this is bbc news. i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at 3: labour's shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, calls on all the main political parties to agree a new independent system to tackle sexual harassment at westminster. when all the political parties meet, my view is that there should be an element of independence in there, particularly for support as well so people can feel confident about where they can report these things and at the same time how it can be dealt with. the conservative mp for dover, charlie elphicke, denies any wrongdoing after being suspended by the party over serious allegations. police in new york say they are investigating a credible allegation of rape against the film producer, harvey weinstein. us climate scientists clash with donald trump as a major report says human activity is driving global warming. also in the next hour, the threat to

wildlife posed by helium balloons and sky lanterns. they are released on special occasions, but campaigners say they are killing animals on land and at sea. and in half an hour, on click, we look at the technology helping farmers. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. labour's shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has called on all the main political parties to agree a new independent system to tackle sexual harassment at westminster. mr mcdonnell said the recent allegations of misconduct by mps were distressing and undermined public confidence in the political system. last night, the conservative mp charlie elphicke

was suspended by his party. the tories said "serious allegations" had been referred to the police. mr elphicke said he'd done nothing wrong. our political correspondent emma vardy reports. claims of harassment and abuse in the political sphere show no sign of subsiding. charlie elphicke, the conservative mp for dover since 2010, is no longer a tory mp, at least for now. last night, the new chief whip, julian smith, issued a statement... charlie elphicke‘s anger at how he'd been treated was clear. he tweeted. .. meanwhile, there are still serious questions for labour about the suspended mp kelvin hopkins. jeremy corbyn is under

pressure to answer why mr hopkins was promoted to the shadow cabinet even after he was reprimanded following complaints of sexual misconduct from a young labour activist. mr hopkins has said he denies the allegations. today, the party leadership said thorough investigations must now take their course to reassure the public. we've got to ensure there is confidence in the investigation process, both from those expressing their concerns and complaints, but also those accused as well. i'm hoping now we can start giving the confidence back to people because we are establishing this independent process. and the labour mp clive lewis has strongly denied groping a woman at the labour party conference in september. the allegations that have come to light over the past week are wide—ranging, from a touch on the knee to accusations of rape, and party officials are braced for what could come next, but as the claims and counterclaims mount up, a veteran of british

politics has called for balance, saying that this unfolding sex scandal is becoming a witchhunt. i don't think there is anybody who would seek to defend rape or sexual abuse. in the context, there is no proof that i can see yet of any wrongdoing. how does a member of parliament refute that? it's a witchhunt. political parties want to be seen to be acting quickly. theresa may is due to meet party leaders on monday to discuss the way forward. a culture change is taking place in british politics that many say has been long overdue. emma vardy is with me now. this story keeps growing and growing, it is snowballing. we are next to you think we will head? a big question. where will this end up? how much longer will it ta ke to this end up? how much longer will it take to run its course? to get

through all the hurdles it means to to really be resolved? the feeling is we are not even close at the moment to coming to the end of this. there are maybe more to come out in the sunday papers. many people have compared this to the expenses scandal which created a step change in british politics in 2009. looking at this sex scandal today, we are having to question whether this might lead to possible charges in terms of police investigations, or if it could result in a by—election, perhaps, the kind of ripple effect that the expenses scandal created in 2009. we are also questioning what organisational changes there will be asa organisational changes there will be as a result. there has been lots of reaction today, and over the past week, and the shadow cabinet minister emily thornberry has been expressing her dismay that this could happen in labour. what we need to do in labour is to make sure our youngsters know

we will listen to them, that we will help. that it is not acceptable. they don't need to put up with any of it. we have got to say no to this. they will find friends and allies. people like me. some of the things i've heard are disgusting. i am ashamed this could happen in labour. it happens in all walks of life but in labour we hold ourselves to a higher standard. we want to do things as well as we possibly can and this is not the way to proceed, the way to behave. many people have said this is a long time coming. there is no human resources department in westminster, they are self managing. but how do you prove these historical allegations? many people comparing the culture of

westminster to being like an old boys' club. they say alike has been shown that culture and it will be forced to change. but as how you prove these allegations, we are in a grey area. anybody is set up to tackle grievance procedures will have to look at that tricky issue of where inappropriate conduct move to sexual harassment and perhaps abuse. in some cases it will be clear—cut and obvious, in other cases it will be more difficult, a grey area to pinpoint. lots of people are questioning when flirtation becomes wa nted questioning when flirtation becomes wanted or unwanted ? how questioning when flirtation becomes wanted or unwanted? how do you define that as sexual harassment? it will be a difficult line to tread. in terms of how these grievances have been handled in the past, criticism that there has not been another independent oversight, party officials having to investigate other party officials and that being unsatisfactory. whatever is put in

place will need to have the confidence of the public, younger parliamentary aides and researchers in parliament, and all at the time when the government is under pressure, and party officials waiting to see what other allegations might emerge. the bbc newspapers this evening will be interesting. everyone is waiting for the sunday newspapers. exactly. thank you. police in new york say they have a viable case against the hollywood producer harvey weinstein. the announcement came after an actress, paz de la huerta, made claims that mr weinstein raped her twice in 2010. she is among dozens of women who have come forward to accuse the 65—year—old of sexual misconduct. he has denied all allegations of non—consensual sex. richard galpin reports. recent weeks have seen a torrent of allegations against harvey weinstein. and now comes the first word of a possible arrest. new york detectives are investigating a claim by the hollywood actress paz de la huerta that the former movie mogul raped her twice back in 2010

and she has now spoken to the cbs network in the united states. the new york police say her account is credible. we have an actual case here. we are happy with where the investigation is right now. mr weinstein is out of state. we would need an arrest warrant to arrest him. so right now we're gathering our evidence, we continue to do so every day. already some of hollywood's biggest names, among them gwyneth paltrow and angelina jolie, have come forward to accuse harvey weinstein of sexual harassment. he issued a statement emphatically denying any allegation

of nonconsensual sex. mr weinstein is now under investigation both in the united states and here in britain. like ripples in a pond, the accusations of misconduct against men of wealth and influence appear to be growing rapidly. richard galpin, bbc news. netflix has cut all ties with kevin spacey, who plays the lead role in one of its most successful series, house of cards. the company said it would no longer be involved in the series if the actor continued to be part of it. mr spacey has faced allegations of sexual misconduct from a number of men. earlier this week, production on house of cards was suspended. a 7—year—old girl who suffered "critical injuries" in an incident at a house in south—west london on friday morning has died in hospital. the youngster was treated by medics

at the property in wimbledon after emergency services were called to the scene. earlier today, a 55—year—old man appeared in court charged with attempted murder, but the crown prosecution service are now reviewing that charge in light of the young victim's death. a postmortem examination is taking place this afternoon. the white house has attempted to downplay the findings of a report which goes against the trump administration's view on climate change. the study, compiled by us government scientists, said it was "extremely likely", with 95 to 100% certainty, that global warming is man—made, mostly from carbon dioxide through the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. let's get more on this now with michael grubb, who's a professor of international energy and climate change at university college london. hejoins us now from our studio in cambridge. thank you forjoining us. i do

surprise that the us government alla rdyce surprise that the us government allardyce report to be released? the commission did, but it goes against everything that mr trump has been seeing? this is part of an expected report on a long—term cycle by the us national academy of sciences. i think it would have been almost impossible, it would have created problems for the administration to try and stop it. i am not surprised it has come out or that the administration is trying to distance itself from the findings. these findings are not really new. what do you take from the report? the report is important for two reasons. one, the political significance in the current situation in the us. the other is it does seem to take the consensus science a bit further in a couple of key areas, one is sea

level rise, where the projections, certainly at the high—end are more alarming than anything we have seen in any equivalent science reports, and the other is something of a fork is an extreme events within the us, and pretty unambiguous that heavy precipitation events are both more frequent and more severe, and a slightly more guarded wording, but the same message around extreme droughts. there are messages clearly targeted at the issues of direct concern to the us public. targeted at the issues of direct concern to the us publiclj understand more of this report will come next year. is that right? what can we expect in the next part of the report? i think what we will see is more detail on general assessments and other dimensions of this. it is interesting to see this process , this. it is interesting to see this process, also in an historical context. it does feel awfully like

the first year or so of the george bush administration, president and officials elected against the backdrop of the party and lobbying, which had led them to not really believe the climate science, and they said they were sceptical about they said they were sceptical about the global efforts, the intergovernmental panel on climate change, although that was set up under ronald reagan. they turned to the us academy and basically it confirmed what the world scientific community have already agreed and in some cases, it takes it further. we have the un climate change conference coming up in bonn, germany. are you expecting any statement to be made, particularly regards the paris accord and the us? it isa regards the paris accord and the us? it is a strange situation. president trump has been clear that he intends to pull out of paris. his secretary of state has offered nuances and ambiguity is suggesting there might be conditions under which that might

not go ahead, but nothing can take affect legally for another three yea rs affect legally for another three years at least. it is an odd situation. it is diminishing the influence of the us in the global negotiations. the rest of the world has already agreed it is carrying on regardless of someone is saying they are going to walk out of the door, you are going to walk out of the door, y°u pay are going to walk out of the door, you pay less attention to the interventions in the discussion. do you think statements like extremely likely and 95—100% are enough hard evidence for mr trump to start changing their mind? what do you think they will carry on regardless in terms of their attitude to climate change? i think president trump dug himself into a corner in terms of his stance and declarations on climate change, but he has been known to change tune as well. he has set up a storm by not really paying that much

attention to scientific advice. he has dismissed a number of official scientific body is closest to the white house, and by support for the coal industry. it will be hard to him to change substantive position. ijust think it is an issue that they would rather go away and could ignore as much as possible. but i think the language in this report will galvanise further many states and many actors in the us, saying this is not good enough. we know this is not good enough. we know this is not good enough. we know this is a problem, every scientific assessment says the same and reinforces the assessment further. in some key areas this also seems to do. i think it will add to the momentum of in effect a us system overall which is largely ignoring the views of the president. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news: labour's shadow chancellor john mcdonnell calls on the main political parties to agree a new independent system to tackle sexual harassment at westminster. police in new york say

they are gathering evidence after an actress accused him of raping her seven years ago. the white house downplays a report by us government scientists, which concludes that human activity is the main cause of global warming. in sport there is another win for celtic which has seen them set a british record, they beat saint johnstone 4—0. they have not lost a domestic game in 63 matches, which brea ks domestic game in 63 matches, which breaks their own record which stood for 100 years. the fa first run continues with 27 games today. non—league shoreline are out, beaten by lead to mansfield. and england laboured to their first win at the world cup, they beat lebanon 29—10 while scotland were thrashed 711—6 by

new zealand. go to the sport website for the latest on those fa cup first—round ties. i will have more later. a spanishjudge has issued european arrest warrants for the sacked catalan leader carles puigdemont and four of his allies who went to belgium. the five failed to attend a high court hearing in madrid on thursday, when nine other ex—members of the regional government were taken into custody. mr puigdemont has said he will not return to spain unless he receives guarantees of a fair trial. an american citizen has appeared in court in zimbabwe, charged with insulting president robert mugabe. martha 0'donovan is accused of being behind a twitter account which posted a tweet saying the country was being led by a selfish and sick man. ms 0'donovan, who works for a satirical video outlet, denies the allegations as baseless and malicious. the lebanese prime minister, saad hariri, has resigned.

in a statement read out at a news conference in beirut, he voiced fears of being assassinated, saying the current situation was similar to that when his father rafik was killed in 2005. he also criticised iran and the hezbollah militant group which wields considerable power in lebanon. 0ur correspondent, martin patience, is in beirut. people here are absolutely stunned, stunned by the resignation, stunned by the fact that the lebanese prime minister resigned not in lebanon, but in saudi arabia. this has injected a great deal of uncertainty into a fragile political scene in lebanon. you have to take the broad picture. this is notjust about lebanon but the whole region. there are two regional powers that are fighting a proxy war in several countries in the middle east. one is saudi arabia, which backs al—hariri,

and the other is iran, which backs hezbollah, a major player in lebanon. this is a country which has largely not been hit by the violence that has convulsed this region in recent years. many people are fearful that the kind of violence we have seen elsewhere could spill onto the streets here. that is the fear. it is not certain that that will happen, but it has heightened tensions between the two communities in this country. any idea as to who is going to replace him? we have got no idea who is going to replace him. he has submitted his resignation. we have yet to hear from the president of the country. we have yet to have a real sense, other than mr al—hariri's own words that he feared for his life and that is why he is resigning. many people find that

pretty extraordinary, because he sat down with members of the opposition, the international cabinet, just a few days ago. some people will be saying, you are talking to these people and now you have gone to saudi arabia to resign. this resignation has raised more questions, lots of questions have now been opened. people will be searching for answers, but whether or not they will get those answers to their satisfaction, it remains to be seen. at the moment, lebanon is staring into a chasm of uncertainty. people here are deeply worried. president trump has visited pearl harbour ahead of a marathon tour of asia, the longest by a us president in 25 years. mr trump will leave hawaii later, arriving in tokyo on sunday, then it's on to south korea,

followed by china, then vietnam for the apec summit. he will round things off with a visit to attend the 50th asean summit in the philippines. tensions over north korea's nuclear programme are set to dominate the agenda, as steven mcdonnell reports, from tokyo. here in tokyo, people are expecting donald trump's visit to be completely dominated by security issues emanating from the north korean nuclear threat. now, in theory, the united states and japan do have a lot to talk about — trade for example — but everyone knows all of these other issues are going to be completely swamped by north korea. on his way to asia, donald trump also travelled to pearl harbor in hawaii, where at the site of the sunken ship

uss arizona they had a wreath laying ceremony. but perhaps more crucially in hawaii, he also had a briefing from the generals at the us pacific command, speaking about regional security. no prizes for guessing what they would have been talking about — again, north korea. when donald trump arrives injapan he'll be meeting us troops based here. the same in south korea. perhaps this is a way of sending a message in terms of american capabilities in this part of the world. he'll also be trying to build a coalition of asian governments in an attempt to pile even more pressure on the north korea to get them to give up their nuclear weapons. that includes beijing. now, some analysts have said that china hasn't done enough in this regard, but donald trump says of his chinese counterpart xijinping that his effort so far has been "pretty terrific." 0nly around half of fixed

speed cameras in the uk are actually switched on, according to figures obtained through a freedom of information request to police forces around the country. and at least four police forces don't have any fixed speed cameras at all. alan clayton reports. for motorists caught out by them, they infuriate and bring a hefty fine. safety campaigners argue speed cameras are lifesavers. new research suggests only around half of the luminous boxes throughout the uk are operational. the press association sent a freedom of information request to all of the 45 forces asking how many fixed speed cameras they had and how many were active. the 36 which responded had a total of 2838 cameras, of which only 52% were working. forces in cleveland, durham and north yorkshire said none of their fixed speed cameras were active. while northants said it turned its cameras off six years ago but left them in place

to deter speeding. those than replied said they used mobile speed cameras and regularly reviewed which cameras were turned on. i suspect in this case there thinking that the yellow boxes are there, they're sending out the message that motorists ought to be recognising about risky roads, but they're also increasingly looking to more advanced technology such as average speed cameras, or indeed better engineering of the road, which might have a more beneficial affect. the national police chiefs council said the decision to use cameras was an operational matter and that all forces have individual responsibility for their use of the cameras. alan clayton, bbc news. there is a warning that the increasing number of helium balloons and sky lanterns being released are a growing threat to marine and wildlife in this country. the objects are often released for special occasions but their impact could be very serious for animals in both

the sea and on land. campaigners say their warnings are still not being heard. dan johnson reports. the litter in our seas, an issue largely hidden. and how it gets there isn't always clear. so look at this, and think about it. where do they land ? what goes up must come down. and the result is trouble at sea. it's wildlife getting tangled in them, the plastic litter is very unsightly. campaigns have been running for years but the message isn't getting through. most people think they are having a great time, we will let balloons off, there isn't much of a problem. but it is when you bring that visual impact that has been ingested and getting wrapped up with bits of string and bits of balloon out of their mouths as well. it could be internal, we find that out when we're able to do a postmortem.

the amount of plastic in the ocean is already a threat to marine ecosystems and sea life. and the truth is, it's impossible to tell how much balloons are adding to that problem. because the impact is out there, offshore, unseen and unmeasured. so balloons get released without consideration of the consequences. it landed in the field, and being curious she swallowed it. and they can be just as deadly on land. jennifer's horse died after choking and panicking. right through here with it tangled up, in her back leg, crashed through this, and broke her neck, and she laid dying for what seemed an eternity. the horse was aiming to be a top showjumper just like her sister here. they don't understand that they are releasing litter into the air, airborne litter, and if anyone dropped that on a pavement they would get heavily fined for it. it is causing untold suffering for animals that are eating them

in the fields and they are either becoming very injured or killing them. conversationalist say they are notjust out to spoil people's enjoyment. we want people to have as much fun as possible but there are other wildlife friendly alternatives they can use instead of releasing sky lanterns. the call is for a wider ban on balloons and people to keep their impact in mind before they drift off out of sight. time for a look at the weather. if you're heading out to see fireworks later on, prepare for it to feel chilly. there is cold airbrushing in from the north—west. philby clears else the many through the evening, but showers blowing

into western areas, some heavy and sundry and indeed wintry over high ground, not in england and particularly scotland. the temperatures are here overnight, some in the countryside on the eastern side will see a touch of frost. tomorrow, some showers to start off, but they will fade away. most of us will see sunshine, wendy to the north—east. as we head into sunday night, bonfire night, it will turn decidedly chilly, a touch of frost for many central and eastern areas, some areas could get two minus five. a col starts on monday, and showery as we head into tuesday. hello. this is bbc news with lukwesa burak. the headlines: labour's shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, has called on the main political parties to agree a new independent system to tackle sexual

harassment at westminster. when all the political parties meet, my view is that there should be