good afternoon. russian warplanes have lauched more air strikes on rebel positions in syria's idlib province, as government forces continue their military build up. the united nations is warning of a major new humanitarian crisis if syria and its russian allies launch an all—out military offensive. idlib is the last major rebel stronghold in northern syria. thousands of civilians are trapped in the area and turkey fears a new refugee crisis if they are forced to flee across the border. the head of the us military says he's spoken to the white house about possible scenarios should syrian forces use chemical weapons in an assault on idlib. our middle east correspondent yollande knell reports. with the fate of idlib hanging in the balance, its residents are taking to the streets, desperately calling for international intervention to prevent a deadly government offensive in this rebel—held area. this man demands that the un special envoy on syria and his colleagues stop any bloodshed.

they must protect people from air strikes. civilians are being targeted, he says. the un security council did meet yesterday to discuss idlib. there were fresh warnings that any battle for this province would be horrific and bloody. it's feared that tens of thousands of syrians could be caught up in a humanitarian catastrophe. but when russia and the assad regime say they want to counter terrorism, they actually mean they want to bomb schools, hospitals and homes. they want to punish the civilians who had the courage to rise up against assad. but earlier at talks in tehran, russia and iran, key allies of the syrian government, ignored turkish calls for a truce, insisting that islamist militant groups must be dealt with. and as if to make the point, russian warplanes and syrian government forces have been continuing to bomb rebel positions in idlib.

now many syrians here are fleeing. there's a growing sense that this seven—year—old war that killed hundreds of thousands is reaching its final stages. yolande knell, bbc news, beirut. the labour party has said there is no campaign against mps critical ofjeremy corbyn. it comes after a number of mps have faced no confidence votes called by local party members. the labour mp chuka umunna today called on the party's leadership to put a stop to it. already, centre—left mps are being systematically targeted with motions against them in their local parties. motions brought against them for standing up for these centre—left values. my message to our leadership is clear. it is within your power to stop this. so call off the dogs. our political correspondent peter saulljoins me. pretty strong words there from chuka

umunna and it feels like the tension is escalating once more between some labour mps is escalating once more between some labourmps and is escalating once more between some labour mps and the labour leadership? what is striking here is the language, share you have a man who once to be labour leader briefly, referring to members of the party as dogs. jeremy corbyn‘s supporters say, look, our membership is swelled, to around half a million underjeremy corbyn‘s leadership and it's only right labour mps represent the views of the rank and file. they say these no—confidence votes are basically an exercise in democracy but chuka umunna and his colleagues clearly feel there is an orchestrated campaign out there to attack labour mps who have had the gall to criticise their leader and the latest name is the former shadow chancellor chris leslie, who has lost a vote of no—confidence from pa rt lost a vote of no—confidence from part of his local party in nottingham east. these no—confidence votes are nottingham east. these no—confidence votes a re not legally nottingham east. these no—confidence votes are not legally binding, there's no force behind them, but what they do do is serve as a to mps

that some of their local parties, if they feel they are stepping out of line, do have the numbers to potentially deselect them. 0k, thank you very much indeed. it's emerged that a russian exile who was murdered in britain last march believed that two men from moscow had tried to poison him five years earlier. nikolai glushkov, a former deputy director of the russian airline, aeroflot, was found apparently strangled at his home in south—west london. his death came a week after the former—spy, sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, were poisoned in salisbury. the police have now re—opened their investigation into the incident in 2013, in which mr glushkov was apprently taken ill after drinking champagne with two russian men. police in south yorkshire have made an arrest after reports a man had been stabbed in barnsley town centre. one person suffered minor injuries and police have said there will be a "high visability police presence" in the town centre. sweden's prime minister has used the final day of campaigning in the country's general election

to issue a warning about extremism and fascism. opinion polls suggest stefan loefven‘s centre left social democrats are unlikely to win a majority and are facing a strong challenge from the anti—immigrant sweden democrats. a former trump campaign adviser has been jailed for m days for lying to fbi agents investigating alleged collusion with russia. george papadopoulos, who admitted the offence, was also ordered to do 200 hours of community service and pay a fine of $9,500. papadopoulos is the first former member of the trump election team to plead guilty to offences during the 2016 presidential campaign. john mcmanus reports. this is the former adviser to president donald trump who is now swapping the white house for the jailhouse. george papadopoulos‘ crime? he admitted lying to fbi investigators who are looking into allegations that russia

interfered in the us election. mr pa padopoulos‘ role began in early 2016, when the trump presidential campaign signed him up as a foreign policy adviser. when mr papadopoulos was questioned by officers investigating alleged collusion between russia and the trump campaign, he said he had met individuals with ties to russia before he worked for the president. in fact, he had met them after that point and it's this lie, which he pleaded guilty to, which has led to his sentence of 1a days injail. 0utside court, mr papadopoulos‘ lawyer said his client had acted stupidly by following the president's line on the russia investigation. he was tweeting seven days before george was interviewed, and he's the president of the united states, that based on all of his information, i would assume, that this was a witch—hunt and that it was fake news that russia had meddled in the election. donald trump has always denied ever

seeking help from the kremlin to win the election, and his reaction to the sentencing was typically bluff, complaining about the cost. but this investigation is worrying the white house. no evidence of russian collision has so far been revealed, but several people close to the president have been found guilty of various other crimes. john mcmanus, bbc news. now with the latest on the cricket, and the rest of the sport now, here's mike bushell at the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. england have batted themselves back into contention, in the fifth and final test against india, at the oval. they have just gone for lunch and it's very much england's morning. england started the day in trouble on 198 for seven, and then lost adil rashid to lbw. but a partnership has developed between stuart broad and jos buttler, who's got his half—century has meant that the hosts are looking towards a total beyond 300. good news for alistair cook, watching from the pavilion before

he retires from international cricket after this test. england 304—8. serena williams is aiming to win a record—equalling 24th grand slam singles title, when she faces naomi 0saka in the us open final later, just one year after giving birth. meanwhile, a knee injury ended rafael nadal‘s hopes, as he had to retire from his semifinal, against huan martin del potro. it was at the end of the second set. and it could mean another spell on the sidelines for the 32—year—old, who was looking back to his best when he won the french open in may. del potro plays novak djokovic in the final. following the brilliant start by wales in the new nations league, it's the turn today of northern ireland against bosnia, and england who take on spain at wembley. it is the first match for england, since they exceeded expectation and reached the world cup semifinals injuly. but manager gareth southgate says they must forget about that now and concentrate on building for the future. the basis of how they play, i'm sure

will be similar. there will definitely be differences we will wa nt to definitely be differences we will want to impose and slight changes to the style, i'm sure, that will take some time. but they have some wonderful footballers, some time. but they have some wonderfulfootballers, and some time. but they have some wonderful footballers, and it some time. but they have some wonderfulfootballers, and it is some time. but they have some wonderful footballers, and it is a really good test for us and we are looking forward to it. the women's football season gets under way this weekend. there's a new structure, with some new teams among them lewis fc, who claim to be the only club side in the world, to pay their men's and women's teams the same. emily croydon reports. lewis broke new ground last when they announced an equal playing budget for their men's and women's teams. the reality to their pioneering stance on gender equality was mixed, but one season on, they appear to be reaping the rewards. the women's team were recently selected by the fa to enter the new second—tier, whilst the men's team also promoted. with these successes, equality is fast becoming part of

this club's dna. we felt we should be playing with the same budget, the same allocation of resources. there will be some people on the terraces watching who don't agree with it. but plenty of supporters are on—board. the women's attendances have doubled and a stance on equality has brought in a whole new demographic of fans. normally women that age, i see them on instagram and x factor, something like that, and x factor, something like that, and they are using themselves in a totally different way. it was like a breath of fresh air because i think my daughter, what good role models they are. we feel like a massive pa rt of they are. we feel like a massive part of the club, not an add—on. they are. we feel like a massive part of the club, not an add—onlj guess they are paving the way for hopefully the future in terms of what women's football can rise to. is it feasible that manchester united and chelsea and arsenal women will equal their playing budgets next season? no. but is it feasible

that those clubs should have an ambition to go the way women's foot ball ambition to go the way women's football is going, when we pay women the same as men, and we feel we can afford to do it, then, to me, that should be given. in reality, universal pay parity is a long way off, but as lewes prepared to make their mark on the championship, for them it's all about the right here, right now. emily croydon, bbc news. yes, lewis leading the way there. that is all the sport for now. thank you very much, mike. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel. new powers come into force today designed to stop nuisance calls from personal injury and claim management firms. you'll now need to opt in to allow companies to contact you. businesses that don't

comply could face a fine of half a million pounds. manuela saragosa has more. for many of us, cold calls are a daily torment. hello? the financial conduct authority says some 2.7 billion nuisance calls texts and e—mails were made over the past year. that works out to be about 50 calls, texts and e—mails sent to every single adult in the country. many are made by companies offering to settle personal injury claims, or to claim back ppi — payment protection insurance. but, from now on, these companies will have to check first that the recipient has explicitly agreed to receive those calls and messages. companies that don't could face a fine of up to £500,000, and people are encouraged to report them to the ico — the information commissioner's office. some companies will see the new change in law and i think they will desist from the activity. when they don't, i'm afraid people are going to have to complain. the ico does need the information

from people about these calls, and she will then tackle, use her powers and, slowly but surely, we will get on top of it and they will completely cease. campaigners say the new rules do not go far enough. they will not, for example, stop calls from fraudsters and note, too, that firms based overseas are not covered. the issue of consent, they argue, is a red herring and they would prefer to see the authorities rule that unsolicited direct marketing calls are not a legitimate way of doing business. manuela saragosa, bbc news. earlier i spoke to martin bostock, who has been campaigning against nuisance calls. he started by describing the volume of phone calls he had been receiving. i had about 12 per day on my landline and that was very important because i do most of my work from home. also, at the same time, my very elderly parents were receiving perhaps eight or nine a day. in my mother's case it was mostly

charities and for my father it was scammers. he was in fact scammed. one of my brothers recovered substantial funds. and i had taken it up because which? were running... beginning a campaign and they asked the people who actually had the statistics, if you like, who had records, and i had been keeping records. so ijoined up and i have been involved in the campaign since its inception, as, if you like, one of the foot soldiers, one of the victims. and did you find out who the companies were and how crucially they had got hold of your numbers? the difficulty is that many of the worst culprits are part of a network. i have challenged some of the list providers that people have used. in fact, probably my best example was an entirely legitimate company in manchester who had decided to ginger up their marketing and they in good faith had bought

a list of what were supposed to be qualified prospects and i was on that list. and i had not agreed with anyone that i should be on the list. in fact, the man on the other end was very helpful. he told me who provided the list, a company in watford, i asked them where they had got my name. it had been sold on from someone else. it really was about time that someone gripped this part of the problem, which is that there are people who have not opted into anything, who are passed on in a chain and nobody in the chain has any duty to check and so consequently, people pay good money for prospect lists of people to call. so the new system, the minister suggesting this will work, people will now have to opt in. do you think this goes far enough?

do you think it is going to work? i think it will work partially. any little bit helps. i have got to the point now where i take active measures of my own and i have probably the most sophisticated call reception system, computer... computerised, if you like. but the problem is that costs people a lot of money. it is very useful and i can put it down as and expense of doing business but this would not have helped my parents. it doess not help people who do not know all the numbers of all the people who might call them. this system of opting in is only for those who are going to comply with the law anyway. another example i can give you is a company in birmingham who pestered me and i spoke to the man and he was quite come you know, happy chap becoming he said, you know, happy chap becoming he said, oh, it is quite simple, he said, if you don't like our cause, you can complain all

you like because we will simply liquidate the company and i think there are other measures, dealing with corporate offenders, that can and should have been taken, so yeah, i think it is partial progress but i don't think it goes far enough. the headlines on bbc news: labour mp chuka umunna has accused jeremy corbyn of driving centre—left mps like himself out of the party. companies can no longer make cold calls unless a claimant has opted in to receive them. claims management companies that break the rules can be fined up to five hundred thousand pounds. there's going to be an attempt to get into the middle of the pacific ocean to try to clear plastic waste. a couple and a child have had a miraculous escape unhurt after a tube train went over the top of them at baker street station

in london last night. police say the woman was pushing a buggy along a platform before falling onto the tracks, after being distracted by looking at the arrivals board. the fatherjumped down to help and as they saw a tube approach, the three of them moved into a pit beneath the track. thankfully, the tube passed safely over the top of them. none of them was seriously hurt, but they were taken to hospital for checks. in a statement, transport for london said they were relieved that the family were able to escape unharmed. they underlined the need for customers to remain behind the yellow line when waiting for trains or walking along the platform. a massive operation to scoop plastic waste from the middle of the pacific ocean is being launched today. a 600—metre long floating device will be towed out from california, as jenny kumah reports. sights like this have shocked people all over the world. the damage to wildlife has inspired a bold project with an ambitious goal — to rid the ocean of plastic.

and this is the structure that will help to do it. it's been built in san francisco and is launching from there today. it will travel to an area in the eastern pacific known as the great garbage patch, where currents trap plastic. if we don't do it now, all this plastic will start breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces, and the smaller the pieces are, the more harmful and harder to extract from the marine environment. so we feel there is a sense of urgency. so how will it work? a giant tube, 600 metres long, will float on the surface in the shape of a horseshoe. over time, the plastic should gather in a small area and then can be taken out. underwater, a barrier will hang three metres down and trap plastic below the surface. it is meant to allow fish to swim underneath it. but some experts worry that the system can harm wildlife. our major concern is for those passive floaters, rather than fish, mammals,

plankton, jelly fish, for example. they simply cannot get out of the way of this, they are going to be crammed into this and not be able to escape. the plan is to start with one collection device and eventually deploy 60. the people behind the project estimate a full roll—out will clean up half of the great pacific garbage patch in five years. jenny kumah, bbc news. tributes have been paid to the us rapper, mac miller, who's died after an apparent drug overdose. the 26—year—old, who's real name was malcolm mccormick, was found at his home near los angeles. he rose to fame after topping the us charts with his debut album in 2011. earlier this year, the musician went through a well—publicised break—up with his long—term girlfriend, the singer ariana grande. mac miller's friend and fellow musician, pittsburgh slim, was totally shocked by the news.

just a great, great kid. a great kid. nobody had anything bad to say about him. you can see by the reaction on twitter. this is too much. really drugs just aren't cool and i don't know what happened, nobody does at this point. ijust came to drop some flowers and... say a prayer for him, that is all you can do at this point. what's it like to be a rookie prison officer at a time of high levels of violence, drug—taking and self—harm ? two years ago a scheme to get some of britain's brightest university graduates working in jails was unveiled. so would the new recruits go the distance? last year our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, met one of the graduates as she started work at coldingley prison in surrey and now he's returned to find out how she's getting on. i'lljust give you a quick rubdown, mr brown. she's one of the newest prison officers at hmp coldingley, but has the confidence of someone far more experienced. sophie is one of the standout recruits on a programme designed

to attract the brightest graduates into prisons. we first met her 12 months ago, when she started work. i've finished my degree. 0k. the new officers were visited by the then justice secretary david lidington. a year on, how has it been? it's been challenging, but it's been rewarding, as well. the best thing is all the interactions that i have with the guys. we make progress all the time. the small wins are the best things — like, getting someone that has been refusing to go to work that is actually finally engaging and going to work. that's the best thing ever. have there been moments when you've doubted whether this was the job for you? when incidents happen and i've been faced with, like, an act of self—harm or someone being under the influence, and that's when i'm like, "am i right for this job?" sophie is one of eight graduate prison officers here at coldingley. they are among more than 50 who started the scheme last year. and now it is being expanded and sophie is helping to train the next set of recruits. if they are not in there, you open the flap.

these new recruits graduated in subjects including anthropology and social policy. now, they are earning up to £30,000 a year and doing a masters in their spare time. show that you are listening, that you understand. and this is how the graduates learn about techniques they need to do the job. hello, it's 0 from alpha 1. we have an unconscious officer, officer ralph. it's a training exercise in a classroom at the university of suffolk. i can see there's a rope group going through the window, we have missing keys. in this scenario, a prisoner has escaped after assaulting a member of staff. we have an e—list prisoner escaping out of education 1 with a set of officer's keys. the skills you get from being a prison officer, if you can de—escalate a landing full of prisoners, if you can convince someone who's offended their whole life that they want to change and turn their life around, essentially, the skills that they're going learn with us will set them up for leadership and whatever they go on to do. at the time, we had real problems with recruitment.

attracting people to the service, there was a lot of negative press. rising levels of prison violence and concerns over pay have made it hard for governors to find and retain staff. 2,000 front—line officers left the service last year, hundreds of them new recruits. to get some of these bright young people into it, was like a shot in the arm. but sophie isn't at coldingley for long. next year, she'll leave for good, using her experience in another part of the criminaljustice system. danny shaw, bbc news, at coldingley prison. just like broadchurch or baker street, the shetland islands have captured visitors' imaginations thanks to a popular crime thriller based there. they're experiencing a tourist boom because of shetland, a tv drama based on novels by author ann cleeves. as the final book in the series is released, our reporter jothohnston has been to see the set for himself. shetland. the crime drama has enjoyed

worldwide success with its likeable characters, strong storylines, not to mention the bleak windswept scenery. this place looks like a much better place to come to. when you read the news, everything seems terrible and i think people are taking a wee bit of comfort in island murders! but now writer ann cleeves is bidding farewell to the popular detective. she has released a final novel, wild fire. well, i cannot tell you whether the ending is tragic and jimmy dies, or whether it is happy and he goes off into the sunset with the love of his life, because you will need to read the book to do that. but i can tell you that the tv series will continue. since the series first aired in 2013, thousands of tourists, many from cruise ships, have been heading to shetland on the trail of the murders. we have visitors from america, australia, and i suppose specifically scandinavia,

who like the detective noir. this must be the actual house! ithink so... we came to see this lovely scenery which we have been seeing in the tv series and reading about in the books. we enjoy the stories and the mystery of trying to solve the puzzles before detective perez does. set. and action! filming is already under way for series five. it is quite a tough storyline and it gets quite gothic towards the end. so, yeah, buckle up. woman screams: jimmy! fans will have to wait until early next year for yet more shetland noir. jimjohnston, bbc news, lerwick.

it's time for a look at the weather. thank you very much. scotland is doing best with the brighter weather today. elsewhere it is pretty cloudy. skies like this for much of england and wales. heavy rain around as well. the best of the sunshine is around central and northern parts of scotland. it will stay bright all day. pretty atrocious conditions in the midlands and in wales. in the south, a little bright weather. 20 degrees. it will be a breezy afternoon as well. this evening and overnight, staying breezy. skies will tend to clear. more rain pushing into western and northern areas by the end of the night. clear

skies across northern scotland. we start off rather damp, cloudy, outbreaks of rain clearing away and into the afternoon, it is looking pretty nice for england and wales. feeling warmer as well. it will be windy with outbreaks of rain across the west of scotland. the headlines: a labourmp has the headlines: a labour mp has urged leaderjeremy corbyn to call off the dogs in a

speech saying that centre—left mps risk being driven out of the party. new powers designed to end nuisance calls from a personal injury and claim management firms come into force today. companies will face large fines unless the people they call had given explicit permission. a californian coast clean—up begins today as plastic from a vast area of the ocean known as the great pacific garbage patch is collected using a 600 metre long boom. and graduates from top universities are about to leave the lecturer paul behind and into the uk's toughest prisons as officers. —— lecture hall. now, and inside out special. a spoken word poet takes a journey across london to discover why councils are losing out when

councils are losing out when councils regenerate their estates. with nearly 8000 homes due to be lost in the next decade, he finds out why residents and communities are fighting back. music: turn the page by the streets all over london, council housing is being ripped from the landscape, cut from the skyline. we have seen the demolition of up to 100 council estates. the stock has been decimated. at the same time, entire estates originally built to house the working class are being sold off to developers.