hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and mega munchetty. theresa may summons the cabinet to an emergency meeting today to discuss military action against syria. after a suspected chemical attack, the prime minister is reported to be ready to commit british forces without the approval of parliament. the united states says there is no set timetable for strikes on syria, and all options are on the table. good morning, it is thursday 12 april. also this morning: the daughter of a former russian spy posioned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. universal credit is failing the self—employed, according to one debt charity this morning. it says the new benefit doesn't help those who work for themselves, despite claims that it should. i will look at who is affected. good morning to the gold coast.

and it's a first for last, as annie last wins gold in the mountain biking, with evie richards completing an england one—two. and carol is out and about with the weather. good morning from the battle of britain memorialflight good morning from the battle of britain memorial flight hangar in lincolnshire. behind me you can see a spectacular lancaster, one of two still airworthy in the world. the other is in canada. why am i here? i will tell you throughout the programme but the weather outside is cloudy once again. cold on the east coast, the best of the sunshine in the north—west, the south—west and the north—west, the south—west and the channel islands. i will have more in about 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story: theresa may has summoned the cabinet to a special meeting this afternoon to discuss joining an american—led military strike on syria.

the prime minister is reported to be ready to commit british forces to action, without parliament's approval, to punish the suspected use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. here is our correspondent bill hayton. setting sail and heading east. more powerful warships left the united states on wednesday. this flotilla will take a week to get within strike range, but other ships and submarines are already in the mediterranean. the president has not laid out a timetable, and is still leaving a number of other options on the table. and we're still considering a number of those, and a final decision on that front has not been made. after russia threatened to shoot down any missiles, president trump tweeted his defiance, praising america's new, smart weapons. the world health organization says that 43 people died from exposure

to chemicals in the town of douma last saturday. the us government believes that the syrian government was responsible, and the uk is deciding whether to join the strike. all the implications are that the syrian regime was responsible and we will be working with our allies to make sure those responsible are held to account, and how we can then deter the catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future. the area where the alleged attack took place is now quiet after five years of fighting. this peace came at a terrible price, and western strikes on syria will not undo that suffering. the question for politicians to answer is that whether strikes may deter such things happening again orjust make the situation worse. let's speak to our political correspondent iain watson from westminster. iain, has theresa may made up her mind over whether tojoin military strikes against syria ? she has to decide, she has recalled

the cabinet during the eastern recess and they will meet this afternoon. it is always a question of when and not if britain willjoin action against syria. the reason for that, theresa may had said if the assad regime was responsible, her language has hardened over the past 24 language has hardened over the past 2a hours. she has been speaking to national security advisers and says essentially that the assad regime, in her view, all indications are that it in her view, all indications are thatitis in her view, all indications are that it is responsible. so she will be telling the cabinet this afternoon that the aim of any military action would be to deter and prevent further chemical attacks in syria. now, i am also told that there is no fixed timescale for any action. we wouldn't expect anything to happen necessarily eminently, after the cabinet, but there is a high likelihood that the action before parliament resumes after the easter break on monday, which would mean this would go ahead without

prior parliamentary approval. now, in any case, i think a vote in parliament would be risky for theresa may. as you remember, when action was proposed back in 2013, 30 conservatives voted against the government on that occasion. i think the one thing which will unite the labour opposition will be a call for parliamentary approval in advance of action, but i think there will be less united when it comes to the action itself. so what has been the latest reaction from the united states? 0ur correspondent chris buckler is in washington, dc. while president trump has been nothing but blunt on twitter in his warnings that missile strikes are coming and that russia and syria should be prepared for that, actually the white house has been striking a much more considered tone, saying that all options remain on the table, but they are still working out a military plan. but you do get the sense that at this stage some kind of strikes are inevitable, and certainly us officials have been looking at potential targets. they

have seen, for example, that president assad's forces have moved some aircraft, potentially to try to protect them from attack. but we still don't know how sustained or severe those strikes will be, and there will be high—level meetings here in washington today, just as they are taking place in london, to discuss some of those details. 0ne senior source has told the bbc that although we don't know the timing yet, that it will be an interesting weekend. and president trump has also been on the phone to president erdogan, in turkey, which is a neighbour of syria. we understand that there was an exchange of views, and certainly there will be many competing visions about just and certainly there will be many competing visions aboutjust how involved america and others should become in the complex conflict in syria. we will be discussing this with the former uk ambassador to syria just after 7:00am. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. in a statement yulia skripal, who was discharged from hospital

on monday, also said herfather, sergei, was still seriously ill. the international chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release details of its investigation into the nerve agent attack in the next few hours. yulia skripal left hospital on monday. herfather, sergei, is still there after both were exposed to a nerve agent in the city of salisbury last month. she is now in a secret location, and has asked to be left alone. but in a statement she praised hospital staff, saying: she also refuses offers of help from russia, adding: sergei skripal is a former russian spy who was living in the uk. he and yulia were discovered on march four on a park bench. it was unclear if

they were to survive. they had been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, which comes from the russian weapons programme. britain asked the office of the prohibition of chemical weapons to investigate. theirfindings will be released on friday. russia has repeatedly denied it carried out the poisoning. but britain has received strong diplomatic backing with over 20 countries expelling russian diplomats in protest. meanwhile, skripal skripal is said to have responded exceptionally well to treatment, and is expected to leave hospital soon. the high court will begin hearing the case brought by sir cliff richard against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection, following coverage of a police investigation and raid of the star's home in 2014. the case is due to last two weeks, and is expected to give guidance on the contentious issue of whether a suspect who has not

been charged can be lawfully named by the media. metropolitan police officers have seized drugs and firearms, including a submachine—gun, in raids targeting gangs across london. it follows a recent spate of crime in the capital. 0ur reporterjessica parkerjoined officers as they carried out the operation overnight. a six—month investigation leading to vests. —— leading to this. the operation saw eight raids carried out across the south and west london overnight. 0nto another one, the police targeting what has been described as a notorious gang. you have a lot of turf war going through, other gangs and throughout london, which then sends violence between gang members. police! the suspect is found in a nearby car. the raids come after a recent spate

of violent crime in the capital, with the fourth under the microscope, a high—level presence as the operation got under way. people have been shocked by the events of the last few weeks, and in particular young lives lost. everywhere my officers go, people come up to them and say it is good to see you here. nine people have been arrested in total, including a 14—year—old boy. suspected class a drug is were seized, firearms as well, including a submachine gun, in an operation including 200 officers. these raids are focused on tackling violent crime on our streets. and police are trying to send a message to the public that action is being taken. there is a message, too, for offenders tom or rather a warning. campaigners are calling on the government to resolve

the uncertainty over the status of thousands of people who arrived in the uk as children in the first wave of commonwealth immigration. despite living and working here for decades, many are now being told they are here illegally. a petition calling for an amnesty from the government has attracted 30,000 signatures. the home office said it would handle applications to stay sensitively. researchers are warning that a system of atlantic ocean currents which help to keep western and northern europe warm is weaker than it has been for more than 1,000 years. according to two new studies, the weakening is due to melting sea ice, glaciers and ice shelves, as a result of climate change. the research suggests the trends are likely to continue. whilst most of us will be looking forward to the warmer weather forecast for next week, the rising temperatures have prompted dramatic scenes in the french alps. these pictures are from tignes, an area popular with skiers. hundreds of tons of snow slid down the mountainside in an avalanche, which reached several metres high in places. these pictures were captured by passers—by, who stayed just out of range of the snow to film it. thankfully there were no injuries. wow. such a powerfulforce

wow. such a powerful force of nature. those are the main stories this morning. you couldn't contrast those pictures more with this next picture. we will show you what the gold coast looks like now. sun shining, people enjoying the sea, a bit of surfing, animals enjoying it, birds enjoying it as well. mike has got a friend with him there the gold coast. who is yourfriend? got a friend with him there the gold coast. who is your friend? good morning. these are very common around here. it is an ibis, revered around here. it is an ibis, revered around the world, apparently, and they are referred to as bin turkeys by the locals because they scavenge through the bins looking for food. i think they are rather beautiful. i am glad! think they are rather beautiful. i am glad i managed to bring you one, because normally when i go on air and they take to the trees. we are just off the beach and most of the

action has in the mountains, and history has been made by england, making their first commonwealth medals in the women's mountain biking. annie last finished first ahead of team—mate ev richards. —— evie richards. there was late drama in the champions league in madrid. juventus had clawed back a three—goal deficit, only for cristiano ronaldo to score a controversial late penalty for the holders, real madrid, to give them a 11—3 aggregate win and take them through to the semi—finals. wolves are on the verge of returning to the premier league. this is what they will bring to the party, ruben neves's goal the highlight as they beat derby 2—0. they need two more points to confirm promotion from the championship. and anya shrubsole has become the first woman to be pictured on the front cover of the cricketing almanack wisden, which is published today. she was one of the key members of england's world cup—winning team last year. they are currently batting against

india, and the latest i had was 3a— two. back at the commonwealth games, after the man's mountain biking, the focus shifts to the athletics. the big day ahead, with the women's and man's final. the man's 200m final later on. and at 6:30 a.m., join me on the beach when i am joined by nine boxers, whatever the collect the term is, a ring of boxers, or a southpaw of boxers. southpaw? it is a certain type of punch. southpaw of boxers. southpaw? it is a certain type of punchlj southpaw of boxers. southpaw? it is a certain type of punch. i think we will go with the ring for a minute. this morning carol is at raf coningsby, in lincolnshire, which is remembering the people involved with bomber command during the second world war. a rather amazing day there?

it certainly will be. i am at the battle of britain memorial flight hangar at raf coningsby in lincolnshire. you can see this amazing lancaster above me. only two of those are a worthy in the whole of those are a worthy in the whole of the world, the other one is in canada but the one behind me is actually going to be flying over the international bomber command centre later on today. it will mark the official opening of it today. the weather today is rather cloudy than many of us but it will be mostly dry. having said that, some showers and drizzle in the forecast. this will cost parts of the midland, wales and patchy rain across northern ireland. that will move west but to many of us what you had yesterday is the same as today. fairly cloudy. with an easterly wind

it will feel pretty chilly. we'll see cloud building but hang on to some sunshine. in the sunshine in the south, up to 15 celsius but if you are stuck under the cloud, quieter murky start as well. a band of rain coming up from the south—east. some of that will be heavy and thundery especially so in the south—east it doesn't mean it will be a particularly cold night in prospect but across the northern scotla nd prospect but across the northern scotland with clear skies, temperatures will be that bit lower. that band of rain are northwards.

behind it, there still will be a fair bit of cloud around. especially when a cloud does break. parts of southern england, wales free example. you could see showers coming out about it in the sunshine, temperatures will be higher. saturday, the far north of scotland will see some rain. some cloud around but it will break more readily during the course of saturday allowing more of us to see sunshine so we're looking higher temperatures. we are losing that easterly wind. the south—east could actually get up to about 18. across the east of scotland, 10— 12. by sunday, more of seeing some sunshine that there is weather front trying to get into in the south—west. it edges into western parts of the uk. temperatures in the sunshine

continuing to climb. what we are looking at as a head through monday, tuesday and into wednesday, possibly their mid— 20s for scotland and northern ireland. a hint of team. it doesn't mean it's going to be dry area. of course it won't, it is spring. let's have a look at today's papers. then easier with us. there is one story dominating the front pages. winners cabinet meeting will be taking place later today. the early pa rt taking place later today. the early part of the afternoon. theresa may's great gamble. the front page of the daily mail. suggestions uk subs are

moving within missile range of syria. we'll be talking about that. the political decision theresa may has to make. a cabinet meeting has been called this afternoon? the daily telegraph is talking about donald trump's latest tweet. many people are saying this is the us on the brink, that missiles are coming from the united states. the front page of the guardian, more on those tweets. the concern is that given russia's involvement, any military action could unwittingly involve direct strikes on the russians and they have already said publicly that they would in turn

launch missiles to bring down missiles, the war of words. also, this story. if you go to bed too late, it is not good deal of help. some people don't have much choice. a lot of retail team in the papers this morning. you may not know the company itself shop direct, it has said it will close a big warehouse in greater manchester. thelma down to the east midlands. it will result in about 2000 job losses. they said they going to open its new factory in the east midlands. a lot of robots doing the work that has been done by people but they said frankly the

connections from the east midlands are better at doing stuff. the numberof are better at doing stuff. the number of shop closes can —— closures continues a page —— outpaced. charity shops, pubs and convenience stores. if you know your size, pretty much you can buy online. are you a shoe shop ban? you've got to try shoes on. there is little more important in terms of closing —— clothing and comfort.|j think this is a big thing and it is interesting with the shop direct thing because returns is a really big thing. it costs them a lot of money to offer free returns. but more people will be able to buy and send it back quickly. have you ever bought a send it back quickly. have you ever boughta pairof send it back quickly. have you ever bought a pair of shoes online? all the time. i have size 12 is there not many shops that. we know they

say. big socks. we will leave that then. speaking of things, big hands that are missing from big ben. the hands i missing? speaking of big ben. no hands on this one. look, no hands, then. its ongoing renovation and it's rare to see it like this.|j can and it's rare to see it like this.” can help you out, then, by showing a picture of a funny animal. look at this. it is a turtle with a mohican. look at that. it sports a green mohican and it lives on the mary river in australia and its a0 centimetres long and that is the

total with a mohican. i think i've lost my colleagues. i've completely lost my colleagues. i've completely lost my colleagues. i've completely lost my colleagues. i will carry on regardless. ben will be joining lost my colleagues. i will carry on regardless. ben will bejoining us later, maybe. china has a serious shortage of blood because not enough people donate. for decades, it has been traded illegally on the black market. last month, the government brought in new rules to end a system which allowed people to give blood to their family or friends — but buying and selling seems to be continuing. 0ur china correspondent robin brant reports. this is how much medicine you have at home when you are 31 and recovering from cancer. gao's immune system is weak after chemotherapy to fight leukaemia, but that wasn't her only battle. she had to find blood. china has a chronic blood shortage,

and even though she had donated in the past, which should have given her a guarantee of blood, the hospital had none. so gao had to buy it. in fact, it was her mum who went out to do the deal. she was emotional as she described the last few years. it is not hard to find blood traders in china. the bbc spoke to this man outside a donor centre in shanghai. he told us he pays people to donate, then he sells their certificates to needy patients, which they exchange for blood. it is illegal, and the government banned it last month. it is almost two weeks now since the rules changed, so we came back to the same blood centre in shanghai, and we've been driving

around for half an hour. and look who we've seen hanging around outside — the same man, this time in red, in the same place. only about 1% of chinese give blood. china had a reciprocal system. people could donate, they earn credit, they could give that to friends and family. but that's what gave rise to the blood traders, so the government banned it last month. in a village on the edge of beijing this month, this mum thinks that is good news. zaozao has a rare blood type, which she discovered when she was pregnant. she thinks an end to people shopping around for blood will encourage more donations. but that requires a change in culture, and gao doesn't have time to wait for that. she wants the old system back, because she says friends, family, even the blood traders, kept her alive. robin brant, bbc news, shanghai.

mike is back on dry land after an unintended dip in the pool but these people are enjoying a dip in a gorgeously warm sea, i am sure. michael is going to bejoined by some boxers. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm charlotte franks. the police have asked people in hither green not to tear down the tributes being left opposite the house where the owner stabbed a burglar to death last week. flowers paying tribute to henry vincent have repeatedly been removed by neighbours, only to be put back by vincent's friends and family. the met‘s borough commander for lewisham says he doesn't want anyone to feel intimidated or that they're not being allowed to respond in a dignified

way to a tragic death. a third of london's jobs are likely to be replaced by robots and technology in the next thirty years. research from the centre for london has explored the accelerating change in computing and the challenges posed by brexit and regulatory pressures. the report also found that many of the capital's workforce are likely to have more than one career during their working life. there will still be those skilled jobs, we won't say that every low skilled job not be there but the bigger challenge is to make sure that the next generation have the flexibility of skills and the ability to carry on learning and develop new skills through your life. dozens of cyclists will compete in the first all—inclusive competition of its kind at the olympic park later today. it'll last all day and will feature riders with all forms of physical and mental disabilities, with races between one and five kilometres. the first of which begin at around 1pm. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube the district and piccadilly lines are part

suspended and the victoria line has minor delays. there's a good service on all other lines. 0nto the roads and northbound traffic on the blackwall tunnel southern approach is slow from the woolwich road flyover. the a13 is building westbound heading out of dagenham into barking. 0n the south circular, gas works continue on the brownhill road with delays at times to the east of the catford gyratory. and in central london, there are lane restrictions northbound on park lane by the queen elizabeth gate. let's have a check on the weather now with elizabeth rizzini. i'm back with the latest from the bbc london newsroom good morning. remember all the way back to yesterday's weather? today is looking similar, with a rather misty start. you'll fog over the higher ground. quite grow with plenty of low cloud around all day and that could be a little bit of visible around the morning particularly towards northern areas so particularly towards northern areas so damp murky filters things this morning. it could possibly turn a

the by kirsty and towards the afternoon but always lots of cloud and don't count on any sunshine really. top temperatures between 12 and 1a celsius. as he had through this evening ‘s rush—hour we have some showers feeding it from the eastern some of showers could be on the heavy side that they could clear away overnight leaving us with a mostly dry start to the day tomorrow but with some early mist around, temperatures dipping to between seven and nine celsius. tomorrow we stand a greater chance of seeing some brightness, particularly some sunny spells through the afternoon, highs of around 15 celsius and cheering up as we head through the course of the weekend, some sunny spells at times and it's looking lovely as we head to 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. hello, this is breakfast, with naga munchetty and charlie stayt.

it is 6:30am. look, i have done so many embarrassing things. you can run but you can't hide. it is hard to believe, but kylie's pop career has spanned more than 30 years. we have been chatting to her as she releases her 1ath album. good news for those who are early to bed and early to rise. new research suggests larks are healthier than night owls. we will find out why. and, if your mum always told you off for picking wildflowers, it turns out it actually helps preserve some species. a botanical expert will help us identify the right ones. good morning. here is a summary of today's main stories from bbc news: theresa may has summoned the cabinet to a special meeting this afternoon to discuss joining an american—led military strike on syria. the prime minister is reported to be ready to commit british forces to action, without parliament's approval, to punish the suspected use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. so what has been the latest reaction from the united states?

0ur correspondent chris buckler is in washington, dc. while president trump has been nothing but blunt on twitter in his warnings that missile strikes are coming, and that russia and syria should be prepared for that, actually the white house has been striking a much more considered tone, saying that all options remain on the table. but they are still working out a military plan. but you do get the sense that at this stage some kind of strikes are inevitable, and certainly us officials have been looking at potential targets. they have seen, for example, that president assad's forces have moved some aircraft, potentially to try to protect them from attack. but we still don't know how sustained or severe those strikes will be, and there will be high—level meetings here in washington today, just as they are taking place in london, to discuss some of those details. 0ne senior source has told the bbc that, although we don't know the timing yet, that it will be an interesting weekend. and president trump has also been on the phone to president erdogan,

in turkey, which is a neighbour of syria. we understand that there was an exchange of views, and certainly there will be many competing visions aboutjust how involved america and others should become in the complex conflict in syria. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. in a statement yulia skripal, who was discharged from hospital on monday, also said herfather, sergei, is still seriously ill. the international chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release details of its investigation into the nerve agent attack in the next few hours. the high court will begin hearing the case brought by sir cliff richard against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection, following coverage of a police investigation and raid of the star's home in 201a. the case is due to last two weeks, and is expected to give guidance on the contentious issue of whether a suspect who has not

been charged can be lawfully named by the media. metropolitan police officers have seized drugs and firearms, including a submachine—gun, in raids targeting gangs across the capital. nine people including a 1a—year—old boy were held in the operation, which involved more than 200 officers. it came after a recent upsurge in violent crime in london. campaigners are calling on the government to resolve the uncertainty over the status of thousands of people who arrived in the uk as children in the first wave of commonwealth immigration. despite living and working here for decades, many are now being told they are here illegally. a petition calling for an amnesty from the government has attracted 30,000 signatures. the home office said it would handle applications to stay sensitively. researchers are warning that a system of atlantic ocean currents which help to keep western and northern europe warm is weaker than it has been for more than 1,000 years. according to two new studies, the weakening is due to melting sea

ice, glaciers and ice shelves, as a result of climate change. the research suggests the trends are likely to continue. wa nt to want to see some dramatic pictures ofan want to see some dramatic pictures of an avalanche? these are good. these were taken from tignes, an area popular with skiers. hundreds of tons of snow slid down the mountainside in an avalanche, which reached several metres high in places. these pictures were captured by passers—by, who stayed just out of range of the snow to film it. thankfully there were no injuries. an amazing picture of the power of nature. so we take you now from the mountains of the alps and the snow there to the beach. we have enjoyed

very much, mike, your gatherings of people over the last few days. who do you have with you today?” people over the last few days. who do you have with you today? i think i have set a new record. i am in a ring of nine boxers from team england, and they have all guarantee themselves a medal. most are in the semifinals, and if you are in the semifinals, and if you are in the semifinals, you get at least a bronze. sandy will get a gold or silver because she is through to the final. very kind of them to hold up our special rack first —— breakfast bunting. let's bring you up to date with the rest of the sport, and there was late controversy in the champions league last night. real madrid led juvenus 3—0 in their quarter—final, going into the second leg at the bernabeu. but the italian side battled back to level the tie. then, deep into injury time, real madrid won a penalty. juventus had goalkeeper gianluigi buffon sent off for his protests. and it was cristiano ronaldo, who else, who scored the winner. bayern munich are also through to the semi—finals

after beating sevilla. wolves are on the verge of returning to the premier league. and this is what they will bring to the party — a cracking goalfrom ruben neves as they beat derby 2—0. just two more points and wolves will be promoted from the championship. when cricket's famous almanac wisden is published today, anya shrubsole will be on the cover — the first woman ever to feature on the front of the iconic book. she was one the key members of england's world cup—winning team last year. shru bsole and her team—mates heather knight and natalie sciver are among wisden‘s five cricketers of the year. it means a huge amount to me personally, but the thing i feel the most about it is it is such a great reflection of, i guess, where women's cricket is, but also just how big, important, how much that world cup win really captured the

nation. i think you could have put any number of people from that world cup winning team on that front cover and it would have had exactly the same impact. she and her team—mates are currently playing in india, and england are batting first. now to that brilliant finish for team england in the cross—country mountain biking — gold and silver, england's first ever commonwealth medals in the event. james burford has the highlights so far from day eight of competition. this isn't your standard countryside cycle. this is cross—country mountain biking at its most gruelling. a a.5 kilometre circuit that has to be completed five times, full of rocky climbs and tricky trails. it is not often that last is best, but in this case annie last was. silver—medallist in 2017's world championships, the 27—year—old went one better. her team—mate richards finish shortly behind her to ensure england claimed their first ever commonwealth games medals

in mountain biking. for english and british mountain biking i think it is amazing. we have had a few years where we have kind of not been up there in the racing, and to have kind of two of us at the front of the race is so good. so i am really pleased for her as well. heat is on for katarina johnson—thompson. ba rely for katarina johnson—thompson. barely a month ago she was lifting her first—ever global title. hurdles the first event in this hat that long, could this be her main rival? australia's mucci set the pace, but the england competitor suffered a painful start to the event. a shoulder to lean on with the events coming thick and fast. johnson—thompson's via is always at higher and she raced into the lead with this leap. 0n the track, the competitor reigns supreme, but leeds's very own alex bell willjoin her in the final. jack laugher has booked his spot in the day's three

metre springboard final despite the slight miscue in qualifying. even the very back on the beach, the boxers having fun with a beach ball. and sandie ryan could get a gold and silver guarantee, the rest are all in the semifinals. you have one yours. congratulations. and now you will fight for the - against wales's congratulations. and now you will fight for the | our against wales's

for you;1 the! for you;1 the moment, it means for you at the moment, because you are just so focused on that gold. would silver seem a disappointment for you, or are you happy to have got that far? disappointment if i come away with anything more than a gold, really, i said that to myself before i came out here. so i eyes gem really care who it beat. and i don't really care who it is, but they are in the way of me getting a gold, so it is going to be a good fight, whoever it is. how emotional has been getting this far for you? your first emotional has been getting this far for you ? your first commonwealth games? yes, it means so much to me. the big tournament like this as well, it is - like...

the big tournament like this as well, in is like... 12" 7 the big tournament like this as well, as iee... ., is ,;,.i;,..s,,.,.,.,-.,,, ~ 77 he came out head first, i came out legs first. pushing off for seven medals, pushing on. how special is it having erat would feel like wasn't erat would feellike ,, ,, . . . wasn't erat would feelliloo ,, ,, . . . was missing. did you grow one i’ over the sofa and the remote control when you were younger

we have always been fighting. how special has it been being at a commonwealth games for you? probably the best country i have been to, better than brazil. so you the best country i have been to, better than b medal, you q training, ll you iin 35115 i you are 5115 i you are the i i you are the euoerheexgxxeight»: fl. , now, you are the superheavyweight. the big one. —— photo bomb you. now, you are the superheavyweight. the big one. -- photo bomb you. what is interesting is that many luminaries have come through, in games like this. do you dream of being the next one through? that is what we are hoping for. you can see

the team spirit. to emulate them two would be great. both 0lympic medallists, one silver and one gold. tokyois medallists, one silver and one gold. tokyo is the big one.” medallists, one silver and one gold. tokyo is the big one. i am a bit worried about this, but i have been told to ask you why you are called frazer? is it ok to share with a brea kfast frazer? is it ok to share with a breakfast audience?” frazer? is it ok to share with a breakfast audience? i thought it was after smoking joe frazer. breakfast audience? i thought it was after smoking joe frazer. what would it mean to get to the final and fight for that gold? you know, we work for that gold, we in and week out we leave our family and friends, and we dedicate a lot of time and effort to what we do. so that is what we do it for, so ijust want effort to what we do. so that is what we do it for, so i just want to get that gold medal, take it home, show it to my little daughter, you know, make are proud, you know what imean? know, make are proud, you know what i mean? hello, amelia, your dad loves you, i will bring you back the gold. and they are all running around and having lots of fun. there

are around and having lots of fun. there a re balls around and having lots of fun. there are balls flying everywhere. i will be back at 7:30am with some of the shooting medallists from these commonwealth games. they are certainly boisterous, it is good to see they have so much energy. absolutely, focusing that energy on their finals absolutely, focusing that energy on theirfinals tomorrow, absolutely, focusing that energy on their finals tomorrow, saturday. absolutely, focusing that energy on theirfinals tomorrow, saturday. we are handing back, but good luck for your final. thank you very much. you can see that spirit, carry that spirit into the ring. great to see that the spirit in team england. we have a great team spirit, and we will go out there and dominate. they have confiscated the ball! do you know, that is a brave person to confiscate the ball from nine boxers. the boxes thought they were tough! and carol has the weather for us tough! and carol has the weather for us this morning, of course, and she is at the rather magnificent location of international bomber command centre, opening today. what

an extraordinary backdrop we have. i'm at the battle of britain memorialflight i'm at the battle of britain memorial flight hangar and you i'm at the battle of britain memorialflight hangar and you can see the lancaster behind me. i believe this lancaster will be flying later today, dependent on the cloud base. the purpose of that is just remember the veterans and also those who died in bomber command. if we look at some of the other aircraft, a lot of spitfires. aren't they lovely. this one was built at they lovely. this one was built at the end of the war. if you keep walking down here, this one was also used in wartime. you mightjust be able to see that. the next one further down was flown on d—day. this powered many of the spitfires in the battle of britain, as indeed

it did with the lancaster ‘s. take a quick sweep around, you can look at some of the other aircraft be looking at. it is quite chilly inside. at least the most, is going to be mostly dry. it's also going to fairly cloudy. the cloud thicken up once again to be producing diesel. also some patchy light rain in northern ireland. again thick enough for some drizzle. still some haar and fret coming in from the north sea coupled with some easterly wind. feeling chilly, the best of the bra kes feeling chilly, the best of the brakes are cloud to the best of the sunshine will be across north—west scotland. also south wales, south—west england and the channel islands. along the east coast,

looking at about 6—8. heading onto this evening and overnight, further spells of showery rain moving up from the south—east. that's going to be moving northwards. temperatures wise, not particularly cold. we start tomorrow without rain continuing to migrate northwards across scotland. there still will be across scotland. there still will be a bit of cloud around. it won't feel as chilly. in the sunshine, temperatures tomorrow could get up to 1718 celsius. the rain will be

across the far north of scotland. will equally see some sunshine coming through. temperatures up to about 18. there will be more sunshine around. we do have a weather trunk ——a weather front trying to get him from the west. they had of it, in the sunshine, it will feel pleasant. and a heads up as to what is going to happen next week. it looks like early next week, towards the middle of next week, england and wales could have temperatures up to 25 possibly. that does not mean necessarily best is going to stay dry. we want the

gardens to growers will. universal credit is slowly replacing other benefits. it is designed to get people back into a job, but does it work for the self—employed ? the rules for them are slightly different and the charity citizens advice say they could be hundreds of pounds worse off. so how does it work? after working for yourself for a year, it's assumed you're making at least the minimum wage. the government uses that to work out what's known as your minimum income floor. if your income goes 0ver that

level your benefits are reduced. but if you earn under that amount, universal credit won't make up the difference — so you end up with less. and according to the charity citizens advice, it means self—employed workers who receive universal credit could be worse off by £630 a year, even if they earn the same as someone who's employed. i'm joined now by kayley hignall from citizens advice. can you explain why this is a problem? universal credit can you explain why this is a problem ? universal credit treat self—employed people differently and it assumes that after 12 months, businesses will be earning the national minimum wage and won't top up national minimum wage and won't top up their income if they are not. self—employed people claiming this benefits are often on very low incomes so not getting a top up affects their rent and bills. fluctuating income is really common. you got construction workers who get

paid on completions ofjobs. 0ne might be great, the next wifey lowering income. they will find that universal credit is not helping them as much as they need to. those people might need to find out anotherjob to top up their income and that defeats the whole object is the point of this is to people back into work at solid living. the challenge is making sure you allow space to tackle businesses. at the same time as providing enough businesses. they can flourish and become brilliant businesses in the uk. is it fair, to look at this from the other side, that if the business is not earning enough, the taxpayer should then have to go in and essentially subsidise them and make up essentially subsidise them and make up the shortfall. because of the

businesses and working, we shouldn't be propping it up? some businesses in the uk are lasting and on a long time are not giving people are not income. what we can't do at the same time is penalise people who are giving it a go, time is penalise people who are giving ita go, doing time is penalise people who are giving it a go, doing everything they can to make the business work. it really can vary across industries how long it can take before you get up how long it can take before you get up to the national minimum wage. it's quite a high level. this policy has no discretion. does make a difference if you're trying your best or not. a lot of controversy about it being replaced. how is it going? it's a massive benefit reform. this is one area of it. within raising concerns are glad the

government acted recently in the budget to make some changes. we are watching our evidence carefully to make sure the changes are having the desired impact. thank you, really great view to explain all of that. you did well. thank you very much. we spoke to the department of work and pensions and the minimum income floor, they said it in carriages people who aren't earning enough to grow their business or take on more hours in other employment. that could be the real issue. more from me up to seven o'clock. kylie minogue, one of those stars, we have watched growing up, she has been on television so long. it's like we know a lot about her life, through

the ill health, relationships, all sorts of things. pop star kylie called in to see us recently, ahead of releasing her 1ath album this month. we'll have the full interview later but here she explains how her recent high profile break up and its aftermath impacted her songwriting. what hurt the most was that i feel like i lost myself. the first few months back in the studio, ijust knew that i was a bit broken. not heartbroken, just a bit broken in myself. like i kind of allowed myself. like i kind of allowed myself to get to a place that was not good. so initially i would say it was cathartic and blah, blah, blah, all the things that i needed to get out of my system were written then but to my relief now, i didn't

know it at that time, they weren't very good songs set everything that was good became —— came six months afterwards. and the new music has a definite country feel. we talked about how that looks sometimes. you realise that your top up is so straight, and it's probably like irish jigging straight, and it's probably like irishjigging and straight, and it's probably like irish jigging and the straight, and it's probably like irishjigging and the bottom half is doing all the hard work. and it's just very different to what i would normally do, which is more kind of fluid movement and hips and waste and shoulders all of that will and going one and two and three. and if he came off, if you lost one beach, you are off. i'm no expert in line dancing, obviously. you're not? i'm surprised. the trick is, is it not, at to put your thumbs into your belt? once you got that position... yes, and! belt? once you got that position... yes, and i can tell you that a fact

because one of the outfits in the video, i had jeans because one of the outfits in the video, i hadjeans and because one of the outfits in the video, i had jeans and was able to do that. there you go. we'll hear more from kylie after half past eight this morning. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm charlotte franks. the police have asked people in hither green not to tear down the tributes being left opposite the house where the owner stabbed a burglar to death last week. flowers, paying tribute to henry vincent have repeatedly been removed by neighbours only to be put back by vincent's friends and family. the met‘s borough commander for lewisham says he doesn't want anyone to feel intimidated or that they're not being allowed to respond in a dignified way to a tragic death. flowers pinned outside the house in hither green have been pulled down repeatedly by angry residents. scotland yard urged both sides to show respect and consideration.>

a third of london's jobs are likely to be replaced by robots and technology in the next thirty years. research from the centre for london has explored the accelerating change in computing and the challenges posed by brexit. the report also found that many of the capital's workforce are likely to have more than one career during their working life. there will still be low—skilled jobs, we're not saying every low—skilled job will be wiped out, but i think the bigger challenge is to make sure that, for the next generation, we have the flexibility of skills and the ability to carry on learning and developing new skills through your life. dozens of cyclists will compete in the first all—inclusive competition of its kind at the olympic park later today. it'll last all day and will feature riders with all forms of physical and mental disabilities, with races between one and five kilometres. the first of which begin at around 1pm. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube, the district and piccadilly lines are part suspended and the victoria line has minor delays. there's a good service on all other lines. 0nto the roads and northbound traffic on the blackwall tunnel

southern approach is slow from the woolwich road flyover. the a13 is building westbound heading out of dagenham into barking. 0n the south circular, gas works continue on the brownhill road with delays to the east of the catford gyratory. central london, there are lane restrictions northbound on park lane by the queen elizabeth gate. lets have a check on the weather now with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. remember all the way back to yesterday's weather? well, today is really very looking similar, it will be a rather misty start. we've got some hill fog over the higher ground. it's going to feel quite grey with plenty of low cloud around all day and there could be a little bit of drizzle around the morning through the morning as well, particularly towards northern areas so a rather damp murky feel to things this morning. it could possibly turn a bit brigher as we head into the afternoon, particularly towards southern areas, but always lots of cloud, don't count on any sunshine, really.

top temperatures between 12 and 1a degrees celsius. now, as we had through this evening's rush hour, we have some showers feeding in from the east and some of showers could be on the heavy side but they will clear away overnight leaving us with a mostly dry start to the day tomorrow but with some early mist around, temperatures dipping to between 7 and 9 degrees celsius. tomorrow, we stand the greatest chance of seeing some brightness, perhaps even some sunny spells developing later on through the afternoon, highs of around 15 celsius and certainly cheering up as we head through the course of the weekend, some sunny spells at times, and it's looking lovely as we head into 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. now it's back to charlie and naga. hello, this is breakfast, with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. theresa may summons the cabinet to an emergency meeting today to discuss military action against syria. after a suspected chemical attack, the prime minister is reported to be ready to act without the approval of parliament.

the united states says there is no set timetable for strikes on syria, and all options are on the table. good morning, it is thursday 12 april. also this morning: the daughter of a former russian spy posioned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. if you book flights and hotels online, you could get better protection and compensation if things go wrong under new rules announced today. i will have the details shortly. and it is a first for last, as annie last wins gold in the mountain biking, with evie richards completing an england one—two. and carol is out and about with the weather. . good morning, and this morning i

am at the battle of britain memorial flight am at the battle of britain memorial flight hangar in lincolnshire, and we are here because today the international bomber command centre is officially opening. and that magnificent lancaster that you can see behind me, well, hopefully that will be flying, the clouds permitting. for many of us today the forecast is going to be a fairly cloudy one, thick enough to produce some drizzle, light and patchy rain. the best of the sunshine will be across the north—west of scotland, south—west of wales, south—west england and the channel islands. i will have more in 15 minutes. good morning. first, our main story: theresa may has summoned the cabinet to a special meeting this afternoon to discuss joining an american—led military strike on syria. the prime minister is reported to be ready to take action, without pa rliament‘s approval, to punish the suspected use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. here is our correspondent bill hayton. setting sail and heading east, more powerful warships left the united states on wednesday.

this flotilla will take a week to get within strike range, but other ships and submarines are already in the mediterranean. the president has not laid out a timetable, and is still leaving a number of other options on the table. and we're still considering a number of those, and a final decision on that front hasn't been made. after russia threatened to shoot down any missiles, president trump tweeted his defiance, praising america's new "smart weapons." the world health organization says that a3 people died from exposure to chemicals in the town of douma last saturday. the us government believes the syrian government was to blame, and later today the cabinet will discuss whether to join the strike.

all the implications are that the syrian regime was responsible and we will be working with our allies to make sure those responsible are held to account, and how we can then deter the catastrophe that comes from the use of chemical weapons in the future. the area where the alleged chemical attack took place is now quiet, after five years of fighting. this peace came at a terrible price. the question for politicians to answer is whether strikes may deter such things happening again, orjust make the situation worse. let's speak to our political correspondent iain watson, from westminster. iain, has theresa may made up her mind over whether tojoin military strikes against syria? there is no greater decision that a prime minister has to make them taking military action. that's right, and it is her decision to make, we should be clear about that, royal prerogative powers. the convention has been to consult parliament since the iraq war. parliament of course was not consulted ahead of action in libya. there was a subsequent debate. so it

looks as though we will have much the same this time. the cabinet will be discussing what action to take this afternoon. we are not expecting any imminent action, i am told there is no fixed timescale the action but there is a strong likelihood that action against the syrian regime will take place before parliament returns from its easter break on monday, which would mean the prime minister acting without the prior approval of mps. minister acting without the prior approval of mp5. i think that is likely to unite the labour opposition against her. they will demand proper scrutiny of the action and will want to ask questions about what the action might achieve, possibly raising the fact that the 1—off airstrike by the americans last year did not seem to achieve a great deal. but i think there will be less unity from the opposition over the action itself, and there is likely to be some dissent from the conservative benches as well. in 201a parliament voted against taking action after a chemical attack in syria, 30 mps voting against it from

the conservative side, among them david davis, sitting around the table as brexit secretary, and brexit minister steve baker. i think there will be some strong discussion and hard questions asked this afternoon. nonetheless i think it is afternoon. nonetheless i think it is a question of when and not if they will be military action against syria. —— there will be military action. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. in a statement yulia skripal, who was discharged from hospital on monday, also said herfather, sergei, was still seriously ill. the international chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release details of its investigation into the nerve agent attack in the next few hours. andrew plant reports. yulia skripal left hospital on monday. herfather, sergei, is still there, after both were exposed to a nerve agent in the city of salisbury last month. she is now in a secret location, and has asked to be left alone. but in a statement she praised hospital staff, saying... she also refuses offers of help

from russia, adding... sergei skripal is a former russian spy who was living in the uk. he and his daughter were discovered on a park bench on a march. it was unclear if they were to survive. they have been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, which the british government says came from the russian weapons programme. britain asked the office for the prohibition of chemical weapons to investigate. theirfindings will be released at midday today. russia has repeatedly cast doubt on the claim it carried out the poisoning.

but britain has received strong diplomatic backing, with over 20 countries expelling russian diplomats in protest. meanwhile, skripal skripal is said to have responded exceptionally well to treatment, and is expected to leave hospital soon. the high court will begin hearing the case brought by sir cliff richard against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection, following coverage of a police investigation and raid of the star's home in 201a. the case is due to last two weeks, and is expected to give guidance on the contentious issue of whether a suspect who has not been charged can be lawfully named by the media. metropolitan police officers have seized drugs and firearms, including a submachine—gun, in raids targeting gang violence across london. it follows a recent spate of crime in the capital. 0ur reporterjessica parkerjoined officers as they carried out the operation overnight. her report contains flash photography. a six—month investigation leading to this. police! the operation saw eight raids carried out across the south

and west of london overnight. 0nto another one, the police targeting what has been described as a notorious gang. you have a lot of turf war, going through other gangs and throughout london, which then stems the violence between gang members. police! a suspect is found in a nearby car. the raids come after a recent spate of violent crime in the capital. with the force under the microscope, a high—level presence as the operation got underway. i think people have been shocked by the events of the last few weeks, and in particular young lives lost. everywhere my officers go, people come up to them and say it's good to see you here. nine people have been arrested in total, including a 1a—year—old boy. suspected class a drugs were seized, firearms too, including a submachine—gun, in an operation including 200 officers. these raids are focused on tackling violent crime on our streets,

and the police are trying to send a message to the public that action is being taken. there is a message, too, for offenders — or rather a warning. researchers are warning that a system of atlantic ocean currents which help to keep western and northern europe warm is weaker than it has been for more than 1,000 years. according to two new studies, the weakening is due to melting sea ice, glaciers and ice shelves, as a result of climate change. the research suggests the trends are likely to continue. conservation charities have warned that hundreds of the world's most weird and wonderful creatures could be sliding towards extinction. this handsome chap is the mary river turtle. its punk appearance is caused by vertical strands of algae that grow on its body. they are only found in one australian river, where they have become popular pets. the turtles are just one of more than 500 at—risk reptile species on a new list compiled by the zoological society of london. they hope that by highlighting these lesser—known endangered creatures, more will be done to save them from becoming extinct.

i think that total looks rather charming. it has a certain panache. we will have all the sport from mike at the commonwealth games a bit later on. the prime minister, theresa may, is preparing for an emergency meeting with the cabinet to discuss how the uk should respond to president assad's alleged chemical attack in syria. british forces could join an operation against syrian targets which us president donald trump has said in a tweet will be coming. peter ford is a former ambassador to syria. he is now a member of the lobby group the british syrian society, which has links to the assad family. he has been a long—term critic of western policy. good morning, peter. thank you for

coming in. let's start with this chemical attack. do you think president assad is responsible for this? no, i don't, because the evidence is extremely thin. then the -- thin evidence is extremely thin. then the —— thin to vanishing. all of the information about this attack comes from the side of militant islamist groups. without exception, all of the information, is not one single of independent information on what actually happened in douma, and there is every reason to believe that the islamist have mounted a fa ke that the islamist have mounted a fake attack in order to stampede the west into coming... when you say fa ke west into coming... when you say fake attack, what do you mean? that there was no chemical attack, that there was no chemical attack, that the images are probably faked. the important thing is to get the international inspectors into douma, and they are in damascus now, they

are on their way. the important thing is to get the inspectors in to verify what i have just said. the world health organization doesn't believe these images were fake. the who has repeated claims, claims, made by the same sources that produced the videos. that is, by the islamist militants. not by any independent observers. this is a crucial detail. there is absolutely no impartial evidence. the bbc itself, can i remind you, is saying that the images in the videos are unverified. is that not correct? that is correct, but president assad, is it not correct, has been found to have used chemical weapons before. do you understand why there is this collation of evidence, or collection of assumptions, that has put him in the spotlight and put him

down as someone who is responsible for these attacks. he has done it before. the important thing is to get the inspectors in now, to verify the facts of what happened in the last several days. whatever happened in the past, and that is still open to question. if you actually look at the report by the un inspectors from the report by the un inspectors from the attack one year ago, you will see troubling facts such as the fact that some of the alleged victims we re that some of the alleged victims were presenting to hospital one hour before the syrian planes had even left the ground. ok, let's move on from whether this is fact or not. let's say evidence has been found. to prove that president assad was behind this attack. and look at... which is where the us appears to be at this moment in time. what do you... though, i am sorry. the us does not appear to be there. general mattis yesterday was saying that the

evidence, the assessment, cannot yet be concluded. because all the evidence is not yet in. well, donald trump, the president of the united states, has threatened to bomb syria. that is where he is out at this moment in time. and strike with missiles. what do you make of that? well, we all know that president trump says things, and his generals, who no what they are talking about, say something else —— know. general mattis, who does know probably what he is talking about, says that the assessment is continuing. that can only mean that the evidence is not yet in. looking at what the russian ambassador has said, the russian ambassador to lebanon, there is also strong language there, strong exchanges there. what do you make of this situation, this dramatic situation now? where do you see it going next? we have an emergency cabinet meeting called today by our own prime minister. it is hair raising, and the idea that we could be going into a possible hot war

with russia, because the scope of miscalculation of accidents is enormous, the idea that we could be going into such a dangerous conflict on the basis of contested images and reports fromjihadi on the basis of contested images and reports from jihadi sources such as the white helmets, who are the so—called first responders, who are islamist militants who help in beheadings and amputations of hands and feet, and it was on the testimony of such first responders and so—called monitors that this country might be on the point of making another grave mistake. and let me remind you, please, about iraq. when we were so confident, we re we iraq. when we were so confident, were we not. all the intelligence... you remember colin powell, please, let us not have another case of being taken to war on a false perspective. you live very much away from the

consensus in the west in terms of what president assad has done in the past and you are bringing those views to the sofa this morning. what you think is going to be discussed in this meeting, this cabinet meeting with theresa may? where do you expect this to lead?” meeting with theresa may? where do you expect this to lead? i think that the evidence is mounting that that the evidence is mounting that that theresa may is developing doubts about the wisdom of ignoring parliament, of ignoring the absence of evidence, of the dangers of going into a rash action before the inspectors from the organisation of the coalition of chemical weapons who are on site have gone in. i think she will hear around the table voices urging caution and if this is

not the case, i'm afraid she's going to make the day forjeremy corbyn who will make a if and when it transpires that the evidence for the attacks doesn't bear out after the event. peter ford, former uk ambassador to syria and director of the british syrian society, thank you forjoining us. we are very much in different voices in connection with what is happening. we will hear from the former head of the british army later and hearing his reflections on what might happen nextin reflections on what might happen next in relation to syria a little later on. this morning, carol is at raf coningsby in lincolnshire, which is remembering the people involved with bomber command during the second world war. good morning. that memorial is

opening in lincoln. the international bomber command centre is officially opening today and it's important because it's keeping alive the memories of the veterans who fought in bomber command and also those who perished. this magnificent lancaster hopefully will be flying over that later on today and hopefully look as if very much depends on the cloud base whether it can not. fingers crossed. we have seen can not. fingers crossed. we have seen the front of the lancaster. this position here is where the rear gunner would sit. look how small that is. often, they can be in there forup to that is. often, they can be in there for up to eight hours in that cramped position and often, this front but here, the prospects would freeze survey would have to open it to help defrosted. they must have been absolutely perishing in there. the other thing as well is, if you think of the view, this is at the

back of the aircraft. it must have been so frightening seeing what was approaching. the comms between the front on the back were so important. the pilot was reliant on the rear gunner making sure that he was safe in the rear gunner was so reliant on the pilots making sure that he could get them out of trouble if there was trouble afoot. there is a lot of cloud around. it's a misty, murky grey start today across many parts of the uk. it will remain driver most of us but it will be fairly cloudy. it also got some drizzle around and some patchy rain, east anglia, the midlands, drifting west through the day and once again, haar and fret coming in from the north sea, fog and essentially, so it's going to feel pretty chilly. the best of any sunshine likely to be across the northern islands —— the northern isles, south—west england

and the channel islands and if you're in the sunshine, highs of up to 1a and 15 celsius but if you are stuck under the fog and wind, we are looking at closer to six or seven. through this evening and overnight, a band of showers is going to push on from the south—east, moving steadily northwards. some of them will be happy. the small risk of thunder. the very far north of scotla nd thunder. the very far north of scotland will escape that as a result of all of this, it is not going to be a cold night. we start tomorrow, rain across scotland and northern ireland pushing northwards. the cloud will start to break. that could spark of some showers across parts of wales. the midlands, for example. temperatures tomorrow continuing to rise. we could hit 18 celsius in the south—east. it's not going to be as cold across north—east england as the wind here won't be as strong but it will be

brisk across eastern scotland. on saturday, the rain will be across the far north of scotland but by then, an improvement across eastern scotland. your temperatures will recover. the many of us on saturday, they will cloud but also a lot more sunshine. temperatures in the south—east up to about 18. for sunday, again, a lot of dry weather around. what's more sunshine around. the temperature is rising again but in the west, a weather front trying to come in and it will bring in rain. into the early part of next week, temperatures will continue to rise. temperatures into the low 20s. for scotland and northern ireland, all in all, things are shifting and

even with those high temperatures, it doesn't mean things are going to remain dry. it does look murky there but i'm pleased the sun is coming over the next few days. thousands of people who arrived in the uk as children in the first wave of commonwealth immigration face being threatened with deportation. many have lived and worked here for decades, but are now being told they are doing so illegally. a new petition calling on the home office to grant them an amnesty has attracted around 30,000 signatures so far. we'll discuss this in a moment, but first a look back to 19a8 when one of the first ships arrived. arrivals at tilbury. the empire windrush brings to britain 500 jamaicans. many rx servicemen who served this country well. injamaica they couldn't find work, discouraged but full of hope they sailed the briton citizens of the british empire coming to the mother country with good intent. high commissioners of various caribbean islands are meeting with civil rights groups

and mps later today. one of those is guy hewitt, barbados high commissioner. he joins us from london. what are their circumstances now? good morning. we have statistics from the migration of server tree at 0xford from the migration of server tree at oxford university that suggests there are up to 50,000 persons from there are up to 50,000 persons from the commonwealth will arrived in britain before 1971 who have irregular status and as a consequence of that status, they are being shut out of the system. they can't work, they are denied access to healthcare, are denied access to government services. some have been detained, others deported. what is

the process those people are having to go to at the moment? that sounds very harrowing. it is harrowing. as your port started, it is a tragedy that this is happening as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the arrival of empire windrush. many of these persons who came after the second world war on a call from this country to address acute labour shortage is came from countries which were still colonies. they came as british subjects. they were granted leave to remain. they went to school, they gotjobs, they established families, they pay taxes, they helped rebuild this country in the post—war era but because they came here as british subjects, they never realised that they needed to regularise their status. they always thought they we re status. they always thought they were british but since 2012, they have been confronted by a home

office that is treating them as illegal immigrants and notjust as anomalies to be regularised. illegal immigrants and notjust as anomalies to be regularisedm illegal immigrants and notjust as anomalies to be regularised. is it your impression that the focus on this today, is it your impression that this is something that has happened unwittingly, albeit that there is action being taken, and that once your focus is on it, there will be a different attitude from the british government?” will be a different attitude from the british government? i can speak for barbados, we have raised this matter with the uk government over two years ago and unfortunately, we are still having to intervene, we are still having to intervene, we are having to struggle to keep people in this country and the challenges, because many of them are not of means, without legal aid services availed of them, they've got to find £2000 for a lawyer or an application at the home office, it's beyond their capacity to do and so

they find themselves devastated, stressed out, separated from their families here and being sent back to countries in the caribbean that are no longer their home. the uk is their home and they desperately want to stay here with their families. thank you very much for your time this morning. 0ne thank you very much for your time this morning. one to problems with the sound of the vision from there. --1 the sound of the vision from there. ——1 or two problems. the home office said it values the contribution made by former commonwealth citizens and that it has no intention of making people leave who have the right to remain here. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. we are on the gold coast as well later with boxes, lots of medal hope —— lots of medal hopefuls. good morning from bbc london news, i'm charlotte franks.

the police have asked people in hither green not to tear down the tributes being left opposite the house where the owner stabbed a burglar to death last week. flowers, paying tribute to henry vincent have repeatedly been removed by neighbours only to be put back by vincent's friends and family. the met‘s borough commander for lewisham says he doesn't want anyone to feel intimidated or that they're not being allowed to respond in a dignified way to a tragic death. a third of london's jobs are likely to be replaced by robots and technology in the next thirty years. research from the centre for london has explored the accelerating change in computing and the challenges posed by brexit. the report also found that many of the capital's workforce are likely to have more than one career during their working life. there will still be low—skilled jobs, we're not saying every low—skilled job will be wiped out, but i think the bigger challenge is to make sure that, for the next generation, we have the flexibility of skills and the ability to carry on learning and developing new skills

through your life. dozens of cyclists will compete in the first all—inclusive competition of its kind at the olympic park later today. it'll last all day and will feature riders with all forms of physical and mental disabilities, with races between one and five kilometres. the first of which begin at around one pm. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube the district and piccadilly lines are part suspended but there's a good service on all other lines. 0nto the roads and westminster bridge road is blocked southbound from lower marsh to lambeth north station following a burst water main. northbound traffic on the blackwall tunnel southern approach is slow from the woolwich road flyover. traffic on the north circular is queueing westbound into the gas works just past henlys corner. and in central london, northumberland avenue is closed northbound for works until a o clock. let's have a check on the weather now with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. remember all the way back to yesterday's weather?

well, today is looking really very similar, it will be a rather misty start. we've got some hill fog over the higher ground. it's going to feel quite grey with plenty of low cloud around all day and there could be a little bit of drizzle around through the morning as well, particularly towards northern areas so a rather damp murky feel to things this morning. it could possibly turn a bit brigher as we head into the afternoon, particularly towards southern areas, but always lots of cloud, don't count on any sunshine, really. top temperatures between 12 and 1a degrees celsius. now, as we head through this evening's rush hour, we've got some showers feeding in from the east and some of showers could turn out to be on the heavy side but they will clear away overnight to leave us again with a mostly dry start to the day tomorrow but with some early mist around, temperatures dipping to between 7 and 9 degrees celsius. now, tomorrow, we stand the greatest chance of seeing some brightness, perhaps even some sunny spells developing later on through the afternoon, highs of around 15 celsius and certainly cheering up as we head through the course of the weekend, some sunny spells at times,

and it's looking lovely as we head into 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. now back to charlie and naga. bye for now. hello, this is breakfast with charlie stayt and naga munchetty. here is a summary of this morning's main stories from bbc news: theresa may has summoned the cabinet to a special meeting this afternoon to discuss joining an american—led military strike on syria. the prime minister is reported to be ready to commit british forces to action, without parliament's approval, to punish the suspected use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. let's speak to our middle east correspondent martin patience, who is in beirut. what is the feeling on the ground there, martin? people and governments across the region are very, very nervous. the mood is in the middle east that we

are going to see american military action, with perhaps france and britain on board. that could come tonight, it could come on friday night, but most people think it is going to come. i think there has been a lot of focus on the confrontation, the danger of a possible confrontation, between america on one hand and russia on the ground. it supports the syrian government, and any air strikes could potentially escalate the conflict. what we are not perhaps talking about is, there are so many competing forces inside syria. we haven't talked enough about iran and israel. israel in many ways is the wild card factor in all of this. it allegedly carried out air strikes earlier this week on a syrian air base targeting iranian personnel. so the concern is that what happens in

syria may not stay in syria. that is what is making people nervous here in lebanon and across the region as well. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. in a statement yulia skripal, who was discharged from hospital on monday, also said herfather, sergei, is still seriously ill. the international chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release details of its investigation into the nerve agent attack in the next few hours. the high court will begin hearing the case brought by sir cliff richard against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection, following coverage of a police investigation and raid of the star's home in 201a. the case is due to last two weeks, and is expected to give guidance on the contentious issue of whether a suspect who has not been charged can be lawfully named by the media. metropolitan police officers have seized drugs and firearms, including a submachine—gun, in raids targeting gang violence across the capital. nine people including a 1a—year—old boy were held in the operation, which involved more than 200 officers.

it comes after a recent spate of crime in london. i think people have been shocked by the events of the last few weeks, and in particular young lives lost. everywhere my officers go, people come up to them and say it's good to see you here. please carry on, please arrest people who have got knives and guns. and we will do that. researchers are warning that a system of atlantic ocean currents which help to keep western and northern europe warm is weaker than it has been for more than 1,000 years. according to two new studies, the weakening is due to melting sea ice, glaciers and ice shelves, as a result of climate change. the research suggests the trends are likely to continue. now some dramatic pictures of an avalanche. these were taken from tignes, an area popular with skiers. hundreds of tons of snow slid down the mountainside in an avalanche, which reached several

metres high in places. these pictures were captured by passers—by, who stayed just out of range of the snow to film it. thankfully there were no injuries. it gives you a sense of the scale of the problems and how quickly they can happen. images, those. we will go from that rather remarkable scene to the beach on the gold coast, down under, and you have brought us boxers this morning. who have you got with us now? showing off their hand eye co—ordination, the shooters. gold and silver medals, scotland, wales and the isle of man showing off their skills. we will talk to all three of them in a

short time, with the letters from day eight of the commonwealth games. —— latest from day eight. let's bring you up to date with the rest of the sport, and there was late controversy in the champions league last night. real madrid led juvenus 3—0 in their quarter—final, going into the second leg at the bernabeu, but the italian side battled back to level the tie. then, deep into injury time, real madrid won a penalty, juventus had goalkeeper gianluigi buffon sent off for his protests. and it was cristiano ronaldo, who else, who scored the winner. bayern munich are also through to the semi—finals after beating sevilla. wolves are on the verge of returning to the premier league after a six—year absence, and they are pushing for promotion in style. have a look at this volley from ruben neves in their 2—0 win over derby last night. wolves now need just two more points for promotion. when cricket's famous almanac wisden is published today, anya shrubsole will be on the cover — the first woman ever to feature on the front of the iconic book. she was one the key members of england's world cup—winning team last year.

shru bsole and her team—mates heather knight and natalie sciver are among wisden's five cricketers of the year. it means a huge amount to me personally. but the thing i feel the most about it is it's such a great reflection of, a, i guess, where women's cricket is, but also just how big, important, how much that world cup win really captured the nation. i think you could have put any number of people from that world cup—winning team on that front cover and it would have had exactly the same impact. and she and her team—mates are struggling with the bat, 157—5. now to that brilliant finish for team england in the cross—country mountain biking — gold and silver, england's first ever commonwealth medals in the event. james burford has the highlights so far from day eight of competition. this isn't your standard countryside cycle.

this is cross—country mountain biking at its most gruelling. a a.5 km circuit that has to be completed five times, full of rocky climbs and tricky trails. it is not often that last is best, but in this case, annie last was. silver—medallist in 2017's world championships, the 27—year—old went one better. her team—mate evie richards finish shortly behind her, to ensure england claimed their first ever commonwealth games medals in mountain biking. for english mountain biking and british mountain biking, i think it's amazing. we've had a few years where we've kind of not been up there in the racing, and to have kind of two of us at the front of the race is so good. so i'm really pleased for her, as well. the heat is on for katarina johnson—thompson. barely a month ago, she was lifting her first—ever global title. hurdles the first event in this heptathlon. could this be her main rival? australia's celeste mucci set the pace, but england's katie stainton suffered a painful start to the event. a shoulder to lean on,

with the events coming thick and fast. johnson—thompson's bar is always set high, and she raced into the lead with this leap. 0n the track, caster semenya reigns supreme, but leeds's very own alex bell will join her in the final. jack laugher has booked his spot in today's 3m springboard final, despite a slight miscue in qualifying. even the very best, then, can suffer a bellyflop from time to time. but someone who is causing quite the splash is 15—year—old aidan heslop, from wales, who becomes the country's first diving competitor at a major competition in 20 years, and he is also through to the final. a big day of diving ahead. and back

on the beach i am joined by some shooting medallists. and david mcmath, i can break the news that your team—mate has another medal for scotland. yes, that is fantastic, especially with a tally of five medals. hopefully on saturday we can win more. and your own gold, what did it mean to lift the title in the double trap? yes, the man's double trap, i have worked hard for three yea rs, trap, i have worked hard for three years, and it means so much to finally come away with a big win. fantastic, i can't really put into. explained, the clay comes out in front of you twice, and you have to shoot quickly in quick succession, those two shots. yes, two clays simultaneously and you have to shoot both of them, basically. do you know where to look? instinct, i suppose.

there are three that shoot, and you are going to get to but you don't know which two. we know roughly where we are looking, so... and what inspired you to take up this sport? my inspired you to take up this sport? my mum's side of the family has been big into shooting for a long time. quite a lot of my dad's friends shoot shotguns, and they bring me along. it wasn't until three years ago i started shooting double trap. and what does it mean to be part of scotland's most successful commonwealth games away from home, outside scotland ? commonwealth games away from home, outside scotland? it is absolutely fantastic. to come to the commonwealth games, if i couldn't come to glasgow, the home games, what to do than to come to australia, and especially to overta ke australia, and especially to overtake our medal haul. especially for me, it was so much fun. and back to work for you in a couple of weeks. yes, unfortunately! to work for you in a couple of weeks. yes, unfortunately i need to go back to work. show them your medal. i might take it and show it

off. and let's talk to tim kneale, from the isle of man, who got the silver in the same competition. a very proud moment, i was speaking to the isle of man journalist, and the pressure was on you to get that medal. and you upgraded your bronze from delhi, now the silver. in the tea m from delhi, now the silver. in the team has been really close to winning medals. we have had some fantastic performances, with lots of pbs in semifinals and finals, just haven't been converting them into medals. it was great to deliver on the day for the isle of man and for myself as well. you are also the world record in this sport.” myself as well. you are also the world record in this sport. i am, yes. in 201a shot 1a8 out of 150. that was over the course of qualifications, so we shoot five rounds of 30 targets. that was in munich at the old 0lympic range in vidic, so it was one of those days when the conditions were perfect. you had to shoot the existing world record to make the final, that is how high the standard was. ——

munich. i suppose it is physical as much as mental, because you are so focused on what you're looking at. when you start it is probably more and mental, and its wings over when you become more technically proficient, and that is automatic, i suppose, and then it is more of a mental game of dealing with the pressure of the environment. and david phelps won gold in the 50 metres rifle prone, which means lying on your stomach. yes, lying down, a stationary target, but you are having to control your mind, body and trying to control your pulse, hitting something the size of the 5p piece at 50 metres, it is hard. do you have to hold your breath? presumably if you don't control your breathing that could cause movement and put you off. yes, a train myself to hold my breath out, so you relax your diaphragm, your body, keep the brain ticking over properly. it is good fun, it is

good. and what does it mean to win gold? the good. and what does it mean to win gold ? the crowd good. and what does it mean to win gold? the crowd sang happy birthday to you, it must have been such an emotional moment. i was absolutely buzzing. it topped melbourne ex— fold. hearing the anthem played for me again, i didn't think i would get that in my life, and hearing the crowd sang happy birthday was really special. many happy returns, i know the birthday was a couple of days ago. time to celebrate on the gold coast? i couldn't possibly comment. go and see some of the sites. congratulations to all of the shooters, i think they will resume their badminton, with that fantastic hand eye co—ordination which makes them great shooters. mike, what birthday was your guest celebrating? aist. birthday was your guest celebrating? 41st. yes, it was 41st, yes. i think the best hat i have seen these games. and you should be practising

your breathing out. very zen, very zen. your breathing out. very zen, very zen. we need some didgeridoo music to get into the zone. and congratulations to all. this morning carol's out and about at raf coningsby in lincolnshire where they're preparing for the official opening of the international bomber command centre. let me introduce you to our guests. we have squadron leader andy milliken and also yannick payne, who isa milliken and also yannick payne, who is a meteorologist here. hopefully

today this lancaster bomber will fly over the command centre which is having its formal opening in lincoln. what is special about that? final recognition of bomber command. the huge sacrifice they put in place. there is a lot of pressure on you, yannick. how different is doing forecasting the raf? at raf coningsby, two types of aircraft. it's very tricky. they are affected by low cloud. you also have the typhoons. the more modern day at craft can find any weather so it's a tricky day today. what can we expect to see the visitor centre? it has a multimedia facility so it keeps children entertained. it's got a memorial to all those who died in

bomber command in world war two and aspire that is 102 feet high which is the same as a lancaster bomber wings span. very moving an interesting and informative. it is formally opening to the public today and for the 1ath of april, for the public to go along. i know you got a lot to do, good luck with everything. you can see outside there is quite a lot of cloud around selects the cloud base is high enough for the lancaster to get out. it's a cloudy one and try the most of us. reducing drizzle and rain. at the moment, across parts of east anglia, the midlands and northern ireland but that is going to be moving to the west through the course of the day. a lot of cloud, especially across eastern scotland and also north—east england but also got some haar and fret coming in from the north sea, coupled with an easterly wind and it's going to feel

cold. northwest scotland, south—west england and wales. the temperature will respond. hires upto 15 celsius, six, seven, maybe eight. we have a new band of showers coming in from the south—east. they are going to be moving steadily northwards. as a result, it's not going to be a particularly cold night except where we have a clearer skies in the far north. tomorrow, we start off with a cloud and showers across scotland and northern ireland, continuing to push northwards. still a bit of cloud left behind that when the cloud left behind that when the cloud breaks in the sun comes out, that could spark of showers as temperatures rise across southwest wales in south—west england and the midlands and the south—east. temperatures tomorrow up to about 17 in the south—east, maybe even 18.

where were got the cloud and the haar and fret across eastern scotland, not as cold as tomorrow. saturday sees the rain across the far north of scotland. breaking up more readily. some of us could see sunshine. 0n more readily. some of us could see sunshine. on saturday, temperatures are began to 18 at best but recovering across eastern scotland and north—east england as we lose that easterly wind. by the time get to sunday, for most of us, it's going to be a dry day, less clout around, more sunshine but a weather front is trying to come in from the west and netscape to produce some rain across western parts of the uk. not all of us can see it but again if you are in the sunshine, the temperature is responding quite nicely. just a heads up on the temperatures in the early part of next week set the england and wales, hires upto the mid— 20s celsius. for

scotla nd hires upto the mid— 20s celsius. for scotland and northern ireland, more likely to be the mid—to high teens in terms of celsius. it doesn't mean it is necessarily going to be trialled a time but some of us will see some sunshine, that will feel springlike. it almost makes it feel like we don't need to jet off anywhere because spring is coming. ben has got information of us. more of us are taking independent holidays. looking at ourselves and that prevents looking at ourselves and that p reve nts — — looking at ourselves and that prevents —— that presents some issues. if you think how much is changed in terms of how we put our holidays, more going online, you think about a hotel, you do it all independently rather than booking a traditional package and that hasn't been protected server new rules that come into force from july that could change that. traditional package

holidays have always been protected by the rules. you have to do it in one booking. more are more of us are doing things separately. the new call the hotel e—mail them directly to book your accommodation. new rules today could give us a bit more protection if things go wrong. let's speak to victoria bacon, the director of brand and business development. it's a bit congregated, some of these details. the main changes, we are going to see more times of travel arrangements. at the moment, about half the market, up the holiday arrangements will be classified as packages, as you just talked about and under these new rules, we are going to see more types of travel arrangements, particularly those booked online,

getting the protection you get with those rules. what does that mean? that means not only would you have financial protection but you get other legal protections you get with a package holiday. they have by far the greatest level of protection so that means, through example, if anything happens to your holiday, if you're overseas and something happens, your company is obliged to look after you. at the moment, if you book similar types of arrangement which classifies a package, you won't get those protections. traditionally, many do what i do. you book a flight and might bea what i do. you book a flight and might be a couple of days until i think about a hotel or car hire. does that constitute a package? not only because the time gap but i'm guessing you booked through different providers as well. that means you got what we call single

elements separately. each of those elements separately. each of those elements is protected. if there's a problem with your flights or as we saw last year, if your airline was going to go bust, it means that financially, you are on the hook yourself for everything. what does constitute a package in terms of booking these things together? if i go on booking these things together? if i goona booking these things together? if i go on a website and i choose a flight go on a website and i choose a flight and hotel, are to do that at the same time with the same provider? not the same provider, it's if you go into the same website and you are booking those different elements on the website. this kind of shopping basket approach. basically by going on to that website and booking those different elements, you are forming a package holiday. that could be a flight, it could be accommodation or another service. for example coach or rail.

a step service. for example coach or rail. astep in service. for example coach or rail. a step in the right direction. the scenario i gave you there is a scenario i gave you there is a scenario a lot of people will use. why the new rules not covering that as well? the aim of these new rules is to basically bring holidays that look like a package into line with package holidays. there is recognition out there, can you protect every single element of the same way? the government is looking at airline insolvency as well certain airline goes bust, what is that look like in the protections around that. i think this is a very important message to people. you still have to be very aware of what you are buying when you are going in and buying something, whether you are and buying something, whether you a re protected and buying something, whether you are protected or not. the other important thing is, the government is introducing new rules. thanks for

clarifying that. more from me later. we are hearing from kylie minogue later. we know about her story. her trials and tribulations along the way. she has been around for 30 yea rs, way. she has been around for 30 years, her career has. she is on her 1ath album. there is a country feel to it. in one of the videos, she is line dancing and when she came on the surf —— the sofa, she needed tips on dancing from c. you realise that your top half is so straight, and it's probably like irishjigging and the bottom half is doing all the hard work. and it's just very different to what i would normally do, which is more kind of fluid movement and hips and waste and shoulders and all of that, and going one and two and three.

and if you came off, if you lost one beat, you are off. i'm no expert in line dancing, obviously. you're not? i'm surprised. the trick is, is it not, at to put your thumbs into your belt? once you got that position... yes, and i can tell you that as a fact because one of the outfits in the video, i had jeans and was able to do that. two things are surprised me this morning. the fact he knew about line dancing. if you want to see more of kylie. kylie talks about people interested in a private life. also that the health scare she has had

over the years. that is coming up later on. but that is the case, i have done the nation a favour. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. good morning from bbc london news, i'm charlotte franks. flowers which had been left in tribute to the burglar who was killed by a home owner in hither green have again been removed overnight. it comes as the police asked locals not to tear down the tributes where 78—year—old richard osborn—brooks killed henry vincent during a struggle last week. the met‘s borough commander for lewisham has said he doesn't want anyone to feel they can't respond in a dignified way to a tragic death. flowers pinned outside the house in hither green have been pulled down repeatedly by angry residents. scotland yard urged both sides to show respect and consideration.>

a third of london's jobs are likely to be replaced by robots and technology in the next thirty years. research from the centre for london has explored the accelerating change in computing and the challenges posed by brexit. the report also found that many of the capital's workforce are likely to have more than one career during their working life. there will still be low—skilled jobs, we're not saying every low—skilled job will be wiped out, but i think the bigger challenge is to make sure that, for the next generation, we have the flexibility of skills and the ability to carry on learning and developing new skills through your life. dozens of cyclists will compete in the first all—inclusive competition of its kind at the olympic park later today. it'll last all day and will feature riders with all forms of physical and mental disabilities, with races between one and five kilometres. the first of which begin at around 1pm. let's have a look at the travel situation now. 0n the tube there are severe delays on the piccadilly line and the district line is part suspended but there's a good service on all other lines. 0nto the roads and as you can see from the camera —

this burst water main is causing real problems for westminster bridge road which is blocked southbound from lower marsh to lambeth north station. northbound traffic on the blackwall tunnel southern approach is slow from the woolwich road flyover. north circular traffic is queueing westbound into the gas works just past henlys corner. in central london, northumberland avenue is closed northbound for works until a o clock. let's have a check on the weather now with elizabeth rizzini. hello, good morning. remember all the way back to yesterday's weather? well, today is looking really very similar, it will be a rather misty start. we've got some hill fog over the higher ground. it's going to feel quite grey with plenty of low cloud around all day and there could be a little bit of drizzle around through the morning as well, particularly towards northern areas so a rather damp, murky feel to things this morning. it could possibly turn a bit brigher as we head into the afternoon, particularly towards southern areas, but always lots of cloud. don't count on any sunshine, really. top temperatures between 12 and 1a degrees celsius. as we head through this evening's rush hour, we've got some showers feeding

in from the east and some of showers could turn out to be on the heavy side but they will clear away overnight to leave us again with a mostly dry start to the day tomorrow but with some early mist around, temperatures dipping to between 7 and 9 degrees celsius. tomorrow, the greatest chance of seeing some brightness, perhaps some sunny spells developing a bit later on through the afternoon, highs of around 15 celsius and certainly cheering up as we head through the course of the weekend, sunny spells at times, and it's looking lovely as we head into 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. theresa may summons the cabinet to an emergency meeting today to discuss military action against syria. after a suspected chemical attack, the prime minister is reported to be ready to act without the approval of parliament. the united states says there's no set timetable for strikes on syria and all options are on the table. good morning, it's

thursday, 12th april. also this morning... the daughter of a former russian spy poisioned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. retail woes continue. copyright is closing more stores. difficult conditions for retailers —— carpetright is closing stores. i am going to be talking about annie last who got gold for england in their mountain biking and evie richards completing an england one — two. and

the weather. i am in a hurricane this morning, very apt for weather presenter, this is the last ever built and it was built in the mid—19a0s. the hurricane flew around the world in many battles. if you are thinking of flying today, there isa are thinking of flying today, there is a lot of cloud around. the south and south—west are likely to see the best of the sunshine. still pretty cool on the coast. fabulous location. see you later. theresa may has summoned the cabinet to a special meeting this afternoon to discuss joining an american—led military strike on syria. the prime minister is reported to be ready to commit british forces to action without parliament's approval to punish the suspected use of chemical weapons by the assad regime. let's speak to our political correspondent, iain watson, from westminster. no greater decision the prime

minister has to make than that of taking military action. an important day. it is. she will not take the decision alone, it is host to take constitutionally, but she will talk to the cabinet at a meeting this afternoon. what she will be telling them is that it is essential the attack does not go unchallenged and that their aim of any action would be to protect and defend syrian civilians. that would suggest britain's role could be quite extensive. i'm told not to expect any fixed timescale for action. we would not expect something to happen imminently after the cabinet meets. all the indications are it is likely some action would be taken as part ofan some action would be taken as part of an american and indeed french action before parliament finishes the easter break on monday, before mps have had a chance to debate it at westminster. that is likely to be

controversial, i am expecting the labour leaderjeremy corbyn to call for a parliamentary debate before action is taken and to warn of the dangers of escalation. theresa may will have to talk to cabinet members to try to convince them she has a longer term strategy. when parliament resumes, i would expect labour to be united in calling for a debate but less united perhaps over whether action should be taking place. tough questions the theresa may. a political risk for her but it looks like it is a risk she is prepared to take. thank you. some of the politics there. we are speaking later took lord dannatt, former head of the british army, and we will look at what some of the options might be and the long—term planning, coming up in about five minutes. the daughter of a former russian spy poisoned in salisbury has rejected an offer of help from moscow. in a statement, yulia skripal, who was discharged

from hospital on monday, also said herfather, sergei, was still seriously ill. the international chemical weapons watchdog is expected to release details of its investigation into the nerve agent attack in the next few hours. andrew plant reports. yulia skripal left hospital on monday. herfather, sergei, is still there, after both were exposed to a nerve agent in the city of salisbury last month. she is now in a secret location and has asked to be left alone. but in a statement, she praised hospital staff, saying... she also refuses offers of help from russia, adding... sergei skripal is a former russian spy who was living in the uk.

he and his daughter were discovered on a park bench on ath march. it was unclear if they would survive. they had been exposed to the nerve agent novichok, which the british government says came from the russia's chemical weapons programme. britain asked the office for the prohibition of chemical weapons to investigate. theirfindings will be released at midday today. russia has repeatedly cast doubt on the claim it carried out the poisoning. but britain has received strong diplomatic backing, with over 20 countries expelling russian diplomats in protest. meanwhile, sergei skripal is said to have responded exceptionally well to treatment and is also expected to leave hospital soon. the high court will begin hearing the case brought by sir cliff richard against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection, following coverage of a police investigation and raid of the star's home in 201a. the case is due to last two weeks

and is expected to give guidance on the contentious issue of whether a suspect who has not been charged can be lawfully named by the media. let's talk now to our legal correspondent, clive coleman. clive, remind us of what this case is about and why it's important. when the police raided sir cliff richard's property in august, 201a, he was in portugal, but the bbc was there with cameras including one in a helicopter and its correspondent arrange with south yorkshire police that the bbc would be the, sir cliff denied the allegation, he was questioned about it but never arrested and never charged. he brought two actions, one against south yorkshire police and one against the bbc for breach of privacy and data protection. south yorkshire police settled the action, paid substantial damages, and they offered apologies for the distress

and humiliation caused by passing his personal information to the bbc. the bbc has also apologised for the distress caused by the coverage but it says it was entitled to carry out that coverage. this case is essentially that he says that because at the time he had not been questioned, arrested or charged, he was entitled to anonymity and the bbc‘s coverage reached that and it was so excessive in its coverage that was a further breach of his privacy —— the bbc‘s coverage reached that. the bbc says he did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the material they broadcast and even if he did, there was an overriding public interest allowing them to broadcast the material on that day. it is a very important case. as far as the privacy rights of suspects in the early stages of a police investigation who have not been charged, this case could define what the privacy rights are and whether suspects are entitled to anonymity.

thank you very much. metropolitan police officers have seized drugs and firearms, including a submachine gun, in raids targeting gang violence across london. it follows a recent spate of crime in the capital. 0ur reporter, jessica parker, joined officers as they carried out the operation overnight. her report contains flash photography. a six—month investigation leading to this. police! the operation saw eight raids carried out across south and west london overnight. on to another one, the police targeting what has been described as a notorious gang. you have a lot of turf wars, going through other gangs and throughout london, which then stems the violence between gang members. police! a suspect is found in a nearby car. the raids come after a recent spate of violent crime in the capital. with the force under the microscope, a high—level presence as the operation got under way.

i think people have been shocked by the events of the last few weeks, and in particular, young lives lost. everywhere my officers go, people come up to them and say, it's good to see you here. nine people have been arrested in total, including a 1a—year—old boy. suspected class a drugs were seized, firearms too, including a submachine—gun, in an operation involving 200 officers. these raids are focused on tackling violent crime on our streets, and the police are trying to send a message to the public that action is being taken. there is a message, too, for offenders — or rather, a warning. a sexual assault charge against kevin spacey is being considered by prosecutors in los angeles. the city's district attorney office is looking at an allegation that the oscar—winning star attacked a man in hollywood in 1992. spacey is already subject to three investigations here in the uk. we have been hearing a lot about

retailers, some good news, some bad. what have we got today?‘ retailers, some good news, some bad. what have we got today? a bit of a mixed picture. some familiar stories, carpetright often found on out of town shopping centre sites, it wants to close more stores, financial troubles. it says this morning it would like to close 92 stores with the loss of 300 jobs and it is asking its landlords to negotiate the rent on 113 other stores. it says it has been burdened with stores in strange locations with stores in strange locations with expensive rent so it is trying to renegotiate... they are on industrial estates? big stores, overheads, more people shopping online, they are midway through a process , online, they are midway through a process, important firm employing more than 2500 staff, they say they

will try to negotiate with landlords to bring down the rent on the stores they keep open. a familiar tale for they keep open. a familiar tale for the other retailer this morning we have heard from this morning, mothercare. it says sales fell again on the high street. down by 2.8% in the uk. much biggerfalls overseas because remember they operate around the world. sales overseas down by 1196. the world. sales overseas down by 11%. but online sales, familiar story, up, up by 2%. that issue where it says, frankly, more of us we re where it says, frankly, more of us were shopping online, we cannot afford overheads for the big stores in city centres so it wants to close six. no indication of what it means forjobs but further closures six. no indication of what it means for jobs but further closures for mothercare and for jobs but further closures for motherca re and carpetright for jobs but further closures for mothercare and carpetright this morning in negotiations with landlords about bringing down rent. thank you. cabinet ministers will gather at downing street later today to discuss how the uk should respond to the suspected chemical weapons attack in syria. sources have told the bbc that the prime minister is prepared to take action against the assad regime, alongside the us and other

allies, without seeking parliamentary consent. we can speak to the former head of the army, lord dannatt, from our london newsroom. good morning. thank you for your time this morning. this meeting called today by theresa may is to discuss the government's response. can you give us your assessment about what options in terms of military action they will be considering? the british government will not be considering unilateral action, it is a question what they will support of what the us is proposing to do. the critical thing, iam proposing to do. the critical thing, i am encouraged there is a growing understanding that what we do must be within a comprehensive strategy that should include diplomatic pressure to get the parties around the table and back that up with a very focused military strike. it is a growing consensus that the attack in douma was carried out by the

syrian regime and therefore the intelligence targeting should be focused on where the chemical weapons are and the chemical capabilities and finding a suitable target that can be attacked, the message it sends is also very important and that message must back up important and that message must back up the overall message that the use of chemical weapons, banned since 1925, will not be tolerated anywhere. that message has to be pa rt anywhere. that message has to be part of this wider diplomatic effort to get the parties of the syrian civil walk around the table to bring this appalling conflict to an end. -- civil this appalling conflict to an end. —— civil war. you are getting the sense of a measured approach from the british government, lord dannatt. you will be well aware of this, the messages coming from donald trump, i will repeat for those who may have seen them already, get ready, russia, because they will be coming. nice and new and smart. the cautionary approach that i think

you think you are detecting from the british government seems that total odds with the messages coming out of the white house particularly and washington. what you have just quoted, yesterday's news, fair enough, vintage donald trump. some of the messages have come from the white house overnight showing again slightly more measured approach being taken by the us. certainly you cannot launch missiles, you cannot wage war by tweet, donald trump will have given his military trees some guidance and they will be working at carefully thought through plans to attack the kind of target i was describing —— military chiefs. they target that causes physical damage, painted a regime, but sending a strong message and reduces to the absolute minimum to the risk of civilians that russian troops could be involved, that has to be planned out of the equation as far as possible because of course there are risks of escalation, but the more

measured response, the greater chance of keeping escalation down to a minimum and that is something we all want. other voices put forward a very different opinion, peter ford, former uk ambassador to syria, he has a number of thoughts, some of which people will understand, some won't, he does not believe the chemical attack happened at all, quite controversial, heels have voiced the worry about the quality of the intelligence we have —— he also voiced. and the hark back to what happened in iraq and that is a real fear for what happened in iraq and that is a realfearfor many what happened in iraq and that is a real fear for many people. yes, but i think it is fair to say we have come a long way since 2003 and what happened in iraq. although it is debatable whether the quality of intelligence was good, it is pretty debatable, pretty clear in other words, that there was a political

imperative and override that, dare i say it, trumped the intelligence quality in terms of the uk, prime minister blair had decided we would go to war andy had to get the parliament about it and the intelligence had to back up his wish to ta ke intelligence had to back up his wish to take the country to war —— and he had to get. 0n to take the country to war —— and he had to get. on this occasion, i would have been worried if within 2a hours of the attack on douma, missiles started to fly. that has not happened. there is a calibrated process going on to try to find sensible targets, to have a high enough degree of confidence in the regime was behind the attack. it was a genuine attack. after all, you have to turn the calling around and look at the pictures we saw on tv, if that was not an attack, what was it? there is not a rational alternative explanation. and the danger of the escalation, lord dannatt, russia has vowed to shoot down any missiles. there is a real

risk once you take any military action that unwittingly, possibly accidentally, that you could hit a russian target, russia is then obliged to respond in some way. it isa obliged to respond in some way. it is a real risk going into this situation. of course it is. si think we must be realistic about shooting down incoming missiles, the defence missiles supplied by the russians, silly and strayed over decades, it's pretty sophisticated and of course they will try to shoot down muscles coming in, if you look at the israeli attackjust days ago i don't know where truth lay bet it would seem that a number of the air to surface missiles, that the israelis themselves were shot down, it's a fact of war, that one will shoot down the missiles of the other, or try to. we must accept that. the other significant thing is that. the other significant thing is that the targets are good, the ones

the americans choose to attack and features to support them are fair and reasonable within the context of this appalling situation —— and we choose to support them. and these attacks complement the diplomatic message that we need to return to the table and end the syrian war as as soon as the table and end the syrian war as as soon as possible. lord dannatt, former head of the british army, thank you. it's 18 minutes past eight. time to find out what is happening with the weather. you are ata happening with the weather. you are at a remarkable location, carol. there's a significant opening of a memorial at beautiful venue. that's right, i'm at the battle of britain memorial flight because later the international bomber command centre has its opening ceremony, its official opening ceremony, to commemorate the veterans who took pa rt commemorate the veterans who took part and also who perished in bomber command. so it's vital. you can see

behind me this magnificent dakota. this was used for carrying paratroopers on this was used for carrying pa ratroopers on d—day, this was used for carrying paratroopers on d—day, and also for evacuating seriously injured troops from normandy. 0n evacuating seriously injured troops from normandy. on it were flying nightingales, doctors and nurses, they would land in the fields, look after the troops on the ground and then take them back on the plane. if we swing around you can see the hurricane that i've just been on, an amazing plane. and the other aircraft, you can see they are putting the finishing touches to the aircraft and as we go through the year there will still be taking part, then still watercourses, to a thousand events including the queen fly past. you can see the bomber at the end and beyond it, look about cloud. again a fairly cloudy day ahead, mostly dry, although with

some drizzle and some showers in the forecast. currently we have that across parts of east anglia, the midlands, moving into wales and northern ireland and that will drift west as we go through the day so the cloud—like yesterday will be thick enough to produce drizzle, we have for coming in from the north sea across the east coast of scotland and also north—east england, accompanied by a brisk easterly winds of feeling cold. the best sunshine today will be in the northern isles, north—west scotland, south—west wales, south—west england and the channel islands. in the sunshine and bridges could reach 15 celsius but six or seven or eight in eastern scotland and north east england. this evening and overnight abound of showers coming in from the south east, some of which will be heavy, with a small risk of thunder, some will travel north as we go through the night. except for across the far north of scotland and the northern isles where we will have

clearer skies said temperatures will be lower. generally they will hold up be lower. generally they will hold up so we don't anticipate problems with frost. tomorrow the showers, some heavy, of parts of scotland and northern ireland, edging north, still cloud left behind but it will break up more readily, and the sunshine, with temperatures rising, we could see sharp showers across northern ireland, southern england for example, to bridges in south east reaching 18 and not so much although it will still feel cold in eastern scotland. that will change on saturday, much milder across eastern scotland and eastern england, the rain across the far north of scotland and much more dry weather and sunshine on saturday. as a result to beaches reaching 18, possibly 19 in the south east. june ten and 12 across north—east england isa ten and 12 across north—east england is a huge improvement. 0n

ten and 12 across north—east england is a huge improvement. on sunday a lot of dry weather and a fair bit of sunshine, a weather front coming from the west will introduce rain across western parts of the uk. if you are in the sunshine once more we are looking at highs of up to 19. keeping on talking about temperatures, into the early part of next week towards the middle of next week it looks very much like for england and wales, temperatures will be up to potentially 25 celsius. that might change but that is what we think that the moment. for scotla nd we think that the moment. for scotland and northern ireland, the high teens. doesn't necessarily mean it will be dry for everyone. carol, i have a vision of, bear with me coming in of the spring is coming, things are warming up, running through fields with winds blowing through fields with winds blowing through your hair, and i wasjust wondering when the last time was that you picked wildflowers? all will become clear in a moment. when was it? a long time ago. maybe they

feel daffs if you can call them wild but not recently. there was always doubt about whether you were allowed to do it. we will explain with our next item. if you grew up being told not to pick wildflowers, you may be pleasantly surprised to hear that a conservation charity is encouraging people to do just that. plantlife says that it could actually be good for our natural flora in the long term. trevor dines is a botanical expert and joins us now. good morning to you. so explain. instinctively, i think, good morning to you. so explain. instinctively, ithink, people good morning to you. so explain. instinctively, i think, people are thinking, when you are out in the wild ina thinking, when you are out in the wild in a beautiful place and there are some lovely flowers, leave them alone. yes, we are launching the great british wildflower hunt so get out and have a look with your family. of the 70 species involved 12 of them are ok to pick. as he

reacted there, surely that is wrong but as carol said, she remembers a long time ago perhaps picking dandelions and buttercu ps, long time ago perhaps picking dandelions and buttercups, holding them and at your chin to see if you love butter, making a daisy chain... so we say, it is ok to pick these common wildflowers and we've produced a list of 12 species that are so produced a list of 12 species that are so abundant in the countryside it is ok to pick them. so all of these that you have brought income you picked them. it's not illegal to pick wildflowers. what is illegal is to dig up a wildflower if you don't have permission from the land owner. if you don't have his permission can you chop them? as long as it is not for commercial gain and yourown long as it is not for commercial gain and your own use. so if i walked past someone's garden and fancied their tulip i could slip it? that is not in the wild, that is someone's property, we are talking

about wild flowers. talk is through this array of wild flowers. some people will be familiar with some of them, like daisies, what other ones people might least expect? these are common wildflowers, i saw them when i was little, i remember, these are primroses. people might be surprised that we are saying it's ok to pick primroses, a little industry down in devon yea rs primroses, a little industry down in devon years ago was picking small poses like this and sending them around the country and they picked 1.3 million flowers from a local woodland, got in the ecologists and found that there was absolutely no impact on the local population. except that i would say, surely a lwa ys except that i would say, surely always a bit of discretion? because if you go to a place and there are beautiful wild flowers there and you ta ke beautiful wild flowers there and you take them away, the next person who comes to see them, they are no longer there. we've got a code of conduct. the guidance is to pick one

flower in 20. if you have a bunch of primroses, take one from one plant, another from another, for your own personal use. we are not expecting people to go and strip the countryside for their wedding. it is just a few flowers to give to your granny, i skipped when you come back from a walk, learning about wild flowers on my farm, i remember i had a scrapbook, pressing flowers and there, they make really strong memories. kew gardens in 2018 says we have lost 97% of wildflower meadows since the 1930s. you can understand that these conflicting ideas it's about establishing a relationship with wildflowers at the beginning. i remembera relationship with wildflowers at the beginning. i remember a little girl reached out and picked some oxide daisies and she dropped them because another shouted at her and

the look of horror and shock on her face. with me forever. what sort of relationship does she them have with wild flowers? we have told relationship does she them have with wildflowers? we have told children that they are out of bounds and out of our lives. what has done it for as is words like primrose, dandelion, buttercup have been dropped from the english 0xford dictionary, the junior dictionary, because children are not... it is a shame, and what a lovely wafting fragrance. trevor, thank you very much. time now to get the news, travel and weather where you are. we are stuck in a rut somewhat because we have got pretty similar

conditions to yesterday, lots of cloud, misty and murky, particularly in eastern parts. the crowd will stick around, crowds streaming in on an easterly wind, bringing the fog towards the north—eastern england and north—eastern scotland —— the cloud. patchy drizzle in central and eastern areas drifting further west, showers moving to the north—east of england later in the day, some brea ks england later in the day, some breaks in the crowd possible, best chance in the north—west of scotland and southern areas, particularly the south—west —— the cloud. for many common temperatures staying at seven to9 common temperatures staying at seven to 9 degrees. this evening, heavy showers starting to move into south—east england, spreading open towards the north—east of england and across scotland in the early hours of friday morning. again forced free with all the cloud

around —— again frost free. starting pretty wet around first thing on friday. those will generally drift north so things clearing up from the north—west of scotland and we will again see some brighter skies developing and southern areas, and pretty cloudy elsewhere with misty and murky conditions on north sea coasts. that will change into the weekend. starting to lose the easterly wind and cooking up a southerly wind and an area of low pressure starting to make inroads towards western parts. we will see how far east it gets. by sunday... this is business live from bbc news with sally bundock and maryam moshiri. talking tough on trade — china warns the us in no uncertain terms that the country will retaliate against any further sanctions. that the country will retaliate live from london, that's our top story on thursday, 12th april. thought things were cooling down?

think again. the chinese government has admitted that the trade spat with the us is so serious that the two sides aren't even talking. also in the programme, a big blow for big oil. new zealand bans all future offshore oil and gas drilling.