more of their athletes could yet be allowed to compete here as neutrals despite their country being banned because of doping. and some believe russia are yet to learn their lesson. i think it would be very good for russia now to accept the problem that they had and somehow they have and there is still some reluctance to go further, to stop fighting the evidence that everybody is agreed is clearly on the table, and to turn the page and be good citizens, come back in the international community and be part of the group again. the other big talking point here is still the freezing temperatures. it has been milder today, but fans at tomorrow night's opening ceremony will be given blankets and warm cushions. it promises to be a shivering start to these games. andy swiss, bbc news, pyeongchang. time for a look at the weather. here's louise lear. it was —6 this morning in parts of

southern england. at least we have blue sky and sunshine but unfortunately that's not the case for everyone but it was beautiful as you can see by this picture in southwark. however, a weatherfront has struggled across the moment at the moment bringing cloud and outbreaks of rain. it's also introducing something a little less cold for some of us under the cloud and rain. more on that in a moment. the rain will live in south—west england, wales into the north of england. quite a lot of cloud through the end of the day and a few scattered showers into the northwest. around 7—9d. as we go through the night tonight, we will see the rain pep up a little bit gci’oss see the rain pep up a little bit across south—west england, wales, northern england as it gradually d rifts steadily northern england as it gradually drifts steadily eastwards. behind it, temperatures falling away. those showers will be wintry in nature. under clearer skies, scotland, northern england, you will see temperatures fall below freezing, as low as “4 in shelter scotland, and

we could also see more of an organised wintry mix of showers falling here through wales and the midlands. as we go through friday morning. let's put some detail on it. first thing friday morning, ice gci’oss it. first thing friday morning, ice across scotland particularly with the showers falling on those temperatures, below freezing, so that's worth bearing in mind. wintry mix through wales, the midlands, london, moving south—east through the morning so by 11am it could be covering east anglia and the south—east corner first thing. it could cause one or two issues but we re could cause one or two issues but were not too concerned about it. behind it, clearer skies and plenty of sunshine. 4—7. that little ridge of sunshine. 4—7. that little ridge of high pressure with the clear skies stays with us across england and wales to start saturday morning. a cold frosty start but another front pushes in and the isobars squeezed together on the leading edge. there could be some snow but it could turn to rain. saturday looks like a dismal day, really,.

the borders will be cloudy and wet. rain, heavy at times, with the best of the brightness perhaps into the far north of scotland. 7—11 overall. these wintry showers waiting in the wings, something to look out for on sunday. so, as we move towards the weekend, it looks likely we will see it staying cold, with some rain and snow showers through the second half of the weekend. gale force winds at times. more from me throughout the afternoon. thank you, louise. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. new evidence of plastic pollution in the arctic with animals trapped in rubbish and a pristine wilderness contaminated. that's all from the bbc news at one, so it's goodbye from me, and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s news teams where you are. have a good afternoon. time for the sports news.

the action is under way at the winter olympics in south korea — that's before the opening ceremony has taken place. when it does arrive... lizzy yarnold will be the teamgb flag—bearer tomorrow, given the role after a vote by her team—mates. the defending skeleton champion says she's "really excited", despite the freezing temperatures in pyeongchang. it is an honour that i never really thought about, but actually means so much, because the flag represents the whole team and we as a team represent everyone in great britain, who have watched us, who have supported us, for our parents to watch us on the tv screen, are grandparents watching at home. that is the moment where they say, great britain and europe skin just tingles with emotion. and you can follow the opening ceremony in pyeongchang across the bbc — live coverage begins on bbc one, the red button and online, from 10.30 tomorrow morning.

for freestyle skier katie ormerod, preparation has been hit with two injuries in as many days. she fractured her wrist in training yesterday — and she's had a scan on her leg after another crash today. the slopestyle qualifying runs aren't until sunday but it isn't yet known how serious her latest injury is. there's better news for paralympic skiing champion kelly gallagher — she and her guide gary smith have secured a place in pyeongchang. gallagher became the first british athlete to win a gold medal on snow when she won the super—g in sochi four years ago. she was initially left out of the squad but she nowjoins mille knight and menna fitzpatrick in paralympicsgb. after their heavy defeat to wales on the opening weekend of the six nations, scotland have made six changes to their line—up for sunday's game against france. principal among them is the return of former captain greig laidlaw. he's recalled at scrum—half in place of ali price. the experienced sean maitland and ryan wilson also return. jonathan joseph will start

for england in their game against wales at twickenham. he comes in at outside centre, with ben te‘o dropping to the bench. and danny care will become england's most capped scrum—half — he replaces the injured ben youngs. arsenal manager arsene wenger says english footballers may now be "the masters of diving." tottenham head coach mauricio pochettino said this week that ‘tricking' an opponent was now part of the game. ahead of the gunners‘ premier league match at spurs on saturday, wenger said that he didn't necessarily believe pochettino was talking about cheating. i think he meant you have to be clever. how far, was it an apology for diving, clever. how far, was it an apology fordiving, i'm not clever. how far, was it an apology for diving, i'm not sure. i don't think he would, in my personal case, i'io. think he would, in my personal case,

no. they might say you have to get the diving out of the game. i rememberthe the diving out of the game. i remember the tremendous cases here, but the english players learned very quickly and they may be the masters i'iow. britain's mark cavendish has won stage three of the tour of dubai. the dimension data rider held off attacks from nacer bouhanni and marcel kittel. he's third overall with two stages to go, behind leader dylan grerner—vaygen. britain's adam blythe finished fourth for aqua blue sport. english golfer lee westwood is two shots off the pace after the opening round of the european tour event in perth. he opened with a six—under—par round of 66. westwood, the former world number one, hasn't won an event for nearly three years. defending champion brett rumford leads. this is a unique tournament, with the top 2a players after three rounds going into a final—day matchplay contest. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. i'll have more for you in the next hour.

more people than ever are seeking help for money problems — short—term borrowing has risen four times faster than wages. bbc news has analysed uk finance data which shows there was £37 billion of unsecured personal debt last year. david rhodes has the details. there are 9 million people across britain that say their debts are a burden. as the cost of living rises, for some, the debts are mounting up. i was using credit cards to pay for food shopping two days before pay day and i had £5 left and not much petrol in the car so it was a case of using £5 for petrol to get to work or use the £5 to make up packed lunches for my boys for the next two days. mel fed her children but her £28,000

debt forced her to seek help from a charity. january was our busiest month we've ever had. we see people in extreme cases of anxiety and depression. figures from uk finance show households had outstanding personal bank loans worth £37 billion last year. that doesn't include borrowing on credit cards and payday lending but the value of outstanding personal loans has growny by 25% in the past three years while wages for typical workers have grown byjust over 6%. charities warn banks are beginning to lend irresponsibly but the body that regulates lending has a clear message for bankers. they shouldn't be lending when someone is in a difficult situation where that borrowing would be unaffordable for them. we will always see isolated cases where firms don't follow those rules and where we do, we will take action. with household budgets likely to remain under pressure, the temptation for people to borrow is not likely to disappear any time soon. david rhodes, bbc news. the australian prime minister has

said he will issue a national apology to survivors of child abuse. a royal commission into the abuse of thousands of children — who were in the care of churches, schools and homes across australia — described the crimes as a national tragedy. malcolm turnbull‘s announcement increases pressure on state authorities and religious institutions to sign up to a scheme to compensate the victims. hywell griffith has more from sydney. malcolm turnbull, the australian prime minister, was responding to this very lengthy and detailed report that took more than four years to compile, after speaking to some 8,000 abuse survivors here in australia, some in their 90s, one as young as seven years old. and that gives you an idea about the detail and level this enquiry has gone into in order to establish the truth. that leading, according to malcolm turnbull, for a need to publicly apologise once he has had an opportunity

to consult with some of those survivors. this was him in the australian parliament earlier on. reading some of the witness statements, it's clear that being heard and being believed means so much to the survivors. so much more than many of us could imagine. three words, "i believe you". coming after years, often decades of authorities‘ denial of responsibility. there is a very clear link between this apology and the compensation that has been promised to abuse survivors. however, some states and church groups have not so far signed up to this national redress scheme, so i think malcolm turnbull‘s announcement today is probably linked to a meeting he has tomorrow with some state governors and leaders. he will be applying pressure on them to say the country has to take responsibility for these actions over the decades, and it has to give

financial assurance to the victims that they will receive compensation. the apology, we're told, will be made later this year, once time has passed for them to consult with abuse survivors. firefighters who were some of the first to arrive at the grenfell tower fire in june last year will be running the london marathon to raise money for children affected by the disaster. north kensington‘s red watch were the first responders on the scene, and now nine of their crew are preparing to raise money to support traumatised children. earlier some of them spoke to my colleague chloe tilly on the victoria derbyshire programme, and explained how they're coping all nine months on. there is still a lot of raw emotion for many of our colleagues, particularly at north kensington, but that's something we'll have to deal with and move forward. and us doing the marathon helps us deal and process the events we witnessed that night. we need to move forward

in a positive direction. we need something to work towards and us running the marathon for kids on the green really allows us to do that. let me take you back to when you got that call, if i can. did any of you have a sense of the scale of what you were going to be confronted with? when we turned up to that particularfire, at first, it was something we deal with quite regularly. and obviously, in a very short amount of time, it became something unbelievable. so we just did ourjob that we normally do on the night, and unfortunately the world saw what happened. when you are confronted with that, clearly, you go into professional mode, but we heard there, there is a human being, there is a human instinct of reaction, isn't there? yes, you're exactly right, you go into professional mode and you don't consider what's going on around you, it's just a case of getting

on with the job and doing what needs to be done. but on that night, it was something no—one there had faced before. how about you, justin? funnily enough, i wasn't expecting to hear the clip and it brings it back. quite difficult to cope with. i'm still receiving counselling. our chief, she came out and openly spoke about receiving counselling and stuff like that. so i don't know what the children are going through in that community at the moment, so us running the marathon for this organisation, just to support the children. because they're getting counselling as well through this organisation. how important is the counselling for you 7 mike was talking there about the processing of the grief. for me personally, i benefited from it a great deal. the fire brigade are supplying us with counsellors. there is a charity run by firefighters. we've been there for a week as a watch.

that was very helpful as well. no training or anything would have prepared us for what happened that night, and as i said, the children who were involved in that fire and even in the community, are all suffering. that's why we would like to run for them. you have to look at us as firefighters, we have had some kind of exposure to traumatic events in the past. i've been a firefighter for 15 years and there is a great deal of experience sitting around this group. but the kids and children should not be exposed to those kind of events. as firefighters, we can process that, but how does a vulnerable child process those events? us going forward and running the marathon will help us raise this is at the heart of what we are doing it for. for people who haven't been down to the site of grenfell tower, they may not realise that it's not just the community that was

living within that tower. i remember when i was standing there, there was a little girl on her way to school. she was on her scooter and she was stopping and looking at all of the tributes, talking about the tower. and her dad was saying, "come on, come on, we need to go." and it must be so hard, day in, day out, you are confronted with that outside your home and school. the shell of the tower is still there and itjust looms over north kensington, so it looms over the school playgrounds, the parks and play areas. it's a constant reminder to everyone in the area what's happened. and it's a real trigger for post—traumatic stress. kids on the green, the charity we are running for, the organisation we are running for, they look after kids to have they look after kids who have probably been missed by the original aid effort that went out nearer the time. so many children witnessed the unthinkable and probably have been undiagnosed with post—traumatic stress. this is targeting children from the entire area

of north kensington. in a moment, a summary of the business news this hour but first , the headlines on bbc news. interest rates are on hold, but a warning that they could rise as soon as the bank of england top grades its forecast for growth. mps found guilty of bullying or harassment could face training or suspension from their seat, under new proposals. january was one of the most difficult months on record for the nhs in england, with record waiting times and targets being missed by the 30th month in a row. the business use. the bank of england gave its decision but also upgraded its forecast for the uk economic growth to i.7%. that's up

from the previous forecast of i.5%. the bank says it may start to raise interest rates earlier than thought. it noted that the country's economy was benefiting from a pick—up in growth across the world. it also thinks that uk wage growth will start to pick up, giving the economy a further boost. debenhams is planning to cut 320 in store management roles as part of a programme to reduce costs by £10 million. the high street retailer, which issued a profit warning injanuary, said it aimed to redeploy staff where possible. the move could hit 25% of store management roles across the organisation, with a new structure expected to be rolled out by the end of next month. the electric car maker tesla has posted its worst ever quarterly loss — around £480 million in the three months to december. the firm which has yet to make a profit warned that spending will increase this year. but it says the outlook is positive and that it's said it "learned many lessons" from its crucial model three production plans. they have increased their growth

forecasts slightly this year. it's largely due to strength else with it in the world, not about the uk. you think inflation will continue and consumers will still feel the pinch. domestically, it would feel that much stronger, but elsewhere, growth is stronger. that will support certain sectors of the economy. they're worried that inflation is

above target for a long time, so they'll have to react a little bit more than the previously said they were going to. they've got to move carefully, because the previously said inflation would fall back by the end of this year. the danger is, if they put interest rates up to quickly and too soon, inflation might go down much further than they would like it to. that's right, the domestic recovery is very fragile. the other thing on going in the background, this is a critical time for brexit negotiations. if we do see an agreement on transition in the near term with our eu partners and a move toward some ongoing partnership, then that could prove business confidence could pick up and that could pave the way for them co mforta bly and that could pave the way for them comfortably raising interest rates without too much of an impact on the economy. but you are right, because very difficult balancing act to judge right now. it's interesting

that the currency effect was the pound rising, jumping quite quickly, even though interest rates were actually held today. yes, but it is what they told us about where interest rates are going. there were quite explicit. they said interest rates would have to rise sooner and by more than what the market anticipated, so the interest rate on anticipated, so the interest rate on a year government bond rose quite significantly. that is attractive for external investors and that is what has pushed the currency up. thanks very much. nissan expects full year operating profit to be 12.4% lower than last year's estimate, as it now believes its safety inspection scandal will have a bigger impact on earnings. last year nissan recalled 1.2 million vehicles injapan after regulators said safety checks did not meet domestic requirements. japan's second largest car—maker also posted a heavy fall in third—quarter operating profit, as its inspection woes and higher discounts in the us proved to be a drag on earnings. 21st century fox says it still expects the uk will approve its sky takeover, even though a provisional finding

suggested the deal was not in the public interest. chief executive james murdoch said the firm is working with authorities to resolve concerns. mr murdoch made the remarks on a call with financial analysts to discuss the firm's quarterly earnings. last year, the firm agreed to sell assets — including sky — to disney. shares in talktalk have slumped more than 10% after the firm warned profits would be significantly lower this year than it previously thought. the telecoms group expects a key measure of profits to be between £230 million and £245 million, much lower than its forecast. the firm slashed its dividend and said it will sell £200 million of shares on the stock exchange. talktalk is raising the money to invest in a network of fibre cables to boost broadband speeds. let's have a quick look at the markets. you can see the effect of

the bank of england statement on currency. the pound is up against the dollar. it's also up against the euro. you can see percentages there, but up against the dollar about 1%, up but up against the dollar about 1%, up against the usual by about 1.3%. you saw it but you have to be quick, because it is there and then it's gone. there you go. and i'm gone. i'll be back in an hour. it's an unusual musical event, a special plane — operated by the european space agency — took a group of djs — and theirfans — up into the sky — for a set in zero gravity. the bbc‘s tim allman takes up the story. studio 5a and the ministry of sound have nothing on this — an airbus a310 called zero—g. dozens of people from around the world given the chance to get high, very high,

and not an illegal substance in sight, taking off for a whole new experience. music plays. # we hit turbulence... usually the testing ground for astronauts, zero—g instead became the most exclusive and unusual nightclub in the world. a heavy beat, but the lightest of party—goers. for 90 minutes they danced, or at least they tries to dance, they floated, they spun. what goes up must come down, but this was one high—altitude rave, that blew people's minds. it was insane. it was so crazy. just floating upside down, and then steve aoki was doing flips down... it was just insane.

it was like all your emotions at max level. and it was hilarious. i'm super—thankful. now, ijust want to do it again, and again and again. for everyone involved, this was a unique gig, unlikely to be repeated. they say music can lift the soul. this went a lot further than that. tim allman, bbc news. that looks like fun so. i like to try it sometime. or maybe not. here's the weather. temperatures fell as low as —6 this morning, but this is the story for most people. blue sky and lots of sun. but rain on the way, this

weather front is on the way, snow showers piling in behind. some of that rain quite heavy across south—west england, wales, up through the midlands and north west england overnight tonight. behind it, colder air starts to can. temperatures through scotland, nor is in england and northern ireland could fall as low as minus four degrees. ice could be a problem, and the showers will continue, particularly with this little fellow, which will drift its way through wheels on the midlands. a scattering of showers across the north and west facing courses of scotland. with below freezing temperatures, ice could be a problem. similar story temperatures, ice could be a problem. similarstory across north—west england, down through wheels on the midlands. this is a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow. could be tricky if you wrote on the road, but were not too concerned

about. those showers will ease away and then a quieter story, still with the risk of the few showers. temperatures peaking at around li—7d. as we move into friday, high pressure will build, a cold night. then another area of pressure moves on. winds could be quite as feature. on the leading edge, there will be snow for the time. rain piles in behind, some of it heavy through the day on saturday across wales and south—west england and eventually into the london area. scotland seeing the best of the drier weather on saturday. it is all change as we go into the second half of the weekend. the rain clears away, the winds once again swing round to north—westerly. bringing snow, which may settle at lower levels. it will

stay cold for most of us. some rain and snow, gales will be a future. —— key feature. hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2:00: interest rates on hold, but a warning from the bank of england that rises are coming, and they will happen sooner rather than later and be larger than previously expected. it will be a gradual process, but somewhat more than what we had thought in november. higher council tax bills on the way in most of england, as local authorities struggle to make ends meet. calls for a new code of conduct for mps, peers and parliamentary staff, as one in five people working there say they experienced, or witnessed, sexual harassment last year. calls for a new code of conduct for new code of conduct for mps, peers and parliamentary staff. the action

is under way ahead of the opening