hello, you're watching afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. today at 2: off the rails: cable damage causes major disruption at london's paddington station, and brings travel chaos across the south of england and wales. well, they tell me there's an alternative route. i have to go from here to waterloo, from waterloo to reading and from reading then to parkway, which is going to take us about another hour and 30 minutes on top of ourjourney. are you confident of a brussels breakthrough? sticking with the chequers plan: theresa may heads to brussels for brexit talks — with little sign of any optimism. theresa may will be here in brussels in little over two hours for a crucial meeting with donald tusk, the european council president and end at 27 litres. we will bring you all of the reaction from brussels throughout the afternoon. saudi arabia under pressure, as the us secretary of state meets the turkish president over the disappearance of a saudi journalist. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. olly, not much cricket...?

no, i know you're going to the weather next, that's all they're talking about in sri lanka. it looks like another wash—out for england's cricketers, but whose bright idea was it anyway to tour in monsoon season? hopefully we will have some a nswe i’s. season? hopefully we will have some answers. thank you, talk to you later, a great shot, louise! a cloud free theme across the uk and it looks likely this weather will stay with us right into the weekend. more details, coming up. thanks, louise. also coming up... a particularly warm welcome for the duke and duchess of sussex in australia — the 5—year—old boy who's their biggest fan. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. tens of thousands of rail passengers are facing disruption across the south and south west of england and wales, after the cancellation of services into and out of london paddington.

great western railway is advising people not to travel on long distance routes, or towards the capital, after overhead electric cables were severely damaged last night. some services have resumed but network rail says the disruption will continue for the rest of the afternoon. our correspondent simonjones is at paddington station for us now. simon. this is one of london's busiest railway stations but throughout much of the day, it has been eerily quiet. some passengers returning now, with news that some services are starting up again. but this is going to be a very limited start up, it's by no means the full timetable. many here are asking howjust 500 metres of overhead cabling coming down can lead to destruction on such a wide scale on the network. trains going nowhere. and passengers desperate

for information. many turned up at paddington this morning, unaware of the problems even though trains first ground to a halt last night. it has been a battle to get to work or to heathrow airport to catch flights on time. they told me there is an alternative route. i have to go from here to waterloo, from waterloo to reading and from reading then to parkway, which will take us about another hour and 30 minutes on top of ourjourney. the heathrow express was cancelled, that was the start. we said, is there any coach organised 7 they said, no, you must get the ordinary transport into london and up to paddington or get a taxi, costing £70. trying to get the airport, got to catch a flight and i'm going to try and find an uber. are you worried about getting there on time? yes, that is why i should probably run! here at paddington station, the departure board tells the story. it is empty because nothing is coming and going. some passengers are playing the waiting game, they have been told they can try alternate routes but the reality is, there are no easy options.

at reading, passengers complained of overcrowding on the platforms. network rail is blaming the chaos on extensive damage to the overhead power lines near ealing. some passengers had to be evacuated from stranded trains by the emergency services last night. the manufacturer, hitachi, said the problems were caused by one of its test trains, like this one. but it may need up to two days to definitively identify what happened. there was a test train on the network that ran into some difficulty, and that damaged the overhead line equipment on all four of the lines in and out of paddington and for a distance of about 500 metres, half a kilometre. it is a lot of damage. the lines affected run from paddington to slough and to heathrow airport. around 800 trains arrive and depart from the station each day, they carry around 90,000 passengers. passengers on the great western railway from here to thames valley, west of england, south wales have

been incredibly patient as the electrification project has run years late. new trains haven't come in when they were supposed to and the whole thing is way over budget. for some of them, this might be the final straw. great western railway and network rail are apologising to passengers but the warning is there will be no quick fix to the problems. the departure board behind me now looks a bit healthier. we have trains heading off to places like swa nsea trains heading off to places like swansea and heathrow but this is still what network rail are calling a minimal service. they have managed to reopen two of the four lines coming and going from paddington, having cleared the debris from that overhead cabling problem but the warning is the disruption will continue for the rest of today and they are saying possibly even into tomorrow. the advice is very much to travel unless you have two. simon,

thank you. the latest there from paddington. the prime minister has insisted her plan for the uk's relationship with the eu after brexit is not dead, as she sets off for a crucial european summit. theresa may will meet fellow leaders in brussels later as she attempts to get a potential deal back on track, with talks deadlocked because of the issue of the irish border. let's cross to brussels, and to christian fraser, who's there for us. there are not many smiles around on this? no, there are not. if you were to look at it as an optimist, you can say we are a long way down the home stretch because 90% of the withdrawal agreement has been put into green and signed. in these parts today, there is talk they are quite advanced and talks of the future customs relationship. 0n the flip side of all of that, when it comes to the thorny issue and fate of the irish border, really we are no further forward than we were in december 2017. we are all watching what sort of reaction theresa may

will get here today. we all remember what happened a few weeks ago in salzburg, it descended pretty quickly, there were recriminations and on that occasion, the eu, backed forcibly by the french president, said if there hadn't been enough concrete progress by this summit, the november one, pencilled in for the november one, pencilled in for the 17th and 18th of the month, would be cancelled. so the question is, is there enough progress to keep that on the diary and what sort of reaction will baby? ahead of arriving here, she will be here in two hours' time. —— what sort of reaction will baby. theresa may was at pmqs at the house of commons and got a reminder of the sort of divisions on her back benches. are you confident of a brussels breakthrough? the prime minister once again today heading into battle over brexit, her first stop, parliament, to face mps against a backdrop of possible compromise and storming negotiations. 0rder, questions to the prime minister. that was a gift to her critics.

the prime ministerand her government are clearly too weak and too divided to protect people's jobs or our economy, or ensure there is no hard border in northern ireland. prime minister asked again and again, defended her brexit plan. frictionless trade across our borders is exactly what lies at the heart of the free trade deal that is proposed, in the government plan put forward after the chequers meeting injuly. that is what we are working to deliver, for people in this country, we want to deliver a brexit that delivers on the vote of the british people and ensures we protectjobs and security. members of the cabinet are supporting the prime minister's efforts so far, despite the stalemate. does she have the full support of the cabinet? absolutely. backing her efforts to get talks moving. it is being executed in good faith.

who will budge? those involved in the talks say there has been real progress but the sticking point is still, how to avoid a hard irish border no matter what else happens. you try to solve that, negotiators have discussed the possibility of extending the transition, the period after the uk officially leaves the eu, when not much changes, to try to allow more time to put trade arrangements in place. what has been indicated very clearly by michel barnier is that the eu side is willing to allow more time in the transition period to agree an alternative solution to a backstop. never too late to stop brexit! but the government says it has not asked for any extension to the current brexit timetable, there would be plenty opposed to a slow process. this has gone on long enough, everyone is fed up with it, just get on with it, that is what any business says.

here in brussels, the prime minister will address eu leaders later, the hope is today for a major breakthrough to get talks going hoping down the line there can be a deal. to reason may delete donald tusk at around 5:20pm local time this evening, before she addresses the 27 leaders ahead of her dinner. but they will leave before dinner so they will leave before dinner so they can discuss the issues. donald tusk, ahead of the meeting, said the gorgon not of this negotiation is the fate of the irish border. we can talk with chris morris, who is well versed in these things. spell out for us, for those who don't know, what is the irish border problem?m

comes down to the backstop. as we have said before, that is basically a guarantee that there will be no ha rd a guarantee that there will be no hard border in ireland, no border checks between northern ireland and the uk and republic of ireland and the uk and republic of ireland and the eu and importantly, both sides, the eu and importantly, both sides, the uk and eu have agreed in writing twice, in decemberand the uk and eu have agreed in writing twice, in december and march, that will happen under all circumstances. what the eu calls on all—weather they hope they can avoid any suggestion of a hard border under the terms of a future free trade relationship, in other words if they have trade which is sufficiently open, the problem of a hard border disappears. but if there is any delay in getting an agreement like that or if they can't reach an agreement like that, then the backstop kicks in. the problem is how you frame the backstop and keep everyone happy. theresa may says no one can sign up to that backstop but she has, she did in december. today,

the irish foreign minister simon coveney said she is backsliding. she signed up to the principle but not toa signed up to the principle but not to a legal text. if you take a step back, what it's all about is what is the future relationship both of northern ireland and also of the whole of the united kingdom? the eu customs union and the eu single market. with customs, it appears a proposal on the table for the whole of the uk to be in some sort of customs union or arrangement with the eu fora customs union or arrangement with the eu for a temporary basis. how long is the temporary basis? is there a precise end state? the eu said that is impossible. single market, checks and regulations, the idea appears to be that for a while at least, northern ireland would be treated slightly different rates, which would mean there would have to be some checks on food and animals in particular, moving

between great britain and northern ireland. there are two things which seem ireland. there are two things which seem to be incompatible. and the uk side, there cannot be a border in the irish sea, a proper border between great britain and northern ireland. and the eu side, you can't have your cake and eat it, you can't sort of be in the single market and therefore undermined the integrity of the single market. these are such core principles, a core principle of the foundation of the uk and the european union and that is why it is proving so difficult to resolve. chris morris, for the moment, thank you. we will get into more issues that might confuse people later in the afternoon. the prime minister with that pmq's a little earlier. of course, she has had some very tough questions to answer from her collea g u es questions to answer from her colleagues in the dup, they are deeply opposed to the solution she has come up with in relation to the irish border. she got a timely reminder to day from her backbenchers, including steve baker. could i asked my right honourable friend to impress upon my european friends two points which i hope the house will think reasonable and practical? first, that the eu may not break apart the union

of the united kingdom. and second, that after we have left the european union, the eu may not direct how we regulate our economy and how we govern ourselves? can i say to my honourable friend that certainly i'm very clear that when we have left the european union, we will be taking decisions, here in the united kingdom, and all those issues that have previously, decisions previously taken in the european union. so, we will be taking control of our laws. we'll also take control of our money and take control of our borders. and on the first point he has made, i made it clear earlier this year, have continued to make it clear and will carry on making it clear, that we will not accept any proposals which would effectively break up the united kingdom. some speculation down here on the press floor whether all this drama around this summit, which was supposed to be the decisive summit, is to give theresa may some

political back at home and whether one she gets to the other side of the budget, which the dup said it would veto if this plan was progressed, then she might have more wiggle room. that might explain why she's getting more optimistic tones from the french president. angela merkel has been talking today and the brussels chief is with me. she was talking in fairly positive terms when she addressed the brexit issue? we have different realities when we get the interpretation of our angela merkel said. you see that as positive. if you look at the german coverage, they say it is slightly negative but she does think a deal is still possible. what the germans are more focused on is that germans are more focused on is that germans are preparing for a no deal scenario. that is what they are highlighting. it is just your typical angela merkel speech. are not undermining free reality of no deal because donald tusk has bowled out for us, probably more likely thanit out for us, probably more likely than it has ever been before. the point i making is she was saying we

keep talking and when we look towards the november summit, which could prove crucial, the idea that would be a no deal summit seems to be going away? right, and that, nothing else could be expected from the german chancellor. if you think november is the last second, it's not. december my not even be the last second. we don't really have the real deadline yet. what happens if we say they get an agreement in january, at the last minute? will the parliament in the uk really have it failjust the parliament in the uk really have it fail just because the parliament in the uk really have it failjust because it has come so late? 0r it failjust because it has come so late? or will they prefer to avoid a no—deal brexit scenario? yes, the germans will negotiate, we have heard that from all sources, until the end. it's the way they do it. are you suggesting the eu would take this to the wire? god forbid... what about the sympathy there might be in the room for theresa may's position? i think everyone understands the

front line is no longer between the eu and the uk. we saw the allies of what could be a deal on sunday. there was a frenzy here in brussels, where everybody thought we had a deal. they tentatively agreed on something, even if it included something, even if it included something like the backstop to the backstop and it gets horribly complicated. it seems like this could be it, this could be the outline and then everyone realised she won't be able to sell that back home. so that is where the real problem is. do you get the impression, to sum up, that realistically you could do a deal right now, that the things on the table that need to be agreed? the difficulty is with the uk political situation and what is saleable back at home? exactly, that's what's happening right now. we think the elements, if there is a deal, the elements, if there is a deal, the elements are here right now. of course, you can still change things and finesse them, but the meat and potatoes are right there. now it's about, at least that's our impression, it's about theresa may

going up to the deadline ends saying at the end, 0k, going up to the deadline ends saying at the end, ok, this is what i got. you cannot approve this, but when you do it or not? that will be the moment of truth. very interesting, max, thank you. that is the point, because many people think that is theresa may's strategy, that you get what you can get here, you take it home and you say it, put your toes over the cliff edge, what you think? are you going to vote it down, vote against orabstain? in are you going to vote it down, vote against or abstain? in that scenario, she's hoping she might just squeeze home. what time do we expect her to arrive there? 5:20pm, 4:20pm your time. that will go on for about an hour. she was about to donald tusk whatever progress has been made on the back channel negotiations on just before dinner, she will address the 27 before she leaves. she will be here tomorrow. what we are hoping to hear is highlights of tomorrow with the french president and then we hear from with the french president and then we hearfrom all sides with the french president and then

we hear from all sides what has been decided on what they made of what theresa may brought to the denial. 0k, christian, talk to you later, thank you. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: cable damage causes major disruption at london's paddington station, and brings travel chaos across the south of england and wales. the prime minister is heading to brussels to address european leaders at a crucial summit about brexit. the us secretary of state meets the turkish president to discuss the suspected killing of a saudi journalist. and in sport, more rain on england's cricket tour to sri lanka. the third one—day international has been delayed, due to start at 10am. england 1—0 up in the series. arsene wenger says he's ready to return to management. the former arsenal manager says he will be back in work in january. the manager says he will be back in work injanuary. the british heavyweight boxer dereck chisora will be managed by his former rival, david haye. david haye says he can help them become world champion. i will be back with a full update on in 15

minutes. russian officials say 18 people have been killed in an explosion at a technical college in the crimean city of kerch. in the past half hour russian investigators have said the incident was not terrorism but a case of mass murder. 50 people are reported to be injured. russia annexed the crimea peninsula from ukraine in 2014. i'm joined now by our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg. what do we know and what has happened here? dramatic events unfolded today in crimea. it seems a student of the polytechnic college went on the rampage today and killed at least 17 people in the school building and wounded at least a0 people. investigators say that the body of the suspected gunmen was found ina body of the suspected gunmen was found in a room in the college. he has been vladislav roslyakov named

as 18—year—old, a fourth—year student at the college. it's not known what caused him to go on the rampage and launch this shooting spree that it has left so many people dead and wounded. earlier today, there were reports of an explosion, or perhaps a series of explosions in the canteen of the polytechnic college. russian officials talking first of all about some kind of unidentified explosive device, then reports came out about gunfire and the fact there was an attacker whose body has now been found. investigators say that he killed at least 17 people and then turned his gun on himself. how unusual, if this turns out to be an act by an ex—student, how unusual is that? well, very unusual. in russia. we hear of attacks on schools in the united states quite often, too

often, but you don't hear about that very often here. that is why people in kerch and in the crimea are shocked today. the most senior official in crimea has announced three days of mourning after this tragedy. officials say that the death toll could rise. steve, thank you very much. three men who became the first uk anti—fracking protesters to be sent to prison, have been freed by the court of appeal. the judges called their sentences "manifestly excessive". rich loizou, richard robert and simon roscoe blevins — seen here outside preston crown court last month — had been jailed for public nuisance after stopping lorries entering a fracking site near blackpool. their lawyers told the court that the right to protest was fundamental to democracy. our correspondentjenny kumah is at the court of appeal for us now. telecinco what happened. this is a

significant victory for the men. there were cheers and even singing from those at court today. they were angry the men had been imprisoned and they felt their right to peaceful protest had been infringed. they were jailed last month for a protest that lasted four days last july. they climbed onto the cabs of some lorries that were carrying equipment to the gaslight near blackpool in lancashire. this led to four days of destruction, road closures and traffic delays. the judgejailed for the closures and traffic delays. the judge jailed for the impact this had but today their lawyers successfully argued this was excessive. they argued this was excessive. they argued that it was also highly unusual, that people hadn't been jailed in this way for an offence like this since the mass protest where 100 like this since the mass protest where100 ramblers walked onto land

in derbyshire to assert their right to roam. the appealjudge said today that their sentence had been ma nifestly that their sentence had been manifestly excessive. what would have been more appropriate, he said, with a community sentence with a significant amount of paid work. the jail term was quashed. the men were given conditional discharge for two yea rs. we given conditional discharge for two years. we understand that the men, they gave evidence via video link, and we understand arrangements are being made for their immediate release. jenny, thank you. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has held talks with the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan about the fate of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi, who's not been seen since he entered the saudi consulate in istanbul two weeks ago. turkish officials believe mr khashoggi was murdered by the saudis, who deny any involvement. martin patience has the latest from ankara. it's the latest stop of his diplomatic clean—up tour. mike pompeo arriving in the turkish capital,

trying to find a solution to a growing crisis. but the turkish president is driving a hard bargain. it's what happened 15 days ago to this saudi journalist that has provoked this extraordinary turn of events. jamal khashoggi entered the saudi consulate in istanbul, and hasn't been seen since. unnamed turkish officials say he was brutally killed, his body dismembered by a team of specialists flown in for the operation. one of them reportedly used a bone saw. mr khashoggi was a high—profile journalist, who once worked as an adviser to the saudi royal family. but, fearing for his life, he fled to exile in america, where he became a critic of the saudi crown prince, accused by many to have been involved in this killing. us president donald trump dispatched his secretary of state

to hold talks in saudi arabia, including with the crown prince, mohammed bin salman. the saudis say they had nothing to do with the killing and are committed to the investigation. they said it would be a thorough, complete and transparent investigation, and we'll all see the results of that. they made a commitment that they would show the entire world the results of the investigation. they also indicated that they would get this done quickly. this case is normally about a journalist, but it has now taken on global significance. and turkey appears to be using it to gain leverage on regional issues, ranging from syria, as well as its relationship with saudi arabia. and the fear is that with all of these twists and turns, what exactly happened to jamal khashoggi inside that consulate may never be known. martin patience, bbc news, ankara. time for a look at the weather.

here's louise. that certainly isn't... tell me what happens next? all your viewers who have been asleep on the sofa for five minutes orso, i'm sure asleep on the sofa for five minutes or so, i'm sure they've been very engaged but they are waking up saying that is in the uk! here is your starter for ten, what do saying that is in the uk! here is your starterfor ten, what do bears do at the first sign of snow in colorado? there even find a nice car, open the door and climbing that. oh, look! look out gently they open the car! it great, isn't it? i could watch this all afternoon. we reckon he's foraging around in the glove department for the sweet for something. and then he climbs in! yes, very gently. laughter and then he drives off! no, not quite. in the us, the steering wheel is on the other side.

of course, a british pair! perhaps he was just putting on the heated seat and cuddling up for the night. we asked for some snow pictures that is what you came up with. we decided to lift the spirits for everybody. it is not so bad if we look at before class? quiet, this time last week there we re quiet, this time last week there were six storms quiet, this time last week there were six storms across quiet, this time last week there were six storms across the globe, it was chaos, organised chaos, but today i'm pleased to say it's much quieter. just take a look at this. absolutely beautiful in dumfries and galloway today. lovely blue sky and sunshine. incredible pictures you are sending in. it is not quite as beautiful further south. rather cloudy, damp and truthfully. this is a weak weather front which will continue to bring a lot of cloud and drizzle for the remainder of the afternoon across the south—east. behind it, clinging onto blue sky

and sunshine. a promising into the afternoon. if you haven't been out yet, this is what to expect in the next couple of hours. you can see that drizzly rain across parts of cornwall, devon and fairly cloudy skies over london. through wales and the midlands, up into the north of england, keeping those sunny spells. a little bit cooler in scotland but not a bad day. just a few isolated showers cropping up to the north—west of the great glen but generally speaking, a pleasant afternoon. that at this time of year leads to clear skies staying with us. leads to clear skies staying with us. that nuisance weather front clinging on into the south—east. the good news is it keeps temperatures in double digits, but further north, looking of the lows around 1—3d. a chilly start, a touch of frost knocked out of the question. some sunshine from the word go tomorrow morning. any mist and fog will lift readily away so promising day and a quiet theme continues again. a bit more of breeze in the far north—west, little more cloud. that is about it for tomorrow. not bad,

12-16 the is about it for tomorrow. not bad, 12—16 the overall high. the high pressure that is going to build stays with us. it does drift a little further east as we move through friday and into the start of the weekend but allows these threads are front stood push into the far north—west but they were to be the extreme north. they won't produce much in the way of rain. on friday, another quiet theme. there is the first front, bringing showers to scotland, littlemore cloud in the borders and northern ireland, but for the south, a little warmer, 17 degrees to hide. that unfortunately could lead to a foggy night on friday into saturday. certainly worth bearing in mind if you have outside plans first thing saturday morning. could be a murky start. but again, it will lift quite readily away and my glass is half full at the moment, it means the weekend looks dry, quiet and pretty promising indeed. there you go, back with more detailed than half an hour. isa this is bbc news — our latest headlines.

the journeys of tens of thousands of rail passengers using one of the uk's busiest stations — london paddington — have been disrupted after a test train damaged overhead cables. theresa may is preparing to address european leaders at a crucial summit in brussels —— as reports suggest the eu's chief negotiator wants to extend the transition period after brexit for another year. the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, has met senior officials in turkey, as more details emerge about the suspected murder of the saudi journalist, jamal khashoggi. a right royal beard rub for prince harry as he and meghan markle visit the outback city of dubbo in australia. and we'll be joined by this year's world wildlife photographer of the year to find out more about this winning picture of two snub—nosed monkeys in china. sport now on afternoon live with olly. whose idea was it to pay cricket in

a monsoon? it was supposed to start at ten o'clock this morning. the players are still waiting indoors. but it hasn't released up to raining. it goes ahead for a couple of years. the ecb have actually clarified their situation today saying

u nfortu nately a their situation today saying unfortunately a number of tours have to ta ke unfortunately a number of tours have to take place outside prime match staging periods. that is what they call it. we have to do it in the rain. hardly ideal ahead of the world cup. it is a world day is like one—day world cup on home soil. earlier i spoke to the cricket writer. it is two fold for the players because they are in a situation where the places up for grabs ahead of the summer away. secondly, the schedule is quite ridiculous if you consider that the last test finished on september 11. the last round of the championship finished on september 27 and they flew to sri lanka on september 30. evenif flew to sri lanka on september 30. even if we had these games, you ask why they're so close to the end of the english summer? why couldn't we push them back? these could have in november. he is on the five live

cricket social panel on air right now talking about all things cricket and the weather. you can watch and listen to that through the bbc sport website. mostly talking about clouds, i would website. mostly talking about clouds, iwould imagine. let's talk about arsene wenger. 22 years there at highbury, then the eye —— the emirates stadium. he has had time off because he liked art —— left arsenal in may. he says he is ready to return to management, believes he will be back in work onjanuary one. he left after such a long time at the club. he has told a german publication that he has had offers from all around the world. he doesn't know what he will return to clu b doesn't know what he will return to club management or take over at a national side. but he is ready to return on january one. national side. but he is ready to return onjanuary one. scotland have called up three uncapped players for

their autumn test series. for their autumn tests — blade thompson, sam skinner and sam johnson are all in the a0 man squad (00v) gregortownsend's side play wales in cardiff on 3 november, in the inaugral doddie weir cup, then host tests against fiji, south africa and argentina at murrayfield (british heavyweight derek chisora's has chosen an old foe as his new manager. he's signed up with former world champion david haye and joined his hayemaker stable...here's how the dea (00v) l was announced on social media, a video of chisora training in hayes old gym. they had a massive brawl at a press conference in 2012, before haye beat chisora in a fight later the same year. announcing the unlikely partnership hayes said ' boxing is a sport where inside those ropes, beef can be squashed and replaced with the type of respect forged between two warriors in the heat of battle, " sounds like you and me, simon. there

is only ever one winner. it is usually the one who speaks last! thank you. maybe see you later. the former prime minister, tony blair, and two ex—deputy prime ministers, lord heseltine and sir nick clegg, have written a joint article for seven european newspapers to coincide with the eu summit in brussels. the three, who are all prominent remainers, called on other eu nations to be ready to give the uk the space and time to make a final decision on british membership through another referendum. well, we can speak now to sir nick clegg. good afternoon. more times that you can persuade the british people to agree with you? no! the clock is running out on the brexiteer ‘s.

they made these utopian promises to the british people in the summer of 2016. over two years later they had no nearer to explaining how we believe the eu and then exactly how we will operate outside it. they we re we will operate outside it. they were the ones who triggered the timetable, not me or michael heseltine or tony blair or any so—called remainer. they triggered that timetable before they knew what they wanted to do. the consequences is what we are now witnessing, this chaotic end to the first stage of the negotiations. which may well lead in any event to the need for more time. i read today in the newspapers that there is talk about extending the transition period. people are running out of time, those who advocated brexit in the first place. all we are seeing is —— all we are saying is that given that not a single one of the commitments made to the british people are being delivered, it might be as a matter of democratic principle sensible to give the british people a say on

whether they like brexit or not now that we know the facts that were not made available to us at the time of the referendum in june made available to us at the time of the referendum injune 2016. made available to us at the time of the referendum in june 2016. you talk about the british people and their wish, it was of course their wish to vote for brexit. it is now happening. how patriotically fitted then go to seven european newspapers and say, behind the backs of the negotiators, we need more time and maybe we can swing people to agree with us? what is behind anyone's back by publishing an article in a newspaper? because they're foreign newspapers, it not implying that thatis newspapers, it not implying that that is an unpatriotic thing to do? we are hardly doing anything in secrets. we are saying that given that this is a negotiation, if you took the trouble to read the article, we said that we believe it is not in the european union's interest or the uk's interest to leave the eu in what we are calling a blind brexit. leading legally on

the 29th of march without any notion about what happens. when you talk about what happens. when you talk about blindfold brexit, you are describing 17.5 million people who voted for brexit as, and i think the phrase is naive optimists... no, we are not. i will let other people make the judgment in a more are not. i will let other people make thejudgment in a more rounded way. given that people were told by the brexiteer is in the summer of 2016 that leaving the eu which is the still a utopia on our country, £350 million extra for the nhs, a bucket load of new trade deals... if i may just answer the bucket load of new trade deals... if i mayjust answer the question... with victory in a democracy comes responsibility. everyone has been waiting, including the eu, for more than two years for the brexiteer is to explain what they mean by brexit. they still cannot agree. you keep using the phrase brexiteer is, it is the government in negotiation, not

just brexiteer is. it is we as a country. that battle has been lost by you and that's what this is all about. not at all. close to half the country in the summer of 2016 did not agree with your characterisation. but you lost! if! may just complete characterisation. but you lost! if! mayjust complete one sentence. equally we know that the vast, vast majority of young people did not like the direction the country is going... so you are waiting for them to get older and have more people that agree with you. if you cited the british people that she will do something, and i know this, and you don't do it, you are held to account. we are saying, surely, given that the people, the brexiteer is, people like borisjohnson, nigel farage, they told the british people that a number of things would happen which 2.5 years later it is

self—evident will not happen. for that reason it seems to us relatively uncontroversial to say that as a matter of democratic principle the british people should be put in charge at the end of the process. much as they were at the beginning. when we have all the fa cts beginning. when we have all the facts available about what brexit means in practice. rather than utopian promises made in the summer of that first referendum. i'm sure people must say to you a lot of people must say to you a lot of people just want the government to get on with this, they won't brexit to happen and get it sorted. they don't necessarily need more politicians, more politics surrounding this issue and, forgive me, three has—been politicians getting together to try and stop that process when it is well under way, when we have a prime minister in the middle of the difficult though she asians. dealing with an eu which has obviously seen the irish border question as a way to make it very difficult. —— dealing

with difficult negotiations. that is a ludicrous description of the reality. the irish border problem is created by this government. by abdicating our departure from the eu whilst at the same time saying they don't want to be in the single market, the customs union, a new land border will be created not by the eu but by this brexit government. who... if you let me explain one little saying it might help. that land border which didn't exist before will now be created for the first time in the island of ireland. the government said, and the brexit campaigners said, that border would be created but they had solutions, unspecified, which means that the border would not function in practice. 2.5 years later, it does not seem unreasonable for people like me or others interested in the future of our country and the

union of the nations of the united kingdom to say, where is this plan? when will you finally explain what you meant? that wasn't a dilemma people like me orjohn major or tony blair created or indeed to 16.1 million people who didn't like the direction the country is going in. that was an expectation raised by the conservative party, the brexiteer is, this government and still not solved 2.5 years later. going back to what you said earlier, you know better than most about the difficulties of failing to deliver promises. what are you say to those who watch you and say you lied over tuition fees, you made a promise you didn't keep and we are all getting very tired of politicians accusing one another. when a decision has been made and it seems no one wants to deliver it. let's make that comparison. i made commitments with my party on higher education finance. we weren't able to deliver

it, unsurprising that we didn't win the election. whether it is fair or unfair is irrelevant. i was held to account for that. you can be the judge about whether you think that is right or not. but the brexiteer is right or not. but the brexiteer is made a number of commitments to the british people about money for the british people about money for the nhs, lower vat, smaller class sizes, the easy as trade deal in history. none of those have been delivered after 2.5 years. it's not unreasonable for me or anyone else to say surely at some point they should be held to account by the british people, they're the ones in charge, with the fact that they have raised a number of expectations which they clearly will not deliver. the rather worrying thing to observe, it will only get worse. whilst people might like to think that this negotiating process will end in this month or november december, this is just end in this month or november december, this isjust the end in this month or november december, this is just the throat clearing phase. the real negotiations, if people are bored by now they will be reaching for the

tranquilliser gun in a few years. the real negotiations only start after we leave at the end of march. the people who have advocated this house fails to deliver on a single one of their commitments. i hope it is not unreasonable to suggest that at some point they should be held to account. 20 very much. -- thank you very much. the winner of this year's world wildlife photographer of the year has been revealed at a gala in london. dutchman marsel van oosten's photograph of two snub—nosed monkeys resting on a stone in china's qinling mountains is the overall winner. he followed a troupe of them for days to understand their behaviour, and caught these two gazing into the distance marsel van oosten has been named as wildlife photographer of the year for his photographer of golden snub nose monkeys. hejoins me now. many congratulations. thank you. how did this come about? how did you find them? i more or less knew where they lived. i walked into the mountains, they go high up in the

mountains, they go high up in the mountains in the trees so i walked there. there was a trip of about 50 of these animals. —— a trip. i found these two and decided to focus my attention on them. it is a remarkable picture. to those who don't know, what is it particularly you were proud of when you look at the picture? from a technical point of view, the lights, i created that by using an external flash to create this atmosphere. that is usually used for... they weren't going to hang around after the flash! they are not bothered at all, it is a very quick flash. that is what creates the atmosphere in the picture. do you know straightaway, this is something rather special? yes. the moment i click and then i know. people will look at different

things, there are the faces, which are wonderful, cute. the detail is stunning. what was it that dream particularly to these two? the one thing i really wanted to have in the picture is those hair is on the back of the male in the front. it's very unusual to see monkeys with that kind of hair. i wanted to photograph him a little bit from the back so that you could really see it. then i just had to wait for the monkeys to look more to the sides so that you can also see their blue faces which is also very strange. what is it mean to win this? this is like the biggest thing everfor a nature photographer like me. this is like the oscars. a couple of other pictures, perhaps you could talk about. this is the two owls. this

was taken of —— this was taken by a younger photographer. what do you think? pretty amazing. break a petition like this it is all about creativity and showing the natural world in a different way. this is obviously very different. if you we re obviously very different. if you were lucky to have seen an owl once in your lifetime, that is already pretty cool. to see them like that is pretty amazing. it is again an issue of light. yours looks very different. yes, very good. that was taken back very young photographer you has quite a future. this leopard picture on presumably the photographer relicensing is they took it. that image is also about

the light. it is very relaxed, lying there in its natural habitat. it is there in its natural habitat. it is the light that really wrings its life. fabulous. let's show your picture one more time because it is quite remarkable. when you left the jungle, when he make that phone call to say i think i have something special, how did you describe it? this is myjob so i instantly know whether it's going to be good or not. i was very excited because these monkeys are, most people don't know they exist. and it's an endangered species act. a lot of people know that there are animals under threat, like rhinos or tigers, polar bears. but those are the so—called charismatic animals. but there are so many others also under threat the need protection.

hopefully an image like this will bring some more awareness. people will know these guys are also worth protecting. thank you so much, it is fabulous. thank you. the duke and duchess of sussex have received another warm welcome on the second day of their tour of australia. they faced torrential rain as they visited the outback town of dubbo — which had been suffering a prelonged drought. but it was a five year old boy who stole the show, as our royal correspondentjonny dymond reports. in small—town australia, excitement at a big visit. as harry and meghan met local schoolchildren, some got a little up close and personal. this little boyjust could not get enough of the royal couple. on a local farm there was one topic. drought. there has been hardly any

rain here for two years, and the earth is parched. the duke and duchess heard how pretty much everyone has been affected. at a community barbecue, thousands turned out to see the couple. some had travelled hundreds of miles to be here. the duke successfully mastered canine country pursuits. but the weather was beginning to turn. as the rain began, there was a chance to enjoy indigenous australian culture. and then from the duke, praise for what he called the backbone of australia. you have just lived through two years of drought. and despite recent welcome rain, it is going to take a lot more and a long time to recover. the duke and duchess came to dubbo to show that their tour was more thanjust the big cities.

and also to show support for a drought hit region. instead they brought with them pouring rain. one thing is for certain, their visit will never be forgotten. they are so gorgeous, so beautiful. they are special. and he spoke so beautifully about the farmers. that was really, really nice because quite a lot of us are farmers. we have all travelled on buses to come. excited, really excited. yes. they are keeping the royal family alive. they have brought it back again. it is wonderful. harry, you couldn't meet a nicer aussie! he should have been an aussie! he should have been an aussie. dubbo has seen nothing like it for decades. one day, you feel sure, the duke and duchess will return. maryam is here — in a moment she will be telling us

what's hot and what's not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. cable damage causes major disruption at london's paddington station — and brings travel chaos across the south of england and wales. the prime minister is heading to brussels to address european leaders at a crucial summit about brexit. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. uk inflation cooled more than expected in september to a three—month low rising at an annual rate of 2.a% in september, compared to august's surprise six—month high of 2.7%. flybe shares have fallen more than a third after issuing a profit warning, blaming poor demand, a weaker pound and higher fuel costs. the airline said in a trading update it now expects a full—year loss of £12m — more than triple the figure analysts had expected. that will include a £29m hit from weak sterling and a rise in fuel prices. but shares in asos surged 1a%

after another set of strong results from the fast fashion retailer. the firm reported a £500m rise in revenues for the year to august. profits jumped 28% to £102m. president trump has been critical of the us federal reserve again — maryam is here? can you imagine theresa may openly criticising the bank of england? president donald trump has stepped up his criticism of the us central bank over interest rate rises. the federal reserve has been gradually raising its benchmark rate since 2015, as the us economy picks up steam. last week the president said the bank had "gone crazy". this is what he had to say in a fox business interview: the third, because the fed is raising rates too fast. its independent so i don't speak, i'm

not happy with what he's doing because it is going to fast. look at the last inflation numbers and they are very low. let's go live now. kim gittleson is at the new york stock exchange for us... not the first time trump has been so critical of the federal reserve. yes, he started attacking it over the summeras yes, he started attacking it over the summer as saying he wasn't happy over the decision to increase interest rates. last week he blamed them for the markets we saw last week. he called the fed crazy and said he wanted to fire mr powell. he doesn't quite have the power to do that unless there is cause. this is what of part of a trend we have seen. what of part of a trend we have seen. it is notjust in the uk but here in the us that there is a tradition of keeping the presidency and the third separate. we normally don't see these sorts of attacks on america's central bank by the president. the federal reserve is

supposed to be literally a dependent, to operate independently of whom is in power by looking at the macro economic fundamentals and deciding whether interest rates should be raised or lowered. these attacks are a departure from presidency is passed. so far the federal reserve has not yet responded. they have said that they remain politically independent and that they will do what's best for the american economy. later on today we are getting minutes from the last federal reserve meeting and should be some interesting titbits there. yes, the last meeting in september we saw that they raise interest rates for the third time this year. we are expecting for a rate increases. the key issue is what the members of the board 's had to say about the prospect of rising inflation, whether or not they are worried about the trade wars impact on the american economy. what they think all this means for the future. we saw that the federal reserve has said that they are no longer a ——

they are getting back to normal. the key question is what normal looks like and how quickly they will be able to get there if the president can use to attack their way of increasing interest rates over the next month and years. thank you. a quick look at the markets. the pound has weakened ever so slightly today. that was a brief look! let's have a look good afternoon. a quiet autumn story across the country. some lovely spells of sunshine so far today. here is one illustration of bats, a beautiful scene in his sussex. there has been a bit of cloud, thick enough to produce some drizzle. a week weather front moving south and east. behind it cloud well broken, sunny spells continue. " through the evening allowing temperatures to

drop away. giving that weakening france, still producing drivel —— drizzle as it moved south—east. it will be h ill unite in the far north of scotla nd will be h ill unite in the far north of scotland in particular as we see temperatures down into low single figures. chilly but some sunshine to start the day thursday. high pressure building in from the west. a week weather friend easing away. the mist and fog lifts. a dry day, relatively sunny with the bridge is peaking at around 11 to 16 degrees. that is it, enjoy your afternoon. —— temperatures peaking. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 3: off the rails... cable damage causes major disruption at london's paddington station, and brings travel chaos across the south of england and wales. well, they tell me there's an alternative route. i have to go from here to waterloo, from waterloo to reading and from reading then to parkway, which is going to take us about another hour and 30 minutes on top of ourjourney.

are you confident of a brussels breakthrough? sticking with the chequers plan: theresa may heads to brussels for brexit talks, with little sign of any optimism. frictionless trade across our borders is exactly what lies at the heart of the free trade deal that is proposed in the government's plan put forward after the chequers meeting injuly. that is what we are working to deliver. three men who became the first anti—fracking protesters to be jailed in the uk are freed by the court of appeal. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport. olly... the cricket or the lack of it? yes, we would take a look at the wisdom behind the scheduling of the cricket tourin behind the scheduling of the cricket tour in the monsoon season. but there is a roof in the snooker and ronnie o'sullivan has just scored a maximum! thank you. louise has all the weather. a beautiful afternoon for many of

us. a beautiful afternoon for many of us. is it going to stay? i will have all the details and tomorrow's weather and up into the weekend coming up shortly. thanks, louise. also coming up: a particularly warm welcome for the duke and duchess of sussex in australia — from this 5—year—old boy who's their biggest fan. hello, everyone — this is afternoon live. i'm simon mccoy. tens of thousands of rail passengers are facing disruption across the south and south west of england and wales, after the cancellation of services into and out of london paddington. great western railway is advising people not to travel on long distance routes, or towards the capital, after overhead electric cables were severely damaged last night. some services have resumed, but network rail says the disruption will continue for the rest of the afternoon.

our correspondent simonjones is at paddington station for us now. simon. in the past hour or so, we have seen the rather unusual sight today of one of london's busier stations, trains actually arriving and departing. but this is not a return to normality. they are running what they are calling a minimal service from here. passengers are turning up, trying to get on trains but many are asking how just up, trying to get on trains but many are asking howjust 500 metres of cable coming down could lead to so much disruption. trains going nowhere. and passengers desperate for information. many turned up at paddington this morning, unaware of the problems even though trains first ground to a halt last night. it has been a battle to get to work or to heathrow airport to catch flights on time. they told me there is an alternative route. i have to go from here to waterloo, from waterloo to reading and from reading then to parkway,

which will take us about another hour and 30 minutes on top of ourjourney. the heathrow express was cancelled, that was the start. we said, is there any coach organised ? they said, no, you must get the ordinary transport into london and up to paddington or get a taxi, costing £70. trying to get the airport, got to catch a flight and i'm going to try and find an uber. are you worried about getting there on time? yes, that is why i should probably run! here at paddington station, the departure board tells the story. it is empty because nothing is coming and going. some passengers are playing the waiting game, they have been told they can try alternate routes but the reality is, there are no easy options. at reading, passengers complained of overcrowding on the platforms. network rail is blaming the chaos on extensive damage to the overhead power lines near ealing. some passengers had to be evacuated from stranded trains by the emergency

services last night. the manufacturer, hitachi, said the problems were caused by one of its test trains, like this one. but it may need up to two days to definitively identify what happened. there was a test train on the network that ran into some difficulty, and that damaged the overhead line equipment on all four of the lines in and out of paddington and for a distance of about 500 metres, half a kilometre. it is a lot of damage. the lines affected run from paddington to slough and to heathrow airport. around 800 trains arrive and depart from the station each day, they carry around 90,000 passengers. passengers on the great western railway from here to thames valley, west of england, south wales have been incredibly patient as the electrification project has run years late. new trains haven't come in when they were supposed to and the whole thing is way over budget. for some of them, this might be the final straw. great western railway and network rail are apologising to passengers but the warning

is there will be no quick fix to the problems. the departure board behind me is now looking a bit healthier, because there are actually some trains on it. taking a look at the first two, the train to heathrow is delayed and the train to heathrow is delayed and the train to penzance is delayed. the warning is if you do turn up here you're likely to face problems. two of the four lines into paddington have opened after debris was cleared from the track but the warning is the problems will continue for the rest of today and possibly into tomorrow. but some big questions here for the manufacturer about what went wrong and also for network rail about why it has taken so network rail about why it has taken so long for this to get sex, given the problem occurred last night. 0k, the problem occurred last night. ok, simon, thank you. the latest from paddington station. the prime minister has insisted her plan for the uk's relationship with the eu after brexit is not dead, as she sets off for a crucial european summit.

theresa may will meet fellow leaders in brussels later as she attempts to get a potential deal back on track, with talks deadlocked because of the issue of the irish border. our political correspondent alex forsyth reports. are you confident of a brussels breakthrough? the prime minister, once again today, heading into battle over brexit, her first stop, parliament, to face mps against a backdrop stalled negotiations and possible compromise. order, questions to the prime minister. all of that was a gift to her critics. the prime ministerand her government are clearly too weak and too divided to protect people's jobs or our economy, or ensure there is no hard border in northern ireland. the prime minister asked again and again, defended her brexit plan. frictionless trade across our borders is exactly what lies at the heart of the free trade deal that is proposed in the government's plan put forward after the chequers meeting injuly.

that's what we are working to deliver, for people in this country, we want to deliver a brexit that delivers on the vote of the british people and that ensures we protect jobs and security. members of the cabinet are supporting the prime minister's efforts so far, despite the stalemate. does she have the full support of the cabinet? 0h, of course, yes, absolutely. backing her effort to get talks moving. we're negotiating in good faith and we'll keep our nerve. so who will budge? those involved in the talks say there has been real progress but the sticking point is still, how to avoid a hard irish border no matter what else happens. to try to solve that, negotiators have discussed the possibility of extending the transition, the period after the uk officially leaves the eu, when not much changes, to try to allow more time to put trade arrangements in place. what michel barnier has indicated very clearly is that the eu side,

certainly, is willing to allow more time in the transition period, to agree an alternative solution to a backstop. never too late to stop brexit! but the government here says it hasn't asked for any extension to the current brexit timetable, and there would be plenty opposed to a slower process. oh, no, this has gone on long enough. everyone's absolutely fed up with it. talk to any business, the five words — "just get on with it". so, here in brussels, the prime minister will address eu leaders later, but the hope now isn't for a major breakthrough today, but to stop things breaking down, to get enough good will to keep talks going, hoping down the line there can be a deal. alex forsyth, bbc news. our chief political correspondent vicki young is in westminster. it is fairto it is fair to say not much optimism around? no, expectations are pretty

low for this summit, which was supposed to be the moment potentially when a deal was signed off. the problem is that the same issues remain. this backstop problem, how do you make sure that it is time—limited if you are on the uk side of things? the eu is saying it can't be time limited, the idea of treating northern ireland differently. this is an interesting thing, michel barnier talked about extending the transition period by up extending the transition period by up to extending the transition period by uptoa extending the transition period by up to a year but many people around here are saying, how on earth will that help? if over two years they haven't been able to come to any sort of agreement about how you solve these problems, don't forget that withdrawal agreement has to have in it, it's a legal option they have in it, it's a legal option they have to have, to sort out this idea of not having a hard border, you can't get away with it, how is another year of the transition period going to help? others are saying it's like purgatory, you feel like in this reverend can't get out

of it. and the other question, that the uk would still be paying into eu coffers. for all those reasons, the uk would still be paying into eu coffers. forall those reasons, it's not very palatable and many people think it is another way of delaying things. the eu has said that theresa may has to come before them with new ideas. it does feel a bit more like we are treading water. there don't seem we are treading water. there don't seem to be new ideas on either side at the moment. interesting talking to nick clegg a little earlier. two former deputy prime minister's weighing into this debate and calling for more time. yes. i think this idea of more time. yes. i think this idea of more time. yes. i think this idea of more time or even another referendum, which is what nick clegg and some others want, because their critics would say they want to reverse the decision, they don't wa nt reverse the decision, they don't want brexit to happen at all at any stage. i think the suspicion of the eurosceptics is people like sir nick clegg onjohn eurosceptics is people like sir nick clegg on john major and eurosceptics is people like sir nick clegg onjohn major and others are saying let's have more time or have another referendum because they don't want brexit at all, think if you extended that transition period, that could go on and on. i think the

only solution for theresa may, and at this point it doesn't look within their reach, is that they manage to sort out the future relationship. remember, we're talking at this summit really about a withdrawal agreement, this is how we get out the money we pay eu citizens‘ rights, very important things but it is not about the future relationship. what theresa may is clearly hoping and she‘s been talking about a lot this week is enough progress is made when you talk about our future trading relationship with the eu, but that mightjust relationship with the eu, but that might just solve this relationship with the eu, but that mightjust solve this whole issue that you don‘t need the backstop when it comes to northern ireland. i don‘t know if they are anywhere near that but that is clearly what she is still hoping might happen. thank you very much, vicki young in westminster. if you‘re confused about all the different terms surrounding brexit, then you can go to the bbc news website and look for the brexit jargon—buster — your key guide to all the key terms. just to bring you some breaking

news, hearing the full owner has withdrawn his offer to buy wembley stadium from the football association. —— the fulham owner. just been hearing from the wembley, the fa chief executive, who says it worked release funds to help improve community football and would be well received by all football stakeholders. at a recent meeting he expressed without stronger support from the game his offer is seen as more divisive than it was anticipated to be any has decided to withdraw his proposal. there will be more and that any bulletin little later. also want to take you to istanbul because these pictures coming in now of istanbul, as we hear turkish investigators have

entered the residence of the saudi arabian console. this is istanbul, to gather more evidence about the suspected killing of thejournalist aldo this happens as mike pompeo visits turkey to discuss the case with the turkish president. turkish foreign ministers described the meeting as beneficial and fruitful and there are claims that there have been media access to multiple recordings that convey the extent of alleged torture, which it is claimed the journalist was subjected to before his death. turkish investigators entering the residence of the saudi arabian console. russian officials say a student has killed 17 people

in a mass shooting at a technical college in the crimean city of kerch. investigators say the victims appeared to have died of gunshot wounds, although there were also reports of an explosion and a bomb being planted in the cafeteria. dozens of people have been injured. authorities say the body of the 18—year—old attacker was found in the building, having apparently turned his gun on himself. our moscow correspondent steve rosenberg says the causes of this shooting spree are still unknown. it seems as if a student of the kerch polytechnic college went on the rampage today and killed at least 17 people in the school building and wounded at least a0 people. investigators say that the body of the suspected gunman was found in a room in the college. he‘s been named as 18—year—old vladislav roslyakov, a fourth—year student of the college. it‘s not known what caused him to go on the rampage, to launch this shooting spree that has left so many people dead and wounded. earlier today, there

were reports of an explosion, or perhaps a series of explosions, in the canteen of the polytechnic college. russian officials talking first of all about some kind of unidentified explosive device. then reports came out about gunfire and the fact that there was an attacker whose body has now been found. investigators say that he killed at least 17 people and then turned his gun on himself. how unusual, if this turns out to be an act by an ex—student, how unusual is that? well, very unusual, in russia. we hear of attacks in schools in the united states quite often, too often, but you don‘t hear about that very often here. that is why people in kerch and in the crimea are shocked today. the most senior official in crimea, sergey aksyonov, has announced three days of mourning after this tragedy.

officials say that the death toll could rise. that was steve rosenberg speaking to me from moscow. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: rail passengers in the south of england and wales are still facing major disruption because of cancellations and delays to services into and out of london paddington. the prime minister is heading to brussels, where she‘ll give a speech to other european leaders at a summit about brexit. three men, who became the first anti—fracking protesters to be jailed in the uk, are freed by the court of appeal. more on those three men who became the first anti—fracking protesters to go to prison have been released

after hearing at the court of appeal. the judges called their sentences "manifestly excessive". rich loizou, richard robert and simon roscoe blevins — seen here outside preston crown court last month — had been jailed for public nuisance after stopping lorries entering a fracking site near blackpool. their lawyers told the court that the right to protest was fundamental to democracy. our correspondentjenny kumah gave us this update from outside the court of appeal. this is a significant victory for the men. there were shouts of cheers and even singing from supporters who had come to the court today. they were angry that the men had been imprisoned, said that they felt their right to peaceful protest had been infringed. they were jailed last month for a protest that lasted four days lastjuly. they climbed onto the cabs of some lorries that were carrying equipment to the shale gas site near blackpool in lancashire. this led to four days of disruption, of road closures and traffic delays. the judge jailed for the impact

that this had but today their lawyers successfully argued that this was excessive. they argued that it was also highly unusual, that people hadn‘t been jailed in this way for an offence like this since the mass kinder scout trespass, where100 ramblers had walked onto private land in derbyshire to assert their right to roam. the appealjudge said today that their sentence had been manifestly excessive. what would have been more appropriate, he said, was a community sentence with a significant amount of paid work. so the jail term was quashed. the men were given a conditional discharge for two years. we understand that the men, they gave evidence via a video link from hmp preston, and we understand that arrangements are being made for their immediate release. let‘s talk more about the disruption

across the south west of england and wales, that problem of 500 yards of cabling that has led to the closure of paddington station this morning. some trains are running at the moment. paddington tannoy has just announced a train has broken down at acton, leading to further cancellations of trains which have just been reinstated. fair to say the chaos continues. let‘ discuss this with thw managing editor of railway gazette, nick kingsley. how surprising is it that this has happened, and so much disruption caused? i think the level of disruption is not surprising. this isa disruption is not surprising. this is a location about five miles outside london paddington station, and as soon as the rush hour began this morning with all four tracks out of action, then the disruption

was going to be significant. because it is so close to london and because our rail network is used, has so little spare capacity in it, it was a lwa ys little spare capacity in it, it was always likely... it was always likely to cause significant disruption. laughter i‘m going to stick with you, i know you have problems with your computer. this process of electrification, how disruptive has it been generally, how surprise should we be that these things happen? it sounds as though a train was sent through to test the system last night and managed to rip out half the cable? these incidents happen, they don‘t happen to frequently but obviously is a very u nfortu nate frequently but obviously is a very unfortunate incident. the train was a new train, one of the new hitachi fleet of trains which is just entering service out of london paddington. it is too early to speculate as to the exact cause of

such a serious incident but questions will be asked as to whether there was a defective component on the train itself which contributed to the damage of the electrical equipment or if there was a component problem with the electrical, overhead electrical supply equipment itself. so, to passengers, what is the message? you just have to take this? there are some alternative routes available to passengers to use, for example from reading to london waterloo and from oxford fired the chiltern line to london mala bone. the latter route from oxford is quite new to the network so there are some options for passengers coming from some destinations to get to london, but otherwise unfortunately, yes. network rail have done a good job getting some trains back moving comparatively quickly, but this is a challenge without rail network. when disruption happens, the ripple effect, because it is so heavily

used and intensively use, the ripple effects are quite serious. affecting a huge swathes of england, way down to the south—west, to wales and across the south. yes, u nfortu nately. as across the south. yes, unfortunately. as i say, this is a reflection of two decades of growth in bray or usage. perhaps 20 years ago, an incident like this or signal failure would have been serious but i think now it is an order of magnitude more serious because there is very little spare capacity. even the diversionary routes people might use, those routes are busy as well. they have their own passenger flows. it isa they have their own passenger flows. it is a challenging situation and i feel for commuters and people trying to connect with flights at heathrow airport. yes, good to talk to you, thank you for your time. a jury at the old bailey have heard that a man accused of murdering two nine—year—old girls 32 years ago, was "play—acting" when he appeared grief—stricken at their deaths.

russell bishop was among the first to find the bodies of nicola fellows and karen hadaway in brighton. bishop, who denies murder, is facing a second trial over the deaths. our correspondent daniela relph is outside the old bailey. yes, the focus of the prosecution today has been on the discovery of the girls bodies in october 1986. the court heard they were found huddled together in undergrowth in wild park in brighton on that russell bishop, the man accused here of murdering them, was on the first search parties to find the bodies. the court heard that he was actually prevented from getting too close to the bodies by other members of that search party. but later that day in a witness statement given to the police,

he gave a great amount of detail about what he had found at the scene. the prosecution say there is no way he could have known that level of detail. the prosecutor, brian altman qc, told jurors, "he was able thejury the jury have been thejury have been hearing more details about russell bishop‘s conviction. they were told yesterday in 1990 he was found guilty of the attempted murder and sexual assault ofa attempted murder and sexual assault of a seven—year—old girl. today, the jury of a seven—year—old girl. today, the jury have been given more details about that, about how russell bishop abducted the girl while she was an roller—skates outside her home in brighton. he locked in the boot of his carand brighton. he locked in the boot of his car and drove herfor a0 miles, where he then assaulted her. he then left her body, left it for dead, dumped in woodland but she survived. she found help and she ultimately went on to identify him as her attacker. for the prosecution, all of this, alongside some new dna evidence, is about building up a picture of russell bishop being the only credible person who could have killed the two nine—year old girl is backin killed the two nine—year old girl is back in 1986. thank you very much. there‘s been a sharp rise in the number of british

victims of modern slavery, according to figures seen by the bbc. the salvation army, which runs safe houses on behalf of the government, says the number of british people it looked after almost doubled in the last year. charlotte wright has this report. the footage could be straight from a television drama. but raids like this are happening in villages, towns and cities across the country, as hundreds of people forced into working for little or no money in appalling conditions are rescued. they would throw you out of cars. sometimes they would take your clothes from you and then just leave you in a place, so you didn‘t have any clothes. on one occasion, they put petrol and threatened to set me alight. jenny, whose name we‘ve changed, was groomed at the age of 11 and passed around the country as a sex slave for ten years. it‘s like you‘re not really alive, and then it‘s only after you‘re out

of it, then the emotion hits you. these are really dangerous, well—organised, quite violent criminal syndicates, who are buying and selling human beings for profit. thousands of people are identified as victims of modern slavery each year. and that number has been growing. often, they‘ve come from abroad, places like albania and romania. butjenny is a british survivor, born and bred here, and she isn‘t alone. last year, 86 british victims were supported by the salvation army, which has the government contract to provide a safe house once they‘re rescued. that‘s nearly double the year before, and significantly more than the number of those referred to the charity seven years ago. and it‘s widely believed that this is just the tip of the iceberg. the organised crime groups that operate within this area are very clever in how they move around. so, although we are aware of the potential victims

when they come into our service, there will be many who will still be hidden away and won‘t have a voice. for many police forces across the country, tackling the issue is already a priority. we are setting up our own modern slavery human trafficking team next year, which looks to focus on the complex cases. we are still promoting out there to the forces, to the staff, from pcsos and wardens right through to senior management, on how to tackle it. but in order for the authorities to get a true grip on the problem, the public need to take action. the salvation army operates a 2a—hour confidential referral helpline, and is asking people to report anything that seems suspicious. charlotte wright, bbc news. you can see more on that story on the bbc iplayer. and on bbc south east today at

6:30pm today. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. good afternoon, a quiet autumn story across the country. lovely quiet spells of sunshine today. here is one illustration of that, a beautiful scene in east sussex earlier. a week where fronts slipping steadily south and east, behind it the cloud well broken and sunny spells continue. those clear skies through the evening will allow temperatures to fall away. we keep that weakening front, still producing a little drizzle as it moves south east, some patchy and fog forming behind but a chilly night in the far north of scotland in particular, as temperatures are down into low single figures. chilly but some sunshine to start the day for thursday as high pressure builds on from the west. the quiet theme continues. the week weather front eases away and the mist and fog lifts, a dry day, relatively sunny

and temperatures peaking at around 11-16d. that is it, and temperatures peaking at around 11—16d. that is it, enjoy your afternoon. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the journeys of tens of thousands of rail passengers using one of the uk‘s busiest stations — london paddington — have been disrupted after a test train damaged overhead cables. theresa may is preparing to address european leaders at a crucial summit in brussels —— as reports suggest the eu‘s chief negotiator wants to extend the transition period after brexit for another year. turkish investigators have entered the residence of the saudi arabian consul in istanbul to gather more evidence about the suspected killing of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. three activists jailed for causing a public nuisance during anti—fracking protests in lancashire have been freed by the court of appeal. fulham owner shahid khan withdraws his offer to buy wembley stadium which is under the ownership and direction of the fa. the old bailey has heard a man accused of murdering two girls in brighton 32 years ago was part of the first search team to discover the bodies — we‘ll

have the latest from the trial. sport now on afternoon live with olly foster at the bbc sports centre. always nice to see you. let‘s just talk about the change of plans for wembley. a massive change of plans. the fa council heard from the fa chief executive, martin glenn. the fa board very keen on the sale of wembley stadium. but the 170 strong council less so. the fulham owner says that he thinks any sale now would prove too decisive to —— for the english game. so he has withdrawn a multi—million pound offer. let‘s talk to andy. it is embarrassing, disappointing for the fa board because they felt this could be massively beneficial. all

those millions for grassroots football. very disappointing. he made this offer to buy wembley stadium earlier this year, around £600 million. that prompted a huge amount of debate from the perspective of the fa who thought it was a great chance to bring in millions of pounds. i could put that into grassroots facilities which are often so poor. but a lot of people within the english game were unhappy about selling off the historic home of english football. the place where they played the matches for some years —— they played the matches for some years “ so they played the matches for some years —— so many years, they played the matches for some years “ so many years, won they played the matches for some years —— so many years, won the world cup. the fa council were due to meet weather —— to vote on weather to accept the offer. it became clear that opinion was divided, to put it mildly. in the la st divided, to put it mildly. in the last few minutes we have heard from shahid khan and the fa's chief executive, martin glenn. martin glenn said that he expressed to us without stronger support from within the game his offer is being seen as

more divisive than it was anticipated to be. he has decided to withdraw his proposal. shahid khan said the intense of my efforts was and is to do right by everyone in a manner that strengthens the english game and brings together, not divides them. unfortunately, i have concluded the outcome of the vote next week would be far from sufficient. later on in his statement he says he cannot rule out revisiting the opportunity at another time when perhaps the fa family is unified in his view. perhaps he is giving himself the opportunity at a later date to come back to the table. but for now it seems the deal is off. thank you. the third one day international between england and sri lanka was supposed to start at 10 this morning but there is still no play in kandy.

it‘s monsoon season the first one dayer was a washout, the second truncated, ...but the ecb say that this was the only window available to play sri lanka because of fixture congestion. they‘ve still got 2 more one—dayers , a t20, and 3 tests to play in sri lanka . they are one of 13 cricket boards who fit their schedules into the future tours programme and the ecb have actually clarified their situation today saying, ‘unfortunately a number of tours have to take place outside prime match—staging periods‘ the 5 time world champion ronnie o‘sullivan described crawleys k2 leisure centre a hellhole and said he could smell urine in the player‘s interview area. they are holding the english open there but despite his glowing review for the venue, he still managed to record hsi 15th professional maximum break. the 1a7 securing victory against allan taylor in the second round. arsene wenger says he‘s ready to return to management, british heavyweight derek chisora‘s has chosen an old foe as his new manager.

he‘s signed up with former world champion david haye and joined his hayemaker stable...here‘s how the deal was announced on social media, a video of chisora training in hayes old gym. they had a massive brawl at a press conference in 2012, before haye beat chisora in a fight later the same year. announcing the unlikely partnership hayes said "boxing is a sport where inside those ropes, beef can be squashed and replaced with the type of respect forged between two warriors in the heat of battle," we will see how that goes. that‘s all the sport for now. the department for work and pensions has revealed it will have to pay more than 1.5 billion pounds to benefit recipients — after mistakenly calculating how much they were due.

almost one billion pounds will have to be backdated after the dwp incorrectly calculated how much money people were due when moving onto esa from incapacity benefit & severe disability allowance. and with me is our social affairs correspondent michael buchanan. they will have to pay £1 billion in backdated payments to around 108,000 people who. this is because of m ista kes people who. this is because of mistakes the department for work and pensions made themselves. specifically when they were moving these people from two previous benefits called incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance —— allowa nce and severe disablement allowance —— allowance on to this new benefits. they did not calculate what they we re they did not calculate what they were dues who they will have to pay them back. on top of that, because these people are now getting the right amount of benefits, which is a higher amount of benefits, the department for work and pensions estimates they will have to pay an additional £600 million out in ongoing benefit payments over the next six years. making the total cost of this are not 16p. this will not be a happy government department given the ongoing row over universal

credit ambient mentation of that. where does the buck stop? the departments have said today he is historic errors which mainly happened in 2011 and 201a. they have taken happened in 2011 and 201a. they have ta ke n ste ps happened in 2011 and 201a. they have ta ken steps to happened in 2011 and 201a. they have taken steps to ensure that everyone who lost out as compared data. there have been questioned at the treasury for a number of years about the sheer competence the other department for work and pensions. that led to tensions between george osborne anstey in —— iain duncan smith. iain duncan smith was secretary of state at the time most of these errors occurred. the reason they occurred was because officials we re they occurred was because officials were wanting to transfer these people over quickly, they wanted to reduce admin costs and ensure that claimants were well looked after. if you look at what is happening now, some of the problems you have with universal credit, they pushed ahead to quickly with that so there was a pressure for speed and the

department at the time. where we are now, we know the department is going to the treasury asking for money to put some —— put rights of the problems with universal credit. at the same time saying the treasury need to pay out 1.5 billion for these mistakes. his head may be in his hands because we have the budget coming up. this is a building he was not expecting. we arrest reported this are a year ago. we estimated it would cost 500 million pounds. it is now three times that amount. thank you. canada has become only the second country in the world to allow shops to legally sell cannabis, for recreational use. it follows uruguay, which has allowed this since 2013. today‘s move has been questioned by some medical professionals and police, but welcomed by growers and investors. samira hussain has the story. doob, ganj, weed, bud. call it whatever you want, the fact is, canada‘s cannabis industry is coming into bloom. this is no ordinary grow, it‘s a high—tech operation that produces a staggering amount of legal marijuana. we are kind of like a tech company

that produces cannabis. it was about the idea that this had to be done and probably was more about tech. inside this vault is where they keep the stuff that is ready to ship. security is tight, unsurprisingly, considering the half a billion dollars worth of marijuana that line these shelves. and it‘s those kinds of numbers that have so many people getting high on the prospects for pot. this is bay street, toronto, canada‘s financial district. the country‘s early adoption of cannabis as a legitimate business is allowing it to dominate the industry. just ask investor, paul rosen. this has become the hub of the global cannabis industry. toronto specifically is where most of the global cannabis companies are coming to raise their capital.

most of the well—known us companies are coming to canada to list on the canadian securities exchange because they can‘t list on the nasdaq or the nyse. even educators like bill mcdonald are cashing in on cannabis. there is licensed producers coming to myself and saying, we need professionals, we can‘t find enough trained people for this. so it was only natural he start canada‘s first ever commercial cannabis programme. there were 300 applicants for only 2a spots. in this classroom, students are learning to cultivate marijuana on an industrial scale. the goal is to get them into cannabis companies fast to start running their production operations. there is also the added benefit of giving some of these students more legitimate or legal experience. it hasn‘t been a professional industry so the technologies have stayed quite minimal in order to keep it under the radar. does that mean you have a lot of illegitimate experience? yes. i do. ijust told you my name and i don‘t think i should have done that!

canada is the first country in the g20 to legalise recreational marijuana. whatever happens here will be closely watched by people around the world, both for the risks and for the potential rewards. the man booker prize has been won by anna burns for her novel milkman. it‘s a coming of age story set during the civil conflict in northern ireland. the prestigious literary prize is awarded each year for the best original novel written in the english language and, published in the uk. lebo diseko reports. the 2018 man booker prize for fiction goes to anna burns, for milkman. it‘s one of the most important and famous book prizes in the world. anna burns looking overjoyed and a little overwhelmed, making history as the first northern irish writer to win. she drew on her own experience

of northern ireland during the period known as the troubles, writing a coming—of—age story, seen through the eyes of an 18—year—old girl who‘s being pursued by a member of a paramilitary organisation. and, while the judges said her book was simply marvellous, the writer herself seemed quite taken aback to have won. i‘d like to acknowledge all the great writers who were on the short list and long list with me. thank you. i‘d love to say to all my dearfriends, thank you for all your support. and i‘d like to say to carl cornish, who published my first story ever, i know you‘re out there somewhere, carl, and thank you. oh, my goodness. i think i‘d better stop, thank you. thanks. the milkman was one of six books on the short list. it was described byjudges as "experimental". there are no names given

to the characters, and it was set in a dystopian future, but drew on belfast‘s history of conflict. it beat competition from everything under by daisyjohnson who, at 27, was the youngest nominee in man booker history. among the guests at the star—studded event at london‘s guildhall were the duchess of cornwall, who presented the trophy. ms burns will now receive £50,000 — that‘s around $65,000 in prize money. but the boost to her career is perhaps even more valuable. she joins an illustrious list of people who‘ve won the prize before, including salman rushdie and hilary mantel. us what‘s hot and what‘s not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live rail passengers in the south of england and wales

are still facing major disruption because of cancellations and delays to services into and out of london paddington. the prime minister insists her brexit plans are still alive as she prepares to address other european leaders at a summit in brussels. three men — who became the first anti—fracking protesters to be jailed in the uk — are freed by the court of appeal. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. uk inflation cooled more than expected in september to a three—month low rising at an annual rate of 2.a% in september, compared to august‘s surprise six—month high of 2.7%. flybe shares are down after the company issued a profit warning, blaming poor demand, a weaker pound and higherfuel costs. the airline said in a trading update it now expects a full—year loss of £12m — more than triple the figure analysts had expected. that will include a £29m hit from weak sterling and a rise in fuel prices. netflix added seven million new customers in the three months to september,

bringing its global total to more than 137 million. the stronger than expected growth — a record for the third quarter — sent shares up 11% in after—hours trading. the surge came as netflix premiered a record amount of original programming, including new seasons of orange is the new black and bojack horseman. never heard of that! who is bold jack? animal print for both men and women pushing one online retailer further into success? it is the in thing right now. soaring sales of animal print clothing helped asos post a £500m rise in sales last year. the online fashion retailer sold 1.3 million animal print garments across both menswear and womenswear, offering 2,000 options

during the period. sales of inclusive fit sizes — including petite, tall, maternity, plus—size, curve and wide — also jumped by 37%. (read on) huge demand for special sizes for people who have different needs to the mainstream. let‘s talk to betty. i think it is pronounced a source. that's what i would go for. some great news at last for the retail sector. i think it's important to note that retail at the moment is falling into two distinct camps, the online retailers like asos camps, the online retailers like a505 and span the high—street retailers who are really being hammered by things like business rates. you are seeing so many of those falling into administration or doing cpas at the moment to try and

stave off administration. i think it's rarely important to make the distinction between those two camps. what‘s important now is that your online offering is a good one. that's true. your online offering does have to be good. i think online retailers obviously really benefit from not having about cost of operating on the high street. though the headlines around high—street retailers being completely dead are a little bit overblown. there have been so many retailers announcing good results recently, selfridge's, harrods. they have both had good results. what's important is to excite customers, to have something to offer them, to tempt them into stores. otherwise they will go to bigger online marketplaces such as amazon. asos has also introduced a

genderfluid range amazon. asos has also introduced a gender fluid range called amazon. asos has also introduced a genderfluid range called collusion. this was developed with six social media influencers. how important is social media to these big retail names and the way they market themselves? i think it's a relief important tool. i don't think it is the be all and end all but certainly platforms such as histogram have really —— rle important. asos platforms such as histogram have really —— rle important. a505 is huge on insta gram, one of the first retailers to use insta gram stories effectively. but we have more traditional retailers like m&s launching on the insta gram shopping channel. it's a very important tool but you can't forget that retail is about the same fundamental principles as ever, product, price and reaching the consumer which has certainly changed. i want to talk too about the soaring sales of animal prints, one of things which asos say have boosted sales. how important is it to get that trent

right? crucial. people do mess up on product occasionally. next was an example who messed up on the product a couple of seasons ago and it does happen. it is human error. it is going to really affect your sales. with players like asos where they have to be first to market, they have to be first to market, they have to be very fast, capitalising on those trends and making sure you have the best situation of those trends is what will get consumers through the door onto the website. thank you very much indeed. some good fashion tips there. animal print. no? let‘s talk about the markets. thing is not looking good at all. the new york market opening down. high oil prices, worries over the global economy. always on the minds of investors. a bit of a sell—off on all the major indices around the world. thank you. as you‘ve been hearing

all day — theresa may is travelling to brussels in the next few hours to try to persuade the leaders of the other 27 countries in the european union to accept her insurance policy on what should happen to the border between n ireland and the republic of ireland. it‘s called the brexit backstop — here‘s chris morris to explain what exactly that is. you may have heard about the backstop, a baseball term. what does it have to do with brexit? in terms of the safety nets and you get the general idea. it is key to talks over the future of the irish border after brexit. why? this line between the irish republic and northern ireland will be the only land border between the uk and the european union. that matters for trades because in theory there should be checks on staff crossing the border after brexit. but no one wants new inspections of the border, they

bring bad memories of 30 years of conflict in northern ireland. the checkpoints could become a target. the uk and eu hopes to agree a trade relationship in the future that keeps the border as open as it is now. but if they can‘t, or there is a delay, that is where the backstop comes in. it is a legal guarantee to avoid a hard border and —— under all circumstances. the trouble is, the uk and eu don‘t see eye to eye on how the backstop should work. the uk says the eu‘s version could undermine the union between northern ireland and great britain. eu says the uk‘s plan could damage the integrity of its economic area, the single market. for both sides these are single market. for both sides these a re really single market. for both sides these are really important principles. so they‘re looking for a compromise before time runs out. the backstop has to be part of the withdrawal agreement. it needs to be signed before brexit is due to happen in march 2019. without a backstop,

there would be no brexit deal at all. that was chris morris. theresa may has just arrived in brussels. some pictures of her as she was greeted with a handshake and a kiss from the european commission president. she is due to hold separate talks with him, donald tusk and leo raqqa before addressing the leaders of the 27 remaining eu states. —— layover raqqa. if you thought that was a bit brief, you‘re not alone. our political editor has been tweeting about about. she has said, not a word from either... technical term, that is. they will all be meeting before she addresses the 27 leaders later on this

afternoon. we will have full coverage. the duke and duchess of sussex have received another warm welcome on the second day of their tour of australia. they faced torrential rain as they visited but it was a 5 year old boy who stole the show, as our royal correspondentjonny dymond reports. in small—town australia, excitement at a big visit. as harry and meghan met local schoolchildren, some got a little up close and personal. this little boyjust could not get enough of the royal couple. on a local farm there was one topic. drought. there has been hardly any rain here for two years, and the earth is parched. the duke and duchess heard how pretty much everyone has been affected. at a community barbecue, thousands turned out to see the couple. some had travelled hundreds

of miles to be here. the duke successfully mastered canine country pursuits. but the weather was beginning to turn. as the rain began, there was a chance to enjoy indigenous australian culture. and then from the duke, praise for what he called the backbone of australia. you have just lived through two years of drought. and despite recent welcome rain, it is going to take a lot more and a long time to recover. the duke and duchess came to dubbo to show that their tour was more thanjust the big cities. and also to show support for a drought hit region. instead they brought with them pouring rain. one thing is for certain, their visit will never be forgotten. they are so gorgeous, so beautiful.

they are special. and he spoke so beautifully about the farmers. that was really, really nice because quite a lot of us are farmers. we have all travelled on buses to come. excited, really excited. yes. they are keeping the royal family alive. they have brought it back again. it is wonderful. harry, you couldn‘t meet a nicer aussie! he should have been an aussie! he should have been an aussie. dubbo has seen nothing like it for decades. one day, you feel sure, the duke and duchess will return. time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello. they‘re all we seems to be something to talk about with the weather across the globe or through the uk. at the moment i‘m pleased to

say things are largely quiet. let‘s enjoy this quiet spell of weather across the uk. sunny spells through york. generally decent spells of sunshine across the country, with the exception into the south—east as they weakening weather front is drifting south—east of this afternoon. running the risk of light and patchy drizzle. temperatures peaking at around 16 degrees. not as warm as it has been. still slightly above average. further north, more in the way of sunshine, a light breeze, temperatures between ten and 14 breeze, temperatures between ten and 1a in scotland. perhaps as high as 15 further south. giving the quiet weather through the evening and overnight. those clear skies will allow temperatures to fall the way quite sharply. particularly in the far north—east. but weather front lingering in the south—east corner, we may keep temperatures double digits. north—east, england and

easter in scotland will see low single figures first thing in the morning. patchy mist and fog as well. classic areas like the vale of york county welsh marches perhaps into the south midlands as well. and quiet story. maybe more of a breeze in the far north—west of scotland. highs of 12 to 16 degrees. into friday, and also into the weekend, still under the influence of high—pressure drifting further east. that may well allow weather fronts to topple across and introduce some isolated and patchy outbreaks of rain at times. mostly in the far north—west. the weather front will wea ken north—west. the weather front will weaken considerably, light patchy rain in scotland. further south, some sunshine and warmth, 70 degrees is the high. three friday night into saturday, that‘s more of a significant chance of stubborn old lingering. that is worth bearing in

mind for the beginning of the weekend. it will thin and left. for the weekend it looks quite promising for many of us. giving this quiet bean, predominantly dry. take care. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m simon mccoy. today at a: sticking with the chequers plan: theresa may arrives in brussels for brexit talks, with little sign of any optimism. what does theresa may have to offer? she is sitting down in the next hour with the eu council president donald tusk. we will bring you the reaction to that. off the rails... cable damage causes major disruption at london‘s paddington station, and brings travel chaos across the south of england and wales. three men who became the first anti—fracking protesters to be jailed in the uk are freed by the court of appeal. tens of thousands of people on sickness benefits are to receive backdated payments, following calculation mistakes. turkish investigators enter the saudi consul‘s residence in istanbul,

as part of the investigation into the disappearance of a saudi journalist. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — olly. there he is. yes, the deal is off. there he is. yes, the deal is off. the football association board said the wembley sale would have been beneficial for the whole game but the prospective buyer said it would have caused too many risks so he has withdrawn. more on that later. thank you. and louise has the weather. this is the best they can offer this afternoon. a glorious afternoon across the south—east coast in hastings, where temperatures have risen to 19 degrees. more details coming up. thanks, louise. also coming up: caught on camera — a bear—faced break—in attempt in the rocky mountains. chuckles hello, everyone —

this is afternoon live. i‘m simon mccoy. the prime minister has insisted her plan for the uk‘s relationship with the eu after brexit is not dead, in spite of the deadlock over the future of the irish border. after taking prime minister‘s questions at midday in the commons, mrs may has now arrived in brussels. tonight she will appeal to the leaders of the other 27 eu countries in an effort to get the brexit talks back on track. let‘s cross to brussels — and to christian fraser, who‘s there for us. thank you. the hall is starting to fill up behind me. theresa may is already here. she will be sitting down with donald tusk any time in the next hour. that will be an important meeting because it will set the tone for what follows when she meets with a 27 leaders. we heard from angela merkel today,

slightly positive tones you‘d have to say. when you look at what is down on people already, you could look at it in an optimistic way. 90% of the withdrawal agreement is in green and signed off. apparently there have been advances in the conversation about the customs relationship but on the flip side of that, still the thorny issue of the irish border. that is the gordian knot of the negotiations, says donald tusk and unfortunately, in his words, they don‘t have an alexander the great to cut it. does theresa may have anything her sleeve which might get her past that impasse? alex bull site has been taking a look. —— alex forsyth has been having a look. will you be extending the brexit deadline, prime minister? are you confident of a brussels breakthrough? the prime minister, once again today, heading into battle over brexit, her first stop, parliament, to face mps against a backdrop stalled negotiations and possible compromise. order, questions to the prime minister. all of that was a gift to her critics. the prime ministerand her government are clearly too weak

and too divided to protect people's jobs or our economy, or ensure there is no hard border in northern ireland. the prime minister asked again and again, defended her brexit plan. frictionless trade across our borders is exactly what lies at the heart of the free trade deal that is proposed in the government‘s plan put forward after the chequers meeting injuly. that‘s what we are working to deliver, for people in this country, we want to deliver a brexit that delivers on the vote of the british people and that ensures we protect jobs and security. members of the cabinet are supporting the prime minister‘s efforts so far, despite the stalemate. does she have the full support of the cabinet? 0h, of course, yes, absolutely. backing her effort to get talks moving. we‘re negotiating in good faith and we‘ll keep our nerve. so who will budge? those involved in the talks say there has been real progress but the sticking point is still, how to avoid a hard irish border no

matter what else happens. to try to solve that, negotiators have discussed the possibility of extending the transition, the period after the uk officially leaves the eu, when not much changes, to try to allow more time to put trade arrangements in place. what michel barnier has indicated very clearly is that the eu side, certainly, is willing to allow more time in the transition period to agree an alternative solution to a backstop. never too late to stop brexit! but the government here says it hasn‘t asked for any extension to the current brexit timetable, and there would be plenty opposed to a slower process. oh, no, this has gone on long enough! everyone‘s absolutely fed up with it. talk to any business, the five words... "just get on with it". so, here in brussels, the prime minister will address eu leaders later, but the hope now isn‘t for a major breakthrough today, but to stop things breaking

down, to get enough good will to keep talks going, hoping down the line there can be a deal. alex forsyth, bbc news. to these maa has arrived in brussels. i think we can show you a moment she has earlier with the european commission president, jean—claude juncker. they get european commission president, jean—claudejuncker. they get on reasonably well, although there was a problem, as we know, in salzburg. it didn‘t go according to plan. they will be hoping it goes a little better today. you saw a peck on the cheek there. there is some sympathy in the building for the political problems theresa may suffers at home but that doesn‘t mean they will give an inch when it comes to protect the single market —— european market. joining me now is the former leader of ukip, nigel farage. what about the gordian knot that

they talk about here in brussels, this irish issue? it's brilliant of them. they put up the irish question asa them. they put up the irish question as a major problem. they forced theresa may leave downing street to sign up to backstop. the truth is, we already have a different currency, different tax rate, excise duties also being collected across the border. if we had a single trade deal, there would be no problem at all. i believe the best way through all. i believe the best way through all of this is to go for a canada plus style free trade deal which i think answers all the questions. you think answers all the questions. you think the prime minister is the problem, she stands on the way of the meat and potato deal which is already on the table? she has put herself in a position where firstly she signed up to backstop which she must now regret bitterly. secondly,

a week ago she wanted the whole of the uk to stay in a customs union until the end of 2021. i think what really happened here, over the course of the weekend, number ten worst and with the genuine level of opposition in the country and within the conservative party from the dup a new deal on this basis would get voted down in the house of commons. so now is the time to have no deal this week, to come back to britain. the front page of the daily mail says theresa smith up for britain, eve ryo ne says theresa smith up for britain, everyone thinks she‘s marvellous. she comes back in a few weeks‘ time and then does a deal.|j she comes back in a few weeks‘ time and then does a deal. i know you have ultimate faith in brexit but put yourself in her position at number ten, the she has had from business leaders about the risks of mbo deal, the car manufacturing jobs that would go away. would you prepared to go away? cars all the same arguments i heard right here in this building 20 years ago. if britain didn‘tjoin the euro, the car manufacturers would leave. it's

the same big business warnings we have had over and over and over. look, here‘s the real point, brexit wasn‘t about projections on whether gdp was up or down by two or 3% but whether we became an independent, self—governing nation. that‘s what brexit was about. the people are spoken. the government needs to deliver. if it doesn‘t, i think it‘s a fair guesstimate to say brexit may have been an earthquake, there will be more to come. let's talk about the independence we are getting back. the ft reported today the trump administration informed congress that wants to get on with the trade deal as quickly as britain is ready. are we really are independent when it comes to the united states? we have seen them bully canada and they would bully us in the same way. there is no prospect of a pre—trade deal with the us until 2022. this is extraordinary thing about brexit. we won‘t get control of our borders, laws or courts will be able to do

trade deals on whatever basis with america or anybody else... would we get the trade deal we want from the united states? if we don't, we reject it, that‘s the point. as a sovereign nation, we will be able to make those decisions. i look around the world at countries like switzerland and south korea, who have made their rome trade deals globally and have achieved far more than the european union ever could. the point about brexit is they are our decisions to take. thank you. she will be meeting donald tusk in the next few minutes. that will probably go on for half an hour or an hour. and then tonight, she talks to the 27 leaders before dinner, although she won‘t be invited to stay for dinner, which tends to be the way these days. whether she comes back to the uk tonight we‘re not too sure that maybe tomorrow there could be some bilateral discussions between theresa may, angela merkel, emmanuel macron, who

has had some quite strong things to say about brexit in recent weeks. we will watch that closely as well. christian, thank you. if you‘re confused about all the different terms surrounding brexit, then you can go to the bbc news website and look for the brexit jargon—buster — your key guide to all the key terms. tens of thousands of rail passengers have been enduring a day of disruption across the south and south west of england and wales, after the cancellation of services into and out of london paddington. great western railway is advising people not to travel on long distance routes, or towards the capital, after overhead electric cables were severely damaged by a test train last night. a small number of services have now resumed as emergency repairs continue. our correspondent ben ando is at paddington station. what‘s happening mark extremely difficult and disruptive to put it mildly. everyone who comes to put it mildly. everyone who comes to this station, the first thing they do if they are intending to travel is looked up at the notice

board, because the timetable is out the window. these are trains the company knows will run and that is a bare minimum. what they are trying to do is squeeze a quart into a pint pot. normally there are four lines running but because of this disruption, two those are blocked in only two are open. that is why they can‘t run as many trains as they normally would. that result of a test train running last night, bringing down overhead power wires for about half a kilometre, as my colleague simonjones for about half a kilometre, as my colleague simon jones reports. trains going nowhere. and passengers desperate for information. many turned up at paddington this morning, unaware of the problems even though trains first ground to a halt last night. it has been a battle to get to work or to heathrow airport to catch flights on time. they told me there is

an alternative route. i have to go from here to waterloo, from waterloo to reading and from reading then to parkway, which will take us about another hour and 30 minutes on top of ourjourney. the heathrow express was cancelled, that was the start. we said, is there any coach organised ? they said, no, you must get the ordinary transport into london and up to paddington or get a taxi, costing £70. trying to get the airport, got to catch a flight and i'm going to try and find an uber. are you worried about getting there on time? yes, that is why i should probably run! here at paddington station, the departure board tells the story. it is empty because nothing is coming and going. some passengers are playing the waiting game, they have been told they can try alternate routes but the reality is, there are no easy options. at reading, passengers complained of overcrowding on the platforms. network rail is blaming the chaos on extensive damage to the overhead power lines near ealing. some passengers had to be evacuated from stranded trains by the emergency services last night.

the manufacturer, hitachi, said the problems were caused by one of its test trains, like this one. but it may need up to two days to definitively identify what happened. there was a test train on the network that ran into some difficulty, and that damaged the overhead line equipment on all four of the lines in and out of paddington and for a distance of about 500 metres, half a kilometre. it is a lot of damage. the lines affected run from paddington to slough and to heathrow airport. around 800 trains arrive and depart from the station each day, they carry around 90,000 passengers. passengers on the great western railway from here to thames valley, west of england, south wales have been incredibly patient as the electrification project has run years late. new trains haven‘t come in when they were supposed to and the whole thing is way over budget. for some of them, this might be the final straw. great western railway and network rail are apologising to passengers but the warning is there will be no quick

fix to the problems. paddington is a vital part of the nation‘s infrastructure. the lines from here go to south wales, the south—west of england, places like bristol, and this disruption will have affected thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people up and down the line. what should people do? the advice from network rail is if possible delay or cancel any travel plans you may have had today. some trains are running. it says its engineers are on site and they have equipment in place to solve the problem and they are hoping to do that overnight tonight. good to hear from you, hoping to do that overnight tonight. good to hearfrom you, almost! thank you very much. fulham owner shahid khan has withdrawn his offer to buy wembley stadium from the football association. khan had offered £600 million for the national stadium. in a statement, martin glenn,

chief executive of the football association, said the organisation "fully respected" mr khan‘s decision. let‘s get more on this now from our sports correspondent, natalie pirks. natalie, what‘s going on? this deal is dead? not completely. we will come to that. martin glenn has released a statement and he has said the offer was seen as more divisive than it was anticipated. this is the background, shahid khan made the offer back in may to spend £600 million on the fa board said, yes, we will have some of that, we just have to take it to the fa council. there is still sticking point, because they have gone, actually, we‘re not as keen on this as you guys are. there was going to bea as you guys are. there was going to be a vote next week. they made it pretty clear they probably weren‘t going to get the votes the fa board wa nted going to get the votes the fa board wanted to get this over the line that looks like shahid khan has gone, this

looks embarrassing, i will step away now. he released a statement saying he had always wanted a proper partnership with a full and enthusiastic commitment of everyone and the intent of his efforts was to do right by everyone in a manner that strengthens the english game. it doesn‘t mean it‘s off the cards forever. he reserves the right comeback tour. equals wembley stadium a national treasure, one he would care for and respect for generations but he recognises the passion people have a wembley and what it means to english football andi what it means to english football and i will be willing to re—engage with the fa on this matter under proper circumstances. a lot of people who were thinking grassroots, this could be a very positive move? correct, and there were people thinking the opposite. they had got this proposal but essentially, b games, england matches, fa cup matches, proper football matches could still be played there. it would still be called wembley, not sponsor‘s name like in the premier league and crucially the money from the sale would go into grassroots football. but there were those like gary neville, the former england

international footballer who said the idea of selling the money would fully go into grassroots. but plenty of people thought the idea of pictures, 3g picked would be the best thing, and i think a lot of parents today will have had matches called off because of waterlogged or frozen pitches shaking their head by what could be seen as an own goal shaking their head by what could be seen as an own goal by england to bolster up like i have to let you 90, bolster up like i have to let you go, you are after wembley. thank you. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: the prime minister arrives in brussels for a summit where she‘ll try to convince eu leaders to give ground on brexit. rail passengers in the south of england and wales are still facing major disruption because of cancellations and delays to services into and out of london paddington. three men who became the first anti—fracking

protesters to be jailed in the uk are freed afterjudges ruled their sentences were "excessive". the third one—day international between england and sri lanka is finally under way. limited to 21 overs per side. it is 59—2. ronnie o‘sullivan put aside his disdain where the english open is taking place, recording his 15th professional maximum, 1a7 break of his career. arsene wenger says he hopes to be back in management on the 1st of january. a left arsenal after 22 years the 1st of january. a left arsenal after 22 yea rs in the 1st of january. a left arsenal after 22 years in charge at the end of last season. i will be back in the next 15 minutes. turkish investigators looking into the disappearence ofjamal khashoggi are searching the saudi consulate in istanbul. the move comes two weeks after the journalist and prominent critic of the saudi regime disappeared after entering the building. it‘s claimed he was tortured and killed while inside by a group of saudi agents. earlier, the united states secretary

of state mike pompeo held talks in ankara with turkey‘s president erdogan. let‘s get the latest from our correspondent in ankara, martin patience. first of all, the surge of this building, what do we know about that? turkish investigations have wa nted that? turkish investigations have wanted to go into that building for several days but they say the saudis haven‘t allowed them because they weren‘t on board. we heard according to american officials the saudis are now on board and this will be a transparent investigation. turkish investigators have moved into this residence. it is critical because what is believed to have happened is jamal khashoggi was murdered inside the consulate and then a black van is believed his body was taken on a black van to this second residence. it will be inside there that turkish investigators will be looking for more evidence. saudi arabia, for its part, says it has nothing to do with

the murder or disappearance of the journalist but there are not many people buying back, certainly not turkish officials. do we know if mike pompeo is buying back? he is there and in talks at the moment. he was specifically asked whether or not he knew if jamal khashoggi was dead or alive and he dodged the question. what he has been doing is he has been saying that the saudis are committed to this investigation. i think the americans have a real credibility gap on this issue. you had donald trump appearing to get tough on the saudis, saying if it is proven they killed this journalist inside their consulate there would be sanctions. then he got off the phone from the saudi king and saudi crown prince and said they denied it, therefore we shouldn‘tjump to conclusions. here in turkey, turkish officials are pretty clear. they

believe that he was murdered inside that constructs. one interesting point, the turkish president has been asking questions. he hasn‘t directly pointed the finger. they have a two track approach, on one hand the turkish president says you need to prove he is either dead or still alive. and then on a second track, you have all these leaks to the turkish press, details on what happened when this journalist was killed. that essentially is government sanctions. i think that‘s designed to ratchet up the pressure on both sides of arabia and america and perhaps turkey is looking for some concessions in some areas. was going to ask about the mood in turkey on this. there are parallels with what happened in this country in salisbury. you have a murder, supposedly sanctioned by another government, happening in istanbul. is that anger that that has happened within turkey? i think there is real

angen within turkey? i think there is real anger, real disbelief. ithink people here, as well as across the world, can‘t believe, and let‘s not forget the saudis have denied it and let‘s not forget most people think the saudis carried out this operation and people think they have been so brazen, that they can actually get away with it. the big jobs for the americans and saudis is coming up with a story people believe. until now, they have failed a bjectly believe. until now, they have failed abjectly in that case. it is interesting, i think the turkish president is playing a very strong hand. he perhaps sees this as an opportunity to wring concessions out of saudi arabia. he has had fractious relations with them, as well as america. turkey has been in the doghouse with america and he may well see this as an opportunity to get back in washington‘s good books. martin, thank you very much. a jury at the old bailey have heard that a man accused of murdering two nine—year—old girls 32 years ago,

was "play—acting" when he appeared grief—stricken at their deaths. russell bishop was among the first to find the bodies of nicola fellows and karen hadaway in brighton. bishop, who denies murder, is facing a second trial over the deaths. our correspondent daniela relph gave us more detail from the old bailey earlier. the focus of the prosecution today has been on the discovery of the girls‘ bodies in 1986. the court heard they were found huddled together in undergrowth in wild park in brighton and that russell bishop, the man accused here of murdering them, was in one of the first search parties to actually find the bodies. the prosecution told jurors russell bishop is actually stopped by other members of that party from getting close to the bodies. later that day he gave a witness statement to the police in which he detailed all sorts of issues around what he had

found at the scene and what he had seen found at the scene and what he had seen of the girls‘ bodies. the prosecution said there is absolutely no way he could have known all of that detail unless he himself had been their killer. within the past hour or been their killer. within the past hourorso, been their killer. within the past hour or so, thejury have been hearing more detail about russell bishop‘s previous conviction. they we re bishop‘s previous conviction. they were told yesterday that in 1990 he was found guilty of the attempted murder and sexual assault of a seven—year—old girl. today, thejury have been given more details about that, about how russell bishop abducted ago when she was outside her home ambrose curtis, locked in the boot of his car, drove herfor a0 miles, where he then assaulted her. he then her body, left it would dead, dumped in woodland. she survived. she found help and she ultimately went on to identify him as her attacker. for the prosecution, all of this, alongside the new dna evidence is about building upa the new dna evidence is about building up a picture of russell bishop being the only credible person who could have killed the two nine—year old girl is back in 1986. that report from the old bailey. later we will be going nationwide

but before that the sport and the weather. louise is with me now. we looking at whether events. this is in america. you‘re about to show me what happens when a bear comes out of the forest, having done what it does. first season snow of colorado. looking for somewhere to hide. it is thought he lost his bearings! laughter sorry! that‘s not me laughing. the floor manager loves that one. hold it together. he opened the passenger door, had a look around, then went round the back, opened the door very dexterously with his little paws and got in the driver‘s seat. it‘s great, i love it. first snow in colorado. goes back to the other side? hazard yes, look at this. get out the way! i will get out of shot.

a left—hand drive. the only downside is he doesn‘t close the doors. leaves the door is open. we have had fun with that. shall we get back to the business? let‘s get the weather. yes, let‘s. the reason we are showing this is because it is quite quiet and there is no significant whether to talk about. that is a pressure of —— breath of fresh air. this in wales, sunny spells, pleasa nt this in wales, sunny spells, pleasant for many, not quite for all of us. in the last few hours, we have seen some significant cloud pushing across the south—eastern corner. this is hartford, pretty graham threatening. just like drizzle but it will be a nuisance for the rest of the day. this week weather france continues to push south and east. the cloud remaining fairly well broken and that through the night tonight will allow temperatures to fall away. for the early evening rush hour, we still

have this nuisance resort if you are on the road. it will be a bit of a nuisance across the south—east corner and then slowly ease away. that will prevent temperatures falling too far here. maybe a bit patchy mist and fog elsewhere but further north, temperatures likely to fall down to single figures. a potentially chilly start on thursday morning. a touch of light frost. but there will be a good deal of dry and quiet weather in the story. this will be the theme up to the weekend. a relatively quiet start, any mist and fog lifting away and we will see some sunny spells. the breeze will pick up, a little more cloud in the western isles. maximum temperatures of 12-16 western isles. maximum temperatures of 12—16 into the afternoon. almost a repeat performance has become of thursday and into friday. the high pressure with us is still there, still the driving force in the story at the moment butjust still the driving force in the story at the moment but just allowing these fronts to push on to the far north—west. on friday, we could see some showery outbreaks in scotland,

nothing too substantial, as it bumps into the high pressure it will wea ken into the high pressure it will weaken all the time. some areas in scotla nd weaken all the time. some areas in scotland may stay dry but cloudy. the crowd spills down the borders and northern ireland. south of that, quite pleasant, 17 degrees and a dry theme. as we come out of friday and into the weekend, it looks likely we could see the potential for some or fog to form. it is worth bearing in mind first thing on saturday morning. some fog may be dense in places. it will lift away and the weekend for many, particularly in comparison to the we just had, it will be a better story. still that high with us, still the threat of a few more weather fronts pushing into the north—west. basically, all that means is for many, once the fog lifts it will be dry and settled with some showers in the north. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. theresa may has insisted her chequers blueprint for brexit is still alive. she‘ll try to persuade eu leaders to back her approach at a summit in brussels this evening.

tens of thousands of rail passengers have been warned to expect disruption for the rest of the day — after power lines were damaged near london paddington. turkish investigators have entered the residence of the saudi arabian consul in istanbul to gather more evidence about the suspected killing of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. three activists jailed for causing a public nuisance during anti—fracking protests in lancashire have been freed by the court of appeal. smarter than the average bear — caught on camera breaking into an unlocked and unoccupied van in the rocky mountains. sport now on afternoon live with olly foster at the bbc sports centre. cricket or other no cricket. we got some crickets, would you believe. almost six hours after it was due to start. sri lanka and england.

england on tour there. all the chatter has been about why on earth they had to ring bearer. in monsoon season. they were compelled to issue a statement saying it is not our fault. it is not theirfault a statement saying it is not our fault. it is not their fault it is a monsoon but the fact that they are pa rt monsoon but the fact that they are part of this future tours programme, 13 cricket boards from around the world, and they have to play in this window against sri lanka. the first one day a complete wash—out, the second is truncated, the third very truncated. at least the covers are off, they are on the field of play. eoin morgan won the toss. he puts real anger into bat. they started like an absolute train. let‘s show you the latest state of play. england have ta ken you the latest state of play. england have taken two wickets. they have taken the two wickets... firstly it has become like a twe nty20 firstly it has become like a twenty20 char a 2121 match. at least

they are playing but still lots of questions about why they are playing in monsoon season. they said they simply didn‘t have any option at all. someone he used to rain at arsenal, arson banker. we have not heard about him for awhile. —— arsene wenger. he has recharged his batteries after a nice holiday and says he is good to go again. he will be back in management onjanuary one. he said he doesn‘t know whether it will be club management or some internationaljob somewhere. he‘s told german publication sport bild that he‘s had offers from all over the world, but doesn‘t know if he‘ll return to club management or take over a national side. there he is, there are ears will prick up because he is very hot property after all the success he had in 22 years at the gunners. it will be good to see him back in a dugout somewhere. as you‘ve been hearing, the fulham owner shahid khan has withdrawn his offer to buy wembley stadium.

the fa council were due to vote on the proposed 600 million deal next week but khan after a meeting of the council last week on the sale, khan says it‘s clear that hsi ownership would have proved too divisive. the fa board were keen on selling wembley caliming that it would have been benficial for grassroots football, improving facilities across the country. just a few days ago, the five time world champion ronnie o‘sullivan described crawleys k2 leisure centre a hellhole and said he could smell you‘re in in the player‘s interview area. they are holding the english open there, but despite his glowing review for the venue, he still managed to record hsi15th professional maximum break. is the 1a7 securing victory against allan taylor

in the second round. british heavyweight derek chisora‘s has chosen an old foe as his new manager. he‘s signed up with former world champion david haye and joined his hayemaker stable. here‘s how the deal was announced — on social media, a video of chisora training in haye‘s old gym. they had a massive brawl at a press conference in 2012, before haye beat chisora in a fight later the same year. announcing the unlikely partnership hayes said, "boxing is a sport where inside those ropes, beef can be squashed and replaced thatis that is all your sports. now on afternoon live, let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. today we‘re looking at how the major disruption on the great western railway has

effected the wider uk. at the far end of the great western line we have ali vowels is in our bristol studio. and a little further along the line in reading, commuters this morning described a "wall of passengers" trying to board alternate trains to london. bbc south today‘s mike apps is there for us ahead of rush hour. first of all ali, points west have been speaking great western for us, to get the bottom of how we‘ve ended up with such major distruption for so many commuters. certainly a chaotic day. last night as well. he would have thought a few wires could cause so much disruption for thousands of people? the power lines were brought down during a test of the new high—speed hitachi drains. that appears to have caused the problems. hitachi said they take it all very seriously, a full investigation is taking place and that it investigation is taking place and thatitis investigation is taking place and that it is not possible to identify definitively the cause of the issue. but we have been talking to the

managing director of great western who says the problems have been caused by the equipment they are putting on top of the trains to pull the electricity down from the mines. the trains take their power from an overhead line that isjust above the trains take their power from an overhead line that is just above the train. it uses a device which touches that wire and brings the power onto the train. but the wrong pa rt of power onto the train. but the wrong part of the device appears to have made contact with the wrong part of the wire and instead of a smooth contact it has ripped the wire down for half a kilometre. and what has been the effect for commuters at the far end of the line from paddington, and the source of the problems. definitely, it has caused huge problems. there are thousands of commuters trying to get to london this morning and back from the capital to the west country last night. gwr said they put out lots of m essa g es night. gwr said they put out lots of messages on social media and it did keep the numbers down this morning turning up. definitely in swindon they say less passengers were there.

some passengers did get to london today. bristol temple meads usually has two trains per hour going to london and ended up with one per hour with passengers stopping at reading and getting onto waterloo. however, the journeys reading and getting onto waterloo. however, thejourneys have been pretty tough for many. however, thejourneys have been pretty tough for manylj however, thejourneys have been pretty tough for many. i was going to get a train but i can't get it, it's only going to be a 20 minutes train rides. but it doesn't work now. when all the boards are blank you have to worry. people are milling around with no train noise so milling around with no train noise soi milling around with no train noise so i realise i had a problem. i walked over and they explain to me that the station is complete shutdown. that passenger had to pay £150 to get a taxi back from london to swindon last night. at least the taxi drivers are benefiting. figures crossed it should hopefully be sorted by tomorrow. we will keep an eye on that. thank you very much in bristol. let‘s talk to mike and

riding. one of the problem is in paddington, the real issue was where you are because there was chaos there this morning. absolutely. first thing this morning here really chaotic scenes at reading railway station. we had passengers who normally would have been making that journey on the gwr service to london paddington finding that the line was blocked between slough and london. the bully no option for them to go via that route. as far as what we could do, the main alternative was to get on a south—west in service to london waterloo. the problem is that those trains only come through here twice an hour. fewer trains to start with, a longerjourney and hundreds of extra passengers trying to get onto those few carriages to make it to waterloo. at the other end they have an extra commute to whichever pa rt have an extra commute to whichever part of london they would normally be getting to work whatever their reason for travel. or from

be getting to work whatever their reason for travel. orfrom ideal. i was able to speak to some passengers who had made it to reading and some who had made it to reading and some who were hoping to make the journey in the opposite direction earlier. i'mjust in the opposite direction earlier. i'm just going to a meeting in london but i can't get there. i'm probably going to have to cancel. trying to get to bath to see my daughter at university. instead of leaving from paddington we have had to go to waterloo and then change over. staff have been really helpful. it is a bit of a pain but it is what we have to deal with. coming up to 25, approaching another very busy period. what will happen? it is an improving picture. when i got here earlier this morning, the departures and arrivals boards were cancelled, cancelled everywhere you looked. gradually that is starting to clear. some services are running. the first one went through at

11:a5am. slower servers than normal because it had to go through a route that get past of the trains that had been stranded because the power failure. i can speak now to nigel who has made it to reading today through the delays. at afternoon. where have you come from? travelled from manchester to oxford and then at oxford founder was no departure to slough. they have rooted me down here into reading. i'm hoping to catch the next train into slough at five oh 3pm. and you have noticed a lot more people waiting down on a normal day? i'm not a regular user of the train service but when i got to oxford does seem to be a lot of people milling around, wondering what to do next. i fully the people at the station were reasonably helpful. information desk wasn't cove red helpful. information desk wasn't covered but the guys on the platform we re very covered but the guys on the platform were very helpful. not too bad for

you in the end today but you didn‘t realise what you would be facing. no, i thought i would be in slough by now. put another 1.5 hours onto my journey but get by now. put another 1.5 hours onto myjourney but get there in the end. best of luck. thanks for speaking to us. best of luck. thanks for speaking to us. the message from gwr is that things are improving hopefully most of those delays taken care of tomorrow. they reckon regular service by friday. network rail ascii passengers to check the latest travel information before setting off. —— asking passengers. travel information before setting off. -- asking passengers. nigel much calmer than i would be in that situation! we go nationwide every weekday

afternoon at a:30pm here on afternoon at a:30pm here on afternoon live. in the last hour, three anti—fracking activists have been freed from prison, after the court of appeal said their original sentences were "manifestly excessive". simon blevins, richard roberts and rich loizou were jailed at preston crown court in september, after being found guilty of public nuisance over a protest lastjuly, at cuadrilla‘s fracking site in lancashire. in a joint statement read by rich loizou, the trio vowed to continue their protests. today‘s decision affirms that when people peacefully break the law out of a moral obligation to prevent the expansion of fossil fuel industries, they should not be sent to prison. cheering. the fracking industry threatens to industrialise our beautiful countryside. it will force famine, flooding and many other disasters on the world‘s most vulnerable communities by exacerbating climate change. fracking is beginning right now, so there has never been a more critical time to take action. your planet needs you!

that statement in the last few minutes. that statement in the last few minutes. there‘s been a sharp rise in the number of british victims of modern slavery, according to figures seen by the bbc. the salvation army, which runs safe houses on behalf of the government, says the number of british people it looked after almost doubled in the last year. charlotte wright has this report. the footage could be straight from a television drama. but raids like this are happening in villages, towns and cities across the country, as hundreds of people forced into working for little or no money in appalling conditions are rescued. they would throw you out of cars. sometimes they would take your clothes from you and then just leave you in a place, so you didn‘t have any clothes. on one occasion, they put petrol and threatened to set me alight. jenny, whose name we‘ve changed, was groomed at the age of 11

and passed around the country as a sex slave for ten years. it‘s like you‘re not really alive, and then it‘s only after you‘re out of it, then the emotion hits you. these are really dangerous, well—organised, quite violent criminal syndicates, who are buying and selling human beings for profit. thousands of people are identified as victims of modern slavery each year. and that number has been growing. often, they‘ve come from abroad, places like albania and romania. butjenny is a british survivor, born and bred here, and she isn‘t alone. last year, 86 british victims were supported by the salvation army, which has the government contract to provide a safe house once they‘re rescued. that‘s nearly double the year before, and significantly more than the number of those referred to the charity seven years ago. and it‘s widely believed that this is just the tip of the iceberg. the organised crime groups that operate within this area are very clever in how they move around.

so, although we are aware of the potential victims when they come into our service, there will be many who will still be hidden away and won‘t have a voice. for many police forces across the country, tackling the issue is already a priority. we are setting up our own modern slavery human trafficking team next year, which looks to focus on the complex cases. straight to brussels. theresa may has just arrived. are straight to brussels. theresa may hasjust arrived. are some of the issues that face us now such as migration, how we counter threats to the security, it also coincides i‘m looking forward to discussing the opportunity that presents, global opportunities, with the leaders who will be welcomed here to europe. on the issue of leaving the eu, i will be talking to

leaders to lives about a very good progress that has been made since salzburg, both on the withdrawal agreement and our future partnership. both teams have been working very hard in order to ensure that we can address these issues. we have sold most of the issues in the withdrawal agreement. there is still the question of the northern irish backstop. i believe everyone around the table wants to get a deal. by working intensively and closely, we can achieve that. i believe a deal is achievable but now is the time to make it happen. if they offer you another year on the transaction —— transition period, would you accept it? we will be looking at the issues we need to address in relation to the backstop on northern ireland. i believe it‘s possible by working together to find a resolution that ensures that we are able to move forward with the full package, with the future partnership as well. considerable progress has been made since salzburg. i working

intensively over the next days and weeks i believe we can achieve a deal but i believe everyone wants and a deal that is in the interests of the uk and also the european union. what i expected that tonight we will be able to talk about the very good progress we have made since. berg. there are differences remaining had the northern ireland backstop. i working intensively i believe we can resolve those. i believe we can resolve those. i believe we can achieve a deal on a dealers in the interests notjust of the uk but the eu. thank you. optimism there from theresa may, insisting brexit is still alive as she attends that key meeting in brussels. she was saying there have been considerable progress since salzburg. which was surrounded by far left optimism. i believe we can

achieve a deal, her words. which is the first sign of optimism in a day when she faces the house of commons and more questions brexit in prime ministers questions than ever in the past. we will be talking to our correspondent in brussels later to see how those talks are going. coverage on the bbc news channel throughout the evening. now the business news in a moment. the prime minister arrives in brussels for a summit where she‘ll try to convince eu leaders to give ground on brexit. rail passengers in the south of england and wales are still facing major disruption because of cancellations and delays to services into and out of london paddington. three men — who became the first anti—fracking protesters to be jailed in the uk — are freed afterjudges ruled their sentences were "excessive". is here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. uk inflation cooled more than expected in september to a three—month low rising at an annual rate of 2.a%

in september, compared to august‘s surprise six—month high of 2.7%. netflix added seven million new customers in the three months to september, bringing its global total to more than 137 million. the stronger than expected growth — a record for the third quarter — sent shares up 11% in after—hours trading. the surge came as netflix premiered a record amount of original programming, including new seasons of orange is the new black and bojack horseman. but shares in asos surged 1a% after another set of strong results from the fast fashion retailer. the firm reported a £500 million rise in revenues for the year to august. profits jumped 28% to £102 million. some interesting updates from the city today? yes, a number of companies have updated the city today

and there has been good and bad news. asos, the fast fashion retailer has impressed with its sales figures. also pearson, education publishing group, used to own the financial times — says it anticipates a return to underlying profit growth for 2018. not so good news for house—builder crest nicholson, it has worried the house—building sector by warning that the brexit uncertainty means many buyers are waiting rather than buying or selling — partucularly in the home counties and london — both key markets. bellway said its biggest fear over the market was faltering consumer lets talk to an investment director. i wanted to ask you about those inflation figures because they have had an impact on the pound today. yes, the pound has been quite weak

today. the inflation figures were lower than expected, lower than last month and lower than most economists had predicted. that is good news for households because yesterday we heard that earnings growth was actually above 3%, and inflation rate of 2.a% means we are getting a bit richer every month. but from the bank of england's perspective it means that they are less likely to raise interest rates now. there is less pressure on them to raise interest rates and that is reflected in weakness in sterling. let's talk about pearson. it said that it anticipates a return to growth. things have been tough for them. yes, pearson is one of these companies which has been hit by this digital disruption, if you like. they are a big publisher of educational textbooks. that market has completely changed. people are not buying textbooks they are doing

it online. pearson has been moving its business model to reflect that. but it is a big change of culture and a difficult and long process. the good news today was they said things are not getting worse anymore, they're beginning to start getting better from a profits perspective. that's why the shares we re perspective. that's why the shares were strong. and crest nicholson, not the only house—builder that has warned that brexit uncertainty has meant people are sitting on their hands rather than getting into the housing market. yes, crest nicholson is particularly strong in the south of england. that is the part of the market which is hardest hit at the moment. some separate figures today showed that house price growth is slower than it has been in several months. that region of the uk is the hardest hit. crest nicholson is in the worst part of the market so i'm not surprised it has warned profits. but we have had figures from other builders in the last two days who

have both announced very strong figures. there are some problems here which articulate to crest nicholson rather than an industrywide issue. thank you very much. a quick look at the markets before i go. the ftse has pared back some of the losses but what‘s moving the market today in a negative way is rises over the last few days. also high oil prices and the renewed worries over global trade tensions have meant that the market across most indices around the world are lower. thank you. the duke and duchess of sussex have received another warm welcome on the second day of their tour of australia. they faced torrential rain as they visited the outback town of dubbo, which had been suffering a prelonged drought. but it was a 5—year—old boy who stole the show, as our royal correspondentjonny dymond reports. in small—town australia, excitement at a big visit. as harry and meghan met local schoolchildren, some got a little up close and personal. this little boyjust could not get

enough of the royal couple. on a local farm there was one topic. drought. there has been hardly any rain here for two years, and the earth is parched. the duke and duchess heard how pretty much everyone has been affected. at a community barbecue, thousands turned out to see the couple. some had travelled hundreds of miles to be here. the duke successfully mastered canine country pursuits. but the weather was beginning to turn. as the rain began, there was a chance to enjoy indigenous australian culture.

and then from the duke, praise for what he called the backbone of australia. you have just lived through two years of drought. and despite recent welcome rain, it is going to take a lot more and a long time to recover. the duke and duchess came to dubbo to show that their tour was more thanjust the big cities. and also to show support for a drought hit region. instead they brought with them pouring rain. one thing is for certain, their visit will never be forgotten. they are so gorgeous, so beautiful. they are special. and he spoke so beautifully about the farmers. that was really, really nice because quite a lot of us are farmers. we have all travelled on buses to come. excited, really excited. yes. they are keeping the royal family alive. they have brought it back again. it is wonderful. harry, you couldn‘t

meet a nicer aussie! he should have been an aussie! he should have been an aussie. dubbo has seen nothing like it for decades. one day, you feel sure, the duke and duchess will return. an inquisitive bear in the american mountain resort of west boulder, colorado has been caught on camera breaking into an unlocked and unoccupied van. the nosy bear got inside and eventually went round to the other side of the van and opened both of those doors as well. another good reason to remember to lock your car doors! he gets into the passenger seat. gets in. and realises it is a left—hand drive car. and decides to come back out. i don‘t know how long

these pictures last. here he comes, he comes back out, round the back and gets into the other side of the car. opens the door. still snowing. the door opens, he gets in. the bergen disappears. having left all the doors open. —— that their disappears. that‘s what they‘re as to when they are not in the forest. a good reason to remember to lock your car. there he goes. that is it from me. next the bbc news at five with huw edwards. a quiet autumn story across the country. some lovelies bowls of sunshine so far. here is one illustration of that, a beautiful scene illustration of that, a beautiful scene in east sussex. a little bit of cloud enough to produce some

drizzle. a week weather front moving steadily south and east. behind it, well broken cloud with sunny spells. clear skies through the evening allowing temperatures to fall away. keeping that weakening front, producing drizzle moving south—east. that genius and fog forming behind. it will be a chilly night in the far north of scotland particularly on the bridges down into low single figures. chilly but some sunshine to start the day thursday. high pressure building from the west. the quiet bean continues. the week weather front is, the quiet bean continues. the week weatherfront is, the mist quiet bean continues. the week weather front is, the mist and fog lifts. relatively sunny and temperatures peaking at around 11 to 16 degrees. that‘s it. enjoy your afternoon. today at 5: theresa may insists her brexit proposals are still alive, as she arrives in brussels for the eu summit. the prime minister will try to convince eu leaders to back her approach, when she addresses them later, before dinner. tonight, we will talk about the

progress we have made in salzburg. of course, there are issues with the northern ireland backstop. but i can believe we can solve these and achieve a deal. the eu has signalled that it achieve a deal. the eu has signalled thatitis achieve a deal. the eu has signalled that it is not prepared to compromise on the issues relating to the irish border. they say theresa may has already signed up to these. we will have the latest from question in brussels, we will speak toa question in brussels, we will speak to a german mp and a leading brexits supporter.