this is bbc news, the headlines at three. home secretary amber rudd says the ministers making decisions about brexit are not divided. we meet in the committee, we meet privately for discussions. i think we will arrive at something which suits us all. two people have been killed and dozens injured after two trains collided with each other in the united states. don't cut the marines or you'll undermine britain's security — the message to ministers from mps. an elderly man has died after an explosion and a fire at a care home in stevenage in hertfordshire. also this hour, england prepare to take on italy in the six nations. the match isjust getting under way at rome's stadio olimpico, this was the scene a few moments ago. and in half an hour, click meets the newest recruit to the dubai police force, robocop. good afternoon and

welcome to bbc news. the home secretary, amber rudd, says the uk will continue to seek a bespoke deal on leaving the european union and she insisted that differences between cabinet ministers over brexit policy have been exaggerated. a cabinet committee will meet this week to discuss the government's approach to negotiations. here's our political correspondent, susana mendonca. watching the dragons in action on a trade trip to china last week, the prime minister was all too aware that her backbenchers at home were farming the flames of division over brexit. some tory brexiteers have painted a picture of disunity on the government's front bench over the direction britain's negotiations with the eu should take, but now one leading cabinet member has pushed back. i have a surprise for the brexiteers, the committee that meets in order to help make these decisions, meeting twice this week, as you rightly say, is more

united than they think. we meet in the committee and also privately for discussions, i think we will arrive at something that suits us all. assessments this week which had suggested the options for a post—brexit trade deal with the eu would leave britain worse off have been at the heart of an argument in the conservative party. brexiteers have directed criticism at chancellor philip hammond and the treasury, with one accusing civil servants of fiddling the figures. the home secretary said all departments use forecasts to inform their decision making, and she defended civil servants. they are valued, they are important to us, we respect their objectivity and they are internationally admired for the system we have. we need to make sure we continue to attract the best into the civil service. ms rudd said the government wanted a bespoke trade deal with the eu and said it would probably involve some form of customs arrangement or partnership. this leading brexiteer says it does not mean the customs union.

since the lancaster house and the florence speech, the prime minister has been clear we are leaving the customs union. there is a good reason for that. we would not have been able to negotiate free—trade deals with the likes of china, where theresa may was out this week, through to latin america, the trade bloc there, if we weren't able to do that. the eu chief negotiator will come here tomorrow to start the next phase of brexit negotiations. our political correspondent, susana mendonca, with that report. and earlier, susana told us more about the meetings theresa may will have over brexit this week. we know that michel barnier, the chief negotiator for the eu, we know that michel barnier, the chief negotiatorfor the eu, he is coming to london tomorrow. we understand he will meet with theresa may and he will also meet david davis, who is doing the negotiations for britain. in terms of these negotiations it is the first time they meet this year, so it is the

next stage. before christmas we had the first stage which was about eu citizens and the irish border. now moving on to talk about the condition deal, what happens then marched 2019? what will that relationship look like? we heard about having a two—year period of transition, what will that be like? it is only when you get beyond that that you can get into discussing the trade relationship which so many of the brexiteers are concerned about. they are adamant britain should not be part of the customs union. amber rudd today was talking about how britain would not be in the customs union, but she was talking about a potential partnership, some kind of trade relationship with the eu. certainly these discussions this week with michel barnier are looking ahead towards 22019, as well as the ministerial discussions there were also be technical discussions behind the scenes with various people on

both sides talking about how things would work. just in terms of the customs union, do you think people get confused about the customs union, the bit of the european arrangements we union, the bit of the european arrangements we are union, the bit of the european arrangements we are part of, and others say we could have a customs union, so might that be part of this bespoke or individual deal? yes, we had amber rudd talking about a bespoke relationship and others have talked about a bespoke relationship, not having the same kind of deal like norway where it still has to adhere to a lot of rules. in terms of if you listen to what many of the brexiteers are saying, they want to have a unique relationship with the eu and one that is not as close as it currently is. from what we have heard from and amber rudd today it suggests britain is looking for a trade relationship. britain needs a trade relationship. britain needs a trade relationship. britain needs a trade relationship with the eu because it is our biggest market.

people talk about china, but the eu is written's closest market and it needs a relationship. they will be pushing for a specific bespoke relationship with the eu. as we said before, there needs to be this discussion about the transition period first and that is the key thing we would need to have direction on once there's part of the negotiations is over,. at least two people have been killed and 70 injured in a rail crash in the us state of south carolina. a passenger train travelling between new york and miami collided with a freight train and derailed. we arejust we are just waiting on a news conference. at the moment we can see the podium and we expect south carolina's governor to the podium and we expect south ca rolina's governor to update the podium and we expect south carolina's governor to update us with news. the crash happened overnight at about two o'clock in the morning. a lot of people are

only just waking up the morning. a lot of people are onlyjust waking up in parts of the united states to this news. we were promised a news conference and amtrak said they would hold one. it is the third crash involving an amtrak train is the third crash involving an amtraktrain in is the third crash involving an amtrak train in the united states in the last month. it is likely the chairman of amtrak will be facing some tough questions. we are waiting for the governor of south carolina, henry mcmaster, to give us an update and we will bring you that when the news c0 nfe re nce and we will bring you that when the news conference begins. the crash happened just four days after an amtrak train carrying republicans to a retreat in west virginia collided with a rubbish truck. a passenger in the truck was killed and five people on board the train were taken to hospital. in december three people died in a train which plunged off the bridge in seattle in washington state. mps have warned against cutting the number of royal marines to save money. reports have suggested that the government has been considering axing the jobs of up to 2000 marines, as well as the royal navy's two amphibious assault ships,

daniela relph has this report. 6,500 of them, versatile and quick to respond. they also provide up to half the personnel for the uk's special forces. the defence select committee report says that further cuts to the marines would damage their ability to be a high—readiness unit and warns plans to end the use of hms albion and hms bulwark, ships from which beach assaults are made, would be military illiterate at this time. since 2010, our military has been cut by a third in its capability. if this new round of cuts come, it will have been cut by a half. can you imagine if we had half the number of hospitals? can you imagine the outcry? spending on defence has fluctuated over decades, rising when british forces are involved in a live conflict. but since 2010, the figures show a consistent decrease. defence is now more complex

and sophisticated than ever before. a report by the international institute for strategic studies suggests britain spends more on defence than any other country in the european union. but as well as traditional battles, there is now a technological fight that also needs money and resources. we need to define what our security needs to look like. do we want to be global? do we want to be outward looking? post—brexit, can we just shrink back to a little homeland and try to protect ourselves? or do we walk on the front foot and try to deter people from taking a more offensive stance against us? the committee's report praises the defence secretary, gavin williamson, for taking control of the defence review, but again says he will not be able to prevent harsh cuts without extra funding from the treasury. the ministry of defence says protecting the uk is its priority and stress the royal marines play a vital role in defending the country.

daniela relph, bbc news. former royal marine commando ed hill has been giving his reaction to the proposed cuts. the uk has a very capable and admired military and at the forefront of that military is the royal marines. the royal marines has always been at the spearhead of pretty much every operation certainly since the second world war and to reduce that capability by such a figure would certainly be detrimental to the uk's military capability. an elderly man has died after a fire at a care home at stevenage in hertfordshire, believed to have been caused by an oxygen cylinder explosion. six other residents were also taken to hospital after the incident at woodlands view care home, one is said to be in a critical condition. herefordshire county council says a full investigation will be carried out. sinn fein has confirmed that one

of its stormont members removed a clamp from the front wheel of his car in belfast. video footage of gerry kelly taking the clamp off and driving away has been posted on social media. live now to our correspondent john campbell in belfast. he has been their policing spokesman for quite a long time and used to be a member of the northern ireland policing board. he is as senior sinn fein member and was formerly a leader of the ira, but has been committed to politics for more than 20 years. we can see what happened. he had come out of the gym and he found his car was clamped because it was ina found his car was clamped because it was in a restricted area. the footage showed him on the ground, fiddling with the klan, pulling the chains. there was set of cutters on the ground next to him which would suggest that is what he used to

remove the clown. he was able to pick it up, walk to the back of his carand pick it up, walk to the back of his car and prop it up against the wall before driving off. sinn fein have said yes, he did remove this clamped and he headed off to a meeting afterwards. they say this issue is with his solicitors and they will not be making any further comment. they are not commenting on the apparent paradox of somebody who is committed to upholding law and order taking the law into his own hands? no, they have left it, saying it is a matter for no, they have left it, saying it is a matterfor his no, they have left it, saying it is a matter for his solicitors to deal with. meanwhile, the matter has been reported to the police services of northern ireland. the clamping company has reported criminal damage to one of their clamps and mr kelly has been facing criticism from his political rivals. unionists have been saying nobody should be above the law and one leader is saying mr kelly should consider his position asa kelly should consider his position as a public representative. the prime minister is expected to announce plans to make it

an offence under electoral law to intimidate parliamentary candidates and their campaigners. in a speech later this week, mrs may will say recent cases of politicians being abused in the street and online risked "toxifying" public debate. the german chancellor angela merkel is holding talks in what may be her final attempt to form a governing coalition with the centre—left social democrats. four months after its general election germany still has a caretaker government and the country remains in political limbo. well, a little earlier i spoke to our correspondent damien mcguiness is in berlin, who told me that there's a great deal at stake for angela merkel. she has already tried once to form a government with the liberals and the green party. those talks collapsed in november. this now, the potential government with the centre—left, the social democrats, is her only chance. if those talks fail, that would seriously undermine her credibility. and the most likely outcome then would be fresh elections. that would lead to a long period of instability here in germany and potentially no new government until the autumn really. and there is no guarantee after all that we wouldn't find ourselves in exactly the same position we are now where

a potential chancellor would find it hard to cobble together a coalition. now, it has to be said there is a caretaker government, there is no sense of crisis here in germany, the economy is doing well. so with this caretaker government in the short—term things are ticking along nicely, the economy is booming. but what it does mean is there is no ability for this temporary government to take long—term decisions such as reform and particularly when it comes to europe. and so this is of course a problem for the whole of the eu. president macron has been waiting for a long time to push through an ambitious period of reform. if a government is not in place, france can't do that, germany can't support france and that could potentially also have an impact on brexit because a disunited and uncertain europe would also be less inclined or less able to even strike a good deal with britain on brexit. the bodies of at least 20 people have been pulled from the sea off the coast of melilla, a small spanish territory

bordering morocco. moroccan rescue services recovered the corpses after the crew of a passenger ship spotted them in the water. the dead are believed to be migrants from sub—saharan africa. it is thought they may have been hoping to reach europe by trying to land in melilla, despite storm warnings being issued for the region. the headlines on bbc news: the home secretary, amber rudd says the ministers making the decisions about brexit are not divided. at least two people have been killed and dozens injured after a collision between two trains in south carolina. mps warn that cuts to the royal marines would leave britain's global interests at serious risk. in sport there was an excellent effort by britain's cameron norrie. but spain win the tie and britain face a world group play—off. and newcastle a re face a world group play—off. and newcastle are 1—0 up at crystal palace. that is at half—time.

defending champions england have got their six nations campaign under way in italy's 0lympic their six nations campaign under way in italy's olympic stadium. it is 5-0 to in italy's olympic stadium. it is 5—0 to england, anthony watson with the try. i will be back with more on those stories at around 4:15 p:m.. i will be back with more on those stories at around 4:15 p:m.. the aviation watchdog is to investigate airlines' seating practices. it comes after accusations that flight operators are deliberately splitting up groups so they pay extra to sit together. the civil aviation authority says passengers are paying as much as £400 million each year to be reallocated, and 1 in 10 didn't know they would incur an extra cost to sit with their group. with me is trisha andres, commissioning editor at telegraph travel. thank you for coming in. you did not fly in, so we will not ask you about your experience! what is it that the

caa is looking at? your experience! what is it that the (aa is looking at? it is a review to see a few things, one of them being if airlines are deliberately charging passengers to sit together and whether they are being transparent and fair about how they advertise these extra charges, whether you can see it on the site in the early stages of the booking process. some of the research they conducted themselves, they talked about 4000 passengers and it looks like quite a lot of them did know, more than half were told before they booked, that they would have to pay more if they wanted to sit together. there is an argument saying that if the airlines have this policy, which is to make money because it does not matter to them whether people sit together or apart, unless there are a weight issues in play, on that basis they are telling us they are doing it and they are doing it, so what is wrong? consumers are being coerced to pay to sit together.

there is no law prohibiting airlines from charging a passenger, but what is really problematic is if you have already paid for your flight, surely you have also already paid for your seat and hopefully that means you might get to sit next to your partner or not estimation mark or not, you might prefer not to! the other question is, it if this practice is happening and they think it is not being used in a way that is in the spirit of the terms and conditions, and it is fair to passengers, some people said in one group one dozen people were split up, one in each row, which sounds a bit like we told you so for not paying to stop but what can the caa do about it? the airlines are all independent. i think until the review results come out we will not

know how it will pan out. but they can know how it will pan out. but they ca n e nfo rce know how it will pan out. but they can enforce airlines by creating laws that will require airlines to follow these laws. but until we have seen follow these laws. but until we have seen the results of the review we will not find out. had they given us any indication how long it will take? i have just any indication how long it will take? i havejust been any indication how long it will take? i have just been on the phone to somebody from the civil aviation authority and he said there is a public consultation which ends on the 2nd of march but we do not yet know when the results will come out. thank you very much. good to speak to you. good to speak to you. thejoint north and south korea ice hockey team has played its only practice match ahead of the winter olympic games, which begin this week. the friendly was against sweden. outside the stadium, though, supporters faced protests from south koreans who were opposed to fielding a joint team. some fear that it won't perform as well. 0ur seoul correspondent, laura bicker, has the latest. this friendly match between the inter—korean hockey team and sweden is sold out.

that gives you a level of interest in this game. it is a friendly, it is before the olympics, and here the crowd has arrived to cheer on this team. it has been controversial. when it was announced that 12 players from north korea would be coming to south korea to play with the hockey team, there were a number of protests in seoul. critics believe that pyongyang is deploying its playbook and that the south korean government is giving too much away and is using this women's hockey team like a political pawn. however, now the sport is under way, it does seem to be that this controversy is lessening slightly. the team are playing well together. you can see them bonding and cheering one another on. once the sport is under way, that controversy seems to move to the side. the unification ministry has been keen to point out that the team has been bonding.

they have been sending out these pictures of the team celebrating their birthday, the team having a nice time together, smiling, sharing jokes, there's also been a language barrier. there are certain hockey manouvers where the language is different there are certain hockey manoeuvers where the language is different between north and south korea. this is good practice for them, ahead of the olympics in the coming week, and it's also for south korea and north korea, a chance for them to see how this looks to the public. and how this is received by the public. before the opening ceremony of the olympic games. but it is worth remembering, north korea is still intent on having a military parade on 8th february, the day before the winter 0lympic opening ceremony. they've said no one has the right to criticise that choice. staying with the winter olympics... the international olympic committee president thomas bach has described the decision to overturn the lifetime bans of 28 russian

athletes found guilty of doping as "extremely disappointing". on thursday, the court of arbitration for sport upheld the athletes' appeals, saying there was insufficient evidence they had benefited from a system of state—sponsored doping at the 2014 winter games, which were held in russia. speaking at a press conference, mr bach said the ioc will look to overturn the decision. we, unfortunately, do only know about the reasons from the very few sentences in a press release because so far the panel was not able to deliver a reasoned decision which we are eagerly waiting for and we have asked them to speed this procedure up. we have been told that this could be end of february which is extremely unsatisfactory situation.

the hollywood actress uma thurman has claimed that the disgraced film producer harvey weinstein tried to sexually assault her in a london hotel. the star has made detailed accusations in a newspaper interview. mr weinstein's lawyer said his client was stunned and saddened by what he considered false allegations. it comes as scotland yard confirms it's looking into two more allegations of sexual assault against the producer. she starred in several films produced by the disgraced movie mogul. it was after the success of pulp fiction that uma thurman says she was targeted by harvey weinstein. now she's the latest woman to speak out in an interview with the new york times. uma thurman claims harvey weinstein pushed her down when she met him in his suite here at the savoy hotel in london. she says he tried to expose

himself, he did all kinds of unpleasant things. but she said she managed to wriggle away like a lizard. the next day, she says, a bunch of flowers arrived. a spokeswoman for harvey weinstein said in a statement... it comes as scotland yard say they've received two further allegations of sexual assault, one from a woman who claims harvey weinstein assaulted her in westminster in 2011, and another from a woman who says she was targeted in the republic of ireland. that brings the total number of women who have reported the producer to british police to nine. officers in new york and los angeles have also begun investigations. he has denied all allegations of non—consensual sex.

harvey weinstein was once one of the most powerful men in hollywood, credited with scores of oscar wins, but he has been thrown out of the organisation that runs the oscars and he's now in rehab, a huge fall from grace from which there is likely to be no return. simon jones, bbc news. darkest hour, a film depicting winston churchill during the war, has been nominated for 9 baftas and 6 oscars. the make up team that transformed gary oldman into the prime minister are among those hoping to win an academy award. brennan nicholls has been to meet them. you cannot reason with the tiger when your head is in its mouth. gary oldman's performance in darkest hour has already earned him many accolades and critical acclaim. turning him, though, into britain's wartime prime minister has been hailed as a masterpiece of make—up. gary would come into the bus, we would shave his head, apply the make—up, takes just over three hours to apply the make—up and the wig, plus including getting into his fat suit and costume, close to four

hours for the entire thing. he would then go to set for ten, 12 hours a day filming and we need to be there the whole time to maintain his make—up throughout that. he would then have his make—up removed which takes an hour. and then, once he goes, lucy and i stay for another hour or two. gary oldman convinced kazuhiro tsuji to come out of retirement to design the churchill make—up. he had just been working with david on another movie, it was oldman who asked him to be onset applying it alongside colleague lucy sibbick and it's the three of them that have been nominated for the oscar. extremely proud. the bestjob i have done so far to date and i am just so pleased it is getting the recognition it deserves because of the amount of effort myself, kazuhiro and lucy have put into it and the people behind—the—scenes, such a big team involved. we are getting the credit and our names are on the award, but the amount of people in the workshops involved is amazing. we are to receive our reward.

the 39—year—old make—up artist has a cv full of blockbusters to his name, but this is his first—ever oscar nomination. but look at the work here, the colour. spending a bit more time prepping, that is why the day was so long, i wanted to make sure i painted all of it perfectly so that they match every day. david flies out to los angeles for the oscar nomination lunch this weekend. then back for the baftas, before heading off to la again for the oscars themselves on the 4th of march for what could be his finest hour. just to say that news conference in south carolina is beginning. we will bring more on it to you at the top of the hour. first, the it has been a fine winter's day for

many of us. plenty of sunshine around. overnight on the cold north—easterly wind, some of the rain will fall as snow. you could see a few centimetres on the ground by morning and icy patches as well, but not everybody will see the snow. elsewhere it is mainly dry with a widespread frost going into monday morning. snow showers in parts of east anglia and south—west england. but for much of the uk it is another dry day with a fair amount of winter sunshine out there, the temperature is held down to about three or 4 degrees. a weather system on monday night and tuesday morning brings snow into scotland and northern ireland. this moves south across england and wales with a bit of sleet and snow in places. this is bbc news. our latest headlines...

the home secretary, amber rudd, says the uk will continue to seek a bespoke deal on leaving the european union, and insists that differences between ministers have been exaggerated. at least two people have been killed and dozens injured after a collision between two trains in south carolina. mps warn that cuts to the royal marines and their amphibious assault ships would significantly undermine britain's security, calling the move "militarily illiterate." an elderly man has died after an explosion and a fire at a care home in stevenage in hertfordshire. and england's six nations clash with italy gets under way. a second try from anthony watson puts the score at 10—0.