mere three hundredths of a gold by a mere three hundredths of a second. the 27—year—old is the first british man to win the world modern pentathlon title in a quarter of a century and afterwards, he said the inspiration for that remarkable charge had been a very personal one. it is obviously a dream come true. i was really struggling on this last lap but then, unfortunately, my grandad died last week, so... so that was for him. and so a victory as emotional as it was dramatic. jamie cooke, the man who left his best till the very last. that has to be my favourite story today. let's catch up the weather now and, goodness, we have heard plenty about the rest of the weather, let's focus on events at home. nothing as dramatic as other parts of the world, thankfully but a mixed picture this weekend. the image behind me is about half of the story, there will be some wet and

breezy weather at times but some dry weather as well and parts of the east and south—east won't see much rain at all. this is what is going on at the moment on the satellite and radar picture, bands of rain working south eastwards, heavy rain chipping into the north east of northern ireland, all of these weather systems tracking south eastwards. the northern half of scotla nd eastwards. the northern half of scotland seen a mixture of sunshine and blustery showers and a decidedly cool feel and even in the south, i9 oi’ cool feel and even in the south, i9 or 20 degrees is about it. and then through this evening and overnight, various areas of wet weather and showers will mostly fizzle away to leave clear, starry skies overhead and that will allow it to get a little bit chilly in places, particularly the north—east of scotland. you can see the green and blue colours on the centre. the centre of aberdeen down to demerit for degrees, in the countryside, a bit colder but not as cold further south where we have this extra cloud into northern ireland and northern england. tomorrow, many places

starting off with sunshine. east anglia and the south—east keeping hold of it until the afternoon but further west, increasing amounts of cloud and for northern ireland and western scotland, the cloud thickening to bring outbreaks of rain and strengthening breeze. those temperatures between 15 and 21 degrees. and into the second half of the weekend, high—pressure tries to hold on towards the south—east but frontal systems getting their act together and pushing in towards the north—west. there is some uncertainty as to how far south and east these fronts get but it looks like on sunday we will see rain coming out of northern ireland and southern scotland into northern england, wales and maybe parts of the midlands. east anglia and the south not seeing much rain, it should be sunny and 23 degrees but further north, those temperatures picking up. and then the start of next week, we look again to the atlantic. now, this was the remnants of the storm, the former storm cover they do look like they will head towards us in the form of a deep area of low pressure at the start of

next week. most likely to push to the western side of the uk, some wet and potentially very windy weather but it was a hurricane, there is one tropical air entrained within it so busy killie for eastern and southern areas, you are likely to feel the effects of that. into the 20s the next week, further west, some wind and rain at times. a reminder of our main story this lunchtime hurricane florence has made landfall, battering the east of the us with ten foot high storm surges, high winds and torrential rain. that is all from the news at one team, we willjoin the bbc news teams wherever you are. good afternoon. what's been described as a civil war in rugby league appears to be over. the majority of clubs have voted to scrap the super 8s from next season and go back to a conventional promotion and relegation system.

0ur rugby league correspondent dave woods is here. just explain what the super 8s are and why some clubs were against it? super league clubs were against it, 11 super league clubs were against it, ii of the 12, because they said it was too volatile after the regular season was too volatile after the regular season may split into a play—off for the grand final, the top, and the bottom four would play against the top fourfor an bottom four would play against the top four for an extended relegation and promotion play—off which they did not like that up to four teams a year could be relegated. we will change to something more familiar. it isa it is a format the game had before, ai2 it is a format the game had before, a 12 team super league but the bottom a 12 team super league but the botto m tea m a 12 team super league but the bottom team relegated and the top tea m bottom team relegated and the top team from the championship promoted and instead of a top eight play—off and instead of a top eight play—off a top five play—off for the grand

final which might seem complicated that it favours teams finishing first and second in terms of reaching the old trafford finale in 0ctober. reaching the old trafford finale in october. what do the clubs hope it will achieve? unity, hopefully. there has been a lot of vitriol between clubs in reaching this decision but a 68% voted in favour of the change suggests peace could be breaking out very soon. peace and by be breaking out very soon. peace and rugby league! thank you. the premier league are investigating whether any rules were broken during everton‘s recruitment of manager marco silva. watford say everton made an illegal approach for him, while he was still in charge there last season, and that was the "catalyst" behind their decision to sack him injanuary. he was appointed by everton four months later. bbc sport understands an independent law firm has been asked to look into the matter and it's thought everton could face a significant fine or even a points deduction if they're found to have acted improperly. there are calls for surrey captain rory burns to be called into the england squad, after he led his side to a first

county championship title for nearly two decades. burns finishes the season as top run—scorer, with more than a thousand to his name and many believe he's a natural successor to alastair cook. 100%. it shouldn't even be a discussion, i'll be honest. i know it is smith and james taylor who have got to pick the squad. but rory burns should be inked into that squad straightaway now. he's done it for four years and this year he is an even better player. and i trust the selectors to make the right decision and pick rory burns. you are never going to fill alastair cook's shoes. but as long as he is given an opportunity, given time, i seriously believe that he can open the batting for a period of time for england. niels de vos — the man who oversaw team gb‘s incredible athletics success at the london olympics in 2012, will be stepping down at the end of the month. he's been chief executive of uk athletics for almost 12 years and also guided the squad

to a sustained period of success at world championship level. under his leadership, team gb won 13 medals, six of them gold, at both the london and rio 2016 olympics. great britain's dressage team have won bronze at the world equestrian games in north carolina — earning them qualification for the olympics in tokyo 2020. charlotte dujardin was riding her new horse freestayle, who she says reminds her of the famous valegro, the partner who won her two olympic gold medals. germany took gold. there's live coverage from the games later, on the red button and bbc sport website. second practice for the singapore grand prix hasjust started — daniel ricciardo was quickest in p1, with lewis hamilton sixth. there's text commentary on the bbc sport website. there will be more in the next hour. thank you. good afternoon, you are

watching bbc news and we will look at stories making the news in the next half—hour but before we do, and update regarding brexit because we had a statement and comments through from the department for exiting the eu and you might know dominic raab the brexit secretary has been having a phone call today, was due to have a phone call today, was due to have a phone call with michel barnier and there have been details released about it. dominic raab saying while there remains substantive differences, we need to resolve, which is about the future relationship, it is clear our teams are closing in on workable solutions to outstanding issues on the withdrawal agreement. interesting there are still substantive differences, the phrase i think will be picked up on. talks continue. there is a drive to have things

nailed down before the next eu summit in october. some question marks over whether the october date could be met but that is the latest following the phone call between dominic raab and michel barnier, looking ahead, said dominic raab, we agreed to review the state of play in negotiations following the informal meeting of heads of state, which is next thursday. that is the immediate timeline, trying to get some decisions made by thursday and then looking ahead to the eu summit in october and doubtless we will have reaction and commentary about that after 2pm. north and south korea have opened a joint liaison office on the north's side of the heavily militarized border. this will allow the two sides to communicate on a regular basis for the first time since the korean war. from seoul, laura bicker explained the significance. this building is in essence a de facto joint korean embassy, it is the first time

since the korean war where the two sides will be able to talk 2a hours a day for 365 days a year. how it will work is officials from the north and the south, about 15 — 20 each, will be in the building, a floor each, and there will be meeting floor where they can talk about various tensions. in the part, communication came fire fax or phone came via fax or phone lines but during tension those lines were often cut so this is a structure where they could both talk at any time, even when there are tensions. this comes ahead of president moon, south korea's leader, heading to pyongyang next week. he will be the first south korean to visit pyongyang in over a decade. he has a job to do.

president moon the mediator will try to get concrete steps from kim jong—un to get some kind of concrete promise out of him with regards to disarmament. he will try to break the diplomatic deadlock existing between the us and north korea currently. what this building, the launch of this building, tells us that even if things are not going well between the united states and north korea, the two koreas seem determined to find a path to cooperate. a series of gas explosions has set fire to dozens of homes in the us state of massachusetts. the blasts in three separate towns north of boston are thought to have been caused by the rupture of an overpressurised gas line. 0livia crellin reports. 0n fire, flattened and up in smoke. these are homes from three communities north of the us city of boston, destroyed in the wake of an apparent natural—gas pipeline rupture.

12 people are reported to be injured and one person has died. a total of 70 fires, explosions or investigations of gas odour were reported. local authorities responded, evacuating hundreds, and some 50 fire departments rushed to the scene. with the cause of the blast still unclear, the massachusetts governor charlie baker said that safety and shelter were the first priority. there will be plenty of time later tonight and tomorrow morning and into the next day to do some of the work around determining exactly what happened and why and what needs to be done to deal with that. but the focus in the short—term is to make sure we do everything we can to provide shelter for people who need shelter. investigators suspect overpressurisation of a gas main led to the series of blasts and fires. the columbia gas company who supply gas to the area say it is investigating what has happened. in the meantime, authorities have shut down gas supplies to prevent

the ignition of further blasts. with residents supplied by the company unable to return to their homes and many are in the dark about the state of their properties, it may take days to work out what has happened and weeks for those affected to return. the australian prime minister scott morrison has apologised for posting an online video after discovering its soundtrack — a famous hip—hop song — contained explicit lyrics. the ii—second video showed government mps raising their hands in parliament. in the caption, mr morrison praised his colleagues as being "on fire today". it got us thinking about how politicians use social media in general. the prizes of getting it right, and the pitfalls of getting it wrong. charlotte gallagher has this report. this is the twitter post that got the australian prime minister trending.

but for the wrong reasons. while many people tweeted they were cringing, others were offended and scott morrison ended up apologising with another tweet. and, of course, he is not the only world leader to be mocked on social media. the british prime minister dusting off her dancing shoes during a trip to kenya. she was called a baby robot giraffe by one twitter user, but theresa may saw the funny side. but sometimes a social media mistake can work in a politician's favour. take ed balls day. it marks the day when the british politician ed balls sent out this tweet. he was searching for articles about himself and accidentally posted his own name instead. and, yes, he was ridiculed at the time, but it raised his profile and introduced him to a younger audience who probably didn't know who he was. he now has his own bbc programme, which, of course, has led to more social media hashtags.

it's one of the most recognisable cars in the world — the volkswagen beetle. from its roots in nazi germany it became a symbol of the hippy era. but now the german car—maker has said it will stop making the vehicle next year. lebo diseko reports. it's the end of the line for the bug. vw says it will stop making its much loved beetle next july. the car has been through many incarnations through the years, with new, modern designs replacing the many iconic versions seen here. now, though, the company will stop producing the car altogether, its left beetle lovers heartbroken. the beetle represents 20 years of the company's history. losing the beetle in production makes me feel like i'm losing a little bit of myself. the car was originally created in 1938 on adolf hitler's orders.

he wanted a cheap, reliable people's car. but, by the freewheeling ‘60s, it found fame with the disney film the love bug. its funky designs and cheap price made it a firm favourite. but despite being one of the bestselling cars of all time, sales have fallen in recent years. the company is trying to move forward after the diesel emissions scandal and looking towards new technology. some argue any remaining beetle magic died 15 years ago when the rear engine models stopped being made. the world is changing very quickly, manufacturers are all moving towards electric platforms for their cars. this is an archaic, outmoded platform with an old motor in it. vw has got to move into the future. but it may not be the end of the road forever,

with some suggesting a new electric version might one day be made. so perhaps it's farewell rather than goodbye for this old friend. in a moment, we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. we have news from the prison officers association. we have reported on the protests taking place outside a large number of prisons across england and wales. we arejust prisons across england and wales. we are just hearing from the association that there has been as they describe it meaningful engagement with the prisons minister rory stewart and they, the union, has now instructed its members to return to work. thereafter the details which suggest there is perhaps an issue still to be resolved so it appears we will get more detail about this later in the afternoon but for now the prison

officers association telling staff to go back to work. this was sparked by that particularly damning report about bedford prison, which really was grim reading. that is how this walk—out took place in the first place today. but it would appear the association is telling staff to go back to work and perhaps we will hear more from the union later in the afternoon. a reminder of the headlines. hurricane florence makes landfall on east coast of the united states, with high winds and torrential rain. five million people are in the direct path of typhoon mangkhut, due to make landfall in the philippines. and as we have been discussing, prison officers have called off protest action across england and wales. it began after a damning report that described a dangerous

lack of control at bedford prison. the business news. sports direct boss mike ashley has accused shareholders of stabbing him and the company in the back. he said they had failed to support him and chairman keith hellawell, who resigned on wednesday. the bank of england governor mark carney says it's his job "not to hope for the best but to prepare for the worst" after brexit. in a speech in ireland he said he had tested the country's banks for a no—deal brexit scenario with mortgage rates spiralling, a plunging pound and house prices crashing 35%. british steel has announced that it will cut 400 managerial, professional and administrative roles across its uk, ireland, france and the netherlands operations "as part of the company's ongoing transformation". sports direct boss mike ashley says the company and he have been stabbed in the back by its shareholders. at the company's annual

shareholders' meeting mr ashley's re—election as chief executive weas opposed by 9.75% of votes cast, and chairman keith hellawell stepped down just ahead of the meeting. mr ashley, who still owns 61% of the company's shares, said in a statement: "the company's shareholders appear to be affected by the pressure of the media and certain other organisations, and they have failed to support sports direct, keith and myself, on this journey." joining us now is george macdonald, executive editor of retail week. has he been stabbed in the back? i do not think so. it is completely legitimate for shareholders in a public company to question management. what i think has happened in this case is that people knew what they were buying into with sports director mike ashley is an entrepreneur, unconventional and sometimes he has done things for

which he has been rightly criticised —— sports direct. he is the sort of person who would be impatient about being called up on questions of governance when he would rather run the business the way he thinks fit. sports direct, he says he has improved it significantly, is he right? he has made important changes. he has brought in what you might call a more professional management, partly to deal with some concerns but not everything has gone his way. some of the investment sports direct made for instance in debord ‘s cost the business dearly but again, someone like mike ashley probably thinks in a different way. —— debenham's. he would see this as a load of people in suits holding him back. one thing that strikes me

as odd is the formality. this is not his being door stepped and mouthing off, it is a formal statement, a press release, what is the significance of that? in the past few months they have done quite a few months they have done quite a few statements to the stock exchange no other company would have done. there have been things about the results, reputation, all sorts of other things, which other companies meant they might have flanked with press releases, but i think it shows how a typical he is. you have to wonder is sports direct a company that would be better placed to be private. that is the question, is that what he is saying?” private. that is the question, is that what he is saying? i do wonder. with the controversy, you could imagine him, if he can create a sense of confrontation and

alienation among public shareholders, he might be able to buy sports direct back at a lower price than would otherwise be the case. because he owns so much of the business already, he is in a powerful position to do as he pleases to a certain extent. thank you, george macdonald. more on the story about the bank of england. mark carney has been saying he put the uk banks through a stress test that envisages a severe recession after a no deal brexit. he said it is not a prediction, that is what you need to do to ensure the system is ready for them. and able to continue to lend. elsewhere, elon musk‘s space company says it has signed up the first passenger to fly

around the moon on the rocket. no details about timing, costs, the passenger's identity. it is hoped that will be revealed this coming monday. house of fraser customers have been told they will not get refunds for goods ordered online but not delivered before the chain was bought last month by new owner sports direct. it said people must contact administrators to chase cash. and a look at the markets with the ftse bouncing back a little from yesterday. there is sports direct, which people seem to think, well, if mr ashley wanted to push the share price down, he is not doing it. 0il heading up to $80 about. and the pound against the euro pretty much where it has been that historically over the past months, a pretty strong price in terms of the euro. thank you. more coming up from 2pm

but we can look now at the weather prospects. hello. seems like there's behind me here are part of the weekend weather story and there will be wet and breezy weather at times but very little of the rain is expected in the south—east with some parts of southern england staying completely dry. this is the earlier picture with rain sinking south—eastwards, but the south—east corner holding onto sunshine. we have brightness in northern scotland with a scattering of showers. most of the rain across the uk will fade away. and especially across the north and east of scotland, green and blue on the chart. temperatures in aberdeen getting down to four degrees and in the countryside, even lower. there could be a touch of frost. not especially gold further south,

particularly where we bring in extra cloud. we start tomorrow on a finite for most with sunshine in north—east scotla nd for most with sunshine in north—east scotland and central and eastern parts of england cloud will be streaming in from the west through the day. cloud will thicken later to bring outbreaks of rain, strengthening breeze. up to 21 degrees in london. in the second half of the weekend, systems will try to push in from the north—west of bringing rain, breezy weather and there is uncertainty about how far south and east these weather fronts will get. there could be rain in northern parts of england and wales and perhaps into the midlands. in the south—east expected to be dry and also some showers in scotland and also some showers in scotland and northern ireland. but it is warming up in the south—east and then we look ahead to the start of next week and this is the remnants

of what was hurricane irma helene and it looks like deep pressure is heading our way. uncertainty about where it will arrive but it looks like western uk could look at potentially wet and windy weather. and it used to be a hurricane with warm airand we and it used to be a hurricane with warm air and we will via the effects of that in the south. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm martine croxall. today at 2pm. hurricane florence makes landfall on the east coast of the united states, with high winds and torrential rain — a state governor urges people to remain calm. surviving this storm will be a test of endurance, teamwork, common—sense and patience. meanwhile, 5 million people are in the direct path of typhoon mangkhut, due to make landfall in the philippines. prison officers end protest action

across england and wales — officers walked out this morning after a report described a dangerous lack of control at bedford jail. "distressing" and "vivid" footage of the moment pc keith palmer was stabbed outside parliament during last year's westminster attack has been shown at an inquest into the victims' deaths.