hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm martine croxall. today at 2. the daily telegraph says it will publish its allegations of sexual harassment, bullying and racism against the businessman sir philip green — after the high court allowed him to drop his injunction against the newspaper.. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the brexit deadlock over the irish backstop ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. i think everybody wants to avoid no deal, avoid a hardboard and everyone wa nts to deal, avoid a hardboard and everyone wants to continue to have a very close political and economic relationship between britain and ireland ina relationship between britain and ireland in a matter what. ten teenage footballers have died in a fire at a youth training centre for one of brazil's biggest clubs in rio dejaniero. coming up on afternoon live all the sport with james pearce — england rugby team named... a return to the fold for chris ash, his first start for six years.

thanks, james, and phil avery has the weather — all about erik. a bit of me as well. the day started with the storm system noti million miles away from the north—west of scotland, one of us are seeing windy conditions over the next 2a overs and for many a spell of wet weather. more than half. thanks phil also coming up — we'll find out if the old saying ‘beer before wine and you'll feel fine‘ has any truth to it. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. the daily telegraph says it will publish further allegations about the retail billionaire sir philip green. it comes after his legal action against the newspaper was formally ended by a high courtjudge. sir philip, the owner of topshop, had gagged the telegraph

from reporting allegations of racial and sexual harrassment against five employees — claims which he denies. this morning, sir philip accused the telegraph of a ‘vendetta' against him. our business correspondent theo leggett is at the high court. this is the latest stage in what is in on running titanic legal battle between one of the countries best known business people philip green and the daily telegraph. not only that it has raised important legal questions about privacy and what constitutes the public interest and how so—called gagging orders and nondisclosure agreements should and should not be used. it is a complicated study going back months, it isa complicated study going back months, it is a reminder of what has happened so far. it isa it is a better legal battle between

one of the countries best known businessmen at the daily telegraph oi’ businessmen at the daily telegraph or stop they wanted to publish allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and racism and he emphatically denies the claims and took an injunction preventing the paperfrom took an injunction preventing the paper from naming took an injunction preventing the paperfrom naming him. and phone calls which have no been published in said the case might end up bankrupting in said the case might end up bankru pting the newspaper. in said the case might end up bankrupting the newspaper. the telegraph called the affair the british me to a scandal that could not be revealed. revelations did follow, parliamentary privilege was used to name him in the house of lords will i felt as my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question. philip green denies the allegations categorically but in court documents has lawyers conceded that she is a passionate businessmen who can at times be overly exuberant and hot—headed. they added at. philip green and

has lawyers wanted to drop the injunction because they said it had become pointless as he had already been named. the daily telegraph wanted conditions, to prevent him from taking any further legal action against alleged victims of bullying and harassment. they had already signed a so—called nondisclosure agreements otherwise known as gagging orders. thejudge refused so now the telegraph is a free to publish a story and says and plans to deport details of the claims made against the billionaire. sir philip has described the actions is asa sir philip has described the actions is as a vendetta against him. the threat of further legal action remains at the debate that has been started about privacy and the public interest is likely to gather even more momentum. this case will go on and on. the daily telegraph

has a ready published new details on its website including recordings of telephone calls between sir philip and telegraph journalists and later that there will be more allegations against him. meanwhile sir philip has come out with a strongly modern statement in which he accuses the telegraph of a vendetta against him and chooses a montane of dismissal action and naming him and the house of lords using parliamentary privilege. we arejust learning of we are just learning of the death of the actor albert finney. according to his family he had been for this rapid of time. he appeared in over 60 films, his most recent was in the james bond film sky for pretty played the scottish gamekeeper. the scene close to the end of that film for top his first appearance

in a movie was an 1960 the entertainer when he appeared alongside lawrence olivia. he appeared on the stage, primarily known as a theatre actor, frequently cast and william shakespeare plays but 2002 as belts 01’ shakespeare plays but 2002 as belts or him appearas shakespeare plays but 2002 as belts or him appear as winston churchill, an overwhelming role and a film called the gathering storm. he was described director sam mendes is with the ability to move like a cat which is why he cast him in skyfall. he was married three times and became a father at the age of 22, and incredible versatile kid yet and

many directors and coast as saying he was able to step into any role in the matter the age of nationality or background of the character. a popular choice with directors and co—sta rs popular choice with directors and co—stars as well. no doubt they should number of tributes and expected to be paid to him because of that impressively long career. he was nominated for best actor in 1963 following his success in a film called tom jones. he was voted the ninth most popular box office star of the year. he was nominated for best actor but did not win. it was the first of five sadly unsuccessful attem pts the first of five sadly unsuccessful attempts for him to be nominated. also you made a member she appeared as heck your paddle in 1974 in model on the audience express. lee dress up on the audience express. lee dress up in1983 she on the audience express. lee dress up in 1983 she played an active

trading the boards. also nominated for best supporting actor alongside julia roberts in the year 2000. the news just out that albert finney has died at the age of 82. albert finney came to fame in the early 60s, one of the new breed of tough —looking actors entity dramas about working—class life. actors entity dramas about working-class life. they never bite unless the bait is good. i won't get married until i am good and ready. he was a bookmaker‘s son and excelled at acting and sport and skill. professional success came early. he played macbeth at 21 and his range was white. on stage she played a working—class northern lad

and john osborne's tortured luther and john osborne's tortured luther and london and broadway. she turned down the film of lawrence of arabia but accepted the title role in tom jones. he directed himself and charlie bubbles, more working—class grit. ladies and gentlemen we know come to my own reconstruction of the murder. he then came perilously close to being typecast as poirot. in the dress that he played a monstrous actor manager. finney had worked with the alaska actor manager once olivia and as a drama student

had parodied his richard iii. we wa nt had parodied his richard iii. we want working alone and with a limp and a hump and a very strange left hand and be used to place the elevator button to and see i must ta ke elevator button to and see i must take the left to fencing. he was a lwa ys take the left to fencing. he was always a character actor. playing a 93v always a character actor. playing a gay dublin bus conductor and a man 0f gay dublin bus conductor and a man of no importance. and n edinburgh and to do tonnes to hollywood stardom as a golf lawyer alongside julia roberts. in the gathering storm she approved a distinguished impersonator of winston shot show.

there winston churchill. he was never a conventional star but he was a big actor, forceful, versatile and compelling. reporting on the life and career of albert finney who has died at the age of 82. theresa may will hold talks in dublin this evening with the irish prime minister, leo varadkar, to try and break the deadlock over brexit. and ahead of that meeting, mr varadkar is in belfast this afternoon, talking to northern ireland's political parties. it's the first time he's done so since the draft withdrawal agreement was published in november. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, how important are today's talks? it is interesting, the irish government have been very clear that these talks are not brexit negotiations, ireland says it does

not do that on its own, only as part of the eu is of these are discussions as leo varadkhar put it himself, about shedding perspectives on brexit, not about negotiating. when a lever that can spoke tojohn was just after tea arrived here he stressed that as far as brexit was going the process was managed by the eu and that it was the eu that would make decisions. delegation isjust arriving here, the five northern ireland and talks with mr radtke. the dup are ended at moment, this may be ulster unionist partyjust arriving, the second—biggest unionist party at stormont. they will be the second of five parties to meet with leo varadkhar here in belfast today. let's hear it but about what he said have another go about what he said have another go about what he said have another go

about what today's meetings are all about. today is not a day for negotiations, at sed for us to share oui’ negotiations, at sed for us to share our perspectives and listen to each other. meeting with the four major particle parties here and with theresa may end up but negotiations on brexit only happened between the eu and the uk, ireland being part of the eu negotiation team. today is an opportunity for me to listen to different perspectives and hero people have to say and maybe to collect some suggestions as to how we might move for not. everybody wa nts to we might move for not. everybody wants to avoid no deal, everyone was to avoid a hardboard and wants to continue to have a close particle and a comic relationship between britain and ireland so there more that unites us than divides us and time is running short —— a

close particle relationship. the cars carrying the delegations from the northern ireland party still arriving here as we are on air. leo varadkhar saying that these are not negotiations, what about the particle crisis in northern ireland, no devolved government for two yea rs. no devolved government for two years. given that brexit affects all other issues are northern ireland and imagery, brexit will be discussed at the top. theresa may going to dublin this evening to have that with leo varadkhar and from her point of view it will be about putting across the changes she once made to the eu withdrawal agreement, the particular backstop, the guarantee there will be no checkpoints on the land border.

currently leo varadkhar as he had with the dup who keep theresa may emperor at west most, it is the term mps who support the government and key votes and enable the minority government to operate. they are some of the strongest attics of the backstop, they meant in that has to bea backstop, they meant in that has to be a legally binding changes to the backstop ended with likely meant, thatis backstop ended with likely meant, that is their bottom line. the irish government and eu this week will be clear that their bottom line as the agreement cannot be negotiated and the backstop has to stay. few people are expecting a major breakthrough today but there is a sense of momentum and odds and say increasing all the time as this diplomatic shuttling increases and the honour to new talks between the eu and uk on monday and also more key votes on brexit and the house of commons next week. thank you. breaking news

to give you regarding the house fire and staff at this week, two people be told been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence in this house fire which caused the death of four children. they died ended on stafford and the highfields area of the city on tuesday. staffordshi re area of the city on tuesday. staffordshire police say a 24 you known women and a 28 man have been arrested this afternoon, they remain in custody. in a statement the police said they would ask people not to speculative as to what might have happened and appeal for patients as the investigation continues. this instant has had a huge impact on the committee and we understand there will be confusion

and demand for information and we will provide for that updates as $0011 will provide for that updates as soon be unable. a24 yield women and 20 digital you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines the billionaire businessman, sir philip green — who's facing claims of sexual and racial harassment — has dropped his legal action against the telegraph but has strongly condemned the paper's reporting. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the brexit deadlock over the irish backstop ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. the british actor albert finney has died at the age of 82, following a short illness. russia has been re—instated by the international paralympic committee after a doping ban that lasted more than two years.

russians will be free to compete under their own flag at tokyo 2020. the cardiff city manager neil warncok says that he hopes the discovery of emiliano sala's body will bring his family peace and comfort. chris ashton will make his first six nations start for six years when england play france at twickenham on sunday — he replaces jack nowell, who drops to the bench. i'll be back with more on those stores at half past. at least 10 people have died in a fire at one of brazil's best—known football clubs. it happened at flamengo's training ground in rio dejaneiro. it's believed some of the club's youth players, between the ages of 14 and 17, are among the dead. our correspondent in rio — julia carnero has the latest. flamengo is cherished by many in the city. the fire happened overnight in the early hours of the morning when young team members of flamengo were asleep in a dormitory, according to firefighters. ten boys had died and three others were

sent to hospital. it looks like one is in quite a grave state. yes the country is in shock and must be a huge tragedy for the families. the family of the footballer emiliano sala has thanked the public for their support in what they say is ‘the most a body pulled from the seabed in the channel earlier this week has now been formally identified as the cardiff city player. the argentine and his pilot, david ibbotson, crashed into the sea near guernsey last month. attempts to bring the aircraft back

to the surface have been hampered by bad weather. duncan kennedy sent this update from bournemouth coroner's court. the news that this was the body of emiliano sala came from the corner and bournemouth. that was followed by this very sad tribute by members of his family, they said they are in great pain as a result of running that it was his body and also that the more their son and their thoughts are with the family of david ibbotson his body has not yet been found. although emiliano sala died alongside david ibbotson, it is only the cardiff city footballer who has been found. his body was brought ashore yesterday and taken to bournemouth when the dorset coroner will oversee

the process. emiliano sala's family said it is with infinite sadness that be confirm the identity. the statement said... the confirmation of emiliano sala's death was also marked by cardiff city, the copy was en route to play for. whilst everybody expects the worst, when it happens, i got a phone, last night in the evening and it was strange. ed brings the

family peace and that offers them comfort. fellow players paid their respects. emiliano sala's for the french club paid their tribute. he was as much a door to you as he was anticipated encounter. the search for david ibbotson has been called off because of bad weather, has family must wait longer as that of emiliano sala can begin to mourn. you can entailfrom the expression of grief

from family and football wasn't what i regard that they had four emiliano sala but everybody at the same time as keen to stress this morning that no one should forget the family of david ibbotson for the do not have their body and grieving cannot yet fully begin. horse racing in the uk has been cancelled until at least next wednesday to contain the ongoing outbreak of equine flu. the airborne virus poses occupational hazards to riders during an important time for the sport as it heads towards the season—ending festivals. we can talk more about this story now with vet and director of sussex equine hospital, rob van pelt who joins me from brighton. thank you forjoining us. how devastating can this disease be for horses? it is very similar to the human flu so it is the young and

infirm and the older suffer most. how do you treat it? essentially we cannot treat the flu, it is a virus. the majority of horses build a covered quite well without any treatment, if the unvaccinated with flu vaccination in order people then the symptoms can be very mild. what symptoms should horse owners look out for? the first symptom is raised temperature, a dry cough and some horses will have a nasal discharge which will be anything from fluid to quite active yellow pediment discharge. it sounds revolting and deeply unpleasant for the horses, how can the symptoms be soothed? that is why

the bha have taken the action taken, it is highly contagious and therefore spreading it around the countryside where only 40% of the animals in this country are, and there are over one horses, and unvaccinated. very similar to humans and saw the bha have taken this action where they are restricting movement of horses by cancelling racing and testing the horses to make sure that we are in a fit state to resume racing and going into the pinnacle of the racing calendar the cheltenham festival. essentially if your horse is at home and it has developed a conical sign of the flute then certainly adjusting its exercise regime, making sure it does not catch a chill in this

horrible weather is good and most horses roller, without treatment. there are about 10% of horses which will require veterinary attention and that they may develop attention and that they may develop a complication of the flue, the most common is secondary bacterial infection of the lungs. how does the size of the opec computer with previous ones? —— size of the outbreak? flu circulates like in humans outbreak? flu circulates like in hu ma ns co nsta ntly outbreak? flu circulates like in humans constantly and it migrates or mutates so the vaccinated horses no have seen a strain they have not seen have seen a strain they have not seen before and the vaccine will protect a vast majority but not 100%. we see flu problems every now and then however at

the moment it has crossed over from non—thoroughbred population and to the thoroughbred population and that is why the bha have taken the stance to reduce further contamination and spread and that i think is a great move to protect the whole of the equine population rather than just the national hunt or thoroughbreds. thank you. time for a look at the weather... only one weather system and tone. looking back at thursday, i want to show you just how we keep throwing in the ice of buyers meaning this deepening system and as a consequence it

was the irish met office who named it as storm erik. weather watchers have been braving the conditions. some gusts up to 60 most. we have bigger and deeper systems, it is not a record—breaker as such but to you to the cost of dorset, everyone should watch out in coastal areas because the waves are big and we have already had tragic consequences from the storm in the south—west and devon. even up into the scottish borders the rain has already been strutting down and that is not the end of it, the wind of a pleasa nt is not the end of it, the wind of a pleasant through the rest of today. i picked this one out because it

caught my eye, i am here to tell you my part—time hobby as letter picking. i think we need to have once. the celebrity lifestyle continues with me to the highways and byways of berkshire. and i am here to tell you that since august 2017 my family and i have lifted it hundred bags of letter from the highways and byways of berkshire. you are a polymath. i will take that asa you are a polymath. i will take that as a compliment. some very strong gusts of wind, deeper systems and stronger ones we have had but that is the extent of the wind but also the rain causing some concern. we have had those tragic circumstances and the south—west. the rain shows sign of moving away across the south—western quarter of britain, and this portion of the weather front so hiding around as this

wraparound feature around the heart of the storm close by to northern parts of britain saw the rain likely to be ever present there. within the next hour a few are thinking of being only move with the school run across the south—east, suffer swot up across the south—east, suffer swot up and spray, gusty winds and then he heart of the system and we have a lot of rain to come across the heart of scotland, northern ireland and the short term and into the small hours, the system works across northern parts of litton and that will be really heavy rain and all the while that is the strength of the while that is the strength of the wind that is concerning, not a coordinate but we have a problem because into tomorrow we have the strong wins, 60 most which is enough to cause some disruption, local radio will cover it and the storm is not going far. on saturday close by to northern scotland, look

at the isobars so they went a real future. i will show you the gusts, starting off pretty greedy, the dane to the northern half of scotland, shimmers fading but if you attempted out, 50 mil primer gusts across the pennines and at this stage relatively mild. enter sunday, the weather feature comes back to the southern half of britain, more rain overnight into sunday and this feature behind it the wind turns more north—westerly meaning things generally across the piece turning cooler through sunday. sometime before beginning of the rain thena sometime before beginning of the rain then a decent day, cool but the weather feature soups and across scotla nd weather feature soups and across scotland and northern ireland, the show was giving longer spells of rain so we want aware that going on over the next 24

levels and through the rest of today into saturday watch out for the strength of the went. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the billionaire businessman, sir philip green — who's facing claims of sexual and racial harassment, which he's always denied, has dropped his legal action against the telegraph. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the brexit deadlock over the irish border ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. ten teenage footballers have died in a fire at a youth training centre for one of brazil's biggest clubs in rio dejaniero. the british actor albert finney has died at the age of 82, following a short illness. sport now on afternoon live with james pearce. there's been a big decision by the international paralympic committee regarding russia. what have they decided? the international pa ralympic committe has voted to

reinstate russia by the middle of march, after a ban of more than two years. the ipc says that measures to crack down on doping and also limit government interference are enough to allow russia to compete under its own flag ahead of the 2020 paralympics in tokyo. there are some people who just don't think that russia should be able to return to the fold yet. the difficulty for the international paralympic committee is that there are bound to be russian athletes who are blameless here and just how long should they be punished. the ban has to end sometime, and they have taken the decision that this is the right moment. we understand the world may applaud or not but we make our decisions based on what we think is best for the paralympic movement and we think at this moment the

best decision is allowing russian paralympic athletes to compete again but are closely monitoring them and the russian paralympic committee. last night it was confirmed that the body discovered in the plane wreckage in the english channel was that of the footballer emiliano sala. i'm sure that there has been lots of reaction to that news from football players and managers? particular focus, of course, on cardiff city, the club that had signed him for £15 million. the club's manager neil warnock gave a press conference today, as he always would ahead of a weekend fixture — cardiff are playing southampton tomorrow. this is what he had to say. i got igota i got a phone call last night and it was strange, really. obviously it brings the family peace and i think that offers them comfort, the

finances don't come into it from my point of view, it is a human. when we think about giving the family peace and comfort, i think the same goes for the club. ole gunnar solskjaer‘s dream start as caretaker manager of manchester united continues — he's been named as the premier league's manager of the month forjanuary. solskjaer is unbeaten since taking over, winning nine of his first ten matches and claiming ten points from a possible 12 during january. he said united were the "team of the month, both the staff and the players". liverpool have announced world—record annual profits of £106—million. the huge sum is largely down to an increase in media revenue, last season's run to the champions league final and the sale of philippe coutinho to barcelona. a total of £137—million came into the club from player transfers and liverpool say all of that has been reinvested back into the squad. it's another big six nations weekend coming up, and it's going to

be a big one for the england wing chris ashton. he'll make his first start in the tournament for six years when england play france at twickenham on sunday. ashton is one of two changes made by coach eddie jones following the win in dublin last weekend. he replaces jack nowell, who drops to the bench. the other change is lock courtney lawes, who comes in for the injured maro itoje. england's women will be missing the 2014 world cup winner marlie packer for their match against france in doncaster on sunday. the saracens flanker has failed to recover from a shoulder injury, picked up in their win over ireland. poppy leitch has been brought in to replace her. that's all the sport for now. more on that news we broke a short while ago that two people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after a house fire in staffordshire led to the deaths of four children. let's speak to sima kotecha, who's in birmingham. tell us

more about what has been announced. you may recall this fire that happened on tuesday morning just after 2:40am. four children killed. they were riley, keegan unitt, tilly unitt and ollie unitt. staffordshi re unitt, tilly unitt and ollie unitt. staffordshire police have said two people have been arrested in connection to that fire. in a statement they say following an update from investigators into the probable cause of the fire we've arrested a 24—year—old woman and a 28—year—old man on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence. they say the arrests were made this afternoon at around 1:30pm. you may recall from the reporting on tuesday this has hit the community incredibly hard, it happened in the

highfield area of stafford. lots of neighbours we spoke to and people in the community were very shocked at what happens. firefighters told us three people managed to escape the fire. they were the mother of those children, natalie unitt and her partner, chris moulton and natalie's two—year—old son jack. partner, chris moulton and natalie's two—year—old sonjack. we are told that the escaped byjumping from an u psta i rs that the escaped byjumping from an upstairs window, part of the roof collapsed due to the fire and the u psta i rs collapsed due to the fire and the upstairs of the house was especially in bad shape. people will be closely watching as to what happens next with this investigation. a female officer cadet has been found dead at the sandhurst military academy. the 21—year—old was found in her room on the site in berkshire on wednesday. thames valley police says her death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious.

the ministry of defence says its thoughts are with the officer's family. detectives have been given more time to question a 24 year old man over the disappearance of student libby squire in hull. libby was last seen after a night out in the city a week ago. our correspondent sarah corker is in hull. hundreds of police officers and volu nteers hundreds of police officers and volunteers have been involved in the search for libby. she was last seen a week ago on the bench behind me after a night out and a 24—year—old man was arrested on wednesday at a property not far from here. man was arrested on wednesday at a property not farfrom here. we man was arrested on wednesday at a property not far from here. we saw a crime scene investigators going in and out of that house and carrying bags of evidence away, a car was also taken away as part of the investigation. police officers remain at that property, at the front and back, they have been there most of the morning. detectives had been given more time to question that man, an extra 36 hours. libby's whereabouts remain unknown, despite

an extensive search and police officers say finding her remains of their top priority. last night police stepped up their appeal for information from the public and they we re information from the public and they were out on the streets handing out leaflets about libby, in four different languages. they also drove an illuminated billboard through the city with her image and again today we have seen teams of officers at the nearby park close to where libby lives, searching through undergrowth, going along the river bank and also searching an area around a pond. to get that agreement that has to be something that commands the support of the house of commons. it was a good engagement and we look forward to continuing that. anybody have any questions?

three unnamed ministers say they feel that that the do you feel that as well, do you understand that? nobody wants to see a no deal scenario. many people are engaging in project for your and we must recognise that. thirdly, the belfast agreement sets out the criteria and it has not been satisfied. therefore will not be cold. —— criteria for a border poll. i have said what i think about it. first of all, the criteria is set out in the belfast agreement, that has not been met, and there is an element of project fear ongoing and we must recognise that. we want to get a deal and that is what we are engaged in, getting a

deal that will be acceptable to members in the house of commons. you can only get agreement when both sides agree and at the moment you only have the european union agreeing with what is on the table so we need to make changes in accordance with the amendment passed in the house of commons. have you asked the taoiseach to make any compromises are what were on offer? i think he understands the brady amendment passed in the house of commons and that's the territory we wa nted of commons and that's the territory we wanted to have those conversations around. we had a very good engagement. did you ask him what the irish government could do to move it along? everybody needs to be given space, space to have those discussions and they will continue this evening in dublin. indistinct.

it is important we engage seriously in these conversations. we recognise that the eu have their own processes to negotiate and the uk government will have their own negotiating team, but we want to be as helpful as possible to try and get a deal that works for both the uk and the eu and that's why we are engaged in this fashion today. on the labour party proposal, i read with interest what jeremy corbyn has belatedly come up with. i think it might be plan f or g. it does not have the support of his own party. the way to a majority for the deal in the uk is with the conservative party and the dup. i don't believe

theresa may will split her party to root out — — theresa may will split her party to root out —— might reach out to jeremy corbyn who will find it difficult to bring his own party along and cannot be relied upon to deliver the brexit the prime minister believes people voted for. work must continue to get a majority in the house of commons and that will be based upon the votes of conservative, the dup and some in the labour party who believe, i believe will vote for a sensible outcome that can lead to a proper brexit and one that respects the integrity of the uk. what are your body specifically? the brady amendment is clear, the prime minister gave commitment to legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement. she now recognises, as we have said for some time, interpretations, guarantees,

reassurances will not cut it. there are various reassurances will not cut it. there are various ways reassurances will not cut it. there are various ways in which that can be done but it would be wrong to give a running commentary or starting media speculation about the various ways. the important thing is the backstop is the problem in the withdrawal agreement for most people in the house of commons who voted against it. it is that which has got to be addressed. i am now glad the eu have indicated the process will be under way eu have indicated the process will be underway and eu have indicated the process will be under way and the fact that the tissue —— taoiseach is here i think thatis tissue —— taoiseach is here i think that is progress. if the eu don't give grounds, is a no deal inevitable or would you countenance an extension of article 50? we wa nt 50? we want to concentrate on looking for a deal. i hope that is what the european union will be engaged in. despite all of the background noise.

i think people seriously wants, as they come closer to the 29th of march, engage and that's what we will be engaged in. it is up to the uk and the eu to reach a deal but we wa nt to uk and the eu to reach a deal but we want to be as helpful as we can. i don't think there's any point in speaking about an extension now. we are focused on finding a deal and everybody should be focused on that and not on extending time further. if you give more time often you do not get the outcome. there we have the assessment from arlene foster and nigel dodds from the dup following their meeting with the irish taoiseach leo varadkar, on any potential ways of overcoming this a deadlock regarding the so—called irish backstop. leo varadkar going to have a working dinner tonight with theresa may in dublin. nigel dodds dismissing a jeremy corbyn's

suggestion of how to get past the problem in the house of commons but arlene foster are still seeing the dup are essential to this process and will continue to work with the conservatives. jamie robertson is here — in a moment he will be telling us the latest business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. the billionaire businessman, sir philip green — who's facing claims of sexual and racial harassment — has dropped his legal action against the telegraph but has strongly condemned the paper's reporting. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the brexit deadlock over the irish backstop ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. the british actor albert finney has died at the age of 82, following a short illness. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the world's richest man, amazon founderjeff bezos, has accused the owner of a us gossip magazine of trying to blackmail him over lewd

pictures. mr bezos, who owns the washington post, said the national enquirer‘s parent company wanted him to stop investigating how they had obtained his private messages. more on the shortly. energy company sse has seen a sharp drop in customer numbers and has cut its forecast for this year's profits. it said it had lost 160,000 customers in the final three months of last year — it has a total ofjust under six million accounts. the government's housing planning system has come under sharp criticism from the public spending watchdog the national audit office. it says the government is unable to demonstrate it is meeting housing demand effectively. so what is mr bezos saying about the national enquirer? rather a lot of sex, which we don't get much of in business. that's not

was not what i was expecting you to say. there is also a great deal of politics in it. the main point is american media at the national enquirer and launched an investigation into mr bezos and his extramarital affairs. mr bezos launched a counter investigation and said or at least his investigators said or at least his investigators said they had strong lead suggesting it was political. according to mr bezos, he alleged the american media mnational enquirer said they were published revealing photographs if you don't stop seeing it as political. that is where we are now. let's cross over to new york. give us some let's cross over to new york. give us some background on this. what's

so interesting is the political and business relationships going on here. let's start with american media and the national enquirer. he is it aligned to? if you need any kind of gossip magazine in the usa you have probably read one of their publications, they publish the national enquirer but they also own star, us weekly, various gossip filled publications. it can trace its history back to 19205 but in re ce nt its history back to 19205 but in recent years has had more debt and ha5 recent years has had more debt and has run into trouble. since the donald trump administration at there ha5 donald trump administration at there has been que5tion5 donald trump administration at there has been questions about whether or not the engage in catch and kill practices, when you buy a story for the purposes of not publishing it, not having it go out, there is some 5ugge5tion not having it go out, there is some suggestion that they did that on behalf of donald trump. they have some sort of immunity deal

with the b055 some sort of immunity deal with the boss of that company, basically involving payments to a former playboy magazine, former playboy magazine playgirl. who may have had an affair with donald trump. thi5 wa5 an affair with donald trump. thi5 was already 5wirling around and then into all of this you suddenly get thi5 into all of this you suddenly get this tweets from mr bezos basically saying, or accusing this company of trying to blackmail and extort him and he lays out his claims in an extended post online. he says that they are being political and they say you cannot sate that and if you keep saying we are being political, are motivated by a loyalty to donald trump or whatever, if you keep saying that we will publish these photographs of you. mr bezos is in the middle of a divorce and there was a report on him featuring some text, he hired an investigator to

looking into the source of the information and concluded that it was politically motivated. mr bezos has been a frequent subject of attack in donald trump's twitter feeds but he goes further and talk about the fact he is of course the boss of amazon but he also owns the washington post, which has written many studies critical of donald trump and also what's about one of its columnist who was killed, apparently he may have been killed by the saudi arabians. he says this political motivations and they have ties to both sides. in response it's worth pointing out the company have sat on this for 12 hours and now come out with a response saying it acted lawfully and the board will investigate the claims. a quick look at the markets. no sex, please, we're british. we were

heading up towards 1.15 but now slackening off. there's an old saying: "beer before wine and you'll feel fine". but now scientists have dismissed the idea that the order in which you drink alcohol makes any difference to your chances of a hangover. here's our health correspondent catherine burns. or grain but never the twain, or of course. wine before beer... wine before beer makes you feel queer, beer before wine makes you feel fine. we will start with beer and then move onto wine, it's natural. scientists from a university in germany decided to test the theory. they took 90 volunteers and split them into three groups. the first drank two and a half pints of lager followed by four large glasses of white wine. the second group did the same in the opposite order and the third

did not mix their drinks. when it was over they were not allowed anymore but were put straight to bed, reluctantly, in some cases. several were sick, one couple split up and another got together. then came the morning after the night before. their hangovers were assessed, taking into account everything from headache and fatigue to dizziness and increased heart rate. a week later they did the same but the other way round and the result, no matter what order you drink them in, with this much alcohol hangover is almost inevitable. the only outcome that is a good predictor of the intensity of your hangover is how drunk the participant feels and if you were sick or not. one of the messages is drink responsibly and listen to your own gut feeling. hangovers might be all too common but from a scientific point of view we don't understand that much about exactly how to stop them, other than not drinking so much. hangover tips? lemonade in the

morning. a good fry up in the morning, it helps you out. sleep it off. get through it, grow up. plenty of water, get up, if you're going at the next day, hairof the dog. researchers point out that hangovers have one important benefit. they are a sometimes painful reminder for people to learn from their mistakes. if now it's time for a look at the weather with phil avery. while storm erik is the dominant feature, all areas are likely to see some very windy conditions through this evening and into tonight and into the first part of the weekend. a spell of rain followed by showers. there is a storm erik to the west of scotland. in addition, all areas at

some point will see a prolonged speu some point will see a prolonged spell of rain over the next few hours. once that has cleared from the south will see showers urged along by very strong winds also affecting the pennines, northern ireland, then a prolonged spell of rain into the northern and western parts of scotland, perhaps somewhat drierfor parts of scotland, perhaps somewhat drier for a parts of scotland, perhaps somewhat drierfor a time parts of scotland, perhaps somewhat drierfora time in parts of scotland, perhaps somewhat drierfor a time in eastern scotland. this evening and overnight, not1 scotland. this evening and overnight, not 1 million scotland. this evening and overnight, not1 million miles away from scotland this centre brings more areas of pronounced rain across northern britain, things are dry up for some areas. the cloud and the wind keeps temperatures well away from frost issues. to reiterate, over the next 18, 24 hours or so we will be looking at very strong winds, disruption is distinctly possible right into saturday. the whole system not moving very far or fast, eventually transferring to the north sea. again, saturday is

another really windy day. away from the centre the rain will become late —— but more like showers, some areas may see few, if any, showers but the wind will be constant. if you are on exposed roots you will have to consider the effect of the wind on your location. not particularly cold, many seeing temperatures into double figures. saturday night brings another spell of more prolonged rain into southern britain and another weather front into the northern half of scotland. the wind direction changing by the stage. with a north to north westerly across all parts of the country there will be a decidedly chilly feel on sunday than the last few days. we can's weather prospects, sta rts days. we can's weather prospects, starts windy, blustery showers then turning cooler with rain for someone sunday. —— matt rain fought some

on sunday. hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm martine croxall. today at 3. tributes for albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82. they never bite unless the bait is good. the five—time oscar nominee came to fame in the 19605 with a long distinguished career on the stage and screen. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have

been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. politicians from belfast and dublin meet — to try to break the brexit deadlock over the irish border ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. with british horse racing currently closed down because of an outbreak of equine flu, news that three more horses have tested positive in the same yard as previously affected bringing the total number of cases up bringing the total number of cases up to six. and we'll be joining you for a full update just after half—past. phil avery has all the weather. when the conditions across the british isles for today into saturday and for many a spell of pretty wet weather as

well. all the details within the next half hour. we'll find out if the old saying ‘beer before wine and you'll feel fine' has any truth to it. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. in the past hour, it's been announced that the oscar—nominated english actor, albert finney, has died after a short illness. he was eighty two. finney enjoyed a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, following his early success as a shakespearean actor, in roles including hamlet and macbeth. his role as tom jones in 1963 made him an international star. later finney played hercule poirot in murder on the orient express and most recently, a gamekeeper in the 2012 james bond film ‘skyfall‘. nick higham looks back at his life.

albert finney came to fame in the early ‘60s, one of the new breed of tough—looking actors in dramas about working—class life. the fishes never bite unless the bait is good. i won't get married until i am good and ready. he was a bookmaker‘s son and excelled at acting and sport in school. professional success came early. he played macbeth at 21 and his range was wide. on stage he played a working—class northern lad and john osborne's tortured luther on london and broadway. he turned down the film of lawrence of arabia but accepted the title role in tom jones. there is something in me which heats

this selling of an image to the public in order to sell a product. you say this is what it does and i felt terribly imprisoned by this feeling of being a north country youth. he directed himself in charlie bubbles, more working—class grit. ladies and gentlemen we now come to my own reconstruction of the murder. he then came perilously close to being typecast as hercule poirot. he married in 1970 before resuming a career as a successful womanising.

he campaigned against the imposition of vat on theatre tickets. we are casual labour, our profession started in the streets and that is may be a web you will end up if the tax does not come off. in the dresser he played a monstrous actor manager. finney had worked with the last actor manager laurence olivier and as a drama student had parodied his richard iii. we were walking with a limp and a hump and a very strange left hand and we used to press the elevator button to a class and say i must take the lift to fencing. he was always a character actor. playing a gay dublin bus conductor in a man of no importance.

and in erin brokovich he returned to hollywood stardom as a gruff lawyer alongside julia roberts. whoever did this to you may mistakenly will make him pay for it. in the gathering storm he proved a distinguished impersonator of winston churchill. no power, no prospect of power. he was never a conventional star but he was a big actor, forceful, versatile and compelling. our entertainment correspondent, lizo mzimba

is here. when you think back at her many films you can recall him on, it is quite a body of work. and notjust films, theatre as well. if you are back at the acting that it's of the 20th century, people like him are what personified the image of what in many ways they should be. starting out in the theatre coming to the old vic and the national, the theatre training in medicine many acting greats and transferring to film and becoming a film star, opposite some of the few people that can say they acted with olivia. he did not forget his theatre routes, still doing shakespeare and reinventing himself as he went

along. you could also sing, he appeared in the musical scrooge and annie. he had versatility and was one of those 20th—century actors that personified what the great acting career could be. that is borne out by the comments made about him by his co—stars and directors. that was his last cinema role in skyfall, the 50th anniversary bond movie anti—he was oppositejudi dench as well and it is remarkable, so few actors who say they could play with daniel craig and judi dench and laurence olivier and he was an actor who had the wonderful vibrant voice and personality and qualifications, theatre

training and ba fta qualifications, theatre training and bafta and oscar nominations. he famously never went to the oscars saying it is a long way to go for a party and i could not sit still for that long without a cigarette on a drink. he had that site disdain for the flashier side of the entertainment industry but has a talent shone through in a career that went on for decades, one of those true could it actors of the 20th—century who personified the way you see what an actor should be fossil many years. no doubt the tributes will pull in and we will hear from you later thank you for the moment. a high courtjudge has allowed the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. the retailer tried to prevent the newspaper linking him to claims of harassment — which he's always denied — but abandoned the case after he was named in parliament. this morning, sir philip launched a scathing attack on the telegraph, accusing it of a ‘vendetta' against him.

our business correspondent theo leggett is at the high court. this is the latest stage in what is in on running titanic legal battle between one of the country's best known business people philip green and the daily telegraph. not only that it has raised important legal questions about privacy and what constitutes the public interest and how so—called gagging orders and nondisclosure agreements should and should not be used. it is a complicated story going back months, here is a reminder of what has happened so far. it is a bitter legal battle between one of the country's best known businessmen and the daily telegraph who wanted to publish allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and racism and he emphatically denies the claims and took an injunction preventing the paperfrom naming him. and in phone calls which have now been published he said the case might end up bankru pting the newspaper. the telegraph called the affair the british metoo the affair the british metoo scandal that could not be revealed.

revelations did follow, parliamentary privilege was used to name him in the house of lords. i feel it is my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question. philip green denies the allegations categorically but in court documents his lawyers conceded that he is a passionate businessmen who can at times be overly exuberant and hot—headed. they added... philip green and his lawyers wanted to drop the injunction because they said it had become pointless as he had already been named. the daily telegraph wanted conditions, to prevent him from taking any further legal action against alleged victims of bullying and harassment. they had already signed a so—called nondisclosure agreements otherwise known as gagging orders. thejudge refused so now

the telegraph is a free to publish the story and says and plans to deport details of the claims made against the billionaire. sir philip has described the actions as a vendetta against him. the threat of further legal action remains and the debate that has been started about privacy and the public interest is likely to gather even more momentum. this case will go on and on. the daily telegraph has already published new details on its website including recordings of telephone calls between sir philip and telegraph journalists and later there will be more allegations against him. meanwhile sir philip has come out with a strongly worded statement in which he accuses the telegraph of a vendetta against him and of dismissal

action and naming him and the house of lords using parliamentary privilege. well let's hear what lord hain had to say about that announcement he made in the commons back in october. it was the correct thing to do and the fact he has withdrawn this action against the newspaper as a vindication of what identical what i felt i was doing was standing up for victims and for the ordinary citizen against rich and powerful individuals who can use their wealth and power to silence and conceal abuse. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. let's speak to sima kotecha who's in birmingham. this fire happened in the early others of

tuesday at around 2:40am, four children died aged between three and eight. at around 1:30pm today police say they arrested two people, a 24 women and the 20 age old man on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence. the say the arrests were made this afternoon, the man and woman are currently in custody and this fire has set the local community hard, you can see people are shaken by what took place. this fire has set the community incredibly hard, you can see people are shaken by what took place. we are having problems with our online it to birmingham, very sorry. you're watching afternoon live, these are our

headlines tributes for albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82 a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after four children died in a house fire in stafford. and with british horse racing shutdown because of equine flu, three more cases have been confirmed at the same yard bringing the total of confirmed cases to six. the premier league has announced clubs will wear black armbands this weekend in tribute to emiliano sala. chris ashton will make his first 6—nation start for sexier but england play

france on sunday. more in15 england play france on sunday. more in 15 minutes. theresa may is set to hold talks with the irish leader leo varadkar this evening as she tries to break the deadlock over the irish border. the irish taoisearch has also been holding talks today with the main stormont parties. speaking a short while ago, the democratic unionist party said they want to get a deal that works both for mps in the house of commons and for the eu. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, how important are today's talks? the irish government have been very clear that these talks are not brexit negotiations, the eu does that so these tops and discussions sharing perspectives not negotiations. leo varadkhar is talking with the

five main stormont parties, the ulster unionist party has finished giving a news conference there. we also had from the dup whose ten mps keep theresa may and power at westminster. arlene foster told us that the talks with leo varadkhar where wide—ranging and good and she thought it was positive that the irish by minister was here in belfast talking to the parties. leo varadkhar stopped to speak to reporters and again he stressed that this was not about any sort of negotiation about brexit on the backstop, that guarantee that there will not be any body or pushed on the island of ireland and that any circumstance which has been at the heart of so much debate, this summer what he had to say. this is a day for

us for perspectives and to listen to each other and negotiations on brexit only happened between the eu and the uk, ireland being part of the eu negotiation team but today is an opportunity for me to listen to different perspectives and collect suggestions as to how we might move forward. everybody wants to avoid no deal and a hard border and continue to have a very close particle and a comic ownership between britain and ireland no matter what so there is much that more that unites us and time is running short and we need to get to an agreement as soon as possible and i am working hard to do that. leo varadkhar talking about his desire to avoid no deal. the dup, things from a different

perspective and are strongly opposed to the backstop but also stressing they also want a deal. asked about they also want a deal. asked about the liberal party's proposes on brexit, a permanent customs union between the eu and uk, the dup pot leader at westminster said she thought the way to secure a brexit majority in was the conservative and dup. positive soundings from everybody involved but no suggestion that has been any major breakthrough and no expectation of that. after leo varadkhar is finished he will go back to dublin to meet theresa may for dinner. what the payments that will try to achieve is to put forward what she is hoping allott legally binding changes to the metro agreement and the backstop but the eu and ireland have been more clear than the ever have been that the metro agreement not be the opened

one you negotiated and that the backstop is going to stay. still pretty ha rd to backstop is going to stay. still pretty hard to see how this circle can be squared. let's talk now to journalist and former westminster correspondent for rte, brian o'connell. there is a lot of talk today with leo varadkhar and there is a lot of talk today with leo va radkhar and belfast there is a lot of talk today with leo varadkhar and belfast and dublin, but if the eu 27 at the house of commons that will decide this, what is the point of all this talk? the irish government are quite keen to stress that this is not a bilateral negotiation. between the irish government and british prime minister on brexit. when they set stone to dinner and dublin tonight i think mrs may will probably hear much the same as she held

from the european commission yesterday that they with no agreement or not beauty open to negotiation. that is a possibility around putting some once and the political declaration of which is an annex to the addendum to the throw agreement but that is not going to be legally binding so probably not do enough and the house of commons for mrs may to get hot deal across the line. there have been talk, rumour, conjecture possibly that this commitment to the backstop for the irish product might be imperil and some weight. you 27 could be cracking a bit of it, what is the sense around that? and dublin they are fairly confident that the eu 27 and not going to split on this and it is going to

be as it is no, not up for negotiation. the irish product between the republic and northern ireland becomes the eu land border and donna to scan and jean—claude juncker will do whatever it takes to protect the integrity of the single market, that is the most important thing. they will not back down on that. how unhelpful or helpful have donald tusk‘s comments about a special place in hell for actively does who do not have a plan to leo varadkhar restrain to keep these congenial conversations going? ido these congenial conversations going? i do not think it was particularly helpful. i understand the frustration that all sides must feel. the eu has had things are said

about it as well from westminster in the past so it is not particularly new. it was not particularly helpful, it is great at was leo varadkhar standing beside donald tusk when he said that in the long—term and full not really change matters that much. theresa may is looking for some kind of get out from the backstop or a ten limited backstop but as simon coveney has repeatedly said that means it is no longer the insurance policy that the irish government needs. the backstop would be in the event of a deal being struck in its current form but if that is an ordeal that is no backstop saw how likely does 11 think that in ordeal will be the outcome and how worried with the b? they are very worried as our businesses in the uk. it is

going to be hugely impactful on ireland, after britain at the irish economy as the next most vulnerable economy in europe to brexit. the are hugely bodied about it, they have put a lot of money and thought into what happens in the event of a nodal particularly with food exports. they don't want it, leo varadkhar said that today and the cannot back down on the backstop, they have to stick by it because the irish government as is the british government and court guarantors of the good friday agreement. we heard arlene foster referring to that. thank you. jeff bezos, the founder of amazon,

has accused the owners of a us gossip magazine of trying to blackmail him. mr bezos, the world's richest man, has posted online what he says are emailed threats from the national enquirer‘s lawyers to publish intimate photographs of him and a woman he'd been having an affair with. american media, which owns the enquirer has said it acted lawfully and would thoroughly investigate the blackmail claims. let's speak to our washington correspondent gary o'donaghue. this is an incredibly complicated, help us unpack it. it is an extraordinary study with many layers to it but essentially what you said there is thatjeff bezos, studies are published about him by the national inquired of having this affair. you lost an investigation into the owners of the national inquired, made allegations about their particle motivations and no she has published what he says and blackmail threats from them saying if you don't back off on

your accusations about our work being politically motivated then we are going to publish a whole bunch of these explicit pictures he allegedly sent to his girlfriend and she sent back to him. the background of this is that american media, the owners are involved and the whole business of the investigation and new york and to the paying off of women who are alleged to have affairs with donald trump. they have a it acknowledge they had a policy of what they called catch and kill in relation to people like karen mcdougall are trying it hold of stories and stop them being published to protect the basis on whichjeff bezos are single are politically motivated and he owns the washington post and the present does not like that newspaper so you can see a wave of potential connections but he got a massive tabloid newspaper going up against

the richest man in the world and know all the dotted laundry is out there and public. jeff bezos accepts you could be taking a risk. he couldn't and that means that all these details offers private life are recirculating and getting more scrutiny and the personal consequences of that but he thinks he's trying to highlight the operation, the way the national inquired national enquirer operates. it isa inquired national enquirer operates. it is a controversial magazine that provides itself on its celebrity scoops but insists it has a journalistic outfit. it has declined in recent years, its circulation was under 300,000 last year and that as a huge decline, it is not alone in that kind of decline of circulation,

many print organs have been declining but this is something that does not just involve declining but this is something that does notjust involve these two be a maths, it is also connected to the whole business of the president and has a relationship to the owners of the national enquirer. thank you. the family of the footballer emiliano sala has thanked the public for their support in what they say is ‘the most painful time' of their lives. (ani) a body pulled from the seabed in the channel earlier this week has now been formally identified as the cardiff city player. the argentine and his pilot, david ibbotson, crashed into the sea near guernsey last month. attempts to bring the aircraft back to the surface have been duncan kennedy sent this update from bournemouth coroner's court. although emiliano sala died alongside david ibbotson, it is

only the cardiff city footballer who has been found. his body was brought ashore yesterday and taken to bournemouth when the dorset coroner will oversee the process. emiliano sala's family said it is with infinite sadness that we confirm the identity. the statement said... the confirmation of emiliano sala's death was also marked by cardiff city, the club sala was en route to play for. whilst everybody expects the worst, when it happens, i got a phone, last night in the evening and it was strange. it brings the family peace and that offers them

comfort. fellow players paid their respects. emiliano sala's former french club nantes paid their tribute. he was as much adored here as he was anticipated in cardiff. the search for david ibbotson has been called off because of bad weather, his family must wait longer as that of emiliano sala can begin to mourn. now it's time for a look at the weather with phil

avery. good afternoon. wherever you are spending the next few hours across the country we are all in for a speu the country we are all in for a spell of windy and for some quite wet weather. low pressure which is storm erik to the west of scotland, we have a front working right across england and wales. the rain including the kent coast line by the early pa rt including the kent coast line by the early part of the night but further north this weather front comes back across bringing longer spells of rain. nota across bringing longer spells of rain. not a particularly cold nights but it will be windy and that's the case into saturday, too. showers aplenty for northern britain to start the day but becoming fewer and further between for many into the afternoon. not just as further between for many into the afternoon. notjust as mild as friday. for a sunday it will be even cooler but the winds will be

not such a feature and there will be rainfor such a feature and there will be rain for some across parts of scotla nd rain for some across parts of scotland and southern counties of england in particular. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. tributes are paid to albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after four children died in a house fire in stafford. sport now on afternoon

live with james pearce. tell us more about the equine flu problems that have brought a halt to horse racing in this country. that little calf was perhaps suitable. —— matt core. it is a very serious issue for the horse racing industry. bad news for the racing industry, hoping for a quick end to this outbreak of equine flu. the sport is currently on day two of what will be at least a six day shutdown. three more positive cases have been confirmed today. they are all from donald mccain's stables — the same yard that was previously affected. so that brings the total number of cases to six. worrying times for the sport, in particular with the cheltenham festival looming over the horizon. that's due to take place next month. here's the editor of the racing post, tom kerr. we are talking about the loss

to the industry of millions every single day, if you consider the prize money at last, media rights from bookmakers and tv stations broadcasting the action and of course at the lower level you have a small businesses such as trainers, farriers, self—employed jockeys all without a livelihood right now. however, a separate suspicious case, which has not yet been confirmed as a positive sample, has been identified at another yard. no links have been identified between this yard and the original yard. this yard had runners at the fixtures at newcastle on five february and wolverhampton on six february, and as such the bha has taken the further precautionary steps of placing all 54 yards of trainers who also had runners at these fixtures on hold and initiating testing of horses from these yards. the premier league preparing to pay their respects. the premier league and the football league have confirmed that all teams

will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to sala. there will also be a minute's silence at st mary's for cardiff's game at southampton tomorrow. teams in france will hold a minute's applause. cardiff manager neil warnock gave a press conference today, as he always would ahead of a weekend fixture. here's what he had to say. i got a phone call last night and it was strange, really. obviously it brings the family peace and i think it offers them comfort. the finances don't come into it from my point of view, it is human. when we think about giving the family peace and comfort, i think the same goes for the club. manchester united's upturn in form has been acknowledged with marcus rashford and ole gunnar solskjaer winning the premier league player and manager of the month solskjaer is unbeaten since taking over, winning nine of his first ten

matches and claiming ten points from a possible 12 during january. he's the first manchester united manager to win one of these awards since sir alex ferguson was in charge. it's another six nations weekend coming up, and it's going to be a big one for the england wing chris ashton. he'll make his first start in the tournament for six years when england play france at twickenham on sunday. ashton is one of two changes made by coach eddie jones following the win in dublin last weekend. he replaces jack nowell, who drops to the bench. the other change is lock courtney lawes, who comes in for the injured maro itoje. i think the squad as a whole is in the really good place. just from the lads carrying on from the autumn until now, the back three we have, we all get on and we all buy into it together. we all understand we are

all very different players and eddie will choose that how he sees fit. i am very grateful i get a chance to play against france. that's all the sport for now. the king of thailand's 01:35:12,1000 --> 01:35:14,320 sister has caused consternation by running for the office of prime minister. there's a longstanding tradition that thai royalty stays out of politics, but the princess is one of the candidates competing against the country's army chief — who made himself prime minister after overthrowing the last elected government five years ago. jonathan head's report from bangkok contains flash photography from the start. thailand's long political hibernation has come to a dramatic end. as an antimilitary party submitted an extraordinary candidate for prime minister. she is a top royal, elder sister to the king. and a character. calling herself a commoner, as she's given up her royal titles, princess ubonrat has embraced

celebrity and pop culture. she's flamboya ntly fashionable, an avid social media user, and has starred in several movies. in a country that reveres royalty, she could be a huge electoral asset. and she's chosen a controversial side. parties like hers, allied to former prime minister thaksin shinawatra, have won every election for the past 20 years. he was deposed by a coup. and his sister yingluck was unseated by ultra—royalist protesters who said the shinawatra clan threatened the monarchy. it was in defence of the monarchy, said general prayut chan—o—cha, that he mounted his coup five years ago. his military government supervised the succession of king vajiralongkorn and wrote a new constitution, which was meant to weaken the shinawatra's

influence in this election. so what are ordinary thai's to make of this extraordinary development? until now most had assumed that the military would use a constitution and electoral system which stacked the odds in its favour to hang on to power. but the entry of a flamboyant royal family member into the game has significantly rebalanced those odds, though how far and with what consequences for thailand's political stability, we just don't know. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. it's the pipeline from the east that's dividing the west. at the moment, 40% of gas used in the european union comes from russia. and the nordstream two project would see that figure rise significantly. the united states and other countries fear the pipeline would increase europe's dependence on russia for its energy supplies. jenny hill reports. the relationship between germany and the united states has been turbulent since donald trump came to power. i think it's a horrible thing

that germany is doing. he's attacked germany's trade surplus, its nato contributions, and now there is another source of contention. it's a horrible thing that you have a pipeline coming from russia. germany is a captive of russia. under the baltic sea, engineers are already laying a pipeline. it will bring more russian gas, and some fear, more russian influence into europe. there is already a pipeline in place, nord stream 1. nord stream 2 will run alongside it, from kingiseppsky in russia, to greifswald in germany, doubling its capacity. this is where that pipeline, russian gas, is due to arrive on european soil. it's still a building site, but it's also become a political battle ground. right now a lot of europe's gas is piped in via ukraine, which russia pays as a transit country. ukraine's worried that once nord stream 2 is complete, russia will mothball its

pipeline. there's still a lot to do but they reckon they'll get all of this finished by the end of the year. there is still though opposition from within the eu and america is not giving up either. they are still threatening sanctions on the western companies involved in this project. well, what we are concerned about is increased influence from russia at this time. isn't the truth that america would like to have that kind of influence by selling liquefied natural gas to europe? look, the fact is that the americans try to sell everything to everybody all of the time, that's capitalism, that's what we do... so why object when russia tries to do the same? well, let me finish my point. we've been consistently against this project, even before we had the ability to sell lng. nobody knows for sure how much gas europe will demand in the coming years, but as countries scramble to supply and secure it, its political value is rising. jenny hill, bbc news, greifswald. the giant drax

power station in north yorkshire has become the first in the world to capture carbon dioxide by burning wood pellets. the company says the electricity it is producing during a trial at the plant near selby is carbon negative and helping to combat climate change on a very small scale. but environmentalists have expressed opposition. our environment analyst roger harrabin reports. we humans owe trees a great debt. when they're growing, they absorb much of the carbon dioxide emissions that are overheating the planet. that is why the uk's biggest power station, drax in yorkshire, has largely shifted away from coal. the new fuel is in these giant domes. they're filled with wood pellets that will be burned to make electricity. when the pellets are burned, they will only release the co2 the growing trees captured in the first place. this is known as carbon neutral. now drax is going one step

further. with this equipment, it is taking the exhaust gases from the wood burning, and it is stripping out the carbon dioxide. the flue gas comes in here, and these tanks use a special chemical to separate out the co2. the co2 will later be able to be sold for industrial purposes. capturing the carbon dioxide from wood is a radical step. it's known as going carbon negative. so we are piloting a technology that actually removes the carbon emissions when we use bioenergy to produce electricity. so actually becoming a carbon negative power station, which we believe is absolutely critical, if we are to hit our global warming targets, and keep temperatures below preindustrial levels. but what to do with that captured carbon dioxide? well, in nearby leeds, this firm is buying carbon dioxide, and mixing it with incinerator ash from these hoppers. blending the co2 with the ash

creates artificial limestone pellets. you can see the heat from the chemical reaction. the pellets get turned into building blocks like these. it's ingenious to take a waste product like co2 and turn it into something useful like this. the problem is one of scale. one report suggests that, to solve our energy problems, we would need to be burning wood from forests three times the size of india. think of the impact. when wood is burnt, you take carbon that has been stored in forests, forests that have been growing often for hundreds of years, certainly for decades, you cut it down, you burn them. it will take new forests decades to grow back, if they are able to grow back at all. so the healthy climate relies on healthy forests. we need to have more of them. drax say there is plenty of timber for current levels of burning. they think they will

be asked to expand their co2 capture experiment to help stabilise the climate. roger harrabin, bbc news, in yorkshire. jamie is here, in a moment he will be here with the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. tributes for albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. the world's richest man, amazon founderjeff bezos, has accused the owner of a us gossip magazine of trying to blackmail him over lewd pictures.

mr bezos, who owns the washington post, said the national enquirer‘s parent company wanted him to stop investigating how they had obtained his private messages. the government's housing planning system has come under sharp criticism from the public spending watchdog the national audit office. it says the government is unable to demonstrate it is meeting housing demand effectively. more on that shortly. energy company sse has seen a sharp drop in customer numbers and has cut its forecast for this year's profits. it said it had lost 160,000 customers in the final three months of last year — it has a total ofjust under 6 million accounts. there are problems with the government's housebuilding programme. the national audit office says there's a structural weakness in the way local authorities plan new housing. in the way local

authorities assess how much land they need, go about getting developers to develop and when they say they don't have enough land, developers are allowed to develop with much looser planning restrictions. there are criticisms about the whole planning inspectorate, many things they say are wrong. when we have this target of 300,000 houses each year, which is what we build —— might want to build into the middle of the next decade, they say there will be a serious shortfall, in london something like half the amount. it is structural problems which they say are at the heart of this. we can speak to victoria hills, chief executive of the planning institute and get her reaction. let's start at the beginning about local authorities, they have responsibility for processing how much housing is needed and finding land. is there a problem

there? what we've been seeing for many years is the problem is not with the system, it is with lack of resources. our research shows 15% cut in the number of planners in the last ten years and ata of planners in the last ten years and at a time when we need more homes than we have needed for some time, this is not good enough and we need more resources, there is a special case for resourcing planning properly and we look at the government to work to help make that happen. is that why they are not assessing how much land they've got are not doing it accurately? if you look at local authority resourcing, 40% of local authority resourcing, 40% of local authority resourcing, 40% of local authority planners tasked with producing local plans, essentially disappeared due to local cuts. essentially, if you have not got the resources there and businesses say to me is we need to have well

resourced local authority departments to work with and help us deliberately home is quicker and faster and more homes. deliberately home is quicker and fasterand more homes. is it deliberately home is quicker and faster and more homes. is it any wonder as the n a0 have identified, around 40% of local authorities do not have an up—to—date local plan in place if we don't have the plan is to help deliver it? some people have said you should have a more lax planning process and allow the market to decide. people complain planning regulations are far too restrictive upon developers. we don't take that view, we do not think the system is broken, we think it works. we need to put more resources in, more chief planning office rs resources in, more chief planning officers at the top table. the royal town planning institute found 83% of local authorities do not have a chief planning officer at the top table. how can you make strategic investment decisions about where to put schools, health

care, railways, roads if you are not at the right level? i want to make this clear because you are seeing national audit office comes out with criticism about how the system works, you see it's not the system works, you see it's not the system, it is there is not enough people to run the system? we say four years they are not enough planners, 15% loss over the past ten years but it's not about local authorities and what we say, this is what businesses tell me and i speak to lots of developers and house—builders and they want well resourced planning departments. we will launch a chartered town planner apprenticeship this year which will be an amazing opportunity to bring many more planners in but we need the resourcing brought back in. there is a special case for government to resource planning departments in the light of budget cuts at the moment in local government, we appreciate that but ata time government, we appreciate that but at a time when england and the uk need more homes than ever before,

let's resource the planning departments and put planning back at the top table. thank you very much indeed. she seems to think the national audit office, in a way, it is not the structure that the problem, it's not having enough people. and here are the markets. that's all the business news. sorry, i was looking for a camera and it has not turnaround. conservationists say grey seal colonies in norfolk this are being threatened by tiny plastic pellets called nurdles. conservationists say grey seal colonies in norfolk are being threatened by tiny plastic pellets called nurdles. researchers says the beaches in the north of the county, which are important breeding grounds, are covered with the potentially toxic pellets.

seals are known to ingest the nurdles through the food they eat. mike liggins reports. the seal colony at horsey on the norfolk coast. we already know seals are getting entangled in plastic. but what effect are micro plastics having on these animals? scientists from cambridge working for the conservation organisation flora and fauna international are looking at how plastic pellets — or "nurdles" — are getting into the environment. i've heard of micro beads. yes. but i've never heard of nurdles before. yes. what's the difference, apart from size? i'm not surprised you say that, most people have not heard of nurdles. they are both micro plastics. these are the microbeads. they are usually much smaller and we find them in cosmetics, toothpaste, things that we put on our face and we wash them down the drain. these nurdles are the building blocks of all plastic products that we use, it's the raw material of plastic production. just along the coast from horsey, at sea palling, we went looking for nurdles. and we found them. it's estimated there could be up to 53 billion nurdles in uk waters. the wind has been

blowing the nurdles around the beach but even in the short time we've been looking, 15—20 minutes, we've found between 30 and 40 of them. so, at the moment you don't know that these nurdles are a problem for seals, but you think they might be — why is that? we don't know the exact long—term impact of nurdles, or pellet pollution on the 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 from 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 probably

be here after we are gone. but, yes, look at them, you couldn't ask for a better sight than that, could you? they are relaxed, the breeding season is over, all they have got to do now is flop about, they will be moulting soon. volunteers will be scouring 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 our seal populations. mike liggins reporting from norfolk. there's an old saying — beer before wine and you'll feel fine. but now scientists have dismissed the idea that the order in which you drink alcohol makes any difference to your chances of a hangover. here's our health correspondent catherine burns. there are a few sayings about this, like grape or grain but never the twain, or of course... wine before beer... wine before beer makes you feel queer, beer before wine

makes you feel fine. we will start with beer and then move onto wine, it's natural. scientists from a university in germany decided to test the theory. they took 90 volunteers and split them into three groups. the first drank two and a half pints of lager followed by four large glasses of white wine. the second group did the same in the opposite order and the third did not mix their drinks. when it was over they were not allowed anymore but were put straight to bed — reluctantly, in some cases. several were sick, one couple split up and another got together. then came the morning after the night before. their hangovers were assessed, taking into account everything from headache and fatigue to dizziness and increased heart rate. a week later they did the same but the other way round and the result — no matter what order you drink them in, with this much alcohol a hangover is almost inevitable. the only outcome that is a good

predictor of the intensity of your hangover is how drunk the participant feels and if you were sick or not. one of the messages is drink responsibly and listen to your own gut feeling. hangovers might be all too common, but from a scientific point of view we don't understand that much about exactly how to stop them, other than not drinking so much. hangover tips? lemonade in the morning. a good fry up in the morning, it helps you out. sleep it off. get through it, grow up. plenty of water, get up, if you're going out the next day, hair of the dog. researchers point out that hangovers have one important benefit. they are a sometimes painful reminder for people to learn from their mistakes. now it's time for a look at the weather with phil avery. good afternoon. whilst storm

erik is the dominant feature in the country, all areas are likely to see a very windy conditions through this evening and through tonight and into saturday. there will be a rain followed by showers. there is storm erik to the western side of scotland. lots of isobars on that chart and all areas at some point we'll see a prolonged spell of rain. once that's cleared from the southern parts we will see showers, some quite squally. also affecting the pennine areas, northern ireland and more prolonged spells of rain into northern and western scotland and perhaps somewhat drier for a time in eastern scotland. this evening and overnight, the centre not 1 evening and overnight, the centre not1 million miles away from scotland, more pronounced rain back across northern britain, further south things dry up for some areas

and the cloud and wind that keep temperatures well away from any frost issues. to reiterate, over the next 18, 24 hours, we will look at very strong winds, disruption distinctly possible right into saturday. the whole system not moving very far or very fast eventually transferring into the north sea. saturday another really windy day. away from the centre, the rain will become more showery and many areas may see few, if any, showers but the wind is ever co nsta nt. showers but the wind is ever constant. these are the gusts we can expect so if you are on exposed roots you will have to consider the effect of the wind on your location. not particularly cold at this stage, many still in double figures. saturday night brings more prolonged rain into southern britain and at the same time another weather front into northern half of scotland. wind

direction changing by this point, with a north to north—west of the across all parts of the british isles there will be a decidedly chilly feel on sunday than the case for the previous few days. the weekend was met weather prospects, starting wet and windy, blustery showers, turning cooler with rain for a showers, turning cooler with rain fora sum on showers, turning cooler with rain for a sum on sunday. hello, you're watching afternoon live. today at 4. tributes for albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82. the fishes never bite unless the bait is good. the five—time oscar nominee came to fame in the 1960s with a long distinguished career on the stage and screen. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action

against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. politicians from belfast and dublin meet — to try to break the irish border deadlock ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. coming up on afternoon live all the sport. with the sport currently shutdown because of equine flu, news that three more horses have tested positive for it in the same ya that has been previously affected so no the total number of cases is up to six. tell us about microsoft two. reports of trees

down and dorset and devon and the devastation is as widespread as northern ireland, more in the next half—hour. and coming up in news nationwide at four thirty —? hundreds of e—gamers from across the world are heading to kettering this weekend to take part in the area 5 biggest ever gaming event — we'll tell you all about it. hello everyone — this is afternoon live. tributes have been paid to the oscar—nominated english actor, albert finney, who has died after a short illness. he was eighty two. finney enjoyed a long and distinguished career on stage and screen, following his early success as a shakespearean actor, in roles including hamlet and macbeth. his role as tom jones in 1963 made him an international star.

later, finney played hercule poirot in murder on the orient express and most recently, a gamekeeper in the 2012 james bond film ‘skyfall‘. and the bond producers michael g wilson and barbara broccoli have been among those paying tribute — they have said they are ‘heartbroken at the loss' of the actor. nick higham looks back at his life. albert finney came to fame in the early ‘60s, one of the new breed of tough—looking actors in gritty dramas about working—class life. the fishes never bite unless the bait is good. i won't get married until i am good and ready. he was a bookmaker‘s son and excelled at acting and sport in school. professional success came early. he played macbeth at 21 and his range was wide. on stage he played a working—class northern lad and john

osborne's tortured luther in london and broadway. he turned down the film of lawrence of arabia but accepted the title role in tom jones. there is something in me which hates this selling of an image we have a problem with the sound on that report. if you look back at the acting greats of the 20th century, people like him are what personified the image of what in many ways they should be. starting out in the theatre coming to the old vic and the national, theatre training in many acting greats and transferring to film and becoming a film star, opposite some of the few people that can say they acted with olivier. he did not forget

his theatre routes, still doing shakespeare and reinventing himself as he went along. he could also sing, he appeared in the musicals scrooge and annie. he had versatility and was one of those 20th—century actors that personified what the great acting career could be. that is borne out by the comments made about him by his co—stars and directors. that was his last cinema role in skyfall, the 50th anniversary bond movie and he was oppositejudi dench as well and it is remarkable, so few actors who say they could play with daniel craig and judi dench and laurence olivier and he was an actor who had the wonderful vibrant voice

and personality and qualifications, theatre training and bafta and oscar nominations. he famously never went to the oscars saying it is a long way to go for a party and i could not sit still for that long without a cigarette or a drink. he had that disdain for the flashier side of the entertainment industry but has a talent shone through in a career that went on for decades, one of those true great actors of the 20th—century who personified the way you see what an actor should be for many years. a high courtjudge has allowed the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. the retailer tried to prevent the newspaper linking him to claims of harassment — which he's always denied —

but abandoned the case after he was named in parliament. this morning, sir philip launched a scathing attack on the telegraph, accusing it of a ‘vendetta' against him. our business correspondent theo leggett has all the details. this is the latest stage in what is in on running titanic legal battle between one of the country's best known business people philip green and the daily telegraph. not only that it has raised important legal questions about privacy and what constitutes the public interest and how so—called gagging orders and nondisclosure agreements should and should not be used. of what has happened so far. it is a bitter legal battle between one of the country's best known businessmen and the daily telegraph who wanted to publish allegations of bullying, sexual harassment and racism and he emphatically denies the claims and took an injunction preventing the paper from naming him. and in phone calls which have now

been published he said the case might end up bankru pting the newspaper. the telegraph called the affair the british metoo scandal that could not be revealed. revelations did follow, parliamentary privilege was used to name him in the house of lords. i feel it is my duty under parliamentary privilege to name philip green as the individual in question. philip green denies the allegations categorically but in court documents his lawyers conceded that he is a passionate businessmen who can at times be overly exuberant and hot—headed. they added... philip green and his lawyers wanted to drop the injunction because they said it had become pointless as he had already been named. the daily telegraph wanted conditions, to prevent him from taking any further legal action against alleged victims

of bullying and harassment. they had already signed a so—called nondisclosure agreements otherwise known as gagging orders. thejudge refused so now the telegraph is free to publish the story and says it plans to report details of the claims made against the billionaire. sir philip has described the actions as a vendetta against him. the threat of further legal action remains and the debate that has been started about privacy and the public interest is likely to gather to gather even more momentum. this case will go on and on. the daily telegraph has already published new details on its website including recordings of telephone calls between sir philip and telegraph journalists and later there will be more allegations against him. meanwhile sir philip has come out with a strongly worded statement in which he accuses the telegraph of a vendetta against him and of disgraceful action in naming him in the house of

lords using parliamentary privilege. well let's hear what lord hain had to say about that announcement he made in the commons back in october. it was the correct thing to do and the fact he has withdrawn this action against the newspaper is a vindication of what i felt i was doing was standing up for victims and for the ordinary citizen against rich and powerful individuals who can use their wealth and power to silence and conceal abuse. the telegraph's editor, chris evans, has been giving his reaction, speaking to our special correspondent, lucy manning.... philip green has been cleared he will come after the people if the

break the nondisclosure agreement. break the nondisclosure agreementlj don't regard break the nondisclosure agreement.” don't regard this as banter, that are supposed to be funny and from what i can see this is very serious. how do you want parliament to act on this? it is up to them but we believe that is a misuse of ndas. they have been around for years but we became aware of that they were being used to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct and racial abuse and that has only came to be investigating suffer. he has but able to make sure these people can't fully speak out. i don't think he has won, he has withdrawn from the court case and this in the interest of our democracy that these are resolved by parliamentarians. i would like parliament, the

government to take up this issue and i would like mrs may to act. she has spoken about being uneasy about the use of ndas have to be have identified how they have been misused but so far she has only spoken about views and i would like to see action. philip green says the telegraph had asked his family don't we are going to leave that no and go straight to a press conference regarding the family ofjulie riley. i hope you can please tell us what he has put my sister and letter come home and put to rest properly with the dignity she deserves. thank you. ollie scotland acknowledges the sentence imposed today and relation to the acts of andrew wallace. i have to pay dignity to the family of julie in the way they have dealt

with these matters. i need to make an appeal to with these matters. i need to make an appealto mr with these matters. i need to make an appeal to mr wallace, despite what has happened today and the fact he played county we need to do the honourable thing and i would ask you to engage directly with me and tell me wherejulie is and are loamy to put efforts and place to the come out hard and provide peace and equity to her and herfamily. thank you. some short statements by police scotla nd you. some short statements by police scotland and the family ofjulie riley who was reported missing its 407i riley who was reported missing its 4071 have family in february last year. andrew wallace admitted murdering her and attempted to cover up murdering her and attempted to cover up his crime and disposing of her body parts. thejudge up his crime and disposing of her body parts. the judge said that refusing to disclose the location offer domains showed a lack of remorse. the family and

police officers involved were appealing to andrew wallace to the view we had he had hidden miss riley's remains. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. sima kotecha is in birmingham and gave us this update a little earlier. you may recall this fire that happened on tuesday morning just after 2:40am, four children were killed. they were aged between three and eight. staffordshire police have said two people have been arrested in connection to that fire. in a statement they say that following an update from investigators and to the probable cause of the fire we have arrested a 24 your own woman and a 20 gerald man on suspicion of

manchester by gross negligence. the rest were made at around 1:30pm. on tuesday this report should at it as head the community very hard and lots of neighbours and people in the committee were incredibly shocked at what happened. firefighters told us that three people managed to escape the blaze. they the mother of those children, natalie and tyler partner and two—year—old sonjack children, natalie and tyler partner and two—year—old son jack and children, natalie and tyler partner and two—year—old sonjack and the jump and two—year—old sonjack and the jump from and two—year—old sonjack and the jumpfrom an and two—year—old sonjack and the jump from an upstairs window. part of the riff had collapsed due to the blaze and the house was incredibly bad shape. people will be watching closely as to what happens next with this investigation. you're watching afternoon live, these are our headlines tributes for albert finney, one of the leading actors of the postwar generation, who's died aged 82 a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green,

to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence afterfour children died in a house fire in stafford. with british horse racing shutdown because pick of equine flu, three more positive cases have been confirmed at the same yard and are generally affected bringing the total of confirmed cases to six. the premier league has announced clubs will wear black armbands this weekend in tribute to emiliano sala. chris ashton will make his first 6—nation start for six years but england play france on sunday. more in 15 minutes. theresa may is set to hold

talks with the irish leader leo varadkar this evening as she tries to break the deadlock over the irish border. the irish taoisearch has also been holding talks today with the main stormont parties. speaking earlier this afternoon, the democratic unionist party said they want to get a deal that works both for mps in the house of commons and for the e—u. our ireland correspondent chris page is in belfast. chris, how important are today's talks? the irish government have been clear that these talks are not lexus negotiations, the cannot negotiate on brexit, only the eu and so i wonder does so as part of the eu 27 at not on its own. that has been a clear line from the irish government all week. these toxic with the five main stormont parties, leo varadkhar has been seeing them this afternoon and then he will go to dublin are to meet theresa may this evening. the latest party to see the taoiseach

has been sinn fein, they havejust finished giving a news conference, let's hear from michelle finished giving a news conference, let's hearfrom michelle o'neill. here we are 49 days from what looks like a crash out of brexit so it was good to have the opportunity to confess with the taoiseach. the issues of concern with the people of ireland, it was important that we had the opportunity to discuss the need for the backstop. in the methanol agreement as was agreed between the eu 27 and british government. we put it to the taoiseach that ending next number of weeks he needed to remain firm and weeks he needed to remain firm and we got assurances that he is committed to the backstop and withdrawal agreement as was negotiated. that is welcome news for almost people who are going to be concerned the jeopardy in which brexit brings upon us. sinn fein say the backstop as

guarantee there should be no checkpoints on the land border between northern ireland and the irish republic and must stay in the irish republic and must stay in the eu withdrawal agreement. the consistently saying that cannot be any renegotiation of the methanol agreement, the backstop as the bottom—line and senior figures in the eu, tusk and jean—claudejuncker have echoed that all week. that is no sign of a changing position on that important issue of the backstop. sinn fein say they will hold the irish government to account on that and ensure those promises are kept. the democratic unionist party who keep theresa may and power at westminster is coming at things from a different perspective, they we re from a different perspective, they were legally binding changes to the methanol likely meant, they are supporting theresa may as she seeks to get that. they were positive

about talks with leo varadkhar here today, alan. saying the talks were wide—ranging and good so the soundings have been positive but i do not think anybody is expecting there will be any major breakthrough here in belfast this afternoon or later when theresa may meets leo varadkhar and dublin. mrs later when theresa may meets leo varadkharand dublin. mrs may later when theresa may meets leo varadkhar and dublin. mrs may will be setting out what changes she is hoping to secure to the backstop perhaps in some kind of time—limit, but still no sign of any difference in the two positions held by britain and the eu on this button once legally binding changes to the backstop, the eu say that cannot happen. at that stage it is still not clear how this issue at the centre of the brexit deadlock is going to be dissolved. there are resolved. jeff bezos, the founder of amazon, has accused the owners of a us gossip magazine of trying to blackmail him. mr bezos, the world's richest man, has posted online what he says are emailed threats from the national enquirer‘s lawyers to publish intimate photographs of him and a woman he'd been having an affair with.

american media, which owns the enquirer has said it acted lawfully and would thoroughly investigate the blackmail claims. our washington correspondent gary o'donaghue has the details. it is an extraordinary stor with many layers to it but essentially what you said there is thatjeff bezos, studies are published about him by the national inquirer of having this affair. he did an investigation into the owners of the national inquirer, made allegations about their motivations and now he has published what he says are blackmail threats from them saying if you don't back off on your accusations about our work being politically motivated then we are going to publish a whole bunch of these explicit pictures he allegedly sent to his girlfriend and she sent back to him. the background of this is that american media, the owners are involved in the whole business of the investigation in new york

into the paying off of women who are alleged to have affairs with donald trump. they have acknowledged they had a policy of what they called catch and kill in relation to people like karen mcdougall, trying get hold of stories and stop them being published to protect the president and its basis on whichjeff bezos are single are politically motivated and he owns the washington post and the present does not like that newspaper so you can see a wave of potential connections but we've got a massive tabloid newspaper going up against the richest man in the world and know all the dirty laundry is out there in public. jeff bezos accepts he could be taking a risk. he could and that means that all these details offers

private life are recirculating and getting more scrutiny and the personal consequences of that but he thinks he's trying to highlight the operation, the way the national national enquirer operates. it is a controversial magazine that prides itself on its celebrity scoops but insists it has a journalistic outfit. it has declined in recent years, its circulation was under 300,000 last year and that as a huge decline, it is not alone that kind of decline of circulation, many print organs have been declining but this is something that does notjust these two behemoths. it is also connected to the whole business of the president and has a relationship to the owners of the national enquirer. thank you.

the family of the footballer emiliano sala has thanked the public for their support in what they say is ‘the most painful time' of their lives. a body pulled from the seabed in the channel earlier this week has now been formally identified as the cardiff city player. the argentine and his pilot, david ibbotson, crashed into the sea near guernsey last month. attempts to bring the aircraft back to the surface have been hampered by bad weather. duncan kennedy sent this update from bournemouth coroner's court. although emiliano sala died alongside david ibbotson,

it is only the cardiff city footballer who has been found. his body was brought ashore yesterday and taken to bournemouth when the dorset coroner will oversee the process. emiliano sala's family said it is with infinite sadness that be confirm the identity. the statement said... the confirmation of emiliano sala's death was also marked by cardiff city, the club he was en route to play for. whilst everybody expects the worst, when it happens, i got a phone call, last night in the evening and it was strange. it brings the family peace and that offers them comfort. fellow players paid their respects. emiliano sala's former french

club nantes paid their tribute. he was as much adored here as he was anticipated in cardiff. the search for david ibbotson has been called off because of bad weather, his family must wait longer as that of emiliano sala can begin to mourn. time for a look at the weather... the forecast talking about

storm erik, tell us about its effect. this is the last few others of its progress, to the western side of scotland. the frontal system for the south has made progress and some of the skies have cleared but what people will notice is the strength of the wind. but has had devastating effects, we were talking earlier about tragic circumstances with threes in the south—west of england but since then these sort of strength of wins have caused other problems with trees down and dorset and more widely across parts of northern ireland. it is having quite an impact even though in comparison it is not as big as other storms. indeed. i was talking about how they went a record—breaker but we have been naming the storms for about

four seasons, the lowest pressure was frank in 2015, the earliest in september, the latest in what was quite a busy season was 2018 even intojune quite a busy season was 2018 even into june there quite a busy season was 2018 even intojune there was quite a vigorous storm came through, people may remember hector. it is difficult to get a sense of a trend, people are wondering if it is climate change. the season with the most, 15—16, followed by the quietest and 16—17 when there are only five so it is a only to see what going on. that is what makes it so fascinating if you are trying to pick out the patterns but what is the thinking behind giving the storms names? it was just trying to peck out of low pressure,

low pressure, october through to april this can be a daisy chain across the atlantic, one after another and it is difficult when you are not naming them to say a watch this one because people are not following the weather as we do they can miss the one immediately want support we need to do is highlight, the media were doing it in the states and the combined forces of the met office got together to try and make this more user—friendly and thatis and make this more user—friendly and that is why we went into this naming convention. what is going to happen with storm erik? i will show you very quickly. it has been quite tricky, these are the gusts we have

had that have been bigger ones at these locations, six demos and over quite widely spread full stop the other part of the equation has been the intensity of rain at times. the weather front making progress across angled and wales, a lot of isobars the and if you are close to the centre you are not really getting away from the weather front so they are with you for a while. the rain is falling away but the show was and aligning on what because streets. if you are in that street of shiraz you are getting it all the time but a few miles east on west and you may see few assurers with as more prevalent rainfall as close to the centre of that low pressure to the west of scotland. the winds and ever present for many with gusts up to six demos parallel and notjust over highest ground. and

devon and dorset and belfast, quite low lying. not a coordinate, no frost but a reminder that through tonight and into saturday some disruption as unlikely. there is likely. to the north of scotland, a lot of isobars issueif north of scotland, a lot of isobars issue if you are on the move you have to consider are you fully exposed to this predominantly westerly flow across all parts. the show was fading across central and southern parts through saturday, less of the case from the north. the strength of the gusts, we won't be out of the woods regarding the strength of the winds into sunday. saturday is mild, then this area of low pressure throwing the weather front back at us bringing more wet weather overnight into the first pa rt weather overnight into the first part of sandy across southern parts,

the flow behind the more northerly feature is from the north. sunday will eventually be for many of us a cooler and chillier the with still quite enough the civil breeze but not as strong as friday or saturday and is going to be six or 7 degrees. once those weather features and leave at the skies were clear and send it into monday will be chilly with monday looking more settled with monday looking more settled with plenty of sunshine but on the cold side. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. tributes to the oscar—nominated actor albert finney, who's died aged 82 after a short illness. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after four children died in a house fire in stafford. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the deadlock over the irish border, ahead of the irish prime minister's working dinner with theresa may. sport now

on afternoon live with james pearce. developments this afternoon with the equine flu problem that has gripped horse racing in this country. bad news for the racing industry, hoping for a quick end to this outbreak of equine flu. the sport is currently on day two of what will be at least a six day shutdown. three more positive cases have been confirmed today. they are all from donald mccain's stables — the same yard that was previously affected. so that brings the total number of cases to six. worrying times for the sport, in particular with the cheltenham festival looming over the horizon. that's due to take place next month. here's the editor of the racing post, tom kerr. we are talking about

the loss to the industry over millions every single day if you consider the prize money loss, media rights from bookmakers and tv stations broadcasting action. 0f and tv stations broadcasting action. of course at a lower level, you have small businesses, trainers, farriers, self—employed jockeys who are all without a livelihood right now. however, a separate suspicious case, which has not yet been confirmed as a positive sample, has been identified at another yard. no links have been identified between this yard and the original yard. this yard had runners at the fixtures at newcastle on tuesday and wolverhampton on wednesday, and as such the bha has taken the further precautionary steps of placing all 54 yards of trainers who also had runners at these fixtures on hold and starting testing of horses from these yards. to rugby, england and france have named their six nations.

some big names returning. it's another six nations weekend coming up. england surprised many people with the way that they played and their result in dublin last weekend. you wouldn't expect the coach eddiejones to make many changes after a performance like that, and he hasn't. but the only change that isn't injury enforced is a bit of a surprise. he's selected chris ashton to make his first six nations start for six year. he's replacing jack nowell, who drops to the bench. i think the squad as a whole is in a really good place. just from the lads carrying on from the autumn until now, the back three we have, we all get on and we all buy into it together. we all understand we are a very different players and eddie will choose it how he sees fit. i'm very grateful i get a chance to play against france. france, meanwhile, have named

heavyweight centre mathieu basteraud in their side for face england. he's one of six changes to the side that lost to wales last weekend as france bid to win at twickenham for the first time since 2005. ireland lock devin toner has been ruled out of the rest of the tournament. he aggravated an ankle injury against england last weekend and has now undergone surgery. england's women will be missing the 2014 world cup winner marlie packer for their match against france in doncaster on sunday. the saracens flanker has failed to recover from a shoulder injury, picked up in their win over ireland. poppy leitch has been brought in to replace her. the premier league and the football league have confirmed that all teams will wear black armbands as a mark of respect to cardiff striker emiliano sala following the recovery of his body from a plane in the english channel. the cardiff city owner vincent tan has issued a statement this afternoon expressing his condolences. there will also be a minute's silence at st mary's ahead of cardiff's game at southampton tomorrow. teams in france will hold a minute's applause. england will assess the fitness

of ben stokes this afternoon after he missed training yesterday in the carribbean with a bruised heel the third test against west indies begins in st lucia tomorrow. stokes is expected to train later before england decide if he's fit to play. wicketkeeper ben foakes has recovered from a hand problem but chris woakes is expected to miss out with a knee injury that's all the sport for now. lizzie greenwood hughes will have more 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. three further cases of equine flu have been confirmed at the cheshire stables of trainer donald mccain. that takes the total number of cases of the highly contagious virus to six, and a separate suspicious

case elsewhere is also being investigated. well, with british horse—racing in shutdown until at least next wednesday, carol malia is in newcastle where tonight's race meeting at gosforth park has been called off. and hundreds of people are attending a huge gaming event in kettering this weekend. it's now a growing and highly competitive sport around the globe. amanda goodman from bbc look east will tell us all about it. first to carol. you re looking at the impact, in your area, of the ban on horse racing. we are indeed. in our region, it has had an immediate impact because newcastle was due to hold a meeting tonight which of course is part of this uk wide ban. we have a map to show viewers of our nine racecourses, the five that could

be affected, right across our patch, all have upcoming race meetings which could be affected by this ban. newcastle was supposed to have a meeting tonight. and also this coming monday which also will be affected. if you look at the seams be filmed at newcastle earlier today, you can see the only thing passing through the turnstiles is a very strong wind. normally for a meeting of this size tonight it would attract around 1200 visitors paying £20 per person at the gate, £16 in advance so it is a big hit for racecourses across the country. we've been talking to david williamson from newcastle. hospitality it was a very busy. one party of 75 insisted coming along, having lunch and some entertainment this evening so they will be here until about 7:30pm. that was a good crowd due this evening so disappointing, foul weather, but

it's one of these things, we had to move on. what a disappointing race —— what are disappointed the racegoers saying? they are naturally disappointed but understanding of the reason for the ban and newcastle have said everyone will be refunded for their tickets. nobody losing out there. next week we wait for monday to find out what happens beyond the ban for wednesday. also tonight we are looking in north yorkshire in villages which are famous for racehorse trainers such as mark johnson. racehorse training is probably their we've been in the village speaking to people and some of the professionals and getting their opinions on how hard this ban is going to their business? letsjoin amanda is going to their business? lets join amanda and talk about this huge gaming event in kettering. how big an event is

it? this is a huge event, the biggest ever put on in this area with around 800 people expected over the weekend at the kettering conference centre. gamers of all ages, the average age around 25 but they start young these days so we children and those young of heart at any age. what makes this difference is it is about two things, fun, of course, but also money. prize money. these days around 70% of those attending do so because they want to win and take the money. here in kettering there are prizes of between 1700 and £5,000. esports are becoming increasingly competitive all over the world. recently there was a single tournament in canada where the prize money was $26,000. i'm reliably told that there are some in the millions of dollars.

understandably, some of those attending the event which began yesterday and runs until sunday take it very seriously. you gain experience, play against top tier players that are the specialist from within their field, they do this every day for a living, competing against them makes it worthwhile. this weekend i'm looking forward tojust being worthwhile. this weekend i'm looking forward to just being able to play against a top tier team, coming first or second will be amazing. how difficult is it complicated is it to set up a mega gaming event like this? the organisers say it is about double the size of the event they normally put on and technically it is incredibly challenging. they say it's a really cool as well. when the lights go down there is literally a sea of screens, i ran 2000 networked devices and you can feel the buzz is everybody concentrates in that special way

only gamers do. having teenage children of my own i can testify if you try to distract them during a game, good luck with that one. you don't have to compete, you can just go along for fun, which around 30% of people do, or you can go as a spectator which might be quite good for me, maybe i could pick up some tips about how to best my children. i like the jargon as well! i have had a tongue lashing like that, i can tell you, amanda. don't interrupt. thank you both for taking as nationwide today. we go nationwide every weekday at 4:30pm here on afternoon

alive. the king of thailand's sister has caused consternation by running for the office of prime minister. there's a longstanding tradition that thai royalty stays out of politics, but the princess is one of the candidates competing against the country's army chief — who made himself prime minister after overthrowing the last elected government five years ago. jonathan head's report from bangkok contains flash photography from the start. thailand's long political hibernation has come to a dramatic end. as an antimilitary party submitted an extraordinary candidate for prime minister. she is a top royal, elder sister to the king. and a character. calling herself a commoner, as she's given up her royal titles, princess ubonrat has embraced celebrity and pop culture. she's flamboya ntly fashionable, an avid social media user, and has starred in several movies. in a country that reveres royalty, she could be a huge electoral asset. and she's chosen

a controversial side. parties like hers, allied to former prime minister thaksin shinawatra have won every election for the past 20 years. he was deposed by a coup. and his sister yingluck was unseated by ultra—royalist protesters who said the shinawatra clan threatened the monarchy. it was in defence of the monarchy, said general prayut chan—o—cha, that he mounted his coup five years ago. his military government supervised the succession of king vajiralongkorn and wrote a new constitution, which was meant to weaken the shinawatra's influence in this election. so what are ordinary thais to make of this extraordinary development? until now most had assumed that the military would use a constitution and electoral system which stacked the odds in its favour to hang on to power. but the entry of a flamboyant royal family member into the game has significantly rebalanced those

odds, though how far and with what consequences for thailand's political stability, we just don't know. jonathan head, bbc news, bangkok. ramzan karmali is here, in a moment he will be telling us the latest business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live. tributes for the oscar—nominated actor albert finney, who's died aged 82. a high courtjudge allows the billionaire, sir philip green, to formally end his legal action against the daily telegraph. a man and a woman have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by gross negligence after four children died in a house fire in stafford. here's your business headlines on afternoon live. amazon founderjeff bezos has accused the owner of a us gossip magazine of trying to blackmail him over lewd pictures. the world's richest man said the national enquirer‘s parent

company wanted him to stop investigating how they had obtained his private messages. british employers cut the number of staff they hired through recruitment agencies last month for the first time sincejuly 2016 — that's according to the recuitment and employment confederation. and the overall number of vacancies for staff increased at the slowest rate since october 2016. energy company sse has seen a sharp drop in customer numbers and has cut its forecast for this year's profits. it said it had lost 160,000 customers in the final three months of last year — leaving it with a total ofjust under six million accounts. sse have lost 160,000 customers over the past three months of 2018. how did they manage that? they are not the only ones. all the big six seem to be under pressure and in

british gas, in the first half of last year, they lost 340,000 customers. i think they lost 340,000 customers. i think the reason, one of the reasons so many of us are switching. a record number of switchers, 5. 9 many of us are switching. a record number of switchers, 5.9 million last year. these big companies are under pressure from smaller competitors and also sse cut its profit forecast because it lost out ona profit forecast because it lost out on a subsidy and it was trying to merge with npower which did not go through. they are under pressure there. tough times for the toy industry — the board maker hasbro the latest to suffer? the makers of everything from monopoly to play doh. the american firm actually blamed the collapse of toys r us as a factor behind its fall in sales — to a measly £1.39 billion over the last three months of 2018. that is actually down 13%. on the flip side mattel, they make barbie, sales were up 12% — no disney princesses to compete. no more

new frozen dolls last year, it was barbie. there may be a trade dispute between china and the us but that hasn't stopped hermes the hand bag manufacturer? not at all — the firm famous for the birkin bag — i've been told they cost around £9,000 has reported bumper sales in china. this sent rival burberry shares up. we can talk about all those stories with jeremy stretch. we can talk about all those stories withjeremy stretch. thank we can talk about all those stories with jeremy stretch. thank you we can talk about all those stories withjeremy stretch. thank you for joining us. on sse, the last 160,000 customers, profits, not making as much money this year, they think, how do the big six survive going forward , how do the big six survive going forward, kindly carry on in this way? the challenges you mention are

quite extreme for notjust way? the challenges you mention are quite extreme for not just sse way? the challenges you mention are quite extreme for notjust sse but all the other big energy producers. a5 all the other big energy producers. as you mention, 160,000 final quarter it looks quite bad, more than 500,000 in the calendar year, underlining the difficulties they face for profit generation. overlaid with other issues you detailed in terms of reductions in income it underlines where earnings levels will be compromised and that's why the share price has been hit rather hard. it may be the case we see stock buy— backs from the companies that provide something of a floor but energy companies as a whole will find an economic environment increasingly challenging. and that is with the price cap being raised. not great news for energy companies. sse were in talks with npower, will we ever see the big six becoming five or forward down the line? anything of that nature would raise the risk of competition concerns,

that would clearly be evident if we we re that would clearly be evident if we were to see discussions about reducing the number of major producers or contributors to the market. i would producers or contributors to the market. iwould not producers or contributors to the market. i would not be surprised if there is a degree of consolidation but also smaller companies no doubt continue to pick up market share. the toy industry, hasbro pretty bad numbers, they pointed to the colla pse numbers, they pointed to the collapse of toys "r" us as one of the reasons they are not doing so well. when you have a casualty on the high street you often see stock released into the market at either market rates are lower on equation. at discounted stock has an impact in terms of other competitors, we saw that with some of the department stores as well. that adds to the competitive pressures for some retailers. quickly, on hermes, the handbag maker, very well in china, something of a surprise. we thought chinese consumer had gone

away, what's happening there? there were big hard —— headlines early in the year abbott slows growth in many yea rs year abbott slows growth in many years for china but the economy and there is still growing fairly well and there are elevated numbers of middle—class chinese consumers who are very middle—class chinese consumers who are very keen to buy luxury goods and so they are still in demand and that's been demonstrated by these results. jeremy stretch, thank you very much. lets have a look at the markets before we go.” very much. lets have a look at the markets before we go. i wanted to show you burberry and sse. and look at all the threads on the ftse and dow. this will be the first loss —— my first week of losses on the us market this year. conservationists say grey seal colonies in norfolk are being threatened by tiny plastic

pellets called nurdles. researchers says the beaches in the north of the county, which are important breeding grounds, are covered with the potentially toxic pellets. seals are known to ingest the nurdles through the food they eat. mike liggins reports. the seal colony at horsey on the norfolk coast. we already know seals are getting entangled in plastic. but what effect are micro plastics having on these animals? scientists from cambridge working for the conservation organisation flora and fauna international are looking at how plastic pellets — or "nurdles" — are getting into the environment. i've heard of micro beads. yes. but i've never heard of nurdles before. yes. what's the difference, apart from size? i'm not surprised you say that, most people have not heard of nurdles. they are both micro plastics. these are the microbeads. they are usually much smaller and we find them in cosmetics, toothpaste, things that we put on our face and we wash them down the

drain. these nurdles are the building blocks of all plastic products that we use, it's the raw material of plastic production. just along the coast from horsey, at sea palling, we went looking for nurdles. and we found them. it's estimated there could be up to 53 billion nurdles in uk waters. the wind has been blowing the nurdles around the beach but even in the short time we've been looking, 15—20 minutes, we've found between 30 and 40 of them. so, at the moment you don't know that these nurdles are a problem for seals, but you think they might be — why is that? we don't know the exact long—term impact of nurdles, or pellet pollution on the 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 from 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 probably be here after we are gone. but yes, look at them, you couldn't ask for a better sight than that, could you? they are relaxed, the breeding season is over, all they have got to do now is flop about, they will be moulting soon. volunteers will be scouring 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 our seal populations. mike liggins reports. there's an old saying: beer before wine and you'll feel fine. but now scientists have dismissed the idea that the order in which you drink alcohol makes any difference to your chances of a hangover. here's our health correspondent catherine burns. there are a few sayings about this, like grape or grain but never

the twain, and of course... wine before beer... wine before beer makes you feel queer, beer before wine makes you feel fine. we will start with beer and then move onto wine, it's natural. scientists from a university in germany decided to test the theory. they took 90 volunteers and split them into three groups. the first drank two and a half pints of lager followed by four large glasses of white wine. the second group did the same in the opposite order and the third did not mix their drinks. when it was over they were not allowed anymore but were put straight to bed — reluctantly, in some cases. several were sick, one couple split up and another got together. then came the morning after the night before. their hangovers were assessed, taking into account everything from headache and fatigue to dizziness and increased heart rate. a week later they did the same but the other way round and the result —

no matter what order you drink them in, with this much alcohol a hangover is almost inevitable. the only outcome that is a good predictor of the intensity of your hangover is how drunk the participant feels and if you were sick or not. one of the messages is drink responsibly and listen to your own gut feeling. hangovers might be all too common, but from a scientific point of view we don't understand that much about exactly how to stop them, other than not drinking so much. hangover tips? lemonade in the morning. a good fry up in the morning, it helps you out. sleep it off. get through it, grow up. plenty of water, get up, if you're going out the next day, hair of the dog. researchers point out that hangovers have one important benefit. they are a sometimes painful reminder for people to learn from their mistakes. that's it from your afternoon live

team for today, next the bbc news at 5. time for a look at the weather. hello. whenever you are spending the next few hours across the british isles, we are all in for a spell of windy weather and for some it is also wet. low pressure which it storm erik to the west of scotland, lots of isobars on the chart, and a front right down across england and wales. whilst on the rain clearing the kent coast by the early part of the kent coast by the early part of the night. for the north and weather front comes back across bringing longer spells of rain. not a particularly cold night but it still will be windy. that continues into saturday so watch out if you are on the move. showers across northern britain to start but they become fewer and farther between for many into the afternoon. perhaps not

as mild as the case on friday. come sunday it will be even cooler but tha nkfully sunday it will be even cooler but thankfully the winds will be not such a feature, rain for some across parts of scotland in particular and southern counties of england. today at five — the daily telegraph says it will publish more details of allegations against retail billionaire sir philip green this evening. it comes after sir philip dropped an injunction against the paper that had prevented it reporting allegations of racial and sexual harassment. these gagging orders are being used

to cover up allegations of sexual misconduct and racial abuse by powerful means. sir philip denies allegations he behaved wrongly. we'll have the latest from the high court — the other main stories on bbc news at five... the family of cardiff city footballer emiliano sala say they can now mourn him — after police confirm it was his body recovered from the english channel. the british horse racing authority says there are another three cases of equine flu at a stables in cheshire. politicians from belfast and dublin meet to try to break the brexit deadlock over the issue of the irish border. the star of stage and screen — albert finney — has died aged 82 after a short illness.