Statistics has admitted mistakes have been made. A man accused of murdering pc Andrew Harper will stand trial injanuary. Shipping containers and empty office blocks are being used to house thousands of Homeless Children, says englands child rens commissioner. And coming up on bbc news enough is enough Manchester United players hit out at social media sites, after paul pogba becomes the latest footballer to be racially abused online. Good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. An inquiry is to be launched into whether the h52 high speed rail link should go ahead. £7 billion has already been spent on the scheme, which is designed to link london, birmingham, manchester and leeds. The cost of the project has been rising, with recent reports it could reach £86 billion. The inquiry will look at whether the scheme should be approved, amended, or scrapped. The government says it will make a final decision by the end of the year. Our transport correspondent, tom burridge, has the details. Hsz hs2 is britains biggest construction project in living memory. You can construction project in living memory. You can see construction project in living memory. You can see how work on the main hub of the railway in west london is well under way. In fact, they have already spent more than £7 billion of your, the taxpayer money. But despite building is going down, here on the edge of birmingham, the new transport secretary is not ruling anything out. Including getting rid of the scheme altogether. Just because you have spent a lot of money and something should not mean that you just carry on ploughing more and more money into it. But what we have said and what the Prime Minister made very clear during his election, we want to see great infrastructure in our country, we want it to stack up and we wa nt country, we want it to stack up and we want to see it work for rail commuters and people right across the country. The first phase of the railway being built now will link london to birmingham, after that, faces an and b will link london to manchester and leeds. But last month, it emerged via a leaked letter that a review by the current chairman of h52 found the programme was possibly as much as £30 billion over budget. The budget, as things stand, is still officially at least 56 billion. Michael cross owned office blocs and land at euston that we re office blocs and land at euston that were compulsory purchased. He said it was undervalued by hs2 were compulsory purchased. He said it was undervalued by h52 and claims the company owe him hundreds of millions of pounds. Hs2 dispute his claims, but he says the project has been poorly conceived. What they have constructed is not a fast train but a gravy train, and there needs to be very major enquiries as to who benefited. But hsz limited, today was formed, was not fit for purpose. They have never been in conformity with the Development Agreement they signed up. But Business Leaders and many leading political figures in the north of england and the midlands say the railway will be a vital link. Cutting current train journey times between leeds and burning them from two hours, to just one. If we stop the h52 line at birmingham and dont continue it to the north of england and on scotland through the east and west coast main line, the rest of the country will not benefit from this project and the entire purpose will have been lost. With billions already spent and huge areas cleared and land bought up, hs2 is a work in progress, so cancelling it would be costly a nd progress, so cancelling it would be costly and controversial. But as the budget goes up, the value for money drops. Altering it might be a more plausible option. And tom is here now. Why this announcement today . Partly the change of government. The current chairman of hs2 alan kirk has for several months carried out an internal review into the scheme. He sent a letter to the top civil serva nts he sent a letter to the top Civil Servants at the department for transport not long ago saying the budget could be over by up to £30 billion. The government today is giving detail of its own review. It will take the information from that other review and make its own assessment. The key question is, is high speed to value for money. It is a huge amount of taxpayers money. 0ne former seniorfigure a huge amount of taxpayers money. 0ne former senior figure at the treasury said recently in terms of value for money, it scores much lower than other projects. He said that the government was essentially taking quite a big risk by putting so much money into high speed rail. But the important caveat is the money already spent, billions, the work already done. And for the fierce opposition to hs2, there is a lot of passionate support. The ra i lwa ys lot of passionate support. The railways in general across the country are working at capacity, this will be a high speed line. So i think what might be a more plausible option in several weeks when the government review is up is maybe not scrapping the scheme altogether but altering it in some way. Trust me, i have looked at the detail and gone through multiple documents and talked to lots of people and even doing some change to hs2 will not be straightforward for financial and legal reasons. Thank you for now, tom burridge. Borisjohnson will meet the german chancellor, Angela Merkel, in berlin this afternoon, as he continues to try to persuade the eu to accept fundamental changes to the brexit Withdrawal Agreement. Many German Industries have been voicing concerns about the prospect of britain leaving the eu without a deal. 0ur correspondentjenny hill has been to the northern port of hamburg, where its estimated a no deal brexit could have more Financial Impact per head of the population than in any other part of germany. Germany has no appetite for a no deal brexit, but its what the new british Prime Minister is threatening to dish up if he doesnt get what he wants. And in hamburg, where much of the fish comes from british waters, thats a concern. Translation were not panicking, but we expect prices to rise. We will have to pass costs onto the customer. So, should the eu renegotiate the terms of britains departure . Translation i dont think the eu should give any more. Europe has gone a long way to make concessions and i think weve reached the limit. Germanys gateway to the world. Vulnerable to a no deal brexit. Its estimated that hamburg would suffer more financial damage per head of population than any other part of the country. Other regions worry for their car plants, their drug companies. In hamburg, its aeroplanes. Translation of course, we are worried about what brexit will bring. Were the third biggest Aviation Industry site after seattle and toulouse. Hamburg produces a lot of airbuses, whose wings come from wales. 14,000 jobs depend on that. Still struggling over the same old ground. Europes queen of compromise encountered plenty of hot air as she toured a geothermal site in iceland yesterday. Berlin is still not sure whether Boris Johnson is calling europes bluff. But Angela Merkel has her red lines and the irish backstop is one of them. In hamburg, they come and they go. But germany has never altered its brexit course. You really get the sense here ofjust how close germany and britain have been. Theyve traded through this port for centuries. Germany wants to keep britain close. But it values europe and the Single Market more. Those hoping that this countrys soft spot for the british can translate into more brexit concessions may be disappointed. And even as it seeks to prevent it, this city, this country, is steeling itself for a painful farewell. Jenny hill, bbc news, hamburg. We can hear more from jenny hill, whos back in berlin. But first, iain watson is in westminster. With our political correspondent. Your sense of the mood going into this meeting in berlin later . |j think this meeting in berlin later . think the mood will be convivial on the surface at least, there will be a military guard welcoming Boris Johnson. Both leaders will be stressing a common commitment to tackling climate change, to improving security across the continent. But there is this huge gap still between them and brexit effectively, borisjohnson sane there can be no deal as long as this controversial irish backs up to avoid a hard border is in the Withdrawal Agreement. From the point of view of Angela Merkel, there can be no deal if it is taken out. So how did they bridge this gap . Boris johnson is primarily concerned that his own mps here at westminster have been suggesting no deal can be blocked and he thinks because they have been saying that, that has discouraged Angela Merkel and other leaders to compromise. So i expect privately they will be quite undiplomatic about his colleagues, stressing his own determination to leave the eu by october the 31st and suggesting it will be impossible to block no deal and he will say to Angela Merkel and to president Emmanuel Macron tomorrow when he meets him, dont wait to see what parliament gets up to when it resumes in september, if you are going to compromise, do so now and thatis going to compromise, do so now and that is the best way of us getting a deal. However, some of those people he will be criticising dont take the same view. For example, former conservative minister ed vaizey doesnt really believe that Boris Johnson is serious about getting a deal. He told the bbc earlier today that Boris Johnson deal. He told the bbc earlier today that borisjohnson was hell bent on leaving without a deal and was effectively in these meetings trying to shift blame from westminster onto the continent. Well, lets go to jenny in berlin, how is that approach likely to go down . Well, i dont think anyone here expects borisjohnson to walk dont think anyone here expects Boris Johnson to walk away today, perhaps least of all himself, having persuaded Angela Merkel to crack open the Withdrawal Agreement and ta ke open the Withdrawal Agreement and take out the irish backstop. The irish backstop, Angela Merkel sees it as irish backstop, Angela Merkel sees itasa irish backstop, Angela Merkel sees it as a real red line for various reasons. First, she wants to protect the integrity of the eus Single Market. She also grew up behind the iron curtain and she doesnt like walls and she doesnt want a hard border in ireland. And there is also being whispered in the corridors of power here some scepticism as to whether simply taking the withdrawal, the irish borisjohnson backstop withdrawal, the irish borisjohnson backstop out withdrawal, the irish borisjohnson backstop out of that Withdrawal Agreement would be enough to get that agreement through parliament this time round. What you can expect to see today is mrs mckay to defuse some the tension starting to build up some the tension starting to build up between the two sides. Mr johnsons do or die rhetoric has rather alarmed and bemused people here in berlin. There is a huge concern about what he has had to say about a no deal brexit, the threat of that sends a shiver down the german spine. Economically because it would be damaging to german businesses at a time when germany is suffering because of the Global Economic uncertainty out there, but politically, too. Mrs merkel knows a no deal brexit would lead to complications in ireland so she wants to find a deal. Having said all of that, i think what everyone here will tell you on or off record from whatever background by and large, they will say that mrjohnson appears to be pursuing this strategy are putting britain first, dont then be surprised, they say, when germany chooses to put europe first. Jenny hill and iain watson, thank you. Its emerged the level of eu migration to the uk has been underestimated for a decade. The office for National Statistics says it may also have over stated migration from countries outside the eu. Daniel sandford is with me. What on earth has been going on with these figures . If you imagine, you count who is coming in and out of the country . The way it has been relied on for years for years and yea rs relied on for years for years and years is a clipboard survey at airports asking people coming into the country and leaving the country what their plans are, are you coming to work, to visit, are you leaving for good or going back to poland for a couple of weeks . That is how the figures were calculated. It has become clear that is a very unreliable way of working out whether people politically from countries like poland and hungary, are coming here to work or for a short period of time. There has been concern about the statistics because so much of government policy and the conservative party strategy, David Camerons strategy was built on these quite dicey statistics. Theresa may promised to bring down immigration to the tens of thousands, that was based on this quite flaky set of figures. For example, they didnt even ask people at sta nsted example, they didnt even ask people at stansted or luton or Liverpool Airport for years what they were doing, they were only asking them. We all know many people coming out of Eastern Europe were using low budget flights at the airports. The office for National Statistics has looked at this and decided, yes, looking at things Like National insurance registration and home office data, it thinks it has been underestimating the net migration of people coming from the eu to britain by about i6 , so quite a significant amount. However, infact, it is by about i6 , so quite a significant amount. However, in fact, it is also able to work out people from non eu countries might have been overestimated so the overall net migration to the uk has probably been, by chance, estimated by about right. Critically, they have now said the statistics are not reliable, they have been downgraded from being official statistics being experimental statistics. All right, you, daniel sandford. The man accused of murdering pc Andrew Harper has appeared in court via video link from prison. The Thames ValleyPolice Officer died last thursday near the village of sulhamstead in berkshire, while investigating a burglary. Duncan kennedy is at Reading Crown Court. Welcome at this hearing today only lasted about 30 minutes or so. Jed foster wasnt in court himself. He was present via link from the prison where he is being held. He gave his date of birth and also his nationality is british. On one side of the court where ten or 15 members of the court where ten or 15 members of his family and friends. And on the other side of the court, three members of pc Andrew Harpers family listening to a technical and administrative hearing today. The main decision today was that the trial ofjed foster will main decision today was that the trial of jed foster will take main decision today was that the trial ofjed foster will take place onjanuary trial ofjed foster will take place on january the 20th next year. It will take place here at Reading Crown Court and we are told it will last about three weeks or so. At the same time today, the judge issued an order to the media telling them not to use any photographs ofjed foster in future because he said, identification will be an issue in this trial. There was no application for bail on the part of pc Andrew Harpers legal team and he was remanded in custody. Duncan kennedy, thank you. A body has been found by members of the Emergency Services searching for a six year old child who fell into the river stour in kent. Lucas dobson has been missing since saturday. Kent police say the body hasnt been formally identified, but the little boys family has been told. Ryanair is at the high court in london to try to stop its pilots from striking from tomorrow, for 48 hours. The airline has already this morning succeeded in preventing its pilots based in dublin from carrying out a similar stoppage. The childrens commissioner has found that more than 200,000 children in england are homeless, and that many are living in converted office blocks, and some in former shipping containers. Local councils say budget cuts mean theyre often forced to house families in temporary accommodation. The government says it has invested £i. 2 billion in tackling all forms of homelessness. Our social affairs correspondent, michael buchanan, reports. Designed to ship goods these containers now house people. England has s, stacked on top of each other for property has been home to lulu and herfour children for property has been home to lulu and her four children for for property has been home to lulu and herfour children for nine months. Her oldest son is severely autistic. His mother says it is no place to raise a family. This is stressing me out it is very sad for anyone who lives here, it is not a good place, it is not a home. This isa good place, it is not a home. This is a shipping cargo container where you keep storage great you do not keep human beings in here. The childrens commissioner calculates there are more than 210,000 Homeless Children in england. 124,000 are in temporary accommodation including converted office blocks and bed and brea kfasts. Converted office blocks and bed and breakfasts. A further 90,000 i suffer surfing. This is the human face of the housing crisis. It is not only about homeownership, not only about rough sleeping but these families. And more than half of homeless families are working families. It is about families trying to do their best for their children in circumstances where it is impossible for them to do that. This office block in essex was converted into flats to house homeless families. Developers do not need planning permission after the government relaxed the rules to boost the housing supply and tens of thousands of Similar Properties have been created in recent years across england. Council say the severe shortage of Affordable Housing has left them with few options. Councils often find their hands are tied when it comes to providing the homes of local families need. Central government keeps much of the money coming from the sale of Council Houses councils are restricting borrowing. Developers are able to throw up poor Quality Homes without providing social housing so we need significant changes. Managers say theyre working with councils to reduce the number of People Living in temporary accommodation. For those stuck month after month in a converted shipping container it does not feel that. Our top story this lunchtime. An inquiry is to be launched into whether the high speed 2 rail link should go ahead, £7 billion has already been spent on the project, the government says it will make a final decision within months. And coming up, whats hiding in your cupboards . The unused gadgets that could be recycled. Coming up on bbc news. Job done for england. Victory over belarus secures their place in the quarter finals of the eurohockey championships in antwerp but can ireland join them . All this week across bbc news were looking at the issues facing farming across the country and today we focus on its relationship with the environment. We sometimes hear about the negative impact that agriculture has on wildlife but at one farm in leicestershire, both flourish. The allerton project was set up in 1992 to examine the impact different farming methods have on the environment and on wildlife, and our corrrespondent Elise Chamberlain is there for us now. Good afternoon from here in leicestershi re good afternoon from here in leicestershire and this is a familiar sight, fields of crops right next to areas like this packed full of plants perfect for pollinators and a variety of different species. The team here wa nt to different species. The team here want to link areas like this which are dotted across the site and that is crucial at a time when so many pla nts is crucial at a time when so many plants and animals are threatened with extinction. Wildlife experts say creating natural corridors like this will help wildlife and the wider environment notjust to survive but to thrive. Farming and nature thriving together. The allerton project at loddington in leicestershire has developed a unique harmony between commercial farming and caring for wildlife. Transforming edges of fields which are less productive for growing produce, into havens for a variety of species. Weve got breakfast cereal for us in the background, which is great. And in this patch here where all the bees are, thats food for them in the morning. So weve got things like borage and birds foot trefoil. When this borage was really in full flower, i reckon there was about four bees per metre squared. So there was between 4000 and 5000 bees just in this one little strip, which is about 120 metres long. You just heard the noise, it was a cacophony of excited bees in the crop. It was brilliant. Im right in the centre of the farm here in one of six areas purely dedicated to supporting bees and producing seeds for farmland birds in the winter. And these kind of areas are supporting hundreds of different insects. Around 10 of this 800 acre site is dedicated to environmental projects. But the team says for this approach to be adopted by more farmers, it will need to be incentivised. Really we need a marketplace that values food. We also need a support mechanism into the future or an investment, i would call it, in our countryside. Where we help take farmers on a journey. If this is what we want as a society, lets put the Building Blocks in that we can still produce food out there and still look after the countryside in areas like this. The allerton project is a Research Farm with multiple different trials on the go. This is one of six fields where the team is looking into how less intrusive farming methods could benefit the environment. Some of the parts of the field will be ploughed, the soil will be turned over. In some areas welljust go in with our machinery and just sow the crop straight into last years stubble. And then we will compare them. We will look at compaction of the soil, look at soil biology, all the things that make crops grow in the soil. And we will compare then the profit between the two systems and possibly the environmental impact. Its the sort of thing that we will be approaching government to say actually, there are some ways we can have less impact on the environment. They share their findings with other farmers and those making policy decisions. We want to go right to the top to try to influence, to try and say, could this be the blueprint for the future of farming . The team here recognise that this type of approach takes time and effort. But they say to come out here and here at the gentle buzzing ican heararound here and here at the gentle buzzing i can hear around me constantly and knowing that they are helping the environmentjust makes knowing that they are helping the environment just makes it knowing that they are helping the environmentjust makes it all worthwhile. And for more on the issues well be focusing on throughout the week here on bbc news go to our special section of the bbc news website, where theres even a live bee cam inside a hive. Thats at bbc. Co. Uk focusonfarming. President trump has cancelled a state visit to denmark after its Prime Minister dismissed his proposal to buy greenland, as absurd. President trump tweeted that denmark is a very special country with incredible people but, based on Prime MinisterMette Frederiksens comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of greenland, i will be postponing our meeting, scheduled in two weeks, for another time. China has confirmed that it has detained an employee from the uks consulate in hong kong. Simon cheng hasnt been heard from for nearly two weeks, after he went to the chinese mainland for a meeting. China said the 28 year old has been detained for violating Public Security laws. Protestors gathered outside the british consulate in hong kong to highlight his disappearance. Cardinal george pell, the most senior catholic cleric to be found guilty of child sexual abuse, has lost an appeal against his conviction in australia. The 78 year old was jailed for six years in march, for abusing two boys when he was archbishop of melbourne in the 1990s. His legal team says its deciding whether to launch a final appeal. Phil mercer reports. Once part of the popes inner circle, today george pell arrived to hear his fate in the back of a prison van, hoping to overturn his convictions. At his trial pell was found guilty of a brazen and forcible sexual attack on two choirboys at st patricks cathedral in melbourne in the late 1990s. His lawyer said the case against him was flawed and that the jury was wrong to convict him on the uncorroborated evidence of one surviving accuser. And the man who was australias most powerful catholic official didnt have to wait long for the chiefjustice to dismiss the appeal. Justice maxwell and i accepted the prosecutions submission that the complainant was a very compelling witness, was clearly not a liar, was not a fantasist and was a witness of truth. Outside the Victorian Court of appeal there was relief for those who campaign for victims of clerical abuse. Its just a wonderful, wonderful day for survivors, for victims. I think it sends a message that justice will be served. No matter how high you are or how old you are, or, you know, what yourjob is. This is a crime against children. That innocence. George pell is the most senior catholic figure worldwide to be convicted of child sexual abuse. But this case that has global significance might not be over. Pell said he is disappointed by the courts decision and his legal team is considering challenging his convictions in australias high court. George pell is 78 and is now back in prison in disgrace. He will have to serve more than three years behind bars before hes eligible for parole. Phil mercer, bbc news, melbourne. If youre guilty of leaving your old phones and laptops to gather dust in a cupboard youre not alone. Its estimated that up to 40 million unused gadgets are languishing in uk homes and scientists believe they all contain valuable elements which the earth could run out of in future. Our science correspondent victoria gill reports. Most of us upgrade and replace our smartphone about every two years. But as we embrace all that new technology, our old gadgets are piling up. 0h, 0k wow. And like many of us, louise has a hidden stash of different devices. Theres all these phones here. There could now be as many as 40 million pieces of Old Technology languishing in drawers and cupboards around the country. Thats according to a new study that investigated how many of our old gadgets we all have just stored away. Oh, theres another one. Recycling is part of our lives now and if youre doing that with all the products youre using on a day to day basis, you use these on a day to day basis. When you see it all together like this, what does it make you think . Well, as i said before, i feel a bit ashamed. Because actually, were not dealing with it, are we . This busy recycling plant in huddersfield is dealing with some of the half a Million Tonnes of electronics that are recycled in the uk every year. But thats just a fraction of the mountain of so called e waste thats building up in landfill and in peoples homes. Here devices are stripped down to the Raw Materials that can be made into new products. But hidden in all those screens and circuit boards, theres an urgent problem. Whats so important in these to extract and reuse . Well, theres loads of different elements, especially in a smartphone. Up to 30 different elements. Touchscreens contain indian tin oxide which is a compound perfect for touchscreens because it conducts electricity. And its transparent and its useful for all sorts of things including solar panels. And were running out of it . Yes. In order to extract a few milligrams of indian you need a kilogram of metal ore. Theres not a lot of it in the earth at all. So how can we make sure the most precious elements in our gadgets can be extracted and reused . First, dont throw them in the bin. Retailers are actually obliged to take back an old device when you buy a new one from them. And if you take them to your local council tip, they should end up in a place like this. Laptops hidden away in here. For many like louise, the biggest concern is personal data. But tech experts advise that a factory reset before you recycle will keep that safe. Because well all need, researchers say, to start mining our devices for the very rarest elements before the mines themselves run out. Victoria gill, bbc news. Time for a look at the weather, heres chris fawkes. You might say we have a mobile weather pattern at the