you're watching bbc newsroom live, it's 11 o'clock and these are the main stories this morning. the prime minister briefs her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks, ministers say a deal is within touching distance after late—night talks. we're getting very close to it, i would say that the mood is cautious optimism, we're down now to some of the really difficult issues. premier foods, which owns bisto and mr kipling, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over gridlock at uk ports. 13 more bodies are recovered in california, bringing the death toll in the state's deadliest wildfire to a2. a woman who says she was promised a peerage in return for sleeping with a member of the house of lords urges other victims of harassment to speak out. lord lester denies the claims. all wet wipes sold as "flushable" currently on the market fail the water industry's disintegration tests — water companies say blockages caused by them are costing millions to fix. and the sugary shakes

causing a stir. campaigners call for a ban on some milkshakes and frea ksha kes, which they say contain "grotesque" levels of sugar and calories. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. british and eu negotiators are said to be cautiously optimistic after another round of late—night brexit talks. they still don't seem to have made a breakthrough, however, on the irish border issue. the prime minister is briefing the cabinet this morning. meanwhile the former foreign secretary and prominent leave campaigner borisjohnson has been tweeting, warning the uk is "doomed to remain in the customs union and under brussels' regulatory control". this morning the brexit secretary,

dominic raab, spoke to reporters as he left for the cabinet meeting — he said talks are moving forward. do you expect to reach a deal by the end of tomorrow? we are making progress. we'll be briefing the cabinet today? i will discuss that... is there a mutiny in the tory party? theresa may...? let's get the thoughts now of our assistant political editor, norman smith, whojoins me now from downing street. so, we are within touching distance, are we, norman? well, touching distance could be fingertips or it could be a bargepole away and we really don't know at the moment. what we do know is the mood music,

the noises coming from senior ministers, which seems to be increasingly upbeat, describing last night's late—night talks as positive, very optimistic, cautiously hopeful, all that sort of stuff. and it does seem they have now stripped back the area of disagreement to this one substantive outstanding issue around the northern ireland backstop and how the uk can exit on its own terms with this temporary customs arrangement. it seems that on the eu side they, too, want there to be some sort of mechanism to enable the uk to leave, because apparently, they do not want the uk to be permanently locked into a temporary customs arrangement because it is said they view that as too favourable ideal for the uk. said they view that as too favourable idealfor the uk. so there is a mutual interest on both sides in trying to come up with some sort of mechanism. the trouble is,

it sounds as if the eu are insisting on some sort of role for the european court of justice, on some sort of role for the european court ofjustice, and that isa european court ofjustice, and that is a big problem here at westminster, because it's highly unlikely any deal that included an oversight role for the european court ofjustice would be palatable to the cabinet, nevermind parliament. so, that could be the thing which is still holding things up. ministers are not getting a new proposal put before them this morning, because nothing yet has been nailed down and it has to be said, this morning as they were leaving for cabinet, they were not been very forthcoming, shall we say just do you still support the prime minister's brexit plan?” just do you still support the prime minister's brexit plan? i don't know why you stand outside my flat every morning, you never get anything. any thoughts of resigning this week? minister, will there be a deal on the table this morning? we are

really working on it, there is a huge amount of effort going on as you've heard and i'm confident that we will get a good deal, yes. you've heard and i'm confident that we will get a good deal, yesm there is no deal by tomorrow, what is plan b? thank you, bye-bye. just to underline mrs may's difficulties, there was a meeting of some of the main, leading, brexiteers in the cabinet in the office of liam fox last nightjust cabinet in the office of liam fox last night just to cabinet in the office of liam fox last nightjust to air their concerns and work out their positions. but at the moment you don't get a sense there is an imminent revolt, mutiny, by cabinet brexiteers, despite the urgings of the likes of borisjohnson, who this morning, interestingly, was suggesting in a tweet that the whole thing is stage—managed, this is some great piece of theatre by mrs may and her team to create the illusion that they're wrestling with the eu right up until the last minute until lo and behold, mrs may manages to get a deal. actually his belief

seems to be that it is pretty much all done and dusted anyway and that the deal, when it is done, it will bea the deal, when it is done, it will be a surrender, to quote mrjohnson. no getting away from its, though, you do feel incrementally we are inching towards some sort of agreement, certainly that was what the cabinet office minister david lidington seemed to be suggesting when he was interviewed this morning. we are getting very close to it, i would say that the mood is cautious optimism, we are now down to a small numberof the optimism, we are now down to a small number of the big issues. they were working long into the night last night having been up until quarter to three in the morning the night before but we are not there yet and thepm has been very clear, it is not a deal at any price. but cautious optimism i think both on our side and on the other side. elsewhere, mrs may could be facing problems in the commons this afternoon following

a travail to try and force the government to divulge the legal advice it has had about the brexit backstop exit deal, with suggestions that maybe we could get some sort of alliance between the labour party and tory brexiteers. there is an awful lot of manoeuvring going on, such an outcome would be pretty grim for mrs may, so there is a possibility that maybe brexiteers who put in their own motion, maybe the government could actually support that. so we may see a little bit of the difficulties mrs may is facing over brexit in the commons this afternoon. thank you very much, norman. one of the uk's largest food suppliers has said it will start to stockpile food in preparation for brexit. premier foods said it will consider building stocks of ingredients to protect against delays at ports. a lot of people have been looking to premier foods to see what they would say about brexit and they have said

nothing to date. this morning they have said, yes, we are going to start stockpiling raw materials, worried about disruption at ports, they said it would cost them £10 million over the three months in which they chose to do it, they did not say exactly when they would do it, they said they were thinking about it. it is all about possible disruption from a no deal brexit. it is one of the biggest food factories in the uk so people are very alert to see what is happening. it comes on the back of some strong warnings from supermarket as is over their fears of having to stockpile food, palace of chilled storage, the fact that they run to a one—week timetable when it comes to chilled and disposable food and they are quite concerned about a no deal, they do not know what the level of disruption might be but it is the uncertainty which gives them pause for thought. another 13 bodies have been discovered in and around the town of paradise in northern california, confirming fears that the wildfire which destroyed the town was the worst in the history of the state.

at least 42 people are now known to have died there and more than 220 people are missing. another two died in a fire in southern california. the wildfires in california have now been declared the worst in the state's history. our correspondent dan johnson sent us the latest from southern california. well, this is the latest fire teams have had to deal with, an intense blaze on this hillside here. they'rejust bringing in more workers now to try to stop it flaring up again, to stop it spreading. because if you take a look down into the valley, you can see how close this fire came to the homes here, to this neighbourhood. and that's why there are so many firefighters here on the ground, and in the air as well. they've been dumping water and powder to try and put this fire out. this embankment was completely ablaze in the last hour, and the people who live here have been on their roofs with their garden hoses, trying to protect their homes if the flames spread any further. the winds here are so warm and so dry that the fires have been driven over the hills

and through the countryside and communities here. we've seen entire neighbourhoods over the hill that have been completely destroyed. people have been going back this morning to see what's left of their homes, and in some cases it is not very much at all. earlier, cbs correspondent chris martinez spoke to us from calabasas in california. well, there have been two fatalities in this county and they are the only two fatalities that are associated with the fire burning in southern california. the other a0 deaths are associated with a fire in northern california. in this area, called calabasas, there are dozens of homes which were destroyed. the fire here is called the woolsey fire and it is connected to at least a00 or so homes that have been destroyed. that is not the damaged homes, those are the ones we know are destroyed. and

thatis the ones we know are destroyed. and that is an estimate. firefighters are still trying to get into certain neighbourhoods here that were burned out. so we don't really have an accurate count yet in terms of the damage in terms of homes or businesses. and the concern is that when all is said and done, the death toll between this fire and the fire up toll between this fire and the fire up north will rise as well. on a more practical level, the fires are still raging, and we are getting a lot of help from neighbouring states, we have 8000 firefighters working here right now to put the fires out and we have a lot of crews coming in mostly from western states to help out in the effort, which is still the immediate concern, because these fires are still burning. so we are not these fires are still burning. so we a re not really these fires are still burning. so we are not really at a point yet where people are focusing on the recovery or the rebuilding, because most people still haven't got home yet. there are tens of thousands of people who are still evacuated, many of them don't know yet what the neighbourhoods look like because they haven't been able to get back to see them, or there has been no

communication with that area. so the recovery effort isco take quite some time. be immediate concern at this hour still remains fire in itself and while firefighters are making some progress in terms of containing it, they think it is still going to be at least a matter of days and perhaps a couple of weeks before both the fire here and up north are fully contained. an author and campaigner has come forward as the woman allegedly offered a peerage by a member of the house of lords in exchange for sex. lord lester, a former liberal democrat frontbencher who is 82, denies the claims made by women's rights campaigner jasvinder sanghera. the lords' privileges and conduct committee, which investigated, is recommending to peers that he be suspended until 2022. israel says air strikes have targeted more than 100 sites across gaza, including the military intelligence headquarters of hamas. meanwhile, palestinian militants have fired at least 370 rockets into southern israel, with one civilian found dead in the rubble of a building in ashkelon. five palestinians have been killed in gaza, with around

a dozen injuries reported. four of the dead are confirmed as members of militant groups. palestinians say the fifth was a farmer. the latest round of violence began on sunday when a covert israeli mission was exposed in gaza. due to the secrecy of the operation, israel has not revealed specific details about the mission. the operation has sparked one of the most serious rounds of fighting between the two sides since israel and hamas fought a war in 201a. we'rejoined by our middle east correspondent yolande knell in sderot near the israel—gaza border how serious is the situation looking? well, the un middle east envoy here, nikolai mladenovic, has said that this is extremely dangerous, he is calling on all sides to show restraint, here in sderot people are just starting to

come back out onto the streets, but still a lot of shops and businesses are closed, the schools are closed as well, it's been a sleepless night here as people have experienced the worst barrage of rockets and mortars coming in from gaza since the 201a conflict between israel and militants there. and really what people are telling me is that things are very tense, they're looking to the israeli government for their response, the israeli cabinet has been meetings. in gaza, the israeli military has carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting militant sites there. also, life is on hold in gaza, i'm hearing that schools there are closed, a lot of businesses are shut up as well, because really, it has been a very difficult two days since, it was on sunday that this a p pa re ntly since, it was on sunday that this apparently botched operation by israel is social forces, who were a couple of miles inside gaza, well,

ina couple of miles inside gaza, well, in a shoot—out with palestinian militants which ends you after the civilian car that they were in was spotted, seven palestinian militants we re spotted, seven palestinian militants were killed, one israeli soldier as well. and it was after the funerals for those palestinian militants yesterday that all of this escalated and the rockets and missiles started to come in from gaza with palestinian militant groups saying that they were exacting their revenge. and no clue as to what that covert operation was about at this stage? well, is very unusual to covert operation was about at this stage? well, is very unusualto have covert operations in gaza even confirmed to us, but the circumstances of this one meant that they did say, the israeli authorities, that this was going on, they say there are a lot of operations like this under the radar. they have said that the aim was not, as hamas has claimed, a targeted assassination of a local hamas commander who was one of those

killed. but still, that has failed to calm things down. and really, this has derailed the efforts which egypt and the united nations have been putting in in recent weeks to try to get a longer term ceasefire deal between israel and hamas and calm things along the israel—gaza border after months of deadly protests there. those talks had been appearing to bear fruit protests there. those talks had been appearing to bearfruit in protests there. those talks had been appearing to bear fruit in recent days after qatar was allowed to send millions of dollars into gaza to pay unpaid salaries of hamas workers there. also for fuel to go unpaid salaries of hamas workers there. also forfuel to go into gaza's only power plant. that meant that the power shortages in gaza had been reduced to their lowest levels for several years. but now, we're hearing some israeli officials saying that those talks have been suspended, between israel and egypt and the un over a ceasefire

negotiations, for the time being. we have to see what happens in the coming hours. the headlines on bbc news... the prime minister is briefing her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks, uk and eu negotiators express "cautious optimism" after late—night talks. premier foods, which produces some of the uk's biggest brands, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over possible gridlock at ports. the number of people known to have died in the worst wildfire in california's history rises to a2. in sport, england name an unchanged side for the second test against sri lanka. ben stokes will move up to number three and there is no place in the side for fit againjonny ba i rstow. in the side for fit againjonny bairstow. the former england, west ham and chelsea midfielderjoe cole has announced his retirement from football. he has spent the last

couple of years playing for the tampa bay rowdies in america. and the liverpool and england striker daniel sturridge has been charged with two alleged breaches of betting all isjust with two alleged breaches of betting all is just liverpool say sturridge has never gambled on football. i will have more on all of those stories just after half past. there's been a small rise in unemployment. the figure increased by 21,000, with 1.38 million people out of work. the number of unemployed men contributed to rise betweenjune and september this year. however, employment also went up, to a record high of 32.a million. the office for national statistics also reported that average earnings increased by 3% in the year to september. our economics correspondent andy verity said unemployment had risen because the workforce as a whole had stopped growing. to put this in context, part of the reason it has ticked up is because the workforce is not growing.

so we had this scenario for years where the workforce kept on growing, 31 million, 32 million people in work in this country, but the number, the proportion of people unemployed, although it was broadly the same, going down a little bit, obviously shrank as a proportion of the larger workforce. so that's what's been happening there. so there is kind of mixed news. you can't say it is statistically significant because it is only 20,000—odd in a universe of 32 million. but if you look at the wages, there's some good news, where they are going up on average by 3.2% and if you look at it in real terms, so the gap between that and inflation, our pay is growing by 0.9%, which isn't bad, compared to the squeeze on living standards that we had a year ago. and there are also some figures out on productivity? that's right. so, productivity is highly watched, it's the amount we produce per hour or worker. if you look at the main measure, the amount we produce per hour, that's actually slipped slightly by 0.a% betweenjuly and september. again you have to be a bit careful of the statistics but that is slightly depressing news

because we do need productivity to improve, because if each worker is producing more, that's what drives wages and employers can afford to pay them more. the new director of public prosecutions has told the bbc there have been "failings in serious and sensitive cases". max hill said the crown prosecution service are committed to looking at cases where issues surrounding a failure to disclose evidence to the defence are raised. he also told martha kearney on today that the service needs more money. let me give testament to my predecessor alison saunders, she lived during a time when the cps had to deliver about 30% cuts to its annual operating budget. that was an extremely difficult task but was managed, i take no credit for it. here we are now, i have 6000 highly dedicated, highly motivated staff... is that enough? that is the evidence of two weeks, we have to move our resources around according to the way that crime changes, the way that the caseload changes.

but you would expect and every government department will say this, that as we come up to the next government spending review, we will be marshalling our arguments to say how stretched we are... so you are stretched, so you would like more people? what i am saying is that we are operating efficiently and at capacity and within any annual period, we have to move resources around the organisation to ensure that we maintain that efficiency. jerry hayes was the lawyer in the case of liam allan, the 22—year—old who was on trial for rape but whose case fell apart when a disc containing a0,000 messages from the complainant to mr allan was disclosed into the proceedings. earlier he told anita mcveigh max hill's comments were welcomed. i was very encouraged to hear what max has to say and he starts off with actually three good points. one, he's got the goodwill

of the criminal bar, he's a barrister himself, criminal, former chair of the criminal bar association. so that's a plus. then he's got a sort of gift from alison saunders, his predecessor, who said the place is a bit of a mess, we haven't got enough money. 30, he knows his way around whitehall. the big challenges got is to get more money. the big challenge he's got is to get more money. and of course he is new, using experienced and this is the rotting season for permanent secretaries, because they all want to get their bids into the treasury. he's going to have to be very tough, and this is his challenge. at the time of the liam allen case last year you said that the criminal justice system wasn'tjust creaking, you said it was about to croak. oh, yes. so is the money going to be forthcoming? it has got to be, it has really got to be, it's notjust cps, it's the whole criminal justice system. it's all very well people saying we've got the finest criminal

justice system in the world — well, we do if you happen to be very rich and you want to protect your reputation or you happen to be very rich and get some money off yourformer spouse. but if you're a lad who's been charged with a serious offence, it is problematical. i think i read somewhere that the cps lawyers had an average of 150 cases per lawyer at any one time. that's right. so, from the lawyers' perspective and from the public‘s perspective in terms of confidence, what does max hill need to do? max hill needs to restore confidence, and the best way of restoring confidence is to get more resources. the cps as we've said are hopelessly overstretched. they are good guys, they're doing hard work, they're very demoralised, like all of us, and we are working in third world conditions — but that's another story! so that's what he needs to do, he needs to get that money. once he's got that money, once he's directed the resources in the right way, then we might have a change for the good. will that change include delivering the fundamental right to a fair trial? there is a national disclosure improvement plan, isn't there, but is that working, is that making progress? it's difficult to say. i think the instincts are absolutely right and the cps have got a new disclosure manual

which i was reading yesterday. good, excellent. but we need the resources to do it. don't forget disclosure, particularly in cases like rape, sensitive cases, sexual offences, you have to look at the social media. and sometimes, in my case, in our case, 60,000 messages have to be looked at. you've got to have the resources to do it. of course it's got to be relevant and it's got to be reasonable but it has to be done to ensure a fair trial. some doctors in rural areas are having to apply for extra funding in order to diagnose patients with autism, the royal college of gps has warned. the bbc‘s victoria derbyshire programme has spoken to families with autistic children who are struggling to cope with their violent outbursts. we should warn you, noel phillips‘ report contains some scenes you may find upsetting. there are times like this whenjamie is like any other child his age, but he's not your typical seven—year—old.

he has a rare form of autism known as pda, or pathological demand avoidance, meaning he goes to great lengths to avoid certain things that cause him to be anxious. he could drop a bit of paper on the floor, i could say, you know, "jamie, please could you pick that up?" rather than picking it up, because that's a demand, you could have half an hour plus meltdown. this home video recorded byjamie's mum shows what happens when anxiety can quickly turn into violence. it's early in the morning and jamie doesn't want to go to school. i really need this to stop. shocking to watch, but this gives you a glimpse of why his mum is desperate for help. when you have something like that, it's going to hurt me. if my son had, like, a more outward diagnosis, so if he had, you know, severe autism or if he had some of those traits, spinning in circles, rocking, i think we would have got help. but because it's quite

a hidden disability, you know, you're on your own, no one could see what was happening at home. he's chucked everything... jamie, who also has adhd, was just three years old when he started becoming violent. but a long wait for his diagnosis forced kate, who is now a single mum, to spend nearly £10,000 to get a private consultation. gps are usually the first part of contact when it comes gps are usually the first point of contact when it comes to recognising autism. there are some parts of the country where gps have to apply for exceptional funding to get a diagnosis, or referred for a diagnosis, of autism. we don't have to get exceptional funding to get a diagnosis of heart disease or cancer or diabetes or depression. can i have it back?! this is what single mum erica is faced with most days. her ten—year—old daughter kierney has also been diagnosed with pda. as well as multiple anxiety disorder and depression. when frustrated, as she frequently is, the family home becomes a place of chaos and violence.

i feel really bad when i hurt my mum, and i don't want to hurt her. what do you think will happen if you don't get that help and support? i think i will end up getting arrested, which i don't want to happen. i just want to stay with my family. black eyes, bites and scratches. just some of the injuries kierney has inflicted on her mum when reacting to the demands of everyday life. i'd love to be a normal, happy family, but until that support is there, it's still only going to be a dream. this former government minister wants the nhs to do more to help families. well, the nhs, fundamentally, together also with other public services — education, social care — are just massively failing these families. and in a way we are abandoning families to try to cope on their own. the government acknowledges the need to improve services,

especially at a time of increasing demand for children's mental health provisions. nhs england say they're investing £7 million into crisis care for young people. for some, its support that can't come soon enough. now it's time for a look at the weather. thank you. good morning, we've got lots of sunshine across the uk at the moment, a much quieter weather day compared to yesterday, where we we re day compared to yesterday, where we were dodging those quite heavy showers. this is the scene at the moment in sheffield, lots of blue sky, replicated across many parts of the uk at the moment. still the odd shower drifting around across scotla nd shower drifting around across scotland and parts of england and wales but those will be quickly easy no way. the cloud increasing for northern ireland and the west of scotla nd northern ireland and the west of scotland later on but before that, temperatures getting up to 12—15 degrees. still feeling quite mild.

tonight as the cloud will continue to increase and some rain will be spreading into wales and northern england and scotland, white heavy for a england and scotland, white heavy fora time, england and scotland, white heavy for a time, particularly across central scotland. further south it will stay dry tonight. overnight temperatures staying well above freezing. there will be a slow improvement across northern england and wales, staying quite damp at times across scotland and northern ireland. hello, this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines... the prime minister briefs her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks. ministers say a deal is "almost within touching distance" after late—night talks. we're getting very close to it, i would say the mood is cautious optimism. we are now down to a small number of the really difficult issues. premier foods, which owns bisto and mr kipling, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over gridlock at uk ports.

13 more bodies are recovered in california, bringing the death toll in the state's deadliest wildfire to a2. all wet wipes currently sold as "flushable" in the uk are found to fail the water industry's disintegration tests. water companies say wipes cause blockages which cost millions to put right. and coming up... should milkshakes like these be off the menu? campaigners call for a ban on so—called freakshakes which contain more than 300 calories. sport now. here's reshmin. good morning. the former england, west ham and chelsea midfielderjoe cole has announced his retirement from football. he's 37, and has spent the last couple of years playing for the tampa bay rowdies in america. here he is scoring that brilliant

goal for england at the 2006 world cup in germany. cole says his career has been "a dream come true", and hopes to stay in the game as a coach. daniel sturridge is in trouble with the fa over its betting rules. the liverpool and england striker‘s facing two allegations — one to do with betting on football, and the other to do with a rule around giving out information which has been "obtained by virtue of his position". liverpool say sturridge has "categorically stated" that he has never gambled on football. and arsenal's danny welbeck has had a second operation on his broken ankle. he was badly injured in arsenal's draw with sporting lisbon in the europa league last week. manager unai emery says he has no idea if welbeck will be back playing this season. england have named an unchanged side for the second test against sri lanka in kandy. ben stokes will move up the batting order to number three so moeen ali drops down. ben foakes will keep wicket, meaning there's no place in the side for fit—againjonny bairstow.

it's a squad packed with options, providing a bit of a selection headache for captain joe root. it isa it is a great position to be in, the fa ct it is a great position to be in, the fact that we turn up here full of confidence as a group and as a squad. we have the opportunity to play the same team if we feel the surface requires it but also we have a group of guys who have been sat on the sideline chomping at the big ready to take the opportunity if it looks like they could be the guys to exploit that pitch. england's women have won their first match at the women's world t20. england's bowlers made short work of the bangladesh batting line—up, restricting them to just 76 runs. debutant kirstie gordon took 3—16. then the rain came, and england were set a revised target of 6a to win, which they reached easily to complete a seven wicket win. novak djokovic has made a strong start at the world tour finals. and there were some famous faces there to see him at the o2 in london, cristiano ronaldo among them. djokovic has had a great year, winning wimbledon and the us open

to return to world number one and he sailed through againstjohn isner. another retirement for you. the british modern pentathlete samantha murray is bringing her career to a close. she won a silver medal at the london olympics in 2012, and also claimed world championship gold in 201a. she's been speaking to our olympic reporter nick hope. it is really hard actually, it has probably taken a year to fully make my mind up that i'm going to move on. i have been in olympic cycles for london and rio and now i don't think i felt the same connection approaching a third olympics. i also feel in a really natural way that i've done as much as i can do it as an athlete in modern pentathlon. you have a fist full of medals, which is your favourite? world gold? have a fist full of medals, which is yourfavourite? world gold? olympic silver? everybody loves the olympic medal and it is definitely the best.

how special was that, looking back? i got it and i kissed it because it felt like a child to be! it was amazing. a home olympic games with all of those brits, families and friends and unions jacks everywhere. i was overwhelmed. what does the future hold? wedding for one? i'm getting married next july future hold? wedding for one? i'm getting married nextjuly which i'm enjoying planning and i'm looking bored too. in terms of what i'm going to be next, i enjoy public speaking, going into schools. i definitely like talking about sport a lot! it will be a while until i can find exactly what my next passion is going to be. i am taking each day at a time and embracing it as well. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. let's return to brexit and the brexit secretary, dominic raab, says that he is confident that there will be progress in the negotiations. it comes after negotiators expressed "cautious optimism" after talks went late into the night. so, as the prime minister briefs close colleagues at downing street on the developements, what are the next steps

on the road to brexit? our reality check correspondent, chris morris, joins me. thank you. so, we know that? negotiators?from the uk and the eu are close to?agreeing?the text of a?withdrawal?agreement. ? but are they close enough? the last? bits?are always the hardest bits, and the? politics? is complicated. but if an agreement emerges, the cabinet in? london?would need to approve it. there would also be a meeting at some stage between?the brexit secretary, dominic raab, and the eu's chief negotiator, michel barnier, to seal the deal. but, in the meantime, other eu member states would want to ensure that they are happy with any last—minute compromises. if all that? happens? pretty quickly, a special summit of eu leaders could be called at the end of the month. otherwise there is already a regular?summit?scheduled? in mid—december. ?any agreement would then need to be ratified in both the uk? parliament?and the european parliament.

the government?would ?also have to pass legislation giving the withdrawal?agreement? effect in uk law. ?but if nothing is agreed, or parliament votes an agreement down, we could be heading for a no—deal?brexit. and if there's no deal by january 21st next year, the government has to make a statement to parliament about the next steps it plans to take. exactly how mps might be able to effect the brexit process at that stage is the subject of fierce political debate. thank you. a ban on milkshakes with more than 300 calories is being demanded by campaign group action on sugar. following a survey of shakes in restaurants and fast food outlets, they said the drinks contained "grotesque" levels of sugar. the milkshake that topped the survey contained 39 teaspoons of sugar, more than six times the daily amount recommended for seven to ten—year—olds. public health england is challenging businesses to cut sugar by 20% by 2020. i'm nowjoined by anita bean,

who's a registered nutritionist. thank you forjoining us. what do you think about the idea of a ban?|j you think about the idea of a ban?” don't think banning is necessarily the answer. what we do know is that the answer. what we do know is that the government has put out to consultation at the moment for retailers and manufacturers to put volu nta ry retailers and manufacturers to put voluntary labelling on the products so consumers will at least know. we are hoping that manufacturer ‘s, retailers, restaura nteurs are hoping that manufacturer ‘s, retailers, restauranteurs will are hoping that manufacturer ‘s, retailers, restau ra nteu rs will ta ke the sensible option and exercise more responsibility and really not serve such enormous portions. the fa ct serve such enormous portions. the fact is that these portions are huge and completely unnecessary, huge of calories and calories and sugar and nobody needs that amount in one serving. the portions do need to shrink substantially. a freakshake

is click with chocolate, sweets, kate, cream and source. —— is a milkshake. you know what you are having. you are going out and people regard it as a treat, they might not be aware of how calorific and high in sugar the product is so it might not make a massive amount of difference to the purchasing decisions but i do think that manufacturers and retailers need to bea manufacturers and retailers need to be a bit more responsible. although you go to the restaurant and it is a treat, when you go to a shop that is different. it could be an everyday item could particularly for children and teenagers so there has to be more awareness as to the high sugar content more awareness as to the high sugar co nte nt of more awareness as to the high sugar content of these products. is it helpful when there is a call like this by action on sugar for a helpful when there is a call like this by action on sugarfor a ban on these extreme shakes? it will lead to people saying, and it has, this is the nanny state, don't tell us

what to do. people just switch off. that is the danger. we already have they sugar attacks which does please everybody and nobody likes to be told what to be doing, how much to it, what to choose. i agree, i don't think legislation if the answer, i think legislation if the answer, i think only in extreme cases would you need to turn to that. it is a whole variety of things. we need more education but we also had to change our food environment and that is keyed to it at the end of the dates, resetting the norms as to what is an acceptable portion, what is unacceptable item to choose when you go out. as a nutritionist, i would love these products not to be available in the first blight and it would make life easier for everybody but that will not happen. —— in the first place. we have freedom of choice is important. with rugby manufacturers are doing in terms of reducing sugar content, salt content in items can do about re—educating our taste buds as well because our

co re our taste buds as well because our core “— our taste buds as well because our core —— perceptions of unacceptable portion size have changed and so to the products we buy possibly have been reductions in the mud of sugar in particular but the other ingredients you mention and the government have set targets for manufacturers. we know that by 2020, which is not far off, there has to bea which is not far off, there has to be a reduction of 20% in sugar content be a reduction of 20% in sugar co nte nt for be a reduction of 20% in sugar content for a wide range of products including these milkshakes. responsible retailers should be working towards these targets but at the moment we have the other side of the moment we have the other side of the spectrum, these freakshakes which have been appearing in family restau ra nts. which have been appearing in family restaurants. i think what the most worrying thing is that people are ordering fees on top of their burger meal, and already buried calorific meal, and already buried calorific meal and a freakshake on top. when they do that to take a picture for social media and throw it away, i don't know! —— very calorific. but eating that on top of your meal is an enormous part of calories and not

even a full—time olympic athlete would need that amount of calories all in one go. wow, that is a way to contextualise it! thank you very much. when you buy so—called ‘flushable' wet—wipes, you'd expect to be able to put them down the toilet. but you'd be wrong. none of the brands sold in the uk that are labelled as such, have passed water industry tests for biodegradability, and it's causing major problems in the sewers, as jayne mccubbin has been finding out. this is six tonnes of steaming, stinking mess, straight from the sewers of the city of manchester. the waste of 1.2 million people comes through this inlet every day, and by this point in the sewage network, there really should be nothing to see here but dirty water. instead... let's send the camera down. this is full of rubbish. with one main problem. what proportion of this lot

would you say are wet wipes? well, i'm not volunteering to get in there and do a count, but most of the stuff you see here is wipes. many will have been flushed when they should have been binned, but some will have been labelled flushable. customers believe they're behaving responsibly by buying wipes marketed as flushable. but they don't read the detail on the packet. they won't realise that the packet says flush one or two at a time, and not a handful, and it embeds the behaviour of using toilets as a bin. are you satisfied flushable wet wipes are flushable? no, absolutely not. what manufacturers claim to be flushable simply doesn't pass water industry tests. we reported on this issue two years ago, and two years ago... i put this flushable wet wipe in this bottle. i've been driving round with it in my car ever since, and look at that.

it is still intact. on its own, this is pretty harmless, but combine it with fat, deep down in the sewers, and this is what you get — fatbergs. united utilities say they have to deal with 25,000 blocked drains every year, and this is what comes out. you can see there's cleaning wipes in there, you can see one there, and it's not disintegrating. two years ago on this programme, the water industry threw down the gauntlet. if you have a wipe that would pass the uk guidelines, come and get it tested at wrc, or show us the results of your own testing. so, two years on... hello, jayne. any update on that challenge, rachel? well, there isn't at the moment, but there is a small manufacturing company that are very close to meeting our updated draft flushability guidelines, so watch this space. watch this space.

they say none of the big manufacturers are close to tackling this problem, a claim the trade body denies. they say 99% of wipes found in sewers should never have been flushed in the first place. the problem, they say, is the consumer, not the product. but this wipe was labelled fit to flush. two years in the making, that was flushable. i'm not surprised. shows how strong they are. they don't break down, that's why they cause blockages. the consumers‘ delight still the drains' blight. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. let's talk to natalie fee, founder of city to sea, a plastic pollution campaign organisation. thank you forjoining us. what do you think about these wet wipes and whether anybody should be flushing them down the toilet at all? despite what the label says, they definitely should not be being flushed down the

toilet. the main problem we have with these is that physically they can get flushed down but when they get into the sewers they are causing those blockages. there was a study out early in the year which showed around 95% of the wet wipes found in sewers we re around 95% of the wet wipes found in sewers were actually baby wipes, not even the ones called flushable. the problems with those is they pretty much contain 100% plastic. problems with those is they pretty much contain 10096 plastic. how do you change consumers‘ habits? the report was really interesting when we saw the example of the water bottle with a supposedly flushable wipe in it that had been there for two years and still had not disintegrated. if somebody is buying something that said flushable, they will think it is fine and it will disappear and you don‘t think about it. yes i'm so basically industry needs to get behind the water industry specifications because their tests are completely different

to the water industry tests. the manufacturers‘ tests give it a really vigorous shake and that is not what happened in our sewers. they kind of sluice, they don‘t shake. we have to make sure that manufacturers are meeting the water industry specifications or else they should not have flushable on the packet at all. actually, if you read the small print on the back of the flushable wipes packet, it says to flushable wipes packet, it says to flush one wipe at a time. the manufacturers clearly know there is a problem with the wipes and we need to start seeing them actually changing what wet wipes actually say. if they know that obviously if you flush more than one at a time it is likely to cause issues and they are effectively putting that small print on the packaging, should it be the manufacturers that are targeted with some punitive action to stop

this? it is costing millions of pounds in the end and they are not footing that bill. that is a really good point. we should be looking at the producer pays principle for this. why should water bill payers be paying towards the £100 million a year that the water companies are paying to unblock the sewers because of what wipes? the government needs to get involved and introduce the polluter pays principle on this for the manufacturers of wet wipes. i think we will start to the wipes coming, ithink think we will start to the wipes coming, i think they said that there we re coming, i think they said that there were some wipes coming that will pass the water industry guidelines but they are going to be called moist toilet tissue, not wet wipes. people can then remember to follow the 3ps which is p, paper and who goes down the loo pulse of the moist toilet tissue will go into that. it is difficult to know what to flush

especially if it said flushable on the pack. thank you forjoining us. in a moment we‘ll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news. the prime minister is briefing her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks. uk and eu negotiators express "cautious optimism" after late—night talks. the number of people known to have died in the worst wildfire in california‘s history rises to a2. i‘m ben thompson in the business news. the number of people out of work rose by 21,000 betweenjuly and september this year. 1.38 million people are now out of work. though wages grew by 3.2% in the same three—month period — that‘s the fastest rise in almost a decade. the owner of bisto and mr kipling says it intends to stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over gridlock at uk ports.

premier foods said it expected to spend up to £10 million on the preparations. meanwhile, chief executive gavin darby has said he will step down at the end of january next year. vodafone has reported a half—year loss of £6.8 billion, blamed on the cost of selling off vodafone india and writedowns on the value of other assets. new chief executive nick read said he would slash costs by "at least" £1 billion by 2021. good morning. more on thosejobs figures. the unemployment total went up for the first time this year, rising by 21,000 to 1.38 million. two reasons largely accounted for this — the rising population in the uk and an increase in the number of men out of work. we have also seen an uptick in wages. though the ons warned that real wage growth was below

the level seen in 2015. let‘s talk to liz martins, uk economist at hsbc. what do you make of these numbers? the rise in pay grade is clear the good news for the uk consumer that ata good news for the uk consumer that at a couple of years. we have regular pay great at 3.2% against inflation of 2.a% so clearly british household are getting a pay rise for the first time in some time and that isa the first time in some time and that is a relief compared to recent experience. we had previously talked about wages going up and also the unemployment rate coming down. it has been a weird anomaly that more people are finding work and wages are going up so explain the difference this time. the number of unemployed —— unemployed people is up unemployed —— unemployed people is up as well. it is, the unemployed rate rose slightly which was a bit ofa rate rose slightly which was a bit of a surprise to the market. what might be happening is the place of

employment growth is slowing and that might be related to higher costs with firms are having to pay more which is perhaps causing them to think twice but we have had in the uk and extraordinary rate ofjob creation in recent years and perhaps we are starting to see that lose a bit of momentum. a.1% unemployment is still very low by historical standards. and the rising population skews the figures a bit. maybe explain that for us. if the number of unemployed people stayed the same but there are more people in the population, as a percentage, it is going to look higher than it is so maybe there is a bit of distortion. it is all about participation. and something everybody is keeping their eye on is the brexit negotiations. we are now on a per dictionary where eve ryo ne we are now on a per dictionary where everyone who wants to find work is getting into the big question is what it means after brexit, whether we get a deal or not and what that could mean for jobs. we get a deal or not and what that could mean forjobs. we have already seen net migration slowing. if we

look at the labour market numbers, they show the biggest annual fall in eu nationals employed in the uk on record. they‘re eu nationals employed in the uk on record. they‘ re clearly eu nationals employed in the uk on record. they‘re clearly has been an impact already. unemployment is already very low so it is not like we have an army of unemployed uk national is ready to take these jobs, it is a tight labour market. that probably factored into the fact you have higher paid as well but thank you for explaining all of that. and some other business news today. the campaign group action on sugar is demanding a ban on all freakshakes and milkshakes with more than 300 calories. it surveyed milkshakes sold in restaurants and fast food shops in the uk and found they contained "grotesque levels of sugar and calories". freakshakes are milkshakes that also contain chocolates, sweets, cake, cream and sauce. the number of female chief executives in the ftse 350 has

fallen to 12 compared with 15 last year, according to the a report by the group, set up to make sure that a third of company boards are made up of women by 2020, says we need to understand what is happening in the appointment process for these topjobs. some families are racking up debts with more than 20 creditors, then waiting for more than two years to seek help, research has found. analysis of callers to the national debtline found that a3% said they had not sought help earlier as they were too stressed about their debts. this is what the markets are doing. i have put up the nikkei and the hang seng. there are reports overnight from the wall street journal that the us trade secretary

is speaking to the chinese deputy pm to talk about trade and whether there could be an issue or a breakthrough in that ongoing trade war between both china and the us, two of the world‘s largest economies. what that the two markets is telling because the nikkei had closed before the reports came out and it ended down 2% but by the time hong kong closed, it was up half a percent. some optimism in markets that a trade deal or those worried over a trade war between the us and could be easing. we are told there was a focal friday to discuss that is why europe has opened stronger, the ftse100 up and in germany, they are up three quarters of 1%. a lot to digest, the ftse keeping an eye on unemployed figure as well but potentially a breakthrough in that big trade war between the us and china. that‘s all the business news. in a moment the weather, but first let‘s look at some of the most striking images of the day. a spectacular electrical storm has been captured on video at an airport in rosario,

argentina. it shows a lightning strike reaching down onto the tarmac behind a plane, before branching out across the sky. the city has experienced a wave of bad weather since sunday. this was the delighted reaction of two refugee children from eritrea, as they experienced snow for the very first time. they‘re part of a family of five who arrived in their new home in canada last week. the video, which shows the two siblings dancing in light snowfall, was filmed by a refugee group in toronto. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with simon king. i still get like that when it snows here! that is adorable. yesterday there were some heavy and big showers across the uk but today is

much quieter. much more in the way of dry weather with some sunshine and this was a scene in sheffield with blue skies and that is the scene across a good part of the uk. more cloud in wales and northern ireland and across scotland. one or two showers beneath that but they quickly disappear and as we go through the afternoon, not a great deal of change. if you have sunshine it now, you will keep it with perhaps some of their weather cloud building. showers disappearing and another mild day with temperatures up another mild day with temperatures up to 15 celsius this afternoon. overnight, or later this evening, the cloud will increase in northern ireland and to night rain will move into wales, northern england, scotla nd into wales, northern england, scotland and across northern ireland. it could be heavy in the central and southern areas of scotla nd central and southern areas of scotland with a few problems first thing on wednesday morning. clear skies further self but for all of us, milder with temperatures no lower than about 6—10d. on

wednesday, this weather system is moving in and bringing the wet weather to northern and western areas but within it, this is a warm sector with the air coming from the south, bringing those oranges and thatis south, bringing those oranges and that is why the temperatures are above average for the time of year. on wednesday, a wet start but the rainbow clear from wales and northern ireland, just a few showers in the afternoon —— at the rest have a dry day with sunshine and even the cloud and rain in scotland and northern ireland will gradually ease awake later on. temperatures, 30—15. on thursday, a bit more rain in the north west of scotland and northern ireland but elsewhere, mostly dry —— 13-15. ireland but elsewhere, mostly dry —— 13—15. some mist and fog in central areas which could be stubborn clear but look at the temperatures, 17 or even 18 degrees in the south—east which will feel pretty warm and even further north, 1a or 15 celsius. a

big area of high pressure in russia is extending all the way across europe towards the uk. we are on the periphery of that on friday which blocks these systems from coming in. later in the week it will be mostly settled, still fairly mild but the risk of some mist and fog developing, particularly on friday and in some places it might linger for much of the data. it will stay relatively dry as we go to the weekend as well. goodbye. pm you‘re watching bbc newsroom live — these are today‘s main stories. the cabinet is briefed at downing street on the latest developments in the brexit talks, ministers say a deal is "almost within touching distance". we‘re getting very close to it, i would say that the mood is cautious optimism, we‘re down now to small number of the really difficult issues.

premier foods, which owns bisto and mr kipling, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit, as fears grow over gridlock at uk ports. 13 more bodies are recovered in california, bringing the death toll in the state‘s deadliest wildfire to a2. the author who says she was promised a peerage in return for sleeping with a member of the house of lords urges other victims of harassment to speak out. all wet wipes sold as "flushable" currently on the market fail the water industry‘s disintegration tests. water companies say blockages caused by them are costing millions to fix. and the sugary shakes causing a stir. campaigners call for a ban on some milkshakes and so—called frea ksha kes, which they say contain "grotesque" levels of sugar and calories. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. the cabinet has been meeting this morning to discuss the state of the brexit negotiations.

senior ministers have told the bbc an agreement is "almost within touching distance". but former foreign secretary and prominent leave campaigner borisjohnson says a deal will mean the uk has surrendered, tweeting. .. let‘s get the thoughts now of our assistant political editor norman smith, whojoins me now from downing street. is that cabinet meeting still going on? no, it went on forjust under two hours and we would not read a huge amount into that because we know they weren‘t looking at any new brexit proposal because no agreement has yet been reached, mrs may was simply giving them an update on where the negotiations have got to so far. that said, the mood music

has become a lot more upbeat, people talking about a positive outcome to last night‘s talks, a more optimistic feeling. i think based on the fact that they have pretty much stripped down the area of disagreement to one substantive area, which is this vexed issue of how the uk can exit the customs arrangement if that becomes necessary as part of the northern ireland backstop. i‘m told that the eu do want the uk to be able to leave that backstop position, they don‘t want up to be in it for ever and today because their view is that it is far too favourable and arrangement. so there is an agreement that there has to be some sort of mechanism to enable the uk to leave. the difficulty is, who is going decide? there, i think this particular problem is an insistence on the eu‘s part that there has to

be some sort of role for the european court of justice, be some sort of role for the european court ofjustice, and that isa european court ofjustice, and that is a big problem for the uk, because it is one of mrs may‘s red lines, and it is almost inconceivable that parliament or the cabinet would sanction anything which gave a role to the european court ofjustice. so thatis to the european court ofjustice. so that is the sort of thing, it seems, which is still snarling things up, albeit we have heard from the former foreign secretary borisjohnson this morning saying the whole thing is a big piece of theatre, stage—managed delay after stage managed to delay, he says, before eventual surrender. in other words mrs may is putting up eight rev performance of having our almighty fight with the eu to convince her own backbenchers that she is grappling for a deal which is worth doing. have a listen to the cabinet office minister david lidington this morning, and he does sound a lot more hopeful. we are getting very close to it, i would say that the mood is cautious optimism, we are now down to a small number of the big issues. they were working long

into the night last night having been up until quarter to three in the morning the night before but we are not there yet and the pm has been very clear, it is not a deal at any price. but cautious optimism i think both on our side and on the other side. so, possibly a deal within sight on the brexit backstop. but trouble ahead in the commons this afternoon, with mrs may facing a potentially bruising brexit defeat. this stems from a motion which the labour party have put down, which would in effect force m rs have put down, which would in effect force mrs may to release the legal advice she‘s been given on the so—called brexit backstop exit to deal. why she might face of defeat is because tory brexiteers have decided, you know what, we‘lljust sit this one out, they‘re going to abstain, if that means the numbers killed against the prime minister,

opening up the possibility of a brexit defeat in the commons this afternoon. with the shadow attorney—general shami chakra barti this morning urging mps on all sides to back the labour motion. i think there is a realistic prospect, a good chance of this passing today because of the constitutional principle, that both levers and remainers ought to support this in principle because it is ultimately about parliamentary sovereignty. so, a defeat which would would be politically awkward for mrs may but in the meantime we will sit and wait and watch to see weather the negotiators can find some sort of wording that mrs may could sell to her cabinet and then perhaps even more problematically sell to parliament. if you‘re unsure about the various terms

surrounding brexit, then you can go to the bbc news website and look for the brexit jargon—buster — your guide to all the key terms. one of the uk‘s largest food suppliers has said it will start to stockpile food in preparation for brexit. premier foods said it will consider building stocks of ingredients to protect against delays at ports. a lot of people have been looking to premier foods to see what they would say about brexit and they have said nothing to date. this morning they have said, yes, we are going to start stockpiling raw materials, worried about disruption at ports, they said it would cost them £10 million over the three months in which they chose to do it, they did not say exactly when they would do it,

they said they were thinking about it. it is all about possible disruption from a no deal brexit. it is one of the biggest food factories in the uk so people are very alert to see what is happening. it comes on the back of some strong warnings from supermarket bosses over their fears of having to stockpile food, the lack of chilled storage, the fact that they run to a one—week timetable when it comes to chilled and disposable food and they are quite concerned about a no deal, they do not know what the level of disruption might be but it is the uncertainty which gives them pause for thought. another 13 bodies have been discovered in and around the town of paradise in northern california, confirming fears that the wildfire which destroyed the town was the worst in the history of the state. at least a2 people are now known to have died there and more than 220 people are missing. another two died in a fire in southern california. the wildfires in california have now

been declared the worst in the state‘s history. our correspondent dan johnson sent us the latest from southern california. well, this is the latest fire teams have had to deal with, an intense blaze on this hillside here. they‘rejust bringing in more workers now to try to stop it flaring up again, to stop it spreading. because if you take a look down into the valley, you can see how close this fire came to the homes here, to this neighbourhood. and that‘s why there are so many firefighters here on the ground, and in the air as well. they‘ve been dumping water and powder to try and put this fire out. this embankment was completely ablaze in the last hour, and the people who live here have been on their roofs with their garden hoses, trying to protect their homes if the flames spread any further. the winds here are so warm and so dry that the fires have been driven over the hills and through the countryside and communities here. we‘ve seen entire neighbourhoods over the hill that have been completely destroyed.

people have been going back this morning to see what‘s left of their homes, and in some cases it is not very much at all. earlier, cbs correspondent chris martinez spoke to us from calabasas in california. well, there have been two fatalities in this county and they are the only two fatalities that are associated with the fire burning in southern california. the other a0 deaths are associated with a fire in northern california. in this area, called calabasas, there are dozens of homes which were destroyed. the fire here is called the woolsey fire and it is connected to at least a00 or so homes that have been destroyed. that is not the damaged homes, those are the ones we know are destroyed. and that is an estimate. firefighters are still trying to get into certain neighbourhoods here that were burned out. so we don‘t really have an accurate count yet in terms of the damage in terms of homes or businesses.

and the concern is that when all is said and done, the death toll between this fire and the fire up north will rise as well. on a more practical level, the fires are still raging, and we are getting a lot of help from neighbouring states, we have 8000 firefighters working here right now to put the fires out and we have a lot of crews coming in mostly from western states to help out in the effort, which is still the immediate concern, because these fires are still burning. so we are not really at a point yet where people are focusing on the recovery or the rebuilding, because most people still haven‘t got home yet. there are tens of thousands of people who are still evacuated, many of them don‘t know yet what their neighbourhoods look like because they haven‘t been able to get back to see them, or there has been no communication with that area. so the recovery effort, that‘s going to take quite some time.

the immediate concern at this hour still remains the fire itself and while firefighters are making some progress in terms of containing it, they think it is still going to be at least a matter of days and perhaps a couple of weeks before both the fire here and up north are fully contained. israel says air strikes have targeted more than 100 sites across gaza, including the military intelligence headquarters of hamas. meanwhile, palestinian militants have fired at least 370 rockets into southern israel, with one civilian found dead in the rubble of a building in ashkelon. five palestinians have been killed in gaza, with around a dozen injuries reported. four of the dead are confirmed as members of militant groups — palestinians say the fifth was a farmer. the latest round of violence began on sunday when a covert israeli mission was exposed in gaza. an author and campaigner has come forward as the woman allegedly offered a peerage by a member of the house of lords in exchange for sex. women‘s rights campaigner jasvinder sanghera claims that she was harassed by lord lester 12 years ago when she was a1 and he was 70. lord lester, a former liberal democrat frontbencher who is now 82,

denies the claims but is facing a long suspension from parliament. the struggling diy chain homebase has the worst online shopping experience, according to a new opinion poll. the survey by the consumer organisation which found the homebase website was hard to navigate, offered poor value for money and often wasn‘t up to date with its stock details. the company says it is working hard to make changes. the most highly—rated online experiences were with specialist retailers, led by the beauty brand liz earle and the electrical supplier richer sounds. a ban on milkshakes with more than 300 calories is being demanded by campaign group action on sugar. following a survey of shakes in restaurants and fast food outlets, they said the drinks contained "grotesque" levels of sugar. the milkshake that topped the survey contained 39 teaspoons of sugar, more than six times the daily amount recommended for seven—

to 10—year—olds. public health england is challenging businesses to cut sugar by 20% by 2020. don‘t forget, you can let us know what you think us know what you think, tweet us using the hashtag newsroomlive. more on today‘s main stories coming up on newsroom live here on the bbc news channel, but now we say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. the headlines on bbc news. the prime minister is briefing her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks. uk and eu negotiators express "cautious optimism" after late—night talks. premier foods, which produces some of the uk‘s biggest brands, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over possible gridlock at ports. the number of people known to have

died in the worst wildfire in california‘s history rises to a2. time for the sport now. thank you very much. the former england, west ham and chelsea midfielderjoe cole has announced his retirement from football. he is now 37 and has spent the last couple of years playing for the last couple of years playing for the tampa bay rowdies in america. he won three premier league titles and two fa cups and a league cup during his career. he says he hoped to stay in the game as a coach. daniel sturridge is in trouble with the fa over its betting rules. the liverpool and england striker is facing two allegations, want to do with betting in football and the other to do with giving out information which is not publicly available just liverpool say that sturridge has categorically stated

that he has never gambled on football. the tottenham defender kieran trippier has withdrawn from the england squad with a groin injury sustained against worcester palace last weekend. england play the united states on thursday and then croatia next week. england have named an unchanged side for the second test against sri lanka. ben stokes will move up to number three and moeen ali drops down. ben folks will keep wicket meaning there is no place in the side for fit again jonny bairstow. it is a squad packed with options to that provides a selection headache for captain joe root. it is a great position to be m, root. it is a great position to be in, the fact that we turn up here full of confidence as a group, as a squad. we‘ve got the opportunity to play the same team because we feel the surface requires it. but also we got a the surface requires it. but also we gota group the surface requires it. but also we got a group of guys that have been sat on the sideline chomping at the bit ready to take their opportunity if it looks like they could be the quys if it looks like they could be the guys to exploit that damp pitch.

england is george cruise is out of the final two autumn internationals because of injury. he was taken off in the second half against new zealand at the weekend. it is a blow for head coach eddiejones who is already missing a raft of other forwards for the games againstjapan and australia. scotland full—back stuart hogg has confirm that he is joining premiership side exeter next summer, he will be leaving glasgow warriors. that is all the sport for now. more on all of those stories on the bbc sport website. there‘s been a small rise in unemployment. the figure increased by 21,000, with 1.38 million people out of work. official figures show the number of unemployed men contributed to the rise betweenjune and september this year. however, employment also went up, to a record high of 32.a million. average earnings increased by 3% in the year to september. our economics correspondent andy verity explained the figures. to put this in context,

part of the reason it has ticked up is because the workforce is not growing. so we had this scenario for years where the workforce kept on growing, 31 million, 32 million people in work in this country, but the number, the proportion of people unemployed, although it was broadly the same, going down a little bit, obviously shrank as a proportion of the larger workforce. so that‘s what‘s been happening there. so there is kind of mixed news. you can‘t say it is statistically significant because it is only 20,000—odd in a universe of 32 million. but if you look at the wages, there‘s some good news, where they are going up on average by 3.2% and if you look at it in real terms, so the gap between that and inflation, our pay is growing by 0.9%, which isn‘t bad, compared to the squeeze on living standards that we had a year ago. and there are also some figures out on productivity? that‘s right. so, productivity is highly watched, it‘s the amount we produce per hour or worker. if you look at the main measure, the amount we produce per hour, that‘s actually slipped slightly by 0.a% betweenjuly and september.

again you have to be a bit careful of the statistics but that is slightly depressing news because we do need productivity to improve, because if each worker is producing more, that‘s what drives wages and employers can afford to pay them more. earlier, the employment minister alok sharma gave his reaction to the latest figures. well, we have a record number of people in employment right now and on the year unemployment is down and compared to 2010, the unemployment i is almost half. course we can never be complacent at and we have to keep working to make sure that the jobs market stays buoyant but we also have a lot of agencies out there and it is about making sure that we help people through the jobcentres to get those jobs and increase their earnings. let‘s return to the upsurge of violence in gaza. israel says air strikes have targeted more than 100 sites

across the territory including the military intelligence headquarters of hamas. meanwhile, palestinian militants have fired at least 370 rockets into southern israel, killing civilians. five palestinians have been killed in gaza with around a dozen injured. our middle east correspondent yolande knell is in sderot near the israel—gaza border, and she gave us this update. well, the un middle east envoy here, nikolai mladenovic, has said that this is extremely dangerous, he is calling on all sides to show restraint, here in sderot people are just starting to come back out onto the streets, but still a lot of shops and businesses are closed, the schools are closed as well, it‘s been a sleepless night here as people have experienced the worst barrage of rockets and mortars coming in from gaza since the 201a conflict between israel and militants there. and really what people are telling me is that things are very tense, they‘re looking to the israeli government for their

response, the israeli cabinet has been meetings. cabinet has been meeting this morning. in gaza, the israeli military has carried out dozens of airstrikes targeting militant sites there. also, life is on hold in gaza, i‘m hearing that schools there are closed, a lot of businesses are shut up businesses are shut up as well, because really, it has been a very difficult two days since, it was on sunday that this apparently botched operation by israel special forces, who were a couple of miles inside gaza, well, in a shoot—out with palestinian militants which ensued after the civilian car that they were in was spotted, seven palestinian militants were killed, one israeli soldier as well. and it was after the funerals for those palestinian militants yesterday that all of this escalated and the rockets and missiles started to come in from gaza with palestinian militant groups saying that they were exacting their revenge. and no clue as to what that covert

operation was about at this stage? well, is very unusual to have covert operations in gaza even confirmed to us, but the circumstances of this one meant that they did say, the israeli authorities, that this was going on, they say there are a lot of operations like this under the radar. they have said that the aim was not, as hamas has claimed, as hamas, which runs gaza, has claimed, a targeted assassination of a local hamas commander who was one of those killed. but still, that has failed to calm things down. and really, this has derailed the efforts which egypt and the united nations have been putting in in recent weeks to try to get a longer term ceasefire deal between israel and hamas and calm things along the israel—gaza border after months of deadly protests there. those talks had been appearing to bear fruit in recent days after qatar was allowed to send millions of dollars into gaza to pay unpaid salaries

of hamas workers there. also forfuel to go into gaza‘s only power plant. that meant that the power shortages in gaza had been reduced to their lowest levels for several years. but now, we‘re hearing some israeli officials saying that those talks have been suspended, between israel and egypt and the un over ceasefire negotiations, for the time being. we have to see what happens in the coming hours. the new director of public prosecutions has told the bbc there have been "failings in serious and sensitive cases". max hill said the crown prosecution service are committed to looking at cases where issues surrounding a failure to disclose evidence to the defence are raised. he also told martha kearney on today that the service needs more money. let me give testament to my predecessor alison saunders, she lived during a time when the cps had to deliver about 30% cuts to its annual operating budget.

that was an extremely difficult task but was managed, i take no credit for it. here we are now, i have 6000 highly dedicated, highly motivated staff... is that enough? that is the evidence of two weeks, we have to move our resources around according to the way that crime changes, the way that the caseload changes. but you would expect and every government department will say this, that as we come up to the next government spending review, we will be marshalling our arguments to say how stretched we are... so you are stretched, so you would like more people? what i am saying is that we are operating efficiently and at capacity and within any annual period, we have to move resources around the organisation to ensure that we maintain that efficiency. some doctors in rural areas are having to apply for extra funding in order to diagnose patients with autism, the royal college of gps has warned. the bbc‘s victoria derbyshire programme has spoken to families

with autistic children who are struggling to cope with their violent outbursts. noel phillips‘ report contains some scenes you may find upsetting. there are times like this whenjamie is like any other child his age, but he‘s not your typical seven—year—old. he has a rare form of autism known as pda, or pathological demand avoidance, meaning he goes to great lengths to avoid certain things that cause him to be anxious. he could drop a bit of paper on the floor, i could say, you know, "jamie, please could you pick that up?" rather than picking it up, because that‘s a demand, you could have half an hour plus meltdown. this home video recorded byjamie‘s mum shows what happens when anxiety can quickly turn into violence. it‘s early in the morning and jamie doesn‘t want to go to school. i really need this to stop. shocking to watch, but this gives you a glimpse of why his mum is desperate for help. when you have something like that,

it‘s going to hurt me. if my son had, like, a more outward diagnosis, so if he had, you know, severe autism or if he had some of those traits, spinning in circles, rocking, i think we would have got help. but because it‘s quite a hidden disability, you know, you‘re on your own, no one could see what was happening at home. he‘s chucked everything... jamie, who also has adhd, was just three years old when he started becoming violent. but a long wait for his diagnosis forced kate, who is now a single mum, to spend nearly £10,000 to get a private consultation. gps are usually the first point of contact when it comes to recognising autism. there are some parts of the country where gps have to apply for exceptional funding to get a diagnosis, or referred for a diagnosis, of autism. we don‘t have to get exceptional funding to get a diagnosis of heart disease or cancer or diabetes or depression. can i have it back?! this is what single mum erica is faced with most days.

her ten—year—old daughter kierney has also been diagnosed with pda. as well as multiple anxiety disorder and depression. when frustrated, as she frequently is, the family home becomes a place of chaos and violence. i feel really bad when i hurt my mum, and i don't want to hurt her. what do you think will happen if you don‘t get that help and support? i think i will end up getting arrested, which i don't want to happen. i just want to stay with my family. black eyes, bites and scratches. just some of the injuries kierney has inflicted on her mum when reacting to the demands of everyday life. i‘d love to be a normal, happy family, but until that support is there, it‘s still only going to be a dream. this former government minister wants the nhs to do more to help families. well, the nhs, fundamentally,

together also with other public services — education, social care — are just massively failing these families. and in a way we‘re abandoning families to try to cope on their own. the government acknowledges the need to improve services, especially at a time of increasing demand for children‘s mental health provisions. nhs england say they‘re investing £7 million into crisis care for young people. for some, it‘s support that can‘t come soon enough. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with susan powell. a very good afternoon to you. after all the showers of recent days, finally today, something drier and indeed some sunshine to come along with the dry weather today. here we are between two weather systems and for the rest of the afternoon most of us should enjoy some sunshine.

pictures again on the high side for the time of the year, certainly mild. —— temperatures again. towards the west some high cloud starting to drift in and around dusk and we will have some rain through the evening for northern ireland, spreading into wales around midnight, into northern england in the small hours and pushing into southern and eastern scotland. for the south, though, a dry night in prospect. on we go into wednesday, a lot of sunshine first thing in the south and then the picture improves from the south as the day goes on. the rain clearing wales and northern england for the afternoon and by close of play i think northern ireland and most of scotla nd think northern ireland and most of scotland should be dry. it is a generally warm story, temperatures perhaps up to 17 around the moray firth. you‘re watching bbc news from live. the headlines... the prime minister briefs her cabinet on the latest developments in the brexit talks. ministers say a deal is "almost within touching distance" after late—night talks.

we‘re getting very close to it, i would say the mood is cautious optimism. we are now down to a small number of the really difficult issues. premier foods, which owns bisto and mr kipling, says it will stockpile raw materials in the run—up to brexit as fears grow over gridlock at uk ports. 13 more bodies are recovered in california, bringing the death toll in the state‘s deadliest wildfire to a2. the author who says she was promised a peerage in return for sleeping with a member of the house of lords urges other victims of harassment to speak out. all wet wipes currently sold as "flushable" in the uk are found to fail the water industry‘s disintegration tests. water companies say wipes cause blockages which cost millions to put right. a french fishing boat carrying 17 migrants has sailed into dover harbour in the early hours of this morning after refusing to be towed. the alarm was first raised shortly after midnight when the boat entered the port without communicating

with the port authorities. our reporter leanne lawless is in doverfor us now. tell us more. we understand that the alarm was raised just after the men —— midnight after a boat was sink into port without communicating with port authorities. the dover harbour board sent out there patrol vessel along with a car boot —— tug boat to try to bring it back in and also a boat from the rnli. the vision but was escorted into port and 17 migrants were found on board. it has now been put into a dock further along the marina and we understand that the fishing boat is from boulogne and could have been stolen. there is a feeling here that this is just one of a growing problem because there have been another of

attem pts because there have been another of attempts in the last few weeks of migrants trying to come into the through dover. the home office has not confirmed the exact details but we know on friday, eight iranian migrants had to be rescued clinging toa bin migrants had to be rescued clinging to a bin deepjust migrants had to be rescued clinging to a bin deep just off the coast and the saturday before that, there were seven iranian migrants that had to be rescued off the coast in another boat and seven also found in the port. we know that on the 3rd of november there were 21 vietnamese people, adults and children, found in the back of a refrigerated lorry at newhaven port so there is a sense that this is a growing problem. today, charlie elphicke, the mp for dover, has said this is another great an attempt to break into britain and is calling on the government not to take their eye off the ball when it comes to this problem and he says there has to be a boost in border controls and more vessels patrolling this cost. as i said, the home office are yet to

respond to the liquor is the incident but we will keep you up—to—date when we get more. incident but we will keep you up-to-date when we get more. thank you. let‘s return to brexit and the brexit secretary, dominic raab, says that he is confident that there will be progress in the negotiations. it comes after negotiators expressed "cautious optimism" after talks went late into the night. so, as the prime minister briefs close colleagues at downing street on the developements, what are the next steps on the road to brexit? our reality check correspondent chris morrisjoins me. thank you. so, we know that? negotiators?from the uk and the eu are close to?agreeing ?the text of a ?withdrawal?agreement. they need to get a move on and the politics is complicated. but if an agreement emerges, the cabinet in? london?would need to approve it. there would also be a meeting at some stage between?the brexit secretary, dominic raab, and the eu‘s chief negotiator, michel barnier, to seal the deal. but,other eu member states would want to ensure that they are happy with any last—minute compromises.

if all that runs smoothly there would be a summit to sign of the terms of the deal between eu leaders, maybe in november or december. any deal would have to be ratified in the uk parliament and european parliament. the government would have to pass legislation making the withdrawal agreement a formal part of uk law. but if time ru ns formal part of uk law. but if time runs out, or the uk parliament rejects the proposals of the finest, we could be heading for no deal. by january 21 next year, the government will be forced to tell parliament is the next steps it plans to take also exactly how mps might be able to effect or change the brexit process at that stage is the subject of fierce political debate. thank you. and we have word from downing street about what was discussed at the

cabinet meeting this morning. the prime minister briefing ministers on the progress of brexit talks, touching distance away from an agreement. cabinet ministers, according to a spokesperson discussed brexit for about a5 minutes and received a regular update on planning for deal and no deal scenarios and the prime and said that since they had last met, negotiations and continued and good progress had been made but there we re progress had been made but there were a small number of outstanding issues as the uk pushes for the best text. talks in brussels went well into the evening yesterday, and continued this morning and the prime minister‘s official spokesman described the cavernous discussion as constructive. —— cabinet discussion. two years after his extradition from mexico, the trial of notorious drugs lord el chapo is finally due to start in new york. amidst tight security, el chapo faces a 17—count indictment including murder, violence and physical intimidation during a near 30 year criminal career. nada tawfik reports. joaquin "el chapo" guzman was the us

authorities‘ greatest prize in the war on drugs. he is known internationally as the leader of the world‘s most powerful and violent drug cartel. his extradition to the united states from mexico almost two years ago set the stage for what is good to be the biggest trial for narcotics crimes in us history. prosecutors accuse him of trafficking drugs such as cocaine and heroin worth $1a billion into the country through the sinaloa cartel. but his defence attorney says his reputation doesn‘t match the reality. he is the perfect scapegoat. you‘d think that he was the only drug dealer in mexico, that he was the only leader. there are leaders of the sinaloa cartel that are as big as him, bigger than him, alleged to be. you don‘t even know their names. before his capture following this dramatic raid, "el chapo" guzman was a mythicalfigure because of his ability to evade law enforcement in mexico for decades.

he twice escaped from maximum security prisons, once through a mile—long tunnel from his jail cell shower. peter vincent, a former justice department official, says it was "el chapo" guzman‘s own mistakes that led to his arrest. he ultimately was undone by his own arrogance and his own sense of ability to get himself out of anyjam. it‘s said he was planning to make a film about his life. after a secret meeting with actor sean penn, he agreed to record an interview. the tape will likely feature in his trial, alongside evidence such as wire taps, drug and weapons seizures and testimony from rival cartel members. the trial here in brooklyn will take place under heavy security and could last up to four months. if found guilty, "el chapo" guzman will spend the rest of his life

in a maximum security prison in the united states. nada tawfik, bbc news, new york. scientists at cambridge university have conducted the world‘s largest study of sex differences and found distinct variations in male and female brains. according to the research, men are likely to prefer "things" and "systems" whereas women are more interested in people and emotions. let‘s go live to cambridge where we can speak to varun warrier, who was part of the team behind the research. it isa it is a controversial area because this is the sort of thing that has previously been described as neuro sexism, pegging differences in men and women to the brain and the way we are wired but tell us what the researchers found. essentially what we did was tested two long—standing age that a long—standing cytological theories, one the empathising systemising theory and on average,

women score higher on empathy than typical males. and on average, typical males. and on average, typical males. and on average, typical males will score higher on systemising than typical females. we define empathy as the drive to recognise someone‘s mental state and respond to my —— appropriately whereas systemising is as good at analysing or building a system than anything that follows a rule or pattern. what we need to clarify is that these are on average and it says nothing about whether these are due to any biological differences or due to any biological differences or due to any biological differences or due to environment and other sorts of stereotypes in place. the second theory we tested with the extreme male brain theory of autism which is an extension of the empathising theory and this says that on average, individual to have a masculinised shift and tend to score higher on measures of systemising and low on measures of empathising competitor to google population. in

this study we tested both theories and a large sample size of more than 650,000 individuals and we were able to show that all these predictions we re to show that all these predictions were actually true. going back to what you said about the fact that this is an average from the findings are based on averages, how much of a spectrum is there? it is a very wide spectrum. the on average are actually quite small but they are very significant. we can quantify this in statistical terms but it is difficult to quantify in absolute terms. on average, looking at differences in one or two points on the scale of that the and systemising. it becomes difficult to say based on someone‘s gender or the doug vaessen this whether they would be good as systemising or empathy because the spread of the data is very wide. —— gender or identity.

could anybody be taught the other aspect that they might feel they are lacking in naturally? absolutely. but this is biological and from our own lab that is part of empathising and systemising is. we have links links to test on a rope —— testosterone. but a large fraction of it, the largest faction, might be to environment because we cannot attribute to any biological costs so there is scope for people to be taught if they want to learn, how to empathise and systemising, and this is something we need to explore. this sort of idea of neuro sexism came to prominence in the former google engineerjames desormeaux said ina google engineerjames desormeaux said in a leaked memo that he was sacked because of differences in brain ‘s that were behind women

being underrepresented in tech —— james daymore. does this studied at anything helpful to say on that?” think what we can be clear is that we don‘t know whether this is biological or due to social stereotyping. these studies test adults, largely come so they have had many years of being exposed to environmental norms and stereotypes. what we‘re saying is that based on self report measure, how well they evaluate themselves, we are seeing on average men are better at systemising and women better at empathising. what we need to clearly identify next is how much of this is due to biology and how much to other environmentalfactors due to biology and how much to other environmental factors and if we can say that a large chunk is because of environmental factors, say that a large chunk is because of environmentalfactors, you need to try to figure out how we can ensure those factors are set right so that both men and women might be equally good at sims —— systemising or empathising. and to try to evaluate that you need to look at men who

have the extreme empathy with low systemising and women who have the opposite and looked at what the environmental background was. has that been looked like? absolutely, that been looked like? absolutely, thatis that been looked like? absolutely, that is one way to look at it. i‘m not sure if there are studies that have looked at that but there have been studies that have looked at genetic sex differences in empathy. these studies have been typically correct in small sample sizes and one relatively large size but we have not yet found any genetic differences in empathy. it is so interesting and i‘m sure it gets people talking. thank you very much. when you buy so—called "flushable" wet—wipes, you‘d expect to be able to put them down the toilet. but you‘d be wrong. none of the brands sold in the uk that are labelled as such have passed water industry tests for biodegradability, and it‘s causing major problems in the sewers, as jayne mccubbin has been finding out. this is six tonnes of steaming,

stinking mess, straight from the sewers of the city of manchester. the waste of 1.2 million people comes through this inlet every day, and by this point in the sewage network, there really should be nothing to see here but dirty water. instead... let‘s send the camera down. this is full of rubbish. with one main problem. what proportion of this lot would you say are wet wipes? well, i‘m not volunteering to get in there and do a count, but most of the stuff you see here is wipes. many will have been flushed when they should have been binned, but some will have been labelled flushable. customers believe they‘re behaving responsibly by buying wipes marketed as flushable. but they don‘t read the detail on the packet. they won‘t realise that the packet

says flush one or two at a time, and not a handful, and it embeds the behaviour of using toilets as a bin. are you satisfied flushable wet wipes are flushable? no, absolutely not. what manufacturers claim to be flushable simply doesn‘t pass water industry tests. we reported on this issue two years ago, and two years ago... i put this flushable wet wipe in this bottle. i‘ve been driving round with it in my car ever since, and look at that. it is still intact. on its own, this is pretty harmless, but combine it with fat, deep down in the sewers, and this is what you get — fatbergs. united utilities say they have to deal with 25,000 blocked drains every year, and this is what comes out. you can see there‘s cleaning wipes in there, you can see one there, and it‘s not disintegrating.

two years ago on this programme, the water industry threw down the gauntlet. if you have a wipe that would pass the uk guidelines, come and get it tested at wrc, or show us the results of your own testing. so two years on... hello, jayne. any update on that challenge, rachel? well, there isn't at the moment, but there is a small manufacturing company that are very close to meeting our updated draft flushability guidelines, so watch this space. watch this space. they say none of the big manufacturers are close to tackling this problem, a claim the trade body denies. they say 99% of wipes found in sewers should never have been flushed in the first place. the problem, they say, is the consumer, not the product. but this wipe was labelled fit to flush. two years in the making, that was flushable. i‘m not surprised. shows how strong they are. they don‘t break down,

that‘s why they cause blockages. the consumers‘ delight still the drains‘ blight. jayne mccubbin, bbc news. let‘s talk to dr sharon george, a lecturer in environmental sustainability at keele university. thank you forjoining us. there has been a lot of awareness about this in the water industry with fat birds. how come it is still an issue —— fatbergs. birds. how come it is still an issue -- fatbergs. we have had them used to the behaviour of doing things like flushing things down the toilet and throwing things away. these wet wipes have risen so much in popularity. they are a big part of childcare and cleaning protocols, not just for baby wipes now, childcare and cleaning protocols, notjust for baby wipes now, we use them for all sorts of things and

throwing them down the toilet has become so convenient. there is a behavioural thing there. but the labelling of flushable wipes is a big problem. how do you change habits and get great awareness of what is going on? a lot of it is around awareness of what happens. people think it is so convenient to throw this away and it is out of sight, out of mind. it is estimated that this problem is costing in the case around £100 million a year and we are paying for that in our bills. these wipes might be cheap to buy over—the—counter but we are literally paying for them downstream. there is some awareness that needs to be done. and also, do we need to be flushing them anyway? they would be much betterjust discarded in the bin. when there is

a story about a fatberg, it hits the headlines and people are aghast at what it is and how they grow. if it is not an issue that gets dealt with, where does it go? it will get worse and worse. yes, i don't think it is just wet wipes. we throw all sorts of things down the drain that should not be that and the only things that should be there are the natural waste we produce. but we throw all sorts of other plastic items like cotton buds and sanitary items like cotton buds and sanitary items and you only need one thing to get stuck and snagged and that will act like a trap for other bits of debris and before you know it you have a big problem. obviously, if anybody has had a blockage in their own drink it brings it home to you but beyond that, whose responsibility is it to get awareness out there? responsibility is it to get awareness out there ?” responsibility is it to get awareness out there? i think the

public... this is a behavioural thing that is quite easily fixed by not putting these things down the drain but the mislabelling of things as flushable when they are clearly not is something that should be taken seriously. this is costing us and our environment and it should be something that is tackled through proper labelling and not misusing terms that make people believe something is what it is not. and you very much. diplomatic efforts are underway to help the christian woman who was acquitted of blasphemy in pakistan. asia bibi is in protective custody in pakistan but her husband has appealed to western countries to offer her asylum because her life is in danger. both the canadian prime minister and the uk‘s former foreign secretary borisjohnson have called for asylum to be granted. asia bibi‘s release has led to violent demonstrations by religious conservatives. britain‘s first specialist wound research centre, which treats both military personnel and civilians will be opened today. it‘s developing new techniques

with the aim of achieving "scar free" healing, within a generation. our defence correspondent jonathan beale reports. hundreds of british service personnel suffered life—changing injuries while fighting in afghanistan and iraq. and many are still living with the visible scars from battle. josh bodge lost both his legs and his right arm when he stepped on a roadside bomb in helmand in 2010. so here i have some scarring down the bottom. he still suffers from heavy scarring, susceptible to tears. he now has hope that these wounds can be healed with the help of new pioneering techniques at queen elizabeth hospital in birmingham. the issues i have with scarring is where it breaks down and where the skin is notjoined together, it‘s not used to weight—bearing. anything that will help myself or the other injured guys who‘ve been injured or anyone in society that‘s injured or who‘s got a lot of scarring, anything that‘s out there is going to help.

at the scar—free foundation centre for conflict wound research, scientists and medical staff are already using laser technology to reduce the scarring on old wounds. they‘re also developing new treatments to deal with burns on the battlefield and elsewhere. patients and medical staff have taken their inspiration from the treatment of raf crews who suffered serious burns during the second world war. the goal now is to achieve scar—free healing within a generation. we think it‘s doable, so, particularly if you can treat the wound very quickly and prevent the scar in the first place then yes, it should be possible. the hope is that techniques developed will notjust help wounded soldiers but also civilians who might have been the victims of a bomb or an acid attack. jonathan beale, bbc news, queen elizabeth hospital, birmingham. tributes are being paid to legendary comic book creator stan lee who‘s died at the age of 95. he was the mastermind behind marvel and brought characters like spider man, captain america, and the x—men to life. gareth barlow has more.

from spider—man to iron man, black panther to black widow, stan lee‘s creations have become hollywood hits, but his career had much more humble beginnings. a comics editor in the 1930s, it wasn‘t until years later that lee created some of marvel‘s most successful characters. so i thought fly—man, that didn‘t sound dramatic enough. insect—man? no. and i went down a list, and then i got to spider—man. and somehow "spider—man," it sounded a little scary, it sounded impressive. stan lee brought superheroes to life, in cartoons and on screen. he himself starred in every marvel film. i should be on that list. name? stan lee. on social media, celebrities have paid tribute to the man described

as a superhero in his own right. hughjackman, who played wolverine, took to twitter, saying: and evangeline lilly, who is set to star in next year‘s marvel release, said: for us, who likes, you know, comics and stories about superheroes and all that, it‘s really sad. we've lost one of the greats, one of the comic greats, you know? my introduction to the comics was watching stan lee. stan lee created worlds that thrilled millions, and, much like spider—man and silver surfer, his name will forever be captured on screen and in hearts. gareth barlow, bbc news. in a moment it‘s time for the one o‘clock news with jane hill but first it‘s time for a look at the weather with susan powell. that afternoon. after all the

showers in the last few days, the prospects for today are drier and brighter and we will stay with clearer skies through the afternoon and this evening. beautiful pictures on the hampshire coast earlier. the satellite picture showing clearly where we are, between weather fronts and the showers of yesterday and the next system waiting to moving tomorrow. this afternoon, largely clear skies and a light breeze and mild again with highs of 1a degrees. as you can see, and to the west, by this evening, cloud is starting to thicken, the wind will pick up once again and overnight, rain will push into northern ireland come across wales, heavier downpours for northern in mud for a time before the rain surges into southern and eastern scotland for the end of the night. clearer skies in the south, mild again, temperatures in double

figures for many, single figures in the odd spot. first thing wednesday, some sunshine in central and eastern england, more cloud elsewhere but it will brighten through the day and some sunshine by the afternoon for the and wales, rain clearing northern ireland and northern england by the end of the day, just taking longer to pull away from scotla nd taking longer to pull away from scotland but a mild day again, temperatures into the mid—teens. four or temperatures into the mid—teens. fouror5 temperatures into the mid—teens. four or 5 degrees above average for the time of year also as for the rest of the week, less and less rain as high pressure builds and the weather situation settles down and as it does, more autumn favourites to co nte nt as it does, more autumn favourites to content with also in friday and the weekend, more of an issue with lingering mist and fog. on thursday, a weather front tries to glance at the north—west of the uk so they could be some rain in northern ireland and the north—west of scotla nd ireland and the north—west of scotland for a time but on the whole, a lot of dry weather, decent spelt sunshine but anywhere from yorkshire through to the midlands

and the south—west could have some more persistent cloud on thursday, quite a dank date with some drizzle at times but look at the temperatures, 17 in london, again very mild air. that is the story to finish the week, taking that into the weekend with a bit more of an easterly breeze and things will turn cooler by next week. foa kes. theresa may tells her cabinet good progress has been made in the brexit negotiations, as pressure mounts for a deal. is it time to walk away from the talks? is no daily worse than a bad deal? ministers say an agreement could yet be reached within days — but isn‘t a given. we‘re getting very close to it. i‘d say that the mood is cautious optimism. we‘re now down to a small number of the really difficult issues. we‘ll have the latest live from westminster. also this lunchtime... fires continue to rage across parts of california — aa people are known to have died, and hundreds are missing. average earnings are up — wages rose at their fastest

rate in nearly a decade, in the three months to september. and, why the daily commute is even longer than it was 10 years ago.