hello and a very warm welcome to the programme. i'm sally bundock. thames water is in talks to secure extra funding, as the government says it is ready to act in a worst case scenario if the company collapses. the water firm, which serves a quarter of the uk population, has billions in debt and is under pressure with its boss resigning unexpectedly on tuesday. the firm leaks more water than any other water company in uk, losing the equivalent of up to 250 olympic size swimming pools every day from its pipes. celia hatton reports. the future of the uk's biggest water company is far from watertight. but the government is reassuring thames water's 15 million customers they won't lose access to water as work continues behind the scenes to

try to rescue it from collapse. thames water is £14 billion in debt and in crisis mode after the surprise resignation of its ceo on tuesday. no clear reason has been given for sarah bentley's departure. misses are considering a plan to bring the utility giant temporarily under public ownership if it can't sort out its debts. we public ownership if it can't sort out its debts. we need to make sure _ sort out its debts. we need to make sure that _ sort out its debts. we need to make sure that thames - sort out its debts. we need to make sure that thames water sort out its debts. we need to i make sure that thames water is an entity survives. there is a lot of work that the government is trying to do on resolving sewerage. up until now the regulator has been focused on keeping consumer bills down, there is a lot of infrastructure work that needs to take place. privatised in 1989, analysts say thames water should be a simple moneymaker. after all, should be a simple moneymaker. afterall, it should be a simple moneymaker. after all, it is selling a product that everyone needs. but problems are springing up all over. there is mounting public outrage over continued

sewerage spills and wasteful water leaks. we have a perfect storm with inflation, with the revelations of the need for a sewerage investment that has been under invested in all this time, and the cost—of—living crisis. so all of this when you have a very shaky financial structure is going to be difficult.— structure is going to be difficult. . , ~ ., difficult. thames water says the are difficult. thames water says they are in _ difficult. thames water says they are in a _ difficult. thames water says they are in a strong - difficult. thames water says they are in a strong liquidity| they are in a strong liquidity position, the company took on a lot of that when interest rates were lower and those debts have now claimed to a percent of the company's value. a uk water companies might also be in trouble. in december the water regulator ofwat expressed concerns of the financial resilience of thames water along with four other companies, southern, yorkshire, ses, and portsmouth. critics blame mismanagement that prioritised shareholders over customers. those shareholders are now under pressure to put the company's head above water

before the government stepped in. celia hatton, bbc news. we will have more on the future of thames water in our business programme in half—an—hour, when we will be speaking to kate bayliss, who you heard in celia's report. to france now, where president macron has said the fatal shooting of a teenager by police in paris is unforgivable. the 17—year—old was killed last night after failing to stop when ordered to by police. french president emmanuel macron said the shooting of nahel was unforgivable. adding that the case was immediately referred to the courts where he hoped justice would "do itsjob quickly". his death sparked protests and clashes, with dozens of cars set alight. fires have been started in an area of toulouse, in the south, and there have been some clashes in lille in the north, at a demonstration against police violence. our reporter pierre—antoine denis has been following

developments. the whole violence stems from the fact that when we first heard about this death, and when we first heard about the story, it also came with a statement from the police saying that the police officers were feeling threatened and had to shoot at nahel because he refused to comply and became a threat to the police officers to try to arrest and question him. but there is a video posted on social media that you can see on the bbc news website had a completely different tale of the story. we can see the police officers were not directly threatened by nahel. this is what created a lot of anger among the youth in france, saying that maybe they should film everything. it has taken has been created on twitter, that everything is to be recorded, every interaction with police officers needs to be recorded because simply we cannot trust the police. and all of these protests are a result of the lack of trust

between the french youth and the police officers, especially in neighbourhoods like nanterre. one thing that is different in this case compared to what we have seen in the pastis to what we have seen in the past is the executive, the french authorities have taken the side of the family rather than either being cautious or with the police and that completely angered the police union, president macron said this was an excusable and unforgivable and unspeakable as well. this is a complete change of tone than what we usually see from the french government. now, on thursday a long process will happen, where everyone will happen, where everyone will wear white and try to be as peaceful as possible, but we are may be looking at yet another night and another evening of violence. we are keeping a close eye on what happens next in france. let's turn to the story that

captured the world's attention and ultimately ended in tragedy. almost a week on from the revelation the titan submersible imploded while exploring the wreck of the titanic, the us coast guard has said presumed human remains have been recovered. wreckage of the titan submersible has been recovered and brought back to shore. these are the first images of the debris. five people died when the titan broke apart close to the sea floor, less than two hours after it had begun its dive. a crane was used to unload the debris from the horizon arctic ship in the harbour at the canadian port of stjohn�*s. those directly involved in the recovery operation said: there is still a substantial amount of work to be done to understand the factors that led to the catastrophic loss of the titan and help ensure a similar tragedy does not occur again. the presumed human remains will be analysed by medical officials.

our correspondent peter bowes has the latest. the coastguard is stressing that this investigation is still in its early stages. the painstaking task of bringing to breed, bringing parts from the titan back to the surface then back to shore so that investigators can take a close look at it. this is wreckage thatis look at it. this is wreckage that is drawn over a wide area on the seabed close to the wreckage of the titanic at a depth of almost 4000 metres. extremely difficult conditions. that's why this investigation, this whole process could take a long time. as far as the presumed human remains are concerned, that are mentioned in the later statement by the coastguard, the coastguard stating that those remains will be looked at, they will be analysed by us medical professionals. no further reference was made to remains

or, indeed, the retrieval of the bodies in that statement. stressing once again, the coastguard saying this is an interagency, international effort to bring that debris back to the surface and clearly many questions are still outstanding. it is generally understood that it seems as if there was an implosion of this vessel about 90 minutes into its dive, but the outstanding question is what caused it? what happened in the minutes leading up to it? and the ultimate goal of course is to prevent anything like this from happening again. there will be a public investigation and much of the evidence that is being gathered now will be part of that enquiry, as will be interviews that have been conducted with those personnel who were involved with the original dive and no doubt this enquiry will address the many questions that have been raised since this disaster, questions

raised about safety, but seemingly questions that were raised long before this dive took place. peter bowes there. professor blair thornton from the university of southampton suggests what investigators might be looking for. so, nothing will be an investigation to try to understand what actually happened during that implosion and try to find out what the cause of it was. so in those pictures you could see the hemispherical end caps where the window, the viewport that you could see, one of the end caps was clearly not there. you could also see that there were titanium rings, these would have been the phalanges that the carbon fibre structure was adhered to, was bonded to. so i think the investigations will focus around those areas where the components such as the viewport�*s and the location

where the carbon fibre was bonded to the titanium ring will look for evidence of what happened in those areas. for example, looking whether there is any of the carbon fibre material or the bonding material or the bonding material that was used to still remaining on the titanium rings will be part of the investigation. will be part of the investiuation. �* , , , ., investigation. let's bring you up-to-date _ investigation. let's bring you up-to-date on _ investigation. let's bring you up-to-date on the _ investigation. let's bring you up-to-date on the latest - up—to—date on the latest concerning ukraine. where president volodymyr zelensky says an alleged russian agent involved in the attack on the city of kramatorsk will be charged with treason. eleven people, including three teenagers, were killed in tuesday's missile strike on a popular restaurant. mr zelensky said those helping russia destroy lives deserve the "maximum penalty". let's get some of the day's other news now. analysis shows staff sickness in the nhs in england has reached a record high, with time off last year the equivalent of the health service losing almost 75,000 of its workforce. the study compiled on behalf of bbc news shows the sickness

rate was almost a third higher in 2022 compared with three years earlier. the commons privileges committee, which found that boris johnson misled parliament, is due publish a special report today strongly criticising the mps who attacked its work. the committee, which has a conservative majority, says there was a sustained attempt to undermine the inquiry. three of the uk's biggest mortgage lenders have increased the rates on their mortgages from today. halifax, hsbc, and nationwide have increased theirfixed rate and tracker mortgages after the bank of england's 13th consecutive interest rate rise last week to 5%, the highest since 2008. the average rate for a two—year fixed has now hit 6.30%. peers have called for special internet deals for those on benefits to be free of vat to get more people online.

a report by a lords committee said those without internet are at a disadvantage when looking forjobs. 1.7 million households have no mobile or broadband internet at home. scientists have developed a new tool that uses artificial intelligence to look for early signs of dementia. they say it will ease the pressure on assessment services and allow treatment to start earlier. the tool uses a virtual character, which can be accessed on a device at home. staying with news here in the uk. the findings of the long—running public inquiry into undercover policing are due to be published later today. it is the first part of an inquiry covering the actions of a metropolitan police unit between 1968 to 1982. it was set up in 2015 by then—home secretary theresa may in response to criticism over various tactics used by undercover officers. june kelly reports.

london 1968 and a huge demonstration outside the american embassy against the vietnam war. involved in gathering intelligence, a newly formed undercover police unit, the special demonstration squad. forthe the special demonstration squad. for the next 40 years, ses officers infiltrated left—wing and progressive groups on a long—term basis, passing back information to scotland yard and m15. their targets included anti—apartheid campaigners, including peter, now lord hain, who went on to become a labour cabinet minister. he is one of those who gave evidence to the first phase of the public enquiry into undercover policing. the enquiry had, the celia judge sirjohn meeting, is producing his first report today. another

political activist, richard juston, discovered in the 1970s he was befriended by a police spy. i he was befriended by a police s- . he was befriended by a police 5. _ ., he was befriended by a police s- . . ., spy. i felt that he had betrayed _ spy. i felt that he had betrayed us _ spy. i felt that he had. betrayed us politically, spy. i felt that he had - betrayed us politically, but i didn't know until the enquiry and all that has emerged in the enquiryjust how much personal details he had conveyed to m15 about me and also my friends and family. about me and also my friends and family-— about me and also my friends and famil . , .,, and family. the enquiry opened in 2020. and family. the enquiry opened in 2020- it _ and family. the enquiry opened in 2020. it currently _ and family. the enquiry opened in 2020. it currently involves i in 2020. it currently involves nearly 250 four participants and so far it's cost over £64 million. it's emerged that down the decades, as well as taking part in protest, the undercover officers spied on families, use the names of dead children as part of the cover, and in some cases as sexual relationships with the women that they were targeting. among them with the newspaper this officer, real

name mark kennedy. he was unmasked in 2010 at the start of the spike ops scandal. today's report is examining who knew what and the damage the undercover police did. june kelly, bbc news. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news. voiceover: bbc news, bringing you different stories from across the uk. during lockdown tamara who lives in middle button could not visit her nephew dominic, it inspired her to organise the run five kilometres every day and may forjoe vitt challenge, hundreds of people have completed the fundraising runs, sometimesjoining completed the fundraising runs, sometimes joining tamara and herfamily. it’s sometimes “oining tamara and herfamily._ her family. it's a massive commitment _ her family. it's a massive commitment and - her family. it's a massive l commitment and everyone her family. it's a massive - commitment and everyone has said to me the team would like, it is the third year, it is easy for you. know, it is the third year, it is easy foryou. know, because it is the third year, it is easy for you. know, because i know what is coming, it is worse for me, what is nice about it somebody gets an injury or has been over two days, the rest of the team will

pick up their kilometres, as a team it was a relating stop her son also has the syndrome chair of a national charity supporting families. has already been _ supporting families. has already been raised - supporting families. has already been raised it will help families across the uk affected by the syndrome. —— £240. voiceover: for more stories across the uk, head to the bbc news website. you're live with bbc news. now onto the details of a new report. since the 21st century began, war has never cost humanity so much. the number of conflict deaths almost doubled in 2022 compared to the previous year, and war caused a 13% loss of international gdp, according to the global peace index. callum tulley has been looking at the data. theindex the index tells us conflict is are at their highest levels of the century, incredible when

you consider we have had the syrian civil war, the invasion of iraq, the conflict in afghanistan to name a few in this time. these kind of deaths have increased by almost 100% in the last year. as you can imagine part of that is being fuelled by the war in ukraine which the index estimates has seen over 83,000 deaths with around 65% of 20—24 —year—old males having either fled the country or died. yet it is nt grey and ethiopian where the most lives have been lost due to conflict, they have seen 100,000 people die on the battlefield and a further 200,000 die as a result of disease orfamine. disease or famine. interestingly disease orfamine. interestingly ethiopian is disease or famine. interestingly ethiopian is not considered to be the least safe country, part of that is because although the conflict has had devastating consequences for the whole country, the fighting has been focused on the north,

integrate, as i say it countries like afghanistan which tops this table and yemen and syria which have been gripped by long, protracted civil wars, over gripped by long, protracted civilwars, overa gripped by long, protracted civil wars, over a long period of time, which means they are considered to be the least peaceful countries. —— tigray. kellen looking at the global peace index. scientists say they've found the first evidence of low—frequency gravitational waves that are thought to be constantly rolling through space. the leading theory is that the waves are caused by the merger of supermassive black holes at the heart of distant galaxies, as our science correspondent, pallab ghosh reports.. at the heart of every galaxy is thought here is a photo of the one at the centre the mass became that big by colliding

with other huge black holes inside atjodrell bank and across the world think they have pollsters which i like nature �*s clock. doctor hannah middleton tells me ideas on how galaxies emerge and grow have all been theoretical. until maybe now. all been theoretical. until maybe "ow-— all been theoretical. until maybe now. we believe that aalaxies maybe now. we believe that galaxies in _ maybe now. we believe that galaxies in the _ maybe now. we believe that galaxies in the blacks - maybe now. we believe that galaxies in the blacks holes| maybe now. we believe that i galaxies in the blacks holes at the centre of them grow at the time it emerges, we have not got evidence for this is yet. this is a signature of these mergers are tells us about the formation of galaxies throughout the universe. astronomers have made the detections by measuring signals coming from spinning objects in space called pulsars, which are flashing stars at the end of their lives. pulsars are the lighthouses of the universe, sending out bursts of radio waves at regular intervals. researchers noticed something

was changing their speed ever so slightly. they think it is caused by gravitational waves, constantly bombarding the earth. and the source, they believe, is giant black holes in orbit around each other, all across space. these are at the heart of distant galaxies, orbiting each other, the forces between them are so powerful that they distort time and space but send ripples of gravitational waves across the universe. the lovell telescope is among a network of observatories that have picked up observatories that have picked up these gravitational waves copy astronomers want to use them to study the black holes. apparently the signal we are seeing is a noisy background from all over space, a bit like being in a noisy restaurant with people talking all around you. what we hope is that in the near future we will be able to zoom in and listen to some individual conversations, take measurements from individual black holes and then zoom in

and study them. the researchers now have a _ and study them. the researchers now have a new— and study them. the researchers now have a new way _ and study them. the researchers now have a new way to _ and study them. the researchers now have a new way to study - and study them. the researchers now have a new way to study the cosmos, they hope to learn how galaxies formed and discover new things that may reveal how the universe first came into existence. pallab ghosh, bbc news. new figures show that prices for package holidays to many popular destinations have risen steeply over the last year. the average price of a week with full food and board in majorca in spain is up 21%. prices for tenerife have risen more than 22%, figures from travelsupermarket showed. our cost of living correspondent colletta smith reports. when it comes to chat about holidays in here, they are professionals.— holidays in here, they are professionals. the first thing everybody — professionals. the first thing everybody says. _ professionals. the first thing everybody says, any - everybody says, any

appointment.- everybody says, any appointment. everybody says, any anointment. , ., ,, ., appointment. do they talk about holida s? appointment. do they talk about holidays? sophie _ appointment. do they talk about holidays? sophie is _ appointment. do they talk about holidays? sophie isjust- appointment. do they talk about holidays? sophie isjust about i holidays? sophie isjust about to go but there is one left —— last thing on the to—do list. i like orange. last thing on the to-do list. i like orange. she _ last thing on the to-do list. i like orange. she is _ last thing on the to-do list. i like orange. she is going - last thing on the to-do list. i like orange. she is going on| like orange. she is going on hohda like orange. she is going on holiday to — like orange. she is going on holiday to crete _ like orange. she is going on holiday to crete with - like orange. she is going on holiday to crete with 25 - like orange. she is going on. holiday to crete with 25 other family members, this year they have opted for all inclusive. it is mainly for my brothers because they all have kids, so much easier for them to know they do not have to take any other money, they can get what they want. other money, they can get what they want-— other money, they can get what they want. fabulous. no wonder they want. fabulous. no wonder the are they want. fabulous. no wonder they are thinking _ they want. fabulous. no wonder they are thinking about - they want. fabulous. no wonder they are thinking about trying i they are thinking about trying to keep a lid on those costs, as travel supermarket told us crete has seen one of the biggest cry —— price increases. package holidays at 9% on average, travel insurance up 10.5% for an annual multitrip, airport parking prices up 9.5%, the only relief as car hire charges which have dropped more

than 36% after a huge spike last summer. the other thing is the price of everything when you get on holiday, inflation is happening everywhere at the moment, research from the bb so showed the cost of 23 basic items france came out the most expensive, then spain, then italy in the uk. if you are depending on a cheap eyed or cheap loaf of bread you might be stung for more than you hope. be stung for more than you ho e. , ., ., , , hope. there is no doubt it is affecting — hope. there is no doubt it is affecting people _ hope. there is no doubt it is affecting people more - hope. there is no doubt it is affecting people more thanl affecting people more than others people managing to travel are tripping smaller. there are things people can do to keep the cost down.- to keep the cost down. rather than the traditional _ to keep the cost down. rather than the traditional 14 - to keep the cost down. rather than the traditional 14 day - than the traditional 14 day holiday during school holiday time, just save a bit, we see an increase of multigenerational holidays, where grandparents are taking their children and grandchildren on holiday because we are finding that some of the grandparent were not affected financially as much by covid—19 or the cost of living crisis.

much by covid-19 or the cost of living crisis.— living crisis. are they bankrolling - living crisis. are they bankrolling the - living crisis. are they - bankrolling the summer? living crisis. are they _ bankrolling the summer? while plenty of finding ways to get abroad law has decided to put her honeymoon plans on pause. all of the flight prices of utility bills went up, then you have to look and think, where is the spare cash coming from and unfortunately it is a case we cannot find that anymore. the dream honeymoon is not feasible when you have paid for a wedding for two years, it is so expensive.— a wedding for two years, it is so expensive. not the only one runnina so expensive. not the only one running back. _ so expensive. not the only one running back. we _ so expensive. not the only one running back. we were - so expensive. not the only one running back. we were going i so expensive. not the only one| running back. we were going to net a running back. we were going to get a coople — running back. we were going to get a coople of _ running back. we were going to get a couple of camping - running back. we were going to get a couple of camping trips, l get a couple of camping trips, cheap this year.— cheap this year. after saving u . cheap this year. after saving u- and cheap this year. after saving up and loading _ cheap this year. after saving up and loading up, - cheap this year. after saving up and loading up, nothing l up and loading up, nothing stopping sophie now. let us hope she has a great trip, we will be looking at all the top business, money stories in a moment. let's just take you live

to mecca where huge numbers of pilgrims have gathered at islam's holiest site, at the start of the annual hajj. a record—breaking attendance is possible, with more than two million people from 160 countries likely to take part. vast crowds of robed worshippers gather for the stoning of the devil. i will be back with the top business stories, and thames water and its expect the rescue. hello there. much of the country, particularly england and wales, was very warm and muggy on wednesday, but a band of rain pushing in off the atlantic has introduced much fresher air. and for thursday, most of us will be in that cooler, fresher air mass, but it will be bright with sunny spells and scattered showers. there's that rain band, then slow to clear from the southeast through this morning. so it'll start off rather grey, cloudy with further outbreaks of rain, free standing in the southeast, eventually clearing away as we reach

lunchtime and that willjoin in to the bright skies that most of the country will start the day with. into the afternoon, a bit of cloud bubbling up, allowing one or two showers. most of these will be across the north and the west of scotland. they'll be more of a breeze here, too, but it'll be a cooler day across the board, 15 to 21 or 22 degrees across the south and feel noticeably fresher across southern areas. then as we move through thursday night and the clear skies, temperatures fall away, but we'll see further cloud and showers across northern and western scotland and thicker cloud pushing into northern ireland later on. but a cooler night to come out of towns and cities will be in single digits. so this is the picture then for friday, we start off dry across eastern areas, but this next low pressure system and its weather fronts will continue to push into northern and western areas through the day. so a nice, bright but cool start to central and eastern parts of the country. soon the clouds will tend to build in and spread to all areas and it turns wetter for scotland, northern ireland. then some rain getting into northern and western england and wales, but tending to stay dry across eastern england until after dark. mostly cloudy though, limited brightness, temperatures again mid to high teens in the north, high teens low

20s in the south. that rain band clears right across the country during the course of friday night. the rain clears in the southeast, saturday morning, and then it's bright but breezy. plenty of sunshine, low pressure sitting to the north of scotland will bring windy weather to scotland with showers or longer spells of rain here and again, temperatures around orjust below the seasonal norm. but we could be up to 23 or 24 in the southeast with a lot of sunshine here. sunday, low pressure shifting to the north of the uk again stays windy across scotland with outbreaks of rain or showers. some of these heavy in the west of scotland, fewer showers the further south that you are on some areas in the southeast staying completely dry with sunny spells, but quite a noticeable breeze. and again, temperatures will range from around 15 to 22 celsius.

hello again. live from london, this is bbc news. sink orswim? britain's biggest water company, supplying one in four households, is in a battle to stay afloat against a rising tide of debt. also coming up, selling bidenomics. the us president touts his financial record to voters, but has his big—spending ways pushed up inflation? plus, you just can't get the staff, say british bosses. new research finds three quarters of uk firms are short of skilled workers. so what's the plan?