hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and mega munchetty. a promise from detectives to investigate every avenue in the case of missing teenager gaia pope. police are questioning a man on suspicion of murder of the 19—year—old. searches continue as her father speaks of the strain on his family. it is about the toughest thing we can go through. the family know she will be found. until we don't know that. so we have every hope, every minute that goes by, that we still have hope. good morning. it's friday 17th november. also this morning, as she arrives in sweden to meet eu leaders, theresa may is warned there's no guarantee that talks on a post—brexit trade deal will start next month.

first electric cars, now electric lorries. a battery—powered truck is launched in california. the makers say it can go 500 miles on a single charge. good morning. our commuting time is getting longer and we are travelling further than ever to get to work. why, and what does it mean for passengers? i am at one of the country's busiest train stations to find out. in sport, england's women need 20/20 vision. it's crunch time down under, and if they lose this morning's 20 over match, the ashes will be back in the hands of australia. concern for sea—life prompts one chain of childrens‘ nurseries to ban the use of glitter. we'll discuss the thinking behind the move. and matt has the weather. good morning. a sprinkle of nature's litter this morning, frost to begin friday for many of you. lots of

sunshine later on. people forecast in the next 15 minutes. —— the full forecast. good morning. first, our main story. police investigating the disappearance of a teenager in dorset are continuing to question a man arrested yesterday on suspicion of her murder. 19—year—old gaia pope was last seen in swanage 10 days ago. the 49—year—old suspect is believed to be known to gaia. 0ur reporter ian palmer has more. gaer pope went missing ten days ago. clothes similar to the ones the teenager was wearing when she disappeared were found yesterday in coastal fields. the area was sealed offi coastal fields. the area was sealed off i police. officers searched the scene in an attempt to discover what happened to be missing 19—year—old. we are continuing to investigate whether gaia has come to harm through an act of crime, or whether she is missing, and we will continue to do so. gaia lives in a village near swanage. she was last seen in morrison road by a family friend. a little bit later she was captured on camera ina little bit later she was captured on camera in a petrol station buying

ice cream. two people were arrested and released pending further enquiries. yesterday, in a country park, some clothing was found by a member of the public. ms pope has severe epilepsy and needs regular medication. herfamily severe epilepsy and needs regular medication. her family say she likes being at home and her absence is ha rd to being at home and her absence is hard to bear. mum and younger sister maya are basically holed up in the house, trying to keep away from upsetting conversations, keep away from social media, keep away from the stuff which has been in the press, parts of the press, which has been extremely distressing for the family. they are just trying to look after each other. the man being questioned on suspicion of murder by police has been identified by his father as paul elsey, who is 49 and lives in the swanage area. he is the third person to be arrested. earlier this week police released cctv footage of gaia passing through a street in the town. police divers and investigating officers will continue the search for gaia this

morning. 0ur correspondentjames ingham is in swanage. james, are the police any closer to finding out what happened on the day gaia went missing? well, the police say they are still investigating every avenue that is open to them. that could mean that gaia is simply missing. clearly they have reasons to suspect she may have come to harm, and may in fact have been killed. so they are investigating a possibility. the third person who has been invest —— arrested in this enquiry is still being spoken to this morning, 49 your old paul bell sea. two other people were arrested earlier in the week and they have now been released pending further investigations. now that clothing which appears to match what gaia was wearing has been found of the paths, clearly the police are 110w of the paths, clearly the police are now thinking the worst may have happened to her. the search will continue here. the family remain hopeful that gaia could still be

alive. the family know she will be found, until we don't know that. so we have every hope, every minute that goes by, you know, we still have hope. that was richard sutherland, gaia's father, talking to us yesterday, just a short time before that third arrest was made. today, here at first light, coastguard rescue teams will continue their search of the area. last night, as well, volunteers armed with torches and high visibility vests were scouring the town as the search for gaia continues. the president of the european council, donald tusk, is expected to demand more clarity on how the uk plans to settle the first phase of brexit negotiations, when he meets theresa may in the swedish city of gothenburg later today. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoo joins us now from westminster. leila, what will the prime minister be hoping to achieve from this meeting? the prime minister is in sweden

meeting donald tusk, trying to keep another channel open, really. he is the president of the european council, and she has been having regular conversations with him outside of the formal negotiations to try to edge these talks, the brexit talks, on towards trade. at the moment they are faltering. they are stuck on the three main issues, notably being the divorce bill, how much money the uk is prepared to put on the table to settle all its accounts. we had the brexit secretary, david davis, making a speech last night in burling, where he warned that the uk —— in berlin, where he warned european leaders not to put politics above prosperity. pretty bold to go to the heart of europe and make that statement. i think it betrays a sense of frustration that the talks are not progressing. there had in a sense that the government was preparing to up that the government was preparing to

up that number, the amount it is willing to put on the table to settle the divorce bill. david davis didn't talk figures. instead, he maintained he wanted a bespoke trading deal. our future will be brighter still if we achieve the positive, ambitious partnership we are aiming for. it is one which is unprecedented and close, which allows for the freest possible trade in goods and services, and which recognises that brexit means that things must change, but takes account of our unique starting point as the basis for a new order. now, i think theresa may is going to be wanting donald tusk to give her a positive message, but all the suggestions are that he is going to say there are no guarantees. the talks will move on to trade at this crucial eu summit in december. we already have michel barnier, the eu's chief negotiator, warning just last week that there were only two weeks left for the uk to stump up

enough cash. i think we are really beginning to get the sense that agency is building. —— urgency. more than one million credit card users, who are struggling financially, have had their credit limits raised in the last year without being asked, according to the charity, citizens advice. it wants the chancellor to ban increases which haven't been requested in his budget next week. card companies say they've agreed to abide by a voluntary code of conduct to protect customers. the pay packages of senior police officers have been published in a central database for the first time. figures for 261 officers up to the rank of chief constable, reveal wide variations. some receive thousands of pounds in benefits, a small number claim large sums in expenses and others are paid nothing but a salary. the figures have been published by the home office as part of an attempt to increase transparency across forces in england and wales. the hollywood actor sylvester stallone has denied allegations he and his bodyguard sexually assaulted a teenage fan more than 30 years ago. the woman says he threatened

to beat her if she went public with what happened, but the actor's spokesperson has called the claims "ridiculous and categorically false." conservationists in the united states have strongly criticised a decision by president trump to end a ban on importing body parts from elephants hunted in zimbabwe and zambia. a federal government agency said imports could resume today for elephants that are legally hunted. the us fish and wildlife service said hunting fees could help communities put money into conservation but experts say that populations of african elephants are plummeting. zimbabwe's president, robert mugabe, is reportedly refusing to step down immediately, despite growing calls for his resignation. the 93—year—old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on wednesday, amid a power struggle over who would succeed him. 0ur correspondent ben brown is in zimbabwe. ben, do people there believe mr mugabe could somehow cling onto power after this? not much new information lately,

what can you tell us this morning? an extraordinary situation. you have this military takeover, coup d'etat, whatever you want to call it, and 110w whatever you want to call it, and now you have the head of the army sitting, smiling according to the pictures, with robert mcgarvey, the man he is holding under house arrest. —— mugabe. they had negotiations with south african mediators yesterday. there are two schools of thought. 0ne mediators yesterday. there are two schools of thought. one is that mugabe is trying to cling to power somehow, you wouldn't think he has too many cards to play. the other thought is that he is trying to negotiate some sort of dignified exit from office after so many years of misrule, as so many people in zimbabwe would see it. he would be given guarantees about the safety of himself and his family in return for stepping down quietly, and handing over to some sort of transitional government, with his former

vice—president, the favoured candidate of the army, who are in charge. maybe prime minister morgan chang writes, the leader of the 0pposition. —— morgan tsvangirai. the electric car maker, tesla, has unveiled the prototype of a new articulated lorry. the lorry also known as a semi—trailor can travel for 500 miles on a single charge according to the telsa chief executive elon musk. the company has also revealed what it says will be the fastest production car ever made. scientists and engineers have been working on the development of humanlike robots for years. but the machines have always had rather embarrassing problems. sometimes they fall over, sometimes quite a lot. until now. this is the latest test footage from the american engineering firm boston dynamics. the team behind the atlas robot hopes it will eventually be agile

enough to carry out search and rescue missions. wowsers! i hadn't seen that before. it has stunts that some human gymnasts would be proud of. but whatever thing goes to plan 01’ of. but whatever thing goes to plan or the time. the first time i saw these images i thought it was somebody in a suit. it is amazing. maybe don't worry about the rise of the machines just yet. maybe don't worry about the rise of the machinesjust yet. not maybe don't worry about the rise of the machines just yet. not yet. and now mikejoins us. good morning. i would be proud of those moves, the somersaults. england could do with a few of the australian stumbling like that. yeah. how is it going? well, the women have three crucial 2020 matches to play, and that will decide whether the ashes stay in australia. a sickly, england know the maths. they cannot lose, any of them. —— and basically. the maths. they cannot lose, any of them. -- and basically. i like your tie. yes, my ashes tie. it is from eight years ago, when i went to cardiff. it has the kangaroos and

the lions of england. the kangaroos from australia, obviously. because the test was in cardiff, it has daffodils as well. maybe it will bring them some luck. certainly, the odds are stacked against in an's women this morning. —— england's. there's no room for error now, in their ashes series. they trail australia 6—4 going into the first of the 20/20 matches that will decide if the ashes stay down under. play starts at 8:10 our time, and england can't afford to lose. the countdown‘s on for the men — just six days to go before their ashes series starts. mark stoneman, like a rock, at the crease getting a century in their latest warm—up match. england well on top against a cricket australia xi. can anyone stop the fed express in the semi—finals? on this showing, probably not. roger federer gets his third win at the world tour finals in london, with victory over marin cilic. and a rose can grow in sand! justin rose doesn't let a bunker harm his chances at the european tour‘s season—ending

championship in dubai. this eagle shot means he's now one off the lead. more on the cricket and stuff in a moment. thank you. we'll be looking through the papers in a few moments. first, matt will the weather. good morning. what a difference compared with yesterday today. not only will it be sunny for many, but it's especially cold. england and wales with the lowest temperatures at the moment. even if you are not that cold, not far—off freezing. for parts of scotland and northern ireland temperatures are a little bit warmer, but still chilly. the breeze keeps temperatures up and it feeds on showers for the morning rush—hour in west and northern scotland. some of them could be heavy with hail in the day.

northwest england could have the odd isolated shower. much of the country will be dry. long spells of sunshine. some high cloud at times. sunshine in northern england and northern ireland in particular. the big difference is the temperature. ra rely big difference is the temperature. rarely double figures for most parts of the country —— barely. cool in the north. tonight, further showers in northern and western scotland and for stargazers the peak of the media shower sometime between midnight and dawn, about 10— 20 metres. you will probably have to view early on in western areas because through the night of the cloud does increase. lots of showers across scotland. clea rest lots of showers across scotland. clearest conditions in the south and east. into tomorrow morning, temperatures on the face of it not as low, but there will be a frost here and there. eastern parts of scotla nd here and there. eastern parts of scotland in the south and east of

england, that's where we are most likely to see frost. this is rare for the start of the england we will see sunshine. tomorrow we will have more cloud, especially in parts of scotla nd more cloud, especially in parts of scotland and northern ireland. patchy rain spreads across parts of central southern england and wales, but much of northern england, southern scotland and northern ireland will have sunshine through the afternoon. the mildest air sneaking into the south—west with the patchy rain. clearer conditions, the patchy rain. clearer conditions, the colder air to the north and east. that cold air will gradually wind through on saturday evening and into the first part of saturday night, as the cloud and patchy rain becomes confined to the channel islands, devon and cornwall. the milderair islands, devon and cornwall. the milder air will try to push back. a battleground this weekend between the milder air battleground this weekend between the milderairand battleground this weekend between the milder air and cold air. cold air generally winning out. cold air sitting behind this weather front which through saturday will bring increasing amounts of cloud in western areas. the chance of patchy rain later. most places look like they will be dry on sunday. the

brightest conditions the further east you are, at here it will stay chilly. a good few days of single figure temperatures. it looks like next week the milder air will gradually wind through, but for this weekend it is one to wrap up. at least it's only for the weekend! at least it's only for the weekend! a look through the papers now. starting with the front pages. the daily telegraph, we just spoke to ben brown in zimbabwe. as he was pointing out, people are somewhat perplexed by these images of robert mugabe meeting the members of the military, who in theory have deposed him. it remains unclear what will happen. the other story is the number of drivers evading car tax have trebled, after you remember the government scrapped these papers on the vehicles. this is gaia pope, the 19—year—old who is missing. police have arrested

a 49—year—old man over her disappearance, something we are covering. the main story is criticism or repetition of the comments made by the minister in charge of housing policy. he says those over 60 are not facing up to the reality of how the housing crisis affects the young. 0n the mirror, and the guardian, picking up on two hollywood figures about whom accusations have been made. the latest is sylvester stallone. claims date back from 30 yea rs stallone. claims date back from 30 years ago and there's more information emerging about it and some of the allegations that have emerged about his time at the old vic theatre. another picture of gaia pope, the missing teenager, on the times. and one of the lead stories, theresa may has pledged to enshrine brexit day. she wants to bring it as an official

day, and she is under pressure to clamp down on the brexit date. anyone with a lively dog will relate to this. how do you train the english batsman to face the fastest balls that australia can throw at them? take them for walkies and use one of those things to sling the ball really ha rd one of those things to sling the ball really hard and fast. it is called a bendy arm. they throw it out and use one of those devices. called a bendy arm. they throw it out and use one of those devicesm makes complete sense for those training, because you don't want to wear out your shoulders. has the speed in bowling increased? the fast bowlers sometimes in the west indies and australia were remarkable. i think the bar has been

raised in all sports, weather bowling or sprinting, rugby. raised in all sports, weather bowling orsprinting, rugby. 0ver the years they've learnt how to bowl faster. this trainer hasn't been on horse until now. he will be taking pa rt horse until now. he will be taking part in an ascot charity race and his mum is beside herself, asking why he is doing it. he said it felt like sitting on a half ton machine thatis like sitting on a half ton machine that is out to kill him. he is the right sort of size to be a jockey. bit like myself, but it doesn't mean you are a natural on a course. the thing is, he is one of those typical sportspeople who can turn their hand to different sports. it does tra nsfer to to different sports. it does transfer to different sports. not that you aren't an athlete! it says it all! may be talent doesn't transfer. if i had any talent to begin with... ben's not with us this

morning because he is talking about commuting. we have been asking what the good things your commute. that's something we are talking about because we are finding out that the average british commuter spends nearly one hour were a day getting to and from work. that adds up to about 27 working days every year. the average commute is apparently five minutes longer now than it was a decade ago. ben is at manchester piccadilly station this morning. not that many commuters as yet? good morning. yes, they are preparing for the rush—hour. you can see the board is fall and they expect about 10,000 people through here every hour. they will deal with about 140,000 people over the day. one of the busiest stations in the country. as you said, our commute is getting longer and more of us are travelling further than ever before just to get to work. it takes its toll on our

personal life and that worklife balance. we will talk later about how you may be able to make that commute more productive, would come with me because i want to introduce you to two guests. lin, good morning. and sarah is a psychologist. why are we travelling so psychologist. why are we travelling so farjust to get psychologist. why are we travelling so far just to get to psychologist. why are we travelling so farjust to get to work psychologist. why are we travelling so far just to get to work everyday? i think there are three reasons. first of all, people have to travel further for a good job because we've seen further for a good job because we've seen the increase in precarious employment. so if you've got a good job you want to keep it and you will travel for it. secondly, the transport infrastructure can't cope. we've got congested roads and busy, slow, crowded trains. thirdly, people can't always afford to live where they work, with housing prices being very high in some areas where the jobs are. so people are having to commute into towns and cities, rather than live in towns and cities. sarah, you are psychologist and you look at what all this is

taking on our lives. when we talk about worklife balance, it doesn't make sense if we spend all of our time getting to work. and the latest figures show that some commuters spend over two hours on a train each day and that has a tremendous toll. diggers around the world show us there is increased stress in our body and increase perceived stress. and we lose motivation. not to mentionjob strain. and we lose motivation. not to mention job strain. it and we lose motivation. not to mentionjob strain. it is a serious picture. what are the solutions? how do we start to address them? there are some things employers can do when something is government can do. employers need to look at their policy and say, do we need people at the desk 9—5, or can we be more flexible with start and finish times and be more flexible with homeworking? but there are things government can do. that transport infrastructure needs to be properly funded and there needs to be investment in that and we need to have an industrial strategy that creates great jobs all over our

country. we are here at manchester piccadilly. we've heard a lot about the northern powerhouse, but nothing has happened and people have had to ta ke has happened and people have had to take all the trains and that's adding to the stress, isn't it? yes, and in this area people feel it everywhere. my journey and in this area people feel it everywhere. myjourney from liverpool was 40 minutes and in a couple of hours that will take two hours. the roads are busy, the trains are busy and we need proper investment up north. when we talk about this may be trying to be more flexible, allowing people to work from home using skype or videoconferencing to get the meetings, it's a great idea, the doesn't work for everyone. but some businesses could adopt it? it's not a one size it —— one size fits all b, but in large or medium sized organisations, what we can do is reduce the job strain by making more flexibly and better quality of life and work—life balance. also, in terms of training infrastructure, we need one seat journeys. terms of training infrastructure, we

need one seatjourneys. we in new york city that they work a marvel on some people's well—being. york city that they work a marvel on some people's well-being. thanks very much. we want to hear some of your stories. if you've got a long commute, how do you make it more bearable? get in touch with us in all the usual ways and we'll look at some novel ideas of how you can perhaps pass that time if, as the figures suggest, bal average commutes are getting much longer than they've ever been before. —— our average. thanks very much. some of those stories are already coming in. let us know this morning. highlight your trips to work. chris has got in touch on twitter. he has shared a photograph of his commute through the parkland. it makes up pa rt through the parkland. it makes up part of the university of ridding campus. that's all right! that stunning. robert says he beat the queues impressed by walking. he takes 30 minutes to do that to the office and

enjoys views like this one, of a rather lovely church. william is in southampton and commutes to london. he is occasionally rewarded vice things like this, looking across the river at —— river. and for some the commute is easier. simon sent us this photo of his not so simon sent us this photo of his not so taxing commute from his house to his garden office. that makes sense. there is an advantage of getting up the hours we get, because there's no traffic. and you get amazing morning views. sunrises. you're watching breakfast from bbc news. still to come this morning: the precious family mementos that have been donated for the public to see what personal stories our national archives hold. we'll learn more about this photo frame later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news.

a pensioner has died after he was involved in a hit—and—run incident in south london. police were called to whitehorse lane in croydon on sunday evening following reports of a collision involving a car and a pedestrian. the 77—year—old man was taken to hospital but died on wednesday. a 21—year—old man has been arrested. tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the king's cross fire. 31 people, including a firefighter, died when a smoker dropped a match into the steps of a wooden escalator that led from the piccadilly line to the ticket hall of the underground station. what was originally a small fire suddenly erupted with explosive force and devastating consequences. there was nowhere to go. when we we re there was nowhere to go. when we were down in that tunnel, in that walkway, the heat was so intense,

you couldn't. .. you walkway, the heat was so intense, you couldn't... you wanted to get out and run. you couldn't. it would have been worth standing up. all you could do was just get down as close to the floor as you could and just wait for the worst to pass. it's children in need this evening and and pudsey bear isjoining us at warner brothers studio tour in hertfordshire. every year hundreds of charities are helped by the money you donate. charities like the rewind project at the lyric theatre in hammersmith. it helps young people at risk of exclusion from school through drama. students write, direct and perform a play based on their own life experiences. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there's a good service on the tubes this morning. a collision on the a13 at the canning town flyover is adding to delays heading into town. 0n the a23 brixton road northbound, one lane is closed at the brixton police station. traffic lights for gas main work. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. it's a cold and frosty

start of the day, but it will be a very pretty day of whether, with lots of blue sky and sparkling sunshine around. although feeling chilly. you may be scraping the windscreen early. shallow mist patches away from towns, just below freezing in many areas. we get off toa freezing in many areas. we get off to a nice sunny start and we keep the sunshine for much of the day. a bit more high cloud through the afternoon. the winds are light and temperatures lower than yesterday by quite some distance, between 8— 10 degrees in central london. through this evening temperatures will drop away quite quickly. it will feel cold at first and there will be apache frost developing into tomorrow morning because we've got more cloud spreading in from the west times. any temperatures staying 3-4 west times. any temperatures staying 3—4 into tomorrow. not as good tomorrow. it will be quite a cold day and we have lots of cloud around. still in the cold air. we could have light and patchy rain and

drizzle, but not amounting to much. most drizzle, but not amounting to much. m ost pla ces drizzle, but not amounting to much. most places staying dry but cloudy. we remain in the cold air on sunday, but a much nicer day. it will turn milder at the start of next week. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website at the usual address. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. it's 06:30. we'll bring you all the latest news and sport in a moment, but also on breakfast this morning, the kings cross fire remains the worst ever to hit the london underground. we'll hear from a former police officer who rescued people that night and how it affects his life 30 years on. glitter can bring a bit of sparkle to our lives, but can cause damage to our marine life. a chain of nurseries have banned their children from using it and we'll ask a marine biologist what difference it could make

if more did the same. and the secret of how to get puppies to be well—behaved has been revealed by the guide dog charity and it involves stroking them with a toothbrush and exposing them to men with moustaches! we'll find out more tips later. good morning. first, our main story. police investigating the disappearance of a teenager in dorset are continuing to question a man arrested yesterday on suspicion of her murder. 19—year—old gaia pope was last seen in swanage 10 days ago. the 49—year—old suspect is believed to be known to gaia. 0ur reporter ian palmer has more. the president of the european council, donald tusk, is expected to demand more clarity on how the uk plans to settle the first phase of brexit negotiations, when he meets theresa may in sweden today. the prime minister will hold meetings on the sidelines of an eu summit, to try to secure an agreement to start talks next month about a post—brexit trade deal. last night, the brexit secretary, david davis, urged eu leaders not to put politics above prosperity, but it's thought mr tusk will warn mrs may that time is of the essence.

more than one million credit card users, who are struggling financially, have had their credit limits raised in the last year without being asked, according to the charity citizens' advice. it wants the chancellor to ban increases which haven't been requested in his budget next week. card companies say they've agreed to abide by a voluntary code of conduct to protect customers. the pay packages of senior police officers have been published in a central database for the first time. figures for 261 officers up to the rank of chief constable, reveal wide variations. some receive thousands of pounds in benefits, a small number claim large sums in expenses and others are paid nothing but a salary. the figures have been published by the home office as part of an attempt to increase transparency across forces in england and wales. zimbabwe's president, robert mugabe, is reportedly refusing to step down immediately, despite growing calls for his resignation. the 93—year—old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on wednesday amid a power struggle

over who would succeed him. yesterday he met the head of army but the outcome of the talks is not yet clear. the hollywood actor sylvester stallone has denied allegations he and his bodyguard sexually assaulted a teenage fan more than 30 years ago. the woman says he threatened to beat her if she went public with what happened, but the actor's spokesperson has called the claims "ridiculous and categorically false." conservationists in the united states have strongly criticised a decision by president trump to end a ban on importing body parts from elephants hunted in zimbabwe and zambia. a federal government agency said imports could resume today for elephants that are legally hunted. the us fish and wildlife service said hunting fees could help communities put money into conservation but experts say that populations of african elephants are plummeting. the electric car maker, tesla, has unveiled the prototype of a new articulated lorry. the lorry, also known as a semi—trailer, can travel for 500 miles on a single charge,

according to the company's chief executive elon musk. the company has also revealed what it says will be the fastest production car ever made. now here's a real "tail" of bravery for you. a military dog that helped save the lives of troops in afghanistan is being awarded the animal equivalent of the victoria cross. mali will receive the dickin medal, after being seriously injured during an operation to clear insurgents from a building in kabul in 2012. despite his injuries he carried on performing his duties but eventually had to be carried to safety. a handsome dog. we have a dog scene today, mike. you were talking about dogs helping to train people, we saw mali there. we have a dog coming in later because they have been a new

amount of training dogs, and if you have a moustache, you will be very useful if you are training puppies. why? you can twitch it in a certain way, or the dog jumps for it? maybe thatis way, or the dog jumps for it? maybe that is why i had trouble with my dog all those years ago, i didn't have a moustache. and also using a toothbrush pop—ups. have a moustache. and also using a toothbrush pop-ups. that is where i we nt toothbrush pop-ups. that is where i went wrong. guide dogs for the blind. they tried to train the dog is not to react to things like bells and noises and things like that. very brave dog, one of 18 to get the dicken medal. horses, cats and pidgins have been honoured in the past. there is a museum at bletchley we re past. there is a museum at bletchley were you past. there is a museum at bletchley we re you can past. there is a museum at bletchley were you can go and see the stories. we are talking about the women in the cricket. they are facing a crunch match which starts in about 90 minutes. at least the maths is simple for england's women. they can't afford to lose any of their remaing games in their ashes series. australia are smelling victory, 6—4 up, going into the trio of twenty20 matches that

will decide this series. it's a multi—format series, this, so england have to win at least 2 of the remaining games. the first starts at 8:10 this morning. meanwhile australia have handed a surprise call—up to wicketkeeper tim paine for the first test in brisbane. the batsmen have hit form in the warmup match. all down to the end in the morning for 515. in reply england took a couple of wickets. moeen ali is the man who has done the damage, teaming up with captain joe root to remove jake garner, and then bowling ryan gibson. meanwhile australia have handed a surprise call—up to wicketkeeper tim paine for the first test in brisbane. the 32—year—old last played a test in seven years ago, and hasn't even been keeping wicket for his side tasmania. we know three out of the four semi—finalists at the world tour finals in london —

the last place will be between dominic thiem and david goffin, who meet today. young american jack sock was the star man last night in reaching the last four. he beat alexander zverev at the o2 arena after nearly two hours on court. roger federer, was already into the last four, but made it three wins out of three by beating marin chilich. it was a repeat of the wimbledon final, which federer also won. the swiss came from a set down, to win comfortably again. england's women, return to action tonight, for the first time since losing to new zealand in the rugby union world cup final. they face canada at the home of saracens in the first of a three—match series. there are seven uncapped players in the squad and nine of the losing finalists will start the match. the series will see england's women receive a match fee for the first time. the world cup was obviously deeply

disappointing but sport is great in the fact that there is always something else to set your mind on and refocus and that is what we want to do. no doubt that this autumn series, we want to go out there and win the series. justin rose is in a great position going into the second round of the world tour championships. play in the second round is already underway in dubai. rose is one of the last out at around ten to nine. the englishman is one off the lead. in his first round. this eagle from the bunker helping him to six under par in his first round. patrick reed of the usa leads. now it's ourjob as journalists, to ask the right questions, but we also need thick skins for when there'a a back lash. how about facing the angriest manager ever, algeria's head coach, rabah madjer? when a journalist asked about the team's performance

after a victory, the coach decided to answer on behalf of leicester city's riyad mahrez. well. there is some history of isn't there? it got personal. i love how he fired up and then moved on. next question, please. it is like that monty python sketch, the punchline, don't ask them about the dirty fork. i will tell you about my worst experience later on. as we've been hearing, the zimbabwean president robert mugabe is thought to be resisting attempts to have his four—decade rule overthrown, despite being placed under house arrest on wednesday. let's talk now to richard dowden, a former director of the royal african society. thank you for your time, richard. could you briefly some of you think the situation is as it stands now? i know it is not clear by any means. the situation is as it stands now? i know it is not clear by any meanslj think

know it is not clear by any means.” think one of the most significant things is that the army is not trying to take over. it is trying to hold the ring while mugabe leaves and a new president comes in. i think that is very significant. there has been very little violence. people are going to work as usual, well, not today, but they did yesterday. there is an atmosphere of calm. i think that is important. the problem is that he is saying, no, i wa nt to problem is that he is saying, no, i want to finish, at the very least i wa nt to want to finish, at the very least i want to finish, at the very least i want to finish my presidential term, which will end in three months. then they will be the party congress and elections. the other question is, what then happens to grace? we have heard nothing about her in the last four hours, really, and she wasn't pa rt four hours, really, and she wasn't part of those talks, which included people from south africa and all the key players. and his father, his co nfessor, key players. and his father, his confessor, mugabe is a catholic, and his father has been close to him all

this time. he was there in the room as well. there is terrific pressure being put on him to step down. but he is saying, no, i want to do it by the book and complete my term. possibly we can show one of the images you are referring to there. the polite perplexed by this, this curious meeting of the military commanders who are now in charge, would the man who is under house arrest, robert mugabe. —— people are pretty perplexed by this. talk us through the dynamics. this is the army, and there is still be presidential guard, who have not moved yet. they are surrounded by the army. they'll know each other. but it turned nasty, that is the clash that would be the most disastrous one, the presidential guard and the army shooting at each other. but i don't think that is going to happen. i think it is a long process, where they are trying to find a way, and accommodating way

of removing him from power. i think the discussions will continue. i am told that this man drops off to sleep every quarter of an hour or so. it must eat quite difficult to keep upa so. it must eat quite difficult to keep up a pressured conversation with him. —— must be quite difficult. it is all still up for grabs. it is still very fluid. they may compromise and say, all right, you can be president, but you are not to make any speeches or anything. 0rto not to make any speeches or anything. or to say, not to make any speeches or anything. 0rto say, no, you not to make any speeches or anything. or to say, no, you have to retire gracefully and step aside. and richard, looking from the outside, it has a lot of coverage, what is happening in zimbabwe. it is a mixture of reasons, isn't it, partly historical because of our links with that country, and partly because of the fascination with mugabe himself. what is the significance in terms of mugabe ——

in terms of zimbabwe's place in the world, in terms of what happens next? i think shakespeare was alive today he would be writing this story. of that, there is no doubt. the whole zimbabwe story is so dramatic and so extraordinary that i think it'sjust grips dramatic and so extraordinary that i think it's just grips people. dramatic and so extraordinary that i think it'sjust grips people. from way, way back, from the 1960s, i can remember, this was rhodesia and it was a big issue. it was bigger than south africa, i think, over the whole period. so itjust a terrific drama. —— it isjust. it is not that important, in the grand scale, but i think it is significant for the whole of africa, which is now largely democratic, that here is the last of the great tyrants, and everybody is trying to push aside. i noticed that even the leader of the youth league, which are the most

militant supporters, they go around beating people up at rallies and things, their leader was making a grovelling apology and seen things we re grovelling apology and seen things were misunderstood and of course mugabe should leave. extraordinary twists and turns in this story, and i don't think it is over yet. richard, thank you. thank you very much for your insight. here's matt with a look at this morning's weather. a frosty start? it certainly is. a bit of a sparkle to your friday morning, courtesy of the widespread frost. much colder than this time yesterday. most places in england and wales either side of freezing. coldest of all in richmond, north yorkshire. but, as i say, quite widely. england and wales have the coldest conditions. cold in northern ireland and scotland, but the breeze has kept temperatures up. this is where we are most likely to

see showers, particularly in western and northern scotland. sleet and snow over the mountains. the chimes northwest england might have some passing showers through the day, but the day starts dry and sunny. —— the chance. there will be some areas of cloud drifting across the sunshine at times. showers keep going in northern and western scotland. the chilly breeze makes it feel colder. across the board just about all of you will have temperatures in single figures to take you through the day. tonight it turns cold quickly. showers keep going. blustery winds in scotland. that could be crucial for stargazers. that will pick between midnight and dawn. will disguise the clear enough? you'll probably want to view it rather than later. showers keep going in parts of scotla nd later. showers keep going in parts of scotland the router. notice the rain developing elsewhere in the second half of the night. the

clearest conditions in eastern scotland. away from towns and cities, this is where we are as likely to see a fog into tomorrow morning. not as cold tonight as the nightjust gone, but still it chilly start to the weekend. a lot more cloud on saturday. england and wales in particular has cloud pushing eastwards, bringing outbreaks of rain every now and again. not a washout. the dampers conditions in south wales and south—west england. further north and east, sunshine through the afternoon. in particular north—east england and scotland. we are still in the cold air and the cold air will be working its way southwards once again as we go through saturday night into sunday morning. still patchy rain towards the south—west. this is where the rain sits into sunday. it will try and push back on on sunday, but a very painful progress. all linked in with this weather front which we

think on sunday, depends how quickly it moves on, but the western half of the uk will see more cloud and made may be patchy rain. it will be fairly cold again next week. do you ever make business cards with your little 1's? sometimes. do you use glitter? we do, yes. you know what our next story is about? ido! a chain of nurseries has banned glitter for the a chain of nurseries has banned glitterfor the children a chain of nurseries has banned glitter for the children when they are making cards. the little particles are plastic and can do great damage to our marine life. we spoke to people doing their christmas shopping and asked if they agree that we should put a lid on using quitter. it is the first i've ever heard, that it it is the first i've ever heard, thatitis it is the first i've ever heard, that it is hurting the environment. but i know it makes an awful mess.

if they want to claim it isn't environmentally friendly, find a way of making friendly glitter. an alternative! i'm not a fan of glitter. i'm quite passionate about the environment, so if it does, and children will quickly learn to play with other things. you can get biodegradable glitter that isn't dangerous to the environment, or toxic. i know it gets everywhere, but that's part of the fun. pa rt part of the fun? 0r part of the fun? or is the environment more important? we're joined by harriet pacey from tops day nurseries which have banned their children from using glitter, as well as marine biologist alan kwan, who can explain the environmental impact. so banning glitter, that's quite a step. how have parents reacted? this is something that's very new. we only discovered this week that

litter is a micro— plastic and shares the same dangers as other micro plastics, so this is... we only found out about this on monday or tuesday this week, so everything is happening quickly. but we promote sustainable products and the second we found out that something we were using could potentially have such a detrimental impact on the environment, we had to talk about it. how did parents react? i'm not sure yet! the decision was taken in the last couple of days? yes. in our annual parent survey, 86.5% of our pa rent annual parent survey, 86.5% of our parent said that our sustainable vision as a company is something that's really important to them, so based on that i can imagine that yes initially it will be like other what? that i think they will be behind us. take us through some of the science on this, because they've just become aware and there's been

campaigning about this. blue planet has been touring attention to the things they've been finding in our oceans. micro plastics have been around for a long time. there's been around for a long time. there's been a recent focus of the environmental impact on different things and that's come to light. micro plastics are so that's come to light. micro plastics are so small. we wash down the sink and we don't know where it goes. it goes straight into the ocean sometimes. and it doesn't break down? it doesn't. itjust days as it is for a long time and as it fixed down other animals might eat it and it becomes part of their bodies. so small fish and organisms will eat it and make it into part of the food chain and it can be passed on. of course i'm not sure where the awareness came from. how was course i'm not sure where the awareness came from. how was it that you came to be aware of this?

scientists have been preaching this message for some time. what brought your nursery‘s attention to it? message for some time. what brought your nursery's attention to it? our managing director is doing a sustainable leadership course through the university of cambridge, postgrad. 0n through the university of cambridge, postgrad. on this course she is getting loads of information and this is something that happened to come up through the course of her doing the study. she was a huge champion of sustainable living and we are in a key position in the sector we are to positively influence the next generation. are you going to ban straws? that's another thing. that's something we already don't use. as a nursery chain we have a lot of sustainable effo rts chain we have a lot of sustainable efforts already. we don't use of single use plastic, straws, balloons, single use water bottles. these are other things. there have been pictures of totals with straws in their nose. it is distressing to hear that these kinds of things are

happening and it's great to know nurseries are doing things like this. how much is down there at the moment? a lot. a lot of plastic. some of the plastic is floating at the top of the ocean. what we don't see is what sinks to the bottom of the sea, as we don't have the capability to research that deep in the ocean. it's very interesting and it will be food for thought. the youngsters will think about it more asa youngsters will think about it more as a result. thank you very much. it makes you think of your own christmas cards. do you normally use a lot of glitter? i don't make my cards any more but i will —— would buy them with glitter, but now will think twice. let's tell you about a biscuit. it was, quite literally, the perfect gift to sweeten the heartache of a mother missing her son at war. a treasured memento has now gone on display in a museum as the national archives start

a campaign to get more of us involved in researching our own history. for many of us this is the archive, the loft, covered or a set of shelves where we tend to put family stuff away and then forget about it. but what if amongst all these objects there was something which told a bigger story about a family member who perhaps took off on a journey to something extraordinary? this isjeremy collingwood. an object he found that home is now a star exhibit in redding museum. it looks like an ordinary friend photo of his grandfather but the frame is a biscuit. redding used to be home to one of the most famous names in biscuit making. during the first world war, he provided what looked like solid snacks for the proof —— troops. so solid that some soldiers carved them and send them home as gifts. in the draw at home was this i suppose keepsake that mom really

like. it was of her father and he sent it back to her mother to say how much he loved her. look at that picture. the scariness in his eyes, the worry and concern, but he wanted to show his mother he was all right. it connects in a really humid way. if you are following a trail you might well end up here. the national archives story, 11 million paper records going back 1000 years. archives story, 11 million paper records going back 1000 yearsm you are records going back 1000 yearsm you a re interested records going back 1000 yearsm you are interested in your own personal history, in community history or the history of your place, there are records therefore you and they can make a real difference to people ‘s lives. importantly difference to people ‘s lives. importa ntly archives have difference to people ‘s lives. importantly archives have to be used usefully. every day hundreds of documents are brought from 2.5 kilometres of shelving, allred as digital copies. what we have here is a spy digital copies. what we have here is a spy story from the first world war. the file contains the case and

the evidence that is collected against him, including a number of letters. you will see across the top what he has written is what he wa nted what he has written is what he wanted you to see. what is involved is that which was hidden by the secret or invisible ink. if you scan through the file, you will even find the lemon he used to write those letters. this is an example of the file relating suffrage women's rights and this is the case of a woman called hilda and she was one of the first women to be forcibly fed in prison. she talks about how she's willing to give her life if needed. it's a really great example of one of the personal stories that we have at the archives. from tomorrow, archives nationwide will be asking us to get involved and explore this amazing places. who knows? the next great discovery could be yours. isn't it fascinating? you wonder

what things will emerge. some of them will be of interest and some of them will be of interest and some of them worked. sometimes the delight is just on the ordinary things. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news. universities in london are raking in millions of pounds in student library fines. figures obtained by the bbc show 21 universities in the capital made more than £3 million over the past three years. king's couege over the past three years. king's college london tops the list. the national union of students has criticised the system, saying it isn't workable for students or universities. tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the king's cross fire. 31 people, including a firefighter, died when a smoker dropped a match into the steps of a wooden escalator that led from the piccadilly line to the ticket hall of the underground station.

it had devastating consequences. sophie's brother died in the fire and he was 25. you try to find out information. usually the first thing is, how did he die? that's the first thing you want to know. was he burnt ordid he thing you want to know. was he burnt or did he suffocate? was he close to the exit? was he actually caught in a fireball? that's the first thing you ask yourself. it's children in need this evening and and pudsey bear isjoining us at warner brothers studio tour in hertfordshire. every year hundreds of charities are helped by the money you donate. charities like the rewind project at the lyric theatre, in hammersmith. it helps young people at risk of exclusion from school through drama. stu d e nts students write, direct and performed a play based on their own life experiences. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there's a good service on the tubes this morning. all

on the tubes this morning. lines currently running 1 service. 0n the roads, a collision on the a13 at the canning town flyover is adding to delays heading into town. very slow. 0n the a23 brixton road northbound, one lane is closed at the brixton police station. traffic lights for gas main work. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. it's a cold and frosty start to the day, but it will be a very pretty day of weather, with lots of blue sky and sparkling sunshine around. just all the while feeling chilly. you may find yourself scraping the windscreen early. shallow mist patches. temperatures away from towns, just below freezing in many areas. we get off to a nice sunny start and we keep the sunshine for much of the day. a bit more in the way of high cloud through the afternoon. the winds are light and temperatures lower than yesterday by quite some distance, between 8—10 degrees in central london. through this evening temperatures will drop away quite quickly. it will feel cold particularly at first and there will be a patchy

frost developing into tomorrow morning because we've got more cloud spreading in from the west times. many temperatures staying 3—4 into tomorrow. tomorrow, not as good. it will be quite a cold day and we have lots of cloud around. we're still in the colder air. we could have light and patchy rain and drizzle, but not amounting to much. most places staying dry but rather cloudy. and we remain in the cold air on sunday too, but a much nicer day. blue sky and sunshine. turning milderfor the start of next week. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. a promise from detectives to investigate every avenue in the case of missing teenager gaia pope. police are questioning a man on suspicion of the murder of the 19—year—old. searches continue as her father speaks of the strain on his family. it is about the toughest thing we can go through. the family know she will be found. until we don't know that. so we have every hope,

every minute that goes by, that we still have hope. good morning. it's friday, 17th november. also this morning — as she arrives in sweden to meet eu leaders, theresa may is warned there's no guarantee that talks on a post—brexit trade deal will start next month. first electric cars, now electric lorries. a battery—powered truck is launched in california — the makers say it can go 500 miles on a single charge. link good morning. 0ur commuting time is getting longer, and we are travelling further than ever to get to work. why, and what does it mean for passengers? i am at one of the busy stations in the country this morning to find out. in sport, england's

women need 20/20 vision. it's crunch time down under, and if they lose this morning's 20—over match, the ashes will be back in the hands of australia. and how the lost art of letter writing is being reintroduced to the next generation. you get to ask all the questions you really want, and most of the time they answer them. and matt has the weather. hello. i am sure there will be a future we postman delivering those letters today. a frosty start for the whole uk this morning, but lots of sunshine to come with it. i have got the full forecast in the next 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story. police investigating the disappearance of a teenager in dorset are continuing to question a man arrested yesterday on suspicion of her murder. 19—year—old gaia pope was last seen in swanage 10 days ago. the 49—year—old suspect is believed to be known to gaia. 0ur reporter ian palmer has more. gaia pope went missing ten days ago. clothes similar to the ones the teenager was wearing when she disappeared were found yesterday in coastal fields. the area was sealed off by police.

0fficers searched the scene in an attempt to discover what happened to the missing 19—year—old. we are continuing to investigate whether gaia has come to harm through an act of crime, or whether she is missing, and we will continue to do so. gaia lives in a village near swanage. she was last seen in morrison road by a family friend. a little bit later she was captured on camera in a petrol station buying ice cream. two people were arrested and released pending further enquiries. yesterday, in a country park, some clothing was found by a member of the public. ms pope has severe epilepsy and needs regular medication. her family say she likes being at home and her absence is hard to bear. mum and younger sister maya are basically holed up in the house, trying to keep away from upsetting conversations, keep away from social media, keep away from the stuff which has been in the press, parts of the press, which has been extremely distressing

for the family. they are just trying to look after each other. the man being questioned on suspicion of murder by police has been identified by his father as paul elsey, who is 49 and lives in the swanage area. he is the third person to be arrested. earlier this week police released cctv footage of gaia passing through a street in the town. police divers and investigating officers will continue the search for gaia this morning. 0ur correspondentjames ingham is in swanage. james, are the police any closer to finding out what happened on the day gaia went missing? those searches are ongoing? that's right. at first light this morning, searches will resume here along coastal footpaths close to swanage

and in the hills surrounding the town. that has been going on for a number of days, including yesterday, after clothing was found by a member of the public who was on a footpath which is believed to match that which is believed to match that which gaia was wearing when she went missing. police say they are still investigating every avenue open to them today. that includes the possibility that she may still be alive but is missing, it clearly they have reason to believe she may have come to harm and been killed. they have now questioned three people, all from the same family, on suspicion of murder. two have been released but this 49er all remains in custody this morning and is being questioned. —— 49—year—old. the community has really come together to help her family. community has really come together to help herfamily. they have been involved in searches, they have put up involved in searches, they have put up missing posters, and that is something that has comforted her family as her father richard told us yesterday. the family know she will be found. until we don't know that.

so we have every hope, every minute that goes by, you know, we still have hope. that search for gaia continues at first light. in a few minutes, coastguard teams, rescue teams, will continue to search the coastline here. the president of the european council, donald tusk, is expected to demand more clarity on how the uk plans to settle the first phase of brexit negotiations, when he meets theresa may in the swedish city of gothenburg later today. 0ur political correspondent leila nathoojoins us now from westminster, leila, what will the prime minister be hoping to achieve from this meeting? well, theresa may has another channel open, if you like, with donald tusk, the president of the european council. he is a key player but he is not the person who decides whether talks move on to trade. that

is the preserve of eu leaders. the eu leaders will meet in decemberfor a crucial summit. we are already behind, we had hoped talks would move on to trade in october but there is a crucial eu summit in a few weeks time in december, so theresa may is meeting donald tusk ahead of that to try to talk about this idea that progress has been made on settling the three issues, theissue made on settling the three issues, the issue of the northern irish border, the issue of eu citizens, and crucially, the divorce bill. i don't think she is going to hear what she wants to hear from donald tusk today. he is expected to warn her that it is not a given that the eu leaders will agree to move the talks on to trade in december. but there has in more demand from the eu side for clarity from britain over the divorce ill, the financial settle m e nt the divorce ill, the financial settlement that we will have to put on the table to leave the eu. —— divorce bill. david davis, the brexit secretary, was giving a speech in berlin last night. he refused to put any more numbers on

the divorce bill. instead, he wants to insist on talking about the future relationship, and he maintained that britain and the eu would strike at the spoke trading deal. —— strike a bespoke trading deal. we will strike a deal that allows for the free trade in goods and services. we recognise that brexit means things will change, but takes account of our unique starting point is the basis for a new order.” think, withjust weeks is the basis for a new order.” think, with just weeks to go, really, until this crucial december summit, the government, theresa may, david davis, brexit officials, will all be doing all they can behind the scenes to persuade the eu side that in progress has been made on these initial issues to move those talks on to future trading relationship. —— on to our. on to future trading relationship.

-- on to our. more than 1 million credit card users who are struggling financially have had their credit limits raised in the last year without being asked. a charity wants the chancellor to ban increases which have not been in —— not been requested. card companies say they have agreed to abide by voluntary code of conduct to protect customers. the hollywood actor sylvester stallone has denied allegations he and his bodyguard sexually assaulted a teenage fan more than 30 years ago. the woman says he threatened to beat her if she went public with what happened, but the actor's spokesperson has called the claims "ridiculous and categorically false." conservationists in the united states have strongly criticised a decision by president trump to end a ban on importing body parts from elephants hunted in zimbabwe and zambia. a federal government agency said imports could resume today for elephants that are legally hunted. the us fish and wildlife service said hunting fees could help communities put money into conservation but experts say

that populations of african elephants are plummeting. zimbabwe's president robert mugabe is refusing to step down immediately despite calls for his resignation. the 93—year—old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on wednesday. ben brown is in zimbabwe for us this morning. this is a confused picture, not helped much by some of those images that have emerged of those meetings between robert mugabe and those military leaders? yes, extraordinary pictures, really, when you think about it. there has been a military takeover, a coup d'etat, whatever you want to call it. robert mugabe is under house arrest, the prisoner of the army. there you have pictures of the army. there you have pictures of the army. there you have pictures of the head of the army, general chiwenga, sitting side by side with robert mugabe, smiling and shaking his hand. they have been speaking and having conversations with south african mediators. there are two was blatt comes from those talks. 0ne

african mediators. there are two was blatt comes from those talks. one is that mugabe somehow tries to klingon to power. you wouldn't think he has too many cards to play, being under house arrest. the more likely scenario is that he negotiates a kind of dignified, or what he would see as a dignified, stepping down from power. he could get guarantees from power. he could get guarantees from the army about the safety of himself and his family, and then hand over to a kind of transitional government, which would be led by his former vice president, who is the favoured candidate of the army. and also, significantly, by morgan tsvangirai from the ndc, the opposition movement, who would come in as prime minister. that seems to be the most likely scenario. i'm not sure how much chance you had to gauge the atmosphere there, with how people are responding. how can you tell us about that? yes, we have been speaking to people here in zimbabwe. and actually, at the moment, they are very happy that it looks like change is coming. they

are not euphoric, they are still waiting to see what the outcome is. mugabe has been in powerfor 37 yea rs mugabe has been in powerfor 37 years and nobody is betting against him somehow clinging on to power. at the same time, this is a country which has suffered political repression, economic disaster, and at one stage, hype inflation of 79 billion %. many people left this country to go to south africa because the economy here is such a disaster. they want change and to have changes now coming. —— they hope change is now coming. the electric car maker, tesla, has unveiled the prototype of a new articulated lorry. the lorry, also known as a semi—trailer, can travel for 500 miles on a single charge, according to the company's chief executive elon musk. the company has also revealed what it says will be the fastest production car ever made. the chancellor is under growing pressure to do something big and bold about housing in next week's budget. this morning a national

infrastructure commission, a group set up to advise the government on road and rail spending, would forward plans for the creation of! million new homes in the next 30 yea rs, million new homes in the next 30 years, ina million new homes in the next 30 years, in a corridor stretching from 0xford to cambridge. the area is home to 3.3 million people. and some of our most productive and fast—growing cities. the area currently generates around £90 billion a year for the uk economy. but today's report warns that without a clear plan for infrastructure the area could be left behind by international competitors. joining me now is the chair of the commission lord adonis. thank you very much forjoining us. tell us about why this part of the country is so important and why the money should be going there when in fa ct money should be going there when in fact it is quite a wealthy area in comparison to many other parts of the country? well, there is a big concentration of high—value jobs in the area we are talking about. the brain belts between 0xford, milton keynes and cambridge. and this move

is the centre of the gravity of the country nor from london. is the centre of the gravity of the country norfrom london. 0ne is the centre of the gravity of the country norfrom london. one of is the centre of the gravity of the country nor from london. one of the debates we are having as a country is that the south—east and london get all the investment and attention. milton keynes is exactly midway between london and birmingham, and oxford and cambridge looked north as well as south. in the case of cambridge, out to east anglia, which is not a particularly rich part of the country. so this is great forever and what it. it will be great tojobs, great forever and what it. it will be great to jobs, great for some of the best universities in the world. and great for all the families that live in this corridor, between cambridge and milton keynes, who find it increasingly difficult for their children to get on the housing ladder, which is why we need more homes, better transport links, because the deal with the local authorities is that better transport, enabling people to get into thejobs in transport, enabling people to get into the jobs in the cities, well, they will be much easier for communities to expand and new towns to be established, especially railways, so we do not call up the roads. they used to be a railway line between 0xford roads. they used to be a railway line between oxford and milton keynes and cambridge, and ironically

it was closed in the same year, 1967, as milton keynes was founded asa 1967, as milton keynes was founded as a new town. we are proposing that should be reinstated with fast, efficient, clean, green trains. and i think this is a win—win situation. does this involve building on the green belt? the housing will predominately been in existing expanding towns. so we are talking about the parts of the corridor, 0xford, milton keynes, bedford, cambridge, which are right for expansion where local authorities wa nt to expansion where local authorities want to expand. so this will be done ina court want to expand. so this will be done in a court —— cooperative way and not ina in a court —— cooperative way and not in a way that will cause environmental damage. yes or no on the green belt? it isn't. at the moment it is possible to build on parts of the green belt where there is an exceptional case for it. there is an exceptional case for it. there isa is an exceptional case for it. there is a procedure whereby local authorities can democratically decide that they want to do that and

then the government agrees. what i think that focus, —— process is the right one and that's the way to handle developments in the green belt. if touched upon it slightly with the rail link you mentioned. the tuc says the average commute is now five minutes longer than a decade ago and there's a lot of discussion about how workers can better utilise their time. how is this going to be fixed in terms of what you are planning for the region? there are huge numbers of jobs in this region and enabling people to get into them without having to leave ever—increasing difference away because of the cost of housing is very important. if you ta ke of housing is very important. if you take the new railway line, a very successful town midway between 0xford successful town midway between oxford and milton keynes is only 15 minutes from oxford by train. trying to get there by car could be a nightmare because the roads are congested and that's why the deal with the local authorities, which we are proposing, is that there should bea are proposing, is that there should be a transformation in the rail

connections between the towns on this corridor, in return for more housing. that will allow people to commute without these long traffic jams, or having to deliver the further away. it would be silly not to talk to you about brexit at the moment. the recent may is under pressure to pack down —— rack down from setting the final exit date for leaving the eu. do you think the date should be enshrined in law, to offer clarity? i don't. ithink date should be enshrined in law, to offer clarity? i don't. i think the government needs flexibility. i'm delighted that the pm is meeting the president of the be in council and i hope they make progress. we need to get onto the substance of the negotiations over trade and i hope we can make an efficient agreement on the three preliminary issues, the budget contribution, the irish board and the status of eu citizens who live in britain. what the country

now needs to see is the shape of the final deal and then we can make a judgement as to whether it's better to stay in or to take those terms and we wish the prime minister well. brexit is on its way and you've been criticised by many of your peers, accused of being treacherous almost with your meeting with michel barnier, where you were accompanied by nick clegg. david davis has said today or recently, do not put politics above prosperity. can you abide by that? i completely agree with that. let me be the —— be clear. i was only listening to what michel barnier‘s position was on these negotiations. 0bviously michel barnier‘s position was on these negotiations. obviously it's a job that the prime minister and david davis are negotiating on and we wish them well. it is very important, which is why the report todayis important, which is why the report today is so crucial, that while we do brexit we don't take our eye off the ball of the big things that matters. there is nothing more important at the moment than getting

the homes built that people need. there aren't enough of them and they need to be in places where the jobs are. there's nowhere where the jobs are. there's nowhere where the jobs are more high—value than in oxford, cambridge, milton keynes and i am delighted that the chancellor, whose budget is next week, has been receptive to ideas in the past and i hope he will be very constructive in his response next week. thanks for joining us. time to get the weather forecast. it is children in need day. have you got a pudsey lurking? yes and there will be a few years shipping away this friday. widespread frost across many parts of england and wales in particular. this is where the lowest temperatures are to start the day. _3’ temperatures are to start the day. —3, 4! temperatures are to start the day. —3, —4 for quite a few across the midlands. while temperatures further

north are not quite as low, it is called, thanks to the breeze. further showers this morning. the odd heavy one, hail and thunder, sleet and snow to higher ground. p diddyjowett of the north of northern ireland. there could be a shower in the north—west of england. away from these areas most start frosty, a very sunny. a lot of sunshine to come. a bit of cloud here and there, especially in the north and west. drifting across in a breeze. temperatures down on what we saw. 15 degrees for some. barely into double figures in many parts. that leads us into a chilly commute home. showers continue across northern and western scotland, with the strong breeze. tonight, sta rgazers the strong breeze. tonight, stargazers may be interested in the clear skies. we have a meatier shower peaking between midnight and dawn. a wobbly bests to be viewed earlier on. notice how cloud starts to increase from the west. there

will be outbreaks of rain and showers overnight in scotland are spreading into northern england. notice is on parts of scotland and east of england is where temperatures in rural areas will drop the furthest. not as cold as last night, but we still have temperatures cold enough for a total frost to stop the weekend. a cold stuff wherever you are for the weekend. a lot more cloud in parts of western england and wales. a few in scotland. in wales, the midlands, southern england, holding onto more cloud tomorrow. 0ccasional rain. the damnedest conditions in the south—west, but here temperatures could creep back into double figures. foremost, sunshine or cloud, temperatures in single figures and that will lead us into chilly night again. holding on to a bit more cloud and some mild air towards the south—west corner of the country and that mild air will try to edge back in on sunday, but as

low and painful progress. —— slow. cold air is running down the western flank. that will dominate. a chilly breeze on eastern coasts. lots of sunshine. clouding over in the west with patchy rain. temperatures they lived later. at the moment it looks like sunday will remain dry and bright for many. that's how it's looking. thank you. for a generation of children used to tablets, emojis and instant messaging, hand written letters might seem like something consigned to the history books. but teachers at one primary school think pupils are missing out by not putting pen to paper, the way their grandparents did. so the school in kidderminster has teamed up with two local care homes to launch an inter—generational pen pal scheme between children and residents. 0ur reporter emma jane kirby has been to find out more. we have got some exciting posts today. what do you think it might be? the today. what do you think it might be ? the letters!

today. what do you think it might be? the letters! the penpal letters. the poet —— postman has been at the school in kidderminster and they are eager to find out what their penpals have to say. the jazmine. thank you so have to say. the jazmine. thank you so much for your very lovely and well—written letter. so much for your very lovely and well-written letter. most of the children have never received a letter before. let alone a written one. but thanks to a scheme linking them to a local care home, they are now old hand at it. we believe the art of letter writing is lost, we are encouraging children to write for a real purpose, beyond a simple snapchat or text message. above that we wa nt snapchat or text message. above that we want to engage with the community because we believe as a school that something we are passionate about. and the considerable age gap between the correspondence doesn't to be a problem. you get to listen to what places they've been to and what they've been doing and the cheeky stuff that they've done. you get to ask all the questions you really wa nt ask all the questions you really want and most of the time they

answerthem. want and most of the time they answer them. this project is about so answer them. this project is about so much more thanjust answer them. this project is about so much more than just teaching a generation of children raised on e—mails how to write ugly set out letters. the pupils are now finding out about their penpals, where they lived, what they did as children. —— properly set out letters. it's about forging friendships across the generations. i've got a letter from the school from one of your penpals, called tilly. shall i read it to you? they are lovely, those kids. at the care home, the children's letters are equally well received. many of the residents have dementia and staff help them to read their mailand and staff help them to read their mail and draft replies. reese asks, what was your favourite trip? weston—super—mare. what was your favourite trip? weston-super-mare. one lady couldn't believe that children wanted to know about her and her life. she started crying, but she was crying happy tea rs crying, but she was crying happy tears at the thought that someone wa nted tears at the thought that someone wanted to know about her. has

eve ryo ne wanted to know about her. has everyone got a place that their penpal is visiting? for now the children are finding out as much as they can about their penpals, and just before christmas the letter writers will meet face—to—face. what a great idea. wasn't it wonderful seeing the reactions from some of the people in care homes. the children as well. it's engaging their curiosity. fabulous. still to come: it's the 30 minute musical that's been written by students in just five days — and it's all for children in need. 0ur reporter holly hamilton is watching rehearsals this morning. good morning! good morning. as it can imagine the final preparations arejust can imagine the final preparations are just getting under way. can imagine the final preparations arejust getting under way. all hands are on deck, including mine. i will get back to it! this is the all singing, all dancing at all for a good cause. it is children in need: the musical. it has probably taken

yea rs the musical. it has probably taken years to get together —— unlike others that probably take years, this has taken only five days to put together. they are rehearsing and putting the final bids together. but where do you begin to get a musical done? written, choreographed, produced, to get something like this? i have to say, it's all for a good cause and the performance will be tonight in front of thousands of people. the pressure is on! i will ask them later how difficult that is and what they are needing to do to get all of this together in just one week. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news. universities in london are raking in millions of pounds in student library fines. figures obtained by the bbc show that 21 universities in the capital made more than £3 million over

the past three academic years. king's college london tops the list. the national union of students has criticised the system, saying it isn't workable for students or universities. tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of the king's cross fire. -- 30th. 31 people, including a firefighter, died when a smoker dropped a match into the steps of a wooden escalator that led from the piccadilly line to the ticket hall of the underground station. what was originally a small fire suddenly erupted with explosive force and have devastating consequences. there was nowhere to go. when we were down in that tunnel, in that walkway, the heat was so intense, you couldn't... you wanted to get out and run. you couldn't. it wouldn't have been worth standing up. all you could do was just get down as close to the floor as you could and just wait for the worst to pass. it's children in need this evening and and pudsey bear isjoining us at warner brothers studio tour in hertfordshire.

every year hundreds of charities are helped by the money you donate. charities like the rewind project at the lyric theatre, in hammersmith. it helps young people at risk of exclusion from school through drama. students write, direct and perform a play based on their own life experiences. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there's a mostly good service on the tubes this morning. the on the tubes this morning. district line has severe 0n the district line has severe delays. 0n the roads, a collision at the a13 on the canning town flyover. and that the a40 a water main has burst. there are queues back to the memorial. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. it's a cold and frosty start to the day, but it will be a very pretty day of weather, with lots of blue sky and sparkling sunshine around. just all the while feeling chilly. you may find yourself scraping the windscreen early. shallow mist patches. temperatures away from towns, just below freezing in many areas. we get off to a nice sunny start

and we keep the sunshine for much of the day. a bit more in the way of high cloud through the afternoon. the winds are light and temperatures lower than yesterday by quite some distance, between 8—10 degrees in central london. through this evening temperatures will drop away quite quickly. it will feel cold particularly at first and there will be a patchy frost developing into tomorrow morning because we've got more cloud spreading in from the west times. many temperatures staying 3—4 into tomorrow. tomorrow, not as good. it will be quite a cold day and we have lots of cloud around. we're still in the colder air. we could see a few outbreaks of light and patchy rain and drizzle, but not amounting to much. most places staying dry, but rather cloudy. and we remain in the cold air on sunday too, but a much nicer day. blue sky and sunshine. turning milderfor the start of next week. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. plenty more on our website

at the usual address. bye for now. the president of the european council, donald tusk, is expected to demand more clarity on how the uk plans to settle the first phase of brexit negotiations, when he meets theresa may in sweden today. the prime minister will hold meetings on the sidelines of an eu summit, to try to secure an agreement to start talks next month about a post—brexit trade deal. last night, the brexit secretary, david davis, urged eu leaders not to put politics above prosperity, but it's thought mr tusk will warn mrs may that time is of the essence. more than one million credit card users, who are struggling financially, have had their credit limits raised in the last year without being asked, according to the charity citizens' advice. it wants the chancellor to ban increases which haven't been requested in his budget next week. card companies say they've agreed to abide by a voluntary code of conduct to protect customers. the pay packages of senior police officers have been published in a central database for the first time. figures for 261 officers up to the rank of chief constable, reveal wide variations. some receive thousands of pounds in benefits, a small number claim large sums in expenses and others are paid nothing but a salary.

the figures have been published by the home office as part of an attempt to increase transparency across forces in england and wales. zimbabwe's president, robert mugabe, is reportedly refusing to step down immediately, despite growing calls for his resignation. the 93—year—old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on wednesday amid a power struggle over who would succeed him. yesterday he met the head of army but the outcome of the talks is not yet clear. the hollywood actor sylvester stallone has denied allegations he and his bodyguard sexually assaulted a teenage fan more than 30 years ago. the woman says he threatened to beat her if she went public with what happened, but the actor's spokesperson has called the claims "ridiculous and categorically false." conservationists in the united states have strongly criticised a decision by president trump to end a ban on importing body parts from elephants hunted in zimbabwe and zambia. a federal government agency said imports could resume today for elephants that are legally hunted. the us fish and wildlife service said hunting fees could help communities put money into conservation but experts say that populations of african elephants are plummeting.

the electric car maker tesla has unveiled a prototype of a new articulated lorry, also known as a semitrailer. it can travel for 500 miles on a single charge. according to the chief executive, the company has also revealed what it says will be the fastest production car ever made. a british explorer who went missing ina a british explorer who went missing in a remote jungle and a british explorer who went missing in a remotejungle and papua new guinea will be rescued later today. an addict alan didn't take any means of mitigation with him when he entered the jungle in october. of mitigation with him when he entered thejungle in october. —— benedict allen. yesterday on practice we were speaking to frank gardner, atsic at a correspondent, and he said he had heard he had been located. —— our security correspondent. we now know that benedict was found nearer at airstrip, being looked after by christian missionaries working with local tribes. it is 7:33am. here is

a tale of bravery for you. a military dog who helped save the lives of troops in afghanistan is being awarded the animal equivalent of the victoria cross. this is mali, and she will be receiving be dickin medal after being seriously injured ina medal after being seriously injured in a couple in 2012. despite his injuries, he kept performing his duties, but eventually had to be carried to safety himself. now, mike, you've worked with some animals? pidgins mostly get the dickin medal. they hold the record. 32 pidgins have got the medal, for the bravery they show during the second world war. —— pigeons. $18, three horses in the cat named simon, who survived a cannon attack on a ship when he was serving with the navy. —— ship when he was serving with the navy. — — 18 ship when he was serving with the navy. —— 18 dogs. he cheered all the crew up by getting wood of rats on board. if you ever get the chance, go to museum celebrates all these animals. it is in bletchley. now, we

are building up to a big moment for in an's women. at least they know what i have to do. they have to when the next 3t20 matches. otherwise that little earner containing the ashes stays with australia. —— urn. at least the maths is simple for england's women. they can't afford to lose any of their remaing games in their ashes series. australia are smelling victory, 6—4 up, going into the trio of twenty20 matches that will decide this series. andy swiss is in sydney. so the equation is simple for england? they know they have to win? that's right. welcome to the north sydney oval, where they have just opened the turnstiles. we are expect in a decent crowd. anti— australian families coming on after school, after work, no doubt encouraged by the fact that, no doubt, if australian win this match, they will retain the ashes. —— plenty of australian families coming. realistically, england have to when all three of the remaining games,

including tonight. there are some thunderstorms brewing in sydney and if this match were a washout, hopes would still be alive, but they would need to win the remaining two games. so however you look at it, it is a tall order. england can take some encouragement from the fact that they are the world champions. they won the world cup in england in the summer. won the world cup in england in the summer. the captain, had arise, has spoken about how she is approaching these remaining games as a quarter—final, semi—final and a final. it is effectively knockout cricket as far as england are concerned. they can also taking courage than from how they battled so courage than from how they battled so hard at this ground on the weekend to secure a draw in the one—off test match when they went into the final day under so much pressure. it was an impressive display from them on the final day. but to win the ashes from this position would be some achievement. play is due to get under way in just over half an hour. this is a match that england simply have to win. andy, thank you. and you can follow it from eight o'clock on radio 5

live sports extra. and on the bbc sport website. meanwhile, australia have named their squad for the first two ashes tests early and handed a surprise call—up to wicketkeeper tim paine for the first test. the 32—year—old, who has not been keeping for state side tasmania, last played a test in 2010. england's batsmen hit form in that final warmup match, bowled out the 515. in reply, england took three wickets, moeen ali with two. captain joe root with the catch. clean bowling from moeen ali, taking out rhein gibson. england lead by 144 ru ns rhein gibson. england lead by 144 runs ahead of tomorrow's final day. now, we know, three out of the four semi—finalists, at the world tour finals in london — the last place will go to either, dominic thiem or david goffin — they meet today. young american jack sock was the star man last night in reaching the last four. he beat alexander zverev at the o2 arena after nearly two hours on court. roger federer, was already into the last four, but made it three wins out of three

by beating marin chilich. it was a repeat of the wimbledon final, which federer also won. the swiss came from a set down, to win comfortably again. justin rose is in a great position going into the second round of the world tour championships. play in the second round is already underway in dubai. rose is one of the last out at around ten to nine. the englishman is one off the lead. this eagle from the bunker helping him to six under par in his first round. patrick reed of the usa leads. now it's ourjob as journalists, to ask the right questions, but we also need thick skins for when there'a a back lash. how about facing the angriest manager ever, algeria's head coach, rabah madjer? when a journalist asked about the team's performance after a victory, the coach decided to answer on behalf of leicester city's riyad mahrez. who would dare ask the next question? what did you have for lunch? something you just like that? he seems to like everybody else.” like the way he kicks off so

massively common than just adjust his suit and says, next question. that can happen. they can switch like that. haven't you dealt with tricky customers? i once asked sir alex ferguson for an interview, when i was covering redding. i was declined. and when i was working in news, paddy ashdown, the liberal democrat leader, worked out of an interview because he thought i asked a stupid question. which was a stupid question, probably. that was on the isle of wight ahead of the 1992 election. hejust on the isle of wight ahead of the 1992 election. he just said, that was stupid, and in that? yes, it was the editor who told me to ask it. what was the question? something about, why did you come to the isle of wight, to prove a point? pity bland, but it touched a nerve. well, it certainly livens up a press conference, when that happens.” didn't get much of an interview, though. that's true. you want to walk out to come at the end. what about yours? you've got a couple, don't you? i've got one or two over the years, yes. some we can't talk

about. thanks, mike. it is 7:40am. the time we spend commuting to work is getting longer according to new figures. ben is at manchester city piccadilly station for us, picking up on tales of the commuters. it is not always easy, making those journeys. it is not. but i have in pleasantly surprised about all the stories we have been hearing this morning from people, explaining how they spent their time on the commute. we will be speaking about some of those a little bit later. you are right. new figures from the tuc this morning suggest our commuting time is getting longer and we are travelling further than ever just to and we are travelling further than everjust to get and we are travelling further than ever just to get to work. and we are travelling further than everjust to get to work. it means more of us are doing this sort of thing, spending time coming through stations just to get to the office every day. let's speak to two people who can probably shed some light on it. good morning to you both. why are we spending more time getting to work? i think there are three reasons. one is that people have to travel much further to find a good

job. we have seen an increase in precarious work. if people want a good, solid job, they precarious work. if people want a good, solidjob, they might precarious work. if people want a good, solid job, they might have to travel further for it. secondly, there are issues about transport and congestion on roads and trains and buses. thirdly, the cost of housing. often people cannot afford to live where they work. they are making their commutes much longer. speaking of those commutes, on the trains, it is part of yourjob to make sure the right trains are running in the right trains are running in the right place at the right time, and there is enough seats. many people would say, it would be great, i could work on the train if i couldn't sit down. why can't more people sit down? there is huge demand for rail travel and what we are doing is investing to create more capacity. across the network we are investing. we are investing £130 million nationwide every week. in the south we have the projects lack the south we have the projects lack the thameslink project, providing more capacity, more seats, the waterloo upgrade, and here in the north we have the great north rail project, adding 40,000 extra seats by 2020. interesting you talk about

the south of this is the law. there is still able to criticism that there is not in a trance bought in there is not in a trance bought in the north of the country. the northern powerhouse sounds good in theory but nothing has really happened. that is not right. we are making huge investments in the law. where we are standing here at manchester piccadilly, we are upgrading the line to preston. we are upgrading the line to liverpool. faster trains, electric are upgrading the line to liverpool. fastertrains, electric trains, we now have an electric service between here and liverpool. on the route out towards black will, we have just started a big blockade of outline. we are investing 1008 and every person in the town of black will. —— £1800 for each and every person. person in the town of black will. —— £1800 for each and every personm that enough? we have spoken about the reasons, and some things we can't change, like the affordability of housing or getting the rightjob. this takes its toll on people's stress levels? yes. we have seen over a third of people now, 3 million workers have to hours every day on their commutes. that places additional pressure on them and

sexting 's hyperactivity. we would like to see employers doing their bit to make work more flexible. we would like to be able to start and finish at different times and perhaps work at home where is possible. we also need more investment on good jobs, in local places, andre transport infrastructure. one of the things that will cause a lot of stress for people is the cost of commuting, going up once again injanuary. what reassures that people have, they are going to have to travel further to get to work, but it is going to cost them all to do so? we've been doing lots and lots to improve efficiency. for us at network rail, we have reduced the amounts that the cost of infrastructure per train line. over the course of last years that has reduced by 40% in terms of the cost of the infrastructure per train mile. as we have increased capacity, with more trains on the network, obviously that is getting more for less, more from the network, and we are making big improvements. for now, thank you. very nice to talk to

you. as it gets busier down here at manchester delhi this morning, they expect about 10,000 people through in the busiest part of the morning. —— manchester piccadilly. they will have about 140,000 people through the station over the course of the day. we will talk more about your stories about how you passed the commute a bit later. for now, back to you. then, obviously one of the best things about ourjobs is that we never get any traffic when we are commuting, do we? yeah, very true. we got here this morning and there was not one soul in the station. it sta rts was not one soul in the station. it starts to get a bit easier later on. but the roads are clear, that's great. yeah, it is lonely, but the roads are clear. let's hear some of the stories of commuters. catherine says there's nothing quite like riding her bike to work through richmond park. richmond park at sunrise. look at those clouds! that's beautiful!

they look like they've been painted on. phil works at leeds station but drives into work on this clear, crisp autumn days like this. notjust trains. paulsays crisp autumn days like this. notjust trains. paul says the best pa rt notjust trains. paul says the best part of his commute is the ferry across an ayre street in southern cornwall. —— estuary. what a lovely way to get to work. matt has a longer commute than most. he goes to walsall every week and this is the time flies with a good book. well, the truth is most commutes are awful. come on! you see what we've tried to do. we've tried to find the good stuff. never mind, you will bring us back to work. —— back to earth. here's matt with a look at this morning's weather. some of you might like the crisp freshness. this is a view of the

river thames. cold enough to produce stea m river thames. cold enough to produce steam rising of the river. it is chilly. england and wales at its cold est. chilly. england and wales at its coldest. not as cold across parts of scotla nd coldest. not as cold across parts of scotland and northern ireland, as far as temperatures are concerned, but it probably feels it with the strong breeze. in the north and west of scotland, showers here and there. some of them heavy, maybe with hail. sleet and snow on higher ground. showers in northern ireland. potentially in north—west england. we will have more cloud in northern ireland and in the northern england at times. for most of you it's a dry day. started frosty. many stay sunny into the afternoon. temperatures staying in single figures for many. not the 15 we saw in the south—east yesterday. a cold commute home tonight. there will be further showers in scotland and a couple

into northern ireland. that will be crucial for stargazers. midnight tonight is the peak of the meteor shower. midnight to dawn is the best viewing time, but conditions may not play ball. showers are out in scotla nd play ball. showers are out in scotland and clear skies in between. western areas cloud over through the night. that will keep temperatures are touch higher than last night. with clear skies in eastern scotland and the south—east of england, in the countryside that temperatures will be below freezing. frost around to stop the weekend. by and large it will be chilly. cloud around on saturday. showers to begin with in scotla nd saturday. showers to begin with in scotland and northern ireland. more cloud through wales and clouding overin cloud through wales and clouding over in southern counties of england. that cloud the to bring drizzle. dampest in the south—west and south—west wales. temperatures could get back into double figures as milderair could get back into double figures as milder air tries to push on. colder air elsewhere and lots of afternoon sunshine in northern

england and southern scotland and northern ireland. that will transfer into a chilly night. the cold air pushes southwards. mild air of holding on into sunday in the south—west corner. here it will stay cloudy and damp and the mild air will try to pushing on sunday, but it looks like the colder air will hold on for most of you. mild air on the weather front. a hold on for most of you. mild air on the weatherfront. a bit hold on for most of you. mild air on the weather front. a bit of patchy rain potentially later. most of us have a dry day on sunday. the sunniest in central and eastern areas, but temperatures still in single figures. thanks very much! we have the story now of a picture in a frame carved from a first world war british army biscuit, sent home to sweeten the heartache of a mother missing her son. it was a treasured family memento and it has now gone on display as part of a campaign to get more of us interested in researching our own history. for many of us this is the archive — a loft, cupboard, or a set

of shelves where we tend to put family stuff away and then forget about it. but what if amongst all these objects there was something which told a bigger story about a family member who perhaps took off on a journey to something extraordinary? this isjeremy collingwood. an object he found at home is now a star exhibit in redding museum. it looks like an ordinary framed photo of his grandfather, but the frame is a biscuit. redding used to be home to one of the most famous names in biscuit making. during the first world war, the maker provided what looked like solid snacks for the troops. so solid in fact that some soldiers carved them and sent them home as gifts. in the drawer at home was this i suppose keepsake that mum really liked. it was of her father and he sent it back to his mother to say how much he loved her.

look at that picture. the scaredness in his eyes, the worry and concern, but he wanted to show his mother he was all right. it connects in a really human way. if you're following a trail, you might well end up here. the national archives store — 11 million paper records going back 1,000 years. if you're interested in your own personal history, in community history or the history of your place, there are records there for you and they can make a real difference to people's lives. importa ntly archives have to be used usefully. every day hundreds of documents are brought from 2.5 kilometres of shelving, or read as digital copies. what we have here is a spy story from the first world war. the file contains the case and the evidence that is collected against him, including a number of letters. you will see across the top what he's written, what he wanted you to see. below that is what was hidden by the secret or invisible ink.

if you scan through the file, you will even find the lemon he used to write those letters. this is an example of the file relating suffrage women's rights and this is the case of a woman called hilda and she was one of the first women to be forcibly fed in prison. she talks about how she's willing to give her life if needed. it's a really great example of one of the personal stories that we have at the archives. from tomorrow, archives nationwide will be asking us to get involved and explore thse amazing places. who knows? the next great discovery could be yours. the department would be fascinating, as people send in bits and bolts ——

bits and bobs that they think could be interesting. tesla has delivered a new prototype for a lorry. it can travel for 500 miles on a single charge. the company says it will be the fastest production car ever made. this is the new tesla semi. it will travel 500 miles on a single charge and elon musk think it will make electric the new king of the road. it looks like it's not moving. but he has been under a lot of pressure lately. his company isn't yet making ca rs lately. his company isn't yet making cars quickly enough to meet demand and so this new truck could be yet another distraction for the man who also doubles in space travel. tesla

is facing serious issues on the manufacturing side, they are supposed to be producing thousands, not hundreds. the truck wasn't to be the only new vehicle on show here tonight. so the tesla fans who came yesterday certainly expected to see a lorry. what they weren't expecting to see was a new roadster and that certainly got this energetic crowd extremely excited. for tesla fans, an exciting one more thing. but for investors it is just one more thing. so technology is moving on. as it is in the robot industry as well. scientists and engineers have been working on humanlike robots for yea rs. been working on humanlike robots for years. there was a problem. we used to enjoy watching robots that fall over. additionally they've struggled with

things like stairs and mobility generally. no more. look at the latest test from an american company. this is the atlas robot and a team hopes that eventually it will be agile enough to carry out search rescue missions. if you are anything like me, when you first look at this you would be thinking it is someone inside the suit, but it's not. they also gave us some other versions... what's slightly confusing about that fall is that it did look like the robot put his hands up to cover his face, as if it was trying to protect itself. rise of the machines! earlier we we re rise of the machines! earlier we were talking about a chain of nurseries which has decided to stop using glitter in the classroom when they make celebratory cards. the reason is all of the damage it is doing to the environment. this is

the kind of plastic that doesn't disintegrate in any way. some people have been getting in touch. thank you very much. one woman says she is so impressed with the staff who teach children about sustainability. i am glad their values are important. and another person says you can buy edible glitter, so maybe this can be the norm instead of plastic litter. that seems like the obvious solution, and if you don't want to use plastic glitter you can buy the biodegradable stuff. ididn't biodegradable stuff. i didn't know that was around. so there is an answer perhaps! time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news. universities in london are raking in millions of pounds in student library fines. figures obtained by the bbc show that 21 universities in the capital made more than £3 million over the past three academic years. king's college london tops the list.

the national union of students has criticised the system, saying it isn't workable for students or universities. tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the king's cross fire. 31 people, including a firefighter, died when a smoker dropped a match into the steps of a wooden escalator that led from the piccadilly line to the ticket hall of the underground station. it's children in need this evening and and pudsey bear isjoining us at warner brothers studio tour in hertfordshire. every year hundreds of charities are helped by the money you donate. charities like the rewind project at the lyric theatre, in hammersmith. it helps young people at risk of exclusion from school through drama. students write, direct and perform a play based on their own life experiences. it is an amazing experience to look

ata it is an amazing experience to look at a particular young person that sta rts at a particular young person that starts with us, is scared of coming into the theatre orjust doesn't know what's going to happen and watch them change and grow over ten weeks, to become these confident, brave, incredibly artistic young people. let's have a look at the travel situation now. there's a mostly good service on the tubes this morning. the district line has severe delays. minor delays on the central line as well. on the roads, a collision at the a13 on the canning town flyover is adding to delays heading into town. seven miles of delay at the moment. on the a40 into town, a water main has burst in acton. eight miles of cues from hillingdon circus. let's have a check on the weather now. good morning. it's a cold and frosty start to the day, but it will be a very pretty day of weather, with lots of blue sky and sparkling sunshine around. just all the while feeling chilly. you may find yourself scraping the windscreen early. shallow mist patches. temperatures away from towns, just below freezing in many areas. we get off to a nice sunny start

and we keep the sunshine for much of the day. a bit more in the way of high cloud through the afternoon. the winds are light and temperatures lower than yesterday by quite some distance, between 8—10 degrees in central london. through this evening temperatures will drop away quite quickly. it will feel cold particularly at first and there will be a patchy frost developing into tomorrow morning because we've got more cloud spreading in from the west times. many temperatures staying 3—4 into tomorrow. tomorrow, not as good. it will be quite a cold day and we have lots of cloud around. we're still in the colder air. we could see a few outbreaks of light and patchy rain and drizzle, but not amounting to much. most places staying dry, but rather cloudy. and we remain in the cold air on sunday too, but a much nicer day. blue sky and sunshine. turning milderfor the start of next week. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom in half an hour. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with

charlie stayt and naga munchetty. a promise from detectives to investigate every avenue in the case of missing teenager gaia pope. police are questioning a man on suspicion of the murder of the 19—year—old. searches continue as her father speaks of the strain on his family. it is just about the toughest thing we can go through. every minute that goes by, we still have hope. good morning. it's friday the 17th of november. also on the programme: as she arrives in sweden to meet eu leaders, theresa may is warned there's no guarantee that talks on a post—brexit trade deal will start next month. first electric cars, now electric lorries — a battery—powered truck is launched in california. the makers say it can go 500 miles on a single charge.

good morning. our commutes are getting longer and we are travelling further than ever just to getting longer and we are travelling further than everjust to get getting longer and we are travelling further than ever just to get to work. why, and what does it mean for passengers? i am at one of the busiest stations in the country to find out. in sport, england's women and ten minutes away from their moment of truth. it's crunch time down under, and if they lose this morning's 20—over match, the ashes will be back in the hands of australia. how the lost art of letter writing is being reintroduced to the next generation. you get to ask all the questions you really wa nt, you get to ask all the questions you really want, and most of the time, they answer them. and matt has the weather. there will be a few cold postmen delivering those letters this morning. a frosty start, the full forecast in 15 minutes. thanks,

matt. good morning. first, our main story. police investigating the disappearance of a teenager in dorset are continuing to question a man arrested yesterday on suspicion of her murder. 19—year—old gaia pope was last seen in swanage ten days ago. the 49—year—old suspect is believed to be known to gaia. our reporter ian palmer has more. gaia pope went missing ten days ago. clothes similar to the ones the teenager was wearing when she disappeared were found yesterday in coastal fields. the area was sealed off by police. officers searched the scene in an attempt to discover what happened to the missing 19—year—old. we continue to investigate whether gaia has come to harm through an act of crime, or whether she is missing, and we will continue to do so. gaia lives in a village near swanage. she was last seen in morrison road by a family friend. shortly before she was captured on camera ina shortly before she was captured on camera in a petrol station buying ice cream. two people were arrested and released pending further enquiries. yesterday, in a country park, some clothing was found by a member of the public.

miss pope has severe epilepsy and needs regular medication. her family say she likes being at home and her absence is hard to bear. mum and younger sister maya are basically holed up in the house, trying to keep away from upsetting conversations, keep away from social media, keep away from the stuff which has been in the press, parts of the press, which has been extremely distressing for the family. they are just trying to look after each other. the man being questioned on suspicion of murder by police has been identified by his father as paul elsey, who is 49 and lives in the swanage area. hes the third person to be arrested. earlier this week police released cctv footage of gaia passing through a street in the town. police divers and investigating officers will continue the search for gaia this morning. ian palmer, bbc news. our correspondentjames ingham is in swanage. those searches have recommenced this

morning. yes, that's right. at first light, coastal rescue teams have been out searching the cliff paths around swanage. this is a small coastal seaside town, lots of places where friends and family of gaia have been searching throughout the town and in the hills surrounding here, but also professional search teams, and those searches do to continue here this morning. police say they are still investigating every avenue that is available to them. that could mean that gaia is still alive and subdued missing, but of course they have strong reason to believe that she has come to harm and may have been killed. three people have now been arrested on suspicion of murder, two released but a third man is still being questioned under

arrest this morning. but around here in this town, the community have really co m e in this town, the community have really come together to help gaia's family. they have been distributing leaflets, putting up posters in shops, and joining in leaflets, putting up posters in shops, andjoining in on leaflets, putting up posters in shops, and joining in on social media, desperately trying to find gaia, and that is something that has brought comfort to the family, as her father richard told us. the family know she will be found, and until we don't know that... so we have every hope, every minute that goes by, we still have hope. well, police will continue to question that a man under arrest today while searches resume. clothing that was believed to be worn by guy at the time she went missing was found yesterday. so clearly this is a very tense time in this small dorset town. james, thank you. david davis has urged. we asked him what he

thought about a future deal with the uk. countries like holland, italy spain, poland, can see the big benefits in the future deal that we are talking about. the deep and special relationship the prime minister refers to, a strong trading relationship, a strong security relationship, a strong security relationship, they all have things to benefit from that. this is not a one—way street. this is not something for nothing. this is something for nothing. this is something which benefits ever be. something for nothing. this is something which benefits ever bem who is holding it up? into negotiation. are germany and france holding it up? germany and france are the most powerful players on the european continent, of course they are. and so what they believe is very influential, sometimes decisively so. david davis there. let's talk to our political correspondent, leila nathoo, who is in westminster. what does this put in terms of what the prime minister

can achieve today? the main sticking point is whether the brexit talks can move on from tackling the divorce issues which have been the arrangements of eu citizens, the northern ireland border and crucially this divorce bill, whether the talks can move on from discussing those to discussing the future trading relationship. there was a hope that they were going to move on in october, that eu leaders were going to give the green light for the talks to get interface to, but it didn't happen. so now the hope is in december injust a few weeks' time when there is another eu summit that they eu leaders will give the green light then, because enough progress has been made on those issues. theresa may is in sweden today and we'll talk to donald tusk, the president of the eu council. she has been talking to him outside of the formal negotiations. he is warning her today that there is no guarantee that the eu leaders are going to agree in december to move those trade talks on. david

davis quite bullish, saying that there are some countries that want to, it is in their interests, too. but this is the real stumbling block at the moment, and the suggestion from the eu side is that the uk hasn't made enough of an offer specifically on the divorce bill for the talks to move on. david davis refused to talk numbers, theresa may this morning arriving in sweden said that she talk this morning arriving in sweden said tha' she talk this morning arriving in sweden said tha'she there|lk 523553: , _ , to davis and theresa may saying that they hope - eu davis and theresa may saying that they hope. eu can be positive in they hope the eu can be positive in its response, certainly from britain's point of view, the idea is the ball is now in the eu's court, but there will be a lot of effort going on behind—the—scenes to try to persuade the eu side the talks are

ready to move on. and we will be talking about the talks throughout the week, i'm sure! thank you very much. more than one million credit card users, who are struggling financially, have had their credit limits raised in the last year without being asked — according to the charity, citizens advice. it wants the chancellor to ban increases which haven't been requested in his budget next week. card companies say they've agreed to abide by a voluntary code of conduct to protect customers. the hollywood actor sylvester stallone has denied allegations he and his bodyguard sexually assaulted a teenage fan more than 30 years ago. the woman says he threatened to beat her if she went public with what happened, but the actor's spokesperson has called the claims "ridiculous and categorically false". conservationists in the united states have strongly criticised a decision by president trump to end a ban on importing body parts from elephants hunted in zimbabwe and zambia. a federal government agency said imports could resume today for elephants that are legally hunted. the us fish and wildlife service said hunting fees could help communities put money into conservation but experts say

that populations of african elephants are plummeting. zimbabwe's president, robert mugabe, is reportedly refusing to step down immediately, despite growing calls for his resignation. the 93—year—old was put under house arrest during a military takeover on wednesday, amid a power struggle over who would succeed him. our correspondent ben brown is in zimbabwe. it's a confusing picture, not helped terribly by some of those images that emerged yesterday of that extraordinary meeting between robert mugabe and those who are currently in power. they really were extraordinary pictures, because this was a military takeover, a coup d'etat by any other name, although the army don't want to call it that, and yet having put robert mugabe under house arrest, they have seen

the head of the military talking to him, negotiating with him about how he might step down. the army put out a statement this morning saying significant progress has been made in their operations. we don't know exactly what that means, but in terms of the negotiations, there are two scenarios, and two sets of reports emerging. one is that robert mcga rvey reports emerging. one is that robert mcgarvey is desperately clinging to power as he has done over 37 years, a wily, cunning political operator for so long, can he hang on a bit longer. other reports suggesting he is now preparing to step down, he wa nts a is now preparing to step down, he wants a dignified exit, and the army would agree with him a transitional government whereby his former vice president leads that government, and the prime minister, morgan chang tsvangirai could assist. thank you

very much. it's 30 years since a carelessly discarded match at a london underground station sparked a national tragedy which permanently changed the conditions of public transport throughout the uk. thirty—one people died in the king's cross fire and one hundred were injured. in a moment we'll speak to one of those survivors but first let's take a look at how bbc news reported the disaster at the time. king's cross station in london has been evacuated this evening after a fire broke out underground. all that we know so far is that there are hundreds of people who have been taken to several hospitals roundabout, a policeman and a fireman among them. it was a quarter to eight in the evening. the tail end of the nightly rush—hour. nobody knew how many people were down there or what chance there was of their survival. when i was halfway up the escalator, a sheet of flame erupted and shot across the whole of the top of the exit from that escalator, so i wasjust moving up towards a of the exit from that escalator, so i was just moving up towards a wall of fire. the fire seems to have

started on the escalator itself, towards the top. first there was smoke then there were flames which rapidly spreading to the booking hall. these burns are of a type. they are technically called flash burns, from explosion gases, and they are the most severe of that type that i have ever seen. this morning the funeral was held for one of the heroes of the disaster, station officer colin townsley, the fireman who led the first rescue attempts. he had gone down into the burning station without breathing apparatus to investigate the fire. today the fire brigade gave him full honours. one of the police officers who put his life on the line that day was stephen hanson. hejoins us now. good morning. what is it like watching the footage back? good morning. what is it like watching the footage back7m good morning. what is it like watching the footage back? it can affect you sometimes, but i tend to shut it out. because it has been a

long time, and with time it tends to erase it. i do have a bit of a problem with it, but i am 0k. erase it. i do have a bit of a problem with it, but i am ok. tell us what happened to you, how you are involved with the fire?” us what happened to you, how you are involved with the fire? i wasn't stationed at king's cross, i was pa rt stationed at king's cross, i was part of a mobile unit that basically patrolled the king's cross and surrounding areas. we were search where trained, all ex—soldiers, and we decided to stop at king's cross for a property. and the sergeant asked us to go down the underground and remove some drugs that were causing trouble down there. and i went down with another pc. —— remove some drunks that were causing trouble. we could see there was something wrong, there was smoke and we couldn't find it at first. we went to the piccadilly line which was a wooden escalator, and i saw

fla mes was a wooden escalator, and i saw flames coming through the run rails, andi flames coming through the run rails, and i went down and try to put it out with my foot, and i had army boots on and the rubber started to melt, and i knew straightaway this was an emergency situation. so the perofeta is stopped trains —— the pairof us perofeta is stopped trains —— the pair of us stopped trains, evacuated as many people as we could. then there didn't seem to be anything happening, it was quiet, there was smoke, but it was bearable to breathe. and it was at that time i noticed that the heat really intensified, and i noticed my uniform was getting hot, the buttons we re uniform was getting hot, the buttons were getting hot. and i started to walk towards the piccadilly line, and that's when i saw this massive ball of flame come shooting up and attached itself to the roof of the ticket hall. your description is very vivid. take

it forward from that moment. because you remained inside the station to help others? yeah, initially, when the fireball hit me, it was basically through shock, because i noticed that my hands were kind of melting, i looked down and my hands we re melting, i looked down and my hands were melting. you don't feel pain, the adrenaline's quite high and i noticed an actual train had stopped after a nonstop and i noticed passengers coming into this area that was full of flames. and i quickly told them to come up the escalator and get out the exit that was left open. you can imagine, the visibility was practically nil. you couldn't see further than your nose. you had very young children at the time. and you did get to the point

where you had to leave? yes. i was ina zone where you had to leave? yes. i was in a zone and i was trying to do as much as i could. there there was several much as i could. there there was several passengers much as i could. there there was several passengers i got out. then i noticed how bad my hands were when i tried to pull this young child from under his mother. i couldn't grab the child. i kept slipping and i noticed my lungs were burning. i made my way out in the way i thought the direction was for the passage way and i saw a chap trying to get out the glass. he had locked himself in and he was panicking. these images, so vivid and traumatic. and understandably this affected you? what was your experience ? understandably this affected you? what was your experience?” understandably this affected you? what was your experience? i went through a lot of, i had been in the army and! through a lot of, i had been in the army and i had been every where the army and i had been every where the army and i had been every where the army and never suffered from ptsd,

but i did after this and i had a lot of counselling and i took me about five years to come to terms with it, nightmares, flash backs.” five years to come to terms with it, nightmares, flash backs. i wondered, thinking more recently, we think of the grenfell fire, somebody‘s who has been through a dreadful disaster, where do you thoughts go when you see other incidents and those questions about how this was allowed to happen? well, king cross was a ticking time bomb and it needed something like that to happen for them to make improvements throughout, i have been to a couple of powers bgs oxford circus they had been put out just of powers bgs oxford circus they had been put outjust in time. kings cross was a ticking the time bomb. it changed safety. it has been

fascinating talking to you, thank you for talking to us this morning. ‘the kings cross fire: six hours that shocked britain' is available to watch on the channel 5 website. here's matt with a look at this morning's weather. a frosty friday, the coldest conditions, but the brightest weather is england and wales. temperatures down to minus four celsius. temperatures above freezing in some western areas and parts of scotla nd in some western areas and parts of scotland and northern ireland. but it feels cold, because of the freeze thatis it feels cold, because of the freeze that is feeding showers into western scotla nd that is feeding showers into western scotland and some are heavy with with sleet and snow over high ground. more cloud at times this morning in north—west england and western parts of wales. but that

will break up, allowing the sunshine through. in the south and east a sunny day. it well feel cold even with the sunshine. temperatures up o' to 15 yesterday, this afternoon you will barely get out of around seven you will barely get out of around seven to nine degrees. a cold night tonight for thejourney seven to nine degrees. a cold night tonight for the journey home. the breeze still there. colder weather in scotland and the showers continue to be wintry over higher ground. the showers may be a spoiler for the star—gazers. will it be clear? through the night probably best to view early on in the west. cloud increasing here. some patchy rain in northern ireland and northern england. that will keep temperatures higher. but in eastern scotland and the south and east of england we will see a frost in the countryside to start saturday morning. not as cold tonight, but still a chilly

start to the weekend. more cloud for england and wales. showers in northern england will fade, in the midlands, wales and southern england, even if you start with sunshine, occasional rain or drizzle. the mildest of air back into double figures. elsewhere it is cold. but at least some afternoon sunshine across much of northern england and southern scotland and the east of northern ireland. into saturday night, the frost returns in the east. frost—free in the south—west and we have patchy rain and drizzle and milder air. it will continue to nudge in on the sunday. but it will be a slow progress, linked into this front. the weather story's more optimistic than it was a few days ago. most places look dry on sunday and turning damper towards the west later on. cloud amounts increasing. sunniest in central and eastern areas. but temperatures

still in single figures. it is a weekend to wrap up well. many well known faces will be spending the day getting ready for the annual children in need event tonight — singers katie melua and rita ora are among those taking part in the live show. but they're not the only ones who will be feeling last minute nerves. students at the university of central lancashire will be performing a 30 minute musical they have written and produced from scratch in just five days! holly hamilton has joined them this morning for final rehersals. they seem very strong. the voices are they seem very strong. the voices are good? it is looking good and sounding fantastic. morning. i have got to say they're just good, aren't they? they will have to be. five days to put this musical together. it is allsinging, days to put this musical together. it is all singing, all dancing and all for children in need. they will perform this in front of thousands

of people tonight. are they ready? you have had five days to get this together, how has it been? incredible. amazing. such a fantastic opportunity to meet some amazing people. yes, it has been a whirlwind really. have you done anything like this before? no, yes, well not in a week. what has it been like? very intense. really fun, but like? very intense. really fun, but like a good positive atmosphere. we have to, because it is quite stressful. it has been very intense. normally i speak to people and they doa minute normally i speak to people and they do a minute in a day like a minute ofa do a minute in a day like a minute of a routine. but we didn't have that luxury and you have, your brain is fried each day. and long days. how long do you spend rehearse something pretty much 24/7. we're in 9 something pretty much 24”. we're in 9to9 something pretty much 24”. we're in 9 to 9 officially, but you go home

and learn it and paint some props and learn it and paint some props and by then you may as well as brought a sleeping bag.” and by then you may as well as brought a sleeping bag. i will be back to help out later. now some of the chaps behind this. mark, you in charge of these students, when did you first find out about this idea, we re you first find out about this idea, were you daunted by the prospect of this? just excited. i got in touch with perfect pitch and invited them to manage the project. they have done a fantastic job to manage the project. they have done a fantasticjob bringing in high calibre people from a whole range of musical theatre work and notjust performing, but writers range of musical theatre work and not just performing, but writers and we had had a casting director and we have only had half a week to rehearse it. there was a day and a half of writing and the casting day the pressure's been on. we have a few hours left. it is incredible just listening to them this morning,

you would not think they have been at it for a couple of days. they're great and it is no surprise to me they have risen to the challenge. let's have a word with andy. this will have a legacy after. after this we will be working with children in need to move the school out so, schools can put on their own version to raise money for children in need next year. that is incredible as well to think about notjust next year. that is incredible as well to think about not just the work that has gone into this, but that it demonstrates what can be done and you don't need to be done in london at the west end to put something like this together. the university have been brilliant and brought this initial part of project and there has been nothing like it for a learning experience, but it is also helping children in need. for a learning experience, but it is also helping children in needm

for a learning experience, but it is also helping children in need. it is fantastic. well, we have got plenty more to discuss. we are going to find out later as well what the musical‘s going to be called. children in need the musical. but we will find out the story, but i will leave you with some of talented people at children in need the musical. sounding infine sounding in fine voice. it is brave. and the children in need show will have an all—star line—up tonight. it includes a special performance from the cast of eastenders, who reveal some hidden talents as they sing their way round the square in a show—stopping musical medley. you can watch children in need tonight from 7.30pm on bbc one. but here on breakfast in a few moments, we'll have a summary of the morning's news. and we're celebrating a significant birthday for a special character. fireman sam is 30 years old today and he's not slowed down — he's still to be found helping out

the people of pontypandy, but this morning we have him here in salford with us. what has it been like for the last 30 years. what is it like turning 30. how comfortable is the sofa. fireman sam can't speak. bewe like him. we bill talking to you later. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. hello there. it has been a cold night, temperatures got down to —3,

minus four celsius across southern parts of england, so it was a pretty frosty start, but lots of sunshine today, particularly across england and wales. further north, the wind stronger, some of those showers wintry over higher ground. but into the afternoon, plenty of sunshine for much of england and wales, but the showers will continue across scotland. some of them turning a little wintry over higher ground, and some showers also over northern ireland. the odd shower could come into cumbria, but the england and wales, lots of sunshine. more cloud developing into the afternoon but generally speaking it is a fine, cold day. you will certainly notice the difference over southern areas. through this evening and tonight, we continue those showers and fairly cold winds across scotland, a few showers coming towards wales, temperatures overnight in towns and

cities down to 4—6 celsius, and pretty chilly, especially for the midlands and eastern and southern areas. temperatures in scotland falling below freezing, so some of us waking up to frost on saturday morning. this band of rain moved southward, but there is some drier, brighter weather coming through, particularly in the north—east. going into sunday, we have this weather system which is trying to nudge in, high pressure does kind of state in charge on sunday, particularly across eastern areas where there will be some sunshine, but it is in the west where we will see the cloud increasing, showery outbreaks of rain, temperatures again not quite as cold, but more chilly the further east you go. but there will be some sunshine. goodbye. hello there.

this is business live from bbc news with alice baxter and ben bland. tesla has launched its first electric truck that can accelerate to 60 miles per hour in just five seconds. live from london, that's our top story on friday, 17th november. yes, tesla unleashes the beast. but will the electric truck transform road transport, or prove too heavy a load for the company? plus, tax relief for president trump — as his $1.5 trillion reform plan

clears the house of representatives. but it could be short—lived as the debate moves to the senate.