this is bbc news, the headlines: the us senate has acquitted president trump at the end of his impeachment trial. senators voted along party lines with mitt romney being the only republican to vote in favour of convicting the president. democrats said the acquittal meant little because republicans had refused to allow witnesses at the trial. the number of people in mainland china known to have died as a result of coronavirus has risen to 563. 73 people died on wednesday — most of them in the province of hubei. the total number of cases across china has reached 28,000. hollywood actor kirk douglas has died at the age of 103. star of spartacus and many other hollywood epics, he earned several 0scar nominations in the 1950s for both his acting and producing. his son, the actor michael douglas, described him as a movie legend and a great humanitarian.

now on bbc news, wednesday in parliament. hello and welcome to wednesday in parliament. on this programme: jeremy corbyn attacks boris johnson's handling of the climate change summit due to be held in glasgow later this year. why is the prime minister failing so spectacularly to measure up to the scale of the climate crisis that this country and indeed this planet is facing? but borisjohnson defends the government's record on climate change. this is the first country, the first major economy in the world to have set a target of carbon neutral by 2050. also on this programme, there's a fresh attempt to bring in no fault divorce.

labour says a review could leave some english councils with less money. and as the latest batch of new mps make their first speeches one pays tribute to the stepfather who inspired him. and unwittingly, starting on this path to westminster that died before i could be here. but first to prime minister's questions. the labour leader focussed his questions on comments by a former tory minister who's been sacked as president of a un climate summit due to be held in the uk later this year. we'll come to that in just a moment. but the prime minister opened the session by publicly stating his plan to introduce emergency legislation to make terror offenders serve more time in prison. it follows the shooting of sudesh amman by police after he stabbed two people in streatham, south london on sunday. amman had been released from prison on the 23rd of january after serving

half of his sentence for terror offences. at the start of pmqs, borisjohnson made clear he wanted to change the rules. the whole house will want to pay tribute to the police and all of the emergency services for their brave response to the terrorist incident on sunday. this appalling incident makes plain the case for immediate action and we will shortly introduce emergency legislation to make sure that we do everything to protect the public. jeremy corbyn also paid tribute to the emergency services, before turning to the un climate conference known as cop 26 due to be held in glasgow in november. more than 200 world leaders will attend in an attempt to agree a long term deal on rising temperatures. in a surprise move, the government sacked the president of the event former conservative minister, claire 0'neill, last week. in an interview she said the prime minister admitted he "doesn't really get" climate

change and said there was a "huge lack of leadership and engagement" from the government. so, jeremy corbyn asked the pm what she meant. borisjohnson described the government's record as "phenomenal". last year was the first year on record that renewables produced more of the energy of this country than fossil fuels. he will know since 2010, 99% of solar panels that have achieved that miracle were installed under this government. we are delivering for the people in this country and we are reducing greenhouse gases. all he would produce i'm afraid is a load of a hot air. jeremy corbyn said the government was set to miss it's carbon emissions targets and he turned to claims that both david cameron and william hague had turned down the job of cop 26 president. we discovered this morning that two former conservative leaders have also turned down the job formally done by his minister.

maybe it will be a third time lucky. maybe we can make a joint approach to the member for woodford green. maybe he would like to take on that job. he is over here and in the chamber all ready for it. his own former tory minister said we should have clear actions. an agreed plan. and a road map for the year of action. but we do not. so why is the prime minister failing so spectacularly to measure up to the scale of the climate crisis that this country and indeed this planet is facing? this is beyond satire. this is the first country, the first major economy in the world to have set a target of carbon neutral by 2050. something else that his ex—minister said — the prime minister promised to lead from the front and guaranteed there would be money and people. but these promises are not close to being met.

what on earth could she have been talking about? as so often i'm not entirely sure what the right honourable gentleman is talking about. we have cut co2 emissions in this country since 2010 on 1990 levels by 42%. 4296. that is an astonishing achievement and at the same time, the economy has grown by 73%. thanks to free market dynamic one—nation conservatism. that is our approach. what is his? his former minister said... my advice... well, you might not like it but i will read it. "my advice to anyone to whom the prime minister is making promises, whether it is voters, world leaders, ministers, employees or family members is getting in writing, get a lawyer to look at it, and make

sure that money is the bank." not my words. hers. the prime minister's failure in government means this country not meet its net zero target until 2099. this government has banned offshore wind and this government is funding billions on fossil fuel projects abroad. is this what his minister means by the absence of leadership? mr speaker, i think the grotesque failure of the leader of the opposition to understand what is happening in this country's economy, let alone in the fight against climate change, is quite mind—boggling. i can inform him today that this country is leading notjust in producing the technology to generate offshore wind, but the northeast of this country leads the world in producing and designing of those fantastic turbines. the snp‘s ian blackford suggested

the prime minister was taking a leaf out of another leader's book. in the first few days of brexit britain, this prime minister has sacked an official, taken an isolationist approach to trade, and banned the press from the downing street briefing. is he intentionally trying to impersonate donald trump? laughter. mr speaker, i don't think anybody listening to my speech — i think it was on monday — could have mistaken it for anything but the most passionate, internationalist, globalist, open, outward looking approach. there is only one party in this country that has nationalists in their name. that is them. they would break up the most successful political partnership over the last 300 years.

borisjohnson. legislation aimed at reducing "mudslinging" between divorcing couples in england and wales has attracted some strong criticism in the house of lords. the divorce, dissolution and separation bill is the biggest shake up of divorce laws in 50 years, according to the government. currently, one spouse must allege adultery or unreasonable behaviour by the other for divorce proceedings to start straightaway. if the bill passes, spouses will only have to state that the marriage or civil partnership has broken down irretrievably. in the lords, thejustice minister set out the case for the bill. it will not make divorce painless or an easy choice. it will not take away the difficult decisions couples have to make about their future lives. but it will pluck out the legal sting whose effects can be felt long into the future. this is a matter in which there is wide support for change from the public as well as from legal practitioners.

removing unnecessary conflict from the legal process of divorce will, we believe, create a more amicable environment in which a couple can agree their future arrangements. but not everyone agreed. while under certain circumstances divorce may well be the least worse option for some couples, this bill promotes individual choice over and at the expense of the sort of commitment self giving and sacrifice which lies at the heart of the married couple. reducing divorce to a statement made by one party that the marriage has broken down, in my view, undermines the seriousness with which marriage and divorce are regarded. a lib dem was concerned that there was no provision for a period of reflection. a couple could have a row, one partner could petition the application may be online come the whole legal process would commence.

most marriages have their rocky patches. but in my view, a period of reflection would facilitate sober consideration of the enormity of the step to be taken. a former lord chancellor disagreed with that. marriage involves two people and that their continued working together is essential for the continuation of the marriage. the idea that marriage can continue when one party has lost interest in it is really a complete fallacy. the marriage stops in effect if one of the parties acts in such a way that they no longer perform their marital obligations. but a conservative foresaw unintended consequences. a removal of faults sends a very strong signal that marriage can be unilaterally exited with no available recourse for the party who has been left.

commitment will become unreliable. the government's plans create a unilateral divorce. 0n the grounds that we already had a de facto. no—fault divorce is state approved unilateral divorce. i don't accept that this bill will lead to an increase in the overall number of divorces over time. and i say, while i refer to this having been through a divorce, when there was no financial conflict, no conflict over parental responsibilities, and yet the divorce for me and for my husband was a deeply and profoundly painful experience. and i believe every divorce is. you can say oui’s was as good as it can be. well, it was terrible actually. a labour peer reflected that once there had been a worthy aim of permanence in marriage. but we had moved away from that.

the baywatch star pamela anderson, who is a serial monogamist and perhaps an eternal optimist, was married onjanuary the 20th, we are told, but for both parties, for the fifth time, the marriage we are told lasted for but 12 days. that is perhaps the ultimate cheapening the institution of marriage. lord anderson. the death, at the hands of an abuser, of a vulnerable teenage girl in manchester 17 years ago was the focus of a debate in westminster hall. the case of victoria agoglia led to a joint investigation by greater manchester police and social services known as 0peration augusta. it uncovered a much wider web of potential perpetrators and victims. but the investigation, wound up after a year and has been the subject of a recent damning review. victoria, who was 15, was the victim of sexual exploitation, she died after a 50—year—old man

gave her heroin. the debate over what followed her death was instigated by a labour mp. the conclusion that the coroner came to, which i will quote directly, "there was no evidence of a gross failure to meet victoria's needs that would have had a significant bearing on her death. and that there would be no inference that the events leading to her death were reasonably foreseeable. " this girl had been raped, she claimed, sexually abused, assaulted, plied with drugs, for two years. and the coroner could not see how her death was reasonably foreseeable. the social workers knew about what was happening, they'd given her recommendations of what to do, but i think her death was imminent and foreseeable. return on a two—phase police and social services inquiry was launched

in 2004 but wound up due to lack of resources. i quote one thing with reference to what he just said. the decision to close down 0peration augusta ewas driven by the decision to by senior officers to remove the resources from the investigation, rather than a sound in standing that lies of inquiry have been successfully or exhausted. that is scandalous. graham stringer said there was a depressing recurrence to such dreadful cases. for the last 50 years, after children have been abused and murdered, many of them have become well— known names of well—known operations. it is always 89 recommendations after these failures. they are always agreed to, but we carry on getting reports like this report and children carry

on being abused. a former children's minister said one problem was that when children came forward they often weren't believed. victims were almost tarred as perpetrators for bringing it on themselves. some of the comments we've had in other studies before about referring to child prostitutes, there is no such thing as a child prostitute. if you are a child, and if you are engaged in sexual activity at the hands of somebody else, that is not prostitution. that is child abuse, child sex exploitation — plain and simple. and that phrase should have no place in our lexicon. these are children we are talking about. these are particularly vulnerable children who were ruthlessly exploited and taken advantage of by some very unpleasant individuals. a labour mp has chaired an inquiry with the children's

charity barnardos into sex offences against children. she wants to see a bigger strategy to tackle the problem. what i am concerned about is because it is an almost identical pattern of grooming and then sexual exploitation, which often then leads to trafficking and prostitution as the children become adults, why is there still no national strategy for disruption and key national strategy for prevention in this specific form of child abuse? and i would also say to the minister that there are incredibly close similarities between grooming and exploiting children for sex and grooming and exploiting children for criminal activities. a home office minister said that too often children had been left unprotected and that had to change. i want to make clear we will not accept this now. children and young people rely on us both government and local partners for support. it is therefore our duty to protect them from these appalling crimes,

their voices must be heard. we must recognise abuse for what it is and treat victims with empathy and respect, not doubt and suspicion. the government has driven change in the way these crimes are responded to and it is right that the child sexual abuse is now prioritised as a national threat. and we are absolutely clear that when victims come forward to report abuse, they suspect every effort to be made to bring offenders tojustice. kevin foster. you're watching wednesday in parliament, with me, alicia mccarthy. a former bbc chairman has warned the government not to weaken and impoverish the bbc. the culture secretary, nicky morgan, has launched a consultation looking at whether or not non—payment of the television licence should remain a criminal offence. lord grade told peers that the bbc

finances were under huge pressure as the corporation was now having to pay for free licences for some over 75s and... this feels like another attempt to impoverish the bbc and weaken it. may i remind my noble friend the minister and the government that the bbc is the cornerstone of the creative industries in this country which is one of the fastest growing sectors of the uk economy. it has huge, huge success in promoting the brand of great britain around the world. it is a fantastic engine for social mobility and weakening the bbc and impoverishing the bbc is so damaging to this country and should be abandoned immediately. i think the last thing this government wants to do is weaken or abandon an asset as strong and important as the bbc. the full charter review needs to be thought through and everything

will be included in that, including the funding model. we will make sure that the bbc remains the asset that we cherish that and a very changed world. i heard a case recently where an unmarried mother of four children hadn't paid her tv licence and was sent to prison for a month, with her children in order to go into care with the cost of the public purse of many tens of thousands. well i am very sorry to hear of that case and as we know, women and people from black and minority and ethnic communities are overly represented in those who are sanctioned for activation. lady baron. labour has warned that a review of how money is allocated to local councils in england could leave deprived communities, some of which voted conservative at the election, with less money. labour based its case on research by the local government association on the possible impact

of the funding review. but the government said it hadn't made any decisions about funding and accused labour of "scaremongering". the five most deprived local authorities in england are liverpool, knowsley, blackpool, kingston upon hull and middlesbrough. they have lost, since 2010, over the last decade, blackpool 21% of their funding, knowsley 25% of their funding, liverpool 23% of their funding, kingston upon hull, 22% of their funding, middlesbrough 21% of their funding. a 5% maximum increase in council tax in each of those local authorities raises nothing like the loss of grant funding that they have had. not all deprivation is found in urban areas.

and places like cornwall, that have had a raw deal of central government funding because of the formula put in place by the party opposite have for decades now receive lower levels of funding despite being one of the poorest parts of england and it is this government with the their fair funding review which is going to put that right. andrew gwynne returned to the research by the local government association or lga. this research from the tory lead lga has shown that many of the areas that voted conservative for the first time in 2019, the so—called red wall seats, areas that put their trust in the government for the first time, will see some of the largest cuts to social care funding if the plans go ahead in the way that have been outlined. the minister accused andrew gwynne of stirring up division. today we have heard him pit urban against rural areas, towns against cities, local government against national government.

a little later, the minister gave his view on those figures from the lga. i thought the honourable gentleman's scaremongering about those figures from the lga was deeply irresponsible. he knows... he knows that those figures are at best an estimate. he knows that those figures use old formula including the new, the old area costs adjustment and he knows that we are changing the area cost adjustment. if we thought it worked, we would not be doing that fairer funding review. and i think he should think on before he scares some of the most vulnerable and society with stories about cuts which will not... which will not be based on a true formula. jake berry. finally december‘s general election

brought more than 150 new mps to westminster. all of them have to make their first or maiden speech. the conservative for north norfolk spoke about his family. all of us know that a life of public service is a sacrifice. that really hit home in the middle of last year where my young daughter at school was heard saying on the playground, that she did not like the conservative party. laughter she's getting a bit embarrassed. when our friends asked why is that? and she answered that if my daddy wins they will take him away to london. and there was an emotional tribute to his stepfather, who had inspired him. and unwittingly... started me on this path to westminster but died before i could be here.

i stand here, wearing your shoes, my feet are killing me, and wearing your watch so you are with me today. i know you will be looking down, and i know your proudest achievement came true, we got brexit done. the mp forjarrow paid tribute to the last female mp for the constituency, ellen wilkinson. as a young trade unionists, she helped organise the suffragette pilgrimage in 1913, where more than 50,000 women marched to a mass rally in hyde park and in 1935 is the mp forjarrow and played a key role in organising the jarrow march, an iconic protest against the unemployment and poverty. ellen would be, as i am, outraged that today around two and a half thousand people are having to claim unemployment benefits in jarrow.

the new mp for keighley said his town had felt forgotten but that was starting to change. and i will be bold, i will be aspirational for my constituency. i am going to put keighley back on the map as the number one place to live, work and thrive. robbie moore on his ambitions for keighley. and that's it from me for now, but do join me at the same time tomorrow for another look at the day at westminster. but for now, from me, alicia mccarthy, goodbye. hello there. 0ur weather is expected to morph into something very wild this weekend. but in the meantime,

we still have high pressure to bring us fine and settled weather. in fact, you could call the next few days the calm before the storm. here is our area of high pressure, slowly retreating back towards the continent as we head through thursday and friday, but it's still going to be strong enough to influence our weather. light winds across central and southern areas means we could start this morning with some mist and fog patches, some of which could be quite dense and could be stubborn to clear. some areas might hold onto it all day. but for most it should clear eventually. and we should see variable amounts of cloud but also some sunny spells, most of the cloud across western scotland and into northern ireland. these temperatures generally peaking around 7—8 degrees, but colder than that where any fog lingers. as we head through thursday night it is going to stay dry again. more of a breeze picking up in the west, generally more of a breeze, so it looks like it shouldn't be quite so cold to start friday as what we've seen in the last few mornings. so we start friday off with a bit more breeze but also some sunshine and that means we're probably less likely to see some mist and fog.

so some good spells of sunshine through the day, wind picking up from the south, particularly across the western areas, where we'll see the first series of weather fronts bringing outbreaks of rain here. notice temperatures lifting to 10 degrees there. that first weather front spreads through on friday night, it will be quite a breezy night, even windy in the north—west. the rain eventually clears away from the east early on saturday morning and then we have got a window of fine weather. in fact, this sunny weather could be the best weather of the weekend for most of us. it will be turning windier, particularly in the west, gales starting to develop later in the day with this next weather front moving in with some heavy rain and snow on the hills. temperatures reaching highs of 8—9 degrees. it turns much windier on saturday night for all, but particularly across western areas, widespread gales here and outbreaks of heavy and persistent rain. now for sunday's named storm, we'll have to go back to the united states, where this low pressure‘s already developed. it has brought troublesome weather to the south and the east of the united states and will be picked up

by a very strong jet stream across the north atlantic as it hurtles towards our shores. and it's likely to bring some damaging winds. look at all the isobars on the chart associated with storm ciara. a lot of the models are agreeing with this, which is why the met office have named this storm very early on. so some concerns about storm ciara, which will arrive saturday night through sunday to bring some damaging winds, likely to have some disruptions, so stay tuned to the weather forecast.

our top stories: donald trump acquitted by the senate — just one republican votes against him. it is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said donald john trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charges in said articles. chinese authorities spray the streets — as the number of coronavirus deathsjumps by the biggest number in a single day so far. a plane breaks into three pieces after overshooting a runway in istanbul. one person is killed, many others are injured. i'm spartacus! and the hollywood actor, star of historical epics — kirk douglas — has died at the age of 103.