washed away. the money raised 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 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.

i looked at the weather maps this morning and a shiver ran down my spine. we will be complaining if the next few days about how chilly it will get, and it looks like we are infor will get, and it looks like we are in for the coldest weather since april this year. it has been quite a few months since we have had whether this cold, or will have had. this is what is happening right now. the yellow m ea ns what is happening right now. the yellow means slightly milder air but watch what happens over the next 2a 248 hours. watch what happens over the next 24 248 hours. a screaming northerly straight out of the norwegian sea, arctic winds, blown the uk. we're not talking about snow or anything. there might be a bit of wintriness across the hills but it will be a biting wind. right now eastern part of uk have sunshine, decent enough, but here we have the beginning of this cold weather. this is the cold front, the colder just this cold weather. this is the cold front, the colderjust starting to reach the north of scotland and relatively to the south of that it is very mild, 13 or 14. we are watching this cold fronts tonight.

you can just about make it out on the weather map. you can see that line. it doesn't look like a lot but they are showers and behind it we have showers and clear spells and temperatures are dropping. at this stage we have got some sleep over the hills of scotland and then bang, that northerly wind straight out of the arctic. at this time of year it can feel pretty cold but averages will not be desperately low and on friday we are still talking around ten or 11 briefly in the afternoon. 64 example in aberdeen. the really cold weather doesn't arrive until saturday. see this high pressure here. when we have lines orientated in this direction, that is also the way the wind is blowing. it is really coming in from the north, so there will be showers sunshine as well. these are wind speeds. 80 mph in lincolnshire is pretty strong and gusts will be stronger than that. —— 18 mph. you add the wind speed and you take the temperature of seven or 8 degrees and you get what it feels

like, so it feels more like three or four degrees against your bare skin, so four degrees against your bare skin, so just above freezing. a real nip in the air. that is saturday. on sunday it is more like a beastly north—easterly developing. some sunshine but it is still going to be pretty cold. temperatures may be getting up to double figures just about in the south but honestly it has been a while since we have had cold weather like this. we willjust have to dig out the thick coats. we will. thank you. that is all from good afternoon. here's your latest sports news... england have moved up to fifth 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.

it includes 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 m0 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, ok, 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 t 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. the world number eight karolina pliskova is into the semi—finals of the wta finals in singapore after beating petra kvitova in straight sets. pliskova had never beaten her fellow czech but ended

that run with a 6—3, 6—4 victory to reach the last four. kvitova finishes bottom of the group. the defending champions are on court 110w. the defending champions are on court now. they are contesting for the second semifinal there. 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. mark cavendish still believes he can break the record of tour de france stage wins, despite not racing since august. he's been taking time off because of illness but he's extended his contract with the dimension data team, and he'll be taking on a leadership role there, as well as working

on a return to the saddle. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. including the build up to tonight your robert league match. ——europa league. that's bbc.co.uk/sport. 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 improvement 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. the wife of a durham university phd student held on a spying charge by the united arab emirates has told the bbc that the foreign office has failed to offer adequate support to her husband matthew hedges. daniela tejada says her requests to meet foreign secretary, jeremy hunt, have been declined. mr hedges was arrested in may and has reportedly been held in solitary confinement ever since. daniela tejada told joanna gosling about mr hedges' latest court appearance. we were told that during the court

appearance his court appointed lawyer got to present his defence. he stated that he is an innocent man and that as a matter of fact, the information he had gathered, as i have been saying for the past six months, is not confidential. any information that he could have potentially shared in his ph.d. thesis, or through his research, is not secretive information. thejudge accepted the defence and will re—evaluate all the evidence presented against matt and on the 21st of november, he will be giving his verdict on the matter. the are also saying that he is being treated well. there has been a full welfare review carried out on him, which concluded he is being provided with constant medical attention and psychological care.

do you accept that? i don't. i think a great part of the statement about the way they have treated matt, an innocent man that has been kept in solitary confinement for doing academic research, is not accurate. i think that in many instances, saying he has been provided with psychological assistance throughout, it is an outward life. and in other parts of the statement, there is a lot of semantics that just lead to fallacies. this is a man who was just doing academic research and academic research only. he was heavily interrogated without access to a lawyer, without access to consulate advice. he is being held in solitary confinement for nearly six months. again, the authorities say he is able to

contact family and legal staff by phone. how much contact would you say there has been? he is only able to co nta ct say there has been? he is only able to contact anyone when he is allowed to. that, from my experience, has been once a week sincejuly, into five—minute calls to meet where he has not been able to discuss pertaining his case or his interrogation. so that, again, plays into semantics. he has had very limited consular contact. he has had only three consular visits, five minutes into his detention and only lasted five minutes. the second one was nearly four months after. that does not constitute regular access. he met as lawyer at his second court hearing and he only saw him once before his third court hearing. he had no legal advice before his hearing? none whatsoever.

let's get more now on the news that debenhams plans to close 50 stores — around a third of its total sites, putting 4000 jobs at risk. the retailer has posted annual losses of nearly half—a—billion pounds. our correspondent is outside one debenhams department store. uncertainty about which ones are going to close, including the one behind you. yes, we do not know for certain which store is going to close. we do not notice this store that i am standing outside of the northampton is going to close or not. we are told the staff inside and not know anything. you cannot see but christmas decorations are up in that store, i do not know if that isa in that store, i do not know if that is a good sign or not. northampton is a good sign or not. northampton isa is a good sign or not. northampton is a good sign or not. northampton is a good place to come to to talk about this issue because big names have been pulling out of this town over the last couple of years. house of fraser left, marks & spencer is

closed in the summer and british home stores also closed. i have been speaking to rob from the business improvement district. we will work hard to make sure it does not close. following on from other retailers closing, it gives us big challenges. we have got to react to that. we hope it does not happen, but if it does we have to be ready to face that. as he says, they will be working hard to try and make sure the story does stay open. of course, that list of 50, we will wait and see where those stores will be closing. this town has been hit by other factors. a lot of us are shopping online. milton keynes is about 20 miles away, a huge shopping complex down there. a brand—new shopping complex has opened about 12 miles away recently. that has hit shots here. shoppers will say there

is still good reasons to come here, a brand—new university campus that has just opened, a brand—new university campus that hasjust opened, independent a brand—new university campus that has just opened, independent traders and a theatre district, but people will be watching to see if this debenhams store will close. and if it does, we may go elsewhere. 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. meanwhile, police in new york are investigating another suspicious package — sent to a restaurant owned by the actor robert de niro. hello. now in the business news...

as we've been hearing, debenham's reports the biggest losses in its 240—year history and one of the largest ever by a major retailer in the uk. fa ncy fancy a new sweater? sainsbury‘s is opening close out dates in its shops. the mid—market fashion chain is going to open before christmas in session stories. twitter shares are up 13% ahead of the official open on the us stockmarket. most people were expecting its results would show a fall in the number of users because it's closing down accounts it considers "spammy and suspicious". that's true, but its picked up business covering major league baseball games and other sports events. the government has defended its brexit strategy again today, as the labour mp for bristol east, kerry mccarthy, told parliament how

one firm in her constuancy is shifting business out of the uk the brexit secretary insisted the government will get a good dealfor all firms. but freestyle extreme, which sells sportswear on the internet, is moving half of its operations to germany to avoid potential border delays if there's no deal with the eu. its managing director explained to dave hervey the thinking behind his decision. ifiam if i am shipping it from the uk and i have border delays and my competitors don't, i lose that seal. ifi competitors don't, i lose that seal. if i have tariffs and they don't, i lose that feel. it is as simple as that. they sell faster and cheaper than the continental competition. they have grown fast, now employing 85 people will stop brexit may change all that. well, about 70% of

oui’ change all that. well, about 70% of our total product comes from europe and 50% of it gets sold back into it. we have had to enact contingency plans that we would have not if we didn't have brexit hanging over our heads. a new warehouse in germany. they will handle the european orders without worrying about cheese at dover. next—day delivery guaranteed. there is a cost for the company. they have to get the stuff over to frankfurt and put their hands on ski gloves of some of the orders them. it isa gloves of some of the orders them. it is a huge production, we are spread over two is location is, it is what we have to do. spread over two is location is, it is what we have to dolj spread over two is location is, it is what we have to do. i do not want to do that, i do not want to move jobs out of bristol, but i have no choice. his company are not alone, in the cotswolds, a small firm has built a big market in europe for top end insect repellent. countries like

malta, finland, we have got grease. they will ship all of next year's stock in february. after that, only a full trade deal with no tariffs, no delays will do. this is a low price product in a competitive market, if we have any significant tariffs, there is no point in trying to sell this product to the european union and we may look to move those overseas. lots of companies are now at advanced stages at talking to warehouse is, operators they are. they are separating up companies in ireland, holland, germany. so that they can comply with european regulations if that is a hard brexit. as the political debate continues, companies and the west country are starting to take action. 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 sales and cut its predictions for the rest of the year. bt has named philipjansen as its new chief executive as 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. and ouantas has posted record first quarter revenues, as higher airfares helped offset rising fuel costs. the australia airline saw revenues for the period increase 6.3%. that's all the business news. more in an hour. jamie, thank you very much. 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. our 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'sjust 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 by 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 on 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 are by and large outraged by it. celebrities including comedian ricky gervais and tennis coach judy 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. now it's time for a look at the weather. how is it looking? it is looking pretty cold. the coldest weather we have had for quite some time. by the time you get to saturday, some of us will be complaining of the cold. the

cold weather that is coming, we think, the coldest since april this year. basically since last spring. a real nip in the air. this is what it looks like over the next couple of days. right now we have mild air, relatively. watch what happens with the wins over the next 24 hours. tomorrow and then over saturday, it turns colder. and then into early next week, the wins are coming from the north—east. let's talk about the short—term. quite a lot of cloud across scotland. it is raining in the north—west at the moment. the cold front that is sweeping through the uk. the variable amounts of cloud across the uk. i know it felt chilly this morning, but relatively speaking it is relatively mild. tonight, this weather front moves through. behind it you can see a dip in the temperatures. single figures

in the temperatures. single figures in the north, double figures in the south. by midday, that weather front is through. we are in that northerly era stream. sunshine, showers, starting to feel colder. temperatures peaking at 10 celsius in the afternoon. that is the maximum temperature. in the evening it is going to be cold once again. coming from this direction, the wind is coming from. the street northerly wind from the arctic. showers turning wintry across the scottish hills. rain across the eastern coasts, some in the west as well. these are wind arrows as well. if you add the wind and midday temperature of seven celsius, put the two any pot together, mix it up and you get around three celsius. that is the temperature against our skin. it will fuel nippy. we are

talking about it is going to turn cold but that will be crisp sunshine around. if you have a coat, hat and gloves in the morning, you are well prepared for this weather. after all, we are approaching the end of october. that is it, cold weather on the way. be prepared. hello, you're watching afternoon live, i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. hardship on the high street: 4,000 jobs at risk as debenhams announce plans to close down up to 50 stores. i think it is not a surprise to any of our customers that customers are shopping less in our stores and more online. what we are doing is addressing the structural shift in the industry. police in the united states investigate another suspect package, this time sent to the restaurant owned by actor robert de niro. those in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. murder on tape: reports the director

of the cia has heard recordings of the killing of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. two baby elephants — described as wonderful, charismatic little calves — have died — after falling ill with a rare virus at chester zoo.