this is bbc news. the headlines... exploding walkie talkies leave at least 20 dead and more than a50 injured in lebanon, as israel says it's opening a new phase in the war. the late mohamed al—fayed — former owner of harrods — is accused of rape by five female ex—employees, a bbc documentary reveals. coming up — the bank of england will decide whether to change interest rates from the current five percent, after the us fed cut its rate for the first time in four years. storm boris batters northern italy bringing severe flooding and landslides — meanwhile in bratislava — the clean up begins. hello, i'm martine croxall. the bank of england will decide later whether to

change interest rates from five percent. the decision, expected at midday, comes after inflation, showing the rise in consumer prices, remained at 2.2 per cent last month. the central bank in the united states lowered interest rates by half a percentage point yesterday — the first cut for more than four years. let's speak to our business correspondent peter ruddick. what is the expectation with the bank of england? i knew you will ask me that. i am not a betting man but the one thing we can predict is it is going to be a close decision. the last time the nine person committee voted five to four, as close as you can get to cut interest rates last time to the 5% level they are now, a quarter of a percentage point change. why will it be so although there is disagreement really among the committee and economic experts about how sticky, how stubborn inflation price rises are, there is

agreement that the trend is price rises and the rate of inflation is coming down but relatively slowly, relatively cautiously. therefore the decision is pretty finely balanced and it follows that perhaps the monetary policy committee will be as cautious as a rate of inflation moves in their decision—making. potentially we could get a hold today and then perhaps a cut when they meet in november. if you ask me a few days ago, i think the expectation was you would get that hold in the last couple of days, perhaps the chances of another cut coming today have increased. partly because some of the in inflation figures we saw yesterday suggested the bits of inflation that were quite stubborn were due to one—off factors and then of course as you mentioned in the headlines in the opener is, the fact that the us central bank and the bank of england say they are not influenced by what they are doing across the atlantic, but

the fact it did move in a significant way last night perhaps i could influence their thinking. perhaps i could influence their thinkina. . , ., perhaps i could influence their thinkina. , perhaps i could influence their thinkin. . , ., , ., thinking. the decision comes at midday today- _ thinking. the decision comes at midday today. it _ thinking. the decision comes at midday today. it does. - thinking. the decision comes at midday today. it does. this - thinking. the decision comes at midday today. it does. this is l midday today. it does. this is going to be bad news for people who are borrowing at rates they were hoping would come down. yes, we have got quite used to working out the calculations as soon as the decision comes at midday, if you were hoping for a really significant move lower interest rates because your fixed rate mortgages coming to an end and you want to be nude with a much lower rate, the chances are you will be disappointed today because if we get a move it is only going to move by a quarter of a percentage point. worth remembering that interest rates available on the market had been moving lower in recent weeks and months because the expectation is we properly won't get significant move lower today, the general trend is at the bank of england will take that base rate lower across the course of the next year or so. across the course of the next

year orso. i across the course of the next year or so. i would say that we always talk quite rightly about the impact on mortgage holders. if we do get another tick lower in the interest rate, we should think about savers as well because the reality is a lot of the easy access savings accounts are available on the market, there rate quite often when the base rate move their rate move a lot quicker and they are likely to become a lot less attractive if you are in their lucky position of being able to save any money. thank ou ve able to save any money. thank you very much. _ able to save any money. thank you very much, peter. - thank you very much, peter. let's speak to rita kohli, managing director at the mortgage stop. if this rate does stay the same, how are your customers going to react? it same, how are your customers going to react?— going to react? it is disappointing - going to react? it is disappointing for i going to react? it is| disappointing for my going to react? it is - disappointing for my clients because everybody has been watching the market quite closely and a lot earlier than we would normally have a conversation, typically six months prior to the end date

where we would touch base and have a review of what is next, assessing affordability for our client think what the general market is doing depending on what their circumstances as to who we actually play somewhere. with the hold in place, it means those client i have got on tracker mortgages, that is where tracker mortgages will have a certain percentage pasta bank of england base rate, if there is no movement it means their pains will remain as they are and we were hoping for those to dip slightly. so to give them a bit more disposable income. ~ . ., ., , income. what are the options for peeple — income. what are the options for peeple are _ income. what are the options for people are in _ income. what are the options for people are in that - for people are in that situation and they are really feeling the pinch, how might they be able to adjust things to bring what they are paying for their mortgage each month down until the rate changes? bearing in mind, some have already renewed their payments on debt payments have almost doubled and it has hit household expenditure and some clients have had to seriously

think about putting off having a second child, thinking about the nursery fee costs against mortgage payments and having to go back to work. so one of the things that we set up injune 23 was the mortgage charter which was a government backed programme that provides support for mortgage holders and basically the lenders are there to help with clients where we would say, give them a call as their first point of option. and it is things like potentially living, switching their mortgage over to interest only for six months but it is not ideal because it still means you could have to pay capital off and after six months it would revert back to the repayment mortgage. there are also things like potentially extending the term and an adviser can look at that, depending on what age category qr, that, depending on what age category or, and what the criteria is for the bank and what affordability you have and

future income to maybe extend the term and potentially bring those payments down. it does vary according _ those payments down. it does vary according to _ those payments down. it does vary according to how- those payments down. it does vary according to how much i vary according to how much equity you have got on your property. equity you have got on your mnem— equity you have got on your n-roe , , ., ., property. absolutely, and that will impact _ property. absolutely, and that will impact what _ property. absolutely, and that will impact what interest - property. absolutely, and that will impact what interest rate | will impact what interest rate level you fall into so interest rates have been coming down, lenders are being competitive, they really do want to lend but obviously it is watching the market and seeing what fate. the cost of living impact affordability as well so it is affordability as well so it is a variation of everything. what i would say is seek advice, get help and just speak to an expert so that everything is case—by—case and individual circumstances need to be met. thank you very much. we will be reporting the decision by the bank of england on interest rate here on bbc news at midday. here in england, there has been a stark warning about the state of maternity services, with a report finding

almost two thirds of hospital units have poor safety ratings. the care quality commission has warned preventable harm is at risk of becoming �*normalised'. our health correspondent catherine burns reports. fiona designed this nursery when she was pregnant, picking out outfits for her baby, but her daughter aliona never lived to enjoy any of this. things that i made for her birth announcement. pictures... fiona went into labour at home, her waters broke and she was worried because she didn't think her baby was moving as much as normal. she should have been assessed then, she wasn't. when she was in hospital, her baby had an abnormal heart rate. this should have been escalated, it wasn't. baby aliona was pronounced dead within half an hour of birth. when they came over and said my name, ijust turned around to them and went, "she's dead, isn't she?" and they said, "yes."

and this primal scream is probably the only way i can describe it — just came out of me with no sort of control over my body. a tiny piece of her hair. leeds teaching hospitals has said it's sorry that the care it provided was not at the standard it would expect, and that it has learned lessons from what happened. but stories like fiona's are happening too often. you will stay. you are very welcome. over recent years, we've seen high—profile maternity scandals. yesterday, bereaved families in nottingham heard a progress review on what's become the biggest investigation into maternity failings in nhs history. almost 2,000 cases are being reviewed there. the healthcare regulator, the cqc, was worried about this, so it carried out a national maternity inspection. it focussed on about two thirds of hospital maternity units, any that hadn't been inspected since march 2021. of the 131 units it inspected,

not a single one was rated as outstanding for safety. 35% had good safety ratings, leaving 65% as either requires improvement or inadequate for safety. in other words, two thirds of maternity units are not safe enough. this report doesn't hold back, saying unless things change, poor care and harm will become normalised. but in some ways none of this is new. there have been warnings about maternity safety for years now. we've reported on this over and again, but still the problems remain. this report picks out certain key issues. women not getting assessed quickly enough, trusts not learning from mistakes, not enough staff, discrimination based on race. it says, disappointingly, none of these problems are new. it is one of the biggest issues that keeps me awake at night,

worrying about the quality of care being delivered today and the risk of disaster greeting women in labour tomorrow. he says trusts will be supported to make rapid improvements so all women can feel confident using maternity services. but fiona and other families say, for things to improve, there should be a public inquiry into the state of maternity care. catherine burns, bbc news. poland is bracing itself for the peak of the recent flooding today, with warnings that the country's third—largest city, wroclav, is at risk. this is wroclav, where as you can see, local residents have been working to fill sandbags, which will be used to try to control the river 0der. it has already gone past the level at which flood warnings are issued by what's described as a significant amount. elsewhere,

in south western poland, you can see how the floods have already caused damage near rivers. around 10,000 members of the military have been deployed to help with the emergency operations, and helicopters have been sent to help evacuate some stranded people. and these pictures give an idea of the sort of devastation the flooding has caused. this is klodzko, where the noosa river burst its banks. local reports suggest the floods surged to two metres above the height of the river banks. poland's prime minister, donald tusk says the authorities have not yet been able to establish how many buildings have been destroyed in some remote areas. let's just take a look at some satellite imagery, which reveals the extent of the flooding across poland. this is g ucho azy before the river levels rose. you can see the bridge in the centre of the picture, linking both sides of the town. and this was the town after the waters had surged through. you can see evidence of flooding, with mud lying

over the areas close to the river — and the bridge has collapsed, leaving a pile of rubble where it used to stand. this is stronie slaskie in poland — filmed from above just a few days ago. it's a farming area — you can see the fields, with buildings around them, and a small river flowing from top left to bottom right of your screen. and this is the same location, after the flood surge. you can see how the fields have been covered with mud, and it appears that several buildings have been either swept away or severely damaged by the floodwaters. around the world and across the uk. this is bbc news.

america's largest labour union, the international brotherhood of teamsters, has declined to issue a us presidential endorsement for the first time since 1996. the union, which boasts around 1.3

million members across the us and canada, said its received "few commitments on top teamsters issues" from either democratic nominee kamala harris or republican nominee donald trump. the move is a major blow to the harris campaign's efforts to win over working—class voters and the former president was quick to tout it as a major victory. it isa it is a great honour, they are not going to endorser democrat and this is the first time in 50 or 60 years, the democrat automatically had the teamsters. they talk about and i was at 60% or more and it is a great honour. i have had a lot of teamsters work for me, a lot of teamsters work for me, a lot of teamsters work for me, a lot of the concrete trucks which built all these building you see in new york city. drexel heard, is a democratic political strategist and former executive director of the los angeles democratic party. here's how he responded when we asked him if teamsters refusing to back democrats would have a big impact they polled less than 20% of their members out of 1.3

million and so that is a small sample size of the union members that will be voting for kamala harris and tim walz in november. so donald trump, this race will be very close, there will be a handful of members from different unions and state and different voters who will obviously vote for donald trump at the vast majority of working—class families and union members are team kamala harris and tim walz and we will see that in november. the us presidential election is nearing, with polls showing a race that overall is too close to call. any leads the candidates may appear to have are still within the margin of error. so to try and win over undecided and marginal voters both kamala harris and donald trump are crisscrossing the battleground states. one of those battleground states is michigan, from where my colleague katrina perry now reports. the city of dearborn is home

to the biggest arab—american and muslim—american populations in the us. the economy, cost of living, immigration, all issues concerning voters here. but the middle east crisis is top of the list. concern for family and friends in gaza has spread to worries about those in lebanon, as exploding devices killed dozens and injured thousands this week. it is heartbreaking just knowing that our tax money and our hard work is helping fund this. these business owners, long—time democrats, feel abandoned by the biden harris administration in its continued support for israel. you have somebody that is claiming to be a democrat, somebody that is claiming to be a republican, and they are parroting the exact same platforms who can cause more damage, who can cause more destruction. the thought of voting for someone who is directly

contributing, right now, directly contributing to the death and destruction of our home country and of our relatives overseas. i have made the decision to vote forjill stein. and i know that there are people who will say, you know, it is a wasted vote. sam is the owner of the sahara cafe. we asked for a ceasefire. we never received a ceasefire. i mean, we are running out of words. as a local employer, he says inflation is crippling him. i use a lot of flour. i bake my own bread here. for example, in september21 i brought down a pallet of £40 bags of flour, it cost me $13.78 a bag. today it has cost me $21.92 a bag. how are things going here? this man runs an auto parts manufacturing business. he has created 1000 jobs in the last 25 years. each party has pros and cons and some positive stuff and some negative stuff,

so we are still undecided which way to go. it is a clearer choice for this doctor. trump is offering to stop the war, so through his four years of presidency we haven't experienced any wars and the economy was booming, actually. in 2020, joe biden won michigan by 2.78%. in 2016, donald trump won by 0.23%. and the campaigners know it is going to be tight again this year. they are peppering the state with multiple visits. in the last week alone, donald trump, kamala harris, jd vance and tim walz have all made trips to michigan. moving north, in flint there is anger that ten years on from the contaminated water crisis, many still don't have clean water to drink and have not received compensation due to them.

cities still show the scars of the long gone motor heyday. this is a union town. you have got to care enough. it is about a humanitarian element. now, i hear kamala harris constantly talking about the relief for the people, and that is what i am looking for and that is why i am leaning towards her. whatever their view, both trump and harris are courting michigan voters in an election they are calling a battle for the soul of america. the united nations wants to treat artificial intelligence with the same urgency as climate change. an international panel of experts tasked by the un secretary general has released a highly critical report on its global governance describing it as a "patchwork" of rules and guidelines. it warns that the international effort to regulate ai and evaluate risks is dominated by just seven countries. and we'll have more on this

in about half an hour's time with our technology editor zoe kleinman. stay with us in the hours ahead. denzel washington is one of the most decorated actors of his generation, having won two academy awards and numerous other awards in a career that has spanned four decades. now he s turned his energies to producing a film that involves almost every member of his immediate family. directed by his son malcolm, �*piano lesson�* brings to the screen a story from one of america s most celebrated black playwrights. from new york, tom brook reports. 69—year—old denzel washington is out on the festival circuit promoting the piano lesson, an adaptation of a 1987 play from the late black playwright august wilson. you see that? it's your family. set in 1936 pittsburgh, it's the story of a family in turmoil over the role of an heirloom — a piano. it stars danielle deadwyler

and one of denzel washington's sons, john david. another of his sons, malcolm, co—wrote and directed the film. you know, they're both, uh, wonderful artists. and, uh, it's ajoy as a father, as a parent to watch them collaborate. with this film, malcolm washington was making his directorial debut, bringing to the screen a stage play in which a piano has a powerful, symbolic but different meaning to family members. the piano lesson is about a family heirloom and a dispute between a brother and sister on what to do with it. but underneath the surface of it, it's a story about legacy and family and ancestry, and what best to do with the legacy that our ancestors have left for us. the piano lesson first appeared here on broadway as a play 3a years ago. august wilson died in 2005. he's been referred to as the theatre's poet of black america. the piano lesson is the third play in the landmark so—called pittsburgh cycle

of ten plays he wrote to be made into a movie, plays that all document the african—american experience. the first was fences in 2016, starring denzel washington and viola davis. the story of a married couple in 1950s pittsburgh. when i first met this woman, i saw rose and i latched on to her. second in 2020 was ma rainey�*s black bottom. this would be an empty world without the blues. inspired by the career of an influential blues singer. denzel washington has committed to turning all ten pittsburgh cycle plays into movies. the wilson estate came to me ten years ago and allowed me to take charge or to shepherd the making of these august wilson plays. this is our third of ten, and i intend, we intend to make all ten of them. i went to go, oh my goodness, my mum right here...

denzel washington's wife, pauletta, has a role in the film, as does one of their daughters. another daughter is an executive producer. this family endeavour may have a 1930s period setting, but it's a story that relates to audiences in the present who may feel trapped by family dynamics. it's so easy to be in a prison of your past, you know, or stuck in your present because you haven't dealt with something in your past or something inside of you. and in our story, we see so many characters have to deal with the internal and external consequences of their past, and until they engage with it meaningfully, can they move forward? although this is a story of black americans, malcolm washington believes he's bringing audiences something universal. i think to deny my blackness would be to deny a big part of myself. and that's the context in which i'm raised, and i have great pride in that. but i think this story is one told with the specificity of this world, but it ultimately reaches to a much broader audiences

because the themes of ancestry, of lineage, of family, of legacy, these are things that touch all of us. and sometimes we might not feel connected to it in that way. but that's why i challenge audiences to think about their lives. but it's exciting. for malcolm washington, a first time film—maker, the piano lesson is a significant achievement. having a famous father may have helped him get this directing opportunity, but he proves his talent with this adventurous, emotionally connected film with its unexpected blending of genres and strong performances. the picture is now being touted as a contender in next year's academy awards. tom brook, bbc news, new york. and before we go — an amazing feat of science and engineering. british scientists have used an ultrafast laser to etch the entire human genome onto a crystal that they say will endure for billions of years. the group at southampton university say the data could be used by an intelligent species or machine in the farfuture to bring humanity

back from extinction. a single sd memory crystal can store libraries—worth of information and can withstand extreme temperatures, huge physical forces, and radiation. the crystal is being stored in a time capsule in an austrian salt mine. if we disappear, it is for a reason! now it's time for a look at the weather. friday into the weekend, low pressure moves in from iberia. it pinpoints. rainfall highly variable whereas further north and west it stays dry. as it does today for many. we have had plenty of sunshine across western areas, ijy sunshine across western areas, by developing more widely through the afternoon. some card will take awhile to shift,

lingering longer through parts of wales in the midlands but through lincolnshire, east yorkshire down the coast when he could stay a bit cloudy all day long and in the breeze cooler here, temperatures mid to high teens and elsewhere low to high teens and elsewhere low to mid 20s. highest in london and south—east, 25 or 26 possible. this evening and overnight, that breeze will drag all the cloud back in again. more extensive tonight in parts of scotland, central eastern areas especially, but in the west with clearer skies temperature is good to drop down to single figures. for most of you, mild enough but a great starter friday. low cloud will linger more widely, eastern scotland and eastern england and through the day when the sunshine come through we could see thundery showers developed through the midlands, southern england and wales. hit and miss. many will still stay dry. temperatures creeping down and always cooler with the onshore breeze towards those north sea coast. into the

weekend, saturday we see some of the show lingering for friday night across the south—west and developing more widely across parts of central and southern england and wales. an isolated showers in northern england but low brings rings drizzled toronto's north sea coast, plenty of sunshine still north and west but temperatures here dropping a bit more as a breeze picks up. that breeze will pick up further into sunday, low pressure drifting towards us by this stage so some longer spells of heavy and thundery rain possible across wales, central and southern england. some spots may avoid, east anglia may not be too bad, drier further north but patchy drizzle where the low cloud lingers near eastern coasts.

live from london. this is bbc news lebanon is reeling with 20 dead and a50 wounded, the day after thousands of pagers detonated. the us says it is working to prevent further escalation in the conflict between israel and hezbollah, as israel says it is opening a new phase in the war. the late mohamed al—fayed — former owner of harrods — is accused of rape by five female ex—employees, a bbc documentary reveals. evacuations in northern italy as storm boris — which has killed at least 2a people across europe since last week — batters the country causing severe flooding and landslides. and coming up — the bank of england will decide whether to cut interest rates from 5%. it's after the us central bank announced a cut