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. and a century on from the end of the first world war, the launch of this year's poppy appeal. we mustn't lose sight

of the fact that those people who gave their lives so selflessly, and in some cases needlessly, they are not forgotten because we wouldn't be living as we are today if it wasn't for their sacrifice in the first place. and coming up on bbc news... england are up to their highest position in the fifa world rankings for five years. they sit fifth, following a good start to the nations league. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. 4,000 jobs are at risk after debenhams announced plans to close up to 50 of its high street stores — about a third of its total — over the next five years. the struggling department store chain lost £0.5 billion last

year, and says it needs to make tough decisions. it's another blow for the high street, with dozens of retailers recently going bust or closing stores. here's our business correspondent emma simpson. debenhams, if only all its shops could look like this, here in watford, a vision of the future. from blow—dries to gin bars, but there is sobering news today. it wants to close 50 of its stores in a radical restructuring of its business. customers are shopping less in—house stores and more online. what we are doing is 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're doing that in a way that makes debenhams a more

profitable business. the going is tough. today debenhams posted a staggering £492 million loss in annual pre—tax profits. this was due to a series of accounting adjustments. 0nce those charges are taken into account, the company actually made a profit of £33 million. but that is 65% down on last year. the problem is these big stores are expensive to run, and its costs are growing faster than its sales. debenhams says most of its stores are still making money, but that is likely to change, and this is the reason why it was to close nearly a third of its shops over the next 3—5 years, affecting some 4000 jobs. but customers will have to wait to see whether their store will disappear. specific closures have yet to be announced. i think it is very sad for the people who work there, but i think it lacks a bit

of pizzazz when there is so many more alternatives. i will miss debenhams, it is a little bit of everything, so you can comfortably go there and know that everything is under one roof. i think it is due to the online shopping. i think stores like this have got to rethink where they are. but closing stores, wherever they are, will not be easy. i am negotiating with all the retailers at the moment, and so they will not let them get away, they will have costly leases to get out of. on top of that they will have less money to invest in their stores in the future. that is one of the key things that they need to do to survive. this 240 —year—old business is now in a race to adapt to our rapidly changing shopping habits, but the fallout will come at a cost to many high streets and town centres. emma simpson, bbc news. 0ur correspondentjo black is outside a debenhams store in northampton.

there is uncertainty about which stores are going to close? yes, we don't know which stores are going to close, for example we don't know if this story northampton is going to close, but northampton is a good time to come to, to talk to people about this story because big names have been pulling out of this town in the last few years. house of fraser has already left, british home stores has gone, and m and s closed tear in the summer and shoppers i spoke to today said they are desperate to keep this store, because it's the only. department store left in town and the expert type spoke too from the business improvement district told me northampton makes itself and experience, there needs to be reasons to come here to make the town attractive. supporters of northampton will say there are still reasons to come here because it's got beautiful civic buildings, there's a brand—new university complex which has opened and there are independent traders, but if a big name like debenhams pulls out of this town it could be bad news and

shoppers could vote with their feet will stop 10 black, thank you. police in new york are investigating a suspicious package sent to a business owned by the actor robert de niro. it follows the discovery of pipe bombs sent earlier this week to prominent democrat politicians including barack 0bama and hillary clinton, and the news network cnn. in the last hour, president trump has again accused the mainstream media of stirring up anger in american society. in a moment we'll be speaking to our washington correspondent gary 0'donoghue, first to new york and cbs reporter laura podesta. what is the latest on this suspect device that has been discovered? i'm on greenwich street in tribeca and the building behind me is where this package addressed to robert de niro was sent, discovered right around 5am this morning by personnel who immediately called the new york

police department. they got their bomb squad down here and were able to re m ove bomb squad down here and were able to remove that package and the device within it by around 6:30am. it's now up in the bronx, where it will be analysed and likely decimated. as far as who sent it, we still don't know. we do know it resembles the other packages that we re resembles the other packages that were sent to prominent democrats and outspoken critics of president trump yesterday, so it does seem to be linked. laura, thank you. let's go to dario —— gary 0'donoghue in washington. the political backdrop to this is the forthcoming midterm elections and another tweet in the last hour or so from president trump appearing to blame the american media. yes, indeed, he did that at a rally la st media. yes, indeed, he did that at a rally last night, he's done it again this morning saying the atmosphere of the anger is down to the fake news, as he puts it, and he says it's got so bad, he writes and hateful, that it's beyond description. worth pointing out i

think that robert de niro has also beena very think that robert de niro has also been a very vocal critic of the president. you will remember that perhaps the tony awards earlier in the summer, he used pretty colourful language, a whole bunch of expletives aimed at donald trump. donald trump responded in kind on twitter, calling him made low iq individual so this has got pretty bad but there is a common thread here we are seeing. we've now got nine devices in total said eight people, one person, a congresswoman, got two, and that's in the space of 72 hours, so the atmosphere here is incredibly free braille and incredibly free braille and incredibly heightened and tense because what they are doing now is searching the mail system through various data analytic tools to try to see if there are any others in the mail heading for other individuals at the moment. gary 0'donoghue in washington and thanks to laura podesta in new york. it's being reported that the director of the cia has been played audio recordings of journalist jamal khashoggi

being murdered at the saudi consulate in istanbul. gina haspel is understood to have listened to the tapes during her visit to turkey this week. 0ur correspondent mark lowen is in istanbul. what more do we know? clearly the suspicion is that the saudi consulate here in istanbul was booked by turkish authorities and that was the recording that has now been passed to gena haskell, the cia director, although various diplomats i spoke to say they all expect their diplomatic missions here are co nsta ntly diplomatic missions here are constantly bugged, but it could be that the turkish authorities had an insider within the saudi consulate's who passed the recordings of that murder to them. we don't know. either way this is the biggest card turkey has played since jamal khashoggi has was murdered and judging from the links from those recordings to turkish media over the last couple of weeks or so, they are very, very graphic. they are said to

reveal the altercations with jamal khashoggi's screams, the torture of him, the dismemberment of the body, all prove turkey feels fake meticulously planned operation and that's been corroborated by the saudi public prosecutor who has said based on the evidence is got from turkey, he thinks this was indeed a premeditated murder. turkey will hope that will drive washington to harden its line on riyadh. gina haspel harden its line on riyadh. gina haspel, the cia director, will have a briefing with donald trump later this afternoon. as for the turkish investigation, well, a cctv image has emerged of the saudi consulate car inside a forest near istanbul before jamal khashoggi was murdered, possibly scouting for a place in which he could be buried. trying to find the body of jamal khashoggi are still very much the focus here. it would be essential to the investigation but also it would be essential forjamal khashoggi's family and their grieving process. for the turks is embarrassing if they have to admit they were bugging a foreign consulate in istanbul?

that would be embarrassing to some extent but of course far more embarrassing would be the idea that this could have been an operation premeditated and planned by the saudi state. as i say, diplomats around this region feel that their diplomatic missions probably bugged andi diplomatic missions probably bugged and i think it probably is standard practice and probably quite large parts of the world and obviously far more incriminating of the evidence they could reveal, and the key to really the reaction in riyadh will be donald trump. if the white house, we've already seen punitive measures there, we've already seen the visas of 21 saudi officials will be revoked to the us, if financial sanctions are now placed on saudi officials how high can that go? if this is the smoking gun, these tapes, it could go to the very highest levels of the saudi state. mark lowen, our correspondent in istanbul. care home companies are accusing local councils of trying to get services on the cheap. the uk home care association says only one in seven councils covers even the minimum costs of providing home care for elderly and disabled people.

local authorities say the system needs to be properly funded. here's our social affairs correspondent alison holt. shall i make you a nice cup of tea? this should be a half—hour call for 88—year—old doreen's care workers. they will prepare her meal, give her medication, then sisters carly and rachel have to hoist her to and from the bathroom. hoisting takes around half an hour to do. usually 45 minutes. we do it along with medication, then obviously if we are cooking her a meal we have got to wrap all of that up in the time we've got to do it because we are setting on other people to call. the local authority pays one of the lowest home care rates in the country according to today's report. the knock—on effect for care staff is low pay. is this a job you can see yourself doing in

the long term ? job you can see yourself doing in the long term? i'd like to think so, but financial wise, not really, because you are doing 40 hours one week and then the next, ten, and if you've got a house to rent you are not knowing whether your hours are coming from. the association representing organisations that provide home care in the uk calculates that they need at least £18 an hour to cover increases in the minimum wage, pensions, travel and other costs, but on average councils pay just and other costs, but on average councils payjust over £16 an hour. your bobbin we managed to get through on a day—to—day basis. for those who manage care companies that means balancing the books and finding staff is a battle. it is a mess, it's a great mess, and all the time you're not thinking about sometimes the customers, is thinking about how much is this going to cost, how can we do this, how can we do this on a restricted budget, 90% return, that's what we think about before anything else, the budget, can we do it? we should be thinking what does this person need, how can

we do that, and it shouldn't matter how much it costs. council officials insist they're not trying to get ca re insist they're not trying to get care on the cheap. my colleagues across the country are doing level best to meet the need in their local areas at a price they can afford, however, in some parts of the country that is becoming now untenable and the government must recognise that it must put more money into social care for adults. the government says it has put extra money into caring for older and disabled people and that it will put forward its plans for reforming the system soon. alison holt, bbc news. facebook has been fined £500,000 by uk regulators over its role in the cambridge analytica scandal. it's the maximum fine the information commissioner's 0ffice could hand out for failing to safeguard the details of around a million users in the uk. regulators said facebook had given app developers access to people's data "without clear consent". the home secretary has apologised

to people who were forced to take dna tests to prove they were entitled to settle in the uk. in the past hour sajid javid told the commons that some relatives of gurkhas and afghan nationals employed by the government were among at least 130 people affected. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford is here. what is the significance of this apology from the same secretary? the home office policy is that while dna tests can be useful in immigration cases, they can never be compulsory, but this review which started in july found that in three different schemes, people were being told they had to take a dna test. 0ne schemes, people were being told they had to take a dna test. one of them was an antifraud scheme, which led to seven people having their applications refused because they either couldn't or didn't want to ta ke either couldn't or didn't want to take a dna test. 0ne either couldn't or didn't want to take a dna test. one was to do with

gurkha families, in which four people had their applications refused because they didn't take dna tests, and one was to do with afg ha ns tests, and one was to do with afghans who worked in britain during the conflict in afghanistan. in all three of these cases, letters were sent out saying people had got to ta ke sent out saying people had got to take dna tests, which is completely contrary to home office policy, and builds into the idea of the so—called hostile environment within the home office, where a perfectly legitimate immigration cases are somehow caught up in a desire to clamp down on illegal immigration. the home secretary has apologised and promised to refund people who felt they had to take a dna test and he set up a further review to find out why cases like this and the windrush case keep coming up in the home office. daniel sandford, thank you very much for reporting. it is 1:16pm. our top story this lunchtime: 4000 jobs under threat as the high street department store chain debenhams close up to 50 stores over

the next five years. and coming up: nearly eight months after the poisoning of former russian spy sergei skripal, new evidence about how he'd been helping western intelligence. coming up on bbc news: liverpool bossjurgen klopp hopes questions over the form of mo salah will stop after he reached 50 goals for the club in last night's champions league win over red star belgrade. almost eight months after the poisoning in salisbury of the former russian spy sergei skripal, the bbc has pieced together the extent to which he'd been briefing foreign intelligence agencies before the attempt on his life. farfrom living quietly in retirement, sergei skripal had been travelling extensively across europe and the united states providing information to western security services about russian intelligence, including its alleged links with the mafia. 0ur correspondent richard galpin

has been investigating. sergei skripal, a colonel in russia's military intelligence agency, the gru, who'd betrayed his country, was brought to britain in 2010 in 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's revealed he'd been actively assisting european and other western intelligence agencies. sources here telling me the 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 that he would be very valuable. i am not aware whether there would be any more, let's say, interesting defectors right now

in the hands of intelligence. while it's not unusual for defectors like skripal to brief the intelligence services of allied countries, a well—placed source said czech intelligence officers probably did ask him for names of russian spies operating in the country. and this seniorjournalist believes skripal still had relevant information. he was working in a high level position. he had to have 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 that 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 mr skripal 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 of at least five countries skripal is believed to have travelled to in recent years. the costa del sol has been a favoured location for 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‘s visit was about russian organised crime, there'd be a parallel with the former russian spy alexander litvinenko, who worked for m16 and spanish intelligence on the issue, but was murdered before he could give evidence to spanish prosecutors. the litvinenko and skripal cases are almost identical. litvinenko helps the british, spanish and other secret services. he's an enemy of the russian

government and they decide to silence him. his story is repeated with skripal. the exact same thing happens. proving these theories is extremely difficult but sergei skripal was far more active than expected of an intelligence officer who had betrayed his country and been allowed to settle in britain as part of a spy swap which would normally mean a very quiet life. richard galpin, bbc news, spain. mps have accused the bbc of failing to give staff equal pay and opportunities. the culture select committee says women at the corporation are earning far less than men for doing comparable jobs. the inquiry was sparked by the bbc‘s former china editor, carrie gracie, who accused her managers of pay discrimination. the bbc says much of the report is out of date but admits there is more to do. 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 and breadth of their criticisms are striking. the mps say that 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 salaries of those paid out of its commercial arm, bbc studios. the mps also said the bbc should compensate those presenters who were told to set up personal service companies but now face huge bills of unpaid income tax and national insurance contributions. one of the biggest concerns we have had is notjust the fact that 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 has been a tortuous process and a long process,

and some feel there is no end in sight to that. that is what we have said throughout our report. the commitment the bbc should give now is to say that for the current complaints that have been logged with the bbc, they should now be resolved and settled within the next six months. the bbc says that these findings are 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 comes down in the last year by 20%, and we are the only organisation in the uk who's 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 duke and duchess of sussex have arrived in tonga as part of their 16 day tour of the pacific region. prince harry and meghan were welcomed by the island nation's princess and by traditional tongan dancers at the airport. it's the third country the royal couple have visited on the tour. they're due to attend a welcome dinner before unveiling the queen's commonwealth canopy tomorrow. the couple had previously been in fiji, where prince harry unveiled a statue of a 1970s british—fijian war hero at the airport before departing. the manchester city manager pep guardiola has been telling the bbc about how he rushed to manchester arena after hearing his wife and daughters were caught up in last year's terror attack. in an exclusive interview for radio 5live he spoke about his anxious wait for news that they were safe. eleanor roper reports. it's a night that will forever be

etched into manchester's history. 22 people were killed and more than 800 were hurt when salman abedi carried out a suicide bomb attack at an ariana grande concert last year. among the thousands of fans at the arena were the wife and two daughters of the manchester city manager, pep guardiola. they were lucky, unfortunately for the people who suffered. we were lucky. she called me but immediately broke the line. she told me, "something happened, something happened. we are running but the people... i don't know what happened." and broke the line. we tried to call her again and it doesn't work. after we went to the arena and afterfive minutes, six minutes, she called me again. "we are out, we are out. we're coming back home." manchester city, premier league champions! in his time as a manager, he's won plenty of silverware, from the premier league title to the champions league. when pep guardiola took over here at the etihad two years ago,

he was regarded as arguably the world's best club manager. while he'd enjoyed success with barcelona and bayern munich, after just two years here in manchester he's already agreed to stay until 2021 and now says he'll be a mancunian for life. it will not be possible to train another team in england like manchester city because i feel big love for the people here. i like to be... to do it better, to seduce them, to make a better club where they can believe we are strong enough. 0n coming to manchester city, he was tasked with taking the club to the next level. while guardiola is still working on european success, if it doesn't work out, he's told 5 live he wouldn't mind being on the other side of the mic, saying he's always fancied a career in radio. eleanor roper, bbc news. you can hear much more from that interview in an hour—long special on bbc radio 5 live tonight from seven o'clock

or you can download the podcast right now via the 5 live website. there's a special poignancy to this year's poppy appeal, which is launched today. it's a century since the end of the first world war. over the coming weeks, volunteers will be selling poppies as the nation remembers the victims of not just that war, but all conflicts. 0ur correspondent lauren moss is in greenwich where the appeal has been launched. yes, and it is quite a sight to behold and drawing quite a crowd. the sculpture is six metres tall, connected to the ground by a series of threads like a compass, to show the connection that the first world war has to today's society, perhaps in ways that we don't usually expect. of course this is home to greenwich mean and daylight saving was first used during the war 100 yea rs was first used during the war 100 years ago, and it is also the site of the old greenwich hospital and the records of sailors who lost their lives in the conflict are kept

here to remind us to neverforget. the poppy, a symbol of hope, woven into the fabric of today. as this p°ppy into the fabric of today. as this poppy appeal begins, we are asked to remember across the generations those who gave so much. barbara is 92 and a world war ii veteran. her pa rents 92 and a world war ii veteran. her parents both served and met in the first world war. she says the poppy still means so much. it is quite inspiring, really, because it could have faded away over the years. but i'm amazed at the very pleased to see so many young people taking an interest now. i was helping on a stall in new york a few weeks ago for the british legion and the number of young people coming along and contributing, and they weren't putting 50p pieces in. they were putting 50p pieces in. they were putting in £10 notes and £20 notes into our bucket. we did quite well

out of it. former rugby union england captain lawrence moody is supporting the campaign, honouring his relatives who fought. supporting the campaign, honouring his relatives who foughtlj supporting the campaign, honouring his relatives who fought. i think it is so important to remember the sacrifices. it is a centenary now, coming to the end of the centenary period, and to remember generations like my great—grandfather and my namesake, who gave up so much so that we can enjoy the privileges that we can enjoy the privileges that we can enjoy the privileges that we do today, freedom of speech and privileges and choice and the life that we have. it is 100 years since the end of the first world war when more than 1 since the end of the first world war when more than1 million british and commonwealth soldiers lost their lives. this commemoration is one of 15 across the uk. each of these threads carried a message to those who served. 0ther installations that football stadiums in northern ireland and preston, a former mining town in wales, at parks and beaches, signify that the memories will not be washed away. the money raised during the poppy appeal, and this year we are trying to raise £50 million, is to our armed forces community, which is 6.7 million

strong, which is serving veterans and their families. there are some amazing things that the money will go toward that it is lifelong support, whether that be providing ca re support, whether that be providing care in old age, whether that be providing respite and breaks will service families who haven't seen each other for service families who haven't seen each otherfor nine service families who haven't seen each other for nine months, service families who haven't seen each otherfor nine months, or whether that be research at places like the imperial college london centre the blast injury studies. the legacy is to never forget the sacrifices that were made in the past for the present. this sculpture and others around the country are open to the public for a few days until monday, 29th of 0ctober. few days until monday, 29th of october. this year the royal british legion is hoping to raise £59 million to help soldiers, veterans and their families. lauren million to help soldiers, veterans and theirfamilies. lauren moss, reporting from greenwich. thank you. time for a look at the weather. here's tomasz schafernaker.