there is going to be a lot of cloud lingering. our temperatures will fall away to around 1a to 15 degrees, another very mild start to thursday morning. thursday, once that low cloud breaks up, the rest of the day is looking much drier with some sunny spells and there will be variable amounts of cloud with some sunny spells on friday. and it is looking largely dry. that's it from me. there's more on the bbc news app and on bbc radio london where there will be regular bulletins across the morning. i'll back with you in half an hour. have a lovely morning. good morning, welcome to breakfast with ben thompson and sally nugent. our headlines today.

the rate of inflation has fallen to i.7%, the the rate of inflation has fallen to 1.7%, the lowest in three years. the 1.796, the lowest in three years. the rate of prices _ 1.7%, the lowest in three years. the rate of prices increasing has slowed more than expected but many people still feel the pinch of high costs over the last two years and i explain how the latest figure will affect many people's benefits from next year. israel considers america's strongly worded warning about the lack of humanitarian aid in gaza after being told it risks losing military assistance. we have made it clear to them we need to see results and we have not seen results. calls to end bus bypasses where the cycle lane runs between the pavement and road. disability campaigners will deliver a petition to downing street today. england prepare to appoint their new manager with the fa agreeing a deal with german coach thomas tuchel to replace gareth southgate,

it isa it is a mild day ahead but a lot of cloud and murky conditions and heavy rain. some have that combination already. before it arrives in the south—east we could have temperatures up to 22 celsius. it's wednesday the 16th of october. the latest inflation figures show the rate the latest inflation figures show the rate has the latest inflation figures show the rate has fallen the latest inflation figures show the rate has fallen to the latest inflation figures show the rate has fallen to 1.7%, the latest inflation figures show the rate has fallen to 1.7%, the lowest in three years. a reminder that it means prices are still going up but not as quickly as they were. our business correspondent reports that many people are still feeling the impact of high costs over the past two years. it's sue's turn to top up on her shopping. that's the idea of the food pantry at st andrew's community network. once a week, this church becomes a food hub where people pay

£3.50 to bag around £25 worth of essentials. the fridge and the freezer is full today. even for people like sue, who isn't on benefits, it can prove a big help. when you're on a pension, things are a bit tight, so it does help coming along here. they have a fair bit of choice, especially with... i try to make everything from scratch. um, pot noodles. there are eight of these pop—up pantries across the city. volunteers are keen to stress they're not free food banks, but can help people in various challenging circumstances. like carol, who's also a member because her husband is diabetic and needs lots of fresh fruit and veg. we're spending £120 a week for three adults. we can't have the cheap stuff that's full of sugar from the supermarket. and without the pantry, that's all i'd be able to afford. inflation easing just means prices aren't rising as fast as they have been.

and since 2021, food prices have gone up by 30% overall and energy bills by a0%. more and more people have come to rely on these services as a vital safety net. we've seen more families needing to use our services, needing to use food banks, needing to access pantries, coming to have support from debt advisers and benefits advisers, and then a particular increase in working families, as well. today's inflation figure is conventionally used by the government as a benchmark for a range of benefit rises next april. around 50 people attend each session here and, for now, organisers expect that number to keep rising, too. marc ashdown, bbc news. ben's here to tell us more. what can you tell us, what does it mean? it means that some of the cost of

living pressure people have experienced in the past couple of years are starting to ease but people will still feel the pinch because prices have not gone into reverse, they are not falling, they are rising more slowly. this figure of 1.7% for inflation last month is a slowing down of price rises with prices rising but the inflation rate of 1.7% means they are not rising as quickly as they had the month before. it is an average and some things will have fallen more sharply, notably transport costs. other things will have gone up more sharply. another thatjumps out is restaurants and hotel costs. it is significant because it is lower than many had expected. it is also lower than the bank of england target. we mention that, 2%. that is where the bank of england likes inflation to

sit. the fact it has fallen below that means people will be looking at whether the bank of england will cut interest rates once again. they are currently 5%. the bank of england put them up to try to rein in price rises. now the price rises are under control and have been for a couple of months in a row, there is a feeling that to help ease pressure on borrowing costs such as mortgages, the bank may consider a further cut to interest rates. the other reason this figure for september is so important is because it is used as the benchmark for setting the rise in many benefits from next april, especially disability benefits. universal credit there is discretion the government house. we will find out those decisions in the budget in a couple of weeks. thanks. an important moment but let's see how

long that number stays at that level. israel has said it will consider america's strongly worded warning about the lack of humanitarian aid in gaza. a letter to the israeli government by the us secretary of state antony blinken said military assistance could be cut off if the problems were not addressed within 30 days. our us state department correspondent tom bateman has this report. northern gaza is under renewed israeli assault. it's offensive, it says, is to clear out hamas. but aid groups say the area is encircled and civilians who don't obey orders to leave might not survive, with nearly all aid blocked for a fortnight now. the us secretaries of state and defence have now written to the israeli government demanding it stops blocking convoys. the letter was sent to the israeli government on sunday. it says the us has deep concern

about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in gaza, warning that 1.7 million civilians are at high risk of lethal contagion, having been forced into a narrow coastal area by israel's evacuation orders. the letter demands urgent and sustained actions this month to reverse this trajectory, saying israel must, starting now and within 30 days, act to boost aid supplies. it warns that failure may have implications for us policy. and it quotes american law, which prohibits military assistance to countries that impede the delivery of aid. critics have long accused the us of failing to leverage its weapons supply to israel to get what it wants on the protection of civilians in gaza. it has always rejected that, but now it is issuing its starkest warning yet to the israelis to do more to get aid in and to do it now.

at the state department, officials say the letter is a matter of us law. good afternoon, everyone. there will be those who say you've had a year to write this letter to issue such a stark warning to the israelis. why has it taken so long? shouldn't assume that the letter is our first intervention with the government of israel about the situation. just over the past few months, we have been making it clear to them that we needed to see results, and we haven't seen the results. president biden�*s pressure on its government is increasing near the end of his term, but the war in gaza may yet last a lot longer. tom bateman, bbc news, washington. our middle east correspondent, yolande knell, joins us now from jerusalem. israel said it is taking the letter seriously but many will wonder whether it will change anything. indeed, and we have not had a formal response from the israeli government

to the strongly worded letter from these two top us officials and addressed to their israeli counterparts. it was leaked to the media, it was sent on sunday. we have had the israeli ambassador to the un speaking on radio in israel this morning, really defending his country's record and putting this in the context of the upcoming us election saying there is pressure from democratic voters. i was in touch with a un official responsible for aid going into gaza and he told me in the past two days there has been a small shift where for the first time in two weeks they have seen some lorry loads of aid entering the north of gaza, which is the worst affected area. the letter lays out specific demands on aid, and it says that since assurances given by israel to the us six months

ago the amount of aid going it has dropped by more than half and it says it wants over 350 lorries of aid to go in every day into gaza. there are specific policy demands. things like saying they do not want forced evacuation from northern gaza. what it amounts to is the strongest ultimatum we have seen coming from the us, israel's closest ally when it comes to aid.— ally when it comes to aid. thank ou. the archbishop of canterbury justin welby has warned of a "slippery slope" ahead of an assisted dying bill being officially introduced to parliament. the law change would give people who are terminally ill in england and wales the right to end their life, as our religion editor aleem maqbool reports. we want choice! should the terminally ill be allowed to choose when to die? it's a question that, after years of debate, is back in sharp focus. when it comes to the idea

of an assisted dying bill of the kind that's about to be introduced in parliament, the archbishop of canterbury is unequivocal. i think this approach is both dangerous and sets us in a direction which is even more dangerous. and in every other place where it's been done has led to a slippery slope. and in the institution he heads, he's not alone. well, the last time the church of england voted on the subject of assisted dying, which was only a couple of years ago, only 7% of its general assembly, the synod, voted in favour of a change in the law. that is massively out of kilter when it comes to opinion polls that have been conducted in wider society. there are members of the clergy who feel their faith and their experience guides them

differently to the archbishop. the reverend val plumb�*s world and her views on assisted death were turned upside down when her mother was dying of pancreatic cancer. i remember this moment of looking in my mother's eyes and itjust being herand me, and she said to me, "i'm not afraid to die, val, but, please, i'm terrified of suffering. please don't let me suffer." and i couldn't stick to that. reverend val is now a passionate advocate for allowing the terminally ill to choose. she sometimes feels the very institution she belongs to makes her feel bad for that. but the man who leads it says he comes from a place of compassion, too. i've sat with people at the bedside and people have said, i want mum, i want my daughter, i want my brother to go because this is so horrible. i haven't said that's the wrong thing to do.

what i'm saying is something completely different. for him, this is about opening the door to more and more people feeling like they should opt for an assisted death, but the church may find itself left behind in a fast evolving discourse. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in canterbury. the former head of the army, general sir mike jackson, has died at the age of 80. he led the army during the allied invasion of iraq in 2003, after serving in northern ireland and bosnia. in 1999, he famously refused an order to intercept russian forces when they entered kosovo without nato's agreement. "i'm not going to start the third world war for you," he told a us commander. job coaches will visit seriously ill patients on mental health wards to try to get them back to work, the government has said. trials of employment advisers giving cv and interview advice in hospitals

produced dramatic results, according to the work and pensions secretary liz kendall. however, disability rights uk has raised some concerns with the proposal. researchers say there's no evidence that nut particles can travel through the air in a plane and cause allergic reactions. airlines often ask passengers not to eat nuts on board to keep those with allergies safe. however, in a review published by the british medicaljournal, experts said the real danger was from nut residue left on seats. the inquest into the death of four teenagers who drowned on a camping trip to north wales begins today. the boys — from shrewsbury — were in a car which was found upisde down and partially submerged near porthmadog. our wales correspondent hywel griffith joins us now from caernarfon. this happened last november? yes, that was when the four friends,

harvey, hugo, jevon hirst and wilf fitchett set off for a weekend in north wales in the beautiful mountains. theirfamilies last north wales in the beautiful mountains. their families last heard from them on the sunday when they did not return home on the monday, the alarm was raised and police were called and a search began. sadly, on the tuesday, the ford fiesta they were travelling in was found upturned in a ditch and submerged in water off the side of a country road. the inquest today will establish the circumstances, what led up to the deaths and potentially what can be learned. we know one family, the mother of harvey owen, has campaigned since losing her son, trying to introduce changes to young drivers and the rules around what young drivers can do and she has spoken to us on this programme about the idea of a graduated driving

licence where potentially young drivers might have to learn longer and have limitations on what they can do in the first six months after passing their test. there are schemes in other countries such as australia and ireland. and we know young male drivers from 17 to 2a are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured compared to other drivers. we know families have concerns about signage and conditions on the road that day and we will learn more when the inquest begins later this morning.— begins later this morning. thank ou. she famously sang diamonds are forever but dame shirley bassey has recently sold herjewellery collection at auction, raising a record breaking sum for charity. most of the pieces sold for several times their estimate prices, including a gold wristwatch and a vintage diamond ring given

to her by eltonjohn. £1,8 million. the proceeds will go to her favourite charities. imagine having that in the back of the cupboard. she does not have to worry about keeping it safe any more and can do something useful with the cash. that money for charity. you have used the word drags quite a lot, carol. good morning. it is a wet start. —— dregs. we have seen a hiking temperature at this time of day. 13 degrees is a lot. you will notice that when out and about. we are

starting on a cloudy and wet note. heavy rain around with the green and yellow in the chart indicating the heaviest rain. in the west. in the east, it is dry. northern ireland, relatively dry, we are looking at 11 o'clock. we have rain in scotland and windy conditions in the northern isles. the rain continues on and off. heavy in places. clearing the west where it will brighten up with showers. the rain not yet in the far south—east so in the sunshine, it is possible we could reach 21, possibly 22 celsius which is warm at this time of year. across the board, even in the rain, it will be mild. overnight, the rain pushes northwards and eastwards and still some heavy bursts. the second band follows it. we start to see the sky is clear in the west. and more of a

south—westerly wind. once again, a mild night. tomorrow we start with the dregs of cloud and rain in eastern areas which moves away and it brightens up with sunshine. some showers in the west. although temperatures will not be as high as today, it will be mild. every cloud. high as today, it will be mild. every cloud-— high as today, it will be mild. eve cloud. ., . , ., every cloud. produces some rain, in this case. thank you. retailers are warning that organised gangs are becoming more sophisticated and are behind the recent rise in shoplifting. a bbc news investigation has gained exclusive access to the work of an organisation that tracks these criminals for some of the biggest retailers in the country. jim connolly reports. marauding gangs, violent tactics. but the reality is often

much more sneaky. gangs evolving, going under the radar. we're told this woman wears a fat suit to sneak out more items. organised crime gangs fuelling the rise in shoplifting.