i know lots of women who say, i feel a lot safer in a uber where it is tracked, there is gps, everything is locked i know who the driver is before i get in. they say they feel safe in that than they would in a black cap, were you don't know the driver, it is hard to write down the licence number. sorry to interrupt but the driver vetting checks tfl have cited, they don't feel they are vigorous enough. what do you say in terms of the overall problems uber has been facing this year? it faced a lot of criticism about drivers writes, that is a grey area. the driver 's rights issue is interesting because it is one of thoseissues interesting because it is one of those issues where the trade union has decided to speak on behalf of eve ryo ne has decided to speak on behalf of everyone but if you listen to the average driver, they don't want to be treated as workers. i have spoken toa be treated as workers. i have spoken

to a lot of drivers, uber has polled its own drivers, and they found that from about 5—1, drivers preferred being self—employed. the flexibility is such a valuable thing. i wrote an article about uber and a woman came up article about uber and a woman came up to me and said, we have to care for our disabled son and the fact that ten won means he can decide his hours, when and where he works, and can take as much time as he was, thatis can take as much time as he was, that is so valuable and means you can spend more time with his family. people like that benefit every single week. thank you forjoining us. in other business stories we've been following. more and more internet users are worried about the rise of fake news according to a bbc world service poll. it survey 16,000 users in 18 countries and also found that most people did not want the government regulating against the problem. the only countries where a majority backed regulation were the uk and china. the threat by north korea to test a hydrogen bomb in the pacific has caused a spike in the value of the yen. despite its proximity to the proposed test site, and increasing tensions

in the region, the yen is still seen as a safe haven currency in dangerous times. the world's richest woman liliane bettencourt, the heiress to cosmetics firm l'oreal, has died aged 94. her wealth was estimated at £30bn. she left the company's board in 2012 but remained in the news because of a high—profile exploitation case following her dementia diagnosis. let's look at the markets before we go. the ftse 100 let's look at the markets before we go. the ftse100 had a bit of a shaky go. the ftse100 had a bit of a 5 ha ky start go. the ftse100 had a bit of a shaky start to the day and is now moving into positive territory full stop that is helped by a lower pound. biggest fall is, smiths, the manufacturing group. a sharp fall in early morning trade despite healthy profits. that is it, we are back in an hour. the north korean leader, kimjong—un, has described president trump as mentally deranged.

it was in response to mr trump's warning that the us would totally destroy north korea, if pyongyang threatened america or its allies. the country's foreign minister warned it may test a nuclear bomb over the pacific ocean. let's speak now to tristan webb — he's a former researcher at the british foreign office — who's now a senior analyst for nk pro — a website specialising in north korean news and research. just as we think that the language can't get any more bombastic, it seems too. what is your reading of the situation as it is today? you are right, it is certainly unprecedented to have such exchanges between two heads of state, certainly. kim jong—un has between two heads of state, certainly. kimjong—un has never made such a personal message to donald trump. and we have got a lot

to be worried about. if we are looking for glimpses of optimism, we could say that there is some restraint in the details of the threats, so, for example, donald trump has said that, although he is ready to totally destroy north korea, this is if he has to defend the usa or its allies. and for kim jong—un, he has said he is considering what to do next, not that this will definitely happen. we can still hope that there might be some talks between the us and north korea. furthermore, there have, even during the tensions earlier this year, been backroom talks between the us and north korea. we can only hope that such talks are continuing out of the public eye. but overall, they should be very concerned. the

rhetoric has now become so personal, it is difficult to see how either side could really step back and save face. that is interesting because it is the rhetoric from the two leaders thatis is the rhetoric from the two leaders that is like that, but if you listen to what some of donald trump's key advisers say, particularly some of those generals who advise him, they are the sort of many were constantly saying, we must not use a military option, we must sit down around a table and have talks. you have mentioned talks behind the scenes. how, therefore, are those talks going to be enlarged upon? how, in all reality, either two sides going to have proper serious discussions? you make that happen? it is really difficult and i think the biggest problem is answering the question, what do they talk about? because the usa and its allies, south korea and japan, i still insisted that north korea must denuclearise or at least

ta ke ste ps korea must denuclearise or at least take steps towards its before meaningful talks can happen. most recognised that north korea, now it has reached this stage in its nuclear missile programmes, will not denuclearise and it for its part is insisting the usa needs to recognise the game has changed and it is now an equal nuclear power to the usa and to treat it as such. i think the most we can hope for is firstly to get some procedures put in place to try to de—escalate the rising rhetoric of the tensions, whether thatis rhetoric of the tensions, whether that is bilateral between the us and north korea, military to military channels, or whether that is through the good offices of the un secretary—general, or even a restart of the six party talks. at the moment, so long as washington and north korea remain thunder lent —— fundamentally opposed, and steps are

not made towards denuclearise asian, i cannot see what progress could be made in those talks. thank you very much. senior allies for mk pro. thank you very much forjoining us. coming from tpm, the build—up to that very important from the prime minister in florence. we will be live in italy to hearfrom minister in florence. we will be live in italy to hear from theresa may and that key speech about brexit. we have had quite a few hints, some pointers, over the last 24 hours and a lot of talk about anything up to a two—year transition deal once britain leaves the eu. once we leave, on that state in 2019, there would then be that two—year transition deal. up to two yea rs two—year transition deal. up to two years is what we think the prime minister might say. we will find out in the next hour, but that will prevent what many people including the prime minister called the cliff edge, allowing a bit more preparation time for businesses who wa nt preparation time for businesses who want some certainty in all of this, he wants to know what is happening

once britain leaves the eu, so they could be that transition period. the flip side is that money would have to be paid by this country to the eu during that period. that is not necessarily what a lot of people who voted for britain to leave actually want. they don't want any more money given to the eu. let's see how theresa may addresses all of those points and more coming up in her speech in florence sometime after 2pm. christian fraser is there, you will take you through all of that and as soon as the speech gets underway, we will be there in italy. much more to come on that throughout the afternoon. we will post right now for the weather. the uk forecast in a moment but first of all we are off to the caribbean to catch up on the latest on corrie —— hurricane maria. notice we have not got an eye in the centre

of the storm. this is a dying barricade and will go close enough to the turks and caicos islands to bring great cane force winds so they could be further localised damage but probably not on the scale of what irma did to the islands. we have seen active weather fronts moving of the atlantic, bringing heavy rain to northern ireland and western scotland but they have died as they bumped into high—pressure. exactly the same thing is going to happen today. we have already seen heavy rain this morning across northern ireland. that heavy rain working in the western scotland and cumbria. further south, you can already see the rain band fragmenting. the rain becoming lighter and patchy across wales and south—west england and the same will happen across scotland and north west england later on this afternoon. that leaves the central and eastern england with liza dry weather and sunny spells and the sunshine coming out, as well, in northern ireland as the cloud and rain clears

through. overnight, the dregs of that front will bring a rather cloudy night. i'll deny for england and wales, a few patches of rain around. clearest guide to the north and west weather could be fog patches and it will turn cold again in the countryside across the north west. the weekend, we will all see some sunny spells but perhaps taking a while to come through. it will become warm but we will have rain coming our way for western areas on sunday. saturday, quite a bit of cloud first thing. some low over the hills, quite misty, patches of rain possible over hills. the clouds will break up, sunny spells coming through. in the sunshine, we are looking at highs of 20 degrees. due to windy conditions across the north—west of the uk, that should not a few holes in the cloud. 17 in glasgow and belfast not bad at all. saturday sees a band of rain moving across northern ireland, west scotland, and the front is slow moving again across the western side of the country with the rain again becoming that is bit lighter and patchy in nature as we go through the afternoon. central and eastern england, more in the way sunshine

and potentially high temperatures, possibly a high of 23 degrees. northern ireland will brighten up as we go sunday afternoon. this is bbc news. i'm christian fraser live in florence where the prime minister is preparing to deliver her keynote speech about britain's departure from the eu. she is expected to propose a two year transition deal, costing £18 billion — which it's hoped will break the deadlock in negotiations. we want things to move on to the next stage. we want to see a proper basis established for trade and security. so we know we want to things to move forward and well. the prime minister's speech is expected to start in the next few minutes, we'll bring it to you live and get analysis on how it's received across europe and at home. i'm ben brown, the other stories this hour: an 18—year—old man has been charged with attempted murder following the attack at parsons green station last friday.