we have to get out of the concert hall, take it into schools, and the idea is that years later they will come into the concert hall, they will have had this experience — you just plant a seed. and it has appeared to be working. we were not short of volunteers at blenheim primary school willing to make their debut on the instrument and let us film the outcome. is it first time you've ever played the piano? yes. wow! although this lot could probably do with a bit more practice. colin paterson, bbc news, leeds. it's whether time and here is ben rich. good afternoon, you can see where we are starting the forecast, an update on hurricane florence which is now bearing down on the east coast of the usa, the first bands of rain are starting to move ashore. this short

time was a category two hurricane but still with sustained winds of 110 miles per hour in the centre and it's going to become very slow moving, so there are huge amounts of rain in the forecast, exceptionally severe flooding is on the cards. back home it's quieter, split fortu nes back home it's quieter, split fortunes over the next few days. we will see some rain at times, most towards the north and west. further south and east we'll see the driest and brightest of the weather. that's the case for today. we've had quite a lot of sunshine across the southern half of the country a decidedly still chilly start. more cloud in northern ireland, parts of western scotland and north—west england particularly. some outbreaks of showery rain. after the chilly start in the south temperatures up to 20 degrees, 12 across the north west of scotland. this evening and tonight it's the northern half of the uk that will continue to see most of the cloud, some outbreaks of patchy rain at times, perhaps some heavy rain into parts of northern ireland and western scotland late in the night, quite breezy. even

further south although we'll have clear, starry skies overhead, it will be breezy about last night so probably not quite as chilly will stop not as cold to start tomorrow morning. the best of the sunshine once again in the south—eastern corner of the country. cloud and rain moving across northern ireland, southern scotland, northern england, perhaps into wales in the afternoon. to the north of the sunshine and showers are gained decidedly cool. we may get a 20 degrees in the south—east. then we head into the weekend. it starts off with high—pressure trying to knows its way in, so most of us should start saturday on a fine note. weather systems waiting in the wings. saturday are mostly dry day for many but we'll see more cloud and northern ireland, the western saddles —— western side of scotland, more outbreaks of rain and a breeze developing but towards the south—east corner notice the temperature is beginning to nudge up, a process that will continuously get into sunday. some sunshine across east anglia and the south—east, temperatures climbing to

maybe 22 degrees. we will see bands of cloud and rain thinking south eastwards, uncertainty about progress but tending to bisla as they go. still pretty cool across they go. still pretty cool across the north and west. into next week, split fortunes again. wet and windy at times particularly in the north—west. for many others especially in the south it will turn a bit warmerfull stop really mixed, actually, over the next few days. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime. two russian men have appeared on state television saying they've been wrongly accused of the salisbury poisonings. they admitted being in the city but said they were just tourists. that's all from the bbc news at one so it's goodbye from the team here and now we'lljoined the team here and now we'lljoined the bbc news teams wherever you are. good afternoon, good afternoon. here is the very

latest sports news. a former premier league footballer has urged clubs to employ a councillor to help players with their mental health. marvin sordell started his career at watford, played in the top flight for burnley and bolton and represented team gb at the london olympics. he suffered from depression for years and at his lowest point attempted suicided. from the age of six years old when you start playing football you are told what to do. and if you are playing for an academy side as a young player you get told what to drink, when to drink it, what to eat, how to recover, jim programmes, conditioning. even when you are away you get all these things. i think when it comes to the serious issue like depression and mental health, players are expected to then of their own back speak to someone. wearers, like i said, in the moment you feel like you are a burden on people so you don't want to speak to people about it. it is difficult when you

are already not used to doing things off your own back to then do something like that as well. the professional football association says more and more footballers are using its welfare services but adding that they should make members aware that if they have suffered mental health issues then support is in place. you can find details of organisations that offer help on our website. luke shaw could play for manchester united this weekend, despite suffering concussion on england duty. shaw was stretchered off during england's nations league match with spain, and fa guidelines state that a player who suffers concussion should not play for 14 days — unless certain criteria are met. shaw could play against watford after being treated in what united have called their "enhanced care setting." british cycling remains

on course for a clean sweep of the grand tours. chris froome won the giro d'italia, geraint thomas the tour de france, and now simon yates is just a few days away from winning the vuelta a espana. fog was a factor on stage i7, and yate‘s lead was trimmed ever so slightly. however, he finished strongly enough to maintain a 25—second advantage over alejandro valverde. four stages remain with the finish line in madrid on sunday the former england one—day captain paul collingwood is retiring at the end of the season — 22 years after making his first—class debut. he played in 68 test matches, was part of three ashes winning sides and led england to victory at the world t20 eight years ago. collingwood's final game for durham, at the age of 42, will be at home to middlesex, starting on 24th september. there's a huge fight in las vegas this weekend —

gennady golovkin takes on saul canelo alvarez for three middleweight titles. it's a rematch, after theirfirst bout was controversially declared a draw. golovkin told the our boxing correspondent, mike costello, that breaking bernard hopkins record of middleweight title defences is a huge motivation for him... it is very important to me. i know so many great fighters, legends, heroes, in the middleweight division. if i beat the record i will be one step closer to a legend. it is huge for me. there are those who say he can make adjustments in the way that you can't from the first fight. what is your response to that? eight years as a champion. respect.

since arriving in las vegas, one or two people have said to me he is smaller, he's going to be weaker. translation: it is them suggesting that in their own heads but i am preparing in the last few days. you are going to see the same man, same muscles, same size, same everything. that's all the sport for now. let's return to our main story that the two men named as suspects in the poisoning of sergei skripal and his daughter, yulia, in salisbury have insisted they were just visiting the town as tourists. the men, named as alexander petrov and ruslan boshirov, told the kremlin funded tv channel, rt, that they saw the cathedral, before returning to london by train. translation: you really look like the pictures

shown to us by the uk. who are you? translation: we are those that were shown to you in the pictures, ruslan boshirov and alexander petrov. translation: are those your real names? translation: yes, they are our real names. translation: even now, when you are talking about it, to tell the truth, you look very nervous. translation: what would you look like ? when your life is turned upside down in a moment, injust one day which changed our lives. translation: and the cctv footage from london, you walk in those now famous coats and sneakers in salisbury. are those people you? translation: yeah, that's us. translation: what were you doing there? translation: our friends

have been suggesting for a long time that we visit this wonderful town. translation: salisbury? a wonderful town? translation: yes, there is the famous salisbury cathedral, famous not only in europe but the whole world. it's famous for its 123 metre spire. it's famous for its clock, one of the first ever created in the world that's still working. that was part of what has been broadcast on television. the conservative mp for salisbury has called those comments by the two men not credible. he tweeted to say that he was delighted the men had seen the attractions salisbury has two offer but that it was very strange to come all this waiverjust two days while carrying novichok in their luggage it went on to say it

did not match the widely accepted intelligence we have about those individuals been seriously hurt in a crash involving several vehicles on the m5 near taunton. at least seven cars and a lorry were involved. the motorway has been closed in both directions. people found guilty of assaulting members of the emergency services are to face tougher sentences. the new law, which will come in to effect from november, will double the amount of time for which offenders can be sent to prison from six months to a year. jenny kumah reports. attacked while on duty. this bodycam footage shows a man, who was laterjailed, attacking police officers. that's four times! and this offender was filmed spitting 2a times at an officer. latest figures show there were 26,000 assaults on police officers and 17,000 on nhs staff. attacks on prison officers and

firefighters are also on the rise. of course, for the very serious assault, you could still be put away for life. but we are now saying that if you spit at a police officer, if you threaten them, same with a prison officer, the sentence will be double what it was yesterday. there is already an offence of attacking a police officer, but the new law means that for the first time, similar protection will be extended to any emergency worker, including search and rescue staff, paramedics and volunteers. judges will also have to consider tougher sentences for other offences, such as gbh and sexual assault, if the victim is an emergency worker. work as they can be a daily reality.

they're hoping the new measures can protect them. pope francis has summoned the heads of the world's catholic bishops conferences to the vatican, for discussions on protecting children from sexual abuse. that meeting will take place next february. the catholic church in germany has expressed shame after a report outlined thousands of cases of historic child sex abuse by priests. caroline rigby reports. just last month, pro francis condemned what he described as atrocities of child six abuse —— pope francis. now, new study has revealed the potential scale of historic abuse by priests in germany. it suggests that between 1946 germany. it suggests that between 1916 and germany. it suggests that between 1946 and 2014 germany. it suggests that between 19116 and 2014 more germany. it suggests that between 1946 and 2014 more than three and a half thousand children were assaulted. most boys, more than half under the age of 14. it found 1620

clergymen carried out various degrees of abuse but only 38% of those accused were prosecuted. the lea ked those accused were prosecuted. the leaked report was released by a german magazine. commissioned by the church itself, it had been due to be released later this month. research has released thousands of documents further study. and it's authors say the true extent of the abuse could be even greater than they are found. translation:. it... a be even greater than they are found. translation: . it... a spokesman be even greater than they are found. translation:. it... a spokesman for the german bishops conference said the german bishops conference said the extent of the abuse was depressing and shameful. adding the study sheds light on what he calls the dark side of our church, so you can do everything to prevent such errors from being repeated. this reported the latest in a long series of revelations that have uncovered decades of six abuse by roman catholic priests around the world. it comes as a meeting is due to take

place in the vatican between pope francis and leaders of the catholic church the us. most notably, allegations against priests in the state of pennsylvania. in and have all the latest business news but a reminder of the headlines. two men suspected of carrying out the salisbury nerve agent attack have appeared on russian television claiming they only visited salisbury as tourists. there have been cabinet crunch talks about a no—deal brexit. ministers have met for a special session as the government publishes contingency plans for driving licences and passports among other things. and life—threatening waves and rainfall as hurricane florence bears down on the east coast of the united states. good afternoon. these are the

business headlines. these are the business headlines. from retail hero to zero half year profits at thejohn lewis partnership have fallen by 99% as the retailer stands by its "never knowingly undersold" price match promise. from retail hero to zero profits at thejohn lewis partnership have the monetary policy committee votes unanimously to keep the interest rate on hold at 0.75%. and will we roam freely after brexit? the government has promised that extra charges for mobile use in europe will not return even if the uk leaves the eu without a deal, despite warnings by phone providers. while britain staggered its way back to recovery from the financial crisis, one company that seemed to defy gravity wasjohn lewis. high street rivals came crashing down pulled under by internet shopping and spiralling costs. but that swan—like performance has come to an end.

profits have fallen to almost zero in the first half of the year. they say its because they're having to price match rivals who are having to slash their prices to keep punters coming in through the doors. the result? a 99% slump in profits to £1.2 milion. and what is more the retailer says that profits for the whole year will be substantially lower than they previously thought. there's also a rebranding going on. the company is changing the name of its stores tojohn lewis & partners and waitrose & partners to highlight the chain's 85 thousand members of staff, known as "partners" who own the company, and are given an annual bonus based on the chain's profits. the chairman sir charlie mayfield said the retail sector was facing ‘challenging times' and that that the stores' profit margins had been squeezed in ‘what has been the most promotional market we've seen in almost a decade'. it do have this price promise and

may have to stick to it. because the retail sector is so challenged at the moment, we're cutting back on essential spending, there is so much discounting going on across the board. it is getting much tougherfrom on across the board. it is getting much tougher from retailers and the fa ct much tougher from retailers and the fact they have the price all the time and there is so much discounting, they can't plan for that. it is really hitting profits while costs are going up across the board. in turkey, central bankers there have raised the cost of borrowing dramatically, there's trying to

stabilise the economy which has got out of control. here in britain, the people who make interest rate decisions of the bank of england have decided unanimously to leave the cost of borrowing unchanged. that is only a month since they raised the rate for second time in more than ten years. in the eurozone, there has been no change, the baseline rate of not percent. not the baseline rate of not percent. n ot ofte n the baseline rate of not percent. not often we have to focus on what is going on in turkey but there is an unfolding economic crisis there. the bank there has raised the interest rate by a huge 6.25%. the cost of borrowing that there has gone up by a quarter. that is tu rkey‘s gone up by a quarter. that is turkey's central bank deciding that. let's have a look at some interest rates. there is all the brexit uncertainty,

it is uncertainty that is stopping them do anything. exactly. they're clearly in wait—and—see mode. the data has been ok but still relatively sluggish. there are concerns domestically but most importantly there are political concerns, there is political concerns. . . concerns, there is political concerns... it's also interesting in the statement they mentioned the global developments that have raised downside risks to growth in the past few months. they did mention the stress in emerging markets, i guess turkey they have in mind. also the us- turkey they have in mind. also the us — china trade war which has the potential to bring risks to global growth and the uk. it is uncertainty, politics and they're going to wait for now. why should we be worrying about turkey and

emerging markets like argentina?” think argentina is very different from turkey in the sense that turkey isa from turkey in the sense that turkey is a much bigger economy and it is much more connected to the rest of the world and most importantly it is linked to the global financial markets. so i think what is happening in turkey is partly the domestic issue, the result of irresponsible policies over the last few years but also there is an external factor in play as the us have a reserve continues hiking rates. vulnerabilities in emerging markets, and turkey and argentina happen to be the most vulnerable. yes, we should worry about it because if the turkey issue turns into a systemic one then it can spill over into the economic stories of other countries, particularly

europe. but also into the financial markets and that will have implications for the rest of the world. you mention about global liquidity getting tighter. the ordinary man on the street what that means is that interest rates are going up. what is the effect on bat on what is happening here in the uk? well, it is really a factor in the major central bank that is hiking rates and also unwinding the balance sheets that was the result of quantitative easing, the unconventional policies since the crisis and i guess the most direct fa ct crisis and i guess the most direct fact is that currency. if it continues hiking but the bank of england but spurs on hold, all other things being equal that will put downward pressure on the pound. but also generally it pushes up global interest rates that could also

affect yields. we will wait and see what america does next. let's have a quick look at the markets. the pound is up at 112. very much the brexit effect, people be more optimistic that there is some kind of solution to brexit. also there we have morrisons supermarket down just 1%. debenhams also down again in the retail sector, downward pressure. but the... in the last few minutes we have been getting some news through from the united states about major car recall. this is coming through from general motors. it is coming from a government agency actually but it concerns general motors cars. it says general motors is going to recall about a million

vehicles because of temporary loss of electric power steering. those are the only details at this stage. that is coming from the national highway traffic safety administration. that is out of the united states. in fact, you have a few more details there on screen about some of the models, i think, involved. but in total we are hearing it is about a million vehicles. so that is a really substantial vehicle recall. it appears there is rather more details, bat but that is coming from the us government and concerning general motors. more on that i am sure over the afternoon. now, he is one of the greatest athletes of all time. usain bolt‘s won gold medals at the olympics and world championships and he's run all over the world. but what about sprinting in space? tim allman reports. there's no denying the fact that usain bolt is the fastest man on earth. the medals and the various world

records are proof of that. but what about being the fastest man not on earth? finding the answer to that question will leave you pointing injust one direction. so, to this airport in northern france, and a so—called zero—g flight. normally, this plane is used for scientific research. this time, it was a little different. ready, set, go! a 100 metre aircraft not being available, they had to use a somewhat shorter track. the running style wasn't quite as elegant. more of a hop than a sprint. but it turns out class is permanent, no matter what the altitude. how was it? kid in a candy store. that's how i felt. it was just fun, you know? it's running in a different type of atmosphere.

you know what i mean? it's like you're on the moon. there's no words, you know? it's so different. at first, when you get into that first mode, your mind is blown. for me, it was outstanding. glasses of celebratory champagne all round. which is easier said than done in a zero gravity environment. as for usain bolt, he was dancing on the ceiling. quite literally! much more coming up from 2pm, all the latest news but right now let's get the weather prospects. good afternoon to you. many of seeing spells of sunshine today after what was a chilly start. most especially across the south. after that cold start temperature is beginning to move upwards again towards 20 degrees in the south—east but more cloud into parts of northern ireland, scotland and north west

england with outbreaks of patchy rain. as we go through tonight it is the northern part of the uk that will continue to see cloud and rain at times, more of a breeze as well. further south and east clear skies but with more of a breeze in southern areas it is not quite as chilly as it did last night. once again the best of the dry bright weather in the south and particularly the south—east because there is rain is going to drift across parts of northern england, wales and perhaps the southwest. cool further south but over the weekend things in the south should start to warm up and elsewhere there will be outbreaks of rain at times. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2: we weren't in salisbury to kill the skripals, we wanted

to visit the cathedral. the two suspects in the novichok poisoning tell russian tv they were innocent tourists. the famous salisbury cathedral, famous in the whole world. it's famous in the whole world. it's famous for its 123 metre spire. if we can't strike a deal we won't be paying the divorce bill in full the brexit secretary's defiant message to brussels. the brexit papers the cabinet holds a "no deal" planning session looking at 300 issues like mobile roaming charges, driving licences, and passports. coming up on afternoon live — all the sport.