very complex human task and we a very complex human task and we thought it would be good to see if she broke capable of doing it. identifying the correct face equals food. so it turns out that sheep are not as stupid as we all thought. so my friends, which is 007? anybody? any takers? what about, who is this lady? did someone say... mmmmm. so when you next get that stare remember, she may remember your face. time for a look at the weather. here's ben rich. if you do not like the weather you have got at the moment it will probably change. we had some cloud

this morning across kent. but blue skies in york, a beautiful day here and sunshine across these central portions of the british isles. then add to the north west we have cloud and rain moving across scotland and northern ireland with a strengthening wind. where the temperatures with a maximum of ii degrees. this evening with the clear skies it is going to get chilly quite quickly through the evening then patchy rain moving south and east and by the end of the night telling chilly again across northern scotland. those are the temperatures in towns and cities but much lower in the countryside. so with the cold air in place and some cloud rolling

in from the north—east, a pretty miserable start morning through the south—east. across wales something a little bit milder. brighter skies already developing in northern england and scotland and northern ireland with some spells of sunshine along with blustery showers across the far north of scotland. those sunny skies gradually spread a little further south and east. taking some time to break up in the south. but here a bit milder tomorrow at 14 degrees there in cardiff. on friday mainly a fine start, some thundery showers possible in northern scotland. and then clouding over across northern ireland with outbreaks of rain. a lot going on to the next few days. this frontal system will be with us for the start of the weekend bringing outbreaks of rain. some cold air heading in our direction.

so chilly feeling to the weather on saturday. some spells of sunshine, some showers blowing in as well. on sunday we shift wind direction, more ofa sunday we shift wind direction, more of a northerly wind so most showers down the east coast at this stage. and temperatures of just down the east coast at this stage. and temperatures ofjust six, 210 degrees. so chilly but bright weekend with a showers close to the coast. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. ordered back from africa by the prime minister — the international development secretary priti patel looks set to be sacked after a series of meetings with israeli politicians. that's all from the bbc news at one — so it's goodbye from me — and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. hello, good afternoon, this is bbc news. the very latest from the bbc

sports centre. it's been announced that both england and germany will wear poppies on black armbands when they meet for a friendly at wembley on friday. fifa changed their rules last month to allow players to wear poppies as an act of remembrance — provided the opposing team agree to it. the home nations were all fined for wearing poppies last year, but now fifa has decided they are not political symbols. it's also been confirmed that video assistant refereeing will be used at the game, for the first time at an official match in the uk. the uk anti—doping agency fear they could be bankrupted by an ongoing case against former heavyweight champion tyson fury. there are concerns that if he wins his legal battle, he may sue ukad for loss of earnings — and they're understood to have asked the government to underwrite the case. our sports news correspondent richard conway says they are still determined to pursue the case against fury. from what i understand, discussions have been held within the ukad bought in recent weeks and with the government and department for

culture, media and sport. there is no intention to drop this case. it is the intention to see it through, but that may require the government to underwrite this case, if indeed ukad go on to lose it. the confidence, it would seem, in the case. we will see what happens in the months ahead, but certainly that is the position as has been outlined. ahead of test matches against scotland and england later this month, samoan rugby has been declared bankrupt. the nation's prime minister has asked members of the public to donate money to keep the sport alive and the rfu has said it will cover all of samoa's costs while they are in england. our rugby union reporter chrisjones joins me from our london studio. how have world rugby responded to this, and how damaging is it for the game as a whole if one rugby nation is allowed to disappear? that is the doomsday scenario, that a that is the doomsday scenario, that by that is the doomsday scenario, that a rugby nation with a rich history like someone that has provided great players for leagues around the

world, if they were able to fizzle away, that would be an enormous shame. they are determined not to let that happen, it is very complex. pa rt let that happen, it is very complex. part of the problem is the samoan prime minister is the head of the samoan rugby union. they are not independent of each other. wells rugby have pointed out the give one and a half million pounds towards someone and a half million pounds towards someone rugby in 2017. the page with the costs for the players to fly overfor the costs for the players to fly over for the tories at this time of the year. there are issues that need to be resolved between world rugby and the samoan union for a start. a little bit of talk for the games being in doubt. that would be the case. world rugby will underwrite any issues. england will pay some costs a nd any issues. england will pay some costs and contribute a goodwill gesture towards similar. for november, the tests will go ahead, but going forward, some issues to resolve to make sure this great by resolve to make sure this great rugby nation stays as strong as it can be. england's women are completing

their final day of preparation before their must—win ashes test in sydney. they're currently 11—2 down against australia. if they lose the test, which starts tomorrow, england cannot win the series. meanwhile, england's men have been playing one of their two warm—up games before their ashes series starts. mark stoneman, david malan and joe root have both scored half centuries against a cricket australia eleven. england are currently 278 for eight. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. that's bbc.co.uk/sport, and i'll have more in the next hour. let's get more now on our top story. the international development secretary priti patel has been summoned back to the uk from africa by the prime minister. it's to do with the continued controversy over her meetings with israeli politicians and officials, which it is alleged number ten was not informed about. she is expected to arrive at around half past three today. downing

street flatly denied reports in the jewish chronicle that the prime minister had been aware of discussions. earlier stephen pollard, editor of the jewish cronicle spoke to anita mcveigh and staunchly stood by his story that both the foreign office and number 10 did know about priti patel‘s meetings. the story i have from two separate sources is that there was a meeting before the un general assembly in september, between priti patel and the prime minister at which they discussed some of priti patel‘s ideas for sharing aid with israel. at that meeting, priti patel talked about having had a meeting with benjamin neta nyahu, the israeli prime minister. and before that, on the 22nd of august, the middle east minister was in israel on an official visit, had a meeting with a senior member of benjamin netanyahu's private office. at that meeting, the transcript apparently shows that the official from the israeli prime minister's office told mr burt that the israeli prime minister had, just hours before, had a very

constructive meeting with priti patel. so those are two meetings, one of which meant the foreign office was aware of the meeting with netanyahu and the second one in spetember, before the un general assembly, which shows the prime minister was aware of the meeting with netanyahu. now, number 10 are denying that's the case. they would, wouldn't they? and do you have any idea, according to your sources, why this wasn't raised, as we understand it, when priti patel met theresa may on monday to talk about her actions? yeah, there's a second element to my story, which is that when priti patel issued the statement on monday, which listed 12 meetings that she held with the israelis, the other story i've been told by my two separate sources is that she did mention this meeting that she held with the official from the israeli foreign ministry in new york.

again, before the un general assembly. but for some reason, number 10 asked her to leave that meeting off the list. now, we can speculate as to why that was the case, i find this whole mess to be really deeply puzzling. but that, i was told by two separate sources, both of whom have no particular reason to spin me about anything that number 10 did or didn't do. priti patel is due to arrive back in the uk at some time this afternoon, we will bring you the latest on the events as they unfold. the number of homeless people in england has risen by nearly 111,000 in the last year, according to new research. the homeless charity, shelter, found more than 300,000 homeless people in the country and warned that the true figure is likely to be much higher. ali fortescue reports.

i don't like telling people where i live because people, they just automatically judge. i would just say to people that we live in, like, a flat. gemma and her daughter live in a hostel in cheshire. they have been homeless for the last 18 months. i lost my house, i lost myjob, and i split with my partner of seven years, probably in the space of about six months. so everything just came crashing down. you were just crying your eyes out when we left, weren't you? i kept saying to myself, it will only be for a couple of months, but that's definitely not the case. the shelter study found that more than 250,000 people in england are homeless. that is nearly 111,000 more people than last year. the top ten highest rates are in london. in newham, one in 25 people are classed is homeless. outside of london, luton, brighton and manchester have some of the highest figures. shelter are putting the rise down to a lack of affordable homes and welfare cuts and, with the cold winter months coming,

they say this is the moment to tackle homelessness. homelessness is one of the most appalling experiences anyone can go through. a lot of those people will be children. and, you know, it is a call, really, that something has to be done. the government says it is investing £950 million to tackle homelessness. but, for gemma and keira, the wait continues, as they try to find a new home and a new start. ali fortescue, bbc news. when you think of freemasons you might think of secret handshakes or rolled—up trouser legs, or you may be familiar... but with membership on the decline, freemasons heading to universities to seek out new members. in a uk first, the victoria derbyshire programme has been given access to two female masonic lodges to witness initiations, secret ceremonies and never before filmed rituals. here's claire jones's exclusive report. this looks like any other leafy street in central london, but this is the international

headquarters of one of the most secretive and mysterious organisations in the world. for the first time, they are exclusively opening their doors to us. organ music. the freemasons are a secretive society that practice rituals in a temple and promote brotherly love. although they've always been associated with men, we've gained access to the two female freemason groups in the uk, the order of women freemasons and the honourable fraternity of ancient freemasons. dialazaza nkela is about to pass on to another rank in the society called the second degree. i'm feeling very happy. i feel confident. i am excited. i'm not nervous, i'm happy. where were you first prepared to be a freemason? in my heart. and where next? in a convenient room adjourning the lodge. describe the mode

of your preparation. i have divested of all monies and all valuables. my right arm, left breast and knee made bare. my right heel slipshod, and a cable tow running noose upon my neck. in the past freemasons have been accused of favouritism, helping members rise up the career ladder and covering up mistakes. have you heard of freemasons doing favours for each other? yes, i have, in the old days. many, many, many years ago. but that was mainly in the men and they were rooted out as corrupt. what sort of favours would they be? oh, you would get policemen who were freemasons doing favours for other members. because there is obviously this view that if you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours. no, it's not allowed. it really isn't. it's really, really forbidden. with an ageing membership, the societies are keen to bring in younger women to secure the future of freemasonry.

i can't believe i'm doing this, i can't believe the day has finally come. it's surreal. afterjoining the freemasons seven years ago, today optician roshni patel will have a ceremony to mark her reaching the rank of a master mason. this is our grand temple. tonight, where there's obviously a ceremony that's going on but we can't get access to, tell us why you wouldn't want us to see it. because you haven't earned it. roshni has gone through all these offices, all the way through the chair. she's learned pieces of ritual, she has worked hard. she must have been working for five or six years to achieve the installation into this chair. we've heard the ceremony is almost over, and roshni is about to appear as a master of the lodge. congratulations. thank you, thank you. i don't know how i feel. i think i'm in shock. the whole process of me being put into the chair, that was,

that was very emotional. especially by all my lodge members who i really care about, so, yeah. although we were given exclusive access, we still only gained a glimpse of the workings of this secret society. there was a lot that was off—limits to us. both groups of female freemasons dismissed all allegations of corruption but to shake this negative reputation and gain more members, they may need to be more transparent in future. breaking news concerning the long—running dispute on southern rail. southern rail drivers have voted for 21 to end the long—running dispute over driver operated trains. that is an announcement from the aslef union, the spate of strikes that have been going on since april,

2016. affecting hundreds of thousands of commuters in southern england on some of the busiest rail network there. the news there at that southern railway drivers have voted four to one to accept a deal. that is from the aslef union. in a moment a summary of the business news this hour but first the headlines on bbc news: cabinet minister priti patel‘s future in doubt — as theresa may orders her back from africa to face questions over meetings with israeli officials. the head of nhs england says the public expect the government to deliver the extra money promised during the eu referendum campaign. donald trump tours the forbidden city in beijing with his chinese counterpart xijinping, amid rising tensions with north korea. this is the business news. sse has confirmed it is merging its british domestic business with npower to form a new energy company. the uk's second—largest energy supplier also reported a big fall in its adjusted pre—tax profits of almost 14% in the six

months to september. the deal knocks the country's "big six" energy firms down to five. has marks lost it's sparks? the retailer announced a 5.3% fall in pretax profits for the first 6 months of the financial year and said they will open fewer simply food shops than planned after same store food sales fell. they will speed up their plans to close 105 of their shops. but the figures aren't as bad as expected, and they logged an increase in full—price clothing and home sales. sky has threatened to shut down sky news if the channel proves to be an obstacle in rupert murdoch's 21st century fox bid. fox already owns 39% of sky but wants full control. regulators are investigating the deal over concerns that mr murdoch's media empire could become too powerful. it's 46 days and counting but what will be the top toys under the tree this year? my first drone, fidget cubes, and a chocolate egg surprise maker will be on the wish list for kids across the uk — that's according to a panel of leading toy retailers.

but how much will they set you back? well, one market research firm says in the uk last year we spent an average of £121 per child. joining us now is gary grant, chair of the dreamtoys selection committee. first, what exactly is the dream toys selection committee? sounds like a greatjob! yes, i get to play with toys all year. basically, the dreamtoys committee is a group of retailers that come together to produce the authoritative list of the toys that are most likely to be the bestselling toys from christmas. it is not dependent on any particular manufacturer or retailer, these toys come from across the deep old toy industry. as a group of retailers coming together to select the most popular toys, how can we be sure you don't pick the toys you get the best margins on's laughter i think margins on's laughter ithinkl

margins on's laughter i think i can hear one of these toys. i was hiding it from you. this is tyler the tiger. is this what you we re tyler the tiger. is this what you were expecting? how do we know you are not just were expecting? how do we know you are notjust picking toys that you make profits on? the list itself doesn't pick toys. it is impossible to influence children's christmas lists. they will put on the list items they want. it is a prediction of what we expect to be the best. tyler is £135, one of the highest priced items. items that are still selling well and have been all year, we have the lol doll. this item is a massive demand. it is one of the items that will be short on shelves this coming christmas. the lol doll is like a pass the parcel, you keep peeling off layers as you would with an onion and then in between layers, there is another bit of clothing or

accessories you can add. there is quite a lot of toys on the list. have you ever missed something that's become a huge phenomenon? we have missed toys that have become a huge phenomenon, we've also missed toys that have just never worked. even though we are industry specialists and we do buying for the major toy retailers in the country, sometimes we get things wrong. in the end, it is what the public will buy. this thing here, you can blow it cases, if you push its head down, it cases, if you push its head down, it will make a noise most parents don't want to hear. gary grant, chair of the dreamtoys select committee. other toys are available. sse has confirmed it is merging its british domestic business with npower to form a new energy company. sse, the uk's second—largest energy supplier, which also reported a big fall in its adjusted pre—tax profits of 13.9% in the six months to september, revealed the merger talks on tuesday.

it will serve 11.5 million customers. the deal knocks the country's "big six" energy firms down to five. earlier we asked the chief operator officer whether it was going to be bad for competition generally in the sector. fundamentally, we see it differently. we think actually this is really good for competition. so there are 60 odd companies competing in the market today. they do compete fiercely. if i look at september this year, over 500,000 customers switched to the market, that was up massively on last year. we think by being more efficient as an organisation, competitively priced better, and also in the future develop new products and propositions to meet customers' needs today. but also in the future, that's good for competition, it gives variety and opportunity. japan's nissan has reduced its full—year profit forecast as a safety inspection scandal hit earnings. it's blaming weak sales in the us

and a scandal over flaws in its safety checks which led to 1.2 million cars being recalled. the carmaker expects operating profit of £4.3 billion pub chainjd wetherspoon has reported that like—for—like sales are up 6.1% and total sales are up ir.3%, for the 13 weeks until 29 october 2017. and twitter has doubled its tweet limit to 280 characters in a bid to draw in more users. the company announced an experiment in september, which will now be rolled out to users worldwide. the decision is part of plans to try and boost engagement at the social network. back to you, sophie. choices for shoppers in english town centres are shrinking, according to research for the bbc. a survey of 12 government—funded "portas pilot" towns found nearly a thousand shops had disappeared in five years.

the towns were awarded a share of a £1.2 million fund, government support and access to retail guru mary portas. bbc radio 4's you and yours reporter, samantha fenwick has been to one "portas town" — stockport. this one is empty? yes, we still have a number of empty units in the town centre that still need filling. joe barrett is the man behind getting portas town status for stockport. and then there are more empty units here and here. yeah. he put the successful bid together and ran a pilot for five years. the portas pilot in stockport has gone pretty well and we've managed to attract new interest into the old town especially, but across the whole town centre we still have a big problem with empty shops and it's a question of more retailers going online. what kind of retailers are going to fill them? we have to think of creative

solutions to really solve this problem on our high streets. the barometer of a healthy high—street is to look at its vacancy rate. it's fallen in ten of the 12 towns, but is still higher than the national average in most. in stockport, it's more than double the national average. but the council here thinks reshaping the town centre is one solution to getting that down. it's hard to believe thatjust 18 months ago this square looked like this. the council demolished the shops that were here and created this new, more attractive area for shoppers. it's important for the people of stockport, it's important to visitors, but it's important for the retailers as well because they really benefit from having the kind of environment where people do want to spend time, so if there's a nice area to sit and meet friends, relax, there are places to eat, then they are more likely to do their shopping here as well. we asked a company which monitors the health of high streets to review the portas project.

one thing they found was most of the towns have more independent shops than they did before. in the last five years, nearly 1,000 jobs have disappeared from the 12 portas towns. —— 1,000 shops. that's one closing every 22 days. a town centre with fewer shops doesn't necessarily mean it's in decline. more and more empty units are being converted into other uses. there's a contraction required of retail within the town centres and therefore you then have to fill that with an appropriate use, and residential, driving people into the towns to utilise and bring forward all of the ideas of what a town centre is. that's what we are trying to achieve. we think we can get three or four town houses here and six or seven apartments, but with a terrace overlooking. as our shopping habits change and more of us shop online, the traditional high street has to adapt if it's going to survive. the family of carl sargeant, found

dead at his home yesterday at the age of a9, have released correspondence and indicate he was facing allegations of unwanted attention, inappropriate touching or groping, which he denied. his family are saying he had not been informed of the detail of the allegations before his death, we have added that the distress of being unable to defend himself properly meant he was not afforded what they say was common courtesy, decency or natural justice. we will have more on that shortly with simon mccoy. right now it is time for the weather with ben rich. thank you. plenty going on with our weather over the next few days, twists and turns, changes ahead. we started off with a lot of cloud across parts of the

south—east, north brighter skies, this is a beautiful shot. we have got a slice of sunshine across many of the central areas. the cloud struggling to break up across the far south east, the odd spot of drizzle and lies to the north—west where thickening cloud is bringing rain. temperature wise, a bit of a struggle, six to 10 degrees. where we keep the cloud, temperatures will drop away very quickly indeed. a touch of frost towards the south—east and defrost later in the night across the northern half of scotland, temperatures dipping away. these are the sorts of temperatures you can expect out in the countryside, sunspots close to freezing, one or two spots below. after what will be a cold start in the south—east, cloud rolling and in time for the rush hour, the odd spot of drizzle and a disappointing field to the start of the day. things turning my other across the south—west into wales, lots of cloud, missed and drizzle, some into

northern england. for the far north of england and scotland and northern ireland, it will brighten up tomorrow morning, spells of sunshine, blustery showers, heavy showers running across the far north. through the day, slightly brighter conditions in the night and will sink further southwards, taking a while to break the cloud up across southern areas. here, things will turn that bit milder, 13 in plymouth, 1a in cardiff by the middle of the afternoon, still on the chilly side further north. into friday, a breezy day, mostly dry, spells of sunshine, some heavy, perhaps thundery showers in northern scotland. and then we see rain moving in from the west. that rain is associated with this weather front which will hang around for a while during the first bite of the weekend, but once it clears, follow the white lines all the way up to the white lines all the way up to the north, cold air from the arctic on this north—westerly wind, many areas dry on saturday, showers into western coasts, as we go on into

sunday, the wind switches round to more of a northerly. for most, dry, bright but decidedly chilly. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2.00: ordered out of africa: the prime minister tells priti patel to come home — her cabinet future now in doubt over her controversial trip to israel. a pre—budget plea from the boss of nhs england — "give us the money promised by the brexiteers." a high—stake visit — president trump arrives in china for talks likely to be dominated by tensions over north korea. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport: puppies are the issue? —— poppies. fifa have said that they are not political symbols. thanks, and ben has all the weather: