good afternoon. the prime minister has said the next seven days are "critical" for the country, as she prepares to go to brussels to discuss the future relationship with the eu. theresa may said her brexit withdrawal deal was "in the national interest". and she warned members of her party seeking to remove her, that a change of leadership would not make it any easier to negotiate, or to win a vote in parliament. here's our political correspondent peter saull. out of the door but still in a job and sticking by her plan. theresa may has survived one of the toughest weeks of her premiership, and she says the next seven days will be critical too. we won't agree the leaving part until we've got what we wa nt leaving part until we've got what we want in the future relationship because these two go together. the focus this week will be on the future relationship, and when we we re future relationship, and when we were in the house of commons a

number of mps were saying we want some more detail on that future relationship. that's what we are working on this week. the prime minister plans to be back in brussels before a summit of eu leaders next sunday. she is seeking changes to the so—called political declaration, tagged onto the draft withdrawal agreement which sets out the objectives for a future relationship. the prime minister believes there is room for manoeuvre and needs to shows she's listening to restless mps. the now former brexit secretary is proving a thorn in her side. i think we are being bullied, i think we are subject to blackmail and there is a point at which wejust blackmail and there is a point at which we just say i'm sorry, this is the united kingdom of great britain and northern ireland. we cannot accept those dictated terms. he's not the anyone the prime minister is trying to appease. the gang of five brexiteer cabinet ministers... are

also applying pressure. there's more trouble brewing among backbench mps, but is a confidence vote imminent? the only man who knows has spent the weekend hundreds of miles from westminster in his leafy altering constituency, and graham brady seemed to suggest we aren't there yet. the rules are very clear that ifa yet. the rules are very clear that if a threshold would be reached, i would have to consult with the leader of the party. immediately? the whole thing is written with the intention it should be expeditious. he may be pressed into action in the coming days. will more conservatives return here carrying letters? for now, the prime minister soldiers on. peter saul, bbc news. emergency workers in california are still struggling to contain the wildfires that have devastated large areas of the state. at least 76 people are now known to have died, thousands of homes have been destroyed and the authorities say more than 1200 people are unaccounted for. president trump expressed his sadness as he visited the devastated town of paradise,

where many lives were lost. jenny kumah reports. ten days on and the fires in some parts of california are still burning. more than 5000 people have been involved in tackling what become a national emergency. with the blaze spreading over 149,000 acres. new footage has emerged showing the scale of what they are up showing the scale of what they are up against. meanwhile, the death toll and the number of people unaccounted for continues to rise. since last night, an additional five remains were recovered, bringing the total up to 76 human remains. four of those human remains were found in paradise. all four found inside structures. president trump visited affected areas yesterday to see the

destruction for himself. he sparked controversy last week when he criticised californian officials for what he claimed was poor forest management. but he struck a more conciliatory tone on a ride. yellow nobody would have ever thought this could have happened. so the federal government is behind you, we are all behind each other. i think we can say that. a rainstorm is forecast to hit next week, which may bring some relief. although more than half of the fire is contained, officials say they may not have it fully under control until the end of the month. jenny kumah, bbc news. germany is marking its annual national day of mourning to remember its war dead, a week on from commemorations of the armistice that ended the first world war. french president emmanuel macron joined german chancellor angela merkel to lay a wreath at berlin's place of remembrance, which is dedicated to all victims of war and dictatorship. later he'll give a speech at the german parliament. the government has confirmed plans

for students in england to be offered the option of "accelerated" two year degree courses. it's proposing that universities would be able to charge higherfees for shorter, more intensive courses. they'll cost about 20% less in total than a traditional three year course. but the higher annual fee of £11,000 will have to be approved by parliament. england's footballers play croatia at wembley this afteroon, the side they lost to in the world cup semi—finals. they're hoping to progress to the next stage of the nations league. 0ur correspondentjohn watson is at wembley. set the scene for us. it couldn't be clearer for set the scene for us. it couldn't be clearerfor england. set the scene for us. it couldn't be clearer for england. it is a winner ta kes all

clearer for england. it is a winner takes all at wembley later. victory for england would see them reach the semifinals of the nation ‘s league, a chance to challenge the silverware in portugal next summer. defeat means they would be relegated to the second tier of the competition. inaudible in light of the progress they have made in this competition following that semifinal defeat to croatia last summer. it provided them with an opportunity to test themselves against some of the wild's best, as witnessed with that impressive victory against spain. gareth southgate has made some tactical changes and is provided some of the younger players he's brought into the squad a chance to challenge themselves... solely for the quality of the line tojohn watson at wembley. —— sorry. some of britain's biggest companies are urging the government to honour a promise to give mental health in the workplace the same status as physical health. executives from 50 companies — including royal mail, wh smith and ford — have written to theresa may, asking her to follow through on last

year's manifesto pledge to update health and safety legislation. the government says it will bring forward the recommendations of an independent review. cricket, and england are celebebrating victory in the test series in sri lanka. they won by 57 runs in the second test in kandy. it's the first test series win away from home for nearly three years, as patrick gearey reports. england fans had gathered for the candy crunch — anticipating a short, sweet finish. they needed just three sri lankan wickets to win the series. moeen ali took the first and most significant of them. when niroshan dickwella departed, so did his team's chances of an unlikely victory. the end came quickly. two balls later moeen baffled suranga lakmal, then pushpakumara pushed back a sitter to jack leach. his fifth wicket in the innings, and england's first win in sri lanka for 17 years. it's a victory that is in sharp contrast to england's

recent away form. so, winning on sri lanka's spinning pitches is real progress. to come here in very difficult conditions that were quite extreme, both here and at galle, and to perform as we have done and manage to soak up the pressure and hold our nerve shows quite a lot of maturity for what is quite an inexperienced side in this part of the world. not for nothing are england's away fans known as the "barmy army". it's taken a mix of optimism and masochism to follow english cricket teams on foreign shores — but maybe nowjoe root has this side travelling on the right course. patrick gearey, bbc news. the actorjohn bluthal, has died at the age of 89. he was best known for playing

the likable but dull parish council secretary frank pickle in the vicar of dibley. tell us what you had for breakfast. toast. laughter i need a bit more than that, so make something up. let your imagination run wild! wild. great. two pieces of toast. laughter its star dawn french paid tribute on social media, saying "cheeky, naughty, hilarious. bye darlin bluey." he also appeared in carry on films and worked regularly with spike milligan. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at 5:05 — bye for now. you're watching the bbc news channel with ben brown.

it'513:10. president trump has said the us will determine in the next few days who it thinks was behind the murder of the saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. there have been reports that the cia believes mr khashoggi's killing was ordered by crown prince mohammed bin salman. saudi arabia has blamed rogue intelligence agents. essentially they're continuing with a policy of denial and deflection. the denial came almost immediately after the report appeared in the washington post. it came from one of the people named in that report. the cia said it had got hold of an intercepted phone call from khalid bin salman, the saudi ambassador to washington who is also the crown prince's brother.

it said he had called jamal khashoggi by phone and told him that he should go to istanbul to deal with his papers. and that he would be safe. bin salman tweeted shortly after that that he had never called jamal khashoggi and he certainly never told him to go to istanbul. that was the way it was playing out yesterday in saudi arabia. this morning, what they've been looking for in terms of positives, the saudi media, is what president trump was saying, in the sense that he still has not made up his mind. he has been told that crown prince mohammed bin salman was not involved. that essentially he has not come down one way or another. the us state department issued a statement saying that there were still numerous unanswered questions. the saudis are making a lot of that saying essentially nothing is clear, even the americans are not sure about what's going on. sebastien asherfor us in riyadh.

the government has confirmed plans to allow universities to offer two year or accelerated degrees. they would be allowed to charge higher fees per year but overall students would save around £5,500. 0ur education correspondent sean coughlan reports. instead of studying for three years at 30 weeks a year, the government wants more universities to provide fast—track courses, with degrees taught over two years, with 45 weeks of studying. these shorter, more intensive courses would mean savings of about £5,500 tuition fees and a year's worth of accommodation and living costs. the universities minister thinks it will particularly help to reverse the decline in the number of mature students who might want to reduce the cost and to get back into work more quickly. even though the overall cost would be lower than studying for three years, each year would have tuition fees equivalent to about £11,000 per year, above the current maximum limit of £9,250.

such a change to the fee system would have to be approved by parliament and that could prove a significant stumbling block. sean coughlan, bbc news. three men are in hospital after a shooting in north london. police say they were called to enfield yesterday evening and two of the men are believed to have suffered gunshot wounds. no arrests have been made. more of the migrants from central america who have been travelling across mexico in the hope of reaching the united states have arrived at the us border. about 4000 people have now gathered there. the local authorities are providing shelters but have appealed to the mexican federal government for help. a woman has died and 200 other people have been injured in demonstrations against rising fuel prices in france. more than a quarter of a million people joined the protests. the price of diesel in the country has risen by around 23% over the past year, the highest level

for nearly 20 years. 1:14pm. the headlines on bbc news: theresa may fights back saying replacing her as conservative leader would not make the brexit negotiations any easier. chairman of the 1922 committee graham brady indicates to the bbc that the threshold of 48 letters for a no confidence vote in the prime minister has not yet been reached. president trump visits north california following the most devastating wildfires in the history of the state. one of the most controversial industrial projects built in the uk is closing down after nearly a quarter of a century. the nuclear reprocessing plant at sellafield in cumbria has already recycled its last batch of fuel. parts of the site will now be used to store waste, while the rest will be decommissioned, a process expected to take several decades,

as theo leggett reports. the fuel has been taken from the main area and transferred into this area. this is thorpe. for nearly 25 years, it's been recycling old nuclear fuel, separating usable uranium and plutonium from useless wastes, a process once seen as a kind of alchemy. what kind of science could take a fuel, burn it and turn the ashes back into fresh fuel to burn again? but soon alarms were sounding. thorpe was meant to provide fuel for a new generation of super—efficient power stations, but they were never built and ambitious targets were never met. the plant didn't operate as well as we had originally expected. there were a number of operational problems through its life. those lofty expectations were built upon expectations

around nuclear power, cost of uranium, and those assumptions did not prove to be valid. thorpe did make some £9 billion reprocessing waste from overseas, but now those contracts have dried up as well. although reprocessing has now finished here at thorpe, that isn't the end for this vast facility. parts of the plant will still be used to store old nuclear fuel. and the rest? that will become part of a growing industry — nuclear decommissioning. the most dangerous parts of the site will have to be decontaminated before being dismantled. sophisticated technology is being developed to go where humans can't. the ingenuity that we are going to have to apply is going to be interesting. it's going to be a fascinating time for the facility. new technologies, new processes. and as well as the technical aspects of it, i think for me personally the most challenging aspect is going to be making sure that we look after the people. thorpe was once a key target for environmental

campaigners greenpeace. they now agree that decommissioning creates exciting opportunities. decommissioning has to be done well, with skilled people who know what they're doing and have experience of doing it. so we support decommissioning work and if sellafield wants to become a global leader of that, we are supportive. under there is nitric acid with a lot of radioactive substances in? correct. thorpe once symbolised ambitious plans for a future of cheap and clean nuclear power. its legacy though is a contaminated facility which will take decades to decommission. theo leggett, bbc news, sellafield. they're meant to be quick and convenient, but could shopping at smaller stores owned by britain's best—known supermarket brands be costing us more? a survey carried out for the bbc‘s inside out programme found customers are paying much higher prices for exactly the same products in smaller outlets compared to the larger supermarkets. jonathan gibson explains. more and more of us are shopping in convenience stores.

they now account for a quarter of the grocery market. but are we paying over the odds in the small shops run by britain's biggest supermarkets? maggie, a birmingham pensioner, goes to tesco express twice a week. i think you would expect to pay a bit more. you buy quite a few bananas, don't you? yes. well, a single banana in tesco express is going to cost you 14p more. for one? for one banana. god! right, i know where i'll get my bananas from from now on. and that's kind of got me thinking because if bananas cost so much more in tesco's convenience stores than they do in their own supermarkets, then do other things cost more as well? and what about tesco's rivals? the bbc compared the cost of 50 items in supermarkets run by tesco, sainsbury‘s, m&s and waitrose, with what they cost in the same chains‘ convenience stores.

39 of the 50 products we bought in tesco express cost more than they did in a tesco supermarket. while in sainsbury‘s local, little waitrose and m&s simply food, 45 of the 50 products cost more than in the larger stores. but by how much? there were big differences across fruit and veg, in toiletries, and store cupboard ingredients. this fajita kit, for example, costs 20% more in sainsbury‘s local than it does in a sainsbury‘s supermarket. 0verall our survey found that prices in little waitrose were on average just short of 5.5% more expensive while in sainsbury‘s local, tesco express and m&s simply foods, the average difference was between 8% and 9%. in statements, the supermarkets told the bbc higher prices reflect higher running costs. without commenting on any specific retailer, generally there's a lot more costs that go into maintaining and operating a store like this

and that to a degree is why you see the price difference. as for maggie, she is now doing more of her shopping online. but won't stop using convenience stores completely. i think i'll still probably have to go for the odd banana! they might be dearer but they're also nearer and that's the cost of convenience. jonathan gibson, bbc news. viewers in the west midlands can see more on that on inside out on bbc one tomorrow at 7.30pm. the programme will then be available on the bbc iplayer. some of the world's best opera singers have lent their voices to a musical tribute to the late spanish soprano montserrat cabelle. the memorial service, held at the cathedral

of barcelona, featured the dramatic symphony of verdi's requiem. cabelle was regarded as one of the foremost opera singers of the 20th century. she was thrust into the mainstream after recording the song barcelona with freddie mercury in 1987. she died in october at the age of 85. next month world leaders will meet in poland for the united nations‘ yearly conference on climate change. now thousands of young people have found a rather unique way to make sure their message on climate change is heard, whilst trying to set a record for the world's biggest postcard. lebo diseko has more on a glacier high up in the swiss alps, something unusual unfolds. 125,000 drawings and cards from children all around the world, each with a message on climate change. they're put together to make one giant postcard which organisers say,

at 2500 square metres, is the largest ever. next month, the governments of the world are going to get together in poland for the next conference of the parties on climate change. this is going to be the place where the actual plan of action to implement the paris agreement on climate change is going to be negotiated. we need ambition. we need ambition from every government that is going to be there. 1.5 degrees celsius is a message that is hard to miss. that's what scientists say the limit for global warming needs to be if we want to keep the earth habitable. last month, a un report warned without drastic action, there will be even sharper temperature rises. but with doubts over whether countries can even meet the two—degree cap agreed at the paris climate conference three years ago,

activists are demanding global leaders do more. we expect acts. decision. and urgent actions. we are done with the talking. we don't want to wait any more. we want to do, we want to do this transition, we want to decarbonise the economy and the societies in order to save the climate and all live on this planet in peace. the glacier this giant postcard was put together on is also significant. it is melting at an alarming speed. it could disappear altogether within the next 80 years. activists say it's just another example of the increasing threat posed by global warming. lebo diseko, bbc news. sport and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's will perry. including that interesting game between england and croatia this afternoon. that's right. let's go straight to wembley. england is taking on croatia in a decisive

nations league match injust taking on croatia in a decisive nations league match in just over half an hour. john watson is there now. we have got the team news. any surprises from what gareth southgate has gone with? perhaps not. three changes to the team that beat spain so impressively in this competition last time. john stones, fabian delph and kyle walker are all coming in. in that relatively young squad, the experienced players are coming back in and he will want to replicate that experience against spain when england played so well against spain, beating them 3—2, meaning we keep the same front three of raheem sterling, harry kane and marcus rashford. raheem sterling scored two in spain, the first goals he has scored for england in three years, and he will wa nt to

want to replicate that performance in seville. they have played very well, and i think that is something that gareth southgate will want to endorse to his team, that this competition has offered them an opportunity to test themselves against the world's best and this is another opportunity to do that at wembley here today. the permutations are quite simple from an england point of view. yes, winner takes all. if england win, they top the group and will play in the first league of nations league in portugal next summer but if they lose they will be relegated to the second tier. a goalless draw will see them keeping their a league status. but if spain qualify, england will be relegated beneath croatia in light of the record that england and croatia share. gareth southgate has coming into this match that he will not hedge its bets and go for the win. he knows there is plenty at sta ke win. he knows there is plenty at stake if england want to maintain their status not only in this league but also to contest silverware in portugal next summer. john watson live at wembley. thank you. england's cricketers have finished off the year in style after winning their first series in sri lanka for 17 years with one test to play.

patrick gearey reports england fans had gathered for the candy crunch anticipating a short, sweet finish. they needed just three sri lankan wickets to win the series. moeen ali took the first and most significant of them. when niroshan dickwella departed, so did his team's chances of an unlikely victory. the end came quickly. two balls later moeen baffled suranga lakmal, then pushpakumara pushed back a sitter to jack leach. his fifth wicket in the innings, and england's first win in sri lanka for 17 years. to come here in very difficult conditions that were quite extreme, both here and at galle, and to perform as we have done and manage to soak up the pressure, apply it back on the opposition for long periods of time, and hold our nerve shows quite a lot

of maturity for what is quite an inexperienced side in this part of the world. england were bowled out for 58 en route to another loss against new zealand earlier this year. on sri lanka's spinning services, this shows real progress. it is highly significant. sri lanka have a reputation of ambushing visitors on pitches that suit them and ten square. villa into the mix, and they have won not just square. villa into the mix, and they have won notjust these square. villa into the mix, and they have won not just these first test matches but also the t20 series here and the one—day international series, never having done that before. it really is a significant achievement. not for nothing are england's away fans known as the "barmy army". it's taken a mix of optimism and masochism to follow english cricket teams on foreign shores — but maybe nowjoe root has this side travelling on the right course. patrick gearey, bbc news. the open champion francesco molinari has won golf‘s race to dubai. molinari could only be beaten if tommy fleetwood won the world tour championship, but fleetwood finished a long way

down the leaderboard. the tournament was won by englishman danny willett. this is his brilliant approach on the 17th in dubai. he finished on 18 uder par, two clear of the pack. it's his first win since the masters two and a half years ago. formula three driver sophia florsch has fractured her spine in a high—speed crash at the macau grand prix in china. a warning these pictures are not for the faint hearted. these are from social media. look away if that is you. lorsch, just 17 lost control going into a bend before flying through the air and crashing backwards into fences. amazingly she's conscious and in a stable condition and has tweeted to say "i'm fine but will be going into surgery tomorrow morning" ajapanese driver has been taken to hospital with back pain. two photographers and a marshal are also in hospital. that's all the sport for now. now the weather. a beautiful afternoon across the bulk of the uk. it will be turning colder this week and we will look at that in a moment but first let's savour the sunshine. this is the view from ambleside

earlier today. just patchy cloud here and there, especially through eastern scotland and north east england. for some of us, it blocks out the sunshine completely but elsewhere it is blue sky all the way now. a stronger east south—easterly breeze, feeling chillier than yesterday, but still technically mild temperatures are in double figures. towards iceland, we find 16 degrees this afternoon but germany is in the blue at 5 degrees. it is that they're coming our way on a strong easterly wind through the next couple of days. —— that air. wednesday will be less cold by the end of the week. after the sunshine of the day, temperatures will be away quite quickly after dark. increasing cloud from the east during the night. it will be clearest for longest in northern parts of scotland in particular where there will be a touch of frost. a cloudy start for most of us in the morning compared to recent days. not just cloud

in the morning compared to recent days. notjust cloud but showers in eastern scotland and down to eastern england during the day. there will be some spots in east anglia and the south—east. west is best for sunny spells tomorrow. north east scotland bearing quite well but nowhere as nice as it has been in the sunshine recently. a strong easterly wind and some showers, wintery over higher ground as well, with limited sunny spells and north west scotland still faring quite well. look at the strength of the easterly wind. gusting up to 40 mph now