this is bbc news. i'm shaun ley. the headlines at 11:00: the home secretary says he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need to fight knife crime. the latest victim was a man in this 20s, who was stabbed to death in east london this afternoon. the death adds to the rapidly—growing numbers of victims of knife crime, prompting this pledge from sajid javid. we have got to do everything we can. iam we have got to do everything we can. i am absolutely committed to working with the police honours. and we have listen when they talk about resources . —— on this. a muslim convert has been given a life sentence for planning to kill dozens of people in central london, including oxford street. a father is jailed for 16 years for planning an acid attack on his own three—year—old son — five other men are also jailed for their part in the plot.

and a bbc investigation reveals the longest waits for ambulance help. critically ill patients in the countryside have to wait on average 50% longer for an ambulance than those in urban areas. and at 11:30 we'll be taking another in—depth look at the papers with our reviewers dia chakravarty, brexit editor at the telegraph and jack blanchard, the editor of politico london playbook — stay with us for that. hello. a very good evening to you. welcome to bbc news. the home secretary has said he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need to tackle knife crime. sajid javid was speaking after hosting an emergency meeting with chief constables

from england and wales. his pledge comes two days after the prime minister insisted there was "no direct correlation" between police numbers and certain crimes. the latest victim of knife crime is a man in his mid—20s — who was fatally stabbed in east london this afternoon. 0ur political editor laura kuenssberg has the latest. another street, another stabbing, another death, this afternoon in east london. no name in public yet for the latest victim of a knife, a man in his 20s died is all we know. marcel had 1a stab wounds. but forjune addai, whose grandson was killed in 2015... he had some on his hands, some on his leg, one across his face and his heart. ..this latest outbreak of violence is another day to ask when and how will it end? i felt numb, i felt angry, i felt like i wanted to go there and get the people who done it.

you live it every day, especially when you hear the police sirens. it brings it all back, and when you hear somebody else has been taken, it's horrible. you keep saying, when‘s it going to stop? please stop. enough is enough. those painful calls mean mounting political pressure. theresa may was home secretary when police numbers fell. those cuts blamed by labour as part of today's problem. the problem is that violent crime has doubled. the rise, mr speaker, has been driven by austerity, something the prime minister told us a few months ago was over. you cannot keep communities safe on the cheap. we are putting more resources into the police. this year... jeers. it's no goood...it's no good members on the opposition benches standing up and saying no, you're not. it is a fact that more money is being put into the police this year.

that more money is being put into the police next year. the prime minister will hold a special summit in the coming days. but police chiefs were already in the home office this morning, asking in part for more cash for more people. there are fewer officers, therefore, there is less policing going on and there's more crime, so there is some sort of link. it's not the only thing that explains what's going on but it is part of the equation. the home secretary appears to be on board. there were discussions around resources, about how you surge capacity, especially at a time like this to build more confidence, to bear down on this serious violence, and where police are setting out a case and providing evidence for more resources, there are new conversations in whitehall about finding extra cash for the police, or at least moving more to the front line to try to make a difference. and the chancellor is due to give government departments their budgets for next year next week.

but it's not so long ago that this department got an extra cash top up, and it's not clear that money alone would magic this problem away. one of theresa may's old rivals, who clashed over crime when she was home secretary and he was london mayor believes the changes she made to cut stop and search need to be reversed. so what the police need is strong political support that this is the right way forward, and they need, as it were, top cover. the person who has the most power to do that is the prime minister herself. yes, obviously, and i think the prime minister has said that stop—and—search is an important part of the mix but i think what police want to hear is that this is something that is actively supported. but no—one politician can pretend to know it all, no—one police force can make it stop, to know no family whose lives have been torn can be sure they'll be the last. laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster.

a muslim convert has been given a life sentence for planning to kill dozens of people in central london. 27—year—old lewis ludlow from kent was described by his own lawyer as naive and vulnerable. lewis, who called himself ‘the eagle‘ and ‘the ghost‘, swore allegiance to the islamic state group and had identified oxford street as an ideal target. here's our home affairs correspondent daniel sandford. i am the eagle and i pledge allegiance to dawlatul islam. the moment when white convert lewis ludlow swore loyalty to the islamic state group. we love death as much as you love life. i have nothing for this country. together with his islamic state accomplice in the philippines, this man, eyadzhemar abdusalam, he was planning to kill up to 100 people in central london.

it was the end of a ten—year journey of radicalisation for the awkward young man. he's seen here with anjem choudary, who played a big role in drawing him into extremism. i used to be a fascist, a proper fascist. i mean, i used to be a holocaust denier as well. in this video he made, aged 19, he described his path from neo—nazism to radical islamism. counterterrorism detectives had watched him for years. he'd been through the government's de—radicalisation programme but nothing worked. last february, police stopped him going to the philippines where his is contact was based. then he was spotted by an undercover team taking pictures in central london. he is a man who has gone from spending the vast majority of his time in his bedroom at home online to somebody who is travelling into london, taking photographs of iconic locations. that started to get the hairs on the back of our necks standing up. counterterrorism detectives found the pictures he had taken on his reconnaissance trip on a phone he had dumped in a storm drain, including this picture taken

outside the flagship disney store. police also recovered a chilling handwritten note ludlow had made. in it he proposed using a truck, perhaps with a home—made bomb on to ram into pedestrians here on oxford street. he said that way, nearly 100 people could be killed. he listed other potential attack sites too, including madame tussauds and st paul's cathedral. but his is contact was using encrypted messaging to team him up with someone who turned out to be an undercover police officer and ludlow was arrested. at first he denied everything. but then police showed him the video they'd recovered of his oath of allegiance to the islamic state group. we love death as much as you love life. he is now starting a life sentence of which he will serve a minimum of 15 years in prison. daniel sandford, bbc news, central london. a 17—year—old boy has been

arrested after a woman and young child died at a property in ipswich. police say paramedics found a woman's body at the property on swinburne road at 5:00pm. a young child was also discovered at the address and died at the scene. officers say next of kin for both victims have been informed. police say a suspicious package sent to glasgow university is believed to be linked to the three small explosive devices sent to transport hubs in london yesterday. bomb disposal officers detonated the device and say no—one was injured. police scotland is now "working closely together" with officers investigating finds at heathrow and london city airports and waterloo station. a man has beenjailed for 16 years for organising an acid attack on his three—year—old son. the father, who cannot be named so as to protect the identity of the child, planned the attack during a custody battle with his estranged wife. five other men were also jailed for their part in the attack which saw the child sprayed with sulphuric acid. critically ill patients in rural areas have to wait on average 50% longer for an ambulance

than those in urban areas. that's the finding of a bbc investigation into average response times for the most—life threatening cases in more than 2,700 communities. the average ambulance service response time in urban areas in england, scotland and wales was seven minutes 1a seconds. but for rural areas it was 11 minutes 13 seconds. the nhs requires patients who need emergency care to be reached in under eight minutes, wherever they are. 0ur health editor hugh pym has more details. siren wails. during the day we've done five jobs, covered about 160 miles. rural lincolnshire. ambulance teams have to navigate hundreds of miles of country roads to get to patients. after they have assessed what is needed... have you got any allergies that you know of? ..getting people to hospitals can mean more long journeys. we're going to see a 63—year—old gentleman, an ambulance has been called out for shortness of breath.

a] is a specialist paramedic who knows all about the challenges of covering such a wide area. rural areas, phenomenal amount of pressure. there's not enough ambulances for the demand that we actually have. we aim to have somebody with you within the next 60 minutes, or as soon as there is an ambulance available within the area. it's a familiar issue in most rural parts of the country, and ambulance service chiefs are trying to get to grips with it. there are some patients that will be taken unwell in rural, remote areas that, despite of our best efforts, we'll take longer to arrive than we would prefer. but, in those cases, our control room staff are highly trained and very competent to be able to stay on the line with the caller to provide pre—arrival advice, until the ambulance and paramedics arrive. hello there, mr rushby? a] is part of a scheme trying to treat people at home who would otherwise need an ambulance. here he sees gordon, who is 90. how are you feeling now, then?

i'm not too bad. ijust need to put these on your arms and legs, gordon, so if you just stay still, please, and i'll pop them where i need to. aj's experience means he can reassure gordon that he doesn't need to go to hospital. it's better if you are in your own home. it's very, very good to see that somebody's thinking about it... and trying to help. a] says his main aim is to free up ambulance teams to go on to other more urgent cases. if i can actually release the ambulance crew by saying that the patient doesn't need to go to hospital, they are then free to leave the scene so they are then available for any other case... satnav: you have arrived at your destination. ..that they need to go to, which will be stacked up. it's one answer to the challenge of getting ambulances more rapidly to every corner of countryside communities. hugh pym, bbc news, lincolnshire.

if you want to find out how long it takes to respond to emergencies where you live, you can go to the health section on the bbc news website, where you use your postcode to find out. the uk has been urged to table fresh proposals to the european union within the next few days to break the brexit impasse. eu officials said they would work non—stop over the weekend if "acceptable" ideas were received by friday to break the deadlock over the irish backstop. that's the guarantee of no return to a hard border between northern ireland and the republic. earlier today both sides described the talks as "difficult". in the us, the singer r kelly has denied multiple charges of sexual assault in his first broadcast interview since being indicted last month. chicago prosecutors have charged kelly with ten counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving four alleged victims, three of whom were

minors at the time. and in the past hour, officials in chicago say the singer has been taken into custody following an unrelated hearing connected to child support payments. 0ur north america correspondent nick bryant reports. # i believe i can fly... r kelly is one of the bestselling musicians of all time. # i believe i can touch the sky... but last month in chicago he was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse against four alleged victims, three of whom were underage girls. i'm a man, i make mistakes, but i'm not a devil, and by no means am i a monster. today he went on american television to claim the allegations against him were baseless. is this camera on me? yes, it's on. that's stupid! use your common sense. don't. .. forget the blogs, forget about how you feel about me. hate me if you want to, love me if you want to. just use your common sense. how stupid would it be for me to, with my crazy past and what i've been through...

"0h, right now i think ijust need to be a monster and hold girls against theirwill, chain them up in my basement." have you ever had sex... no. ..with anyone under the age of 17? no. never? no. i have to tell you, it's so hard to believe that based on... let me tell you something... i'm going to tell you something... this was the first time he's spoken out, and he struggled to contain his emotions. i didn't do this stuff! this is not me! i'm fighting for my bleep life. y'all killing me with this bleep! i gave you 30 years of my bleep career. robert... and y'all trying to kill me. you're killing me, man! i hope this time we keep going. no, we're going to... this is not true. r kelly has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, but will a jury believed his protestations of innocence? nick bryant, bbc news, new york.

it is 16 minutes past 11. the headlines on bbc news: the home secretary, sajid javid, says he'll do all he can to give police the resources they need to fight knife crime. a muslim convert has been given a life sentence for planning to kill dozens of people in central london, including oxford street. a father is jailed for 16 years for planning an acid attack on his own 3—year—old son. five other men are also jailed for their part in the plot. we are increasingly moving towards a cashless society, with debit cards used far more than notes and coins. high street banks are closing both cashpoints and branches. well now a new report says the government should step in to ensure that cash can still be used in future to buy things. simon gompertz reports. just outside ipswich, a cashless pub. you have to pay by

card or smartphone. they save 15 hours a week not having to count the takings and drive them to the bank. we have greatly reduced the management time spent handling cash and dealing with cashing up, also getting to the banks to get change has been eradicated, security issues, so we have no or zero theft from either staff and or robbers coming in, and the insurance premiums are a lot lower. the nearest cash machine to this village is nearly half an hour away. so, it's hard to get cash and it's impossible to spend it here. which is where the whole country could be going. that's why the report today says that people who like cash need to be protected. in ipswich itself, there's still the opposite, a pub which only takes cash, and plenty of people who don't want to do without it.

i do window cleaning, so you're dealing with a lot of cash. so, i would say it would definitely be a problem. perhaps maybe if they are housebound and they need someone to get something, to give them cash, because i don't think it is safe these days to give your card out. kev, who was homeless over the winter, says many in his refuge depend on cash. a lot of people there haven't got a bank account. so, they only carry cash. and if you can't spend cash in a shop, then it's going to be difficult for them. they won't be able to survive. to keep cash available, there is a huge infrastructure of sorting centres and vans which the report says must be cut back to deliver lower bank charges for businesses handling cash. there's no plan to force shops to take cash by law, but there should be a guaranteed right to withdraw cash in your local area from

cash machines or shops. we are already seeing that the cash infrastructure is showing signs of collapse. i don't think we have more than a couple of years before something that's really important to the uk, our ability to get cash and spend cash, is in serious jeopardy. this is about smoothing the transition to a world with hardly any notes or coins. the boot pub is showing the way. the only cash you see here is the tips. 0fficials investigating the grenfell tower fire say criminal charges will not be brought for at least the next two years. the metropolitan police says it would be wrong not to wait until the inquiry into the disaster has concluded, the second phase of which is unlikely to begin before the end of this year. 72 people died in the blaze in west london in june 2017. lorries trying to get to the uk from calais are facing travel disruptions due to an ongoing protest by french customs officials. union officials say the officers

are concerned they haven't been given enough time to prepare for the possible impact of brexit and are also unhappy about pay and conditions. the northern ireland secretary karen bradley is facing calls to resign after telling mps that deaths at the hands of soldiers and police during the troubles were not crimes. her comments were criticised by sinn fein and other parties. ms bradley later returned to the commons to clarify her position, saying evidence of wrongdoing should always be investigated. two conservative councillors have resigned from the party after being accused of sharing or liking islamaphobic posts on social media. len milner and chris smith are both members of east staffordshire council and had liked an image on facebook depicting a mock—beheading of the london mayor, the labour politician sadiq khan. mr milner said he had been cleared of wrongdoing by the council but had resigned from the party to avoid upset. illegal immigration along the southern border of the usa reached an 11—year high last month

with more than 76,000 people arrested, despite an increasingly tough approach by the trump administration. the majority of these people travelled from guatemala. today, those policies were called into question by us senators in a hearing prompted by the deaths of two children who were taken into custody after crossing the border last year. one of the children, eight—year—old felipe gomez alonzo had been travelling with his father when he died in custody after getting an infection. the bbc‘s patricia sulbaran has been to his home village to find out what's driving young families to make the riskyjourney to the us. a wake for a young boy. eight—year—old felipe gomez alonzo dreamed of life in the us but died after crossing the border. although he died in december,

some of these boys have only just found out. before he left he told his sister catarina that their dad was taking him to the us so he could study. he said once he had enough money he would come back for her. pedro was felipe's teacher. 12 children left the school at the end of last year. their parents thought they could give them a better life in the us.

this secondary school was built by a charity but there's no money to keep it going. children here stop studying when they turn 13. guatemala has some of the worst poverty and malnutrition rates in the region, especially in rural and indigenous areas like this one. felipe's family have gone back to the village and now his body is resting here with those of his relatives. although his death was a tragedy for this community, it has not stopped people from wanting to leave, even if it means risking their lives. felipe's mum says sometimes they can't afford to buy firewood for cooking so they don't eat. in the future, felipe would have been expected, as the older son, to send money home to pay

for electricity and running water. as long as the reward of life in the us outweighs the risk of getting there, guatemalans will keep choosing to leave their homes. patricia sulbaran, bbc news, guatemala. face blindness is a cognitive disorder which means you can see everything around you perfectly but you cannot recognise other people's faces, even your relatives and your close friends. now reserachers are asking for people who have the condition to come forward so they can understand more about it. 0ur wales correspondent jordan davies has been to meet one woman, who has lived with face blindness all her life. meeting your partner in a coffee shop should be a piece of cake. but for boo james it can be a challenge. she has face blindness, a condition which means she can't recognise people's faces, friends, family, even

her own reflection. i have definitely been on a bus having someone waving at me, not knowing who it was, and then later discovering that was possibly my mother through conversation and other such happenings, so even close family are not safe. but what's even more extraordinary is that boo only discovered she had the condition in her 40s. i used to explain this to myself by thinking that i actually didn't like other people. if i met them and then wiped them clean from my memory, how interested was i? so i decided i should not actually mix with people much if that was the level of interest i had with them. 0r possibly i was even thinking was i from another planet! it's difficult to describe how those with the condition see faces. i see the component parts of a face, i can see there's a nose, i can see there are eyes and a mouth and ears and various features, but it's very difficult for my brain to hold them all together as an image of a face.

for example, i'm looking at your face now but if i then turned away, i would find i had very little of a coherent picture of what i've just seen. so if ijust showed you this person? no, no idea at all. can you tell me what maybe you're picking up there? well, i can see is an older gentleman, we've got the lines around the eyes. i feel the eyebrows ought to be distinctive, perhaps they are to other people. if i told you this was donald trump? oh, really? so that's what he looks like? the president of america. and now researchers in wales are looking to learn more about prosopagnosia, its official title. scientists at swansea university are looking for people who think they may have the condition to take part in new research. if we can really work out exactly which part of the brain is going wrong, then we can start to look at mediation of this problem. then we can start to look

at remediation of this problem. so we are working here in swansea at developing a rehabilitation programme for people with prosopagnosia. for boo, there is no real treatment for the condition at the moment, but she hopes better awareness of face blindness could make something as simple as a walk in a busy park a little less daunting. jordan davies, bbc news. now it's time for the weather with ben rich. heavy rain, gale force winds, snow over high grounds. the weather will throw all that at us. the jet stream is strong and racing, spinning up weather systems. some of the exact details, particularly for the weekend, are open to question. this area of low pressure will stay with us area of low pressure will stay with us throughout thursday. sliding

further eastwards, opening the floodgates to some cold air digging its weight from the north. a chilly feeling they, particularly when you factor in the wind. so start perhaps over high ground but even to slightly lower levels across scotland. 40—50 miles per hour, a blustery and chilly day. it will be the southern parts of england that have the best chance to state predominantly dry. the area of low pressure pushing eastwards. friday morning is your chance to grow —— the drawl breath. —54 parts of scotland. sunshine once the early fog has cleared but it does not last week that invading from the west. this is the first sign of an

u nsettled this is the first sign of an unsettled and perhaps turbulent weekend and it is all down to that jet stream. winds likely to be going at 200 miles per hour higher in the atmosphere. a few little dips, it is as kinks and dips that spin areas of low pressure and any slight change in the alignment and because it is moving so powerfully, it could have a big change in the forecast. it is difficult to win down exactly where the wettest and windiest weather will be but we will see rain, hail and snow over the high ground and eat we'll feel cold. wintry showers on saturday in the north. windy, 50 miles per hour, a touch more in places. 7— 12 degrees. a similar

story in the sunday and monday. showers, perhaps longer spells of rain, thunder, wintry weather in high ground. the further east you are in the uk, the better chance of staying dry with not as many showers but the pattern continues into next week. the jet stream stays to the south of the uk but it will keep us in relatively cold air. this area of high pressure looks like it will not make much progress but if it makes a little ball progress, and there is a chance, it made bring something a little calmer. next week generally more rain and snow over high ground, strong winds, feeling rather chilly with the chance that it may turn calmer later. we will firm up on all those details and keep you up—to—date.

hello.