you're watching bbc newsroom live. it's ham and these are the main stories this morning. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. the irish prime minister insists the eu won't reopen negotiations on the brexit withdrawal agreement to remove what borisjohnson says is an ‘undemocratic‘ backstop. the major power cut across the uk earlier this month was sparked by a lightning strike and the sudden loss of two big generators. the foreign office says it's concerned over reports that a british consulate worker in hong kong has been detained after crossing into mainland china. it's emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

and coming up. we hear from the chicken connoisseur on the home office decision to put anti—knife slogans on takeaway boxes. good morning. welcome to bbc newsroom live. a 20—year—old man denies any involvement in the murder of pc andrew harper, who was killed while responding to reports of a burglary in berkshire last thursday. jed foster has appeared at reading magistrates‘ court this morning, charged with the murder of pc harper, who was dragged along the road by a vehicle. nine other men have been released on bail. our correspondent, andy moore is at reading magistrates court. tell us what has happened in court this morning. good morning. this was

a brief appearance lasting just a few minutes. mr foster was brought in wearing grey prison issue cloths, flanked by two security officers. he was asked by the court clerk to give his name, his date of birth, and his address. his address he gave as keepers cottage in their field. address. his address he gave as keepers cottage in theirfield. he was formally charged with the murder of pc harper on august the 15th and the theft of a motorbike, so a quad bike from peter wallace. there was no formal plea but then mr foster's lawyer got up and said he'd like to make a short statement and he said on behalf of him and his family, i wa nt to on behalf of him and his family, i want to say three things. he denies any involvement in the horrific murder of pc harper. we urge the police to follow all lines of enquiry and for the public to come forward and cooperate. the magistrate said she was sure the

police were investigating all lines of enquiry. mr foster was then handcuffed and ta ken of enquiry. mr foster was then handcuffed and taken down. he winked briefly to some members of his family who were sitting at the back ofa family who were sitting at the back of a court, one of those family members was holding a teddy bear. it was brief but emotionally charged because we also believe that some of pc harper's family were also in court sitting on the other side of the court room and they were escorted by police liaison officers. mr foster was remanded in custody and he will appear before reading crown court tomorrow morning. thank you very much indeed. the irish prime minister, leo varadakar, has rejected a fresh demand by borisjohnson for the eu to remove the irish backstop from the brexit withdrawal agreement. in a letter to the european council president, donald tusk, mrjohnson said that it was "anti—democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the uk"

and suggested that alternative arrangements could replace it. the uk and the eu had agreed on the backstop as a way of preventing the return of border checks between northern ireland and the irish republic. it would keep the uk in the eu customs union and see northern ireland stay aligned to some rules of the eu single market. let's go to our political correspondent, pete saull at westminster. good morning. yes, in a way this is a restating of position from the prime minister. we knew already that he wants to get rid entirely the most controversial aspect of the withdrawal agreement negotiated by theresa may, the northern irish backstop, and he makes three points in this letter today to donald tusk. the first is it is anti—democratic and he says that's because northern ireland would not have a say over the rules that it would be forced to

follow. if it were in the backstop. the second point he makes is potentially it undermines the good friday agreement because there are communities within northern ireland that don't consent to the rules that would be in the backstop, and the third point is it can't be a basis for a future relationship between the uk and the eu, because come in his view, it would limit britain's ability to strike trade deals with other countries around the world, so quite a hard line approach from borisjohnson in this letter but the conservative party chairmanjames cleverley, told the bbc this morning he believes his boss is trying to be constructive. negotiations only work if people are willing to move on to be adaptable. the uk has been willing to move and to be adaptable and what the prime minister is asking the eu to do is look at reality. the withdrawal agreement, because of the backstop, has been rejected by the house of commons three times and it's been very, very clear that that is the sticking point. but without that, there is a good chance of getting a deal through the house and that's

what the prime minister said he wants to do. and he's also made the point that the backstop runs the risk of upsetting that a very delicate balance between the communities different traditions in northern ireland and therefore, it's, as he describes it, it's unviable, it's not going to get through the house of commons and it's anti—democratic. now at the risk of sounding like a stuck record, we know the european union's position on this. it will not reopen negotiations on the withdrawal agreement. it says the backstop is an absolutely crucial pa rt backstop is an absolutely crucial part of it. are guarantee to people on both sides of the border on the island of ireland. a lot of people are saying what is the prime minister up to here? these are totally unrealistic demands. some people would say he's taking the country to the node elected at the end of october, attempting to blame the european union for that happening. of course, no—deal brexit is an outcome opposed by many

parties in the house of commons, including the labour party. their shadow home secretary diane abbott warned today of the potential consequences of leaving without an agreement on halloween. what business and eu nationals want, which is more consultation and a longer and more considered transitional process. which is what theresa may had promised. you would be happy with something that just allowed things to remain essentially the same on november ist as it was on october 315t? you've got to have a transitional process. that's what eu nationals think and that's what business thinks. anything else is chaos. there is one small glimmer in what borisjohnson said, if the technological solutions to resolve the northern irish border issue don't work in time, the uk is ready to look constructively and flexibly at what commitments might help. some people might say that sounds an awful lot like a backstop. downing street being pretty vague about what those commitments might be, but

maybe, just maybe, something for conversations to get going on as the prime minister tours are some european capitals this week. 0k, peter, thank you very much indeed in westminster. let's hear what the reaction's been in europe now, and our brussels correspondent adam fleming joins me. one hesitates to ask how this is going down. we will find out shortly because it is about to start its regular press briefing, the eu, so we'll hear from a spokesperson from the european commission. they are bound to be asked about this and bound to be asked about this and bound to be asked about this and bound to have prepared a line responding to boris johnson bound to have prepared a line responding to borisjohnson is letter, which they received last night. i don't think its contents would have come as a huge surprise. this is lots of stuff borisjohnson that mentioned in his leadership campaign to become leader of the conservative party and prime minister, stuffy repeated when he became prime minister and also stuff repeated by his chief europe adviser, david frost, who visited brussels a couple of weeks ago to speu

brussels a couple of weeks ago to spell out lots of this. having said that, does feel a bit different now it is written down in black—and—white on paper and using quite precise language. having spoken to diplomats in the last few hours, unofficially and privately, they fall into three camps, the people who were very close to the drafting of the withdrawal agreement on the backstop who are pretty horrified because they think this ci’oss horrified because they think this cross is one of the eu market was a big red lines, that you need a ready to go fully worked up insurance policy for the irish border in the withdrawal agreement that is signed by both sides before brexit day. then you get another group of people who think this is a bit tactical by borisjohnson. and who think this is a bit tactical by boris johnson. and wonder whether this is a genuine offer. or this is a bit of theatrics. then a few people, a handful who think maybe this could provide a bit of an opening, could lead to something which eventually break the stalemate in the brexit process. we shall see which view prevails. adam, thank you

very much indeed in brussels. joining me now with the view from dublin is the chair of the irish senate's brexit committee, neale richmond. good morning. give us your sense of what boris johnson good morning. give us your sense of what borisjohnson has had to say. he said the backstop plans for the irish border is anti—democratic. it's very disappointing choice of language by the prime minister. it absolutely is not anti—democratic. it's worth remembering he himself voted for this in parliament in three months ago. the backstop was agreed by a democratically elected british government, approved by the british government, approved by the british government, approved by the british government and indeed it has all the necessary checks and balances. using language like that is not helpful, saying the backstop threatens the good friday agreement isa threatens the good friday agreement is a worrying term because ultimately it's a creation based on the british government red lines that underpins the good friday agreement and ensures there's no hardening of the border on the island of ireland. so what you think island of ireland. so what you think

is borisjohnson strategy in of this? i can't pretend to read into the mind of borisjohnson and nor do i think it's right to talk about strategies. what is quite clear is this letter does not provide anything new. there is no realistic alternative mentioned and we are in alternative mentioned and we are in a situation where the eu has worked closely with the british government to reach a compromise, negotiate 18 months and have a mechanism in the withdrawal agreement that will allow for a managed brexit. the withdrawal agreement with the backstop is in place, the only way to achieve brexit and we hope the british government can't meet its responsibilities. you tweeted after borisjohnson had responsibilities. you tweeted after boris johnson had that responsibilities. you tweeted after borisjohnson had that conversation with leo varadkar that it was good to talk. how disappointed are you that it seems nothing much came of that? to be honest everything about brexit is a big disappointment for us brexit is a big disappointment for us but we work as best as we can with our european partners to get an outcome which retains pace and guarantees the rights of citizens and makes sure its financial

obligations are met as one of allowing the uk and eu to go forward ina good allowing the uk and eu to go forward in a good open opportunity to negotiate a new relationship. leo varadkarand negotiate a new relationship. leo varadkar and boris johnson spoke negotiate a new relationship. leo varadkar and borisjohnson spoke for an hour last night, twice as long as they did injuly, to talk about brexit but unfortunately there was a dangerous bomb on the irish border, which was referred to and also the setting of the first face—to—face meeting in dublin in september. one of the things borisjohnson talked about in his letter was that it should be possible for them to find flexible and creative solutions to the border issue. it is not something you still held hope? there isa something you still held hope? there is a path in the irish protocol that we move into this transition period and the british and european negotiating sides negotiate a regulatory deal the eu in the uk which means there is no need for a hardening of the border within ireland and the irish sea. failing

that, of course, the irish protocol allows for alternative arrangements. however, over the past three years, no one has presented any alternative arrangements which are viable around the world. the backstop is an insurance policy, a worst—case scenario, no one wants to see it come into place, but it's an insurance policy which means we can move forward with future negotiations. just finally, in the meantime, it seems we could be inching towards a no deal scenario. a lot of talk over here about preparations being made. you chair the irish senate's brexit committee, so how many do you feel ireland stands when it comes to preparations for no deal? there is no such thing asa for no deal? there is no such thing as a good brexit for ireland regardless of what form it takes. we began preparations in december 2014, brought in the necessary legislation to both houses of the irish parliament earlier this year, we've been working with the business communities, customs officials, in

terms of east and west and we are as best prepared as we can be but ultimately all that can be avoided and no deal hurts the uk and ireland, and we can avoid that and have a vehicle to do so and there's still a lot more to go until we reach halloween. ok, thank you very much indeed for your time. a lightning strike led to two power losses which left more than a million people without access to power earlier this month, according to a report. the national grid said the blackout was the result of an "extremely rare and unexpected" event. energy regulator ofgem has now launched a formal investigation into the power cuts which left thousands of rail passengers stranded and a hospital temporarily without power. after weeks of protests, hong kong's chief executive says it's time to talk. carrie lam's comments come after the uk foreign office expressed concern over reports that a hong kong consulate employee has been detained at the chinese border since august the 8th.

simon cheng, who is thought to be from hong kong, is believed to have gone missing on his return from shenzhen. local news outlet hkfp reports that mr cheng is a trade and investment officer at the scottish development local news outlet hkfp reports that mr cheng is a trade international section of the consulate. the bbc‘s stephen mcdonell is monitoring developments. simon cheng is a trade and investment officer at the british consulate here and he was returning to hong kong from the chinese mainland. we sent a message to his girlfriend as he was on board the high—speed train. there seems to be some concern in that, they said something along the lines of prey for me or something like that when he messaged her. however, that was nearly two weeks ago, and he has disappeared. according to a statement from the foreign office, the british government is very concerned about reports that he has in fact been detained and they say they have been asking officials here in hong kong and on the chinese

mainland what's happened to him. he hasn't turned up for work, so again, we have to see what happens here, but it does just show that escalating tensions, even though we may not have had a violent clashes on the streets at that diplomatic level a lot of tensions still remain. you know, britain and china have been having some tough words with one another over hong kong and this will only make the situation worse. the headlines on bbc news. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. the irish prime minister insists the eu won't reopen negotiations on the brexit withdrawal agreement to remove what borisjohnson says is an "undemocratic" backstop. the major power cut across the uk earlier this month was sparked by a lightning strike and the sudden loss of two big generators.

and in sport, steve smith has been ruled out of the third ashes test at headingley after failing to recover from concussion. he was hit on the neck during the second test at lord's neck during the second test at lords and missed the final days play. he was out with esteem training in leeds this morning but sat out the session. manchester united have condemned the racist abuse that was directed towards paul pogba on social media after he missed a penalty against wolves in the premier league last night. 1—1 it finished. the rock climbing championships in japan happens today. if the women's combined event. three different disciplines. the british competitor has made a good start finishing second in the speed climb. more on those stories at half past. thanks, john. see you then. a no—deal brexit will cost the farming industry 850 million a year in lost profits, according to new research seen by the victoria derbyshire programme. a no—deal brexit will cost the farming industry 850 million the business consultant andersons, which advises more than 2,000

farms across the country, says without a significant increase in government support it's inevitable some will struggle to survive. the government says it will provide more money if needed, though it describes that as unlikely. jim reed reports. colin ferguson runs his own herd of dairy cows in south—west scotland. in 2016, he voted to leave the eu, a decision he doesn't regret. yeah, i probably would vote the same way. the problem is we have done nothing in the last three years. it's been really tiring to watch. but living the eu without the agreement in place could have an impact on the dairy industry here. the trade in cheese and butter, for example, would move straight to wto or world trade organisation rules. if we drop into wto rules, our borders are open to cheaper imports. food can come from anywhere around the world. it doesn't necessarily need to meet animal welfare standards that we conform to, so therefore our market gets undermined by cheap produce.

the business consultancy andersons has more than 2,000 farming clients. its calculations suggest total industry profits could fall by £850 million under a no—deal brexit. that would be an 18% drop in the first year after we leave. if you get a hit in terms of profitability of 18%, then that has huge implications for the future viability of such farms. a short drive from the diary farm in scotland is the port of cairnryan. belfast is two hours away across the north channel. northern ireland is the only part of the uk that shares a land border with the eu. the republic of ireland is just five kilometres from here in that direction. whatever happens in october is likely to have a huge impact on lives and livelihoods on both sides of that border. much of the lamb produced here is exported.

under a no—deal brexit, it's like to face tariffs, making it 35% more expensive. the politicians making the decisions will not financially suffer. it's us, as farmers, that are going to suffer. i would come out in october one way or the other. even if there's no deal? even if there's no deal i still would be inclined. we're hanging on too long. the government says over time, brexit will allow it to replace eu farm subsidies with a fairer system. if we leave with no deal, it says it will provide more financial support if needed, though it describes that as unlikely. jim reed, bbc news. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranian woman jailed in iran for alleged spying says she now faces harsh new conditions in prison. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe, who denies spying, has been told she can only see her five—year—old daughter once a month. new rules also mean she can no longer make international calls to her husband, richard ratcliffe, who criticised

boris johnson for failing to meet him since he took office. and richard ratcliffejoins me now. richard, some quite drastic changes to nazanin's conditions, so why do we think it's changed? that's right, it's been a big change over the weekend. a banning of family visits apart from once a month, and we've also had no phone calls, well, six phone calls, only domestic numbers, which means she can't call me. why has that happened ? which means she can't call me. why has that happened? we are bewildered. there's been a new change of the head of the prison. it could be that. it could be wider politics. it's often hard to tell with iran. certainly nazanin was just put on the phone to her mother yesterday and spent all day crying and pleaded, please, phone calls is one thing but not being able to see gabriella who is only five, and

can't see her parents at the moment. it's really tough. clearly, from your point of view, this is a multipronged approach, i would imagine. we'll talk about the british side of things in a moment but are there any avenues open to you in around itself when you make appeals to the authorities that or is that hopeless? we've written a letter to the prison authorities, had a presence, and herfather, a lawyer will plead, so there's limited scope but yes, we will keep doing it. i'm nota limited scope but yes, we will keep doing it. i'm not a great voice. we have quite a fractious relationship, with the embassy. where we take things with the authorities, my next chance would be the un, which is where the world leaders come to new york next month and will try to go there and try to be done. that's very interesting. what opportunity do you think is there in the sense of how willing an audience you have, how easy is it for you to be heard there? in terms of getting a meeting, i'm not sure. we've never

managed to get a meeting yet, i'm not sure i expected. there's a chance to meet other families going through this around the world and will properly try to do something together, so a chance to be heard, by the wider world, that's what we are trying to do. and obviously, pa rt are trying to do. and obviously, part of that approach as well for you here is to try to get the british government to move things forward diplomatically, but you have been disappointed on that front at the moment. yes, obviously we are in a holding pattern with a new government, setting their priorities, the foreign office will wa nt to priorities, the foreign office will want to see what the foreign secretary and the prime minister wa nts to secretary and the prime minister wants to do. i've been quite clear borisjohnson said he would leave no stone unturned. we will hold him to those promises he makes, so i've asked behind closed doors but i want to the first first 30 days but that's not happened yet. it's partly out of his control. —— mike i wanted to the minister within the 30 days.

the quicker he can explain how it's going solve it. a final thought, you mentioned in the context of the un, there other families around the world struggling with similar issues. closer to home, we've been hearing today the case of a 33—year—old woman who has had her appeal against the sentence in iran turned down. she was working for the british council. what is your take on that case? it's very similar. she worked for the british council in london, went on holiday, picked up on spurious charges, encouraged to keep quiet and then given a ten year sentence, and it's happened again. asafamily sentence, and it's happened again. as a family we push the government, the british consul, they should be speaking out against this. this is hostage diplomacy. using people as bargaining chips and is not acceptable. well, it's good enough for you to come in and talk to us, richard. thank you very much indeed. the us state department has warned

greece not to give any assistance to the iranian oil tanker released by gibraltar. america said that doing so could be considered providing support to a designated terrorist organisation. the tanker set sail on sunday after being impounded for weeks on suspicion of transporting oil to syria. just some breaking news related to our top story that borisjohnson has told the eu the backstop plan for the irish border must be scrapped. in the last few moments, the president of the european council donal tusk has tweeted: soa so a fairly uncompromising to eat there, strong position being taken by donald tusk. it's emerged that the disgraced

american financierjeffrey epstein wrote a will two days before killing himself in a new york prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. he listed assets of at least 577 million dollars. cbs news correspondent laura podesta is in new york for us now what are we hearing about this? he signed that well just two days before he committed suicide. as far as what we are learning from the well, he was worth at least $577 million and the will lists his extensive personal property including the two islands he owns in the us virgin islands plus his collection of cars, planes and boats. the document indicates that he is worth at least 577 million and i say that because that figure may actually be much higher and the new york post reports that his eccentric art collection including fine arts,

antiques and collectables, still needs to be appraised, so that net worth could go up. he put all of its holdings in a trust. there's no word yet, though, on who the beneficiaries are. laura, final thought. one wonders if there will be any continuing legal action and whether the monetary situation may have a bearing on that? there certainly will be. we spoke with an eternity representing 20 people claiming to be victims of him and his attorney said he would like epstein's estate to be turned into a fund which can pay out those victims who ultimately prove their cases in a court of law. now lawyers representing the estate have not responded to that proposal and again, all of his holdings were placed in a trust which is more private than a traditional well, i trust is private, it's unclear whether this last—minute trust will ultimately make it harder for those victims to access that money. laura, thank you very much indeed.

it was meant to raise awareness of violent crime, but the decision to put anti—knife slogans on takeaway food boxes has proved controversial. the home office says the adverts are part of a wider campaign to steer young people away from violence. others say it's "too simplistic", "crude" and "offensive". one of those to speak out is the youtuber elijah quashie, known to millions online as the ‘chicken connoisseur‘ for his reviews of fast—food shops. he‘s been speaking to sean farrington. i‘m a food critic and i mainly review fried chicken shops. there‘s no particular diplomacy about how i describe the food. if it‘s good, it‘s good, if it‘s not, i make people know it‘s not good. wings? they were kind of greasy. ijust never saw any reviews on chicken shops, so i thought, like, someone should be doing it. ijust decided i‘ll do it. over the course of 22 videos or so, i‘ve kind of amassed around 50 million views in total.

when you saw last week, #knifefree chicken boxes with stories on to be launched, what was your reaction? you should be doing more than that, really. it‘s a bit ridiculous. it kind of caters to the stereotype of... because already there‘s a narrative that black people are stabbing people. you get black people — what do they eat? chicken. so black people — chicken. "knife free" on a chicken box in a chicken shop gets the black people to stop using knives. like, it‘s a bit too basic in the head and maybe we can do something to stop it at its infancy instead of kind of... it‘s not really treating the symptoms either because it‘s just, like, a chicken box. if someone is going chicken shop... they‘re going to go and get whatever wings or chips or burger or drink or maybe an apple pie or whatever food they get.

they‘re going to go and get their food, they‘re they‘re going to eat it and enjoy it. no—one is going there, possibly... if the story is gripping enough and on the box, they would be put off their food. they‘re not going to enjoy what they to enjoy. if it‘s not, which i assume is... it‘s a chicken box, like, they‘re not trying to have horror stories on chicken boxes. so, someone who is at the chicken shop is prepared to use a knife to do something, chicken boxes are not swaying anybody. is your reaction to actually laugh about it a little more than feel like there‘s an underlying serious issue, that they‘re trying? the home office, the chicken shops, they‘re trying to do something? i hear that. from the chicken shop perspective, you want as much coverage and marketing as possible. for a chicken shop to be recognised

by a government body like the home office, for them, they‘re in the newspapers now. maybe they weren‘t before or maybe they were before, but the more marketing, the merrier. if the government‘s coming to you and saying, "yo, i want to do a campaign with you and your particular chicken shop", they‘re on board, 100%. can you see why morley‘s and dixie‘s and chicken cottage might do this, because they feel like they need to do something? even if they‘re not being paid, just switch your box. boss man don‘t need to do anything different. as much as they say they are a pillar in the community, they are a pillar but they don‘t really have a voice in the community. no—one is listening to morley‘s, they go there to eat. switch out the boxes, you‘re not doing anything different. you‘re not functioning any different as a business. someone just gave you some boxes and, you know, you‘re marketing these boxes instead. and as much as they think they‘re really doing something, like, we‘re are on it,

nothing‘s really happening. this year‘s group of contestants for the great british bake off has been announced, ahead of the programme‘s return to channel 4 next tuesday. a geography teacher, vet, and fashion designer are amongst this year‘s hopefuls. they‘ll be battling it out to impress paul hollywood and prue leith with their baking skills. it‘s the third series of the programme since it moved to channel 4 from the bbc. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with simon king. we have got lovely sunshine across many parts of the uk at the moment. that will continue for much of this afternoon across most parts of england and wales. still a few showers in north—eastern england. some of those could be on the heavy side. and we will see the cloud

increasing in northern ireland and wales with patchy rain moving in later this afternoon. maximum temperatures of 22 degrees. tonight, still a few showers across the north—east of scotland. it will continue to spread eastwards. it could turn a bit chilly across eastern parts. elsewhere, temperatures are staying in double figures. on wednesday, high pressure across the south—east of england keeping things fairly settled. low pressure close to iceland will bring this weather front into northern ireland and scotland. with that, not only will there be some heavy rain but also some strong winds. this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines: the european council president donald tusk has responded to borisjohnson‘s proposals,

saying: "those against the backstop and not proposing "realistic alternatives. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. the major power cut across the uk earlier this month was sparked by a lightning strike and the sudden loss of two big generators. the foreign office says it‘s concerned over reports that a british consulate worker in hong kong has been detained after crossing into mainland china. jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. sport now, and for a full round up, from the bbc sport centre, here‘sjohn watson.

good morning. in the last hour, australia have confirmed that their star batsman, steve smith, won‘t be fit to play in the third ashes test at headingley on thursday. he‘s not recovered to start training after suffering with concussion. patrick gearey‘s here to give us more details. what have we found out from the australian team this morning? cricket australia have confirmed he won‘t play in the third test at headingley. in itself, not a massive surprise, given he missed the final day of the lord‘s test with concussion. there was not much of a turnaround, not much recovery time. smith would have had to show in training that he could deal with fast bowling to stand any chance of playing at headingley. this morning, he seemed quite downbeat in the team huddle. he was consoled by some of his team—mates. he spent some time with the coach and he is not going to be part of their team at headingley. this is a real blow for

australia. smith has scored around a third of the runs in the series so farand until third of the runs in the series so far and until archer‘s spell, england had no answers to him. remind us what exactly happened. it was that hostile bowling from archer. fast, short page bowling. smith was hit first on the arm and then on the side of the neck. he went off, passed concussion tests, he was passed fit to go back on the field of play. that is in the guidelines, as long as he is being monitored, but the next morning he was ruled out of the rest of the text match with symptoms of concussion. when it comes to the third test at headingley, australia taking no chances with their star batsmen. many thanks for that. manchester united have condemned racist abuse aimed

at paul pogba on social media. pogba was targeted after missing a penalty in last night‘s 1—1 draw with wolves at molyneux. he‘s now missed four spot kicks in the last year, and boss ole fgunnar solskjaer defender pogba taking it despite marcus rashford scoring a penalty against chelsea in their last match. this is what united have said about the abuse. they say the people who expressed these views don‘t represent the values of the club. they say they‘re trying to find out who they are and will take action against them. united have also encouraged social media companies to do something about the abuse as well. well, because of pogba‘s penalty miss, the game finished 1—1 at molineux. reuben neves scored a brilliant equaliser for wolves after united had taken the lead through antony martial in the first half. arsenal say the disappointment of losing the europa league final prompted them into a spending spree this summer. they broke their transfer record on nicolas pepe, and haven‘t ruled out more signings in january. directorjosh kronke, the son of their notoriously quiet owner stan kronke,

says a new approach in the market is paying off. i thought we had a good chance if we acted aggressively in those moments and fortunately we were able to execute it and i think that is hopefully just a sign execute it and i think that is hopefullyjust a sign of encouragement for the fans that we are out in the marketplace, you never might know what we are thinking, and you could be surprised by sam of the names that come up, but we are going to be aggressive and we are going to be thinking both short—term and long—term in everything we are doing. britain‘s shauna coxsey‘s in action at the world climbing championships in japan this morning. she‘s taking part in the women‘s combined final — that‘s three separate disciplines. she‘s started well, finishing second in the speed climbing. just by making it to the final, she‘s secured herself a spot at the olympics in tokyo next year. this is incredibly unexpected. i am

not sure i know what is going on, to be honest. i am just going to go out there and climb and i am really happy to be here and it seems like a bit of a dream at the moment. i am struggling for words. that‘s all the sport for now. i‘ll have more for you in the next hour. let‘s hear what the reaction‘s been in europe now and our brussels correspondent adam fleming joins me. you said reaction would come and come it has. there are loads of things i have got to talk through it so let‘s start with the tweet from donald tusk, he was the recipient of the letter from borisjohnson last night. he has sent a tweet saying, the backstop is an insurance to avoid a hard border on the island of

ireland unless and until an alternative is found. those against the backstop are not proposing realistic alternatives, in fact support re—establishing a border. evenif support re—establishing a border. even if they do not admit it. he does not name borisjohnson in that tweet about it is pretty clear he is referring to the prime minister and people of the same view as the prime minister. first of all suggesting they are wrong in their approach because it could lead to the re—establishing of a border and also it would really annoy people in downing street, suggesting they are lying about it. that was retreated by the deputy irish prime minister and irish foreign minister who said this is an has always been the eu‘s position. so ireland has got donald tusk‘s back. a spokeswoman has also

said the only positives is that it means the uk is still committed to getting a brexit deal and an orderly withdrawal, but they gave a thumbs down to the rest of the letter, saying that there was no alternative arrangements to the backstop proposed, so it doesn‘t work, and also that the letter admitted that they may never be alternative arrangements and so you would need something like a backstop to go in there. having said that, they say they remain ready to engage with the uk, although they have not had a request for a meeting between boris johnson and the european commission president. and i havejust been sent an e—mail which has been sent by the european commission and the european council to all the diplomats in the 27 states, which is a quickfire response to this. it repeats a lot of the stuff that donald tusk

tweeted, but right at the bottom it goes through step—by—step some of the things borisjohnson said in the letter and says what is wrong about them. for example, that the backstop contradicts the good friday agreement. the european commission says that is not the case. boris johnson says they would not be a role if the backstop came into force for the people of northern ireland to have a say about what is happening to them. that is not the case, the european commission says. and also that northern ireland has won a legal order and ireland is a separate legal order and they managed to do business together. now, the european commission saying thatis now, the european commission saying that is kind of true but only because eu law functions. the end result, the bottom line, the backstop has to stay because it is the only way we solve all these problems. the boris johnson the only way we solve all these problems. the borisjohnson approach does not solve the problem, according to the eu. i feel we

should start calling you our disagreement corresponding, but we will stick with a brexit correspondent, brussels correspondent, brussels correspondent, for now. back now to our top story — news that the man charged with the murder of pc andrew harper, denies any involvement. jed foster‘s lawyer, robjacques has been speaking outside reading magistrates court. on behalf of him and his family, he emphatically denies any responsibility or involvement in the horrific murder of pc andrew harper. we urge the police to follow every single line of enquiry to prove who is responsible and to ensure there is responsible and to ensure there isjustice in this case. we also urge any memberof isjustice in this case. we also urge any member of the public who has information, however difficult it is for them, to come forward and to liaise with the police. that is on behalf of my client and his family. they will be no other

statement and in the usual course of these things, i ask you to leave them alone. it is very stressful. the national farmers union has warned that a no—deal brexit in october could hit the industry hard. most of the 60,000 seasonal farm workers are from eastern europe, but the uncertaintity this year means fewer have been coming here. our reporter kathryn stanczyszyn has been to one farm in herefordshire, which relies heavily on migrant workers, to see how its coping. we actually have 35 hectares of strawberries, beautiful british ones. strawberries are peter‘s business. at his farm in herefordshire, it‘s the height of picking season and at this time of year, up to 450 tonnes a week are harvested. that means a large workforce. we have 1,500 guest workers who are coming, predominantly from romania, bulgaria, poland. our staff add immeasurably to the value of the business and its success.

without them, we wouldn‘t have a business. their knowledge, their spirit, their energy and their work rate just adds immensely to what we‘re doing. the national farmers‘ union says there was a 10% shortfall of seasonal workers picking things like strawberries on british farms in the first half of this year. they say growers are concerned that that shortfall will only escalate post—brexit. your staff tend to want to come back, normally? the really exciting bit is we‘ve created a real community sense in our business and know the staff want to come back to the uk next year and the year after and they want to continue coming back. but we don‘t know at this point is whether we are able to bring them back and if we can bring them back, on what terms and conditions we can bring them back. to try and mitigate any shortfall, the government has come up with a seasonal agricultural workers scheme. it‘s allowed 2,500 non—eu migrants into the country this year but there are calls for that to be up to 30,000 next year. for peter, though, it‘s not the biggest issue.

why do i want to go outside europe when we‘ve got talented people inside europe who can come and do a greatjob for us? unfortunately, in the modern world, in britain, people don‘t want to work in horticulture. we welcome them and we‘re more than happy to them to come and work in our business but, actually, they don‘t apply for jobs and when they do come and join, they don‘t stay too long. so for all those reasons, a british workforce isn‘t necessarily the solution. what are the consequences post—brexit for this kind of business if you can‘t get the amount of guest workers that you‘ve had in? it simply is that we can‘t prosper. we won‘t be able to bring the crop in, we won‘t be able to do the husbandry that will give us good quality product that we can then sell to the british consumer as a better quality british strawberry on a shorter supply chain that isn‘t coming from spain, isn‘t coming from holland and other countries. so a truly british solution, but that can only be achieved if we‘ve got the resources available to us to make sure that the quality is as it should be.

peter says he‘s concerned the uncertainty for his workers but also for the future of the business. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. in a moment, we‘ll have all the business news, but first the headlines on bbc news: the irish prime minister insists the eu won‘t reopen the european council president donald tusk has responded to borisjohnson‘s proposals, saying: "those against the backstop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re—establishing a border." a 20 year old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. it‘s emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. now the business news. lightning strikes have been blamed for the blackouts across england and wales

earlier this month after they shut down two power stations. electricity was cut to thousands of homes and disrupted travel on roads and railways. the energy regulator ofgem will continue its investigation and could fine companies found to be responsible. german discount supermarkets are continuing to eat up market share from the traditional big four. research by kantar shows that sales at tesco, sainsbury‘s, asda have all dropped over the past three months, and morrisons‘ sales suffered the worst. the researchers say that lidl in particular has succeeded in persuading shoppers to do their big shop at its stores. twitter and facebook say they‘ve tried to block what they describe as a "state—backed chinese misinformation campaign" against the protests in hong kong. twitter said that accounts from mainland china were part of a coordinated attempt to undermine the "legitimacy of the protest movement". but twitter has also been criticised for accepting money from the chinese state news agency to promote its stories about the democracy protest.

if you were among the millions who suffered a powercutjust over 10 days ago or one of those whose travel plans were disrupted as a result, then you‘ll be interested to hear that lightning was to blame. it was just before 5pm on friday, august the 9th, when two separate but almost simultaneous lightning strikes shut down two generators. one at hornsea and the other at little ba rford. the blackouts extended across large parts of england and wales and while it didn‘t last very long, it caused serious disruption particularly on the railways. the investigators interim report has found out what went wrong but is still working out if any company is to blame for the fallout. professor keith bell is professor of electrical engineering at the university of strathclyde, and a co—director of the uk energy research centre. thank you for being with us. what do

you think we have learned in this interim report about why the system could not cope? what we have learned, i think, could not cope? what we have learned, ithink, is could not cope? what we have learned, i think, is that they was a lightning strike that was involved with this incident. according to a national grid, they were a number of lightning strikes in the system which caused faults around that afternoon, but there was one in particular that was connection to the turbine, which is one of the generators that came off—line. because lightning strikes have been tens of times a year causing network faults, they should not cause any further problems, so one of the issues here was exactly why it seemed to prompt the loss of a significant amount of power from the offshore wind farm and the combined cycle gas turbine within a very short space of time. there is that old saying, lightning doesn‘t strike twice. this time it did, albeit

separately. i don't think the report is saying they were two separate lightning strikes that caused the outage is. i think there was one that seemed to be triggering some transience on the system as the network protection operated to isolate the fault and for reasons as yet unexplained, this seemed to cause protection or control at the two generators to react by disconnecting powerfrom two generators to react by disconnecting power from those generators, and it is that which is set another chain in motion that led to the disconnection of people‘s electricity supplies. so there is nothing we can do to prevent lightning but how about when we pick up lightning but how about when we pick up the pieces when an occurrence like this takes place? one of the things that needs to be learned, in this case, why these two generators tripped, when they really shouldn‘t have done under those circumstances. there is another lesson about

exactly how these automatic defence measures are implemented. there are actually nine thresholds as things get progressively worse, increase in desperation to save their system as a whole. only the first one was triggered and yet, according to the national grid report published this morning, they were eight separate signalling supplies that were disconnected as part of that automatic disconnection and that implementation is the responsibility of the distribution network operators. whether they had a chance to configure it in a different way to configure it in a different way to have avoided those loss of supplies to network rail, i am not sure, and that will be part of the investigation. thank you very much. apple is reportedly investing more than £5 billion to make tv programmes and movies for its new video streaming service. the financial times reports that high profile executives recruited from sony pictures have been spending far more than originally

planned as apple prepares to compete with netflix and disney. £28 million of overpayments on student loans has not been repaid by the government. the cash has been accumulated from borrowers who‘ve continued to have payments taken even after their loans are repaid. the student loans company says it has tried to contact those people to arrange refunds and that new processes have been introduced to avoid future overpayments. and do you like to click and collect? or do you click and forget? research by barclaycard has found that one in seven purchases that people make online for collection in store are simply left behind with many customers blaming poor service at collection points. astrazeneca is among the ftse 100‘s biggest risers,

markets now, and the ftse is strenthening today but in part because of that inverse relationship between it and the value of the pound. investors think that the pm‘s latest brexit strategy is raising the chances of no—deal, weakening the pound, which in turn makes the overseas profits of companies that make up the ftse100 look more valuable. separate to that, one of the big gainers today is the drugmaker astrazeneca. it says that trials on one of its new diabetes drugs show it can also reduce the risk of fatal heart attacks. there‘s a market story we can all be happy about. that‘s all the business news. after spending almost every day together since they got married 60 years ago, derek and eirwen oliver have been forced apart by illness. when his wife moved into a care home with dementia, derek continued to visit her daily until earlier this year when he became bed bound from a terminal diagnosis. now a charity has helped them both be together again, as tomos morgan reports.

married for over half a century, spending almost every day together, even after his wife moved into the ca re even after his wife moved into the care home, derek oliver visited eirwen daily, but earlier this year, the 84—year—old was diagnosed with terminal cancer and by march he was bedridden. what has it been like not being able to see her? not nice at all. i miss her. witnessing his pa rents‘ all. i miss her. witnessing his parents‘ heart apart, son david took it upon himself to set up one last reunion. i was almost giving up. i was feeling guilty about it. but no

private ambulance companies could help transport his father until david contacted the ambulance wish foundation, a charity that tries to fulfil the wishes of the terminally ill, and were more than happy to help. i am very happy that this has happened. i help. i am very happy that this has happened. lam help. i am very happy that this has happened. i am vsm, it is something lam happened. i am vsm, it is something i am supposed to do. they looked after me when i was younger, i am very grateful for what they have done for me, and i am very happy to look after my father, look after my mother the best i can. sharing this special moment and sharing advice on the key to a happy, long life together. that's the answer, don't pick the wrong one. lovely story. now it‘s time for a look at the weather.

we have got some showers around but overall it is going to be more in the way of essential income paid to showers today. by this afternoon, we will see some showers around. we have got a big area of high pressure to the south—west. that will become an important feature over the next few days, but this warm front moving into northern ireland today will bring a bit more cloud. you can see the showers in north—east england and were not used till —— one or two still scattered around scotland. maximum temperature is getting up to about 17 — 21 degrees. tonight, still some showers across scotland. one or two drifting away. few and far between. for many there will be clear spells into wednesday morning. temperatures in eastern areas in single figures. but for many of us,

figures in double figures. into the north—west, we have got this area of low pressure and this is front which is going to bring wet and windy weather into scotland and northern ireland, but for england and wales, apart from a few showers, it is going be dry. after the morning sta rts going be dry. after the morning starts off pretty sunny, we will see the rain spreading and turning quite heavy across northern ireland and western scotland. the wind potentially up to 55 mph across these western coasts of scotland and northern ireland. one or two showers for england and wales but largely dry. but as this weather front moved further south, it bumps into this high pressure, it will start to weaken, so by thursdayjust a legacy of cloud, really. but for england and wales, may be some sunshine at

times. a bit more cloud and rain moving back into western scotland. temperatures on thursday about 19 celsius in the north. warming up slightly in the south—east. and we will continue to see temperatures rise as we go into the weekend. into the high 20s for london. by bank holiday monday, a little bit fresher again.

you‘re watching bbc newsroom live. it‘s midday and these are the main stories. the european council president donald tusk has strongly criticised borisjohnson‘s call to scrap the irish backstop without proposing a realistic alternative. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. it‘s emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. the foreign office says it‘s concerned over reports that a british consulate worker in hong kong, has been detained after crossing into mainland china. the uk has one of the worst survival rates for ovarian cancer in the world and the cases in younger women and girls are now on the rise.

australia batsman steve smith is ruled out of the third ashes test at headingley following his concussion at lord‘s after being hit on the head. good afternoon. welcome to bbc newsroom live. in the last half hour, the european commission has said the uk needs to come up with a realistic, legal and operational alternative to the backstop which was negotiated in the brexit withdrawal agreement if it wants to scrap it. boris johnson wrote a letter yesterday to the european council president, donald tusk, in which he said the backstop was "anti—democratic and inconsistent with the sovereignty of the uk". and suggested that alternative arrangements could replace it. but the eu says that his claims are incorrect and misleading.

the uk and the eu had agreed on the backstop as a way of preventing the return of border checks between northern ireland and the irish republic. it would keep the uk in the eu customs union and see northern ireland stay aligned to some rules of the eu single market. our europe correspondent adam fleming gave us the latest reaction from brussels, that the borisjohnson approach does not solve the problem. let‘s start first of all with the tweet from donald tusk. the president of the european council who chairs the summit. he was the first recipient of a letter from borisjohnson first recipient of a letter from boris johnson last night. first recipient of a letter from borisjohnson last night. he sent a tweet in the last half an hour saying the backstop is an insurance to avoid a hardboard on the island of ireland. unless and until an alternative is found, those against the backdrop and not proposing realistic alternatives in fact support re—establishing a border. evenif support re—establishing a border. even if they do not admit it. he doesn‘t name boris johnson

even if they do not admit it. he doesn‘t name borisjohnson in that tweet, but it‘s pretty clear he‘s referring to the prime minister and people who have the same view. first of all, suggesting they are wrong in their approach because it could lead to the re—establishment of a border between northern ireland and ireland, and also the bit which will annoy people in downing street suggesting they are being dishonest about it, lying about it. that was retweeted by the deputy irish prime minister and irish foreign minister, who said this has and always has been the eu‘s position, so ireland has got donald tusk‘s back. a few minutes ago we have a daily televised press briefing from the european commission, a spokeswoman they‘re saying that they noted that they‘re saying that they noted that they had been copied into the letter. the only positives they could see was it meant the uk were still committed to getting a brexit deal and still committed to getting a brexit dealand an ordinary still committed to getting a brexit deal and an ordinary withdrawal from the eu which they gave a thumbs up to but they gave a thumbs down to the rest of the letter, saying that

there was no alternative arrangements to the backstop proposed so it doesn‘t work, and also the letter admitted they may never be alternative arrangements and so you would need something like and so you would need something like a backstop to go in there and having said that, they say they remain ready to engage with the uk although they haven‘t had requests for a meeting between borisjohnson and jean—claude juncker president. and even more recently than that, i‘ve been sent an e—mail from the european commission and the european council to all the diplomats and 27 other member states working on brexit, which is the kind of quick fire response to this. their lines to take. it repeats a lot of stuff donald tusk retweeted the eu said in their press briefing but it goes through with the bottom step by steps of the things borisjohnson said in the letter and says what is wrong about them. for example, the backstop contradicts the good friday agreement. european commission says no, that is not the case. boris

johnson says there would not be a role of the backstop ever came into force for the people of northern ireland to have a say about what is happening to them. that is not the case, the european commission says. and also finally, this idea that already we have northern ireland having one legal order and ireland has a separate legal order, and they managed to do business together, now the european commission says in this fa ct the european commission says in this fact file for european diplomats, that‘s kind of true but only because of eu law functioning that way. the bottom line from the eu, the backstop has to stay because of the only way we solve all these problems. the boris johnson only way we solve all these problems. the borisjohnson approach does not solve the problem according to the eu. adam fleming there in brussels. let‘s go to our political correspondent, pete saull at westminster. not surprising the response from the eu. no, not many people in downing street will be taken by surprise at that rebuttal. quite a detailed rebuttal in terms of that document which has been sent to 27 eu

countries. the remaining eu countries. the remaining eu countries on that point of boris johnson suggesting that the northern irish backstop is anti—democratic. he believes it is because the northern irish people will not have a say over the rules they would be subject to if they were to enter that arrangement. the european union says no, that‘s completely not true. one of the other key points boris johnson makes in that letter that potentially undermines the good friday agreement, again, that is described as completely misleading by the european union. they may be ina by the european union. they may be in a situation where we are going round and round in circles between brussels and london, as we head towards that brexit deadline of october the 31st. it looks increasingly likely, with very, very little prospect of negotiations happening, we will leave without an agreement unless something major happens between now and then. given that sense of two massive forces co nsta ntly that sense of two massive forces constantly colliding and making no progress, many people are saying

what is borisjohnson‘s strategy. what is the up to? some will speculate is going headlong now for a no—deal brexit through this letter and he‘s trying to blame the european union, basically suggesting they are pig—headed ones and all of us, not the uk. we are trying to compromise on this potentially of a general election. him standing up for britain versus the eu. we have to wait and see if that comes about and it may well happen before we leave the european union if the labour party get their way. jeremy corbett of course talking about a no—confidence vote and potentially forming a government of national unity which would then lead the country into a general election. so many ifs and buts ahead of the return from parliamentary recess in september. labour, though, making the point that boris johnson september. labour, though, making the point that borisjohnson voted for the brexit withdrawal agreement is negotiated by theresa may at the last time of asking. they say whether it is no did all the

fa ntasyla nd whether it is no did all the fa ntasyland in their view whether it is no did all the fantasyland in their view outlined in this letter, he has no qualms about potentially putting jobs at risk and peace and prosperity in northern ireland. bear in mind also borisjohnson may northern ireland. bear in mind also boris johnson may be northern ireland. bear in mind also borisjohnson may be trying to set his negotiations high here. you try to sell your red lines on a good deal as a start with a hope of maybe getting a good dealfor the uk. a good deal may well be for example a time limit on that backstop, something some europeans have suggested might be a compromise but, again, that would require a climb—down, a mighty u—turn from the prime minister, and a similar one also from the eu, so as things stand, not a great deal to say about his negotiations or lack of. my quite ok, peter, thanks very much. a 20—year—old man denies any involvement in the murder of pc andrew harper,

who was killed while responding to reports of a burglary in berkshire last thursday. jed foster has appeared at reading magistrates‘ court this morning, charged with the murder of pc harper, who was dragged along the road by a vehicle. nine other men have been released on bail. our correspondent, andy moore, is at reading magistrates‘ court. you‘ve been following proceedings this morning. yes, that's right. these proceedings lasted just a few minutes. judge foster was brought into court wearing grey prison issue cloths, flanked by his two security officers. —— jed cloths, flanked by his two security officers. ——jed foster. he gave his full name and his address. it was formally charged with the murder of pc andrew harper on august 15 and the theft of a quad bike from peter wallace. he didn‘t make any plea of guilty or not guilty. he was remanded in custody to appear before reading crown court tomorrow morning. and then, mr foster macca bass lawyer got up to make a brief statement in court which he then

repeated again outside the court. on behalf of him and his family, he emphatically denies any responsibility or involvement in the horrific murder of pc andrew harper. we urge the police to follow every single line of enquiry to prove who is responsible and to ensure that there isjustice in this case. we also urge any member of the public who has information, however difficult it is for them, to come forward and liaise with the police. that's on behalf of my client, his family. there will be no other statement and in the usual course of these things, i ask you to leave them alone. it's very stressful. now a very short but emotionally charged hearing, as mr foster was led away in handcuffs. he went to his mother who was sat at the back of court holding a teddy bear. we understand also that pc andrew harper‘s family members were led

into the court at the last minute by a police liaison officer and they sat on the other side of the court. andy, thank you. it‘s emerged that the disgraced american financierjeffrey epstein wrote a will two days before killing himself in a new york prison cell he had been awaiting trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges amd listed assets of at least $575 million. cbs correspondent laura podesta brought us up to date. he signed that willjust two days before he committed suicide. as far as what we are learning from the will, he was worth at least $577 million and the will lists his extensive personal property including the two islands he owns in the us virgin islands plus his collection of cars, planes and boats. the document indicates that he is worth at least 577 million and i say that because that figure may actually be much higher and the new york post

reports that his eccentric art collection including fine arts, antiques and collectables, still needs to be appraised, so that net worth could go up. he put all of his holdings in a trust. there‘s no word yet, though, on who the beneficiaries are. laura, final thought. one wonders if there will be any continuing legal action and whether the monetary situation may have a bearing on that? there certainly will be. we spoke with an attorney representing 20 people claiming to be victims of epstein and his attorney said he would like epstein‘s estate to be turned into a fund which can pay out those victims who ultimately prove their cases in a court of law. now lawyers representing the estate have not responded to that proposal and again, all of his holdings were placed in a trust which is more private than a traditional will, a trust is private, it‘s unclear whether this last—minute trust will ultimately make it harder for those victims to access that money.

a lightning strike led to two power losses which left more than a million people without access to power earlier this month, according to a report. the national grid said the blackout was the result of an "extremely rare and unexpected" event. energy regulator ofgem has now launched a formal investigation into the power cuts which left thousands of rail passengers stranded and a hospital temporarily without power. a man has been shot dead at a petrol station in the village of waringstown in county down. the incident is not believed to be linked to recent dissident republican activity. politicians from all sides have condemned the killing. more than £28 million of over—payments on student loans in england are being held by the government, according to researchers. it‘s the result of cases in which repayments continued to be taken even though loans have been completely paid off.

the student loans company says it has tried to contact anyone who has been over—charged to arrange a refund. after weeks of protests, hong kong‘s chief executive says it‘s time to talk. carrie lam‘s comments come after the uk foreign office expressed concern over reports that a hong kong consulate employee has been detained at the chinese border since august eighth. simon cheng, who is thought to be from hong kong, is believed to have gone missing on his return from shenzhen. local news outlet hkfp reports that mr cheng is a trade and investment officer at the scottish development international section of the consulate. the bbc‘s stephen mcdonell is monitoring developments. simon cheng is a trade and investment officer at the british consulate here and he was returning to hong kong from the chinese mainland. he sent a message to his girlfriend as he was on board the high—speed train. there seems to be some concern in that. he said something along the lines

of "pray for me" or something like that when he messaged her. however, that was nearly two weeks ago, and he has disappeared. according to a statement from the foreign office, the british government is very concerned about reports that he has in fact been detained and they say they have been asking officials here in hong kong and on the chinese mainland what‘s happened to him. he hasn‘t turned up for work, so again, we have to see what happens here, but it does just show that escalating tensions here, even though we may not have had violent clashes on the streets, at that diplomatic level a lot of tensions still remain. you know, britain and china have been having some tough words with one another over hong kong and this will only make the situation worse. the headlines on bbc news. borisjohnson has been rebuffed by brussels after demanding the irish backstop

should be scrapped. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. jed foster denies any involvement. it‘s emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. sport now, here‘sjohn watson. good morning, rachel. the big news this morning, cricket australia confirmed steve smith won‘t be fit to play in the third ashes test in headingley on thursday. he is not recovered enough or in time to start training, having suffered with concussion in the second test. patrick geary has been following the story. cricket australia have confirmed he won‘t play at headingley on the third test come in itself not a massive surprise given he missed the final day of the lord‘s test suffering with concussion. the test only starts on

thursday so as not much of a turnaround, not much recovery time. smith would have had to have shown in training he could deliver fast bowling if he were to play at headingley. he clearly wasn‘t able to do that in training this morning. he seemed quite downbeat in the team huddle, consoled by some of his team—mates. spend some time with justin langer, the coach and clearly he is not part of that team at headingley. he will be replaced for that role. it‘s a real blow for australia. he scored a third of their runs in the series so far and untiljofra archer‘s their runs in the series so far and until jofra archer‘s hostile their runs in the series so far and untiljofra archer‘s hostile spell on saturday afternoon of the lord‘s test, england had no answers. a big miss for australia. manchester united have

condemned elsewhere, today, britain's sean epoxy is leading the way on the well climbing championships in japan. she way on the well climbing championships injapan. she is currently top of the leaderboard in the combined final. that involves three separate disciplines. she started well finishing second in the speed climbing which we just saw there. third in the bouldering and leads in the climb. some live pictures from japan now. the idea here to get as high as you possibly can in the allotted time. she‘s going last so in good shape to add to the bronze medal to solve anyone in the

individual bouldering event. this is live on the bbc sport website on the bbc red button, as well. with climate of course making its debut in the olympics next year, this is giving us a flavour ofjust what in the olympics next year, this is giving us a flavour of just what we can expect next year. good to see her, a big help for possible medal at next years olympics, going so well. that is all from the bbc sport centre for now. another update for you at 130. john, thank you very much. i love those climbing pictures. a no—deal brexit will cost the farming industry £850 million a year in lost profits, according to new research seen by the victoria derbyshire programme. the business consultant andersons, which advises more than 2,000 farms across the country, says without a significant increase in government support it‘s inevitable some will struggle to survive. the government says it will provide more money if needed, though it describes that as unlikely. jim reed reports.

colin ferguson runs his own herd of dairy cows in south—west scotland. in 2016, he voted to leave the eu, a decision he doesn‘t regret. yeah, i probably would vote the same way. the problem is we have done nothing in the last three years. it‘s been really tiring to watch. but living the eu without the agreement in place could have an impact on the dairy industry here. the trade in cheese and butter, for example, would move straight to wto or world trade organisation rules. if we drop into wto rules, our borders are open to cheaper imports. food can come from anywhere around the world. it doesn‘t necessarily need to meet animal welfare standards that we conform to, so therefore our market gets undermined by cheap produce. the business consultancy andersons has more than 2,000 farming clients. its calculations suggest total industry profits could fall by £850 million under a no—deal brexit.

that would be an 18% drop in the first year after we leave. if you get a hit in terms of profitability of 18%, then that has huge implications for the future viability of such farms. a short drive from the diary farm in scotland is the port of cairnryan. belfast is two hours away across the north channel. northern ireland is the only part of the uk that shares a land border with the eu. the republic of ireland is just five kilometres from here in that direction. whatever happens in october is likely to have a huge impact on lives and livelihoods on both sides of that border. much of the lamb produced here is exported. under a no—deal brexit, it‘s like to face tariffs, making it 35% more expensive. the politicians making the decisions will not financially suffer. it‘s us, as farmers, that are going to suffer.

i would come out in october one way or the other. even if there‘s no deal? even if there's no deal i still would be inclined. we're hanging on too long. the government says over time, brexit will allow it to replace eu farm subsidies with a fairer system. if we leave with no deal, it says it will provide more financial support if needed, though it describes that as unlikely. jim reed, bbc news. every two hours a woman dies of ovarian cancer in the uk. a majority of cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage which means the uk has one of the worst survival rates in the world. the disease normally affects women over the age of 50 but cases are on the rise in younger women and girls. the teenage cancer trust is now calling for young people with symptoms to see their gp as early as possible. our correspondent, adina campbell, has been to meet one teenage girl who was diagnosed at the age of 14.

15—year—old kelly is wasting no time after a rocky 12 months. her dreams of becoming a recording artist were put on hold a year ago when she nervously noticed how much her body was changing. my belly got really big but i thought i was putting on weight. then i started doing exercises. i started running up hills, doing push—ups, but nothing was working. and then i went vegan to see if i would lose a bit of weight but my belly was getting bigger and bigger. weeks later she was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with ovarian cancer. at the age ofjust14. doctors found a tumour weighing five kilograms. ovarian cancer is one of the most common types of cancers in women and more than 7000 new cases are diagnosed every year in the uk. mainly affecting women over the age of 50.

but cases are increasing among younger women and girls. the teenage cancer trust and cancer research uk say there has been a rise in the number of under 25s being diagnosed since the early 1990s. but overall, the number is low. around 140 cases in the uk every year. doctors say it can be difficult diagnosing ovarian cancer in the early stages because symptoms are vague, similar to bloating or stomach pain. and, unlike screening programmes for other cancers such as breast and cervical, there isn‘t a test for ovarian cancer. because early signs can‘t be reliably picked up. ovarian cancer is very rare in teenagers. less than 2% of cases are women under the age of 20. more usual for women who have not had children. women who have had infertility treatment. women who have not been on the combined contraceptive pill which protects and women who have not breast—fed.

having said that, any woman can get ovarian cancer. i would like to hear more harmonies. kelly is now in remission and has to have checkups and scans every three months for the next five years. the whole experience could also affect her fertility. i could still have children in the future, but it would have to be done earlier. unfortunately, i might experience menopause at an early age. i just want to do everything now, now, now. time does not wait for anyone. i might as well do it now. adina campbell, bbc news. it was meant to raise awareness of violent crime, but the decision to put anti—knife slogans on takeaway food boxes has proved controversial. the home office says the adverts are part of a wider campaign to steer young people away from violence. others say it‘s "too simplistic", "crude" and "offensive". one of those to speak out is the youtuber elijah quashie,

known to millions online as the ‘chicken connoisseur‘ for his reviews of fast—food shops. he‘s been speaking to sean farrington. i‘m a food critic and i mainly review fried chicken shops. there‘s no particular diplomacy about how i describe the food. if it‘s good, it‘s good, if it‘s not, i make people know it‘s not good. wings? they were kind of greasy. i just never saw any reviews on chicken shops, so i thought, like, someone should be doing it. ijust decided i‘ll do it. over the course of 22 videos or so, i‘ve kind of amassed around 50 million views in total. when you saw last week, #knifefree chicken boxes with stories on to be launched, what was your reaction? you should be doing more than that, really. it‘s a bit ridiculous. it kind of caters to the stereotype of... because already there‘s

a narrative that black people are stabbing people. you get black people — what do they eat? chicken. so black people — chicken. "knife free" on a chicken box in a chicken shop gets the black people to stop using knives. like, it‘s a bit too basic in the head and maybe we can do something to stop it at its infancy instead of kind of... it‘s not really treating the symptoms either because it‘s just, like, a chicken box. if someone is going chicken shop... they‘re going to go and get whatever wings or chips or burger or drink or maybe an apple pie or whatever food they get. they‘re going to go and get theirfood, they‘re they‘re going to eat it and enjoy it. no—one is going there, possibly... if the story is gripping enough and on the box, they would be put off their food. they‘re not going to enjoy what they to enjoy. if it‘s not, which i assume is...

it‘s a chicken box, like, they‘re not trying to have horror stories on chicken boxes. so, someone who is at the chicken shop is prepared to use a knife to do something, chicken boxes are not swaying anybody. is your reaction to actually laugh about it a little more than feel like there‘s an underlying serious issue, that they‘re trying? the home office, the chicken shops, they‘re trying to do something? i hear that. from the chicken shop perspective, you want as much coverage and marketing as possible. for a chicken shop to be recognised by a government body like the home office, for them, they‘re in the newspapers now. maybe they weren‘t before or maybe they were before, but the more marketing, the merrier. if the government‘s coming to you and saying, "yo, i want to do a campaign with you and your particular chicken shop", they‘re on board, 100%.

can you see why morley‘s and dixie‘s and chicken cottage might do this, because they feel like they need to do something? even if they‘re not being paid, just switch your box. boss man don‘t need to do anything different. as much as they say they are a pillar in the community, they are a pillar but they don‘t really have a voice in the community. no—one is listening to morley‘s, they go there to eat. switch out the boxes, you‘re not doing anything different. you‘re not functioning any different as a business. someone just gave you some boxes and, you know, you‘re marketing these boxes instead. and as much as they think they‘re really doing something, like, we‘re are on it, nothing‘s really happening. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with susan powell. good afternoon. we saw a lot of showers yesterday and some of them we re showers yesterday and some of them were pretty meaty old affairs with rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightning, but a much quieter story

for this afternoon. for the majority of us, a lot of sunshine to come. we do have a weather front bringing more cloud into scotland, the north—east of england, east anglia, lincolnshire, the odd shower for the afternoon. then we will see another weather front, warm weather, afternoon. then we will see another weatherfront, warm weather, coming into wales and northern ireland by the end of the day bringing cloud and rain. it fizzles away as it moves its way northwards and eastwards overnight. it pulls in some warmer air behind it, so actually, a milder night than the nightjust gone. in rural spots, temperatures get down to 6—7. still chilly first thing for the far north of scotland. wednesday is fine for the majority and a lot of sunshine through the day. a strengthening south westerly wind in the afternoon. rain in northern ireland and rainfor afternoon. rain in northern ireland and rain for scotland later in the day. temperatures are on the way up and that hopefully is a sign of things to come. as the week plays out further. stay tuned.

hello. this is bbc newsroom live. the headlines: borisjohnson has been rebuffed by brussels after calling for the irish backstop to be scrapped. the european council president donald tusk said he hadn‘t proposed a realistic alternative. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court, charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. jed foster denies any involvement. it‘s emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. the major power cut across the uk earlier this month was sparked by a lightning strike and the sudden loss of two big generators. the foreign office says it‘s concerned over reports that a british consulate worker in hong kong has been detained after crossing into mainland china.

borisjohnson has been rebuffed by brussels after demanding major changes in a new brexit deal. the prime minister set out his call for the backstop — the contingency plan to avoid a hard border with ireland — to be scrapped from the divorce deal ahead of the october 31 brexit deadline. but european council president donald tusk defended the measure and warned that those seeking to replace it would risk a return to a hard border on the island of ireland. earlier i got the perspective of neale richmond, the chair of the irish senate‘s brexit committee, on that phone call last night between the prime minister and the taoiseach it's it‘s a very disappointing choice of words by the prime minister as the backstop is not anti—democratic, and he voted on this in parliament a

matter of months ago. it was agreed bya matter of months ago. it was agreed by a democratically approved british government and approved by that government and approved by that government and approved by that government and had checks and bala nces government and had checks and balances there. using language like thatis balances there. using language like that is not helpful in saying the backstop threatens the good friday agreement is a worrying term, because ultimately the backstop is based on the british government red lines that underpins the good friday agreement and ensures there‘s no hardening of the border. so what do you think is borisjohnson‘s strategy and all of this? well, i can‘t attempt to read into the mind of borisjohnson can‘t attempt to read into the mind of boris johnson and can‘t attempt to read into the mind of borisjohnson and nor do i think it is right to talk about strategies. what is clear is that the matter provides nothing new and there‘s no realistic alternative measured —— mentioned and we are in a situation where the eu has worked closely with the british government to reach compromise and negotiate for torturous amounts of time, 18 months, and have a mechanism in the withdrawal agreement that will allow for a managed brexit. the withdrawal agreement with the backstop is emplaced and that is the only way to achieve and manage brexit and we

very much of the british government can its responsibilities.” very much of the british government can its responsibilities. i think you tweeted after borisjohnson had the hour—long conversation with lee over radtke that it was good to talk. how disappointed are you that nothing much came of that? everything is one big disappointment for us but we work as close as we can with the british government to getan can with the british government to get an outcome that protects the peace on this island and guarantees the rights of citizens to make sure the rights of citizens to make sure the financial obligations are met as well as allowing the eu and the uk to go forward in a good, open opportunity to negotiate a good relationship. leo varadkar and boris johnson spoke for an hour last night, twice as long as they spoke injuly and night, twice as long as they spoke in july and they night, twice as long as they spoke injuly and they want to talk night, twice as long as they spoke in july and they want to talk about in relation to brexit but there was a very dangerous bomb on the irish border and that was referred, as was the setting up of the first face—to—face meeting in dublin in early september. one of the things that boris johnson early september. one of the things that borisjohnson talked about in his letter was that it should be possible to find flexible and

creative solutions to the border issue. is that something you still hold hopes for? with the withdrawal agreement, there is a path in the irish protocol, and the first preferences that we move into the transition period and the british and european negotiating sides negotiate a really truly deep and meaningful trade customs and regulatory deal between the eu and the uk which means there is no need for a hardening of the border within ireland or indeed the irish sea. saying that, the withdrawal agreement and the irish protocol allows for alternative arrangements. however, over the past three years no one has presented any alternative arrangements that are viable or in operation anywhere around the world. the backstop is an insurance policy and a worst—case scenario. nobody wa nts to and a worst—case scenario. nobody wants to see it come into place but it is an insurance policy that means we can move forward in future negotiations. just finally, in the meantime, it seems we might be inching closer to a no deal scenario and a lot of talk over here about preparations that are being made.

you chair the irish senate‘s brexit committee. how ready do you feel ireland stands when it comes to preparations for no deal? there is no such thing as a good brexit for ireland, regardless of the form it ta kes. ireland, regardless of the form it takes. we began brexit preparations in december 2014 and we brought in the necessary legislation between both houses of the irish parliament earlier this year and we have been working with the business community, with customs officials, veterinary officials and transit officials to and we are as best prepared as we can be but ultimately all of that can be but ultimately all of that can be but ultimately all of that can be avoided and no deal hurts ireland but it hurts the uk most. we can avoid that and there is still a lot more to go until we reach halloween. in the last hour, the eu commision‘s deputy chief spokesperson, natasha bertaud answered questions during the european commission‘s daily briefing and said that borisjohnson‘s calls do not provide a legal operational solution to prevent the return of a hard border.

we ta ke we take note of prime minister johnson‘s letter addressed to donald tusk and jean—claude juncker was in copy. you will have seen that president tusk has tweeted his initial reaction to this letter, a reaction that we share. from the commission side, we welcome the uk government‘s engagement and continued commitment to an orderly withdrawal. we firmly believe that this is in the best interest of both the eu and the uk. however, we also note that the letter does not provide a legal operational solution to prevent the return of a hard border in the island of ireland. it does not set out what any alternative arrangements could be and, infact, alternative arrangements could be and, in fact, it recognises that there is no guarantee that such arrangements will be in place by the end of the transitional period. otherwise, and as we have stated on many occasions, we do stand ready to work constructively with the uk and within our mandate. and to the

assertion that whether the uk leaves with no deal is now largely in the hands of the eu? i don't think it is the time to enter into blame games. as we said, what we believe is an orderly withdrawal is in the best interests of both the eu and the uk, and this is what we continue to push for. nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe, the british—iranian woman jailed in iran for alleged spying says she now faces harsh new conditions in prison. mrs zaghari—ratcliffe, who denies spying, has been told she can only see her five year old daughter once a month. new rules also mean she can no longer make international calls to her husband, richard ratcliffe, who criticised boris johnson for failing to meet him since he took office. earlier i spoke to richard about what he plans to do now. it's it‘s been a big change over the

weekend. we have had the banning of family visits apart from once a month, and we‘ve also had no phone calls. well, you are allowed six phone calls, but only domestic numbers, so she cannot call me as one of them. why has that happened? we are bewildered. there‘s been a change at the head of the prison, so it could be that. it could be wider politics, though it‘s often hard to tell with iran. certainly nazanin was desperate on the phone yesterday and we spent all day crying, and we pleaded, please, the phone calls is one thing, but not being able to see gabriella, who is only five,, she cannot seek both her parents at the moment and that is tough. from your point of view this is a multipronged approach, and we will talk about the british side in a moment, but are there any avenues open to you in iran itself when you make appeals to the authorities, the prison leadership and so on, or is that hopeless? she has written a letter to the prison authorities and head of prisons and her father, the lawyer, will go to the prosecutors

office to plead. there is limited scope, but yes we will keep doing it. obviously i am not a great voice. we have quite a fractious relationship with the embassy. where we ta ke relationship with the embassy. where we take things forward with the authorities, probably my next chance will be at the un when the world leaders come to new york next month, and we will try and go there and see if we can meet them. that's really interesting. what opportunity do you think is there there in the sense of how willing an audience you have and how willing an audience you have and how easy is it to be heard there?m terms of getting a meeting, i‘m not sure. i‘m not sure i would expect to get a meeting. there‘s a chance to meet with other families going through this around the world, and we could try and do something together. so a chance to be heard, by the wider world, that‘s what trying to do. and obviously part of that approach as well for you here is to get the british government to move things forward diplomatically, but you have been, you are saying,

disappoint on that front at the moment. yes, obviously we are in a holding pattern, a new government setting their parameters in the foreign office or want to see what the prime minister and the new foreign secretary wants to do. i‘ve been quite clear that i think boris johnson when he was foreign secretary made a clear promise to leave no stone unturned and we want to hold him to that promise and he should feel responsible for the promises he makes. i asked behind closed doors that i want to see the prime minister in the first 30 days do something, but that hasn‘t happened yet and as things deteriorate, that is out of his control, but as prime minister, the buck stops with him. the earliest we get to meet him, the quicker he can explain how he sees things and how he can move forward. just a final thought. you mentioned in the context of the un there are other families around the world struggling with similar issues. closer to home, we‘ve been hearing today one case, the 33—year—old who has had her appeal against sentence in iran turned down. she was working for the british council. what is your take

on that case? it's very similar. working for the british council in london, went back on holiday, picked up london, went back on holiday, picked up on holiday, spurious charges invented, encouraged to keep quiet, then given a ten year sentence and it happens again. i mean, as a family, we push the government, the british council, and she‘s been speaking out stridently against this. our mp speaking out stridently against this. ourmp and speaking out stridently against this. our mp and her mp have talked about this as hostage diplomacy, using people as bargaining chips and it is completely unacceptable. you heard in that interview the criticisms of the british government, that he had not had a chance to meet yet with boris johnson and we have had some response here from the foreign and commonwealth office. a spokesperson has said that the government remains extremely concerned about the welfare of nazanin zaghari—ratcliffe and in particular the reports of tougher restrictions on her detention. it goes on that we continue to regularly raise a case at senior levels including the

embassy in tehran, pushing for consular embassy in tehran, pushing for co nsu la r a ccess embassy in tehran, pushing for consular access and we are in regular contact with her family. consular access and we are in regular contact with herfamily. it concludes with the point that the foreign secretary plans to raise this case with the iranian foreign minister and has agreed to meet with richard ratcliffe soon. that statement coming in from the foreign and commonwealth office. the us state department has warned greece not to give any assistance to the iranian oil tanker released by gibraltar. america said that doing so could be considered providing support to a designated terrorist organisation. the tanker set sail on sunday after being impounded for weeks on suspicion of transporting oil to syria. greece says its not had a request from iran to use any of its ports. in a case closely watched around the world, a young woman in el salvador has been cleared of murder after facing charges under some of the world‘s strictest anti—abortion laws. evelyn hernandez has already served nearly three years in prison.

prosecutors wanted her jailed for 40 years. she was acquitted at a retrial. her baby was found dead in a toilet. she has always maintained she was raped and had no idea she was pregnant. activists hope the result will set a precedent for other women in jail. jon ironmoger reports. a young victim of rape from a poor, ruralfamily. evelyn hernandez has become a figure of hope for women in the macho, deeply catholic country of el salvador, where abortion is illegal under any circumstances. jailed in 2017, accused of killing her stillborn child, she was cleared on monday to the delight of her supporters. translation: thank you for being here, and thank god justice was done. i also thank all of the international countries and i thank my mother for accompanying me through everything.

evelyn was arrested in 2016 after the body of her baby was found in a toilet. prosecutors charged her with aggravated homicide and she was sentenced to 30 years, despite insisting she‘d had a miscarriage. speaking last yearfrom prison, she told the bbc she was innocent and that she had not known she was pregnant. there was a huge campaign to free evelyn, and in february the sentence was annulled, pending a retrial after evidence was produced that showed her baby had died of natural causes. translation: the judge said there was no way to prove the crime and that's why he released evelyn. he said it was a complicated birth, like that of many of the women who are still in prison. women who have been in prison for ten years for something that isn't a crime. women like teodora vasquez, who went into labour alone at work,

and called an ambulance that never came. her sentence was commuted last year after she‘d spent a decade behind bars. at least 17 women are still in jail under the abortion ban, rights organisations hope the acquital of evelyn hernandez may be a turning point, but change in conservative el salvador will not come easily. john ironmonger, bbc news. the headlines on bbc news. the european council president donald tusk has strongly criticised borisjohnson‘s call to scrap the irish backstop without proposing a realistic alternative. a 20—year—old man has appeared in court charged with murdering the police officer andrew harper, while he was investigating a burglary. it‘s emerged jeffrey epstein signed a will two days before killing himself in his new yorkjail cell, while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

the national farmers union has warned that a no—deal brexit in october could hit the industry hard. most of the 60,000 seasonal farm workers are from eastern europe, but the uncertainty this year means fewer have been coming here. our reporter kathryn stanczyszyn has been to one farm in herefordshire, which relies heavily on migrant workers, to see how its coping. we actually have 35 hectares of strawberries, beautiful british ones. strawberries are peter‘s business. at his farm in herefordshire, it‘s the height of picking season and at this time of year, up to 450 tonnes a week are harvested. that means a large workforce. we have 1,500 guest workers who are coming, predominantly from romania, bulgaria, poland. our staff add immeasurably to the value of the business and its success.

without them, we wouldn‘t have a business. their knowledge, their spirit, their energy and their work rate just adds immensely to what we‘re doing. the national farmers‘ union says there was a 10% shortfall of seasonal workers picking things like strawberries on british farms in the first half of this year. they say growers are concerned that that shortfall will only escalate post—brexit. your staff tend to want to come back, normally? the really exciting bit is we‘ve created a real community sense in our business and know the staff want to come back to the uk next year and the year after and they want to continue coming back. but we don‘t know at this point is whether we are able to bring them back and if we can bring them back, on what terms and conditions we can bring them back. to try and mitigate any shortfall, the government has come up with a seasonal agricultural workers scheme. it‘s allowed 2,500 non—eu migrants into the country this year but there are calls for that to be up to 30,000 next year. for peter, though, it‘s

not the biggest issue. why do i want to go outside europe when we‘ve got talented people inside europe who can come and do a greatjob for us? unfortunately, in the modern world, in britain, people don‘t want to work in horticulture. we welcome them and we‘re more than happy to them to come and work in our business but, actually, they don‘t apply forjobs and when they do come and join, they don‘t stay too long. so for all those reasons, a british workforce isn‘t necessarily the solution. what are the consequences post—brexit for this kind of business if you can‘t get the amount of guest workers that you‘ve had in? it simply is that we can‘t prosper. we won‘t be able to bring the crop in, we won‘t be able to do the husbandry that will give us good quality product that we can then sell to the british consumer as a better quality british strawberry on a shorter supply chain that isn‘t coming from spain, isn‘t coming from holland and other countries.

so a truly british solution, but that can only be achieved if we‘ve got the resources available to us to make sure that the quality is as it should be. peter says he‘s concerned the uncertainty for his workers but also for the future of the business. kathryn stanczyszyn, bbc news. thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes on gran canaria in the canary islands, as massive wildfires continue to spread. authorities have called the incident "an unprecedented environmental tragedy". high temperatures and strong winds are hampering efforts to put out the fire, which is currently being tackled by firefighters and members of the military. firefighters say they‘ve seen an increase in the number of people filming emergency incidents, rather than phoning 999. the london fire brigade has launched a campaign, after noticing a drop in the number of reports they received, despite lots of footage reguarly appearing online.

those behind the project say any delay in calling the emergency services can have devastating consequences. after spending almost every day together since they got married 60 years ago, derek and eirwen oliver have been forced apart by illness. when his wife moved into a care home with dementia, derek continued to visit her daily until earlier this year when he became bed bound from a terminal diagnosis. now a charity has helped them both be together again, as tomos morgan reports. after only 60 years again, this is the last time derek and his wife will see each other again. married for over half a century, spending almost every day together, even after his wife moved into the care home, derek oliver visited eirwen daily, but earlier this year,

the 84—year—old was diagnosed with terminal cancer and by march he was bedridden. what has it been like not being able to see her? not nice at all. i miss her. witnessing his parents‘ heartbreak apart, son david took it upon himself to set up one last reunion. i was almost giving up. and i was feeling guilty about it. but no private ambulance companies could help transport his father until david contacted the ambulance wish foundation, a charity that tries to fulfil the wishes of the terminally ill, and were more than happy to help. i am very happy that this has happened. i am their son, it is something i am supposed to do. they looked after me when i was younger, i am very grateful for what they have done for me, and i am very happy to look after my father,

look after my mother the best i can. sharing this special moment and sharing advice on the key to a happy, long life together. pick a nice woman. that‘s the answer, don‘t pick the wrong one. sir eltonjohn has defended the duke and duchess of sussex for using a private jet to fly to his home in france. the couple‘s been facing criticism in some newspapers after reports they took four plane journeys in 11 days. leigh milner has more. three months after giving birth to archie, it‘s time for a family holiday for the duke and duchess of sussex. but the trip to eltonjohn‘s home has proven to be pretty costly — for their reputation, at least. the couple flew there in a private jet, a controversial choice for prince harry, who often talks of the importance of tackling climate change.

looking after our environment is a lifelong commitment. we are all part of a global family and we share the understanding and universal privilege of being able to inhabit this earth. it‘s been reported they‘ve taken four private jet journeys in 11 days. but sir eltonjohn, who, as we all know, was very close to harry‘s mother, princess diana, has defended the pair. in a message posted on social media he said: "i am deeply distressed by today‘s distorted and malicious account in the press surrounding the duke and duchess of sussex‘s private stay at my home in nice last week. prince harry‘s mother, diana, princess of wales, was one of my dearest friends. to provide a high level of much—needed protection, we provided them with a private jet flight." sir elton has also said that he paid for the flight to be carbon offset, extra money to fund environmental projects. buckingham palace has

declined to comment. this year‘s group of contestants for the great british bake off has been announced, ahead of the programme‘s return to channel 4 next tuesday. a geography teacher, vet, and fashion designer are amongst this year‘s hopefuls. they‘ll be battling it out to impress paul hollywood and prue leith with their baking skills. it‘s the third series of the programme since it moved to channel 4 from the bbc. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with susan powell. after yesterday‘s showers, more in the way of sunshine to come across the way of sunshine to come across the uk and the weather watchers have been sending in some beautiful images. hastings in east sussexjust a little earlier. there are a few exceptions to the rule. some spots will have a bit more clout and might see the odd shower and we can pick out those regions by looking at the satellite picture and swirling to the north—east is yesterday‘s low

and here it comes sliding into the north—east and into the west, comes this warm weather front. perhaps some rain in the evening. scattered showers across eastern scotland, some for lincolnshire and east anglia in the afternoon, but we are largely dominated by spells of sunshine and temperatures in the high teens then low teens. the majority of the shower clear in the evening but we will see rain go across wales and fade as it goes to the midlands and then mostly cloud pushing across northern england of the night but we are moving into warmerairand a much the night but we are moving into warmer air and a much milder night overall, chillier spots to the far north of scotland and there is the warm front bumper wednesday it‘s all about the load coming into play and this cold front. the low will pick up this cold front. the low will pick up the wind strength and this weather front will push into northern ireland through the

afternoon and eventually feeds rain into scotland with some showers possible and in northern england, but a lot of dry weather and the majority of the uk for wednesday and increasingly warm as we get that south westerly, and up to 23 degrees. as we look further ahead it looks like the same area of high pressure in the south will continue to build across the uk, holding low pressure at bay and keeping dry weather in place almost all the way through the weekend and let‘s wind the clock back to thursday and watch what the pressure pattern does to the proper temperatures with the pale yellow being replaced by established oranges indicating warmth for the next five days. we are not done with some yet. in fact, temperatures in some spots in the south east could get up to 28 degrees as we look at the forecast for saturday and sunday.

a man appears in court charged with the murder of a police officer in berkshire. pc andrew harper — who had recently got married — died while investigating a burglary. 20—year—old jed foster is accused of killing the constable, but his lawyer says he‘s innocent. he emphatically denies any responsibility or involvement in the horrific murder of pc andrew harper. we‘ll have the latest from our correspondent who was in court. also this lunchtime. the eu reject borisjohnson‘s demand that they ditch the irish backstop. the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein wrote a will — just two days before he killed himself injail.