this is bbc news. the headlines at 12:003m. a man is charged over a series of letter bombs sent to prominent critics of president trump — the president condemns what he calls "terrorising acts". reviving the high street — the government is to cut business rates for small retailers as part of a £1.5billion cash boost for towns and cities. sir philip green hits back at peter hain for naming him in the house of lords — the retail billionnaire says it was "outrageous" for the peer to breach an injunction banning reporting of harrassment allegations. also coming up this hour, lewis hamilton aims for victory in mexico to take his fifth formula one world title. hamilton only needs to secure seventh place in tomorrow's mexican grand prix to take the championship. and at 12:30pm, click visits japan to discover the new technologies that are augmenting humans with robot limbs, robot backpacks and even cars that can read your brainwaves. a man has been charged

in the us state of florida in connection with a series of letter bombs sent to prominent critics of president trump. cesar sayoc is accused of transporting and mailing explosives, and threatening former presidents. mr trump condemned what he described as "terrorising acts" and called for americans to unite following the attacks. at a rally in north carolina, president trump talked about the need for debate about civility in public life, but he also criticised the media. everyone will benefit if we can end the politics of personal destruction. we must unify as a nation in peace, love and in harmony. the media has a major role to play, whether they want to or not. and that anti—media sentiment

was taken up by the crowd, who railed against a media organisation targeted by explosive devices. that same message was blazoned on the side of the suspect‘s van, along with cross hairs over images of some of mr trump's critics. the man charged is 56—year—old cesar sayoc, someone with a long criminal history including bomb threats. he is a registered republican and his own facebook posts see him attending trump rallies. oh yeah, donald] trump, the next president of the united states. he now faces up to 48 years in prison. he once worked as a male stripper and also at a pizza restaurant where his manager said he was often racist. he had a lot of hatered.

he was definitely not right in the head. over a dozen similar devices were sent in the post. the fbi said they were not hoaxes, they contained potentially explosive material. but none of them did blow up, and authorities say it unclear whether they functional bombs. andy moore, bbc news. plans for a temporary cut to business rates for small companies will be announced by the government, to try to re—invigorate the high street. the details will be laid out by the chancellor, phillip hammond, when he delivers his budget on monday. joe miller reports. the shuttered casualty of a bruising year for britain's retailers, and a familiar sight on high streets across the country. on this north london road, one print shop is still going strong, designing posters for local schools and theatres. but its founder, who started in his parents' living room 23 years ago,

says an increase in the taxes he pays on the property is forcing him to downsize. our rates have risen from £7,000 to £12,000, which has a real effect on us. we are making less money and employing less people because we can't afford to keep open, because the government have taken money from us. 200 shops in the local area have closed since the tax known as business rates was rejigged last year, and they have not been replaced. critics of the government say it's notjust the little man who is losing out. they say the troubles at house of fraser and debenhams are made worse because they pay higher business rates than online competitors like amazon. while these measures are welcome, particularly for small businesses, on their own, they are just not enough. with closures and job losses of businesses of all sizes being affected up and down the country. we have a business rate system that is unsustainable and what we need to see is less

tinkering and more wholesale reform of the system. other business groups have been more positive about the announcement, but all agree that more support is needed to bring the high street back to life. joe miller, bbc news. i'm joined now via webcam by bill grimsey. he has led a review into the state of the high street, which was published injuly. he's a former chief executive of wickes, iceland, booker, and focus diy. let me ask you first of all, from what you've seen in the papers and in the reports today, this will presumably be welcomed, but is it adequate? it is welcome, that's for sure. it is pleasing we are seeing the government recognise that action is required to rejuvenate our town centres. however, ithink

required to rejuvenate our town centres. however, i think the business rates issue is something we should put to one side and say actually, it is bust in terms of retailing, and it needs a wholesale reform. it is particularly hitting small businesses up and down the country and they really need help right now, and i would like to see the business rates system reformed and faced with a sales tax, which would deal with the issue of online versus off—line retailers at the same time. i don't believe the current spate of closures of major retailers is anything particularly to do with business rates. i think thatis to do with business rates. i think that is a red herring. those closures because they are not keeping up with modern times. this is the paradox is that some beneficiaries might end up being big companies of this reduction in business rates because they often

occu py business rates because they often occupy small premises. shops such as boots have small premises. this small business rate relief is a very difficult thing to administer. when you are an independent retailer in this country you will know that applying for that business rate relief is not simple and not straightforward. this is ideal with lots of independent retailers up and down the country who are struggling because of this tax because it is basically starving them of the kind of income they need to survive. —— i deal with lots. these businesses give us vibrancy and variety and we have to encourage entrepreneurialism and the way to deal with it is wholesale reform. i would not want to spend all the time i have right now talking about business rates and

tax... it is going to be i think £650 million available to councils, and i think they will have to bid for it and clearly they will not all get it oi’ and clearly they will not all get it or they would not get much each. how should it be spent? that is the good side of this and put that to one side that it might not be an adequate sum of money today. the good news is we are waking up to the fact that local authorities need help to build the right plans for our town centres based on the heritage of those times, and to reinvent them as community hubs, which means we don't just focus on retail. we create something with health, education, leisure entertainment, activities and events that attracted us all to go there because it is a great experience and that's what i would like to see happen. and i do welcome any step forward in this direction

into what our review said injuly, and i'm ready to help this government implement this stuff if i get the opportunity. it looks like the sun has come out in full flow. and ijust ask it looks like the sun has come out in full flow. and i just ask you finally, are you optimistic about the future for the high street? there is a lot of pessimism about it and lots of reasons to think activities are going to move away from the high street and it is a one—way process. what is your view of that? are we being unrealistic? thing we are being unrealistically pessimistic, because we keep talking about retail. we need to stand back and say, we have 1500 big towns up and say, we have 1500 big towns up and down the country who have a unique heritage. we are blessed in this country with towns that have history about them, which we can then help them create their own product, their own uniqueness, that

a tt ra cts product, their own uniqueness, that attracts people to live, work, play and with it. it is about housing in the town centres, health, education, leisure, entertainment. and when you do that and get people flooding into the towns because it is great to be there, then you will get some more shops the important thing is they have to be independent retailers that give that uniqueness, a little bit extra. what we don't need to do is what my generation did, is to create cloned towns that look the same up and down the country. i want to leave my children a heritage of towns that can respond to the technology revolution that is taking place right now. we have the fourth industrial revolution taking place, and what we need to do is to respond to that and create wonderful towns that have got wonderful events and reasons to go to. we couldn't be better placed in the uk. we have

everything at our fingertips and all we need is the will and leadership to do something about it, and then we'll have some fantastic times to visit. thank you for sharing your passion for the high street. the billionaire, sir philip green — who's facing claims of sexual and racial harassment — has accused the labour peer, peter hain, of breaching the house of lords code of conduct by revealing his identity. lord hain has defended his decision to use parliamentary privilege to name the tycoon, which defied a court of appeal injunction. in a statement, lord hain said he "resolutely" stood by his decision to name the businessman and would "neither retract nor apologise for standing up for human rights". sir philip denies all the allegations against him. simonjack reports. lord hain used special privileges enjoyed by members of parliament to speak freely without fear of being sued, to identify sir philip despite the fact the court of appeal had issued a gagging order preventing the daily telegraph revealing his identity because the claimants had signed nondisclosure agreements. it was an interim order pending further legal proceedings.

in a statement issued exclusively to the bbc, sir philip green said... lord hain has denied he knew that gordon dadds were representing the newspaper. lord hain‘s actions have divided opinion. some, like sir vince cable, leader of the liberal democrats, have supported his decision to name sir philip as being in the public interest, while others like former attorney—general dominic grieve have criticised his decision to take the law into his own hands. if mps do this, it undermines the rule of law because the courts are there to decide whether injunctions should be granted or lifted and determine the difficult issues that can often arise between private rights, contractual rights, and the public interest. that is what we put courts there to do. sir philip doesn't deny that nondisclosure agreements were signed and money paid to complainants,

but he insists they received independent legal advice and he strenuously denies any allegations of racial or sexual harassment. he said he'd be lodging formal complaints against lord hain with the relevant authorities in the house of lords. simon jack, bbc news. three people have died and another three have been seriously injured after two vehicles collided on the outskirts of denbigh in north wales. emergency services were called just before 7.30pm yesterday evening to the incident, which involved a vauxhall corsa and a vauxhall astra. a six—year—old boy has died after a house fire in derbyshire. firefighters were called to the property in ilkeston last night. they performed cpr on the boy, who was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead. three people have been arrested at a residential address in hendon in north london after a man in his 40s was stabbed to death. police were called

to greyhound hill, in hendon, just before midnight but the man died of his injuries. a 43—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder. a 21—year—old man and woman aged 23 have also been arrested in connection with the incident. the metropolitan police said those arrested knew the man who died. the saudi foreign minister has insisted those behind the killing of the dissident journalist, jamal khashoggi, will facejustice in saudi arabia. yesterday, turkey said it wanted to extradite 18 saudis who were arrested in riyadh in connection with the death. saudi arabia initially denied all knowledge of the journalist's fate but the kingdom's public prosecutor now describes it as premeditated murder. speaking at a security summit in bahrain, the saudi foreign minister said saudi arabia's relations with the us remained "ironclad", despite the international outrage over mr khashoggi's disappearance. he went on to criticise what he called the "hysteria" surrounding the case. this issue has become fairly hysterical. i think people have assigned blame on saudi arabia with

such certainty before the investigation is complete. we have made it very clear that we are going to have a full and transparent investigation, the results of which will be released. we have made it very clear that those responsible will be held responsible and will be held to account, and we have made it very clear that we will put in place mechanisms to make sure that this does not happen again. investigations take time, and the facts are determined as the investigation goes on, and we have tried to share the information that we have obtained with the public, but unfortunately there has been this hysteria in the media about saudi arabia's guilt before the investigation is completed. at the same event, the us defense secretary, james mattis, told regional leaders that the murder of mr khashoggi undermined the stability of the middle east. the murder ofjamal khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us

all greatly. as us secretary of state pompeo stated, the united states does not tolerate this kind of ruthless action to silence mr khashoggi, a journalist, through violence. failure of any one nation to adhere to international norms and the rule of law undermines riyadh's stability at a time when it is needed most. as president trump noted, we are going to get to the bottom of it. the headlines on bbc news. a man is charged over a series of letter bombs sent to prominent critics of president trump. the government aims to boost the high street with business rate cuts for small retailers in monday's budget. sir philip green hits back at peter hain for naming him in the house of lords — the retail billionnaire says it was "outrageous" for the peer to breach an injunction banning

reporting of harrassment allegations. campaigners say plans for a million new homes in central england would damage the countryside forever. they'll be built around a new expressway linking oxford, milton keynes, northampton and cambridge in a scheme that has the backing of the transport secretary, chris grayling. our environment analyst, roger harrabin reports. in oxford and cambridge, pedestrians and cyclists reign supreme. the absence of cars helps both places attract some of the top brains in the world, but the government's infrastructure advisers say that to stay competitive, these cities need many more new homes and better connections with each other. the government is now planning a great arc of high—tech development encompassing milton keynes and northampton, as well as the two great university cities. a major road will be built from east to west. environmentalists say that will just

generate more traffic, but the government is in favour. it is government policy to have this scheme. we see the development of that corridor for economic and housing reasons as essential. we think that you can't have proper development in that area without improved transport and that's why the expressway and the new railway line are an essential part of what we are trying to do. the new plan would mean 3—4 times more house—building than at the moment. green groups say the project would eat fields and woods the size of birmingham, and transform central england. a decision on this scheme is expected in next week's budget. roger harrabin, bbc news. breaking news about an investigation into the disappearance of a woman in kent. officers are currently

searching the river derwent in da rtford town centre searching the river derwent in dartford town centre in connection with the disappearance and as it has been described by kent police, the potential murder, of this woman who is sarah well green. this investigation, as you may be aware, has been coming on for a couple of weeks since she vanished. she is a mother of five. the marines research officers, the diverse, are currently in attendance in the river derwent in the town centre in dartford. because of where they are in the town it has attracted a lot of interest locally, it is not something you can do particularly discreetly in the middle of a town. this is the big enquiry by kent police, received a lot of publicity in kentand police, received a lot of publicity in kent and has made the national papers as well. a diverse search taking place of the river derwent in

da rtford town centre. taking place of the river derwent in dartford town centre. more and that i get it. —— more on that as we get it. fracking could resume in lancashire today after it was suspended because of a small earthquake. yesterday, the energy firm, cuadrilla, halted operations at the uk's only active shale gas excavation for 18 hours after a tremor of 0.8 magnitude was recorded. fracking was stopped in 2011 and didn't resume for seven years after being linked with earthquakes. exit polls in ireland are putting michael higgins on course to win a second term as the country's president. mr higgins is projected to win more than half the first preference votes, twice as many as the second—placed candidate. voters have also been casting their ballots in a referendum on repealing the ban on blasphemy. exit polls in the irish republic suggest that at least two thirds of the electorate have voted in favour of removing the offence from the irish constitution. the number of newborn babies in england taken into care at birth has more than doubled in the last decade, according to research by the nuffield family

justice observatory. the government says the decision to remove a child at birth is made to protect them, but the study‘s author says both mothers and their children are being failed. fiona lamdin has been to meet a woman who was seperated from herfive children. the children are the first thing i think about when i wake up, the last thing i think about before i go to bed. abby, not her real name, has had all five children removed from her. her story, like many in her position, is a complicated one. but it wasn't always this way. three years ago, she was a busy mum. the school run, back, sports, back, scouts, back, horse riding, back, piano, back. i loved having to run around after them. but in a short space of time, abby suffered with post—natal depression, a marriage breakdown and business collapse. struggling with poor mental health, she started to drink.

i went from living a fairly luxurious life in a nice a—bedroom house to sleeping in a car park stairwell with nothing. i literally had the clothes i had my back. while living on the streets, she became pregnant — and just as social services had removed her older four children, they also put her newborn baby into care. it was the worst pain ever, not seeing my children. to have someone take your child and you not to be able to see them. new research shows that in the last 10 years, there is double the number of newborns coming before family courts. abby wanted to keep her baby, but she wasn't given any help when she was pregnant. we are certainly getting it wrong if we leave women who want help right until the last minute and then we remove a baby.

there is no clear planning, mum doesn't know what's happening, the family aren't involved. that situation has to be unacceptable. but pause is one organisation wanting to help by stopping thousands of more children being taken into care each year. women sign up to 18 months of contraception while being mentored. what sort of message do you want to write to them? after years of silence, today they are helping abby reach out to her family once again. i just want to be part of a family once again. tell them i love them and i miss them. the day i met her, she was very intoxicated — in fact, she couldn't string a sentence together, but we knew we needed to keep going to try and engage her because she was so high priority for having another baby removed if she got pregnant again and we knew that was likely. abby has come so far in the last nine months and while there's no

promise she will ever get her children back, she is doing everything she can in the hope that one day, she will. i've missed out on so much already. i don't want to miss any more. fiona lamdin, bbc news. more couples could be allowed to marry outdoors or at home, as part of a shake—up of the law in england and wales. the government will announce a review of wedding venues including lifting restrictions on open air locations and bringing the law in line with scotland. ministers say the changes could cut the cost of weddings and boost the hospitality sector. the invictus games in australia has come to a close, with a ceremony involving live music and a procession. the event in sydney was attended by the duke and duchess of sussex, who are travelling to new zealand next as part of their 16—day commonwealth tour. the games were founded by prince harry, and this year more than 500 wounded servicemen and women took part. emperor penguin chicks

at auster rookery, near australia's mawson research station in the antarctic, have been taking their first school trip. the downy emperor penguin chicks were supervised by one adult penguin. they are already developing fast, and will be almost as big as their parents by december. it is like one of those school crocodiles, with the children hand i don't think they could go wean him when ——i don't think they could go wean him when —— i don't think they could go flipper in flipper. there is a bit of ice in the weather forecast. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there. we have had some wintriness in the showers, certainly this morning across the northern high ground.

most of the showers through this afternoon will be falling as rain. most of them coming into the north east of scotland, away from north—east england and through the midlands toward east anglia and eventually into the south east. the showers in wales and the south west of northern ireland moving away so more sunshine here. all of us will be cold, typical temperatures around 6—8 celsius, feeling colder in those northerly winds. the winds will continue to blow in a few showers to eastern scotland, eastern england, particularly in the south east and east anglia. and that means here it won't be quite so cold but the lower temperatures, you can see the blues there, up towards scotland, northern ireland, north—west england and wales. there will be clearer skies overnight. north—easterly winds will keep the showers going for eastern scotland, eastern england. probably not quite so many but fairly frequent showers in the south—east corner into the channel islands. elsewhere though, a good deal of sunshine around, much more sheltered. wherever you are, it is going to be cold but in the sunshine it shouldn't feel too bad. a man is charged over a series of letter bombs sent to prominent critics of president trump — the president condemns

what he calls "terrorising acts". reviving the high street — the government is to cut business rates for small retailers as part of a £1.5billion cash boost for towns and cities. sir philip green hits back at peter hain for naming him in the house of lords — the retail billionnaire says it was "outrageous" for the peer to breach an injunction banning reporting of harrassment allegations. let's see what's coming up with the sport. another huge weekend for lewis hamilton. he is within touching distance of its fifth formula 1 world title, an achievement that would take him joint second in the world rankings. welcome for the mexican arena for wrestling. iamjoined by wrestling. i am joined by a journalist to discuss everything formula 1. what i wa nt to discuss everything formula 1. what i want to know is is sebastian vettel

on the ropes? has he stumbled or is lewis hamilton about to pounce on top of him? which one is going to be brilliant! i think he is more than on the ropes. it is surely going to end this weekend. it will end next weekend or if not that, in abu dhabi. 0k, dhabi. ok, so, it is due to rain in qualifying, which could mix things up. the brain specialist is lewis hamilton. the first day of practice did not go the way of mercedes or ferrari, it went the way of red bull. a really dominant display. when you look for the context of the championship, if sebastien doesn't win, he has championed. red bill for the track would suit them. they have got the equipment. they got high altitude. all of it comes together and it means that the engine deficit is lessened here. so it has come

together perfectly. rebel will strea k together perfectly. rebel will streak ahead. rebel were saying that next on saturday it is going to be closer,. lewis hamilton was to deliver a knockout punch and get pole position, we will see if he can do it. there are six matches back home in the premier league today. liverpool could go top of the table if they beat cardiff city. newcastle and huddersfield are looking for their first wins of the season.