good afternoon. the chancellor's promising to spend almost £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of this week's budget. rishi sunak, says the "transport revolution" will bring public services in those areas in line with the capital. labour says the government lacks a coherent plan to transform regional economies and tackle the climate crisis. here's our political correspondent helen catt.

waiting for the train to arrive. it takes longer in the north of england and the midlands than in london, says the chancellor, and he sees no reason why that should be the case. so he'll confirm next week that england's city regions will get 5.7 billion for them to spend on improving transport. it will fund projects like a cycle superhighway in west bradford and new battery packs for merseyrail trains in the liverpool region. greater manchester will get just over £1 billion to start its plans to improve connections. some of it will go on new tram carriages for its metrolink services. it's absolutely going in the right direction. 0k. but it needs to be consistent year—on—year. one lump of cash does not make a london—style transport system. it's going to take a decade. £3 billion has previously been committed to improve bus services. rishi sunak will announce that 1.2 billion of that will we used to make fares simpler and cheaper and buses more frequent in some places.

it's not so much of a north—south divide, but there are many areas across the whole country that feel left behind and need levelling up. so areas that have very infrequent bus services, no service in the evenings and at weekends. and these glaring gaps in the current provision that need to be addressed. and from buses to babies, the chancellor will also announce a £500 million package to support children and parents. it will include £100 million of mental health support for new mums and dads and those still expecting. there will be £200 million for the supporting families programme, which helps the most vulnerable. and 82 million to fund family hubs, described as "one—stop shops for advice and guidance". they are similar in some ways to the sure start centres set up under tony blair. hundreds of those have closed since 2010. your viewers will make up their own minds. i is this just a revamp of an existing policy and why did they allow sure j start centres to wither on the vine? i can only assume it's the same approach to allow early years .

providers at this particular point in time to go by the wayside. i labour says the new plan is a sticking plaster, which rings hollow, but the government says the hubs will be an upgrade on sure start and will help children of all ages and their parents. helenjoins me now. so, the first details coming through what we can expect in the budget. yes, and i don't think it is much of a surprise the first things we think will be in there seem to fit with the idea of the government promise of levelling up, spreading investment or opportunity outside of the southeastern london and i think we will see more of these kind of announcements in the run—up to wednesday. it is worth bearing in mind the context in which this is happening, the other promise rishi sunak has made is he will fix the public finances and he says he's not going to borrow any more money, so the detail will come week of, well, if this money is going on this, what is it going on or coming from? the interesting thing is the way the transport money is being delivered, directly to the english city regions

to make those improvements, a political gamble for the government. if it doesn't work it has got some distance, if it does work, who gets the credit, the government although city regions?— a prominent adviser to the government on covid—19 has said he is "very fearful" there will be another "lockdown christmas", as he urged the public to do everything possible to reduce transmission of the virus. professor peter 0penshaw, a member of the new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group, known as nervtag, said case numbers and death rates are currently "unacceptable". do everything possible in your control to try to reduce transmission. don't wait for the government to change policy. and the sooner we all act, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down, and the greater the prospect of having a christmas with our families. the actor alec baldwin was told a gun was safe moments before he fatally shot a crew member on the set of his new film. that's according to new documents filed as part of the ongoing police investigation into the killing in new mexico.

0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. accidentally shot on a movie set by 6 mp gun _ we need help immediately. that call to the emergency services, the first public indication of the tragic events that had unfolded in the foothills of northern new mexico. police arrived to find halyna hutchins — an up—and—coming cinematographer — dead, and the film's director, joel souza, badly hurt. their injuries inflicted by the film's star, alec baldwin who — according to court documents — was handed a gun he was told was safe to use, but which was in fact loaded with a live round. in a statement, alec baldwin said he was cooperating with the police investigation. "there are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of halyna hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours," he wrote. this is not the first tragedy of its kind. nearly 30 years ago,

on the set of the film the crow, brandon lee — the son of martial arts expert bruce lee — died after being shot by a gun firing blanks. safety standards have been tightened on film sets since then, but on the family twitter account, brandon's sister, shannon, posted the message, "no—one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set, period." unconfirmed reports suggest that several crew members walked off the set in new mexico only hours before halyna hutchins died, in protest at working conditions and concerns about safety. as detectives comb the set for clues, the key question facing them is, how did a live round end up in a gun fired by alec baldwin? david willis, bbc news, los angeles. italy's former interior minister matteo salvini has gone on trial in sicily, accused of preventing a migrant boat from

docking in august 2019. mr salvini, the leader of the right—wing league party, is charged with kidnapping and dereliction of duty. a number of other former government ministers in italy have been called to give evidence. ahead of the climate summit cop26 — which starts in a week's time, in glasgow — the world's biggest oil exporter, saudi arabia, says it's aiming to reach net—zero carbon emissions by 2060. meanwhile, the environmental activist greta thunberg has called for honesty from the world leaders about where they are failing to stop climate change. one of the messages that we have is, be honest about where you are, how you have been failing, how you are still failing us and how they spend their time, instead of trying to find solutions, real solutions, that would actually lead somewhere, that would lead to a substantial and fundamental change, they seem to spend their time trying to come up with loopholes to find excuses for them.

greta thunberg. with all the sport now, here's gavin ramjaun, at the bbc sport centre. hi there, it is good to see you. england getting their campaign in the t20 underway soon against the west indies who beat them in 2016. england looking to make history, patrick geary reports. these are some of the most destructive batsmen in the world, and they are english. england have their pick of batters who are prized by t20 franchises across the globe. so, earning your spot depends on runs, not rank. even the captain isn't sure of his place in the team. i'm not going to stand in the way of a team winning the world cup and i've obviously been short on runs.

my captaincy has been pretty good, as it goes. it's been a batting line—up that people have struggled to get into for a very long time. part of that is the whole of the batting unit buying into the way that the team wants to play. after all, t20 is cricket at its most ruthless. heartbreak for england, i heartbreak for ben stokes. west indies batsman carlos brathwaite hit four successive sixes, which crushed england in the final over of the world t20 cricket final. england must confront the ghosts of kolkata immediately. the team that snatched the last world t20 from them then will now face them again — west indies. no stokes now, but are england stronger? they've come through the last couple of years and built momentum as a team. i think their experience in world tournaments, the last t20 world cup, where they got to the final, winning obviously the 2019 50—over world cup. i think the bulk of the players that played in those tournaments are still around for this

tournament now, so knowing how to deal with pressure, plus the exciting young players that they're bringing through. the tournament will, in one sense, take place outside england's comfort zone. united arab emirates and 0man have never hosted a major tournament before. it will, many think, be a competition dominated by spin but, in t20, what's less clear is which way things will turn. patrick gearey, bbc news. it's going to be an historic day at wembley, with england's women playing a competitive match there for the first time. northern ireland are the visitors, and both sides have yet to drop a point in world cup qualifying so far. 0ur reporterjo currie is there. good to see you. yes, it is hard to believe the _ good to see you. yes, it is hard to believe the lionesses _ good to see you. yes, it is hard to believe the lionesses have - good to see you. yes, it is hard to believe the lionesses have never. believe the lionesses have never played a competitive fixture here at the home of english football and they have only ever played two friendlies at wembley, the last of which was two years ago, so a momentous occasion for the england players later tonight and they start

as heavy favourites against northern ireland. not only are they ranked a0 places against the visitors, but they also are a professional side and northern ireland are at best a semiprofessional side. and northern ireland are at best a semiprofessionalside. neitherside have dropped points in their world cup qualifying campaign so far, with two played and two won. lee williamson will captain the side again in the absence of the usual skipper steph houghton. but the pictures looking wonderful, kick—off here is at 5:15pm and it should be a momentous occasion. it here is at 5:15pm and it should be a momentous occasion.— momentous occasion. it should be indeed, momentous occasion. it should be indeed. thank _ momentous occasion. it should be indeed, thank you, _ momentous occasion. it should be indeed, thank you, 10 _ momentous occasion. it should be indeed, thank you, 10 currie - momentous occasion. it should be indeed, thank you, 10 currie at - indeed, thank you, jo currie at wembley. england's men and women are in rugby league action against france today — the men kick off at 2.30, and that's live on bbc one. the women's game is already under way, though. and it's been all england so far. they lead 22—0. paige travis with the pick of their three tries in the first half. that's live on bbc two right now. there's much more going on, including chelsea against norwich in the early premier league game. chelsea leading 2—0 already. you can follow it on

the bbc sport website. thank you, gavin. you can see more on all of today's stories on the bbc news channel. the next news on bbc one is at quarter past five. bye for now. hello. you're watching the bbc news channel with me. joanna gosling. more than 200 incidents of drink and injection spiking have been reported to police forces across the uk since september. the national police chiefs' council say there have been 198 confirmed reports of people having their drinks spiked, while there were 2a reports of someone being injected. two men have been arrested as part of an ongoing investigation into spiking incidents in nottingham. jason harwin is the lead for drugs on the national police chiefs' council. he says police are taking this type of crime seriously. importantly, it is about making the environment very hostile for those who believe they can

commit the offence. so what we are certainly doing at the minute is working with licensed premises, working with universities and wider partnerships to firstly make sure more of us are alert within those environments to stop such offences taking place and ultimately making it more of a chance of catching those responsible. the other part ultimately for us is making sure if people do believe they've been a victim of spiking or recent injection issues, then it is really important to report that to the police very, very quickly, and therefore hopefully secure additional evidence. 0ne offence is far too many, but the reality at the moment is these are occurring and have unfortunately been occurring for a length of time. the reality from policing them is probably the most heightened awareness and work we have done for a long time in this environment to make it hostile and make sure we are catching those responsible. as you touched on earlier, we have obviously made some arrests for this already. the important bit here is it is about the partnership response and, whilst, yes, it is individual choice about if they want to go out in the night—time economy, we do want people to be able to go out and about their normal business, and to be able to enjoy the night—time economy. clearly, businesses need

people to go out and enjoy the night—time economy, and therefore it is in everybody�*s interest to make sure it is safe and feels as safe as it possibly can. we are really determined from this end, we have been working really hard, notjust in the last few weeks, but certainly in terms of policing, recognising lead partners and victims, butjust as importantly if there is a connection between these offences, which are happening in scotland and south of england and wales, we need to work as a collaborative partnership with law enforcement and the wider partnerships, particularly with those who have been affected, to address the issue. and again, stamp it out because it is not good enough. we recognise the impact and we do intend to do more. cycling has become hugely popular during the pandemic and many people are willing to spend thousands of pounds on their bikes. that, though, has increasingly made them a target for criminals and police are expecting an increase in "bike—jackings" in the run up to christmas. zoe conway reports. this is a picture of bike—jackers making off with a £7,000 bike. their attack on cyclist mark redfield took seconds mark radfield took seconds and it was terrifying. ijust suddenly noticed that

i was being followed by a motorbike, and it wasn't overtaking me, which was strange. so i looked back and i could just see them eyeballing my bike, and then next thing i know they pull up alongside me, pull out a machete and were like, "give me your bike." my reaction was just to flee as quickly as possible, and then they hit me with the motorbike at, like, 36 kilometres per hour, and then i went flying, hit the floor. by the time i had got up, the guys were holding their machete out, because it was outside of school, so no—one would approach. and then they picked the bike up and then got on the back of the bike, and that was the end of that. it was over in about — under a0 seconds, so it was really, really quick. there have now been four similar attacks in richmond park, in london, in the last fortnight. alex richardson was one of the victims. he is a professional cyclist. they dragged me along the floor with the bike, and at that point they slowed it down again and took out this

machete, at which point i thought, right, they are going to take this, so i had better leave it at that. the attacks have left cyclists in london fearful. these are members of the islington cycling club, which is the biggest in the capital. what was your reaction when you heard about what had happened to alex richardson? it was absolutely horrendous. it got sort of shared between all of us, and as soon as the news came out, everyone was sharing the story. we have had instances of things like this happening to some of our club members previously, but it never sort of was this bad. people would be shoved off a bike, but they were never weapons but there were never weapons involved, or anything like that. it is really terrible, horrendous. really quite scary, and i would certainly think twice about riding on my own now. really? yes, absolutely. i probably wouldn't ride on my own in the evenings now. the use of mopeds to carry out street robberies is hardly new,

but normally involves things like mobile phones and handbags being stolen. it is quite a cowardly act, but what they do is go two up on a moped, which is often stolen or not registered, and they will patrol known footfall areas and snatch that phone or anything of high value, a watch, jewellery, these are all items that can be quickly removed from an individual. this is the met�*s operation venice in action. it says the unit has dramatically cut the number of thefts. however, they are expecting the number of robberies to go up again as people are out on the streets in the lead up to christmas. it is not hard to understand why bikes are being stolen. they can be worth a fortune. how much, on average, do you think people in your club spend on a bike? i would say maybe about £1500 to £2000, and that ranges from intro bikes, beginner bikes,

which are just shy of the £1,000 mark, up to ten grand. these cyclists say demand for bikes has been going up during the pandemic as more people take up the sport. while the supply has struggled to keep up. nazarin made a four hour round trip to hampshire to buy hers. it was the only bike i could find in the country. went all the way down to the new forest to collect it. really? yes. why is that? were you being fussy? no, i wasn't being fussy. it was literally the only bike i could get that was my size. these attacks leave many cyclists rattled, but the ones i have spoken to say they are determined to keep going to ensure the robbers don't win. zoe conway, bbc news. police believe a four—year—old girl who disappeared almost a week ago in the australian outback was abducted from her tent. a reward of1 million australian dollars — which is more than half a million pounds — has been offered for

information on her disappearance. the bbc�*s sydney correspondent, phil mercer, explained the details surrounding this case. i think this reward, this huge1 million australian dollar reward, is pretty unusual to be offered so early in an investigation. it is an indication, i think, as to how worried the authorities are about cleo smith. she was last seen on a family camping trip about 550 miles to the north of perth just over a week ago and the authorities are of the belief that she was taken sometime during the night. a brief timeline — the family arrived at this campsite north of perth. the young girl went to bed at about eight o'clock in the evening. at 1:30 in the morning she woke up for some water. at 6:00am — so a few hours later — she was gone. and what leads the authorities to believe she was snatched during the night is that the zip had been opened, apparently to a height well beyond that of a four—year—old girl.

this is a massive search. the search near the campsite has now been wound down, it is now a broader criminal investigation, not only spanning the state of western australia, which is about ten times the size of the united kingdom, but this is a nationwide hunt forfour—year—old cleo smith. and the authorities in western australia say that her suspected abduction strikes right at the heart of the community. but they do have grave fears for her safety. as european leaders gathered for the final day of the eu summit in brussels, migrants, energy prices and poland's ongoing row with the european union were all under discussion. but it was also a day to pay tribute to the woman who s been a pillar, holding the eu together for so long. german chancellor, angela merkel, taking her seat at the table for what s likely to be the last time. tanya dendrinos reports. guten tag.

a trip down memory lane, winding the clock back to 2005 and angela merkel�*s first eu summit as german chancellor. on friday, after attending more than 100 during her tenure, she marched the familiar path for its likely final time. translation: this is probably my last european council. _ in this respect i would also like to thank you for the good cooperation at all times of the day and night. after all, that is what europe offers. and it has always been a pleasure for me, as it is for me now, to answer your questions. the full agenda was business as usual in terms of deliberations, but there was still time to pay tribute to the woman who has helped steer the eu through economic and migration crises to the covid—19 pandemic. while her legacy will be mixed, known as a pragmatist rather than a visionary,

she is still by far the longest serving among current eu leaders. translation: she is someone who, for 16 years, has really _ left her mark on europe. she has helped all 27 of us to make good decisions with a lot of humanity at times that were difficult. i recalled in 2020 july, very up for the discussion on the financial framework, the resilience fund, and in critical moments, angela was that lady, that madam who intervened and helped us to find a solution. her influence spanning far beyond europe. so many people, girls and boys, men and women, have had a role model who they could look up to through challenging times. i know, because i am one of them. the next european council is in december. it is likely to paint a picture of what the next chapter in european history might look like.

as this leader, once dubbed queen of europe, departs from her throne. tanya dendrinos, bbc news. the high demand for lorry drivers and a changing jobs market during the pandemic have seen many people switching careers to become hgv drivers. our reporter, ian barmer, has been to meet one mum who's just passed her test, to see how she's getting on in her new role. driving is only part of the job. yasmin is now in charge of an 18 tonne truck and that means making sure the load is safe for the road. with a new class 2 hgv licence under her belt, she delivers everything from beer to bathroom suites to dog food. going through the test process was a little bit stressful but i have done it now and it feels good to be on the road.

yasmin was a showjumper and used to drive the horses around in a truck, which meant she already had some experience. she decided she needed a new challenge during lockdown. i was one of those young mums sitting at home, hadn't even considered it as a job role at all and all of a sudden here i am and i really enjoy it. yeah, definitely young mums can do it, and young dads. but the newjob hasn't been straightforward. yasmin has a 20—month—old daughter and she admits her easiest option would have been staying at home. instead she chose to work, but it means for now she cannot drive long distances, which would take her away. i had gone from being with my daughter more or less all the time to putting her in child care and having to go to work full—time, but if you enjoy driving lorries, it is not something everyone can do. so once you are qualified, you want to finish it off and get out there. yasmin is one of 35 trainee drivers taken on by bartrum's since easter

to ease the driver shortage. the company believe things are starting to get better. certainly what we are seeing is some green shoots in the industry. i feel the corner has been turned. nationally and also as a business. bartrum's, we are investing in staff, putting people through their class two, class one licenses. that is hugely beneficial and it is paying dividends now. yasmin is already planning to get her class one hgv licence and move up to the biggest trucks on the road. andy, mike and tim are three dads doing a huge charity walk in memory of their daughters, who all took their own lives. in the last two weeks, they've covered 300 miles and raised more than £a50,000. the bbc�*s alison freeman has been looking back at their incredible journey.

five weeks ago it was just the three of us, but all of a sudden it has just been incredible, the support we have had from across the nation, from celebrities down to individual people offering us acts of kindness as we have gone down. we've got to be happy with what we have achieved. the fact we have seem to have struck a chord with so many people hasjust the fact we seem to have struck a chord with so many people hasjust been stunning, really. we hope to raise some money, . we hope to raise some awareness, |you know, but it is tremendous, j it's overwhelming, and we really hope we have helped. they are the three dads walking, and they have captured the imagination of the nation. tim, andy and mike found each other after their daughters emily, sophie and beth took their own lives. so to try and raise awareness of the help that is out there for anyone contemplating

suicide, they took on an epic challenge. they have walked the 300 miles between their homes in cumbria, greater manchester and norfolk over the past 15 days. having set out to raise £3,000 each for suicide prevention charity papyrus, their total has now exceeded £a50,000. come on, andy! donations have come in from those following theirjourney, from celebrities like nicole kidman and daniel craig — who have given £10,000 each — and prince william has even written a letter to the dads. along the way they have heard many other stories, like tracy's, whose son charlie took his own life. because they know what we're going through, but we are going through, we are all in the same club, not one you want to be in at all. and to actually talk to other people who are going through the same has been just, it has just been amazing. and alfie, who is 23, a friend of tim's daughter — he has also experienced dark times. i was diagnosed with autism when i was nine years old.

that led to quite a difficult time in mainstream school. i was very isolated, bullied for ten years, had food thrown at me, nobody even bother to say hello. that led to me being very depressed, i had time out of school and tried to commit suicide four times. my wildlife photography became an escape from the bullying and that saved my life, really. meeting all those different people has been fantastic, humbling, inspiring, just so many words to describe it, but it has been a great 15 days, and these two guys have really made it for me. talking about our girls all day, every day, so it is like they are travelling with us all the time. we have come from a terribly bad place after losing, you know, - emily, sophie and beth. it has given us direction.

and i hope other parents, other people see this and see there is hope, there - is hope, you can go on, . you can make a difference. this morning they will cross the finish line outside tim's local pub. and while they have raised a vast sum of money, they have also got people talking about suicide in the hope they can prevent more young lives being lost. just a reminder... if you need help and advice regarding any of the issues in that report, there are links on the bbc action line website. a coastal town has received a £a1 million donation from the woman behind fisherman's friend cough sweets. businesswoman doreen lofthouse, who died in march, aged 91, has left her fortune to a charity that strives to develop her hometown of fleetwood.

fleetwood town council said it was "overwhelmed by the generosity". now it's time for a look at the weather, let's cross the newsroom to nick miller. let me take you through the rest of the weekend, turned a little milder today but plenty of cloud, weather front approaching from the outline to, some rain across northern and western scotland pushing east across northern ireland through the afternoon. forthe northern ireland through the afternoon. for the west it may encounter some patchy rain, 12—1a top temperatures, brighter breaks in eastern scotland and england, when ds in the western isles, 50 mph gusts and a wet night and western scotland, up to a0 millimetres of rain, and the house, travel disruption possible, mild to come, rain pulling away by the morning and to the west of the wales