you're watching bbc newsroom live — it's11am, and these are the main stories this morning: debenhams posts record losses and plans to close up to 50 stores — putting 4,000 jobs at risk. i think it is not a surprise to our customers that customers are chopping less in our stores and more online, we are addressing the structural shift in the industry. president trump condemns the us media for their "endless hostility" and calls for greater civility in politics, after suspected explosives were posted to high—profile figures. the bbc comes under heavy criticism from mps on the issue of pay, as it's accused of failing in its duty to give staff equal pay and opportunities. the director of the cia is reported to have heard audio recordings of the the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. the annual poppy appeal is launched to commemorate

the centenary of the armistice — sunday november the 11th marks 100 years since the end of the first world war. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. debenhams has announced plans to close up to 50 stores across the uk, putting around 4,000 jobs at risk. the retailer says it's acting to strengthen its business after posting a massive annual loss of almost half a billion pounds. the closures will take place over a 3—5 year period. our business correspondent emma simpson has been speaking to debenhams chief executive, sergio bucher, about the company's plans. our business presenter victoria fritz is here. how significant are these losses for the retailer? it is not a surprise to our

customers that customers are shopping list and our stores are more online. we are shift in the industry. our plan is very simple, we wa nt industry. our plan is very simple, we want to have fewer but better stores, improve our shopping experience, grow our own business and we do that in a way that makes debenhams in more profitable business for our shareholders. you have been saying it will be penned by the last year and a bit, suddenly it has been expanded significantly to 15. what has changed or is it just the fact that you are finally grasped the nettle that you just have too much space? we have announced a five—year plan where we could close up to 250 stores, it will depend on the market develops, our own negotiation with the landlords. basically we want to get everything number of stores, the 50 due mention only represent 15% of

our turnover. how is this going to work? how many a yeah? how much are you depending on lease expiry? you do not have 50 leases expiring. how will you do this? landlords and retailers have a common interest. we need to make the high street and exciting place, and we have started conversations with our landlords and we prefer to have these conversations in a constructive way with our landlord partners. our business presenter victoria fritz is here. how significant are these losses for the retailer? just like this is a significant loss, the biggest loss in the company paused by 240 yen history. you have to remember the stock market values this company at just over 100 million, to make losses in one year of almost half a billion is

more than four times the value of the company itself, and frankly and simply the costs have gone one way and the sales have gone the other. this is the big problem they are facing. rumours have swirled around this business for quite some time, how healthy was it? house of fraser collapsed in august, speculation reaching fever page. you have to remember that investors, if you want to buy a share in the company, in january would have cost you £35, now you can pick it up for £10. people are betting against the fortunes of the company. they decided to bite the company. they decided to bite the bullet and reveal the true extent of their position so they have written down the value of their assets and explain how much debt they have, and i seem to be a big problem for them. the quickest way you can bring your the national housing order is to reduce your portfolio, reduce your property. we are talking about a significant

number of stores. you think it will be as many at that and how manyjobs could i work out at? we already know that pain stores are deftly going, 50 that they mention is an addition to the ten they have said, so we are talking about one in three debenhams across the uk closing down. the 50 number is interesting, the 4000 jobs figure associated with it. we do not know, there is no less, we don't know, there is no less, we don't know where the stores will go. it may be a bargaining chip, you heard from the boss saying he wants these discussions with landlords. have i went to a landlord and said, you might be one of the ones we will decide to close, how about you help me out? you might be inclined to reduce the rate that you charge me to be in your store because it is better to have someone in a big store like that to keep those high street opened additives to have no one in there. that number is interesting, we are not sure what the 50 is, and 4000 jobs, that would

be have a 3—5—year horizon. the 50 is, and 4000 jobs, that would be have a 3-5-year horizon. not easy for the landlords to pick up in the current climate. he has talked about fewer but better stores, are we going to see more in store experiences, the sort of thing that you cannot replicate online because clearly with trade going to watch online retailers, that is part of the problem? this is what the a lot of the big retailers are doing, becoming show home is all shown experiences, then the customers can buy them online. we have had the likes ofjon buy them online. we have had the likes of jon lewis buy them online. we have had the likes ofjon lewis announcing you can, one idea they thought about as having the store to yourself for the night. there are interesting ideas going on. a lot of speculation about whether or not this business might be taken over, the owner of sports direct owns already about 30% of the

shares and debenhams, already decided he will pile in on house of fraser after that collapsed in the summer. fraser after that collapsed in the summer. will we see perhaps then merging, we need to watch this space. what we know for sure is that though bricks and mortar stores are not dead yet, the little footprint that retail stomps upon the uk is certainly shrinking. —— the physical footprint. and we want to know what you think about this story — you can tweet us using the hashtag #bbcnewsroomlive or text us at 61124. president trump has criticised the us media and appealed to politicians to show greater civility after explosive devices were sent to high—profile democrats including barack 0bama and hillary clinton and the headquarters of the news channel cnn. none of the packages exploded. donald trump said the sending of the explosives was an attack on democracy. but his comments have been

criticised by senior democrats who say his words "ring hollow" because he has previously condoned violence "time and time again". 0ur washington correspondent, chris buckler reports. the package carrying these pipe bombs were addressed to some of america's best—known public figures. sent to the homes of, among others, former presidential candidate hillary clinton and former president barack 0bama, both democrats and both critics of the current president. donald j trump! donald trump was in wisconsin for a campaign rally. at these events he often attacks opponents with unmistakably aggressive language. the tone was markedly different. those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. he didn't take responsibility for any of his own past rhetoric.

in fact, he seemed to blame journalists. the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and often times false attacks. one of the packages was found at cnn. the envelope containing the explosive device had been addressed to the former cia director and media commentatorjohn brennan. he believes whatever the investigation uncovers, mr trump must take some blame. as far as a lot of this rhetoric, it really is counter—productive. it is un—american. it is what a president should not be doing. more packages were found at the mail centre in los angeles. while donald trump has warned others to watch their language, in this politically divided country many will be listening out to see if

the president takes his own advice. the bbc has been heavily criticised on the issue of equal pay by a group of mps. the culture select committee said the corporation was guilty of "opaque decision—making" and unequal treatment of women, and that proposed reforms to pay don't do enough to address underlying problems. 0ur media editor amol rajan reports. it was the culture select committee that grilled bbc bosses at the start of the year, when the case of carrie gracie, the corporation's former china editor, drew widespread condemnation. while their conclusions carry no legislative weight, the strength of the breadth of the criticisms are striking. the mps say the bbc‘s grievance procedures have been poor. they say there is still a shocking bias towards men when it comes to top pay. and they say the bbc should publish the top salaries of those paid out of its commercial arm, bbc studios. one of the biggest concerns we've had is, not just the fact there is this

discrepancy in pay, but that many women have found it incredibly frustrating and difficult to take these grievances up with the bbc. it's been a tortuous process and a long process, and some feel there is no end in sight to that. what we've said through our report is the commitment the bbc should give now is to say that, for the current complaints lodged with the bbc, they should now be resolved and settled within the next six months. the bbc says these findings are well out of date, that while there is still work to do on equal pay, its gender pay gap is lower than across the rest of the media and has fallen dramatically. and that it has gone radically further on transparency than most companies across all sectors. in the last year our gender pay gap is one of the lowest in the media in the uk, if not the lowest. it's come down in the last year by 20%. and we're the only organisation in the uk committed to getting our gender pay gap down to equal by the end of 2020. the bbc says it wants to set

the highest standards and is held to them. with many grievance procedures still outstanding, and some high earners leaving because they don't like the exposure, the big headache created by salary disclosure shows no sign of abating. amol rajan, bbc news. in the past hour, the bbc‘s former china editor carrie gracie has tweeted. .. joining me now isjennifer millins, partner at the law firm mishcon de reya. she has represented several women taking claims against the bbc. thank

you very much for your time today. i think it isn't cutting listening to what damian collins says, because he says women to take up equal pay claims in the bbc has been a tortuous process where no end in sight. that feeling seems to have informed the outcome of this report. yes, i think the wafer is the bbc has handled the complaints that it has handled the complaints that it has received, the numerous complaints, has been pretty appalling. it has added insult to injury for a lot of these women who are seeking answers around their pay discrepancy that they have seen. the idea that an organisation can take months if not running up to a year or more to resolve an internal dispute runs entirely contrary to the principles of employment law in this country. we have to remember

that as the report highlights, the bbc has held to a much higher duty of equality than other employers because it is a public sector, so it has public sector equality duties alongside its standard requirements. the bare minimum to pay men and women equally for equal work. the bbc does point out that compared to other media organisations, it has reduced the gender pay gap more. they also say that the report is out of date, what are your thoughts on that? both of those comments are very frustrating to me, they have been to carrie gracie, and will be for anyone who knows anything about the difference between equal pay and the difference between equal pay and the pay gap. we have all been saying for a long time the two things are distinct. the gender pay gap is your average pay, men and women across an organisation, it does not give an indication necessarily of whether

there is an equal pay problem, whether there is discrimination in pay between men and women. the bbc‘s insistence on the line on its gender pay gap, which is below average, is very frustrating for those who are looking at these cases and for the women themselves who are still feeling as though they are banging their heads against a brick wall. the report being out of date, it isn't. there are things that are being put in place at the bbc to address these issues, but many women still have complaints outstanding summer are still being fobbed off with internal processes that lead to more internal processes that lead to the appeals and do not give them an outcome. so they are rightly still very frustrated. you mention carrie gracieed treat which we show to our viewers, have you had another reaction from bbc women?” viewers, have you had another reaction from bbc women? i have seen a group who have said the report,

they highlighted the stations they feel about the lack of independent oversight in the audits that the bbc has put out. we have seen recently spent another lot of time on, which i really paid lip service and not dealt with the problem. it's about a lack of transparency, evasive tactics of the bbc, which is something the report highlights. the processes have been intractable throughout. they remain very frustrated and really i think eve ryo ne frustrated and really i think everyone is now very much hoping that the bbc will take these recommendations on board and act on them immediately, which is what the select committee's report requires of them in no uncertain terms. despite what do they need to do in terms of reforms to its pay structure, and can it move faster? you talk about examples where people feel frustrated at the length of time of the process, can it move faster? i very much hope so, it is a

large organisation, employment laws require it to deal with grievances, internal complaints swiftly and fairly. there has been nothing swift about the processes at the bbc. process up on processed in my view, a cynical attempt to block people down in an internal procedure rather than dealing with these complaints ina than dealing with these complaints in a transparent manner. transparency is a huge issue for the bbc, it says it does more than most organisations to publish pay data, that may be true, but the lack of trust that has been engendered by this scandal at the bbc meeting these bigger considerably further in order to get individuals who are working really hard within the corporation a sense of fairness and justice in this case. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news:

debenhams has posted record and losses assessable close up to 50 stores, putting 4000 jobs at risk. president trump has god an immediate stop endless hostility after the suspected expose of i posted a high profile us figures. a group of mps has accused the bbc failing in its duty to give staff equal pay and opportunities, saying it needs a more transparent pay structure. at mo salah back on the scoresheet, including his 50th goal in a 4—0 win in the camp is lead last night. spurs boss pochettino was less pleased, saying his side deserved to go out of the competition, gigolo rhys are read in their draw, which leaves them third na group. in

tennis, british number one carl edmonds, he is suited last 16 of the vienna open after his victory and will play fernando velazquez later. —— kyle edmund paperback with more on the story is just after 1130. the director of the cia is reported to have heard audio recordings of the the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. gina haspel is said to have listened to the material during a visit to turkey this week. 0ur turkey correspondent mark lowen is in istanbul. this has been reported by a couple of sources that gina haspel has heard this audio recording, what more can you tell us? the reports are in the washington post and the reuters news agency, that gina haspel was played these recordings during a trip to turkey this week. if that is the case then turkey has played its biggest cards as the

murder ofjamal played its biggest cards as the murder of jamal khashoggi, the recordings have been steadily leaked, details of them, to the turkish media to the past couple of weeks and they have numerous details alleged to expose the voices inside the consulate screaming, the torture ofjamal the consulate screaming, the torture of jamal khashoggi, the dismemberment of the body, all very graphic stuff. if that is now in the hands of the american government, turkey will expect that to be pretty ha rd turkey will expect that to be pretty hard proof of what went on and possibly even to trace a line of responsibility to the highest levels of the saudi state, even though at the moment the saudi government is still denying that anybody officially was involved in this, that these were rogue operators acting without authority. the crown prince said yesterday at the investment conference that those found responsible for this rebuilding crime, as he put it, will be punished. all this is key, this

audio recording undermining saudi donations, and of course what the usa might do with it. what does turkey have two —— hope to see next? playing into all of this is a regional conflict between turkey and saudi arabia, even though last night the heads of state had their first phone call since jamal khashoggi was murdered. there was plenty of bad blood between the two, they had been on opposite ends of regional politics, the crown prince has taken a stand against the islamists of the region, has outlawed in saudi arabia, and the turkish party is linked to the muslim brotherhood. a lot of speculation here that what tu rkey‘s lot of speculation here that what turkey's aim is the sidelining of the diminishing of the crown prince

influence, but the key to that is in washington and donald trump who is the closest ally of the crown prince, and if these tapes can be found to be indicating the saudi crown prince, then turkey will hope that that will provide the necessary impetus for the white house to wea ken impetus for the white house to weaken its support for the saudi state and by the crown prince himself. —— for the crown prince. let's return to the news that president trump has criticised the us media and appealed to politicians to show greater civility, after explosive devices were sent to high—profile democrats including barack 0bama and hillary clinton, and the headquarters of the news channel cnn. laura podesta from cbs news is in new york. before we look at those remarks from donald trump, i am not sure that you're seeing some reports, do not know what details you have, that the

bomb squad has been called to the tribeca area of new york, potentially to deal with another suspicious package was quite can you tell us? .edu miles south of where i am standing right now, nypd is on the scene of what we are being told is possibly a suspicious package, possibly at the home of american actor robert de niro. all of that is not confirmed as far as what has been found, if it was a package or some other sort of envelope or if it is connected to what was happening yesterday. —— moving on to how president trump ‘s bike remarks about the discovery of these suspicious packages, how they have gone down. this is the height of hypocrisy, they say, when he has directed so much vitriol at the media and had his political opponents. yes, absolutely, at a

rally in wisconsin last night, he was saying, the media is partly to blame for creating this hostility, but as we know, president trump has made some incredibly pointed remarks towards cnn, saying that cnn is the enemy of the people, calling newspapers and other television networks they can use. hypocritical isa networks they can use. hypocritical is a word that we will hear a lot today, especially after those remarks at the rally. in terms of the investigation into whoever is behind these attacks, clearly as none of the devices exploded, there's a lot of potential for forensic evidence that. absolutely, right now we only know of seven packages and only three of them contain pipe bombs. what the other four contained, the fbi has not yet released. we are really try to piece together more and more about this investigation as we hear from sources from federal investigators

as they combed the country and check surveillance video, check tcf there's anything that might point a certain person towards placing these packages in male containers, taking handwriting, looking through their list of suspects and getting that back to us. briefly, everything of course that is happening due to the prism of the upcoming mid—term elections. all sort of impact but this had? -- what sort? it will be interesting to find out when we see upcoming debates, if the kind of rhetoric will be a little more toned down. last night at the rally the president was saying, i am being nice, cant you tell? so will the town will this just be a blip and then we will see everything return to normal and hear those pointed, as was the opposite party? we have a

very contentious mid—term coming up injust two weeks. very contentious mid—term coming up in just two weeks. i don't think either party was to let down its guard and allow another party to go on the fence. i think it is going to ta ke on the fence. i think it is going to take a lot of compromise on both sides. —— on the fence. take a lot of compromise on both sides. -- on the fence. i think we can show you where bomb squad are just a few yards away from laura, outside the cnn building. the tribeca area of new york where there are reports of a suspicious package, laura reporting, unconfirmed suggestions that this package was being delivered to the home of the actor robert de niro. as you pointed out, that is unconfirmed. following on from the prime minister's 1922

committe meeting yesterday, the brexit secretary, dominic raab, has been answering questions in the house of commons this morning. mr raab said the uk and the eu are ‘close to agreeing a brexit deal‘ but there is always a risk of a no—deal. 0ur assistant political editor norman smith is in westminster. was anything new in what he had to say so far? what was striking was the very tough language we heard from him, accusing ve u of adopting a deliberately intra nsigent from him, accusing ve u of adopting a deliberately intransigent approach in the negotiations, and also pointing the finger of blame or accusation at the french and suggesting that in the event of no deal, they might try to introduce a deliberate go slow policy at the port of calais to snarl things up by suggesting british lorries would have to go to other ports, is a broker or elsewhere if they wanted to carry on to dover. that is a

serious threat, and one ministers have planned for, because the food industry and others have already expressed serious warnings about the impact ofany expressed serious warnings about the impact of any further delays along the calais dover route, because i think ahead of the region and bars has already suggested that there was a two minute delay, that could create laurie lies of up to 27 kilometres. dominic raab suggested that the french to decide to deliberately make it a go slow port. he is right to point to the risks of no deal, but the point is to have the planning and preparation in place to make sure that we can avoid or mitigate those risks, and addition to my earlier remarks, £8 million of funding for customs intermediaries. we also need to prepare for the worst—case scenario where the authorities at calais are

deliberately directing a go slow approach by supporting a live version of the blow to more amenable port in other countries. we've also been hearing from the labour shadow chancellor, john mcdonnell, ahead of next week's budget. what's he had to say? he was to rob is the idea which theresa may made the central headline of our party conference, posterity is about to end. john mcdonnell suggested that the chancellor would have to commit to reverse the car ‘s two universal credit, more money into a social care, credit, more money into a social ca re , reverse credit, more money into a social care, reverse the abandonment of nurse bursaries, and also set out what he believed the total bill for reversing posterity would come to. the afs has calculated that to halt the planned cuts in departmental spending would cost £90 billion by 2023. a further 7 billion of welfare cuts are planned on top of this. the resolution foundation estimated that

the ready planned cuts will cost even more. the real end of posterity is also notjust even more. the real end of posterity is also not just about halting future planned cuts, it is also about reversing the cuts inflicted on our community by the conservatives of the last eight years, eight hard years posterity. —— hard years of austerity. ata time at a time where money is short, but as this budget is going to be heard of any brexit deal means it will a very cautious budget. thank you very much. blue skies in westminster. let's check out the weather. blue skies across the south—east of england. lovely start to the day. we've got more cloud the further north you are and west you are,

western scotland, drizzle here this morning but that will intensify into some heavy rain during this afternoon. temperatures, not as high as yesterday. 13 to 15 celsius. through tonight, this area of rain will move south. it will break up. this is the transition to some really quite cold air that is going to sink southward across the uk overnight tonight. it originates from the arctic. temperatures will get down to three or four celsius. further south, seven to nine celsius. that cloud were clear. lots of sunshine developing. showers around coastal parts. the cold day for all of us. goodbye. hello this is bbc newsroom live.

the headlines: debenhams announces the closure of up to fifty stores, after making an annual loss of almost half a billion pounds. president trump is criticised for accusing the media of "endless hostility" after suspected explosives were posted to cnn and high—profile democrats including hilary clinton and barack 0bama the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and at often times false attacks and stories. mps say the bbc has "failed" on equal pay and needs a "more tra nsparent" pay structure. the director of the cia is reported to have heard audio recordings of the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. sport now, here's hugh woozencroft.

hello. liverpool bossjurgen klopp laughed of suggestions of a slump in form for his star man mohamed salah after last year's player of the season fired them to a 4—0 win over red star belgrade and to the top of their champions league group. the egyptian scored twice on the night bringing up his 50th goal for liverpool. it's taken just 65 matches to get there — that's a club record. klopp hopes that performance will answer the critics. i am not in doubt, he was not in doubt, but if you are constantly asked about it, then it is like, 0k, something obviously is wrong, people are not happy, whatever. that is how it is. you should not think about it. you should not constantly think about, how can i score again? tottenham manager mauricio pochettino says they don't deserve to be in the champions league, and only have themselves to blame after throwing away another late

lead — this time drawing at psv eindhoven. it was all going well when harry kane put spurs 2—1 ahead. but goalkeeper hugo lloris was sent off 10 minutes from time and the dutch side equalised. that leaves tottenham with just one point from their three group games and on the brink of elimination. england have moved up to 5th in the latest fifa men's world rankings — their highest position for five years. gareth southgate's men are unbeaten in all four games since reaching the semi finals at this summer's world cup, including victory over spain in the nations league last time out. wales move up a place to 18th while northern ireland drop six places to 34th. scotland are 40th with belgium top of the rankings. we saw tears of joy from kyle edmund, after he won his first atp title in antwerp at the weekend. and he's carried his run of good form into the vienna 0pen. he beat diego schwartzman

in straight sets, to earn a meeting with fernando verdasco this afternoon, for a place in the quarter—finals. and slone stephens has given the wta finals some real excitement — she beat kiki bertens to leave their group wide open. with wimbledon champion angelique kerber beating naomi 0saka in the other game, all four players can still qualify for the semi—finals or be knocked out — it all comes down to the last round of matches. england's matthew fitzpatrick and tommy fleetwood are in the mix after the first round on the world golf championships event in shanghai. american patrick reed leads the way but fitzpatrick is only three shots back on five under par. and european ryder cup star fleetwood's one shot further behind after he carded a four under par round of 68. mark cavendish has agreed a new deal with his cycling team that will take him into a leadership role. he's extended his contract with dimension data, and he'll be part of their new supervisory board.

cavendish hasn't raced since taking a break from the sport in august due to illness but still believes he can break the record for the number of tour de france stage wins. he has 30, four behind the great eddy merckx. double 0lympic champion max whitlock returns to action at the world gymnastics championships in doha later, with a point to prove after a disappointing commonwealth and european championships. he'll be leading the men's team, and is confident he can perform to his high standards this time. iam i am looking forward to getting back on the world stage. i am looking forward to getting back on the world stage. it i am looking forward to getting back on the world stage. it has i am looking forward to getting back on the world stage. it has been i am looking forward to getting back on the world stage. it has been a busy year. this is the last one to go. i cannot wait to get out there. we have a really strong team going ahead there and we have to give it our best shot. it is the first process and hopefully we will do a good job. that's all a good job. the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. thank you very much.

let's get more now on our top story — around 4,000 jobs at debenhams are at risk after the company announced plans to close 50 stores — around a third of its total sites. the department store group has posted annual losses of nearly half—a—billion pounds. let's get more on this with patrick 0'brien, uk retail research director at globaldata. thank you for coming along. losses of almost half £1 billion. take us through what debenham's liability is at the moment as it tries to find its way out of this. that is all about the stories for debenhams. they are going to cut 50 stores over the next three to five years. the liabilities are extremely high. these are a long leases. the average of the stories we have earmarked for closure is 17 years. the totals is in excess of £4 billion. it is going to be very difficult for it to

extricate itself from those leases. we have heard this a lot recently when we have talked about various well—known high street names that are running into financial difficulties and the cost of leases and discussions with landlords to try and decrease the liabilities, when you are talking up to 50 stores, do you think landlords might be persuaded to reduce the costs or to allow debenhams to get out of some of the leases early? it is very difficult. i think debenhams has been signalling for a couple of months that it wants to bring levels to the table and try and negotiate. it is easier said than done. those landlords will into the leases in good faith. the long—term lease, maybe prior to the big internet explosion. they said they entered it into good faith. why should they be the ones to take the head? if it should go to a cva in one year or

two, then you have been landlords together to take a cut. the cva is what? a company voluntary agreement. and that is when effectively all of the landlords agreed to gather that, 0k, these are the weak ones, these are the ones we have to take a hat on in terms of rent. before that you have entering into individual discussions with landlords. it is difficult for those landlords to say, we will take the hurt. it is using different mechanisms. they brought in advisers one week ago and others really saying it was imperative is they do this because stores will become loss—making because the trend is down words. the store are down every year over ten yea rs. store are down every year over ten years. some landlords might think it better, though, to have a business

running in the premises are no business at all and the property, and we are talking sizeable properties in the case of debenhams, lying empty. that is for the discussions. do you think debenhams has a clear vision? a clear way out of the situation? there has been talk of fewer and better stores. do you think debenhams can get to that point? it is very difficult. they opened their store of the future in watford, an impressive store, but it cost a lot of money. today they haven't announced they are cutting capital investment by half to 17 million in the next financial year. it is difficult to see where they are going to get the money to redesign the core 100 stories they say they will retain and invest in, to get them up to speed in time to really arrest the decline so they can turn this business around. 0k. very interesting to hear from you. thank you very much.

today sees the official launch of the 2018 poppy appeal. it's happening at six locations around the country, and at each location there will be messages from the first world war generation to reflect the centenary of the end of that war. the main launch is happening at greenwich in south east london, where lauren moss joins us from now. lauren. yes, this isjust one of a series of installations across the uk at launching today marking the start of this year's poppy appeal and 100 years since the end of the first world war and it is quite a sight to behold, six metres high and every pa rt sight to behold, six metres high and every part of this structure is symbolic. it is connected to the ground by a series of red threads, each of them with a message written by somebody who was affected by the first world war generation. to read one of them out to you. and 02 the first world war generation of children who shaped our world. ——

thank you. some very poignant messages. i am joined thank you. some very poignant messages. iam joined by thank you. some very poignant messages. i am joined by two people determine more about that. we will talk to alex 0wen. alex, tell me about the structure and how it came about. for the last five years all of our centenary activity has been about the fallen, quite rightly. in 2014 and all of the other stuff that has happened. this year, we are trying to ask the nation to member those who did not just sacrifice their lives but lived through the first world war. those who came back had to rebuild britain and the women who stayed at home and worked in munition factories and in hospitals. and think about the commonwealth as well, the people in the indian army came across and fought for us. tell me about the threads. it is supposed to be very symbolic showing how it is woven into today's society. each

of these threads are related to the theme of thank you. it is located with another location across the country. each thread weaves through the fabric of our nation, as did the war on hundred years ago. why is the p°ppy war on hundred years ago. why is the poppy appeal so important?m war on hundred years ago. why is the poppy appeal so important? it is hugely important. we are trying to raise £50 million, a record target. we can then give back to the serving community, past and present, and their families who have made outstanding contribution for us, as they deadwood hundred years ago in they deadwood hundred years ago in the first world war as well.|j they deadwood hundred years ago in the first world war as well. i am joined now by lewis. —— as we did 100 years ago. tell us about the conflict. my great-grandfather went in the british expeditionary force, the first force to encounter the germans. he thankfully survived the war which is why i am here today. there are so many other members of

my extended family, my great uncle ts, my extended family, my great uncle ‘s, three brothers in fact, that has not come back and even their sisters who married three brother in—laws who married three brother in—laws who did not come back as well. it is a very personal connection. but also as my position as the ambassador, remembering the international is a did not come back. the couple of yea rs did not come back. the couple of years ago you visited the northern france. what was the impact on yourself? they are such incredibly peaceful places. it is so impactful on you. i think you need to take time to wonder and take in everything that is going on. one of the biggest memories i had was taking over a group of young stu d e nts taking over a group of young students in cultures from different backgrounds, from scotland, ireland, wales and england and when they got there, realising that three of their a ncestors

there, realising that three of their ancestors were all commemorated in the same cemetery. it unites and makes you realise how the first world war connects us all to this day and how it is important to remember. it is 100 years since the first world war ended, why is it so important that this generation remember? it is that legacy piece, like with the poppies this year, 7 million going out that will have cold writing on the leaf itself. it is trying to connect the younger generation to the mistakes of the past, it is not forgetting, it is remembering and respecting those who served, but remember that mistakes we re served, but remember that mistakes were made so that we never end up in that situation again. thank you, lewis and alex. there are 14 other installations across the uk. they are on display to the public until monday the 29th. the uk's data watchdog has confirmed that it's fining

facebook £500,000 over the cambridge analytica scandal. the information commissioner's office has confirmed the fine after it said injuly it intended to impose the maximum penalty over the social media firm's failure to ensure that cambridge analytica deleted the data it had harvested from millions of users. the home office has been accused of a complete failure of leadership as police forces in england and wales struggle to cope. the home affairs select committee says the police service is at risk of becoming "irreleva nt" as neighbourhood teams are stripped back and many crimes go unsolved. the wife of a british academic, matthew hedges, who's being held on a spying charge by the united arab emirates has told the bbc that the foreign office has failed to offer adequate support. the phd student appeared in court in the uae yesterday. in a hearing that lasted about ten minutes, his lawyer asked for an adjournment for the court to consider his defence that the material retrieved from mr hedges' electronic devices is all publicly available and not secret. police say they are treating

the disappearance of a mother of five as a possible murder investigation. 46—year—old sarah wellgreen was last seen in the new ash green area of kent on the evening of october the 9th. hundreds of villagers have joined police and forensics teams in her search. in a moment we'll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. debenhams has posted record annual losses and said it will close up to 50 stores, putting 4,000 jobs at risk. president trump has called on the media to stop the endless hostility after suspected explosives were posted to high—profile us figures. a group of mps has accused the bbc of failing in its duty to give staff equal pay and opportunities, saying it needs a more transparent pay structure. i'm victoria.

in the business news... debenham's reports the biggest losses in its 240—year history and one of the largest ever by a major retailer in the uk. more on this injust a moment. as we've been hearing — half a million pound fine for facebook for what the data protection watchdog calles a serious breach of the law. the fine for the company's role in the cambridge analytica scandal is the maximum allowed under the old data protection law. meanwhile, the airline cathay pacific says the personal data of up to 9.4 million passengers have been compromised. passport numbers, email addresses and expired credit card details were among some of the data leaked. it is one of the biggest blows to the high street. debenhams has confirmed it is closing a further 50 stores. the location of the stores

is not yet known. nor the extent of thejob is not yet known. nor the extent of the job losses associated, although the job losses associated, although the bbc does believe around 4000 jobs are threatened. the retailer has announced its worst loss for 240 yea rs, has announced its worst loss for 240 years, four times the value of the company on the open market. maureen hinton is group research director at globaldata retail. they have bitten the bullet here, revealed the true extent, shall we say, of their financial position but what is really interesting is the icing the stories they want to close our profitable. what does that say about the internal forecast about the health of the high street? they would say they are profitable but they are forecasting they will not be in the future. they must have some idea what stories they are thinking of closing. do you think they are going to be able to close. as? it is not easy to get yourself out of the lease. it is going to be tough. it will be part of a whole negotiation way of doing things. it

is highlighting it wants to close 50 stores, so it will have to negotiate with the landlords. a lot of the stores will have long leases on them. to get out of the long leases will be costly. i am sure landlords will be costly. i am sure landlords will not want to have large empty spaces, because department stores to ta ke spaces, because department stores to take upa spaces, because department stores to take up a large space and they are called anchors. to have that empty would not be good. it is a bargaining chip. do you think that means that rates, which lots of retailers both big and small, are upset about. do you think they will be forced lower? this is what all retailers are hoping for when they see the budget next week. i think the rates, the business rates, contribute 30 billion to the economy. i think it is very difficult for politicians to give that back. they have got to find other ways of doing it and one way is to tax distribution centres,

those out—of—town warehouse is, rather than online taxing. but it is one of the significant costs that is contributing to retailers was at the moment. now, big stories you mentioned like debenhams, they act like life rafts. the attract fit stock. we have heard lots of closures, the collapse of house of fraser over the summer and we do not know what is going to happen they are. we have one in three debenhams stores, pretty much, we think losing over the next five years. what does this mean for a retailers further down the food chain? 0ne this mean for a retailers further down the food chain? one of the things we start with the collapse of the house of fraser is so many other retailers who are supplying as concessions were impacted. retailers who are supplying as concessions were impactedm retailers who are supplying as concessions were impacted. it is integrated across the whole retail spectrum. i think there is going to be shrinkage. what is happening at the moment is all those casualties are contributing to the growth of the ones that are left because

spending that we would have spent are going to other retailers and supermarkets. i think we are not spending more, and the survivors are living off the those that have left the market. yes, a very predatory business, isn't it? one of the things we are curious about is how debenhams are going to improve the store offering, the ones they are trying to keep on, when it looks like the investment budget, in the numbers are released today, is actually going down. it is not necessarily bode well for the rest of the stories or the people who work there. no, it does not bode well. the watford store had a significant investment from the landlord to upgrade it, to become the store of the future. hopefully, i would say that is part of their negotiation that they are trying to get landlords to contribute to investment in their stories so that they can remain open. whether that is part of the strategy is just

speculation. thank you very much. and in other business news. shares in wpp have fallen as much as 22% after the advertising giant warned that growth in the business is slowing. the firm, whose former boss sir martin sorrell stepped down in april after a scandal, reported lower—than—expected third quarter sales and slashed its full—year outlook. bt has named philipjansen as its new chief executive the telecoms group seeks to revive its fortunes. he replaces gavin patterson, who is stepping down after the company said a change of leadership was needed. quantas has posted record first quarter revenues, as higher airfares helped offset rising fuel costs. that rise of the back of oil prices. the australia airline saw revenues for the period increase 6%. let's have a look at the markets and the numbers. a bit of a slowdown in

client spending. that is behind a massive fall in shares. they were down about 22% earlier, they have recovered some ground but still not great. when it comes to this business here, this is an insurance is missed, they other struggling with greater con to the competition. debenhams shares up significant at the moment, just under £10. at 15% because it is reducing its cost in the business, as it reduces the store for you. that is good news for investors if there are a few costs in the business, hopefully looking to stabilise that ship. the ftse is currently flat. just up two points. that's all the business news. thank you very much. a celebrity hunter who provoked anger after posting pictures of dead wild goats and sheep she'd just shot

on the scottish island of islay says she is leaving social media for two weeks after receiving death threats. american tv presenter larysa switlyk posted a picture of herself smiling behind the wild goat online. the scottish government said responsible and appropriate culling of some wild animals, including deer and goats, is not illegal, but the local member of the scottish parliament has called for the practice to be stopped immediately. a warning that some viewers may find some of the images in rebecca curran's report upsetting. it's game face time. welcome to my office. la rysa switlyk larysa switlyk describes herself as a hard—core hunter, posting her programme here, she took a trip to scotla nd programme here, she took a trip to scotland recently. it is these images posted on line by larysa switlyk who are causing quite a star. the show her posing with a goat she apparently curled an islay, others show higher in camouflage

with a rifle. i think for every person that will find this an attractive image, they will be a thousand more will be repelled and horrified. it is unacceptable and should not be happening. i have raised the issue and i know people are outraged by it. celebrities including wreckage of these antennas coach 2—d murray have condemned the pictures. —— various celebrities have condemned the pictures. to resemble contributes millions per year, £69 million of that and the bulk of that comes on in the bottom. rural economies that are struggling with other forms of two resemble benefit from wealthy tourists coming from that time of year. it is easy to see why tourists flock to islay.

several companies offer the opportunity to shoot goats on the island and other parts of the uk. la rysa switlyk island and other parts of the uk. larysa switlyk did not respond to requests for comment today. rebecca curran reporting there. in a moment the weather, but first let's look at some of the most striking images of the day. remember the picture of a suspected thief in blackpool who bore an uncanny resemblance to the actor david schwimmer? well, the friends actor has an alibi, and he's posted a video to prove it. he took to twitter recreating the pose of the suspect carrying a crate of beer in a supermarket. he said "officers, i swear it wasn't me. as you can see, i was in new york. to the hardworking blackpool police, good luck with the investigation." you're watching bbc newsroom live. now it's time for a

look at the weather. we have some big changes in the weather over the next 24 hours. as for today, the last of the quiet days. sunshine at the moment across eastern areas of england, the south—east of scotland as well. brea ks south—east of scotland as well. breaks in the cloud as well. 0therwise, quite cloudy. rain intensified across the north and west of scotland. temperatures down on yesterday. her team to 15 celsius. starting to feel chilly air. it is set to get colder tonight. this area of rain that will continue to move south. it will break up. that is the band of the darker blue, the cold a streaming in from the arctic. right across the uk as we go into friday morning.

temperatures across northern parts, around eight or nine celsius in the south. the rainbow disappear. sunshine developing on friday. showers on coastal areas. the big drop for the temperatures. goodbye. you're watching bbc newsroom live — these are today's main stories: debenhams posts record losses and plans to close up to 50 stores — putting 4,000 jobs at risk. president trump condemns the us media and calls for greater civility in politics, after suspected explosives were posted to high—profile figures. police in new york are investigating another the bbc comes under heavy criticism from mps on the issue of pay — as it's accused of failing in its duty to give staff equal pay and opportunities. the director of the cia is reported to have been

played audio recordings of the interrogation and killing of the journalist jamal khashoggi in the saudi consulate in istanbul. and the annual poppy appeal is launched to commemorate the centenary of the armistice — sunday november the 11th marks 100 years since the end of the first world war. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. —— good — — good afternoon. debenhams has announced plans to close up to 50 stores across the uk, putting around 4,000 jobs at risk. the retailer says it's acting to strengthen its business — after posting a massive annual loss of almost half a billion pounds. the closures will take place over a three—to—five year period. our business correspondent emma simpson has been speaking to debenhams chief executive, sergio bucher

about the company's plans. it is not a surprise to any of our customers that customers are shopping less at our stores and more online. we are addressing the structural shift in the industry. our plan is very simple, we want to have fewer but better stores, improve our shopping experience, grow our online business and we do that in a way that makes debenhams a more profitable business for our shareholders. you have been saying it will be ten for the last year and a bit, suddenly it has been expanded significantly to 15. what has changed or is itjust the fact that you are finally grasped the nettle that you just have too much space? we have announced a five—year plan where we could close up to 50 stores, it will depend on how the market develops, our own negotiation with the landlords. basically we want to get a reasonable number of stores, the 50

we mentioned only represents 15% of our turnover. how is this going to work? how many a year? how much are you depending on lease expiry? you do not have 50 leases expiring. how will you do this? landlords and retailers have a common interest. we need to make the high street an exciting place, and we have started conversations with our landlords and we prefer to have these conversations in a constructive way with our landlord partners. our business presenter victoria fritz is here. almost half £1 billion, a huge amount of money. break that down for us. amount of money. break that down for us. how on earth do you might lose most have billion pounds when your

company is only worth just over 100 million, so these are huge losses that we have. how significant are these losses for the retailer? what they have done has really bitten the bullet. there was the speculation about the health of this business, about how good some of these loans were, how much they were spending on debt, all those things. they have decided to look at their assets and work—out how valuable these things are and what they have done is written down the value, a lot of the things they own in terms of it systems, all sorts of things. the number comes in at this whopping great figure here, that we have seen far too often 40 years of this business in operation. a huge number, really significant for this firm. it does put a floor under some of the speculation that we have seen, the share price has risen so investors think that they at least know where they stand. that figure

of up to 50 stores closing, could it really be that many? how manyjob losses ? really be that many? how manyjob losses? at the moment we know they have 106 device stores across the uk. they have said today that 50 more will close, in addition to another ten that they said earlier in thejail another ten that they said earlier in the jail would close. that takes it, one in three debenhams across the uk, right up and down the country. they will disappear. that is huge, a huge number. we do not know which stores, and we're not entirely sure on the numbers in terms ofjobs affected. we believe something along the lines of 4000 jobs will be at risk over this 3—5 year period where they will start to shut these stores down. emma alluded to it, they have only got 25 leases up to it, they have only got 25 leases upfor to it, they have only got 25 leases up for renewal in the next five

yea rs. up for renewal in the next five years. there is no guarantee that the 25 up for renewal on the 25 they wa nt to the 25 up for renewal on the 25 they want to lose the 50, so there is some interesting and hard negotiation table do with landlords, and with the retail expert earlier, there is this issue around, do you wa nt there is this issue around, do you want a big store empty if you're a landlord? ideally want someone in it but at a reduced rate? it is possible but not so many stores close, or they all do. we do not know at this stage. as to the future, if debenhams manages to find its way through this, what would the viewer and better stores that the boss was talking about look like? the whole idea now is experiential shopping. if we are not spending so much in stores and are more likely to spend online, perhaps what people do is see these as more like showrooms, but it is difficult to know where the money will come from because the numbers today state that investment in stores is going to reduce. police in new york are

investigating another suspicious package similar to the ones sent to top us democrats earlier this week. the item was sent to the tribeca grill, in new york city, which is owned by the actor, robert de niro. at least eight such packages were sent to prominent sites and people inlcuding barack 0bama and hillary clinton. the new york headquarters of cnn were evacuated on wednesday after a device was sent to one of its contributors. we didn't show you the live shot now, because as b understand that, this device which we believe has not exploded, bomb squad officers have examined that and we believe it is being removed in some sort of specialist vehicle. we do not know the other end has been entirely

defused partially diffused of what the scenario is, but this suspicious item is being taken away in this convoy for further examination or disposal. because none of the other packages have exploded, forensic experts will have quite a lot of material to work with as they try to progress this investigation and discover who is behind the sending of the suspicious packages. that is the live feed coming to us from new york right now. president trump has criticised the us media and appealed to politicians to show greater civility saying the sending of the explosives was an attack on democracy. but his comments have been criticised by senior democrats who say his words "ring hollow" because he has previously condoned violence "time and time again".

0ur washington correspondent, chris buckler reports. the package carrying these pipe bombs were addressed to some of america's best—known public figures. sent to the homes of, among others, former presidential candidate hillary clinton and former president ba rack 0bama, both democrats and both critics of the current president. donald j trump! donald trump was in wisconsin for a campaign rally. at these events he often attacks opponents with unmistakably aggressive language. the tone was markedly different. those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. he didn't take responsibility for any of his own past rhetoric. in fact the president seemed to blame journalists. the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant

negative and often times false attacks. one of the packages was found at cnn. the envelope containing the explosive device had been addressed to the former cia director and media commentatorjohn brennan. he believes whatever the investigation uncovers, mr trump must take some blame. as far as a lot of this rhetoric, it really is counter—productive. it is un—american. it is what a president should not be doing. hours after the discovery of packages on america's east coast, more packages were found at a mail centre in los angeles. while donald trump has warned others to watch their language, in this politically divided country many will be listening out to see if the president takes his own advice. the director of the cia

is reported to have heard audio recordings of the the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. gina haspel is said to have listened to the material during a visit to turkey this week. also, in the past hour, saudi arabia state tv has said that a joint saudi—turkish task force has established that the murder was premeditated — and not an accident as the saudi government had earlier claimed. well, our correspondent tim willcox is in riyadh. let's begin with this development of the establishment of a joint saudi turkish investigation. tell us more. tell us more. the saudis have said they would work

in conjunction with the turks, that has taken some time to formulate. the latest development that is interesting, off the back of gina haspel who actually is a tricky speaker, she has spent several days with the turks, going through the evidence that they have. we did not know that a tape existed, the turks had alluded to it, the turkish media had, if that is the case gina haspel would have heard that the battle upgraded to donald trump is my comments over the past 24 hours also. he said it was the worst cover—up in history. at the same time, in the last hour, we have heard that the crown prince has held a meeting of the general intelligence committee to talk about restructuring that. in terms of the material changes, you can see that things are moving and that probably some scapegoats will be offered up.

ido some scapegoats will be offered up. i do not think you can say that the crown prince himself will be included in all of this, because he is actually leading the investigation, he is in charge, but certainly the actual structure of these investigations is now under way. the number of attacks on prisoners and prison staff in england and wales has increased to another record high. the figures cover the 12 months to the end ofjune, where there were over 32,000 attacks overall — up 20% on the year before. assaults on staff rose 27%. urgent action is needed to halt a decline in the performance of the nhs in scotland — that's the warning from the scottish public spending watchdog. a new "audit scotland" report says that there are increasing staff problems, rising drug costs and a maintenance backlog with fewer resources at its disposal. the scottish government said it was already taking forward

recommendations with increases in frontline staffing. more on today's main stories coming up on newsroom live here on the bbc news channel, but now we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. here's some of todays other main stories: the uk's data watchdog has confirmed that it's fining facebook £500,000 over the cambridge analytica scandal. the information commissioner's office has confirmed the fine after it said injuly it intended to impose the maximum penalty over the social media firm's failure to ensure that cambridge analytica deleted the data it had harvested from millions of users. the home office has been accused of a "complete failure of leadership" as police forces in england and wales struggle to cope. the home affairs select committee says the police service is at risk of becoming "irreleva nt"

as neighbourhood teams are stripped back and many crimes go unsolved. police say they are treating the disappearance of a mother of five as a possible murder investigation. 46—year—old sarah wellgreen was last seen in the new ash green area of kent, on the evening of october the 9th. hundreds of villagers have joined police and forensics teams in her search. the headlines on bbc news: debenhams has posted record annual losses and said it will close up to 50 stores, putting 4,000 jobs at risk. president trump has called on the media "to stop the endless hostility," after suspected explosives were posted to high—profile us figures. meanwhile police in new york are investigating another suspicious package — sent to a restaurant owned by the actor robert de niro. sport now.

good afternoon. england have moved up to 5th in the latest football world rankings — their highest position for five years. gareth southgate's team have made a good start to the nations league. including victory over spain last time out. wales move up a place to 18th while northern ireland drop down to 34th. scotland are 40th with belgium top of the rankings. liverpool bossjurgen klopp laughed off suggestions of a slump in form for mo salah after he helped them to a 4—nil win over red star belgrade and to the top of their champions league group. the egyptian has been less prolific in front of goal this season but scored twice on the night bringing up his 50th goal for liverpool. it's taken just 65 matches to get there — that's a club record. klopp hopes that performance will answer the critics. i am not in doubt, he was not in doubt, but if you are constantly asked about it, then it is like, 0k, something obviously is wrong, people are not happy, whatever.

that is how it is. you should not think about it. you should not constantly think about, how can i score again? tottenham manager mauricio pochettino says they don't deserve to be in the champions league, and only have themselves to blame after throwing away another late lead — this time drawing at psv eindhoven. it was all going well when harry kane put spurs 2—1 ahead. but goalkeeper hugo lloris was sent off 10 minutes from time and the dutch side equalised. that leaves tottenham with just one point from their three group games and on the brink of elimination. england's matthew fitzpatrick and tommy fleetwood are in the mix after the first round of the world golf championships event in shanghai. american patrick reed leads the way but fitzpatrick is only three shots back on five under par. and european ryder cup star fleetwood is one shot further behind after he carded a four under par round of 68. tour de france organisers have revealed the route

for the 2019 race. calling it the ‘highest in history'. the event will include a record 30 mountain passes and five summit finishes. brussells hosts the grand depart on the 6th ofjuly, but the riders face a gruelling final week..with a finish at more than 2000 feet in the pyrenees, then two more at that altitude in the alps, with the final ride into paris on the 28th. geraint thomas will be the defending champion after winning his first tour this year. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. the bbc has been heavily criticised on the issue of equal pay by a group of mps. the culture select committee said the corporation was guilty of "opaque decision—making" and unequal treatment of women and that proposed reforms to pay don't do enough to address underlying problems. 0ur media editor, amol rajan reports. it was the culture select committee that grilled bbc bosses at the start of the year, when the case of carrie gracie, the corporation's former

china editor, drew widespread condemnation. while their conclusions carry no legislative weight, the strength of the breadth of the criticisms are striking. the mps say the bbc‘s grievance procedures have been poor. they say there is still a shocking bias towards men when it comes to top pay. and they say the bbc should publish the top salaries of those paid out of its commercial arm, bbc studios. one of the biggest concerns we've had is, not just the fact there is this discrepancy in pay, but that many women have found it incredibly frustrating and difficult to take these grievances up with the bbc. it's been a tortuous process and a long process, and some feel there is no end in sight to that. what we've said through our report is the commitment the bbc should give now is to say that, for the current complaints lodged with the bbc, they should now be resolved and settled within the next six months. the bbc says these findings are well out of date, that while there is still work to do on equal pay, its gender pay gap is lower than across the rest of the media and has

fallen dramatically. and that it has gone radically further on transparency than most companies across all sectors. in the last year our gender pay gap is one of the lowest in the media in the uk, if not the lowest. it's come down in the last year by 20%. and we're the only organisation in the uk committed to getting our gender pay gap down to equal by the end of 2020. the bbc says it wants to set the highest standards and is held to them. with many grievance procedures still outstanding, and some high earners leaving because they don't like the exposure, the big headache created by salary disclosure shows no sign of abating. amol rajan, bbc news. the bbc‘s former china editor carrie gracie has tweeted. .. joining me now is caroline

underhill, head of equal pay at thompson solicitors. letter to one of those criticisms from the committee of mps saying that the bbc is not a 0pec decision making on the issue of equal pay. if that something you find across—the—board in many businesses and industries? it is very common, particularly in organisations that do not have clear grading structures. and published pay systems. so what does the bbc need to do with this criticism? what can and do differently? it can talk to its staff and in particular the nuj, its staff and in particular the nuj, it can speed up its grievance process and, in the process of the

grievance, be more open about the possibility that mistakes had been made. and when you have damian collins, the chair of the committee, saying that the process has been tortuous for women, who wanted to ta ke tortuous for women, who wanted to take equal pay claims with very little end in sight, can the bbc do more to get anyone taking a claim or making a claim a date by which the process will be finished, or is patently not possible? process will be finished, or is patently not possible ?|j process will be finished, or is patently not possible? i do not know what the position of the bbc is on that, but certainly the nuj are saying yes, completed in six months. ayes and why do some cases take longer? i don't know why they are taken as long as they have, it has been an incredibly difficult process. it has been bred difficult to get to the bottom of why people

are paid what they are. there is huge resistance in the bbc to accept that men and women are doing equal work and that comparators are legitimate. —— comparisons are legitimate. —— comparisons are legitimate. there is huge resistance to the possibility that gender has influenced decision—making. despite the previous guest said, we sometimes hear the phrase gender pay gap referred to, but when we talk about that, we not in zalatoris about that, we not in zalatoris about the same thing as equal pay. no, this whole conversation and the report is about equal pay for work of equal value. it is not about the gender pay gap, which is about the structure of pay from the bottom to the top. the committee also said that the new pay reforms have serious shortcomings, that the bbc is very to live up to his duty under

the equality act to advise equal opportunity for women. those are two very serious things for the committee to say to the bbc. what is the bbc need to do to address those points specifically? they need to be much more open about the steps that they are taking to achieve equality. they have said that they are prepared to be held to the higher standards. tell us what you are doing and when you will be doing it. thank you very much for your time. we're just seen a tweet by the us president in relation to the sending ofa number of president in relation to the sending of a number of suspicious packages with explosives to cnn and democratic politicians, and police in new york investigating another suspicious package sent to a restau ra nt suspicious package sent to a restaurant owned by the actor robert de niro, that is on building as we

speak. donald trump says... you will be well aware that the president, when he spoke at a rally yesterday and said that the media was part of the problem, lots of people said that he was hypocritical to do so. given the vitriol that he himself has directed at political opponents and the media, but that criticism does not seem to have made an impression on the president, because it looks, with this tweet, that he has double down on blaming the media. let mejust that he has double down on blaming the media. let me just repeat that feat to you. it is caught by the

false and inaccurate reporting of the mainstream media that i refer to as they can use. —— i refer to as fa ke as they can use. —— i refer to as fake news. quite a people will be saint pats the president needs to do that as well in terms of the language that he uses, but very interesting that he has chosen to double down that criticism rather than perhaps adjust the comments he made at that rally yesterday. today sees the official launch of the 2018 poppy appeal. it's happening at six locations around the country, and at each location there will be messages from the first world war generation to reflect the centenary of the end of that war. 0ne one of 0ne ofa one of a series of installations marking the poppy appeal and 100

yea rs marking the poppy appeal and 100 years to the end of the first world war, and it is quite a sight to behold. six metres high and every pa rt behold. six metres high and every part of this poppy structure is symbolic. it is connected to the ground by a series of red thread, each with a message written by someone each with a message written by someone who was affected by that first world war generation. just to read one of them, if i can see it, thank you to the first world war generation of children who shape our world. some brave poignant messages, and that is the point of this year ‘s appeal. i am joined by two people ican ‘s appeal. i am joined by two people i can tell me more. alex 0wen from the royal british legion, tell me about this structure and how it came about. for the last five years, all of our centenary activity has been about the fallen, with the poppies in the moat that incredible team and all the other stuff that has happened. this year we had tried to ask the nation to remember those that did not sacrificed their lives but lived through the first world war. the 80% of people who came back

had to rebuild britain as well as all the women who stayed at home in the right to vote, worked in munitions factories, nurses in hospitals that the wounded. and the commonwealth, 1.5 million indian army who came across and fought for us army who came across and fought for us in europe. miller mac tell me about the the reds that we can see connecting it. each of these threads are related to one of the six teams of thank you, had each is geographically orientated with another across the country. why is the poppy appeal some imported? we are trying to raise £50 million this year, a record target, because we can then get back to the serving community, past and present, and their families will start as they bid any first world war.|j their families will start as they bid any first world war. i am joined by lewis moody, england rugbyjunior

world champion. you have personal connection to the first world war. my great—grandfather wet and served with the british expeditionary force in 1914 with the british expeditionary force in1914 and with the british expeditionary force in 1914 and was one of the first regiments to encounter the germans during battle. he survived the war, which is why i am here, but so many other members of my steady family, the brothers in fact, that did not come back. even their sisters who married three brothers—in—law who did not come back, if a personal connection, but from my position as an ambassador, remembering the 27th included the national that also did not come back. you also visited the 70s and northern france where so many of the following are remembered. what was the impact like of that? there is such a credible

peaceful places, it is so compatible on you, you need tojust peaceful places, it is so compatible on you, you need to just take peaceful places, it is so compatible on you, you need tojust take time to wonder and take in everything thatis to wonder and take in everything that is going on. one of the biggest memories i have is a group of young students and coaches from different backgrounds and actually when they got there are realising that three of their ancestors were all commemorated in the same cemetery, so commemorated in the same cemetery, so it unites and makes you realise how the first world war connects us all to this day and how important it is to remember. it is 100 years since it ended, why do you think it is so important that the younger generation remember and about what happened? it is the legacy, the poppies this year, 7 million, girls writing emblazoned on the lease, it is trying to connect that younger generation to the mistakes of the

past, not forgetting, wearing the poppy past, not forgetting, wearing the poppy with pride to remember and respect those who served and to rememberthe respect those who served and to remember the mistakes that were made so remember the mistakes that were made so that we do not ever end up in that situation again. there are 14 other installations across the uk on display to the public until monday the 29th. the duke and duchess of sussex have arrived in fiji's western coastal town of nadi as their official royal tour of australia and the south—pacific continues. prince harry unveiled a statue commemorating a british—fijian soldier who died in the 1972 battle of mirbat, at an event attended by the country's president and members of the armed forces. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello. we are in for a bit of a shock as far as the weather goes. it was quite cold this morning if you we re was quite cold this morning if you were out early. it looks like over

the coming days, we have the coldest speu the coming days, we have the coldest spell of weather on the way since around april. it is going to feel very chilly across the uk. this is what the middle of the afternoon will look like, still relatively mild. 12 or13 will look like, still relatively mild. 12 or 13 celsius. scotland is already at eight celsius this afternoon. this is the cold front, the wind changes direction, cold air invades and by the end of the night, it is for celsius the across the northern part of the uk, snow showers across the mountains and the northerly wind sets and tomorrow. plenty of sunny spells and hit and miss showers. by the time ago to saturday, single figure temperatures right down to the south coast and the real... good afternoon. the for you... the

headlines... debenhams announces the closure of up to fifty stores, after making an annual loss of almost half a billion pounds. president trump is criticised for accusing the media of "endless hostility" after suspected explosives were posted to cnn and high—profile democrats including hilary clinton and barack 0bama. the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and at often times false attacks and stories. police in new york are also investigating another suspicious package sent to a restaurant owned by the actor robert de niro. mps say the bbc has failed on equal pay and needs a "more tra nsparent" pay structure the director of the cia is reported to have heard audio recordings of the murder of the journalist jamal khashoggi inside the saudi consulate in istanbul. the home secretary,

sajid javid, has apologised to people wrogly forced to take dna tests to prove they were entitled to settle in britain. mrjavid told mps in the house of commons that relatives of gurkhas and afghan nationals employed by the uk government were among those affected. with me now is our home affairs correspondent, daniel sandford. daniel, this statement comes at the end of the review, doesn't it? that's right. this problem first arrived in june, that's right. this problem first arrived injune, that people had to ta ke arrived injune, that people had to take a dna test, which is completely against home office policy. the home secretary ordered a review at what had been going on and he hasjust updated the house of commons on the result of that review. it identified three areas in the last couple of yea rs three areas in the last couple of years where people have been sent

letters saying they have to take dna tests. 0ne letters saying they have to take dna tests. one was an antifraud campaign, which started back in april 2016, campaign, which started back in april2016, it campaign, which started back in april 2016, it appears that 83 letters were sent out to people saying we had to have dna tests. 83 people had their applications refused, and seven of those people had though application refused only because they refuse to take this dna test that they had been told about. people had their applications refused because they were doing something become offers were not allowed to ask them to do. there we re allowed to ask them to do. there were two other areas, the areas of gurkhas, families trying to join relatives in the uk. for people might have had their applications refused because they refuse to take a dna test. and people who worked with the british military in

afghanistan were also sent letters saying they had to have dna tests, which was an incorrect thing to have happened. do we know of any of those who refuse to take the dna tests have had to leave the uk as a result? we do not know whether they have had to leave the uk, or in the process of appeals, but we did have their initial applications refused. they may not have been allowed to come to the uk as a result of that. sajid javid is concerned about this because it plays into this idea of a hostile environment for immigration and the home office, as it does have times —— as it has sometimes been described. is that this is something that should have not happened. he says provision of dna testing should a lwa ys says provision of dna testing should always be voluntary and not be mandatory stop in some cases where dna evidence were made a requirement, and not simply a

request and he apologised to all of those concerned. he has also ordered a further review now within the home 0ffice a further review now within the home office of how it is these kind of things seem to be recurrently happening. he has set up a task force and is a telephone number available for people to phone up and try and get the case resolved if they feel they have been victims, as it were, of this incorrect scheme. and you mention the phrase hostile environment. when you take this and windrush, the government has a lot of concerns about how it is being seen over of concerns about how it is being seen over its handling of this. we are very, very sensitive about it. the regret the phrase hostile environment was ever used by the then home secretary theresa may. this seems to have been certain sections of the home office where the desire to make sure people were not abusing the system, ended up

with people having absolute rights to live in the uk, in the case of the windrush case, or it to have the right to have the application considered without the dna tests, i think these cases, huge unfairness we re think these cases, huge unfairness were creeping in because of this hostile environment policy. thank you very much. almost eight months after the poisoning in salisbury of the former russian spy sergei skripal, the bbc has new evidence about the extent to which he'd been briefing foreign intelligence agencies before the attempt on his life. far from living quietly in retirement, skripal had been travelling extensively across europe and to the united states providing information to western security services about russian intelligence, including its alleged links with the mafia. richard galpin has been investigating. sergei skripal, a colonel in russia's military intelligence agency the gru,

who betrayed his country, was brought to britain in 2010 and a spy swap. so why were he and his daughter attacked eight years later? perhaps part of the reason lies here in the czech capital prague. this is the first place where it was revealed he had been actively assisting european and other western intelligence agencies. sources here tell me that czech secret services were in a battle with russian spies operating in the country, claiming they were trying to subvert the czech government. so intelligence experts say the insights mr skripal provided into the workings of russian military intelligence were important. given the track record of mr skripal, i could imagine he would be very valuable. i am not aware if there would be any more interesting defectors right now in the hands of the intelligence. while it is not unusual

for defectors like skripal to brief the intelligence services of allied countries, a well—placed source said czech intelligence officers possibly did ask him for names of russian spies operating in the country. this seniorjournalist believes sergei skripal still had relevant information. he was working in a high—level position, he still had the knowledge about the guys from gru who are all over europe. so he would have known names, exactly what they were doing? most likely he had the information about the guys who are still working for gru. if he had been uncovering russian spies, that could have been a motive for moscow trying to kill him. but one source here in prague told me that czech intelligence officers were also interested in what he knew about russian organised crime and said that mr skripal was planning to produce analysis about it. my source said that potentially could have been part of the reason why mr skripal was eventually attacked. this is spain, another at least

five countries skripal is believed to have travelled to in recent years. the costa del sol has been a favoured location for a russian mafia, who have been accused of money—laundering and links with moscow officials. i was told skripal‘s planned analysis on the russian mafia and its alleged links with russian intelligence agencies was to be shared with the spanish secret services. so if skripal visit was about russian organised crime, they would be a parallel with the former russian alexander litvinenko, who worked for m16 and spanish intelligence on the issue, but was murdered before he could give evidence to spanish prosecutors. translation: the litvinenko and skripal case are almost identical. if litvinenko helps the british, spanish and other secret

services, he is an enemy of the russian government and they decide to silence him. the story is repeated with sergei skripal, the exact same thing happens. proving these theories is extremely difficult but sergei skripal was far more active than expected from an intelligence officer who betrayed his country and had been allowed to settle in britain as part of a spy swap, which would normally mean a very quiet life. let's return to the news that president trump has criticised the us media — and appealed to politicians to show greater civility after explosive devices were sent to high—profile democrats including barack 0bama and hillary clinton and the headquarters of the news channel cnn. the president was criticised for being hypocritical, by some, but he has doubled down on the media by another tweet issued. let's get the latest now. laura podesta from cbs news is in new york. she is close to the restaurant owned

by robert dini wrote where bomb squad officers were dealing with another suspicious package. i think it has been taken away now. yes, thatis it has been taken away now. yes, that is right. earlier we were talking when i was up by cnn, that is because another package with a suspected height bomb was addressed to the actor, and his restaurant. that happened at around five o'clock this morning. we know security personnel, they cold the new york police department and they had this suspicious package on their hands. that package was taken to a more secure location to be analysed about one hour and secure location to be analysed about one hourand a secure location to be analysed about one hour and a half area. this area is secure and that is why you see traffic and the road has been reopened behind me. laura, thank you for that update. just to update you

as well, we are hearing from cbs news that a suspicious package sent to the former vice presidentjoe biden has been intersected at a post office. the security services had said they were working on the understanding that another suspicious package had been sent to the former vice presidentjoe biden and confirmation from cbs news that and confirmation from cbs news that a suspicious package sent to mr biden has been intersected at a postage facility in delaware. another suspicious package sent to the restaurant has been taken away. the headlines on bbc news... debenhams has posted record annual losses and said it will close up to 50 stores, putting 4,000 jobs at risk. president trump has called on the media "to stop the endless

hostility," after suspected explosives were posted to high—profile us figures. meanwhile, police in new york are investigating another suspicious package — sent to a restaurant owned by the actor robert de niro. britain is in danger of becoming a "two—speed society" with some groups excluded from the prosperity and rights enjoyed by others, that's according to the equality and human rights commission. those at risk are in danger of being trapped in disadvantage. the equality body's study found that progress made in some areas is overshadowed by "alarming backward steps". our home editor, mark easton reports. the fight against what she called burning injustices was the prime minister's top priority when she took office. and we will make britain a country that works not for a privileged few, but for every one of us. that will be the mission of the government i lead. and together we will

build a better britain. but today's report from the ehrc says the picture is still bleak for the living standards of britain's most at risk and forgotten groups, particularly disabled people and ethnic minorities. child poverty and infant mortality are rising. government welfare reforms are blamed for pulling more vulnerable people below the poverty line. the report does recognise some improvements on educational attainment, political involvement and workplace equality. but it warns of a marked backward move on access to justice, personal security, and says increasingly work is no escape from poverty. so what we are seeing is, for the first time since the 1990s, we are seeing an increase in infant mortality. three in ten children in this country live in poverty. and that rise is half for certain ethnic minority groups. the report says the government should reinstate the binding targets on reducing child

poverty that were dropped in 2015, and calls for more flexible working to help disabled people and women into the workplace. the government equalities office says the government is committed to tackling burning injustices and building a country that works for everyone. a french court has ruled that the country's former president, nicolas sarkozy, should be tried for alleged spending irregularities in his unsuccessful 2012 re—election campaign. it's claimed that his party devised a system of false billing in order to hide how much the campaign was costing. according to the magistrates in charge of this case, mr sarkozy — who was in office as french president at that time — exceeded the permissible campaign finance ceiling by around 20 million euros. smoke alarms which use a recording of a mother's voice rather than a high—pitched beep may be significantly more effective, according to american researchers.

176 children took part in the nationwide children's hospital study which found only half woke up to the blaring noise of a conventional smoke alarm. but nine out of 10 woke up to the voice alarms. researchers now want to test whether any voice will do or if it has to be the mother. businesses in the centre of belfast are continuing to lose millions of pounds after a fire in august. a large area is still cordoned off, meaning 15 shops haven't been able to open including the primark store which was virtually destroyed. 0ur ireland correspondent chris page has been talking to people affected. a landmark reduced to a ruin. the bank buildings has been at the heart of belfast since the 18th century, but eight weeks ago it was burned to a blackened shell. the staff and shoppers who were evacuated found the sight hard to take in as fire ripped downwards through the primark store. the blaze lasted for three days,

but the commercial crisis wasjust beginning. this is the busiest thoroughfare in belfast. if you stick a pin in a map of belfast, the centre, this is it. peter boyle's jewellery shop is inside the cordon, which is in place because the bank buildings could collapse. he's deeply frustrated that he still doesn't know when he'll be able to reopen the store. there should have been more leadership and decisions should have been made faster. judging by the speed of things so far, it's very hard to see how we'll be open any time in 2018. it'll be next year at this stage. so we've opened a temporary store for christmas because we've really no faith that the street will be open any time soon. businesses just outside the cordon are finding it tough, too. it's had a devastating effect on us. james neilly‘s pizza restaurant used to be on a very busy street — but it's not now.

there's no doubt some of the neighbours here are working 70, 80, 90 hours a weekjust to see this through and it's going to be a long winter. we had planned to trade from lunchtime — midday — until ten o'clock, seven days a week because the biggest retailer in town was on our door. that's obviously not happening any more. we've shrunk our hours considerably. they're around about half of that. the change has been extremely noticeable. it's just empty now, compared to what it used to be. it's a different atmosphere, i think, in town. there's just not as much life about it. it's sad. we do what we can and come in as often as we can! because this majorjunction right in the city centre is off—limits, the number of shoppers has fallen by 30%. the challenge now is to encourage people to come back here in the run—up to christmas. this is belfast. the world champion boxer carl frampton has helped with this advertising campaign. the council's also planning street fairs, a ferris wheel and a ski

slope to attract shoppers. we also need to encourage and to tell people that the businesses are still open, they're still operating, and the big issue is that we need to drive footfall back into our city centre again. but we also need to take this as an opportunity to reimagine the city, and that will take a big investment from government. in the shorter term, primark‘s latest plan is to demolish the top floors at the bank buildings and rebuild them. councillors are likely to approve the move tomorrow. there's a spirit of resilience in belfast. traders hope that will help them survive this most unexpected blow to business. a celebrity hunter who provoked anger after posting pictures of dead wild goats and sheep she'd just shot on the scottish island of islay says she is leaving social media for two weeks after receiving death threats. american tv presenter larysa switlyk posted a picture of herself smiling behind the wild goat online.

the scottish government said responsible and appropriate culling of some wild animals, including deer and goats, is not illegal, but the local member of the scottish parliament has called for the practice to be stopped immediately. a warning that some viewers may find some of the images in rebecca curran's report upsetting. it's game face time. welcome to my office. larysa switlyk describes herself as a hard—core huntress, seen here hosting her programme, she recently took a trip to scotland. and it's these images posted on line by miss switlyk that are causing quite a stir. they show her posing with a goat she apparently killed an islay, others show her in camouflage with a rifle and another with a dead ram.

i think for every person that will find this an attractive image and bring them to islay, there will be 1,000 more will be repelled and horrified. it is unacceptable, it should not be happening. i have raised the issue with the environment minister and i know people that people are by and large outraged by it. celebrities including comedian ricky gervais and tennis coachjudy murray have also condemned the pictures. feral goats are a non—native species in scotland and estates are obliged to control their numbers. hunting them isn't illegal on private land. country sports tourism contributes £155 million per year, £69 million of that is spent on shooting and stalking and the bulk of that money comes in the autumn, and particularly the winter months. rural economies that are struggling with other forms of tourism benefit enormously from relatively wealthy tourists coming at that time of year. it is easy to see why tourists flock to islay. but for some it is not for the stunning scenery. several companies offer the chance to stalk and shoot wild goats on the island, dumfries and galloway, and other parts of the uk. we see little snipits... larysa switlyk did not respond

to requests for comment today. rebecca curran reporting there. in a moment the weather, but first let's look at some of the most striking images of the day. remember the picture of a suspected thief in blackpool who bore an uncanny resemblance to the actor david schwimmer? well, the friends actor has an alibi, and he's posted a video to prove it. he took to twitter recreating the pose of the suspect carrying a crate of beer in a supermarket. he said "officers, i swear it wasn't me. as you can see, i was in new york. to the hardworking blackpool police, good luck with the investigation." in a moment it's time for the one o'clock news with ben brown but first it's time for a look at the weather. there are some very big changes

going on in the air right now. all of us are in for a cold snap. it is expected to be the coldest weather since we have had since april. temperatures across the country will be into single figures and wind chill as well. 0ver be into single figures and wind chill as well. over the next couple of days, saturday sunday, wins graduates earning from the north all the way from the arctic, pushing all of that day are indicated by the yellow to the south of us. we get this northerly. the wind could turn a beastly north—easterly. cloud across the uk at the moment. here that curve here in the cloud, that is the cold front. it is approaching the western isles of scotland. by 5pm tonight, it has gone through stornoway. the temperatures are still in the mid teens by this afternoon. watch the weather front and the swing in the wind direction.

that cold air is in place across scotland, northern ireland, the north of england still relatively mild. here is the cold front. you can see at clearing away. here it goes, here it goes into the continent. and then, bang, we have the chilly winter. temperatures might reach ten or 11 celsius in the south. we are mostly talking eight to 10 celsius. 0n south. we are mostly talking eight to 10 celsius. on saturday, whenever you see that pattern, that this where the air is coming from. it is following a strict northerly blowing through, turning increasingly wintry across the house. these are the wind speed arrows here. that is a strong wind. if you add the temperature, plus the wind, you get something cold the feels like temperature. it is going to feel colder than the

temperature suggests. there will be sunshine on the way as well. it is not all bad. sunday, crisp start. a breeze as well. sunday is looking sunny for most of us. 4,000 jobs at risk, as debenhams announce plans to close down up to 50 stores. it follows record losses of £0.5 billion. the high street chain says it has to make some tough decisions. i think it's not a surprise to any of our customers that customers are actually shopping less in our stores and more online. what we're doing is we're addressing this structural shift in the industry. we'll be asking what these latest closures mean for the future of the british high street. also this lunchtime... police in new york investigate another suspect package — this time sent to a business owned by the actor robert de niro. the murder of saudi

journalist jamal khashoggi — now the head of the cia is reported to have listened to recordings of his killing. local councils accused of trying to get home care for the elderly on the cheap.