of a sexual abuse case. trying to protect children from harm online — new rules are spelled out — we'll be talking to the regulator — ofcom. and from pop—star to primate — we talk to robbie williams about his new biopic — where he's depicted as a monkey. now for all the latest sport. all coming up. all hello from the bbc sport centre. let's head straight to switzerland �*where england and wales women are finding out who they'll face at next summer's euros — with the draw for next year's tournament in switrzerland. england are of course, defending champions — and booked their place by finishing as runners—up in their qualification group. wales will be debutants at the tournament — after beating the republic of ireland in a play off.

england are in pot 2 and wales are in pot four so could be drawn together. we only know the first few teams at the moment. we only know the first few teams at the moment. it's live now on bbc two. meanwhile, england women's cricketers are looking to build a big lead, in their one off test against south africa. the hosts resumed on 17 without loss on day two in bloemfontein, but england performed well with the ball, bowling south africa out for 281 england taking the final five wickets for just 22 runs. that gave them a lead of 114 — which was extended to 145 by the close of play — as england closed on 31—1 at stumps. it's not going anywhere near as well for england's men, in their third and final test against new zealand. ben stokes�* side are on the verge of a huge defeat in hamilton. new zealand's captain kane williamson starred on day three, hitting 156 —

as his side were bowled out 453. that set england a target of 658 to win — and that looks a long way away — as they closed on 18—2 — still needing a massive 640 runs to win. to make matters even worse for england — it looks as though they'll finish the series without their captain. ben stokes limped off after a recurrence of a left hamstring injury, after bowling. stokes missed four tests earlier in the year, after injuring his hamstring in the hundred. it's in the sam hamstring as had before. in going so well for the pin bowling and playing the role that he does. as an all around her and as a captain and we didn't see it coming. he didn't have any signs of these things, generally theyjust happen. he's pretty happy. he is realistic about it. he is realistic about it. elite sport funding body uk sport, says it'll invest a record 330 million pounds in britain's olympic and paralympic sports for the 2028 games in los angeles.

more than 50 sports will benefit — including the five new sports. baseball, softball, flag football, lacrosse, para—climbing and squash. however — athletics and canoeing are two of the sports that has seen their funding cut following their performance at the paris games this summer. it's not a reward, it's not a punishment. we look at what is the athlete cohort for the next cycle. what is it the sport needs and what is the potential of the at least that they got. the decisions that we've made against all the sports as we've made against all the sports as we look at their potential and we receive in excess of £30 for the paralympic programmes for that we believe that can put them in a great place to support their athletes in the lead—in to la. and ahead of bbc sports personality of the year tomorrow night, it's been revealed that british cycling's sir mark cavendish has been given the lifetime achievement award. cavendish retired earlier this year, having won a record 35 tour de france stages — the last coming in saint vulbas in july. he won 165 professional races

in total, which also included the road world title in 2011, he's also a three—time madison world champion, and won silver, in the omnium at the 2016 olympic games. and it's only day two of the world darts championship — but there's already been a big shock in the opening round. four time semi finalist, and 16th seed james wade is out. he was beaten 3—0 byjermaine wattimena of the netherlands — a player ranked 20 places below wade. he could play the two time world champion peter wright next — he plays his first round match tomorrow. a quick bit of breaking news in the women's euro draw of england will play france in their group as it's being drawn at the moment. you can catch that live on bbc two. you can catch that live on bbc two. and that's all the sport for now. technology companies are now required by law to start tackling criminal activity and harmful material on their platforms. the regulator 0fcom has set

out its first codes of practice as part of the online safety act, making sites and apps assess how likely it is that children will stumble across illegal content. but some campaigners argue the new measures still don't go far enough. our technology editor zoe kleinman reports. the online world played a role in each of these young people's deaths, leaving behind parents campaigning for change, demanding that more is done to protect children from online harm. 0fcom has today published its first codes of practice for how online platforms should deal with illegal content, as the 0nline safety act comes into force. this means firms must start assessing whether their services expose users to illegal material by march 2025, or potentially face financial punishments. this is the last chance for the industry now. if they don't start to seriously change the way they operate their services, then i think those demands

for things like bans for children on social media are going to get more and more, you know, vigorous, and it's going to be harder and harder to resist them. so i'm asking the industry now to get moving. and, if they don't, they will be hearing from us with enforcement action from march. 0fcom's codes include some specific suggestions for the world's most popular websites, such as not suggesting children as friend recommendations by default. not allowing children to receive messages from people outside of their connections. hiding their location data at all times. and advising on the use of automated tech to scan for child sexual abuse images. but some critics say the measures don't go far enough. we are astonished and incredibly disappointed that 0fcom's code of practice does not contain a single, targeted measure to address suicide and self—harm that reaches the criminal threshold. we have been warning

the regulator for many months about the risks of children being, for example, groomed to commit acts of self—harm on live streams. this is the first in a series of guidelines that 0fcom will be publishing in the coming weeks. the significance of today is that the clock starts ticking in terms of compliance, and, if the companies fall foul, they could eventually face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover. a lot of the measures are quite practical and some of the social networks have implemented them already. today is a clear indication that despite tech firms introducing tools enabling parents to supervise their children's activity more closely, 0fcom believes that ultimately it is still the responsibility of big tech rather than mum and dad to keep young people safe online. zoe kleinman, bbc news. joining me now is the director of 0nline safety at 0fcom — mark bunting. welcome to the programme for the how significant. _ welcome to the programme for the how significant, how important is this moment we have reached? it is a

really important _ moment we have reached? it is a really important moment. - moment we have reached? it is a really important moment. i - moment we have reached? it is a really important moment. i think| really important moment. i think it's a milestone, actually in the protection of people on line we've all become all too aware in recent years of the risk that can arise online, whether criminal activity and harm to children with southham content for the pet industry is growing without any regulations. companies now have three months to complete an assessment of the risk where their services might be used for criminal activity and then they will have to take steps that we've set out today. 50 will have to take steps that we've set out today-— will have to take steps that we've set out toda . ., . ., set out today. so we touched down it ri . ht at the set out today. so we touched down it right at the end _ set out today. so we touched down it right at the end which _ set out today. so we touched down it right at the end which was the - set out today. so we touched down it right at the end which was the point l right at the end which was the point that for a long while tech companies talked of parental controls can also do different things, does this change where the owners finally sets? is with the tech companies, not young people, not parents? the onus does it — not young people, not parents? tie: onus does it with not young people, not parents? he onus does it with the not young people, not parents? tt2 onus does it with the tech companies. i think that's the right way to put it. things like parental

controls have a role to play. we certainly support parents in using those technologies and encouraging them to be familiar with the sites in the apps to children's use the companies have to take more responsibility for managing the dress, making sure they're not recommending harmful content to their users by their algorithms. those are the proposals we've felt that today. those are the proposals we've felt that toda . ., ., , that today. you love seeing the iece we that today. you love seeing the piece we play — that today. you love seeing the piece we play today, _ that today. you love seeing the piece we play today, the - that today. you love seeing the - piece we play today, the foundation saying they were astonished and disappointed there was simply not enough around suicide materials still within what you've announced to tackle all of that. t still within what you've announced to tackle all of that.— to tackle all of that. i want to be clear about _ to tackle all of that. i want to be clear about that _ to tackle all of that. i want to be clear about that for the - to tackle all of that. i want to be i clear about that for the promotion of suicide is a serious criminal offense. it is one of the priority offenses in the act. the steps we've set out today will require companies to assess the risk that their services are being used to promote suicide. they will have to take steps to prevent that, including

taking suicide content down rapidly when they become aware of it. this is an area that we will continue to look at, we will be monitoring compliance very closely for the if we need to make more rules we well in the first instance will be ensuring that companies take the actions we set out today. fix, ensuring that companies take the actions we set out today.- actions we set out today. a final thou . ht actions we set out today. a final thought about _ actions we set out today. a final thought about sanctions, - actions we set out today. a final thought about sanctions, you'lll actions we set out today. a final l thought about sanctions, you'll be able to find platforms up to 10% of their worldwide revenue for the —— find platforms with that is not realistic given how deep their pockets are, their ability to endlessly appeal, is that a realistic sanction?- endlessly appeal, is that a realistic sanction? within 10% of revenues is _ realistic sanction? within 1096 of revenues is a — realistic sanction? within 1096 of revenues is a very _ realistic sanction? within 1096 of revenues is a very important - revenues is a very important sanction. there is a global revenue, notjust revenue in the uk. 0f notjust revenue in the uk. of course we're optimistic and encourage firms to come into compliance with these rules voluntarily for that we have a lot of engagement with the industry. we believe that companies do want to take the steps they need to take to keep users safe for that they should be under no illusion, we've got the powers in our pockets and we won't be afraid to use them if we need to.

thank you forjoining us on today's programme. the post office inquiry has been told a "malignant culture" destroyed the lives of the victims of the horizon it scandal, rather than the computer system itself. during his closing statement today, edward henry kc — who represents a number of sub postmasters — said that "such heartlessness came from the top". the truth is that human beings engaged in a deliberate conspiracy, first to convict innocent people, either in the criminal courts or to destroy them in the civil courts, and then to cover it up. and by refusing to admit these wrongs, these despicable acts, the post office has shown that its words of apology are bogus and that it cannot be trusted.

and that deplorable wrongdoing went to the top. our correspondent luxmy gopal explained more about what we've been hearing as the two—year inquiry comes to a close. people have been affected by this for years now. just to give you an indication, it's been more than two years since this inquiry began. it began in february 2022, and i've been speaking to some of the people who have been affected by this, some names that will be familiar to you. and two of them were mentioned by edward henry kc a little earlier. one of them, lee castleton, which you may well know because he was declared bankrupt after being wrongly accused of stealing £25,000 from his branch in bridlington in east yorkshire. and earlier in the past couple of hours, the barrister said that his case reveals manipulation

and abuse of the civiljustice system of which the post office is still capable. let me give you another name that you'll be familiar with. if you've been following the developments of this scandal over the past few years. seema misra, who is a former subpostmistress who was jailed while pregnant and was wrongly accused of stealing from her branch in surrey, and edward henry kc, said her example, her case was as dark and appalling as anything you've witnessed, he said. he sai it was a microcosm of wickedness that the post office perpetrated up and down the country. and he said the cover up brings with it a deeper level of wickedness. now, i spoke to seema a little bit earlier this morning, just before the closing statements were due to begin, and asked her how she was feeling today, and she said she was actually feeling quite excited because there is this sense that finally, as things are drawing to a conclusion, the victims of this post office scandal are being heard. a key part of today, it's looking at the human impact and the toll

that was taken today. so that's just some of the examples of how many of the people are feeling at at the end of or nearing the end of what's been a very long inquiry hearing, months and months of evidence. but of course, the next stage will be a little bit longer. so today and tomorrow will be the closing statements, where we hearfrom legal representatives of all the key contributors, the key participants of this inquiry. and then after that, the chairman, sir wyn williams, will then make conclusions and draft a report. but that won't be expected to be published until sometime next year. the latest from syria. it's coming from the us military who say that strikes from them have killed 12 islamic state group militants inside syria. eight days or so since the fall of the assad regime for that so many different factions, so many

different elements that certainly western capitals trying to get to grips with american strikes from the us military, apparently killing 12 islamic state group militants inside syria. no exact location. some of that early detail coming out for that early detail coming out for that we will keep an eye on that and bring more when it comes into us. lawyers representing lucy letby have announced they are asking the court of appeal to allow a fresh attempt to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the evidence given by the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was �*not reliable'. letby, is currently serving 15 whole—life orders for the murder of seven babies, and the attempted murder of seven others at the countess of chester hospital. speaking at a news conference in london, her barrister, michael mcdonald, said the expert, dr dewi evans, had changed his mind on some key evidence. remarkably, doctor evans has now changed his mind on the cause of death of three of the babies.

babies c, baby i and baby p. doctor evans had said to the jury that lucy letby had injected air down a nasogastric tube, and that this had led to the death of the three babies. this was repeated to the court of appeal, who may — may have been misled when they ruled on the applications for leave of conviction in the may of last year. doctor evans has also said that he has revised his opinion in relation to baby c and has written a new report, a new report that he has given to the police. this was some weeks, actually months ago now.

despite numerous requests, the prosecution have yet to give this report to the defence. the defence will argue that doctor evans is not a reliable expert. let's speak to our correspondent, judith moritz. tell us a little more about what we actually heard today. it’s tell us a little more about what we actually heard today.— actually heard today. it's complex stuff. actually heard today. it's complex stuff- you'll _ actually heard today. it's complex stuff. you'll be _ actually heard today. it's complex stuff. you'll be forgiven _ stuff. you'll be forgiven for wondering how it fits into the bigger picture when it comes to the lucy b case. lots of things happening at the same time for that what we've heard today is a comment made by mac at the new defense team for the mark mcdonald has taken over from the legal team who represented lucy letby during the trials and appeals. he's picked up the baton and says that he's intending to take her case directly back to the court of appeal the that's an unprecedented step, he says, she's been denied twice permission to appeal before. you heard in the clip

that he is explaining his argument there with the court is about the reliability of the lead prosecution expert witness. i should say, we haven't had any response from that witness. we not been able to clarify the claims that mcdonald is making. he's also saying that he has fresh evidence which he planning to bring through another group, the criminal case revision, the organization that looks at past trials and considers whether there may have been a miscarriage ofjustice. 0n whether there may have been a miscarriage ofjustice. on that front mark mcdonald says he is also confident that he has a team of experts working on this, he says he's confident that he will be able to make arguments there as well. how does that fit into the bigger picture? you may recently have heard that cheshire police are continuing to run an investigation into lucy b and have her about potential other crimes for lucy letby for that there's a public inquiry looking at what happened to babies at the

chester hospital that inquiry is not examining the question of letby guilder incident since, it is looking at the wider picture at what happen at the hospital on the wider bases that she's been convicted of murder and attempted murder. all of these things are happening in parallel and at the same time for them in terms of lucy letby fencing they say they hope that making these new applications imminently and they hope that they will have some sort of news from the court of appeal relatively soon. the criminal case review commission, that could take much longer, they say. an? review commission, that could take much longer, they say.— much longer, they say. any sort of reaction from _ much longer, they say. any sort of reaction from the _ much longer, they say. any sort of reaction from the families? - much longer, they say. any sort of reaction from the families? the i much longer, they say. any sort of. reaction from the families? the very question, the return to the court of appeal or the attempt could be distressing for all of those involved for the note there hasn't, it will not surprise you just hear they were not represented here for that they are represented legally at

a public inquiry i mentioned. the chair of that _ a public inquiry i mentioned. tt2 chair of that inquiry said at the beginning of her process that the wall of skepticism, the comments she's been hearing from people who have come out question lucy letby convictions are she said noise. in the legal team today at this press conference were asked about that for that they were asked, what do you make of the comments on all of the skepticism is nothing but noise and lucy letby at new defense lawyer mark mcdonald said he hopes that it is not a distraction to the public inquiry for the top he denies there is anything to be classed as noise ultimately he said his duty is to his client, to lucy letby.- his client, to lucy letby. thank you for bringing us _ his client, to lucy letby. thank you for bringing us more _ his client, to lucy letby. thank you for bringing us more on _ his client, to lucy letby. thank you for bringing us more on that - for bringing us more on that development. just for viewers watching, do head to the bbc website for the latest developments and so much background thatjudith was talking about available to you there. let's turn away from all of

that to a completely different story. the lives of pop stars often make a good basis for a film — but a new semi—autobiographical movie based on robbie williams adds a new twist to the genre — by portraying him as a monkey. it's been done with motion capture technology — and follows the singer through his early boy band days to his break out as a solo star. robbie narrates it himself — and our entertainment correspondent colin paterson has been to meet him and the film's director michael gracey. i'm robbie williams. this is my story. but i'm not going to tell it in an ordinary way, because i don't see myself how others see me. # wave your hands if you're not with a man, can i kick it? # yes you can.# this is what you get when you cross the early years of take that... # everything changes but you. # we're a thousand miles apart # but you know i love you.# ..with michael gracey,

director of the greatest showman. # i got the gift, going to stick it in the goal # it's time to move your body.# robbie williams as a monkey in a movie. when the monkey idea came up, i wasjust like, oh, my god, that blew my mind. you got in! you're in that band! take that! you know, obviously there've been a lot of musical biopics, and i wanted to come at this with a different lens. quite often rob will say, you know, i'm just there like a performing monkey. # if you can't wake up in the morning...# and itjust sparked this idea. and i said, you know, if you were to be an animal, how would you see yourself? i was looking for some self—worth at the time. and i was like, "i am a lion." and hejust cocked his head and went, "mm?" and i went, monkey? he went, yeah. ok, so here's the idea. and before the end of the sentence was out of his mouth, i'm like, yes, that — that, that, that, please! do i look like a pop star to you?

i wouldn't change a hair on your head. # and through it all...# the monkey was created through motion capture and cgi. # you need to lose your mind...# while the film portrays robbie williams' struggles with drugs and his mental health. he had no reservations about being so honest. i only know that the way i talk about things and the way i embrace the foibles and the darkness is unusual, but it's part of my natural makeup to go, here are my haemorrhoids! ladies and gentlemen, pete, my dad! # i've been singing...# robbie's father, peter conway, is also a singer, and they have often performed together, including at the london palladium. in better man he's played by inside number nine's steve pemberton... # i've lived a life that's full.# ..and portrayed as someone who let his family down and caused many of his son's problems. have you spoken to him about it?

not really, no. why not? i'm embarrassed. i love my dad. best mate, charming, wonderful man. but as it is with everybody�*s childhood, we have relationships, like the philip larkin poem, you know, they mess you up. your mum and dad, they don't mean to, but they do. and i'm messing my kids up. # you said you wanted all my secrets, so i showed you....# last week, robbie williams was nominated for best song at the golden globes. and now their sights are set on the oscars. best musical monkey? yeah. we'll definitely be up for that. if that was a category, we would definitely win. yeah. colin paterson, bbc news. better man will be released in uk cinemas on the 26th of december. before we go there so much heavy

lifting on these programmes like this with the want to show you a new feature we have on the bbc website. it is a hundred heart—warming moments of 2024 for the pets tag pygmy hippe- moments of 2024 for the pets tag pygmy hippo. the moon that captivated stargazers with them and the centenarian telling the bbc the secret for a handy life of the escrow through that. see you at the same time tomorrow watching today, bye—bye. hello there. it's been mostly dry today, but we've had a lot of rainfall the last couple of days across north—west scotland. that's caused some localised flooding issues. for the rest of this week, though, it's going to be quite mixed. it starts mild, we'll see wet and windy weather tuesday and wednesday and then it turns colder for all from thursday onwards. this area of high pressure sitting over france has brought this dry weather, but also allowing us to pick up some milder air from the south—west as you can see from the orange colours on the airmass chart. now there's the weather front, which has been sitting

across north—west scotland, bringing the heavy rain that will start to shift northwards tonight as we pick up southerly winds. that's because we've got low pressure pushing into the west of the uk and across ireland. so that will keep temperatures falling below 7 or eight degrees in the north and west. but something chilly under the clearer skies when the light winds for the midlands and eastern england. however, tomorrow will be a cloudy and an unsettled one. we've got low pressure dominating, it will be breezy, turning windier later in the day with gales around irish sea coast. most of the rain will be in the north and the west, so a little bit drier further east. but wherever you are, i think double figures. tuesday night, wet and windy for many, the rain will be quite fragmented, the winds turning strongerfor a while. so we could see gales and there'll be a lot of cloud around, so it'll be a mild one — temperatures no lower than nine to 12 degrees to start wednesday. now wednesday, then we will see improvements to the weather. that's because the low pressure system will start to push into the norwegian sea. we'll see a gap between the next low that will move across england and wales during wednesday night. so we start off cloudy,

windy, outbreaks of rain, it starts to brighten up later in the morning into the afternoon. quite a bit of sunshine around, a few showers in the north and west. then it starts to turn wet and windy again across southern england and wales with some sunshine. we could be up to the mid—teens across eastern areas. now that wet, windy weather spreads across england and wales during wednesday night, by thursday morning it would have cleared away but also clears away the mild air. we open the floodgates to much colder and a stronger north—westerly wind. so a chilly day to come across the board. lots of sunshine around mind you, but there will be a scattering of showers, blustery showers in the north and the west. these will have a wintry element to them over the hills. temperatures five to nine degrees — colder than that when you factor in the wind, and then for friday and the weekend, it does stay on the cool side. fairly unsettled, especially into the weekend with a mixture of sunshine and showers.

today at six: prince andrew won't be part of the royal family's christmas at sandringham this year, after revelations about his contacts with an alleged chinese spy. that man, known so far as h6, has now been named publicly as yang tengbo. calls for the archbishop of york to resign, after a bbc investigation into his handling of a sexual abuse case, days before he takes temporary charge of the church of england. syria's former president bashar al—assad says he never

intended to flee to russia — in what's believed to be his first statement since he was forced from power. and it'll be cheaper to have christmas dinner this year — but what's your favourite part? it is the pigs in blankets. i wish i could marry them. and coming up on sportsday later in the hour on bbc news — coming up on sportsday in the next 15 minutes on bbc news. on top in the test, england's women are looking to finish their tour of south africa on a high in bloemfontain. good evening. prince andrew will not be joining the king and the rest of the royal family for their traditional christmas celebration at sandringham, the bbc has learned. the revelation came as the man who's

alleged to be a chinese spy,