you're watching bbc news at nine with me, annita mcveigh. the headlines... a body recovered from the wreckage of a plane in the english channel is confirmed as that of the premier league footballer emiliano sala. the brexit backstop deadlock — the irish prime minister will hold talks with leaders of northern ireland's political parties today, before meeting theresa may later. a former president of the royal college of physicians has been appointed to lead a major review into the link between drugs and violent crime. jeff bezos, owner of amazon and the washington post, says the parent company of the national enquirer tried to blackmail him with "intimate photos". what effect are micro plastics having on the uk's seal colonies? a new report says 53 billion plastic pellets are in uk waters. and coming up in sport, there'll be no more horse racing

in the uk until at least wednesday, because of an outbreak of equine flu. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. a body pulled from the wreckage of a plane carrying emiliano sala has been identified as that of the missing cardiff striker. dorset police confirmed the identification of the body last night. the plane went missing off the channel islands on the 21st of january. the pilot, david ibbotson, has not been found. jon donnison reports. emiliano sala's family and friends will have known this moment was coming. it has now been officially confirmed he's dead. after being recovered

from the wreckage of the small plane on wednesday, police say his body has been formally identified by the dorset coroner. the 28—year—old argentinian‘s family, who visited the channel islands to assist in the search, have been informed and are being supported by specially trained police officers. the body of the pilot, 59—year—old david ibbotson from lincolnshire, hasn't been recovered, but the air accidents investigation branch says it has taken the difficult decision to end its search operation. cardiff city fans have continued to pay tribute to emiliano sala, who had onlyjust been signed from the french club nantes. our in a statement posted on social media, cardiff city football club said... as fans, family and friends

have to come to terms with emiliano sala's death, investigators will now be focusing on what caused his plane to crash. jon donnison, bbc news. theresa may will continue her mission to make changes to the brexit withdrawal agreement when she meets her irish counterpart, leo va radkar, in dublin this evening. the prime minister is seeking changes to the controversial backstop which is designed to prevent a hard border on the island of ireland. ahead of of the talks, the taioseach will travel to northern ireland to meet leaders of the mains parties, including the dup and sinn fein. in a moment, we'll talk to our political correspondent alex forsyth at westminster, but first to chris page in belfast. good morning. we note the dup are keen to have detailed discussions with leo varadkar. will that happen

today? they are going to meet him face—to—face, it would be the first time the leadership of the dup will have met with leo varadkar personally to the eu withdrawal agreement was published at the end of november and over the last week oi’ of november and over the last week or $0 of november and over the last week or so they have said they want to hold direct talks with the irish government to try to resolve the big issue in the brexit process, the backstop designed to stop any checks on the irish border under any circumstances. the irish government have been careful and consistent to say that they do not negotiate brexit on their own, only as part of the eu. officially, they have the talks with both northern ireland parties and with theresa may and they are said to be about the political crisis at stormont and trying to share the power—sharing devolved government in northern ireland after it collapsed and safeguarding the good friday agreement but no doubt that the

impact on both of those issues is brexit and clearly it will be discussed. and i presume there will be some discussion of no deal preparations as well because in brussels on wednesday leo varadkar said that was one of the key issues he was talking about. that's right. the irish government have said they are stepping up their no deal preparations. they have been putting more and more emphasis on this and you get the sense it might be to counter some sort of pressure that they might worry about it so much that they might back down over the backstop. ireland and the eu have been consistent that the backstop is going to stay, it is a bottom line and the withdrawal agreement cannot be reopened so as well as the practical imprecations of preparing for no deal because ireland would be the country most affected by that if it happened because of the closeness geographically and their trade links, you get the sense that there isa links, you get the sense that there is a political dynamic going on with

the irish government making the point that they do want a deal but if no deal happens they will be as ready for it as they possibly can be. thank you. our political correspondent alex forsyth is at westminster. leo varadkar saying that when he has dinner with theresa may later they will be having discussions, not negotiations, an important distinction so what is theresa may hoping to get from the meeting. the official line from downing street is that she will update leo varadkar on the work i'm going to try to find an alternative to that northern irish backstop which is proving so contentious. it is right there can be no official negotiations because that happens at eu level rather than bilaterals between individual member states but nonetheless of course it will come up and what theresa may is trying to achieve, similar to what she was trying to achieve yesterday when she met the eu leaders in brussels, is pressing them to try to reopen the withdrawal agreement to secure reopen the withdrawal agreement to secure the legally binding changes

she thinks she needs to get a brexit deal through parliament despite the fa ct deal through parliament despite the fact they have consistently said until this point they will not entertain that concept. that is still the strategy that number ten is pursuing because at the moment they think that is the best way of getting a brexit deal through with the backing of tory mps and dup mps so the backing of tory mps and dup mps so it is about testing the waters and pushing the boundaries to see what scope there may be, if any, to changes to the backstop. and after jeremy corbyn‘s letter to theresa may, setting out five areas they would like to see worked on if they work to back a deal from the would like to see worked on if they work to back a dealfrom the prime minister, what more has been said about that today because obviously we heard from the shadow brexit secretary saying that even though the letter did not mention a second referendum, that possibility has not been ruled out. and we heard john mcdonnell saying that again this month, that this is about labour showing willingness and about what

might form a to get a brexit deal through parliament if theresa may meets those conditions. but labour knows that in doing that it has angered a lot on their backbenchers who say they are fit —— essentially facilitating a conservative brexit which they don't support. they would rather the leadership pivots towards a second referendum or a public vote. others are saying this is clever politics from jeremy corbyn because he is backing theresa may into a corner. she can say that she's not interested in pursuing that route and if a deal does not get through, they can say that we tried. the alternative is that may talks to labour about its demands, the controversial one being the idea of the uk staying in a customs union. tories and labour know that would hugely inflammatory to a lot of tory mps who say it would not work because it would not allow the uk to pursue independent trade deals. i think labour are hoping that what i have done is make a

pretty difficult choice for theresa may but the same time there is the danger of alienating some of their owi'i danger of alienating some of their own mps. thank you, alex. the backstop might be the most used phrase at the moment. if you keep hearing about the backstop and are wondering what on earth it is, here's our reality check correspondent chris morris to explain. you may have heard about the backstop. it's a baseball term, really, so what does it have to do with brexit? think in terms of a safety net and you get the general idea. the backstop is key to talks over the future of the irish border after brexit. why? because this line between the irish republic and northern ireland will be the only land border between the uk and the european union and that matters for trade because, in theory, there should be checks on stuff crossing the border after brexit. but no one wants new inspections at the border. they bring back memories of 30 years of conflict in northern ireland. and checkpoints could become a target. so, the uk and the eu hope to agree

a trade relationship in the future that keeps the border as open as it is now. but, if they can't, or if there is a delay, that is where the backstop comes in. it is a legal guarantee to avoid a hard border under all circumstances. the government and the eu have come to an agreement about how it should work but theresa may's critics are not happy. they say there is no get—out clause to allow the uk to leave the new customs relationship it sets up. the eu says, don't worry, we don't like it either, and it was only ever designed to be temporary. the government wants to tweak the backstop to get it through parliament but the eu insists that renegotiation is not on the menu so they are looking for a compromise before time runs out. the eu says the backstop has to be part of the withdrawal agreement which needs to be ratified before brexit is due to happen on the 29th of march. and, without a backstop, there would be no brexit deal at all. chris morris explained.

amazon founderjeff bezos has accused the owner of the celebrity tabloid the national enquirer, of extortion and blackmail. mr bezos, who is the world's richest man, posted a message online showing what he claims are emailed threats to publish intimate photographs of the billionaire and a woman he was having an affair with. dave lee in san francisco explains more about that message. last month, the world's richest man, jeff bezos, said he was getting a divorce from mackenzie bezos, his wife of 25 years. very soon after that announcement, the national enquirer published a story about his extramarital affair with lauren sanchez, a former tv host. the magazine story included quotes from private messages sent between the couple. eager to know how the magazine came to possess that material, mr bezos paid for a private investigation. now, in an extra ordinary message posted online,

mr bezos has shared what he says are e—mails from ami threatening to publish a number of intimate, private photographs of him and ms sanchez unless his leak investigation stopped. he said the publisher was also demanding he make a public statement, saying the stories in the magazine about his personal life were not politically motivated. in his message, mr mr bezos wrote... mr bezos said his ownership of the washington post had been a ‘complexifier‘ that made him an enemy to certain powerful people, specifically president trump, who has regularly criticised the newspaper and mr bezos on twitter. the president and ami chairman david pecker are said to be close friends. in december, ami admitted that it had, in co—ordination the trump campaign, paid hush money to a playboy model to keep quiet about an alleged affair with mr trump before he took office.

neither the national enquirer nor its publisher have responded to the bbc‘s request for comment. dave lee, bbc news, in san francisco. a former president of the royal college of physicians has been appointed to lead a major review into the link between drugs and violent crime. dame carol black has been asked by the home office to examine if the recent rise in serious violence and knife crime is being fuelled by the expanding market in drugs, particularly cocaine. let's have a look at some of the key figures around drugs and violent crime. a home office review found that 8.4% of 16 to 2a—year—olds in england and wales were reported to have used a class a drug in 2017—2018. drugs are a major source of organised crime financing, and have the highest cost to society of all organised crime types, at £20 billion — that's according to government research published in november.

in 2016—2017, murders where either the victim or suspect were known to be involved in, using or dealing illicit rose to 57%. that was a 7% increase on drug—releated homicides since 2015. professor dame carol black, who has been appointed to lead this major review, joins us from central london. good morning to you. our viewers might not know that you previously provided expert advice to the government on the impact of drug addiction so what did your previous work tell you about the link between drug addiction and violence? my previous work was actually the link between drugs and alcohol addiction and employment. i was looking at people who were addicted, who were in our benefits system, and trying to see and come up with some

recommendations of how we might help them get back into work, find a purpose in life. it was very much centred on worklessness and drugs. if the subject of violence came up, that was at something of a tangent to what you were doing but in this review you say you want to provide the most comprehensive picture to date about the link between drugs and violent crime so how would you set about doing that? can ijust enlarge the picture a moment? although drugs and violent crime will be part of this review, what the home secretary has asked me to do is to look at the supply of drugs, where they come from, if they are made in this country, and then drug usage, the demand for drugs. and this will notjust include those

who are using drugs in association with knife crime, it will include the homeless where drugs are a driving factor. it will include prescribed opioids, the ones we get quite legitimately and then continue to take. and i will also be looking at what seems to be an increase in the use of cocaine in our middle classes. it is notjust knife and drugs. 0k, how do you hope to make a difference with this? what do you hope you will be able to give in terms of new ideas, new suggestions for policy, something that is not already being done? you are right that a lot has been done already. there are many sources of information. it is not that we are without information but i think what the home secretary wanted was someone the home secretary wanted was someone who was independent to take a look at the evidence we have, to

say whether that evidence is sufficient, if there are new lines of investigation that we should go down and if there are gaps in the evidence? to take a really in—depth look at what we have good, to see if we need to add to it. and then to see if there are things within that evidence that would enable us to make some good recommendations. just having information and having statistics in and of itself does not necessarily give you policy or solve a problem. it is how you use that information and can you go and find other information which might link into the existing body of information. thank you very much for your time this morning. that review reporting first of all in the summer. the planning system in england and wales has been criticised by the government spending watchdog. the national audit office claims it's under—performing and unable to demonstrate it meets the demand for housing.

the government says the rate of housebuilding is the fastest it's been for 31 years. our business presenter rob young is here. tell us in more detail about the criticisms the national audit office is making. we keep hearing that the country is in a housing crisis and there are not enough homes built in there are not enough homes built in the right places that —— at a price many people are able to afford so the criticism from the national audit office i think is particularly important. it says that it will be challenging, meaning very hard, for the government to meet the target by the government to meet the target by the mid—20 20s to build 300,000 new homes a year because if you look at how we have been doing at recent yea rs, how we have been doing at recent years , we how we have been doing at recent yea rs, we have how we have been doing at recent years, we have been averaging 177,000 homes per year built in england and although that number has been rising, it suggests there would need to be a big improvement in the number of homes being built every year if the government is to meet its target. and what does the

national audit office to talk about? about local authorities and their role? a lot of them are saying they are finding it difficult to find the land to build homes on, to build flats on, that they have issues with the planning system, objections to planning schemes that are set out for various local authorities. the government has drawn up a national standardised way for local councils to try to work out how many homes they need over the next few years. the national audit office says that it has weaknesses, local authorities say it does not take the needs of local communities into account. just 40 local communities into account. just a0 odd percent of councils have an up—to—date plan on the number of homes they need, the types of homes they need and where. it means that developers could try to build the wrong type of property in the wrong place, perhaps at the wrong price and councils say that without proper plans in place, it could end up

being something they call a free poll for developers, to try to build what they want rather than what local communities need —— a free for all. the na oak have revealed that the number of staff working in planning functions has fallen by about 15% in the last decade. planning functions has fallen by about 1596 in the last decade. is the rate of house its fastest in 31 yea rs rate of house its fastest in 31 years as the government said? rate of house its fastest in 31 years as the government said7m 2017-18, the years as the government said7m 2017—18, the rate was the fastest it has been in 31 years and it has been going up in recent years so we can say things have got a lot better but it was said this morning that they need a big increase in the number of homes built each year in england. developers said they regard the planning system to a barrier to them building more properties but critics of developers will say that in many parts of the country in recent years there had been in luxury apartments that have been built perhaps along river fronts when actually what that area needs are cheaper family homes. thank you very much. the headlines on bbc news...

a body recovered from the wreckage of a plane in the english channel is confirmed as that of the premier league footballer emiliano sala. the brexit backstop deadlock — the irish prime minister will hold talks with leaders of northern ireland's political parties today before meeting theresa may later. a former president of the royal college of physicians has been appointed to lead a major review into the link between drugs and violent crime. and your sports headlines, the british horseracing authority will decide on monday when racing can resume again after the outbreak of equine flu. all courses will remain closed until at least next wednesday. the international paralympic committee wednesday. the international pa ralympic committee has wednesday. the international paralympic committee has voted to reinstate russia by the middle of next month after a doping ban which has lasted more than two years. they will be free to compete under their own flag at tokyo 2020. and amid complaints about the line judging,

jo konta fought back to beat maria sakkari of greece in the fed cup to ta ke sakkari of greece in the fed cup to take them closer to a place in the world group. i will be back in about 20 minutes with all the details on those stories. the search for missing hull university student libby squire continued last night, as a man arrested on suspicion of abducting her remains in police custody. the 21—year—old was captured on cctv in the early hours of last friday morning, following a night out. humberside police say finding her is their top priority. our correspondent sarah corker is in hull. bring us up to date on the investigation and the search. more than 70 police officers have been involved in this week—long search for libby squire but over the last 36 hour the focus of the investigation has moved to a

property on this street in hull. that is because, on wednesday night, a 2a—year—old man was arrested here. as you can see, there is still a police presence at the front and back of the property. yesterday we saw crime scene investigators coming in and out, taking away bags of evidence and a car was also towed away as part of the investigation. despite an extensive search of the area, libby's whereabouts remain unknown and police say it remains their top priority to find her. last night there was a lot of activity on the streets of hull, officers and volu nteers the streets of hull, officers and volunteers were out handing out flyers and information about libby infour flyers and information about libby in four different languages. they drove an illuminated billboard through the streets of the city with her image on and at a rugby match they beam to pictures of her on the big screen. this is all part of their ongoing appealfor information, to help jog their ongoing appealfor information, to helpjog people's memories to help try to find her.

she was last seen a week ago coming back from a night out. she got a taxi home but it is not thought she actually went into the property because just before midnight she was ca ptu red because just before midnight she was captured on cctv sat on a bench close to her home and that was the last time she was seen. this is a residential area, last time she was seen. this is a residentialarea, popular last time she was seen. this is a residential area, popular with stu d e nts residential area, popular with students and close to the university and there is a growing sense of unease in the city about what has happened. sarah, thank you for that. the eldest sister of the king of thailand is running for prime minister in next month's election — a move unprecedented in the country's history. princess ubonrat will be one of the candidates competing against the army chief who made himself prime minister after overthrowing the last elected government in 201a. our correspondentjonathan head is in bangkok. how big a surprise is this move by the princess? there were rumours but

i think many people were inclined to disbelieve them because it is such an extraordinary move. thailand's monarchy is kept in a red beard, untouchable position and status and is supposed to be above politics. princess ubolrat describes herself asa princess ubolrat describes herself as a common living in ordinary life and by putting her name forward she says she is exercising her rights like any other citizen. she is a colourful character having starred in movies and tv dramas, she likes to sing on stage and she dresses in a very flamboyant and fashionable way but the most important thing is that she is a candidate for the party that the military ousted in a coup five years ago. when the military launched that, they said they would doing it in the name of defending the monarchy and a pulse —— always viewed that party is somehow anti—royal. that party, a successful election machine which

has won all of the elections in the past two decades, now has a bona fides princess, orformer princess, as its candidate and it will make it very ha rd as its candidate and it will make it very hard for the military to argue that they are somehow anti—royal and it makes it very likely that the party who was ousted in the coup will stage a comeback. what it means for politics here, everybody is guessing at the moment. it is so unprecedented and crucially we do not know what princess ubolrat, the king, who is still very influential, what he thinks and whether he approves. it will take a few days before it is clear that she is the frontrunning candidate. a list of questions to be answered but some reports that the peoples reform party, they are asking the electoral commission to rule on whether her nomination is valid. yes, the ultra—royalist, as they call themselves, are absolutely furious about this because they loathe the

pro tax and should watch the parties. we have had street parties and coups all aimed at throwing out these parties which they accuse of abusing power and corruption. now those parties have a bona fides royal on their side. they are hoping that they can perhaps find a technical team to disqualify her. a lot of focus will be on what the king wants. he stays out of politics but we are not sure if he will say anything. clearly he must take an interest when his only sister is now involved. does he approve the move 01’ involved. does he approve the move or oppose it? we don't know at this stage and we wondering if we will getan stage and we wondering if we will get an indication in the few days. thank you very much, jonathan. now it's time for a look at the weather. we can cross the newsroom to sarah keith—lucas. good morning. some stormy weather on the cards in the next few days, strong winds and heavy rainfall courtesy of storm eric which is

moving gradually from west to east across the country. with those strong winds today and tomorrow we are likely to see some disruption to travelling, perhaps some small trees down, ferry crossings cancelled. a lot of isobars on the map in association with this storm which is pushing across the north of the country. heavy rain in scotland, northern england, wales and the south—west and that will push towards the south—east this afternoon. it is followed by sunshine and heavy showers moving in from the north—west, gusts of up to 55 mph but there could be more than 65 mph on exposed coasts and hills. it will be mild but when you add in the strength of the wind it will feel colder. this evening and tonight, plenty more heavy showers coming in from the north—west, even with sleet and snow over the pennines and ireland scotland but a mild and frost free night with the wind and rain. another windy day on saturday. hello, the headlines for you now. a

body recovered from the wreckage of a plane in the english channel is confirmed as that of the premier league footballer emiliano sala. the brexit backstop bedlow, the irish prime minister will hold talks with leaders of the northern ireland political parties before meeting theresa may later. a former president of the royal college of physicians has been appointed to lead a major review into the link between drugs and violent crime. jeff bezos, owner of amazon and the washington post, says the parent company of the national enquirer tried to blackmail him with "intimate photos". and coming up — what effect are micro plastics having on britain's seal colonies? a new report says 53 billion plastic pellets are in uk waters. just before the morning briefing...

elderly people have been so cut off from local news after the closure of their last local newspaper that an mp says they have been calling his office for news updates. he says the disappearance of local newspapers is leaving people isolated and disenfranchised. we arejoined now we are joined now by the mp we arejoined now by the mp behind those comments. last week but harlow starr slows down and we have had a paper in our town since 1923. we had elderly residents ring up and say can you send us elderly residents ring up and say can you send us news elderly residents ring up and say can you send us news bulletins in the post or send us bulletins. thousands of elderly people do not

have access to the internet and are being disenfranchised from local news. this is happening right across the country and i am urging the government to have a revival of local newspapers. it's a reminder that not all of us are connected on mobile devices, social media etc but we know that local newspapers are having a really hard time to stay as viable financial propositions, what do you suggest the government can do about it? you make the point, thousands of people do not have access to the internet especially many of the alderley and there are many of the alderley and there are many young people who do not have full internet data packages on the phone to read newspapers online regularly so what i suggest to the government is that they get a grant ora government is that they get a grant or a large financial tax incentive to help small organisations set up community newspapers. we have a

wonderful magazine in harlow goes to aof wonderful magazine in harlow goes to a of local residents and i think those kind of projects should be given financial support whether it's through tax cuts or through a special local newspaper plant. the government says it has a review coming up over at the next few weeks and it could face a calamity because thousands of people will be disenfranchised from finding out what is going on in their local area without being able to find out what is happening in the local area. but harlow starr wasn't just a is happening in the local area. but harlow starr wasn'tjust a local paper or something that banned the community together, it was a local newspaper that had built up social capital in the town and that's what local community newspapers do and we are facing a calamity. briefly, in this void, what are you or others going to try to do to fill that gap, that lack of information for the elderly? there is a community magazine, i put out a lot of

leaflets around the town, i'm going to have to do more of those. i am lobbying government, i've had discussions with jeremy wright, the culture secretary and i'm trying to bring the local news organisations together in my community of harlow together in my community of harlow to see whether we can provide a printed obligation at least once or twice a month or elderly residents. the government must step in and act because these things cost money but we cannot disenfranchise millions of people within the country from local news if they do not have internet access. thank you for your time. time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. as we've been hearing, a coroner has confirmed that a body found in the wreckage of a plane in the english channel earlier this week is that of the premier league footballer, emiliano sala. the striker was being flown from nantes to join his new club — cardiff city — last month when the plane crashed into the sea.

the body of the pilot, david ibbotson, has not been found. well, the news of emiliano sala's confirmed death is trending on social media, with many people paying their tributes to the footballer. the hashtag "rip sala" has been tweeted more than 28,000 times on twitter. "rip emiliano" is also trending. let's take a look at some of those tweets now — cardiff city football club put a statement on twitter, saying it offered its most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the player's family. it added that sala and the plane's pilot, david ibbotson, will forever remain in their thoughts. premier league players have been paying tribute. manchester city's sergio aguero, a fellow argentinian, tweeted: "rest in peace, emiliano. my condolences to his friends and family." while the former england captain, wayne rooney, said his thoughts were with emiliano sala's friends and family.

let's look at what you are reading most on the bbc news app, that is at 11, a story about the recovered body from the plane, formerly identified as that of emiliano sala. further down, the story we told you about, the amazon boss accusing the national enquirer of blackmailing him, the story about the island princess. a little bit down at number nine, a million more young adults live at home, this is a survey conducted by a think tank civet cats between 20—3a 3a euros, a

quarter of those says the survey are now living at home with their pa rents, now living at home with their parents, that's a million more young adults in the uk living with their pa rents adults in the uk living with their parents than 20 years ago. that rises to a1% in london, in some ways that seems pretty logical given the price of property and someone but it's interesting to get a figure on it. lots of you reading that. let's continue with the morning briefing. the shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell says theresa may has to accept that the only way she will get a brexit deal through parliament is to back labour's five demands. speaking to john humphrys on the bbc radio a's today programme this morning, he said that his party's plans are a "traditional british compromise". we put our proposals to her, the same as we put a parliament, primary legislation so that we avoid a no deed and that we secure commitment

to protect jobs deed and that we secure commitment to protectjobs and the economy, that's what this is all about. she says obviously jobs that's what this is all about. she says obviouslyjobs will be protect it in her deal anyway but i'm still not clear because obviously the political declaration is no more than that, it is a declaration of intent. and it will not come legal on less and until it is agreed during the transition period that you are saying you are happy to go into that transition on the basis of the dealer that she is now offering. secured in primary legislation, that's the whole point and that's exactly what we put before parliament. that is what we think will protect jobs parliament. that is what we think will protectjobs and the economy, it should be installed in primary legislation and we think there is a majority in parliament for it but there isn't a maternity in parliament for her own proposals as she demonstrated that such a catastrophic loss. right, but you believe there is a majority in parliament? how would that work? because clearly, the hardline brexiteers at that's what you want

to call them, there is no way they would approve it, equally on your side there are those who want the government to go in other directions, clearly, the parties are split. it's what hilary benn said, the chair of the brexit select committee, and i fully the chair of the brexit select committee, and ifully agree the chair of the brexit select committee, and i fully agree with him, he said to everyone, not eve ryo ne him, he said to everyone, not everyone is going to get everything that they want and there is going to have to be some element of compromise and what we have been putting forward and we've been doing it for sometime now, putting forward what i think is a very traditional british compromise, where we think parliament could come together, avoid a no deals i believe and i think the vast majority in parliament believes it would be catastrophic, would protectjobs in the economy and give us a basis of security but the future. we are saying these are our proposals, we are happy to meet again with the prime minister and told these through, happy to agree any elements in parliament as well to see how we can go forward because we want to

avoid a no deal. the sun newspaper reporting this morning the decision might ina reporting this morning the decision might in a sense be taken out of your hands because number ten has broached prominent opposition mps with the offer of a post brexit package on workers rights. if she can do that,... we have been looking at some of the proposals she has been putting forward and a not give the proposals we been asking for, dynamic protection in the long term. if she is willing to, onto our ground we will look bad but at the end of the day our package stands up on its own right and i think it's the best security we can have for our economy and what is an extremely difficult situation, as we've seen from the bank of england report, growth being reduced yet again. you would be voting for her daily, enabling exit, the withdrawal agreement... john, i think that we would be voting for a deal that we

are putting forward as a compromise to bring about a majority in parliament. some people would say, you are asking her to vote for your deal. what we are saying is here is a deed we think would work with secure parliamentary approval, would give us security for the future but it has to be legislated on, of course. the shadow chancellorjohn mcdonnell. the campaign by the father of molly russell, who took her own life at the age of fourteen, has already had an effect. the boss of instagram — a site molly loved and which directed her to images of self harm — has promised to remove all such images from its site. but after meeting the health secretary, matt hancock, yesterday — adam mosseri went one step further, saying he backed the idea of a new statutory duty of care for social media companies. mr hancock told nick robinson on the bbc‘s radio a today programme that he welcomed the commitment from instagram, and that he expects other social media companies will follow suit. the sites in the past have thought a lot about allowing people who are

recovering to be able to express themselves or alarming people who are in crisis to call for help. without thinking nearly enough about the impact of that sort of imagery on other people. and i think that they now get this, i didn't only meet esther cram yesterday i met a wide range of social media platforms andi wide range of social media platforms and i think there is a willingness now to get this right —— three. and i think there is a willingness now to get this right -- three. you expect other social media companies to follow suit? google, youtube, i met pinterest yesterday and they we re met pinterest yesterday and they were shocked and appalled at what was on their site. what is an idea ofa was on their site. what is an idea of a statutory duty of care and what doesn't add to this. you're talking about putting this in a white paper, one of yourjunior ministers was

talking about this the other day, and it was suggested senior media executives could be arrested if they broke the code of conduct. people have called for changes and politicians have asked social media companies to make changes and there have even some changes, taking down terrorism content for instance. but asking politely is not enough. we need to ensure there is enough enforcement so society as expressed through government can judge what is and is not right to be social media in order to have this duty of care and you know, so many times people say to me i feel powerless in the face of this social media and we are not powerless, we can and we will legislate. you would legislate to do what someone, to treat them as publishers, if the bbc brazil casts anything we are responsible for its content and yet these social media firms can publish anything but you don't treat them as publishers. the

truth is there's in between. the whole concept would collapse if you made them legally liable for everything on the site, per instance, i would not be able to send out a tweet because they would be legally responsible for it so you need something new and something in between. that's where this concept of the duty of care comes from. you cannot deliver a lot of this against the social media companies by the nature of the tech knowledge it. they hit the algorithms. but what you can do is require them to act in a socially responsible way, my senses they want to do that but they need help and support. a quick look at what is in the most watched section of the bbc news website, baby accidentally left on train, a baby accidentally left on train, a baby in heil left on a train by its father, putting the baby in its

carrier on the seat, he steps off the carriage to smoke a cigarette butt does not make it back on in time before at the train in clevela nd time before at the train in cleveland moves off. but staff were alerted to the fact this baby was on its own. the train was brought back to the station so that the baby could be reunited with its father. stout said the baby was never in any danger at any time. do be careful where you leave your babies is the message from that. that's it for today's morning briefing. sport now and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here's mike bushell. the equine flu outbreak continuing to dominate the news. good morning... with horse racing in britain suspended until at least wednesday, i've been talking to a specialist vet, about the three cases of equine flu that led to the lockdown. doncaster was one of four venues to lose out yesterday — and there are fears thatjump racing's biggest event, the cheltenham festival, could be affected, with the gold cup just five weeks away.

and equine vet told me how serious the owners can be put the animals and what could be the longer term effects. it's an infection endemic to the uk, it's always there but particularly serious in unvaccinated horses, they can show really severe signs of disease. the nature of influenza as a virus, it's always changing, the same with what we have is flu anyway. the vaccination lessens the signs that we see, they spread the virus, for not as long as they are vaccinated, these unvaccinated animals are the ones we need to be... but these horses are all vaccinated, in terms of recovery it can take a long time. definitely.

they can show signs for a couple of days or so but in terms of what happens after it can be several weeks to months, it might affect them athletically. especially for a race for us. incredibly contagious through respiratory droplets, a bit like us when we have a cough, it can be spread by a contact and equipment, horses in a similar airspace, a similar group of horses together particularly at race meetings, a lot of horses coming from all areas of the country, it can spread very quickly. hence the lockdown to be sure. it's not tra nsfera ble to lockdown to be sure. it's not transferable to humans. that story makes every back page of this morning's newspapers "racing in crisis" is the telegraph headline they say the horse racing industry will lose millions, with 23 fixtures cancelled the daily express puts the figure at 150—million — and picks up on the fear that the cheltenham festival may be at risk and the daily mail headline the "lockdown", and carry a picture of england rugby coach eddiejones, who they say is expected to leave wing

jack nowell out of the side to face france on sunday. we'll find out within the next 15 minutes or so, withjones due to name his side at 10 o'clock. after that victory over ireland on the opening weekend, mako vunipola is sure to be influential again. back after a calf injury, he delivered a phenomenal performance against ireland. with maro itojey, out, jones could bring in courtney lawes, who replaced him last weekend, or choose between joe launchbury and george kruis. england's women will be missing, the 201a world cup winner marlie packer, for their match agains france in doncaster on sunday. the saracens flanker, has failed to recover from a shoulder injury, picked up in their win over ireland. bristol bears poppy leitch, has been drafted in. in the last hour, we've heard that the international paralympic committe, has voted to reinstate russia by the 15th of march, after a ban of over two years. the i.p.c says measures to crack down on doping and, limit government interference, are enough to allow russia to compete under its own flag, ahead of the 2020 paralympics in tokyo. the board was faced with a fairly

straightforward question. should we'd dig our heels in and continue waiting for a very unlikely russian response to the mclaren report, a move that will keep them suspended indefinitely and as a result russian paralympics not eligible to compete or do we consider whether it is possible to find another way for word? the possible to find another way for word ? the board possible to find another way for word? the board chose the latter. the greek tennis player maria sakkari described the line judges as the worst she'd ever seen, after her fed cup defeat by britain's johanna konta. there's no hawkeye in this event — and konta herself questioned a few calls — she said the judging was tough at both ends but everyone's human and it's the nature of the game. the lta said the judges were highly qualified. konta came from a set down to win and give great britain an unbeatable 2—0 lead in the round—robin tie. if they beat hungary today, they'll be two more wins away from a place in the world group.

here's what's coming up later on on radio 5 live at one o'clock it's the friday sports panel with eleanor old royd — this afternoon she's speaking to alastair cook, carl froch and danny care and there's rugby league commentary on 5 live sports extra at 7 — wigan warriors against leeds rhinos. and don't forget sportsday here on bbc news at 6.30 — but that's all from me for now, there'll be more from the sports centre throughout the day. micro—plastics could be threatening seal colonies in north norfolk. "fauna and flora international" says the beaches at "blakeney" and "horsey" are covered with potentially toxic plastic pellets called ‘nurdles'. seals ingest these through the food they eat and their breeding grounds are littered with them. mike liggins reports. this seal colony on the norfolk

coast. we no seals are getting entangled with plastic but what effect is at having. cambridge scientists working for flora and fauna international at looking at how plastic pallets or noodles at getting into the environment. i've heard of micro beads but i've never heard of micro beads but i've never heard of micro beads but i've never heard of these before, what is the difference, apart from size. i'm not surprised you say that, most people have not heard of nurdles, they are usually much smaller and we find them in cosmetics, toothpaste, things that we put on our face and wash them down the drain. these are the building blocks of all plastics that the use, its the raw material of plastic reduction. just along the coast at the polling we went looking for nurdles and we went looking and we found them. it's estimated there

are billions of them in uk waters. the wind has been blowing the nurdles around the beach but even in the short time we are looking, 15—20 minutes we found between 30 and a0 of them. so at the moment you don't know that these are a problem for seals but you think they might be, why? we don't know the exact long—term impact of medals, appellate pollution on seals but we would expect like other micro plastics, that they will be eaten by the prey of seals, we also find micro plastics in seals coming from fish. at the same time, what we know is that micro plastics are really good at sucking up contaminants in the water and releasing them to the animals that eat them and that is the big concern. for the people who love and look out for the seals, the idea that they might be troubled by plastic pellets is heartbreaking. they were here before we were, i

suspect and they will be hereafter we are gone. but yes, look at them, you could not ask for a better side than not, could you? they are relaxed, the breeding season is over, all they have got to do now is clu b over, all they have got to do now is club about, they will be moulding soon. on friday the great global template one hunt will begin and volu nteers template one hunt will begin and volunteers will scour beaches across the world to try and provide a better picture of where and how many nurdles there are. the answer is unlikely to be good news for the seal populations. a study has refuted the idea that the severity of a hangover can be reduced by the order in which we have alcoholic drinks. the research found that drinking a lot of alcohol inevitably causes a bad hangover. let's speak to dr kai hensel, who led the study, now... good morning, the old saying, beer before wine you will feel fine, wine

before wine you will feel fine, wine before beer, you will feel clear, i have never understood that but explain it for us. good morning, the saying is well known in many languages including english, german, french and many others. we thought can be do a study that is both scientifically completely rigorous and waterproof but also entertaining for the public? it's always good to have an entertaining study, i guess people sit up and pay more attention, you took 90 students and tell us how the experiment worked. first of all we made sure it was quite comparable, we screened people quite comparable, we screened people quite rigorously and used only healthy participants. then we matched them into three groups and the matched triplets that have the same sex, body weight, drinking habits and hangover frequencies to ensure it was but, group1 had beer first and then whine, the next group

had wine, then beer, the control group had only beer and a week later people came back and drank in the opposite order, the beer only group had wine only and so on. and what we measured was the hangover of the following day. there is such a thing as the acute hangover scale, it's a score, you can rate the intensity of your hangover. and that's what we used as the primary outcome. all of those pieces of research, getting the groups of students to swap the order in which they had those drinks showed to you that made no difference, ultimately, on the severity of the hangover that they had? exactly, we used lager, beer and white wine and we did not measure any difference in drinking only beer, only wine or any combinations. was there anything to suggest that someone would feel worse the next day than the next person, for example, whether they

had been sick, whether they had drunk somewhat they were actually sick, for instance? we did blood and you're in tests, all the epidemiology, a huge amount of data that went into the study, ironically, after a regression analysis, the only outcome that is a good predictor of the hangover intensity is how drunk the participant feels and were you sick or not? one of the message drink responsibly, listen to your own gut feeling. you are, in this major's early warning system. did you take pa rt early warning system. did you take part in the study? i too part in protests because we had to know how much you had to drink to have a reasonable hangover, how much you had to drink some people would come back and do it again for crossover design. we did a couple of tests, the sampling, the breath analyser reused agreed with the alcohol concentration in your blood, there we re concentration in your blood, there were some great tests that we did but in the study itself, obviously we had to take care of the

participants. dedication to your work. thank you so much. it's a pleasure. it's almost 10am. time for a look at the weather forecast. let's get the latest with sarah keith lucas. good things shaping up? good morning. some pretty stormy weather on the cards today and tomorrow, storm eric moving in towards the uk bringing some strong winds, for every you are. some heavy rain, blustery showers, not an especially pleasant day if you are out and about. these are some of the recent went gust recorded, north wales, 8a miles an hour. in the isle of wight 6a miles an hour. really greasy conditions, storm eric dropping in pressure quite rapidly over the past 2a hours as it moves towards the uk. heavy

rain this morning for parts of scotland, northern england, parts of wales, the south—west, this cold front making its way south—east during the day. from the north west a return to sunshine and heavy showers, some of the wind gusts between a5—55 also know quite widely, we are seeing higher than that on exposed coasts and hills. a pretty mild day, temperatures in double figures in the south, cooler further north but feeling colder when you add the wind chill. strong, gusty winds continue this evening, especially when deep southern scotland, through the central belt, northern ireland and northern england, plenty of heavy showers overnight, wire and not quite as when the further south but a frost free night for every ur. saturday morning still has the influence of storm eric sitting towards the north—east, another really windy day to come. 70 miles an hour gusts

possible through southern scotland, northern england, the wind slowly easing through the day, plenty more showers packing in towards the north—west, some sleet and snow for the highlands of scotland, try towards the south and south—east, the reappearance of sunshine, you will notice the strength of the wind. strong winds and heavy rainfall today and tomorrow you could see disruption to travel, some small trees down, ferry crossings could we cancelled, tune in to bbc local radio to get word of any disruption. on sunday the next area of low pressure moves to the south, a soggy start across south wales and southern england on sunday, dry for a time as the rain clears, returning to sunshine, the wind turning to the north, a colder data, and sunday. some wintry showers over the hills in the north, things will quieten down for the new working week but watch out for strong winds and heavy rain today and tomorrow. hello, it's friday, it's ten

o'clock, i'm victoria derbyshire. after katie price exclusively told this programme she's struggling to cope with caring for her disabled son harvey and is considering moving him into residential care, we've brought together lots of you who got in contact with our programme to share your experiences. an ee customer whose ex—partner worked at the firm and accessed her personal data without permission has told this programme exclusively how he went on to stalk her. endless phone calls from different numbers, text messages. so much so that i ended up in the police station because i was rather frightened. he would turn up always at night, so, on my way back from night, i would find him there. —— on my way back from work.