hello, i'm ros atkins, this is outside source. in the last few minutes we've learnt thatjeff sessions — the us attorney general — has been fired by president trump. all of this comes as we digest the results of the midterms. most of the american midterm election results are in. here's the president's assessment. i thought it was a very close to com plete i thought it was a very close to complete the degree. —— complete victory. the republicans made gains in the senate — but the democrats have taken the house of representatives. we as democrats are here to strengthen the institutions in which we serve and not to have it be a rubber stamp. the important story for pakistan the last hour, asia bibi, has been released from jail. the funeral for a ukrainian anti—corruption activist has been held. she died after being attacked with a litre of acid injuly. we be live in peru with more on a

story about a0 people being arrested as break up a network that is trafficking babies. the us attorney general, jeff session, has been fired. the president made the announcement on twitter saying matthew whitaker — mr sessions chief of staff will temporarily step into the role. in this letter, mr sessions — who has been heavily and openly criticised by mr trump — said he was standing down at the request of the president. democratjerry nadler — who could become the housejudiciary committee chairman — was quick to demand answers "americans must have answers immediately as to the reasoning

behind @realdonaldtrump removing jeff sessions from @thejusticedept. why is the president making this change and who has authority over special counsel mueller‘s investigation? a lot to digest. let's bring injane 0'brien from washington. i feel like story has been covered for months. what do we make of the timing? it has been coming for months. it's been coming for the best part of two years. jeff sessions incurred the wrath of president trump, the moment he recused himself from the russia inquiry. now the timing, even by washington standards, the pace of this is pretty extraordinary.

president trump was asked that his first press conference barely a few hours ago whether or notjeff sessions was eight and he said he was going to be making a decision about it at some point but we do now know that in fact, jeff sessions was contacted know that in fact, jeff sessions was co nta cted by know that in fact, jeff sessions was contacted by the white house before that press conference took place. so everybody knew this morning, we only found out about it at an hour and a half ago. the timing we knew that he was going to be leaving at some point or something was going to happen after the midterms, donald trump did not think it would be politically tenable to get rid of his attorney—general before then, now happened. looking at the tweets coming through now, the new york times is calling the man taking over a longer to trump. he is indeed. -- a longer to trump. he is indeed. -- a loyalist to them. bells already clamouring for more parts of washington because he will now be assuming authority or oversight over

the molar russia inquiry, that had up the molar russia inquiry, that had up until now been done by the deputy attorney general. —— robert mueller russia inquiry. we know he is at the white house right now for what it's been described as a routine scheduled meeting. but the fact that oversight will now go to matty whitaker, who has also suggested by some reports is drying up funds for the molar inquiry and has questioned his parameters, some lawmakers democratic believe that he is hostile enough to the inquiry to recuse himself from overseeing it. that is one story would need to talk about. a few more for you. don't go anywhere. the main one being the midterm elections. donald trump says it really could be a beautiful bi—partisan situation. it could be — but you wouldn't bet on it. the democrats are in control of the house of representatives for the first time in eight years. and the president is going to have work with them to get things done. much better news for

donald trump in the senate — the republicans remain in control — and they gained some states from the democrats. this means mr trump can continue to make appointments to the judiciary. here's the president speaking earlier. i thought it was a very close to complete victory. when you look at it from the standpoint of negotiation, when you look at it from the standpoint of deal—making, because it is all about deal—making. again, if we had the majority and we had one or two or three votes to play with, they would never... we would have been at a standstill. i really believe that we have a chance to get along very well with the democrats, and if that is the case, we can do a tremendous amount of legislation and get it approved by both parties. perhaps unsurprisingly the democrats are calling the night a success. here's top democrat nancy pelosi.

the biggest winner yesterday was the health care for american people, for our seniors and hard—working american families. health care was on the ballot and health care won. yesterday, americans elected a great class of dynamic and diverse democratic candidates. members elected who reflect their districts and who embodied the bountiful diversity of our nation. women led the way to victory, with at least 30 new women coming to the congress. is that not exciting? we hear people talking about the ‘blue wave' — meaning a democratic take over of sorts — it was far from that. scott simon is a radio host in washington: "no blue wave. but blue lapping on the shore...." the washington post suggests is more of a ‘red wall‘ and what happened last night depends on who you talk to — both sides can change their narrative

to suit their agenda. jane, what was your assessment of the results? i think the blue way was wavy enough for the democrats and they taken control of the house, which was a lwa ys control of the house, which was always expected and that they now have control over stovall key oversight committees, which means that they can launch all sorts of investigations which donald trump, while saying there's plenty of room to work together, said if they start investigating me, that is all off of the table. so i think we can expect stormy seas ahead, although there area number of stormy seas ahead, although there are a number of areas they could work on like infrastructure and keeping the cost of drug sound. but i think this is going to be a very temperature sensors relationship because several senior democrats have already said they will be using those oversight powers and they will be investigating senior members from the administration and holding donald trump accountable and looking

at some of the decisions that have been made. that is one all of these new representatives arriving congress but they are not there yet. how much time this donald trump has to do with the current congress to get stuff done? he had about two months. it is the lame duck period but he can get a lot done. the senate can pushed the a number of federaljudges for senate can pushed the a number of federal judges for instance, senate can pushed the a number of federaljudges for instance, they can try and get funding for the war, a lot of things are unlikely to happen in such a short length of time, but he can do a lot before those checks from the house possibly come into play. stay with mejane, we need to talk about something that happened in the press conference nearly three hours ago. a cnn reporter challenged president trump on why he calls the migrant caravan in mexico an ‘invasion‘, and then sprung another question on the him about russian collusion. i tell you what, cnn should be ashamed of itself, having you working for them. you are a rude, terrible person. you shouldn't be working for cnn.

go ahead. i think that is... you are very rude person, the way you treat sarah huckabee is horrible. and the way you treat other people are horrible. you should not treat people that way. go ahead. injim's defence, i travelled with him and watched him, he is a diligent reporter... well, i'm nota big fan of yours either. i understand. let me ask you a question if i can. you repeatedly... you aren't the best. mr president, you repeatedly... 0k, sit down please. when you report fake news... when you report fake news, which cnn does a lot, you are the enemy of the people. quite a lot to consider there. maggie haberman is a white house correspondent for the new york times "trump is not in control the way he was yesterday. and knows it." suggesting that that shift in the house of representatives and affecting his mentality. back to jane 0'brien, is this normal in a trump press conference? this is a difficult one. the ratings

are up and acknowledge it because of donald trump, he says he doesn't like the. somewhere between theatre and politics, is inequitable to white house briefings are theatre. they are shot in a hurry. people tune into them for precisely this reason. this was vintage donald trump. no president has ever spoken to members of the press like that and no president has called them the enemy of the people as often as president trump at. but it is better. it is a spectacle when you get the president in the middle of the press conference or riding individual members of the media by name and then firing back. they get into it with him. it is extraordinary and sometimes he just don't know what to say except for sit back and and watch what's was we have been doing all day. backlit has been running all day. —— that video clip. the president knows that. he went on for an hour and half for which is very donald trump. but not

any of the rest of the news. exactly. i have to say people have been questioning what mood was again. i thought he was in a pretty good mood i have to say. he seemed to be on form and be spoiling for a fight which doesn't mean he is grumpy it just means fight which doesn't mean he is grumpy itjust means he is being donald trump. that is one way of putting it. thank you jane. we will speak to you later. for though the watching, if you have any questions, send them my way. if the jeff sessions story if thejeff sessions story broke about 90 minutes ago, this story came in even more recently. asia bibi, she had been sentenced to death for blasphemy in pakistan, we knew she was going to have a conviction overturned, nasa's been released from prison she was convicted in 2010 but that decision by the pakistani supreme court last week met a very violent... they're

angry demonstrations across pakistan and isa angry demonstrations across pakistan and is a peaceful demonstration but we have seen violence as well. in some schools have had to be shut down. he story there about the issue of blasphemy and the role that christianity plays the pakistani society. 0ur christianity plays the pakistani society. our lawyers told the bbc she is being fought out of pakistan along with their immediate family and we know a number of western countries are believed to be in discussions with her family about granting them asylum. listening to michael my leading specialist of pakistan. live what the from washington, dc. what is your reaction to the news that the authorities have let her leave the country koziello it is a big deal. authorities have let her leave the country koziello it is a big deallj think that pakistani government has stared down the religious karl anderson districts that went out last week essentially saying that she should've never been acquitted and she should be executed. —— hardliners. this is a big deal. it is very risky. i think it is three hours to be significant. a very

volatile there given that the same or latest processes that took to the streets last week and returning to the streets. now that she has been acquitted and according to these reports he has been left the country. why do you think those who have allowed her conviction to be quashed and leaves have chosen to pick this fight with the more religious hardliners?” pick this fight with the more religious hardliners? i think that the government of pakistan which is a new government that took office a few months ago was to make a statement that it is willing to respond to this criticism that pakistan as a country, where political leaders essentially caved in to extremists all the time, it is too u nfortu nately in to extremists all the time, it is too unfortunately in many cases but i think it is government wants to make a statement that it is willing to do things differently. and that of months to essentially go along with what happened. the highest law of the aladdin and the pakistani supreme court acquitted asia bibi of all charges and that means there is no reason why she should be able to

leave. —— highest law in the land. and to get asylum. given the process we have seen it is not a surprise she and her family we have seen it is not a surprise she and herfamily had decided to leave pakistan, but the thing we can draw a broader conclusion about the difficulties which christians still have living within pakistani society? let's be very clear, pakistan is a very difficult place for religious minorities to be. not just christians but also she and muslims, other religious minorities and discrimination is rampant. —— shia muslims. it is not an easy place to be, however this legal case in supreme court decision will set a tone. as a way for religious minorities to get the justice that is observed. thank you, michael. more background on that online from the bbc website. inafew in a few minutes we will turn to

cameroon. i had better news for you because the vast majority of the stu d e nts because the vast majority of the students that were kidnapped from the boarding school have been released. all the details coming up. cabinet ministers have been invited to read the uk's brexit draft deal with the eu. alex forsyth reports. parliament isn't officially open for business today, but make no mistake, behind the scenes, there is plenty going on. talk even that we could be inching towards a brexit deal. senior ministers were supportive after getting an update from the prime minister yesterday. he wants to see the government's legal advice before giving any deal his backing. and the dup, who support theresa may in government, want the advice published in full. the question of what happens at the irish border is still the sticking point. the fear that despite the government's promises, northern ireland could end up with different trade arrangements. the irish prime minister says

time is running out. there is talk of the cabinet being summoned the next few days to sign off a brexit deal with a strong caveat that there's still significant work to do first. the government says the ministers will be fully briefed. westminster is waiting to see how the next few crucial days develop. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story comes from washington. jeff sessions — the us attorney general — has been fired by president donald trump. it's better news from cameroon today. most of the students kidnapped from a boarding school in cameroon have been released. they were found abandoned in the town of bafut, in the north west region of cameroon, around 15 miles most of the students kidnapped from a boarding school from bamenda, where they were taken. these are the children shortly after being released — they're seen here in the office of the local governor.

it was originally reported there were 79 students abducted. seems that was a little inaccurate. the driver with decent enough person. 78 students. we still know a possible integer are still being held and confusion over whether the chosen are still being detained. —— two children. the majority of people have been freed. it's not yet known who carried out the kidnapping. or why. cameroon's government has blamed anglophone separatists for the abduction, while the separatists accuse the government of stage—managing the kidnap to give them a bad name. here's the governor of the region. so that together we bring back a situation of normalcy to the northwest region, provided all those that were involved in that fight

against the state surrender. mayenijones has more. now, the latest news has come from some of the students themselves who have now, some of them have been reunited with members of their family and the bbc spoke to one girl who had been abducted and she said that in captivity, they were kept quite well and given food to eat, unfortunately, there were not able to bathe for a couple of days, she expressed surprise at how well they were taking care of by their captors. now the interesting thing that she revealed when she was asked if she knew who had taken her, she said she was taken by the boys. that is the name that is used in the region to refer to the anglophone separatists who have been asking for independence for cameroon's english—speaking regions from the rest of the french speaking country. she said that she knew it was

separatists because of the way that they spoke and they spoke quite differently from the military and spoke pidgin english, which is mostly spoken by anglophone cameroonians were as soldiers who speak and more broken english speaking french. she says that it is confident that it was them that took them and separatists released statements over the last few days denying any involvement in the abduction of the students, they say they condemned the abduction and instead they shifted the blame to the cameroonian government who they say is trying to discredit their claims for independence. all of this comes within the wider context of an ongoing conflict in cameroon. the long—term president was sworn in for a seventh term on tuesday, he promised to address some of the concerns of cameroon's english—speaking regions but said that he would not grant them independence.

the separatists on the other hand are saying that they will not give up on theirfight against the government until they are granted a separate english—speaking state. this incident doesn't seem to have quelled any of the rhetoric of either groups. they are still fighting, still doubling down on their position and it is difficult to see that this event has had any influence on their stances. back to the midterms. "wall street surges on relief after midterms; tech, health care rally". as you can see on the bbc website wall st closed a short time ago with all the numbers green to reflect the gains. kim gittleson, new york. the question is by how much. here is a statistic for you. this is the best post midterm performance by us

markets since 1982. the dowjones and snp 500 and nasdaq all of them closed up over 2% today. the question is why and why our investor so cheerful. it has to do of course as ever with uncertainty. this was the outcome that many investors have been expecting and they think that if congress does the body, it means any policy proposals if they are passed will be passed slowly and that gives markets enough time to and that pleases investors. also a couple of small things that are pleasing investors. the idea being the affordable care act which were the affordable care act which were the health care system here in the united states now has less of a chance of being overturned, that helps investors in health care companies and with the asterisk of attorney generaljeff sessions, is seen attorney generaljeff sessions, is seen at the bull to marijuana stocks because they wasn't in favour of decriminalization of cannabis and as a result many investors and those countries have been worry about the possibility of legal enforcement. —— and those companies.

possibility of legal enforcement. —— and those companieslj possibility of legal enforcement. —— and those companies. i get why they like things moving so slick and losses. visibly bury not making things cold dead stock, with the possibility that the president did not find a way of working together, that would not suit him. -- president and democrats. if you look at some of the areas that republicans and democrats could agree on, these are things like infrastructure which is something president donald trump talked about during his campaign and he brings up every now and then want to see a italian dollar infrastructure investment here. so far we haven't seen any investment here. so far we haven't seen any details. —— $1 trillion. democrats have said they would be open to proposals that would repair america's ailing bridges and roads and even if nothing gets past, present and were successful in getting a lot of reform policies through that helps investors, things like the tax cuts which we have been talking about as we get at that third—quarter earnings season here, helping a lot of american companies,

also reduce economic activity here and that frankly was enough for investors to sell please even if they don't get a more down the road. thank you for the update. let's get the latest on that plane crash in indonesia last week. all 189 people on board died when the lion air flight came down shortly after taking off from jakarta. now the plane—maker boeing has issued what it calls a "safety bulleti n". this bulletin reminds pilots how to handle erroneous data from a key sensor. 0ur transport correspondent tom burridge explains. the angle of attack centre is a crucial part of any aircraft, since many front and akin to a fan and it calculates the angle at which air comes off the aircraft, that is crucial data which is fed into another system onboard crucial data which is fed into another system onboa rd the crucial data which is fed into another system onboard the aircraft called the tram system in the gym

system allows the aircraft to maintain speed and altitude. if false information is added to the system it can basically for the aircraft into thinking it's about to install and to counteract, the system puts the aircraft into a nosedive. a pilot in that situation can and then take manual control and he or she can operate an override switch in the cockpit to shut the trim system down to make sure it does not go into a nosedive, we don't know what the pilots on board this flight don't know what the pilots on board this flight actually did or did not do, we know that the flight data recorder has been recovered and we know the cockpit audio voice recorder has not yet been recovered. but boeing describes the 737 max as its fastest selling aircraft ever. it has orders of a700 major airlines in europe like norwegian and ryanair have played significant orders, the aircraft is environment friendly and fuel—efficient and you can fit many

season and into the commercial success so season and into the commercial success so far for boeing, bobo boeing needs to reassure investors and airlines that it is safe and this problem will not happen again. a quick reminder why would god do with the midterm elections. —— where we got to with the midterm elections. donald trump says it really could be a beautiful bi—partisan situation. it could be — but you wouldn't bet on it. the democrats are in control of the house of representatives for the first time in eight years. and the president is going to have work with them to get things done. much better news for donald trump in the senate — the republicans remain in control — and they gained some states from the democrats. we'll get into much more detail on the midterms with the help of jane 0'briant ina the midterms with the help of jane 0'briant in a few minutes. send your questions my way. —— jane 0'briant. hello. as far as the weather goes in

the united states, things are said to get much colder over the next few days. we have an area of low pressure that is moving across the great lakes into the northeast, as that continues to push eastward, but we are starting to get colder air floating down from the canadian arctic. temperatures across saskatchewan and manitoba and central canada are well below normal for this, the year, —5 forecast in winnipeg and colder air will push outwards, a bit of snow has run as well into canvas, a few flurries around the great lakes as we get towards the end of the week that you can see the blue colours and colder air is on the move. across to minnesota, parts of kansas and temperatures for some will stay below freezing. the weather picture across the indian ocean looking quite unsettled. we become hurricanes would think of the atla ntic hurricanes would think of the atlantic but this is forecast to become a cyclone. it will head quite close to the northeast coast of

madagascar are, tracking the cyclone is hard because of the slow—moving. it isa is hard because of the slow—moving. it is a weather system we are keeping a pretty eye on. talking about flooding this time yesterday in kuwait, where kuwait city had over a third of a years worth of rainfall to the start of the week. the weather stays unsettled across this area as they go to the next two days. a tropical low pressure that is going to encourage further binary downpours from a northeast in saudi arabia and southern parts of the iraq and could be areas that become 50 to 75 mm of rain and that because some flash flooding. another part of the world we see bad weather, sri lanka. an area of low pressure at the moment, and has a good northeasterly monsoon downpours and further thunderstorms are expected to form widely going to the next 2a hours. to the east, looking at another area of low pressure. forecast across the south of thailand, this will bring to browser rain with it. 50 to 100 mm of rain!

perhaps 200 in the wettest area. as a low pressure were sent to the back, and may turn into a cyclone. something we are keeping a close eye on. that is the weather across the south asia region. what about the forecast a little because of the home? in europe, we see weather system moving in off the atlantic. more wet and windy weather coming in on the portable and spain. they went strengthened across the western areas of france, still bother across many areas of europe with temperatures not quite as high as they happen. the forecast for the uk, seeing some rain on thursday moving into western areas, each and every is after a chilly start are better prospects of saying some sunshine. the full uk forecast coming up in half an hour. hello, i'm ros atkins, this is 0utside source. jeff sessions, the us attorney general, has been fired by president trump. that news comes after a long night of vote counting. most of the american midterm election results are in. here's the president's assessment.

i thought it was a very close to com plete i thought it was a very close to complete victory. the republicans made gains in the senate — but the democrats have taken the house of representatives. we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve, not to have it be a rubber stamp. the pakistani christian, asia bibi — whose death sentence for blasphemy was overturned last week — has been released from jail. the funeral for a ukrainian anti—corruption activist has been held. she died after being attacked with a litre of acid injuly. and we'll be live in peru, where 1a people have been arrested after police broke up a network trafficking babies. let's look further at the consquences of the democrats taking control of the house of representatives.

well it's very likely democrat nancy pelosi will be president trump's principal opponent. here's how the crowd received her last night. they're chanting "speaker" — that's the leader of the house of representatives — nancy pelosi's done the job before — and she's favourite to do it again. she held a press conference earlier. the american people have put an end to unchecked gop control of washington, again the checks and balances envisioned by our founders. that is the responsibility we have when we take that oath to protect and defend the constitution. and we as democrats are here to strengthen the institution in which we serve and not to have it be a rubber stamp for president trump. donald trump meanwhile has been imagining the possibility of a "beautiful bipartisan

situation" with the democrats. maybe we'll negotiate, maybe we'll make a deal, maybe we want. make a deal, maybe we won't. it's possible. but we have a lot of things in common on infrastructure. we want to do something on health care, they want to do something on health care, there are a lot of great things that we could do together and we'll send it up and we'll give the democrats and we'll get the democrats and will get the republicans or some of the republicans. what many people are expecting though is a lot of investigations by congress into the president justin waring, market analyst, ubs "this will be known as the race that launched a thousand probes". certainly the democrats have options. 0ne us reporter has shared this list. whether wh improperly used security clearances, potential money laundering. "if the democrats think

they are going to waste taxpayer money investigating us we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of classified information, and much else. two can play that game! both sides have some decisions to make. the democrats could also try force the president to reveal his tax returns. here's the republican leader in the senate on that. the whole issue of presidential harassment is interesting. i remember when we tried it in the late 90s, we impeached president clinton, his numbers went up and ours went down and we underperformed in the next election. so the democrats will have to decide how much presidential

harassment they think is good strategy. i'm not so sure it'll work for them. act elected as a political tradition, but the politicians say that we will work for all americans and for the benefit of the country and for the benefit of the country and then, a8 hours later we're back to business as usual. 48 hours, i think it's only 2a actually. the democrats basically, they can try. a donald trump is already said that the democrats can do what they want to do, i'm going to do what i want to do, i'm going to do what i want to do. so i don't think that he really has come to terms the fact that he now actually has opposition in the house. you still talking and focusing on his majority, and the senate. and to some extent, yes a point because the senate is still

the chamber that drives some of the most important decisions that congress can make, ie, supreme court justices and he knows that the senate has his back. so the democrats, they can ask for his tax returns, but that is another issue. but i do not get the sense that there's going to be much bipartisan movement beyond the formalities. asking about health care, more look at the advance of the election, this can at the top of the issues of primary concerns for voters. does this mean that 0bama care is here to stay? that is a competent complicated question, there is no easy answer, but it has to be approved by the senate, republican

said sworn to replace it. they haven't been able to do that so far, and it is also been complicated by the fact that many republican voters actually found that they quite liked parts of the affordable care act and do not want it all to be repealed and replaced upon reflection. so the picture there is a bit murky. but there are things that the democrats and republicans could work together ona and republicans could work together on a that is controlling the price of drugs. so all deals come with strings attached. when max stay with us, this is a tweet from the president saying work with me and actually in the press conference, the president spent quite a lot of time on the people

who did not get elected and those who did not get elected and those who were in line with them, was the presidents claim that he was the deciding factorfor good presidents claim that he was the deciding factor for good or for bad? up deciding factor for good or for bad? up to deciding factor for good or for bad? uptoa deciding factor for good or for bad? up to a point, this was a referendum on his performance over the past two yea rs, on his performance over the past two years, but what it does go to the heart of the polarisation of the american voter. people like donald trump like donald trump, people who don't absolutely cannot stand him. seesaw energised democrats voting against them, the so—called blue wave, but you also saw conservative republican voters embracing trompe and can embracing them back. so after this election, far from and can embracing them back. so after this election, farfrom coming together, america has been pushed further and further to both sides of the periphery. much more on bbc/ newsweek and it it through the app

on your smartphone. terrible story from ukraine. these pictures came in earlier. this is the funeral of the ukrainian anti—corruption activist kateryna handzyuk. injuly she was walking to work when she was attacked with a litre of acid. she suffered burns to over a0% of her body and had to undergo a number of operations. they were unable to save her and she died on sunday. the funeral was held in her hometown, the southern city of kherson. the bbc‘s vitalii cher—vonenko was there. today, they are saying goodbye to her. hundreds of people gathered today to pay tribute to the girl who tried to fight corruption and all levels of government and the police.

three months ago, she suffered from terrible acid attacks, most of her body had terrible burns. she spent three months and the hospital, but did not manage to survive. before her death, kateryna handzyuk posted a video expressing outrage at the number of attacks on activists that weren't being investigated properly, or at all. this is some of it. human rights groups have been outraged over the handling of the investigation into the attack. here's our correspondentjonah fisher explaining the fall out. her death has turned out to have quite a good deal of resonance here in the ukraine. many activists think it as just the latest, very sad example of how the law enforcement of thejudicial service example of how the law enforcement of the judicial service is example of how the law enforcement of thejudicial service is not taking seriously the threats that are being made against activists and

civil society campaigners, particularly those in this campaign speaking out against corruption issues. the reverberations have gone as far as parliament here, yesterday, the prosecutor general offered to resign over the amount of criticism that has been coming in his direction over his handling of the case. it still has to be seen whether that resignation is accepted, but this has become quite accepted, but this has become quite a hot political topic here. many people seeing it as symptomatic of the failures of the ukraine, five yea rs the failures of the ukraine, five years after the revolution and the start of that revolution that still, there are questions about the police service, thejudicial service, whether they can be trusted and in particular, whether they can be trusted on big issues such as the fight against corruption and the need to take on powerful vested

interests. police in peru have broken up a suspected baby trafficking ring in map a southern city called arequipa. marks & spencer has reported falling clothing and food sales — and warned that it sees little improvement in the coming months. the retailer is continuing to review its store closure plans. our business correspondent emma simpson reports. she is the new face but it is the same old story with another drop in sales. being drafted into the appeal, it's selling fast but this retailer is still not getting get quite right. giving customers what they want. this business is now focused on change. outlined in may, that they stuck to undertake a programme of radical transformation. we are at the first stage of that

and it is part of a three to five year plan and we're reallyjust trying to fix the basics. that includes food, where sales are nearly 3% lower, the worst for yea rs, nearly 3% lower, the worst for years, products they got too pricey for some, the company promising that they are getting cheaper. theyjust don't have christmas on the plate, it is in the midst of another turnaround plan, but this time, they're being brutally honest sing they're being brutally honest sing the whole business has to change. the culture is to hide mark, it is not up to scratch and needs to attract younger shoppers. it has taken a long hard look in the mirror and i've come to the conclusion that if they still want to be trading in ten years' time, they need to make some fairly radical changes touted to business. it's an iconic brand and much loved but it is not immune to the challenges of the broad structural changes. it is already

closing 100 stores of the next four yea rs, closing 100 stores of the next four years, and the company hinted today that there could be more to come, as it tries to future proof its business, a job that will be no quick fix. this is 0utside source live from the bbc newsroom. 0ur lead story is? jeff sessions — the us attorney general — has been fired by president donald trump. police in peru have broken up a suspected baby trafficking ring the bending the a mosh during sentenced to death for collaborating during the second world war but he said that he was honouring his achievements in the first world war. aid agencies have appealed for civilians as fighting increases in

yemen. likely tojeopardise humanitarian efforts, one hospital is only metres away from the war zone. it recently resumed its offensive on the city. us scientists say they are generated electricity using a much room —— mushroom, they use several mushrooms to power small lamps, they believe the technology has great potential. police in peru have broken up a suspected baby trafficking ring in map a southern city called arekipa. in a southern city called arekipa. 1a people arrested. they include doctors and hospital workers — these are some of them. the former head of peru's national police force has been arrested. this picture was tweeted by a local tv station. his partner is suspected of being the ringleader of a gang

which convinced vulnerable women to hand over their babies — which were then sold them. dan collyns, a journalist is in arekipa. tell us more about how the police believe was happening. well, the police are investigating this baby trafficking ring when they decided to swoop when a five—month —year—old baby that was part of this operation, they say they described it as they were at risk. so the coach sure the investigation, swooped in with as we understand, 500 police officers and more than 20 prosecutors, rating the businesses and hirings and arresting these 1a people and including the former head of the national police in 2010 and

2011. this investigation is continuing to a degree, these people up continuing to a degree, these people up and arrested will be held in custody for ten days of the investigation continues. i've spoken to the police here and they go into the details as it is still under way. they believe these babies were sold locally or nationally or internationally? that is what they are trying to find out, there are several lines of investigation. 0ne is that these babies are being sold internationally through illegal adoption of foreigners. there is another line of investigation is that they are being sold nationally and another $1 more sinister is that they may have been trafficked, and thatis they may have been trafficked, and that is a we are investigating and this clearly a highly organised system with which they got pregnant

women who are poor and perhaps seeking abortions, which is illegal in peru. and they receive the money for their babies, which was around a little bit more than $1000 or £900. they do not know yet how big and how many babies as a result of this, it isa many babies as a result of this, it is a part of the current investigation. will leave you there for now, but please keep us up—to—date. these mid—terms gave us many firsts. let's start in new york — we saw the youngest woman in history to be elected to congress, alexandria 0casio—cortez will represent the democrats. she'd already made her mark

by winning the nomination from a 10—term congressman. she's making her mark again. next to michigan and minnesota — where the first muslim congresswomen have been elected. rashida ta—leeb is also the first palestinian—american woman in congress. she was actually thrown out of a trump rally in 2016 after shouting questions at him. and ilhan 0mar is a former refugee and the first somali—american in congress. this is why she decided to get into politics. when i was coming to this country, i heard about its promises and it was not long before i arrived that i noticed that a lot of america's promise was not extended to

everyone. and as i complained to my grandfather, he would say that every progress this country ever achieved is because people were willing to do something to make that progress happen. and so i knew early on that ifi happen. and so i knew early on that if i wanted a different kind of neighbourhood, a different kind of city state and country, i had to be a part of doing that. and colorado has elected its first openly gay man for governor. jared polis will be the new governor of colorado. here he is last night. and i want to thank the personal support network, my amazing partner and the first man in the history of colorado! in new mexico and kansas — where the first native american congresswomen have been elected. deb haaland and sharice davids who is a former mma fighter, davids is also the first lesbian congresswoman from kansas. and this is a strange one —

nevada elected a brothel—owning, reality tv star republican candidate to the state legislature. but dennis hof died last month. he was found dead by the porn actor ron jeremy after a birthday party. despite these challenges to his campaign, he won — and the republicans will now select some to serve in his place if you want to go to the results, you can get it all online/ news. next let me show you some of the celebrations last night. this was in houston texas, republican ted cruz was re—elected to the senate. house democratic leader nancy pelosi had a dance

on stage in new york. very likely to become the speaker of the house. in georgia, democrat stacey abrams went even further. an entire dance troupe onstage. she was standing for governor — but she isn't celebrating yet — she's down in the count, but it's so close stacey adams isn't conceding. and this is how they do it in charleston, west virginia. democratjoe manchin held onto his senate seat there. lots of celebrations all over the country. i asked barbara plett usher how quickly the democracts could make themselves felt, and change things for president trump. well, i think it depends on what the

legislative agenda is going to be. put forth certain priority legislation and then there was the how the republicans respond and whether they can actually work in a bipartisan way on things, which is something that mr trump and nancy pelosi were talking about. of course social often be said after midterm elections, and what other people are looking at is whether the democrats are now going to start watching also the investigations into president trump and other members of the white house because they have the power to do that now. nancy pelosi was quite circumspect about that, she said that she would very much put it into the committee system, the committee thatis the committee system, the committee that is there to regulate these kind of thing stepped these oversights, she said she has a responsibility to have checks and balances and make sure things are running the way they should be running, so she was not very confrontational about it. we do not know how quickly i would start, but we have a sense that president

trump was a bit worried about it, he did again offeran trump was a bit worried about it, he did again offer an olive branch to work ina did again offer an olive branch to work in a bipartisan way, but he also said that if they start to launch also at the investigations, that i would be a war posture and that i would be a war posture and that there would be a back—and—forth over this and that he was better at it than they were in terms of political battling. so people are positioning themselves and will see how that plays out in next month. and now a word on the press conference, what did you think of the president and abrasive form earlier? yes, he was very combative but with the press, though i have to say he did go on and speak with them for a whole hour and a half in the midst of this skirmish with the press, he said should you stop, are you getting bored ? press, he said should you stop, are you getting bored? but he did us in confrontations of the number of journalists and he felt they were insulting him were taking up too much time and i degenerated into this kind of back—and—forth that he

sometimes has week also in the enemy of the people and, he accuses them of the people and, he accuses them of being the problem in the country and not him. see you tomorrow, goodbye. good evening. if you manage to dodge the rain today, you have done pretty well. pretty heavy showers running around consistent rain in places too. 0verall, much drierstill breezy, low pressure will continue to govern our weather and as you look closely at this chart, between the fronts as you look to the remainder of the day and into thursday. they open up a little bit, overnight tonight, a chilly start to thursday across areas of scotland and northern ireland, but we will see a weather system pushing its way into the southwest of wales and into

southern scotland. more persistent rain courtesy of this in the far southwest and western fringes of wales, on the side of it, dry weather in decent sunshine and temperatures in the double figures. thursday into friday be cast our eyes back to the area of low pressure picking up a little earlier, with a deep feature, potential letter friday that means that there'll be some transport problems, and early parts of the dance and heavy rain that risk of it further eastwards as a gift with the evening time. rain into northern ireland and wales in the southwest but the wind probably though, the most disruptive factor, that strong gust of southerly wind will affect eastern areas, and dry and sunny weather, highs of 30 and 1a —— 13 and 1a. we'll see it further eastwards where the areas will not

escape. of the —— up to 70 mph when, in the evening as promised, all that rain going further eastwards in time for the friday evening rush—hour, strong gusty winds accompanying it as well. the whole system rolls out into the north by the time we get into the north by the time we get into saturday, keep the area of low pressure but it opens up a little bit, not giving us that more organised weather front, but pushing showers on the wind, so the weekend, westerly or south—westerly, it will remain collectively mild, there will be some showers and sunshine. western scotland i think, wales will, temperatures in the double figures. not much to pick between the two days, on sunday, we could

see an area of more organised ring pushing into the southern area, by closely as we look at remembrance day parades, stay tuned as the forecast gives you more details. showers running again into the irish into wales and northwestern scotland. let's take a look on into next week, the pressure will not leave us in a hurry, perhaps be a bit cooler next week as the weather systems comes swinging in from the atla ntic to systems comes swinging in from the atlantic to the first of the week later on into the week though, from the continent, it starts to search away which will come down considerably in some pretty warm air as well, relatively marked, but later on next week, it may become a case of autumn. a deeply divided america — president trump declares tremendous results for the republicans in the midterm elections, despite significant losses. the democrats celebrate after regaining control of the house of representatives, but the republicans tighten their grip on the senate. i think it was a great victory.

i'll be honest, i think it was a great victory, and actually some of the news this morning was that it was in fact a great victory. chanting. and a new wave, as a record number of women are voted in, including for the first time two muslims. tonight president trump has sacked his attorney general, sacked his attorney general, jeff sessions. we'll be asking what impact these elections will have on his presidencey. also on the programme. fighting for his life — the 98—year—old assaulted and robbed in his london home. police say the violence used was beyond belief. tough on the high street — marks & spencer report falling