hello, you're watching afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy. today at 2. seven mps announce they've quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism i have become embarrassed and ashamed to be in the labour party. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. idid hear i did hear that a lot of people were encouraged after i left, but i didn't make the decision to put myself on the news. regulate facebook now — a committee of mps says founder mark zuckerberg failed to show "leadership or personal responsibility" over fake news. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — azi farni. it has been a controversial and highly emotional question in athletics whether the e—mail at ——

female athletes should take testosterone... they say it would make races more fair, but the female athlete says that for women like her who were born hyper androgynous, it would be against their human rights. i will have more on that at 2:30pm. thanks azi, and darren has all the weather — a bit coolerfor us a bit cooler for us today. some wet weather, and over the next couple of days, rain is going to be in the warmer half of the uk. then it will be warmer later on in the week. thanks darren also coming thejustice secretary, david gauke, has said there's a very strong case for abolishing prison sentences of less than six months. hello everyone — this is afternoon live — i'm simon mccoy.

seven labour mps have resigned from the party in protest at jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. they'll now sit in the commons as a group of independents. one of the mps, luciana berger, said she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to stay in labour, which she said was now "institutionally anti—semitic." another — chris leslie — said labour had been "hijacked" by the far left. jeremy corbyn said he was disappointed by the mps‘ decision. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. the time for talking was over. seven labour mps chose this room on this morning to act, frustrated with their party and its leader the time had come for them to quit and form a new group. this has been a very difficult, painful, but necessary decision. we represent different parts of the country. we are of different backgrounds. we were born of different generations. but we all share the same values.

i cannot remain in the party, that i have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti—semitic. all seven gave their own reasons, and with that, damning criticism reflecting anger that they and others have felt for some time. british politics is now well and truly broken and in all conscience we can no longer knock on doors and support a government led byjeremy corbyn, or the team around him. this group of seven hopes to grow. there was an appeal for others from other parties to join them. you don'tjoin a political party to spend years and years fighting the people within it. you get involved in politics, you join a party, to change the world. so, we invite you to leave your parties and help us forge a new consensus on a way forward for britain.

but the group was clear this move was about him, jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit, his failure as they see it to tackle anti—semitism and their unease at labour's lurch to the left. in a statement mr corbyn said: "i'm disappointed that these mps have felt unable to continue to work together for the labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and sorts increase our vote by the largest share since 1945." it comes at a time when our constituents are facing real hardship with universal credit being introduced, we have rising crime, homelessness on a scale we have not seen for decades, the government is bungling brexit. so we should be working together for the long—term interests of the country. it's hard to avoid comparisons to this moment in 1981 when a group of mps left labour and set up the social democratic party, later merging to become what is now the liberal democrats. it hurt labour then and some say the same will happen now. when people leave the labour party there is bound to be damage. we had evidence of this in the early 1980s.

it is not good if people leave a political party but we have to stick to our principles and work for what we put forward in the manifesto. history willjudge them. there is no doubt that if they regard themselves as democrats, i wonder whether they are going to stand down and create by—elections. a lot of them talked about how proud they are to represent their constituents. well, if they're so proud of that, why don't they give their constituents the opportunity to see if they want them elected. party loyalty runs deep around here. it is no small move for any mp to disown their own side, and those who have left labour today will know it is a gamble because there may be others who want to help them and join them. but the move will galvanise jeremy corbyn‘s supporters and those against him within labour who believe it is better to stay

and fight from within. what this group will achieve, what it will become, is not clear, but these now former labour mps felt enough was enough and they are better off out than in. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. our assistant political editor, norman smith is at westminster. will this hurt labour? in the short—term, it is bound to hurt them. if you look at some of the language used about jamie them. if you look at some of the language used aboutjamie corbin, the clear distaste for his policies and beliefs, the division, yes, that will hurt labour, too. you have got to say the odds are against them. the gang of seven face and pressing questions, what will they call

themselves? who is their leader? are there any members? have are there any money? where will they set in the house of commons? they are starting from zero, never mind the backlash, they will certainly face from ordinary labour party members, one of whom joins me now. the chair of the stratton clp just give me your take on the decision of your mp to quit labour. i think it is a disaster for the labour party, and i think it was sad to do nothing but to extend the period of conservative rule in this country, and i don't see that it will achieve anything. the people of stratton elected a labourmp, so ourview the people of stratton elected a labour mp, so our view would be that he should call a by—election, and labour will contest that election. did you, you must have had a fair idea he was going to go, was it

motivated, do you think, by the deselection threats, he and some of the others were facing? well, look, i can't work out or say what the main motivation was. clearly there we re main motivation was. clearly there were deselection threat to a lot of mp pugh. i think he would have been successfully re—elected if he had remained in the labour party. i think he should have remained there. obviously, there will be a lot of angen obviously, there will be a lot of anger, how do you think labour should respond? i think, anger, how do you think labour should respond? ithink, obviously, it isa should respond? ithink, obviously, it is a really bad day for labour. it does not help us get any closer to winning an election, but i do think that all of us as a party need to reflect on the reasons that have led us here in the first place, and we need to unite around solving those problems, and moving forward towards trying to win the next election. one of the reasons cited by luciano badger was that she thought that the party was now institutionally anti—semitic. do you

think she has a point? —— luciana berger. hasan—mac i think we as a party collectively need to get together and try and solve those issues. i don't think walking away from the party does that. tomorrow will still be the official opposition party, and those who believe that the anti—semitism crisis needs to be solved, like myself, we should try and make that happen. a lot of big decisions facing the gang of seven. the first of which, where will they now set in the house of commons? might they set where dennis skinner sets, any front bench along from jamie corbyn. they have to decide where they sit. ——

jeremy corbyn. with me isjon lansman, founder and chairman corbyn. of the left wing campaign group, momentum and a member of labour's national executive. i think this could have an effect, particularly in the short term. but, most of these people have been planning this for months, because they oppose the changes that have been made. and yes, those changes, and in particular, policies that we re and in particular, policies that were in the manifesto, on which all of these people well acted, are enormously popular, and one, the biggest turnaround in the election since —— in an election —— and won the biggest turnaround in an election in british history. but luciana berger was not her argument. she said the party was

institutionally anti—semitic. there isa institutionally anti—semitic. there is a bullying culture, leaning toward saying that the hard left is facilitating. i do have sympathy for her. she is saying that she is a jew. iam her. she is saying that she is a jew. i am very much involved in trying to eliminate anti—semitism in the labour party. but she is exceptional in this case, and most of those people are bad because they actually don't agree with the policies of the manifesto, that they stood on. and which frankly it enables them to win a much bigger majority, because there's very little personal vote, actually. it isa little personal vote, actually. it is a very small proportion. those elections were won because of the ma nifesto elections were won because of the manifesto and because ofjeremy corbyn. do you think they should submitand corbyn. do you think they should submit and says that real action?|j

think submit and says that real action?” think they should. they said on a platform that said it would respect the results of the referendum, but some of them are making, as a separate issue, even though 52% did boat. i am a remain vote. i would still prefer remain. i recognise that there is that decision, so i think there are other issues that are at stake here. it is about austerity, which beforejeremy corbyn came along, we were not allowed to debate, now we have a consensus not even theresa may says, she says she is against austerity, though she isn't really. a lot of people pointed the finger atjamie corbyn's stance about brexit. they said that if they went closer towards... i don't think that is

clear. certainly the majority membership of the party supported remain, buti membership of the party supported remain, but i don't take a second referendum will necessarily get you there, and i think we have to respect the views of the majority. whatjeremy has tried to do is to try and hold the party together in the same way that he would have to try and rebuild unity in the nation, once he gets elected to number ten. inevitably, there will be comparisons with the gang of four. the sdp breakaway. is this a bigger deal as that one? i certainly don't think so. they were real heavyweights in the party. these are not real heavyweights in the party. they had a clear political party that our programme, which was different from the party. this group have not got a clear policy platform. i did not hear anything

about their policy platform. i had effectively that they want to crowd source ideas from the public. the sdp thought it would break the mould of british politics and failed. this will be a damp squib in comparison. this image is very much guided by yourgroup, this image is very much guided by your group, the hard left, is that unfair? i don't describe it as that. jeremy corbyn is guided by the platform that he is dead on, and we grew out of, the campaign in his first leadership election, so, in a sense, we are supporting him, though we do it because we support the programme. good to talk to you, thank you very much. the london schoolgirl who joined the islamic state group in syria, but now wants to come home, has apologised to the british public. but speaking to the bbc, shamima begum equated terrorist attacks in the uk with coalition action in syria. the 19—year—old gave birth to a boy at the weekend. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. shamima begum, who left her home in east london aged 15 to join

the islamic state group, explaining today what it was that inspired her to go. was it because you watched some beheading videos? is that right? notjust the beheading videos. they show families and stuff, the good life that they can provide to you, and all else. i'm not justifying the videos, but yeah, not just the fighting videos, but the fighting vidoes as well, i guess. she left britain with two school friends, travelling through turkey to syria, and became a symbol of young, british peoplejoining is. you helped them. you helped the enemy of britain. but i wasn't the one that put myself down that i didn't want to be on the news, at first. i know a lot of people, after they saw that me and my friends came, they actually encouraged them, i did hear, yeah, a lot of people

were encouraged to come after i left, but i wasn't the one who put myself on the news. we didn't want to be on the news. she was asked what she thought about the manchester bombing of 2017 in which 22 people died. she appeared to regret it, but then compared it to the coalition bombing of is held towns in syria. i do feel that it's wrong that innocent people did get killed. it's like, it's one thing to kill a soldier that is fighting you, you know, it's self defence, but to kill people, like women and children, just like people in... the women and children in baghuz who are being killed right now unjustly by the bombings. it's a two—way thing, really. because women and children are being put down that killed back in islamic state right now. and it's kind of retaliation. theirjustification was that it was retaliation, so i thought that is a fairjustification. shamima begum is asking to be allowed back to the uk. she said that if she is sent to prison, she would like herfamily

to look after her newborn baby boy. daniel sandford, bbc news. well let's take look at some more of quentin somerville's interview with shamima begum where she admits that she was the one who made the choice to go to syria. myself, yeah, iwill admit, myself, yeah, iwilladmit, i myself, yeah, iwill admit, iwas the one who made the choice, even though i was only 15 years old, i did have, i do have, i can make my own decisions, i do have the mentality to make my own decision, i did leave on my own knowing that it was a risk, but... iwilladmit, it's my fault, right now. ijust wa nt it's my fault, right now. ijust want forgiveness really, in the uk. like, everything i have been through, i did not expect i would go through, i did not expect i would go through that, i'm losing my children the way i lost them, i don't want to lose this baby as well, and this is really not a place to raise children, this can, may be temporarily, but not permanently. children, this can, may be temporarily, but not permanentlym the islamic state had not fallen or been defeated? the islamic state had not fallen or been defeated ? would the islamic state had not fallen or been defeated? would you have stayed? no, i probably would have

left. so here is your opportunity to apologise to some of the people who we re apologise to some of the people who were murdered by the group that you join. some of the men, some of the kids that were killed in the manchester arena bomb attack. what did you think about that?” manchester arena bomb attack. what did you think about that? i was shocked, but, i just did you think about that? i was shocked, but, ijust couldn't... i do feel that it's wrong that innocent people did get killed. it's like, it is one thing to kill a soldier that is fighting you, it self defence, but to kill people, like women and children, just like people, likely women and children in baghuz that are being killed right now, unjustly with the bombings. it isa now, unjustly with the bombings. it is a two way thing. women and children are being held back in islamic state right now. their

justification was that it was retaliation, so i thought it was a fair justification. retaliation, so i thought it was a fairjustification. i still have not had to apologise to anybody? ok, yeah, iam had to apologise to anybody? ok, yeah, i am sorry to all the families who have lost their husbands and sons and brothers. i am sorry for the men that have lost their women and children because of the attacks backin and children because of the attacks back in the uk and other countries, that was not fair on them, they were not fighting anyone. they weren't causing any harm, but neither was i, neither the women who are being killed right now back in baghuz. but i think you are wrong. you did cause harm, because you helped this terrible regime, which was managing people, which was mounting terror attacks, you joined them, you gave them support, you became a poster girlfor them support, you became a poster girl for them. i guess the poster girl for them. i guess the poster girl thing was not my choice. i would not have done that, but need just going there and being a

housewife and sitting at home, and then taking care on me is not in any way helping them, i am not paying for their pellets, i am not paying for their pellets, i am not paying for them to be chained to our train. —— to be change. as he said, a boat was intercepted in the english channel. we now know that it had about 6—8 migrants on it, including about 6—8 migrants on it, including a mother and child, and they have been taken back to dover, and are going through some sort of processing. we now also know that a second that has been intercepted. we don't know the numbers of the people of the number of migrants on that boat, but we do know that it is more than 6—8. no nationalities or edges have been concerned, and we also know that a life boat is also

telling in the migrant boat that these people were on. a number of migrant boats have been spotted since before november in the english channel, and the home secretary, sajid javid, called this a major incident, and stepped up naval patrols, and record cat is back to try and intercept these migrant boats in the english channel. so what happens to these people now?- home office and stepped in, they ta ke home office and stepped in, they take them to various places to try and establish if they need any medical need or care, and then they are put to processing, to assess their rights and needs a we don't know where they are taken exactly, or how long it will take, but they will undergo that process. thank you very much. facebook ‘intentionally and knowingly‘ violated data privacy laws, and needs much stricter regulation, according to a damning report by mps.

the commons culture committee said the firm's founder mark zuckerberg failed to show leadership and personal responsibility over the rise of so—called fake news — and it accused social media platforms of behaving like "digital gangsters." facebook said it was open to any form of ‘meaningful regulation.‘ our media editor amol rajan reports. it‘s totally fake news. it‘s just fake. i‘m telling you, it is just fake news. the time "fake news" has entered the mainstream in recent years, thanks to one man above all. in america, there has been grave concern that the election of donald trump may have owed something to interference by russia in the presidential election. an investigation by former fbi director, robert mueller, is looking into the allegations. the nearest thing to that in britain is the culture select committee‘s report on fake news and disinformation. its findings, published this morning, are scathing about technology companies and the legal and regulatory framework in which they operate. the committee says, facebook intentionally violated both data privacy laws and anti—competition laws. it recommends a new code of conduct, overseen by an independent regulator. and it says that current electoral

law is not fit for purpose. rather than having a system where the tech companies just apologise when things go wrong, and carry on repeating the same mistakes, we should have a proper statutory regulatory system, which imposes a standard on the tech companies, with a regulator that can act against them if they fail to reach those standards. this system exists in broadcasting, it is common in other industries, and we need it in the tech sector, as well. sir nick clegg told me, they have taken extensive steps to weed out harmful content on its platform, and make political advertising more transparent. facebook has engaged a huge amount in this report. we have given around ten hours of oral evidence to the committee, we have answered over 700 questions from the committee. this report is incredibly important, we have engaged a huge amount, and we have fundamentally changed as a company since the start of this enquiry. if you want to know where a company prioritises, look it where it invests, and we have invested a huge amount

in people and technology to tackle the issues of online harms that this report raises. but coming so soon after the outcry over molly russell, the 14—year—old who took her own life after seeing pictures of self harm on facebook and instagram, it shows the technology companies and those who legislate against them, are entering a new era. ——facebook—owned instagram. amol rajan reporting. thejustice secretary, david gauke, has said there‘s a very strong case‘ for abolishing prison sentences of less than six months for most offences. in a speech, he said shortjail terms didn‘t work and should be replaced by robust community sentences with strict rehabilitation requirements. our home affairs correspondent, danny shaw, is with me now. there is on the face of it is a remarkable change? it is a significant moment in terms of penal policy and what this government has been saying. in the past few years, the tone has been different, it started with david cameron who made a speech three years —— back in a

few years ago saying that prison break were failing. previous justice secretaries have said that they want to see fewer people in prison, but no sentencing changes, but what he is saying, on record, saying that there is a strong case for scrapping sentences of less than six months. that is a major change. he would wa nt to that is a major change. he would want to see those people serving community penalties, instead, because he said that they don‘t act asa because he said that they don‘t act as a deterrent, they don‘t work, two thirds of people who are giving them

go on to reoffend within a year. the suspicion will be that this is just to clear the presence? well, it is obviously cheaper for people to be on let‘s say a tag or tracking, doing courses in the community, then it is to be locked up in prison. there is no doubt that it would save money and reduce prison population if it works, but this is a bold step. this is a conservativejustice secretary saying this, the party that has always said it is tough on law and order. the evidence is there, he says. short prison term stage work, but the difficulty he has got, is how long is he going to

be imposed 7 has got, is how long is he going to be imposed? there is huge political uncertainty, particularly with his position, what happens with brexit, and so on, and secondly, could you get it through the house of commons, he believes that there would be cross— party he believes that there would be cross—party support for this, but there is no legislation passed to oui’ there is no legislation passed to our band at the moment, but sadly, you have got the concern that there has to be a sanction if people breach the terms of their community orders, and that sanction has got to be imprisonment, and you have got that, if you could coin a phrase, as a backstop. there are potential problems with this. the other issue is sentence inflation. if you stop courts from imposing sentences of six months, did ijust say, we will give you a seven—month status, instead. —— seven month sentence. this is a major step, and he is clearly signalling a different approach penal policy. nuradean arreythe is a pianist who learned how to play by watching videos online. playing wherever he can, such as public pianos in train stations, his skills have been enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people online. he been speaking to the bbc about his self—taught talent. we have got some breaking news on

hyundai. our business editor simon jack is here. honda is going to stun ministers and workers with its announcement to close its swindon factory with the imprecations of 3500 jobs potentially affected. sources have told me that whilst they are not officially commenting on the speculation, a statement is expected tomorrow morning, and certainly, they have not steered me away from that turn back. hyundai has seen production falls lately, and this is a stunning move, and i know that senior executives from the company, and —— honda has seen production falls. there has been a pattern, as you know, the car companies issuing a lot of warnings. we don‘t know what they are attributing this to. obviously, we have got brexit in the background,

but we have seen production cuts at swindon over the next turn last few months. this will be a starting moment. when are they going to close them? moment. when are they going to close them 7 2022, moment. when are they going to close them ? 2022, we moment. when are they going to close them? 2022, we are told they will start production. we are told that they will possibly keep some skeleton staff. they also have their motor racing outfit here, but for the lion‘s share of the honda civic, the lion‘s share of the honda civic, the kind of cars they produce here, this could be a startling moment. they have already said they are such a production for six days after brexit, but we have seen with other car companies, brexit is part of a picture, but there is a much bigger problem for the global car industry? there is over capacity in the global picture, lots of companies are looking at their global picture of where they manufacture their vehicles. there has also been the diesel issue which has affected some parts of the industry, but they

honda factory in swindon has not been affected by the diesel issue. we have known for some time that the japanese car manufacturing industry was one of the first, japanese government was one of the first out of the blocks of the brexit referendum to say we have got significant investment in the uk, when it won some clarity and how we go forward, and they have become increasingly exasperated. there have been diplomatically warning for some time that all is not well, and that is, but as i say, this has come very much out of the blue. potentially 3500 jobs, but the knock—on effect that community will be massive. 3500 jobs, but the knock—on effect that community will be massivelj don‘t know what the exact ratio is, but for example in sunderland, for nissan, they say there are tens of thousands of otherjobs in the supply chain. the other thing we should make note of is forjapanese

manufacturers, something very important happened a few weeks ago, which is that the eu japanese trade deal came into force, and what that means, is that exports from japan coming into the eu, tariffs on those ca i’s coming into the eu, tariffs on those cars will be whittled down over time to zero. what that means, is that there is less and less rationale for having a manufacturing facility inside the eu, to avoid those tariffs. perhaps one of these unintended consequences —— make unintended consequences —— make unintended consequences —— make unintended consequences as you make that the rationale for having production inside the country. we will have plenty more on that throughout the afternoon. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. overnight it will get cooler weather

wins easing down as well. overnight it will tension the special across southern parts of england and eastern scotland, not far away from freezing but we will see the cloud increasing from the west on tuesday and thickening cloud will bring some rain by the end of the morning into northern ireland. that will move over the irish sea into western parts of scotland. temperatures will be 9011 degrees. that rain will be across the northern half of the uk on wednesday morning and easing away across scotland as a brightening up a touch there. still dry for south wales, there. still dry for south wales, the midlands and southern england where temperatures should be a bit higher. this is bbc news —

our latest headlines. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. for my part, i have become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the labour party. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. the border force has intercepted a boat carrying migrants off dover — some of them have been brought to shore by a coastal patrol vessel and given blankets. a committee of mps says facebook needs far stricter regulation, with founder mark zuckerberg failing to show ‘leadership or personal

responsibility" over fake news. and japanese car—maker honda is expected to make a announcement tomorrow about it swindon plant which employs about three and half thousand workers. sport now on afternoon live. casta semenya — big moment forfuture of female athletics ? yes, this is a case which could have far—reaching repercussions. olympic 800 metre champion caster semenya is challenging the athletics‘ world gvoerning body‘s controversial plans to make female athletes who naturally have high levels of testosterone take medication to lower them. the iaaf say that if the south african wins the case, it could lead to athletes with differences of sexual development and tra nsgender athletes dominating the podiums and prize money. the ioc is waiting to see what happens in this case

before announcing its testosterone limits for transgender athletes in women 5 events for the 2020 summer olympics in tokyo. but semenya says the rule is discriminatory and would be against the human rights of women like her who are born with hyperandrogenism. it‘s a five day hearing but the decision won‘t come until next month. tyson fury is making the headlines again — tell us why ? he‘s never far from controversy — this time it‘s matters in the ring and some news which could put tyson fury‘s rematch with deontay wilder could be in doubt. it‘s because the british heavyweight boxer has signed a promotional deal with espn to broadcast his fights in the united states. their heavyweight fight last december was aired on rival us broadcaster showtime — and wilder has worked with them exclusively throughout his career. fury says that the fight is more makeable now because of this deal, but we‘re not sure how.

he is holding a press conference this lunchtime and his team say an announcement on his next fight will be made in due course. he‘ll continue to work with promoter frank warren. meanwhile nicola adams‘ world title fight against mexico‘s arely mucino at the royal albert hall next month is off — because adams is injured. the fight will be rescheduled for later this year. there‘s everything to play for tonight in the 5th round of the fa cup. chelsea host manchester united at stamford bridge — with both bosses knowing that a bit of silverware could make all the difference to theirjob prospects. maurizio sarri is under pressure at chelsea with his side losing three of their last four league matches. it‘s quite the opposite for ole gunnar solskjaer. despite losing his first match as caretaker manager of manchester united last week, the norwegian‘s stock remains high at old trafford — and a good league and cup run could help him secure the role permanently. alexis sanchez scored for united in the last round, bringing his tally to just five goals sincejoining from arsenal over a year ago.

he has admitted he‘s worried about his form but solskjaer says the chilean forward is improving. when you go through periods where you do not perform up to your standard, because we know he is a good player, so it isjust one standard, because we know he is a good player, so it is just one of those things. you know, that bottle of ketchup when it never comes, when it suddenly comes it is loads. you are right, you can do it simpler to be fair but when it comes it comes, iam sure be fair but when it comes it comes, i am sure he will be fine. now lets show you some incredible pictures from the famous daytona race in florida. one of the cars slammed into the wall and that started a chain—reaction which involved more than two dozen vehicles. not surprisingly a red flag stopped the race for a lengthy clean—up. luckily it looked a lot worse than it was and no one was seriously hurt in the pile up.

that‘s all the sport for now. more now on our top story. seven labour backbenchers have resigned from the party, blaming jeremy corbyn‘s leadership, his approach to brexit and his handling of anti—semitism claims. so what happens when a political party splits? to find out we can talk to professor steven fielding, who has written extensively on the labour party and is currently working on a radio four documentary called breaking up the party, which is all about these splits. his timing has to be said, is pretty good. did this come as a surprise to you? this spite does not come as a surprise to me, i don‘t think it comes as a surprise surprise to me, i don‘t think it comes as a surprise to anybody else. i think some people predicted with the consolidation of jeremy i think some people predicted with the consolidation ofjeremy corbyn‘s leadership in 2016 there would be some people in the labour party

would eventually decide it really wasn‘t the party they had joined, andl wasn‘t the party they had joined, and i think when you add on the anti—semitic issues anti—brexit disagreements —— and brexit disagreements, there are a number of things coming together. it is difficult for people to leave a political party, you need more than one reason to leave and today has proved it. it is a gang of seven, they do not have a name, it is different from the tone when the other party was formed.|j different from the tone when the other party was formed. i think it is very similar. the gang before did not state a issue that they are a new party. they had a declaration and there was a lot of movement behind the scenes many years, when the left took control of the labour party and arguably, it took them nearly ten years because it started with the split over europe in the early 19705 which might sound familiar. these things take a lot of

time to come together but in the terms of how they position themselves today, saying it was not departed theyjoined, the party has changed and gone to the left, these are things the sdp 5aid changed and gone to the left, these are things the sdp said in early 19805. in terms of how you should manage the economy, what is the best way for a social democratic party to go? they are essentially saying we need to have a market economy 5till how damaging is this to labour at the moment? i think it is incredibly damaging because when parties that split, the parties that is damaged the most is from whom people are spotting. in the short—term it is reinforcing negative views of the party. no party wants to be known as anti—semitic and that is a headline from your story, i heard, as we were coming into this. but also the

problem is over europe. thatjeremy corbyn stands on one side of the argument many of his own members stand on the other, and seven are pa rt stand on the other, and seven are part of that so i cannot think there is any good sign for the labour party with the split. a man from the gmb union described it as a tinkering, and that is theoretically seven have taken. the meeting become quite irrelevant. that is what one reason why splits rarely happen. those people that leave one of the two big parties, and it is usually labour, they are out into the darkness. it is the great unknown. the safest thing for those people would be to stay in the labour party, to try and tackle the issues they were saying they could no longer tackle. once you have left one of the two major parties, the british electoral system is not kind to you. it is difficult for a

third—party to make headway and certainly almost impossible for it to make a breakthrough as a party of government. the sdp liberal and outlines kinko‘s in 1983 —— alliance came by close in 1983, yet the distance in seats was enormous so maybury remained the official opposition. whoever votes for this seven or whatever opposition. whoever votes for this seven or whatever it becomes in the future, labour has got a advantage just because of the very peculiar first past the post system we have got. how unusual are something like this in history? it is massively unusual. we keep going on about the sdp because that was the last time it happened. the last time it happened in that was 1931 when the labour government split over the necessity of cutting welfare to balance the budget to get a loan so the british government could survive the british government could survive the economic crisis. when you are talking in those terms, and it only happened three times for that since

the 18405, it is only happened twice in the era of the one person one vote democracy. this is why everyone is talking about it because we are meant to live in a political system of stability and firm government. we are not living through that anymore and this is another incident of how the system we have taken for granted is slowly possibly breaking up. when is slowly possibly breaking up. when isa is slowly possibly breaking up. when is a documentary going out? is slowly possibly breaking up. when is a documentary going ounm is slowly possibly breaking up. when is a documentary going out? it was meant to come out a little bit later, the deadline is coming further and further forwards because of events so sometimes in march. thank you very much. with the us—led coalition close to announcing the defeat of is in syria, the government there has already recaptured most of the country. now — across the middle east — five—and—a—half—million syrian refugees are starting to consider whether to go home. the un expects a quarter of a million to head back this year. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell has been talking to some of those making the journey.

this is the border with syria, and after years of people fleeing a brutal civil war, every day now there‘s a long queue to enter the country. so, all these people are syrians who been staying injordan, but they‘ve now decided to go home, and it‘s not an easy decision at all to go back, because they are going to be giving up all of their rights as refugees. mariam spent two years in a refugee camp. translation: we want to go back to our country, to our house. there‘s nothing better. when we left, we hoped for calm, and now, god has calmed everything. since government forces retook rebel held areas last year, there have been thousands of returns. over time now, people have been able to hear back from relatives of improved security. we start to see an interest of refugees to go back. at the syrian embassy in amman, refugees wait to sort out the

paperwork they need to go home. it‘s costly. moussa has saved up $170 to register his daughter‘s birth injordan. she is one of the million refugee babies born during the war. soon, her father plans to take her and all his family back to daraa. it‘s where syria‘s uprising began. but after all the turmoil, moussa is glad president assad wasn‘t overthrown. translation: if the islamic state group, the nusra front task and all those other fronts and factions had their way, syria would have been divided into a thousand pieces. instead, president bashar al—assad preserved a united syria. back at the border, more syrians head home. fighting has devastated much of their country, but people are desperate to rebuild their lives.

we will get the business news in just a moment. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, and says she was used as propaganda. the border force has intercepted a boat carrying migrants off dover — some of them have been brought to shore by a coastal patrol vessel. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. sources say japanese car—maker honda is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant in 2022, putting 3,500 jobs at risk. it will retain its european headquarters in berkshire. the bbc understands that honda will make a formal announcement

on the future of the company on tuesday morning. any risk, posed by involving the chinese technology giant huawei, in uk telecoms projects, can be managed. that‘s according to cyber—security bosses. reports say it can be used in britain‘s 5g mobile phone network. despite allegations that it‘s used by china for spying. the government has urged families to check if they qualify for tax—free childcare after figures show that only a fifth of eligible families had signed up. the bbc found that the government had budgeted for 415,000 families to take part in the scheme — which replaced the old childcare vouchers — but only 91,000 have done so. no announcement as yet but it seems honda is going to say something quite devastating tomorrow. 3500 jobs are at risk and we heard

roughly about a week ago they talked about how they are reducing production volumes to about 570 hours a day which would come at a cost of 570 staff members. they said it was not because of brexit but other factors including the declining demand of diesel cars, we look more broadly at the current market and its falling sales in china, the biggest car market in the world and following sales in europe. there are other factors to be considered. except they do not make diesel at swindon. this is not the first car manufacturer to announce job losses and as you say, it is not just about brexit but brexit is clearly a factor. the global car market is having problems. clearly a factor. the global car market is having problemsm clearly a factor. the global car market is having problems. it is slowing and we‘re hearing from other car—makers that this is a factor in their decision of future production scales, jaguar, land rover, boyd and nissan have announced job losses in the uk and cuts in production. that

is clearly having a devastating effect on local communities and what is happening in the supply market. it also worth mentioning the eu japanese trade deal will possibly have an effect here and that will dwindle down tariffs from the japanese imports into the eu to roughly about 0%, so it will have some sort of effect because car—makers have been vocal about their worries about what will happen. exit in terms of tariff and what is going to happen to cars stop thatis what is going to happen to cars stop that is imported to the car industry so they have urged the government for more clarity. you will have more of this in the next hour but let‘s have a look at the markets. so fitzy is flat at the moment, it was in the red this morning. there is a bit of a surge for brent crude. that is because of production. it will be

interesting to look at what the pound does today, it was higher against the dollar, the last few weeks it was lower so that generally tends to be marked by negotiations in brexit. i shall see you when you return. train companies say they want a complete overhaul of the way rail tickets are bought and sold — so that passengers are automatically offered the cheapest fare. the industry body, the rail delivery group, says peak fares could also be scrapped in the future. our transport correspondent tom burridge reports. getting the cheapest fare can be baffling. the system for issuing tickets in britain is complicated and outdated. when you try and find the prices, they are just quite confusing so you end up, i‘ll go on trainline, and then afterwards find out that maybe virgin have cheaper deals. then on the day, sometimes i‘ll find out that it would have been better to go on the train ten minutes later but it doesn‘t always show up that way. it can be a little bit complicated finding out if it's off—peak, on peak, super off— peak, there seems a lot of different categories of time travel. you have to really search to find what you want

to get something cheap. you have to go on the websites, and quite often to go on a certain website. so, train companies want a tap—in tap—out style system forjourneys across the country, like that in london. swipe and you‘d automatically be charged at the cheapest fare for yourjourney, and if you travel on the same route often your weekly rate would automatically be capped. the system we have today is full of anomalies. for example, a single can sometimes be almost as expensive as a return. a government commissioned review of the entire rail system is ongoing. train companies say ticketing needs to change. we believe the time is ripe to be able to change the system so that it‘s much easier for people to use, much easierfor people to understand, and so they can use new technology as well to travel around the country and really bring the rail industry into the 21st—century. the industry wants more flexible fares for long distance journeys to avoid people rushing for the first off—peak service

after the rush hour. passenger groups say change is needed but worry there will be winners and losers. the issues go beyond the railways, this is about ticketing across rail, bus, tram, metro and other forms of transport. we‘ve got a ticketing system and a fare system that doesn‘t work for a seamless door—to—door journeys. it doesn‘t work for people day in day out, travelling to work, going to education or going to the shops. we need a simpler system that works across all forms of public transport. train companies say the average price of a ticket wouldn‘t change under today‘s proposals. they consulted nearly 20,000 passengers. but real change to the way we buy tickets could take years. and, ultimately, it will be down to the government. tom burridge, bbc news. the impact plastic is having on our environment was highlighted dramatically by the bbc documentary series blue planet. now the government has unveiled plans for how it thinks the uk could cut down on its use. ministers want to introduce a new tax on plastic packaging, alongside a ‘deposit return‘ scheme for cans and bottles.

but large retailers have been accused of trying to water down the proposals, as our environment analyst, roger harrabin reports. plastic litter harms marine life so the government is introducing a deposit return scheme for bottles and also cans. small, on—the—go bottles are the most likely to appear in the sea so retailers want the deposit restricted to those small containers, but environmentalists say many family sized bottles end up in the ocean, too. they are fighting for all bottles, big and small, to face the deposit. there‘s another reason for a catch—all deposit. it would improve the quality of materials for recycling. environmentalists say tough policies are needed. for nearly 40 years, industry has been trying to fight proposals to institute a deposit return scheme and we are seeing that continue now with them opposing a wide—ranging, all—in deposit return scheme, which would actually have the best impact on the environment.

but here‘s another view — people buying family—sized bottles are likely to drink them at home then put them in their own recycling bin. why make them pay a deposit? well, we share the ambition to reduce bottles overall, but we just want to build on an existing, successful scheme, which is kerb—side recycling. we know that consumers already recycle lots of their bottles through that and therefore what we are saying is, build on that and have a food—on—the—go system, which picks up the bottles we buy when we are out and about. this sort of norway—style recycling machine is likely to arrive in the towns of england whatever decision the government makes on bottle sizes. there are other questions over what goes into your bin. the government says in today‘s consultation, it will standardise rules to end confusion over what you can recycle and what you can‘t. and there are radical thoughts on dumping, too. ministers have raised the possibility — just

a possibility so far — that the makers of furniture, mattresses, carpets, tyres and fishing gear might also be obliged to pay for the ultimate cost of getting rid of them. just to bring you more on that breaking news, the proposal to shut the honda plant at swindon. an announcement expected from the company tomorrow but just announcement expected from the company tomorrow butjust heard from the swindon north mp who said the decision to consolidate european market production in japan decision to consolidate european market production injapan was not the result of brexit and his colleague have spoken to business secretary and honda and are clear it is based on global trends, and not brexit, as all european market production will consolidate injapan in 2021. he says working with honda,

the government, staff and unions will set up a task voice to provide support for all staff. honda will be consulting with all staff, there is not expected to be job losses in change were production until 2021. we will bring you more on that as we get it. we are expecting the official announcement tomorrow. another breaking story is the discovery of two migrant boats in the english channel. here you can see some of the migrants in that boat being spoken to by uk product voice officials who will take them sure. you can see they have been given blankets. there were three on one boat, including a woman and a child, and more than six reported on a second boat but these are the first pictures we are getting from the dilbert coast. we will have more on that throughout the afternoon.

now it is time to catch up on the weather. it is a bit cooler today, with some showers expected. we will see the back of the rain in the south—east and the showers become fewer and lighter and they went ten to ease down a bit as well with clear skies following across many parts of the uk. it turns a bit chilly across other parts of england and eastern scotland but we will see the cloud increasing fairly quickly from the west on tuesday and thickening cloud will bring some rain by the end of the morning into northern ireland which will move over northern ireland which will move over the irish sea into western parts of scotland, so we are losing a lot of the sunshine. still quite busy on tuesday, a south—westerly wind and temperatures nine to 11 degrees. that rain is going to be across the northern half of the uk on wednesday morning, easing away from most of scotland and brightening up a touch. still some patchy rain for northern england and pushing back into northern ireland,

still dry for many places where temperatures should be a bit higher. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m simon mccoy. today at 3.00pm. 3500 jobs are at risk at honda‘s swindon plant, as reports suggest the japanese car—maker is planning to close it. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. for my part, i have become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the labour party. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — azi farni. there is a big case being heard at the court of arbitration for sport this week, which could have huge repercussions the female athletes.

the athlete marketeer is challenging a decision to lower testosterone, but she says that the women like her, who are hyper androgynous, the move would be against their human rights. thanks azi, and we‘ll be joining you for a full update just after half—past. darren has all the weather. we have had some wet weather around today. it has been a bit cooler as well. there is some rain across the northern part of the uk, and later in the week, it will warm up significantly, like last week. all the details later on. thanks darren, also coming up — shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. i‘m simon mccoy.

breaking news this hour — reports that honda is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting 3500 jobs at risk. the local tory mpjustin tomlinson, confirmed the news, insisting that the decision ‘is based on global trends and not brexit as all european market production will consolidate injapan in 2021‘. we‘re expecting an announcement from the japanese car—maker tomorrow. our business correspondent simonjack gave us more details. the plan first reported by sky news, official sources have told me that whilst they are not officially

commenting on this, the statement is tomorrow morning, and they have not steered me away from that. honda have seen production falls lately, but this is a stunning move, and i know that senior executives from the company, and indeed local mps have been meeting with greg clark, i expect to get more details are emerging. there has been a pattern, as you know, the car companies have issued warnings about that, we don‘t know what they are attributing this to. obviously, brexit is in the background, but we have seen production cuts at swindon over the last few months, and this will be, asi last few months, and this will be, as i say, a startling moment. when will they close them? we are told they will start production in 2022. we are told they might keep some skeleton staff. they have their motor racing outfit here, that could stay, but for the lion‘s cher comedy honda civic, this is a startling moment. we already had that they are shutting production for six days after brexit, but we have seen with

other car companies, brexit is part of the picture, but there is a much bigger problem for the global car industry? there is overcapacity in the global car picture. there has also been the diesel issue which has affected some parts of the industry, but the honda factory in swindon is not really affected by this diesel issue. they produce many petrol and hybrid cars there. they would not have been affected by the diesel situation. we have known for some time that the japanese, industry —— japanese car manufacturing industry was one of the first one is out of the blocks saying they have got significant investments in the uk, we wa nt significant investments in the uk, we want some clarity as we go forward , we want some clarity as we go forward, and they have become very exasperated, and they very diplomatically have been warning for some time that all is not well. as i say, this has come very much out of the blue. white might potentially

3500 jobs as you say, but the knock—on effect for the community will be massive. i don‘t know what the ratio is. in sunderland, where nissan is, they say to everyjob thatis nissan is, they say to everyjob that is tens of others in the supply chain. that is certainly cheaper honda in swindon. a real blow. the other thing we should make note of, is that something very important happened a couple of weeks ago, which is that the eu japanese trade deal came into force, and what that meant was that exports from japan, coming into the eu, tariffs on those ca rs coming into the eu, tariffs on those cars will be whittled over time to zero. cars will be whittled over time to zero. what that means is there is less and less rationale for having a manufacturing facility inside the eu, to avoid those tariffs. perhaps

one of the unintended consequences of striking a deal with japan as you reduce the rationale for having production in this camp in our country. thank you very much. seven labour mps have resigned from the party in protest at jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. they‘ll now sit in the commons as a group of independents. one of the mp5, luciana berger, said she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to stay in labour, which she said was now "institutionally anti—semitic." another — chris leslie — said labour had been "hijacked" by the far left. jeremy corbyn said he was disappointed by the mp5‘ decision. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. the time for talking was over. seven labour mps chose this room on this morning to act, frustrated with their party and its leader the time had come for them to quit and form a new group. this has been a very difficult, painful, but necessary decision. we represent different parts of the country. we are of different backgrounds. we were born of different generations. but we all share the same values. i cannot remain in the party, that i have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti—semitic. all seven gave their own reasons,

and with that, damning criticism reflecting anger that they and others have felt for some time. british politics is now well and truly broken and in all conscience we can no longer knock on doors and support a government led byjeremy corbyn, or the team around him. this group of seven hopes to grow. there was an appeal for others from other parties to join them. you don'tjoin a political party to spend years and years fighting the people within it. you get involved in politics, you join a party, to change the world. so, we invite you to leave your parties and help us forge a new consensus on a way forward for britain. but the group was clear this move was about him, jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit, his failure as they see it to tackle anti—semitism and their unease

at labour‘s lurch to the left. in a statement mr corbyn said: "i‘m disappointed that these mps have felt unable to continue to work together for the labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and sorts increase our vote by the largest share since 1945." it comes at a time when our constituents are facing real hardship with universal credit being introduced, we have rising crime, homelessness on a scale we have not seen for decades, the government is bungling brexit. so we should be working together for the long—term interests of the country. it‘s hard to avoid comparisons to this moment in 1981 when a group of mps left labour and set up the social democratic party, later merging to become what is now the liberal democrats. it hurt labour then and some say the same will happen now. when people leave the labour party there is bound to be damage. we had evidence of this in the early 19805. it is not good if people leave a political party but we have to stick to our principles and work

for what we put forward in the manifesto. history willjudge them. there is no doubt that if they regard themselves as democrats, i wonder whether they are going to stand down and create by—elections. a lot of them talked about how proud they are to represent their constituents. well, if they're so proud of that, why don't they give their constituents the opportunity to see if they want them elected. party loyalty runs deep around here. it is no small move for any mp to disown their own side, and those who have left labour today will know it is a gamble because there may be others who want to help them and join them. but the move will galvanise jeremy corbyn‘s supporters and those against him within labour who believe it is better to stay and fight from within. what this group will achieve, what it will become, is not clear, but these now former labour mps felt enough was enough and they are better off out than in. jonathan blake, bbc

news, westminster. the london schoolgirl who joined the islamic state group in syria, but now wants to come home, has apologised for her actions. but speaking to the bbc, shamima begum equated terrorist attacks in the uk with coalition action in syria. the 19—year—old gave birth to a boy at the weekend. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. shamima begum, who left her home in east london aged 15 to join the islamic state group, explaining today what it was that inspired her to go. was it because you watched some beheading videos? is that right? notjust the beheading videos. they show families and stuff, the good life that they can provide to you, and all else. i‘m not justifying

the videos, but yeah, not just the fighting videos, but the fighting vidoes as well, i guess. she left britain with two school friends, travelling through turkey to syria, and became a symbol of young, british peoplejoining is. you helped them. you helped the enemy of britain. but i wasn‘t the one that put myself down that i didn‘t want to be on the news, at first. i know a lot of people, after they saw that me and my friends came, they actually encouraged them, i did hear, yeah, a lot of people were encouraged to come after i left, but i wasn‘t the one who put myself on the news. we didn‘t want to be on the news. she was asked what she thought about the manchester bombing of 2017 in which 22 people died. she appeared to regret it, but then compared it to the coalition bombing of is held towns in syria. i do feel that it‘s wrong that innocent people did get killed. it‘s like, it‘s one thing to kill a soldier that is fighting you, you know, it‘s self defence, but to kill people, like women and children, just like people in... the women and children in baghuz who are being killed right now unjustly by the bombings. it‘s a two—way thing, really. because women and children

are being killed back in islamic state right now. and it‘s kind of retaliation. theirjustification was that it was retaliation, so i thought that is a fairjustification. shamima begum is asking to be allowed back to the uk. she said that if she is sent to prison, she would like herfamily to look after her newborn baby boy. daniel sandford, bbc news. our political correspondent, chris mason is at westminster. let‘s return to this bet in the labour party. at say they are quitting. not everybody is agreeing with our take on this. quite, and there will be plenty who

articulate their annoyance at those labourmps, and an articulate their annoyance at those labour mps, and an even stronger language than that. that was happening sadly on social media insta ntly. happening sadly on social media instantly. i think what is undeniable, is that it is a huge day for those mps taking a decision, and a huge day for anyone in this postcode when they abandon their tribal loyalty and walks away from their party affiliation, heading off to do something else while still remaining as an mp. a huge day to the labour party and the labour party movement as it reflects on the fa ct party movement as it reflects on the fact that these mps have decided publicly to wrap up their membership and set up an alternative grouping. let‘s speak to alison mcgovern. your reaction, alison, today‘s big news? well, very disappointed. nobody wants members of parliament to leave

the labour party, and in addition, we have crucial votes on brexit next week, and we need to remain utterly focused on that issue. it could cause severe damage to our country, if we just allow brexit to happen a nyway if we just allow brexit to happen anyway that the tories want. i would say to people, let's stay focused on the thing that matters to us, protecting our country from a tory ha rd protecting our country from a tory hard brexit and making sure that our labour values of socialjustice are realised. you are the chair of a central left movement, many would see you and use the word moderate to dip prescribe you the parliamentary labour party, and politically relatively close to those who decided to leave. is there anything that they said, short of their conclusion that they wanted to leave that you could obviously disagree with? people will use different terms, but i am a progressive. i believe the power structures in our country are run. the reason that i am labour, is because i believe that the labour party is still the best vehicle to change those power structures. i believe ordinary

families can be heard and be served by our politics. the issues that people have raised this morning, thatis people have raised this morning, that is for them, but i wish we could stay focused on the issue ahead of us, which is brexit. we need to stop the pie minister running down the clock, and doing significant damage to our country. and yet, we have the party minister, . .. and yet, we have the party minister,... you are still standing under that banner, of a party led by someone who seems reluctant to do what plenty of your members want to adjust to campaign for another referendum. well, there was a whole platter of issues. when it comes to brexit, i was part of a group that came together, and we decided our policy. the thing that we have got to do now is stick to it, stay

unified with our policy, which is either find unified with our policy, which is eitherfind a unified with our policy, which is either find a deal that we can vote for, which keeps people in their jobs, and keeps their rights protected, which does not seem like it's on the table for theresa may, or campaign fora it's on the table for theresa may, or campaign for a public vote. so, in the sense labour's policy is absolutely clear, we have got to make sure that through this turbulent period, with votes in parliament coming up last week, we all -- parliament coming up last week, we all —— next week, we all stick together. does this make a conservative government more likely?

well i worry that we will have a conservative government in the future, and that is why we need a labour government. if we look at the damage that first of all george osborne's economic state, which led toa osborne's economic state, which led to a lot of dissatisfaction ahead of the referendum, which many people have said led to the brexit vote in the first place, and i see the damage that the conservative government has done, and i know that i want the opposite, a progressive labour government that is able to re—address the imbalances in our country. led by jeremy corbin? side he has got to put his case forward, and if he can be a strong labour prime minister delivering on it, then he has got to make the case for that, so that you can read. i worry todayis that, so that you can read. i worry today is a distraction from the very important issues that we face now, whether it is brexit or the inequality in our country. thank you. we appreciate it. you get the sense from our conversation, a huge amount of reaction from westminster. this was not a yes. it was not as clear—cut an answer to the question as it could have been. thank you very much. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines. the japanese car—maker, honda,

is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three and a half thousand jobs at risk. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. and in sport, semenya challenges plans to limit testosterone levels in athletes. a decision has been made to dart the first bout last december was out on rival us broadcast show time. and chelsea‘s maurizio sarri, and manchester united‘s solskjaer come face—to—face with a place in the quarterfinals at sta ke. with a place in the quarterfinals at stake. i will have more on this story just after half stake. i will have more on this storyjust after half past. more now on the london schoolgirl who joined the islamic state group in syria, but now wants to come home, has apologised for her actions. but speaking to the bbc, shamima begum equated terrorist attacks in the uk with

coalition action in syria. let‘s speak now to david toube who is director of policy at quilliam international a london—based think tank that focuses on counter—extremism. thank you for coming in. the first interview she gave, there was no remorse. there still seems to be a sense that the ideology is still very much part of her, if you like, and that is the problem when she comes back? it really is. she has done herself no favours. she could not have given a worse account of herself, and i‘m sure that many people who saw the first interview, well think that remains a threat in britain. and on that basis, what you think should happen when she stepped off the plane? most people who have come back from syria, irrespective of who they have been fighting for, end up being questioned by the police. the question then is, is there evidence on which she can be

prosecuted. this is obviously something that we don‘t know anything about, but we let in an area of social and political media. it may be that her account, which at the moment is, at the moment, i did nothing other than be a housewife, turns out to provide material for prosecution. bye! a lot has been made of the fact that she was 15, quite rightly. perhaps what people don‘t understand is how one schoolgirl in bethnal green, a borough of many hundreds of thousands of similar girls, how she was radicalised, in that way, at that time. well we don‘t know the full detail yet. we may find out as the story develops. what i can tell you is that bethnal green is a place where there are a number of very prominent and supposedly mainstream

religious and political institutions, which for years and yea rs have hosted institutions, which for years and years have hosted preachers and organisations which have said, the greatest thing that we could conceivably do to solve the world‘s problems is to create an islamic state, and that every muslim has the responsibility to... and islamic state. that is correct. but if you have grown up with authority figures telling you for all of your life that the greatest thing that could ever that the greatest thing that could ever happen is that an islamic state could be created, you are easy prey to people who wanted to go over. how easy will it be when she gets home? too, i don‘t know what is the right phrase, but to get her on the right

track? with young people have been imprisoned, the first thing that you need to do is to rehabilitate then, in the area of terrorism, we describe this as de—radicalisation, but in many ways it is no different from rehabilitating and people had been drawn into crime. there is an ideological element to this, and she will have been persuaded by theologians and authority figures that islam requires you to fight for an islamic state. much effort has been placed in creating an analysis which does show that that is not true, and has never really been true of its land, except in the medieval period where islam was under attack, so it is possible to draw people out of their ideological commitment to jihad as m. be fair is whether she wa nts to, jihad as m. be fair is whether she wants to, she becomes a lightning rod to those who support that

ideology, and to those who really don‘t. ideology, and to those who really don't. yes, it is a terrible situation that she gets back to. she represents a threat to the country and community in that state, and she isa and community in that state, and she is a danger to herself. thank you very much. facebook intentionally and knowingly violated data privacy laws, and needs much stricter regulation, according to a damning report by mps. the commons culture committee said the firm‘s founder mark zuckerberg failed to show leadership and personal responsibility over the rise of so—called fake news — and it accused social media platforms of behaving like "digital gangsters." facebook said it was open to any form of ‘meaningful regulation.‘ our media editor amol rajan reports. it‘s totally fake news. it‘s just fake. i‘m telling you, it is just fake news. the time "fake news" has entered the mainstream in recent years, thanks to one man above all. in america, there has been grave concern that the election of donald trump may have owed something to interference by russia in the presidential election.

an investigation by former fbi director, robert mueller, is looking into the allegations. the nearest thing to that in britain is the culture select committee‘s report on fake news and disinformation. its findings, published this morning, are scathing about technology companies and the legal and regulatory framework in which they operate. the committee says, facebook intentionally violated both data privacy laws and anti—competition laws. it recommends a new code of conduct, overseen by an independent regulator. and it says that current electoral law is not fit for purpose. rather than having a system where the tech companies just apologise when things go wrong, and carry on repeating the same mistakes, we should have a proper statutory regulatory system, which imposes a standard on the tech companies, with a regulator that can act against them if they fail to reach those standards. this system exists in broadcasting, it is common in other industries, and we need it in the tech sector, as well. sir nick clegg told me, they have taken extensive steps to weed out harmful content on its platform, and make political advertising more transparent. facebook has engaged a huge amount in this report.

we have given around ten hours of oral evidence to the committee, we have answered over 700 questions from the committee. this report is incredibly important, we have engaged a huge amount, and we have fundamentally changed as a company since the start of this enquiry. if you want to know where a company prioritises, look it where it invests, and we have invested a huge amount in people and technology to tackle the issues of online harms that this report raises. but coming so soon after the outcry over molly russell, the 14—year—old who took her own life after seeing pictures of self harm on facebook—owned instagram, it shows the technology companies and those who legislate against them, are entering a new era. amol rajan reporting a boat carrying migrants off the coast of dover has been intercepted by the uk borderforce —— with a group of migrants being brought to shore.

our correspondent simonjones is in doverfor us now. standing up here on the cliffs, we have had a bird‘s eye view of the drama that has been happening down at the channel and at the port. we initially had at lunchtime that a boat carrying a large number of migrants had been found across dover. a couple of lifeboats launched and border force battles, but then what we saw was an initial borderforce but then what we saw was an initial border force boat bring but then what we saw was an initial borderforce boat bring back a but then what we saw was an initial border force boat bring back a small group of migrants, back to the port initially. we understand those needed medical treatment. we saw them being taken off that border force boat onto the shore. we also saw a woman and what appeared to be a fairly young child. that border force boat then headed back out to the channel, the borderforce cutter, which is a larger boat, then came in, and then the smaller boat ended up bringing another two boat loads of migrants back to the shore.

we has also seen the boat used by the migrants towed back to the lifeboat station. it was a pretty small boat. we have not been told numbers yet, but we are hearing potentially 20—30 migrants were on board that boat. that is yet to be confirmed. what will happen to these migrants now? well, what we saw our pier is that initially the migrants we re pier is that initially the migrants were taken of the border force boat, and then we saw them put into vans at down at the port. they were given an initial medical checkup, —— they are initially given a checkup, they are initially given a checkup, they are then taken to the other side of the port, where they will be given initial interviews, and then, if they ultimately decide to attempt to claim asylum in this country, they will begin that process, but it is not a quick process. we are not

being told what nationalities we are talking about here, but we did see a woman and a child here, so those are among the numbers who have arrived here so far this afternoon. what sense do we get about how often migrants are trying to make this trip? the weather has improved, is that a factor? i think that definitely is a big factor, because it has been very mild for this time of year, and the sea has indeed been very calm. we saw a spike in the numbers arriving in the run—up to christmas. that was because, despite the fact it was december, the weather was pretty benign. we saw him drop off injanuary. i understand there were 47 migrants arriving in january, and understand there were 47 migrants arriving injanuary, and fax number is definitely down on the figure we we re is definitely down on the figure we were seeing in november and december. lastly, we saw two boats arriving with ten migrants on board, plus the latest arrivals today. i understand from the home office

sources, that there is real concern as we approach spring that this isn‘t going to become even more common, when the weather is even more benign, when conditions in the channel, just looking out today, is not much in terms of waves. these are ideal conditions for people attempting the perilous journey, are ideal conditions for people attempting the perilousjourney, but there is a caveat that these people inside the small boat is crossing the biggest shipping lane in the world, used by ferries, and commercial traffic, on small vessels, and that is incredibly dangerous. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett. a bit of rain. the showers further north become fewer and lighter, the

winds tend down, as well. with clearer skies following across many parts of the uk, attends a bit chilly. especially across southern parts of the england. then we see cloud increasing by the england. then we see cloud increasing by the bats from the west on tuesday, and thickening cloud will bring rain into northern ireland, that will move into northern ireland, that will m ove over into northern ireland, that will move over the irish sea anti—western parts of scotland. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the japanese car—maker, honda, is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three

and a half thousand jobs at risk. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. it is time we dumped this country‘s old—fashioned politics it is time we dumped this country‘s old —fashioned politics and it is time we dumped this country‘s old—fashioned politics and created an alternative that does justice to who we are today and give this country a politics bit by bit here and now, the 21st—century, not the last one. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. train companies propose an overhaul of ticketing — with tap—in, tap—out payments — and better value for passengers. sport now on afternoon live with azi farni... casta semenya — big moment for future of female athletics? the olympic 800 metre champion

caster semenya is challenging the athletics‘ world governing body‘s controversial plans to make female athletes who naturally have high levels of testosterone take medication to lower them. it‘s a case which could have far—reaching repercussions. the iaaf say that if the south african wins the case, it could lead to athletes with differences of sexual development and tra nsgender athletes dominating the podiums and prize money. and the international olympic committee in particular is waiting for a decision here before announcing its testosterone limits for transgender athletes in women s events for the 2020 tokyo olympics. semenya though says the rule is discriminatory and against the human rights of women like her who are born with hyperandrogenism. it‘s a five day hearing but the decision won‘t come until next month. tyson fury is making the headlines again — tell us why ?

he‘s never far from controversy — this time it‘s matters in the ring and some news which could put tyson fury‘s rematch with deontay wilder in doubt. it‘s because the british heavyweight boxer has signed a promotional deal with espn to broadcast his fights in the united states. their heavyweight fight last december was aired on rival us broadcaster showtime — and wilder has worked with them exclusively throughout his career. he will continue to work with promoter frank warren. i've orally beaten in his home country. it is not the end of the world, it is only a boxing fight. i have already beaten in america so let us make it happen. meanwhile nicola adams‘

world title fight against mexico‘s arely mucino at the royal albert hall next month is off — because adams is injured. the fight will be rescheduled for later this year. chelsea assistant coach gianfranco zola believes his side are slight favourites for tonight‘s fa cup fifth round tie with manchester united at stamford bridge. both maurizio sarri and ole gunnar solskjaer know that a bit of silverware could make all the difference to theirjob prospects. sarri is under pressure at chelsea with his side losing three of their last four league matches, but zola says a big game like this is exactly what the team needs. it is, i think it is a classic, a great game not only for the cup for the country, it is always an interesting feature plus they are really in a good moment so it is a

good challenge, it is actually what we need to do right now. it‘s a different story for ole gunnar solskjaer, who‘s had a great start to his time as caretaker manager of manchester united, despite losing for the first time as manager last week. for him, a good league and cup run could help secure the role permanently. world number one naomi osaka says she wasn‘t willing to "sacrifice" her happiness following her surprise split from coach sascha bajin last week. osaka split with the serbian just 16 days after winning the australian open, which sealed back—to—back major titles. osaka said that "everyone thinks it was a money—related issue, but it had nothing to do with that." now lets show you some incredible pictures from the famous daytona race in florida. one of the cars slammed into the wall and that started a chain—reaction which involved more than two dozen vehicles. luckily it looked a lot worse than it was and no one was seriously hurt in the pile up.

that‘s all the sport for now. let‘s get more now on that news we broke within the past hour that honda is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant with the loss of three and a half thousand jobs. let‘s speak now to the conservative mp for north swindon, justin tomlinson — the honda plant is in his constituency. just tell us what you know at the moment. this is emerging news for us and our thoughts are with the workforce. we are still waiting for confirmation. my understanding is a statement is due tomorrow, there has been breaking news and is a lot of concern from the workforce. your understanding is the announcement will be plant shuts? my understanding is that at the end of the current production programme which comes to an end in 2021, the factory will close with about 50,000

ca rs factory will close with about 50,000 cars a factory will close with about 50,000 ca rs a year factory will close with about 50,000 cars a year switching to japan where the axe to produce 1.9 billion cars a year. my understanding it it is not just swindon but a year. my understanding it it is notjust swindon but the turkish factory as well. but we have managed to establish that this absolutely isn‘t because of brexit because all production is moving out of europe and out of the eu, it is a consolidation of their production in reflection of the following global sales. another dealer, they had already announced they were putting production on hold for six days after brexit. it is clearly in the background, isn‘t it? after brexit. it is clearly in the background, isn't it? no, they are being crystal clear this is not brexit related. it is a huge blow for our local economy and wider with the supply chain, but it is a reflection of their falling sales. honda had invested heavily in diesel engines are not only are global climate sales following but diesel. they have a commitment by 2025 to do

7596 they have a commitment by 2025 to do 75% of their production in electric motors and they have decided, they have taken a commercial decision they will consolidate all of that into their main factory which is japan. with1.9 million cars made against 150,000, that is why they have taken that decision. we have got a couple of years, the government will rightly be needing a task voice. we have heard from the mpfor task voice. we have heard from the mp for excess wind and the business secretary, we will be setting up a task voice and potential players. we‘ve had ups and downs with honour in the past, we lost 700 hundred jobs ina in the past, we lost 700 hundred jobs in a few years ago. this is a huge blow to our local economy but we will be doing everything we can of the next two years. if spoken to the business secretary about this and is he aware? they have discussions, honda confirmed the

details, if a statement was due tomorrow but the news has really disappointed because it has broken before honda is time to speak to the staff who are understandably concerned. we do know it is not immediatejob losses, concerned. we do know it is not immediate job losses, it is not an immediate job losses, it is not an immediate production and, it will continue as normal until 2021.. pretty awful way for three and half thousand people to find out. yes, it is disappointing they did not get to the staff before the news broke but we are where we are in our priority, as the government and the unions is to make sure the welfare of the staff, not just at the to make sure the welfare of the staff, notjust at the main honda factory but the whole supply chain which is notjust in swindon but further afield, this will be felt right across. apart from the jobs there will be huge knock—on in the area as well. absolutely, with the supply chain we have a factory that

produces car seats for honda cars. and all of the contractors who supply all of those. this is a huge change. the one bit we can work with is we do at least have two years so the government, local businesses, local council, we can all work together to try and find an alternative employment opportunity going forward and try and lessen the impact of this devastating announcement. thank you very much for that. the justice secretary, david gauke, has said there 5 a ‘very strong case‘ for abolishing prison sentences of less than six months for most offences. in a speech, he said shortjail terms didn t work and should be replaced by robust community sentences with strict rehabilitation requirements. our home affairs correspondent danny shaw says it marks the signalling of a significant shift in prison sentencing policy.

the past the years, the tone has been different. it started with the david cameron three years ago, he made a speech talking about the fact that prisons were feeling but he never that prisons were feeling but he never really proposed any sentencing before. previousjustice secretary is said they wanted to see fewer people in prison but again no sentencing changes. what david gauke is saying, on the record, in his speech, he is saying there is a strong case for scrapping sentences of less tha n strong case for scrapping sentences of less than six months. that is a major change and he would want to see those people who are given those sentences certain community penalties instead and the reason for thatis penalties instead and the reason for that is because he says they do not act as a deterrent, they do not work, two thirds people given short prison sentences go on to reoffend. the suspicion is this willjust be to clearly present? it is obvious they keep it for people to be on a tag or satellite tracking in the community during rehabilitation courses than it is for them to be

locked up in prison. there is no doubt it would save money and reduce present publishing if it worked, but this is a bold step. this is a conservative justice conservativejustice secretary saying this. the party that is a lwa ys saying this. the party that is always been seen as being tough on law and order but he says he wants a getaway from the idea of how toy soft justice, and getaway from the idea of how toy softjustice, and focus on what justice works. he says the evidence is there. short—term present sentences do not work and community penalties are more effectively. the difficulty he has got is how long he is going to be opposed, there is huge political uncertainty in regards to his position on what happens with brexit. secondly, could he get it through the house of commons? he believes there would be cross— party commons? he believes there would be cross—party support with this, and thirdly, you‘ve got the concern that even thirdly, you‘ve got the concern that evenif thirdly, you‘ve got the concern that even if people are on community penalties there has to be a action if they breach the tone of the order and that sanction is imprisonment. so you have got that as a backstop.

there are potential problems with this. the other issue is sentence information. if you stop courts from imposing sentences of six months, they were just say we will give you a seven—month sentence instead so there are potential problems with this but certainly it is a major step in signalling a different approach for penal policy. with the us—led coalition close to announcing the defeat of the islamic state group in syria, the government there has already recaptured most of the country. now — across the middle east — five—and—a—half—million syrian refugees are starting to consider whether to go home. the un expects a quarter of a million to head back this year. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell has been talking to some of those making the journey. this is the border with syria, and after years of people fleeing a brutal civil war, every day now there‘s a long queue to enter the country. so, all these people are syrians who been staying injordan,

but they‘ve now decided to go home, and it‘s not an easy decision at all to go back, because they are going to be giving up all of their rights as refugees. mariam spent two years in a refugee camp. translation: we want to go back to our country, to our house. there‘s nothing better. when we left, we hoped for calm, and now, god has calmed everything. since government forces retook rebel held areas last year, there have been thousands of returns. over time now, people have been able to hear back from relatives of improved security. we start to see an interest of refugees to go back. at the syrian embassy in amman, refugees wait to sort out the paperwork they need to go home. it‘s costly. moussa has saved up $170 to register his daughter‘s birth injordan. she is one of the million refugee

babies born during the war. soon, her father plans to take her and all his family back to daraa. it‘s where syria‘s uprising began. but after all the turmoil, moussa is glad president assad wasn‘t overthrown. translation: if the islamic state group, the nusra front task and all those other fronts and factions had their way, syria would have been divided into a thousand pieces. instead, president bashar al—assad preserved a united syria. back at the border, more syrians head home. fighting has devastated much of their country, but people are desperate to rebuild their lives. we have more on breaking news on

hunterjust a we have more on breaking news on hunter just a moment, we have more on breaking news on hunterjust a moment, but first headlines. the japanese carmaker, honda, is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three and a half thousand jobs at risk. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. more on honda , and no reason has yet been given for the reported closure of the company‘s swindon plant. it comes a week after the first cut a few hundred jobs citing an industry wide decline in car sales. a formal announcement is expected from the japanese car—maker tomorrow. any risk, posed by involving the chinese technology giant huawei, in uk telecoms projects, can be managed. that‘s according to cyber—security bosses. reports say it can be used in britain‘s 5g

mobile phone network. despite allegations that it‘s used by china for spying. the government has urged families to check if they qualify for tax—free childcare after figures show that only a fifth of eligible families had signed up. the bbc found that the government had budgeted for 415,000 families to take part in the scheme — which replaced the old childcare vouchers — but only 91,000 have done so. i have just been speaking to the local mp, it would appear honda had been wrong—footed and were hoping they would make this announcement tomorrow but the news has broken. tomorrow but the news has brokenm has got ahead of them, it is interesting because people had talked about this has come out of the blue and lots of mps have said on social media and said that. they are on social media and said that. they a re clear to on social media and said that. they are clear to say brexit is not part

of the decision—making behind this, however, in an executive you it is clear in your scenario would have cost the company millions and it is clear that the local trends, following car sales in europe and the shift to hydroelectric eyes are factors to be considered anyone to consolidate operations to japan. not the first car—maker to announce job loss. nissan, jaguar, land rover, ford have all said they are going to cutjobs in the uk. they are citing similar reasons as well they have not been explicit about brexit, however, that unions have pointed in that direction. we‘re joined however, that unions have pointed in that direction. we‘rejoined now however, that unions have pointed in that direction. we‘re joined now by the deputy editor of auto car magazine. we were speaking with simon about how out of the blue is the phase of the afternoon, how surprised what you? the phase of the afternoon, how surprised what you ?|j the phase of the afternoon, how surprised what you? i think i'm reasonably surprised the news has come now. there have been trends.

several of the car firms and plans have been shifting production, honda in particular have struggled in europe in recent years. the swindon plant is currently producing almost half the cars it used to more than a decade ago and that is because of the shift in what types of cars are being sold and where. we have heard from the company previously about how brexit has not been a factor in its decision—making when it comes to job losses. do you feel that is the case in the sense that we have got this japanese european union trade deal, that will mean that imports into the uk from japan, especially cars, will be near, 0% in the less competitive. exactly, it allows honda to produce the cars injapan and ship them to the eu without

having to pay imports and tariffs which does reduce one of the reasons for needing a plant in the uk. with brexit, there is definitely an element of uncertainty which car firms hate but i do not think it is the immediate reason in this case. in terms of what to expect in the future, we have heard from jaguar and land rover and nissan and void, more to come? it is entirely possible. the car industry is undergoing a tremendous amount of change. there's different kinds of ca rs change. there's different kinds of cars being brought and such as electric eyes and where the balance of power in the car industry is as changed quite dramatically, and i think a lot of the car companies are having to restructure their manufacturing operations in order to keep up and to be more efficient. given the state of the injury —— industry, how does britain stay competitive? it will be key for them to push their expertise. they have a

long history in manufacturing and designing cars and rebuilding cars, they really need to focus on what britain can do well and look towards that hopefully. the repercussions of these job cuts, clean that hopefully. the repercussions of thesejob cuts, clean have that hopefully. the repercussions of these job cuts, clean have to thousand people are affected by this. what kind of effect will it have down the supply chain? this. what kind of effect will it have down the supply chain7m this. what kind of effect will it have down the supply chain? it would potentially have a huge effect. 90% of the cars built at honda swindon plant are exported so all the points, many of the pipes produced come from local firms in the area so it will have a big impact and it is a big worry for people at the plant and for those companies that supply parts. thank you very much for joining us. while you are that interviewed the international trade secretary had been talking about hunter. he said car production in the uk has been strong in recent yea rs the uk has been strong in recent years but with diesel production and

rolls around that, there has been a big drop in demand and that is bound to have a knock—on effect with producers. perhaps understandably, a lot of people have been trained to make it clear that is nothing in their terms to do with brexit but under has expressed in the past concerns about brexit. especially a no deal scenario. when of the vice president said it would cost the companies millions and a lot of the car producers have said in regards to the uk plants, but what happens with a brexit deal going forward is really important. they enjoy a 0% tariffs, it is important for not just the finished product but for all the parts. the need that sea mless all the parts. the need that seamless production to carry on and therefore, they need more clarity. markets. one of the highestjumpers on the ftse 100 had in markets. one of the highestjumpers on the ftse100 had in quite well, they have results out today. they

say growth in china and brazil have helped them produce profits. jd sports have another shoot up on the high streets of their investors are happy, and also the pound against the euro, fairly positive. it is done better against the dollar today, it is a bit higher after having a few weeks down. today, it is a bit higher after having a few weeks downlj today, it is a bit higher after having a few weeks down. i shall see you later. train companies say they want a complete overhaul of the way rail tickets are bought and sold — so that passengers are automatically offered the cheapest fare. the industry body, the rail delivery group, says peak fares could also be scrapped in the future. our transport correspondent tom burridge reports. getting the cheapest fare can be baffling. the system for issuing tickets in britain is complicated and outdated. when you try and find the prices, they are just quite confusing so you end up, i‘ll go on trainline, and then afterwards find out that maybe virgin have cheaper deals. then on the day, sometimes i‘ll find out that it would have been better to go on the train ten minutes later but it doesn‘t always

show up that way. it can be a little bit complicated finding out if it's off—peak, on peak, super off— peak, there seems a lot of different categories of time travel. you have to really search to find what you want to get something cheap. you have to go on the websites, and quite often to go on a certain website. so, train companies want a tap—in tap—out style system forjourneys across the country, like that in london. swipe and you‘d automatically be charged at the cheapest fare for yourjourney, and if you travel on the same route often your weekly rate would automatically be capped. the system we have today is full of anomalies. for example, a single can sometimes be almost as expensive as a return. a government commissioned review of the entire rail system is ongoing. train companies say ticketing needs to change. we believe the time is ripe to be able to change the system so that it‘s much easier for people to use, much easierfor people to understand, and so they can use new technology as well to travel around the country and really

bring the rail industry into the 21st—century. the industry wants more flexible fares for long distance journeys to avoid people rushing for the first off—peak service after the rush hour. passenger groups say change is needed but worry there will be winners and losers. the issues go beyond the railways, this is about ticketing across rail, bus, tram, metro and other forms of transport. we‘ve got a ticketing system and a fare system that doesn‘t work for a seamless door—to—door journeys. it doesn‘t work for people day in day out, travelling to work, going to education or going to the shops. we need a simpler system that works across all forms of public transport. train companies say the average price of a ticket wouldn‘t change under today‘s proposals. they consulted nearly 20,000 passengers. but real change to the way we buy tickets could take years. and, ultimately, it will be down to the government. tom burridge, bbc news. we‘ve all heard about firefighters being called to rescue cats stuck up trees.

but usually not cats this size: this is a mountain lion which was spotted perched on a branch 50 feet up in the air near a house in california. the fire crews had to tranquilise it and lower it down with a harness, before releasing it back into the wild. the question is how on earth did it get there in the first place but i don‘t have information on that here. that is our main news. time for a look at the weather with darren bett. hello there, it is set to get much warmer again later on this week but right now we are seeing cooler air coming in across the uk, together with a lot of these shower clouds as well, especially towards the north—west. this area of cloud comes from a long way south and it is stuck across some southern and eastern parts of england, still producing a bit of rain later on in the afternoon and into the evening too. lots of showers together with those gusty winds in the north west of the uk. as we run through the night those showers do become fewer,

they become lighter. the winds tend to ease a bit as well. and that rain from the south—east is long gone so skies will tend to clear, and with lighter winds across southern parts of the uk it will turn a bit chilly. temperatures could be close to freezing in one or two spots, possibly even across the eastern side of scotland as well. one or two showers to start the day. many places dry. some sunshine in the east already clouding over in northern ireland. here we are going to get some rain and that cloud will spill in across all areas and we will get rain arriving over the irish sea and into western scotland later on the day. we have got blustery winds again, south—westerly winds so temperatures are going to be very similar to what we had to date. nine to 11 degrees. still mild by the time of year, not as warm as it has been, mind you. these weather fronts look like they are going to dry more across the northern half of the uk and the rain could be quite steady and heavy over the hills, western scotland into the north west of england, over the high ground as well. wet start here, i think, on wednesday. what happens through the day is the wettest of the weather moves into the north sea over towards scandinavia. it becomes drier and brighter

across a good part of scotland. still some patchy rain there across northern england, returning into northern ireland. still dry, southern england, south wales and the midlands, temperatures are back up to around 13 degrees. so we are seeing some rain this week and it is mainly going to be across the northern half of the uk and then after that those temperatures are going to rise significantly once again. the next weather system is going to be kept out into the atlantic. this is the dominant feature sitting and covering much of europe and keeping it mild and dry in many parts of europe, and with that high pressure still in roughly the same sort of place we are back to the situation we were in last week with the wind is coming all the way from the canaries, pushing that mild air across our shores. and breaking the cloud up as well. there will still be some cloud around for a thursday and friday, spells of sunshine around as well. some early morning mist and fog but those temperatures rising everywhere, perhaps as high as 16 or 17. hello, you‘re watching afternoon live — i‘m simon mccoy. today at 4.00pm: the japanese car—maker, honda,

is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three and a half thousand jobs at risk — the local mp says it‘s a devastating setback for the town. this is a huge, huge blow to our local economy, and we will be doing absolutely everything we can over the next two years. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. for my part, i have become embarrassed and ashamed to remain in the labour party. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. coming up on afternoon live all the sport — azi farni. good afternoon. it is the case of one olympic champion against a world governing body, but the decision in

caster semenya‘s case against the iaaf could have much wider repercussions. the south african is challenging controversial plans to make female athletes with natural high levels of testosterone to lower them. she says that for women like her, who are born hyper androgynous, the rule would be against their human rights. more on that coming up next. that does not look very safe. what i need is probably somewhat appears. over the next couple of days, it is the northern half of the uk that will see the bulk of the rain. for all of us later on in the week, there‘s temperatures are set to rise, it will be unseasonably warm once again. thanks, darren. also coming up — in news nationwide — the city of derry airport scrambles to find another airline to take over routes operated by flybmi, which folded at the weekend. hello everyone — this

is afternoon live — i‘m simon mccoy. our top story this hour — honda is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting 3500 jobs at risk. the local conservative mp justin tomlinson says the decision is not a result of brexit but is based on global trends. the japanese carmaker has declined to comment on the reports but we‘re expecting them to make a formal statement tomorrow. the civic has been a hugely successful car for honda. factories have huge supply chains which

provide them with the millions of pounds of components and parts they need every day. last year, honda produced 150,000 vehicles, which means that it makes one in ten of the cars manufactured in the uk. when honda announced last month that it would close the factory for six daysin it would close the factory for six days in april, and it has warned against the threat of tariffs and delays, with its profitability in the uk. but that is not the only factor likely to be behind this decision. japan has just signed a new trade deal with the eu, which will bring down the tariffs on japanese built cars in the coming yea rs. i‘ve been speaking to the conservative mp for north swindonjustin tomlinson, on his thoughts over the expected closure of the honda plant. abbott thoughts are with the workforce who are still waiting for confirmation. my understanding was there is a statement tomorrow, and obviously there has been breaking news, and there is a lot of concern from the workforce. but your

understanding would be that the plant shuts? my understanding would be that at the end of the current production programme, the factory will close. about 150,000 cars a year switching to japan, where they produce millions of cars a year. my understanding is it is notjust swindon, but the turkish factory, as well. what we have managed to establish is that this is absolutely not to do with backs it, because all production is moving out of europe, into the —— out of the eu, it is a consolidation of their production and reflection of their falling global sales. nevertheless, they had already announced they were putting production on hold for six days after brexit. it is clearly in the background, isn‘t it? after brexit. it is clearly in the background, isn't it? no, they are being absolutely crystal clear this is not brexit related. it is a huge blow for our local economy and wider, but it is a reflection of their falling sales. wider, but it is a reflection of theirfalling sales. honda had

invested heavily in diesel engines, and not only our global car sales falling, but particularly diesel. they have a commitment by 2025 to do something like 275% of their production and electric motors, and they have decided, they have taken a commercial decision that they will consolidate all of that into their main factory. cash 75%. that is why they have taken that decision. we have got a couple of years. the government will rightly be leading a task. we have already myself and robert buckland, i have spoken to the business secretary, we will be setting a task force to work with the unions, with the staff, and potentially employers. we have had ups and downs with honda employment in the past. we lost several hundred jobs a few years ago, but this is a

huge blow to our local economy, and we will be doing everything we can over we will be doing everything we can over the next two years. you have oily spoken to the business secretary about this? is here where? they had discussions, honda confirmed, and that news has broken, before honda had time to speak to the staff, who are understandably going to be very concerned. what we do know, as it is not immediate, it will carry on as normal until 2021, and then it won‘t continue, as our understanding. nevertheless, a awful way for three and a half thousand people to find out. absolutely. and it is disappointing that they did not get to the staff before the news broke, but we are where we are, and all of our priority is to make sure that the welfare of the staff, not just at the main honda factory, but the whole supply chain that is not just in swindon, but further afield, that will be felt right across. wired apart from those jobs themselves, they will be a huge

knock on. many otherjobs. we also have the car seats, for the honda ca rs. have the car seats, for the honda cars. and then all of the contractors who supply all of theirs. this is a huge change. the one element that we can sort of work with, is that we do at least have two years, so we can, the government, local businesses, the local councils can all work together to try and find alternative employment opportunities going forward , employment opportunities going forward, and to try and lessen the impact of this devastating announcement. justin tomlinson. seven labour mps have resigned from the party in protest at jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. they‘ll now sit in the commons as a group of independents. one of the mp5, luciana berger, said she was "embarrassed and ashamed" to stay in labour, which she said was now "institutionally anti—semitic." another — chris leslie — said labour had been "hijacked" by the far left. jeremy corbyn said he was disappointed by the mp5‘ decision. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. the time for talking was over.

seven labour mps chose this room on this morning to act, frustrated with their party and its leader the time had come for them to quit and form a new group. this has been a very difficult, painful, but necessary decision. we represent different parts of the country. we are of different backgrounds. we were born of different generations. but we all share the same values. i cannot remain in the party, that i have today come to the sickening conclusion is institutionally anti—semitic. all seven gave their own reasons, and with that, damning criticism reflecting anger that they and others have felt for some time. british politics is now well and truly broken and in all conscience we can no longer knock on doors and support a government led byjeremy corbyn, or the team around him. this group of seven hopes to grow. there was an appeal for others from other parties to join them. you don'tjoin a political party

to spend years and years fighting the people within it. you get involved in politics, you join a party, to change the world. so, we invite you to leave your parties and help us forge a new consensus on a way forward for britain. but the group was clear this move was about him, jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit, his failure as they see it to tackle anti—semitism and their unease at labour‘s lurch to the left. in a statement mr corbyn said: "i‘m disappointed that these mps have felt unable to continue to work together for the labour policies that inspired millions at the last election and sorts increase our vote by the largest share since 1945." it comes at a time when our constituents are facing real hardship with universal credit being introduced, we have rising crime, homelessness on a scale we have not seen for decades, the government is bungling brexit.

so we should be working together for the long—term interests of the country. it‘s hard to avoid comparisons to this moment in 1981 when a group of mps left labour and set up the social democratic party, later merging to become what is now the liberal democrats. it hurt labour then and some say the same will happen now. when people leave the labour party there is bound to be damage. we had evidence of this in the early 19805. it is not good if people leave a political party but we have to stick to our principles and work for what we put forward in the manifesto. history willjudge them. there is no doubt that if they regard themselves as democrats, i wonder whether they are going to stand down and create by—elections. a lot of them talked about how proud they are to represent their constituents.

well, if they're so proud of that, why don't they give their constituents the opportunity to see if they want them elected. party loyalty runs deep around here. it is no small move for any mp to disown their own side, and those who have left labour today will know it is a gamble because there may be others who want to help them and join them. but the move will galvanise jeremy corbyn‘s supporters and those against him within labour who believe it is better to stay and fight from within. what this group will achieve, what it will become, is not clear, but these now former labour mps felt enough was enough and they are better off out than in. jonathan blake, bbc news, westminster. our political correspondent, chris mason is at westminster. where are they going to sit when they are in the comments? it is a

big question. i was speaking to a labourmpa big question. i was speaking to a labour mp a little earlier on, who are speculating about that exact point. they said this morning they would sit together on a couldn hearing —— as a coherent group, but on which bench is the question. there is a lot of tradition about who sets were, and there could be something of a battle, it will be intriguing to see where they set, and who are sitting either side of them. what is striking today, as here is an handful of mp play mat, some of them have been quite outspoken for quite some time, but they have made a huge personal leap for them, leaving a member they have —— of the party they have been with for yea rs —— of the party they have been with for years and decades. tom watson, the deputy leaderjust put a video up the deputy leaderjust put a video up on facebook in the last hour or so, which has an almost funereal reflective tone to it, as he reflects on what happened, says that the party needs to be much kinder and gentler, and it is a party that

sometimes he no longer recognises himself. lets speak to clive lewis. good afternoon. your reaction? himself. lets speak to clive lewis. good afternoon. your reaction7m makes you sad. we are a party that has seven less mps as of today, that's not a good thing. especially given the nature of politics, and where we find ourselves today. i think ijoined where we find ourselves today. i think i joined many where we find ourselves today. i think ijoined many of my work to our colleagues saying that deeply disappointed, you ask what could have been done differently to keep them on boards, but also understanding that for some of my colleagues, they have never really ever given the corbyn project a chance, if you want to collect that. so much has changed since the 2007 crash, so much has changed, politics changed, and i don't think everyone always understands how much has

changed. clearly now, with brexit upon us, with a tory government in power, but things going wrong in the country, i don't think it was a time for the party to spit like that, and lam upset for the party to spit like that, and i am upset and disappointed. how should the party reflect on what has happened. what is quite striking is thatjeremy corbyn was a mp sitting behind tony blair, and they were 1 million miles apart politically, and yet the labour party was able to keep them under the same umbrella. and yet underjeremy corbyn‘s leadership, they have not been able to do that. there is another way of looking at that. there is as much of a gulf between jeremy corbyn and tony blair, as there are that seven and jeremy, many of us understand, if you split and a winner takes all syste m if you split and a winner takes all system occurs, then you are self—defeating, and that is what the gang of four, where the spirit of

the sdp, many of us learned, under a first past the post system, you can turn this country to year upon year of conservative administration. i don't wa nt conservative administration. i don't want to see that, i don't think the vast majority of our members and mps wa nt vast majority of our members and mps want to see that, and yet by today's action, they have made it more likely, not inevitable, but more likely. that cannot be a good thing for anyone progressive in the labour party. and yet, you're deputy leader, tom watson, talks about how he fears that sometimes the party isn‘t what he joined, or he does not recognise, that there could be more that could follow, so how does the party need to change to stop this happening again? had all need to change? one of the things i'm aware of at the moment, as we look at the

threats and challenges that face us, notjust on brexit, but on threats and challenges that face us, not just on brexit, but on climate change, i don't think working on our away, is the solution, not if you believe a progressive politics. what they have done today, has walked away, when we need to talk to each other and understand each other. it has been a very difficult three years to the labour party, and before that, but ultimately, i understand that those differences have to be reconciled within the broad church that is the labour party, not from the outside, because the only people that benefit are those people who are hostile to the labour party, has started being able to make a difference in this country for the better, i have heard what tom said. but what makes me sad is, no one should be lecturing on a gentler, better kind of politics. politics has been in turmoil for many years. it is at a particular difficulty point now. i think we all need to reflect upon what has happened, but i would say to all my colleagues we are stronger together than fragmenting into a multitude of parties. a first past the post syste m parties. a first past the post system does not forgive that. thank

you very much. already, shed light and bucketloads of speculation here at westminster, about that crucial question, will anyone follow them, and then what does this new outfit to within itself, does it form as a political party, does it have a leader? so many questions as to what happened this morning. you‘re watching afternoon live, these are our headlines: the japanese car—maker, honda, is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting 3500 jobs at risk — the local mp says it‘s a devastating setback for the town. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and antisemitism. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. and caster semenya has arrived in court in switzerland to try and challenge controversial plans to limit testosterone levels in the

athletes. they want high levels of testosterone athletes to take medication. tyson fury has signed a deal with espn to broadcast his fight in the united states, but the first bout last december was aired ona first bout last december was aired on a rival us broadcaster, showtime. and chasse‘s maurizio sarri, and manchester united‘s solskjaer come face to face tonight, when a place in the quarterfinals at stake. i will have more on this storyjust after half past. a boat carrying migrants off the coast of dover has been intercepted by the uk borderforce. the home office has yet to confirm the number on board, but it s thought to be up to 30. our correspondent simonjones is in doverfor us. what‘s happening to them now simon? do we know how many there are? what iam hearing do we know how many there are? what i am hearing from people who were involved is the figure is likely to be around 30, but the home office is

trying to clarify that figure. some confusion, because this was a very small boat with a large number of people on board it, and certainly, we saw a number of women being brought off, and also a child who appeared to be covered in a blanket, and we are not sure of the nationalities yet, but what it does seem to be clear is that this was a big group on board just one boat. now, we have seen in recent months, a spike in the number arriving, but if indeed it was batty on an individual that boat, that is a figure that we have not seen before, and tabs of one single vessel. we saw a number of migrants brought back to the shore by the border force birds. they were brought back in three groups initially, a woman and a child, and son who may have needed medical assistance, and then to make further border force boat loads were brought back to shore.

0k, loads were brought back to shore. ok, simon. we will have more from you later. simon jones, ok, simon. we will have more from you later. simonjones, beth. the london schoolgirl who joined the islamic state group in syria, but now wants to come home, has apologised for her actions. but speaking to the bbc, shamima begum equated terrorist attacks in the uk with coalition action in syria. the 19—year—old gave birth to a boy at the weekend. our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford reports. shamima begum, who left her home in east london aged 15 to join the islamic state group, explaining today what it was that inspired her to go. was it because you watched some beheading videos? is that right? notjust the beheading videos. they show families and stuff, the good life that they can provide to you, and all else. i‘m not justifying the videos, but yeah, videos, but the fighting vidoes as well, i guess.

she left britain with two school friends, travelling through turkey to syria, and became a symbol of young, british peoplejoining is. you helped them. you helped the enemy of britain. but i wasn‘t the one that put myself down that i didn‘t want to be on the news, at first. i know a lot of people, after they saw that me and my friends came, they actually encouraged them, i did hear, yeah, a lot of people were encouraged to come after i left, but i wasn‘t the one who put myself on the news. we didn‘t want to be on the news. she was asked what she thought about the manchester bombing of 2017 in which 22 people died. she appeared to regret it, but then compared it to the coalition bombing of is held towns in syria. i do feel that it‘s wrong that innocent people did get killed. it‘s like, it‘s one thing to kill a soldier that is fighting you, you know, it‘s self defence, but to kill people, like women and children, just like people in... the women and children in baghuz who are being killed right now unjustly by the bombings. it‘s a two—way thing, really. because women and children are being killed back in islamic state right now. and it‘s kind of retaliation. theirjustification was that it was retaliation, so i thought that is a fairjustification. shamima begum is asking to be

allowed back to the uk. she said that if she is sent to prison, she would like herfamily to look after her newborn baby boy. daniel sandford, bbc news. a russian flag has briefly appeared on salisbury cathedral, in the city where the russian double agent, sergei skripal, was poisoned last year. it was seen on scaffolding on the building and taken down. our russia reporter, olga ishvina, is in salisbury. what are they saying? definitely people in salisbury are still discussing the incident. the flag was quickly removed, as you said, but timing of the incident as significant. it has almost been a

year since it is and his daughter yulia, were poisoned in the city, using another chuck agent. two russian men were named as the main suspects. they said that they came to salisbury just to suspects. they said that they came to salisburyjust to see the cathedral. this is caused a lot of discussions but here in salisbury, and on social media, and some russian speaking users have made a lot of jokes, but russian speaking users have made a lot ofjokes, but it seems that here in salisbury, people have mixed feelings. salisbury was really badly affected, and still is with regards to tourists coming into the town, and any publicity like this is not good, everybody is trying to put this behind us, and all this does is bring it back into the forefront, back into the news, because anything

related to novichok bring salisbury back into the news for the wrong reasons. it is just back into the news for the wrong reasons. it isjust a fly, isn't it? you have got a lot of faith in the authorities, ijust think it is someone having a prank, they will be someone having a prank, they will be someone on youtube saying they put a russian flag up. i'm not too worried about it. yes, i thought it was rather foolish and inappropriate, that‘s all. we spoke to wiltshire police, and they say they are looking into the incidents, and an enquiry is ongoing. they are also checking cctv. it seems most likely someone has climbed into the scaffolding overnight, but who did it, and what the reason behind it is, is still unknown. thank you very much. facebook intentionally and knowingly violated data privacy laws, and needs much stricter regulation, according to a damning report by mps. the commons culture committee said the firm‘s founder mark zuckerberg

failed to show ‘leadership and personal responsibility‘ over the rise of so—called fake news — and it accused social media platforms of behaving like "digital gangsters." facebook said it was open to any form of ‘meaningful regulation.‘ our media editor amol rajan reports. it‘s totally fake news. it‘s just fake. i‘m telling you, it is just fake news. the time "fake news" has entered the mainstream in recent years, thanks to one man above all. in america, there has been grave concern that the election of donald trump may have owed something to interference by russia in the presidential election. an investigation by former fbi director, robert mueller, is looking into the allegations. the nearest thing to that in britain is the culture select committee‘s report on fake news and disinformation. its findings, published this morning, are scathing about technology companies and the legal and regulatory framework in which they operate. the committee says, facebook intentionally violated both data privacy laws and anti—competition laws. it recommends a new code of conduct, overseen by an independent regulator. and it says that current electoral law is not fit for purpose.

rather than having a system where the tech companies just apologise when things go wrong, and carry on repeating the same mistakes, we should have a proper statutory regulatory system, which imposes a standard on the tech companies, with a regulator that can act against them if they fail to reach those standards. this system exists in broadcasting, it is common in other industries, and we need it in the tech sector, as well. sir nick clegg told me, they have taken extensive steps to weed out harmful content on its platform, and make political advertising more transparent. facebook has engaged a huge amount in this report. we have given around ten hours of oral evidence to the committee, we have answered over 700 questions from the committee. this report is incredibly important, we have engaged a huge amount, and we have fundamentally changed as a company since the start of this enquiry. if you want to know where a company prioritises, look at where it invests, and we have invested a huge amount

in people and technology to tackle the issues of online harms that this report raises. but coming so soon after the outcry over molly russell, the 14—year—old who took her own life after seeing pictures of self harm on facebook—owned instagram, it shows the technology companies and those who legislate against them, are entering a new era. lets get more on that story about honda. conservative mp for south swindon, robert buckland joins me. ami am i right in thinking you have spoken to the prime minister about this today? yes, i had. the news has not come directly from honda, and they must speak to the workforce, but i thought it was right to speak to the prime minister, so that we can frame to the prime minister, so that we canframea to the prime minister, so that we can frame a swift response, to create a strategy to help people affected by this decision, which if

it is confirmed will be devastating to the community that i represent. was this a surprise? it was certainly surprising. my understanding is that it is related to honda a‘s global operations, and their decision to bring back their manufacturing, there are electric vehicles to japan, and i think understanding the reasons for this potential deadly decision is what we have to do festival. and then work out as quickly as possible a strategy to support the community in the years ahead. the speculation is that bassett has had an impact. my understanding is that bassett is not related. it is a moment where we have to make important decisions about brexit, but there are longer times more important than our significant issues, and i think we

need to hear the precise reasons for honda‘s decisions when they make their announcement, which they will make in several hours‘ time. their announcement, which they will make in several hours' timelj their announcement, which they will make in several hours' time. i know you are being very careful, but this is not the way that 3500 people should be finding out about their jobs, is it? no, i agree. we should do the courtesy, of making sure that whilst i am anxious to discuss this issue, that they should be informed ina issue, that they should be informed in a proper way, these are people‘s livelihoods, they are friends of mine, they are people that i live and work anything community as, and quite naturally, this would be a awful time for them and their families. when you pick up your phone to the prime minister, what was her reaction? she shed my deep concern and sadness about this news. i think the commitment is there from government to do whatever it can to support this community. we have had

experiences like this when other industries have left, this will take a coordinated response, and i will work with the north swindon mp, justin tomlinson, to do just that for swindon. thank you very much. time for a look at the weather... here‘s darren. what a nurse is that? it is a good question. it is a little blurred stop it is in china and we‘ve got weather and animals, a winning combination and we have a particularly cheeky monkey to look ata particularly cheeky monkey to look at a bit later as you will notice, he is going to be checking me out. look! what is all that about? so it is really cold over here. when i start this, i never seen anything like this before. the closest thing i have seen is avatar but the rocks in the air. but this is real darren. this is

real, there is no cgi. you should get out the ways people can see it. that is better. so this is rhyme ice, super cool water droplets and mist and fog and thatis water droplets and mist and fog and that is freezing on impact with frozen trees so the trees are below freezing, you have got water droplets in the air and the freezing and forming what is cold rime ice. i think when this ability is better than that if you will be even better. where did the monkeys come in? i have no idea. it isjust what people like. i don‘t know what monkeys they are. so we have a look at the forecast. yes, china is a big country and a large land mass so it gets very cold.

0h cold. oh dear, i have mist you. let‘s go back over to the uk and leave that cold weather behind because here in the uk we have seen some high—temperature is over the past few days. i‘m not going to look at you because i‘m going to do the proper forecast now. there at you because i‘m going to do the properforecast now. there is at you because i‘m going to do the proper forecast now. there is cold aircoming in proper forecast now. there is cold air coming in across the atlantic and bringing showers across the uk. because affecting east anglia and the south—east of england has rent meant per day. we have rain in the highlands of scotland with showers, one after the other, some heavy with under in there as well. we‘re still got some rain for a good few hours across east anglia and the south which moves away to the continent. we have showers further north which become fewer and lighter and stronger when is eve down. we have got clearer skies developing overnight, should not be too cold. lowest temperatures in eastern scotla nd lowest temperatures in eastern scotland and southern england, they will get a touch of frost in one or two places. so it is a bright start with some hazy sunshine. we will see

the cloud increasing from the west and we have got another weather system arriving and bringing rain into northern ireland. that will slip into western scotland by the end of the day. it will be a blustery south—westerly wind and similar temperatures, still technically mild but not as mild. these weather systems will be across the northern parts of the uk and it could be wet, they can be an inch of rain or more over could be wet, they can be an inch of rain or more over the cumbria vales. the wettest of the weather heads two out to a saucy and scandinavia —— the wettest weather will head out to scandinavia. across much of scotland it will be drier and brighter and it is still dry across the midlands and southern england, with temperatures beginning to rise. we‘ve got the speu beginning to rise. we‘ve got the spell of wetter weather across the northern have of the uk around for a while but then later on in the week, the temperatures are going to climb once again. the next weather system is going to stay to the west and

north—west of the uk. this is the dominant area of high pressure covering most of europe and keeping it mild and dry. there are some colder air to come into the north—east of europe. we are in the milderair north—east of europe. we are in the milder air with a stronger when scanning in all the way from the canaries, as we had during the last week so it means temperatures are going to rise for thursday and friday, and it could be 15 or 16 degrees to end the week. possibly as high as 18 celsius. this is bbc news — our latest headlines. the japanese car—maker, honda, is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three and a half thousand jobs at risk — the local mp says it‘s a devastating setback for the town. this is a huge blow to our local economy but we will do absolutely everything we can over the next two yea rs. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat

in the english channel. shamima begum tells the bbc she apologises for joining the islamic state group in syria, but still expresses sympathy for them. sport now on afternoon live. casta semenya — big moment for the future of female athletics? it‘s one athlete against a world governing body but the decision in caster semenya‘s case against the iaaf could have much wider repercussions. the olympic 800 metre champion is challenging controversial plans to make female athletes with naturally high levels of testosterone take medication to lower them. semenya, who was born with hyperandrogenism, says the rule discriminates against women like her and is an infringement of their human rights. but the iaaf say that if the south african wins the case, it could lead to transgender athletes or athletes with differences of sexual development facing an unfair advantage in the sport.

however, karen karkazis, who‘s done extensive research in the field at yale university, says the added levels of testosterone don‘t give athletes an advantage. it does not bring the kind of performance advantage they are claiming it does. it is one factor among many that contribute to athleticism, it is not the decisive factor and so, for example, it is impossible to say and it is untrue people with higher levels do better. a lot is riding on the decision, simon. the international olympic committee for example is waiting to announce its testosterone limits for transgender athletes for the 2020 tokyo olympics based on what happens here. the hearing concludes on friday but the decision won‘t come until next month. tyson fury is making the headlines again — tell us why?

the controversy this time is due to the fact that fury‘s much anticipated rematch with deontay wilder could be in doubt, because the british heavyweight boxer has signed a promotional deal with espn to broadcast his fights in the united states. the fury wilder contest last december was aired on rival us broadcaster showtime — who wilder has worked with exclusively throughout his career. fury‘s team say an announcement on his next fight will be made in due course, but he will continue to work with promoter frank warren. i have already beaten in his own country. if the rematch happens it happens. if it doesn‘t, it doesn‘t. it‘s not the end of the world, it is what it is, it‘s only a boxing fight. i‘ve already beaten him in america. i want the fight to happen so let‘s make it happen. where better than the biggest tv station in the world to do it? meanwhile nicola adams‘ world title fight against mexico‘s arely mucino

at the royal albert hall next month is off — because adams is injured. the fight will be rescheduled for later this year. chelsea assistant coach gianfranco zola believes his side are slight favourites for tonight‘s fa cup fifth round tie with manchester united at stamford bridge. both maurizio sarri and ole gunnar solskjaer know that a bit of silverware could make all the difference to theirjob prospects. sarri is under pressure at chelsea with his side losing three of their last four league matches, but zola says a big game like this is exactly what the team needs. it is, i think it is a classic, a great game not only for the cup for the country, it is always an interesting feature, plus they are really in a good moment so it is a good challenge, it is actually what we need to do right now. england defence coach john mitchell says that maro itoje could be back in contention to play against wales this weekend. the lock picked up a knee

injury in england‘s six nations opener against ireland in dublin. it was first expected that he would miss the game in cardiff because of medial ligament damage, but england say he‘s recovering quicker than they expected. now lets show you some incredible pictures from the famous daytona race in florida. one of the cars slammed into the wall and that started a chain—reaction which involved more than two dozen vehicles. lots of sparks flying there. not surprisingly a red flag stopped the race for a lengthy cleanup. luckily it looked a lot worse than it was and no one was seriously hurt in the pile up. that is of the support for now. —— might the sport point now. 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. let‘s go to tara mills who‘s in belfast to talk about a bad few days for would—be passengers of flybmi. the airline went into administration at the weekend, and had operated a heavily subsidised service from londonderry to stansted rogerjohnson is in salford. where there has been the threat of eviction hanging over a family that is having a very tough time. so tara, what 5 been the reaction to this development over the weekend? it was a weekend of chaos for passengers using the route. the news that flybmi had filed for a demonstration came out of the blue on saturday and since then the council in derry has been working to try and find an alternative airline to ta ke try and find an alternative airline to take the route. it is service is

which is vital for passengers living in the north—west of northern ireland. it is serving a much wider rural area thanjust ireland. it is serving a much wider rural area than just the city of derry itself and the good news is any potential airline as a route subsidised by the government so the council is hoping that will be assented. the manager of the airport searches company they will find someone to take it on. we are currently going through a process at the moment to try and get a new carrier to come in so we have had discussions at this time and we are trying to get an airline in as quickly as we can to replace that route. as a potential new airline been identified? one of the names mentioned so far is loganair, a sister company of flybmi which runs a service already from derry to glasgow and has expressed interest in taking over the route. any statement it says has an extensive track record in understanding the

market in the and in provided public service routes. that is where government can compensate an airline for economic losses for an area of economic importance. it is being said the majority using the route will be business travellers and the airport says it will be challenging to run the airport without a london flight to run the airport without a london flight as already runs at a significant loss. it is up to new airline will be found sooner rather than later and passengers are encouraged to contact their card company or a travel agency or company or a travel agency or company if they have already booked with flybmi. thank you. this story is staggering, tells what is going on in oldham? it is a threat of eviction is hanging over an

11—year—old boy called alex. alex and his mum maria live housing association home in old him. alex has hodge can live funnier was pulling himself and his mum had a cardiac arrest in front of him. alex tried to resuscitate her but sadly she was taken to hospital and died so terribly dramatic situation for an11 so terribly dramatic situation for an 11 euros boy. his parents were separating and his dad went the housing association to let them know what had happened to maria. he was told alex would have to move out. his father‘s ideals he would move into the house to take the place of maria to be there with his son so his son did not have to move house and change schools and could try and keep some sense of normality about his future moving forward. however, the housing association said no, alex has to move out. the housing association, what they said? having

told him he has to go, we got in touch and pointed out what we had heard and what had happened and suggested to the housing association this might not be the fairest way to treat an 11—year—old boy who just lost his mother. his father was trying to do the right thing in order to keep some semblance of stability for alex and the most traumatic of times. they have now backed down until galaxy can stay. they‘ve given us a statement saying they had issued an unreserved apology to alex and his father, also with them at this difficult time and the notice was made in error and now been withdrawn. they are saying they will carry out a review of that process to ensure a situation like this does not happen again. hopefully for alex, i was going to use the phrase happy ending but that is absolutely not the case, but at least it is some good news in what is a terrible time and situation for him and his family. it is the right

ending, that is what it is. thank you both, that is nationwide. if you like to see more and any of those stories you can access them on the bbc iplayer and a reminder we go nationwide here on bbc live. with the us—led coalition close to announcing the defeat of the islamic state group in syria, the government there has already recaptured most of the country. now — across the middle east — five—and—a—half—million syrian refugees are starting to consider whether to go home. the un expects a quarter of a million to head back this year. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell has been talking to some of those making the journey. this is the border with syria, and after years of people fleeing a brutal civil war, every day now there‘s a long queue to enter the country.

so, all these people are syrians who been staying injordan, but they‘ve now decided to go home, and it‘s not an easy decision at all to go back, because they are going to be giving up all of their rights as refugees. mariam spent two years in a refugee camp. translation: we want to go back to our country, to our house. there‘s nothing better. when we left, we hoped for calm, and now, god has calmed everything. since government forces retook rebel held areas last year, there have been thousands of returns. over time now, people have been able to hear back from relatives of improved security. we start to see an interest of refugees to go back. at the syrian embassy in amman, refugees wait to sort out the paperwork they need to go home. it‘s costly. moussa has saved up $170 to register his daughter‘s birth injordan.

she is one of the million refugee babies born during the war. soon, her father plans to take her and all his family back to daraa. it‘s where syria‘s uprising began. but after all the turmoil, moussa is glad president assad wasn‘t overthrown. translation: if the islamic state group, the nusra front task and all those other fronts and factions had their way, syria would have been divided into a thousand pieces. instead, president bashar al—assad preserved a united syria. back at the border, more syrians head home. fighting has devastated much of their country, but people are desperate to rebuild their lives. vishala is here — in a moment she will be telling us what‘s hot

and what‘s not in the business news. first a look at the headlines on afternoon live the japanese car—maker, honda, is set to announce the closure of its swindon plant putting three and a half thousand jobs at risk. seven mps announce they‘ve quit the labour party — condemning jeremy corbyn‘s approach to brexit and anti—semitism. a group of migrants are brought ashore after the border force intercepts a small boat in the english channel. here‘s your business headlines on afternoon live. more on honda, and no reason has yet been given for the reported closure of the company‘s swindon plant. it comes a week after the first cut a few hundred jobs citing an industry wide decline in car sales. a formal announcement is expected from the japanese car—maker tomorrow. any risk, posed by involving the chinese technology giant huawei, in uk telecoms projects, can be managed. that‘s according to cyber—security bosses. reports say it can be

used in britain‘s 5g mobile phone network. despite allegations that it‘s used by china for spying. the government has urged families to check if they qualify for tax—free childcare after figures show that only a fifth of eligible families had signed up. the bbc found that the government had budgeted for 415,000 families to take part in the scheme — but only 91,000 have done so. we have not heard officially from honda but what is the suggestion of what they are about to announce? we do not have any major producers of ca rs do not have any major producers of cars on the ftse100 so we will be looking out to supplies to see what kind of effect that is having but at the moment we have not seen a huge amount. body in the current market if you look at europe and germany, germany, because i don‘t at the

moment because of sentiments from trump about slapping tariffs on german car exports to the us. he is quite keen americans bite forward instead of audi. there are uncertain in markets at the moment. jasper lawler is head of research at london capital group. so supplies is what we want to be looking out for, we have not seen much as a yet but you expect any movement? yes, it is an interesting world where we live in where this report is trying to insinuate the us has a national emergency because americans are not buying enough us —based cars but that is the nature of the situation becoming car—makers are facing. there are other things going on, diesel gate and legacy effects on demand for consumers but at the moment, the likes of nissan and honda are focusing more on national borders and when it comes to production in the uk they have

two considered the fact, as you alluded to, there are not to many uk suppliers. a lot of supplies from the auto industry are from europe and that is, getting the situation when it comes to brexit. in the us, they have to consider the borders with the us if there are going to be higher powers on japanese with the us if there are going to be higher powers onjapanese cars going into the us they have to realign where they do their productions and it seems the tendency from japanese car— makers is to it seems the tendency from japanese car—makers is to take production back onto japan. the talk of paris has a direct influence on car—makers toxic as europe and the us? —— tariffs. it is a huge factor. at the moment there are nontariff barriers, it is not a complete representation of the situation but the us charges tariffs around 3% on european cars coming into the us. europe charge around 10% of us cars coming into europe as a frontrunner's

perspective, he has a fair point to train to readdress those balance and benzos tariffs to realign. it is accommodated situation but overall the us is a huge market and if trump is putting tariffs perhaps up to 25% on big companies like bmw than those share prices are naturally going to head lower. that is what we're seeing today. tariffs any post brexit world, we do not have time to talk about all of that. our other market stories. one about top prizes on the ftse 100? market stories. one about top prizes on the ftse100? this is interesting, these results. it comes ahead of expectations but i think probably why the shares have got a boost at the top of the ftse100 is because the company ceo has recently said he will step down so a lot of uncertainty around the company in

what exactly the next direction is. his plan was to split the company up into health goods and home goods and at least splits become focus within the company, investors are interpreting that as a split into two entirely separate companies. if there is a new ceo is coming along, we do not know how that direction will go. to see some good stable results helps sentiment. jd sports are taking a stake in a foot asylum only have share prices up because of it. they have called it an investment so this is some pretty deep value investing because foot asylu m deep value investing because foot asylum shares since their peak down 90% so this is an 8% buying up of shares in the company. they obviously see some value here and they are thinking that based on their own business model they can probably take an active investor

approach here and have some direct input on their investment and hopefully recovered the fortunes of their company. thank you very much. footsie isn‘t negative territory for most of the day, one of the worst performance in europe. —— ftse100 is in negative territory. but have a look how the pound is doing, it has been very responsive to brexit talks, a bit higher against the dollar after being quite low over the last few weeks. thank you very much. we‘ve all heard about firefighters being called to rescue cats stuck up trees. but usually not cats this size: this is a mountain lion which was spotted perched on a branch 50 feet up in the air near a house in california. the fire crews had to tranquilise it and lower it down with a harness, before releasing it back into the wild. that is it.

that‘s it from your afternoon live team for today, next the bbc news at 5 with shaun ley. time for a look at the weather... here‘s darren bett. hello there, it is set to get much warmer again later on this week but right now we are seeing cooler air coming in across the uk, together with a lot of these shower clouds as well, especially towards the north—west. this area of cloud comes from a long way south and it is stuck across some southern and eastern parts of england, still producing a bit of rain later on in the afternoon and into the evening too. lots of showers together with those gusty winds in the north west of the uk. as we run through the night those showers do become fewer, they become lighter. the winds tend to ease a bit as well. and that rain from the south—east is long gone so skies will tend to clear, and with lighter winds across southern parts of the uk it will turn a bit chilly. temperatures could be close to freezing in one or two spots, possibly even across the eastern side of scotland as well. one or two showers to start the day. many places dry. some sunshine in the east already clouding over in northern ireland. here we are going to get some rain and that cloud will spill in across all areas and we will get

rain arriving over the irish sea and into western scotland later on the day. we have got blustery winds again, south—westerly winds so temperatures are going to be very similar to what we had today. nine to 11 degrees. still mild by the time of year, not as warm as it has been, mind you. these weather fronts look like they are going to drive more across the northern half of the uk and the rain could be quite steady and heavy over the hills, western scotland into the north west of england, over the high ground as well. wet start here, i think, on wednesday. what happens through the day is the wettest of the weather moves into the north sea over towards scandinavia. it becomes drier and brighter across a good part of scotland. still some patchy rain there across northern england, returning into northern ireland. still dry, southern england, south wales and the midlands, temperatures are back up to around 13 degrees. so we are seeing some rain this week and it is mainly going to be across the northern half of the uk and then after that those temperatures are going to rise significantly once again. the next weather system is going to be kept out into the atlantic. this is the dominant feature sitting and covering much of europe

and keeping it mild and dry in many parts of europe, and with that high pressure still in roughly the same sort of place we are back to the situation we were in last week with the winds coming all the way from the canaries, pushing that mild air across our shores. and breaking the cloud up as well. there will still be some cloud around for a thursday and friday, spells of sunshine around as well. some early morning mist and fog but those temperatures rising everywhere, perhaps as high as 16 or 17. today at five: japanese car—maker honda is expected to announce its swindon plant is to close, putting 3,500 jobs at risk. the firm is expected to make an official announcement about the plant‘s future tomorrow. i think it‘s going to be a sad day for swindon as a whole. it‘s not just the workers, but the whole of

swindon and other subsidiary companies and everything that goes with it. i‘m in swindon and i‘ll be bringing you the latest. the impact is going to be felt right across the town and the whole area. workers say they are shocked and surprised. the other main stories on bbc news at 5: seven labour mps quit the party, condemning jeremy corbyn‘s handling of anti—semitism and brexit. for my