the us businesswoman whose friendship with borisjohnson has raised questions about whether she received favourable treatment speaks out. jennifer arcuri refused to say whether she had an affair with mrjohnson and denied he showed her any favouritism in business dealings when he was london mayor. boris never, ever gave me favouritism. never once did i ask him for a favour, never once did he write a letter of recommendation for me. did you break the gla code of conduct? no, and i've said, ithink, everything i'm going to say on that matter. but labour say the closeness of the relationship shows mrjohnson misled the public when he denied any conflict of interest — we'll have all the latest. also this lunchtime: the police watchdog clears detectives on how they handled false claims of a paedophile ring at westminster, but there's fierce criticism of its findings.

more than 130 arrests as extinction rebellion block bridges and roads in westminster in a protest over climate change. the teenager harry dunn, killed in a car crash — boris johnson calls for the return of a us suspect who's claimed diplomatic immunity. and how knife crime is on the increase outside the capital — we report on its disturbing rise in several regional towns and cities. and coming up on bbc news, there's a new man in charge of england's cricketers — bowling coach chris silverwood is set to replace trevor bayliss in the top job.

good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. an american businesswoman — at the centre of a controversy over her friendship with borisjohnson when he was london mayor — has refused to say whether she had an intimate relationship with him. jennifer arcuri joined trade missions led by mrjohnson, and received thousands of pounds in public money, giving rise to questions over whether he had failed to declare a conflict of interest over their relationship. ms arcuri said today the prime minister was just "a really good friend" and that he never gave her "any favouritism." mrjohnson has insisted everything was done "entirely in the proper way," and denies breaking any rules. here's our correspondent helen catt. i hope you're having a productive... when then mayor of london boris johnson agreed to speak at her events, young tech entrepreneur jennifer arcuri was overjoyed. ready to hang out! he ended up being a

star attraction at several. you like hanging out with us, right? she took pa rt hanging out with us, right? she took part ina hanging out with us, right? she took part in a number of trade missions run by city hall and received public funds while he was in post. speaking to itv‘s good morning britain earlier, jennifer arcuri denied their friendship earlier, jennifer arcuri denied theirfriendship had earned her preferential treatment. boris never ever gave me favouritism. never once didi ever gave me favouritism. never once did i ask him for a favour, never once did he write a letter of recommendation for me. she said mr johnson had become a really good friend and that he visited her at her office in herflat in east london five, ten, and handful of times. she refused to answer questions about whether there had been a more intimate relationship. because the press have made me this objective i x model poll dancer, i'm really not going to answer that question. so you won't deny it? i'm

sorry. i'm not going to be putting myself in a position for you to weapon my answer. the london assembly is investigating boris johnson's links withjennifer arcuri. its code of conduct says... ona on a visit to hospital in watford earlier, borisjohnson was asked if he thought he had broken it. no, and i've said i think everything i will say on the matter. the london assembly still have questions. we wa nt assembly still have questions. we want him to set out his dealings withjennifer arcuri want him to set out his dealings with jennifer arcuri and we also wa nt with jennifer arcuri and we also want him to explain this issue around declarations. what did he do? borisjohnson has previously said he will cooperate with the london assembly investigation although he thought they were barking up the

wrong tree. yet another challenge then for the prime minister at the start of yet another crucial week. helen catt, bbc news, westminster. our assistant political editor, norman smith, is in westminster. where does this interview leave questions aboutjennifer arcuri and boris johnson? it doesn't give us a smoking gun but there is a lot of smoke billowing around mrjohnson as a result of this interview, half of which i suspect team johnson will think was helpful insofar as jennifer arcuri said she didn't ask for favours, cash or sponsorship, and he didn't write letters on her behalf. that is helpful. less helpful is the fact that clearly they were pals, pretty good pals actually. why that matters is mrjohnson can no longer claim that she was just a business contact, another tech entrepreneur.

they were pretty good friends, indeed he went round to her flat and office ten times, declined a crack at poll dancing but did apparently talk about shakespeare. that matters because if you are mayor and a friend or relative receives a grant oi’ friend or relative receives a grant or help, then you are meant to declare it. borisjohnson hasn't done so, saying he doesn't have anything to declare and what we don't know is where the boris johnson himself directly intervened to help ms arcuri get those grants. but there are now four separate investigations trying to join up the dots between borisjohnson the mayor and boris johnson the dots between borisjohnson the mayor and borisjohnson the friend of jennifer arcuri. and separately, another big week for brexit negotiations? it is, but here is the curious thing. nothing much seems to be happening. there are no detailed negotiations going on, there are no

face—to—face talks between mr johnson and key eu figures pencilled in. the two sides are engaged in a mexican stand—off, staring at each other a bit like a moody leave and cleave. we have the eu saying your proposals are not good enough, you better come up with better proposals and you have until friday to do it. mrjohnson says, i have made my move, our offer is on the table and it's up to you to make a counter offer. if neither side blinks, there is the real prospect mrjohnson‘s proposals will shrivel and die in the mexican sunshine and we will be heading towards an almighty. in no—deal between mrjohnson and mps at westminster. norman, many thanks. our europe correspondent, damian grammaticas, is in brussels. norman described it as a mexican stand—off. we've had a lukewarm response

from president macron of france to the uk's proposals — is that likely to set the tone in brussels? yes, it is. setting the tone right across the eu. we have that mexican stand—off going now in the commission. david frost, the chief negotiator, is there and the eu are still saying you have got to revise your proposals if you want to deal. the same message has come today from the dutch foreign affairs minister meeting the brexit secretary. he called for more realism and clarity. the latvian prime minister over the weekend, more conversations and i'm sure the message will be repeated to borisjohnson. he says he believes the offer represents a step forward, it guarantees to keep the border open and respects the peace process. the eu lose it differently and says this is a step backwards from what was agreed before, the irish say the same thing. they say this doesn't provide northern ireland putting it

under the eu's regulatory rules is a new thing, that was the old deal but they are taking out the customs element which is a big problem for the eu and it thinks that is a threat to the peace process. so that message that the uk has to bring forward something that addresses those concerns in the next couple of days if things are to move by the end of the week is what is coming out uniformly across the eu, and there is no sign of any movement at there is no sign of any movement at the minute. many thanks, damian grammaticas. legal action in edinburgh aimed at forcing the prime minister to ask for a brexit extension if he can't reach a deal with brussels has been dismissed. the case had been brought by the snp mpjoanna cherry and others at the court of session. she had asked the court to create an order which would force mrjohnson to send a letter to the eu asking for a delay to brexit.

a senior retired judge has attached to the police watchdog over its decision not to take action on officers involved in an inquiry into an alleged paedophile ring. but the independent office for police conduct says none of the met officers deliberately excluded information from the court. last week, a high courtjudge strongly criticised scotland yard's handling of the case, as our home affairs correspondent june kelly reports. the police investigation into an alleged westminster paedophile ring cost £2.5 million. lord bramall, a former chief of the defence staff, was among those forced to bear the human cost. falsely accused, as was lord britain, the ex tory mp harvey proctor, the late conservative prime minister sir edward heath, and long—time labour politician lord janner. now the former seniorjudge

who reviewed the disastrous scotland ya rd who reviewed the disastrous scotland yard inquiry has slammed the investigation by the police watchdog into the conduct of the officers involved. who guards the guards themselves? who watches the watchers? a malfunctioning police force has not received the necessary oversight. kyle beach, a hospital inspector and school governor due to experienced detectives with his bogus allegations. the cruel and compulsive liar, he set out to undermine the reputations of those he wrongly accused. lord britain died before carl beech had been exposed. enrico is believed he unlawfully obtained the warrants to search the homes of the innocent

victims. the police watchdog rejects this. today its director—general said... harvey proctor, who lost his home and hisjob harvey proctor, who lost his home and his job because harvey proctor, who lost his home and hisjob because he was under suspicion, was allowed to see the police watchdog's report before its publication today. the iopc is hand in glove with the metropolitan police. there should be a full investigation into these police officers. while carl beech is in prison for his lies, the police watchdog is insisting it has carried out a thorough and detailed investigation into what went on at scotla nd investigation into what went on at scotland yard. june kelly, bbc news. us troops have withdrawn from northeastern syria, opening the way for a full—scale turkish assault against kurdish fighters there.

the syrian democratic forces, led by the kurds, had been the americans' main allies in the fight against the so—called islamic state. the sdf called the us withdrawal a stab in the back. turkey, which regards kurdish militias as terrorists, said its army was ready to launch operations against them at any moment. police have arrested more than 130 people in connection with the climate change protest in london organised by extinction rebellion. the group says its aim is to shut down the whole of westminster. you can see they are right here across the road and that means the main streets around trafalgar square are closed and that is a deliberate strategy to target these high—profile sites. the protesters have parked a trailer and are laid underneath it currently refusing to

move. it is a peaceful protest but it is deliberately destructive. there was gridlock this morning at some of london's iconic landmarks. protesters popped up to block key junctions, roads and bridges, targeting parliament all in the name of highlighting climate concerns. the police have promised a robust response but warned these demonstrations are stretching their numbers. still, they stepped in quickly to cut protest is free and make arrests and we have been told to expect two weeks of this sort of direct action. we are facing the loss of the majority of life on earth within a few generations. we don't know what the planet will look like by the end of the century, but it is highly likely it will be largely uninhabitable, so... what do you do when you know that's coming? the protests reached right around the world. this was sydney.

extinction rebellion is a global movement and it made its presence felt in france and india too, calling for greater international commitments on carbon emissions. backin commitments on carbon emissions. back in london, not everyone agrees with the approach. i think you are historical extremists and you are alienating public opinion, and they won't turn off their lights until you ask them to individually. there may be more frustration over the next fortnight, but these climate campaigners say they feel this is their only option to get urgent action to address our warming planet. although the protesters are currently sitting here in trafalgar square, earlier they were blocking whitehall further towards parliament, and they keep moving to stretch the police to catch them out. so far, they seem to have been successful in that. it is a challenge for the police and so far this morning they have made 135 arrests. many thanks. boris johnson has urged an american woman who is wanted

for questioning over a fatal car crash to return to the uk. anne sacoolas, the wife of a american diplomat, left the country after the accident in northampshire this summer. a teenager, harry dunn, was killed in the incident. mrjohnson said he was prepared to raise the matter personally with the white house if she did not cooperate. richard galpin reports. 19—year—old harry dunn was an accomplished motorcyclist, according to his family. on the 27th of august, he was killed following a collision with a car here in northamptonshire, not far from a collision with a car here in northamptonshire, not farfrom a us air force base. his father was quickly at the scene. at the time when i got there, he was struggling to breathe, so ijust spoke to him and said, harry, it is your dad, let them know what they have got to do, they are out there to help you. i'd like to think it gave him some comfort because he did quieten down, because he was complaining about chest pains. i'd like to say as well

that the emergency services were amazing. it is like they brought to the hospital to harry, giving him blood and everything on the side of the road. the car was being driven by the wife of a diplomat living at the space. she's been named as anne sacoolas. afterwards, she flew back to the united states, despite telling police she had no such plans. harry's family are appealing for her to return. i don't. .. we don't want to think that she chose to leave, as a mother, i wouldn't have done that myself, and many other people that have come forward supporting us feel exactly the same, so we supporting us feel exactly the same, so we don't want to believe that it was her choice. but i believe that she could overrule any diplomatic immunity and decide to get on that plane and come back herself, and that's what we're urging her to do.

the family's appeals are now being followed up by the chief constable northamptonshire police. he says he is written in the strongest terms to the us embassy urging them to set aside the diplomatic immunity in order to allow the justice process to ta ke order to allow the justice process to take place — a view now shared by the prime minister. i do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose, and i hope that anne sacoolas will come back and engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country. harry's mother has said, if necessary, she is prepared to go to washington to appeal directly to president trump to get anne sacoolas back to britain. richard galpin, bbc news. the media watchdog ofcom has said it has "serious concerns around the transparency of the bbc‘s complaints process" following its handling of the naga munchetty case.

the bbc recently reversed a decision to partially uphold a complaint against the presenter for comments she made about president trump. our entertainment correspondent colin paterson is in salford. tell us about the significance of what ofcom has said. well, ofcom have published a very detailed ten page report into the investigation as to what happened on the 17th ofjuly, investigation as to what happened on the 17th of july, this investigation as to what happened on the 17th ofjuly, this is when naga munchetty and dan walker were on the brea kfast sofa munchetty and dan walker were on the breakfast sofa and were discussing donald trump and issues surrounding racism. ofcom have gone through the exchange is almost sentence by sentence and have ruled that there is nothing that they have done wrong, they have not broken any broadcasting code. what they are unhappy about is the bbc complaints procedure. they say the bbc has demonstrated a lack of transparency come about when they upheld partially the initial complaint against naga munchetty and also when lord hall, the director—general of

the bbc, overturned that decision. they say, in both instances, there was a lack of transparency, something that the bbc has to be demonstrating. now the bbc has responded by saying that when they make a decision like this, they only ever print a summary rather than the full findings. judging by what ofcom are saying, the bbc are going to have to change that and sharpish. 0k, have to change that and sharpish. ok, colin, thank you. the time is 20 past one, our top story this an american businesswoman his friendship with borisjohnson is under scrutiny has denied any favouritism. and one of the country's biggest problems has announced ambitious plans to have its use of plastic. coming up on bbc news, seeing red and feeling blue — poor results for both manchester teams at the weekend gives both managers food for thought as liverpool extend their lead going into the international break.

new figures obtained by the bbc suggest knife crime is rising at a faster rate outside london, in areas including norfolk, surrey and lancashire. between 2014 and 2018, offences involving knives in england and wales increased by more than two—thirds. almost half of suspects are under the age of 2a, and a quarter of victims are female. our home affairs correspondent sarah corker reports. step into the sensationally stylish blackpool town ballroom... in the shadow of its famous tower, blackpool has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods in britain. there is a darker side to this seaside town. if someone started on me, i'd stab ‘em. a lot of people bring knives, like, when we have fights, like. these boys are 1a and 15 years old. one told me he'd been stabbed in the leg. he then showed me a picture of himself holding a machete at home. to protect their identities, their voices have been changed.

is it a normal thing for people to carry knives around here? yeah, pretty much. why do you think people are carrying knives? protection — so if someone comes to you with a knife, you pull out a knife as well. then nothing's going to happen. i know people carrying them. people how old? our age. 14—year—olds carrying knives? 13 at the least, carrying one. why would a 13—year—old boy need to carry a knife? protection. protection from what, though? from each other. at blackpool football club's community trust, students are taught about the dangers of carrying knives. lauren is 18, keeley 17 — both have been threatened. me and my mate were walking home, and a guyjust came out and threatened to stab one of my mates. he had a knife pointing to him. do you feel safe going out? no. i threatened with a machete on the park by a group of lads when they were playing football, because they wanted to play in our half but we said no.

serious knife crime here in blackpool has almost tripled over the last five years. county—lines drug gangs, cuts to youth services, poverty, unemployment, exclusion rates at schools — they've all been linked to a rise in youth violence. 15 miles away in preston, byron is still living with the trauma of his brother's death. my brother was fatally stabbed in the neck, so i've got his name across my neck. every time i look in the mirror, i get to see his name. jon—jo was stabbed by a group of men in this street after an ongoing feud. he was just 18 years old. it was a planned attack, wasn't it? yeah, he was stabbed with a sword, a small axe, and he was beaten with a golf club. the whole country is suffering through knife crime. and little places like preston and these small cities like preston get no mention, and we're suffering just as much as everyone else in this country.

the home office is recruiting 20,000 new police officers over the next three years to help tackle what byron describes as a war against knife crime. sarah corker, bbc news. this year's nobel prize for medicine has been awarded to the british scientist sir peter ratcliffe and the americans william kaelin and gregg semenza for their work on how cells adapt to oxygen availability. in its citation, the nobel assembly said the laureates revealed the mechanism for one of life's most essential adaptive processes. their work is leading to new treatments for anaemia and cancer. youtube has deleted hundreds of videos for breaching their policies on nudity and sexual conduct, following an investigation for the bbc‘s panorama programme. the videos were published by so—called "pick—up artists" who claim to teach what they call "seduction techniques". this takes place in face—to—face training sessions and by uploading encounters

to youtube which they say they've secretly recorded with women. myles bonnar reports. in september, the self—styled pick—up artist adnan ahmed, who calls himself adi a—game, was found guilty of harassment. he was part of a growing global online business of so—called pick—up artists who use youtube to publish what they call infield videos. secret recordings they claimed were of them with unsuspecting young women, some during sex. panorama has been investigating the company that trained him, street attraction. on their youtube channel, they had more than 100,000 subscribers. i'll give you all the necessary theory, but for extra clarity, it will all be backed up by intimate in—field footage, because we wanted to capture the real thing and real reactions, it had to be filmed covertly, guerilla style. the film continues with audio of him apparently having sex with an 18—year—old he met that same day.

panorama got in touch with youtube, who have now deleted adnan ahmed and street attraction's channels, saying they breach their policies. but street attraction also sells face—to—face courses teaching the same techniques. i went undercover on one to find out more. one of the first lessons lead coach eddie hitchens taught is what he called the cold approach, how to stop women you don't know in the street. so, mike, i want you to try and stop this girl. she looks pretty mancunian to me. ok, you can, you can. she seems... she's too young for me. it doesn't matter, even if she's underage... another coach, richard hood, told me about what he called last—minute resistance to sex, or lmr. a massive one, when you get to the apartment, tell her to take the shoes off, as soon as you walk through the front door, you start taking your shoes off. it's basically the first part of escalation, because sometimes girls can be annoying, and if they are already in their shoes and theirjacket,

she'll be like, ok, now, that's enough for tonight, we'll leave the rest for next time. there an idea with lmr that women put up a certain amount of supposedly token resistance prior to having sex. the thing that's really worrying about this is that it creates a situation in which a woman's "no" can never be legitimately heard as a "no". i tried to get eddie and richard to give me an interview but without success. instead, i caught up with them at another of their boot camps where they denied targeting underage girls, saying they always find out how old the girl is before doing anything sexual. they said they don't pressurise women into having sex and that it was nonsense that they publish secretly recorded audio of their sexual encounters. the women in their videos, they said, are actresses. myles bonnar, bbc news. panorama: secrets of the seduction boot camp is on bbc one tonight at 8:30.

detectives are investigating whether human remains found in woodland could be those of the missing studentjoy morgan. the 20—year—old was murdered in december 2018 by shohfah—el israel, who was jailed in august. officers were called to the woodland in stevenage on saturday. concerns about the environment, particularly among young people, are putting pressure on companies to reduce the amount of waste they produce. now one of the country's largest firms, unilever, has announced plans to halve the amount of new plastic it uses by the middle of the decade. it's also promising to collect and recycle more plastic packaging than it sells. our consumer affairs correspondent colletta smith reports. bottles, sachets, wrappers and lids — unilever makes 700,000 tonnes of new plastic each year. but changes are afoot. so this is where we are doing some testing on the new detectable black plastic... with more recycled plastic, less packaging and more refillable bottles, prototypes here on the wirral now being rolled out globally.

nice to meet you too. the boss says it'll make them industry leaders but councils need to help too. if there was a standardised approach to sorting, collection and processing, i think it would allow industry to standardise the labelling and make it easierfor people to segment that waste. it's more expensive to use recycled material, often the processes are more expensive — isn't this price going to be passed on to customers? there is an initial price premium, but very quickly, as the system builds to supply that, the costs go down, because ultimately you're consuming less resources. this pile only takes a couple of hours to form. it's the stuff that can't be recycled — even in a plant like this. and unilever aren't the only company trying to do something about it, because consumers are putting big manufacturers under pressure to make stuff that is easier to recycle.

we've had hundreds and hundreds of people come to our plant, people that are making things and are coming to see what happens to them when they get thrown away, and they're thinking about how they design them at the front end. even the biggest global companies are beginning to cut plastic and improve recycling as customers demand it. colletta smith, bbc news. england have appointed chris silverwood as their new head coach, replacing trevor bayliss, who stepped down last month at the end of the ashes series. the former yorkshire and middlesex fast—bowler was described as the outstanding candidate by the selection panel. he said he wanted to build on england's success and focus on the test arena. time for a look at the weather. here's nick miller. there is a removal lorry behind this big splash of water in norfolk yesterday, a large part of its october average rainfall in just one day, now it is quiet and so far

today, but there is more rain