once the plastic has been drawn into a dense mess it will then be collected by ship, taken away to be recycled. no one can be sure if the huge system will work. some experts worry it could harm marine life. the major problem is those creatures that passively float in the ocean and cannot actually move out of the way. once they are in, they are going to be trapped there unable to move. for example plankton is the bottom of the food chain, so we really do not want to be taking that out of our oceans. that is clearly from the teeth of a fish. yes. there is no other explanation. one of the scientists on the clean—up project says because the plastic is being eaten by fish it is entering the food chain so should be removed. it's been there for years. we find plastic from the 70s, from the 80s, from the 90s. and then we also find languages on those bits of plastic so we will find in the north pacific chinese, japanese, english, so we will try to define

where the things may have come from. the plan is to start with one collection device and eventually deploy 60 of them. but all the time plastic is pouring down rivers into the oceans. so on its own the clean—up operation will never be enough. now it's time for newswatch. this week samira ahmed looks at changes to the bbc‘s political programmes. the well,. what is behind the change to politics live? and with monday's all women panel, was that assistant?

parliamentarians came back to work this week after their summer recess to be greeted with a new daily programme on bbc two. it is monday. it is 1215 and we live in westminster. —— we are live. politics live takes over the slot previously occupied by daily politics. it only lasts for 45 minutes except on wednesdays when one and three quarters hour programme includes live coverage of prime minister's questions. in the meantime, others regional additions remain sunday politics has been scrapped. a decision which he mused a view accord greg. we are better

time than we urgently need more political insight and discourse, not less. the bbc chooses this time to drop politics. am i the only one finding this unfathomable? and another viewer agreed. there were positive responses to the new politics live on social media but also some criticism. some feared that it would result in another politics version of loose women. another commented... dave smith declared himself very

impressed. the biggest controversy over politics live was prompted by the line—up from monday's first programme. joining me today, former home secretary amber rudd, shadow foreign secretary amber rudd, shadow foreign secretary emily thornbury, the telegraph's. .. some thought that all—female panel smacked of political correctness. adam thought it was a show worth watching but went on, imagine a

similarly heavyweight panel. the bbc would have ensured the other contributing panel member was a woman. others, though, were scathing about complaints that this was a stunt. another tweeter... to discuss all that i am joined by the bbc‘s editor of like political programmes. thank you for coming. the all woman live up you for coming. the all woman live up —— line—up on the show got a lot of attention. was it a bit of a stunt? no. in the summeri was it a bit of a stunt? no. in the summer i started to think about who we would like on that first show. the first person who came to my mind

was amber but because she had not done much media since you left the home office and then i started thinking about who would be a good labour counterpart that would go well with her and i thought emily thornbury was probably one of the rising stars ofjeremy corbyn‘s labour party. and so we went. the point was reached when i looked at the panel that we had and i thought, thatis the panel that we had and i thought, that is a great panel. and then we said, iwas that is a great panel. and then we said, i was talking to a colleague of mine, and we discussed the fact that it was an all women panel. a co mforta ble that it was an all women panel. a comfortable with that panel? we look to the panel and we thought we were. but that was the best panel that we could hope for. it was not stunt. it was a genuine process by what we ended up with, and be included others, was a very strong panel and it happened to be of women. some viewers did ask would you really have done that with an all male panel? would you not have got a point where you thought why we need have a balance? there is a context here which is for many years we were very

used to seeing all male panels. for many years, we have had a problem with underrepresentation of women who represents just over half of the population. so it is no secret there isa population. so it is no secret there is a concerted effort within the bbc to choose the best guests but also to choose the best guests but also to try to achieve 5050 parity between the genders. if i have been faced with an all—male panel i wouldn't put it in that context. i'm not suggesting i would not have done but i would also say, as come to the end now of the first week of politics live, we are at 50 50 of the people we have invited onto the show. the guests who have been invited 80 minute dating women. budget cuts are behind these changes. you lost a whole show with sunday politics. daily politics used to bea sunday politics. daily politics used to be a lot longer than politics

live. in the middle of what we're going through politically a lot of viewers are thinking this is a bad decision by the bbc. it is important to realise that because of where we are in terms of funding at the bbc cuts have had to be made in news and none of us like to cut things back. but i would same, of course the sunday politics is ended and i used to work on that so for me personally and for the many people who watched it that is bad news. but the regional element of that programme, the national element of that programme, they maintained and they will be enhanced. i don't accept that politics live is about cuts. you're short on monday, tuesday, thursday and friday but actually, i think a 45 minute duration is a good duration for a political programme andi duration for a political programme and i think people at the end of it arguing that they want more. i accept there have been some changes has meant some savings and that is never positive or nice but the

settle m e nt never positive or nice but the settlement we had is pretty positive and reaffirms not just settlement we had is pretty positive and reaffirms notjust our commitment politics but are doing it ina commitment politics but are doing it in a different way. a number of viewers say that politics live is a dumbs down chat show. the meat had been watching it closely. if that is their view they are entitled to that course. this is are entitled to that course. this is a programme that has looked at issues around brexit, around local government finance, all the big issues in politics. looked at in depth and seriously. the differences we have a more conversational, open programme. the overwhelming reaction that i have received the programme has been incredibly positive because we're ina has been incredibly positive because we're in a situation where we can... what has been regarded as a toxic political culture where we can now of conversations that are real with politicians and others. and i think thatis politicians and others. and i think that is really positive and that is what we achieve this programme. there is no dumbing down. there was no credibility to the idea to stand down. it is different. people you'd

have told me they did not watch politics programme have seen this and said, it is accessible. it is aimed at me and it is serious. so i'm very proud of it. is it about trying to attract younger audiences, then? it is important that we attract younger audiences but we're engaging in a kind of exercise here. we're not trying to dad stan to be patronising. what we're doing is making a more open and accessible show which i think will appeal to people of whatever age with young people, they trust the bbc. i've noticed with politics classes who watch the programme and they talk about how much the young people involved talk about how much they enjoy a programmer does not seem to be about arguing in a disrespectful kind of confrontational manner. funnily enough, they did not even mention on notice that it was an all woman panel on that for sure. the

just noticed the new kind of way of doing politics so i think that is pretty encouraging. thank you. thank you. do thank you. do let thank you. do let us thank you. do let us know thank you. do let us know your thank you. do let us know your do let us know you thoughts thank you. do let us know your thoughts on politics live or on any aspect of bbc news. details of how to co nta ct aspect of bbc news. details of how to contact us at the end of the programme. a couple of your other comments before we go. another change to programmes has caught the attention of some. the andrew marr show has been a fixture at 9am on sunday mornings for years but when it returned last weekend for the start of its new series it did so in a new slot an hour later at ten o'clock. with the repeat of much of the day taking its place at 9am. the bbc says research shows that the available audiences is higher at 10am but some of the regular audience was unhappy... we're not all about complaints.

sometimes the plaudits come in as a descriptive reports this week in the news that stem from the bbc‘s chief international correspondent. she spoke to one woman who had returned home after being enslaved in syria forfour home after being enslaved in syria for four years by so—called home after being enslaved in syria forfour years by so—called islamic state. i was scared to come back. i was scared my family would kill me and i was so surprised at the well, my god. who can begin to imagine what woman like her have gone through at the hands of so—called islamic state? daily beatings, brutalisation, and there are said to be 3000 more women and children still missing, still ca ptu red and children still missing, still captured by islamic state. william was one of those applauding that report.

thank you for all your comments this week. if you want to share your opinions or even appear by the programme, you can call us. or e—mail us. you can find us on twitter and do have a look at our website. that is all from us. we will be back to hear your thoughts next week. goodbye. mixed weather fortunes for the weekend. it looks like sunday will offer the drier, sun weather. some outbreaks of rain in the far north—east of scotland. thickening

cloud and some patchy rain in parts of south—west england, wales, northern ireland and later running into north—west england. where you have got cloud of an item which is in double figures. you are clear, dipping down to single figures. we're watching a weather system coming in from the atlantic. it may produce early rain in the far south of another hour before it brightens up. most of the rain will run on to wales, parts of northern england, the midlands and parts of eastern england. a mixture of this cloud, some bright and sunny spells with actually mainly dry. breezy through our frontal zone. actually mainly dry. breezy through ourfrontal zone. a bit of actually mainly dry. breezy through our frontal zone. a bit of patchy rain in scotland but by the afternoon, some sunny spells around. dry weather, two, and temperatures on saturday in the mid—to high teens. this is bbc news.

the headlines: the government is drawing up the biggest change to divorce law in england and wales in almost 50 years, allowing more couples to split without apportioning blame. thousands of ba customers cancel their credit cards after a huge data breach at the airline. a special report from libya, where a fragile ceasefire in tripoli appears to be holding. alastair cook made 71 in his final match for england but india's bowlers seized the initiative on day one of the fifth test at the oval. also coming up this hour — a major project to clean up plastic from the ocean. a huge structure to capture the waste is going to be launched into the pacific from san francisco.