this is bbc news. the headlines at midday: the french president, emmanuel macron, says the uk must provide more clarity about its negotiating position on brexit. over half a million people have signed a petition calling for transport for london to reverse its decision to stop the taxi app uber from operating in the capital. thousands of people in puerto rico have been evacuated from their homes after a dam failed following days of torrential rain brought by hurricane maria. iran says it has successfully tested a new ballistic missile, in defiance of us president donald trump. also in the next hour, thousands of costumes from the royal shakespeare company go up for sale. this whole section of rail is nothing but tuxedos. sir patrick stewart goes through the wardrobe to share some of his memories from the stage. and coming up after sport, the click team looks at the latest facial recognition technology.

theresa may must be clearer about what she wants from brexit before the eu can start trade talks, according to the french president emmanuel macron. monsieur macron said three key issues must be agreed. the rights of three million eu citizens living in the uk, how much the uk will pay on leaving and the future of the uk—irish border. it's the first response by a european leader to the prime minister's speech yesterday in florence, in which she suggested a two—year transition period after brexit, meaning the uk would finally break away in 2021. brexit secretary david davis is heading to brussels for the next round of talks with the eu

negotiating team on monday. our political correspondent leila nathoo reports. theresa may came here to florence to try to unblock the brexit negotiations. with warm words about an exciting partnership ahead, a pledge to honour britain's commitments to the current eu budget, and promises to guarantee the rights of eu citizens in the uk, she hopes she's done enough to kick—start the talks. she appears to have struck the right balance, appeasing tory leavers and remainers alike by pushing for a transition period where security, trade and immigration rules stay the same, but insisting it would only last a couple of years. there should be a clear double lock, a guarantee that there will be a period of implementation, giving businesses and people alike the certainty that they will be able to prepare for the change and a guarantee that this implementation period will be time limited,

giving everyone the certainty that this will not go on forever. brussels and eu leaders gave the speech a cautious welcome, praising what they saw as the constructive spirit and a show of realism. but there was a demand for more detail. while the prime minister's speech has generated some goodwill, the test will come when brexit talks resume on monday. joining me now is henry hill from conservative home. good afternoon. what sense are you getting off the conservative view of this? the conservative view is divided on the subject. one reason the prime minister offered so little detail is that the parliamentary party and cabinet do not have a

united view on what they want out of britain. both sides agree we need to leave the single market because there is a consensus that freedom of movement must end but what we do about regulation, ireland, trade deals, all that is still hotly contested. until the cabinet unite around a detail we will not get any more detail. what more could and should the prime minister have said in florence? in relation to her cabinet, there was not a lot she could say. michel barnier said afterwards the spirit was great but it needed to be turned to actual proposals but that is the problem for theresa may because any concrete proposals about what our relationship with the eu looks like will aggravate one wing of her cabinet or the other and after the

general election it is not the most sta ble general election it is not the most stable government so what needs to happen now before we see any more speeches, theresa may needs to take her cabinet somewhere else and set them down and say we will not leave until we sort out what our concrete negotiating positions are. the article 50 process has been trebled and that clock is ticking. she got the tone right yesterday, couldn't she now argue that the details or what david davis needs to deal with when he sits down with michel barnier? no, the details are too important to be delegated because it isa important to be delegated because it is a matter of huge importance to both sides whether or not we maintain regulatory harmonisation which would make it easier to have trade with the eu that would prevent us trade with the eu that would prevent us from striking deals elsewhere, it isa us from striking deals elsewhere, it

is a matter of huge importance to some whether we are still tied to the european court ofjustice, these are fundamental questions that go to the heart of what brexit is about and what sort of country we want to go forward to the next decade, so the idea that the prime minister can set the mood music and then delegate it to the brexit secretary is not the case because that would be simple if it were possible. so she ta kes simple if it were possible. so she takes them all to chequers, she wines 9&5- ,, that is a question and then what? that is a question only theresa may can answer. i think every conservative has their view on brexit. she has to decide what is best for the country and whatever the politics are, that should be first and foremost, and then what can she unite the party around and thinking brutally, if she has to adopt a position which causes some

people in the cabinet to resign, whose resignations can she afford? those are questions only the prime minister can answer about the court ofjustice, the minister can answer about the court of justice, the customs minister can answer about the court ofjustice, the customs union, said the payment deal which most people are relaxed about, on these issues there is nobody who can answer these questions for theresa may. she has to do it herself. henry hill, thank you. the ratings agency, moody's, has downgraded britain's long—term credit rating. it says it made the decision because of the economic uncertainty caused by the brexit negotiations and the likelihood that the public finances would become weaker. downing street says the firm's assessments were "outdated". our reporterjessica parker spoke to alastair wilson from moody's to ask him why the uk's credit rating had been downgraded. we have downgraded the uk for two reasons — firstly because we no longer have confidence that the uk government's plans to bring the debt load down will come to fruition, and secondly because of the economic impact that we think

brexit will have. another factor we have taken into account is the distraction that brexit will pose to policymakers. this decision was made earlier this week, before the prime minister made her speech in florence about brexit. downing street says your findings are outdated — what do you say to that? i've read the speech, it doesn't change our view at all. it is certainly not outdated, it reflects a medium—term view and a forward looking view of what we think will happen in the uk economy, and in the fiscal sector as well. so no, it is not outdated. do you welcome what the prime minister said on friday? in some respects, yes, this is a recognition that a transitional arrangement will be needed, that is a positive feature from a credit perspective. we and many others have said for a long time that it will not be possible to put in place alternative trading arrangements between now and the first half of 2019, so some form of transitional arrangement will be needed to avoid the cliff risk of the uk crashing out of the eu.

the prime minister and government now recognise that, and that is positive in that respect. moody's have already downgraded us once in 2013, could we be downgraded even further? the stable outlook we have on ratings is there to illustrate the fact that we think it is unlikely that will happen over the next 12—18 months, or even beyond that. let's put this into perspective, the uk still has the third highest credit rating in our arrangements. this is a very strong credit, very strong economy, very strong government balance sheet, and most of all very strong institutions. they are very positive factors in our assessment of the uk. hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition calling for transport for london to reverse its decision not to renew uber‘s licence. the regulator said the minicab firm was not "fit and proper" to hold a london private hire operator

licence on the grounds of "public safety and security implications". uber responded by saying that the decision "will put more than 40,000 licensed drivers out of work" and deprive londoners of a convenient and affordable form of transport. a little earlier i spoke to labour mp wes streeting, who is chair of the all—party parliamentary group on taxis and i asked him what he made of the petition. i can understand if you are a uber customer, you will be disappointed by the turn of events, but my advice to those people who signed it is that you are petitioning the wrong people. it is not tfl's fault that uber stands to have its licence revoked. the blame for this debacle lies firmly and squarely with uber. they have flouted the rules of the road that every licensed operator in london has to abide by, and we're not talking about trivial regulations. uber has received damning criticism from the metropolitan police,

for example, for failing to appropriately handle and report serious allegations of rape and sexual assault in uber vehicles. i don't think that is a way that a fit and proper operator would behave or should behave, so if uber want their licence back and want to take part in london's taxi and private hire market and be part of the competition, they have to play by the same rules as everybody else. the labour faithful are gathering in brighton for what mr corbyn has said will be the party's biggest—ever conference. he has denied being "bounced" into giving london mayor sadiq khan a slot by the party's conference arrangement‘s committee. our political correspondent eleanor garnier is in brighton for us. allen, give us a sense of what

delegates are anticipating in the coming days. we're just waiting for jeremy corbyn to arrive. there would be an initial event today with emily thornbury giving a big speech and jeremy corbyn giving opening remarks but at the moment we are waiting and he will be shaking the hands of young labour activists as he comes into one of the first conference events. this is the first time the party will gather to celebrate was result for jeremy result forjeremy corbyn, expected result forjeremy corbyn, he added an extra 30 mps to westminster, so there will be a lot of celebration at this year's what party conference but there are still divisions behind—the—scenes, not least, as in the conservative party, the russians on brexit and which way

the russians on brexit and which way the party should push the government. while most m berries are four remain, there are a handful who are leavers. the party's settled position now, after two wing and throwing on where it should be on brexit, it has now agreed the uk should stay in the single market and customs union during any transitional period and everything back to last year, this time last year there were questions about jeremy corbyn‘s leadership, lots of labour mps being asked about whether jeremy should stay in the job and to give you a sense of how this conference will be different, it feels like that tone has changed. those questions have gone away and there is an understanding that jeremy corbyn‘sjob is now there is an understanding that jeremy corbyn‘s job is now pretty solid. we will leave it there for the time being, eleanor. more from

that conference in the coming days. the two main party leaders in germany will make their final appeals to voters today before sunday's elections. the chancellor angela merkel‘s centrist party have a clear lead in the polls. in what is now a familiar picture across europe, both mrs merkel and the social democratic leader, martin schulz, are urging voters to shun the anti—islam, anti—immigrant rhetoric of right—wing candidates that have gained support in the run—up to the election. our correspondent damien mcguiness is in berlin for us now. on the eve of voting, how does it all the? if the polls are correct we can expect angela merkel to win a fourth term, because her centre—right party is set to get the most seats in parliament but what is up most seats in parliament but what is up in the air is what sort of government she will lead, because the polls are all over the place for other parties. there are a number of

reasons for this, we now have seven parties if you include the cdu's sister party entering parliament, an unusually high number of parties and that means it is quite hard to cobble together a leading coalition and we also have this new anti—migrant, anti—islam afta. this party has never won a seat in a national election and so it is hard for pollsters to predict how much it will get. if they get to double figures, that could eat into the cdu party and that makes it harder for her to form a stable government. how much has the growth in popularity of the md much has the growth in popularity of the afd influenced the discussions people have been having?m the afd influenced the discussions people have been having? it has had an impact on the debate. this party is controversial because it is the

first time that what some would call a populist nationalist party is entering parliament and are focusing on migration. many conservative voters are nervous about angela merkel‘s stance on migration, some have gone over to the afd, and we have gone over to the afd, and we have also seen the afd has become the anti—merkel party so some people who do not like angela merkel are starting to vote for them. critics say some of their members have links to neo—nazi organisations and some leaders have made strident anti—muslim comments so it is controversial and that is quite angela merkel ruled out forming any coalition government with them so they might enter parliament but they will not enter government so their power will be limited that if they get a lot of seats, they can make their voice heard. thank you, damian. the headlines on bbc news:

the french president, emmanuel macron, says the uk must provide more clarity over its negotiating position on brexit. over half a million people have signed a petition calling for transport for london to reverse its decision to stop the minicab app uber from operating in the capital. tens of thousands of people living downstream from a failing dam in puerto rico have been evacuated in the wake of hurricane maria. let's ta ke let's take you live to brighton for a few moments becausejeremy corbyn has arrived at the labour party conference. let's listen to what he is saying. as you can see, he is being greeted

by various well—wishers, as you would expect when you were the party leader, at the party conference, there is a different move for this conference compared with the last given thatjeremy corbyn performed better than many people anticipated at the general election this year and that is the start of proceedings, several days of debate and discussion and coverage of that here on bbc news. hurricane maria, and the heavy rain that followed it, are continuing to wreak havoc in puerto rico. the authorities there have mobilised the national guard to help evacuate people in areas downstream of a dam that has failed after days of heavy rain. sunita jaswal reports. after days of heavy rainfall, severe damage to this dam has sent torrents of water surging downstream, causing flash flooding for miles. 70,000 people in several populated areas have been told

to leave their homes but information from puerto rico has been unreliable and it is unclear how many people are still in danger here. it's already been called the worst storm for 100 years. many roads are underwater with cars submerged and those who stayed in their homes were forced to take shelter on upperfloors. translation: there is a lot of damage, a lot of flooded areas. we need to work together but yes, there is a lot of devastation. the number of people killed in the caribbean has already gone gone into double figures and is expected to rise. with homes destroyed and power supplies down, puerto rico is suffering the effects of hurricane maria.

there is now a daily struggle to meet basic needs. these people queued for hours as only a handful of petrol stations remained open on the island. this situation led to tension between those in line. there was a little agitation earlier. we almost had a fight at one of the pumps but the police are here, they have got it together so let's hope and pray and pray we get the flow moving faster and people can get home before curfew. translation: some of us have been here since 9am and we might still leave without any gasoline. it's a completely chaotic situation. i've never seen anything like it in puerto rico. then there are people recycling empty milk cartons and bottles, desperately trying to stock up with water from a source at the side of the road. it's not even known if this is safe to drink. puerto rico's governor, ricardo rosselli, has said damage to the island's electricity grid was so severe that it could take engineers many months to fully restore power to the island. a3.5

a 3.5 magnitude earthquake has been detected in north korea, near a nuclear test site. chinese seismologists say it was a suspected explosion. north korea last carried out a nuclear test earlier this month. iran says it has successfully tested a new ballistic missile, in defiance of us president donald trump. the launch of the missile, which has a range of 2000 kilometres, was shown on state tv. the test comes just days after mr trump — speaking at the united nations — attacked iran's missile programme and its nuclear deal with the west. a section of the m3 in hampshire has been closed in both directions while the police deal with an incident. police were called this morning just before four o'clock — to reports of potentially hazardous material in the road

between junctions 9 and 11 at winchester. drivers are being advised to find an alternative route and hampshire police have released the following statement: we can speak to a reporter for bbc radio solent who is at the scene, so we are talking about an incident. what details can you go to beyond that? it is causing havoc on the roads here, i can see cars and lorries sitting on the m3 going nowhere and they have been in that situation for several hours. all the roads around the area, as people tried to move away from the m3, are clogged and i'm looking at a bridge

that crosses the m3 betweenjunction 9and that crosses the m3 betweenjunction 9 and junction 10 and there is something of interest to the team is working here. we note the army bomb disposal teams are here with the navy and the three emergency services and men in protective suits are spending a lot of time on the southbound carriageway under that bridge inspecting something. we know the police said two was there is some kind of hazardous material in the road and they are trying to ascertain what that is an until they do they would not be moving the motorway. so this could go on for several more hours. bearing in mind it has gone on from 4am and we are still seeing bomb disposal teams. they have shot off the pedestrian bridge because they do not want anyone walking around to see what is going on but there is a limited view

where for the last bar to people in protective gear have gone to and fro over a section of the motorway. further up the other elements but thatis further up the other elements but that is what i have seen at the moment. the royal shakespeare company is selling off more than 10,000 items of costu m e selling off more than 10,000 items of costume worn by its actors in the last 60 years. rac veteran sir patrick stewart has been sharing some of his memories of wearing the costu mes some of his memories of wearing the costu m es as some of his memories of wearing the costumes as they go on sale in stratford—upon—avon. clothes maketh the man, said shakespeare, and these are the costumes that have made 60 yea rs of are the costumes that have made 60 years of his plays come to life. are the costumes that have made 60 years of his plays come to lifem makes me feel much more than sentimental, it's really quite emotional. there is so much history here. it's the biggest sale of the company has ever had and the money

raised will go towards creating new costu me raised will go towards creating new costume workshops. there are more than 10,000 items to choose from including armour, uniforms, shoes, jewellery and more unusual period pieces. this whole section of rail is nothing but tuxedos. the funniest, most embarrassing costume incident i ever had was in my very, very first production. i was playing an entirely forgettable character called sir walter blunt, so i decided i would get the audience's attention sooner, it's called polling focus, so one night i prepared myself, i threw open the steel door, ran on and as i ran on i slammed the door behind me, so eve ryo ne slammed the door behind me, so everyone in the audience would know that sir patrick stewart had

entered. my cloak unfortunately caught in the door so as i moved towards it, i was brought to a sudden halt. well, apart from distressing me, what it mostly did was amused tone and ian, who both began laughing. you can imagine what that did to the audience because they could see what had happened. there was a horrendous moment for me in my first role in my first play with the rsc but when i came in the next day there was someone from the wardrobe waiting for me and they said we heard about what happened last night and we are very sorry, but we understand why you did it and we have taken your cloak and made it much shorter so it won't happen again. that's the kind of people you work within the wardrobe department of the royal shakespeare company. around the world fans of the rsc

knew this was happening, they would flock here just to take a little piece of history away with them. and my wife has yet found more garments to wear. what am i going to do? put my hand in my pocket. prices start at £1, so pretty affordable to make all the world your stage. let's check on the weather forecast with helen. some usable weather today, it is warming up, that breeze will be a feature for northern ireland with some gales and the north of scotland retaining some sunshine and you can

see that low cloud we had in the south lifting and it will feel quite warm. the evening and overnight period stay mostly dry but we will have patchy rain across the irish sea, not an especially cold night, a little chillier than the nightjust gonein little chillier than the nightjust gone in eastern areas but it is here we will see the highest temperatures developing in the sunshine on sunday but here is the rain for parts of wales, western england and scotland but drying up later in the day for northern ireland although feeling a little fresher here. this is bbc news. the headlines at 12.30: the french president, emmanuel macron, says the uk must provide more clarity about its negotiating position on brexit. over half a million people have signed a petition calling for transport for london to reverse its decision to stop the taxi app uber from operating in the capital. thousands of people in puerto rico have been evacuated after a dam

breached following days of torrential rain brought by hurricane maria. iran says it has successfully tested a new ballistic missile, in defiance of us president donald trump. time for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. rangers haven't beaten celtic in the league for five years, but they're making a game of it, in a lively contest so far at ibrox. it is still goalless, but in keeping with the atmosphere of an old firm derby it's ben played at breathtaking pace and both sides have had chances scrambled away. meanwhile, the premier league's lunchtime kick off, is just getting under way, at the london stadium, as west ham look to continue their good home record, against tottenham, it's been a bogey ground

for spurs of late after spending £140 million, in the summer, everton manager ronald koeman fox wouldn't have expected to see his side in the bottom three, of the premier league table. but that's exactly where they find themselves ahead of this afternoon's match at home to bournemouth, who start the game one place below them in the table. koeman says with so many arrivals, people should not have had unrealistic expectations. it is crazy and ridiculous to put a lot of pressure on the team by saying, we need to finish by the top four teams. that in my opinion is ridiculous, and everybody signs new players... even new players, we sang also young players like we played yesterday. —— we sign players, 20, 21,19, yesterday. —— we sign players, 20, 21, 19, 22...