you're watching bbc news at nine with me, rebecca jones. the headlines: the chancellor is to earmark an extra £2 billion for a possible no—deal brexit — something the labour party calls an "appalling waste of taxpayers‘ money". flood warnings are still in place across yorkshire and the north west of england, after heavy rain caused damage to buildings, roads and rail lines. research finds the number of teenagers in care is rising — and the system in england is struggling to cope. the bank of england is to announce its latest interest rate decision, which looks set to remain the same. and in sport, the wait is finally over — day one of the ashes begins this morning at edgbaston. having been on both sides of it, lifting it before under cooky, and seeing what it's like to be

on the wrong end of it as a captain makes me very hungry to be on the podium at the oval as captain hopefully with a massive smile on my face. good morning and welcome to the bbc news at nine. the government has announced additionalfunding to prepare the uk in the event of a no—deal brexit. the chancellor, sajid javid, says the extra two point one billion pounds was necessary to ensure the uk is prepared for leaving the eu on october 31 — with or without a deal. nearly £350 million will be spent on upgrading border and transport infrastructure at the biggest uk ports. this will include an extra 1,000 borderforce officers —

double the number previously announced when mrjavid was home secretary. a further £434 million will be spent on the stockpiling of vital medicines. let's get more from our political correspondentjessica parker. brexit preparations cost money, and today the man now in charge of the public‘s finances signalled that he's willing to turn on the taps. the chancellor, sajid javid, is announcing £2.1 billion to go specifically on no—deal planning, on top of £4.2 billion of brexit preparation money already allocated when theresa may was in charge. not all of the new cash is to be made available right away, but funds are set to go on measures including extra border force officials, a public information campaign and, once again, buying up a freight capacity in case the country needs to ship

in vital medical supplies. this extra cash is also designed to reinforce borisjohnson‘s claim that the government is gearing up to ensure that brexit happens by october the 31st, deal or no deal. we're going to fulfil the repeated promises of parliament to the people. but the labour party, which is adamantly against leaving the eu without an agreement, says that today's announcement amounts to an appalling waste of taxpayers‘ money that could be better spent on schools and hospitals. jessica parker, bbc news. 0ur assistant political editor, norman smith, is at westminster. there is going to be a big row about this, isn‘t there? there is going to be a big row about this, isn't there? there certainly is. labour have already said, why are you spending this money when you don‘t want no deal, we don‘t think there should be no deal and a much better to spend the money on social ca re better to spend the money on social care or public services, which needs the cash? there will be a row too

because i think, can this money be spent efficiently and effectively? the public accounts committee of mps are already suggesting that they may carry out some sort of investigation. they say, you want to recruit 500 border staff, how can you do that in three months if you have got to advertise, recruit, train and deploy them? they question whether this money is actually being properly planned for in terms of achieving the sort of outcome is the government have set themselves. i suspect the biggest row may come with the simple fact that boris johnson has said earlier this week that it johnson has said earlier this week thatitis johnson has said earlier this week that it is a million to one chance we will leave without a deal. why then are you spending £2 billion on a million to one chance? this was the answer this morning from the chief secretary, rishi sunak. it is myjob to make sure we spend taxpayers money wisely. the good i'iews taxpayers money wisely. the good news is a lot of this money, a lot of this investment, is for things we

need to do in all cases because we are leaving the european union. that means leaving the single market and the customs union and changes to how we trade, what happens at borders and ports. whether we are investing in it infrastructure, border force officials, those are the kinds of investments we have to make anyway. the other area there will be a row about is this huge public information campaign which the government is launching, £i30 million on advice and help in the event of a no deal. why this is contentious is not just event of a no deal. why this is contentious is notjust because of the amount of cash involved. i will give you a comparison. when david cameron had his brexit referendum on the leaflet went to every household in the country and all the advertising around that, total cost, 9 million. now the government is talking about spending i30 9 million. now the government is talking about spending 130 million, added to which they will be a bernie, i suspect come over whether this is information or propaganda, whether it is endorsing and making the case for a no deal rather than

just setting out the contingency planning we should put in place. good to talk to you. norman smith. let‘s discuss the announcement of an extra thousand border patrol officers with lucy moreton, general secretary of the isu union which represents border, customs and immigration officers. she joins us via webcam from harwich in essex. good morning. do you welcome this extra money, which will mean extra officers? absolutely. as has been said before, this needed to happen anyway. the border force has been run down over sequential years, we have been underfunded for quite some time. we have known you would need more staff leaving the european union, greater infrastructure in place. the only issue with this is so place. the only issue with this is so many, very welcome, but incredibly quickly. at the moment it ta kes incredibly quickly. at the moment it takes the border force six months from advertising to the fact of the

individual entering training. we have got that down from eight months. to achieve that in 12 to 14 weeks, i cannot really see how that would be doable. so you are basically saying it is not possible to recruit and train these border force officers in the time that you have got. what will happen? i don't know. that is the great thing about brexit, nobody knows. we can recruit, we can start the recruitment process. we have the 500th that were promised for march 31 leaving date, they are already in post. they came in in mid—may. we do have that little bit of extra resource. it is something we would have been doing anyway. so we can start the process. we already bring back staff who have been made redundant, who have retired, both from the border force and the police, occasionally from the army. they have come back to support the border force during the summer. we can try and increase their numbers. there are several hundred of them at the moment. we may be able to

increase that slightly. these are national posts. these officers must go through security clearance before they are allowed into a national security role. that is the slowest pa rt security role. that is the slowest part of the entire process. how long does that take? on average three to four months. it depends how in—depth it is. if you have got a clear, accessible electronic record for all of your life and there are no problems, you will go through security clearance quite quickly. if there is something a little more complicated, takes longer. and if you dump thousand extra applications in all at once, they will overload and shut down. will putting more officers on the border solve all the problems that we are being warned could be created if there is a no—deal brexit on october the 31st? not all of them. it will go some way to it. the issues around no deal,

transition, freedom of movement, of goods, if you have to have those goods, if you have to have those goods physically checked, then obviously be more staff you have got, that excuse. the border force has until now, until this political change, said frequent movement would continue until 2020 anyway for eu nationals. if we are going hard no deal and freedom of movement ceases, then you must have additional human beings on the border. what happens with cues and backlogs with freight, that depends on your‘s response to us. that depends on your‘s response to us. we can wave duties, we can waive the requirement for passport checks, we can do anything the uk wants in order to allow people to fly in —— flowing, but they can‘t flow out because the eu won‘t allow it. the northern ireland border is over the eu requirement that no goods enter the eu that are not checked and compliant. so we are really beholden to them, even in the event of a no deal. really good to talk to you. thank

you for your time. thank you. we got the news late last night that the us federal reserve has cut interest rates for the first time in more than a decade. well, all eyes will be on this side of the atlantic a little later, when the bank of england announces it‘s interest rate decision at midday. i am joined in the studio by our business presenter, dominic 0‘connell. good morning. the consensus seems to be the bank of that will leave the rate unchanged ? be the bank of that will leave the rate unchanged? yes, it would be a big surprise if they didn‘t leave it unchanged. 0.75 of a percent. the fed made one interest cut last night and there were probably not be many more coming. here in the uk everybody will be looking at not so much what they say about the interest rate itself, but all the language around it. in their pronouncements so far this year the bank of england has been indicating the next move in uk interest rate

would be up. this time there is an indication the next move will be down. a cut in interest rates. when will that will happen, who knows? some of the people are thinking maybe there won‘t be any movement on interest rates for up to a year. this is all speculation. we don‘t really know. they will be a lot of interest today what mark carney has to say about no—deal brexit because he has been very anti—a no—deal brexit. warning about the dangers to the economy of a no—deal brexit. he has been attacked for that. he has been far too gloomy, some site, and overstepping his remit. today he will have to talk about much more preparation for a no—deal brexit becoming a lot more of a likelihood. what he says about that no—deal brexit and the planning will be very

closely followed today. are you saying effectively we should be looking out for a possible change of town? a change of tone and an indication the next move will be down. there are so many complications. sterling has been falling in the last month. it has fallen by 9 cents against us dollar. normally when currency has fallen like that, the central bank‘s response is to raise interest rates, to push up the currency. mr carney cannot do that if he thinks he needs to stimulate the economy in the meantime. there are a lot of currents in this. no change in interest rate today. it will be all about the language and indications about the language and indications about what the bank is thinking in the longer term and that no—deal brexit. thank you. voters in brecon and radnorshire go to the polls today to elect a new member of parliament. a total of six candidates are standing in the by—election in mid—wales, and polls will remain open until ten o‘clock tonight. the result is expected in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

flood warnings are still in place across the north west of england and yorkshire, after a day of heavy rain left people stranded and caused damage to buildings, roads and rail lines. 0vernight, the water levels did begin to recede in some of the worst hit areas, but people are preparing for another downpour of rain later this afternoon. jon donnison reports. rivers where there were once roads. this is in stockport. nearby cheadle hume was also badly affected by the heavy rains. and in poynton, where the fire service declared a major incident, people were grabbing whatever they could to push back the water. it was just like a torrent coming down. got home and tried to get everything out as best as we could. it‘s onlyjust gone through the garage, so we‘re all right. in north yorkshire, this is leyburn, people are also facing a major cleanup.

clothes, bedding, bookcases, drawers, tvs, washing machine, fridge freezer will be going. luke nelson runs a local pub. his beer cellar, though, now full of water. just came in way too fast for it to pump out and just filled up gradually, so i've got about 5' 8"'s worth of water damage in the cellar at the moment. in the yorkshire dales, a torrent of water passed over the site of a music festival hosted on a localfarm. parts of than north of england have now seen four days of heavy rain. and the bad news, while the water levels may be receding, forecasters say more downpours are expect it today. jon donnison, bbc news. fiona lamdin is in reeth in north yorkshire, where almost a month‘s worth of rain fell in just four hours on tuesday. how is it looking where you are? yes, you would be forgiven for

thinking this was normally a riverbed. but come tuesday morning this was actually a field full of sheep grazing. you can see the diggers behind are trying to get all the boulders out. if i can show you that horsebox, the hay bales, the trees, everything was just literally picked up by the river and brought along here. you can see the road. it is normally a tarmac road. it is com pletely is normally a tarmac road. it is completely gone. these sheep are just free. just coming over to nicola, this has been in your husband‘s generation for many years. just looking around at the devastation this morning...” just looking around at the devastation this morning... i now, it has been said so many times today, we have just got to start and rebuilt and it will take a long time. everybody was safe and we just have to get on with it. one of the most distressing things as you lost 80 sheep? i know, that was all the lambs from this year that were to be

sold in september. obviously we have not got that income that would come from those. we have to make sure that we have got enough silence bought for the winter. they need feed. thank you so much forjoining us. feed. thank you so much forjoining us. just coming over to the vicar of this area, good morning. i met you yesterday. you yourself have been flooded and affected as well? yes, i live on the flood plain and the water came through the house. i have got three inches of mud micro in my house like everybody else. we are doing what we can to help people. i am get lots of help from people as well. your cats had to be evacuated? yes, i have three cats. they stayed upstairs. i had somebody staying with me. they were evacuated yesterday and i am staying with a friend. you have been here for many yea rs friend. you have been here for many years and never seen friend. you have been here for many years and never seen anything like this. how is the community reacting? i think the community is amazing and there is an amazing community here. people work together. a flood aid has been setup. if people want to

help, there is forage aid for formers and i go fund me flood page. what i would say to people is don't just turn up. you are saying that people from all over the country wa nt to people from all over the country want to help? yes, people have been very generous. if people turn up, we can't feed you or accommodate you. don't turn up unless you have somewhere to stay or a specificjob. if you want to have, i want to the gofundme page and find out what people need because that would be really helpful. thank you both. as you can see, there is a huge amount of work that needs to be done on this farm just outside reeth. the diggers are already moving. they are moving trees, they are moving boulders, they are trying to restore these firms to how it looked just a few days ago. fiona, thank you. the headlines on bbc news: the chancellor is to earmark an extra £2 billion for a possible no—deal brexit — something the labour party calls an "appalling waste

of taxpayers money". flood warnings are still in place across yorkshire and the north west of england, after heavy rain caused damage to buildings, roads and rail lines. research finds the number of teenagers in care is rising — and the system in england is struggling to cope. and in sport, england and australia get set for battle at the start of the ashes at edgbaston. australia have not won any of their ten games there since 2001. we will have the build—up. in the women‘s asses england pick up a consolation victory in theirfinal england pick up a consolation victory in their final match in bristol. they lost the series overall. and in tennis, andy and jamie murray progressed to the quarterfinals of the washington open. they beat roger basilan and nicolas my hoot. they play tomorrow

for a place in the final four. nicolas my hoot. they play tomorrow for a place in the finalfour. that is all from me for now. we are back at 9:45am. the care system in england is struggling to cope with rising demand from teenagers, according to the children‘s commissioner. research by the commissioner‘s office shows the number of children in care aged 13 or over, rose by 21% over the last five years, and that teenagers in care were more likely to be vulnerable to sexual exploitation, gangs, trafficking and drug misuse. children aren‘t getting the help they need early on, which means they are getting into very risky situations and getting involved in all sorts of grooming and exploitation and gangs and the like. but also, the care system hasn‘t yet caught up or adapted to the point where they can then provide the specialist support needed for this new group of very complex teenagers in the numbers we‘re now seeing them.

brenda farrell is head of fostering and adoption at barnardo‘s children‘s charity — shejoins us from our salford studio. we are very grateful to you. good morning. good morning. the children‘s commissioner talks about an explosion in the number of children going into care in england in the last five years. does that chime with your experiences? yes. at the present time we have over 75,000 children in the care system in england. we have seen a significant increase, about 4%, in the last year from 2017 to 2018. as highlighted in this report, a quarter of those children are over 16 years of age. why do you think there has been such a significant increase? if we look

at the children‘s services and the support available to families over the last couple of years, due to the cuts that has resulted in a number of the preventative services and supportive services available to families experiencing problems, difficulties. hitting crisis point. and at that stage the children are older and at the decision when the children must come into care they are teenagers and presenting with the complexities and vulnerabilities that they have experienced through the difficulties may be within their growing years as children within theirfamilies. growing years as children within their families. can you tell us a little bit more about the particularly specialist needs about —— of teenagers in this situation? barnardos has seen an increase in the service it is providing the risks of these children in the past couple of years, including child sexual to some, abuse, involvement in gangs, trafficking and domestic abuse. and those issues need to be

addressed through our support services. and myself involved in fostering and adoption, we are trying to ensure that our foster ca re rs trying to ensure that our foster carers have the skill set and knowledge to be able to respond to these teenagers needs, to help them address the impact of notjust coming into care, may be the loss of theirfamily, but coming into care, may be the loss of their family, but their experiences of vulnerabilities coming up to care. they are specialist needs, whether related to services supporting mental health, helping them adapt, helping them to come to terms with issues related to poverty, attachment or abuse. the government says it is spending an extra £2 million to help protect children from criminals. is that the answer, more money? will that solve this? unfortunately, not just answer, more money? will that solve this? unfortunately, notjust one solution will help. however, in february of this year barnardos was one of five charities that review the pressing issues presented to

children‘s services. it identified that 3.1 billion would help to fill the gap, the funding gap, that local authorities have experienced in their investment in children‘s services. but of course, funding is not just one solution. services. but of course, funding is notjust one solution. we would ask the government to take a long—term view, working in conjunction with local authorities, health services and the charities, so we can all work together to address this crisis and have a plan and a strategy to work with families, prevent children coming into care, providing those services, those therapeutic interventions and support services, and then if children do have to come into care, have the quality of services required to enable them to achieve their potential, but also to have the ability to return home if possible. brenda farrell, head of fostering and adoption at barnardos, really good to hear your voice. thank you forjoining us.

thank you forjoining us. thank you. reports in the us say that hamza bin laden, the son of the former al-qaeda leader, osama bin laden, is dead. the pentagon has not released any information but he‘s believed to have been killed in a military strike. tom hanson is a cbs correspondent in new york. what more can you add to that? good morning. the situation is still shrouded in mystery. the united states have a role in the operation that killed the younger mr bin laden, according to officials. other details remain completely unknown. hamza bin laden, the son of a bin laden, was killed in a military operation eight years after the death of his father. according to that same official, he was in line to head al-anda, was that the target of the operation and was not even known to be at the location of the operation. it wasn‘t until sometime later, officials say, us

intelligence monitored conversations among al-qaeda members about whether they should try to keep is that a secret or acknowledge it and decide about him as a martyr. it is not clear when or where the operation took place. he is believed to have beenin took place. he is believed to have been in either pakistan or afghanistan. at the white house yesterday president trump brushed aside questions about the operation when he was asked if there was any intelligence that bin laden‘s son had been killed. he said he did not wa nt to had been killed. he said he did not want to comment and thanked the press for asking the question. a summer press for asking the question. a summer bin laden was killed in 2011. he was grooming hamza bin laden to succeed him as the leader of al-anda. earlier this year the state department offered $1 million ofa state department offered $1 million of a reward leading to his capture or arrest. as we know, the present is not known to be shy about claiming his victories, so we will anticipate a statement soon, i would assume. we will look out for that. good to

talk to you. thank you. at least 10 people were injured when fireworks were shot from a moving car into a crowd of pro—democracy activists in hong kong. crowds had gathered to support a small number of protestors detained at a police station. it is not clear who was behind the incident, which was shared on social media platforms. tensions are high in hong kong after weeks of anti—government protests. a mobile phone app has speeded up the detection of a potentially fatal kidney condition in hospital patients. staff describe the technology as a "potential lifesaver", providing diagnoses in minutes instead of hours. acute kidney injury is caused by serious health conditions, including sepsis, and it affects one in five people admitted to hospital. hugh pym reports. whether it‘s the pager or the fax machine, there is no shortage of old technology across the nhs, but are we on the verge

of a big leap forward? one hospital that‘s trialled an app for staff says it‘s a potential lifesaver. this is the kidney function that we were talking about. edgar‘s being treated for different health conditions, and mary, a lead nurse specialist at london‘s royal free hospital is able to show him the result of blood tests on her mobile. she‘s on the lookout for acute kidney injury, most often found in older patients. warning signs from blood tests can take hours to come back up at mary will get an alert on her phone within 15 minutes also if there‘s any cause for concern. healthcare is mobile and real time, and this is the first device that‘s labelled me to see results in a real—time way. consultants involved in the project, which has been independently assessed, says it saves money on treatment as well as helping patients. potentially it is life—saving. we need to gather a lot more information about this technology and we need to look at it over a longer timeframe, but it's

certainly the case that some patients are very unwell, information comes to the correct team very quickly and then we can put measures in place to try to make that patient safe and to reverse the impact on their kidney function. the royal free‘s collaboration with deepmind was criticised by the information commission over the use of patient data. the commission said the hospital had now completed all the required actions. the hope is that in the fast paced world of a modern hospital, giving nurses and doctors patient information at their fingertips can make a big difference in the way patients are diagnosed and treated. hugh pym, bbc news. in a moment the weather, but first here‘s riz lateef with what‘s coming up on the victoria derbyshire programme at ten. good morning. today we ask, are universities failing men when it comes to their mental health? figures obtained by this programme suggest farfewer male figures obtained by this programme suggest far fewer male students than

female ones have access to university counselling and well—being services this year. michael priestley had been struggling with his mental health before attending uni. but like many other male students, he didn‘t feel able to reach out for support. there we re able to reach out for support. there were a lot of people struggling, particularly men, that didn‘t feel able, comfortable, to seek help or talk about it to their friends or in that university space. and you can hear more of michael‘s story at ten on bbc and the bbc news channel and online. that is coming up at ten. now the weather. carol kirkwood has the forecast. is it looking any better forecast. is it looking any better for the north? there are further showers in the forecast today for the north, not just the north either. for the next few days the showers will become fewer and further between. we start off on fewer and further between. we start offona fewer and further between. we start off on a largely dry note with sunshine. as temperatures rise we will see a line of showers from north—west scotland across parts of

northern england, down towards east anglia. they are likely to be heavy, thundery and slow—moving. if you catch one, you will know all about it. unfortunately you could see some of those in the same areas where we have had some flooding this week. on either side we could see showers as well. some sunshine. top temperatures up to 25. through this evening and overnight we hang on those showers for a time. eventually they fade, leaving us with a largely dry night, patti mist and fog. temperatures similar to the night just gone. tomorrow we start off with that patchy mist and fog burning away quickly. as temperatures rise once again we could catch a shower almost anywhere. again it could be heavy and slow—moving but many of us will miss them, with top temperatures once again into the low 20s.

hello, this is bbc news with rebecca jones. the headlines... the chancellor is to earmark an extra two—billion pounds for a possible no—deal brexit — something the labour party calls an ‘appalling waste of taxpayers money‘. flood warnings are still in place across yorkshire and the north west of england after heavy rain caused damage to buildings, roads and rail lines. research finds the number of teenagers in care is rising — and the system in england is struggling to cope. the bank of england is to announce its latest interest rates decision later. and in cricket the wait is finally over — day one of the ashes begins this morning at edgbaston.

time now for the morning briefing, where we bring you up to speed on the stories people are watching, reading and sharing. flooding has caused disruption across the north of england. radio 4‘s today programme spoke to the chief executive of the environment agency, sirjames bevan. he warned that climate change could cause more of this type of disruption in the future you can never link an individual weather event with climate change but all the evidence is that man—made climate change is a fact and we know that is going to deliver more extreme weather, both more extreme flooding and extreme drought. we also know it‘s already causing rising sea levels and what that means is that there are greater threats to the country and we need to tackle that, we need to tackle it obviously first by making sure we are resilient to the effects of climate change and we can come back

more quickly, communities can come back more quickly than they are hit by flooding. we need to invest in more flood defences and the government is doing that and the environment agency is delivering that but we also need to tackle the root cause which is the climate emergency and that means both making sure we reduce the amount of carbon we are putting into the atmosphere and making sure we adapt our cities and way of life so we can be more resilient to the effects we see. sometimes drastic solutions may have to be looked at. i was reading the chair of the environment agency emma howard—boyd said in some places the scale of threat may be so significant recovery will not always be the best long—term solution. communities would need help to move out of harm‘s way. yes, well ourjob in the environment agency is to create a better place and we want every community up and down this country to thrive and be resilient and i‘m very confident if we do the right things over the next few years, we can achieve that. but the hard and difficult fact is that

whilst almost everywhere we can achieve that with a combination of enhanced flood defences and greater resilience, the climate emergency means that in a few places, particularly on coasts, it will over the long—term simply not be possible to protect some of those places against either flooding or coastal erosion and in those circumstances the best solution is likely to be moving people out of harms way. gary cohn was the top economic advisor to president trump until he quit last year. he was an outspoken critic of the administrations policy of putting tarriffs on chinese goods — the so—called ‘trade war‘. he told the bbc he thought the policy would fail on its own terms i don‘t really think it‘s hitting the chinese economy. i think the chinese economy is driven by credit and credit availability. credit and credit availability is determined by the central government, the central government owns credit availability mechanism in china and they can turn credit on and off. i think the trade war

with the united states was a very convenient excuse for the chinese to slow down their economy when they needed to slow it down. an overheated economy, real estate prices were getting out of hand and i think president trump provided that excuse for the chinese. so i think the chinese economy was going to slow down with or without a trade war. but in the us it‘s having a real impact already, isn‘t it? if you are a farmer growing soybeans in north dakota and trying to export them to china, life has got tough for you. in the farming community it‘s having a dramatic impact. in the capital investment part of the us economy it‘s having a dramatic impact. in the service side of the economy it‘s not having nearly as big an impact because tariffs don‘t affect it and that‘s what you‘re seeing, you‘re seeing a very interesting varification of the united states economy. those things manufactured and consumed in the united states,

those things imported and those things that take a long time to build and they are being divided. you take the automobile industry in the us, its suffering, because tariffs are hurting that industry. people are spending a lot of money by going out and eating and a lot of the restaurants in the us are doing well because we grow our own food and we don‘t have to import the food and the biggest cost in the restaurant industry is labour. and so we have labour here in the us so people are willing to go out and spend that money. england‘s bid to regain the ashes from australia begins with the first test at edgbaston this morning. 2005 ashes winner ashley giles met the current team last night, and told the bbc he was hopeful for the series i think we are ready now. last week was important, the guys were tired after the world cup and many of them

had been involved in the world cup but i think it was an important experience for them, maybe get them a bit ofa experience for them, maybe get them a bit of a chill that test match cricket is different, we‘ve got to adapt and that experience was worthwhile. last night was great, we got some of my old team—mates back and what i said really, that group of guys in 2005 went through something really special and formed friendships that last forever and that‘s what the ashes is about. you go through that six or seven weeks which is really tough, but if you come out the other end of it with success , come out the other end of it with success, it‘s just an amazing feeling. do you think it's possible to be so good at both now? in the past be seen very good ashes teams, not doing so well in the one day, the focus has been on winning the world cup, do you think they can still achieve the ashes win, get them back and make it the great summer? it's going to be tough, you never underestimate an australian team, they always come here and they play extremely tough cricket but it is an opportunity to do something perhaps we never get the opportunity to do again, win a world cup, and an

ashes in the same year and that‘s what i would carry, if i was one of these players when i go out in the field, that opportunity to do something really special. what about australia, is there the sense of a wounded animal, smith, bancroft and warner coming back, the band for ball tampering in south africa, do you think that will have an impact on the psychological approach is it under the carpet now? for them it will be ok, the welcome they get from some of the audiences around the country will be interesting, abs we‘ve seen already during the world cup they are going to get, i‘m sure, afair bit cup they are going to get, i‘m sure, a fair bit of stick but from our point of view, we will play our cricket hard but we will play at the right way, as you should do. now let‘s take a look at some of the most popular stories on bbc news these are the latest industry figures, she took over from chris evans in january.

figures, she took over from chris evans injanuary. it is worth saying that her breakfast show is still the most popular. let‘s scroll through. look at the most watched videos. number one, interesting. a british born jazz artist. facing deportation from the uk, born in glasgow in 1983. but she now faces deportation after the home office says she has no right to remain in the uk. that is the most watched video on the website. and a question for you. another video. we you sleep in a cardboard box? this is to do with festivalgoers. including, would you sleep in a cardboard tent, after festivals, an incredible number, 250,000 tents are left behind at festivals. and many can‘t be recycled. so radio 1

festivals. and many can‘t be recycled. so radio1 new speed finding out whether cardboard tents could be the answer. have a look at that if you think that might be one for you. that‘s it for today‘s morning briefing. the former us vice—president joe biden has come under attack from other democratic party hopefuls in a televised debate ahead of the 2020 elections. the party‘s frontrunner shared a stage with nine other presidential aspirants — and there were several sharp exchanges on healthca re, border control and race. please welcome from delaware, former vice president joe biden. joe biden knew he needed to shine tonight or at least, correct course. senator kamala harris. his clash with senator kamala harris at the last debate had given her momentum, but checked his. this time they started out friendly enough.

harris: how are you doing? you good? biden: i‘m good. as expected, the two went after each other again. on health care, an issue that has split the democratic party. mr biden said her new proposal was too costly and wouldn‘t work. so this idea is a bunch of malarkey, what we are talking about. the fact of the matter is. the fact of the matter is that there will be a deductible in your paycheck, bernie acknowledges it. under your plan status quo, you do nothing to hold the insurance companies to task. for what they have been doing to american families. other candidates were also eager to land blows on the front runner. senator cory booker took him to task for his past decisions on criminaljustice and dismissed mr biden‘s criticism of his own record while a mayor in newjersey. mr vice president, there is a saying in my community, you're dipping into the kool—aid and you don't even know the flavour. you're trying to shift the view from what you

created. there are people right now in prison for life for drug offences because you stood up and used that tough on crime, phoney rhetoric that got a lot of people elected but destroyed communities like mine. this isn't about the past, sir, this is about the present, right now. on immigration the former vice president was pressed on whether he had supported barack obama‘s deportation of migrants. you need to be able to answer the tough questions. i guarantee you if you are debating donald trump, he's not going to let you off the hook so did you say those deportations were a good idea or did you go to the president and say this is a mistake, we shouldn't do it, which one? i was vice president, i am not the president, i keep my recommendation in private. mr vice president, you can't have it both ways, you invoke president obama more than anyone in this campaign, you can't do it when it's convenient. the fact of the matter is i think the president of the united states barack obama went out of his way to try and change

the system and he got pushed back significantly. mr biden tried to place the controversial parts of his history in the context of different times to show that he knew the party had changed and he could change with it. but a key part of his defence was indeed the judgement of the man who had made him vice president. here‘s the deal. the fact is we‘re talking about things that occurred a long, long time ago and now, all of a sudden, you know, ifind it fascinating. everybody is talking about how terrible i am on these issues. barack obama knew exactly who i was, he had ten lawyers do a background check on everything about me, civil rights and civil liberties and he chose me and said it was the best decision he ever made. joe biden came into this debate knowing he will be a target. he did stumble a bit from time to time but by and large, he capably defended his record, it wasn‘t a standout performance but probably enough to reassure his supporters.

sport now and the start of the first ashes test is nowjust a little over an hour away. adam wild is at edgbaston where england will begin their bid to regain the famous urn from australia. adam, it‘s already been a great summer for english cricket — victory in this series would make it perfect? and how is the weather looking? are you going to get a full day ‘s play. i hope so rebecca. crucially the forecast says it will stay dry today. that of course is the main thing when it comes to cricket. the atmosphere here at edgbaston really fizzing this morning. a real sense of anticipation, you can see perhaps behind me the crowd is beginning to fillup, behind me the crowd is beginning to fill up, the queues forming to get inside the ground. there is nothing really like the first morning of an ashes test. england, of course, world champions, crowned in that

remarkable final just few weeks ago but that was in the shortened form of the game, it is a very different format to test match cricket. loss of sound studio: i think we got the gist of that, play starts at 11am, it isa gist of that, play starts at 11am, it is a sell—out, i know, i tried to get a ticket, can we try to get back to you, adam? let‘s give it another go...we to you, adam? let‘s give it another go we might be able to talk to adam again, adam, we lost you for just a moment. rebecca, sorry about that, technical problems, lots of crowd building, lots of noise, i was going to take you through some of the papers to show you what‘s being said. in the mirror, will hear from will hearfrom joe will hear from joe root in a moment. in the daily mail.

and in the times newspaper. referring to tim paine, the australia captain who mentioned yesterday he doesn‘t feel any intimidation by this ground here at edgbaston. let‘s hear from intimidation by this ground here at edgbaston. let‘s hearfrom joe root, he would love to get his hands on that famous little urn by the end of the summer. it's it‘s the pinnacle of the test game, having been on both sides, lifted it before, under cooking, seeing what it‘s like to be on the wrong end of it‘s like to be on the wrong end of it as it‘s like to be on the wrong end of itasa it‘s like to be on the wrong end of it as a captain makes me very hungry to be the one stood on the podium at the oval hopefully with a massive smile on my face. two very strong attacks that come up against each other. but it‘s almost an opportunity for some batters to slide under the radar and make a huge impact themselves. makes for very interesting contest. it‘s something that i think is going to be very close but we fancy our

chances. that was the england captainjoe chances. that was the england captain joe root. i‘m chances. that was the england captainjoe root. i‘m delighted to say former england batsman and former england wicketkeeper matt priorjoins me. really special occasion, the first morning of the ashes. it's amazing, the crowds building, we‘ve been here from quite early, there was a lull, still a bit cloudy now but you can feel it, building up. i thought the press here, they say there‘s test match cricket and ashes cricket under something very different, different level of intensity and as i say, you can really feel it building. the players will be getting in, they will have arrived, be in the dressing room, all the words have been said it‘s about going out and playing. i was going to ask about the intensity, you played in four ashes series, what will the be doing? the intensity between england and australia it‘s like nothing else. the rivalries, the attention, you play in a lot of test match series, there isn‘t that much

attention, the hype, build—up, all you want to do is go and ply your trade, take your wickets, score your runs. the players will be in the dressing room trying to do what they can to stay relaxed, they will have their own pre—match routines, were maps, getting strapping and ankles, doing anything they can to con themselves that they aren‘t nervous, that they are cool, calm and collected but believe me, there will be tension in the dressing rooms. let me ask you about the team, the england team announced yesterday, the australian team announced shortly, a lot of people saying there‘s a similar pattern to both, strengths and weaknesses, strengths in the building, fragility in the batting. exactly and i think it all builds up for what can be an outstanding series because the teams are so outstanding series because the teams are so similar. there isn‘t a standard favourite, i don‘t think, it‘s very hard to predict, of course iam going it‘s very hard to predict, of course i am going to go england will win the series but it‘s hard to predict the series but it‘s hard to predict the outcome and score which sets it up the outcome and score which sets it up brilliantly. having had that phenomenal world cup and how that ended, it‘s almost like a set fair for the ashes to be equally as tense

and exciting. for england, it‘s about scoring runs, they will have to get enough runs on the board, they have the quality in the bowling, anderson leading that attack but they have to score enough runs. thanks forjoining us, i appreciate it. we are about an hour away from the first ball being bowled here at the ashes. i for one, cannot wait. studio: adam, me too. thank you so much, talk to you later. the headlines on bbc news... the chancellor is to earmark an extra two—billion pounds for a possible no—deal brexit — something the labour party calls an ‘appalling waste of taxpayers money‘. flood warnings are still in place across yorkshire and the north west of england after heavy rain caused damage to buildings, roads and rail lines. research finds the number of teenagers in care is rising — and the system in england is struggling to cope. an update on the market numbers for you — here‘s how london‘s and frankfurt stand at the moment. and in the the united states this

is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. a year since an ebola outbreak was declared in eastern democratic republic of congo, more than 1,700 people have now died. the country has successfully dealt with nine previous outbreaks, but the current one has been difficult to bring under control. our senior africa correspondent, anne soy, has returned to the epicentre of the outbreak in beni city. it takes a lot to beat ebola. those who seek treatment early have a better chance of survival. but at the heart of the outbreak, myths and violence are driving infection. this treatment centre was much smaller when i was last here, six months ago. the expansion just speaks to how much the outbreak has grown.

and actually, at some point, there were no more cases here in beni, and a lot of the services were moved to the new hotspots. but then ebola came back, and more cases are being reported here daily than any other place. there are lessons to be learned, that until there is no more ebola in the region, the health workers cannot afford to relax. as people travel, the epicentre of the outbreak has kept shifting. some suspected cases have even fled their homes and spread the disease. the world health organization says they are now adapting their strategies. we have been asking the community themselves to elect the person who will detect the contacts, who will identify the contacts, follow them up, and who will alert us that there is a sick person in the households. but, a short distance from town, evidence that change is slow to come.

a funeral is taking place, we are told, but the community has barricaded the road. within minutes, we are asked to leave, or risk being attacked. tension is high. even the staff and patients at this clinic have fled. this infection control team is allowed to decontaminate it after a patient tested positive for ebola, but the community blames the doctor here for sending her to the ebola treatment centre, to die, they say. many still deny the existence of the disease, and resist care. translation: there have been attacks against health workers. we know of fellow doctors who were killed. that has a negative impact on the fight against this epidemic. dozens of armed groups operate in this region, making fighting ebola even more difficult. but there is some hope.

these people never thought they would recover from the disease. now, as they return to their villages, they take a strong message back — that ebola can be stopped. the sale of single—use plastic bags in england has fallen dramatically since a charge was introduced four years ago. customers at the biggest seven retailers — including tesco, sainsbury‘s and asda — used 90 per cent fewer than in 2015, as john mcmanus reports. they‘re the scourge of our streets and often of our oceans. trillions of plastic bags used globally every year. now new data for england shows single plastic bag use has dropped significantly since 2015. the information relates to seven major retailers. asda, marks & spencer, morrisons, sainsbury‘s, the co—op, tesco and waitrose. they‘ve recorded a staggering

reduction of 90% since the 5p charge was introduced. and in the last year alone, there‘s been a 47% decrease in single bag use. that means the average person now buys just ten single—use plastic bags a year compared to 140 five years ago. plastic bag use has also dropped in scotland and the holyrood government is now pushing ahead with the deposit return scheme for some plastic and glass bottles and cans. some critics say ditching single—use plastic bags means shifting to heavy duty bags for life, which can often contain more plastic. but at a time when consumers are being urged to go green, this is one issue campaigners will probably feel has been all wrapped up. john mcmanus, bbc news. many primary school children say they‘ve never visited traditional high street shops like a butchers or a greengrocers. the research among five to 11—year—olds found nearly a third

of them had never been to a butchers, and almost a quarter had not been to a greengrocer. it also found more than half had never been to a launderette. we went out to ask families whether they shop local or not, and this is what they told us. i don‘t often take my children to high street shops, we do a lot of shopping online, maybe for something specific or a treat. my friends dad isa specific or a treat. my friends dad is a butcher. have you ever been? no stop we always try and shop locally, local butchers, greengroce rs. generally not fruit and veg shops, local butchers, that‘s more of an experience. if children know more about where the food comes from they may be more likely to eat it. a rare original copy of the first

harry potter novel has sold for 28—thousand—five—hundred pounds at auction. the first edition of ‘harry potter and the philosopher‘s stone‘ was bought by a private collector from the uk. the 1997 book, published with two errors, was originally sold by staffordshire libraries forjust one pound about 20 years ago. the hardback lay in a cupboard at the owner‘s home until it was discovered and put up for auction. the first three contestants for this year‘s series of strictly come dancing have been revealed. the england football star david james, the comedian chris ramsey, and the actor emma barton will all be taking to the dance floor. the trio appeared on the one show to announce they had signed up for the show. let‘s catch up with all the weather news, lucy has the forecast. thank you. try and start from the neighbours this morning, a relief for many of us after the heavy and thundery downpours that have caused disruption for some. over the next few days fewer showers day by day, today the risk of thundery downpours

but we will see less showers to come. taking a look at the pressure charts, this area of low pressure pushing a storage that has brought u nsettled pushing a storage that has brought unsettled weather, here‘s the radar from earlier, you can see there have been a fewer showers, especially further north but a good deal of dry weather for many of us first thing. as we go through the day today, there will be the chance of seeing some showers, those showers possibly heavy, thundery, bringing a large amount of rain in a short space of time, the greatest risk for these, from north—west scotland across to east anglia. here‘s how it looks at 4pm. across scotland, some dry weather to be had, some sunny spells, areas of cloud but take a look at the showers, if you catch one they will be heavy, slow—moving, thunder and lightning, mostly dry across northern ireland, as we head through northern england into east anglia, that‘s the chance of heavier showers. a lot of dry weather across southern england and wales, still the risk of sharp showers breaking out. address at a maximum of 25

degrees in the south, feeling pleasa nt degrees in the south, feeling pleasant in the sunshine. it‘s the first day of the ashes today, looks like there will be a good deal of dry weather but we can‘t rule out catching the odd isolated shower especially into the afternoon. as we go through this and overnight, we have some heavy showers for a time but as the night wears on, they tend to ease, perhaps one or two persisting across scotland and eastern areas. i think there will be a good deal of care spells, some patches of mist and fog, temperatures in the low to mid teens. the night starts off with patches of mist and fog first thing, lifting quite quickly, some of us waking up to sunshine and a fair amount of dry weather as the heat sta rts amount of dry weather as the heat starts to rise. that could trigger some sharp showers, temperatures similarto some sharp showers, temperatures similar to today, maximum of 25 celsius and as we move into the weekend, brief ridge of high pressure for saturday, looks like it will bring a lot of dry weather but

you can see these weather fronts pushing in and they will bring some spells of rain and showers as we move through sunday. particularly in northern and western areas. looking fairly unsettled to start the next working week. goodbye.

hello it‘s thursday, it‘s 10 o‘clock, i‘m riz lateef. figures uncovered by this programme show that male students are half as likely to use university counselling services than women, even though the men are more than twice as likely to take their own lives. i found the academic work really, really difficult. i also felt out of place socially. i became anxious about going to lectures and seminars, so i quickly didn‘t. i was aware that there was support provided by the university, however i didn‘t really see the point of investing the time. six flood warnings remain in place across the north of england where people have been rescued from their homes after

severe downpours.