this is the briefing — i'm sally bundock. our top story: a six—point plan to save the planet. thousands of scientists demand deep and lasting changes to curb catastrophic climate change. the democrats have gained ground in us state elections — the sitting republican governor in kentucky is on the verge of defeat. the outgoing head of the european commission — jean—claude juncker — says he thinks the uk will leave the eu — by the end ofjanuary. champion, champion, champion, champion, champion, champion, champion, champion! and the seven—year—old south african on course to be a golfing superstar.

powerful words: why audio could be the next big thing for kids in the digital age. a very warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business and sport. and you can be a part of the conversation — as spotify and other big names in podcasts try to win over kids and get them listening — will it work, or is the screen too hard to beat? tell us what you think — just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. a climate study endorsed by 11,000 scientists warns that there'll be

"untold human suffering" without deep and lasting action. the report, based on a0 years of research, says the world is in the midst of an accelerating climate emergency. and the researchers say they have a moral obligation to warn of the scale of the threat. gareth barlow has the story. wildfires in the united states, floods in somalia, droughts in the andes, typhoons in asia. symptoms and signs of a changing climate, a climate emergency, according to 11,000 scientists. they have backed a report based on a0 years of data which says humans are facing untold suffering, amid a climate emergency caused by issues such as booming populations, a rise in air travel, and tree numbers falling as forests are felled. we arejust

we are just starting to see storms becoming more intense. frequency of hurricane‘s and cyclones and droughts, and tornadoes, and raising seas and storm surges, so droughts, and tornadoes, and raising seas and storm surges, so we droughts, and tornadoes, and raising seas and storm surges, so we are concerned seas and storm surges, so we are concerned that this is just starting and there has not been enough action. 0ur planet is in crisis. you know it, we know it. climate change is a key social and political issue, and the report's authors say governments, businesses and the public must do more to tackle the causes of climate change. chanting: extinction! rebellion! but they note the global protest movement does offer hope. but as scientists warn of a changing climate, on monday donald trump began the formal process of withdrawing from the paris climate accord, the landmark agreement meant to curb a rise in temperatures. i announce the withdrawal of the united states from the horrible, costly,

one—sided paris climate accord. the issues aren'tjust political. the report's signatories say diets must change, population growth must reduce, and the reliance on fossil fuels must end — big solutions to fix an even bigger issue. the democrats have gained ground in us state elections. in kentucky, the republican governor is on the verge of defeat, despite an eleventh hour visit to the state by president trump. in virginia, the democrats have taken control of the state's house and senate. here's our north america correspondent, peter bowes. around the country then states would have been elections the democrats have been elections the democrats have made gains, in virginia have taken control of have made gains, in virginia have ta ken control of both have made gains, in virginia have taken control of both the house and the senate to take control of the state. but i think the biggest prize

of the night is in the state of kentucky where it looks like the sitting republican governor is about to lose hisjob sitting republican governor is about to lose his job to a democrat. it is a very close race, it has been for a number of weeks, mostly fought on local issues, and there are still a few votes to be counted, but it looks like the sitting republican is about to lose his job, looks like the sitting republican is about to lose hisjob, which is significant. a year before the next general election for the republicans to be losing a state like kentucky which is staunchly republican, it is a state that in 2016 president trump won easily, must be raising some cause for concern. it is impossible to say whether these results are indicative across the country, of what voters are thinking, but perhaps it does give us some indication about the nation. indeed.

let's brief you on some of the other stories making the news. a us diplomat has revised his testimony to a congressional investigation that could seek to remove president trump from office. gordon sondland, the us ambassador to the eu, says he now remembers telling a ukrainian official that us military aid "likely" hinged on a political inquiry sought by mr trump. he'd previously denied that delaying the payment was politically motivated. at least 15 people including a police officer have been killed in attacks by suspected muslim rebels in the south of thailand. the attackers struck to checkpoints opening fire on a group of civil defence volunteers. the malay muslim south has been in the grip of a bloodier insurgency that has killed thousands of people over the last 15 yea rs. a former quality control engineer at boeing has told the bbc that passengers aboard its 787 dreamliner

could be left without life—saving oxygen, if the cabin were to suffer a sudden decompression. this is one of a number of allegations calling into question safety standards at the company, after two fatal accidents on its 737 max jet. boeing insists its aircraft are built to the highest levels of safety and quality. jacob rees—mogg has apologised for suggesting it would have been common sense for victims of the grenfell tower disaster to ignore the advice of firefighters to remain put. the leader of the house of commons has faced calls to resign for his remarks — including from the grime artist, stormzy. 72 people died in the fire. the iraqi government has decided to lift the overnight curfew in the capital baghdad. the curfew, in place for over a week, was imposed to contain anti—government demonstrations. the prime minister, adel abdul—mahdi, has rejected calls for his resignation.

prosecutors have begun outlining the case against a man accused of murdering a british backpacker in new zealand last december. the body of grace millane — who was 22 — was found a week after she went missing from a hotel. the suspect, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denies murder. 0ur correspondent, phil mercer has this update from the trial in auckland. the evidence in this case has been intimate and confronting. in court today, we have seen the parents of grace, they have travelled from the united kingdom, and have been set just a few metres away from the man accused of killing their daughter. we can't identify him for legal reasons, but what we can say is he is 27 years of age and has pleaded not guilty to the charges stopping the prosecution, though, alleges that the young british backpacker

was strangled and that the next day the defendant went on a date with another woman, while grace's body was still in his apartment. the body was still in his apartment. the body was still in his apartment. the body was still had an in bushland on the outskirts of auckland. the defence has a very different story, it believes that the death was accidental. they do concede that the defendant killed the young english tourist, but says it was an accident, it was the result of a sex game gone wrong. the jury of seven women and five men will have to decide was the death an accident or was it murder? the trail here in auckland continues tomorrow. many parents are looking for ways to entice their children away from spending too much time on their devices. so is audio the way forward? american public service broadcasters and podcast networks are making

a big push into producing audiobooks and podcasts aimed at youngsters. could this be the wave of the future in children's entertainment? independent analyst stephanie harejoins me now. lovely to see you, stephanie. and this is one of the big issues for pa rents, this is one of the big issues for parents, really concerned about the amount of screen time the children are getting, and it is from the age that they can look at things and swipe. sometimes even under the age of two, right up until they leave the home. there is increasing research that is suggesting that as rewiring children's brains in ways that are not ideal. we want to try to move kids away from spending so much time sunscreens, and that is not paranoia, sometimes fine, but not paranoia, sometimes fine, but not so much, and move them towards audio content which could be really interesting because you could be introducing them to works of literature that our children appropriate. it sounds like a wonderful idea but my thinking as a

pa rent wonderful idea but my thinking as a parent with three young boys all of whom love the screen, how do you get them to switch, because the screen is so engaging. whereas listening doesn't have that same attraction. audiobooks, podcasts, when they are older may be in the early 20s you can understand that podcast are really popular, but when they are much younger? the dopamine hat that we all get when we are working with a phone or a tablet, it is really difficult to reproduce that through the audio mechanism stopping it is a visual trigger in your brain, so you are right, it is probably going to be very helpful for things like car journeys, it is also a way to get them onto apps two, first of all keep children's music off of your playlist, so you can have a... because butterfly is involved in this as well? they are trying to come up with attractive audio

products. —— spotify is involved in this as well? to sell it to parents, this as well? to sell it to parents, this is a way to deliver learning content this is a way to deliver learning co nte nt to this is a way to deliver learning content to your kids, and then there is the tracking issues w—2 can be a very dangerous place for kids to go because the algorithm will send it down various parts, and the way that that data is tracked is very different for children, there are much higher standards of data protection for kids, so you as a pa rent protection for kids, so you as a parent can have that comfort of knowing that if they send them to a dedicated kids at their data is safer. but no doubt if this were to ta ke safer. but no doubt if this were to take off, if there were a surge in kids listening to stuff, the advertisers would get on board. they would start to take adverts to the audio books or the podcasts that kids are listening to. exactly. so they will still advertise to kids but the amount of data they are allowed to track about those kids is less tha n

allowed to track about those kids is less than it would be for you and i as grown—ups. so advertising is still being delivered just less data being retained. very interesting. thank you stephanie for now. we have still got the news briefing of course which is packed with lots of interesting stories to discuss. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: chelsea fight back from four—one down — to earn a crucial champions league point against ajax. the israeli prime minister, yitzhak rabin, the architect of the middle east peace process, has been assassinated. a 27—year—old jewish man has been arrested, and an extremistjewish organisation has claimed responsibility for the killing. at polling booths throughout the country, they voted on a historic day for australia. as the results came in, it was clear. the monarchy would survive. of the american hostages, there was no sign. they are being held somewhere inside the compound, and student leaders have threatened

that should the americans attempt rescue, they will all die. this mission has surpassed all expectations. voyageri is now the most distant man—made object anywhere in the universe, and itjust seems to keep on going. tonight, we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms, or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals. you're watching the briefing. 0ur headlines: thousands of scientists have urged people, policy makers and industry to make deep and lasting changes to curb catastrophic climate change. the democrats have gained ground in us state elections — the sitting republican governor in kentucky is on the verge of defeat. the outgoing head of the european commission,

jean—claude juncker, has told the bbc he believes the uk will leave the eu by the end of january — the end of the current extension period. mrjuncker said he regretted not speaking out at the time of the european referendum — so our europe editor katya adler put to him some of the promises made by the parties contesting next month's general election. if we start with boris johnson, because he's still our prime minister... i like him, by the way. 0k. so, he says if he wins the election and the withdrawal bill is passed, then he thinks it's possible to get a new trade deal negotiated by the end of 2020. so, you know, in less than 12 months. is that possible? i don't want to be a prisoner of this tight framework. but is it even possible, it took seven years to negotiate a deal with canada, for example? it takes time to negotiate a free—trade agreement. sometimes, i have the impression that in britain, people... ..parliamentary representatives, governmental representatives do

think that this is an easy thing to be done. it's not easy, because we are negotiating for years with canada. it will take time. can i have a look now at some other claims being made? so, the labour party, for example, says if it wins the general election, it will renegotiate once again. so, a third brexit deal. i will no longer be in office when this happens. so, it will be up to the next commission to decide if yes or no there is room for manoeuvre of a new deal, a new treaty. honestly spoken, i don't think that this is a realistic approach. would you like there to be another referendum and the uk to give brexit another thought? the question if yes or no there should be a second referendum... ..is a british issue. i don't think that there will be a second referendum.

the brexit party says the new brexit withdrawal agreement is not brexit, they say, it's just brexit in name only. is that a fair thing to say about boris johnson's deal with your commission? no, it's brexit. i'm not a supporter of mr farage. you made a bet at the time of the referendum... yes! ..with the uk commission, and you pointed out that you thought that remain would lose the referendum, you bet him £1. yeah, yeah. so, just going back to the 31st january, this latest brexit extension, would you bet the £1 that the uk will be out by the 31st january, no more brexit extensions, you think? i do think that it will happen but this is a too long story. it has to be brought to an end. you know, you've been in this job for a long time. would you be tempted to stay in your office until brexit is done, or at least this phase of brexit? no, no, no. i had brexit enough in my life.

presidentjuncker, thank you very much for your time. thank you, it was a pleasure. thank you, thank you. now it's time to get all the latest from the bbc sports centre. hello, i'm gavin ramjaun, and this is your wedsnesday sport briefing. what a cracking start to match day 4 in the european champions league. liverpool are now a point away from qualifying for the knockouts, after beating genk. but the drama was at stamford bridge. chelsea came back from 4—1 down, to draw with ajax. the dutch side ahead courtesy of two own goals — one off the unlucky chelsea keeper kepa. ajax then had two men sent off. the home side made them pay. they got their equaliser thanks to youngester reece james — who becomes chelsea's youngest ever champions league scorer. five and for the school. we needed to lift the stadium "4—

five and for the school. we needed to lift the stadium ——4— for the school. i'm delighted with that part of it and we were disappointed in the last ten minutes not doing it but with a 3—1 down, 4—1 down. so it was a good result. —— 4—4. dortmund came two goals down, to beat inter milan in group f. two goals from full back aschraf hakimi helped them to a 3—2 win. dortmund are now three points clear of inter in 2nd, in the race to qualify. barca top the group, but drew 0—0 at home to slavia prague. european rugby champions saracens have been deducted 35 points, and fined nearly $7 million after being found in breach of salary cap regulations. nine of their players were in the england squad, just back from the world cup in japan. an independent panel found that saracens had failed to disclose payments over three seasons, and were found to have exceeded the ceiling for payments to senior players. it's the biggest sanction in the history of the premiership.

bayern munich are preparing for their champions league game against 0lympiakos under interim head coach hansi flick. it's after bayern parted company with niko kovac on sunday — a day after the club suffered a heavy 5—1 defeat at eintracht frankfurt. bayern sit 4th, four points off the top. the german champions can make the last 16 with a win on wednesday. they've won all three of their group games so far. gareth bale has been named in wales' squad for their decisive euro 2020 qualifiers, despite not playing for real madrid since his country's 1—1 draw with croatia last month. real play galatasaray in the champions league on wednesday. manager zinedine zidane said last week that bale is working to get fit again, but has not specified what his injury is. he's also confirmed he'd like the welshman to stay until the end of the season, after more rumours about his future.

the video assistant referree — or var — continues to make headlines around the world — and not everyone is a fan. it was only a matter of time before it became part of a goal celebration. this is brazilian midfielder marinho scoring in a 4—1win for his side santos, over botafogo at the weekend. and his cheeky celebration? this! no doubt about the goal though. but you have got to applaud the way they are celebrating. gotta love it. and do remember you can get all the latest news at our website. that's bbc.com/sport. but from me gavin ramjaun and the rest of the sport team, that's your wednesday sport briefing. a young golf prodigy in south africa has been making headlines with a number of prestigious titles and medals in international competitions. he's known by the nickname of "simtiger" — a reference

to the legendary tiger woods. we went to meet him injohannesburg. i'm seven years old. i play golf and i want to become the best in the world. i've played 12 times the local tour, and 18. world. i've played 12 times the localtour, and 18. champion, champion, champion... what i'm about to play, i feel very champion, champion... what i'm about to play, ifeel very excited but you don't want to get too excited, then you mess up so excited to play and i have to focus, get my game right, and play my best game and have fun. you have to practise, practice, practice because you have to be different from the others. that's how you win tournaments. after you practise in the morning, you can practice in the afternoon. this is

my british kids won the championship, in england. i'm very proud of this one, i came third place, top five. he says that ——it says 2019. so my dad tried me on different sports, tennis, swimming, cricket, soccer. and then there was golf so i decided in golf i had my talent. i like golf because it gives you an opportunity to go around the world and to learn new tricks and to learn how to swing the club. try and go left of the flood. i also like golf because my dad as i was beside me and i'm very happy that he teach them how to play golf. this is my favourite trophy. because i want it in the australian open top five. we not playing golf i relax and i like playing with my friend, i like to playing with my friend, i like to play games. it would be call wonder

ifi play games. it would be call wonder if i had my own game. a game mirror of me, i would really like that. i wa nt to of me, i would really like that. i want to be very successful and i wa nt to want to be very successful and i want to win the masters, the pga tour is, the majors and the british opens and all those. i would like to inspire other kids and that they can do what i do, play golf and enjoy the game, and have fun. good shot. what a star. at the sight of the programme imagined the story, stephanie and i talked about this idea that they're trying to now move away from screens onto audio, so e—books, pod casts that kind of thing, notjust musical stops organisations like spider pie, other big names in podcasting coming up with material —— spotify. it is a

goodidea? with material —— spotify. it is a good idea? will it work? is the screen too hard to beat? bronwyn says, it's really simple i don't give them a screen, the radio in the kitchen to the old. beth says perhaps it is highly entertaining and interactive audio, it will work. let's have a look at the bbc sounds app which i got loaded up here. it has a children's action with entertainment, comedy, drama, use it, so much, activities as well. that gives you a sense of some of the order applications that are available for children. you are going to discuss that a little bit more in business briefing coming up inafew more in business briefing coming up in a few minutes time because it is a really tricky issue. the screens are so, a really tricky issue. the screens are so, so a really tricky issue. the screens are so, so drawing with the dopamine that triggers in the brain or all of us, adults, children alike. and many of you have pointed out that on my treat our used picture of a decade old gambler. apologies, i was trying

to illustrate children and screens. i will find something more up—to—date, i will see you soon for business briefing. the rest of this week stem of the cold side, temperatures below where they should be. we are watching this cold arctic s0 is pretty southwards across the uk over the last 2a hours. you can see that on the ms chart, the blue colours, the cold able be sticking around for the rest of this week and into the weekend. was up wednesday off on a chilly note with some frost around but at least bright sunshine, one or two showers peppering eastern coast. we'll have this band of showers across the irish seacoast pushing eastwards merging to produce long spells of rain, winter and is around high was not a dry side but with an

expanded brain which will move when late in the day for northern ireland, positive files in the south—west. anywhere/ anywhere you are it's going to eventually on wednesday, six to maybe 10 degrees. when i looked pretty wet, that first van der breggen —— band of rain, the second one merging over central part of the uk. mentoring is over high ground, blustery showers following on across the south—west. because there's more cloud, breeze and rain i don't think it's going to be quite as cold to start thursday. it's looking fairly atrocious with this area of low pressure parked on top of the uk, and is associated with the front looks like it could be very wet in places, particularly the central portions of the uk. a bit of uncertainty to its northern and southern extent, but it looks like it eastern, central parts of the uk a cousin to northern ireland which will be the brunt of the rain, localised flooding leading to travel disruption to stop to the north sunshine, showers and the hills, sunshine, showers and the hills, sunshine to the south, but —— blustery showers here, temperature

single digits for most. through thursday night a gradual improvement is that area of the pressure slowly clears away, for friday a bit of a hang back with breeze and rain in the south—east, but eventually were clear and after a cold start most places on friday should see very present conditions, a lot of sunshine around but it will still continue to be chilly but the best day of the week. it's a short lived funds by because the next area of low pressure moves and just in time for the weekend, but whether on saturday but asleep so i sat this was there a slow improvement on sunday. the rain will be heavier persisted in places, sleet and snow over the high ground, again across the north, like i mentioned it's a slow improvement on sunday.

this is the business briefing. i'm sally bundock. tightening the reins. investment powerhouse softbank looks set impose new restrictions on startups after its gamble on wework turned sour. a word in your ear. how audio could be the next big thing for kids in the digital age. and on the markets: