the prime minister lays wreaths to remember the first and last british soldiers to die in the first world war. last post plays she's visiting cemeteries in belgium and france to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the conflict. explosion she quotes a poem, they were staunch to the end against odds uncounted. we will remember them. we'll be live with our correspondents in belgium as europe prepares for a weekend of armistice centenary commemorations. also this lunchtime... a car bursts into flames in melbourne after a terror attack in which a somali man stabs three people. he is now with the police. he is known to police mainly in respect to relatives that he has that are

certainly persons of interest. britain's struggling high street — a new report says 1a shops are closing every day. women around the world are having fewer children — with more of them working and greater access to contraception. oh, what a ripper! and england's cricketers win away from home — at last — with an easy victory against sri lanka. and coming up on bbc news: england are dealt a major blow ahead of the women's world twenty20, as all—rounder katherine brunt is ruled out with a back injury. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the prime minister has laid wreaths

at the graves of the first and last british soldiers killed in the first world war. she was at a cemetery at mons in belgium, ahead of this weekend's armistice commemorations, marking the hundredth anniversary of the end of the great war. well, our correspondent robert hall is in belgium for us this lunchtime. iamat i am at nieuwpoort on the belgian coast and the memorial behind me symbolises and the members british soldiers who lost their lives fighting alongside belgian soldiers in the defence of antwerp at the start of the war. it also symbolises a partnership which was reflected today, as mrs may took that first step along a path of remembrance which will stretch throughout the weekend. near the city which saw the first battles of the first world war, the

leaders of two countries which fought side by side met to remember to soldiers whose deaths marked the beginning and end of the conflict. the first burials were carried out by the german army after the battle of mums in august 1914. the cemetery nan contains more than 600 graves, both commonwealth and german. —— the battle of mons. mrs may, with the belgian prime minister, laid a wreath at the grave of 17—year—old privatejohn wreath at the grave of 17—year—old private john parr. he wreath at the grave of 17—year—old privatejohn parr. he had lied about his age and joined aged 15. he had been part of a reconnaissance unit on the first day of the war, but he may have died as a result of friendly fire. for years later, as the minutes counted down to the armistice, private george allison of the royal irish lancers fell victim toa the royal irish lancers fell victim to a german sniper, becoming the last british soldier to die before

the ceasefire. the cemetery has a lwa ys the ceasefire. the cemetery has always been a place of peace and reflection. today's ceremonies herald a weekend when europe will pay tribute to millions lost in what became known as the war to end all wars. the albert memorial behind me is dedicated to belgian forces who lost their lives, and all over europe this weekend, millions of people will take part in tributes and in ceremonies, but as this milestone passes, the centenary passes, the first world war recedes into history. how will we continue to remember? the machines have been working around the clock. the royal british legion‘s factories make overfour million poppies every year, part of a remembrance tradition which has always focused on the armistice. remembrance gives us an opportunity for stillness in a very, very busy world. and i think that that need to come together, and the national unity that

we can collectively have from that, is very powerful. that sense of national grief was first expressed at the newly—constructed cenotaph two years after the armistice. ex—servicemen, widows, friends, unified by losses in every town, city and village. flowers and tears for millions who'd died. the last of the survivors have now left us. so, as world war i recedes further into distant history, how should we keep remembrance alive? so what you've got there then is your engineer's store, 0k? let's keep on going back. historian andy robertshaw believes practical experience can help us understand why we should remember. he's reconstructed a section of the trenches here in kent

to illustrate life at the front. his young visitors were united in their enthusiasm for the project, but divided on how remembrance should look in the future. you need to express it more. you can'tjust, like, let it lay in the history books at a library. you need to bring it to the school, and maybe have assemblies on it. i don't feel we should change it at all. we're still remembering them, and we're still remembering what they did. some tradition is important, but you could change it up a bit, because i think the youth will get bored of it. all around us are the battlefields of the first world war... one way of sustaining interest is through stories. sir michael morpurgo is a master of his art. the stories are what stick, the stories are what stay. so i think it's up to storymakers like me, dramatists, film—makers — however we tell our stories. there won't be, in 50 years' time, tears for these people, because no—one will know them. we will know it's desperately sad, but if you've known those

people in your mind's eye, through a story, and you've felt it deeply that these people did do what they did, and it was important to you that they did, then it means something. bagpipes play at dud corner cemetery in northern france, the sun was setting as cadets paid tribute to the scottish regiments which served here. change may lie ahead, but the baton of remembrance is still being passed on. my my colleague is at the cemetery. i talked about partnership at the start of those. i gather that partnership was reflected today? start of those. i gather that partnership was reflected today7m was. the punisher between britain

and belgium especially, it finished merchants to help against the french centuries ago, the treaty of london was convened to protect the neutrality of belgium. there are lots of links between the belgians, many refugees are in the uk, so the belgian prime minister walked side by side with theresa may today, i spoke briefly to him, he talked about even now at a time of brexit uncertainty, that foundation that has been set of the century being so strong that that is the one thing they hold positive in dealing with they hold positive in dealing with the uk in future. those two soldiers opposite, we saw the images of them earlier, let us look at the notes theresa may left. this isjohn parr, he said he was 17 to join theresa may left. this isjohn parr, he said he was 17 tojoin up, died on the first day, a reconnaissance cyprus. and a handwritten note from theresa may. there is in that rich earth a richer dust concealed. a poem by rupert brooke. just five

paces to the other side opposite, george ellison, the last british soldier to be killed. talking to belgian civilians when he was shot bya belgian civilians when he was shot by a sniper, it says here again, they were staunch till the end against the odds uncounted, another poem. today theresa may has spent around an hour here. this starts the commemorations over the weekend. she is now meeting emanuel macron in albert in france, so central to that fighting were hundreds of thousands of british and allied troops lost their lives around the river somme. thanks very much indeed. a very full weekend ahead. back to you in the studio. bbc one has special coverage from the cenotaph on armistice day this centenary year. world war one remembered starts from ten o'clock on sunday. and now the rest of the day's news.

australian police are treating as terrorism an attack on a busy shopping street in central melbourne. a somali man stabbed three people after driving a car into the city centre that was laden with gas cylinders which then caught fire. the attacker was shot by police and later died in hospital. hywel griffith has sent this report from sydney — and a warning, it includes some disturbing images. face to face with an armed attack. officers confront a man brandishing a knife. he continued to swing at them until, moments later, they shot him in the chest. the police were called after reports of a vehicle on fire. it had been driven into the heart of the city's busy shopping district before bursting into flames. gas canisters were later found at the scene. when the police arrived, they found members of the public had been attacked with a knife. one of them fatally.

the attacker also later died in hospital. officers say he wasn't on a terror watch list, but he and his family, originally from somalia, we re family, originally from somalia, were so—called persons of interest. that present, he is now with police, he is known to police mainly in respect to relatives that he has that are certainly persons of interest to us. and he is someone that accordingly is now into both victoria police and the federal intelligence authorities. the police say the threat is over. but many here have been left shaken and anxious by what they witnessed. there were a lot of police officers that looked a bit concerned. i've run into some fans here as well who were also concerned. videos have emerged of the shooting, attempted stabbings and all that

sort of stuff, so it's quite graphic, quite violent, and at the moment, i guess the best way of describing it is just shock. counterterrorism officers are now investigating. they will need to establish whether the man was working alone or taking instructions from elsewhere. the people in melbourne this the question of whether more can be done to protect the public from such sudden and chaotic acts of terror. about 14 shops are closing every day on the british high street, according to the accountancy firm pwc. it says fashion and electrical stores have been particularly vulnerable to online shopping, and describes trading conditions as the worst for five years. well, times may be tough for the retail industry, but figures just out show the economy as a whole grew by 0.6% over the summer months, as our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith reports. it might be steady and measured, but the economy is growing

at its fastest rate for nearly two years. on this small housing development in the ribble valley, it certainly feels like things are shifting in the right direction. 0.6% is across all industries and, of course, we are in the buoyant sector, 2.1% within construction, so, for me, it feels very exciting and, hopefully, it continues. i have been in several recessions now and it's not been good at times. you know, it really has not been good. so, no, it feels very exciting. after a slow start to the year, the chancellor's pleased things seem to be improving. 3.3 million newjobs, unemployment lower in every region and nation of the united kingdom since 2010. what we have now got to do is pivot to a focus on ensuring real wage growth and higher standards of living. it is only if wages carry on growing that we will feel the benefits of a growing economy. while construction has been growing the fastest, the services sector is the big beast of our economy and it might feel

like a long time ago now, but that long hot summer is a think that's given the figures a massive boost. —— that long, hot summer is a thing. we did see a one—off boost in consumer spending earlier in the third quarter, due to the scorching summer and the world cup. consumers seem to have reined in their spending since then, after splashing out over the summer. that explains why as many as 14 shops a day have been closing this year. accou nta nts pwc say we are in the toughest trading climate in five years. as we head towards the winter, all industries are hoping to shore up the benefits of that summer sunshine. coletta smith, bbc news, near clitheroe. theresa may's allies in the democratic unionist party have accused her of breaking a promise that she'd never sign up to a brexit deal that treats northern ireland differently from the rest of the uk. the dup says a letter from the prime minister

indicates she would be prepared to agree to northern ireland remaining within eu single market regulations. the chancellor philip hammond has insisted the government won't do anything that would threaten the union. our political correspondent iain watson reports. this is what both the eu and the uk wa nts to this is what both the eu and the uk wants to avoid, a return to a troubled past with a hard border between northern ireland and the irish republic. but how to keep the border free flowing after brexit is proving difficult. the eu wants northern ireland to continue to follow rules on customs and on some goods until a wider trade deal is struck. but the government and dup say this would effectively create a new border in the irish sea between northern ireland and the rest of the uk. this week the prime minister sent a letter to the dup leader,

a p pa re ntly sent a letter to the dup leader, apparently to reassure her that it will not come into force. but the dup say that is not enough that they guarantee. they want the prime minister to explicitly rule out this option in any brexit agreement reached with the eu. we want to trust the prime minister because she has said so many times that that is the case, but you have to judge any promise by what is actually delivered in an agreement. and from what we can see in the latter, it is quite clear that some of the promises made do not conform to some of the content of the letter which has been written. all this is really about one of the most precious and rare commodities in politics, trust. the dup simply will not take verbal oi’ the dup simply will not take verbal 01’ even the dup simply will not take verbal or even written assurances from the government, instead they want to ensure there is no mention of treating northern ireland differently from the rest of the uk as to brexit in the official text of the withdrawal agreement that the government reaches with the eu. so can ministers guarantee that? just

listen very closely to how the chancellor answered that question. the prime minister has been very clear about this many, many times. we will not do anything which puts oui’ we will not do anything which puts our union at risk. it will not be on the withdrawal agreement? we will not do anything that puts the union at risk. the prime minister insists the uk as a whole, notjust northern ireland, would sign at any temporary agreement, but some cabinet members wa nt agreement, but some cabinet members want certainty as to when this will end. theresa may with her belgian counterpart today, these solemn images from the armistice collaborations underlined the closeness of cross—channel relationships in the past. but even if the prime minister finds contemporary allies in the brexit negotiations, she could still face difficulties on the home front. ian watson, bbc news. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris — real angerfrom the dup? how worried will theresa may be

about that? the dup are certainly upping the a nte the dup are certainly upping the ante as the brexit talks move into a particularly critical phase. the democratic university —— democratic unionist party's problem is the fact that northern ireland could have to continue following european rules on goods. on customs the government has assured them that will not be two customs territories in the uk, northern ireland will remain under the same customs regime as england, scotla nd the same customs regime as england, scotland and wales, but it leaves open the issue of how the european single market would operate in a situation where the land border between northern ireland and the irish republic is kept open. in her letter to the dup, the prime minister says there is a single electricity market on the island of ireland, they're already some checks of animals moving between northern ireland and the rest of the uk, the implication of that would potentially be an argument that if those arrangements are not controversial at the moment, maybe we could add some more to bring us

into a situation where checks are not needed on goods moving between northern ireland and the irish republic, that would not amount to a constitutional crisis in northern ireland. that is not how the dup see it, they would argue that if northern ireland has to continue following rules the movement of goods, they will be set in brussels, not london, and a sammy wilson, the dup's brexit spokesman has argued, that would be a break—up of the union. high stakes for unionists. chris page, thank you. thousands of people have been ordered to leave their homes as wildfires rage across northern california. the fires broke out on thursday and have already burned 20,000 acres of land as the fast—moving wildfire approaches several towns in the sierra foothills north of sacramento. several properties have already been destroyed in the town of paradise, which is home to around 26,000 people, officials say the fire is being driven by 35—mile—per hour winds. it is1:20pm.

our top story this lunchtime... the prime minister lays wreaths to remember the first and last british soldiers to die in the first world war, marking the hundredth anniversary of the end of the conflict. vichai srivaddhanaprabha, what a rip! coming up... england's cricketers win away from home at lost within easy victory against sri lanka. —— oh, whata ripper! coming up on bbc news, we hear from jose mourinho ahead of this weekend's manchester derby, as the united manager admits his side needs to grow up orface more defeats. fly—tipping costs millions to clean up, and it's on the rise. it's increased by nearly 45% in england, scotland and wales in the last five years. if you're caught doing it, you'll be fined, but it's now hoped that new penalties for people who pay rogue companies

to get rid of their waste will also tackle the problem. samantha fenwick reports from birmingham. imagine what it's like to have to walk through this every morning on your way to school or to work. it makes us feel unsafe. i believe that where there is rubbish, there's less respect for the area and there's more antisocial behaviour and crime. we've got a sign there that's broken, that shows the respect that they've got for the area. fly—tipping is a problem right across birmingham. this is a particularly bad area. there's household waste, fridges, mattresses and there's rotting food. there are flies everywhere, and the smell is quite horrendous. the situation has become so bad in parts of birmingham that over the past few years, local people have started going out several times a week, cleaning up the streets

where they live. it's on every single road you drive in, inner cities are a tip. the minute you report it, it gets clean, an hour later, two hours later, by the time the evening comes, the rubbish appears again. it's getting diabolical. who's tipping all of this stuff? definitely local residents. the tip is only a mile down the road, why people would dump here, i honestly don't understand it. residents here in birmingham say the problem is made worse because there aren't enough bin collections. but the council say that's nonsense. this is down to laziness. i find it frustrating that people think it's ok to do this, you know, because it isn't. no matter who we are or what issues or frustrations we face, it is not acceptable to go and take your rubbish and throw it on somebody else's back door. some of it's got nappies in... birmingham council has a specialist team investigating these types of crimes. we've found some evidence that shows a residential address, so we'll be going along this afternoon to knock on the door

to find out why the resident's address is in this rubbish. later this year, local councils in england will get powers to fine households up to £400 if they pay someone to take their rubbish and dump it in places like this. samantha fenwick, bbc news. women around the world are having fewer children — with researchers describing the decline as remarkable. almost half the world's countries are not producing enough children to maintain their current population sizes. the study, published in the lancet, shows that back in 1950, women were having an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime. but by last year, the fertility rate halved to 2.4 children. there is a huge variation between countries. in niger in west africa women tend to have seven children, but in cyprus, they're only having one child. our health correspondent,

dominic hughes is outsude the ingleside birth and community centre in salford. dominic, explained the reasons behind this falling fertility rate? as you say, we are at the ingleside birth and community centre and in one of the birthing suites where women come to give birth to children. the stuff you tell me they are still coming thick and fast in sa lfo rd , are still coming thick and fast in salford, but this study published in the lancet paints a very different picture. we know they point to three main factors. fewer deaths in childhood mean women are having fewer children, greater access to contraception for women and more women entering the workforce and also education. those three factors are coming together to bring down the fatality rate, and in many ways that reflects a success story.

the global population is still rising because, as you said in the introduction, we are stilljust above the rate of 2.1 birds per woman, below which populations started to shrink, but there is an incredible variation around the globe that you touched on. we are living longer, so even while birds are falling, people are living older, there are fewer babies but more older people. dominic hughes, our health correspondent. england have won a thumping 211 run victory in theirfirst test against sri lanka, ending in style their run of 13 away matches without a win. it's also joe root‘s first win as captain away from home, and england's first victory at galle. andy swiss has more. a lap of honour and who can blame them? for england and their travelling fans, away wins are a rarity, so their first for two years was certainly a day to applaud. it began with sri lanka hoping

for the unlikeliest of comebacks. but they were soon sent spinning. jack leach with the early breakthrough, as he and moeen ali combined to devastating effect. moeen snapping the first of his four wickets, as sri lanka succumbed to trial by turn. kusal mendis tried the aggressive approach. bad idea. caught moeen, bowled jack leach. there was no escaping them, before jack leach, in just his second test, delivered the defining moment. oh, what a ripper! that's about as good as spin bowling gets. dinesh chandimal bamboozled. unplayable, unforgettable. it wasn't all entirely seamless for england. a moment of comedy courtesy of adil rashid, but it was about his team's only slip—up as sri lanka quickly capitulated. when rangana herath in his final match was agonisingly run out, it was all over. an ultimately an emphatic

victory for england and, after 13 away tests without a win, their travelling troubles are finally finished. andy swiss, bbc news. it's 200 years since the publication of the novel persuasion by one of england's greatest writers, jane austen. now her work has inspired a group of women from pakistan to put together a series of short stories called austenistan. our correspondent shabnam mahmood reports. a traditional english tea organised by modern pakistani women. it is at the dorchester hotel in london. some are members of the jane austen appreciation society of pakistan. it has over 1000 members. they feel the themes of jane austen are releva nt to the themes of jane austen are relevant to pakistani women today. lots of times it is considered a man's world. she wrote a lot about

reality and financial reality. if you look at life in pakistan today, it is very, very similar. women have very limited financial emancipation, because of that reason people feel they can control the women and their families. inspired by stories from 19th—century england they have decided to write their own novel. they are in london to launch their book, austenistan, a collection of short stories inspired by the english writer based on their experiences of pakistani life. this woman read a passage from own story. her younger sister hadn't taken her story. her younger sister hadn't ta ken her notes, story. her younger sister hadn't taken her notes, so as a girl all the mother's hopes had ridden on her. anyone who has read jane austen and lives in pakistan knows the weddings on the marriage market, the obsession with hugh blake girl will

marry and will she marry a class above. —— with you a girl will marry. the literary group, set it to macca yea rs the literary group, set it to macca years ago, regularly meet in cities across pakistan, sometimes wearing clothes from jane austen's time. through their activities and the sale of the book, the women hope to raise money for children's education in pakistan. they very cleverly take themes and characters from jane austen's work and then they are showing how they are so and then they are showing how they are so relevant today in a culture which, of course, is 200 years different but in many ways has similarities. it is unlikely jane austen could have predicted her books would still be making an impact such a long way from home more than 200 years after her death. shabnam mahmood, bbc news. let's see if we can predict the weekend weather with ben rich. sunshine and showers for the

weekend, but before we get there, is a really wet and windy weather to contend with. this guys have turned increasingly threatening across western parts of the uk, and on the satellite picture this lovely looking hook of cloud has spun into quite a deep area of low pressure, 110w quite a deep area of low pressure, now hurtling in our direction. if you have travel plans for the rest of today, likely to encounter some very heavy rain and gales, particularly in the west, there is the risk of disruption. your bbc local radio station will keep you updated. this is the radar picture, you can see patchy rain in places and then here comes the really heavy rain pushing in towards northern ireland, parts of the south—west into wales, eventually south—west scotla nd into wales, eventually south—west scotland through the rest of the afternoon. with the strengthening southerly winds, more dry