tonight at six: the vulnerable children who are specifically targetted by criminals whilst they're in care. we join police on the front line as they try to trace youngsters, some as young as 12, who've been recruited as drug dealers. many of the children have simply disappeared. police say they're struggling to cope. we are barely dealing with it now. if it gets bigger, and more violent, then there is just not enough of us. we'll have more in our second special report on the criminals operating so—called county lines. also tonight: police in malaysia say that a body found near the jungle resort of dunsun is that of the missing london teenager, nora quoirin. violence at hong kong international airport as police clash with pro—democracy

demonstrators who'd forced the cancellation of more flights. and a call to ban drivers from using hands—free mobile phones after claims they're as dangerous as hand—held ones. coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news, we'll look ahead to the second ashes test at lord's tomorrow. willjofra archer be the key for england to level the series? good evening, and welcome to the bbc news at six. the bbc has seen how criminal gangs are targeting children in care, some as young as 12, and using them to work as drug dealers. vulnerable children are specifically targetted and then sent to work in towns and cities many miles from home. the phenomenon is known as county lines.

the police say they are struggling to deal with the scale of the problem. last night, our special correspondent ed thomas reported on the officers trying to tackle the sale and consumption of class a drugs. his second report, tonight, focuses on the children at the centre of the county lines problem. in care, missing from home. so, at the moment, in st helens, children—wise, we have got three missings. found in north wales. county lines is all over. it's cross—border. they have to be controlled. children — exploited to sell crack and heroin. the most vulnerable in our society is the kids. can you protect them? right now, i can't protect those kids because i don't know where they are. this is becoming a daily thing, now. it keeps being the kids that have got links to north wales. in st helens, searching for missing children. by the time it gets to the sixth or seventh address, you start to feel sick. you're just thinking that these kids are not here, they are not anywhere they should be. it's becoming a daily routine.

give you some information on the county lines. with searches from day to night. right, we are going to another address of a missing child, but this is the care home, this is their home address. and in those children's homes, police are hearing the same story — the most vulnerable kids being found in north wales. obviously, we have got massive concern about this north wales link. this is what it's worrying about now? yes, of course it is. we have changed the carers voice to protect the child's identity.

so, today, i've been on duty for three hours. and all i've done is missing persons checks. this is the reality for some care children. arrested in north wales, this teenager has more than 20 grams of heroin and crack hidden inside his body, worth around £3000. six months later, we're back in st helen's, outside his supported accommodation. your door‘s broken. two girls. three girls. come on, guys. why is the door smashed? officers are searching for a different child — a 15—year—old missing from care, at the risk of county lines. ijust need to check that you're all right. i do know where the door is, all right. police say younger missing care children repeatedly end up here. all vulnerable to exploitation. the missing child who we think is coming and going from wales. yeah. how old is he? he's 15.

the lad we're looking for is 15. it really is getting to know our kids from the care homes, getting to know our kids on the street, and to look out for these danger signs, really. gangs are targeting a network of children's homes to send 50 miles away to sell heroin and crack. i think 14 was the youngest i'm personally aware of that was found drug dealing in north wales. then a couple of weeks later, we had a 15—year—old arrested. it was only when it was looked at — why were these two kids from merseyside, both from care homes, in north wales drug dealing — that we identified that those children are in fact being used, and county lines is a bigger problem. police showed us this footage. in the middle of this... ..a child in care. although this arrest isn't for a county lines offence. officers say he has already been in north wales.

a young child... 0h, oh, my god! stop banging your head. ..in crisis. the kids that do get exploited, a lot of them go through an ordeal that's extreme. these kids are traumatised by it. the care home and the people we have spoke to have said he's lovely. the last few weeks, he is out of control. what is your fear why he is doing this? my fear is that he is becoming exploited. he has gone from being a nice loving child to someone who is dead aggressive now. and that's county lines. this goes far beyond st helens. across the uk, it's believed 10,000 children are involved in county lines drug dealing. it's chaos... ..if it goes any more than it is now, we are barely dealing with it now. i think if it gets bigger and more violent, then there isjust not enough of us. we don't know exactly how many care children are being exploited in st helens, but we do know that no one has been prosecuted for trafficking kids

in the town. and ed thomas is here now. this is grim, we hear police saying they are struggling to cope, but we are talking about children who are already vulnerable. yes, the most vulnerable, this is just already vulnerable. yes, the most vulnerable, this isjust one already vulnerable. yes, the most vulnerable, this is just one county line that we followed, from merseyside to north wales. this is a countrywide problem and getting bigger. during our time, filled with class a drugs, left to the front line officers to safeguard the children who were being exploited and to try to protect these long—term users who were taking heroin and crack cocaine. at times, it did seem overwhelming for the police officers, one said to us, "we arrest one child from county lines drug dealing, and there is another ten ready to take their place." another said, "you will never stop this flow of drugs". we did this for

three months and during this time, from merseyside, in north wales, we repeatedly heard again and again from officers from all ranks that they needed more resources to get on top of this, and at one point during this we saw bodycam footage of a cou nty this we saw bodycam footage of a county lines teenager being arrested and he was laughing at the officers, saying, there wasn't enough of them to arrest all of them. and another thing we consistently heard from officers, they need to be early intervention from schools dealing with truancy, from alternative provision schools, from children services, from health services. they need to be involved and the police alone cannot solve this. thank you very much. police in malaysia say they've found the body of 15—year—old nora quoirin,

who went missing nine days ago. the teenager — who has learning difficulties — was on holiday with her family when she disappeared from the resort. her body was found just over a mile from where she was staying. 0ur south east asia correspondent howard johnson is in the nearby town of seremban. tonight, a sombre mood in malaysia, as people digest the news they did not want to hear, tomorrow, a senior pathologist will do a postmortem examination of the body, this report, now, on today's heartbreaking events. a malaysian police helicopter hovers over the area of dense jungle where the unclothed body of nora quoirin was discovered. then, this. winched up in a cage supported by a police officer. the teenager went missing from the dusun eco resort in western malaysia ten days ago. the family had planned a two—week holiday, but the morning after they arrived, nora's father, sebastien, discovered her bed empty and a downstairs window open. the family have always insisted, given nora's learning difficulties, it is very unlikely she would have walked off alone.

nora! today's search and rescue effort started with more than 300 personnel scouring a 2.5 mile radius around the result. by mid—afternoon, the police were alerted to a macabre discovery. in the last half an hour we have seen a flurry of activity here with policeman coming and going, we got some police chiefs here, the lights on on the forensics are here. what we have found out is that there is a gentleman inside who is being questioned. he was the one who went up to the police checkpoint earlier on today and said that he had found the body. translation: we have found the body, a woman's body with white skin. right now we can't confirm her identity. we have contacted the forensic and pathology team to investigate and determine who it is. tonight the family of nora quoirin confirmed that the body is that of the missing teenager. it came just a day after her

parents announced a reward for information about her. she has been vulnerable since the day she was born. she is so precious to us. and our hearts are breaking. what started as a dream holiday for nora and herfamily has ended up being every parent's worst nightmare. howard johnston, bbc news, malaysia. in the last couple of hours there've been more violent clashes at hong kong airport as police were involved in chaotic battles with pro—democracy protesters who had occupied the terminal building. flights had to be cancelled for a second day becuase of the demonstrations. china has described the anti—government protests as "terrorism" and said it would intervene if they don't stop soon. jonathan head sent this report. last week they were just protesting here, now, they control it.

thousands of young demonstrators flooding the terminal, forcing the cancellation of flights, and bringing a second day of misery to airline passengers. they wandered among the marooned travellers, trying to explain why they are doing this. but with so much disruption, the strain is starting to show. they say they go here because this is their last resort, because the police cannot touch them here. but how about us? how about us. we are hostages here, we want to go. how about us? how about us. we are hostages here, we want to gom how about us? how about us. we are hostages here, we want to go. it is out hostages here, we want to go. it is our honeymoon, so hostages here, we want to go. it is our honeymoon, so it has been a little bit of a rubbish ending. the activists are also on edge, knowing that china has vowed to punish them, that china has vowed to punish them, that riot police are just outside the terminal. fear of infiltrators is everywhere. suspected undercover officers were mobbed and sometimes beaten. an attempt by a police delegation to get them out turned

into a furious confrontation. at one point, a hard—pressed police officer pulled out his gun. as you can see, they are building barricades at the moment, in the entrance to the terminal. we have seen riot police outside, trying to stop them coming in. have a look down there, still passengers arriving at the airport, how are the police going to storm this building? there were cheers as they disable the airport security cameras. after this, what next? this protest movement has proved nimble and inventive, true capable of bringing one of asia's biggest transport hubs toa one of asia's biggest transport hubs to a standstill. the hong kong government has ignored their demands, at some point, surely, it will try to drive them out. well, there has been a complete

transformation of those scenes in the last hour, as we saw yesterday, protesters have simply melted away and avoided the confrontation, it looked very ugly for a while. everyone is wondering what will happen next, two days of total disruption, the protesters have shown themselves to be imaginative but incredibly stubborn. 0f shown themselves to be imaginative but incredibly stubborn. of course, hanging over this country at the moment, the fear that china will, as it has threatened to do, actively intervene. new figures show the number of people out of work slightly rose between april and june. the office for national statistics says unemployment increased 31,000 to 1.33 million, compared to the previous quarter. meanwhile wages rose at their fastest rate in 11 years at 3.9%. 0ur economics editor faisal islam joins me. faisal, a mixed picture for the economy then. in the round, the government argues it isa in the round, the government argues it is a strong set, that the jobs miracle continues, but as you have

said, you have seen the employment record, you have seen wages growing faster than prices, so pay packets are rising in real terms, you have seen are rising in real terms, you have seen that now for 17 months. there was the small uptick in unemployment, and also a little bit ofa unemployment, and also a little bit of a rise in zero—hours contracts, too. the work and pensions secretary amber rudd telling the bbc that she did fear that unemployment could rise, in the event of a no—deal brexit. warning that they cannot bypass parliament. jobs numbers, they will take, but other clouds, potentially. our top story this evening. police warn of vulnerable children — some in care — being targeted by criminals to become drug dealers and coming up, climate change campaigner greta thunberg prepares to set sail to new york to address the un. coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news,

reaching for the top. there's a first world championship medal for great britain's shauna coxsey, but she hasn't qualified for the tokyo 0lympics yet. a group of mps has suggested that drivers should be banned they said that current laws give the "misleading impression" that hands—free options are safe. it's been illegal to use a hand—held phone at the wheel since 2003 but the commons transport committee says using a hands—free device creates "the same risks of collision". 0ur transport correspondent, tom burridge, has more. talking... 0n the move, hands—free is, for many, second nature. talking... 0n the move, hands—free is, for many, second naturelj talking... 0n the move, hands—free is, for many, second nature. i use my phone all the time on hands—free. because i'm conducting business, talking to the family and let them

know what's for dinner tonight, darling? it is convenient to be able to talk on the phone if you're on a long journey. but a group of mps says the government should consider banning all mobile phone use at the wheel, including hands—free.” banning all mobile phone use at the wheel, including hands-free. i have lost a brother, my mum has lost a son, his wife lost a husband, his kids have lost a bad. every single family member, it is hard. lee martin was killed by a driver who was texting at the wheel. his brother darryl agrees that hands—free telephoning should be illegal too. if there was a complete and utter band you cannot plead something. itjust and utter band you cannot plead something. it just makes and utter band you cannot plead something. itjust makes it a simple solution, just stop using your phones. there is evidence that a hands—free phone call is distracting. recent research has shown that, when we have a conversation, we often visualise what we are talking about. so, if i

chat to my wife about the kids, even ona chat to my wife about the kids, even on a hands—free, or about the dog, then i am potentially thinking too much about them and missing hazards on the road. experts who write road safety policy say that a phone call is very different to chatting somebody in the passenger seat. they are in the car, so they can see what's happening around the vehicle. so, when you stop talking because you are needing to deal with a traffic situation, they don't question that. somebody on a phone, if you stop talking to them they will typically start to interact and ask, are you 0k, are you still there? that can be a real problem. the second thing is the signal. it is easier, we are talking face to face now, the signal is good, i can hear your voice, you can hear mine and ona hear your voice, you can hear mine and on a phone that is not as clear. it is more difficult to understand what someone is really saying. the mps who wrote the report today say the police are not enforcing the current law, but catching someone

using hands—free, if it was banned, would be even harder. tom burridge, bbc news. the scottish government has paid half £1 million in legal expenses to alex examined over sports until probe into claims of sexual harassment. the government admitted it breached its own guidelines after mr salmond challenge that it had handled allegations made against him. mr salmond still faces multiple charges of attempted rape and sexual assault which are separate from the government inquiry. he denies these charges and is expected to go on trial later next year. three men from manchester have been hailed as heroes by police in australia — after they helped restrain a man who was attacking pedestrians with a knife in sydney. a woman was stabbed in the incident in the city centre and a second woman was found dead inside an apartment building on the same street. phil mercer has the details. "terrifying carnage" is how the police have described the rampage in sydney. video footage apparently shows the suspect shouting

"allahu akbar", then "shoot me". the armed man is eventually tackled to the ground. he is pinned down with cafe chairs and a milk crate. before the police arrived. what's that? who are you? a group of british men had been working in an office nearby when they heard the commotion. they ran down and chased the alleged offender. i think he had a balaclava on. jumped on a car, wielding a knife with blood on it while all the people were just kind of going away, because he was wielding a knife, like, and i don't know whether it's an instinct thing or what, but we was like that, we've got to kind of try and restrain this guy from doing any more. the courage of the three men from manchester and others has been recognised by australian police. those members of the public who got involved are brave, and i can only use that word, seriously. those are significantly brave people. to approach a person with a mindset of obviously what this person did.

the body of a woman in her early 20s was found in an apartment nearby. investigators believe the death is linked to the stabbing rampage. the man wielding the large butcher's knife has been identified as a 21—year—old with a history of mental health problems. australian police say that he was acting alone and don't believe that he has any links to terrorism. the motivation for the attack is not yet known. phil mercer, bbc news, sydney. the teenage climate change campaigner greta thunberg is preparing to sail across the atlantic to attend a summit at the united nations in new york. the 16—year—old activist is travelling on a 60—foot yacht, fitted with solar panels and underwater turbines that produce electricity onboard with the aim of making the journey zero—carbon. 0ur chief environment correspondent justin rowlatt has been speaking to her in plymouth.

how do you get to new york without any carbon dioxide emissions? this is how. greta thunberg isn't anxious. i might feel a is how. greta thunberg isn't anxious. i might feela bit is how. greta thunberg isn't anxious. i might feel a bit c6, is how. greta thunberg isn't anxious. i might feela bit c6, it will not be comfortable, but i can live with it. the yacht might be fast but she's not comfortable. 0nce the skipper. there is no fridge, no kitchen, no heating and no privacy. you have an intimate corner, you can hide here and use a bucket. this is for whose only, please. the entire journey will be under sail and all of the electricity will be generated by solar panels and turbines. 0ne person giving up flying doesn't make any difference in a world of 8

billion people, so what is the point? i mean, the point, ithink, is to sort of create an opinion, if i stop flying, you don't only reduce your own carbon footprint but also, that sends a signal to other people around you, that, i mean, the climate crisis is a real thing, and that also pushes a political movement. but it has been a year since a 16—year—old began her climate strikes and carbon emissions have continued to rise. she plans to encourage world leaders to take more urgent action in new york. so this is the bank where greta will be sleeping, with a little curtain, should she wanted, and when the boat is tipping over, you can pull this off and kind of wedge yourself, and you are actually squeezed in against the hull, so you're not going to fall out and actually, i'll be

honest, it is quite cosy. and despite the privations, she is looking forward to the trip. despite the privations, she is looking forward to the triplj despite the privations, she is looking forward to the trip. i think it will feel good, in a way, to be just a loan with those on the boat and, like, the ocean. ithink just a loan with those on the boat and, like, the ocean. i think it will do good. the voyage will take two weeks. greta's team say they haven't yet planned how she's going to get back from america. history will be made at the uefa european super cup match between liverpool and chelsea tomorrow night — when it becomes the first top—level game to be refereed solely by female officials. it's the european club footbll curtain raiser — taking place between the winners of the champions league and the europa league. from istanbul, jane dougall reports. with more than a billion viewers watching the tournament globally, to referee the women's world cup final was arguably a higher profile match but, for stephanie frappart and her all—female team,

officiating at the uefa super cup final is more of a ground—breaking moment. however, she doesn't see it that way. i think it's the same. we have to prove, as physically, technically and tactically, we are have the same that the man, so i am not afraid about that, so i think nothing change, for me. for the team of three women officiating here tomorrow, it will be just business as usual. but the super cup final at this stadium will undoubtedly be an historic moment in football. something that both uefa and everyone else involved recognises. i'm very pleased to be a part of this moment in history. it's still a long way to go, but in terms of tomorrow, it's a huge moment. it should be very well addressed. and we are all very pleased, as i say, i'm pleased, we are pleased that it's a historical moment. it's one more step in the right direction, i would say. although she hasn't refereed, both chelsea and liverpool are used to having

sian massey—ellis run the line in the fa cup and the premier league. but other sports have already made that breakthrough. including rugby union, wherejoy neville has refereed a top level man's match in the pro—1a league, and in tennis, eva asderaki—moore has umpired men at wimbledon and in the men's us final. it's clear women are becoming more visible in all sports. why not? it brilliant. it's a good move. it's a good opportunity. yeah, no problem. as long as they don't make mistakes, i don't care where whether they are male or female. the best referees go unnoticed, but the hope is that stephanie frappart will be seen by young girls, who will one day pick up a whistle, too. jane dougall, bbc news, istanbul. time for a look at the weather. here's stav da naos. thank you very much, simon. glorious weather today with a ridge of high pressure which has brought this fine, dry weather, with one or two showers but today has been fine, we have another one on thursday, then

we have low pressure moving on overnight bringing outbreaks of rain and also quite a bit of cloud around. the showers clearing away from the north and east. another cool one in the north—east, but is that rain and wind arrives across the south—west we will have temperatures into the low teens. however still in single figures in the north and east. a chilly start across northern areas, elsewhere, cloudy and wet. then we have this next area of low pressure which could bring some thundery downpours into eastern england and east anglia meaning some localised flooding with some heavy rain in northern ireland and western scotland. the best of any dry weather to the south of scotla nd any dry weather to the south of scotland and the far north of england and it will be cool for the time of year. that area of low pressure clearing, then a ridge of high pressure building for thursday, so another fine, settle day. when early shower is clear we should see like north—westerly winds and good, sunny spells. and in that strong sunshine feeling warm at around 20-23 sunshine feeling warm at around 20—23 across the south—east. it is a

short lived ridge of high pressure. here comes the next area of low pressure to end the week, a more potent, deeper system with heavy rain and strengthening winds, touching gale force around some irish sea coast. that heavy rain pushing into central and eastern parts of the country. perhaps brightening up for northern ireland, with heavy, thundery showers are following on behind. temperatures disappointing for the time of year, the high teens at best. the weekend, and settled with rain at times, rain on sunday, winds very strong on sunday, and there could be weather warning so worth listening to the forecast. a reminder of our top story... police warn of vulnerable children in care being targeted by criminals. that's all from the bbc news at six —— so it's goodbye from me —— and on bbc one we nowjoin the bbc‘s

good evening. the headlines. the family of nora quirin has identified the body found in the jungle as hers. pro—democracy demonstrators at hong kong airport have forced the cancellation of flights for a second day for that we talk to police on the front line as they try to trace youngsters recruited to deal drugs for the three men from manchester have been hailed as heroes by police in sydney after they helped restrain a man who was attacking pedestrians with a knife. sportsday in a moment but first what else is coming up

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