this is the briefing, i'm sally bundock. our top story: donald trump threatens to pull out of a meeting with president putin as russia's conflict with ukraine intensifies. a sharp increase in migrant boats crossing the channel to the uk. ministers say it is being organised by criminal gangs. we track down some of those responsible. us republicans extend their majority in the senate, following a rerun election in mississippi dogged by racial tension. and an end to concrete that cracks and crumbles. we meet the scientists who have created a material that self—repairs. and brexit impact. the bank of england will today lay out its assessments of how britain leaving the eu will effect the economy. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know

in global news, business and sport. also in the programme: eefforts to tackle climate change are way off track, says the un, with the first rise in co2 emissions in four years. so is drastic action needed? two mums in sweden have launched a campaign urging people not to fly in 2019. would you, could you, give up flying for a year? tell us what you think. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. president trump says he may pull out of a meeting with the russian president later this week because of the situation in ukraine. they were due to discuss security issues on the sidelines of a 620 meeting of world leaders in argentina.

earlier, a court in crimea ordered the first 12 ukrainian sailors captured by russia on sunday to spend two months in detention. lebo diseko has the latest. captured at sea by russian forces and now sentenced in a crimean court, one of 12 ukrainian sailors ordered to be held untiljanuary. russia says they crossed into its waters illegally, but ukraine insists the incident happened in the areas that are free to shipping. russia's security service has released filmed statements from three other captured ukrainians, which were widely shown on state tv. one said that he was aware the actions of his navy were provocative. we cannot verify the circumstances of the interviews, but kiev says the men were forced to lie under duress. this footage, also released by russia, apparently shows the incident which led to the crisis, the most serious escalation between the two

countries in years. the kerch strait, where this happened, is the only way of accessing ukraine's key ports in the azov sea, which both russia and ukraine are meant to share. but, since russia annexed crimea four years ago, it has been able to block access in and out. on monday, ukraine imposed martial law, saying it is the victim of a deliberate act of aggression. translation: i don't want anyone to think this is fun and games. ukraine is under threat of full—scale war with russia. the us is calling on european countries to fully enforce the sanctions on russia over its annexation of crimea. it's a dangerous escalation on the part of russians' continued aggressive behaviour against ukraine. the united states continues to support ukraine's territorial integrity. the secretary's heading to nato, as many of you know, in the coming days. i would imagine that that would be

a big topic of conversation. america says russia violated international law, and president trump now says he might cancel a meeting with president putin at the g20 later this week. mr trump says he doesn't like what is happening, but he hopes they will be able to straighten things out soon. the british government has expressed concern about a significant increase in the number of migrant boats arriving on the south coast of england. this month alone, 110 migrants have made it to kent on the english coast. the french police say they believe the recent surge is down to tighter security at the eurotunnel entrance, and also because of brexit, with migrants wanting to get to the uk before it happens. our correspondent colin campbell reports. rescued off the coast of dover in an inflatable dinghy,

these are migrants from northern france trying to get to britain. in the last few months, there has been a surge in this kind of activity. a migrant camp in dunkirk we're secretly filming using an undercover researcher. it is smugglers like this man who are at the heart of the problem, willing to risk lives forfinancial gain. translation: a boat, it will cost you £3,000—4,000. i'm taking three people with me. they pay in cash. we get a boat, and off we go. he says he was a fisherman in iran, and getting us across the channel would be easy. translation: look, i will check the weather. you have waves in the sea, ferries cross the water, and they can drag you underneath them, even if you are one kilometre away. but i know the sea routes where you will not be disrupted

by the ferries. more than 100 migrants have reached the kent coast by boat in the last three weeks, but not all that depart succeed. farhad, from afghanistan, was put in a dinghy with 11 others. he was rescued at night after the engine stalled. he thought he was going to die. it was freezing a couple of days ago, and when you get wet, we were fully wet. i was like that myself. a couple of guys, they actually fainted. they were sleeping and we were trying to wake them up, and they were — and we were trying to wake them up because their hearts will stop from the cold. this migrant told me the boat he was in capsized after being battered by waves. living in a squalid makeshift camp in calais, they claim they fled their countries because of religious and political persecution. their desperation to get to the uk is being fuelled by fears of brexit. how many of you think that it is going to get harder? harder — put your hands up. you all think it's

going to get harder? there is a rush. everybody‘s talking about it in here, in thejungle. we're like, we need to get in quicker, you know what i'm saying, in case the security gets tighter. even as winter sets in and temperatures start to plummet here, migrants in this part of the north of france are continuing to prepare to cross this treacherous stretch of water. it is happening at night—time, in the dark, and they're using their mobile phones to navigate across to the kent coast. waiting to catch a dinghy to the uk, these iranian migrants told me they had paid £6,000 each, and were waiting to be taken to a nearby beach by smugglers. translation: we have to go by boat. we know we are putting our life in danger. i've tried before, but the waves were three metres high, and came up over the boat. i already stared death in the face. there are fears drowned migrants could wash up onto calais's beaches. migrants trying to cross are risking their lives, every night, here in calais. is the french authorities

doing enough? well, we try to stop them. we stopped quite every boat that tried to cross the channel, but we need to face the truth. the truth is we cannot stop everyone. overloaded with migrants, this was the boat stopped by french authorities this morning. they were rescued, but there is real fear lives may soon be lost. let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news: a blast near a chemical plant in northern china has left at least 22 people dead. the explosion in zhangjiakou city set dozens of vehicles ablaze. an independent report has found that there are profound legal, ethical and practical challenges for police to overcome with the use of facial recognition technology. the findings were made by experts in policing at the university

of cardiff following a study involving the south wales force. scientists in australia have started the biggest coral regeneration project ever undertaken on the great barrier reef. they will carry out a procedure that hasbeen likened to ivf. it is the first step of a scheme that could help save dying coral reefs around the world. for the first time, mississippi has chosen a woman to represent the state in the us senate. cindy hyde—smith, a republican backed by president trump, won an election clouded by racial tension. no candidate reached 50% in their midterm elections on six november. our correspondent chris buckler has the latest from oxford, mississippi. cindy hyde—smith was always the favourite to win this senate seat. but her campaign was briefly derailed by comments she made, in which she said that she would turn up at a public hanging and sit

in the front row if she was invited by a supporter. now, that caused a lot of controversy here in mississippi, not least because it dredged up the past, and racially—motivated lynchings that took place here in this state. it also made it a much more competitive battle. however, she has overcome that and she has, according to the opinion polls and according to now the results, really managed to make it a pretty decisive victory here. and that will be regarded as a win notjust for her, but also for donald trump, who came on the eve of the election and held two rallies in support of cindy hyde—smith. he has actually tweeted that this is a big win, and of course, it's big for him because it extends his majority inside the us senate. it means that he has 53 of the 100 seats for his republican party, and he will see that as being something of a victory. but i suspect there will be others who will regard this as a bit

of a moral victory, if not actually winning the seat, and that is the democratic candidate mike espy, who led a very, very competitive campaign, if you consider that mississippi is regarded as a republican stronghold. and certainly, this african—american candidate was someone who gained a lot of a following, particularly after those comments from cindy hyde—smith. the uk treasury will publish its assessment of how the various possibilities for brexit could affect the economy. officials have refused to comment on a report which says gdp would be lower under theresa may's preferred option or significantly reduced under a no—deal scenario compared with staying inside the eu. dr rebecca harding is an economist and chief executive of coriolis, a data services provider. also formerly chief economist at the

british bankers association. when it comes to our banks, you know them extremely well. so talked us through all this information today, what the bank of england and the treasury will tell us. so the bank of england first of all is launching its stress test, and it is also the timing of that stress test in order to be able to ta ke that stress test in order to be able to take account of the various things that are happening with brexit and the meaningful vote. so the stress test is basically a health check, can the british banking system would stand a big shock to gdp, to house prices, et cetera. the reason why it is going to have particular scrutiny today is very simply because everybody is going over absolutely every single detail to see what the impact of no deal and our deal might be. now,

when it comes to dealing with these unexpected shocks, we have had to do this already, haven't we? mark carney, the head of the bank of england, has had to grapple with a lot of weak, surprise results like the referendum result in 2016. they have had to put measures in place. they have been here before, to a degree. to a degree, and mark carney is under a lot of pressure because he was part of project fear in the first place. he has been criticised for being too pro—european and coming up with forecasts that were too negative but he has to be seen too negative but he has to be seen to be doing the right thing at this point. after the referendum vote, the economy stabilised. actually, there wasn't the massive capital outflow that everybody was expecting. that is one of the reasons why the impact on the british economy hasn't been quite as severe. so you could argue actually mark carney has done a very good job so mark carney has done a very good job so far. the banks would argue that. and what we are looking for now is

any hint for what might happen in the future. absolutely, we certainly all are looking for that. rebecca is back for the news briefing, and that is our top story on the news at, the treasury to publish its economic impact analysis. we will be right across this today as it is released. stay with us on bbc news. still to come: we will have the latest on european championship matches, and the rest of the sports news. president kennedy was shot down and died almost immediately. the murder ofjohn kennedy is a disaster for the whole free world. he caught the imagination of the world. the first of a new generation of leaders. margaret thatcher is resigning as leader of the conservative party and prime minister. before leaving number 10 to see the queen, she told her cabinet, "it's a funny old world." angela merkel is germany's first woman chancellor, easily securing the majority she needed. attempts to fly a hot air balloon

had to be abandoned after a few minutes, but nobody seemed to mind very much. as one local comic put it, "it's not hot air we need, it's hard cash." cuba has declared nine days of mourning following the death of fidel castro at the age of 90. castro developed close ties with the soviet union in the 1960s. it was an alliance that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war with the cuban missile crisis. you're watching the briefing. our headlines: donald trump threatens to pull out of a meeting with president putin, as russia's conflict with ukraine intensifies. there's been a sharp increase in migrant boats crossing the channel to the uk. ministers say its being organised by criminal gangs. a preliminary report into last month's deadly indonesian plane crash has recommended that the budget airline lion air

improve its safety culture. all one 189 people on board were killed. let's get the latest from our bbc indonesia editor, rebecca henschke, who is injakarta. and has been listening to that press conference. rebecca, tell us what they had to say. as you have said, this is an early report waste on—the—fly data recorder, the cockpit reporter has been recovered, but what has been said is uncomfortable both for the manufacturer of the almost new plane, boeing, as well as you said for lion air, the budget airline. they found the plane had several technical problems and those problems had happened on previous flights. yet the budget airline decided to fly that plane again.

they said there are problems with the culture of safety in the airline and also problems with pilot training. but also the findings heighten concern about key problems in this new model of air plane from boeing. the head of the aviation committee confirming what we have heard from american pilot unions that there were not details in their first manual, he said, about what pilots should do if they are faced with a situation that this pilot was, with problems with altitude and the air speed reading as well as the angle of attack sensor. this information can be critical in preventing an aircraft from stalling and an automatic nosedive. so investigators will be heading to america, to florida, to the boeing headquarters, and they say they have a lot of questions for the manufacturer as well as a lot of questions for lion air about why

they allowed that plane to fly. very interesting. rebecca, thank you. we will keep across how that develops. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm tulsen tollett, coming up in your wednesday sport briefing: deontay wilder and tyson fury get set to go head—to—head in their press conference ahead of saturday's heavyweight bout in las vegas. paris saint germain host liverpool in the champions league, with both neymar and kylian mbappe set to play after recovering from injury. you can expect fireworks in las vegas later, when deontay wilder and tyson fury square up in front of the world's media. wilder says their wbc world heavyweight fight on saturday is the biggest bout of the year. if he wins, a unification fight between him and anthonyjoshua could be next. wilder's got to get past fury first, though, who we know can pull off a shock. both neymar and kylian mbappe trained for paris saint germain

ahead of their champions league match against liverpool later. the pair were injured during the international break playing for their respective countries, and although their club has dominated domestically this season they've struggled in europe. so here's here's the math that's involved — if liverpool beat them and napoli win at home against red star belgrade then psg will be eliminated. little mistakes can make the decision, can be decisive, that is how it is. i am not worried. and my team, they have been together for three years and one and a half months a roundabout, and in this time they were always psychologically ready. —— round about. in case you missed it, holders real madrid have progressed the the last 16 of the champions league after a 2—0 win away to roma in group g. gareth bale and lucas vasquez with the goals. premier league leaders manchester city twice had to come from behind in lyon to secure

the point they needed to progress from group f. and in group h, manchester united snuck through to the knockout stage, joining juventus, after a 91st minute goal for marouane fellaini. let me send a message to my lovers and say that i played champions league for 1h years and are qualified 1a times. and the year, the two years, when i didn't play the two years, when i didn't play the champions league, i won the league twice. i played europa league twice and i won. just a little curiosity for my lovers and the lovers of stats. yasir shah starred for pakistan taking 1a wickets in the match, as they thrashed new zealand by an innings and 16 runs to win the second test and level the three match series. shah only trails imran khan in pakistan's all—time bowling figures for a match — the leg—spinner taking 6—143

in the second innings to add to his eight wickets in the first. after pakistan enforced the follow—on, the kiwis fought back on day four, but could only manage 312 with the final match to be played in abu dhabi starting next monday. we know that kevin pietersen had a lot of fire in his belly as a player. he's also had some fire in his ears, as you'll see in his latest instagram post. the former england cricketer got more than he bargained for when he went to the barbers. brace yourself, kp, this is apparently the best way to get rid of that unsightly hair. the man with the flame seems to know what he's doing. well, i hope so. you can get all the latest sports news at our website, that's bbc.com/sport. but from me, tulsen tollett, and the rest of the team, that is your wednesday sport briefing. that is a visit to the barber, isn't

it? takes you to a whole new level. you may never have given concrete much thought, but it plays a vital part in our day—to—day lives, from the bridges we cross to the roads we drive on. but it keeps cracking. so, scientists are working on a solution — concrete that can repair itself. here's our science correspondent, richard westcott. concrete is the second most used substance on earth, a key ingredient in roadbuilding, repairing cracks can cause long delays. so what if you could build concrete that could fix itself? when there is a crack in concrete, this crack is going to open the matrix and then open the capshaw as well. livia is helping to design tiny capsules the size of sand grains that will sit inside the concrete. any crack will split them open, releasing a healing agent that fixes the crack. so they come along off the tube, they are collected in

the solution and hear this white material is where you can see thousands of micro— capsules being produced and collected in the solution. under the microscope they look like little eggs. and here is one that has opened up inside some concrete. so effectively you are trying to make a little egg with a ha rd trying to make a little egg with a hard shell and an agent inside that will fix the concrete. i mean what is the hardest part of that? you are making it on such a tiny scale. good question. the hardest bit is about controlling the flow rate so i can precisely control the size of this tiny shell that i am doing with this tiny shell that i am doing with this tiny egg that i am doing, and also control the shell thickness. the cambridge team is working on other self—healing systems, too. cambridge team is working on other self-healing systems, too. so this is inside the concrete, agent always pumping through and the minute a crack goes through the concrete it

will find one of these plastic tubes. the tube breaks, healing agent comes out and itjust seals the crack. and you can see only one of them breaks which means you can use all the other of them for any other type of damage that happens over the life of the concrete structure. so you have dragged me here to look at a wall, have a new? yea yeah. a special wall, self—healing concrete. yea yeah. a special wall, self-healing concrete. if i smash hit hard it will heal itself? yes, it will, yes, in two weeks a possible time. very important because we spent a huge amount of money on maintaining infrastructure, roads, bridges, tunnels, embankments, and it is very costly and there is a huge amount of disruption associated with it. so these materials basically have the ability to heal their own cracks. they sent damage and they repair themselves without the need for external intervention. just making the cement for concrete producers 8% of the world's man—made co2. if it

can heal itself, you can save money, the environment and cuts on traffic jams. richard wescott, bbc news, cambridge. let's stay with some ideas to help the environment. the un says there are has been an increase in co2 levels for the first time infour increase in co2 levels for the first time in four years. we have spoken with two swedish mums who came up with two swedish mums who came up with a plan to try to help the environment. they are suggesting a fly free 2019. you can see them both here. so we ask you, is this possible? is it something you would consider next year? billy turnbull who watches us in turkey says it is impossible in capitalist society, what planet are these clowns are live on? jessica in tokyo says she would do this if it would help climate change. and another in india says we need to think of lots of alternatives to try to help out the planet. i will see you soon. hello there.

we've lost our dry, cold weather now, and replaced it with something very much more unsettled. and, in fact, today is looking extremely unsettled. a deep area of low pressure bringing spells of gales or severe gales. with it some very mild air drawn up from the azores. this area of pressure means business. it could cause travel disruption across the north and west — the combination of gales and heavy rain. keep tuned to the bbc local radio for the latest updates. this morning starting off on a mild note, you'll notice. temperatures ranging between five and eight celsius. but it will be cloudy and wet. something perhaps a little bit drier into the early part of the afternoon. but then another batch of heavy and persistent rain pushing into northern ireland and scotland, where we could see some very high rainfall totals, particularly on south—facing hills. a very mild day, though. temperatures in double figures, as high as 15 or 16 degrees in the south. it will be very blustery. gales of 60—65 mph in western exposed areas. and then, later in the day, we could see 70mph plus in

the northern isles of north—east scotland. then slightly drier weather into the evening and for the first part of the night. then the next area of low pressure will move into southern areas to bring another bout of wet and windy weather. it looks like this next area of low pressure could bring strong wind across wales, the western side of england through thursday morning. a band of heavy rain spreading northwards and eastwards. something brighter into the afternoon, with plenty of heavy and blustery showers following on across southern and western areas. temperatures again in double figures. maybe not quite as mild as what we will see today. as we end the week, another area of low pressure will keep things very much unsettled. very windy — tight isobars across the northern half of the country. we could start off with plenty of sunshine around, particularly eastern areas. lots of showers into western areas, especially western scotland, where they will be blustery and even wintry over the higher ground. temperatures a little bit down

on what we will expect today and also thursday, nine to 11 or 12 celsius. as we head on towards the weekend, it looks like it is fairly mild across england and wales, with blustery showers, some sunny spells. maybe a bit cooler than that, though, across scotland and northern ireland. this is the business briefing, i'm sally bundock. driving home the point. president trump escalates his attack on general motors, a day after the carmaker announced major job cuts. and brexit impact. the bank of england will today lay out its assessments of how britain leaving the eu will affect the economy. and on the financial markets, investors are mulling the question, could there be a breakthrough on the us—china trade dispute? traders are positive for now.