this is bbc news, i'm lukwesa burak. the headlines at two... lord hain says he stands by his decision to name sir philip green, as the businessman facing allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse. reviving the high street — the government is to cut business rates for small retailers as part of a £1.5 billion cash boost for towns and cities. 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". also coming up this hour, lewis hamilton eyes 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 in 30 minutes, witness looks at five extraordinary moments in recent history, including the story of a fashion industry pioneer in the soviet union. that's at 2.30.

good afternoon. the former cabinet minister lord hain says he stands by his decision to name sir philip green as the businessman at the centre of allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse. sir philip says he'll make a formal complaint to the authorities in the house of lords because lord hain used parliamentary privilege to identify him. with me is our political correspondent, nick eardley. nick, you've spoken to lord hain. what more has he said? he stands essentially completely by his decision to name philip green in the house of lords saying he has not

broken any rules and he believes the latest comments from sir philip in a statement to the bbc are what he calls a malevolent diversion. let me remind you about how we got, the allegations. lord hain used parliamentary privilege to name sir philip as the businessman who had stopped the daily telegraph publishing allegations of harassment and abuse. parliamentary privilege means politicians can essentially say whatever they want in parliament without getting into trouble for it but it is another potential breach of rules so philip is talking about. it has emerged that lord hain is an adviser to the legal firm who have been representing the daily telegraph in this case. they are... sir philip told the bbc last night the failure to disclose the relationship between lord hain and the legal firm could relationship between lord hain and the legalfirm could be relationship between lord hain and the legal firm could be a relationship between lord hain and the legalfirm could be a breach relationship between lord hain and the legal firm could be a breach to parliament's code the legal firm could be a breach to pa rliament‘s code of the legal firm could be a breach to parliament's code of conduct but that... saying if he had read it he

would have said the legal firm he worked for right there. he is making that complaint to the house of lords authorities. lord hain says this was nothing to do with his relationship to the law firm, he were not —— they we re to the law firm, he were not —— they were not the source of his information and nothing to do with his decision to make the comments in the house of lords and says he complied fully with house of lords obligations and accusing sir philip of trying to use diversionary tactics. so philip of course denies any wrongdoing. a £1.5 billion boost for high streets will be announced by the chancellor in his budget speech on monday. business rates for smaller firms in england are to be temporarily cut by a third and £650 million will be allocated to rejuvenate high streets and transport links. our business correspondent, joe miller, reports. it's an increasingly familiar sight on britain's high streets — a shuttered casualty of a bruising year for retailers. across this north london road,

a print shop is fighting to avoid the same fate. its founder says a steep increase in business rates, which is the tax paid on rented shops and warehouses, is forcing him to downsize and lay off staff. our rates have risen from £7,000 to £12,000, which has had a real effect on us. we're making less money and employing less people effectively because we can't afford to keep it open, because the government have taken that money from us. the pleas from small business owners have been getting louder and louder over the past few months and they seem to have reached the chancellor in downing street. he's set to offer tax relief to up to 500,000 businesses and pump £650 million into sprucing up britain's high streets and improving transport links. business groups have largely welcomed the treasury's announcement but champagne corks aren't being popped just yet. 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. as of now there's no help for struggling chains like house of fraser, who complain they pay more than out—of—town competitors like amazon, and while small businesses in england will get an immediate tax reprieve, policy—makers in other nations may decide to use the chancellor's new—found cash for other purposes. joe miller, bbc news. earlier we spoke to bill grimsey who led a review into the state of the high street, which was published injuly. he's also a former chief executive of wickes, iceland, booker, and focus diy. here's what he thinks of the proposals. it is welcome, that's for sure. it is really pleasing we are seeing a government recognise that action is required to rejuvenate our town

centres. however, ithink required to rejuvenate our town centres. however, i think the business rate issue is something we should put to one side and say, actually, it is passed as far as retailing is concerned. —— bust. it needs wholesale reform. it is hitting our small businesses up and down the country. they really need help right now. i really would like to see the business rate system com pletely to see the business rate system completely reformed and replace with a sales tax which would do with the issue of online versus off—line retailers at the same time. i do not believe that the current spate of closures of major retailers is anything particularly to do with business rates, i think that is a red herring. those closures are because those businesses are not keeping up with modern times and making their proposition attractive. 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. andy moore reports. 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 emblazoned

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 hatred. he spewed a lot of hatred. 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 contain potentially explosive material. but none of them did blow up, and authorities say it unclear whether they functional bombs.

andy moore, bbc news. police are searching a river in dartford in connection with the disappearance of a 46—year—old woman. sarah wellgreen, from new ash green in kent, was last seen on october the 9th. officers have used a drone and searched drains as part of the murder investigation into the mother of five. three people have been arrested in hendon in north london after a man in his 40s was stabbed to death. police were called just before midnight on friday, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene at greyhound hill. a 43—year—old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder, and another man and women detained in relation to the incident. they were all known to the victim. 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.

the saudi foreign minister has insisted those behind the killing of the dissidentjournalist, jamal khashoggi, will face justice 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, riyadh's relations with washington remained "ironclad", despite the international outrage. he also criticised the media coverage. 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 of jamal khashoggi in a diplomatic facility must concern us all greatly. as us secretary of state pompeo stated, the united states does not tolerated 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. 0ur security correspondent frank gardner is at that conference in the bahraini capital of manama for us, and we can speak to him now. we had a relations between saudi arabia and the us being described as daryl clark but what about increasing tensions between saudi arabia and turkey? saudi arabia and turkey were already essentially in a kind of cold war battle for supremacy in the middle east and this has complicated it even

further. this is the most extraordinary situation where you have got two major powers, saudi arabia and turkey, trying to resolve this issue. and the united states involved in it. all of it have got a chip in the game when it comes to finding out who has ordered this killing because that is the bottom line. as far as saudi arabia is concerned, most south east are hoping it will not read to the hand of the crown prince. you cannot have it both ways. either he was involved in which case he is going to be toxic permanently from western governments or he was presiding over a rogue organisation going on under his nose without him knowing it. he has the economy, defence, royal court, embassy in his hands, all that power. some are saying he has too many areas, too many portfolios and something like this was bound to happen eventually. it is not easy

for the us and saudi arabia because the us does not want to lose its big strategic partnership, notjust aboutjobs strategic partnership, notjust about jobs and arms strategic partnership, notjust aboutjobs and arms sales, the partnership against iran and its encroachment as they see it in the east. and the crown prince is the help of the future for saudi arabia. he has aligned into damon, cinemas, women to drive. he locked people all over the place, intolerant criticism, but he is still... remove him and the worry about what the future would be for saudi arabia. ultimately, what we have noticed since the 2nd of october is that this changing in narrative from saudi arabia, many people pointing to the fact it is damaging the credibility of the country. the foreign minister describing it as hysteria. this is not going to go away. how likely will we see the

exhibition of his 18 to turkey? -- extradition. if saudi arabia refuses to extradite the 18 they will not get extradited. it raised eyebrows when the foreign minister complained of hysteria and prejudging saudi arabia. wait a minute, of hysteria and prejudging saudi arabia. waita minute, this of hysteria and prejudging saudi arabia. wait a minute, this is the nation that says we know nothing about mr khashoggi, he left the consulate. no, he didn't, he was murdered inside. for two weeks they kept up the nonsense. the hit team even had someone dressed up as a body double in the wrong shoes. 0ne source described to me the people carrying out this assassination as buffoons, incompetent buffoons. that is why the crown prince couldn't have done it because the crown prince would have got a head of intelligence to do it, he said. and therefore he is exonerated. the

handling of the crisis by the saudi arabia government has been a confident. half—truths, denials, cover—ups. no wonder half of the world simply doesn't believe their version. unless there is an independent investigation, there will always be suspicion of where the truth really lies. finally, 24 hours after the fiance of mr khashoggi spoke yesterday, have you picked up any particular reaction to that? no, not really, mainly because she is turkish and this is the arab side of the gulf here. istanbul is a long way away from here, but people are certainly watching whether mr khashoggi's simon, initially confined to saudi arabia, not allowed to leave while his father was alive, that has been lifted. he was alive, that has been lifted. he was stony faced, made to shake hands

with the crown prince in the desert conference. he has now gone to the united states, a lot of people watching to see if you will speak out. will he say what he really wa nts ? out. will he say what he really wants? will he stay quiet and wait for the investigation to be over? the leaders of russia, france and germany are in istanbul for talks with their turkish counterpart on how to bring a political solution to the civil war in syria. german chancellor angela merkel and turkish president recep tayyip erdogan met ahead of the summit. the four countries will discuss the fragile ceasefire in the syrian province of idlib and how to tackle the refugee crisis. 13 million people have been displaced by the conflict. the headlines on bbc news... lord hain says he stands by his decision to name sir philip green as the businessman facing allegations of sexual harassment and racial abuse. 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. 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 7.30 pm yesterday evening to the incident, which involved a vauxhall corsa and a vauxhall astra. a man has died afterfalling through a window during a burglary in north london. 49—year—old sheiku adams fell from the flat in denyer house in highgate road, camden yesterday evening. police have described the incident as a "targeted attack" and say

they believe two men "forced their way into the flat, armed with at least one knife". neigbours described their shock at mr adams' death, and described him as "a very nice guy" who was a "devout man". police are appealing for witnesses. 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 0xford, 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. 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 0bservatory. 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 separated 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, play school, 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 four—bedroom house to sleeping in a car park stairwell with nothing. i literally had the clothes i had my back. clothes i had on my back. while living on the streets, she became pregnant — and just as social services had

removed her olderfour children, they also put her newborn baby into care. it was the worst pain ever, not seeing my children. $085: to have someone take your child and you not to be able to see them. new research shows that in the last ten 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, wider 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 the family 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. a coughing, tweeting teddy is the latest weapon deployed against london's air pollution. the robotic bear, called toxic toby, monitor the city's air quality in real—time and sends alerts when pollution levels are high. georgina smyth has more. teddies on the streets of london offering not cardinals but costs. toxic toby, the robotic there is monitoring air pollution in real—time in the busiest borrowers of london and coughing when levels are too high. that's unbelievable.

it is really bad. i have noticed changes in my own kind of breathing. the pair also sends a tweaked to a local politician urging action on the issue. earlier this year, a report found children in the city we re report found children in the city were exposed to illegal levels of air pollution risking life and health problems. the silent killer, 9400 people in london die from polluted air. you cannot see the pollution around you. the campaign using the latest technology to draw attention to the problem is part of attention to the problem is part of a push to get the uk government to introduce a quaint airedale and legislate that the right to clean air isa legislate that the right to clean air is a human right. the duke and duchess of sussex have attended the closing ceremony of the fourth invictus games in sydney. the sporting event, which was set up to inspire recovering soldiers

and help them deal with traumas from combat, has seen more than 500 competitors from 18 nations take part. prince harry and meghan will be travelling onto new zealand as part of their 16—day commonwealth tour. 0ur royal correspondent, jonny dymond reports from sydney. joshua david smith. a week of competition and camaraderie comes to a close. today athletes from militaries around the world received medals with a royal touch. one of the british medallists this week was former lance corporal andy white. 0ur invictus games sydney 2018 medallists. .. dragged out of depression by what he calls the invictus spirit. because we're all ex—military and the things we've done, we're another family, we are the invictus family. we'll always look out for each other. there are sporting competitions that are bigger than invictus and there are sporting competitions

that are richer than invictus but you'd be hard—pressed to find a competition with greater unity of purpose. they came to celebrate that purpose in sydney tonight, competitors and meghan, too, who spoke of the importance of family and friends. once home, the need for the anchor of support from loved ones, especially given how much it accelerates recovery and rehabilitation, is immeasurable. and then the man who brought all of it together, who dwelt again on the mental wounds of war and loss. i've been there, you've been there and we now need to reach out to those who can never imagine themselves in that place. he told competitors that they had shown us all that anything is possible, and with that, he closed the games. jonny dymond, bbc news, sydney. lewis hamilton is looking

to secure his fifth formula one world championship with victory in tomorrow's mexican grand prix. hamilton only needs to finish seventh to take the title, but he's said he wants to win the race. if sebastien vettel does not win, the briton will be crowned whatever result he achieves. emperor penguin chicks at auster rookery, near australia's mawson research station in the antarctic, have been taking their first school trip. here they come! the downy emperor penguin chicks were supervised by one adult penguin. they're already developing fast, and will be almost as big as their parents by december. now it's time for a look at the weather with sarah keith lucas. keep up! wintry weather. we've seen

some here. we've got a taste of those penguins' weather. some snow over high ground in scotland, north england. sunshine and showers rolling in on the northerly wind. you see the snow sitting over the higher ground, but for lower levels, mostly rainy with some sleet. it is cold because the winds are coming from the arctic. streaming down across the uk. staying with us acrostic course of the weekend. changing to more north—easterly tomorrow. not quite as cold tomorrow. not quite as cold tomorrow. we've still got some showers vertically for the north and east in scotland, snow over the mountains. eastern england, east midlands,