this is bbc news, i'm ben brown. the headlines at 1pm: another group of migrants cross the channel and arrive in kent as the home secretary cuts short his holiday to deal with the crisis. the trade secretary liam fox says the chances of britain leaving the eu will only be 50—50 if mps reject the prime minister's brexit deal. also this hour, the health secretary matt hancock sets out plans to provide better support for mothers and babies in england. the proposals would include more specialist neonatal staff, and targets to halve the number of stillbirths, and maternal and infant deaths, by 2025. stars from the entertainment world remember comedy actress, dame june whitfield, best—known for her roles in terry and june and absolutely fabulous, who's died at the age of 93. another group of illegal migrants has been picked up

on a beach in kent after apparently crossing the channel in an inflatable boat. the home secretary has spoken to his french counterpart today as he comes under growing pressure to do more about the number of migrants crossing from northern france in small boats. sajid javid has cut short his christmas holiday to deal with the problem. the home office has confirmed that the six men, believed to be iranian nationals, arrived on a beach in kingsdown on the kent coast in a dinghy early this morning. they've had medical check—ups and are now being dealt with by immigration officials. more than 220 people have made the channel crossing since the start of november. here's our correspondent alexandra

mckenzie. the channel has been shrouded in mist this morning and this is one of the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world. and, yes, as you say there has been an increasing number of migrants attempting to cross the channel over november, december, a0 on christmas day alone, the youngest of which was only 18 months old. today we have seen this footage from a member of the public. the footage itself has been unverified but we have had a statement from the home office and that statement has said that the migrants were discovered about 7:30am this morning in kingsdown, not farfrom dover. the footage shows a dinghy washed up on the beach. there are six migrants. we understand they are iranian. it also looks as if there are rescue officials on that footage. as you said, these migrants would have been taken for a medical assessment initially and then

they would have been taken to speak to immigration officers. now, here in dover, the local mp charlie elphicke has been fairly critical of the home secretary, saying that more needs to be done to deal with this problem. we spoke to him earlier. i think the home secretary's been absolutely right in declaring a major incident, appointing a gold commander, treating it seriously. this has been building up over the last two months. it's good that he's taken personal charge. what we now need is a clear plan and a strategy. for me, that is have a dover patrol, with the five cutters, have more investment in our borders, particularly intelligence, and deeper cooperation with the french. indeed, joint working across the channel, and not being too specific about the 15 mile zone, where our border is. be more flexible in treating it as a joint zone, where we work

together with the french, so we can help repatriate people back to the northern french coast. sajid javid has also been dealing with criticism from the labour party who have said that his strategy is flawed and he has not dealt with the situation quickly enough. sajid javid, as we know, will be back at his desk tomorrow and has said this is of utmost importance. he will be speaking to the french to see if anything can be done to stop the migrants coming across the channel. he has acknowledged it's a massive problem and is not something that will be dealt with easily or that has one easy answer for to resolve. alexandra mckenzie there, are

correspondent in dover. leading figures from the world of entertainment have been remembering damejune whitfield — who has died at the age of 93. her career spanned more than 70 years, encompassing many of the highlights of british comedy. sarah campbell looks back at her life. kiss me, kiss me, bite me! bite you?! bite me! i can't, dear, i'm a vegetarian! in a career spanning seven decades, june whitfield played alongside some of british comedy‘s greatest talents. what's it like, living in the jungle? well, it's. .. 0h... drums play. it's rather dull and boring, really. i realised, very early on, that i was never going to play the glamorous, you know, leading lady roles. and serious roles, i always thought, "ooh, i'd better not do that. they might laugh at me." and laugh they did. as a comedy performer, she first found fame on the radio in the 1950s, appearing in take it from here

opposite jimmy edwards. in the 1970s, she teamed up with her regular comedy partner, terry scott, in terry and june. hello, darling. i'm having awful trouble deciding what to give you tonight. well, you can start on an explanation. i'm talking about food. what about eating out? what about the garage? 0h, i'd much prefer a restaurant. # wheels on fire...# but, to younger audiences, june whitfield will be best known as edina's mother in ab fab. inside of me, there is a thin person just screaming to get out. just the one, dear? laughter. and, even in old age, she continued to delight audiences on programmes like radio's news huddlines. a versatile and reliable performer to the end. earlier, i spoke to actor john challis, who played boycey in only fools and horses,

and worked alongside june in the spin off, the green green grass. i asked him what the secret was to her 70 year career. she was just a lovely person. i, like a lot of people, first heard her on take it from here. ijust loved the characters, i was always fascinated by characters and so on. i was always a character actor like her. so i loved her. i grew up with her. luckily, i found myself in the rivals, with her. she was brilliant in that. using all the wrong words all the time. it was a great thrill to meet her. her daughter was in the chair as well. that was a great pleasure. that whole show. later on, as you say, when we did the spin off,

the green green grass, she played marlene‘s mother. we had a shall we say not a very comfortable relationship, dora and my character. it was a treat to play with her. her timing was superb. she was iconic, really. she said she never wanted to play leading roles. she was one of those people we all grew up with. someone said you can't do a sitcom without june whitfield. she was so modest and she had a dry sense of humour. she told it like it is. i loved the quotes about... "i like being in a nursing home, i don't have to worry "about the plumbing anymore." all that sort of thing. absolutely typical of her. as you say a long career.

i remember her in terry and june but younger, people remember her in absolutely fabulous, she was brilliant at reinventing herself. absolutely. it is a testament to the quality she had. 60, 70 years, she never stopped, she always seemed to have been doing something. ab fab was a brilliant late career invention. quite rightly there she was being revealed to a new audience. itjust went on and on. it was so sad it has to come to an end. at least i had a chance to work with her on a couple of occasions. and what a treat it was. she has been described by a lot of the papers as a national treasure, sometimes a term overused but in her case, really applicable. i think so, yes.

all her characters... she is one of those people, so valuable in this profession, when you think of her, you smile. and all her creations. she just added so much to our lives from that point of view. because of those characters. she just had that timing and her characterisation just made life a bit better and a bit more charming, i think. the actorjohn challis remembering june whitfield who has died at the age of 93. a 21—year—old man has died following an incident outside a house in wigan. officers were called by the ambulance service shortly after 9:30pm on friday evening, following reports a man had been assaulted. william livesley was taken to hospital but died from his injuries yesterday. police are questioning

a 57—year—old man. councils in england should be forced to consult local communities before cutting down trees, according to proposals from the environment secretary michael gove. it follows three years of protests in sheffield, where more than 5,000 trees were chopped down and replaced. mr gove says it's right that residents have a say. the labour mp lucy powell has accused private schools of cheating the exam system — to improve their results — by entering pupils for international gcses. the exams have been criticised as less rigorous than the standard exams taken by most state school pupils. in a statement, the department for education said "the international gcses had not been through the same approval and quality control process as the new gold standard gcses, which is why they are no longer recognised in school performance tables. " the health secretary, matt hancock, has set out plans to provide better support for mothers and babies in england — to try to halve the number of stillbirths, and maternal and infant

deaths by 2025. he said the measures would make the nhs the best place in the world to give birth. our health correspondent smitha mundasad reports. more than 646,000 babies were born in england, last year. and the vast majority of new arrivals were delivered safe and well. but, tragically, this is not always the case. in 2017, there were 2,679 stillbirths. and last year, 1,857 babies died in their first month of life. there have been steady improvements in the last few years. but there are concerns that england's maternity services lag behind some other european countries. the health secretary's ambition is to make england the best place to give birth in the world. there's a whole package of safety measures around maternity care to make sure that we have the right number of midwives.

we will have 3,000 more midwives. we've got record midwives in training at the moment. and we want to make sure that the very best care that we see in the best hospitals is replicated right across the country. the new measures include more specialist neonatal staff to care for newborns. and more cots in intensive care. more mothers will get physiotherapy after childbirth. and child health records, known by many as the red book, will soon be available on smartphones, making it easier to share information between parents, carers and the nhs. the hope is these measures will go some way to helping the nhs save an additional 4,000 lives by 2025. but some will argue that much more needs to be done to keep both mothers and babies safe. smitha mundasad, bbc news. a british couple whose son

was murdered by his chinese wife have won custody of one of their grandchildren after a long legal battle. ian and linda simpson are due to return to the uk later this week, after reaching a deal during a court hearing over christmas in rural china. but they've been forced to leave their other grandchild behind. robin brant in shanghai has the latest on the family's struggle. they have been campaigning for almost two years since their son michael was murdered by weiwei fu, his wife at the time and the mother of the children. she stabbed him to death in an attack in an apartment here in shanghai. the simpsons have been trying to get custody of their grandchildren fighting a long legal battle, including mps, the government here, lawyers and chinese officials as well. that all came to a head about ten days ago when a

court hearing took place. they face the unimaginable decision of having to either take just one of the grandchildren, alice, which is what the chinese grandparents were offering and the chinese courts supported, or neither of them. they have struck a deal to take alice back to the uk with them but their grandson jack who is a back to the uk with them but their grandsonjack who is a little older will stay here in china. they say theircampaign will stay here in china. they say their campaign goes on to have both children in the uk. for now, progress of sorts for this family who have been through the awful trauma of first losing their son who was murdered and then fighting for custody of their grandchildren. they have alice and they're waiting for some paperwork here in shanghai. you can only begin to imagine how dreadful that decision must have been when it came to what was on the table. a heartbreaking decision and a heartbreaking choice. they have had support from the foreign

secretary in their campaign. they have had a lot of support from the foreign office. jeremy hunt earlier this year mentioned in a meeting with his chinese counterpart that he would look into it. i understand the man who is now head of the civil service came here before theresa may's visits to china earlier in the year and may's visits to china earlier in the yearandi may's visits to china earlier in the year and i was told he mentioned it in conversations with his chinese counterpart. so people in very high positions both on the uk side and the chinese side know about it. but we are talking about the legal system here in china that is not independent and that is why there has been some political pressure because it is a politicised system and there have been some senior voices in the diplomatic service in the uk who believe that perhaps a more political pressure should have been exerted, which in the end came down to this court. it is a resolution of sorts but seven—year—old jack remains in china and they are now returning to the uk with alice. she will have a new life there. dad to the tragedy in all of

this, the fact remains in the spoke to ian simpson a little earlier, they are nervous about getting the paperwork and don't want to speak to the press before the visa comes through but they have something even worse, neither of these children know what has happened to their father or to their mother, who is serving a life sentence here in shanghai. they faced the prospect of having to tell alice at some point and the possibility of having to telljack is well later in their life. correspondent in shanghai with the latest. the headlines on bbc news: another group of migrants cross the channel and arrive in kent as the home secretary cuts short his holiday to deal with the crisis. the chances of britain leaving the eu will be about 50—50 if the prime minister's withdrawal agreement is rejected by mps, the international trade secretary liam fox has told the sunday times. stars from the entertainment world remember comedy actress, dame june whitfield, best—known for her roles in terry and june and absolutely fabulous, who's died at the age of 93. sport and for a full round up,

from the bbc sport centre, here's holly hamilton. including the race for the premier league title. more premier league action this afternoon with the pressure on manchester city who'll be looking for a crucial win over southampton to narrow that gap with leaders liverpool. city are now third — ten points behind — following a run of three defeats in their last four matches. we have the belief when the situation is win or lose. the belief is more what we are. we know we have to come back to win games and fight for trophies but the belief is always there. the action‘s under way at selhurst park — about half an hour left in the game between chelsea and crystal palace with chelsea leading 1—0 —

n'golo kante with the only goal there. in less than an hour it's manchester city southampton — while burnley have a task on their hands when they host west ham. in the late kick off, manchester united are at home to bournemouth with ole gunnar solskjaer looking for his third win since taking over at old trafford. let's just keep that running going, our performance against bournemouth, and get three points. these two games have been fantastic, the first one, my first game, that was new, first game at old trafford, thatis also new. we need to keep that momentum going against bournemouth. when you lose a game i don't think you will see many smiles about because you will lose a game. great britain have lost their latest hopman cup group match against switzerland cameron norrie was beaten 6—1, 6—1 by roger federer in the first rubber.

norrie had the unenviable task of trying to defeat the man who's won 20 grand slam titles and was easily swept aside. katie boulter then lost her singles rubber against belinda bencic in straight sets. britain won theirfirst match against greece, so still have an outside chance of reaching the final. india's cricketers have beaten australia in melbourne to go 2—1 up in the four test series. australia still needed 1111 more runs to win at the start of the final day but only had two wickets remaining.. and they lost both of those for just three runs. it was the first time india have won a test match in melbourne since 1981. we always knew that we can do this, so we are very happy. but we are not shocked or very surprised by what has happened. we always believed this was very possible, because of the talent we have in the side and the mindset

we have carried for the last 12 months, regardless of what has been said. regardless of the mistakes we have made. but our mindset never shifted once. also overnight new zealand wrapped up their two match series against sri lanka with a huge 423 run win in the second test in christchurch. the first match was drawn. one other cricket line for you — cameron bancroft, one of three australian players banned for ball tampering in a test match against south africa in march, made his return to competitive cricket this morning. he played for perth scorchers' against the hobart hurricanes in the australian big bash but could only manage two runs. hobart won the match by six wickets. tonight sees the semi finals of this year's pdc world championships with two—time champions gary anderson and michael van gerwen set to battle it out for a place in the final. anderson beat dave chisnall 5—2 in his quarterfinal while number one seed van gerwen beat world number 7a ryan joyce 5—1. the other semi this evening will be

between michael smith and nathan aspinall. that's all the sport — bye for now. see you later, holly. thank you very much indeed. another group of illegal migrants have turned up in kent today. the home secretary, sajid javid has cut short his holiday to deal with the crisis. let's talk letter to ramsgate now. is this a problem that is going to

continue and keep growing? to be fairwe continue and keep growing? to be fair we have seen people trying to use small boats to cross from france occasionally over the last two years 01’ so. occasionally over the last two years or so. what has changed is that we have seen a spike since the beginning of october. primarily iranians migrants and he has pointed out. we have seen serious organised criminals behind a lot of what we have seen in terms of attempts to ci’oss have seen in terms of attempts to cross using a dangerous and extreme method. we have also seen over the recent months a number of people doing what i would describe as... these are people that have stolen a fishing boat and attempted to come across. so it is reasonable to assume that we will continue to seek assume that we will continue to seek a level of attempts trying to come across to the uk using this method. these migrants we are told, many of

them are iranian, they are quite well off some of them, quite affluent and they are able to afford to pay the smugglers, the gangs quite large amounts of money to ci’oss quite large amounts of money to cross the channel. i think this is something we have seen before. we have seen numbers of crime groups disrupted, people arrested and prosecuted. in september a gang of albanian criminals were convicted of people smuggling, using this method. they got up to nine years each. they we re they got up to nine years each. they were making significant amounts of money as you point out, the migrants are paying a lot of money to come across. we have seen other people arrested in connection with attempts to come over and they received eight yea rs. to come over and they received eight years. again, they will people making a lot of money from the migrants trying to come across. you are right about people paying quite are right about people paying quite a bit of money. traditionally, the

iranians are an ethnic group who we have seen generally having more money and being able to afford a far better quality smuggle. we have generally seen them coming through the airlines, we haven't seen them at the uk border in the backs of lorries. it is new for us to see this sort of level of uranium migration coming through in small boats. they are clearly very desperate people because this is a perilous journey to cross the channel in these small boats. what happens to the ones like the ones who were picked up this morning on the beach in kent. what happens when they are picked up? dealing with the desperation side, i agree with you this is a dangerous and desperate method. it reflects the fact that the border security over the last few years has been significant and we have had significant successes against the crime groups using the

more traditional smuggling methods. so we have seen criminals and migrants themselves using more desperate measures to avoid uk border controls. in terms of what happens to them when they land, staff at my agency and the national crime agency support our border force colleagues by turning out and taking control of the crime scene management and that includes debriefing the migrants, ensuring that we capture all the intelligence and opportunities which i won't go into in detail so we give ourselves the best chance to identify the criminals who are behind these attempts. from the national crime agency perspective, ourjob is not to tackle individual migrants, it isn't to provide search and rescue missions, ourjob is to identify the criminals who are behind this and target them with our uk eu law

enforcement colleagues and our french law enforcement colleagues to arrest and prosecute these criminals to stop them from profiting from putting people in a dangerous situation and evading uk border control. the home secretary has cut short his uk holiday to deal with this. what more can be done that is not being done to stop the number of migrants who are coming across the channel? from a uk law enforcement perspective, bearing in mind i'm from the national crime agency, my remit is to tackle the organised criminals behind this. from our perspective criminals behind this. from our ers ective we're criminals behind this. from our perspective we're working closely with french law enforcement, we have staff based alongside our colleagues in france. we have seen a number of arrests in recent weeks. just over one week ago we still a number of people arrested by the french,

working alongside us. two of these people were uk—based individuals who had gone over to france to further their criminal activity. we had arrests last thursday night of a facilitator who was attempting to smuggle 17 iraqi migrants to the uk. they were arrested on a beach in france as part of a proactive french investigation and just last night we had another criminal disrupted, stopped by french police, found in possession of an outboard motor and an inflatable that was boxed up and has been arrested and will duly be prosecuted. so there's a lot of work going on in terms of combating this. as far as the home office work and policy side, that is not for me to comment on. thank you so much for being with us. chris hogben, who heads a team

tackling organised immigration crime, with the national crime agency. many thanks for your time. thank you. "the favourite" is one of the leading contenders at the forthcoming awards season. the film is set in the early 18th century, when a frail queen anne, played by olivia colman, occupies the throne. here's our entertainment correspondent lizo mzimba. dearest queen, how goes the kingdom? this oscar—tipped comedy—drama follows the behind—the—scenes manoeuvring as everyone tries to win favour with an eccentric queen. look at me! how dare you?! close your eyes! playing two of the scheming characters, a pair of britain's brightest young stars — joe alwyn and nicholas hoult. harley's a politician who's playing the chess game of the court, essentially, and trying to get to the queen's ear, because then he knows he can gain what he wants in that world. so, yeah, he's very manipulative. i'm not the brightest character. i think i'm a bit of an airhead,

and i run around lustfully after abigail, who emma plays. there's this kind of cat—and—mouse power play between the two of them in the scenes that they're together, and she uses him. he has some status, and she uses him for that. although set in the 18th century, the story explores power and relationships in a way that still has a relevance today. go back to your rooms. thank you. making these things isn't... when you're kind of inside the bubble of it, it isn't something you're necessarily aware of. but when it comes out, especially in the current climate, there are comparisons — both in terms of politics, or even gender politics. he's referring to the fact that, unusually for hollywood, the three most powerful characters are all women — a refreshing and significant change to the kind of films the cast are used to being offered. sometimes, you read scripts, and i've noticed it before, where you read it and you go, that's not a well—developed female character, or it's trying to be put into an archetype that doesn't exist.

so, yes, it's important for it to reflect what's happening in society, definitely. may i exhort the chamber to roar a mighty hurrah for her majesty in her brilliant decision not to raise the land tax? hurrah! the film is overflowing with british talent, something often seen as a quality mark to us audiences. it's the accent! he laughs. i think we're hard—working, i think that's something about it, and also, we love what we do. i think sometimes — nearly all the brits that i know are in it for the right reasons. you know, so that's a big thing for it. but, yeah, also the accent. it has already been recognised at award ceremonies here and in the us, and if the favourite ends up living up to its name at next year's academy awards, few will be surprised. now it's time for a look at the weather with helen willets. there was a gray and

misty start to the day. we did have some fog but that's lifting now. there's hope that we'll see some brightness or some sunshine for what remains of our sunday. particularly in eastern areas. but for most of the rest of today and indeed tomorrow 2018 it looks mostly cloudy. it's relatively mild though because our high pressure is centered to the south. so it's throwing westerly winds our way and hence the moisture the cloud it comes leaden in, when it comes from the west. drizzly rain will continue across the highlands of scotland through northern ireland, western fringes of england, wales. it's those areas sheltered from the westerly breeze across eastern areas where we've got the best chance of seeing that brightness. temperatures around ten or 11. well above where they should be for this time of year. it will stay actually mild through this evening and overnight because where we do have the holes in the cloud, the starry skies, temperatures may dip back to about three or four degrees. it's more likely we'll see them filling with mist some low cloud and some fog again as we head towards the morning

of new year's eve. these are our overnight lows. as you can see it's a relatively mild night, which means it will be another grey start. there could be some fog around in the morning. now the main fly in the ointment for new year's eve celebrations is this weather front, and how quickly it slips southwards. by day it looks set to be mostly for the highlands and the islands, with a brisk wind setting, in fact gales, severe gale, for the northern isles, later on but come midnight that could just sink a little bit further south across towards the central belt. but for most it's a dry and it's a bright situation, brighter i think than today, because we've got a bit more breeze to stir up that cloud. so for most of us, new year's eve as it strikes midnight into new year's day, looks mostly dry, rather cloudy, it's just as i say across scotland where that weather front is weakening all the time. but it's going be quite instrumental that weather front in that it changes the orientation of our high. high pressure moves out into the west of the uk allowing the wind to come down from the north, that's a much colder direction for us.

so we will see a change, quite a dramatic change, in the weather for the start of the new year. we'll see the return of more widespread sunshine and a really chilly northerly wind, we'll notice that change. this is new year's day quite quickly across scotland, northern east of england. still relatively mild in the south for tuesday, but come wednesday and thursday will notice across the uk. of course the cold and frosty mornings and nights do mean the payoff of sunshine by day. see you later. good afternoon. the home office says six more migrants have been detained this morning by border force officials after arriving on a beach in kent. the men who are originally from iran, arrived by boat at kingsdown on the south coast. more than 200 migrants have arrived there in the past two months, having crossed the english channel, and the home secretary sajid javid has cut short his holiday to address the problem. our political correspondent jessica parker has this report. a group of iranian nationals sit disorientated on a beach in kent. they arrived on an inflatable boat this morning.

they attract a crowd as border force officials try to arrange medical assessments and a transfer to immigration officials. the images come as the home secretary has cut short his christmas break abroad amid accusations that he's failed to get a grip on this crisis. sajid javid is facing questions from fellow tory mps over why only one of the border force's fleet of five cutters is currently operational in the dover strait. more boats to catch traffickers and apprehend them and bring them to justice. more boats to work hand in glove with the french authorities to ensure that these people are returned back to the northern french coast. the best deterrent is that people can't get across the channel and the best deterrent is to help people back to the french northern coast and they tell everyone else there's no point coming because they won't get across. sajid javid is due to speak to france's interior minister today and in a statement the home secretary said, "i continue to keep the number of border force cutters "in the channel under close review,

but there is no one easy answer "to this complex problem. "that is why i will continue to work closely with all partners to ensure "we do even more to intercept these boats before they reach the uk." an intensified effort to clear migrant camps in the autumn has, it's thought, led more people to try and leave france, with organised crime gangs facilitating many of these journeys. so a cross—border solution is clearly needed. what exactly that will be is less obvious. government ministers want to show they're in control. the home secretary's arrival back in the uk a signal that this issue will be tackled from the top. but with today's latest landing on the uk's shores, critics will be far from convinced. jessica parker, bbc news. alexandra mackenzie is in kingsdown and kent where the latest batch of migrants arrived. you are among the

group of people watching the iranians as they arrived on the coast. yes, that's right. in particular i spoke to one man who was walking his dog as he does here every morning. this morning he said there was definitely something unusual going on. he took a look out to sea and he saw one of the border force cutters, and he said it was unusually close to the shore. then he noticed the six men. he said they had come ashore. he said he got quite close and they looked absolutely exhausted. they we re looked absolutely exhausted. they were soaking wet and theirjourney had obviously been difficult and a long one. the home office has said that the six men are from iran and they were initially taken for a medical assessment and then they we re medical assessment and then they were taken to be questioned by immigration officials. so what has happened here today shows yet again that people are willing to risk

their lives and take this perilous journey. indeed. thank you. alexandra mackenzie. greater manchester police have begun a murder inquiry after a man died in hospital 2a hours after being attacked outside a house in wigan. he's been named as william livesley, who was 21. a 57—year—old man is in custody. the european commission president, jean—claude juncker, has called on britain to get its act together and stop expecting the eu to solve its brexit problems. mrjuncker said brussels isn't trying to stop the uk leaving, and the eu is ready to open talks on future relations if mps approve the deal it agreed with theresa may. the department for transport has been defending a decision to award a contract for nearly £14 million to a shipping company with no trading record as part of its preparations for a possible no—deal brexit. seaborne freight has been contracted to provide ferries

to carry goods vehicles across the channel. our business correspondent joe miller is in ramsgate, from where the company plans to operate its services. just talk us through the background to all of this. over the past couple of months, the department for transport has been quietly awarding contracts transport has been quietly awarding co ntra cts to transport has been quietly awarding contracts to shipping firms to provide additional freight capacity across the channel in the event of a new deal brexit to ease congestion at dover. two of the companies that we re at dover. two of the companies that were awarded our massive international firms and one were awarded our massive internationalfirms and one is were awarded our massive international firms and one is a small british start—up called seabourne freight. it was given £14 million to provide extra capacity from here in ramsgate, but as of a few weeks ago it only really existed on paper and it had never sailed a vessel, and councillors here say there is no way that this port, which hasn't run freight facilities

in five years, could be operational in time. the company insists it can do itand in time. the company insists it can do it and it will be ready to go in three months and the department for transport says it has done all the requisite checks to make sure this company can provide freight facilities and that people running the company have a strong track record in the industry, but all of this points to the fact that this has been quite a to get the contingency plans in place. thank you. joe miller, our business correspondent. polls have closed in a general election in bangladesh that has been marred by violence and accusations of vote rigging. at least 15 people have died in clashes between supporters of rival political parties. the prime minister, sheikh hasina, is seeking a third successive term. our report from yogita limaye contains some flash photography. an indoor basketball court was, for the day, turned into the women's section of a polling booth. people filed in, searched for their name on a list, and after they cast their vote, their fingers were marked with ink. bangladesh's prime minister, sheikh hasina, has already been in powerfor ten years. but she's confident she'll be back.

"i firmly believe that we'll win the election," she said. she is accused of cracking down on the opposition, which says it hasn't had a fair chance to contest. people have been killed. people are being arrested. candidates are being arrested. it is unprecedented. unprecedented, unheard—of, could not be dreamt of. these are workers from prime minister hasina's awami league, standing outside a polling booth, and this is something we've seen across the city of dhaka today. behind me all of the political posters you can see are from the same party. in contrast, the presence of the opposition on the streets is really hard to find, leading to serious questions about whether this election has been fair. that left people split on whether they wanted to participate. translation: the process was ok. i was a bit worried that my vote might have been stolen but i did get to vote.

translation: i thought that this election wouldn't be a fair election. all the parties did not get equal opportunities to campaign. that is why i did not cast my vote. in one part of bangladesh, the bbc saw ballot boxes which had been filled even before polling began. despite heavy security presence, there was violence in some parts of the country. the prime minister's party is credited with bringing development to bangladesh and clamping down on islamist militancy, but her critics say none of that can be at the cost of democracy. yogita limaye, bbc news, dhaka. tributes have been paid to the much—loved actress dame june whitfield, who's died at the age of 93. the actresses jennifer saunders and joanna lumley, who starred alongside damejune in the hit comedy drama absolutely fabulous, said she became a dearfriend. here's our arts correspondent david sillito. # wheels on fire

# rolling down the road...# june whitfield had been part of british comedy for more than a0 years when she was cast in absolutely fabulous. inside of me, inside of me there is a thin personjust screaming to get out. just the one, dear? laughter paying tribute, jennifer saunders said, "it's so tremendously sad to lose june. "she became a dearfriend. "she lived and worked with an extraordinary grace." joanna lumley said she was heartbroken to lose such a friend. julia sawalha thanked her for teaching her the craft of comedy. they were skills learned at rada and on the set of one of the biggest radio shows of the ‘50s, take it from here. ooh! her life after that reads like a who's who of the greatest names of comedy. oh, i see you wish to become a blood donor? i certainly do. tony hancock. benny hill.

frankie howerd. and a 20—year partnership with terry scott. i'm talking about food. what about eating out? what about the garage? oh, i'd much prefer a restaurant. when she became damejune whitfield, it was in honour of more than 1300 appearances on tv, radio and film. as the writer denis norden once said, it was a mystery how anyone could do a comedy show without june whitfield. damejune whitfield who has died at the age of 93. the next news on bbc one is at 5:35pm.