hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm carrie gracie. today at 2... four children die in a house fire in stafford — police describe it as heartbreaking. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. tragically, for young children have lost their lives in the fire, and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girlaged boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. the prime minister heads to belfast, promising a brexit deal that will command broad support and avoid a hard border with the republic of ireland. the actor liam neeson sparks a race i’ow after saying he wanted to kill a black man because someone close to him was raped. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport — with olly foster.

hi macro. hi it has been a bit of a mixed bag today. liverpool managerjuergen klopp could be in trouble. coming up, a spectacular crash on the slopes for you from the great lindsey vonn. she is ok, though. thanks, olly, and darren bett has all the weather, and darren, apparently it's national weather person day. 0h, oh, no! i was going to surprise you with that later in the programme! but before then, we have got cloud coming in there from the atlantic with some outbreaks of rain. towards the end of the week, it could turn particularly wet and windy. thank you! looking forward to talking to you more. also coming up, it's the year of the pig, and more than a billion people around the world have begun celebrating lunar new year.

hello, everyone. this is afternoon live. four children have died in a fire at a house in stafford. two adults and a fifth child are being treated in hospital, after the blaze in the highfields area of the town in the early hours of the morning. neighbours have described seeing a manjumping out of a window with a baby, as the flames took hold. police are investigating the cause of the fire, which they describe as ‘heartbreaking'. our corresponent sima kotecha reports. windows shattered. the inside of the house blackened by the fire that ripped through the upstairs. it happened close to 3am in the highfields area of stafford. eyewitnesses say it sounded like an explosion. four children were killed,

the neighbours left bewildered. we didn't know until now, did we? i didn't know until now. i thought they'd all got out. the flames were intense. it went that quick, into the roof. it was coming out of the roof in seconds, wasn't it? part of the roof has collapsed and the house has been covered up. now we know that two adults and a child are currently in hospital, receiving treatment. their injuries are not believed to be life—threatening. it is unclear what caused the blaze. more than 15 firefighters scrambled to the blaze to put it out. staffordshire police described the loss of young lives as absolutely heartbreaking. very tragic what's happened in our community here, in the highfields, and we are living in the same street, the end of the road. went to the children's

school across the road. just devastating. can't begin to imagine. emergency services are still at the scene. staffordshire fire and rescue service says it is examining the house as the investigation into the cause of the blaze begins. local politicians have offered their deepest sympathies and prayers to those affected. four young lives gone, and a community left shaken, and devastated. we can speak to our correspondent phil mackie, who is at the scene of the fire in stafford for us. what is happening there now? they are still making the house itself safe. you can possibly see the blue tarpaulin and the lifting gear they have got here behind me. that is where this tragic accident happened this morning and four people lost their lives. they are

carrying out investigations. they do not know yet what caused the fire, but they are trying to find that out asa but they are trying to find that out as a matter of urgency. we heard state m e nts as a matter of urgency. we heard statements earlier from the assista nt statements earlier from the assistant chief officer from west midlands ambulance service, who said it had been immensely difficult for all three services last night. he thanked not just the friends and family, but also his own staff. we heard from rob barber, the deputy chief fire officerfor heard from rob barber, the deputy chief fire officer for staffordshire fire and rescue service, who said it was a heartbreaking, tragic incident which has affected large parts of the community, and he gave us more details about the situation when they arrived here just before three in the morning. they say that the man and the woman managed to get out with a little baby through one of the windows. they are being treated in hospitalfor their the windows. they are being treated in hospital for their injuries, which are not life—threatening. but they said that firefighters with breathing apparatus went inside and tried to save the children who died there. we can name them now. they

we re there. we can name them now. they were riley, keegan, tilly, and ollie, whose mum managed to escape with a younger child as well. we also heard a statement from the police, chief inspector general ward. in the early hours of this morning, we attended a house in stafford along with the ambulance and fire services following reports of a serious fire. tragically, for young children have lost their lives in the fire, and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girlaged boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. a woman aged 24 and a man aged 28 escaped with a one—year—old boy. the man is being treated for burns and the woman for smoke inhalation. all three remain in hospital, but their injuries are not deemed life—threatening. i want to reassure you and all of our community that we are working closely with colleagues from staffordshire fire and rescue

service as investigative work into the cause of the fire begins. already, people have been bringing tributes, flowers and children's toys to leave at the end of the street, which remains cordoned off, as you can see. the main thing now is forfire as you can see. the main thing now is for fire investigators to get into the building, make sure it is safe, and try to work out what happened in the early hours of this morning. neighbours have talked of hearing a bang or explosion and then screams, hearing a bang or explosion and then screams, before this tragic incident unfolded in which the four children died. thank you very much. theresa may is to hold talks with the president of the european commission, jean claudejuncker in brussels on thursday, as part of her attempts to secure changes to her brexit deal. mrs may wants legally binding changes to the northern ireland backstop which is designed to prevent a hard border if no trade deal can be reached with the eu. the prime minister is in northern ireland this afternoon — where she'll tell business leaders in belfast that she can secure a brexit deal that commands "broad support" and avoids a hard border with ireland.

the democratic unionist party leader arlene foster says the backstop arrangement is "toxic" and has to be replaced. our ireland correspondent emma vardy reports. hundreds of lorries carrying goods cross this border every day. after brexit it will become the eu's new frontier. normally all external voyages of the eu involve some kind of checks. the challenge for theresa may continues to be trying to avoid that on this island. we would not like to see a hard border, i do not think it is good for the stability of northern ireland, but it's also going to make trade more complex. as a european citizen i do not know what the arrangements will be, in terms of immigration and a visa for me in the future. northern ireland and the tech sector here is punching above its weight, both locally and internationally. our companies are doing business all over the world and it is really important, therefore, we are a magnet for talent. not just locally but for talent around the world. while the prime minister is in northern ireland today she will try to reassure local businesses that the government is committed to avoiding any border checks, whatever

type of brexit scenario we end up with. but there is worry here because last week the government did a u—turn on our existing agreement with the eu, which means for many businesses there is still uncertainty about how future trading rules are going to work. the irish backstop, the fallback plan to keep an open border, was rejected by parliament. it was opposed by many brexiteers at westminster and northern ireland's democratic unionist party because it kept northern ireland bound to eu rules. the prime minister has to regard what parliament has given her a mandate for. and parliament's mandate is to replace the backstop. the current backstop, as i have said all along, is toxic to those living in northern ireland and, indeed, for unionists right across the united kingdom, because it would cause the break—up of the united kingdom into the medium and longer term. theresa may will try to convince the eu to look at other arrangements, even though publicly brussels has said the backstop

can't be changed. and it's facing a legal challenge from unionists who say it breaks the 20—year—old good friday agreement that brought about peace in northern ireland. this has now presented us with a very significant problem and we want to get, in the first place, a clear view of what is going on and what the government is up to in putting in place these provisions which are damaging to the agreement. today theresa may will tell people in northern ireland that she understands their concerns, but they will have to wait longer for firm answers. let's talk now to stephen kelly, chief executive of manufacturing northern ireland. thank you so much forjoining us. what do you want to hear this afternoon? you will be at the speech. the prime minister in november

concluded a negotiation with the eu that resulted in the firm protections and insurance that northern ireland businesses need to ensure there is no hardboard on the island of ireland, and to make sure that our economy on an all ireland basis can continue to flourish. since last tuesday, the government has moved away from that, and that has moved away from that, and that has left businesses here very u nsettled, has left businesses here very unsettled, worried, and probably confused about their intentions. as you are there, you never know, but you are there, you never know, but you may get to ask a question or make a point. what would you like to say to her? the first point i would like to ask areas, does she still believe in the commitments she gave to northern ireland throughout this process , to northern ireland throughout this process, as confirmed in the december 2017 process, as confirmed in the december 2oi7joint process, as confirmed in the december 2017 joint report, as confirmed in the letter to donald tusk the following march, and indeed confirmed in a legal document in novemberjust confirmed in a legal document in november just passed, that confirmed in a legal document in novemberjust passed, that northern ireland's interest will be protected throughout these negotiations. clearly, there are differing views on where northern ireland's interests lie. we have heard arlene foster for the

interests lie. we have heard arlene fosterfor the dup interests lie. we have heard arlene foster for the dup today talking about a hard border with the republic of ireland or with the rest of the uk. we don't accept that. the reality for our businesses is, they are reality for our businesses is, they a re interested reality for our businesses is, they are interested in the practicalities are interested in the practicalities are not the politics. so while westminster makes its mind up about what type of brexit at once, our firms need to know how they will continue to trade after march the 29th. the prime minister are still talking confidently as if she can get something which gets round the eu, which wins broad support and gets itself a majority in parliament. at this point, with less than two months to go till brexit, oui’ than two months to go till brexit, our us confidence she is? we remain confident. we said to the prime minister when we met her at downing street that you will find that northern ireland business, farming and civic society behind her, in wanting the best deal that works for

northern ireland and the rest of the uk. providing she can conclude some sort of negotiation now that gives us sort of negotiation now that gives us the same sort of protections, that open, frictionless, free and invisible border on the island of ireland, she will find she has our support. if not that, what then? if the clock runs down to the 29th of march and that is not apparent, are you concerned about what will happen after? absolutely. brexit, badly handled, creates an existential crisis, not just for handled, creates an existential crisis, notjust for manufacturing, but for many parts of the northern ireland economy. we have flourished under peace in the last 20 years. we have built businesses and markets at home and across the world. crashing out on the 29th of march is not a prospect that we look forward to at all. the real issue here as there are all. the real issue here as there a re 643 all. the real issue here as there are 643 mps who take their seats in westminster. each one of those's vote is the same as anyone else, and we hope that when the department

understands what no deal means for them, our constituency in the uk as a whole, they will move towards an agreement that can achieve the whole support of parliament but also make sure the economy in northern ireland and the rest of the uk can continue to flourish. thank you very much forjoining us. we will let you get into place for that speech. our chief political correspondent vicki young joins us from westminster. vicki, she is about to launch that speech in belfast, but she does seem today to be between a rock and a ha rd today to be between a rock and a hard place in terms of what the eu and arlene foster are saying? yes, she will offer reassurance today, saying the uk has no intention of going back on that promise to make sure there is no hardboard on the island of ireland, but how she achieves that is the problem she now faces. cabinet met today, theresa may saying she is determined that the uk will still leave on the 29th of march, in not many weeks, but before that, she has to make sure she gets these changes to the

withdrawal agreement. we know she is going to brussels on thursday, and she will meetjohn claude junk out there. i think the big question is, what will she suggest? will she finally say, we need to reopen and renegotiate that agreement at cabinet double dell? we know there are working groups carrying on with urgent work at downing street. one is about alternative arrangements of the backstop. another is about keeping the backstop and putting some kind of time—limit or other unilateral way the uk can get out of it. the problem is, she confident she knows what can get through parliament? it is not entirely clear. we know from mps on the brexit select committee who went yesterday to meet a senior civil servant he was trying to suss them out. what would get through the house of commons? one person in the

room said, there were 14 people in the room, and 15 different answers, because some think there should be a norway type arrangement, a closer arrangement with the eu, and others talk of a second referendum. others talk of a second referendum. others talk about the backstop coming out of the withdrawal deal completely. no one really agrees. i'm not sure the eu is any clearer and what we can get through parliament. the big question is, is theresa may?‘ can get through parliament. the big question is, is theresa may? a point ina question is, is theresa may? a point in a nutshell. thank you very much, vicki. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. four children have died during the night in a house fire in stafford. a fifth child and two adults are recovering in hospital. the prime minister heads to belfast to try to reassure people there she can reach a brexit deal that avoids a hard border with the republic of ireland. actor liam neeson comes under fire after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person, after a close friend was raped by a black man.

and in sport, england's impressive win against ireland in dublin has come at a price. their player will miss the next two matches with a knee injury. the fa are looking atjuergen klopp's post match comments following liverpool's draw at west ham. he suggested the referee favoured the hammers to compensate foran favoured the hammers to compensate for an earlier error he made at the game. and the american skiing great lindasy v crashed in sweden today. sunday's downhill race will be her last before retiring from the sport. —— lindsay vonn. more in 15 minutes. police searching for a missing reading university student have found a body in a lake on the campus. daniel williams, who's 19 and from sutton in south london, was last seen leaving a student bar in the early hours of thursday. police say his family has been informed. ten people — including a baby — have died in a fire at an apartment block in paris. nearly 30 people, including six

firefighters, were injured, one of them seriously. a woman is being held by police on suspicion of starting the fire deliberately. the paris prosecutor said she has a history of psychological problems. richard galpin reports. this deadly fire broke out after midnight local time. the flames spreading from the lower floors to the top of the apartment block. high up amid the flames, firefighters battled to reach those stuck inside their apartments and people who had fled to the roof. they had no choice but to climb the outside of the building, as the fire engines couldn't get into the immediate area. while the fire brigade managed to get many people out, there have been a lot of casualties and others are deeply traumatised. translation: the alarm went off at 12:30 and it was

already black with smoke. i live on the eighth floor, the top floor, so i tried to pass from balcony to balcony in order to get away. and then we huddled up in a corner and other people climbed up to where i was to escape the flames. the operation to put the fire out continued throughout the night, with more than 200 firefighters called in to get it under control. and it wasn't long before the authorities announced that the blaze may not have been an accident. translation: from the information we have, the fire is being investigated as a criminal act. one person who lives in the building has been arrested. she was arrested during the night, not far from the scene. she is currently in custody. according to an eyewitness who spoke to the bbc,

the woman has psychiatric problems and had got involved in a row last night, allegedly threatening to start a fire. what has happened here will come as a shock to those living in this upmarket part of paris, which has not only left a growing number of people dead, but also dozens injured, including some of the firefighters. the actor liam neeson has sparked controversy after saying he once wanted to kill a black person. neeson said in a newspaper interview that after someone close to him was raped by a black assailant, he then walked the streets with a cosh, hoping to find any black man willing to pick a fight with him, who he could kill. the actor said he was now ashamed of his feelings, which he described as "horrible", and denied he is a racist. our correspondent colin patterson reports. what makes you think you can kill a man? i read it in a crime novel.

liam neeson was being interviewed for the independent in new york about his new film, cold pursuit, when he he was asked why his character responded to the murder of his son by going on a revenge killing spree rather than simply grieving. his answer has made front—page news round the world. i'll tell you a story. this is true. he explained in real life, someone close to him was raped. i asked did she know who it was? he described those feelings as awful and horrid and explained that he learned that revenge killing never works, particularly in the case of northern ireland, where he was brought up during the troubles. clemence michallon was thejournalist who interviewed him. anyone hearing the thoughts that he is reporting here, would feel shocked, and appalled, in many ways. what are you doing? myjob. many are furious. i don't think i will be ever be able to support his work in the future. the words he used, they are so, so timely when we look at the violence inflicted on

black men just across the globe, but i couldn't possibly in good conscience continue to support him. this morning, liam neeson was booked on good morning america. would you have had the same reaction if it was someone have had the same reaction if it was someone else? if it was irish, scots, a brit or a i would have reacted the same. i was trying to... show honour, stand up for my dear friend, and this terrible, medieval fashion. i'm a fairly intelligent guy and that's why it kind of shocked me when i came down to earth after having these horrible feelings. luckily, no violence occurred, ever. thanks be to god. do you think you actually would have done it? yes. a black man who had nothing to

do... yes, that was my feeling, that i did wa nt yes, that was my feeling, that i did want to lash out. citizen of the year. this weekend it will be possible to gauge how much damage liam neeson has done to his career. cold pursuit opens in cinemas in the us on friday. it has had good reviews. if audiences stay away studios will start to take notice, because in hollywood it is money that talks and liam neeson might wish he hadn't. the united states is set for a night of significant political drama. donald trump will deliver his state of the union address in a joint—session of congress at around 2am uk time — and it will be one of the most watched political events of the year in the us. the speech has already been pushed back because of the partial government shutdown, caused by a disagreement between the democrats and president trump over funding for his proposed border wall. let's talk to our correspondent jane o'brien, who is on capitol hill in washington. jane, what do we expect him to say?

i think immigration is going to be the big talking point. just a few minutes ago, donald trump again tweeted about illegal immigrants he claims are coming up through the southern border with mexico, saying that if necessary, he will build a human wall, and if there was a real wall, this would be a nonevent. as you say, it is all about the wall. this is what prompted the shutdown, the longest in us history, and the most extraordinary thing about the state of the union today is that we could be facing a shutdown in another ten days if a bipartisan committee fails to reach an agreement over wall funding. the democrats now control the house, so we are in an era of divided government, and that is the backdrop of tonight's big speech. so it is an extraordinary moment for president trump to be making a speech about how he sees the country going, what literally is the what state of the

union. and behind him will be his adversary nancy pelosi ? yes, consider the optics of that. it is quite extraordinary. this is a woman, 110w is quite extraordinary. this is a woman, now the most powerful woman in the country, who has squared up against the most powerful man in the country. the two have clashed over border wall funding. she essentially w011 border wall funding. she essentially won that battle and she will be right there standing behind him. he will be in her house, and she has been given the reins of power in order to be a check on some of his wilder impulses. so the two are bound to clash again. at the same time, he will use this speech to call for a new era of bipartisanship, reaching across the political divide. it is very, very difficult to see right now how that can be achieved. and one of the

other issues the markets are looking for is anything he might have to say on the trade war with china? and this is another extraordinary thing about the state of the union. the us economy is doing really well. unemployment is at a record low. the fed has said it will not be raising interest rates. but again, in global terms, there is a lot of uncertainty because of this trade war with china. he may address that, he may not come. not we china. he may address that, he may not we just china. he may address that, he may not wejust do china. he may address that, he may not we just do not know at the moment. but this is something that provides this kind of schizophrenic view as to how america is in the rest of the world and how it is in itself just now. all of rest of the world and how it is in itselfjust now. all of this will be addressed tonight. edge of the seat viewing. thank you, jane. time for a look at the weather. darren is definitely my choice for national weather person... of the what? the day, the afternoon? that will do! have you spotted the

deliberate mistake? what? weather person should be one word!|j deliberate mistake? what? weather person should be one word! i think it should, shouldn't it?|j person should be one word! i think it should, shouldn't it? i am pleased you are in today. you and i have known each other for many yea rs. have known each other for many years. what are you going to do? i hope this is not the prowl you to something horrible. hope this is not the prowl you to something horriblelj hope this is not the prowl you to something horrible. i have got a game for you. you should be good at this. it is a picture quiz.|j game for you. you should be good at this. it is a picture quiz. i hate quizzes! you can play along at home. i will show you a picture of a current national weather person, presenter. you have to guess... you are going to lose me friends!|j you are going to lose me friends!” will help you along if you need some help. here is the first one. it will not be easy, because these pictures are quite old, all right? age five? no... that is a good idea! i didn't think of that one. who is that, then? not only have they not contemporary pictures, but they are not the whole

person! you offered me a person, not a piece of a person. i will reveal all if you guess. who is that? a current... come on, come on. in the office at the moment. it is not louise, it is not carroll, it is not nina. susan? no? susan powell! we got there in the end. sorry, susan, i know it was like my fifth guess. they were very white in those days! that is ridiculous. this one is easy, come on. tomasz? it is! we we re easy, come on. tomasz? it is! we were going to show you that bit. that would have been even harder. who is this one? i will give you a clue. i need to phone a friend. female...

is it carol? no. she has been here as long as i have been. well, carol has been here as long as you have been! not quite. you would not know it if you were to see her today.” need some help. give me a clue. helen willetts? helen willetts! she has not changed a bit, has she? no, she has not. that should have been easy. last one. ready? this one should be a doddle. everybody‘s favourite. this one should be a doddle. everybody's favourite. is it matt? you are getting a lot of help from the director. i am hearing what you are hearing! the director says it is matt taylor. it is! so, with a bit of help, you got everyone right. do i get of help, you got everyone right. do igeta of help, you got everyone right. do i get a prize? later in the programme, we will have four more, with no help! take your earpiece

out! i will start swatting now. have we got any weather? we do. wedding it has been a chilly day for most wedding it has been a chilly day for m ost a cross wedding it has been a chilly day for most across northern and eastern parts. grey and misty after the first to start this morning. but milder air slowly coming in. all this cloud is widening, it has already brought some rain in northern ireland. an area of low pressure driving everything, pushing these fronts are away, thickening the cloud, the breeze is picking up and some outbreaks of rain. earlier today there was some sunshine, the best of it across eastern scotland. but we are losing a lot of that already. south—eastern parts of england probably dry but cloudy. there is the rain, quite heavy as it moves over the irish sea towards scotland and north—west england and north wales. more in northern ireland. quite chilly still across eastern scotla nd quite chilly still across eastern scotland and north—east england. some rain here this evening, all of

us some rain here this evening, all of us will see some rain for a while, it does tend to move through, skies clearing. but we have a bit more of a priest tonight so it shouldn't be quite as cold although the numbers in rural parts will not be far away from freezing. milder towards the southern parts of england and east anglia where there is more cloud overnight. duff will still be around tomorrow, threatening to bring some more rain back. we have more showers coming to northern ireland, especially to wester in scotland but in between some sunshine is likely. a breezy day and a mild day, temperatures eight celsius through the central belt, 11 in south—east england. thing is getting a bit messy during the evening and overnight because we've got that rain from the front combining with the rain on that weather front there. some wet weather during tomorrow night. at least it should be fairly mild on thursday morning but we have some rain, and over the hills of scotland perhaps some snow. it moves away than the sunshine

comes in, she was arriving across western parts of the uk. some heavy and thundery ones possible for the west of scotland. it will not feel quite as mild perhaps but those numbers are about average for the time of year. towards the end of the week, things getting interesting because we have this chap here, an area of low pressure moving our way, deepening and strengthening so the winds are strengthening as well. heading towards the end of the week overnight into saturday, we will find it is still mild but much more windy. the strongest wind probably across england and wales. for all of the uk at the end of the week, there will be some rain at times. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. an investigation is under way after four young children die in a house fire in stafford. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. tragically, four young children have

lost their lives in the fire and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girlaged boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. the prime minister heads to belfast, promising a brexit deal that will command broad support and avoid a hard border with the republic of ireland. liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person, after someone close to him was raped by a black man. ten people have died — including a baby — in a fire in a paris apartment block. a woman has been arrested. and the hmv chain is saved from administration, with 1,500 people keeping theirjobs — but 27 stores will close. sport now on afternoon live with olly foster. now, it was a memorable opening to the six nations for england, with that big win over ireland in dublin, but it's come at a cost on the injury front?

it is sometimes like the survival of the fittest, across six or seven weeks, going all the way through to mid march. a fantastic win for england going across to dublin and beating the irish. they were hit particularly ha rd by beating the irish. they were hit particularly hard by injuries, the irish, cj stander was really influential but he is out for the next couple of matches. so also the england lock marrow itoj, he has been ruled out the games with a knee problem. a medial ligament injury during that win in dublin on saturday. expected to be out for two to four weeks. that will rule him out from matches against france and wales. could be back for the final couple of matches of the championship. a fellow saracen has been called into the squad as cover. but it is likely that courtney lawes is going to be the man who is most likely to benefit and take itoje's

place. these matches are so physical. you usually pick up these injuries towards the end, england will be very unhappy they have lost that talus man in the pack. and turning to skiing. lindsey vonn, her last world championship. she didn't get on particularly well. we had a statement from her last week, really heart—rending, talking about an internal battle she has had between her head and her body, and her head finally won. she has had so many terrible injuries through her career usually affecting her knees. but she is american, she is fantastic, she has won a record 82 world cup events, competing in the super g in the first day of the alpine skiing world championships in sweden today. this is what happened. she is used to these crashes, has had so many of them. she got close to winning the olympics, well, she did win it back

in 2010. just clips gate, hits a bump and goes flying into the safety barrier. she was ok, the race was halted for a while. the medics checked her out. that is her team—mate, who actually won the gold. she looked ok she made it to the bottom all by herself. she is due to go on the downhill at the end of the championships on sunday. we will see if she is fit to race. she will see if she is fit to race. she will give a news conference in the next couple of hours. she described last week, her body as being broken beyond repair. let us hope she didn't pick up too many bumps and bruises today and can rise again in the downhill on sunday. a couple of other headlines for you. liverpool's lead over manchester city in the premier league is now three points after they drew 1—1 at west ham and managerjurgen klopp could be in trouble with the fa. his post—match interviews seemed to question the referee kevin friend's integrity, klopp accepted that their opening

goal should have been disallowed for offside but says the referee would have realised his mistake and perhaps favoured west ham in his decision making to compensate for the rest of the match. our goal was offside. i'm sure the referee knew that and in the second half, as well. i don't know if we had a 50—50 situation. it was always a free kick for the other team. it made life not easy but in the end, it was not a game we would win high, obviously, so it was brilliant. but we didn't. so it's a fair point. in women's football, the road to france series has been announced ahead of the world cup. phil

neville's side will take on canada, spain, denmark and new zealand. junior tickets for each game will be just £1, a fantastic opportunity to see the lionesses. they will also head to america this month for a game —— my four games against the usa, brazil and japan. this is their schedule around the country. the world cup opener is against scotla nd the world cup opener is against scotland on the 9th ofjune. very busy! that's all the sport for now. holly will be back with you in the next hour. mps are debating today how much councils in england will have to spend in the next financial year, after local authorities complained of a £3 billion funding gap. ministers say councils have been given an extra £1.3 billion, but town halls argue that funding for local services is running out fast. jessica parker reports. buses, children's centres,

libraries, lollipop men and women — some of the services that local councils have cut across england as their funding has fallen. dorking's children's centre is staying open, but 31 in surrey are due to close from april, saving the county council millions of pounds. services are being concentrated in less well—off areas, but some fear the strain it could put on the facilities that remain. at the moment we serve 1,500 families in this area. in the future we're potentially going to be looking after 4,500 families on a 50% cut. that would mean 50% less staff, 50% less resources to meet the needs of all those families in a much bigger geographical area. although we will have this centre here, still, much of the universal services will go. ijust see that, in the future, all these children will come into school, at reception, but may have needed to early help that wasn't picked up. this year's national

funding settlement paints a familiar picture. that lump—sum from central government to councils has gone down by around £1 billion. there's been a really big cut in local government funding over the last eight or nine years, at least 20% reduction over that period. the councils which were more dependent on central government, in other words, generally, poorer councils, have had bigger cuts. those that have got big council tax bases, the richer councils, haven't done quite so badly. so, overall, big cuts. bigger cuts for the poorer councils. but ministers say that, this year, there will be a boost to spending power overall. there's some one—off cash for social care, higher council tax takings and as part of a drive to make authorities more self—sufficient, a push to see areas keep more of the money they raise through business rates. we said at the conservative conference last year that austerity is now coming to an end because of some of those

really tough calls that councils have had to make. i think we should look more positively towards the new spending review. and all eyes are on this year's spending review. there's a suggestion ministers may look at a longer term plan, a so—called multi—year settlement, to try and put council finances on a more stable footing. but the local government assocation says certainty is needed now, claiming councils have been pushed to the brink. jessica parker, bbc news. a 41—year—old mother has been denied the right to work and access health care after she was wrongly turned away from the windrush scheme for not being from a commonwealth country. the home office's guidelines say people of any nationality who settled in the uk before december 1988 can apply to the taskforce for help. rianna croxford reports. they can get a picture of mejumping over garden fences and that. this is willow sims and her two children. she's lived in the uk for more than 35 years and has been working as a teaching assistant.

but during a routine background check last april, her employer said she didn't have enough evidence of her right to live in the uk. the life i know started in the uk. all of my memories are from the uk. and with the bills piling up, she called the windrush helpline. they told me that i wasn't eligible for any help under the windrush scheme, because i didn't qualify. in december, miss sims wrote to the home secretary, sajid javid, pleading for help. her family are using food banks and she's been facing eviction and deportation. i can't eat, i can't sleep. everything i have now is gone. we are going to lose our house. and i can't do that anymore. i cannot do this any more. after the bbc approached the home office, they confirmed miss sims is eligible for help and are supporting her application. willow sims told the bbc she was gobsmacked to learn that,

as a us citizen, she qualified for help under the windrush scheme. people of any nationality who arrived in the uk before 1988 can apply to the home office for help. but, so far, it's mainly been people from the caribbean who've been coming forward. and the senior lawyer who is setting up a compensation scheme for those affected by the windrush scandal says the home office needs to do more. clarification's the word. anybody who feels that because of changes in policy they have had life difficulties around employment, housing, accessing services, needs to think of themselves as potentially qualifying for compensation, and that's the message that the home office need to send, loud and clear. it's still not known why willow was turned away and how many others may have been given the same wrong advice. rianna croxford, bbc news. more than 600 people are said to be giving up work in britain every day to take on the role of caring for a sick or elderly relative. the charity, carers uk,

says their research also suggests a furtherfive million are struggling with a carers role while still doing theirjob. they re calling for employers to offer more flexibility to those affected. ben ando has more. looking after an elderly or sick relative is tough when you're also working, and in the last two years, thousands of people have quit theirjobs to become carers. that, says campaigning group carers uk, is a problem for them and for the economy. the figures are striking. every day, more than 600 people stop working to become carers. a further 5 million carers are also holding down a job. overall, since 2011, the number of people caring for someone else has gone up by 5.5 million. carers uk says employers, in turn, now need to become more caring, by allowing carers flexibility over working hours and leave, especially as up to a quarter will sufferfrom depression or stress and need

treatment themselves. the government agrees. exactly what this means isn't yet clear. one suggestion is that companies could provide up to ten days a year of paid leave for workers trying to balance the needs of those who pay them with the needs of those they love. ben ando, bbc news. inafew in a few months we will go to belfast because the prime minister is going to be speaking at that podium in belfast on her hopes for the withdrawal agreement which can square all circles and please all constituencies. we will hear more from that in belfast at three

o'clock. but for now, we will hear about what's hot and what's not in the business news. but first, let's have a look at the headlines. four children have died during a house fire in stafford. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. the prime minister heads to belfast trying to reassure people there she can reach a brexit deal which avoids a hard border with the republic of ireland. acta liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because a close friend was raped by a black man. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. canadian firm sunrise records has bought 100 stores from the collapsed music chain hmv — beating a rival bid from sports direct owner mike ashley. the move secures nearly 1,500 jobs, but 27 stores will still close, with 455 redundancies.

activity in the uk's dominant service sector stalled last month, with new orders dropping for the first time in two and half years. the figures, which include restaurants, shops and banks, are from the closely watched ihs market purchasing managers index. it follows similarly slow figures from the manufacturing and construction sectors, which could be a sign of a cooling economy. losses at supermarket delivery chain ocado rose to £44.4 million last year, compared with a loss of £9.8 million in the previous 12 months. sales were up 12%. but there was no news on the reported tie—up between ocado and m&s — for the delivery firm to offer online shopping and delivery of m&s food items. sad news for hmv today — maryam is here. 455 redundancies will be confirmed

at hmv. in one sense, it is bad news, but there have been —— but there has been a black cloud hanging over hmv after it collapse in december. so now we have heard the canadian firm sunrise records will buy 100 stores out of administration. that is securing 1500 jobs so good news for them. but hmv will be shutting a number of stores including some of its biggest flagship stores, including the one on oxford street which has been open since 1921. also a big one in manchester at the trafford centre, one in glasgow, so many of these stores are the bigger ones that will be closing up and down the country. earlier i spoke to a retail analyst. this is a company with expertise in the sector so it makes sense for

them to have stepped in. but it is probably only six years ago that we we re probably only six years ago that we were reporting for the first time that hmv fell into administration when they had over 220 stores and at that time 100 were closed. obviously they have struggled, their product has moved from physical to digital and there is a lot less demand for the kind of products they sell. there has been an uprising in the use of vintage, vinyl and the kit that goes with it, but maybe it is not enough to sustain all of those stores. so it would concern me that at the moment, 27 closures are announced but there may need to be more to create a sustainable and profitable but downsized version of the brand. tell us news of the pa rent the brand. tell us news of the parent company of google. alphabet, it has reported a 22% rise in its fourth—quarter sales over the last three months of last year. a 22% rise is great news and investors would love some of that. but the

share price fell in after hours trading mainly because of the news google has been on a bit of a spending spree and one thing investors do not like to see is money haemorrhaging in that way. also google are under increased public pressure with calls in the us for stronger protections for user data and to protect people in terms of monitoring fake news. so pressure on google and it will be interesting to see what their share price does. let's ta ke to see what their share price does. let's take a quick look at the markets. the london market has had a pretty good day. the service sector figures we had a few hours ago have put pressure on the pound. it has weakened against the dollar. so then the ftse100 tends weakened against the dollar. so then the ftse 100 tends to rise. western europe also following suit. the markets are waiting to hear what the president has to say? absolutely. today marks the start of the lunar new year —

and according to the chinese zodiac calendar, 2019 is officially the year of the pig. let's take a look at the history behind the celebration. so, a long time ago there was a monster called nian. every year he would come to the village, eat the livestock, destroy all the crops. he wouldn't be seen until the next year of chinese new year. there was an old man one year, he scared the monster away. the monster was scared of three things, the colour red, fire and loud noises. my favourite thing about chinese new year is we get red notes with money inside it, and it's called "lai see". i would like £1 million. i really don't care. i want to spend my money on candy! laughter different foods in chinese new year mean different things.

for example, a tangerine means good luck. these pastries represent gold and fortune, because they're both grown in the ground. this is a watermelon seed, it represents long life. my favourite thing about chinese new year is playing games with my friends. happy chinese new year! they were having a lot of fun! let's talk to howard zhang from the bbc‘s chinese service. have you been having fun, have you made any dumplings? this year we actually made fish. making dumplings is very labour intensive. but we did lots of fish and other vegetables stu b lots of fish and other vegetables stub out tell us about the year of the pig, what is a pig year supposed to look like? in theory, the moment you mention the pig, lucky,

auspicious, the year of plenty, that is normally at. i did check in the history books, apparently the year of the pig over the past 100 or so yea rs, of the pig over the past 100 or so years, had of the pig over the past 100 or so yea rs, had lots of the pig over the past 100 or so years, had lots of bad pig years as well. so it is not always observed in practice? obviously, i used to spend a lot of years in china and celebrate chinese new year and one of the things that is really memorable about chinese new year in china is enormous numbers of people on public transport, 3 billion passenger journeys this year. on public transport, 3 billion passengerjourneys this year. so far, yes. ithink passengerjourneys this year. so far, yes. i think this isjust the second day. the railway ministry plus my figures, 2.99 billion, just pushing 3 billion. so another two weeks to go in terms of the festivities, we will see a few more billion added onto it! what about the politics? sometimes are interesting messages coming through

in the new year's show on tv in china. i haven't had time to look today. anything interesting? this year overall, the message from xi jinping is quite low—key. it is more the chinese social media, they are more discussing the fairly flamboyant, almost high—profile m essa 9 es flamboyant, almost high—profile messages coming from taiwan. the president and the prime minister calling for the country not understanding about democracy.” noticed that theresa may did the chinese new year message, all kinds of celebrities do it now. but the interesting thing, the japanese pie minister also did a video message for chinese new year. —— japanese prime minister. that is interesting. it is, and ever since last year,

when this whole china— us trade war started to go off, you started to see all the neighbouring countries, from korea to japan to even taiwan, all the neighbouring areas, they are trying to play almost a hedge game. trying to position themselves. the minister of singapore site, please do not make us choose sides. —— the prime minister. that is the reality faced by all the countries around china. they do not want to be the us allies but they do not want to be the front line fighting china. that's all we have time for. but happy new year, howard, to you. go and eat some fish or some dumplings or some noodles but don't throw it around like those kids were doing! take care. let's take another quick glance at what's going on in belfast. as you can see, it is

filling up ahead of theresa may's speech on her bricks proposals. we we re speech on her bricks proposals. we were speaking earlier to stephen kelly of the manufacturers organisation in northern ireland. —— her brexit proposals. he was begging for something that would keep that border soft between the republic of ireland and northern ireland. we will see what she has to say, that speech is due at three o'clock. now we will have a look at the weather. the wind picking up, outbreaks of rain picking up and temperatures are slowly rising to stop even towards the end of the afternoon, still quite chilly across eastern scotland, north—east england, much milder further south scotland, north—east england, much milderfurther south and scotland, north—east england, much milder further south and west. largely dry in the south east of england. we will get a bit of rain, all areas seeing some rain in the evening and overnight. turning —— tending to clear away towards the end of the night. enough of a breeze to prevent it from getting too cold. temperatures not far away from

freezing in rural scotland and northern ireland. milder towards the south east where we still have a lot of cloud and the threat of rain on wednesday. elsewhere some sunshine, we will probably see increasing showers coming in blustery winds towards northern ireland and west are in scotland. temperatures still pretty good for the time of year on wednesday, looking at around eight or nine celsius. still in the mile they are towards the south and south—east even though there is more cloud and some rain. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm carrie gracie. today at 3... the prime minister is in northern ireland — promising a brexit deal that will command broad support and avoid a hard border with the republic. this is the scene in belfast, where she will speak on the next few minutes. four children have died in a house fire in stafford. photos of the young victims have

been published on social media. tragically, for young children have lost their lives in the fire, and i can confirm the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. actor liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. coming up on afternoon live, all the sport with olly foster. joe is a marine year has been sentenced to a one—year sentence for tax fraud. he won't spend any more dour time behind bars, though. all that and more coming up. ——joe is a darren bett has all the weather. hello. we have some cloud coming in from the atlantic at the moment, which should tend to clear away later on tonight. showers following towards the north tomorrow. perhaps

more rain in the south—east of england. by the end of the week, it turns wet and windy. all the details later on. also coming up — it's the year of the pig. more than a billion people around the world have begun celebrating lunar new year. joe is a hello. we will go straight over to belfast, where the prime minister is beginning his speech. —— ensuring that the unique needs of this part of the uk are met has become my chief plan. any farm that weaves its way through lanes and villages, and is recrossed by

thousands of people every day would pose a logistical challenge in the context of brexit. when you add to those geographical factors northern ireland's complex history, the different traditions and identities that make up its community, and the long path to peace that the people of northern ireland have worked over the last 30 years, the challenges even greater. in the last two and a half years, even greater. in the last two and a half yea rs, we even greater. in the last two and a half years, we have come a long way towards a solution that works for northern ireland and ireland. have worked mutual —— we have agreed mutual protection for citizens‘ rights, the maintenance of our common travel area, and set a framework for our future relationship that ensures tariff and quota free trade and protects our close cooperation on security law enforcement. but the uk parliament rejected the withdrawal agreement because of their concerns about the backstop. the legal protocol to prevent no ha rdboa rd backstop. the legal protocol to prevent no hardboard in the event of our future relationship not

prevent no hardboard in the event of ourfuture relationship not being in place at the end of the implementation period. i know that many people in northern ireland and indeed come across this island, are worried about what parliament‘s withdrawal of the withdrawal deal means for them. i am here to reaffirm my commitment and that of the uk governments of all of the people of northern ireland, of every background and tradition. to affirm my commitment to the belfast good friday agreement, to its successors, the st andrews agreement on the stormont house agreement, and the principles which they enshrine, which is absolute. and i affirm my commitment to delivering a brexit which ensures no return to a hard border between northern ireland and ireland, which is unshakeable. i was 12 when the troubles began in 41 when the belfast agreement was reached. for all my adult life, northern ireland has been a central political issue. the progress of the

last few decades, from troubles to cease fire, from ceasefire to political agreement, and from agreement to active participation by unionists and nationalists, in institutions that enjoy cross community support, has been a massive achievement and a landmark in the history of these islands. from the moment i became prime minister of the uk, i knew that one of my most profound responsibilities was to serve the interests of the people of northern ireland by doing all i could to protect and sustain that progress. successive uk and irish governments have played their parts, often working together in close cooperation. but it has been the political parties in northern ireland, the uup and the sdlp, the dup, sinn fein and the alliance. it has been civil society groups like cat microwave and healing to remembering. and above all, it has been the people of northern ireland who have achieved the most. violence has not been eliminated, but it has

been reduced to levels which would once have seemed impossible. divisions are entrained in many communities, but many, especially those from younger generations, are more interested in putting aside those divisions to build a shared future. thanks to greater political stability, northern ireland is now a leading destination for inward investment, with international businesses investing in its economic success. employment is at a near record high and unemployment at a near—record low. that transformation is reflected in the image that northern ireland projects to the rest of the world today. it is no longer one of violence, but of dynamism and success. the decisive moment in that transformation was the belfast agreement in 1998. its success the belfast agreement in 1998. its su ccess was the belfast agreement in 1998. its success was in allowing people of different traditions to feel that those traditions, that their

identities, were respected, and that they could work together to build a successful future for all the people of northern ireland. it enshrined the principle that it is the birthright of all the people of northern ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as irish or british or both, as they may so choose. and it enshrined the consent principle, that it will always and only be for the people of northern ireland to decide what their constitutional future should be, ireland to decide what their constitutionalfuture should be, and that the uk government is solemnly committed to supporting their democratic wishes. these principles are the bedrock of peace and stability in northern ireland, and they will forever be honoured by the united kingdom government. a fundamental belief in the union of great britain and northern ireland as part of my political heritage as as part of my political heritage as a conservative and unionists, and that will never change. but the unionism i believe it is one that

respects absolutely the central mass of irish identities of those people in northern ireland who claim it, and the united kingdom i stand for is an open and tolerant union of nations and people, a country where every religion, every peaceful and democratic creed has a place, and every man and woman is equal before the law, treated with respect, and has the opportunity to get on and succeed. indeed, that union can only ever be secure and prosper if it is built on that respect and acceptance of difference and diversity. because the belfast agreement is notjust the belfast agreement is notjust the bedrock of stability here in northern ireland. its principles are key to the success of the whole united kingdom. our absolute commitment to those principles has informed and directed my approach to brexit, from my first speech as prime minister, to my first meetings with the taoiseach. in december 2017, we agreed with the eu, we committed to protect the 1998

agreement in all its parts, and the totality of the relationships set out in it, to the avoidance of a ha rd out in it, to the avoidance of a hard border, including any related infrastructure or checks and controls, and preserving the integrity of the uk internal market and northern ireland‘s place within it. these were commitments made in good faith. our preferred approach has always been to deliver them through the future relationship. but i accepted the need for an insurance policy or bridging arrangement to guarantee no hardboard if the future relationship was not in place in time. and that such a policy had to deliver legal certainty through what is called a legally operative text, so is called a legally operative text, so it would give people and businesses on both sides of the border clarity and confidence over how these commitments would be fulfilled. that is why i agreed to the backstop in the withdrawal agreement. unlike the original european commission proposal, it did not impose a customs border between northern ireland and the rest of the

uk. many people, businesses, farming organisations and voluntary groups in northern ireland, agreed with me. they spoke out in support of the withdrawal agreement, and defended the backstop. i know that was not an easy thing to do, and i am grateful to them for doing so. i fought hard to them for doing so. i fought hard to make the case for the deal as it stands. i believed it could command a majority in the house of commons. but i have had to face up to the fa ct but i have had to face up to the fact that in its current form, it cannot, and the need for changes to the backstop is the key issue. while there will wear those in northern ireland he spoke in favour of it, it is also true that the backstop is not supported by the two main unionist parties here, and has also influenced mps in england, scotland and wales to vote against the deal. ican and wales to vote against the deal. i can only deliver on the commitments we have made if i can get a deal through the uk parliament, and meetings with mps across the house so that i can only get a deal through parliament if legal changes are made to the backstop. that is why the uk

government and a majority of mps from across the house of commons supported the amendment from sir graham brady last week. it reaffirms our desire to leave with a deal, and our desire to leave with a deal, and our commitment to no hardboard between northern ireland and ireland. as sirgraham between northern ireland and ireland. as sir graham himself set out, it would mean replacing the backstop with another arrangement which avoids a hard border, or making legally binding changes to the backstop to create an exit mechanism. i know the prospect of changing the backstop on reopening the withdrawal agreement creates real anxieties here in northern ireland and in ireland, because it is here that the consequences of whatever is agreed will most be felt. i recognised also that the majority of voters in northern ireland voted to remain, and once again, decisions taken in westminster having a profound end in some cases unwanted impact in

northern ireland and ireland. so i am determined to work towards a solution that can command broader support from across the community in northern ireland. as we do so, there area number of northern ireland. as we do so, there are a number of commitments which will underpin our approach and which must be part of any alternative arrangements we seek to negotiate with the eu and pass through the uk parliament. first, we stand by our commitment in the joint report that they will be no hard border, including any physical infrastructure or related checks and controls. this means people on either side of that border will be able to live their lives as they do now. i have spoken to people in places like fermanagh, he remember the customs border post, approved roads and security installations of the not so distant past. i have spoken to businesses with supply chains that cross between great britain, northern ireland, and ireland. i understand how thousands of people moved back and forth between northern ireland and ireland every day, to go to work, to visit family, even to do their shopping. i understand what a hard border would

mean, notjust understand what a hard border would mean, not just in understand what a hard border would mean, notjust in terms of the disruption at the border itself, but in terms of trade for the whole island. the belfast agreement delivers just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos and aspirations of both communities, and for many, a seamless border between northern ireland and ireland is integral to delivering this. i know this has been the cornerstone around which the community in northern ireland has come together to deliver peace and prosperity, and i will not do anything to put that at risk. so while i have said that technology could play a part, and we will look at alternative arrangements, these must be ones that can be made to work for the particular circumstances of northern ireland. second, neither will i compromise on my promise to protect northern ireland‘s integral plays in the uk. when the european commission proposed a version of the backstop which involves creating a customs border in the irish sea, i successfully resisted it, and i have

ruled out any return to such a suggestion. this would not only damage the integrity of the uk‘s internal market, which is so vital to businesses across the uk and not least in northern ireland, it would also ignore the very real concerns of many people about being cut off from the rest of the uk. furthermore, we will also ensure there will be no new regulatory barriers between northern ireland and the rest of the uk without northern ireland‘s institutions having a say. third, there will be full protection for all existing cross—border co—operation. many areas of cooperation have been identified, both those formerly set out by the north — south ministerial council, such as cooperation on health and transport, or keeping the island of ireland disease—free for animals and plants, and informal areas of cooperation, such as a single, integrated electricity market supplying power to everyone. every area of existing cross—border cooperation has been inspected. if these are ever to change in the future, it will be a matter for

belfast and dublin, in accordance with the three stranded approach, not as a with the three stranded approach, not as a consequence with the three stranded approach, not as a consequence of with the three stranded approach, not as a consequence of our with the three stranded approach, not as a consequence of our eu exit. fourth, we will uphold the rights enshrined in the belfast agreement for all the people of northern ireland, right across the whole community. this includes upholding commitments around mutual respect, religious liberties, equality of opportunity, tolerance, and rights. i know some in the nationalist community in particular worry that some of their existing rights could be eroded when the uk leaves the eu, so we be eroded when the uk leaves the eu, so we have already enshrined in the withdrawal agreement is a legal guarantee of no diminution of equality and rights. there have also been serious concerns raised about how uk immigration rules treat citizens here exercising their rights under the agreement to be irish. the birthright to identify and be accepted as british, irish or both, and to hold both british and irish citizenship, is absolutely central to the agreement, but i know that in some cases recently, people

have encountered difficulties in securing their rights as irish citizens to bring in family members. i understand the serious concerns that have been raised, and i have been working with the secretary of state for northern ireland urgently to deliver a solution consistent with the letter and spirit of the belfast agreement. without a devolved government, and with only unionists represented in the house of commons, it is more important than ever that we uphold our duty to ensure all voices in northern ireland are heard. i take that very seriously indeed. the uk government will always work in the interest of the whole community. tomorrow, i will be sitting down with a political parties —— the political parties to discuss the way forward and make sure we can deliver for the people in northern ireland. northern ireland does not have to rely on the irish government or the european union to prevent a return to borders of the past. the uk government will not let that happen. i will not let

that happen. at the same time, we must continue to support all efforts that can lead towards the restoration of northern ireland‘s political institutions, and the uk government is absolutely committed to ensuring that when an executive is restored, it will have real influence to speak for all the people of northern ireland, as we shape the uk‘s future relationship with the european union. as we work to address the unique challenges that brexit poses to northern ireland, so i also want to ensure that we continue to maintain and indeed enhance the strongest possible bilateral partnership between the uk and ireland. i have said many times that i want to see a new, deep and special partnership between the uk and eu, and the 27 member states of the european union. but our relationship with ireland is deeper than our relationship with any of the other 27. it is uniquely rooted in ties of family, history and geography. the recent past has been a moment of reflection in the

uk and ireland, as we have commemorated the centenary of a number of key events in our shared history. ireland remembered the centenary history. ireland remembered the ce nte nary of history. ireland remembered the centenary of the easter rising, in an inclusive manner which promoted a greater understanding of our often troubled history. our two our two countries remember together the shared sacrifice of those who fought in the second world war. the shared scene in 2018, attended by the duke of cambridge and former taoiseach under kenny, was particularly poignant, as it remembered the soldiers of the 16th irish and 36th ulster division, who both played a key role in the allied victory in that battle. today, ties of family and friendship between our countries are more important than they have ever been, andi important than they have ever been, and i believe there is a yearning in the hearts of all the people of these islands for a close and trusting relationship between all of us, and an absolute horror that we should take even a single step backwards on the progress we have

collectively achieved. so i want to work closely with the taoiseach and the irish government, as so many of our predecessors have before, to strengthen the relationship we have built, and this can and should take many forms. we have already have the british irish intergovernmental conference on regular summits between british and irish politicians. as we leave the european union, we will need to establish new ways to establish further our unique relationship. for example, the irish government have suggested annual meetings, where the prime minister and taoiseach, together with senior ministerial colleagues, come together to discuss the big issues of the day. we will also want to strengthen our economic relationship, and have already together identified areas like construction and smart cities as ripe for enhanced collaboration. both the uk and irish governments have already made clear that we would support the tantalising possibility of a joint uk — ireland

world cup bid for 2030 should our respective football associations choose to pursue this. we also want to find creative ways of enhancing the link between our peoples, and in particular, to build the links between our young people. i know there is a sense that many british people do not know enough or understand enough about the complexity of the long relationship between the uk and ireland. and the sense that some irish people are less familiar with the forces and motivations that help to shape views in the uk. so as part of these new ways of coming together, i would like us to look in particular at opportunities for our young people to discuss these issues and others ina to discuss these issues and others in a structured way, and to reflect on their vision for our future relationship. i know this is a concerning time for many people here in northern ireland, but we will find a way to deliver brexit that honours our commitments to northern ireland, that commands broad support across

communities in northern ireland, and that secures a majority in the westminster parliament, which is the best way to deliver for the people of northern ireland. as we do so, i hope we can also take steps to move towards the restoration of devolution. so that politicians in northern ireland can get back to work on the issues that matter to the people they represent. for, ultimately, the measure of this moment is a northern ireland‘s history must be more than whether we avoid a return to the challenges of the past. it must be how together we move forwards to shape the opportunities of the future. as prime minister of the united kingdom, it is a profound honour and duty to play my part in shaping their future, duty to play my part in shaping theirfuture, and duty to play my part in shaping their future, and to duty to play my part in shaping theirfuture, and to do my duty to play my part in shaping their future, and to do my utmost to support the peace, prosperity and progress that can give the people of northern ireland the brightest future for generations. thank you. applause

i will take a few questions from the media. mark from bbc northern ireland. sitting in this audience are some of the business people and some representatives who you yourself are encouraged to go out and champion the backstop. do you now owe them an apology, and given what you said about your commitment to the good friday agreement, what you make of the arguments from unionists like lord trimble that the protocol you negotiated with the eu is in fact in breach of that agreement? in the latter point, it was made clear in the house of commons... we are having a few problems with that line to belfast. it came in and out during the speech, but we got the gist of it, then we lost it on the gist of it, then we lost it on the questions. if we get it back, we will do, but to sum up if you think she said. she started with a bit of

history, talking about how she was aged 12 when the troubles began, and went through a history lesson, the achievements of peace, sustained by successive governments, but most of all by the people of northern ireland. she talked about the belfast agreement of 1998 and the importance of holding onto that. i think we have a stable line now in belfast, so let‘s go back and hear those questions and answers. we can deliver a deal that, as i say, respects the commitments we have made to northern ireland and is a good dealfor the whole uk. ken from utv. 56% of people in northern ireland voted to remain. it has wide support in the business community here as well. how will you persuade particularly nationalist politicians and parties to accept the deal that does not contain a backstop? well, i am does not contain a backstop? well, iam not does not contain a backstop?

well, i am not proposing to persuade people to accept a deal that does not contain that insurance policy for the future. parliament have said they believe there should be changes made to the backstop, and it is in that vein, in that light, that we are working with politicians across westminster, of course, across the house of commons, but also, we will be working with others, with the irish government and the eu, to find a way that enables us to maintain our commitments that we have set very clearly for no hard border, but to do it in very clearly for no hard border, but to do itina very clearly for no hard border, but to do it in a way that provides a withdrawal agreement for the future that can command support across the house of commons and that therefore we will be able to ratify with the european union, so we shall leave on the 29th of march with a deal. suzanne from the belfast telegraph? prime minister, given that many business figures in this room may feel you have betrayed and shafted them on the backstop, in your recent

u—turn, why should they believe any of the pledges you have made to them today in terms of avoiding a hard border? first of all, let's be very clear about this. you have used the phrase u—turn in your question. there is no suggestion that we are not going to ensure that in the future, there is provision for this, it has been called an insurance policy, the backstop, that ensures if the future relationship is not in place by the end of the implementation period, there will be arrangements in place to ensure that we deliver no hard border. our commitment to that remains. what parliament and the house of commons have said is that they want to see changes to the backstop as it currently exists within the protocol as part of the withdrawal agreement. the issue that has always been one that parliament has raised has been one across all sides of the house of commons, the potential indefinite nature of the backstop. that is the issue we look to address. there are

a number of ways to do it. looking at alternative arrangements, discussing with mps who put forward proposals on that, looking at the legal changes that will be necessary to give the legal certainty. a commitment to no hard border absolutely remains, and as sir graham brady‘s amendment which passed the house made clear, commitment to avoid a hard border and to leave the european union with and to leave the european union with a deal. john from the irish news? prime minister, you have told us that you won't allow a hard border to happen. are you therefore telling us to happen. are you therefore telling us that the only circumstances where there will be a hard border is if there will be a hard border is if the eu imposes one? well, first of all, we have got commitments from both the eu and uk government in the work we are doing on the deal to leave the european union. the commitments on both sides is to know ha rd commitments on both sides is to know hard border, and we have been clear asa uk

hard border, and we have been clear as a uk government that we will do everything in our power, should it be the case that we left without a deal, to avoid a hard border in those circumstances, and of course, we would talk with the irish government at the european union should those circumstances arrive, but we are working to ensure that we leave with a deal, and within that deal, that we are able to provide for the commitment that has been made on both sides, for no hard border between northern ireland and ireland. i will take one last question. then from the newsletter? —— ben. just to go back to lord trimble supporting the legal action, one of his historical advisers, a very respected figure in the house of lords, said one of the most remarkable things was the british government had not challenged this irish narrative on the belfast good friday agreement in recent years, andi friday agreement in recent years, and i am wondering what you think about that. he is concerned, like

lord trimble, that britain would be signing away the right for the possibility of there one day being a regulatory and customs diversions on the island of ireland. will you keep open the possibility for britain? what i made clear, and you have heard me repeating my speech, was the commitment we made our herd in the commitment we made our herd in the 2017 joint reports to ensure ireland‘s place in the integral place within the internal market of the united kingdom. we have already set out within westminster ways in which we believe as a uk government, we would deliver on that. i recognise the concerns that have been expressed about regulatory differences, but as i say, we made clear on that decemberjoint report we retain our absolute commitment to, that we will make sure of northern ireland‘s integral place in the uk‘s internal market. thank you.

applause so the prime minister in belfast there, trying to reassure the business and political community. she will have talks in belfast with political leaders tomorrow morning and then be off to brussels on thursday, but today, to a business audience in belfast, she has said she could not get the withdrawal agreement through parliament in its current form. she had to accept reality on that, and hence their attem pts reality on that, and hence their atte m pts to reality on that, and hence their attempts to achieve changes. i think we canjoin our attempts to achieve changes. i think we can join our correspondent vicky young. what did you make of that?” think most of it was reiterating and trying to explain to people why she initially agreed to sign up to a backstop, saying why it has to be there, to ensure that there is that open border, but i think the most pressing question for the future, which there has been for several weeks, if not months now, is what she proposes to suggest a brussels now parliament has rejected that

deal. we know there are various working parties, some working on alternative arrangements, others working on having some kind of time to that backstop. i thought the most interesting part was on the question and answer session there, where theresa may said i am not proposing a deal that does not contain the backstop, i am a deal that does not contain the backstop, iam proposing a deal that does not contain the backstop, i am proposing changes. a deal that does not contain the backstop, iam proposing changes. so there are some in her own party that wa nt there are some in her own party that want the whole of that backstop removed from the withdrawal agreement, they want alternative arrangements, they will not be satisfied with just a time limit. it sounds like that is not the road she is planning to go down. she wants changes to the backstop, but obviously, completely accepting their that there needs to be won. as i say, she goes to brussels on thursday to see jean—claude junker. it is not clear whether she will go with a proposal coming out of those working groups. we know there is a group of mps, some on the other side of the argument, who have been working on alternative arrangements, and the attorney general, the most

senior lawyer, geoffrey cox, has been working on whether they can get this legal language to make sure that the uk cannot be trapped in the backstop. so the question is, is any of that work ready? we know it is being worked on urgently, and work continues on both of those. the question is whether they will be ready for thursday, for her to go to brussels with a concrete proposal. i suppose the other concrete question is, and this is kicking the cana bit question is, and this is kicking the can a bit down the road a bit, but asi can a bit down the road a bit, but as i understand it, and the eu side, they have said they would not accept time limits? yes, they said they will not have a time limit or reopens in negotiation. there are various things you can do, people suggesting coda still play mate, a legal attachment to the withdrawal agreement which might make it more clear. what was said in the letter betweenjean—claude clear. what was said in the letter between jean—claude juncker and donald tusk and the prime minister, there was no intention to trap the uk in the backstop, then it cannot

bea uk in the backstop, then it cannot be a permanent arrangement. under article 50, that cannot be a permanent relationship. it has to come to an end. it isn‘t enough for the dup or for conservative mps but if you can make it a legal attachment to the withdrawal agreement that then could be used to make the uk‘s case years down the line, that could be enough for some. that could be a plan to see if it could be a possibility. a group of mps from westminster went over there to speak to a senior civil servant yesterday who floated this idea and said would it get your votes? the problem is that they don‘t agree it would get their votes. from the commissionmy point of view, they are thinking, even if we move on this, is there any guarantee it‘ll get through westminster, given it was such a huge defeat. the numbers could come down but whether it is enough to guarantee to the eu it is worth making that movie is another matter. a lot of questions still outstanding. thank you, vicki. he

has time for the weather. we are continuing to see the windy gradually picking up, outbreaks of rain and temperatures rising but even towards the end of the afternoon and evening, it is chilly across scotland, north—east england and milder in the south and west and largely dry in the south—east of england. we will see some rain, all areas seeing england. we will see some rain, all areas seeing some england. we will see some rain, all areas seeing some rain, could be heavy for a while but tending to clear away towards the end of the night. enough of a breeze to prevent it getting too cold although temperatures won‘t be far away from freezing in rural parts of scotland and northern ireland. milder towards the south—east where we have a lot of cloud and the threat of rain from time to time on wednesday. elsewhere probably some sunshine, increasing numbers of showers coming in on blustery winds bob towards northern ireland and western scotland. temperatures still good for this time of year. wednesday, 8—9d, scotla nd time of year. wednesday, 8—9d, scotland and northern ireland. still in the mild air in the south and south—east even though there is

cloud and more rain. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. many will feel once again that decisions on westminster having a profound and in some cases unwanted impact in northern ireland and ireland. four children have died in a house fire in stafford. tributes have been posted on social media. actor liam neeson denies being a racist, after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. ten people have died — including a baby — in a fire in a paris apartment block. a woman has been arrested. and the hmv chain is saved from administration with 1500 people keeping theirjobs — but 27 stores will close. four children have died in a fire at a house in stafford. the deaths happened in a blaze in the highfields area of the town in the early hours of the morning.

neighbours have described seeing a manjumping out of a window with a baby, as the flames took hold. police are investigating the cause of the fire which they describe as "heartbreaking". our corresponent sima kotecha reports. windows shattered. the inside of the house blackened by the fire that ripped through the upstairs. it happened close to 3am in the highfields area of stafford. eyewitnesses say it sounded like an explosion. four children were killed, the neighbours left bewildered. we didn‘t know until now, did we? i didn't know until now. i thought they'd all got out. the flames were intense. it went that quick, into the roof. it was coming out of the roof in seconds, wasn‘t it? part of the roof has collapsed and the house has been covered up. now we know that two adults and a child are currently in hospital, receiving treatment. their injuries are not believed to be life—threatening.

it is unclear what caused the blaze. more than 15 firefighters scrambled to the house to put it out. staffordshire police described the loss of young lives as absolutely heartbreaking. very tragic what‘s happened in our community here, in the highfields, and we are living in the same street, the end of the road. went to the children's school across the road. just devastating. can't begin to imagine. emergency services are still at the scene. staffordshire fire and rescue service says it is examining the house as the investigation into the cause of the blaze begins. local politicians have offered their deepest sympathies and prayers to those affected. four young lives gone, and a community left shaken, and devastated. our correspondent phil mackie has been at the scene this afternoon

and gave us this update. they are still making the house itself safe, you can possibly see the blue tarpaulin and the lifting gear they‘ve got behind me, this is where this tragic accident happened this morning in which four children lost their lives. they are carrying out investigations, they don‘t know what caused the fire yet but they are trying to find that out as a matter of urgency. we have heard state m e nts matter of urgency. we have heard statements earlier on, we heard briefly from nathan hudson, the assistant chief officer from west midlands ambulance service, he said it had been immensely difficult for all three services last night, and he thanked the friends and family and people around here and he said thoughts were with his own staff as well. rob barber, the deputy chiefs fire officer, he said it was a heartbreaking tragic incident which has affected large parts of the community. he gave us some more details about the situation when they arrive to just before 3am. they

say a man and a woman managed to get out with a little baby, through one of the windows, and they are being treated for their injuries in hospital which are not life—threatening, but firefighters with breathing apparatus went inside and tried to save the children who died there. we can name them now. they were riley, keegan, tegan and olley, whose mother managed to escape with a younger child as well. we also had a statement from the police and this is chief inspector gemma ward. in the early hours of this morning, officers attended a house in highfield, stafford, along with colleagues from the fire and ambulance services following reports ofa ambulance services following reports of a serious fire. tragically, four young children have lost their lives in the fire and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. awoman, six and eight, and a girl aged four.

a woman, aged 24, and a man aged 28 escaped with a one—year—old boy. the man is being treated for burns and the woman for smoke inhalation. all three remain in hospital but their injuries are not deemed life—threatening. i want to reassure you in all of our community that we are working closely with colleagues from staffordshire fire and rescue services as investigative work into the cause of the fire begins. now, already, people have been bringing tributes, flowers and children‘s toys to leave at the end of the street, which remains cordoned off might come as you can see. the main thing now is for fire investigators to get into the building make sure it is safe, try to work out what happened in the early hours of the morning. neighbours say they heard a bang, an explosion, then screaming, in which this tragic incident unfolded in which four children died. ten people have died and 30 injured in a fire started at an apartment block in paris.

the building, in the 16th arrondissement not far from the eiffel tower, was difficult to access, and it took 200 fire—fighters several hours to contain the blaze. a woman has been taken into custody, on suspicion of arson. our paris corr lucy williamson has more the fire brigade described it as apocalyptic. an eight story apartment block hollowed out by flames. it‘s a living rooms, bedrooms, hallways fuel for the inferno. tiny ladders hung from windows, a lifeline allowing firefighters to get in. it was a scene firefighters to get in. it was a scene of chaos, their captain said. the search for residents through the smoke filled floors accompanied by the sound of screaming. many survivors found clinging to windowsills or roofs. translation: the alarm went off mike after midnight. and it was already black with smoke. i live on the top floor. i had to climb across several balconies to get out. we hid in a

corner with several people to escape the flames. by dawn, the fire was under control but the search for victims continued. when firemen arrived here in the early hours of this morning, they found a building hidden behind a courtyard with no way of accessing it from the street. their normal ladders were useless. they had to use specialist equipment to rescue people from windows in nearby reefs. police are treating it as arson and are questioning a resident. translation: a woman who lives in the building has been questioned. she is 40 years old and has a previous history of psychiatric disorders. firefighters are working to stabilise the building and find the source of the blaze. this sedate corner of paris now a crime scene, a barren shell, burnt bear of family life. more than 600 people are said to be

giving up work in britain every day to take on the role of caring for a sick or elderly relative. the charity carers uk says their research also suggests a furtherfive million are struggling with a carers role while still doing theirjob. they re calling for employers to offer more flexibility to those affected. ben ando has more. looking after an elderly or sick relative is tough when you‘re also working, and in the last two years, thousands of people have quit theirjobs to become carers. that, says campaigning group carers uk, is a problem for them and for the economy. the figures are striking. every day, more than 600 people stop working to become carers. a further 5 million carers are also holding down a job. overall, since 2011, the number of people caring for someone else has gone up by 5.5 million. carers uk says employers, in turn, now need to become more caring, by allowing carers flexibility over working hours and leave, especially as up to a quarter

will sufferfrom depression or stress and need treatment themselves. the government agrees. it says: exactly what this means isn‘t yet clear. one suggestion is that companies could provide up to ten days a year of paid leave for workers trying to balance the needs of those who pay them with the needs of those they love. ben ando, bbc news. as you saw, marie is here! any moment she will tell us what is hot what is not. let‘s have a look at the headlines on afternoon live. theresa may reaffirms her committment to delivering a brexit which avoids a hard border between northern ireland and the republic.

four children have died in a house fire in stafford — police describe it as heartbreaking. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. the actor liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. canadian firm sunrise records has bought 100 stores from the collapsed music chain hmv — beating a rival bid from sports direct owner mike ashley. more in a moment activity in the uk‘s dominant service sector stalled last month, with new orders dropping for the first time in 2.5 years. the figures, which include restaurants, shops and banks, are from the closely watched ihs markit purchasing managers index. it follows similarly slow figures from the manufacturing and construction sectors which could be a sign of a cooling economy. losses at supermarket

delivery chain ocado rose to £44.4 million last year, compared with a loss of £9.8 million in the previous 12 months. sales were up 12%. but there was no news on the reported tieup between ocado and m&s for the delivery firm to offer online shopping and delivery of m&s food items. so, hmv, sad news for a brand that is nearly 100 years old. yes, it is a cloud that has been hanging over it for a while. at second administration in six years so there is uncertainty about what is going to happen but today we have an a nswer to to happen but today we have an answer to that question and there is good and bad because we‘ve heard the canadian firm sunrise records is going to buy part of the collapsed chain. little by 100 stores which means 27 stores will have too close

with a loss of 455jobs. 1400 jobs will be saved. the store closures include the firm‘s big oxford street flagship storejust down include the firm‘s big oxford street flagship store just down the road from where we are which has been open since i think 1921. also the store in manchester‘s trafford centre is set to close and glasgow‘s braeside so some big stores will shut but it means the firm can continue. how the new company will look or be called is yet to be decided. let‘s hear now from clare bailey, who we spoke to earlier. she is a retail analyst. obviously, this is a company with expertise in the sector. it is probably only six yea rs the sector. it is probably only six years ago more or less to the day we we re years ago more or less to the day we were reporting for the first time hmv fell into administration. it had over 220 stores and 100 were closed. obviously, they have struggled, their product, what that are selling, has moved from physical to

digital. and there is less demand for the kind of products they sell. there has been an uprising in the use of vintage and vinyl and the kit that goes with it but maybe it isn‘t enough to sustain all of those stores so it would concern me that, at the moment, 27 closures are announced but there might be more to create a sustainable and profitable but downsized version of the brand. complaints about financial services yes, we all use financial services and the financial ombudsmen service has released figures for the last three months of last year and what it tells us is what people have complained about the most. unsurprisingly, again, ppis complained about the most, 44% of complaints were about ppi. also complaints were about ppi. also complaints about current accounts, interestingly, payday loans, the complaints about those, which were quite high once, have halved since the last quarter. let‘s talk now to

martinjones, a the last quarter. let‘s talk now to martin jones, a consumer the last quarter. let‘s talk now to martinjones, a consumer rights expert, formally at the financial ombudsman. let‘s talk about ppi. the figures are high, not quite as high as before, but, unsurprising people are complaining about this more than anything else. absolutely. six months to go until the deadline of 29th of august after which all ppi complaints stop. claims management companies, organisations that charge people a fortune to investigate claims, are going into overdrive. you only have to turn on the tv to see the adverts. people are apathetic and lots of people feel the subject is already closed or they've made as many complaints they can do. let's talk about the total number of complaints because that, again, it is interesting. the total number was 300,000, wasn‘t it? that's right. that's interesting because that suggests that by the end of this financial year the ombudsman will have seen more complaints than last year. tellingly the numberof complaints than last year. tellingly the number of enquiries were people just phone up to see if they have a

problem or legitimate concern, those numbers have dropped dramatically would suggest to me the complaints are becoming a lot more entrenched and people are fighting a lot harder. it also says those claims of management companies are moving into a whole range of areas, and aggressively putting complaints through so it is a mixed bag for the industry. complaints are one thing but complaints being upheld are only 33%. if the industry is doing its job correctly, that is the figure we would expect to see across the board. within the ombudsman's figures, which are worth a peek at, there are interesting things in there, including the fact current account complaints, over half of those are upheld. it suggests banks and the sector are still not handling complaints correctly which isa handling complaints correctly which is a worry because these are fraud and dispute a transaction complaints. so good to talk to you, thank you very much. what about the

markets? having a good day. the london market is up. one of the reasons is the pound. it is weaker against the dollar today because we had those service sector figures which were pretty disappointing. the rest of europe is also sitting pretty for now. i‘m back our‘s time. thanks. the actor, liam neeson, has sparked controversy after saying he once wanted to kill a black person. neeson said in a newspaper interview that after someone close to him was raped by a black assailant, he then walked the streets with a cosh, hoping to find any black man willing to pick a fight with him who he could kill. the actor said he was now ashamed of his feelings, which he described as ‘horrible‘ and denied he is a racist. our correspondent colin patterson reports. liam neeson was being interviewed for the independent in new york about his new film when he was asked why his character responded to the

murder of his son by going on a revenge killing spree rather than simply grieving. this answer has made front—page news around the world. he explained that in real life someone close to him was raped. he describes those feelings as awful and horrid and explained he‘d learned that revenge killing never works, particularly in the case of northern ireland, where he was brought up during the troubles. payments mission was the journalist interviewed him. anyone hearing the thoughts he is reporting here would feel shocked and appalled in many ways. what are you doing? my job. many are furious. i don't think anyone can support his work in the future because the words he used, they are so, so timely when we look at the violence inflicted on black menjust across at the violence inflicted on black men just across the globe. this morning, liam neeson was a guest on good morning america in an

appearance booked on before this story broke. would you have the same reaction if your friend said it was a white man? if you had said irish, a white man? if you had said irish, a scott or britt or a lithuanian, i know it would have had the same effect. i was trying to... show honour to my stand up for my dear friend. and this terrible medieval fashion. i‘m a fairly intelligent quy fashion. i‘m a fairly intelligent guy and that is why it shocked me when i came down to earth after having these horrible feelings. luckily, no violence occurred ever. thanks be to god. do you think you would have done it? yes. a black man with nothing to do? yes, i wanted to lash out. this weekend, it'll be possible to gauge how much damage liam neeson has done to his career. hold pursuit opens on friday and it

has had good reviews. if people stay away, studios will start to notice because in hollywood it is money that talks and liam neeson might wish he hadn‘t. a painting by the anonymous street artist banksy which was shredded during an auction in october in an act of self—sabotage by the artist is back on display in germany in its new form. banksy has suggested that the entire canvas was supposed to shred notjust two thirds of it so the museum has been taking extra steps to make sure the rest of the piece is preserved. kathryn armstrong has more. this was the moment that sent shock waves through the artworld, in october. a painting by the mysterious british artist, known as banksy, suddenly self—shreds in its frame, after being sold for more than $1.3 million. the transformed piece, which was originally called girl with a balloon, was then given a new game, love is in the bin. banksy has admitted that he was behind the stunt or was it a statement? now the artwork is going on display in germany,

but this time it has been thoroughly checked for batteries and live wires to try and ensure there are no more surprises. translation: banksy has a particular sense of humour. we are definitely wanting to avoid a situation where a certain visitor would show up and, as happened in london, press a hidden button and set the shredder going again. however, the museum says it is keen to display the work in a way that is in keeping with the spirit of the artist. translation: at the end of the day banksy is a street artist which means people can see his art on the street without having to pay entry, so we wanted to display his art forfree. love is in the bin will be on display for four weeks, before being moved to another museum in stuttgart, where it will also be free to view. kathryn armstrong, bbc news. more than a billion people around the world are celebrating

the start of lunar new year. according to the chinese zodiac calendar, 2019 is officially the year of the pig. let‘s take a look at the history behind the celebration with the help of some children from manchester‘s chinese cultural centre. so, a long time ago there was a monster called nian. every year he would come to the village, eat the livestock, destroy all the crops. he wouldn‘t be seen until the next year of chinese new year. there was an old man one year, he scared the monster away. the monster was scared of three things, the colour red, fire and loud noises. my favourite thing about chinese new year is we get red notes with money inside it, and it's called "lai see". i would like £1 million. i really don't care. i want to spend my money on candy! laughter. different foods in chinese new year

mean different things. for example, a tangerine means good luck. these pastries represent gold and fortune, because they‘re both grown in the ground. this is a watermelon seed, it represents long life. my favourite thing about chinese new year is playing games with my friends. happy chinese new year! hgppy happy year of the pic to them on to you. let‘s look at the weather. today we are continuing to see the windy gradually picking up, outbreaks of rain but moving in and temperature slowly rising but even towards the end of the afternoon and early evening it is quite chilly across eastern scotland, north—east england, much milder further south and west and largely dry in the south—east of england but we will get a little bit of rain here, all areas sing rain overnight, could be

heavy for a while but tending to clear away for most areas towards the end of the night. enough of a breeze to prevent it getting too cold although temperatures won‘t be far away from freezing in rural parts of scotland and northern ireland. mulder towards the south—east where we still have got a lot of cloud and the threat of rain from time to time on wednesday. elsewhere, probably some sunshine, probably increasing numbers of showers coming in on blustery winds p0p showers coming in on blustery winds pop towards northern ireland and western scotland. temperature is pretty good for this time of year. on wednesday, looking at 8—9, scotla nd on wednesday, looking at 8—9, scotland and northern ireland. still in the mild air towards the south—east, even though there is more cloud and rain. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m carrie gracie. today at 4pm... the prime minister pledges to secure a brexit deal which ensures no hard border between northern ireland and the republic.

i know that the prospect of changing the backstop causes problems for northern ireland and the republic. it is here that the changes will be felt the most. four children have died in a house fire in stafford. tributes to the young victims have been published on social media. tragically, four young children have lost their lives in the fire, and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. actor liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with holly. jose maria new has been sentenced to a one—year prison sentence for tax fraud but he will not be spending any time behind bars. more on that story and the rest of the sport coming up at 4:30pm. ——jose maria neo. thanks, holly.

and darren bett will be bringing us right up to date with the weather. wet weather pushing in from the west. that should move away tomorrow. we will have the details later in the programme and it is picture quiz part two, i know you cannot wait. terrifying, thank you! also coming up — snail mail — two postcards sent from the galapagos islands in the ‘70s have just arrived in the uk. we‘ll find out why they took so long. hello, everyone, this is afternoon live. i‘m carrie gracie. the prime minister has reaffirmed her committment to delivering a brexit which avoids a hard border between northern ireland and the republic. speaking in belfast in the last hour, theresa may pledged to reach a deal with the eu that commands "broad support" and a

majority in parliament. but she ruled out removing the controversial irish border arrangements known as the backstop from her brexit deal. mrs may will head to brussels to hold talks with the president of the european commission, jean claudejuncker, on thursday as part of her attempts to secure changes to the withdrawal deal. the eu has so far repeatedly ruled our re—negotiating the agreement. our ireland correspondent emma vardy is in belfast for us now. well, we saw prime minister theresa may addressing a number of business leaders this afternoon and her main message to them was that she understood the concerns of businesses in northern ireland who, for a long time have lived with the uncertainty of what brexit may mean for them. she also gave a firm commitment to the government that there would be no hard border. no

new checks of any kind on the irish land border between northern ireland and the irish republic to the south. she had to give a very careful explanation as to why the government had made a u—turn on the existing withdrawal deal with the eu and she also had to address the issue and reassure people and businesses who may have felt some disappointment and frustration that there was a deal on the table that many businesses in northern ireland backed. she gave that careful explanation and said she could not have stuck with the deal in its current form because it would not have got through parliament. i fought hard to make the case for the deal as it stands. i believed it could command a majority in the house of commons. but i've had to face up to the fact that in its current form it cannot and the need for changes to the backstop is the key issue. while there were those in northern ireland who spoke in favour of it, it is also true that the backstop is not supported by the two main unionist parties here. and it's also influenced mps in england, scotland and wales in voting against the deal.

i can only deliver on the commitments we have made if i can get a deal through the uk parliament and meetings with mps across the house show i can only get a deal through parliament if legal changes are made to the backstop. and that is why the uk government and a majority of mps from across the house of commons supported the amendment from sir graham brady last week. it reaffirms our desire to leave with a deal and our commitment to no harder border between northern ireland and ireland. and as sir graham himself set out, it would mean replacing the backstop with another arrangement which avoids a hard border on making legally binding changes to the backstop to introduce a time limit or create an exit mechanism. i know that the prospect of changing the backstop and reopening the withdrawal agreement creates real anxieties here in northern ireland and in ireland, because it is here that the consequences of whatever is agreed will most be felt. i recognise, too, that the majority

of voters in northern ireland voted to remain and that many will feel once again decisions taken in westminster are having a profound, and in many cases, unwanted impact in northern ireland and ireland. so i am determined to work towards a solution that can command broader support from across the community in northern ireland. you must remember, it was not long ago at the end of last year that theresa may was previously in northern ireland addressing much the same audience of business leaders but back then she had been championing her deal and had but back then she had been championing her dealand had been telling people to go out and persuade their mps, lobby their mps to back the irish backstop. so quite a change of tone and because of that shift and u—turn that we saw in parliament, she was asked a difficult question as to whether businesses could really trust her. well, first of all, let's be very clear about this. you have used the phrase

u—turn in your question. there is no suggestion that we are not going to ensure that in the future there is provision for this, it's been called an insurance policy, the backstop, that ensures that if the future relationship is not in place by the end of the implementation period, there will be arrangements in place to ensure that we deliver no hard border. our commitment to that remains. what parliament and the house of commons has said is that they want to see changes to the backstop as it currently exists within the protocol, as part of the withdrawal agreement. the issue that has always been one that parliament has raised, it has been raised across all sides of the house of commons, is the potential indefinite nature of the backstop. that is the issue we look to address. there are a number of ways to do it, looking at alternative arrangements, discussing with mps who have put forward proposals on that. looking at the legal changes that are necessary to give legal certainty. but the commitment to no hard

border absolutely remains. so, notan so, not an easy line for theresa may to tread in northern ireland because do not forget, northern ireland is caught in this tension between the dup and unionist opposition to the backstop, and opposition to the withdrawal agreement in its current form, and there was a lot of support form, and there was a lot of support for the backstop and a national community and many people who voted in northern ireland to remain in the eu, so it is a difficult path for theresa may to find through that. and what is crucial in this is the position of the irish government, because they have held very firm to the backstop and said it is the only way to legally guarantee no hard border on this island of ireland. and we have just heard on the last few minutes that the irish prime minister lee over radical will travel to northern ireland on friday to have meetings with the parties,

undoubtedly to talk about that very issue. thank you, emma. our chief political correspondent vicki young joins us from westminster. what is the action? i think people will be looking at the changes that theresa may wants to make. there has been a continued complaint from brexiteers with her own party that she has not seriously considered other opportunities and alternatives. that she has stuck to her particular kind of backstop, the agreement she has worked for for two yea rs agreement she has worked for for two years on. she continues on that vein. they are looking for working groups to be set up looking at alternative arrangements, partly one of which is to have a free trade agreement which would mean a different kind of scenario that would be an alternative arrangement to the backstop. the other is to have some kind of time limit. the question is whether theresa may is seriously contemplating the one that

was not our preferred option. during that question and answer session she said she was not proposing a deal that does not contain the backstop, iam that does not contain the backstop, i am proposing changes. it is interesting to see whether brexiteers will feel if she is sticking to her previous path rather than seriously considering what this working group is trying to come up with as an alternative, because we do not yet know what she is going to go to brussels to ask for. we do not yet know what alternative she believes is the one that can get through parliament. all of that remains up in the air until she gets to brussels as to whether it is another discussion with jean—claude juncker or putting a serious proposal on the table. thanks, vicky. let‘s speak to the conservative mp john whittingdale, who is at the houses of parliament for us now. good afternoon, i am not sure how much of the prime minister‘s speech that you heard, but what was your first impression? i think the prime minister gave a realistic appraisal

of the position. her agreement, as it stood, was rejected by the house of commons by over 200 votes and the reason that most conservative mps felt unable to support it and then voted against it was because the backstop as it presently is formulated is not right. the vote that we had on the graham brady amendment demonstrated that if changes can be made to the backstop, in particular giving us the ability to leave it, then that could command a majority within the house of commons, and i think the prime minister in her speech recognised thatis minister in her speech recognised that is a reality. yes, she is talking about possible time limits or possible exit mechanisms, but not getting rid of it altogether. does that satisfy you? she is also talking about alternative arrangements. the proposal put forward by my colleagues in the conservative party from both wings of the opinion on this is that we could seek an alternative agreement,

ultimately a free—trade arrangement us ultimately a free—trade arrangement us and the eu, in which we would not need a backstop and in which we would have sufficient time to obtain that. that is a kind of alternative which i think is very much in the interest of not just which i think is very much in the interest of notjust northern ireland but the uk overall, that we have a comprehensive free trade agreement with the eu. do you think the prime minister should be listening to the alternative arrangements working group and what is coming out? the reason i press on this is that one of the lines and the question and answer session after her speech was, i am not proposing to persuade people to accept a deal that does not contain that insurance policy for the future, talking of the backstop. it sounds like she is imagining a future with an adjusted backstop.” think unless the backstop has a clear mechanism by which we can leave it and therefore leave the customs union, then it will not get

through parliament. i mean, that was the clear message of the vote that took place on the agreement and the prime minister knows that, she made that plain in her speech that parliament had spoken, and even though she had tried to persuade mps to support the agreement in its original form, to support the agreement in its originalform, clearly, that had not been successful, and therefore changes had to be made if it was to stand any chance of getting through parliament. talking about the chances of things going anywhere, there are not exactly positive noises coming out of brussels or elsewhere in europe right now about movement on opening the withdrawal agreement and opening the idea of the backstop. i spent yesterday in meetings at brussels and i saw the secretary general, martin sylmar, along with my fellow members of x thing the eu committee, he made it plain that they needed some kind of assurance, assurance policy in the backstop, but he was also very clear that what we could get in the house of commons was important. he had

seen of commons was important. he had seen the result of the vote of the brady amendment that showed that the majority does exist if we can address the concerns around the permanence of the backstop and the proposal that my colleagues have put forward , proposal that my colleagues have put forward, which has become known as the malthouse compromise, does, i think, offer that possibility and i gave him a copy of the proposal which i hope people look at in the same way that the prime minister has commissioned a working party to look at the detail of it. thank you for joining us, john whittingdale, at westminster. another line coming in from the spokesperson of the prime minister that theresa may will meet the president of the european council donald tusk on thursday after meeting the eu commission presidentjean—claude juncker. so, what‘s happening on brexit. let us move on to other stories this afternoon. four children have died in a fire at a house in stafford. the deaths happened in a blaze in the highfields area of the town

in the early hours of the morning. neighbours have described seeing a manjumping out of a window with a baby, as the flames took hold. police are investigating the cause of the fire which they describe as "heartbreaking". our corresponent sima kotecha reports. windows shattered. the inside of the house blackened by the fire that ripped through the upstairs. it happened close to 3am in the highfields area of stafford. eyewitnesses say it sounded like an explosion. four children were killed, the neighbours left bewildered. we didn‘t know until now, did we? i didn't know until now. i thought they'd all got out. the flames were intense. it went that quick, into the roof. it was coming out of the roof in seconds, wasn‘t it? part of the roof has collapsed and the house has been covered up. now we know that two adults and a child are currently in hospital, receiving treatment. their injuries are not believed to be life—threatening. it is unclear what caused the blaze.

more than 15 firefighters scrambled to the house to put it out. staffordshire police described the loss of young lives as absolutely heartbreaking. very tragic what‘s happened in our community here, in the highfields, and we are living in the same street, the end of the road. went to the children's school across the road. just devastating. can't begin to imagine. emergency services are still at the scene. staffordshire fire and rescue service says it is examining the house as the investigation into the cause of the blaze begins. local politicians have offered their deepest sympathies and prayers to those affected. four young lives gone, and a community left shaken, and devastated. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines... theresa may reaffirms her committment to delivering a brexit

which avoids a hard border between northern ireland and the republic. four children have died in a house fire in stafford — police are investigating the causes of the blaze. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. the actor liam neeson denies being a racist after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. in sport, the former manchester united boss, jose mourinho, has agreed a prison term in spain for tax fraud but will not do anyjail time. he has been fined over £2 million. england putts impressive win in dublin has come as —— has come as “— win in dublin has come as —— has come as —— has come at a price. maro itoje wellness out the next two matches against france and wales with a knee injury. and the downhill

race in sweden will be this woman‘s last before retiring. i will be back with more sports news at 4:30pm. police searching for a missing reading university student have found a body in a lake on the campus. daniel williams, who‘s 19 and from sutton in south london, was last seen leaving a student bar in the early hours of thursday. police say his family has been informed. the actor liam neeson has denied being a racist after saying he once wanted to kill a black person. neeson said in a newspaper interview that after someone close to him was raped by a black assailant, he then walked the streets with a cosh, hoping to find any black man willing to pick a fight with him, who he could kill. the actor said he was now ashamed of his feelings, which he described as "horrible". our correspondent colin patterson reports. what makes you think you can kill a man?

i read it in a crime novel. liam neeson was being interviewed for the independent in new york about his new film, cold pursuit, when he was asked why his character responded to the murder of his son by going on a revenge killing spree rather than simply grieving. his answer has made front—page news round the world. he explained that in real life, someone close to him was raped. he described those feelings as awful and horrid and explained that he learned that revenge killing never works, particularly in the case of northern ireland,

where he was brought up during the troubles. clemence michallon was thejournalist who interviewed him. anyone hearing the thoughts that he is reporting here, would feel shocked, and appalled, in many ways. what are you doing? myjob. many are furious. i don‘t think i will be ever be able to support his work in the future. the words he used, they are so, so timely when we look at the violence inflicted on black men just across the globe, but i couldn‘t possibly in good conscience continue to support him. this morning, liam neeson was booked on good morning america. this interview was taken before the story broke. would you have had the same reaction if it was someone else? if it was irish, scots, a brit or a i would have reacted the same. i was trying to...

show honour, stand up for my dear friend, in this terrible, medieval fashion. citizen of the year. this weekend it will be possible to gauge how much damage liam neeson has done to his career. cold pursuit opens in cinemas in the us on friday. it has had good reviews. if audiences stay away, studios will start to take notice, because in hollywood it is money that talks and liam neeson might wish he hadn‘t. colin paterson, bbc news. mps have been debating how much councils in england will have to spend in the next financial year, after local authorities complained of a £3 billion funding gap. ministers say councils have been given an extra £1.3 billion, but town halls argue that funding for local services is running out fast. jessica parker reports. buses, children‘s centres, libraries, lollipop men and women — some of the services that local councils have cut across england as their funding has fallen.

dorking‘s children‘s centre is staying open, but 31 in surrey are due to close from april, saving the county council millions of pounds. services are being concentrated in less well—off areas, but some fear the strain it could put on the facilities that remain. at the moment we serve 1500 families in this area. in the future we‘re potentially going to be looking after 4500 families on a 50% cut. that would mean 50% less staff, 50% less resources to meet the needs of all those families in a much bigger geographical area. although we will have this centre here, still, much of the universal services will go. ijust see that, in the future, all these children will come into school, at reception, but may have needed to early help but may have needed early help that wasn't picked up. this year‘s national funding settlement paints a familiar picture. that lump—sum from central government to councils has gone down by around £1 billion.

there‘s been a really big cut in local government funding over the last eight or nine years, at least 20% reduction over that period. the councils which were more dependent on central government, in other words, generally, poorer councils, have had bigger cuts. those that have got big council tax bases, the richer councils, haven‘t done quite so badly. so, overall, big cuts. bigger cuts for the poorer cancelled. bigger cuts for the poorer councils. but ministers say that, this year, there will be a boost to spending power overall. there‘s some one—off cash for social care, higher council tax takings and as part of a drive to make authorities more self—sufficient, a push to see areas keep more of the money they raise through business rates. we said at the conservative conference last year that austerity really tough calls that councils have had to make. i think we should look more positively towards the new spending review. and all eyes are on this year‘s spending review. there‘s a suggestion ministers may

look at a longer term plan, a so—called multi—year settlement, to try and put council finances on a more stable footing. but the local government assocation says certainty is needed now, claiming councils have been pushed to the brink. jessica parker, bbc news. here on the news channel, we‘re looking at the situation across england today — councils across sussex are having to make significant savings which is having an effect on libraries, sexual health services and provision for homeless people. our reporter, ben weisz is in brighton for us. over to you. let us start with east sussex, they set their budgets today in fact and backin set their budgets today in fact and back in autumn they were warning. they set out a vision of their bare bone level of service, and warned that that would not even be affordable this year as things

stood. in the interim, the government has announced various pots of one—off money for social ca re pots of one—off money for social care and given them more money to keep the business rates levied in the county and that means that in the county and that means that in the end they only had to make £5 million worth of savings although, of course, they have no more certainty. in west sussex it is a pretty grim picture for the council, the leader of the council has told me that the choices she has to make keeps her up at night. £24 million worth of savings must be made this year, including controversial cuts to services for homeless people. here in brighton and hove it is election year. although the current plans include £14.2 million worth of savings, including cuts to library staff and health services, because it is an election year and a balance of power is so tight between the three parties, i would expect one or two rabbits out of the hat on budget day right at the last minute. thank you, ben. that is the picture in sussex. in surrey, council tax is going up, but, despite that, there are major cuts to services resulting

in the closure of 31 children‘s centres. our reporter, jack feen is in guildford for us. yes, it is very puzzling and it is something that confuses residents as well. surrey county council has had severe financial challenges going back several years this year for next year‘s budgets and they are having to make savings of £82 million. as a result of that they have decided to close 31 sure start children‘s centres and they are making changes to rubbish tips as well. there will be restrictions where on some you can only take recycling. those centres could still be closed. there will also be changes to travel for disabled people. it used to be free before 9:30am and after 11:30pm but it will no longer be. these are quite significant cuts here in surrey and we have been hearing about the financial challenges with the

reductions to government grants over the last few years, but these are the last few years, but these are the most significant cuts that this local authority has made since i‘ve been reporting in this area. they talk about the challenges each year of actually getting sustainable budgets and each year it gets more difficult is what they tell me. jack, thank you for giving us the picture in surrey. time for a look at the weather... here is darren with him —— mischievous grin on his face. what is coming next? you have been looking forward to this, it is national weather person‘s day. i hope you have the state in your diary, the 5th of february. it is when you go up to a weather person and tell them they are doing a wonderfuljob. hugs are

not necessary but welcome. thank you for instructions on treating a national weather person! we are going to look at some people that you may or may not recognise. are you may or may not recognise. are you ready? i pressed my button but it is not working. come on! that is carol kirkwood. isn't it? yes, that one! that was too easy! no help in yourairthis one! that was too easy! no help in your air this time. the next one. goodbye, carol kirkwood. that is the forehead. someone very brainy. look at that forehead! is that nick miller? is that nick miller? it is nick miller. we are doing well, that is the royal way. that is louise

lear. that is not difficult. it is interesting what part of the face you have to show someone. a lot of thought and research went into this, i will have you know! last one. is that chris fawkes? it is darren. it is you. it is you when you had more here! yes, yes, yes! all of those yea rs of here! yes, yes, yes! all of those years of clean living! a very fres hfa ced years of clean living! a very freshfaced young man. it is working here, that is what does it to you! is that it? we will need a harder one next time. i am getting good at this. we will have to do it soon, it finishes today. who is the national weather person? do we get to vote for them? perhaps we should! let us move on to the actual forecast. this

is what has happened over the past few hours, the cloud streaming in from the atlantic and bringing some outbreaks of rain. it is moving into cold air actually for the east of scotland, the north—east of england, temperature is around five or 6 degrees. the rain is pushing eastwards this evening, we will all get some of that. it could be heavy at times, it will take a while to reach the south—east and then move away. otherwise skies will clear overnight. temperatures probably not as low as last night, a breeze around. we will find those numbers probably close to freezing for rural parts of northern ireland and scotland. tomorrow, milder start for some in england but there will be more cloud around and the threat of some rain returning again, again uncertainty on the details. the showers will force their way into northern ireland and increasingly into the west of scotland. some heavy here. in between sunshine and it isa heavy here. in between sunshine and it is a mild day, temperatures around eight up to 11 degrees.

higher temperatures in the south—east despite the chance of rain. the threat of rain continues into tomorrow evening. the weather fronts joining into tomorrow evening. the weather frontsjoining forces into tomorrow evening. the weather fronts joining forces and pushing wet weather across the uk. but it will clear away. we have some early rain across the eastern side of england and the east of scotland with snow over higher ground. that pushes through and then sunny spells follow. some showers on that westerly breeze, some heavy and thundering across the west of scotland. heavy spells of sunshine for the east of scotland in the afternoon. temperatures around seven or10 afternoon. temperatures around seven or 10 degrees. it gets rowdy towards the end of the week, we have this area of low pressure that is deepening towards the uk and it means we will end with windy weather for the end of the week. overnight and into saturday morning, too. mild, wetand and into saturday morning, too. mild, wet and windy. the strongest winds in england and wales. the highest gusts over the western coasts and for all of us as we head

towards the end of the week there will be more rain but no sun. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the prime minister pledges to secure a brexit deal which ensures no hard border between northern ireland and the republic. i know this creates anxiety is here in northern ireland and ireland because it is the consequences of whatever is agreed will most be felt. four children have died in a house fire in stafford. tributes to the young victims have been published on social media. actor liam neeson denies being a racist, after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. the hmv music chain is saved from administration. 1500 people will keep theirjobs byt 27 stores are to close. sport now on afternoon live with holly.

something of a jail sentence for jose mourinho but not injail? yes, it sounds dramatic. jose mourinho sentenced to one year in prison in spain —but the former united boss won‘t be spending any time behind bars. instead it‘ll be exchanged for a fine ofjust over £160,000. that is added to a 2 million euros fine he is getting as well. this was over 3.3 million euros he owed spanish authorities from his time managing real madrid seven years ago. he was accused of creating offshore companies to hide his earnings from the taxman. luckily for mourinho, spain rarely enforces sentences of less than two years for non—violent or first time offenders but they are cracking down on tax evasion by some of the country‘s star players — cristiano ronaldo another footballer given a suspended jail term in a case over tax just last month and that was a much,

much higher fine that mourinho. but, still, another bad day forjose. yes, and heading from money matters to matters on the pitch, pep guardiola has been talking about the title race. well, with liverpool dropping more points against west ham last night perhaps pep guardiola is feeling a little more confident about manchester city‘s chances of a second consecutive title but he‘s admitted his battle isn‘tjust with the current league leaders. with chelsea and manchester united 12 and 14 points behind liverpool and city respectively they‘re not on of title contention just yet. actually, far from it as far as pep guardiola is concerned. although for some reason he didn‘t mention spurs who are just the two points behind them. nevertheless, a win for city tomorrow night would see them reclaim the top spot for the first time in two months. we will be champions when we see the

ta bles we will be champions when we see the tables and we see they are there, we are champions, we don‘t look for that. we need to do games in a row and we will be content to win the premier league. if the gap is not too big, with 39 points to play, we are nine or ten points behind, it is not... not too much. and seeing what happened right now in the premier league, like everybody, it‘s ready to ta ke league, like everybody, it‘s ready to take points. the football association has today asked for written observations from the liverpool managerjurgen klopp. it follows his comments after the game against west ham united last night concerning the match referee. klopp accepted that their opening goal should have been disallowed for offside but says the referee would have realised his mistake and perhaps favoured west ham in his decision making to compensate for the rest of the match. there‘s a big blow for the england rugby union side, maro itoje has been ruled out of the next two six nations matches with a knee problem. the saracens‘ lock suffered

the medial ligament injury during their impressive win over ireland on saturday. he‘s expected to be out for 2—4 weeks, but will stay with the squad and could return for the final two matches of the championship. fellow saracen nick isiekwe has been called into the squad as cover but it‘s courtney laws who is most likely to benefit and take itoje‘s place in the 15. he‘s a quality player. he‘s a leader within our group. the qualities that he brings is massive. but also we‘ve got guys in the squad who have other qualities, and they will have a big impact, so it is important we focus on thejob in hand and i‘m sure he will be there in spirit. the great lynsey vonn is competing at her last alpine skiing world championships. it‘s the first day of competition in sweden and the american, a former olympic champion who has won a record 82 world cup events, hasn‘t made the greatest of starts.

she failed to make it to the bottom in the super g, crashing quite spectacularly, hitting one of the gates and careering into the safety netting. the race was halted while medics checked her out, she managed to make her own way down but we now wait to see if she will race in the downhill on sunday, in what will be her final race. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. now on afternoon live let‘s go nationwide and see what‘s happening around the country in our daily visit to the bbc newsrooms around the uk. david garmston is in bristol, where new research shows passenger satisfaction with great western railways has fallen to its lowest level in more than a decade. and two postcards posted in 19705 in the galapagos islands have just arrived at a house in oldham. annabel tiffin in salford will give us all the details.

so, david first. this passenger survey, what does it say? thanks for having me on. the great western railway, one of the great legacies from the victorian age, built by brunel, it is a line designed to whisk passengers from the smoke of london paddington to the west of england but passengers are not happy at the standard of service, as you said with satisfaction ratings down to the lowest in a decade overall at 78%. delays, lateness, overcrowding and cancellations have all increased, doubled in some cases. long—suffering passengers told us today they‘ve had enough. long—suffering passengers told us today they've had enough.” long—suffering passengers told us today they've had enough. i never really plan early meetings anymore, idoa lot of my really plan early meetings anymore, i do a lot of my work on the train because i can't guarantee i will get into london at a certain time. they've not been too bad lately but

the ticket prices are extortionate. pourin the ticket prices are extortionate. pour in the mornings, better in the afternoons. i think i'm just lucky but i always get the eight o'clock which is quieter by then. why is service so poor? take the eight o‘clock train, is the answer! it is fairto o‘clock train, is the answer! it is fair to say the line has been undergoing the biggest revamp since mr brunel —— i‘m not an expert, i‘m guessing! —— the route is getting electrified which is turning out to be very complex. putting modern electronics into a victorian structure, and there has been a lot of work. enough of the excuses. dan pains from the company apologised on behalf of gwr. performance over 2018 was simply not good enough. i take the opportunity again to apologise to customers for that. we needed to do more. we identified the issues fairly early on last year and we've been working to introduce improvement since then and we think we're getting there although there

is much more to do. perhaps i could just finish by saying there is light at the end of a very long tunnel and it isn‘t necessarily another train coming, the engineering work comes toa coming, the engineering work comes to a conclusion and later this year commuters should be able to hurtle from bristol parkway to london paddington in one hour one minute. that would barely give michael portillo time to change his jacket on one of his railway programmes and i could be with you by 5:45pm. in the year‘s time we will try that. annabel has a great story about postcards. where do they come from? they come from the galapagos islands. you know that annoying thing when you go on holiday and you send a postcard to somebody and you arrive back in before the postcard does? this is like that but a really extreme version. they were sent from the galapagos islands, not in the 70s but in the summer of 1989, so still quite a long time ago. they we re still quite a long time ago. they were sent by a couple called mr and

mrs chadwick from oldham. whenever they went on holiday they would always send themselves a postcard, just as a bit of a memento. and they did that on this occasion. what they did that on this occasion. what they did on this occasion was they use the galapagos islands rather unique postal system. it is called the barrel postal system and it goes way back to the 18th century when whalers, who are passing the islands, would get homesick so they would stop off and send communication back home which was difficult back in the 18th century with no postal system on the island. what they did was they set up the barrel postal service which was a barrel postal service which was a barrel on top of a stick. sailors would pop their mail into the barrel and then other sailors that would be passing by would stop off and if they were heading back to england or to the united states, they'd take the post, and either ascended from england or the usa or hand deliver

it. hope you're still with me! this syste m it. hope you're still with me! this system is still going today so tourists now use it and in very much the same way people will pop their postcard in there without a stamp and hope that another tourist will come along, pick it up and hand deliver it back home. and this what happened to mrand deliver it back home. and this what happened to mr and mrs chadwick. what happened to it in those 30 years we have no idea. because it has ended up back at their house in oldham 30 years later. what has happened to it is a mystery. but they have actually got it now? they have actually got it now. how did it get there? what happened was, it arrived in their old house in oldham, they don't live there anymore. the man that now lives there is a man called kevin hugh liz. he received these two postcards, he saw the date on them and thought that's very strange, why have they been for the last 30

years? you decided to try and track the couple down and he has managed to do that. he's found they now live in middlesbrough, so, today, we hand—delivered their postcards to them and they were very pleased.” am absolutely thrilled! i'm ever so grateful to kevin. i'm also ever so grateful to kevin. i'm also ever so grateful to kevin. i'm also ever so grateful to my next—door neighbour who actually told him to find us! an extraordinary story. as we said, we don't know what happened to these cards in the last 30 years but the la st cards in the last 30 years but the last postmark on them is from the south lakes, so we think perhaps they'd been sitting in somebody's house that lives in the south lakes and they found them and then decided to eventually post them on to oldham but if you're the people in the south lakes have been holding onto these postcards for 30 years, we would love to hear from you. a great barrel post mystery! i suppose, david, what we gather there is the barrel post goes fractionally slower than great western railways! thank

you both for being with us this afternoon. a 41—year—old mother has been denied the right to work and access health care after she was wrongly turned away from the windrush scheme for not being from a commonwealth country. the home office‘s guidelines say people of any nationality who settled in the uk before december 1988 can apply to the taskforce for help. rianna croxford reports. they can get a picture of mejumping over garden fences and that. this is willow sims and her two children. she‘s lived in the uk for more than 35 years and has been working as a teaching assistant. but during a routine background check last april, her employer said she didn‘t have enough evidence of her right to live in the uk. the life i know started in the uk.

all of my memories are from the uk. and with the bills piling up, she called the windrush helpline. they told me that i wasn‘t eligible for any help under the windrush scheme, because i didn‘t qualify. in december, miss sims wrote to the home secretary, sajid javid, pleading for help. her family are using food banks and she‘s been facing eviction and deportation. i can‘t eat, i can‘t sleep. everything i had now is gone. we are going to lose our house. and i can‘t do it anymore. i cannot do this any more. after the bbc approached the home office, they confirmed miss sims is eligible for help and are supporting her application. willow sims told the bbc she was gobsmacked to learn that, as a us citizen, she qualified for help under the windrush scheme. people of any nationality who arrived in the uk before 1988 could apply to the home office for help.

but, so far, it‘s mainly been people from the caribbean who‘ve been coming forward. and the senior lawyer who is setting up the compensation scheme for those affected by the windrush scandal says the home office needs to do more. clarification‘s the word. anybody who feels that because of changes in policy they have had life difficulties around employment, housing, accessing services, needs to think of themselves as potentially qualifying for compensation, and that‘s the message that the home office need to send, loud and clear. it‘s still not known why willow was turned away and how many others may have been given the same wrong advice. rianna croxford, bbc news. this afternoon in parliament, willow sim‘s local mp ellie reeves called for an apology from the home secretary sajid javid. my my constituent is fully timed hold

to the assistance under the scheme yet due to mistakes at every level of government and despite numerous representations to the home office by willow sim, her solicitors and me going as far back as october, her status has been wrongly brought into question. she now risks eviction from her home. will the minister urgently rectify this chaos, apologise to make and meet with me to discuss her case and what has gone so badly wrong? mr speaker, can i thank the honourable member for raising this case, notjust i thank the honourable member for raising this case, not just today but in october as well because had she not, then this dot to might not be getting the support she is now getting so i thank her for that. i am happy to apologise to her for the mistakes the home office made in not recognising the importance of her case, right from the first moment she contacted the home office and i'd be very happy to meet with the honourable lady and discuss it

further. we will be brought up to date with all the business news in a moment. first, a look at the headlines. theresa may reaffirms her committment to delivering a brexit which avoids a hard border between northern ireland and the republic. four children have died in a house fire in stafford — police describe it as heartbreaking. a fifth child and two adults are being treated in hospital. the actor liam neeson denies being a racist, after telling a journalist he once wanted to kill a black person because someone close to him was raped by a black man. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. canadian firm sunrise records has bought 100 stores from the collapsed music chain hmv beating a rival bid from sports direct owner mike ashley. more in a moment. activity in the uk‘s dominant service sector stalled last month, with new orders dropping for the first time in 2.5 years. the figures, which include

restaurants, shops and banks, are from the closely watched ihs markit purchasing managers index. it follows similarly slow figures from the manufacturing and construction sectors which could be a sign of a cooling economy. losses at supermarket delivery chain ocado rose to £44.4 million last year, compared with a loss of £9.8 million in the previous 12 months. sales were up 12%. but there was no news on the reported tieup between ocado and m&s for the delivery firm to offer online shopping and delivery of m&s food items. you‘re going to tell us all about the markets? yes, quite a busy day for the markets. some good news and bad news but generally london is looking pretty positive all day. rising very steadily. at the moment they‘re looking to close up 2% and

newark has opened positively, too. a number of issues out today. the service sector figures were disappointing with a negative impact on pound sterling which weakened, which meant the wider markets improved. bp, the oil giant, it came out with strong results and that also helped lift market spirits. some bad news generally today, hmv announcing store closures and of course redundancies but the black cloud hanging over this retailer has now disappeared. lots to talk about, let‘s go through this now with richard dunbar. senior investment strategist. let‘s talk about hmv first of all. what do you make of the latest on the music retailer?m is interesting, it shows there is some life in the high street according to some entrepreneurs. sunrise records have bought it, some of the stores from hmv the last time it came out of administration, some of the canadian stores and they've made a good go of those. they think the majority of stores can also do

that so they will take 100 of 130 and hopefully make a go of it. i think there is a market for physical media and hopefully third time lucky we will see whether this can work. let‘s talk about the dominant service sector. disappointing figures following on from disappointing manufacturing and constructing figures. what does it tell us about what is going on in the wider economy? the worst figures for two and a half years, following poor figures from elsewhere in the economy. the economy isn't growing much if anything at all. they point to uncertainty over brexit, not surprising we will get an imminent decision in the next few months but also there is much more of a headwind than there has been before from the rest of the world with slowing growth in the usa, very slow growth in europe, and similarly slowing growth in china so that headwind the uk economy had perhaps a year ago from the rest of the world has turned and is less helpful now. richard we had an update from

cardo but no one is really listening to what they are making money wise, they want to know what is going on between marks & spencer is and ocado, rumours these two will have a tie—up, have you heard anything? nothing from ocado, rumours abound and there would be some logic in that but ocado have a very successful relationship already with waitrose which is part of the reason the shares have doubled over the la st the shares have doubled over the last year. they are doing well and they are forecasting growth with whoever they partner with, 15% for the year ahead so things are pretty good for them and they have options. finally, market heavyweight bp. pretty strong figures out from bp, what are behind these figures? better production than investors had expected so pretty powerful combination. the accusation that heat to make acquisitions they made in shale gas from bhp are doing well

and better results are helping them pay down the debt better than expected. very powerful combination from a company that looks like after many years of travails with the spillage of the gulf of mexico are on the front foot. richard dunbar, lovely to get your point of view from the city, thank you. so, the markets, they have closed on a high, ocado and marks & spencer is big rises, as is bp. more business from me tomorrow. thank you, i enjoyed that, learnt a lot. more than a billion people around the world are celebrating the start of lunar new year. according to the chinese zodiac calendar, 2019 is officially the year of the pig. let‘s take a look at the history behind the celebration with the help of some children from manchester‘s chinese cultural centre. so, a long time ago there was a monster called nian. every year he would come to the village, eat the livestock, destroy all the crops. he wouldn‘t be seen until the next

year of chinese new year. there was an old man one year, he scared the monster away. the monster was scared of three things, the colour red, fire and loud noises. my favourite thing about chinese new year is we get red envelopes with money inside it, and it's called "lai see". i would like £1 million. i really don't care. i want to spend my money on candy! laughter. different foods in chinese new year mean different things. for example, a tangerine means good luck. these pastries represent gold and fortune, because they‘re both brown and gold. this is a watermelon seed, it represents long life. my favourite thing about chinese new year is playing games with my friends. all: happy chinese new year! hgppy

happy lunar year of the pig! pope francis has ended the first—ever papal visit to the arabian peninsula with an open air mass in the united arab emirates. around 170,000 worshippers gathered for the mass in a stadium in abu dhabi. yesterday, the pope called for an end to the wars in the middle east, including yemen, which the uae has been criticised for its involvement in the saudi—led coalition. he also called for greater cooperation between christians and muslims. that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at five with clive myrie. time for a look at the weather. here‘s darren bett. hello there. temperatures have been slow to rise today across some parts of the uk, after a cold, misty, and, in some cases, fog morning. there is milder air slowly coming in from the south—west, mind you, and it‘s pushing in all this cloud as well, which has already produced some outbreaks of rain. especially for northern ireland.

everything is rotating around this area of low pressure, that is anchored to the west of our shores, and that is pushing ahead these weather fronts, strengthening the windy, strengthening the wind, thickening the cloud and pushing rain further east. through the next few hours or so. into the early part of the evening, though, it still largely dry in the south east of england, still quite chilly for eastern scotland and north—east england, much milder further south and west, where we are seeing some of the heaviest of the rain. that rain will continue to push its way eastwards through the evening and overnight, some heavy bursts at times, tending to move away for most areas, sky clearing later on in the night, but enough breeze to prevent it getting too cold, although temperatures won‘t be far away from freezing in rural parts of scotland and northern ireland. milder towards the south—east where we still have some cloud and the threat of rain, and that threat continues throughout wednesday. some rain pushing into the south—west of england, not far away from east anglia, and then arriving across central and southern england a little later as well. elsewhere, we should see some sunshine but there will be increasing numbers of showers coming into western scotland and northern ireland, some of those heavy, potentially thundery. still decent temperatures, though, 8—11 on wednesday. it‘s a messy picture, though, as we head towards

the evening tomorrow evening. we‘ve got that weather front still bringing the threat of some rain towards the south—east of the uk, another one enhancing those showers in from the west. the two combining and pushing their way eastwards. so, mild start probably to thursday morning, some wet weather early on to clear away from east areas, maybe a bit of snow over the higher ground in scotland. and, then, we get some sunshine. we get a few showers coming into western areas, some heavy ones with some thunder across western scotland, many eastern parts of scotland, the midlands, eastern england having a dry afternoon, with a fair bit of sunshine. temperatures, though, a little bit lower on thursday, not too cold, mind you. and, then, as we head towards the end of the week, it gets very interesting. this area of low pressure is winding itself up, it‘s deepening, the winds are strengthening, and that‘s going to push towards the uk. so, at the end of the week, we are looking at milder air but very windy conditions. the strongest winds in england and wales, 70 miles an hour around some of the coasts and hills in the west and, together with the wind, there will also be some rain at times.

today at five. emotional tributes paid to four children who died and a house fire in stafford. another toddler and two adults were injured after the left through a first for a window to escape the flames. tragically, four young children have lost their lives in the fire, and i can confirm that the children were boys aged three, six and eight, and a girl aged four. we‘ll be live at the scene of the blaze in stafford with the very latest. the main stories. the prime minister goes to belfast pledging a brexit deal that promises no hard border between the public. i know that the prospect of changing the backstop and reopening